Alex Wong/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Fox News host Laura Ingraham apologized Thursday to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student David Hogg for her tweet mocking his college rejections, but that hasnt stopped advertisers from fleeing her show.



At least 15 companies have said they intend to pull their sponsorship of Ingrahams evening show. The companies include Nutrish, Expedia, TripAdvisor, Nestle, Hulu, Wayfair, Stitch Fix, Office Depot, Ruby Tuesday, Entertainment Studios, Miracle Ear and Liberty Mutual. Johnson & Johnson told The Huffington Post it had yanked its ads as well.



"The decision of an adult to personally criticize a high school student who has lost his classmates in an unspeakable tragedy is not consistent with our values," Wayfair said in a statement yesterday.



The sponsor exodus follows a spat between the outspoken Parkland, Florida, student and the Fox News host, one of several involving conservative figures and the students who have advocated for greater action against gun violence in the wake of the mass shooting at their school last month.

Ingraham announced on Friday night's show she would be taking a vacation next week. In a statement Saturday, Fox News said the vacation was pre-planned.



Hogg told TMZ this week that several colleges had rejected him, but dismissed the rejections in the face of his and his classmates' advocacy.



We're changing the world, he said. "Right now, it's too hard to focus on that."

Ingraham tweeted about the comments on Wednesday, saying Hogg whines about the rejections.

"David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA...totally predictable given acceptance rates.)" she tweeted.

On Thursday she issued an apology.

"Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA incl. @DavidHogg111," she tweeted. "On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David immediately after that horrific shooting and even noted how 'poised' he was given the tragedy. As always, hes welcome to return to the show anytime for a productive discussion."



Hogg, who has proven adept at leveraging the pace and amplification of social media, quickly responded with a tweet of his own, listing her major sponsors and encouraging his rapidly growing social media base to pressure them.



Ingrahams apology came after a few companies pulled their ads, which led Hogg not to accept her apology.



"An apology in an effort just to save your advertisers is not enough," he tweeted Thursday. "I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight. Its time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children."

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Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349With the AAP keen to contest the Haryana Assembly polls next year, the party's national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today held a roadshow in the Rohtak-Bhiwani belt of the state.

Kejriwal's roadshow, which began in the morning and is expected go on till evening, comes close on the heels of a rally in Hisar on Sunday.

At the Hisar rally, the AAP leader had announced that his party would contest the forthcoming Haryana Assembly polls.

Kejriwal, who was accompanied by the AAP's Haryana head, Naveen Jaihind, had covered Bahadurgarh, Sampla and Rohtak till late afternoon during his roadshow today.

The roadshow will also pass through Kalanaur, Dadri, Bhiwani and Tosham.

At the Hisar rally, Kejriwal had attacked the BJP-led Centre and Haryana governments over a number of issues.

The AAP national convener, who hails from Haryana, had invoked his Haryana roots and asked the people of the state to strengthen his party.

"We will create a new Haryana. If you want peace, security, schools, hospitals, roads, then vote for the AAP," he had said.

After tasting defeat at the hustings in the previous Lok Sabha polls from Haryana, the AAP had not contested the October 2014 assembly elections in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Looking to gain a foothold in Haryana ahead of the Assembly elections due next year, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal today held a roadshow in the Jat-dominated areas in the state, urging people to vote the party to power to build a "new Haryana".

Kejriwal's roadshow comes close on the heels of a rally in Hisar on Sunday where he had announced that the AAP would contest the Haryana Assembly polls.

During his roadshow in the Rohtak-Bhiwani belt of the state today, he told people to be the change-bearers.

"We have to rebuild Haryana and a new Haryana cannot be made by old parties and old leaders. It's time for change. The AAP is the change. You have tried BJP, Congress and INLD. These parties served their own interests and ignored the common people," Kejriwal said at pit stops along the route.

The roadshow began in the morning and continued till evening.

Kejriwal, who was accompanied by the AAP's Haryana head, Naveen Jaihind, covered Bahadurgarh, Sampla and Rohtak, Kalanaur, Dadri, Bhiwani and Tosham during the roadshow.

In one of the brief speeches he made on the way, Kejriwal said, "You have to bring an AAP government in Haryana now. The state needs an honest government. Kejriwal alone cannot do it. I am a small person, but together 2.5 crore people of the state can bring about a change."



Kejriwal told AAP workers and volunteers to reach out to every household and appeal to people to strengthen the party.

"We do not have money to fight elections. We do not have money in our accounts. But people are our biggest strength," he said.

Attacking the BJP and the Congress, he said, "They divide people. Only the AAP can give you security, peace, build schools and hospitals, and help your trade flourish. We do not believe in hollow talks. You can ask the people of Delhi."



"We have to bring a change in the system. Once that change comes, it will not matter if Kejriwal or AAP is there or not tomorrow. The system will take care of itself. We have to root out corruption. We have weeded it out from Delhi, now we have to eliminate it in Haryana.

"We have to work for farmers, traders. We have to shape the future of our children," he told the gatherings, invoking his Haryana roots.

"Ask the people of Delhi, they are happy. We changed the shape of government schools, free medicines are provided at hospitals... There has been no hike in the power tariff in the last three years and the electricity is cheap," he added.

Haryana witnessed a number of violent incidents after the BJP assumed power in the state and many innocent people were killed and property worth crores of rupees was destroyed, Kejriwal alleged.

After tasting defeat at the hustings in the previous Lok Sabha polls from Haryana, the AAP had not contested the October 2014 assembly elections in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Authorities of a public school here have complained to the Central Board of Secondary (CBSE) regarding the mismatch of Mathematics question paper given to a Class X student on March 28.

The Principal of Mount Carmel Vidyanikethan Senior Secondary School in Kanjikkuzhy, had in her complaint sent to the Regional officer CBSE, Thiruvananthapuram stated that Ameeya Saleem, who had written the examination on March 28 "got an old set of question paper (Set 1) that is summative assessment (SA) 2" for the Mathematics examination.

Her teachers who came to know that the student was given SA 2 paper of the year 2016 for the examination immediately informed the exam centre at Vadavathoor in the district.

".. our teachers have personally gone to the centre to inform about the case," the school authorities said.

The principal has appealed to the concerned authorities "to do something" so that the child may not be affected.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Kosovo's prime minister has sacked his top security chiefs and ordered a probe into the expulsion of six members of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen's movement, which is blamed by Turkey for a 2016 coup attempt.

Five teachers at a Gulen school and a doctor were spirited back to Turkey on Thursday in a covert operation carried out by Kosovo's interior ministry and spy service together with Turkey's National Intelligence Organisation (MIT).

Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj told reporters after an emergency meeting of his national security council on Saturday that he has dismissed interior minister Flamur Sefaj and intelligence chief Driton Gashi over their involvement in the operation.

"They were obliged to inform me (about the expulsion). They did not. They did not have enough trust to share the case with me, so I no longer trust them. They have lost my confidence," he said.

He also said he has ordered each institution involved to "fully engage in clarifying institutional responsibilities, possible constitutional and legal violations and immediately undertake comprehensive, detailed investigations".

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit out at the move to dismiss the officials and appeared to suggest Haradinaj had been influenced to take such a decision.

"Hey Kosovo's prime minister, under whose instruction did you take such a step? Since when did you start to protect those who tried to launch a coup in the Turkey?



"How can you as a brother welcome to your bosom those involved in the coup attempt against Turkey, you will have to account for this."



And Erdogan added: "We have proven many times over the past four, five years that we are a country that cannot be brought to its knees by dirty alliances."Gulen, a onetime ally turned foe of Erdogan who now lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, is accused by Ankara of ordering the July 2016 failed military coup.

Gulen strongly denies the claims.

Turkish state agency Anadolu described the six men expelled from Kosovo as senior individuals in the Gulen movement.

The Istanbul prosecutor is investigating the men who, according to Anadolu, were organising the movement of Gulenists from Turkey to European countries and the United States.

One of the six, Kahraman Demirez, is accused of actively helping to increase involvement in the movement in the Balkans while Cihan Ozkan is suspected of sending money collected from Balkan countries to leaders of the Gulen movement in Pennsylvania, Anadolu said.

Children of top politicians in Kosovo, including President Hashim Thaci's son, go to Gulen schools.

Thaci has also protested that he had not been informed of the operation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jammu and Kashmir BJP MLC Girdhari Lal Raina today claimed that displaced Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) in the state were "annoyed" with PDP-BJP government over its failure to address their issues.

In a letter to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, he also batted strongly for 10 demands put forth by the community, including constitution of the Kashmiri Pandit Welfare Board.

I bring to your kind notice the disquiet and inquisitiveness coupled with annoyance of displaced community of Kashmiri Pandits in general and those who are presently residing in NCR Delhi in particular with our government, he said.

"Exasperation has got further fillip lately because of the perceived failure and ineffectiveness of even community representatives like me to represent community aspirations and convey to the alliance government the long pending grievances," the MLC said.

He said that his efforts in this regard, so far, means "little to them in the absence of implementation of even the tangible decisions" taken."



The government needs to put in place a mechanism, the Kashmiri Pandit Welfare Board, which engages the community in regular discourse to work out agreed principles of their return to Kashmir, Raina said.

The board for KPs should be on the pattern of the Gujjar Board or Pahari Board with representatives from different districts and a chairman to look into the issues of the community, he suggested.

He also called for implementation of packages announced by the state government to provide employment.

The MLC said that illegal encroachments of left over properties of KPs in Kashmir should be removed. "The eviction has been very casual," he alleged.

"We urge the government to make every effort to get the Bill passed in the state legislature which is a long pending demand of the community to protect temples and its properties in Kashmir," he said.

He said that government should ensure group insurance cover for the displaced community who have been living in "pathetic condition over the period of time".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russia's embassy in London is warning that Russians travelling to the United Kingdom could face provocations, including the insertion of foreign objects into their luggage.

The warning, posted today on the embassy website, said it reflected "the anti-Russian policy, the growing threatening rhetoric of the British side (and) the British government's selective actions against Russian individuals and legal entities."



Britain accuses Russia of involvement in the poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury, which Russia heatedly denies.

Each country has expelled 23 of the other's diplomats and Russia has further ordered Britain to reduce its staffing at the embassy in Moscow to the same level Russia maintains in London.

Tension escalated further late yesterday when British officers searched an Aeroflot passenger plane at Heathrow airport.

The Russian statement said "we urge the close monitoring of personal belongings and luggage in order to avoid provocations with foreign objects being placed in them."



The British government is considering Russia's request for access to the daughter of a former Russian intelligence officer who were both poisoned in Britain by a nerve agent.

The Foreign Office say today it was reviewing the Russian request to meet with Yulia Skripal, a Russian citizen, "in line with our obligations under international and domestic law." The government's consideration will include "the rights and wishes of Yulia Skripal," it said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has blamed the Russian government for the attack on the Skripals, a charge denied by the Kremlin. May has received strong backing from the US and her allies in Europe, which have accepted Britain's view that the Russian government was responsible for the use of a lethal nerve agent.

Russian officials insist they have a legal right to see the 33-year-old Skripal, who lived in Moscow and was visiting her father, Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury when they were attacked March 4 with a nerve agent.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Bar Council of India (BCI) today decided to allow members of Parliament and legislative assemblies to practise as advocates, but said that those who move an impeachment motion against any judge of the higher judiciary will not be allowed to appear before that court.

BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, a senior advocate, said that the decision was taken by the apex bar body to prevent the "misuse of powers" and "privileges" of a lawyer and not of a member of Parliament.

The issue of the alleged role of some lawyer-turned-politicians behind reported moves to impeach judges by Parliament came up before the general council meeting of the BCI today in which the council considered a report of its sub-committee on whether members of Parliament and legislative assemblies should be allowed to practise as advocates.

"The BCI has come to a final conclusion that we cannot stop or ban MPs from practising in the courts but there is an exception to it. The lawyer-MPs or MLAs, if they start any motion of impeachment or a removal proceeding against any high court or Supreme Court judge, they will not be allowed to practise in that particular court. This is the majority view of the council," Mishra told a press conference here.

The apex court had on March 12 sought the response of the BCI on a plea filed by Delhi BJP spokesperson Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, seeking a ban on lawmakers from practising as advocates.

Mishra said the council took the decision after considering the reply given by three of its members -- senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Vivek Tankha and A M Singhvi, who are Rajya Sabha members.

"After considering their replies and the report of the committee, including the report of our co-chairman S Prabhakaran, who has dissented from the majority view, the BCI has come to a final conclusion that we cannot stop or ban MPs from practising in the courts but there is an exception to it. If the lawyer-MPs start any motion of impeachment or a removal proceeding against any high court or Supreme Court judge, they will not be allowed to practise in that court. This is the majority view of the council," he said.

Asked about the privilege of members of Parliament to move impeachment motion, the BCI chairman said that the lawyer-MPs have their privilege as parliamentarians, but "as lawyers, the BCI can put the condition under which they can be allowed to practise or not".

"Our Parliament is supreme. The members have their privilege. We cannot make any comment on their privileges. But as lawyers, we can put the condition under which they can be allowed to practise or not.

"In order to prevent the misuse of the powers and privileges of a lawyer, not of an MP, we have put this condition that if any lawyer-MP starts any impeachment motion or participates in the impeachment motion, he cannot practise in that court," he said.

In February, the committee had recommended that MPs, MLAs and MLCs could be allowed to pursue legal practice, despite getting elected as legislators, subject to certain conditions.

Several advocates of the Congress and other opposition parties have been reportedly making efforts to bring an impeachment motion in Parliament against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra in the alleged medical scam case.

With regard to the controversy over Justice Jasti Chelameswar's recent letter to the CJI over alleged government interference in the judiciary, Mishra said that it was a communication between the apex court judge and the chief justice of India and the BCI has no role to play in it.

"We came to know about the letter through media reports. The letter was sent to the chief justice. The Bar Council of India has no role in it," he said.

The top court has fixed the PIL of Upadhyay for further hearing on April 23.

The petition has said that while a public servant cannot practise as an advocate, legislators are practising in various courts which is a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution (equality before law).

It has also said that MPs have the power of voting on impeachment of judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts.

"Therefore, allowing them to practise as an advocate in the Supreme Court and the high courts is a very serious 'conflict of interest' because it may allow the judges to feel beholden to them and to oblige them," according to the petition.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Leaders, cutting across party lines, today held an "apolitical" meeting under the banner of Yashwant Sinha's Rashtra Manch, calling for a united stand against the BJP to "save" democracy.

Senior NCP leader Majid Memon said investigative agencies, the Election Commission and the judiciary were being prevented from performing their duties and the meeting was to save these institutions.

"We will go to each Lok Sabha constituency to tell people the truth about this government. We will do all we can to make sure they don't come back to power again," Memon said.

His party colleague, Jitendra Awhad said that it was decided, in the meeting, to hold rallies in Mumbai, Kolhapur and Akola.

"While the date of the rally in Mumbai has not been finalised, the one at Akola and Kolhapur would be held on May 1 and May 7 respectively," Awhad said.

"These rallies will be apolitical with the common intention of dethroning the Modi government. We will oppose the data leaks of Aadhaar card details and the government's impositions on the media, judiciary and other agencies," he said.

Trinamool Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi, who also attended the meeting, alleged that the BJP was not allowing Parliament to function and in the process was "maligning democracy".

Disgruntled BJP MLA Ashish Deshmukh said that the meeting deliberated on the growing distress of farmers and youth, adding that events like 'Make in India' and 'Make in Maharashtra' had failed.

Former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, Rajya Sabha member Kumar Ketkar, Sudheendra Kulkarni, Justice (retired) Abhay Tipsay, lawyer Abha Singh, journalist and writer Pritish Nandy, Tushar Gandhi and Priti Sharma Menon of the Aam Aadmi Party attended the meeting.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Hitting out at Akhilesh Yadav for claiming that the BJP dispensation in Uttar Pradesh was taking credit for the schemes initiated by his government, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said this only shows the Samajwadi Party president's frustration.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister has accused the Yogi Adityanath dispensation of "lying and hoodwinking people" as regards the projects launched by the previous SP government in the state.

Referring to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurating an elevated road in Ghaziabad yesterday, Yadav claimed that it was already inaugurated earlier.

Hours after the former chief minister made the allegations at a press conference here, Maurya said, "Akhilesh (Yadav) is not the chief minister now... if he thinks he is (the CM) then he should correct himself... any project of the previous government is taken forward by the next government."



"What has been done by the present government in one year is more that all the works of Bua (aunt), bhatija (nephew) and pitaji (father) put together," the deputy chief minister said in an apparent reference to BSP supremo Mayawati, SP president Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Maurya said, "Akhilesh Yadav often talks about Lucknow-Agra Expressway... if he had inaugurated it why did he leave it incomplete? Yesterday Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated an elevated road in Ghaziabad but he (Akhilesh Yadav) had a trouble in that too. Actually, ever since inquiries have been ordered into the corruption during the SP government he has been feeling restless and making such statement."



The deputy chief minister said Akhilesh Yadav often complains that the Centre did not issue no objection certificates (NOC) for many schemes of his government and asked whether he had taken NOC for the river front project.

"The reality is that he had stopped the central government schemes," Maurya alleged.

On Akhilesh Yadav's allegation that teachers, shiksha mitras and others were being baton-charged instead of being provided job, the deputy chief minister said the problem was created by the previous SP government and the matter is in the Supreme Court now.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh is expected to fly to Iraq tomorrow in a C-17 plane to bring back mortal remains of the 39 Indians, killed in the war-torn country, sources said today.

Sources also said the minister is expected to bring back the bodies by late Monday or Tuesday.

"MoS Singh will most probably leave tomorrow for Iraq to bring back mortal remains of these 39 Indians. After coming back, he will first go to Amritsar followed by Patna, Kolkata to hand over bodies to their relatives," a source said.

Families of some of these victims had met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj here on March 26.

Earlier this month, Swaraj had told Parliament that as many as 40 Indians were abducted by terror group ISIS from Mosul in Iraq in June 2014, but one of them escaped posing as a Muslim from Bangladesh.

The remaining 39 Indians were taken to Badoosh and killed, she had said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Mumbai based Vital Laboratories Private Limited today donated Rs 10 crore to Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital run by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, that manages the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala near here.

Rajiv Shrigopal Bajaj, Director of Vital Laboratories Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, made the donation for building a state of the art Critical Care Unit at SVIMS,hospital sources told PTI.

Last year too, Rajiv Shrigopal Bajaj had donated Rs 12 cr for building a Center for Advanced Research in the SVIMS campus, they said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Women members of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) today held a silent protest at Azad Maidan here against the triple talaq bill, calling it "defective", "legally flawed" and "against the Constitution".

Asma Zahra, head of the AIMPLB's women's wing, termed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 "anti-women, anti-children, anti-social and aimed at destroying families by sending men to jail".

"The Muslim Personal Law Board submitted five crore signatures to the Law Commission in favour of Muslim Personal Law, and out of these, two crore 80 lakh signatures belonged to women," she said.

Hundreds of burqa-clad women participated in the silent protest holding placards printed with slogans opposing the bill.

"Women do not want any interference in personal laws. Religious freedom is a fundamental right guaranteed in the Constitution. The Supreme Court judgment on August 22, 2017 had set aside triple talaq as null and void. The present Bill criminalises the offence and this is against the rights of women," Zahra said.

Today's protest adopted a few resolutions, she said, and these included opposition to the triple talaq bill, opposition to any change in the Muslim Personal Law as well as to attempts to bring a Uniform Civil Code.

A resolution that 99 per cent of women had faith in the AIMPLB was also adopted, she said.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 was passed by the Lok Sabha and is now pending approval of the Rajya Sabha.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Relations between Pakistan and India might be at their lowest ebb in years but the presence of celebrated Indian actors, producers, and directors at the Pakistan International Film Festival being held in Karachi has lifted the bar for the event.

The day two of the festival saw participation by Nandita Das, Vinay Pathak, S S Rajamouli and Shobu Yarlagadda in a panel discussion, titled "Genre busters".

Yarlagadda, the producer of the super-hit film Baahubali 2, talked about different genres in Indian filmmaking.

There is commercial and niche cinema in India for different age groups. But Baahubali was a film enjoyed by everyone as it is a mainstream film, he said.

Rajamouli, who directed the blockbuster film, said he felt that if a film's story is powerful, it would be a hit with audiences, whether it is commercial or art.

He said the intensity with which a director wants the story to be told and way it is eventually made also matters a lot.

Nandita Das said that space for art or independent cinema is shrinking in India.

Every kind of work should be done. The space for commercial cinema will always be there but there should also be independent cinema. A film doesn't always need songs and dance or to have a happy ending, she asserted.

Vinay Pathak popular in Pakistan because of his many roles later told the media he had come to Karachi for the first time and had thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality and stay.

The festival which ends on Sunday has screenings of films, documentaries and shorts from Pakistan and all over the world.

The founder of the festival, producer-director Sultana Siddiqui said the purpose of the festival was to allow Pakistani filmmakers to portray their country as a vibrant and exciting country which could encourage co-productions with other countries.

She said the presence of Indian cinema personalities had been taken very positively by everyone and it was good to see the guests from across the border enjoying the hospitality in Karachi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Naxal was killed in an encounter with a team of C-60 commandos at Mauza Humdi forest in Gadchiroli district yesterday evening, police said.

The incident took place between 4:45pm to 6:15pm when the C-60 commandos, a specialised unit of the Gadchiroli police, were conducting combing operations in the area.

Police said that a group of Naxals opened fire on the commando team.

"The Naxal was killed in retaliatory firing. Other ultras fled leaving behind his body. A rifle and some Maoist literature was found from the spot. The process of identifying the Naxal is on," a police official said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Police in Palghar district have registered cases against ten persons including local leaders of the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP for allegedly extorting money from builders.

Vasai-Virar NCP chief Govind Gunjalkar was arrested in one of these cases last night.

Corporator and former deputy district chief of the Shiv Sena, Dhananjay Gawde, and BJP Yuva Morcha district chief Arun Singh have also been named as accused, and police had launched a manhunt for them, officials said.

Holding a press conference in Vasai today, Palghar Rural Police Superintendent Dr Manjunath Singe and Additional SP Raj Tilak Roshan said that two cases were registered at Tulinj and one each at Nalla Sopara and Virar police stations.

Police have pressed IPC sections 384 (extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation) alonwwith provisions of the Arms Act against the ten accused, including two women, the officers said.

Dhananjay Gawde figures in all four FIRs, they said.

In the case at Virar police station, Gawde and some others are accused of extorting Rs 36 lakh from a builder since October 2016 after threatening to complain against his constructions and have them demolished for alleged irregularities.

In the case at Nalla Sopara, another builder has alleged that the accused, through Gunjalkar, extorted Rs 5 lakh from him, threatening to initiate action against him by the civic body and publish slanderous articles against him in newspapers.

In a case at Tulinj, a builder has accused Gawde of demanding Rs 50 lakh for withdrawing a petition filed against his construction projects in the Bombay High Court.

The builder alleged that he was called to a hotel, and the accused forced him to part with Rs 32 lakh at gun point, and supply steel and cement worth Rs 10 lakh for construction of a farm house at Shirsad Phata.

In another case registered at Tulinj, Gawde and others are accused of extorting Rs 30 lakh from a builder after threatening to have his buildings demolished for alleged irregularities.

Further probe was underway, the two officials said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The announcement of dates for the three-phased pancahayat polls has evoked mixed reactions from political parties in the state.

Although the ruling Trinamool Congress has welcomed the decision of the State Election Commission, the opposition Congress, BJP and CPI(M) seemed to have been caught off guard.

The West Bengal State Election Commission today announced three-phased panchayat polls in the state on May 1, 3 and 5. The counting of votes will take place on May 8.

BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha today criticised the state election body for announcing panchayat polls in West Bengal in early May and said the State Election Commissioner was "parroting" the government's instructions.

One month's time to hold any election is "inadequate" for the contesting political parties, he told reporters.

The Congress, on the other hand, demanded adequate deployment of central forces to ensure polls are free and fair.

The TMC, while reacting to the statements made by their political rivals, said opposition parties are afraid to face elections.

"The opposition is very well aware that people are with us and they will again face defeat in the elections. That is why they are afraid of facing elections," TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said.

The panchayat election assumes significance as it is the last major poll in the state before the general elections next year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A group of individuals today converged at the Marina beach in Chennai and staged a flash protest urging the Centre to immediately set up the Cauvery Water Management Board in compliance with a February 16 Supreme Court order on the decades-old river water-sharing dispute.

The scene at the beach was reminiscent of the pro-jallikattu demonstrations at the same place last year.

TV channels beamed images of men and women carrying banners and raising slogans against the Union government for not constituting the Board. Some social media platforms also streamed the protest 'live'.

The protesters wanted the Centre to immediately set up the Board, saying farmers were already hit and their prospects could be affected further.

The police later removed the protesters from the beach.

A senior police official said protests should be held in Chennai only at designated places after obtaining necessary approvals.

T S Anbu, deputy commissioner (Chennai East) warned the protesters for staging the demonstration without permission.

"There are designated places in the city and police have notified those places. Protests should be held there after obtaining permission. If the general public is affected by protests, police will take action," he told reporters.

He said the number of protesters picked up today was yet to be ascertained.

Ever since the massive pro-jallikattu protests that rocked the Marina for more than a week last year, the popular beach has been kept out of bounds by police for any kind of agitation.

The police department has also been issuing frequent prohibitory orders, banning any kind of congregation.

The jallikattu protests had ended violently following clashes between the police and the protesters, even as a bill was adopted by the state Assembly to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, to ensure conduct of the bull-taming sport.

Tamil Nadu has been witnessing protests over the Cauvery issue of late, especially after the Supreme Court in its verdict on February 16 set a six-week window to evolve a scheme to solve the vexed inter-state dispute.

It had granted six weeks time to the Centre to formulate a scheme to ensure compliance of its 465-page judgement, which modified the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal award.

The six-week period ended on March 29.

In its judgment, the apex court had raised the 270 tmcft share of Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu's share of Cauvery water.

Following the verdict, Tamil Nadu has been urging the Centre to set up the CWMB and the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) to ensure it receive its due share of water from the inter-state river.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A policeman and a civilian were shot at and injured by militants in Anantnag and Pulwama districts of south Kashmir today, the police said.

According to a police official, Special Police Officer Turag Singh on traffic duty in Khanabal Chowk area of Anantnag was fired upon by unidentified militants, leaving him injured, a police official said.

The injured policeman was rushed to a nearby hospital, from where he was referred to a hospital here for better treatment, he said.

In Pulwama district, a civilian -- identified as Mohammad Ashraf Mir, a resident of Machpuna Pulwama, but presently staying in Chanapora area of the city -- was shot at and injured by militants near Murran Chowk area, the official said.

Mir was rushed to a hospital and his condition was stated to be critical, he said.

On Thursday, militants killed a special police officer was killed and injured his wife in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir. In another incident that day, militants fired upon a man at Chancer in Kulgam district. He was hit by a bullet in the leg and was admitted to a local hospital.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A policeman was shot at and injured by militants in south Kashmir's Anantnag district today, police said.

A cop on traffic duty at Khanabal area of Anantnag was fired upon by unidentified militants, leaving him injured, a police official said.

He said the injured cop has been rushed to a hospital.

Further details are awaited, the official said, adding a hunt has been launched to nab the attackers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pope Francis today said he was "ashamed" that younger generations would inherit a world "fractured by divisions and wars".

Speaking in Rome at the end of the traditional Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession, the pontiff said the world was "devoured by egotism in which the young, the sick, the old are marginalised".

Amid tight security, around 20,000 faithful, many holding candles, gathered around Rome's Colosseum for the religious ritual that evokes the path Jesus walked to his crucifixion.

The Italian capital has been put under tight surveillance following a week marked by a series of anti-terror arrests.

Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti warned this week of the high risk of an attack in Italy, and some 10,000 officers have been deployed to guarantee safety in Rome, in particular during the Easter celebrations presided over by the Pope this weekend culminating with the Easter day celebrations on Sunday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Tamil Nadu government has informed the Madras High Court that criminal proceedings are pending against some iron and steel dealers since 2005 for tax evasion to the tune of Rs 2,739 crore.

Registered dealers under the then Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, particularly those dealing in iron and steel, had evaded crores of sales tax by indulging in circular transactions and 'bill trading', Additional Advocate General Narmadha Sampath informed the court.

Bill trading is an activity where dealers, through documents, depict as though they are genuine registered buyers and sellers, when in fact, they only trade in bills for a consideration, without actual delivery of goods.

The AAG made the submissions while opposing a plea by Chennai-based Rukma Industries Limited (now Surana Corporation Limited), challenging notices dated April 16, 2014 demanding sales tax dues of Rs 92.37 lakh.

When the plea came up for hearing before Justice M Duraiswamy recently, Narmada Sampath pointed out that in similar other pleas moved by such dealers, "who were presumably bill traders during the TNGST period", the court had passed interim orders to ascertain and report whether assessments of the sellers were reopened.

In view of these orders, the AAG produced the assessment records and several other documents on March 23 before the court to establish that the dealers were involved in circular transactions of iron and steel and bill trading.

"The petitioner and the other sellers had involved in purchases and sales made predominantly amongst themselves, having drawn registration numbers in different assessment circles and depriving the state exchequer of legitimate tax revenue which runs to crores of rupees, Sampath said.

The AAG pointed out that earlier, in many such pleas, the high court has set aside the assessments with instructions to reopen the assessments of selling dealers.

She said the commercial taxes department had filed a criminal case as early as in 2005 against proprietors of three such firms which did 'bill trading'.

Dues to the exchequer from them was around Rs 2,750 crore at the time of filing the case, she said.

There was documentary evidence to prove that the petitioners were also listed as parties in the criminal case, which also involves banks, she said.

Recording the submissions, the judge posted the pleas to the first week of April for further hearing.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Allahabad High court has directed the state government to provide information of minor girl victims of any crime who are lodged in the Woman Protection Homes across Uttar Pradesh.

The Lucknow bench of the court has also asked as to how many of such victims have turned adult during their stay in the protection homes.

It further asked the government to place before it the policy for release of such victims from the protection homes after they attain majority because a major girl cannot be housed in protection homes against her will.

A division bench of justices D K Upadhyay and D K Singh passed the order on March 28 during a course of hearing of a Habeas Corpus petition seeking release of a girl from the protection home in Ayodhya.

Directing the principal secretary home and principal secretary child and woman welfare, the court directed them to file affidavits giving the said information within three weeks.

In-fact, the father of the victim had lodged an FIR in June 2014 that a man of his village had taken away her minor girl.

Later, the police recovered the girl and produced her before the magistrate concerned.

The magistrate had found that since the girl was minor and did not want to go with her parents, it was proper to send her to the protection home.

Since 2014, she remained in the protection home.

As she became major, a man claiming to be her husband filed a petition alleging that he had married the girl in 2014 and she is now major as per record and hence she cannot be detained in the protection home against her will.

On the direction of the court, the girl was produced in the court which asked her as to whether she wanted to go with her father or her alleged husband , she stressed that she would go with her husband who had filed the petition for her release from the protection home.

At this, the court directed for her release immediately and observed that she was free to go with anybody and only she could decide this as she was major.

The court noted that so many cases turn up in which it is found that the magistrate court directed to send the minor girl victim of a crime to protection home but even after attaining age of majority, the victims remain lodged in the home for long against her wishes until some habeas corpus petition is filed seeking interference of the HC.

Considering the issue of very public interest, the court directed the senior registrar to register the matter as PIL and place it before the appropriate court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Moscow has told Britain it must cut just over 50 more of its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia in a worsening standoff over the poisoning of a Russian former spy and his daughter in England, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. Russia has already retaliated in kind against Britain and ejected 23 British diplomats after frosty relations between London and Moscow deteriorated further over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. London says Moscow was responsible for the attack, the first known use of a military-grade nerve agent on European soil ...Scotland Yard chief Cressida Dick today blamed social media for driving young children towards violence and murder.

The 57-year-old Metropolitan Police commissioner, who started working as Scotland Yard's first female chief nearly a year ago, has made tackling of violent crime a central part of her agenda.

Often trivial disputes between young people were escalating into murder and stabbings at unprecedented rates, she told The Times.

The goading of rivals on online message boards and video sites "revs people up" and normalises violence, she warned.

"There's definitely something about the impact of social media in terms of people being able to go from slightly angry with each other to 'fight' very quickly," Dick said.

"It makes (violence) faster, it makes it harder for people to cool down. I'm sure it does rev people up," she said.

Her comments came as she announced a new task force of about 100 police officers to tackle violent crime in London as fatal stabbings in England and Wales hit their highest levels since 2011.

Dick said stop and search operations are "likely to go on going up", adding: "We will be out on the streets more."



Knife crime offences in England and Wales rose by 21 per cent in the year ending September 2017, compared to the previous 12 months, according to official police figures.

The UK government recently launched a 1.35-million-pound advertising campaign on social media to deter young people from knife crime. The adverts feature true stories of teenagers who have been stabbed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan today called upon young doctors to remain honest to their profession and aim to serve the patients rather than just running after money.

Speaking at the convocation ceremony of the Mahatma Gandhi University of Medical Sciences here, the minister said a doctor should be honest, humble, emotional and helpful.

"When a doctor gets his MBBS degree, it is not the end of the study, but actually the study of life starts at that time, he said.

Honesty and truth are powerful thing and are unbeatable, he said, adding that doctors should follow these values.

On the issues of global warming and climate change, the minister said everyone should come together to combat the challenge.

More than 500 students were given degrees on the occasion.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock frustrated Australia as South Africa continued to build an imposing first innings total on the second day of the fourth Test at the Wanderers Stadium today.

South Africa were 400 for seven at lunch, with Bavuma on 61 not out.

Bavuma and De Kock (39) put on 85 for the seventh wicket - the fifth partnership of 50 or more in the innings.

It put South Africa in a strong position in a match which the hosts need only to draw to clinch their first home series win against Australia since 1969/70. South Africa lead the series 2-1.

Resuming at 313 for six on a dark, gloomy morning, Bavuma and De Kock had to weather some challenging bowling from Pat Cummins and Chadd Sayers, armed with a ball which was only eight overs old at the start of play. The floodlights were switched on after only ten minutes.

Bavuma scored only four runs off the first 49 balls he faced on Saturday but then added another 21 runs off 21 balls to reach his fifty off 120 deliveries.

The stand was ended when the left-handed De Kock tried to work off-spinner Nathan Lyon to leg and was caught off a leading edge at mid-on.

Australia are reeling from the ball-tampering scandal which resulted in captain Steve Smith and two other players being banned and banished in last weekend's third Test in Cape Town.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Announcing a fresh action plan to mount pressure on the Centre to grant SCS to Andhra Pradesh, YSR Congress today said the party MPs would not only resign from their posts, but also launch an indefinite fast in New Delhi on the last day of the Budget session of the Parliament.

"Our party MPs will resign on the last day of the budget session and march to Andhra Bhavan in New Delhi and sit on an indefinite fast demanding Special Category Status (SCS) to the state," YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy said.

Across Andhra Pradesh, there would be relay hunger strikes by students at their respective university campuses and also in all assembly constituencies by party cadres, youth and other sections," Jagan said addressing a public meeting near Guntur as part of his ongoing paadayatra (foot march).

The Leader of the Opposition in the assembly said Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has been "resorting to theatrics which could fetch him an Oscar award in the best anti-hero category."



"For four years, Chandrababu tried to water down the SCS demand by curbing various agitations... but now he is posing himself as a champion of the cause by raising weak demands and not strongly confronting with the Centre," the YSRC chief alleged.

Immense pressure would be mounted on the Centre if all the 25 Lok Sabha members from Andhra Pradesh resigned en masse but the TDP chief had been dissuading his party MPs from quitting only to save his skin, Jagan said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Popular TV host Stephen Colbert might be on to something when he called actor Emily Blunt a "sociopath" when she appeared on his talk show.

The 53-year-old emcee asked the actor to elaborate what the "hamster rescues" were that she used to embark upon in childhood, E! reported.

"Is that a British thing that we don't know about or is that what it sounds like?" "The Late Show Thursday" questioned.

"A Quiet Place" actor then explained how she used to have a "dramatic role-play" with her "poor" pet hamster, Tigger, which may have led to his early death.

"I quite enjoyed rather dramatic role-play game. My friends were like, 'That sounds lame, but I'll go along with it because I'm at your house, and I kinda have to do it.'



"I had this lovely hamster called Tigger, who probably died before he should have died because of what I put him through. We would sort of hide Tigger under a sofa cushion, and then I'd sort of pretend the roof was coming in. And I'd be like, 'Get Tigger! The roof is falling in!' I'd dive and I'd rescue Tigger - and Tigger would just be, like... (in a daze)," Blunt said.

She, however, admitted, "It was awful!"



Colbert, then asked, "Were there adults watching you do this at the time?"To which the actor replied, "My mum had four kids. "I think she was like, 'They sound like they're OK.'"The host quipped, "Torturing animals is one of the signs of a sociopath. Generally we get those kids medication now.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The funeral of legendary British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking was held today in a private ceremony attended by around 500 people comprising family, friends and colleagues, at a church near the Cambridge University college that was his academic home for more than 50 years.

One of the world's best known scientists and author of 'A Brief History of Time' died peacefully at his Cambridge home on March 14 at the age of 76.

The British cosmologist had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease in his 20s and spent much of his life in a wheelchair.

British actor Eddie Redmayne, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of the world-famous theoretical physicist, was among the main speakers at the ceremony.

The private funeral service at the University Church of St Mary the Great near Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge University was chosen by Professor Hawking's children.

Lucy, Robert and Tim Hawking said they chose to hold the funeral in Cambridge in recognition that it is the city their father "loved so much and which loved him".

"Our father's life and work meant many things to many people, both religious and non-religious. So, the service will be both inclusive and traditional, reflecting the breadth and diversity of his life," they said in a statement.

Hundreds of people who had gathered outside the church clapped, when the hearse carrying Professor Hawking's coffin arrived. As the funeral cortege reached the church, the bells rang out 76 times, once for each year of the physicist's life.

White lilies representing the universe and white roses representing the polar star were placed on top of his coffin, carried into the church by six porters, all in traditional uniform, from Gonville and Caius College where Professor Hawking was a Fellow for more than 50 years.

The service was officiated by Reverend Dr Cally Hammond, Dean of Gonville and Caius College, which was his professional base for most of his life.

The funeral will be followed by a private reception at Trinity College, Cambridge University.

A book of condolence for the famous Fellow of Gonville and Caius College remains open at the premises as well as online.

Ahead of the funeral, the college released new black and white photographs of Hawking taken in 1961 at a summer school for young astrophysicists at a castle in Sussex, southern England, when he was 19.

They showed him playing croquet and in a sailing dinghy, two years before he began experiencing the first symptoms of the motor neurone disease that would later leave him almost completely paralysed.

It was announced earlier this month that Hawking's ashes will be buried near the grave of Newton, another famous British scientist, during a thanksgiving service on June 15.

"It is entirely fitting that the remains of Professor Stephen Hawking are to be buried in the Abbey, near those of distinguished fellow scientists. Sir Isaac Newton was buried in the Abbey in 1727. Charles Darwin was buried beside Isaac Newton in 1882," said the dean of Westminster, the Very Rev John Hall.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Locals of Khayara village today staged a protest alleging that the police had resorted to high-handedness during raids to seize the 80 tractors, which were purchased on loan and later shown as stolen.

They staged the protest at the PWD guest house where Uttar Pradesh minister Laxmi Narain Chaudhary was staying.

The minister arrived here today from state capital Lucknow.

On March 29, police confiscated as many as 80 brand new tractors purchased from neighbouring states -- Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana -- on loan, and later shown as stolen.

The villagers told Chaudhary that the police had confiscated their tractors though they had produced valid papers.

The minister asked the DM, Sarvagya Ram Mishra, and SSP Prabhakar Chaudhari to look into the matter.

SDM Rajendra Pensia; DSP, Chhatta, Chandradhar Gaur and other officials would verify the papers of the villagers, the minister said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A group of students today staged a demonstration near the Central Board of Secondary (CBSE) office at Preet Vihar here against the leak of Class 10 Mathematics and Class 12 Economics papers.

"The students tried to block the road in front of the CBSE office, but we kept them away. A group of about 25-30 students are protesting outside the CBSE office," said a senior Delhi Police officer.

The board has announced a re-examination of the Class 12 Economics paper on April 25, while the re-test for the Class 10 Mathematics paper is likely to be conducted in July.

Secretary Anil Swarup said yesterday that a preliminary enquiry had revealed that the leak for the Class 10 Mathematics paper was restricted to Delhi and Haryana.

Two cases have been registered in the paper leak incident so far. The Crime Branch of Delhi Police has questioned nearly 60 people, including students and tutors, in this connection.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Syria's army today promised to finish off rebels in a final holdout of the crumbling opposition bastion of Eastern Ghouta where talks on a possible evacuation deal have stalled.

The army said it would press "fighting in the area of Douma to rid it of terrorism", referring to rebels in a final pocket comprising the former bastion's main town.

The announcement came shortly after state media said a penultimate pocket of Eastern Ghouta was "empty of terrorism" after tens of thousands were bussed out of it under an evacuation deal.

Thousands more were also evacuated from a first pocket under a similar deal last week, but Russia-backed talks have stalled over a possible evacuation of fighters and civilians from Douma.

Jaish al-Islam, the rebel group that controls Douma, has refused to leave.

With the latest evacuations, Russia-backed regime forces have retaken 95 per cent of Eastern Ghouta since launching a blistering assault on February 18, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

That assault has killed more than 1,600 civilians and seen tens of thousands more flee the fighting into regime-held areas, the Britain-based monitor says.

The evacuation deals have seen fighters and civilians driven to the northwestern province of Idlib, the last in Syria to be largely outside government control.

The regime retaking Eastern Ghouta would be a considerable victory in Syria's seven-year war, which has killed more than 350,000 people and displaced millions.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A large section of Tamils living in the national capital today took out a protest march from Rajiv Chowk to Jantar Mantar against the expansion of a copper smelting plant at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu, over health concerns.

Co-convener of Delhi Tamil Youth Forum Manoj Selvaraj said, "The government has approved expansion of copper smelting plant and SIPCOT has alloted an area of 640 acres for this purpose."



If the expansion gets completed, the condition of the environment around the industrial area would worsen as it would contaminate ground water and pollute the air, he said.

A leading copper producer, Sterlite Copper represents the copper unit of Vedanta Limited, which operates a 4,00,000 tonne per annum capacity plant in Thoothukudi.

Actor Rajinikanth today took a dig apparently at the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu over the issue of the expansion of the plant saying the government was not responding to the protests by locals.

In a tweet, the superstar said that people had been protesting against the Sterlite Copper smelter plant for the past 47 days citing health concerns.

"One can't understand why the government, which gave the nod for the plant, is not taking any action and is just watching," he said in a Tamil tweet.

Residents of A Kumarareddiyapuram village near the Sterlite unit have been agitating against the existing unit and its proposed expansion.

Various political parties, including DMK and MDMK have supported the people's protest.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The railways on Saturday said it had achieved its target of installing LED lights across its network on Friday, a move that would help the national transporter save Rs 500 million per annum in electricity bills.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had initially set the target of achieving 100-per cent LED lighting by March 31, 2019. Subsequently, the deadline was revised to March 31, 2018.

"As per the direction and guidance of the MR (Minister of Railways), concerted effort of the Railway Board and Zonal Railways, has achieved 100 per cent provision of LED lights in all the stations on 30.3.18," a statement from the railway ministry said.

It added that the move would help the railways save Rs 500 million per annum in electricity bills and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 60,000 ton.

"The target was completed one day before. South Central Railway was the first Railway to complete the work, followed by the other Zonal Railways," the statement said.President Donald Trump blasted California Gov Jerry Brown today for his pardon of five ex-convicts facing deportation, including two who fled the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia with their families four decades ago.

In a tweet , Trump referred to Brown as "Moonbeam," referencing a nickname a newspaper columnist coined for him in the 1970s.

Trump then listed the ex-convicts' crimes before they were pardoned yesterday. They include misdemeanor domestic violence, drug possession, and kidnapping and robbery.

Trump wrote: "Is this really what the great people of California want?"



A spokesman for Brown responded to a request for comment with more information about the five men but did not directly address Trump's criticism.

In a release about the pardons yesterday, the governor's office said that "those granted pardons all completed their sentences years ago and the majority were convicted of drug-related or other non-violent crimes."



"Pardons are not granted unless they are earned," the governor's office said.

Brown's pardons marked the third time the Democrat has intervened on behalf of immigrants who were deported or faced deportation over convictions. Brown has accused the Trump administration of "basically going to war" with California over immigration policy.

Brown's pardons don't automatically stop deportation proceedings, but eliminate the convictions on which authorities based their deportation.

Trump has been criticised for his own pardon, that of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted last year of a misdemeanor contempt charge for flouting the courts in carrying out his signature immigration patrols.

Trump's pardon spared Arpaio from a possible jail sentence. The 85-year-old longtime lawman announced a run for Senate in January.

Those pardoned yesterday by Brown included Sokha Chhan and Phann Pheach, who face deportation to Cambodia, a country ruled in the 1970s by the genocidal Khmer Rouge.

Chhan was convicted of two counts of misdemeanour domestic violence in 2002 and served about a year in jail. Pheach was convicted of possessing drugs and obstructing a police officer in 2005 and served six months in jail. His wife said he is in federal custody.

Also pardoned was Daniel Maher, who served five years in prison stemming from the 1994 armed robbery of a San Jose auto parts store. He was convicted of kidnapping, robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm in the case.

Maher is facing deportation to China, where he has never lived. Maher is from Macau, which became part of China after his family immigrated to California when he was 3.

Also pardoned while facing deportation were Daniel Mena and Francisco Acevedo Alaniz. Mena served three years of probation after being convicted of possessing illegal drugs in 2003. Alaniz served five months in prison for a 1997 car theft conviction.

The governor is a former Jesuit seminarian and traditionally issues pardons close to major Christian holidays. Easter falls on Sunday.

California's longest-serving governor has now issued 1,519 pardons, including 404 during his first two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Turkey today warned France against increasing its military presence in Syria, saying it would be an "invasion", as tensions between Paris and Ankara remained high.

Temperatures were raised after French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday met a delegation of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) made up of Kurdish and Arab fighters.

Kurdish officials said afterwards that France was planning to send new troops to Manbij -- a northern Syrian town held by the Kurdish YPG militia -- which Paris denied.

"If France takes any steps regarding its military presence in northern Syria, this would be an illegitimate step that would go against international law and in fact, it would be an invasion," Turkish Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli said.

"Especially if they intend to support terror group elements or give direct or indirect protection with armed forces, this would be a really calamitous step," he added during a visit to the northeastern province of Giresun.

Turkey itself sent troops into Syria and launched an operation against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in its Afrin enclave on January 20 and drove out the group from the city on March 18.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly warned that Turkey could extend the offensive to Manbij, which is east of Afrin.

But Macron's office yesterday said Paris was not planning any new military operation on the ground in northern Syria outside the international coalition against the Islamic State extremist group.

Ankara views the YPG as a "terrorist" offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged an over three-decade insurgency in Turkey.

The PKK is blacklisted as a terror organisation by Turkey and its Western allies.

But the United States, as well as France, have worked closely with the YPG in the fight against IS in Syria, much to Ankara's anger.

Erdogan yesterday criticised France's "wrong stance" and rejected Macron's offer of establishing a dialogue between Ankara and the SDF.

"We have no need for mediation," Erdogan said. "You can sit down at the table with terror organisations but Turkey will continue its fight against terror.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A post-graduate student of Hyderabad Central University (HCU) and one of his friends were arrested for allegedly plotting to kill Vice-Chancellor P Appa Rao to avenge the suicide of Rohith Vemula, the police said today.

East Godavari district Superintendent of Police (SP) Vishal Gunni said Chandan Kumar Mishra of Kolkata, an MA student in HCU, and his friend Ankala Pridhvi Raj were apprehended by the police on the basis of suspicion during a routine vehicle checking on the Bhadrachalam-Charla road, bordering Telangana.

During questioning, the two revealed that they plotted to kill the HCU VC to avenge the death of Vemula, a PhD scholar of the university who had committed suicide in his hostel room in 2016, the SP said.

The two were put on the operation by outlawed CPI (Maoist) Central Committee member Pulluri Prasada Rao alias Chandranna and Telangana State Committee Secretary Hari Bhushan alias Yapa Narayana, the officer added.

Narayana had promised Mishra that he would be a made an important cadre of the CPI (Maoist) if the VC was killed, the SP said.

Mishra met Raj, who belongs to Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh, at the university in 2016 and became friends, he added.

Raj is currently a fourth-year student of law in Vijayawada.

Mishra had joined the HCU in 2013 for his MA.

"The two got attracted to Maoist ideology and started luring other students as well by conducting classes," the SP said.

Vemula's suicide in January, 2016 had triggered a nationwide protest, demanding justice for him.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The UK's largest teaching union today warned against pressuring schools into banning hijab for very young girls for fear of increasing backlash from the local communities.

The National Education Union (NEU), which is debating the issue at a meeting in Brighton over the weekend, criticised the country's schools watchdog for interfering in the matter.

The chief of the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) Amanda Spielman has spoken out about her concerns over Muslim girls as young as five wearing the headscarf and suggested that school inspectors explore why they are doing so.

"I think it is a problem that Amanda Spielman, Her Majesty's chief inspector [of schools], speaks out on this in a way which I think is frankly very political," said Kevin Courtney, the joint general secretary of the NEU, at the opening of the NEU's annual conference yesterday.

"People feeling so much pressure from Ofsted, our worry is that instead of consultation we will find schools saying: we are going to ban the hijab. And we think that would be very damaging to community relations. It's not a sensible place to go, so our guidance will be about how you have dialogue, respectful dialogue and dialogue based on love for one another," he said.

Courtney said that new guidance from the union would be issued to schools on developing uniform policies, making clear that headteachers should not take the decision but needed to reach an agreement with the local community.

The comments come in the wake of controversy around St Stephen's School in east London's attempt to ban the hijab for very young girls.

It led to complaints of bullying of the school's staff, including Indian-origin principal Neena Lall, and Spielman came out in support of Lall.

But after heavy opposition from community leaders and abusive comments on social media, Lall was forced to withdraw the ban earlier this year.

Spielman had earlier announced that Ofsted inspectors would ask young pupils themselves why they wore the hijab in an attempt to build a wider picture.

"That individual Ofsted inspectors would ask individual Muslim girls why they were wearing the hijab, and then to imply that they were wearing the hijab because they had been sexualised, indicates somebody who isn't in touch with Muslim communities at all," Courtney said, as he tabled a motion to be debated by the NEU.

The motion states that Spielman's statements "have ramifications beyond the school gates and must be seen in the context of increased attacks on the Muslim community and particular stereotypes about Muslim girls and Muslim women".

Ofsted branded the NEU's comments "disappointing".

"There's nothing political about ensuring that schools and parents aren't being subject to undue pressure by national or community campaign groups.

"Headteachers need to be able to take uniform decisions on the basis of safeguarding or community cohesion concerns, and Ofsted will always support them in doing that," a spokesperson said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an "independent and transparent investigation" after 16 Palestinians were killed and hundreds more wounded during clashes with the Israeli military, a spokesman said.

His call came as the UN Security Council heard fears of a further escalation in Israeli-Palestinian violence in the Gaza Strip during emergency talks.

"The Secretary-General calls for an independent and transparent investigation into these incidents," said a statement by Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq yesterday, which also reaffirmed "the readiness" of the world body to revitalize peace efforts.

Haq added that Guterres "also appeals to those concerned to refrain from any act that could lead to further casualties and in particular any measures that could place civilians in harm's way."



Kuwait requested an emergency meeting to discuss the unravelling situation in Gaza, which saw the conflict's deadliest single day since the 2014 Gaza war.

"There is fear that the situation might deteriorate in the coming days," said assistant UN secretary general for political affairs, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, urging maximum restraint.

Britain and the United States expressed regret that the timing of the meeting -- the first night of Passover -- meant Israeli officials could not attend. Leading ambassadors sent deputies in their place.

"It's vital that this Council be balanced in its approach," a US diplomat told the meeting. "We should have found an arrangement for all parties to participate tonight," he added.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of life today," the diplomat added. "Bad actors who use protests as a cover to incite violence endanger innocent lives."



"The risk of escalation is very real," the French representative said. "There is the possibility of a new conflict in the Gaza Strip."In a written statement before the meeting, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, blamed Hamas for the violence.

"While Jews around the world gathered with their family at the Seder table to celebrate the Passover holiday, the Palestinians sunk to a new deceitful low so that they could use the UN to spread lies about Israel," Danon later said.

The violence broke out as tens of thousands of Gazans marched near the Israeli border to demand the right of return for Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled since the creation of Israel.

Israeli troops used tear gas and live fire to force back Palestinians who approached the heavily fortified border fence.

Israeli tank fire and an air strike also targeted three Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip after what the military said was an attempted shooting attack against soldiers along the border that caused no injuries.

The health ministry in Gaza said 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces and more than 1,400 were injured, including 758 by live fire, with the remainder hurt by rubber bullets and tear gas.

Palestinians accused Israel of using disproportionate force. The Israeli military said the protests were used as cover by militants to either break through the border or carry out attacks.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey today accused the RJD and Congress of trying to flare up "riots" in Bihar and said the NDA governments at the Centre and in the state would take stern action against such attempts.

He also claimed that the Centre and the Bihar government had foiled attempts to cause "riots" in Bihar, although the RJD and Congress "wanted" the disturbances.

Bihar has witnessed a spurt in communal clashes of late. On March 17, violence had broken out in Bhagalpur, where a religious procession was being led by Choubey's son, Arijit Shashwat.

"We will defeat the intention of the RJD and Congress to instigate riots. The conspirators wanted to cause riots, but no one dared to do so and we have kept Bihar under control. The Bihar government and the Centre will together defeat the attempts to disturb harmony in the state," the minister said.

Yesterday, in another incident of communal flare-up in Bihar, scores of vehicles were vandalised and a hotel was set ablaze at Nawada, where the members of two communities clashed following reports of desecration of an idol.

Choubey also accused the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government of "failing" to deal with the situation in that state.

"The West Bengal government has completely failed to maintain harmony and tolerance among the people," he alleged.

Asansol and Raniganj in West Burdwan district of West Bengal had witnessed violent clashes between two groups over Ram Navami celebrations on Sunday and Monday.

Official sources had said one person was killed and two police officers were injured in the clashes.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The United States is "deeply saddened" following clashes in Gaza near the Israeli border that left 16 Palestinians dead and wounded hundreds more, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said today.

"We are deeply saddened by loss of life in #Gaza today," Nauert wrote on Twitter. "We urge those involved to take steps to lower tensions."



"Int'l community is focused on taking steps that will improve the lives of the Palestinians and is working on a plan for peace. Violence furthers neither of those goals."



The protest -- the conflict's worst single day of violence since the 2014 Gaza war -- saw demonstrators including women and children gather at multiple sites throughout the blockaded territory, which is flanked by Israel along its eastern and northern borders.

Smaller numbers approached within a few hundred meters of the heavily fortified border fence, with Israeli troops using tear gas and live fire to force them back.

The health ministry in Gaza said 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces.

More than 1,400 were injured, including 758 by live fire, with the remainder hurt by rubber bullets and tear gas inhalation, it said.

Palestinians accused Israel of using disproportionate force, as did Turkey.

The UN Security Council was to hold closed-door talks about the situation in Gaza later Friday at the request of Kuwait, a diplomat said.

The United States plans to open its embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, which coincides with the 70th anniversary of the creation of Israel.

The move has triggered outrage among Palestinians.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Delhi-bound Vistara flight, operated with an A320 neo aircraft, returned to Ahmedabad following engine problems on Friday, according to the airline.

In a tweet, the airline said the flight had returned after take-off due to "some engine vibration".

The number of passengers in the flight could not be immediately ascertained.

In a statement, a Vistara spokesperson said the flight UK966 returned to Ahmedabad due to technical issues and that a ferry aircraft was arranged for the passengers to fly them to the national capital.

"Our Airbus A320 neo aircraft have engines made by a different manufacturer and are not affected by the engine issues that relate to the other engine choice," as per the tweet.

Vistara's A320 neos are powered by CFM engines.

The A320 neos with Pratt & Whitney engines of certain series have been been facing problems and some of such planes have been grounded.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi today held an hour-long meeting with senior police and administration officials here and took stock of the situation in violence-hit areas of Raniganj and Asansol.

One person was killed and two police officers suffered serious injuries on Monday when clashes broke out between two groups over a Ram Navami procession in Raniganj area of Bardhaman West district.

The violence fanned out to Asansol areas, prompting police to suspend Internet services and clamp prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC in trouble-torn areas of the district.

The governor, who reached Asansol circuit house this morning, is scheduled to visit the violence-hit areas of Raniganj and Asansol areas later in the day.

Earlier this week, the state government had advised him against visiting Asansol and Raniganj, citing security reasons.

Union minister Babul Supriyo and state BJP Mahila Morcha president Locket Chatterjee were also stopped from entering the Asansol-Raniganj area by police on Thursday.

The Imam of Noorani Masjid, Imdatullah Rashid, had said that his son was also killed in the violence but there was no confirmation from the police on the incident. Rashid had also appealed for peace in the area.

Prohibitory orders are still in force as the situation here is tense, a senior police officer said.

"No fresh incident of violence was reported from the area in last three days," he said, adding that a huge contingent of the police and the Rapid Action Force (RAF) is patrolling the area.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami today said his government would take all steps to protect the livelihood of farmers and restore the state's rights in the ongoing dispute over sharing of Cauvery water with Karnataka.

Both the Centre and Tamil Nadu moved the Supreme Court today on the issue of constitution and composition of the Cauvery Water Management Board in compliance with the February 16 apex court verdict on the vexed issue.

Hitting out at the Centre, Palaniswami said the Centre could have filed its petition soon after the verdict. "But it was doing it now..," he said.

The Centre was yet to constitute the CWMB and Central Water Regulatory Committee despite his party MPs raising the issue and stalling proceedings of Parliament for 17 days, Palaniswami said in an official release.

In its plea, the Centre sought three-months time to implement the apex court order due to the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections.

Besides extension of time, the Centre asked for clarification on various issues for formulation of a "scheme" for implementing the decision of the top court.

The chief minister said following discussions with senior government officials, it was decided that a contempt of court petition be filed in the apex court as the six week deadline issued by it for formulating a 'scheme' elapsed on March 29.

The contempt of court petition was filed in the supreme court today, he said.

"I have also advised the senior advocates representing the government to take up the petition before the first bench (of the Supreme Court) on April 2," he said.

Palaniswami said he has also advised them to request the apex court to dismiss the centre's plea at the admission stage itself and issue a direct order towards formation of CWMB and CWRC.

He said his government would continue to take all steps towards safeguarding the livelihood of farmers and restore the rights of the state on the Cauvery issue.

The chief minister recalled the initiatives taken by the government on the matter.

He said soon after the AIADMK came to power in 2011, former chief minister J Jayalalithaa continued to press the Centre over the issue.

Following this, the Centre notified the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal on the Supreme Court direction on February 19, 2013, he said.

Palaniswami said in its February verdict this year, the apex court had raised the 270 tmcft share of Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu's share of Cauvery water.

It had granted six weeks time to the Centre to formulate a scheme to ensure compliance of its 465-page judgement, which modified the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal Award.

Following the verdict, Tamil Nadu has been urging the Centre to set up the CWMB and CWRC to ensure it received its due share of water from the inter-state river.

Palaniswami said a meeting with various political party leaders along with farmers' association was conducted on February 22. It was decided that suitable steps would be taken after getting the opinion from legal experts.

He recalled that during the brief visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the city on February 24, he had personally urged him to constitute CWMB and CWRC.

During the meeting conducted by the Central Water Commission, the Chief Secretary along with senior government officials had also sought formation of the CWMB.

Palaniswami said a special resolution was also passed unanimously in the Assembly on March 15 and a copy of it was also sent to the Prime Minister the same day.

Meanwhile, AIADMK MP P Nagarajan, representing Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituency, today said he was ready to quit his membership over the delay in CWMB's formation.

The Centre should constitute the board, he said, adding, if not, he was ready to step down as MP.

DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi alleged that the Centre has "wantonly" delayed setting up the CWMB.

The centre has kept in abeyance "an important issue of Tamil Nadu" keeping in mind the upcoming Karnataka assembly polls and its filing a plea in the apex court is only to "buy time," she said at Tirunelveli.

The MP slammed the state government for not pressuring the Centre enough on the state's rights on the Cauvery and described it as a "non-performing" government.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Newly-appointed AICC general secretary in-charge for organisation and training Ashok Gehlot today said he would work towards strengthening the Congress before the 2019 General Elections.

The former Rajasthan chief minister yesterday replaced Congress veteran Janardan Dwivedi for the post.

Gehlot also said that he was given the new responsibility because of his loyalty towards the party and Congress president Rahul Gandhi's trust in him.

"I would do everything possible to rise to his (Gandhi) expectation," he told reporters here.

The Congress leader arrived in Jodhpur yesterday to condole the death of his close friend Jawahar Surana.

Surana, a senior Rajasthan Congress functionary, died yesterday at a private hospital from prolonged illness.

Terming his new role in the party a "huge responsibility", Gehlot said, "I would do my best to meet the party's expectations. I have always treated myself as a simple worker of the party regardless of the responsibilities and have always tried to put in my best."



"This is a huge responsibility for me and I would now work to further consolidate the position of the party keeping in view the general election next year," he said.

"We together would work for strengthening the party, expand its base and bring it back to the power in the Centre by infusing a new life in the Congress and its cadres across the country, Gehlot said.

He said more youths would associate with the Congress after they are told about the party's ideology and the contribution and sacrifices of great leaders.

"We need to think about the atmosphere of fear, hatred, intolerance and violence that has been prevailing in the country these days," Gehlot said.

The Congress would work for "restoration of affection, love and humanity across communities and bring a peaceful atmosphere in the country", he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!This is the blog of Dr Caitlin Green FSA. It features posts on my main academic research foci alongside other topics that I'm currently working on, including drafts of papers, ideas and similarthese are usually identifiable by the presence of footnotes. You're free to cite these drafts if they are of interest, and are reminded that academic blogs are indeed citable under most citation systems. In addition, the current site also houses posts relating to my personal interests, including long-distance trade, migration and contacts; landscape and coastal history; early literature and legends; and the history, archaeology, place-names and legends of Lincolnshire and Cornwall. For further details of this website & how to contact me, please see the ' About ' page or @caitlinrgreen on Twitter.| BY Ricki Green |

Judging of The One Show and ADC 97th Annual Awards is currently underway in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Each day, they are posting a brief Pick of the Day video interview with a One Show or ADC Annual Awards jury member, where they tell us about one piece of work that really impressed them.

When President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, he was en route to give a speech at the Dallas Trade Mart. Thanks to the efforts of Dublins Rothco, the speech JFK never got to give in real life was painstakingly composed using hundreds of thousands of sound clips of his voice. This became JFK Unsilenced, created for The Sunday Times, and is BETC Paris creative director and One Show 2018 Interactive Jury Member Stephan Schwarzs Pick of the Day.| BY Lynchy |

Gavin Simpson, chief creative officer at Ogilvy & Mather Malaysia, has announced that he is leaving the network. He has enjoyed a stellar 20 year career at Ogilvy, having left and rejoined the network twice before.

Following the recent network restructure that installed Ajab Samrai as chief creative officer for Ogilvy South East Asia and Reed Collins as chief creative officer for Ogilvy North Asia, the network has announced that they will not be replacing Simpsons CCO position.

Eugene Cheong, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific & Singapore told Campaign Brief Asia: Gavin has been with Ogilvy for so long, he has become more than a colleague to me. I am sad that he is leaving. I wish him the very best as he embarks on his next chapter.

Simpson originally joined Ogilvy & Mather Malaysia back in 1991. After a 3-year stint at Naga DDB, Gavin returned to Ogilvy in 2000 and went on to win Malaysias first Gold & Silver One Show Pencils. In 2002, Ogilvy Kuala Lumpur was ranked the 10th most Creative Agency in Asia by in the Campaign Brief Asia Creative Rankings, and he was ranked the No.1 local creative in 2002 and 2003. After 3 years with Ogilvy & Mather Malaysia, Gavin had stints at Y&R Malaysia and Leo Burnett Indonesia where he transformed both agencies creative products. In 2005, Gavin joined Ogilvy & Mather Philippines and led the office to win 4As Creative Agency of the Year in 2006.

Simpson then moved back to Malaysia in 2010 from the ECD role at Ogilvy Hong Kong to take up the role of Group Executive Creative Director of Ogilvy Malaysia and within 6 months they pick up a Bronze Lion in Cannes.

In 2011, Ogilvy KL picked up a Gold, Silver & Bronze Lion. They were also awarded Agency Of the Year at Spikes Asia in 2011. In 2012 the agency scored a rare Nomination and Yellow Pencil at D&AD and in 2013 Ogilvy KL picked up 2 Silver Lions and 2 Bronze Lions.

In 2013 Ogilvy KL was ranked 2nd most creative office among all Ogilvy offices worldwide. Over the past two years the agency  and indeed, the whole Malaysian Ad Industry  has struggled creatively at award shows.Notice for the Postmedia Network

This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.Friday, March 30, 2018 at 11:27PM

You may or may not know Kodi. Its software that can be used on set-top boxes or other devices to stream media. It supports many third-party add-ons with some giving users access to pirated content. And that is what Google is trying to put a stop to as part of its anti-piracy efforts. How are they doing this? For the term Kodi, Google wont autocomplete it for you. Some of the other things Google has done in the past is change its search algorithms to demote copyright-infringing material. Now when you type kod into Google, suggestions would include kodiak and kodak black but no kodi. However, once youve typed out kodi, search options like kodi addons and kodi download appear.

Nathan Betzen, the president of XMBC Foundation which operates of Kodi, expressed his disappointment over the decision, We are surprised and disappointed to discover Kodi has been removed from autocomplete as Kodi is perfectly legal open source software. And while that is true, its platform is a space that allows for piracy to exist and that is what Google argues is what theyve been doing. A Google spokesperson told TorrentFreak that Since 2011, we have been filtering certain terms closely associated with copyright infringement from Google Autocomplete. This action is consistent with that long-standing strategy.news, latest-news

Industry concerns have been raised after more than 1000 compliance flaws were discovered in a government energy efficiency audit covering only a small fraction of building approvals. Between July 2016 and June 2017 the government randomly audited 616 separate energy efficiency ratings, discovering a combined total of 1264 non-compliances. The rating system is used to show a building's energy efficiency when it is either first built, or when it is sold or leased to a new owner. Common issues discovered during the audit process included failures to submit required documents, failures to correctly model a building's air leakage, and the use of the wrong window sizes to calculate ratings. Industry figures have been quick to criticise the ACT government's audit process and the administration of the energy efficiency scheme in general. Trevor Lee, a director of Canberra's Exemplary Energy Partners consultancy, said the use of out-of-date software was affecting the reliability of the energy rating scheme. "For six years or so the software that has been used to rate existing houses is different from the software used to rate new houses, which is much closer to simulating reality," he said. "The bureaucracy is still reluctant to have the ratings done with the same software, so that a rating of a house when it is built is the same as the rating given during the building approval process." Stronger enforcement action was also needed to weed-out businesses operating in the sector without the right skills or experience, Mr Lee said. "You've got this result of rampant non-compliance, but who has lost their licence," he said. "It should be three strikes and you're out for 12 months." Of the 616 audits performed by the ACT government, 222 covered new residential building approvals and 384 covered old buildings that were being sold or leased. The number of audits performed covers about 5 per cent of the relevant energy ratings awarded. The vast majority of these were desktop audits, with just 10 physical inspections performed during the audit process. One Canberra energy rating professional, who asked not to be named, also raised concerns about the software used to devise ratings, as well as the desktop audit process. "They did their audit from their desks. You cannot do an energy rating audit from your desk, you have to go on site," the professional said. "There are also massive issues around the lack of training. Practically anyone can go and have a crack at this if they can muddle their way through the software," they added. An Access Canberra spokesman said the government was confident in the effectiveness of its residential energy rating audit process. "Through its compliance framework, Access Canberra has been actively working with the EER industry to improve the quality of rating documentation and to reduce the number of non-conformances occurring," the spokesman said. The government would perform physical audits on a further six buildings this financial year, the spokesman added.

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/d46bc4dd-9d59-4650-b198-82774a619e1b/r0_23_320_204_w1200_h678_fmax.jpgTo the editor:

In regards to changing the regulations to allow home owners to park RVs, boats, trailers, commercial vehicles in their driveways and/or front yards.

When we chose to purchase a home in Cape Coral, one of the reasons we did so was because city code did not allow homeowners to park RVs, boats, commercial vehicles in their front yards or driveways. In addition, we took into consideration the cost to store a boat, and opted to pay a higher purchase price for a home that was on a canal to store a boat. All current Cape Coral home owners also knew of this regulation when they decided on what property to purchase.

If there is such a high demand of buyers who want to have a residence that allows parking of RVs, boats, and commercial vehicles in their front yards or driveways, the best solution would be to develop a neighborhood community that could accommodate the parking of these vehicles per the homeowners needs.

I do not wish to drive down my street or look out my front window and see RVs, boats and commercial vehicles, larger than the homes, disrupting the view, and lowering both the curb appeal,and property values. Currently we have abandoned cars/boats in side yards that code compliance has been unable to do any enforcement to have the homeowner remove.

Cape Coral City Council, do you want to look out your front window every day and not see your neighbors home and landscaping but a parking lot of cars, RVs, trailers and boats?

Did you consider that the original Cape Coral neighborhood was not designed to store large vehicles in the front; 50 percent of the homes are less than 1500 square, feet, have a one-car garage and single driveway? If a 30- plus foot boat or RV is parked in the drive where will the resident park their cars? In the street, that currently has no sidewalks, or possibly block the bicycle lanes.

In addition, you are putting the safety of bicyclists, walkers and children going to the school bus at risk as they must maneuver around these obstacles in the road in areas with known poor lighting.

Florida, including Cape Coral, already has a high incidence of hit and runs involving pedestrians and bicyclists.

I really believe more consideration needs to be taken of everyones safety before taking any action to relax this regulation.

Deb Huffman

Cape CoralUnfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.According to KAL Hotel Network, a subsidiary of Korean Air under Hanjin Group, 44-year-old Cho was approved as its president during a shareholders meeting held Thursday. There was no legal problem with rehiring Cho, said a Hanjin spokesperson, adding that the group aimed to tap her abundant experience.

Cho, the eldest daughter of Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho and former executive vice president of Korean Air, has become a high-profile icon of power abuse after she ordered her flight to return to the gate in NY because she was upset about the way her macadamia nuts were served in 2014. Korean Air, owned by Hanjin, is Korea's largest flag carrier.

Sources close to the industry argue Cho hasn't returned to her original position as president due to her widely negative public image.

The airlines already have shared space in the new Terminal 2 at Seoul's Incheon International Airport.

Her comeback comes three months after the Supreme Court upheld a lower court's suspended sentence for Cho, who was indicted on charges of violating the aviation security law, coercion and abuse of power. The firm operates Grand Hyatt Incheon and KAL hotels in resort island Jejudo.

After approval from both the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, Delta Air Lines and Korean Air have made their joint venture partnership official.

The nut rage scandal had a significant impact on both South Korean society and the economy, with share prices of Korean Air tanking by almost 5 percent around the "nut rage" incident. He has reportedly been demoted by the company and is still undergoing treatment after the stressful incident.

The post has been liked more than 3,000 times.

He claims he has faced accusations of faking illness and abusing junior staff from fellow colleagues, and called the tumor a sign of the tough times.Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here.Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved. B.C. Premier Christy Clark speaks to reporters in the Foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, March 31, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Premier Christy Clark is projecting British Columbia will rival energy giant Alberta in terms of "contribution to Canada" once the province starts exporting liquefied natural gas to Asia.

Clark was preaching the gospel of natural gas exports Monday in Ottawa with a large delegation that included about two dozen energy industry business people and three First Nations leaders.

"We have a chance in British Columbia to do as much or more for the country as Alberta has done," Clark said of her province's energy export potential.

"We should all be very proud of what Alberta's contributed to Canada. We have our chance in BC now to make a similar sized contribution to Confederation, and we want to do it."

However, no final investment deals have been signed and Clark could not predict whether any will be completed this year.

The latest BC budget didn't project revenues from liquefied natural gas for the next three years.

Greg Rickford, the federal natural resources minister, told the House of Commons the Conservative government approved four long-term LNG export licences for British Columbia last week.

"The growing demand for natural gas makes Asia an ideal place for diversifying our energy markets," Rickford told the House as Clark watched from the visitor's gallery.

"Estimates suggest that the natural gas sector could create 54,000 jobs per year between 2012 and 2035 in British Columbia."Photo: GovCan Flickr

Andrew Scheer, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the official opposition, is coming to Penticton next week.

Scheer will be giving a talk entitled "The Competitiveness of Business" at the Days Inn Conference Centre on April 5.

Tickets are $12 per person, which includes a light breakfast and the opportunity to participate in a question period with Scheer.

Guests are asked to come prepared with questions regarding small business taxes, the federal budget and inter-provincial trade.

The event runs from 9 - 10:30 a.m. For more information, call 778-476-3111 or click here for registration details.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 31)  President Rodrigo Duterte will have more trips to other Asian countries this April.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque told CNN Philippines Duterte will head to China on April 9 to attend the "Boao Forum for Asia" in the Hainan province of China.

The Boao forum is an economic summit "dedicated to promoting Asian countries to achieve common development through further integration of regional economy."

The next day on April 10, Duterte will head to Hong Kong to meet with the Filipino community there.

Duterte is also expected to attend the 32nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Singapore from April 25 to 28.

The President did not attend the ASEAN-Australia Summit from March 17 to 18, citing "developments at home" requiring his presence as the reason. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano took his place as a special representative.

The trip will mark the President's third visit to China after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in October 2016, and attending the "Belt and Road Forum (BRF) for International Cooperation" in May 2017.

Duterte has pursued warmer ties with China, so far refusing to raise an international court's 2016 ruling on the maritime row upholding the Philippines' claims over contested islands in the South China Sea.

Earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the eastern giant welcomes Duterte to participate in the Boao forum, believing that Duterte's visit will further promote the development of bilateral relations.

The President's most recent foreign trip was in India in January, where he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the ASEAN-India Summit. Among those discussed during the trip were producing medicines in the Philippines and $1.25 billion (65.2 billion) worth of investment pledges from Indian companies.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 31)  The military captured an Abu Sayyaf subleader Saturday after a brief clash between its troops and members of the bandit group.

In a press release, the Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Mindanao Command (WesMinCom) said the military nabbed ASG subleader Walton Juljirin during clearing operations in Sulu.

Civilians tipped troops who were on rescue operations for ASG kidnap victims on the location of the group. The soldiers then encountered about five Abu Sayyaf members under Juljirin, the military said.

The bandits were supposedly hiding at Sitio Kan Bading, Brgy. Taung in Patikul, Sulu after a clash with the military earlier in March.

The members escaped after a five-minute firefight with the military which left one of the bandits severely wounded.

Soldiers eventually captured Juljirin during clearing operations, Joint Task Force Sulu commander Brigadier General Cirilito Sobejana said.

Sobejana said the military immediately gave the wounded subleader medical attention and brought him to the headquarters of the 501st Brigade in Brgy Tagbak, Indanan, Sulu.

According to the military, Juljirins group is responsible for a series of improvised explosive device (IED) and roadside bombings along the highway of Patikul Sulu.

The AFP recovered one cal 7.62 FN-G1 rifle, magazines, ammunitions, suspected Improvised Explosive Device and two hand grenades from the encounter.

A total of 84 Abu Sayyaf members have been neutralized this 2018 due to intensified operations by military Joint Task Forces in Western Mindanao.

remaining of

Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 31)  The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) arrested two suspects carrying 2.5 million worth of illegal drugs in Quezon City on Black Saturday morning.

Anti-drug operatives caught suspects Mongcao Sabino and Saima Mipandong in a buy-bust operation at Robinsons Novaliches mall parking, carrying 500 grams of suspected shabu.

Sabino and Mipandong, who claimed to be from Marawi City, were supposed to deliver the drugs to Mindanao by land.

Authorities are investigating if the suspects are linked to a syndicate.

In June 2017, there were two instances of authorities confiscating drugs in the war-torn city. Both were seized in houses linked to the rebel group Maute, which led to suspicions of a drug laboratory hidden in the area.

READ: Packs of shabu, drug paraphernalia seized by troops in Maute stronghold in Marawi

READ: Shabu recovered from ex-Marawi Mayor's houseMen and women have themselves crucified in the annual re-enactment of Jesus Christ's crucifixion in three barangays in San Fernando, Pampanga.

San Fernando, Pampanga (CNN Philippines)  Many Filipinos seek penance during Holy Week in many ways  from joining processions, visiting churches to doing charitable acts.

The Catholics do this yearly tradition to atone for their sins and pray for miracles.

But for the so-called "Ben Kristo" of San Fernando, Pampanga, pain is necessary when asking for forgiveness from God.

"Kailangan pag namanata ka, may kaunting sakit sa ating katawan," said 58-year-old Ruben Enaje, who has been nailed to a cross for 32 years every Good Friday.

[Translation: When you make a vow, you need to experience pain.]

Enaje is one of the eight men and a woman who had themselves crucified during city's annual Lenten rites in San Fernando, Pampanga.

"Kung hindi mo sasaktan ang iyong katawan o sarili sa pamamanata, hindi na panata 'yun," Enaje said.

[Translation: It's not a vow if you don't hurt yourself.]

Citing the example of Jesus going to heaven after he died on the cross, Enaje said inflicting pain on oneself will eventually lead to good outcomes in life.

Enaje, however, clarified the pain should not be excessive so as not to endanger a devotee's life.

Ruben Enaje has been taking part in the "Senakulo" for 32 years by being crucified.

No more pain

After more than three decades of being crucified, Enaje said the pain becomes less.

Prior to his crucifixion, he walked for at least three kilometers during the passion play while being whipped by Roman soldier actors and carrying a 40-kilo wooden cross.

The spectators watched in a mix of awe and amazement as they took photos, selfies, and videos of the actors dressed in colorful costumes.

"Walang gaanong sakit eh. Kagaya ng pagbuhat ng krus, hindi ko naramdaman sa aking balikat. 'Yung sa paa kahit dumugo, parang walang nangyari pa rin, pwede nang ipadyak," said Enaje.

[Translation: I don't feel any pain when carrying the cross, both in my shoulders and feet.]

Still, he said he experiences pain to some degree. "Pakiramdam ko kapag pinapako parang sa krus, kung hindi lang ako nakatali baka tumakbo na ako eh. Pero iniisip ko 'yung panata ko, kahit gaano pa kasakit, tatanggapin ko."

[Translation: If I'm not tied to the cross, I might run and give up. But I think of my vow -- and that no matter how painful it is, I will accept it.]

Penitents whip themselves and wound their backs with razor blades in a Good Friday procession in San Fernando, Pampanga.

Keeping the faith

Enaje decided to become a devotee since 1985 after he fell from a 30-feet, three-story construction site without any single broken bone or even a bruise.

Since then, as he practiced his penance, he said he was eventually able to get a permanent job and a car.

"Noon nakikitira lang kami sa lupa ng may lupa, ngayon nakabili na ako ng lupa," he added.

[Translation: Before we stayed in someone else's property; now I have my own.]

He also portrayed "Kristo" in the "Senakulo," or play showing Jesus Christ's passion and death staged on the streets of San Pedro Cutud village.

People in his community have been letting him take the lead role since 1986 because of his good standing in his community.

Ben Kristo, however, wants to retire in two years.

Enaje said his son has no intention of following in his footsteps, and he is also not keen of asking him to do so.

"Hindi ko siya pipilitin na mamanata," Enaje said. "Kung mamamanata na siya, sasabihin ko o tatanungin ko sa kanya kung ano 'yung pinapanata niya, hindi lang basta-basta, hindi basta-basta yung namamanata ka."

[Translation: I cannot force him to do so. If he wants to make a similar vow, I will have to ask him what about. He cannot do it without reason.]

He also advised those who would want to become "Ben Kristo" to show that their devotion comes from the heart.

An estimated 50,000 local and foreign devotees and tourists turned up for the passion play and crucifixions in San Fernando, Pampanga.

Out of curiosity

Some foreign tourists that CNN Philippines talked to said they wanted to witness the event out of curiosity.

Pampanga officials estimated the Lenten rites drew about 50,000 local and foreign tourists and devotees.

Argentinian national Martin D' Hers said although he respects what Enaje and other penitents did, he does not support their acts.

"I think it's crazy, especially that the Church is not supportive of it, it's really crazy," said D' Hers, who also said he does not believe in religion. "Religion is a crime," he added.

American national Gabe Kieffer, meanwhile, said the event was entertaining. Like D' Hers, however, he said the pain experienced by penitents was not worth it.

"It's pretty hard to watch. Never seen anything like that before. I just wanted to see what the hype is about," said Kiefer.

Other local tourists, meanwhile, said merely watching the spectacle is a penance in itself.

"I'm so nervous. Grabe. Ang sakit sa puso," said Glenda Valenzuela. "Kasi nga diba binigay niya lahat ang kanyang buhay para sa atin."

[Translation: I was so nervous. It was hard to watch, because you will see how Jesus gave his life for us.]

Devotees stage "Senakulo" re-enactment of passion and death of Jesus Christ on the streets of San Fernando, Pampanga.

Decades-long tradition

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and the Health Department (DOH) are, however, against extreme forms of devotion like voluntary crucifixion and self-flagellation.

CBCP officials had been saying there are more meaningful ways of expressing penance like doing charitable acts.

The DOH, meanwhile, said penitents can acquire tetanus even if the nails and blades had been soaked in isopropyl alcohol for a long period of time.

Enaje, however, shrugged off the concerns especially that of the Catholic Church.

He said the practice has been there for decades, even older than the priests who are complaining about it.Darrius Cole, a Florence, Ala., native and graduate of Chattanooga State Community College, did not always know that he wanted to be in nuclear engineering. It wasnt until 2009, while working at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant as a contractor, that he realized his calling. In 2012 after doing some research online, he found out about an agreement between Chattanooga State and TVA. He made it his mission to move to Chattanooga without knowing anyone and enroll in the Nuclear Engineering Technology Program at Chattanooga State. He later received assistance through the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), a federally funded employment and training program.

Mr. Cole considers coming to Chattanooga State to obtain his degree to be one of the most defining moments in his life. He said he used to be a very shy, reticent person, but having been a student at Chattanooga State brought him out of his shell. He now believes meeting and talking with people are among some of his best and strongest personal qualities.

He said, Chattanooga State was wonderful to me. I didnt think it would go as well as it did. It wasnt much longer when I began to get to know people in my classes. During the summer between my first and second year, I began interning with TVA at Sequoyah Nuclear Plant. After my internship, I began working again as a contract laborer just like had in previous years. I worked 75 hours a week and only slept three hours a day. I kept this job throughout the majority of my time as a student..

During his second year as a student, he was nominated and elected as president of both Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Honor Society and American Nuclear Society (ANS) student chapter. Later, he was the recipient of the Presidential Excellence Award. On graduation day, he received a Nuclear Uniform Curriculum Program (NUCP) certificate for receiving all As and Bs in his degree program. He also represented Chattanooga State at conferences held in Orlando and Penn State for both PTK as well as ANS.

Personally, he considers his late grandfather to be the most influential person in his life. Mr. Cole grew up without a father and without hesitation, his grandfather adopted him at a young age. I am especially proud to be doing what I am doing because I feel like I am able to better honor his memory, says Mr. Cole, I know that he would be very proud of me.

In addition, nuclear engineering technology program faculty Lisa Miller and Terry Newman and PTK advisor Rachael Falu spurred him on to keep going despite his hectic work and school schedule. They inspired me; especially Mrs. Miller. She pushed me even when I was tired and didnt feel like I had anything left in me. Newman, who has a background as a Senior Reactor Operator (SRO) at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, showed me that I had leadership potential, When he told me this fact I was very humbled, he said.

Mr. Cole was the first African-American to graduate in his class in Nuclear Engineering Technology at Chattanooga State. His degree enabled him to get a great paying job and more recently allowed him to move back to Chattanooga to accept a job at TVA. If there is one piece of advice he could share with others, it would be to not give up. If you want it bad enough, go and get it. Go and chase your dreams. Just because it is hard does not mean it is not attainable. Instead, it Is a sign of being brave. Chattanooga State and TVA are two great places that are right here at our fingertips, and I have the heart to reach out to my community and teach about energy and science to younger students to help give back.Mane was booked for a theatrical fall after the slightest of contact from James McArthur and his luck was out again when he did finally get the ball in the net only to be flagged offside.Lukaku is the 28th player to reach triple figures in Premier League goals. And, at 24 years and 322 days, he is the fifth quickest to get to that milestone after Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Wayne Rooney and Harry Kane.In a statement to The Daily Meal, a spokesperson for Heineken said: "For decades, Heineken has developed a positive track record for creating marketing that shows there's more that unites us than divides us. While we feel the ad is referencing our Heineken Light beer, and that light beer is better than other high-calorie options - we missed the mark, are taking the feedback to heart and will use this to influence future campaigns."Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 31)  A top aide of President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday denied that the administration has become authoritarian  as alleged by a United Nations expert who was included on the government's list of terrorists.

"Democracy in the Philippines is vibrant and strong. All the branches of the government are functioning and the rule of law thrives," Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said in a statement.

He said the executive branch, which includes the President and his Cabinet, "respects the separation of powers and the independence of the other co-equal branches and doesn't meddle with their affairs."

His statement comes after UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz slammed the Duterte government for clamping down on its critics.

"The new government has become very authoritarian," Corpuz said at the first Human Rights Festival organized by non-government organization Reset-Diritti Umani in Milan, Italy on March 25.

Climate of impunity

Corpuz said the Duterte administration controls Congress, as evidenced by the impeachment case against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and the detention of Senator Leila de Lima.

READ: Robredo: Women in gov't most vocal, pressed under Duterte admin

The Palace has denied any involvement in efforts to oust Sereno and has said De Lima is no victim of political persecution but was detained over drug charges. Sereno and De Lima both voiced disagreements on some of Duterte's policies, including the bloody war on drugs.

Corpuz said almost 20,000 drug suspects were killed in the drug war. Government data show more than 4,000 killed in anti-drug operations since July 2016.

Malacanang has said there are no state-sponsored killings and it is committed to investigate officers who violate rules and abuse their power.

But Corpuz believes those who protest the killings are also being killed.

"I think the reason why there is a lot of killings in the Philippines is because there is a strong resistance from indigenous peoples and other people like farmers or workers against the increasing fascism that's taking place in the government in the Philippines," she said.

In an opinion article published by the Financial Times on Thursday, Corpuz said the Philippine government is "shooting the messengers."

"In lumping its critics together with criminals, the government seeks to make us all guilty by association and, thus, the next targets of the vigilantes and rogue police officers who have led President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war against drugs. Now, he has started a new war - with new targets," she said.

Medialdea said Corpuz's remarks only show "how detached she is with the realities happening in the Philippines."

Who is Corpuz?

Corpuz, a Kankana-ey Igorot, is among 600 people the Justice Department seeks to be labeled as terrorists, according to a petition it filed before the Manila Regional Trial Court in February.

UN human rights experts slam inclusion of rapporteur in DOJ 'terrorist' list

She is accused of being a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army, which the government wants outlawed. She has denied being part of these groups.

Her colleagues at the UN believes her terrorist label was "an act of retaliation" for her criticism of alleged military attacks and killings among the indigenous Lumads in Mindanao.

Malacanang has defended its list of terrorists, saying there is no witch hunt on UN special rapporteurs and that Corpuz can present evidence to clear her name.I just dropped my sausage on the floor, and now my pasta may not even cook on time. The pressure is really on right now, said Mikey, who is now 11 years old. But being Italian means never give up, and we always have pride in ourselves. I need to get it together.Reported incidents of property crime decreased about 16% from 2015 to 2019, according to the FBI, with the national average now at 400 burglaries and 1,700 larceny-thefts per 100,000 people annually. The top 15 cities on this list averaged more than double the number of burglaries per 100,000 people, and the number of larcenies are 60% higher on average per 100,000 residents. Larceny, which is the theft of objects like bicycles or anything stolen without force, comprised about 75% of all property crimes in 2019, burglary, which is unlawful entry to commit a felony, accounted for 16% and motor vehicle theft for 10%.I agree. No moutza for Hogg. No, no, no. Hogg can say anything he wants, about his parents, about how clear backpacks are a violation of privacy, about gutting the Bill of Rights, the Republic and how old people know nothing about democracy so hell have to take it over.Ive thought from time to time about all the things I wished Id asked her or might ask her now: Who were her parents? What made them the ones ready to integrate a white school? Had she come to the school eagerly? Was she scared? Why did she leave? Where did she go? How is she now?Officers responded at 9:36 a.m.to the yellow parking garage near Macy's and Route 83, where the woman told them a white Toyota Camry had blocked her in a parking space. She said a man, later identified as Anderson, got out of the passenger side of the Camry and opened the driver's door of her Honda Civic, as he brandished a gun while demanding she get out of her car, police said.More followed on Tuesday around 3:30 a.m. in the 400 block of South Pulaski Road, Thursday around 3 a.m. in the 4600 block of West Van Buren Street and Friday around 2:10 a.m. one block over in the 4700 block of West Van Buren.The 26-year-old was shot multiple times to his torso and buttocks. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition, police said. The younger man, who was also taken to Sinai, suffered a gunshot wound to the left leg, and his condition had stabilized, police said.Police said a woman was watching her child in a restroom at Target when a man entered insisting that he needed to use the restroom. He pushed his way into a stall where the child was and exposed his genitals before fleeing the scene.Authorities were on scene for more than three hours Friday and early Saturday as the male did not come out of the residence.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 31)  President Rodrigo Duterte is calling on Filipinos to pray for their countrymen and the nation this Easter Sunday.

"Let us pray for the welfare and safety of our countrymen and for lasting peace in our nation so that we can all work together in harmony towards real change," Duterte said in his message for the holiday.

He also asked the public to make the holiday "more meaningful" by offering aid to those in need.

Easter marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his crucifixion and signals the end of the Lenten season.

Duterte reminded religious Filipinos to remember the Christian values of humility and forgiveness.

"As we remember Christ's triumph against death, may we nurture humility and forgiveness in our hearts as these will free us from the shackles of hatred and greed," Duterte said.

"For it is only by being selfless that we can truly say we are worthy of God's love," he added.

In his message at the start of the Holy Week, Duterte called on Filipinos to work and unite as one people "to build a truly equitable and inclusive nation."The victimwho suffers from cerebral palsy and is hampered by physical and verbal disabilities, according to policetried unsuccessfully to take his phone back until Payne used the electric chair's joystick control to force the victim out on to the station platform. Both men escaped on the train, Assistant State's Attorney Lauren Maniatis told the court.The 24-year-old man was taken to Stroger Hospital where he was in good condition after the stabbing around 7:40 p.m. in the 3900 block of West Van Buren Street in the East Garfield Park neighborhood.Palestinian photographer Mahmoud Abu Salama was taking photos at the time, capturing Abdul Fattah's last moments. He said the man in the video wearing the green shirt had run toward the border fence to retrieve a tire left there earlier in the morning. He is seen in the video belly-crawling toward the tire before picking it up and running back to the crowd as bullets kick up dust around his feet. As he stumbles, Abdul Fattah runs to help him and grabs the tire.Light is projected by Bell Visuals on the Trump International Hotel, March 28, 2018, in Washington. A federal judge allowed Maryland and the District of Columbia to proceed with their lawsuit accusing President Donald Trump of accepting unconstitutional gifts from foreign interests. (Alex Brandon / AP)Only two months ago, Trump's aides thought they'd persuaded him that the U.S. needed to keep its presence in Syria open-ended  not only because the Islamic State group has yet to be entirely defeated, but also because the resulting power vacuum could be filled by other extremist groups or by Iran. Trump signed off on major speech in January in which Secretary of State Rex Tillerson laid out the new strategy and declared "it is vital for the United States to remain engaged in Syria."At the federal level, we can advance meaningful gun safety measures in coexistence with the Second Amendment. We can require mandatory background checks for all gun purchases. We can ban gun sales to people under age 21 in all states, and we can ban assault weapons and bump stocks such as the kind used in Las Vegas. We can require that gun owners store these weapons safely, so that a curious child does not find a loaded gun and unintentionally cause a tragedy that will haunt a family forever. And we can empower family members and law enforcement to remove guns from those who may pose a danger to themselves or others."We don't allow smoking on any part of the campus and some people feel the area by the river near us is open property," Grossman said. "When I was in Wheaton, I was part of the group that did the liquor and tobacco inspections and while my personal opinion is to make possession as difficult as possible, there is going to be an increase now in violations. A lot of 18- to 21-year-olds are already addicted."(CNN)  At least 17 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,400 injured in confrontations with Israeli security forces during protests in Gaza on Friday, according to Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the United Nations.

Israeli officials estimated tens of thousands of Palestinian protesters marched in Gaza toward the border fence between Israel and Gaza during protests called the March of Return. The march quickly turned bloody as Palestinian protesters and Israeli military clashed along the fence.

In northern Gaza, CNN witnessed at least two dozen people being taken away by ambulances in the span of half an hour as protests started across Gaza. They witnessed a small number of protesters in the crowd throwing rocks. People were injured by live rounds, rubber bullets and tear gas. The majority were young men -- one woman was among the injured.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that thousands of Palestinians were "rioting throughout the Gaza Strip, rolling burning tires and hurling stones at the security fence and at IDF troops, who are responding with riot dispersal means and firing towards main instigators."

An IDF official warned any breach of Israeli sovereignty will be treated severely, following a week of numerous attempted and successful breaches of the border fence from Gaza.

Confrontations escalated into Saturday. Israeli fighter jets targeted three Hamas sites after an IDF position was shot at in northern Gaza, according to an IDF statement. Tank fire also targeted the three sites, following an exchange of fire.

The largest protest seen in Gaza in years coincided with Palestinian Land Day, which commemorates the confiscation of Palestinian-owned land in Israel in 1976.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said the large crowds at the protests reflected the determination and will of the Palestinian people for the right of return, and to "break the siege" of Gaza.

Prior to Friday's protest, organizers said the march would be nonviolent, but they warned of possible military fire from Israeli forces.

Ahead of the protests, the IDF increased the troop presence and put snipers along the border fence.

An Israeli official told CNN that among those killed Friday were "known terrorists" including two members of Hamas, the political and militant group that controls Gaza.

In a statement released Friday evening, the IDF said it blamed Hamas for "all events and incidents taking place in today's protests."

In a tweet earlier Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned Gaza residents that Hamas is "risking your lives." He added that anyone who approached the border was "endangering his life."

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said 1,416 people were wounded as protesters marched toward the fence that separates Gaza from Israel. By the end of the day, the ministry spokesman in Gaza said there were 758 injuries from live bullets and 148 from rubber bullets, and the rest suffered from gas inhalation and other injuries.

Tent cities

Tent cities have been set up to host the marches, which are expected to continue through May 15 when Palestinians mark the anniversary of the "Nakba" ("Catastrophe"), the day after Israel declared independence in 1948. Roughly 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes during the Arab-Israeli war.

Today, approximately 1.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza are registered refugees, according to the United Nations.

The U.S. will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem around May 14, the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence. U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial decision to relocate the embassy and recognize the contested city as Israel's capital was slammed by most of the international community and has galvanized Palestinian protests against Israel.

The Trump administration said the decision was a "recognition of simple reality" and claimed it was not meant to prejudge final-status negotiations about the city's final borders, although Trump later said he had taken Jerusalem "off the table" when it came to any future peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Fatah chief and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the embassy move disqualified the U.S. as a peace-broker in the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has boycotted American officials while seeking to improve ties with Hamas officials in Gaza.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Gaza protests: 17 Palestinians killed in confrontations with Israeli forces."But ODells mother, Karon Motley Croswell, said her son is an educated family man, business owner and responsible citizen who has contributed to society. She said her son has served in the military and has helped with her doctoral research in counseling single parents whose children may be at risk."Defendant (Tenant) organized a New Year's party to raise money for Parkinson (sic) through her Social Club and were not aware that the Court order prohibited any and all business activities for which any fee is charged," a response filed in Will County Circuit Court on Feb. 1 states. "Defendants (both) apologize to the court for their failure to abide by the court's order, but will abide by the court's order now and into the future."He said although Joy is an adult, he has no history of leaving without telling anyone where he was going. Arizzi said Joys friends and family members are baffled by his disappearance.When Elgin became trustee, Wheeler reportedly told her, "You gotta take that stick out and bust some (expletive) heads. If you don't, people know there ain't no consequences  ain't nothing that nobody in this room can say to them if there ain't no consequences. I mean that's what life is," court records state.Several thousands were again present on Friday. The Rev. Francis Hoffman, a.k.a. Father Rocky from Relevant Radio, said the crowds were the largest he has seen since the shrine started the annual service in 2010."If some teachers had the training and they were qualified to carry those firearms in schools, I believe they should," he said. It would "make me at least feel safer that I know someone in the school is trained and qualified to use if someone came in the school with their intent to shoot students."In a release, police said David S. Gutierrez, 31, of the 4800 block of North Kirk Street in Skokie, has been charged with manufacturing or delivery of cannabis, a felony, as well as misdemeanor unlawful use of a weapon and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.You are here: Business

China announced plans to introduce tax exemptions and reductions for chip producers on Friday.





Businesses established after Jan 1 to manufacture integrated circuits with lines thinner than 130 nanometers will be exempted from the income tax for the first two years, according to a statement from the Ministry of Finance.





The tax rates will be 12.5 percent from the third year, half of the statutory level.





The exemption period will be five years if the IC lines are thinner than 65 nm or the investment totaled more than 15 billion yuan ($2.39 billion).





Businesses established before 2018 producing 0.25- and 0.8-micron chips can also enjoy similar favorable policies after they make profits, according to the statement.





The tax breaks came as the country's latest effort to stimulate the manufacturing of high-performance ICs, which has been dubbed an emerging sector of strategic importance.





A robust IC sector will facilitate technological and industrial revolutions and help foster new economic growth engines, analysts said. The sector maintained a 20-percent annual growth rate during the past five years.





Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, has said China will provide more opportunities for foreign companies to invest in IC and other manufacturing sectors.



Provinces in Northeast China are expected to get more policy support to revive their economies, after the nation's top economic regulator decided to link up the region with the more developed southern region.







Southern provinces will be encouraged to provide financial support, share experiences and increase economic cooperation to help rejuvenate the Northeastern region in the country, according to guidelines issued by the National Development and Reform Commission on Friday.





The NDRC has linked Heilongjiang province with Guangdong province, Jilin province with Zhejiang province and Liaoning province with Jiangsu province.





Guangdong will be encouraged to build a State-owned financing platform along with Heilongjiang, to provide financial support to help restructure the latter's economy.





Enterprises in robotics, clean energy equipment, bio-pharmaceuticals, graphite and other emerging industries in Heilongjiang will be given more policy support to participate in the development in Guangdong as well as in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, according to the guidelines.





Enterprises will be encouraged to issue bonds and asset securitization products at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the guidelines said.





The guidelines came after the NDRC established platforms earlier this year to help expand the financing channels to boost the economy of the Northeast, as part of efforts to dispel fears of a worsening business environment in the region.





More than 40 financial institutions, including State-owned banks and private securities companies, will hold meetings in the region on a regular basis. The financial institutions will also help enterprises in the Northeast with more financing channels and identify financial risks.





Wu Xiaohua, deputy head of the Academy of Macroeconomic Research under the NDRC, said the Northeast needs to find new bright spots and quicken the pace to upgrade economic structure.



A serial killer dubbed China's "Jack the Ripper" was sentenced to death on Friday for murdering 10 women and an 8-year-old girl over a period of 14 years in northern China.

Gao Chengyong, 53, was given the penalty at the Baiyin Intermediate People's Court in Gansu province on Friday morningabout 30 years after he committed the first killingfor multiple charges of homicide, rape, robbery and mutilation of corpses.



The verdict said Gao killed 11 female victims in Baiyin and Baotou in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region between May 1988 and February 2002, with the youngest victim being just 8 years old.

Gao followed the victims and broke into their homes before the rapes and killings, and he committed the offenses with the aim of getting money and to satisfy his distorted mind, the verdict said.

"Gao disregarded laws, hated society and treated lives with indifference," it said. "His motives are extremely despicable, his behavior extremely cruel and the nature of the crimes extremely serious. What he did has caused huge social harm and must receive severe punishment."

Before the verdict was given, it was revealed that during questioning by prosecutors, Gao said he committed the offenses to steal money in the beginning but then could not control himself and even "enjoyed" the killings.

Gao followed the victims and broke into their homes before the rapes and killings, and he committed the offenses with the aim of getting money and to satisfy his distorted mind, the verdict said.

"Gao disregarded laws, hated society and treated lives with indifference," it said. "His motives are extremely despicable, his behavior extremely cruel and the nature of the crimes extremely serious. What he did has caused huge social harm and must receive severe punishment."

Before the verdict was given, it was revealed that during questioning by prosecutors, Gao said he committed the offenses to steal money in the beginning but then could not control himself and even "enjoyed" the killings.

"He's very cold-blooded and shows an antisocial personality," he was quoted as saying by the Beijing Times.

The serial killings aroused huge public outrage when the murders occurred, but Gao was not a suspect in the crimes until 2016, after police collected a blood sample from a relative of Gao in another criminal investigation in 2015. Thanks to the development of DNA technology, police were led to Gao by a DNA comparison, and he was arrested in a grocery store in a school in Baiyin on Aug 26, 2016.

Ruan Chuansheng, a law professor with the Shanghai Administration Institute, said the cracking of the case was due to the unrelenting efforts of the police and the development of investigative methods.

"The developments of criminal investigative techniques, such as the biological evidence and DNA, were the key to finding the culprit," he said, adding that such a verdict can also improve the public's sense of security.When future historians look back at the first incident of the new Cold War, they may possibly consider the botched Salisbury assassination case. The former Russian double agent survived, as did his daughter and the British policeman who found them both slumped over on a public bench, but the event initiated a ripple effect that is now developing into a tsunami. Prior to this, nations had responded independently to Russian actions, with reprisals differing from country to country. But this is perhaps the first of many concerted actions to come in a new geopolitical order.



So far, the United States has decided to expel 60 Russian diplomats, and the U.K. has expelled 27. 14 EU countries as well as Canada have also expelled diplomats in a show of solidarity. Overall, more than 100 Russians are going to be removed from Western countries in the coming week.

This is not new; the expulsion of diplomats is a tried-and-tested procedure. But this is a concerted effort, which reflects the hardening resolve of the Atlantic alliance. There are a lot of internal differences within Europe, with eastern countries being more hawkish compared to western ones. And Europe is divided with regard to the Nord stream gas pipeline, as well as sanctions on Russia. That said, Russia's favorite espionage tactic of political assassination abroad has finally backfired. Instead of exploiting divisions in the West, like during the build-up to the Iraq War, this time Russia tried to take on all of the countries at the same time, thereby uniting them together. This active interference in foreign affairs had a pronounced backlash, and Russia's plausible deniability failed.

Even more important is that, for someone who is commonly regarded as Putin's puppet, Trump is proving to be remarkably anti-Russian. The U.S. has already provided lethal arms to Ukraine, changed operational tactics in Syria which resulted in the deaths of Russian mercenaries, plotted and implemented new sanctions and expelled Russian diplomats. It is difficult to imagine this happening during the Obama years.

Unfortunately, this is probably just the start - but it needn't be. Europe doesn't need a new Cold War. There are fundamental differences between Russia and the West, and there will always be a rivalry between the great powers. But no sane European or even American wants a new Cold War. The average American from deep in the rural countryside has more in common with the average Russian than with a New York celebrity or a Hollywood actress. The same is true in Europe, where there are bigger problems facing the continent. Something urgently needs to change, or there will be further conflicts in the future. Sadly, for now, it seems that the forces of history have started to move inexorably back in time.

Sumantra Maitra is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SumantraMaitra.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. Flash

President Xi Jinping's special representative Yang Jiechi (L) meets with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, March 30, 2018. Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the head of the General Office of the Central Committee for Foreign Affairs, held talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Blue House in Seoul on Friday. [Photo/Xinhua]



All parties involved should grab the chance and work together to make sure that Pyongyang's upcoming summit meetings with Seoul and Washington are successful and yield outcomes, President Xi Jinping's special representative, Yang Jiechi, told Republic of Korea President Moon Jae-in on Friday.

The Korean Peninsula situation is in a key phase for relief and improvement, and all parties should work to restart the substantive process to politically settle the peninsula nuclear issue, Yang said in a meeting with Moon at the presidential Blue House in Seoul.

Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, was on a visit to the ROK from Thursday to Friday, and he reaffirmed Beijing's commitment to denuclearizing the peninsula.

Moon said the ROK speaks positively of China's hosting of the recent visit by Kim Jong-un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and it endorses China's constructive role in the peninsula issue and appreciates China's contribution to easing the tension.

In another development, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will make a working visit to Russia on April 4 and 5 as President Xi's special envoy, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang announced on Friday.

Analysts in the United Kingdom and Europe have hailed Xi's meeting with Kim in Beijing this week as a milestone in global denuclearization efforts, and they said China's proactive engagement with the DPRK demonstrates its growing influence as a responsible global power.

During his visit to Beijing from Sunday to Wednesday, Kim reaffirmed his willingness to meet with US President Donald Trump and reiterated his commitment to denuclearization.

"China hopes, its seems, to play a critical role in ensuring that the talks between Trump and Kim will reach a satisfactory agreement and to avoid a failure of the talks in May that might in turn increase the risk of military action," said John Nilsson-Wright, a senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the think tank Chatham House.

The US has requested that the DPRK denuclearize but said it will retain all sanctions against the DPRK in the meantime.

Although the DPRK has agreed to denuclearize, it also made clear that Washington should take reciprocal steps to remove the military threat against it.

Within this context, China could act as a conduit, urging both sides to take reciprocal steps to achieve a middle ground, said Colin Alexander, a senior lecturer on political communications at Nottingham Trent University in the UK.

Francois Godement, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations' Asia and China program, said that "China is taking a more visible position in keeping the Korean Peninsula stable", and its proactive engagement is positive for showing Pyongyang the importance of participating in international dialogue. Flash

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and China's top legislator Li Zhanshu met with Namibian President Hage Geingob in Beijing Friday, vowing to boost bilateral relations.

Calling Namibia China's important cooperation partner in Africa, Premier Li said China expected to consolidate political trust with Namibia, enhance win-win cooperation and coordination in regional and global affairs to jointly build a brighter future for bilateral ties.

Hailing the progress and broad prospects of China-Namibia substantial cooperation, Premier Li said China hoped to synergize development strategies with Namibia, and deepen cooperation in such key areas as agriculture and agricultural technology, infrastructure, production capacity and tourism.

The premier vowed joint efforts with Namibia to support economic globalization as well as trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, take a clear stand to oppose trade protectionism, and promote common development and mutual benefits.

Hailing the traditional friendship between the two countries, Geingob said that the two sides had agreed to update their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership, and signed a series of important cooperation documents.

"This will further boost bilateral exchanges and cooperation in the areas of politics, economy and strategy," he said.

Geingob said Namibia expected to deepen cooperation with China in various areas and boost stronger ties.

In his meeting with Geingob, Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said the NPC was willing to work with the Namibian side to implement the consensus reached by their heads of state, and boost closer friendly exchanges.

He called on the two sides to firmly support win-win China-Africa cooperation under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, as well as the Belt and Road Initiative.

Li Zhanshu asked the two sides to offer a better investment environment and legal protection for each other's investors, consolidate the foundation of social and public opinion for China-Namibia friendship, and boost greater development of bilateral ties in the new era.

Geingob spoke highly of China's policy to Africa, adding his country hoped to strengthen pragmatic cooperation with China in various areas and support more legislative exchanges between the two countries.

On Friday afternoon, Geingob also laid a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes in downtown Beijing.

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At least seven Palestinians were killed and 500 wounded Friday in the ongoing violent clashes between hundreds of Palestinians and the Israeli soldiers during a popular march close to the border between Gaza Strip and Israel, medics said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, Gaza health ministry spokesman told reporters that early on Friday, Israeli soldiers targeted two farmers close to the border with the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, killing a 27-year-old farmer and wounding another.

Later on Friday, six other Palestinian demonstrators were shot dead and around 500 injured by Israeli troops' gunfire near the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel during heavy violent confrontations, according to al-Qedra.

The confrontations broke out Friday morning when Israeli soldiers stationed at the border fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of Palestinians from approaching the fence. Young demonstrators threw stones at the soldiers, according to witnesses.

Al-Qedra said that six Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli troops' gunfire during the clashes in eastern Gaza.

The eyewitnesses said the Israeli army sent more forces, including armored vehicles, snipers, sniffing dogs and soldiers equipped with tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition to prevent Palestinians from reaching the fence of the borders.

Thousands of Palestinians, including women and children, arrived by buses at six different areas in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip, close to the border with Israel to join the "Great March of Return."

The march, which began Friday on the occasion of the Land Day, is scheduled to end on May 15, which coincides with 70 years of the Palestinian Day of "the Nakba," or the catastrophe, when the state of Israel was born in 1948.





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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday that Mekong River countries can become major partners in the joint development of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

Wang made the comments here at the business summit of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation while responding to a question concerning opportunities brought to the GMS countries by the initiative.

Wang is in Vietnam to attend the sixth summit of the GMS Economic Cooperation and to pay an official visit to the country from Friday to Monday.

The Belt and Road Initiative is not only a public good China has offered to the world, but also a sunshine initiative aimed at promoting win-win cooperation, Wang said, adding that from the very beginning, it has followed the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits.

Therefor, Belt and Road cooperation bears the striking characteristics of equality, openness and inclusiveness, he noted.

Proposed by China in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aiming at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes of Silk Road.

Pointing out that the GMS was historically the convergence area of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, Wang said that today in the 21st century, the GMS countries can become major partners in the joint development of the initiative.

Five Mekong River Subregion countries -- Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam have all signed cooperation agreements with China on the joint development of the Belt and Road Initiative, and they also attended the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation which was held last May in Beijing, Wang said.

At present, such major projects as China-Laos railway, China-Thailand railway and China-Myanmar land and water coordinated transport are also making progress, he added.

The Mekong River Subregion countries are the earliest participants of the Belt and Road Initiative and also they are the earliest beneficiaries of the initiative, Wang stressed.

According to Wang, China has been preparing for the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. With concerted efforts, the Belt and Road Initiative is bound to be able to become the largest and the most popular platform for international cooperation in the world, Wang said.





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U.S. President Donald Trump said that the United States will withdraw its troops from Syria "very soon," according to a transcript provided by the White House on Friday.

The statement soon sparked questions as U.S. military officials were reportedly not informed of the decision.

"We'll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now," Trump said in a speech in Richfield, Ohio earlier on Thursday.

"By the way, we're knocking the hell out of ISIS," said Trump. "We're going to be coming out of there real soon. We're going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be," he said.

The statement seemed to contradict the military's stance.

On Thursday, Pentagon spokesperson Dana White told reporters that "important work remains to guarantee the lasting defeat of these violent extremists" in war-torn Syria.

Trump's remarks have further aroused doubts regarding the U.S. military's activities in Syria, as the U.S. military said on Friday that two members of the U.S.-led coalition were killed in a roadside bomb attack in the nation, with one of them being a U.S. service member.

A serial killer dubbed China's "Jack the Ripper" was sentenced to death on Friday for murdering 10 women and an 8-year-old girl over a period of 14 years in northern China.

Gao Chengyong, 53, was given the penalty at the Baiyin Intermediate People's Court in Gansu province on Friday morning - about 30 years after he committed the first killing - for multiple charges of homicide, rape, robbery and mutilation of corpses.

The verdict said Gao killed 11 female victims in Baiyin and Baotou in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region between May 1988 and February 2002, with the youngest victim being just 8 years old.Premier tells Hage Geingob, the nation's president, that broad prospects exist

China is ready to synergize cooperation with Namibia with that country's development strategy and jointly facilitate economic globalization and trade liberalization, Premier Li Keqiang said.

Li made the remark when meeting with Namibian President Hage Geingob at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday.This Holy Week, hundreds of frazzled preachers around the world have undoubtedly heaved a sigh of relief. Instead of having to fret over what illustration to use on Easter Sunday morning to capture their listeners attention, they can simply seize the opportunity the calendar has handed them.

This year, Easter falls on April Fools Day, which means that countless sermons will be able to employ some version of the following introduction: On Easter Sunday, we Christians celebrate the fact that a dead man came back to life. This might seem like the ultimate prankdead people just dont climb out of their graves, periodbut this year, it turns out, Gods April Fools joke is actually true! (More adventurous preachers might even try reviving the old fish hook theory of the atonement. According to that ancient model, in the ultimate April Fools-style prank, God dupes Satan by enticing him to kill Jesusonly thereby to ensnare the devil and win a victory at his expense.)

Were I to occupy a pulpit this year, I too would happily take advantage of this fortuitous convergence of holidays. But Im not sure the real divine April Fools prank is quite what many preachers will say it is.

The Scandal of the Cross

Its true, of course, that Jesus resurrection came as a shock to his first followers. And one of them, famously, did, in fact, view it as a hoax. Doubting Thomas, as hes usually called, was like me when I was a child. Every April 1, I determined that this would be the year Id avoid being taken in by the jokes my family and friends were sure to be peddling. Thomas, likewise, having had his hopes shattered by Jesus crucifixion, promised himself he wouldnt be hoodwinked by any ghost stories about a resuscitated corpse.

Even so, I think its telling that when the apostle Paul tries to pinpoint the real foolishness of Christian faith, he doesnt locate it in the events of Easter Sundayas if the idea of resurrection were inherently unbelievable. Rather he finds it in the scandal of what happened on Good Friday: For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (1 Cor. 1:2223, NRSV, emphasis added). For Paul, it seems, if God played an April Fools joke on humanity, the joke was more in the crucifixion than it was in the empty tomb.

The Apostle Pauls Backwards Thinking

When the apostle Paul met Jesus for the first time, Jesus had already died. That may seem an obvious enough fact but consider: Paul, marching toward Damascus, his fist clutching a mandate to jail the Christians he found there, was suddenly blinded by the dazzling appearance of the resurrected, exalted Jesus. Having grown up Jewish in a pagan town hundreds of miles north of the Jerusalem temple and having thus memorized in his youth the stories not only of the smoking crags of Sinai but also of the resplendent Greek and Roman gods who hurled thunderbolts from mountain peaks, Paul would scarcely have considered it unusual that Jesus would appear to him in radiant light with a thunderous voice. That was just what the nations godsas well as the true Goddid.

But what was unusualwhat turned Pauls entire way of thinking upside down and made him eventually declare that the message of Jesus was, to worldly minds, utterly laughablewas what this glorious apparition said to him: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? (Acts 9:4). It soon became clear that this radiant person speaking to Paul from heaven was claiming solidarity with beleaguered, earthbound human beings.

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Jesus question to Paul implied that when he threw Christian believers into prison, Paul was actually wounding Jesus. The eternal Son of God had somehow become vulnerable to human whips, chains, and even death. The great glorious titan of splendor had apparently descended to feel the sting that human beings had long endured below the heights of Sinai and Olympus.

As the New Testament scholar John Knox observed years ago, the direction of Pauls thinking thus moved backwards. Paul first encountered Jesus as the king of heaven, the one whom another early eyewitness described having hair that was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters (Rev. 1:1415).

Paul would have been unfazed by this kind of splendor. He knew that, if there was such a thing as a God-man, this was how he should appear. What shocked Paul to his core was the dawning realization that this onethis shining Kinghad submitted to abject humiliation, had, in fact, died naked while gasping for breath under the watchful gaze of idolatrous, hubristic foreign occupiers. And thats why Paul wrote to the church in Corinth that the message about the cross is foolishness (1 Cor. 1:18).

Gods Easter Sunday Prank

To this day, I suspect most of us find it easier to believe that God could show up in the miracle of a resurrected body than in the senseless murder of a good man. For instance, if someone tried to prank me by claiming that my deceased friend Chris had turned up at his favorite pub, Id laugh and wink, but it wouldnt necessarily undermine my fundamental convictions about how the world works if it turned out to be true. Im prepared to meet God in the miraculous, in the glitter of the supernatural and in the joy of favors Ive repeatedly prayed for.

If, however, someone tried to convince me that God was hiddenly at work in the year that I collapsed in depression and had to take a hiatus from grad school or in the moment when I got the news that a beloved colleague was given six weeks to live, Id frown in skepticism. I dont think you realize just how painful that was, Id say. God couldnt have been connected with those heartaches.

But such, it seems, is what Paul finds most bizarre and offensive and, indeed, foolish about Easter. For Paul, the Resurrection wasnt so much a neat parlor trickLook, God knows how to re-enliven a cadaver!as it was an ironic statement of where God is now to be looked for. The Resurrection revealed a suffering, humiliated man as the Lord of the universe, thereby inscribing defeat and suffering into the definition of what salvation is all about.

What the Resurrection communicated to Paul, in other words, wasnt just that God was at work in the worlds most hopeless and stomach-churning eventthe execution of his Sonbut that that execution would from here on out serve as the fundamental marker of Jesus, and indeed his Fathers, identity. The Resurrection freeze-framed the scars on Jesus body, permanently projecting them onto the silver screen of the cosmos, you might say.

Every Easter Sunday from here on out, we can all look up and remember the most famous April Fools joke of all time: that God was there at the place of the skull (John 19:17), in the blood and the tears of broken humanity, reconciling the world to himself. And that is he is now to be found in our tears too.

Wesley Hill is associate professor of biblical studies at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.The magic returns; the strains of our music will once more ring forth. Consortium Aurora Borealis is back in action after the silence imposed on so many arts organizations by COVID-19.We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message.AKRON, Ohio -- A New Franklin woman pleaded guilty Friday in a crash that killed two 14-year-old girls in Coventry Township.

Natasha R. Boggs, 25, pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter, one count of vehicular assault and one count of attempted tampering with evidence in the May 28, 2017 crash, prosecutors said.

Judge Paul Gallagher will sentence Boggs on June 15 in Summit County Common Pleas Court.

Amber Thoma, of Coventry Township, and Taylor Galloway, of Akron, were killed in the crash, the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office said. A 15-year-old boy also suffered serious injuries and was treated at Akron Children's Hospital.

The girls were students at Coventry Middle School.

Boggs was driving a 1999 Ford Escort when she went over a fog line and struck the children on South Main Street near Leicester Drive, the Summit County Sheriff's Office said.

Investigators said Boggs was texting at the time of the crash and later tried to alter or delete the text messages.

To comment on this story, visit Friday's crime and courts comments page.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A married couple, their adult son and the wife's twin sister were all indicted on charges of defrauding a Solon construction company out of nearly $500,000.

A grand jury handed up a 91-count indictment charging Sharon Collier, of Twinsburg, with aggravated theft, receiving stolen property, forgery, money laundering, and telecommunications fraud.

Her husband, Michael Collier, is charged with aggravated theft and intimidation of a crime victim. The couple's adult son, Andrew Collier, and Sharon Collier's twin sister, Sarah Nieoff, are each charged with receiving stolen property.

All four are set for an April 10 arraignment in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

Sharon Collier headed the scheme that ripped off $459,000 from Taylored Construction, where she was the office manager, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley's office said in a statement announcing the charges.

"This greedy family almost brought a hardworking business to its knees," O'Malley said in the release.

Sharon Collier had signature authority on all of the company's financial accounts. She forged checks, used credit cards, and stole money from company loans and spent some of the pilfered funds with her husband, Michael Collier, 56, on travel, a wedding, college tuition, student loan payments and spa visits, O'Malley's office said.

She also wrote more than $37,000 in fraudulent payroll checks to Andrew Collier, prosecutors say.

Nieoff is accused of depositing $200,000 from the scheme into her personal bank account in Cincinnati.

To comment on this story, please visit Friday's crime and courts comments page.CLEVELAND, Ohio-- President Trump visited Richfield, Ohio, to talk about infrastructure and instead gave what amounted to a campaign speech on the taxpayers dime. If Americans in Puerto Rico wanted to watch coverage of Trump's speech, they would have a hard time, because many are still without power six months after Hurricane Maria hit. And those who do have restored power lines suffer frequent outages.

Officially, the U.S. government claims that about 10% of Puerto Rico is without power and that water has been restored to 99% on the island. But those government claims do not match the reality on the ground, according to those living in Puerto Rico and those who have recently visited.

While tourist areas are back up and running, other parts of the island don't look much different than they did the day after the hurricane, according to USA TODAY's Josh Rivera. Rivera, a reader engagement editor for the paper, was born and raised in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, and wrote about his recent visit back to his homeland.

"In the week I was home in Puerto Rico, I almost got into four car accidents because streetlights and traffic lights weren't working. When you can't even guarantee the safety of people just trying to get home from work, statistics showing "how well we're doing" don't paint a accurate picture of life on the island," wrote Rivera.

Rivera reports that generators are still needed for power, and that even in areas with restored power lines, outages are routine. Laura Oritz told Rivera, "Dude, when the government says that there will be an outage from one to 16 hours, that's a good day."

"Puerto Rico isn't lying in a casket but she is struggling in the hospital while fewer and fewer people seem to care," concluded Rivera.

If parts of Texas, Florida and Louisiana were still without power and water, six months after a hurricane, Trump and Congress would have Easter eggs all over their faces.

Puerto Rico still lacks reliable power because of the failure of power in The White House and Congress.

Speaking of infrastructure during a Holy Week culminating in the celebration of Jesus' resurrection, have President Trump and Congress done all they can to resurrect Puerto Rico?CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- The family of a Cleveland Heights mother who was fatally shot and stabbed said Thursday they hope her death could help others trapped in abusive relationships.

Nathan Johnson, the oldest brother of Miriam Johnson, said in a brief statement that their family is heartbroken at the 31-year-old woman's death.

"While we hope the criminal case continues to progress, we hope that Miriam can be honored by an increase in love and compassion and increased awareness of those who are threatened by violence and entrapped in abusive relationships," Nathan Johnson said.

Nathan Johnson read a statement to reporters following the filing of criminal charges against two men -- one accused of fatally shooting her in the back of the head and another accused of helping dump her body at an abandoned home in Cleveland's Fairfax neighborhood.

Yaphet Bradley, 35, is charged with aggravated murder and Calvin Young, 24, is charged with abusing a corpse and tampering with evidence. Bradley is Miriam Johnson's ex-boyfriend and father of three of her four children. He has a history of violently attacking Miriam Johnson.

"We're heartbroken at the loss of Miriam and deeply troubled by the disgusting acts of those responsible," Nathan Johnson said. "Those who knew Miriam remember how bright and cheerful she was. We remember her smile. Miriam loved her children and her family, and despite her challenges, that love was inspiring her to put her life together."

To comment on this post, please visit our crime and courts comments page.CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- A Cleveland man wanted in the death of his ex-girlfriend, who went missing for a month before her body was found in a garbage can, was arrested Friday, federal authorities said.

Yaphet Bradley, 35, was arrested about 6:30 p.m. inside of a vehicle in the 13200 block of Shaker Square, U.S. Marshals said in a news release. In an attempt to get away, Bradley used a car to ram a police vehicle, authorities said.

Investigators also arrested Alexandria Kozlowski, 25, who had warrants on drug related charges out of Parma.

Bradley is charged with aggravated murder, gross abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence in the slaying of Miriam Johnson, the mother of three of Bradley's children.

He was captured a day after being charged in Johnson's murder. Authorities believe Bradley killed Johnson at her apartment in Cleveland Heights and that another man, Calvin Young, helped Bradley move her body to the abandoned home in Cleveland.

Young, 24, is also charged in the case. He faces charges of gross abuse of a corpse, obstructing official business and tampering with evidence.

Relatives last saw Johnson on Feb. 25, when her mother dropped her off at her Mayfield Road apartment. She was reported missing March 6.

Johnson's body was found stuffed in a garbage can on March 25 at an abandoned home on Chamberlain Avenue, between East 71st and East 74th streets in Cleveland's Fairfax neighborhood.

She died of a gunshot wound to the head and stab wounds to her torso, arms and legs, according to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner.

To comment on this post, please visit Friday's crime and courts comments page.MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, Ohio -- At the March 27 City Council meeting, Councilman David Bortolotto refuted details contained in a memo written by the Middleburg Heights mayor that specifically referenced the councilman.

The Dec. 6, 2017, memo surfaced in early March as a result of a public records request made by the attorney representing retired Police Chief John Maddox in a lawsuit currently filed against Mayor Gary Starr and the city of Middleburg Heights.

In the memo sent to interim Safety Director John Ligato, Starr wondered why Bortolotto purportedly requested the amount of Ligato's salary. Starr also indicated that Councilman John Grech told him that Bortolotto wanted Maddox to become safety director.

Neither of those claims is true, Bortolotto said.

In addition, the mayor's memo questioned why Bortolotto and Councilman Tim Ali wanted detailed information at a Dec. 4 budget hearing in regard to 2017 legal fees and legal consultants that Starr hired.

"My purpose is to set the public record straight, because this memo is written with inaccurate and misleading information," Bortolotto said March 27, denying that he made the Ligato salary request.

"Regardless of which City Council member made such a request of our council clerk, it is totally appropriate and expected for City Council members, or even the general public, to ask for information ... without question or issue. Nor did I ever initiate any conversation or proposal regarding John Maddox as safety director," Bartolotto said.

Bortolotto also explained why he asked for additional financials at the budget hearing.

"Documentation shows there was an excessive amount of money proposed and spent under labor negotiations/HR consulting and in legal professional services for the 2017-18 budget," he said. "This significant increase is the sole reason I and other City Council colleagues questioned this. In short, I was doing my job."

Ali said that in questioning the city's legal expenses, he was "proud to say I was doing what the people elected me to do ... by asking where the money was being spent."

City Council has yet to receive any detailed legal bills, Bortolotto said. Starr has proposed a law department reorganization, which is currently under council consideration.

Starr did not comment on Bortolotto's claims.

"Since this is a surprise to me, I will have a full and detailed response for the next council meeting," Starr said.

The next regular City Council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. April 10.LOGAN, Ohio - The streets of Logan will be lined with aluminum next month, as a caravan of Airstream campers takes over the town.

The city, best known as the gateway to Ohio's scenic Hocking Hills region, will host the seventh annual Urban Air affair, an event designed to pump some energy into small-town America.

It's the first Urban Air event outside of Michigan, the home state of organizer Kirk MacKellar. "We thought Ohio was most appropriate, because that's where Airstreams are made," said MacKellar, who owns three of the iconic aluminum trailers.

Related: Touring Ohio's Airstream factory: high-end RVs still made (mostly) by hand (photos)

As many as 75 trailers will roll into Logan on April 26-29, parking along the streets of downtown. Main Street will be turned into a pedestrian-only zone for the event.

Planned activities include concerts, movies, seminars, food and an Airstream decorating contest. There will also be tours of the Columbus Washboard Company, the last remaining washboard company in the United States.

Reserved slots downtown for Airstream owners are sold out, but there are plenty of other nearby options for campers (see explorehockinghills.com/stay). The non-camping public, too, is encouraged to stop by and mingle.

MacKellar described Airstream owners as social creatures who tend to find each other and congregate in campgrounds. Airstream rallies and gatherings are planned throughout the world.

"What makes Urban Air unique is that we're congregating in full view of everybody," he said. "And people are invited to join in on the good times."

MacKellar started the event in 2012 as a way to inject some energy and consumer spending into some ailing Michigan small towns. Among the previous hosts: Eaton Rapids, Kalkaska and Mason.

"I feel really bad about the suburbanization of America," he said. "Urban sprawl has left cities in decay."

He added: "I've always enjoyed checking out cool little cities. These [Airstream gatherings] are real attention-getters. You get a bunch of these trailers together -- it gives people a reason to rediscover their own downtowns."

In Logan, Urban Air Appalachian Adventure will overlap with Buckeye Trailfest, an annual celebration of hiking and the 1,444-mile long Buckeye Trail, which winds through the state.

Buckeye Trailfest this year is headquartered at Camp Oty'Okwa, just south of Logan, and runs April 25-29. It includes guided hikes at Hocking Hills and other nearby parks, workshops, environmental presentations, evening activities and more.

Among the featured events: a showing of "Trail Magic: Grandma Gatewood's Walk," and a book signing by Ben Montgomery, author of "Grandma Gatewood's Walk." The late Emma "Grandma" Gatewood helped establish the Buckeye Trail in 1950s, with its first leg in Hocking County.

Information: wakeupdowntown.com, buckeyetrailfest.orgCLEVELAND, Ohio - Few series are as visually bold and stunning as FX's "Legion," the perception-bending drama that begins its second season at 10 p.m. Tuesday, April 3. It's a complex world where unreality regularly wraps itself around reality, and one of the executive producers responsible for bringing this world to vibrant life is Lauren Shuler Donner, who grew up in Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights.

Lauren Shuler Donner, who grew up in Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights, is the executive producer of FX's "Legion."

The brainchild of writer-producer Noah Hawley (FX's "Fargo"), the innovative cable series is inspired by a character from Marvel's X-Men universe.

The first season introduced us to David Haller (Dan Stevens), a troubled young man haunted by voices and visions. Diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, he had been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for much of his tortured life.

But David may actually be the most powerful mutant the world has ever known.

Shuler Donner is no newcomer to the Marvel world, either on television or the big screen. She has been a producer on the X-Men and Wolverine movies, as well as Fox's Marvel series, "The Gifted."

"It was a fear we had when we started 'Legion,' that there were too many comic-book series out there and how do you stand out," Shuler Donner said during a telephone interview. "Our mandate always is to make something different in feel and tone. You try to avoid someone thinking, 'Gee, I've seen this before.' "

Well, that wasn't a problem with what Hawley imagined for "Legion." It wasn't like any other Marvel movie or series, but it also wasn't like anything else on television.

"It was so ambitious and so different -- non-linear, non-narrative -- it just immediately distinguished itself," Shuler Donner said. "We don't always understand the scripts, either, even with all of the experience we have in the Marvel world.

"We ask Noah questions, and he clears it up for us. But that makes it such an exciting show to work on. You can tell the story as inventively as you care to, and everybody encourages that."

The first season ended with a mysterious orb that took David to an unknown place. He returns a year later and finds a great deal has changed.

"Noah always says that the first season was about an insane man in a sane world," Shuler Donner said. "And you saw everything through David's point of view, so you never were sure if what you were seeing was real.

"This season, Noah wanted it to be about a sane man in an insane world. David is coming back to a different world. New alliances have been formed, and there are new characters to meet."

The veteran Hollywood producer is quick to credit Hawley's ever-challenging vision for "Legion." She's also quick to acknowledge the gifted cast led by Stevens.

"There's one episode in the second season where Dan plays endless possibilities of where David's life might have gone," Shuler Donner said. "And he inhabits each of those realities with such an emotional clarity and presence, that it really shows off what a terrific actor Dan Stevens is."

Schuler Donner lived in Cleveland Heights until the age of 6, when her family moved to Shaker Heights. She left Northeast Ohio at 18 to study film at Boston University.

"I stayed in the East for about a year after I graduated, then I came out to Los Angeles and started knocking on doors and working my way up," she said. "This was the '70s. I had been told how tough it was for a woman trying to make it in Hollywood, but I sort of had blinders on. I just did things anyway.

"I was a camerawoman for a while in television, and I was a freak. When I shot game shows, people would ask me for my autograph."

Gradually, she worked her way into producing.

"Then I got the most stupid piece of advice when I started producing," Shuler Donner said. "I was only 27, and I was producing a movie for television. And somebody told me, 'Find someone who is doing something wrong and fire them, and then everyone will respect you.' So the director and I went to the stage to check on construction, and I thought this would be my chance to fire someone."

It turned out to be an important learning experience.

"When we got to the set, everything was wonderful and everyone was respectful," she said. "I couldn't begin to think of firing someone. So I walked out of there thinking, 'I'm just going to be me, and that's how they're going to respect me.' It was a crucial lesson."

In the early '80s, she became close friends with writer-producer John Hughes. She convinced him to write a screenplay that could become her first feature film. "Mr. Mom" was released in 1983, packed with Northeast Ohio connections: Michael Keaton attended Kent State University, Teri Garr is from Lakewood, and Martin Mull grew up in North Ridgeville.

The next year, she persuaded Richard Donner to direct the fantasy film "Ladyhawke." They fell in love and were married the same year their film was released, 1985.

She produced two more films for Hughes, "St. Elmo's Fire" (1985) and "Pretty in Pink" (1986), and two more with her husband, "Radio Flyer" (1992) and "Timeline" (2003). Her many other movies include "Dave" (1993), "Free Willy" (1993), "You've Got Mail" (1998) and "The Secret Life of Bees" (2008).

Her first "X-Men" movie hit the screens in 2000.

"I pretty much haven't stopped since I got out here," Schuler Donner said. "I've been very fortunate, but it also never occurred to me that I couldn't do something or that I couldn't ask if I could try something. That's kind of the path that got me from Cleveland to 'Legion.' "

PREVIEW

Legion

What: The second season of the drama inspired by a Marvel character.

When: 10 p.m. Tuesday, April 3.

Where: FX100%

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This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-09-08, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.Josh wore those jeans everywhere from freezing Canada to sunny California. If he accidentally spilled food on them, he cleaned it up with paper towels. If there was a bit of a stench beginning to build up, he'd fold the jeans and put them in a freezer overnight to get rid of it. But in no circumstance would he actually wash those suckers.

After 15 months, Josh and his professor measured the amount of bacteria on the jeans, and then washed them. He wore them for another 13 days, and checked the bacteria again. He found that there wasn't much difference between 15 months' and 13 days' worth of bacteria.

Continue Reading Below Advertisement

This isn't new information. Jeans manufacturer Levi Strauss actually advocates washing your jeans no more than once a month, if only to help with water conservation. So if you're looking for ways to be a better person that require literally zero effort, just continue never washing your jeans. Great job, literally everyone in their 20s!

Wash everything else, though. With detergent.

Support Cracked's journalism with a visit to our Contribution Page. Please and thank you.For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browserUnlike many on the Right, I do not have a visceral loathing of Jeremy Corbyn. Indeed, many times in this column I have defended him.

Above all, this has been because I have believed that the grizzled old Leftie MP for North Islington is a refreshing contrast to the cynical and deceitful politics of Tony Blair and New Labour.

During Blairs decade as PM, spin, manipulation and downright lying were everyday facts of political life. There was, too, a superficiality in his approach to serious issues.

Jeremy Corbyn, by contrast, is a man of sincere  if terribly flawed  beliefs.

The grizzled old Leftie MP for North Islington is a refreshing contrast to the cynical and deceitful politics of Tony Blair and New Labour

He has been especially courageous on foreign policy. I believe he was right to oppose the Iraq war, which created bloodshed and chaos across the Middle East and led to the rise of Islamic State.

He wisely opposed Blairs earlier Afghan misadventure, which led to the unnecessary loss of so many British and Afghan lives. Again, he was vindicated as one of only a dozen MPs who voted against Camerons catastrophic decision to intervene in Libya and oust Colonel Gaddafi.

I also strongly admire the way he has stood up for Palestinian rights  an unpopular stance at Westminster.

All that said, Corbyn has behaved with grotesquely bad judgment in other areas. Above all, he has spent his entire political life supporting terrorist groups and governments hostile to the UK and our allies.

He has been especially courageous on foreign policy. I believe he was right to oppose the Iraq war, which created bloodshed and chaos across the Middle East and led to the rise of Islamic State

He was wrong to meet leaders of the IRA, with blood on their hands from years of the murders of innocent men, women and children. Corbyns defence was that it was important to maintain links with the IRA. After all, Blair followed suit. He was also wrong to meet with the Middle Eastern terror group Hamas.

Now, yet again, Corbyn is embroiled in a major controversy. Every day this week, there has been shocking new proof of Labours descent into the cesspit of anti-Semitism.

But then, Im afraid, the ineluctable truth is that accusations of anti-Semitism have been directed at Corbyn ever since he became Labour leader.

For my part, I admit, I felt that some of these claims were overplayed. For example, I believed Corbyn could not be held personally responsible for an incident at Labours conference last year, when an Israeli-American author, at a fringe meeting, compared Zionists to Nazis and suggested it was legitimate to question whether the Holocaust took place.

Also, I felt some of Corbyns critics were confounding abhorrent anti-Semitism with criticism of the policies of the current Israeli government. Nor did I accept that Corbyn himself was anti-Semitic. I regarded him as a man who was passionately opposed to all kinds of racism and was a fighter  albeit sometimes very naive  for social justice.

This week, with a heavy heart, I changed my mind. Im now convinced that there is something detestable about Corbyns politics which make it impossible to defend him any more.

Among several examples, the first concerned Christine Shawcroft, Labours head of discipline who was forced to resign after it emerged that she had defended a Labour councillor accused of sharing an article on Facebook which claimed the Holocaust was a hoax. This proves that the poison of anti-Semitism has spread into the heart of the Corbyn Labour Party.

All that said, Corbyn has behaved with grotesquely bad judgment in other areas

We also learnt that Corbyn himself has been a member of five online groups which have propagated anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, such as that the number of deaths at Auschwitz has been exaggerated and that Israelis have harvested the organs of Arab children. Also, they have posted links to the loathsome views of white supremacists, including the leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

Despite being a contributor to such sites, Corbyn claimed  preposterously in my view  not to have noticed such postings and continued until this week to be a member of two of these groups. But the most egregious example of Corbyns shameful anti-Semitism was his support for a truly disgusting mural in London portraying caricature Jewish bankers playing Monopoly on the backs of what appear to be naked slaves. Thus it depicted Jews as evil conspirators working to oppress the masses.

It was an image of which the Nazis would have been proud.

Yet Corbyn disingenuously defended it on the grounds of free speech! And this from a man who claims he wants to promote a kinder, gentler politics.

Either he was revealing shocking naivety, which, in any case, is unacceptable in a frontline politician and renders him unfit for public office. Or there is something hideously sinister about Corbyns core views.

What is without doubt is that he is damned by his own behaviour.

Corbyns dreadful lack of judgment over anti-Semitism  and his weaselly attempt at an apology this week  shows that he is unworthy to be an MP, let alone lead a great political party.

This is why Im convinced that this week marks a tipping point for Corbyns career as Labour leader. We live in a country whose forebears made unimaginable sacrifices to defeat Nazism in World War II. Decent people can no longer support him.

In the past century, the Labour party made great contributions to British life. Corbyns behaviour means it now risks becoming a pariah organisation for as long as he is in charge.

Boldly, I shall make a set of predictions. First, morally decent MPs such as Keir Starmer and the ambitious Emily Thornberry will soon conclude that they cannot serve under Corbyn.

If that happens, I expect very many others to follow.

Then, regardless of the iron-like grip Momentum has on the party machine, I predict that Corbyn will be removed as leader of the parliamentary party. Inevitably, the party will then be engulfed in a bloody civil war, ending in a formal split.

A similar rupture happened in the 1930s during the Great Depression, when one section of the party supported the austere economic policies of the Conservatives while the other rejected them and broke away to set up Independent Labour under George Lansbury.

Labour had to wait until 1945 to form a majority government.

The situation today for Labour is far more worrying. The great danger is that the Cobynista rump turns into a fringe movement supported by the hard Left, trade unionists, disgruntled public sector workers and local councils hijacked by Momentum.

This would be a tragedy for politics. Democracy requires a forceful Opposition.

The Labour Party of Keir Hardie, Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson and Aneurin Bevin was a great party that effected huge social change and gave voice to working people. The Labour Party of Jeremy Corbyn is a party of Momentum, anti-Semites and Marxists.Tess Holliday insists that dropping out of high school her junior year to escape her bullies saved her life, and she wants other kids struggling with similar issues to know that they matter.

The 32-year-old model took to Instagram on Thursday to share an old photo of herself as a teen, explaining that her mom's somewhat controversial decision to pull her out of school helped shape the woman she is today.

'I dropped out of school when I was in 11th grade from bullying,' she wrote. 'That decision saved my life and allowed me to become who I am today, even if at the time my family wasnt the kindest to my mom for pulling me out of school. I went on to get my high school diploma and never looked back.'

Throwback: Tess Holliday took to Instagram on Thursday to post a photo of herself as a teen while sharing a powerful message for those who are suffering from bullying

Looking back: The size 22 model explained that her mom pulled her out of school when she in the 11th grade because she was bullied and it saved her life

Tess went on to share a powerful message with her young fans, explaining that things will get better for them.

'To the weird kids, the fat kids, the kids whos skin is darker than most, the kids who having learning disabilities, the kids who eat alone at lunch, the kids who are too afraid to live their truth because society has shown you that you dont belong let me say this: YOU MATTER,' she wrote.

'From a former weird, fat, poor, depressed kid who is now a weird fat anxious but HAPPY adult- it gets better, hang in there.'

In the photo she posted, she is fresh-faced and smiling from ear to ear. Tess' now auburn hair was dark brown and cut into a shoulder-length bob.

It gets better: Tess (pictured at a shoot in Los Angeles last week) stressed that she is now a happy adult

'60s-inspired: Tess donned a racy red lace teddy during the kitschy shoot

Keeping with the style of the times, she had on a smiley face T-shirt, hoop earrings, and a necklace with block letters on it.

The post received more than 75,000 'likes' in just one day, and many commenters were inspired to share their own personal stories about being homeschooled because of bullying.

One mom named Lori revealed that she took her daughter out of school because of bullying, noting that they are homeschooling her now and she is 'much happier.'

'I loathed school because I was bullied and also have ADHD and that made me learn differently, which is not something a teacher can help you with when he/she have so many other students to teach,' another person wrote. 'So when I had my kids I vowed to homeschool.'

Belfie: Tess shared this sultry selfie with her 1.5 million Instagram followers while on holiday in Palm Springs

Pillow talk: While on vacation with Nick, the mom-of-two gave her followers an intimate glimpse into her life by revealing that they had spent most of their time 'laying around'

Tess uses her social media platform to promote self-love and body positivity, and she is never one to shy away from posting a sultry lingerie photo.

Earlier this week, she took to Instagram Stories while in Palm Springs to share a sexy snapshot with her 1.5 million followers while enjoying a vacation with her husband Nick Holliday in Palm Springs, California.

Tess uploaded a picture of herself posing in front of her hotel bathroom mirror in a sheer, nude bodysuit, hinting that her husband liked her revealing ensemble so much that it didn't 'stay on long.'

However, her bedroom antics aren't for her husband's eyes only, as the Mississippi native also shared with her fans that they had spent most of the trip 'laying around.'

Proud hubby: The posts come just days after Nick shared these screenshots of his phone screensaver depicting racy photos of his wife in the background

Loved up: Tess and Nick married in a private ceremony three years ago

Sending a message: In the caption for the post, he encouraged others to make sure they are valued by their partners

Tucked up under the sheets, Tess captioned a shot of herself from bed with the words: 'We've spent half our vacation laying around doing nothing and it's been perfect'.

The intimate glimpse into the couple's private life comes just days after Tess posted photos of herself modeling a red lace teddy at a shoot in Los Angeles.

The size 22 model used the captions 'Daydreaming about cake' and 'Babydoll moments' while sharing two photos of herself wearing the racy see-through onesie.

In the '60s-inspired images, Tess's auburn hair is curled and pulled half up with a floral bow on top. She is posed in front of a wicker chair and an oversize teddy bear, and in one shot she turned to show off her backside.

A little help: Tess shared her own post thanking the self-timing feature on her phone for allowing her to take 'hot' pictures for her husband

Happy family: The couple are parents to their Bowie Juniper, who born in June 2016

Motherhood: Tess also has an 11-year-old son named Rylee from a previous relationship

The sultry images came just a week after she posted a risque snapshot of herself wearing a black body suit, along with a thank-you to the self-timing feature on iPhones 'for giving me the power to take hot photos like this for my husband.'

She added: 'He got the unedited ones, [sorry].'

Nick also shared his own post, including screenshots of his iPhone lock screen and background bearing images looking to be from Tess' same selfie session.

Tess' husband used the opportunity to send a body-positive message, writing in the caption: 'If your partner isnt proud of you right now - not 5 years and 40 pounds ago, but right now today - they dont deserve your time and attention.'

He finished the post with hashtags such as Tess' tagline #effyourbeautystandards and #putthegentlebackingentlemen.Studio 17, situated down a potholed road on an industrial estate in Southampton, isnt the most salubrious of settings. But inside at the Starz Ballets 10am class, standards are very high indeed.

Pink leotards are smoothed and spotless; tutus are crisp. Teeny ballet shoes hold plump little feet and pink tights cling to cute chubby legs (and, in some cases, dangerously bulging nappies).

Oh, and the hairstyles! There are pigtails with ringlets, swinging ponytails, high bunches, low bunches, top knots  but, most of all, buns. These bob and gleam like varnished pompoms, held in place with lashings of hairspray. (For those with enough hair, that is). The attention to detail is amazing. But the first thing that hits you as you walk through the door is the noise.

Because while the 19 dedicated ballerinas (and a lone male called Isaac) are immaculately turned out, they are children. Very, very young children. Half of them are still in nappies. Many can only speak baby. Several cant yet walk.

Children as young as a few months old are accepted at Starz ballet classes

But here they are, kitted out like mini Darcey Bussells and still buzzing from their annual show last weekend  a two-performance, totally sold-out extravaganza full of pompoms, sequins, tutus and anxious parents in a 750-seat auditorium in Fareham, Hampshire.

I arrive in time to find them limbering up for their class with Miss Sarah, aka Sarah Wolfe, a professional dancer who won a ballet scholarship aged 11 and later trained at the prestigious Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts.

While ballet classes for pre-schoolers are nothing new, what makes Starz different is that the baby ballerinas here are often just that  babies. The school accepts children from just a few months old.

Youll be amazed what they can do at six months, Miss Sarah tells me. Once they start recognising the music, remembering what they have to do with their hands and feet, youll be astonished.

Toddlers learn ballet at Starz Ballet dancing school in Southampton

Frankly, I would. After all, one gorgeous little girl called Lily is just seven months old and can barely sit up on her own.

But over the next half an hour, Miss Sarah  who is now 48 but still boasts perfect posture, very pointy feet, amazing curly lashes and a relentless smile  takes them through their paces.

Their attention span is incredible. As Miss Sarah runs through drills  good toes and naughty toes (pointed and flexed), monkey wriggles and arabesques to the strains of Nellie the Elephant and Row Row Row Your Boat  somehow they pay attention.

They also stop crying, whinging, bickering and squawking, start smiling and actually do what she says. Even the tiny ones wriggle happily and point their fat little toes.

Mother's of these little darlings insist that they are never to young to learn to pirouette

Well done! she praises. Beautiful, Betsie. Raise your arms, Holly. Lovely. Just beautiful.

Round the edges of the studio, mums and grannies sit and watch, entranced as their darlings sashay, point and flex, master first position (heels together, toes pointed out or, as Miss Sarah calls it, smiley feet) and attempt a plie. Or, in some cases, just lie there and gurgle.

Its never too young to start, one mum tells me. We had a six-month-old baby in one show. She couldnt crawl, but she wore a lovely frilly skirt and her dad brought her on stage and swooshed her up and down. It was beautiful.

Abigail Rogers will be two in June. She first came to watch her sister Holly, now four, in her class when she was just a week old and has been attending herself  in full ballet kit, complete with crossover cardigan  since she was eight months old.

Evie aged 23 months is one of the youngsters who attends classes at Starz

At first she just used to sit on the floor, says her mum Helen. But very soon she could wriggle and point her toes.

Though obviously for the tippy toes and sideways gallop Id carry her.

While the 21st-century mummies take it all in their stride, the grannies are a bit startled. Heather Fraser, 63, is here with her granddaughter, Freya, who is 15 months old and has been attending Starz Ballet for two terms already, despite the fact that she only learnt to walk three weeks ago.

When I had children you went for a walk in the park, you met friends or made dens under your dining room table, says Heather.

There was nothing like this. Freya cant really talk yet, but she gets excited when her mum gets her ballet bag out.

Of course she does. Shes a little girl whos dressing up with her friends and dancing around to the music.

Julieann, 2, Holly, 4, and Layla, 2, show off some of the moves they have been learning

Starz Ballet was set up eight years ago by two friends, Lianne Weston-Mommsen and Cheryl Dodd. Both had daughters and both had been dancers.

While Cheryl dabbled, Lianne, 43, has been obsessed since she was 18 months old and allowed to join in with her big sisters dance class.

She went to stage school then became a professional dancer. She spent ten years dancing on cruise ships before she met her South African husband in the on-board duty-free shop and finally settled down on dry land.

Both Cheryl and Lianne wanted their daughters to learn ballet as soon as possible, but couldnt find a class that took babies.

Babies love music and we thought, Why limit them just because they cant walk? says Lianne. They can do Row your boat with their mum, they can kick their legs. We can build on that.

So they did.

But instead of doing the usual old music and movement with untrained teachers armed with baskets of maracas and tambourines, they did it properly. They had a full ballet uniform, a detailed syllabus (yes, really) and professionally trained ballet teachers like Miss Sarah. The company took off like a rocket. (Most mums here today did ballet themselves when they were children  if not quite so young  and were keen for their daughters to follow in their ballet shoes.)

Within a year it was offering 33 classes for dancers from six months to six years, in 12 locations across Hampshire. Today, it gives more than 70 classes a week, has a team of 15 and teaches 750 pupils, including about 20 boys.

There is such a stigma about boys and ballet. I wish more boys would join, says Lianne.

Today, there is just five-year-old Isaac, who also does gymnastics and swimming.

He joined with his sister Taliyah when she was 13 months old, still breastfeeding and apparently a bit shy. Isaac looks very dashing in his white leotard and navy shorts and, even to my untrained eye, is really rather good. His plies put most of the girls to shame.

For the grand show last week, he and Taliyah performed together  she was a flower, and he danced around her dressed as a bumblebee.

Today, their mother, Sarah-Jayne Clarke, 29, gets emotional thinking about it. I was so proud of them my heart just burst, she says.

For many, its all about the show. It takes a full term to prepare and couldnt be further from an amateur village hall affair  its all highly professional.

Tickets sell out so quickly they do two performances, one after the other. They give a chunk of the takings to charities close to their hearts, such as brain tumour charity HeadSmart.

We lost one little ballerina to a brain tumour, explains Lianne. She was only five and had been with us right through since she was a baby.

On SHOW day, hair and make-up  just lipstick for some, but the full works (eyeshadow, foundation and blusher) for most  started at 7.30am for a 1.15pm curtain-up.

Sarah-Jayne and her mum, both hairdressers, did 60 buns between them each morning. With buns, presentation is apparently everything. Hairnets, hairspray and plenty of hairpins are a must, even if youre not yet old enough to brush your own hair.

If it all seems a bit twee, precious and almost ridiculously ambitious, its because it is. Several staff members are fully trained ballerinas  to teach babies, for goodness sake.

But it is surprisingly affordable at 5.50 a class. And yes, the ballet kit is all available on the company websites shop, but can also be picked up in Sainsburys for less than 30 for the lot.

More importantly, it actually seems to help. Every parent I talk to insists baby ballet has made a huge difference, not just with walking, balance and coordination, but also focus, concentration and temper tantrums.

Miss Sarah herself took up ballet aged three, when her granny took one look at her and said: That child needs to go to ballet to learn coordination.

Over the years she has performed everywhere from the West End musical 42nd Street, to panto in Redhill, Surrey, to cruise ships. In 2011, she took her niece Evie to a Starz Ballet class and loved it so much she joined the staff. I started with one ballet class a week  now I teach 17, she says.

And shes certainly good at it. Not many of us could corral 20 kids of different ages and abilities and somehow make a coherent lesson out of it, while sticking to a syllabus.

No wonder half the parents seem to worship her.

Back in Studio 17, the whole class is now attempting a sideways gallop across the room, teeny hands on teeny hips, leading with pointed toes. The children clearly love it and the parents are almost as obsessed. Holly and Abigails mum Helen is a paediatric intensive care nurse who tells me she doesnt work Fridays just so she can take her girls to ballet.

Today, she has come direct from a 13-hour night shift rather than miss out on the excitement.

Now that the tutus and sequins of the annual show have been packed away for another year, the main focus is on competitions.

This week the Festival Squad, which includes Taliyah, three, and Holly, four, will compete with two dances. Last time they won.

Head up, Taliyah. Head up, calls Miss Sarah, as those who can walk in a circle on their tippy toes. The rest are carried.

The pressures on, says Sarah-Jayne. Miss Sarah is hard on the children but she gets results and they all love her. Even so, it must be trying  17 classes a week! Rather her than me.

After all, what about all the hazards  the crying, the smelly nappies, the fact that half the class are so young theyll never even remember the lessons?

Not to mention the tots so teeny they nod off in their prams on the way here and sleep through the whole class.

She looks at me as if Im mad and brushes it all away with a pointed toe and a balletic sweep of her arm.

Ive done classes through crying tantrums, potty training and breastfeeding mummies, but you just get used to it, she says. This is the best job Ive ever done and I feel privileged to do it.Thousands of women including actress Kate Winslett suffer from stress incontinence

Thousands of women suffering embarrassing bladder problems could be spared risky and invasive surgery thanks to a simple jab.

The injections treat a form of the condition called stress urinary incontinence (SUI), which is more common with age and among women who are overweight or who have had children.

Studies show that eight in ten women find the procedure effective, meaning it could be a viable alternative to the scandal-hit mesh-implant operation.

Four out of ten mothers experience difficulties holding on after giving birth. Among those affected is actress Kate Winslet, 42, who owned up in 2015 to suffering accidents while sneezing.

Five million British women are said to suffer from some sort of urinary incontinence.

SUI is caused by a weakness in the pelvic-floor muscles and prevents the urethra, the tube that carries urine out of the body, from closing fully. When sudden pressure is put on the bladder, urine can leak out  and this can happen during normal daily activities such as walking, or when coughing or laughing.

Until recently, the most popular and effective treatment for moderate to severe SUI was to insert a mesh implant to support the bladder. But health watchdogs last year warned against offering the procedure after reports of post-operative complications with healing, which left women suffering severe pain. Now there could be a safer, non-invasive alternative. Called Bulkamid, it involves having up to four injections in the tissue surrounding the neck of the bladder.

The injections contain a smooth, watery gel that stays pliable. This plumps or bulks up the tissue in the neck of the bladder to stop urine leaking.

The injections are administered under local anaesthetic in a procedure lasting just 15 minutes.

A simple injection taking 15 minutes can spare women the inconvenience of surgery

Bulkamid was originally developed in 2006, and experts say there is now enough evidence on its effectiveness that it can be considered a viable alternative to mesh surgery.

The treatment was originally reserved for older women who were considered not fit for surgery. Initial trial results showed the success rate  defined as patients needing only one round of treatment  was about 50 per cent.

But changing the positioning of the injections around the neck of the bladder and offering them also to younger women has pushed up the success rate to 80 per cent. There are no known side effects, apart from the pain of the injection, which has been likened to a dental anaesthetic jab.

Success rates with the mesh had been quoted as high as 90 per cent.

A 2015 study published in the Central European Journal Of Urology looked at how effective injections were among 250 women after three years. It showed 82 per cent were either cured or had a significant improvement in their symptoms.

Meanwhile, British research presented to the International Continence Society meeting showed a success rate of 89 per cent.

Helen Johnson, a leading specialist in urogynaecology at Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire, has been using the injections for years as an alternative form of treatment. She says: The injection has taken a back seat in recent years while the mesh and tape  another surgical option that is still available  have been promoted. Initially, that made sense as results from injections were nowhere near as good.

Now, thanks to advances with the injection, its success rate is not far off the mesh or tape. Therefore it makes sense to offer many the injections as a first choice.

Some patients suffer stress urinary incontinence because of a prolapse of the womb due to childbirth. In severe cases, surgery is likely still to be the best option.

Steve Foley, a Consultant Urologist at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, adds: The great thing about the injections is they are minimally invasive and we now have good data on safety and effectiveness.

During the procedure, 2mm of gel is injected into three or four areas of the bladder neck and it looks like a puffed-up cushion when seen on a scan image.

Ann Wells, 71, from Reading, was first treated with Bulkamid five years ago. She then had a top-up injection earlier this year. Mr Foley recommended the injection as the most appropriate and least invasive option, she says.

It made such a difference to my life. I didnt need to wear pads again and those embarrassing leaks when coughing, sneezing or walking up a hill were a thing of a past.

I was advised at the time that I might need a top-up jab within a few years. So when I became aware of a few little leaks again, I didnt think twice about asking for a referral.

Once again, the results have been remarkable and I would have no hesitation in recommending the treatment to others.Mum

Tuesday, BBC2

Rating:

In The Long Run

Thursday, Sky One

Rating:

A new comedy this week as well as the conclusion of the second series of Mum, which one hopes will run to a third season, a fourth, a tenth, a 47th and a 98th. Ideally, it would just run wall-to-wall until the sun burns away and were all wiped out, and in that instance whose last words wouldnt be, But wait, but wait, we need to see if Cathy and Michael finally kiss? Both characters are in their 60s and the show explores grief, middle-age and loneliness, yet it may well be one of the sexiest things ever on television (bar Poldark, obviously). This week when Cathy (Lesley Manville) declared her feelings for Michael (Peter Mullan) at long last, it was one of the most beautifully written things on television ever as well as one of the most longed for. I melted as I watched and am still melting now.

Peter Mullan and Lesley Manville in Mum. Both characters are in their 60s and the show explores grief, middle-age and loneliness

For the final episode it was bonfire night. Michael arrived with the wood and announced hed bought that house in Spain. Derek (Ross Boatman), Cathys brother, arrived with his partner Pauline (Dorothy Atkinson) and they were mid-row because hed bought fifty-fifty bread when, as Pauline pointed out, we all know that if there is no wholemeal you buy granary or a seeded baton. Pauline is a monstrous snob. Cathys son Jason (Sam Swainsbury) and his girlfriend Kelly (Lisa McGrillis) are about to move into their own flat. Jason and Kelly are both supremely dim. The secondary characters are all sitcom stereotypes but necessary to offset the underlying quiet romance, the underlying quiet yearning, and Manville and Mullens quiet (but devastatingly powerful) performances. And the secondary characters can be touching, as when Derek pleaded for a cuddle from Pauline. Touching, and painful too.

But the moment  the moment  happened towards the end of the episode, when Michael told Cathy that Jason may be getting jealous about how much time they spend together, and he said dont worry, he understands that shes still grieving for her late husband and Im Michael, Im pretty boring, and she says ready?... she says: I dont know when or how it happened. It just sort of crept up on me. I cant stop thinking about you. I mean, Id love to find you boring. Id love to look at you and not notice your eyes. Id love to go to bed at night and not think of you and wake up in the morning and not be thinking of you and Id love to get a text from you and not reply to it instead of standing there like an idiot and finding that all the words in the world are difficult, even the little ones. When did that happen? What am I going to do when you are in Spain and I look around the place and see all the things that youve done that have made me adore you Beautiful writing (by Stefan Golaszewski). And then, as they stood round the bonfire, she tentatively reached to hold his hand. A third series has, apparently, already been commissioned. Will they kiss?

Whereas Mum is universal, In The Long Run, which is written by Idris Elba who also stars, is more specific to a time (Eighties) and a place (London) and if you were around during that time (Eighties) in that place (London) you will likely connect with it instantly. True, as based on Elbas own childhood, its also about the black British experience and if youre not black British you cant have had that experience, but you can recall what that decade was like, or may have experienced similar. (As the only Jew in a comprehensive at that time, in that place, I was often asked, How come youre Jewish and dont have a big nose?)

Elba plays Walter, a factory worker who lives on a council estate with his wife Agnes (Madeline Appiah) and their young son, Kobna (Sammy Kamara). It opens with Walter reading a letter from his mother back in Sierra Leone saying that his younger brother, Valentine, has become unruly and I am too old to be chasing him with a shoe so she is sending him to London. Valentine (Jimmy Akingbola) arrives at the estate. Hello, sir!, he calls out exuberantly to someone passing. F*** off! comes the reply. But mostly the prejudice is left to percolate at a low level as the family tries to contain Valentine, who is certainly unruly but such fun. The prejudice, when it does percolate to the surface, comes in the form of Agnes, for example, listening to complaints about coloureds with a quickly added, No offence I know youre not like that. (In my case, it was, Youre not like most Jews, are you, because theyre all so mean with money.) This is quite broad and there are no belly laughs, but it is warm and is as much about what binds people together as it is about what divides them. Ive seen two (of the six) and plan to keep with it, should my melting schedule allow.Jeff Goldblum is a weirdo. An impossibly tall, hyper-verbal beanpole. Definitely not a Hollywood leading man. And he would not disagree with you. Has anyone ever given me advice to be less quirky? Never.

And yet that quirk has led to him becoming the very thing he shouldnt be  a star. Independence Day (Goldblum plays a madcap scientist who saves the world), Jurassic Park (a mathematician-cum-rock star) and last years mega-hit Thor: Ragnarok (silver-lipsticked megalomaniac) have all benefitted from his idiosyncratic style and offbeat delivery. An eccentric sex symbol, hes Hollywoods go-to guy for weirdness.

It was even there at the very beginning. His first role was a bit-part in Michael Winners 1974 vigilante movie, Death Wish, playing Freak No 1. It set the tone to come. I knew I was a little odd. But I didnt only want to be Mr Weirdo. I wanted to have parts available to me that were romantic. So I course-corrected and made adjustments as I surfed the whole marketplace. Films like The Tall Guy, with Emma Thompson, saw to that  but even there he played a dorky character.

Jeff Goldblum at the Cafe Carlyle in New York, with his jazz band, the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra.

When we meet in a swish Berlin hotel, hes dressed in black loafers, a navy polo shirt and a powder-blue suit, fresh from a photo-shoot. Im a little dolled up, he says. Its no wonder hes still in demand. He speaks like a guru, in odd sentences. His friends even call him Buddha.

His latest movie, Wes Andersons Isle Of Dogs, is a decidedly quirky stop-motion animated film. He voices Duke, a canine exiled on a Japanese island. The for-adults humour is pure Goldblum. If I had nothing to do with this and I was just showing up, I would eat it up with a spoon, he says.

Even in his private life, Goldblum is unconventional. After divorcing his first wife, actress Patricia Gaul, in 1986, he married his second, Geena Davis, his co-star from The Fly and Earth Girls Are Easy, a year later on a whim while driving through Las Vegas. The union lasted just three years. He calls his relationships with women a mysterious course of study and at 65, Goldblum is a father for the first time  with his third wife, former Olympic gymnast Emilie Livingston, 30 years his junior. Im just a humble student at it, an early-stage practitioner, he says of parenthood. Charlie Ocean is now two-and-a-half. And River Joe is ten months. Im crazy about them.

His latest movie, Wes Andersons Isle Of Dogs, is a decidedly quirky stop-motion animated film. He voices Duke, a canine exiled on a Japanese island

He once said about having children: You have to be in love with the idea to do it, and I guess I never was. What changed? Emilie. Her. Its enhanced my appreciation of her. And so he has thrown himself into it. Im disciplined, I make sure I am in bed by 9.30 so we can both wake them up at seven. Im a stickler.

Goldblum regularly plays jazz with his band, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, and he needs this routine to help fit in his practice. I get up at 5.30 or 6, make sure I play my piano for 45 minutes, sing a little bit, work out in my gym upstairs, work on my acting, get all that done. Do my grooming such as it is, and then get going. My energy is fed by it, my life is enhanced by it, and so far so good.

This summer hes back in his most famous role, mathematician Dr Ian Malcolm, for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. I had a good time with those movies, he says. In the original book that Michael Crichton wrote, Malcolms a philosopher-fool scientist.

US actor Jeff Goldblum (L) and his wife Canadian dancer Emilie Livingston arrive for the screening of the film "Kidnap" during the 43rd Deauville

Hes even brought his own brand of oddness to advertising (invading a family Christmas to promote Currys PC World). Fortunately, he does it all with a smile. I like to laugh a lot. I like to try to be funny, he says. I see now round my kids, I like to try to make them laugh.

As a boy hed write Please God, let me be an actor on the glass door every time he took a shower. After bit parts in Nashville and Annie Hall, he became a major star in 1986s The Fly. In an age of charisma-free Hollywood hunks, he flourished and continues to do so. Thank goodness. Miraculously its happened or continues to happen in a way that allows me to feel like a late bloomer, he says. His best and his weirdest is yet to come, he feels.

Im more interested than ever, enjoying it more than ever.

Isle Of Dogs is in cinemas nowThe Easter holiday brought forward by several days the deadline for shareholders to decide the fate of GKN.

The outcome, which leaves Melrose in the cockpit, is profoundly troubling. GKN may have brought trouble upon itself by slack management. But the cure in trusting the future to the Melrose City boys Chris Miller, Simon Peckham, David Roper and Geoff Martin is far worse than the illness.

Business Secretary Greg Clark came to the party far too late, with hedge funds and get-rich-quick merchants driving events by grabbing holdings of 25 per cent in GKN. Even now, as Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson seeks a full probe on national security grounds, supine Clark is still cavilling.

Out of touch: Business Secretary Greg Clark came to the party far too late

All he needs to do is go to the GKN website to understand that there is barely a civilian or military aircraft in the world which does not use its advanced technology.

This may put the firm among the top Ministry of Defence contractors, but try selling the Typhoon Eurofighter to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states without the advanced-tech canopies which protect air crews.

Much of GKNs aerospace technology is developed in co-operation with Lockheed Martin and other US defence contractors for the Pentagon. The F-35 Lightning fighters, destined for the RAF and Britains new carrier forces, are festooned with GKN technology. That is why the robust Committee on Foreign Investment in the US will take a look. It would be feeble if the Americans intervene where the UK fears to tread.

The political and financial fallout from this contested bid battle will not go away quickly. In an age when so many big institutional shareholders have signed up to better stewardship of companies, including less extravagant pay and incentives, the Melrose assault rightly plays right into the hands of critics.

Melrose, with the help of the financial buccaneers, has been allowed to buy GKN on the cheap. The 8billion valuation of the firm was way below where it should have been.

GKN is a victim of the undervaluation of FTSE 100 companies, a misreading of the value of an engineering conglomerate and the fact that it is the last UK quoted automotive firm.

Broken up into its component parts, the company, with its 58,000 workforce in 30 different territories, could be worth one-third more than what has been paid for it.

During a period of what has become known as austerity (everything is relative) no one can applaud the sight of City advisers  investment banks, lawyers and communications whizzes  walking off with fees of 160m for less than 60 days work.

That is simply obscene, and put in the shade only by the 285m which the Melrose tycoons stand to collect  not to mention the quick profits generated by the hedge funds riding the wave.

It is argued that GKN is only getting what it deserves because longer-term shareholders were willing to sell a lousy company to the opportunists. This is balderdash.

Surrender: Melrose, with the help of the financial buccaneers, has been allowed to buy GKN on the cheap

By any standards, Sky is one of Britains greatest technology and creative success stories. Yet as bids from 21st Century Fox, Disney and Comcast are mulled, the hedgies, including ubiquitous Elliott, have together built up a 13 per cent stake and rising. They see another killing in the making, despite Skys obvious success.

Among the reasons why City boys such as Melrose and the hedge funds are able to get away with company assassinations is a failure of accountability among big battalion investors.

Millions of ordinary investors are disenfranchised because holdings are kept on platforms such as Hargreaves Lansdown or through pension funds. Asset managers should be required to publicly reveal their voting intentions and reasoning in all bids.

We may not have appreciated the way in which Aviva Investors voted, but at least it had the decency to go public. There is simply too little transparency, making a mockery of democracy. The Takeover Panel needs to seize the high ground.

Freedom festivals

The Prince of Wales wisely tells us that Easter 2018 is a time to focus on the fate of persecuted Christians and minorities around the world.

As the festival of Passover also begins, it is also a moment when Jews reflect on trials of the past and hard-won economic and political freedoms. The message is particularly poignant this year as Labour struggles to drive out its anti-Semitic demons.

Happy holidays.HSBC has agreed to pay 71m to end a US lawsuit accusing it of conspiring to manipulate Libor rates, becoming the fourth major bank to settle in the case.

The agreement is with over-the-counter investors, who dealt with banks on a panel to determine Libor, a rate used to calculate how much banks charge each other for loans.

Agreement: HSBC denied wrongdoing, but settled to avoid the risks, costs and distraction of litigation, court papers show

It was disclosed in filings on Thursday at the US District Court in Manhattan, and will need court approval. Settlements with the OTC investors total 420m so far, and include 85m with Barclays, 93m with Citigroup and 171m with Deutsche Bank.

HSBC denied wrongdoing, but settled to avoid the risks, costs and distraction of litigation, court papers show.

Investors, including Yale University in Connecticut, accused 16 banks of conspiring to manipulate Libor, starting the case in 2011. Banks have paid roughly 6.4bn to settle Libor-rigging probes worldwide.

In July, the head of City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority said it would phase out Libor by the end of 2021.Praise: The New York Times hailed Chrissie Rucker as the UKs answer to Martha Stewart

Britain has produced its fair share of glamorous power couples. Liz Taylor and Richard Burton; David and Victoria Beckham; Chas and Dave.

To that heady mix we can also add the names of entrepreneurial husband and wife, Chrissie Rucker and Nicholas Wheeler.

She is the founder of soft furnishings firm The White Company, hes the man behind affordable haberdasher, Charles Tyrwhitt.

Together they have amassed a combined fortune of 400million and now enjoy a roost inside the top 25 wealthiest couples in the Sunday Times Rich List.

But it is Ruckers success story which is the more intriguing. While her husbands business career was forged via Eton, Bristol University and a solid grounding in management consultancy, she left school aged 16 not knowing one end of a spreadsheet from the other.

Since launching as a mail-order firm in 1994, The White Company now has more than 50 shops in the UK, with profits at 17.6million.

When she opened her first American outlet on Manhattans Fifth Avenue last year, the New York Times hailed her as the UKs answer to Martha Stewart.

The premise of the business is, in many ways, a reflection of its stylish owner. Simple, attractive designs  ranging from bed linen to cashmere jerseys  belying accessible prices. And nearly all of it, of course, in white.

Her father was a commodity broker while her mother was obsessed with horses, a passion now shared by Ruckers three daughters. After finishing her O levels, young Rucker enrolled at Lucie Clayton finishing school, studying dressmaking, and generally lived the life of an Alice-banded Sloane Ranger.

In 1987 she was a debutante at the Berkeley Square Ball alongside socialite Plum Sykes. Designer Jean Muir was on the judging panel, and Rucker, showing an aptitude for self-advancement, convinced her to give her work experience.

A succession of jobs on glossy magazines followed  Vogue then Tatler. After undertaking an ill-fated journalism course (a complete waste of time) she became a PR girl at cosmetics firm Clarins before moving to Harpers & Queen in 1991 as a beauty writer.

And then she met Wheeler. Handsome as her new beau was, his taste in interiors left much to be desired. Spotting a chance to show what perfect wife material she was, Rucker took it upon herself to kit out his flat, but noticed how difficult it was to buy plain white sheets on the High Street. The germ of an idea was sown.

Chrissie Rucker after she received the MBE for services to the retail industry from Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle in February 2010

Rucker began meticulously researching her market, even posing as a journalist so she could quiz department stores on how much white linen they sold. Armed with 6,000 she had inherited from her grandmother, and a 5,000 investment from Wheeler (in return for 25 per cent of the business), she produced her first catalogue on a computer in her attic, delivering initial orders in her sisters Mini Metro.

The firm took off, turning over 258,000 in its first year.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Somehow, inbetween the gruelling 16-hour days she worked to begin with, shes had time for four children. Meanwhile, she and Wheeler enjoy a bulging portfolio of properties, including a 12.5million 17th century manor house in Buckinghamshire and a beautiful schloss in the Swiss Alps.

It is a measure of her lack of ego that she happily admits she could never have done it all without her hubbys expertise. He helped write her first business plan and expand in the US, having already launched a number of shops in the States.

The path of love, however, has not always run smoothly.

A year after the firm launched, Wheeler failed to propose to her during a trip to Thailand. An irate Rucker stormed into his office, handed back his investment, and told him it was over. When they married, as a wedding gift she gave Wheeler back a stake, but this time just 1 per cent. Chrissie Rucker is a wife, mother and designer  but a businesswoman to the core.Belgian parliament has voted to slash their wayward prince's 270,000 yearly allowance after his latest gaffe in an embarrassing series of blunders.

The decision came after he arrived at a Chinese diplomatic function in military uniform without the consent of the government.

The House of Representatives voted on Friday by 93 votes to 23 for a one-time cut of around 40,000 from his annual endowment of some 270,000.

Belgian parliament has voted to slash their wayward prince's 270,000 yearly allowance after his latest gaffe in an embarrassing series of blunders. The decision came after he arrived at a Chinese diplomatic function in military uniform without the consent of the government (pictured right, in 2013, with Prince Phillip, left)

The move came despite an emotional letter from the 54-year-old brother of King Philippe saying he had never had the opportunity to pick his own career choices.

'In fact, my whole life has been the subject of a trial,' he wrote.

'Since early youth, my existence was at the service of my brother, my family and the state.

'I could not work as I pleased or develop projects which could have given me some independence. I even had to ask for the permission to marry,' the widely quoted letter said.

The liberal Open Vld parliamentary leader, Patrick Dewael, retorted that the prince has to accept the conditions that come with an endowment.

Many in Belgium think that Laurent should walk away from his princely duties in light of numerous scandals over the years

'Or he rejects the endowment and he is free to do as he pleases.'

Many in Belgium think that Laurent should walk away from his princely duties in light of numerous scandals over the years.

'Laurent has long been dubbed the royal 'enfant terrible' in the media for his long tradition of courting controversy either for his speedy driving, love of expensive furniture, former romantic connections and, now, unauthorized diplomatic visits.

Seven years ago, he earned the wrath of then-king Albert II when Prince Laurent visited Congo, Belgium's former colony, against both his wishes and those of the Belgian government.

As the brother of a king who already has four children, Laurent has no realistic chance of ever taking the throne.Billionaire business magnate Richard Branson announced Friday that he purchased the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

The English Virgin Group founder, 67, was all smiles while he spoke about his latest investment and popped champagne at a news conference outside the famed casino-hotel.

He said the property will be Virgin-branded in coming months with a completion date set for the end of 2019.

During the renovations, The Strip hot spot, which has 1,500 rooms and suites, will remain up and running for Vegas visitors.

Details about the purchase price have yet to be disclosed, but Los Angeles-based investment firm Juniper Capital has been named a partner in the business venture.

Richard Branson announced his purchase of the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas which he will re-brand as Virgin Hotel. He is pictured outside the property on March 30, 2018

Virgin Group founder Branson speaks at the news conference Friday when he announced the investment

He said the property will be Virgin-branded in coming months with a completion date set for the end of 2019

Billionaire Branson sprays champagne as he announces the exciting news on a sunny Friday in Sin City

He is surrounded by performers, friends and co-workers Friday as he celebrates the buyout

Old Beardie's latest investment has been a dream of his for several years, Branson explained to Conde Nast Traveler.

He and his team had previously planned various designs for other hotels on The Strip, and The Hard Rock happens to be his favorite, he told Conde Nast.

'It's been allowed to get a bit tired over the years, but it's got fantastic staff and that's the absolute key. It needs a lot of money spent on it.'

Branson, also of Virgin Records, which has signed with the Rolling Stones and Sex Pistols, said he's the perfect fit for the job as he comes from the rock 'n' roll business.

He added that the design of the original Hard Rock will be different than Virgin's - as visitors won't 'walk into slot machines,' and will experience a 'tasteful, fun' feel when entering the casino-hotel.

Branson and a dancer are seen smiling and cooling off their feet in the pool on Friday

Virgin Group founder Branson, left, dances during the news conference in Las Vegas

Branson and his team had previously planned various designs for hotels on The Strip, and The Hard Rock just happens to be his favorite

Raul Leal, CEO of Virgin Hotels is seen at the Grand Opening of The Virgin Hotel on April 16, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. Leal said the Vegas space will stay a gaming hotel

'It's incredible for me to suddenly have this collection of wonderful rock 'n' roll memorabilia. We've even seen some old Virgin signs there, so I suspect they'll stay somehow.

'We think we're ready now to put some magic back into this property,' he added, while Virgin Hotels CEO Raul Leal told the magazine the space will stay a gaming spot.

When asked about former disgraced Wynn and Mirage Resorts CEO, Steve Wynn, Branson said he hopes the longtime casino magnate's tarnished reputation won't hinder his success.

Wynn, 76, resigned from his positions in February amid talk of his decades-old sexual misconduct history, according to a report published by The Wall Street Journal in late January.

Casino magnate Steve Wynn (C) walks above to a closed-door Senate GOP conference meeting on Capitol Hill, June 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. Wynn resigned from his position last month amid a sexual misconduct scandal

Wynn in attendance to the Forbes Media Centennial Celebration at Pier 60 on September 19, 2017 in New York City. The married father-of-two labeled misconduct allegations against him 'preposterous'

The lurid claims were reported by several former and current employees who worked with Wynn.

The married father-of-two has labeled the allegations against him 'preposterous' and false.

He further accused his ex-wife, Elaine Pascal, of instigating the scandal as way to profit from litigation after their second divorce in 2010.

Branson didn't have much to say when asked by Conde Nast about Wynn, and added 'hopefully it will help and not hinder to have someone like myself be the ultimate owner' of the Hard Rock.

The entrepreneur previously described himself as an overall 'positive person' who believes the attitude will result in 'positive' outcomes.

Virgin Hotels, which just launched in 2010, currently has one location - in Chicago.

Aside from Sin City, Branson, whose Forbes' 2017 net worth was listed at $5.1billion, is planning to take on other big cities in the future, such as Dallas, New York and Washington D.C.Australians have revealed they no longer trust the popular social media giant Facebook.

Created to allow people to connect and share any information 14 years ago, Facebook is increasingly not trusted by users with the fear their information is being hacked or sold.

A national survey has revealed four-in-five users believe Mark Zuckerberg's online creation is stealing their personal data for profit, Daily Telegraph reported.

Only 15 per cent of Australians believe their personal information is being kept private by the social media giant despite general trust for the company being 'phenomenally low'.

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Australians have revealed they no longer trust the popular social media giant Facebook (stock image)

Created to allow people to connect and share any information 14 years ago, Facebook is increasingly not trusted by users with the fear their information is being hacked or sold

A national survey has revealed four-in-five users believe Mark Zuckerberg's (pictured) online creation is stealing their personal data for profit

According to the YouGov Galaxy survey, a whopping 80 per cent of Facebook users are scared their 'identity could be stolen' while more than 50 per cent of people think if their data is sold, they should receive a profit.

Facebook has details on 16 million Australians including their credit card details, names of relatives and the phone numbers of everyone they know, the publication reported.

Experts have suggested Facebook users should hold off on providing personal details, even dates of birth or employment, so data isn't manipulated.

Tanya Sinha deleted her account this week and told Perth Now the social media platform was not a 'positive' thing to be using.

'It's not a positive platform anymore and you are vulnerable to psychological manipulation,' she said.

Thousands of people are also jumping on the '#deleteFacebook' trend as backlash to the multi-billion dollar company taking personal information.

'Remaining on Facebook at this point is tantamount to knowing a burglar is in one's house and doing nothing because one cannot quantify the value of what is being stolen,' one person wrote on Twitter.

'Just downloaded my Facebook archive and deleted my account. I've been on the fence about taking this step for years. Honestly, I should have done it back when the news broke that they were running behavioural and emotional experiments on unwitting users,' another said.

According to the YouGov Galaxy survey, a whopping 80 per cent of Facebook users are scared their 'identity could be stolen' (stock image)

Experts have suggested Facebook users should hold off on providing personal details, even dates of birth or employment, so data isn't manipulated or simple delete their accounts

'Why'd you give a random billionaire all of your personal info, photos and details so he could sell it without paying you? #DeleteFacebook,' one wrote.

The Consumer Data Right is a new law being prepared by the Australian Government to protect people from having personal information hacked or misused.

'The legislation will seek to ensure that data can only be used for the purpose for which it was provided. It will also give people the ability to access and edit their data, and be fully informed about how it's used,' Cyber Security minister Angus Taylor told Daily Telegraph.Days after Jeremy Corbyn won the 2015 Labour leadership election, party chiefs turned their attention to making this one-time joke candidate a credible contender to be Prime Minister.

Staff were hired and office space was filled. PR strategies were discussed and policy was devised. Efforts were even made (with mixed success) to persuade the scruffy allotment-holder to put on a smarter suit and do up his tie. Behind the scenes, aides began attempting to airbrush from history some of the more embarrassing episodes from Corbyns 35 years on the hard-Left of British politics.

These included his dealings with Marxists, the IRA, various dodgy anti-Semites, and some Islamist groups  including his friends Hamas and Hezbollah.

Efforts were made to clean up his Facebook page, where he had for several years been highly active.

Jeremy Corbyn is accused of being a member of a secret anti-Semitism Facebook group

In particular, Corbyn was removed from Palestine Live, a group on the social network dedicated to discussing the Middle East from an anti-Israeli perspective.

Hed been a member of the group since shortly after it launched in August 2013.

The founder, a brunette middle-aged actress, artist and Labour activist called Elleanne Green, was a long-standing contact with whom Corbyn had previously discussed poetry online.

The duos relationship was sufficiently close for him to leave an affectionate send-off when she posted that she was about to holiday in socialist Cuba in April 2015, declaring: Have a wonderful time and record it all.

Crucially, to those versed in such matters, Green had designed Palestine Live as a secret Facebook group. That means it cannot be found using the websites search function, and could only be joined by people invited by a senior existing member.

Although the groups 3,000-odd members included an array of Corbyns friends and political allies, from hard-Left Labour MPs Chris Williamson and Clive Lewis, to the socialist former BBC2 Newsnight journalist Paul Mason, their identities were therefore kept secret.

When he was elected as leader of the Labour party Jeremy had his Facebook 'cleaned-up' by specialists which included being removed from anti-Semitic group Palestine Live

Neither did outsiders know that Corbyns son Seb, who works as a senior aide to Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, was also among its ranks.

The secret status also meant that the public was unable to access content posted to Palestine Live. This was of great importance to some contributors.

How safe is this group? asked one, Jackie Walker, shortly after it launched. (Ms Walker rose to be vice-chair of the Corbynista Momentum pressure group, no less.)

Very, replied Elleanne Green. No one is allowed in who is not trusted. I am very, very careful. And it is a secret group.

But that was then. Today, just over four years down the line, Palestine Live is no longer secret. Quite the reverse. Earlier this month, the group  along with a swathe of its prominent members  found itself at the centre of the explosive furore over anti-Semitism in Corbyns Labour Party, after being exposed as a cesspit of Holocaust denial and vile Nazi-style propaganda.

The groups 3,000-odd members included an array of Corbyns friends and political allies, from hard-Left Labour MPs Chris Williamson and Clive Lewis (pictured)

This was the result of an anti-Semitism campaigner and blogger called David Collier infiltrating the group. He compiled a detailed report telling how members such as Walker  who is currently suspended from Labour over allegations of anti-Semitism  used it to share cranky material about Middle Eastern affairs.

Some of the more sinister contributors (who, remember, thought they were operating in secret) were caught describing Jews as demons. Others accused Israelis of harvesting the organs of Arab children, or posted links to the rantings of white supremacists, including the leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

Several more used the group to promote ugly conspiracy theories, or share fake news articles suggesting that the number of deaths at Auschwitz had been exaggerated.

In an exhaustive 290-page report, Collier not only detailed this  his analysis suggests that 53 per cent of the contributors to Palestine Live were confirmed anti-Semites  but also uncovered the fact that Corbyn was an active member when such content was being shared on a daily basis.

Neither did outsiders know that Corbyns son Seb, (right) who works as a senior aide to Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, was also among its ranks

The Labour leader posted comments on the site on a number of occasions  once, in October 2014, his remarks were published just below another referring to Jews as Zios, an anti-Semitic term of abuse (shorthand for Zionists)  and even helped leading members of Palestine Live invite a highly controversial speaker called Max Blumenthal to the Houses of Parliament.

Blumenthal, a Left-wing author critical of Israel, was, in 2013, accused by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a U.S. Jewish organisation, of being responsible for one of the Top Ten anti-Semitic anti-Israel slurs made that year.

Top of the list was the supreme leader of Irans genocidal threats against the Jewish state.

Despite this, archived discussions found in the digital history on the Palestine Live page suggest that Corbyn agreed to help arrange his visit after being approached by Elleanne Green weeks earlier.

Though Corbyn was away from Parliament on the day itself, his office helped look after arrangements to obtain a Parliamentary pass for Blumenthal, and booked the Attlee Suite at Portcullis House in Westminster for his speech.

Jeremy Corbyn meets with Rabbi Pinter (right) after delivering a speech on Labour's anti-Semitism inquiry findings at Savoy Place, London

Comments written on Palestine Live  which Corbyn failed to delete when leaving the group  further reveal that on the day Blumenthal was chaperoned by Jack Bond, an aide to the soon-to-be Labour leader who became his social media manager.

Kudos and thanks to the office of Jeremy Corbyn MP, declared Green, who is currently under investigation by Labour for anti-Semitism after being found to have used social media to share a story claiming that Zionists are killing children and stealing children to sell them on the black market. Critics call this a modern re-working of the so-called blood libel, an age-old racist myth that Jews kidnap and murder the children of Christians to use their blood during religious rituals.

Green has also posted material claiming that Israeli intelligence services orchestrated both 9/11 and the Paris terror attacks as part of a secret plot to make Western governments interfere in the Middle East.

She once commented on Facebook that no friend of Israel ought to be allowed to stand as an MP and shared a post suggesting the BBC employed obnoxious Jews in order to goad opponents of Israel into anti-Semitism.

Corbyns association with such an individual is shocking. But given some of the horrific content on Palestine Live, its even harder to know exactly what he thought he was doing in her secret Facebook group.

Labour Party Conference at Exhibition Centre Liverpool in Liverpool

Such is the volume of bile shared on the site during Corbyns membership  which ran from April or May 2013 to late 2015  that its impossible to detail more than a fraction of it. But it fell into three general categories.

One was Holocaust denial. In September 2013, a member of the group uploaded a link to a fake news story claiming, as he put it, that: Official records from the International Red Cross prove the Holocaust was a fraud. Released records, sealed for years, show concentration camp death totals only 271,301.

Corbyns friend Elleanne Green responded: People should be allowed to discuss this rather than being silenced.

In January 2015, a Palestine Live member called Andy Hopkins posted a video by David Duke, the leader of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), claiming that the Holocaust was a hoax. Perhapse [sic] if one asked some very basic questions they might learn the truth about the HOLOCAUST, he wrote.

A second regular theme involved wild assertions that Mossad, the Israeli security service, staged major terrorist incidents in order to increase tension between the Arab world and the West.

On the day in 2015 that Islamic terrorists murdered 12 members of staff at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, for example, a member of the Facebook group called Allison Carmichael appeared to suggest the Israelis were behind the attack. It looks like a MOSSAD-style hit was made today on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo.

A year later, the group carried a link to a video titled Did Israels Mossad do 9/11, along with the comment: Who knows? Anything is possible. Around the same time, someone called Simon Fox posted a video called 9/11 Israel and the Mossad investigated.

The third anti-Semitic slur rampant on Palestine Live during Corbyns membership revolves around the suggestion that a sinister group of Jewish financiers secretly control the media and political establishment.

In August 2015, for example, a member called Tony Murphy complained of Press manipulation by the Jewish community. They have such power and nobody seems to realise it. Very dangerous.

In December 2014, a female member of a group called Sara Blaise posted another fake news article on this theme by the KKKs David Duke claiming that the U.S. congress had unanimously passed a Bill confirming U.S. subservience to Israel. She said the story, which was factually incorrect, tastes like bile to me.

In August 2014, Corbyns friend Elleanne Green shared a link to an article on a notorious racist website called Political Vel Craft claiming that the Jewish Rothschild family are attempting to create a New World Order.

Then there were unalloyed racist insults.

In June 2015, a Palestine Live member called Tim Welsh declared: Its all over for the JewNazi. In September 2015, another contributor on the site wrote about Jewish scum of the earth.

A Pam Arnold, in September 2014, declared these vile excrescences called Zionist jews should be wiped off the face of the earth before issuing a death threat against Jewish actress Maureen Lipman, whom she dubbed unutterably vile, Zionist and Jewish Zionist especially to the core.

Although these posts comprise just a small portion of the obnoxious material on Palestine Live, none of the sites 3,000 members  including Corbyn and several Left-wing MPs  saw fit to point out the appalling nature of some of the material.

Neither did they contradict Holocaust denial, nor seek to point out that members of the group were sharing content produced by white supremacists.

To many within the Jewish community, this points to a wider malaise: that the hard-Left of Labour politics, where Jeremy Corbyn has spent his entire adult life, is so steeped in anti-Semitism that hes simply unable to recognise it even when its staring him in the face.

Certainly his response to recent revelations has been a masterclass in obfuscation.

When David Colliers report was originally published, Labour claimed that Corbyn had been added to Palestine Live without his knowledge or consent and had no active role in the group.

It was promptly pointed out that he had, in fact, written comments there. At which point the Labour leaders office backtracked and said he had only been replying to messages.

That didnt wash either, since Corbyn contributed to general content and, of course, had helped organise Max Blumenthals event in Parliament.

Corbyn therefore cravenly adopted a third position: that whatever his involvement with Palestine Live and its founder, he had never realised the site contained anti-Semitic material, so wasnt guilty of wrongdoing.

I have never trawled through the whole group. I have never read all the messages on it. I have removed myself from it, he said. Had I seen it [anti-Semitism], of course, I would have challenged it straight away.

That might have dampened the scandal were it not for the fact that a number of other Facebook-related scandals involving him suddenly emerged.

One revolved around the revelation that he had, in 2012, used the social network to criticise a decision to remove a Nazi propaganda-style mural  depicting vile caricatures of Jewish bankers with bundles of money playing a board game resting on the backs of naked workers  from a wall in Londons Tower Hamlets.

When asked about the episode, Corbyns office initially claimed hed been defending the anti-Semitic mural on free speech grounds. This position then changed with his office claiming he hadnt actually seen the anti-Semitic mural.

I sincerely regret that I did not look more closely at the image, Corbyn said.

Newspapers then uncovered three other Facebook groups, all of which still count Corbyn as a member, in which anti-Semitic material has been shared.

One, called The History Of Palestine, carried a fake news article headlined Jewish organ trafficking centre where kidnapped Syrians are stripped of their entire bodies. The other two contained everything from Holocaust denial to Rothschild conspiracies.

And so it continues.

As to where the scandal now leads, Labour would dearly like to put the row behind it. But that seems a huge challenge.

Last night, Corbyns senior Labour aide son Seb was still listed as a Facebook friend of Elleanne Green, who is supposedly suspended from the party. (Meanwhile, his youngest son, Tommy, was revealed by the Mail yesterday as having endorsed a series of vile anti-Semitic Facebook sites.)

In cyberspace, our mistakes, of course, tend to live on for ever.

So only a fool would bet against this being the last time Jeremy Corbyns old dalliances with anti-Semites and other extremists comes back to haunt him.1980 - Jessica Leeds

Jessica Leeds, a 75-year-old former businesswoman who lives in Manhattan, told the New York Times last year that she was 'assaulted' by Trump on a flight when she was 38.

Leeds explained how she was sat beside Trump in first class on a flight, when the Republican nominee lifted the arm-rest between then and allegedly began touching her.

'He was like an octopus,' she told the Times. 'His hands were everywhere.'

1989 - Ivana Trump

The Donald's first wife claimed she was 'violated' by him after a violent attack, documents filed as part of the couple's divorce claimed, according to the Daily Beast.

Ivana distanced herself from the claims last year when Trump started his campaign.

Early 1990s - Kristin Anderson

Kristin Anderson was out with friends, chatting up a storm at a Manhattan nightspot, when she felt fingers creep up her miniskirt, slide up her inner thigh and then touch her vagina through her panties.

Anderson, now 47, told the Washington Post that it was Donald Trump who touched her at the nightclub.

She said the incident took place in the early 1990s, when she was in her early twenties and an aspiring model.

1993 - Jill Harth

Jill Harth, a makeup artist, accused Trump of 'attempted rape' stemming from an incident in 1993.

Harth told the Guardian the incident in question took place during a visit to Trump's Mar-a-Lago mansion in January of that year.

'He pushed me up against the wall, and had his hands all over me and tried to get up my dress again,' she told the newspaper. 'I had to physically say: 'What are you doing? Stop it.''

1993 - Vendela Kirsebom

Former supermodel Vendela Kirsebom exclusively told DailyMail.com that Donald Trump's 'vulgar' and 'sexist' remarks about the size of women's breasts forced her to switch tables at a White House dinner party.

The sports Illustrated cover model claims her night at a 1993 Vanity Fair event was ruined because she was sat next to the billionaire.

Recalling the 'excruciating' night, Kirsebom, 50, said: 'Everything he said was so vulgar.

'I couldn't listen to his nonsense for an entire night so I asked if I could be moved.'

1996 - Lisa Boyne

Lisa Boyne, CEO of a health food company, claims that in the summer of 1996 she saw Trump make a series of women walk up and down a restaurant table so that he could announce whether they were wearing underwear.

'It was the most offensive scene I've ever been a part of,' she told The Huffington Post last year. 'I wanted to get the heck out of there.'

According to Boyne, she and friend Sonja Tremont - better known today as Sonja Morgan of 'Real Housewives of New York' - had been invited to dinner in Manhattan with Trump and late modelling agent John Casablancas.

1997 - Four Miss Teen USA contestants

Mariah Billado and three other contestants claimed to Buzzfeed that Trump walked into dressing rooms prior to the pageant while competitors were naked.

'I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, "Oh my god, there's a man in here",' she told Buzzfeed

Bilado told the website that Trump then said something like: 'Don't worry, ladies, I've seen it all before'.

1997 - Miss USA contestant Temple Taggart

Temple Taggart, a former Miss Utah, told the New York Times last year that Trump kissed her on the lips during the pageant.

'I thought, "Oh my God, gross"... I think there were a few other girls that he kissed on the mouth. I was like "Wow, that's inappropriate",' she told the newspaper.

Taggart has also sat down for an interview with NBC News.

'When I first heard the leaked tape, it's very unsettling... you don't want to hear anyone talking about women like that,' she said in a promotion clip for the interview.

1997 - Cathy Heller

Cathy Heller, now 64, claims the billionaire kissed her on the mouth without her consent in 1997 while she attended a Mother's Day luncheon with her family at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

She told The Guardian last year: 'He took my hand, and grabbed me, and went for the lips,' she said.

She claimed she held back but he persevered. 'And he said, "Oh, come on". He was strong. He grabbed me and went for my mouth and went for my lips.'

Trump denied the accusation, claiming she was motivated by a personal vendetta to have her family's membership fees reimbursed.

2000 - Miss USA contestant Bridget Sullivan

Bridget Sullivan told Buzzfeed last year that the then-owner of the pageant walked through the backstage area to wish contestants good luck, despite the fact many of them were naked at the time.

'The time that he walked through the dressing rooms was really shocking. We were all naked,' Sullivan said.

She went on to describe Trump as a 'creepy uncle', saying he would 'hug you just a little low on your back.'

Buzzfeed spoke with four other contestants from that year - none whom remembered Trump walking through the dressing room when contestants were naked.

2001 - Miss USA contestant Tasha Dixon

Tasha Dixon told CBS News last year walked into the changing rooms at the pageant without warning, meaning many of the competitors were naked or not fully dressed.

'Our first introduction to him was when we were at the dress rehearsal and half naked changing into our bikinis,' Dixon said in an interview. 'He just came strolling right in.

'There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless. Other girls were naked.'

2003 - Mindy McGillivray

Mindy McGillivray, 36, told the Palm Beach Post that Trump grabbed her backside after she helped a photographer who was covering a concert at Trump's Mar-a-Lago mansion.

McGillivray, who was 23 at the time, said she was with Ken Davidoff at the Mar-a-Lago on January 24, 2003.

'All of a sudden I felt a grab, a little nudge. I think it's Ken's camera bag, that was my first instinct,' she told the newspaper.

'I turn around and there's Donald. He sort of looked away quickly.'

2004 - Trump discussed what he thought it would be like to have sex with a teenage Lindsay Lohan on the Howard Stern Show

'She's probably deeply troubled and therefore great in bed,' Trump told Stern when asked by the shock jock if he could imagine bedding 'troubled teen' Lindsay Lohan.

Trump went on to say: 'How come the deeply troubled women, you know, deeply, deeply troubled, they're always the best in bed?'

At the time of the interview, Lohan was just 18 years old. Trump was 58.

The conversation continued with Trump speaking about a friend he described as 'a great Playboy' and who he said only wants to date 'crazy' women.

2005 - Rachel Crooks

Rachel Crooks was a 22-year-old working as a receptionist at Bayrock Group, a real estate company based in Trump Tower in Manhattan, when she says Trump kissed her on the mouth without permission while in an elevator in 2005.

'It was so inappropriate,' Ms. Crooks told the New York Times. 'I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.'

Crooks told the newspaper the incident took place after she shook hands with Trump in an elevator and he allegedly refused to let go.

She says he then began kissing her on the cheeks, before then kissing her lips.

2005 - Donald Trump admits he would 'inspect' pageant contestants backstage

Donald Trump bragged about the extra power he had during an interview with Howard Stern in April 2005, the tapes of which have been released by CNN.

'I'll tell you the funniest is that I'll go backstage before a show and everyone's getting dressed,' Trump said about the pageant.

'No men are anywhere, and I'm allowed to go in, because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it. "Is everyone OK?" You know, they're standing there with no clothes. "Is everybody OK?"

'And you see these incredible looking women, and so I sort of get away with things like that.'

2005 - Trump brags about being able to grope women without consent to Billy Bush on the set of Access Hollywood

'You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful - I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait,' he was heard saying to Billy Bush on the set of Access Hollywood in 2005 in a recording published by the Washington Post last year.

'And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p****. You can do anything.'

2005 - Natasha Stoynoff

Natasha Stoynoff recounted how she had traveled to Mar-a-Largo to interview Trump and his wife, Melania, in December 2005.

She said Donald took her into a room he really wanted to see, before forcing himself on her.

'We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat,' she wrote for People.

Stoynoff went on to say how she was rescued when a butler walked in, however when the two were alone again shortly after Trump told her they were 'going to have an affair'.

2006 - Samantha Holvey

Samantha Holvey claims that as a 20-year-old representing North Carolina in the 2006 Miss USA pageant, Trump would inspect her and other contestants before the competition.

She has said she was 'disgusted' by the now-president's repeated behavior.

It was 'the dirtiest I felt in my entire life,' she told CNN last year. 'He would step in front of each girl and look you over from head to toe like we were just meat, we were just sexual objects, that we were not people.'

2007 - Summer Zervos - contestant on The Apprentice

Summer Zervos, who was a contestant on the fifth season of The Apprentice, said Trump groped and kissed her in his room at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007.

She claims that she reached out to Trump a year after she left the show to speak about possible business opportunities, and when she met with him he kissed her 'open mouthed' multiple times, and at one point placed his hand on her breast.

She claims he then had her lie in bed with him she said telling her he wanted to watch 'telly telly', but soon after began 'thrusting his genitals' at her despite her pleas asking him to stop.

Zervos said during a press conference about her accusations: 'You do not have the right to treat women as sexual objects just because you are a star.'

2009 - Called Khloe Kardashian 'a fat piglet'

Trump made rude and offensive comments about Khloe Kardashian's physical appearance and weight while she filmed Celebrity Apprentice back in 2009, according to multiple people who worked on the set.

'He said: "Why don't we fire Khloe? She is a fat piglet. Why did we get the ugly Kardashian?"' a source told Huffington Post.

2010 - Friend of CNN anchor Erin Burnett

Erin Burnett detailed an encounter that a friend had with Trump in March 2010 in the boardroom at Trump Tower, when he allegedly tried to kiss her without permission.

The woman told Burnett, according to CNN: 'Trump took Tic Tacs, suggested I take them also. He then leaned in, catching me off guard, and kissed me almost on lips. I was really freaked out.

'After (the meeting), Trump asked me to come into his office alone. Was really unsure what to do. ... Figured I could handle myself.

'Anyway, once in his office he kept telling me how special I am and gave me his cell, asked me to call him. I ran the hell out of there.'

2013 - Miss USA contestant Cassandra Searles

Searles, who won Miss Washington in 2013, said Trump tried to seduce her, groped her, and treated the women in the pageant 'like cattle', according to Yahoo News.

'Do y'all remember that one time we had to do our onstage introductions, but this one guy treated us like cattle and made us do it again because we didn't look him in the eyes?' she wrote last year.

'Do you also remember when he then proceeded to have us lined up so he could get a closer look at his property?

'Oh I forgot to mention that guy will be in the running to become the next President of the United States.'

She then added: 'He probably doesn't want me telling the story about that time he continually grabbed my a** and invited me to his hotel room.'A woman who was told she could not be a police officer because she had fake breasts has won a six-year court battle and has finally been given the right to join

A woman who was told she could not be a police officer because she had fake breasts has won a six-year court battle and has finally been given the right to join.

The 32-year-old who is only known by her first name, Chantal, had initially applied to join the police in Berlin, in 2012.

But despite passing all the tests, she was rejected for declaring she had had a boob job two years earlier.

According to police regulations, officers are not allowed breast implants because of the associated health risks and the possibility of them ripping during service.

Refusing to give up her dream of being a cop, Chantal took the case to court in Gelsenkirchen, in western Germany.

She wrote on Instagram: 'Who's the girl in the jogging outfit? Now she's the girl in the combat uniform.

'I applied to join the Berlin police in 2012 and despite passing all the tests I was rejected.

'I told them I'd had implants in 2012 and was turned down for that reason. But you know me: I'm not letting that go.

'My lawyer and I went to court to prove to the Berlin authorities that I was fit for service even with my boobs.'

The 32-year-old who is only known by her first name, Chantal, had initially applied to join the police in the German capital, Berlin, in 2012

But despite passing all the tests, she was rejected for declaring she had had a boob job two years earlier

After reading a report from the University of Bonn which showed that there was no substantial risk to the woman's health, the judge ordered the police to review their regulations.

In 2014 an administrative court in Berlin had ruled she could be a police officer, but the state government did not accept the verdict and fought the case in a higher court, the newspaper Berliner Kurier reports.

Chantal said: 'I was examined and completely scanned by all the best doctors - they even found a tumour, but it's a benign one.

'After all the emotional stress, the tears, and so many appointments, the struggle was worth it.

"Sound of the Police" is my song now too.'

Chantal's lawyer, Sven Ollmann, said the implants were the newer, upmarket kind adding: 'Even if they were to rip, nothing would happen.'

Speaking after the verdict, a delighted Chantal said: 'I did it for me, but for other women as well. Please always fight for what is important to you.'

According to police regulations, officers are not allowed breast implants because of the associated health risks and the possibility of them ripping during service

She wrote on Instagram: 'I applied to join the Berlin police in 2012 and despite passing all the tests I was rejected'

She said: 'My lawyer and I went to court to prove to the Berlin authorities that I was fit for service even with my boobs'Advertisement

Wednesday, April 3, 1968. 11am

Doctor Martin Luther King, 39, arrives at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis from his home in Atlanta. Since his I Have A Dream speech in 1963 he has taken on a special significance as the spiritual and political leader of black America. The hopes of millions of people yearning for equality rest on his shoulders.

Dr King is accompanied by his friend, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, and is here to lead a demonstration in support of sanitation workers on strike after two of their colleagues were crushed to death by a malfunctioning rubbish truck.

He checks in to the motel and is given his usual $13-a-night twin-bedded room which he always shares with Ralph Abernathy  number 306 on the first floor, overlooking the courtyard. Tonight he is due to speak at a nearby church.

Martin Luther King speaking on September 10, 1963 in New York. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee

3pm

On a dirt track in Tennessee, a slim 40-year-old man takes a long cardboard box from the boot of his white 1966 Mustang.

He takes out a high-velocity Remington rifle and starts taking shots at trees and rocks. The man is James Earl Ray, an army veteran on the run from Missouri State Penitentiary, where he is supposed to be serving a 20-year sentence for armed robbery. As well as a lengthy criminal record, he has deep-seated racist views and a yearning to be a part of history.

The shop assistant who sold Ray the rifle took an instant dislike to him, thinking: Hes the kind of fellow who buys a rifle probably to kill his wife and gives guns a bad name.

8.15pm

At the Mason Temple Church, Ralph Abernathy introduces Dr King. As he speaks, the shutters at the back of the church are banging in the wind. The noise makes Dr King visibly nervous.

Since President Kennedy was shot in 1963, hes felt vulnerable, telling a friend that if the president cant be protected, then he certainly cant be.

9.20pm

Dr King is standing in the pulpit of the Mason Temple Church. He has been speaking energetically for 40 minutes without notes. Ive seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land! So Im happy tonight. Im not worried about anything. Im not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord! The congregation roars its approval.

King's parents and widow listen to ceremonies at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during a memorial on April 9, 1968

Thursday, April 4, 3am

Dr King and his aides finally arrive back at the Lorraine Motel. There is a surprise waiting for him  his younger brother, Alfred Daniel, known as A.D., has travelled from his home in Kentucky to support the strike. The brothers chat for a further hour.

10am

Ten miles away from the Lorraine Motel, James Earl Ray buys a local paper. A front page story reveals Dr King is staying at the Lorraine.

2.30pm

In Atlanta, Dr Kings wife Coretta is shopping with their daughter Yolanda, looking for a dress for her to wear on Easter Sunday.

Although she believes Easter should be a sacred day and not a time to show off new clothes, Coretta doesnt want to add to her childrens unhappiness at their fathers frequent absences, with them being the only ones without something new to wear.

King's colleagues Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Bernard Lee and Andrew Young (left to right) pay their final respects to the civil rights leader as he lies in an open coffin in Memphis, Tennessee

3.15pm

In A.D.s room, Martin and his brother are on the phone to their mother, Alberta. They are playing a trick on her  each disguising their voices, pretending to be the other. Alberta is delighted because she rarely gets to speak to both of her sons at once.

A short distance away, James Earl Ray knocks on the office door of a run-down rooming house on South Main Street.

The manager Bessie Brewer opens the door a couple of inches.

Do you have a room to rent? Ray asks.

She takes him to Room 5B. Ray looks inside and asks for the bathroom. Bessie points down the corridor to a door with Toilet & Bath painted badly in red on it.

3.30pm

James Earl Ray pays for the room with a 20-dollar bill and gives his name as John Willard. Bessie dislikes his smile, which is more like a sneer. She finds it odd that he has no luggage.

4.25pm

One of Dr Kings key lieutenants, Andrew Young, arrives at A.D.s room at the Lorraine. Well, look whos here! exclaims Ralph Abernathy and grabs Young in a bear hug. Dr King picks up a pillow and throws it at Young  and the others join in the pillow fight, laughing hysterically.

A large crowd of mourners follow King's casket through the streets of Atlanta, Georgia. Two men hold up a photograph of the civil rights leader

4.45pm

Outside the rooming house, James Earl Ray, who has been stalking Dr King since the middle of March, opens the boot of his car, takes out a long bundle wrapped in a yellow and green blanket, then walks up to his room. In the bundle, Ray has a zip bag containing toiletries, socks, a towel, shoe polish, beer, a portable radio, a box of cartridges  and the Remington rifle.

5pm

Dr King is sitting on a bed at the Lorraine Motel, watching the local news. They are showing the end of his speech from the night before: So Im happy tonight. Im not worried about anything. Im not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!

Two hundred feet away, James Earl Ray climbs into the battered claw-foot bathtub in the bathroom of his rooming-house and looks out of the window. He has an uninterrupted view of the motel.

5.40pm

Over the road from the motel, two Memphis policemen named Ed Redditt and Willie Richmond are watching Dr King. Their job is to keep an eye on him during his stay in the city  part of a 40-strong task force of police and FBI agents guarding every building he plans to visit. For the past 13 years, Dr King and his family have been the target of numerous death threats and in recent months white supremacists have placed a $50,000 bounty on his head, a reward Ray hopes to claim.

The authorities know that in a nation where racial tensions are so raw, if anything were to happen to Dr King it would be catastrophic.

The policemens vantage point is inside the rear door of a fire station  they have stuck a sheet of newspaper over a glass door panel and cut two slits at eye-level, giving them a perfect view of the motel. They watch Dr King and Abernathy emerge from A.D.s room and head up to Room 306 on the first floor. James Earl Ray sees them, too.

King's casket passes through the streets of Atlanta, Georgia, on a mule-drawn cart during an enormous funeral procession

5.42pm

In Indiana where hes campaigning, Senator Robert Kennedy is taking questions at a university meeting.

His brother Jack (JFK) was killed in Dallas five years ago, and the Senator is now running for president. A young black man asks Kennedy: Your speech implies that you are placing a great deal of faith in white America. Is that faith justified?

Kennedy replies: Yes, and faith in black America is justified, too.

5.45pm

Ralph Abernathy is sitting in a chair by Room 306s window, trying to get as far away as possible from an unpleasant smell coming from the bathroom  his friends Magic Shave Powder.

Dr King has sensitive skin and the powder allows him to remove his stubble without using a razor. Dr King emerges from the bathroom wiping his face with a towel.

He and his friends have been invited to dinner at the home of a local minister, the Rev. Billy Kyles.

Theres a knock on the door and Kyles walks in. Dr King is struggling to get into his shirt  the collar is too tight. Kyles laughs and says Hey, Doc, youre getting fat!

King (seventh from right) leads a march through Washington, D.C. during a protest against unemployment and segregation

5.56pm

Tucking in his shirt-tails, Dr King walks out of his room onto the motel balcony. He calls to his driver, Solomon Jones, Start the car, Ill be down in two minutes, and walks back into his room.

James Earl Ray is in his bedroom, watching through his binoculars.

He packs all his belongings in his zip bag, puts the rifle in the cardboard box and covers them with a blanket then heads to the bathroom. He locks the door, stands in the bathtub, lifts up the window five inches and gets out the rifle.

5.59pm

Dr King walks out of his room once more, pulling down both lapels of his black silk jacket. He leans over the balcony and sees one of his aides, 26-year-old Rev. Jesse Jackson, is wearing a brown turtleneck.

Jesse, were on the way to Rev. Kyles home for dinner, and you dont have a tie on! Doc, the prerequisite for eating is an appetite, not a tie, Jesse replies.

In the fire station, patrolman Willie Richmond writes in his notebook: 5.59pm. Dr King walks out of room and on to balcony again.

A fireman named George Loenneke, who has come to the back of the building in search of cigarettes, asks Richmond if he can have a look through the peephole cut into the newspaper on the windows. They both look at Dr King leaning on the railing just 150 feet away.

At the rooming house, Willie Anschutz, the tenant in 4B, tries to get into the bathroom, but the door is locked.

6.01pm

Ralph Abernathy is standing in front of a mirror, putting on some Aramis aftershave. Suddenly he hears what sounds like a firecracker.

A Remington-Peters, soft-point, metal-jacketed bullet enters the right side of Dr Kings face just below his mouth, fracturing his jaw and then exiting his face and hitting his neck, severing numerous arteries and fracturing his spine in several places, coming to rest in the left side of his back.

He falls backwards, his hands shooting up as if to hold his head.

King (fifth from left) meets President John F. Kennedy (fourth from right) in the oval office of the White House after the iconic March on Washington

Fireman George Loenneke sees it all through the hole in the newspaper. He shouts, Dr Kings been shot! and runs out of a side door and across the street.

Firemen and other police officers also run towards the motel, some with pistols ready.

Dr King is lying in a pool of blood, his feet are against the balcony rail, his knees are raised, his right hand is outstretched, his left flung back behind him. His brown tie has been cut in two just below the knot and blood is pumping from the wound. Ralph Abernathy kneels by his side. He thinks he sees fear in his old friends eyes.

Martin, Martin, this is Ralph. Dont be afraid, its going to be all right. Dr King tries to say something. His eyes are fixed on Abernathy.

At the rooming house across the street Willie Anschutz sees a man leaving the bathroom, covering his face with one hand and carrying something wrapped in a yellow and green blanket in the other.

I thought I heard a shot, Anschutz says. Yeah, it was a shot, the man mutters.

Fireman George Loenneke appears by Abernathys side on the balcony and holds a towel under Kings head. Abernathy says to Andrew Young: My God, take his pulse  can you feel anything? Yes, I do  I do, he replies.

Three doors along, in Room 309, young documentary maker Joseph Louw runs along the balcony towards them. He has his camera and as a policeman shouts, Whered the shot come from? he takes the iconic picture of the assassination  Ralph Abernathy, Billy Kyles, Andrew Young and other aides pointing in the direction of the rooming house. Dr King lies at their feet.

King waves to crowds at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, where he gave his 'I Have a Dream' speech

6.02pm

James Earl Ray runs out of the rooming house onto the street. He sees police cars parked outside the fire station and panics. Guy Canipe, who runs a record store below the rooming house, hears a thud outside the door. He looks up and sees a man walking away; he leaves the store in time to see a white Mustang pull off at speed. Canipe spots a bundle in the doorway. The barrel of a rifle is poking out from under a blanket. Two policemen arrive, guns drawn.

Ralph Abernathy runs into Room 306 and sees Billy Kyles lying on the bed, pounding his fists and shouting: Oh, Jesus! Oh, Jesus! Abernathy tells him: Cut that out! Get an ambulance!

6.06pm

On the balcony, Jesse Jackson places both hands in Dr Kings blood and wipes them on the front of his turtleneck sweater.

An ambulance screeches to a halt in the courtyard below. A stretcher is brought up to the balcony and Dr King is carried down the stairs and into the ambulance. The towel has now been placed over his face to hide the wounds.

Ralph Abernathy climbs into the ambulance and holds his friends right hand in both of his. The ambulance pulls away, siren wailing. The driver shouts into his radio Give me the lights! A button is pressed at Fire Headquarters and the traffic lights on the route to the nearest hospital, St Josephs, turn green. One of the policemen who carried the stretcher looks down and sees his trousers and boots are covered in blood.

King delivers a rousing speech to a crowd of about 7,000 people in Berkeley, California, in May 1967

6.08pm

On the Memphis police radios a call goes out to watch out for a young white male, well-dressed, believed in late model white Mustang, going north on Main from scene of shooting.

6.10pm

Jesse Jackson goes into Room 306 to call Dr Kings wife Coretta at home in Atlanta. Those eight or ten steps to that phone was like a long journey, he said later.

Coretta picks up the phone. Coretta, Doc just got shot. It was the call shed been expecting for years. She asks Jackson for more details but he is evasive. He was shot in the shoulder, is all he will say. She says shell catch the next flight to Memphis.

6.15pm

In Washington, Attorney General, Ramsey Clark is on the phone to President Lyndon Johnson, giving him news from Memphis.

Johnson tells him every available FBI agent must be assigned to track the assassin.

This is the moment King is struck by a bullet at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was assassinated

6.18pm

Dr Rufus Brown, the surgeon on duty, rushes into Emergency Room No 1 of St Josephs Hospital. A nurse grabs his sleeve and says: Its Dr Martin Luther King! He orders the patient to be hooked to a cardiograph machine and begins a tracheotomy to help him breathe  the monitor shows there is still a strong heartbeat.

In Atlanta, Dr Kings children are watching the television. Their programme is interrupted by a news bulletin. Dr Martin Luther King Jr, has been shot in Memphis, at 6.01pm . . . They run into their mothers room. She is on the phone. Mama! You hear that? What do they mean?

Coretta holds up a finger for them to be quiet. She hangs up, but before she can speak, the phone rings again.

Its Andrew Young calling from a payphone outside the Emergency Room. He tells her that Martin is in a critical condition but is still alive.

Corettas daughter Yolanda cries, Dont tell me! Dont tell me! as she runs from the room.

6.20pm

Lieutenant Jim Papia and Captain Ray Jewel of the Memphis Police are in the bathroom on the second floor of the rooming house. Papia peers out of the open window toward the Lorraine Motel. Yeah, you could get a good shot from here, he says.

Jewel spots a dirty palm print on the wall and scuff marks from shoes in the bathtub. Its clear the assassin stood here.

6.40pm

Robert Kennedy is boarding a plane for Indianapolis and is told Martin Luther King has been shot and injured. There is no news yet of whether hes survived. Kennedy remembers the meeting hes just attended and says to John J. Lindsay of Newsweek magazine: You know, it grieves me that I just told that kid this [that he had faith in white America] then I walk out and find out that some white man has shot their spiritual leader.

In Emergency Room No 1 Ralph Abernathy and Dr Kings secretary and bodyguard Rev. Bernard Lee stand against a wall, watching 10 doctors work on Dr King on the operating table. Every now and then a nurse asks them to leave. They ignore her.

James Earl Ray walks handcuffed and with his head bowed as he is led to his cell in Memphis. He had been arrested for shooting King dead

6.45pm

A doctor asks Ralph Abernathy. Are you his friend? It would be the mercy of God if he did pass, because the spine is severed and there has been awful brain damage.

7.05 pm

Dr Martin Luther King Jr is pronounced dead. Ralph Abernathy watches the neurosurgeon put down his instruments and walk away from the operating table. Dr Rufus Brown tears off the tape from the cardiograph machine that shows Dr Kings final heartbeats, and puts it in his pocket as a souvenir. Abernathy notices that on the wall is a silver crucifix with the figure of Jesus looking down on his friend.

7.15pm

Mommy, when will Daddy be back? Corettas son Dexter asks his mother as shes about to leave the house for the airport. Ill call you from Memphis and let you know. She kisses all four children goodbye.

7.25pm

At the White House, President Johnson is told Dr King has died. He immediately cancels a trip to Hawaii for peace talks on Vietnam. Johnson can hear sirens of fire engines just a few blocks from the White House. Riots have broken out in the capital.

King addresses crowds at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, where he gave his 'I Have a Dream' speech

8.15pm

At Atlanta Airport, Coretta Scott King is walking towards the gate to board her plane with friends. To Coretta it all seems unreal, nightmarish.

James Earl Ray is heading for Atlanta as fast as he can. Hes heard on the news that police are looking for a man in a white Mustang so he keeps to quiet roads.

8.17pm

At the airport, Atlanta mayor Ivan Allen walks up to Coretta: Mrs King, I have been asked to tell you that Dr King is dead. His body has already been taken to the Memphis morgue.

The results of the autopsy on President Kennedy had been disputed, so Memphis district attorney Phil Canale and chief medical examiner Dr Jerry Francisco are determined this one will be done by the book.

9pm

Coretta arrives home. On the way back shed been trying to work out what to tell her children. Bernice and Dexter are asleep in bed, Martin and Yolanda are still up. Tears running down her cheeks, Yolanda says to her mother: Mommy, should I hate the man who killed my daddy?

No, darling, your daddy wouldnt want you to do that, Coretta replies.

9.15pm

Ralph Abernathy must officially identify Dr King before the autopsy. He touches Dr Kings cheek. Yes, thats him, he says.

A black and white photo shows a National Guard member wearing a gas mask and waving pedestrians away from a barred area on April 6, 1968, amid riots in Washington following King's assassination. It is placed on a easel near the present day corner of 7th and K Streets in northwest Washington

10pm

The phone is constantly ringing at the Kings home. President Johnson calls and tells Coretta: I want you to know how deeply Mrs Johnson and I feel for you and your family.

Robert Kennedy says hell help in any way he can. Tomorrow, Coretta will fly to Memphis to bring her husbands body home.

In the morgue, Dr Francisco extracts the bullet from Dr Kings body and scratches 252 on it  the autopsy number  then puts it in an envelope. Tonight it will be flown to the FBI in Washington.

10.30pm

At the Lorraine Motel, a maid in tears tidies Room 306. Outside on the balcony, Memphis photographer Ernest Withers, who has taken pictures of Dr King since the start of the civil rights movement, uses a piece of card to fill two small bottles with his blood as a keepsake.

Shops are looted in Memphis as news of the assassination spreads. Even low-flying police helicopters are being shot at and 4,000 National Guardsmen are drafted in to maintain order. There is rioting in 130 US cities; Times Square in New York is full of people  black and white chanting Freedom now.

11pm

James Earl Ray is on his way to Atlanta. As he drives hes throwing out of the window anything incriminating. Hes already stopped once to wipe the Mustang clean of fingerprints.

Robert Kennedy is exhausted and despondent. He says to an aide: You know that fellow Harvey Lee Oswald, whatever his name is, set something loose in this country. Four weeks later, Robert Kennedy will be shot dead by an assassin.

Robert F. Kennedy (left in the easel photo) steps through debris from a fire-torn building on April 7, 1968, amid riots in Washington following King's assassination. It is placed on an easel at the present day corner of 7th and U Streets in northwest Washington

Saturday, June 8, 1968

at Heathrow Airports Terminal 2, policeman Detective Sergeant Philip Birch noticed a man in a beige raincoat walk towards a passport desk. Birch recognised him immediately from the FBIs most wanted list. He tapped the man on the shoulder. I say, old fellow, would you mind stepping over here for a moment? The 65-day hunt for Martin Luther Kings killer was over.

After the murder Ray fled to Canada, acquired a fake passport, then on to Europe where he spent time in London and Portugal. When arrested he was taking a flight to Brussels. His fingerprints had been found on a number of items including the rifle and the binoculars.

James Earl Ray would plead guilty, thus avoiding a trial and the death penalty, and be sentenced to 99 years in prison for the murder. He died, aged 70, still in custody. Many people, including members of Dr Kings family, still doubt he was the killer. He never collected any bounty.

In 1979 the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded James Earl Ray fired the shot that killed Dr King, but that there was a likelihood of a conspiracy.

Both Republicans and Democrats supported a memorial built in honour of Dr King, alongside presidents Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Franklin D Roosevelt. Dr Kings birthday is now a national holiday in the United States when his dream and ideals are celebrated.

n Jonathan Mayo is the author of D-Day: Minute By Minute and The Assassination of JFK: Minute By Minute, published by Short Books.A cabinet rift opened up last night over the fate of engineering giant GKN.

Whitehall sources said Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson was digging in over his opposition to the firms sale to asset-strippers Melrose.

The controversial deal for the 259-year-old company was approved by a shareholders majority of 52 to 48 on Thursday.

Business Secretary Greg Clark yesterday indicated he had no objection to the deal in principle, saying no British firm was immune from takeover.

Military prowess: A British F-35 jet

Mr Clark, who has been accused of failing to defend vital British interests, said: Shareholders have decided they want a new management. But he acknowledged the 8billion deal could still stall on national security grounds.

The Business Secretary hailed legally binding guarantees he extracted from Melrose, including a pledge not to sell its aerospace division for at least five years.

But critics have warned they were not worth the paper theyre written on.

Whitehall sources last night confirmed Mr Williamson retained serious concerns about the deal. He told MPs last month he had a whole series of questions, saying there was no clarity [from Melrose] as to what the true approach will be over GKNs military business.

He added: While there is no clarity and no assurance, do I have concerns? Yes, I do.

A Whitehall source said Mr Williamsons concerns still stand despite the pledges secured by Mr Clark, adding: I think its fair to say that its only Gavins resistance that has stopped this deal just being nodded through.

As anger over the deal mounted yesterday, it emerged that:

Labour has upped the pressure on Mr Clark to intervene;

Hundreds of jobs at GKN could be axed within weeks  with particular fears for the 260 workers at the GKN head office in Redditch, Worcestershire;

Bankers, spin doctors and lawyers on both sides of the deal are set to rake in more than 220million  including up to 140million for advisers to Melrose.

Mr Williamsons objections centre on GKNs defence operation, which produces components for military equipment including F-35 jets and Typhoon aircraft.

He told MPs: I have very serious concerns about the proposed takeover. It is not that I am against changes in the industry, but what I and the department want is reassurance about the future of the military side of the business.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the deal must be stopped, calling for Mr Clark to step in and act in the national interest, instead of serving the interests of City speculators.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson (right) opposes GKN's sale asset-strippers Melrose while Business Secretary Greg Clark (left) yesterday indicated he had no objection to the deal

The partys business spokesman Rebecca Long-Bailey wrote to Mr Clark, urging him to exercise your powers now and prevent the takeover from happening as a matter of urgency to safeguard the national interest.

She said the commitments from Melrose were inadequate, adding: The history of GKN has been intertwined with our own industrial and military history.

The firm manufactured cannonballs during the Napoleonic wars and tanks for the D-Day landings. The takeover puts at risk the firm and its proud heritage. It not only endangers our national defence but our industrial strategy too.

Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable called for reform of the takeover rules, including the introduction of additional tests to protect national interests.

Sir Vince also called for reforms to prevent speculators snapping up shares at the last minute to vote through a controversial takeover. With GKN, hedge funds are thought to have bought 25 per cent of the firms shares in recent weeks.

When have ministers stepped in on security? The Government has intervened in 12 takeovers since the Enterprise Act was created in 2002, allowing it to intervene. Here we look at the seven deals that had conditions placed on them for national security reasons: 2004: Alvis, the British maker of tanks agreed to be bought by US defence firm General Dynamics for 309million 2004: GKN sold its 50 per cent share in helicopter firm AgustaWestland to the Italian company Finmeccanica, for 1bn 2005: After Italys Finmeccanica bought parts of UK defence giant BAEs communications and avionics business for 364million 2005: When US defence giant Lockheed Martin bought UK military communication firm Insys 2007: In a deal by US firm General Electric to purchase the UKs Smiths Aerospace, which made parts for aircraft makers and components for engine builders, for 2.5billion 2009: When Atlas Electronic UK, which makes sonar technology, bought UK defence firm Qinetiqs underwater systems division for 23.5milion 2017: After Chinese firm Hytera bought Sepura, the UK firm that makes walkie talkies for the emergency services, for 74million Advertisement

Labour MP Rachel Reeves, chairman of the Commons business committee, said: Greg Clark could and should have intervened earlier to get more comprehensive undertakings to protect our vital interests. He is still awaiting advice on the national security implications of this deal and he must not hesitate to act if concerns are raised  this is not necessarily over yet.

Mr Clark dismissed calls for reform, saying studies  including one ordered by ex-business secretary Sir Vince  had found difficulty in making a distinction between classes of voters.

He added: Those shareholders who bought, very recently bought from other shareholders who, in effect, chose not to back the existing management. After former deputy PM Lord Heseltine said no other country of our sort would have allowed this, Mr Clark claimed that was not right and British takeover procedures were very similar to those in Germany and France.

Under competition laws based on EU regulations, the GKN deal can be halted only on national security grounds. Mr Clark has told MPs he will have four months to assess the situation.

Sources said the Ministry of Defence would be asked to set out any national security concerns. If serious concerns were raised then ministers would try to negotiate further legally binding guarantees with Melrose.

If they could not be secured, Mr Clark would be able to refer the deal to the Competition and Markets Authority, which could lay down stringent conditions or even block the sale altogether.

Sources said the MoDs formal response was likely to take weeks rather than days.

There are fears for hundreds of staff after Melrose confirmed there will be job reductions at GKN headquarters. It made no binding commitments on maintaining the UK workforce, despite Mr Clark asking for assurances.

A spokesman said the firm, which has its HQ in Mayfair, planned to axe head-office roles that doubled up with its own.

Rachel Maclean, Tory MP for Redditch, said Melrose must retain GKNs UK headquarters.

Lest we forget...lawyers, bankers cash in

BANKERS, spin doctors and lawyers working on the Melrose takeover of GKN are set to rake in more than 220million.

Some of the Citys biggest names including investment bankers RBC Capital and Rothschild, Lloyds Bank, and South African investment firm Investec will split a fees bonanza for work on the controversial deal.

Already critics have described the hostile takeover as an abuse of capitalism that has seen the short-term interests of a few profiteering City firms defeating the longer-term concerns of other investors.

Paperwork shows advisers working for Melrose would have made 22million had the firm failed, but will pocket 139.5million if the deal is completed. GKN ran up close to 80million in fees trying to defend itself from the takeover, taking the total to almost 220million.

It brings the combined total that could be made by bankers, hedge funds and Melroses top four bosses to almost 680million.

Critics said bankers would be licking their lips at the fees. The Unite unions Steve Turner said: The astronomical sums of money that will be pocketed would have Wall Street bankers licking their lips.

This is a bid that put a jackpot payday for a small number of people ahead of the long-term stability of a world-class engineering firm and the thousands of workers who make it a success. Yesterday, the Daily Mail revealed how hedge funds who targeted GKN had made an immediate killing of 172million as shares soared after investors backed the takeover.

Paperwork published by Melrose showed that its bankers Lloyds and RBC Capital  an arm of Royal Bank of Canada  will make up to 69million for financing arrangements, while RBC Capital along with 180-year-old French firm Rothschild and Investec will make up to 50million for broking advice.

Melroses lawyers Simpson Thacher and Bartlett could get up to 9million when the deal completes. Its public relations agencies including Mayfair-based Montfort Communications could get up to 5million.

GKN also ran up millions in fees, including 60million for bankers Gleacher Shacklock, JP Morgan and UBS, 12.3million for lawyers Slaughter and May, and 6.4million for PR firms FTI Consulting and Brunswick, run by Sir Alan Parker.

Melroses top four bosses  chief executive Simon Peckham, 55, chairman Christopher Miller, 66, vice-chairman David Roper, 67, and finance chief Geoffrey Martin, 50, could share a bonus pot of 285million if their plans post-takeover are successful. The four are entitled to generous bonuses based on the increase in price of Melroses shares.An ex-policeman was found to have leaked classified information to his now ex-wife, including details about the Lindt Cafe siege - allegedly in order to impress her during the breakdown of their marriage, a court has been told.

Former Australian Federal Police officer Grant Bradley Warriner, 45, sent emails containing secret information to his ex-wife in order to 'increase her view of him', a court heard on Thursday.

It was further suggested that Warriner had hoped to 'engender something' with his wife by showing her the confronting material he was dealing with at work, including sensitive information about missing children and counter-terrorism operations, The Courier Mail reports.

Former Australian Federal Police officer Grand Warriner allegedly emailed confidential documents to his wife in order to 'increase her view of him'

Warriner's barrister Justin Sibley claimed that his client suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and had trouble concentrating at work, thus sending the documents to his wife so that she could print them off for him to read at home.

'For the most part, he was overwhelmed (with) how to deal with his workload and shortcut the system in a way that he shouldn't have done,' Mr Sibley said.

The court was told that between 2014 and 2017 Warriner declassified secret documents in order to get them through the AFP's firewall and email them on to his wife's work address at the Department of Education.

Warriner also allegedly kept a classified counter-terrorism document in a wine rack above his fridge, and showed it to family members during a Christmas lunch in 2016 because he feared for their safety.

Among the documents was sensitive information on missing children and counter-terrorism operations

Warriner has been stood down from his role and is not expected to be reinstated

Warriner pleaded guilty to personation of a public officer, divulging or communicating prescribed information to another person, making a record of prescribed information and possessing explosives without authority in the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

He has been stood down from his role with the AFP as a result of the charges and is not expected to be reinstated.

The sentencing hearing will continue on May 4.Social media posts using abusive language are driving children to commit violent crimes within minutes, Britains most senior police officer has warned.

Scotland Yard commissioner Cressida Dick said gangs were using online platforms to glorify street violence and show off with weapons.

Miss Dick also raised concerns about the violent undercurrent in some music, especially grime.

She warned that it could lead vulnerable youngsters to think it was an admirable thing to be talking about violence and people perpetrating it.

Scotland Yard commissioner Cressida Dick (pictured) said gangs were using online platforms to glorify street violence and show off with weapons

Theres definitely something about the impact of social media  people being able to go from slightly angry with each other to fight very quickly  gangs can posture on social media and talk about who they are and what theyve achieved, she told The Times. It may not be unlawful but it is glamorising it for people, showing off with weapons.

She said that insults or threats online "makes [violence] faster, it makes it harder for people to cool down. I'm sure it does rev people up".

The Metropolitan Police chief, who has been in the role for 12 months, said she was no luddite and that the internet was wonderfully positive in almost every way. But she added that incredibly abusive language online can rev people up.

I think it certainly makes it more likely, it makes it faster, it makes it harder for people to cool down before they get going, she said.

The warning comes after a murder victims family claimed she may have been mistaken for another Instagram user.

Miriam Moustafa, 18, died of her injuries after she was attacked by a gang of ten girls in Nottingham. Her family have said the gang may have confused her for someone who had been goading them on the photo-sharing website.

Miss Dick's warnings come a day after a 23-year-old man became the eleventh person in 16 days to be gunned down or stabbed to death in the capital

It comes as a 23-year-old man became the eleventh person to be fatally stabbed or gunned down in the capital in just 16 days.

Fatal stabbings in England and Wales are at the highest level since 2010-11.

Office for National Statistics figures show there were 215 killings involving a knife or other sharp instrument in the year to March.

Stop-and-search operations, aimed at reducing weapons on the street, have been criticised for targeting ethnic minorities. The tactic peaked in England and Wales in 2008-9 when more than 1.5million were carried out, but they fell by two thirds after Theresa May, then home secretary, ordered a reduction.

Miss Dick said she would not to be cowed by political correctness, adding that crime victims had told her they want to see police get out there and do more.

She admitted that officers probably did slightly lose confidence and were fearful they might get into trouble, or they might not be supported if they had a complaint.Michigan's governor has activated the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) in case an out-of-control Chinese space station hits the state.

The latest projections show Tiangong-1 will reenter the Earth's atmosphere sometime on April 1, but no one can precisely predict when or where the 8.5-ton station will crash down.

On Thursday, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder activated emergency monitoring protocols at SEOC to track the reentry.

Reentry could occur along a strip of the US from northern California to Pennsylvania, which includes the southern part of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, according to the Aerospace Corporation.

An artist's rendering shows Tiangong-1's firey reentry. The out-of-control Chinese space station is predicted to reenter the Earth's atmosphere sometime on April 1

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Thursday ordered the state to activate the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) to track the space station's reentry

The interior of the Michigan SEOC is seen. Emergency officials will be manning the command center around the clock tracking the rogue station until reentry

'While the chances are slim that any of the debris will land in Michigan, we are monitoring the situation and are prepared to respond quickly if it does,' said Michigan State Police Capt. Chris A. Kelenske, commander of the MSP Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division.

'The state will rely on its existing satellite reentry response and recovery plan for any necessary response protocols,' Kelenske said in a statement.

While most of the space station is expected to burn up during reentry, there is concern that debris could make landfall.

The debris could contain hydrazine, which is a highly toxic and corrosive substance.

Tiangong-1 was China's first prototype space station. It was abandoned in 2016 and the telemetry link was subsequently lost, sending the station into uncontrolled orbital decay.

Although it is unlikely, the station's orbit means it could crash into a number of highly populated areas, including New York, Barcelona, Beijing, Chicago, Istanbul, Rome and Toronto.

Tiangong-1's current position and future track is seen as of 8pm ET on Friday

Cities within the possible reentry path are seen above in orange. Safe cities are seen in green

The shape of China's falling space station Tiangong-1 can be seen in this radar image from the Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques near Bonn, Germany

Sky-watchers are keeping a keen eye out, as the debris will create a spectacular display as it burns up in the atmosphere.

The possibility that space debris will hit someone is remote, but it has happened one time in the past.

In 1997, Lottie Williams of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was uninjured when a small piece of debris from a rocket fuel tank fell on her shoulder while she was out for a walk.

The latest projections from Aerospace Corporation put reentry at 11.15am Eastern Time on Sunday.

Officials warn that any suspected space debris should be considered hazardous.

Anyone who suspects they have encountered debris from the space station should report it by calling 911 and stay at least 150 feet away from it.Meghan Markle's half-sister has changed the 'confusing' title of her upcoming book about the future wife of Prince Harry in a bid for a wedding invitation.

Samantha Markle, 52, is releasing a book depicting the ins and outs of her relationship with the royal bride-to-be and their childhood together.

The previous title of the book, The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister, she believes 'backfired' on her and the book will now be named A Tale of Two Sisters.

Samantha, who has yet to reveal a date for her book, told the Mirror: 'I wanted an appropriate title, not one that aroused curiosity but that was confusing.

Meghan Markle's half sister Samantha Grant, pictured at her graduation with her in 2008

'[With] the previous title that was my point  that you can't judge a book by its cover title.

'I wanted the public to look beyond that, just like I want the public to look beyond social labels because they are injurious. But the opposite occurred and it backfired on me.'

It is believed that her agent Linda Langton suggested the name change as it did not reflect Samantha's loving feelings for her sister.

Samantha Markle, 52 is changing the name of her upcoming book in the hope of a wedding invitation

Samantha and Meghan, 36 share the same father, Thomas, 73 who is expected to walk Meghan down the aisle on May 19.

However Samantha has not yet been invited.

She hasn't spoken to the former Suits actress in three years however Samantha and her brother Thomas Jr are still holding out hope for an invitation.

Thomas Markle Jr (pictured in his hometown of Grants Pass, Oregon) is also yet to receive an invite to the wedding

Speaking exclusively to DailyMailTV, the 51-year-old said: 'I haven't got an invite yet but I do expect to get one. It would be really nice [to get an invitation] and it would mean a lot.

'I do expect one and I'm looking forward to going. I don't see why not. It is what it is. I am family, estranged or not.'

It is believed Meghan's father Thomas Markle will walk her down the aisle

Of the letter mailed to Kensington Palace, Markle Jr added: 'I sent a letter. Just basically [saying] I'm really happy for you, congratulations, you're amazing, you're going to do well and congratulations.

'No, I didn't hear back but I'm sure she's busy. She's got a lot on her plate right now  she's in a whirlwind. She's becoming a princess.

'It's probably really hard for her to think about anything else except for her wedding and everything like that.'

Meghan will marry Prince Harry, 33, at the 14th century St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle on May 19.

Along with the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, other members of the royal family, including Sarah Ferguson, Prince Andrew and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie will attend.

So too will Pippa Middleton. Other names likely to be on the guest list include Meghan's best friends, stylist Jessica Mulroney, nightlife consultant Markus Anderson, and New York-based designer Misha Nonoo.

Of Meghan's own family, only her mother Doria Ragland, 61, of Los Angeles, California, and her reclusive father Thomas Markle Sr, 73, are likely to be part of the 600-strong congregation.

Meghan is also understood to be close to her niece Ashleigh Hale, 31, and her graphic designer half-uncle Joffrey Ragland, 34, who may also travel to England for the nuptials.An Uber passenger died in a devastating eight-car pile-up on Good Friday in Sydney's southwest.

The 18-year-old was in the Kia Sportage with the Uber driver, 57, and three other passengers - two men aged 19 and 20 and a woman, 18, - when they became involved in the collision on Campbelltown Road, Woodbine.

The young man died at the scene after frantic CPR attempts, NSW Police said.

Two cars caught fire and the other four people in the Uber sustained serious injuries and were rushed to hospital where they are in stable conditions.

One teenager is dead and another five have been injured in a horror crash involving eight cars in Sydney's south-west

Two vehicles went up in flames leaving a number of people seriously injured at Woodbine, Campbelltown Road, after 7pm Good Friday (pictured)

NSW Chief Inspector Michael Moroney said the circumstances as to why a car, which was driven by a 26-year-old man, was 'on the wrong side of the road' is being investigated.

'I believe he (the 18-year-old) was a passenger of a vehicle, not connected with the vehicle driving on the incorrect side of the road,' he told media Saturday.

A helicopter was brought in to airlift those seriously injured while others were rushed to hospital by road.

Witnesses were able to free the 26-year-old man from the blue Commodore where he was then taken to Liverpool Hospital for surgery for internal injuries.

A witness described the fiery aftermath of the horror eight-car collision as something 'horrific'.

Alan Charlton told Daily Mail Australia he heard the sirens and fire trucks blasting their horns before he went outside to find the nightmare pile-up.

'It was horrific ... quite a lot were injured,' he said.

'People were getting treatment everywhere - they seemed to be mainly 60 to 100 metres apart on the median strip area.

'Then going across the road to the other side, there were another lot scattered everywhere getting treatment from medical staff.'

A helicopter was brought in to airlift those seriously injured while others were rushed to hospital by road after an 18-year-old passenger of the Kia Sportage died at the scene

A number of people were seriously injured including teenagers and a 54-year-old man

Mr Charlton said he thought all of the cars involved would have been write offs including one car that he believed hit a pole.

'The light pole was bent over and bent in a number of spots it had turned into a boomerang,' he said.

'One of the vehicles must have been airborne to have hit so high up on the pole.'

One red station wagon was left at the intersection and had been 'ripped open'.

'You could see this piece of red metal hanging out the back,' Mr Charlton told Daily Mail Australia Saturday morning.

While a number of people received treatment before being either airlifted or driven to hospital, Mr Charlton said people were being treated all over Campbelltown Road.

A blue Holden Commodore, a Toyota Yaris, Nissan X-Trail, Ford Mondeo, Hyundai Santa Fe, Commodeore wagon, Kia Sportage and a Mitsubishi Lancer were all involved in the fiery collision.

Investigators are still determining the cause of the tragic pile-up which injured so many

Three people were in the Commodore wagon driven by a man, 69, but only one female passenger was injured.

The remaining people involved in the crash - four women and two men - were assessed at the scene by paramedics before being taken to hospital.

They included a woman, 45, driving the Toyota Yaris, a woman, 35, driving a Nissan X Trail, a woman, 21 driving the Ford Mondeo, a man, 54, driving the Santa Fe and a man and a woman both aged 26 who were travelling in the Mitsubishi.

Investigators are still determining the cause of the tragic pile-up.Salim Mehajer's former wife has told a court she is 'most definitely not' in love with the disgraced former deputy mayor of Auburn - before breaking down in tears.

Aysha Learmonth made the admission in Burwood Local Court on Monday, with Mehajer 'keeping his head low' as she denied having any feeling for her estranged husband, News.com.au reports.

She then proceeded to wipe away tears as she admitted a message allegedly sent by the controversial property developer made her consider closing her fledgling business.

'I was hesitating to close my business ... I felt unsafe going there by myself,' Ms Learmonth said

Aysha said the message - purportedly sent by Mehajer to her business's Instagram account in November last year despite him being subject to an apprehended violence order - made her feel 'very uneasy'.

'I was hesitating to close my business ... I felt unsafe going there by myself,' Ms Learmonth said.

'I'd made every effort to have no contact with Salim whatsoever and having that business was the first time I'd put myself back into life basically, where he would know where I was.'

Salim Mehajer's former wife, Aysha Learmonth, (together) has wiped away tears while telling a court that a message allegedly sent by the controversial property developer made her consider closing her fledgling business

Mehajer has pleaded not guilty to breaching his AVO.

Ms Learmonth, who gave evidence via video link, said she carried bags of clothes when she left her then-husband in March 2016, and she hadn't contacted him since June or July of that year.

She alleged he'd sent her more than 400 emails since their split and there'd been numerous 'fraudulent or fabricated' emails, letters and signatures by Mehajer pretending to be her.

'I was hesitating to close my business ... I felt unsafe going there by myself,' Ms Learmonth told Burwood Local Court on Monday (working left)

Ms Learmonth, whose divorce from Mehajer (pictured together) became official earlier this month, said she'd made her beauty business as private as she could because 'what Salim tends to do is find where I am, what I'm up to'

Ms Learmonth, whose divorce from Mehajer became official earlier this month, said she'd made her beauty business as private as she could because 'what Salim tends to do is find where I am, what I'm up to'.

She said the November 2017 Instagram message came from his account and and included a comment about her realising the person he'd become - something she'd heard from him numerous times before.

She denied creating evidence, and that she wanted to say anything against her ex-husband that may 'blacken his character and cause him problems'.

'I don't need to do that,' she said under cross-examination from Mehajer's barrister Geoffrey Foster.

Ms Learmonth (pictured) said she tried to make her beauty business as private as possible so she couldn't be tracked by Mehajer

Ms Learmonth (with Mehajer) denied creating evidence, and that she wanted to say anything against her ex-husband that may 'blacken his character and cause him problems'

She also denied writing emails after their separation asking how he was, saying she had finally decided to return to him, declaring her love for him and asking if he wanted to catch up for a drink.

She lost access to her old hotmail email account after it was hacked and she'd 'definitely not' written one particular email shown to her which was dated July 2017, the court heard.

Ms Learmonth thought the email was used to help Mehajer in a bail application to allow him to leave Australia.

Mehajer, who is in custody after being denied bail over another matter, sometimes glanced at his ex-wife but mostly looked at his notes while she gave evidence.

Mehajer, who is in custody after being denied bail over another matter, sometimes glanced at his ex-wife but mostly looked at his notes while she gave evidence

His lawyer earlier described her as 'nothing more than a drama queen' when the prosecution successfully applied for her to give evidence via video link rather than in Mehajer's presence.

'My client's view is this is nothing more than the alleged victim grandstanding and trying to demonstrate her self-importance,' Mr Foster said.

The hearing has been adjourned to continue on April 24.The ex-wife of far-right radio host Alex Jones claims he has 'brainwashed' their children after their son appeared on his show.

On Wednesday their 15-year-old son Rex appeared on Jones' far-right website Infowars.com to challenge Parkland survivor David Hogg to a gun debate.

The bold challenge left Rex's mother Kelly Jones 'horrified' claiming that her ex-husband has 'endangered and exploited' their children for ratings.

She took to Twitter to share her concern over her son's vehement gun debate challenge, pointing blame to her ex-husband's influence.

'I am horrified & incredibly concerned for my vulnerable minor son who has been endangered and exploited for ratings by my ex-husband, Alex Jones,' she wrote Friday morning.

Kelly Jones took to Twitter Friday to announce that her ex-husband Alex Jones, the founder of far-right site Infowars.com, has brainwashed their children

Kelly, pictured above, shared she was horrified to see her 15-year-old son Rex on the website

Rex Jones (left) took his father's seat on his far-right site Wednesday to challenge Parkland survivor David Hogg (right) to a gun debate

'I implore @YouTube to immediately remove these endangering videos. I am speaking to counsel and will issue a video statement today,' she added.

She also threatened legal action to prevent him from returning on the website again.

The alarming video in question features Rex Jones in his father's seat blasting Hogg for his public campaign for stricter gun laws in the US.

On Friday Rex was featured in yet another video in which he readdresses Hogg saying 'It's been two days...and I've had no response. I know you've seen it'.

'Why won't you debate me David Hogg? Are you shaking in your boots?' he adds.

'Prove me wrong. Prove that you are in fact a smart individual and not a Democrat puppet who spouts talking points,' he said.

Hogg survived the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, which left 17 people dead.

A former student, Nikolas Cruz, was arrested for allegedly carrying out the massacre.

In the wake of the tragedy, Hogg and his fellow students have led a nationwide campaign demanding tougher gun laws.

By Friday Hogg still did not respond to the gun debate challenge, causing Rex to call him out on Twitter via his father's account

Kelly alleges that her ex-husband Alex Jones, pictured above in an Austin, Texas court room last year, has 'endangered and exploited' their children for ratings

The campaign, however, has met with stiff criticism and resistance from conservatives who warn against taking action that infringes on their Second Amendment rights.

Hogg, you claim that the establishment is shaking in its boots in fear of you, Rex Jones says in the video challenge Wednesday.

No, they love you. They love gun control. Theyve wanted this for years.

The Infowars video is interspersed with clips of Democratic politicians speaking of the need to enact laws against assault weapons.

It is admitted they want to disarm the American people just as they have done with so many corrupt regimes in the past, Rex Jones said.

He then named 20th century dictators who he claims were allowed to commit mass murder due to strict gun control laws.

Hitler, Stalin, Mao, North Korea  do you think those corrupt leaders allowed their citizens to have guns?

Do you think that the Jews were able to protect themselves when Hitler put them in concentration camps?

No, they were disarmed. And thats why they were enslaved.

Rex Jones blasted Hogg as a child human shield by the mainstream media so that you can go out and make outrageous statements without anyone being allowed to rebut you.

He then challenged Hogg to a debate.

'Name a time, name the place, name the venue. I will do it,' he said

Rex Jones slammed Hogg for calling his father 'a s*** journalist' in February

Hogg was being compared to Hitler after various videos emerged with the Nazi leader's voice dubbed over footage of him at March for our Lives. The video was played on Infowars

Last month, Alex Jones invited Hogg onto his show for a debate. Hogg accepted, according to Raw Story.

Hogg apparently backed out of the interview, saying he was unaware of Alex Jones' habit of peddling wild conspiracy theories.

Earlier this week, Infowars came under fire after it played a video of Hogg and other Parkland survivors at the March for our Lives rally that depicted them as Nazis.

In the video, Hogg's voice is dubbed over with that of Hitler's.

At the end of his speech on Saturday, Hogg raised his fist in the air and right-wing social media immediately started claiming it resembled Hitler's Nazi salute.

The YouTube user titled the video: 'Hogg Hitler! The little dictator in the making'.

While the website challenged Hogg, the student activist was getting advertisers to end their deals with Fox News personality Laura Ingraham on Thursday after she criticized Hogg on social media.

Ingraham, a right-wing host who landed a rare one-on-one interview with President Donald Trump last year, wrote on Twitter, 'David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it.'

Hogg, who filmed students hiding from the gunman in their classrooms during the massacre, was quick to respond, tweeting a list of a dozen advertisers and encouraging followers to immediately call them and ask them to drop Ingraham.

Hogg's emergence as a leading voice for stricter gun laws have made him a target for criticism from conservatives

The online home goods store Wayfair, food company Nestle, travel website TripAdvisor and Rachel Ray's dog food Nutrish all said they are removing their support from Ingraham.

Wayfair said in a statement that it supports 'open dialogue and debate on issues.

'However, the decision of an adult to personally criticize a high school student who has lost his classmates in an unspeakable tragedy is not consistent with our values.

'We do not plan to continue advertising on this particular program.'

TripAdvisor says it does not 'condone the inappropriate comments made by this broadcaster. In our view, these statements focused on a high school student, cross the line of decency. As such, we have made a decision to stop advertising on that program.'

A telephone message left for Nutrish was not immediately returned but the company tweeted it was in the process of removing ads from Ingraham's show.

Ingraham apologized Thursday on Twitter, saying, 'On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland.'

Ingraham tweeted that she thought she was the first to feature Hogg on her show after the shooting and added, 'he's welcome to come on my show anytime for a productive discussion.'

Speaking on New Day on Friday, Hogg said he did not believe her apology.

'Shes only apologizing after a third of her advertisers pulled out, and I think its really disgusting the fact that she basically tried promoting her show after apologizing to me,' Hogg said.TV star Roseanne Barr posted an unusual Twitter message on Friday night

Television star Roseanne Barr has posted an unusual message praising President Donald Trump for freeing 'children held in bondage', in an apparent reference to a conspiracy theory about satanic child sex abuse at the highest levels of government.

'President Trump has freed so many children held in bondage to pimps all over this world. Hundreds each month. He has broken up trafficking rings in high places everywhere,' Barr tweeted on Friday.

'I disagree on some things, but give him benefit of doubt-4 now,' she continued.

After initial confusion, Barr retweeted several links reporting recent law enforcement initiatives against human trafficking, including a March 13 White House statement announcing that DHS had made 1,602 arrests and 578 convictions in trafficking cases in 2017.

But for many, Barr's cryptic message, which came on the heels of her wildly successful sitcom reboot, appeared to be a callback to earlier mentions she has made of the 'QAnon' conspiracy theory.

In response to the storm of speculation, Barr posted again a few hours after the initial tweet: 'I have worked with victims of trafficking for decades & supported the fight against it. Sorry to have mentioned it here. It's not the place.'

It comes on the heels of Barr's wildly successful sitcom reboot on Tuesday (pictured)

Also known as 'The Storm', the QAnon theory is based on a series of anonymous and highly cryptic posts on the message board 4Chan, which purport to be written by a high-level insider at the Trump White House.

Q is a reference to 'Q-clearance', the Department of Energy security classification that offers the broadest level of access to Top Secret and Secret Restricted Data granted by the US government.

Though Q's posts are sometimes cryptic to the point of nonsense, in broad strokes the theory maintains that Trump is locked in a secret battle with 'evil' elements at the highest level of government.

The theory references earlier conspiracy theories such as Pizzagate, purporting that top-level Democrats are engaged in satanic child sex abuse and child sex trafficking.

One of Q's only specific predictions, that Hillary Clinton's campaign manager John Podesta would be arrested on November 3, did not come to pass.

Nevertheless, the theory fired the imaginations of many who envision The Storm as an imminent domestic military crackdown and purge targeting the Trump Administration's foes.

Q posted this fan-created graphic on March 4. It purports to show that Q predicted the contents of a DoD tweet in advance, about a documentary containing a mug with the letter 'Q'

Barr has previously dabbled in the conspiracy. On November 17, she posted two tweets saying 'Who is Q?' and 'Tell Qanon to DM me in the nexxt 24 hours'.

Shortly after Barr sent the messages, her Twitter account went offline, stoking rumors of a vast conspiracy.

Her account came back online a few hours later, with around 200,000 followers removed.

She issued a message saying 'I am OK and back. explanation later on'.

So far, she has not issued any explanation of the incident.

Barr's Tuesday premier of the Roseanne reboot drew some 18million viewers, making it a smashing success.

Trump even called to congratulate Barr, a Trump supporter herself whose sitcom aims to portray the real-life concerns of his working-class base.Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg has confronted Senator John McCain onTwitter over his decision to accept more than $7.7 million from the National Rifle Association over his career.

Hogg, 17, who has become a leading gun-reform advocate since the Florida high school shooting in which 17 people died, tweeted McCain on Friday with the question: 'Why do you take so much money from the NRA?'

The tweet was in response to McCain's post about a redevelopment project in Phoenix, Arizona, and quickly racked up thousands of likes and re-tweets.

David Hogg, 17, (left, in Parkland on March 23) who has become a leading gun-reform advocate since the high school shooting in which 17 people died, tweeted McCain (right, with his daughter Meghan on March 18) on Friday with the question: 'Why do you take so much money from the NRA?'

McCain, who is the number one recipient of NRA money in Congress according to the Center for Responsive Politics, has not responded to Hogg's message.

The Republican, 81, was diagnosed last summer with glioblastoma, a form of aggressive brain cancer, and is currently recovering from chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

It is not known when he will return to Washington but his daughter, Meghan, said she was 'cautiously optimistic' it could be later this summer.

McCain has taken $7,740,521 from the NRA since joining Congress in 1983. The congressman who has received the second highest amount of money from the NRA is Richard Burr, at $6.9m, and in third place is Roy Blunt at $4.5m.

The tweet was in response to McCain's post about a redevelopment project in Phoenix, Arizona, and quickly racked up thousands of likes and re-tweets

Top ten recipients of National Rifle Association money in Congress across their careers John McCain Richard Burr Roy Blunt Thom Tillis Cory Gardner Marco Rubio Joni Ernst Rob Portman Todd Young Bill Cassidy $7,755,701 $6,986,931 $4,551,146 $4,418,012 $3,879,264 $3,303,355 $3,124,273 $3,061,941 $2,896,732 $2,861,047 Source: Center for Responsive Politics Advertisement

Hogg, a student a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, filmed students hiding from the gunman in their classrooms during the shooting on February 17.

He then became one of the leading voices of the gun control movement launched by these school-aged men and women.

The student recently got into a spat with Fox News host Laura Ingraham over her decision to mock him over a video in which he detailed the schools which did not accept him.

'David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it,' wrote Ingraham on Twitter.

Hogg was quick to respond to Ingraham's tweet, sharing a list of a dozen advertisers and encouraging followers to immediately call them and ask them to drop Ingraham.

At least nine claim they have done just that.

Hogg recently got into a spat with Fox News host Laura Ingraham (pictured in February) over her decision to mock him over a video about schools that had not accepted him

Ingraham apologized Thursday on Twitter, saying: 'On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland.'

Ingraham tweeted that she thought she was the first to feature Hogg on her show after the shooting and added: 'He's welcome to come on my show anytime for a productive discussion.'

Hogg tweeted later Thursday that an apology to save advertisers wasn't enough and that he'd only accept Ingraham's apology if she denounced the way Fox News has treated his friends.

'It's time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children,' wrote Hogg.Chocolate eggs made of camel milk chocolate are being produced by Queensland dairy farmers just in time for Easter.

The eggs, which break the tradition of chocolate made from cow-milk, are being produced on two dairy farms in the Sunshine State.

Lactose intolerant people can enjoy the eggs thanks to a special protein structure present in the milk.

Chocolates made of camel milk chocolate are being produced by Queensland dairy farmers including QCamel Dairy just in time for Easter

The eggs, which break the tradition of chocolate made from cow-milk, are being produced on two dairy farms in the Sunshine State

Summer Land Camels chief executive Jeff Flood told Sky News the eggs were 'proving to be a hit'.

'We've done thousands of blind tastings and every time people pick camel milk,' he said.

'For all those children that can't have normal products, this is a fantastic thing - finally they can have a chocolate for Easter.'

The chocolate eggs, made from camel milk (pictured) are suitable for people with dairy intolerance

Meanwhile QCamel were elated to have their camel milk chocolates ready in time for Easter, posting to Facebook 'you can finally enjoy chocolate again'.

'Here they are, being delivered today across the Sunshine Coast,' the company posted on Facebook.

'Suitable for dairy intolerances, perfect for chocolate connoisseurs everywhere.'An independent medical examiner said Stephon Clark, 22, was hit by eight of the 20 bullets fired at him by Sacramento cops

Some 250 protesters marched through Sacramento late Friday night and converged onto a restaurant which welcomed them just hours after an autopsy revealed that Stephon Clark was shot by police six times in the back.

The protesters gathered at City Hall and chanted for about half an hour before beginning a march through the streets of the California state capital.

Protesters were chanting Clarks name in unison, according to the Sacramento Bee.

They also denounced the citys police department, chanting F*** Sac PD! and The whole damn system is guilty as hell.

At around 10:00pm local time, the march had paused in front of a Bennigans restaurant.

The windows and doors were open because the temperature outside was a pleasant 65 degrees.

A number of protesters walked into the restaurant and began chanting as diners were inside eating.

Sacramento Bee reporter Ryan Sabalow said on his Twitter feed that a couple of protesters jumped on tables and bars.

The host at Bennigans, Efrain Palma, supported the protesters.

I wish I could join them out there, Palma said.

The protest was entirely peaceful. Some of the protesters were parents with strollers while others wore flip flops.

The demonstrators varied in age and ethnicity.

Some 250 protesters marched through Sacramento late Friday night and converged onto a restaurant which welcomed them

The protesters walked into a Bennigan's restaurant, where they received support

A couple of protesters climbed onto tables and the bar inside the restaurant

The atmosphere in Sacramento was largely calm because of the holiday weekend, so there were fewer cars and people to deal with.

Some protesters stayed back at City Hall and led chants of Stephon Clark and You shoot us down/We shut you down!

This is the fourth consecutive night in which Sacramento has seen protests over the fatal shooting of Clark.

Sacramento police shot at an unarmed Clark eight times, mostly in the back, according to an autopsy requested by his family and released on Friday.

The officers fired a total of 20 shots at Clark in his grandmother's backyard, hitting him eight times: four in the lower back, twice on the neck towards the back, and once on his left thigh.

Dr. Bennet Omalu, a medical examiner hired by Clark's family, performed an independent autopsy on Tuesday and revealed the results during a press conference on Friday afternoon.

The atmosphere in Sacramento was largely calm because of the holiday weekend, so there were fewer cars and people to deal with

Some protesters stayed back at City Hall and led chants of Stephon Clark and You shoot us down/We shut you down!

This is the fourth consecutive night in which Sacramento has seen protests over the fatal shooting of Clark

Omalu is the pathologist best known for his groundbreaking research into the effects on the brain of repeated blows to the head suffered by athletes.

'Each one of these bullets possessed, independently, a fatal capacity,' he said.

'All he needed to have died was just one of the seven.'

The forensic pathologist used a body diagram to show where each bullet hit the father-of-two, 22, breaking bones and piercing his lung.

He added: 'You could reasonably conclude that he received seven gunshot wounds from his back. He was shot from the back.'

This theory of what happened between Clark and police during the deadly confrontation directly contradicts what authorities have said: that Clark was pointing something they believed to be a weapon at them when they shot him dead.

'The proposition that he was facing the officers is inconsistent with the prevailing forensic evidence,' Omalu stated.

Dr. Bennet Omalu, a medical examiner hired by Clark's family, said he was surprised when he examined Clark and realized there were no fatal wounds to the front of his body

The forensic pathologist used a body diagram to show where each bullet hit the father-of-two, 22, breaking bones and piercing his lung

Omalu also said he was surprised when he examined Clark and realized there were no fatal wounds to the front of his body.

According to the expert, Clark did not die immediately after being shot, even if he was unresponsive as police asked if he was armed, and it took him between three and ten minutes to pass.

Still, Clark did not have many hopes of survival, Omalu said.

'Given the overkill nature of the shooting, the probability of survival was reduced by each gunshot wound.'

Results of the official autopsy by the Sacramento County Coroner are yet to be released.

Stephon Alonzo 'Zoe' Clark was chased by two police officers into his grandparent's backyard on March 18.

It was there he was riddled with bullets as officers yelled at him to put his hands up.

The pathologist added that Clark, a father-of-two, did not die immediately and it probably took him between three and ten minutes to pass

The horrific incident was caught on the officers' bodycam footage after police received a call about a man breaking car windows in the area.

Police say Clark 'turned and advanced towards the officers while holding an object which was extended in front of him,' and which they mistook for a firearm being pointed at them.

But Clark was found with just an iPhone beside him.

Five minutes after the shooting, backup arrived and Clark was placed in handcuffs before officers began life-saving efforts. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

His grandmother Sequita Thompson was at home that night and heard the gunshots. She said when police interviewed her, they made no mention of any fatalities.

Clark's funeral was held on Thursday, with Rev. Al Sharpton giving the eulogy.

Dr Omalu's version of events, that Clark was shot from the back, contradict what police said: that the father-of-two was facing them when they shot him dead

Clark's funeral was held on Thursday, with Rev. Al Sharpton giving the eulogy. He is pictured with Clark's older brother Stevante

Stevante Clark, his distraught older brother, took over the mic from Alice Huffman of the California NAACP as he spoke during the funeral at Bayside of South Sacramento church.

The 25-year-old led the crowd of around 500 to chant his dead sibling's name, while vowing that the 'Clark family will not be forgotten'.

Clark's name has been a rallying cry at protests and calls for police reform in California and beyond. In Sacramento, protests have been concentrated on the office of district attorney Anne Schubert.

Police later identified at least three vehicles in the area with damage that is believed to have been caused by Clark. A nearby home also had had a sliding door shattered.

Sequita Thompson recounts the horror of seeing her grandson Stephan Clark dead in her backyard and points to the white area on the patio where he lay dead

Clark's name has been a rallying cry at protests and calls for police reform in California and beyond

The two officers who shot Clark have two and four years with the Sacramento Police Department. However, both have four years prior law enforcement experience with other agencies.

As per department policy, both cops have been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.

Clark leaves behind his two young sons, ages one and three.

He had been released from the county jail a month ago, according to his brother Stevante.

Court records indicate that Stephan had a criminal record that included two felony charges of domestic abuse, to which he pleaded guilty and was agreed to enter a treatment program.

In 2008, he was picked up on a robbery charges, and in 2013 he was arrested on counts of possession of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance.

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched by a friend to help the family with Clark's funeral expenses.



A Houston teenager who applied to all of the top 20 colleges in the U.S. won offers from all of them with a full ride along with $260,000 in additional scholarship offers.

Micheael Brown, a 17-year-old senior at Mirabeau B. Lamar High School, opened his first acceptance letter in December at his friend's house to relieve the pressure of doing it before his family.

Three months later, on March 28, he revealed the last four admissions, this time accompanied by his mom, who took the day off her two jobs as a chemical dependency counselor to be with him.

Micheael Brown, a 17-year-old senior at Mirabeau B. Lamar High School, is pictured looking online to check his final four acceptance letters (left) on March 28 to complete a 20-college streak which he celebrates with friends (right)

'It's something I'm proud of because I see my hard work paying off, determination paying off, sacrifices paying off,' Micheal told CNN.

His mother, Berthinia Rutledge-Brown, filmed as her delighted son completed his astonishing streak before celebrating with friends.

Michael now has the enviable task of choosing between his top eight choices: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Northwestern, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, Georgetown and Vanderbilt.

Rutledge-Brown lost three babies before she gave birth to Michael, so poured all her energy into helping him with his studies.

Michael, far right, stands with friends Eric Muthondu and Sammantha Garcia during the Subiendo Academy at University of Texas, Austin

'After sixth grade, Mike was in control of his education,' she said. 'He was focused, he knew what he wanted and he made his own decisions.'

Micheal - who has only ever received one B grade - plans to major in political sciences with a possible second degree in economics.

His involvement with programmes that match students from low-income communities like his with higher education institutions means he has at least one friend at every Ivy League school.

He will spend a month looking round different schools before making his final choice on May 1.

Harvard (pictured in a file photo) is one of the elite institutions on Michael's final list, which he will whittle down to just one on May 1A man's passionate plea to have a KFC built two minutes from his home has ended in spectacular success.

Wayne Hutchings penned an impassioned plea to the Brisbane City Council urging them to ignore the 'people objecting to the development' because the line at another nearby store is 'too long'.

Brisbane City Council encouraged residents to write in and give their view on a proposed KFC and petrol station on Wynnum Road, Tingalpa, 10km east of Brisbane.

Wayne Hutchings' passionate plea to have a KFC built two minutes from his home has helped to the proposed development being approved.

Mr Hutchings took them up on their offer and explained why it would be a good idea.

'I love KFC. This store will be two minutes from my home,' the letter said.

Mr Hutchings was excited when he heard the development had been approved, The Courier Mail reported.

'It's my favourite food group. It's KFC or nothing, really, I'll be happy to go down there and help the developer turn the sod of the first ground to get things going,' he said.

Mr Hutchings took them up on their offer and explained why it would be a good idea. 'I love KFC. This store will be two minutes from my home,' the letter said.

He said when he wants to be a little bit healthier he peels the skin off the chicken and sometimes he reuses the chicken skin.

'My favourite is to take the skin off the chicken and wrap it around some chips,' he said.

It comes as somewhat of a surprise for the development to be approved with councillor Ryan Murphy saying their were a number of people who opposed it.

It comes as somewhat of a surprise for the development to be approved with councillor Ryan Murphy saying their were a number of people who opposed it

He said the medical centre had some concerns about a KFC on the same site.

Some of the reasons people opposed the development included the odour and increased traffic in the area.

However Mr Murphy said there were a number of benefits to approving the new location.

'There's a really good opportunity for us to create local jobs that are so needed at this moment of time,' he said.A 61-year-old man has died after being pulled from the surf at Manly Beach in Sydney.

NSW Police say the man became 'distressed in the water' at Manly's South Steyne Beach at 2.30pm on Easter Saturday and was taken ashore, where attempts were made to revive him.

After emergency services arrived the man was taken to Manly Hospital, as paramedics continued to administer CPR.

Scroll down for video

NSW Police say the man became 'distressed in the water' at Manly's South Steyne Beach (pictured) at 2.30pm on Easter Saturday and was taken ashore, where attempts were made to revive him.

After emergency services arrived the man was taken to Manly Hospital, as paramedics (pictured) continued to administer CPR

The man was then pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

Northern Beaches Police Area Command will prepare a report for the information of the Coroner.

A post-mortem will determine the cause of death.

More to comeA man fighting for his life in a Thai hospital after he crashed his moped and suffered severe brain trauma has already 'died three times', his family said.

Benjamin French, 36, had travelled to the resort island of Koh Samui for a friend's wedding where he was involved in a horror motorcycle accident on March 28.

The Perth man - who runs a food truck in Fremantle - is now in a coma after the crash left him with brain trauma, a broken spine, punctured lungs, all of his ribs broken, many other broken bones and damage to his skull.

Benjamin French, 36, (pictured) had travelled to the resort island of Koh Samui for a friend's wedding where he was involved in a horror motorcycle accident on March 28

The Perth man (pictured) is now in a coma after the crash left him with brain trauma, a broken spine, punctured lungs, broken ribs, many broken bones and damage to his skull.

Mr French's accident was not covered by insurance and his hospital bills have climbed to over $64,000 at a cost of nearly $20,000 per day, with an expectation he will remain in care for several months.

His parents have flown to Thailand to keep a bedside vigil and his mother Deniae said Mr French has already medically died several times.

'When we got the news it was all very bad with little hope and we had three hours to arrange things and catch the first flight to be with him,' she said.

'Luckily Ben had been taken to the best hospital in Koh Samui which did save his life twice.'

His brother Kyle Malkus said Mr French was close to death when a Thai local found him on the side of the road.

'The first day they didn't think he was going to make it at all,' he told PerthNow.

'They've had to cut the top of his skull off, he's got severe swelling and trauma to the brain. He actually died three times on the table but they managed to resuscitate him.

Mr French's (pictured middle) accident was not covered by insurance and his hospital bills have climbed to over $64,000 at a cost of nearly $20,000 per day, with an expectation he will remain in care for several months

Deniae has described her son (pictured middle with friends) as 'one of nature's gentlemen'

His mother has also described her son as 'one of nature's gentlemen'.

'He truly is one of the kindest and nicest person you would ever meet, one of nature's gentlemen, he cares about everyone and everything and lives his life that way being good to people,' Deniae added.

Once Mr French can be stabilised his family hopes to fly him home to Perth where he can recover without the exorbitant costs.

'With positivity and blessings we hope to see his condition stabilise, where he can return to his hometown here in Perth and be surrounded by his family and friends with the continual care he requires,' Mr Malkus said.

Thankfully, a GoFundMe page set up in Mr French's name will cover some of the growing medical bills.

The family has raised $52,342 in only a few days with a target of $300,000.An ex-bikie armed with baseball bat, a knife and a sword has been charged following a two-hour standoff with police.

Officers were called to the Gold Coast home of a 31-year-old man, believed to be a former member of the Bandidos, where he was allegedly smashing windows and 'trashing' the property.

The man allegedly began acting 'violently' and shattered windows at his flat at 12.30pm on Fairlight Avenue in Robina on Saturday, before hosting police on a 2.5 hour standoff.

Gold Coast police are attempting to negotiate with a man armed with a knife and sword after he smashed the windows of his own home (Stock image)

Regional duty officer Inspector Jim Plowman alleges the man refused to cooperate with police and received minor self-inflicted injuries.

'He received a minor injury with the broken glass, he basically trashed the whole place,' Inspector Plowman told The Courier Mail.

'Negotiators had success getting part way with him (but) officers found a chance and restrained him.'

The quiet street was blocked off for hours during the siege and shocked neighbours said the man could be heard arguing with police.

'He's there saying: 'just shoot me, just shoot me',' Gordon Walker told the publication.

The man allegedly began acting 'violently' and shattered windows at his flat at 12.30pm on Fairlight Avenue (pictured) in Robina, police say

Local police attempted to negotiate with the man before the Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) were called in.

The former bikie was transferred in custody to the Gold Coast University Hospital at 2.45pm.

He was charged with wilful damage and issued with a domestic violence order, which had been issued on behalf of a woman who had fled the property the previous day.

He is expected to appear in court at a later date.Black cab rapist John Worboys is to stay in jail for now following landmark legal action by two of his victims

Black cab rapist John Worboys could still be charged with further offences should he make another bid for parole, justice experts claimed last night.

The serial sex attacker's release from prison was this week blocked after a High Court ruling found the Parole Board had wrongly assessed his case.

The decision to free him was made while taking into account his 19 convictions  and not the 100 or more he offences he is suspected of carrying out.

The Parole Board decided to free Worboys after finding he had learned 'not to hide negative thoughts and feelings' during 'positive' treatment with psychologists.

They claimed the former black cab driver had shown 'good insight' into his risk factors and triggers and how to manage them.

The 60-year-old is set to face another parole board hearing where he will argue he is safe to be set free.

But he will have to acknowledge the other rapes and sexual assaults he is accused of in order to prove that his a reformed character.

And any further confession he makes could provide police with the evidence needed to bring further charges against him.

Worboys raped his victims after drugging them with wine while giving them lifts home

Harry Fletcher, the former probation union chief and now a victim's rights campaigner, said the black cab rapist was in a Catch-22 situation that could ruin any chance he has of being set free in the near future.

'What the Parole Board will now have to do is take into account the other offences,' Mr Fletcher told The Telegraph.

'When the panel re-assess him, they will have to ask him to acknowledge all of his offending and list the other victims. If he denies those he will have a problem and they won't let him out.'

Mr Fletcher added that had Worboys been convicted of the other rapes, he could have been jailed for 25 years.

It comes after prosecutors insisted that Worboys had been charged with every rape with evidence which reached a the required threshold.

Worboys was convicted of attacks on 12 women at his 2009 trial after 'sample' charges were brought by the Crown Prosecution Service. But police believe he assaulted at least 105 between 2002 and 2008.

Worboys' black cab (pictured) was used to pick up victims who were offered cut price fares

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is facing mounting pressure to review the decision not to charge Worboys in connection with some of the 83 cases that police passed files to them on.

A spokesman for the CPS said that every rape allegation which met the evidential test was prosecuted.

In 2009, following Worboys' conviction, a further 19 women came forward and another 10 went to the police following the Parole Board's decision.

No further charges have been brought forward and the CPS said ti would only review the cases should new evidence surface.

Why was John Worboys approved for release in the first place? The Parole Board's reasons for releasing John Worboys were only made public during the High Court appeal. The parole board accepted Worboys posed a reduced risk of reoffending because: Worboys had taken full responsibility for his offending.

He had undertaken treatment.

The sex offender had shown 'good insight' into his risk factors and triggers and how to manage them.

He had been 'open and honest' with professionals and was considered likely to remain compliant following his return to the community . Advertisement

A prison van carrying Worboys leaves the Royal Courts of Justice after the hearing in February

Victim 'let down' by authorities calls for new prosecutions One of the women who won a landmark ruling over the decision to release black cab rapist John Worboys said she fought the case because she does not want others to go through the same ordeal. The woman, who can only be identified as DSD, said she was 'absolutely thrilled' with the High Court's ruling on Wednesday, but felt she and other women had been 'let down' by the justice system. She said: 'I have always said one of the reasons I am doing this is to give women the confidence that they can come forward and it will be dealt with. 'I wouldn't want another woman to go through what I have been through the past 10 to 15 years. 'I want women to be able to go to the police, report a crime and have it dealt with adequately.' One of the victim's who brought the case (left) talks to Sky News's David Bowden today She added: 'It is the whole system that has failed. I feel like I have been let down at every step. It is wrong that we have been put in this situation. 'As victims we should have been supported and not having to fight every step of the way in court.' Worboys was never prosecuted over the allegations made by DSD, but for a range of 'sample' offences. He was also found by a High Court judge to have committed offences against DSD, in a ruling on her case against the Metropolitan Police, and Worboys settled a claim she and 10 other women made against him for 241,000 without admitting any wrongdoing. She said she believes the 60-year-old serial sex attacker could have been prosecuted for the allegations she made against him and will continue her fight. She added: 'At some point I do need to draw a line under all this, I can't carry on for the next 10 to 15 years and keep going into court over various things. 'That is why I was keen to prosecute on my case, because that would give me the ultimate closure and I would be able to get on with my life. 'But having said that, I am not quite ready to give up just yet.' Kim Harrison, a lawyer from Slater and Gordon which represented 11 of Worboys' victims said the firm's clients were 'delighted and deeply relieved' Advertisement

Parole Board chief is forced to resign just minutes before the High Court overturned decision to free black cab rapist John Worboys

The chairman of the Parole Board has been forced to quit as his organisation faces sweeping changes in the wake of the John Worboys ruling.

Professor Nick Hardwick was told his position was 'untenable' after two victims of the serial sex offender won a High Court challenge against the black cab rapist's release from prison.

He was not personally involved in the move to approve freeing Worboys but said he would not 'pass the buck to those who work under me'.

In a letter to Justice Secretary David Gauke, released today, he said: 'I want to state my concern about the independence of the board.

'I believe this matter raises very troubling questions about how the board's independence can be safeguarded. I hope Parliament will consider what structural changes are necessary to ensure this independence is protected in future.'

Parole Board chairman Professor Nick Hardwick defended himself in his resignation letter

In his resignation letter, Professor Hardwick acknowledged that the ruling was critical of 'some aspects' of the panel's decision-making processes, although he noted that it 'did not overturn the panel's decisions on these grounds'.

He said: 'The court did however find that the panel's understanding that it could not go beyond the offences for which Worboys was convicted was mistaken.

'I shared the panel's misapprehension in this matter and this was supported by the advice I received. We were wrong.'

Professor Hardwick insisted he had called for reforms to the parole system before the case

Addressing Mr Gauke, who he met on Tuesday, Prof Hardwick said: 'You told me that you thought my position was untenable.'

The outgoing chairman said he had no role in the decision and believes he is capable of leading the Parole Board 'through the changes, many of which I have advocated, that will now be necessary'.

Saying he was 'sorry for the mistakes that were made', Prof Hardwick said he would 'accept accountability' for the Board's work and 'will not pass the buck to those who work under me'.

The Parole Board is an independent body that carries out risk assessments on prisoners to determine whether they can be safely released.

It is currently bound by law to keep the reasons for its decisions private but this rule will be scrapped in the wake of the Worboys controversy. Prof Hardwick had backed plans for greater transparency.

Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: 'Nick Hardwick has made an important contribution to the work of the Parole Board and has been a vocal advocate for reform. His departure is a matter of real regret.

'The independence of the Parole Board is critical to its vital role in overseeing the safe release of prisoners and Nick Hardwick is right to highlight the threats to its independence in his letter of resignation.

'It is a cornerstone of an independent parole system that decisions about the liberty of individuals should not be a matter for government ministers.

'In order to strengthen the confidence of the public, victims and prisoners in its work, our submission to the parole review urges the government to establish the Parole Board as an independent legal tribunal and make improvements to the transparency and accountability of the parole system as a whole.'

In their own words: How the parole board justified freeing sex attacker Today's judgement reveals the reasons given by the three-person panel which recommended Worboys be released. The panel told Worboys: 'You evidence good insight as to your risk factors and how you can use internalised risk management skills to ensure that you do not re-offend. 'You have learnt to be open and honest with professionals and you are assessed as being compliant and motivated to remain compliant when in the community.' Worboys told them: 'I'm deeply sorry about what I have done. I feel I've become a better person since I changed my stance and admitted my guilt.' He added: 'From 2011 I felt so guilty didn't know who to speak to  I found religion  decided if I'm going to follow the Lord I've got to be honest and admit what I have done'. The panel added: 'Clinical opinions indicate that the risks you pose are manageable in the community and lack imminence... your risks are assessed as being manageable and lacking imminence in the community and in open prison conditions. ' Advertisement

Justice Secretary David Gauke comes under fire for refusing to challenge the decision to release black cab rapist John Worboys as bookies slash the odds of him being ousted as a minister

David Gauke (pictured in Parliament today) had suggested that he would mount a legal challenge against the Parole Board decision to release the rapist, but later U-turned

Justice Secretary David Gauke today faced criticism over his refusal to bring a legal case to release black cab rapist John Worboys.

Mr Gauke had suggested that he would mount a legal challenge against the Parole Board decision to release the rapist, but later U-turned.

The serial sex attacker's victims stepped in to crowdfund their own legal challenge and today won their landmark High Court case to keep him locked up.

Labour said the saga has raised questions about Mr Gauke's judgment and the bookies have slashed the odds of him being the next minister to leave the Government.

Labour's shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon said the minister must 'accept responsibility in the failings for the dossier presented by the Ministry of Justice'.

Clashing with the minister in the Commons today, he added: 'Can you give more information on why he chose not to pursue his own judicial review.

'And to be blunt, do you regret your decision to pursue a cheap headline and brief the weekend newspapers in advance before properly checking if you could pursue a judicial review?

'It is not just me asking this question, it has been reported that his conservative colleagues are asking this question a well to the extent that the Prime Minister has been moved to say today that she still has full confidence in him.'

Labour's shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon said the minister must 'accept responsibility in the failings for the dossier presented by the Ministry of Justice'.

The Labour frontbencher said that it was only down to the tireless efforts of victims that Worboys, 60, is staying behind bars.

And he called for legal aid to be given to people mounting judicial review challenges.

Mr Burgon said: 'Personally I don't think it's right that victims of people like John Worboys have to crowdfund to pursue justice, because justice cannot depend on the depths of your pockets.'

He added: 'There have been widespread failings in this case from the very outset.'

What are the reforms to the way parole boards operate does David Gauke want to bring in? The Justice Secretary (pictured today) said he wanted to bring in reforms that would shatter the the secrecy that currently surrounds parole board decisions David Gauke today vowed to usher in radical reforms to shatter the secrecy surrounding the way parole boards work in the wake of criticism over the John Worboys case. The Justice Secretary said he wanted to bring in reforms that would shatter the the secrecy that currently surrounds parole board decisions. He wants to abolish the much criticised Rule 25 so that summaries of the decisions reached by parole boards can be given to victims affected. And he said he also wants to create a system so that parole board decisions can go to an appeal which is heard by a judge led panel. He told the Commons about his 'his intention to 'conduct further work to examine the Parole Board rules in their entirety'. He added: 'As a result of the work that has been completed to date, I have already decided to abolish Rule 25 and will do so as soon as possible after the Easter recess, 'This will enable us to provide for the Parole Board to make available summaries of the decisions they make to victims. In addition, I will bring forward proposals for Parole Board decisions to be challenged. 'I intend to consult on the detail of these proposals by the end of April alongside other proposals to improve the way that victims are kept informed about the parole process. 'I will make a statement to Parliament this afternoon and set out our response to the judgment - and our next steps - in more detail.' Advertisement

Meanwhile, Ladbrokes said they slashed the odds of Mr Gauke being the next minister to leave Theresa May's Government from 50/1 to 5/1.

But Mr Gauke defended his decision saying that he followed the legal advice and made it clear he would not stand in the way of victims bringing their own case.

He said: 'I made no secret that I was considering a judicial review 

'The reality was that the victims were in a better position to bring a successful case than I was.

'What is also very important is that we should ensure in the future that where the parole board reaches a conclusion that reaches certain criteria there is an ability for the parole board to be able to look again at this.'

And several Tory big-hitters backed the Justice Secretary and said it was right that he followed the legal advice.

Former justice secretary Ken Clarke came to the defence of Mr Gauke, saying that it would have been 'scandalous' to ignore the original legal advice not to launch a judicial review.

He said: 'It would be absolutely scandalous if he as Justice Secretary had ignored the legal advice he got, which sounds to be perfectly sensible on the basis of the facts available to him.

'It would be a very bad day if ministers started intervening in criminal sentencing cases in response to campaigning and did not judge them objectively according to the rule of law and the public interest.'

Worboys was due to be released from prison but judges at London's High Court ordered the parole board to review their flawed decision to free him.

The serial sex attacker was prosecuted for attacks on 12 women but police believe he may have more than 100 victims making him perhaps the most prolific sex attacker ever.

The judges found there were flaws in the decisions to release him and the chairman of the Parole Board, Professor Nick Hardwick, was forced to quit today in response to the scandal.

One of the victims said: 'I can get on with my life again without looking over my shoulder. The constant reminders in the news have been distressing and made me want to hide.'

But there is growing anger at the Justice Secretary that the women were forced to bring the case themselves, rather than the government taking action.

Today's ruling means the decision over whether to release Worboys will go back before a different parole panel.

A new decision is not expected for several months, during which Worboys will remain behind bars.Three heroic schoolchildren aged 12, 13 and 14 saved a man who had a rope around his neck and was trying to jump off of a bridge.

The boys were on their way back from school at the time and they saved the man's life while he stood on the edge of an A10 overpass in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire on September 21 last year.

Devonte Cafferkey, 13, and Sammy Farah, 14, rushed to grab the man and persuade him not jump while their friend Shawn Young, who was 12 at the time, called for help.

From left to right: Shawn Young, who was 12 at the time, Devonte Cafferkey, 13, and Sammy Farah, 14, stopped a suicidal man who was about to jump off of a bridge

The boys are now set to be presented with national awards.

While they tried to stop the man jumping and talk him out of suicide, he passed the boys his mobile phone saying 'if it rings, don't answer it'.

The boys later appeared on This Morning and spoke about the incident with hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.

On the show, Devonte Cafferkey said: 'Yeah we were the first to arrive. We were persuading him not to jump. He was crying and wiping his eyes. We said, "Youve got family and stuff, its not worth it".'

The boys were also helped by 47-year-old Joanne Stammers, who is registered disabled with Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome, a rare disability that makes her highly prone to blood clotting.

Despite her condition, which prevents her from working, Joanne took over from the boys and held onto the man 'for what feels like forever'.

She was left with bruising all over her arms.

Another man, James Higlett, also helped to save the man's life.

All five will receive awards from the Royal Humane Society, a charity promoting life-saving intervention.

Joanne Stammers, 47, saw the boys and took over from them, holding onto the man until her arms were left with bruises all over

12-year-old Shawn's mother, Carol, was amazed at the boys' maturity and said they have 'just got on with it' since their brave rescue.

She said: 'I am extremely proud of all three of them, they are all good boys and it's nice that they are getting recognised for doing something good in the community.

'Quite often in the national news there are a lot of negative reports about young people so it is nice to have something positive.

'They are very young and I marvel at how they are all dealing with it. Every time I speak to them I learn something new about what happened.

'For example, the man was passing out and got heavier for them, I didn't know that until recently.'

Jacqueline Cafferkey, Devonte's mother, found out about the hero awards a couple of weeks ago and described it as a 'huge achievement'.

Ms Stammers, who suffers from Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome, was on her way back from visiting her mother when she saw the boys and rushed to help (pictured with her mother)

The three children, who go to St Mary's High School in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, have already picked up Special Achievement Awards at the Broxbourne Youth Awards for their bravery.

Meanwhile, Ms Stammers described the award as a 'great honour' and said she is still in touch with Mrs Cafferkey.

'It's amazing to get this award, it's obviously under sad circumstances but it's also great that the kids are getting something for what they did,' she said.

'I am really pleased for them and I hope other children can see it's worth stopping to help someone.'

Ms Stammers, who was on her way back from visiting her mother in Waltham Cross when she saw Shawn calling for help, revealed she 'hates' going under the bridge now and avoids it when she can.

She still sees her mother once a week and pays special attention to any bridge she goes under to make sure nobody is standing by the edge.

The heroes of the day were nominated for their awards by Hertfordshire Police.

A date for the awards presentation has not yet been set.

For confidential support in the UK, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see samaritans.org for details.Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier says the RAF is more important than ever due to its 13 ongoing operations in 21 countries, and must modernise if it is to continue to thrive

The Royal Air Force needs more funding if it to face off challenges from Russia, the head of the service has warned today, ahead of its 100th birthday.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier says the RAF is more important than ever due to its 13 ongoing operations in 21 countries, and must modernise if it is to continue to thrive.

Sir Stephen chose the eve of the RAF's centenary to issue a frank assessment of the service's future, amid military budget cuts and mounting pressure from Russia.

Worryingly, he pointed to frontline gaps caused by military budget cuts leading to compromises undermining the air superiority Britain has come to take for granted.

'The RAF needs to grow the next generation airforce,' Sir Stephen wrote in the Daily Telegraph.

Cautioning that the RAF must 'fill gaps, such as with P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft and in information capabilities; to give give greater resilience and sustainability to a hard-pressed front line,' he urged that the service must also increase its number of airmen to stave off the growing threat from Putin's forces.

Adding: 'We need to show that the consequences of what Russia are doing are painful, and we can inflict pain on them, and we have the will to inflict pain on them.'

Sir Stephen chose the eve of the RAF's centenary to issue a frank assessment of the service's future, amid military budget cuts and mounting pressure from Russia (RAF: F-35B Lightning II)

Worryingly, he pointed to frontline gaps caused by military budget cuts leading to compromises undermining the air superiority Britain has come to take for granted

While telling The Sun that: 'If you don't give me resources, you're going to have to make compromises.

'It will mean that we will not be able to do all of the things that we need to do in order to defend the nation and protect our interests overseas.'

His message comes amid calls for greater military funding, including by Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, who congratulated the RAF on it's milestone birthday.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson congratulated the RAF on it's milestone birthday and called for greater funding for the service

He said: 'I am delighted to send my congratulations to the whole of the RAF, the world's oldest independent air force, on its 100th anniversary.

'From the brave pioneers flying bi-planes in the First World War, through to the heroic fighters of the Battle of Britain and the ever-vigilant aircrews of the Cold War, the RAF has continually ensured our safety.

'Now as we introduce the stealth fighters of the 21st century the RAF continues its proud tradition of being at the forefront of innovation, offering a potent force in defence of UK interests.

'They can be proud of what their predecessors have done, celebrating this important milestone and be full of confidence for the future.'Lee Patterson, 51, stole more then 200,000 from a Christian charity and used it to build and extension on his house and buy a car for his son

A bouncy castle boss has been jailed after stealing more than 200,000 from a Christian charity to fund his lavish lifestyle.

o inflate the profits of his party-hire business.

Lee Patterson, 51, swindled money from disadvantaged children and blew the funds on an extension on his house and a car for his son.

Patterson, director of soft-play area Adventure Kids Leeds, siphoned money from alcohol and drugs charity The Yorkshire Band of Hope Union.

He moved the money to Little Legs, a soft-play area company he started in 2011.



Leeds Crown Court heard Patterson stole 216,000 while working as the project manager for Band of Hope-funded Bramley Family Support Project and Wildfire Project.

Prosecutor Lee Fish said the charities provide emotional support for disadvantaged children, adding: 'There is clear evidence that funds were used to fund a lavish lifestyle.

'It has had a significant impact on the charity. They have had to close a number of projects.'

Patterson worked for the Leeds based charity from 2008 until 2012 when the trustees spotted he had used a charity credit card to withdraw money.

Investigations revealed charity money had been transferred to a building firm carrying out work on his house.

Other amounts were also paid into the accounts of Little Legs and his other company Vision Housing.

Patterson, of Marsh, Huddersfield, admitted four offences of fraud.

Patterson is director of Adventure Kids Leeds, a soft-play area he set up after the closure of Little Legz

Patterson was jailed for three years and four months by Judge Simon Phillips QC

He was the sales manager at a builder's merchant when he sold company property and kept the money for himself.

Nicholas De La Poer, mitigating, said Patterson was still committed to charity work and had continued to support a charity based in Romania.

Mr De La Poer said Patterson had also given some of the stolen money to people who were in financial need. He added: 'He exhibits defective thinking.'

Patterson was jailed for three years and four months by Judge Simon Phillips QC who said: 'Many people have been cruelly let down and misled by you.

'Your fall from being a senior employee has been monumental.'

After the case, Detective Constable Kate Hardaker said: 'He stripped the charity of thousands of pounds that would have been used to provide emotional and practical support to disadvantaged children and their families.

'He has clearly shown no regard for the consequences of his actions and seemingly cared more about personal gain than for those in the community he was charged with caring for.'

Speaking after the case, Detective Constable Kate Hardaker, of the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Fraud Team, said: 'These offences occurred over a prolonged period of time.

'They have ultimately stripped the charity of thousands of pounds that would have been used to provide emotional and practical support to disadvantaged children and their families.

'He has clearly shown no regard for the consequences of his actions and seemingly cared more about personal gain than for those in the community he was charged with caring for.'Police in Tenerife have arrested a hit-and-run suspect who killed a 10-year-old Irish boy holidaying on the island with his family.

The youngster was rushed to hospital critically injured on Thursday evening but died on Friday.

The suspect, who lives near the scene of Thursday's incident, was held after investigators found the red Alfa Romeo 145 and is now being questioned by police.

The vehicle has a broken front headlamp and is believed to have been found a few miles from the Gran Sur shopping centre in Adeje where the youngster was hit as he was with his family.

The vehicle has a broken front headlamp and is believed to have been found a few miles from the Gran Sur shopping centre in Adeje where the youngster was hit as he was with his family

An off-duty officer is thought to have raised the alarm after spotting the vehicle, sources claimed.

The suspect, who has not been named, lives in the municipality of Granadilla de Abona in the south of Tenerife.

Civil Guard officers looking for the suspect released hours before the youngster lost his fight for life: 'Do you know who ran over a boy aged 10 and then fled the scene without helping him?

'The youngster is fighting for his life in intensive care in hospital.'

The hit-and-run happened around 8.30pm on Thursday in a street called Calle Dublin in Adeje in the south of the island.

The youngster, who died at a hospital in the capital Santa Cruz de Tenerife, was coming out of the Gran Sur shopping centre with his family when he was hit.

A 10-year-old Irish boy has died in Tenerife while on holiday with his family. Police on the island have released this photo of the suspected vehicle which is believed to be a Volkswagen

He suffered head injuries and chest injuries which affected his right lung.

He was admitted to an intensive care unit at the University Hospital Nuestra Senora de La Candelaria from another hospital where he was initially taken.

He is understood to have died early yesterday evening.

Civil Guard officers are being assisted by Spanish National Police as well as local town-employed police in their hunt for the killer.

The youngster has not been named.

A spokesman for a regional government emergency response service confirmed immediately after the incident: 'We received a call about a traffic accident involving a 10-year-old boy at 8.30pm on Thursday.

'Two ambulances went to the scene along with a doctor and nurse from a nearby health centre.

The boy was coming out of the Gran Sur shopping centre with his family when he was hit on Thursday evening. He died at Hospital La Candelaria the following day (pictured)

'One of the ambulances rushed him to Hospiten Sur with multiple serious injuries. He was subsequently transferred to another hospital.'

Police say the hit-and-run car suffered frontal damage.

It is believed the driver fled the scene without getting out of his vehicle to see how the youngster was.

A police-run Facebook page said: 'Colleagues in Adeje are still working on trying to track down the person responsible for the accident in which a boy from Ireland has died.

'National Police are helping in this task as well as Civil Guard and local police. The images are not great and several types of vehicles are being talked about including an Alfa Romeo.

'The remains of glass at the scene are being investigated to see if the make can be pinned down.

'With the police working on the case and the public's help, we're going to be able to find this person.'A 26-year-old man who allegedly drove past two police cars with no lights on before slamming into seven vehicles causing a horrific eight-car pile-up which left a teenager dead.

Police said the Holden Commodore was on Campbelltown Road, Woodbine in Sydney's southwest, about 7pm on Good Friday, before it passed to the wrong side of the road.

The man then smashed his vehicle into a Kia Sportage which was being driven by an Uber driver, 57, with four passengers, three men aged 18, 19 and 20 and a woman, 18.

One teenager is dead and another five have been injured in a horror crash involving eight cars in Sydney's south-west

Two vehicles went up in flames leaving a number of people seriously injured at Woodbine, Campbelltown Road, after 7pm Good Friday (pictured)

The 18-year-old man died at the scene after frantic CPR attempts, while the driver and remaining passengers were all seriously injured, NSW Police said.

The driver and three passengers have undergone surgery and are in serious but stable conditions.

The vehicle then collided with another six vehicles before erupting into a ball of fire.

Witnesses were able to free the 26-year-old passenger from the blue Commodore where he was then taken to Liverpool Hospital for surgery for internal injuries and is now in an induced coma.

A helicopter was brought in to airlift those seriously injured while others were rushed to hospital by road.

NSW Chief Inspector Michael Moroney said the circumstances as to why a car, was 'on the wrong side of the road' is being investigated.

'I believe he (the 18-year-old) was a passenger of a vehicle, not connected with the vehicle driving on the incorrect side of the road,' he said on Saturday.

A witness described the fiery aftermath of the horror eight-car collision as something 'horrific'.

Alan Charlton told Daily Mail Australia he heard the sirens and fire trucks blasting their horns before he went outside to find the nightmare pile-up.

'It was horrific ... quite a lot were injured,' he said.

'People were getting treatment everywhere - they seemed to be mainly 60 to 100 metres apart on the median strip area.

'Then going across the road to the other side, there were another lot scattered everywhere getting treatment from medical staff.'

Mr Charlton said he thought all of the cars involved would have been write offs including one car that he believed hit a pole.

A helicopter was brought in to airlift those seriously injured while others were rushed to hospital by road after an 18-year-old passenger of the Kia Sportage died at the scene

A number of people were seriously injured including teenagers and a 54-year-old man

'The light pole was bent over and bent in a number of spots it had turned into a boomerang,' he said.

'One of the vehicles must have been airborne to have hit so high up on the pole.'

One red station wagon was left at the intersection and had been 'ripped open'.

'You could see this piece of red metal hanging out the back,' Mr Charlton told Daily Mail Australia Saturday morning.

While a number of people received treatment before being either airlifted or driven to hospital, Mr Charlton said people were being treated all over Campbelltown Road.

Another witness, Matthew Bostock, told The Daily Telegraph: 'It didn't sound like a crash anyone could survive, it was just horrible.'

A blue Holden Commodore, a Toyota Yaris, Nissan X-Trail, Ford Mondeo, Hyundai Santa Fe, Commodeore wagon, Kia Sportage and a Mitsubishi Lancer were all involved in the fiery collision.

Investigators are still determining the cause of the tragic pile-up which injured so many

Three people were in the Commodore wagon driven by a man, 69, but only one female passenger was injured.

The remaining people involved in the crash - four women and two men - were assessed at the scene by paramedics before being taken to hospital.

They included a woman, 45, driving the Toyota Yaris, a woman, 35, driving a Nissan X Trail, a woman, 21 driving the Ford Mondeo, a man, 54, driving the Santa Fe and a man and a woman both aged 26 who were travelling in the Mitsubishi.

Investigators are still determining the cause of the tragic pile-up.Videos

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.Kangaroos have left a winery dry after eating more than $80,000 worth of produce since October last year.

The Maipenrai Vineyard in Canberra is famous for making pinot noir on their 1.1 hectare vineyard.

This year the vineyard has been hit with an unlikely guest acquiring a taste of their produce.

Maipenrai Vineyard in Canberra is famous for making pinot noir on their 1.1 hectare vineyard but have been devastated by kangaroo's munching on their produce

Kangaroo's were caught munching on the first leaves on the vineyard which prevented the bud and fruit to grow.

'They got hungry,' grower Jenny Gordon told the ABC.

The vineyard, which has been in operation for 18 years said they are 'unlucky' because of the overly dry conditions this season and the kangaroos taking a bite.

'They have never eaten the vines before. So they got a taste  and they just munched their way through quite happily.

The vineyard, which has been in operation for 18 years said they are 'unlucky' because of the overly dry conditions this season and the kangaroos taking a bite

Both Jenny and her husband Brian Schmidt said they were disappointed they weren't able to create a finished product from the vineyard.

'My vineyard would normally make about 4,000 bottles of wine at roughly $20 a bottle,' Mr Schmidt said.

The couple also have a winery on their property and still expect to bring out a 2018 bottle sourced from other vineyards.

They also plan to install a two-metre tall fence so kangaroos won't be able to get in to their vineyard.Half of Jesus Christ's disciples were women according to academics who say that the importance of his female followers has been overlooked for centuries.

Bible scholar Helen Bond has said that while names such as Joanna, Susanna and Salome are not as prominent as the 12 male apostles they should be acknowledged as being key disciples.

A key passage which Professor Bond refers to is in Luke, where Jesus appointed 70 or 72 disciples to heal the sick and spread the word about God.

Although previously Dorotheus of Tyre, a scholar who died in 362 AD, argued these would have been all male, Professor Bond claims 'two by two' may have meant half male, and half female.

Bible scholar Helen Bond has claimed half of Jesus's disciples were women after referring to a Luke passage which speaks of disciples being sent out 'two by two' (pictured: Noli me Tangere by Martin Schongauer, depicting risen Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene)

She told the Times: 'That phrase "two by two" reminds you of Noah's Ark and the idea that it is a male and a female. We are suggesting that Jesus has a much larger group of disciples and that includes women as well, pairs of males and females together.'

Another passage in Luke viii says: 'The twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herods household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.'

Many of these women would have helped preach in women-only spaces, as well as funding Jesus's travels.

The research will be broadcast in Jesuss Female Disciples: The New Evidence, a documentary on Channel 4 on Sunday April 8.

During the programme the scholars will visit Horvat Qasra, an ancient chapel believed to be from the first century, which has 'Saint Salome' written on the wall - the wife of Zebedee and mother of the disciples James and John.

Diarmaid MacCulloch from Oxford University said that the Roman emperor Constantine preferred a manly, militant Christianity and after his rule female saints were 'sidelined' to the role of mothers and helpers.A BA passenger has claimed he was accused of stealing an iPhone on a flight and searched at by armed police because he was 'the only black man on the plane'.

Apple worker Jonathan Vardon, 26, said he was singled out by other travellers and wrongly accused of theft on the BA flight from Gatwick to Barcelona.

He claimed that he and two friends were forced to turn out their underwear and said that they were not given an apology later.

Jonathan Vardon, pictured with his boyfriend Drew Clawson, was accused of stealing an iPhone on a BA flight by a fellow passenger

Jonathan Vardon, 26, said he was singled out on the flight and that he was the only black man on the plane

Mr Vardon said he was the only black person on the flight and was accused by a fellow passenger of taking his phone when it went missing.

The passenger had left the phone in the plane's toilet.

He took to Twitter and wrote: 'What a surreal experience. I was wrongly accused of theft on a BA flight from London to Barcelona.

'My friends and I were searched by armed police and there was no apology. I was the only black person on the flight.'

The Apple store worker also said that he and his friend were searched by armed police and not given an apology when nothing was found

Mr Vardon, who works at an Apple store in London, told the Mirror: 'It felt like other passengers singled me out because I was the only black man on the plane. It was mortifying.'

His partner Drew Clauson, 58, described the incident as outrageous before saying that several people could've used the toilet.

He also said that Mr Vardon's easy-going nature meant that the 26-year-old immediately turned out his pockets.

He said: 'Jonathan, being so easy-going, did [turn out his pockets] and we thought that was that.'

Mr Vardon took to Twitter to reveal how he and his friends were searched by police with machine guns in Barcelona after landing

Mr Vardon said he didn't receive an apology for the incident with British Airways promising to look into what happened

But despite being searched on the plane, they were later met by seven police officers when they arrived in Barcelona.

The officers were armed with machine guns and searched the group, though they were released when nothing was found.

Mr Vardon said that despite the terrifying experience, he hasn't received an apology.

A spokesman for British Airways said: 'The allegation of theft was made by one of our customers and at their request we reported it to the police.'

They earlier responded to Mr Vardon on Twitter, saying: 'We're concerned to hear this Jonathan. If you can DM us your Booking reference, full name, email address, postal address and a contact number for Data Protection.

'We can look into this for you.'Peter Kay fans who were left reeling after a charity screening of Car Share sold out in just two minutes will get a second chance to attend the show.

Fans were devastated on learning in December that the funnyman was pulling out of his entire UK tour due to 'unforeseen family circumstances'.

But they were ecstatic on the announcement of a charity Car Share screening last week, with Peter confirming on Twitter that it would feature new episodes of his hit show.

A special screening of new episodes from the hit show will take place at the Blackpool Opera House

However many had to endure further disappointment as a massive rush to get tickets saw them sell out in just two minutes.

And many could ultimately end up paying hugely-inflated prices for theirs as ticket touts plan to cash in on the event's popularity.

One fan tweeted: 'What the hell??? I had the tickets, complete checkout, 9 minutes left on my timer and they'ere gone?!?!?!'

Many had to endure further disappointment as a massive rush to get tickets saw them sell out in just two minutes

In November, Peter Kat tickets were selling for up to ten times their face value on wesbites such as GetMeIn, which is owned by Ticketmaster

Another said: 'Sold in 2 mins. My tickets were reallocated whilst I was entering my card details and now I can't get any.'

A third said: 'How can every ticket be sold out on @TicketmasterUK within 10 seconds in all areas and all prices for Peter Kay Car Share Blackpool.'

Due to a legal loophole, countless numbers of tickets could be re-sold to desperate fans by shameless touts.

The 44-year-old was forced to axe his first live tour in eight years in December, due to 'unforeseen family circumstances'

They will prey [on increased demand to pocket from the event, whic is designed to raise funds for The Lily Foundation, which fights mitochondrial disease.

In November, Peter Kat tickets were selling for up to ten times their face value on wesbites such as GetMeIn, which is owned by Ticketmaster, and StubHug, which is owned by Ebay.

However Peter's Twitter account later announced a second screening would be taking place for those who missed out on the first.

Disappointed fans took to Twitter to vent their frustration at tickets for the Blackpool event being sold out in just two minutes

The event at the Blackpool Opera House, will be held a day before on Friday April 6.

In a statement on Ticketmaster's website, Peter said: 'The Lily Foundation is an inspiring charity that helps to improve the lives of children with Mitochondrial Disease.

'Ive had first-hand experience of the Foundations work and Im proud to raise both awareness and much needed funds to help with the inspiring work they provide to children and their families.'Goldman Sachs is investigating shocking claims that a former employee was almost gang raped by six male colleagues at a client dinner as part of a horrifying bet.

The firm confirmed it has offered to meet with the woman, who says she was saved by a waiter during the attempted assault in London in 1994.

Three of the men involved were sacked by the firm for offensive and inappropriate behaviour against the woman in question, but the bank maintain that no allegations of physical sexual assault were made at the time.

A former female employee of Goldman Sachs claims that six male colleagues tried to gang rape her in 1994

The stunning revelations were made in a series of blog and Twitter posts where the woman admitted she had decided to come forward following the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

Goldman Sachs launched an investigation at the time and three unnamed foreign exchange traders were sacked for making inappropriate comments against the woman.

However, that investigation did not relate to allegations of physical assault.

A Goldman Sachs spokesman confirmed the firm has offered to meet with the woman since she made these new claims but she has refused.

Under the name 'Stand Up To Goldman Sachs', the alleged victim took to Twitter and a personal blog to share her ordeal.

She wrote: 'My mission is very simple. 25 years ago I was a young associate at Goldman Sachs. I was the 0.01% of females trading currency. I was earning 0.025% of my male colleagues salary. No, that is not a typo.

'My male colleagues would humiliate me daily, for example I was bitten and my name was either slut, mammary or dusty bin. It culminated in a bet to hate f*** gang rape me in a private dining room.

Three of the men were sacked for offensive and appropriate behaviour but the firm maintain that no complaints of physical assault was made by the woman

'I only managed to escape after a waiter interrupted the incident. Three of my abusers resigned and they all went on to prosper at other banks and at least one became a Managing Director.

'I was slut shamed, lost my job and my mental health. My career and health never recovered. I was described in the press as an ambitious young secretary offering blowjobs for cash and career advancement.

'I was denied a right to reply for 25 years. I was paid 3,000 for my silence. I signed the settlement when I was suffering clinical depression and hadn't received a salary for eight months.'

She repeated the allegations in an email to Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs.

She posted them on her website Stand Up To Goldman Sachs and admitted that she had signed a non-disclosure agreement after making the initial allegations in 1994.

But in a separate post, she revealed she had PTSD and said she couldn't keep quiet any longer.

She wrote: 'When the New York Times reported the Weinstein rape allegations in late 2017 I had a chronic PTSD episode and I knew I couldn't stay silent any longer. I finally spoke to a therapist and she told me it wasn't my fault and she believed my history. I have now issued a claim against Goldman Sachs International.'

The woman also praised a male Citybank employee who she said rescued her from the alleged attempted gang rape.

In an email addressed to Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein (pictured), the woman outlined the allegations and said she had never recovered from the incident

She also expressed her thanks to a black cab driver who drove her home without charge after the incident.

She tweeted: 'One of [the Citybank] men helped me find the door without him and the waiter, I wouldn't have made it. I weighed 126 lbs against six men intent on sex and a room of nine men. He was the silent hero who helped me.'

Goldman Sachs told the Mail Online that it offered to meet with the individual since she made these new claims and she has refused.

A statement read: 'We took the concerns raised by this individual very seriously when she first brought them to our attention in 1994.

'As was reported extensively by the media at the time, and as the witnesses interviewed corroborated, she was the subject of offensive and inappropriate behaviour.

'We viewed this behaviour as completely unacceptable then and we still hold that view. Three of the men involved immediately lost their jobs and two others were disciplined.

'Given the seriousness of the allegations and the amount of time since the events took place, we undertook a thorough investigation of our records, which confirmed that neither she nor her lawyer made any allegation of physical sexual assault at the time.'Russia has told Britain to cut more than 50 embassy staff in Moscow as the diplomatic spat following the Salisbury poisoning deepens.

The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats in the wake of the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia with the nerve agent Novichok.

Russia retaliated in kind and ejected 23 British diplomats as the two nation's relationship becomes increasingly strained.

Russia has told Britain to cut more than 50 embassy staff in Moscow as the diplomatic spat following the Salisbury poisoning deepens (pictured: The British Embassy building, foreground, with the Russian Foreign Ministry building, background right, in Moscow, Russia)

London says Moscow was responsible for the attack, the first known use of a military-grade nerve agent on European soil since World War Two.

Russia has flatly denied that and has cast the allegations as part of an elaborate Western plot to sabotage East-West relations and isolate Moscow.

The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned British Ambassador Laurie Bristow on Friday and told him London had one month to cut its diplomatic contingent in Russia to the same size as the Russian mission in Britain.

It also expelled 59 diplomats from 23 other countries for backing Britain.

A spokeswoman for the British Foreign Office called the Russian move regrettable.

She did not say how many diplomatic staff in Russia would be affected. The British Embassy in Moscow says it does not make staff numbers public.

British ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, leaves after a meeting at the Russian foreign ministry building in Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 30, 2018. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday it has ordered Britain to reduce the number of its diplomats in Moscow

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Reuters the demand meant Britain would have to cut 'a little over 50' more of its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia on top of the 23 diplomats who have already gone home.

'We asked for parity. The Brits have 50 diplomats more than the Russians,' Zakharova said on Saturday.

When asked if that meant London would now have to cut exactly 50 diplomatic and technical staff, she said: 'A little over 50.'

Britain must now decide how it wants to make the cuts and may be forced to lay off some Russian support staff as well as sending home fully-fledged diplomats to satisfy Moscow's demand.

Russia ordered the closure of another British consulate, in St Petersburg, earlier this month in its first retaliatory step

Britain has an embassy and an ambassador's residence in Moscow and a consulate in the city of Yekaterinburg.

Russia ordered the closure of another British consulate, in St Petersburg, earlier this month in its first retaliatory step.

The Russian measure is similar to one Moscow used against the United States last summer to retaliate against new U.S. sanctions when it ordered Washington to slash its diplomatic staff in Russia by nearly two thirds.

Many local Russian staffers were laid off as a result.

The March 4 poisoning in the southern English city of Salisbury has united much of the West in taking action against what it regards as the hostile policies of President Vladimir Putin.

This includes the United States under President Donald Trump, who Putin had hoped would improve ties.The British woman who was missing for five days in dense jungle after leaving a hippy commune in Brazil claims she had prepared for a month to lose herself in the forest - and that she plans to do it all over again.

In her first interview since she was found, Katherine Brewster told MailOnline she had 'learned how to be nourished by the sun not food' and claimed that, prior to starting her isolation in the forest, she had not eaten anything for 30 days.

The 27-year-old said that during her five days and nights in thick forest she had allowed herself to be bitten and stung by insects like mosquitos and wasps 'to learn how to feel pain but not suffer'

This is one of the Ray Mears-inspired makeshift tents that Katherine Brewster made for shelter

And she claimed that she 'talked with the plants' to find out which ones she could eat or use to relieve her wounds.

MailOnline was with members of the Dom Jose, a tiny community in the south Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, as they searched for Miss Brewster.

They found her in a remote part of Brazil searching and she was spotted in thick vegetation and pulled to safety yesterday afternoon.

Miss Brewster, from Seaford, East Sussex, sparked an international rescue effort after vanishing without a trace when she apparently went off to meditate in woodland early on Sunday morning.

Police in Brazil launched a missing persons investigation, reportedly checking CCTV cameras in nearby towns and alerting airports and borders in case she had been abducted.

Pictured is Miss Brewster last night having a dinner with the family that had taken her in in the village of Dom Jose

A search team of locals followed clues such as footprints and broken branches until they finally tracked her down deep in a rainforest several miles away from the remote village where she had been staying.

Contrary to media reports, Miss Brewster wasn't upset or crying but was 'quiet and very serene, waved over to us and smiled, then sat for an hour chatting with us', according to farmer Edson Medeiros, who was the first to find her.

Weak and covered in scratches and bites, she was carried on her rescuers' backs to a car and driven back to her lodgings in Dom Jose, a village of 28 families.

On her arrival, villagers ran outside to embrace her. Later, she cried as she phoned her sister Lizzie, who had been desperately trying to make contact from back home in the UK.

Speaking to MailOnline, the traveller with a 'philosophy of living in contact with nature' claimed that she had lost herself in the forest on purpose 'to connect with the morphogenetic field'.

In a bizarre interview, she claimed to have gotten lost in the forest on purpose 'to connect with the morphogenetic field'

She revealed that she had survived on a diet of lime, bergamot and jasmine root.

She said: 'I'd researched a lot about the morphogenetic field, how consciousness within form connects everything. We have access to the whole universe, all we need to do is to detach ourselves from the material. We are thus the intrinsic consciousness of the universe.

'I had a divine calling to do this and connect with the morphogenetic field. I needed to do it. For the last three months I've been receiving divine messages telling me I would go into the wilderness. Then on Sunday I was told it was time to go.

A photo of Katherine Brewster taken at a police station after she was found and rescued

'I've been preparing for this experience for a month. I learned how to nourished by the sun and not by food, and for 30 days I had managed to live without eating anything.'

The couple Miss Brewster had been staying with in the Dom Jose village, near Alpestre, southern Brazil, contacted police on Tuesday after she failed to return home, believing she had got lost in the forest where she had gone to meditate.

But as police launched an investigation and family and friends at home desperately worried for her safety, she was actually pushing further into the dense forest, allowing herself to be bitten and injured by animals and her environment.

Miss Brewster, who said she was a fan of survival expert Ray Mears as a child, revealed how she built makeshift shacks with leaves and branches under which she would sleep at night.

Reports of attacks by jaguars and giant anacondas are common in the area, but she said: 'I didn't see any wild animals. But there were a lot of insects like mosquitos, wasps and ants, and they bit and stung me all over.

'But I didn't stop them from biting me. I let myself be bitten, so I could feel the pain and learn how to not suffer.'

Miss Brewster pictured before her journey said that she had not eaten for 30 days beforehand and was willing to do it again

She claimed that she became one with nature during the experience and 'the divine guided me to follow'.

She said: 'There was one day when I thought about going back to the first little house I built, but the divine guided me to carry on and follow.

'I didn't know where I was going, but I was connected to the morphogenetic field and automatically knew where to go and what to do. I didn't need to think, my body already knew where I was supposed to go, which plant to pick up, what to eat.

She told the Mail Online that the experience had allowed her to become one with nature during and 'the divine guided me to follow'

'I felt very wild. It was like I was an animal. Animals don't think, but they know what they can eat and what they can't. It was the same with me, like an instinct.

'The plants were taking to me, telling me which ones I could eat, which ones I could make tea with, or to heal a wound with. The messages would come in words. It was more like having a conversation with the plants.

'I ate very little, but I felt more energy than ever.'

Miss Brewster said she had only taken one bottle of water with her 'because at first, the divine messages told me it would only be one day'.

'I thought of leaving a letter for Neli and Luiz (the couple she was staying with) and writing on the internet to my parents back in England, but I decided not to. It would only be one day and it was very early.

Katherine Brewster, 27, had been staying in the village of Dom Jose

'But when I got there the messages told me it would be two and then three weeks. I was fine about it, I could not imagine dying.

'I was more afraid of the higher power than of the forest.

'I was sitting in the forest meditating when they found me. I was happy to see them but I wasn't thinking of returning, I wasn't scared and I wasn't relieved I had been found. And I would definitely do it again.'

The moment she arrived back at the village she had been staying at before her disappearance was captured on video.

Miss Brewster didn't tell anyone where she was and intended to spend three weeks meditating alone to get closer to nature.

The video shows the moment Miss Brewster returns after being rescued and greets Neli da Terra, the woman she has been staying with .

The two men who get out of the car with her are Clairton da Silva and Edson Medeiros who found her following a five hour search.

Civil police chief, Lourenco Guerra, said: 'Katherine is very sorry to have caused so many problems. She wrongly believed people wouldn't be too worried about her disappearance.

'Her plan was to spend three weeks getting in touch with nature. The problem was she didn't warn anyone, not even her friends and family.

Ms Brewster pictured with the woman she has been staying with, Neli da Terra, after her rescue from the Brazilian rainforest

'Katherine told us she decided to test her ability to survive in the wild after receiving a 'divine sign'. She said she planned to live 'light' and tried to go without eating and drinking for a few days but couldn't keep it up.'

Chief Guerra also said Miss Brewster lived off roots and fruits, while quenching her thirst from a waterfall which runs adjacent to the Uruguay River near the Foz Chapeco dam.

She hadn't made a fire or cooked any food because she is a vegetarian.

Miss Brewster has been in Brazil for two years. Before arriving in Alpestre city, she lived in Florianopolis, in alternative communities.

Clairton da Silva, who helped to rescue Miss Brewster, said the British tourist was 'crying and thanking us and saying that she had got lost and couldn't find her way back home'

In a Facebook post, Ms da Terra, who hosted Miss Brewster, said: 'Katherine was a guest for a period of 32 days, in search of a contact with earth and nature, always with a quiet behaviour and relationship and without causing any damage to the community and our family'.

Mr da Silva, 33, who is the coordinator of UniPermacultura, a self-sufficient ecological community near where Ms Brewster was staying, said: 'We suddenly spotted her and (we were) thankful she was alive. She started crying, thanking us and was apologetic, saying that she had got lost and couldn't find her way back home.

'The first thing we said to her was 'How are you, are you fine? Let's take you home'.

'If she had stayed much longer on her own she could have died because the terrain is inhospitable and dangerous,' he added.

Mr da Silva said that the area where the Brit was found was difficult to access. He said he drew on his skills as an ex-army officer to track her whereabouts. His colleague Mr Medeiros was born in the area and knows the region extremely well.

'We tracked (Katherine's) movements by following discarded fruit seeds, fruit skins and peels. We knew that this was the result of a human being trying to eat and keep themselves alive,' said Mr da Silva.

Katherine Brewster's rescuers Clairton da Silva (left) and Edson Medeiros (right)

Venturing deep inside the forest is considered ill-advised even for locals as the place is teaming with venomous spiders, deadly insects and some of the world's most dangerous snakes.

Her mother, Dr Diane Brewster, told the BBC her daughter had called home after returning from 'time alone' in a rural part of Rio Grande do Sul.

Ms Brewster was said to have been 'amazed' upon learning of the search for her.

She arrived arrived in the country over a month ago with the specific intention of staying at an eco-village (pictured) in the area

Chief Guerra revealed the tourist hadn't taken her personal documents but had hidden her passport and credit card on the premises where she was staying before leaving to meditate.

He added investigators are trying to establish how the Brit arrived in the country because there is no record of her arriving at an airport.

Chief Guerra said: 'It appears Ms Brewster could be here illegally. We have discovered she didn't enter Brazil via an international or domestic airport and may have arrived overland.

He confirmed this is a matter which is now being dealt with by federal police.

Well-connected father: Mr Wallas's book has been praised by the Duchess of York (both pictured)

Creative space: Two residents playing music at the remote resort in south Brazil

Her father, Andrew Wallas, 62, is a well-known counsellor and relationship adviser who calls himself 'The Modern Day Wizard' and counts Sarah Ferguson and Davina McCall as fans.

The Duchess of York was recently pictured with Mr Wallas alongside his latest book, Business Alchemy, which she described as 'great'.

Miss Brewster's mother, Dr Diane Brewster, 62, is an academic specialising in pedagogy who lives in the coastal town of Seaford, East Sussex.

Known to family and friends as Kat, Miss Brewster had also visited Bolivia, Morocco and India but had said she was planning to come back to the UK next year.Tributes have flown in for slain Rebels bikie known as 'Ruthless' and the 'Prince of Penrith' on the second anniversary of his shooting death.

Micky Davey, 30, was gunned down in his own driveway in Kingswood, western Sydney in March 2016 after receiving a phone call from a friend.

Davey's friends and family have shared sombre eulogies to mark two years since the Rebels bikie member was fatally shot, paying tribute to their 'fallen soldier'.

Micky Davey, 30, (pictured) was gunned down in his own driveway in Kingswood, western Sydney in March 2016 after receiving a phone call from a friend

Davey's friends and family have shared sombre eulogies to mark two years since the Rebels bikie member (pictured) was fatally shot, paying tribute to their 'fallen soldier'

'Two years today we lost a true soldier, my best mate, my brother! I love and miss you every day,' one pal shared to Instagram, according to news.com.au.

Friends shared photographs of the heavily-tattooed late bikie wearing Rebels patches and posing at the gym.

One pal even posted a picture of Davey's grave site, where a license plate reading 'RTHLESS' can be seen.

Davey, who was a father to a young son, was gunned down on March 30, 2016 only 100m from where he was living with his ex-girlfriend.

His own Instagram bio appeared served as a chilling premonition of his violent death.

'I came into this world kick'n n scream'n while covered in some1 else's blood n I'm not afraid of leavin the same way,' Davey wrote.

'2 years today we lost a true soldier, my best mate, my brother! I love and miss you every day,' one pal shared to Instagram (Davey pictured)

Davey, (pictured left and right) who was a father to a young son, was gunned down on March 30 2016 only 100m from where he was living with his ex-girlfriend

Rebels bikie Davey (pictured) was fatally shot on his own driveway in March 2016

His Instagram profile said he came into the world covered in blood and wasn't afraid to leave the same way

He was also jailed for manslaughter after the fatal bashing of an Emu Plains teenager in 2002.

Davey was just 17 years old when he pleaded guilty over the death of the 19-year-old man.

The victim died of brain damage after he was hit and kicked in the head while lying helpless by Davey and three other associates.

Davey, who was known in the Rebels circles as 'Ruthless MD' was convicted in 2005 and released in October 2006.

No one has ever been charged in relation to Davey's death and NSW Police are still investigating the incident.

Friends shared photographs of the heavily-tattooed late bikie (pictured) wearing Rebels patches and posing at the gymHeadteachers have told universities to stop dishing out unconditional offers 'like candy' because they fear it encourages teenagers to stop working for their A-levels.

One headteacher even claimed that students with conditional offers drop 'at least' a grade from their predicted results.

The number of unconditional offers handed out has risen dramatically in recent years, with 51,615 receiving one in 2015/16, compared to just 2,985 two years before.

Phil Stock, deputy headteacher of Greenshaw High School in Sutton, southeast London, told the Times: 'If they get their offer in the autumn they still have five or six months of A levels to go. They can miss whole chunks of the course if they ease off. That is knowledge that they really need for their degree.'

He added that universities needed to stop handing out the offers like they were candy because the pressure of hitting their grade offer helps students go the extra mile.

Headteachers have told universities to stop dishing out unconditional offers 'like candy' because they fear it encourages teenagers to stop working for their A-levels (file photo)

Richard Endacott, head of sixth form at the Langley Academy in Berkshire, joined Mr Stock in his criticism of the offers but said they were damaging to students' mental health.

He said: 'Being told you dont need A levels in order to go to university, after years of being told you do, is too much pressure to place on a young mind. They cannot really cope with that idea.'

Mr Endacott added: 'Absolutely it affects performance. I would say students with unconditional offers drop at least a grade.'

A study from Ucas showed that in 2015 pupils with unconditional offers were 23 per cent more likely to miss their predicted result by two or more grades.

Jane Lunnon, head of Wimbledon High, even said that unconditional offers were like 'bribery'.A Briton has been arrested in Washington after staying at the city's finest hotels and dining in its most expensive restaurants before skipping out without paying the bill.

Nick Cooper, 21, was arrested after running amok for a month in some of the US capital's grandest institutions, reports The Times.

He reportedly ordered a $1,200 (850) glass of 34-year-old Teeling Irish single malt whiskey - which is normally kept under combination lock in a vault, according to police documents.

Nick Cooper, 21 (pictured), is thought to originally be from Doncaster

Cooper has been arrested a total of seven times in the last month, first by the Secret Service near the White House on March 9 for refusing to move from the middle of a busy street while drunk.

After trying to escape he was arrested for alleged public intoxication and failing to obey police. He was later released.

Cooper has reportedly ran amok across Washington for the last month

On March 13 he visited the 200-year-old Willard Intercontinental hotel and allegedly ran up a bar tab of $68.20 (50) using a fake name.

Later that week he was arrested for damaging a glass door at the Embassy Row Hotel and for trying to resist officers.

He was subsequently treated in hospital.

Cooper was arrested again for theft and resisting arrest after dining at the Ritz-Carlton, where he reportedly ordered grilled octopus and rack of lamb, as well as a $156 (110) bottle of cabernet sauvignon and a $100 (70) bottle of Moet Imperial.

He once again tried to sign using a false name.

The young man was also twice picked up by police unconscious or semiconscious in hotel rooms.

Photos of Cooper have reportedly begun to circulate around some of Washington's high-end bars - warning bartenders not to serve him.

He was reportedly heard bragging about a 850 shot of whiskey he was drinking at the bar of the Hay-Adams hotel (pictured)

Fellow drinkers who claim to have met the young man recall him speaking of his home in well-to-do Kensington, London - when in fact he is from Birkenhead in Merseyside.

According to the Washington Post, a man fitting Cooper's description was seen in the bar of the Hay-Adams hotel, opposite the White House.

He was reportedly bragging about a $1,200 (850) shot of whiskey he was drinking, and a three-week birthday trip he took to Las Vegas in February.

He allegedly visited ran up a 50 bar tab at the Willard Intercontinental hotel (pictured) using a fake name

Michael Bishop, director of the National Churchill Library and Centre at George Washington University, said he saw Cooper in full flow.

'It was amusing watching him drink expensive drink after expensive drink, he said. 'He appeared knowledgeable.'

Court documents allege Mr Cooper, who is said to originally be from Doncaster, begged police on two occasions to shoot him.

Earlier this week he was arrested for contempt of court on suspicion of ignoring a judge's orders to stay away from the White House.

His lawyer pleaded not guilty on his behalf to charges of second degree theft.The president of the NUS raised eyebrows on Wednesday, after delivering a stirring speech that bore a startling resemblance to one from political drama The West Wing.

Amid suggestions of life imitating art, Shakira Martin's speech at the NUS conference in Glasgow, where she was reelected as leader, seemed uncannily similar to one given by President Jed Bartlett in the American fictional series.

The West Wing speech, called College Kids, from episode three of the fourth series, includes a number sentences that Miss Martin appears to have 'borrowed' from.

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NUS president Shakira Martin raised eyebrows on Wednesday, after delivering a stirring speech that bore a startling resemblance to one from political drama The West Wing

In one passage, the student leader said: 'There is evil in the world, there always has been, and we can't do nothing about that.

'But there's violence in our colleges, racism in our universities, there's bullying in our workplaces, and we can do something about that.'

Many students then pointed to The West Wing's Jed Bartlett, played by actor Martin Sheen, who said: 'There's evil in the world, there'll always be, and we can't do anything about that.

Amid suggestions of life imitating art, Shakira Martin's speech at the NUS conference in Glasgow, where she was reelected as leader, seemed uncannily similar to one given by President Jed Bartlett, played by Martin Sheen (pictured), in the American fictional series

'But there's violence in our schools, too much mayhem in our culture, and we can do something about that.'

While perhaps the most damning is her triple repetition of the line 'not nearly enough' delivered in the middle of both speeches that both end with the line 'we can do better, we must do better, and we will do better.'

Despite suggestions she 'borrowed' from the show - a cult favourite among aspiring student politicians - the inspiring single mother-of-two astonishingly claimed to have never watched the series, and instead preferred The Real Housewives of Atlanta

Despite suggestions she 'borrowed' from the show - a cult favourite among aspiring student politicians - the inspiring single mother-of-two astonishingly claimed to have never watched the series, and instead preferred The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

She said on Twitter: 'I have never watched the West wing...I'm more of a housewives of Atlanta type of girl. I got my own mind and I talk what i believe and feel. I use my own words. Im a leader not a follower! I am me and there is only 1 Shakira and I can't be compared to anyone but myself. Bloop!!'

She said on Twitter: 'I have never watched the West wing...I'm more of a housewives of Atlanta type of girl. I got my own mind and I talk what i believe and feel. I use my own words. Im a leader not a follower! I am me and there is only 1 Shakira and I can't be compared to anyone but myself. Bloop!!'

Another called it 'hilarious' and compared it to her degree induction speech where she was warned against plagiarism

Another Twitter user demanded angrily she admit it

'It's word for word. You even did the same pauses and hand movements'

Few were convinced by her denials however, with one person replying on Twitter: 'It's word for word. You even did the same pauses and hand movements.'

Chris Miller said: 'If it looks like plagiarism and quacks like plagiarism then it probably is plagiarism. Not a good look for someone setting an example for students.'

Another called it 'hilarious' and compared it to her degree induction speech where she was warned against plagiarism.

Hilariously, student publication The Tab, ran the speeches through plagiarism software, used widely by academic staff, and found a 36 per cent chance of plagiarism.

While some lines had a 61, 90 and 100 per cent match to The West Wing script.

MailOnline has approached Miss Martin for comment.

How do their speeches compare?

Fictional President Jed Bartlett 'All I know for sure, all I know for certain, is that they weren't born wanting to do this. 'There's evil in the world, there'll always be, and we can't do anything about that. 'But there's violence in our schools, too much mayhem in our culture, and we can do something about that. 'There's not enough character, discipline, and depth in our classrooms; there aren't enough teachers in our classrooms. There isn't nearly enough, not nearly enough, not nearly enough money in our classrooms, and we can do something about that. 'We're not doing nearly enough, not nearly enough to teach our children well, and we can do better, and we must do better, and we will do better, and we will start this moment today!' Advertisement

NUS President Shakira Martin 'But I dont know why this is happening, and I know for sure  and Im not sure, but all I know for certain, they werent born to want to do this. 'There is evil in the world, there always has been, and we cant do nothing about that. 'But theres violence in our colleges, racism in our universities, theres bullying in our workplaces, and we can do something about that. 'Theres not enough books or chairs or spaces or advice in our system; theres not enough teachers in our schools. Theres not enough counsellors in our campuses. Theres not nearly enough, not nearly enough, not nearly enough money in our colleges, and we can do something about that. 'We can do better. We must do better, and we will do better.' Advertisement



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Stephen Hawking's family said their final goodbyes today, as thousands lined the streets of Cambridge for the funeral of the renowned theoretical physicist, who died peacefully at his home earlier this month.

Despite having said he is an atheist, Prof Hawking's family, including ex wife Jane Hawking, son Timothy Hawking and daughter Lucy Hawking, who were pictured leaving the church in tears, felt a traditional Anglican service would give his many friends in the city a chance to pay tribute to him.

The service was held at Great St Mary's Church, a stones throw from Gonville and Caius College, where he was a fellow for 52 years, and saw Eddie Redmayne, who portrayed Prof Hawking in the Hollywood biopic The Theory of Everything, give a reading from the Bible entitled Everything Has Its Time.

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The service is being held at Great St Mary's Church, a stones throw from Gonville and Caius College, where Prof Hawking was a fellow for 52 years. Since his death at home earlier this month, thousands of people have visited this college to sign his book of condolence (actor Eddie Redmayne seated left, seven rows back waiting for the service to begin)

Prof Hawking's family, including ex wife Jane Hawking (near right), son Timothy Hawking (middle, right) and Lucy Hawking (far right) felt a traditional church service would give his many friends in the city a chance to remember and pay tribute to him

Crowds lined the streets to pay their final respects to the much admired scientist and a spontaneous round of applause broke out as six porters from the physicist's former college carried his coffin from the hearse into the church. The bell tolled 76 times for the physicist, one for every year of his life.

Redmayne was among the first to arrive earlier in the day. While Felicity Jones, who starred alongside him in the Theory of Everything followed shortly after. She made her way into the church hand-in-hand with fiance film director Charles Guard.The Birmingham actress, 33, has also starred in Star Wars and studied at Oxford University.

Redmayne gave an emotional reading at Prof Hawking's funeral, with Ecclesiastes 3.1-11 as the chosen text. This was followed by a reading by the Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees.

Eulogies were delivered by Robert Hawking, Prof Hawking's eldest child, and Professor Fay Dowker, a former student of Prof Hawking.

His ashes will be interred next to the grave of Sir Isaac Newton at Westminster Abbey and near Charles Darwin's.

Prof Hawking's ashes with be interred next to the grave of Sir Isaac Newton at Westminster Abbey

Eddie Redmayne was among the first to have arrived in Cambridge for the funeral of renowned theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking, who died at home on March 14, prompting an outpouring of grief around the world

Former Cambridge student Redmayne played Prof Hawking in the Hollywood biopic of his life and the pair became firm friends during the filming

Actor Eddie Redmayne, who gave a reading, seated seven rows back before the service began

Stephen Hawking's children, Lucy, Robert and Tim, said in a statement: 'Our father lived and worked in Cambridge for over 50 years.

'He was an integral and highly recognisable part of the university and the city.

'For this reason, we have decided to hold his funeral in the city that he loved so much and which loved him. Our father's life and work meant many things to many people, both religious and non-religious. So, the service will be both inclusive and traditional, reflecting the breadth and diversity of his life.'

The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, said: 'It is entirely fitting that the remains of Professor Stephen Hawking are to be buried in the Abbey, near those of distinguished fellow scientists.

Sir Isaac Newton was buried in the Abbey in 1727. Charles Darwin was buried beside Isaac Newton in 1882.

Redmayne gave a reading at Prof Hawking's funeral, with Ecclesiastes 3.1-11 as the chosen text

Eddie Redmayne's reading: Ecclesiastes 3.1-11 For everything there is a season (Hawking pictured at home, 1954) Everything Has Its Time For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. The God-Given Task What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Advertisement

Despite having said he is an atheist, Prof Hawking's family, including wife Jane Hawking (left) , son Timothy Hawking (centre) and daughter Lucy Hawking (right) felt a traditional church service would give his many friends in the city a chance to remember and pay tribute to him

Jane Hawking (second right) the first wife of Professor Stephen Hawking and their children, Timothy (left) and Lucy (centre), attend his funeral at University Church of St Mary the Great in Cambridge

Lucy Hawking (left) and Timothy Hawking (right) overcome with emotion following the service

'Other famous scientists are buried or memorialised nearby, the most recent burials being those of atomic physicists Ernest Rutherford in 1937 and Joseph John Thomson in 1940.

'We believe it to be vital that science and religion work together to seek to answer the great questions of the mystery of life and of the universe.'

Prof Hawking died on March 14, at the age of 76, after a lifetime as one of the world's most renowned scientists despite his battle with motor neurone disease, prompting an outpouring of grief from around the world.

Crowds lined the streets to pay their final respects to the much admired scientist and a spontaneous round of applause broke out as six porters from the physicist's former college carried his coffin from the hearse into the church

Prof Stephen Hawking's coffin carried into Church of St Mary the Great watched on by friends, family and admirers

Viv Riches, one of Prof Hawking's former carers broke down in tears as his coffin was carried into the church

Mourners gather outside King's College, Cambridge as the funeral cortege of British physicist Stephen Hawking passes by, on route to Great St Mary's Church

The funeral of Stephen Hawking at Great St. Mary Church in Cambridge today. Thousands turned out to pay their respects

Friend and family of Professor Stephen Hawking attend his funeral at the University Church of St Mary the Great at the centre of Cambridge

Family and friends of Prof Hawking pictured seated during the church service

Felicity Jones, who starred alongside Redmayne has also made her way into the church hand-in-hand with fiance film director Charles Guard. The Theory of Everything actress, 33, has also starred in Star Wars and studied at Oxford University

In The Theory of Everything, Jones played Prof Hawking's wife, Jane Hawking. Charles Guard has previously directed 2009's The Uninvited

Model Lily Cole pictured walking into the service in upbeat floral ensemble

Queen guitarist Brian May pictured outside Great St Mary Church as Lily Cole makes her way indoors

Stars align: Redmayne, Lily Cole, Felicity Jones and Charles Guard pictured leaving the service together

University of Cambridge college porters arrive at Great St Marys Church

Crowds line the street to pay their last respects to the renowned scientist who died peacefully in his home on March 14

Members of the church choir arrive at Great St Marys Church, where the funeral of theoretical physicist Prof Stephen Hawking was held, in Cambridge

Comedian Dara O'Briain, known for his love of science and admiration of Prof Hawking, entering the church. Followed by similarly named but unrelated TV presenter Charlotte Hawkin

Friends, family and alumni enter the Great St. Mary's church for the service chosen by the family, despite Prof Hawking's atheist views, his family felt a traditional church service would allow his admirers and loved ones the chance to say goodbye

The church, which can seat up to 1,200 people, is near to Gonville and Caius College

Prof Hawking's Order of Service letter from inside St Mary the Great church, Cambridge

The church is close to Gonville and Caius College, where Prof Hawking was a fellow for 52 years. Since his death at home earlier this month, thousands of people have visited this college to sign his book of condolence

This image of Prof Hawking experiencing zero gravity during a flight over the Atlantic Ocean is being displayed at the front of the church service

Despite having said he is an atheist, Prof Hawking's family felt a traditional church service would give his many friends in the city a chance to remember and pay tribute to him

Stephen Hawking aged 12 in the garden of his St Albans Home (left). And again at his Oxford graduation (right)Advertisement

Palestinians are preparing for further protests after 16 people were killed in the Gaza's bloodiest day in years.

Protesters are returning to a tent city near the Israel-Palestine border to resume a demonstration planned to last six weeks.

Funerals for those who were killed saw mourners chanted 'revenge' while holding Palestinian flags.

Israel has defended its soldiers who yesterday opened fire on Palestinians who had strayed from the tent city protest.

Palestinian protesters carry the body of Sari Valid Abu Avde through the streets of Gaza City during a funeral procession attended by thousands

Members of the Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian group Hamas, attend the funeral ceremony of Sari Valid Abu Avde

Thousands attended funerals for those who were killed and mourners chanted 'revenge' while holding Pelstinian flags. Pictured: Members of the Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades

Relatives of Palestinian Hamdan Abu Amshah, who was killed along Israel border with Gaza, mourn during his funeral in Beit Hanoun town, in the northern Gaza Strip

Women mourn the death of Hamdan Abu Amshah in Beit Hanoun. Palestinian military chiefs said Israeli soldiers began shooting when troops were bombarded with stones and firebombs

Mourners hold back a relative of Hamdan Aby Amshah. Palestinian officials have accused Israel of disproportionate force, while human rights groups questioned Israel's use of live fire

More than 1,400 protesters were also wounded - 758 of them by live fire. Others were injured by rubber bullets and tear gas inhalation, according to the Gazan health ministry. Pictured: Mourning relatives of Hamdan Aby Amshah

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has declared a day of national mourning and said Israel is fully responsible for the deaths. Pictured: Relatives of Hamdan Aby Amshah at his funeral

Tens of thousands of demonstrators descended on the site as Israeli troops approached the heavily fortified fence and cut off the Gaza strip.

Military chiefs said Israeli soldiers began shooting when troops were bombarded with stones and firebombs.

They also claimed Palestinians tried to damage fencing and infiltrate Israel and that protesters opened fire on Israeli soldiers along the border.

But Palestinian officials have accused Israel of disproportionate force, while human rights groups questioned Israel's use of live fire.

UN chief Antonio Guterres called for an 'independent and transparent investigation.'

More than 1,400 protesters were also wounded - 758 of them by live fire.

Others were injured by rubber bullets and tear gas inhalation, according to the Gazan health ministry.

An injured Palestinian protester is carried away after Israeli soldiers' opened fire on demonstrators during clashes near the Israel-Palestine border

Palestinian protestors wave their national flag and gesture during a demonstration commemorating Land Day yesterday near the border with Israel

An aerial view of people gathering for the 'Great Return March' in Khan Yunis, Gaza yesterday

Smoke rises into the sky as protesters arrive for The Great Return march in Khan Yunis, Gaza

A demonstrator throws a rock with a slingshot in response to Israeli soldiers' intervention in the 'Great March of Return'

The six-day protest, in support of Palestinian refugees, began on Land Day when Palestinians commemorate the killing of six unarmed Arab protesters in Israel in 1976

An Israeli military spokesman said Friday's events were 'not a protest demonstration' but 'organised terrorist activity'. Pictured: Palestinian protesters shout slogans and hold flags during the demonstrations yesterday

Mass protest: A picture taken from the southern Israeli kibbutz of Nahal Oz across the border from the Gaza strip shows Palestinians participating in a tent city protest commemorating Land Day, with Israeli soldiers seen below in the foreground

An Israeli drone dropping tear-gas grenades during clashes after protests along the border between Israel and Gaza Strip, in the eastern Beit Hanun town, in the northern Gaza Strip

Clashes: An injured Palestinian youth is carried by other protesters as they flee during clashes with Israeli forces near the border with Israel east of Jabalia in the Gaza strip

Anti-Trump: Palestinian protesters burn crossed-out posters depicting US President Donald Trump

Israel has not reported any casualties among its troops.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has declared a day of national mourning and said Israel is fully responsible for the deaths.

He said in a speech: 'The large number of martyrs and people wounded in peaceful popular demonstrations shows that the international community must intervene to provide protection to our Palestinian people.'

An Israeli military spokesman said Friday's events were 'not a protest demonstration' but 'organised terrorist activity'.

Casualties: An injured man is carried through the crowd on a stretcher during a protest to mark Land Day - the killing of six Arab Israelis during 1976 demonstrations against Israeli confiscations of Arab land

Bigly angry: The protest will last for six weeks, until the opening of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem, another issue being protested in the camp

Protests: Hundreds of people are set to camp near the border between the Gaza strip and Israel in the run-up to the opening of the new US embassy

The spokesman accused Hamas - the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip and which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008 - of being behind the protests, and threatened wider military action if they persist.

'If it continues, we shall have no choice but to respond inside the Gaza Strip against terrorist targets which we understand to be behind these events,' Brigadier General Ronen Manelis told journalists.

The six-day protest, in support of Palestinian refugees, began on Land Day when Palestinians commemorate the killing of six unarmed Arab protesters in Israel in 1976.

A Palestinian protester hurls stones toward Israeli soldiers during a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border with Israel, in eastern Gaza City

Modern protest: A Palestinian youth takes a selfie while an older man chants slogans as he holds a Palestinian flag during protests east of Jabalia in the Gaza strip

A picture taken from the southern Israeli kibbutz of Nahal Oz across the border from the Gaza strip shows some of the participants in the tent city protest commemorating Land Day

Injured: A young Palestinian man lies on a stretcher following clashes between demonstrators and Israeli forces

Protests are set to continue until the US opens a new embassy in Jerusalem in mid-May.

But the move has spared anger among Palestinians who claim the city's annexed easter sector as the capital of their future state.

May 14 will also mark 70 years since the creation of Israel, while Palestinians will commemorate what they call the Nakba, or 'catastrophe,' the following day.

Nakba commemorates the more than 700,000 Palestinians who either fled or were expelled from their homes in the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948.North Korea is preparing for another nuclear test by excavating an underground tunnel, Japan has warned.

The country's Foreign Minister, Taro Kono, said North Korea 'is doing everything possible to prepare for the next nuclear test'.

He added: 'It is currently extracting earth from an underground tunnel where the previous test was carried out.'

Mr Kono had previously alleged the secretive state 'does not reveal its intentions to the outside world in terms of denuclearisation'.

North Korean despot Kimg Jong-Un is said to be preparing for another nuclear test after Japan claimed the secretive nation is excavating an underground tunnel

Mr Kono had previously alleged the secretive state 'does not reveal its intentions to the outside world in terms of denuclearisation'. Pictured: A missile launch broadcast on North Korean state television last year

It comes after the North Korean leader said he would scrap his country's nuclear weapons if military threats from the US were stopped

It comes only days after the secretive state's despot Kim Jong-Un promised to scrap his nuclear weapons if US military threats against North Korea were stopped.

Kim last year declared his country was a fully fledged nuclear power after launching a new missile that he claims can strike anywhere in the world.

Nuclear weapons are regularly tested underground to ensure radioactive material can not reach the surface and contaminate the environment.

It also guarantees some secrecy from surveillance satellites monitoring North Korea's activities.

One tunnel at a North Korean nuclear site was said to have collapsed last year, killing up to 200 people at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site

But the release of radiation from an underground nuclear explosion could give away clues to the technical composition and size of the detonated weapon.

Test sites are usually chosen in places far away from population centres and are carefully surveyed to ensure suitability.

The weapon is placed into a hole or tunnel drilled to between 650 and 2,600ft below the surface.

One tunnel at a North Korean nuclear site was said to have collapsed last year, killing up to 200 people at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.

The disaster is believed to have been caused by a sixth nuclear test which weakened a mountain.

The test triggered landslides in the detonation area and beyond, according to satellite pictures taken the day after.

Pictures of the site on September 7 - days after the nuclear bomb test - show white vehicles near the North Portal under a net canopy

Satellite images show how a new structure has been built behind the guard barracks and several personnel or objects present in the courtyard

The images published by the 38 North website showed changes in the surface at Punggye-ri where the ground had been lifted into the air by the tremors. Small landslides followed the course of stream beds.

The blast caused a 6.3-magnitude earthquake, according to the US Geological Survey, followed a few minutes later by another with a magnitude of 4.1.

Japan assessed the yield from the test of what the North said was a hydrogen bomb at 120 kilotons, eight times the size of Hiroshima in 1945.The out-of-control Chinese space station that is set to crash into earth over the Easter weekend will put on a 'splendid show' like a meteor shower, according to experts.

Tiangong-1, an eight-tonne space lab the size of a school bus, is due to rip across the sky as it makes a fiery entry into the earths atmosphere between Sunday and Monday.

International space authorities say it is unlikely to cause any damage and it should have already disintegrated by the time it nears earth.

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Tiangong-1, an eight-tonne space lab the size of a bus, is due to rip across the sky as it makes a fiery entry into the earths atmosphere between Sunday and Monday. It is pictured in an undated radar image

The station was due to appear as early as midday Saturday but has slowed down due to changes in the weather conditions in space, according to the European Space Agency.

The agency said calmer space weather was now expected as a high-speed stream of solar particles did not cause an increase in the density of the upper atmosphere, as previously expected.

Such an increase in density would have pulled the spacecraft down sooner, it said.

The re-entry window remains 'highly variable', the ESA cautioned. There is similar uncertainty about where debris from the lab could land.

Such falling spacecraft do 'not crash into the Earth fiercely like in sci-fi movies, but turn into a splendid (meteor shower) and move across the beautiful starry sky as they race towards the Earth', it said.

Tiangong-1 - or 'Heavenly Palace' - was placed in orbit in September 2011 and had been slated for a controlled re-entry, but it ceased functioning in March 2016 and space enthusiasts have been bracing for its fiery return since.

This is an artist's impression of the Tiangong 1 space station bursting into a series of fireballs at it re-enters the earth's atmosphere

The ESA said the lab will make an 'uncontrolled re-entry' as ground teams are no longer able to fire its engines or thrusters for orbital adjustments.

A Chinese spaceflight engineer, however, denied earlier this year that it was out of control.

China will step up efforts to coordinate with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs as the re-entry nears, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters on Friday.

Beijing sees its multi-billion-dollar space programme as a symbol of the country's rise. It plans to send a manned mission to the moon in the future.

The Tiangong-1 space lab (pictured in an undated image taken before ground crews lost control of it) is expected to make a fiery plunge back to Earth by Monday

China sent another lab, Tiangong-2, into orbit in September 2016 as a stepping stone to its goal of having a crewed space station by 2022.

During the re-entry, atmospheric drag will rip away solar arrays, antennas and other external components at an altitude of around 60 miles, according to the Chinese space office.

The intensifying heat and friction will cause the main structure to burn or blow up, and it should disintegrate at an altitude of around 50 miles, it said.

Most fragments will dissipate in the air and a small amount of debris will fall relatively slowly before landing across hundreds of square miles, most likely in the ocean, which covers more than 70 per cent of the Earth's surface.

This graphic shows a timeline between the launch of Tiangong-1 on September 29, 2011 and its re-entry into earth at some point over the next few days

Experts have downplayed any concerns about the Tiangong-1 causing any damage when it hurtles back to Earth, with the ESA noting that nearly 6,000 uncontrolled re-entries of large objects have occurred over the past 60 years without harming anyone.

Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, estimates that Tiangong-1 is the 50th most massive uncontrolled re-entry of an object since 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 - the world's first artificial satellite.

At an altitude of 37 to 43 miles, debris will begin to turn into 'a series of fireballs', which is when people on the ground will 'see a spectacular show', he said.A policeman who sent sexual messages to a person he thought was a 13-year-old girl was found guilty of gross misconduct.

Thames Valley Police Constable Andrew Fairhurst was snared by a covert detective posing as a schoolgirl who he spoke to about kissing techniques and being naked in bed with her.

Fairhurst quit the force on February 9 after the revelations about his behaviour came out, but a force misconduct meeting on Wednesday found he had been in breach of Standards of Professional Behaviour in respect of Discreditable Conduct.

The panel ruled that his offences amounted to gross misconduct and Fairhurst would have been sacked without notice had he not previously resigned.

The former traffic police officer was instead placed on the College of Policing's barred list.

Thames Valley Police Constable Andrew Fairhurst was snared by a covert detective posing as a schoolgirl who he spoke to about kissing techniques and being naked in bed with her (pictured: Thames Valley Police HQ)

A Special Case misconduct hearing, chaired by the Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Francis Habgood at Thames Valley Police Headquarters, revealed that Fairhurst engaged in inappropriate sexualised conversations with a person he believed was a teenage girl.

Mr Habgood said that police officers were there to serve the community and vulnerable people and that Fairhurst breached professional behaviour expected of him.

Deputy Chief Constable, John Campbell, said: 'Former PC Fairhurst's conduct fell far below the high standards expected of a police officer.

'For the public to have confidence in the police it is vital officers uphold the professional standards expected of them whether on or off duty.'

The officer had previously been based at Taplow Roads Policing centre in Buckinghamshire and was originally arrested in January this year.A California homeowner is determined to make sure that the next person who owns her property isn't a Donald Trump supporter.

Having been in the woman's family for decades, she wanted to make sure that the next owner of her Sacramento abode had a particular political alignment.

The anonymous homeowner told KOVR-TV: 'I told her [the realtor] that I didn't want her to sell it to a Trump supporter.'

She explained: 'When you're talking about principals, morals, and ethics, it's very, very, deep.'

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A woman is refusing to sell her Sacramento, California, home to Trump supporters

'When you're talking about principals, morals, and ethics, it's very, very, deep,'the woman explained

The request for 'no Trump supporter' was a first for realtor Elizabeth Weintraub.

Weintraub said: 'We can ask somebody how they voted, but they don't have to tell us.'

The request was a first for realtor Elizabeth Weintraub, pictured

Under the Fair Housing Act, race, religion, color, disability, national origin, sex and familial status are all protected classes.

Political party affiliation is not.

However questions surround the legality of such a stimulation.

'That's an unlawful contractual term that infringes the freedom of association and first amendment rights,' attorney Allen Sawyer asserts.

'People have a right to believe what they want to believe and they shouldn't be restricted from purchasing property based on that,' Sawyer continued.

And appraiser Ryan Lundquist felt that the decision to deny potential buyers based off party affiliation could limit potential buyers.

He said: '39 percent of voters voted for Donald Trump in the Sacramento region. That's an absolute fact.'One fisherman is dead and two others are in hospital after their boat capsized in Western Australia on Saturday.

The 78-year-old man died off the coast of the small town, Leeman, 250 kilometres north of Perth.

A passer-by noticed the upturned boat and put out a distress call to Leeman Police.

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The 78-year-old man died off the coast of the small town, Leeman, 250 kilometres north of Perth

The Sea Search and Rescue Group rescued two of the three men clinging to their capsized boat at 1pm according to Seven News.

It has been thought the men spent several hours at sea before they were plucked from the water.

Both men raised the alarm that a 78-year-old was still at sea and prompted large-scale marine search.

The Sea Search and Rescue Group rescued two of the three men from their capsized boat at 1pm on Saturday (stock image)

An Australian Maritime jet was deployed from Perth to help search for the fisherman as well as several vessels.

The man from Rockingham was found in the water sometime afterwards and was bought to shore when he was confirmed dead.

The two men, one aged 68, and the other, 63, are being treated for hypothermia.Paul 'Fatty' Vautin may be back to host the struggling NRL Footy Show while Erin Molan takes time off to give birth to her first child.

Channel Nine producers are said to want Vautin back in June, but fear he might turn down an offer after he was sacked while on holiday with his family in the U.S. last year.

'It would take some ego massaging,' a network insider told The Daily Telegraph.

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Erin Molan (pictured) will be taking time off in June when she gives birth to her first child

Paul 'Fatty' Vautin (pictured) may be back to host The Footy Show while Molan is on maternity leave

Erin Molan (left) and Paul 'Fatty' Vautin (right) pictured on The Footy Show

Pictured Erin Molan, Beau Ryan, Paul Vautin and Darryl Brohman on The Footy Show

Molan revealed her baby is due around the first State of Origin game in June.

She is unsure on how long she will be on maternity leave, saying it all depends on how she and the baby are doing.

'I've been thinking four to six weeks but it just depends how bubba is and how I am,' she told the paper.

'I have no idea what to expect. Whether the baby will settle, and feed and sleep. All that stuff.'

Vautin was host of the longstanding program for 23 years before he was dumped last October.

'In the end nothing lasts forever,' Vautin wrote to WSFM's Brendan Jones at the time.

'I had a great run, especially for a short, chubby, red-head who played for both Manly and Queensland.

'That's not a career, that's a miracle.'

Vautin was host of The Footy Show for 23 years before he was dumped in November last year and it was announced that Molan would be the new host

Since Molan replaced Vautin, The Footy Show, which has been been running since 1994, has been averaging just 82,000 viewers in early March

The show's revamp has struggled to win the support of viewers since Molan took over

Since Molan replaced Vautin, The Footy Show has seen a steady decline in TV ratings.

The show's revamp has struggled to win the support of viewers, with many asking to bring Vautin back.

The new Footy Show hosts include Molan, Andrew Johns, and Ryan Girdler, with Beau Ryan and Darryl Brohman making appearances.Convicted murderer and former boss of the violent Brothers 4 Life motorcycle gang conspired with an inmate to resurrect the outlaw group from behind prison walls, police allege.

Notorious killer Bassam Hamzy is serving time at Goulburn Supermax for murder, conspiracy to murder and commercial drug supply after being jailed at age 18 in 1998.

It is believed Hamzy and companion Damien Featherstone - who was released from the NSW prison in December - recruited and radicalised other inmates to form the Illawarra chapter for the B4L gang, The Sunday Telegraph reports.

Notorious killer Bassam Hamzy (pictured) is serving time at Goulburn Supermax for for murder, conspiracy to murder and commercial drug supply after being jailed in 1998

It is believed Hamzy and companion Damien Featherstone (far left) - who was released from the NSW prison in December - recruited and radicalised other inmates to form the Illawarra chapter for the B4L gang

Detectives allegedly uncovered a slow-moving resurrection spearheaded by Hamzy from his jail cell after a group of six to eight men were found allegedly moving guns, plotting a public shooting and running a drug operation in Illawarra.

The NSW Police Criminal Groups Squad first heard rumours of the B4L uprising after speculation of a violent rivalry blossoming between B4L and fellow outlaw group the Finks.

Gang members recruited behind bars were also converted to Islam, police allege, including Andrew Coe - who was arrested for conspiracy.

B4L members Richard Dutton, 29, and Gregory Parker, 25, were also charged with participating in a criminal group.

Featherstone allegedly assumed a commanding role for the Illawarra chapter with the encouragement of Hamzy.

He is believed to have developed an addiction to methamphetamine, making his leadership style particularly violent and unpredictable.

Featherstone (pictured left and right) allegedly assumed a commanding role for the Illawarra chapter with the encouragement of Hamzy

Featherstone (pictured right with partner) is believed to have developed an addiction to methamphetamine, making his leadership style particularly violent and unpredictable

The NSW Police Criminal Groups Squad first heard rumours of the B4L uprising after speculation of a violent rivalry blossoming between B4L and fellow outlaw group the Finks (B4L members pictured)

The 29-year-old was arrested again in ACT last month after police raided his North Wollongong unit on and allegedly found a rifle and shotgun, hidden inside a speaker.

According to police, the B4L's Illawarra chapter had one main assignment: to seek revenge against the Finks Illawarra president Troy Albert Fornaciari.

Featherstone believed Fornaciari, 34, sent a hitman to kill him disguised as a pizza driver, police facts state.

Fornaciari himself is accused of a string of offences including possessing an unauthorised pistol, intimidating police, knowingly directing the activities of criminal group, recruiting another to assist in carrying out criminal activity and supplying a prohibited drug.

Police are said to be dumbfounded by Hamzy's mastermind influence while still behind bars.

Hamzy was classified as an 'extreme high-risk inmate' in 2002 and was supposed to have little to no contact with fellow prisoners.

However, even with the imposed restrictions, Hamzy was able to radicalise other inmates including Featherstone and recruit a loyal team of followers.

According to police, the B4L's Illawarra chapter had one main assignment: to seek revenge against the Finks Illawarra chapter president Troy Albert Fornaciari (pictured)

Featherstone believed Fornaciari, 34, (pictured) sent a hitman to kill him disguised as a pizza driver, police facts state.

The 38-year-old Auburn bikie boss was jailed after shooting dead Kris Toumazis outside a nightclub on Oxford St in Paddington, Sydney in 1998.

Hamzy won't be eligible for parole until 2035.

It comes as another B4L Illawarra member was charged with numerous offences as part of the ongoing police investigation.

In October 2017, detectives from the Criminal Groups Squad, with assistance from Wollongong and Lake Illawarra Police Districts, established Strike Force Rednap to investigate a number of public acts of violence, including public place shootings, in Illawarra.

Their inquiries revealed the acts were linked to a dispute between the Finks outlaw motorcycle gang and other groups, including B4L.

It comes a another B4L Illawarra member was charged with numerous offences as part of the ongoing police investigation (B4L members pictured)

Strike force investigators arrested a 27-year-old man at Newcastle Police Station on March 26.

The man, who is a self-proclaimed member of the B4L, was charged with conspiracy to discharge firearm intend cause grievous bodily harm, conspiracy to fire firearm in or near public place, two counts of take part supply prohibited drug, and knowingly participate in criminal group assisting crime.

He was remanded in custody and is next due to appear at Wollongong Local Court on May 7 2018.

Investigations under Strike Force Rednap are continuing.Amber Legge, 32, was arrested by Huber Heights police on Friday at 3.15am

An Ohio woman donned a wacky face after she was arrested for drunk driving and accused of threatening to burn down her neighbor's home.

Amber Legge, 32, was arrested by Huber Heights police after reports came in of a woman operating a vehicle impaired around 3.15 on Friday.

The Piqua, Ohio, native was said to have threatened her neighbor over money, according to WHIO.

She left from her house soon after the argument only to return later and threaten the victim.

'(The victim) indicated that Legge then returned to her residence...began calling her a 'dope friend', threatened to beat her, burn her house down, and contact Children's Services,' the police report details.

An additional witness corroborated the details regarding Legge's threats toward the victim.

She was arrested for aggravated menacing and operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

Legge is being held on a $5,000 bond at the Montgomery County Jail.

The location in which Legge was apprehended. She is being held on a $5,000 bond at the Montgomery County Jail



President Donald Trump has put on hold $200million meant for recovery efforts in Syria, according to a new report.

The White House has ordered the State Department to freeze the funds as the Trump administration reassesses American involvement in the warn-torn nation, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The president allegedly reached the decision after reading a news report that said his administration had recently added $200million to stabilizing efforts - a move announced by now-fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Kuwait last month.

President Trump has often expressed a desire for U.S. troops to leave Syria. During a Thursday speech in Ohio (pictured), he said: 'Very soon, very soon, we're coming out'

The frozen money was meant for recovery efforts such as removing unexploded weapons and restoring water, power and electricity.

The president has often expressed his desire for U.S. troops to leave Syria and for regional allies such as Saudi Arabia to take on more of the burden in the nation currently dealing with both a civil war and ISIS.

'Very soon, very soon, we're coming out,' he said during a speech in Ohio on Thursday. 'We're going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be.'

The State Department, however, has not confirmed reports of the freeze.

'In line with the president's request to review all international assistance, we continually reevaluate appropriate assistance levels and how best they might be utilized, which we do on an ongoing basis,' the spokesperson told The Hill.

As the Journal points out, reduced American presence in Syria could open the way for Iran and Russia to become the leading foreign powers in the troubled and geopolitically important nation.

Now-fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced $200million would be added to Syria recovery funds in a meeting with regional leaders in Kuwait in February (pictured)

It could also offer a lifeline to to ISIS, which has lost much of the power it once held in the region but still holds on to some land.

The president's move comes as the fight against ISIS in Syria has stalled - although the U.S.-lead coalition has taken back most of the territory once controlled by the militant group, efforts to take the land ISIS still holds have flat-lined.

On Thursday, two coalition personnel, including an American, and five were wounded by a roadside bomb in Syria, in a rare attack since the U.S.-led coalition sent troops into the country.

Trump's view on Syria does not really match that of his administration. Just hours before his statements on Thursday, a Pentagon spokesperson suggested the military was in Syria for the long-run.

Two coalition personnel were killed and five others wounded on Thursday night by a roadside bomb in Syria. U.S. troop's Humvee is pictured passing vehicles of fighters from the U.S-backed Syrian Manbij Military Council

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White said :'Our commitment to win must outlast the so-called physical caliphate, and the warped ideas that guide the calculated cruelty of ISIS.'

And Trump's new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a known political hawk, is likely to take a stand similar to Tillerson's when it comes to Syria, having expressed in the past it is in American interest to depose of dictator Bashar al-Assad.

'It is difficult to imagine a stable Syria that still has Assad in power. He is a puppet of the Iranians and therefore it seems an unlikely situation where Assad will be sitting on the throne and America's interests will be well served,' the former CIA director said in July 2017.Alexa Duran, 18, died when her SUV was crushed and her family has filed a lawsuit

More lawsuits have been filed in the aftermath of a pedestrian bridge collapse near a Florida university campus earlier this month.

The Miami Herald reports that the family of 18-year-old Florida International University Alexa Duran filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Friday against several companies involved in the bridge's construction near Florida International University.

She was killed when her SUV was crushed by a slab of concrete as she drove a friend home from a doctor's appointment.

The 19-year-old passenger, who managed to escape, also filed a lawsuit against mostly the same companies on Thursday.

The Durans' attorney, Alan Goldfarb, said the companies involved in the bridge project were 'reckless' and tried to speed along a delayed project by squeezing more work into the spring break window when students were away.

The fact traffic remained open while tests were performed on the bridge is mentioned repeatedly in the family's suit.

Goldfarb told the Herald he was hoping to symbolically file the suit 1:47pm, the time the bridge collapsed, but narrowly missed the mark.

The collapse on March 15 killed six people and sent nine to the hospital.

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Richard Humble, 19, was riding on Duran's car but survived. He has also filed a lawsuit

The Durans' attorney said the companies involved in the bridge project were 'reckless' as they tried to speed along a delayed project (Humble is pictured shortly after the collapse)

The Durans' lawsuit is the fifth filed in connection to the tragedy and the second to come from the family of a victim.

The family of 60-year-old software engineer Rolando Fraga, who died in the collapse, also filed a suit.

As previously reported, 24-year-old Marquise Rashaad Hepburn was the first to file a suit against the companies involved in the design and building of the bridge.

Hepburn was seriously injured as he rode his bicycle under the bridge when it collapsed last week.

The family of 60-year-old software engineer Rolando Fraga, who died in the collapse, also filed a suit

The negligence lawsuit seeks unspecified damages from the entities involved in building the bridge.

FIU student Emily Joy Panagos, 22, who escaped the crash after her car was partially crushed also filed a lawsuit.

None of the lawsuits name the university or the Florida Department of Transportation because of an existing law that says lawyers must notify them 180 days before filing a suit.

(From top left to bottom right) Navaro Brow, Alberto Arias, Brandon Brownfield and Osvaldo Gonzales also died when the bridge collapsed on March 15 near Florida International University

And Goldfarb said that's exactly what the Durans plan on doing.

'Six months and a day later, we sue them,' the attorney told the Herald.

The Miami-based attorney also represents the family of an FIU student who was killed in August as he crossed the street the bridge was supposed to span.

The Brige's collapse happened after changes to the its design were made.

A stress test was being performed to assess its strength when it collapsed.

US Senator Marco Rubio suggested on Twitter that officials were tightening cables which supported the structure when it collapsed but he gave no additional information.

Experts have been hesitant to blame the failure on one thing alone and have suggested instead that there were many reasons for the failure.

The Duncan's family lawsuit stresses that traffic remained open while tests were being done on the bridge the day of the tragedyPresident Donald Trump on Saturday called out a Democrat California governor on Twitter for his immigration policy in the sanctuary state.

Governor Jerry Brown has quarreled with the Trump administration in the past after he signed off on California becoming a sanctuary state in October to counter the increased immigration laws.

Now in Trump's most recent Twitter rampage, he condemns the governor for pardoning five immigrants.

'Governor Jerry 'Moonbeam' Brown pardoned 5 criminal illegal aliens whose crimes include (1) Kidnapping and Robbery (2) Badly beating wife and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize (3) Dealing drugs. Is this really what the great people of California want?' Trump tweeted, tagging Fox News, his go-to network for all news.



Trump attacked California Governor Jerry Brown for pardoning five immigrants before the holiday weekend. Brown pardoned a total of 54 people

Brown (pictured) pardoned these immigrants before the faced the possibility of deportation. But Trump criticized the decision because of their previous crimes including kidnapping, robbery and allegedly beating ones wife

'Moonbeam' was a name given to Brown in the 1970s when he first was running for governor in California.

Chicago columnist Mike Royko gave him the nickname because of the voters he was attracting - young, idealistic and nontraditional people.

Trump targeted 'Moonbeam' Brown because the governor signed off on pardoning five immigrants who faced deportation before the Easter holiday weekend.

These five were among the 54 pardons and 14 commutations that the governor handed out before the weekend.

His office reiterated that the majority of the people were convicted of drug-related or other nonviolent crimes.

In a news release about the pardons on Friday, the governor's office said that 'those granted pardons all completed their sentences years ago and the majority were convicted of drug-related or other non-violent crimes.'

'Pardons are not granted unless they are earned,' the governor's office said.

The Trump administration has previously quarreled with California over the state's sanctuary laws that challenges the federal government's immigration policy

Those pardoned Friday by Brown included Sokha Chhan and Phann Pheach, who face deportation to Cambodia, a country ruled in the 1970s by the genocidal Khmer Rouge. Chhan was convicted of two counts of misdemeanor domestic violence in 2002 and served about a year in jail.

Pheach was convicted of possessing drugs and obstructing a police officer in 2005 and served six months in jail. His wife said he is in federal custody.

Also pardoned was Daniel Maher, who served five years in prison stemming from the 1994 armed robbery of a San Jose auto parts store. He was convicted of kidnapping, robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm in the case.

Maher is facing deportation to China, where he has never lived. Maher is from Macau, which became part of China after his family immigrated to California when he was 3.

Also pardoned while facing deportation were Daniel Mena and Francisco Acevedo Alaniz. Mena served three years of probation after being convicted of possessing illegal drugs in 2003. Alaniz served five months in prison for a 1997 car theft conviction.

This is not the first clash Trump has had with the state.

The Trump administration is suing California, in a lawsuit filed earlier this month, to attempt to block the Golden State's sanctuary laws.

The lawsuit, filed by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, claims that the state created laws that were designed to obstruct and discriminate against the enforcement of the federal immigration laws.

But Brown calls this lawsuit a 'publicity stunt' by the administration as it continues to push Trump's 'America First' agenda.

The governor is a former Jesuit seminarian and traditionally issues pardons close to major Christian holidays. Easter falls on Sunday.

California's longest-serving governor has now issued 1,519 pardons, including 404 during his first two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983.Advertisement

Activists took over a room in New York City's swanky Trump International Hotel as part of an unauthorized protest involving an impersonator of the president and boxes of live rats.

'When they are hungry enough, rats will eat anything, even their rat king,' the anonymous group, called INDECLINE, said in a statement.

The art installation, 'The People's Prison' was secretly set up in a suite inside the president's flagship hotel near Central Park on Thursday.

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'Imprisoned by his own breed': Activists took over a room at Trump International Hotel in New York City on Thursday

Seven masked artists worked on the art installation, titled The People's Prison, which included live rats

Seven masked artists put up temporary wallpaper and built a five-foot-by-eight cage to make the place look like a grungy prison

When asked why they decided to use rats for the project, the group told DailyMail.com: 'President Trump is the ultimate rat and thus, deserves to be imprisoned with his own breed.'

After checking into the hotel, the group quickly began dismantling the suite, removing paintings and furniture and placing it all in the bedroom.

Seven masked artists put up temporary wallpaper and built a five-foot-by-eight cage to make the place look like a grungy prison.

The group told DailyMail.com: 'President Trump is the ultimate rat and thus, deserves to be imprisoned with his own breed'

'When they are hungry enough, rats will eat anything, even their rat king,' the anonymous group said in a statement

Inside the cage, a handcuffed Trump impersonator sat surrounded by rats and McDonald's food wrappers.

INDECLINE also lined up the walls with portraits of 'American revolutionaries' such as whistle-blower Edward Snowden, Muhammad Ali on American flags.

The portraits were painted by more than a dozen pre-selected American artists.

A video published by INDECLINE showed the activists setting up the project as speeches from iconic American figures such as writer Hunter S. Thompson play in the background.

'America could've been a fantastic monument to all the best instincts of the human race,' the writer is heard saying.

A five-foot-by-eight cage filled with McDonald's wrappers was built by the group inside the suite in just hours

Inside, the cage, a Trump impersonator in gold handcuffs sat surrounded by rats and fast-food wrappers

'Instead we just moved in here and destroyed the place from coast to coast like killer snails. Everybody wants power over a country that's had it's day.'

Footage of how the installation was made also shows the activists seemingly luring the city's rats with McDonald's food, Trump's favorite.

The installation was completed without any problems or arrests, the group said, and they left the room just as they found it.

INDECLINE told DailyMail.com: 'There were no issues and the hotel staff was extremely helpful and supportive throughout the process, despite having no idea what they were assisting with.'

The masked activists put up temporary wallpaper to make the place look like a grungy prison

INDECLINE lined up the walls with portraits of 'American revolutionaries' such as whistle-blower Edward Snowden, Muhammad Ali on American flags

A small exhibition for a group of journalists was held for about three hours after the installation was finished.

The group added: 'Our projects are meant to provoke and inspire, but also serve as inspiration for future actions.

'In turbulent times such as these, activists and artists wield a significant amount of power and its the responsibility of these communities to fight for the common man as well as the country we love and cherish.'

The unique installation will be replicated at Gallery 30 in Pasadena California next month.

The group was also behind the infamous naked Trump statues that popped up around the country last year.

The installation was completed without any problems or arrests, the group said, and they left the room just as they found it Pictured is the room before the makeoverThe Ministry of Defence has named the soldier killed in action in Syria on Thursday as 33-year-old Sergeant Matt Tonroe from the 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment

The first British soldier to be killed fighting jihadis in Syria was named last night as Special Air Service sniper Matt Tonroe.

The battle-hardened sergeant from Manchester was killed in the northern city of Manbij on Thursday night while on an undercover mission to kill extremists.

Sgt Tonroe, 33, belonged to the SASs B Squadron and had served in British Special Forces units for eight years, according to defence sources. Last night, his commanding officer described him as a first-class soldier with a steel core who had served his country with pride.

Sgt Tonroe, who is survived by his mother Michelle, brother Alex and girlfriend Olivia, was fatally wounded after a vehicle he was travelling in struck a roadside bomb. A US Special Forces soldier  Master Sergeant Jonathan Dunbar, 36, from Austin, Texas  was also killed when the device exploded near Manbijs Sheikh Akil cemetery.

The Pentagon confirmed the incident was the subject of a military investigation.

Following the blast Sgt Tonroe, Master Sgt Dunbar and five other seriously injured casualties were carried on to military vehicles and driven to the outskirts of Manbij, where a medical helicopter was waiting to fly them to a US military hospital at a secret location.

While the evacuation was taking place, US Apache helicopter gunships and US fighter jets armed with air-to-ground missiles flew low over where the explosion occurred to deter jihadis from launching follow-up attacks.

Sgt Tonroe was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. Master Sgt Dunbar also died from his injuries. The five other casualties, who are all US military personnel, are still receiving treatment.

A military convoy is pictured arriving in Manbij last month. The soldier was killed in the northern city on Thursday night while on an undercover mission to kill extremists

An SAS source said last night: Matt didnt stand a chance when the improvised explosive device went off.

US troops attempted first aid at the scene and the medical evacuation helicopter arrived very quickly to take him to hospital but his wounds were too bad.

The Mail on Sunday has been told how other British Special Forces troops have been wounded in separate clashes with jihadis in Manbij in recent weeks  and that Sgt Tonroe and his colleagues had been due to withdraw from the area just days before he was killed. This was not confirmed by the MoD  it does not disclose any details about SAS operations.

SAS sources also revealed last night how the terrorists who planted the bomb could belong to the Free Syrian Army (FSA), an affiliation of militia, including jihadi elements, which is backed by Turkey. If the investigation into the incident concludes this was the case, it could lead to a diplomatic row with Turkey, a Nato member.

A source added: Matt was part of a joint UK-US Special Forces team which was working with local Kurdish troops in a bid to stabilise the city. Manbij was liberated from Islamic State in 2016 but jihadis aligned with the Free Syrian Army are seeking to take over.

The main reason behind the SAS getting out of there is the fear of a proxy conflict between fellow Nato members.

It is reported that the explosion took place close to 'Sheikh Akil graveyard'.

It was unclear last night what vehicle Sgt Tonroe was travelling in. According to some reports, the UK and US Special Forces operatives were in an unmarked and unprotected white minivan, in an effort to blend in.

However, coalition forces have also been photographed using heavily armoured Humvee and Warthog vehicles in recent days.

Sgt Tonroe was born in Manchester in August 1984 and joined the Parachute Regiment just days after his 20th birthday.

He passed the Paras notoriously tough P Company selection course in 2005 and subsequently joined 3rd Battalion (3 Para).

He passed the Household Division and Parachute Regiment sniper course in October 2007 with flying colours. He also served as a sniper in Helmand province in Afghanistan in 2008 and was praised for his coolness under fire by colleagues. It is understood that his sharpshooting accounted for a number of Taliban deaths.

According to military sources, Sgt Tonroe was then promoted and attempted SAS selection, which he is said to have passed first time. He was also a fully trained parachutist.

His commanding officer, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Special Forces who cannot be named for security reasons, said last night: Matt Tonroe was a deeply intelligent man and one of lifes characters.

He was a caring and considerate soul, a loving and dutiful son, and a friend to many.

Yet he had a steel core, served his country with pride and was a first-class soldier, proven in combat, faced risk willingly and was ever ready for more.

He thus died as he lived: daring and fearless in duty. We mourn his loss dearly, are proud to have known him and will honour him by continuing this fight.

A Special Forces major added: If you had met Matt Tonroe, then you would have liked him. He bristled with the contentment of a life lived to its full.

His bravery and talent as a soldier was matched by his compassion as a human being. He was an individual, with the courage to set his own course, and the perspective to see new possibilities at every turn.

He was destined for great things in our unit  his leadership was both natural and apparently effortless. He is already missed. Without Matt, our company has lost some of its humour, some of its warmth, and some of its sheer opportunism. We will always remember him.

A convoy of U.S. armoured vehicles drives near the village of Yalanli, on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Manbij

The MoD confirmed last night that Sgt Tonroe had deployed on numerous operations to Afghanistan and the Middle East. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson joined senior officers in paying tribute to the deceased soldier, saying: My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Sgt Matt Tonroe at this dreadful time. He served his country with great distinction and it is clear from the tributes made by his colleagues that he was not only exceptionally dedicated and courageous but also a gifted and intelligent instructor who was respected by everyone he served with. Sgt Tonroe fought to protect British values, our freedoms and to keep us back at home safe.

His sacrifice, unflinching commitment and bravery will never be forgotten.

The Mail on Sunday revealed last year how the SAS has launched a series of devastating aerial assaults behind Islamic State lines, claiming decisive victories over the terrorist group and paving the way for their eventual defeat in Syria.

The top-secret raids captured a strategically vital air base in Syria which British and US Special Forces troops used to launch attacks on the IS stronghold of Raqqa.

The SAS also secured the nearby Tabqa hydro-electric dam in an operation which began with soldiers parachuting from thousands of feet under cover of darkness on a reconnaissance mission deep in enemy territory.President Donald Trump hit out at Amazon again on Saturday, calling its business deal with the U.S. Postal Service to deliver packages a money-losing agreement that hurts U.S. taxpayers.

In tweets Saturday, Trump claimed 'the U.S. Post Office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon. That amounts to Billions of Dollars.'

He added: 'If the P.O. "increased its parcel rates, Amazon's shipping costs would rise by $2.6 Billion." This Post Office scam must stop. Amazon must pay real costs (and taxes) now!'

Trump took aim at Jeff Bezos' (left) Amazon on Saturday morning over Twitter saying the company is costing the US Post Office money

'While we are on the subject, it is reported that the U.S. Post Office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon'

'This Post Office scam must stop. Amazon must pay real costs (and taxes) now!'



Amazon has been a consistent recipient of Trump's ire. He's fought a two-pronged battle with its founder Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, labeling his news publication 'fake news' over its unfavorable coverage at times of his campaign and presidency.

Last week, Trump took similar aim at Amazon over Twitter after a news website revealed his obsession with the extremely successful e-commerce site.

The Axios report on Wednesday that revealed Trump's plot to put strict new regulations on the company sent Amazon's stock into free fall, whacking off billions in value for shareholders, including Bezos.

Trump did not deny the report and even suggested it was true when he copped to a years-long belief that Amazon is behind retail store failures and U.S. Postal Service problems in a tweet.

'I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election,' he said. 'Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!' the president tweeted.

Amazon lives and dies by shipping, and an increase in the rates it pays could certainly do some damage. Amazon sends packages via the post office, FedEx, UPS and other services.

But while the U.S. Post Office has lost money for 11 years, package delivery is not the reason.

Boosted by e-commerce, the U.S. Postal Service has enjoyed double-digit increases in revenue from delivering packages. That hasn't been enough to offset pension and health care costs, as well as declines in first-class letters and marketing mail.

Together, letters and marketing mail make up more than two-thirds of postal revenue.

In arguing that the Postal Service is losing money on delivering packages for Amazon, Trump appears to be relying on Wall Street analyses that argue the Postal Service's formula for calculating its costs is outdated.

A 2017 analysis by Citigroup did conclude that the Postal Service was charging below market rates as a whole on parcels. Still, federal regulators have reviewed the Amazon contract with the Postal Service each year and determined it to be profitable.

An independent agency, the Postal Service does not use taxpayer money for its operations.

The post office does not break down what is driving its growth, but online ordering from retailers, particularly Amazon.com, has revolutionized the way goods are bought and delivered.

The Postal Service reached new highs this year in holiday package delivery, with more than 850 million U.S. parcels delivered from Thanksgiving to New Year's Eve, according to figures compiled by industry tracker ShipMatrix Inc.

Amazon has taken some steps toward becoming more self-reliant in shipping. Last year, it announced it would build a worldwide air cargo hub in Kentucky, about 13 miles southwest of Cincinnati.

President Donald Trump hit out at Amazon on Thursday morning before normal trading hours, finally commenting on a report that he's 'obsessed' with the company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos and wants to 'go after' it

Wednesday report said Trump is looking for ways to knock Internet retail giant Amazon down a few pegs. Amazon's billionaire owner Jeff Bezos is seen at right at the White House in June

Amazon closed 4.38 percentage points down on Wednesday after rallying mid-day

The White House said, at a Thursday afternoon news conference that helped to fuel a moderate recovery in Amazon's stock price, that there's 'no specific policies or actions' that would apply to Amazon's business model that it's currently considering.

But Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also noted that Trump is 'always looking to create a level playing field for all businesses' and his interest in pursuing an Internet sales tax 'is no different.'

After the White House press briefing, at which Sanders was repeatedly asked about Amazon, the company's stock closed 4.38 percentage points down.

At its low point, Amazon took a $53 billion thrashing. At days end, losses had been reigned in to $31 billion.

Axios drove the market down Wednesday am with a report based on the word of five sources that indicated Trump is pondering ways to knock Amazon down a few pegs.

'He's obsessed with Amazon,' a source said told the news website. 'Obsessed.'

Trump's desire to further regulate Amazon has been inflamed by his wealthy friends' complaints that lax Internet commerce rules are killing their businesses, Axios reported.

The president also believes that Amazon's thriving business model is hurting mom and pop stores that are owned by people who voted for him.

A source told Axios that Trump has also blamed Amazon for losses suffered by the U.S. Post Office.

'The whole post office thing, that's very much a perception he has,' the source said. 'It's been explained to him in multiple meetings that his perception is inaccurate and that the post office actually makes a ton of money from Amazon.'

Bezos founded Amazon nearly 25 years ago in 1994. For the past 11 years, the U.S. Postal Service has had giant losses, and it's expected to suffer more.

The government division ended the 2017 fiscal year $2.7 billion down.

Postmaster General Megan J. Brennan said in a cry for help that the service's 'financial results will continue to deteriorate and likely at an accelerated rate' because it 'cannot generate enough revenue or cut enough costs' to pay its bills.

A PBS Newshour report at the end of the last fiscal year detailed the post office's attempt to raise revenue by introducing a double-digit increase in the cost to ship packages.

A drop-off in traditional letter mail is where the Post Office took its licks, the report said, as mail volume fell by 5 billion pieces, which amounts to 3.6 percent.

Letter mail had made up 70 percent of the U.S Postal Service's revenue. If anything, the report indicated, its the advent of email that's killing the government service.

As Brennan said at the time, 'No other shipper delivers as many e-commerce packages to the home.'

Friendship didn't last: Trump shook hands with Jeff Bezos at the White House in June last year - but has become increasingly hostile to Amazon

If you want a friend in Washington...: Bezos took a robotic dog for a walk around a secretive conference in California earlier this month

Speaking out on the matter Thursday am, Trump claimed that Amazon was causing 'tremendous loss to the U.S.' postal system. He also claimed the company that is the eighth largest employer in the U.S. is 'putting many thousands of retailers out of business.'

Trump mentioned the fact that Amazon pays 'little or no taxes to state & local governments' in his tweet, hinting at a desire for Congress to hit the company and other online retailers with an Internet sales tax.

A source told Axios that Trump is also seeking to come after Amazon using anti-trust or competition law.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told the House of Representatives' tax-writing committee in February that the administration 'feels strongly' that Internet sales should be taxed.

At a July appearance before the U.S. Senate where he was asked about the Internet sales tax, Mnuchin singled out Amazon.

'I am encouraged that Amazon is now charging tax, I believe, on their own sales but not the marketplace,' he said. 'I'm not sure I understand the consistency on that, but I respect the states' ability that there's an awful lot of money that's not being collected.'

Traditionally conservative organizations like Americans for Tax Reform that are typically on the Republican president side have staunchly opposed the administration's push to introduce new taxes on e-commerce.

ATR president Grover Norquist told DailyMail.com on Thursday after the Trump tweet that his organization is '100 percent opposed' to an Internet sales tax because it 'would allow politicians to impose taxes and regulations across state borders.'

'An online sales tax hurts small businesses and consumers, not Amazon, because Amazon already collects sales tax nearly everywhere,' Norquist said. 'An online sales tax would entrench big box stores and stop Mom and Pop competitors dead in their tracks.'

Norquist further posited that an online sales tax would actually help Amazon -- 'because then they can sell tax collection services.'

Trump's desire to further regulate Amazon has been inflamed by his wealthy friends' complaints that lax Internet commerce rules are killing their businesses, Axios reported.

Bezos is also the owner of The Washington Post, which Trump has labeled 'fake news' because of the stories it has done on him that he says are false representations

Amazon's stock share fell by as much as 7.4 percent on Wednesday, Reuters said, after the damaging Axios report ran. After a late-day rally, shares were trending downward again on Thursday am following Trump's latest slam.

Bezos is also the owner of The Washington Post, which Trump has labeled 'fake news' because of the stories it has done on him that he says are false representations.

A June 28, 2017 tweet dubbed the two companies - which have totally separate leadership structures - the 'AmazonWashingtonPost' and described the newspaper as the 'guardian' of the retail division and the reason that Amazon does not have to pay an Internet sales tax.

'Which they should,' he stated.

An August 16, 2017 tweet claimed 'Amazon is doing great damage to tax paying retailers.

'Towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt - many jobs being lost!' he said.

Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump made similar assaults on The Post, Amazon and Bezos, who attended a meeting last June for the tech industry at the White House.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Rah Shah insisted Thursday morning on Fox News that the tweets and the president's desire to tax Amazon are nothing personal.

'This is really about policy,' he said. 'You have a huge company that's done amazing things...and really tax policy and other policy has to catch up with that.'A top science lab in France has found a way to create a range of cheeses that look and smell like the real thing in 'days rather than months'.

Researchers at the National Institute for Agricultural Research, INRA, say they have discovered a 'revolutionary' way of hugely accelerating the ripening process for cheeses such as camembert and brie, the Daily Telegraph reported.

'What nature takes three weeks, three months or three years to do we can do in two to three days using a process that is far faster and less costly,' INRA cheese expert Romain Jeantet told the Telegraph.

Brie and Camembert take roughly a month to ripen and reach the required texture and smelliness - all procedures which scientists say they can bypass

Scientists say they have worked hard to recreate the aroma and taste of original camembert - they argue their process is far faster and less costly

Lovers of traditional camembert say that cheese is alive and needs to be ripened and matured over a long period

Brie and Camembert take roughly a month to ripen and reach the required texture and smelliness, while a mature Comte can take up to three years.

The key to the speed-cheese making is a process which researchers have coined From'Innov, whereby the production of the cheese and its aroma in the laboratory is split and then and mixed later to create the desired product 'a la carte'.

'With the same material, we can thus make a cream cheese on Monday, a Camembert on Tuesday and a hard cheese on Wednesday,' IRNA spokesman Gilles Garric, told the Telegraph.

He said that INRA was in talks with three dairy giants over use of the technique, which produces similar results to traditionally-made cheese.

Cheese aficionados say that cheese is alive and needs to be ripened and matured over a long period, preferably with live raw milk - it is not something that can be created in a laboratory

Scientists say brie (above) can also be made much quicker, with the same taste and texture

To make the end product more nutritious and tasty, experts can mix in probiotics  live bacteria and yeasts.

'We can recreate a cheese that has roughly the same texture as Camembert, then we can isolate bacteria that create the typical Camembert taste,' Garric said.

'We mix the two together. In the end it will have the same shape, the same taste and same texture as Camembert  if a little more homogenous, he said.

'If you want to put such cheese in salads or sandwiches you will find something that tastes exactly the same but costs far less and is far faster to make.'

But cheese aficionados are horrified at what they describe as the latest attempt to kill of a great French culinary tradition  smelly cheese lovingly made by hand with raw milk.

'This isn't cheese at all, it's totally synthetic,' Veronique Richez-Lerouge, who runs the traditional cheese defence group Association Fromages de Terroirs, told the Telegraph.

'Industrial dairy groups have long dreamed of making cheese with as little milk as possible in as little time as possible so it costs as little as possible, with a consensual taste to appeal to the masses.' she said.

'INRA has made their dream come true. Next they'll be adding banana or raspberry aroma.

'This is yet another step towards creating dead food rather than letting nature run its course.

'Cheese is alive and needs to be ripened and matured over a long period, preferably with live raw milk. You cannot create this natural complexity in the laboratory.

'Humans are made to eat live food with diverse bacteria, not dead food, which causes all sorts of problems such as allergies.'

Lovers of 'real' Camembert suffered a setback earlier this month after a Canadian version of the creamy cheese was voted the best in the world.

'Normandy Camembert dethroned by a Quebec cheese!' was the horrified headline of the Paris-Normandie newspaper from the northern French region where the delicacy has its spiritual home.A 'man-eating' crocodile is being hunted by villagers in the Philippines after it attacked local fishermen, farmers and livestock.

The huge reptile could measure more than 29 ft long making it the largest predator on land ever recorded if the reports are legitimate.

A woman in the area was also reportedly attacked by the beast and it is currently unclear whether she survived.

A 'man-eating' crocodile is being hunted by villagers in the Philippines after it attacked local fishermen, farmers and livestock

Residents of the Agusan del Sur region of the Philippines have organised a hunt to try and catch the crocodile.

They believe that the reptile could pose a serious threat to local residents of the village who live near to where the beast resides.

A villager who believes he came into contact with the creature claims that it was 29ft long.

The huge reptile could measure more than 29 ft long making it the largest predator on land ever recorded if the reports are legitimate

Locals have since started a hunt for the beast after it began terrorising local fishermen and farmers

The largest crocodile ever recorded was a giant 20.3 ft long however this one could be a third larger.

The previous record for largest crocodile also came from the Philipines.

It weighed one ton and is believed responsible for eating at least one fisherman, but this monster crocodile was finally caught by 100 very cautious men.

Measuring 21ft from snout to tail, the massive creature was the largest crocodile captured alive in recent years.

The largest crocodile ever recorded was a giant 20.3 ft long however this one could be a third larger

The beast was caught, after a three-week hunt, in a creek in the Philippines by villagers who had lived in fear of it for more than 20 years.

Its nearest rival in the monster stakes is Cassius, an Australian salt-water crocodile which measures a 'mere' 18ft - and which is still on the loose in the Northern Territory.

The Philippine crocodile's domain was a river system in Agusan, a poverty-stricken region 500 miles south east of Manila, but while it was a constant threat to villagers no one was brave enough to try to capture it.

However, when a village fisherman went missing and the crocodile became the chief suspect, plans were hatched to catch it.

It was placed under observation and when it was witnessed by several villagers killing a water buffalo they knew their suspicions were right.The United States Army is looking to extend and toughen its basic training program, citing lacking physical fitness and aptitude towards discipline.

At the U.S. Army's Global Force Symposium in Alabama on Monday, Army Secretary Mark Esper explained why the troops were looking to increase their efforts.

'We have every reason to get this right, and far fewer reasons not to,' he said. 'That's why we are considering several initiatives  from a new physical fitness regime to reforming and extending basic training  in order to ensure our young men and women are prepared for the rigors of high-intensity combat.'

The United States Army is proposing to extend its Basic Combat Training program from 10 weeks to 12 weeks

Esper would not go into detail to explain what an extended Basic Combat Training (BCT) program would entail.

An idea was proposed that would increase the 10-week program to 12 weeks. The improved BCT would be expected to begin implementation in the early summer of this year.

In addition to a reception, three stages make up the current BCT: the red, white and blue phases.

In the 'red phase,' comprised of three weeks, recruits learn basic drills and ceremonies, seven 'Army Core Values,' unarmed combat and first aid. They are also given introductions to standard-issue weapons like the M-16 assault rifle.

During the 'white phase,' the troops begin target practice and work with grenade launchers and other weapons. Timed obstacle courses are given and soldiers work to participate effectively in teams.

At the U.S. Army's Global Force Symposium in Alabama on Monday, Army Secretary Mark Esper explained why the troops were looking to increase their efforts

In the 'blue phase,' soldiers participate in the Army Physical Fitness Test and do marches equaling to approximately 10 to 15 kilometers.

A focus on discipline and espirit de corps through intense drills and ceremony, inspections and military history training are all ways in which the BCT would be improved, according to Fox News.

Along with those, battlefield skills such as marksmanship, physical fitness, first aid and communication will also be improved.

A more stringent Combat Readiness Test would be implemented as well, extending the three week program for six weeks.

At the AUSA meeting, Esper mentioned that reversing the 2017 military drawdown would help ease the tenseness the military faces in the next decade.

'To meet the challenges of 2028 and beyond, the total Army must grow,' Esper said. 'A decade from now, we need an active component above 500,000 soldiers with associated growth in the Guard and Reserve.'Passengers have slammed Stansted Airport's response to a bus fire outside the terminal which forced the cancellation of all flights yesterday evening.

The airport was plunged into chaos in the wake of the fire, which broke out at 4.20pm, sending thick black smoke billowing into the air.

But although the fire was brought under control within 20 minutes, it was announced at 8pm that all flights until midnight would be cancelled - despite an earlier announcement that they would be 'returning to normal operations'.

The airport has since apologised for the disruption caused, but stranded passengers took to social media to vent their frustration.

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Holidaymakers going away for the Easter weekend are facing chaos this evening as all flights from Stansted were cancelled, after a fire broke out on a car park shuttle bus at the airport near London

Passengers walked with their suitcases amid chaos getting to the airport as roads were gridlocked and trains cancelled

Pictures showed the long queues at the airport following the fire as passengers said they were stuck in the terminal

One passenger labelled it 'an utter shambles' while others complained of 'third world' conditions and demanded to know if they would be offered compensation.

Another wrote: 'No staff in sight just announcements. We see this time and again at Stansted. Bloody disgraceful!'

Mirela Zarichinova said: 'They wouldn't let us inside the terminal because it is apparently packed. No information. No security. No staff members around.'

Another Twitter user said: 'No one got to fly! A bus caught on fire outside the building. Why did everything else fall apart?!'

Responding to the comments, a spokesman for Stansted Airport insisted that they had followed the proper procedure, and that information was being given to passengers in what was a 'difficult' and 'fast moving' situation.

Some passengers were evacuated with others reporting they were stuck outside the airport and pictures showing long queues inside the terminal.

A Stansted statement on Twitter said all flights until midnight had been cancelled, and said passengers were 'politely asked to leave the airport'. Today the airport apologised and said it was open as usual.

Passengers earlier reported being stuck outside the airport, with Sarah Hinch asking Ryanair on Twitter: 'We were due on the 6.30 pm flight to Dublin is it delayed? We can't get into the terminal.'

A fire broke out on a car park shuttle bus at Stansted Airport in London, sending plumes of thick smoke emerging from the burning wreckage

Passengers watched on from the terminal at Stansted Airport as a bus caught fire outside

Some passengers were evacuated with others reporting they were stuck outside the airport and pictures showing long queues inside the terminal

Jan Graversen, who was due to be flying to Copenhagen, said there was 'gridlock' in the car park outside, while Aileen Prendergast said she was 'locked out of the terminal'.

Italo Calvino also reported 'gridlock' just 200 metres away from the Stansted car park.

Winnie Agbonlahor said she had been waiting to leave the train station for 25 minutes because of the earlier evacuation, while Zak Johnson said he had been sitting and standing in queues for two hours in the aftermath of the accidental fire, which Stansted Airport said had been caused by an electrical fault.

National Rail also reported disruption on trains to the airport, with some services cancelled on the Stansted Express to London Liverpool Street.

A Stansted spokesperson said: 'The process was arranged in line with the procedures not only from us but the fire service too.

'It was a very fluid situation and the first priority was to evacuate people to a safe distance away as it was unknown at that stage what the cause of the fire was.

'However, after that it meant that passengers were on the wrong side of security.

'While it was not perfect, in terms of making the priority people's safety that was achieved and there were no injuries.

'There was a lot of people there and information was being provided but people in the heat of the moment may not have heard the tannoy announcements while they were looking for specific information about their flights.

'The airlines had to make their decisions as to whether cancel their flights in what was a difficult situation.'

The bus was destroyed in a blaze which Stansted Airport said was caused by an electrical fault in the vehicle outside

Social media users complained following news that all flights from Stansted until 12 were cancelled

Dramatic footage shows the flames rising from beyond the carkpark of the Essex-based terminal

One picture showed the view from inside the terminal of a coach on fire on the forecourt at Stansted Airport

One witness wrote on social media: 'Smoke billowing across the terminal building at #stansted airport - police diverting traffic away from the terminal'

Some passengers have been evacuated and officials are investigating the incident 'as a matter of urgency'

A Stansted spokesperson told MailOnline yesterday: 'A shuttle bus caught fire on the terminal forecourt. The fire is now out but smoke from the fire went into the terminal building meaning we had to evacuate parts of the terminal.'

There are no reports of any injuries, the airport confirmed. The fire and rescue service said the bus was destroyed and the front of the airport building suffered smoke damage.

The area was immediately sealed off as the airport's own fire crews and appliances from Essex fire and rescue tackled the blaze.

One witness wrote on social media: 'Smoke billowing across the terminal building at #stansted airport - police diverting traffic away from the terminal.'

Sharing footage on Twitter, another passenger said it looked like a 'fireball' had gone up over the airport, while another user said there were 'massive flames' at the scene.

Another video taken at the scene showed a view through the terminal door of the fire raging outside.

A spokesperson for the airport later said the fire had been put out and that they were working on returning to normal operations as soon as possible

One person said they were stuck at border control and could see the smoke outside.

Julia Buckley said: 'In arrivals. Saw thick smoke as plane was landing. Can't see anything from here. Can smell smoke though. But atmosphere is calm'.

Four fire engines from the Essex Fire Service attended the blaze.

A statement from the fire service said: 'Crews reported on arrival that a bus, positioned outside the terminal entrance, was well alight.

'Due to the volume of smoke, the terminal was partially evacuated while firefighters extinguished the fire.

'The fire was extinguished completely by 5.02pm. Firefighters are still at the scene using thermal imaging cameras to ensure there are no remaining hotspots in the area.'

Four fire engines from the Essex Fire Service attended the blaze, with the terminal partially evacuated

Travel plans for thousands of passengers heading out of the country through Stansted airport for an Easter break were disrupted by the fire

There are no reports of any injuries but many travellers were evacuated from the main arrival and departures terminal

Smoke from the fire went into the terminal building meaning the airport had to evacuate parts of the terminal

Social media users reported seeing a 'fireball' and 'massive flames' after the bus caught fire on the terminal forecourtRocker Ted Nugent says the Florida students calling for gun control have 'no soul' and are 'mushy brained children.'

He made the comments Friday while defending the National Rifle Association as a guest on the Joe Pags Show, a nationally syndicated conservative radio program.

Nugent, an NRA board member, said survivors of the Parkland school shooting are wrong to blame the NRA for mass shootings citing that most members come from good American families.

The 69-year-old rocker specifically called out Parkland students Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg for spreading '100 per cent lies and falsehoods' about the NRA.

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Rocker Ted Nugent made comments Friday while defending the National Rifle Association as a guest on the Joe Pags Show, a nationally syndicated conservative radio program. Nugent, an NRA board member, called survivors 'mushy brained students'. Pictured is him at a Trump rally

He went on to say that 'the evidence is irrefutable, they have no soul,' and that the students were 'mushy brain children' who only spread lies.

'They are actually committing spiritual suicide because everything they recommend will cause more death and mayhem, guaranteed,' Nugent said during the interview.

He blamed the students education as well as the mainstream media for the ideas they have spread about the NRA.

'The dumbing down of America is manifested in the cultural deprivation of our academia that have taught these kids the lies, media that have prodded and encouraged and provided these kids lies,' he said.

'I really feel sorry for them because it's not only ignorant and dangerously stupid, but it's also soulless.'

His main critique was against recent interviews Marjory Stoneman High School students Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg have done since the shooting on February 14.

Joe Pags played a CNN interview with Gonzalez and Hogg for Nugent so he could hear their responses to questions about guns.

Gonzalez said the NRA was giving out 'blood money' to politicians to promote their agenda and Hogg said people in the organization were 'child killers'.

Nugent responded: 'Well that is sad the level of ignorance just goes against the level of stupidity.'

David Hogg is one student who has been criticized by the far-right since the Marjory Stoneman High School shooting on February 14. Nugent said Hogg and other students were spreading '100 per cent lies and falsehoods' about the NRA

Emma Gonzalez has also been vocal about lawmakers cutting ties with the NRA and not accepting funding from the pro-gun organization.

The teen activists have drawn critics from the far-right because of their blatant criticism on anyone who supports the NRA or refuses to consider gun-control laws.

These critiques come after Nikolas Cruz opened fire on their school in Florida and killed 17 teachers and classmates.

Nugent defended his stance with the NRA and gun laws because he considers the organization to represent the 'the good law-abiding families of America.'

A representative for the 69-year-old Nugent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The rocker made the comments the same day several advertisers dropped Fox News personality Laura Ingraham after she mocked Hogg online about his rejection letters from universities.

Outrage erupted across social media, many of which was fueled by Hogg, because people said Ingraham was attacking him in an area that had not relation to the current debate.

Since her controversial tweet, 11 companies have said they would no longer advertise on the show and Ingraham is taking a 'pre-planned' week off from the show.RAF chaplain Guy Mayfield was posted to RAF Duxford, a key fighter base, in February 1940, just a few months before the Battle of Britain. There, he became a confidant to the young airmen who would fly and die in the confrontation that would secure our survival. His wartime diary, published for the first time to coincide with the RAFs 100th anniversary today, is an enthralling yet darkly humorous insight into the remarkable lives of The Few...

December 12, 1939

At midnight yesterday I became a chaplain Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Edwards, the Assistant Chaplain-in-Chief of the RAF, described in his first talk to us, 30 new-fledged chaplains, what kind of war we might have to face.

He didnt seem to know very much himself, but said that it was expected to become violent by the spring, and that by the summer of 1940, 40 per cent of the aircrew we should meet on our stations would be dead. The average age of RAF personnel, not simply aircrew, is 23. Certainly the first impression gained in the mess here is one of extreme youth. The pilot officers in particular look like schoolboys. One feels the temptation to tell them that they are staying up too late.

January 21, 1940

Everyone is extremely friendly to RAF chaplains; more so, I am told, than to Army ones. This is probably because we look a bit more dashing in our a***-over-tip caps. The two chaplains badges with wings which we wear on our lapels are misinterpreted often as being the brevet which pilots wear or as some decoration for aerial valour. I get embarrassed when people on a bus thank me for the splendid show you fellows are putting up.

Scramble: Spitfire pilots rush to their cockpits in RAF Duxford

February 2

I have arrived at my station, RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire. There was a warm welcome, for my arrival implied the station had become more important. I was taken to the mess. The doctor, Browne, also RAF Volunteer Reserve, gave me a very cold, clinical look and exclaimed: My God! What next? A b****y parson! But when he saw me drink gin, he unbent.

February 23

I took the funeral of Pilot Officer Arthur Delamore of 222 Squadron and buried his poor bits and pieces. He was a shy, elegant young man with whom no one could get on terms. He was night-flying for training and he crashed for no apparent reason. In the evening there was a rowdy dance in the sergeants mess. I didnt dance, but talked to anyone who wanted to and propped up the bar. The chaplain was the one person who must not be shaken. He must not drown his sorrows.

February 29

Went out to watch 19 Squadron night-flying after dinner. Bitterly cold and the wind cut through my greatcoat. Trenchard crashed while we were there.

March 3

THE talk in the mess this evening was about bailing out. It seems that even if your parachute doesnt open, you remain conscious till you make your hole in the ground. The station engineering officer told us of fingernails torn away in attempts to open the parachute when the release device has failed or the wearer cant find the release.

March 4

Trenchard's funeral. A fine day for it. It was a particularly unhappy affair. His fiancee was there: her looks were sufficient to make one want to cry. I tried to say good things to her when the service was over. The waste, the criminal waste that these funerals represent.

March 13

The new station commander is [Group Captain Alfred] Woody Woodhall. Had tea with him and his monocle. Soon after his arrival he sent for me and talked about the morale and discipline of the pilots. I was to get them to bed earlier. I was to see that they drank less. But how, sir? By drinking with them yourself and setting an example.

Confidant to the few: Guy Mayfield during his days as an RAF chaplain

March 23

New WAAF [Womens Auxiliary Air Force] CO has arrived, thank God. But first impressions suggest that she is a shocker. She is a parsons wife and wants to run the WAAFs like a Sunday school. Wants me to hold compulsory parade services for them. She seems to be a maniac for compulsory everything (no wonder her husband said: Join up, my dear, your duty is clear).

April 9

Germany invades Norway and Denmark. So it has started. By June who will be left? Please God all of them but almost certainly not. Of course as a Christian, I should say: This doesnt matter; the real life starts when this one ends. I know that is true and I believe it but if the physical joys are pagan, then one is still fond of them. How dreadful to die before finding out how much better life is at 30 than it was even at 22, or how happy marriage can be.

April 14

Felt encouraged by increase of eight in the number of communicants. We had 15 at Easter; the usual number is about three to five. There are a nominal 1,000 on the station, but possibly only a third are off-duty and free to come at any time. Smalley [a squadron adjutant] has told me not to worry about numbers: When they hear the first big bang and mess their pants, theyll come all right.

April 16

Blunden came to see me for most of the morning. It took a long time to get him to talk plainly and simply for he was very frightened. He is being made to sign for an aircraft as being airworthy when he knows that it isnt. He is a fitter and the Flight Sergeant tells him to sign. Fortunately, Ive got the confidence of Nicky [Nicholls], the adjutant. So I went and told him what was happening but begged him to act without names coming up. He asked nothing except the name, and the Flight Sergeant departed to a posting which at my hint had nothing to do with aircraft. The Flight Sergeant has gone, no reason given. The Spitfire [in question] has been rechecked.

May 10

Bader's crash-landing fury May 1, 1940 Douglas Bader came in from a patrol. He has been doing more than his share of patrols. He landed with his undercarriage up. We all saw it. The aircraft isnt very good; but he isnt hurt. He is flying off on leave, so he strode with his parachute from the crashed aircraft to the Maggy [two-seater plane]. He was still in a furious temper at landing with his wheels up, and all our soothing had no effect. He took his parachute, and flung it hard on the wing of the Maggy, saying, F*** everything.  Hero pilot: Douglas Bader in October 1940 The parachute went straight through the wing, making a lovely hole in it. So that was the second aircraft he had temporarily written off in an afternoon. But it restored his balance. Another aircraft was found, and he took off in that. September 19 TEA here with Douglas, who described his adventures yesterday with the rear gunner of a Dornier [German aircraft] who bailed out and got caught in the tail. The other crew bailed out successfully. The Dornier did several loops; the man could not free himself, so, mercifully surely, Douglas, to use his word, squirted him. The night barrage and bomb flashes over London have been visible this week. Douglas was saying how it makes him see red to find the Germans over London in the day time just plastering the civilians. Advertisement

Germany invaded Belgium and Holland. The whole station and, I expect, the RAF is in a flap. The machine gunners are being trained in musketry, though there arent enough rifles for them.

The dug-outs are being pumped free of water. A most secret order from Air Ministry tells us how to make pikestaffs from sharp knives, presumably to stick up the backsides of the parachutists when they land; and of course they wont be firing on us when they come down! I was with Douglas Bader when the order came for 222 Squadron to leave at once for Digby [an RAF base in Lincolnshire]. So that for the moment is goodbye to Douglas, who is one of the bravest men I have ever met and one of the most cheerful. He will be an immense loss to us all on the station, because of his courage, his cheerfulness; the example of his two wooden legs has kept us all up to the mark.

May 11

Hell of flap this evening. At 9.30pm it was reported that they were coming in by the hundred over Yarmouth. The mess emptied in a minute and beer was left unfinished. The Medical Officer and I went to 66 dispersal point. In 15 minutes everything was called off. A false alarm.

May 15

Ive drawn a gun and ammunition from 19 Squadron armoury. This is contrary to the Geneva Convention [as a non-combatant, Mayfield was not allowed to be armed]. But as the war is now being run, I dont think that German parachutists will respect that on a dark night when they cant see what I am. As parachutists are alleged to be disguised as clergymen, I dont want to be shot by one of our own guards without a fight, either.

May 26

19 Squadron have shot down ten. The Hornchurch wing have shot down 40 in all off the Belgian coast. Sinclair, Stevie, Peter and one other are missing. Too numb to feel much; all one can do is to pray off and on all day. We are preparing for an invasion. Twenty parachutists over Dover last night  killed before they landed. No further news of Peter and the others.

May 29

The afternoon well spent in Cambridge in getting a steel helmet and trying to get a revolver licence and a revolver. 264 Squadron have shot down 35 German planes today. Great exultation.

June 5

Frankie Brinsden has told me about Peter [Watson]. The action took place early on Sunday. He was shot down at 8am. A cannon shell hit his aircraft. He seemed to be some time getting out. The aircraft was on fire. He was seen to float down with his chute open. There was no doubt as to his identity, for he was wearing his favourite black overalls, the only pilot to have them. It is most probable that he was very badly wounded when the plane was hit. The sea was black with oil.

July 4

Played squash with John Baker and beat him. Our secret rocket defence was let off by accident. The specially trained corporal pressed the button in an idle moment, probably leaned his elbow on it. Up went, for all to see, a row of rockets with wires dangling on the end. The idea is that they rise to the height of raiders; the wires catch the props or wings and down come the planes.

August 31

Aberhart made a forced landing and was shot up and killed  a nice lad indeed. Coward [another airman] got a cannon shot through his leg. He was losing a lot of blood so he bailed out at 10,000ft, and a delayed drop to 4,000! Then as he floated down he made a tourniquet with [the straps of] his helmet: he has lost his leg.

September 5

Got back here at 4.30pm and heard, with a great shock, that Pinkham, the CO of 19, had been shot down and killed near Snodland. This news has cast a gloom over us, for we liked him very much. He was young for his command but a grand man who evolved the new fighter tactics. He will find friends from his squadron waiting for him.

September 6

Heard that Peter King was killed a day or two ago. This is a sad knock. I saw him here last Sunday at lunch but hadnt a chance to say more than hello to his theres the Padre. I shall miss him most awfully. It seems only a few days ago that he was in here asking should he get engaged to his nurse, poor little thing.

September 7

Last night [Johnny] Boulton was in fine fettle and bubbling over inside himself, so to speak. After a little prompting I found out that hed shot down an Me 110  his first combat and second operational flight. It fell down over the Goodwin Sands.

September 9

Had lunch at that very good pub at Stowmarket. Back here at 6.30pm to hear that the wing had shot down 19 Germans. Everyone was safe except for Johnny Boulton. That came as a nasty blow.

September 11

Sinclair came back today after his adventures on Monday. He bailed out and landed in Purley High Street! As he picked himself up, a young man walked across to help him. His only comment was Fancy seeing you here, Gordon.

September 15

Douglas Bader has got the DSO [Distinguished Service Order], Eric Ball the DFC [Distinguished Flying Cross]. This is as it should be and one wonders why Douglas [whod returned to Duxford after his posting to Digby] wasnt given the DSO weeks ago. Sat in the hall after lunch and talked to his boys as they came in from a terrific air fight over London. The total score for the day is put at 185.

January 16, 1941

The King and Queen came to lunch today. He gave out gongs in the hangar after lunch but not before there had been a row. The gongs had not come. It was suggested to HM that he should merely shake the pilots by the hand.

He wasnt having this. Regardless of discipline and everything else, he walked up and down the anteroom and later in the corridor outside telling Woody and the AOC very loudly that, unless the gongs came, he was going away [after explaining to the pilots why he couldnt present them].

The last words I heard from HM were these, icy cold and with his stammer: Very well. Get me the Air Ministry on the secret line and Ill talk myself. The gongs came. The Queen, as they say, looked a picture. She may have a figure like a dumpling well-camouflaged but the result is one of great charm and grace.

She flashed her smile around and won all hearts. [Dr John] Apley [one of Duxfords medical officers] managed to play shuv hapenny with her, but we didnt allow him to keep the coins.

April 25

Duke of Kent came here on Tuesday to inspect welfare arrangements. Insisted on seeing me alone in my office and told me to phone him at Buckingham Palace if there was any difficulty I couldnt overcome; he added that he could talk to his brother about it, too. Inspected the airmens mess, and I pointed out our wonderful soup cauldrons, all steam-heated, and invited him to have a taste. I saw the Sergeant cook purple with excitement and went over to find out what was wrong: it wasnt soup, it was tea. I explained to the Duke before he drank it.

The Rev Guy Mayfield was posted to an overseas station on December 2, 1941, and ended his Duxford diary. He died in 1976.

Life and Death in the Battle of Britain by Guy Mayfield, edited by Carl Warner, is published by Imperial War Museums, priced 9.99 and published April 19.

Offer price 7.99 (20% discount) until April 8. Order at www.mailshop.co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640, p&p is free on orders over 15.The families of two teenagers whose bodies were undiscovered six hours after a crash have spoken of their heartbreak at their loss.

Ella Alford and Aimee Clayton were found dead in the wreckage of a car after it ploughed into trees on the A30 near Basingstoke, Hampshire.

Police believe their Fiat 500 car collided with trees at about 10.35pm on Tuesday, but the vehicle was not discovered until just before 5am the following morning near to the Hatch pub in Old Basing.

The car of the teenagers ploughed into trees on the A30 near Basingstoke, Hampshire

Two teenage students who were found dead in the wreckage of a car after it ploughed into a tree have been named as Ella Alford and Aimee Clayton

Floers at the scene of the crash - police on Thursday confirmed that the accident happened at 10.35pm on Tuesday evening and that Ella Alford was the driver of the white Fiat 500

The family of Alford, from Basingstoke, said in a statement: 'No words can ever express the sorrow and heartbreak we feel as we try to come to terms with the untimely and tragic loss of our beautiful, selfless daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece and cousin.

'Our kind, funny girl, with the biggest heart, who always put everyone else before herself.

'A tragic loss to our family and the many friends whose lives she touched, she leaves a hole that can never, ever be filled.

'Forever young, forever beautiful, forever in our hearts.'

Friends and family of the two teens say they have been left bereft and distraught over their sudden deaths

Police have appealed for anyone who might have witnessed the crash - or seen the car of the teenagers just before the accident - to come forward immediately

The pair were students at Peter Symonds College in Winchester, Hampshire, where the headteacher has spoken of pupils' grief

Clayton's family, from Hook, said: 'Our beautiful Aimee, our angel, such a unique and amazingly gifted soul who always had time and patience for anybody, destined for great things, but taken far too soon.

'She will be greatly missed by all who knew her and we as a family are left bereft'.

Police on Thursday confirmed that Ella Alford was the driver of the white Fiat 500 - but it could not be confirmed as to whether she and passenger Aimee Clayton died instantly after the crash or died from their injuries while trapped.

A pathologist will carry out a post-mortem examination on the two teens next Thursday by the North Hampshire Coroners' Office which should reveal more information as to the time of death.

A Hampshire police spokesman said earlier: 'Investigations into the exact circumstances of the collision are ongoing and officers believe the collision happened around 10.35pm.

'We are still keen to speak to anyone who was travelling along that road.'

The 18-year-old driver and her passenger, also 18, were found by a passing motorist near The Hatch pub in Basingstoke at 5am today. It is understood they were last seen before 10pm the previous evening.

Police and paramedics were scrambled to the scene but officers believe they could have been dead for some time.

The pair were students at Peter Symonds College in Winchester, Hampshire, where the headteacher has spoken of pupils' grief.

A male student who was in Aimee's A-level Psychology class on Wednesday described her as 'the nicest person you could meet'.

He said: 'Aimee was in the same class as me and was just the nicest person you could meet. I didn't know much about her but she was a lovely person who you couldn't say a bad word about.

'She wasn't loud, she would just get on with her work, but would be nice to talk to.

'Once when I needed help, as I didn't understand something, she was so nice - she ran me through everything and helped me understand it, which really helped.

'I can't believe that she's gone. It really makes you think about how precious time really is and that one moment you can just be take away.'

Friends of the pair this evening began laying flowers at the spot where they lost their lives.

Mr Carville said the college, which has almost 4,000 students between the ages of 16 and 18 across two sites, was 'deeply saddened' at the news.

He said: 'We are deeply saddened to hear of the loss of two of our students. They both had such bright futures ahead of them.

'We will be doing our very best to support our students.

'In time, we will talk to the students and parents about the best way that we can celebrate the lives of these girls and find some way of creating a lasting memorial.'

Peter Symonds, a state sixth form college, was opened in 1987 and teaches A-Level courses to students from across Hampshire.

It also has two boarding houses, where fees are 14,850 a year.

Many children of British Forces service personnel based in Germany and Cyprus board at the college, as well as students from the Falkland Islands.

The 18-year-old driver and her passenger, also 18, were found by a passing motorist near The Hatch pub (pictured) in Basingstoke at 5am today

Hampshire Police is looking to speak to anyone who may have captured the crash that resulted in the girls' death on their dash cams. They were in a white Fiat 500.

A spokesman for Hampshire Police urged anyone who may have passed the scene between 9.50pm last night and 5am today to contact them urgently.

'We're appealing for witnesses following a fatal collision in Basingstoke this morning,' said the spokesman.

'Officers were called just before 5am after a member of the public reported seeing a vehicle on the side of the A30 eastbound.

'The car, a white Fiat 500, had collided with trees just past the Hatch public house.

'The driver of the vehicle and her passenger, both 18-year-old women, one from Basingstoke and one from Hook, were pronounced dead at the scene.

The pair were students at Peter Symonds College in Winchester, Hampshire (pictured), where the headteacher has spoken of pupils' grief

'Sergeant Andy Noble, from the Joint Roads Policing Unit, said officers would like to hear from anyone who drove eastbound around the same time on the same road where the accident took place .

'We particularly want to speak to anyone who has done that journey who has a dash cam, as we believe this will help us to narrow down the time of the incident.

'We would also like to speak to anyone who saw a white Fiat 500 driving in the area between those times, so please get in touch.'Christine Shawcroft, the Labour official at the centre of an anti-Semitism row, has said she is stepping down from the party's ruling body, with comedian Eddie Izzard replacing her.

Ms Shawcroft - who has already resigned as chairman of the disputes panel - has been under pressure to quit her post on the national executive committee (NEC) after it emerged she opposed the suspension of a council candidate accused of Holocaust denial.

In a statement, she said: 'It has been a privilege to serve on the Labour Party national executive committee for the last 19 years, and I was standing down in September in any event. I have, however, decided to resign with immediate effect.

'It is clear that my continued membership of the NEC has become a distraction for the Party and an excuse for endless intrusive media harassment of myself, my family and friends.'

Comedian Eddie Izzard (pictured at last year's Labour conference in Brighton) is set to replace Christine Shawcroft on the party's ruling body

Christine Shawcroft, the Labour official at the centre of an anti-Semitism row, has said she is stepping down from the party's ruling body

Ms Shawcroft added: 'I reaffirm my complete opposition to anti-Semitism and my abhorrence of Holocaust denial, and support all measures to tackle this within the party.

'And I pledge my full energy to securing for our country the Labour government under Jeremy Corbyn that it so desperately needs.'

She caused further anger with a Facebook posting - subsequently taken down - claiming the row was being 'stirred up to attack Jeremy, as we all know'.

Although she has since said that she was 'deeply sorry' to the way she handled the complaint of Holocaust denial and that she will not stand again for the NEC when her post comes up for re-election in the summer, Labour leader Tom Watson had earlier said she should go now.

'There is a problem with Christine Shawcroft who tried to hold up an inquiry into someone accused of Holocaust denial and then said the accusations were whipped up against Jeremy,' he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

Comedian Eddie Izzard will take her place on the committee, BBC News reports.

Ms Shawcroft had been under pressure since it emerged she opposed the suspension of a council candidate accused of Holocaust denial

Labour MP Wes Streeting previously said: 'Even when caught red handed defending a Holocaust denier, Christine Shawcroft still dismisses genuine concerns about antisemitism.

'Enough is enough. Christine Shawcroft must resign from the NEC immediately. She has no shame.'

The activist, Alan Bull, a Labour candidate for Peterborough Council, had been suspended for posting a link on Facebook to a fake news article titled: 'International Red Cross Report Confirms the Holocaust of Six Million Jews is a Hoax.'

It was accompanied with a picture of the famous gates of Auschwitz, with the phrase 'Arbeit Macht Frei' [work sets you free] replaced with 'Muh Holocaust'.

This phrase is apparently used by opponents of Israel to allege that whenever anyone criticises it to a Jewish person, they will start talking about the Holocaust to deflect attention.

The activist, Alan Bull, a Labour candidate for Peterborough Council, had been suspended for posting a link on Facebook to a fake news article titled: 'International Red Cross Report Confirms the Holocaust of Six Million Jews is a Hoax'

In his Passover video message, Mr Corbyn said he wanted to 'remember all our Jewish brothers and sisters, who have battled against discrimination and faced the most horrific acts of violence and mass murder'.

He referred to 'rising levels of anti-Semitism around the world', pointing the finger at right-wingers in Poland and France.

But admitting that problems were harder to see 'closer to home', he added: 'We in the labour movement will never be complacent about antisemitism.

'We all need to do better. I am committed to ensuring the Labour Party is a welcoming and secure place for Jewish people.'Winston-Salem Police Officer D.E. McGuire (pictured) shot and killed a suspect who kept reaching for a gun during a traffic stop

A 60-year-old North Carolina Man was shot and killed by police during a routine traffic stop after he refused commands to not reach for his handgun.

Winston-Salem Police Officer D.E. McGuire was patrolling late Friday when he stopped a car containing two men and a woman at 10:34pm near the 2200 block of Bowen Boulevard.

Police say 60-year-old passenger Edward Van McCrae was in the rear seat and began making suspicious movements and reaching toward concealed areas of the vehicle.

Officer McGuire, called for back up and asked McCrae to step out of the car.

A struggle ensued between the officer and McCrae outside the vehicle when a handgun became visible.

'Officer McGuire issued multiple verbal commands to Mr. McCrae ordering him not to reach for the gun,' police said, according to the Winston Salem Journal.

McGuire then discharged his service weapon.

The officers called for backup arrived within seconds of McGuire firing, and administered CPR on McCrae, but were unable to revive him.

The subject was pronounced dead at the scene, while the officer suffered minor abrasions.

The other occupants in the vehicle, who police have not identified, were unharmed.

Police say 60-year-old passenger Edward Van McCrae was in the rear seat and began making suspicious movements and reaching toward concealed areas of the vehicle

Per protocol, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation responded to the scene and will investigate the officer-involved shooting, along an administrative investigation conducted by the Winston-Salem Police Department's Professional Standards Division.

Meanwhile, the Winston-Salem Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division is investigating the assault on the officer.

McGuire has been with the Winston-Salem Police Department since 2015, and is currently on administrative duty until the investigations are complete.Walking is our favourite exercise and what better way to burn off all those Easter egg calories than with a hike or stroll?

Here are some of my favourite routes  a mix of family-friendly options to more challenging leg-burners.

Ive included places to stop for a cuppa (or a pint!).

So get out there, have fun and share them on social media using #JuliasWalks.

Julia Bradbury, pictured in the Lake District, today reveals some of her favourite rambles

1 Anglesey Coastal Walk in Wales

Length: 11.88 miles

Start: Moel-Y-Don

End: Llanddwyn Island

Pitstop: Marram Grass Cafe

The 11.88 mile walk starts at Moel-Y-Don and concludes at Llanddywn Island

The gorgeous route starts at Moel-Y-Don, looking out across the Menai Strait. There are lots of lovely things about this trail, not just the calming sea views. Its flat and easy and you cant get lost  just follow the coastline. The other bonus is that a view of Snowdon keeps you company.

Very early on youll pass the Sea Zoo Conservation Centre on your right, and you might even notice the team releasing baby lobsters and seahorses back into the wild.

The area is known for its mussels because these waters make for some of the best growing conditions in Britain  and mussels are likely to be on the menu at the Marram Grass Cafe, about eight miles into the walk. The walk ends on the romantic Llanddwyn Island, home of Waless own female St Valentine and a favourite spot for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, because its where they lived when William served as a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot.

The route ends with magnificent views over Caernarfon Bay, pictured, but as it isn't circular, you will need a taxi or a friend to give you a lift back to your car

As the sun sets, youll catch the unexpected silhouette of a lighthouse on the promontory and there are stunning views out to Caernarfon Bay, the Snowdonia range and the Llyn peninsula  all in one eye-watering gaze.

This isnt a circular walk, so either phone a friend, book a taxi or hitch a ride back to your car.

theoutdoorguide.co.uk/walks/ julia-bradbury-walks/ anglesey-coastal-walk/

2 Ravenscar to Robin Hoods Bay, North Yorkshire Moors

Length: 10.3 miles

Start: Ravenscar

End: Ravenscar

Pitstop: Ravenscar Tearooms

This 10.3 mile walk loops around the North Yorkshire Moors to the base at Ravenscar

You can enjoy the North Yorks Moors National Park in miniature on this walk through some of its best-known landscapes. From the craggy heights of Ravenscar, the route runs across Howdale Moor before dropping down to the old Scarborough-to-Whitby railway line and along to the smugglers haunt of Robin Hoods Bay.

You can go rock-pooling and fossil-hunting, before returning along an exhilarating clifftop walk. Sea views, cobbled lanes, cinder tracks, archaeological ruins and spreading moorland heather  its a combination that takes a lot of beating in a single day.

While on the 10-mile walk, you will get the chance to see Robin Hood's Bay and its village

This is part of Alfred Wainwrights Coast to Coast Walk  the beginning or the end, depending where you start. I remember being really sad when we finished doing the Coast to Coast. I stood in Robin Hoods Bay with sea lapping over my boots and throwing a pebble into the water as tradition dictates. I was longing to stay but I had to drive to Scotland to start filming another series  it was heartbreaking to have to leave so soon. Its definitely on my go-back-to list.

theoutdoorguide.co.uk/walks/national-parks/north-york- moors-walk/

3 Friars Crag Walk,Lake District

Length: 1.13 miles

Start: Keswick Camping and Caravanning Club site

End: Keswick town centre

Pitstop: Keswick Lakeside Shop

This 1.13 stroll along Friars Crag Walk privides amazing views over Derwent Water

I have a soft spot for Keswick and I have tried to support the town when the weather has been stormy and businesses have been struggling.

I remember being there with the Prince of Wales, joining forces to turn on the Christmas lights in the hope of giving the tourist trade a little bit of a boost.

Start at the Keswick Camping and Caravanning Club site and walk along the lake into Cockshot Woods, which are alive with birds and red squirrels. Beyond this is a meadow often filled with grazing Herdwick sheep, and geese having a rest. Its an ideal spot for children to run wild.

The area around Friars Crag in Keswick, pictured, has Unesco World Heritage Status

At the furthest edge of the woods is a bench with a stunning view of the lakes. I cant get enough of this area, which has been awarded Unesco World Heritage Site status.

Whenever I talk about travel and walking, I always speak about the Lake District, which is the ultimate outdoor destination. Where else can you get valleys, mountains, rivers and pretty villages all in the same small corner of the country? This walk is wheelchair-friendly too.

theoutdoorguide.co.uk/walks/wheelchair-friendly-walks/ friars-crag-keswick/

4 The South Downs Walk, East Sussex

Length: 4.75 miles

Start: Tiger Inn, East Dean

End: Grand Hotel, Eastbourne

Pitstop: Tiger Inn, East Dean

This 4.75 mile route starts at the Tiger Inn and ends at the Belle Tout Lighthouse

Follow in the footsteps of Sherlock Holmes on a classic English walk which includes the white cliffs of the Seven Sisters, Beachy Head and the seaside charm of Birling Gap, ending at the Belle Tout lighthouse, with its commanding views across the Sussex Downs.

Some of the cliffs are called the Bottoms, which suits my Carry On sense of humour: theres not many times you can say on camera with a straight face: Thats a lovely Bottom.

On a good day you can see six counties and the Isle of Wight, while the Birling Gap National Trust cafe is a great place for tea and biscuits. But enjoy it while you can: the Birling Gap is disappearing at a staggering erosion rate of almost one metre a year. This isnt a circular walk, so either phone a friend or hitch a ride back to your car.

The Tiger Inn in East Dean is a wonderful spot to stop for dinner made from local produce

I love the olde worlde charm of Eastbournes Grand Hotel, with its outdoor pool (its usually open from Easter until November). Winston Churchill and Charlie Chaplin were fans too. The Tiger Inn, in the village of East Dean, which looks as if its a setting for Midsomer Murders, is a good place for dinner made from fresh, local ingredients.

theoutdoorguide.co.uk/walks/ julia-bradbury-walks/ south-downs-seven-sisters-walk/

5 West Highland Way, Scotland

Length: 9.6 miles

Start: Glencoe Mountain Centre

End: Devils Staircase (you might want to continue to the peak of Stob Mhic Mhartuin, which is a further 783 yards)

Pitstop: Glencoe Mountain Resort Cafe

This 9.6 mile trip from the Glencoe Mountain Centre to the Devil's Staircase is hard

This stretch is the average persons long-distance hike, perfect for fairweather walkers. Like the rest of the West Highland Way, it is simple to navigate and easy-going underfoot, although a Scottish downpour can turn parts of it from a path to a stream.

The Highland scenery is breathtaking, the kind of valley Ian Fleming envisioned as the childhood home of James Bond, and it provides the backdrop to the climax of Skyfall. Walks in Scotland hold a special place in my heart because I used to spend a lot of time here as a girl on family holidays, beachcombing with my dad. They are happy memories and I cant wait to bring my own children.

For a bite to eat, stop at the Glencoe Mountain Resort Cafe (glencoemountain.co.uk). If you fancy an overnight stay, try The Drovers Inn (droversinn.co.uk). Dont forget to arrange transport if youre heading back to Glencoe.

theoutdoorguide.co.uk/ britains-favourite-walks/ west-highland-way/

6 St Ives to Zennor, Cornwall

Length: 12.09 miles

Start: Porthgwidden Beach

End: Porthgwidden Beach

Pitstop: Tinners Arms, Zennor

This 12.09 mile trip in Cornwall is quite difficult with wild and rugged landscape

The landscape is wild and rugged along this, one of the toughest sections of the South West Coast Path. The walk is invigorating and incredibly picturesque  its in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and there isnt a bad view of the Atlantic.

I love walks that hug the seashore  theres something so refreshing about being close to the water, hearing the waves and breathing in the sea air. According to the National Trust we all sleep better after a coastal walk  it can give you an extra 47 minutes sleep a night on average.

This walk needs plenty of time and it is worthwhile stocking up on provisions before you start

True or not, its certainly worth investigating during this round trip. Allow plenty of time and remember to stock up on provisions before you start.

Alternatively, reward yourself in one of my favourite pubs, the 700-year-old Tinners Arms, which is about halfway along the route. I can be found there myself occasionally with a pint of cider.

For more information visit theoutdoorguide.co.uk/britains-favourite-walks/st-ives-to-zennor/

7 Regents Canal, London

Length: 8.6 miles

Start: Paddington

End: Limehouse

Pitstop: Camden Lock Market

This 8.6 mile walk will bring you from Paddington to Limehouse along the Regent's Canal

The Regents Canal, part of the Grand Union Canal, is an amazing way to see a different sort of London life. This is my country walk in the city and I never do it without feeling I am paying homage to Amsterdam. From the elegance of Little Venice  surely the most popular stretch of canal to live on in London  to the powerhouse of the Docklands, this walk gives you an extraordinary insight into the capitals history.

Canals used to be the motorways of the country  this one is still a wonderful human highway.

The walk gives you the chance to sample Little Venice and the wonderful Camden Market

Camden Market is a great place for a pitstop. Browse the vintage fashion stalls or grab lunch at one of the food stalls. I always smile to myself as Canary Wharf comes into view. Thats where I got one of my first breaks in TV, working for Janet Street-Porter in the 1990s on LiveTV.

theoutdoorguide.co.uk/ britains-favourite-walks/ regents-canal-london/

8 East Lyn River Walk, Devon

Length: 5.18 miles

Start: Lynton

End: Lynmouth

Pitstop: Watersmeet National Trust cafe

This 5.18-mile walk is medium difficulty looping around Countisbury Hill in Devon

This is a hidden treasure on the Exmoor coast. I discovered it while I was filming Britains Best Walks for ITV two years ago and its now in my top three personal favourites.

You set off from the picturesque town of Lynton and meander under a canopy of trees by the side of the East Lyn river.

At the halfway point of the walk, where the East Lyn merges with Hoar Oak Water, theres the stunning Watersmeet National Trust cafe, which is a wonderful spot for a cream tea.

There is a lot of wildlife to see on this walk as well as some wonderful spots to eat

I think this cafe is in the prettiest location in Britain, possibly the world. It sits on a river bend which has attracted poets and writers for centuries  Wordsworth was a fan.

Theres also a lot of wildlife to see on this walk  fish, birds and all the little riverbank animals.

There is even talk of otters, elusive though they are. On the way back, you leave the river and head up towards Countisbury Hill and circle back down to the coast.

theoutdoorguide.co.uk/walks/ julia-bradbury-walks/ britains-best-walks-exmoor-devon/

9 Wells-next-the-Sea Coastal Walk, Norfolk

Length: 4.76 miles

Start: Crown Hotel

End: Wells village centre

Pitstop: Holkham Cafe

This is an easy 4.76 mile stroll with lots of diversions and unusual sights including grey seals

This is as much a day out as a walk. If you enjoy a mix of seaside cafes, stunning wildlife, dunes, woodlands and a busy working harbour, then this is the one for you. Wells-Next-The-Sea is part of the pretty flint chain of villages dotting the Norfolk coastline.

This is an easy route with lots of diversions and unusual sights, including pink-footed geese and grey seals. But heres a health-and-safety warning: if you take your dog, watch them with the seals. Its rare but they have been known to drag curious dogs into the sea.

The walk starts in the centre of Wells and follows a track (thats wheelchair-friendly) out of the harbour and down to the beachfront, where theres a great cafe called the Holkham (holkham.co.uk/stay-eat/beach-cafe).

If you take your dog on this walk it might be at risk from the seals who live in the area

The views from the beach are spectacular and the walk heads into the dunes. Watch your footing through here, then choose various pathways that weave through a pine woodland and back to the cafe.

theoutdoorguide.co.uk/ britains-favourite-walks/ wells-beach-norfolk/

10 High Cup Nick, Cumbria

Length: 9.01 miles

Start: Dufton

End: Dufton

Pitstop: Stag Inn, Dufton

This is a medium difficulty walk which covers 9.01 miles and loops around High Cup Nick

High Cup Nick has been called the Grand Canyon of the Pennines and is surely one of the Norths most glorious landscape features. You start and end in the village of Dufton. While you are there, pop your head in at the workshop of Rudds Rakes, where theyve been making wooden rakes by hand since the 1890s. Owner John may even let you buy one of the special rakes that have been used in films and in the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics.

As you head out of the village, be prepared for a challenge. Its rocky underfoot and the scenery is wild moorland. Youll cross streams that become rivers in winter and come upon large boulder fields  and you might be battered by the Helm Wind (the only named wind in Britain) that roars across the surrounding hills.

The walk to High Cup Nick is rocky underfoot and the scenery is wild moorland

Its quite rightly an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and when you make the final climb along the edge of the valley and arrive at the mighty High Cup Nick, youll be rewarded with mesmerising views of the impressive glaciated valley.

This is one of the highlights of the Pennine Way and was described by Wainwright as an unforgettable sight.

When you make it back to Dufton, youll never be more grateful for a pint at the Stag Inn.

theoutdoorguide.co.uk/walks/ julia-bradbury-walks/ cumbria-high-cup-walk/When Meghan Markle walks down the aisle next month, one woman is expected to be close to her side.

Jessica Mulroney is hotly tipped as Maid of Honour - and certainly Meghan could hardly pick a better candidate for the role.

It is not just that Jessica is Meghans best friend and closest confidante or that shes impossibly well-connected  the glossy Canadian socialite also happens to be a professional wedding planner.

Close: Glamorous Jessica Mulroney is hotly tipped to be Meghan's Maid of Honour next month

I'm still the belle of the ball: Why start your day in pyjamas when you can slip into your high school basketball kit? And yes, it still fits - even after giving birth to three children

Jessica, dubbed Canadian royalty and the Gwyneth Paltrow of Toronto, is said to have her perfectly manicured fingertips on the minutiae of her friends big day, from helping choose the bridal gown to picking the guests.

Theres just one little niggle. For seasoned Royal watchers are wondering whether Jessica, 37, might be so glamorous, theres a risk shell overshadow Meghan  just as Pippa Middleton and her impossibly pert posterior took centre stage when she was bridesmaid at Kates marriage to William.

Meghan adores Jessica, not just as a friend but also as someone whose taste and style are impeccable, a friend told The Mail on Sunday.

Meghan looks up to Jessica and has, to a certain degree, modelled herself on her. The irony is Meghan could end up being upstaged by the woman shes fashioned herself on.

My little army of helpers: It's a tight schedule getting everyone to school on time in the morning, so it's worth planning outfits in advance. What better accessories than co-ordinating seven-year-old twins?

Hey kids, DO try this at home: Now it's time to get the finely honed midriff out for another impossible-looking workout - this one is just 'fun', says Jessica, although it's 'not for the faint-hearted'

It is not merely Jessicas soignee appearance that appears to have caught Meghans eye, for the merest glance at Jessicas Instagram feed (scrutinised by 100,000 followers) reveals a life of domestic perfection. It has certainly given Meghan something to aim for.

Born Jessica Brownstein in Montreal, she had a privileged start as a member of Canadas Browns shoes dynasty, worth a reported 50 million.

She attended an exclusive all-girls school, before going to McGill University, where she studied industrial relations and economics skills she used to good effect when she launched her own business importing luxury lingerie.

No-one comes between me and my pal: Ripped jeans, glossy hair, black T-shirts  its almost like were identical twins. Or maybe Im her stylist?

Hurrah! It's water o'clock: Everyone asks how I manage it all. Well by 5pm even I need to pour myself a glass of something chilled. But you don't look this good by opting for Chablis - make mine a sparkling mineral water. Yummy!

Later, she would make a successful career as a stylist  with her own TV slot  and wedding planner, but it was her 2007 marriage to Ben Mulroney, son of former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney and one of Canadas top television presenters, that propelled her on to the A-list.

Today Jessica and her husband lead an affluent, yoga-toned life, that appears to be lifted from the pages of a magazine.

Jessica regularly posts inspirational fitness videos and pictures on Instagram  she and Meghan bonded over a deep passion for yoga, Pilates, dogs and philanthropy.

They first met when Meghan arrived in Toronto in 2011 to film Suits. Until then, the aspiring actress had been something of a rough diamond, but soon her style began to mirror her friends.

Jessica helped Meghan with her wardrobe and introduced her to the right people, as one of their circle put it. An even closes friendship duly blossomed

Want a clue on Meg's big day? Time for my close-up - as a TV bridal expert. Whether you want to look mermaid or Meringue, I can find the perfect dress for your big day. Just ask Meghan!

Before she took down her blog called The Tig, Meghan frequently posted pictures of the two on holiday and proudly referred to herself as Aunty Meg to Jessicas children. And it was in Jessicas house that Harry and Meghan sought refuge when news of their secret romance first became public in 2016. Jessica attended Meghans recent Church of England baptism and has been closely involved in preparing for the wedding. She flew to Britain in January to attend the first fitting of the wedding dress and plans to return twice more before the ceremony in May.

Her children, twins Brian and John, seven, and daughter Ivy, five, are even tipped to be page boys and bridesmaid alongside Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Certainly, if Meghan needs any domestic tips on leading an impeccably stylish and organised life with children in tow, she knows where to turn. But she should beware  it involves 5am starts and doing everything in heels.

Jess is up early every morning, usually around 5am when Ben leaves the house, to make lunches for the kids and get them ready for the day, a friend remarked.

After the kids are in school or kindergarten, she either goes straight to meetings or her television job. After that she usually works out and then is home in time for the kids when they return from school. They often cook together. And she will do all of this in heels.

A source added: Everyone is betting on Jessica as Maid of Honour, but shes giving nothing away.

And if shes not, thats only because shell be too busy planning every last detail. The one thing you can be certain of is that Meghans wedding will be perfect just like Jessica.

Meghan will, no doubt, be hoping all eyes stay firmly on the bride.FDNY and Air Force master sergeant Christopher Raguso, 39, was laid to rest on Saturday in New York following a helicopter crash in Iraq on March 15

A funeral was held on Long Island Saturday for an Air Force master sergeant and New York City firefighter who was killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq.

Christopher Raguso, 39, who had faced bloodshed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and hurricanes in Texas and the Caribbean, always came home to Long Island, alive - except this last time.

On Saturday morning, his flag-draped casket arrived atop a fire engine at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in the Suffolk County hamlet of Kings Park, with bagpipes intoning 'Amazing Grace' and hundreds of white-gloved, uniformed firefighters lining the street.

Some became pallbearers who carried him to the altar of the church where Raguso was married in 2009.

'For 13 years, Chris responded to countless calls for help,' said FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro in his eulogy.

'Chris made the supreme sacrifice,' Nigro continued inside the packed Long Island church.

'This hero was gone in an instant, leaving a legacy of service we must all strive to live up to,' Nigro added.

The parents of New York City firefighter Christopher Raguso, center, watch as their son's casket is carried out of the firehouse in Commack, NY during his funeral on Saturday

Christopher Raguso was laid to rest on Saturday on Long Island. He leaves behind a wife and two daughters

Raguso's wife and two daughters accept his FDNY helmet during the emotional services

The FDNY veteran from Commack, L.I., is survived by his wife, Carmella, and their two daughters, ages 5 and 6 (pictured)

The 39-year-old lieutenant in the New York Fire Department was also a volunteer firefighter in nearby Commack, where he lived with his wife and two daughters.

'This man's entire life was dedicated to service of others, and he has done exactly what they and the country have asked him to; that's because Chris didn't know how not to give 100 percent of himself,' said his father, John Raguso, in his eulogy.

'He recognized that to be good at his job, he needed to go where the action was, he wanted to be there, whether that was home wrestling with his giggling daughters, or forcing entry into the heart of a six-story tenement on fire.'

Thousands of mourners were in attendance.

He was killed on March 15 in a military helicopter crash in Iraq that took the lives of seven National Guard members including that of another FDNY firefighter, Capt. Christopher 'Tripp' Zanetis.

Raguso, who was deployed in January, was one of seven servicemen killed in the helicopter crash on the Iraq-Syria border

Raguso was deployed in January.

The cause of the crash is still being investigated but officials have said that it does not appear to have been the result of enemy activity.

The crash is the deadliest incident involving U.S. soldiers abroad since May, 2013, when seven servicemen were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.

Air Force Reserve Major and FDNY Marshal Christopher 'Tripp' Zanetis, 37, was also among the seven servicemen who died when their helicopter crashed near the Iraq-Syria border, reportedly after hitting a power line.

Thousands came to pay their respect for the 13-year veteran of the FDNY who committed his life to service

Mourners poured into the packed St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church on Long Island

Pallbearers carry Raguso's body at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church on Saturday

On Thursday, those who knew him gathered at the iconic downtown Manhattan park for a memorial service in the fallen soldier's memory.

Hundreds of uniformed firefighters and members of the armed forces accompanied Zanetis' family as the firefighter was given military honors.

The memorial, hosted by the FDNY and New York University, began with a procession from Zanetis' former firehouse in the East Village to the park in Greenwich Village.

FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro, mayor Bill de Blasio and the city's first lady Chirlane McCray were in attendance.Retired French cop Julien Baptiste  star of hit BBC1 drama The Missing  is set to return to our screens in a spin-off detective show.

The six-episode series, to be called Baptiste, will be set mostly in Amsterdam, where the character, played by Turkish-born French actor Tcheky Karyo, is on holiday with his wife Celia.

The six-episode series, to be called Baptiste, will be set mostly in Amsterdam, where the character, played by Turkish-born French actor Tcheky Karyo (right)

The dogged French detective finds his life in danger when he helps local police in the battle against the citys drug gangs.

News that Baptiste is alive and well will come as a relief to fans who saw him at the end of The Missing awaiting surgery for a life-threatening tumour.

Karyo, 64, said: Julien is very dear to me so Im really excited to see what dark secrets he unveils this time.President Donald Trump said Thursday that the US would "be coming out of Syria like very soon," just hours after the Pentagon highlighted the need for US troops to remain in the country for the immediate future. LOL!"We're knocking the hell out of ISIS. We'll be coming out of Syria like very soon. Let the other people take care of it now," Trump told supporters at an Ohio event on infrastructure.AND then....lucky us--Prez Smarty Pants explained the word "caliphate". You'll love it!"We are going to have 100% of theBut we are going to be coming out of there real soon. We are going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be," Trump added.*Can't you just see Trumpster sitting on the sofa in the Oval Office yelling: What the hell is caliphate? Melania: Why don't you ask Stormy and the other 72 virgins you slept with?*BTW. Guess who said this: Im not going to tell you anything about what response I do. I dont talk about military response." AND this: Im not going to tell you, but hopefully, I wont have to do anything, but Im not going to tell you.Russia faced fresh condemnation last night after it demanded that Britain reveal top-secret answers to 41 very precise questions about the spy poisoning saga.

The Russian Embassy in London accused the British Government of breaching diplomatic rules by refusing to provide detailed information about the health of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, and asked for proof that they were attacked by a nerve agent.

President Vladimir Putins regime has insisted it has the right to visit Miss Skripal, who is recovering in hospital while her former double agent father remains critically ill nearly a month after they were found collapsed in Salisbury.

Russia has demanded to know why it has been 'denied consular access' to Sergei and Yulia Skripal (pictured) in a fresh list of questions for British authorities

Putting further pressure on the UK last night, Russia:

Threatened to impose thorough searches on every British plane that lands on its territory, after UK Border Force officials searched a Russian passenger plane at Heathrow Airport on Friday evening.

Doubled to 50 the number of British diplomats it is expelling.

Linked the alleged murder of Russian exile Nikolai Glushkov in London on March 12 to UK irresponsibility.

Offered to pay for a relative of the Skripals to visit them in hospital.

Alexander Yakovenko, Russian Ambassador to London, told The Mail on Sunday: The provocation in Salisbury, and the murder of Glushkov, as we understand it now, plus what happened in Heathrow this is all one chain.

We will, of course, carefully study it, but one conclusion can already be made: that the British side in this situation behaves incredibly irresponsibly.

Salisbury MP and Treasury Minister John Glen said: Once again, despite almost universal condemnation, the Russian state refuses to acknowledge wrongdoing.

Instead we see another ill-judged and cynical attempt to take the focus off the culpability of the Kremlin and President Putin.

The Russian Embassy (pictured) had said it 'insists' on the right to see Ms Skripal, 33, after it emerged she was improving rapidly

Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were struck down on March 4. Det Sgt Nick Bailey was also exposed to the nerve agent but has been discharged from hospital.

Theresa May declared that the Russian state was responsible for the attempted murders, and expelled 23 alleged spies based at the Russian Embassy. The Prime Ministers move was backed by the co-ordinated expulsion of more than 150 Russians from its missions across the West. Moscow has denied any involvement in the poisoning.

The search of the Aeroflot plane on Friday was described as routine, but Russian Embassy officials called it a blatant provocation.

A spokesman for Russias ministry of transport said: If there is no explanation, the Russian side will deem the actions as illegal and also reserve the right to take similar action against British airlines. Moscow has expelled 23 British diplomats and yesterday said a total of more than 50 must leave.

The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats in the wake of the poisoning of Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia with the nerve agent Novichok

The Russian Embassy initially posted 27 unanswered questions about the poisoning online.

Late last night it posted another 14, for the first time claiming that French experts were involved in the investigation. It asked on what grounds has France been involved in technical co-operation.

Yulia Skripals cousin Viktoria hopes to visit her and was last night waiting for a visa. But Natalia Skripal, a cousin of Sergei, said: We dont want to be a political pawn.

After Russia said it had the right to visit Miss Skripal the Foreign Office said it was considering the request for consular access.

Their 41 cynical questions... These are some of the 41 very precise questions that Russia says Britain must answer about the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. What is Mr and Ms Skripals exact diagnosis and condition?

What treatment are they receiving?

l Is that treatment the same as that provided to Sgt Nick Bailey?

Mr Bailey has been discharged, Yulia Skripal is getting better, but why is Sergei Skripal still in a critical condition?

Why are there no photos/videos confirming that the Skripals are alive and at hospital?

Did the Skripals agree on Salisbury CCTV footage to be shown on TV?

Through what methods did experts identify the substance so quickly?

Nerve agents act immediately. Why was it not the case with the Skripals? AdvertisementThe biggest Chick-fil-A location in the world is now open in New York City.

The new 12,000-square-foot franchise location had its grand opening on Thursday, drawing massive lines of people eager to satisfy their fast food craving and check out the behemoth, five-story restaurant.

The new Chick-fil-A, located at One World Trade Center in the Financial District, features what the Georgia-based company called 'one of a kind design elements,' including seating for 140 people, an open-air rooftop dining area, floor-to-ceiling windows, two kitchens and a semi-private group meeting and dining space.

The world's largest Chick-fil-A opened in New York City. The 12,000-square-foot location features include a rooftop dining area, seating for 140 people and two kitchens

The new Chick-fil-A stands five stories tall and has a semi-private dining area for groups

The location  the fifth Chick-fil-A in New York City  will employ 150 local workers

People walking by the restaurant marveled at the length of the lines and expressed their joy at having a Chick-fil-A nearby.

'I think every pace student is excited that Chick-Fil-A opened on Fulton today,' a Twitter user wrote, referring to a university with a campus within walking distance.

'They done put a Chick-fil-A on Fulton St I'm blown away,' another tweeter wrote.

One Twitter user posted a snapshot of the crowd waiting to get inside the restaurant, snarking, 'Seriously? This mob scene for chick filet [sic]? It's fast food. It's not sneakers.'

The Chick-fil-A was mobbed on opening day Thursday, with lines going down the street

People who passed by the new Chick-fil-A marveled at the long lines and expressed excitement over its opening in Manhattan's Financial District

The new outpost will be open Mondays through Saturdays. Like all the other Chick-fil-A locations across the US  including the four other locations in New York City  the restaurant will be closed on Sundays.

Since being founded in 1946, Chick-fil-A has closed on Sundays so that 'employees could set aside one day to rest and worship if they choose,' according to the company website.

The new Chick-fil-A will employ 150 local residents and partner with New York Common Pantry to donate food to the homeless. To date, the company said, it has provided more than 17,000 pounds of food to the charity organization.

It will also partner with Feeding Children Everywhere, a social charity that helps groups put together healthy meals for children in need.

While many exalt Chick-fil-A's menu, the company itself has been criticized  and boycotted  for having donated millions to organizations that support conversion therapy and oppose same-sex marriage.

In 2012, the company announced that it would 'leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena,' and ceased donating to the controversial groups. Company officials have since said that it now focuses its charitable efforts on youth and educational causes.Two people are dead and at least two more are missing feared killed after an avalanche hit the Swiss ski area of Vallon d'Arbi.

The two recovered bodies were rescued from underneath 20 feet of snow.

Rescuers have been unable to use helicopters in the search mission due to bad weather, officials said.

Rescuers have been working in dangerous and difficult conditions, battling their way through continuous snow

The avalanche happened near the town of Fiesch, which is east of Geneva

The heavy snowfall has made the rescue effort for helicopters especially dangerous - they have now been grounded until Sunday morning

Vallon d'Arbi is an area prone to heavy snowfall and its route is best suited to skilled skiers. The area is sporadically closed for safety reasons, with tourism sites recommending that visitors ski with a guide

Several people are reported to be missing or unaccounted for after the avalanche - rescuers are now beginning the task of finding buried skiers without air support.

Some were reported to have been 'carried away' by the torrent of cascading snow in Fiesch in the Upper Vaiais.

Police in Valais canton said rescue workers were officially searching for two more skiers who are missing after Friday's avalanche, but that the operation had been suspended for the night amid concerns that the number not accounted for could be higher than officially realised.

Those found dead include French nationals aged, 20 and 25, a police statement said.

'The bodies were found underneath some six metres of snow', it added.

A 32-year-old French citizen and a Swiss national, 57, have not yet been found.

Police said rescue teams worked until 3:30 am on Saturday, then paused until 9:00 am before resuming work.

They battled difficult conditions including continuous snow on Saturday before breaking for the night.

A Valais police spokesperson told Swiss public broadcaster RTS that it was unlikely that anyone would still be found alive.

According to RTS, the avalanche happened at an altitude of 7,000 feet.

Vallon d'Arbi is a route best suited to skilled skiers, which is sporadically closed for safety reasons. Tourism sites recommend visitors ski with a guide.

Police said the route was open at the time of Friday's avalanche.

The accident is the latest in a series of fatal incidents affecting skiers in Switzerland this season, with a series of avalanches killing three in the Swiss Alps last month.Jeremy Corbyn faced a revolt from women Labour MPs last night over claims his party has failed to take action against a male MP accused of wife-beating.

A meeting of Labour women MPs  attended by ex-Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman  backed calls to suspend the politician from the party after he allegedly used violence against his wife on repeated occasions. Ms Harman advised colleagues at the meeting of the womens Parliamentary Labour Party that the complaint against the MP could be taken up with the Labour leader, his Chief Whip Nick Brown and party officials.

But sources say there were also threats to shame the party leadership into taking action by making their call public if the Labour whip was not removed from the MP concerned. Women MPs were told the alleged wife-beater had been reported to Labour HQ but officials had failed to act.

One source said: The allegations against the man are horrific. There is no way he should be an MP and the party cannot just sit on its hands and do nothing.

Jeremy Corbyn faced a revolt from women Labour MPs last night over claims his party has failed to take action against a male MP accused of wife-beating

It is understood that Jess Phillips, who chairs the womens group, has since written to Mr Corbyn asking for the MP to be suspended pending an investigation.

The row came as Mr Corbyn faced a deepening crisis over claims that he has failed to crack down on anti-Semitism in his party. On a day of dramatic new developments:

Leading Corbynista Christine Shawcroft resigned from Labours ruling national body after claims that she failed to act against anti-Semitic Labour activists  and was replaced by comedian Eddie Izzard;

Labour MP John Mann, writing in this newspaper, said Mr Corbyn was unfit to be Prime Minister unless he expelled Ken Livingstone who has said Hitler supported Zionism  and claimed Labour faced up to 5,000 anti-Semitism complaints;

Leading Blairite ex-MP Tristram Hunt called for London Mayor Sadiq Khan or ex-Foreign Secretary David Miliband to launch a new party to challenge Labour;

A Jewish Labour donor revealed he had quit the party because he no longer felt any affinity or connection with it in the wake of the anti-Semitism row.

Ms Shawcroft, who supports the hard-Left Momentum group that supports Mr Corbyns leadership, was forced to step down as head of the National Executive Committees disciplinary committee last week after she appeared to defend a council candidate accused of Holocaust denial. However, she quit the NEC altogether last night following calls for her to go from party deputy leader Tom Watson.

Amid the row, a leaked letter that Ms Shawcroft wrote three weeks ago  seen by the MoS  defended her chairmanship of the NEC disputes panel but complained that she was stitched up. Last night she said she had quit because it is clear that my continued membership of the NEC has become a distraction for the party.

Harriet Harman (left) backed calls to suspend the politician from the party, while it is understood that Jess Phillips (right) has written to Mr Corbyn asking for the MP to be suspended pending an investigation

Leading Corbynista Christine Shawcroft resigned from Labours ruling national body after claims that she failed to act against anti-Semitic Labour activists

Axed comrade lets rip at unions Edited extract of the leaked letter by Christine Shawcroft who dramatically quit Labour's NEC last night From the moment I was elected to the National Executive Committee in 1999, I was made unwelcome, to put it mildly. I wasnt allowed on any sub-committees except the womens group. I campaigned against Blair over Iraq and never got the slightest support from unions. Jack Dromey laid into me, shouting. He should have been finished after he stood against Bill Morris [Labour MP Dromey, married to Harriet Harman, was the Blairite candidate in the 1995 transport union leadership contest and lost to Left-winger Morris]. Dromey told a pack of lies about what had happened during the Lutfur Rahman selection. Lutfur was ruined. [Rahman was sacked as Tower Hamlets mayor in 2015 over fraud claims. Shawcroft defended him]. People thought I would be a useful idiot to chair the NEC disputes committee. I defended Labour members who were unjustly suspended but the unions never supported me. You have wrecked lives. Im not angry because you stitched me up. Im so used to that I barely notice. Whats more important is you stitched up my members, and they deserve better. Im told Ill be standing down from the NEC leaving a bad taste in the mouth. Ive had a bad taste in my mouth for the past two decades. Advertisement

Mr Izzard will replace her because he had been runner-up in the last round of elections. The pro-EU comedian and activist had run on a platform of increasing diversity in the party.

At the time he vowed: Despite not being elected, Ill continue to do all I can to campaign for an open and welcoming Labour Party and to campaign with fellow Labour activists to help Labour win the next Election and put Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street.

Last night, Sir David Garrard, who has donated 1.5 million to Labour since 2003, said that he had left the party because he no longer felt any affinity or connection with Labour following the row.

The property tycoon accused the leadership of failing to adequately deal with the most blatant acts of anti-Semitism and said the party he used to support no longer exists.

In a further blow to Mr Corbyn, former Shadow Minister Mr Hunt became the latest Labour figure to call for a breakaway, Left-of-Centre political force.

Mr Hunt, who quit politics last year to become director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, said he was no longer certain to vote for Mr Corbyns Labour Party, even though he was still a Labour member.

He said he was a floating voter and wanted a different political option. Mr Hunt said that Britain was crying out for its own Emmanuel Macron, who quit Frances discredited Socialist Party and stormed to power last year as leader of his own Centre-Left movement, En Marche!

If I could vote for Emmanuel Macron, I would, said Mr Hunt. An individual backed by ideas is as important as the ideas.

To cut through social media politics, you need a strong, substantive leader  somebody like Sadiq Khan or David Miliband.

Mr Hunt said both would make ideal leaders of a pro-European, internationalist party that believes in social mobility, a market economy and social justice.

Mr Corbyn has denied being anti-Semitic. But Jewish peer Robert Winston has claimed that the Labour leader has encouraged and endorsed anti-Semites. Hostility to Jews had infected the Labour Party so its become endemic, he said.

The MoS has chosen not to disclose the identity of the MP in the wife-beating claims. Labour sources denied the party had failed to act, saying the party leaders office had taken every opportunity to try to deal with the allegations.

We have been told that Labour has a backlog of 74 cases of anti-Semitism... but it could be as many as FIVE THOUSAND says JOHN MANN MP

By John Mann, MP for Bassetlaw for The Mail on Sunday

Like all Labour supporters, I want nothing more than for Labour to be returned to power.

But to achieve that we need a leader who can be trusted to be Prime Minister.

There is no doubt that the latest disclosures surrounding anti-Semitism in the party have damaged our leadership.

I welcome Jeremy Corbyns apology for having endorsed a disgusting mural which showed Jewish bankers playing a Monopoly-style game on a board resting on the backs of bowed naked workers. But Mr Corbyns contrition is not enough. We were told last week that the party has a backlog of 74 cases of alleged anti-Semitism that are yet to be dealt with. But I have been told the problem is so widespread there could be anything from 2,000 to 5,000 claims of anti-Semitic behaviour. It is no exaggeration to say this issue has become a serious threat to our ability to present ourselves to the electorate as a party ready to run the country.

But it is not too late for Mr Corbyn to redeem himself.

The most egregious instances of anti-Semitism in Labour have involved Ken Livingstone, who said Hitler supported Zionism.

I have had one or two public confrontations with him over his views. In the eyes of many, Mr Livingstone embodies all that is deplorable about Labour anti-Semitism. Several complaints have been made against him but nothing gets resolved.

Jeremy Corbyn apologised for defending a mural which showed Jewish bankers playing a Monopoly-style game on a board resting on the backs of bowed naked workers

My advice to Mr Corbyn is if you want to show you are serious about rooting out anti-Semitism, then expel Mr Livingstone. But if he fails to do so, people would be entitled to believe that he is not fit to be Prime Minister.

He needs to send a very clear message to anti-Semitic people in the Labour Party: you are not wanted. They should be kicked out whether they are activists or MPs.

At least Mr Corbyn has been spared the problem of dealing with Christine Shawcroft. Last night she finally quit the partys National Executive Committee after opposing the suspension of an apparent Holocaust denier.

The increasing evidence that Labour members simply do not get what anti-Semitism is and that quite a number of them are trying to excuse Holocaust denial shows precisely why Mr Corbyn has a duty to stamp his authority all over the issue.

A failure to act decisively will haunt him and damage Labour for the next ten years.

You're mired... in a VERY toxic Corbyn 'Nazi' row, Lord Sugar John McDonnell blasted Alan Sugar after he tweeted an edited photo of Jeremy Corbyn sat next to Adolf Hitler. Lord Sugar has now deleted the tweet Apprentice host Alan Sugar caused uproar in the anti-Semitism row yesterday  by tweeting an image of Jeremy Corbyn in a car with Hitler. The caption said: When youre pictured at Nuremberg and claim you thought you were going to a car rally. Lord Sugar, who quit the Labour Party in 2015, said Mr Corbyn must take a tougher line on anti-Semitism. Nuremberg was host to Nazi propaganda events. The peer, who is Jewish, said the tweet was a joke, adding: Many a true word spoken in jest Corbyn. AdvertisementA record number of Oxford University students were caught cheating last year, new figures reveal.

In all, there were 57 incidents, with the university seeing a dramatic rise in cases of plagiarism  53 of the 57 cheats were found guilty of copying other peoples work without acknowledgment.

The number of plagiarism cases in the previous year was 36  and in 2002 it was just two.

Details of the four other cases of cheating last year were not given, being labelled simply as academic misconduct.

A record number of Oxford University students were caught cheating last year, new figures reveal

The rise in cheating comes despite warnings that offenders could face expulsion, though Oxford was unable to give any breakdown of the punishments.

Reflecting the universitys growing concern, Oxfords head of discipline, Professor Edward Bispham, has warned fellow dons that the defence of academic integrity was crucial to its worldwide reputation.

David Palfreyman, a legal expert and the bursar of New College, Oxford, said there was a suspicion that much of the cheating was being perpetrated by international students on postgraduate courses. He said: A lot of people on these courses have a lot at stake and might be tempted to cheat because they are paying the full fees.

Oxfords statistics follow growing alarm about the spread of cut-and-paste plagiarism at all universities. Nationwide, a investigation found that in 2016, nearly 50,000 students had been caught cheating during the previous three years, with the vast majority of the cases being plagiarism but others included the use of a mobile phones and even a smart watch in exams.

The statistics come following reports that there has been a spread of cut-and-paste plagiarism at all universities

The Governments university watchdog, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, published guidelines in October about how to counter the upsurge in pernicious cheating, and new technology that can detect when essays include material lifted from the internet is becoming increasingly sophisticated.

Imperial College Londons Thomas Lancaster, a leading expert on essay cheating, said the figures were barely scratching the surface as newer forms of cheating were going undetected. A spokesman for Oxford said: We use increasingly sophisticated software to detect plagiarism. It is something we take very seriously.

Cambridge University said it had far fewer cases of cheating than its elite rival, with just ten in the past five years.Master Sergeant Johnathan J. Dunbar, 36, was killed on Thursday in Manbij, Syria

The Department of Defense has identified the soldier who was killed by a roadside bomb in the fight against ISIS.

Texas native Master Sergeant Johnathan J. Dunbar, 36, was killed on Thursday in Manbij, Syria, near the Turkish border, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his patrol.

Also killed was British SAS Sergeant Matt Tonroe, 33 - the first British soldier to be killed fighting ISIS. Five other coalition soldiers were injured in the attack, officials said.

Dunbar was assigned to the headquarters of the US Army Special Operations Command in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

He grew up in Austin, Texas and joined the Army as an infantryman in 2005, six years after finishing high school, according to USASOC.

Dunbar's first assignment was with 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment at Fort Bragg, where he deployed once to Afghanistan and once to Iraq in support of combat operations.

A US military convoy is seen in Manjib on Saturday. Dunbar was killed in the border town near Turkey on Thursday when an improvised explosive device hit his convoy

Manjib, a mixed Arab-Kurdish town, is under threat of a Turkish military operation

In November 2009, Dunbar transitioned to 2nd Battalion, 38th Cavalry Regiment, a long range surveillance unit, at Fort Hood, Texas. He again deployed to Iraq in support of combat operations.

In 2013, Dunbar was assigned to USASOC, where he served as a team member and deployed three times in support of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dunbar is the the fourth American service member to die in Syria since the US began attacking Islamic State group militants there in September 2014, according to the Pentagon.

Manbij, a mixed Arab-Kurdish town, is under threat of a Turkish military operation from across the border.

Ankara says the town is controlled by Syrian Kurdish militiamen that Turkish officials claim are 'terrorists' and an extension of Kurdish insurgents inside Turkey.

The US currently has about 2,000 troops in Syria. On Thursday, President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement that the US would 'be coming out of Syria like very soon', though his exact meaning was unclear.

A US mine detector armored vehicle leads a convoy of on a road leading to the tense front line with Turkish-backed fighters Manbij on Saturday. Dunbar is the fourth American killed in Syria

The other US fatalities in Syria were Air Force Staff Sgt. Austin Bieren, whose death was noncombat related; Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Scott C. Dayton, who was killed by an improved explosive device; and Army Spc. Etienne J. Murphy, who died in a vehicle rollover.

Dunbar's awards and decorations include three Bronze Star medals, four Army Commendation Medals, six Army Achievement Medals, five Good Conduct Medals, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with two Bronze Service Stars, the Iraq Campaign Medal with two Bronze Service Stars, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon with Numeral 3, the Army Service Ribbon, two Overseas Service Ribbons, the NATO Medal, the Ranger Tab, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Expert Infantryman Badge, the Pathfinder Badge, the Military Freefall Jumpmaster Badge and the Parachutist Badge.Some 300,000 souls make the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela every year. This Easter, I am one of them; only I am following a road less travelled.

For a long while, I have wanted to make the trip, but never had the time, as most of the routes are more than 500 miles long. Then I heard about the Primitivo, Spains oldest and shortest pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. And the toughest.

It starts in Oviedo and winds its way some 200 miles through the Cantabrian Mountains  just about doable in a fortnight. The story goes that, in the 9th century, Alfonso the Chaste heard that the tomb of Saint James (Sant Iago) had been discovered.

Goal: Santiago de Compostela. Bill Coles followed in the footsteps of Alfonso the Chaste to reach it

He immediately set out to investigate, and I am now following in his footsteps.

The pilgrimage has been the subject of a three-part BBC TV programme, which ended last night.

The lifestyle is Spartan: huge, 5-a-night dormitories that sleep anything up to 40 people; a 10pm lock-up at most of the hostels and check-out by 8.30am; rubberised pillows and mattresses with a disposable sheet if youre lucky.

Im on foot with a 10 kg rucksack, so theres plenty of time to revel in the history and lush beauty of North-West Spain. It has a slight feel of Switzerland: verdant green, cow bells, men in clogs and rickety store rooms perched on staddle stones.

There are a lot of hills and lots of mud and the rain is like nothing I have experienced.

I walk through Storm Hugo and everything from my Scottish-seasoned waterproofs to the entire contents of my rucksack are saturated.

I flew to Oviedo a week ago, direct from Heathrow. In the cathedral, I picked up my Credencial (pilgrims passport) plus the icon of the camino, the scallop shell, all of its ridges leading to the same place, just like the routes to Santiago de Compostela.

Within an hour, I am in rolling countryside, now following larger scallop shells, as well as supplementary yellow arrows.

Bill with his fellow pilgrims, who all had different reasons for making the trip, from atoning for a lost love to self-reflection

Restaurants offer huge pilgrim meals, at least four courses with wine, for 9.

My motley crew consists of a grizzled Spanish sea captain, Pepe, 54; a Spanish accountant, Roberto, 40; and two German women, Giulia and Sara, both 27.

We all have our reasons for making the trip. For me, its the idea of walking where thousands have trod before.

Roberto is atoning for a lost love; Sara wants to take a silver crucifix back to her Portuguese grandmother.

For Giulia, its all about being here during Holy Week. When we climbed the mountains on the Hospitales route, she sat on the path and silently wept.

And Pepe? He says he wants to learn about himself.

It was our miserable day walking through Storm Hugo that brought us together.

Now, we celebrate cheap thrills together.

There is nothing to touch the ecstasy of vegetable soup after a morning in the rain, or tugging off my sodden boots, or showering in the grotty bathrooms.

This is Pepes fourth camino and he says the worst day will be when we arrive in Santiago de Compostela, because then our adventure will be over. I have heard much about the citys cathedral, with its colossal incense-burners that swing above the congregation. I dont know how I will feel when I get there next week.

But I can already sense the camino weaving its magic.

Ive never been more in the moment  focusing only on the next step.

Getting the finish certificate will be an achievement, but pilgrimages are not only about the destination.

They are about the journey, the scrapes and the people you meet along the way  all of which can be strangely and wonderfully life-changing.Nobody is ever going to look dignified in a flotation suit. But better to look undignified than to fall into Jokulsarlon without one. The water is just above freezing point, and the shock factor alone could be lethal.

For the most notable inhabitants of the lagoon, however, the water is a touch too warm. The icebergs that break off Icelands largest glacier face a slow melt, then eventual disappearance. But there are always more waiting to take their place.

Its quite the spectacle, and its no coincidence Jokulsarlon is often used as a movie location, including for the Bond film Die Another Day.

Impressive: A Zodiac boat skips around an iceberg in Jokulsarlon lagoon

Our craft for the adventure to the glaciers edge is a Zodiac rigid inflatable  small enough to get up close and manoeuvre, but exposed to the elements.

Those massive, puffy flotation suits seem an even better idea now.

The icebergs are not placid beasts and a great deal of care has to be taken while weaving around them when one chunk of ice falls off. Its not so much the piece falling off thats the problem, but the unbalancing effect that it has.

The icebergs are not placid beasts and a great deal of care has to be taken while weaving around them when one chunk of ice falls off, writes David

The distribution of weight changes, and the iceberg can suddenly flip. And when nine-tenths is under the water, that can be worrisome. Spotting the ones that have flipped recently is fairly easy: they have a lot of eerie blue colouring which is actually the standard colour  its only exposure to the outside air that turns them white.

Eventually the Zodiac pulls up next to the glacier wall. Not too close  this is the most dangerous part of the lake as chunks 600ft tall can break off.

This time, nothing is breaking. But tomorrow, the lake will look totally different again.You may be surprised to learn that not everyone on a flight feels the effects of turbulence in the same way.

Thats because there are some parts of the aircraft that shake less as its buffeted by the wind.

And here, commercial airline pilot Jonny Knowlson  aka Jonny the Pilot, as hes known on social media  reveals where they are. And more besides, from the best place to sit for a good nights sleep to the optimum side of the plane for a quick exit.

Commercial airline pilot Jonny Knowlson  aka Jonny the Pilot, as hes known on social media  reveals where the best seats on a plane are

Anti-turbulence seating

Nervous flyers, pay close attention.

If youre looking for the smoothest ride, says Jonny, did you know sitting over the wings on a big aircraft that flies at a higher altitude will work in your favour?

Being closer to the centre of the planes mass while forces such as lift, torque, wind, gravity, drag and thrust act upon it will mean youll be well placed for a smooth ride.

Silent night

For the quietest seat sit as far forward and as far away from the engines as your budget allows, says Jonny, who says that as a pilot and frequent flyer, hes sat in almost every seat. If you miss out on the front row then plump for an aisle seat. It will be marginally quieter than by the window, though the view is less appealing.

Jonny says that as a pilot and a frequent flyer, he has sat in almost every seat on an aircraft

The best spot for sleeping is probably towards the middle of your cabin away from the noise of toilets and my hard-working colleagues in the galley.

Leg stretcher

Parents, with little chance of rest, should always try to nab a bulkhead seat but beware everything needs to be stowed for take off and landing, says Jonny.

Let me recommend Seat Guru, a superb website that offers top advice. All you need is your airline name, flight number and date you plan to travel.

For example, I recently flew to Geneva on an Airbus A319. According to Seat Guru row 10, seats B, C, D and E are great as they have "extra legroom due to the emergency exit"  winner! Remember though that youll need to be prepared to store your hand luggage in overhead lockers in exchange for this space.

Another example, if youre flying aboard a Dreamliner (787), then any seat in row 30 is an extra legroom winner.

However, challenges to consider include the tray table and video monitor in the armrest perhaps reducing the seat width, says Seat Guru.

Also it can be frustrating if fellow passengers congregate around the loo in front of you.

Be aware that rows 12 and 13 on the same aircraft have seats that may have limited recline, according to the website.

If youre flying business on the Queen of the Skies, a 747, then upstairs in 62a is great. Easy access, extra legroom and the service is superb.

Stick to the left, if youre turning right

If youre a hand baggage passenger then overhead lockers are important, says Jonny. Communal, of course, but most airlines board back-to-front so being on first offers the chance to have all your belongings close by. Handy for a quick exit once you reach the gate.

With that in mind, front left and back left on many short haul flights works nicely as we normally disembark from that side of the aircraft, front and back.

And being by an exit on the left-hand side of the bigger planes is crucial if you want to avoid being at the back of that passport queue, especially on the whopping A380.

Remember, airlines configure cabins differently so be sure to take that into account.

The absolute best seat?

Without question, the very best seat on the plane is mine, says Jonny. Dont believe me? Come and say hello either before take-off or when weve landed and youll see.

Jonny can be found blogging at JonnyThePilot.com and tweeting at twitter.com/JonnyPilot.Her ex Ryan Edwards was arrested and booked on Tuesday for a drug-related charge in Tennessee.

And Maci Bookout has filed a protection order against the troubled star, according to US Weekly.

The Teen Mom OG star, 26, shares a nine-year-old son named Bentley with him.

Maci Bookout has filed a protection order against the troubled star, according to US Weekly

Maci listed herself as well as Bentley and her two other children in the order.

She is mom to two kids - Jayde, two, and Maverick, 22 months, with husband Taylor McKinney.

US Weekly's source said that Maci 'will always protect the kids as she should and needs to,' adding that she 'absolutely guards the kids.'

Taylor also filed a protection order against Ryan; It is not known when the orders were placed.

Maci and Ryan welcomed Bentley in 2008 and got engaged by 2009; they split in 2010.

Drama: Her ex Ryan Edwards was arrested and booked on Tuesday for a drug-related charge in Tennessee; the reality personality's mugshot from his booking on Tuesday

She began dating Taylor in 2012 and the duo tied the knot October 2016 in Greenville, Florida.

Maci and Taylor welcomed Jayde in 2015 and Maverick in 2016.

Ryan's drug related arrest comes the same day it was revealed his wife Mackenzie Standifer is expecting their first child.

The 30-year-old MTV star, who went to rehab for heroin addiction last year, was booked at Red Bank City Police Department in Tennessee on Tuesday.

Family: She is mom to two kids - Jayde, two, and Maverick, 22 months, with husband Taylor McKinney

A source told Radar Online that Ryan was arrested at his home on a warrant at 3 pm for petition to revoke, which means breaking probation, related to a past simple possession of heroin charge.

'He was held on $5,000 bond,' a Hamilton County Jail spokesperson told the website. 'He was bonded out at 10:15pm.'

Ryan and Mackenzie, 21, married in a church ceremony in November which followed an initial smaller ceremony in May when they eloped before Ryan's treatment for heroin addiction.

In a teaser shown at the end of Monday night's episode of Teen Mom OG, MacKenzie was seen showing her positive pregnancy test to show producer Jeni who jumped up and down with excitement.The way she handled the email situation was a huge blunder. The Democrat's ignoring of the wage earners, especially since the Republican candidate was connecting with them so well was another blunder.



Hillary and the Democrats really just sat back and said "The Republican candidate will lose" and thought no effort was needed.



Wrong on all accounts.



And yes, she does not come across well on TV.She's the glamorous model girlfriend of Kyle Sandilands who told her dad she wouldn't post any more pictures of him online without his 'consent.'

But prankster Imogen Anthony proved rules are made to be broken, when she shared the latest x-rated gag she played on her father in their ongoing prank war.

Taking to her Instagram Story, the 27-year-old uploaded a video of her unsuspecting old man walking around her Southern Highlands property - only with a crudely drawn penis on his back.

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No idea! During a visit to her and Kyle's Southern Highlands property, Imogen stuck a crudely drawn penis on her father's back. Her old man was none the wiser while inspecting the chooks on the couple's farm

The glamorous model's father appearing none-the-wiser as his daughter films him in the hilarious clip, as he inspects her chooks with a drink-in-hand.

'Observing all the cocks but has no idea about the one on his back,' outrageous Imogen captioned the video.

In a second clip, it shows her dad walking through the kitchen of their country property, even using her signature prank catchphrase.

Gag warfare! Glamorous model Imogen is known for her pranks on her dad, with this being the latest one. The model often using the catchphrase: 'sucked in o clock'

'Hahahahahaha sucked in o clock.'

Despite her love of risque clothing and photographs, model Imogen is quite the prankster, with her setting her sights on her father numerous times.

Earlier this month, the boisterous beauty shared a screenshot to Instagram of a text message conversation between her and her dad.

Father-daughter hi-jinks! Imogen Anthony and her father (pictured) have been involved in a long-running prank war, with the boisterous beauty now upping the ante with her hilarious public gags

Captioning the image 'Standard text convos with Dad', the exchange implied that Imogen had drawn a PENIS on her unsuspecting father's arm.

Mr Anthony wrote: 'I went to the pub yesterday, while I was getting bread n milk, chic (sic) behind the bar said 'What's that on your arm, a birthmark or a tattoo?' I look at my arm and there's a d**k drawn on it!! Your (sic) a d**khead, ya know that?!'

Imogen cheekily replied 'Sucked in o'clock'

That's rude! Imogen's exchange with her dad seems to infer that she drew a penis on her unsuspecting old man

The father-daughter hi-jinks have reportedly been going on for years, but they seem to have escalated in the past month after Mr Anthony was called in as caretaker at Imogen and Kyle's sprawling property in the NSW Southern Highlands.

Several weeks ago, the social media star shared a photo of her sleeping father on Instagram without his permission.

'So after the last few social media stitch ups, Dad has asked me not to post anything of him anymore without his 'consent'' she explained in the caption.

'An eye for an eye': Last month, Imogen shared a photo of her father's face without his permission, after he let a pet pooch curl up on her vintage sofa

She explained that when her father disobeyed her request to 'not let the dog or his dirty shoes on their vintage, embroidered couch', she believed a payback was in order.

'An eye for an eye I say,' Imogen reasoned.

After her latest penis prank, it's unclear what retaliation Mr Anthony has planned, but Imogen may have to watch her back.

Watch out! it's unclear what retaliation Mr Anthony has plannned, but Imogen may have to watch her backShe juggles her high-flying career as a supermodel with being the mother to her teenage son whom she shares with her former flame Norman Reedus.

And Helena Christensen, 49, enjoyed some quality time with her son Mingus Lucien Reedus, 18, who is the spitting image of his father on Friday.

The supermodel rested her head affectionately on the top of her child's head in the sweet social media snap shared on Instagram.

It's all relative! Helena Christensen, 49, posed with Norman Reedus' lookalike son Mingus, 18, in sweet family snap on Friday

They lent into each other when they posed for the lovely mother-and-son photograph together which showed their incredibly close bond.

Once Miss Universe pageant in 1986, now Helena looked ageless as she went make-up free to show off her natural facial features framed with her brunette box fringe.

Meanwhile, her son showed the apple doesn't fall far from the tree as he bore a striking resemblance to his American actor dad.

Double take: The supermodel's son (left) showed the apple doesn't fall far from the tree as he bore a striking resemblance to his American actor dad (right, Los Angeles, June 2016)

'You make me so happy,' the mother-of-one penned in the caption accompanying the photograph.

As well as family pictures of her son, the beauty queen treated her adoring 313,000 fans to a series of sultry swimsuit snaps on social media.

The model was propelled into the limelight before Instagram was created and she is best known for her line of work with Victoria's Secret Angel.

However, she admitted she was 'so happy' Instagram wasn't around when she first started out as a model in an interview with InStyleUK magazine.

Sizzling siren: As well as family pictures of her son, the beauty queen treated her adoring 313,000 fans to a series of sultry swimsuit snaps on social media

Victoria's Secret Angel pin-up Helena welcomed her only child into the world 18 years ago back in October 1999.

The Danish born beauty dated Mingus' father Norman for five years but the couple went their separate ways for good in 2003.

Helena, who shot to fame with the likes of Naomi Campbell, also went steady with INXS frontman Michael Hutchence for five years in the 1990s.With their striking features and background in rival soaps, it's not hard to make the comparison between Margot Robbie and rising star Samara Weaving.

And Australian beauty Samara is tipped for further stardom when she conquers the small screen in the TV remake Picnic At Hanging Rock opposite Natalie Dormer.

The 26-year-old, who starred in the Oscar-winning drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, was dubbed 'the real deal' by the series director as she smouldered in a sultry shoot for Stellar magazine's Sunday issue.

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Is Samara Weaving the new Margot Robbie? Former Neighbours star tipped for Hollywood stardom was dubbed 'the real deal' as she smouldered in sultry shoot for Stellar magazine

'There is such a fierce drive to be creative and challenge herself. She's not there for the wrong reasons and she's hungry,' director Larysa Kondracki told the publication.

'To me, that's the best thing you can hope for in an actor - someone who wants to be there and comes to play. She's the real deal.'

Samara certainly looked like an accomplished actress in her cover shoot, channeling Victoriana chic in an irreverent ivory tulle dress with lace inserts.

Posing in her Picnic At Hanging Rock costume on the set of the drama, the Adelaide native wore her normally blonde tresses in dark brown ringlets and framed her features with soft make-up.

Seeing double: With their striking features and background in rival soaps, it's not hard to make the comparison between Margot Robbie (L) and rising star Samara (R)

With her piercing blue eyes and full lips, she bears a striking resemblance to fellow Australian star Margot, 27.

And the similarities don't stop there, as Samara got her first real acting break on Home and Away, while Margot's original claim to fame was playing runaway teenager Donna Freedman in rival soap Neighbours.

Samara has since flexed her acting muscles as Penelope in Three Billboards, which proved to stiff competition to Margot's Tonya Harding biopic during awards season earlier this year.

Ambitious: 'There is such a fierce drive to be creative and challenge herself. She's not there for the wrong reasons and she's hungry,' director Larysa Kondracki said of Samara

While I, Tonya was originally predicted to be a favourite, it found itself outshone by Samara's Three Billboards at the SAG Awards.

In addition to the Best Acting Ensemble award, Frances McDormand picked up Best Actress over Margot for her role as Mildred Hayes in the critically-acclaimed drama.

Meanwhile, Three Billboards scooped two Oscars, with Frances winning Best Actress while Sam Rockwell claimed Best Supporting Actor.

In comparison, I, Tonya won one Academy Award - Best Supporting Actress for Allison Janney - despite two other nominations.

Read the full interview in Stella magazine on sale on April 1.

Star of the small screen: Samara (left) is set to star opposite Game Of Thrones' Natalie Dormer (centre) in the highly-anticipated TV remake Picnic At Hanging RockThey are celebrating their first Easter with their seven-month-old son Jesse.

And Beau Ryan, 32, gushed that he and his wife Kara are looking forward to marking the festive occasion as a family when they head 'down the coast' to visit relatives.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia, the Stan ambassador also insisted the pair will make sure they get some 'quality time' to themselves without the kids and have a 'secret spot' they go to.

EXCLUSIVE: 'We have a secret spot we go to': Beau Ryan gushed over 'quality time' with his wife Kara (pictured)

'We are really lucky to have time off and we are going down the coast to see family and friends,' he said.

'Kara and I will get some quality time together. We have a secret spot we go to.'

He added: 'We will binge watch Stan all weekend eating as much chocolate as we can. Lifes good.'

The couple, who already share five-year-old daughter Remi, welcomed baby Jesse back in August.

Milestone weekend! The couple are celebrating their first Easter with their seven-month-old son Jesse (pictured)

A week after delivering, Kara told her fans on Instagram: 'A huge thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and gifts.

'We are truly blessed to have such amazing family and friends in our life #OneWeekOldToday #OurJesseBoy.'

Kara and Beau, who were married in 2012, welcomed their first child, daughter Remi into the world in 2013.

In February, the stay-at-home mum shared an inspirational message about post-partum body positivity.

Excited: 'We are really lucky to have time off and we are going down the coast to see family and friends. Kara and I will get some quality time together. We have a secret spot we go to,' he said

She posed in a full-length selfie, explaining the image was a slice of 'real life.' The photo showed Kara wearing a blue crop top and a pair of black and pink gym shorts.

In a long caption, Kara said she had come to terms with not having the 'perfect' post-baby body.

'I may not be glammed up ready for a photo shoot, have abs or in the latest gear, have a clean room or even a clear photo,' Kara started the post.

She continued: 'But this was real life, walking past my mirror the other day and realising how amazing women's bodies are!!'

New addition: The couple, who already share five-year-old daughter Remi, welcomed baby Jesse back in August

Kara also revealed in the liberating post that she had given up on chasing perfection in favour of a balanced, happy life.

'Whilst I'm not back to my "pre-baby body" and it may not ever be, the thoughts can now leave my head, that I must have to eat nothing but salad or get a tummy tuck (because I thought that many women must hide that they get them).

'I can keep living trying to maintain a well balanced life knowing that the advice I was given was right...it takes up to 10 months to make a baby so you have to allow at least that for things to settle post baby,' she concluded the post.Saturday Night Takeaway producers have reminded viewers that Dec Donnelly will be going live tonight with out his fellow presenter, Ant McPartlin, for the first time in decades after they posted a photo of the show's script.

It comes amid reports that Dec will deliver a touching message of support to his troubled friend at the start of the programme.

ITV bosses were reportedly left in panic this morning when trying to work out how best to address the host's absence from the show.

Ant, 42, is currently back in rehab after being charged with drink-driving following his car crash in London earlier this month.

Tonight will be the first time in Declan Donnelly's career where he will head to the stage without his presenting partner (pictured: Dec in the trailer for the upcoming shows which was captured on a back of a plane's chair which will take winning viewers to Florida)

Posting a photo of the show's script on Twitter ahead of tonight's programme, The Saturday Night Takeaway team wrote: 'Just a little photo to prove that we dont just wing it, there is actually a script'

This has left his best friend of 29 years Dec, 42, to host their last two Saturday Night Takeaway shows without him.

Posting a photo of the show's script on Twitter ahead of tonight's programme, The Saturday Night Takeaway team wrote: 'Just a little photo to prove that we dont just wing it, there is actually a script!'

It was a subtle reminder for fans that Dec would be presenting alone as the top of the script read: 'Hosted by Declan Donnelly'.

People were quick to offer the best of luck to the entertainer with one writing: 'Good luck Dec and the team, youll smash it! Ant, we will miss you, get well soon and come back stronger.'

Another said: 'Declan Donnelly go Dec, you are gonna smash this!'

Social media users were quick to offer the best of luck to the entertainer (pictured)

Dec will be 'addressing the elephant in the room' in his opening monologue, report the Daily Express.

ITV bosses were reportedly going to decide between three particular options this morning when addressing the issue of Ant's sudden departure from the popular Saturday night show.

The first being that Dec will apologise for his partner's no-show and briefly mention Ant's drink-driving arrest of two weeks earlier, or instead the 42-year-old could offer a 'get well soon' message to his friend in rehab.

Finally, head decision makers at the production company might suggest not mentioning Ant at all.

A television insider told The Sun: 'Explaining Ants absence has been the hardest part of planning. The bosses are torn in regards to how they can hit the right tone.

Dec looked sombre on his recent outings (pictured right in London on March 22). He confirmed he will present the final two Saturday Night Takeaway episodes solo in a Twitter statement last week while Ant (left leaving his home in London on March 21) attends rehab

Ant McPartlin is currently back in rehab after being charged with drink-driving following his car crash in Richmond, south west London, earlier this month. His 26,000 Mini (pictured) collided with two other vehicles

'They want to be respectful to people involved in Ants car accident, while not bringing down the mood of the show.

'Takeaway is all about having fun and they fear a sombre start may seriously effect the quality of the output.'

MailOnline has approached ITV bosses for comment.

On Friday, Dec was pictured looking sombre when he arrived to rehearsals for Saturday Night Takeaway  for the first time without his partner.

Dec confirmed he will present the final two Saturday Night Takeaway episodes solo in a Twitter statement last week, telling fans:

'Whilst I never thought I'd be in this position, after much discussion and careful consideration we've decided that the remaining two shows of this series of Saturday Night Takeaway will go ahead.

ITV bosses were panicking over how Dec should handle Ant's absence from Saturday Night Takeaway (pictured together: the duo presenting the second episode of the 2018 series)

Stephen Mulhern will appear on tonight's show in a supporting role alongside Scarlett Moffatt (pictured: the four presenters ahead of the 2018 series)

'We made a promise to take hundreds of deserving winners to Florida to watch the series finale, and we will honour that.

'Everyone at ITV and the Takeaway team feels we owe it to the audience to complete the series.'

ITV were apparently affected by the decision not to air last weekend's episode, with the broadcaster reportedly losing three million viewers after the show was replaced by The Voice on Saturday evening.

Ant reportedly gave Dec his blessing to host the final two episodes of Saturday Night Takeaway without him.

The pair had previously made an on-screen pledge to never host without the other but the drama over the recent months has meant Dec had to go back on his promise.

More bad news arrived for Ant recently as car company Suzuki axed its 20million advertising deal with the presenting duo (pictured: the pair in one of the organisation's ads)

In a statement ITV said: 'We can confirm that Saturday Night Takeaway, presented by Declan Donnelly, will return to ITV on March 31, and the series finale will be taking place at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida a week later.'

Also seen attending the studios ahead of the show tonight was Stephen Mulhern, who will also appear on tonight's show in a supporting role alongside Scarlett Moffatt.

Although reportedly neither will take Ant's place in regular feature Ant vs Dec as bosses have decided to scrap the popular segment.

Friends say Ant has been hit 'hard' by his impending 60million divorce from his wife of 11 years Lisa Armstrong, and was entering rehab in light of the drink-driving charge.

More bad news arrived for Ant recently as car company Suzuki axed its 20million advertising deal with the presenting duo.

Friends say Ant has been hit 'hard' by his impending 60million divorce from his wife of 11 years Lisa Armstrong (pictured together)

The Metropolitan Police confirmed Ant has been charged and will appear at Wimbledon Magistrates Court for a hearing on April 4.

It comes after he crashed his 26,000 John Cooper black Mini into two other cars in Richmond, south west London, on March 18.

As a result the star checked back into rehab, following an earlier stint when he was treated for a painkiller addiction.

In a statement, Ant's publicist said: 'Ant has decided to go back into treatment and step down from his current TV commitments.

'He has spoken with Dec and ITV and asked for time off for the foreseeable future.'

Impressive pictures have revealed the stage for the series finale - hosted in Florida - which is under construction.

And on Twitter Dec wrote: 'Back in studio today preparing your #SaturdayNightTakeaway for tomorrow night. Have a great Good Friday! D x'

Hosting duties: Dec wrote on the social media site: 'Back in studio today preparing your #SaturdayNightTakeaway for tomorrow night. Have a great Good Friday! D x'She has suffered a rocky four years plagued by celebrity feuds, claims of cultural appropriation, relationship breakdowns, cancelled tours and musical flops.

And Iggy Azalea has revealed she sought professional help for mental health issues at the end of 2017 due to the strain of the last few years.

The Fancy hitmaker, 27, admitted her management became so worried about her that they staged an intervention and sent her on a two-week 'mental retreat' in Arizona.

'I'm still cleaning up the mess now': Iggy Azalea has revealed she got professional help for mental health issues at a 'retreat' after her management staged an intervention

'They were like 'We need you to go and speak to these people and make sure that you're mentally prepared to come out with new music',' she told Billboard on Friday.

'I didn't want to go there - I didn't like the idea of being sent away somewhere'.

The Australian rapper confessed she was initially 'p***ed' at being sent away, but soon found it a relief to have an 'honest conversation' with a professional.

'It was good to say something to somebody who could give me the tools and information on how to make my life manageable when I'm feeling those things,' she revealed.

Troubled times: The Fancy hitmaker, 27, admitted pals sent her on a two-week 'mental retreat' in Arizona

The Australian rapper confessed she was initially 'pissed' at being sent away, but soon found it a relief to have an 'honest conversation' with a professional

The Black Widow hitmaker explained that she had to confront a number of issues that have hounded her since she burst onto the music scene in 2014.

These have included learning to cope with a slew of musical disappointments like her cancelled 2015 tour, a dumped second album, Twitter wars with her own record label and a string of flopped singles.

She was also left strained by the public demise of her engagement with rapper Nick Young in 2016.

But perhaps most importantly, she had to confront accusations from other musicians like Snoop Dogg and Azalea Banks of cultural appropriation.

Banks was a vociferous critic when the 27-year-old Azalea found overwhelming commercial success with her debut album, The New Classic, in 2014.

Backlash: She had to confront accusations from other musicians like Snoop Dogg and Azalea Banks (R) of cultural appropriation - after causing a stir by rapping in the dialect of an African American from the southern United States, despite being white and speaking in an Australian accent off-stage

Azalea caused a stir by rapping in the dialect of an African American from the southern United States, despite being white and speaking in an Australian accent off-stage.

Banks, who is African American, accused Azalea - whom she mocked as 'Igloo Australia' - of profiting through racial appropriation in a series of Twitter posts that became increasingly heated.

Perhaps referring to her social media beef, Azalea admitted she has 'so many regrets' and has 'slid down the mountain' a bit.

But remaining positive ahead of her musical comeback, she reiterated that she's still here 'cleaning up the mess' and accepted that she's 'not on top anymore'.She waved goodbye to her Studio 10 colleagues on Friday after deciding to quite her hosting role to spend more time with her family.

And it appears Jessica Rowe has wasted no time in embracing the good things in life.

Just hours after filming her final show, mother-of-two uploaded a image to Instagram showing her grinning from ear-to-ear as she enjoyed a glass of rose.

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Unemployment suits her! A grinning Jessica Rowe celebrates with a glass of wine while bidding farewell to her Studio 10 colleagues in a touching Instagram post

'What a day!! Make up off, pjs on, rose poured... and I want to say thank you for all your love and support as I head off into unicorn pastures!!,' Jess captioned the post.

The 47-year-old ended her post by 'thanking her darling friends at @studio10au'

In the photo Jessica proudly showed off her manicured nails which had been adorned with a gold glitter colour.

Jessica's posted a very similar photo on the day she announced she would be leaving Studio 10.

She once again posed with a glass of rose as her daughter photobombed her mother in the background.

Rose time! Jessica's posted a very similar photo on the day she announced she would be leaving Studio 10.

The quirky presenter captioned that post: 'Today is Friday! Friday is rose - and new beginnings!!! Thank YOU for all your beautiful messages of love and support!!'

The self-proclaimed #craphousewife hosted the show for five years before announcing she would be stepping away from the camera to focus on her family.

In an interview with Now To Love, the veteran journalist had nothing but praise for her former workplace saying it helped her 'find my voice again' and become 'far more confident'.

Farewell! The self-proclaimed #craphousewife hosted the show for five years before announcing she would be stepping away from the camera to focus on her family.

Family time: Jessica made the shock decision to quit Studio 10 earlier this month to spend more time with her husband Peter Overton (seen) and their two daughters.

'I've changed as a person since I started on the show,' she said.

Jessica made the shock decision to quit Studio 10 earlier this month to spend more time with her husband Peter Overton and their two daughters.

But she admitted it wasn't all rosy at home, as her hubby of 14 years is keen for her to learn to cook and clean now that she has more free time.She's no stranger to showing off her impressive curves.

And Blac Chyna was at it again on Friday as the former reality star took to Instagram in a sizzling swimsuit.

The 29-year-old Lashed entrepreneur definitely drew quite a bit of attention thanks to her yellow one piece bathing suit.

Ready for summer! Blac Chyna was showing off her curves again on Friday as the former reality star took to Instagram in a sizzling swimsuit

In the first image, the mother of two can be seen sitting on the side of a tiled hot tub in a very unique pose that saw one leg bent while the other was straight.

Her golden high waist bathing suit struggled to cover the important areas, and provided a generous view of her sizable cleavage.

A pair of canary yellow heels with bright pink soles completed her skimpy attire.

She parted her silver tresses in the middle and wore a splash of light pink lipstick, subtle blush and copper colored eye make-up.

A stretch! Her golden high waist bathing suit struggled to cover the important areas, and provided a generous view of her sizable cleavage

Leg day? It seems that Rob Kardashian's ex was particularly proud of her sculpted gams, as she posted a second image of just her disembodied limbs

Her only significant accessories appeared to be a necklace composed of three-dimensional letters and a bejeweled bracelet fastened around her right wrist.

It seems that Rob Kardashian's ex was particularly proud of her sculpted gams, as she posted a second image of just her disembodied legs.

Perhaps it was meant to catch the eye of new boyfriend YBN Almighty Jay.

New love: Perhaps her leg shot was meant to catch the eye of new boyfriend YBN Almighty Jay (couple pictured together on Tuesday)

Lucky them: The new couple were checking out work by street artist Sand One on Thursday, who shared an Instagram post working on a new piece in what appeared to be Blac's backyard

The new couple were checking out work by street artist Sand One on Thursday, who shared an Instagram post working on a new piece in what appeared to be Blac's backyard.

Chyna later took to social media to show off her workout gear and a new brunette hair color and cut.

She shares daughter Dream, one, with ex-boyfriend Rob Kardashian and also has five-year-old King Cairo with ex Tyga.On Thursday, he needed emergency open-heart surgery while doctors unblocked a pulmonary valve.

But on Friday, Arnold Schwarzenegger, 70, woke up from surgery with his legendary vigor, delivering his catchphrase: 'I'm back!'

His friend and colleague Sylvester Stallone, 71, had some words of encouragement for the Terminator 2 star, telling TMZ: 'Arnold's a strong man, he'll be bigger and better than ever.'

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Hasta la vista, baby: On Friday, Arnold Schwarzenegger, 70, woke up from surgery with his legendary vigor, delivering his catchphrase: 'I'm back!' Seen here earlier this month

The Expendables star is asked whether Arnie's health scare is enough to put Stallone off cigars.

'Some things you just can't give up: stogies and breathing,' quips the Creed actor.

When asked if he thinks Schwarzenegger will quit smoking, the action star simply says 'Doubt it.'

Old pals: His friend and colleague Sylvester Stallone, 71, had some words of encouragement for the Terminator 2 star

Fancy footwork: Hie True Lies co-star Jamie Lee Curtis posted a snap of the pair tangoing on the set of their 1994 action film

Stallone wasn't the only celebrity wishing the five time Mr. Universe winning bodybuilder a speedy recovery.

Hie True Lies co-star posted a snap of the pair tangoing on the set of their 1994 action film.

She captioned the post: 'Healing love and laughter to my favorite dance partner.'It was revealed only yesterday that he is being sued for not paying rent on his Beverly Hills home.

But Tyga doesn't seem too concerned about possible money troubles, as he immediately shared some snaps of his new, extremely pricey rides via Instagram on Friday.

The 25-year-old rapper, who's famous for his hit Rack City, took to the social media platform to boast of his new luxury automobiles.

Cash heavy! Tyga doesn't seem too concerned about possible money troubles, as he shared some snaps of his new, extremely pricey rides on Instagram on Friday

In the post, he can be seen sitting in the front seat of his Mercedes-Maybach while sporting a lime green t-shirt.

His caption explained that he had already taken the liberty of customizing his new vehicle: 'ItookthetopofftheMaybach.'

Indeed, the oversized sedan, which can retail for over $200,000 only comes from the factory with a fixed roof.

An Instagram story accompanying the post showed Kylie Jenner's ex lowering the convertible roof as he sat in the car.

Lawsuit: The massive purchases will no doubt come as a surprise to his landlord, Simon Cowell's ex-fiancee Mezhgan Hussainy, who is suing him for missed rent payments (pictured earlier in March 2018)

In the background, an orange and black Bugatti Veyron, which appeared to be the 16.4 model, sat next to another performance vehicle.

Bugatti Veyrons are commonly sourced for approximately $2 million.

The massive purchases will no doubt come as a surprise to his landlord, Simon Cowell's ex-fiancee Mezhgan Hussainy, who is suing him for missed rent payments.

Tyga moved into a Beverly Hills home rented to him by Hussainy in March 2017, according to an article on Thursday by TMZ.

Roller: Tyga seems to have a penchant for sazzy whips (seen here on March 9th arriving to a show in Australia)

The lawsuit claims that Tyga, real name Micheal Ray Stevenson, stopped paying rent in January.

Hussainy was seeking to evict the rapper and payment for back rent.

Tyga's five-year-old son King Cairo, whom he shares with reality star Blac Chyna, was named as a defendant because the child's name was on the lease.Bringing Up Bates star Erin Elise Bates and her husband of four years, Chad Paine, welcomed their third child - daughter Everly Hope - measuring 18in and weighing 5lb on Friday.

The Tennessee-based couple noted how the faces of their son Carson, 2; and daughter Brooklyn, 19 months; 'lit up at the sight of their sister.'

'It brought us to tears. It feels like we are experiencing a little bit of heaven on earth right now,' the Bible-quoting duo - who met in 2011 - told Us Weekly in a statement.

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'Heaven on earth!' Bringing Up Bates star Erin Elise Bates and her husband of four years, Chad Paine, welcomed their third child - daughter Everly Hope - measuring 18in and weighing 5lb on Friday

'The thrill and joy of holding another precious baby never grows old. She has already been smothered with love and kisses, and our hearts are so thankful to God for a healthy little baby girl.'

The 26-year-old piano teacher and the 30-year-old Noble Metals staffer have 'made a lot of progress' on little Everly's nursery, which is now pinker with refinished furniture.

Erin's blessed baby news came the day after her 23-year-old sister Alyssa Joy brought her third daughter - 19in, 6lb Zoey Joy - into the world with husband John Webster in Lake County.

'It brought us to tears': The Tennessee-based couple noted how the faces of their son Carson, 2; and daughter Brooklyn, 19 months; 'lit up at the sight of their sister'

'#happywife': The 26-year-old piano teacher and the 30-year-old Noble Metals staffer have 'made a lot of progress' on little Everly's nursery, which is now pinker with refinished furniture

'We're so happy for Zooey's safe arrival!' Alyssa and the 29-year-old air-conditioning technician told Us Weekly.

'Three girls is going to be crazy and emotional but we can't wait to welcome little Zooey Joy into our lives.'

The Jonny on the Spot Cleaning owners are also parents of daughters Allie Jane, 2; and Lexi Mae, 14 months.

'We're so happy for Zooey's safe arrival!' Erin's blessed baby news came the day after her 23-year-old sister Alyssa Joy brought her third daughter - 19in, 6lb Zoey Joy - into the world with husband John Webster in Lake County

'Three girls is going to be crazy and emotional': Alyssa and the 29-year-old air-conditioning technician are also parents of daughters Allie Jane, 2; and Lexi Mae, 14 months

Erin and Alyssa are two of 19 children born to Gil and Kelly Jo Bates, and their UP TV series is now in its seventh season.

The Christian clan are reportedly 'friendly' with the Duggars from TLC's similar canceled series, 19 Kids and Counting.She is currently treading the boards in the psychological thriller Frozen.

And Suranne Jones appeared to have pulled out all the stops for her latest performance as she left London's Theatre Royal Haymarket on Friday.

The Doctor Foster star, 39, cut a casual figure in a cream knitted jumper as she headed to an awaiting taxi.

Making her exit: Suranne Jones appeared to have pulled out all the stops for her latest performance in Frozen as she left London 's Theatre Royal Haymarket on Friday

Suranne clutched a dark denim jacket as she made her exit, with the cosy cream and burgundy jumper falling loosely over her incredible physique.

She teamed the look with black skintight leggings and opted for comfort with a pair of black trainers.

The actress showcased her natural beauty with a minimal make-up look and styled her brunette tresses which fell over her shoulders.

Low-key: The Doctor Foster star, 39, cut a casual figure in a cream knitted jumper as she headed to an awaiting taxi

Casually-clad: Suranne clutched a dark denim jacket as she made her exit, with the cosy cream and burgundy jumper falling loosely over her incredible physique

Suranne's low-key appearance comes after she appeared on ITV's Lorraine last week, where she hinted Doctor Foster fans could be in for a very long wait for season three of the hit BBC thriller.

The former Coronation Street star - who portrays leading lady Dr. Gemma Foster in the drama - admitted filming for the forthcoming series won't be getting underway anytime soon.

During the interview, Lorraine asked Suranne when the acclaimed drama would return, with the star revealing that her other acting commitments, as well as parenting her son, could get in the way.

Stunning: The actress showcased her natural beauty with a minimal make-up look and styled her brunette tresses which fell over her shoulders

She said: 'I move on from this show in seven weeks and then I go to do a Sally Wainwright drama until December.

'I'll look at next year when it comes, because I've got a two-year-old as well!'

Following the second series cliffhanger in October, Doctor Foster fans begged the BBC to bring the show back for another season.

And while the channel has remained vague on the show's future, its creator Mike Bartlett, already revealed that he has a story mapped out for another run, which will focus on the doctor's missing son Tom Foster (Tom Taylor).

Exhausted: Suranne appeared tired as she got into the taxi following the adrenaline-fuelled performance

Suranne and her fellow actor Jason Watkins went into detail about her West End play, which tells the dark tale of a mother whose child went missing, and her confrontation with the man responsible.

The Trollied star said: 'People have a huge appetite for going into dark places, it's very challenging for the audience but also very rewarding.'

'It's a show of brilliant three-dimensional characters.'

'Are people born evil or are they made evil.? It's not an apology for his behaviour but it's a way of understanding why they do things, it doesn't excuse the behaviour but we as human beings need to understand why it is.'She recently posted a make-up free selfie on Instagram ahead of the Oscars after claiming she's suffered with 'insecurities all her life'.

And Helen Mirren has revealed her secret to her age-defying looks, admitting she has got her eyebrows tattooed on.

The actress, 72, said she was 'fed up' with her sparse brows and confessed she has noticed a 'huge difference' in her confidence since undergoing the microblading procedure.

Helen Mirren has revealed her secret to her age-defying looks, admitting she has got her eyebrows tattooed on

'Ill tell you what I had done recently, which I love  I got my eyebrows tattooed,' she told Daily Mail's Sebastian Shakespeare.

'I was fed up of my brows barely being there and when one of my girlfriends got it done, I thought that they looked great.

'Theyre very lightly and delicately done  but it means that when I get up in the morning and I have no make-up on, at least I have eyebrows.

'Its made a huge difference.'

'Fed up': The actress, 72, said she was 'fed up' with her sparse brows and confessed she has noticed a 'huge difference' in her confidence since undergoing the procedure (pictured in 2007)

The Calendar Girls star is no stranger to having inkings, after getting a tattoo of interlocking V's meaning 'love thy neighbour' while 'very drunk' in Minnesota.

Commenting on her tattoo in the past, Dame Helen said she acquired the tattoo while acting with an American Indian theatre group on a reservation in Minnesota.

About six of us got them at the same time, she added. Its a kind of mad bonding thing that you do from time to time in your life.

It was my little act of rebellion. It was done with a safety pin and was very painful.

Ive never regretted it. But back then, only prisoners, sailors and Hells Angels got tattooed. Now its gone madly out of control.

Wow: She recently posted a make-up free selfie on Instagram ahead of the Oscars showcasing her fuller brows

But despite her sky-rocketing career on the showbiz circuit and her jaw-dropping beauty, the actress divulged she has been plagued with insecurities all of her life.

She told The Daily Telegraph: 'I have experienced insecurity all my life, and I still do on a daily basis. I remember having these panic attacks but not at the obvious moments.'

The Woman in Gold star confessed were 'so many things' she didn't like about her body when she was propelled into the limelight as an actress in the late 1960's.

She explained: 'Because I have never felt beautiful. There are people who are beautiful and I'm objective enough to know that I don't fit into that category.

'For me, still now, it's to do with wit and intelligence rather than the way I look. I don't feel clever or funny enough.'

The Oscar winner scooped Best Actress for her 2006 performance of Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen.She's the former reality star who recently secured a role on Home and Away.

But Sam Frost's arrival onto the iconic soap was anything but easy, with the actress revealing she received death threats after her initial episodes went to air earlier in the year.

Speaking with the The Herald Sun on Saturday, the 28-year-old divulged that she was left 'absolutely shaken' by the dangerous messages and promptly reported them to police.

Death threats: On Saturday, Sam Frost told The Herald Sun she was sent death threats from Home and Away fans following her debut on the soap series earlier in the year

Sam says the shocking threats came about because her character, Jasmine Delaney, killed off Summer Bay's beloved police woman, Katarina Chapman (played by Pia Miller).

'It was part of the storyline and I had death threats,' Sam told The Herald Sun, explaining that she had previously believed she was protected from nasty online messages.

'I am seeing a psychologist, I have my (Instagram) comments moderated, I have limited social media channels now, and then when I got that it absolutely shook me.'

Killed off: Pia Miller's character Katarina Chapman was killed by Sam's character, Jasmine Delaney, in a fiery car crash

Anything but easy: Sam's debut on Home and Away was marred by death threats, which left the actress shaken

While Sam believes criticism of her acting abilities is fair game, she says the threats were a different beast altogether.

'I knew there would be criticism because I was new to acting and I knew people would have opinions but that (death threats) really shocked me,' she told The Herald Sun.

Sam's acting came under fire following her February debut on Home and Away, with many taking to Twitter to pan her performance as Jasmine.

'I knew there would be criticism because I was new to acting and I knew people would have opinions but that (death threats) really shocked me': Sam detailed the difficult time during her interview with The Herald Sun

One disgruntled fan tweeted: 'Dear god I hope Sam Frosts acting skills improve.'

'Omgfggfggfggg why is Sam Frost on Home and away, I can't believe it's gotten worse' another wrote.

However, many other were pleased with how the blonde - who rose to fame as Australia's first Bachelorette - transitioned from reality show to scripted TV.

'Sam Frost doing her best work there... #HomeAndAway,' one fan gushed following her premiere episode.She's the rambunctious comedian known for her ribald take on sex and relationships.

But Amy Schumer was far more sombre on Sunday, as she remembered the two women shot dead in a Louisiana cinema whilst watching her hit movie Trainwreck in 2015.

In an emotional interview with Stellar, the 36-year-old newlywed stated: 'I think about Mayci and Jillian, the two girls who got shot, every day; even on my wedding day.'

'I was thinking about them on my wedding day': Speaking with Stellar on Sunday, an emotional Amy Schumer talked about gun safety and recalled the two women who lost their lives in a 2015 cinema massacre as they watched her comedy film, Trainwreck

21-year-old student Mayci Breaux and 33-year-old artist Jillian Johnson lost their lives after a gunman opened fire on moviegoers as they watched Amy's hit comedy.

Nine others were shot and wounded by the shooter who had legally purchased his handgun at a pawn shop, according to CNN.

Amy's personal connection to the shooting massacre appears to have made her all the more passionate about gun control.

Outspoken advocate: Amy spoke publicly at last week's March For Our Lives rally in downtown Los Angeles

The star spoke publicly at last week's March For Our Lives rally in downtown Los Angeles.

And discussing her stance on the issue, Amy told Stellar: 'Saying gun 'control' has become such a trigger for certain people, so I like to say I'm an advocate for gun 'safety'... I wish we could follow Australia's model - there was a terrible shooting and you got rid of (the guns) and it's done.'

The New York-based funnywoman is related to Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, and the political pair have been outspoken on the issue of gun reform.

Political connection: The New York based funny woman is related to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and the pair have pushed for gun reform

Meanwhile, in a more upbeat part of her interview with Stellar, the raunchy humourist discussed her relationship with new husband, chef Chris Fischer.

The pair tied the knot in Malibu, California last month, amid reports that they had only been dating for two months.

However, Amy clarified that she has been in a relationship with her spouse since last September, and met last May.

Of married life she gushed: 'I'm excited I never have to zip my knee-high boots up and leave someone's apartment at 3am'.They first began dating in 2014.

And 62-year-old reality TV matriarch Kris Jenner was pap-snapped out with her 37-year-old boyfriend Corey Gamble in Los Angeles Friday.

Kris opted for head-to-toe black, teaming a stylish overcoat with a turtlenecked sweater, a pair of fitted trousers and boots.

Four years on: Reality TV matriarch Kris Jenner, 62, was pap-snapped out with her 37-year-old boyfriend Corey Gamble in Los Angeles Friday

Meanwhile, Corey flung a silvery green bomber jacket over a black sweater, which he had pulled over a grey top that matched his sweats.

He at one point was glimpsed sharing a hug with a male pal as Kris looked on.

Kris is not the only member of her family to prefer drastically younger men - her firstborn Kourtney Kardashian, 38, is dating Algerian model Younes Bendjima, 24.

Kourtney has three children by her scrumptious 34-year-old ex Scott Disick, who is himself dating Lionel Richie's 19-year-old daughter Sofia.

Mingling: He at one point was glimpsed sharing a hug with a male pal as Kris looked on

On a recently aired episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kris needled Scott about the age difference between him and his girlfriend.

'Okay,' reminisced Kris, 'so I was 17 and Robert was 12 years older.'

Kris' first ex-husband was the late Robert Kardashian, who was part of the legal team that secured O.J. Simpson's hotly controversial acquittal of double murder.

When Kris brought Robert up to Scott apropos Sofia, he slyly replied: 'You were underage. She's not.'

Like mother, like daughter: Kris is not the only member of her family to prefer much younger men - her firstborn Kourtney Kardashian, 38, is dating Algerian model Younes Bendjima, 24

'Touche,' said Kris with a grin.

The Kardashian-Jenner family has been rapidly expanding, to the point Kendall Jenner is Kris' only child not to be either a parent or currently expecting.

Kourtney's sister Kim Kardashian, 37, and Kim's third husband Kanye West welcomed a daughter via surrogacy in January and have named her Chicago.

The couple affectionately dubbed 'Kimye' also have a four-year-old daughter called North and a two-year-old son called Saint.

Stepping out with his baby: Kourtney has three children by her scrumptious 34-year-old ex Scott Disick, who is himself dating Lionel Richie's 19-year-old daughter Sofia

The Kardashian sisters' younger brother Rob Kardashian, 31, and his ex-fiancee Blac Chyna have a one-year-old daughter named Dream.

Kim and Kourtney's little sister Khloe, 33, is pregnant by her Cleveland Cavalier beau Tristan Thompson, and has decamped to Ohio to move in with him.

On the first of last month, the Kardashian girls' 20-year-old half-sister Kylie Jenner welcomed a daughter called Stormi Webster by her 25-year-old rapper boyfriend Travis Scott, whose Christian name is Jacques Webster.Her youthful good looks ensure she's still the object of many of her fans' affections.

And Elizabeth Hurley once again defied the years as she stripped down to a sexy cheetah print bikini for a sizzling Instagram snap on Saturday.

The 52-year-old actress looked sensational in the tiny two-piece, which cheekily honed in on her ample assets thanks to a strategically placed magnifying mirror.

Sizzling: Elizabeth Hurley once again defied the years as she stripped down to a sexy cheetah print bikini for a sizzling Instagram snap on Saturday

As well as her sultry swimwear, the Bedazzled actress amplified the glamour by styling her blonde tresses into a tousled, heavy side-parting and opted for a neutral make-up palette.

The beauty puckered a slight pout in the snap, which she captioned in the reflection of her mirror on her phone.

'Bikini selfie @elizabethhurleybeach #VictoireBikini #cheetah @ooreethirah #eastersale,' she captioned the saucy image.

'You look 21 as always,' one fan gushed, before another chimed: 'Ageless beauty.'

Sight for shore eyes! The beauty is no stranger to sharing a sizzling bikini snap on social media

The image came just hours after Elizabeth shared a snap with her son Damian and nephew Miles, who was recently the victim of a brutal stabbing by a gang in an apparent road rage attack in south-west London earlier this month.

The model has made a full recovery after he was set upon by thugs and knifed in the back multiple times after overtaking their car moments earlier, leading to a minor collision, police said.

One wound narrowly missed severing Miles' spine. Police have said the victims injuries are not life-threatening or life-changing.

Elizabeth flew back from a promotional tour in the US to be by his side. In an emotional Instagram post on Saturday, the actress branded his attackers animals.

My 21 year old nephew @mileshurley1 was brutally attacked by four men in London on Thursday night, she said. He was repeatedly stabbed and lost more than four pints of blood.

The deepest wound just missed severing his spine. By some miracle no vital organs were damaged. We are praying that these animals are caught before they maim, or even kill, someone else.Chrissy Metz looks single and ready to mingle.

The 37-year-old actress rocked a flirty sheer number during an event to promote her new book in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday.

She looked absolutely gorgeous as she signed copies of This Is Me: Loving The Person You Are Today at the event held at Center Stage.

Making moves: Chrissy Metz rocked a flirty sheer number during an event to promote her new book in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday

Ex-couple: The 37-year-old star revealed that she and her This Is Us cameraman beau Josh Stancil have split up when she appeared on The Wendy Williams Show on Friday

The This Is Us star rocked quite the fashionable look including a lacy black sheer garment over a matching sleeveless top.

She also sported a cute floral print midi skirt along with strappy black flat shoes.

Chrissy's medium-length brunette tresses were worn down as they touched her shoulders.

Stunning: She looked absolutely gorgeous as she signed copies of This Is Me: Loving The Person You Are Today at the event held at Center Stage

Revealing: She also took part in an on-stage interview

Fashionable: The This Is Us star rocked quite the fashionable look including a lacy black sheer garment over a matching sleeveless top

Intimate: It certainly seemed to be a fun event as she later sat down with author Emily Giffin for an interview

Her natural looks were accentuated by complimentary make-up including pink blush and shiny lip.

It certainly seemed to be a fun event as she later sat down with author Emily Giffin for an interview.

This comes just days after news that she and cameraman beau Josh Stancil had split up.

The This Is Us star dished about her new single status on The Wendy Williams Show on Friday.

Having fun: She also sported a cute floral print midi skirt along with strappy black flat shoes

Good spirits: She had a few laughs as she opened up about her book, show, and life

Stunning: Her natural looks were accentuated by complimentary make-up including pink blush and shiny lip

'Im dating myself currently,' the 37-year-old joked to the host.

The couple started dating sometime after they met on the set of This Is Us, which premiered in September 2016, according to Us Weekly.

Josh apparently 'moved onto another show' before their breakup, she said. But it's hard to know whether she meant that literally or that he had a new love.

Chrissy also revealed that she and the 40-year-old have remained friends.

'Im always friends with people who I was previously with, which is important to me, you know?' she explained.

Hugging it out: The 37-year-old on NBC's hit drama, where she met Josh, 40

'Because you care about the person. You dont just dump them off.'

The American Horror Story alum talked about filming love scenes with her onscreen love interest Chris Sullivan in front of her real-life beau at the Television Critics Association press tour on August 3 in Pasadena, Ca.

'We laugh about it,' Chrissy said. 'There was the Christmas episode where [Chris and I] did kiss 12 times and Josh was texting me and he was like, "Why does Helen [Hunt, who directed the episode] have you guys kiss 12 times?"

Dishing the details: 'Im dating myself currently,' the 37-year-old joked to host Wendy Williams

'And I was like "I dont think shes having us kiss 12 times, shes looking for different angles to get." And hes like, "OK, I was just asking! '

Chrissy and the This Is Us cast wrapped filming on the second series at the end of February, with the last episode airing on March 13.

It has been picked up for a third 18-episode season that could take it into 2019.Declan Donnelly was praised on his upcoming baby news by Stephen Merchant as he made his solo presenting debut on Saturday Night Takeaway.

The 42-year-old host hosted the show for the first time without Ant McPartlin in light of his co-host's drink driving charge and subsequent return to rehab.

Despite not explicitly referencing his co-host's absence Dec joked that Stephen Merchant  who was the guest announcer for the evening  could take his place, as he was congratulated by the star on the news he is expecting his first child.

Saturday Night Takeaway: Declan Donnelly (pictured in March 2018) congratulated on baby news as he joked about Ant McPartlin's stand-in

As Merchant made an offer to join Dec on stage, the television personality put on a brave face when he said he was more than happy to stand centre stage on his own.

'Thanks for the offer Stephen but no,' Dec said with every confidence. 'Don't want me standing next to me because six foot seven and you're obviously considerably smaller,' Merchant joked.

The writer also took the opportunity to congratulate Dec on his wife Ali Astall's pregnancy news as she prepares to welcome their first child. He said: 'Congrats on your coming baby, I for one really looking forward to it I can't pop round to your house.'

Stand in: Despite not explicitly referencing his co-host's absence Dec joked that Stephen Merchant  who was the guest announcer for the evening  could take his place

Amazing! The writer also took the opportunity to congratulate Dec on his wife Ali Astall's pregnancy news as she prepares to welcome their first child (pictured together in 2018)

Proud dad-to-be Dec confirmed he and Ali are expecting a baby in a brief statement published on social media platform Instagram last week.

Shared with a black and white image from his 2015 wedding to 40-year-old Ali, he wrote: 'Just wanted to say thank you for all the lovely messages.

'The news has sneaked out a little earlier than we had hoped but Ali and I are delighted to be expecting our first child. Thanks for all the love, we really appreciate it.'

Flying solo: Despite Stephen Merchant's offer to join Dec on stage, the television personality revealed he was more than happy to stand centre stage on his own

'I've got twice the work to do': The 42-year-old presenter quipped that he had 'twice the work to do' in light of Ant's absence before swiftly moving on

Yet Dec's focus was solely on his hosting skills as he joked with his co-stars on Saturday Night Takeaway.

Merchant later made a thinly-veiled dig at the nation's favourite double act when he teased Dec by claiming he was 'filling some time' for him when he played the trailer of Sherlock Gnomes.

Although Ant didn't make a live appearance in the television show, he does make an appearance in their pre-recorded comedy sketch Saturday Knight Takeaway.

Merchant paid tribute to television sidekick Ant in a playful manner when he pointed out to Dec he should do 'more with that guy' because 'he was good'. Following the clip, he said: 'You should do more with that guy. He was good.'

Going it alone: 'Thanks for the offer Stephen but no,' Dec said with every confidence when he claimed the presenting duties on his own

Prerecorded: Ant McPartlin made an appearance during Saturday Night Takeaway - despite it being Declan Donnelly's solo hosting stint

What a response: 'Amazing to see Ant still appearing in the VTs and not disappearing fully from the show. We all are wishing him a seedy recovery.'So now we know what watching Ant & Dec's like when it's just Dec: only half as good!

Who knew eh?

Not the Powers-That-Be at ITV obviously but most of us could have told them without needing to see Declan Donnelly presenting Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (Without Ant).

Well done! Declan Donnelly's first solo show in 30 years proved a triumph; Being half as good as Ant & Dec together meant they came out winners on Saturday Night Takeaway

We didn't really need to wait 30 years to be sure either.

SMTV Live, Pop Idol, Britain's Got Talent, and I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here had given us more than enough clues.

That's not to say that Dec came out of it badly. The most famous names on television would give their right arm to be 50% as good as Ant & Dec.

Despite all the palaver in the build-up to the show, Donnelly's debut as a solo performer was fine.

Nation's favourite double act: That's not to say that Dec came out of it badly. The most famous names on television would give their right arm to be 50% as good as Ant & Dec (in 2015)

He did his best: Not the Powers-That-Be at ITV obviously but most of us could have told them without needing to see Declan presenting Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (without Ant)

This was perfectly predictable of course.

Any ghoulish viewers tuning in hoping to see Dec have a car-crash of his own (of the creative variety this time) were always destined to be disappointed (and deservedly so).

Admittedly he looked (understandably) apprehensive at the beginning.

History: SMTV Live, Pop Idol, Britain's Got Talent, and I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here had given us more than enough clues

Horror: Any ghoulish viewers tuning in hoping to see Dec have a car-crash of his own (of the creative variety this time) were always destined to be disappointed (and deservedly so)

But having been in showbiz since he was 12 (doing Byker Grove with, yes you guessed it ITV, Ant McPartlin), Dec was far too slick to have ever contemplated anything other than making Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (Without Ant) a success.

Plus he still had the same scriptwriters as usual

What he didn't have was Ant, and so Ant & Dec  the nation's most popular double act since Morecombe & Wise.

Talk about nervous: Admittedly he looked (understandably) apprehensive at the beginning as he took centre stage without his partner of 30 years

Revealed: McPartlin may have royally screwed things up for him with his recent arrest for drink-driving  and subsequent unofficial 'suspension'

Ant & Dec was what we all wanted of course and he did too I imagine.

McPartlin may have royally screwed things up for him with his recent arrest for drink-driving  and subsequent unofficial 'suspension' but Dec's first reference to what half the country was talking about (and watching for) had enough warmth to suggest he was sticking by his mate.

'Thank you for that very warm welcome !' he told the studio audience, giving a typical grin and adding: 'I've got twice the amount of work to do so let's crack on'

What are friends for? Dec's first reference to what half the country was talking about (and watching for) had enough warmth to suggest he was sticking by his mate

An awkward moment inadvertently spitting out a piece of popcorn aside, from there on he cruised through the ninety minutes.

So it was a relief to everyone Dec had a good night (the viewers, ITV, Dec obviously, and Ant no doubt).

The only person to possibly come out of Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (Without Ant) any better was the villain of the piece himself: Ant McPartlin.

It's a relief: An awkward moment inadvertently spitting out a piece of popcorn aside, from there on he cruised through the ninety minutes

Thank God: So it was a relief to everyone Dec had a good night (the viewers, ITV, Dec obviously, and Ant no doubt)

He was the only thing that Dec's performance was really missing and certainly no one came close to replacing him.

ITV's tactic about how to approach Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (Without Ant) was basically to downplay Ant's absence. A kind of 'nothing to see here folks !' attitude.

Ant still featured in the show's opening credits and later appeared  rather uncomfortably  in a pre-recorded 'Saturday Knight Takeaway' sketch.

On his own: The only person to possibly come out of Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (Without Ant) any better was the villain of the piece himself: Ant McPartlin

Half an act: He was the only thing that Dec's performance was really missing and certainly no one came close to replacing him

Donnelly also mentioned him when he showed us Studio 2  'where Ant and Cat and I did Wonky Donkey.'

But no guest presenters, such as Cat Deeley, were foisted on Donnelly in McPartlin's absence.

Stephen Merchant featured as the guest announcer but the heavily rumoured special appearance by James Corden didn't materialise (thank heavens) and there were no built-up roles for Scarlett Moffatt or Stephen Mulhern (ditto).

A little help: Stephen Merchant featured as the guest announcer but the heavily rumoured special appearance by James Corden didn't materialise (thank heavens)

In fact Scarlett hardly appeared at all  unsurprisingly considering the pressure of the night on someone who is still essentially a member of the public with very little training or experience presenting live television.

One thing that we did learn was that Dec should never ever be paired with Davina McCall, who hi-jacked the show with a 15 minute segment promoting her new ITV series 'This Time Next Year.'

Davina even shoved Dec off to a separate sofa while she staged a mini version of the show's concept, during which a bloke from Dundee got to sing on television for his mother Diane, who had been in hospital after a heart attack.

Not a fan: One thing that we did learn was that Dec should never ever be paired with Davina McCall, who hi-jacked the show with a 15 minute segment

He had a voice that only a mother could love frankly, and even though he performed 'Oh What a Night' with the stars of The Jersey Boys was really only entertaining for her. Well hopefully...

Davina even had the gall to introduce Diane's daughter with the introduction my next guest...'

Surely it wouldn't have killed her to say 'our next guest...'

Dec even apologised for interrupting when she shouted something over from his sofa  showing what a decent, but slightly feeble, solo star he made.

They also elected not to book a U2 or Sting to wow the viewers, sticking with the altogether less riveting Paloma Faith and The Script.

All this was commendable but that's not to say the 'carry on as normal' policy worked. All it did was pile even more weight on Dec's shoulders and make the absence of Ant & Dec even more glaring.

Keep moving forward: All it did was pile even more weight on Dec's shoulders and make the absence of Ant & Dec even more glaring

What the show was missing in a word was banter  someone for Dec to spark off: the thing he's best at in other words.

The debate before his solo show was whether Dec without Ant would be like watching Morecombe without Wise or like watching Wise without Morecombe, which was even worse.

After all of the two Dec is probably the straight man of the duo although the beauty of Ant & Dec is that they are essentially equals.

It started well when Merchant mused from his announcer's booth: 'I can't help but notice a little bit of space on the stage there. Are you sure you don't want me to come down?'

He then congratulated Donnelly on the news he and his wife were expecting a baby, adding that when he came to visit he would hear the 'pitter patter of tiny feet  you coming to answer the door.'

Double act: What the show was missing in a word was banter  someone for Dec to spark off: the thing he's best at in other words

Given the fun they had exchanging quips about the gap in height (Merchant is 6ft 7'), they would have been better giving Merchant the role of Ant for the whole show. Perhaps fitting him in the camera frame was technically just too difficult.

Or perhaps, Dec insisted that if he was going to present it with Ant he would only do it on his own (his version of the Historic Compromise).

After all in their joint autobiography Ant had revealed at the start of their careers: 'we made an agreement. Whatever happened, we'd be mates forever and neither one of us would ever be on our own out there.'

A lot of effort: Dec insisted that if he was going to present it with Ant he would only do it on his own (his version of the Historic Compromise)

The relief on Donnelly's face as he brought the show to a conclusion was obvious.

He thanked Paloma Faith, The Script, Stephen Merchant, Davina McCall, the producers, and everyone bar the cleaning lady.

Above all, in typical style, he thanked the fans, or 'everyone for watching' at least. There was no 'best wishes'-type mention for Ant. That would have been too much.

The fact that his final words were 'thanks for all the support' was a message to everyone, including  perhaps rather pointedly  the man who should have been standing next to him.South Australians will have to wait until September for the new Liberal government's first budget.

The state budget is usually handed down in late May or June, but Premier Steven Marshall says his government will stick with convention to push it back following the March state election.

Mr Marshall brought his new cabinet together for the first time on Thursday, with proposed cuts to payroll tax, a date to resume parliament and cutting the number of ministerial staffers on the agenda.

"It was a good start, I want to congratulate each and every one of the new cabinet ministers for their application and the way they have got down to work," he said.

Mr Marshall also promised his government would run "lean and mean" ministerial offices with significantly reduced staffing.Authorities are urging Australians to give their dog a bone, not a chocolate egg, this Easter.

Containing a toxic mix of caffeine and theobromine, chocolate can have deadly consequences for dogs and the danger escalates at Easter.

"Chocolate tastes yummy to all of us, including dogs, but unfortunately it is toxic to dogs so we must be certain to keep chocolate well away from them," Greencross vet Dr Veronica Monaghan told AAP.

She warned that pet owners planning Easter egg hunts should only choose hiding spots which curious canines can't reach.

"They have excellent noses just born to sniff out tasty treats," Dr Monaghan added.

Different types of chocolate have different levels of caffeine and theobromine, with white chocolate having the least and dark chocolate the most, Dr Monaghan said.

"The size of the dog is also important, as a small dog only needs to eat a small amount to be in trouble."

Nadia Crighton from Pet Insurance Australia said the company received more than 1000 claims for theobromine and chocolate poisoning in 2017.

"The actual figures could be much higher, as this number only relates to those Australian dog and cat owners that have pet insurance," Ms Crighton said.

"The danger of chocolate is being severely underestimated by unsuspecting owners ... being natural scavengers, (dogs) can sniff out these delights, even if well hidden."

Vomiting, diarrhoea, excessive urination, hyperactivity and increased thirst are all signs of chocolate poisoning.

However, it's not only chocolate that pet owners need to worry about at Easter - the traditional Easter flower, the white lily, can also prove toxic.

All parts of the plant contain a toxic substance which attacks a cat's kidneys.

"Many cat owners are not aware of the extreme danger these plants pose to their cats," Dr Monaghan said.

"Even a cat with a minor exposure, such as biting a leaf, getting lily pollen on his or her whiskers or coat can be fatally poisoned."A man has died and a woman has been seriously injured after their car crashed into a tree in a remote area in Queensland's north.

Three children travelling with them, however, have escaped with only minor injuries.

Police believe the car left Kennedy Developmental Road at Conjuboy and hit a tree just before 8am on Friday.

The 43-year-old driver died at the scene. His 42-year-old female passenger was airlifted to Cairns Base Hospital with serious injuries.

The children have also been flown to the same hospital.A man could face charges over a fiery eight vehicle crash that killed a teenager in Sydney's southwest.

The 26-year-old veered onto the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic at about 7pm on Friday in Campbelltown, causing a collision involving seven other vehicles.

An 18-year-old man was killed and six others were taken to hospital.

The 26-year-old's vehicle caught fire as a result of the crash and he is now in an induced coma at Liverpool Hospital, a police spokeswoman told AAP on Saturday.Jacob Despard wanted to make a statement in the Stawell Gift heats and did just that by clocking the fastest heat time to become the one to beat for the semi-finals and final.

The 21-year-old said running the fastest time, of 12.21 seconds, had been his main objective going into his sixth visit to Stawell.

Having achieved it, he felt even more confident about his chances of collecting the first prize money of $40,000.

The Victorian-based Tasmanian has been installed $2 favourite, ahead of reigning champion Matt Rizzo $2.50 and Liam Moss $5.

Running off 4.5m, this will be only Despard's second appearance in a Stawell Gift semi-final.

He reached the second phase in 2015 but was run out by eventual Gift final winner Murray Goodwin.

Despard said he had no doubt he was reaping the benefits of a move to Victoria late last year.

He shifted to the mainland with fellow Tasmanian sprinter Jack Hale to try to take his running career to the next level.

Rizzo is in the mix to emulate the great Bill Howard and become only the second back-to-back winner of the Stawell Gift.

Only Despard ran a quicker time than Rizzo, who looked comfortable running 12.29.

Gift backmarker and US champion 110m hurdler Devon Allen made light work of his 1m handicap to win his heat in 12.47 and lock in a semi-final berth on his first trip to Australia.

A late entry, Allen, 23, was running competitively on grass for only the second time after winning the 200m at Devonport in the Christmas Carnivals.

He has been in Australia with girlfriend and Olympic 400m runner Morgan Mitchell, and will return to the US immediately after the Stawell Gift.

Gary Finegan (5.25m) looms as another major contender in the semi-finals after winning a heat in 12.30 along with Moss (5.5m), who won a heat in 12.32.

Two-time Stawell Gift winner Josh Ross finished third in his heat.

Ross said it was great to back at Stawell for the first time since 2013, although disappointed not to have performed better.

West Australian Kiara Reddingius (3m) produced the fastest time in the Stawell Women's Gift 120m heats, running 14.07 seconds in the seventh of 12 heats.

Reddingius said she had something to prove after being overlooked by for the heptathlon for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Last year's women's gift winner, Liv Ryan, was scratched after she injured a hamstring earlier in the week.

The semi-finals and final will be run at Central Park on Monday.The Warriors have proved they're the real deal after Blake Green pulled the strings in a 30-6 upset of NRL premiership favourites the Sydney Roosters.

The Warriors were dealt a massive blow when halfback Shaun Johnson was ruled out with a groin injury on the eve of Saturday's game.

In past years, such a setback would have caused the New Zealand side to put the cue in the rack but they rallied to record an important two points.

Johnson's fill-in on Saturday, Mason Lino, was superb. However, Green was the chief architect as the Warriors recorded their first win without Johnson since round 22, 2014.

The Warriors are unbeaten after four rounds and look genuine contenders after six years in the finals wilderness.

For the Roosters, they came back to earth with a thud after a promising win over Newcastle last week.

A brilliant Latrell Mitchell try opened the scoring in the third minute.

However, it was one-way traffic thereafter in front of a crowd of 14,493 at Allianz Stadium, more than half of whom seemed to be Warriors supporters.

The Warriors big men laid the platform, with Stephen Kearney's side running for 1345m compared with the Roosters' 834m.

And Green put the icing on the cake.

While Roosters halves Luke Keary and Cooper Cronk - whose night was summed up when he kicked out on the full - had shockers, Green steered his side around the park brilliantly.

It was a performance that would have surely made NSW selectors take notice.

Despite missing Johnson, the Warriors looked slick and assured with the ball in hand.

All three of their first-half tries came off set plays as they led 18-6 at the break.

Tohu Harris stood and offloaded for Lino's four-pointer before back-rower Leivaha Pulu ran a neat line to give his side the lead in the 17th.

The only try of the second half came when Lino put in an inch-perfect bomb for David Fusitua.Residents of coastal areas of Queensland north of Bundaberg are battening down, with rain expected to intensify by Sunday evening as a low pressure system approaches.

Ex-tropical cyclone Iris has been slowly approaching the Queensland coast since late last week, with forecasters still unsure of where it will eventually cross.

"We have a split in the forecasts, some of them have it going more north, and some of them have it a little further south," weather bureau forecaster Laura Pattie told AAP.

"So that remains to be seen but either way they will still see some shower activity."

Initial falls in excess of up to 150mm are possible wherever the system crosses the coast, with some areas potentially getting up to 500mm over three days.

Authorities are taking no chances, with crews pre-deployed to areas from Cairns all the way to Bundaberg.

"In anticipation of very heavy rain in some areas, additional swift-water rescue technicians have been pre-deployed to north Queensland, and will be positioned strategically throughout the flood watch area to support local crews," state Emergency Services Minister Craig Crawford said.

It comes after ex-tropical cyclone Nora dumped over a metre of rain on the north and far north of the state over the last week, causing widespread flooding.

The rain is expected to well and truly hit by Monday, which has authorities concerned about people driving home after spending the long weekend away.

State Disaster Co-ordinator Deputy Police Commissioner Bob Gee said people should keep up to date with weather warnings and heed the message of "if it's flooded, forget it."

"There's a clear message for everyone that's travelling over the weekend, from Sunday night to next Wednesday, there'll be heavy rain everywhere," he said.A man's been charged over a fiery eight-vehicle crash that killed a teenage Uber passenger in Sydney's south-west and seriously injured four others.

Police believe the 26-year-old man was speeding in his Commodore car before it veered into oncoming traffic on Friday evening at Woodbine, causing the "unbelievable" smash that involved seven other vehicles.

A 17-year-old boy travelling in an Uber was killed and five others were taken to hospital.

A 57-year-old male driver and his passengers, two men aged 19 and 20 and an 18-year-old woman, have had surgery and remain in serious but stable condition.

The 26-year-old's vehicle caught fire as a result of the crash and he was freed from the wreckage by witnesses.

He underwent surgery at Liverpool Hospital and is in a serious but stable condition.

He has been charged with 13 offences including manslaughter, aggravated driving occasioning death and negligent driving.

He is under police guard in hospital and will appear via a bedside hearing at Parramatta Local Court on Sunday.The US-led coalition, of which France is a member, sees Kurdish fighters as a key player in the fight against IS in Syria

France said on Friday it is not planning a unilateral military operation in Syria outside the international coalition fighting the Islamic State group after senior Kurdish officials claimed Paris intended to send troops.

"France is not planning any new military operation on the ground in northern Syria outside the international coalition against Daesh," President Emmanuel Macron's office said in a statement, using another term for IS.

Macron met with a delegation from the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Thursday, and Kurdish official Asya Abdullah told reporters afterwards that France was planning on sending "new French troops to Manbij".

"The cooperation will be reinforced," she said.

Khaled Issa, the official representative in France of Syria's Kurdistan, had added: "France is going to reinforce its military presence."

The comments added to heightened international tensions as Turkey wages an offensive against Kurdish fighters in Syria whom it views as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has waged a three-decade insurgency inside Turkey.

Ankara launched an air and ground offensive in Afrin in January to oust the People's Protection Units (YPG), Kurdish fighters who make up the bulk of the SDF, viewed as terrorists by Turkey.

Turkey has threatened to expand its military operation against Kurdish fighters, who ousted IS from the town of Manbij near the Turkish border, and repeated the threat on Wednesday.

But the US-led coalition fighting jihadists in Syria, of which France is a member, sees the YPG as a key player in the fight against IS and has warned that Turkey's operation risks distracting from that battle.

Macron had on Thursday offered to help establish a "dialogue" between the SDF and Turkey "with help from France and the international community" -- an idea angrily rejected by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday.

"We are extremely saddened by France's... wrong stance on this issue," Erdogan said during a speech in Ankara.Speaking in Ohio on Thursday, Trump indicated that with the war against IS winding down, he wants American involvement in Syria to do likewise

The White House has instructed the State Department to freeze over $200 million in funds earmarked for "recovery efforts" in Syria, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The report -- which came a day after Trump declared in a speech that the US would be quitting Syria "very soon" -- is another indication the president wants to disengage from the country.

Officials told AFP that Trump's aside in his speech was not a slip, but that for several weeks he had been pushing back against the idea of a long or medium term US commitment to stabilizing eastern Syria.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump called for the spending freeze after reading a news report that said the US had committed the funds for recovery efforts in Syria, which has been wracked by a more than seven-year civil war.

The US has more than 2,000 military personnel in eastern Syria as part of international efforts to defeat the Islamic State group, an extremist organization that once controlled swathes of Syria and neighboring Iraq.

Speaking in Ohio on Thursday, Trump indicated that with the war against IS winding down, he wants American involvement in Syria to do likewise.

"We'll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now," he promised.

Trump did not say who the others were who might take care of Syria, but Russia and Iran have sizable forces in the country to support President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

His eagerness to quit the conflict flies in the face of a new US Syria strategy announced in January by then secretary of state Rex Tillerson -- who has since been sacked.

Tillerson argued that US forces must remain engaged in Syria to prevent IS and Al-Qaeda from returning and to deny Iran a chance "to further strengthen its position in Syria."

In a speech at Stanford University, he also warned that "a total withdrawal of American personnel at this time would restore Assad and continue his brutal treatment against his own people."

But Tillerson has gone after being dismissed in a tweet. And Trump, who increasingly makes foreign policy announcements without seeking the advice of US generals or diplomats, wants out.

"We spent $7 trillion in the Middle East. And you know what we have for it? Nothing," Trump declared, promising to focus future US spending on building jobs and infrastructure at home.Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul announces the disciplinary decision on the officers who shot Alton Sterling in 2016 at the Baton Rouge Police Station

The officer who shot dead a black man in the southern US state of Louisiana has been fired, the Baton Rouge police chief told journalists Friday.

News of the disciplinary measures came days after the state's attorney general said officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake -- both of whom are white -- would not face charges in the 2016 shooting death of Alton Sterling.

Salamoni was terminated effective immediately and Lake will be suspended for three days over his involvement in the incident, Chief Murphy Paul said.

Sterling, 37, was fatally shot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on July 5, 2016 in a scuffle with police outside a convenience store where he had been selling CDs. The shooting was captured on cell phone video.

Paul said additional video footage of the incident would be released.

Salamoni's firing comes as anger swells over another controversial police shooting that saw the death of an unarmed black man in California's capital city of Sacramento.

A mural in memory of Alton Sterling is displayed on the wall of the Triple S Food Mart in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The two cases have once again brought concerns over police misconduct to the fore -- fatal shootings of African-American suspects in recent years have fueled a nationwide debate over race and criminal justice.

In explaining the decision not to press charges against the officers, Louisiana attorney general Jeff Landry said Sterling was armed, under the influence of illegal drugs and had resisted arrest efforts.

According to the Louisiana Justice Department report on the shooting, a loaded .38 caliber handgun was found in the right front pocket of Sterling's pants.Japan is a signatory to the International Whaling Commission moratorium on hunting, but exploits a loophole that allows whales to be killed for scientific research

Japanese whaling vessels returned to port on Saturday after catching more than 300 of the mammals in the Antarctic Ocean without facing any protests by anti-whaling groups, officials said.

A fleet of five whalers set sail for the Southern Ocean in November, as Tokyo pursues its "research whaling" in defiance of global criticism.

Three of the vessels, including the fleet's main ship, the Nisshin Maru, arrived in the morning at Shimonoseki port in western Japan, a port official said.

The fleet caught 333 minke whales as planned without any interruption by anti-whaling campaigners, the Fisheries Agency said in a statement.

Japanese whalers have in the past clashed at sea with animal rights campaigners, particularly the Sea Shepherd activist group, which last year announced it had no plan to make offshore protests this season.

Japan is a signatory to the International Whaling Commission moratorium on hunting, but exploits a loophole that allows whales to be killed for scientific research.

Tokyo says the slaughter is necessary for in-depth knowledge of whale behaviour and biology, but it makes no secret of the fact that whales killed in the hunts often end up on dinner plates.Two people were killed in the oil spill fire off Balikpapan city in East Borneo

At least two people died in a fire as Indonesian authorities tried to cleanup an oil spill off Borneo island Saturday, an official said.

The blaze was sparked as workers tried to clear the spill in waters near Balikpapan City by burning it.

Two people -- believed to be fishermen -- were caught in the fire and died, a spokesman of the local search and rescue agency said.

"The fire was quite big, about two kilometres high. It can be seen from Balikpapan city and the smell was all over the place," said Octavianto, a senior official of East Borneo search and rescue agency, who like many Indonesians go by one name.

Authorities have managed to put out the fire but there was still an oil spill in the waters.

It was not known how much oil was spilled or where it came from.

A boat carrying coal was temporarily stuck near the fire, Octavianto told AFP, but the search and rescue teams successfully evacuated all 20 crew on board.

Indonesia relies heavily on boats to ferry people and goods around its vast archipelago of about 17,000 islands.

Boat accidents are common, but oil spill cleanup accidents are rare.Malala Yousafzai (2R) arrived by army helicopter on her first visit to Swat valley since she was shot by the Taliban more than five years ago

Malala Yousafzai visited the Swat valley Saturday for her first trip back to the once militant-infested Pakistani region where she was shot in the head by the Taliban more than five years ago.

"I left Swat with my eyes closed and now I am back with my eyes open," she told AFP, referring to how she was airlifted out in a coma after the attack in 2012.

"I am extremely delighted. My dream has come true. Peace has returned to Swat because of the invaluable sacrifices rendered by my brothers and sisters," she said at a school outside Mingora, the district's main town, where she was escorted by the Pakistani military.

The brief trip by the 20-year-old Nobel laureate is a highly symbolic moment for Pakistan, which regularly touts Swat as a success story in its long battle with extremism as it defends itself against accusations by the US and others that its northwest remains a safe haven for militancy.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai says she has seen vast changes in Swat since 2012

The visit -- on which she was accompanied by her father, mother, and two brothers -- was kept tightly under wraps.

She took pictures of Swat valley from an army helicopter and tweeted them saying: "The most beautiful place on earth to me."

After flying from Islamabad, she met with friends and family before visiting the all-boys Swat Cadet College Guli Bagh, a military-run school some 15 kilometres (nine miles) outside Mingora.

"So much joy seeing my family home, visiting friends and putting my feet on this soil again," she tweeted.

There she lingered some 45 minutes, taking photographs, before travelling back to Islamabad. The entire visit is believed to have lasted just over two hours.

Mingora is where Malala's family was living and where she was attending school on October 9, 2012, when a gunman boarded her school bus, asked "Who is Malala?", and shot her.

She was treated first at an army hospital then airlifted to the British city of Birmingham.

Her near-miraculous recovery, and tireless career as an education advocate, have since turned her into a global symbol for human rights, and in 2014 she became the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize when she was just 17.

Her family also told AFP of their joy in coming home.

"I am unable to believe I am back in Swat and meeting my own people," her father Ziauddin Yousafzai said, in comments echoed by her mother Toor Pekai.

- Tearful homecoming -

The trip comes two days after Malala, currently a student at Oxford University in Britain, made her emotional return to Pakistan, where her surprise visit has been met with widespread joy and pride.

Malala Yousafzai arrives with Pakistani Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Maryam Aurangzeb, at the all-boys Swat Cadet College Guli Bagh

She broke down in tears as she made a televised speech on Thursday, saying it was her "dream" to be back, and has vowed to Pakistani media that she will return permanently after she has completed her education.

However she has also been met with pockets of intense criticism. Malala is widely respected internationally, but opinion is divided in Pakistan, where some conservatives view her as a Western agent on a mission to shame her country.

There had been much speculation within the country over whether Malala would go to Swat during her visit.

The mountainous region, once a prized tourist destination famed for its pristine scenery, was overrun by the Pakistani Taliban in 2007.

Malala Yousafzai has become a global symbol for human rights, and in 2014 she became the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize when she was just 17

The militants imposed a brutal, bloody rule, but the army drove them out in 2009. Recently restrictions on tourists visiting the area were lifted.

However security has remained fragile, as the assault on Malala three years after the military operation demonstrated. In February this year 11 military personnel were killed in an attack, and analysts have warned the militants still have a presence there.

Residents of the area have praised Malala to AFP in recent days, crediting her with helping to generate improvements in education -- especially for girls -- in the deeply conservative region, part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Earlier this month an all-girls school built with money from the Malala Fund opened in Shangla district northeast of Mingora, where her family lived before moving to the city.

Malala told AFP in Swat that she could see vast changes in the area since 2012 -- but added she has read reports which claim up to 50 percent of children are still out of school.

"We will have to work very hard to bring them all to school," she vowed.

Residents of Swat also welcomed her visit and urged fellow Pakistanis to support her efforts to promote girls' education.

"We welcome Malala and the slogan that she has raised -- one pen, one teacher. We have pinned our hopes in Malala," Nazir Khan, a government servant, told AFP.

"People have positive as well as negative views about her," fellow resident Arshad Ali said.

"We need to see what she has done until now, she has constructed a model school at Shangla reflecting her sincerity of purpose -- to promote education especially among girls in the country."In India, horse ownership is seen as a symbol of power and wealth

A young farmer from India's lowest Dalit community has been beaten to death for owning a horse, which is seen as a symbol of power and wealth, police said Saturday.

Police have detained three upper caste men for questioning after the body of 21-year-old Pradeep Rathod was found in a pool of blood near Timbi village in Gujarat state late Thursday night.

Dalits, formerly known as "untouchables", are among the most marginalised groups in India, where caste discrimination is outlawed but remains widespread.

Rathod's father, who found the body, "has alleged that his son was killed by people of upper caste community of his village because he owned a horse despite being a Dalit," deputy police superintendent A.M. Saiyed told AFP.

"We have detained three persons named in the complaint filed by Pradeep Rathod's father for questioning."

In his complaint, seen by AFP, Rathod's father stated his son loved horses and he had bought him one eight months ago.

"My son's love for horses led to his murder," the father said.

"About a week ago, when I was riding the horse with my son, one of the persons from the upper caste Kshatriya (warrior) community warned us not to ride the horse in the village.

"He said that people of Dalit community cannot ride horses, only Kshatriyas can ride horses. He also threatened to kill us if we did not sell the horse," the complaint read.

Rathod, a high school drop-out, worked on land owned by his father.

Dalits, who lie at the bottom of India's deeply entrenched social hierarchy system, have long faced attacks.

Last October, a Dalit man was killed by a group of men for attending a traditional Hindu dance performance also in Gujarat, the western home state of Hindu nationalist premier Narendra Modi.

Protests erupted among the community in 2016 after vigilantes wrongly accused four Dalit villagers of killing a cow -- considered sacred by Hindus. They were stripped and publicly thrashed.

Modi has urged a halt to attacks on Dalits, who make up about 200 million of the population of 1.25 billion, and an end to caste discrimination.An image grab from a video handed out by Huthi rebels shows what appears to be Huthi military forces launching a ballistic missile

Saudi air defences intercepted a missile fired by Yemeni rebels at the kingdom's southern city of Najran on Saturday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the rebels said, adding that one person was wounded.

"The missile was fired at Najran indiscriminately and with the aim of hitting residential areas," coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki told the official Saudi Press Agency.

"It was successfully intercepted and the debris fell on residential areas, lightly wounding one Indian expatriate."

Yemen's Saba news agency, run by the Iran-backed Huthi rebels, said the missile had been fired at a Saudi National Guard base in Najran, just over the border from Yemen where the Saudi-led coalition intervened on the side of the government in March 2015.

The coalition said on Thursday it intercepted another missile fired by the Huthis at the southern city of Jazan -- the latest in a series of such attacks that have drawn widespread condemnation.

The coalition spokesman again hit out at Iran after Saturday's attack, accusing it of "jeopardising the security of Saudi Arabia, the region and the whole world."

The UN Security Council this week condemned "in the strongest possible terms" multiple missile attacks launched by the Huthis on Saudi territory, saying they posed a threat to regional security.

In one of the biggest such attacks yet, Saudi forces last weekend said they intercepted seven missiles fired by rebels toward cities including Riyadh, killing one person.

The coalition intervened in Yemen to push back the Huthis who captured the capital Sanaa and forced the government into exile.

Riyadh has accused arch-rival Tehran of providing the missiles and threatened retaliation against Iran.

Tehran has denied making any arms deliveries and has said the Saudi accusations are a smokescreen intended to divert attention from its deadly bombing campaign against rebel-held areas, including Sanaa.

Civilian casualties from coalition air strikes have drawn criticism from human rights groups, and in October the United Nations placed the coalition on a blacklist for killing and maiming children.Acclaimed director Christopher Nolan is among the few big names who prefer to use film rather than digital

Hollywood director Christopher Nolan on Saturday made an impassioned plea to the Indian film industry to revive celluloid as a medium for movies.

Nolan is on a three-day trip to the country aimed at drumming up support for shooting on film, as he did for his 2017 World War II epic "Dunkirk", going against the trend in an industry which has widely embraced digital technology.

"Filmmaking is full of obstacles... it is not about being logical and pragmatic... it's about magic, dreams, experiences and bracing your emotional side," Nolan said after a round table dialogue in Mumbai, the home of Bollywood.

The 47-year-old Oscar-nominated director said he had "a very productive" meeting with members of Bollywood, the world's largest film industry.

"I am really trying to engage filmmakers in this conversation about how we can maintain, improve and continue to enjoy the celluloid photochemical analogue infrastructure for filmmaking," Nolan said.

Famed for his extravagant vision in films such as "Interstellar" and "Inception", Nolan is one of the few big names globally who still use celluloid for film-making.

"We are trying to preserve for future generation the history of films, especially the way the filmmakers originally intended to make the films in," Nolan said.

He was joined in the discussion by visual artist Tacita Dean and archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur who has been working to preserve and restore celluloid films in India.

"We are fighting to save celluloid films in India whereas people are disbanding it without realising their importance," said Dungarpur.

"We are talking about co-existence with digital formats. Till 2014, we were shooting in older formats in India," Dungarpur said.

Nolan was set to present his films "Dunkirk" and "Interstellar" in 70mm and 35mm formats to audiences in India, organisers said.Ethiopia's Hailemariam Desalegn resigned as prime minister after two years of anti-government protests

More than 1,100 people have been arrested in Ethiopia since the nation declared a state of emergency following the prime minister's resignation last month, state media reported Saturday.

Hailemariam Desalegn's surprise resignation came after more than two years of anti-government protests and increasing divisions in the ruling party.

The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has for the first time picked an ethnic Oromo, Abiy Ahmed, to be its new leader.

He is set to be sworn in as prime minister early next week.

The state-affiliated Fana Broadcast Corporate said 1,107 people have been detained for violating the emergency decree, which suspends the constitution and allows police to hold people without trial.

"They were detained for killing peaceful civilians and security forces, setting houses and financial institutions ablaze, illicit movement of firearms, destroying government and public institutions (and) blocking roads," Fana reported, citing Tadesse Hordofa, chairman of a board overseeing the decree.

Ethiopia spiralled into crisis in late 2015 when the country's largest ethnicity the Oromo began protesting a plan to expand the borders of the capital Addis Ababa into the surrounding Oromia region.

A 10-month state of emergency declared in October 2016 quelled the unrest but only after hundreds of deaths and tens of thousands of arrests.

The arrests under the latest state of emergency were mainly in Oromia, but also in the Amhara region, where anti-government sentiment is also strong, the broadcaster reported.Turkey itself sent troops into Syria and launched an operation against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in its Afrin enclave in January

Turkey on Saturday warned France against increasing its military presence in Syria, saying it would be an "invasion", as tensions between Paris and Ankara remained high.

Temperatures were raised after French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday met a delegation of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) made up of Kurdish and Arab fighters.

Kurdish officials said afterwards that France was planning to send new troops to Manbij -- a northern Syrian town held by the Kurdish YPG militia -- a claim Paris denied.

"If France takes any steps regarding its military presence in northern Syria, this would be an illegitimate step that would go against international law and in fact, it would be an invasion," Turkish Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli said.

"Especially if they intend to support terror group elements or give direct or indirect protection with armed forces, this would be a really calamitous step," he added during a visit to the northeastern province of Giresun.

Turkey itself sent troops into Syria and launched an operation against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in its Afrin enclave on January 20 and drove out the group from the city on March 18.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly warned that Turkey could extend the offensive to Manbij, which is east of Afrin.

But Macron's office on Friday said Paris was not planning any new military operation on the ground in northern Syria outside the international coalition against the Islamic State extremist group.

Ankara views the YPG as a "terrorist" offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged an over three-decade insurgency in Turkey.

The PKK is blacklisted as a terror organisation by Turkey and its Western allies.

But the United States, as well as France, have worked closely with the YPG in the fight against IS in Syria, much to Ankara's anger.

Erdogan on Friday criticised France's "wrong stance" and rejected Macron's offer of establishing a dialogue between Ankara and the SDF.

"We have no need for mediation," Erdogan said. "You can sit down at the table with terror organisations but Turkey will continue its fight against terror."

- 'Save region from bloody gangs' -

The NATO allies previously clashed over Macron's comments in late January when he said he would have a "real problem" with the Afrin offensive if it turned into an outright "invasion".

But Erdogan at the time sought to reassure him, saying Turkey had no eye on Syrian territory.

On Saturday, Erdogan insisted during a speech in Istanbul that Turkey's action "was not an invasion, but to save the region from bloody gangs".

He told France to look back at its own history, and made reference to Algeria and the 2011 Libya intervention which Erdogan described using the term "occupation".

"How can you stand up and give us a lesson on civilisation? First look at your own history," he thundered.Russian diplomats expelled by the US after a nerve agent attack on a former spy leave their embassy in Washington

Russian diplomats expelled by the US after a nerve agent attack on a former spy in Britain began to leave their embassy in Washington Saturday afternoon, waved off by well-wishers.

About 50 men, women and children left the hilltop embassy just after 1:00 pm (1700 GMT) in a blue bus believed to be headed towards Dulles International Airport.

Music played and a crowd waved the group goodbye.

A second bus was expected to leave about two hours later from the embassy site which has a view across to the White House, the Pentagon and other US government buildings.

The departing families brought with them bags and suitcases, some of which were loaded onto the bus with help from a small forklift vehicle.

Russia's ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, earlier told reporters "all the diplomats who were declared persona non grata are flying home together with their families" on Saturday.

In total, 171 people will leave the country, state news agency TASS reported Antonov as saying.

The Russian government provided two planes for the evacuation and one of them will make a brief stopover in New York to collect 14 families, he added.

Washington this week joined a score of Britain's allies in expelling Russian diplomats in response to the attack, with over 150 in total now ordered out of the US, EU members, NATO countries and other nations.

The US said it was expelling 60 alleged Russian "spies" posted around the country and at the Russian mission to the United Nations.

Russia's consulate in Seattle will also be closed.

Moscow responded on Thursday by announcing that it was expelling 60 US diplomats and closing Washington's consulate in Saint Petersburg.

On Friday, Russia expelled even more diplomats from 23 countries, most of them European Union member states.

The tit-for-tat measures were retaliation to the coordinated expulsion of Russian diplomats by Britain and its allies over a nerve agent attack against former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

Britain has said it is "highly likely" that Russia was responsible for the attack using the Novichok nerve agent developed in the former Soviet Union, but Russia has angrily denied any involvement.

burs-sl/elc/it/skaA file picture shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting of his cabinet on January 21, 2018

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday praised troops for "guarding the country's borders" after a mass Gaza frontier protest led to clashes that left 16 Palestinians dead.

"Well done to our soldiers," he wrote in a statement. "Israel acts vigorously and with determination to protect its sovereignty and the security of its citizens."

Tens of thousands of Palestinians rallied on the Gaza side of the border fence on Friday, some hurling stones and rolling burning tyres at Israeli troops on their side of the wire.

The Israeli army said it opened fire only when necessary, against those taking an active part in violence.

It said there were attempts to damage the fence and break through into Israel, as well as an attempted gun attack against troops.

Palestinians accused Israel of using disproportionate force, saying the soldiers opened fire on protesters who did not pose a threat, while human rights groups questioned Israel's use of live fire.

UN chief Antonio Guterres called for an "independent and transparent investigation" and European Union diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini followed suit, calling in a statement for a probe into Israel's use of live ammunition.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas declared Saturday a day of national mourning and in a speech said he held Israel fully responsible for the deaths.

Thousands attended funerals for 14 of those killed -- two were buried on Friday -- with mourners holding Palestinian flags and some chanting "revenge" and firing into the air.GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Large crowds of flag-waving Palestinian protesters marched toward the Gaza border fence with Israel on Friday, some of them throwing stones and drawing Israeli fire that officials said killed at least six people.

It was the deadliest day in Gaza in several months.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least 550 Palestinians were hurt by live fire, rubber-coated steel pellets or tear gas fired by Israeli forces at several locations along the fence, but did not provide the breakdown.

Palestinian protesters carry a wounded man who was shot by Israeli troops during a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border with Israel in eastern Gaza City, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

The protests marked the launch of what Gaza's Hamas rulers envision as a 6-week-long campaign of mass sit-ins along the border, meant to spotlight the demand of uprooted Palestinians and their descendants to return to what is now Israel. It's also seen as a new attempt by Hamas to break a decade-old Gaza border blockade.

On Friday, protests quickly spun out of control.

Israel's military said thousands of Palestinians rolled burning tires and threw stones at forces stationed on the border, and that troops opened fire at the "main instigators."

Palestinian witnesses said tens of thousands gathered in tent encampments set up at five sites at a distance of several hundred meters (yards) from the border, but that only some of them engaged in clashes.

Such mass gatherings near the border signal a new tactic by Hamas - and one that might prove more challenging to Israel's military than previous smaller protests.

Military officials have said they will respond harshly to any breaches of the border fence. At the same time, a rising number of casualties will likely stoke more border tensions, a scenario Israel hopes to avoid.

The sit-ins are seen as a new attempt by Hamas to break a crippling, decade-old Gaza border blockade by Israel and Egypt that has made it increasingly difficult for the Islamic militant group to govern.

Other tactics over the years, including Hamas' cross-border wars with Israel and attempts to reconcile with political rival Mahmoud Abbas, the West Bank-based Palestinian president, have failed to end Gaza's isolation.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum praised the turnout.

"The large crowds ... reflect the Palestinian people's determination to achieve the right of return and break the siege and no force can stop this right," he said.

Friday's actions are to be the first in a series of protests planned in Gaza in coming weeks. The protests are to culminate on May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israel's creation, with a march through the border fence.

Palestinians commemorate the date as the anniversary of their mass displacement and uprooting during the 1948 Mideast war over Israel's creation. The vast majority of Gaza residents are descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven from communities in what is now Israel.

Israel's military said ahead of Friday's protests that it doubled its standard troop level along the border, deploying snipers, special forces and paramilitary border police units, which specialize in riot control.

Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, commander of the Israeli military's Southern Command, which includes the border, said Friday that "we are identifying attempts to carry out terror attacks under the camouflage of riots."

He urged Gaza residents to stay away from the border, and held Hamas responsible for any violence there.

Previous protests near the border fence in recent months have turned deadly, with Israeli soldiers firing live bullets at Palestinians burning tires, throwing stones or hurling firebombs.

On Friday, buses took protesters to the border area, including five tent encampments set up from north to south, several hundred meters from the border fence. By noon, thousands had arrived at the encampments.

At one encampment, east of Gaza City, people clustered around the tents. An unpaved road linking the tents and the border fence was filled with people walking in both directions. People ran for cover from time to time to escape tear gas.

Ghanem Abdelal, 50, distributed water bottles to family members sitting on a mat near one of the tents. He said he hopes the protest "will bring a breakthrough, an improvement, to our life in Gaza."

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas' supreme leader, visited the tents, along with Gaza leader Yehiyeh Sinwar.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said six people were killed by Israeli fire in border clashes, including a 16-year-old boy and a 33-year-old man.

Earlier Friday, in a separate incident, a Palestinian farmer identified as 27-year-old Amr Samour was killed by an Israeli tank shell while he was working in his field before dawn in southern Gaza, the ministry said.

Israel said troops had directed tank fire at suspicious figures near the border fence in the area.

Yasser Samour, a relative and fellow farmer, said Amr Samour was harvesting parsley before dawn, in hopes of selling it fresh in the market later in the day.

"I was working on the next field," Yasser Samour said. "We heard shelling landing on the field where Amr works. We ran there and found him hit directly with a shell. We were more than a kilometer away from the border."

Another farmer was wounded in the leg by shrapnel, Samour said.

___

Associated Press writers Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Karin Laub in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

Palestinians attend a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border with Israel in eastern Gaza City, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters carry a wounded man who was shot by Israeli troops during a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border with Israel, in eastern Gaza City, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

Protesters, one holding a Palestinian flag, stand in front of Israeli soldiers during a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border with Israel, in eastern Gaza City, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

Protesters hold a Palestinian flag in front of Israeli soldiers during a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border with Israel, in eastern Gaza City, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian medics carry a wounded man who was shot by Israeli troops during a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border with Israel, in eastern Gaza City, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

A Palestinian protester hurls stones toward Israeli soldiers during a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border with Israel, in eastern Gaza City, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters carry a wounded man was shot by Israeli troops during a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border with Israel, in eastern Gaza City, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters carry a wounded man was shot by Israeli troops during a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border with Israel, in eastern Gaza City, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters carry a wounded man was shot by Israeli troops during a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border with Israel, in eastern Gaza City, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

Israeli soldiers stand as Palestinian protesters gather on the Israel Gaza border, Friday, March 30, 2018. Palestinians clashed with Israeli troops along the Gaza border Friday morning as thousands gathered there for mass sit-ins led by the militant Islamic group Hamas that rules the territory. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

Palestinian protesters carry a wounded man was shot by Israeli troops during a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border with Israel, in eastern Gaza City, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters take cover from Israeli troops during a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border with Israel, in eastern Gaza City, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

Palestinians chant slogans as they attend a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border with Israel, in eastern Gaza City, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Israeli soldiers stand as Palestinian protesters gather on the Israel Gaza border, Friday, March 30, 2018. Palestinians clashed with Israeli troops along the Gaza border Friday morning as thousands gathered there for mass sit-ins led by the militant Islamic group Hamas that rules the territory. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

Palestinian protesters cover their faces from teargas fired by Israeli troops during a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border with Israel, in eastern Gaza City, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters evacuate a wounded youth during clashes with Israeli troops along the Gaza Strip border with Israel, east of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Palestinian protesters evacuate a wounded youth during clashes with Israeli troops along the Gaza Strip border with Israel, east of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Residents watch mourners carry the body of farmer Amero Samor, 27, during his funeral, in front of his family house in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Friday, March 30, 2018. Samor was killed when he was working at his farm early morning a long the Gaza strip border with Israel, east of Khan Younis. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)PARIS (AP) - French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged support to the Syrian Democratic Forces, members of whom he met with in Paris to discuss the conflict in northern Syria.

In a statement Friday, the Elysee said Macron praised the group commonly called the SDF, saying it is courageously fighting the Islamic State group.

Macron demanded the civilian population be given full access to humanitarian aid in Afrin - a region that, last week, the Turkish army and the Syrian opposition fighters it backs claimed to have "full control" of.

Macron also used Thursday's meeting with SDF's delegation of Arab and Kurdish Syrians to reiterate France's opposition to the Kurdish rebel group, PKK.

Macron said he hopes the SDF and Turkey will establish a dialogue with French help.CHIMAYO, N.M. (AP) - A centuries-old pilgrimage to a tiny adobe church in northern New Mexico attracted thousands of visitors Friday, some walking through the night along desert highways on their journey.

The Easter-week tradition dates back more than two centuries. Many participants trek more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from Santa Fe or beyond.

At the shrine, the faithful filed through an adjacent room that holds a small pit of dirt that some say has curative powers. Visitors knelt to scoop dirt into plastic bags, ambling by the hundreds through a passageway lined with cast-off crutches that bear testimony to healing.

Jasmin Perez, 17, of Espanola, New Mexico, carries a cross on a pilgrimage to a small adobe church in Chimayo, New Mexico, on Friday, March 30, 2018. She joined thousands of Catholics traveled by foot to El Santuario de Chimayo in the hills of northern New Mexico in an annual Good Friday pilgrimage that has endured for two centuries. The Easter-week tradition attracts more than 20,000 people. Many set out before dawn and walk more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) along highways from Santa Fe. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)

Elementary school teacher Anne Probst walked the final eight miles (12 kilometers) of the journey to Chimayo, bearing a hand-carved statue of the crucifixion on her back that her ailing father made.

Her family has been making the trip to Chimayo from Santa Fe for decades. This year her thoughts dwelled on her father and a young student with severe health problems - as well as the victims of a February mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

"There are healing powers here, and there is meditation and prayer on the walk," to get here, Probst said. "I thought a lot about our country. There's a lot of healing that needs to be done."

The road to Chimayo was lined with vendors of coffee, walking sticks, religious memorabilia and snacks including snow cones and corn on the cob. Gridlocked stretches of highway were patrolled by sheriff's deputies on horseback. The faithful carried crosses, large and small. Some pushed children in strollers, or strummed guitars to pass the time.

Outside the shrine, participants lined up by the hundreds under clear skies for a chance to wade slowly into the tiny church at Chimayo that is listed as a National Historic Landmark.

Roman Catholicism in northern New Mexico dates back more than 400 years to the arrival of the Spanish in 1598.

Elementary school teacher Anne Probts of Albuquerque carries a crucifixion sculpture on her back in Chimayo, New Mexico, Friday, March 30, 2018. She joined thousands of Catholics traveled by foot to a small adobe church called El Santuario de Chimayo in the hills of northern New Mexico in an annual Good Friday pilgrimage that has endured for two centuries. The Easter-week tradition attracts more than 20,000 people. Many set out before dawn and walk more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) along highways from Santa Fe. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - California Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday pardoned five ex-convicts facing deportation, including two whose families fled the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia four decades ago.

The pardons don't automatically stop deportation proceedings, but eliminate the state convictions federal authorities based their deportation decisions on. That gives the men's lawyers strong legal arguments before immigration judges to try to prevent the deportations.

"The pardon does provide enormous benefit to immigrants facing deportation," said Anoop Prasad, an immigration staff attorney at Asian Law Caucus.

Brown's action on behalf of the men - among 56 pardoned - marked the Democratic governor's third consecutive pardon round in which he intervened on behalf of immigrants who were deported or faced deportation because of criminal convictions. Brown has accused the administration of President Donald Trump of "basically going to war" with California over immigration policy.

Brown last year signed sanctuary legislation limiting state and local cooperation with federal enforcement of immigration laws. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions responded with a Department of Justice lawsuit seeking to invalidate three state laws protecting residents living in the country without documentation.

Those pardoned Friday included Sokha Chhan and Phann Pheach, both of whom face deportation to Cambodia, a country ruled in the 1970s by the genocidal Khmer Rouge. Chhan was convicted of two counts of misdemeanor domestic violence in 2002 and served 364 days in jail.

Pheach was convicted of possessing drugs and obstructing a police officer in 2005 and served six months in jail. His wife said he is in federal custody.

Also pardoned was Daniel Maher, who was convicted in 1995 of kidnapping, robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm and served five years in prison. Maher is facing deportation to China.

Chhan, Pheach and Maher hold permanent U.S. residency but had exhausted all legal avenues to fight deportation, making Brown's pardons for them their last hope to stay in the U.S., Prasad said.

"This is a life-changing, enormous event," he said.

Also pardoned while facing deportation were Daniel Mena and Francisco Acevedo Alaniz, but their home countries were not immediately known. Mena was convicted in 2003 of possessing illegal drugs. Alaniz served five months in prison for a 1997 auto theft conviction.

Brown on Friday also commuted the sentences of 14 others convicted of crimes.

The governor is a former Jesuit seminarian and traditionally issues pardons close to major Christian holidays. Easter falls on Sunday.

California's longest-serving governor has now issued 1,519 pardons, including 404 during his first two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983.

Brown's father, Edmund G. "Pat" Brown issued 467 pardons and 55 commutations, but there have been long stretches of very few in California.

From 1991 through 2010, former Govs. Pete Wilson and Gray Davis issued no pardons while Arnold Schwarzenegger handed out just 15.

__

This story corrects that Pheach was born in Thailand, not Cambodia. It corrects the spelling of one man's last name, Chhan, not Chann.

__

Associated Press writer Janie Har contributed to this report from San Francisco.HUMBLE, Texas (AP) - Beau Hossler was steady while better-known players faltered down the stretch Friday at the Houston Open, leaving him with a one-shot lead heading into the weekend.

The 23-year-old Hossler shot a 4-under 68 for a two-day total of 11-under 133, good enough for the second 36-hole lead of his rookie season. He shared the lead with Dustin Johnson at the halfway mark at Pebble Beach before falling out of contention.

Rickie Fowler was tied with Hossler before he hooked his drive into the water on the tough par-4 18th, leading to bogey. Sam Ryder, Abraham Ancer and Nicholas Lindheim joined him at 10 under.

Beau Hossler hits an approach shot on the 18th fairway during the second round of the Houston Open at the Golf Club of Houston on Friday, March 30, 2018. (Tim Warner /Houston Chronicle via AP)

Jordan Spieth's putter heated up before his momentum stalled with a missed 3-footer on the 16th hole. He shot 67 and was two shots back.

Phil Mickelson took the biggest step backward on 18. He was bogey-free for 17 holes and 8 under for the tournament before he found the water twice and made triple bogey.

Phil Mickelson plays his shot from the tenth tee during the second round of the Houston Open at the Golf Club of Houston on Friday, March 30, 2018. (Tim Warner /Houston Chronicle via AP)

Rickie Fowler putts on the 17th green during the first round of the Houston Open at the Golf Club of Houston on March 29, 2018. (Tim Warner /Houston Chronicle via AP)LOS ANGELES (AP) - The owner of a Canadian telemarketing operation has been convicted of mail and wire fraud for orchestrating a scheme that prosecutors say defrauded at least 60,000 people out of more than $18 million.

The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles says a jury found Mark Eldon Wilson of Vancouver guilty on Thursday after a five-day trial.

Prosecutors say Wilson masterminded a cross-border scheme that targeted elderly victims with a bogus protection program for credit card fraud.

They say between 1998 and 2001, Wilson's telemarketers sold victims non-existent protection for about $300 each.

Victims were targeted in 37 states, including California.

Wilson fought extradition to the U.S. for more than 10 years.

He faces up to 90 years in prison at his sentencing on July 30.Across Latin America, Roman Catholic faithful commemorated Good Friday with processions and ceremonies re-enacting Jesus Christ's crucifixion.

In Guatemala, devotees wearing purple and white carried a 3-ton religious float during a procession in Antigua, while Costa Ricans lined the streets to watch a reenactment the crucifixion.

On a hill overlooking La Paz, Bolivia, costumed Roman soldiers tied men to wooden crosses as women knelt on the ground and played the role of the Three Marias.

A child wears a crown of woven thorns during the Jesus del Gran Poder, or Jesus of Great Power procession, marking Good Friday in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, March 30, 2018. Ecuadoreans pack the capital's downtown to take part in the annual Good Friday procession that represents Jesus Christ's path to Calvary where he was crucified according to Christian doctrine. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

In Ecuador, thousands accompanied a statue of Jesus del Gran Poder, Jesus of Great Power, in a march through the capital. While In Cuba, parishioners marked Good Friday with a procession in the town of Regla, across the bay from Havana.

Peruvians clasped their hands in prayer, burned incense, and veiled their heads with lace amid a gathering of thousands honoring the patron saint of Lima.

In Taxco, Mexico, hooded penitents dragged chains and flogged themselves with nail-studded whips to preserve a tradition dating to the 1600s. Meanwhile, in the country's capital, actors wailed in grief over the death of Jesus.

A Haitian woman wrapped a black rosary around her hand. Nearby, someone removed their shoes and fell in prostration on the pavement.

In Paraguay, young people watched a Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross, performance at Cerro Nemby.

Actor Francisco Arroyo, playing the role of Jesus Christ, falls for the first during a theater performance reenacting the Via Crucis, or Stations of the Cross, marking Good Friday, in the Zocalo, Mexico City's main square, Friday, March 30, 2018. Millions of Christians are commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by reenacting the Way of the Cross, visiting the 14 stations, each marking an event that befell Jesus Christ on his final journey. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Men known as "Nazarenes" rest next to their crosses that they carry in a religious procession marking Good Friday, in the neighborhood of Iztapalapa, in Mexico City, Friday, March 30, 2018. Every year hundreds of residents from this working-class neighborhood, carry crosses up a nearby hill, the site of Jesus' crucifixion reenactment, in one of Mexico's largest Holy Week celebrations. (AP Photo/Christian Palma)

Penitents carry crucifixes during a Good Friday procession in Taxco, Mexico, Friday March 30, 2018. In Taxco, Roman Catholic brotherhoods preserve a Holy Week tradition that dates to the 1600's. In processions that last from Thursday evening into the early morning hours of Friday, hooded penitents drag chains and shoulder bundles of thorny branches through the streets, as some flog themselves with nail-studded whips. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)

The statue of Jesus del Gran Poder, or Jesus of Great Power, is accompanied by thousands in a procession marking Good Friday, in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, March 30, 2018. Ecuadoreans pack the capital's downtown to take part in the annual Good Friday procession that represents Jesus Christ's path to Calvary where he was crucified according to Christian doctrine. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

A woman, her head covered by a veil, burns incense while participating in a Good Friday procession in Lima, Peru, Friday, March 30, 2018. Thousands of Roman Catholics filled the streets of Peru's capital Lima on Good Friday, marking the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, with a procession honoring The Lord of Miracles "Senor de los Milagros," the patron saint of most Catholic Peruvians. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Actors work their way out of a collapsed stage depicting the fourth station in a Way of the Cross reenactment marking Good Friday in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, March 30, 2018. Thousands of Haitians are commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by reenacting the Way of the Cross, visiting the 14 stations, each marking an event that befell Jesus Christ on his final journey. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Three devotees hang on crosses in a reenactment of the final procession of Jesus Christ to his crucifixion, at the Villa Litoral calvary, overlooking La Paz, Bolivia, Friday, March 30, 2018. The annual tradition marks Good Friday for devout Catholics in Bolivia. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Parishioners pose for a photo inside Nuestra Senora de la Paz Catholic church, before taking part in the Passion of Jesus performance to mark Good Friday in the Comas district shanty town, on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Actors in the role of Mary and Jesus Christ perform the 13th station of the cross, after Jesus is taken down from the cross, in a Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross, reenactment marking Good Friday, in the Zocalo, Mexico City's main square, Friday, March 30, 2018. Millions of Christians are commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by reenacting the Way of the Cross, visiting the 14 stations, each marking an event that befell Jesus Christ on his final journey. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Gathered at El Morro de Petare faithful watch a reenactment of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, marking Good Friday in the shantytown of Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, March 30, 2018. Holy Week commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Devotees act out the sixth station in the Way of the Cross reenactment when a woven crown of thorns is placed on the head of Jesus, marking Good Friday in San Joaquin de Flores, Costa Rica, Friday, March 30, 2018. Holy Week commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)

A man playing the role of Jesus Christ hangs on a cross in a Way of the Cross reenactment, marking Good Friday in San Joaquin de Flores, Costa Rica, Friday, March 30, 2018. Holy Week commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)

Girl scouts pose for a group photo at the third station of the Way of the Cross reenactment marking Good Friday, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, March 30, 2018. Thousands of Haitians are commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by reenacting the Way of the Cross, visiting the 14 stations, each marking an event that befell Jesus Christ on his final journey. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Devotees dressed as Roman soldiers wait on horseback to join the Jesus of Nazareth Good Friday procession in Antigua, Guatemala, Friday, March 30, 2018. Residents of Antigua turn their town into a biblical Jerusalem complete with Roman soldiers on horseback and trumpets marking the coming of Christ. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

The Spanish word for "God" is written in red ink on the back of penitent known as a "cucurucho" during the Jesus del Gran Poder, or Jesus of Great Power procession marking Good Friday, in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, March 30, 2018. Ecuadoreans pack the capital's downtown to watch the annual Good Friday procession that represents Jesus Christ's path to Calvary where he was crucified according to Christian doctrine. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

A penitent known as a "cucurucho" makes his way to the meeting point of a Good Friday procession, in Antigua, Guatemala, Friday, March 30, 2018. The Holy Week processions are staged by brotherhoods, or clubs, whose members come from all walks of life. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Actors from the theater group Fenix Novohispano perform in a Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross reenactment marking Good Friday, in the Zocalo, Mexico City's main square, Friday, March 30, 2018. Millions of Christians are commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by reenacting the Way of the Cross, visiting the 14 stations, each marking an event that befell Jesus Christ on his final journey. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A penitent hangs on a cross depicting the role of Jesus Christ marking Good Friday in the Petare shantytown of Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, March 30, 2018. Holy Week commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Penitents known as "cucuruchos" walk barefoot, dragging chains as they make the long trek in the Jesus del Gran Poder, or Jesus of Great Power procession, marking Good Friday in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, March 30, 2018. "Cucuruchos" are identified by their purple clothing which symbolize sorrow and remorse, and the iconic cone-shaped hats that are said to represent humility. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

A woman eyes the camera as she waits to play her role as one of the daughters of Jerusalem in the Way of the Cross reenactment marking Good Friday in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, March 30, 2018. Thousands of Haitians are commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by reenacting the Way of the Cross, visiting the 14 stations, each marking an event that befell Jesus Christ on his final journey. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

A wooden cross lays on a street as faithful gather for the reenactment of the Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross, during a Good Friday procession in San Joaquin de Flores, Costa Rica, Friday, March 30, 2018. Holy Week commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)

A woman dressed as a "cucurucho" checks her cellphone as she takes part in the Jesus del Gran Poder, or Jesus of Great Power procession, marking Good Friday in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, March 30, 2018. "Cucuruchos" are identified by their purple robes which symbolize sorrow and remorse, and the iconic cone-shaped hats that are said to represent humility. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

Penitents known as a "cucuruchos" shoulder a 3-ton religious float during the Jesus of Nazareth Good Friday procession in Antigua, Guatemala, Friday, March 30, 2018. For days leading up to Easter Sunday each year, colorful processions featuring penitents and magnificently decorated and sculpted religious floats, take place through the streets of of Antigua, celebrating the Passion of Christ from the crucifixion to resurrection. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Women, their heads covered by veils, burn incense as they accompany the Good Friday procession, in Lima, Peru, Friday, March 30, 2018. Thousands of Roman Catholics fill the streets of Peru's capital Lima on Good Friday, marking the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, with a procession honoring The Lord of Miracles "Senor de los Milagros," the patron saint of most Catholic Peruvians. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Relatives and friends help a penitent carry his cross during the Jesus del Gran Poder, or Jesus of Great Power procession, marking Good Friday in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, March 30, 2018. Ecuadoreans pack the capital's downtown to watch the annual Good Friday procession that represents Jesus Christ's path to Calvary where he was crucified according to Christian doctrine. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

A woman dressed as the Virgin May holds her hands in prayer as a seamstress puts on the finishing touches to her costume in preparation for the Way of the Cross reenactment to mark Good Friday, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday March 30, 2018. Thousands of Haitians are commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by reenacting the Way of the Cross, visiting the 14 stations, each marking an event that befell Jesus Christ on his final journey. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Haitians depict the ninth station in the Way of the Cross reenactment marking Good Friday in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, March 30, 2018. Thousands of Haitians are commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by reenacting the Way of the Cross, visiting the 14 stations, each marking an event that befell Jesus Christ on his final journey. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Women play the role of Las Tres Marias, or the Three Marys, in a Good Friday reenactment of Jesus Christ's suffering, at the Villa Litoral calvary, overlooking La Paz, Bolivia, Friday, March 30, 2018. On Good Friday, the day Jesus Christ was crucified according to the Christian faith, devout Catholics in Bolivia mark Jesus' crucifixion with a procession that retraces Jesus' final days on earth known as the Via Crucis, or Stations of the Cross, culminating with his crucifixion. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Parishioners ready a statue of Jesus Christ for a religious procession to mark Good Friday in Regla, a town just across the bay from Havana, Cuba, Friday, March 30, 2018. Holy Week commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

People carry a statue of Jesus Christ past people drinking some beer who watch the religious procession file past, marking Good Friday in Regla, a town just across the bay from Havana, Cuba, Friday, March 30, 2018. Holy Week commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A man wearing a T-shirt with the image of Jesus Christ takes pictures with his cell phone of a religious procession marking Good Friday in Regla, a town just across the bay from Havana, Cuba, Friday, March 30, 2018. Holy Week commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A man looks through the opening of a door to watch the Good Friday procession in Lima, Peru, Friday, March 30, 2018. Christians all over the world are marking Good Friday, the day when Jesus Christ was crucified according to Christian faith. The procession begins at dawn at The Sanctuary of Las Nazarenas church and is makes its way through the center of the city. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A man reads a newspaper featuring a headline that reads in Spanish: "Susy, I am no longer a sinner," in Lima, Peru, Friday, March 30, 2018. Christians all over the world are marking Good Friday, the day when Jesus Christ was crucified, according to the Christian faith. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

An audience watches a Via Crucis or Way of the Cross performance marking Good Friday at Cerro Nemby, Paraguay, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

A group of Estacioneros sing a sorrowful song remembering Jesus Christ during a Via Crucis or Way of the Cross performance in Nemby, Paraguay, Friday, March 30, 2018. Estacioneros are part of the Paraguayan Holy Week culture, who sing songs about the life, death and passion of Jesus Christ. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - A look at some of the anniversaries this year at the Masters:

75 years ago (1943): Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts decided after the 1942 Masters to stop the tournament for the rest of World War II. According to the Augusta Chronicle, the club's greenskeeper raised turkey and cattle on the grounds while the club was closed. Roberts said in his autobiography that the cattle destroyed several azalea and camellia bushes and ate the bark of several young trees. There were plenty of WWII connections to the Masters. Jones was commissioned as a captain in the Army Air Corps, and his unit landed at Normandy a day after the D-Day invasion. Leading the Normandy invasion was Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who later became a member at Augusta National during his two terms as U.S. president.

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50 years ago (1968): The 1968 Masters is best remembered for five words: "What a stupid I am." Roberto de Vicenzo birdied the 17th hole in the final round to take a one-shot lead over Bob Goalby, only to bogey the last hole. The Argentine was so angry at his bogey that he didn't properly check his card, which was kept by Tommy Aaron, and he signed for a 4 on the 17th instead of a 3. Under the rules, he had to accept the higher score, giving him a 66 instead of a 65. And instead of an 18-hole playoff the next day, Goalby was the winner by one shot. Goalby closed with a 66 to finish at 11-under 277. De Vicenzo had won the British Open a year earlier, but this scorecard blunder remained his most famous moment until his death last year.

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25 years ago (1993): Bernhard Langer won the 1993 Masters for his second green jacket, closing with a 2-under 70 for a four-shot victory over Chip Beck. His first Masters victory in 1985 was remembered for Curtis Strange twice going for the green when he had the lead and finding water. The 1993 Masters featured Beck choosing to lay up when he was trailing. Langer had a three-shot lead when Beck laid up on the par-5 15th from 236 yards away. He made par, while Langer followed with a birdie to stretch the lead. There was one other similarity to Langer's victories. He was harshly criticized in 1985 for saying "Jesus Christ" in the Butler Cabin interview while expressing surprise at Strange's lead. The controversy led to Langer becoming a Christian, and when he won in 1993, he said it again because it was Easter. "I sometimes joke that I'm the only one to mention 'Jesus Christ' in Butler Cabin twice," he said.

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20 years ago (1998): Mark O'Meara became the first player since Arnold Palmer in 1960 to birdie the last two holes for a one-shot victory in the 1998 Masters, which also was the last year the Augusta National gallery witnessed a Jack Nicklaus charge. O'Meara holed a 20-foot birdie putt on the last hole for a 67 to beat Fred Couples and David Duval, and at 41 he became the oldest first-time winner of the Masters. Couples had a wild back nine with a double bogey on No. 13 and an eagle on the 15th. Duval missed birdie chances on the 17th and 18th for a 67. He was in Jones Cabin watching O'Meara when Augusta National chairman Jack Stephens told him: "Don't worry, David. Nobody ever makes that putt." O'Meara made the putt. Nicklaus, 58, birdied four of his first seven holes and pulled within three shots of the lead, causing so many roars that even Tiger Woods in the group ahead backed off putts. But he had to settle for a 68 and tied for sixth.

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10 years ago (2008): Four months after Trevor Immelman had a tumor removed from his diaphragm, the South African won the 2008 Masters by three shots over Tiger Woods. And it wasn't even that close. Immelman had a five-shot lead with three holes to play until hitting into the water for double bogey at No. 16. He closed with a 75 and joined Arnold Palmer in the record book with the highest closing round by a Masters champion. Only four players broke par in the final round. For Woods, it was his second straight year finishing as the runner-up at Augusta National in his bid for a fifth green jacket. Among those who had a chance were Brandt Snedeker, who briefly tied for the lead with an eagle on No. 2, and Steve Flesch, whose hopes ended with a tee shot into Rae's Creek at No. 12.

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5 years ago (2013): Adam Scott won the 2013 Masters in a playoff over Angel Cabrera, and Australia had a Masters champion after more than a half-century of trying. Scott thought he had it won with a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole, only for Cabrera to stuff his shot into 3 feet for birdie as Scott was signing his card. They both made par on the first extra hole, and Scott ended it with a 12-foot birdie putt at No. 10 on the second playoff hole. Greg Norman, who knew nothing but hard luck at Augusta National, was watching from Florida and said when it was over, "I'm over the moon." It was a wild week for Tiger Woods, who was on the verge of taking the lead on Friday when his wedge into the 15th hole hit the pin and went back into the water. Woods took his penalty drop in the wrong place, which was pointed out by a rules expert watching on TV. The rules committee at the Masters failed to act on the information, and when it was clear a penalty was involved, the committee gave Woods a two-shot penalty and allowed him to stay in the tournament despite having signed for an incorrect score. Woods finished four shots behind.BERLIN (AP) - Germany's economy minister says he is confident that Europe and the United States can reach a "sensible compromise" by summer to resolve tensions over trade.

President Donald Trump's administration has granted the European Union an exemption from punitive tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, but only until May 1. Several European leaders have criticized the little time that leaves for talks.

German weekly Der Spiegel on Saturday quoted Economy Minister Peter Altmaier as saying that the EU and U.S. want to act together to counter the overcapacity in the global steel market that originated in China.

FILE - In this Wednesday, March 21, 2018 file photo, German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier arrives for the first regular weekly cabinet meeting of Germany's new government at the chancellery in Berlin. Germany's economy minister says he is confident that Europe and the United States can reach a "sensible compromise" by summer to resolve tensions over trade. German weekly Der Spiegel on Saturday, March 31, 2018 quoted Altmaier as saying that the EU and U.S. want to act together to counter the overcapacity in the global steel market that originated in China. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

Altmaier says they are seeking agreement on how to combat dumping prices and the theft of intellectual property.

He said: "We want to find solutions that are compatible with international trade rules."JOHANNESBURG (AP) - South Africa ramped up the pressure on a troubled Australia in the final cricket test on Saturday by making 488 and quickly removing six batsmen, three of them the men rushed into the team because of the ball-tampering scandal.

Australia, with its morale in pieces following the cheating saga of the last week, was 110-6 and 378 runs behind at stumps on the second day of the series decider at the Wanderers.

"It's probably something that's hard to get out of their minds while they're playing," Australia assistant coach David Saker said. "No excuses but ... it's obviously playing a factor in the way we're playing so far."

Australia's batsman Peter Handscombleft, is bowled by South Africa's bowler Vernon Philander for a duck on day three of the fourth cricket test match between South Africa and Australia at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, March 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Openers Matthew Renshaw and Joe Burns, and No. 4 Peter Handscomb, all played their first games of the series and all failed in Australia's reply. Renshaw and Burns arrived in South Africa less than 48 hours before the test.

The three were replacements for the three players banned and sent home in disgrace for the ball-tampering plot.

Burns went for 4, Renshaw for 8, and Handscomb for a duck as Australia sunk to 38-3.

Usman Khawaja top-scored with 53. New captain Tim Paine was 5 not out and Pat Cummins 7 not out.

South Africa lived up to its promise to be ruthless against an Australia without captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner, and batsman Cameron Bancroft, all banned long-term for cheating in the third test last weekend.

The day began with South Africa resuming on 313-6 and Temba Bavuma going from 25 to 95 not out, missing out on a second test century only when he ran out of partners.

Tailender Keshav Maharaj thumped 45 from 51 balls but swiped at a wide delivery to be caught by wicketkeeper Paine as Bavuma was approaching his hundred. Morne Morkel, playing his last test before retiring, was out first ball in what might be his last test innings to leave Bavuma stranded.

Morne slammed his bat against his pad and screamed in frustration as he walked off, feeling he'd let down Bavuma.

"Morne is very disappointed," Bavuma said. "He did throw some profanities. I kind of felt for him and it took away the disappointment that I had. You almost had to give him the shoulder to cry on."

Morkel's arrival at the crease prompted Australia to make a second gesture of goodwill in the test, by applauding him.

On Friday, before play started on the first day, Paine asked the South Africans if they'd like to shake hands ahead of the game - not a common practice in cricket. The South Africans agreed.

But Australia was still heading for an on-field embarrassment in a week of humiliation.

Burns edged Kagiso Rabada to second slip for the first wicket down, with du Plessis taking a diving catch. Renshaw edged Vernon Philander to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock. Handscomb played on to Philander, who finished with 3-17.

Khawaja and Shaun Marsh put on 52 but Khawaja's departure to a catch up at the stumps off Philander by de Kock sparked a collapse.

Mitchell Marsh was bowled by Morkel for 4 and Shaun Marsh dismissed by spinner Keshav Maharaj on 16. Khawaja and the Marsh brothers all fell in the space of five overs.

Australia is in danger of losing a test series in South Africa for the first time since 1970. South Africa leads 2-1.

Australia's batsman Mitchell Marsh leaves the field after being dismissed by South Africa's bowler Morne Morkel' for 4 runs on day three of the fourth cricket test match between South Africa and Australia at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, March 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Australia's batsman Joe Burns leaves the field after being dismissed by South Africa's bowler Kagiso Rabada for 4 runs on day three of the fourth cricket test match between South Africa and Australia at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, March 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Australia's captain Tim Paine takes evasive action against a bouncer on day three of the fourth cricket test match between South Africa and Australia at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, March 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South Africa's batsman Temba Bavuma, front, leaves the field with Morne Morkel after scoring 95 runs not out on day three of the fourth cricket test match between South Africa and Australia at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, March 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Australia's bowler Nathan Lyon, second from left, taps South Africa's batsman Morne Morkel, left, on the shoulder as as he walks in to bat on day three of the fourth cricket test match between South Africa and Australia at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, March 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Australia's captain Tim Paine, right, reaches out for the ball that lodged inside South Africa's batsman Temba Bavuma's pads on day three of the fourth cricket test match between South Africa and Australia at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, March 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South Africa's batsman Temba Bavuma watches his shot on day three of the fourth cricket test match between South Africa and Australia at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, March 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea says it's trying to track down presumed kidnappers who may have abducted three South Korean nationals who had been working on a fishing boat in waters off Ghana.

Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Saturday that the supposed kidnappers appear to have hijacked the boat on Tuesday and steered it toward the waters of Nigeria before using a speed boat to move the three South Koreans elsewhere.

The ministry said it didn't know where they went.

It said it was working with the governments of neighboring countries to track down the kidnappers and the South Koreans.ROME (AP) - Italy summoned the French ambassador for consultations Saturday after armed French border patrol agents used an Italian train station to force a Nigerian train passenger provide a urine sample for a drug test.

France said it had a right to use the facility at the Bardonecchia train station west of Turin, citing a 1990 agreement.

But Italy shot back, saying just this month it had told French customs authorities that the station room was now off-limits because a humanitarian aid group was there to provide care and counseling for migrants seeking to make the dangerous Alpine crossing into France.

The incident underscored the heightened tensions following Italy's inconclusive March 4 election, which became a referendum on Italy's management of the European migrant crisis. Populist, right-wing and anti-immigrant parties scored big, capitalizing on Italian anger with the migrant influx and refusal of other European governments to share the burden.

The humanitarian group Rainbow4Africa had raised the alarm at what it called a "raid" Friday night by five armed French border agents. It accused the agents of intimidating its doctor and other workers at Baronecchia and of violating the rights of the Nigerian passenger in their custody.

A volunteer who saw the incident told Sky TG24 that the Nigerian had Italian identity papers and a valid Paris-Naples train ticket.

The French budget ministry said its rail agents asked to use the facility to respect the rights of the man on the train, whom they suspected of having drugs on him. It cited a 1990 agreement allowing such use of the room, and added that the urine test turned out negative.

Italy, however, said French authorities were well aware the room was no longer available. It said French and Italian talks were even planned in Turin on April 16 to discuss further cooperation.

The foreign ministry said during its consultations with French Ambassador Christian Masset it lodged its "firm protest" over the "unacceptable" behavior of the French agents, and warned that border cooperation was now undermined.

Bardonecchia Mayor Francesco Avato said the French had no right to enter the facility, which he said the city operates with Rainbow4Africa as a "neutral" space to try to persuade migrants not to make the crossing.

Former Italian Premier Enrico Letta denounced the French move as the latest error by one of Italy's partners in Europe.

"And Europe wonders about the outcome of Italy's election!" he tweeted.

French and Austrian border patrol agents have stepped up their checks along Italy's northern border to prevent migrants from entering their countries aboard trains, trucks or even on foot across the snow-covered mountains, an option that more and more desperate migrants are attempting despite the cold and danger.

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AP write Sylvie Corbet contributed from Paris.TIRANA, Albania (AP) - Protesters in Albania burned down toll boxes and scuffled with police Saturday over the country's first toll road, authorities said.

A peaceful protest involving a few hundred people opposed to the toll road near the Kalimash tunnel in northern Albania turned violent, with participants throwing stones, then breaking down the collection boxes with bars and setting them on fire.

Interior Minister Fatmir Xhafaj said 13 police officers were injured in the clashes. Media outlets reported that some protesters were also injured.

The protesters included some people with a "criminal past," Xhafaj said. He pledged a strong response and called on political parties to distance themselves from violence that set a "dangerous precedent."

Prime Minister Edi Rama also warned that law breakers would "get the deserved response."

The tolls range from 2.5 euros ($3.08) for a motorbike, 5 euros ($6.17) for a car to up to 22.5 euros ($27.79) for a truck.

Lulzim Basha, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, called on the government to exempt northern residents from the toll and to lower the amounts being charged. He described the protest as a reaction to the "government's injustice and violence."

Long convoys of cars blocked the road for at least three hours.

Many tourists from neighboring Kosovo, which temporarily blocked traffic toward the highway on Saturday, travel to Albania to enjoy the seaside they lack at home. The road 110-kilometer (70-mile) highway runs from Milot, near the Adriatic coast, to the Morine border crossing.

An international consortium is expected to complete a segment link, maintain the road and collect tolls over a 30-year concession.ROME (AP) - The Latest on the spat between Italy and France over French border guards' actions at an Italian train station (all times local):

7:55 p.m.

Italy is disputing France's claim that its border control agents had a right to use an Italian train station facility to carry out a drug test on a Nigerian man taken off a Paris-Naples train.

France has asserted that its guards were entitled to use the Bardonecchia station in Italy based on a 1990 agreement.

But in a statement Saturday after Italy summoned France's ambassador for consultations, the foreign ministry said it had told French customs officials this month that the facility was no longer available because a humanitarian group was now using it.

That aid group, Rainbow4Africa, had raised the alarm at what it called a "raid" Friday night by five armed French border agents.

Italy said it had expressed its "firm protest" about the French agents' "unacceptable" conduct and said the two countries would meet April 16 in Turin for further talks.

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5:20 p.m.

French authorities say armed French border agents were allowed to enter a northern Italian train station facility, following accusations that they allegedly forced a Nigerian migrant to give a urine sample for a drug test.

France's budget ministry, in charge of supervising border agents, says agents suspected the Nigerian man, an Italian resident who was on a train Friday from Paris to Milan, of carrying drugs. The ministry says the man agreed to take a drug test, performed in a facility of the Italian train station of Bardonnechia.

It says the French agents could use the place in accordance with a 1990 agreement.

French authorities say they are ready to discuss the situation with Italian authorities to "avoid any incident in the future."

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4:25 p.m.

The Italian foreign ministry says it has summoned the French ambassador for consultations after French border patrol agents allegedly entered and used an Italian train station facility to perform a drug test on a Nigerian migrant.

A foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the consultations were ongoing, said the ambassador was summoned Saturday afternoon.

The humanitarian group Rainbow4Africa, which helps migrants at the Bardonecchia crossing west of Turin, accused the five armed French border agents of intimidating its doctor, cultural mediators and lawyers inside the facility on Friday night.

Bardonecchia Mayor Francesco Avato said the French had no right to enter the facility, which he said the city operates with Rainbow4Africa as a "neutral" space to try to persuade migrants not to make the dangerous Alpine crossing into France.

- By Nicole Winfield in Rome.

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3:15 p.m.

Italian officials have denounced French border agents for allegedly entering a northern Italian train station facility to force a Nigerian migrant to give a urine sample for a drug test.

The humanitarian group Rainbow4Africa, which helps migrants at the Bardonecchia crossing west of Turin, accused the five armed French border agents of entering the train station facility and intimidating its doctor, cultural mediators and lawyers on Friday night.

Bardonecchia Mayor Francesco Avato said Saturday that the French had no right to enter the facility, which he said the city operates with Rainbow4Africa as a "neutral" space to try to persuade migrants not to make the dangerous Alpine crossing into France.

A volunteer who witnessed the incident told Sky TG24 that the Nigerian had Italian identity papers, a valid Paris-Naples train ticket and that his urine test was negative.

Former Premier Enrico Letta denounced the "raid" as the latest error committed by one of Italy's partners in Europe's migration crisis.It's familiar ground for attorney Benjamin Crump - addressing reporters alongside grieving relatives of unarmed black men killed by police.

With each death, the Tallahassee, Florida, attorney has helped lead community demands against a legal system that some believe is blind and deaf to blacks seeking justice.

With Crump leading the way, Trayvon Martin's parents settled a wrongful death lawsuit against a homeowners association in Florida, where Martin was killed by a white neighborhood watch captain.

FILE - In this Monday March 26, 2018, file photo, attorney Benjamin Crump, right, stands alongside Sequita Thompson as she breaks into tears while talking about the fatal police shooting of her grandson Stephon Clark during a news conference, in Sacramento, Calif. Over the years, Crump has represented the relatives of other unarmed black men fatally shot by police in other parts of the country. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

The lawyer also helped Michael Brown's family reach a financial settlement with the city of Ferguson, Missouri, after Brown was slain by a white police officer.

Now, he is in Sacramento with the family of 22-year-old Stephon Clark, who was shot eight times by police in the backyard of his grandparents' home.

The officers were responding to a report of someone breaking car windows and opened fire because they thought the 22-year-old Clark was pointing a handgun at them. Only a cellphone was found nearby.

"No family should have to endure this pain and suffering as they try to seek answers for an execution of their loved one who was only holding a cellphone," Crump, flanked by members of Clark's family, said at a news conference. Mostly peaceful protests have followed the shooting.

Police have said officers who shot Clark "saw the suspect facing them, advance forward with his arms extended, and holding an object in his hands."

Crump was not available for an interview with The Associated Press but said during the March 26 news conference that Clark's death "is reminiscent of so many police shootings of unarmed black and brown people."

"We will fight for Stephon until we get justice for Stephon," he said.

By taking on police and communities in wrongful death and brutality cases, Crump has become a "voice for the voiceless," according to Sean Walton, a Columbus, Ohio-based attorney who also represents families in lawsuits involving police.

"Ben Crump has been a pioneer for his ability to generate attention to matters that normally get swept under the rug," Walton said. "We're actually doing what we can to convince local prosecutors to bring charges against police officers."

Crump is best known for representing the families of Martin and Brown.

Martin, 17, was shot to death in 2012 in Sanford, Florida, by white neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman, who was later acquitted of all charges.

Brown, 18, was killed by white Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, who was cleared of wrongdoing and later resigned.

Both Martin and Brown were unarmed. Crump said Brown "was executed in broad daylight."

Crump also represents the family of Terence Crutcher, 40, who was shot to death by white Tulsa, Oklahoma, police officer Betty Jo Shelby. Police video showed Crutcher, who was unarmed, walking away from officers and toward his SUV with his hands up when he was shot. A jury found Shelby not guilty of first-degree manslaughter.

Crutcher's estate has filed a civil rights lawsuit against Tulsa, Shelby and other police officers.

"I applaud his tenacity," Crutcher's father, the Rev. Joey Crutcher, said of Crump. "We needed to have a hard-hitting blow from somebody."

Some attorneys who take high-profile cases walk a tight line between representing clients and adhering to ethics, according to Michael Downey of the Downey Law Group in St. Louis, Missouri.

Most states have rules to ensure lawyers don't do things outside the courtroom that harms the process inside court, said Downey who teaches courses on legal ethics.

""It has certainly become more common for lawyers to be engaged in aggressive behavior," he said. "The vast majority of them are trying to do civil things - trying to increase the recovery by settlement or judgment."

A 2016 survey of police officers by the Washington-based Pew Research Center shows a significant number of departments have taken steps to reform policies involving interactions between citizens and police, said Rich Morin, Pew senior editor.

"We do know police behavior has changed - some good. Some, depending on the interpretation, not so good," he said.

Morin said nine out of 10 officers reported being concerned about their safety, but three-quarters were reluctant to use force. About three-quarters of people in a separate survey said interactions with police and black residents have become more tense.

"Many said police now are less willing to stop and question people who seem suspicious," he said. "On one hand, you can say 'great! Police aren't rousting folks just for sport.' On the other hand, some will say the police are reluctant to do their jobs these days."

Under former President Barack Obama, the Justice Department opened investigations into the slayings of Martin, Brown and Crutcher. However, President Donald Trump's administration has said Clark's death is a local issue.

"It is a clear signal to the base, which Trump has been careful about, that he is going to take the side of police in these kinds of matters and is not going to criticize them or hold them to great scrutiny," said Nicholas Valentino, an associate professor of communication studies and political science at the University of Michigan.

Attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents the family of police shooting victim Stephon Clark, discusses the findings of an independent autopsy during a news conference, Friday, March 30, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif. Over the years, Crump has represented the relatives of other unarmed black men fatally shot by police in other parts of the country. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents the family of police shooting victim Stephon Clark, discusses the findings of an independent autopsy during a news conference, Friday, March 30, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif. Over the years, Crump has represented the relatives of other unarmed black men fatally shot by police in other parts of the country. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

FILE - In this Aug. 11, 2014, file photo, attorney Benjamin Crump, right, speaks at a news conference in Jennings, Mo., with Lesley McSpadden, center, and Michael Brown Sr., the parents of Michael Brown. Over the years, Crump has represented the relatives of several unarmed black men fatally shot by police across the country. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)NEW YORK (AP) - An Air Force master sergeant and New York City firefighter who had faced bloodshed in Iraq and Afghanistan and hurricanes in Texas and the Caribbean needed to go where the action was, whether it was wrestling with his two giggling daughters or forcing his way into a burning building, a fellow firefighter told mourners at his funeral Saturday.

Christopher Raguso always came home to Long Island, alive - except this last time.

On Saturday morning, his flag-draped casket arrived atop a fire engine at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in the Suffolk County hamlet of Kings Park, with bagpipes intoning "Amazing Grace" and hundreds of white-gloved, uniformed firefighters lining the street. Some became pallbearers who carried him to the altar of the church where Raguso was married in 2009.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, attended the funeral along with city Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro.

Raguso, a 39-year-old lieutenant in the New York Fire Department, was killed March 15 in a military helicopter crash near the Syrian border that took the lives of seven National Guard members including three others from New York state - Capt. Christopher "Tripp" Zanetis, Tech Sgt. Dashan Briggs and Maj. Andreas O'Keeffe. They were stationed at the F.S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton Beach.

After an earlier deployment, Raguso "was a totally changed man when he came back from Iraq," his father, John Raguso, told mourners. "He mentioned something about being the tip of the spear on his next deployment, he didn't want to be the mission support any more, no way, he wanted to be the mission."

A fellow FDNY firefighter and friend, Lt. Christopher Gorzynski, said in his eulogy: "This man's entire life was dedicated to service of others, and he has done exactly what they and the country have asked him to; that's because Chris didn't know how not to give 100 percent of himself."

Gorzynski said Raguso realized that to be good at his job "he needed to go where the action was ... whether that was home wrestling with his giggling daughters, or forcing entry into the heart of a six-story tenement on fire."

Raguso was a 13-year veteran of the city fire department, having spent 11 years at Engine 249/Ladder 113 in Brooklyn's Prospect-Lefferts Gardens before he was transferred to Queens.

He also was a volunteer firefighter in Commack, where he lived with his wife and two daughters.

____

This story has been corrected to show that a quote about Christopher Raguso dedicating his life to serving others was from FDNY Lt. Christopher Gorzynski, not from Raguso's father, John Raguso.LOS ANGELES (AP) - President Donald Trump blasted California Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday for his pardon of five ex-convicts facing deportation, including two who fled the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia with their families four decades ago.

In a tweet , Trump referred to Brown as "Moonbeam," referencing a nickname a newspaper columnist coined for him in the 1970s. Trump then listed the ex-convicts' crimes before they were pardoned Friday. They include misdemeanor domestic violence, drug possession, and kidnapping and robbery.

Trump wrote: "Is this really what the great people of California want?"

FILE - In this Jan. 10, 2018 file photo, California Gov. Jerry Brown responds to a question at a news conference in Sacramento, Calif. Gov. Brown on Friday, March 30, pardoned five ex-convicts facing deportation, including two whose families fled the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia four decades ago. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

A spokesman for Brown responded to a request for comment with more information about the five men but did not directly address Trump's criticism.

In a news release about the pardons on Friday, the governor's office said that "those granted pardons all completed their sentences years ago and the majority were convicted of drug-related or other non-violent crimes."

"Pardons are not granted unless they are earned," the governor's office said.

Brown's pardons marked the third time the Democrat has intervened on behalf of immigrants who were deported or faced deportation over convictions. Brown has accused the Trump administration of "basically going to war" with California over immigration policy.

Brown's pardons don't automatically stop deportation proceedings, but eliminate the convictions on which authorities based their deportation.

Trump has been criticized for his own pardon, that of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted last year of a misdemeanor contempt charge for flouting the courts in carrying out his signature immigration patrols.

Trump's pardon spared Arpaio from a possible jail sentence. The 85-year-old longtime lawman announced a run for Senate in January.

Those pardoned Friday by Brown included Sokha Chhan and Phann Pheach, who face deportation to Cambodia, a country ruled in the 1970s by the genocidal Khmer Rouge. Chhan was convicted of two counts of misdemeanor domestic violence in 2002 and served about a year in jail.

Pheach was convicted of possessing drugs and obstructing a police officer in 2005 and served six months in jail. His wife said he is in federal custody.

Also pardoned was Daniel Maher, who served five years in prison stemming from the 1994 armed robbery of a San Jose auto parts store. He was convicted of kidnapping, robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm in the case.

Maher is facing deportation to China, where he has never lived. Maher is from Macau, which became part of China after his family immigrated to California when he was 3.

Also pardoned while facing deportation were Daniel Mena and Francisco Acevedo Alaniz. Mena served three years of probation after being convicted of possessing illegal drugs in 2003. Alaniz served five months in prison for a 1997 car theft conviction.

The governor is a former Jesuit seminarian and traditionally issues pardons close to major Christian holidays. Easter falls on Sunday.

California's longest-serving governor has now issued 1,519 pardons, including 404 during his first two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983.

___

Associated Press writer Janie Har contributed to this report from San Francisco. Elias reported from San Francisco.NEW DELHI (AP) - A four-story rickety hotel building collapsed in central India, killing at least 10 people and injuring three, police said Sunday.

Rescuers working through the night with sledgehammers and chain saws pulled alive 10 people from the debris of the building, which came crashing down Saturday night in Indore, a city in Madhya Pradesh state, said police officer Sanju Kamle.

Up to five people may still be trapped under the rubble, said Nishant Warwade, the district collector.

The Times of India newspaper said the dilapidated building collapsed after a car smashed into its front portion.

The hotel with 25 rooms was located in the commercial hub of Indore, close to railway and bus stations. Indore is around 900 kilometers (560 miles) south of New Delhi.

Building collapses are common in India as builders try to cut corners by using substandard materials, and as multi-story structures are erected with inadequate supervision. The massive demand for housing around India's cities and pervasive corruption often result in builders adding unauthorized floors or putting up illegal buildings.

In August 2017, 33 people were killed when an apartment building collapsed in India's financial capital of Mumbai.Health Secretary Shona Robison has agreed to meet a campaigning mother who wants a cannabis based treatment to be made available on the NHS to help her son, who can suffer up to 100 seizures a day.

Karen Grey believes cannabidiol  an oil derivative from the cannabis plant  could be used to treat five-year-old Murray, who has a rare form of epilepsy.

She has launched an online petition as part of her campaign, and now the Health Secretary has agreed to meet her after her case was raised in the Scottish Parliament.

Health Secretary Shona Robison said she is happy to meet Ms Grey (Jane Barlow/PA)

Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Liberal Democrat MSP for Edinburgh Western, raised the issue telling Ms Robison: My constituent Murray Grey suffers many violent seizures every single day due to a rare form of epilepsy. He is just five years old.

The only relief that could be afforded to Murray is in the properties of the cannabis derivative cannabidiol, also known as CBD. It is legal but not currently available on the NHS.

His mother Karen is willing to procure and administer it herself but wants medical support and advice to do this safely.

Murray is 5. Hes got epilepsy which gives him violent seizures. The only relief he finds is a #cannabis derivative called Cannabidoil (CBD). Its legal but not licensed for prescription by the NHS. That needs to change. Please sign and share: https://t.co/U61KR7EIIw  Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP (@agcolehamilton) March 22, 2018

In her online petition Ms Grey told how her son suffers from Doose Syndrome / Myoclonic Astatic Epilepsy (MAE), which she said means he lives with up to 100 seizures a day, and spends most of his life lying in a hospital bed shaking.

She added: It is very hard to control with the medicine currently available and it has been proven in other countries that medical cannabis helps people with illnesses like his.

In the USA medical cannabis has helped stop the daily aggressive seizures that children with this syndrome have.

If medical cannabis was available on the NHS my son may have a chance of a normal life.

Ms Robison said: I have every sympathy for Murray Grey and his family and of course I would be happy to meet with them.

It is not the Scottish Government or the NHS that approves licences for use of such products, under the terms of the current UK wide regulations manufacturers of medicinal products must have a licence for their medicine before it can be placed on the market in the UK for safety reasons.

Currently there are no cannabidiol products that have obtained a licence.

The Health Secretary added: Regulation for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines is currently reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), who operate on a UK wide basis.

All medicinal products must be fully tested and researched before they can be licensed by either the MHRA or the European Medicines Agency.

She said if a pharmaceutical company obtained a licence for such a product, they would then have to make a submission to the Scottish Medicines Consortium, for it to determine if it could be used by the NHS.The Prince of Wales has recorded an Easter message of support for persecuted Christians around the world.

Charles says in the video, released on Good Friday, how he has been deeply moved by the truly remarkable courage and selfless capacity for forgiveness of those he met who have suffered because of their religion.

The prince, who will one day become head of the Church of England, said: My heart goes out to all who this day, whatever their beliefs, are being persecuted on religious grounds.

He said of persecuted Christians during Easter: I want to assure them that they are not forgotten and that they are in our prayers.

The prince said: Over the years, I have met many who have had to flee for their faith and for their life  or have somehow endured the terrifying consequences of remaining in their country  and I have been so deeply moved, and humbled, by their truly remarkable courage and by their selfless capacity for forgiveness, despite all that they have suffered.

I have also heard that in the darkness there are small shafts of light, signs of resurrection and of hope that, slowly but surely, Christians who have had to flee from their homelands are beginning to return and to rebuild their shattered homes.

The prince goes on to say of Judaism, Christianity and Islam: All three Abrahamic faiths have known and continue to know the bitterness of persecution when religion has fallen into the barbaric grip of those who distort and misrepresent faith.

Clarence House said the princes message was inspired by his recent meetings with Christian Church leaders from the Middle East including the Coptic Pope.

Through the charity Aid To The Church In Need, he met Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil, who has been overseeing the care of more than 100,000 Christians driven out of their homes on Iraqs Nineveh Plains, and Melkite Archbishop John Darwish of Zahle and Furzol, Lebanon, who is helping Syrian Christian refuges.

Aid To The Church In Need said that more than 3,200 Christian houses on the Nineveh Plains in Iraq have been restored out of some 12,000, and more than 37,000 Christians had returned home.

The princes message also forms part of his ongoing dialogue with Church leaders in the UK, Clarence House said.

The Prince of Wales speaks to members of the Iraqi Chaldean Catholic community childrens choir in 2015 (Alastair Grant/PA)

In recent years, Charles has met many Syrian and Iraqi Christians who have been forced to flee their homes following the rise of Islamic State, and heard the stories of Britons whose relatives in the two nations have been persecuted.

Aid To The Church In Needs report into human rights violations against Christians around the world, has highlighted the genocide of Christians in the Middle East, and warns that the resulting exodus could threaten the continuing survival of the regions ancient churches.Palestinians have clashed with Israeli troops in several locations along the Israel-Gaza border fence, as mass sit-ins touted by Gazas Hamas rulers as peaceful protests quickly spun out of control.

Israeli troops fired live bullets and tear gas at Palestinians on the other side of the border fence.

The Palestinian health ministry said several Palestinians were wounded by army fire.

Palestinians attend a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border with Israel (Khalil Hamra/AP)

Witnesses and journalists in Gaza said hundreds of Palestinians participated in the clashes, while thousands more gathered in tent encampments set up in five sites near the border.

The Israeli military said thousands of Palestinians rolled burning tyres and threw stones at forces stationed on the border. It said troops opened fire at the main instigators.

The military said it views with great severity any breach of Israeli sovereignty or damage to the security fence.

Several hours before the confrontations, a Palestinian farmer was killed by an Israeli tank shell in the southern Gaza Strip, the Gaza health ministry said.

Israels military said ahead of the protests that it doubled its standard troop level along the border, deploying snipers, special forces and paramilitary border police units, which specialise in riot control. The military said it would not allow the crowds to breach the fence or damage military infrastructure.

Previous protests near the border fence in recent months have turned deadly, with Israeli soldiers firing live bullets at Palestinians burning tyres, throwing stones or hurling firebombs.

On Friday, mosques across Gaza called on Palestinians to join the protests. Buses took protesters to the border area. By noon, thousands had arrived at the encampments.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum praised the turnout.

The large crowds reflect the Palestinian peoples determination to achieve the right of return and break the siege and no force can stop this right, he said.

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas supreme leader, along with Gaza leader Yehiyeh Sinwar visited the tents.

The sit-ins are seen as a new attempt by Hamas to break a crippling, decade-old Gaza border blockade by Israel and Egypt that has made it increasingly difficult for the Islamic militant group to govern.

Other tactics over the years, including cross-border wars with Israel and attempts to reconcile with political rival Mahmoud Abbas, the West Bank-based Palestinian president, have failed to end Gazas isolation.

Fridays actions are to be the first in a series of protests planned in Gaza in the coming weeks. The activities are to culminate on May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israels creation, with a march through the border fence.

Palestinians commemorate the date as the anniversary of their mass displacement and uprooting during the 1948 war over Israels creation.

The vast majority of Gaza residents are descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven from communities in what is now Israel.

The Palestinian killed on Friday was identified as 27-year-old Amr Samour. Israel said troops had directed tank fire at suspicious figures near the border fence in the area.

Yasser Samour, a relative and fellow farmer, said Amr Samour was harvesting parsley before dawn, in hopes of selling it fresh in the market later in the day.

I was working on the next field, Mr Samour said. We heard shelling landing on the field where Amr works. We ran there and found him hit directly with a shell. We were more than a kilometre away from the border.

Another farmer was wounded in the leg by shrapnel, Mr Samour said.A fifth teenager has been charged with the murder of a 17-year-old stabbing victim who died in hospital six days after being attacked.

Nottinghamshire Police said a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, would appear at Nottingham Magistrates Court on Saturday charged in connection with the death of Lyrico Steede.

Police have previously charged Kasharn Campbell, 19, of no fixed address, and three other teenagers with murder.

Lyrico Steede (Nottinghamshire Police/PA)

Campbell and the three teenagers  two 17-year-old boys and a 15-year-old girl, who also cannot be named  are due to stand trial at Nottingham Crown Court on October 2.

A 17-year-old girl has also previously been charged with assisting an offender in connection with the incident.

She is due to appear at Nottingham Youth Court on April 3.

Lyrico, known as Rico, was stabbed a number of times in an attack which started at Bulwells Hempshill Lane recreation ground.

He was then chased and left with serious injuries in Stock Well, Bulwell, at around 7.30pm on Tuesday February 13.

Detectives are continuing to appeal to anyone with any information about the death to contact them by calling Nottinghamshire Police on 101.David Moyes fears top players will be put off joining West Ham if there is any repeat of the crowd trouble at the London Stadium.

The 3-0 defeat at Burnley three weeks ago was marred by pitch invasions, missile throwing and angry protests against the clubs board.

Joint-owners David Gold and David Sullivan eventually had to leave their seats for their own safety, with Sullivan being struck by a coin.

David Moyes needs a win against Southampton (Nick Potts/PA)

Hammers manager Moyes insists his players, who were clearly adversely affected by the incidents, are now better prepared should there be any more problems at this weekends crunch clash with relegation rivals Southampton.

But he warned: I want this club to appeal to really good international players. I want them to say I want to join West Ham United.

I dont think what happened against Burnley is going to make those players want to join us.

Im saying weve got to show why top players should want to come here.

If youre a player, you want to come to a club where the supporters are right behind the team. You dont want to come somewhere where theyre not.

So I wanted to reassure our players by saying if anything happens again heres how we should react and what we should do.

Its important we dont capitulate if we go 1-0 down, although against Burnley there were mitigating circumstances.

West Ham have beefed up security around the stadium in a bid to avoid more trouble.

A greater police presence will be evident while more stewards will be on hand after it was left to West Ham captain Mark Noble to deal with the first pitch invader, shoving the fan to the ground before he ran back into the stands.

Moyes added: The bigger thing was I think the guy was on the pitch that long. Standing there. Nobody took him off. Who was going to do it? Were we all going to just stand there and wait?

We were waiting for somebody to run on and wrestle him. Weve seen it so many times before.

So, Mark was probably feeling the same as us. We are waiting too long here, why is nothing happening.

But hopefully that has all been addressed now.The funeral of Professor Stephen Hawking will be held at a church near the Cambridge University college that was his academic home for more than 50 years.

Renowned British physicist Prof Hawking died peacefully at his Cambridge home on March 14 at the age of 76.

The cosmologist had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease in his 20s.

Saturdays private funeral service at the University Church of St Mary the Great will be attended by family, invited friends and colleagues.

Professor Stephen Hawking's funeral on Saturday will be a private service conducted by @CaiusCollege. We apologize that we will not be able to admit members of the public to this service.

A Condolence Book may be found at https://t.co/Cbomlmyprs for those wishing to pay tribute. pic.twitter.com/JbITnIqNov  Great St Mary's, The University Church (@GreatStMarys) March 26, 2018

The church, which can seat up to 1,200 people, is near to Gonville and Caius College, where Prof Hawking was a fellow for 52 years.

Prof Hawkings coffin will be carried by six porters from the college, all in traditional uniform including bowler hats.

Many porters at the college knew Prof Hawking and provided support when he visited for dinners and other events, and they were asked by his family to be pallbearers.

Six Gonville & Caius College Porters will carry the coffin of Professor #StephenHawking at his #funeral @GreatStMarys Church in Cambridge on Saturday, allowing them to pay tribute to the physicist - a Fellow of Caius for over 52 years. Read more here: https://t.co/DWydmXdsev pic.twitter.com/SVZLYLWKx4  Gonville & Caius College (@CaiusCollege) March 29, 2018

Head porter Russ Holmes will walk ahead of the coffin as it is carried into the church.

He will wear his formal college uniform of top hat and tails, and carry a silver-topped ebony cane of office.

In a statement, Prof Hawkings children Lucy, Robert and Tim said: On behalf of our whole family we want to express our huge gratitude to all the wonderful tributes to our father and to those who have sent us messages of condolence.

A man lays flowers outside Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (Yui Mok/ PA)

Our father lived and worked in Cambridge for over 50 years.

He was an integral and highly recognisable part of the university and the city.

For this reason, we have decided to hold his funeral in the city that he loved so much and which loved him.

Our fathers life and work meant many things to many people, both religious and non-religious.

So, the service will be both inclusive and traditional, reflecting the breadth and diversity of his life.

We would like to thank Gonville and Caius College, the University of Cambridge and Trinity College, Cambridge for their assistance with our fathers funeral service.

Prof Hawkings ashes will be interred close to the remains of Sir Isaac Newton in Westminster Abbey on June 15.

A book of condolence for Prof Hawking remains open at Gonville and Caius College, and an online book has also been set up.Alex Salmond will no longer present his political debate show on a national radio station.

The former First Minister of Scotlands weekly Sunday afternoon phone-in on LBC has ended after just six months.

It comes as Mr Salmond faces criticism for continuing to host a political show on RT following the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

The former first minister has been criticised for appearing on RT (Chris Radburn/PA)

An LBC spokesman said: Alex Salmond has completed his contract as presenter of the Sunday afternoon show on LBC.

Were now discussing other projects with him.

Salmond on Sunday was last aired on the channel on March 25, having first broadcast in September.

In November he began hosting The Alex Salmond Show on the Russian state-backed television channel, RT.

The broadcaster has been accused of being a Kremlin propaganda machine, although it claims its journalists are independent.

Mr Salmond received fresh calls to cease his work with RT in the wake of the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, but he defended his show saying he had full editorial control.

I signed up to a 6 month contract with LBC last September, which completed at end of March. Ive had a great time with listeners, who are both opinionated & fun and I enjoyed the phone-in experience. I look forward to launching another project with LBC, currently under discussion https://t.co/PP4mKUj4Jw  Alex Salmond (@AlexSalmond) March 31, 2018

The incident has been linked to the Russian state, which denies any involvement, as Mr Sergei had been a double agent for the UK and the chemical used was first developed by the former Soviet Union.

Mr Salmond said: I signed up to a six month contract with LBC last September, which completed at the end of March.

I have had a great time with the listeners at LBC, who are both opinionated and tremendous fun, and I really enjoyed the phone-in experience.

I look forward to launching another project with the station which is currently under discussion.

The Alex Salmond Show is produced by Slainte Media and has been described by RT as a mixture of current affairs, discussion and friendly exploration into the personalities behind the public figures of the guests.

A Scottish Conservatives party spokesman said: Alex Salmond has proved a national embarrassment by refusing to step down from his role as a presenter on Russia Today.

It is hardly surprising that his current contract with LBC has not been renewed given his ongoing involvement with a Kremlin propaganda outlet.

He should do the decent thing and walk away.

Mr Salmond added: The Scots Tories are a bunch of laughable lickspittles. The idea that I would be bullied off air, whether it be on LBC or The Alex Salmond Show, by that crowd is risible.

The difference is that I say what I believe to be true on air. The Scots Tories get told what to think by their Westminster bosses.The prime minister of the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile has urged his compatriots to strengthen efforts to make the return of the Dalai Lama to his native land a reality.

Speaking in India, Lobsang Sangay said Tibet has seen 60 years of destruction of its civilisation, culture and identity by the Chinese since the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959.

He said the Dalai Lama dreamt of himself in a room in the Potala Palace filled with light where he will be reunited with Tibetans inside Tibet.

The Potala Palace in Lhasa was the residence of the Dalai Lama until he fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising.

We Tibetan people with the support of people of India and abroad should strengthen our efforts to make his return to his Potala Palace a reality. Let us reunite the Dalai Lama with Tibetans inside Tibet who have spent the last 60 years with a hope, with a dream to get a glimpse of the Dalai Lama in their lifetime.

The Dalai Lama with junior Indian minister for culture and tourism Mahesh Sharma (AP)

Thousands and thousands of Tibetans have been killed and have died for the cause of Tibet. Many of them have burned themselves alive, he said, in a hard-hitting speech.

The Dalai Lama thanked India for giving shelter to him and said the Tibetans have turned their unfortunate circumstances into a path of enlightenment by reviving their spirit and influence wherever they are.

The Dalai Lama and Mr Sangay spoke at a public event in the northern Indian town of Dharmsala marking the beginning of the 60th year of the spiritual leaders exile in India.

The Indian government was represented by junior culture minister Mahesh Sharma. Earlier this month, local media reported that India had told top officials to avoid events held by Tibets exile government to celebrate the Dalai Lamas life in India, fearful of hurting relations with China.

Ram Madhav, a governing Bharatiya Janata Party leader, expressed hope in his speech that the Dalai Lama would be able to find a solution to the Tibetan issue through peaceful and democratic means that will facilitate your honorable return to your homeland.

The Dalai Lama with Naren Chandra Das, an Indian soldier who was part of the group that received the Tibetan leader at the Indian border in 1959 (AP)

The Dalai Lama was subdued in his speech, but he has in the past said the issue of Tibet could be best resolved amicably through the middle way approach, by resuming dialogue with China demanding true autonomy while remaining under Chinese rule.

The Dalai Lama said that he left Tibet in 1959 under difficult circumstances without knowing what would happen in the next 50 or 60 years.

Today we are celebrating 60 years in exile where we could see what will happen to us in the future to a certain extent, he said, without elaborating.

China says Tibet has historically been part of its territory since the mid-13th century, and has governed it since 1951. But many Tibetans say the region was effectively independent for most of its history.Darron Gibson has left Sunderland by mutual consent after being charged with drink driving, the club has announced.

The 30-year-old Republic of Ireland international was suspended by the Black Cats after being arrested and subsequently charged following an incident close to the clubs training ground on March 17.

However, his stay at the Stadium of Light has now come to an end.

Sunderland midfielder Darron Gibson has left the club by mutual consent (Paul Thomas/EMPICS)

In a brief statement, Sunderland said: Following the conclusion of his recent suspension, Darron Gibson will leave Sunderland AFC by mutual consent.

Former Manchester United midfielder Gibson joined the club from Everton in January 2017 as David Moyes turned to tried and tested players in an attempt to rebuild his squad.

However, injuries  he was recovering from a groin injury at the time of the drink driving allegation  and a lack of form limited him to just 30 appearances.MEXICO CITY, March 30 (Reuters) - More than 100 Central American migrants, including dozens of minors, were found crowded inside a sweltering truck without food or water in Mexico en route to the United States, authorities said on Friday.

The 136 migrants, from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, were rescued in the violent southeastern state of Veracruz after 24 hours in temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), Mexico's migration institute INM said.

Tens of thousands of Central Americans fleeing violence and poverty in their homelands aim to pass through Mexico to the United States every year, often transported by human traffickers who subject them to perilous conditions.

More than 800 Central American migrants have been found in truck trailers or safe houses in Mexico so far this year, according to a government document seen by Reuters.

Border apprehensions fell when U.S. President Donald Trump took office last year and vowed to stamp out illegal immigration, suggesting fewer crossing attempts, but have picked up in recent months.

The migrants in Veracruz were discovered by federal police and migration agents who heard cries for help from within the truck, which had been abandoned near a freeway.

Authorities said they counted 49 minors among the group, 13 of whom were traveling alone and will receive aid to apply for refugee status in Mexico. The adults, as well as the accompanied children, will be sent back to their home countries.

Last month, 103 Central Americans, including 36 minors, were rescued from an abandoned truck in the violent northern state of Tamaulipas, where migrants often attempt illegal border crossings.

In July, 10 people died after a truck stuffed with more than 100 Guatemalan and Mexican migrants was abandoned in a Texas parking lot. (Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon Editing by Bill Trott)The United National Party (UNP) said yesterday it would carry out rigorous party reforms no sooner it defeated the no-confidence motion against UNP Leader and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in Parliament.

MP Kavinda Jayawardena told a news conference held at Sirikotha that they were confident of defeating the no-confidence motion on April 4 and launch its reforms on April 5.

At the Working Committee meeting held on Thursday, the party decided to support the Premier and defeat the no-confidence motion. We also decided to reform the party. Three committees each headed by Ministers Sajith Premadasa, Ruwan Wijewardene and Deputy Minister J. C. Alawathuwala were appointed to submit proposals for party reforms. Two of the committees had handed over their reports to the party leader, he said.

When asked whether there will be a change in the UNP leadership when the party undergoes reforms, Mr. Jayawardena said the specifics would be decided by the party at its convention.

Meanwhile, he said government members including the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) ministers should resign from the government if they supported the motion which would be defeated.

The MP rejected reports of the UNP bribing MPs to vote against the no-confidence motion. (Lahiru Pothmulla)Six students, who purportedly went to their Class X Mathematics exam centres with solved papers, were detained in Chatra on Friday in connection with CBSE paper leaks, the police said here.

Chatra sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Gyan Ranjan said the six were sitting with solved Maths papers at their test centres on March 28.

"They have been detained," he said.

One of the detainees claimed they purportedly received the papers from Patna, following which a police team was sent to Patna for further investigation, the SDPO said.

An FIR has been lodged against the four but no arrest has been made as yet, the SDPO said.

The CBSE Board examination paper leaks earlier this week has drawn widespread criticism from across the country and triggered students' protests.Only David Reich's eyes were visible as he inspected the batch of bones. Reich, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School, wore a hooded white clean room suit, cream-coloured clogs, and a blue surgical mask. On a counter in front of him lay a row of bone fragments. He pointed out a strawberry-size chunk: "This is from a 4,000-year-old site in Central Asia - from Uzbekistan, I think."



He moved down the row. "This is a 2,500-year-old sample from a site in Britain. This is Bronze Age Russian, and these are Arabian samples. These people would have never met each other in time or space." Reich hopes that his team of scientists and technicians can find DNA in these bones. Odds are good that they will.

In less than three years, Reich's laboratory has published DNA from the genomes of 938 ancient humans - more than all other research teams working in this field combined. The work in his lab has reshaped our understanding of human prehistory.

"They often answer age-old questions and sometimes provide astonishing unanticipated insights," said Svante Paabo, the director of the Max Planck Institute of Paleoanthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

Reich, Paabo and other experts in ancient DNA are putting together a new history of humanity, one that runs in parallel with the narratives gleaned from fossils and written records. In Reich's research, he and his colleagues have shed light on the peopling of the planet and the spread of agriculture, among other momentous events.

In the book Who We Are and How We Got Here, Reich, 43, explains how advances in DNA sequencing and analysis have helped this new field take off. "It's really like the invention of a new scientific instrument, like a microscope or a telescope," he said. "When an instrument that powerful is invented, it opens up all these horizons, and everything is new and surprising."

Reich oversees a team with many different skills, from genetics to mathematics. But the "clean lab" is where the raw material for all their work - ancient DNA - is recovered. The head-to-toe suits that the researchers don in an airlock each morning ensure that no stray flake of skin or bead of sweat contaminates the bones with modern DNA. Each night the entire lab is bathed in gene-destroying ultraviolet light.

The clean lab feels as if it belongs in a computer chip factory. But Reich has not forgotten that these are human remains, not widgets on a conveyor belt. "This is a bone from a person's body who lived 4,000 years ago, and we're destroying it," he said, gazing down at the Uzbek remains. "I think we need to do well by the individuals we're studying." Doing well means understanding who these people were, and how they were linked to one another - and to us.

Reich began studying sociology as a Harvard undergraduate, but later he turned to physics and then to medicine. After graduating, he went to Oxford to prepare for medical school. There he met Dr David B Goldstein, who at the time was comparing the DNA of living people for clues to what their distant ancestors were like.

Abandoning medical school, Reich continued with genetics research and was hired by Harvard Medical School in 2003. By then, he had developed a close partnership with a mathematician named Neil Patterson, who had come late in life to genetics, after 20 years working as a cryptographer in British intelligence and then joining a hedge fund.

Reich appointed Patterson deputy head of the newly formed genetics lab, and together they began developing new statistical techniques to plumb genetic data for hidden patterns. The two researchers devised a way to determine whether a single population descended from two or more distinct groups. Collaborating with researchers at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad they put their method to first big test.

Analysing DNA from hundreds of villages, they discovered that just about every living Indian descends from two distinct groups. One, which the researchers called Ancestral North Indians, is related to Central Asians, Near Easterners and Europeans.

The second group, Ancestral South Indians, is a mysterious population that is not closely related to any living people outside of India. The two populations mixed together, Reich estimated, 2,000 to 4,000 years ago.

As Reich and his colleagues gained attention for their new methods, they got an extraordinary invitation: to study the DNA of Neanderthals.

The invitation came from Paabo. In the 1990s, he had pioneered methods to extract ancient DNA from fossils dating back tens of thousands of years. While he studied many extinct species - such as cave bears, mastodons and ground sloths - Neanderthals were his deepest passion.

In 2006, he invited Reich's team to help figure out how modern humans and Neanderthals were related. Reich threw himself into the project, and over the next few years, the scientists made a series of landmark discoveries.

The DNA of Neanderthals indicates that their ancestors split from our own about 600,000 years ago. But Reich's tests revealed that living humans outside of Africa still carry traces of Neanderthal DNA. How is that possible? Before Neanderthals became extinct in Europe, they encountered and interbred with the ancestors of modern humans as they departed Africa.

As the scientists searched in more fossils for Neanderthal DNA, they got another surprise. In 2010, a nondescript pinkie bone recovered in a Siberian cave called Denisova yielded the entire genome of a previously unknown, and extinct, lineage of humans. The Denisovans, as they came to be known, split off from Neanderthals about 400,000 years ago, genetic analysis revealed.

Denisovan DNA has turned up only in a few additional teeth discovered in that Siberian cave. The oldest such fossils date to over 100,000 years old; the pinkie bone belonged to a Denisovan who lived 48,000 to 60,000 years ago. Reich and his colleagues discovered that Denisovans, like Neanderthals, left a genetic legacy in living people, mostly in Australia, New Guinea and Asia.

Ancient DNA has summoned the genetic shadows of a long-vanished people, one that fossils alone could not reveal. Many scientists now suspect that ancient DNA will reveal other extinct kinds of humans. "The discovery of Denisovan DNA was a landmark in my thinking about ancient DNA," Reich said. "It can reveal things about the past that are completely unexpected, that are not dreamed of in our philosophy."

Reich's voyage through prehistory left him wondering about what DNA could reveal about more recent events. Museums around the world were loaded with bones of people who lived within the last 20,000 years, after all. Since those remains were younger, they would be more likely to still have some DNA in them. To begin retrieving it, Reich retooled his laboratory, copying Paabo's facility in Germany to the last detail.

In 2015, the first results emerged from Reich's new research pipeline. He and his colleagues published DNA from 69 ancient Europeans who lived 3,000 to 8,000 years ago. According to their results, farmers with Near East ancestry displaced hunter-gatherers already living in Europe. Then, about 4,500 years ago, another wave of people arrived, descended from the horse-riding nomads of what are now the Russian steppes.

As of last month, Reich's team has published about three-quarters of all the genome-wide data from ancient human remains in the scientific literature. But the scientists are only getting started. They have retrieved DNA from 3,000 more samples. And lab refrigerators are filled with bones from 2,000 more denizens of prehistory.

Reich's plan is to find ancient DNA from every culture known to archaeology everywhere in the world. Ultimately, he hopes to build a genetic atlas of humanity over the past 50,000 years. "I try not to think about it all at once, because it's so overwhelming," he said.Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, on Saturday, arrived in her Swat Valley hometown in Pakistan for the first time after she was shot in the head by Taliban militants for advocating girls education more than five years ago.



Amid tight security, she along with her parents arrived in Swat district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on a day-long visit, sources said.

She has been put up in Circuit House. The venue had been surrounded by the law enforcers.

She will be visiting her ancestral home in Makan Bagh in Mingora, her school besides inaugurating a girls school in Shangla district, the sources added.

In an interview to 'Geo News' on Friday, Malala said that she plans to return to Pakistan permanently once her studies are completed.

"My plan is to return to Pakistan as this is my country. I have the same right on the country as any another Pakistani," Malala said.

She reiterated her joy of being in Pakistan and her mission of providing education to children.

"We want to work for the education of children and make it possible that every girl in Pakistan receives a high-level education and she can fulfil her dreams and become a part of society," she said.

Malala, now 20, was shot by a gunman for campaigning for female education in 2012 in Pakistan's Swat Valley.

Severely wounded, Malala was taken by helicopter from one military hospital in Pakistan to another, where doctors placed her in a medically induced coma so an air ambulance could fly her to Great Britain for treatment.

After she was attacked, the Taliban released a statement saying that they would target her again if she survived.

At age 17, Malala became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for her education advocacy.

She shared the coveted prize with India's social activist Kailash Satyarthi.

Unable to return to Pakistan after her recovery, Malala moved to Britain, setting up the Malala Fund and supporting local education advocacy groups with a focus on Pakistan, Nigeria, Jordan, Syria and Kenya.

She is currently studying at Oxford University.

Malala began her campaign aged just 11 when she started writing a blog for the BBC's Urdu service in 2009 about life under the Taliban in Swat, where they were banning girls' education.

In 2007, the Islamist militants had taken over the area and imposed a brutal rule.

Opponents were murdered, people were publicly flogged for supposed breaches of Sharia law, women were banned from going to market, and girls were stopped from going to school.

The Taliban, who are opposed to the education of girls, have destroyed hundreds of schools in Pakistan.A policeman was shot at and critically injured by unidentified militants in Khanbal area of south Kashmir's Anantnag district on Saturday morning.

A police officer said unidentified militants opened fire at the special police officer (SPO) Turag Singh near Khanbal, Anantnag, 50 km from here, injuring him critically.

Singh has been shifted to a hospital, where his condition is stated to be critical.

The officer said the SPO was regulating traffic when he was fired upon. SPOs are recruited by the Jammu and Kashmir Police on a fixed monthly remuneration of Rs 6,000.

The wages of SPOs are given by the state government and reimbursed by the Centre, under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police maintain SPOs are an important element in their strategy to combat militancy.To counter the indoctrination of youth towards militancy in restive Kashmir, police have found a novel way to engage the young minds towards career-building.

The khaki ranks are inspiring the unemployed youths to be entrepreneurs by offering them opportunities to launch their own startups.

In a first such development, the police have formally allied with the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) to offer career counselling and subsequent assistance to the youth.

The first such counselling session was held on March 19 at the District Police Lines (DPL) in southern Shopian, otherwise seen as a hotbed of new-age militancy, where a large number of youths attended the programme.

According to officials, more such programmes are in the offing in the coming days.

By virtue of the specialised counselling, the youth are not only being informed about the opportunities for startups, but the police is offering "complete assistance through a single window system."

For Faisal (name changed), a computer graduate, life had come to standstill since completion of studies in 2016, when the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani, pushed Kashmir to months of unrest.

Sitting idle at his home in Shopian, Faisal said he thought that his career was ruined before it could take off, as he could not get settled anywhere, while the situation around looked hostile.

"Amid so much of favouritism in the government sector, there are no job opportunities for non-influential youths like me, while starting a business looked equally impossible due to complexities of formalities. But since the day I attended the counselling session, my dreams to start a software business have started coming true," he told DH.

Faisal is one among the many youths availing the benefits of this counselling.

Seen as the brainchild of Deputy Inspector General of Police south Kashmir Amit Kumar, the startup initiative offers assistance to aspiring entrepreneurs even through police stations.

Each of the concerned police stations have been asked to coordinate with the JKEDI, industries and other concerned departments for hassle-free processing of the cases.

"Frankly speaking we didn't want to keep an interaction with the youth limited to any day-long event, rather we want to go hand in hand with them till the day their venture starts functioning and their dreams are realised," the DIG said.

He said apart from assistance, the police is looking ahead to invite leading entrepreneurs from big cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru for interaction with their budding counterparts here.

"Real-time exchange of ideas from industry players does play a role," he said.

The police took this lead a few days ahead of Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba's Kashmir visit when he pitched similar ideas.

On March 27, during a three-hour meeting with the police and civil administration, Gauba asked the top officials of various security agencies "to engage the local boys in various developmental activities to keep them away from joining various militant outfits."

"We will provide full support to all of you in engaging youth in various developmental activities so that they are kept away from militancy," Gauba reportedly told the meeting.BJP national president Amit Shah said that the interpretation of a few leaders including Siddaramaiah, that the southern states are funding northern states through the Finance Commission; is a ploy to damage the federal system.

The allocation of the 14th commission was made by the Congress-led UPA government, and a better allocation will be made in the next commission for the uniform development of the nation, he added.

Commenting on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's claim that the allocation of Rs 2.19 lakh crore for Karnataka by the 14th Finance Commission was the state's right and not a 'favour done to Karnataka by the BJP', Shah said the NDA too, does not consider it to be a favour.

"But, why was the allocation in the 13th Finance Commission only Rs 88,583 crore? The Congress-led UPA had denied Karnataka's its right. The BJP has ensured that the state gets what is due," Shah said.

Shah said the 'cyclone of corruption' affecting the people in Karnataka due to Siddaramaiah-led Congress government, would turn into a tsunami if the Congress is re-elected.



Shah said the 'cyclone of corruption' affecting the people in Karnataka due to Siddaramaiah-led Congress government.



"Siddaramaiah claims to be a champion of the OBCs. But his own party scuttled the bill that would have given Constitutional status to the OBC Commission. Their leader stalled the passing of the bill seeking a provision to nominate a member of the minority community in the commission," Shah recalled.

The bill which was passed in the Lok Sabha was stalled in the Rajya Sabha due to the adamant attitude of the Congress, he added.

Shah also targeted the JD(S), saying that the party had its own limitations, and can't form the government on its own.Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday claimed that the BJP-led government in Uttar Pradesh was trying to defame and harass its political opponents in the name of inquiries, adding that it would reap the fruits of what it was sowing in the future.



The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also accused the Yogi Adityanath regime of "speaking lies and hoodwinking the people" as regards the projects launched by the previous SP government in the state.

"The BJP-led state government only wants to defame and harass its political adversaries, as a result of which senior SP leader Azam Khan is being harassed in the name of recruitment in the Jal Nigam...though this government is not giving jobs, it is raising questions on the ones already given," Yadav told reporters here.

"Whether it is the Lucknow-Agra Expressway or the Gomti riverfront project of the previous government, this government is only speaking lies and hoodwinking the people...the political opponents are being humiliated through the investigating agencies...but it is also a fact that they will have to reap the fruits tomorrow of what they are sowing today," he added.

Referring to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurating an elevated road in Ghaziabad on Friday, Yadav said it was already inaugurated earlier.

"He (Adityanath) charged us with spreading 'parivarvad' (dynasty politics) in his speech...I want to ask, which one is the 'Yadav lane' on the elevated road (that he inaugurated)," he added.

Admitting that he had reached this place in politics because of "parivarvad", the SP chief said he also had to face several challenges in his political career.

"I admit that I am standing here today because of dynasty politics, but I have also had to prove my mettle before the public," he said and asked Adityanath whether he would have reached this high, if it was not for "parivarvad".

To a question on Union minister Ramdas Athawale inviting Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati to join the NDA, Yadav said, "Athawaleji is a very good minister. When I was an MP, no one else used to entertain the House as much as him."

To another question, he said the BJP was worried because of an understanding between the SP and BSP and wondered what would happen when there would be an understanding between "45 political parties" all over the country.

Claiming that atrocities on Dalits had gone up under the BJP-led government in the state, the SP chief asked the ruling regime to do some development work.

"Teachers, shiksha mitras and others are getting lathis, instead of jobs...the government is not able to find a way to give jobs on the existing vacancies," he said.

Yadav refused to reply to a query on an "understanding" between the SP and BSP for the upcoming Legislative Council election.Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey today accused the RJD and Congress of trying to flare up "riots" in Bihar and said the NDA governments at the Centre and in the state would take stern action against such attempts.



He also claimed that the Centre and the Bihar government had foiled attempts to cause "riots" in Bihar, although the RJD and Congress "wanted" the disturbances.

Bihar has witnessed a spurt in communal clashes of late. On March 17, violence had broken out in Bhagalpur, where a religious procession was being led by Choubey's son, Arijit Shashwat.

"We will defeat the intention of the RJD and Congress to instigate riots. The conspirators wanted to cause riots, but no one dared to do so and we have kept Bihar under control. The Bihar government and the Centre will together defeat the attempts to disturb harmony in the state," the minister said.

Yesterday, in another incident of communal flare-up in Bihar, scores of vehicles were vandalised and a hotel was set ablaze at Nawada, where the members of two communities clashed following reports of desecration of an idol.

Choubey also accused the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government of "failing" to deal with the situation in that state.

"The West Bengal government has completely failed to maintain harmony and tolerance among the people," he alleged.

Asansol and Raniganj in West Burdwan district of West Bengal had witnessed violent clashes between two groups over Ram Navami celebrations on Sunday and Monday.

Official sources had said one person was killed and two police officers were injured in the clashes.A body representing private schools has sought the resignation of HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, alleging that the government had failed to conduct the board examinations in a fair manner.



Kulbhushan Sharma, the president of the National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA), which claims to represent 60,000 private schools across the country, said the CBSE paper leak issue had caused immense stress for children.

He asked why the government was not taking responsibility for not being able to conduct the examinations in a fair manner.

We have time and again requested the CBSE that the board should restrict its role to its core objective which is to conduct examinations. Under political pressure, the CBSE got deviated from its core focus and started acting as a regulator. Since the CBSE functions under the HRD ministry, we see it as a failure of the government and demand the immediate resignation of the HRD minister," he said in a statement.

NISA suggested that the CBSE should be a completely independent and autonomous body and recommended separation of roles of the ministry and the board, according to the statement.

There should be independent and autonomous institutions for regulation, financing and assessment of education. As long as all the three roles are controlled by the ministry, incidents such as the CBSE paper leak would continue to happen, NISA national coordinator Amit Chandra said.Taking a dig at the BJP over its "double standard" on the ban of cow slaughter, Karnataka minister Ramalinga Reddy today alleged that the country's beef export was flourishing under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's regime.



Recalling the statements of BJP president Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during their visits to Karnataka that they would ban cow slaughter in the state after coming to power, Reddy said killing of any animal was not right.

"They (BJP) say that they will ban cow slaughter if they come to power in Karnataka, while our country exports cow meat, beef to other countries...it has been four years since they came to power, why have they not stopped these exports," he asked.

Speaking to reporters here, the state home minister noted, "If they have real love for cows, they will have to first stop the exports."

Reddy also alleged that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's regime, the country has attained the second position in the global beef exports, from the third place it enjoyed earlier.

Brazil currently holds the first position, while Australia is third.

The Congress minister said the income earned by the country during 2015-16 from beef exports stood at Rs 26,682 crore.

"Does this mean for Rs 26,000 crore, they (BJP) are exporting beef and not banning it? If their sentiment about the cow is true, let them stop it," he said.

Citing data by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy data, Reddy said under the Modi regime, beef exports have seen a growth of about 14 percent every year.

BJP-ruled Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have a large number of beef processing and exporting companies, he said, adding there were allegations that BJP leaders were partners in these beef exporting companies in Uttar Pradesh.

The Karnataka minister said in BJP-ruled Goa, 30 to 50 tonnes of beef is used every day, adding in many northeastern states where the BJP is in power, they are not ready for a ban on cow slaughter for "political reasons".

"...they (BJP) are playing a drama...if they want to ban, let them ban everywhere and all animals. I will completely support it...let them first leave their double standard out," he said.

Reddy also termed Shah's visit to temples, Swami jis (seers) and the royal family of Mysuru in Karnataka as "politically motivated" ahead of the May 12 state assembly election.

Hitting out at Shah's statement that BJP would bring the culprits involved in killings of RSS and BJP activists to justice, Reddy asked, "Who are they to bring them to justice when we have already done the job."

He said the state government has already put the culprits behind bars and in many cases, charge-sheets have been filed, adding "the BJP claimed that 23 activists were killed, while the truth is only 10 of them belonged to the BJP or Sangh Parivar. The rest were all different cases, including that of personal rivalry."

Accusing the BJP of indulging in false propaganda about the killing of 'Hindu activists', he questioned as to why the party leaders were not speaking about the killings of PFI and SDPI activists.

Regarding party ticket to his daughter Soumya Reddy to contest from Jayanagara constituency in Bengaluru for the assembly polls, Reddy said, "If she is given the ticket, she will contest from Jayanagara, if someone else is given, we will support that candidate".

About reports that she was looking at Bommanahalli constituency as a second option, the home minister clarified that his daughter would not contest from any other constituency.A 47-day long protest by Kumarettiyapuram villagers against expansion of Sterlite Copper plant is gaining momentum with newbie politicians Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan reasoning with their cause.



While Kamal will be in Thoothukudi on Sunday and lead a protest against the expansion of Sterlite Copper plant, Rajinikanth took to Twitter on Saturday to question the Tamil Nadu government's silence on the issue.

Though the villagers of Kumarettiyapuram have been protesting in the heart of Thoothukudi, 605 km from here, since mid-February, the protests received a much-needed boost after thousands of people from all walks converged in the port town last Saturday and put their weight behind those fighting against the "dangerous" project.

The villagers have been vehemently opposing noxious gas leaks and bad effluent management by Sterlite Copper for nearly 20 years and say that the expansion of the copper plant would further wreck their lives.

They demand that the expansion plans be abandoned and the entire plant be shut owing to environmental concerns.

Almost all political parties, including the Opposition DMK, which remained silent about complaints on Sterlite Copper while it was in power, pledged support for the agitators and demanded that the Tamil Nadu government stop the expansion plans.

"People are protesting against the Sterlite Copper smelter plant for the past 47 days citing health concerns. One can't understand why the government, which gave the nod for the plant, is not taking any action and is just watching. Tamil Nadu government's action is a puzzle," Rajinikanth wrote on his Twitter handle.

Kamal, who has already opposed the project, will be in Thoothukudi on Sunday and will lead a protest against the copper smelting factory.

"We cannot allow a Bhopal-like tragedy to happen in Thoothukudi," the Makkal Needhi Maiam president said.The Class 12 Hindi (Elective) paper being circulated on the social media was fake, the CBSE said on Saturday and urged the people not to spread rumours regarding the paper.



The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is scheduled to hold the Class 12th Hindi (Elective) examination on April 2.

...a fake question paper of Class XII - Hindi (Elective) (enclosed) is being circulated on social media i.e. WhatsApp, YouTube etc.," the CBSE said in a release.

It added that the question papers circulating on these social media platforms were either of a previous year or fake.

"Hence, it is requested not to circulate the news about these fake papers, so that the students and other stakeholders are not misled, the release said.

The board also enclosed the fake Hindi paper, which it said was being circulated on the social media, with its statement.

Yesterday, School Education Secretary Anil Swarup had said the re-examination of the CBSE Class 12 economics paper would be held on April 25, while the Class 10 mathematics re-test, if required, would be conducted only for Delhi-NCR and Haryana in July.

The announcement had come after the board received complaints that the question papers for the two subjects were leaked.Unidentified people vandalised the statue of B R Ambedkar in Gohaniya village here, triggering protests by locals, police said on Saturday.



The statue was found damaged on Saturday morning. Soon locals gathered at the spot and demanded the culprits' immediate arrest.

The statue is being replaced and a case has been lodged against unidentified people, SP, Dr Dharamvir said.

Efforts are on to identify those behind the incident, he said.

Domariyaganj MLA, Raghvendra Pratap Singh, who rushed to the village soon after the incident, claimed that it was a conspiracy hatched by the Samajwadi Party and the BSP.

He also said that the culprits will not be spared.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is scheduled to visit the district on April 2.A special CBI court on Saturday set aside summonses issued to two Intelligence Bureau (IB) officers by a magistrate court in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case.



Special CBI Judge J B Pandya set aside the lower court order issuing summonses to Rajeev Wankhede and T S Mittal, who worked as assistant central intelligence officers when the alleged fake encounter took place in June 2004.

The duo had challenged the summonses issued to them.

The metropolitan magistrate court had also issued summonses to other two IB officers- special director Rajinder Kumar and officer M S Sinha- but they have not moved the special CBI court challenging them.

Whether the order of the special CBI court applies to all the four IB officers will be clear only after the copy of the order is received, CBI lawyer R C Kodekar said.

The four IB officers have been charged by the CBI with murder, criminal conspiracy, illegal detention and kidnapping.

Challenging the summonses, Wankhede and Mittal had told the CBI court that they were not maintainable, as the court had not taken cognisance of the CBI charge-sheet.

No summons can be issued as the Centre has not given sanction for their prosecution as required under the Code of Criminal Procedure, they had contended.

The CBI, however, contended that a court can use its discretion to issue summons even when the competent authority has not given sanction.

Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old college girl from Mumbai near Thane, her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh, Amzad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged fake encounter by the Ahmedabad police on the outskirts of the city in June 2004.

The police had then claimed that they were terrorists affiliated to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.A Bhagalpur court today rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey's son Arijit Shashwat in connection with a case filed against him for allegedly triggering communal violence in the district earlier this month.



Additional District and Session Judge (IV) Kumud Ranjan rejected Shashwat's bail plea.

"The court pronounced a one-line order that Arijit Shashwat's anticipatory bail petition is rejected and fixed a date for pronouncing order for eight other accused persons' bail plea," Shashwat's lawyer Viresh Kumar Mishra told PTI.

Mishra said the detailed order is awaited.

Shashwat, 36, has been named in one of the two FIRs for leading a procession without permission of the administration in Bhagalpur on March 17. Violence had erupted after people belonging to minority community objected to loud music being played during the procession.

A Bhagalpur court had issued an arrest warrant on March 24 against Shashwat and others named in the FIR.The BJP will establish a state-of-the-art silk hub in Mandya if it is voted to power in the May 12 election, the party's president Amit Shah announced here in an effort to woo farmers.

"We will include this in our manifesto. If we come to power, the world's best state-of-the-art silk hub will be established in Mandya. We will also take steps to increase the silkworm subsidy from Rs 75,000 to Rs 3 lakh," Shah said while addressing silk farmers and representatives from the silk industry.

"I'm happy to be in Reshme Nadu (Silk City) of Ramanagaram," Shah said.

The BJP chief also promised to set up a statewide marketing chain to promote handicrafts produced in the toy city of Channapatna, 60 km from Bengaluru. Shah visited the Channapatna Crafts Park, touted as India's first crafts park that houses a cluster of over 3,000 traditional artisans who produce lacquerware.

The silk industry provides employment to 10 lakh people, Shah said, calling it "the pride of Karnataka and India." He hailed the famous Mysore silk and mentioned how Sir M Visvesvaraya worked towards getting it global recognition. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi understands the importance of silk. That's why, in the Union Budget, duty on silk imports has been increased to help Karnataka's farmers," Shah said.

The Centre has set a silk production target of 38,000 tonnes by 2019-20 at a cost of Rs 2,161 crore. The Karnataka State Textile Infrastructure Development Corporation has been appointed as the nodal agency to set up silk clusters. "But under the Siddaramaiah government, work is moving at a snail's pace," Shah said.

He continued his attack on the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government, branding it as "anti-farmer" by raking up the suicide of over 3,500 farmers in the state. Over the past week, Shah said he interacted with arecanut, coconut and coffee farmers. "Ever since Siddaramaiah government came to power, all farmers, including wheat and paddy growers, are depressed," Shah said. "I'm confident, the same farmer who is sad and depressed will pave the way for a prosperous Karnataka and Raitha mitra (farmer's friend) B S Yeddyurappa will be elected the next chief minister."With the Centre filing a petition in the Supreme Court seeking clarification on implementation of its order on Cauvery, Karnataka is likely to say that the Union Ministry of Water Resources is free to frame a scheme, but not in the form of CMB, to monitor the sharing of water among basin states.



"The Cauvery Management Board can't dictate the terms to the states on how to utilise the water as every state has a right on how to use its share after releasing the water to lower riparian states as per the Supreme Court order," said a senior official of the Karnataka Government here.

Tamil Nadu and Puducherry demanded the early formation of the Cauvery Management Board as suggested by the CWDT while Karnataka and Kerala differed on the issue.

Karnataka has said that the Supreme Court has left the contents of the scheme to be the discretion of the Central government.

The state further said that the contention of Tamil Nadu that the CMB as formulated by the CWDT should be a part of the scheme is wholly contrary to the mandate of the judgment and law, the petition said.

Karnataka has stated that the scheme contemplated in the judgement is the "constitution of a dispute resolution body" as distinct from the management body (as recommended by the Tribunal), said the Centre's petition.

Kerala suggested that "the CMB under the scheme should be headed by the cabinet secretary or Union Ministry of Water Resources Secretary and should have the four chief secretaries of the party states as members. The apex body should be one of the administrators and not engineers. This board should only monitor the point that each state does not utilise more than the allocated quantity of water".Tension prevailed at the Marina beach here on Saturday after a group of youngsters staged a flash protest urging the Centre to immediately set up the Cauvery Water Management Board.



The youngsters, including women, shouted slogans against the Centre and warned that they would converge on the Marina yet again, like they did to retrieve Tamil Nadu's rights over jallikattu in 2017.

Though the protesters were removed from the beach immediately, the police beefed up security around the 2.2-km long beach and other areas where they suspect people could launch protests on the issue.

"There are designated places in the city and police have notified those places. Protests should be held there only after obtaining permission. If the general public is affected by protests, police will take action," T S Anbu, deputy commissioner (Chennai East), told reporters after clearing the protesters.

Ever since the massive pro-jallikattu protests that rocked the Marina for more than a week last year, the popular beach has been kept out of bounds by police for any kind of agitation.

Actor and newbie politician Kamal Haasan warned the government that there would be more protests if youngsters are not allowed to agitate.

Meanwhile, the ruling AIADMK on Saturday announced the list of senior leaders who will be leading the day-long fast on the coming Tuesday in all 32 districts of the state demanding immediate constitution of the Cauvery Management Board.

Names of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam, who jointly lead the party, are conspicuous by their absence.With a Union Minister sharing dais with Dalai Lama at an event in Dharamshala on Saturday, New Delhi signalled it had not budged from its protector stand towards Tibet to mend ties with China.



Union Minister of State for Culture (Independent Charge) Mahesh Sharma sat next to Dalai Lama, as the 82-year-old monk presided over an event at the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile (TGIE) in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. Ram Madhav, a general secretary of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, also attended the event, which the exiled Tibetans held to thank the government and people of India for playing host to them over the past six decades.

Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha late last month issued an advisory asking "senior leaders" and "government functionaries" in the states as well as at the Centre to stay away from events attended by Dalai Lama. With New Delhi and Beijing of late trying to bring their troubled ties back on track, the advisory fuelled speculation that India was shifting from its traditional approach on Dalai Lama and the exiled Tibetans in order to avoid hurting the sensitivity of China.

With Sharma and Madhav sharing podium with Dalai Lama, New Delhi apparently sought to scotch the speculation and signalled that while India was keen to have better ties with China, it had not yet budged from its stand on Tibet.

"We remain committed to protect and support the Tibetan culture, its heritage and history," Sharma tweeted. "Tibetans are our friends and esteemed guests in India. We love to have this relation of togetherness and brotherhood."

The Union Minister also posted his and Madhav's pictures with Dalai Lama on Twitter.

Tutor, disciple bond

"India and Tibet share a bond of teacher and disciple," Dalai Lama said. "We the Tibetans call India the land of noble ones. No other country is referred by such name by the Tibetans. India is looked upon as land of reverence, respect and admiration; so there is a very strong bond between Tibet and India," added the spiritual leader of the Tibetans.

Madhav, however, referred to "One China" policy of India to tacitly underline that New Delhi did consider Tibet and Taiwan as part of the Communist country.

"The successive governments in India have followed One China Policy at political level. However, our bonds with the Tibetans are least political and intensely religious and cultural," the BJP general secretary posted on Facebook.

The TGIE held "Thank You India" event to mark the beginning of the 60th year after Dalai Lama escaped to India after the occupation of Tibet by China in 1959.

"India was and has remained the greatest supporter of Tibet. And I hope that India retains its unparalleled support for Tibet until our aspirations are realised," Lobsang Sangay, the president of TGIE, said.

Beijing touchy

Some of the events are likely to be held at the India International Centre in New Delhi on Monday but the Dalai Lama will not attend.

Beijing calls Dalai Lama a "splittist" and has been very sensitive about his stay in India and his visits in the country and abroad. China in April last year strongly criticised India for facilitating Dalai Lama's visits to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh a very close to the disputed boundary between the two nations.Gujarat police on Saturday refused to back the theory that the 21-year-old dalit youth from Bhavnagar district was killed by forward caste members for owning or riding a horse.



"Preliminary investigation revealed that the boy was not killed just for owning the horse as has been alleged in the FIR. Instead, we have come across a lot of complaints about objectionable behaviour of the boy from various quarters and perhaps some persons may have killed him for that," Pravin Mal, SP, Bhavnagar, told mediapersons. "We are trying to ascertain the true reason and nab the culprits."

The dalit youth, Pradeep Rathod, from Timbi village, about an hour's drive from Bhavnagar city, was found dead on the streets on Thursday night. As per the complaint filed by his father Kalubhai Rathod, Pradeep had received threats from members of forward castes in the village in the past for buying a horse couple of months ago. Kalubhai had alleged that Pradeep was killed for the very same reason.

The police said that during investigation, they had received complaints against the boy. "Some villagers complained that the boy would perform stunts on the horse and on motorcycle whenever he confronted young girls. He also used to enter into fights," the SP said.

Land grab charges

The police said that they have also come across multiple complaints against Pradeep's father Kalubhai, for various incidents of land grabbing.

The SP said that they were yet to identify and nab the culprits who killed Pradeep. The three persons picked up on Friday were detained for mere questioning. The police has formed four teams to nab the culprits.

The family of Pradeep performed his last rites on Saturday.CHD Group, India which is a public health organisation based in Mangaluru, has signed an MoU with Digital Mojo Japan Corporation, a technology firm based in Tokyo, Japan. The same was signed in Tokyo represented by Dr Edmond Fernandes, CEO, CHD Group and Kayoko Tsuchiya, CEO, Digital Mojo Japan Corporation.



The two institutions will establish comprehensive healthcare tech co-operation towards strengthening India-Japan relations in the developmental and CSR sector. Through industry institution interaction, the two organisations will work with different local partners and governments to ensure shared growth among the two countries. Digital Mojo Japan will be the technology arm of CHD Group in Japan and CHD Group will further the public health agenda towards bringing Japanese tech innovations into Indian markets and fostering Indo-Japan relations. A variety of thematic consultative ideations, Social Entrepreneurial sessions and, Hackathons and will serve to consolidate the dialogue.The concretisation of Bengaluru-Mangaluru highway at Shiradi Ghat, the Western Ghats, is moving at a brisk pace, and at this rate, the road may be opened for traffic well before the deadline, according to the contractor.



The second phase of the works has been taken up at a cost of Rs 74 crore between 250.62 km and 263 km (12.38 km). The road was closed for traffic on January 12.

After the vehicular traffic was banned, several questions were raised in the social media, related to the execution of works. The DH, during a reality check, found out that the works were progressing briskly.

According to the officials, a special layer of Geotextiles is being used to prevent the concrete mixture getting softened with mud. A GSB (Granular Sub Base) is laid later, topping with Laying of Dry Lean Concrete (DLC). The final stage of concretisation is Pavement Quality Concrete (PQC). Every day, around 700 mts of PQC works are being done with a hi-tech machine procured from Germany. The total height of the concrete road will be 600 mm.

National Highways Authority of India Engineer Raghavan told DH, as the Shiradi Ghat receive rain for more than six months a year, special technology is being used for the road. A cross drainage system is being adopted for every 25 metres and the stretch will have 74 drains. The widening of the road is also being done.

Speaking to DH, Engineer Shraffudin of Ocean Constructions Company, said, the works have been expedited and is expected to be completed before August 1-deadline. However, the loss due to the closure of the Shiradi Ghat is said to be around Rs 50 crore per day.After taking a day's break at a resort in Bandipur, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah resumed the election campaign under Chamundeshwari and Varuna Assembly segments in the district on Saturday.



Siddaramaiah arrived in the city in the morning, along with his loyalists, and had breakfast at Ramya Mahendra Restaurant, near RTO Circle in the city, before leaving for the election campaign. He is likely to contest from Chamundeshwari Assembly segment, while his son Dr Yathindra is expected to contest from Varuna.

The CM commenced his roadshow from Maidanahalli at 10.20 am, under Chamundeshwari segment and visited more than 20 villages. It may be mentioned that Siddaramaiah, who performed roadshows at six villages on Thursday, spent Thursday night and Friday in a resort, holding closed-door meetings. He concentrated more on Vokkaliga-dominated villages during his campaign on Saturday. He also visited a few houses.

Yathindra from Varuna?

Dr Yathindra, MLC Ivan D'Souza and former chairperson of the Karnataka Women's Commission Manjula Manasa accompanied the CM. When reporters asked if Dr Yathindra would contest from Varuna segment, he said, people of the constituency have been demanding to field Dr Yathindra, but, the party high command will decide on the issue.

On talks in the BJP to field son of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, B Y Vijayendra, he said he has nothing say about it. "Anybody is free to contest elections," he said.

However, he accused the BJP of playing politics over the death of a few persons. "The visit of BJP president Amit Shah to the house of K Raju, who was killed in Udayagiri in March 2016, is a classic example. Shah had visited Mysuru earlier too, but, he did not visit the family members of Raju then. As elections are fast approaching, the BJP leaders are politicising the death for political benefits. Shah has offered Rs 5 lakh cheque to the family, which is a violation of the election code of conduct," the CM said.Urging the state government to drop proposal on separate religion status for Lingayats, the Akhila Bharatha Veerashaiva Mahasabha district unit and members of Veerashaiva community staged a protest on Saturday.



The protesters took out a procession from taluk office to Azad Circle on the occasion. The protesters accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of dividing Veerashaiva and Lingayats in the name of religion.

Mahasabha district general secretary Eshwarappa Kote condemned the move of the state government for recommending separate minority religion status for Veerashaiva Lingayat and Lingayats. The proposal should be dropped.

Mahasabha district tresurer Chandramouli said, "The government should not interfere in religious matters. The state government is engaged in dividing the religion."

Proposal to Centre

He said, "Akhila Bharatha Veerashaiva Mahasabha had submitted a proposal to the Centre in 2013 to accord separate religion status for Veerashaiva Lingayats. Both Veerashaiva and Lingayats are the same."

Mahasabha youth wing district general secreatry G Veeresh said, "Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been engaged in dividing Veerashaiva Lingayats for selfish reasons."

A memorandum was submitted to deputy commissioner on the occasion.Bengalureans have time and again endured various changes in the city's infrastructure much against their wishes. At times they have resisted and won. But there are also times when they are forced to bear the brunt of the civic agencies' ill-planning.



The latest in the list are the huge concrete medians installed on various important roads across the city. The Bruhath Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) may have reasons such as keeping pedestrians from 'running' across or stopping vehicles from entering the opposite lane to avoid erratic U-turns. But citizens feel it is, in fact, more of a punishment for breaking rules than a solution to traffic problems.

Rajesh N, stranded in a traffic snarl on the St John's Church Road near Fraser Town dreads to take the stretch during peak hours. "I feel like the BBMP is punishing the entire city because of the unruly road users. Look at the stretch. I have been trying to reach the end of the road for the last 20 minutes. But thanks to these medians, we are stuck," he says.

He is clear that these medians are useless in deterring people from breaking rules, "People who break rules will find a way in any case. Now that taking U-turns has become difficult, these people ride on the opposite side creating more traffic issues," he says, pointing to three two-wheelers followed by an auto trying to wade through the opposite lane which was already blocked.

The traffic problem, he says, has actually turned worse after the medians were erected. "This is chaos and total mismanagement. One can understand our troubles just by looking on the other side of the road," he says, referring to the completely empty side of the road leading to Uloor Lake.

Many echo Rajesh's thoughts, observing that the medians are simply unscientific. "I am at times stuck at the Sony Junction for more than seven or eight signal turns while the opposite lane has no moving vehicles. It is frustrating. If the planners are listening, give us flexible, yet controlled medians. They could be moved according to the peak hour traffic flow," suggests Siddharth Gowda, a resident of HSR Layout.

Citizens are also sceptical if the medians deter jaywalkers from crossing the road as they want. Some believe the medians have added to the problems. "The high median near the stretch where we exit the Cubbon Park to reach the main road is not even very long. Yet pedestrians decide to walk beside them because they couldn't jump over. One day, an entire family was walking beside the median till they reached the end of it while the vehicles were trying to cross the signal," recalls Sarah K, a student.

She feels the lack of awareness is the root of all problems. The high medians will not help if people are ignorant of the rules. "Most of the pedestrians do not know the term 'jaywalking'. The traffic police slap fines on two-wheelers if they touch the zebra-crossing, but who will penalise the pedestrians who jaywalk even in the middle of the busiest junctions in the city?" she asks.

Varun, a software professional, agrees that these medians have increased the possibility of accidents. "There were some cases where cars razed against these medians and some even hit them. A warning sign has been put now at the Fraser Town median. But with high traffic density, rising road rage and rash driving cases, I am not sure if these medians help. We can't keep broadening roads, we must find better ways to use the available stretch of road for free-flowing traffic, not create our own bottlenecks," he says.

Vaishnavi has a suggestion for the already installed medians though. "There should be frequent breaks in the divider with an indication of how far the next break is. To discourage jaywalkers, frequent zebra crossings must be placed," she says.The Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) is delaying giving sanction to prosecute seven revenue officials for illegally transferring government land to private individuals.



The file on the prosecution sanction has been cleared by the Revenue Department and is pending with the DPAR.

The government land in question - over 10.4 acres in total - is in survey number 105 at Doddathogur village, Begur hobli, Bengaluru South taluk. In January 2016, the Upalokayukta sent two reports directing the Revenue Department to immediately restore the government land and recommended action against the errant officials.

The department endorsed the Lokayukta report and forwarded it to the DPAR for sanction to take action against the officials.

"The prosecution sanction has already been delayed by a year. In the meanwhile, the government has not taken any action to reclaim the land in question," said Adarsh R Iyer, of Janaadhikaara Sangharsha Parishath, the NGO which filed the complaint before the Lokayukta.

The government land was transferred to the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) in June 2007 and reserved for building homes for the poor and displaced slum dwellers.

The land was, however, illegally transferred to private individuals in the guise of a grant under tenancy rules. In 2010, 2.24 acres of land was transferred by the then special deputy commissioner (Bengaluru Urban) Ramanjenya. In 2016, the then assistant commissioner L C Nagaraj transferred 7.20 acres of land to private individuals. These individuals are 'benami' for realtors and politicians, the complaint stated.Begur Lake, the historic but highly polluted waterbody in Southern Bengaluru, could see better days and turn into a tourist hub in two years. The waterbody had a lot of significance during the Chola era.

The lake, once a source of clean drinking water for the surrounding villages, is now filled with sewage and garbage from the nearby buildings.

On March 17, Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy inaugurated a project to revive the lake by removing silt and weeds from it.

The contract for the development work has been awarded to Arun Kumar and Company. The work will be taken up in two phases with Rs 9.5 crore and Rs 5.5 crore being allocated, respectively. "We are already removing contaminated water from the lake," said Jagannath Rao, Executive Engineer (Lakes Division), BBMP.

The lake has two inlets and an outlet. A sewage canal is being built to reroute the sewage water entering the lake from Nice Road, Begur and the surrounding areas. A joggers' path will come up around the lake. A sewage treatment plant of 50 lakh litres will be installed to treat water entering the nearby Chikkabegur lake.

Two small islands will be created in the middle of the lake for birds, with different fruit trees such as mango. For the natural purification of rainwater, a marshy area will be created and plants that can act as purifiers will be grown here. A wire fence will be put up all around the lake.

The BBMP, in association with the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC), plans to introduce boating in the lake to attract people visiting the adjacent Nageshwara Temple, according to Rao.Country

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WeatherBeauty and the Beast star, Kristin Kreuk has broken her silence on the current scandal involving her friend and former costar, Allison Mack and the Nxivm. Kreuk was also accused of recruiting and luring young women to be a part of Nxvim which has now been exposed as a sex cult that brands and brainwashes women who are members.

Kreuk remained silent when the accusations first made headlines but now, the actress has taken to her social media page to speak about her involvement in the alleged cult and maintain her innocence.

Kristin Is Innocent

The former Edgemont star posted on her Twitter account her thoughts on the matter and clearing herself of any affiliation with the Nxvim.

The actress stated in the post that she took an intensive class with Executive Success Programs/Nxvim for help with personal growth. She also stated that during her time there she never witnesses any illegal activity and hadn't had contact with the organization in five years.

"Thank you to all the brave women who have come forward to share their stories and expose DOS; I can't imagine how difficult this has been for you. I am deeply disturbed and embarrassed to have been associated with NXIVM. I hope that the investigation leads to justice for all of those affected," the wrote in her post.

Kreuk starred as Lana Lang on the show Smallville, alongside Mack and Tom Welling who portrayed Clark Kent. Kreuk's character was the love interest of Clark throughout the majority of the show.

Is Allison Next?

After it was reported that NXIVM's leader, Keith Raniere was arrested in Mexico, it has alluded that Mack's arrest was inevitable. A video clip was released on Thursday, March 29, with Mack being accosted by the police.

The actress was named as one of the co-founders of the controversial group that reportedly branded women, starved them, and made them sex slaves for Raniere.

Mack is best known for role on Smallville as Chloe Sullivan, the best friend of Clark Kent and later wife of Oliver Queen/Green Arrow. Following the ending of Smallville, she starred on the shows: Wilfred, Lost in Oz, and American Odyssey.When Meghan Markle ties the knot to Prince Harry, she wont be wearing the historic and iconic tiara that Kate Middleton wore when she married his brother, Prince William. Now fans know why.

Why Meghan Won't Wear Kate's Tiara

Markle and Prince William's wife, Middleton, seem to get along great as Markle continues her journey to be a part of the royal family. Still, new reports reveal Markle will not be wearing Middletons tiara when she marries Prince Harry.

The tiara in question is the one Middleton wore when she married Prince William back in 2011. It originally belonged to Queen Elizabeth II. She received it as a gift from her mother, the Queen Mother when Queen Elizabeth II turned 18. The tiara dates back to when Elizabeths father, King George VI, gave Queen Mother the tiara in 1936.

Considering its a historical artifact, the item is set to be featured at the National Gallery of Australia from March 30 through July 22. Thats why Markle wont be able to wear it when she marries Prince Harry on May 19.

The tiara is slated to be a part of a special jewelry show called Cartier: The Exhibition, that will display a variety of 300 pieces from tiaras to earrings and necklaces. Along with the tiara, other notable pieces featured in the display are Dame Nellie Melbas diamond broach and Princess Grace of Monacos engagement ring that features 10.48 carats. Dame Elizabeth Taylors diamond necklace will also be a part of the display.

As for what Markle will don as a tiara on her big day, the word is she might wear Princess Dianas Spencer Tiara that she wore when she got married in 1981. Theres also speculation shell go the modern route to compliment her dress.

It wont be a traditional headdress meaning a diamond tiara, said Leslie Field, who wrote a book on the Queens jewelry collection. It may be that it is a headdress as opposed to a tiara. It could be her American heritage and could be made with fabric flowers, set with fake jewels.

Meghan Markle's Wedding Wear

Eva Hartling, vice president of Maison Birks, also shared what she thinks Markle will wear to the wedding. She said she believes that Markle will still continue the tradition and borrow a tiara from the Queen. Maison Birks is reportedly on the top of the list of Markles favorite jewelers.

While guests reportedly have to stick to strict guidelines, Hartling added that shes convinced Markle will select something that is true to her style and classic when it comes to other pieces like earrings. She said she expects to see Markle in modest jewelry.

Be sure to keep up with Enstars for the latest news and updates on your favorite celebrities.Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola did not rejoin her costars for the upcoming Jersey Shore: Family Reunion and on Friday, March 30, she explained why.

Following months of speculation in regard to why Giancola did want to be a part of the upcoming season of the hit reality show, she set the record straight with her fans and followers, explaining that she's simply choosing to focus on other things at this point in her life.

"I have chosen not to join the show this season because I am at a completely different place in my life right now focusing on my businesses and relationship," she wrote. "I am not the same person as I was when I was 22."

According to Giancola, who is now 31, she is extremely happy with her life as it stands and doesn't want to jeopardize that happiness by allowing herself to be put into potentially toxic situations with her costars. That said, deciding to stay away from the reunion altogether wasn't the easiest choice for the former reality star.

Sammi Giancola Is Grateful For Her Experiences On MTV

Giancola admitted that it was hard for her to opt out of the reunion with her costars because she truly has love for them. However, when it comes to her future, she's choosing to look back with gratitude to MTV as she moves forward and focuses on the things that truly make her happy.

Giancola also thanked her fans and followers for their ongoing support.

Due to her success on Jersey Shore years ago, Giancola was able to launch her own perfume in 2011 and open her online boutique, Sweetheart Styles, in 2013.

In closing, Giancola suggested that she may be returning to the spotlight sooner than later, telling her audience.

"I'm not going anywhere!"

She also encouraged them to follow her and stay tuned to see what was in store.

Sammi Giancola Opted Out For Her Boyfriend?

Although Giancola didn't mention boyfriend Christian Biscardi in her post, her former boyfriend and costar Ronnie Magro suggested on Friday that it was because of Biscardi that Giancola steered clear off the cameras. Magro, who is expecting his first child later this year, also said he wished she had been on board with the series' return.

We started this all together and I would have loved to have finished it together because now everyone thinks its because of me she didnt come back, but its because she has a boyfriend, he told Us Weekly.

Jersey Shore: Family Reunion returns to MTV on April 5 at 8 p.m.Stephen Colbert has a change of heart after agreeing with President Donald Trump on something: CNN delivers "fake news."

This is arguably historic, as any avid fan of the late show host would know how he has always been a staunch critic of the Chief Executive of the United States. Apparently, Colbert is one with Trump in saying that CNN, a reputable news outlet, lies.

Erroneous CNN Headline

The satire drew laughter from his audience. This stems from a CNN news article that was mistakenly titled "Look Who's Playing Bolton on SNL," and to make matters worse, the article attached a photo of Colbert and Dana Carvey.

However, CNN had already made the changes and apologized for the blunder, but not fast enough for people to take screenshots of the amusing mishap. "Iconic SNL star spoofs Trump staffing pick," read the new headline.

The photo came from the Wednesday skit of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, where Carvey played John Bolton, the newly minted national security adviser. The host further said he "takes everything back" and praised Trump, a scene that could never enter one's wildest imagination. Colbert explained to CNN that his show might probably stand for SNL, as "Stephen's Nightly Laughs."

Tips And Antics

Furthermore, Colbert gave some helpful tips on CNN and laid out the factors why it should not have missed the error. He pointed out that the act was done on a Wednesday, so clearly it wasn't Saturday Night Live, they shoot daytime, and that the show doesn't go live.

"You got three things wrong in three letters," Colbert quipped.

To end things on a lighter note, the 53-year-old chose to look at the brighter side by saying it was still nice to get some attention and recognition. However, knowing the host who is full of antics, Colbert thanked MSNBC and not CNN, queueing laughter from the crowd.

The show went on the same route, as Colbert went back to hitting Trump. The host took a jab at the president for referring to David Schulkin, who recently got sacked by the mogul himself, as "Jim." So CNN shouldn't feel bad for the boo-boo, as the 71-year-old kept calling his former official the wrong name and it seemed he was unaware of his miss.

Shulkin was the former veterans affairs secretary, who, after being fired, gave interview left and right. At one point, he revealed that he actually had a conversation with Trump on the day he was fired, though the president made no mention of his decision to him. He would later be informed of his firing via a phone call from John Kelly, chief of staff.David Matthews, known to be Pippa Middleton's father-in-law, is formally being investigated for allegedly raping a female minor in 1998 and 1999.

Matthews is the father of Middleton's husband, James, and British reality television star Spencer.

The Arrest And Investigation

The rape allegedly took place in 1998 and 1999. He was charged with "rape of a minor by a person with authority over his victim" with incidents in both Paris and St. Barths, according to AFP as per Perez Hilton.

An alleged witness reportedly came forward in 2017.

"I confirm that David M was placed in police custody on 27 March at the Brigade for the Protection of Minors," a judicial official in Paris tells Telegraph. "Following his arrest, the Paris public prosecutor's office opened a judicial investigation, overlooked by an examining magistrate."

Matthews, 74, was arrested at the Orly Airport in Paris on Tuesday, according to AFP, People reports.

The former racing driver was released on bail after questioning wrapped, but he is still under judicial control with conditions or limitations on his release. He is not required to remain in France during the investigation.

French law states that the status of formal investigation means there is "serious or consistent evidence" of the suspect's involvement in the alleged crime. According to Hollywood Life, this marks a six-month period where officials can gather more information and evidence to determine whether Matthews will be brought to court or not.

"The investigations will now continue as a judicial investigation and will be led by an investigating judge," the judicial official concludes.

The allegations are being investigated by the Minor Protection Brigade.

Matthews Denies The Claims

A spokesman for Matthews addressed the allegations on the high-profile hotelier, denying it "unequivocally."

"David Matthews categorically denies the allegation and unequivocally contests the untrue and scandalous accusation," the rep states.

The son of a coal miner, Matthews is a self-made millionaire who went from being a mechanic to a successful racing driver and entrepreneur. He owns a number of luxury hotels, including Eden Roc Hotel in St. Barths, a celebrity favorite.

His son James, a financier, married Middleton in May 2017 in England. Among the star-studded attendees are senior members of the royal family, Prince William, his wife the Duchess of Cambridge Kate, Prince Harry, Prince George, and Princess Charlotte.

The sister of the Duchess of Cambridge has not yet commented on the issue. Kensington Palace, who represents the duchess, also has not spoken up.Prince William and Kate Middleton are getting ready to add a brand-new addition to their family as they welcome baby number three.

What's The Sex?

While the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are beyond thrilled to welcome their latest bundle of joy into the family, they are still in the dark regarding the child's sex. A source close to Prince Williams and Middleton told E! News that they have no idea if they are expecting another boy or girl. Also, the lack of knowledge of the child's sex has made their final preparations difficult.

A Royal Title

As Prince William and Middleton prepare to welcome Prince George and Princess Charlotte's little sibling, the newborn is expected to receive quite the Royal Title. Town & Country revealed that the Royal Baby would receive the titles of His/Her Royal Highness Prince/Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The soon-to-be-born baby will be the fifth in line for the throne succession.

A 'Wet' Hint

Reports have indicated that Middleton is expected to give birth to her child sometime in April. It is expected that the Duchess of Cambridge will deliver at the Lindo Wing of the St. Mary's Hospital in London, England. Many royal watchers believe that Middleton will give birth there because a photo of the hospital has been circulating across the United Kingdom and the internet with a "Wet Paint" sign on the railings. St. Mary's Hospital has quite the history with the Royal Family. Middleton gave birth to Prince Charlotte at the hospital in 2015, and her older brother in 2013. Also, Princess Diana gave birth to both Princes William and Harry at the hospital in the 1980s.

In The Kitchen

The new royal baby will be hanging out in Kensington Palace's kitchen when they join their siblings and their parents at their home. The Duchess of Cambridge revealed that both 4-year-old George and 2-year-old Charlotte have a passion for creating mini messes in the kitchen. Middleton added that both siblings enjoy creating pizza and have picked up a few Spanish words from their nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo.

The Future Sister-In-Law

In addition to the new sibling, Prince William and Middleton will be welcoming Prince Harry's girlfriend, former Suits actress Meghan Markle to the family. While she has been preparing to adapt to the Royal Family, it has been reported that the newest member of the Royal Family has been visiting Middleton for tea. She has also offered Middleton tips regarding a healthy lifestyle.The government is abdicating its constitutional responsibilities by attacking public universities.

Medieval chronicler Minhaj-i-Siraj records how Bakhtiyar Khilji, who had conquered parts of eastern India at the fag end of the 12th century, attacked a fortress in Bihar. Having captured the fort, the story goes, he found that it was inhabited by a large number of Brahmins and contained a great number of books. It was then that the conqueror realised that what he had captured was not a mere fort, but a university.

Right-wing ideologues love to misread this passage from Tabaqat-i-Nasiri as an authoritative account of the destruction of the ancient university of Nalanda by Muslim invaders. The story, however, captures the predicament of our current government and its supporters, who see universities not as centres of knowledge production but as enemy fortsas bastions of sedition and anti-nationalism. For example, during the Kargil War celebrations last year at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), retired army officer G D Bakshi had thundered that having captured JNU, the government must proceed to destroy the fortresses of Hyderabad Central University and Jadavpur University. Last week, the government has proved its intentions once again by its actions, brutally attacking students, teachers, and journalists protesting against destructive government interventions and shameless sheltering of alleged sexual harassers. While the Indian university system has not been immune to government interference, never in the past has it encountered the kind of relentless attack it is facing today.Last year witnessed a nadir in IndiaChina relations as the two neighbours stumbled into their most serious border crisis in decades. While both leaderships were sensible enough to pull back from the brink, 2018 has seen steps from Delhi and Beijing to turn the page on their deteriorating relationship. As I have previously suggested in this column, the Doklam crisis showed the limits of confrontation in an age of interdependence (Z D Singh 2017). Yet, to address some of their underlying differences, India and China still need to engage in a more purposeful dialogue on the issues that have generated an adversarial rivalry. And, the maritime spaces connecting the subcontinent to East Asia are an appropriate issue for such a conversation.

Historical UnityWritten by ACM



*Brussels/EU-Summit/Angelo Marcopolo/- EU Parliament's President, Antonio Tajani, speaking to "Eurofora" on the sidelines of his Press Conference during the EU Summit of March 2018 in Brussels, confirmed French President Emmanuel Macron's venue in Strasbourg Next Month, and did Not Exclude a cooperation with his Plan for EU "Citizens' Consultations", eventually Starting by that visit of Macron, who meanwhile, (apparently reacting to relevant "Eurofora"s move here : See Infra), took, afterwards, the initiative, (during his subsequent joint Press Conference together with German Chancellor Angie Merkel)) to speak about the Substance of his idea to create such Popular Gatherings all over Europe, (in a way which Brings them even Closer to "Eurofora"s 1997-mainly 2007-2018 Project) :



- Yes, Indeed, the French President Emmanuel "Macron is due to Come on April" to EU Parliament, as things stand Now, clearly confirmed, on Wednesday, its President, Antonio Tajani, an Experienced former Twice EU Commission's vice-President, f. Top MEP and former Italian Foreign Minister, in Reply to a wider "Eurofora"s Question (See Infra), as things stand Today.



- It's on Tuesday, 17th of April 2018, that Macron is expected to Speak at EU Parliament in Strasbourg, in the Framework of an exceptional series of Hearings by MEPs of Heads of State/Government of EU Member States on "the Future of Europe", and, particularly, about the outcome of the currently on-going Franco-German Talks on the Future of uroZone.



- Macron revealed, Later-on, Today, during his Joint Press Conference with Merkel, that he intends to Visit, Meanwhile, also Berlin, "in the Next Weeks", in order to Fine-Tune the Franco-German views mainly on Economy and uroZone, etc. Such Franco-German Meetings are due to continue also on April, and even on May 2018, he added.



+ But, the most Important, from the point of view of "Eurofora"s above-mentioned Question to Tajani, is that the French President is Also expected, (according to other, Well Informed, French Sources), to "get out, shortly After his Speech at EU Parliament's Plenary, and go elsewhere to salute the 1st (EU) Citizens' Convention", which is due to Start in Strasbourg, that Same Day, Inaugurating a Long Series of similar Popular Events throughout all EU Countries, in the run-up to the forthcoming European Elections of May 2019, which are notoriously Planned to spread until around the End of 2018.



>>> And, indeed, the Main thrust of "Eurofora"s Question to Tajani was whether he found Both Feasible and Desirable for that Unique Opportunity of April 2018 in Strasbourg to be Seized io order to Kick-Start also a Joint Move between EU Parliament and various other Similar Popular Events, as those of EU "Citizens' Conventions", in order to Advance towards that kind of "Expression" of EU Citizens' Views on EU Organisations' Activities, and of "Regular Dialogue" between EU "Civil Society" and European Decision-Makers, as that which has been prescribed by the current EU "Lisbon" Treaty's Article 11, (since its Entry into Force, already as early as since 2010), but Not Yet really put in real Practice, at least not fully, (Comp., among others, also: ..., etc). I.e., something almost Identical to "Eurofora"s (+2007-2018) main Project for Systematic EU Citizens - Politicians Debates Before Decisions.

- Exceptionally, on this Key Point, EU Parliament President's immediate, spontaneous Reaction to that 2nd, and More Important Part of "Euforora"s Question (Comp. Supra), was to suddenly become quite Thoughtfull, but chosing, rather, Neither to immediately Confirm that, clearly and Explicitly Now, Nor to Deny any Possibility to do so in the Foreseable Future, no more : I.e., ipso-facto, in other words, Leaving that Crucial Question "Open", with a kind but somewhat mysterious-looking smile...



It's also true, that, in Fact, on this particular Moment, as things are going on, it's not even sure that Antonio Tajani won't become, during the Next few Weeks, eventually, the ...New Prime Minister of Italy, (i.e. entering, ipso-facto, inside EU Council), as it was, notoriously, proposed to him, Recently, by one of the main Winners of the Latest Italian Elections, including the Experienced, former 4 Times Prime Minister himself, Silvio Berlusconi, now Head of a New Center-Right Coalition, (Together with Rightist Leader of the "Lega" party, Matteo Salvini), which Succeeded to arrive at the Top of the Votes, and might, even, attract the 2nd Frontrunner, Beppe Grillo's "5 Stars" Movement, in a New Kind of Pioneer Coalition Government, (See: ...).



Given these Facts, as well as the Radical Inovation that "Eurofora"s Suggestion might inaugurate, Tajani's carefully Reserved, immediate reaction to that 2nd and Key point of our Question, (Yesterday, on Thursday), appears, at least for the Time being, quite natural, (particularly as it does not exclude anything, at this moment)...



---------------------------------

+ Macron's indirect but eloquent Reply, goes along "Eurofora" Project's query :

-----------------------------------------



Suprisingly, but Logically, the Next Day, this Friday Afternoon, in Brussels, it's French President Macron himshelf who Suddenly Gave an Eloquent "Push" towards a possible, and much needed, Development, apparently Going almost entirely in the Direction of "Eufora"s above-mentioned suggestion/question to Tajani (Comp. Supra)...



Macron's move came, Unexpectedly, at the very Last moment of his Reply to one of the Exceptionaly Few (3 each) Questions allowed during his Joint Press Conference with German Chancellor Angie Merkel, on the Conclusion of the March 2018 EU Summit in Brussels, where the (almost Synchronous !) Deadly Islamist Terrorist's cowardly Attack Targetting Civilian People in France (Aude) Hindered a Normal, (usualy much Longer) Dialogue with Journalists, since it obviously had to be Cut Short, this Time, in order to give him a chance to Returng Fast enough Back in France, where Tragic Events were still evolving when that Conference started.



>>> Thus, "Eurofora"s Declared intention to Raise a Question related to Macron's wish for EU "Citizens' Conventions" throughout Europe, (Comp. Supra), which we had Transmitted by an Elysee Palace's Press Official, together with our ID, even if it could not be immediately satisfied as such, given the Short Time Available Now, in the Exceptional Context of a Deadly Terrorist Attack against Civilian People, nevertheless, seems to have helped Trigger an Interesting Reaction by the French President, who seized an opportunity given by a (partly unrelated) Different Question raised by a Collegue, (on the Conditions in which various Important EU's Top Jobs were reportedly Attributed to certain Candidates, instead of others), in order to add a Reply (indirectly but surely) also to "Eurofora"s Query (Comp. Supra), at the End of his Last Public Declaration, just before leaving Brussels !



Shaped as a matter of General Principle, this particular Macron's "Reply", is very Interesting, (also because he chose practically the Eve of his forthcoming Visit to EU Parliament in Strasbourg, in order to magistraly Boost Main Elements of "Eurofora"s Project) :



- When "a Procedure has been Launched by the EU Parliament", which "raises several Questions" on Hot Topical Issues, then, "this Procedure Must be Followed" (also by Critical and Independent Observers, as, f.ex., Citizens, Journalists, etc), "and Transparency must be established, so that Decisions will be taken (only) After such a Procedure", he stressed from the outset, (on this special point).



- For Macron, it's better to Raise Questions, establish a Procedure, and create Transparency : That's the way for things to be done, Democratically", as he characteristically Added.



- On the Contrary, "If (a Critical Question) was Censored, (swept under the carpet), as if there was nothing, that would provoque a Problem", he Warned.



- "But, (whenever) there is a Democratic Controversy, a Journalistic Controversy : It should be Fuelled. There is a Parliamentary Debate : it should be Treated with calm. And, when all Elements of Truth will be gathered, then, Decide", Macron urged.



- "That's the Way for a Mature Democracy to stay Alive !", he proposed. I.e., "when, in our Democracies, we have the Capacity for Controversies, and to make them thrive in a Transparent Framework".



- "Europe" should further Develop its Historic (Comp. Macron's landmark Speech at Athen's Ancient Pnix Rock, near Acropolis, where Direct Democracy had been Invented, at: ...) Capacity to be an "Area where Democracy is living, where there are Citizens' Controversies (Polemical Debates), and Issues are approached in Transparency", he advised.



+ "Truth, and Both Journalists' and MEPs' work, are very Important, in this Framework", the French President added, going even Closer to "Eurofora"s Original (1997-2018) Idea for News-Generating Citizens' Debates before EU Decisions.



- "And that's why, (i.e.) in order to completely ReVitalize (European Democracy) ..., that I am a strong Believer in (EU) Citizens' Consultations !", Macron stressed.







=> - "The point is for (EU) Citizens to be able to Deal with (take posession of) all Issues of importance for them, in order to Share (Express/Present) their Proposals, and Will for Change", he Explained, (with an Amazing Relevance to "Eurofora"s +2007-2018 Project for European Decision-Making process).



- It's a matter for "a Well-Functionning Democracy and Transparency" on Decicion-Making processes which are still "Evolving", he concluded.

(../..)





-------------------------------------





***





(NDLR : "DraftNews", as already send, Earlier, to "Eurofora" Subscribers/Donors. A more accurate, full Final Version, might be Published asap).





***







Hello Everyone,



This is Anand from Bombay, India.



I shall be making my 'first arrival'in Canada on the 4th of May and shall be staying in Toronto for a couple of weeks.



Do intimate if anyone would like to connect.



CheersINTO its fourth year, the Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge attracted one of its biggest crowds ever to its annual field day held at Willyung Farms, Albany, recently.

With more than 200 people through the gate, the organising committee was overjoyed with the response to the field day and the continued interest in the competition.

This interest was further reinforced when more teams entered the competition than last year, with 61 this year, compared to 59 last year.

Teams comprise of one heifer and two steers and attendees at the field day were provided with an update of how these teams were performing in terms of weight gains after being weighed on March 13.

Sandy Lyon, whose Willyung Farms feedlot hosts the competition, said the weather had been ideal for fattening cattle.

We have had a mild summer and this has led to good daily weight gains, he said.

It is clear that given the competition is in its fourth year, producers are improving how cattle are being presented and it was noticeable at the induction stage on January 8 that this was the best presentation of teams yet.

The combination of this and the weather have seen weight gains up across the board compared to last year and it will be interesting to see the results at the end of the competition.

Harvey Beef livestock buyer Johnathan Green reiterated this sentiment, saying the statistics showed there was a big improvement in daily weight gain.

Most entrants performed some form of pre-induction regime with their teams this year, he said.

From induction, all cattle are treated the same and so the competition is fair and consistent for all producers.

In 2016, at the induction stage the teams averaged 335 kilogram and gained 1.65kg a day, in 2017 the average weight was 346kg with a 1.65kg a day gain, while this year the teams averaged 334kg at induction but are gaining 1.76kg a day at this point.

The average weight for all cattle entered in the competition when weighed on March 13 was 447kg, with heifers averaging 444kg and steers 449kg.

The largest gain so far was found in a team of Sussex-Angus cross entered by the competition hosts, Willyung Pty Ltd.

The team has so far gained 145kg in total, with an average induction weight of 325kg going to an average weight of 470kg, when weighed on March 13.

Not far behind, with a weight gain of 144kg, was a team of Angus entered by Rayview Park Pty Ltd, Kalgan.

This team went into induction with an average weight of 382kg and returned a 526kg average weight on March 13.

Also breaking the 140kg weight-gain mark was another team of Angus entered by SJ Panizza Family Trust, Albany, which gained 141kg in total.

This team registered a 352kg average weight at induction and had moved to 493kg on feed.

Other teams to perform well in the weight gain stakes was a team of Murray Grey-Sussex-Angus cross from Stuart and Sheena Smith, Narrikup, with a total gain of 134kg.

This team averaged 305kg at induction and had grown to 439kg on feed.

Another team from Willyung Pty Ltd was performing well weight-wise with the Sussex-Angus cross heifer and steers gaining 130kg in total.

The heaviest team at induction came from the WA College of Agriculture, Denmark, whose team of Angus weighed in at 393kg.

Second heaviest was a team from Rayview Park Pty Ltd, with a pen of Angus that weighed 386kg.

At the mid-March weighing, another team from Rayview was found to be the heaviest overall at an average weight of 526kg, while the Denmark Ag team was third at 522kg.

Harvey Beef livestock buyer Campbell Nettleton said it was a fantastic competition and Harvey Beef was eagerly awaiting the results in May.

Congratulations needs to go to the producers, he said.

There has been a constant improvement of cattle entered in this competition since it began and when I inspected the teams in January, when they went into induction, you could throw a blanket over them, they were so even.

Looking at them today, you could again throw a blanket over them as they are very consistent in quality and that is great to see.THE speaking program at this years Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge field day provided something for everyone, with the latest technologies in the beef industry showcased, through to retail requirements for beef and a chefs perspective on where consumer tastes could be heading in the future.

Complementing the jam-packed speaking program was the opportunity for attendees to speak to industry representatives who manned an abundance of trade displays covering all facets of livestock production.

Using genomics to drive your business.

Leading the way as the first speaker of the day, Zoetis Genetics business manager for Australia and New Zealand Daniel Abernethy took to the stage to discuss the companys latest developments in the genetics field.

Mr Abernethy said an awareness of genetics and genomics, in particular, was increasing in Australias beef industry.

He kicked off his presentation by saying genetics work and that the animal is the production unit and producers should embrace the and.

By this he meant that buying a bull for your beef herd was a critical decision and all factors should be taken into account.

Genetic evaluation allows you to understand the value of that animal, Mr Abernethy said.

I hear a lot of people saying I cant do genomic testing because I need to improve my pastures or my animal health program isnt where I want it to be, so I will do all that first and then look at genetics.

This is not an or discussion, this is an and discussion.

You can make a poor decision or a good decision, so why not use technology to make a good decision?

Mr Abernethy said Zoetis had developed three core genomic products.

The first is SireTrace, which is a test to work out parentage of your stock.

The advantages of this product apply where producers are using multi-sire matings, or you want to work out which bulls are actually performing on your farm, Mr Abernethy said.

If you have a large production system this will take details about calving accuracy and matching up dams to calves.

It is a straightforward test, that is effective in underpinning large production systems in sheep and cattle operations.

It is used a lot in New Zealand in large sheep systems for mothering up very large flocks of ewes to lambs.

The next genetic offering is HornPoll, which is a test that can be undertaken to look at the rating of an animal if is polled, scurred or horned.

The HornPoll test is used to determine whether an animal is true polled or is a carrier of horned genetics.

It is useful to make breeding decisions, Mr Abernethy said.

This simple yet effective DNA test allows for the identification of genetically polled animals and ultimately the removal of horned animals from the herd.

The third test Mr Abernethy spoke about was the Angusi50k and a new genomic selection tool, Angus Heifer Select.

The i50K product uses a low density DNA test to assess the genetic makeup of black Angus cattle at more than 19,000 locations across the animals genome (known as SNPs or single nucleotide polymorphisms) to obtain a genetic profile for the animal, which is used to calculate a genomic prediction of an animals genetic merit.

The i50k product can be used in conjunction with EBVs of many traits to better predict the genetic potential of animals.

The Angus Heifer Select tool was released in October 2017 and is used to better inform the selection of replacement heifers for commercial Angus breeders.

Angus HeiferSELECT is available to commercial members of Angus Australia who are using registered Angus bulls, further adding to the value of utilising registered Angus bulls in commercial Angus breeding programs.

Livestock tracking systems

One of the more cutting edge presentations on the day came from Matthew Peterson, who is a founder of Iotag, as well as being a veterinarian and cattle producer based in Finley, New South Wales.

Iotag stands for the internet of things applied to ag and is all about solving old problems with new technology.

Iotag had a practical demonstration of its product within this years Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge when it sent over GPS tracking collars to be placed on eight animals that were taking part in the challenge.

The collars were placed on four weaned animals and four unweaned animals, to track distance covered in the feedlot by these cattle.

Iotag loaned the Willyung feedlot a LoRaWAN (long range wide area network) base station that enabled a LoRa wireless network to be set up that has been running for more than a month.

Dr Peterson said the collars collected GPS points every hour from the cattle that wore the collars.

The committee was interested in weaned versus unweaned cattle coming into the feedlot, he said.

We only tagged a small number of cattle so it is hard to make real conclusions out of it, other than to say that if we are invited back in years to come we would like to do it on a larger scale and include things such as entry weights, exit weights, health events and carcase quality  so we could prove it out better than we did.

One thing that I was fascinated with was that the animals that were weaned consistently walked a lot more than the animals that were unweaned.

I would suggest this is to do with curiosity.

When animals feel comfortable, they are not stressed and they tend to be curious and walk around more.

Dr Peterson said a wide area could be covered using the LoRaWAN technology.

Because it operates on radio frequency, you dont have the challenges of poor mobile service, he said.

It has good coverage and can operate on a 15-30 kilometre radius, so most farming operations would be adequately covered by one base station.

Dr Peterson said these technologies provide the capability to monitor water, quad bikes, machinery and personnel remotely as well as manage grazing rotations and pasture utilisation.

In the medium to long-term, Iotag aims to leverage this technology for even more advanced and beneficial cases such as detecting when cows are in heat, spawning off remote calving alerts in the event a cow has calving difficulty in the bush and providing warnings when cattle wander off into sensitive riparian zones.

Farmers can then view the location of their stock on a phone, computer or tablet in real time, Dr Peterson said.

They are also able to access advanced analyses of historic data towards better stock and pasture management.

What happens on farm makes a difference.

Meat and Livestock Australia WA representative David Beatty provided a run down on certain things that can be carried out on farm that can help the red meat industry.

Mr Beatty had just returned to WA after running MLAs Middle East office.

He touched on three areas that centred on this, including market access, brand Australia and MSA and animal welfare.

When we work in an international office, such as the Middle East which is a massive importer of food, we put a lot of thought into where we spend our marketing dollars, he said.

Two areas for this include market access and marketing and promotion.

In terms of market access, we break it down into two pillars - one is economic access and the other is technical access.

Economic access includes supporting things such as free trade agreements and government-to-government interaction.

We will support industry to provide the necessary information to feed up into those negotiations as to how important our red meat is and what the benefits will be for free trade.

In the country we are more involved in technical support to make it easier for people to trade or do business in that country in order to reduce costs and improve efficiencies.

Mr Beatty said a key message when working in overseas markets was Australias reputation for producing clean, green produce.

The integrity of Australian systems is very important, our farmers, our biosecurity, we are an island nation, we are disease-free and we have systems that can be trusted, he said.

These things are so important when we are working on market access and a lot of these things start with the farmer.

Business development and brand building is worked on through marketing and promotion.

Depending on the country that we are in or the markets we are working in, we will split the budget accordingly, Mr Beatty said.

In the Middle East, for example, we focused on business development, things such as new business, new importers and taking market share off our competitors.

The other branch is brand building. We talk about the True Aussie brand which gives us a more global approach.

We talk about farmers and farms where animals are produced and the integrity of how that animal is produced.

We also educate people around what they are buying and why.

Mr Beatty said MLA invests a lot of money on working closely with importers of Australian beef and training and educating them on what they are buying and the price points they are paying.

We also work with the food service industry and young chefs to make sure they have the right product and recipes for what they want to provide, he said.

We also do a lot of training at retail level with butchers so they have the confidence and the trust in Australian product to be able to then on sell to their customers.

Mr Beatty finished his presentation by discussing eating quality and what the consumer perception of this.

Thirty eight per cent of people in some of our survey work still find it difficult to buy beef to the quality they desire, he said.

Fifty seven per cent of people find it difficult to predict tenderness and 81pc believe price is a poor indicator of quality and more than 90pc thought fat equalled poor quality.

So consumers want to be consistently satisfied.

On farm, producers can use an MSA index to benchmark their cattle going to market.

There are a whole lot of factors and inputs into an MSA index which allows you to predict a carcase eating quality.

Three on-farm inputs that I want to focus on include marbling and genetics influence marbling, so your genetic choices play a part in that and you also have to have the nutrition to enable this as well.

Ossification is another one, where you want to try and use animals that reach target weights quickly with limited interruptions on the way.

The third one is animal handling, which is not rocket science.

If you have good temperament, nice, quiet good-doing animals you reduce your incidence of dark cutting and you are going to get a better product and the processor is going to get a better product.The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike.

We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve.Nguyen Xuan Phuc and leaders from GMS member countries, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the World Bank (WB) participated in the event (Photo: VNA)



Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and representative leaders from GMS member countries, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the World Bank (WB) cut the ribbon to kick off the event.

On display are 60 photos featuring the GMS member nations, namely the host Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and China, and the cooperation achievements in the region.

Among notable pictures spotlighting remarkable accomplishments of the GMS countries is the Noi Bai  Lao Cai expressway, the longest of its kind in Vietnam, launched in September 2014, as an important part of the North-South economic corridor projects aided by the ADB that brings in enormous economic values.

Since the route was put into use, it only takes three hours instead of seven hours in the past to travel from the capital city of Hanoi to the northern border province of Lao Cai.

The photo of a woman in Lounge village of Cambodia sitting to make a basket depicts vocational training for women in rural areas and building small-and-medium-sized enterprises as part of the women empowerment development project of the Cambodian government and ADB.

The picture of a traditional dance at the fifth China-Laos-Vietnam carnival cultural exhibition demonstrates the cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the three GMS countries to increase subregional connectivity.

GMS was established in 1992 as an initiative of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The GMS Cooperation Programme is the most complete cooperation programme that involves Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Chinas Yunnan and Guangxi provinces./.Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release

SubCategory Select Sub-CategoryNEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2018 / Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Wells Fargo & Company ("Wells Fargo" or the "Company") (NYSE: WFC) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, for the Southern District of New York, and docketed under 18-cv-01318, is on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Wells Fargo securities, seeking to recover compensable damages caused by defendants' violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

If you are a shareholder who purchased Wells Fargo securities between January 13, 2017, and July 27, 2017, both dates inclusive, you have until April 16, 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 the number of shares purchased.

[Click here to join this class action]

Wells Fargo is a diversified financial services company providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, leasing, credit cards, and consumer finance. The Company operates through physical stores, the internet, and other distribution channels worldwide.

On September 8, 2016, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published a Consent Order with a Stipulation to its entry signed by Mary Mack, Executive Vice President of Wells Fargo Bank, detailing fraudulent practices at the Company, which were centered on a corporate culture intent on growing its cross-selling opportunities and unlawfully and without its customers' consent opening millions of unauthorized deposit and credit card accounts, and imposing a fine of more than $185 million.

The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Wells Fargo had charged more than 800,000 customers for unneeded auto insurance, the expense of which pushed approximately 274,000 Wells Fargo customers into delinquency and resulted in almost 25,000 vehicle repossessions; (ii) the foregoing conduct, when it came to light, would foreseeably subject Wells Fargo to heightened regulatory scrutiny and/or enforcement actions; and (iii) as a result, Wells Fargo's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On July 27, 2017, post-market, The New York Times published an article entitled "Wells Fargo Forced Unwanted Auto Insurance on Borrowers." Citing an internal report prepared for Wells Fargo's executives, the article reported that "[m]ore than 800,000 people who took out car loans from Wells Fargo were charged for auto insurance they did not need," that "[t]he expense of the unneeded insurance . . . pushed roughly 274,000 Wells Fargo customers into delinquency and resulted in almost 25,000 wrongful vehicle repossessions," and "that the bank owed $73 million to wronged customers."

Following the publication of this article, Wells Fargo's share price fell $1.41, or 2.58%, to close at $53.30 on July 28, 2017.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, 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.

SOURCE: Pomerantz LLPAt the plenary meeting of the GMS Business Summit (Photo: VNA)



The PM affirmed that Vietnam focuses on creating a favourable environment for development, improving institutional and legal groundwork, enhancing management capacity in order to bring about equal opportunities for all economic sectors, while paying attention to training and development of human resources, infrastructure development, and only considers investing into important areas which have proved difficult for private businesses to invest in.

Vietnam will continue improving the business environment to create a facilitative and competitive business environment, he said, adding the country has worked to implement its commitments to protecting intellectual property, innovative ideas and inventions of start-ups.

The country will continue to boost tax policy reforms and corporate tax rate will be decreased to 15  17 percent and put in place many preferential regulations for investment in advanced technology, supporting industries, and high-tech organic agriculture, and other areas that create a lot of employment opportunities, he pledged.

As one of the three pillars of the GMS, the Government of Vietnam currently prioritises investing and attracting investment in the vital transport routes, he said.

The country is actively promoting investment in transport infrastructure on the East-West, North-South, and southern economic corridors, he added.

The Vietnamese Government also commits to implementing initiatives to support border trade, investment, tourism, agriculture and economy, as well as other forms of cross-border economic cooperation.

The leader said Vietnam will further promote active international integration in the GMS and the CLV. From 2018 to 2019, the Southeast Asian nation will focus on the signing and ratification of two new-generation free trade agreements, namely Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

In his speech, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc welcomed nearly 2,600 investors and entrepreneurs of the region and the world to Vietnam to attend the 6th GMS Summit and the 10th Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Summit, saying that they are the major driver of GMS economic growth.

Amidst the profound transformations underway in the world economy and development environment, the GMS needs to find more robust drivers for its development such as promoting effective use of both internal and outside resources, effectively harnessing the technological advancements and breakthroughs, and ensuring rapid and sustainable development remain a top priority, he said.

The plenary session also heard speeches by Thai Prime Minister Prayut Cha-o-cha, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, Myanmar Vice President U Henry Van Thio, State Councilor of the Peoples Republic of China Wang Yi, President of the Asia Development Bank Takehiko Nakao, Secretary General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Lim Jock Hoi, and World Bank Managing Director and World Bank Group Chief Financial Officer Joaquim Levy.

The event saw the paricipation of representatives from nearly 100 international organisations and development partners, together with more than 2,000 domestic busineses and those outside the GMS region./.Gail chairman BC Tripathi said in the first year of the 20-year contract that was inked in 2011, Gail hopes to take in 5.8 million tonne.

Dabhol: The first liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipment from the US arrived at the Dabhol terminal of state-run gas major Gail here on Friday.

Receiving the first-ever shipment of 1.2 lakh tonne LNG under the long-term contract of 20 years, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan also announced a Rs 700-crore investment by the newly-created Gail arm Konkan LNG to complete an under-construction breakwater facility, that on completion will make the terminal an all-weather facility.

Currently due to lack of the breakwater the Dabhol terminal, created in FY07 by the original Dabhol power plant promoter Enron Corporation which went bankrupt and abandoned the 1,200-mw power plant, can operate only eight months.

"We've finalised the tender for the breakwater that will be floated very soon and hope to begin work before the monsoons at the earliest or soon after the monsoons," Pradhan told reporters.

A senior Gail official told PTI that the company will be getting 22-24 shipments per annum till the breakwater is built. Once that is done we will be handling 80-90 ships a year.

Gail signed two, 20-year LNG supply agreements potentially worth $32 billion for LNG exports from the Dominion Cove Point project in Maryland and the Sabine Pass project in Louisiana in 2011 and 2013 respectively, US Consulate, Mumbai said in a statement.

The minister claimed that the country could negotiate "a very competitive price from the US which offers one of the best prices LNG," without disclosing the average price of the maiden shipment.

"Pricing is a commercial matter that cannot be publicly discussed. All I can assure you is that we have managed one of the best prices which should help the end-consumers," the minister said, adding Dabhol terminal will serve industrial and residential customers in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

He also said the beginning of the oil and gas shipments from the US will boost Indo-US trade and has the potential to raise it by $2-3 billion annually, considering massive spike in energy demand, making the country third largest in the world.

"Once this pipeline delivery begins, this will connect the state-run gas major's Kochi-Kuttanad- Mangalore-Bengaluru pipeline," the Gail official said.

Describing the arrival of the first shipment and the conclusion of the long-term contract with the US-based Cheniere Inc as "a new beginning in the Indo-US energy partnership and trade," Pradhan said LNG supplies is linked to the Henry Hub index contract and also "will help achieve the vision of moving towards a gas-based economy."

Gail's first charter-hired vessel MV Meridian Spirit arrived after sailing 24 days. Gail chairman BC Tripathi said in the first year of the 20-year contract that was inked in 2011, Gail hopes to take in 5.8 million tonne.

The US vessel that called on today is the 78th berthing at the Dabhol terminal since it was commissioned in 2013 "We will have an optimum portfolio mix of LNG indexed to the Henry Hub index and crude oil and customers will benefit from such a good price blend," Tripathi said.

"Gail is one of the early movers to contract US LNG and has 5.8 million tonne per annum in its portfolio over the life of the long-term contract. We will be receiving around 90 cargoes per annum from the Sabine Pass and Cove Point LNG terminals," Tripathi said, adding the terminal will now be handled by the just-formed subsidiary Konkan LNG after demerging it from Ratnagiri Gas and Power, which is a three-way joint venture between Gail, NTPC and Maharashtra SEB. Indo-US trade has been rising 11.4 per cent on average since 2000 when it was $20 billion to over $126.1 billion in 2017.

"The United States continues to partner with India across the broad range of energy collaboration, whether through traditional energy sources like oilthe first crude oil shipment from the US to India arrived in October 2017 in Odishaor LNG, or through other sources like coal and renewable energy," US Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs Patrick Santillo was quoted as saying in a statement. "This shipment really sets the stage for the upcoming visit of US energy secretary Rick Perry for attending the US-India Strategic Partnership," Santillo said.Airlines maintained that data was leading to a 'false illusion' about safety of the airlines.

New Delhi: Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Vistara have flagged serious concerns over the data on technical snags faced by airlines in 2017, which was provided by the government in Parliament.

They maintained that the data was leading to a "false illusion" about safety of the airlines.

In a letter to Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, the airlines have demanded an investigation by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to the matter so that accurate information is provided to Parliament and public at large.

"It seems apparent that the number of technical snags being reported by various airlines is inaccurate. This discrepancy and misreporting of data is leading to false illusion of the relative safety of some airlines over others," the airlines said in their letter on 28 March.

On 13 March, Sinha, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha had said that airlines reported more than 24,700 technical snags last year.

Airline-wise break up was also furnished.

"As you are aware reporting of snags is mandatory in India and accurate reporting of such snags is in the interest of passengers and aviation safety.

"We request you to get this matter investigated by the DGCA so that accurate information may be made available to Parliament and the travelling public," the letter said.

According to the minister's reply, the technical snag faced by Jet Airways in 2017, which has a fleet of 110 aircraft, was 9,689 (88.08 snags per annum).

IndiGo, the country's largest private carrier, which has a fleet size of 151, faced only 340 technical snags (2.25 snags per annum).

Similarly, SpiceJet, which has a fleet size of 57 aircraft, faced 4,903 snags (86.02 snags per annum). Vistara, with a fleet size of 17 aircraft, faced 1,225 snags (72.06 snags per annum).

IndiGo at present operates over 1,000 flights per day, SpiceJet 408 flights and Jet Airways 600 flights.The ED said it has attached assets worth Rs 4.53 crore, including 29 plots and deposits in ten bank accounts, of the main accused in the Bihar topper scam that had rocked the state in 2016.

New Delhi: The ED on Saturday said it has attached assets worth Rs 4.53 crore, including 29 plots and deposits in ten bank accounts, of the main accused in the Bihar topper scam that had rocked the state in 2016.

The action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against the Secretary cum Principal of Vishun Roy College in Vaishali district, Bachha Rai alias Amit Kumar, comes at a time when two CBSE question papers of Class X and XII have leaked and police is looking for culprits.

The agency, in a statement, said it has attached 16 plots in the name of Bachha Rai in Lalganj, Mahua, Bhagwanpur and Hajipur and 13 plots in the name of his wife Sangeeta Rai.

Bank deposits in the name of his daughter Shalini Rai, a flat in Patna and a two-storey house in Hajipur of the Rai family have also been attached.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had registered a money laundering case last year to probe alleged irregularities in this case, related to the state school examination board, taking cognisance of Bihar Police FIR and the findings of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to probe the scam.

The scam had rocked Bihar in June, 2016 after Ruby Rai, a student of Vishun Roy College in Vaishali district who had topped in the arts category, failed to answer basic questions and went on to describe political science as prodigal science that taught cooking.

Embarrassed by the irregularities, the state government had ordered a SIT probe in the matter.

It was alleged in the police charge sheet, the ED said, that Bachha Rai used to receive huge cash as illegal gratification from students for manipulating their results with the help of officers and staff of the Bihar School Education Board (BSEB) including the then-chairman Lalkeshwar Singh.

The central probe agency said its probe found that Bachha Rai "has laundered his illicit wealth by acquiring huge properties in his name and that of his wife and daughter, which could not be explained by them."

"Further, proceeds of crime have been laundered through a trust run by his (Bachha Rai) family member.

"Most of the properties have been purchased by them in cash, against which no corresponding withdrawal has been made from their bank accounts," the agency said.

The ED alleged Rai and his wife manipulated their Income Tax returns and their agricultural income was declared "almost 70 times more" after the scam broke, as compared to previous years.

The agency had booked a a total of eight people, including former BSEB chairman Prasad and four principals.

This is the first attachment in the case and the ED said further probe in the case "is in progress."The story of India's first female doctor Anandi Gopal Joshi is one of courage and perseverance, and has been marked with a Google Dooe

"In 1886, a young doctor stepped off a ship from America, eager to take up the role of physician in charge of the female ward at Kolhapurs Albert Edward Hospital. Not only was she Indias first female doctor, but she was only 19 years old at the time. Her name was Anandi Gopal Joshi, and her story is one of courage and perseverance," so begins the statement issued by the Google Doodle team, on the commemorative illustration they've released for Anandibai (as she is popularly known) on what would have been her 153rd birthday.

Before her marriage to a clerk and progressive thinker named Gopalrao Joshi, Anandi was known as Yamuna. Yamuna was nine at the time of her marriage, Gopalrao was two decades older. He renamed her Anandi after their wedding. By the age of 14, Anandibai had given birth to the couple's first child  a son; the infant however, didn't survive beyond a few days. The loss of her baby is said to have affected Anandibai greatly, and triggered her interest in health and medicine.

Her own health was poor, and at this time Gopalrao was transferred to farway Serampore (near then Calcutta). He urged Anandi to study medicine overseas, and began correspondence with a noted American missionary about the same. The missionary (Royal Wilder) published his correspondence with Gopalrao, and the missives caught the eye of an American lady named Theodicia Carpenter. She would prove to be an invaluable ally and advisor for Anandibai, sending her medicines in India, and helping her apply to and settle in at the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Read on Firstpost  Rukhmabai Raut, India's first female practising doctor, gets a big screen biopic

Anandibai sailed for the US when she was only 17; there had been some opposition from orthodox community members, but she and Gopalrao convinced them of the necessity for a Hindu woman doctor in India. By the time Anandibai completed her MD and returned to India, aged 19, the homecoming was marked with great fanfare. She was appointed the physician in charge of the women's wing at the Albert Edward Hospital, in the then princely state of Kolhapur.

Unfortunately, her health had deteriorated further during her time abroad. Anandibai had contracted tuberculosis. She died of the illness before her 22nd birthday, in 1887. Her ashes were reportedly sent to Theodicia Carpenter in New Jersey, who had them interred at her family cemetery.

The Google Doodle honouring Anandibai has been created by Bengaluru-based artist Kashmira Sarode, who imagines Joshi celebrating her degree. Anandibai may not have lived very long, but in the brief period that she did, she served as an inspiration to generations of Indians to come  men and women alike.

Happy Birthday, Anandi Gopal Joshi!

Also on Firstpost: Meet Kaleidolite, the artist whose Instagram series on Indian women achievers is a must-seeThe Andhra Pradesh Police have arrested two Maoists involved in a plot to kill Hyderabad Central University (HCU) vice-chancellor Appa Rao.

The Andhra Pradesh Police arrested two Maoists allegedly involved in a plot to kill University of Hyderabad vice-chancellor Podile Appa Rao, according to several media reports.

The Times of India reported that the duo were allegedly tasked to kill Rao by the CPI (Maoists) Telangana state committee secretary Haribhushan alias Yapa Narayana and central committee member Chandranna. They were intercepted by the East Godavari police at Bhadrachalam and Cherla road while on their way to kill the vice-chancellor on Friday evening.

The accused were identified as Anakala Prudhviraj (27) of Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district and Chandan Kumar Misra (28) of Howrah in West Bengal.

Quoting a police press statement, Telangana Today reported that the motive behind the plot was due to the the hostility the students had for Rao after Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula committed suicide in 2016. The Maoist party thought Rao's assassination would lead to recruitment.

According to Deccan Chronicle, the accused are former students of the university, and met Haribhushan in December to join the Maoist group. The report quoted Superintendent of Police Vishal Gunni as saying that their plan was to kill Rao and drop some pamphlets to spread the message of their involvement.

Police claimed that Prudviraj was arrested in the past after he was caught escorting a woman believed to be the wife of top Maoist leader Pulluri Prasada Rao alias Chandranna. He was jailed for some time and was released on bail. He was also a member of Telangana Vidyarthi Vedika, a students' body.

Mishra, who joined the university in 2013 for a post-graduate course, was a member of the Telangana Praja Front and SFI.

Both the accused were produced before a court, which sent them to judicial custody.

Following a few incidents at the university, Rao has been provided with one plus one security, Deccan Chronicle further reported.

Vemula committed suicide in his hostel room of Hyderabad University on 17 January, 2016, which led to nation-wide protests and a call to end atrocities against Dalits.

The university students had demanded the arrest of Rao, the then HRD minister Smriti Irani and former minister Bandaru Dattatrey for abetment of suicide.

With input from agenciesYSR Congress said the party MPs would not only resign from their posts, but also launch an indefinite fast in New Delhi on the last day of the Budget session of the Parliament.

Amaravati: Announcing a fresh action plan to mount pressure on the Centre to grant the special category status to Andhra Pradesh, YSR Congress on Saturday said the party MPs would not only resign from their posts, but also launch an indefinite fast in New Delhi on the last day of the Budget Session of the Parliament.

"Our party MPs will resign on the last day of the Budget Session and march to Andhra Bhavan in New Delhi and sit on an indefinite fast demanding special category status (SCS) to the state," YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy said.

Across Andhra Pradesh, there would be relay hunger strikes by students at their respective university campuses and also in all Assembly constituencies by party cadres, youth and other sections," Jagan said addressing a public meeting near Guntur as part of his ongoing paadayatra (foot march).

The Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly said Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has been "resorting to theatrics which could fetch him an Oscar award in the best anti-hero category."

"For four years, Chandrababu tried to water down the SCS demand by curbing various agitations... but now he is posing himself as a champion of the cause by raising weak demands and not strongly confronting with the Centre," the YSRC chief alleged.

Immense pressure would be mounted on the Centre if all the 25 Lok Sabha members from Andhra Pradesh resigned en masse but the TDP chief had been dissuading his party MPs from quitting only to save his skin, Jagan said.A report by Al Jazeera on Assam NRC has come under the scanner with the official responsible for updating the state's NRC accusing the publication of misquoting him in one of its article.

As Assam updates its National Register of Citizens (NRC), the official responsible for overseeing the programme has accused Al Jazeera of misquoting him in an article.

The Al Jazeera article, written by Subir Bhaumik, quoted NRC Assam coordinator Prateek Hajela as saying that some 4.8 million people in Assam "failed to provide appropriate legacy documents" so far. The list will be the second draft to be published for the state.

In a Facebook post, Hajela rejected ever speaking to Bhaumik. "I hereby declare that I havent given any such statement to Al Jazeera or Subir Bhaumik or to any other media person or media agency ever," Hajela wrote on Facebook. He added that he "didnt have any conversation" with Bhaumik on any matter related to the NRC "ever".

He further rejected the contents of the statements attributed to him, and claimed they are "totally false and not based on facts at all".

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court refused to extend the 31 May deadline for the ongoing process of publication of the final NRC in Assam in the wake of panchayat elections, saying the polls should not become an impediment.

The top court, however, spared the additional deputy commissioner rank officer, currently engaged in NRC updation work, for the local bodies elections scheduled for April.

"We have already said that the deadline for updation of NRC is May 31 and the next 30 days for cross-checking of data till 30 June. It can't go beyond that and complete final draft should be ready by then. You deploy your surplus employees or request neighbouring states, but no employee engaged in NRC work can be spared or disturbed," a bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and RF Nariman said.

The bench's remark came after the state government said the panchayat elections were due next month and urged that the employees engaged in NRC work be allowed to be deployed for the polls.

The first draft NRC for Assam was published on 31 December, 2017 as per the apex court's direction. It tagged about 1.9 crore of the 3.29 crore Assam residents as legal.

The apex court said that claims of those citizens, whose names do not figure in the draft NRC for Assam published by the end of December 2017 would be scrutinised and included in the subsequent list, if found genuine.

The NRC of 1951 is being updated for Assam in accordance with the tripartite agreement among the state and central governments and the influential All Assam Students Union (AASU), which was arrived at in 2005 to implement the 1985 Assam Accord.

With inputs from PTITamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswamy said his government would take all steps to protect the livelihood of farmers and restore the state's rights in the ongoing dispute over sharing of Cauvery water with Karnataka

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswamy on Saturday said his government would take all steps to protect the livelihood of farmers and restore the state's rights in the ongoing dispute over sharing of Cauvery water with Karnataka.

Both the Centre and Tamil Nadu moved the Supreme Court on Saturday on the issue of constitution and composition of the Cauvery Water Management Board in compliance with the 16 February apex court verdict on the vexed issue.

Hitting out at the Centre, Palaniswamy said the Centre could have filed its petition soon after the verdict. "But it was doing it now," he said.

The Centre was yet to constitute the CWMB and Central Water Regulatory Committee despite his party MPs raising the issue and stalling proceedings of Parliament for 17 days, Palaniswamy said in an official release.

In its plea, the Centre sought three-months time to implement the apex court order due to the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections.

Besides extension of time, the Centre asked for clarification on various issues for the formulation of a "scheme" for implementing the decision of the top court.

The chief minister said following discussions with senior government officials, it was decided that a contempt of court petition be filed in the apex court as the six-week deadline issued by it for formulating a 'scheme' elapsed on 29 March. The contempt of court petition was filed in the supreme court on Saturday, he said.

"I have also advised the senior advocates representing the government to take up the petition before the first bench (of the Supreme Court) on 2 April," he said.

Palaniswamy said he has also advised them to request the apex court to dismiss the centre's plea at the admission stage itself and issue a direct order towards the formation of CWMB and CWRC.

He said his government would continue to take all steps towards safeguarding the livelihood of farmers and restore the rights of the state on the Cauvery issue.

The chief minister recalled the initiatives taken by the government on the matter.

He said soon after the AIADMK came to power in 2011, former chief minister J Jayalalithaa continued to press the Centre over the issue.

Following this, the Centre notified the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal on the Supreme Court direction on 19 February, 2013, he said.

Palaniswamy said in its February verdict this year, the apex court had raised the 270 tmcft share of Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu's share of Cauvery water.

It had granted six weeks time to the Centre to formulate a scheme to ensure compliance with its 465-page judgement, which modified the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal Award.

Following the verdict, Tamil Nadu has been urging the Centre to set up the CWMB and CWRC to ensure it received its due share of water from the inter-state river.

Palaniswamy said a meeting with various political party leaders along with farmers' association was conducted on 22 February. It was decided that suitable steps would be taken after getting the opinion from legal experts.

He recalled that during the brief visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the city on 24 February, he had personally urged him to constitute CWMB and CWRC.

During the meeting conducted by the Central Water Commission, the Chief Secretary along with senior government officials had also sought the formation of the CWMB.

Palaniswamy said a special resolution was also passed unanimously in the Assembly on 15 March and a copy of it was also sent to the prime minister the same day.

Meanwhile, AIADMK MP P Nagarajan, representing Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituency, on Saturday said he was ready to quit his membership over the delay in CWMB's formation.

The Centre should constitute the board, he said, adding, if not, he was ready to step down as MP.

DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi alleged that the Centre has "wantonly" delayed setting up the CWMB.

The centre has kept in abeyance "an important issue of Tamil Nadu" keeping in mind the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls and its filing a plea in the apex court is only to "buy time," she said at Tirunelveli.

The MP slammed the state government for not pressuring the Centre enough on the state's rights on the Cauvery and described it as a "non-performing" government.The talks between General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong and First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) Central Committee and President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba General Raul Castro Ruz (Photo: VNA)



The visit is made at the invitation of First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) Central Committee and President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba General Raul Castro Ruz, the joint statement said.

During his stay in Cuba, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong held talks with First Secretary of the PCC Central Committee and President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba General Raul Castro Ruz. He met with Second Secretary of the PCC Central Committee Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, Politburo member and President of the Cuban National Assembly Esteban Lazo Hernandez, and Politburo member and First Vice President of the Cuban Council of State and the Council of Ministers Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez.

Vietnamese and Cuban leaders shared their views that the special friendship and solidarity between Vietnam and Cuba is a symbol of era and an invaluable asset of the Parties and people of the two countries.

They affirmed their resolve to carry forward the bilateral friendship which was fostered by President Ho Chi Minh and Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro.

The leaders agreed on the need to expand and deepen the friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries, thus actively contributing to their national construction and defence, and to maintaining peace, stability, and development in the region and the world.

During the talks, they expressed their joy at the flourishing bilateral relations between the two nations, and affirmed their determination to turn the special relations into a new development period, on the basis of political trust.

They stressed that the two sides should work closely to improve the efficiency of bilateral economic, trade and investment cooperation, while comparing their notes on international and regional issues of common concern.

The Vietnamese Party Chief congratulated Cuba on its recent successful local and national assembly elections, expressing his belief that Cuba will continue implementing successfully the process of updating the socialism economic model, opening a new development stage of the process to build a sovereign, independent, socialist, democratic, prosperous and sustainable state.

He reiterated Vietnams consistent stance on supporting Cubas struggle for immediate and unconditional removal of economic, trade and financial sanctions against the country, and efforts to normalise the Cuba-US relations on the basis of equality, and respect for sovereignty, independence and political institutions of each country.

Vietnam appreciated the prestige and role of Cuba in the Latin American and Caribbean regions, and in the international arena as well, he stated.

First Secretary of the PCC Central Committee and President of the Councils of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba Raul Castro congratulated Vietnam on its prominent achievements in its Doi moi (renewal) process initiated by the CPV.

He spoke highly of Vietnams peaceful foreign policy and international prestige; its efforts to protect independence and sovereignty, and to promote international integration; and the countrys contributions to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific regions, and in the world, affirming that Cuba supports and believes that Vietnam will continue obtaining greater achievements in the coming time.

The two leaders agreed that the two sides should maintain regularly meetings at all levels, as well as those to discuss and share experience related to state leadership, socio-economic management, and Party building.

The two sides stressed the importance of bilateral cooperation mechanisms like the exchange and cooperation agreement between the CPV and the PCC, the two Parties theoretical workshops, the Inter-governmental Committee on economic, scientific and technical cooperation, and the political consultation between the two foreign ministries. They expressed their resolve to enhance the effectiveness of these mechanisms.

General Secretary Trong and President Raul Castro emphasised the significance of enhancing economic partnership. They highly valued the two sides finalisation of the negotiation on a new trade agreement, considering this a basis for them to continue expanding economic and trade ties. Cuba also supports the increase of Vietnams investment in the country.

The two sides will consider their potential to boost cooperation in priority fields such as energy, telecommunication, tourism, construction, healthcare services, industry, agriculture, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, transport, and other spheres.

Raul Castro thanked the Vietnamese Party, State and Government for freeing the Cuban Government from its debt to the Vietnamese Government, describing this as an illustration of the two countries special relations.

The two leaders expressed their delight at the complete similarities in the countries stance on many international issues. They stressed that international disputes need to be resolved by peaceful means on the basis on international law and the UN Charter. They also underlined the necessity to respect the principles of independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and the right to self-determination of countries, non-interference in other countries internal affairs, and no use of force or threat to use force.

They share the view that the increasingly tightened bilateral links will help expand Vietnams cooperation with Latin American and Caribbean nations and Cubas cooperation with Asian-Pacific countries.

They re-affirmed the validity of the fundamental principles of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), stressing that the targets and principles of NAM need to be thoroughly respected. They also applauded NAMs contributions to the protection of the principles of international law.

Both sides renewed the commitment to promoting international peace and security and disarmament, especially nuclear disarmament. They expressed their delight at the two countries signing of and participation in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

They also agreed to effectively implement the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda, continue actively contributing to climate change response efforts.

The two leaders agreed that their countries will continue supporting each other at international organisations and multilateral forums, especially at the UN. They will foster cooperation and mutual support within the framework of the International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties, the Sao Paulo Forum, and other political and social forums.

In the statement, the two sides highly valued the success of the State visit to Cuba by General Secretary Trong, considering it a special event amid the 45th anniversary of the first visit to Vietnam by Fidel Castro Ruz, the only foreign leader visiting the newly liberated area in the 17th Parallel in Quang Tri province of Vietnam.

General Secretary Trong invited First Secretary and President Raul Castro to pay an official visit to Vietnam. The Cuban leader thanked and accepted the invitation with pleasure./.Writing frantic messages to tech giants, requesting them to help decode the CBSE paper leaks is unlikely to work. Cyber crime is still a grey area and the stumble between criminal intent and not throwing someone under the bus is still ongoing

Google and WhatsApp are not likely to give India much joy regarding tracing the origin or spread of the leaked CBSE papers. Although there exist provisions for such requests, this process takes time. The tech companies have to protect their integrity, the promise of confidentiality to their users, or at least maintain that appearance.

Writing frantic messages to tech giants, requesting them for help is unlikely to work. Cyber crime is still a grey area and the stumble between criminal intent and not throwing someone under the bus is still ongoing.

Google is likely to say that it can't be held responsible for examination papers being leaked, since it didn't encourage the act per se. The usage of its pathways doesn't implicate Google as being a partner or accessory in the crime. WhatsApp recently set in place a two-way encryption policy and the total efficacy of its "delete" options practically guaranteed that no amount of arm-twisting would compel it to hand over data to a foreign government.

And once that begins to happen, the fundamental right to privacy that even American citizens enjoy would be violated, and that's a whole new ball of wax.

It's naive to imagine no collusion exists between these tech behemoths and governments, especially in the US. They have a moral responsibility and in matters of homeland security, it's unlikely that the confidentiality clause would provide much cover. By the same token, however, there is a duty to society, and when it comes to the dark underbelly of the internet, no search engine, however big, would like to be seen as encouraging the unspeakable or being complicit in terror  like running narcotic rings, human trafficking or engaging in paedophilia. In such circumstances, providers have to play ball and hand over data when it's demanded.

But there is a difference between a demand from a US agency and one from a foreign government.

Google's privacy policy states: We collect information to provide better services to all of our users  from figuring out basic stuff like which language you speak, to more complex things like which ads you'll find most useful, the people who matter most to you online, or which YouTube videos you might like. Of course, this is just so vanilla, and the reality of the 'big brother is watching' syndrome is a lot more dire.

Whether an offline leak, as in the case of the Indian issue and the hunt for uncovering the identity of dev0532@gmail.com, the e-mail address which had alerted CBSE chairman Anita Karwal regarding the leaked exam papers, will accomplish anything is a moot point.

The user was a conduit for passing on information, but in the eyes of Google, would that in itself be a crime, especially given that s/he was involved only in dissemination of the information and there is no evidence that they were engaged in the theft of papers?

Ironically, at the time this individual or the many hundred others (since it would have spread like gossip, wildfires being too slow) passed it on, it was not even a leak, but at best an educated guess that this was a genuine article. False information, fake news and cooked up data flow like torrents through the global arteries of these applications. Consequently, whether it is Google or anyone else, the first consideration will be for them to protect themselves against any legal liabilities.

The person behind the email address dev0532@gmail.com could sue all these players for breach of promise, and may produce a million other examples of spreading lies. Will Google and WhatsApp risk losing their credibility with the millions who fondly believe their personal data is safe and won't be used against them? It's doubtful.

India has enough internet geeks at home. If anything, its hackers and experts need to work this alone. If they fall back on parent companies, it is going to be a long wait  unless the cooperation is done off the books.

Zednet, the authority on web security, said, "Outside the US, Google doesn't really have the same level of requirement to hand over data to foreign governments or law-enforcement agencies  particularly if Google doesn't have a physical presence in that country. Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) allows a government to seek help from a foreign government where that person or company resides.

"There are many ways that other countries can obtain information from companies like Google outside of the (mutual legal assistance) process, including joint investigations between US and local law enforcement, emergency disclosure requests, and others," it said.

Basically, give the local Google services a hard time and disrupt their set-up but it's cumbersome and not the best of ideas. In a capsule, it said, "It's in their own interests to hold on to your data and not turn it over to governments and other authorities  especially those with less than respectable track records on user privacy or human rights. And that's why they occasionally fight."

Very often, governments have to get a legal order for them to comply. The odds aren't good this CBSE stink qualifies.A group of students on Saturday staged a demonstration near the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) office at Preet Vihar here against the leak of Class 10 Mathematics and Class 12 Economics papers.

New Delhi: A group of students on Saturday staged a demonstration near the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) office at Preet Vihar against the leak of Class 10 Mathematics and Class 12 Economics papers.

"The students tried to block the road in front of the CBSE office, but we kept them away. A group of about 25-30 students are protesting outside the CBSE office," said a senior Delhi Police officer.

The board has announced a re-examination of the Class 12 Economics paper on 25 April, while the re-test for the Class 10 Mathematics paper is likely to be conducted in July.

Education Secretary Anil Swarup said on Friday that a preliminary enquiry had revealed that the leak for the Class 10 Mathematics paper was restricted to Delhi and Haryana.

Two cases have been registered in the paper leak incident so far. The Crime Branch of Delhi Police has questioned nearly 60 people, including students and tutors, in this connection.CBSE issued a clarification on Saturday that a fake question paper of Class XII Hindi (elective) paper is being circulated on social media platforms such as WhatsApp and YouTube.

The Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) clarified on Saturday that a fake question paper of Class XII Hindi (elective) is being circulated on social media platforms such as WhatsApp and YouTube, according to several media reports.

The Hindi exam is scheduled to be held on 2 April.

The clarification was issued after students staged a demonstration near the CBSE office at Preet Vihar in New Delhi and claimed they had the "leaked" paper, according to a report in The Indian Express. However, CBSE chief Anita Karwal dismissed the reports. "This is definitely mischief. A group of students protesting outside CBSE claim to have it. They are circulating it too," said Karwal, according to the report.

The latest development comes after Jharkhand Police arrested three people and nine minors in Chatra in connection with the leak of Class X mathematics and Class XII economics papers. Earlier, Delhi Police questioned over 60 people in connection with the CBSE leak case, including the administrators of over 10 WhatsApp groups on which the leaked question papers were shared, as the investigators sought to trace the origin of the leak.

Following the leaks, CBSE announced that a re-examination of the Class XII economics paper will take place on 25 April, while the re-test for the Class X mathematics paper is likely to be conducted in July.

CBSE's decision has left students in a lurch with the dates clashing with entrance exam dates, another round of tuitions and above all the 'phobia' of facing the examination day yet again. "First of all, the authorities should have ensured there was no paper leak. Why should we suffer and go through the same drill? The paper was so good and now we have to again prepare for it. Also, my filmmaking entrance exams are clashing with the tentative dates being announced by CBSE on television," Vanishka, a Class XII student, who has to reappear for the economics paper, told PTI.

With inputs from PTIScuttled holiday plans, clashes with entrance dates, another round of tuitions and above all the 'phobia' of facing the examination day yet again  sum up the dilemma being faced by class 10 and 12 students of CBSE across the country

New Delhi: Scuttled holiday plans, clashes with entrance dates, another round of tuitions and above all the 'phobia' of facing the examination day yet again  sum up the dilemma being faced by class 10 and 12 students of CBSE across the country.

Aujaswi Maken, Class 10 student and Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken's son:

"We are really disappointed. The CBSE chairman was aware of the leak of Mathematics paper a day before the examination. They should have cancelled the paper earlier itself. Many of us had plans to go for a vacation, but the plans stand cancelled now".

Vanshika, a Class 12 student who has to reappear for Economics paper:

"First of all, the authorities should have ensured there was no paper leak. Why should we suffer and go through the same drill? The paper was so good and now we have to again prepare for it. Also, my filmmaking entrance exams are clashing with the tentative dates being announced by CBSE on television".

Somasree Banik, a student from Kolkata:

"The state Joint Entrance Board Engineering examinations will be held on 22 April. Will the CBSE authorities explain how can one prepare for the Economics re-examination on 25 April while preparing for the engineering entrance which is far tougher?"

Shreya, Class 10 student from Chennai:

"I am feeling pressured and it is very difficult for me to study Maths again. Recalling all those formulae is tough. I have to again take tuitions and pay the fees. I feel that the coming paper (re-test) will be tougher. Also, my entrance exam for another school has also been affected".

Nikhil, Class 12 student from Amity International School, Gurgaon:

"I used to spend 16 hours every day to prepare for the board exams. And then you come to know that the papers have been leaked. What is the guarantee that the re-examination will not be tampered with? If our system is flawed, what is the fault of students?"

Soumyadip Chandra, a Class 12 student at South Point High School in Kolkata:

"All my plans have gone haywire with these developments. My preparations for admission to the Presidency University, Kolkata and Benaras Hindu University, where the entrance exams will be held in mid-April and May, respectively will now be affected".

Sneha Aggarwal, a student of Delhi Public School, Gurgaon:

"I got to know that question papers were being offered at Rs 16,000 a night before the exam, and Rs 3,000 if one wanted it on the examination day. This is such a sorry state of affairs. I had planned to go out of the station after the exams, but now I have to again face the exam".

Anisha Jain, Class 10 student from Delhi:

"If such an incident happens, there should be a re-exam, but the energy levels of students will not be same as before. Punishing all students for a few people's mistakes is unfair".

Manisha, Class 12 student from Haryana:

"My entrance tests are lined up from 20 April. I had also enrolled myself in various crash courses. Now, what should I do? Should I prepare for the re-examination or the entrance? I am confused".

Rishabh, Class 10 student from Ambala:

"There is confusion about the Maths re-test. It is adding to our stress level. The CBSE should clear the confusion".Indian people, along with the rest of the world, need to thank the people of Tibet for being inspiring exemplars and honour their contributions to the world

On 31 March, the Central Tibetan Administration will hold events in Dharamshala to thank India for being a gracious host to the exiled Tibetans over the last 60 years. The complexities of geopolitics have caused the Indian government to withdraw from participating in these celebrations  to avoid Chinese ire.

Ironically, it is the Indian people, along with the rest of the world, who need to thank the Tibetans. What is at stake here is not merely the fate of the Tibetan people, and their culture, but what they have gifted the contemporary world  a humane paradigm of power and creative ways of redefining both the 'modern' and the 'traditional'.

In October 1998, on the banks of the river Ganga in Varanasi, hundreds of scholars, activists and craftsmen from across India had gathered for the third Congress on Traditional Sciences and Technologies of India. This event was a culmination of over two decades of dedicated enquiry by a Chennai-based group known as Patriotic and People-oriented Science and Technology (PPST).

Over four days, this event provided a platform for the creative and critical exploration of the Indian subcontinent's pre-modern systems of knowledge and their continuing relevance in our times. Samdhong Rinpoche, who at that time was heading the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, was a co-chair of the event.

It was the Rinpoche, later prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile, who captured the crux of the cultural, economic and technological challenge of our times.

It does not matter whether a technology or social-cultural practice is modern or traditional, the Rinpoche said in his inaugural address. What matters is whether it conforms to 'dharma'  which means righteousness in the form of holistic and humane values, not religion as a sect or identity.

In saying this, the Rinpoche was conveying the essence of what has been the exiled Tibetans' unique contribution to the contemporary world.

Even though their efforts to reach out to the Chinese government with love and compassion have failed, the leadership of the exiled Tibetans is devoid of bitterness. Yes, there are reports of unrest among young Tibetans who question the efficacy of non-violence and stray incidents of violence during protests but, by and large, the movement for autonomy for the Tibetan people remains remarkably non-violent.

In an interview given to News18 on 10 March this year, the Dalai Lama said that he feels compassion for the Chinese authorities because they are driven by negative emotions. When asked why he feels this way even though the Chinese hate him, he said: "They are narrow-minded and short-sighted. I feel pity for the Chinese."

He went on to explain why it is possible to actually live this philosophy despite 60 years of being exiled from his beloved homeland. As a practitioner of karuna (compassion), he said, "I make no distinction between my nation and other nations. My aim is to prompt a sense of oneness among human beings. In my meditation, I visualise Chinese officials and I take their suspicion and hatred and give them love and compassion."

This moral commitment and spiritual practice tend to appear out of place in the corridors of power, be it Delhi, Beijing or Washington. And yet, it is also impossible to ignore.

That is why even the Tibetans' plans for functions to thank the Indian government and Indian people became a big enough issue in the fraught equation between India and China.

The Tibetan exiles' journey over the last 60 years is as much an inspiration for individuals across the world as it is an affront to those wedded to the dominant paradigm of power  in which there is unabashed manipulation of religious and ethnic identities.

Here is a theocracy that within one generation has persuaded its people to make a transition from rule by religious heads to a democratically elected body. Lobsang Sangay, the current prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile, was born in India in 1968 and is a lawyer by training, not a monk or religious scholar.

The Dalai Lama, traditionally the unchallenged leader of the Tibetans, has not only led this transition but also reached out to all religions of the world in friendship. He has done this partly by distinguishing Buddhism as a religion from the universal insights of Buddhist traditions. This most notably pertains to what the Dalai Lama calls 'emotional hygiene'  namely the ability to process and overcome the negative emotions of hate, anger, jealousy.

Above all, the Tibetans have been exemplars in how to be deeply anchored in traditional knowledge and wisdom while also embracing modern knowledge. Children of the Tibetan exiles grow up being trained simultaneously in both the old and the new.

This makes the Tibetan exiles a beacon in dark times when, globally, there is a proliferation of narrow and sectarian religious identity  often based on false or distorted claims about ancient achievements or 'wisdom'.

The Tibetan contribution is all the more significant because it is utterly unrelated to the European variety of liberalism which equates secularism with atheism or complete rejection of any religious identity.

This is the crux of the challenge before Indian civil society today  how to create a narrative on tradition and modernity that is based on an open-minded rather than obscurantist exploration of both. In the past, some efforts in this sphere, notably the now defunct PPST, have foundered.

One way to renew this endeavour is to study the Tibetans achievements more closely. We could start by finding diverse ways to convey to the Tibetans that it is the Indian people who owe them thanks for being inspiring exemplars.India has deployed more troops and significantly increased patrolling in the mountainous terrains of Dibang, Dau-Delai and Lohit valleys along the borders with China in the Tibetan region in Arunachal sector following the Doka La face-off

Kibithu (Arunachal Pradesh): India has deployed more troops and significantly increased patrolling in the mountainous terrains of Dibang, Dau-Delai and Lohit valleys along the borders with China in the Tibetan region in Arunachal sector following the Doka La face-off, the tensest military confrontations between the two countries in decades.

Military officials said India is also strengthening its surveillance mechanism to keep an eye on Chinese activities along the borders in the strategically sensitive Tibetan region and has even been regularly deploying choppers to carry out recce.

They said India has been focusing on dominating the treacherous terrains which include snow-clad mountains at an altitude of over 17,000 feet, and river passes, as part of a strategy to counter China's rising assertiveness along the border in Dibang, Dau-Delai and Lohit valleys.

Post Doka La, we have increased our activities manifold. We are fully prepared to deal with any challenge, said an army officer posted in Kibithu, the easternmost village on India's border with China's Tibetan region.

The official said the army has been enhancing its Long Range Patrols (LRPs) where troops in small groups go for patrols for 15-30 days as part of an overall approach to maintain the sanctity of the Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between India and China.

Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doka La from 16 June last year after the Indian side stopped building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. The face-off ended on 28 August.

We have increased our deployment of troops while focusing on all the strategically important areas including a tri-junction among India, China and Myanmar, said the official who wished not to be quoted as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The official said China has been ramping up its infrastructure development along India's border, particularly in the Tibetan region and there was a need for India to enhance its road network for quick movements of troops.

The army uses a foot suspension bridge to carry its military supplies to its Kibithu post, considered very important from an operational point of view, as the only road connecting the East bank of Lohit river with West bank remains closed due to landslides for the most part of the year.

However, a senior official of the Border Roads Organisation said a number of roads including one to connect the Dibang Valley with Lohit Valley have been finalised which will improve the inter-valley connectivity in Arunachal.

China has been laying new roads and improving its overall infrastructure along the nearly 4,000 km long border with India.

Earlier this month, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said China has undertaken construction of helipads, sentry posts and trenches for its army personnel near Doka La.

Sources said China has been keeping its troops in north Doka La and significantly ramping up its infrastructure in the disputed area.

In January, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat had said the time had come for India to shift its focus from borders with Pakistan to the frontier with China, indicating the seriousness of the situation.Four terrorists, who were part of a suicide squad, were killed in a day-long encounter with security forces in the Sunderbani area of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district on 28 March

Jammu: Director General of BSF KK Sharma on Friday said that the group of four terrorist killed in Sunderbani encounter belonged to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Four terrorists, who were part of a suicide squad, were killed in a day-long encounter with security forces in the Sunderbani area of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district on 28 March, police said.

The BSF chief said that it was his organisation that provided exact intelligence input to eliminate the terrorists.

"As of now, they are only four militants belonging to the LeT. There can be splinter groups of it as well. I cannot not rule it out. We have kept the highest level of alertness from our side," Sharma told reporters here.

The fidayeen, or suicide attackers, had infiltrated into the Indian territory from across the Line of Control (LoC) about four-five days ago, prompting security forces to launch a search operation in the area.

The DG BSF said, "We have intelligence inputs about the presence of militants earlier with us. That is why, the level of security and alertness around our security installation and establishments was on highest level."

He said that the BSF got a specific input and on that input local police and the army and other security forces cordoned off the area and isolated them in the riverine area and eliminated them without any collateral damage.

"There was no loss to the security forces. The operation was successfully completed," he added.

Sharma said that the specific information was given by the BSF where they are staged and the BSF men and officers participated in the operation.

"If there would have not been alertness, these terrorists were close to the Sunderbani-based BSF headquarters and there could have been a untoward incident," he said.

Replying to a question about the terrorists target, Sharma said that the BSF establishment could have been target as it was close.

"The militants, who have first view of any security establishment, that becomes the target. BSF was very close," he added.

The BSF chief said that they were at highest degree of alertness and that is why they were not unsuccessful.

"Their attempt will always be to cause human loss to security forces and BSF is prepared to meet any challenge fully," he added.

Asked as to why terrorists failed to carry out an attack against a security establishment, Sharma said they (terrorists) may have some error in their planning and lack of support from local population.

"They could not have got the local guide and that is why they kept on roaming. There was something wrong in their planning", he added.

"The security forces did very well by eliminating them with their alertness," Sharma added.Hanuman Jayanti was celebrated across West Bengal on Saturday amid tight security.

Kolkata: Hanuman Jayanti was celebrated across West Bengal on Saturday amid tight security.

The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) took out colourful processions and organised Hanuman puja in various parts of the state. Senior party leaders and ministers were seen taking part in the celebrations.

The BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) kept their Hanuman Jayanti celebrations a low-key affair with small-scale programmes at temples and mutts.

The saffron brigade had decided to keep the Hanuman Jayanti celebrations low-profile in view of widespread violence in various parts of the state over Ram Navami celebrations earlier this week.

State VHP president Sachindranath Singha had on Friday said major Hanuman Jayanti rallies might lead to more problems in the state.

"Only last week, we had huge Ram Navami celebrations, which at some places also led to violence. Now, taking out rallies on Hanuman Jayanti will send a wrong message," he had said.

The police have put in place elaborate arrangements across the state to avoid any untoward incident during the Hanuman Jayanti celebrations.

"We will keep a tab on any suspicious movement. No one will be allowed to take out armed rallies," a senior police officer said.The Railways said it had achieved its target of installing LED lights across its network on Friday.

New Delhi: The Railways on Saturday said it had achieved its target of installing LED lights across its network on Friday, a move that would help the national transporter save Rs 50 crore per annum in electricity bills.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had initially set the target of achieving 100-percent LED lighting by 31 March, 2019. Subsequently, the deadline was revised to 31 March, 2018.

"As per the direction and guidance of the minister of railways, concerted effort of the railway board and zonal railways, Indian Railways has achieved 100 percent provision of LED lights in all the stations on 30.3.18," a statement from the railway ministry said.

It added that the move would help the railways save Rs 50 crore per annum in electricity bills and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60,000 ton.

"The target was completed one day before. South central railway was the first railway to complete the work, followed by the other zonal railways," the statement said.Militants shot and killed a special police officer (SPO) in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district after critically injuring an SPO in Anantnag district earlier in the day, police said

Srinagar: Militants shot and killed a special police officer (SPO) in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Saturday evening after critically injuring an SPO in Anantnag district earlier in the day, police said.

Police said militants fired from close range at SPO Muhammad Ashraf in Muran Chowk, injuring him critically. "He was shifted to hospital where he succumbed to critical injuries," police said.

Earlier on Saturday, militants had fired at another SPO, Trilok Singh in Khanabal area of Anantnag. Singh was shifted to hospital for treatment while the security forces laid a cordon at both places to trace the militants.

Another SPO had been shot dead by militants in Anantnag district on Thursday.

According to a police officer, a group of militants entered the house of Mushtaq Ahmed Sheikh in Bijbehara area of Anantnag in the evening and opened fire at him. While Sheikh was killed on the spot, his wife was critically injured.

Engaged on a fixed monthly wage, SPOs are not regular policemen, but were recruited in the 1990s to fight insurgency.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A sessions court in Mumbai on Saturday rejected the bail application of Yug Tulli, a co-owner of Mojo's Bistro pub, in the Kamala Mills Compound fire case.

Mumbai: A sessions court in Mumbai on Saturday rejected the bail application of Yug Tulli, a co-owner of Mojo's Bistro pub, in the Kamala Mills compound fire case.

A massive fire swept through two roof-top pubs, Mojo's Bistro and 1 Above, located in Kamala Mills Compound in central Mumbai, on 28 December, resulting in the death of 14 persons.

Judge AL Yawalkar rejected Tulli's application, special prosecutor Prakash Shetty said.

Tulli had surrendered before the police in January after the court rejected his anticipatory bail application.

The police registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the owners of the two pubs, the owners of Kamala Mills compound and some civic officials.

It is alleged that flying embers from hookah, served illegally at Mojo's Bistro, started the blaze, and illegal alterations at both the pubs aggravated the tragedy. While a charge sheet has been filed, the trial is yet to start.Two patients from two extreme ends of the political spectrum in Kashmir are fighting for their lives in the same intensive care unit of the same hospital, and doctors are hopeful they will survive

Armed policemen wearing bulletproof jackets milled around in groups, as if guarding the entrance of a jail; the difference being that they are in a hospital, the largest in the Kashmir Valley. But the noise and rush of attendants outside the main gate of the intensive care unit (ICU) at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Srinagar, hardly distracts them.

Except for the medical staff and one attendant per patient, who are also thoroughly scrutinised before let in, no one is allowed entry into the ward. Policemen in plain clothes are everywhere, they are behind the gate and outside it too.

Inside there are two patients from two extreme ends of the political spectrum in Kashmir. They are fighting for their lives, and doctors are hopeful they will survive. Lying motionless on one bed is 36-year-old Fareeda Mustaq, wife of a slain special police officer (SPO) Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh, who was fired upon by militants on Thursday evening at Katoo-Wopzan village, about seven kilometres from Bijbehra town of Anantnag district. She tried to save her husband but sustained critical injuries to her lung and spinal cord.

The other is Asif Ahmad Malik, a 21-year-old militant who was part of the group that police says fired at an army patrol deployed in Ahgam in Shopian district. He suffered bullet injuries to his liver and other organs, including the intestine, leading to internal bleeding.

The distance between their beds is no more than 15 feet, but they avoid eye contact, say hospital staff attending to them. The two patients are united in grief and their families are praying for their survival, but the scene itself is tragedy in action. In this war of attrition, it's the people of Kashmir who are paying the ultimate price.

On Friday evening, Mohammad Ashraf Malik, a resident of Krawoora village in Shopian district, sat staring at the lifeless body of his son, Asif, who joined militancy on 17 October last year. A BCA student, Asif went missing from his house days before taking up arms. His family says he never showed an inclination to join the militancy and never participated in street protests. So, when his pictures started appearing on social media in October, showing Asif flaunting an automatic gun, Malik couldn't come to terms with the decision his son had taken.

Five months later, Malik, a farmer, broke down outside the ICU. "I last saw my son on Thursday evening at around 8:30 pm in an orchard in Killura, next to the village where we live. People thought he had taken his last breath, but when I reached there, I realised he was alive and we brought him here," Malik told Firstpost outside the ICU, where attendants of other patients sat in rows, some with their sad faces cupped in their hands, some talking to each other, and others just walking up and down the corridor to kill time.

An old woman walks by, stopping to greet him. "Don't worry," she tells him in an assuring tone. "Your son will be alright, God is with him, and only He can save him."

Malik closes his eyes and tears start flowing. "It is an inexplicable grief. One day you see your son going to college, and the next day, he is holding an AK-47. Then, after a few days or months, if you are lucky, you see his body riddled with bullets and you want to understand why," Malik says between sobs.

I was looking for Jaleel Ahmad, brother-in-law of the slain SPO Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh, and the man attending to Fareeda. I asked many people at the gate if they could help tracing him, but nobody could. But when I was sitting with Asif's father, Jaleel sat next to us. A short, bearded man in his early 30s, Jaleel's eyes turn moist every time his sister's crops up during conversation.

A police statement said that gunmen barged and fired at Mushtaq inside his house at Katoo Wopzan. He was posted at Police Post Sangam in Bijbehara area and died on the spot. His injured wife was immediately shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment, but her condition remains critical.

"This is the tragedy of Kashmir," Jaleel says nonchalantly. "The militant and the woman are from the same area. They are both Muslims, follow the same God and bow their heads towards Kabba, but it is difficult for them to even look at each other. Doctors say she will be alright, but will her wounds ever heal?" he asks.

Late on Friday evening, Mushtaq sat on a stool near the bed, caressing his sister's head. She had been married for six years and was living a happy life despite the meagre salary that her husband was drawing. Tears started trickling down his face when Malik stepped in. He one hand on Jaleel's shoulder, and rubbed Fareeda's hand with the other. "Nothing will happen to her. She will be alright," Malik told Jaleel. "May God give her a long life."

He then moved towards his son's bed. He looked at him, intently, in silence, perhaps contemplating the position that had landed him in an orchard, nearly dead. "Oh my son, no father should see his son in the condition that you are in," he whispered. Then he broke down again.Defence Minister Niramala Sitharaman will be travelling to Russia next week to attend the seventh Moscow Conference on International Security.

Moscow: Defence Minister Niramala Sitharaman will be travelling to Russia next week to attend the seventh Moscow Conference on International Security.

This will be her first visit to Russia in her capacity as the defence minister. During her three-day tour, between 3-5 April, she will participate in the VII Moscow Conference on International Security, according to a statement from Indian Embassy in Moscow.

Sitharaman will also meet her Russian counterpart Army General Sergei Shoigu, and other senior leaders, it said.

"The visit is in keeping with the tradition of high level exchanges between India and Russia. It will provide an opportunity to reinforce the traditional warm and friendly relations that exists between the two countries with particular reference to military technical cooperation," the statement said.Nearly 3,000 SSC (Staff Selection Commission) aspirants took to the streets, demanding a CBI probe into the alleged SSC paper leak and some of them clashed with the police in Lutyens' Delhi on Saturday.

New Delhi: Nearly 3,000 SSC (Staff Selection Commission) aspirants took to the streets, demanding a CBI probe into the alleged SSC paper leak and some of them clashed with the police in Lutyens' Delhi on Saturday.

Demanding a Supreme Court-monitored probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the matter, hundreds of SSC aspirants staged a protest at Jantar Mantar and accused the government of failing to prevent the alleged paper leak.

Some of the protesters tried to march towards Connaught Place, but were stopped and detained by the police. They were later released.

In a statement, a committee of the SSC aspirants claimed that the group marching towards Connaught Place were lathi-charged and manhandled by the Delhi Police.

The police, however, denied using force, and said the protesters were dealt with "restraint" and in a "professional" manner.

Some students also sustained injuries and some even fainted in the commotion, the committee said condemning the incident.

"We held a gathering of thousands of students at Sansad Marg to protest the SSC scam. We have been demanding an independent and time-bound CBI probe into the conduct of all SSC examinations.

"Even after protesting for over a month, the government has not agreed to our genuine demands," the statement read.

If the government cannot hear out the demands of the protesting students, the minister of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) should resign, it said.

The statement said that until the demands of the SSC aspirants are met, the movement will continue.

The aspirants, apart from a CBI probe, are also demanding the formation of an expert committee to take suggestions from students for systemic reforms in the SSC.

They claimed that they will approach the Supreme Court in the matter to ensure reforms in the functioning of the Commission.

The aspirants are also planning to start an "anti-corruption helpline" for students affected due to irregularities and corruption in government jobs that is likely be operational from April 14.

They also said that they would take the movement to various cities of the country to raise awareness and campaign against the government.

The aspirants also claimed that some "anti-social elements unsuccessfully tried to hijack" the protests.

Joint Commissioner of Police, New Delhi range, Ajay Chaudhary, said an organisation called Swaraj India had applied for permission to stage a peaceful protest at Parliament Street on 31 March.

"They had a series of meetings with the New Delhi district police and they were constantly advised to go to Ramlila Maidan, as protests have been banned by the NGT at Jantar Mantar. However, they insisted and organised the protest," he said.

The officer said on Saturday, when the crowd swelled, the leadership abdicated their responsibility and was nowhere to be seen.

"It became a leaderless protest. A breakaway group of around 200-300 people rushed to Connaught Place. With great effort and alacrity and alertness, the New Delhi district police responded and stopped them on Janpath. As many as 207 people have been detained," he added.

Chaudhary said legal action is being initiated against those who tried to disrupt law and order.

Though aspirants claimed they were manhandled and lathi-charged by the police, the officer said they (police) did not use any force.

"No force has been used. They were stopped from going towards Connaught Place using barricades.

"Police has shown tremendous restraint. It is an example of professional policing," said Chaudhary.

The students were "physically" held and taken to buses and detained, another officer said.

The 207 SSC aspirants who were detained at the Mandir Marg and Tilak Marg police stations were later released, police said.

The police said that a case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions, punishable with a term of maximum three months and fine), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty, punishable with a maximum term of two years and fine) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant, punishable with a maximum term of six months and fine) was registered against unidentified persons.

Nearly 3,000 SSC aspirants had gathered for the protest, a police officer said.

Traffic in the Connaught Place's Outer Circle was affected for over an hour due to the incident.Thousands of Staff Selection Commission (SSC) candidates on Saturday held a demonstration to protest against the 'SSC paper leak scam', leading to a scuffle with police.

New Delhi: Thousands of Staff Selection Commission (SSC) candidates on Saturday held a demonstration to protest against the "SSC paper leak scam", leading to a scuffle with police.

The SSC candidates gathered at Parliament Street at 11 am seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged paper leak in the Combined Graduate Level (CGL) Examination held in February.

As the protesters started moving towards Parliament, they were stopped by police. But, as they broke the barricades, the police applied mild force to disperse them.

Subsequently, the protesters gathered at Connaught Place and held rallies in the area, surrounded by police and Rapid Action Force personnel.

The police later detained some of them.West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi will visit trouble-torn Asansol and Raniganj on Saturday, after the state government said it has no problem with it

Kolkata: West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi will visit trouble-torn Asansol and Raniganj on Saturday, after the state government said it has no problem with it, a senior government official said in Kolkata on Friday.

"The governor has expressed his willingness to visit Asansol and Raniganj. We do not have any problem with that," the official at the state secretariat 'Nabanna' said.

The state government on Thursday asked him not to go to Asansol and Raniganj citing security reasons.

"Earlier, the situation was not conducive. Now the situation is much better for him to go," the official said.

Adequate security measures would be taken in connection with the governor's visit, he said.

Tripathi will leave Kolkata at 8 am and he is likely to go by road, sources in the Raj Bhavan said.

"He will hold a meeting with the local administration, following which he will visit some areas of the industrial town. Thereafter, he will go to Raniganj," the sources said.

One person was killed and several others were injured in clashes between two groups in the Asansol and Raniganj areas of Burdwan West district during Ram Navami celebrations on Sunday. Prohibitory orders remained in force in Asansol.

Union minister Babul Supriyo and a senior West Bengal BJP leader were stopped by police from entering the Asansol-Raniganj area on Thursday.Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav indicated that Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, who had promised him to support the BSP candidate in Rajya Sabha polls, does not appear to be on his side anymore.

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday indicated that Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, who had promised him to support the BSP candidate in Rajya Sabha polls, does not appear to be on his side anymore.

His comments came days after reports had suggested that Raja Bhaiya, an Independent legislator from Kunda, did not vote for BSP candidate Bhim Rao Ambedkar in the 23 March polls despite assuring Yadav to do so.

Raja Bhaiya was present at the dinner hosted by the Samajwadi Party before the polls and had said he was with Yadav. He had also met Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath during the polls.

Yadav had tweeted a photograph of him with Raja Bhaiya, thanking him for his support. He later deleted the tweet.

The Samajwadi Party had reached an understanding with the BSP to ensure the candidate put up by Mayawati's party is elected from one of the 10 seats that went to the polls in the state.

Asked why he deleted the photograph, Yadav said: "Tweet is an expression of your feeling. On the information that we did not get his support, we deleted the tweet."

"What's wrong in this," he said. "At least it should be clear. If you are with me, you stand with me and if you are against, stay away."

Stating that he did not want to say anything more on Raja Bhaiya, Yadav said: "It's good that our eyes are opened. It does not seem that he (Raja Bhaiya) was with us."

After the results of the Rajya Sabha polls were announced, Mayawati had said that Yadav should not have trusted Raja Bhaiya to help them win the election.

"He made a mistake in relying on Raja Bhaiya," she had said.

Raja Bhaiya and Mayawati has had a rocky relationship.

The BSP candidate received 32 first preference votes, five short of the required number to get a Rajya Sabha berth. He lost to BJP's Anil Kumar Agarwal after counting of second preference of votes.BJP president Amit Shah declined to reveal the nature of discussions he had with the Wadiyar royal family of Mysuru, amid speculation that the party was seeking to enlist their support in the Karnataka Assembly polls

Mysuru: BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday declined to reveal the nature of discussions he had with the Wadiyar royal family of Mysuru, amid speculation that the party was seeking to enlist their support in the 12 May Karnataka Assembly polls.

"As far as my meeting with the royal family members is concerned, I only want to say that it was a courtesy visit. However, what transpired between us, I cannot reveal it," he told reporters in Mysuru.

Shah, who is touring the old Mysuru region, met the royal family at their private palace in Mysuru on Friday, triggering speculation about their supporting the BJP.

During the closed-door meeting with the scion of the royal family or the present titular Maharaja- Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar and Rajamata Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, Shah reportedly discussed various issues, including politics, the sources said.

"Had a wonderful meeting with Maharaja Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, Rajamatha Pramoda Devi Wadiyar and Maharani Trishika Kumari Devi of the Royal Family of Mysuru," Shah had said in a tweet after the meeting.

Had a wonderful meeting with Maharaja Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, Rajamatha Pramoda Devi Wadiyar and Maharani Trishika Kumari Devi of the Royal Family of Mysuru. pic.twitter.com/CdMsGaWxX8  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) March 30, 2018

Amid speculation in the media, Yaduveer, the 27th "King" of the Wadiyar dynasty, had recently ruled out his political entry.

"I have told several times that I'm not interested in politics. There is no chance at all about me joining any party. I'm not interested in politics. Through social work we will continue our relationship with the public," he had said.

The previous scion, Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, represented Mysuru Parliamentary constituency four times and had lost once.

Srikantadatta mostly remained with the Congress, but also had a short stint with the BJP.With the AAP keen to contest the Haryana Assembly polls next year, the party's national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today held a roadshow in the Rohtak-Bhiwani belt of the state

Chandigarh: With the AAP keen to contest the Haryana Assembly polls next year, the party's national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday held a roadshow in the Rohtak-Bhiwani belt of the state.

Kejriwal's roadshow, which began in the morning and is expected go on till evening, comes close on the heels of a rally in Hisar on Sunday.

At the Hisar rally, the AAP leader had announced that his party would contest the forthcoming Haryana Assembly polls.

Kejriwal, who was accompanied by the AAP's Haryana head, Naveen Jaihind, had covered Bahadurgarh, Sampla and Rohtak till late afternoon during his roadshow on Saturday.

.@ArvindKejriwal receives blessings from Haryana people. AAP is overwhelmed to get this warm response.#KejriwalHRRoadShow pic.twitter.com/LVx4gfBNUp  AAP (@AamAadmiParty) March 31, 2018

The roadshow will also pass through Kalanaur, Dadri, Bhiwani and Tosham.

At the Hisar rally, Kejriwal had attacked the BJP-led Centre and Haryana governments over a number of issues.

The AAP national convener, who hails from Haryana, had invoked his Haryana roots and asked the people of the state to strengthen his party.

"We will create a new Haryana. If you want peace, security, schools, hospitals, roads, then vote for the AAP," he had said.

After tasting defeat at the hustings in the previous Lok Sabha polls from Haryana, the AAP had not contested the October 2014 assembly elections in the state.Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Saturday accused the RJD and Congress of trying to flare up 'riots' in Bihar and said the NDA governments at the Centre and in the state would take stern action against such attempts.

New Delhi: Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Saturday accused the RJD and Congress of trying to flare up "riots" in Bihar and said the NDA governments at the Centre and in the state would take stern action against such attempts.

He also claimed that the Centre and the Bihar government had foiled attempts to cause "riots" in Bihar, although the RJD and Congress "wanted" the disturbances.

Bihar has witnessed a spurt in communal clashes of late. On 17 March, violence had broken out in Bhagalpur, where a religious procession was being led by Choubey's son, Arijit Shashwat.

"We will defeat the intention of the RJD and Congress to instigate riots. The conspirators wanted to cause riots, but no one dared to do so and we have kept Bihar under control. The Bihar government and the Centre will together defeat the attempts to disturb harmony in the state," the minister said.

On Friday, in another incident of communal flare-up in Bihar, scores of vehicles were vandalised and a hotel was set ablaze at Nawada, where the members of two communities clashed following reports of desecration of an idol.

Choubey also accused the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government of "failing" to deal with the situation in that state.

"The West Bengal government has completely failed to maintain harmony and tolerance among the people," he alleged.

Asansol and Raniganj in West Burdwan district of West Bengal had witnessed violent clashes between two groups over Ram Navami celebrations on Sunday and Monday.

Official sources had said one person was killed and two police officers were injured in the clashes.Shah said the public is disappointed with the state government, with one of the main issues being corruption.

Stepping up his attacks against the Congress government in Karnataka, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Saturday likened Congress and corruption to fish and water, and said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has worsened things in the state.

Speaking at a press conference in Mysuru as part of his two-day visit to the region, Shah said the public is disappointed with the state government, with one of the main issues being corruption.

"Across Karnataka, wherever I went, people want to replace Siddaramaiah and the Congress government in the state," he said. He also expressed confidence in the BJP's victory in the upcoming Assembly election in the state.

Shah claimed there is a "storm of corruption" in the state. "If the Congress comes back to power, this storm will turn into a tsunami," he predicted. He also called the Karnataka government a "corruption ATM". "In short, the Karnataka government is a corruption ATM for the Congress party," he said.

In BJP-ruled states of India, Shah said, basic necessities like water and electricity reach people's homes, and accused Siddaramaiah of not ensuring state revenues reach the rural masses. "IT revenue generated in Bengaluru is not percolating to the rural masses in the state. Implementation of central schemes is the weakest in Karnataka and development indicators have been showing a downward trend," Shah said.

The BJP president also touched upon the issue of farmer suicides in the state and criticised Siddaramaiah for calling it a "conspiracy". "Why would anybody give up their lives for a conspiracy? It is the most insensitive remark I've heard," he said.

Shah also dismissed the JD(S) as a contender, saying it won't be able to form a government in Karnataka. "JD(S) is not in a position to form government. It cannot bring about change, as it is limited to certain pockets in the region," he said.

Shah arrived in Mysuru on Friday for a two-day tour of the region. He began his tour of the old Mysuru region on Friday, covering the districts of Mysuru and Chamarajanagara, where BJP had not won even a single seat in the previous election.

He will interact with silk farmers at Channapatna in Ramanagara district and visit Mandya district as well on Saturday. He will also be visiting the Sri Cheluvanarayanaswamy temple in Melukote in Mandya.

On Friday, Shah claimed that Siddaramaiah and the JD(S) will get the "biggest shock of their lives" from the old Mysuru region in the upcoming polls. He said the BJP, if voted to power, would make efforts to hunt down the killers of RSS and BJP workers in Karnataka, and hand out severest of punishments to them.

"I would like to tell the people of the state that Siddaramaiah's time has come to an end. Soon after the BJP forms the next government under Yeddyurappa's leadership, it will make all efforts to hunt down the killers (of RSS and BJP workers) from any corner of the world," he said.

With inputs from PTIThe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka complained to the Chief Electoral Officer, accusing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of violating the model code of conduct by 'bribing openly'

Bengaluru: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka complained to the Chief Electoral Officer, accusing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of violating the model code of conduct by "bribing openly".

The complaint, signed by BJP general secretary Ravi Kumar said that Siddaramaiah was canvassing at Chamundeshwari constituency of Mysuru on 29 March and that during election campaigning, in utter violation of the poll conduct, paid Rs 2,000 each to two women who welcomed him.

Referring to local newspaper reports in this regard, it said that in the same village, Siddaramaiah also deposited Rs 2,000 in cash to the archak (priest) who performed pooja in the temple premises, thereby violating the model code of conduct.

Stating that this act of Siddaramaiah amounts to bribery under Representation of People Act, as well as under Section 171 of the Indian Penal Code, the complaint said, "Though this fact is circulated in almost all electronic and print media, the concerned officials have not taken any action. We request you to direct initiation of stringent action and oblige."

Siddaramaiah is camping in the district since Thursday and will continue to do so till 2 April as part of the Congress' campaign ahead of the Assembly elections in the state in May.

He has already announced his intentions to contest from Chamundeshwari constituency of Mysuru district.Though the BJP accused Siddaramaiah of having planted troublemakers in the meeting, it will realise the optics of Amit Shah not being allowed to speak left a bad taste in the BJP mouth

Amit Shah has little reason to be pleased with Srinivas Prasad. The former Karnataka revenue minister crossed over to the BJP in 2016 after he felt humiliated at the manner in which he was dropped from Siddaramaiah's cabinet. Prasad, a prominent Dalit leader from Mysuru, then contested the by-election from his Nanjungud constituency, determined to prove a point to Siddaramaiah. The BJP too expected to make inroads into the Dalit community, riding on Prasad's clout and popularity. But he lost by a margin of over 21,000 votes to the Congress candidate.

On Friday, at a meeting of Shah with Dalit leaders and activists, Prasad asked the BJP president to clarify the party's position on Anant Kumar Hegde, Union skill development minister. In December 2017, Hegde spoke about amending the Constitution drafted by BR Ambedkar. It created a furore and Hegde had to retract his statement in Parliament and apologise. But if what happened at the meeting organised by the BJP in Mysuru is anything to go by, the issue is far from dead for the community.

Prasad's request to Shah acted as a cue to create ruckus at the meeting, the kind of indiscipline you never witness at an Amit Shah meeting. BJP's Karnataka leaders found it difficult to restore order even as the media captured the embarrassing scenes on camera. Shah was forced to distance the party from Hegde's comments but even that did not bring down tempers.

"If you say you don't support Hegde's statement, why is he still in the Union Cabinet? If it is not the BJP's hidden agenda, why haven't you thrown him out?'' Chornalli Shivanna, convenor of the Dalit Sangharsha Samiti for Mysuru asked Shah.

It was clear that this meeting did not go according to script. Though the BJP accused Siddaramaiah of having planted troublemakers in the meeting, it will realise the optics of Shah not being allowed to speak left a bad taste in the BJP mouth. It will also make it wary of political rivals trying to undermine its Dalit outreach effort.

For the past couple of years, the BJP has been engaged in reaching out to the Dalits, who constitute close to 18 percent of the six crore population of Karnataka. This included its chief ministerial face, BS Yeddyurappa visiting Dalit homes to eat with them.

The BJP's effort has been to dent Siddaramaiah's AHINDA vote bank (Kannada acronym that includes backward classes, Dalit and minorities) that was seen as having played a major role in the Congress party's victory in 2013. The strategy in particular has been to woo the Madigas, who are referred to as the 'Left' to indicate untouchables. The Chalavadis, identified as the 'Right' to suggest they are not untouchables, have traditionally been aligned with the Congress since the time of Indira Gandhi. The grouse among the Madigas is that the Chalavadis end up cornering a large part of the Dalit budgetary allocation pie.

Which is why Amit Shah's 45-minute long meeting with Madhara Chennaiah, the Dalit mutt seer in Chitradurga this week is significant. The BJP reportedly promised internal reservation in keeping with the Madiga population within the community. For years, the Madigas have been protesting, saying they should get between 8 and 10 percent of reservation benefits while they get much less. The BJP would hope to gain from the seer's influence in four districts of central Karnataka, which accounts for 26 Assembly seats.

The Congress guards its Dalit vote bank assiduously, even though it knows the Madiga vote could migrate to an extent. The Dalit factor was the reason why G Parameshwara retained his post as Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president even though there are murmurs over his hold over the community. His detractors have often called him a 'Press Conference Chief' but the Congress will hope senior Dalit leader Mallikarjun Kharge, its Leader in the Lok Sabha who hails from Kalburgi in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, will cover the gap.

The importance of the Dalit vote is not lost on any party. Thirty-six of the 224 Assembly seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes, but it is estimated that the community can determine the election result in up to 60 constituencies. In Karnataka, which has a reputation of throwing up a hung Assembly and not returning the same party to power since 1985, that is a significant number.

Into the mix comes the Bahujan Samaj Party, which is contesting the election in 20 seats in an alliance with the JD(S). Depending on the selection of candidates in individual constituencies, the BSP could take away a few thousand votes from either of the two main parties, affecting their chances in a close contest.

While the focus has largely been on the Lingayat vote, up for grabs since the Siddaramaiah government gave the community separate religion status, the Dalit vote could be the silent killer this summer.The biopic is being directed by filmmaker Teja, and stars NTR's son Nandamuri Balakrishna  who is also a TDP MLA

In the news for its launch, is the biopic on late actor-politician NT Rama Rao (popularly known as NTR). The biopic is being directed by filmmaker Teja, and stars NTR's son Nandamuri Balakrishna  who is also an MLA for the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). As Firstpost reported on 29 March 2018, the film's team had gathered at Ramakrishna Studios in Hyderabad to shoot a special teaser. Its release is timed for Vijayadashmi, a few months before the Andhra Pradesh Assembly polls.

The biopic comes even as Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu is readying for the 2019 polls with a slogan focused on Telugu pride  something his father-in-law NTR was considered an icon of.

After the TDP's exit from the NDA, Naidu has launched an all-out war on the BJP-led central government for denying the state what has been enacted and promised. In fact, such federal concerns form the ideological plank of TDP since its inception. NT Rama Rao even called the centre 'a myth'. NTR had galvanised the opposition against the (ruling) Congress regime, chanelling the anger of Telugu people at the way then chief minister T Anjaiah had been treated by the Congress leader at the time, Rajeev Gandhi. Similarly, Naidu is now vehemently critical of how the allegedly authoritarian Narendra Modi dispensation has let down the people of Andhra Pradesh. With Naidu going back to the political idiom of NTR, the biopic assumes even greater significance  given the closely entwined relationship between films and politics in South India.

Read on Firstpost  The fading legacy of NTR, Andhra Pradesh's most colourful leader

The biopic itself treads tricky ground. In the latter part of NTR's life, Naidu had revolted against his father-in-law and "overthrown" him. (He portrayed his rebellion as a sacred effort to save the TDP, a narrative that was widely accepted by the electorate.) Furthering the complicated web, Nandamuri Balakrishna's daughter, Brahmani, is married to Naidu's only son  Nara Lokesh, a minister in his cabinet. The consensus in political circles is that this match has only consolidated Naidu's position.

In fact, Naidu previously faced down competitors from within NTR's family, who also wished to take on the mantle of the late leader's legacy: NTR's son N Hari Krishna's attempt to appropriate his father's political standing came to naught. Similarly, NTR's second wife Lakshmi Parvathi's assertion of being his political successor was also summarily rejected by the electorate in united Andhra Pradesh. The political party launched by her, in NTR's name, was rejected at the hustings and later, disappeared. Telugu superstar Junior NTRs plans to position himself as the true heir to his grandfather did not fructify (although he never attempted to do so within the political arena; his father is N Hari Krishna). Junior NTR did not campaign for the TDP in the 2014 elections, which the party won; at the time there were reports of a growing rift between Chandrababu Naidu and him. Thus, Naidu became the unquestionable leader of the party.

How the Teja-directed biopic will depict the controversial aspects of NTR's life is now the subject of intense debate. Lakshmi Parvathi has threatened to move court if Naidu is portrayed as a hero in the film. Meanwhile, TDP legislator Bonda Uma has declared that Lakshmi Parvathi would indeed be the "villain" in the film. "She is a villain in real life and she will be villain in the film too. She distanced NTR from (the) people and everybody knows this," he was quoted as saying.

Critics point to the time of Naidu's revolt against NTR, when even those legislators who had won on the strength of the latter's charisma, abandoned him right when he sought their support. The NTR biopic starring Balakrishna is being produced with the "blessings" of Naidu, which makes it unlikely that NTR's anguish will be adequately portrayed. Questions about whether or not this biopic will be true to history are, therefore, understandable.

To show a complete picture, the NTR biopic will certainly have to chronicle the internal developments within the TDP that led to the revolt. Lakshmi Parvathi's role in NTR's life will also have to be included.

Also read  NTRs story is so vast, it would take six films to encompass it all, says director Teja at launch of upcoming biopic

Meanwhile, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has announced his intention of making a biopic on the late leader, called Lakshmi's NTR. RGV will reportedly show Lakshmi Parvathi in a more positive light  again, a difficult endeavour since Naidu attributed his rebellion against his father-in-law to NTR's relationship with Lakshmi Parvathi. NTR's family had sided with Naidu at the time. One must note here that Lakshmi Parvathi is now a leader of the YSR Congress, led by Naidu's arch rival YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

Varma's film is expected to be a counter to the Teja-Nandamuri Balakrishna project. Thus, the TDP and YSR Congress are set to clash over these films too.

NTR's daughter D Purandareswari  a vocal opponent of Naidu  was formerly a minister in the Congress government, but is now part of the BJP. With the BJP also becoming hostile towards Naidu, it may be anticipated that the party will have its own take on the film-related row.

What may be sacrificed amid political compulsions, is a true and impartial assessment of NTR's life and politics, which left an indelible impact on the Telugu people.

The writer is former MLC in Telangana; former editor, The Hans India; and professor  Journalism, in Osmania UniversityBJP leader Subramanian Swamy hit out at the government, led by his own party, over the disinvestment of Air India, saying it was potentially another scam in the making.

New Delhi: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Saturday hit out at the government, led by his own party, over the disinvestment of Air India, saying it was potentially another scam in the making.

The former Union minister said he would watch the developments and file a private criminal law complaint, if he found culpability in the disinvestment process.

The proposed sale of Air India is potentially another scam in the making. Selling family silver is not divestment. I am watching who is doing what and will, if I see culpability, file a private criminal law complaint, he tweeted.

The government had, on 28 March, unveiled the plan to sell up to 76 percent stake in Air India and transfer the management control to private players, thus kicking off the ambitious strategic disinvestment process for the debt-laden national carrier.

The move has come under criticism from the Opposition, with Trinamool Congress (TMC) attacking the Centre over the issue.

"I'm sorry to read in the media about the government inviting expression of interest for selling Air India, the jewel of our nation. We strongly oppose this and want this order to be withdrawn immediately," TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had said.

"This government must not be allowed to sell our country," the West Bengal chief minister had tweeted, hours after the disinvestment plan was unveiled.

TMC MP Derek O'Brien had also slammed the move. He had tweeted:

The proposed disinvestment of Air India is still being examined by the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Transport Tourism & Culture. Stakeholders are being called. Views heard. Report still some time away. How come these moves from Govt? https://t.co/mnUYBEMyNf  Derek O'Brien (@derekobrienmp) March 28, 2018

O'Brien, who is chairing the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, has subsequently indicated through his tweets that the matter will be raised in Parliament, when the House resumes on Monday.

Parliament reopens on Monday. This conversation about Air India now needs to move beyond tweets," he had tweeted.

The TMC leader also re-tweeted Swamy's tweet on Saturday.The West Bengal State Election Commission (SEC) on Saturday announced three-phase panchayat polls in the state in May this year

The West Bengal State Election Commission (SEC) on Saturday announced three-phase panchayat polls in May.

Panchayat polls will be held in three phases on 1, 3 and 5 May, State Election Commissioner AK Singh told reporters. The counting of votes will take place on 8 May.

The SEC earlier this week met representatives of political parties and discussed preparations for the panchayat polls.

According to a report in the Times of India, polling in six districts, including Maldah, Murshidabad and Nadia, might be held in the second phase, while the South Bengal election could be held in the third phase.

The West Bengal panchayat elections were in the spotlight last month when BJP leader Mukul Roy requested the Election Commission to send 50 observers to West Bengal during the panchayat polls to learn how the Trinamool Congress "rigged the poll process".

Roy, along with other state BJP leaders, met Chief Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat and urged the body to create a separate model of poll security for West Bengal.

"We know that the panchayat elections are not conducted under the Election Commission. But we requested them to send a group of central observers to study and analyse how polls are being rigged in Bengal so that they can learn and create a separate poll security model for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections for West Bengal," Roy said.

The panchayat election assumes significance as it is the last major poll in the state before the general elections next year.

On 1 May, polling will be held in 12 districts, while on 3 May voting will be held in two districts, State Election Commissioner (SEC) AK Singh said to reporters.

In the third phase, voting will be held in six districts, Singh said, adding panchayat polls will not be held in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts.

The districts where voting will be held in the first phase are Nadia, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, East Burdwan, West Burdwan, Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram, West Midnapore and East Midnapore.

On 3 May, polling will be held in Murshidabad and Birbhum districts, while in the third phase on 5 May, voting will take place in Coochbehar, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and Malda districts, Singh said.

Repoll, if any, for the first phase will be held on 3 May, for the second phase on 5 May and for the third phase on 7 May.

Notification for the election will be issued on Saturday itself, while the last date for filing nominations is 9 April. The date of scrutiny of papers is April 11 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is 16 April.

Counting of votes will take place on 8 May, the SEC said, adding the election process will have to be completed by 15 May.

Singh said with the model code of conduct coming into force from today, new schemes for panchayat areas cannot be announced or inaugurated. Neither can foundation stones for any new projects be laid in these ares.

Ongoing projects can, however, continue, he said.

"In case of natural disasters, permission for starting new work or distribution of materials will be taken up by district authorities or from the State Election Commission.

"No minister or ministry-ranked officials can use pilot car with or without beacon light unless there is security threat assessed by appropriate police officers," Singh said.

An estimated 5.08 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise for elections to gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and zilla parishads.

Elections will be held in 48,751 seats in 3,358 gram panchayats, 9,240 seats in 341 panchayat samitis and 825 seats in 20 zilla parishads. There will be total 57233 booths spread across the 20 districts.

Earlier this week, the SEC had met representatives of political parties and discussed preparations for the panchayat polls.

With inputs from agenciesReuters

Chinas finance ministry said on Friday it has introduced tax breaks for chipmakers made in the country, at a time when the government is seeking to reduce dependence on foreign semiconductors amid trade tensions with the United States over technology transfers.

The move comes as the United States is considering imposing tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese exports, citing discriminatory trade practices in high-tech sectors, including semiconductors.

Chipmakers will be exempt from corporate taxes for two to five years followed by partial deductions, the ministry said in a notice posted on its website.

The exemptions cover a range of products, from very basic to cutting-edge chips, for use in computers, smartphones, and other electronic devices. The new rules are effective from 1 January, 2018.

China relies heavily on foreign semiconductors, which make up one of its largest import categories by value. It is seeking to overtake foreign rivals and become a top semiconductor producer by 2030, according to its own roadmap.

Chinas ambitions have riled overseas regulators however, who have blocked several acquisition attempts by Chinese firms looking to speed up development through technology transfers.

U.S. President Donald Trumps administration is requesting China purchase more semiconductors from the United States as part of a plan to avoid proposed tariffs and a potential trade war, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

According to Fridays notice, companies producing high-end chips using 65-nanometer technology or smaller with an investment of over 15 billion yuan ($2.39 billion) will be exempt from corporate taxes for five years. Companies producing chips using 130-nanometer technology or smaller will be tax exempt for two years.

The new rules will mostly benefit Chinas larger, older chipmakers which can promise higher investment and large-scale production.

China had 171 chip fabrication plants as of the end of 2016, accounting for roughly 14 percent of total global capacity, according to PwC, but produces less sophisticated chips than its foreign competitors.

The country has allocated extensive national funding to boost production. Last year leading chipmaker Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd signed deals with China Development Bank and Chinas national integrated circuit fund for the financing of up to 150 billion yuan.Reuters

A cellphone application blocked by the Colombian commerce regulator said on Thursday it has not shared Colombian users data with Cambridge Analytica, the political consultancy that has been accused of violating Facebook users privacy to influence elections in Britain and the United States.

Colombia, which will hold presidential elections in May, on Wednesday blocked access to the Pig.gi app, which gives users free top-ups in exchange for receiving ads and completing surveys. The app has more than a million downloads in Colombia and Mexico combined.

The regulator said the app might be connected to Cambridge Analytica, accused by a whistleblower of improperly accessing data to target U.S. and British voters in recent elections.

A representative for the app told Reuters in an email on Thursday that Pig.gi did not have a relationship with the consultancy in the Andean country and that it has not shared any data gained from surveys of Colombian users with Cambridge Analytica. Pig.gi also said it had not yet been informed of the ban by the Colombian regulator.

Pig.gi users have the choice to share their opinions consensually in exchange for internet connectivity coins. Their opinions are always anonymized before they are sent in accordance with Colombian and Mexican law, the app said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

The app cut ties with Cambridge Analytica in Mexico after the data scandal broke, saying it had shared results of two election polls of Mexican users with the consultancy and other partners.

The commerce regulator said it would comment when its investigation had concluded.

Facebook said on Wednesday it would end its partnerships with several large data brokers who help advertisers target people on the social network. The company says the information of about 50 million Facebook users wrongly ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica.

Cambridge Analytica has denied Facebook data was used to help to build profiles on American voters and build support for Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.tech2 News Staff

Samsung launched its Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus smartphones during Mobile World Congress 2018 (MWC). Now that the flagship has been launched worldwide, the company is shifting its focus to its next flagship device, the Galaxy Note 9.

Samsung has typically launched the Note series around the August-September time period, but a report by The Investor suggests that the Note 9 could come as early as July. This is because Samsung will reportedly start manufacturing the OLED panels for the Note 9 from April. The report points out that the South Korean giant typically starts manufacturing the Note OLED panels two months before the release of the device. Therefore this early production could likely hint that we get to see the Note 9 release earlier than expected.

The Note 9 is tipped to come with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC and up to 6 GB of RAM. The display on the Note 9 is expected to be around 6.38 inches which is bigger than the Note 8 and also the largest display used by Samsung in its flagship smartphones. The Note 9 is likely to keep Samsung's trademark Infinity display with an aspect ratio of 18.5:9

However, as previously reported the rumours of the Note 9 coming with an under-the-display fingerprint reader are false. The Geekbench scores also showed that the Note 9 will run Android 8.1 out-of-the-box.

This comes almost a month after the device was spotted on an HTML5 Test website and later on the Geekbench benchmarking website. To confirm the reports about the early launch, support pages of the Note 9 have been spotted on official Samsung websites.

As reported by Androidu.ro, the support pages have emerged on Samsung's North Africa and South Africa websites bearing the model number SM-N960U. The U most probably stands for the Snapdragon 845 version of the device and F/DS at the end of the model are likely to signify the Exynos version.Reuters

Toshiba Corp said on Friday it would not be able to complete an $18 billion deal to sell its prized chip unit by an agreed deadline at the end of March, as it had not received anti-monopoly approval from China.

Failure to meet the deadline gives Toshiba the option of walking away from the sale of the worlds No. 2 producer of NAND chips without penalty  a move that some investors have urged it to consider.

But the company said in a statement that it still plans to sell the unit, aiming to finalise the deal as soon as possible. Toshiba agreed last year to sell the chip unit to a consortium led by U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital to cover liabilities arising from its bankrupt U.S. nuclear unit Westinghouse.

But the conglomerate no longer needs the funds as much, having raised $5.4 billion from a share issue to foreign investors late last year. Some activist shareholders oppose the sale, saying the $18 billion price tag undervalues the business and that Toshiba should renegotiate with the Bain group or consider an initial public offering.

The chip business currently accounts for most of the companys profit, and Toshiba is struggling to grow other core businesses such as social infrastructure. Under the deal, it plans to repurchase 40 percent of the chip unit.Sheldon Pinto

We all know that Xiaomi does not make the best smartphone cameras in the business. But all of this changed with the launch the Redmi Note 5 Pro, which raises the bar for camera smartphones in the budget segment.

With that said, I had my doubts about whether Xiaomi would be able to re-engineer the Mi Mix 2S to be fitted with a better camera, considering its emphasis on a sleek design and that bezel-less display.

So when I had a chance to use the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S for a few hours, I was more than interested in checking out whats new in one of this years flagship competitors.

Turns out there is a lot!

Build and Design

During the short preview session, I had the chance to use both black and the white models of the smartphone. Both devices however, were made in China for the Chinese market and were running unfinished (read not so stable) global ROMs.

With that out of the way, its easy to say that despite being two iterations old, it still does not fail to impress. And boy! Does it make a good impression!

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S looks a lot like the previous Mix 2 smartphone. That impression however goes away once you hold the white model.

The details are really small to notice, like the slightly larger mouth for the earpiece, the slightly thicker button for volume and power, the missing left side speaker grille that is now replaced by a single cavity for the primary mic.

However, once I held the phone it immediately felt different. It was heavier than the currently available Mi Mix 2 and the machining process also seems to be a bit more refined.

A Xiaomi representative explained to me that they worked on the frame to make it taller on the sides, which makes the bezels (that were already thin) appear a lot thinner. The move also makes the smartphone grippy and easy to hold, which was a problem with the previous Mix 2.

The major visual change lies on the back of the device. The camera has moved from top centre to top left, and looks similar to the unit on the Apple iPhone X and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro.

I was told that the camera ring was plated with real silver on the white model while the black model gets the gold treatment.

The packaging of the device remains the same, and the in-box case fits like a glove. One point that I did note that the device no longer felt fragile, but solid, which I assume is due to the rear sheet of ceramic that somehow appeared thicker than what was available on the previous model.

Display

After the design, comes the display and for all those of you who are tired of seeing smartphone after smartphone being launched with an iPhone X-like notch, this will bring plenty of relief.

Xiaomi has decided to stick with its 'no notch' philosophy that was started by the original Mi Mix concept smartphone.

While the lack of the notch made me smile, I was also impressed by the display. While it appears to be the same one as the Mix 2, there have definitely been some changes in calibration as I could not spot the slightly reddish tone.

The edge-to-edge display which only meets the bezel at the bottom chin, looks gorgeous and reminded me of how Xiaomi used ultrasonic sensors and a tube to channel the audio at the top, reducing the need for a notch, which most other manufacturers have taken in stride.

The display still measures 5.99-inch and is an 18:9 aspect ratio unit with a FHD+ resolution.

In my short testing period, it looked fine, although I did find the contrast levels falling a bit short. Again, the device was running on a test version, so I really cant point fingers at Xiaomi right now.

Chipset, Storage and RAM

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S features a Snapdragon 845 SoC that is clocked at 2.8 GHz and includes a very capable Adreno 630 GPU. The smartphone was announced in three variants with of 6 GB RAM + 64 GB storage, 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage and 8 GB RAM + 256 GB storage. The storage is not expandable as on the previous model.

OS and Software

As with every other Xiaomi smartphone (apart from the Mi A1) the Mi Mix 2S was also announced with MIUI. This device however feature v9.5 which also allowed me to play around with the gesture interface for navigation.

The learning curve was very short and I felt comfortable using the gesture system for navigation which felt very user friendly and natural. Its somewhat similar to the Apple iPhone X, but a wee bit different.

You swipe from right or left edge to go back to the previous page when in an app and swipe up from the bottom edge to go to the homescreen. A swipe up and hold quickly opens up the recents menu with all the apps laid out in cards.

As with everything else, it almost remains the same as MIUI V9 that we have seen on recent smartphones like the Note 5 Pro except that the Mi Mix 2S features Android 8.0 Oreo as the base.

Camera

Indeed, the one detail I was more interested in checking out on the Mi Mix 2S was its camera. With a new and updated dual camera setup, I wanted to know if it performed better than the previous Mi Mix 2, which wasnt a great experience.

While this is still beta software with a non-functional Portrait mode, things have improved.

Photographs looked cleaner with little noise. Part of this is thanks to the AI bits (theres now an optional AI mode as well) that will process parts of the image separately giving importance to the subject instead of deleting luminance noise all through the image.

The results were certainly impressive for a Xiaomi device, and I do believe with that it could take on a OnePlus 5T when the fine-tuning is complete in the final ROM. So while I do know that Xiaomi has worked to improve the Mi Mix camera experience, I will only be able to confirm the same, once we get an India-spec review unit, which would happen, only if Manu Jain decides to bring the Mix 2S to India.

Battery and Connectivity

The battery inside the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S remains the same as the previous model. Its a 3,400 mAh unit and it uses a more power-efficient SoC to drive the same old display. Battery life if anything is expected to improve, keeping in mind, Xiaomis continued optimisations when it comes to battery life.

Connectivity options reversible USB Type-C port, GPS, dual-band Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth v5.0. What you also get this time is wireless charging with the device supporting 7.5 watt wireless charging capability. Hopefully Xiaomi bundles that cool new wireless charger we spotted at the announcement event. Whats still missing is the headphone jack but the in-box adapter takes care of that.

Conclusion

At the time of writing this story, Xiaomi has not made up its mind on whether it will take the leap with the Mix 2S. While the launch of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 itself was quite the surprise last year, we haven't heard Xiaomi bragging about any sales figures about the flagship so far. The launch came across as a surprise since Xiaomi stopped launching flagship devices after the Mi 5 (2016) in India, keeping in mind that a major chunk of their buyers do come from the budget smartphone segment.

With that in mind, Xiaomi's last flagship smartphone, the Mi Mix 2 did not deliver a great camera which meant that its only highlight was its display and the design making it a slightly inferior choice in comparison to the OnePlus 5T.

But with a better camera this time around, I honestly believe that Xiaomi should launch the Mix 2S because it will be the only smartphone in a sea of Android-powered flagships that skips on the notch (that OnePlus fans hate) and has its own unique identity.Security has forced the Nobel laureate, whose arrival in the country dominated headlines and social media, to keep her itinerary tightly under wraps.

Islamabad: Malala Yousafzai plans to return to Pakistan permanently once her studies are completed, she told Pakistani media in Islamabad on Friday, the second day of her emotional trip back more than five years after being shot by Taliban gunmen.

Security has forced the Nobel laureate, whose arrival in the country dominated headlines and social media, to keep her itinerary tightly under wraps.

But in a televised interview with Pakistan's largest private broadcaster, Geo TV, the 20-year-old said that the country, which has long battled extremism, is "becoming better".

"Definitely, there is a difference" between the Pakistan of today and in 2012, when she was airlifted to a British hospital after being shot in the head by Taliban gunmen angered over her stance as an advocate for girls' education.

"Things are becoming better, people are uniting and a campaign for better Pakistan is ongoing, people are active which is very good."

The Oxford student, who has said that she wants to run for prime minister one day, added: "It is my plan to return to Pakistan after completion of my education, because it is my country and I have equal rights on it like any other Pakistani."

Her comments came after she broke down in tears as she delivered an emotional televised speech on Thursday saying it was a "dream" to be back in the country after so many years.

Malala is widely respected internationally as a global icon for girls' education, but opinion is divided in Pakistan, where some conservatives view her as a Western agent on a mission to shame her country.

"Pakistan has not done well by its heroes," an editorial in the English-language Dawn newspaper on Malala's homecoming said Friday, noting that the country's other Nobel laureate  physicist Abdus Salaam  had been widely shunned for being a member of the persecuted Ahmadi minority.

With intense criticism among the many messages of welcome, even the people she is meeting have been kept in the dark about her presence.

Women's rights activist Nighat Dad said that she and a group of other feminists from across Pakistan who were gathered on Thursday were not told they would be seeing Malala until the last moment.

The organiser, Oscar-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, only told them "It'll be the highlight of your year," Dad said - adding that she had been right.

Malala became a global symbol for human rights after a gunman boarded her school van on 9 October, 2012, asked "Who is Malala?" and shot her.

The Pakistani Taliban accused her of "anti-Islamic" activities and of "smearing" the militant group in statements released after the attack.

She was treated for her injuries in the British city of Birmingham, where she also completed her schooling.

The youngest-ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, she has continued to be a vocal advocate for girls' education while studying at Oxford University.

Swat, Malala's former home in Pakistan's rugged northwest, was overrun by the Taliban in 2007, where they imposed a brutal regime including banning girls from school.

They were pushed out in a military operation in 2009, but security has remained fragile, as the attack on Malala three years later demonstrated.

However in recent weeks authorities have lifted prohibitions against tourists visiting the mountainous region, famed for its beauty, as security improves.

Residents say Malala's story has changed the lives of other girls in the area.

"Parents are sending their girls to school so Malala has been successful in her aim," Swat resident Shahista Hakeem told AFP.

Many of those who live in the area were happy to hear of Malala's return to Pakistan, Hakeem said, adding: "We want that she should come to Swat also."UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres called for an 'independent and transparent investigation' after 16 Palestinians were killed and hundreds more wounded during clashes with the Israeli military.

United Nations: United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres on Friday called for an "independent and transparent investigation" after 16 Palestinians were killed and hundreds more wounded during clashes with the Israeli military, a spokesman said.

His call came as the United Nations Security Council heard fears of a further escalation in Israeli-Palestinian violence in the Gaza Strip during emergency talks.

"The secretary-general calls for an independent and transparent investigation into these incidents," said a statement by Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, which also reaffirmed "the readiness" of the world body to revitalize peace efforts.

Haq added that Guterres "also appeals to those concerned to refrain from any act that could lead to further casualties and in particular any measures that could place civilians in harm's way."

Kuwait requested an emergency meeting to discuss the unraveling situation in Gaza, which saw the conflict's deadliest single day since the 2014 Gaza war.

"There is fear that the situation might deteriorate in the coming days," said assistant United Nations secretary general for political affairs, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, urging maximum restraint.

Britain and the United States expressed regret that the timing of the meeting  the first night of Passover  meant Israeli officials could not attend. Leading ambassadors sent deputies in their place.

"It's vital that this Council be balanced in its approach," a US diplomat told the meeting. "We should have found an arrangement for all parties to participate tonight," he added.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of life today," the diplomat added. "Bad actors who use protests as a cover to incite violence endanger innocent lives."

'Possibility of new conflict'

"The risk of escalation is very real," the French representative said. "There is the possibility of a new conflict in the Gaza Strip."

In a written statement before the meeting, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, blamed Hamas for the violence.

"While Jews around the world gathered with their family at the Seder table to celebrate the Passover holiday, the Palestinians sunk to a new deceitful low so that they could use the United Nations to spread lies about Israel," Danon later said.

The violence broke out as tens of thousands of Gazans marched near the Israeli border to demand the right of return for Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled since the creation of Israel.

Israeli troops used tear gas and live fire to force back Palestinians who approached the heavily fortified border fence.

Israeli tank fire and an air strike also targeted three Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip after what the military said was an attempted shooting attack against soldiers along the border that caused no injuries.

The health ministry in Gaza said 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces and more than 1,400 were injured, including 758 by live fire, with the remainder hurt by rubber bullets and tear gas.

Palestinians accused Israel of using disproportionate force. The Israeli military said the protests were used as cover by militants to either break through the border or carry out attacks. .             ,         ,   ,  .  ,      ,   13        .    ,            . ...This week Xiaomi introduced the most expected Mi MIX 2S smartphone as well as several Mi Gaming Laptop, Mi AI Speaker Mini and Mi TV 4S. Huawei introduced the P20, P20 Pro and Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS . OPPO launched the F7, SHARP introduced the AQUOS S3, Garmin launched the Vivomove HR, and lots more from this week in our weekly roundup.

Xiaomi announced Mi MIX 2S It has a 5.99-inch Full HD+ display, is powered by Snapdragon 845 with up to 8GB RAM, support for Google ARCore and runs Android 8.1 (Oreo) with support for AI voice assistant. It has a 12-megapixel rear camera with Sony IMX363 sensor, 1.4m pixel size, OIS, Dual Pixel auto focus and a secondary 12-megapixel rear camera for AI portraits and has AI scene recognition that can detect 25 categories and 206 kinds of scenes.

It has support for AI portrait selfies with real-time background blur and the phone also has face unlock. It has a ceramic body with an aluminium frame, has a fingerprint sensor on the back and packs a 3400mAh battery with support for Quick Charge 3.0 fast charging as well as wireless charging. It has support for 43 global bands and has network support in 226 regions.

It comes in Ceramic White and Ceramic Black colors, is priced at 3299 yuan (US$ 527 / Rs. 34,170 approx.) for the 6GB RAM with 64GB storage version, 3599 yuan (US$ 575 / Rs. 37,280 approx.) for the 128GB version and the top-end 8GB RAM with 256GB storage version costs 3999 yuan (US$ 639 / Rs. 41,420 approx.). It will go on sale in China from April 3rd. Check out the hands-on impressions here.

Xiaomi also introduced its first Mi Gaming Laptop with up to 6GB GeForce GTX 1060 GPU, up to 16GB RAM and it also has large heat pipes, a 12V cooling fan and four fan outlets for effective heat dissipation when gaming. It has a 15.6-inch full HD screen with 9.9mm slim bezels around it and 81% screen-to-body ratio. It is powered by 7th Gen Intel Core i5 or i7 processors.

It comes in Space Grey color and will go on sale in China starting from April 13th starting at 5999 yuan (US$ 955 / Rs. 61,980 approx.).

It also introduced the Mi AI Speaker Mini with voice controlled lifestyle assistant and smart home integration from Mi lab. It smaller version of the Mi AI Speaker that was introduced last year. It has voice control so that you can use voice commands to play music, live radio, audio books, childrens stories, including 35 million books and songs.

It is priced at 169 yuan (US$ 27 / Rs. 1,745 approx.) and will be available in China starting 3rd April.

Xiaomi silently introduced new Mi TV 4S 55-inch 4K HDR Smart TV in China. It has the same PatchWall, a UI layer on top of the Android OS thats based on deep learning AI technology that can curate content based on recommendations and also has Dolby and DTS Audio. It is priced at 2999 yuan (US$ 476 / Rs. 31,080 approx.) and will be available on mi.com in China from April 3rd.

Huawei unveiled P20 and P20 Pro smartphones at its Paris event. The P20 packs a 5.8-inch Full HD+ 2.5D curved glass display with a notch and has Leica dual-lens camera with 12-megapixel RGB sensor, 20-megapixel monochrome sensor and 2x Hybrid Zoom. The P20 Pro has a 6.1-inch Full HD+ OLED 2.5D curved glass display and has has Leica triple-lens camera with 40-megapixel RGB sensor, a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor and an 8-megapixel sensor with telephoto lens with f/1.8, f/1.6 and f/2.4 wide aperture, dual-tone LED flash and new Leica 3x telephoto (VARIO-SUMMILUX-H 1:1.6-2.4/27-80ASPH) lens for long-range photography of up to 5x Hybrid Zoom.

Thesea are powered by an Octa-Core HiSilicon Kirin 970 10nm SoC with i7 co-processor, dedicated neural network processing unit and runs on Android 8.1 (Oreo) with Emotion UI 8.1 on top as well as support for Google AR Core.

It also introduced Porsche Design Mate RS with a 6-inches QHD+ OLED FullView display, is powered by the Kirin 970 with 6GB RAM and up to 512GB storage.

The P20 and P20 Pro come in Black, Champagne Gold, Twilight, Pink Gold and Midnight Blue colors. The P20 is priced at 649 Euros (US$ 804 / Rs. 52,241 approx.) and the P20 Pro is priced at 899 Euros (US$ 1,114 / Rs. 72,350 approx.). The Porsche Design Mate RS comes in Black color and is priced at 1695 Euros ($2,100 / Rs. 1,36,270 approx.) for 6GB RAM + 256GB storage and 2095 Euros ($2,597 / Rs. 1,68,590 approx.) for 6GB RAM + 512GB storage.

OPPO launched the F7, selfie-focused smartphone tthis week. It has a 6.23-inch Full HD+19:9 aspect ratio display with a notch and 88% screen-to-body ratio, which it calls Super Full Screen and has a 25-megapixel front camera with support for real-time High Dynamic Range (HDR) sensor and AI Beauty 2.0 for an improved age and gender beautification effects and facial recognition capability by scanning 296 facial recognition points, a 20% improvement from the first-generation technology.

It is powered by MediaTek Helio P60 12nm SoC with up to 6GB RAM, runs new ColorOS 5.0 based on Android 8.1 (Oreo). It has a 16-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, AI Scene recognition and comes with dedicated dual SIM and microSD slots, and the company also says that both the SIM slots support VoLTE.

It comes in Solar Red, Moonlight Silver colors, is priced at Rs. 21,990 and there is also a Sunrise Red 6GB RAM with 128GB storage version for Rs. 26,990. It will be available through all online retailers such as Flipkart as well as offline stores starting April 9th. The Special Diamond Black edition with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage is priced at Rs. 26,990 and will be exclusively available at selected OPPO stores. Check out the hands-on impressions of the phone here.

HMD global launched the Nokia 1 Android Oreo (Go Edition) smartphone in India. It was introduced at the MWC last month and packs a 4.5-inch screen, is powered by a quad-core MediaTek SoC, runs Android 8.1 (Oreo), has 5MP rear camera with LED flash, 2MP front-facing shooter and supports 4G VoLTE. Since it is an Android Oreo (Go Edition) phone, it has all the Go Edition apps that are slowing making their way offering smooth experience.

It comes in Warm Red and Dark Blue colors, is priced at Rs. 5,499 and will go on sale starting March 28th. The Xpress On covers in packs of Azure and Grey or Yellow and Pink will be available separately starting April at an MRP of Rs. 450. Check out the hands-on impressions from MWC here.

Sharp introduced AQUOS S3 smartphone in Taiwan . It pack a 6-inch FHD+ display with a notch and has 91% screen-to-body ratio, and the company says that it is the most compact smartphone with a 6-inch screen. It is powered by Snapdragon 630 with 4GB RAM, runs Android 8.0 (Oreo) with Smile UX, has a 12-megapixel primary rear camera with f/1.75 aperture, 1.4um pixel size, dual-tone LED flash, similar to the S2, but has have a 13-megapixel secondary camera for portrait shots, instead of 8-megapixel in the predecessor. It also offers 2x loss-less zoom.

It comes in Black color, is priced at NT$ 11,990 (US$ 412 / Rs. 26,710 approx.) and will go on sale from April 1st in Taiwan.

Garmin launched the Vivomove HR Analog Digital Smartwatch in India. It features a crystal touchscreen with a discreet display, meaning the precision hands show the time and dynamically move away when you swipe through your messages, heart rate, and other features.

It comes in black color and large size and is priced at Rs. 15,999. It is available at select Helios stores and will soon be available in all the leading e-commerce portals such as Amazon.in.

Samsung launched the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, its latest flagship smartphones at an event in India earlier this month in 64GB and 256GB variants starting at Rs. 57,900 and Rs. 64,900, respectively. The phones went on sale with several offers a couple of weeks back. Now the company has started selling the 128GB variants of the phones in the country.

The Galaxy S9 128GB variant is priced at Rs. 61,900 and the 128GB Galaxy S9+ costs Rs. 68900. These are available for purchase from Samsung Online Shop as well as select retail stores offline across the country, but they are not available on Flipkart yet.

Huawei introduced Enjoy 8, Enjoy 8 Plus and Enjoy 8e smartphones in the Enjoy series in China. The Enjoy 8 and Enjoy 8e have HD+ 18:9 screens, are powered by Snapdragon 430 SoCs, have a 13-megapixel rear camera along with a 2-megapixel secondary camera. The Enjoy 8 Plus has a 5.93-inch Full HD+ display, is powered by Kirin 659 SoC, features dual front and rear cameras and pack a 4000mAh battery.

Amazon India has partnered with Leica Camera to launch the camera in India exclusively on Amazon.in. Three camera models D-lux 18136 Typ 109 Camera, V-lux 18197 Typ 114 Camera, and Sofort 19106, 19107, 19108 range in orange, mint, white colors will be available. All the three cameras are priced in the range of Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 90,000. You can purchase the Leica cameras directly on Amazon.in.

Razer Basilisk gaming-mouse was launched in India. It comes with 5G true 16,000 DPI optical sensor to excel under the demanding accuracy and precision needs of FPS gamers. The Basilisk features Razer Mechanical Mouse Switches with an industry-best 50 million click lifespan. It is priced at Rs. 5,499 and is available across the country.

Logitech introduced the Crayon digital pencil and Rugged Combo 2 for the new 6th-generation iPad. The company says that these are specifically designed for the classroom and the Crayon digital pencil leverages the new technology in iPad so students can do even more including handwritten notes, illustrate projects and draw diagrams.

The Logitech Crayon digital pencil and Rugged Combo 2 for iPad are priced at $49.99 (Rs. 3,250 approx.) and $99.99 (Rs. 6,500 approx.) respectively. Both products will be available later this summer.Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ are the companys latest flagships and these phones come with some impressive features that arent present on the 2017 flagships. However, today the company is pushing one such feature to S8 and Note8 flagships. Samsung has released an update to the Always On Display (AOD) on the Galaxy S8, S8+, and Note8 that adds support for using GIF.

The update lets you add a little action to the otherwise-dull clock and time Always On Display. Samsung allowed you to add themes and photos, but GIF is the latest update. You can either chose from a list of Samsung defaults or upload one from Gallery. Since we are talking about GIF, it shouldnt be long and you can trim it from the gallery. The GIF wont play for long, it just plays once when you turn the display off. If you wish to see the GIF again, just double-tap-on the screen.

This limitation is put forth to reduce battery consumption. To get the new Gif animation feature, you will have to update the Always on Display from My Apps and once youve updated, you will need to select the particular clock style that shows images on the display. You can set up the GIF on Always On Display from Settings then head to Lock screen and security and Always On Display menu and select either the Clock or Home button and then select the clock style.

However, users of the S8, S8+, and Note8 should be running on the Android 8.0 Oreo for this GIF feature to become functional. Hope this feature will come to other Samsung smartphones with support for always-on-display.

SourceIt's no secret that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's royal wedding is going to be a pricey affair, but the highly anticipated royal event is slated to surpass that of Prince William and Kate's 2011 nuptials.

According to British wedding site Bridebook, Markle's upcoming wedding is reportedly estimated to cost around $44.9 million, or 32 million, about $20 million more than Prince William and Kate's reported $28 million nuptials. Bridebook also expects that the May 19 ceremony will land a spot on the top ten most expensive weddings list.

The wedding site broke down the royal wedding expenses and highlighted that the most expensive part of the ceremony will be the extensive security measures that Bridebook claims will include snipers, undercover police and military tech, and possible drones, adding up to an estimated total of $42.1 million.

Other key wedding expenses include: Twenty silver-plated trumpets that will announce the event for $125,000, a pricey $70,000 lemon elderflower wedding cake from Violet Bakery in East London, an abundance of decorative flowers outside of St. George's Chapel at Windsor for $150,000, a reported $420,000 to hire the glass marquee for the evening reception at the Frogmore House, $36,000 on sausage rolls and hot tea for all of the 2,640 invited members of the public, and lastly, a reported $420,000 to $560,000 on Meghans soon-to-be-iconic gown.

But despite the reported estimated price for Markle's wedding gown, royal expert Katie Nicholl, author of Harry: Life, Loss and Love, thinks that the soon-to-be royal will be a little more lowkey.

"Meghan is very mindful of wanting to send the right message with her gown," Nicholl told the Telegraph. Its going to be iconic and fit the backdrop of Windsor Castle, but it would send off the wrong message to wear a dress that in cost alone would upstage Kates.

Kate's Alexander McQueen wedding gown, designed by Sarah Burton, cost a reported $350,000.

The countdown to the royal wedding continues on as invitations have been sent out and guestlist rumors are underway.The father-in-law of Pippa Middleton, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridges sister, was arrested Tuesday in France and charged with raping a minor in the late 1990s.

David Matthews, 74, the father of Middletons husband, James Matthews, was arrested at the Orly Airport in Paris, The Telegraph reported.

Matthews was charged with rape of a minor by a person with authority over his victim Thursday by a French magistrate. The incident allegedly occurred sometime between 1998 and 1999 while the family was vacationing in the country. Matthews' niece reportedly filed a complaint to police in 2017 regarding the alleged incidents, the Daily Beast reported. She reportedly told authorities that she was not quite of legal age when the alleged abuse occurred in Paris and St. Barts.

MARTHA STEWARTS SMOKING HOT THROWBACK SETS INSTAGRAM ABUZZ

Investigators will study the allegations for six months to determine if the case needs to be brought to trial.

A spokesperson for Matthews told the Daily Mail that he categorically denies the allegation and unequivocally contests the untrue and scandalous accusation.

Matthews, a multimillionaire and father of James and Spencer, a reality television star, was a race car driver but retired in 1973 following a brutal crash. He is a successful hotelier and owns the Eden Rock hotel in St. Barts, where celebrity guests have included Elton John and Leonard DiCaprio.

JIM CARREY SUBMITS SEMI-NUDE TRUMP PAINTING TO NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, SPARKS REACTIONS

James Matthews, 42, a hedge fund manager, married Pippa, 34, in May 2017. Middletons sister, Catherine, her brother-in-law, Prince William, and their two children, George and Charlotte, attended the ceremony. Prince Harry was at the high-profile event, and his now-fiance, Meghan Markle, joined the reception.

Matthews youngest son, Michael, died in 1999 while descending Mt. Everest. His body was never found.

The Kensington Palace did not immediately comment on the report.Everybody and their mother will be serving eggs  surprise, surprise  on Easter Sunday. Why not shake things up with this unexpected twist on a classic brunch dish?

Chef Eddie Hernandez, who grew up in Mexico but now describes himself as a born-again Southern boy, says he "can't get enough" of these deviled eggs with homemade pimento cheese, which he features in his new cookbook "Turnip Greens and Tortillas." Hernandez can't take all the credit, though: The dish itself takes inspiration from the family of David Waller, a North Carolina native who works as the head chef of Hernandez's Sol Catering.

"[It's] a great example of how the right chile can add a welcome and unexpected jolt to a classic Southern dish," says Hernandez.

11 EASTER SUNDAY DINING DEALS FOR THOSE WHO DON'T WANT TO COOK

Put a unique spin on this year's Easter brunch with a zesty plate of devilied eggs  but be sure to consider doubling or tripling in case you, too, find that you "can't stop" eating them.

Ingredients

10 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated (about 2 cups)

2 tablespoons finely chopped pimentos or 2 tablespoons roasted, peeled, and finely chopped red bell pepper

2 tablespoons stemmed, dry-roasted, finely chopped jalapenos (remove some or all of the seeds and membranes for less heat)

 teaspoon ground black pepper

 teaspoon hot sauce (such as Texas Pete)

 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

 cup mayonnaise

Devilied Eggs:Wu-Tang Clan have already proven that their liquor line, Wu-Tang Clan Premium Liqueurs, aint nuthin ta (mess) wit, but the group is now expanding by launching a vodka. The New York rappers will launch Wu-Tang Clan Vodka on April 18 to mark their 25th anniversary as a crew, and its aiming to bring da ruckus.

The Spirits Business reports that the vodka will launch in Sydney, Australia, at the music venue Max Watts with performances by Jay Sean and Timomatic. Wu-Tangs line of strawberry, butterscotch, and cream liqueurs are already exclusively sold in Australia, and the new vodka will unfortunately remain exclusive to the Australian market as well.

At least those of us in the U.S. can look forward to Backstreet Boys tequila and Bon Jovi rose. If we really need that celebrity liquor fix, we can sip our drinks knowing Ryan Reynolds at least has a hand in Aviation Gin.

This article originally appeared in The Daily Meal.While most busy college kids might spend their days in sweats, one student at Howard University was a notable exception: He's accused of stealing $429,000 in financial aid from 2011 to 2017 to buy fancy clothes.

Students of the historically black university in Washington, D.C. are protesting on Friday over the incident, as well as a larger scandal alleging financial mishandlings which came to light just recently, NBC Washington is reporting.

On March 27, an anonymous writer by the name of Veritas 1867 (in a likely nod to the schools motto and founding year) posted a bombshell report to Medium claiming that $1 million in financial aid was diverted between 2013 and 2017.

The writer suggested that Howard University President Wayne Fredrick and his administration have been aware of this fraud since May 2017, and points out that at least seven senior-level financial aid officials have either resigned or been quietly removed since then.

Two individuals allegedly involved in the scam were identified by name: Brian Johnson, former associate director of financial aid, and law student Tyrone Hankerson Jr., who purportedly received roughly $429,612 in grants and various scholarships through his undergraduate and graduate years at the school.

TWITTER USERS APPLAUD DADS CRUSADE FOR FIRED DAUGHTERS COLORFUL HAIR

In addition to a $65,000 University Need Based Grant to a $22,683 Mock Trial Scholarship, as well as a $21,000 Trustee scholarship, a $6,000 study abroad scholarship, and a $5,645 university grant, the Medium story claims that Hankerson received additional financial aid awards and massive stipends from Office of Student Life & Activities and the Student Employment program.

If true, such large grants for a single student are bizarre, as costs to attend the private institution in 2017-2018 tuition round out at $43,501 between tuition, mandatory fees, and room and board, according to their website.

I was alerted in December 2016 that there may have been some misappropriation of University-provided financial aid funds, President Frederick said statement on March 28, assuring students that funds embezzled from 2007 to 2016 by university employees did not result in a loss of student financial aid.

However, Howard collegians largely arent buying it.

We are frustrated to see the Universitys statement being sent to the press and not addressed to students first, the student association tweeted that day. This clearly is a betrayal of our trust and shouldve been addressed to the Howard Community months ago.

WALMART TO REMOVE COSMOPOLITAN MAGAZINE FROM CHECKOUT LINES

Meanwhile, Twitter is having a field day with Hankerson  or the Wolf of Sixth Street, as one Twitter critic calls him  as he also ran a fashion blog and was known to wear expensive clothes, Yahoo Lifestyle reports. Though hes since deleted all of his social media accounts, stylish photos of Hankerson are quickly circulating. Some were quick to mock Hankerson, but others were sickened by the injustice of the situation.

My poor mother, breaking her back to pay all my "back balances" every semester fighting to register me into classes. Whole time y'all stealing money.. I'm disgusted, one Twitter user wrote.

"The Tyrone Hankerson situation upsets me to the core bc there has been MANY times during my dealings w/ Howard I sat up at night & cried HARD bc financial aid played w/ my livelihood," another Howard Law alumni wrote. "Yet, dude got a smooth $430K w/o being noticed. I want reparations."

Hankerson denied the allegations against him through his lawyer with a statement to ABC News.

When the truth comes out, it will be confirmed that I followed all rules and protocol with the approval of the, then, financial aid officers in any grants, scholarships or awards given to me as a student who attended class all year round and traveled abroad, the statement said. [T]he story that was posted this morning fails to explain the full scope of my 7-year experience at Howard University and is most misleading if taken out of context.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

As Blavity notes, if the allegations are true, Hankerson was brazen to slam the student-loan debt crisis a few years ago when he was a graduating senior. In an April 2015 interview, Hankerson said that his work-study position in Howards Office of Financial Aid has given him insight to a larger national issue.

For many of my classmates, their families simply do not have the financial resources to pay for college, he said at a student debt forum convened by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings. What I have witnessed in my role are determined students who try their hardest to find a way through.

"They search high and low for scholarships, they take classes over the summer at cheaper rates so they can graduate on time, they take semesters off, and they come back, and sometimes, when all has failed them, they are left with no option but to give up," he said at the time.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

America today is locked in an ongoing battle of name-calling and finger-pointing. We remain fixed in our bunkers of conservative or liberal ideology, launching bombs of hate, lies, accusations and political posturing at each other with total indifference.

The solution to this rancor was given to us some 2,000 years ago, but we seem to have forgotten it. Its what we really celebrate every Easter. Its the command Jesus gave us, the strategy he modeled for us, in living color, all the way to the cross. Its the gift of forgiveness.

I recently did an informal poll, asking as many people as I came into contact with one question: What is the Gospel?

A number of people responded with themes that were part of the Christian faith. A few responded that the Gospel is that we are reconciled to God. Others responded that the Gospel has something to do with the Holy Spirit. Most people in some way or another responded that the Gospel had to do with the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Amid all of the responses, what was most interesting is that no one responded with any answer that came close to communicating the heart of the Gospel. The heart of the Gospel  and by Gospel I mean the good news of Jesus Christ  is that we have been forgiven.

The way that God demonstrated his immeasurable love for us was that he forgave us. Thats why Jesus went to the cross and gave his life. Thats the message of Easter. If you cut the Gospel anywhere, it bleeds forgiveness.

The way that God demonstrated his immeasurable love for us was that he forgave us. Thats why Jesus went to the cross and gave his life. Thats the message of Easter. If you cut the Gospel anywhere, it bleeds forgiveness.

Yet while this forgiveness is free, it also comes with a responsibility and an obligation. You cannot adequately live out the reality of being forgiven without also being willing to forgive.

Its worth noting here that forgiveness is at the heart of the only formal command Jesus gave. In John 13:34 Jesus says: A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

And before you pull out your list of reasons why they dont deserve forgiveness, please know that God has a longer list of the reasons why you dont deserve it either. Nevertheless, he gave it to you  and likewise, that remains our obligation to others.

In 2006 a man named Charles Carl Roberts murdered 10 young girls in a one-room Christian school in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The news of this quickly spread to the national news media, which reported on the anger, hatred, sorrow and depression felt by many. Yet, many of the grieving parents employed a different strategy.

The echoes of the gunshots were barely silent when the grieving parents expressed forgiveness to the family of the man who killed their children. They even helped set up a charitable fund for the killers family. Thirty of them attended the killers funeral. His wife and family were so touched that the wife wrote a letter saying that the love and forgiveness of the grieving parents helped her family heal.

Of course, a lot of people criticized this family and this community for their behavior. But it was their behavior that communicated the heart of the Gospel.

So how do we start forgiving others? The first step is that we each must make the decision to forgive someone. Forgiveness is a choice we make, not a feeling. After we decide to forgive someone, we have the opportunity to make three more choices that put forgiveness into practice:

First, pray for those who hurt you. In Mark 5:43-47 (NLT) Jesus says  love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. . . . If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else?

Second, bless those who have wounded you. This instruction applies to our thoughts and our words. In our minds, we are to wish good things on those who have wounded us  instead of hoping, even privately, that bad will come to them because of the pain they brought to us. With our mouths, we are to speak well of them instead of talking negatively about them.

Third, do good to those who have offended you. It is also important to actively do good to the people who have done you wrong. When you have a chance to express kindness to them, dont let it pass by.

I pray this Easter that instead of just hearing the message of the Gospel, we all will decide to live the message of the Gospel and forgive others. If we all do this, we will live as Jesus expects us, we will change the world and we will consistently demonstrate the real meaning of Easter.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

During the days leading up to Easter, the most sacred day in Christianity, the heavens have been presenting a stunning light show.

We are able to see five planets with the naked eye: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. And Saturday night  just hours before Easter sunrise services  we are being treated to a blue moon. Thats the name given to the second full moon in a month, something that happens roughly every 2.7 years

Moreover, this Easters blue moon is extra special, because it is the second one this year. The next time two blue moons occur in one year will be 2037.

Theres no denying the Bible commonly associates major events with anomalous astronomical and meteorological upheavals. But as a scientist and Christian, Im always wary about giving too much importance to celestial signs and wonders. I certainly dont believe in astrology.

That said, the astonishing celestial fireworks brightening this years Holy Week inspire me in three ways.

First, they remind me that if people are truly seeking evidence for Gods existence  including atheists, many of whom claim no such evidence exists  they only need to look up at the night sky. As it says in Psalm 19:1: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

It is certainly possible to explain the universe without any reference to a creator; but its like enjoying a sumptuous meal without giving any credit to the chef. Today, in an effort to avoid mentioning a creator, scientists are having to believe in unobservable notions such as imaginary time, 11-dimensional cosmologies, and quantum reservoirs that are at once nothing and everything.

How are these any less far-out than believing historical accounts that Jesus existed and rose from the dead?

Second, this weeks eye-popping events remind me that Christianity is the most inclusive and egalitarian religion imaginable. Just as the splendors of the night sky can be enjoyed by anyone, anywhere, without any viewing aids, Christians believe Gods love is freely available to anyone, anywhere, without the need of a privileged pedigree, guru, or some exemplary amount of karma.

As explained in the book of Ephesians, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith  not by works, so that no one can boast.

Finally, the extraordinary celestial light show that we are in the midst of reminds me that our solar system offers a perfect metaphor for how we are to behave toward one another.

Absent the sun, absent God, we are as dark as the far side of the moon. But just as the desolate, gray lunar surface is able to reflect the light of the sun, we are made to reflect Gods love in the world.

So look up at the night sky and drink in its deep, inspiring message: This Easter, the creator of the universe is calling on all of us  Christian and non-Christian alike  to shine brightly with kindness and compassion and not just once in a blue moon, but every day we are alive.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Any human group  whether its a family, community or country  that is suddenly exposed to contact with outsiders tends to become defensive, projecting its own demons onto the others so they are held responsible for its problems. That is why xenophobic ideologies feed so effectively on immigration.

Anti-immigration sentiment is beginning to target Venezuelans who seek shelter in Latin America, the United States and Spain as their country descends into Dantes inferno. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has compared asylum requests by Venezuelans to those made by Syrians feeling that nations civil war.

More than 4 million Venezuelans have fled the consequences of Chavismo rule (named for the late dictator Hugo Chavez) in recent years. As was the case with Cubans decades ago, the first waves of emigrants were from the elites and the middle class.

Many of these early emigrants were professionals. The oil industry and other industries in the receiving countries that hired them benefited from their expertise. Later, the diaspora became more democratic, encompassing all socioeconomic groups. The fine line that separates exiles from refugees became blurred.

Something else happened. There was massive growth of the diaspora. Venezuelas borders were crowded with hundreds of thousands of human beings who crossed over to the other side  to Colombia, Brazil, to a lesser extent Guyana, and across the sea to Aruba and Trinidad and Tobago.

More than 500,000 Venezuelans entered Colombia in 2017, and about the same number have done so this year already, overwhelming public services in towns along the 1,200-plus-mile border.

In Brazil, Venezuelans already make up 10 percent of the population of Boa Vista, and the authorities have militarized the border. In Lima in Peru and Madrid in Spain, its impossible to move about without coming into contact with them; in south Florida they number in the hundreds of thousands.

This exodus from Venezuela is expected to continue, since the International Monetary Fund forecasts that by the end of 2018 the Venezuelan economy will have shrunk to half of what it was in 2013.

In many receiving countries, voices have demanded a stop to these inflows.

In Panama, hostility towards Venezuelans has infected the national conversation for some time. The Panamanian government recently banned Venezuelans who had been moving back and forth between that country and Costa Rica to avoid overstaying their visas.

In other countries, such as Peru, the early rumblings of an anti-Venezuelan immigrant sentiment are being heard. In Colombia, President Juan Manuel Santos is asking for international assistance, partly because he greatly fears the violent conflict he sees coming if Venezuelans continue to come in.

The critical position adopted by the 14 countries of the so-called Lima Group against the farcical presidential election that Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro will hold on April 22 betrays the fear that consolidation of his regime will trigger the exodus of millions more.

It would a cruel irony if, confronted with the arrival of Venezuelans, the democratic countries that are belatedly denouncing Chavismo nationalist populism adopted one of the worst aspects of nationalist populism: rejection of the other.

It will take courage on the part of governments and opinion leaders to neutralize the xenophobia that is emerging and that has much room to grow, considering there is no short-run solution to the Venezuelan tragedy.

The Venezuelans who are fleeing their country are running away from food shortages, the lack of basic medical supplies, and a crime rate nearing 100 deaths per every 100,000 inhabitants. They are victims. They are doing what any of us would do in their situation.

The emigrants from Venezuela are not interested in invading any country, taking anyones job or living off another countrys government. They are guided by the need to escape death  that most primordial of instincts. The receiving countries need to put their imagination and compassion to work and come up with the most orderly and least burdensome way to welcome these victims of Chavismo instead of rejecting them.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

The media played the question-and-answer game with the Trump administration this week. The White House proposed adding a census question on citizenship and the media resoundingly said no.

Major news organizations screamed that there was a growing backlash against the question. Not from the public, mind you, just from Democrats.

NBC White House Correspondent Kristen Welker explained that there were several Democratic state attorneys general poised to sue the Trump administration. Because its novel that the left sues Trump? Theyve filed so many lawsuits that theyve probably helped lower lawyer unemployment by a sizable amount.

Several outlets warned that critics say this will result in a population undercount. CNN argued the move was a big deal.

CNN Political Analyst John Avlon concluded that the change was "designed to drive down participation and benefit Republicans politically."

Lefty Vice predicted the question could reshape American politics for a decade or more. Mother Jones headlined. Trump Is Rigging the Census. And The New York Times editorialized an almost-identical view with, The Trump Administration Sabotages the Census.

HuffPost tried hard to spin the question into a Republican concern, suggesting: The controversial question may cost some GOP-led states seats in Congress and electoral votes in presidential elections. PBS cautioned: Democrats fear immigrants will skip census with citizenship query.

That was the common theme. It was never a media objection about gathering the information. The reaction was simply to provide cover for Democrats.

Many outlets pushed a falsehood, claiming the question hadnt been used in several decades. ABC anchor David Muir was one of many to get it wrong. For the first time in more than 60 years, the census will now ask people whether they are American citizens, he told viewers.

The census used that question last in 1950, but only on the short form. The long form included the question from 1970 to 2000, but it was discontinued in 2010 under President Barack Obama. In other words, it only skipped one census survey.

That caused widespread confusion. The Washington Post couldnt even agree with itself. A Thursday story used a number hard to find elsewhere: But the Census Bureau sends it out only to 3.5 million households a year, or one out of every 38. However, a March 27 Associated Press story that ran on the papers site says that citizenship or related questions were asked of about 1 in 6 households on the census long form, which has since been retired.

The census still has copies online of the 2000 long form and it agrees with AP. On average, about 1 in every 6 households will receive the long form.

The Federalist ripped apart the arguments against the question. If asking about citizenship is illegal, every census since 1890 has been a crime, it wrote.

Media Hate Another Trump Appointment: Journalists know more than everybody about everything. In January, they were sure that Dr. Ronny Jackson was just another Trump fanboy or sycophant. Jackson was caught up in what was termed the girther controversy when he pronounced the president was in good health and just 239 pounds. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta even declared without examining President Trump, that the President has heart disease.

The president nominated Navy Rear Adm. Jackson as the new head of the Department of Veterans Affairs this week and the media once more went ballistic. Jackson, who had been President Obamas physician, was soon questioned with the refrain: Is he up to the job?

The reports tended to ignore that Jackson is both an admiral and a doctor. The medical experience might help him fix the VA, which has been embroiled in scandals in which some veterans died while waiting months for medical appointments, according to Time.

The media either skewered Jacksons inexperience running a bureaucracy or depicted him as a Trump loyalist. CNN Political Analyst Ryan Lizza said President Trump has a consistent style with his appointees. What do they all have in common? They all have excelled at going on TV and defending Trump in the most over the top way and flattering his ego.

MSNBCs Katy Tur called the choice interesting timing and possibly a Trump plan to change the subject from possible pardons for Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort.

The New York Times even ran an op-ed by Yale forensic psychiatrist Bandy Lee and Norman Eisen headlined Ronny Jacksons Disturbing Lack of Independence. What the opinion piece failed to tell you is that Lee was the one who briefed Democrats in Congress claiming President Trump is mentally unfit.

Liberal Vox depicted Lee as leading the effort it called: The case for evaluating the presidents mental capacity  by force if necessary. Yes, by force. Apparently, Lee had fantasies of Secret Service agents dragging away a sitting president to force him to have psychiatric tests.

TV Has Someone Who Voted For Trump: Surprise! Sixty-plus million people voted for Donald Trump and some of them even watch TV. Thats what Hollywood discovered this week when the reboot of Roseanne launched to huge ratings. Its what Today Co-host Hoda Kotb called red states, ratings gold!

While the show was in no way right-wing, it did something novel for TV. It depicted the lead character as pro-Trump. The first episode showed jokes going back and forth as the divided family tried to reconcile. It ended with Roseanne giving a prayer over dinner and saying : But most of all, Lord. Thank you for making America great again!

The media generally gave the show good marks, but journalists still wrestled with a character they so opposed leading a show. Washington Post TV Critic Hank Stuever compared Roseanne to another character the media hated  1970s bigot Archie Bunker. Steuver wrote: Rebooted Roseanne is a proud deplorable. Can she be the Trump eras Archie Bunker?

Deadline summed up the Tinseltown reaction: Roseanne Revivals Huge Debut Stuns Hollywood, Prompts Soul-Searching. (Hollywood bigwigs looking for their souls? Talk about impossible chores.) Even President Trump gave Roseanne kudos. Look at Roseanne! I called her yesterday! Look at her ratings!

But conservative radio host Ben Shapiro was quick to point out that the show isnt conservative, describing it as one big lie about Trump. The lie that the show tells is that the reason people voted for Trump is because they were dissatisfied with the economy and because they were looking to give Donald Trump a chance to fix it. And it wasnt about cultural issues. Thats not true.

No One Wants To Take : The liberal argument for gun restrictions has long been that they dont want to take away guns. They just want commonsense gun reform. Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens shot that down with his New York Times op-ed headlined: Repeal the Second Amendment.

Suddenly the news was devoted to open discussions about  taking guns and gun rights. Longtime TV host Larry King agreed with Stevens, declaring: Yeah, repeal it. He told TMZ : Its poorly written. What did they mean by militia?

The Washington Post followed with survey results. One in five Americans wants the Second Amendment to be repealed, national survey finds, it reported.

Liberal outlets practically fell over themselves to try and downplay it, saying such talk aided pro-gun supporters. Vox called the idea a counterproductive distraction. Slate said the call was staggeringly misplaced. CNN Anchor Chris Cuomo even denied that Stevens had done exactly what he had done and instead referred to it as a boogeyman.A Connecticut Democrat is being asked to resign after reports surfaced that she let her former chief of staff continue to work for her office for months -- despite knowing of allegations that he physically harmed and threatened to kill another staffer.

U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty came under fire Thursday after a report in the Connecticut Post said that her former chief of staff, Tony Baker, allegedly called a young female staffer, with whom he had a romantic relationship, nearly 50 times on May 5, 2016, and had once punched her in the back in Estys Washington office.

An affidavit obtained by the Post said the woman, Anna Kain  who has since gone public  felt intimidated by Baker, which led her to keep quiet for fear of jeopardizing her own safety.

"Throughout the Winter of 2014, respondent (Baker) repeatedly screamed at petitioner (the former staffer) in the workplace, making the woman feel intimidated and caused petitioner to feel she could not report respondents actions without putting her safety at risk, the affidavit says.

Kain also provided a copy of a threating voicemail that Baker left on her phone to the Washington Post.

You better f-----g reply to me or I will f-----g kill you, Baker said on the night that he reportedly attempted to reach Kain nearly 50 times.

Esty became aware of the situation within a week but, rather than fire the man, she met with lawyers, the Post reported, citing emails.

Those emails revealed that Esty met with Kain, who gave a detailed description of the alleged sexual harassment and abuse that she said took place throughout 2014.

But Baker remained on Estys staff for three months and even accompanied her to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 25, 2016.

He sent an email Aug. 12, 2016, announcing his departure.

Documents provided by Esty to the Post further revealed that after his departure, Baker was given a letter of recommendation, multiple secrecy provisions surrounding his reasons for leaving and a severance payment of $5,000.

Esty debates the letter of recommendation saying it was limited and added that she was forced to sign and NDA by the Office of House Employment Counsel, which she claims delayed Bakers firing.

A spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, Chris Martin, issued a statement slamming Esty for orchestrating one of the most disturbing Washington cover-ups in recent memory, and asking for her resignation, the Hill reported.

An editorial in the Hartford Courant also called for Esty to resign.

Ms. Esty had every opportunity  and every responsibility  to at least suspend Mr. Baker on the spot and hold him accountable for his behavior. Instead, she went with the script that has cloaked sexual assault and harassment in Congress for decades. She is complicit.

Feeling pressure from Republicans to stand down, Esty released a statement to Facebook on Thursday, apologizing for failing to protect Kain.

She apologized to the young female staffer and said that it is her responsibility to uphold equality and fairness.

Equality and fairness are values Ive held long before I came to Congress. Now that I am in Congress, it is my responsibility to run an office that is not only safe, but upholds those values and respects staff and their work on behalf of the people of the 5th Congressional District, her statement read.

On Friday, Esty told CNN that she has no plans to step down.

"For those who have asked, I want to be clear that I am not resigning," Esty said in a statement to to the network. "I have important work to do in Congress including building on the lessons of this horrible series of events."A Palestinian protester throws back a tear gas canister at Israeli troops during clashes following a protest to mark the Land Day, in the village of Qusra, near the West Bank City of Nablus, on March 30, 2018. (Xinhua/Nidal Eshtayeh)

RAMALLAH, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday held Israel fully responsible for killing civilians in the Gaza Strip, while calling for international protection of the Palestinians.

"I hold the Israeli occupation authorities for killing innocent civilians," Abbas said in a televised speech on the state-run Palestinian television commenting on the day-long violent clashes along the Israeli border with Gaza.

On Friday, thousands of Palestinians started the first day of the Great March of Return organized by various Palestinian factions and political powers including the Islamic Hamas movement, which rules Gaza, and Abbas' Fatah Party.

The demonstration is expected to last until May to protest the U.S. move to relocate its embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to the disputed holy city of Jerusalem.

"The demonstrations were peaceful and popular which commemorated the anniversary of the Land Day," Abbas said, adding that it is the right of the Palestinian people to seek self-determination like other nations in the world.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that the Israeli army opened fire at the Palestinian demonstrators, killing 16 of them and wounding 1,416 others.

"Having this high number of casualties in popular and peaceful demonstrations make it very urgent for the international community intervention to ensure an international protection to our Palestinian people," said Abbas.

He demanded the United Nations work immediately to protect the unarmed Palestinian people who face a escalated aggression.

Abbas unveiled that he instructed the Palestinian ambassador to the UN to make immediate contacts with the members of the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly to seek possible measures for protecting the Palestinians.

2

1

[ Editor: Xueying ]They want their 80s back.

Roseanne is back on the air with smashing ratings. Ready Player One, is on the big screen. Its an homage to 80s video games. 1980s cinema virtuoso sprinkles the film with Easter eggs from the decade. And the Republican Party is back touting a constitutional balanced budget amendment and a line-item veto for the president of the United States.

All thats missing are Bonnie Tyler and Alf.

President Trump was apoplectic when Congress delivered a $1.3 trillion spending bill to his desk to avert a government shutdown last week. He immediately called for a balanced budget amendment and a line-item veto.

A balanced budget amendment is just that. It requires the government to spend no more than it takes in every year. Youve heard of sequestration, the mandatory set of spending caps Congress imposed on itself in 2011?

A balanced budget requirement would be sequestration amped up on a cocktail of anabolic steroids and fiscal fentanyl. And, Congress and the states would have to change the Constitution to impose such discipline.

The line-item veto is a tool state legislatures granted 44 governors. The line-item veto permits the executive to parse bills approved by lawmakers and filet lines or sections with which such governors disagree. The governor then signs the bill into law. But the sections shaved away by the executive fall by the wayside and arent law, victim to the line-item veto.

Most government chief executives, be they governors or the U.S. president, love the idea of the line-item veto. The concept poaches power from the legislative branch and fortifies the arsenal of the executive.

Its clear why Trump wants both a balanced budget amendment and a line-item veto.

The massive, omnibus spending bill Congress sent him earlier this month was messy and inelegant. Most big spending bills are. Trump didnt like the price tag.

And its great politics to push to balance the budget. The president would love a line-item veto, canceling Democratic priorities included in the spending package while maintaining GOP initiatives.

The balanced budget amendment and line-item veto ideas caught fire politically in the 1980s. But to think that Trump has a reasonable chance at securing either tool appears folly.

Start with the balanced budget amendment.

Amending the Constitution takes a vote by three-quarters of all states (38) and two-thirds of the House and Senate (290 yeas in the House and 67 ayes in the Senate). Its an extremely high bar. Theres a reason why people have proposed only 33 amendments to the Constitution since the beginning of the republic. Advocates have managed to amend the Constitution just 27 times.

It takes a Herculean task to execute a Constitutional amendment. But the consequences of a balanced budget amendment are even starker.

The phrase steep, Draconian cuts does not adequately characterize the size of compulsory spending reductions mandated by a balanced budget amendment. Were talking caverns of spending reductions the size of the Mariana Trench or Challenger Deep.

That big defense increase the president trumpeted? Wiped out. Accounting for more than 50 percent of all discretionary spending (annual appropriations designated by Congress), the Pentagon has the most to lose.

If you are going to slash spending to comply with a balanced budget amendment, sure, you can pare back spending for the departments of Interior or Education. But the money allocated there represents a sliver of what the military receives. So the Pentagon will bear much of this burden.

Then there are entitlements: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. We mentioned discretionary spending? That accounts for only about 30 percent of all federal spending.

The government devotes the rest to entitlements. Remember the Mariana Trench and Challenger Deep? Those chasms may be the only places on Earth Republicans could find sanctuary from the angry mobs of citizens outraged that they lost their Medicare.

Republicans long advocated reasserting the power of the legislative branch to combat purported executive branch abuses carried out by former President Barack Obama. The Constitution grants Congress the ultimate power of the purse under Article I, Sections 7 & 9. A balanced budget amendment would strip some of that authority from lawmakers.

The House plans a vote in the coming weeks on a balanced budget amendment. It may be fabulous politics. But the operational realities are impractical.

Never mind that lawmakers approved a broad, two-year budget framework that sets spending outlines in February. A vote on a balanced budget amendment flies in the face of that accord. In this instance, such an amendment is nothing more than a weaponized, roll call vote to be deployed against political foes.

Its incongruous to vote for a balanced budget amendment, the spending deal last week and the February agreement. Yet some Republicans may try to say otherwise.

Now to the line item veto.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin badly botched the method to impose a line-item veto. During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Mnuchin argued that it would simply take Congress to pass a rule, and, voila, the president could nullify individual provisions in legislation sent to him by Congress.

In fact, the introduction of a line-item veto may also entail a constitutional amendment.

Congress, led by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and now-Director of National Intelligence and former Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., granted then-President Bill Clinton a line-item veto.

But in the 1998 decision Clinton v. New York, the Supreme Court ruled the gambit unconstitutional. One issue is transferring the power of the purse from the legislature to the executive branch as dictated under Article 1, Sections 7 & 9.

However, the High Court ruled such a veto violates the presentment clause of the Constitution. Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution lays out how Congress presents bills to the president for his signature or veto. The Constitution dictates that the House and Senate must align their bills and present the legislation, as one, to the president for his blessing or rejection.

In other words, the Constitution affords Congress direct legislative authority under Article I. If the president doesnt like what Congress presents him, its take it or leave it. The President cant take some of it or leave some of it.

Thus, line-item veto advocates would have to amend the Constitution. Dont forget how congressional Republicans were worked up about exercising their legislative prerogatives as laid out in Article I. Congress would relinquish substantial power to the executive branch under a line-item veto.

Neither the balanced budget amendment nor the line-item veto are new ideas. They gained currency in the 1980s. President Trump wants both instruments at his disposal. But these gambits may require amendments to the Constitution.

They want their 80s back

For changes of this magnitude, perhaps they should have started in 1780s.President Trump took aim at California Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday for pardoning five ex-convicts facing deportation, asking if residents of the Golden State really want such policies for criminal immigrants.

The president referred to Brown as Moonbeam, a nickname he was given in the late 1970s during his first time as governor for proposing a California space academy and later adopting a plan to launch and orbit a satellite for emergency communications.

Governor Jerry 'Moonbeam' Brown pardoned 5 criminal illegal aliens whose crimes include (1) Kidnapping and Robbery (2) Badly beating wife and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize (3) Dealing drugs. Is this really what the great people of California want? @FoxNews, tweeted Trump.

The presidents remarks follow Browns pardon Friday of 56 convicted felons, two of whom were members of families that fled the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia four decades ago.

It was the Democrat governors third consecutive pardon round in which he intervened on behalf of immigrants who faced deportation because of criminal conditions.

The pardons dont automatically stop deportation proceedings, but they eliminate the state convictions on which federal authorities based their deportation decisions on.

"The pardon does provide enormous benefit to immigrants facing deportation," said Anoop Prasad, an immigration staff attorney at Asian Law Caucus.

Trumps remarks continued a war of words between him and Brown, who has accused the administration of basically going to war with California over immigration policy.

Brown last year signed sanctuary legislation limiting state and local cooperation with federal enforcement of immigration laws.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions responded with a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to invalidate three state laws protecting residents living in the country without documentation.

The pardons included Sokha Chhan and Phann Pheach, both of whom face deportation to Cambodia, a country ruled in the 1970s by the genocidal Khmer Rouge. Chhan was convicted of two counts of misdemeanor domestic violence in 2002 and served 364 days in jail.

Pheach was convicted of possessing drugs and obstructing a police officer in 2005 and served six months in jail. His wife said he is in federal custody.

Also pardoned was Daniel Maher, who was convicted in 1995 of kidnapping, robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm and served five years in prison. Maher is facing deportation to China.

Chhan, Pheach and Maher hold permanent U.S. residency but had exhausted all legal avenues to fight deportation, making Brown's pardons for them their last hope to stay in the U.S., Prasad said.

"This is a life-changing, enormous event," he said.

Also pardoned while facing deportation were Daniel Mena and Francisco Acevedo Alaniz, but their home countries were not immediately known. Mena was convicted in 2003 of possessing illegal drugs. Alaniz served five months in prison for a 1997 auto theft conviction.

Brown on Friday also commuted the sentences of 14 others convicted of crimes.

The governor is a former Jesuit seminarian and traditionally issues pardons close to major Christian holidays. Easter falls on Sunday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Famed British scientist Stephen Hawking was laid to rest Saturday during a private funeral in Cambridge attended by some 500 people.

Those paying their respects, which included actor Eddie Redmayne, who won an Academy Award for portraying Hawking in 2014s The Theory of Everything, gathered at the University Church of St. Mary the Great.

Other celebrity guests included Queen guitarist Brian May, British actress Anita Dobson and comedian Dara OBriain, the BBC reported. Tesla CEO Elon Musk and playwright Alan Bennett were also rumored to be on the guest list.

STEPHEN HAWKING, FAMED PHYSICIST, DEAD AT 76

Redmayne was also slated to give a reading from Ecclesiastes during the service, which was closed to media. A reading by Astronomer Royal Martin Reese and eulogies by Robert Hawking, the scientists eldest son, and former student Fay Dowker were also scheduled.

Hawking died on March 14 at the age of 76 at his Cambridge home. The bell at the church, known locally as Great St. Marys, rang 76 times as the funeral cortege drove up to the church.

Hawkings coffin was carried by six porters from Caius College, where the scientist was a fellow for more than 50 years.

STEPHEN HAWKING NEVER ANSWERED HIS MOST INTERESTING SCIENTIFIC QUESTION

Hundreds of people had gathered outside the church to pay their respects to the late great mind.

Hawking, who suffered from motor neurone disease, was known for his groundbreaking research into black holes and other phenomena. His ashes were slated to be interred next to Sir Isaac Newtons grave located in Westminster Abbey in June. Newton died in 1727.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Its the $2.8 million that got away.

An appeals court has ruled that the winner of a 2016 Maryland billfish tournament is ineligible to collect his $2.8 million winnings after being accused of dropping his line early and then flunking a polygraph test, according to reports.

The U.S. Court of Special Appeals on Wednesday upheld an earlier ruling in favor of the White Marlin Open in its case against the angler, Phil Heasley, and his crewmates aboard the Kallianassa, reported Delmarva Now.

Heasley of Florida was on course to net the, ahem, whale of fishing purses after hauling in a 76.5-pound white marlin in the tourneys 2016 installment, but failed the lie detector test required of all winners.

Click for more from the New York Post.One Louisiana officer was fired and another was temporarily suspended Friday following a disciplinary hearing over their involvement in the fatal July 2016 shooting of a black man, the Baton Rouge police chief said.

The decision comes days after state Attorney General Jeff Landry announced that criminal charges would not be filed against the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling.

Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul Jr. said the decision to fire Blane Salamoni and suspend Howie Lake II for three days was not based on politics.

It was not based on emotions, Paul said. It was based on the facts of the case.

2 OFFICERS IN ALTON STERLINGS FATAL SHOOTING WONT BE CHARGED

Authorities also released body camera footage and other videos of the officers deadly encounter with Sterling that took place outside the convenience store, Triple S Food Mart, where the slain man was selling homemade CDs. Authorities located Sterling after responding to a report of a man with a gun outside the store.

In the profanity-laced video, an officer can be heard yelling and cursing at Sterling and at one point threatens to shoot him in the head as Sterling asks what he did.

When Sterling complains that the officers are hurting him, one of the officers says to use a Taser on him and an electric buzzing can be heard. The officer believed to be Salamoni then runs at Sterling, tackling him as the camera footage blurs with motion.

Someone yells hes got a gun, then gunshots ring out.

Sterling was shot by Salamoni six times during the fatal confrontation. Lake helped wrestle the 37-year-old man to the ground but did not shoot his weapon.

STEPHON CLARKS INDEPENDENT AUTOPSY RESULTS REVEAL HE WAS SHOT SEVEN TIMES, OFFICIALS SAY

As Sterling remained on the ground after shots were fired, an officer can be heard on the recording using profanity calling him "stupid."

Officers found a loaded revolver in Sterlings pocket, which he legally could not be carrying, as he was a convicted felon.

Both Salamoni, whod been with the department for four years before the shooting, and Lake, whod been employed there for three, were placed on paid administrative leave after the incident.

Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome in a statement said she "fully" supports the police chief's decision and she is "grateful for his leadership and his swift, decisive, and fair action on this matter."

"Although the investigations into this case have concluded, the dialogue does not end today," she said. "I pledge to continue to lead and facilitate respectful conversations between the community and law enforcement in an effort to build trust and understanding on both sides."

Widespread protests occurred throughout the city in the wake of Sterlings death, during which nearly 200 individuals were arrested.

Fox News' Tyler Speicher and The Associated Press contributed to this report.President Donald Trump is freezing more than $200 million in funds for recovery efforts in war-torn Syria amid a reassessment of the role the U.S. should play in the drawn-out conflict there, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The White House ordered the State Department to put the funds on hold, the report said. According to The Journal, Trump did so after reading a news report saying that the U.S. had recently committed an additional $200 million to early recovery efforts.

Exiting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pledged the money in February in Kuwait at a meeting of the coalition trying to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS).

The apparent shift comes as the fight against ISIS has reached an impasse, with the insurgent group controlling just 5 percent of the battered nation but holding fast to it and losing little ground in recent months.

The Journal said that a sped-up pullback of America from Syria could kick up concerns about yielding control of the combat-scarred country to Iran and Russia.

In the past month, U.S.-led airstrikes supporting local forces on the ground have diminished. In January, Tillerson laid out a strategy in which the U.S. would remain in Syria for the foreseeable future to prevent an ISIS resurgence and keep Iran's influence in check.

Now, The Journal said, Trump looks to be questioning that tack. He has said he would like to see regional allies like Saudi Arabia take on more of the burden, and the White House has asked Gulf Arab states to come up with billions of dollars for Syria's recovery.

The State Department last year spent $200 million on stabilization work in Syria, including removing unexploded weapons and restoring water, power and electricity, and an additional $225 million in funds was designated this year. The freezing of some or all of those funds, plus the additional spending promised last month, could cause existing programs to halt, U.S. officials told The Journal.

Only two months ago, Trump's aides thought they'd persuaded him that the U.S. needed to keep its presence in Syria open-ended  not only because the Islamic State group has yet to be entirely defeated, but also because the resulting power vacuum could be filled by other extremist groups or by Iran. Trump signed off on major speech in January in which Secretary of State Rex Tillerson laid out the new strategy and declared "it is vital for the United States to remain engaged in Syria."

But by mid-February, Trump was telling his top aides in meetings that as soon as victory can be declared against ISIS, he wanted American troops out of Syria, said the officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.

Trump's first public suggestion he was itching to pull out came in a news conference with visiting Australian Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull on Feb. 23, when Trump said the U.S. was in Syria to "get rid of ISIS and go home." On Thursday, in a domestic policy speech in Ohio, Trump went further, The AP reported.

"We'll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now. Very soon  very soon, we're coming out," Trump said.

The public declaration caught U.S. national security agencies off-guard and unsure whether Trump was formally announcing a new, unexpected change in policy. The Pentagon and State Department reached out to the White House's National Security Council for clarification.

The White House's ambiguous response: Trump's words speak for themselves.

"The mission of the Department of Defense to defeat ISIS has not changed," said Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, according to The AP.

Still, without a clear directive from the president, planning has not started for a withdrawal from Syria, officials said, and Trump has not advocated a specific timetable.

For Trump, who campaigned on an "America First" mantra, Syria is just the latest foreign arena where his impulse has been to limit the U.S. role. Like with NATO and the United Nations, Trump has called for other governments to step up and share more of the burden so that Washington doesn't foot the bill. His administration has been crisscrossing the globe seeking financial commitments from other countries to fund reconstruction in both Syria and Iraq, but with only limited success, The AP said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the prime minister of Australia.An Ohio woman has drawn attention for making a face in her mug shot after she was arrested for drunken driving -- and accused of threatening to burn down a neighbor's home.

Amber Legge, 32, of Piqua, allegedly made the threat in an argument over money, and was later arrested after police pulled her over while she was allegedly driving while drunk, the Dayton Daily News reported.

Legge can be seen in her mug shot -- taken by the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office -- sticking her tongue out and grimacing.

According to a police report, the woman got into an argument with the resident of a home in Huber Heights, claiming she was owed money. During the confrontation Legge reportedly threatened to beat the victim and burn her house down before fleeing the scene.

Legge was arrested on suspicion of aggravated menacing and operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and drugs, the New York Post reported.An Iowa public art museum is hailing the startling discovery of a long-forgotten 16th century painting that may be worth millions.

Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines acquired Old Master painter Otto van Veens Apollo and Venus in the 1920s but never put it on display, WHO-TV reports.

Hoyt Sherman executive director Robert Warren was searching for Civil War flags in a little-used storeroom when he stumbled upon the painting, but he isn't sure how it got there.

So the assumption was it was tucked away there either because it needed some repair work or the content, because it is a full backside nude of Venus de Milo and another cherub sans clothing, he told Radio Iowa.

The radio station reported that van Veen is best known for being a teacher of Peter Paul Reubens.

Warren said van Veen paintings have sold for between $4 million and $17 million and believes Apollo and Venus could fetch as much. He is having an appraiser determine its value but there are no plans to sell it.

Van Veen paintings hang in every museum around the world, including the Louvre. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City displayed it in the 1880s.

Apollo and Venus, which was painted between 1595 and 1600, has been restored since being found.

Hoyt Sherman wound up with the painting after the family that owned the artwork gifted it to the Des Moines Womens Club.

Warren said museum visitors will be able to see the painting soon.An Alabama father had his girlfriend rape and sodomize his 11-year-old autistic son because he feared the boy was gay.

Sean Cole, 29, and his girlfriend Khadeijah Moore, 21, of Huntsville, Ala., were convicted Tuesday of rape, sodomy and the sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12, AL.com reported. They both face up to life in prison and are slated to be sentenced on May 24.

Moore is considered a fugitive after she failed to attend the trial and a warrant for his arrest was issued by the trial judge, FOX13 Memphis reported. Cole has been behind bars since his arrest in January.

The sexual abuse occurred during Thanksgiving 2016 when the then-11-year-old boy, who lives in Georgia with his mother, visited his father for the holiday. Cole allegedly discovered the boy in a compromising position with another boy and became furious, prosecutors said.

AL SHARPTONS HALF BROTHER CHARGED WITH CAPITAL MURDER IN ALABAMA SHOOTING

Cole instructed Moore to have sex with the victim. Moore raped and sodomized the victim and forced the child to perform sexual acts on her, AL.com reported.

It was solely that he was worried that his son was gay, or might become gay, Tim Douthit, a prosecutor, said. There was no evidence he had a sexual attraction to his son or children.

He just thought he could, for lack of better words, straighten him out, he continued.

The crimes were reported by the victims mother after the boy returned home from his visit. She became concerned after her son started asking her sex-related questions. The boy opened up and told her what happened, and she immediately went to police to report the crime.

Moore and Cole were arrested in January 2017.

SPRING BREAKER, 17, VANISHES IN GULF OF MEXICO



Reta McKannan, Moore defense attorney, said her client did everything at Sean Coles direction.

That doesnt make it OK. That doesnt make it right, McKannan said.

Cole has previously been arrested for domestic violence, court records showed.

Douthit said the boy told an interviewer he was confused at the time of the sexual assault and asked, Why is my dad doing this to me?

Dad said to tell no one. I failed him. I just told you, the victim told the interviewer.

The prosecutor said the boy, who is now 13, is doing well.

The most terrible part of this is the little boy still doesnt understand its not his fault, Douthit said. He still thinks hes the bad guy. Its heartbreaking.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's special representative Yang Jiechi (L) meets with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, March 30, 2018. Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the head of the General Office of the Central Committee for Foreign Affairs, held talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Blue House in Seoul on Friday. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)

SEOUL, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's special representative Yang Jiechi held talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Blue House in Seoul on Friday, with both sides pledging to promote a political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue.

Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the head of the General Office of the Central Committee for Foreign Affairs, extended Xi's greetings to Moon.

He said the aim of his trip is to implement the consensus reached between the two heads of state and enhance bilateral relations and strategic cooperation.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the China-South Korea strategic cooperative partnership, Yang said, adding that China is willing to work together with South Korea to bring forward a healthy and stable development of bilateral relations.

Yang expressed the hope for continued leading and guiding role of the summits of the heads of state of both countries, strengthened political communications, solidified mutual strategic trust, deepened mutually beneficial cooperation as well as accelerated cooperation and more alignment concerning the Belt and Road Initiative.

Yang informed Moon about the visit of the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un to China, saying that China has long supported the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. He added that China supports maintaining peace on the peninsula and settling conflict through dialogue.

Stressing that the Korean Peninsula is at a critical point, Yang said tensions are easing and the overall situation could turn around for good. He urged all parties involved to promote smooth talks between the South Korean and DPRK leaders as well as the DPRK and U.S. leaders in order to reach a political settlement on the Peninsula.

China is willing to work with South Korea on achieving denuclearization, and maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, Yang said.

Moon asked Yang to convey his congratulations to Xi on his election as Chinese president.

He said the South Korea-China strategic cooperative partnership has maintained a good momentum, adding that he expects bilateral relations to advance this year.

South Korea speaks highly of China's successful hosting of Kim, Moon said. He added that South Korea lauds China's constructive role in resolving the Korean Peninsula issue, and appreciates the country's contributions to de-escalating tensions on the peninsula in recent years.

The president said South Korea is willing to enhance coordination with China and together safeguard peace and stability on the Peninsula and that only dialogue can resolve any outstanding issues.

Yang also met with Chung Eui-yong, top security adviser for the South Korean president and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha during his visit to Seoul.

2

1

[ Editor: Xueying ]Are you a citizen of the United States?

It seems like a simple enough question. But the Trump administrations plan to add it to the 2020 census has caused a firestorm of protest.

A multi-state lawsuit, led by New Yorks Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, is being brought to prevent the question from appearing on the census. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has filed a separate lawsuit over the same issue.

Opponents claim the citizenship question will keep people from filling out the census, especially those not legally residing in the U.S. As Schneiderman put it in a release, the Trump Administration has made a reckless decision [that] cuts to the heart of this sacred obligationand will create an environment of fear and distrust in immigration communities.

The result of undercounting, Schneiderman adds, would deprive our states of their fair share of hundreds of billions in federal funds and threaten our states fair representation in Congress.

Even if there is some impact on responses, the value of more complete and accurate data derived from surveying the entire population outweighs such concerns.  Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross

But Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the census, claims theres no definitive data on how the citizenship question will affect responsiveness. However, he adds, even if there is some impact on responses, the value of more complete and accurate data derived from surveying the entire population outweighs such concerns.

While some may fear misuse of the census data, the Census Bureau is required by law to keep information about specific individuals confidential, though data for general populations are available.

The Trump administration further argues that better data will lead to more effective enforcement of the Voting Rights Actand that minority groups will be better protected against their voting power being diluted.

The Census Clause of the Constitution, in Article 1, Section 2, mandates a census be taken every ten years. As the nation has grown and changed, the information requested on the census form has changed. There were age and gender questions from the start, but along the way, education, marital status, occupation, income and ethnic origin, among other matters, were added.

As for citizenship, the first time it was part of the census was 1820. It became a regular question in the census starting in 1890though in 1960, there was a question about place of birth, but not direct citizenship status. In 1970, the Census Bureau started sending out short and long-form questionnaires. At that point, the citizenship question was only found on the long form, sent to one out of six households.

For instance, in the 2000 long form, the question was Is this person a CITIZEN of the United States? There were five choices. The first four categories were citizens: born in the U.S., born in a territory of the U.S., born abroad to American parents or naturalized. The fifth choice was No, not a citizen of the United States.

However, in 2010, there was no long form (it had been replaced by the ongoing American Community Survey, which is sent to approximately 3.5 million addresses a year) and thus no citizenship question in the official census. The Trump administration now plans to bring it back. While the questions been around a long time, it would be returning to the short form for the first time since 1950.

John Eastman, Henry Salvatori Professor of Law and Community Service at Chapman University, doesnt think the opposition will prevail. As he told Fox News, their arguments are based on inference upon inference to get to what they fear will happen. He adds that perhaps the lower courts, especially those that have ruled against President Trump in previous cases, will find for the plaintiffs, but he certainly [doesnt] think the Supreme Court will accept the argument.

He also notes that no matter how one feels about the inclusion of the question, this is the administrations call. Even if President Trumps opponents think the decision was rushed and ill-advised, the system, Eastman says, delegates authority to the Census Bureau, and ultimately the president, to decide what kind of questions are on there.

Eastman notes that until 2000, tens of millions of people were asked about their citizenship in the census. In 2010, President Obamas administration decided the question would not be on the census. Since that was the administrations decision to make, says Eastman, he cant conceive of a rule of law that would allow that one-way rule for one side and not the other.

Eastman, in fact, would like to go even further than todays law, where all residents are counted in the census, legal or not. He argued in the 2016 Supreme Court case Evenwel v. Abbott that the Census Clause of the Constitution excludes Indians not taxed from the census, and today those who are not lawfully present in the United States are in a similar position, owing allegiance to another sovereign and therefore should not be part of the electoral process.

While the various parties are going to court over the citizenship question, to many observers, its as much a political battle as a legal one. To opponents of the change, its a disastrous decision that will guarantee bad data, and a transparent attempt to take away political power from immigrants and blue states. To Trump supporters, asking about citizenship is a common sense question that has a long history and is as relevant as ever, not to mention well within the administrations power.

What sort of country would it be, they argue, that cant determine precisely how many citizens it has.A former Atlanta-area police officer has been indicted for allegedly stealing cash that she would split with local drug dealers.

Lori Monique Johnson, 33, is accused of taking the money during phony traffic stops targeting the rivals of her associates, the DeKalb County District Attorneys Office said, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.

Johnson was charged with violating the Georgia RICO act and 14 counts of violation of oath by a public officer, the station reported.

The former officer stole a total of more than $150,000 during three staged traffic stops beginning in March 2015, authorities said. They added that Johnson targeted drug dealers because they were unlikely to report the robberies to police.

After each traffic stop, Johnson would share money with her associates and then receive a cut for herself. Johnson made various deposits into a local bank, according to the indictment.

The reprehensible actions of Ms. Johnson are unacceptable and do not reflect the high standards of the DeKalb County Police Department, Chief James Conroy told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Her actions tarnish the reputations and service which is demonstrated by our honorable law enforcement officers each and every day.

The FBI was asked to assist in the investigation, Fox 5 reported.

Johnson was released on bond Friday, the Journal-Constitution reported.The fire marshal of Oakland, Calif., resigned Friday following harsh criticism over two fires in the city that killed a total of 40 people.

The departure of Marshal Miguel Trujillo became the latest black eye for the Bay Area city during the administration of Democratic Mayor Libby Schaaf, who has clashed with the Trump administraion over immigration policy.

The marshal's resignation was announced by Fire Chief Darin White, who will handle Trujillos duties running the fire inspection bureau while a replacement is sought.

Trujillo faced months of scrutiny on the overextended, often-troubled fire prevention unit he led, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

He leaves now for Gilroy, Calif., where he will be fire marshal for a city thats one-eighth the size of Oakland, the report said.

Trujillos resignation adds to the departments beleaguered fire inspection bureau, which was intensely scrutinized after 36 people died in a Dec. 2, 2016, fire at the "Ghost Ship" warehouse, and four people died in a March 27, 2017, fire at a halfway house, the East Bay Times reported.

The Ghost Ship warehouse had been illegally converted into living space for artists and had no fire sprinklers. Trujillos department reportedly never inspected the building, and it was not on the citys inspection rolls despite firefighters having been called there several times, the Times reported. A fire official also said he filed a report noting dangers two years prior to the blaze.

In the halfway house blaze, internal emails showed that firefighters repeatedly warned of potential safety hazards there over several months, but an inspection wasnt done until three days before the blaze, the report said. Despite serious violations, the site -- home to as many as 100 people -- was reportedly allowed to stay open.

A subsequent investigation by the Times found that 80 percent of the referrals made by firefighters to the Fire Prevention Bureau of dangerous conditions in buildings were not inspected.

Assistant Fire Marshal Maria Sabatini detailed how short-staffed and crazy busy the bureau was, in an internal email obtained by the Mercury News. She also attributed the lack of inspections to ongoing miscommunication between firefighters and inspectors on the proper guidelines to refer buildings for inspection.

Trujillo did not immediately responded for comment.

In addition to the fatal fires, Oakland since the arrival of Mayor Schaaf in January 2015 has seen a sex scandal involving members of the police department -- leading to a period in which the city had three police chiefs within a week.

Mayor Schaaf also became the center of controversy earlier this year when she publicly warned that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would be conducting raids in the city.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS DISTURBING CONTENT

Footage released by authorities showed a Texas man pointing his gun at a Houston police officer before being shot to death on Thursday.

The man, Marco Antonio Saavedra, 44, was pulled over in Pasadena, Texas, after running a stop sign Thursday when he ignored officers request to stay in his vehicle. The video showed Saavedra getting out of his white sedan.

Saavedra can be heard saying, What did I do as he stepped out of his vehicle and stood up.

The officer told Saavedra three times to stay in the vehicle and then told him twice to show me your hands. Saavedra had his right hand behind his back as he stood next to his car.

WOMAN GETS 5 YEARS FOR ILLEGALLY VOTING IN 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Saavedra then leaned back into his car before drawing a handgun and pointing it toward the officer. The officer fired several times, hitting Saavedra on the left side of his body.

The driver is seen stumbling around the street before raising his gun a second time. The officer fired several more times, hitting Saavedra, who then fell onto the pavement. The officer also hit the passenger window of his police cruiser with a bullet.

It was not immediately clear if Saavedra fired any shots.

MAN WHO SHOT GOOD SAMARTIAN IN TEXAS GETS LIFE IN PRISON

The Pasadena Police Department identified the officer involved in the shooting as Marc Adams, 40, a 13-year veteran of the force, Click 2 Houston reported. He has been placed on administrative leave for several days.

Pasadena Police Department Asst. Chief Josh Bruegger said Adams was obviously shaken up.

"Anytime an officer is placed in a position where he has to take somebody's life it's a stressful situation," Bruegger said. "It's unfortunate the officer was placed in the position but, when the suspect points a weapon directly at the officer the officer really has no choice but to defend himself."

Bruegger told reporters Thursday the shooting appeared justified but the case would be presented to a grand jury.

Pasadena Police spokesman Vance Mitchell said Saavedra had arrest warrants on aggravated assault charges and for violating his bond. Court records show Saavedra, from Houston, had been accused of assaulting his wife on at least two occasions. Police said the gun Saavedra had was reported stolen.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A fugitive illegal immigrant has been nabbed in Texas after going on the lam 23 years ago to avoid being arrested for impregnating his daughter, then just 12 years old.

Heraclio Gamez-Nava, 64, was taken into custody in Porter Thursday after showing authorities a copy of a 1995 Nevada warrant charging him with continuous sexual assault of a minor under the age of 14. He took off after being served with the warrant.

At that time, they fled Nevada and have been on the run since, according to a Montgomery County Precinct 4 Constables Office.

Deputies said Gamez-Nava was a Mexican national living in the country illegally.

He was arrested after deputies stopped vehicle driving the wrong way.

When officials spoke to the two occupants they were able to eventually identify them as Gamez-Nava and his wife, Alicia Vazquez-Carrizales, KPRC-TV reported.

The constables office said that Vazquez-Carrizales, 55, who was driving the vehicle. was deported to Mexico in 2003 and 2014 and will likely be deported again.

She was charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon, a misdemeanor.

They were jailed after their arrests.A man in Illinois was arrested Thursday evening after authorities recovered more than 420 pounds of weed, worth millions, in his home, police said.

David S. Gutierrez, 31, was taken into custody by Chicago police after tactical officers with the 20th District searched his home in Skokie and located some 423 pounds of marijuana, valued at about $3 million on the street, a police news release said.

VIOLENT DEPORTEE WHO ESCAPED CUSTODY AT JFK AIRPORT CAUGHT, AUTHORITIES SAY

Authorities also reportedly recovered a number of weapons, including a shotgun and several handguns, and money.

Gutierrez was arrested around 6:30 p.m., police said, and he was charged with one felony count of the manufacturing and delivery of cannabis, five misdemeanor counts for unlawful use of a weapon for possession of a firearm, as well as one misdemeanor count for drug paraphernalia possession.

He was set to appear in court on Saturday, Fox 29 reported.Pregnant teens who enter this country illegally and are held in federal custody can't be barred by the U.S. government from obtaining abortions while a lawsuit over access to such services progresses.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered Friday that the government be barred from interfering with or obstructing pregnant minors' access to abortion counseling or abortions while a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) plays out.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shelters children who illegally enter the U.S. and, according to department lawyers, it has a policy of refusing to facilitate abortions.

In a statement released Saturday, HHS said that it strongly maintains that taxpayers are not responsible for facilitating the abortion of unaccompanied minors who entered the country illegally and are currently in the government's care."

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MINOR SUGGESTS SHE FACED PRESSURE TO GET ABORTION ON FEDERAL DIME

Scott Lloyd, the director of HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement, has also said that he believes teens in his agencys care have no constitutional right to abortion.

The ACLU has filed a lawsuit on behalf of these minors.

"We have been able to secure justice for these young pregnant women in government custody who will no longer be subject to the government's policy of coercion and obstruction while the case continues," ACLU attorney Brigitte Amiri said after the judge's order became public.

ACLU FIGHTING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ABORTION ACCESS

Chutkan said after her order became public that while the government is entitled to maintain an interest in fetal life" and even to prefer that pregnant minors in their custody "choose one course over the other," it cannot create or implement a policy that strips minors of their right to make their own reproductive choices.

HHS can appeal the order, and according to its statement, the department is "working closely with the Justice Department to review the court's order and determine next steps."

The issue first came to light when a pregnant teen, identified as Jane Doe, entered the U.S. illegally in September and, despite having a state court order permitting her to have an abortion paid for by private funding, federal officials refused to transport her or temporarily release her.

As a result of a lawsuit by the ACLU, she was ultimately able to get an abortion.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A Connecticut towns newly-installed veterans memorial is drawing attention because of a misspelling.

One of the memorials stone tablets misspelled President Franklin D. Roosevelts first name as Frankin.

The East Windsor Veterans Commission raised funds to build the memorial this fall. It honors those who served in Americas major conflicts going back to the Revolutionary War. The town is holding a dedication ceremony on Memorial Day.

I think somebody should get a D in a spelling test for the misspelling of that word, it's quite important for this memorial to have everything correct spelling of names," Ken Grahan told Fox61 Connecticut.

I dont think it has any reflection on the president at all or anything like that, but I mean, seriously, when something like this gets put up in a public area lets have a couple of people look at it first, John Thibodeau told the station.

Fox61 spoke to commission chairman James Barton who said he didnt know about the misspelling until being informed by the station Thursday.

Barton said the mistake will be fixed but couldnt say if that will happen before the dedication, the station reported.

Click for more from Fox61 Connecticut.The gunman behind the 1984 Palm Sunday Massacre that left 10 people dead and was considered one of New York Citys largest mass shootings in decades was quietly released from prison in January.

Christopher Thomas, 68, was released from Shawangunk Correctional Facility on Jan. 5 and is believed to be residing in Queens, N.Y., the New York Post reported. He was released after serving about two-thirds of his 50-year maximum sentence, good behavior and fulfilling other criteria, a New York State Department of Corrections spokesperson said.

The parole board did not let him out, the spokesperson said. He had five appearances before the parole board and was denied every time. He doesnt need board approval because he served two-thirds.

VIOLENT DEPORTEE WHO ESCAPED CUSTODY AT JFK AIRPORT CAUGHT, AUTHORITIES SAY

Thomas was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 25 to 50 years in 1985, following the massacre. He was able to avoid a murder rap because it was determined his heavy cocaine usage contributed to his actions, the New York Post reported.

A motive for the slaying was never determined.

On Palm Sunday in 1984, Thomas shot and killed 10 people in an apartment in Brooklyn. Thomas was embroiled in a dispute with the apartment owner, a convicted drug dealer named Enrique Bermudez. The victims of the slaying were Bermudezs pregnant wife, another adult woman and eight children.

RUSSIAN AIRLINE SENT AMERICAN PASSENGERS TO INDIA INSTEAD OF NEW YORK BECAUSE OF THEIR SKIN COLOR, COMPLAINT ALLEGES

One person survived the shooting, a toddler named Christina Rivera who was adopted by a police officer who was at the scene, The New York Times reported.

Ray Kellly, the former commissioner of the New York Police Department [NYPD] said Thomas heinous crime warranted the maximum penalty.

Retired NYPD Lt. Herbert Hohmann told the New York Post that Thomas did not deserve to be free.

He doesnt deserve to be on the street. He killed poor, innocent children, Hohmann said.Two teens have been arrested and charged in connection with the brutal beating death of a 36-year-old New Jersey man.

Authorities say Sebastian Aguilar was attacked by multiple people Wednesday night while walking in Guttenberg, a small town just across the Hudson River from New York City, NorthJersey.com reported.

Police found Aguilar lying on the ground around 10:15 p.m. and rushed him to a nearby hospital, where he died at 7:40 a.m. Thursday, NJ.com reported.

The exact cause of his death has yet to be determined by the medical examiner.

A 14-year-old and a 15-year-old were charged with aggravated assault and endangering an injured victim, New York's WPIX-TV reported, citing information from the Hudson County Prosecutors Office. Additional charges are expected to be filed.

The prosecutors office is still searching for additional suspects, NorthJersey.com reported.HOHHOT, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Three suspects have been arrested for poisoning and hunting 4,484 wild birds in Xilingol League in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, local forest police said Friday.

On Jan. 16, police found 870 dead larks on a grassland in East Ujimqin Banner, according to Zhang Jie, forest police chief in the banner.

Larks are under national-level protection in China.

After 10 days of investigations, police caught a suspect surnamed Wang on Jan. 31 when he returned to the same area to hunt more birds.

Another two suspects were caught in Songyuan in the northeast China's Jilin Province on Feb. 3.

Police found 3,614 more dead birds near the grassland in March. They believe the birds had been hidden under snow.

The suspects used poisoned bait to hunt the birds and planned to sell them to restaurants, according Zhang.

The case is under further investigation.

According to China's wildlife protection law, those who hunt, sell, purchase or transport wild animals that are under special state protection will be punished.

[ Editor: Xueying ]Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai returned to her hometown in Pakistan on Saturday for the first time since 2012, when she was shot by a Taliban militant.

Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, consoled a teary-eyed Malala, 20, upon her arrival.

I am very happy that, after five-and-a-half years, I have set foot on the soil of my nation again, she said, according to the Guardian. Today is the happiest day of my life, because I have returned to my country. I have stepped foot on my nations soil again and am among my own people.

The Pakistan army provided Malala a helicopter, which took her to Mingora, her hometown, from Islamabad, where she arrived on Thursday with her father and younger brother, the Guardian reported.

Amid tight security, Malala finally landed in the Swat Valley town. Security was also visibly beefed up in Mingora the previous day.

Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban in Mingora when she was only 15 years old in October 2012. The Taliban reportedly banned girls schools, music and television in their control of Swat Valley. Malala was targeted because she advocated for education for girls.

She received initial treatment in Pakistan and was later taken to Britain, where she continued her education and went on to win the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest-ever prize winner and garnering international renown.

For the betterment of Pakistan, it is necessary to educate girls and empower women, she said.

Malalas uncle, Mahmoodul Hassan, said she also plans to meet with her friends and relatives during her homecoming.

I still cant believe I am here, she said. It is literally a dream.

She plans to return to Britain on Monday. After finishing her studies there, she said she plans to return permanently to Pakistan, the Telegraph reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Saudi Arabia's ministry of foreign affairs says there is "no truth" to reports of an upcoming visit to Iraq by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The statement released Saturday follows protests in Baghdad against the visit.

Hundreds gathered in the Iraqi capital Friday afternoon, some carrying signs blaming the kingdom for crimes committed by the Islamic State group.

The Saudi foreign ministry statement added that "the two brotherly countries" had witnessed "positive developments... recently in all fields."

Iraq's prime minister's office had previously stated that the crown prince was planning to visit Iraq in the near future, but a date had not yet been set.

Iraq and Saudi Arabia have long had a strained relationship, but recently mended relations after diplomatic ties between the two counties were restored in 2016.A Swedish government agency has withdrawn a booklet for immigrants who are married to children after it was blasted by Swedish lawmakers for its allegedly soft approach to child marriage.

The booklet, Information for those who are married to a child was retracted Thursday by Swedens National Board of Health and Welfare, which said the material was developed within the framework of a government project to provide information to those in such marriages about current laws and practices in Sweden -- including the ban on such marriages, child rights and social services.

The Local reports that the brochure has fired up controversy particularly over the soft language used when it said: "Since children under the age of 15 have an absolute right to protection from sexual acts it is improper for you to live together if the child is under 15.

The material has raised strong reactions and many views. We withdraw the material and will look over it, a statement from the agency said.

Sweden has been one of a number of European countries that has welcomed in a large number of refugees from some Middle Eastern and African countries where child marriage is more common.

But critics say that the booklet, while perhaps well intentioned, took an approach to child marriage that was too soft for a modern liberal country.

Swedens Minister for Children, Lena Hallengren, slammed the document.

There must never be any doubts about the laws and values that apply in Sweden. It is not allowed to enter into child marriage, she tweeted. This should not be compromised and the information must be crystal clear.

It is justified to provide information, but what tone and signals you send is at least as important, she told national broadcaster SVT.

"Facepalm. Unacceptably indulgent, Liberal Party leader Jan Bjorklund said. The brochure has to be withdrawn without delay. Child marriage should be completely forbidden.

Sweden does not allow anyone under the age of 18 to be married in this country. However, according to current legislation, the main rule is that a marriage valid under the law of the country in which it is concluded is to be recognized civil law in Sweden, Par Odman, Chief Legal Officer of the National Board of Health said in the statement from the board. New legislation is currently being prepared by the government.

Proposals are being considered that such marriages would not be recognized if one of the spouses was under 18 when they arrived in Sweden is proposed to go into effect in 2019, the board said.The prime minister of the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile in India has urged his compatriots to strengthen efforts to make the return of the Dalai Lama to his native land a reality.

Lobsang Sangay says Tibet has seen 60 years of destruction of its civilization, culture and identity by the Chinese since the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959.

The Dalai Lama on his part thanked India for giving shelter to him and says the Tibetans have turned their unfortunate circumstances into a path of enlightenment by reviving their spirit and influence wherever they are.

The Dalai Lama and Sangay spoke at a public event on Saturday in the northern Indian town of Dharmsala marking the beginning of the 60th year of the spiritual leader's exile in India.The British Labour Party, led by far-left leader Jeremy Corbyn, is engulfed in a raging anti-Semitism scandal dominating the headlines in the U.K. and threatening Corbyns hopes of being the countrys next prime minister.

Thirty-nine MPs and peers have signed a letter to Corbyn criticizing him for his response to a party officials defense of a candidate who posted a Holocaust denial article.

Christine Shawcroft, who sits on the partys national executive committee (NEC), had defended a council candidate who was suspended for posting an article on social media calling the Holocaust a hoax, according to the Times of London. The article image had replaced the words Arbeit Macht Frei above the Auschwitz concentration camp with Muh Holocaust.

Shawcroft stepped down as chairwoman of internal disputes, but not from the NEC as a whole. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor and a Corbyn ally, has backed her to remain on the NEC. The letter from MPs urged Corbyn to suspend her from the party.

"It is utterly wrong that somebody who defends a Labour candidate who has been suspended for Holocaust denial should be a member of Labour's governing body, the letter says, according to Sky News.

While on its own the Shawcroft controversy may be dismissed as a relatively minor party matter, it comes in the wake of a relentless series of controversies related to anti-Semitism as the party has lurched to the left since Corbyns ascension to the leadership in 2015, where activists and politicians with hardline views, including on Israel and Palestine, have gained power.

Whether he likes it or not, Jeremy Corbyn has a lot to answer for, Lord Winston, a scientist and Labour peer told the Times. He has encouraged anti-Semites and hes endorsed them. In the modern world using social media, their conspiracy theories about Jews and statements about hate, spread like a disease and this virus is infecting the Labour Party.

On Monday, protesters demonstrated in front of Parliament against the anti-Semitism in the party, brandishing placards saying #EnoughisEnough and No to Holocaust denial.

Corbyn has himself been accused of being at best indifferent to anti-Semitism within his own party. Last week he was dogged by a controversy over a 2012 Facebook comment he made to a post by an artist who was complaining an anti-Semitic mural he made was removed. In the post he questioned why the London mural, featuring stereotypically Jewish bankers playing Monopoly on a table made from people, was being removed.

Corbyn had in the past faced controversy over a meeting where he expressed support for members of Hamas and Hezbollah, which he called them friends. He has since said he was using inclusive language as he sought to bring about a peace process, and that he does not support or agree with them.

Top Corbyn ally and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone -- who is often referred to as Red Ken for his hard-left views -- was suspended by the party in 2016 for saying that Adolf Hitler was a Zionist before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews.

His comments came after MP Naz Shah was suspended for sharing an image on Facebook showing Israel as part of the U.S. -- apparently suggesting the country be relocated there.

Corbyn made things somewhat worse for himself when, in a 2016 speech intended for him to condemn anti-Semitism and distance himself from some of the controversies, he appeared to compare Israel to the Islamic State.

"Our Jewish friends are no more responsible for the actions of Israel or the Netanyahu government than our Muslim friends are for those of various self-styled Islamic states or organizations," he said.

Corbyn has repeatedly and explicitly condemned anti-Semitism, and last week wrote to Jewish groups, apologizing for not having studied the content of the mural more closely before wrongly questioning its removal.

In the lengthy letter, he concludes by promising that I will never be anything other than a militant opponent of anti-Semitism.

In this fight, I am your ally and always will be, he said.

The latest crisis for Corbyn and the Labour Party has drawn increasing attention, particularly after he came close to winning the 2017 general election, despite having been widely viewed as unelectable for his far-left views.

Prime Minister Theresa Mays Conservative Party was widely expected to emerge with an enormous majority, but instead was only able to form a government by forming a coalition with the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party.

While polls show Mays lead widening again, Corbyn is now being taken seriously as a future prime minister.

The controversy has echoes in other countries, including the United States. A number of Democratic politicians have sparked controversy with their ties to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, particularly in the wake of anti-Semitic tweets he sent this month.

"The FBI has been the worst enemy of Black advancement," Farrakhan wrote this month. "The Jews have control over those agencies of government."

The dangers of tolerating anti-Semitism in Europe were on display recently in France, where anti-Semitic violence on the rise in recent years, exacerbated in part by a surge in radical Islamism in the country. According to France 24, violent anti-Semitic crimes have risen 25 percent since 2016.

Last week an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor was stabbed 11 times and burnt to death. Frances right-wing National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who was accused of anti-Semitism herself when she claimed last year that France was not responsible for the rounding up on Jews in Nazi-occupied France in 1942, has blamed the attack on Islamic fundamentalism -- referring to reports that the killer yelled Allahu Akbar."

In a speech earlier this month, President Emmanuel Macron recognized that Jews are fleeing the country and pledged to do more to protect Jewish sites, as well as fighting racism and anti-Semitism online.

"We have understood, with horror, that anti-Semitism is still alive. And on this issue our response must be unforgiving. France would not be itself if Jewish citizens had to leave because they were afraid," he said.Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with Namibian President Hage Geingob at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and China's top legislator Li Zhanshu met with Namibian President Hage Geingob in Beijing Friday, vowing to boost bilateral relations.

Calling Namibia China's important cooperation partner in Africa, Premier Li said China expected to consolidate political trust with Namibia, enhance win-win cooperation and coordination in regional and global affairs to jointly build a brighter future for bilateral ties.

Hailing the progress and broad prospects of China-Namibia substantial cooperation, Premier Li said China hoped to synergize development strategies with Namibia, and deepen cooperation in such key areas as agriculture and agricultural technology, infrastructure, production capacity and tourism.

The premier vowed joint efforts with Namibia to support economic globalization as well as trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, take a clear stand to oppose trade protectionism, and promote common development and mutual benefits.

Hailing the traditional friendship between the two countries, Geingob said that the two sides had agreed to update their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership, and signed a series of important cooperation documents.

"This will further boost bilateral exchanges and cooperation in the areas of politics, economy and strategy," he said.

Geingob said Namibia expected to deepen cooperation with China in various areas and boost stronger ties.

In his meeting with Geingob, Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said the NPC was willing to work with the Namibian side to implement the consensus reached by their heads of state, and boost closer friendly exchanges.

He called on the two sides to firmly support win-win China-Africa cooperation under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, as well as the Belt and Road Initiative.

Li Zhanshu asked the two sides to offer a better investment environment and legal protection for each other's investors, consolidate the foundation of social and public opinion for China-Namibia friendship, and boost greater development of bilateral ties in the new era.

Geingob spoke highly of China's policy to Africa, adding his country hoped to strengthen pragmatic cooperation with China in various areas and support more legislative exchanges between the two countries.

On Friday afternoon, Geingob also laid a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes in downtown Beijing.

4

1

[ Editor: Xueying ]Free Freightnet Membership

List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours.CHICAGO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- A farm lobbying group called Farmers for Free Trade released a national television advertisement, to warn the Trump administration the impact of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural products.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum last week that could impose tariffs on up to 60 billion U.S. dollars of imports from China and place restrictions on Chinese investments in the United States.

China's Ministry of Commerce has announced a plan for reciprocal tariffs on imported U.S. products worth about 3 billion dollars.

The advertisement features Indiana soy and corn farmer Brent Bible whose soy operation, like similar producers, relies heavily on exports to China.

"Today, we farm about 5000 acres (20.23 sq km) and raise primarily corn and soybeans," Bible said in the 30 seconds spot. "I'm supportive of the Trump administration, but I have a lot of concerns about current actions that have been taken on trade and tariffs."

"The fact that China is our number one soybean customer makes us very vulnerable. Our farm and many others like ours will be one of the first casualties of a trade war," Bible said in the ad.

At the end of the ad, it reads: "President Trump. Keep our economy strong. Protect free trade."

The message to the president will run for the next two weeks on cable news channels including Fox, CNN, and MSNBC. It will run in the D.C. and Florida markets. The ad will also run online and in agricultural publications across the country.

[ Editor: Xueying ]News

Two administrators out amid 'public health emergency'

kelseywalling / KELSEY WALLING/The Daily News Philip Keiser kelseywalling / KELSEY WALLING/The Daily News Galveston County resident Henry Gomez listens as Dr. Philip Keiser answers a question during a news conference Friday, March 30, 2018. Gomez is concerned for some of his family that has visited the Coastal Health & Wellness clinic. kelseywalling / KELSEY WALLING/The Daily News Dr. Philip Keiser speaks to the media about updates to the investigation into Coastal Health & Wellness in Texas City on Friday, March 30, 2018. There have been three news conferences since the notification about potential exposure was released last week.Dr. Philip Keiser gives an update on the investigation into Coastal Health & Wellness and 9,500 patients potential exposure to hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV on Friday, March 30, 2018. Keiser announced that the executive director of Coastal Health & Wellness, Mary McClure, resigned from the position.

TEXAS CITY

Two administrators of Coastal Health & Wellness resigned after audits of two dental clinics for low-income residents found lapses that put more than 9,000 former patients at risk of contracting infectious diseases, the countys top health official said Friday.

Coastal Health & Wellness Executive Director Mary McClure and Beverly Foster, the clinics dental director, submitted resignations this week, Galveston County Health Authority Dr. Phillip Keiser said. Keiser, the countys top health official, announced a new interim director for the clinic.

Kathy Barroso, the chief executive officer of the Galveston County Health District, will head Coastal Health & Wellness until a permanent replacement can be found, Keiser said. He did not name a new dental clinic director.

Since Monday, the health district has tested 1,082 former patients and had gotten results for about 510 patients, Keiser said Friday. None had tested positive for hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV, he said. But Keiser encouraged former patients to continue going in for testing.

This is just preliminary, Keiser said. We dont have all the results and we dont know where this is going to go.

Modern technology can detect the viruses within two weeks of exposure, so anyone who potentially had been exposed at the clinics could be diagnosed with testing, he said.

A Feb. 12 audit by an independent accreditation organization, The Joint Commission, identified major lapses in sterilization procedures at dental clinics in Texas City and Galveston, he said.

During The Joint Commissions inspection, officials found dirty brushes that were used to clean dental instruments and supposedly sanitized instruments that were rusted and dirty, Keiser said. Inspectors also discovered that water sprayed into peoples mouths had never been changed and tested positive for bacteria, Keiser said.

The auditors were so concerned they informed us in person that day, Keiser said, adding that he made the decision to immediately close the two clinics on Feb. 12. Neither clinic has reopened.

Inspectors found problems they deemed to be immediate threats to life, he said. The commission also cited lapses in training and documentation.

There were clearly systemic issues, Keiser said. At the level of people doing the work, what they suffered from was a lack of leadership and lack of oversight.

Its a whole nexus of offenses that really add up to one big problem.

It took officials 38 days to make a public announcement that patients had been put at risk of exposure to communicable diseases by dentists using unclean tools.

Health officials went through the audit during the weeks since it was conducted and determined what different consequences or harm to patients there might have been from the breakdown in sanitation procedures, Keiser said Friday.

There was enough there that raised an alarm, Keiser said. We got to the point where we realized the clinic had been closed a long time and there were inquiries, so last week we decided that we needed to announce to the public to allow people the opportunity to get tested.

Over weeks of investigation, the health district identified six patients who had been positively diagnosed with hepatitis C some time after having appointments at the clinic, Keiser said.

Investigators had determined to a high degree of certainty that two of the six had not been infected at the clinic, Keiser said. But the health district had not been able to determine whether four other people had been infected at the clinic or elsewhere.

Keiser had previously said the health district became concerned because of similarities in the times and places where those four people were treated.

The clinic had violated the trust of the thousands of patients, he said. Keiser asked patients for an opportunity to win back that trust.

I understand theres been a loss of trust, Keiser said. If I were in that situation I would be extremely upset and probably very angry.

Coastal Health & Wellness was once officially under the oversight of the chief executive officer of the Galveston County Health District, officials said at Wednesdays meeting.

But in 2015, leadership of the groups was split at the urging of the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency that provides funding to community based health care providers like Coastal Health & Wellness.

Since that time, oversight of the clinic has been left totally to its administrators and its governing board, officials said.

The clinic is still offering other medical services, which were not involved in the sterilization lapses, he said.

The Texas City dental clinic, one of the two closed in the audit, likely would reopen soon and employees have been undergoing extensive training for weeks, he said. But the investigation into what went wrong likely would continue for months, he said.

The county health district, the state health department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention all are involved in the investigation, Keiser said.

For many poor residents in Galveston County, the clinics were the only place to get dental or health care, Keiser said. While the clinics had damaged their trust with the community, it was important for health officials to regain trust and offer quality services to people across the county, he said.

We not only want people to have health care, but to have good quality health care, Keiser said.Nord Stream 2 is tool of political blackmail for Russia

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that the Nord Stream 2 project requires examination from the economic, political and moral points of view.

The press service of the head of state reported that Poroshenko told this to Germany's Funke Media Group.

"I am sure that an attempt of gas poisoning in Salisbury would have consequences for Nord Stream 2. The gas pipeline project requires examination from the economic, political and moral points of view," the Ukrainian president said.

Poroshenko said that those who support Nord Stream 2 become allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin in his hybrid wars.

He expressed confidence that Nord Stream 2 for Russia is not a business project, but a "tool of political blackmail."

"Moscow repeatedly showed itself in true colors in the issues of gas blackmailing," the head of state said.

"In addition, Gazprom would be able to block reverse gas supply to Ukraine, restricting the volumes of incoming gas via the pipeline. This would have weakened our country," Poroshenko said.Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!

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Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.Reporter

Before coming to work for The Daily News as a staff reporter, Connor worked for us as a freelance correspondent throughout 2017. He has written for other publications such as the Washington Post.The 951-foot Grand Princess will department from the Port of Los Angeles World Cruise Center Berth 93 about a month after the 1,060-foot Carnival Panorama marked the return of cruises out of the Port of Long Beach. The return of...Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko will be unable to control the activity of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) chief Artem Sytnyk has said.

"Future scenarios [after the possible sacking of SAPO chief Nazar Kholodnytsky]? Lutsenko will be unable to take control over SAPO, because the lacks the authority. SAPO has two deputy heads. The first deputy head during the competition to fill the vacancy will be in charge. I don't see any problems with this," Sytnyk said in an interview with the Kyiv-based Dzerkalo Tyzhnia newspaper.

Sytnyk said prosecutorial review of any case would be handled by SAPO agents, who he said "are prepared to work normally."

"Now the wording of the Criminal Procedure Code is such that the Prosecutor General's Office's (PGO) official grants of authority over any case are small. The most important person is the person handling the case. The only authority the PGO has during the period of the competition to find a new SAPO head is to appoint a specific prosecutor from SAPO prosecutors in specific criminal cases. The prosecutor general cannot order formal administrative action. All other decisions on the case are taken by the appointed prosecutor," Sytnyk said.Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko spent around UAH 200 million on charity in 2017.

"About UAH 200 million in 2017 were spent on charitable activities, such as social, cultural, medical programs, support for the army. They are not reflected in the declaration because such activity was carried out not by the individual, but by the nationwide organization "Poroshenko Charity Foundation" and legal entities whose beneficiary owner is Petro Poroshenko and which are indicated in his electronic declaration," the press service of the head of state said.

The total amount of such expenditures for social charity and strengthening of the country's defense capability for the period from 2014 to 2017 inclusive exceeded UAH 800 million.Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) Alexander Hug has said that the recommitment to the ceasefire from March 30 is another opportunity to work towards a full sustainable ceasefire.

"Another recommitment to the ceasefire came into effect last night, just after midnight [At 00:00 on March 30]. It is another opportunity for the sides to work towards a full sustainable ceasefire and another opportunity to prioritize civilians over a military logic," Hug reported via Skype at a press-briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center on Friday.

Since the recommitment to the ceasefire that took effect on 5 March the security situation in eastern Ukraine has improved.

"Last week, the OSCE SMM in Ukraine recorded over 4,800 ceasefire violations 4,800 ceasefire violations nonetheless represent a considerable improvement of the situation prior to the recommitment when the OSCE SMM recorded over 7,000 violations," he said.

He said that most importantly it is a clear demonstration that the sides when they choose can reduce the level of violence.

"If the sides choose to end violence it would end," Hug said.

As reported, the Trilateral Contact Group for the settlement of the situation in Donbas on March 26 agreed on a complete ceasefire on the contact line in the Donbas military zone for the Easter holidays beginning on March 30.The path forward for smart cities is not without its obstacles and challenges, many of them far removed from the worlds of tech, and instead more linked to the societal, political and financial factors.Kimberly LaGrue, chief information officer in New Orleans, recalled a community event when one resident said, I dont have a computer. I dont use any of that stuff. LaGrue shared the experience during a panel discussion at the Smart Cities Connect Conference in Kansas City, Mo., March 27.I asked her another question and she went to her phone, LaGrue added.She didnt even understand that her phone was a tool for digital literacy. That the Internet on her phone was the same as Internet in her house, she went on, underscoring the growing need to educate residents about the many ways technology is serving the city.Since then, New Orleans has launched initiatives like a program called Tech Goes Home, as well as a digital equity challenge to close the digital divide that often leaves those without technological knowledge behind.Understanding and overcoming the digital divide is an issue officials in other cities explore as well, said Girish Ramachandran, Dallas' chief technology architect.If theres public Wi-Fi out there, do people even know how to access public Wi-Fi? Ramachandran asked. Do they have the devices needed to access public Wi-Fi as opposed to just deploying a solution and then saying, Great, now go use it?San Francisco holds classes that focus on using the Internet for job searches and other information like college programs. The idea is to go beyond simply putting a tool out in the world; it hinges on fostering its use for the greater public good.Essentially, what weve done is weve created a place where theres plenty of computers, theyre attached to the Internet, so they come do the training and go back to their home and kind of apply what theyve learned, said Nina DAmato, chief of staff for the City and County of San Francisco Technology Department.The panelists also zeroed in on some of the peripheral issues that must be addressed as cities become smarter, more data-driven and more network dependent. In the end, they warned, residents cant be left behind in the process.We have to help our citizens understand why the information is important, said LaGrue. And if technology is as much of a demon as it is an asset, if data is as much of a demon as it is an asset to them, then weve got to fix that.Cary, N.C.

Chelsea, Mass.

Huntington, W.V.

Washington, D.C.

In applying for the 2018 Bloomberg Mayors Challenge  a philanthropic contest that encourages cities to come up with innovative solutions to shared problems  South Bend, Ind., took a new approach to its workforce development efforts.Typically, South Bend had tackled that issue by emphasizing skills development, said Santiago Garces, South Bend CIO, but for the Mayors Challenge the city instead re-oriented its efforts to research causes for job loss. What officials found was that roughly 40 percent of firings in the area were related to not showing up for work or to showing up for work late. In some instances, employers at restaurants or other businesses found themselves driving to employees' houses to pick them up.What we realized was that the biggest obstacle for employment wasnt skills, Garces said. It was transportation.In lieu of this research, South Bend began working on a proposal for ways the city could use technology, including ride-sharing programs, to facilitate easier transportation to and from work for employees, thereby helping residents keep their jobs and employers save money by not having to address constant turnover in the workforce. The early stages of the project were successful, and South Bend was selected as one of 35 champion cities in the Bloomberg Mayors Challenge , which had an initial pool of 320 applicant jurisdictions.The city, like the vast majority of the country, has seen an increase in the number of residents who work part-time jobs or participate in the gig economy by driving for on-demand ride-share companies like Uber and Lyft. While the city will use the Mayors Challenge research phase to explore logistical feasibility, Garces said that part of the thinking now is that it would be great to pair these gig economy drivers with part-time workers who need rides to work. This could potentially be facilitated through some kind of subsidized ride program paid for by the employers who would be saving money on costs related to turnover.Garces also said that one of the most exciting parts of participating in the Bloomberg Mayors Challenge is that it has a framework that pushes technologists to prototype quickly and to rapidly debunk assumptions about their ideas. This sort of agile development often creates problems for government, a sector that generally lacks the time and resources to conduct studies about the feasibility of potential programs. South Bend expects to use tools such as user-centered design and research and prototyping this summer to quickly identify whether its idea is worthwhile.We know some of the things we assume wont happen, Garces said.South Bend, of course, is just one of many cities across the country that struggles with these problems and is working to adapt. This makes its project such an ideal candidate for the Bloomberg Mayors Challenge, a central concern of which is finding solutions to shared problems and that can and will later be scaled to other jurisdictions.This article is the fourth in a series looking at the innovative ideas of 35 cities, including South Bend, that are currently conducting testing with support from Bloomberg. The ultimate goal for all of these projects is to create a solution that can be scaled by other cities that face similar challenges. With that in mind, these pilots have the potential to have a major impact on the gov tech market. In October, four of these cities will receive an additional $1 million in support, while one grand prize winner will get $5 million to support its idea.Cary, N.C., is one of a handful of cities in the Mayors Challenge with a project that seeks to address the nations ongoing opioid epidemic.North Carolina as a state has seen an 800 percent increase in lethal overdoses from opioids over the past decade, and officials say that lack of timely public health data is hurting efforts to stem this. The Cary project plans to generate better data related to opioid consumption by measuring concentrations of opioid metabolites in sewage. Noting in a press release that the value of this has to do with how counting overdoses relies on damage control, while wastewater monitoring would give officials a near real-time set of info to work with.Carys project calls for contracting an outside company to do the testing and provide data analytics. The resultant information could then be shared with public health officials and educators in the service of developing and deploying programs to address residents who are at risk.Just as most places in our nation, this is a growing problem in Cary, Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said in the press release. Last year we saw a 40 percent increase in fatal overdoses and a 135 percent increase in non-fatal overdoses, resulting in a 70 percent overall increase in overdoses. Today, all of our patrol officers carry Narcan, which has prevented overdose death of our Cary friends and family members, but still, more can be done. This project will hopefully help us to do more.The entry from Chelsea, Mass., in the innovation competition seeks to address a traditional problem: crime.Chelsea reports that its violent crime rate is the third highest in the state, and that it directly affects the citys roughly 6,000 residents, driven by gangs and drug-related crimes. The idea the city is working with involves scaling the proven hub crime prevention strategy so that a team of community members and government employees could meet each week to identify the residents and families facing crime-related problems, thereby creating a custom plan to help them.Basically, Chelsea already has an existing crime hub strategy, but what this project calls for is scaling it up to proactively help people in the community dealing with crime by connecting them with city services. In a press release , Chelseas leadership noted that in the coming months the crime hub leaders will develop a pilot and build data capacity to learn, adapt and direct limited resources toward crime prevention.This overall model is based on a Canadian hub model, one that can be readily transferred to other communities. The broader aim for this work is to help governmental efforts to address crime move from a system of silos to one that fosters more efficient, collaborative efforts.Huntington, W.V., is another city with a project looking to address the opioid crisis, except their work is taking a bit of a different tact.The project in Huntington is focused on the mental health of the first responders who must deal with the psychological impact of helping those afflicted by opioids. Huntington is another community that has been hit especially hard by this problem, with the city reporting that its first responders face as much as 10 times the national average of opioid overdoses. This has resulted in feelings of depleted empathy, as well as in higher turnover and less capacity to deliver high-quality care.Cathy Burns, Huntingtons city manager, said this would be a new approach for the city.There are not a lot of resources that have been focused on our first responders and on helping them identify a better model for self care, Burns said. So, thats really what our focus here is.A year ago, Huntington embedded a mental health professional in its police department, and after an adjustment period, officials noticed that the employees of the department not only became comfortable talking about their work but began to vent how it felt to watch the same individual overdose on opioids multiple times, as well as to do other repetitive and emotionally difficult tasks. First responders  a group that includes firefighters and police officers  have a long history of being fraternal, but they are not always so quick to embrace outsiders.The project for the Mayors Challenge seeks to explore what it would take to embed more mental health-care professionals with first responders in other jurisdictions across the country.The Washington, D.C., entry for the Mayors Challenge seeks to improve the citys responsiveness through creating a team to support city agencies that do surveys and integrate their findings into the decision-making process.The goal, according to a press release , would be to ensure that every agency in the city is eventually conducting smart, sophisticated surveys that regularly integrate resident feedback into key decision-making processes.Our idea combines the inclusiveness of Yelp, the immediacy of polling, and the reach and rigor of the Census to ensure that residents voices are regularly integrated into our decision-making processes, said Mayor Muriel Bowser in the press release. With this tool, we can increase civic engagement and do more to build a government that is both for the people and by the people.Head of Ukraine's Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), Deputy Prosecutor General Nazar Kholodnytsky has said that the most fringe department of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO)  the department for major investigations in the economic sphere  has investigated into him and illegally installed bugs.

"This department, with the support of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, has installed a "bug." I would not assess the lawfulness of the installation of this "bug", who coordinated this and what permit was given - the investigators and the defense team will take a close look at this. I do not want to foretell but you will see for yourself what harm that will be inflicted on the fight against corruption fight, taking into account what is happening now," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Friday.

Kholodnytsky called the PGO's department for major investigations in the economic sphere "one of the most odious departments of the Prosecutor General's Office, if not the most odious." The SAPO has launched criminal proceedings over illegal enrichment under two other articles of the Criminal Code against the chief of the department. The case "in a strange way, for some reason, has not been investigated at all by NABU [National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine] detectives in the past four months. Now I understand why," he said.(TNS)  CONCORD  Now that New Hampshire has been comparing its voter checklists with registration rolls in 30 other states for the past year, Secretary of State Bill Gardner has a new trove of information on voter fraud that he hopes to present to the public at some point this spring or summer.The state Legislature approved New Hampshires participation in the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program in 2016, and Gardner provided data from the 2016 election.The program, which started in Kansas, has been steadily enlisting other states since 2006, when four Midwestern states began to share voter data.Gardner said he hopes to have his report on the results of the states participation in Crosscheck no later than June 15, the filing deadline for primary election candidates.Were going to issue a report to the people of the state explaining and showing everything weve done since last year with regard to the Crosscheck program, as Ive said all along, said Gardner.Gardner alluded to the upcoming report at a January hearing on SB 439, an unsuccessful attempt by Democrats to have the state withdraw from Crosscheck and adopt a different form of interstate voter verification known as the Electronic Registration Information Center.The upcoming report on duplicate registration from state to state is part of participation in the Crosscheck program.Well get a report like this every cycle because of our participation in Crosscheck, said Gardner.Proponents of Crosscheck say its an important tool in preventing voter fraud, and will become more effective as more states join. Critics say the process is flawed and results in many false duplicates, mostly involving minority voters more likely to share common surnames, and younger voters who tend to be more transient.Gardner said the state identified 94,000 duplicate registrations in the first round of matches, using only first and last name. After adding middle names, the number of matches was reduced to 30,000, and continued to shrink as additional data points were added.The report will show how many true duplicates were identified and the outcome in each case.Duplicate registration is not necessarily a sign of voter fraud. Often, a duplicate results from someone moving and not having their name removed from the checklist at their old location.But in a handful of cases, Gardner said, voters admitted to voting twice. When asked his overall impression of the data, as regards the extent of voter fraud, Gardner says hes reluctant to characterize the situation until all the data is in.Ill talk about that when weve finished everything, he said.The Secretary of States office used information from other state sources to further investigate duplicate voter registration churned up in the Crosscheck program.Were able to use databases that we have not actually used before, he said.For example, if a name turned up on two different checklists, Gardners office would obtain the voter registration cards for each checklist and compare signatures.Theres a long list of things we have to do for each duplicate, and were only going to release the data when theres nothing more we can do, Gardner said.Bryan M. Sastokas, top technology official in Long Beach, Californias seventh-largest city, is taking on the same job at the nations third-largest transit agency.Sastokas, who became Long Beach's chief information officer and head of its Technology and Innovation Department in 2015 , will be the new CIO at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . He replaces Metros former CIO, Dave Edwards, who retired earlier this year.The agency fields more than 2,000 buses and six rail lines covering a 1,400-square-mile service area and carrying roughly 1.3 million passengers per day.Sastokas, named one of Government Technologys Top 25 Doers, Dreamers & Drivers of 2015 when he was CIO in Oakland, isnt wasting any time. His last day at Long Beach is Friday, April 6, and he will start at Metro on Monday, April 9, leading its Information and Technology Unit, which has 147 full-time employees and a $65.2 million annual budget.Long Beach has named Lea D. Eriksen, its assistant director of finance, as interim director of the Technology & Innovation Department, a public affairs representative said.As Metros new CIO, Sastokas will generally be responsible for leading and refreshing technology at a far-flung agency that, like other regional jurisdictions, faces emerging and ongoing transportation challenges.Not the least of those, he said, is preparing Los Angeles to host the 2028 Summer Olympics. More immediately, however, hell be responsible for conducting an ascertainment of where we are as an agency, including reviewing previous assessments and determining current needs, according to Metro Deputy Executive Officer for Public Relations Joni Goheen.Metro CEO Phillip A. Washington highlighted Sastokas public-sector experience and professional acclaim in a statement.He brings a demonstrated track record of harnessing innovation while building and deploying products, services and infrastructure that support our business needs. He is a perfect fit for Metro, Washington said.Sastokas started off his government IT career as CIO of Coral Springs, Fla., where he stayed for three years before heading to Modesto, Calif., for another three-year stint as that city's CIO.In Oakland , Sastokas' accomplishments included spearheading the launch of RecordTrac, an open source records request platform, and supporting hackathons for youth in low-income areas. He was CIO there for 18 months before joining Long Beach.In Long Beach, Sastokas emphasized using technology to empower residents, launching a new responsive website with a more efficient, consolidated content management system and debuting the one-stop open data site DataLB. He also led innovation in the C-suite by testing a virtual data officer position and hired the municipalitys first cyber-risk officer We coined it that way because we knew we didnt want someone who was solely in policy, Sastokas said, adding that because of the ongoing danger cities face from virtual bad actors, Long Beach sought a candidate who could use technology like artificial intelligence and behavior patterning to do more than generate a list of what shouldnt be done.During Sastokas time with Long Beach, the city also worked with national technology innovation groups like CityMart, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Code for America to deliver engaging solutions. In 2016 the city launched BizPort, a portal aimed at connecting the business community to resources.Were kind of this digital ombudsman connecting people to resources that maybe the city doesnt provide, Sastokas said in reference to BizPort. Were finding out were being more effective because were asking, not just taking things online, were connecting.In November 2015, Long Beach was named a Top 10 Digital City for the fifth consecutive year by the Center for Digital Government.*His capstone moment, the CIO said, was being invited to the South by South Lawn (SXSL) event that convened creators and innovators at the White House in 2016, where he discussed data-driven justice  enabling first responders to do a better job of matching the public to the resources they need most.Sastokas said hes eager to join Metro to foster collaboration among its departments, other county agencies and with members of the public.We dont know individually what we can all learn collectively. By doing that, I think we can really make Metro that community asset that it is, he said.Metro conducted a nationwide search for at least 60 days to identify its next CIO, Goheen said, noting the agency had sought a forward-thinking candidate.Its not just looking at the projects that we have on tap and saying, Okay, this is what we can do. Its looking beyond that. Its, what can you bring to the table? I know thats what were looking for and its to be a more collaborative partner, Goheen said, emphasizing the sheer size of the region the agency serves and its many partners across multiple levels of government, including 88 cities.Government Technology(TNS)  The cybersecurity risks facing cities and counties are as varied as the desires of the hackers who seek to breach their systems.As Baltimore recovers from a breach of its 911 dispatch system on Sunday, cybersecurity experts say its a chance for the city to reinforce the networks within its municipal agencies to stave off future attacks.And more attacks are coming for sure, these experts say. Generally, municipalities dont fully understand their risk and addressing the problem is less about funding and more about government culture, they said.Baltimores 911 dispatch system was hacked Sunday morning, shutting down automated dispatches for 911 and 311 calls, after a port to the internet was inadvertently left unprotected. Hackers running automated scans looking for such vulnerabilities found and exploited it, much like thieves who check for unlocked doors and windows.The breach, a ransomware attack carried out by unknown actors, follows recent cyberattacks on cities like Atlanta, where multiple systems were disabled over the weekend, and Dallas, where emergency sirens went off for hours last year.From stealing residents identifying information to disabling emergency response systems, the list of things that can be done is as long as your twisted imagination, said Richard Ford, chief scientist of Forcepoint, an Austin, Texas-based cybersecurity firm that acquired Baltimore-based RedOwl last year.Systems like emergency dispatch centers and networks that contain financial transaction information are particularly vulnerable and lucrative to hackers wishing to create chaos or turn a profit.To see a 911 system attacked, its disturbing but its not surprising, said Rick Forno, assistant director of the University of Maryland, Baltimore Countys Center for Cybersecurity.Chad Howard, the IT manager at the Henry County 911 center in Paris, Tenn., knows all too well what Baltimore is going through. In 2016, his center was the victim of a similar ransomware attack, when hackers got into the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system through a port, or a channel to the internet, and by finding a staff list and guessing the forgotten, insecure password of an employee who had died.Like in Baltimore, dispatchers were able to handle 911 calls manually after the breach, but it shut down our CAD system completely, Howard said.The CAD system was down for about 36 hours, and even when it got back up and running, we were limping, Howard said.They had backups of data, but the most recent backup had occurred six days prior to the attack, so the system permanently lost six days of data. Once operating systems were reinstalled, they didnt have the software patches that had been applied over the years, so nothing worked as it had before the hack, Howard said. And some of the patches no longer existed, he said.Howard estimated the recovery cost his city about $20,000. His advice for other jurisdictions? Layers of security. Layers upon layers upon layers.Municipal services become increasingly vulnerable to hacks the more they are integrated with online networks.As you leverage these new technologies, they come with a certain amount of risk, said Amit Yoran, chairman and CEO of the Columbia cybersecurity company Tenable. Theyre exposed to all the potentially bad actors on the internet.Yoran said cities and counties need to manage those risks more proactively. To start, cities like Baltimore should take stock of their networks to understand their exposure, assess the risks and patch vulnerable areas. Most cities and counties dont have a strong picture of their networks security, Yoran said.We find that organizations which have a culture that  emphasizes good cyber-hygiene end up with a radically different exposure profile than their peer group, Yoran said. I dont think this is a matter of budget. The problem here is most frequently a cultural one.A report released last year by UMBC and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) detailing the cybersecurity practices of local governments found that the agencies struggled to fund and staff their cybersecurity programs.One of the most important findings was that large fractions of local governments do not know if they are under attack. They do not know if theyve been breached, said Donald Norris, a professor emeritus of public policy at UMBC who surveyed thousands of local governments for the study. This kind of thing can happen anytime to anybody whose cybersecurity policies and practices are not just top notch.Even when local governments do have top-notch cybersecurity, Norris said, one mistake by one employee  opening a malicious email, leaving a port open  can open the door to an attack.Cory Fleming, program director for the ICMA, said the report shows government workers need better training and stronger cybersecurity policies to protect against attacks.When you look at some of those statistics, theyre not necessarily following through and paying attention to cybersecurity, she said.Yoran also suggested implementing complex user authentication techniques, such as face and touch recognition. He sees too many organizations relying on usernames and passwords to identify users.If you are, youre starting with an abysmal F, he said.Building strong cybersecurity into networks can be challenging for cities with limited budgets, where the physical needs of citizens are more pressing. But money is not often the answer to cybersecurity breaches.Youre never going to spend your way out of cybersecurity hell, Ford said.Maintaining network safety over time is more cost-effective that continually fixing problems caused by hacks. And organizations should monitor their systems consistently for signs of breaches, which can come from a range of actors: criminals, nation-state actors, hacktivists and other troublemakers.As we have a lot of international instability, I think there are concerns around attackers that might go after critical infrastructure for nation-state type activities, Ford said.For example, the Trump administration recently accused the Russian government of a concerted effort to hack into U.S. utilities and the nations power grid.Hackers motives are varied, too  from creating mayhem to making money.After hacks, cities should reevaluate the security of their networks and consider other potentials for failure. Ford said municipalities have to think about long-term, broad security goals rather than responding only to individual crises.It should drive the creation of crisis plans across many of your critical services, Ford said. Dont fix the specific problem; fix the bigger problem.Every incident should be a learning experience, Forno said. You dont want to have the same attack twice, he said.Lester Davis, a spokesman for Baltimore City Council President Bernard C. Jack Young, said he expects the council will address the breach and what needs to been done to prevent another one in the coming weeks, and in a public setting.There will be an opportunity for the public to be walked through exactly what happened, and then an opportunity for the administration to talk about safeguards being put in place, and what those safeguards are, so that the chances of something like this happening again in the future are greatly diminished, Davis said. Thats the bare minimum.City Councilman Brandon Scott, chair of the public safety committee, said the city must be more prepared, and that he plans to call officials from the Mayors Office of Information Technology before his committee to explain what happened.Its fortunate that it didnt go further than it did, and no other services were gotten into, Scott said of the breach. But cybersecurity on the city infrastructure is an issue that Ive raised before. We dont spend enough money on it, and we should spend more to make sure that were prepared.Baltimore, together with the FBI, is still investigating the source of Sundays ransomware breach.Dave Fitz, a FBI spokesman, confirmed the city had turned materials over to the federal agency but otherwise declined to comment.Although its uncertain where the next attack will come from, one thing is clear: hacks on city agencies will continue and become more frequent, experts said.Youre really in the risk management business not the risk removal business, Ford said. Its tough and unfortunately its only going to get tougher.Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) Artem Sytnyk has named proceedings, the negative processes around which served as a ground for opening criminal proceedings against Head of Ukraine's Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), Deputy Prosecutor General Nazar Kholodnytsky.

"This is a case of embezzlement by officials of the city hall in Odesa, cases opened under the application of acting Minister of Health Uliana Suprun over the fact of offering her a bribe, the case concerning the Golden Mandarin firm, which is affiliated with People's Deputy Lohvynsky [Heorhiy Lohvynsky from People's Front faction], investigations related to e-declarations of senior officials, investigations related to the business interests of the owner of a large agricultural holding. It is difficult to imagine what we could have heard if the records were kept not for four weeks, but four months..," he said in an interview with the ZN.UA online publication.

Sytnyk said that the records made in the office of Kholodnytsky contain data on "the leakage of information about the preparations for searches to those people where these searches are to be carried out, about pressure on certain officials to make certain decisions."

"It's not just about prosecutors, but especially about the prosecutors. There are prosecutors who want to work normally, but people holding administrative posts in the SAPO do not let them do this. The prosecutor brings up draft suspicion papers, but instead gets a scolding, and the matter is being made slow," the NABU Director said.

In addition, he said, the records are about the pressure on the court to make illegal decisions. "In particular, the pressure on the court was for the purpose that the court does not hear the request of the NABU detectives to conduct a search from a person who is a friend of Kholodnytsky," Sytnyk said.

He said that a witness was also incited to give false testimony.

The NABU director said that the sign indicating illegal and improper actions on the part of the SAPO head was that the investigations were constantly hampered, the necessary procedural documents were not signed for months, and some suspicions were not signed within a year and a half or two.NABU: there might be grounds in actions of SAPO head for bringing him to criminal and disciplinary liability

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has explained that the data obtained as a result of the undercover investigative actions, which were authorized by the court, give reason to assume that there might be grounds in the actions of Head of Ukraine's Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), Deputy Prosecutor General Nazar Kholodnytsky for bringing him to criminal and disciplinary liability.

NABU confirmed that detectives of the NABU, as part of a joint group with the investigators of the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO), for a certain period of time indeed have carried out investigative actions in the framework of a criminal proceeding registered by the PGO on alleged offenses by the SAPO head, according to a Friday posting on the NABU' website.

The bureau said that the issue of bringing the SAPO head to criminal responsibility falls within competence of the PGO as a body of pretrial investigation in the said criminal proceeding.

Regarding the possibility of disciplinary offenses in the actions by the chief anti-corruption prosecutor, NABU Director Artem Sytnyk sent a complaint to the Qualification Disciplinary Commission of Prosecutors on March 30, 2018.

"The revealed signs of potential disciplinary misconduct and violations by the SAPO head in no way characterize the work of the body headed by him. Therefore, we emphasize that the situation surrounding the SAPO head does not stop the cooperation between detectives and procedural heads in criminal proceedings that are being investigated by NABU," NABU said, remindingthat currently NABU detectives are investigating around 500 cases, procedural guidance in which is carried out by the SAPO prosecutors.

The bureau assured that the actions of NABU in this situation were legal and justified, and that they were aimed at protecting the legitimate interests of society.The Russian Federation expels 13 Ukrainian diplomats from the cities where most of rigged trials against Ukrainian political prisoners take place  mainly from the Embassy in Moscow and five from the Consulate in Rostov, First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Gerashchenko has said.

"Russia traditionally acts meanly and painfully. In response to the expulsion of 13 Russian diplomats who were engaged in dubious activities in Ukraine, they expelled 13 of our incumbent diplomats, mostly from the Embassy in Moscow, and five from our consulate in Rostov, where a majority of trials over Ukrainian political prisoners took place," she wrote.

According to her, relatives of prisoners are worried whether the Ukrainian consulate can now perform work to protect Ukrainians to the full extent.

"Yes, the burden and pressure on our consuls who remain working in Mordor will increase, but they are aware of their responsibility and high mission. They will continue to fully fulfill their duties, seek access to prisons and be presented at trials," Gerashchenko said.

She believes that the department to support families of hostages and political prisoners must urgently start working at Ukraine's Ministry for Temporary Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons.Warning sirens again terrorize Windward Oahu, prompt HI-EMA review, apology

News Release from Office of Rep Cynthia Thielen, March 29, 2018

Two months after Hawaii and visitors suffered the false ballistic-missile threat heard around the globe, parts of Kailua, population 8,000 not counting visitors, yesterday experienced fear of death again, when the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency tested one or more sirens  for three hours  without issuing adequate notification.

Called by scared, confused and outraged constituents, Representative Cynthia Thielen contacted HI-EMA Administrator Thomas Travis, who initially told her that the advance public-outreach efforts his agency took were all that were required or that could be done.

The efforts did not include any:

 cell-phone notifications

 communication with Honolulu Department of Emergency Management (DEM)

 online information-systems notices coordinated by DEM.

To prevent this scare from re-occurring on Oahu and statewide to any of Hawaii's 1.5 million residents plus visitors, Thielen hand-delivered a frank communication to Gov. David Ige, alerting him to the unacceptable operation. Soon after, Travis contacted Thielen's office, recognizing the "error," and stating that a review of HI-EMA protocol and steps is underway.

"In light of the world's biggest false-missile threat just 10 weeks ago at the hands of HI-EMA  and its guarantee that nothing like that would happen again  why didn't the agency learn its lesson?," Thielen said. "The frightened included elementary-school students, who didn't know whether they were getting bombed or hit with a tsunami. The scars of repeated trauma involving death scenarios cannot be underscored."

From HI-EMA: "Please accept HI-EMAs apology for the concern and confusion that resulted from our inadequate notice," Travis stated. "I am taking steps to ensure the mistake will not be repeated and, as we discussed, I am reviewing what additional steps we should take."

* * * * *

HI-EMA and News Media Fail to Inform Public of Oahu Emergency Siren Test

by Christine Gralow, MeanwhileInHawaii, 3/29/2018

Kailua, HI - Just twelve days after announcing its new administrator and ten weeks after terrifying the public with a false nuclear missile alert, the Hawai'i Emergency Management Agency confused residents and tourists in Windward O'ahu with an off-schedule emergency siren test at Kailua's Kalama Beach Park yesterday.

Most Hawai'i-based news organizations that received a HI-EMA press release about the siren test also failed to publish the information online before HI-EMA began testing the siren at approximately 9:00 a.m. yesterday.

HI-EMA Public Information Officer Richard Rapoza emailed a press release regarding yesterday's Kalama Beach siren testing to Hawai'i's mainstream news organizations at 2:58 p.m. Tuesday. The press release was not posted on HI-EMA's website.

KHON2 was the only news organization to post an article that was accessible to the public online before the siren testing began. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser did not publish the information until more than one hour after HI-EMA began testing the siren. No other news organization published information about the testing that was publicly accessible via online search engines.

"We probably should have done more," said Honolulu Star-Advertiser City Desk Editor David Butts, after hearing concerns about the community's experience.

Butts said he lives near Kalama Beach Park, and his wife contacted him at work at 10:20 a.m. yesterday, confused about why she was repeatedly hearing an emergency siren sounding at the end of the month. Her confusion was shared locally by mail carriers, students, teachers, and tourists, who said they had not heard news of the testing in advance. HI-EMA typically conducts siren testing at the beginning of each month.Hawaii Assisted Suicide Bill Sent to Governors Desk

by Bradford Richardson - The Washington Times - Friday, March 30, 2018

The Hawaii Senate sent legislation legalizing physician-assisted suicide to the governors desk on Thursday.

Democratic Gov. David Ige is expected to sign the bill, making Hawaii the eighth jurisdiction where physicians can prescribe life ending drugs to terminally ill patients who wish to die and have a prognosis of six months or less to live.

Matt Valliere, executive director of the Patients Rights Action Fund, which opposes physician-assisted suicide, said the bill unfairly puts vulnerable lives at risk for abuse and coercion.

Assisted suicide is dangerous public policy with potentially deadly consequences for everyone, but especially people with disabilities, the sick, the poor, and the elderly, Mr. Valliere said in a statement. We should prioritize protecting these vulnerable members of society instead of adding to the challenges they face.

The Hawaii Senate passed the Our Care, Our Choice Act by a 23 to 2 vote. The bill made it through the lower chamber earlier this year by a 39 to 12 vote.

Oregon became the first state to legalize assisted suicide in 1994, when voters approved a ballot measure. Four additional states  California, Colorado, Vermont and Washington state  and the District of Columbia have also enacted legislation permitting the practice. The Montana Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that nothing in state law prevents physicians from assisting terminally ill patients to end their lives.

Kim Callinan, chief executive officer of Compassion & Choices, which advocates aid in dying, said Hawaiians are now one step closer to having peace of mind at the end of their lives. Aubrey Hawk, communications officer for Compassion & Choices Hawaii, said aid in dying makes Hawaii a more compassionate state for its terminally ill citizens. Medical aid in dying is an option, Ms. Hawk said in a statement. It need not be exercised, but we will be a more compassionate state for making it accessible to our terminally ill kamaaina who so desperately need it.

Bills to legalize physician-assisted suicide have failed to gain traction in seven states this year, including in Connecticut and Massachusetts this month. None of the 29 states where aid-in-dying legislation was introduced last year passed the measures into law.

The Hawaii legislation requires two health care providers to confirm the patients diagnosis, prognosis and medical competence over a span of no more than 15 days before the life-ending drugs can be prescribed.

But Catherine Glenn Foster, president of Americans United for Life, said there are insufficient safeguards against abuse and coercion in the legislation.

Americas most vulnerable citizens, including those who are elderly, terminally ill, disabled, and depressed, are worthy of life and equal protection under the law, Ms. Foster said in a statement. AUL strongly urges Governor Ige to veto this fatally flawed legislation.Hawaii's Good Friday Holiday - What's Up With That?

by Robert Thomas, InverseCondemnation.com (Originally published April, 2012)

If you are wondering why the doors to most state, county, and city offices are locked today, remember that it isn't another "furlough Friday," or the day HGEA is voting on its new contract. No, today is the day that Hawaii celebrates Good Friday.

If you ask how "a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary" squares with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, let us explain O Unenlighted One. Here's our annual recounting of the how's and the why's.

Good Friday is a legal holiday in the State of Hawaii pursuant to Haw. Rev. Stat.  8-1. The day of the crucifixion was originally made a holiday in 1941 by the Territorial Legislature. The statute was recodified upon statehood in 1959, and the holiday has been confirmed via Haw. Rev. Stat.  89-1, the law that makes the establishment of public holidays -- among many other things -- a product of what the statute calls "joint decision-making" process between the government and the government employee unions (also known as collective bargaining -- and here it was you thought that elected representatives made laws).

The Establishment Clause, which has been incorporated against the states by the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, prohibits the government from establishing an official religion (the so-called separation church and state), and in 1987, several Hawaii taxpayers challenged the designation of Good Friday as a public holiday because it was plainly -- they claimed -- a religious, not secular observance. The Hawaii federal court held otherwise in Cammack v. Waihee, 673 F. Supp. 1524 (D. Haw. 1987), concluding among other things that the Legislature made Good Friday a holiday to insure that public workers have more days off, not to make sure they were religious:

[T]he Good Friday holiday was primarily proposed to increase the frequency of legal holidays. It is also noteworthy to point out, as does the State in this case, that the legislative report seems to acknowledge that Good Friday is not an entirely religious day. The 1939 report characterizes Good Friday as in theory at least a day of solemn religious observances, apparently reflecting the legislature's sentiment that Good Friday had lost much of its religious nature and had become a holiday similar in nature to Thanksgiving or Christmas which have been secularized to some extent over the centuries. Indeed, this court is also of the opinion that Good Friday has attained a secular character; for the majority of Americans Good Friday has become more an integral part of a traditional three day secular celebration of Spring which begins on Good Friday and continues through Easter Sunday than a solemn observance of Jesus Christ's crucifixion. This court concludes that the secular purpose behind the establishment of the Good Friday is manifest. The legislature does not offend the First Amendment by enacting a statute intended to ensure that the people of Hawaii have an adequate number of leave days. This court further concludes that any ancillary sectarian purpose which the legislature may have had in establishing Good Friday as a holiday is not fatal to the Hawaii Rev. Stat.  8-1, since a clearly secular purpose for the statute exists and since Good Friday, like Christmas, has become secularized to some extent over the centuries. An examination of the effects of Hawaii Rev. Stat.  8-1 leads this court to the conclusion that the legislature's intended purpose in declaring Good Friday to be a legal holiday has been fulfilled. While the plaintiffs argue that the effect of the Good Friday statute is to give Christian sects the imprimatur of State approval, an analysis of the effects of the statute compels this court to find that the secular effects of the statute significantly predominate over the sectarian effects of the statute.

The Ninth Circuit affirmed. See Cammack v. Waihee, 932 F.2d 765 (9th Cir. 1991). The majority of the three-judge panel noted that many people in Hawaii use the Good Friday holiday to go shopping, and held "[i]t is of no constitutional moment that Hawaii selected a day of traditional Christian worship, rather than a neutral date, for its spring holiday once it identified the need." The court concluded that the presence of a plausible secular purpose for enacting the law made the holiday's religious nature effectively irrelevant; to violate the Establishment Clause, the legislature must have intended the Good Friday holiday to only serve a religious purpose:

We conclude that the Hawaii statute has a legitimate, sincere secular purpose, specifically to provide Hawaiians with another holiday, and thus is not motivated wholly by an impermissible purpose. There is nothing impermissible about considering for holiday status days on which many people choose to be absent from work for religious reasons. That the state legislature was able to accomplish its secular purpose and at the same time accommodate the widespread religious practices of its citizenry is hardly a reason to invalidate the statute.

(citation omitted). One judge dissented, arguing that a day off for Good Friday was not in any sense secular, and was a government endorsement of religion:

The holly and the ivy, jingling bells, red-nosed reindeer, and frosty snowmen this is not. What this case is about is Hawaii's endorsement, by means of a state holiday, of a day thoroughly infused with religious significance alone. Because I believe that such a state establishment of religion violates both the purpose and effects prongs of Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602, 91 S.Ct. 2105, 29 L.Ed.2d 745 (1971). I respectfully dissent.

The dissenting judge argued that the court's duty is to seek out whether the legislature had a primarily religious purpose, rather than whether it had any legitimate secular purpose.

So go shopping, or go to the beach today folks. If you do go to church, it's "of no constitutional moment."Sheikh Mohammed is one of the most powerful people in the world and he can get you even in Finland, with these chilling words from an Emirati official, Tiina Jauhiaien was released after two weeks in UAE custody.

She says she was Beaten, detained, threatened with death, and forced to record a false confession, Tiina was released after being warned that she would not be safe even in Finland if she dared to speak out.

Defying threats and intimidation, in a statement to Detained in Dubai, Finnish national Tiina Jauhiaien recounts her role in the escape of Sheikha Latifa Al Maktoum from the UAE and the terrifying events that followed when their boat was attacked by a joint Indian-Emirati military raid.

In a statement to Detained in Dubai, Tiina recounted her role in the escape of Sheikha Latifa Al Maktoum, the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the UAE; and the terrifying events that followed.

Tiina accompanied Latifa aboard the yacht of French-American former naval intelligence officer Herve Jaubert, to help the Dubai princess escape alleged years of abuse suffered at the hands of her father. Latifa recorded a video before leaving the UAE in which she says that she and her elder sister, Sheikha Shamsa, had been beaten, tortured, threatened, detained, and forcibly drugged for years at a time ever since Latifa was 16 years old.

Tiina says, I have known Sheikha Latifa Al Maktoum since around 2010, first as a fitness trainer and then as her closest friend. Latifa is the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and prime minister and vice president of the UAE.

As Latifas closest friend I know the horrors of what she has suffered in the UAE at the hands of the ruling family and in particular her father. States Tiina. This was Latifas second attempt to leave the country and live a free life. Latifa was desperate to leave the country and we did so on the 24 the February 2018.

Their plan was to sail for India, and then fly to the United States where Latifa would apply for asylum; but on March 4th, these plans came to a violent end. On Sunday 4th March 2018 as night fell we were off the coast of Goa, India when we were attacked by Indian secret service and military, including the Indian Coast Guard. Tina said, Around 15 men came onboard fully masked, in armoured black clothing, with machine guns and laser sights. They used what I believe was tear gas. It was the most terrifying experience of my life, The Indian men had their laser sights on me and Latifa and they were telling me they would shoot me and kill me. I was thrown against the floor, stood on and found myself in a pool of blood. (apparently, Herves blood as he was severely beaten) At this point, I thought they had killed Herve and I thought I was next. They told me again and again that they would kill me and held me on the edge of the boat, threatening to push me into the sea. We were cuffed and forced to lie down.

Herve Jaubert has stated that at least 5 warships, replete with cannons and missiles, 2 military planes, and a helicopter were mobilised in the raid on Nostromo.

Jaubert reported that UAE officials told him that Nostromo had been commandeered, and all those onboard were abducted and detained because helping Latifa escape was a violation of Islamic Law. The UAEs stance, as communicated to Jaubert, was that it was forbidden according to Islamic law for Latifa to leave her fathers custody, and that they regarded his attempt to help her escape as tantamount to kidnapping.

Tiina recalls, Latifa was screaming at the Indian men that she was claiming political asylum. They dragged her away as I heard her say, I wont go back to the UAE, just kill me now; I havent seen my friend Latifa since.

Everyone on board Nostromo was taken, blindfolded and handcuffed, back to the UAE, where they were interrogated for two weeks. I was regularly told that I was facing the death penalty; I was frightened then and am now. The whole time, I thought that we would be killed and that Latifa would be killed too.

Eventually, Tiina and Herve were forced to record confessions, the content of which was provided entirely by the UAE authorities. Tiina says, We were told that if we did not do so we would never leave and faced the death penalty. We were instructed what to say and I was instructed to shower, change clothes and brush my hair. Then they made us sign a document in Arabic, I do not know what it said.

Soon thereafter, both Tiina and Herve were released; but before Tiina was allowed to leave, she says, the authorities warned her to keep quiet. They said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum is one of the most powerful people in the world and he can kidnap you from anywhere, as you have seen. He can take you even in Finland. Since I got home, UAE secret service has phoned me to remind me of the document I signed and to check on me, they have tried to get me to go back to Dubai.

Now home in Finland, Tiina is still traumatised, afraid, and worried about her friend Latifa. I am fearful for my life I believe Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum would think nothing of killing all of us. I am fearful for the life of Latifa, Herve and the crew of Nostromo. However, what happened to us has to be spoken about. Dubai is not safe for anyone.

Helsinki Times was unable to reach Tiina directly, but Tiinas brother confirmed that Detained in Dubai represents her and the family and the statements released are accurate. Tiina is not talking to the press directly at this point. Helsinki Times contacted UAE embassy staff in Helsinki and in order to get Ambassadors comments on this story, but there was no response from the embassy up until the publication of this story.

Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai, was contacted by Latifa and Herve from aboard Nostromo and was instructed to work on their behalf. Stirling was the last person to speak with Latifa in a phone call just as the attack on the boat began. The actions of the UAE and India against Nostromo, its crew and passengers, was a belligerent and hostile act well beyond the pale of the law. Nostromo is a US registered vessel that falls under American jurisdiction; it is, in short, legally considered United States territory. No one aboard the ship had committed a crime, as was subsequently conceded by UAE authorities themselves, and they were sailing legally with all documentation in order. Says Sterling

Detained in Dubai states in their release, that the UAEs was using PR agencies to suggest to the world this was not Sheikha Latifa, and in order to confuse the world was parading a different Sheikha Latifa around, and was ordering a crackdown on reporting the Latifa story in the UAE press.

Tiina Jauhiainen is a Finnish citizen born in 1976 in Iisalmi, and a world traveler who has been residing in Dubai since 2001 working mainly in real estate and fitness industries; Tiinas brother Oku Jauhiainen explains.  Tiina left our small town for the world, first to London in 1997, later settling in Dubai. She had always wanted to see the world.

In mid-2000s Tiina became an avid enthusiast of capoeira, a Brazilian martial art. In 2010 the sport also connected Tiina with Sheikha Latifa Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai when Tiina became her instructor and personal trainer. They became close friends, with a particular passion for skydiving. Sheikha Latifa referred to Tiina as my angel and the only person I can talk to about anything. Oku explains in a statement through Detained in Dubai.

Herve Jaubert is a French / American citizen and a former intelligence officer of the French Navy born in 1956. After leaving the navy, in 1993 Herve established a company in Florida and started building

small submarines for recreational use. In 2004 Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem visited his factory in Florida and invited him to move his firm to UAE and put him in charge of a subsidiary of Dubai World to manufacture recreational submarines.

He was later accused of embezzlement of 3 million USD from the company. Jaubert denied all charges. He escaped from Dubai a year after his first police questioning in a very similar manner, i.e. by a boat taking him to India from Fujairah and flying back to Florida from Mumbai. He wrote a book about his ordeal titled: Escape from Dubai.

Jaubert has written a few other books with controversial titles and covers such as: Sex misery of Muslims and violence; How to bust a Muslim in 20 questions; Islamopology; ISIS and the last crusade; and The Boston fracture, a fictional novel about radical Islamists using a suicide mini-submarine to unleash an apocalypse in Boston. All his books are self-published through Amazons subsidiary CreateSpace.

Helsinki Times was not able to confirm the authenticity of the video or speak to Tiina or Herve.

HT

Images: Detained in DubaiPLANS for a new primary school in Caversham Heights are finally set to be approved.

Reading Borough Councils planning committee, which meets on Wednesday, is expected to recommend that planning permission is granted for the Heights Primary School to be built on part of Mapledurham playing fields, off Upper Woodcote Road.

The final decision will be made by the councils head of planning by May 30, subject to Communities Secretary Sajid Javid calling in the application for him to decide.

A decision to grant permission would end years of wrangling over the free school, which opened in temporary premises off Gosbrook Road, Lower Caversham, in September 2014.

The school says the playing fields land is the best option while nearby residents and campaigners say it is unsuitable.

In a report to the committee, case officer Richard Eatough says: The principle that a new primary is required is accepted and great weight has been attached to this in the assessment of this planning application.

This is an area of the borough with an identified deficiency in primary school provision, which is currently causing recognised issues of congestion, unsustainable journeying and disruption in areas beyond the application site and its environs.

The site offered is considered to be highly accessible and appropriate to the school catchment, fulfilling locational and accessibility objectives to minimise, in particular, car journeys.

It has been demonstrated to your officers satisfaction that the loss of open space involved can be adequately compensated for by an increase in pitch-carrying capacity, although this aspect is still at this time expected subject to referral to the Secretary of State.

Mr Eatough says there would be were no significant effect on residents and the proposal is suitable in terms of traffic impact, road safety and parking.

He adds: Officers acknowledge that building a school on an open space results in some difficult choices but, taking all factors into consideration with this application, it is considered that the overriding public benefits of providing the school have been demonstrated to outweigh the loss of open space and any residual negative aspects.

The school was founded by a group of parents to help meet the shortage of primary school places in north Reading.

But the search for a permanent site has caused controversy.

Out of about 40 suggestions, five sites were included in a public consultation exercise carried out by Reading Borough Council before the playing fields emerged as the overwhelming favourite with almost 70 per cent of the vote. The Education Funding Agency, a government body, then offered 1.36million to improve leisure facilities on the playing fields in return for a lease on 1.2 acres of the 25-acre site for the school.

An alternative proposal called Fit4All was put forward by the Mapledurham Playing Fields Foundation, which doesnt want the school built there and instead wants to lease the fields for fund-raising purposes.

Reading Borough Council, the trustees of the land, carried out a 10-week public consultation on the choice of the fields.

More than 80 per cent of respondents supported the schools plans and 84 per cent supported the council in imposing a legal restriction on the remainder of the land to prevent any more development.

Opponents have argued that the playing fields, which were left to the borough in trust by Charles Hewett to be used for recreation, leisure and sport, are not a suitable site for the school.

Meanwhile, the current school is set to be to given a two-year extension on the use of its temporary site by the borough council.

The school is at full capacity and needs to expand in order to accommodate an intake of 100 children over the next two years. It is proposed to locate a temporary modular building on the playing field at St Annes School, which is adjacent.Premedical first aid training center opened in Kyiv region with support of NATO Representation to Ukraine, Embassy of Romania

The premedical first aid training center has been opened on the basis of the National Academy of Interior Affairs (the village of Vita Poshtova, Kyiv region), where officers of the National Police and the State Emergencies Service of Ukraine will be trained.

An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that the center was opened with support of the NATO Representation to Ukraine and the Embassy of Romania in Ukraine. All instructors were trained at the S.M.U.R.D. international emergency rescue center.

Speaking at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Head of the NATO Representation to Ukraine Alexander Vinnikov said that assistance in opening the center was provided under the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme.

"Ukraine has joined in this programme since 1991, but with the onset of the Russian aggression, it has become the largest beneficiary of the programme. Now there are 43 initiatives under the Science for Peace programme with Ukraine," he said.

In turn, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said that graduates of the premedical first aid training center will receive a state-recognized certificate.A NEW sponsored dog walk in the countryside near Henley has been hailed a success.

The first Great British Dog Walk, which took place at the Culden Faw Estate on Saturday, attracted 339 people and 219 dogs and raised hundreds of pounds for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.

Participants came from across South Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire and walked either 4km, 7km or 11km, starting and finishing at the Henley showground off Marlow Road.

Afterwards they enjoyed refreshments while their pets could try a dog agility course with jumps and obstacles.

There were also hearing dog demonstrations and a stall where visitors could find out more about the charity and volunteer to train puppies.

Michelle Sapwell, the charitys community fund-raising manager, said: It was a lovely morning and the weather didnt seem to deter anyone. We were pleasantly surprised by the turnout as we had only 219 advance registrations.

Lottie Burgess, Culden Faws events co-ordinator, said: It was a great success and everyone who took part was very respectful of the estate.

Some people said theyd have preferred a flatter route but that comes with being in the Hambleden Valley!

We look forward to offering new routes next year and will be looking to attract more people from the immediate area.THE deputy manager of the Watlington and District Care Home met the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace.

Josie Barcial was attending a special reception to celebrate nursing in the UK.

She said: I curtsied and he extended his hand, asking me what it was like working in a nursing home. I replied, it is very rewarding, Your Highness.

I felt so special  imagine the future King of England just in front of you, speaking like ordinary people. I am so honoured and delighted to have been a part of this celebration, being inside the palace and, even more delightful, shaking the hand of the Prince of Wales.

I cannot express how proud I was to be there, an event I will treasure forever.

Mrs Barcial was nominated by her employer, Sanctuary Care, for her significant contribution to nursing, without her knowledge.

She was one of hundreds of nurses from across the country to attend.

Mrs Barcial, who is originally from the Philippines, joined Sanctuary Care in 2003 when she was recruited as an overseas nurse and joined the Hill Road care home the following year.

She recalled being asked at her first interview why she wanted to come to work in the UK and replying that she would like to see Buckingham Palace.

She said: It had always been a place of fantasy for me, along with the idea of kings and queens.

When I arrived in the UK, I did go to the palace but could only look through the gates. Now I have been inside  its like a dream come true. Sheila OConnor, director of operations at Sanctuary Care, said: We were over the moon that Josie was able to experience this very special event and achieve her dream of visiting Buckingham Palace.

We are honoured that she was there as a representative of Sanctuary Care and all the other wonderful nurses we have caring for our residents.

It is fitting that this celebration happened during Sanctuary Cares 20th anniversary of delivering care to our residents  double celebration indeed.Kemerovo's Zavodsky District Court has sanctioned arrest of Yulia Bogdanova, the CEO of the Kemerovo Confectionary Plant PJSC, which owns the Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) shopping mall, an Interfax correspondent reported from the courtroom.

"The court ruled to uphold the motion of an investigator and impose on Bogdanova a restrictive measure in the form of arrest for the duration of a pre-trial inquiry in the case, until May 25," Judge Dmitry Buntovsky said.

Bogdanova is charged with violating fire safety requirements and causing the death of two or more people through negligence.

According to investigators, Bogdanova's subordinates had repeatedly notified her about shortcomings in the building's fire prevention system, but she did not take any measures.

On Wednesday, the following persons were arrested: Zimnyaya Vishnya technical director Georgy Sobolev and manager Nadezhda Suddenok, Igor Polozinenko and Alexander Nikitin, the head and an employee of the company System Integrator, which provided maintenance of the mall's fire alarm system, and Sergei Antyushin, the guard, who failed to turn on the fire alarm system.

The fire at the Zimnyaa Vishnya shopping mall occurred on March 25. According to the latest information, the fire killed sixty-four people, including over than 40 children.

CEO of company owning Kemerovo's Zimnyaya Vishnya shopping mall arrested

KEMEROVO. March 31 (Interfax) - Kemerovo's Zavodsky District Court has sanctioned arrest of Yulia Bogdanova, the CEO of the Kemerovo Confectionary Plant PJSC, which owns the Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) shopping mall, an Interfax correspondent reported from the courtroom.

"The court ruled to uphold the motion of an investigator and impose on Bogdanova a restrictive measure in the form of arrest for the duration of a pre-trial inquiry in the case, until May 25," Judge Dmitry Buntovsky said.

Bogdanova is charged with violating fire safety requirements and causing the death of two or more people through negligence.

According to investigators, Bogdanova's subordinates had repeatedly notified her about shortcomings in the building's fire prevention system, but she did not take any measures.

On Wednesday, the following persons were arrested: Zimnyaya Vishnya technical director Georgy Sobolev and manager Nadezhda Suddenok, Igor Polozinenko and Alexander Nikitin, the head and an employee of the company System Integrator, which provided maintenance of the mall's fire alarm system, and Sergei Antyushin, the guard, who failed to turn on the fire alarm system.

The fire at the Zimnyaa Vishnya shopping mall occurred on March 25. According to the latest information, the fire killed sixty-four people, including over than 40 children.The signing of the document to this effect was witnessed by Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh of Vietnam and Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Rodrigo Malmierca at the Vietnam-Cuba business forum held in Havana within the framework of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trongs visit to Cuba from March 28-31.

Under the document signed between Director General of the Mariel Special Economic Development Zones Management Office Ana Teresa Igarza and Chief Representative of Viglacera in Cuba Nguyen Anh Tuan, the Vietnamese firm will invest US$300 million to build a 160 hectare industrial park with full road, telecommunication, water and electricity infrastructure to serve industrial establishments. It will take ViMariel S.A five years to construct the industrial park from 2019. The concession is 50 years.

Addressing after the signing ceremony, Igarza affirmed this is part of Cubas efforts in calling for foreign investment to serve necessary infrastructure development for potential investors in Cuba.

The ViMariel S.A industrial park is expected to welcome businesses involved in logistics, biotech, pharmaceuticals, electronics and processing.

Also at the business forum, a series of cooperation documents between Vietnamese companies and Cuban partners. They included a memorandum of understanding between the Hanel company of Vietnam and the Cubanacan group on the construction of a five star hotel in Havana, and a contract between Viglacera and Gran Caribe on management and operation, including upgrade and restoration, of the New York Hotel in Havana downtown.

On this occasion, Minister Malmierca announced that the Cuban government had approved two projects of Vietnams Tin Thanh Company on agricultural development, and the construction of a bio-mass power plant, both in the central province of Camaguey.The event was part of the sixth Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) Summit and the 10th Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Summit on Development Triangle Area.

The event was attended by Chairman of the Hanoi Peoples Committee Nguyen Duc Chung, Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung, Trade Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam Hu Suojin, officials of four Chinese provinces (Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan) and 16 Vietnamese provinces and cities, along with hundreds of the two countries businesses.

Opening the event, Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung highly valued the Chinese provincial leaders participation in the meeting. With big economic strength, the four provinces are also the Chinese localities taking the lead in economic, trade, investment and tourism cooperation with Vietnam.

In 2017, trade between the four provinces and Vietnamese localities reached US$ 59 billion, accounting for 63 percent of the two countries total trade revenue.

He stressed that the Vietnamese Government welcomes and pledges the best possible conditions for foreign businesses, including those from the Chinese provinces, to invest in Vietnam.

The official called on the Chinese central and local governments, especially authorities of Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan, to continue opening their market for the goods that Vietnam is strong at and China has demand for like agricultural products, pork and milk. He also asked for the facilitation of customs clearance for Vietnamese goods in border areas and the development of bilateral trade in a healthier and more balanced manner.

Hanoi always attaches importance to promoting collaboration with Chinese localities and businesses in the spirit of comprehensive, long-term and win-win cooperation, said Hanoi Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung.

He said the capital city is home to 262 projects invested by Chinese firms with total registered capital of US$ 371 million, and Hanoi raked in US$ 8.9 billion from export to China in 2017.

The municipal authority will continue promoting administrative reform, and work closely with customs agencies of Vietnam and China to maximise support for customs clearance, thus facilitating trade links and goods exchange between the two countries enterprises, he affirmed.

At the meeting, Vice Governor of Guangdong province Ouyang Weimin said by the end of 2017, as many as 114 enterprises from Guangdong invested in Vietnam with total capital of US$ 240 million.

The authority and people of Guangdong hope the two countries will continue fostering strategic cooperation and joining initiatives, thus creating momentum for the China-Vietnam cooperation.

Guangdong and Vietnamese localities have many cooperation opportunities in the fields of transport, education, and tourism, he stressed, adding that his locality want to further bolster tourism link and people-to-people exchange with Vietnam, towards reinforcing cultural and social collaboration between the two sides.

He also called on Vietnamese firms to further invest in Guangdong, expressing his hope that Guangdongs firms will enjoy favourable investment environment in Vietnam.

During the event, localities and enterprises of the two countries shared information about investment climate and opportunities for business cooperation in the coming time.The documents comprise a cooperation agreement between the CPV and the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) during 2018-2023, an agreement between the Vietnamese and Cuban Governments, which frees Cuba from its debts to Vietnam, and another agreement on judicial support in criminal affairs.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the enhancement of scientific and technological collaboration between Vietnams Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, a MoU between the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and Cubas Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, and another MoU between the Vietnamese and Cuban construction ministries were also inked on this occasion.

Of note, Vietnam and Cuba agreed to scale up efforts to review and push for the signing of a new trade agreement, putting it into force as soon as possible, under a freshly-signed agreement on the end of negotiations of the new deal.

The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and the Prensa Latina News Agency also inked an agreement, aiming to increase the exchange of information and effectively consolidate the traditional cooperation between the two agencies in particular and the two countries in general.

On this occasion, the VNA reached a MoU with the Cuban News Agency (ACN) in an effort to raise the efficiency of cooperation and make their information sharing and professional assistance more suitable with requirements of the modern press.

Sovico Group of Vietnams budget carrier Vietjet Air signed a MoU with Cuban Civil Aviation Corporation, under which the two sides will seek cooperation for opportunities in the aviation market.

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The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those.The three PMs signed a Joint Declaration on the CLV Development Triangle Area cooperation at the end of the 10th CLV Summit in Hanoi on March 31.

The following is the full text of the Joint Declaration.

JOINT DECLARATION

OF THE 10th CAMBODIA - LAOS - VIET NAM SUMMIT

ON DEVELOPMENT TRIANGLE AREA



WE, the Heads of the Governments of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (hereinafter referred to as CLV) gather for the Tenth CLV Summit on Development Triangle Area on 31 March 2018 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Appreciating that the traditional relationship of friendship, solidarity, good neighborliness and comprehensive cooperation among the three countries has significantly contributed to the development of each country and to peace, stability and prosperity of the whole region.

Noting with satisfaction the significant progress made in the implementation of the revised Master Plan for the Socio-Economic Development of the CLV Development Triangle Area (DTA) for 2010 - 2020 as well as cooperation activities and programs in various areas among the three countries.

Recognizing that while CLV countries have become one of the fastest growing sub-regions and important achievements have been made in socio-economic development, the three countries are still facing many challenges in ensuring that the economic growth is sustainable and inclusive, in addressing the adverse impacts of climate change and narrowing the development gap within ASEAN Member States.

Understanding that to maintain the growth momentum, CLV countries must be steadfast in their regional integration, economic restructuring and improving business environments; its also imperative for CLV countries to capitalize on opportunities presented by the 4th industrial revolution.

Underlining the need for better connectivity among CLV economies to enhance economic competitiveness, effectively engage in the regional and global value chains and jointly address challenges.

WE HEREBY DECLARE THAT:

1. We reaffirm our commitment to further deepening comprehensive cooperation among the three countries and building integrated, sustainable and prosperous CLV economies, an indispensable part of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, through collective efforts and appropriate national policies.To fulfill this vision, we continue to attach great importance to the development of border provinces in the CLV DTA and narrowing the development gap within ASEAN Member States.

2. We commend the efforts of the CLV Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) in the implementation of the Revised Master Plan for the Socio-Economic Development of the CLV DTA for 2010 - 2020 as well as other guidance and decisions made at the 9th CLV Summit. These efforts have led to positive changes in peoples living standardsand level of the development inthe CLV DTA. We also welcome the outcomes of the 11th CLV JCC held from 17-19 December 2017 in Binh Phuoc, Vietnam and the Working Group meeting on discussions on the draft Action Plan for Cambodia - Laos- Vietnam Economic Connectivity up to 2030 held from 27-28 January 2018 in Kratie, Cambodia.

3. To deepen economic integration, enhance competitiveness and maintain the growth momentum of CLV economies,we therefore, endorse the Action Plan for Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam Economic Connectivity up to 2030 to serve as a guiding document for CLV cooperation, including but not limited to institutional, infrastructure and economic, and people-to-people connectivity.

3.1. Institutional connectivity comprises of increased policy communications and exchanges of information; coordination in developing and implementing the macro policies; simplifying procedures to promote investment, trade, tourism, agriculture, transport, human resource training/development and management, creating a favorable environment for citizens and businesses of the three countries to cooperate for mutual benefit.

3.2. Infrastructure and economic connectivity focuses inter alia on upgrading, modernizing and ensuring convenient and smooth connectivity in all kinds of transportation, information and communications technology (ICT), energy, trade, finance and banking, agriculture,and tourism; cooperation in addressing climate change, environmental protection and natural resource conversation, particularly forest and Mekong rivers water and related resources; clearance of landmines and unexploded ordnance.

3.3. People-to-people connectivity include connectivity in the fields of education, health, culture, sports, tourism, entrepreneurship, charity activities, human resource training/development and management; enhancing people exchange.

To implement this Action Plan, we task the JCC to develop specific plans and projects and annually review and update the Action Plan, reflecting the actual situations and needs of CLV Countries.

4. We fully support exchanges, dialogues and collaboration among parliaments, and government agencies as well as activities to promote cooperation between people and businesses of the three countries. We congratulate the outcomes of the Sixth Conference of Foreign Affairs Committees of the CLV National Assemblies on Strengthening Parliamentary Oversights on Cooperation Initiatives in Cambodia - Laos-Viet Nam Development Triangle Area held from 02-03 August 2017 in Vientiane, Lao PDR. We agree to strengthen communication on the economic development achievements of the CLV countries to promote understanding of the people and businesses of the three countries about the role and importance of the CLV DTA.

5. We reaffirm the importance of ensuring security, safety and stable environment for investors, businesses and people in the CLV DTA. We further strengthen our cooperation in preventing and combating cross-border crimes, illegal trade, including logging, drug and human trafficking, and terrorism; continue the clearance of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and explosive remnant of war in the CLV DTA. We stress the need for line agencies of CLV countries to jointly organize capacity building and information sharing programs. We also instruct that the hotline for emergency be improved, especially at the local level.

6. We commit to work together to promote trade and investment in the CLV DTA in accordance with the Agreement on Trade Promotion and Facilitation in the CLV DTA and the Agreement on the Promotion and Protection of Investment. We task the JCC to coordinate with other agencies to prepare the Action Plan for the implementation of these Agreements.

7. We note the progress of the work on the Study Report on Development Plan of the Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam Rubber Industry by the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries of Cambodia, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Lao PDR, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Viet Nam. We urge the three ministries to complete the Study Report and submit it to the 11th CLV Summit for consideration.

8. We reaffirm the importance of education collaboration among CLV countries. We ask to further improve communication and enhance commitment by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of Cambodia, the Ministry of Education and Sport of Lao PDR and the Ministry of Education and Training of Viet Nam to exchange students, teachers and faculty members within the Development Triangle Area.

9. We emphasize the potential of sustainable tourism development in the CLV DTA and encourage the facilitation of travel as well as the promotion of Three Countries One Destination. We instruct the ministers responsible for tourism to finalize the CLV DTA Tourism Development Plan for submission to the 11th CLV Summit for adoption.

10. We reaffirm our commitment to strengthen cooperation in combating infectious diseases, in particular in the border areas of the three countries through training and/or exchange of information, knowledge and experience in control and prevention of diseases, especially in the situation of outbreak.

11. We reaffirm our commitment to environmental protection, sustainable and efficient management and proper utilization of natural resources, including water resources, wildlife and forests. We encourage government agencies and other stakeholders to continue incorporating issues of sustainable development and environmental protection into cooperation programs among CLV countries. We encourage greater communication among three countries through early warning and information sharing systems on floods, droughts, natural disasters and cross-border pollution.

12. We express our appreciation to the development partners and international financial institutions for their contribution to the development of the CLV DTA. We encouragethe JCC to closely cooperate with development partners and international financial institutions in developing and undertaking program, projects to support the implementation of the Action Plan for Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam Economic Connectivity up to 2030.

13. We emphasize the importance of CLV DTA information portal in providing businesses and investors with accurate and updated information onthe potential, and preferential policies given to the CLV DTA, and urge the JCC to regularly update information on the CLV DTA website.

14. We express our appreciation to Lao PDR for agreeing to host the 11th CLV Summit in 2020.

Done in Hanoi, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, in three copies in English language, on the Day of Thirty-One in the Month of March in the Year of Two Thousand and Eighteen.Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print.

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If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create.Wreaths were laid at the memorial. PreviousNext

Vietnam Veterans Honored In Pittsfield



Anthony Pastore was honored for the numerous occasions he sang the 'Star-Spangled Banner' before ceremonies. More photos can be found here. PITTSFIELD, Mass.  One thing can be certain at every veterans event in Pittsfield: Anthony Pastore will sing the national anthem.

The 93-year-old has done it for years at every ceremony and on Saturday that constant remained as he once again belted it out at Park Square during the annual Vietnam veterans ceremony.

But this ceremony did have something else for Pastore in mind. The Vietnam Veterans of American Chapter 65 honored Pastore for his dedication to the organization with a plaque and recognition.

"You have displayed your patriotism by never saying no when asked to sing. No matter what the weather, you are always there for the service men and women and to this end, we salute you and thank you for a job well done," John Harding read off the plaque.

Pastore has sung at bitter cold ceremonies, in the rain, in the snow, and on days like Saturday when the sun shines. And Pastore said he will keep doing it.

"You give me a great honor every time you ask me to sing for you. I will never say no to you," Pastore said.

Saturday's ceremony honored the 27 Berkshire County people who were killed in action in Vietnam. A number of veterans organizations presented wreaths to lay at the memorial.

William A Gibney was the keynote speaker. A retired Marine with a 20-year career in his history, Gibney told the veterans to share their stories.

"I would recommend any and all veterans, I don't care what your job was, what service you were in, or how long you were in, get your military records and try to put down what you can remember. Take your time and believe me it will be well worth your wild because your children and grandchildren will want to know about what you did during the war," Gibney said.

Gibney lays claim to a Navy commendation medal, combat action ribbon, Vietnam campaign ribbon, and Vietnam Service Medal with four bronze stars. He served multiple tours of duty in Vietnam and his specialty was fixing anything his fellow Marines could shoot.

"They sent me to school to learn how to fix any artillery piece that the Marine Corps had. I learned my trade. I practiced my trade. And I went back and taught officers and enlisted men my trade. If they could shoot it, I could fix it," Gibney said of when he joined at age 17.

His first time to Vietnam was in 1965, moving in from Okinawa. He was then promoted to become an officer.

"They said you are now an officer and a gentleman. I always told them I don't know about the gentleman part," Gibney said.

His next trip was to Morocco and then later back to Vietnam.

"I knew that I had to do certain things. We had changed over the rifles we were using to the new rifles, the M16 in those days. I cut my leave short by two weeks. I told my wife and she was upset with me that I was going to report early," Gibney said of his second trip to Vietnam.

Eventually, he was overseeing some 184 people, much bigger than a typical Marine division.

"My job was to keep them all shooting," he said.

After yet another tour of duty and 20 years, Gibney decided to call it quits.

"I figured I had enough of people trying to shoot me and stuff like that so I decided to retire," he said.

He said throughout his career he had jobs he liked, and jobs he didn't. But, he is proud of the work he did during his career.

"I had more that I didn't like than I did like. But it was a rewarding experience knowing I was doing something that was right," Gibney said.

The ceremony all featured the calling out of names for those locals who died while overseas. The Dalton American Legion shot off a salute and taps was played.During a working session on March 30, Chairman of the provincial Fatherland Front Committee Nguyen Van Huong shared experience in developing the front work and briefed the guests about the provinces socio-economic situation and the beauty of the world natural heritage Ha Long Bay.

Suphanuvong, for her part, said the LFNC has upheld its role of calling on people of all ethnic groups and religions to unite together for national development.

She expressed her trust on the Vietnam-Laos solidarity and wished that the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee and the provincial Fatherland Front Committee of Quang Ninh will continue assisting the LFNC in the front work.

Earlier, the delegation offered incense at Tan Trao temple, visited the special national relic of Tan Trao, and Lao revolutionary relic site in the northern province of Tuyen Quang, and travelled to the northern province of Phu Tho.Imperial Valley News Center

Man Who Concealed Service in Military Unit Involved in Srebrenica Massacre Sentenced for Immigration Fraud

Washington, DC - A Bosnian Serb residing in North Carolina was sentenced to 18 months in prison today for his criminal conviction of obtaining a Permanent Resident Card (I-551), commonly referred to as a green card, by making materially false claims and statements on his initial application for refugee status, which served as the basis for obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident status.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney R. Andrew Murray for the Western District of North Carolina and Deputy Director Thomas D. Homan of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made the announcement.

Milan Trisic, 55, who was residing in Charlotte, North Carolina, was sentenced by Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. of the Western District of North Carolina. Trisic previously pleaded guilty on Dec.18, 2017, to possession of unlawfully obtained documents. Pursuant to an Order issued by Judge Coburn, upon completion of his term of imprisonment, Trisic will be transferred to ICE custody for removal to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Those who wish to live in the United States ought to respect our laws, support our national security, and pursue residency legally and honestly. Anything less is inexcusable, said Attorney General Sessions. The Department of Justice will not hesitate to take action against criminals who seek to come here on the basis of fraud and take advantage of our generous immigration system. I want to thank our Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents and DOJ attorneys for all of their hard work pursuing justice in this case.

Using lies and deceit, Trisic exploited our legal immigration system to enter our country and later to become a permanent resident, said U.S. Attorney Murray. The sentence imposed by the Court is just punishment for Trisics blatant disregard for our nations immigration laws. My office is committed to protecting the integrity of our legal immigration process and prosecuting those who commit immigration fraud.

The men and women of ICE will continue to pursue those who violate the integrity of our immigration system to hide from the human rights violations they have committed, said ICE Deputy Director Homan. ICE Homeland Security Investigations in Charlotte, supported by ICEs Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, worked for many years to pursue this case and uncover the facts about the human rights violations this individual committed. We thank our many partners at the Department of Justice for their tireless work in prosecuting this case. With this case and many others like it, the United States has demonstrated that we will not serve as a safe haven for those who commit egregious acts that violate basic human rights.

According to the admissions made in connection with his plea, Trisic, an ethnic Serb with Bosnian citizenship, is a lawful permanent resident of the United States living in North Carolina. On Nov. 3, 2016, Trisic possessed a green card that was unlawfully obtained. In response to questions on his legal permanent resident application, Trisic knowingly concealed his military service in the Bratunac Brigade, a unit in the Army of the Serb Republic; concealed his criminal activity in Bosnia and Herzegovina; and lied about his whereabouts during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early and mid-1990s.

As part of his plea of guilty, Trisic admitted that he served in the Army of the Serb Republic as a member of the Bratunac Brigade during various tours of duty between April 1992 and January 1996, at a time when Bosnia and Herzegovina was in the midst of a civil war. Due to its proximity to Serbia, forces both aligned with and from Serbia began a violent ethnic expulsion campaign in 1992 against the non-Serbian population in and around Bratunac. Trisic admitted that he engaged in various unlawful activities while serving with the Bratunac Brigade, such as the unlawful beating, detention and transportation of Muslim prisoners. Additionally, Trisic admitted that the Bratunac Brigade, operating primarily in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, was one of the military units responsible for the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre that resulted in the deaths of between 7,000 and 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men.

Trisic also admitted that he knowingly lied about his whereabouts during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In order to obtain refugee status, Trisic falsely claimed that he resided in Serbia during the war, when in fact he actually resided in Bratunac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he served as part of the Bratunac Brigade. Trisic later used his illegally obtained status as a refugee to unlawfully obtain permanent resident status in the United States.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by ICEs HSI and supported by the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center. Trial Attorneys Frank G. Rangoussis and Ann Marie E. Ursini of the Criminal Divisions Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Smith of the Western District of North Carolina are prosecuting the case.Imperial Valley News Center

Barclays Agrees to Pay $2 Billion in Civil Penalties to Resolve Claims for Fraud in the Sale of Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities

New York - The United States has reached agreement with Barclays Capital, Inc. and several of its affiliates (together, Barclays) to settle a civil action filed in December 2016 in which the United States sought civil penalties for alleged conduct related to Barclays underwriting and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) between 2005 and 2007. Barclays will pay the United States two billion dollars ($2,000,000,000) in civil penalties in exchange for dismissal of the Amended Complaint.

Following a three-year investigation, the complaint in the action, United States v. Barclays Capital, Inc., alleged that Barclays caused billions of dollars in losses to investors by engaging in a fraudulent scheme to sell 36 RMBS deals, and that it misled investors about the quality of the mortgage loans backing those deals. It alleged violations of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA), based on mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, and other misconduct.

Agreement has also been reached with the two former Barclays executives who were named as defendants in the suit: Paul K. Menefee, of Austin, Texas, who served as Barclays head banker on its subprime RMBS securitizations, and John T. Carroll, of Port Washington, New York, who served as Barclays head trader for subprime loan acquisitions. In exchange for dismissal of the claims against them, Menefee and Carroll agree to pay the United States the combined sum of two million dollars ($2,000,000) in civil penalties.

The settlement was announced by Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Laura S. Wertheimer, Inspector General, of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of the Inspector General (FHFA-OIG).

This settlement reflects the ongoing commitment of the Department of Justice, and this Office, to hold banks and other entities and individuals accountable for their fraudulent conduct, stated United States Attorney Donoghue. The substantial penalty Barclays and its executives have agreed to pay is an important step in recognizing the harm that was caused to the national economy and to investors in RMBS.

The actions of Barclays and the two individual defendants resulted in enormous losses to the investors who purchased the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities backed by defective loans, stated FHFA-OIG Inspector General Wertheimer. Todays settlement holds accountable those who waste, steal or abuse funds in connection with FHFA or any of the entities it regulates. We are proud to have partnered with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of New York on this matter.

The scheme alleged in the complaint involved 36 RMBS deals in which over $31 billion worth of subprime and Alt-A mortgage loans were securitized, more than half of which loans defaulted. The complaint alleged that in publicly filed offering documents and in direct communications with investors and rating agencies, Barclays systematically and intentionally misrepresented key characteristics of the loans it included in these RMBS deals. In general, the borrowers whose loans backed these deals were significantly less creditworthy than Barclays represented, and these loans defaulted at exceptionally high rates early in the life of the deals. In addition, as alleged in the complaint, the mortgaged properties were systematically worth less than what Barclays represented to investors. These are allegations only, which the Defendants dispute, and there has been no trial or adjudication or judicial finding of any issue of fact or law.

The governments case has been handled by this Offices Civil Division. Senior Counsel F. Franklin Amanat, and Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew R. Belz, Charles S. Kleinberg, Evan P. Lestelle, Matthew J. Modafferi, Josephine M. Vella and Alex S. Weinberg have been in charge of the litigation. Mr. Donoghue thanks the FHFA-OIG for its assistance in conducting the investigation in this matter.

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 16-CV-7057 (KAM/JO)Imperial Valley News Center

Accomplice to Fugitive Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Escape

Louisville, Kentucky - An Eastern Kentucky man pleaded guilty today for his role in assisting a former Social Security disability lawyer escape from federal custody.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, Special Agent in Charge Amy S. Hess of the FBIs Louisville, Kentucky Field Division and Special Agent in Charge Michael McGill of the Social Security Administration-Office of Inspector Generals (SSA-OIG) Philadelphia Field Division made the announcement.

Curtis Lee Wyatt, 48, of Raccoon, Kentucky, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to escape from custody before U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves of the Eastern District of Kentucky. Sentencing has been scheduled for June 29, before Judge Reeves.

In September 2017, Wyatt was charged in a seven-count indictment with conspiracy to escape, instigating and assisting escape, conspiracy to commit failure to appear, aiding and abetting failure to appear, and making false statements to the FBI in connection with his role in assisting former Social Security disability lawyer Eric Christopher Conn escape from federal custody. The indictment alleges that Conn, while on home confinement after pleading guilty to two federal offenses but before being sentenced, escaped from custody by severing an electronic monitoring device from his ankle during a court-approved visit to Lexington, Kentucky on June 2, 2017, and fled to the Mexican border. According to the indictment, Conn ultimately failed to appear for his sentencing hearing on July 14, 2017.

As part of his guilty plea, Wyatt admitted that he conspired with Conn to escape from custody by, in the months prior to Conns escape, assessing security measures at various pedestrian checkpoints along the United States-Mexican border and advising Conn of whether identification was checked upon exiting the United States. Wyatt further admitted that on the day prior to Conns escape, he provided Conn with a Faraday bag for the purpose of suppressing the signal emitted from Conns electronic monitoring device, as well as with an escape vehicle that Wyatt had previously purchased with cash, registered in Montana and secreted in a parking garage in Pikeville, Kentucky.

Conn is scheduled to proceed to trial on the escape charges on June 11, 2018 in Lexington before Judge Reeves.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The FBI and SSA-OIG investigated the case. Trial Attorney Dustin M. Davis of the Criminal Divisions Fraud Section and Trial Attorneys Ann Marie Blaylock and Rebecca Caruso of the Criminal Divisions Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section are prosecuting the case.Ros Seilava, Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Economy and Finance of Cambodia: Sharing common vision towards future

At the GMS-6 and CLV-10, the leaders expressed their wish that the member countries would be more connected and competitive, helping the GMS and CLV to become harmonious and sustainable communities in the future. The role of Vietnam in the GMS and CLV is crucial as the Vietnamese economy is developing rapidly and sustainably. I hope Vietnam will share its experience and further promote its cooperation with Cambodia and other member countries, for the common interest of the countries. For the GMS cooperation mechanism, we have many areas that can be strengthened in sharing and connection, such as finance, e-commerce, e-finance, etc... In addition, the member countries can also promote the development of renewable energy use, such as solar power and wind energy, in order to enhance the competitiveness of each country as well as the whole region. Governments need to work closely together and share the same vision towards the future. Each member state should fulfil their tasks effectively.

Htun Zaw, Deputy Director General of Foreign Economic Relations Department, Ministry of Planning and Finance of Myanmar: Vietnam is always active in regional cooperation

The GMS-6 Senior Officials Meeting was well organised. At the meeting, participants discussed the documents to be submitted to the leaders of the member countries. As the host country, Vietnam has taken the initiative of the GMS Business Summit at the right time. It provides a good opportunity for the leaders of the countries and private businesses to share their views. In addition, it is also an opportunity for the governments to receive advice and assistance from the private sector in developing appropriate policies that will help to develop the economy in a more comprehensive fashion. The preparation for the summit was very well conducted by Vietnam. I would like to send my congratulations and thanks to the Government of Vietnam for its efforts and initiative in connecting the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other member countries to facilitate the conferences.

Sisomboun Ounavong, Director General, GMS National Coordinator, the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Laos: Laos highly appreciates Vietnam's initiative at the GMS

At the GMS-6 Senior Officials Meeting, representatives of the GMS member countries focused on reviewing the preparation of and finalising the draft documents to be submitted to the GMS leaders. At the meeting, Laos and other countries highly valued the coordination and preparation of the host country. In particular, we congratulate the Vietnamese Government for its initiative to organise the GMS Business Summit, which has provided a good opportunity for private enterprises to meet and exchange directly with the leaders of the member countries, thereby improving the performance of the private sector.

Through hosting the GMS-6 and CLV-10 Summits, Vietnam has played a prominent role as an activeand responsible member of the cooperative mechanisms. I am delighted that the traditional friendship, solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos have been strengthened and tightened. I believe that this relationship is a solid foundation for the two countries to work closely together in regional cooperation mechanisms, thereby promoting the sustainable and inclusive development of the whole region.

Pattama Teanravisitsagool, PhD, Deputy Secretary General of the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board of Thailand: GMS-6 helps promote investment in Vietnam

The GMS cooperation mechanism is an important platform to promote the development of the region. Vietnam and the other GMS member countries will certainly benefit from this cooperation mechanism as the intra-regional trade and economic integration with partners outside the region are strongly promoted. The hosting of the GMS-6 Summit will help strengthen the relationship between Vietnam and its partners, stimulating investment potential and cooperation among the nations. It will also help to enhance Vietnam's credibility and role in promoting regional initiatives and programmes. The sixth Greater Mekong Sub-region Summit, themed Leveraging 25 years of cooperation, building an integrated, sustainable and prosperous GMS aims to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the GMS Programme and define the cooperation orientations in the new period.

Within the framework of the GMS, the member countries have strengthened their cooperation, and shared their experiences and information for economic development and integration. In particular, Vietnam and Thailand are increasing projects on human resources training, aiming to promote the sustainable development of each country and the whole region.Governor Brown Grants Executive Clemency

Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced that he has granted 56 pardons and 14 commutations.

Individuals who have been convicted of a crime in California may apply to the Governor for a pardon. Those granted pardons all completed their sentences years ago and the majority were convicted of drug-related or other nonviolent crimes. Pardons are not granted unless they are earned.

A gubernatorial pardon may be granted to individuals who have demonstrated exemplary behavior and have lived productive and law-abiding lives following their conviction. The process includes eligible individuals obtaining a Certificate of Rehabilitation, which is an order from a superior court declaring that a person convicted of a crime is now rehabilitated. This requirement was waived for two individuals facing the possibility of deportation.

When a pardon is granted, the California Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are notified so that they may update their records on the applicant. The pardon is filed with the Secretary of State and the Legislature, and it is a public record.

The Governor also granted 14 commutations to current inmates. Individuals currently serving a sentence for a conviction by the California courts can petition to have their sentence reduced by applying for a commutation. In the majority of these commutations, the individuals have been granted the opportunity to make their case before the Board of Parole Hearings, which will determine whether they are ready to be paroled.

Copies of the gubernatorial pardons and commutations can be found here.Mendocino County Woman Pleads Guilty to Sex Trafficking of a Minor

Sacramento, California - Monica Merlin Morales, 26, of Point Arena, pleaded guilty Wednesday to sex trafficking of a minor, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, Morales and co-defendant Tion Makeise Foster, also of Point Arena, transported a 16-year-old girl to various places in the Eastern District of California and the San Francisco Bay Area in August 2016 so that she could engage in commercial sex acts for their financial benefit. Court documents indicate that Morales and Foster picked up the victim in her hometown after meeting her online. They bought her lingerie, took photos of her, and posted the photos in online prostitution advertisements. The victim did several dates during the week she was with the defendants. Morales and Foster ultimately returned to her hometown, but both they subsequently conspired to traffic the victim again in November and December that same year.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Yuba County Sherriffs Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith is prosecuting the case.

Foster pleaded guilty to sex trafficking of a minor on December 13, 2017, and he is scheduled to be sentenced on June 13, 2018.

Morales is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Kimberly J. Mueller on June 20, 2018. Morales faces a minimum statutory sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum statutory penalty of up to life, as well as a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the resources tab for information about internet safety education.Two Former Airline Industry Executives Convicted of Orchestrating Multimillion Dollar Scheme to Steal Passenger Money from Escrow

Washington, DC - A federal jury in the District of New Jersey found the former chief executive officer and the former vice president of a now-bankrupt public air charter operator guilty yesterday for their roles in a scheme to steal millions of dollars in passenger money for future travel from an escrow account, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Departments Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Todd A. Damiani of the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector Generals New England Field Office.

Judy Tull, 73, and Kay Ellison, 58, both of Edenton, North Carolina, were each convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting financial institutions and to commit bank fraud, four substantive counts of wire fraud affecting financial institutions and three substantive counts of bank fraud following a seven-day trial. Tull is the former CEO of Myrtle Beach Direct Air and Tours (Direct Air), which was headquartered in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with operations in Daniels, West Virginia, and Ellison is its former vice president and managing partner. Sentencing has been scheduled for July 17, 2018 before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton of the District of New Jersey, who presided over the trial.

Judy Tull and Kay Ellison stole passengers money to try and prop up their failing company, said Acting Assistant Attorney General Cronan. Their brazen scheme created a multimillion dollar shortfall that left passengers stranded at airports, and banks and credit card companies scrambling to pick up the pieces. This important case is just the latest example of the pivotal role the Fraud Section plays in the Department of Justices ongoing efforts to combat white collar fraud.

This investigation demonstrates the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector Generals (DOT-OIG) commitment to protecting the traveling public from fraudulent schemes involving charter flight operations, said DOT-OIG Regional Special Agent in Charge Damiani. We will continue our vigorous efforts in preventing, detecting and prosecuting fraud that erodes the publics confidence in the integrity of transportation-related goods and services.

According to evidence presented at trial, from October 2007 through March 2012, Tull and Ellison engaged in a scheme to steal passengers money for future travel from an escrow account by artificially inflating the amount of money the defendants claimed they were entitled to receive, and by sending this falsified amount in a letter to the escrow bank telling the escrow bank to release the money. The evidence further established that to cover up their fraud, the defendants falsified profit and loss statements to make the company look like it was making money rather than losing money, and sent these falsified documents to credit card companies and banks to trick them into continuing to do business with the company.

Testimony at trial established that two financial institutions sustained losses of nearly $30 million for having to refund thousands of passengers their money that should have been held for them in escrow, but was actually stolen by the defendants as part of their fraud.

Robert Keilman, 73, of Marlboro, New Jersey, Direct Airs former Chief Financial Officer, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his role in this scheme and is awaiting sentencing.

This case was investigated by DOT-OIG. Trial Attorneys Michael T. ONeill and Cory E. Jacobs of the Criminal Divisions Fraud Section are prosecuting the case. Former Fraud Section Trial Attorney L. Rush Atkinson also investigated the case.President Trump on the Infrastructure Initiative

Richfield, Ohio - President Trump on the Infrastructure Initiative:

THE PRESIDENT: What a group. Remember, you cant win unless you win the state of Ohio. Right? You cant. (Applause.) And Im thrilled to be back in Ohio. And Im proud to be here with the incredible carpenters, laborers, all of the members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 18. I appreciate all of you. Your support has been amazing. Your support has been so great, right from the beginning. (Applause.) And each of you is living proof that American workers are truly the best in the world. Right? The best. (Applause.)

Rick Dalton and Mike Totman, thank you very much for hosting us. Where are you guys? Where are they? Where are you? Thank you, fellas. Nice-looking guys. Nice-looking guys. (Applause.)

Were also pleased to be joined by two members of my Cabinet: Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao and Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta. (Applause.) Theyve done a fantastic job.

Were especially happy to have some of our great Ohio leaders with us today: Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor  Mary  (applause)  State Auditor Dave Yost  (applause)  thank you  Congressmen Bob Gibbs, Bill Johnson, and Jim Renacci. Good. Great people. (Applause.) Thank you. Good. Great people. Theyre tough congressmen, I will tell you that. But theyre for the workers. Right? Theyre for the workers. Theyre for the country. I can tell you that. They are for the country.

Joined by our friends here in Ohio, my administration is fighting every day to protect, and defend, and grow American jobs. And you see whats happening all over the country. Its in Ohio, but its all over the country  pouring back plants and factories, pouring back into our country. They cant come back fast enough.

Even if you look  Apple, going to invest $350 billion. When I heard $350 billion, I said, You must mean $350 million. Thats still a big plant. But theyre going to be investing $350 billion. So many others coming back with massive amounts of money. They all want to be back in the USA. A lot of them left; theyre coming back. Weve eliminated a record number of job-killing regulations. Thats one of the reasons theyre coming back. Right? (Applause.)

And were not finished yet. In some cases, you have statutory limitations where you have to go 30 days and wait, and then you have to go 90 days and wait, and then you have to go 15 days and wait, and then you go 90 days again. And then you know what happens? We kill the regulation. And its a thing of beauty. And we have filled out every form, every legal application.

And we still, actually, have a long way to go on regulation. And were going to have regulations. You need regulations for safety and for the environment. But not where you couldnt do anything, you couldnt move. So I think thats been a big, big success and a reason for our success.

And weve made history by massively reducing job-killing taxes. (Applause.) And we didnt have one Democrat who voted for that. They want to raise your taxes.

And they want people to come in from the border. And they want  I guess, want  I cant imagine they want  but, certainly, drugs are flowing across borders. We need walls. We started building our wall. Im so proud of it. We started. We started. We have $1.6 billion, and weve already started. (Applause.)

You saw the pictures yesterday. I said, What a thing of beauty. And on September 28th, we go further and were getting that sucker built. And you think thats easy? People said, Oh, has he given up on the wall? No, I never give up. I never  we have $1.6 billion toward the wall, and weve done the planning. And you saw those beautiful pictures, and the wall looks good. Its properly designed.

Thats what I do, is I build. I was always very good at building. It was always my best thing. I think, better than being President, I was, maybe, good at building. Like you people, youre good at building. (Applause.) You know, I think maybe well be better at President even. That would be good.

But we are building a really state-of-the-art, very, very efficient  have to be able to see through; it makes a lot of sense. You have to be able to see who is on the other side. Nobody would even think of it. Weve done prototypes all over, and we have something special happening.

We have reversed the dangerous defense cuts and we are giving our warfighters the tools, funding, and equipment they need to fight and to win. (Applause.)

We have  really, were building up our military to the highest level it has ever been, and it was not in good shape. But its now going to be, very soon, the highest level it has ever been. And by the way, that means jobs, too. Thats defense  always number one. Defense is number one. (Applause.) Even you jobs folks would say defense is number one. But its a lot of jobs. Millions of jobs.

Weve unleashed American energy independence. Energy exports are at a record high, and foreign imports are at their lowest level in much more than a decade.

We have stood up for the American workers by finally cracking down on unfair trade that steals our jobs and plunders our wealth. Theyve stolen our wealth. Theyve stolen our jobs. Theyve stolen our plants and factories. No more.

We are not letting other countries take advantage of us. Even our friends took advantage. Our friends are friends. Theyre wonderful people, but we said, You cant do that anymore. Those days are over. Frankly, our friends did more damage to us than our enemies. Because we didnt deal with our enemies, we dealt with our friends and we dealt incompetently. Because were now finally putting America first. America first. (Applause.) Right?

Just this week, we secured a wonderful deal with South Korea. We were in a deal that was a horror show. It was going to produce 200,000 jobs, and it did  for them. That was a Hillary Clinton special, I hate to say. This will produce 200,000 jobs. She was right, but it was for them. It wasnt for us.

So weve redone it, and thats going to level the playing field on steel and cars and trucks coming into this country. (Applause.)

And I may hold it up until after a deal is made with North Korea. Does everybody understand that? Do you know why? Right? Do you know why? Because its a very strong card, and I want to make sure everyone is treated fairly and were moving along very nicely with North Korea. Well see what happens. Certainly the rhetoric has calmed down just a little bit, would you say? (Applause.) Would you say?

And well see how it all turns out. Maybe it will be good, and maybe it wont. And if its no good, were walking. And if its good, we will embrace it. But its going to be very interesting over the next period of time. And South Korea has been wonderful, but well probably hold that deal up for a little while. See how it all plays out.

We are keeping our promises, and the results are in: 3 million new jobs since Election Day. Three million. (Applause.) And if I would have said that to you during the campaign, where we had tremendous support in this great state, the state of Ohio  if I would have said 3 million jobs, they would have said, the fake news, Hes exaggerating. (Laughter.) Oh, theyre fake.

Unemployment claims are at their lowest level in 45 years. The lowest level  45 years. (Applause.) African American unemployment has reached the lowest levels ever recorded. (Applause.) Remember? Remember I said, What do you have to lose? What do you have to lose? And Im so happy about that.

Hispanic American unemployment rate has also reached the lowest levels ever recorded. (Applause.) And wages are rising at the fastest level in more than a decade. Finally  19 years, 21 years. People were making  last year, were making less money than they made 20 years ago. Now wages are rising because more jobs are happening.

And very important, just like were going to have choice at the VA, were going to have choice for these great people. Youre going to also have choice with jobs. (Applause.) Youre going to have choice with jobs. Our veterans are going to have choice, and youre going to have choice with jobs. (Applause.)

And now, with our friends in Ohio, were launching the next phase of Americas economic comeback. Were going to rebuild Americas crumbling infrastructure. Now, were going to probably  (applause)  we have a very important election coming up, and they dont like the winds weve been getting. They dont like that the economy  the Democrats  they dont like that the economy is so strong. They dont like that they dont have one vote on the tax cuts. Not one vote. And theyre all now saying, You know, those tax cuts are tough. What theyre saying to each other is not pretty if youre a Democrat. And we should do well.

History says that when you win the presidency, that party doesnt do so well in the midterms, because people get complacent. They get complacent. We cannot be complacent. Weve got the greatest economy, maybe, ever  maybe in history. We have the greatest economy weve ever had.

You know the expression from  I guess it was Bill Clinton  Its the economy, stupid. Well, it is the economy. If we have produced, in a short period of time  because, believe me, if our party, if we, altogether  its we  if we didnt win, this economy would be a wreck. They would have added more regulations. You wouldnt have 3 million jobs; youd probably go negative. Your 3.2 GDPs and 3 and 2.9 would have been below  in my opinion, would have been below 1. This country was headed in the wrong direction. We cant lose that by getting hurt in the midterms. So we cant be complacent.

Theres never been an economy like this. Everyone says its the most important thing. And I dont know that it is or that it isnt. But, politically, they always say its the most important thing. We cannot let anything happen to stop what were doing and where were going. And all of the workers and all of the jobs, we want to keep them.

And we want to protect our Second Amendment. You saw the other day where a very important  (applause)  where a very important, and respected, in some circles, Democrat, said we want to get rid  we should get rid of our Second Amendment. In other words, get rid of it. Thats really 

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Tyranny!

THE PRESIDENT: Its tyranny. (Laughs.) Could be right about that. So were going to protect our Second Amendment. Thats not going to happen.

We have the best judges. We put on a tremendous amount of great federal district court judges. Well be setting records. We are setting records. Appeals court judges. A Supreme Court judge  fantastic  Justice Gorsuch. (Applause.) And well continue. But your Second Amendment will always be your Second Amendment. Were not doing anything to that. (Applause.) Not doing anything.

We will breathe new life into your very run-down highways, railways, and waterways. Well transform our roads and bridges from a source of endless frustration into a source of absolutely incredible pride. And were going to do it all under budget and ahead of schedule. You ever hear those words in the public world  under budget and ahead of schedule? (Applause.)

And, you know, one of the things  and I just want to go on a little detour for a second. One of the things that wasnt mentioned by the folks in the back that we got recently in the bill was school safety. And weve got  the STOP School Violence Act was passed. Thats the Sandy Hook people, the great people of Sandy Hook. They wanted it so badly. That was done.

We fixed, very strongly, the background checks. We got rid of the bump stocks. The bump stocks, now, are under very strict control, which I think everybody agrees is fine. And we really did a job. Nobody reported it. Doesnt get reported. If somebody else does it, its like a big story, but it didnt.

And you know, fixing the background checks was so important. And its a very, very strong fix of background checks. So I wanted to add that while we talk about infrastructure, while we talk about school safety  so important  but while we talk about all of these other things, that was part of what we got approved.

And another part  so important for Ohio, because I know you have a bigger problem than most  is opioids and drugs. We got $6 billion but nobody talked about  $6 billion  $6 billion to fight the opioid problem and the drug problem. So its another thing. (Applause.) And we got the down payment, $1.6 billion on the wall. And we got a lot of other things.

Frankly, if we have had more Republican votes we wouldnt have had to give away what we gave away, which many of the people in this room, including me, dont like. Because it was a waste, in many cases. But the Democrats want things. They dont want to focus on crime, and borders, and people pouring into our country  many of whom are not the people we want to come in. We want a merit-based immigration system. We want people to come in on merit, not based on a lottery; you pick a ticket. (Applause.)

So theres no better place to begin the campaign of infrastructure than right here in Ohio at the state-of-the-art training site. Theyve done a fantastic job right in this building, where the awesome skills of the American worker  (applause)  are forged and refined. Its true.

Ive been in construction and building all my life. I love it. I love the smell of a construction site. Right? Theres just something about it. And you know, we didnt always get  although, in this case, we did nicely  but we didnt always get the union leadership of the big unions, but we got the workers. We got the workers.

And some of those leaders had big problems because the workers were with Trump, because they know I hired the Teamsters  thousands of Teamsters  and I hired all of the carpenters, and the electricians, and all of the people that built a lot of buildings in Manhattan and all over the place. And they got it  the workers got it. And now I think the leadership is actually getting it. I really believe that. (Applause.) I think the leadership is getting it.

Because youre going to have a great friend, and now I have proven  you know, before I used to say, Youre going to have friend. But now I have proven youve got a friend in the White House. (Applause.) Thats why were building all these projects.

So many of these projects, which were just dead  dead projects like the Keystone Pipeline. It was dead. It wasnt going anywhere. Hillary wasnt going to approve it. Nobody was. It was a dead project. I got in almost, like, right at the beginning, I approved that Keystone XL Pipeline, and I approved the Dakota Access Pipeline; both of them. Forty-eight thousand jobs, environmentally great. Theres, like  it was nothing. It was quick. It was easy. And it was done. And it was done properly.

And theyll be flowing in  and thats better than trucking over the roads. Thats better than any other way. And it wasnt going to get approved. There was so many jobs like that. You know those two because they were getting a lot of attention.

You know the amazing thing? I approved them. I thought we would have, like, some commotion. Right? Some commotion. Like, some protest  nobody. I approved it. The pickets, they picked up their stuff and they left. That was the end of it. (Applause.) They left a mess, I have to tell you. You know about the mess. Became an environmental wasteland, what they left. You know about that. But, I approved it and they left.

We did that on a lot of things. Whether its Jerusalem, where we approved Jerusalem. That was a big thing. (Applause.) Every politician was in support, and then they became President, and guess what? All of a sudden, it was, Jerusalem? I dont know anything about Jerusalem. They didnt want to know about it. Well, I fulfilled my campaign promises.

And I have to tell you, I believe  and a couple of people have said it  and its very early yet  you know were only into about 15 months, but I think I have approved much more than Ive promised. And no politician  really, I have gotten done much more than I promised. I promised certain things. Weve done a lot of things that I didnt even promise because I figured it couldnt happen.

And now, with so many of our great Secretaries and leaders, were doing incredible things on healthcare because Obamacare is a disaster. We got rid of the, as you know, the individual mandate, which forced you to spend money for the privilege of not having to have to pay for health insurance. Okay? You figure that one out. Its gone, folks. Its gone. Its gone. (Applause.)

And Alex Acosta, Secretary of Labor, is doing an incredible, incredible plan for co-ops and for various different elements where you go in and you get together as a group, and youre going to get incredible healthcare, highly bid. Highly bid. Youre going to get so many different bids from  and youre going to have great healthcare at a very, very low price. Theres going to be a lot of people signing up, and thats going to be out over the next couple of months, Alex. Right? Youve been working on it, and its going to come out. Nobody even thought of it.

Co-ops and all sorts of people, theyre going to get together and theyre going to buy their healthcare together. And its going to be so inexpensive. Its a thing of beauty. Thats going to be a big percentage of Obamacare, too. A big percentage. And we have other things. (Applause.) And we have other things.

Nearly 40 percent of our bridges were built before  think of this  before the first moon landing. You know, you go to some countries  theyre building bridges all over the place. All over, you have bridges going up. One particular country  I wont use it because theyre very friendly to me. They werent friendly to us as a nation, but now theyre friendly. Theyre building 29 bridges. We dont build bridges like very much anymore. A little bit every once in a while.

But our roads are clogged. We have  average drivers spend 42 hours every year stuck in traffic, costing us at least $160 billion annually. Our mass transit systems are a mess. Theyre dilapidated and theyre decayed.

Nationwide, we average 300 power outages per year, compared to just five per year in the 1980s. A total mess. And a lot of it is because some of these power companies  they have the money, they have the wherewithal  they couldnt get their approvals; they couldnt get their permits. For years and years and years, theyre trying to get permits. Now, they get them really fast. Now, theyre getting them so fast. One man told me, What the hell happened? Weve been fighting for years. All of a sudden, I got a call. We just were approved. We didnt even try.

And some consultants are going to be making a lot of money. Theyre going to say, Sir, we need $2 million for the great job we did on getting you approved. They didnt do a damn thing. (Laughter.) Except Trump got elected. Thats about all. (Applause.) Thats about all.

How about  I tell this, because, you know, being a builder we can all talk as friends. Were all builders in this room. Look at these people back there. You better believe theyre builders. Right? (Applause.) Theyre builders. No game.

But I tell the story about Keystone, where years and years  youve watched it. Years and years, they spent hundreds of millions of dollars. They were even ordering their pipe. Everything is going great. Theyre going to build. Its years, but theyre happy. They dont get approved. They spend billions on pipe. They ordered the pipe, and theyre not getting it approved.

So anyway  so that was dead for a couple of years, and no chance. I get elected, I approve it almost, like, in the first day. Right at the very beginning. And I just say to myself, can you imagine the boss of whatever the hell company it is  who never actually called me to say thank you, but thats okay. (Laughter.) Well remember. So this guy is sitting behind his beautiful chair in a certain place  I know exactly where. Nice place. Big company. And the consultants march into his office to tell him what a great job they did. They were dead. They had no chance. They failed. I got it approved. And I did it because its 48,000 jobs between the two of them. And I did it because its also better. Its better. (Applause.)

Sir, I believe were entitled to a $10 million fee for that. Oh, those people. And theyre probably Democrats. Can you believe it? (Laughter.) Probably not for long, however.

In recent years, Americans have watched as Washington spent trillions and trillions of dollars building up foreign countries while allowing our own countrys infrastructure to fall into a state of total disrepair. Look at Korea. We have a border at Korea. We have a wall of soldiers. We dont get paid very much for this, do we?

We have  you look at that. Nobody comes through. But our own border, we dont take care of it. Think of it. We spend billions of dollars in other countries maintaining their borders, and we cant maintain our borders in our own country. Is there something a little bit wrong with that? (Laughter.)

Think of it. We spend billions and billions of dollars. Look, North and South Korea  32,000 soldiers, the finest equipment, barbed wire all over the place. We protect that whole thing. Nobody comes through. But our country, we dont do it.

Things are changing, folks. But now is the time to rebuild our country, to take care of our people, and to fight for our great American workers for a change. (Applause.)

We spent  and I was against it from the beginning. They try and say, Well, maybe not. I was against it from the beginning. And, by the way, were knocking the hell out of ISIS. Well be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now. (Applause.) Very soon. Very soon, were coming out. Were going to have 100 percent of the caliphate, as they call it  sometimes referred to as land. Were taking it all back quickly. Quickly. But were going to be coming out of there real soon. Were going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be.

But just think of it: We spent, as of three months ago, $7 trillion  not billion, not million  $7 trillion, with a T  nobody ever heard of the word trillion until 10 years ago. We spent $7 trillion in the Middle East. Wed build a school; theyd blow it up. Wed build it again; theyd blow it up. Wed build it again; hasnt been blown up yet, but it will be.

But if we want a school in Ohio to fix the windows, you cant get the money. If you want a school in Pennsylvania or Iowa to get federal money, you cant get the money. We spent $7 trillion in the Middle East. And you know what we have for it? Nothing.

Remember I used to say, Keep the oil? As a civilian, I used to say  did anybody hear me say that? Thats before I decided to go on this journey with all of you. I got tired of watching. I used to say, Keep the oil. We never kept the oil. If we kept the oil, we would have been okay. If we kept the oil, we wouldnt have ISIS.

Because you know who kept a lot of the oil? ISIS. Thats how they funded themselves. They kept the oil. We didnt keep the oil. Stupid. Stupid.

But we spent $7 trillion, but we barely have money for the infrastructure. We have to fight for our military. But were becoming so strong again. And you watch. Were not going to take very long.

I have asked Republicans and Democrats in Congress to come together and deliver the biggest and boldest infrastructure plan in the last half-century. I dont think youre going to get Democrat support very much, and youll probably have to wait until after the election, which isnt so long down the road. But were going to get this infrastructure going.

The plan generates an unprecedented $1.5 trillion investment in American infrastructure. We probably have to wait until after the election. (Applause.) Because the Democrats say, Dont give him any more wins. Dont give him any more wins. Regulations, cut taxes, Supreme Court, judges all over the place.

You know, when I got in, we had over 100 federal judges that werent appointed. Now, I dont know why Obama left that. It was like a big, beautiful present to all of us. Why the hell did he leave that? (Applause.) Maybe he got complacent.

But now we have about 145 federal district judges. We have 17 court of appeals judges. And as I said, we have the one Supreme Court justice. But think of 145 district judges. Thats world-changing, country-changing, USA-changing. And were going all out. We have unbelievably talented, smart, great people being put in those slots.

But we were left a present. I never said this before. It was like the gift from Heaven. We were left judges. Theyre the ones that judge on your disputes. They judge on whats fair on the environment and whats not fair; where theyre going to take your farms and factories away, and where theyre not. Amazing. It was the gift. Thank you very much, President Obama. We all appreciate it. Thank you. (Applause.) What happened? How did he do that? How did he do that?

We are going to be repairing roads, delivering clean water, and were going to have crystal, clean water. Were going to have clean, beautiful air. But were not going to pay a trillion dollars to be in the Paris Accord, where it puts us way back, way back where we are put at such a tremendous disadvantage. That was a disaster for this country. We couldnt use the kind of assets that we have. We would have had to close up factories and companies in order to qualify. We would have had to pay large amounts of money to other countries because they were developing. As far as Im concerned, were developing. Pay us some money. Right? Pay us. (Applause.) Were developing. Maybe well call it were redeveloping, because were redeveloping. But it was unfair.

Were going to be investing in our workers and improving our healthcare facilities for our incredible veterans. Were making some changes that are good. And weve made a lot of progress with the veterans, but I want to get them choice. And they didnt give us choice. The Democrats didnt want the vets to have choice.

When the vets are online  because theres a 25-day wait; theres a 6-month wait. Guys are online, and women  theyre vets, theyre great; theyre our greatest people. And theyll be  they got a problem, and it could be fixed. By the time they see the doctor, its over. Its over. Not going to happen. Were going to have real choice. Thats why I made some changes, because I wasnt happy with the speed with which our veterans were taken care of. I wasnt happy with it.

And we made a lot of progress. The Accountability Act, for years theyve been trying to get it. For decades, theyve been trying to get VA accountability. When somebody does a bad job in the Veterans Administration, they couldnt do anything about it. They were protected; you could do anything. They had sadists that treated our vets horribly, horribly. Worse than a movie. They had people that wouldnt work. You couldnt do anything.

I had passed the VA Accountability  theyre accountable  the Accountability Act. And now, when theyre bad to our vets or when theyre not working for our vets we say, Hey, Jim. Youre fired. Get out of here, Jim. Get out. Get out. (Applause.) That was a big deal. That was a big deal. No accountability.

We got that passed. Nobody talks about it. They dont talk about it. They dont want to talk about it. But Im doing that for the vets. And we made changes because we want them taken care of. We want them to have choice, so that they can run to a private doctor and take care of it. And its going to get done.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, honey. Its going to get done. Well always protect the people that have protected us. We have. And that goes for law enforcement. Were going to protect our law enforcement, our military, our vets. (Applause.) Right?

The plan I have outlined in Congress is built on four key principles. It can be passed in one bill or in a series of measures. What matters is that we get the job done.

First, well invest in the American worker. My Council of Economic Advisers estimates that our plan will create up to 400,000 new infrastructure jobs almost immediately. (Applause.) For workers without a college degree, these jobs offer wages that are 32 percent higher than other occupations. These are great people, great workers. And theyre great-paying jobs.

I also want more Americans to learn from the best, just like you have, really, learned  the people in this room, so many of you  youve learned from the best. Local 18s groundbreaking apprenticeship program  (applause)  true  has become one of the largest anywhere in America, and we want to replicate your success all across the country. And were studying exactly what youve done here.

Thats why Im asking Congress to improve federal student aid to include high-quality, short-term training programs that equip Americans to succeed in construction and the skilled trades. (Applause.)

A word that you dont hear much, but when I was growing up, we had what was called vocational schools. They werent called community colleges, because I dont know what that means  a community college. To me, it means a two-year college. I dont know what it means.

But I know what vocational  and I tell people, call it vocational from now on. Its a great word. Its a great word. Call it vocational, and technical, perhaps. But use vocational, because thats what its all about. People know that means. We dont know what a community college means.

We want every American to know the dignity of work, the pride of a paycheck, and the satisfaction of a job well done. (Applause.)

And speaking of a job well done, we have two of my daughters here today. Ivanka, whos working hard on infrastructure  Ivanka. (Applause.) And Tiffany.

Americas greatest treasure is our people. And I saw that during the campaign. They came from everywhere. Remember, they said, Theres no way that Donald Trump can get  the people  they had people that they didnt know existed. Now the Democrats are trying to figure out who the hell you are. (Laughter.)

You know who you are? Youre hardworking people. You work your asses off. And you got sick and tired of the people that you were supposed to be voting for, and you stopped. But you came out for us. And you know what? Now youre very happy, because this was a movement like theyve never seen before. (Applause.) Theyve never seen any movement like this, and I appreciate it, and youre going to appreciate it. You already do. Thank you.

We will completely transform the horrible, and costly, and broken permitting process. The current permitting system is a disaster; it takes forever. It adds tremendous costs and years and years of endless delay to infrastructure projects all across the country.

As just one example of how broken the system is, Secretary Chao recently gave a final approval to an environmental review in Alaska that started all the way back in 1975. Its been going on for more than 40 years. And we just got it, right? Just got it. Elaine. (Applause.) Just got it. In fact, the people of Alaska, they couldnt believe it. They said, we dont believe it. And I said, You got it.

Well get rid of the bureaucracy that wastes time and kills jobs. We had a highway in a certain wonderful state that was going to be a quick, easy road to build. That was 17 years ago. It was going to cost a very small amount of money, couple of million dollars. It ends up costing close to $300 million. Got their approvals recently.

The road is no longer a straight shot. Its now  not good if youre not feeling so good behind the wheel. (Laughter.) Got to make another turn. They had to take care of all the nesting. It has cost a lot of money and took many years, and its out of control, and were going to stop that nonsense. Were going to stop it. (Applause.)

Under our plan, every project will have one point of contact that will deliver one decision  yes or no  for the entire federal government. Yes or no. You have to go through different agencies. You go through Labor. You go through Transportation. You go through another one, another one. EPA, where weve really streamlined the system; where we have really made it possible for people to get things done. So many projects are under construction right now that would never, ever in a million years have gotten built.

And guess what? We also turn down projects if theyre wrong. We know if theyre wrong. They know if theyre wrong. We turn down projects. But if you get turned down, you get turned down quickly. You dont go along for 15, or 18, or 22 years. I mean, some people have spent an entire lifetime trying to get a project approved, and they dont get it approved. And their working career is, like, mostly over. That cant be a good feeling. Right? How about that? Cant be a good feeling.

But if you get turned down, were going to say it. America build the Empire State Building in one year. Think of it: one year. It was actually like nine months. Can you believe that? It was the tallest building in the world at the time. Now it can take 10 years just to get permits to build a roadway; a tunnel; even, in some cases, a building. And thats an insult to Americas great building heritage, and we will not accept it, and were changing it rapidly. Its already been changed. Were going to do even better.

I hope to get it down to a one-year period. We have a lot of them down to two years now. But its from 2 years from 20 and 18, and 15, and 12. But were going to try getting it down even quicker. Were going to protect the environment, and cut the permit approval time. And were going to get things done. Were going to get them built. Or were going to tell you, No good for the environment. Sorry. Dont bother. But for the most part, its going to happen.

Were going to provide a $50 billion commitment to build infrastructure in rural communities, which are too often left behind. Theyve been forgotten. Theyve been forgotten. Were going to spend a lot of money on the rural communities that have not been taken care of. And these are incredible people. These are hardworking people. And they havent been taken care of by the Democrats. These funds will help ensure that every community is connected and has access to modern infrastructure, including broadband Internet, which has been left out. (Applause.) Very unfair.

Fourth and finally, well expand the reach of federal dollars through smart state and local partnerships. Were going to have some really smart partnerships. Our plan calls for a new incentive program that provides billions of dollars in federal funding to projects in which states and local governments and the private sector are willing to invest their own resources, as well as the federal government. So there will be an incentive to get things done and get things done properly, and in the right location and the right bridge, or road, or tunnel, or whatever you are going to build.

By combining federal tax dollars with the resources of state and local governments, and partnering with the private sector, this incentive program will kickstart funding needed to build new projects and repair existing ones.

The first elements of this plan have already been put in place. We have made so much progress. Its not progress that you read about or hear about. Of course, if it were, they wouldnt print it anyway. But thats okay. (Laughter.) They dont do that.

Ive signed an executive order to speed up permitting and to expand the rural broadband. Were cutting through mountains of red tape. Weve secured more funding for highways, airports, railroads, and our nations water infrastructure. In addition to the $1.6 billion for the wall, weve got $21 billion approved for infrastructure in the current bill that a lot of people dont hear about. Weve obtained from Congress an additional $2 billion to improve veterans medical facilities. Thats everything they wanted. (Applause.) Two billion dollars for the veterans.

Congress now has the opportunity to build on this momentum and to act on a commonsense plan that will make our economy stronger, our roads faster, and our families safer. We want a safe country. We want safety. (Applause.)

Its a plan for building a stronger America. For most of our history, American infrastructure was the envy of the world. True. Go back 30, 40, 50 years; they would look at us like  now we are like, in many cases, a third-world country. Its an embarrassment. And were the ones that had the imagination and the drive to get it done. But we got that again.

Other nations marveled as we connected our shores with transcontinental railroads, and brought power to our cities that lit up the sky like no other place on Earth, and built mile after mile of Internet capabilities and interstate highways to carry American products all across the country and around the globe. Nobody did it like us.

We dug out the Panama Canal. Think of that. Thousands of lives were lost to the mosquito. To the mosquito  malaria. We dug out the Panama Canal.

We transformed our skylines with towering works of concrete and steel, and laid the foundation for the modern economy. To rebuild this nation, we must reclaim that proud heritage. Have to reclaim it. And were on our way. (Applause.)

We must recapture the excitement of creation, the spirit of innovation, and the spark of invention. Were starting. You saw the rocket the other day. You see whats going on with cars. You see whats going on with so much. NASA, space agency, all of a sudden, its back. You notice? It was dormant for many, many years. Now its back, and were trying to have the private sector invest the money. Why the hell should we do it? Right. Let them invest. If they want to send rocket ships up, theyre rich, let them do it. (Laughter.)

When I looked at the rocket that went up three weeks ago, where the tanks came back  nobody has ever seen; it looks like Star Wars. But I looked at it and I heard the cost  I think they said $85 million. If the government did that, youre talking about billions of dollars, and maybe it wouldnt work so well.

But I thought it was fantastic thing. But were working with the private sector and NASA. And were doing a great job. Weve made so much progress in the last year. Dont forget its just been a little more than a year. But weve made so much progress and other people are putting up a lot of money.

Theyre using our facilities. I feel like a landlord again. (Laughter.) Were leasing them facilities. Not so bad. Not a bad idea. And theyre doing a great job. America is a nation, like you, of builders. Its a nation of pioneers. A nation that accepts no limits, no hardship, and never, ever gives up. We dont give up. We dont give up. (Applause.)

We will tear down every obstacle, break down every barrier, and stare down every challenge, because our hearts  they bleed red, white, and blue, and we love our great American flag, dont we? (Applause.) Right?

Anything we can dream, you can build. You will create the new highways, the new dams and skyscrapers that will become lasting monuments to American strength and continued greatness.

You will forge new American steel into the spine of our country. You will cement the foundation of a glorious American future. And you will do it all with those beautiful American hands  powerful hands, powerful heart, and powerful American pride. (Applause.) Right? Powerful American pride.

You are the ones who share our shaping and our destiny. You are the ones who are restoring our prosperity and our pride. Youre restoring pride in this country again. Our country had very little pride. Look back  see what was happening. Our country had very little pride.

You look at whats going on in California  Orange County  theyve had it. Theres a revolution going on out there. Sanctuary cities, where they protect criminals. They protect murderers. They protect people that you dont want on the streets. Other places in California said, We dont want that. First time theyre speaking up.

Even look at Roseanne. I called her yesterday. Look at her ratings. Look at her ratings. (Applause.)

I got a call from Mark Burnett. He did The Apprentice. Hes a great guy. He said, Donald, I called just to say hello and to tell you, did you see Roseannes ratings? I said, Mark, how big were they? They were unbelievable. Over 18 million people. And it was about us. They havent figured it out; the fake news hasnt quite figured it out yet. They have not figured it out. (Applause.)

So that was great. And they havent figured it out. But they will. And when they do, theyll become much less fake. (Laughter.) May take a while, but its happening.

But youre the ones who are truly making America great again. Were going to work together. Were going to work with the state of Ohio. Were going to work with everybody. And were going to bring our country to a level of success and prominence and pride like it has never, ever seen before.

Thank you. And God bless America. Thank you.The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) and the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals (BHDDH) issued an alert this week to warn residents of an increase in opioid overdose activity throughout the state. The alert comes on the heels of the state recording 48 reports of opioid overdoses from hospital emergency departments from September 12-18. Have you or your family been personally affected by the opioid epidemic in Rhode Island? Let us know in this week's poll question below.

You voted:Earlier the same day, the CPV leader visited Santiago de Cuba. Joining the tour of the Cuban province was First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba Raul Castro Ruz, along with several Party and State officials of the Latin American nation.

The Vietnamese leader visited Moncada Museum, which was previously a barracks and is now a museum and a school named Ciudad Escolar 26 de Julio (July 26). The museum  barracks of Moncada is known for an event on July 26, 1953, when 135 anti-Batista guerrillas, under the leadership of Fidel Castro, Raul Castro and Aben Santamaria, attacked the barracks, marking the start of the fight against dictator Batista. The museum displays a number of photos and objects related to the July 26 event. Notably, there is a photo of late Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Van Dong on his visit to Cuba in 1974.

In the guest book, General Secretary Trong wrote that he was touched when visiting the museum  barracks of Moncada, a famous place that has gone down in the history of Cuba.

Marking the 65th anniversary of the Moncada victory (July 26, 1953), it could be affirmed that the Moncada Platform has come to life and the ideals of independence and freedom of Jose Marti and Fidel Castro will be immortal in the history of Cuba and Latin America, he added.

Following, the CPV chief and the Vietnamese delegation laid a wreath and paid tribute to Jose Marti at the tomb of the Cuban hero, who devoted his whole life to the struggle for independence and the freedom of American nations.

The delegation also visited the tomb of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, the founder of Cubas revolution, an eminent leader of the Latin American nations and the movement of fighting for peace, national independence, freedom and socialism, and a close comrade and brother of the Vietnamese Party, State and people.

Before leaving Havana for Satiago de Cuba, General Secretary Trong met with Cuban Hero and President of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) Fernando Gonzalez and Vice Chairman of the Cuba-Vietnam Friendship Association Marta Rojas.

Briefing on the fine outcomes of his State visit to Cuba, the CPV leader said that, during his meetings with the senior leaders of Cuba, the two sides discussed measures to develop the countries relations.

He added that Vietnam and Cuba boast time-tested relations. Despite geographical distance, the two countries have always been united and supported each other wholeheartedly in the struggle for national independence in the past, as well as in national development at present.

The Party, State and people of Vietnam always keep in mind the precious assistance from the Party, State and people of Cuba, he noted.

General Secretary Trong also thanked the ICAP for holding a number of diverse activities to help enhance their bilateral ties, adding that Vietnam will do its utmost to unceasingly develop the friendship and fraternity between the two countries.

For his part, Fernando Gonzalez described the outcomes of the two sides high-level meetings as a vivid demonstration of the close-knit relations between Cuba and Vietnam.

He said the ICAP has continuously coordinated with the relevant agencies, organisations and the Vietnamese Embassy in Cuba to bolster its ties with Vietnam. He pledged that the ICAP and the Cuba-Vietnam Friendship Association will exert every effort to contribute to the solidarity, friendship and cooperation between the two countries.We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Go to formBollywood actor Hrithik Roshan penned a poem and shared it in a special video giving the inspiring message that encourages people not to be afraid, but do something different, and move ahead. (photo provided)March 30, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - The corridor near the entrance to the operating room, on the third floor of Princess Alia Hospital in Hebron, just after 1 P.M. on Monday. About a dozen family members are sitting on a bench, waiting for their loved one to emerge from surgery that had begun some four hours beforehand. Finally the door opens. An orderly pushes a hospital bed toward the elevator and from there to room 7 in the surgical ward one floor down.

Jumaa Rabai, 45, is lying on the bed, eyes half-shut, still groggy from the anesthetic, an IV attached to his arm. Gray-haired and bearded, dressed in a white hospital robe, hes covered with a blue synthetic blanket. Occasionally he mumbles something to the family members gathered around his bed  among them his firstborn son, Raafat, 21, and his youngest child, a 7-month-old daughter in the arms of her mother, Saria, 40. The couple have eight children.

Three days earlier, last Friday. The Palestinian village of Al-Tuwani, in the South Hebron Hills. Rabai got up at 5 A.M. and headed for his fields, about two kilometers away, where he intended to gather fodder to feed his small herd of sheep. Before leaving home, he asked Raafat to follow about an hour later with the familys mule, which would bring back the two sacks of food to the pen next to the familys home.

The villages calamity is Havat Maon, a rogue outpost of violent settlers that was established in the adjacent grove as a satellite of the settlement of Maon. Villagers relate that settlers enter their homes at night and threaten and beat people, and that there are repeated attacks on shepherds in the fields as well.

In the last two weeks, Havat Maon settlers have run wild and attacked farmers from Al-Tuwani. On Friday morning two weeks ago  after the morning prayers in the village mosque  some 10 Israelis made their way from Havat Maon to the village and threw stones at homes and cars there. The windshields of two cars were shattered; a 29-year-old Palestinian was lightly wounded.

That evening, unknown assailants damaged about 20 trees belonging to villagers. When dozens of locals arrived at the scene to assess the damage, a few dozen armed settlers from Havat Maon swooped down on them. Two young people, Basil Edra and Baker Rabai, suffered light injuries after being beaten. One of the armed Israelis entered the local mosque, from which worshipers fled when he threatened them with his rifle.

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This is the way these villagers live. And the same routine repeated itself last Friday, too, when the farmer Jumaa Rabai went to his field early in the morning.

While Jumaa was undergoing surgery, we sat in the hospital courtyard with blue-eyed Raafat, who was a witness to last Fridays violence. Hes naturally shy, but the traumatic effects of the assault on his father are plain to see on him. He tells us that the family herd numbers 16 sheep, but they also look after another 60 sheep that belong to his grandmother, Fatma.

Last year, Raafat snuck into Israel and worked for about half a year tiling floors in the Bedouin locality of Segev Shalom. After being caught twice by the police, however, and knowing that a third arrest would mean a prison term, he says he no longer tries to enter Israel to work. Since then, the young man, who is engaged to be married, has been compelled to make do with earning a living by helping his father in his agricultural work.

At about six oclock on Friday morning, an hour after his father left home, Raafat set out with the mule for the field, which is a few hundred meters away from Havat Maon. It was light outside by the time he arrived. Below, in the valley, he saw his father collecting food for the sheep. After tying the mule to a tree, he walked down the hill to Jumaa, who had already filled one sack. Raafat took it and started to walk back, to load it on the mule, before returning to help his father again.

A few dozen meters separated father and son. All was quiet and tranquil, when suddenly Raafat saw Jumaa break into a run as though he were trying to escape from someone or something. At first he didnt understand what had got into his father, but very quickly he noticed five figures who had burst into the field from the direction of Havat Maon. One was in hot pursuit of his father.

At one point, the settler struck Jumaa on the foot with his rifle butt, but the Palestinian continued to run for his life, jumping into a bush in an effort to hide, without knowing what lay below it: He fell down a hill a distance of about two meters, twisting and mangling his leg.

Raafat heard his father screaming in pain. He saw the Israeli draw close and hit his father in the head with his rifle butt, as he lay helpless at the foot of the hill. Raafat recognized the man from an attack the previous week, when he had also acted brutally. Jumaa urged his son to escape, so the thugs wouldnt hurt him, too. When the settler aimed his pistol at Raafat, he did indeed back off a few dozen meters.

While his father lay injured and groaning with pain, Raafat hid in the bushes and called volunteers from Operation Dove  Christian peace activists from Italy who live in Al-Tuwani and help protect the villagers. He also summoned some of his fellow villagers, along with a field researcher for the Israeli human rights organization BTselem, Nassar Nawaja, who lives in nearby Susiya. The settlers, understanding that he was calling for help, ran off. Raafat heard one of the say, Lets beat it, the Arabs are coming.

It took the villagers half an hour to get to the site. In the meantime, Raafat had reached his father, who was lying on his side on the ground, writhing in agony. He tried to help him get up, but his injured leg buckled.

In the meantime, three Israel Defense Forces soldiers arrived at the scene, after having been summoned. The terrain is impassable for a vehicle, so one soldier went up the hill to fetch a stretcher to move the wounded man. In the meantime, however, a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance arrived from the town of Yatta, and parked on the hill above in order to evacuate Jumaa. All told, about an hour and a half passed from the time his father was injured until he was moved.

The ambulance took Raafats father to a clinic in Yatta, and from there to the Hebron hospital. Three fractures were diagnosed in his left thigh, above the knee. Another BTselem field researcher, Musa Abu Hashhash, who also arrived at the hospital to investigate the incident, relates that Jumaa continued to suffer from searing pain until he underwent surgery this week.

We sat with the family outside the operating room, in the hospitals new wing, which was built with World Bank funding and dedicated in 2016, according to a marble plaque on the wall. The family seemed to take the violent incident in stride, the way one would react to some sort of recurring natural disaster. They have become accustomed to this outrageous situation, in which their lives are in constant danger, their honor is trampled, fathers are beaten before the eyes of their sons, their land is plundered  and no one protects them. They say they may submit a complaint to the Israeli police about the assault, although they know that nothing will come of it.

From the roof of the hospital, the whole city of Hebron is spread out below  a very large city where only one huge flag is visible, flapping in the breeze above a building in the heart of the urban sprawl. An Israeli flag, flying above a settler house in the city.Themed Leveraging on 25 years of Cooperation, and Building a Sustainable, Integrated, and Prosperous GMS, the summit reviewed the 25-year path of GMS cooperation, and discussed opportunities and challenges the subregion is facing as well as major orientations for GMS cooperation in the coming time.

In his speech, Prime Minister of host Vietnam Nguyen Xuan Phuc said during one fourth of the past century, GMS cooperation has ceaselessly expanded in both depth and width, affirming its own identity as a prestigious regional cooperation mechanism with the 3C strategy Connectivity, Community and Competitiveness.

Hundreds of projects with a total capital of over US$21 billion have been implemented in various fields from transport, energy and telecommunication to trade, agriculture and environment, he said, adding that there are also many overall collaboration strategies with long-term vision such as the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) and the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC).

Ever being a region of poor, underdeveloped and isolated countries in the last century, the GMS is now proud of housing the fastest growing economies in the world which are in active integration and have broad and busy markets with an increasingly developing middle class.

The success of the GMS proves the aspiration and determination to build the Mekong region of peace, prosperity and sustainable development for the people, he stressed.

He expressed his thanks to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank and development partners for their valuable and effective support for the Mekong region in general and Vietnam in particular.

According to the Vietnamese leader, over the past 25 years, Vietnam has always actively engaged in GMS cooperation and efforts to trade and investment facilitation, environmental protection, natural resources, and climate change adaptation. Many works connecting Vietnam and other GMS nations have proven effective, including the EWEC, roads and bridges connecting the Mekong Delta region, the SEC and the Noi Bai  Lao Cai  Yunnan expressway.

We will continue working to make the GMS operation more effective, thus further promoting the potential of the Mekong region, he affirmed.

The PM spoke highly of the building of the Hanoi Action Plan for 2018-2020 and the Regional Investment Framework 2022 (RIF-22) with a total of over 220 investment and technical support programmes and projects worth about US$66 billion.

He suggested the building of the GMS Cooperation Vision by 2030 with the main tasks of improving competitiveness, supporting GMS countries in engaging more deeply and effectively in global value chain, and increasing coordination in responding to the regions common challenges, especially climate change and environmental protection.

He also underlined the key cooperation areas among the GMS nations, with the first priority given to infrastructure development and boosting regional connectivity to ensure smooth connection within the region and between the region and outsiders.

Focus will be put on building green, high-quality, and smart infrastructure by using advanced and environmentally-friendly technology, in tandem with ensuring socio-environmental aspects and sustainable financing, PM Phuc said.

Connection at local level will be strengthened in terms of roads, railways, aviation, maritime, and waterways to maximise the efficiency of the GMSs economic corridors in the new stage.

The GMS nations will also forge ahead with regional connectivity in information  telecommunication and energy to use natural resources and manage production more effectively, he said.

They will also boost reciprocal support in trade and investment, thus better connecting regional investors, production and business facilities to reduce regional competition and increase the regional competitiveness, particularly in agro-forestry-fisheries products, he added.

GMS countries must focus on improving the quality of human resources and take it as a top priority in the context of the fourth industrial revolution.

The improved quality of labourers would help the GMS economies upgrade international competitiveness, as their skills remain simple and their productivity is still low, Phuc added.

He suggested the GMS countries share their database and conduct shared researches on efficient, sustainable exploitation, use and management of natural resources that include the Mekong River.

He also said that the GMS nations and their developed-economy partners should improve their cooperation and increase the effectiveness of sustainable development and environmental protection.

The GMS governments should include their green growth strategies in their own national development plans, he said, adding the subregion should expand its relations to other developed economies, international financial institutions and the business community to benefit all members.March 30, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - The Skripal saga and Ecuadors move to cut Julian Assanges internet is part of a wider crackdown on freedom of speech and states like Russia which have stood up to the West. It risks evolving into a real war, John Pilger told RT. This is about a war on freedom of speech; this man is being denied the most basic right  freedom of speech. Its part of a wider war. The wider war is against known enemies, and Russia is one of them, China is another, investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker John Pilger said. Earlier this week, the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where Assange has been holed up since 2012, cut off all communications for the WikiLeaks founder, blocking his internet access and not allowing any visitors. A source close to WikiLeaks told RT that Ecuador cut Assanges internet due to his tweet about the arrest of former Catalan leader Carlos Puigdemont in Germany. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

Pilger argued that the way the Western media  instead of doing its job, blindly sided with the official narrative  framed the events in Salisbury is another instance in the same global propaganda effort. Its part of the propaganda war that the attack in Salisbury represents. Here we have Russian diplomats being expelled all over the world on the basis of no evidence.

Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned earlier in March and found unconscious in Salisbury. The UK government has blamed the attack on Russia, but Moscow denies the allegations, saying that no evidence has been presented to support the claim. Following calls from London, almost 30 states announced they would expel Russian diplomats over the case, prompting the Kremlin to announce tit-for-tat measures.

Pilger said Assange was castigated by the British government for merely saying it was poor diplomacy on the part of the UK to kick out Russian representatives with no independent confirmation of its rushed investigation.

He was just suggesting that there was no evidence, but this is what this propaganda war is about. Its a war on speaking out, its a war on dissent, its a war on the very things that Im saying at the moment, its a war on journalism and requires collaborators, Pilger said.

He cited as an example an article written by the Guardians James Ball. The opinion piece by Ball says Assange has himself to blame for invoking Ecuadors ire, and he should hold his hands up and leave the embassy.

These are not journalists, because this is about the publics right to know and its the public right to know what the governments are doing. The second part of this war is about a real war. Weve got the prospect of a real war unless this propaganda war is seen through, Pilger said.

What made WikiLeaks and Assange the target of multiple attacks over the years is the commitment to true journalism.

The attack on him and WikiLeaks over the years is so important because it does what journalism should be doing and that is holding power to account.March 30, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - To my knowledge, none of the questions I wrote in my previous piece  30 questions That Journalists Should be Asking About the Skripal Case  has been answered satisfactorily, at least not in the public domain. Yet despite the fact that these legitimate questions have not yet been answered, and many important facts surrounding the case are still unknown, the case has given rise to a serious international crisis, with the extraordinary expulsion of Russian diplomats across many EU countries and particularly the United States on March 26th.

This is a moment to stop and pause. A man and his daughter were poisoned in the City of Salisbury on 4th March. Yet despite the fact that investigators do not yet appear to know how they were poisoned, when they were poisoned, or where they were poisoned, a number of Western nations have used the incident as a pretext for the co-ordinated expulsion of diplomats on a scale not witnessed even during the height of the Cold War. These are clearly very abnormal and very dangerous times.

I pointed out in my previous piece that it is not my intention to advance some sort of conspiracy theory on this blog. It remains the case that I simply dont have any holistic theory  conspiracy or otherwise  for who carried this out, and I continue to retain an open mind. But since the Government of my country has rushed to judgement without many of the facts of the case being established, and since this has led to the biggest deterioration in relations between nuclear-armed nations since the Cuban Missile Crisis, it seems to me that it is more important than ever to keep asking questions in the hope that answers will come.

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And so, for what its worth, here are 20 more important questions that I think that journalists ought to be asking regarding this case:

1. Have the police yet identified any suspects in the case?

2. If so, is there any evidence connecting them to the Russian Government?

3. If not, how is it possible to determine culpability, as the British Government has done?

4. In her statement to the House of Commons on 12th March 2018, the British Prime Minister, Theresa May stated the following:

It is now clear that Mr Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia. This is part of a group of nerve agents known as Novichok. Based on the positive identification of this chemical agent by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down [my emphasis added].

In the judgement at the High Court on 22nd March on whether to allow blood samples to be taken from Sergei and Yulia Skripal for examination by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), evidence submitted by Porton Down to the court (Section 17 i) stated the following:

Blood samples from Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal were analysed and the findings indicated exposure to a nerve agent or related compound. The samples tested positive for the presence of a Novichok class nerve agent or closely related agent [my emphasis added].

So the Prime Minister said that Porton Down had positively identified the substance as a Novichok nerve agent. The statement from Porton Down says that their tests indicated that it was a Novichok agent or closely related agent. Are these two statements saying exactly the same thing?

5. Why were the phrases related compound and closely related agent added to the statement given by Porton Down, and is this an indication that the scientists were not 100% sure that the substance was a Novichok nerve agent?

6. Why were these phrases left out of the Prime Ministers statement to the House of Commons?

7. Why did the Prime Minister choose to use the word Novichok in her speech, rather than the word Foliant, which is the actual name of the programme initiated by the Soviet Union when attempting to develop a new class of chemical weapons in the 1970s and 1980s?

8. When asked in an interview with Deutsche Welle how scientists at Porton Down had found out so quickly that the nerve agent was of the Novichok class of chemical weapons, the Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, was asked whether Porton Down possesses samples of it. Here is how he replied:

They do. And they were absolutely categorical and I asked the guy myself, I said, Are you sure? And he said theres no doubt [My emphasis].

If Mr Johnsons statement is correct, and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down has samples of Novichok in its possession, where did they come from?

9. Were they produced at Porton Down?

10. How long have they had them?

11. Why has the DSTL not registered possession of these substances with the OPCW, which it is legally obliged to do under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)?

12. Does this admission by Mr Johnson not indicate that Novichoks can be made in any advanced chemical weapons facility, as indeed they were under the auspices of the OPCW in Iran in 2016?

13. If so, how can the Government be sure that the substance used to poison Mr Skripal and his daughter was made in or produced by Russia?

14. In her statement to the House of Commons on Wednesday 14th March, the British Prime Minister stated that there were only two plausible explanations for poisoning of Mr Skripal and his daughter:

Either this was a direct act by the Russian State against our country. Or conceivably, the Russian government could have lost control of a military-grade nerve agent and allowed it to get into the hands of others.

Other than the actual substance used, is there any hard evidence that led the Government to conclude these as being the only two plausible scenarios?

15. On March 26th, a number of countries expelled Russian diplomats in an apparent response to the incident in Salisbury. Yet at this time, the OPCW had not yet investigated the case, nor analysed blood samples. Why was the clearly co-ordinated decision to expel diplomats taken before the OPCWs investigation had concluded?

16. Has this not put huge pressure on the OPCW to come up with the right conclusion?

17. It is reckoned that the OPCWs investigation into the substance used will take at least three weeks to complete, whereas it took Porton Down less than a week to analyse it. What accounts for this difference?

18. Will the OPCW be using the samples of Novichok that Boris Johnson says are held at Porton Down to compare with the blood samples of Mr Skripal and his daughter?

19. If not, on what basis will this comparison be made, since the first known synthesis of a Novichok was made by Iran in 2016?

20. If the OPCW discovers that the substance is indeed a Novichok, will this be sufficient evidence with which to establish who carried out the attack on the Skripals or  given that other countries clearly have the capability to produce such substances  would more evidence be needed?March 30, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - I am gullible. Very. I betcha I am more gullible than you. And that tells you something, because you know how gullible you are. Or so you think. Still, as bad as I got it, something physically snapped in the back of my head this morning, I could hear it snap, when I saw this Guardian headline:

Skripals Poisoned From Front Door Of Salisbury Home, Police Say

Detectives investigating the attempted murders of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal have said they believe the pair were poisoned with a nerve agent at the front door of his Salisbury home. Specialists investigating the poisoning of the the Skripals have found the highest concentration of the nerve agent on the front door at the address, police said. Counter-terrorism detectives will continue to focus their inquiries on the home address for the coming weeks, and possibly months

See, because of my gullibility, Ive decided that if Im to have any idea of what really goes on around me, Im condemned to reading a lot. Obviously, like you, Ive found that the vast majority of what passes for news is as fake as it gets. More so by the day. So we have to read between the lines all the time. Its what it is. But this

If these two people have actually been poisoned, thats a really terrible thing. But maybe lying about such things is much worse. And I doubt that anything at all weve been told about the Skripal case is true. Not because I dont want to believe it, but because the storytellers plant so many trees theyre getting lost in their own forest.

Today the British press reports that the Skripal father and daughter pair were poisoned from their front door. They do that with the same level of certainty that just a few days ago they used in telling us they were poisoned through the air vents of the dads BMW. Exact same story, just a different location. And thats after a by now long sequence of headlines that claimed it had happened inside the home, or in a bar, a pizzeria, or on the parkbench they were ostensibly found on.

What that headline above, and all others on the topic that came before it, tells me is that evidently the hundreds of experts involved in the case have not yet been able to locate the nerve agent. Theyre still just guessing, even 25 days after the incident is supposed to have happened. How would that be done? I have no idea, but Im surely thinking that after almost 4 weeks its essentially a pure guessing game, and nothing more than that.

Does the alleged nerve agent leave traces after all that time? I dont have a clue, but I do know from what Ive read that its apparently so toxic (as in lethal) that even very faint traces of the stuff are, well, lethal. So when I first read the BMW air vent theory last week I was thinking: did the guy who towed that car to the police station wear a full hazmat suit? He would have had to if hes still alive.

And where is that car anyway? Come to think of it, where are the Skripals? And how is it possible that they survived the attack? Were they given a full blood transfusion? Are they being treated 24/7 by dedicated personnel in hazmat suits? There are too many questions for me to answer. And that goes for you too. And for Boris Johnson. And Donald Trump. And the governments of the 30-or-so nations that nevertheless expelled well over a hundred Russian diplomats.

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Now, Im not a chemist, let alone an organic chemist. So perhaps I should consult with my friend Dave Collum, who is. But I was going to write this from memory, not go back and find all those headlines, or ask around. This is not about me being 100% correct, its about the news reports being so far off the truth.

Heres what I have picked up about the nerve agent. The press calls it Novichok (Russian for newbies), but Novichok is not a nerve agent, its a group of them. In the Skripal case, the journalists -who I can only hope are not as gullible as I am- behind all the news have been told by authorities that were dealing with A-234, which is a novichok nerve agent.

Developed by Russia a long time ago, but no longer produced in Russia after 1993, as the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize winning Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has confirmed. Its chemical formula has been made public, which means that at least in theory anyone could produce it.

Russia would seem to be the last country to try that, because it would point straight to them. And they havent stood still for 25 years, they can make Novichok 2.0 if they want. Not that they appear to have much if any reason to poison the Skripals, there are quite a few parties that have at least as much incentive to do that.

Wait, before I forget, there was a policeman who allegedly treated the Skripals first, and was himself poisoned in the act and hospitalized, but was released a few days ago. What exactly happened to him? How did the A-234 not kill him? Did he receive such a faint trace that he was cleaned within days? Where is he now? Why has he not released any statement? Doesnt he strike you, too, as being a little bit pregnant?

But, again, Im not a chemist. Collum, who I cant really claim as a friend anymore, because hes everybodys friend these days, tweets a hint:

Hey organic chemists: the Novichuk nerve agents are like those below. [..] You could just use the racemate with plenty of effect. Unlike drugs, the goal here is to kill the recipient.

From what I understand, A-234, like all novichoks, is just a pesticide with a fancy dress on. Not terribly unique or special, and not terribly Russian after 25 years either. Just terribly lethal. Which by the way is saying something about how we produce our food, too. Can we blame Putin for losing our insects as well, please? Its so much easier that way.

But I digress. As I started out saying, its the news that yet another location for the nerve agent had been discovered after 25 days and hundreds of specialists, at the bleeping front door of the victims home, as if nobody ever thought of looking there, that snapped that thingy in my head. Location, location, location.

Still, when I venture beyond what can be or has been proven, which is about as near to zero Kelvin as I even want to think about, there was this other thing this morning. Julian Assange has been cut off from the internet by his gracious Ecuadorian hosts in their London embassy. And I betcha thats because he dared question Britain in the Skripal case, on Twitter.

Heres my theory, borne off my gullibility in all its glory: Theresa May and her government have been stumbling from disaster to catastrophe over the Brexit calamity for months now, and they needed some relief. But they themselves are not smart enough to provide it. So someone got it for them.

Theyre keeping Labour boss Jeremy Corbyn occupied for all hes worth with a cocked-up narrative of him being an antisemite. Stupid as can be story, but it works for as long as they need it to. The other day the BBC photoshopped a Russian hat on Corbyns face; that stuck less than the Jew-hater tale, so they went with that one. Some UK parliamentary fake news committee wants to talk to Zuckerberg, but they should look closer to home. If fake news is what theyre really after.

So anyway, they all went with the Novichok concocted thing, and boy did that ever catch on. Even every western politicians pet hamsters have now sent their Russian caregivers packing. And you know what it is, even if May and Boris had any proof of Russian involvement, all those countries certainly do not. Even if they had the evidence, theyre not going to send it around to dozens of countries. Just not.

Boris Johnson couldnt resist comparing Putin to Hitler. You cant fall any lower than that. Or can you? The diplomats were all expelled on a day that Russia was lamenting the death of 64(?) victims (mostly children) in a shopping mall fire, in what they declared a day of national mourning. You think Boris sent his condolences?

I can write about this all day long, and weekends too. You know, Crimea, Ukraine, MH17, the new cold war narrative has been well prepared. And now John Bolton, who may well be the deadliest cartoon character weve ever seen -let alone imagined-, is all set to score the easy tip-in. But that is possible only because all of you are as gullible as I am. Dont forget that. Theyre blinding you with silence, with stupidity, with your own lack of neuron activity.

Even if this is a story with too many holes in it to qualify as Swiss cheese. The story doesnt make any sense? Who cares, really, all the front pages shout it out in bold print. And if you get tired of it: wheres the remote, Mildred?

British politician and former candidate for mayor of London, George Galloway, on Twitter, says it so much better than I ever could, and shorter too, which is why I quote him at the end of this article:

Why do I not believe you? Let me count the ways. Youre not looking for anyone in connection with the attack on the Skripals. There is no manhunt, no all points alert, no description, no identikit drawing, no CCTV. No suspects. That means you already know what happened. #Russia

We know Facebook is trying to screw with your brains. Well, theyre not the only ones. Your government -and intelligence services- want the monopoly on that, too.

I can not make this a definitive, or final, or complete story. Because nobody can. But I can tell you this: if you think that Russia or God forbid Putin, poisoned the Skripals, youre so wrong youre beyond salvation. Not because it may or may not be true, but because you have seen no evidence. And you still go with it. Wheres the remote, Mildred?The State Department will publish new rules this week to require most visitors and immigrants to the U.S. to divulge their recent social media histories, carrying out one of the key security enhancements from President Trumps extreme vetting executive order.

Travelers would also be asked to list phone numbers, email addresses and international travel during the previous five years, and to detail any immigration problems they have had, whether with the U.S. or elsewhere. They also will be asked about potential family connections to terrorism.

Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

In a striking move, would-be immigrants from countries where female genital mutilation is prevalent  mostly in Africa  would be directed to a website ensuring that they are aware the practice is largely illegal in the U.S.

The proposals are laid out in two documents slated to be published Friday, kicking off a comment period before the government finalizes the policies later this year.

This upgrade to visa vetting is long-overdue, and its appropriate to apply it to everyone seeking entry, because terrorism is a worldwide problem. The aim is to try to weed out people with radical or dangerous views, said Jessica Vaughan, policy studies director at the Center for Immigration Studies.Home Search ICH Qadhafis Revenge



The curse of the colonel comes back to haunt the man who wrecked his country and had him killed



By Abdel Bari Atwan March 30, 2018 " Information Clearing House " -Millions of Libyans, and many more Arabs and Muslims, will have felt pleased by the news that former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was held for questioning, and later released on bail, on charges that he received more than 50 million euros from former Libyan leader Muammar al-Qadhafi to fund his successful 2007 election campaign. None more so than the direct victims of the 2011 NATO bombing campaign that wrecked Libya, turned it into a failed state and led to the deaths of tens of thousands of its inhabitants and the flight of millions more to live in misery in neighbouring countries. This does mean that those remaining in their homeland are better off: in most cases, their conditions are even worse. Sarkozys French interrogators have confirmed that they have serious evidence of criminal activity by him on several counts, including corruption, money-laundering and violating French election campaign financing laws. It is ironic that Qadhafi helped Sarkozy get into the Elysee Palace and is now the cause of his undoing and detention, after years of scandal-filled investigations. Sarkozy thought that by unleashing NATO airstrikes on Libya and getting Qadhafi captured and summarily killed , in the ugly and bloody manner he was, he could bury the Libyan leaders secrets along with his body in an unknown location in the Libyan desert. He did not know that the Curse of the Colonel would come back to haunt him, destroy his political and personal future, and consign him to a well-deserved place in the dustbin of history. The millions of Libyans who now long for Qadhafis days  having seen what his successors have wrought on the country  have French-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine to thank. He revealed that he had delivered three briefcases stuffed with 200 and 500 euro notes to Sarkozys chief of staff when he was minister of the interior and met him in person at the ministry, and supported that with an affidavit from former Libyan foreign intelligence chief Mousa Kousa that Qadhafis regime had provided 50 million euros in cash to Sarkozys campaign. In March 2001, after Sarkozys role in engineering the NATO intervention became apparent, Qadhafi himself spoke of this in a speech: I helped Sarkozy reach power. I gave him money so he could become president He came here and visited my tent when he was minister of the interior and asked for help. His son Saif-al-Islam, for his part, said in a television interview that the clown Sarkozy should give back the money he took from Libya to fund his election campaign. Sarkozy stands a good chance of being convicted. Unlike Qadhafi, most of the witnesses are still alive and can be summoned to testify or visited by prosecutors to give witness statements. These include Saif al-Islam and former security chief Abdallah as-Sanousi (in Libya), Mousa Kousa (in Qatar), and the former head of Qadhafis office Bashir Saleh (currently in South Africa). It is ironic that Sarkozy should have claimed to investigators  according to the daily Le Figaro  that he was the victim of a campaign which Qadhafi began against him and which was continued by his henchmen, costing him the 2012 election, and denied all accusations. Sarkozy may have lost his bid for re-election, but thanks to his scheming the Libyan people lost their country, their security and their normal lives, which have been turned into hell for millions both inside and outside the country. These Libyans are entitled to relish Sarkozys come-uppance and want to see him thrown behind bars, at the very least. He bears primary responsibility for the death and destruction wreaked on Libya, which nobody could have imagined and which  even more seriously  is continuing to this day and perhaps for years to come. It is the curse of the good-natured Libyan people who were subjected to the biggest fraud in their history when they believed that NATO and its warplanes would bring them freedom and social justice and establish a model of security, stability and prosperity for a brighter future. This curse has struck Sarkozy but it will also chase others who were complicit in that disastrous conspiracy, including Libyan figures and Arab leaders who know well who they are. Revenge will not bring Qadhafi back to life, nor the 35,000 victims of NATOs bombing and the militias it brought to power, who have spread death and destruction throughout the country and looted it of more than $360 billion dollars which Qadhafi left behind as state assets. But it does provide a kind of divine justice, which is the least that can be hoped for. This article was originally published by " Raialyoum " - The views and opinions expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect those of Information Clearing House. ===== NATO Supported Rebels Desecrate Gadaffi's Body - Or Does Video Show Him Still Alive When Captured? Join the Discussion It is not necessary for ICH readers to register before placing a comment. We ask that you treat others with respect. Take a moment to read the following - Comment Policy - What Or Who is Information Clearing House and Purpose and Intent of this website: It is unacceptable to slander, smear or engage in personal attacks on authors of articles posted on ICH. Those engaging in that behavior will be banned from the comment section. Search Information Clearing House === Click Here To Support Information Clearing House Your support has kept ICH free on the Web since 2002. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load.Murder In Gaza

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect those of Information Clearing House.

=====

Join the DiscussionMarch 31, 2018 " Information Clearing House " -

We call on the government of Ecuador to allow Julian Assange his right of freedom of speech.

If it was ever clear that the case of Julian Assange was never just a legal case, but a struggle for the protection of basic human rights, it is now.

Citing his critical tweets about the recent detention of Catalan president Carles Puidgemont in Germany, and following pressure from the US, Spanish and UK governments, the Ecuadorian government has installed an electronic jammer to stop Assange communicating with the outside

world via the internet and phone. As if ensuring his total isolation, the Ecuadorian government is also refusing to allow him to receive visitors. Despite two UN rulings describing his detention as unlawful and mandating his immediate release, Assange has been effectively imprisoned since he was first placed in isolation in Wandsworth prison in London in December 2010. He has never been charged with a crime. The Swedish case against him collapsed and was withdrawn, while the United States has stepped up efforts to prosecute him. His only "crime" is that of a true journalist -- telling the world the truths that people have a right to know.

Under its previous president, the Ecuadorian government bravely stood against the bullying might of the United States and granted Assange political asylum as a political refugee. International law and the morality of human rights was on its side.

Today, under extreme pressure from Washington and its collaborators, another government in Ecuador justifies its gagging of Assange by stating that Assange's behaviour, through his messages on social media, put at risk good relations which this country has with the UK, the rest of the EU and other nations.

This censorious attack on free speech is not happening in Turkey, Saudi Arabia or China; it is right in the heart of London. If the Ecuadorian government does not cease its unworthy action, it, too, will become an agent of persecution rather than the valiant nation that stood up for freedom and for free speech. If the EU and the UK continue to participate in the scandalous silencing of a true dissident in their midst, it will mean that free speech is indeed dying in Europe.

This is not just a matter of showing support and solidarity. We are appealing to all who care about basic human rights to call on the government of Ecuador to continue defending the rights of a courageous free speech activist, journalist and whistleblower.

We ask that his basic human rights be respected as an Ecuadorian citizen and internationally protected person and that he not be silenced or expelled.

If there is no freedom of speech for Julian Assange, there is no freedom of speech for any of us -- regardless of the disparate opinions we hold.

We call on President Moreno to end the isolation of Julian Assange now.

List of signatories (in alphabetic order):

Pamela Anderson, actress and activist

Jacob Appelbaum, freelance journalist

Renata Avila, International Human Rights Lawyer

Sally Burch, British/Ecuadorian journalist

Alicia Castro, Argentinas ambassador to the United Kingdom 2012-16

Naomi Colvin, Courage Foundation

Noam Chomsky, linguist and political theorist

Brian Eno, musician

Joseph Farrell, WikiLeaks Ambassador and board member of The Centre for Investigative Journalism

Teresa Forcades, Benedictine nun, Montserrat Monastery

Charles Glass, American-British author, journalist, broadcaster

Chris Hedges, journalist

Srecko Horvat, philosopher, Democracy in Europe Movement (DiEM25)

Jean Michel Jarre, musician

John Kiriakou, former CIA counterterrorism officer and former senior investigator, U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Lauri Love, computer scientist and activist

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst, Presidential advisor

John Pilger, journalist and film-maker

Angela Richter, theater director, Germany

Saskia Sassen, sociologist, Columbia University

Oliver Stone, film-maker

Vaughan Smith, English journalist

Yanis Varoufakis, economist, former Greek finance minister

Natalia Viana, investigative journalist and co-director of Agencia publica, Brazil

Ai Weiwei, artist

Vivienne Westwood, fashion designer and activist

Slavoj Zizek, philosopher, Birkbeck Institute for HumanitiesThe Nation

A chieftain of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last night sparked a fresh controversy in the polity.

Daily Times

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has warned the national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to be wary of President Muhammadu Buharis current closeness to him.

Punch

The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere; a Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed; and the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, among others, came down heavily on the Federal Government over the release of a looters list containing just six names.

Thisday

Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has carpeted the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on his continuous complaints about alleged corruption in the immediate past Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government.

Guardian

Security expert, Dr. Ona Ekhomu, speaks on the issues raised by Gen. Theophilus Danjuma and others security challenges in the country

Leadership

The President, Gbagyi Women Market Association, Gosa, Mrs Ladi Danladi, has blamed the FCT Administration over the destruction of their properties worth millions of naira during the demolition of the Gosa Market on Saturday, March 24, 2018.

Daily IndependentTwo students have now been killed following a cult clash at the Delta State Polytechnic in Otefe-Oghara. After the killing of one HND II student few days ago due to cult clash, another student was said to have been gruesomely killed yesterday owing to activities of cultism..

The cult clash is reported to be between Aiye confraternity and Eiye confraternity who have battled for some time now to show their supremacy.

The deceased was reportedly attacked by rival cultists who used cutlass to chop off his hand while he was trying to fight them. They also used cutlass to open an area of his head which made his brain exposed as he died right on the spot.

According to reports, a curfew has been declared by the school authorities via the Nigeria Police force on Thursday the 29th of March. If any student is found outside the school premises after 7pm he/she will be arrested.Imasuen Richie was one of the youngmen who left Nigeria for Libya in 2016 with a view to finally land in Europe in search of greener pastures. But sadly, he found himself inside the Libyan prison after he was sold as a slave. It was in that situation that he met CNN crew who came into the prison where he narrated his ordeal and that of other Nigerians in prison. Just last month, the CNN crew visited Edo state to do a report on Human Trafficking and also spoke to Richie.

Richie who is now working in a barbing saloon to make ends meet as well as assist his mother and younger ones narrated his experience in Libya to Saturday Vanguard. He also spoke about the curse placed by the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare 11 on human traffickers.

Excerpts:

Can you tell us why you decided to leave Nigeria in the first place?

I left Nigeria in July 2016. I was actually heading to Europe but when I got to Libya, the person I paid money to did not deliver it to the driver who took me there. So the driver had to sell us into slavery in order to recover his money. I spent eight months in that camp which was like hell. They always beat up the men who could not provide them with money while our girls were forced into prostitution. I spent about one year and six months before I came back. My mother who did not have anything had to go and borrow N200,000 which I paid before I bought myself out of slavery. So it was a sad experience.

I decided to travel because When I was growing up, It was only my mother who was taking care of me. My father was never there for us, I believe all he did was to bring me to this world. Only my Mum was doing everything and I knew that the stress was too much for her. So I thought about traveling to go and make money to help my family. Things were hard for us, it was difficult to feed or even go to school. I just felt I should leave so as to help. I never planned to return this way because I had a mission. But I am still grateful to God for making it possible for me to come back alive.

Prison experience

I was in prison before I went to the deportation camp. In the prison, I was maltreated and fed only once a day. I was in that Giran prison suffering and I was forced to even sleep with dead bodies. I thought I was going to die there but a miracle happened. In fact, it was even a Nigerian girl who saved me. When she was set free from the prison she insisted she would leave with her husband. She claimed that I was married to her, I did not even know until they came to me and pointed at me whether I was the one and I said yes. That was how I was released. From there they took us to the deportation camp.

You said you were sold into slavery in Libya, how did it happen?

The slave business in Libya was being masterminded by our fellow Nigerians. I even saw one Nigerian man who sold his own cousin into slavery. When someone had been sold to a particular camp, that person would have to call his relations in Nigeria to send money in order to be free from slavery. In my own case, they bought me for N110,000 and they asked me to pay N200,000 to secure my release. It is a big business for Nigerians who are into it there but It is a crime against God and humanity. They are wicked people.

Did you try to cross the Mediterranean sea

Yes I tried crossing, in fact I was in the camp near the sea before the Libyan militias stormed the place and arrested all of us. They took some of us to prison while some escaped.

What is your reaction to the curse placed on human traffickers by the Oba of Benin?

I believe that the Obas curse will help because I am aware that the girls always took oath before they were sponsored abroad. Almost all the girls I met in Libya told me how they took oath before they came. I am very happy with the curse because Nigerians over there were wicked to their fellow citizens. From what I have heard, the Obas curse will check their wickedness. But we also have some of these girls who on their own wanted to travel out to help their families. Some of them were also from poor homes and they had seen people who traveled abroad and made money through prostitution. So the idea was that instead of embarking on prostitution here in Nigeria it would be better to go abroad where more money would be made. It was not all of them who were forced to go, some voluntarily asked the traffickers and it was only when they got there that they would see that it was not easy paying back such amount of money demanded by the women traffickers.

So what have you been doing since you came back?

I have been working at a barking salon and at the end of the day I split the money into three and give the owner of the shop two parts while I take one part. That is what I use to assist my mother and younger ones. I was 20 years old when I traveled. I want Nigerian leaders to emulate Pastor TB Joshua who has been helping most of us. I met him severally and he has been of great help to me and my family. When we went there initially with my group, he gave us N1.6 which we shared. And apart from that he still picked three of us aside and gave me additional N200,000 and that was the money I used to clear the debt owed by my mother which she sent to me when I bought myself out of slavery in Libya.

I want to appeal to government to create jobs although it will be difficult to stop people from traveling because even if you learn a trade you will need electricity to work and it is not there. But if government can make electricity available, jobs will be created here and people will prefer to stay here than traveling out of the country. In Libya we had 24 hours power supply. If not for the crisis in Libya, I would prefer to work in Libya than working here in Nigeria. If for instance I barb for six hours in Libya I would make at least N10,000. But if I work in Nigeria for a whole day, I can never make such amount of money. Even if I make the money here it will be used to buy diesel or fuel to power the generator.

I will also like to commend Edo state government. I was trained on entrepreneurship but I am still waiting for the government to now empower us. I appeal to government to do what they promised us.

Why cant you further your education?

I wrote WAEC before I traveled but I have not collected the result. Honestly I would have loved to further my education but when I look at the situation in the family, my younger ones are there and no body is there to take care of them, so I had to sacrifice myself to assist them. If I decide to go to school now, I will be using the money I make to solve my school problem while my mother and my younger ones will be suffering.

Source: VanguardAddressing Italian officials and representatives of the Vietnamese community, Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Cao Chinh Thien emphasised that bilateral diplomatic ties were set up when Vietnam had not been completely reunified.

In the trying times, Italy stood side by side with Vietnam. The image of the ship Australe carrying goods that the Italian people presented to the Vietnamese people during wartime became a symbol of the solidarity and friendship between the two countries.

Vietnam-Italy ties are now in their prime. Notably, since a strategic partnership was founded in 2013, they have attained a number of important achievements in politics, economy, culture, society and people-to-people exchange, he added.

The ambassador noted that over the past years, the two countries have actively organised mutual high-level visits to intensify bilateral links and mutual understanding. In 2014 and 2015, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and President Sergio Mattarella of Italy visited Vietnam. They affirmed the determination to enhance multifaceted cooperation and that their country considers Vietnam as a priority to develop its relations with and also as a destination for Italian businesses in Southeast Asia.

Vietnam has shown its respect for the relationship with Italy through the official visits by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong in 2013, then National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung in 2014, then President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Nguyen Thien Nhan in 2015, and President Tran Dai Quang in 2016.

Thien said bilateral trade has grown strongly, approximating 5 billion USD annually over the last five years. The figure is targeted at 6 billion USD in 2017 and 2018.

While cultural, tourism, scientific and educational relations have been expanded, locality-to-locality cooperation has also been promoted. With the wholehearted support of Italian people, the Vietnamese community in the country has also actively maintained and popularised Vietnams culture.

He added that Italy is an important European partner of Vietnam, and the Southeast Asian nation always wants to bolster the strategic partnership in all fields in a result-oriented manner. It is important to renew bilateral relations to elevate their ties and fully tap each countrys potential.

For his part, Deputy Director General for Global Issues of the Italian Foreign Ministry Ugo Astuto highlighted the countries traditional amity, valuing the accomplishments that they have obtained over the last 45 years.

There remains huge potential for both sides to develop cooperation in all spheres, he said, expressing his belief that bilateral relations will continue to flourish in the time ahead.A suspected homosexual was nabbed red handed while trying to sleep with a young boy in Benin city, Edo state. The man who claimed that his name is Daniel and hails from Edo state  almost had his way in penetrating the boy from behind before he was caught by the boys elder sister.

The sister raised an alarm as other residents apprehended the suspect and beat him mercilessly.

The suspect who said he is a bus conductor  confessed in a chilling footage how he was nabbed and also revealed that this is not the first time he has done something like that. He claimed to have slept with three young boys in Warri, Delta state.

Source  NewshelmThe Edo State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development has arrested one Chinyere Blessing, from Enugu state who uses rented children to beg for money.

According to reports, on Thursday, the attention of the Edo State Ministry of Women Affairs was drawn to a woman at Ring Road in the centre of Benin City, who is in the habit of using what she claimed to be her children, a set of triplet, to beg for money.

Immediately, she was arrested and brought to the office of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, and upon searching her, a total of 104,240 was recovered from her.

Upon further investigation by the police of Family Unit, State CID, and after obtaining a full confession from the ring leader, the real mothers of two of the children were found and arrested at their hotel room in Benin City.

They all have confessed to the crime and admitted to this being their fourth trip to Benin for their illicit business.The GMS leaders adopted the Joint Statement of the sixth GMS Summit which affirms the GMS countries political commitments and determination to enhance the role of the mechanism.

The Hanoi Action Plan for 2018-2022 defines the major directions and cooperation measures for the future, while the Regional Investment Framework 2022 provides a list of more than 220 projects worth about US$66 billion, the PM said.

The success of the GMS proves the aspirations and determination of the member countries to build a Mekong region of peace, prosperity and sustainable development for the people, and realise its vision on the pillars of the 3Cs, Connectivity, Competitiveness and Community, he stressed.

With the theme Leveraging 25 years of cooperation, building an integrated, sustainable and prosperous GMS, the 6th GMS Summit received the active support of the GMS leaders and representatives from its key partners, including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank, and ASEAN.

The Vietnamese PM also attributed the summits success to the active participation of more than 3,000 business delegates from the GMS nations and partners, as well as nearly 400 international and Vietnamese reporters.

At the press conference, ADB President Takehiko Nakao praised Vietnams initiative in organising the GMS Business Summit, the first of its kind, which has helped to strengthen the dialogues between enterprises and governments and connect businesses in the region and around the world, while encouraging resources from the private sector.

The GMS aims to mobilise US$66 billion in the next five years, in which the ADB will provide at least US$7 billion for the region. The rest will be mobilised from the private sector, he said, adding that is why the GMS Business Summit is crucial for the GMS mechanism.

The ADB President also expressed his confidence in GMS economic growth in general and the opportunities for Vietnam to ultilise regional potential.

GMS was established in 1992 as an initiative of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The GMS Programme is the most complete cooperation programme that involves Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Chinas Yunnan and Guangxi provinces. Priority fields include infrastructure development, energy, telecommunications, tourism, trade-investment, human resources, and the environment.Right after the opening speech of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen highly valued the GMS 25-year cooperation, with numerous achievements in enhancing the regions competitiveness and building a community of prosperity, peace, and solidarity.

The GMS cooperation has supported its members in achieving the millennium development goals, particularly promoting the inclusive and sustainable development and addressing challenges such as water shortage, poor infrastructure and global economic instability.

He suggested the GMS members nations connect with each other more effectively via investment in infrastructure, energy and transport, and agreements on transport facilitation and economic special zones along their borderlines, thus contributing more comprehensively to the regional economy.

The GMS countries need to increase regional technology transfer in building physical and digital infrastructure, thus facilitating investment, free trade and tourism, while promoting regional comprehensive and inclusive development via effectively implementing the GMSs programmes for a region of integration, peace, prosperity and stability.

State Counsellor of China Wang Yi underlined the cooperation among the six GMS nations over the past 25 years, saying that they share mutual benefits and thus have the responsibility for boosting prosperous development, regional cooperation, and economic growth.

He suggested the GMS nations create new opportunities for development, increase value chain, financial support and cooperation among border areas and industrial parks, while working more closely together to reach common prosperity.

Congratulating the GMS nations on their achievements in implementing the subregions action plans and cooperation agreements, Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith said Laos pledges and give priorities to establishing a cross-border transport network and an one-stop mechanism in border areas, as well as boosting cooperation in all economic fields, particularly in the subregions economic corridors.

The GMS nations need to fully tap their potential via joint development projects, while luring financial resources and ensuring green growth and common prosperity for the whole subregion, the Lao PM said.

He also called on the six nations to increase technology transfer, narrow the development gaps among them, enhance their competitiveness, and boost public-private-partnership as well as business cooperation.

Vice President of Myanmar U Henry Van Thio welcomed the Hanoi Action Plan 2018-2022 as well as the Regional Investment Framework 2022 and the GMS sectoral cooperation strategies.

He called on the GMS countries to ensure financial resources to implement projects, focusing on inspecting their progress annually.

GMS is a mechanism that looks toward action to make itself a better region. To achieve this, the member countries need specific action plans to strengthen multinational cooperation, he said.



Thailands Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha hoped the GMS countries will enhance cooperation and develop hi-tech human resources to meet the requirements of the fourth Industrial Revolution as well as promote regional connectivity.

The GMS nations should strongly engage in global supply chain, back small-and-medium-sized enterprises, and increase people-to-people exchanges to build a sustainable subregion, he said.

At the session, the GMS leaders reviewed and ratified three key documents, namely the Joint Statement of the GMS-6, the Hanoi Action Plan 2018  2022, and the Regional Investment Framework 2022.



Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc made the statement at an international press conference the same day, co-chaired by the Prime Ministers of the three nations.

He quoted a World Bank leader as describing Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam as three trees making a huge mountain, adding the three PMs have worked together to build on the trios traditions and nurture their future cooperation.

Affirming the role and position of the development triangle area, PM Phuc highlighted the continuous improvement in terms of infrastructure, business environment, and peoples living standards seen in the area over the past 18 years, adding that the outcomes have proven the efforts of the three nations.

The CLV Governments have paid attention to promoting infrastructure, transport connection, vocational training, people-to-people exchange, and e-government, the Vietnamese leader stressed.

The CLV leaders will continue boosting multi-faceted cooperation, thus opening up a new cooperation space not only among three nations, but also within ASEAN.

An action plan for the development triangle area connection will be developed, making the area an indispensable part of ASEAN.

The CLV leaders have signed the Joint Statement on the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Development Triangle Area cooperation, affirming the three countries determination to build a CLV of sustainable and inclusive development. The trio will jointly organise practical activities to mark the 20th anniversary of the area in Laos in 2019.

With their responsibilities, efforts and determination, the three nations will fulfill all goals reached during the summit, PM Phuc affirmed.

Right after the press conference, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Cambodian counterpart witnessed the signing of an agreement on double taxation avoidance and tax evasion prevention, and the minutes of the chairman-level meeting of the two countries joint border committee.JURIST Guest Columnist Patrick Poon, a China researcher at Amnesty International, discusses the tactics used by Chinese authorities to keep lawyers from changing the political and social environment

When Sui Muqing became a lawyer in 1993, he couldnt imagine that 25 years later he would become a post-lawyer (lvshihou), a self-deprecating term often used by lawyers in China who have been stripped of their license to practice.

The authorities accused Sui Muqing of confronting a trial judge and separately of taking a picture of his client, dissident writer Chen Yunfei, when visiting him in detention. This was enough for the Guangdong Provincial Department of Justice to formally revoke his license, after a heavily guarded hearing in early February this year.

However, it is more likely the authorities motivation was to neuter a vocal and effective human rights lawyer. A thorn in the side of the government, Sui Muqing defended many activists and victims of human rights abuses, including representing high-profile human rights defenders like Guangdong activists Guo Feixiong and Wang Qingying and Falun Gong practitioners. Together with other lawyers, he had written statements on the difficulties for lawyers in sensitive cases, ranging from not being allowed to meet clients to challenges in defending their clients in court.

Sui Muqings experience exemplifies how much pressure a lawyer in China faces now if he or she takes up human rights cases considered sensitive by the authorities. Since the crackdown against more than 200 human rights lawyers and activists which began in July 2015, that sparked international condemnation, the authorities have increasingly deployed bureaucracy to stifle these determined voices.

These courageous lawyers have often eschewed more lucrative and less controversial roles and instead chose to help people forced from their homes, religious believers facing persecution and many other victims of human rights violations. They only form a small group among Chinas 340,000 lawyers but their role in defending human rights is essential. Without these lawyers, many victims of violations will be left without a champion to stand up for their rights.

At least half a dozen human rights lawyers have had their licences revoked or their annual license registrations declined since the crackdown. The tactic has attracted little international criticism so far but has nonetheless been devastatingly effective.

The governments actions are in clear contravention with international standards that recognize the crucial importance of lawyers in the administration of justice. The UN Basic Principles on the Role of the Lawyers clearly state lawyers should be able to carry out their work without fear of intimidation or harassment, or be threatened with sanctions. The principles also underline a lawyers right to freedom of expression.

Yet the authorities use the most tenuous reasons to disbar those lawyers they see as troublemakers. Shandong lawyer Zhu Shengwus license was revoked in September 2017 simply because he used the nickname steam buns online, which is used by many netizens to ridicule President Xi Jinping. Zhejiang lawyer Wu Youshui was under investigation for his online comments criticizing the government and the Communist Party in August 2017 and was suspended from practicing for nine months. Beijing lawyer Cheng Hais law firm is running into difficulties with its annual registration which means he needs to find another firm if he is to continue his work.

Their mistreatment strikes at the very heart of the role of defence lawyers in Chinas legal system. Is it to defend their clients rights or merely to acquiesce to the governments will? If the latter, lawyers in China are reduced to mere agents of the state. As the number of post-lawyers increases, the Chinese governments claims of rule of law ring hollow, exposing the favoured concept of rule by law with Chinese characteristics for the sham it is. It is evidenced in former Minister of Justice Zhang Juns commentary in the Peoples Daily in January 2018 in which he said strengthening the Chinese Communist Partys role among lawyers is the core part and fundamental measure in deepening the reform of the legal system. It bluntly puts the Party above the law.

Two weeks before Sui Muqings license was revoked, Beijing lawyer Yu Wensheng was informed his license had been suspended. The authorities didnt stop there. A few days later he was detained by police, while taking his son to school.

Yu Wensheng stands accused of inciting subversion of state power and has been placed under residential surveillance in a designated location, a de facto incommunicado detention for charges of endangering national security.

While its still unclear why he was detained, his friends believe that Yu Wensheng was targeted because of an open letter he wrote in October 2017 in which he criticized Xi Jinping as not being a good leader of the country. Sadly, the authorities are still prepared to arbitrarily use the law with full force against those that dare offer an opinion that differs from the governments line.

Yu Wenshengs family are concerned he will be subjected to torture in detention as he was the last time he was incarcerated for 99 days in late 2014 and early 2015 after he showed support for the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong.

Many human rights lawyers say that the problems they face in the annual registration of their licenses or their law firms ending their contracts because of government pressure, is only the beginning of their nightmare. In some cases, like Sui Muqing and Yu Wensheng, their family members are also subjected to harassment, not to mention the financial hardship of losing their livelihood.

These dedicated lawyers have become outcasts in Chinas legal community. The government-approved All-China Lawyers Association has joined the authorities effort to discredit them, instead of protecting lawyers as outlined in its charter. The semi-official association has accused human rights lawyers of breaking laws and regulations. It has attempted to marginalize them as troublemakers. However, the intimidation has not scared off these and other brave lawyers in taking up human rights cases or in exercising their own rights.

More than a decade ago, there were less than a dozen known lawyers who took up human rights cases. The number of lawyers taking up human rights cases now, not to mention those who take up the less sensitive public interest cases, has grown to a few hundred, if not a thousand.

Their sheer effectiveness in protecting the human rights of others resulted in the harsh backlash from the authorities. With the government tightening its grip on the legal profession and civil society in general, there are sadly likely to be more post lawyers in China. Yet there is hope, for despite everything the government throws at them, these remarkable lawyers remain resolute.

Patrick Poon is a China researcher for Amnesty International. Mr. Poon studies law and society at Universite Jean Moulin (Lyon III).

Suggested citation: Patrick Poon, Disbarment, Suspension and Harassment: Outcast Lawyers in China, JURIST  Student Commentary, Mar. 30, 2018, http://jurist.org/student/2018/03/patrick-poon-human-rights-china.php.JURIST Guest Columnist Uche Ewelukwa Ofodile of University of Arkansas School of Law discusses intellectual property rights of graffiti artists given the changing dynamics in the legal landscape and concepts of nontraditional art

Introduction

It was known as 5Pointz but frequently referred to as the United Nations of Graffiti. It was a five-story former factory complex in the Queens borough of New York. Aerosol artists from all over the world had from time been invited to paint on it. The artists had the informal permission of the owner of the building and real estate developer Gerald Wolkoff. With time the building became the repository of the largest collection of exterior aerosol art in the United States and a mecca for high-end works by internationally recognized aerosol artists. A significant tourist attraction, 5 Pointz drew thousands of daily visitors and was even featured in a number of movies and music videos including the 2013 motion picture Now You See Me. Eventually Wolkoff wanted to tear the buildings down to make room for some high-rise luxury condos. A group of 5Pointz artists sued Wolkoff and sought a preliminary injunction to prevent a planned demolition. On November 12, 2013, Judge Frederic Block a Brooklyn federal judge denied preliminary injunctive relief but stated that a written opinion would soon be issued. On November 20, 2013, before a written opinion on the case was issued, Wolkoff ordered the whitewashing of 5Pointz. Almost five years later on February 12, 2018, in Jonathan Cohen et. al v. G&M Realty L.P. et. al, Judge Block handed down his final verdict on the 5Pointz case essentially ruling that Wolkoff had violated the moral rights of the plaintiffs and awarding the plaintiffs the maximum allowable statutory damages for a total of $6.7 Million. The case marks the first time that a court has had to determine whether the work of an exterior aerosol artist  given its general ephemeral nature  is worthy of any protection under the law. The case also marks the first time that graffiti artists have won a lawsuit based on the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA), a 1990 amendment to the federal copyright law. Long considered fringe art, or worse illegal art, graffiti artists have often watched helplessly as their works are destroyed or appropriated by more powerful players. Cohen v. G&M Realty L.P. suggests that under the right circumstances graffiti art can be protected by existing copyright law.

What is VARA? Why Is It Important?

VARA is the first federal copyright legislation to explicitly recognize and protect two moral rights of artists: the rights of attribution and integrity. Moral rights are distinct from copyrights and rest primarily on the belief that an artist in the process of creation injects his spirit into the work and that the artists personality, as well as the integrity of the work, should therefore be protected and preserved. VARA grants to the author of a qualifying work certain rights including: (i) the right to prevent the use of his or her name as the author of a work in the event of a distortion, mutilation, or other modification of the work which would be prejudicial to his or her honor or reputation; and (ii) the right to prevent any intentional distortion, mutilation, or other modification of that work which would be prejudicial to his or her honor or reputation. To the author of a work of recognized stature, VARA grants the additional right to prevent any intentional or grossly negligent destruction of such a work.

A work of visual art is defined as including a painting, drawing, print, or sculpture, existing in a single copy, in a limited edition of 200 copies or fewer that are signed and consecutively numbered by the author.

Graffiti Art and the Intersection of Copyright and Real Estate

Problems inevitably arise when art is incorporated in or made part of a building that is someone elses property. VARA contemplated possible tensions between the moral rights of artists and conventional notions of property rights and addressed them to some extent. First, when a work of visual art can be removed from a building without destroying, mutilating, distorting, or otherwise modifying the said work, the building owner is required to provide a 90 days written notice to the artist concerned or establish that the owner has made a diligent, good faith attempt without success to notify the author. Second, when a work of art cannot be removed from a building without destroying, mutilating, distorting, or otherwise modifying the work, the building owner is protected if the artist waives his or her right in written instrument signed both by the artist and the building owner. Wolkoff did not meet either requirement.

The Exploitation of Graffiti Art

Graffiti art has long been considered fringe art, or worse, illegal art. However, over the past two decades, graffiti arts have gained considerable respect and are increasingly exploited by powerful market players. Not surprising, graffiti artists are fighting back using trademark law and copyright law. In Tierney v. Moschino SpA, graffiti artist Joseph Tierney sued fashion house Moschino and famed designer Jeremy Scott, for the unauthorized use of one of his mural on dresses for Moschinos fall/winter 2015 collection. In Aholsniffglue v. American Eagle, David Anasagasti sued American Eagle Outfitters for the unauthorized use of his sleepy-eyeball motif in their worldwide advertising campaign.

What Cohen v. G&M Realty Means for Graffiti Art.

In Cohen v. G&M Realty L.P., the court applying Carter v. Helmsley-Spear, Inc. determined that 45 of the 49 paintings that were in issue in the case were not only works of visual art but were also works of recognized stature. In concluding that the works had recognition and stature, Judge Block considered the fact that only a handful of works from the thousands were selected for prominence on 5Pointzs long-standing walls, the fact that all the plaintiffs had achieved artistic recognition outside of 5Pointz, and the fact that a highly qualified expert provided detailed findings as to the skill and craftsmanship of the works. Judge Block chose not to be strictly guided by the appraised value of the works in question and appeared to reject the testimony of a fine art appraiser with the art appraisal and acquisition firm Gurr Johns. Indeed, Judge Block observed that expert testimony is not the sine qua non for establishing that a work of visual art is of recognized stature and recognized the need for courts to utilize common sense in assessing whether a visual work is of recognized stature.

What Cohen v. G&M Realty Does Not Mean for Graffiti Art.

Cohen v. G&M Realty L.P. does not mean that all graffiti arts are works of recognized stature. The decision does not necessarily limit the rights of building owners vis-a-vis those of graffiti artists. VARA makes a clear distinction between free-standing works of visual art and those works that are incorporated in or are made part of a building. The author of a work of recognized stature that is incorporated in a building cannot prevent the destruction or alteration of the building but may be able to recover hefty damages if the waiver and/or notice provisions of VARA are not met.

Cohen v. G&M Realty L.P. only addressed a situation where paintings were made with the permission of the building owner. Had the 5Pointz paintings been made without the permission of the building owner, the outcome might have been different.

Does VARA protect temporary works? Although Judge Block concluded that there is no legal support for the proposition that temporary works do not come within VARAs embrace, other courts may reach a different conclusion.

Conclusion

Over 100 years ago the Supreme Court endorsed the aesthetic nondiscrimination doctrine. In Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Co., Justice Holmes explained, [i]t would be a dangerous undertaking for persons trained only to the law to constitute themselves final judges of the worth of pictorial illustrations, outside of the narrowest and most obvious limits. At the one extreme, some works of genius would be sure to miss appreciation. Their very novelty would make them repulsive until the public had learned the new language in which their author spoke. These words remain true today.

When it comes to street art, a win-win-win outcome for artists, local communities and building owners may be possible as evidenced by Miamis Wynwood, San Franciscos Mission District, and the Heerlen Murals (the Netherlands). Managed properly, street art can help revitalize communities, raise the value of properties, and provide recognition and possibly income for artists who lack access to more traditional avenues for showcasing artworks.

Cohen v. G&M Realty L.P. serves as a cautionary tale to property owners that are either not aware of VARAs protection or are careless about complying with the statutes waiver and notice requirements. The case is a welcomed relief to artists that work on non-traditional and mixed media and all artists whose works are not considered part of the mainstream. Although the case does not settle all VARA-related questions, it brings to the fore the critical question of who gets to decide if a work of art has stature and recognition and what factors are relevant to this determination given changing conception of art and the changing demographics of art consumers.

Professor Uche Ewelukwa Ofodile is a professor of law at the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she teaches in the international law and intellectual property fields. Professor Ewelukwa is also an active member of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) and currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property Interest Group and the Co-Chair of the Africa Interest Group of ASIL. Her scholarship focuses particularly on international investment law and arbitration, business and human rights, China-Africa trade and investment relations, as well as the intersection of intellectual property law and human rights.

Suggested citation: Uche Ewelukwa Ofodile, Do Intellectual Property Rights Extend to Graffiti Art?, JURIST  Academic Commentary, Mar. 30, 2018, http://jurist.org/forum/2018/03/Ofodile-Graffiti-Art.phpThe US District Court for the Western District of Washington [official website] on Thursday granted summary judgment [order, PDF] in favor of several groups of immigrants seeking asylum both in and out of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [official website] custody. The ruling in the class-action lawsuit requires DHS to provide adequate notice of the one-year application deadline.

The immigrant groups asserted that DHS failure to provide all the class members with notice of the one-year asylum application deadline and failure to implement procedural mechanisms essential for a timely submission of their asylum applications violated the Immigration and Nationality Act, Administrative Procedure Act [statutes], governing regulations, and due process.

DHS opposed the motion arguing the immigrant groups sought to impute notice requirements that neither Congress nor the U.S. Constitution mandated.

First turning to the legislative history of the passing of 1158 of the Title VIII Aliens and Nationality Chapter [text], the court indicated that congress was concerned about potential limitations on the rights of applicants with legitimate claims and would be watching how the one-year time limit was being implemented to make sure it was implemented fairly. The court noted that the failure to provide all class members with notice of the one-year application period violated the congressional intent to ensure that asylum is available for those with legitimate claims of asylum and was particularly true where unsuccessful efforts to seek asylum failed due to technical defects.

The court next dismissed the DHS claim that the public notice from the recording of the statute alone was sufficient to apprise the plaintiffs of the one-year period. Pointing to the limitations of the persons seeking asylum, as many class members suffered severe trauma, did not speak English, were unfamiliar with the complicated US immigration system, and did not have access to counsel, the court concluded that the individuals were reasonably unaware that they should seek out information about any possible deadline, and thus failed to receive sufficient notice.

In granting the motion, Chief Judge Ricardo Martinez stated:A federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday rejected [PDF, text] Exxons lawsuit claiming officials in New York and Massachusetts were pursuing bad faith investigation in violation of the oil corporations rights.

The attorneys general are investigating whether Exxons securities filings misled investors and the public about its knowledge of climate change and the potential effects that climate change may have on Exxons business.

Exxon contends the investigations are being conducted to retaliate against the oil giant for its views on climate change and thus violate Exxons constitutional rights. The corporation asks that two federal courtsfirst in Texas, not in New Yorkto stop state officials from conducting duly-authorized investigations into potential fraud.

US District Judge Valerie Caproni dismissed the lawsuit for failing to state a claim, forbidding Exxon from bringing it again. Caproni said, Exxons allegations are extremely thin and speculative.

Exxon filed a lawsuit against the New York and Massachusetts officials in 2016, claiming the probes were part of a conspiracy to silence and intimidate one side of the public policy debate on how to address climate change.The Prime Minister made the remarks at a meeting with Joaquim Levy, WB Managing Director and Group Chief Financial Officer, on March 31, the final day of the sixth GMS Summit (GMS-6) and the 10th CLV Summit (CLV-10).

He said he is pleased with the strong development and effective cooperation between Vietnam and the WB and mentioned the WB as one of Vietnams most important partners. He highly appreciated the WBs support for Vietnams socio-economic development in recent years, particularly in poverty reduction.

Levy, for his part, thanked the Government of Vietnam for inviting the WB to the summits, while highlighting the events agendas.

He spoke highly of the effective and practical partnership between Vietnam and other GMS nations. It sets a great example for other countries in the world.

He affirmed the WB attaches importance to cooperation with Vietnam, and appreciates Vietnams strong development in recent times, especially in economic growth in connection with inclusive and equal development.

The WB is willing to support and cooperate with Vietnam, especially in providing capital and technical assistance in the fields of finance, banking, climate change adaptation, and grassroots health care, he stressed.

While highly valuing the role played by PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc in promoting the private economic sector and infrastructure development, Levy said these are important domains that the WB wants to support nations, thus attracting investment in infrastructure.

The WB has guarantee instruments, which can support Vietnam in attracting private investment, he noted.

Both the WB and the Asian Development Bank have projects to support Vietnam, he said, hoping for stronger cooperation among the sides to optimise the support.

Regarding projects to cope with climate change, Levy affirmed this is an important field and the bank will spend 28 percent of its loans on the work, including for Vietnam.

Agreeing with Levys viewpoints and proposals, PM Phuc underlined that Vietnam has high resolve in climate change response. The country organised a major conference last year to seek solutions to this problem, and it hopes to receive the WBs assistance in capital, advice and policies in this issue.

He affirmed that Vietnam pledges to effectively use the funded capital, including in the projects financed with the concessional capital of the International Development Association (IDA) in 2017.

As Vietnam still faces a number of difficulties and challenges, he asked the WB to extend the rapid debt settlement schedule for these aid, which is to ease the burden on budget, ensure safe fiscal indices, and facilitate Vietnams graduation from the IDA.

Aside from climate change response, the PM also asked the WB to provide capital and technical support for Vietnam in other important fields, namely infrastructure, renewable energy, grassroots health care, and education, especially tertiary education. He added Vietnam also hopes to receive assistance in economic restructuring.

Echoing the WB Managing Directors view, PM Phuc said Vietnam considers businesses the core force in promoting economic growth, and among them, private firms play an important role.

Regarding the programmes and projects the WB plans to finance in 2018, he said relevant ministries and sectors are speeding up the verification so that these projects can receive funding on schedule.The Hawaii Senate on Thursday gave final approval to a bill [text] that would legalize medically assisted death for terminally ill patients.

The bill applies to patients with less than six months to live. It would allow patients to obtain a medical prescription to assist their passing. Only residents of Hawaii would be eligible.

The bill would require that two medical care providers agree on the patients terminal medical condition. The two healthcare providers would be charged with assessing the patients mental soundness and capacity to make such a decision. If two doctors agree on the patients medical condition, a mental health professional will be required to make sure the patient is not suffering from any mental conditions or states of mind, such as depression, that might affect the patients ability to make an informed decision.

The bill also prescribes criminal penalties for anyone who interferes, tampers with or coerces a patient to seek this procedure. No medical provider nor healthcare facility will be held criminally liable for participating in such processes. Medical care providers are also given the option to refuse to participate. In such situations, the patient would have to be transferred to another medical care provider.

The bill passed the states House of Representatives on March 6. The bill has now been sent to the governors desk, where it currently awaits signature. Currently, five states (Oregon, Washington, California, Vermont and Colorado) and Washington, DC, have laws permitting medically assisted death.[JURIST] The US State Department [officiail website] submitted [Federal Register notice] a proposal to the Federal Register on Friday that would require nonimmigrant visa applicants to list their social media identities for the last five years.

The application would provide a list of social media platforms, which could be subject to change, and the applicants would be required to provide the names they used for each of the listed platforms. Applicants could also volunteer their identities on platforms not expressly listed on the application.

Other additions to the application will include asking applicants about previous telephone numbers, emails and, in some cases, additional medical records.

Friday begins the 60-day notice and comment period for the proposal. The proposal will ultimately have to be approved by the Office of Management and Budget [official website].

Immigration has become a divisive issue in the US. Last week the Supreme Court declined [JURIST report] to hear Arizonas challenge to a federal courts dreamer drivers license ruling. Earlier in March the Supreme Court granted [JURIST report] certiorari in a case to rule on the mandatory detention of noncitizens released from criminal custody. That same month the ACLU filed [JURIST report] a federal lawsuit against the Trump Administrations arbitrary detention of asylum seekers.They made the reaffirmation in a Joint Statement adopted at the sixth GMS Summit held in Hanoi on March 31.

The following is the full text of the Joint Statement.



THE SIXTH GREATER MEKONG SUBREGION SUMMIT

Hanoi, Vietnam

31 March 2018

Joint Summit Declaration

Leveraging 25 Years of Cooperation for

a Sustainable, Integrated and Prosperous GMS



WE, the Heads of the Governments and delegations of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Peoples Republic of China, the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Kingdom of Thailand, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, on the occasion of the Sixth GMS Summit:

Acknowledging the successful results of the GMS Economic Cooperation Program as we celebrate its 25th Anniversary and embracing a new era of development in the subregion;

Appreciating that success has been achieved with strong ownership and commitment of GMS countries, featuring principles of consensus, mutual respect, equality, mutual consultation and coordination, common contributions and shared benefits, and win-win cooperation;

Recognizing new opportunities and emerging challenges presented by globalization and the importance of relevant development initiatives, such as the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the ASEAN Community, and the Belt and Road Initiative, which generate complementarity and synergy with the GMS Program and provide new platforms for global, regional and subregional cooperation;

Noting that tasks remain to narrow development gaps within and among GMS countries, and to ensure everyone benefits from increased interconnectedness and interdependence;

Recognizing that to effectively support member countries, seize new development opportunities and meet emerging challenges, the Strategic Framework guiding the GMS Program needs periodic refinement;

Appreciating the proactive work of our Ministers, senior officials, and other stakeholders in reviewing experience under the current Framework, and formulating an action plan and investment priorities for the next five years;

NOW THEREFORE REAFFIRM OUR COMMITMENT to the advancement of GMS Economic Cooperation Program and continuing support for the principles underlying the GMS Framework AND ENCOURAGE all stakeholders to begin considering the way forward to address the gap between the success of the past 25 years and full realization of a sustainable, integrated and prosperous subregion.

I. 25 Years of GMS Transformation and Program Achievements

1. As we celebrate the landmark occasion of the GMS at 25 years, it is appropriate to reflect on the subregions transformation that has yielded unprecedented favorable outcomes.

2. From having several least developed economies at the beginning, the GMS now has some of Asias and the worlds most vibrant middle income economies. Over a quarter century the subregions annual economic growth has averaged 6.3% and per capita growth has been 5%. Intra-subregional trade has increased 90-fold. Our people have a better quality of life and the subregion is heading toward high-quality development.

3. The policies, project investments and knowledge exchanges under the GMS Program have contributed in practical ways to this transformation. Indicative of the Programs relevance is the US$ 21 billion that has been mobilized to finance these GMS initiatives.

4. Connectivity, competitiveness and community are the core building blocks of the Program. We appreciate the report on recent outcomes, which confirms the appropriateness of focusing on three Cs for delivering our pragmatic, action-oriented and results-focused Program.

5. Physical connectivity, emphasizing rehabilitation and construction of transport and energy infrastructure, has had many notable achievements, including new airports, 80 bridges, 10,000 kilometers of roads, 500 kilometers of railways, 3,000 kilometers of power transmission lines and distribution lines, and installation of 1570MW of generation capacity. Since our last meeting in 2014, we note that connectivity has proceeded at a brisk pace with broad scope, including completion of the GMS Transport Sector Strategy 2030.

6. We strongly support the economic corridor approach, adopted in 1998, that transforms transport networks into transnational economic corridors, linking production, trade and infrastructure. Secondary and provincial roads extend the reach of the three flagship economic corridors, thereby contributing to inclusive development. The approach leverages limited resources by focusing on locational advantages that maximize employment and incomes along the corridors, and gives remote areas access to development opportunities.

7. We welcome the decision in 2016 to extend the corridor network as a response to the subregions dynamism. Over the past three years the Economic Corridors Forum continued to serve as advocate, facilitator and coordinator, augmented by the Governors Forum and Economic Corridors Week. We support these platforms for enhanced policy dialogue among local authorities and to help identify project-based cooperation in priority areas along corridors.

8. Connectivity software is an essential complement to physical infrastructure. Since the previous Summit in 2014, we are pleased that all members have ratified the GMS Cross Border Transport Facilitation Agreement (CBTA), and its Annexes and Protocols, and agreed on the MOU for Early Harvest implementation of CBTA, allowing subregional movement of commercial vehicles and containers to begin. We welcome establishment in 2015 of a full single stop inspection at the Lao Bao-Dansavanh border between Vietnam and Lao PDR. We appreciate contributions from the Greater Mekong Railway Association and GMS Freight Transport Association for advancing cross-border flows and supporting development of the logistics service industry.

9. We are similarly encouraged by developments in power exchange to facilitate expansion from the current bilateral cross-border connections to multi-country networks through refinements in trading principles and systems, which will contribute to establishing an integrated regional power market.

10. We note that GMS competitiveness has continuously improved through measures that facilitate seamless cross-border movement of people, goods and services and through integration of markets, production and value chains. This is reflected in the subregions growing trade with the rest of the world and increasing FDI inflows to the subregion.

11. At the sector level, the Core Agriculture Support Programs has strengthened regional cooperation, increased capacity in agri-food quality management, promoted adoption of gender-responsive and climate friendly agriculture. The agriculture competitiveness has also benefited from the Program to increase the subregions producers access to international agricultural value chains and promote environment-friendly agricultural practices. We note this, will benefit smallholder farmers, rural women, and small and medium enterprises, thereby addressing poverty, reaching marginalized groups and increasing the reach of inclusive development. In tourism, successful campaigns to market GMS as a single destination have helped more than double tourist arrivals from 26 million in 2008 to 60 million in 2016.

12. Innovation, new technologies and digital transformation are critical new sources of growth. We commend the establishment of the GMS Cross-border e-Commerce Cooperation Platform in 2016 and its progress report, including its alliance with private businesses. This facilitates growth of e-commerce for higher efficiency, better connectivity and transformation of micro, small and medium enterprises.

13. To address challenges of increasing urbanization, the GMS Urban Development Strategic Framework 2015-2022 has been operationalized through urban development planning and management projects for several towns along the economic corridors, as well as through the development of special economic zones, including at border areas.

14. We are gratified that the Program has helped build a GMS community with a shared future through projects and programs addressing common social and environmental concerns. Human resource development projects have improved country capacities to respond to disease outbreaks and contain the spread of communicable diseases; supported mutual recognition of skills and qualifications to strengthen the GMS labor force; and facilitated safe cross-border labor migration. The flagship Phnom Penh Plan for Development Management strengthened the capacity of over 2,500 GMS government officials and competencies of our research institutions to support the subregions development agenda. We welcome the contribution made by GMS members through various training and capacity building programs. Environmental cooperation has achieved success under the GMS Core Environment Program and the Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative, in response to critical risks of environmental degradation and climate change and towards green and sustainable development.

15. The Programs success relies on strong, deep and broad partnerships, primarily at government-to-government level, and also benefits from partnerships among other stakeholders including private sector, local administrations and communities, academia and media. We acknowledge financial and knowledge support from bilateral and multilateral development partners, including ADB which also supports the Program as Secretariat. The private sector is increasingly important in a partnership that began formally with the GMS Business Forum (now Council) in 2000, and expanded with the Mekong Business Initiative, the Freight Transport Association, forums for agriculture and tourism, the e-Commerce Platform and the recent Finance Sector and Trade Finance Conference. We appreciate that thousands of individual farmers and businesses are partners in, and empowered by, the GMS Program.

II. The Way Forward

16. The Program has been delivered under two strategic frameworks, most recently for 2012-2022. A mid-term review of the current framework in 2017 confirmed the continuing relevance of its core principles, but recognized the need for fine tuning to better respond to the needs of member countries in a changing development landscape. Thus, the Ha Noi Action Plan (HAP) 20182022 was developed to provide necessary adjustment and sharpen the focus to ensure maximum effectiveness of the GMS Economic Cooperation Programs. To support the HAP, Regional Investment Framework 2022 was formulated, identifying a pipeline of 227 projects with an indicative cost of US$ 66 billion.

17. We commend our Ministers, development partners and other stakeholders for preparing these documents. We hereby adopt and give full support to the HAP and RIF, which will guide the GMS Program in the medium term. The RIF is a living pipeline of projects that will be reviewed and updated regularly to adapt to changing conditions and priorities.

18. We commend the dedicated work of officials, the private sector and other stakeholders for preparing sector studies, strategies and action plans that have been presented to us. They provide essential guidance for the GMS Program development. We especially note recently completed strategies for tourism (2016-2025), safe and enviro-friendly agro-based value chains (2018-2022), environment (2018-2022) and transport (2018-2030). We are committed to further fostering cooperation in health, urban development, hardware and software connectivity and economic corridors, and doubling related capacity building efforts.

19. While the HAP and RIF will support the Program in the medium term, longer term regional and global developments will alter the landscape, creating new opportunities and challenges and requiring new policies. GMS development will face increasingly rapid change and emerging trends such as increasing impacts of climate change and environmental degradation; an aging demographic profile; cross-border migration creating issues of social protection, especially for unskilled labor; disruptive technologies of the fourth industrial revolution that are radically transforming social and economic systems; socio-economic pressures created by increasing urbanization and establishment of border economic processing zones; and development gaps within and among members countries.

20. A regional approach, on the basis of consultation, joint efforts and shared benefits, is appropriate for addressing these developments. We therefore task our Ministers and senior officials, and encourage other stakeholders, to begin considering the nature of our journey and future directions beyond the 2022 horizon of the current strategic framework and how the framework can be strengthened and reconfigured to remain flexible, responsive and relevant.

21. We reaffirm our commitment to sustainable development of the GMS through full implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in pursuing innovative, coordinated, green, inclusive and open development for everyone, and achieving a balance over its three dimensions of economic, social and environmental development. We also stress the importance of full implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change at regional and national levels. As our countries are linked by land and river, we are committed to strengthening our cooperation in sustainable use and integrated management of natural resources, including land, water resources and forest, through transboundary cooperation and collective efforts, in achieving subregions food, water and energy security.

22. We recognize that globalization brings significant benefits to our countries and the subregion. We are committed to harnessing its positive effects, strengthening it, making it more open, inclusive balanced and sustainable, and ensuring that benefits are enjoyed by all. We are determined to devote more attention to vulnerable groups and to work hard on targeted poverty alleviation so that no one is left behind. Relatedly, we are committed to building open economies for our individual countries and for the subregion by deepening economic integration, boosting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and supporting multilateral trading systems and opposing all forms of protectionism . We encourage greater cooperation among member countries in undertaking trade promotion activities, accelerating the development of economic corridors and cross-border trade infrastructure, and improving trade management capacity. We encourage implementation of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area and early conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

23. We are aware that strengthened connectivity generates new sources of growth and fosters a competitive edge. We commit to take concrete actions to improve infrastructure, policy, trade, financial and people-to-people connectivity among the GMS countries. At the same time, we recognize the significant challenges in generating the required financing, narrowing the financing gap of infrastructure investment, fostering a long-term, diversified and sustainable financing system, enhancing financial infrastructure connectivity and encouraging development financial institutions to play active roles. We are encouraged by the interest expressed in investing in GMS projects by existing partners, including ADB, and new development financing institutions and funds, such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund. We note the intention to expand public private partnerships and other financing modalities in the subregion.

24. A sustainable GMS will be regionally integrated and globally connected. We recognize the crucial development role of regional cooperation and integration and support the principles of open regionalism. Thus, we will seek to tap synergies and complementarities between the GMS program and other global and regional initiatives, including the ASEAN Community, the Belt and Road Initiative, the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation mechanism, the Cambodia-Lao PDR-Myanmar-Viet Nam Cooperation, and the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy and other regional cooperation frameworks. These provide additional impetus for our own efforts for GMS development to build a sustainable, integrated and prosperous sub-region, and the GMS Program will work cooperatively with them. We support the concrete steps being taken towards the full realization of the ASEAN Community and the outcomes of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that enhance regional connectivity.

III. Conclusion

25. Over the past 25 years our joint undertakings and the tangible results have nurtured the strong sense of community with a shared future for GMS countries. The coherent approach of the GMS Strategic Framework and Program has yielded a rich tapestry of transformation.

26. We believe our approach to the way forward is realistic. We are optimistic about our subregions future and its capacity to adapt and meet challenges. We see a brighter future featuring high-quality and sustainable development, enhanced policy coordination, deeper economic integration, greater regional connectivity, closer trade links and financial cooperation, consolidated people to people bonds, and closer links with the rest of the world. We will take concrete actions to achieve this vision and full realization of the GMS 3 Cs.

27. To further underwrite our shared future within the GMS we commit to strengthening our partnerships, based on mutual respect, trust, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation. The GMS Program will continue to be an essential platform for enhanced connectivity, competitiveness and community and advancement toward a sustainable, integrated and prosperous GMS.

We agree to meet again at the Seventh GMS Summit to be held in Cambodia in 2021.

Endorsed in Hanoi, Vietnam on 31 March 2018.The Prime Minister congratulated Myanmar on the countrys new president, while speaking of the Myanmar governments socio-economic development in recent times.

Numerous Vietnamese investors are carrying out projects in Myanmar, the PM said, hoping that the government and concerned agencies of Myanmar continue facilitating Vietnamese businesses operations there, thus contributing local socio-economic development and fostering the two countries friendship.

He proposed both countries, as ASEAN members, continue closely coordinating at multilateral forums for benefits of each side, and for peace and prosperity in the regional and the world.

Vice President U Henry Van Thio highly valued the role of Vietnam as the host of the GMS-6 summit and the 10th Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Summit (CLV-10).

He said Myanmar will continue promoting cooperation with Vietnam in various areas, especially in trade and investment.

He expressed his hope that both sides continue maintaining the exchange of high-level delegations, thereby bringing the two countries ties to a new height.Holi is a spring Hindu festival celebrated all across India.

This traditional festival signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, the end of winter and for many it is a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive and strengthen relationships.

The festival offered visitors a chance to understand more about Indian culture, people and food.

People dancing to traditional Indian music.

Indian people believe that the more colourful they are, the more fortunate they will be.

A photo corner at the festival attracts young visitors.

Special dishes from India were introduced during the festival.GRANTS PASS, Ore.  Fire crews were able to save one dog and four baby chickens after fire consumed a house at 1887 Nebraska Avenue in Grants Pass Thursday night.

Josephine County 911 received the report of a structure fire at 10:16 p.m. on Thursday. When crews from Grants Pass Fire and Rural Metro Fire arrived at the scene, they found a house that was covered in flames.

After beginning an "aggressive attack," fire crews were able to knock down the flames in about 12 minutes, according to Grants Pass Department of Public Safety (GPDPS). After that, crews began the long process of ensuring that fire inside the building was fully extinguished.

Fire crews were able to save the animals while fighting the flames. There was a single person residing at the house, but they were able to make it out safely with no injuries.

GPDPS says that the house suffered "significant damage." The Red Cross is assisting with shelter arrangements for the resident. Grants Pass Police, American Medical Response, and Rogue Valley Chaplains also assisted in the incident.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. GPDPS asks that anyone with information about the cause call them at (541) 450-6260.FILE - In this Friday, Nov. 24, 2017 file photo, a prison guard walks outside a courtroom during an appeal by Yevgeniy Nikulin from Russia who faces charges of hacking computers of American companies, in Prague, Czech Republic. The Czech Republic extradited a Russian man to the U.S. to face charges of hacking computers at LinkedIn, Dropbox and other American companies, an official said Friday March 30, 2018. Yevgeniy Nikulin was flown to the U.S. overnight, Justice Ministry spokeswoman Tereza Schejbalova said. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)FILE - In this Sept. 22, 2017, file photo, a barista pours steamed milk in a coffee at a cafe in Los Angeles. Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle has ruled that California law requires coffee companies to carry an ominous cancer warning label because of a chemical produced in the roasting process. Judge Berle wrote in a proposed ruling Wednesday, March 28, 2018, that Starbucks and other coffee companies failed to show that the threat from a chemical compound produced in the roasting process was insignificant. At the center of the dispute is acrylamide, a carcinogen found in many cooked foods, that is produced during the roasting process. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)Old items, for many people, probably have little value. But at the flea market they can become a unique item to others, because it is associated with the past of many people, while it is also considered as evidence of a historical period.

For collectors, the most frequently mentioned flea market is Van Phuc flea market in Ha Dong district, Hanoi. Here, with the morning light, the sound of sellers displaying their wares has dispelled the quiet atmosphere. The market is full of buyers and sellers with many products. Customers are mainly the old and collectors. They go around the markets, looking carefully at each product before deciding to haggle and buy.

According to Quang, who has a lot of experience in collecting antiques, every month, there are only six market days, on the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th and 30th days of the lunar month. For this reason, in order to find the precious items, the customers should go to the market early.

In an area of nearly one hectare, there are hundreds of booths. As the sun rises the characteristics, as well as an abundance of goods, of Van Phuc flea market gradually appear. The customers give all of their attention to contemplating the products making the space become quiet. Occasionally, some songs are played on old cassettes, which carry famous brands from 20 to 30 years ago.

The market is divided into many areas with different types of products. There are places to attract customers with pottery products, with vases, bowls and plates that have patterns that were produced a long time ago. Meanwhile, another area is filled with electronic products, from cassette tapes to speaking-trumpets, which had disappeared in Vietnam for a long time. An area sells luxury items such as watches, bicycles, and even rusty Simson motorbikes.

The most visited area features popular products attached to the difficult subsidy period, with items such as typewriters, ancient cameras, Manchon lamp and charcoal irons. The senior citizens cannot take their eyes off these objects, as they try to find souvenirs of the old days. Nguyen Van Hung, from Long Bien District, Hanoi, stroked a typewriter, while sharing that, over 30 years ago, the typewriter was his family's most familiar thing; it seems that coming to the market has help him to find the old souvenir.

In addition to the Van Phuc flea market, the weekend market at Hoang Hoa Tham Street, Ba Dinh district is also a popular flea market. The market is called "Weekend Market" because the market days are only open at 8am every Saturday. The 400-square-metre market doesnt have as many items as the Van Phuc flea market, however, according to the collectors the markets products are higher quality than the products at Van Phuc flea market, because all of the items have been painstakingly collected. For many years, the market has been a place for antique collectors in the provinces and cities, such as Thanh Hoa, Nam Dinh, Hai Phong and Hanoi, to meet and exchange their items and experience.

The highlight of the market is the stalls selling war remnants, which are part of the memory of the veterans. The market attracts young and old alike. While elderly people come to the market to look for items that hold memories of their childhood or the war years, the youth mostly come to indulge their collecting hobbies or learn more about items used by previous generations.

The flea markets have become a place where people gather to buy and sell antiques and reminisce about the old days.The USS Little Rock is shown moored in Montreal's old port, Sunday, January 21, 2018. An American warship stuck in Montreal since Christmas Eve has finally resumed its trip to its home port in Florida, the U.S. Navy confirmed on Saturday.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham HughesMcGill University head librarian Christopher Lyons holds Jean Drapeau's personal copy of the Molouf report on the cost of the 1976 Montreal Olympic summer games at the university rare books and special collections library in Montreal, Wednesday, March 14, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham HughesThe logo of American entertainment company Netflix is pictured at the Paris games week in Paris, Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017. One in four anglophone Canadians have cut the cord and no longer pay for a traditional TV service, while just over half are Netflix users, according to a report by the Media Technology Monitor.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Christophe EnaRick Gates, Donald Trump's former deputy campaign manager, shown leaving Federal District Court in Washington on Feb.14, 2018, knowingly communicated during the campaign with a former officer of Russia's military intelligence service who still had intelligence ties, according to a court filing last week.departs Federal District Court in Washington. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Alex BrandonJane Hawking, the first wife of Professor Stephen Hawking and their son Timothy, attend his funeral, at University Church of St Mary the Great in Cambridge, England, Saturday March 31, 2018. The renowned British physicist died peacefully at his Cambridge home on March 14 at the age of 76. (Joe Giddens/PA via AP)The British Embassy building, foreground, with the Russian Foreign Ministry building, background right, in Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 30, 2018. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday it has ordered Britain to reduce the number of its diplomats in Moscow to the level that Russia has in London, escalating a diplomatic war with the West over the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Britain. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)Courtesy of Julien's AuctionsA 1965 Fender Telecaster guitar owned by The Band's Robbie Robertson and used by Robertson and Bob Dylan at various historic concerts and recording sessions will be up for bid at a memorabilia auction held May 19 in New York City. The guitar, which is expected to fetch between $400,000 and $600,000, will be part of the second day of Julien's Auctions' next "Music Icons" sale, which will include a live auction at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York and online bidding.

The guitar was famously played by both Dylan and Robertson on the folk-rock legend's historic "going electric" 1966 tour, on which Bob was backed by The Hawks, the group that would eventually rename themselves The Band. The instrument also was used during the recording of Dylan's Blonde on Blonde and The Basement Tapes albums, and The Band's 1968 debut, Music from Big Pink, and its 1969 self-titled effort. In addition, Robertson played the guitar with The Band at the Woodstock, Isle of Wight and Watkins Glen festivals; the Festival Express tour; and the group's famous December 1971 stand at New York's Academy of Music that included Dylan as a special guest.

The guitar also has been played by George Harrison and Eric Clapton.

In 1970, Robertson stripped the Telecaster's original black paint to reveal the wood underneath. He's continued to use the guitar throughout the years.

"This guitar has been on the front lines of so many phenomenal events, I gaze at it with amazement," says Robertson. "When I think about all the creativity this guitar has been a part of, I'm still blown away."

Part of the proceeds raised by the guitar's sale will benefit the American Indian College Fund.

For more details about the upcoming "Music Icons" sale, visit JuliensAuctions.com.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.*The UN Security Council will hold emergency consultations on the situation in Gaza after Israeli soldiers reportedly killed 15 Palestinian protesters along the border fence.

*The Russian Foreign Ministry on March 30 informed ambassadors of 23 countries of its decision to expel employees of their diplomatic missions in Russia in a tit-for-tat response to the recent hostile actions by their countries against Moscow.

According to the statement, the countries involved in Russia's decision include Australia, Albania, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Finland, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Sweden and Estonia.

*US President Donald Trump on March 29 froze more than US$200 million in funds for recovery efforts in Syria as his administration reassesses Washington's role in the long-drawn conflict there, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing officials.

* Mexico's government recognizes China as a major tourism market, with a still modest but growing number of Chinese visitors choosing to travel to Mexico as 74,300 in 2016, for a 33.5 percent increase over 2015.

Last year, Mexico saw a record 39 million tourists, mainly from the United States, according to the Mexican Tourism Ministry.

* The Libyan eastern-based army on March 30 said that its fighter jets have launched airstrikes on Chadian armed groups in southern Libya for the second time in less than two weeks.

The air force fighters targeted a site of Chadian gangs linked to al-Qaida southwest of the Harug Mountains, causing human and material losses - the army said in a statement.

*The number of confirmed cases in Portugal's measles outbreak rose to 82 on March 30, the Directorate-General of Health (DGS) announced.

Measles is now rare in most countries due to the effectiveness of vaccination programs. However, this outbreak follows two others in Portugal last year.

* More than 1,000 oil workers of SOCAR's "Azneft" Production Union have been evacuated from Azerbaijan's Caspian offshore platforms due to the severe weather conditions in the country, state news agency AZERTAC said on March 30.Egypts foreign ministry has condemned the use of "excessive violence" by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian protesters gathered at the Gaza border with Israel on Friday to commemorate Land Day.

Israeli forces killed 16 of the Palestinian protesters and wounded hundreds, who were among thousands gathered to commemorate Land Day, which marks the 1976 killing of six Arab Israeli citizens by Israel during a protest against Israels seizure of Arab land.

"Egypt fully supports the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, at the top of which is the right to establish an independent state with Eastern Jerusalem as its capital as well as their right of return," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry called for the implementation of UN resolutions on the Palestine question and said the international community must observe its responsibilities towards the issue.

The ministry added that commemorating Land Day reminds every one of the necessity of working hard and fast to reach a comprehensive and just settlement to the Palestinian issue.

Palestinians in the occupied territories are preparing on Saturday for a day of protests and a general strike against the occupation.

The statement also said that Egypt has called on all parties to maintain calm and self-discipline, as well as avoid exposing the lives of civilians to more danger, and warned of the danger in continuing the status quo without resuming the peace process to reach a resolution based on international law and the two state solution.

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WAVERLY, Iowa (AP)  A northeast Iowa college has begun bolstering security following reports that a man entered unlocked dorms and bathrooms and harassed female students.

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that no charges have been filed against the man. The complaints say he entered dorm rooms and bathrooms at Wartburg College in Waverly in February, touched students without their permission and stole money. Police say charges are likely when an investigation is finished.

Security cameras have been installed in 11 new spots in addition to 30 already located around campus. Locks also will be installed on bathrooms, and motion-sensor light switches will be changed so bathroom lights are always on.

___

Information from: Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, http://www.wcfcourier.comMason City, Iowa  A man is accused of obstructing the breathing abilities of a woman after police say he covered the nose and mouth of the victim.

Abel Olmedo, 26, of Mason City, has been charged with felony domestic abuse assault while impeding air/blood flow after an incident early Tuesday morning.

Police say it happened in the 1600 block of S. Hampshire Ave.

Olmedo did cause bodily injury by scratching were on the nose and leaving an abrasion at the base of the victims neck, according to court documents.

He is being held in the Cerro Gordo County Jail on $5,000 bond.MASON CITY, Iowa - Horse riders from Northwood and Osage met together in Mason City on Friday as part of the Pony Express Riders' annual "Ride Day" to benefit Easter Seals' Camp Sunnyside in Des Moines.

Now in its 51st year, every year on Easter weekend, riders from across the state ride to the meeting point in Ankeny, where they all ride to the camp. Along the way, riders raise funds for the camp, which serves adults and children with disabilities every summer.

The first ride on March 30, 1968 raised $12,000. Since that time, the group has raised over $10 million.CHARLES CITY, Iowa - Over 170 students from 15 Iowa school districts converged on the Floyd County Fairgrounds Friday for the Charles City FFA Leadership Day, the first time the district has hosted it.

The all-day event had students participating in team building exercises, games and leadership improvement skills.

Current national FFA President Breanna Holbert flew in to Charles City from California to be a part of the fun. She joined the organization as a freshman in high school.

"My ag teacher saw a lot of potential in me. I'm an urban girl born and raised, and she said regardless if you're urban or rural, we want you all in FFA. I ended up going through different experiences and ended up in Charles City," Holbert says.

Now as a sophomore at Chico State University majoring in ag education, she plans to use the skills she's learned in FFA to become a teacher, but not your typical classroom educator.

"My goal is to become an agriculture educator in Hollywood and start an all-sustainable agriculture school for urban students," Holbert adds.

Freshman Drew Staudt joined FFA this school year, and so far, he's enjoying the connecting and networking with other chapters, along with the skills he's picking up.

"It helps you spread out, know more about yourself, understand what you want to do in life," Staudt says.

Senior Kelby Catcher has attended the FFA's national convention twice, and loved both times she was there.

"You can go to different workshops and different conferences, and that's pretty fun," Catcher says.

The workshop was held at the Fairgrounds' Youth Enrichment Center, a building FFA students planned and raised money for construction that opened last year.ST. PETER, Minn. (AP)  St. Peter residents say that a tornado 20 years ago that heavily damaged the city also brought the community together.

The twister reached wind speeds of 175 miles per hour, killed two people, destroyed 200 homes and damaged hundreds of others, Minnesota Public Radio reported. St. Peter sustained more than $120 million in property damage.

In hindsight, residents said the devastation also brought the city and Gustavus Adolphus College together.

The college, the city and different communities within St. Peter didn't interact much before the tornado, said Todd Prafke, the city's administrator.

"But we soon found as the result of the tornado that we couldn't do that anymore, and we needed each other," he said.

Students went into the community to help the town and nearby farms clean up and rebuild, even as their own campus was undergoing a large rebuilding effort, said Ken Westphal, who was in charge of Gustavus's finances at the time of the tornado.

"This was a turning point in the town-gown relationship," Westphal said.

The school's landscaping plan after the tornado reflected the improved relationship with the city, he said.

"The community said, 'You know what, Gustavus? We love seeing you.' So that part of the campus was planted with more miniature trees so the community could see us, and vice versa," said Westphal.

The community now works much closer together, Prafke said.

"So whether it's a new school or a new program in the rec department, that's one of our first thoughts: 'Who else is out there thinking like us, who we can work with?" he said. "That's what builds community."Three workers were killed on Saturday in a gas pipeline fire in Suezs Ain Sokhna in Egypt, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

The fire broke out after a loader collided with the pipeline at a construction site near Suez's Al-Galala area.

Four other workers were injured in the accident, state-owned MENA news agency reported.

A security source said that the fire was swiftly contained after fire trucks were dispatched to the scene.

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The 21st Century Community Learning Centers offers a broad array of additional services, programs, and activities, focusing on subjects such as youth development, nutrition and health education. (Pixabay)By Jhoo Dong-chan



The price of bitcoin has plunged below 8 million won ($7,517).



This was the largest drop since 'Black Friday' when the world's most popular crytocurrency also dropped to nearly 7 million won earlier last month.



The Japanese government also decided to shut two of its largest cryptocurrency exchanges this month, a decisive factor for the price crash.



The price of bitcoin was marked at 7.78 million won at local exchange Upbit as of 6:30 a.m. Friday. It was the lowest price since the price plunged to 7.66 million won on Black Friday last month.



It was traded at 7.85 million won as of 3:00 p.m. Friday.



The price of bitcoin also plunged at foreign exchanges. Global virtual coin indicator CoinMarketCap posted $7,081 for bitcoin yesterday.



"Party's over," said virtual coin trader Kim Hwan said.



"Following a series of government announcements planning to regulate the market, confidence has since shrunk down to the ground. The problem is now that the trade volume has nearly halved compared to its peak in January. I believe it's a matter of time before bitcoin drops below 5 million won."



The price of bitcoin enjoyed a temporary surge last week since there was no tangible outcome during the G20 finance ministers' meeting held on March 20.



Thanks to the G20 finance ministers' decision to delay the first-ever global regulation on cryptocurrencies to July, the price of bitcoin temporarily reached 10 million won from 8 million won during the week.



However, the rally did not last. The price slid to 9 million won in two days, and then dropped to nearly 8 million on Tuesday.



Industry observers say the Japanese government's decision to shut down two of the country's exchanges was a decisive factor for the price decline.



Due to Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA)'s regulatory pressure, two exchanges _ Tokyo Gateway and Mr. Exchange _ decided to withdraw their business applications with the FSA. The two exchanges said they will return their customers cash and virtual coins immediately so they can exit the market.



Following the worst hacking incident causing 570 billion won in damages that took place in January, the FSA has decided to tighten its monitoring system with exchanges.



The country's 16 exchanges were subject to comply with the agency's new regulation, and experts say more exchanges will withdraw their operations from the market due to the regulation.



Egypt parliament's spokesperson Salah Hassaballah told reporters on Saturday that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi will be sworn in for his second term as president early in June in accordance with the constitution.

"Early June will signal a new presidential term and as a result the elected president will come to parliament to be sworn in,Hassaballah said.

Egypt's National Elections Authority (NEA), which was in charge of supervising last week's presidential election, is scheduled to announce the official results of the poll Monday.

Early indicators show that incumbent President El-Sisi, who ran for another four-year term, is expected to win by a landslide.

Al-Ahram newspaper said on Friday that the turnout results are expected to be a little higher than those of 2014, when 23.7 million Egyptians voted for El-Sisi.

"In this poll, which was held between 26 and 28 March, the turnout is expected to go up to 25 million, with around 23 million (97 percent) Egyptians having voted for El-Sisi, Al-Ahram reported.

Semi-official figures, said Al-Ahram, also show that the only other candidate, the head of the Ghad Party Moussa Mostafa Moussa, gained 750,000 votes (3 percent).

Salah Fawzi, a constitutional law professor at Mansoura University and a member of the government-affiliated Legislative Reform Committee, said on Friday that "as Egypt's 2014 presidential election was officially announced on 3 June, the current term of the incumbent president will officially expire on the second of June, and so President El-Sisi is expected to be sworn in early June.

"There will be coordination between the elected president and parliament on which day he will be sworn in, Fawzi said.

NEA spokesperson Mahmoud El-Sherif said the official results of the three-day presidential election will be announced on 2 April or next Monday.

"Appeals against the results can be lodged with the Supreme Administrative Court within 48 hours, and a final ruling on these should be issued within 10 days, or 14 April, at the latest," El-Sherif said.

"While no complaints have so far been filed against vote-counting operations, the NEA is still receiving results of the election from its affiliated offices in Egypt's provincial governorates," El-Sherif said.

"There will be complete and detailed figures on the number of votes, who voted the most in this poll, and turnout rates," El-Sherif said.

Fawzi explained that while Article 231 of the constitution stipulates that a new presidential term begins the day the result of the election is announced (3 June 2014), Article 144 states that the elected president must be sworn in before the House of Representatives  Egypt's lower house parliament.

"This will be the first time an elected president will be sworn in before parliament in line with Egypt's 2014 constitution, Fawzi said.

However, Fawzi said that while Article 25 of the Local Administration Law (law 43/1979) states that provincial governors must submit resignations following the end of a presidential term, there is no constitutional or legislative article that imposes the same stipulation on the government.

"This means that the current government may or may not submit its resignation following the end of the first presidential term," he argued.

Many MPs said on Saturday that they expect that the current government  led by Prime Minister Sherif Ismail  will submit its resignation following the end of the first presidential term.

Alaa Abed, head of parliament's human rights committee, said in a statement on Saturday that "Egypt is in desperate need of a new government."

"We need fighters, not cabinet ministers and provincial governors with trembling hands," Abed said, adding that "the current government of the prime minister includes a considerable number of cabinet ministers who were not up to the people's expectations, and they should be replaced by new ones who can deliver on reforms and improved services in the second presidential term.

Ahmed Ismail, a member of parliament's defence and national security committee, said "there should be a sweeping cabinet reshuffle that should include no less than half of the government's cabinet ministers."

Mohamed Abdallah Zein, deputy chairman of parliament's Transport Committee, said "the current government led by Prime Minister Sherif Ismail has done all it can in the first presidential term, and it should be changed in the second term.

"This government has lost its shine and there should a new one with young faces, Zein said.

Ashraf Reheim, an MP affiliated with the Nile Delta governorate of Beheira, said "in the second presidential term, Egypt needs a new government with a new mentality.

"As the government of Sherif Ismail shouldered the burden of implementing the IMF's package of harsh economic reforms in the first term, it is important that this government be changed to reflect a new term based on compensating citizens who can no longer afford the costs of another wave of difficult reforms," Reheim said.

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Finance ministry says currency deal is separate from FTA



By Yoon Ja-young



After Korea and the United States agreed to improve the transparency of Seoul's foreign exchange market, concern is mounting that the country might lose sovereignty over its exchange policies. The finance ministry stressed that the discussion on foreign exchange policy was not related to revisions of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA).



"The foreign exchange rate is a multilateral issue and it should not be dealt with in bilateral talks. The United States had tried to link it with the KORUS FTA revision talks, but we rejected this. The talks about foreign exchange have been going on separately from the FTA," a ranking official at the ministry said.



The two countries reached an agreement in principle for amending the KORUS FTA, following President Donald Trump's claim that it was costing jobs in the United States on top of widening its trade deficit with Korea. The amendment includes the further opening of the local market to U.S. automobile manufacturers.



The agreement, however, caused controversy following a U.S. report that Korea also agreed to amend "unfair currency practices."



"On a separate track, the Treasury Department is finalizing an understanding with South Korea to avoid practices that provide an unfair competitive advantage," the White House noted on its Website.



"The provisions of the understanding include strong commitments on exchange rate practices, robust transparency and reporting, and a mechanism for accountability," it added.



The United States Trade Representative (USTR) also said in a media release, "An agreement (memorandum of understanding) is being finalized on robust provisions to prohibit competitive devaluation and exchange rate manipulation in order to promote a level playing field for trade and investment. Strong commitments on transparency and accountability are included in the provisions."







Smoothing operations



The government and central bank have been engaged in "smoothing operations" on the foreign exchange market, to decrease fluctuations by selling or buying dollars on the market. However, they have not disclosed such interventions since the opening of the foreign exchange market.



The finance ministry official pointed out that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also recommends disclosing intervention.



"In the context of the strong commitment to exchange rate flexibility, policymakers should clarify their foreign exchange intervention policy," the IMF noted in its 2017 annual consultation with Korea, though it added that the foreign exchange intervention appeared limited.



"The key measure to enhance transparency is to disclose intervention in the foreign exchange market. Korea is one of the few major countries not disclosing it, along with India, Saudi Arabia and Turkey," the ministry official said.



Such a measure can also help Korea avoid designation by the United States as a foreign exchange rate manipulator in April. In its semiannual report, the U.S. Treasury Department designates a nation a currency manipulator if it meets three criteria: a current account surplus larger than 3 percent of GDP, more than a $20 billion annual trade surplus with the U.S., and the purchase of dollars amounting to over 2 percent of GDP. Korea was on the monitoring list in the October report as it met the first two of the three conditions. The April report is likely to be similar as Korea continues to meet these two.



However, there is concern that Korea will lose sovereignty in foreign exchange policies due to the negotiations. "For small, open economies such as Korea, foreign exchange policy makes a big difference. The government should note that other emerging countries don't reveal their interventions since they have to stabilize the market," an economist said.







By Park Jae-hyuk







French-speaking companies held an economic seminar in Seoul, Friday, as a part of the festival for "La Francophonie" in Korea.







"La Francophonie" refers to regions and people speaking French in their daily lives. The International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) has 53 member countries, including previous colonies of France and a few European countries. Korea became one of 31 observers of the OIF in November 2016.







The French Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) hosted the seminar, collaborating with the Embassy of France in Korea, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.







Daegu Metropolitan City government sponsored the event to attract French-speaking businesses to invest in the southeastern city.







"La Francophonie is the world's fourth-largest economic bloc, accounting for 13 percent of global GDP," FKCCI Chairman David Pierre Jalicon said in an opening speech. "The FKCCI has sought for the global expansion of OIF members, including African countries."







As well as French Ambassador to Korea Fabien Penone, officials from the embassies of Senegal, Ivory Coast and Cambodia attended the seminar.







"Forty thousand Korean students are learning French in Korea, and their abilities will help them in conducting businesses and other challenges in other countries," Penone said.







Chairman Choi Yeon-ho of the Korea-Africa Foundation, which will establish itself as an affiliate of the foreign ministry in May at the earliest, also attended the seminar.







The former Korean ambassador to the Republic of South Africa vowed to enhance cooperation with African nations using French.







The seminar focused on cooperation with third world countries in relevant sectors, such as IT and transportation, through presentations by Korean companies, including KT and Hyundai Rotem, and French companies, including Thales, Renault and Sanofi.







The seminar was followed by business to business meetings, allowing participants to exchange opportunities with officials from embassies and chambers of commerce.

By Yoon Ja-young



Kim Ki-sik, a former lawmaker and veteran civic activist known as a "sniper" of financial companies, was nominated as the new chief of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).



The Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced Friday that Kim, who currently heads the Korea Institute for the Future (KIF), was nominated as FSS Governor. He is expected to be inaugurated as early as next Monday following approval by President Moon Jae-in.



FSS Governor nominee Kim Ki-sikChoi Hee-nam

By Park Jae-hyuk



A Korean executive board member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will lead the nation's sovereign wealth fund managing assets worth $130 billion, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, Thursday.



Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon has recommended Choi Hee-nam as a nominee for CEO of the Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), a state-run enterprise established in 2005. The KIC preserves and enhances the long-term purchasing power of the country's sovereign wealth through efficient management of public funds in international financial markets.



If the finance minister recommends the nominee for KIC CEO, and the recommendation committee accepts and he passes by the operating committee's examination, the President should finally decide whether to appoint the nominee.



According to the law related to the KIC, the corporation's chief executive has to have built up a career in the field of finance or investment for more than 10 years, because the person who directs the company's overall investments needs expertise in international finance and asset management.



After majoring I economics at Hanyang University, Choi took a master's degree in business administration at Hanyang University and received Ph.D. in economics at the University of Pittsburgh.



The 59-year-old has served as a civil servant at the finance ministry for 26 years.



An expert in international finance and macroeconomics, Choi was an executive director of the World Bank from February 2016 to October 2016, and was elected as a member of the IMF's executive board later that year.



He has represented a group of 16 countries, including Korea, Australia and New Zealand on the IMF executive board since November 2016.



His term will end in November this year, but another Korean representative can serve as IMF executive board member until the expiration date of Choi's term.



"Based on his experience and expertise in the international finance market, Choi is expected to efficiently manage Korea's sovereign wealth fund," a finance ministry official said.



As of last year, the KIC has managed assets worth $134.1 billion, including $75 billion entrusted to it by the finance ministry and $25 billion from the Bank of Korea.



It has annually posted a 4.45 percent accumulative rate of return.



The public enterprise has faced a leadership vacuum over the past half year, since former CEO Eun Sung-soo was appointed as Eximbank CEO last September.

By Yoon Ja-young



DGB Financial is facing the worst crisis in its history, with its chief stepping down following allegations of having a slush fund and irregular hiring.



Former DGB Financial Chairman Park In-kyu resigned Thursday amid increasing pressure from shareholders and the labor union. He convened an emergency executive meeting, where he said he feels responsible for the current crisis the group is facing. He said that he would like to offer his sincere apology to the shareholders, customers and employees for causing the problem. Shares of DGB Financial closed at 11,650 won Friday, unchanged from the previous day.





Former DGB Financial Chairman Park In-kyuJesaengdongcheon-gil / courtesy of Seoul City



By Park Jin-hai



Spring invites people to take a nice stroll in breeze. Walking the city streets, visitors bump into historic places nestled alongside skyscrapers and modern buildings.



Designated as the capital of Korea during the 1392-1910 Joseon Kingdom, Seoul has many old streets and alleys that still hold the secrets of the 600-year-old capital. They serve as a great portal inviting visitors back to Joseon Seoul.



The Seoul Metropolitan Government recently announced it found 620 old streets that retain their original course dating back to the Joseon era.



Most of the city's street grid, which had not changed much until the early 20th century, has seen drastic changes after going through the 1910-45 Japanese occupation and the 1950-53 Korean War, as well as rapid industrialization and urbanization over the past century.



The capital moved here in 1394 after the dawn of Joseon, and Gyeongbok Palace was built the following year. Much of the palace was destroyed during the Japanese occupation, and rebuilding continues.



Those streets preserved nearly intact offer invaluable assets and provide a glimpse of the people and culture of Joseon.



"You may be surprised to know you have so many streets near you that date back to Joseon," a city government official said. "Seoul's old roads developed along streams that joined and ran to Cheonggye Stream. The streets were formed after covering over the streams, resulting in winding paths. Following those winding roads, you can time travel back to Joseon."



After two years of research, comparing "The Great Map of Seoul" drawn in the 18th century and a 2016 modern map, the city revealed 620 streets that can bring people closer to the Joseon era.

Among those, the city picked the 12 best ones to visit.



"The 12 places are like recommended walking courses developed for those who want to trace Seoul's history. The street courses include parts of intact old streets and others nearby. Although the surroundings might have changed a lot, those old roads stand still, telling history itself," the official said.





Ongnyudongcheon-gil





Streets for nobles



Ongnyudongcheon-gil seated at the foot of Inwang Mountain has been famous for its scenic views, which attracted many Joeseon scholars. The street runs through an area called Seochon, which translates as "west village" as it is west of Gyeongbok Palace.



The area lined with old hanok houses and shops is one of the oldest neighborhoods within the city walls of Seoul. In modern-day Korea, many renowned artists such as poets Yun Dong-ju and No Cheon-myeong, poet-novelist Lee Sang, and painters Park No-su and Lee Sang-beom have also lived in the neighborhood.



Samcheongdongcheon-gil and Angukdongcheon-gil, also famous for their scenery, ran through the residential quarter of high-ranking government officials and nobility which was the center of Joseon culture and art.



Jesaengdongcheon-gil, running through Bukchon Hanok Village, is where Jesaengwon, a health care center for commoners, used to be. Bukchon translates to "north village" as it is located north of Cheonggye Stream, which once divided traditional Seoul right through the middle, just as the Han River does now. It is a favorite tourist destination as it has beautiful hanok houses, small alleys and Choong Ang High School, founded in 1908 by patriots at the end of the Korean Empire, March 1 Memorial Hall to commemorate the pro-independence movement during the Japanese occupation and also known as the filming sites for hit dramas "Winter Sonata" and "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God."



Bukyeongcheon-gil is where Joseon's capital defense command center was, running along the western wall of Changdeok Palace. Heungdeokdongcheon-gil, near Sungkyunkwan University, is where Sungkyunkwan, the highest education institution of Joseon, stands.





Gurigae-gilSouth Korean warship Munmu the Great, above, was dispatched to the sea off Ghana to search and rescue three South Korean sailors who were possibly kidnapped by unidentified pirates on Monday. / Courtesy of Wikipedia



Three South Korean sailors are presumed to have been kidnapped in seas off Ghana, Seoul's foreign ministry said Saturday, with a South Korean navy ship in charge of anti-piracy operations in waters off Somalia dispatched to the nearby area.

According to the ministry, a fishing boat named the 500-ton Marine 711 with over 40 crew members aboard, including the three South Koreans, is believed to have been hijacked by unidentified pirates on Monday.

While moving into Nigerian waters, the pirates transfered some of the sailors, including the South Korean sailors, to a speedboat on Tuesday, with their whereabouts still unknown.

The hijacked ship, registered in Ghana, arrived at the Port Of Tema on the eastern coast of Ghana on Wednesday, and some 40 Ghanaian sailors were released there, the ministry said.

The ministry added that it is closely cooperating with Ghana, Nigeria and other nations to find out the whereabouts of those kidnapped.















By Oh Young-jin







Often, expectations are set higher than what is realistically possible.







In the ongoing whirlwind of movement toward a potential resolution of North Korea's nuclear threat, the players demand what the other side finds impossible to accept.







If they insist on their overblown demands, the April 27 inter-Korean summit and the one in May between the North and the United States will not produce any meaningful breakthrough. Rather, it will only aggravate the situation and lead to a tragic denouement.







But it is worth calling their bluff to see what their bottom lines could be.







After all, it can be assumed with a degree of certain that the players want a negotiated end rather than a nuclear apocalypse.







The cast in the nuclear brinkmanship game includes the North, the U.S., South Korea, China and Japan.







Ahead of his summit with the North's Kim Jong-un, U.S. President Donald Trump has stacked his team with hardliners.







John Bolton, a member of the neocon faction that during the George W. Bush presidency who wanted to reshape the rest of the world like the U.S., is now White House national security adviser.





CIA director Mike Pompeo is designated as secretary of state.







Although he relented a bit after getting the job, Bolton previously made clear the North should follow the Libya-style nuclear dismantlement, giving up all its weapons of mass destruction first and putting its fate at the mercy of the international community.







Its leader Gaddafi took the deal and unilaterally disarmed himself, but he was overthrown and was killed by his opponents.







Pompeo is a Trumpian warrior who does not mind mounting a "bloody nose"  a limited strike  to derail the North's nuclear and missile programs.







First, Trump's embracing of these two hawks on top of his strong anti-North Korean rhetoric could mean during his summit with the North's Kim that he will not accept anything less than a complete and immediate dismantling of the North's threat at whatever cost.







Second, the U.S. leader could be willing to settle for the North reverting to the status that prevailed before Pyongyang continued to test missiles and nuclear devices in order to make a nuclear-armed intercontinental missile that can strike the U.S.







If Trump's bottom line falls somewhere between the two, both the U.S. and the North could go home, claiming victory. The region would be peaceful for a while until the next North Korean crisis comes along or the communist country collapses.







For the North, the top priority is to stay alive.







By all indications, it has sought to have talks with the South it has despised for being a U.S. puppet and with the U.S., a foe that it has threatened to burn into a bowl of fire through its intercontinental missiles.





The change was caused by the international sanctions that are biting into the North's fragile economy. If the sanctions continue, Pyongyang fears that its collapse could be a matter of time.







But the North knows it would be like signing its own death warrant if it gives up its nuclear weapons. Deprived of the nukes, it would be reduced to a defenseless pariah that does not have anything with which to bargain with the international community.







That makes one suspect whether the North's recent steps are just a gimmick to buy time. After all, the North has done it before  after the 1994 Agreed Framework that defused the first North Korean nuclear crisis.





The North has pushed ahead its nuclear development in secret when it was possible and defiantly when it was caught. Through this deceptive policy, the North declared last November that it was a nuclear weapon state with a credible record of tests.







So what would be the North's bottom line?







Easing the sanctions would be its immediate priority. But it certainly wants its nuclear program to remain viable even if on limited status for now.







Waiting for the U.S. to be distracted by its domestic or other international affairs, the North would put its related development programs in mothballs to try to allay U.S. fears that it can be hit by the North's long-range missiles.





President Moon Jae-in says the South's priority is no war on the Korean Peninsula. Moon is believed to have concluded that if left to its own devices, the North will not last long, so he has opted to keep it afloat for now and guide it to its "natural death" with as few side effects as possible.







This has forced Moon to play honest broker between its key ally, the U.S., and its estranged brother, the North. He has done his bit well.







That explains the flexibility of the South's bottom line  as long as there is no war, it can go back to the days when the North's threat was limited to the South, not to the U.S.







China wants the North to remain as it has been with reduced capability to create big trouble in the region. After all, the North is a buffer separating China from the direct U.S. influence in the South.







The North could be used as a valuable pressure point in what is emerging as a hegemonic war with the U.S. So the Chinese bottom line is that the North should be disciplined by the U.S., but not so much as to make its system unstable.







Japan has been isolated in the latest flurry of activities over the Korean Peninsula, but it would exert its influence when the China-U.S. standoff gets more serious. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has a murky bottom line.







The players will jockey for their own best interests, which means a period of confusion. But the outcome will likely be settled because these bottom lines clash and coordinate with each other.





Oh Young-jin (





foolsdie@gmail.com ) is the digital managing editor of The Korea Times.Shinzo Abe and Kim Jong-un / Korea Times file



Japan has sounded out the North Korean government about a bilateral summit, and Pyongyang has discussed the possibility of a leaders' meeting with Japan, Japan's Asahi newspaper said on Thursday.

The government of Kim Jong Un has informed leaders of North Korea's ruling Korean Workers Party of the possibility of a summit with Japan, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified North Korean source and briefing papers.

"The Japanese government has expressed a wish to host a leaders meeting, via the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan," or Chongryon, Pyongyang's de facto embassy in Japan, the Asahi quoted the briefing papers as saying.

The Japanese government said it had been in touch with the North but declined to offer specific comment on the report.

"We have been communicating with North Korea through various occasions and means such as a route via our embassy in Beijing, but I would like to refrain from going into specifics," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular news conference. A Chongryon spokesman in Tokyo declined to comment on the Asahi report.











Chinese official to brief Moon on summit result



By Kim Rahn





Chinese State Councilor Yang JiechiIran's foreign minister on Saturday condemned the fatal shooting of 16 Gazan protesters by Israeli troops.

The protesters were among thousands who marched along the Gaza-Israel border on Friday and set up protest camps at the start of a six-week campaign for the return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled during the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948.

The week-long Passover festival began at sundown on Friday.

"On the eve of Passover (of all days), which commemorates God liberating Prophet Moses and his people from tyranny, Zionist tyrants murder peaceful Palestinian protesters -- whose land they have stolen -- as they march to escape their cruel and inhuman apartheid bondage. Shameful," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.

Iran has long been a supporter of Islamist group Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip.

Friday was the bloodiest single day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 Israeli war in Gaza.

UN chief Antonio Guterres called for an "independent and transparent investigation".

*This report was edited by Ahram Online

Short link:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Wednesday. / Yonhap



By Yang Sung-chul





Yang Sung-chulBy Kim Bo-eun



Libya's process of denuclearization, in which rewards were provided after the regime made an instantaneous decision and completely dismantled its nuclear program, cannot be applied to resolving the North Korea nuclear issue, a Cheong Wa Dae official said Friday.



He hinted at solutions through phased disarmament and verification, which is somewhat different from hard-line U.S. officials' preference for a package settlement similar to the Libya disarmament process



Libya gave up its nuclear and other destructive weapons in 2003, in return for normalization of relations with the U.S. and easing of economic sanctions. Attention has grown over the Libyan case as the White House's newly appointed national security adviser, John Bolton, has backed this model as a means to address North Korea.



"I believe it is impossible to apply the Libyan process to North Korea," the senior official told reporters on condition of anonymity.



Citing that the North Korean nuclear crisis has dragged on for 25 years, he said it cannot be solved instantly like pulling a TV plug out.



"The reality is that verification and nuclear disarmament can only be done sequentially," the official said.



Earlier this week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stated in a surprise visit to China that the regime would be willing to denuclearize, on a step-by-step basis.



"Once the U.S. and South Korea take phased and simultaneous measures in response to our peace efforts, the issue of denuclearization on the peninsula can be resolved," he said.



The U.S. has said that it will maintain maximum pressure on North Korea until complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of its nuclear program is achieved. Hardliners contend that looking back over the past 25 years, a step-by-step process has only enabled the North to buy time to develop its nuclear program.



Despite differences in stance, the Cheong Wa Dae official said both Washington and Pyongyang appear to be willing to resolve the issue.



"We are able to tell, from the announcements that U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim will meet by May, that they are willing to deal with the issue," he said.



Following Kim's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Trump posted on Twitter, "Now there is a good chance that Kim Jong-un will do what is right for his people and for humanity. Look forward to our meeting!"



The Cheong Wa Dae official said, "The views of the parties coming to the negotiation table will differ. (South Korea) will attempt to adjust the differences and aid compromise, as a mediator."



President Moon Jae-in and Kim will hold a summit April 27; and Trump and Kim, in late May to discuss Pyongyang's denuclearization.



Regarding the Washington-Pyongyang summit, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said "it is something of global importance and we want to make sure that it's done as soon as we can, but we also want to make sure it's done properly," in a briefing Thursday.



Meanwhile, Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi met with Moon, Friday, as Xi's special representative, to brief him on details of Kim's meeting with Xi earlier this week.



He also held a meeting with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.



"We support the hosting of the inter-Korean summit and the Pyongyang-Washington summit, and we are hoping for important achievements to be made through them," Yang told Kang.



"We wish to strengthen communication with South Korea so that tension on the Korean Peninsula can be eased even more."



A day earlier, the Chinese official spoke with National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong about the Kim-Xi summit.

Presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok, right, who chairs the preparatory committee for the inter-Korean summit, enters a meeting room in Cheong Wa Dae, Friday, along with National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong, center, and National Intelligence Service head Suh Hoon. Participants were briefed about the inter-Korean high-level meeting held the previous day, and discussed how to prepare for the summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which will take place April 27 at the Peace House in the truce village of Panmunjeom. Chung and Suh visited North Korea and met Kim in early March as Moon's special envoys. / Korea Times photo by Koh Young-kwonA man sits alone at Tapgol Park. / Korea Times file



By Kwak Yeon-soo



Around 9:30 a.m., an 81-year-old man surnamed Kim steps into Tapgol Park in downtown Seoul and sits underneath the old pavilion.



A 45-minute subway ride from his house in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul, it has become a part of his daily routine after his wife passed away four years ago.



Tapgol Park, where the March 1st Korean Independence Movement began, has turned into a haven where the elderly come to spend most of their free time.



"It doesn't cost me a penny to get here. All I have is time, so why not waste it?" Kim said.



Another 72-year-old woman surnamed Kim, who has spent most of her life washing dishes at restaurants, said she backs the free subway service. "Since I've worked outdoors for so long, I cannot stay at home like a housewife. Giving seniors free access to the subways allows people like me to get around the city freely."



There are hundreds of senior citizens like these two Kims in Seoul.



Due to an increase in the country's elderly population, the number of free subway riders is rising annually.



The Seoul Metropolitan Government data showed senior citizens with free access to subways accounted for 11.9 percent of all passengers last year.



The disabled and veterans, who have dutifully served the country, accounted for 2.6 percent and 0.2 percent of total passengers, the data showed. These two groups are allowed to ride the subway free of charge, along with senior citizens.



The government's welfare policy to grant free passes to senior citizens aged 65 or over was introduced in 1984.



Back then, the elderly accounted for less than 4.3 percent of the total population.



But the situation has changed.



According to Statistics Korea, the number of senior citizens surpassed children 15 years or under last year. Furthermore, the elderly now account for 13.8 percent of the total population.



Many argue that the rising portion of senior citizens amid Korea's aging society generates huge losses for the Seoul Metro.



The metro operator that runs subway lines numbers 1 to 8 in the capital saw losses of 350.6 billion won ($ 329.6 million) last year due to the number of "free riders." The losses have been rising since 2013.



"The growing number of senior citizens is the biggest cause of the massive deficit," said a city government official.



"We will request financial support from the central government."



To shore up the fiscal deficit and reduce the burden, there have been calls for adjusting the minimum age of passengers permitted to ride free from 65 to 70 and beneficiaries being waived 50 percent of the fare.



City government and metro operators are considering adopting a new fare system as well as amending the current system.



"It's true that old age is imposing a heavy burden on us. Raising the minimum age of those who benefit, and charging half the fare, are included in our mid-to-long term plan," said a Seoul Metro official.

Chinese President Xi Jinping. / Reuters



By Jung Min-ho



China is the only country that can stop North Korea from becoming a fully fledged nuclear power. But Beijing will not take that step, even if that means the U.S. could attack the North, experts say.



China's oil supply provides key support to the Kim Jong-un regime, which would collapse in no time without it. Yet China has chosen to provide resources Pyongyang badly needs and will likely continue to do so, says Boston College professor of political science Robert Ross.



"China opposes nuclear weapons in North Korea, but it has other more immediate priorities, including preventing regime collapse and loss of its control over nuclear weapons," he told The Korea Times.



"These objectives are more important than coercion to achieve immediate denuclearization. Thus China resists excessive sanctions that could lead to regime collapse."



In some ways, he notes, South Korea shares this Chinese perspective, as it also opposes excessive U.S. sanctions that could destabilize the regime and its control over nuclear weapons, which could lead to war.



Some reports suggest North Korea may be just a year or less away from developing a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on a missile that could hit the U.S. mainland.



With that prospect, U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to use any means possible, including military action, to stop it.



Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions clearly also concern Beijing, which believes nuclear weapons actually tighten U.S. alliances and missile defenses in East Asia.



But unlike the U.S. and Japan, China does not see the weapons as an immediate threat, according to Leon Sigal, director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project in New York.



"But I suspect that top Chinese and North Korean officials think all the talk about preventive war is a bluff," he says.



Apparently, China does not rule out the possibility of another war in Korea.



There have been media reports that China is quietly building a network of refugee camps along its 1,416-kilometer border with North Korea as Beijing prepares for the human exodus that a conflict might unleash.



The China Mobile document, which started circulating on social media and overseas Chinese websites three months ago, says, "Due to cross-border tensions  the (Chinese Communist) party committee and government of Changbai County have proposed setting up five refugee camps in the county."



"A surprise U.S. attack on the regime  referred to in the media as a possible bloody nose' attack  could destabilize or defeat it," says Andreas Fulda, a professor Nottingham University School of Politics and International Relations.



"A flood of North Korean refugees to the northeastern part of China would almost certainly follow. This shows how concerned the Communist Party is about the regime collapsing."



The influx of North Korean refugees would create a major problem for the Chinese government. Would ordinary Chinese citizens help the refugees or see them as unwanted competitors for scarce resources?



"If Chinese people, especially in the economically deprived northeastern provinces, turn out to be hostile to the refugees, this will put the Communist Party in a very difficult position," Fulda says.



"On the one hand there would be considerable international pressure to provide shelter and support for the refugees. But domestically, such support by the Chinese government could erode the fragile public support for China's authoritarian political regime.



"A fractured and destabilized Korean Peninsula thus could also destabilize the authoritarian Chinese political system."

China's concern is all about the regime's stability, which could be seriously damaged by either excessive sanctions or war. Therefore, for China, one option is not any better than the other.



While both scenarios are detrimental to China, the Communist Party does not have sufficient leverage to prevent the Trump administration from attacking North Korea. "All China can do is to raise concerns about the dangers of such a military intervention," Fulda says.

President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority of Abu Dhabi, at a hotel in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, Sunday / Yonhap



By Kim Rahn



ABU DHABI  Korean companies may sign contracts for energy development projects worth $25 billion in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as the government there is planning to give priority to Korea in such areas, according to Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday.



The Middle Eastern country will also help Korea in its bid for a nuclear power plant project in Saudi Arabia.



Ranking officials of the UAE made such propositions in an earlier meeting with President Moon Jae-in, following orders from the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said.



"In the summit Sunday, the two leaders talked about economic cooperation in a broad sense," Kim said. "But right after the summit, the crown prince ordered his officials, including Executive Affairs Authority of Abu Dhabi Chairman Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) CEO Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, to come up with detailed ways of cooperation. As Moon went to meet the officials later, they talked about such offers."





Japanese Ambassador to Korea Yasumasa Nagamine leaves the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in central Seoul, Friday, after the Korean government brought him in to protest against Japan's claim over Dokdo. / Yonhap



By Choi Ha-young



The government strongly denounced Japan, Friday, for claiming sovereignty over Dokdo in its guidelines for high school textbooks.



Protesting the move, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha lodged a complaint in a phone call with Japanese counterpart Taro Kono on the same day. Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned in Japanese Ambassador to Korea Yasumasa Nagamine.



"The government strongly criticizes the Japanese government for confirming the guidelines that include an inappropriate argument about Korea's inherent territory of Dokdo, and urges immediate withdrawal of the guidelines," the ministry said in a statement issued under the name of spokesman Noh Kyu-duk.



"The islets are clearly the territory of Korea which Japan first occupied when it began invading the Korean Peninsula," the statement read.



It said if the Japanese government refuses to reflect on its wrongdoing under the imperialism of its past by indoctrinating future generations with false historical facts about Dokdo, the country will lose the opportunity to move forward through historical lessons.



"The Korean government will never tolerate any provocations about Dokdo, which is clearly South Korea's territory in terms of historical and geographical perspectives, and also according to international law," it said.



The legally binding guidelines are scheduled to be applied for high school textbooks from 2022. In the section about territory, they stipulate that Takeshima, the Kuril Islands and the Senkaku Islands are Japanese territory.



Takeshima is the Japanese name for Dokdo. Other than the Dokdo issue, Japan is involved in territorial disputes with Russia over the Kuril Islands and China, over the Diaoyudao Islands, known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan.



For years, Tokyo has intensified the long-standing territorial disputes through textbook guidelines. Last year, the Japanese government claimed its sovereignty of Dokdo and Diaoyudao Islands, in the revised textbook guidelines for elementary and middle school students.



In 2009, Tokyo's bid to claim its territorial rights over Dokdo in the high school textbook guidelines fell apart in the face of a backlash from Seoul.



Political parties here criticized Japan's latest move. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea blasted Japan's lack of historical awareness. "Japanese imperialism exploited Dokdo to win the Russo-Japanese War, which led to the colonization of Korea," spokeswoman Kim Hyun said.



"Japan's claim on the islets means the nation seeks to resume territorial rights of past colonies," Kim added. "Rather, the Japanese government should sincerely apologize for its crimes against humanity."



Two minor liberal parties  the Party for Democracy and Peace (PDP) and the Justice Party  that are moving to form a negotiation body, echoed the criticism.



"Japan's move will hamper the diplomatic efforts of Northeast Asian countries to settle peace on the Korean Peninsula," PDP spokeswoman Chang Jung-sook said.



The Justice Party pointed out this was part of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's strategy to overcome a deepening personal scandal as well as diplomatic isolation on the North Korean nuclear issue.



"The prime minister seems to seek a breakthrough amid a corruption scandal involving his wife, as well as diplomatic isolation. However, the clumsy tactic will fall apart soon. It will further accelerate Japan's isolation," said spokesman Choi Suk.U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to "hold up" a renegotiated free trade agreement with South Korea until he reaches a deal with North Korea on its nuclear weapons program.



Calling the trade deal a "very strong card," Trump hinted it could be used as leverage to get Seoul to do more to denuclearize the North.



"I may hold it up 'til after a deal is made with North Korea," he said during a speech on infrastructure in Ohio. "Does everybody understand that? You know why, right? You know why? Because it's a very strong card."



Seoul and Washington announced Wednesday that they had agreed "in principle" on a revision to the KORUS trade deal. Among other things, the revision calls for further opening South Korea's auto market to the U.S., and comes with an agreement to exempt South Korea from new U.S. tariffs on steel imports. Instead, South Korea will face a quota on its steel exports to the U.S.



"I want to make sure everyone is treated fairly," Trump said. "And we're moving along very nicely with North Korea. We'll see what happens."



The U.S. president is set to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un before the end of May to talk about dismantling the regime's nuclear weapons program. South Korean President Moon Jae-in will also meet with Kim on April 27.



"We'll see how it all turns out. Maybe it'll be good and maybe it won't," Trump said. "And if it's no good, we're walking. And if it's good, we will embrace it. But it's going to be very interesting over the next period of time."



Trump has slammed KORUS, which went into effect in 2012, as a horrible deal that took away American jobs and widened the U.S. trade deficit with South Korea. He threatened to terminate the agreement last year but stopped short amid calls to strengthen cooperation with South Korea after North Korea's sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date in September.



South Korea has been "wonderful," Trump said, but "we'll probably hold that deal up for a little while, see how it all plays out."



Tensions escalated as Trump and Kim exchanged fiery rhetoric and personal insults. A mood for rapprochement set in this year after North Korea reached out to the South over its participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.



"Certainly, the rhetoric has calmed down just a little bit, wouldn't you say?" Trump quipped.



State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert declined to comment on the president's remarks but said the trade agreement has yet to be finalized.



"We believe that this will be better for American workers and for the U.S. economy," she said at a regular press briefing. "But this is not a done deal. It's not a final agreement."



Shortly after the revision was announced Wednesday, Trump hailed it as a "great deal for American and Korean workers" and said: "Let's now focus on our important security relationship."



Earlier this month Trump also made remarks suggesting he could withdraw U.S. troops from South Korea if a trade deal was not reached.



The U.S. has some 28,500 troops stationed in the Asian ally nation to deter North Korean aggression, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. (Yonhap)



By Choi Ha-young







The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) included the book "Korean Dream: A Vision for a Unified Korea," written by Moon Hyun-jin, chairman of the Global Peace Foundation (GPF), on its reading list for this year.







Lieutenant General Robert P. Ashley, director of the DIA, nominated 94 publications in three categories: leadership and professional development, history and global analysis. Moon's book is one of those recommended in global analysis section.







"In Korean Dream, Moon presents an innovative way forward on the Korean Peninsula," the recommendation reads. "He explains lucidly why Korean unification is the ultimate answer to security, economic and social problems created through 70 years of division."







The book, originally published in 2014, was reprinted last year, with additions. The author has led GPF since 2009, an international non-profit group dedicated to promoting innovative ways for peace building under the guidance of the vision of "One Family under God."







The DIA, headquartered in Washington, D.C., an external intelligence service of the U.S. federal government, is committed to informing defense policymakers about military and intelligence affairs.

Courtesy of Lockheed Martin



The first F-35A stealth fighter aircraft for South Korea has made its public debut at a sensitive time for diplomacy on North Korea.

South Korea and the United States held a joint rollout ceremony for the jet at Lockheed Martin's assembly line in Fort Worth, Texas, on Wednesday (local time).

Defense officials said the production of the fifth-generation F-35A Lightning II jet for South Korea is significant in its combat readiness.

"Today is a truly meaningful day as we celebrate the rollout of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Air Force's first F-35A, the world's best fighter jet, which will secure the sovereign airspace of the ROK," South Korea's Defense Song Young-moo said in a video message. "The deployment of the F-35 will serve as momentum to enhance the combined operations of the ROK-U.S. Air Forces and advance ROK Air Force's support capabilities for ground operations."

On behalf of Song, Vice Defense Minister Suh Choo-suk attended the event, along with Lt. Gen. Lee Seong-yong, vice chief of staff of the nation's Air Force.

Also on hand was a group of U.S. defense officials, including Ellen Lord, under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, and Vice Adm. Mat Winter, program executive officer for the F-35.

"This is a major step forward for our F-35 enterprise and our ROKAF partners as we deliver Korea's first F-35, the first of six F-35 aircraft that will be delivered this year," Winter said. "The F-35A is a game-changing capability that will enable the South Korean forces to operate side-by-side with our U.S. forces in protecting your nation's homeland."











Israeli troops fired warning shots towards Palestinian youths gathered at the Gaza-Israel border on Saturday, wounding 13 people, Palestinian health officials said.

Tension remained high in the area a day after deadly violence broke out in one of the biggest Palestinian demonstrations there in years.

An Israeli military spokesman said he was checking the details of Saturday's unrest.

Palestinians held limited protests today near the Gaza border a day after a major demonstration led to clashes that saw Israeli forces kill 15 people.

In addition to the 15 killed, more than 1,400 were wounded, 758 of them by live fire, with the remainder hurt by rubber bullets and tear gas inhalation, according to the Gazan health ministry.

No casualties were reported among Israelis.

The United Nations Security Council will meet on Friday to discuss the situation in Gaza at the request of Kuwait, diplomats told Reuters.

Protesters began returning on Saturday to a tent city erected near the border with Israel to resume the demonstration planned to last six weeks in the blockaded enclave.

Thousands were attending funerals for those killed, with mourners holding Palestinian flags and some chanting "revenge."

A general strike was being held in both the besieged Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas had declared Saturday a day of national mourning and in a speech said he held Israel fully responsible for the deaths.

"The large number of martyrs and people wounded in peaceful popular demonstrations shows that the international community must intervene to provide protection to our Palestinian people," he said.

Israel defended its soldiers' actions on Friday, when troops opened fire on Palestinians who strayed from the main tent city protest -- attended by tens of thousands -- and approached the heavily fortified fence cutting off the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military says it opened fire only when necessary against those throwing stones and firebombs or rolling tyres at soldiers.

It also said there were attempts to damage the fence and infiltrate Israel, while alleging there was an attempted shooting attack against soldiers along the border that caused no casualties.

But Palestinians accused Israel of using disproportionate force, while human rights groups questioned Israel's use of live fire.

UN chief Antonio Guterres called for an "independent and transparent investigation."

The EU's diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini on Saturday called for an independent investigation into the use of live ammunition by Israel's military following clashes in Gaza that left 16 Palestinians dead.

"The EU mourns the loss of life. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims," Mogherini said in a statement a day after the clashes.

"The use of live ammunition should, in particular, be part of an independent and transparent investigation," she said.

"Freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are fundamental rights that must be respected," added Mogherini, a former Italian foreign minister who speaks on behalf of the European Union's 28 member states.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas declared Saturday a day of national mourning and in a speech said he held Israel fully responsible for the deaths.

"The large number of martyrs and people wounded in peaceful popular demonstrations shows that the international community must intervene to provide protection to our Palestinian people," he said.

An Israeli military spokesman said Friday's events were "not a protest demonstration" but "organised terrorist activity."

He accused Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the besieged Gaza Strip and which has fought three wars against Israel since 2008, of being behind it and threatened wider military action if it continued.

"If it continues, we shall have no choice but to respond inside the Gaza Strip against terrorist targets which we understand to be behind these events," Brigadier General Ronen Manelis told journalists.

Meanwhile, Egypts foreign ministry condemned on Friday night the use of "excessive violence" by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian protesters gathered at the Gaza border with Israel on Friday to commemorate Land Day.

"Egypt fully supports the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, at the top of which is the right to establish an independent state with Eastern Jerusalem as its capital as well as their right of return," Egypts foreign ministry said in a statement.

The six-week protest is in support of Palestinian refugees and the timetable holds significance for a range of reasons that have added to tensions.

It began on Land Day when Palestinians commemorate the killing of six unarmed Arab protesters in Israel in 1976, and as Jewish Israelis readied to observe the Passover holiday, which started at sundown on Friday.

Protests will continue until the United States opens its new Jerusalem embassy around May 14, a move that has provoked deep anger among the Palestinians, who see the city's annexed eastern sector as the capital of their future state.

May 14 will also mark 70 years since the creation of Israel, while Palestinians will commemorate what they call the Nakba, or "catastrophe" of 1948 the following day.

Nakba commemorates the more than 700,000 Palestinians who either fled or were expelled by Zioniust gangs from their homes in the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948.

2.5 million Palestinians in Gaza have been living under a devastating 10-year old land-air-sea siege by the occupation.

US President Donald Trump has harshly criticised the Palestinians in the past, but the State Department said only that it was "deeply saddened" by the loss of life and urged steps to lower tensions.

Human Rights Watch criticised Israel's actions.

"Israeli allegations of violence by some protesters do not change the fact that using lethal force is banned by international law except to meet an imminent threat to life," the New York-based group said, calling the number of killed and wounded "shocking."

Israel had deployed troop reinforcements along the border, including more than 100 special forces snipers, saying it would prevent attempts to break through the fence.

Protests along the border are common, often culminating in young Palestinian men throwing stones at Israeli soldiers who respond with tear gas along with rubber and live bullets.

But the peaceful "March of Return" protest that began on Friday is larger scale and is intended to involve families with Palestinian women and children camping in tent cities near the border for weeks.

Short link:

Emergency personnel work at the site of the bus crash near Salzburg on Wednesday. / AP-Yonhap



By Kang Aa-young

Twenty-four Korean tourists were injured when their tour bus slid out of control on a snowy Austrian road and crashed near the alpine city of Salzburg Wednesday.

All escaped with minor injuries except one tourist and the Croatian driver.

They were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The accident happened near Gosau, about 30km southeast of Salzburg, while the bus was heading to the scenic village of Hallstatt.

Thirty-five tourists were on board.Prosecutor General Moon Moo-il speaks at a press conference in Seoul, Thursday. / Yonhap



By Kim Se-jeong



Prosecutor General Moon Moo-il said Thursday that the prosecution should retain the sole right to apply for arrest warrants for criminal suspects, opposing Cheong Wa Dae's drive to have it share the right with police.



Speaking at a press briefing for local journalists, Moon said, "The debate over investigative rights is not only between the prosecution and police. It also involves citizens who will be the subject of investigations."



Under the current system, the police can investigate but cannot seek an arrest warrant _ this must be done only through the prosecution. President Moon Jae-in and his officials believe this further corrupts what is already a powerful body that is seen as corruption-ridden by many.



In making his case against Cheong Wa Dae's initiative, the top prosecutor said: "That could mean the police will not report to the prosecution cases which they dropped. It is hard to imagine. I am not sure if that is possible in principle."



He also emphasized the importance of the balance of power within the police agency.



"Korea is the only country in the world in which police work under a single line of command. This was inherited from Japan but that country changed its own policy. We also need to disperse power so that regional police agencies can have autonomy. With that in place, I believe the issue of investigative rights will be sorted out automatically."



Dispersing the prosecution's power was one of President Moon Jae-in's campaign pledges as part of large-scale judicial reform promised in response to growing public outrage over corrupt high-ranking government officials and their family members escaping punishment.



Incumbent prosecutors were also found to have embroiled in corruption scandals and actively curried favor with the political elite when investigating them.



A case in point was Woo Byung-woo, a former prosecutor who served as a presidential secretary for civil affairs under former President Park Geun-hye. Working outside his mandate, he actively sought to hide President Park and her friend Choi Soon-sil's corruption. His wife and mother-in-law allegedly received bribes from people who knew Woo's powerful connections.



At Thursday's press conference, Moon said he supported the idea of creating a body dedicated to investigating corruption among high-profile government officials, politicians and their families, including the prosecution itself.



"I don't oppose the creation of the new investigative body," he said.



It was the first time Prosecutor General Moon, tapped by President Moon, was so direct in criticizing Cheong Wa Dae's drive. Local news outlets said he complained that the prosecution should not be part of reform negotiations with other stakeholders.



The reform drive is spearheaded by Cho Kuk, the presidential secretary for civil affairs, along with Justice Minister Park Sang-ki and Interior Minister Kim Boo-kyum. Moon's comments came two weeks after he promised reform to lawmakers at the National Assembly, and will continue to draw public criticism of his agency.



All snack stands and vending machines located inside subway stations in Seoul are scheduled for removal by 2020, according to the Seoul Metro Sunday. Yonhap

snack stands, machines will join phone booths' demise



By Kim Hyun-bin



Vending machines and snack stands located inside subway stations in Seoul will be history starting 2020.



Seoul Metro announced Sunday the move is to facilitate foot traffic on subway platforms.



Also, with a growing number of consumers using e-commerce platforms to purchase daily necessities via smartphones, the need for snack stands and vending machines has diminished.



Korea's policy for a coinless society has also led people to make less use of them, analysts say.



"The vending machines and snack bars in subway stations hinder foot traffic, and become an obstacle in emergencies," a Seoul Metro official said.



"Considering these reasons we plan to remove them."



Snack stands sell a variety of products from newspapers to beverages and earphones.



There are 151 stands installed throughout the city that are scheduled to be removed by 2020.



The city plans to remove 16 vacant snack stands starting this year.



"It's a shame the city plans to remove the stores and vending machines," said Lee Jung-ho, a Seoul resident. "I take the subway often and sometimes use them, when thirsty. I have never thought it got in my way."

A Seoul Metro official said, "Since the city decided to remove the stands, we will no longer advertise or receive applicants to run the stands."



To systematically remove the stands, the Seoul Metro plans to go through negotiations with the current lease owners.

"We plan to reduce the stands one by one until each contract expires," the official said. "Even if the contract exceeds the year 2020, we are looking to move the stands to the station's waiting areas."



The city has rented out the stands to help the livelihoods of people in need including people 65 years or older, the handicapped and single parents.



Concerns over small biz



Some people are voicing concerns the removal could negatively affect the store owners.



"By removing the stands it could affect the livelihoods of the owners," said Park Chi-hyoung, a Seoul resident. "The city should find another location for the owners to sell their goods not on the platform, but maybe on the floor above."



Out of the 151 stands, more than two-thirds of their contracts will expire before 2020.



However the remaining 40 stands' leases are scheduled to end in August 2020.



"We are currently negotiating with the owners to move the stands by 2020," the official said.



Not only the stands but also snack and beverage vending machines are scheduled for removal.



There are 418 beverage and 212 snack vending machines inside subway stations in Seoul. About 180 are operated by private enterprises.



Empty tombs placed in the Jeju 4.3 Peace Park commemorate 3,895 people whose bodies were never recovered after being arrested without due process. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar



By Choi Ha-young



JEJU ISLAND  Camellia, called "dongbaek" in Korean, is an iconic flower of Jeju Island. The flower bursts into bloom during winter and begins to fall from trees as spring comes. Islanders, fearing misfortune, tend not to plant dongbaek trees on their properties. The bloody red flowers falling remind of families and friends beheaded in the bloody spring of 1948.



Seventy years have passed since the beginning of the massacres, which claimed 25,000 to 30,000 lives  about 10 percent of islanders. This year's decennial event is especially meaningful for Jeju residents, since it could be the last one for most of the aging survivors.



It's not very long ago that islanders could openly mourn the victims, said Ko Wan-soon, 80, who lived through a massacre in the island's northern Bukchon Village. There, 398 people were shot dead within only two days, the second-largest number of victims in Jeju.



About 3 p.m. on Dec. 19, 1949, a nine-year-old Ko, along with her mother, older sister and younger brother was summoned to Bukchon Elementary School. "I stood up to see what's going on, and was beaten by a soldier. At the moment, I heard a series of gunshots and saw seven to eight men collapse," Ko told reporters.





Ko Wan-soon, 80, speaks to reporters visiting Jeju Island on the 70th anniversary of the April 3 Incident of 1948.



Struggling to escape, Ko's younger brother screamed out of fear. "Then a soldier gave a hard blow to my brother's head with a club," she said. The soldier yelled at the boy: "No matter if you are killed now or later." She only survived by a commander's order made about 5 p.m. Her brother later died of his head injury in August 1952.



According to a former soldier's testimony, the troops originally planned to fire a mortar to annihilate the villagers, but decided to shoot them individually to "train" new recruits, said Kim Nam-hoon, a staffer of Jeju Dark Tours, a civic group that organized the press tour.



A few days before the massacre, a group of "mountain people"  the guerillas who resisted the May 10 general elections  killed two ROK soldiers near Bukchon, Kim said. The military slaughtered the villagers in retaliation, suspecting collusion between the anti-government guerillas and the villagers.



"According to a former soldier's testimony, some soldiers born on Jeju appealed to the general to stop the killings and the general accepted their plea," Kim said.



Traces of the killings remain within Ko's body and nerves. "To this day, I can never bear hunger due to memories of starvation throughout my childhood," Ko said. She vividly remembers stealing boiling rice at her friend's home, not even using a spoon. "I still feel scared when I go to Ompangbat, where bodies were piled. Rumors still circulate that someone saw a ghost in front of Bukchon Elementary School."



Many of the elderly women of Bukchon  dubbed "Moonam-chon," or village without men, as they were all massacred  live alone, suffering depression and PTSD. Like others, they want to sing, dance and travel, but they can't. "Because of injuries received during the massacres, we can't even stand up. I am always afraid of dying alone," Ko said.





Why Jeju targeted?



The May 10 general election to form the Constitutional Assembly brought a bitter ideological conflict to southern Jeju Island. Islanders boycotted the election, as it would consolidate the division of the peninsula. Anti-election sentiment was widespread in the nation but it turned especially bloody on Jeju.



The resistant mood was kindled by police shootings on March 1, 1947, under the U.S. Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK). About 30,000 people had gathered to mark the nationwide independent movement that took place on March 1, 1919. The incident brought demonstrations across the island, with 95 percent of islanders joining in.



Yang Jo-hoon, chairman of the Jeju 4.3 Peace Foundation, analyzes the high education level among Jeju residents as a reason for the tragedy. "In 1947, USAMGIK conducted a nationwide survey on education level. Jeju was the most educated area of the nation," Yang said.



"Progressive thoughts intensified their resistance against the USAMGIK-backed elections. If they were totally ignorant, they wouldn't have protested like that."



About 50,000 Jeju islanders had moved to Japan during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation, according to Japan's policy to supplement work forces in Osaka, Yang said. "Living as foreign workers, Koreans in Japan struggled to educate themselves and their children."



Ko's uncle was among them. He graduated from a college of education in Tokyo and worked as a middle school math teacher on Jeju. In such a progressive atmosphere, Ko was familiar with socialism during her childhood. "Amid poverty during the occupation era, I could easily sympathize with communism aimed at achieving equal society," Ko said.



In this respect, Yang pointed out administrative failures of the 1945-48 USAMGIK, as well as Syngman Rhee's government afterward. "Without policies to handle public unrest, the authorities recklessly arrested protesters even including teenagers, by mobilizing far-rightists," Yang said.



He also called out the U.S. for its part. "Though massacres were committed under Rhee, the U.S. military provided weapons, as shown by the carbines used. General William Lynn Roberts, chief of the U.S. Military Advisory Group to the ROK, lauded the killings in a letter sent to the Korean government in December 1948."





Two holes show mass graves where 210 bodies were dumped after a massacre in August 1950. The authorities banned bereaved families from collecting their remains until 1956.





Dark Tourism



Mount Halla, with forests to feed people and caves to hide them, provided refuge. Those who boycotted the May 10 elections headed for the volcano, while government officials in charge of the elections also went to the mountain to defend the electoral register. This means every corner of the mountain could be the site of past atrocities.



Traces of Japanese imperialism also linger at Seotal Oreum in Seogwipo. Imperial Japan used to operate an anti-aircraft emplacement there to bomb mainland China. "In 1937, 36 aircraft left here to bomb China," said Kim Eun-hee, chief researcher of Jeju 4.3 Research Institute.



After those aircraft were all scuttled by the U.S. military after the collapse of imperial Japan, yet another tragedy swept the area on Aug. 20, 1950. Right by the aircraft shelters, you can find a memorial to commemorate 210 people who were shot dead in the wake of "preventive custody" during the 1950-53 Korean War. Preventive custody refers to detention without legal procedure under the pretext of countering acts benefiting the enemy.



"The assailants were the ROK Marine Corps," Kim told reporters. "on Jeju, those who took part in the 1947 March 1 protest were blacklisted for preventive custody and those who boycotted the 1948 general elections were added to the list."



The victims' bodies, which were retrieved in May 1956, are now buried nearby. The bereaved families failed to identify the bodies, so they decided to establish collective graves, named "Bagjo Ilson Jiji," which means "tombs of descendants of grandparents who are buried together." The bereaved families still gather every July 7 to perform ancestral rites.





A tombstone erected at Bagjo Ilson Jiji. Pieces of the tombstone vandalized during the Park Chung-hee era are kept in a plastic box, left.Lee Kyo-seong's flat in Seoul/Courtesy of Lee Kyo-seong



By Kim Se-jeong



Lee Kyo-seong, 68, had his luckiest day in years last November.



"I won the right to move into a public housing unit in the middle of Seoul," Lee said, Wednesday. He said he felt he won the lottery. "I was so happy."



He moved into the 29.7-square-meter flat in January. It may not be a big space for some, but he said he couldn't be happier.



"It's perfectly enough for me  two rooms, a bathroom, a tiny kitchen and a corridor. My son moved out and only comes to visit once or twice a month to spend some time with me."



His monthly rent on this new apartment in Haengdang-dong is 146,800 won.



That is a significant improvement for a taxi driver who earns 1.3 million won per month on average  he can get a little more if he works really hard but not much.



His previous flat in Seongsu-dong cost him 550,000 won a month with a deposit of 10 million won. With the extra money, he is trying to save all he can as he has debts to pay and wants the spare money for his future spending.



His exuberance reflects the fierce competition for getting public housing.



Out of roughly 10 million people in Seoul, the proportion of those with their own homes is less than half. There are less than 300,000 public housing units across the city.



Spending on housing is notorious in Seoul.



Average rents and key money deposits, called jeonse, are also soaring so rapidly in the city that people have to spare a significant portion of their salary to pay for their housing. Those who have nothing to spare end up leaving Seoul or taking loans to cover their expenses.



The government acknowledges the importance of affordable public housing to improve quality of life. It came out with measures to help the people, the most recent of which came last month with the announcement it will build 240,000 more public housing flats by 2022. But the city's approach has its limits because the city has little land to spare for big housing projects, and there are also financial constraints.



Lee expressed his gratitude to the city government.



"I am forever grateful for having this flat. I've always wanted my own home but I never thought it would be possible. I knew about the public housing policy but I didn't think I would be eligible because I am heavily in debt to the government," Lee said.



Before driving a taxi, he ran an interior design business for 10 years.



When he declared bankruptcy in 2007, he had nothing but overdue taxes and credit card debts worth more than 100 million won.



"It wasn't only about me owing so much money that I couldn't do any financial activity. The whole situation made me feel like I was a loser. I totally lost self-esteem. When I visited the Seoul Housing & Communities Corporation (which implements the city government's public housing policies), they encouraged me to apply and decided to give me a flat despite my failing duty as a citizen. That gave me new hope for life," Lee said.



He finishes work around 6 p.m. and spends more evening time at home now.



That was unthinkable in his previous rented flats. In many homes where he lived, he explained, he had neighbors, even landlords, in the next room.



"I had no privacy. I didn't feel comfortable at all. Now I am all alone in this entire flat. I don't have to worry about other people."



He cooks more often at home now too. "Tonight, I am cooking soybean soup. I bought tofu on my way home."

About 8,000 thousands protesters scream, "Hire Koreans," at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul last year. / Korea Times photo by Jung Min-ho



Unlike their Western counterparts, liberals in Korea tend to oppose immigration



By Jung Min-ho





The South Korean Air Force's first F-35A Lightning II stealth jet is put through an aerial demonstration at Lockheed Martin's manufacturing plant in Texas, Thursday (local time). / Yonhap



By Lee Min-hyung



North Korea has vented its anger over the South's plan to deploy 40 F-35A stealth jets by 2021, saying the move "gets in the way of the ongoing peace momentum" on the Korean Peninsula.



"Dialogue and confrontation can never co-exist at the same time," the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said Wednesday.



The criticism came after South Korea held a ceremony in the U.S. to mark the delivery of the first F-35A jet fighter to South Korea's Air Force. Lockheed Martin, the U.S.-based aerospace giant, plans to complete the first F-35A Lightning II delivery to the Republic of Korea Air Force next year, and will supply a total of 40 aircraft by 2021.





By Lee Kyung-min



Former President Lee Myung-bak will remain in custody until April 10 after a district court granted a request for a 10-day extension on Thursday, two days before the first arrest warrant was set to expire today. Lee was arrested March 22 on 12 charges, including bribery involving 11 billion won ($10 million) and embezzlement of 35 billion won.



The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said Friday it filed the motion a day earlier in accordance with the Criminal Law, under which prosecutors can seek to detain a suspect for 20 days by extending the first 10-day detention. Seoul Central District Court recognized the prosecution's claim that Lee should remain in custody given his continued refusal to submit to questioning and the volumes of evidence to review, including statements secured from witnesses, within a limited time. Prosecutors must indict Lee before April 10, or release him.



The largely expected extension came despite a letter of protest from Lee's attorneys who claimed the time constraint request lacked merit. "The prosecution had time to investigate the case fully and thoroughly to determine whether to indict Lee who is in custody," they said in a statement. "The suspect is looking forward to defending himself in a trial where a court gives him the chance to explain about the charges leveled against him. We strongly urge the court not to grant the extension simply because Lee invoked his right against self-incrimination. Lee is already highly doubtful about whether the investigation is fair."



The statement is in line with Lee's earlier refusal to attend a March 20 court hearing thereby refusing the opportunity to clarify his stance on the criminal charges before a judge issued an arrest warrant. While the claimed reason for not attending was because he had already made the same statements during questioning at the prosecutors' district office March 14, legal experts and political pundits said it was a move to drum up support and sympathy from conservatives by reinforcing the "political retaliation" reason for the investigation.



The much-repeated suggestion by Lee and many right-wing politicians stemmed from a particularly close friendship between President Moon Jae-in and former President Roh Moo-hyun, who committed suicide during amid a prosecution investigation into alleged bribery involving his family members in May 2009, a year after Lee took office.



Most of those who followed Roh's legacy believed he was left with few options following what they dubbed "harsh and dehumanizing" questioning, led by Woo Byung-woo, then a senior prosecutor who later served as presidential secretary for civil affairs under the Park Geun-hye administration. Woo allegedly said, "You are not here as a former president, nor are you here as my senior colleague for passing the state-administered bar exam. You are nothing but a suspected criminal sitting here over a bribery allegation," a remark he claimed he never made.



On March 26, Lee, through his aide, posted commemorative remarks for victims of the sinking of the frigate Cheonan in which 46 South Korean soldiers were killed in 2010, the bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island and landmine explosions in the demilitarized zone masterminded by North Korea. The "deliberate move," political watchers said, was to fan anti-North Korea sentiment among conservatives and young people thereby diverting the focus away from his alleged corruption.



Former first lady Kim Yoon-ok, prosecutors added, refused to submit to questioning, a day before she was scheduled to appear at a hotel in Seoul, a pre-arranged venue for 10 hours of questioning, Wednesday. The sudden cancellation came hours after Kim prepared with her defense attorneys, Tuesday, following the determination that it would be inappropriate for her to undergo questioning while Lee maintained his earlier stance of refusing to answer questions, saying he could not expect a "fair" investigation.

Kim is suspected of spending 400 million won using a DAS corporate card between the mid-1990s and late 2007, shortly before Lee won the presidency, evidence they believe substantiates the former president was the owner of DAS. Kim used the card in local department stores and overseas duty free shops. The prosecution claimed Kim is also suspected of receiving 350 million won and clothes worth 10 million won from former Woori Financial CEO Lee Pal-sung in return for him retaining his post. Prosecutors believe former ex-President Lee exerted undue influence on the financial institution in which the government was the largest shareholder at the time.

Meanwhile, Cheonggye Foundation auditor Kim Chang-dae, a close acquaintance of Lee, recently told prosecutors that Lee owned 4.2 percent of DAS shares registered under his name. DAS is a corruption-ridden car parts company through which Lee is believed to have managed at least a 35 billion won slush fund. The admission made early this week further corroborates the prosecution's case that Lee is the real owner of DAS, a key supposition on which most of its case against Lee is based.





By Jung Min-ho





A Korean Air heiress infamous for her "nut rage" tantrum that made headlines globally in 2014 has returned to management of Hanjin Group, a holding company of the airline.





In stark contrast, Park Chang-jin, the former chief steward who was forced to kneel before Cho Hyun-ah (Heather Cho) and kicked off the plane for failing to serve her nuts "properly," has undergone surgery to remove a large tumor from his head.





"Over the past three years, the tumor has grown due to a hell of stress like nuclear bombs," Park wrote on Instagram Wednesday, saying his tumor was evidence of his long struggle at the company. He claimed he has since been a target of unfair criticism.





The next day, Cho, who was forced to resign as Korean Air's vice president over the incident, became president of KAL Hotel Network, the group's subsidiary that owns four hotels  Jeju KAL Hotel, Seogwipo KAL Hotel, Paradise Hotel Jeju and Grand Hyatt Incheon.



While the group seems to think it is time for the eldest daughter of Chairman Cho Yang-ho to return to management, public opinion remains sour. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter have been flooded with criticism of the decision.





"This makes me question whether we have justice in our society. Cho has returned as if nothing had ever happened," a netizen said.





In 2015, the prosecution indicted her on charges of violating aviation security and business laws. A lower court sentenced her to a year in prison.





But she was freed after five months when an appeals court cleared her of hampering an air route  the most serious charge. Her penalty was reduced to a suspended prison term. The Supreme Court upheld that ruling last December.





Despite being delayed by the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the annual war games on the democratic side of the Korean Peninsula are pushing through. The war games consist of two drills. The first, called "Foal Eagle", is a series of field-training exercises combining ground, air, naval, and special operations.

The four-week-long program involves 290,000 South Korean and 11,500 American troops.











An Israeli drone has crashed in southern Lebanon due to a technical malfunction, the military said on Saturday, after Hezbollah media labeled it a spy device.

The Israeli military said that the drone crash in an open area on Friday night posed "no risk of leaked information." It provided no further details.

Hezbollah television station Al-Manar reported that the "spy drone" fell between Baraachit and Beit Yahoun in southern Lebanon.

It said that "a second spy plane targeted it with a guided missile, which resulted in it being destroyed."

Israel and Shia militant group Hezbollah, based in neighbouring Lebanon, fought a devastating war in 2006 and the two remain bitter enemies.

Short link:





A convoy was seen in Beijing on Monday (March 26) evening at around 22:20 local time heading from The Great Hall of People towards the direction of Diaoyutai State Guest House where high level some high level foreign visitors stay during visits to the city.

Japanese media reported that a high-ranking North Korean official appeared to have arrived by train in Beijing on Monday (March 26) though speculation that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is currently visiting the Chinese capital has not been confirmed.

A source with ties to the Chinese military told Reuters that it was "not possible to rule out the possibility" that Kim was visiting Beijing, but cautioned this was not confirmed.

Kyodo, citing sources, reported that on Sunday (March 25), a special train that might have carried the official passed through the Chinese border city of Dandong, and Beijing railway bureau warned on its microblog, without giving a reason, of multiple train delays of up to two hours in the Beijing region.

Police tightened security along Beijing's main east-west thoroughfare, Changan Avenue, mid-afternoon Monday, closing off the entrances to some of the buildings which face the road.











Cha Sang-kyu and his family: grandmother, mother and younger siblings. July 1952.



By Robert Neff



In the summer of 1952, Fred Dustin and Bob Shrieber were granted a short pass from their unit to go to Seoul and relax. It also provided them with the opportunity of visiting their houseboy, Cha Sang-kyu, and his family in Wangsimni.



Getting to Seoul wasn't as difficult as one would imagine. Army trucks returning from ferrying supplies to front-line units were frequently encountered and soldiers often hitched rides with them. The driver that eventually stopped for them was, as Dustin described him, "a real renegade." It isn't clear why he was a "renegade" but several years later he established his own camera shop in Seoul that he ran until his death in the mid-60s.





Dustin (left), Shrieber and Cha's younger sibling. Shrieber's first child had recently been born and one can imagine what was going through his mind as he held the small child. July 1952



The origin of Wangsimni's name is rather amusing. Legend has it that when the Buddhist monk, Muhak, was searching for a place to establish the new capital of Joseon, he encountered a farmer and his ox. The farmer instructed the monk to travel 10 li (about 5 kilometers) more and he would find what he was seeking. The monk followed his instructions and found himself at the foot of Mount Bugak. Looking about him, the monk realized that this would be the perfect spot for the new capital. Wangsimni literally means to "go 10 li more."



It is a noble legend but when Dustin arrived in Wangsimni, he found it to be nothing more than a warren of old dirty Cwooden shacks. What the area lacked in material wealth was more than made up by the warmth of Cha's family and the neighborhood kids.



After a short visit, the two soldiers made their way to the main PX (post exchange) before returning to their unit.



My appreciation to Fred Dustin for providing me with these pictures.





The neighborhood children  everyone loved to have their picture taken. July 1952





Traffic in Seoul was still rather sparse. July 1952.





The busy streets around Namsan Hotel. July 1952





Namsan Hotel and street vendors. Various state flags are on sale and a woman carrying fruit can be seen. July 1952.





An alley reeking of filth is framed by a pharmacy on one side and a shop selling radios on the other. July 1952





Conditions in the capital had greatly improved but not everyone was faring well. July 1952.By Casey Lartigue Jr.







"How are North Korean Women Supposed to Speak" was presented Wednesday night by University of British Columbia professor Ross King at the 72nd Societas Koreana Lecture Meeting.







After learning about ways the North Korean government expects North Korean women to speak, I returned to my office to learn that seven North Korean refugees had been captured in China.







About 30 minutes later, I listened as the rapid response duo of TNKR co-founder Eunkoo Lee and Stepping Stones co-founder Jihyun Park (based in the U.K.) translated one of several interviews for the sister of one of the captured refugees.







How are North Korean women supposed to speak when they are kidnapped by government agents and threatened with repatriation to a known human rights violator?







The captured sister had been caught in China once before, but the Chinese man who had purchased her and the people in the town successfully protested against her being returned to North Korea.







The free sister, now in South Korea, repeatedly warned her sister that she could not continue counting on such good luck.







How are North Korean women supposed to speak after they have been physically violated? The free sister knew the risks and told her story when asked by the reporter  she herself had been repatriated to North Korea when she was six months pregnant, and was forced to have an abortion.







Repatriation, forced abortion, torture. How are North Korean women supposed to speak about these things to people with little understanding about North Korea?







As I listened to the interview, I thought about the all-time stupid question routinely asked of North Korean refugees: "

"







I suppose the questioners mean besides repatriation, forced abortion, torture, starvation, famines, songbun, public executions.







How are North Korean women supposed to speak about the worst-case scenario happening  who can be emotionally prepared for such a disaster? The free sister did not know which way to turn after she got the phone call from China informing her that her sister had been arrested.







Should she start a public campaign? Or remain silent, as refugees caught in such situations say that South Korean government officials advise them?







How are North Korean women supposed to speak when they live in North Korea's male-dominated society, are targeted by human traffickers in China, and are at risk of torture, rape and forced abortions when they are returned to North Korea?







Clearly, according to North Korea and China, North Korean women are not supposed to speak about their dreams of living as free people.







Casey Lartigue Jr., co-founder of the Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center, wrote this after an interview with the sister of a North Korean refugee captured in China on March 24.

By Kang Hyun-kyung





Writer Ha Il-ji is back in the spotlight, 16 years after the 1991 film "Road to Race Track" based on his novel of the same name stirred up a controversy.



Ha, also a professor in the Department of Creative Writing at the Dongduk Women's University, is facing the double standard allegation.



In the classroom, he allegedly defamed #MeToo victim Kim Ji-eun who claimed she was forced to have an affair with former South Chungcheong Governor An Hee-jung and was sexually assaulted by An four times.



Ha asserted their relationship could have been "consensual," not forced as the victim claimed, and further speculated that jealousy could have been the driver behind her revelation.

According to him, Kim was jealous of the woman, another victim of An's sexual misconduct, and was determined to disclose what she had gone through in order to bring down the man she once loved.



His "analysis" was made public after one of his students posted it on her social media, which then spread quickly.



Facing criticism for his controversial remarks, Ha refused to offer an apology.



Instead, he said his "character was slain" as what he said in classroom was made public against his will. He said he was deeply hurt and announced he would leave his teaching job.

He claimed #MeToo has gone too far.



Some may laud him for his courage to break the silence about the sweeping campaign to end sexual misconduct. Some men are simmering because of the way the movement is going. They alleged the campaign has been heading in the wrong direction and has taken the form of a witch hunt.



The "Mike Pence rule" _ men avoiding one-on-one time with women to prevent any unnecessary misunderstandings about their intentions _ has become a buzz phrase in the #MeToo era.

Sexual harassment comes when a woman feels she was harassed by a man, regardless the intention of the man in question.



Writer Ha appeared to point out this subjective aspect of sexual harassment.



But the reporter began to be suspicious of his motives while watching how he has reacted to his own sexual misconduct allegation.



One of his students claimed Ha harassed her in 2016 and demanded the writer offer a public apology for his misconduct.

Ha has stayed mum on the allegation.



He is judging others based on his criteria, but turning a blind eye to his own alleged sexual misconduct.



He is no stranger to controversy.



Back in 1991, he faced an obscenity allegation in the wake of the release of the movie "Road to Race Track" based on his book.



His fiction revolves around a man identified as R and his ex-girl friend J. They had lived together in France but she refused to continue their relationship after returning to Seoul.



Unconvinced, R feels frustrated.



Reactions to "Road to Race Track" were poles apart. The book pitted him and a few people in literary circles against the public.

His literary compatriots lauded the book for opening a new horizon for Korean literature and some described him as a post-modern writer.



But his book raised a controversy about obscenity. Some critics sided with him and said Ha chose the topic and used explicit language as he tried to expose the hypocrisy of society.



The way he has reacted to current allegations about his past sexual misconduct and defaming the #MeToo victim shows he is no different from other hypocrites.



#MeToo has brought him back to controversy again.

If you had any doubt about the power of young people to change the world, consider the turnout for Saturday's March for Our Lives events in Washington, D.C., Parkland, and cities across the globe.



For anyone who's wondered whether the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School could sustain their push for common-sense gun laws, Saturday proved their movement is no fleeting moment.



In fact, their cause has only grown since senior Emma Gonzalez called "B.S." at a downtown Fort Lauderdale rally, three days after a gunman entered the Parkland school and killed 17 people and wounded 17 others.



The rally was followed by a riveting CNN town hall. Then, a round of Sunday morning talk shows, newspaper interviews, a national school walkout, a "60 Minutes" segment, the cover of Time magazine and more attention every day.



And Saturday in D.C., hundreds of thousands of people of all ages, races and creeds joined them in calling for laws to curb the scourge of mass shootings.



"This is not the end. This is just the beginning," student David Hogg told a CNN interviewer.



This isn't the first time young people have set about creating the change they wanted to see. During the 1960s, anti-war protests on college campuses helped bring about an end to the Vietnam War. And the murder of three young civil rights workers  killed for trying to register African-Americans to vote  sparked a national outrage that helped Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others gain passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.



But who would have thought today's youth  who call themselves the "mass shooting generation"  would have to take to the streets to demand protection from the firearms industry?



Make no mistake, these young people and their army are focused on politicians who've sworn blind allegiance to the NRA and refuse to pass common-sense gun laws.



Their message is clear: enough is enough.



Their demands are simple:

Ban AR-15s and similar military-style assault rifles that make mass killings so easy.



Outlaw the sale of high-capacity magazines, which let killers shoot 20 or 30 people before having to reload. And require universal background checks on all gun purchases, including those from private dealers in homes, online and at gun shows.



This movement has nothing to do with taking away everybody's guns, as the NRA would have you believe. It's about keeping weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of people intent on doing harm.



It's what a majority of Americans want. Sixty-nine percent of Americans support tougher gun-control laws, according a recent poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. So do 54 percent of gun owners, the poll says.



Cynics say Saturday's marches were a feel-good moment that will do nothing to break the NRA's stranglehold on Congress. They will remind you that Congress did nothing after a Washington march for gun control five years ago, after 20 elementary school children and six adults were killed in Newtown, Connecticut.



But this time is different. After hiding in closets or under desks, these students are making themselves impossible to ignore, not just on television and in the press, but on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms.



Just a few weeks after the massacre, they scored an early victory. With their parents, they shamed the Florida Legislature into passing the state's first gun regulations in decades.



The new law raises the minimum age to buy any firearm to 21 and extends the waiting period to three days. It also banned bump stocks, a deadly accessory that allows rapid-fire rifles to shoot even faster. And it allows some school staffers to carry guns if they volunteer and undergo training  a misguided response that could put more children at risk of accidental shootings.



But the law failed to address the single biggest denominator in mass shootings: assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.



With Stoneman Douglas shooting in mind, Broward students register to vote. Still, give the students and their parents their due. They created a political seismic shift in Tallahassee. And they are not done.



Sadly, the people who control Congress refuse to listen. Neither Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell nor House Speaker Paul Ryan found the time to meet with the students during their visit to the Capitol this week.



But those who refuse to listen will pay a price. Yes, the NRA contributes a lot of money to political campaigns and its members are single-issue voters, which makes it a force to be reckoned with.



"Politicians, represent the people or get out of the way," student Cameron Kasky said as the march began in D.C. "Stand for us or beware. The voters are coming."



A more than 1-mile-long line of demonstrators in West Palm Beach marched within shouting distance of Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, making sure President Trump didn't miss the gun-control message during his weekend getaway.



"We need change," said Nicole Garro, a 17-year-old junior at Seminole Ridge High School in Loxahatchee. "Kids need to feel safe in their schools."



The president and Congress would do well to listen. Because the young marchers who filled the streets Saturday have a lifetime of Election Day marches to the voting booth still to come.



As one of the signs on the march to Mar-a-Lago said: "Remember in November."





The above editorial appeared in the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) It was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By Javier Solana





MADRID  It has been exactly 15 years since the start of one of the most fateful episodes of the early 21st century: the Iraq War.



After the attacks of September 11, 2001, the French newspaper Le Monde famously declared, "Nous sommes tous Americains" ("We are all Americans"), and even predicted that Russia would become America's main ally. But U.S. President George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq in March 2003 blew that prospect to smithereens.



We now know that the war, in addition to causing many of the Middle East's current troubles, marked the beginning of the end of America's post-Cold War hegemony. We also know that, though it was sold as part of the "war on terror," the groundwork for the invasion had been laid well before 9/11.



As early as January 1998, the neoconservative Project for a New American Century (PNAC) sent a letter to then-President Bill Clinton urging him to topple Saddam Hussein. And, after winning the presidency in 2000, Bush declared Iraq one of his top two security priorities. Not coincidentally, Bush's administration included 10 of the 25 signatories of the PNAC founding statement of principles, including Dick Cheney as vice president and Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense.



Soon enough, the Bush administration became obsessed with promoting the idea that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, despite the absence of any conclusive evidence. In September 2002, Rumsfeld received a now-declassified intelligence report stating that, "We don't know with any precision how much we don't know" about the "status of WMD programs" in Iraq. It made no difference.



In all likelihood, the Middle East would have been spared a great deal of suffering had the United States acted with more caution and rigor, as Hans Blix  the head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission  had advised. In May 2003, while aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, Bush delivered a speech in front of a banner declaring "Mission Accomplished." But if the mission was to free Iraq from terror, reconstruct the country, and enhance security on all levels, it was an absolute failure.



It is generally agreed that the war in Iraq caused many more problems than it resolved. Prominent U.S. politicians who supported the 2003 invasion  including many Republicans  now admit that it was a mistake, as do a majority of Americans. But, while the 2003 invasion was a profoundly misguided policy, both in form and in substance, the chaos that consumed Iraq and the rest of the region stem from additional mistakes made by U.S. policymakers after Saddam had been removed from power.



Above all, there was the Bush administration's "de-Baathification" policy, which sought to eliminate every vestige of Saddam's neo-Baathist regime. Iraq is a Shiite-majority country, but Saddam's political apparatus was dominated by Sunnis, many of whom had acquired deep religious convictions during a period of Islamization in the 1990s. After being excluded from the reconstruction process, many Sunnis turned to militant sectarianism.



De-Baathification also led to the dismantling of the Iraqi army. Thousands of military personnel, suddenly deprived of income and status, found new hope in the incipient Salafist Sunni insurgency, led by al-Qaida in Iraq, the precursor to the Islamic State (ISIS). The insurgents opposed not just the U.S. occupation, but also its perceived beneficiaries: mainly the Shia majority.



Some ex-Baathists ended up in U.S. detention centers, where abusive practices were widespread. While interned in centers like Camp Bucca in Southeastern Iraq, ex-Baathists and Salafists commingled, and the military experience of the former fused with the ideological extremism of the latter. By the time ISIS proclaimed its "caliphate" in 2014, an estimated 17 of its 25 principal commanders  including the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi  had spent time in U.S. detention centers between 2004 and 2011.



Meanwhile, sectarianism was creating havoc in Iraq's Shia-led government. In 2010, the incumbent prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, was re-elected, though his State of Law Coalition had won fewer seats than the more moderate Iraqi National Movement, led by Ayad Allawi. Barack Obama's administration could have weighed in to help Allawi form a government, but chose to remain on the sidelines, allowing Maliki  Iran's preferred choice  to hold onto power. Maliki's policies became increasingly personalistic, clientelistic, and polarizing, fueling Salafist jihadism, which had sustained several blows prior to the 2010 election.



The Obama administration's refusal to back Allawi was a precursor to its premature withdrawal from Iraq at the end of 2011. Both decisions cleared the way for the jihadist insurgency that was already moving into neighboring Syria. Less than three years later, the U.S. was forced to return to Iraq; soon thereafter, it also launched an intervention in Syria.



Now, after a long and arduous campaign, ISIS has lost most of the territory it once held in Syria and Iraq. But the past 15 years have demonstrated that we cannot be complacent. Depriving ISIS of its territory does not eliminate the ideology that sustains it. In fact, it might radicalize it even further.



Looking ahead, the hope is that Iraq's general election in May will deliver a government that is committed to ruling through consensus, maintaining stability, and defending the country's institutions. Moreover, the next government will have to reach out to Iraq's independence-minded Kurds and find a satisfactory way to integrate them into the political process.



For the U.S., in particular, one of the most important lessons of the past 15 years is that military interventions aimed at regime change will almost always lead to disaster, especially in the absence of a sensible plan for what comes next. The Iraq War showed that the cost of unilaterally forsaking diplomatic channels can be enormous.



One hopes that the Trump administration  particularly the incoming secretary of state, Mike Pompeo  will heed these lessons as tensions with Iran heat up. Iran's growing regional influence owes much to America's mistakes in Iraq, starting with the abandonment of diplomacy. A similar U.S. approach to Iran would lead to another generation  or more  of turmoil in the Middle East.



Javier Solana was EU high representative for foreign and security policy, secretary-general of NATO, and foreign minister of Spain. He is currently president of the ESADE Center for Global Economy and Geopolitics and Distinguished Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org).

Former president was in bedroom during Sewol tragedy



The prosecution released Wednesday the outcome of its investigation into former President Park Geun-hye's actions on the day of the ferry Sewol sinking on April 16, 2014.



Park has maintained she carried out her duties in a regular manner on the day of the sinking and she was sufficiently briefed about it and gave the necessary orders. But the prosecution's findings contradict such claims.



Prosecutors concluded the impeached former leader's office fabricated reports on the ferry sinking that took more than 300 lives to cover up Park's mishandling of the incident.



The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office indicted some of her key aides, including former chief-of-staff Kim Ki-choon, for document fabrication and power abuse.



The prosecution's findings confirm the ex-leader's negligence as well as her dependence on her jailed confidant Choi Soon-sil.



Prosecutors said she was briefed on the incident while she was in her bedroom at the presidential residence. It is incomprehensible that the president was not at her office in Cheong Wa Dae, but remained in her private quarters on a Wednesday morning. She apparently took Wednesdays off regularly for rest and did not appear at her office unless she had public events. This is enough to give the impression she did not carry out her duties normally.



Her office made various fabrications to make it seem like Park's reaction was faultless. It had claimed she was briefed 11 times about the incident, but actually she was briefed just twice. She was first briefed about the incident around 10:20 a.m., while the ferry had started to sink around 8:50 a.m. The report was delayed because she was unreachable. When she gave her first instructions about the incident to rescue every passenger at around 10:22 a.m., the ferry had already capsized.



It is also incomprehensible that she did not take urgent action until Choi arrived at Cheong Wa Dae at 2:15 p.m. Her office had claimed no outsider was admitted to the presidential residence on that day except for a hairdresser and a nurse. But Choi, who had no official title in Park's administration, had been called in to the residence to discuss ways to deal with the incident, such as Park's visit to the central disaster and safety countermeasures headquarters later in the afternoon. Even at such an urgent moment, Park made time for her hair to be done before visiting the headquarters.



Many people are at a loss for words to find the country had been led by someone who had no idea how to do her job as president.



Despite the prosecution's findings, it is still unclear exactly what she was doing in her residence that kept her from responding more swiftly. Park and her aides should be held accountable for their mishandling of the nation's worst maritime disaster.



US should not put undue pressure on Korea



The just concluded renegotiation of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement has sparked controversy over a U.S. move to link a foreign exchange issue to the KORUS FTA. The controversy arose Wednesday when a White House official said a revised trade deal would include a "side deal" prohibiting both countries from deliberately devaluing their currencies for trade advantages.



Seoul officials immediately denied any link between the FTA revision and a currency agreement. But the controversy shows little sign of abating. Critics are accusing the Moon Jae-in administration of giving in to U.S. trade pressure and striking a secret deal to appease the Trump administration.



If Seoul made such a side deal, it would pose a serious threat to the country's economic sovereignty over its currency policies. The currency issue should not and cannot be part of a bilateral trade agreement. There is no precedent of any negotiators including foreign exchange matters in bilateral trade deals.



A ranking official at the Strategy and Finance Ministry admitted that the U.S. had tried to link the currency issue to the FTA revision talks. But he clarified that the Korean side rejected the U.S. attempt. Instead he said the talks about foreign exchange had been going on separate from the FTA.



We can infer from his remarks that Seoul and Washington have been in negotiation over the foreign exchange problem. However, the two sides might have differing views: The U.S. wants to see the currency talks as part of the new trade deal, while Korea argues that the two matters should be dealt with separately.



Despite such a difference, we cannot shake off worries that Korea has accommodated the U.S. demand to discuss the foreign exchange issue. Some foreign media reported that Seoul had agreed to amend "unfair currency practices." Korea might have no choice but to make such a currency deal to avoid the U.S. designating it as a foreign exchange rate manipulator next month. The U.S. kept Korea on its "monitoring list" last October, instead of classifying the country as a manipulator.



It is important for Korea to avoid manipulator status. However, it should not succumb to excessive trade pressure from the U.S. It is equally important to protect its sovereignty regarding currency policies. Therefore Seoul officials must do their best to convince Washington that Korea does not interfere in the foreign exchange market but engages in "smoothing operations" to stabilize it.



Also unnerving Koreans is President Donald Trump's remarks hinting that he might link the FTA revision deal to the North Korean issue. On Thursday, he threatened to "hold up" the renegotiated free trade agreement with Seoul until he reaches a deal with Pyongyang on its nuclear weapons program. He did not hide his willingness to use the trade deal as leverage to get whatever he wants not only from a U.S. ally but also its foe.



It is time for Seoul to stand up to excessive U.S. pressure and undue demands to protect our interests not only in trade but also in security.



By Jun Ji-hye



Tech firms here are rushing to release various home appliances designed for single-person households amid a consistent increase in the number of people living alone. According to data recently released by Statistics Korea, the number of single-member households reached almost 5.4 million in 2016, accounting for 27.9 percent of the total, with expectations that the pace is expected to accelerate.



This month, LG Electronics released a multi-use monitor for a television and PC, called Room and TV.





LG Electronics' Room and TV / Courtesy of LG Electronics



The company said the product is aimed at those living alone as the monitor can be connected to a PC and used as a television. In addition has a TV receiver.



"It is efficient to practically use space as consumers do not need to purchase a monitor and a television separately," an LG Electronics official said.



Earlier this month, the mid-tier conglomerate Woongjin Group's rental business brand, Woongin Rental, released mini-sized water purifiers targeting households comprised of one to two people.





Woongin Rental's water purifier / Courtesy of Woongin Rental



By Jun Ji-hye







Starbucks Coffee's beverages have been the most popular at a mobile gift card platform over the past year, according to KT mhows, Thursday.







KT mhows is a subsidiary of the nation's second-largest mobile carrier KT, dedicated to mobile marketing.







The company released analysis results of its customers' behavior from March last year to this month on the occasion of the first anniversary of the launch of its mobile gift card service, called "giftishow biz."







Items from cafes and bakeries accounted for the best-selling mobile gift certificates, making up 55 percent of the total. Among them, Starbucks' beverages stood at 68 percent, followed by banana milk and Vita500, a vitamin drink.







Mobile gift cards for products from convenience stores were the second-best-selling, accounting for 29 percent, followed by those of supermarkets and department stores at 8 percent, according to the firm.







The company noted giving and exchanging mobile gift certificates especially increased in November and December, with sales volume during that period accounting for 30 percent of the total.







"We analyzed that high sales during that period resulted from enterprises' massive marketing activities on the occasion of Pepero Day, the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) and the Christmas season," a KT mhows official said.







On Pepero Day which falls on Nov. 11, people here _ usually couples _ exchange a famous stick-shaped snack, Pepero, as four of them in a row resemble 11.11.







The CSAT usually takes place in November as well.







The firm added that companies have utilized its mobile gift card service in various ways in accordance to the type of their business.







For example, financial and insurance firms and travel companies, which need to contact their customers frequently, utilized social media, offering customers a mobile gift certificate worth about 8,000 won ($7.50) on average.







On the other hand, construction and manufacturing companies that are usually involved in business-to-business projects used fewer mobile gift cards.

Saudi air defences intercepted a missile fired by Yemeni rebels at the kingdom's southern city of Najran on Saturday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the rebels said, adding that one person was wounded.

"The missile was fired at Najran indiscriminately and with the aim of hitting residential areas," coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki told the official Saudi Press Agency.

"It was successfully intercepted and the debris fell on residential areas, lightly wounding one Indian expatriate."

Yemen's Saba news agency, run by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, said the missile had been fired at a Saudi National Guard base in Najran, just over the border from Yemen where the Saudi-led coalition intervened on the side of the government in March 2015.

The coalition said on Thursday it intercepted another missile fired by the Houthis at the southern city of Jazan -- the latest in a series of such attacks that have drawn widespread condemnation.

The coalition spokesman again hit out at Iran after Saturday's attack, accusing it of "jeopardising the security of Saudi Arabia, the region and the whole world."

The UN Security Council this week condemned "in the strongest possible terms" multiple missile attacks launched by the Houthis on Saudi territory, saying they posed a threat to regional security.

In one of the biggest such attacks yet, Saudi forces last weekend said they intercepted seven missiles fired by rebels toward cities including Riyadh, killing one person.

The coalition intervened in Yemen to push back the Houthis who captured the capital Sanaa and forced the government into exile.

Riyadh has accused arch-rival Tehran of providing the missiles and threatened retaliation against Iran.

Tehran has denied making any arms deliveries.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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By Nam Hyun-woo





Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo Hyundai Motor Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sunMinister of Strategy and Finance Kim Dong-yeon, center, reads a letter to Kumho Tire's management and union at the Government Complex in Seoul, Friday. From left are Financial Services Commission Chairman Choi Jong-ku; Paik Un-gyu, minister of trade, industry and energy; Kim; Hong Jong-haak, minister of SMEs and startups; and Korea Development Bank Chairman Lee Dong-gull. / Yonhap



By Kim Yoo-chul, Park Jae-hyuk



The Kumho Tire union agreed late Friday on the planned sale of the tiremaker to China's Doublestar, after the government and creditors' of the debt-ridden company urged it to accept the acquisition offer.



The agreement is a major turning point for Kumho Tire as it will prevent the company from entering court receivership.



"The Kumho Tire union agreed on a plan to normalize the company after thorough discussions with all interested parties. The decision will have a major impact on workers and the regional economy," Gwangju Metropolitan City Mayor Yoon Jang-hyun said after an emergency meeting held in Gwangju City Hall. "We thank all parties involved in the decision."



Korea Development Bank (KDB) Chairman Lee Dong-gull said the union agreed with the management to accept capital from Doublestar, and added the agreement will be submitted to creditors of the tiremaker after internal procedures. The KDB is the major creditor of Kumho Tire.



Earlier the same day, the union said it would hold a vote of its members on whether to approve of the Chinese-based Doublestar Tire's takeover.



Given the union had stubbornly refused to vote on the foreign acquisition, the decision drew the attention of those concerned about the nation's second-largest carmaker's possible bankruptcy.



KDB Chairman Lee said the company's creditors may extend its deadline for receivership if the vote is held for all Kumho Tire employees.



The creditors had imposed a Friday deadline for management and the union to reach an agreement on a self-rescue plan including the Doublestar deal, saying failure to do so would lead the company into receivership and delisting.



Kumho Tire must pay 27 billion won ($25 million) in maturing debt, Monday, and 40 billion won by Thursday.



The company's total debt is 2.4 trillion won.



The KDB chairman and Financial Services Commission Chairman Choi Jong-ku went to the regional city early in the day to talk with the union leaders who had claimed several Korean firms were considering buying Kumho Tire.



They also participated in a meeting with Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon, Trade Minister Paik Un-gyu and SMEs Minister Hong Jong-haak at the Government Complex in Seoul earlier to discuss the situation.



After the meeting, Kim read a letter to Kumho Tire's management and union urging them to reach an agreement to avoid court receivership.



Cheong Wa Dae gave support to the minister later, saying it would not deal with the issue politically.



Kumho Tire's non-union workers, who have been in favor of the foreign acquisition, made a final appeal to the union leaders at a press conference held in front of the company's Seoul office.



The company also held a regular shareholders' meeting Friday morning.



Kumho Tire CEO Han Yong-seong said the company was prepared to file for court receivership Monday.



"If the union disagrees with the foreign acquisition, we will hold a board meeting Monday morning to make a decision on court receivership," he told reporters after the shareholders' meeting in Seoul. "I hope the union agrees with our decision over the weekend so as to save the company."

Shinsegae Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin speaks during the group's job fair at COEX convention center in Samseong-dong, Seoul. / Yonhap



By Nam Hyun-woo



Shinsegae Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin said Wednesday the retailer will enter the U.S. market with its supermarket brand in May next year, as well as revealing a plan to build a massive facility to control the group's online shopping business.



"We are seeking to open a PK Market store in the U.S. in May of next year," Chung told reporters during the group's job fair at COEX convention center in Samseong-dong, Seoul. "We are about to sell Asian groceries that can attract U.S. citizens."



PK Market is Shinsegae's premium grocery store. Currently, it has two outlets at Starfields Hanam and Goyang in Gyeonggi Province.



Chung said the store will be located in Los Angeles and the group will seek to expand its store network in the western U.S. The store will also likely contain a restaurant.



"Unless we fix the timing of our U.S. entrance there could be delays," Chung said. "We are carrying out preparations with the goal of opening the store in May of next year no matter what happens."



"We have experienced bitter failure in China and decided to focus on an advanced market where there are no limits in entering or withdrawing," he said, adding that the Australian and European markets are also on the radar.



For domestic business, Chung said Shinsegae will build a 30-story online center that controls the retailer's online shopping businesses in Hanam.



E-Mart, Shinsegae's core supermarket unit, has recently purchased a 21,422-square meter lot in Hanam for 97.2 billion won. Chung said it will be "a landmark" of the region.



The bid is in line with Chung's initiative to enhance the group's online business.



In January this year, Shinsegae signed memoranda of understanding with two foreign investors on their investments worth more than 1 trillion won. Also, it said it will restructure its online business by establishing a new corporate body that controls the group's online sales.



Shinsegae also said it plans to separate its online mall SSG.com as an independent company and keep its core facilities and workforce in the new building.



"The success of an online business depends on the system supporting it, and many Korean online shopping companies have been falling short of coming up with such a system," he said, adding that Shinsegae is developing its own system on advice from experts including some who worked for Amazon.

By Laura Zhou, Catherine Wong





A veteran diplomat is set to take over as China's deputy special representative for Korean affairs, as Beijing seeks to avoid being sidelined on the peninsula amid plans for North Korea to hold talks with both South Korea and the United States, sources said. A veteran diplomat is set to take over as China's deputy special representative for Korean affairs, as Beijing seeks to avoid being sidelined on the peninsula amid plans for North Korea to hold talks with both South Korea and the United States, sources said.

Ning Fukui, who served as ambassador to South Korea from 2006-08, and was involved in the four- and six-party talks in the 1990s and 2000s, is expected to work under Kong Xuanyou, China's special envoy to Pyongyang and vice-foreign minister on North Korean affairs, the diplomatic sources said.





Ning Fukui

While Ning's appointment has yet to be formally announced, he started work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier this month, one of the sources said.

The post of deputy representative has been vacant since its former holder, Xu Bu, was named as China's ambassador in Chile in January.

Finding Xu's replacement was a priority for Beijing, which despite being Pyongyang's greatest ally and patron for more than seven decades, has recently found itself being edged out of the picture in light of the proposed summits between the leaders of the two Koreas next month, and planned talks between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at a date yet to be agreed.











Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is finalising details for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump on April 18 to discuss strategy before a proposed meeting between North Korean and U.S. leaders, a ruling party official told Reuters on Wednesday.



Abe will also likely ask Trump to exempt Japan from his steel and aluminum tariffs, said the official, who has been briefed on the matter and asked not to be identified. Abe, speaking at a parliamentary committee, said Japanese steel products were helping to make U.S. auto makers more competitive and cheaper for American consumers.



"Protectionism, at first glance, appears to benefit a nation which exercises it, but it is not necessarily so," Abe said. "Japan wants to be a flag bearer to promote a free trade which will bring a win-win situation to each nation."



His finance minister, Taro Aso, echoed that view and said some of responsibility for the trade imbalance rested with the United States.



"I understand the U.S. position that it cannot continue with a trade deficit, but the United States itself should make efforts," Aso told the same committee. The meeting between Abe and the U.S. leader is expected to be held at Trump's Mar-a-Largo retreat in Florida, according to the source.



North Korea's Kim Jong Un is set to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in in April and then possibly Trump in May. (REUTERS)



U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he will be replacing his chief national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, with former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton.

"I am pleased to announce that, effective 4/9/18, @AmbJohnBolton will be my new National Security Advisor," Trump wrote on Twitter. "I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster who has done an outstanding job & will always remain my friend. There will be an official contact handover on 4/9."



McMaster has long been rumored to be the next one out amid an ongoing personnel reshuffle that saw the ouster of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last week.

Both announcements were made after Trump agreed this month to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to discuss the regime's denuclearization.

In dismissing Tillerson, an advocate for engagement with Pyongyang, Trump reportedly wanted a top diplomat who was more in line with his views and named Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo to the role.











Northern white rhino will go extinct. / Reuters



The world's last male northern white rhino has died, the Kenyan conservancy taking care of it said, leaving only two females of its subspecies alive in the world, although scientists still hope to save it from extinction by in vitro fertilization.



Ol Pejeta Conservancy said it had made the decision with wildlife officials to put down the 45-year-old rhino, named Sudan on Monday, because of a rapid deterioration in his condition.

Sudan was being treated for age-related complications that had affected his muscles and bones and also gave him extensive skin wounds.

Sudan had previously lived at the Dver Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic before being transported to Ol Pejeta Conservancy, about 250 km (155 miles) north of Nairobi, where he lived with the last two females of the same species, his 27-year-old daughter Najin and 17-year-old granddaughter Fatu.

The two female rhinos were quietly grazing at the conservancy on Tuesday, where staff mourned Sudan.

"It's very sad to lose Sudan because it shows clearly the extent of human greed and what sort of impact humans beings can have on nature," Samuel Mutisya, head of wildlife conservation at Ol Pejeta, told Reuters. "If we don't take care of what we have, we will definitely continue to lose it, particularly lose other species that are currently endangered."

Veterinarian Dr Stephen Ngulu said doctors recommended putting the aging rhino down because he was in severe pain, with no hope of treatment to alleviate it.

"Sunday morning, he completely was unable to wake up. His left hind foot gave in completely, he was unable to support himself on it and he was not able to raise," he said.



"We decided to evaluate the quality of life and advise stakeholders that this available option would be the better option: to alleviate pain, suffering."

The rhino had spent two weeks in late February and early March lying in his pen due to discomfort from a deep wound on his right hind leg, the conservancy said. "The veterinary team from the Dvur Kralove Zoo, Ol Pejeta and Kenya Wildlife Service made the decision to euthanize him."

After all attempts at getting Sudan to mate naturally failed, conservationists last year put him on dating app Tinder, hoping to raise enough money to pay for a $9 million fertility treatment.

Ol Pejeta said that staff had collected Sudan's genetic material on Monday, which could be used in future to attempt reproduction of northern white rhinos. It said scientists were also seeking ways to perform in vitro fertilization.

"The only hope for the preservation of this subspecies now lies in developing in vitro fertilization techniques using eggs from the two remaining females, stored northern white rhino semen from males and surrogate southern white rhino females," it said.

While there are thousand of southern white rhinos still roaming the plains of sub-Saharan Africa, decades of rampant poaching have drastically cut numbers of northern whites.

Poachers were able to sell northern white rhino horns for $50,000 per kilo, making them more valuable than gold.

Kenya had 20,000 rhinos in the 1970s, falling to 400 in the 1990s. It now has 650, almost all of which are black rhinos. (Reuters)Homestead High School art teachers (from left) Cindy Husar, Lisa Ricker, Sarah Jones and Dominick Manco greet visitors to the 2017 Spring Arts Academy. Community members are invited to join students, parents and staff at the 2018 Spring Arts Academy, April 9-11. Student artwork will be on display in the HHS Community Room during school hours, from 7:15 a.m.-3:15 p.m. each day. Artwork also will be on display from 6-8:30 p.m. Wednesday in conjunction with the National Honor Society Coffee House, inside the atrium of Entrance 1. Admission is free.Thank you for reading!

Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.Israeli troops fired warning shots towards Palestinian youths gathered at the Gaza-Israel border on Saturday, wounding 13 people, health officials said.

Tension remained high in the area a day after deadly violence broke out in one of the biggest Palestinian demonstrations there in years.

An Israeli military spokesman said he was checking the details of Saturday's unrest.

On Friday at least 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces confronting protesters, some of whom the military said had opened fire, rolled burning tyres and hurled rocks and fire bombs toward troops across the border.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared Saturday a national day of mourning and a general strike was called across the occupied West Bank. Thousands in Gaza marched through the streets at funerals for those killed.

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A fired ripped through a warehouse of the UN's World Food Programme on Saturday in Yemen's rebel-held Red Sea port of Hodeida, destroying humanitarian aid supplies, authorities said.

Hodeida is Yemen's largest port and a lifeline for people in the war-battered country dependent on food imports and, according to the United Nations, on the verge of famine.

The Saba news agency of the Houthi rebels reported a "massive" blaze and said large quantities of aid was destroyed, without giving further details.

An official in Hodeida told AFP that four warehouses were engulfed in flames and estimated that 50 tonnes of foodstuff was destroyed.

An official from Yemen's internationally recognised government urged UN agencies deployed in the country to investigate the blaze.

Abdel Raguib Fateh, who was quoted by the state-run Saba news agency, also implicitly accused the Houthis of responsibility, saying the "criminals behind this fire should be punished".

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the country in March 2015 to push back the Houthis who captured the capital Sanaa and forced the government into exile.

Around 53,000 people have also been wounded since then.

The United Nations says the conflict has triggered the world's worst humanitarian crisis, as 22.2 million people need aid and 8.4 million are on the verge of famine.

Yemen, which depends on food imports, is also struggling with cholera and diphtheria outbreaks.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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An infant is still alive after being thrown out of a vehicle during a car crash.

Hannah McKinney says the padded strap covers on the car seat contributed to her 3-month-old daughter being ejected from her car seat and thrown to the back of the van.

Robin suffered a hairline fracture in her upper arm and was rushed to the hospital with shards of glass in her head.

It flipped like front to trunk twice," McKinney said.

McKinney said she believes the strap covers on the car seat contributed to Robin coming loose.

"They said (the covers) probably just slid against her shirt and with the force she just popped right out of there," McKinney said

Safety specialist Johanna Martinez said its not a good idea to add any after-market product to a car seat unless its been specifically approved by the seats manufacturer.

In a demonstration, Martinez showed how padded strap covers can cause a safety harness to slip from a babys shoulders, allowing the baby to be ejected from a car seat.

"People think because they're being sold they're safe to use," Martinez said.10:25 p.m.

The United States says there's "no justification" for Russia's retaliatory moves to expel 60 U.S. diplomats and shutter the American Consulate in St. Petersburg.

U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman says in a statement that it shows Moscow isn't interested in dialogue with the United States about important matters. The comments come after Huntsman was summoned late Thursday by Russia's government and given a list of diplomats who must leave within 48 hours.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert says that "Russia should not be acting like a victim." She calls Russia's actions "regrettable" and "unwarranted."

She says the U.S. reserves the right to respond to Russia's response.

Russia kicked out the diplomats after the U.S. and other nations kicked out Russian diplomats to punish Moscow for alleged involvement in an ex-spy's poisoning in the U.K.

9:45 p.m.

A top Russian lawmaker says Moscow's decision to expel 60 U.S. diplomats and close the American Consulate in St. Petersburg should make Washington examine its own mistakes.

Russia's expulsion order on Thursday was in response to the U.S. decision to send home 60 Russian diplomats and close the Russian Consulate in Seattle. The U.S. move was in response to the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy and his daughter in an English city, which British authorities blame on Russia. Moscow vehemently denies any involvement.

Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign relations committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, was quoted as saying by the news agency Interfax, that "our opponents should have the opportunity to look themselves in the mirror in order to be horrified by the actions taken by their own side."

__

9 p.m.

Russia's foreign minister says Moscow is renewing its demand for access to Yulia Skripal, a Russian citizen who along with her ex-spy father was poisoned in Britain this month and reportedly is recovering.

British health authorities said Thursday that Yulia Skripal, 33, was out of critical condition and is improving rapidly. It was not immediately clear if her condition would allow her to talk with British or Russian officials about the March 4 poisoning in Salisbury, England.

Foreign Minister Sergey Llavrov said at a news conference in Moscow that "we have again demanded to be guaranteed access to Yulia as she is a Russian citizen. I hope the British side can fulfill its obligations under the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations."

U.S. and other Western nations have expelled more than 150 Russian diplomats over the poisoning. On Thursday, Russia announced it would expel the same number of Western diplomats.

___

8:45 p.m.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the world is approaching a situation "similar" to the Cold War as tensions rise between the United States and Russia.

But Guterres said Thursday it's different in two important ways: There are more players in conflicts than during the two-superpower era and fewer communication channels set up to keep problems from escalating. He told reporters Thursday he is "very concerned."

The U.S. other Western nations and NATO are expelling more than 150 Russian diplomats whom they consider spies, including a dozen posted to Russia's U.N. mission, over the poisoning of a former Russian spy in England.

Russia said Thursday it will expel an equal number of diplomats from those nations.

___

8:10 p.m.

Russia's foreign minister says Moscow will expel the same number of diplomats from the nations that have expelled Russian diplomats over the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Britain.

Sergey Lavrov said U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Thursday, where he was given notice that Russia is responding quid pro quo to the U.S. decision to order 60 Russian diplomats out.

Lavrov said Moscow will also retaliate to the U.S. decision to shut the Russian consulate in Seattle by closing the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg.

Lavrov said the same approach will be applied to other nations that expelled Russian diplomats this week.

Two dozen countries, including the U.S., many EU nations and NATO, have ordered more than 150 Russian diplomats out this week in a show of solidarity with Britain.

___

7:15 p.m.

Russia's Foreign Ministry says Britain, the U.S., the Czech Republic and Sweden all have researched a nerve agent that London said was used to poison an ex-Russian spy in Britain.

The ministry's spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said Thursday that the Western research into the class of nerve agent called Novichok was reflected in numerous open source documents of NATO members.

Britain has accused Russia of involvement in the March 4 poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, saying they were poisoned with the Soviet-designed agent called Novichok, the accusations Russia has fiercely denied. Britain and its allies have dismissed previous Moscow claims that they possessed that type of nerve agent.

Zakharova accused London of failing to provide evidence and stonewalling Russian demands for access to materials in the probe.

___

6:35 p.m.

The Russian Foreign Ministry says Moscow will retaliate shortly to the Russian diplomats' expulsions over the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Britain.

The ministry's spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said Thursday the Russian response will come "in the nearest time."

Two dozen countries, including the U.S. and many EU nations, have ordered more than 150 Russian diplomats out this week in a show of solidarity with Britain. Zakharova said the expulsions came after "colossal" pressure from Washington and London, adding that the nations that succumbed to it "made a grave mistake."

She denounced Britain's assertion that Russia was behind the nerve agent attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter as a "swindle" and an "international provocation."

Zakharova insisted that Moscow is demanding access to materials of the investigation.

___

5:20 p.m.

British health officials say the daughter of a Russian ex-spy has responded well to treatment and is no longer in critical condition after a nerve-agent attack.

Yulia Skripal's father Sergei remains in critical condition.

Salisbury NHS Trust, which oversees the hospital where the pair are being treated, says 33-year-old Yulia is "improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition. Her condition is now stable."

Medical director Dr. Christine Blanshard says "she has responded well to treatment but continues to receive expert clinical care 24 hours a day."

Yulia Skripal and her father, an ex-spy, were found unconscious in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

British authorities say they were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent and have blamed Russia. Moscow denies involvement in the attack, which has sparked a diplomatic crisis between Russia and the West.

___

4:25 p.m.

The former Soviet republic of Georgia says it will expel a Russia diplomat in solidarity with Britain over the nerve agent poisoning of a former Russian spy.

Thursday's announcement follows the expulsion of more than 150 Russian diplomats by European Union nations, the United States, NATO and other countries in response to the March 4 poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

Georgia severed diplomatic ties with Russia following a brief war in the breakaway republic of South Ossetia. Russian diplomats have been operating out of the special interests section of the Swiss embassy in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, since 2009.

Georgia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the diplomat has been declared persona non grata and must leave within a week. The ministry condemned the poisoning, calling it a "serious challenge to common security."

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Hello readers! Im L.A. Times books editor Carolyn Kellogg  welcome to this weeks newsletter.

THE BIG STORY

With her last book The Empathy Exams, Leslie Jamison proved herself to be one of our most interesting thinkers. Now she turns to a familiar topic in The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath, but her sharp eye makes it new. Jamisons book exists, writes David L. Ulin in our review, between intoxication and its corollary, which is a world in which intoxication is not, could never be, enough.

Leslie Jamison, author of The Recovering. ( Beowulf Sheehan )

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BIG FICTION

In the new novel The Female Persuasion, college student Greer Kadetsky meets charismatic feminist Faith Frank, who becomes her mentor. If Meg Wolitzers coming-of-age tale is a big, fat, delicious book about feminism and the power of female mentorship writes Maris Kreizman in our review, it also directly addresses the complex state of feminism in a post-President Trump world.

Meg Wolitzer, author of The Female Persuasion. (Riverhead )

BESTSELLERS

Its not letting go: Kristin Hannahs The Great Alone  about a family that finds itself in trouble after a move to Alaska  is the No. 1 L.A. Times fiction bestseller in its sixth week on our list.

Entering our nonfiction list this week is Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putins War on America and the Election of Donald Trump by Michael Isikoff and David Corn. Their book digs into possible Russian involvement in the 2016 American presidential election, discusses tensions between the superpowers and examines the relationship between Putin and Trump. The co-authors will be coming to the Festival of Books, appearing Sunday, April 22, to talk about their book.

See all the books on our bestseller lists here.

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at the 25th APEC Summit in Da Nang, Vietnam on Nov. 11, 2017. (Metzel Mikhail/TASS / TNS )

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MORE IN BOOKS

Sean Penn wrote a novel, Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff, and many people think he should not quit his day job.

Poet Li-Young Lee takes up issues of the body and spirit in his new collection, The Undressing, writes Craig Teicher in our review.

Author Chelsea Johnson and musician and actor Carrie Brownstein talk about writing and Johnsons debut novel, Stray City.

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Just in time for Easter, Mike Pences family rabbit, Marlon Bundo, appears in not one but two bestselling books. One is by his daughter; the other, by a writer on John Olivers show, envisions Bundo as a gay bunny who meets his beloved and gets married.

L.A. writer Mark Sarvas talked to Agatha French about his new novel, Memento Park. Hell be appearing at the L.A. Times Festival of Books on Saturday, April 21.

American author Jacqueline Woodson has been awarded the worlds largest award for childrens literature, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. It comes with a prize of more than $600,000.

Jacqueline Woodson (Juna F. Nagle / HarperCollins )

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OTHER GREAT READS

Like, I suspect, other American readers, I came to Tom Coxs writing through his Twitter account @mysadcat. Now I read the former Guardian writers stories  smart and un-cliched tales of Englands wild places  on his website, and this week he posted this story about places hed lived. His most recent book, 21st Century Yokel, is available in the U.S. via online book retailers.

Environmental magazine Grist has posted its annual list of the Grist 50, a group of mostly young, very diverse activists, entrepreneurs, chefs, scientists, farmers and one writer. Thats Rahawa Haile, whose story for Outside magazine, about what it was like hiking the Appalachian Trail while black, is under contract to be expanded as a book.

The Beastie Boys Mike D (Mike Diamond) has been working on a memoir with fellow band member Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz). He sat down with NY Magazines Vulture for a wide-ranging interview that talks about the evolution of the band, his life now, NY vs. LA  pretty much everything except for the book itself.

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Mike D at a Beastie Boys performance in 2003 (Rich Schultz / AP )

Thanks for reading!

carolyn.kellogg@latimes.com

@paperhausFox News host Laura Ingraham is taking a weeklong vacation as advertisers continue to abandon her program over her remarks about Parkland high school shooting survivor David Hogg.

Liberty Mutual, Office Depot and Entertainment Studios, maker of the film Chappaquiddick, are the latest Fox News sponsors that have said publicly they will not run commercials in the conservative commentators nightly prime-time program, The Ingraham Angle.

Ingraham told viewers at the end of her Friday program that she is off next week for an Easter break vacation with her children and that fill-in hosts will appear in her place. A Fox News representative said her absence was planned before this weeks advertiser reaction to Ingrahams social media taunting of David over his rejection by several colleges.

Ingraham is under criticism for her tweet about the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School senior, who has transformed into a highly visible gun control activist following the deadly shooting at his Florida school in February. He mentioned in an interview that he was not accepted by four University of California schools.

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David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it, Ingraham tweeted on Wednesday. "(Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA  totally predictable given acceptance rates.)

Ingraham issued an apology Thursday after David urged his followers to pressure sponsors to pull out of her show.

Well over a dozen advertisers, generally skittish over any social media backlash, have responded by saying they are not running commercials in the show or have canceled plans to do so. Most are moving their ads to other programs on the Fox News schedule, according to a person familiar with those discussions.

Other defectors include Nestle, Johnson & Johnson, TripAdvisor, Nutrish, Expedia, Jos. A. Bank and Hulu, the streaming video service that is one-third owned by Fox News parent 21st Century Fox.

Ingraham is often the fourth most-watched program in all of cable news with about 2.6 million viewers nightly.

Ingrahams apology came quickly, considering that Fox News commentators have typically resisted backing down when under attack for their controversial statements. But the support and sympathy for David and other Parkland students has prompted advertisers to continue to bail from her program.

David did not accept Ingrahams apology, calling it an effort just to save your advertisers.

I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight, he tweeted Thursday. Its time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children.

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The thinned herd of advertisers was apparent during the Friday edition of The Ingraham Angle. The commercial breaks were filled with Fox News promotional spots and commercials from direct response advertisers  usually a sign of ad cancellations.

An advertising boycott sealed the fate of former Fox News host Bill OReilly, who was fired last April. The boycott followed a report that OReilly and the network had paid $13 million in settlements over the years to women who had complained that he had abused or sexually harassed them during their employment.

stephen.battaglio@latimes.com

Twitter: @SteveBattaglio

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UPDATES:

March 31, 6:23 p.m. : This article was updated with additional information on advertisers who have pulled out of The Ingraham Angle.

March 30, 9:35 p.m.: This article was updated with Ingrahams announcement that she will be on vacation next week.

This article was originally published March 30 at 5:20 p.m.One of downtowns oldest tall buildings, the former Los Angeles offices of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, sold this week for nearly $70 million to a residential developer.

Now known as the Santa Fe Lofts, the 11-story tower at Main and 6th streets, which opened in 1908, has been an apartment building for more than a decade and was owned by investor Capital Foresight.

The new owner, MWest Holdings, plans to spend an additional $6 million to renovate and upgrade the 132-unit complex, said Matthew Ellis, chief investment officer of the Sherman Oaks landlord and developer.

MWest specializes in turning some of the citys oldest buildings into luxury housing. Company projects include the Wilshire Royale and Park Wilshire apartment buildings near MacArthur Park, which date to the 1920s, and the San Fernando Building, completed in 1906 in what is now downtowns Old Bank District.

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Thousands of new luxury housing units have been built downtown in the last few years, but old buildings can still compete for tenants, Ellis said.

There are a finite number of these historic buildings and it is our belief these buildings will outperform in good markets and bad, he said. People love the high- ceilinged, light-filled units these historic buildings provide.

To help compete with new buildings, MWest will improve the roof deck and add tenant amenities to the now-unused basement, including a gym, business center and screening room.

The upgrade that will begin shortly is another sign that the neighborhood has substantially improved in the last two decades, said real estate broker Mike Condon Jr. of Cushman & Wakefield, who helped arrange the Santa Fe Lofts sale, which closed Thursday.

The Santa Fe Lofts is across the street from the former Pacific Electric Red Car train terminal and headquarters, another historic building, which opened in 1905. The surrounding area was considered fringe skid row and widely perceived as unsafe not many years ago, Condon said.

Since then, dozens of new residential buildings have opened downtown including an apartment building that was completed last year next to the Santa Fe Lofts. Were finally getting a nice blend of new and old buildings, Condon said.

The Santa Fe office building was considered a marvel more than a century ago when it was built by lumber mill mogul George Kerckhoff.

The long-planned Kerckhoff Building will be one of the finest office buildings in this city of magnificent structures, The Times reported in 1907, that will top the great Pacific Electric Building by two full stories.

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An addition to the Kerckhoff building was added in 1916 and the current complex is still made up of two separate structures. Kerckhoff was a partner in a business that supplied ice to Santa Fe rail cars, which led to the railroads tenancy in the building, historian Greg Fischer said.

The railroads La Grande Station terminal was to the east, on a site now occupied by the 438-unit One Santa Fe apartment complex built in 2014 on Santa Fe Avenue, Fischer said.

roger.vincent@latimes.com

Twitter: @rogervincentBecause she spends only half a year in Los Angeles, Brittany Curran didnt want to focus too much energy on redoing her Valley Village-area home.

But the kitchen was different.

The 27-year-old actress will in June start filming the fourth season of the television series The Magicians, which shoots in Vancouver. But when she is on hiatus, she decamps to her 750-square-foot area apartment here, where on weekends she and her boyfriend transform their kitchen.

1 / 4 The actress, a fan of vintage of items, has champagne glasses from the 1950s. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 4 Curran, an avid cook and baker, says that everything happens in the kitchen. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 4 She collects teas from the farmers market. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 4 The kitchen is the only room in her home that she felt compelled to redo to make her own. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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Why is this your favorite room?

I love to cook and bake pies. I host a lot of themed parties. Everything happens in the kitchen.

What kind of parties?

For Christmas, we did a Bing Crosby 1950s-themed brunch. After, we watched White Christmas. We did a Jurassic Park one where I baked things that looked like dinosaur eggs. My next one will be a Westworld theme. I have a saloon-girl outfit that Ill wear, and I have a bunch of vintage glasses Ill put out with the kind of whiskey they would have drunk at that time.

What did you have to do to the kitchen?

We changed the floors. Before, they were this awful white linoleum that had started aging. We tore it up and then had the lovely surprise of finding there were five layers of flooring underneath that dated back to the 1950s.

The walls are a pretty color.

They used to be this off-white color, but I wanted a nice sky-blue with white.

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Are you a do-it-yourselfer?

My boyfriend and I have done a few projects where we take a whole weekend, listen to music for two days straight, and work.

You seem to like anything retro.

Ive always loved vintage. I used to write for a newsletter that was part of a program for actors, and I would interview people in the industry. One of them was a prop man on The Wizard of Oz. I loved hearing those stories and started to fall in love with the aesthetic of old movie posters.

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Do you collect them?

Theres one in my kitchen thats an old Belgian print from A Place in the Sun. I have another western one that isnt framed yet but will go up in the kitchen. The next one on my list is Rear Window. I get them from a gallery in North Hollywood called LImagerie. I tell them what I want, in what language and price, and they find it.

What else is meaningful in this room?

My boyfriend found this vintage sideboard with funky stone knobs. I collect teas from the farmers market and put them in these glass jars on my counter. I used to write for a wine newsletter, and a winery gave me a poster of the art thats on their wine bottles. And I have a bunch of vintage champagne glasses from the 1950s. My boyfriend called up as many antique stores as he could to find them, and we built this collection.

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hotproperty@latimes.com

MORE FROM HOT PROPERTY

Tracey Edmonds cuts loose from her spot in Century City

Onetime Robert Blake home is ready to cast a new owner in Studio City

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Retired baseball slugger Jermaine Dye looks to crush a home sale in San DiegoThe bad news is that Hermes Beverly Hills has temporarily lost the valet parking spots behind its Rodeo Drive boutique. The good news is that in its place is a postage-stamp-sized museum-quality exhibition that explores the 181-year-old French luxury labels long relationship with all things equestrian that is making its only stop in the United States.

Those familiar with the brand dont need to be told that what is now a global leather goods, apparel, jewelry and accessories company began as a harness and bridle business founded in Paris by Thierry Hermes in 1837. But theyre just as likely to find something of interest in the collection of items on display in the vitrines and frames throughout the compact, five-room space as someone who has stumbled across the world of Hermes for the very first time.



For the record: An earlier version of this article stated that the Harnessing the Roots exhibition is headed to Jakarta, Indonesia, next. A second exhibition, Hermes Rouge, was recently on display in Jakarta.

For the latter of these groups, the Harnessing the Roots exhibition, which is free to explore, will serve as a condensed version of Hermes History 101, illustrating how equestrian equipment such as horse blankets, bridles and horse bits are referenced in the companys ready-to-wear and jewelry collections; a horses hood inspires a lambskin-trimmed hood in the fall/winter 1969 collection, for example, and a striped horse-blanket pattern is plucked from the archives and shown in various permutations, including in the form of a tiny wool broadcloth pouch wrapping a bottle of the brands 1998 Rocabar fragrance.

The Horse and its Tack is one of five rooms that are part of the temporary exhibition at Hermes Beverly Hills. (Owen Kolasinski / BFA.com )

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On a recent tour of the exhibition, Menehould de Bazelaire du Chatelle, the curator of the Emile Hermes collection (from which many  but not all  of the pieces on display are culled), pointed to an early 20th century print of a horse kitted out in a fetching hood and blanket combination in wide stripes of yellow and red. The name of the pattern  Rocabar  came about because someone was referring to the pattern as a rug with bars, as in stripes, and over time it became Rocabar.

While visitors wont be lucky enough to have the curator at their elbow, they will be able to use an accompanying audio guide  the wand-like devices used in museums  to learn more about what theyre looking at.

Its those kinds of next-level details that will make a spin through the exhibition enjoyable for that first category  the hardcore Hermes fan  particularly a 19th century lithograph by Alfred de Dreux titled Duc Attele, Groom a lAttente (Duc [carriage] harnessed, groom waiting), which Charlotte David, executive vice president of Hermes (who toured the exhibition with us), singled out as her single favorite piece. Its not immediately apparent why  unless you know that, since the 1940s, the silhouette of the carriage, horse and groom, has served as the official logo of the house.

The 19th century Alfred de Dreux lithograph Duc Attele, Groom a lAttente directly inspired Hermes logo. (Owen Kolasinski / BFA.com )

There are just so many layers to it, David said pointing out in the lithograph details that arent apparent in the smaller version that appears on brand packaging. The shape of the duc [carriage] and the fact that there are two horses signifies speed, the way the harnesses fits the horses so perfectly, the fact that the groom is waiting with his hands in his pockets and the fact that there is just one thing missing from the image  the rider. She paused for a moment. We like to think of that person missing from the image as our customer.

Whichever category youre in, youll need to saddle up and head over to the Beverly Hills boutique before next Saturday, when the exhibition is scheduled to close. According to company representatives, the second installment of the Hermes Heritage series  this one focusing on the houses long-running love affair with the color red (some 20 shades and counting), which recently made its debut in Jakarta, Indonesia  is expected to come to Los Angeles later this year.

Harnessing the Roots, Hermes Beverly Hills, 434 N. Rodeo Drive, 10 a.m. to 6 pm. Monday through Saturday; closes April 7.

adam.tschorn@latimes.com

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For more musings on all things fashion and style, follow me at @ARTschorn.Dockless bike companies are building a virtual fence around Coronado to avoid having their rides taken away.

The city has impounded 26 bicycles since staffers began tagging those parked in public streets last week, said Lea Corbin of the Coronado Police Department.

The city can take the bikes because of a municipal code against using the public right-of-way for business without a permit. Because dockless bike companies dont have permits, the city can impound their bikes.

For now, Coronado is charging companies a $45 fee to claim the bikes. Ofo picked up three of its yellow bicycles this week. Coronados Department of Public Services building had dozens of LimeBikes and at least one Mobike on Thursday morning.

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If bicycles from these companies continue to be left in Coronado, the city may issue citations of $100, $200 or $500, according to a staff report.

The freestanding bikes can be rented using a smartphone app for as little as $1 and dont have to be returned to a store or docking station. Instead, they lock in place when they arent in use.

LimeBike, Mobike and Ofo said they are working with city officials to be responsible neighbors. Each app uses a map and GPS technology to let users know where the nearest available bikes and scooters are. Each company is building a warning into its app.

LimeBike installed a red fence around Coronado in its map. A notice warns users that they could be fined or suspended from the app if they repeatedly leave bicycles in Coronado.

Mobike also has geofencing technology that lets staffers know when their bikes leave certain areas. When someone leaves a bike outside the geofence, users get a text message asking them to return the bike to an appropriate area, a company spokesperson said.

Ofo is working on similar in-app guidelines for parking but has not released details.

Dockless bikes have been popular in Imperial Beach and San Diego, where people use them to go to school, work or just ride around town. But they have received pushback.

In San Diego, the Little Italy Assn. asked the city to temporarily ban dockless bikes. When the city declined, the association ordered maintenance crews to remove the bikes from the neighborhoods commercial corridor.

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In North County, the cities of Del Mar, Solana Beach and Encinitas have agreed to become partners to create a regional bike-share program.

gustavo.solis@sduniontribune.com

Solis writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.Jesus Aceves was driving three of his fellow farmworkers to the tomato fields in the early-morning darkness when he saw lights flash behind him.

ICE agents pulled him over and asked for his license, registration and insurance and, most forebodingly, whether the men were in the United States legally.

Aceves and his passengers were taken to an immigrant detention facility. But none of them had been the target of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Three of the men had no criminal records. The most serious blots on the 44-year-old Aceves record were several convictions  the most recent in 2012  for driving without a license.

That morning, an ICE spokesman said, agents went to a Kern County residence where they thought an immigration target lived. One of the men who got into Aceves car matched that persons description, he said. The ICE agents followed.

The arrests were part of a larger sweep in Californias agricultural heartland that has sent fear through the Central Valley, where for generations, immigrants here  both legally and illegally  have picked crops. In some fields, almost all of the foreign workers are in the country without legal status.

While many immigrants have been on edge since President Trump vowed a crackdown on illegal immigration, the recent sweeps have been particularly concerning because they included the arrests of people not specifically targeted by ICE.

The concern extends to farmers, who fear more sweeps will drive away labor at a time when some are struggling to get enough workers to pick the crops.

Manuel Cunha Jr., president of Nisei Farmers League, which represents agricultural employers and their workers throughout the state, said farmers are worried about losing trusted workers. He said the increasingly tense relationship between the Trump administration and California, which declared itself a sanctuary state, has upped the anxiety.

Theyre not going to be replaced by American workers, Cunha said. Dont punish the businesses. Were not the ones that came up with the sanctuary state.

In the February sweep across the Central Valley, 232 people were arrested. Of those, 180 were either convicted criminals, had been issued a final order of removal or had been previously removed from the U.S. and returned illegally.

The United Farm Workers of America identified at least 26 farmworkers arrested in Kern, Tulare and Madera counties, most of them stopped before dawn on their way to work.

Left: Pastor Guillermo Aceves, right, and other members of El Aposento Alto church pray for his brother Jesus Aceves, center. Right: Pastor Guillermo Aceves kneels while praying for his brother Jesus Aceves, who was detained by immigration agents Feb. 27. Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times

ICE Director Thomas Homan has said that immigrants who have entered the U.S. illegally should be afraid.

He warned that Californias so-called sanctuary policies, which limit the cooperation between local and federal law enforcement, give the agency no choice but to make arrests in neighborhoods and at work sites. That leads to the arrests of other immigrants in the country illegally who are not intended targets, he said.

This is a prime example of how sanctuary policies, which have pushed ICE out of jails, force our officers to conduct more enforcement in the community  which poses increased risks for law enforcement and the public, Homan said in a statement to The Times. It also increases the likelihood that ICE will encounter other illegal aliens who previously werent on our radar. It is nonsensical to demand that ICE solely focus on criminals, while simultaneously preventing ICE from arresting criminal aliens inside the secure confines of local jails.

Win Eaton, an attorney in Bakersfield, is representing some of the detained farmworkers in immigration court.

Its just terrible that these people are going to be used as pawns, he said.

Migrant farmworkers transplant jalapeno sprouts from trucks into the tilted soil at a farm in Lamont, Calif. Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times

On an overcast day a week after the immigration sweep, 33 workers pulled cases of jalapeno sprouts off a truck and transplanted them into tilled soil at a farm in Lamont, Calif.

Some workers said they had altered their driving routes, taking back roads instead of main highways. Many stayed tuned to Facebook groups dedicated to confirming sightings of immigration agents and reminding people of their rights.

In the early afternoon, Meliton Ferred took a water break. His lower back ached after hours of work. Ferred, who emigrated from Veracruz 13 years ago, said just being a Latino  and particularly one working in the fields  made him feel like a target.

Who is going to work the fields? No one, he said. This is a difficult job, and all of us are from Mexico.

Alejandra Galacia, 35, said she hardly left her home, not even to buy groceries, the week of the February arrests. The Lamont resident said she worried about being separated from her three young daughters.

Alejandra Galacia, 35, transplants jalapeno sprouts from trucks into the tilted soil at a farm Lamont, Calif., on March 7, 2018. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times

She sat them down and told them they would all go back to Mexico together if she was deported. But her oldest daughter, who was born in Mexico and is a junior in high school, has dreams of becoming an oncologist. She told her mother she does not want to return the country of her birth.

I leave everything in Gods hands, Galacia said.

Dozens of workers have fled since immigration agents began checking employee records at San Joaquin Valley farms. ICE said 77 businesses  in the jurisdiction that includes Northern California, Hawaii, Guam and Saipan  were served with employment authorization audit notices in January.

Farmers have struggled in recent years with labor shortages. A summer 2017 survey by the California Farm Bureau Federation showed that 55% of responding farmers experienced shortages, with problems most acute among those whose crops require intensive hand labor, such as tree fruits and grapes.

Phil Martin, professor emeritus of agricultural and resource economics at UC Davis, said while thats true, it would take a huge, targeted immigration operation to really put a dent in the agricultural industry. Thats because production requires so many workers and the industry is using more and more people from a temporary guestworker program.

It also would take more deportation officers. While Trump last year pledged to hire 10,000 new ICE agents, Congress has yet to appropriate money for the hiring process.

Pastor Guillermo Aceves, far left, and members of El Aposento Alto church in Wasco pray for his brother Jesus Aceves, third from left, who was detained by ICE agents during a raid Feb. 27. Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times

Aceves, who was arrested while picking up coworkers in Wasco, Calif., spent just under a week in detention. He was released after his family posted an $8,000 bond. He could wait years before facing a judge because of a massive immigration court backlog.

Two other men in his car also were released after posting bond. The fourth man, Alfredo Diaz, voluntarily returned to Mexico after having lived illegally in the U.S. for more than two decades.

The night after his release, Aceves attended a local church service at El Aposento Alto, where his brother Guillermo Aceves has been pastor for eight years.

Guillermo, 46, told the congregation that what happened to his brother could happen to anyone. If ICE knocks on the door, dont answer, he said. You have the right to stay silent. Dont sign anything.

He urged them to decide who would care for their children if they were detained and to save money in case they need to pay a bond.

These are things we dont like to talk about because theres so much fear, he said. But you have to do it. You have to make a plan.

Jesus Aceves has been in California for two-thirds of his life, having come to the U.S. when he was 17. He has three U.S.-born children. From the pulpit, he tearfully talked about spending his days at the Adelanto Detention Facility thinking of his kids and his wife.

I didnt expect this. I never thought it would happen to me, he said.

Guillermo Aceves obtained citizenship through the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. But younger brother Jesus arrived in the U.S. years later and missed out on President Reagans amnesty. Now his future is more uncertain than ever.

Toward the end of the service, Jesus stood in a circle with one of the other farmworkers arrested with him that late February morning. He raised his right arm in praise and shut his eyes tight as his brother led the congregation in prayer.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

andrea.castillo@latimes.com

@andreamcastilloEgypt is set to establish a free economic zone in South Sinais Nuweiba, bringing the number of free zones in the country to 11.

In an official statement, Egypts investment and international cooperation minister Sahar Nasr said the government decided to establish the free zone as part of a comprehensive development plan for Sinai that involves pumping domestic and Arab investments.

In a separate statement, South Sinai governor Khaled Fouda revealed that the free zone covers 26 feddans at a total cost of $400 million, and that the project will be established in around two years and will provide 14,000 job opportunities.

Fouda highlighted that Nuweiba city has been suffering from a lack of tourism, despite other South Sinai cities like Sharm El-Sheikh and Dahab seeing increases in tourism of up to 40 percent.

Fouda added that the free zone will include light industries, navigation services, shopping services, preservation of food and pharmaceutical products, and fish production, which the governor said will help attract tourism and achieve an investment return of $1 billion.

The establishment of the free zone in Nuweiba was preceded by the setting up of another zone in Upper Egypts Minya, increasing the number of free zones in Egypt to 11.

Before the free zone in Minya was established, free zone construction had been suspended in the country since 2005, according to Nasrs statement.

Nasr said the government is keen on pumping investments in parts of the country in need of economic growth, including Sinai and Upper Egypt, in order to provide them with job opportunities and comprehensive development.

Funders investing in the zone would benefit from a 50 percent tax exemption from the investment cost of a project for three years, which are subject to renewable by the Egyptian cabinet.

Nationwide free zones contribute 24 percent of overall Egyptian exports, with the number of direct and indirect job opportunities amounting to one million, according to Nasr.

The establishment of the zone came upon orders by Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to speed up economic development in the governorate

Nasr added that investments and development help eliminate terrorism.

Egypt has also been keen throughout the past months on encouraging investments and establishing development projects in north Sinai, where the government continues to fight terrorism.

Earlier in March, Nasr signed five agreements worth EGP 5 billion (86.1 million Kuwaiti dinars) with the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development to fund development in Sinai.

The first agreement, worth 60 million Kuwaiti dinars, will fund a project to build a tunnel in Sharm El-Sheikh to develop the citys infrastructure and road network.

Another agreement allocates 17.5 million Kuwaiti dinars to build a highway linking Sinai to other areas in Egypt.

Short link:

Questions have lingered in Damaris Benitez Torres mind since the day she lost her brother, Martin Benitez, in the Pulse nightclub shooting.

Did they try to rescue him? Did they give him first aid? How much time was he bleeding out before he died? she asked after the gunmans widow, Noor Salman, was acquitted Friday of obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting her husband, Omar Mateen.

Salmans trial revealed new details about the attack, which some survivors and loved ones have waited more than a year and a half to hear. But the end of the trial means some questions might never get answered.

Now we are left with the uncertainty. Its worse than before, because with this, I thought we would have some closure for this pain that will never leave us, Benitez Torres said.

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The biggest question is whether her brother could have been saved. Martin Benitez was wearing a watch that monitored his pulse, his sister said. When the family got it back, it read 3:20 a.m.

We assume that, more or less, thats when he died, Benitez Torres said. That was just over an hour after the shooting began. My brother didnt die instantly. He bled out and I know there was something that they couldve done to rescue him.

The trial did reveal some details that investigators knew within days of the June 12, 2016, massacre, but never released to grieving family members or the public: that Mateen had never been near Pulse before the attack; that he likely targeted Disney Springs, where he arrived hours before with a stroller that prosecutors said was meant to hide his Sig Sauer MCX rifle; that his father, Seddique Mateen, was an FBI informant.

The FBI has released few details about the shooting, repeatedly denying requests for information by saying the investigation was still active. But the trial required agents to reveal some information.

Within days of the shooting, FBI Special Agent Richard Fennern testified on March 22, they had gone through Salman and Mateens cellphones and determined that neither had ever been to Pulse. Mateen seems to have found the club through a Google search for downtown Orlando nightclub after walking through Disney Springs the night of June 11 and seeing armed law enforcement officers and security guards, agents said.

Mateens cellphone also shows he first headed toward another club, EVE Orlando, but left and went back to Pulse. EVE Orlando is on a busy stretch of Orange Avenue near downtown Orlando, where police officers typically have a heavy presence on weekend nights. That evidence disproved that he was targeting the gay community, a belief held by many after the June 2016 attack.

Noor Salman, second from right, and her attorneys pose for a photo on Friday after Salman was acquitted of lying to the FBI and helping her husband attack the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. (Susan Clary / Associated Press )

They all took the bullet so it didnt occur somewhere else, so families at Disney didnt get the bullet, so people at EVE didnt get the bullet, said Christine Leinonen, who lost her son Drew and his boyfriend, Juan Ramon Guerrero. To think that they were all shot and were killed, just so randomly.

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She said testimony corroborated what she thought about officers actions that night, she said. She watched the video of Mateen committing the massacre and now knows that he appears to have tried to leave the club after he went around the dance floor once, but by then, police had the club surrounded and inadvertently forced him back into the club.

The blame is obviously on the killer himself, but I think the cops did a very poor job. So they let my son down, the FBI let my son down, not just him, but everyone else that was there, Leinonen said.

She said she hoped to hear an analysis of the ballistics at the trial, but that never came.

Did the killer shoot my son all nine times, or was he shot by a cop? she asked.

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Mayra Alvear, the mother of 25-year-old Amanda Alvear, said she had to gather the courage to go into the courthouse to see the widow of her daughters killer.

I thought I wouldnt have the strength to go. But I went in about three times and what I can say is that she wasnt dumb. She was writing and passing notes, she was active in the case, she said.

Sonia Cruz, the aunt of Peter Ommy Gonzalez Cruz, said she tried not to keep up with the trial. She did not come to the courthouse. She needed to let her heart heal, she said. But she did catch glimpses of the evidence in news reports  she saw that the couple spent $26,000 on credit cards in the two weeks before the shooting.

She saw video of Mateen going into the club on TV, as well as footage of him walking around Disney Springs. She thought about all the people who could have been killed there, she said.

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I think its gonna be more people, more kids, older people. They dont know how to run, they dont know how to react in that situation, she said. I think there would be more people in that tragedy.

Lotan and Ocasio write for the Orlando Sentinel.Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It is Saturday, March 31. Heres what you dont want to miss this weekend:

TOP STORIES

Stephon Clark, the unarmed African American man whose shooting by police has caused protests and national outcry, was shot six times in the back, an independent forensic pathologist said Friday. Dr. Bennet Omalu conducted an autopsy days after Clark was killed by police. He told reporters that his examination showed Clark was hit by eight bullets, and all but one entered while his back was turned toward the two officers. Los Angeles Times

Plus: California legislators are poised to again try to loosen some of the nations strictest prohibitions on the release of officer shooting and misconduct investigations. Los Angeles Times

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The green land rush

Right now, B-Real and other cannabis entrepreneurs need industrial real estate where they can grow and manufacture their product, and shops where they can sell it. Both are increasingly in tight supply in Southern California as cities began this year to allow pot sales to adults without a doctors approval after the approval of Proposition 64 in 2016. B-Real is the stage name of Louis Freese, the frontman of South Gate hip-hop group Cypress Hill and longtime cannabis advocate who is gearing up to produce a lot more of his signature Insane OG strain. He recently rented an old warehouse in downtown Los Angeles for his growers and is looking for more space, perhaps miles away in the Mojave. Los Angeles Times

AROUND CALIFORNIA

Health scare: Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was recovering Friday after undergoing emergency open-heart surgery during a procedure to replace a valve in his heart, according to his spokesman. Los Angeles Times

Barry O! Former President Obama is heading to Beverly Hills in May to raise money for Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri in his first post-presidential fundraiser for a candidate, according to an invitation obtained by The Times. Los Angeles Times

Shes out: Actress-turned-conservative commentator Stacey Dash is calling her congressional candidacy quits a little over a month after jumping into a Los Angeles race. Los Angeles Times

Strong column: Californias housing crisis reaches from the homeless to the middle class  but its still almost impossible to fix, argues columnist Michael Hiltzik. Los Angeles Times

Easter pardons: A deported U.S. Army veteran has been granted U.S. citizenship, a move made possible by California Gov. Jerry Browns pardon of a criminal offense last year. Associated Press

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Plus: Five immigrants with criminal records who face possible deportation were among those pardoned by Brown on Friday, continuing his tradition of granting clemency around the Easter holiday. Los Angeles Times

Bye, bye, Boyle Heights: The artist-run space 356 Mission is leaving the neighborhood. Founders Laura Owens and Wendy Yao explain why. Los Angeles Times

Theres more Roseanne coming to ABC: Fresh off the blockbuster return of the family sitcom  whose Tuesday premiere pulled in a huge 18.2 million viewers  the network announced Friday that it will keep the revival going with an 11th season. Los Angeles Times

THIS WEEKS MOST POPULAR STORIES IN ESSENTIAL CALIFORNIA

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1. Michael Avenatti, the adrenaline-fueled lawyer taking on President Trump. Washington Post

2. Amid the hipster foodies of Grand Central Market, one longtime chile vendor tries to hang on. Los Angeles Times

3. Why so many Mexicans revile the Colonial Californiano architectural hybrid that spread from Southern California. Los Angeles Times

4. This stunning drone footage gives a birds-eye view of the beautiful falls and nature that run along the Lake Clementine reservoir in the Auburn area. Sacramento Bee

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5. A family of eight is likely dead in a plunge off a Mendocino Coast cliff. Press Democrat

ICYMI, HERE ARE THIS WEEKS GREAT READS

In the Grapevine: The arrests of three men in Kern County were part of a larger immigration sweep in Californias agricultural heartland that has sent fear through the Central Valley, where for generations, immigrants here legally and illegally have picked crops. In some fields, almost all of the foreign workers are in the country without legal status. While many immigrants have been on edge since President Trump vowed a crackdown on illegal immigration, the recent sweeps have been particularly concerning because they included the arrests of people not specifically targeted by ICE. Los Angeles Times

Following up: California voters are joining this political party by mistake, but lawmakers arent doing anything about it. Los Angeles Times

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The big picture: Immigrant populations in the United States have been growing fast for decades now. Crime in the same period, however, has moved in the opposite direction, with the national rate of violent crime today well below what it was in 1980. New York Times

A fake news fight: Why Devin Nunes and his local paper suddenly cant stand each other. Mother Jones

Coming to America: For five days now hundreds of Central Americans  children, women, and men, most of them from Honduras  have boldly crossed immigration checkpoints, military bases, and police in a desperate, sometimes chaotic march toward the United States. Despite their being in Mexico without authorization, no one has made any effort to stop them. BuzzFeed

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.She must not know the internet keeps all the receipts, the comedian Nick Jack Pappas tweeted the other day, referring to another comedian, Roseanne Barr.

The receipts were evidence of Barrs history of hawking daft notions on Twitter, including Pizzagate. Pappas posted screenshots of Barrs earlier tweets: #Sessions...will prosecute #HRC and make arrests over #PedoGate. These receipts couldnt be answered by denials, so Barr blocked Pappas.

Receipts are not just the output of cash registers anymore. Theyre a vital piece of what might be called pop epistemology. About two years ago  in complex circumstances involving Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift  receipts took on an almost cosmic significance. The takeaway was clear: If someone has been keeping receipts on you, watch out. The word has become a catch-all term for hard evidence.

Receipts include everything from diaries and contemporaneous notes to video, contracts and DNA. They are those incriminating records that checkmate. Lately it seems were craving receipts  anything to put an end to head-spinning relativism, alternative facts and the presidents unrelenting cacophony.

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As Trumps presidency drags on  having blown past tarnished and into deep, dark ignominy  receipts have become vitally important. Theyre the key to blowing open the Trump syndicate, which seems committed to making history and truth go away, in the words of a Trumpworld lawyer.

Access Hollywood kept receipts. Long ago, Trumps desperate crowing about crotch-grabbing surfaced in audio and video. His weak denials since then mean nothing. The recording is a receipt.

If someone has been keeping receipts on you, watch out. The word has become a catch-all term for hard evidence.

Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Florida) kept receipts. When Trumps waning Chief of Staff John F. Kelly conjured some lies a year ago about Wilsons remarks at the 2015 dedication of a new FBI building, her allies presented a video of her remarks that made Kelly look like a fabulist.

Colbie Holderness kept receipts. Her cache includes a memento related to her allegation that Rob Porter, the former White House staff secretary, punched her in the face in 2005 while they were married. Trump had kept Porter on staff in spite of FBI warnings about his violent history, then Holderness submitted into evidence a photo of herself with a black eye. Porters effort to extenuate the receipt  outrageous allegations  I took the photos given to the media  etc. etc.  didnt help. He was fired.

Karen McDougal kept receipts. The former Playboy models handwritten notes chronicle an alleged affair in 2006. These non-coy notes we got naked + had sex  were published in the New Yorker. A White House rebuttal more fake news crashed on the shoals of receipts.

Stormy Daniels kept receipts. The adult-film actress has a copy of the nondisclosure agreement that she signed, and Trump didnt, requiring her to keep silent about her alleged Trump tryst, on pain of larcenous fines. This week the presidents lawyers lawyer finally denied that Trump even knew about the contract. Legal experts, including former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti, suggest the denial might void the contract and liberate Daniels to reveal more material she has hinted she has. Photos? Videos? In any case, receipts.

In the broader Trump circle  the Russia wing  a Nastya Rybka, a Belarussian escort, also kept receipts, including video footage apparently made while she was on a yacht with Sergei Prikhodko, Russias deputy prime minister, and Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska. (Deripaska is former employer and current creditor to Paul Manafort, Trumps former campaign chairman; the video was posted by Russian dissident Aleksei Navalny.) Now Rybka claims to have audio receipts that show Russian meddling in the U.S. election. Shes seeking asylum in the U.S. in return for telling all. Who knows if she has the goods, but Rybkas receipts are worth watching for.

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Even Tiffany Trump, the presidents younger daughter, has submitted a receipt. Its a small one, to be sure, but last week, she liked an Instagram image that showed a demonstrator with a sign that read, Next Massacre Will Be the GOP in the Midterm Elections. It may be a record in the public square of her dissent from her fathers party. And maybe from her father.

Notice anything consistent about these receipts? For the most part, they were kept by women. When despots come to power, its often the marginalized  the escorts, the porn actresses, the ex-wives, the less-loved daughters  who maintain careful records, lest anyone try to silence them, deceive them or call them crazy.

Luke Harding, the author of Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and how Russia Helped Donald Trump Win, recently spoke to me about the role of women in exposing corruption and abuses of power in Russia. As Harding said, One of the Putin regimes weak points is its women, especially the 20-something mistresses and call girls who post their lives to Instagram and to social media.

As the Trump investigation rolls on, it appears that prosecutors and journalists alike are heeding the Watergate-era injunction to follow the money. But we might also do well to follow the pulp-fiction maxim: Cherchez la femme. Find the woman.

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She has the receipts.

Twitter: @page88Good morning. This is L.A. Times Opinion digital editor Matthew Fleischer, filling in for Paul Thornton.

Last weekend, students across the nation took to the streets following the deadly Parkland school shooting to demand gun control. Their efforts were powerful and inspirational. For a moment, change felt as inevitable as after the Sandy Hook massacre.

Unfortunately, we know how that went.

The vast majority of Americans want immediate gun restrictions. But how do we get it done? For decades  despite one massacre after another  even the mildest of gun reforms has been swatted aside with ease by the hands of the powerful gun lobby.

Is the problem one of incrementalism? Are universal background checks and assault rifle bans too unambitious in their sweep? Perhaps its time to fully eliminate the 2nd Amendment  a position gaining traction in left-wing circles, and one that even former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens lobbied for this week.

Going after the 2nd Amendment isnt only unnecessary, counters op-ed contributor and NYU law professor Michael Waldmanit, it would turn the political hill we have to climb on gun control into Everest.

Dozens of lower federal courts have carefully considered gun laws. Sometimes they limit government action. But overwhelmingly they have upheld safety regulations, even bans on semiautomatic assault weapons enacted by New York and Connecticut after the Newtown, Conn., massacre of schoolchildren. The Supreme Court justices have declined to take another 2nd Amendment case, thus allowing this consensus to take root.

If the Constitution makes it unnecessary to erase the amendment, politics makes it unwise, even self-defeating. There's a reason the NRA calls itself the country's "oldest civil rights organization." Far better to be seen as championing the Bill of Rights than defending guns, ammunition and mayhem. Even among those who support strong gun safety laws, there are many who would feel queasy about deleting one of the first 10 amendments. The reality is that the United States has gun rights because millions of Americans believe in those rights.

It's time to think big about the gun issue. The remarkable demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of people, led by high school students, show a pent-up demand for action to regulate firearms. It's as if an entire generation shook off the compromises and acquiescence of their elders. As with the #metoo movement or the drive for marriage equality, sometimes social mores can shift sharply and quickly. What has held the country back is not the Constitution or court rulings, but legislatures in thrall to the intense minority of gun rights absolutists. Now a new group of passionate advocates has emerged. Let's see if they rebalance the political world.

A call to repeal the 2nd Amendment is a gift the NRA doesn't deserve. It gives cover to the false notion that gun control advocates want to "take our guns." We should fight, instead, for the true reading of the Constitution: We can have freedom and safety at the same time.

Lack of compassion and loathing for the homeless isnt a phenomenon of the modern era. Cicero called famously called homeless Romans "the poverty-stricken scum of the city." And yet such sentiments seem to have reached their zenith in contemporary Southern California, which has the resources to end homelessness but largely chooses not to thanks to the stonewalling of its NIMBYs. That can no longer stand, writes Erik Skindrud on the op-ed page: Homelessness cannot be an issue defined by loudmouthed residents, politicians and ignoramuses. If good people stay quiet, nothing will change. L.A. Times

How ridiculous is this: Los Angeles bans people from sleeping in their vehicles on most city streets, but allows them to sleep on the sidewalks at night. Thats right, city policy demands homeless people living in their RVs and cars abandon the safety of their vehicles at night to set up shop on the concrete. City leaders promise a safe parking program to help resolve this obvious quandary is in the works. And yet, after a year of arguing, we still arent close to an actionable plan. These arent the Paris Peace Talks, says The Times editorial board. Get it done already. L.A. Times

Asian Americans disproportionately value prestige when it comes to higher education. Thats because elite credentials are seen as a safeguard against discrimination in the labor market. Unfortunately, theyre not, write op-ed contributors Jennifer Lee and Karthick Ramakrishnan. Asians with Ivy League-caliber credentials still face a glass ceiling in the workplace. L.A. Times

A large and powerful state is in open revolt against the president over its sovereignty. Sound familiar? It does to the editorial board of the Houston Chronicle, which argues that after eight years of haranguing President Obama, Texas  which sued Obamas administration 48 times has ceded the mantle of states rights to California. Theres nothing wrong with the resistance stealing the Lone Star states playbook, so long as its done in the name of intellectual honesty and not partisan hackery. Houston Chronicle

Why is it that Americas biggest hawks (ahem  John Bolton  ahem) always seemed to have skirted combat duty when it was it was their time to serve in the military? Inquiring L.A. Times readers want to know.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookTo the editor: When are the likes of Allan Hirsch, chief deputy direction of the Californias Office of Environmental Hazard Assessment, and Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle, who just ruled a Proposition 65 cancer warning must be put on coffee, going to realize they have turned what was intended to keep their fellow citizens safe into a joke? These Proposition 65 warning signs are everywhere. (Coffee Must Come With Cancer Labels, Judge Rules, March 30)

Will signs soon be required on all doors leading outside warning of the cancer risk from sunlight? Whats next  requiring all newborns to have Caution: Living is hazardous to your health tattooed on the inside of one eyelid? That way they can be warned every time they blink.

This once-good idea has been twisted into another form of legalized extortion to make money for the same types of parasitical people who chase ambulances and threaten lawsuits over handicapped access. In the service we had a saying that when everything was a priority nothing was a priority. Replace priority with danger and the result with Proposition 65 is the same.

Chris Daly, Yucaipa

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::

To the editor: We all need to make informed decisions about our health, but the true outcome of this ruling is that it will give trial attorneys another opportunity to file gotcha lawsuits against small business owners and companies for not putting a cancer warning label on their product. While there is conflicting, credible research on the negative and positive effects of coffee drinking, there is no debate on the egregious and astronomical civil penalties that can be levied on businesses of $2,500 per day, per customer. Looking at recent Prop. 65 settlements, failure to place a simple warning sign in a parking garage can cost defendants between $60,000 and $80,000 in fines and attorneys fees.

Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, is meant to protect our waterways and our drinking water from dangerous chemicals. The intent of the law is abrogated by legal actions that have no effect on advancing public health, but cost small businesses money, kill jobs and drive business out of California.

Diana Lee Carey. Westminster

::

To the editor: As someone who has consumed an average of two cups of coffee a day for 65 years, how is it that I dont have cancer caused by acrylamide? I would estimate that billions of cups of coffee are consumed worldwide daily. Have the plaintiffs in the case provided the judge with one person who has cancer caused by acrylamide from drinking coffee?

If the judge issues a final ruling that coffee must be sold with a warning label, I urge Gov. Jerry Brown and the California Legislature to use some common sense and pass a law exempting coffee from the relevant statute.

Peter R. Pancione, Thousand Oaks

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Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookAllies balk at Trump administration bid to block Chinese firm from cutting-edge telecom markets By David S. Cloud Britain and Germany are balking at the Trump administrations call for a ban on equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, threatening a global U.S. campaign to thwart Chinas involvement in future mobile networks. Both countries are expected to limit Huawei and other Chinese companies from providing core components including routers. But other types of Chinese equipment for next-generation, high-speed communications could still be installed on British and German networks, officials and analysts say. The U.S. push to ban Huawei has provoked a global dispute in recent weeks, with senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, publicly urging NATO allies in Europe to exclude the company and warning that the United States might limit its military presence in countries that did not do so. Read More Facebook

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Confucius Institutes: Do they improve U.S.-China ties or harbor spies? By Don Lee Hanging red lanterns welcome visitors to the University of Marylands Confucius Institute, the oldest of about 100 Chinese language and cultural centers that have popped up over the last 15 years on American campuses, subsidized by millions of dollars from Chinas central government. But last fall, when four U.S. Senate investigators walked into the Confucius offices in Maryland and spent hours questioning staff, they werent looking for an educational exchange. The committee has been seeking detailed information from the university about the program, including contracts, email exchanges and financial arrangements that school administrators have kept under wraps since it started in 2004. American colleges once viewed these jointly funded institutes as an economical way to expand their language offerings  one that could also bring warmer ties with China and, importantly, an influx of Chinese international students paying full tuition. Read More Facebook

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Watch Live: White House holds surprise news briefing amid government shutdown Facebook

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U.S. policy toward China shifts from engagement to confrontation By David S. Cloud For decades, China had no closer American friend than Dianne Feinstein. As San Francisco mayor in the 1970s, she forged a sister-city relationship with Shanghai, the first between American and Chinese communities. As U.S. senator, she dined with Chinese leaders at Mao Tse-tungs old Beijing residence. And in the 1990s, she championed a trade policy change that opened a floodgate of Western investment into China. Today the Democratic senator sees China as a growing threat, joining a broad array of Trump administration officials, national security strategists and business executives who once favored engagement with Beijing and now advocate a confrontational approach instead. Read More Facebook

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Mnuchins attempt to calm markets backfires as Trump takes another shot at the Federal Reserve By Jim Puzzanghera An attempt by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin to calm plunging financial markets backfired Monday, further rattling investors with new fears about whether major U.S. banks have enough cash on top of worries about interest rates, political instability in Washington and a slowing global economy. Adding to the volatile mix was a fresh attack on the Federal Reserve by President Trump, who declared that the central bank was the U.S. economys only problem and that it didnt have a feel for the market. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who cant score because he has no touch -- he cant putt! Trump said on Twitter. Read More Facebook

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He speaks to Democratic hearts. But is Beto ORourke a serious White House contender? By Mark Z. Barabak Hes a failed U.S. Senate candidate with an undistinguished congressional record who, for the moment, is a blazing-hot 2020 presidential prospect  despite the fact that he may not run and faces long odds if he does. Beto ORourke suggests the will-he-or-wont-he speculation is something he himself cant quite fathom. I think thats a great question, he responded in a Dallas Morning News interview when asked whether his unsuccessful November Senate bid merited a promotion to the White House. I ask that question myself. Read More Facebook

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Russian disinformation teams targeted Robert S. Mueller III, says report prepared for Senate By Craig Timberg, Tony Romm, Elizabeth Dwoskin Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. (Associated Press) Months after President Trump took office, Russias disinformation teams trained their sites on a new target: special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Having worked to help get Trump into the White House, they now worked to neutralize the biggest threat to his staying there. The Russian operatives unloaded on Mueller through fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and beyond, falsely claiming that the former FBI director was corrupt and that the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election were crackpot conspiracies. One post on Instagram  which emerged as an especially potent weapon in the Russian social media arsenal  claimed that Mueller had worked in the past with radical Islamic groups. Such tactics exemplified how Russian teams ranged nimbly across social media platforms in a shrewd online influence operation aimed squarely at American voters. The effort started earlier than commonly understood and lasted longer while relying on the strengths of different sites to manipulate distinct slices of the electorate, according to a pair of comprehensive new reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee and released Monday. Read more Timberg, Romm and Dwoskin report for the Washington Post. Facebook

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President Trump announces Mick Mulvaney as acting White House chief of staff By Associated Press President Trump says budget director Mick Mulvaney will serve as acting chief of staff, replacing John F. Kelly in the new year. I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction. Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2018 Facebook

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It aint over when its over: In Michigan, Wisconsin and elsewhere, losers seek to undermine election results By Mark Z. Barabak Democrat Gavin Newsom has yet to become California governor, but already a candidate for state Republican Party chairman is promoting a recall effort. In Michigan and Wisconsin, GOP lawmakers have rushed through legislation to thwart their incoming Democratic governors and hamper others in the opposing party from doing the jobs voters chose them to do. In Congress, GOP leaders have echoed President Trump and sought to undermine the legitimacy of Democrats strong midterm performance, raising unsubstantiated allegations of fraud and political malfeasance. Read More Facebook

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New CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger says she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera On her first full day leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathy Kraninger said she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney, the controversial acting director whom she replaced in the powerful regulatory position. To underscore that point, the former White House aide said she would even reconsider a Mulvaney action that critics saw as a gratuitous jab at Democrats who championed the agencys creation: changing its name to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Kraningers declaration during a meeting with reporters Tuesday addressed one of the main criticisms of her selection. She is considered a protege of Mulvaney, her boss at the White House Office of Management and Budget who has executed a dramatic, industry-friendly shift at the watchdog agency. Read More Facebook

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Trumps pick for chief of staff, Nick Ayers, out of running By Associated Press Nick Ayers, right, with Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, at the funeral service for George H.W. Bush on Dec. 3. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Associated Press) President Trumps top pick to replace John F. Kelly as chief of staff, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill that role. Thats according to a White House official who is not authorized to discuss the personnel issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Ayers is Vice President Mike Pences chief of staff. The official says that Trump and Ayers could not agree on Ayers length of service. The father of young children, Ayers had agreed to serve in an interim capacity though the spring, but Trump wanted a two-year commitment. The official says that Ayers will instead assist the president from outside the administration. Trump announced Saturday that Kelly would be departing the White House around the end of the year. Thank you @realDonaldTrump, @VP, and my great colleagues for the honor to serve our Nation at The White House. I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause.  #Georgia  Nick Ayers (@nick_ayers) December 9, 2018 Facebook

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U.S. hiring slows to 155,000 jobs, unemployment rate holds at 3.7% By Jim Puzzanghera Job growth slowed significantly in November but still was solid, indicating the economy remains in good shape but not expanding so quickly that it will lead to sharply higher interest rates. U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs last month, well below analyst expectations and a steep decline from Octobers strong 237,000 figure, the Labor Department reported Friday. Still, monthly job gains are averaging 206,000 this year, the best since 2015. Even the slower pace of 170,000 over the last three months is close to last years average of 182,000 and well above the amount needed to keep up with population growth. Read More Facebook

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Trump is expected to pick State Department spokeswoman for U.N. ambassador By Associated Press Heather Nauert at a briefing at the State Department on Aug. 9, 2017. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump is expected to nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Two administration officials confirmed Trumps plans. A Republican congressional aide said the president was expected to announce his decision by tweet on Friday morning. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly before Trumps announcement. Trump has previously said Nauert was under serious consideration to replace Nikki Haley, who announced in October that she would step down at the end of this year. Trump has been known to change course on staffing decisions in the past. Nauert was a reporter for Fox News Channel before she became State Department spokeswoman under former Secretary Rex Tillerson. Facebook

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Senate confirms new consumer financial protection chief: Kathy Kraninger, protege of industry-friendly Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera The Senate, in a party-line vote Thursday, confirmed White House aide Kathy Kraninger to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and experts predicted a continuation of the industry-friendly shift it has taken since President Trump installed an acting director last year. Kraninger is a protege of acting director and White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, an outspoken critic of the agency that was created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to prevent predatory lending and other abuses that led to it. Democrats and consumer advocates have denounced him for sharply departing from the aggressive watchdog role the bureau had pursued under its first director, Obama-appointee Richard Cordray, including scaling back enforcement and moving to reassess tough new rules on payday loans and narrow the definition of abusive practices by banks and other firms. Read More Facebook

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Shutdown postponed by two weeks under plan approved by Congress By Erik Wasson Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), shown at the Capitol on Tuesday, says President Trumps border wall is a waste of money. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Congress passed a two-week stopgap spending bill that will delay the chance of a partial government shutdown until Dec. 22 as lawmakers and President Donald Trump negotiate over his demands to pay for a wall on the southern border. The House and Senate passed the measure Thursday without dissent, and Trump has indicated hell sign the bill before the current shutdown deadline of midnight Friday. Negotiations were delayed by memorial services this week for former President George H.W. Bush. The temporary measure gives Democrats and Republicans more time to find a resolution to their biggest hurdle: funding a wall on the U.S. Mexico border wall. Trump says he wants $5 billion for parts of a concrete wall on the southern border and is willing to shut down the government if he doesnt get it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said Democrats will provide no more than $1.6 billion for border security, because the wall is a waste of money. The presidents demands for wall funding from Congress come after he said during the campaign that Mexico would pay for it. This week he said on Twitter that a $25 billion border wall would pay for itself in two months, without providing evidence. Most of the U.S. governments $1.2 trillion discretionary budget has been appropriated already by Congress for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. Departments at a risk of a partial shutdown late this month include the departments of State, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security. Talks to resolve the differences have been on hold since a meeting among Trump, Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California originally slated for Dec. 4 was postponed due to Bush memorial events. The three are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama told reporters the rest of the seven-bill spending package being negotiated is basically done. Shelby in recent weeks had tried to broker a compromise in which Trumps $5 billion request would be split over two years, but Schumer has rejected that. Some Democrats have been willing to trade border wall funding for deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants. Pelosi ruled out such a deal in remarks to reporters Thursday. The stopgap government funding measure also would extend the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides subsidized coverage for homes in flood-prone areas, to Dec. 21. Facebook

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Bipartisan Senate group wants to formally blame Saudi crown prince for journalists killing By Karoun Demirjian Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. (Associated Press) A bipartisan group of senators filed a resolution Wednesday condemning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, directly challenging President Trump to do the same. This resolution -- without equivocation -- definitively states that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was complicit in the murder of Mr. [Jamal] Khashoggi and has been a wrecking ball to the region jeopardizing our national security interests on multiple fronts, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement accompanying the release of the resolution. It will be up to Saudi Arabia as to how to deal with this matter. But it is up to the United States to firmly stand for who we are and what we believe. The resolution put forward by Graham and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who are expected to lead the Judiciary Committee together next year, comes just one day after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed leading senators about the details of the agencys assessment that Mohammed ordered and monitored the killing and dismemberment of Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Senators emerged from that closed-door briefing furious not only with Saudi Arabia, but Trump as well for dismissing the heft of the CIAs findings. You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi, Graham said following the briefing, referring to Mohammed by his initials. He added that Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, who briefed senators last week, were at best being good soldiers and at worst were in the pocket of Saudi Arabia for presenting the evidence of Mohammeds involvement as inconclusive. The release of the resolution condemning Mohammed also comes as the Senate is preparing to move ahead with debate on a resolution to curtail U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. Though the Yemen resolution does not directly address Khashoggis murder, its popularity is a sign of how strained the United States patience with Saudi Arabia is on multiple fronts, including its role in worsening the civilian cost of the war in Yemen, cited by the United Nations as the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Last week, the Senate voted 63 to 37 to advance the Yemen resolution past an opening procedural hurdle. But Graham and Feinsteins resolution on the crown prince has the potential of drawing broader support, especially from Republicans, who are deeply divided about how fiercely to punish Saudi Arabia over Khashoggis killing. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has been an outspoken advocate for human rights and is seen as one of the more influential foreign policy voices in the GOP, did not vote for the Yemen resolution last week or sign on to a bipartisan measure last month to sanction Saudi officials and cease weapons transfers to the kingdom. But he is an original co-sponsor of the resolution condemning Mohammed over Khashoggis death. So is Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who represents the other end of the GOP spectrum in terms of recent Saudi-related votes and endorsements. Young was an initial co-sponsor of the bill Graham wrote with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to sanction Saudi officials deemed responsible for Khashoggis killing and stop the sale of anything but exclusively defensive weapons to the kingdom until it ceased hostilities in Yemen. Young also voted to advance the Yemen resolution  something Graham did as well, though Graham has signaled he will not be lending any similar support to the measure, fearing it may establish a precedent of invoking the War Powers Act too broadly. Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) are listed as original co-sponsors of the resolution condemning Mohammed, which also urges Saudi Arabia to negotiate with Houthi rebels to end the Yemen war, work out a political solution to its standoff with Qatar and release political prisoners. But how much sway the resolution has probably comes down to how forcefully the administration decides to heed it -- and thus far, Trump has not shown any interest in condemning the crown prince the way the senators hope he will. Demirjian reports for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Los Angeles County offices and U.S. Postal Service closed Wednesday in honor of George H.W. Bush By Brian Park The Honor Guard carries the casket of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush following his funeral on Dec. 5 in Washington, DC. (Doug Mills - Pool/Getty Images) The U.S. Postal Service will suspend regular mail delivery Wednesday, which President Trump has declared a national day of mourning in honor of former President George H.W. Bush. All retail postal outlets will be closed, and package delivery will be limited. In Los Angeles, all nonessential county departments, offices and libraries will be closed for the day, L.A. County officials said. The Los Angeles County Library said no overdue fines will be assessed for books, and due dates will be moved forward one week. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health offices also are closed Wednesday. The Sheriffs Department, Fire Department, clinics and hospitals will continue to operate, the county said. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health clinics are being operated with reduced staffing, and the department asked patients to confirm or reschedule any appointments. All county courts and the disaster recovery centers for the Woolsey fire in Malibu and Agoura Hills will remain open. Larger federal government operations will be closed Wednesday. To honor the life and legacy of President Bush, the Postal Service will observe the National Day of Mourning. Learn how Postal operations will be affected. https://t.co/Mffch7bPCh pic.twitter.com/vG46BsIOpm  U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) December 4, 2018 L.A. County offices and libraries will be closed tomorrow (Dec 5) in observance of the #NationalDayOfMourning for President George H. W. Bush.



The Countys Disaster Recovery Centers in Malibu & Agoura Hills will remain open from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. pic.twitter.com/Sv1J7GoJ7T  Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) December 4, 2018 @LAPublicHealth offices will be closed tomorrow December 5 in observance of the national Day of Mourning for President George H. W. Bush. Essential Services including clinics and other services will remain open: https://t.co/tZGoGGHRlg pic.twitter.com/ypXsV6vlYY  LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) December 4, 2018 Facebook

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Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to skip 2020 White House race, sources say By Associated Press Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick speaks during an interview in Boston on Dec. 15, 2014. (Elise Amendola / Associated Press) Former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts will soon announce he wont launch a 2020 presidential campaign, according to three sources familiar with his plans. They did not say why the Democrat decided against a run. A formal announcement was delayed as the country observed a day of mourning for President George H.W. Bush, one source said. News of Patricks plans was first reported by Politico. Patrick, 62, served two terms as governor, from 2007 to 2015, was assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration and since leaving the governors office has been a managing director for Bain Capital. Patrick traveled the country in support of Democratic candidates in the recent midterm election. Earlier this year, some of Patricks supporters and close advisors started the Reason to Believe political action committee, a grassroots organization dedicated to advancing a positive, progressive vision for our nation in 2018 and 2020. Reason to Believe PAC had been holding meetups across the country, including in early presidential primary states. While Patrick is opting against a 2020 run, dozens of Democrats are considering jumping in, including nearly a half-dozen members of the Senate, several House members, and other Massachusetts politicians. On Tuesday, Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels and a vocal critic of President Trump, said in a statement that he would run. Patrick had previously expressed some concerns about breaking through if he sought the nomination, telling David Axelrod, a former advisor to President Obama, that he wasnt sure he could stand out in such a large field. Its hard to see how you even get noticed in such a big, broad field without being shrill, sensational or a celebrity, and Im none of those things and Im never going to be any of those things, Patrick said in a September interview with Axelrod. Facebook

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Former Trump adviser Roger Stone invokes 5th Amendment right and wont testify before Senate Judiciary Committee By Associated Press Roger Stone in 2017. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) Roger Stone, an associate of President Trump, says he wont provide testimony or documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee. An attorney for Stone said in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, that Stone was invoking his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to produce documents or appear for an interview. Stone has been entangled in investigations by Congress and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III about whether Trump aides had advance knowledge of Democratic emails published by WikiLeaks during the 2016 election. Stone has not been charged and has said he had no knowledge of the timing or specifics of WikiLeaks plans. In the letter to Feinstein, Stone said the committees requests were far too overbroad, far too overreaching and far too wide-ranging. Facebook

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Watch live: Vice President Pence and lawmakers honor George H.W. Bush at the U.S. Capitol before he lies in state Facebook

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Rebuilding crumbling infrastructure has bipartisan support. But who gets to pay for it? By Jim Puzzanghera The grades for major U.S. infrastructure would give any parent indigestion if they were on a childs report card. Roads: D; bridges: C+; dams: D; ports: C+: railways: B; airports: D; schools: D+; public transit: D-. The nations overall grade: D+, which translates to being in fair to poor condition and mostly below standards with significant deterioration and a strong risk of failure, according to an evaluation last year by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Read More Facebook

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Trump calls former lawyer Michael Cohen a weak person who is lying By Associated Press President Trump says his former lawyer Michael Cohen is lying to get a reduced sentence. The president is reacting to Cohens guilty plea Thursday to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate project in Russia. During a surprise court hearing, Cohen admitted to lying in testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen in his guilty plea said he made the false statements to be consistent with Trumps political message. Cohens lawyer says he continues to cooperate with special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with Trump associates. Facebook

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As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Mark Z. Barabak When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook

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As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Sarah D. Wire When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook

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Michael Cohen, President Trumps ex-lawyer, pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Trump real estate project in Russia By Associated Press Michael Cohen, President Trumps former personal lawyer, pursued a Russian real estate project on candidate Trumps behalf well into the 2016 campaign, he said Thursday while pleading guilty to lying to Congress. Cohen had previously said that the project was abandoned in January 2016, but he now admits he continued to pursue a deal and says he updated Trump and members of his family about the negotiations, according to a new court document. Read More Facebook

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James Comey says acting Atty. Gen. Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer By John Wagner Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker speaks at the Justice Department in Washington on Nov. 14. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) Former FBI Director James B. Comey apparently isnt too impressed with the mental prowess of President Trumps acting attorney general. Matthew Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, Comey said during a radio interview on Monday night in which he sized up the man Trump installed this month to replace ousted Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. Comey was asked by WGBH News in Boston if he thinks Whitaker could derail the investigation of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Whitaker has spoken critically of the probe, and Trump  as recently as Tuesday  continues to call it a witch hunt. I think its a worry, but to my mind not a serious worry, Comey said. The institution is too strong, and [Whitaker], frankly, is not strong enough to have that kind of impact. He may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, but he can see his future and knows that if he acted in an extralegal way, he would go down in history for the wrong reasons, and Im sure he doesnt want that, added Comey, who was fired by Trump last year and later wrote a book that portrays the president as an ego-driven congenital liar. Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney in Iowa, was Sessions chief of staff before being picked by Trump to lead the Justice Department. Trump has called Whitaker a very smart man. Earlier this year, Trump called Comey an untruthful slime ball. Wagner writes for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Interior Department watchdog clears Zinke in investigation of Utah national monument By Juliet Eilperin Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, third from the left, and Gov. Jerry Brown tour fire damage in Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 14. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The Interior Departments Office of Inspector General has cleared Secretary Ryan Zinke in a probe of whether he redrew boundaries of a national monument in Utah to aid the financial interests of a Republican state lawmaker and stalwart supporter of President Trump. In a Nov. 21 letter to Zinkes deputy, David Bernhardt, Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall wrote that her office found no evidence that the secretary or his aides changed the boundaries of Utahs Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in an effort to help former Utah state representative Mike Noel, who serves as executive director of the Kane County Water Conservancy District. Last December, Trump shrank the monument, first established by President Clinton in 1996, by 46% based on Zinkes recommendation. Noel owns 40 acres that had been surrounded by the monument, but now lies outside its boundaries. The new boundaries also would make it easier to construct the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline, which would deliver water to sites in Kane County that include Noels property. Earlier this year, the Interior Department had proposed selling off 120 acres of federal land from the former monument that lay adjacent to some of Noels land holdings, but later reversed the plan. We found no evidence that Noel influenced the DOIs proposed revisions to the [monuments] boundaries, that Zinke or other DOI staff involved in the project were aware of Noels financial interest in the revised boundaries, or that they gave Noel any preferential treatment in the resulting proposed boundaries, Kendall wrote. Neither the Interior Department nor the inspector generals office would release the actual investigative report. In the letter, Kendall writes that her office will provide the report to Congress no sooner than 31 days from Nov. 21, when it is provided it to Zinkes office. The Associated Press first reported the inspector generals conclusions Monday night, but did not provide details from the report itself. Noel emailed Zinke about the effort to alter Grand Staircase-Escalante, according to emails released by Interior under the Freedom of Informational Act. But those emails do not make references to Noels land holdings. Noel also pushed to rename a Utah highway in honor of Trump, but abandoned that effort in March after some of his fellow Republicans objected to the idea. Noel did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. The inspector generals office still has at least two ongoing probes of the secretary, including one focused on his real estate dealings in Whitefish, Mont., and another regarding his decision to deny a permit to two Connecticut tribes who were hoping to jointly run a casino after MGM Resorts International lobbied against it. Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift welcomed the watchdogs conclusions. The report shows exactly what the secretarys office has known all along  that the monument boundaries were adjusted in accordance with all rules, regulations and laws, she said in an email. This report is also the latest example of opponents and special interest groups ginning up fake and misleading stories, only to be proven false after expensive and time consuming inquiries by the IGs office. But Kendalls spokeswoman, Nancy DiPaolo, defended the inquiry, even though she said the report has not been publicly released and we will not be speaking specifically about the matter at this time. The OIG opens investigations based on credible allegations and reports our findings objectively and independently, DiPaolo added. Any time or resources spent investigating conduct or activity that may be a violation of law, regulation or policy is a service to the public, Congress and the Department. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement that he still intended to investigate the way Zinke and his colleague redrew the boundaries for Grand Staircase-Escalante and another Utah national monument, Bears Ears, next year. I have great respect for the inspector general, and I accept these findings, but Secretary Zinke should have known the people he listened to while destroying our national monuments had disqualifying conflicts of interest, he said. Should I chair the Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress, the process he and President Trump used to destroy Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante will be front and center in our oversight and investigations efforts. We need to know why they ignored overwhelming public expressions of support for both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, why they ignored Native American tribes throughout their decision-making, and why they removed protections on parcels of land with known mineral deposits. Eilperin and Rein report for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Trump advisor Larry Kudlow says China must do more to end trade war By Jim Puzzanghera Larry Kudlow, President Trumps top economic advisor, said Tuesday that Chinas response to U.S. efforts to rework the two economic superpowers trade relationship has been extremely disappointing but the planned meeting this weekend between the nations leaders is an opportunity for a breakthrough. They have to do more. They must do more, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters ahead of a Saturday dinner between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 Summit in Argentina. I think the president is exactly right  to show strong backbone when prior administrations did not, to break through these Chinese walls, Kudlow said. Theyre so resistant to change. We have to protect the country. We have to protect our technology, our inventiveness, our innovation. Read More Facebook

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Watch live: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds a media briefing amid tensions at the border By Los Angeles Times Staff Facebook

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Democrat TJ Cox grabs lead over Republican David Valadao in nations last remaining undecided House race By Maya Sweedler Democrat TJ Cox slipped past Republican incumbent David Valadao on Monday to take the lead in the countrys sole remaining undecided congressional race, positioning Democrats to pick up their seventh House seat in California and 40th nationwide. Cox, who trailed by nearly 4,400 votes on election night, has steadily gained as ballot counting continues nearly three weeks after the Nov. 6 election, a pattern consistent with the states recent voting history. On Monday, he pulled ahead by 438 votes after Kern County updated its results. Read More Facebook

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Former CIA director Michael Hayden hospitalized after suffering a stroke By Deanna Paul Then-CIA Director Michael Hayden testifies before a Senate committee in 2008. (Saul Loeb / Getty Images) Former CIA Director and retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke, his family said Friday. He is receiving expert medical care for which the family is grateful, according to a statement issued by his namesake organization. The General and his family greatly appreciate the warm wishes and prayers of his friends, colleagues, and supporters. Hayden, 73, served as director of the CIA and National Security Agency during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He retired from the CIA in 2009. Hayden has been a vocal critic of Donald Trumps campaign and presidency. Earlier this year, after Trump decided to revoke the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, Hayden was one of several former intelligence leaders who signed a statement in opposition. Criticizing the president for crossing a line, he quickly became one of the individuals whose security clearance Trump threatened to review. Deanna Paul writes for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Trump tells troops hes thankful for what hes done for the U.S. and rails against courts and migrants By Associated Press President Trump talks with troops via teleconference from his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Thanksgiving. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump used his Thanksgiving Day call to troops deployed overseas to pat himself on the back and air grievances about the courts, trade and migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. Trumps call, made from his opulent private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., struck an unusually political tone as he spoke with members of all five branches of the military to wish them happy holidays. Its a disgrace, Trump said of judges who have blocked his attempts to overhaul U.S. immigration law, as he linked his efforts to secure the border with military missions overseas. Trump later threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines Mexico has lost control on its side. The call was a uniquely Trump blend of boasting, peppered questions and off-the-cuff observations as his comments veered from venting about slights to praising troops  You really are our heroes, he said  as club waiters worked to set Thanksgiving dinner tables on the outdoor terrace behind him. It was yet another show of how Trump has dramatically transformed the presidency, erasing the traditional divisions between domestic policy and military matters and efforts to keep the troops clear of politics. You probably see over the news whats happening on our southern border, Trump told one Air Force brigadier general stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, adding: I dont have to even ask you. I know what you want to do, you want to make sure that you know who were letting in. Later, Trump asked a U.S. Coast Guard commander about trade, which he noted was a very big subject for him personally. Weve been taken advantage of for many, many years by bad trade deals, Trump told the commander, who sheepishly replied, Mr. President, from our perspective on the water  we dont see any issues in terms of trade right now. And throughout, Trump congratulated himself, telling the officers that the country is doing exceptionally well on his watch. I hope that youll take solace in knowing that all of the American families you hold so close to your heart are all doing well, he said. The nations doing well economically, better than anybody in the world. He later told reporters, Nobodys done more for the military than me. Indeed, asked what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving, Trump cited his great family as well as himself. I made a tremendous difference in this country, he said. Facebook

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Trump contradicts CIA assessment that Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi killing By Josh Dawsey | Washington Post (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump on Thursday contradicted the CIAs assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting that the agency had feelings but did not firmly place blame for the death. Trump, in defiant remarks to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, defended his continued support for Mohammed in the face of a CIA assessment that the crown prince had ordered the killing. He denies it vehemently, Trump said. He said his own conclusion was that maybe he did, maybe he didnt. I hate the crime .... I hate the cover-up. I will tell you this: The crown prince hates it more than I do, Trump said. Asked who should be held accountable for the death of Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, Trump refused to place blame. Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a very, very vicious place, the president said. He also seemed to suggest that all U.S. allies were guilty of the same behavior, declaring that if the others were held to the standard that critics have held Saudi Arabia to in recent days, we wouldnt be able to have anyone for an ally. Trumps remarks came after he held a conference call with U.S. military officers overseas, during which he repeatedly praised his administration and sought to draw the officers into discussions of domestic policy. Facebook

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Former FBI Director James Comey gets subpoena from House Republicans By Bloomberg Former FBI Director James B. Comey said he has received a subpoena from House Republicans, according to a Twitter post on Thursday. Bloomberg News reported last week that Comey would be receiving a subpoena alongside former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch as part of continuing probes into their handling of investigations into Hillary Clinton and Russian election meddling, according to a top House Democrat. Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see.  James Comey (@Comey) November 22, 2018 Read More Facebook

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Republican David Valadaos lead slips to 447 votes over Democrat TJ Cox in still-undecided Central Valley House race By Mark Z. Barabak Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), right, finds himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox. (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) On election night, it looked like Rep. David Valadao had survived a close shave and was destined to return to Washington for his fourth term. But on Wednesday, when Fresno County announced its latest vote totals, the Hanford Republican found himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox, with his lead in the Central Valley district shrunken to 447 votes. Thousands remain to be counted. Valadao, a repeated Democratic target, finished election night with a lead of nearly 4,440 votes. Cox, an engineer and a business owner who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2006, has steadily gained ground in the 21st Congressional District ever since. The trend is consistent with historic patterns showing Republicans in California tend to vote early and Democrats later, meaning their mail ballots continue to stream in past election day. Under California law, ballots postmarked up to midnight on Nov. 6 will be counted. Democrats have already picked up six House seats in California. They ousted Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Mimi Walters, Steve Knight and Jeff Denham and won the seats of retiring Reps. Ed Royce and Darrell Issa. All six represented districts that backed Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016. Valadao was the seventh California Republican in a district Clinton won, though his previous successes  he last won reelection by a 14-point margin  suggested his ouster was a longer shot for Democrats. If Cox prevails, it would give Democrats a 40-seat gain nationwide, far more than the 23 seats needed to take control when Congress reconvenes in January. Facebook

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Trump says no new punishments against Saudi Arabia in Jamal Khashoggi murder By Eli Stokols In this Oct. 25 photo, candles are lit in front of a photo of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Lefteris Pitarakis) President Trump made it clear on Tuesday that he does not intend to punish Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident killed by Saudi officials in Turkey in October. In a remarkable statement replete with exclamation points, Trump cast doubt on the CIAs reported conclusions that it has a high degree of confidence that the crown prince ordered Khashoggis murder and sent his closest allies to Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul to carry it out. Read MoreThis article has been updated with staff. Facebook

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Sixteen House Democrats vow to oppose Nancy Pelosi as next speaker By Mike DeBonis | Washington Post House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Sixteen House Democrats said Monday that they will vote to deny Rep. Nancy Pelosi another stint as House speaker, a show of defiance that puts her opponents on the cusp of forcing a seismic leadership shake-up as their party prepares to take the majority. Their pledge to oppose Pelosi (D-San Francisco), both in an internal caucus election and a Jan. 3 floor vote, delivered in a letter sent to Democratic colleagues, comes as Pelosi has marshaled a legion of supporters on and off Capitol Hill to make her case. But her opponents said Monday they are convinced it is time to select a new leader. We are thankful to Leader Pelosi for her years of service to our Country and to our Caucus, they wrote. However, we also recognize that in this recent election, Democrats ran on and won on a message of change. Pelosi has expressed complete confidence that she will retake the speakers gavel in January  eight years after she lost it following massive Republican gains in the 2010 midterms and 16 years after she was first elevated to the top Democratic leadership post in the House. Come on in, the waters fine, she said Friday about a potential leadership challenge. The signers might not be able to force Pelosi out themselves. The size of the Democratic majority remains in flux, but Democrats have already won 232 seats, according to the Associated Press, with five races still undecided. All those races have Republican incumbents, but the Democratic challenger is ahead in only one of them. If the leads hold in the uncalled races, Democrats would have won 233 seats, a 16-seat majority. That means Pelosi could lose as many as 15 Democratic votes when she stands for election as speaker on Jan. 3. Read More Facebook

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Democratic senators sue over Whitakers appointment as acting attorney general By Associated Press Acting U.S. Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images) Three Senate Democrats filed a lawsuit Monday arguing that Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and asking a federal judge to remove him. The suit, filed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, argues that Whitakers appointment violates the Constitution because he has not been confirmed by the Senate. Whitaker was chief of staff to Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and was elevated to the top job after Sessions was ousted by President Trump on Nov. 7. The Constitutions Appointments Clause requires that the Senate confirm all principal officials before they can serve in their office. The Justice Department released a legal opinion last week that said Whitakers appointment would not violate the clause because he is serving in an acting capacity. The opinion concluded that Whitaker, even without Senate confirmation, may serve in an acting capacity because he has been at the department for more than a year at a sufficiently senior pay level. President Trump is denying senators our constitutional obligation and opportunity to do our job: scrutinizing the nomination of our nations top law enforcement official, Blumenthal said in a statement. The reason is simple: Whitaker would never pass the advice and consent test. In selecting a so-called constitutional nobody and thwarting every senators constitutional duty, Trump leaves us no choice but to seek recourse through the courts. The lawsuit comes days after a Washington lawyer challenged Whitakers appointment in a pending Supreme Court case dealing with gun rights. The attorney, Thomas Goldstein, asked the high court to find that Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and replace him with Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein, the second-ranking Justice Department official, has been confirmed by the Senate and had been overseeing special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker is now overseeing the investigation. The Justice Department issued a statement Monday defending Whitakers appointment as lawful and said it comports with the Appointments Clause, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and legal precedent. There are over 160 instances in American history in which non-Senate confirmed persons performed, on a temporary basis, the duties of a Senate-confirmed position, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said. To suggest otherwise is to ignore centuries of practice and precedent. Facebook

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Gov. Rick Scott says Sen. Bill Nelson concedes Florida Senate race By Associated Press Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott speaks with his wife, Ann, by his side at an election watch party in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 7. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas Republican Gov. Rick Scott says incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson called him to concede defeat in their extremely tight race. Scott issued a statement Sunday saying Nelson graciously conceded their Senate race shortly after the states recount ended. The final results show Scott defeated Nelson by just over 10,000 votes out of 8 million cast. Nelson is scheduled to release a videotaped statement later Sunday. The defeat ends Nelsons lengthy political career. The three-term incumbent was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. Before that he served six terms in the U.S. House and as state treasurer and insurance commissioner for six years. Scott spent more than $60 million of his own money on ads that portrayed Nelson as out-of-touch and ineffective. Nelson responded by questioning Scotts ethics and saying he would be under the sway of President Trump. Facebook

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Orange County goes blue, as Democrats complete historic sweep of its seven congressional seats By Michael Finnegan Gil Cisneros defeated Republican Young Kim on Saturday in the last of Orange Countys undecided House races, giving Democrats a clean sweep of the states six most fiercely fought congressional contests and marking an epochal shift in a region long synonymous with political conservatism. With Cisneros victory, Democrats will constitute the entirety of Orange Countys seven-member congressional delegation, the first time since the 1930s that the birthplace of Richard Nixon, home of John Wayne and spiritual center of the Republican Party will have no GOP representative in the House. Sitting back in the 1960s, I would never have believed this would happen, said Stuart K. Spencer, a party strategist who spent more than half a century ushering Republicans, including President Reagan, into office. Read More Facebook

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Going, going ... with midterm wipeout, California Republican Party drifts closer to irrelevance By Michael Finnegan For a party in freefall the last two decades, California Republicans learned that its possible to plunge even further. The GOP not only lost every statewide office in the midterm election  again, in blowout fashion  but Democrats reestablished their supermajority in Sacramento, allowing them to legislate however they see fit After major defeats in Orange County and the Central Valley, two longtime strongholds, Republicans will have a significantly smaller footprint on Capitol Hill. (Democrats hold both Senate seats.) When the vote-counting is finished, the GOP may not even have enough lawmakers in Californias 53-member House delegation to field a nine-person softball team. Read More Facebook

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Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter says she will support Rep. Nancy Pelosi for speaker By Maya Sweedler Democratic Rep.-elect Katie Porter is congratulated by volunteers at her campaign headquarters in Irvine. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter said she plans to support Rep. Nancy Pelosis bid for speaker of the House and will make campaign finance reform her top priority when she enters the chamber in January. Im going to continue to have conversations, but so far I feel like Leader Pelosi is definitely making the things that were a priority to the families that elected me her priorities, including announcing her support for campaign finance reform and anti-corruption as HR1, Porter said in her first public appearance since being declared the winner in Californias 45th Congressional District on Thursday evening. It means a lot to me that she is a Californian. She understands our state, Porter added. When we talk about environmental protections, this is a person who understands as a Californian how fragile our environment is and whats at risk in things like drilling off our coasts. Porter, a law professor at UC Irvine, defeated two-term Republican Rep. Mimi Walters. The 45th District, covering inland Orange County, has never been represented by a Democrat. Porter became the third Democrat to claim a Republican-held seat in Orange County, following the victories of Harley Rouda in the 48th District and Mike Levin in the 49th. A fourth, Gil Cisneros, is running slightly ahead of his Republican opponent in the race for the open seat in the 39th District, which extends into Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Porter attributed the massive political shift in the county, for decades a conservative stronghold, to increased levels of political engagement. Folks here care about education, they care about the environment, they believe climate change is real, they want healthcare that protects preexisting conditions, they want a tax system that doesnt punish California, they want our schools and places of worship to be safe from gun violence, she said. Those are the issues we campaigned on, and to the extent that Donald Trump and Mimi Walters were on the wrong side of those issues, the voters have made clear what direction they want us to go. Porter was flying back from the East Coast when her race was called, she said. She turned on her phone to find 167 text messages from friends and supporters. Among them was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who was one of Porters teachers in law school and with whom she has remained close. The pair spoke via FaceTime this morning, she said. Facebook

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Bitter battle for Senate seat in Florida goes to hand recount By Associated Press Employees look through damaged ballots during a recount Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas acrimonious battle for the U.S. Senate headed Thursday to a legally required hand recount after an initial review by ballot-counting machines showed Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson separated by less than 13,000 votes. But the highly watched contest for governor between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum appeared to be over, with a machine recount showing DeSantis with a large enough advantage over Gillum to avoid a hand recount in that race. Gillum, who conceded the contest on election night only to retract his concession later, said in a statement that it is not over until every legally casted vote is counted. The recount so far has been fraught with problems. One large Democratic stronghold in South Florida was unable to finish its machine recount by the Thursday deadline due to machines breaking down. A federal judge rejected a request to extend the recount deadline. We gave a heroic effort, said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher. If the county had three or four more hours, it would have made the deadline to recount ballots in the Senate race, she said. Meanwhile, election officials in another urban county in the Tampa Bay area decided against turning in the results of their machine recount, which came up with 846 fewer votes than originally counted. Media in South Florida reported that Broward County finished its machine recount but missed the deadline by a few minutes. Counties were ordered last weekend to do a machine recount of three statewide races because the margins were so tight. The next stage is a manual review of ballots that were not counted by machines to see whether there is a way to figure out voter intent. Scott called on Nelson to end the recount battle. Its time for Nelson to respect the will of the voters and graciously bring this process to an end rather than proceed with yet another count of the votes  which will yield the same result and bring more embarrassment to the state that we both love and have served, the governor said in a statement. The recount has triggered multiple lawsuits, many of them filed by Nelson and Democrats. The legal battles drew the ire of U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker, who slammed the state for repeatedly failing to anticipate election problems. He also said the state law on recounts appears to violate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that decided the presidency in 2000. We have been the laughingstock of the world, election after election, and we chose not to fix this, Walker said during a morning hearing. Walker vented his anger at state lawmakers and Palm Beach County officials, saying they should have made sure they had enough equipment in place to handle this kind of a recount. But he said he could not extend the recount deadline because he did not know when Palm Beach County would finish its work. This court must be able to craft a remedy with knowledge that it will not prove futile, Walker wrote in his ruling turning down the request from Democrats. It cannot do so on this record. This court does not and will not fashion a remedy in the dark. The overarching problem was created by the Florida Legislature, which Walker said passed a recount law that appears to run afoul of the 2000 Bush vs. Gore decision by locking in procedures that do not allow for potential problems. A total of six election-related lawsuits are pending in federal court in Tallahassee as well at least one lawsuit filed in state court. Walker also ordered that voters be given until 5 p.m. Saturday to show a valid identification and fix their ballots if they have not been counted due to mismatched signatures. Republicans appealed the ruling, but an appeals court turned down the request. State officials testified that nearly 4,000 mailed-in ballots were set aside because local officials decided the signatures on the envelopes did not match the signatures on file. If those voters can prove their identity, their votes will be counted and included in final official returns due from each county by noon Sunday. Walker was asked by Democrats to require local officials to provide a list of people whose ballots were rejected. But the judge appointed by President Obama refused the request, calling it inappropriate. Under state law, a hand review is required with races that have a margin of 0.25 percentage points or less. A state website put the unofficial results showing Scott ahead of Nelson by 0.15 percentage points. The margin between DeSantis and Gillum was at 0.41 points. The margin between Scott and Nelson had not changed much in the last few days, conceded Marc Elias, an attorney working for Nelsons campaign. But he said that he expected the vote tally to shrink due to the hand recount and the ruling on signatures. The developments fueled frustrations among Democrats and Republicans alike. Democrats want state officials to do whatever it takes to make sure every eligible vote is counted. Republicans, including President Trump, have argued without evidence that voter fraud threatens to steal races from the GOP. Facebook

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Democrat Gil Cisneros pulls ahead of Republican Young Kim as more votes are tallied in Orange and San Bernardino counties By Michael Finnegan Congressional candidate Gil Cisneros (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Democrat Gil Cisneros pulled ahead of Republican Young Kim in one of Californias undecided congressional races Thursday, an ominous sign for a GOP already reeling from its loss of four House seats in the state. In updated vote counts released by the registrars for Orange and San Bernardino counties, Kim fell 941 votes behind Cisneros in the contest to succeed Republican Rep. Ed Royce in Californias 39th Congressional District. The 39th straddles Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties. In another unresolved House race, Democrat Katie Porter pulled further ahead of Republican incumbent Mimi Walters in the 45th District, which includes Mission Viejo, Tustin, Irvine, Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Hills. Porter, a consumer attorney and UC Irvine law professor, is now 6,203 votes ahead. The Nov. 6 midterm election has been devastating to Republicans in California. If Cisneros and Porter win, the party will have lost six of its 14 House seats in the state, essentially a wipeout in every contest that both parties spent heavily to win. The three Republicans already bounced from Congress are Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa, Steve Knight of Palmdale and Jeff Denham of Turlock in the San Joaquin Valley. Democrat Mike Levin won the seat of retiring GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista in the fourth district flipped so far. Facebook

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Florida Senate race likely headed to second recount By Associated Press A Palm Beach County Sheriffs deputy walks past boxes of ballots before a recount on Nov. 15 in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee) Unofficial Florida election results show that the governors race seems to be settled after a machine recount but the U.S. Senate race is likely headed to a hand recount. Republican Ron DeSantis is virtually assured of winning the nationally watched governors race over Democrat Andrew Gillum. Florida finished a machine recount Thursday that showed Gillum without enough votes to force a manual recount. Unofficial results posted on a state website show the margin between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Gov. Rick Scott is still thin enough to trigger a second review. State law requires a hand recount of races with a margin of 0.25 percentage point or less. Counties have until Sunday to inspect the ballots that did not record a vote when put through the machines. Those ballots are re-examined to see whether the voter skipped the race or marked the ballot in a way that the machines cannot read but can be deciphered. The election will be certified Tuesday. Read More Facebook

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Pelosi says she has the votes to become the next House speaker By John Wagner Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in Washington on Nov. 14. (Susan Walsh) House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi insisted Thursday that she has the votes to become the chambers speaker despite solid opposition from more than a dozen Democrats who want fresh leadership when the party takes control next year. I have overwhelming support in my caucus to be speaker of the House, the San Francisco lawmaker told reporters. I happen to think at this point, Im the best person for that. A vote within the Democratic caucus is scheduled for Nov. 28. The full House votes on Jan. 3 to elect a new speaker. During her remarks, Pelosi touted the size of the Democratic victory in the midterms, which she called almost a tsunami. With a few races still to be decided, Democrats are poised to pick up close to 40 seats in the chamber. Pelosi called that the biggest victory for the Democrats since 1974, when the Watergate babies came in. Pelosis comments come as she faces solid opposition from at least 17 Democrats, setting the stage for a battle over who will ascend to one of the most powerful positions in Washington. After a campaign in which some Democrats prevailed in competitive districts by promising to oppose her, a coalition of incumbents and newly elected members has denied her a smooth path to the speakership. The defections, if they stand, would leave Pelosi, who has led the Democrats for more than 15 years, several votes short of the 218 she would need when the full House votes for speaker Jan. 3. However, no Democrat has stepped forward to run against her for a job she held from 2007 through 2010. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) told reporters Wednesday that shes being encouraged to stand for speaker if Pelosi doesnt have the votes. In an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday, she said she has been overwhelmed by the support from many of her colleagues for her possible entry into the race for House speaker. Over the last 12 hours, Ive been overwhelmed by the amount of support Ive received, Fudge said, adding that there are probably closer to 30" Democrats who have privately signaled that they are willing to oppose Pelosi. Things could change rapidly, Fudge said. Fudge, 66, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she is building a diverse coalition as she mulls a speaker run, talking with allies in the caucus, moderate Democrats and newly elected members. To this point, Pelosi has enjoyed the strong backing of the Congressional Black Caucus. On Thursday, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), one of its members, wrote a letter to colleagues praising her insight, fortitude and strategic thinking and urging support for her speakership bid. Former Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., an African American who is contemplating a 2020 presidential bid, also voiced support for Pelosi, praising her in a tweet as an architect of the recent midterm success. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a leader of the resistance to Pelosi, said during an interview on CNN on Thursday that Fudge is the kind of new leader that we need in this party. Shes in touch with middle America. She understands what the American people want. Shes a next-generation leader that people will look to and say, Thats the future of our party, thats the future of our country, and thats exactly the kind of leader that I want to see as our next speaker. Wagner reports for the Washington Post. The Posts Robert Costa, Erica Werner, Mike DeBonis, Paul Kane and Elise Viebeck contributed to this report. Facebook

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GOP Rep. Jeff Denham concedes to Democrat Josh Harder in Central Valley race By Maya Sweedler Rep. Jeff Denham (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) Republican Rep. Jeff Denham has conceded to Democrat Josh Harder in the race to represent Californias 10th Congressional District in the San Joaquin Valley. It has been an absolute honor to serve our community and represent the Central Valley in Congress over the past eight years, the 51-year-old congressman said. The enormity of the responsibility was never lost on me. My wife Sonia and I look forward to starting the next chapter of our lives. Harder said he had spoken with Denham and the two were committed to a productive transition. Denham, an Air Force veteran, previously represented the region in the state Senate for eight years and founded a company specializing in plastic packaging used in agriculture. While a member of Congress, he sat on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture committees. First-time candidate Harder was born and raised in the district. After graduating from Stanford University, he served as vice president of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Since moving back, he has been teaching at Modesto Junior College. Denhams House seat is one of four in California that Republicans lost in the Nov. 6 election, with two contests in Orange County still undecided as of Thursday morning. Jeff Denham called me this morning and we had a very productive conversation. I'm honored that I've been chosen to serve our community in Congress, and we're both looking forward to a productive transition that best serves the people of District 10.  Josh Harder (@JoshHarder) November 14, 2018 Facebook

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Democrat Katie Porter now nearly 3,800 votes ahead of GOP Rep. Mimi Walters By Maya Sweedler Rep. Mimi Walters thanks all of her supporters as she watches election results in Irvine on Nov. 7, 2018. (Alex Gallardo / Associated Press) Democrat Katie Porter opened a 3,797-vote lead Wednesday over Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in Orange Countys 45th Congressional District. In the neighboring 39th, Democrat Gil Cisneros has nearly tied the race against Republican Young Kim. Cisneros now trails Kim by a razor-thin margin of 122 votes. The 39th District straddles Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties; Wednesdays updated ballot counts came from the latter two. There are more than 202,000 ballots left to count in Orange County, which includes parts of seven congressional districts. The 45th is entirely in inland Orange County. In California, the ballots counted first tend to lean Republican and those tallied later skew Democratic. In the Central Valleys 21st Congressional District, Democratic challenger TJ Cox has pulled within 2 percentage points of Rep. David Valadao, who is serving his third term. The Associated Press had projected a win for Valadao on election night, but his 4,839-vote advantage has shrunk to 2,090. Back in CA-21, Valadao (R) wins a batch of ballots from his stronghold in Kings Co., but by a considerably smaller margin (14 points) than his previous ~30-point margin in the county. We're moving to Lean R from Likely R; today a bit scary for Valadao.https://t.co/WqJVUVkqGW  Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 15, 2018 A spokesman for Valadao told the Fresno Bee that the changes were expected and that [s]tatistically, David Valadao has won this race. Democrats in California have already flipped four House seats, defeating three Republican incumbents and claiming an open seat previously held by the GOP. Reps. Steve Knight of Palmdale, Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and Jeff Denham of Turlock have already lost their races, and retiring Rep. Darrell Issas San Diego County seat was claimed by Democrat Mike Levin. Facebook

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Trump aide departs West Wing after rebuke from Melania Trump By Associated Press First Lady Melania Trump. (Alain Jocard / AFP-Getty Images) Deputy national security advisor Mira Ricardel is leaving the White House, one day after First Lady Melania Trumps office issued an extraordinary statement calling for her dismissal. No replacement was named. Aides said Ricardel clashed with the first ladys staff over her visit to Africa last month. Yet it is highly unusual for a first lady or her office to weigh in on personnel matters, especially the presidents national security staff. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Ricardel would have a new role in the administration. On Tuesday, Stephanie Grisham, the first ladys spokeswoman, released a statement saying, It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House. President Trumps White House has set records for administration turnover. Ricardel was the third person to hold the post under Trump. An ally of national security advisor John Bolton, Ricardel began her service in the Trump administration as associate director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, then moved to the Commerce Department last year. Bolton brought her into the West Wing shortly after taking the job in April. He is traveling in Asia this week alongside Vice President Mike Pence. Facebook

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Race for House Minority Leader is Kevin McCarthys to lose By Associated Press (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is running to take over next years shrunken caucus in closed-door elections that will set the tone for the new Congress. The race for minority leader is McCarthys to lose Wednesday. But the California Republican, who is an ally of President Trump, must fend off a challenge from conservative Jim Jordan of Ohio. Jordan is a leader of the House Freedom Caucus. The two encountered questions and finger-pointing during a private meeting with lawmakers Tuesday night as the GOP sorted through the midterm defeat that put Democrats in the majority next year. Elections Wednesday will also determine party leadership in the Senate. Voting for the biggest race, Nancy Pelosis bid to return as the Democrats nominee for speaker, is later this month. Read More Facebook

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Melania Trump calls for the firing of deputy national security advisor By Justin Sink First Lady Melania Trump arrives at the Chateau de Versailles outside Paris on Nov. 11. (Alain Jocard / AFP/Getty Images ) First Lady Melania Trumps office said she wants Mira Ricardel, the deputy national security advisor, ousted from the White House. It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House, Trumps spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement in response to a question about reports the first lady had sought Ricardels removal. Ricardel is the top deputy to national security advisor John Bolton. She drew the first ladys wrath after threatening to withhold National Security Council resources during Melania Trumps trip to Africa last month unless Ricardel was included in her entourage, one person familiar with the matter said. Grishams statement comes as several media outlets have reported that President Trump is considering a broader shakeup of his administration, including ousting Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Sink and Jacobs report for Bloomberg. Read More Facebook

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CNN sues Trump over the suspension of Jim Acostas White House press credentials By Jim Puzzanghera CNN said Tuesday that it is suing President Trump and other administration officials over the decision to suspend the White House press credentials of correspondent Jim Acosta after a conflict at a news conference last week. The suit, to be filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, escalates an ongoing battle between Trump and the cable news outlet that he frequently accuses of disseminating fake news for its aggressive coverage of him and his administration. The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acostas 1st Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their 5th Amendment rights to due process, CNN said in a written statement. If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials. Read More Facebook

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Maxine Waters to take aim at Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank as new head of House Financial Services Committee By Jim Puzzanghera Rep. Maxine Waters plans to zero in on two big banks  Wells Fargo & Co. and Deutsche Bank  when she becomes head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee. The Los Angeles congresswoman, now the committees top Democrat, is widely expected to gain the gavel after her party won control of the House in last weeks elections. While Waters has outlined a wide-ranging agenda, she said her focus on bank oversight will target two large institutions she has been tangling with for a while  including one, Deutsche Bank, that spills into her bitter feud with President Trump. With Trump in the White House, I know that our fight for Americas consumers and investors will continue to be challenging. But I am more than up to that fight, Waters wrote in a letter last week to her Democratic colleagues on the committee that was obtained by The Times. Read More Facebook

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Heres how a controversial voting system will decide a congressional race in Maine By Kurtis Lee For the first time in U.S. history, a controversial voting system known as ranked choice is being used to decide a federal election. Its happening in Maine, which adopted the system in 2016. Rather than marking a single candidate, each voter ranks them all, assigning a first-place vote, a second-place vote and so on down the ballot. Read More Facebook

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ACLU files suit to stop Trumps new asylum limits By Associated Press A group of Central American migrants march to the office of the U.N.'s humans rights body in Mexico City on Nov. 8. (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press) The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a legal challenge to President Trumps order denying asylum to migrants if they cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco and argues the new rules are against the law. Attorney Lee Gelernt said the regulations will put families in danger. The suit seeks to declare the regulations invalid and wants a judge to stop the rules from going into effect while the litigation is pending. The new rules were spurred in part by caravans of Central American migrants slowly moving north on foot, but officials say they will apply to anyone caught crossing illegally. Officials say about 70,000 people who enter the country illegally claim asylum. The order invoked the same national security powers Trump used to push through his travel ban. Read More Facebook

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Trump on new acting AG: I dont know Matt Whitaker By Associated Press President Trump talks with reporters before departing for France on the South Lawn of the White House on Nov. 9. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President Trump is moving to distance himself from Matthew Whitaker as he faces criticism over his choice for acting attorney general. Trump told reporters Friday that I dont know Matt Whitaker and said he didnt speak with Whitaker about special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker has made public comments critical of Muellers investigation, and critics have called on Whitaker to recuse himself from oversight of the inquiry. Under former Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, the investigation was overseen by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Of the scrutiny Whitaker is facing, Trump said: Its a shame that no matter who I put in they go after. He also called Whitaker a very highly respected man. Whitaker was Sessions chief of staff before Trump made him Sessions interim replacement. Facebook

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg out of hospital after fall By Associated Press The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is home after being released from the hospital. She had been admitted for treatment and observation after fracturing three ribs in a fall. The court said Ginsburg was released Friday. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says she is doing well and working from home. The court had previously said the justice fell in her office at the court on Wednesday evening and went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook

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Gun-control activist Lucy McBath defeats GOP Rep. Karen Handel in Georgia By Associated Press Lucy McBath speaks during a rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Nov. 2 at Morehouse College in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Democratic gun-control activist Lucy McBath has defeated Republican Rep. Karen Handel of Georgia in a suburban congressional district long considered safe for the GOP. Handel had to seek reelection after winning her seat last year in a close special election race against Democrat Jon Ossoff. McBath became an advocate for stricter gun laws after her son, Jordan Davis, was fatally shot at a Florida gas station in 2012 by a man angry over loud music the teenager and his friends were playing in a car. McBaths margin of victory was narrow enough for Handel to have requested a recount. The Associated Press declared McBath the winner Thursday after Handel conceded. Handel conceded in a statement Thursday morning, stating that after reviewing all of the election data, its clear she came up a bit short in Tuesdays vote. Handel congratulated McBath, offering good thoughts and much prayer for the journey that lies ahead for her. McBath, who is African American, declared victory Wednesday. Facebook

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized after fracturing 3 ribs in fall By Associated Press Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fractured three ribs in a fall in her office at the court and is in the hospital. The court says the justice went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. The court says the fall occurred Wednesday evening. Ginsburg was admitted to the hospital for treatment and observation after tests showed she fractured three ribs. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She has had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook

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White House suspends press pass of CNNs Jim Acosta after heated exchange with Trump By Associated Press The White House on Wednesday suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after he and President Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference. They began sparring after Acosta asked Trump about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the southern U.S. border. When Acosta tried to follow up with another question, Trump said, Thats enough! and a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab the microphone from Acosta. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement accusing Acosta of placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern, calling it absolutely unacceptable. The interaction between Acosta and the intern was brief, and Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold onto it. Pardon me, maam, he told her. Acosta tweeted that Sanders statement that he put his hands on the aide was a lie. CNN said in a statement that the White House revoked Acostas press pass in retaliation for his challenging questions Wednesday, and the network accused Sanders of lying about Acostas actions. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporters colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history.  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Contrary to CNNs assertions there is no greater demonstration of the Presidents support for a free press than the event he held today. Only they would attack the President for not supporting a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters...  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 As a result of todays incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice.  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Sanders provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better, CNN said. Jim Acosta has our full support. Journalists assigned to cover the White House apply for passes that allow them daily access to press areas in the West Wing. White House staffers decide whether journalists are eligible, though the Secret Service determines whether their applications are approved. Facebook

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Trump spars with reporters at post-election news briefing, ordering several to sit down By Associated Press  President Trump assails CNNs Jim Acosta at a White House news conference. President Trump sparred with reporters at his post-election news conference, ordering several to sit down and telling another hes a rude, terrible person. He told another reporter hes not a fan of yours, either. The presidents mood turned sour Wednesday after reporters pressed him on why he referred to a migrant caravan making its way to the U.S. on foot through Mexico as an invasion. Trump ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric against the caravan in the final days of the midterm elections. Trump was also pressed on why his campaign aired an ad featuring a Mexican immigrant convicted of killing American police officers and linking the mans actions to the caravan. Several television networks pulled the ad after airing it or declined to air it at all. Facebook

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Im living one hour at a time at this point By Christine Mai-Duc Republican congressional candidate Young Kim and gubernatorial candidate John Cox campaign in Rowland Heights. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Republican congressional candidate Young Kim greeted gubernatorial candidate John Coxs giant campaign bus, the words HELP IS ON THE WAY emblazoned across it, as it rolled into the parking lot outside her Rowland Heights field office. Standing beside Cox on Saturday, Kim predicted that a string of GOP victories Tuesday would start with voters repealing the gas tax hike. Can you imagine Gavin Newsom being our governor? Can you imagine Gil Cisneros being your representative? Kim asked the crowd, to loud boos and cries of Nooo! The former state assemblywoman who worked for retiring Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) is vying for his seat with Democrat Gil Cisneros. She led the crowd in chants of Enough is enough! and, though short-lived, Drain the swamp! Ive served you in Sacramento and Ive seen dysfunction personally, Kim continued. We cannot continue that route. She urged her supporters to stay and help make phone calls or walk neighborhoods. Lets get out there  the 72 hours is really critical. Its all going to come down to a few votes, it could be your vote, she said pointing to her left, then pivoting right, it could be your vote. So dont sit back and do nothing. Every night I go to sleep thinking, OK, how many more votes can I get or how many more people can I call tomorrow? Kim said. It can be physically exhausting but Im mentally, emotionally very energized. She listed off her events so far that day  and the next one she was heading to. Thats just what I can remember, she said. Im living one hour at a time at this point. Kims campaign invited press to two of her events on Saturday. After she was whisked away to her next event  a high tea fundraiser in Walnut, a couple dozen volunteers remained. John Freeman, a statewide field manager for the state Republican Party, tried to pump them up. This is the Super Bowl. Were not in an NFL stadium, were not getting paid millions of dollars, but you know what? Freeman said. Were walking on the field right now. This is that high-stakes-level game. Facebook

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Its going to be tough out there Democratic candidate Katie Porter speaks to volunteers in Mission Viejo. Jon Bauman, Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na, is in the background. (Victoria Kim / Los Angeles Times ) Judging from the cheers in the crowd, about half those assembled at Katie Porters campaign headquarters in Mission Viejo Sunday morning were old enough to remember 70s rock n roll star Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na. Jon Bauman, as Bowzer is known off stage, said it was her position on senior issues including retirement and social security that has him out supporting Porter over her opponent, incumbent Rep. Mimi Walters. I want you to make sure every phone is called and every door is knocked, he told the crowd of about 80 volunteers. There has never been a more important election. Both Bauman and his nephew, California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman, were interrupted by yells from Trump supporters coming from an adjoining hillside. We love Trump, the voice cried out. We love him too, he makes great fodder, the younger Bauman retorted, before introducing Porter. Porter, a UC Irvine law professor and first-time candidate, acknowledged the uphill battle some of her canvassers might face in this more conservative end of the long-red Orange County district. I know its going to be tough out there, she said, motioning to the hillside. But she said the attacks meant the other side viewed her campaign as a significant threat. This election is going to be close, she said. If we dont fight all the way to the finish line, until 8 oclock on Tuesday, this could slip away. Bowzer then took to a keyboard piano to lead the crowd in a reworded rendition of the song Good Night Sweetheart: Good night, Mimi Walters, he crooned. A woman in a black tank top, jeans and flip flops holding a cup of coffee later joined the crowd with her two sons, 17 and 14, the younger one wearing a Trump 2016 T-shirt. She declined to give her name, saying she was concerned about being attacked, but said she lived up the hill and said she had been the one yelling. She said she was encouraging her sons to talk to people on both sides and make up their own minds. We need to have a government that runs the way government teachers are telling kids its supposed to be run, said the woman, a retired registered dental assistant who voted early for Mimi Walters. Referring to Democrats, she said: Theyve had control over all these years and Californias gone to crap. Among those canvassing was Stacie Campbell, 37, who was at the launch with her husband Jerome and three children, the youngest of whom was 2 months old. Campbell, a Mission Viejo resident who runs a business, had never canvassed or volunteered for campaigns before, and her husband is a French citizen and unable to vote. She said they had been talking to their children  the older ones are 5 and 2  about the presidency and the government since Trumps election. Together, they worked on homemade Katie Porter lawn signs and put them up around town. This is the first time its felt like a big deal and there isnt a president up for election, she said. Because her city is a mix of conservatives and liberals  her next-door neighbor is an NRA-supporting Republican  she the race felt mHector Barajas, who became the face and voice of deported veterans after his own deportation, will be allowed to return to the place he considers home and become a U.S. citizen.

Barajas burst into joyous tears seated on a couch Thursday afternoon in front of a large American flag as he read a document informing him that he would be sworn in as a citizen on April 13 in San Diego.

Fourteen years, man, Hector said, his voice cracking. Oh my God, this is great. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Im coming home, mom! he added.

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Nathan Fletcher, a candidate for county supervisor who has championed the deported veterans cause, sat beside Barajas on the couch, his hand rubbing Barajass shoulder in congratulations. Norma Chavez-Peterson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego, sat on the other side of Barajas, telling him that an ACLU attorney had already arranged how he would get back home.

Barajas was honorably discharged from the Army in 2001 but struggled readjusting to civilian life. He took a plea deal for a charge of shooting at an occupied car in 2002. Because of that conviction, the government took away his green card, and he was deported in 2004 after he finished a prison sentence.

I made bad decisions, Barajas-Varela told the Union-Tribune last year about that time in his life. I put myself in that situation... I wouldnt put myself in that situation again.

Barajas founded the Deported Veterans Support House, known to many as the Bunker, in 2013 to support deportees in Tijuana. He became a leader in a push for legislative changes to help U.S. military veterans who had not become citizens avoid deportation and to bring back those who were already removed.

He was born in Mexico but raised in Los Angeles from age seven. Since he had a green card, he was able to serve in the Army and was part of the 82nd Airborne Division from 1995 to 2001. At the time, he thought hed automatically become a citizen, but that was not the case.

Members of the military are allowed to apply for citizenship with no waiting period. They still have to fill out the paperwork and pass the tests.

Noncitizens who serve in the military are still at risk for deportation if they commit crimes that can cause the U.S. to revoke their green cards.

Advocates have argued that conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder and other challenges that veterans face when they leave the military can make it more likely that they commit such crimes. They say that the veterans should be expected to serve whatever sentences theyre given for the criminal convictions but that deportation goes too far. The ACLU has documented at least 239 cases of deported veterans living in 34 countries.

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Critics of the deported veterans movement say that a green card is a contract and any violation should result in deportation, regardless of military service.

In April 2017, Gov. Jerry Brown pardoned him, along with two other deported veterans, saying Barajas has shown that since his release from custody, he has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character and conducted himself as a law-abiding citizen.

Barajas hoped that might eventually allow him to return to the U.S., but he knew it was no guarantee. He applied for citizenship before receiving the pardon.

Marco Chavez Medina, a deported Marine whom Brown also pardoned, crossed back into the U.S. in December after his green card was reinstated. Barajas and several other deported veterans escorted him to the San Ysidro port of entry.

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Barajas has a middle-school-age daughter named Liliana who lives in Los Angeles. He has dreamed of reuniting with her while he waited to find out if the U.S. would let him back in.

Finally, after years of fighting for the rights of deported veterans to return to the U.S., Hector will be able to return home as an American citizen, said Jennie Pasquarella, director of immigrants rights for the ACLU of California and one of Barajass attorneys. Hector, like a true soldier, has fought day in and day out since his deportation on behalf of deported veterans across the globe. He never gave up hope that he would one day return to his home and be reunited with his family.

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Immigration Videos On Now New developments in family separation case 9:53 On Now A San Diego woman volunteered as a medic in Texas helping migrant families 2:35 On Now Immigration policy protests in Carlsbad nearly cancelled after permit issue 1:38 On Now When children are separated from their parents at the border, here is where they go next On Now Prospects of a deal for 'Dreamers' may hinge on separating Trump from hard-liners on his staff On Now What is DACA? On Now Border wall prototype contractors selected On Now Video: Ukrainian boxer wins asylum in U.S. On Now 30 apprehended after Border Patrol agents discover tunnel On Now Video: Kurdish diaspora prepare to vote on independence

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kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate on TwitterThe operations and development committee of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority learned Thursday that the noise issue surrounding Hollywood Burbank Airport extends outside Burbanks borders.

More than 40 residents, many from Studio City, gathered at the Buena Vista Branch Library in Burbank Thursday night to tell committee members about the increased number of low-flying aircraft they have noticed flying above their neighborhoods since the implementation of the Next Generation Air Transportation System, known as Next Gen.

The Airport Authority usually meets every first and third Monday of the month at Hollywood Burbank at 9 a.m., but Burbank residents and city officials have been asking the authority to bring back its evening meetings occasionally to allow those that cannot make morning meetings a chance to meet with airport officials.

This was the second special meeting the Airport Authority has held to listen to residents about their concerns about the Federal Aviation Administrations latest transportation system, which was implemented in Southern California last March.

For about a year since the implementation of the satellite-based system in the region, airport and Burbank officials have heard from residents about how they believe NextGen has caused airplane departures to be lower when flying out of Hollywood Burbank and causing additional noise.

However, several Studio City residents told the committee that they, too, have been affected by the possible outcome of NextGen, with many saying they have been seeing planes flying over their homes more frequently and have been affected by the increased noise from flights.

As far as I am concerned, its just one big nuisance, Studio City resident David Kamin said. As far as Im concerned, the FAA or a governmental entity has taken my property. I wouldnt buy a house on my street anymore. As far as Im concerned, I ought to be compensated for them taking my property, so I can move.

Kamin added that the planes are flying so low that he could read the numbers off the bottoms of the dozens of aircraft that fly over his house every day.

Ive been so irritated by the damn things, he said.

Another Studio City resident, Kimberly Turner, told the commission that she was more annoyed by the frequency of flights over her neighborhood, which she said seems like one plane after another.

NextGen was implemented as a way to increase time and fuel efficiency for the aircraft, as well as make departures and arrivals safer.

Prior to the implementation of NextGen, Turner said planes would occasionally fly over her house, and it was not a big deal. However, she said the number of planes going over her property feels like a new permanent route that pilots are taking when they leave Hollywood Burbank, and that the noise generated by the low-flying aircraft has altered her living situation.

This has just destroyed our peace and tranquility, she said. It has never been like this.

While many residents continue to raise their concerns about NextGen to airport and city officials, Burbank resident Claudia Keene told commissioners she might have to leave the city if the noise issue is not addressed.

Keene said she sold her condominium near Victory Boulevard and Hollywood Way five years ago because she could not bear the noise generated by departing flights. She bought a house near Chandler Boulevard and Hollywood Way, hoping to get away from the noise, which worked, but not for long.

I fear a repeat experience at my [new] condo, so much so that Im already thinking of leaving the city, Keene said. Im already starting to put out feelers as to where I want to move next.

Saying he understands this is an issue that needs to be addressed, Airport Authority President Terry Tornek told residents during the meeting that the airport has hired the firm Landrum & Brown to investigate whether NextGen is the root of all of the concerns and complaints from residents, or if other factors may be attributing to the noise and frequency issues.

Rob Adams, executive vice president of the firm, said during the meeting that Landrum & Brown is familiar with airport issues, saying its employees have worked with the city of Charlotte, N.C., with its NextGen issues, as well as the city of Phoenix, Ariz., which recently won its lawsuit against the FAA regarding the satellite-based system.

He added that his colleague, Christian Valdes, will be working with residents and the airport authority to find out the causes of possible flight-path changes and low departures.

Were here to listen and to hear what you have to say, Adams said.

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpioBurbank Unified Supt. Matt Hill released a statement Friday about rumors he may be seeking to be the next superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Recently, my name has been circulated as a candidate to be superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. I would like to respond to the speculation by stating that I have not applied for the position, and I plan to continue my role as superintendent in Burbank Unified, he said in the statement.

I am proud of all that our district has accomplished in the past three years, and I am fully committed to continuing this journey together for years to come, he added.

mark.kellam@latimes.comMonday, April 2, is a special day for Burbank Coordinating Council. The speaker at our luncheon meting will be Laurie Bleick, executive director of Family Service Agency of Burbank. Shell share information about the upcoming Carewalk, and all the programs that they coordinate to serve the mental health of our students at Burbank schools as well as families in need.

There is so much need for support these days with unsettling situations in the schools as well as stresses and issues in the homes. We are lucky to have FSA counselors available both on school campuses and at their center to be the safe person to many of our students.

The meeting is at Little White Chapel, 1711 N. Avon, at noon, and the cost is only $12 for lunch. Please RSVP to Doris (818) 842-6361. We hope all our organizations will attend and share their upcoming events too, so we can all support one another!

And of course, it is Campership season, time to collect funds and applications to send more than 100 low-income, at-risk or homeless children to a week of day camp or resident camp. There is a list of ways to help, and of course you can always make a donation through Paypal on our website. Coins for Campers bottles for contests are available too. If you want to participate, call us at (818) 216-9377.

The campership application deadline has been extended to April 27. This program, a product of Noon Kiwanis and BCC, has provided much needed respite for children since 1936! Make this a special month to support children and mental health

Janet Diel

President

Burbank Coordinating CouncilOne of the most dangerous points to have been leaked from the so-called Deal of the Century, which the American negotiating team has been preparing, is the exclusion of Jerusalem from the suggested solution. Through this exclusion, they are circumventing the Palestinian, Arab and international consensus regarding the city being the long-sought capital of the Palestinian state.

These leaks coincide with the hysterical escalation of Judaising settlement activities in Jerusalem and the decisions to ethnically cleanse Palestinian communities in whats called the (E1) Area, including the Jabal Al-Baba and the Bedouin communities in the Jordan Valley. These activities aim at totally encircling Jerusalem and separating it from its West Bank surroundings.

In parallel with this, the ministerial committee in the Netanyahu occupation government announced its approval for the separation from Jerusalem of Palestinian communities around Kafr Aqab and the Camp of Shefat. Thus, they are paving the way for usurping the identity and the right of residence of tens of thousands of Jerusalemite Palestinians.

This was accompanied by reckless statements from American Vice President Pence about the approaching transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem and American President Trump's acknowledgment of Jerusalem as Israels capital.

Western supporters of these statements to erase the Jerusalem issue from the concept of the Palestinian state have been encouraged by illusions arising from the location of the Palestinian Authority's institutions in Ramallah. The PA has been based in Ramallah due to being prevented from locating in Jerusalem, as well as excessive urban and consumer expansion there.

However, the advocates of these illusions dont realise what Jerusalem means, not only to 13 million Palestinians, but to more than 300 million Arabs, to 1.6 billion Muslims, and to 2.2 billion Christians  nor what it means as a historically holy city for the whole of humanity, with its 7 billion people.

I dont think that they realise that there has never been, nor will there ever be, a Palestinian leader or official who dares to give up Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.

Whoever dares to even suggest the possibility of such a relinquishement within any upcoming political agreement or project will be tainted with treason from the point of view of all Palestinians and Muslim Arabs. There is nothing more horrendous, despicable, dangerous and harsh than the accusation of treason.

Whoever dares to even suggest dangerous ideas about separating Jerusalem from its Palestinian inhabitants in response to Zionist projects propagated by the Israeli government doesnt realise the historical significance of what Jerusalem has undergone throughout its long history. He also doesnt realise its capacity to rise again after every occupation and every invasion, no matter how mighty or long the periods of invasion and occupation were.

History is full of lessons for anyone attempting to possess or monopolise control over Jerusalem. Such people ended up in its streets or on its walls with burnt hands  condemned to oblivion.

Jerusalem has endured, along with its inhabitants and those who remain, steadfastly defending it and its borders and environs.

Whoever isnt satisfied with the lessons of history should learn a lesson from what the valiant Jerusalemites did last July, when they rose up in their tens of thousands against Netanyahus measures and restraints, entering Al-Aqsa Mosque and forcing him to retreat dispiritedly. Through their popular struggle, they accomplished what governments, states and international organisations could not.

Jerusalemites and Palestinians wont cause or allow the liquidation of the Jerusalem issue. Nor will they accept any solution that doesnt include Jerusalem as a capital for their people.

All the peoples of the region who were too forgiving regarding the injustice to which Jerusalem has been subjected, wont forgive, in any case, the encroachment on their religious and historical holy sites and what the city represents to them.

The advocates of those allusions may go and play in other spheres, but they must keep away from Jerusalem, because it is capable of destroying their plots in a way that they wont and cant imagine.

According to Palestine, Jerusalem has been and will be the first and last word, regardless of who accepts or who rejects this.

The writer is Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative.



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Sidecar Doughnuts & Coffee in Costa Mesa is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a celebrity chef series throughout the year and a new food truck.

Sidecar also will be expanding with a third location, in Del Mar in San Diego County.

For the series, chefs will create new doughnut flavors that will be featured for a month. Proceeds will benefit each chefs nonprofit of choice.

Sidecars new truck will travel throughout Southern California and be available for events.

The Del Mar location is planned to open in September. Costa Mesas location at 270 E. 17th St. opened in 2013. The chains first location, in Santa Monica, opened in 2012.As surely as a ficus tree takes root, so does love.

A ficus at Pacific View Memorial Park & Mortuary in Corona del Mar towers 20 feet over the grave of Erwin Warshawsky, its canopy leaning slightly over the marker instead of the paved path.

Its sprawling roots underline the names of Erwin and his wife, Latife. Then the roots disappear into the dirt just past Latifes name, which is etched next to Erwins in preparation for her to join him.

This tree was not planted by Pacific View to match the others that dot the cemeterys 10 acres of gently rolling greens. It came from the couples Mission Viejo home, where it grew in a small pot at Erwins urging. Then, still rather small and spindly, it was transplanted to his final resting place through his widows persistence.

It now stands robust as, Latife believes, a vessel for her husbands spirit.

My darling, she tells him over the song of the wind chimes hanging from the trees lowest bough. Youre not dead.

This is one of Latife Warshawskys favorite photos of herself and her husband, Erwin, who died in 1999. (Courtesy of Latife Warshawsky )

The tree was a gift from husband to wife.

Erwin brought her flowers weekly. One day he brought her a tree.

It was a sad, twiggy ficus sapling, barely a tree at all, just a few inches tall, in a rusty can. He found it in a neighbors trash and thought it would have a chance under Latifes green thumb.

He already had a name for it: Orphan.

She told him she wasnt so sure, but she re-potted Orphan. After a couple of weeks, it shed its few leaves, but she kept watering and fertilizing it.

And then it started to get a little bigger and a little bigger, she said.

As Orphan grew to a few feet tall, it was moved into a new pot on rollers. This allowed it to provide shade to Erwin while he read the weekend comics and Latife prepared breakfast.

Erwin and Latife married in middle age and did not have children together. But they had the ficus named Orphan, and for a couple of years, they were a happy little family.

Then, on March 24, 1999, Erwin died of cancer a week shy of his 64th birthday.

He was the first to be buried in the Cedar Lawn section of Pacific View, on a sunny quarter-acre overlooking the Big Canyon Reservoir. When Latife made her weekly visits to tell Erwin about her days or to pray or meditate, she would stay for up to an hour.

The newly developed plot had no trees. The umbrella she brought wouldnt stay up. So she asked the front office if she could plant a tree.

At first she was told no, out of fairness to every other family that might want a tree. But she asked repeatedly. A new sales manager eventually told her she could because the Cedar Lawn area needed shade. But it would be at her expense, and cemetery staff would select the tree.

When Latife went home to Mission Viejo, she saw Orphans leaves rustling. There was no wind. She checked for critters and didnt find any. The late-afternoon sun was behind the tree, but its leaves werent in silhouette.

They were, she said, sparkling.

I said, Ahh, I understand what youre saying! she recalled.

Latife Warshawsky talks about a leaf from Orphan, the ficus tree she planted near the grave of her husband, Erwin, at Pacific View Memorial Park & Mortuary in Corona del Mar. (Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer )

She called the cemetery and asked if she could bring her ficus at her next visit. The sales manager told her to bring it that day.

So she wrestled the tree, then approaching 5 feet tall, into the back of her Cadillac. A hole for it was waiting at Pacific View.

Latife now laughs and weeps and wraps her arms around the trunk, marveling at how it has grown and forked over the 18 years it has been at Erwins side.

Latife, 79, is from Ankara, Turkey, and traveled widely as a flight attendant instructor for Turkish Airlines. She moved to the United States in 1979. She took up new careers in the U.S.  as an aesthetician and makeup artist, then an interior designer, then an aesthetician instructor, and then as a boutique and salon owner. She also is an accomplished artist who earned a masters degree from Laguna College of Art + Design in 2011.

One of her salon customers introduced her to Erwin, a physicist who worked on missiles during the space race. They had their first date at Five Crowns restaurant in Corona del Mar and married five years later, in 1991.

Plants, animals and humans. We have so much energy and correlation between us because ourselves are alive, Latife said, twisting off a leaf. And now Im thinking he [Orphan] is going down and then feeding himself with Erwins bodys cells and then its becoming every leaf for me, carrying Erwins cells.

Latife Warshawskys reflection is seen in the grave marker of her husband, Erwin, at Pacific View Memorial Park. (Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer )

She said shes tried taking cuttings home to spawn a new tree, but they never take. She figures Orphan is showing its gratitude by staying where it is.

Marie Hess, location manager at Pacific View, has heard Orphans story several times. It gets her every time.

She tours the grounds often, and when she does, I give a little glance and smile at Orphan.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHDOne of the three people killed early Thursday when a car slammed into the back of their vehicle in Huntington Beach was a teenager set to graduate from Centennial High School in Las Vegas in June, according to his family.

The family identified him as A.J. Rossi, who was in Southern California with the other victims for spring break, investigators said. Coroners officials have not publicly identified the other victims, who authorities say also were young Las Vegas residents.

Rossis family set up a GoFundMe page to cover his funeral expenses. The page had raised more than $22,000 by Friday evening.

It described him as always being the center of attention, with a smile that lit up every single room that he walked into.

In fact, A.J. just won the Best Smile superlative for his senior class, the page reads. After high school, A.J. had plans to attend college at College of Southern Nevada this fall. A.J. had a whole life ahead of him.

Bani Duarte, 27, of San Clemente was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, police said. (Courtesy of Huntington Beach Police Department )

The driver of the other car, Bani Duarte of San Clemente, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

Duarte, 27, who is listed in jail records as a receptionist, was booked into Orange County Jail in Santa Ana with bail set at $100,000. She has not been charged, according to the Orange County district attorneys office, which is reviewing the case.

Huntington Beach police responded at 1:08 a.m. Thursday to a report of a crash involving two vehicles at Pacific Coast Highway and Magnolia Street. A Toyota was on fire when officers arrived, Officer Angela Bennett said.

Bennett said a Hyundai Sonata traveling north on PCH struck the Toyota, which was stopped at a red light at the intersection with Magnolia.

Three people in the Toyota were killed. A passenger who was able to get out of the car was taken to a hospital with unknown injuries.

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact Huntington Beach police accident investigator Joshua Page at (714) 536-5670.

KTLA contributed to this report.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCNFour men and a woman are facing charges in connection with a kidnapping in February in which a man was forced to don a long blond wig and put on a red dress before being tortured and robbed in a Costa Mesa motel, according to Orange County Superior Court records.

Kaiewa Haoletanno, 25, of San Juan Capistrano and Michael Camardi, 27, of Santa Ana are facing charges including assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, torture, kidnapping, kidnapping to commit robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and car theft, all felonies, as well as false imprisonment, a misdemeanor. They have not entered pleas but are due in court for arraignments April 20, court records show.

Katherine Dudley, 22, of Huntington Beach, Joseph Spellman, 29, of Costa Mesa and Jason Sacdalan, 47, of Costa Mesa are charged with the same felonies but also face possible sentencing enhancements on allegations of criminal street gang activity. They pleaded not guilty to all charges March 23, according to court records.

The charges are the culmination of Costa Mesa gang investigators roughly month-long probe into the Feb. 11 attack, according to police.

Authorities launched their investigation at about 9:15 p.m. after they received a report from a manager at the Albertsons supermarket at 2300 Harbor Blvd. that a man with blood on his head was requesting help, according to an affidavit attached to an arrest warrant filed in Superior Court.

Katherine Dudley, 22, of Huntington Beach and Jason Sacdalan, 47, of Costa Mesa are charged in a Costa Mesa kidnapping and torture case. (Courtesy of Costa Mesa Police Department )

Michael Camardi, 27, of Santa Ana is facing felony charges in a Costa Mesa kidnapping and torture case. (Courtesy of Costa Mesa Police Department )

The 38-year-old victim, who was not identified, told officers that the situation began earlier that day when he and a friend stole Dudleys cellphone, which she had left in the victims car. Sacdalan and Dudley confronted the pair about the theft shortly after in the parking lot of the Goodwill at 620 W. 19th St., the affidavit states.

Officers wrote that the man said Dudley and Sacdalan forced him and his friend to drive to the New Harbor Inn at 2205 Harbor Blvd. to get to the bottom of the situation. The victims friend, a 30-year-old man, exited the car at a gas station on Harbor Boulevard and refused to get back in, so the rest of the group continued to the motel.

After parking at the New Harbor Inn, three men  who authorities say were Spellman, Camardi and Haoletanno  approached the vehicle and took the man to a room on the second floor.

Authorities allege Spellman is a member of an Orange County-based skinhead gang and that Haoletanno claimed to be from the gang Public Enemy Number One, also known as PEN1, according to the affidavit.

In the motel room, the victim was forced to strip to his boxers and put on a blond wig, police wrote.

Spellman is accused of drawing on the mans face with a red marker to resemble makeup and writing a derogatory term for a woman across his chest. Eventually, the man was forced to put on a red dress, police wrote.

Authorities allege in the affidavit that Spellman, Camardi and Haoletanno punched and kicked the man multiple times. Investigators also allege that Haoletanno Tased him on the neck and head and then waved a lit butane torch by his face but did not burn him.

Spellman is accused of using a pair of pliers to rip out the mans left earring, tearing his earlobe, according to the affidavit.

The man told police the men pinned him down and Haoletanno stabbed him in his left thigh with a knife, the document states.

While Haoletanno was holding the knife, he began telling [the victim] that he needed to pay taxes to the local gang for selling and using drugs in Costa Mesa, police wrote.

Haoletanno also thanked him for helping him earn his bolts by spilling his blood for his Aryan/white brothers, the affidavit states.

During the assault, police allege, the group took the mans cellphone, wallet and car key. After the beating, he was forced to write a bill of sale for his car for zero dollars, according to the document.

During this time, [the victim] felt terrified, humiliated and angry, police wrote. He did not fight back or show emotion because he did not want to show weakness and just wanted to take his beating and be done with it.

The man told authorities he was allowed to leave after he apologized to Dudley for stealing her phone.

During an interview with police, Sacdalan told detectives that he and Dudley didnt witness the beating and only went into the room to gather belongings before they left. He also denied that they forced the man to drive to the motel, according to the affidavit.

Sacdalan was arrested in February, while Dudley, Camardi and Spellman were taken into custody over several days in March. Haoletanno turned himself in at Orange County Jail in Santa Ana on March 24, police said.

Spellman is being held without bail at Orange Countys Theo Lacy jail in Orange. Camardi and Sacdalan are being held without bail at the county jail in Santa Ana. Dudley and Haoletanno are being held in county jail in Santa Ana with bail set at $1 million.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCNLawrence Larie Tales, founder of Jeeps R Us in Laguna Beach, has died. He was 75.

The longtime Laguna Beach resident who owned and operated the Laguna Canyon specialty shop, which has remained popular among Jeep and 4x4 enthusiasts for decades, died Monday. The cause of death was not made public by his family.

Tales, originally from Toronto, moved to Laguna for retirement but ended up founding the shop in 1989. He was originally a drag racing fan but once he built a Jeep for his wife, Vicki, he reputedly got the bug of the iconic vehicle brand whose lineage dates to World War II.

When I got here, I worked by myself, then hired part-time employees, Tales told the Daily Pilot in 2014, when he sold the business. I taught them what I know. If a wheel comes off, it has to be torqued back on.

Over the years, Tales Jeeps R Us was featured in several automotive magazines and has long been noted for its car club atmosphere and collection of classic Jeeps visible along Laguna Canyon Road. The shop, now under new ownership, offers custom builds, Jeep rentals, sales and repair work, particularly for older models.

Tales told the Pilot in 2014 that Jeep enthusiasts were known to drop a stack of $100 bills for one of the shops custom jobs.

If you can dream it, we can build it, is the shops unofficial slogan.

Jeeps R Us website posted a notice about Tales death. It said he will be greatly missed by family, friends and Jeeps all over the world.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by two children, a sister and two brothers. Funeral service information was unavailable Friday.

bradley.zint@latimes.com

Twitter: @BradleyZintIve never been much of a fundraiser in my volunteer roles, in PTA or elsewhere. In my first PTA presidency, I probably earned the record for money not raised, but I always loved the reading events.

Read-a-thons were the most fun, where the focus was on the minutes read rather than the money earned.

Prizes for reading were modest but memorable. One year in the early 1990s, we had special grade-level lunches featuring adventure tales told by master story-telling principal Ken Henisey.

We followed that up with a reading and book-signing by local author and illustrator Amy Goldman Koss, who Id met when she read to our children at the library. Another year, the prize for Reading Magic was a guest appearance by a Magic Castle magician.

For us, and I hope for other parents, the read-a-thons resulted in treasured memories. However many dishes remained on our kitchen counter, whatever frustrations had arisen in the course of the day, the evenings calmed as we sat down to read The Wizard of Oz, Little House on the Prairie or The Chronicles of Narnia.

Reading in our house wasnt limited to read-a-thons, but those communal efforts provided special motivation.

Another memorable story-sharing program started in 1993, when the Glendale Library put out a call for Grandparent Readers to read to elementary children.

Ken Pop Scott answered the call at John Muir Elementary and made his first appearance in Taleen Petrossians classroom during her first year as a teacher.

My only involvement in that program was as the parent of children lucky enough to enjoy Scotts visits. He became a celebrity among students at Muir and Mann elementaries as he read and spoke with class after class of students and their appreciative teachers.

At the end of each school and story-reading year, hed present his listeners with a penny. Its not much, hed tell them, but its mine, and Im giving it to you, much as hed given his time.

One afternoon, I happened to be in the school office as he finished what must have been a particularly wearying day of reading. He shared what I felt was a momentary doubt about the overall effect of his years of reading, and whether it would make a difference for the students in the long run.

It struck me then, as I answered him, that we might never know, but we had to assume that efforts like his, given as freely as his pennies, represented an absolute good.

Not only did children hear great stories, but they experienced a close-up relationship with a volunteer storyteller who clearly enjoyed his young audience. Whatever the measurable outcome, his time would make a difference somehow.

Ken Scott died two weeks ago, at the age of 102. At his memorial service, his children spoke about their fathers encounters with former students who, seeing Scott in town, pulled out the pennies they still carried.

Retired librarian Carolyn Flemming, who led the Grandparent Readers program from its inception until 2002, told me in an email that close to 100 people served as volunteer readers for at least a year, [and]at one point almost 40 volunteers were reading at 15 elementary schools to more than 2,200 students.

A few, like Ken Scott, read for many years to more than 15 classes. Donnalee Monninger, who also started as a Grandparent Reader in 2003, told me shes still reading to five classes each week at Cerritos Elementary, the school she attended as a child.

But she is among the last of the Grandparent Readers, as recruitment and training of new volunteers ceased some years ago.

As is always true, people come with their own passions and new ideas, Flemming wrote.

Now, Flemming and other members of the Glendale Library Foundation are beginning a different sort of storytelling experience in preparation for the foundations April 7 celebration of downtown Central Librarys Reflect Space  the gallery of rotating exhibits depicting the stories and struggles experienced by Glendales diverse communities.

With questions inspired by the National Conference for Community and Justice Neighbor to Neighbor program involving two groups of parents and teachers at Roosevelt Middle School nearly 20 years ago, representative community members have been recording short accounts of their families journeys to Glendale.

At the April 7 celebration, guests will have the opportunity to record their own stories and help inaugurate the librarys oral history project, envisioned as a repository for all our communitys stories.

Every family has a history. Heres hoping people are ready to share their own and listen to others.

JOYLENE WAGNER is a past member of the Glendale Unified school board, from 2005 to 2013, and currently serves on the boards of Glendale Educational Foundation and other nonprofit organizations. Email her at jkate4400@aol.com.Pakistans Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai returned to her hometown Saturday for the first time since she was gravely wounded by a gunshot to the head there in 2012 because of her work as an advocate for girls education.

Yousafzai and her family arrived in a helicopter provided by the Pakistani military, which took her from Islamabad to the town of Mingora in the Swat Valley. She had arrived in the capital before dawn on Thursday, accompanied by heavy security, and plans to return to Britain on Monday.

Yousafzai, 20, won international renown after she was shot by the Taliban in Mingora. She received initial treatment in Pakistan and later was taken to England for further care. She stayed on in the United Kingdom to continue her education and became the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.

Yousafzai entered her childhood home Saturday accompanied by her father, mother and brother. She sobbed upon entering the home where relatives, former classmates and friends had been anxiously waiting since morning to welcome her with flowers and hugs.

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Youzafzai said she had waited for the moment for more than five years and said she often looked at Pakistan on the map, hoping one day to return. She said she plans to permanently return to Pakistan after completing her studies in Britain.

It is still like a dream for me. Am I among you? Is it a dream or reality? she said.

Yousafzai later returned to Islamabad, where she met with human rights activists.

Arooj Bibi, a neighbor, said she was happy to meet with Youzafzai, but was sad that her visit was so brief. Bibi said Yousafzai lit the candle of education. God willing, there will be thousands of girls like Malala getting an education in Swat.

Yousafzai also attended a gathering at the armys Cadet College in Swat, where the Pakistani Taliban led by Mullah Fazlullah had taken over the scenic valley in 2007, marking the height of the extremist groups strength there. The Pakistani military would later evict the Taliban from the valley.

Security had been visibly beefed up in Mingora the previous day. The Pakistani Taliban had warned after the attack on the then-15-year-old that it would target her again if it got the chance.

Yousafzai had asked authorities to allow her to go to Mingora and Shangla village in the Swat Valley, where a school has been built by her Malala Fund.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai signs a guestbook in her hometown of Mingora, Pakistan, on March 31, 2018. (Faridullah / EPA-Shutterstock )

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In October 2012, Yousafzai was shot in the head by a Taliban militant who jumped inside her school van and yelled, Who is Malala? She was targeted for speaking out on education for girls. The Taliban at the time claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying she was promoting Western thinking, and adding that they had warned her family three times before deciding to kill her.

Since her attack and recovery, Yousafzai has established the Malala Fund, for which she said she has raised $6 million for schools and books and uniforms for schoolchildren.

Yousafzai has delighted in telling the Taliban that instead of silencing her, they have amplified her voice. She has also written a book, spoken at the United Nations and met with refugees.

On Friday, Yousafzai praised the Pakistani army in an interview on the independent Geo news channel for providing her timely medical treatment, saying her surgery was done by an army surgeon at the right time.

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Yousafzai has won praise from across Pakistan on her return home, but some critics on social media have tried to undermine her efforts to promote girls education. Yousafzai told media outlets Friday that she expected criticism from militants, who had a particular mind-set, but doesnt understand why some educated Pakistanis oppose her.

Those who do criticize have an absurd kind of criticism that doesnt make any sense, she said in an interview with Pakistans English-language newspaper, the News, published Saturday.

What I want is for people to support my purpose of education and think about the daughters of Pakistan who need an education, she told the newspaper. Dont think about me. I dont want any favor or I dont want everyone to accept me. All I care about is that they accept education as an issue.

In the interview, she said she was sitting in her classroom when news broke about her Nobel Prize and that she was not aware of it as she was not using a mobile phone at the time.

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My teacher came into my classroom and called me outside. I was worried that I might have done something wrong and I am in trouble. But she told me that I had won the Peace Prize. I said thank you. You dont know how to respond. For me, it was for the cause of education, she told the paper.Pope Francis on Saturday urged Catholics not to remain paralyzed in the face of the injustices around them as he baptized eight adults, including a Nigerian migrant who became a hero in Italy for having disarmed a thief with his bare hands.

In an Easter Vigil homily, Francis challenged Catholics to not remain silent, as Jesus disciples were after his crucifixion. Rather, he urged Catholics to break out of their routines and let God in.

It wasnt clear if he had a particular reference in mind, but John Ogah certainly didnt stand by speechless as he witnessed a supermarket robbery on Sept. 26.

John Francesco Ogah during the Easter Vigil ceremony in St. Peters Basilica at the Vatican, Saturday, March 31, 2018. (FABIO FRUSTACI / EPA-EFE / REX / Shutterstock )

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According to Italian news reports, Ogah had been begging for spare change outside the Carrefour market in Romes Centocelle neighborhood when a masked thief, armed with a meat cleaver, tried to make off with about $500 he had stolen from the cashiers.

Security cameras captured Ogahs next steps: With nothing more than his bare hands, he confronted the thief, wrested the cleaver away and held him by the collar until police arrived, after the man fell from his attempted getaway motorcycle.

Ogah then disappeared, fearing he would be deported because he didnt have his papers in order. But Rome police authorities sought to reward his courage and within a month had given him a residency permit that had been denied him when his asylum bid failed.

According to the ANSA news agency, Ogah now has a job with the Italian Red Cross and a place to call home. In preparing for his baptism, he reportedly asked the Rome police captain who handled his case to be his godfather.

In an interview soon after the theft, Ogah told La Repubblica newspaper that his dream was to be legally a resident in Italy and have a job so he wouldnt have to beg to support his child back home in Nigeria. Ogah had left Nigeria and, after a stay in Libya, set off for Italy on a migrant smugglers boat in May 2014.

If Pope Francis or the president of the republic could do something for me I would be the happiest man in the world, he was quoted as saying. I dont want to be a hero. I just want to be legal, work and have a dignified life in Italy.

On Saturday, Francis baptized him during one of the holiest nights in the Catholic liturgical calendar.

Ogah chose as his baptismal name Francesco.All but seven of the 68 people killed in this weeks prison riot and fire in central Venezuela had been identified by Friday as the government continued to remain silent about how the conflagration occurred.

Authorities at the police command center in Valencia, about 100 miles west of Caracas, distributed photos to family members to help in the identification effort. Smoke inhalation or burns were the most common causes of death.

In addition to the deaths, 48 prisoners were injured in the fire Wednesday.

Families were still clamoring for official answers to how the fire started in the overcrowded jail. Unnamed officials have told local media that it began when prisoners set fire to their mattresses.

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Some families have accused guards of starting the fire after one was disarmed and stabbed by a prisoner during a surprise early morning search of cells.

Relatives are also seeking information on the identities of the 100 prisoners who have been transferred from Valencia in central Carabobo state to other jails, according to the Carabobo News Agency.

Venezuelas prison system has long been denounced by human rights groups for overcrowding, rampant gang violence and other abysmal living conditions. There have been several riots in recent years, including one at the Amazonas state prison that left 38 dead.

Family members are also expressing outrage at the way some prisoners have been left in the Valencia detention center for months, even though the law requires they be held for no more than 48 hours before being transferred to court or other jails.

Neither Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro nor Iris Varela, minister of the prison system, has publicly commented on the fire.

Mogollon is a special correspondent.Standing before a roaring crowd in Mexico City at the official launch of his presidential campaign, candidate Ricardo Anaya seethed with anger.

In the last weeks  there have been all kinds of lies, he said. From here on we tell the government and the authors of this dirty war that the more resistance we face, the more force well take off with.

Mexicos election campaign officially opens this weekend, freeing the four candidates who have qualified for the July 1 ballot to register with the government and start spending heavily on advertisements. But the race  and the drama  have been heating up for months.

Back in November, polls had Anaya tied for first place with leftist populist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a three-time presidential candidate and former mayor of Mexico City who is one of the countrys best-known political figures. Trailing them were Margarita Zavala, the wife of former president Felipe Calderon, and Jose Antonio Meade, from Mexican President Enrique Pena Nietos Institutional Revolutionary Party.

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Anaya, a bespectacled former senator from the center-right National Action Party, had ascended quickly, thanks in part to his scathing criticism of Pena Nieto and his risky pledge to investigate allegations of graft by the president and his party.

Until the smear campaign began.

Ricardo Anaya speaks to supporters at his campaign launch in Mexico City on Friday. (Alfredo Estrella / AFP/Getty Images )

In February, Mexicos attorney-general, a Pena Nieto appointee, announced he was investigating a property deal involving Anaya, saying the candidate was suspected of laundering money.

Independent investigations into the deal have concluded Anaya likely broke no laws when he bought and sold a plot of land in an industrial park in his home state of Queretaro. A group of public intellectuals  not all of whom are Anaya supporters  signed a letter imploring the government to stop politicizing law enforcement.

But the investigation has continued, staining Anayas image as an anti-corruption crusader and significantly reshaping the race. As support for Anaya has slipped from 30% down to 24%, Lopez Obrador has surged. He now has a double-digit lead over Anaya, with 42%.

The impact of the investigation on Anayas campaign shows what an important issue corruption is for many Mexican voters, who are incensed after a seemingly unending string of corruption scandals involving governors, cabinet ministers and other allies of Pena Nieto. A recent poll by the Reforma newspaper found that 47% of voters would never vote for his PRI party or its candidate, Meade.

Analysts believe Lopez Obrador has surged in part because voters view him as a clean candidate who has not been targeted by corruption allegations. They have flocked to him in large numbers despite warnings from the right that his economic proposals could lead Mexico toward a fate akin to Venezuelas.

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Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a three-time presidential candidate and former mayor of Mexico City, is one of Mexicos best-known political figures. (Omar Torres / AFP/Getty Images )

While his opponents have sought to paint Lopez Obrador as a reincarnated Hugo Chavez, the socialist who ruled Venezuela autocratically until his death in 2013, his politics look more like those of former U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Lopez Obrador has proposed rolling back or modifying efforts pushed by Pena Nieto to open the energy sector to foreign investment, and he has criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is currently being renegotiated with the United States and Canada.

While Mexican markets have greeted his rise warily, many voters appear happy to risk uncertainty, said Carlos Bravo Regidor, a political analyst and a professor at CIDE, a public research center in Mexico City.

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Mexicans want change, and anger is trumping fear, Bravo said. This election is not about platforms, or issues, or even experience. This is about who has the credibility to make change.

Bravo said Lopez Obrador has been softening some of his more controversial stances, which also helps.

I guess he has learned, Bravo said. Hes clearly coming to terms with the fact that Mexican voters are more conservative than he would like.

One place where Lopez Obrador has been tamer this time around is on the issue of corruption. In a recent interview, he said he would tackle corruption, but would not spend energy prosecuting Pena Nieto or his allies. I am not going to put the president in jail, he said.

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Those kinds of promises have led some to question whether Pena Nietos party targeted Anaya in part because it fears him more than Lopez Obrador. Some have even suggested that there may be an alliance between Lopez Obrador and the PRI.

Bravo said he thinks Lopez Obrador is just playing it safe.

As a candidate, he has more to lose than to win, Bravo said. Maybe Pena Nieto and Lopez Obrador just realized they dont have a lot to gain in fighting each other.

Enrique Pena Nieto is the current president of Mexico. (Marco Ugarte / Associated Press )

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Lopez Obrador has not spoken out against the investigation into Anaya, even as the attorney general in the investigation, Alberto Elias Beltran, has come under fire.

The Anaya case isnt the first time Beltran has been accused of acting more like a political operative than a prosecutor.

In March, Beltran opted not to file money-laundering and tax fraud charges against Cesar Duarte, a former PRI governor from the state of Chihuahua, despite ample evidence that Duarte had diverted state funds.

Last year, Beltran fired the investigator looking into suspected bribes paid to the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht by Emilio Lozoya, a Pena Nieto ally who worked on his 2012 presidential campaign. A federal judge recently suspended the inquiry.

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Presidential candidate Jose Antonio Meade Kuribrena is a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party. (Julio Cesar Aguilar / AFP/Getty Images )

To read this article in Spanish, click here

kate.linthicum@latimes.com

Twitter: @katelinthicumTROPHIES

Downtown Easton business owner Anthony Marraccini is correct in not faulting neighboring Lu-Co Tobacco Outlet and Jack's Market for selling cheap beer from their stores, but he's also correct in stating that the men panhandling for change to buy those cheap beers are problematic for a downtown that's been in revitalization mode for several years now. Instead of giving to the panhandlers, someone ought to buy Marraccini a cold one for bringing the issue to city council this week. It may seem like a minor issue, but panhandling is just the type of nuisance that could tip a families' decision to visit the downtown to shop and dine. To the credit of Mayor Sal Panto Jr., he did not dismiss Marraccini's concerns and suggested police station an undercover officer in the area where the panhandling's occurring. Let's hope the city follows through with his suggestion.

Never underestimate the extent to which the federal government will find ways to spend your money. Let us paint you a picture of this practice. Since 2013, federal agencies have dropped more than $400,000 on artists creating portraits that are displayed within agency buildings, often in secure locations that are not open to the public. Sure, $400,000 represents a pittance so small in federal spending that it doesn't even seem worthy of scrutiny. That's part of the problem. But on rare occasions, Congress does scrutinize these expenditures. U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, who represents part of Northampton County, sponsored a bipartisan measure called the Eliminating Government-funded Oil Paintings Act, or EGO. It passed both the House and Senate. President Donald Trump signed it into law. It prohibits federal funds be used to pay the costs of painting portraits of federal officials. It's a shame it took them this long to realize what most Americans already know: If you're important enough to have your likeness painted on canvas, you're probably rich enough to pay for it yourself.

TURKEYS

Suggesting that "we need a Disney princess who's had an abortion" sounds like the kind of remark a stoned college freshman would make during a 1:30 a.m. argument among friends who just finished watching "Frozen" in a dorm room. That Allentown-based Planned Parenthood Keystone saw fit to put that exact statement out to the world via its Twitter account last week is perplexing. Both those on the pro-life and pro-choice sides of the national debate could probably agree on at least this: Having to explain abortion to an inquisitive 7-year-old after inhaling a bucket of popcorn and watching a 90-minute cartoon during a family outing to the movies probably isn't a situation parents want to face. The tweet, which Planned Parenthood deleted after the inevitable backlash, was in response to a trending topic on Twitter, in which users shared their desires to see particular types of Disney princesses. It missed the mark and further damaged the perception of the organization in the eyes of those who are already skeptical what it does. Even Dopey from "Snow White and the Seven Draws" would've known better.

What's a city council to do when a disgraced mayor resigns after being convicted of selling his office and selling out his constituents? Apparently, for Allentown City Council, the best course of action is to skirt the law and appoint an interim mayor who's not supposed to serve. Former Mayor Ed Pawlowski resigned days after a jury convicted him in a federal corruption trial. City council had 17 applicants for the interim job, yet somehow ended up picking an applicant who the city's solicitor ruled were ineligible. Former city councilman Ray O'Connell was ineligible because the city's Home Rule Charter prohibits any city appointment within one year of someone leaving the city's employ; O'Connell's council tenure ended in January. Council members decided there is enough of a difference in the charter between appointed and elected officials to proceed. We're not saying O'Connell isn't qualified, but the fact that council couldn't collectively realize that they needed a clean appointment and a fresh start to restore confidence in city hall is astounding.

We've seen this movie before. A developer buys a historically significant property that's fallen into disrepair, hints to a redevelopment that will improve the surrounding neighborhood and then let's the property sit idle for years, allowing it to fall into further disrepair. That appears to be the plot line in the latest drama involving the Boyd Theatre in Center City Bethlehem. Developer Charles C. Jefferson purchased the property in January 2016 for $1.35 million. He has yet to file any plans with the city, and Mayor Bob Donchez is rightfully concerned. The theatre, once the sight of perhaps the Lehigh Valley's finest movie-going experience, has been shuttered since 2011 and condemned since 2015. We'd love to see it restored and reopened as a theatre. That may not be feasible given the cost of repairs. If there's an alternative plan that works, we'll take that, too. But letting it continue to rot in a vibrant downtown isn't an option.Entertainment New York Easter Parade Live Stream & TV Schedule

New York Easter Parade

31.03.2018 10:27:49 - Watch the 2018 New York City Easter parade live streaming online coverage. TV schedule and online webcast feed.



(live-PR.com) - The New York City Easter Parade returns once again on Sunday 1st April, bringing large crowds out onto the citys iconic Fifth Avenue for one of the citys biggest annual parades.



The parade will once again be covered live online, find the live stream details here:



www.myworldevents.com/parade/new-york-easter.html



New York Easter Parade



Starting at 10am, the parade will proceed as usual down 5th Avenue, from - The New York City Easter Parade returns once again on Sunday 1st April, bringing large crowds out onto the citys iconic Fifth Avenue for one of the citys biggest annual parades.The parade will once again be covered live online, find the live stream details here:New York Easter ParadeStarting at 10am, the parade will proceed as usual down 5th Avenue, from 49th to 57th Street. The parade route will be lined with huge crowds gathering to watch the spectacle, and will generally be wrapped up by 4pm in the afternoon. There will be large gatherings of spectators all along the route, but the most congested areas will be around St Patricks Cathedral, which will also be holding the usual range of Easter services:



St Patricks cathedral New York Easter Masses will be held at 7:00, 8:00, 8:45 and 10:15 am. Please nore that tickets are required for these earlier services. There are then further masses at 12 Noon, 1:00pm 4:00pm in Spanish, and 5:30pm.



Easter Parade History



From the 1880s through the 1950s, New York's Easter parade was one of the main cultural expressions of Easter in the United States. It was one of the fundamental ways that Easter was identified and celebrated. The seeds of the parade were sown in New York's highly ornamented churches.



By the 1880s, the Easter parade had become a vast spectacle of fashion and religious observance, famous in New York and around the country. It was an after-church cultural event for the well-to-do - decked out in new and fashionable clothing, they would stroll from their own church to others to see the impressive flowers (and to be seen by their fellow strollers). People from the poorer and middle classes would observe the parade to learn the latest trends in fashion.



I n 1933, American songwriter Irving Berlin wrote the music for a revue on Broadway called As Thousands Cheer. It included his song "Easter Parade", which he had been working on for fifteen years, and in which he had finally captured the essence of the parade. Both the song and the revue were tremendously popular. The song became a standard, and fifteen years later was the basis for the film Easter Parade.



By the mid-20th century, the parade's religious aspects had faded, and it was mostly seen as a demonstration of American prosperity. The year 1946 saw a resurgence of stunts, pranks, and extravagant behavior. In 1947, the State Department's Voice of America did a radio broadcast of the Fifth Avenue parade to the Soviet Union, the idea being to show the economic inferiority of the Soviet system. In 1955, The Saturday Evening Post stated that New York's springtime pageant was only an incidental celebration of a religious holiday, and had become a reflection of the fact that, in America, a person was as good as the clothes and other goods he or she was able to buy. The parade itself had become an unstructured, boundless event, with no apparent beginning, ending, organization, or purpose. Some think that had begun in the 1870s as a parade of refinement and religious display had become merely an ostentatious frolic.



Today, New York's Easter parade is enjoyed both by families in Sunday best and people and pets in outlandish costumes, often paying homage to the parade's former glory by, to cite a typical example, wearing garish hats with live birds in flower-adorned cages. New Yorkers of all ages and types participate and it's popular with the festive set.

49th to 57th Street. The parade route will be lined with huge crowds gathering to watch the spectacle, and will generally be wrapped up by 4pm in the afternoon. There will be large gatherings of spectators all along the route, but the most congested areas will be around St Patricks Cathedral, which will also be holding the usual range of Easter services:St Patricks cathedral New York Easter Masses will be held at 7:00, 8:00, 8:45 and 10:15 am. Please nore that tickets are required for these earlier services. There are then further masses at 12 Noon, 1:00pm 4:00pm in Spanish, and 5:30pm.Easter Parade HistoryFrom the 1880s through the 1950s, New York's Easter parade was one of the main cultural expressions of Easter in the United States. It was one of the fundamental ways that Easter was identified and celebrated. The seeds of the parade were sown in New York's highly ornamented churches.By the 1880s, the Easter parade had become a vast spectacle of fashion and religious observance, famous in New York and around the country. It was an after-church cultural event for the well-to-do - decked out in new and fashionable clothing, they would stroll from their own church to others to see the impressive flowers (and to be seen by their fellow strollers). People from the poorer and middle classes would observe the parade to learn the latest trends in fashion.I n 1933, American songwriter Irving Berlin wrote the music for a revue on Broadway called As Thousands Cheer. It included his song "Easter Parade", which he had been working on for fifteen years, and in which he had finally captured the essence of the parade. Both the song and the revue were tremendously popular. The song became a standard, and fifteen years later was the basis for the film Easter Parade.By the mid-20th century, the parade's religious aspects had faded, and it was mostly seen as a demonstration of American prosperity. The year 1946 saw a resurgence of stunts, pranks, and extravagant behavior. In 1947, the State Department's Voice of America did a radio broadcast of the Fifth Avenue parade to the Soviet Union, the idea being to show the economic inferiority of the Soviet system. In 1955, The Saturday Evening Post stated that New York's springtime pageant was only an incidental celebration of a religious holiday, and had become a reflection of the fact that, in America, a person was as good as the clothes and other goods he or she was able to buy. The parade itself had become an unstructured, boundless event, with no apparent beginning, ending, organization, or purpose. Some think that had begun in the 1870s as a parade of refinement and religious display had become merely an ostentatious frolic.Today, New York's Easter parade is enjoyed both by families in Sunday best and people and pets in outlandish costumes, often paying homage to the parade's former glory by, to cite a typical example, wearing garish hats with live birds in flower-adorned cages. New Yorkers of all ages and types participate and it's popular with the festive set. Author:

Martin Kerrigan

e-mail

Web: http://www.myworldevents.com

Phone: 0035799813173 31.03.2018 10:27:49 -

Disclaimer: If you have any questions regarding information in this article please contact the author. Please do not contact Live-PR.com. We are not able to assist you. Live-PR.com disclaims content contained in this article. Live-PR.com is not authorized to give any information about content and not responsible for content posted by third party.The beginning of the school year when you got to show off your new duds, new cars, new looks!

Sports! Playing, cheering, watching high school athletics.

The arts: Dramatic arts, musical groups and shows, graphic arts groups, debate, etc.

The prom! No dancing the night away or punch bowl antics.

The daily interactions. Just being with the group, hanging with friends and classmates.

Access to college recruiters and advisors  its harder to line up higher education.

Walking onstage to get a diploma while all the family is watching with everyone elses family.

Vote

View ResultsHome > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Nepal-India Relations: Need for Urgent Paradigm Shift

by Vijay Pratap

On March 18, when Rahul Gandhi spoke about the failure of Indias foreign policy, especially in the case of SAARC countries, he was not making a rhetorical allegation as an Opposition leader. All sensitive and patriotic Indian observers of the South Asian political affairs are unanimous that the stock of the Indian regime in foreign policy is the lowest ever today. Not just the Indian observers, even within the South Asian countries knowledgeable persons in high places hold a similar opinion. In a telephonic interview on March 26, 2018, a highly placed Nepali Foreign Office functionary, who would not like to be identified, said that the situation has become so bad that if we talk objectively about the elements of sovereignty of the Nepali people vis-a-vis China, or if we assert the rights of a landlocked Nepal vis-a-vis China, as we do in the case of India, it is not taken kindly by even non-partisan Nepali journalists. Any independent assertion of the Nepali people vis-a-vis China is seen as a propaganda or machination by Indian agents. This is a serious situation and the Indian establishment must take note of it. It will require a longer and rigorous exercise to go into the nuances and complexity of how Indian and Chinese leaderships have reached this degree of mess in our relations. But to clear this mess we need to initiate a public discourse on the Indian side at least regarding our major blunders both in our government policy and the stand taken by the cultural and civilisational ambassadors of our country.

Indian opinion-makers need to realise that a good part of the present low stock of the Indian establishment among the Nepali people is also because of the non-recognition of the sovereign aspirations of the Nepali people by the Indian establishment. One is not denying the tactical complicity of the Nepali political leadership in creating and constructing the anti-India sentiment. The anti-India sentiment provided the fulcrum for generating a coherent Nepali pride and nationalism based on national interest. The active originators of this sentiment were also from the Nepali royalist elements and pro-China forces in Nepali politics. But their success was largely not of their doing but mainly due to the failure of the Indian political leadership to act in a statesman-like manner. Even the Indian civil society, especially those espousing Hindutva vis-a-vis the aspiring Nepali political class miserably failed on this score.

The disastrous watershed was when the draft Constitution had been laid in the Constituent Assembly of Nepal, the Indian PM sent his special envoy with a briefing of proposed amendments desired by the Indian Government. The most tragic part is that the brief was leaked in one of the leading Indian newspapers. Whether it was part of the typical Modi-style masculinity (56 inches chest) assertion or irresponsible leak by the bureaucracy cannot be ascertained, but even if it was discreetly done, how can any sovereign parliament tolerate such an intrusion? The result was obvious and the Constitution was passed broadly as it was drafted ignoring the Indian inputs. These inputs were mainly in support of the Madhesi demands around citizenship and representation. After this what followed was an agitation by the Madhesis and the Nepali Government dealing with it with a strong hand, and the death of several Madhesi agitators. During this agitation there was a blockade at the India and Nepal border, and an overwhelming majority of the Nepali population till date believes, and not totally without basis, that this blockade was sponsored by the GoI. Even those who see Nepals interest in building close political and economic relationship with India in consonance with the civilisational unity of these two nations were unable to deny or defend Indian complicity in the blockade. Unofficially it was widely claimed in knowledgeable circles that the blockade was for providing moral support to Madhesis and their legitimate demands. Paradoxically enough, the Madhesis themselves were not able to defend this blockade because they were fearful of the allegation of being branded as fifth columnists by the anti-Madhesi elements in the Nepali polity.

Actually on the ground the Nepali-Madhesi opinion was shaped by three contradictory factors:

1. Madhesis had a long experience of exclusion and discrimination, having been described as Indian agents for decades, 1857 being the watershed point for this kind of cleavage.

2. At the rhetorical level the ten year-long peoples war by the Maoist Communist Party led to the following response by the democratic parties: 2.a. a promise to Madhesi identity and aspirations; 2.b. a comprehensive agreement signed between the Madhesis and Nepali establishment in 2008; 2.c. assent to the posts of President and Vice-President being of Madhesi origin.

3.a. The third factor was seen as part-betrayal of the above agreement with the Madhesis, as well as continuation of discriminatory tendencies by the Nepali establishment. 3.b. An overwhelming section of the Madhesi leadership was of the conviction that the Kathmandu-Pahadi, Brahmin-Kshetri leadership across parties was not serious about fulfilling these promises made to the Madhesis.

A section of knowledgeable circles in India and Nepal believes that the RSS-BJP regime was not genuinely committed to the Madhesi aspirations. They were only using the Madhesis as a tool of forcing the Nepali leadership to go back constitutionally to declare Nepal as a Hindu Rashtra. This is attributed to a presumed assessment that if Nepal becomes constitutionally a Hindu Rashtra again, symbolically it will remain within the area of influence of India. The RSS-BJP establishment seems to forget the West Asian example where just religious identity does not guarantee a peaceful and friendly co-existence.

The high points of the anti-India sentiment are more a result of the ideological underpinnings of the RSS-BJP ideology than the Indian diplomatic leadership. The External Affairs Ministry and Indian security agencies do have positive achievements in the pre-Modi era. The Comprehensive Peace Accord concluded between the Government of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) was signed in November 2006 in Delhi. This was primarily the midwife of the Indian security agencies in back-channel talks with various Nepali stakeholders. This agreement was signed during the UPA regime. Major negotiations took place at that time. It was a well-coordinated work among the security agencies, Foreign Ministry officials and Indian political leadership led by the Prime Minister. Unlike Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not marginalise his Foreign Minister and Ministry and security agencies while leaning on external and non-constitutional players as the central actors. It was not just a team work at that particular point of time, but it picked up the threads from the work done by the predecessor NDA regime, led by Atal Behari Vajpayee. The remarkable feat of ice-breaking with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) through back channels was achieved because of Atal Behari Vajpayees statesmanlike policies, wherein he was not actively destroying the past continuities and contemporary institutional arrangements.

The question is: India-Nepal relations have reached the lowest ebb; can the relations be restored to the earlier level by reviving the Atal Behari-Manmohan Singh model of diplomacy? As an Indian I am proud of the fact that our Foreign Office and security agencies were able to broker this peace agreement. But as an activist of our democratic polity and a part of the democratic socialist tradition of India, I am embarrassed that the political class had little role in contributing to the democratising process of restoring peace in Nepal. This is particularly painful if we compare how Indian political movements, both of the Right and the Left, have worked earlier in coordination with and support to each other. In the not very remote past, Madan Bhandari led the ideological churning to bring the underground Communist Party in Nepal to commit to the movement overground and to multi-party democracy in that country. This was around the time when a Communist ideologue of the Naxalite movement, Vinod Mishra, was leading a similar churning in India. These two ideologues constantly exchanged notes with each other and their respective parties were in sisterly relationship with each other. Similarly, the democratic socialist-oriented leadership from Nepal participated in Indias independence struggle and if we look at the correspondence of Jaya Prakash Narayan and Lohia with Jawaharlal Nehru, we shall realise how democracy in Nepal was integral to their political practice from the Indian side. Even today Justice Rajindar Sachar remembers Lohias and his arrest in 1949 for the cause of Nepali democracy while protesting before the Royal Nepal Embassy in New Delhi.

The Marxist and non-Marxist Left in Nepal and India, during their struggles till recently, were fellow travellers, while retaining the national autonomies of their parties and movements. And the Indian establishment did not place hazards in these relationships in a big way. If we move around with the senior leaderships of the Nepali Communist Parties and Nepali Congress, it is common to hear stories of their activities during their days of exile in India. In this manner there was a living relationship between the Communists and Socialists of Nepal and India. It does not mean that the Communists and Socialists were not in a competitive adversarial relationship and were only collaborating for the cause of shared ideals. In fact the Communists and Socialists say their goals and dreams had many fundamental differences with each other and not so much with their respective counterparts in India and Nepal. The Rightist Hindutva forces as in India were always spearheading and organising people around a regressive perspective. The VHP-RSS workers from India used to be deputed to Nepal and worked in collaboration with the elements of the Royalty. They were never with the democratic struggles of the Nepali people. Even today their main concern is the Hindutva identity and not making Hinduism an inclusive and tolerant religious-cultural-spiritual movement.

This Indo-Nepal Hindutva relationship till 2014 was primarily confined to the civil society structures, mostly of the traditional variety. And the Indian diplomatic establishment did not actively promote or discourage this relationship. This may be because its political impact was not seen to be grossly overestimated. Even the previous NDA regime under the Atal Behari Vajpayee leadership did not actively patronise this tendency or aggressively curb the relationship of the polities of the progressive forces in the two countries. The dramatic departure came with Narendra Modis coming to power in India, although the first visit of Modi struck a positive chord among the Nepali people across the political classes and spectrum. But from the second visit onwards, Indias hegemonic mindset became obvious. We have mentioned how the PMs special envoys visit to Nepal with suggestions for constitutional amendments was a direct affront to the Nepali people and their sovereignty. This government has not only offended the political sensitivities of the Nepali leadership, it has also actively undermined people-to-people relationship among the Left and democratic forces. During one of the visits of a Nepal dignitary, one RSS worker was heard telling Nepali journalists that now you dont have to cultivate Sitaram Yechury, D.P. Tripathi or Vijay Pratap to shape Indias Nepal policy. Now, we shall determine what Indias policy will be.

Given Nepals geo-strategic situation and being a land-locked country between India and China normally it is not possible to take head-on either of the two giant neighbours. It is not only due the Indian leaderships failure or the Nepali leaderships opportunistic use of anti-India sentiments that the present mess has taken shape. All superpowersthe USA, UK, EU, Chinahave operated through their back channels to have pockets of influence in Nepal. Above all, China has actively acted in a manner that India and Nepal become distant neighbours. Many observers believe that during Indias blockade China was only paying lip-service to Nepal. In fact it wanted the negative impact of the blockade to be felt by every Nepali so that they deeply internalise the anti-India sentiment. Otherwise how could you explain that China did not open even those conventional routes with Nepal which were functional and in use when Tibet had not been annexed by China? Even some of the Nepali diplomatic ideologues find it strange that Nepal talks about its rights as a land-locked country only vis-a-vis India and not vis-a-vis China. After all, it is land-locked by both. These ideologues are also of the view that Chinas aggressive advocacy of the Belt Road Initiative (BRI) will not be of substantial benefit to Nepal. According to them, the real Chinese motive for the BRI is to get easy access to the Bengal, Bihar, UP markets of India. They also question the Chinese model of aid where they bring in their capital lying unused in their banks, their technology and even their workforce. So what does Nepal gain from this model of development cooperation? No employment growth, no stoppage of push factors in Nepali outmigration, no transfer of technology, and an additional danger of heavy burden of debt-servicing as in the case of Sri Lanka.

With the pervasive anti-India sentiment, where talking about assertion of genuine Nepali interests vis-a-vis China is seen as the handiwork of Indian agents, it becomes a free ground for pursuit of Chinese foreign policy objectives. The Chinese have been following a free check-book policy in Nepal. For example, the Chinese have no fixed quota for Nepali students who want to pursue higher studies in China.

In fact, the Chinese have a quota for all critical segments of the Nepali establishment, that is, journalists, political classes, bureaucrats and probably last come the meritorious students. The Indian establishment also had a slightly better and more professional mix of this policy. Like all other major global powers, the present Indian and Chinese establishments have great confidence in their power of patronage. The Chinese and present Indian establishments have different inspirational sources for their hegemonic tendencies. But the end result for the Nepali nation is the same: distorting and disorienting the indigenous democratic energies and contributing to a false battle of fighting the enemies of Nepal.

The relationship between the civil and political classes of India and Nepal was born and nurtured by shared struggles with fragments of the world perspective while being rooted in the two countries soil.

There was meaningful coopration among the authentic patriotic forces and not between pseudo-nationalists of the two states. The current contours of political discourse have elements of pseudo-nationalism on both sides.

The aggressive overtones of Nepali nationalism should be understood in the historical context with 1857 as the major watershed. In Indias first freedom struggle, the Ranas supported and fought on behalf of the British Army. Whatever advantages the Nepali stooges got out of this is not very relevant for this discussion. What is important to remember is that since 1857, the British crown started ruling the Indian subcontinent directly, instead of through the East India Company. This created a sub-continental unity among the rulers of princely states who had surrendered their sovereignty in varying degrees to the British Crown on the one hand and the struggling masses on the other. So, the entire gamut of India-Nepal relations has to be understood in the civilisation framework of the state-society nexus of South Asia. The notion of the modern nation-state and sovereignty was not identical to the modern nation-state system. So in the initial period of post-independent India, the Indian political and diplomatic elite was almost always confusing the civilisation unity of India and Nepal with the oneness of two independent states. This is specially true of the Hindutva forces who, because of their ideologically ghettoised, siege mentality, are least aware of Nepali national identity.

The Indian and Nepali relationship was intertwined with hegemonic tendencies and confused state policy towards Nepal (from the Indian side) and opportunistic use of anti-Indian sentiments (by the Nepali political class). This contributed to the present mess.

Now, we go back to the initial poser: can the Atal Behari-Manmohan Singh model restore normal Nepal-India relationship? My frank answer is: no, it cannot. The minimum we require is to immediately and unilaterally announce our adherence to the Gujral Doctrine of Neighbourhood Policy on the part of India. The Gujral Doctrine is necessary but it is not sufficient to restore normalcy in India-Nepal relations.

Nepal-India ties evolved in the great democratic struggles in the respective countries. Just look at some of the clauses of the Nepali Constitution, how they have tried to make their parliament inclusive. I think it must be a unique feature of the Nepali Constitution in the entire comity of nations.

PART-3, Fundamental Right and Duties

ARTICLE 42 : Right to social justice: 42 (1) The economically, socially or educationally backward women, Dalit, indigenous nationalities, Madhesi, Tharu, Muslims, backward classes, minorities, marginalised communities, persons with disabilities, gender and sexual minorities, farmers, labourers, oppressed or citizens of backward regions and indigent Khas Arya shall have the right to participate in the State bodies on the basis of the principle of proportional inclusion.

ARTICLE 84: Composition of House of Representatives:

(1) The House of Representatives shall consist of a total of two hundred and seventyfive members, as follows:

(a) One hundred and sixtyfive members to be elected through the first-past-the-post electoral system, with one being elected from each constituency of one hundred and sixtyfive constituencies delimited in the country on the basis of population, and geographical convenience and specificity;

(b) One hundred and ten members to be elected through the proportional electoral system where voters vote for political parties, with the whole country being considered a single constituency.

(2) The Federal law shall provide that, in fielding candidacy by political parties for the election to the House of Representatives under the proportional electoral system, representation shall be ensured on the basis of a closed list also from women, Dalit, indigenous peoples, Khas Arya, Madhesi, Tharu, Muslims and backward regions, on the basis of population. In so fielding candidates, regard shall also be given to geography and territorial balance. Explanation: For the purposes of this clause, Khas Arya means Kshetri, Brahmin, Thakur, Sanyasi (Dashnami) community.

ARTICLE 86: Composition of National Assembly and term of office of its members: (1) The National Assembly shall be a permanent House. (2) The National Assembly shall consist of fiftynine members as follows:

(a) Fiftysix elected members consisting of at least three women, one Dalit and one from persons with disabilities or minorities, from each State by an electoral college composed of members of the State Assembly, chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the Village Bodies, and Mayors and Deputy Mayors of the Municipalities, with different weightage of vote by members of the State Assembly, chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the Village Bodies, and Mayors and Deputy Mayors of the Municipalities, as provided for in the Federal law,

(b) (b) Three members consisting of at least one woman nominated by the President on recommendation of the Government of Nepal.

India and Nepal have to set out shared goals, the striving for which and whose realisation should become a global reference point.

Global agreement for implementing Sustainable Development Goals provides an interesting starting point for completely eradicating poverty and providing complete and dignified livelihood engagements to all the peoples of South Asia. But this will require that PM Modi does not erode the institutional capacity of his own party, other Opposition parties and, above all, those elements of civil society who have commitment to implement the SDGs and not implement the divisive agenda of the RSS.

In the end I venture to say that Rahul Gandhi has aptly pointed to the Chinese designs against India. But his think-tank needs to work out a comprehensive course-correction for South Asia in general and Nepal in particular.

Vijay Pratap is the chairperson, Solidarity Centre for South Asian Democracies, and Convener of the Socialist Front of India.Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Xi Jinping Warns Taiwan against Move for Independence

by Rajaram Panda

After his re-election for a second term in office, the Chinese President has struck a strongly nationalistic tone in his closing address to the annual session of the National Peoples Congress, the ceremonial parliament, with a firm assertion that China would never allow one inch of territory to be separated from it. Xi thundered that China was ready to wage a bloody war to assume its due place in the world. Against the background of the decision of the National Peoples Congress to abolish the term limits on his rule which allows Xi to remain in office beyond 2023 indefinitely, this observation by Xi has huge implications for the region. A belligerent Xi, now enjoying a life-time tenure, asserted that the Chinese people were at present closer than at any time in history to realising the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Stressing on maintaining national sovereignty, territorial integrity and complete unification of the motherland as the common aspiration of all Chinese, he reminded that the Chinese people have the will and ability to foil all activities to divide the nation and were united in the belief that every inch of the motherland absolutely cannot and resolutely will not be separated from China.

Xis combative remarks on the territorial issue that not an inch of its territory would be ceded could have been directed at many, including those seeking independence of Taiwan or self-determination in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, or countries such as India, Japan or in South-East Asia, which have territorial disputes with China. It is a virtual threat that Xi declared. Though Xi did not mention any territorial issue, China is involved in a number of disputes with its neighbours. Besides the border dispute with India, China claims rights over the disputed islands in East China Sea under the control of Japan and vast stretches of the South China Sea where it is firmly asserting its control. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter-claims over the strategic South China Sea.

Taiwan is likely to be the first to face the Chinese heat. Chinas tough stance on its boundaries could also be a message to President Donald Trump. Trump has not only threatened to raise the tariff on Chinese goods but has also irked Beijing over a legislation that Trump signed, which encourages frequent exchanges between the US and Taiwanese officials. Even when Trump prepares his trade war declaration, China is laying out its red lines.

In a clear message bordering on threat to self-governing Taiwan, Xi resolved to advance the cause of peaceful unification with the island, whose 24 million residents are strongly in favour of maintaining their de-facto independent status. China fears secession by Taiwan and Hong Kong. While Taiwan is a self-ruled island which Beijing claims as its own and vows to unite it with China one day, Hong Kong, a former British colony and now a special administrative region of China, resents growing interference by Beijing. Echoing Xis views, Prime Minister Li Keqiang also observed that while China will not abandon an inch of its own land, it will not take and occupy an inch of land of others.

Xis speech to the closing session of the NPC came soon after Trump signed the Taiwan Travel Act, which allows for and encourages high-level official visits between Taiwan and the US. China denounced the bill, saying that its existence severely violates the political foundation of the China-US relationship and that it ignores Beijings one-China policy on Taiwan. China has demanded the US stop official exchanges, warning about the impact it could have on broader relations. It may be recalled that in 1949, following a bloody civil war, Taiwan became a self-governed island, although it is still officially considered the Republic of China. It has been the agenda of the Chinese Communist leadership to regain control of the wayward province that was founded 70 years ago.

China has periodically flexed its military muscles by military drills or sending naval vessels around Taiwan to intimidate those Taiwan views as threats to its national security. Not to be cowed down, Taiwans first female President and leader of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, Tsai Ing-wen, elected to office in 2016, though she wants to maintain peace, warned that, if pushed, she will defend Taiwans security. Tsai wants to preserve the status quo and has advocated a policy of keeping a further distance between the two sides. In October 2017, The Washington Free Beacon reported that newly discovered internal military documents indicated that China will invade Taiwan by force before 2020. Xi has warned the self-ruled island that it would face the punishment of history if it made any attempt toward separatism.

While Taiwan seems to be testing Chinas patience, Beijing wants to ensure that the Taiwanese enjoy the opportunities of Chinas development and push for the peaceful unification of the motherland. China has periodically been warning Taiwan not to think on the way to self-determination and has not left any stone unturned to internationally isolate it by offering economic incentives to those small countries who still maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan. But this time, Xis warning was the strongest that should worry Taiwan. China claims that the self-ruled island of some 24 million was part of its territory. For Beijing, Taiwan is a sensitive issue and potential military flash-point.

After China and Taiwan split amid a civil war in 1949, their political systems have headed in opposite directions since the 1980s. After a spell of authoritarian governments, Taiwan democra-tised in the 1980s and an overwhelming section of the population is opposed to unification with authoritarian China. After Xis threat, Taiwans Foreign Ministry urged other countries to support Taipeis role as a democracy in the region. Taiwan is walking a tight rope. While Beijing is likely to continue to ratchet up its political and military pressure on the island, it rolls out incentives to woo younger Taiwan citizens and business leaders over to its camp. In March 2018, Beijing announced 31 measures making it easier for the Taiwanese to work, study and invest in China. Now with the prospect of Xi staying in power indefinitely, a more aggressive posture by China on Taiwan with a view to integrate it with the mainland either by persuasion or by use of force may not be unthinkable.

Taiwan needs friends and it has a few. It is therefore deepening ties with the US, Japan and some other countries to make Xi see reason and eschew his belligerent stance. After Xis election for a second term with the prospect of staying in power indefinitely, a comparison is being made between him and Chinas founder Mao Zedong. But the situation then and now are different. When Mao was in power, China was protected by the Cold War and the Soviet Union. At that time, the impact of the Chinese economy on the world was not as it is now. Today China is the biggest exporter and the second largest economy and therefore any economic measure taken by China shall have direct and immediate effect worldwide.

Infuriated by Trumps signing into law a legislation that encourages the US to send senior officials to Taiwan to meet their Taiwanese counterparts and vice versa, Xi upped the ante by sending its sole operational aircraft carrier the Liaoning through the narrow Taiwan Strait that separates China from the self-ruled island in order to intimidate it. Xi acted soon after he warned Taiwan to face the punishment of history for any attempt at separatism. In January too, the Liaoning sailed twice through the Taiwan Strait; these China calls routine drills.

Ever since Tsai Ing-wens election as Taiwans President in the 2016 election, China has increased hostility because Tsais Democratic Progressive Party has taken a pro-independence stand. China suspects Tsai wants to push for formal independence, which would cross the red line for the Communist Party leaders in Beijing. When Taiwans Prime Minister William Lai made a comment that Taiwan is a sovereign independent country, Chinas Taiwan Affairs Office saw this as a serious provocation and that Taiwan was not and could never be a country. Taiwan is going to face tough times in the coming years.

Dr Panda is the ICCR India Chair Visiting Professor in the School of Economics and Business Administration at Reitaku University, Japan. The views expressed here are his personal and do not represent either of the ICCR or Government of India. He can be contacted at e-mail: rajaram. panda[at]gmail.comHome > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Threat to Constitutional Structure

From N.C.s Writings

A situation of unprecedented confusion synchronising with the onset of serious crisis for the entire constitutional structure of the Indian state presents before the nation today.

On the one side is the outright challenge of the BJP, the most aggressive of political parties, threatening to defy the entire administration in a manner never seen before; and on the other, the ruling party at the Centre presents a picture of utter disunity with factions not only squabbling but at times taking recourse to physical violence to settle scores with each other. The prospect of a total breakdown of the system is no longer a matter of mere academic disputations but frighteningly an emerging reality. One wonders whether this premonition bothers those at the helm of public affairs in our country today.

With the imposition of the ban on the mammoth protest rally of 15 lakhs that the BJP leadership has threatened to stage in the Capital on February 25, it is clear that the overwhelming mass of public opinion in the country wants that such a confrontation should be avoided in view of the tense communal situation prevailing in many parts of North India. Most of the political parties outside the ruling Congress have disfavoured the imposition of the executive ban as suchsensitive as they are to the imperative of upholding civil liberties parti-cularly in troubled times such as thesebut at the same time have openly warned against such a massive rally that may touch off an explosion of communal violence which nobodyneither the BJP nor the governmentwould be in a position to control. In fact, such an assurance from the BJP has largely lost its validity after what happened on December 6 when the Babri Masjid was demolished in the face of the BJP Governments assurance to protect it.

Defying all appeals for forbearance, even by those usually friendly to it, the BJP leadership has taken up the ban itself as a challenge, and has unleashed a campaign of such venom that it openly undermines its claims to be a responsible party wedded to constitutional politics. A noteworthy feature of this latest round of BJP campaign is the open diatribe against the minority community, with its more aggressive supporters openly questioning if tolerance has at all been an axiom of Hindu faith. In other words, in contrast to the former style of BJP campaigning, which tried to project Hindutva as a way of life in which tolerance towards other communities was constantly claimed, the latest model of the BJP Raj promises no such approach of tolerance towards the non-Hindu minority communities.

The contours of the Hindutva that one can discern from the latest phase of propaganda by different members of the Sangh Parivar are thus one of an aggressive, bigoted approach. The opening that Vajpayees reasoned stand offered on the morrow of the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya on December 6, seems to have been abandoned by the Sangh Parivar, whose present stand hardly takes into account the need for the BJP to abjure an aggressive Hindu communal posture.

In this context, one has to note that Advani during his recent visit to Bombay made no effort at demarcating the BJP from the Shiv Sena with its avowed campaign for calculated and systematic pogrom of the Muslim community. One recalls the suicidal phase of Akali politics when even its moderate leaders did not care to demarcate themselves from the militants with the result that today they have been reduced to the status of prisoners of the militant elements. Such a retreat from the moderate constitutional line can hardly enhance the position of the BJP in the national scene.

With all its lampooning of what it calls pseudo-secularism and of its opponents bid to capture the Muslim vote-bank, it is time for the BJP leadership to understand that any party aspiring to govern this country has to convince a good section of the minority community about its serious concern for its life and living as citizens of this country. This is precisely what in the eyes of the public demarcates Gandhijis Ram Rajya from the prevailing Ram cult of the militant battalions of the Sangh Parivar.

Here is the real test for the BJP leadership in its bid to be the future rulers of this republic. The controversy over the proposed February 25 rally has to be judged against this background, and not as a mere law-and-order issue. In dealing with this forbidding phenomenon of aggressive communalism, political parties ranged against it have to make a common cause in defence of constitutional politics of the parlia-mentary pattern. Inevitably, the task of forging such a common stand falls on the largest among the political parties, which happens to be the Congress party.

As the ruling party without majority support in Parliament, the Congress has all the more the responsibility of conducting itself as a unified political formation which would not permit factional politics to debilitate its strength and influence before the public. What is amazing is that at the very moment when unity is the need of the hour, the Congress party has succeeded in emerging as a house divided against itself.

(Mainstream, February 20, 1993)Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Time for Revisionist Communism

IMPRESSIONS

Governmental non-performance in Kerala and electoral devastation in Tripura gave the CPM its unfinest hour in history. Just then the imaginative leadership of the All India Kisan Sabha miraculously pushed it into its finest hour; the Nasik-Mumbai Long March of some 50,000 farmers marked a milestone in the political annals of the country. The lesson is obvious: the CPM as presently constituted and led has become irrelevant, but so many people are oppressed that a well-conceived movement pursuing socialist egalitarianism can emerge as a winner.

People are ready as public reactions to the Long March showed. In some areas locals showered flowers on the marchers. In some other places NGOs and residents welfare associations lined up to give them food and water. Traffic police went out of their way to say that the march never created bottlenecks; in crowded areas the marchers took to the road past midnight so that citizens wouldnt be inconvenienced. All this while the farmers developed swollen eyes, foot blisters, dehydration and blood pressure problems.

The success of the Kisan Sabhas march could be attributed to (a) the people-friendly style in which it was conducted, and (b) a growing feeling among citizens that some basic changes in the polity are overdue. The time has come for Indian communism to recognise this and alter its course. Lenin altered Marx. Stalin altered Lenin. Mao altered everything while Deng Hsiaoping altered Mao himself. During these tumultuous alterations that brought progress, Indian Communists stuck to imitations with shameful slogans such as Chinas Chairman is Our Chairman. Cant Indias Marxists work out a communism with Indian characteristics?

Perhaps they can start by looking at the way Europes Communists changed themselves to fit into the temper of the democratic systems in which they lived. Adjuncts to Soviet communism as India was, they saw sense in Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramscis argument that sectarianism must give way to social alliances that sought social reforms.

The concept of another democratic way to socialism gained ground. Inspiration came also from the Prague Spring of 1968 when the Soviet Union ruthlessly crushed a popular movement for reform in Czechoslovakia.

Old-style ruthlessness was the backbone of old-style communism. Even in its heyday state terror was unacceptable to people (Stalins purges and Maos cultural revolution will remain historical landmarks of horror.) On the other hand, the appeal of socialism and democracy grew in strength. The influential Communist Parties of Italy and Spain embraced

Eurocommunism. After the Soviet Union disappeared, the French Communist Party also toyed with Euro. The Communists of Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria are Euro-communists. The collapse of the Soviet Union made traditional communism more palpably irrelevant. India is the only country in the world where the old-style communism of the Soviet era survives. Thats a shame.

Eurocommunism was part of the effort to move away from the unpleasant connotations the very term communism acquired through repressions in communist countries. Today China and Vietnam are the only countries where a Communist Party, named as such, rules. Other countries have embraced the more acceptable term of socialism. Germanys Social Democratic Party was born out of the General Workers Union in 1875. Communists and revisionists within its fold carried on a prolonged battle. The revisionists eventually won with their argument that social and economic justice for the working class can be achieved through democratic elections without violent class struggles.

This is the line Indias Communists must now formally and ideologically adopt. By participating in electoral politics, they have effectively accepted the democratic system in preference to B.T. Ranadives revolution thesis. But they have not reaped the benefits because they are caught in old-style theoretical polemics of the Prakash Karat-type on the one hand and luxury-lovers of the Pinarayi Vijayan-type on the other. (Karats explanation of the Tripura debacle was so laboured that it sounded like saying that the CPM lost because it didnt get votes. Vijayans Cabinet decided recently to buy 35 Innova Crysta SUVs costing about Rs 10 crores for Ministers.)

The best way out is to leave the CPM for theoreticians and lovers of the good life. Others could follow the European model and float a new party devoted to socialism and democracy. Constructive revisionism could save the essence of the communist dream by adapting it to the moods and needs of the present times.That is what the Kisan Sabha did. Thats why those who led the Long March must now lead India to Indocommunism. Over to Ashok Dhawale, Jiva Gavit, Ajit Nawale, Kisan Gujar, Vijoo Krishnan.Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > India-Vietnam Ties in Changed Regional Setting

Only 18 months separated Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Vietnam (September 2-3, 2016) and Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quangs visitto India (March 2-4, 2018). But the regional setting of the two countries so-called Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has phenomenally changed in this period. The power dynamic in the Asia-Pacific reflects the unraveling of the Obama administrations pivot strategy following President Donald Trumps abandonment of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP) agreement.

India was not party to the TTP but Vietnam had invested heavily in it as a passport to escape Chinas orbit. Unlike the case with India, Vietnam is heavily dependent on international trade and investment not only for sustaining its high growth and structural reforms but also as hedge against geopolitical risks. Trumps focus on America First and his aversion toward free trade imply that he has no use for a long-term strategy. Thomas Jandl, an American regional expert, wrote recently,

Vietnams carefully crafted policy of non-alignmentby which Hanoi has skillfully exploited big-power rivalries to balance economic and political interestsnow requires a major update. During the APEC summit in Da Nang (in November), Trump stood in front of the leaders of the foremost multilateral institution in the region and waxed about a free and open Indo-Pacific, at the same time heaping criticism on multilateralism. Trump offered bilateral deals to any takers but with the caveat that he wanted to see the United States win what he considers a zero-sum game.

India also suffers from a hangoveralbeit for different reasons. New Delhi didnt expect Trump to win in the November 2016 election, but, once the unthinkable happened, hoped fervently that the new President would stick to his hardline rhetoric on China. The Indian policymakers chose to believe that the Obama Administrations containment strategy against China would ultimately come to characterise Trumps Asia-Pacific policies as well.

But the naivety has dissipated lately. (It will accelerate further as President Xi Jinping prepares for his forthcoming visit to the US.) But the damage has been done, since India excessively lurched toward the US bandwagon unlike Vietnam, which cautiously kept open its line to Beijingand the result is plain to see. Vietnams relations with China are on a relatively stable footing today, compared to Indias, which deteriorated alarmingly and tottered on the brink of war.

For Hanoi, the China ties have been productive too. Sino-Vietnamese trade touched $100 billion last year. (China has been Vietnams biggest trading partner for 13 consecutive years while Vietnam is Chinas largest trading partner in South-East Asia.) Clearly, despite their over-lapping maritime claims, Vietnam and China actually take care to forge closer economic ties.

India lags far behind Vietnam in regarding trade and investment ties with China in zero sum terms. Put differently, Vietnam hopes to tap into Chinas emergence as the leader of a free and open Indo-Pacific and seeks to exploit Chinas economic openness in Asia and thereby create synergy out of Beijings charm offensive with a multilateralist agenda.

Where India and Vietnam share the platform is in their realisation that any deal with Trump risks being fickle, depending on the national mood in the US and/or Trumps own personal mood. (PM Modi had a taste of it when Trump ridiculed him recently at the annual Governors conference in Washington as a freeloader who made money exporting motorbikes to the US while imposing heavy import duties on Harley-Davidson bikes.)

Nonetheless, both India and Vietnam desire continued continued US engagement with Asia. The bottom line is that Vietnam has been relatively successful in making readjustment in its regional policies so as to adapt to the new economic and geopolitical realities of the Trump Presidency. India, in comparison, is just about furrowing a path to put behind the delusional policy to bandwagon with the US strategies, pursued during the past three years. However, both Vietnam and India are showing robust growth and that provides important leverage in dealing with China.

The Modi Government has been on a learning curve. There are growing signs of a determined effort to improve relations with China. It is of the utmost importance for Delhi that a repetition of the Doklam face-off in the summer months ahead is avoided. (Indias National Security Advisor, Army Chief and Foreign Secretary made an unprecedented joint visit to Bhutan recently for consultations.)

Clearly, during Trans visit, it is not Indias intentionor Vietnamsto provoke China through vainglorious ventures in the disputed South China Sea or by displaying bloc mentality vis-a-vis China. At any rate, ASEAN-China relations have witnessed a calm period lately. [The Philippines identified on Friday (March 2) two areas in South China for joint exploration with China for oil and gas, including one in the disputed waters.] Tran pointedly expressed appreciation of Indias support for ASEANs centrality in the evolving regional architecture, its continued contribution to regional peace, security and prosperity and to ASEAN integration and the ASEAN community building process.

Ambassador M.K. Bhadrakumar served as a career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service for over 29 years, with postings including Indias ambassador to Uzbekistan (1995-1998) and to Turkey (1998-2001).Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Anti-Muslim Riots in Sri Lanka

by Irfan Engineer

The recent anti-Muslim riots in Kandy, Sri Lanka, once again demonstrate that religion is becoming more salient in the public domain, including politics, in South Asia. My recent visit to Sri Lanka and talking to a cross-section of people from different religions, including some people in the government, underscored this fact.

Anti-Muslim riots were witnessed in Ampara town in the Eastern Province on February 26 and in Teddeniya and Udispattuwa in Kandy district from March 2. Riots in Ampara were triggered off when Sinhalese customers in a restaurant found lumps of wheat flour in the meals served to them by a Muslim chef; they had suspected the lumps to be contraceptive pills. A video of the Muslim chef nodding (whether out of fear or misunderstanding) on being asked whether it was contraceptive that was uploaded. Instead of conducting proper inquiries or reporting the matter to the authorities, mobs mobilised by extremist Sinhalese organisations attacked mosques and properties belonging to Muslims. Investigations later established that it was a false suspicion, and indeed there arent any tablets that can cause permanent sterilisation.

Riots in Kandy were sparked when a Sinhalese truck driver was assaulted on February 22 by four reportedly drunk Muslim youth after a traffic accident. The truck driver died on March 2 due to injuries inflicted on him. The accused youth were arrested on the day of the incident itself and remanded till March 7. Sinhalese mobs began attacking Muslim properties in the region, resulting in widespread damage to property. According to the govern-ment, 465 houses, businesses and vehicles were damaged. The Sri Lankan Government declared a state of emergency, which some felt was an over-reaction of the government, clamped down on social media and imposed curfew. Emergency was last declared in 2011 during the civil war.

Both the incidents show the widespread fear, suspicion and prejudices prevalent against the Muslim community. The Muslim community is diverse including the Moors, Malays, Bohras, Khojas and Memons, constituting 9.66 per cent of the population of Sri Lanka, according to the 2012 census. Moors speaking Tamil are the largest ethnic group within the Muslim community constituting 9.30 per cent of the population of Sri Lanka, while a few of them speak Sinhala as the primary language. Islam arrived on the shores of Sri Lanka since 7th century CE along with Arab traders who married and settled on the Island. They adopted the local Tamil language and culture. Sri Lankan Moors are descendants of Marakkar, Mappilas, Memons and Pathans of South India.

The LTTE targeted Moors when they resisted the claim that Moors were Tamils converted to Islam. Moors claimed their separate identity as a progeny of Arabs. Few hundred Moors were killed while hundreds of thousands were displaced from their homes and their properties destroyed by the LTTE as they claimed the northern and eastern territories for Tamil Elam. Sri Lankan Moors and the Sinhalese then joined hands during the 26-year civil war. Under attack from the LTTE on one hand, and rise of Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism on the other, the Muslim community turned to Islam for stronger bonds among themselves. Prior to May 2009, the principal adversary of the extreme Sinhalese Buddhist movements was the Tamil ethnic community. The Moors were not on their radar. However, after the threat from Tamil Elam subdued, the extreme Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism turned its attention to new adver-saries. New adversaries are necessary to project themselves as the saviours, nay, custodians of the Sinhalese Buddhist community and achieving hegemonic power over not only others but also within the Sinhala Buddhist community itself. They now turned to the already besieged Muslim community with Islamophobia on the rise to find an adversary in them. A Buddhist monk asked this writer, why were the Muslims, who had assimilated into the Sinhala culture, asserting their Islamic identity since the 1980s? They had vanquished oneTamil Elam which resisted assimilation and, the ones who were part of the Sinhala culture were now posited as those asserting separate identity.

The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS)  Buddhist Force Armywas founded by monks Kirama Wimalajothi and Galagoda Aththe Gnanasaara after they parted away from the Jathika Hela Urumaya. In their first national convention held in 2012 they problematised the Islamic identity. They demanded a single legal system, opposed halal food and Muslim women wearing abaya or burqa, Buddhist monks were to teach history and other subjects and preferential treatment in university admissions. They demanded a ban on birth control measures for the Buddhist community. They were demanding privileges for the Buddhists on the one hand, and cultural assimilation of the Muslims, or rather de-Islamisation, on the other in the post-civil war situation of the island. The BBS stands for a strong centralised authoritarian state which would ensure protection of Sinhala Buddhist cultural and religious traditions and are against the multi-racial, multi-religious and multicultural identity of Sri Lanka.

The extreme Buddhist Sinhalese nationalism seeks to mobilise the majority Buddhist Sinhala community by instilling fear of the minority Muslim community which is less than 10 per cent. They argue that Sinhala Buddhists have only one country where they belong to unlike Muslims, Hindus and Christians who have other countries. Moors too have only one homeland and so do the Sinhala Christians! They problematise mosques springing up everywhere, faster growth of Muslim population and conversions by Christians.

The BBS General Secretary, Gnansara, welcomed the victory of the Narendra Modi Government in India. He claimed they were in discussion with the Hindu supremacist organi-sation, the RSS, in India to form what he called a Hindu-Buddhist peace zone in South Asia and including Myanmars extremist Buddhist nationalist Wirathu Group 969. Though Ram Madhav, the General Secretary of the BJP, denied that they were in talks with the BBS, he posted comments appreciating the BBS. He wrote: The Bodu Bala Sena essentially talks about protecting the Buddhist culture of the country from foreign religions. The RSS too claims to do that replacing Buddhism for Hinduism. The Wirathu Group 969, BBS and RSS have common imagined enemies in the followers of Islam and Christianity, and profess a duty to save their respective only homelands from being predated by Islam and Christianity. The three Buddhist and Hindu supremacist organisations posit imagined threat from imagined enemies and hype up fear within the majority community in order to project themselves as protectors of their respective cultural heritage. They have little respect for truth, established procedures and democratic institutions. In the case of the recent anti-Muslim riots in Kandy, the Muslim youth had already been arrested by the police on the charge of beating up the truck driver on the same day of the incident on February 22; and in Ampara, prejudices against Muslims led the Sinhala customers of the hotel owned by Muslims to imagine contraceptive pills in meals served to them, notwithstanding the fact that there are no contraceptive pills that cause permanent and irreversible sterilisation. They did not wait for an investigation into their suspicion. Even if their suspicion were to be true, who should inflict punishment upon whom and in what measure?

The Right-wing extremists use insignificant everyday incidents like scuffle over truck-rickshaw traffic incident or tablet-like stuff in the meal served to them as an excuse to inflict collective punishment on all members of the community and those who have no role or control over the incident. In order to purge the other from their midst, they hype up the conflict to the level of continuous and ongoing war with the other. In this war, however reluctant, weak and insufficient protection is afforded to the other by law, it is immediately stigmatised as appeasement of the other. The extremist supremacists are more at war with democracy and the rule of law and war with the other is the route. At a rally in 2013 attended by 16,000 people, including 1300 Buddhist monks, the BBS General Secretary, Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara, unveiled the Maharagama Declaration. He stated: [t]his is a government created by Sinhala Buddhists and it must remain Sinhala Buddhist. This is a Sinhala country, Sinhala government. Democratic and pluralistic values are killing the Sinhala race. He called upon the Sinhalese Buddhist attending the rally that they must become an unofficial civilian police force against Muslim extremism. These so-called democrats are destroying the Sinhala race. The Wirathu Group 969 has always supported the military junta in Myanmar and the RSS was always unhappy with the Indian Constitution which they say was based on Western traditions, a veiled attack on equal citizenship rights.

The BBS has also learnt a tactic or two from the RSS. At a rally held in Kandy on March 17, 2013, the BBS announced that the 10th-century mosque at the Kuragala Buddhist monastery complex in Ratnapura district had been constructed on a Buddhist heritage by Muslim fundamentalists. While India was ruled by Muslim emperors, for the Sangh Parivar to claim that the Babri Masjid was built after destroying the Ram Janmabhoomi temple, Sri Lanka was not. It was a Portuguese colony and later a British colony. The BBS General Secretary, Gnanasara, also accused the Muslim owned Fashion Bug and No Limit retail chains of converting its Buddhist Sinhalese employees to Islam. The Muslim-owned Fashion Bug clothes shop in Pepiliyana, Colombo district was attacked on March 28, 2013 by a mob led by Buddhist monks. While these Right-wing supremacists problematise foreign cultural influences, they themselves freely borrow from foreign political ideologies, including more than a leaf from the Nazis and Fascists.

However, there are inherent contradictions and inconsistencies in their ideologies. While they complement each others electoral victories as good for the stability of the region and share common enemies in Islam and Christianity, and have held high level talks, their political goals would actually pit them in the war against each other in the long run. While the BBS talks of protecting Sinhalese Buddhist homeland, the RSS goal is Akhand Bharat with a common culture and religion, whose boundaries not only include Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, but also Myanmar and parts of China! Sri Lanka is a land wherein Lord Ram waged war and rescued his wife, Sita, from Ravanas custody.

Through their hypes, the Right-wing supremacists create even stronger insecurity among the marginalised minority practically abandoned by the state, which in turn pushes them (the othered minorities) to seek refuge in stronger unity around their exclusive symbols. The halal food being problematised after 2012 is not a new cultural practice and does not concern non-Muslims how they chose to consume their food. Halal meat only means that they let the blood of the slaughtered animal flow out fully before it is consumed. The extremists push the other towards more exclusivism rather than creating an environ-ment of cultural exchanges and dialogue.

Musthafa Nihmath, a member of the Asian Muslim Action Network (AMAN), told this writer that there were about 3000 mosques in Sri Lanka and all services were being conducted in Tamil. However, in the recent past, five mosques have begun their Friday sermons in the Sinhala language in Colombo in rotation. The Moors are hard working and a higher proportion of them are business entrepreneurs. The cab driver told this writer that every other shop or business belongs either to Moors or Tamils. (That may have been exaggeration.) That is why their business and mosques are targets.

The extreme Right-wing nationalists in all the countries are able to exploit the feelings of relative deprivation that the poor among the majority community feel and convert it into hatred against others belonging to more or less the same class but following different cultural traditions and hatred into violence. These feelings could be checked by appropriate education and dialogue between and within communities. The Constitution of Sri Lanka, as indeed of India, mandates the state to treat all citizens regardless of their religions equally and afford all citizens adequate environment and space to freely practice their religion. However, the executive of these countries fail to administer the law in letter and spirit and impartially.

As a Sri Lankan Minister told a group among whom this writer was present, few people involved in violence are put to trial and even fewer are convicted. The impending violence can be prevented if hate crimes are checked in time, intelligence strengthened and acted upon and bureaucrats are made accountable. Though the Sri Lankan Government took stern steps by declaring emergency to control riots and clamped down upon the social media, the executive misused the Emergency provisions against the minorities. As the levels of inequalities in Sri Lanka are increasing, the economic elite fund Right-wing nationalism to problematise perceived or factual growth of the poor from the other marginalised communities and take their gaze off them and the structures that enrich them with corruption occasionally becoming a political issue!

The author is the Director, Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai. He can be contacted at forirf[at]gmail.comA Texas couple, arrested with a cache of military-grade weaponry in a Tewksbury motel, was ordered held without bail after a dangerousness hearing in Lowell District Court Friday, the Lowell Sun reported.

Francho Bradley, 59, and Adrianne Jennings, 40, both of Frisco, Texas, were arrested Monday after police discovered eight assault-styled weapons, some fitted with grenade launchers and silencers, ammunition loaded into large-capacity magazines, tactical vests, gas masks, chem suits, walkie-talkies and smoke grenades in the couple's Andover Street Residence Inn room.

Bradley has told police and FBI investigators that he was carrying the weapons in case he was activated by a federal agency he refused to identify. Prosecutors said Bradley told investigators that part of his mission would be to make sure people infected by an unnamed virus did not eat each other as the government developed a vaccine.

But Bradley's defense attorney, Robert Normandine, said the weapons were to be used as props for photographs of a defense-related product his company had developed. Normandine said Bradley's company, Ensyma Engineering, made a headset that could be coupled with other equipment in use by the military.

In light of the outlandish claims Bradley made to investigators, Judge Stacey Fortes ordered the pair held without the right to bail.

Prosecutors asked the court to drop charges related to what appeared to be silencers attached to some weapons. They said ballistics experts determined the attachments were not functional.

The pair had driven from Texas with the weapons. Bradley had called police to report that a handgun he had left in the room might be stolen after a video surveillance system he had set up in the room stopped functioning.

Officers found the handgun was safe but saw the small arsenal, including an AK-47 and an AR-15 with an illegal bump stock. Police secured a search warrant for the room and the couple's pickup truck and found more weapons.

The pair has been charged with 45 different felonies in connection with the case.An assault charge that sparked an investigation of the defunct Eagleton School in Great Barrington has sent a former employee to jail, the Berkshire Eagle reported.

James Swift, 57, was sentenced to six months in the Berkshire County House of Correction in a Pittsfield court after he pleaded guilty to single counts of assault and battery on a disabled person and caretaker abuse on a disabled person.

Swift was originally charged in connection with a Jan. 1, 2016, incident in which he pushed a 19-year-old developmentally disabled student to the floor and punched him in the face three times. Prosecutors said the student complained that he received only four golds stars as a reward to his work, rather than the five to seven he usually received.

The incident was immediately reported to police, which resulted in a sweeping investigation of the school for developmentally disabled males. Investigators found widespread abuse among staff members against the residential students. The school lost its state license and was forced to close in April of 2016.

Swift's is the eighth criminal case to be resolved. Five other staff members pleaded guilty to assault or caretaker abuse charges. One man was acquitted of similar charges and the last saw charges dropped by the state. In all, more than 20 people have been charged.A man is being held in lieu of $5,000 cash bail after he was arrested Friday afternoon in connection with what police are calling a road rage shooting on East Main Street Chicopee.

Chicopee police spokesman Officer Michael Wilk said Dwayne Howlette, 28, was taken into custody by police in Holyoke not long after the 2 p.m. incident.

Wilk said police received a report of one driver shooting at another as the two vehicles rolled down East Main Street in Chicopee.

The complainant said he was driving on East Main Street when he saw a second driver pointing a gun at him and firing. The man was able to duck and accelerate away from the suspect car and the shot missed the driver and his 5-year-old son, who was in the car at the time.

Chicopee police found evidence of the gunshot at the scene.

A description of the offending driver and the Honda car he was seen driving was broadcast and Chicopee police quickly located the vehicle and tried to stop it. The suspect refused to stop and led Chicopee cruisers on a chase through city streets until he pulled onto Route 391 and sped away.

A short time later, Wilk said, Holyoke police located the suspect's vehicle parked on Main Street in Holyoke, and soon after that, a state trooper stopped Howlette walking nearby.

An electronic key fob for a Honda passenger vehicle was found in Howlette's pocket and when police tried it the car's door locks activated.

Howlette, who told officers he lives at 85 Congress St. in Springfield, has been charged by Chicopee police with assault with a dangerous weapon (a firearm), disturbance while carrying a dangerous weapon, failure to stop for a police officer, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop for a red light and speeding. He faces additional charges of possession of a firearm without a license, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling and possession of ammunition without FID.

Howlette is being held pending arraignment in Chicopee District Court Monday.

Wilk said the incident remains under investigation and additional charges could be added.More Massachusetts State Police troopers are under investigation for phantom overtime shifts.

Eight additional troopers are now being looked at for "questionable" overtime, according to a State Police spokesman.

The number includes 7 active troopers and one retired trooper, all in Troop E. They are under investigation for one to four "questionable" shifts each in 2016, according to the spokesman, David Procopio.

That puts them on the lower end of the alleged missing shifts, while others who have already been accused of skipped overtime shifts have ranged as high as 100.

The move to add troopers under investigation increases the total of troopers being looked at for the alleged skipped overtime shifts to over two dozen. Their names haven't been publicly released.

An internal audit of overtime shifts is ongoing, looking into all troops from A to F and H.

"To date, the only alleged discrepancies have been found in E," Procopio said in an email.

Troop E oversees the Massachusetts Turnpike.

The phantom overtime scandal is one of several controversies that have hit the State Police over the last six months.

The series of scandals is leading to a "series of reforms," Gov. Charlie Baker told reporters on Friday. He added that more on that will be coming "shortly" but did not provide a specific timeframe.HOLBROOK -- A man who allegedly broke into a home in Holbrook was arrested in Brockton early Saturday after being tracked down with help from K-9 officers and a helicopter, Massachusetts State Police have reported.

Troopers were asked to use the State Police helicopter around 3:30 a.m. to help locate a man who reportedly entered a Hamilton Way residence after breaking a rear glass slider with a rock.

Police said the man reportedly fled into the woods behind the house after being confronted by the homeowners.

Holbrook officers, with assistance from the State Police K-9 Unit, began to track the suspect.

State Police Airwing locates Holbrook B&E Suspect https://t.co/kzLOuKnYsW via @YouTube  Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) March 31, 2018

The State Police helicopter used thermal camera technology to locate the suspect off Howard Street in Brockton around 6 a.m., officials said.

Holbrook Police and K-9 officers were on the ground to secure the man, according to State Police.

Massachusetts State Police did not release further details regarding the incident, including the suspect's identity or the charges brought against him.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated if more information becomes available.Mathew Locke, the man charged with lying to police in the case of a slain West Brookfield family, has a checkered past with the law, including an arrest in 2009 where he was accused of threatening to kill a man and cut his head off.

According to witness statements in court records obtained by MassLive, Locke showed up to a home in Warren in 2009 where his ex-girlfriend and the couple's daughter were visiting with friends, "barged in the front door" and demanded to know who had been sleeping with his ex-girlfriend.

Locke then reportedly picked his daughter up off the couch and told the woman they were leaving.

According to a witness statement made by the alleged male victim, Locke then turned to him and said "If you're the one I am going to cut your head off."

Locke was arrested and charged with domestic assault and battery as a result of the incident but charges against him were dismissed in 2011 at the request of his ex-girlfriend, court records show.

Once outside, Locke's ex told police that Locke placed the couple's daughter in the backseat of her car and that he got in the driver's seat. When she told him to get out, Locke began punching the dash with his fist, she told police.

The woman told police she then got in the car and told Locke to get out. According to her account, he shouted "no," grabbed her arms and pushed one of her arms back injuring her shoulder.

At this point, both the woman and the her male friend reported that Locke repeated his threat, and "began screaming toward the house that he was going to 'kill that motherf------."

In her statement, the woman said she tried to knee Locke in the groin, but missed and hit the vehicle.

When police arrived, Locke told officers he had gone to the home to see his ex-girlfriend and that he was concerned for the welfare of his child. He claimed that the when he had entered the house he found "everyone sitting around the living room smoking" marijuana. Police said when they entered the home they found no evidence of marijuana use.

Locke also claimed that the woman had slapped him several times across the face and he had grabbed her in defense. After examination, the officer said he could not find any injuries to either Locke or the woman.

The incident is part of a lengthy criminal history for Locke, which includes an arson conviction and a history of domestic violence allegations, according to records obtained by MassLive.

In 2010 he set a fire outside a trailer belonging to a man who was dating his ex-girlfriend, said Joel Davis, a sergeant with the Maine State Fire Marshal's Office. The victim had taken out a restraining order against Locke after he allegedly made threats against him and his children.

Locke is accused lying to police investigating the killing of Sara Bermudez and her three children in their Old Warren Road home in West Brookfield. Sources tell MassLive the bodies were found burned.

Locke is the cousin of Sara's husband Moses Bermudez.

Locke has not been charged with the West Brookfield killings. His arrest is the first in connection with the case, and came after he allegedly provided a false story to investigators about possible MS-13 involvement in the crime.

Investigators claim Locke lied to them about Moses Bermudez referencing MS-13 involvement in the crime.

In the 2010 arson, the victim and his girlfriend spotted Locke outside the trailer carrying a red plastic gas can, Davis said. Shortly after, they smelled smoke and found a fire outside the trailer, which they quickly extinguished.

"He said he was trying to get her attention," Joel Davis, a sergeant with the Maine State Fire Marshal's Office told MassLive. "Didn't want to hurt anybody."

The burned bodies of Bermudez, 38, and her children, 8-year-old Madison, 6-year-old James and 2-year-old Michael were found in an upstairs bedroom of their West Brookfield home on March 1. Little is publicly known about the state of the investigation, beyond Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early's announcement on March 3 that authorities were searching for a yellow diesel fuel can missing from the house.

_________

MassLive reporter Dan Glaun contributed to this story.NEWBURYPORT - A New Hampshire man has been arrested and is facing charges for two Massachusetts rape cases that occurred in 2004, according to The Boston Globe.

Russell Davis, 65, of Seabrook, NH, is charged with rape, indecent assault and battery on a person 14 years of age or older and rape of a child with force. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in Newburyport District Court Friday.

The child rape and indecent assault and battery charges stem from an alleged assault in Rowley in 2004. The other rape is alleged to have occurred in Newbury.

Davis was ordered held without bail.

He is scheduled to return to court April 4 for a dangerousness hearing.SPRINGFIELD -- A Springfield school van driver is facing child rape charges after allegedly sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl while transporting her to after-school therapy sessions.

Alvin W. Wilson, 24, of Springfield, pleaded not guilty Friday in Springfield District Court to five counts of rape of a child by force.

Assistant District Attorney Kerry Koehler said the defendant forced the victim to preform sex acts in the van and at his grandmother's home in Springfield. He worked for a transportation company hired by the girl's charter school.

In late January, the girl was overheard telling another student about smoking marijuana and having sex with her van driver, the report said. When questioned, the girl denied doing anything improper, but later told her grandmother about sexual encounters with the driver, according to the arrest report.

During an interview with police, the girl described a scar running across Wilson's stomach, and picked out his grandmother's home while being driven through the neighborhood, the report said.

Koehler asked for $100,000 cash bail, citing the new charges and Wilson's court record, which includes an arrest on firearms charges and an open case involving an alleged assault and battery on a pregnant woman.

Defense lawyer Ivonne Vidal opposed the bail request, and said the charges are based on uncorroborated allegations made by a teenager with a history of depression and suicidal behavior.

Wilson never had physical contact and barely spoke to the girl, who always rode in the back of the van, Vidal said. Wilson's girlfriend often rode with him in the van during the time the alleged sex acts took place, and his relatives were always home at his grandmother's house, Vidal said.

The girl could have read Wilson's name on his driver's badge, and could have seen the scar from photos on Wilson's Facebook page, the lawyer said. In any case, her description of a horizontal scar was inaccurate.

"It is a vertical scar," Vidal said.

"No other evidence exists in this case," she added.

Wilson grew up in Springfield, earned a GED and is working to obtain a truck driver's license, Vidal said.

Despite several arrests, he has no convictions on his adult record. The pending case involves an alleged assault on his pregnant girlfriend, who denies that Wilson ever struck her and has repeatedly asked prosecutors to drop the charges, Vidal said.

Wilson has lost his job and cannot afford cash bail, said Vidal, who recommended placing him on home detention along with other restrictions.

Judge John Payne set bail at $25,000 and ordered Wilson to have no contact with the girl if he is released before trial.

Wilson, who repeatedly shook his head as the prosecutor summed up the allegations, looked back at his girlfriend as he left the courtroom.

"Love you," he said.

"Love you," she replied.SPRINGFIELD -- A Springfield man facing new animal cruelty charges has also been cited for alleged probation violations in an earlier cat abuse case.

Russell H. Corby, 66, of 66 Switzer Ave., pleaded not guilty Monday in Springfield District Court to three counts of cruelty to animals after investigators allegedly found sick kittens and adult cats, some with ruptured eyeballs, at his home for the second time in two years.

Corby denied neglecting his cats and said kittens sometimes poke each others' eyes out while nursing, according to a complaint filed by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The new charges come 10 months after Corby was placed was on probation for allegedly failing to seek veterinary care for numerous kittens, several of whom allegedly died as a result of neglect. As part of his probation, Corby agreed to let the Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center conduct periodic inspections at his home.

A recent inspection found three cats with ruptured eyeballs due to untreated corneal ulcers, a painful condition commonly treated with antibiotics and pain medication, the complaint said. Left untreated, corneal ulcers can result in ruptured eyeballs, a condition the MSPCA called "gruesome and horrific" for kittens.

Other cats were suffering from upper respiratory infections and dehydration, and one was ordered quarantined after suffering "a bite of unknown origin," the complaint said.

"This is not the first time that cats have suffered at this residence. In the past, cats have been brought in ... missing eyes and suffering from severe flea anemia," the complaint stated.

Based on the inspection, state Probation Officer Jenifer Muscaro served Corby with a probation violation notice.

After reviewing the MSPCA complaint, Judge John Payne found probable cause that Corby had violated his probation in the previous case.

Payne ordered the defendant to allow further inspections of his home and to schedule medical appointments for kittens currently in the custody of the Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center.

Corby is due back in court on May 7 for a pretrial hearing on the new charges.Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday signed a bill providing people with more privacy from their health insurance companies.

The new law, the so-called PATCH Act, seeks to ensure that patients have the ability to request that a summary of payment form for their health insurance be sent directly to them, not to the policyholder of their insurance.

The acronym stands for Protecting Access to Confidential Health Care.

Summary of payment forms typically describe the type and cost of care. The legislation could help an adult who is on their parent's or spouse's health insurance but does not want their parent or spouse to know what kind of health care they received.

For example, a person might not want a family member to know about their reproductive health care, mental health treatment or any other service.

Today, some people may pay out of pocket for health care even if they have insurance to avoid having paperwork sent to the insurance policyholder.

The new law will let patients opt out of receiving a summary payment form if no money is due, decide what physical address or email address the form should be sent to, and allow the patient to receive the form rather than the policyholder. Certain sensitive health care services would not be identified on the form.

"Patient confidentiality is a foundational element of the patient-provider relationship," said Sen. Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, the lead sponsor of the bill, after the Senate passed the bill in February. "Unfortunately, young adults, minors or victims of abuse are often reluctant to seek certain types of treatment, fearing that their personal health information will be disclosed to a parent or spouse."

Amy Rosenthal, executive director of Health Care for All, said that without the new law, confidential health information may be inadvertently disclosed on a summary of benefits, "violating the basic right to privacy for anyone enrolled as a dependent on another's policy."ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Red Sox players sprayed Alex Cora with alcohol to celebrate his first win as an MLB manager.

"We got him good," shortstop Xander Bogaerts said. "We got him real good. I know definitely it's an honor for him, a lot of family here. Yesterday would have been nice but today probably was even better to bounce back from yesterday. And hopefully we can build some momentum."

They showered him with alcohol in the shower room.

"I don't think the office would have been a good option," Bogaerts said. "The carpet would have been nasty. But in the shower it was nice. I know it definitely would mean a lot for somebody who's a first-year manager."

So how did the players get Cora in there?

"I'm sorry, but he knew he had to go," Bogaerts said. "The veteran guys, the pitchers, were like, 'Hey, let's go. It's your turn.'"

Cora is only the second Puerto Rican-born manager in MLB history.

"It's great," Cora said. "Good thoughts. I think about my dad. He passed away when I was 13. How important he is."

Cora, who had 25 family and friends here, also thought about his brother, Joey, and mom, Iris.

"And my mom back home, I bet she's going nuts right now," Cora said. "For how bad it was yesterday, it's awesome. 1-0 game. So I really had both ends of the spectrum, huh? So I'm happy. But more happy for those guys. David (Price) bouncing back. Having a great outing. (Craig) Kimbrel on the mound. Today is great."While its finally starting to feel like spring outside weve been busy this winter working hard to help lead Buttes economic development efforts. Its been a big spring, highlighted by the announcement of the new Praxis Center in uptown. We have supported this project from its initial stages, and couldnt be more excited about the opportunities it will bring to town. Accompanying this announcement we were very excited to work with the new acquisition of the Finlen Hotel. Obviously a landmark of our community, the new owners are working hard to provide a unique lodging experience in Uptown while maintaining this incredibly significant building.

We have been working diligently with our great partners at the Chamber and Butte-Silver Bow to support our many amazing local businesses, and hosted the Butte Outdoor Sector Summit in March. The meeting showcased the economic impact that Outdoor Recreation has on Montana, and specifically in Butte. It also featured a panel of business owners locally and from Bozeman to talk about how important the outdoors are to their businesses and how they leverage those resources for business success. The conclusion was the introduction of our new campaign, Basecamp Butte! We will be following up this meeting with a working group to bring Basecamp Butte to life, and this will kick off May 15th.

Lastly, we understand the importance of ensuring that Butte is competitive when it comes to attracting new businesses. We have submitted an application to become a designated Opportunity Zone. If successful, the program would provide tax breaks for investment in the designated area. The application closed at the end of this month, and census tracts will be selected later this spring.

Sincerely,

Joseph J. Willauer

Full Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/bldc/the-impact-july-1373965?e=37811d99ceA Tailored Grant Program Helps Meet Development Needs of Utah Counties Utahs government wants to empower its rural counties to meet their economic needs with a flexible grant program.

Rural Counties with More Broadband Tended to Do Better in 2020 Census, Study Shows Counties that grew from 2010 to 2020 had higher average connection speeds than rural counties that lost population.

S.F. is finally building tiny cabins for homeless people. One reason: it may be cheaper than tents After years of resistance, San Francisco is finally jumping onto the trend of sheltering homeless people in tiny homes, with plans to install them on two parking lots about ni

Revitalizing the Main Street, Revitalizing the Community A belief in the community-building aspect of a thriving downtown is what motivates mayors and city officials of several Utah towns involved in the Utah Main Street Program, pa

The Must Have Resume Feature for Fall 2021: Employees Vaccination Status As many as one in three hiring managers are screening new hires for vaccination status, according to a new survey.

Whats the Future of the Office? Brett LoGiurato, senior editor at Wharton School Press, sat down with Cappelli to talk about his new book. They discussed work during the COVID-19 pandemic, the complications

Montanas Teton County and Vaughn community welcomes Karhu Koski Distillery  Career Opportunities Although unemployment has been rough in surrounding areas like Vaughn, one resident says this is exactly what they need. Almeida is looking to hire close to thirty employees w

The late night hosts joined forces to talk climate change. Here are the best moments. Eight of America's late night talk show hosts joined forces this Wednesday, each using their shows' platforms to address climate change in a special cross-network "Climate Nig

Montana tech jobs thriving, while others are in decline "Data visualization is almost a component and essential component of a story or the way that you use infographics to tell a story. And, some of that is, do you know how to wor

Remote work already changing Seattle permanently, tech worker survey indicates The majority of Seattle tech workers dont expect to ever return to their offices full time and the effects of that transition could alter everything from commercial real es

Your Weekly Talent Attraction Update  Great Falls Development Authority This is our weekly talent attraction email update, where we give you the low-down on all things talent attraction in Great Falls, Montana and how to get involved.

MoFi President Receives Presidential Appointment  Dave Glaser Will Serve on Community Development Advisory Board The CDFI Funds mission is to expand economic opportunity for underserved people and communities by supporting the growth of community development lenders, investors and fin

Farm Fresh Broadband  The Politics of Rural Connectivity An analysis of the failure of U.S. broadband policy to solve the ruralurban digital divide, with a proposal for a new national rural broadband plan.

Self-Guided Delivery Robots Are Getting Wider Deployments Detroit will be one of three cities to launch autonomous delivery programs using Kiwibots. The small, electric devices will travel on city sidewalks and partner with businesse

BitClout founder Diamondhands reveals himself and explains why social media as we know it is dead BitClout lives on DeSo, alongside over 100 other social crypto apps, such as Pulse and Flick, all of which are attempting to decentralize social media and take it out of the h

Rural Nevada county details opposition to Innovation Zones Mitchell and other county representatives oppose a proposal backed by Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak that would allow companies that promise a $1.25 billion investment and possWASHINGTON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said that the United States will withdraw its troops from Syria "very soon," according to a transcript provided by the White House on Friday.

The statement soon sparked questions as U.S. military officials were reportedly not informed of the decision.

"We'll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now," Trump said in a speech in Richfield, Ohio earlier on Thursday.

"By the way, we're knocking the hell out of ISIS," said Trump. "We're going to be coming out of there real soon. We're going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be," he said.

The statement seemed to contradict the military's stance.

On Thursday, Pentagon spokesperson Dana White told reporters that "important work remains to guarantee the lasting defeat of these violent extremists" in war-torn Syria.

Trump's remarks have further aroused doubts regarding the U.S. military's activities in Syria, as the U.S. military said on Friday that two members of the U.S.-led coalition were killed in a roadside bomb attack in the nation, with one of them being a U.S. service member.TRIPOLI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan eastern-based army on Friday said that its fighter jets have launched airstrikes on Chadian armed groups in southern Libya for the second time in less than two weeks.

"As part of the operations to secure the south, air force fighters targeted a site of Chadian gangs linked to al-Qaida southwest of the Harug Mountains, causing human and material losses," the army said in a statement.

"After reconnaissance operations, the air force fighters launched a second raid on a convoy of 11 vehicles moving south of the Harug without prior permission, destroying six of them and damaging two others. The gangs were penetrating Libyan territory and active in smuggling and terrorism," the statement added.

On March 19, the army's air force targeted Chadian armed groups in southern Libya, after the army's deadline for African migrants to leave the south.

On March 9, the army set March 17 deadline for nationals from neighboring African countries to leave southern Libya in order to curb the erupting violence there, warning they would be removed by force.

The city of Sabha, located some 800 km southwest of capital Tripoli, has recently been witnessing violent clashes between rival tribes that killed and injured dozens of civilians and forced hundreds of families to flee their homes.

People from Chad, Niger and Sudan have been accused of involvement in the conflicts in Sabha. Hamed Al-Khiali, head of the municipal council of Sabha, said last month that the local airport was occupied by "an armed group that has nothing to do with Libya," carrying flags of other African countries.

Recently in Tripoli, the UN-backed government announced measures to support its forces in Sabha to fight the so-called "mercenaries."Actress Shin Hye-sun has established herself as one of the leading up-and-coming actresses after the overnight success of her latest TV series. In the recently ended TV drama "My Golden Life," she played her first starring role successfully.

"I found the lengthy drama series burdensome, but after reading the first part of the script, I just knew I had to do it," Shin recalled.

Shin said she had dreamed of becoming an actor since she was in elementary school. "I dreamed of being an actress for a long time, but I didn't know what to do. The only way I knew was to major in acting in university," she said. "At first, I felt helpless. All my efforts seemed to go nowhere. But I've been lucky enough to have come this far. I really don't know where all the time has gone."OSCEOLA COUNTY, MI -- An international nonprofit is doubling down on its efforts to help a small Michigan township in its legal battle with food and beverage giant Nestle.

Osceola Township is defending a zoning decision that denied the company approval to build infrastructure it needs to move more spring water to its Ice Mountain bottling plant in Evart.

The township of 1,076 residents received a letter dated Dec. 31 from SumOfUs Managing Director Glen Berman. It states that the global nonprofit is granting $20,000 to the Osceola Township Legal Defense Fund, set up to help the township cover its legal costs tied to its legal battle with Nestle.

"It's this tiny community," SumOfUs Campaign Manager Emma Pullman said. "But, symbolically, it's such a David and Goliath fight. I think people all over the world can see how important this fight is."

The grant was officially accepted by Township Treasurer Martin Nieman on Tuesday, March 27.

It's the second round of funding from SumOfUs, which provided $30,000 raised through a crowdfunding campaign to cover the legal costs incurred prior to the township's decision to appeal to the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Pullman said, in total, the organization has already contributed $56,000 -- $50,000 on the original lawsuit and $6,000 for the appeal. Pullman said they intend to continue providing financial support as well.

"These appeals take a huge amount of time," she said. "And we intend to keep supporting the community."

The dispute resulting in the court battle can be traced back to the township planning commission's denial in April 2017 of a special land use permit that would allow Nestle Waters North America to build a pumping booster station along a water line that feeds its tanker loading dock in Evart.

The station is a crucial part of Nestle's plans to significantly increase water extraction on a controversial Osceola County wellhead; a stalled application under review by state environmental regulators which has generated significant public backlash over the past year.

The local dispute involves a complicated interpretation of the township zoning ordinance, which Osceola Township officials content Nestle's plans do not conform to.

Nestle says its plans meet zoning standards and should be approved.

"We believe the plan we proposed to build a small building to house a booster pump met the Township's site plan and special land use standards," Ice Mountain Natural Resource Manager Arlene Anderson-Vincent said in a statement. "From the beginning, our goal with this request has been to reduce, as much as possible, any impact to the local community and the environment."

The township says Nestle needs to request the Spring Hill Camps property where the station is planned be rezoned before it could approve a permit because the agricultural zoning on the camp property doesn't allow the building as proposed.

In July, the zoning appeals board upheld the planning commission's original decision to reject the permit.

The company took the township to court.

Mason County Circuit Judge Susan Sniegowski, brought in after all local judges recused themselves, sided with Nestle in a Dec. 20 opinion ordering the township to issue the company the permit.

In her eight-page opinion, Sniegowski agreed with the township that Nestle's application was properly classified under the "essential services" section of agricultural zoning, but disagreed that Nestle's proposal had to be considered a "public convenience and necessity" by the township board, according to the zoning language.

"Since this finding was the stated reason for denial of the zoning permit to NWNA, the denial was in error," she wrote.

Tim Ladd, Osceola Township supervisor, disagreed with Sniegowski's opinion, and "if we accepted that, then her decision is going to play into our zoning into the future."

On Jan. 2, the Osceola Township Board of Trustees voted 4-1 to appeal the circuit judge's decision to the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Nestle claims they have made efforts to reduce the financial burden on Osceola Township.

"We are sensitive to the local government's incurrence of legal expenses," Anderson-Vincent said in a statement. "That is why we did what we could to help them reduce these costs by offering to delay our appeal to the Circuit Court back in August of 2017. Unfortunately, our offer was refused by the Township."

Nestle is still awaiting a decision from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality on a request to increase its pumping rate from a well near Evart. Pullman said SumOfUs has also supported efforts to oppose the request through online petitions and organized efforts to submit materials during the state's public comment period.

SumOfUs, whose website tagline is "Fighting for people over profits," currently has two other active fundraising campaigns involving Nestle water withdrawal in California and Ontario, Canada.

"Nestle is a household name for corporate malfeasance," Pullman said. "We don't have to assume that corporations have the right to take our water for pennies. I think that is why this campaign appealed to so many people."

The nonprofit's online community claims more than 14 million members from around the world, and has made headlines with campaigns on issues ranging from climate change and human rights to workers' rights and corporate accountability.JACKSON, MI - A Chelsea-based charity is inviting the Jackson community to a night out at Airport Lanes to help raise money for breast cancer research.

Union 4 Life, a breast cancer charity that is part of the Ann Arbor Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Center, is hosting its annual Charity Bowling Night fundraiser at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 14, at Airport Lanes, 3501 Wildwood Ave.

Proceeds from the event benefit the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center's Breast Cancer Research program, Union 4 Life official Hope Salyer said.

Tickets to the fundraiser cost $30 per person or $55 for two. In addition to admission, tickets are good for three games, shoe rentals and dinner, Salyer said.

Tickets can be purchased either at Airport Lanes or at the Ann Arbor Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Center, 13400 Luick Drive in Chelsea.

A silent auction, 50/50 raffle and cash bar are also available to attendees during the event.

Union 4 Life was found in 2012 by Ann Arbor Electric Joint Apprenticeship Training Center Director John Salyer. It has raised more than $70,000 for the University of Michigan Cancer Center.

This year's goal is to raise more than $20,000.

Questions can be answered by calling 734-475-1180. For more information about the event, visit the Union 4 Life website.MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI - Another Muskegon area woman has been sentenced to jail for failing to send her child to school.

The criminal case involving Sherry Lynn McFail, 30, was filed in 2014, but the truancy problems extend back to 2010, said Muskegon County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Maat.

The Oakridge school district worked to help McFail get her son, now age 15, to school in 2010 and 2011, Maat said.

Repeated absences and tardies, neglecting to enroll her child in school and failure to show up for a court sentencing resulted in McFail being sentenced to two days in jail. Muskegon County District Judge Raymond Kostrzewa handed down the sentence on March 27.

Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson launched his Operation Graduation program several years ago to combat the issue of truancy. The program provides a series of interventions to try to get parents to send their children to school. In the case of older, uncooperative students, they are provided with interventions as well.

Students are flagged for intervention once they accumulate nine days of unexcused absences. If school officials determine their grades are suffering as a result, school officials try their own interventions. When those are not successful, the students' parents are referred to the prosecutor's office.

Several parents have been jailed as a result of Hilson's campaign against truancy.

The prosecutor's office only considers unexcused absences - not those that are excused -- when it files criminal charges.

The school district sent McFail a written notice on Dec. 13, 2011, warning her about the 15 unexcused absences her son had accumulated since the beginning of that school year, Maat said.

After she met with school personnel in January 2012, there were no further attendance issues that year, Maat said.

But by Nov. 8, 2013, the child had accumulated 10 unexcused absences and nine tardies in the first few months of the 2013-14 school year, Maat said.

In January 2014, officials with the prosecutor's office met with McFail and she signed a contract agreeing to send her child to school to avoid criminal charges, Maat said.

"Our office offered whatever assistance necessary to get her child to school regularly," he said.

In March 2014, McFail notified the prosecutor's office that she was moving to Florida where her child would attend school, Maat said. But two months later, she re-enrolled her child at Oakridge and it was determined the child never was enrolled in school in Florida, he said.

At that point, the prosecutor's office filed a truancy charge against McFail, he said.

McFail was not arrested until September 2015, and Maat said he didn't know why it took so long. The prosecutor's office agreed to dismiss the charge if she could provide proof of school attendance for her child, he said.

On Oct. 1, 2015, McFail pleaded guilty to truancy with the understanding she could withdraw the plea if she was able to get her son to school, Maat said.

Sentencing was delayed until June 7, 2016, to give McFail a chance to prove her child was regularly attending school and avoid criminal charges and jail, Maat said. However, McFail did not show up for sentencing and a bench warrant for her arrest was issued. She was arrested on the bench warrant in January of this year, Maat said.

"The mother throughout this time period indicated a willingness to deal with the problem and in fact it appears after each intervention the attendance did get better," Maat said. "But eventually, it reverted back to the old problem, and there was nothing left but to issue charges."REDFORD TWP., MI - Three Muskegon area residents who died in a horrific single-car crash in the Detroit area Thursday included a mother and daughter who were on their way back from a family member's release party.

The victims of the crash in Redford Township have been identified as Mia Dorris, 50, her daughter Jatia McGough, 30, and McGough's girlfriend Raeniquah "Niiqua" Watson, 22, according to police and a family member.

The crash occurred at 2:05 a.m. March 29 when their car lost control and struck a pole on Telegraph Road, according to a press release from the Redford Township Police Department.

The women were in a gray 2008 Kia Optima that was traveling at a "high rate of speed" when the vehicle lost control and struck a pole in the median at West Chicago, according to the press release.

It was not known whether drugs or alcohol were factors in the crash, according to police.

Police put out a request for witnesses to the crash. The crash remains under investigation and further information was not available.

In addition to McGough, Dorris had three other children: Karlos Dillard, Alex McGough and Timothy McGough, according to Dillard, who lives in Seattle.

Dillard said the siblings had a rough childhood, moving from Detroit to Muskegon Heights when they were young. They grew up in foster care and Dillard said his mother struggled with homelessness and joblessness.

That was until about 4 months ago when Dorris got her first job as a janitor at a local high school and was planning to move into an apartment.

"I thought, 'Wow, I don't have to worry about her anymore," Dillard said.

McGough graduated from Muskegon Heights High School, but didn't work, Dillard said. Though she struggled with depression, McGough was known as an "activist" for the community's children, he said.

McGough and Watson had dated for about three years, Dillard said. He described Watson as "quiet."

Dillard has set up a gofundme page to help pay for his sister's funeral expenses. His mother's expenses are paid through her new job, he said.

The three had gone to Detroit for Timothy McGough's release party for a new rap song, Dillard said. They were on the way back to Muskegon when the crash occurred, he said. He believes his sister was driving because neither his mother nor Watson drove.

"When they left (the party), everyone hugged and they took a family picture and then they got in the car," he said.SAGINAW - Rushing in just before a storm system moved through Mid-Michigan, hundreds of children got their Easter egg fix Saturday by snatching up brightly-colored plastic eggs on the lawn of the Saginaw County Courthouse.

Paul Berrera, president of the Saginaw Old Town Association and owner of Jake's Old City Grill, emceed the event for the eleventh year. In the weeks before Easter, Jake's hosts the multiple egg-stuffing parties required to prepare 28,000 candy prizes for the big day.

The hunt began at noon, with kids aged one to three taking Borchard Park by storm, before moving on to the Saginaw County Courthouse lawn. Kids aged four to six and seven to 10 broke into two groups to comb the lawn, peppered with man-sized bunny statues, for their colorful prizes.

The event also served as a meet-and-greet with Saginaw City firefighters and police, whose vehicles' sirens served as the signal to start each round of candy collection.HARRISON, MI -- A woman who was high on methamphetamine when she crashed into a vehicle, killing a 53-year-old U.S. Army veteran and seriously injuring two others, will spend the next four years in prison, prosecutors say.

April Sue Wardwell, 36, was sentenced Monday, March 26, to five to 15 years in prison with credit for a little over a year in jail for the fatal crash, according to Clare County Prosecutor Michelle Ambrozaitis.

Wardwell previously pleaded no contest to operating while intoxicated causing death and two counts of operating while intoxicated causing injury.

On May 18, 2016, Wardwell was high on methamphetamine when she failed to stop at an intersection just south of Lake and struck a vehicle driven by Carol Bradley, Ambrozaitis said.

Bradley died at the scene. Her passengers, Jennifer Cook and Joyce Kennell, were seriously injured, according to Ambrozaitis.

According to her obituary, Bradley was a Whitmore Lake-native who joined the U.S. Army after graduating high school. She spent 20 years in the service before being honorably discharged.

From 2002 up until her death, she lived in Texas, the obituary states. The Mount Pleasant Morning Sun reports Bradley was in Michigan for a family member's funeral.

She was buried with full military honors at Pine Grove Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery in Jonesboro, La.Two other North Korean vessels were hit with a global assets freeze but were not banned from port entry. Twenty-one shipping and trading firms were hit by an assets freeze. Three of them are based in Hong Kong, including Huaxin Shipping, which delivered shipments of North Korean coal to Vietnam in October.

Thirteen North Korean oil tankers and cargo vessels were banned from ports worldwide, along with 12 other ships for helping Pyongyang smuggle banned commodities or supplying oil and fuel shipments, according to a UN document obtained by AFP.

The move is part of a global crackdown on the smuggling of North Korean commodities in violation of UN sanctions resolutions, which were adopted in response to Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

Acting on a request from the United States, a council committee approved the largest-ever package of sanctions designations on North Korea, the council diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

The UN Security Council on Friday blacklisted 27 ships, 21 companies and a businessman for helping North Korea circumvent sanctions, keeping the pressure on Pyongyang despite its recent diplomatic opening to talks, a diplomat said.

 12 North Korean Firms Hit

Twelve North Korean firms were blacklisted for running ships involved in illegal transfers of oil and fuel, according to the document. Two other companies -- Shanghai Dongfeng Shipping and Weihai World Shipping Freight, also based in China -- were blacklisted for carrying North Korean coal on their vessels.

The remaining firms are in based Singapore, Samoa, the Marshall Islands and Panama. A businessman identified as Tsang Yung Yuan was hit by a global travel ban and assets freeze for organizing illegal shipments of North Korean coal with a North Korean broker in Russia.

The sanctions were approved as the United States moves to open talks with North Korea on its nuclear drive, with a possible summit meeting between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un to be held by the end of May. Despite the diplomatic opening, the United States have made clear they will keep the pressure on Pyongyang to shift course by pressing on with sanctions.

 Sanctions Flouted

Last year, the Security Council adopted a series of resolutions to ban North Korean exports of commodities in a bid to cut off revenue to the nation's military programs.

The measures severely restrict deliveries of oil and refined petroleum products to North Korea, but sanctions monitors have reported that Pyongyang has used vessels to dodge those restrictions.

North Korea earned $200 million last year from exports of coal, iron, steel and other banned commodities, according to a recent report. Only eight North Korean vessels had so far been banned from ports for sanctions-busting, so the inclusion of 13 other ships Friday was expected to significantly cripple North Korea's maritime network.

The United States had initially asked the United Nations to ban 33 ships and 27 firms over smuggling, but China put a hold on that request to review the list.

Earlier this month, the White House said Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed in a phone conversation to keep up the sanctions pressure on North Korea until Pyongyang takes concrete steps toward denuclearization.On Holy Thursday, local clergy leaders from numerous faiths represented in South County performed a foot washing ceremony outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Morgan Hill. It was an effort to show solidarity with immigrants who have been removed from their homes and separated from their families by federal agents, according to organizers.

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The March 29 ceremony was organized by the advocacy group People Acting in Community Together, and led by PACT board of directors co-chair Father Jon Pedigo. Participating in the ceremony were about a dozen other clergy leaders and worshippers from Santa Clara Countys Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist communities.

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Local activists from PACT and other organizations also attended.

<

The group focused on the message that recent and ongoing federal immigration enforcement policies are unjust and tearing our community apart. ICE activities have resulted in the arrests of many long-time, law-abiding residents of Santa Clara County, the organizers said.

<

County Supervisor Dave Cortese also attended the event, which took place outside the ICE office on Vineyard Court.

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Its a reminder of the humility we all need, particularly those of us in public office, so that (people) understand that we understand that we are not better than the marginalized, and our goal is to uplift the marginalized, Cortese said when the leaders went around in a circle explaining why they were present to wash their fellow activists feet.

<

County officialsparticularly the sheriffhave come under fire recently for allowing ICE agents inside the county jail without warrants or other necessary paperwork. Cortese said these agents have attempted to enter the jail to contact inmates at least six times in the last two weeks. Sheriff Laurie Smiths office mistakenly allowed them to enter and interview inmates in one of those instances, Smith said earlier this week.

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This is harassment, Cortese told the gathering.

<

PACT members also noted that in the last 10 days, the Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network has received at least 90 calls from concerned residents claiming they have seen ICE agents pick up their neighbors and family members.

<

In Christian faiths, the Holy Thursday foot washing ritual encourages believers to humble themselves to serve others, even in performing undesirable tasks.

<

The March 29 event at the Morgan Hill ICE office began with the clergy and activists marching to the front of the federal office from about a block away. When they arrived at the front door, Rabbi Debbie Israel of Congregation Emeth and Pastor Bryan Franzen of Westminster Presbyterian Church went inside to offer to wash the feet of any detainees who might be present at the facility.

<

After a brief conversation with an agent inside, Israel and Franzen explained that they were told that there were no detainees housed at the facility. When ICE agents happen to pick up nearby residents on suspicion of immigration violations, they are briefly processed at the Morgan Hill office before being transported to a San Francisco facility for detention, the clergy leaders were told.

<

Israel said she and Franzen were treated warmly by ICE staff, and given a brief tour of the Morgan Hill facility March 29. Israel added that the agents inside appreciated but declined our offer to wash their feet.

<

The gathering then returned to a grassy area just outside the ICE facility to continue a program that included speakers who have been impacted by federal immigration enforcement practices, prayers, singing and, of course, the foot washing ceremony.

<

Its very apparent that the federal government does a great job creating panic in communitiesto prevent communities from organizing, local activist Delma Hernandez said, in both English and Spanish. This (event) is a representation of the strength we have.

<

A young woman who did not state her name told the group that some of her friends have been detained by ICE since the Donald Trump presidential administration began in January 2017.

<

The ceremony concluded with attendees turning toward the ICE building, their arms stretched before them, and blessing the facility and the agents inside.

<

Something dies inside of a person when they incarcerate children, and take them away from their parents, said Pedigo, who is Director of Advocacy for Catholic Charities.

<

Cortese: Feds not following the law

<

After the ceremony, Cortese elaborated on the countys policies regarding its interactions with ICE and the recent jail visits by the federal agents. In 2010, the county adopted a written policy that prevents the sheriffs office from allowing deportation officers to visit its jails, and from complying with immigration holds.

<

In light of recent news that jail staff mistakenly allowed agents to enter, Cortese confirmed, It was, in fact, a mistake. We are reaffirming our policies for due process for people in custody in county facilities.

<

He said the ICE agents are performing gamesmanship, and seem to be acting on a rogue basis when they try to enter the county jail.

<

They come in with no warrants, no subpoenas, no explanation why they want to interview the (inmates) they want to interview, Cortese said. We are upholding the position we adopted in 2010. We are not in the business of detaining people based on their immigration status. This is chaotic. They know they need a warrant.

<

At the same time, federal officials claim that Santa Clara County and other sanctuary communities in California are the ones not complying with the law, Cortese said.

<

Searches and seizures require a warrant, he added. We are sworn to uphold the Constitution, just like those federal agents are.Ive visited Cyprus twice: the first time when my daughter was a baby, 24 years ago, and I was still with her father. We stayed at a stuffy hotel in Larnaca. The beaches were beautiful but the town looked like a building site. It was a half-hour bus ride to a gorgeous white beach with a classic turquoise sea. During my visit, I crossed over the green line, a no mans land of barbed wire and UN soldiers, to the Turkish side. My Cypriot friends were sad. They werent allowed to go.

Since the financial crisis of 2012, we havent heard much from Cyprus. This time, visiting during Lent, I explored the rustic interior, a more authentic look at the island. Cyprus has mountains! Who knew?

Tourism is a steady earner for Cyprus: warm seas, fantastic snorkelling, byzantine churches, sun, sand and ancient history. Plus they speak English, drive on the left, have English three- pin plugs. (In this age of constant recharging of phones, laptops and cameras, youd be surprised how useful this is as a feature.)

Sadly the island is still split: 37% is occupied by the Turks who have sold the homes of Greek Cypriot families to tourists . In one recent incident, a family that returned to look at their old house now occupied by Europeans, were arrested and spent the night in jail until rescued by the UN.

Cypriot Christians and Muslims shared the island for decades without rancour according to our guide, Demetra, and it appears there is little anger between actual Cypriots, Turkish or Greek. We were neighbours, we got on.

Its probably because of their complicated history that Cyprus has a vibrant and varied food and drink culture. Like Sicily, another great island food culture, theyve been occupied by virtually everybody over the decades. As a result the food and drink sources inspiration from Greece, Turkey, Byzantine, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.





Most tourists visit Cyprus for sun, sea and sand, but you are missing out on the rustic interior. Traditional Cypriot village inns have grand beds with white cotton canopies: ceilings used to be made of mud and sticks and leaves, and the canopies stopped vegetation and insects falling. The scenery is stunning: running streams of fresh water, chilly snow-tipped hills, thick stone houses, abundant forests with Cypress trees, after which the island is named.

Here is a list of food and drink you must try.





1. Halloumi and Anari

Petros, a former restaurant manager now traditional basket weaver and Halloumi maker, gives demonstrations and runs workshops teaching both skills in a village called Choirokitia. He does everything by hand, the slow way. He gets up at 6am to find the water grass, which grows near fresh water for the basket weaving.

Halloumi, made from sheep and goat milk, doesnt melt when cooked. The traditional Cypriot method is to make it in a green grass basket mould, pressing it down, recooking it and adding fresh mint. We watched his billiard-ball brown head bending over the green basket, kneading the halloumi. Eventually it becomes a flat pancake that is then folded over, taco style.



A secondary cheese can be made, Anari, from the whey. Similar to ricotta, it forms a soft fresh cheese when boiled.





2. Carob

Carob trees grow everywhere in Cyprus. The pods are used as a chocolate substitute. The Arab word for Carob, carat, is also used to measure the quality of diamonds and gold. A baker who sold carob rusks explained to me that a certain amount of carob seeds amounts to 1 carat. Carob syrup is a popular sweetener, often squirted upon warm fresh Anari cheese.





3. Citrus and fruit

Petros makes large colourful straw trays for sultanas and table grapes

Another treat from was the fresh lemonade, squeezed from the fruit in the orchard belonging to Petros, which we sipped under the carefully trained branches of a mulberry tree covering the courtyard. How did you do this? Im an artist, he proclaimed.



Cyprus produces a different citrus for ten months of the year: pomelos, mandarins, lemons, kumquats, enormous oranges the size of melons, bergamots, sweet lemons and more. I was told of a bitter orange soup, Louvana. (Recipe coming soon.) There is also the traditional egg lemon avgolemono soup. Cyprus produces a different citrus for ten months of the year: pomelos, mandarins, lemons, kumquats, enormous oranges the size of melons, bergamots, sweet lemons and more. I was told of a bitter orange soup,(Recipe coming soon.) There is also the traditional egg lemonsoup. 4. Chickpea bread

Omodos, they sell apkatena bread leavened with chickpea scum, an interesting idea when you consider the advances made in vegan cookery with At Georges bakery inthey sellbread leavened with chickpea scum, an interesting idea when you consider the advances made in vegan cookery with aquafaba as a replacement for eggs. It seems chickpea can also work as a rising agent.





5. Commandaria wine

Xynisteri (white) and Mavro (red) are left to overripen on the vine, boosting the sugar levels, and then left to dry in the sun, further concentrating sugar. I visited one of the best wineries in Cyprus, This is the oldest named wine in the world. Similar to sherry, its a dessert wine dating back to 800 BC. The grapes, Cypriot varieties(white) and(red) are left to overripen on the vine, boosting the sugar levels, and then left to dry in the sun, further concentrating sugar. I visited one of the best wineries in Cyprus, Tsiakkas, run by a former bank manager who decided to chuck it all in and follow his viticulture dream. You could see terraces cut into the hillside for new vineyards.





6. Flaounes

Lent is taken seriously in Cyprus and many people go vegetarian for the 40 days prior to Easter. Come Easter, however, the festivities go crazy. In Orthodox Christianity, Easter is a bigger deal than Christmas. Churches are full, eggs are painted red, families have barbecues on the beach and everybody buys flaounes from their local bakery. This is a savoury pastry, mixing mastiha, mahleb spice and filled with halloumi cheese. I visited a bakery, Kouyiouka Watermill , that uses local wheat, a wood-fired oven and sourdough techniques to make their pastries, rusks and bread. (Recipe coming soon.)





7. Medlar jam

Medlar jam tastes a bit like honey, with an interesting slightly medicinal flavour. The fruits usually need to be bletted, that is softened and then cooked down into a clear strained jelly.





8. Olives

Almost every yard has olive trees, almond trees and bulging citrus trees casually lurking about. The olives I tasted in Cyprus are some of the best Ive ever had. Petros home-cured green olives with coriander seeds and lemon were sublime.





9. Yoghurt

Similar to Greece, Cyprus makes thick sculptural alabaster yoghurt, like cream. It is served in large bowls for breakfast; mixed with mint and cucumber as tzaziki dip, or with syrupy baklava for dessert.





10. Village salad

Sometimes known as a Greek salad, meze are always presented with a large wide bowl of tomatoes, cucumber, olives, green pepper, red onions and feta served with astringent olive oil in tow. I couldnt get enough of this.





11. Red potatoes

Cyprus is famous for the red potatoes grown in burnt ochre clay. Look out for them in the UK from April. We had a simple dish of potatoes cooked in stock at a village taverna  in the mountains. Delicious, dense, waxy with a buttery colour. Recipe here.

12. Cyprus coffee





George the jeep driver showed me how to make this. In a traditional cafe in a small village, there is a machine with a water tank on top and a trayful of hot sand underneath. Put a spoonful of finely ground coffee and a teaspoon of sugar for metrio (medium sweet) into a small metal pan with a long handle, enough for a thimbleful of Cypriot coffee. Fill with boiling water, using the tap that is filled by the water tank, and place in the hot sand over the fire. When it starts to froth up, pour into the small cup and serve with a glass of water.





13. Spoon sweets

Coffee is often served with trays of spoon sweets, candied fruit and nuts. I tried candied walnuts, which are like large black olives as they are repeatedly dipped in syrup before the shells become hard and fragrant thick rinds of orange, simultaneously sweet and bitter.





14. Nuts

You see nut trees every where in Cyprus, especially in March when they are in blossom. Cashews and almonds are often roasted and covered with pomegranate syrup, studded with sesame seeds.





15. Shoushoukos

So many aspects of Cyprus remind me of the country Georgia, especially the ropes of churchkela, known as shoushoukos. These are strings of almonds or hazelnuts dipped repeatedly in grape jelly, sometimes up to 6 times, to form a chewy snack.





16. Kollifa

This is a pagan tradition that has become part of Orthodox Christinity. Dishes of boiled wheat, with nuts, pomegranate and seeds, are laid out in decorative patterns with either the initials of the dead or a photograph, placed in church during funerals, Lent and after Easter. Prior to placing it in the church, it is offered to passersby and the community.





17. Trimithotes

These are rusk-like biscuits with seeds from the pistachio tree. Not pistachio nuts, but some kind of medicinal black hard seed. They grow on you.





18. Fish

What the Cypriots dont know about cooking fish isnt worth knowing. I had simply grilled fish in several restaurants: tender flakes, perfectly seasoned. In Paphos I saw a guy catching sardines, a bucketful in three hours.





19. Bread and rusks

The traditional loaf of Cyprus, Koulouri, is pieced together like a caterpillar of dough and covered with the ubiquitous sesame seeds. Each section can be easily broken off for dipping, wiping, dunking. Separated and dried these become rusks, Daktylos, rather like the Cretan dakos. Useful for villages that arent near a bakery  the rusks last virtually forever.





20. Souvla

BBQ and grilled meat, particularly lamb kebab is a speciality in Cyprus. Obviously I didnt try it but you may want to!

More information

Hotels:

Filokyrpos Character Houses: Eveleos Country House Studio rooms from 79 per night

One Bed Apt from 95 per night

Two Bed Apt from 130 per night

Prices include rooms being supplied with bread, marmalade, cheese, milk, coffee on day of arrival

Ambelikos Agrohotel

Double rooms from 90 per night, half board from + 15 per person

Double rooms from 90 per night, half board from + 15 per person Aphrodite Beach Hotel

Superior rooms 120 per night

Standard rooms 95 per night

Half Board + 16 per person

Full Board + 32 per person

Note: No toiletries were provided in these hotels on my visit, so take your own shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, etc.

Flights:





Easyjet operates flights to Paphos from London Gatwick and Manchester airport with fares starting from 26.49 one way.



British Airways operates flights to Paphos from London Gatwick with fares starting from 268 one way for March time.Vous etes confrontes a une infestation par la puce, la punaise de lit ? Voici plusieurs actions qui sont a mettre en uvre pour faire []In Focus with Allison Walker is a 30-minute public affairs program, featuring a roundtable of newsmakers representing a range of perspectives, including local officials and expert analysts as they tackle topical issues of importance to Floridians.

In Focus airs Sundays at 11:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m., right after Political Connections.The mother of one of the Pulse shooting victims called the verdict in the trial of the shooter's widow 'regrettable,' but also said she understood why the Orlando jury handed it down.

RELATED: Salman verdict could have long-term effects on victims' families

Christine Leinonen lost her son, Christopher, at Pulse

Leinonen has since turned her grief into fuel for gun control activism

"I was definitely disappointed," Leinonen said. "It's regrettable that [Salman] was found not guilty. It's regrettable for my son and justice, and it's regrettable for society."

"But it's understandable," she continued. "I think based on the evidence I saw and heard and read about, it's understandable why they came to that conclusion."

Christine Leinonen lost her only son, Christopher Andrew Leinonen, during the mass shooting.

It's raw, it's raw every single day, said Leinonen.

The single mom dedicated her life to him. She never married and gave up her home to move into a mobile home debt free so she could pay for his college.

"I wanted everything for Christopher, said Leinonen.

Christine Leinonen and her son, Christopher Andrew Leinonen, in an undated photo provided by Christine.

She sacrificed it all only for her son to be murdered. Its a pain she said will never go away.

"I'm a mom who's going to go to my grave grieving for my son who had so much going for him, and it was tragically and horrifically wiped off of this Earth, said Leinonen.

It's the reason she holds onto all of his things. Mementos of Christopher's life cover her living room walls.

"I have his furniture, his electronics. I have all his clothes," Leinonen explained. "For the past year and a half this has been my life. Maybe Ill just die like this."

It's a pain that she said she wouldnt wish on anyone. To help heal that pain, she has spent her time being a gun control activist.

She also helps with "The Dru Project," an organization that hands out scholarships to aspiring college students, as well as grants to assist high schools in Central Florida with creating gay-straight alliances. Christopher's friends created 'The Dru Project' in his honor.

"I went from not ever even imagining being a public speaker at my own son's wedding, which I would've done, to being my son's voice in a local and national way, Leinonen said.Pulse survivors are speaking up about Friday's Noor Salman verdict.

You would have to bleep out everything I say, right? said India Godman, a survivor of the tragedy.

All day long, survivors, families of victims and members of the community have gathered in front of the Pulse nightclub. A lot of sadness and even some anger was felt outside the night club.

Theres no closure. Theres really no closure at all, Godman said.

As the day went by, more and more faces showed up outside the Pulse night club. So many were in shock after hearing Noor Salmon is now a free woman.

I was there, along with everybody else that unfortunately didnt make it, and those that got injured and those that fortunately escaped with no injuries. We were there, we know what we saw. We knew who (we've) seen, Godman said.

Many wanted justice for the 49 lives lost the night of the Pulse tragedy and for the survivors who will never forget what they went through.

We live this every day, just because you guys do your job, and it goes away, it doesnt go away for us. We live it every day, every time we lock our cars, every time we look out the window, said Passion Suarez, another survivor that showed up to the Pulse site.

Folks from out of town also stopped by, Pulse having such a huge impact in their lives.

This was my first, you know, time stepping out as me, in the LGBTQ community, so I really have to show respect, explained Will Hilton, who was in Orlando dropping off his mom at the airport. Hes originally from Jacksonville.

Others, are taking it into their own hands to promote change.

Stop the hate, (because) its just killing each other. Were Americans, we should all be defending each other, and not killing one another, said Christy Nelson, visiting from North Carolina. She had spent a week with her wife and son and couldnt go back home without visiting Pulse.

Now its time to continue healing and not forget.

This our moving forward. This is how we do it, just helping each other, helping the community get somewhat normal, Suarez said.

Statements from other survivors, community leaders

We received statements from other survivors and community leaders Friday.

Christine Leinonen, whose son was killed in the June 2016 attack, issued this statement:

"I'm really disappointed that justice wasn't served today. But I understand that the evidence just didn't reach the level that the jury felt they needed to convict. I didn't put much thought into the killer's wife anyway and have always chosen to invest my energies into the Dru Project and supporting LGBTQ teens. That and trying to change the gun laws."

Brandon Wolf, who survived the attack but lost his best friend, tweeted this message:

Noor Salman does not define justice for the 49. We do. In our fight to protect other communities from feeling our pain. In our commitment to creating a better, safer world for our children. In our refusal to accept the corrupt status quo.



Stay strong, Orlando. We are justice.  Brandon Wolf (@bjoewolf) March 30, 2018

We received this statement from Omar Delgado, another survivor of the attack:

I am in disbelief.- Omar Delgado, #PulseNighClubShooting Victim speaks out following not guilty verdict of shooters wife, Salman @MyNews13  Bailey Myers (@BaileyMyers_) March 30, 2018

And this statement from Barbara Poma, the owner of Pulse and the founder of the One Pulse Foundation:Threats of mass shootings and terrorist acts are being added to a Florida law that makes written threats to kill or do bodily harm a second-degree felony.

Gov. Rick Scott on Friday signed 18 bills into law including the one (HB 165) dealing with threats. He vetoed a bill that altered the membership of a county housing authority.

Scott also signed a criminal justice measure (SB 1392) that encourages the use of civil citations for minor offenses. The bill also included a top priority for House Republicans to create a new uniform database to track what happens to criminal defendants.

The bill dealing with shooting threats includes language that exempts internet providers and telecommunications services from liability if the threat is made online, through text messages or on social media.

Scott also signed a bill Friday that reinstates Florida's resign-to-run law to the way it was before 2008. The Republican-controlled Legislature changed the law to help then-Gov. Charlie Crist in case he ran for vice-president.

Some state senators in recent years have been able to run for Congress without having to resign from their legislative posts.

The new law requires anyone running for Congress to turn in a resignation letter 10 days before qualifying.

But the change will not apply to Scott if he runs for U.S. Senate. We should know for certain when he makes an announcement on April 9.

After consulting with Scott's office, lawmakers tweaked the bill to exempt those who were planning on leaving office at the end of their current term.The new missiles announced by President Vladimir Putin draw a major attention. However, they are either non-operational yet or undergoing test operations or trials. In 2016 the aniship Kh-32 missile for Tu-22M3 bombers became operational. Its high characteristics considerably changed the balance on oceanic and sea theaters of warfare, expert Konstantin Sivkov writes in the Military-Industrial Courier.

Tu-22M3 number 9804 in flight test with 2x Kh-32 in 2013. Designed to break the enemy's air defense and attack carrier battle groups, Russian media reported that the missiles are able to exchange information after launch via datalink and able to withstand 20mm gun fire as well as small surface to air missiles. Photo by Sergei Lysenko, http://russianplanes.net/id121764



Open sources provide no data on the range of Standard-6 homing warhead. The size and weight of the missile can suggest that it can see an aircraft with five square kilometer effective echoing ratio at a distance of 15-20km. Kh-32 missile effective echoing ratio is 0.5 square kilometers, so the range of Strandard-6 warhead is 8-12 kilometers. The fire at attacking antiship missiles will be naturally held at head-on courses. It means the missiles will approach each other at a speed of 2200-2330 meters per second which leaves only three-four seconds for the approaching maneuver. The hit probability is low specifically at altitudes above the limit where rarefied atmosphere considerably decreases maneuvering capabilities. It means Standard-6 has to be launched with an error not exceeding 30-40 meters to successfully hit Kh-32 at the flying section. The hit probability of a nosediving KH-32 in the dense layers of the atmosphere is also limited by little time of the flight to the mission point - 20 seconds.



Calculations show the hit probability of Kh-32 by one Standard-6 can hardly exceed 0.05-0.08 even in favorable conditions and aiming directly from the carrier. Hit probability by data from an AWACS aircraft is close to zero (0.01-0.02) because of errors in determining the location of the carrier and the targeting source and the time to exchange information. It means the most effective US and NATO Standard-6 missile has a low capability to hit Kh-32. One can object and say the Americans fired from a Ticonderoga-class cruiser and hit a satellite flying at a speed of 27 thousand km/h at an altitude of 240 km. But it did not maneuver and its position was precisely determined after a long observation which helped bring the missile directly to the target. There will be no such possibilities in repelling an attack by a maneuvering Kh-32.



It is necessary to estimate the probability of Ticonderoga-class cruiser or Arleigh-Burke-class destroyer to hit Kh-32. The range of their radars to detect Kh-32 at an altitude of 40 km can be estimated at 230-270 km. It means the missile will approach the target in less than three minutes after it is detected. The Aegis system operational time is 30-35 seconds between the detection and launch. In the remaining time two universal Mk.41 launchers can fire 20-30 guided missiles capable of destroying the attacking Kh-32.



The hit probability by Vulcan Phalanx is next to nothing. Therefore, Ticonderoga or Arleigh-Burke can potentially destroy one of two Kh-32. It means two such warships can destroy two-four Kh-32.

Close up picture of a X-32 anti-ship missile during a test flight with a Tu-22M3 bomber in July 2013 (original photo by Vitaly Yurtayev, http://russianplanes.net/id114329).



There is also electronic warfare of active deception and passive jamming. There is sufficient time for it and their complex engagement can disrupt the targeting to a major extent. The operational time of electronic warfare weapons of a warship and their expected efficiency result in a maximum probability hit of 0.3-0.4. In case of fire at a group it is highly probable that the homing warhead would lock on another target. During Falkland hostilities a British aircraft carrier engaged passive jamming and the attacking Exoset missile changed the target and hit and sank the Atlantic Conveyers container ship. Kh-32 speed may leave no time for another warship in a formation on which the warhead may lock to engage electronic warfare and divert it.



It means a group of two cruisers or destroyers is incapable of repelling a strike from two Tu-22M3 bombers carrying two Kh-32 missiles each even in favorable conditions. At least one warship would be damaged with a 0.6-0.7 probability. A strike by a wing of three aircraft with six Kh-32 will definitely destroy both warships.



A salvo of 24 Kh-32 at an aircraft-carrying force would be fatal. The probability to destroy or sink an aircraft carrier with two-three escort ships is 0.75-0.85. Russian aircraft will attack from outside the operational zone of adversary seaborne fighter jets. It means a strike by 12 Tu-22M3 with two missiles each will be sufficient to destroy an aircraft-carrying force with a high probability.



A group of two-three aircraft carriers can be destroyed by a strike of two regiments of Tu-22M3 with 72 Kh-32. They can fire from a distance of two-three thousand kilometers from the Russian coast, i.e. long before the aircraft-carrying force arrives at the distance of seaborne aircraft engagement.



Even limited long-range aviation forces can considerably neutralize US aircraft-carrying formations. However, they have to be properly aimed at the targets and defended from adversary coastal fighter jets. If it is not provided, the Kh-32 potential will not be implemented.



The United States is actively developing hypersonic missiles but so far there is no data about the design of weapons similar to Kh-32. Russia is likely to dominate in the sphere for ten years and more.

Still it is necessary to arm the aviation with a sufficient number of such missiles. The troops need at least 250-300 of them. But the navy and the air force are unlikely to get such a number of missiles because of the state of the economy and the defense industry, as well as upcoming conversion. It means Kh-32 will remain an excellent but rare Russian weapon.



The serial production of Kh-32 means a revolution in the naval arts. The relative parity in the offense-defense balance will be replaced by a situation when the attack potential will considerably surpass the defense capability.



The review analyzed the most perfect foreign arms. The capabilities of other weapons are considerably inferior to Aegis and Standard-6.



It is necessary to design new methods and forms of naval warfare, in particular, the destruction of surface forces of the adversary and promotion of combat sustainability of your own forces. Adequate increase of the air defense potential of warships will likely demand to review the conceptual basis of such systems. It will take 10-15 years or may be more, expert Konstantin Sivkov writes in the Military-Industrial Courier.Sumi Sukanya dutta By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Reeling under an avalanche of student anger over the Centres handling of the exam paper leaks, the Union Human Resources Development Ministry on Friday tried to limit the damage by putting the CBSE Class X Maths retest on hold.

Fresh examination, if any, will happen only in Delhi-NCR and Haryana regions in July, the ministry said. The announcement took the stress out of lakhs of students living elsewhere in the country.

READ HERE | Parents paid money to get leaked question papers, say police

Education Secretary Anil Swaroop attributed the geographical limitation of the WhatsApp leak to preliminary investigations. A decision on the Maths retest is likely to be taken within 15 days after further police investigations, he added.

However, CBSE Class XII Economics re-examination will happen across the country on April 25.

There are no perfect solutions...These decisions have been taken after intense deliberations and keeping the interest and inconvenience of a large number of students in mind, said Swaroop.

Two days ago, an embarrassed CBSE had announced a retest for Class XII Economics and Class X Maths across the country without explicitly accepting charges of leak, which had first emerged on March 15, the day of the Class XII Accountancy paper.

On Friday, however, the ministry conceded the leaks had created a massive mess that added to the stress of lakhs of students and their parents.

We admit that there has been something grossly wrong somewhere; we need to find out where and what. Unless there is a thorough investigation we cannot reach a conclusion, Swaroop said.

VIEW PHOTOS | CBSE Students protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi

Retest tied to higher education

Since Class XII exams are very important for higher studies, government decided to hold Economics paper retest, said Education Secretary Swaroop

Six students detained

Six students detained in Chatra district of Jharkhand in connection with the leak. Police ask Google to trace the location from where the CBSE chairperson was sent an email on the Class X Maths paper leak

Kerala boy at SC door

Hours before the CBSE put the Maths retest proposal on hold, a Class X student from Kerala, Rohan Mathew, on Friday approached the SC against the re-exam

Protests continue

Students tried to march towards Javadekars residence but were stoppedT Muruganandham By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government today filed a contempt petition against the Central government before the Supreme Court for wilfully disobeying the orders of the court in its order dated February 16 for forming Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC).

The petition, filed under Article 129 of the Constitution read with Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 for willful disobedience of the direction contained in the judgment dated February

16, said it was constrained to file the contempt petition for protecting the interests of the farmers and the larger interests of the State.

READ | Cauvery Management Board: Political parties in Tamil Nadu building a watertight case for protests

The State government urged the SC to initiate contempt proceedings against Union Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha and Union Water Resources Secretary UP Singh for willful disobedience in carrying out the clear mandate set out in the SC verdict dated February 16.

The State government also sought directions to the two respondents To purge the contempt forthwith by framing a scheme in accordance with the judgment by providing for CMB and CWRC vested with all powers to give effect to the decision of the Cauvery Tribunal as well as the judgment of SC.

Tamil Nadu government said the Centre had failed to frame a Scheme providing for the constitution of CMB and CWRC within six weeks for the implementation of the decision of the Tribunal as modified to a limited extent by the SC. Tamil Nadu government quoted the verdict of the SC, in para 403 as follows:

ALSO READ | AIADMK to organise hunger strike on Cauvery issue on April 3

The purpose of framing the scheme is exclusively for implementation of the award. The authorities cited by Mr. Ranjit Kumar, we are afraid, are of no assistance in the present context. It needs no

special emphasis to state that the purpose of Section 6A is to act in the manner in which the award determines the allocation and decides the dispute with regard to allocation or sharing of water. Keeping

that in view, we direct that a scheme shall be framed by the Central Government within a span of six weeks from today so that the authorities under the scheme can see to it that the present decision which has modified the award passed by the Tribunal is smoothly made functional and the rights of the States as determined by us are appositely carried out. When we say so, we also categorically convey that the need based monthly release has to be respected. It is hereby made clear that no extension shall be granted for framing of the scheme on any ground.

Charging that the Centre had not taken any concrete steps in this regard, Tamil Nadu government said Belatedly, after a period of three weeks, the Central Government merely convened a meeting of the Chief Secretaries of the Party States on March 9. The convening of such a meeting does not in any way make any substantial progress in the matter of constitution of Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee.

ALSO READ | Cauvery row: Kamal Haasan terms Centres confusion as delay tactic

During the above meeting, The Tamil Nadu government submitted that this SCs mandate was to constitute the authorities in terms of the Final Order dated February 5, 2007 passed by the Tribunal and affirmed by the Apex Court. So the Central Government is bound to frame a scheme providing for Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee, the petition added.

Tamil Nadu government had sent letters dated March 13, 21 and 23 requesting for the constitution of CMB and CWRC within the time limit stipulated by the SC so that water is made available to the farmers of Tamil Nadu for the ensuing irrigation season of 2018 commencing from June 1.

Ensuring timely release of water is apparent in the judgment itself and therefore, any delay in constituting CMB and CWRC is to the prejudice to the farmers of Tamil Nadu, the petition pointed out.

The Tamil Nadu government also pointed out that the SC had held that No extension of time shall be granted on any ground. The period of six weeks expired on March 30 However, till date the Central

government has not complied with the judgment of SC and failed to constitute the Scheme.

In the absence of any cogent reasons for not constituting CMB and CWRC within the time frame and/ or not making any substantial steps in that directions amounted to willful disobedience of the judgment of SC, Tamil Nadu argued in its petition.TEHRAN: Iran's foreign minister on Saturday condemned the fatal shooting of 16 Gazan protesters by Israeli troops and mocked the fact that it happened as Israeli Jews prepared to mark Passover.

The protesters were among thousands who marched along the Gaza-Israel border on Friday and set up protest camps at the start of a six-week campaign for the return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled during the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948.

The week-long Passover festival, which began at sundown on Friday, commemorates God's liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt as told in the Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible.

"On the eve of Passover (of all days), which commemorates God liberating Prophet Moses and his people from tyranny, Zionist tyrants murder peaceful Palestinian protesters -- whose land they have stolen -- as they march to escape their cruel and inhuman apartheid bondage. Shameful," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.

IN PICS: Clashes leave 16 Palestinians dead and hundreds injured near Israel border

Iran has long been a supporter of Islamist group Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip.

Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi condemned the "savage massacre of a large number of Palestinians by the armed forces of the Zionist regime (Israel)".

He said Israel had felt it could act with impunity because of the backing of US President Donald Trump and the covert ties being established by some regional leaders -- an allusion to Saudi Arabia's 32-year-old de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, an arch-foe of Iran.

"Unfortunately, the unconditional support of Mr Trump and his administration and the shameful efforts of some ignorant novice leaders to establish disgraceful secret relations with this regime have made the leaders of the Zionist regime more presumptuous," Ghassemi said.

The Trump administration has called repeatedly for an alliance against Iran between Israel and the Gulf Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh has made no public comment although earlier this month it allowed the first commercial Israel-bound flights to cross its airspace, an Air India service between New Delhi and Tel Aviv.

Friday was the bloodiest single day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 war in Gaza. UN chief Antonio Guterres called for an "independent and transparent investigation".By AFP

UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for an "independent and transparent investigation" after 16 Palestinians were killed and hundreds more wounded during clashes with the Israeli military, a spokesman said.

His call came as the UN Security Council heard fears of a further escalation in Israeli-Palestinian violence in the Gaza Strip during emergency talks.

"The Secretary-General calls for an independent and transparent investigation into these incidents," said a statement by Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, which also reaffirmed "the readiness" of the world body to revitalize peace efforts.

Haq added that Guterres "also appeals to those concerned to refrain from any act that could lead to further casualties and in particular any measures that could place civilians in harm's way."

IN PICS: Clashes leave 16 Palestinians dead and hundreds injured near Israel border

Kuwait requested an emergency meeting to discuss the unraveling situation in Gaza, which saw the conflict's deadliest single day since the 2014 Gaza war.

"There is fear that the situation might deteriorate in the coming days," said assistant UN secretary general for political affairs, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, urging maximum restraint.

Britain and the United States expressed regret that the timing of the meeting -- the first night of Passover -- meant Israeli officials could not attend. Leading ambassadors sent deputies in their place.

"It's vital that this Council be balanced in its approach," a US diplomat told the meeting. "We should have found an arrangement for all parties to participate tonight," he added.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of life today," the diplomat added. "Bad actors who use protests as a cover to incite violence endanger innocent lives."

'Possibility of new conflict'

"The risk of escalation is very real," the French representative said. "There is the possibility of a new conflict in the Gaza Strip."

In a written statement before the meeting, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, blamed Hamas for the violence.

"While Jews around the world gathered with their family at the Seder table to celebrate the Passover holiday, the Palestinians sunk to a new deceitful low so that they could use the UN to spread lies about Israel," Danon later said.

The violence broke out as tens of thousands of Gazans marched near the Israeli border to demand the right of return for Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled since the creation of Israel.

Israeli troops used tear gas and live fire to force back Palestinians who approached the heavily fortified border fence.

Israeli tank fire and an air strike also targeted three Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip after what the military said was an attempted shooting attack against soldiers along the border that caused no injuries.

The health ministry in Gaza said 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces and more than 1,400 were injured, including 758 by live fire, with the remainder hurt by rubber bullets and tear gas.

Palestinians accused Israel of using disproportionate force. The Israeli military said the protests were used as cover by militants to either break through the border or carry out attacks.Gallery: Islanders earn first win of 2021

Islanders coach Matt Kestler earned his first victory since taking over the program as Middletown topped the Central Falls/Blackstone Valley squad.Reporter

Noelle McGee is a Danville-based reporter at The News-Gazette. Her email is nmcgee@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@n_mcgee).Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.Reporter

Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021The Government is determined to scrap the Mandatory Provident Fund offsetting mechanism and will do it as soon as possible.

Secretary for Labour & Welfare Dr Law Chi-kwong made the statement after attending a radio programme today.

He said the Government will help employers with the transition when the offsetting mechanism is removed.

"There are a few principles when we are considering the cancellation of this offsetting mechanism. It must be removed and we need to do it as soon as we can.

"Because we have to change the policy and we are going to do that, to cancel the offsetting mechanism, and because of that change in policy, there is a moral obligation for the government to help the employers to adjust gradually so that they can absorb the additional cost that they may have to pay."

The transition will be time-limited, he added.#BTS Moon says BTS helped spread awareness of climate change, other global issues South Korean President Moon Jae-in thanked and praised South Korean superband BTS for using its powerful influence in encouraging people to act on various global issues, such as cl...

#coronavirus S. Korea to begin inoculating pregnant women, younger children next month South Korea is poised to begin administering COVID-19 vaccines to pregnant women and younger children starting next month as part of its inoculation campaign. The Korea Disease ...An ex-convict from Mutoko who frequented the courts to answer to 70 counts of such serious crimes as rape and robbery has turned to preaching and is currently in Masvingo town where he is spreading the word of God and exposing his evil past.

Forty-three-year-old Christian Bvunzawabaya Kabasa said he spent most of his time behind bars having started stealing at a very tender age.

Kabasa said he was initiated into criminal activities bythe late notorious robber and

murderer,Stephen Chidhumo, days after meeting him in Nyamapanda.The most important thing here is that I doubt that the government would have records of such leakages for the simple reason that the black market externalisers would not want to be traced. For example, there are allegations, made by Aljazeera and other sources, that Grace Mugabe was involved in ivory smuggling. The first question would be how did the ivory leave the country? It is said that her bags were never opened at the airport by customs officials, meaning there were possibly no records kept of those activities. If that was cash being smuggled, it could even be more difficult to trace because cash is fungible. So once the state cripples its own capacity to police black markets illegal movement of value, it is most likely that it wont have records of it.They Tried to Flee

the Kroger Gunman.

He Followed Them(Newser)  Sgt. Paul Meyer was so homesick in 1969 that he drunkenly stole a military cargo plane and flew it over the English Channelthe last anyone saw of him. Now wreck divers are hoping to find the lost USAF C-130 Hercules transport aircraft and uncover the truth behind what must be Meyer's last night on Earth, LiveScience reports. According to military reports, Meyer desperately missed his wife back home in Virginia while stationed at an air base in England. On the night of May 23, 1969, he drank heavily, posed as a captain to gain control of the C-130, and achieved lift-off despite being licensed for only a small single-engine plane. The military mechanic also managed to contact his wife, Air Force Times reports, but radioed the base about flight problems before disappearing from radar some 200 miles away over the English Channel.

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Eyewitnesses say the plane exploded on contact with water, but the military never explained Meyer's crash or found his body. "He did a fantastic job to get a complex plane off the runway," Simon Brown, a member of the wreck-diving group Deeper Dorset, tells the BBC. "Whether he flew into [a] cloud and got disorientated, or was shot down, we're not discounting anything." Now Deeper Dorset has launched a Kickstarter page to fund its search, which will use 3D photogrammetry technology to spot the C-130 in an area likely littered with lost ships and WWII planes. "I'm sure plenty of people will think were a crazy bunch of Brits chasing ghosts," says group founder Grahame Knott. "But ... there's a family still waiting to hear what happened to their loved one, and if we can do anything to help, then surely it's the right thing to do." (Meanwhile, a ship vanished while searching for a lost plane off Western Australia.)(Newser)  The Louisiana police officer who shot and killed Alton Sterling in July 2016 was fired from the Baton Rouge police force Friday, the New York Times reports. Blane Salamoni shot Sterling six times outside a convenience store where the 37-year-old was selling CDs. A second officer, Howie Lake, was suspended for three days without pay for his involvement in the incident. According to CBS News, both officers had been on paid administrative leave since the shooting, which touched off large protests (Sterling was black and both officers are white). "I hope this brings some closure to them," CNN quotes chief Murphy Paul as saying of Sterling's family during a press conference Friday. Paul said Salamoni was fired for violating the department's use of force policy; Lake was suspended for losing his temper.

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In an incident caught on cellphone camera, Salamoni and Lake got into a physical altercation with Sterling and fatally shot him after someone yelled that he had a gun. A handgun was later found in Sterling's pocket. Paul said Lake tried to de-escalate the situation; Salamoni did not. He said officers "should be guardians for the community" but also begged citizens to "stop resisting, stop running; when the police officer gives you direction, listen." Baton Rouge police on Friday released four more videos of the incident from the officers' body cameras, a cruiser's dashboard camera, and the convenience store's surveillance camera. The officers are able to appeal their punishments. Federal and state officials both declined to bring criminal charges against the officers, the latter as recently as Tuesday. (Read more Alton Sterling stories.)(Newser)  Pope Francis has found himself in a controversy about the existence of hell, on Easter Week no less. The brouhaha started when atheist and Italian journalist Eugenio Scalfari wrote an article in the newspaper La Repubblica claiming that Francis told him hell doesn't exist, reports the Guardian. By Scalfari's account, the journalist asked the pope where "bad souls go," and Francis responded thusly: They are not punished. Those who repent obtain Gods forgiveness and take their place among the ranks of those who contemplate him, but those who do not repent and cannot be forgiven disappear. A hell doesnt exist, the disappearance of sinning souls exists.

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That set off a flurry of headlines and social media posts charging that Francis had upended church doctrine by denying the existence of hell, notes NPR. Not so fast, says the Vatican. In a statement, it says Scalfari misquoted the pope in what was a "private meeting" and not an official interview. The resulting article "is the fruit of his reconstruction, in which the precise words uttered by the Pope are not cited," says the statement. "No quotations in the aforementioned article, then, should be considered as a faithful transcription of the words of the Holy Father." The Catholic News Service, meanwhile, reports that the 93-year-old Scalfari prides himself on not taking notes during his interviews, and it runs through previous statements from Francis in line with the church's official stance on the subject. (Read more Pope Francis stories.)(Newser)  Laura Ingraham told her Fox News viewers Friday that she would be off the air next week on a scheduled vacation. The announcement comes as advertisers continue to abandon her show in the wake of critical comments about student activist David Hogg. On Friday's show, the only "blue-chip" advertiser to be seen was IBM, reports Variety, as others including Nestle and Johnson & Johnson keep their distance. Though Ingraham said her break had been planned, USA Today notes that it's similar to the break Bill O'Reilly took during an ad boycott of his own, just before the network fired him.

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Variety adds that it sees no sign Fox execs are planning to dump Ingraham and her strong ratings. The 5-month-old Ingraham Angle averages 2.6 million viewers, notes the Hill. Ingraham has apologized for her comments, in which she mocked Hogg for "whining" about being rejected by colleges, though he dismissed the apology as insincere. The survivor of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida didn't sound too forgiving after hearing news of Ingraham's vacation, either. "Have some health reflections this Holy Week," he tweeted. (Read more Laura Ingraham stories.)(Newser)  The Tesla Model X that slammed into a highway barrier in California last week and killed the 38-year-old Apple engineer at the wheel had been on autopilot at the time of the crash, Tesla confirms in a blog post. But the company says driver Walter Huang "received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive," adding that "the drivers hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision." Tesla also laid some blame on state highway officials, asserting that "the reason this crash was so severe is because the crash attenuator, a highway safety barrier which is designed to reduce the impact into a concrete lane divider, had been crushed in a prior accident without being replaced."

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The fact that the vehicle was on autopilot is likely to be controversial because, as ABC News notes, driver Huang had reportedly been concerned about it. His brother told KGO that Huang had brought his Model X back to the dealership complaining that when he used the feature, the car kept swerving toward the very same barrier that it eventually struck in the fatal collision. The NTSB is investigating the crash, including the fire that broke out after the collision. The accident follows another in Arizona in which a self-driving Uber struck and killed a pedestrian. (Read more Tesla stories.)(Newser)  California Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday pardoned five ex-convicts facing deportation, including two whose families fled the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia four decades ago. The pardons don't automatically stop deportation proceedings, but they eliminate the state convictions federal authorities based their deportation decisions on. That gives gives the men's lawyers strong legal arguments before immigration judges to try to prevent the deportations, per the AP. Those pardoned Friday included Sokha Chhan and Phann Pheach, both of whom face deportation to Cambodia, a country ruled in the 1970s by the genocidal Khmer Rouge. Chhan was convicted of two counts of misdemeanor domestic violence in 2002 and served 364 days in jail. Pheach was convicted of possessing drugs and obstructing a police officer in 2005 and served six months in jail.

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The moves caught the attention of President Trump, who faulted "Moonbeam Brown on Twitter for pardoning "illegal aliens whose crimes include (1) Kidnapping and Robbery (2) Badly beating wife and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize (3) Dealing drugs. Is this really what the great people of California want?" Brown's intervention for the menamong 56 pardonedmarked the Democratic governor's third consecutive pardon round in which he intervened on behalf of immigrants who were deported or faced deportation because of criminal convictions. Brown has accused the administration of President Trump of "basically going to war" with California over immigration policy. (The White House and California are going to war over another issue, too: car emissions.)

(Read more Jerry Brown stories.)(Newser)  Scott Pruitt may be in hot water againnow for renting an apartment from the wife of an energy lobbyist who's had business with the Environmental Protection Agency, CNN reports. Pruitt, who heads the EPA, leased a room in the Washington, DC, condo for just $50 a night on nights he stayed there in 2017, according to checks reviewed by Bloomberg. Total cost over six months: $6,100, which CNN calls "significantly lower than market value." The condo is co-owned by lobbyist Vicki Hart, whose husband Steven Hart is chair of Williams & Jensen, a firm with energy clients including Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. and natural gas exporter Cheniere Energy Inc.

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Back in Oklahoma, the couple donated to Pruitt's career as a state official, with Steven hosting a fundraiser for his 2014 run for attorney general. Now in Washington, Pruitt is fighting to roll back Obama-era regulations designed to limit air pollution and climate change. "It's not good," says a White House source of the condo revelation. Pruitt has already raised eyebrows for demanding 24-hour security, apparently even on non-official trips back home to Tulsa. The White House hasn't commented, but aides were apparently upset to learn about the condo story from the media. "People are freaking out" about negative Pruitt stories, an EPA source tells CNN, adding that Pruitt's "goose is cooked." (Read more Environmental Protection Agency stories.)(Newser)  Vladimir Putin's top spokesman: not exactly a #metoo kind of guy. "What is a woman called who sleeps with a man for $10 million?" asked Dmitry Peskov when speaking this week at a Moscow university. "She is called a prostitute." Peskov was dismissing claims by women against Harvey Weinstein when asked about similar accusations regarding a Russian official, ABC News reports. He said Weinstein accusers "did a lot that isn't becoming of our understanding of, let's say, honor and dignity, but they did itso they could become stars," adding, "They earned hundreds of millions of dollars, and 10 years later they say that Weinstein is bad. Maybe he is a scumbag, but none of them went to the police!"

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Peskov's remarks underscored his defense of Leonid Slutsky, a top member of Russia's parliament who's been accused by three female journalists of groping and trying to kiss them. A short investigation by Russia's parliament's ethics committee found Slutsky innocent and accused the women of making false accusations to damage the country's presidential election. Twenty media outlets responded by boycotting coverage of Russia's parliament, Bustle reports. Meanwhile, officials and some state media are painting anti-harassment attitudes as strictly Western. "We dont live in America or in Europe," says Tamara Pletneva, head of a Russian parliamentary committee. "Why should we copy everything they do? If a woman doesnt want [attention], then nobody will harass her." (Read more Russia stories.)Sorry!

This content is not available in your regionSuperior Court Judge Elihu Berle has ruled that California law requires coffee companies to carry an ominous cancer warning label because of a chemical produced in the roasting process. Judge Berle wrote in a proposed ruling Wednesday, March 28, 2018, that Starbucks and other coffee companies failed to show that the threat from a chemical compound produced in the roasting process was insignificant. At the center of the dispute is acrylamide, a carcinogen found in many cooked foods, that is produced during the roasting process.The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574.

Community Perspective

Send Community Perspective submissions by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Submissions must be 500 to 750 words. Columns are welcome on a wide range of issues and should be well-written and well-researched with attribution of sources. Include a full name, email address, daytime telephone number and headshot photograph suitable for publication (email jpg or tiff files at 150 dpi.) You may also schedule a photo to be taken at the News-Miner office. The News-Miner reserves the right to edit submissions or to reject those of poor quality or taste without consulting the writer.

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Send letters to the editor by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707), by fax (907-452-7917) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Writers are limited to one letter every two weeks (14 days.) All letters must contain no more than 350 words and include a full name (no abbreviation), daytime and evening phone numbers and physical address. (If no phone, then provide a mailing address or email address.) The Daily News-Miner reserves the right to edit or reject letters without consulting the writer.New Delhi:

At least ten people were killed while two others injured after a three-story building near Sarvate Bus Stand in Indore collapsed around 10 PM on Saturday night.

"Early morning visuals from #Indore building collapse site, the incident has claimed 10 lives. #MadhyaPradesh," ANI reported.

A team of police and district officials were conducting rescue operation to find people trapped under the debris.

The reason for its sudden collapse is not clear and the police were investigating the matter.

Early morning visuals from #Indore building collapse site, the incident has claimed 10 lives. #MadhyaPradesh pic.twitter.com/rFOLYGMADO a ANI (@ANI) April 1, 2018

(This is a developing story and more details are awaited.)New Delhi:

Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut will deliver a speech on Gandhian philosophy at a summit in United States in August. The summit will be attended by the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama.

The event Gandhi Going Global which will be conducted in New Jersey is aimed at spreading the ideology and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi on a global platform.

The Queen actress will share the stage with eminent personalities like Martin Luther King III, Oprah, as per a press release.

Kangana, who was last seen in Simran said, "For me, it's always been about the impact you make on the society and how you contribute to it. Sharing the stage with Michelle and Oprah will be inspiring.

"I've never been anybody's fan but I admire and idolise women like Oprah," the Tanu Weds Manu actress said in a statement.

The 'Gandhi Going Global' summit will witness interactive activities, educational programmes, cultural celebration and motivational talks on August 18 and 19, as per the press release.

Over 25,000 people are expected to attend the massive event in the United States. More than, 500 NGOs & organisations, 100 high schools and 400 universities are gearing up to be participate in the event.

Read- When Kangana Ranaut DARED to deliver her speech in Hindi at major award function

Kangana Ranaut who recently celebrated her 31st birthday will be next seen in Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi. The epic drama is expected to hit the silver screens in August this year.

The Gangster actress will soon start shooting for her upcoming film Mental Hai Kya, which also stars Rajkummar Rao. The Prakash Kovelamudi directorial is already making waves, all thanks to its wacky posters.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Ranbir Kapoor has been one of the most eligible bachelors of the industry. But looks like the Bollywood actor has finally decided to ditch his bachelorhood as he has proposed Pakistani actress Mahira Khan in London.

Reportedly, the couple secretly met in London lately where Mahira was gone to promote her upcoming movie Verna. Ranbir planned a special dinner date for the lady during which he popped the question to Mahira.

The Raees actress was indeed surprised by the sudden proposal, but she ended up saying 'Yes' to the Kapoor lad.

This is not all.

Ranbir and Mahira are quite eager to tie the knot and will be getting married in May this year.

The sources claim that the couple wants their wedding to be a low key affair and will be attended by family and close friends.

Interestingly, reports of Ranbir and Mahira's affair have been doing the rounds for a while now. The couple has been often seen spending quality time together

Reportedly, Ranbir is quite famous for his relationship status. The actor, who was once in a relationship with Deepika Padukone, was recently dating Katrina Kaif.

But their relationship didn't last too long and the couple parted ways ine early 2016 after dating for around six years.

Indeed, the reports of Ranbir's wedding will be a big news for the fans.

But before you start thinking about this big fat wedding and imagine the Barfi actor as groom and Mahira as the bride, here's a little twist.

Well, it's April Fool's day around the corner.

Notably, this story has been posted just for humour, with no relevance to reality.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its parent organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) over the violence that broke out in West Bengals Asansol.

The Congress president praised Asansols Imam Imadadul Rashidi and Delhis Yashpal Saxena, who appealed for peace despite losing their sons in communal violence.

"After losing their sons due to hate and communalism, messages from Yashpal Saxena and Imam Rashidi show that love will always defeat hatred in India. The foundation of Congress rests on compassion and mutual brotherhood. We will not allow the hatred spreading BJP/RSS ideology to win," Rahul tweeted.

Communal clashes broke out on Monday in Raniganj over a Ram Navami procession and soon spread to adjacent Asansol, where 16-year-old Sibtulla Rashidi, son of the Imam of Noorani Masjid was killed.

Despite losing his son, the Imam appealed people for maintaining peace who visited Idgah Ground, where his son was buried.

Also Read | Asansol Violence: FIR against Union Minister Babul Supriyo for rioting, assaulting cope

My son has died, but I dont want anyone else to lose his child, I only want peace to return here. If you strike back, I shall leave this town, the grieved father appealed.

Yashpal Sexena's son Ankit Saxena was killed on February 1 by the family of a woman he was in a relationship with. The girl Ankit loved was from the minority community.

In Asansol, BJP MP and Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Babul Supriyo was booked for rioting and assaulting an IPS officer in Asansol.

The BJP leader indulged in a heated argument with locals who asked him to leave the area. He then threatened to skin them alive, according to the Indian Express.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi on Saturday reached violence-hit Asansol, where communal clashes erupted over Ram Navami procession.

Tripathi took stock of the situation in violence-hit areas of Raniganj and Asansol and held a review meeting with police and administration officials.

Communal clashes broke out on Monday in Raniganj over a Ram Navami procession and soon spread to adjacent Asansol, where 16-year-old Sibtulla Rashidi, son of the Imam of Noorani Masjid was killed.

My son has died, but I dont want anyone else to lose his child, the Imam told people who visited Idgah Ground, where his son was buried.

I only want peace to return here. If you strike back, I shall leave this town, the grieved father said.

So far, 4 people have died with several others, including policemen injured in the violent clashes. 60 people have been arrested by the police in Asansol.

Also Read | Asansol Violence: FIR against Union Minister Babul Supriyo for rioting, assaulting cope

Earlier, BJP MP and Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Babul Supriyo was stopped to enter the violence-hit areas. Supriyo was also booked for rioting and assaulting an IPS officer in Asansol.

The BJP leader also indulged in a heated argument with locals who asked him to leave the area. He then threatened to skin them alive, according to the Indian Express.

He has also filed a counter FIR against a police officer.

On Friday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed a four-member panel that will visit the Raniganj-Asansol area to take stock of the situation.

The central BJP delegation will be led by Shahnawaz Hussain and also comprises Roopa Ganguly and BD Ram, and BJP MP Om Mathur.

Meanwhile, the situation in Raniganj and Asansol remained tensed and internet services were suspended till March 30 following the communal clashes.

No fresh incident of violence was reported on Friday and police and Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel were patrolling the area.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

A statue of BR Ambedkar on Saturday, was vandalised by some unidentified persons in Gohaniya village of Siddharthnagar district in Uttar Pradesh.

The Ambedkar statue was found damaged on Saturday morning, triggering protests by many locals, the police said.

The locals are demanding urgent arrest of the culprits involved. The statue is currently being replaced and an official case has been filed, said SP Dr. Dharamvir.

This incident comes just days after the UP government issued orders to change the name of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar as Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.

Domariyaganj MLA Raghvendra Pratap Singh, immediately went to the spot and alleged that Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party are behind the incident. Whereas, Chief minister Yogi Adityanath said that stern action will be taken against the culprits who vandalised the statue.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is scheduled to visit Siddharthnagar district on Monday.

Also Read | West Bengal governor visits violence-hit Asansol to take stock of situation

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Madurai/Chennai:

The Tamil Nadu government will move the Supreme Court on the issue of constituting the Cauvery Management Board (CMB), Chief Minister K Palaniswami said on Friday.

Asked what kind of petition the state intended to file in the apex court, he told reporters in Madurai, "All that is still being discussed with legal experts."

Palaniswami had on Thursday chaired a meeting here with his senior cabinet colleagues, including Deputy Chief Minister O Paneerselvam, and officials, to discuss legal steps to be taken in this regard.

Thursday's meeting was held following the end of a six-week deadline given by the Supreme Court to the Centre to formulate a scheme on the Cauvery dispute.

Tamil Nadu's stand is that the Centre must constitute the CMB and Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) within six weeks from the day the apex court gave its verdict, which would be March 29.

The Supreme Court had on February 16 pronounced its verdict on the vexed dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Underlining his government's commitment towards setting up of CMB and the CWRC, Palaniswami pointed out that his party MPs had vociferously taken up the matter in Parliament leading to the proceedings being stalled for over two weeks.

"They (MPs) have been doing so to reflect the aspirations of the people of the state and armers," he added.

Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar said in Chennai that the government has decided to approach the apex court on the matter.

"We are going to approach the Supreme Court... the government is holding discussions," he told reporters here.

Jayakumar said the government was committed to uphold the rights of the state and welfare of the farmers in the Cauvery issue.

He, however, indicated the state might approach the apex court in a couple of days on this matter.

In its judgment on petitions by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the final order of the Cauvery water disputes tribunal apportioning the water among riparian states, the apex court had raised the 270 tmcft share of Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu's share.

The court had compensated Tamil Nadu by allowing extraction of 10 tmcft ground water from the river basin.

Since the verdict, Tamil Nadu has been urging the Centre to set up the CMB and CWRC to ensure it received its due share of water from the inter-state river.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Continuing with the protest, a group of students onA A staged a demonstration near the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) office at Preet Vihar here against the leak of A Class-X Mathematics and Class-XII Economics papers.



"Students tried to block the road in front of the CBSE office, but we kept them away. A group of about 25-30 students are protesting outside the CBSE office," said a senior Delhi Police officer.



CBSE Education Secretary Anil Swarup on Friday evening announced re-examination of the Class-12 Economics paper onA . The re-examination for the Class-X Mathematics paper was likely to be conducted in July, he said.



Swarup said a preliminary probe had revealed that the Class-X Mathematics paper leak was restricted to Delhi and Haryana region alone.



Two cases have been registered in the case since the paper was leaked onA . Following it, the Delhi Police Crime Branch has set up a special investigation team (SIT) and questioned nearly 60 people in the matter.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday advocated for talks with Pakistan and restoration of friendly relations between Kashmiri Muslims and Pandit community.

Speaking at a function organised by a group of Kashmiri Pandits in New Delhi, Mufti said,"The Valley is incomplete without you. To begin with, please come as tourists and later if you feel so, you are most welcome to go back to your homes and stay there. Difficulties will be there but we together have to face these difficulties. Please do not wait for the last gun to fall silent.

The chief minister said that collective efforts should be made for changing the slogan of Azadi in the Kashmir Valley.

This can be achieved. Why cant Jammu and Kashmir be a gateway to the central Asian countries?

Also Read | To counter China's aggression, India steps up troop deployment along Tibetan border

If the CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) is a possibility, so can be this. If new roads are opened, the slogan of Azadi will automatically change, she said at a gathering of around 200 Kashmiri Pandits, who had to leave their homes after the onset of the militancy in 1990.

Asserting that reconciliation is the mantra," Mufti also urged Prime Minister Modi to initiate talks with Pakistan.

Reconciliation is the mantra which we need to follow and therefore, I request Modi ji to engage with Pakistan, she said.

We need to take an assurance from the neighbouring country that they should not be allowing their soil to be used against India. After all, we all know that the key for peace is in Pakistan. They have been pushing terrorists into the state, she added.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Tibetans on Saturday started celebrations to mark 60 years of the Dalai Lamaas arrival at Mcleodganj of Himachal Pradesh in India. The event started under aThank You Indiaa.

Tibetan band performed 'Thank u India' song, 'Bharat ki Jai', 'koti koti' to begin the celebrations.

The Dalai Lama was joined by Union Minister Mahesh Sharma and BJP general secretary Ram Madhav alongside several leaders.

The monk addressed the gathering and said that India and Tibet have had the relationship of teacher and disciple.

"Tibetans have faced problems but have preserved their cultural traditions, we have lived with a lotA ofA self-confidence and holding values of humanity and brotherhood," Dalai Lama said.

Ram Madhav also addressed the gathering, "Thank You India event is to thank Indian civilization, culture and traditions. India always welcomed with open arms and an open heart, life of a refugee is difficult. Indian had always given shelter. Thank you for his Holiness the Dalai Lama," he said.

aWe are grateful to Indians for giving us shelter and support during the past 60 years, ever since His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived. Thus, in this event, we have ensured the presence of Naren Chandra Das, the 79-year-old man retired Havaldar of 5 Assam Rifles who had received the Dalai Lama when he entered the Indian soil in 1959," the monk said.

The event has been organised by the Central Tibetan Administration, but the Centre had asked the senior leaders to avoid attending functions organised by Tibetans, mentioning the asensitivea phase of Indo-China ties.

The venue, which was initially planned to be in Delhi, was shifted to Dharamshala later.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Calling for Smart India with smart innovations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that everything is possible with people's participation and governments makes the biggest mistake of trying to go it alone.



"Once the people decide to bring about change, everything is possible. But the biggest mistake governments make is to think that they alone can bring about change, Modi said at the Grand Finale of the Smart India Hackathon through a video conference on Friday.



Stressing upon participative governance, the prime minister expressed his utmost hope in youngsters and urged them to contribute towards achieving the vision of New India.



I am happy to see young minds thinking about ways to take our nation forward. It is a delight to be among smart innovators of smart India," Modi said.



Laying emphasis on innovation to overcome the challenges of development facing the country, the prime minister gave the mantra of IPPP i.e. Innovate, Patent, Produce and Prosper.



These four steps will lead our country towards faster development, for that we will have to innovate and turn our innovations in patents, making our production smoother and taking products speedily to the people will make them prosper, he said.



Innovation has the power to overcome the challenges our world faces, we should think about how our innovation can transform the lives of our fellow citizens, he added.



Modi also highlighted various decisions made by the government to facilitate research and innovations:



 Introducing Modern Techniques based on Educational and Learning concepts in Atal Tinkering Labs. Students of class 6th to 12th will be benefited from this.



 Prime Minister Research Fellowship to around 1000 best students of BTech, MTech and MSc courses in institutes like IITs, IISc and NIT every year. These students will be given financial assistance of about 70-80 thousand rupees per month over a period of five years.



 Focus on providing greater autonomy to Higher Educational Institutions.



 Setting up of 20 world class Institute of Excellence.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

The funeral of legendary British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking was held on Saturday in a private ceremony attended by around 500 people including family, friends and colleagues, at a church near the Cambridge University college that was his academic home for more than 50 years.

One of the world's famous scientists and author of 'A Brief History of Time' took his last breath at his Cambridge home on March 14 at the age of 76.

The British cosmologist had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease in his 20s and spent much of his life in a wheelchair.

ALSO READ: IPL 2018: Curious Case of Royal Challengers Bangalore

British actor Eddie Redmayne, who was awarded an Oscar for his role of the world-famous theoretical physicist, was among the main speakers at the ceremony.

Lucy, Robert and Tim Hawking said they chose to hold the funeral in Cambridge in recognition that it is the city their father "loved so much and which loved him".

Our father's life and work meant many things to many people, both religious and non-religious. So, the service will be both inclusive and traditional, reflecting the breadth and diversity of his life," they said in a statement.

As the church bell rang out 76 times, once for each year of the physicists life, hundreds gathered outside clapped in respect for Professor Hawking. The funeral will be followed by a private reception at Trinity College, Cambridge University.

Before the funeral, the college released new black and white photographs of Hawking taken in 1961 at a summer school for young astrophysicists at a castle in Sussex, southern England, when he was 19.

They showed him playing croquet and in a sailing dinghy, two years before he began experiencing the first symptoms of the motor neurone disease that would later leave him almost completely paralysed.

It was announced earlier this month that Hawking's ashes will be buried near the grave of Newton, another famous British scientist, during a thanksgiving service on June 15.

"It is entirely fitting that the remains of Professor Stephen Hawking are to be buried in the Abbey, near those of distinguished fellow scientists. Sir Isaac Newton was buried in the Abbey in 1727.

Charles Darwin was buried beside Isaac Newton in 1882," said the dean of Westminster, the Very Rev John Hall.

For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Your beautiful Sunday may turn into a beautiful disaster this April 1. Watch out! Its not April Fool news. Scientists predict a massive magnetic storm may hit the earth and the out-of-control Chinese spaceship TIANGONG-1 is expected to re-enter the atmosphere and crash on Earth on Sunday.

The Tiangong-1 space lab may crash on earth sometime between Saturday night and Sunday evening, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).

The Tiangong-1 or Heavenly Palace as named has been floating uncontrolled since the Chinese space agency lost its control in 2016, five years after its launch. The space lab was orbiting at an average height of about 216.2 km and speed of 16,500mph.

However, the space lab stopped sending data and entered its final phase of life on March 16, The China Manned Space Engineering Office, in a statement said.

It will mostly burn up due to the extreme heat generated by its high-speed passage through the atmosphere, it said.

On March 26, the ESA had released a map marking in green the probable locations where the out-of-control space lab could crash. Space experts believe that Tiangong could crash anywhere and the exact location cant be predicted accurately. However, the prediction map includes Indian region.

The scientists said that the plan was to bring the space lab back to Earth through a controlled final descent and make it land safely somewhere in the worlds oceans, the ESA stated.

In yet another prediction, scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences have said that a massive magnetic storm will hit the earth on March 18 and will bring about some changes to the planets geomagnetic atmosphere. This magnetic storm will be the third one to hit the Earth in 2018.

Russian scientists claim, as reported by denofgeek.com, that March 18 magnetic storm may cause headaches, dizziness and sleep disturbances for some people across the globe.

Click here to enter the world of amazing Science

The magnetic storm, also known as the solar storm, is a temporary disturbance caused by a solar wind shock wave of the Earths magnetosphere. It generally affects telecommunication systems-upsetting radio communications, causing radar blackouts and disrupting radio navigation system.

The magnetic storm will also affect humans and other living organisms by changing blood flow, blood pressure, and boost adrenalin, according to a report in spacedaily.com.

Meanwhile, the weatherman in India has also forecast heavy rains accompanied by a strong thunderstorm in parts of the country, including West Bengal, beginning Saturday to Sunday.

Thundersquall accompanied with wind speed between 55 to 65 km per hour is very likely to prevail over the districts of Bankura, Birbhum, East and West Bardhman, Murshidabad, Nadia, Jhargram, Purulia, East and West Midnapore, Howrah, Hooghly, Kolkata and North and South 24 Parganas of south West Bengal on Saturday and Sunday, Regional Met Director G K Das said.

For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New York State Police have identified the woman found dead in a tributary stream to Wappinger Creek in February. The woman is Ashanti Moore, 36, of Brooklyn, according to police.

Earlier this month, police asked for help in identifying Moore. Leads came in from a number of sources, including members of the public, missing persons reports and law enforcement tips.

An investigation revealed that Moore had traveled through or stayed in the areas of the Hudson Valley, Binghamton, Buffalo and Pennsylvania in fall 2017, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal.

Body found in Wappinger Creek identified as Brooklyn woman: State police https://t.co/iP6j0vPWGS pic.twitter.com/qxu9elwGka  Poughkeepsie Journal (@PokJournal) March 30, 2018

She might also have spent time in the Chattanooga, Signal Mountain and Red Bank areas of Tennessee, as well as Rossville, GA.

Moore's body was found partially submerged in a Wappinger Creek tributary on Feb. 27, after police responded to a 911 call.

Police did not provide comments regarding the possibility of foul play.

The investigation into the cause of death is ongoing. Anyone who may have come in contact with Moore during her travels or has information regarding her death, can call state police at (845) 677-7300.Media mogul, Dele Momodu has disclosed that Senate President Bukola Saraki will join the 2019 presidential race.

Media mogul, Dele Momodu has disclosed that Senate President Bukola Saraki will join the 2019 presidential race.

Momodu said this in a lengthy statement on his Boss Newspaper.

It read in part: The Boss can exclusively reveal that Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has joined the 2019 Presidential race.





There is no doubt that he would be a formidable force that should not be ignored because only few politicians in Nigeria today have the pedigree, the experience, the clout and the connection of Senator Saraki.





Impeccable sources reveal that as he plots his move for the Presidency, he is said to be considering building alliances with all Nigerians of like minds.





He is also considering using the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu as his running mate. Having already exhibited the ability to work seamlessly with politicians from the two main political parties, it is a path he can easily thread.





Having risen to the enviable position of the number three citizen, the only place to go for the two-term Senator and former two-term governor is up! Indeed, Saraki is not new to the dynamics of power politics, he is the scion of a political dynasty that is well-known across the nation.





He has all the criteria that a modern Nigerian president should have, he is tall, urbane, suave, charismatic, cool and collected. But behind this charm, is a man of steel who is never afraid to pursue causes that he feels are right and just.





Saraki is one of those rare breeds who is street smart as well as book smart. This was evident when he steered his political path away from his father, and triumphed without breaking up the family or the peoples faith in his leadership abilities.





Those who know, say he is counting on his youthfulness and ability to connect with the youths and his strategy will be to spread the I am one of you message and show his track record of working with young technocrats and turning them into prolific achievers.





Of course, like everything in life, Saraki would have to navigate through thorny paths to reach the Presidential Villa, he surely has many challenges ahead.



The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere; a Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed; and the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, among others, came down heavily on the Federal Government over the release of a looters list containing just six names.They described the list as laughable while accusing the government and the All Progressives Congress of spreading propaganda and lies.The Federal Government on Friday made good its promise to release to Nigerians the list containing names of alleged treasury looters.The list which was released by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Lagos, on Friday, identified the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Uche Secondus; former National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh; and the Chairman of DAAR Communications, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, as some of the people who looted the treasury.Also on the list were the names of Dudafa Waripamo-Owei, a former Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan; a cousin of former President Jonathan, Robert Azibaola; and an unnamed former PDP Financial Secretary.In July 2017, the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), said the Federal Government would publish the names of treasury looters intermittently after it must have met some conditions.This was after a Federal High Court in Lagos gave a ruling compelling the Federal Government to immediately release to Nigerians information about the names of high-ranking public officials from whom public funds were recovered and the circumstances under which funds were recovered, as well as the exact amount of funds recovered from each public official.The Federal Government, through The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had on June 4, 2016, disclosed that it had recovered cash sums of N78,325,354,631.82, $185,119,584.61, 3,508,355.46 and 11,250, among others, between May 29, 2015, and May 25, 2016.Twenty-two months after, the information minister released a list with six names.The information minister said, The PDP has challenged us to name the looters under their watch. They said they did not loot the treasury. Well, I am sure they know that the treasury was looted dry under their watch. Yet they decided to grandstand. This shows the hollowness of their apology to Nigerians.Lets just give them a teaser with this list: PDP Chairman, Uche Secondus, (on the 19th of February, 2015, he took N200m only from the office of the then National Security Adviser); the then PDP Financial Secretary (on the 24th of October, 2014, he took N600m only from the office of the then NSA); the then National Publicity Secretary, Olisah Metuh, (on trial for collecting N1.4bn from the office of the then NSA.Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, Chairman of DAAR Communications, (on trial for taking N2.1bn from the office of the then NSA); former SSA to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dudafa Waripamo-Owei, (on trial over N830m kept in accounts of four different companies); former President Jonathans cousin, Robert Azibaola, (on Thursday, a Federal High Court ruled that he has a case to answer for collecting $40m from the office of the then NSA.)Mohammed, who stated that the list was just a tip of the iceberg, said, We did not make these cases up. Many of these cases are in court and the records are available. Some of the people on this list are seeking plea bargain, and that is a fact.We insist that Nigeria was looted blind under the watch of the PDP, and that the starting point in tendering an apology is for them to return the loot. Its like a robber admitting to stealing your car and apologising, but then saying he will keep the car anyway. It doesnt work that way.The information minister described the PDP as a hypocrite, saying, The PDP is a hypocrite. And that reminds me of what English writer, William Hazlitt, said, The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.He vowed that the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government would not stop talking about the massive looting under the PDP.They brought Nigeria to this sorry pass. We are now looking around for loans to build infrastructure, and they ask us not to talk about it. We will talk about it, Mohammed added.But the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, accused the Federal Government of spreading propaganda and playing politics with the matter, even though, he said it would be good for Nigeria to get to a point where people found to have stolen public funds were named and shamed.We should get to a point where we should have a culture of naming and shaming of those who pilfer funds but what Mohammed and the government are doing is very funny. They have been talking about fighting corruption and recovering money, so after three years, it is only six names they could bring out. And even then by our law, an accused person is presumed innocent until found guilty. For now, you can call them alleged looters, not looters because the court has yet to convict them.Odumakin also noted that none of the politicians in the current government or those who defected from other parties to the APC and have been accused of corruption was on the list.He said, All they are doing is just playing cheap politics with their so-called anti-corruption war; the truth is that there is no war going on anywhere. It is just propaganda. And a minister of the government should not be engaged in this type of shenanigan. The APC can be playing this kind of politics but it is too low for the government to be playing this kind of politics.Also, a Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, described the APCs short list of names of alleged looters as an anticlimax after about three years of talking about fighting corruption and looting of public funds.He said, I think Mohammed, his party and the President are guilty of the lies that they have been telling Nigerians. If indeed all the noise that has been made concerns only about five people, then something is wrong and I am certainly disappointed. So you are telling me that for the three years that you have been talking about corruption and promising to release the names of looters, you have been talking about only five people.If indeed they only had evidence that there are about five people who are responsible for our economic woes, then that to me sounds like a monumental anti-climax. There are quite a number of people who I believe are thieves and there is a substantial and overwhelming evidence against them and I believe the money they stole is known to people in the Presidency, the government and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. If they cannot recover the money, then forget about Nigeria, it is finished. And I dont believe Lai Mohammed because he has lied so many times and if his own idea of politics is to abuse his position and lie to the people, then we are in a very serious trouble because the whole thing is cynical, untrue and you begin to wonder who is to be believed because this government is not believable.Similarly, the President, Ijaw Youth Council, Mr. Eric Omare, described the governments action as ridiculous and childish.This is because, under the laws of this country, anybody that is accused of committing an offence is presumed to be innocent until the person is found guilty by the court of law. So when you say somebody is a looter, it is a pronouncement that the person is guilty.And none of the names on the list has been convicted. Even this week, Azibaola was cleared of most of the charges against him by the court. So how could you release the name of that person as a looter? So it simply shows that the anti-corruption war of Buharis government is failing and so, its just struggling to save its face. It didnt meet the expectation of Nigerians and that list should be dismissed with a wave of the hand; it doesnt make sense.Also, the President, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Malachy Ugwummadu, described the list as an insult on the intelligence of Nigerians.He said if the Federal Government was serious about total anti-corruption war, it should also look inwards and name ex-PDP chieftains who were now in the APC.Furthermore, he said conviction and prosecution of looters were the real proof of any anti-corruption fight.On whether it was right for the Federal Government to have named persons whose corruption cases were already in court, Ugwummadu described it as an issue that was neither here nor there.He said, If the persons listed view it as name-dropping, they could sue for defamation; justification is the total defence to defamation. But I think what happened was that the Federal Government succumbed to pressure in releasing the list.What is important for the Federal Government to make Nigerians think it is serious about anti-corruption war is if it looks inwards and name those alleged of corruption who defected from the PDP to the APC.Were not looters, say Dudafa, AzibaolaDudafa, whose name was on the looters list and who is currently standing trial before a Federal High Court in Lagos, pleaded not guilty to all the charges preferred against him by the EFCC.The former Presidential aide said everything he did was under the instruction of President Jonathan and his wife.He said, I was the Special Assistant to the President on Domestic Affairs and I received instructions from my boss. I never had powers to give instructions but I could relay instructions to aides in the Presidency, including Festus and Peter.I relayed instructions from the former president and his wife to the aides. Several instructions were given, including the one involving money but they were all relayed on behalf of the former President and his wife.I was the only one that had access to the bedroom of the former President and if he gave me instructions, I had to carry them out. The physical handing over of the money was done by me; though, I was relaying an instruction.Azibaola, whose name was also on the list, pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges involving the sum of $40m which he was accused of receiving fraudulently from the Office of the NSA in 2014. His wife is also facing trial with him.Their counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), had, however, denied the charges on their behalf while arguing their no-case submission before the Federal High Court in Abuja on March 16, 2018.Uche insisted while arguing the no-case submission that the sum of $40m was paid to his clients from a legitimate source with all the due process followed.The trial judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, on Thursday, upheld the no-case submission in part by striking out seven of the nine amended charges instituted against the defendants by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.The judge also discharged and acquitted Azibaolas wife of the two remaining charges.The judge ordered Azibaola and his company, One Plus Nigeria Limited, to enter their defence against the two remaining charges on June 4.I received the news of the apology offered to the Nigerian people by my friend and brother Prince Uche Secondus, the National Chairman of ...

I received the news of the apology offered to the Nigerian people by my friend and brother Prince Uche Secondus, the National Chairman of the PDP, with mixed feelings.





For goodness sake what is the apology for? Is it the great achievements of President Olusegun Obasanjo or the commendable strides of President Goodluck Jonathan?





In my view Secondus apology was ill-conceived and unecessary.





And if PDP must apologise for its 16 years in power then on its own part the Buhari administration and each and every one of the APC leaders must be compelled to pull out a loaded gun, point it at their own temples and blow out their own brains.





It is either that or they must be compelled to take some lethal poison and die a slow and terrible death for the corruption, hardship, penury, bloodshed and evil that they have foisted and inflicted on the Nigerian people over the last three years.





I proudly served in President Obasanjos government, which was a PDP government, for four years and his achievements were legion.





He inspired and encouraged our people and made them proud to be Nigerians again and he paid off our foreign debt, stabilised the country and pulled us back from the brink of war.





He treated every Nigerian fairly regardless of faith or tribe and he left a total of $64 billion USD in our foreign reserves.





He strengthed the economy and ensured that Nigeria was readmitted into the comity of civilised nations.





He boosted agricultural growth, fought an effective and non-selective war against corruption and ushered massive foreign and local investment into the country.





He built up local industries and assisted the manufacturing sector to prosper and thrive and caused the Stock Exchange to flourish.





He strengthened our Armed Forces, reformed the education sector, improved the health sector, encouraged freedom of speech and ensured that not one journalist, dissident or opposition figure was locked up for expressing his or her views.





He also managed the sharia crisis well and avoided a civil war, pulled us back from the brink of war with the Camerouns, brokered a successful peace deal in Liberia, quelled a military coup detat in Sao Tome and Principe and so much more. Is that what we are apologising for?





Anyone may say whatever they like about Obasanjo, and I do not for one minute suggest that he is an angel or that he is infallible, but one thing you can never take away from him is the fact that he remains probably the most patriotic, dedicated and effective leader that Nigeria has ever had and one of the greatest that the African continent has ever been blessed with.





Frankly we need to be careful what we say as a party and we should stop accepting and feeding into the deceitful and mendacious narrative that is being encouraged and fuelled by the Buhari administration and our collective enemies which asserts that we were all hopelessly corrupt and that we never achieved anything at all!





When we say that we are apologising it simply means that we have accepted that false narrative and that is not only a grave error but it is also unacceptable simply because such a narrative has no basis in reality, rationality, reason or truth.





It also does a great disservice to all the former PDP Governments and Presidents over the 16 years that we were in power.





We may have made a few mistakes here and there and we may not have scored 100 per cent on all fronts but to suggest that we are guilty of some heinous crime for which we are now constrained to apologise is not only inappropiate but also unwise.





Worst still in the coming months we may be forced to pay a heavy price for it as we become the subject of ridicule and opprobium.





The only thing PDP needs to apologise for is allowing a bunch of incompetent fools, unlettered rogues and uncivilised sociopaths and sadists like the APC to take power in 2015.





That is what we must ask God and the Nigerian people to forgive us for and nothing else.





My friend and brother Donald Duke, the former Governor of Cross Rivers state, and others have suggested that we must reach out to other political parties and form a broad-based coalition to confront and defeat the APC in next years presidential election.





That is a duty that is incumbent on each and everyone one of us and if we fail in discharging it God will judge us and deal with us ever so severley. Worst still, if we fail and Buhari returns to power next year, as Obasanjo has said, Nigeria will collapse.





If anyone needs to be reminded about just how inept and degenerate Buharis government is I urge them to kindly consider the events of the last few days and weeks which prove beyond any reasonable doubt that they are nothing but a government of unconsciable liars, professional propagandists, disinformation merchants and first class scammers.





First came the Dapchi scam. Then came the Martin Luther King award scam. Then came the Lagos bus terminal scam in which Lagos, the largest city in Africa, was put under lockdown and all its roads were blocked simply because Buhari was coming to open a glorified bus stop and attend a colloquim for Asiwaju Bola Tinubus 66th birthday.





For the last few days it has been one merry little photo-shoot and disingenious scam after the other but two events which struck me more than any of the others were the following.





At the colloquim Vice President Yemi Osinbajo reiterated his view that the PDP were corrupt and a party of looters and that the looting under President Goodluck Jonathans government and in the 5 years before Buhari came to power had destroyed the Nigerian economy.





This is a lie from the pit of hell. Osinbajo is not only a disgrace to his country but also a traitor to his Christian faith and Yoruba race.





He is hopelessly corrupt and he is a pernicious liar. All he ever does, apart from being the resident slave and proverbial Uncle Tom in the Presidential Villa, is accuse the PDP and other members of the opposition of looting and corruption yet the government that he heads with Buhari has indulged in MORE corruption in 3 years than the PDP did in 16.





Worst still they delight in wasting their enemies, shedding innocent blood, locking up their adversaries and encouraging and supporting their friends and associates to indulge in mass murder, genocide and ethnic cleansing.





The second event was the release of the list of names of those who have been described as looters by the Federal Government even though not one person has been convicted by a court of law of looting amongst all those whose names were listed.





It is simply ridiculous when a government of murderous slanderers, heartless disinformation agents and vicious scammers says and does things like this.





Simply put it is a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black. Yet before I go into that permit me to touch on an aside.





During the festivities they wheeled out an undoubtedly beautiful black British super-model called Naomi Cambell to pose in pictures with Buhari during his visit to Eko Atlantic whilst he was in Lagos.





Quite what the point of this exercise was I have not been able to grasp or fathom but it is interesting to note that the last African Head of State that this pretty babe took a picture with ended up being convicted for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court at the Hague.





His name was Charles Taylor, the former President of Liberia. I wonder whether history will repeat itself and Buhari will end up in the same place ? I guess that remains to be seen.





It was the day after the pose with Naomi that the Buhari government came up with their list of so-called looters which did not have the name of Rotimi Oloriburuku Amaechi or any other APC leader or government official on it.





Yet the truth is that no list of looters is complete without the names of Muhammadu Buhari, Yemi Osinbajo, Rotimi Amaechi, Babachir Lawal, Babatunde Raji Fashola, Abdulrasheed Maina, Maikanti Baru, Abdulrahman Dambazzau, Abdullahi Adamu, Mohammed Burutai and all the other APC leaders and Federal Government officials on it.





They are not only thieves but they literally invented the art of corruption and they are experts in it. They are corrupt in body, spirit and soul. They have stolen and misappropiated vast sums of money from the Nigerian state, diverted billions of naira from state government funds for their 2015 presidential campaign and they have snuffed out and destroyed more innocent lives than any other government in the history of Nigeria outside of the civil war.





When, God-willing, we get them out of power and take over we will open the books, expose them for what they are and each and everyone of them will suffer the consequences of their unprecedented graft and monstrous larceny.





One day Nigerians will discover that Buhari is not an angel but a devil and that his entire government and team is infested with demons and incorrigible rogues.





A couple of weeks ago I wrote the following in one of my essays:





President Buhari forgets that our system of government is meant to be a modern-day democracy where the rule of law prevails, where dissent and a plurality of views and opinion is tolerated and where freedom of expression, freedom of association, the right to life and the right to a fair hearing is held sacrosanct and is guaranteed.





Worst still he believes in demonising and crushing all his enemies and holding on to power at all costs and through any means both fair and foul. If you doubt any of these things please ask Sambo Dasuki, Sheik El Zak Zaky, Nnamdi Kanu or countless others.





He leads a corrupt government which operates double standards and which turns a blind eye to the theft and graft that is being perpetrated by its officials and their friends whilst at the same time persecuting his perceived enemies and labelling them as being corrupt even though there is no real and tangible evidence of that so-called corruption.





And if anyone doubts that Buhari and his government are hopelessly corrupt then they should please read the latest Transparancy International report in which they said that corruption in Nigeria is getting worse under Buhari.





Buhari is a tyrant and a genocidal maniac who believes in conquest and oppression and who has turned a blind eye whilst his subjects are butchered in their thousands by Fulani terrorists who call themselves herdsmen.





He has brought nothing but carnage, division, destruction, death, poverty and evil to our nation.





On several occassions he has watched silently and done nothing after his security agencies and Armed Forces killed thousands of his own citizens, whether they be Igbo youths that are members of IPOB or Shiite Muslims, after which they are buried in mass graves.





These are crimes against humanity for which he should be charged at the Internation Criminal Court at the Hague.





Those that are not killed are thrown into prisons or horrific detention cells all over the country where they are tortured and left to rot without any form of due process and against court orders to release them.





If anyone has any doubts about that they should please read the latest report by Amnesty International.





To add to all these horrors poverty and hunger has ravaged the land. If anybody doubts that they should please read the latest IMF report where the International Monetary Fund claim that Nigerians are hungrier today than they have ever been and that more of our people are living below the poverty line than ever before.





The truth is that apart from being monumentally incompetent Buhari is also shallow, sectional, divisive and vindictive and he has proved that he is wholly unfit and undeserving to be the President of a complicated, multi-cultural, multi-relgious and multi-ethnic mega-nation like Nigeria which needs to be led and handled with sensitivity, caution and care.





I stand by every word that I wrote in that essay and frankly, as each day passes, things are getting worse for the Nigerian people under his watch.





Permit me to conclude this contribution with the following:





Like President Obasanjos devastating letter, President Goodluck Jonathans consistent criticism, President Ibrahim Babangidas public admonition and Vice President Atiku Abubuakars pungent opposition, General T.Y. Danjumas bombshell, which was unleashed just few days ago against the Buhari government, was not only timely and courageous but also absolutely necessary.





He rightly alleged that our government, through its Armed Forces, are involved in ethnic cleansing and genocide and he boldly encouraged the people to defend thrmselves, defend their territory and defend Nigeria.





He has confirmed what yours truly and a handful of others have been saying for the last two years that the Buhari administration and their security forces collude with the Fulani herdsmen to slaughter and commit mass murder against our people.





This is unacceptable, it will never be forgotten and it will not go unavenged. It is only a matter of time before ALL those involved will suffer the consequences of their barbaric actions and be brought to justice.





Danjumas concerns, coupled with the admonitions of Bill Gates, the worlds richest man, who has criticised the Buhari government viciously both whilst he was in Nigeria and after he returned home to America, prove beyond any reasonable doubt that Nigeria is in danger and that the Buhari government has messed things up very badly. Like Nero, they are playing the fiddle whilst Rome is burning.



Senator Stella Oduah, PDP, Anambra North has called on all Nigerians to emulate the virtues of love and sacrifice which Jesus Christ exhibited by dying on the cross as Nigerians join the rest of the world to mark Easter.In an Easter message she personally said, Senator Oduah who noted that with love Nigeria can surmount all its challenges said, We must learn to love like Christ loved and we must sacrifice in the was Christ has exemplified for us.If we love one another, the wanton killing, clashes, kidnapping theft and all other vices that bedevil our society would not exist.With love and sacrifice there in empathy, understanding, tolerance and coexistence. We would indeed be united if we love one another.Just as Christ taught us and as it is taught in Islam and many other religion, love is a virtue which conquers all, where there is love all other good virtues go along with it.The former Aviation Minister said that Nigerians must also learn to give in helping the poor and the needy around them and avoid indulging in lavish celebrations while their neighbours go hungry, adding that Easter forms a good time for sober reflection, a time for moral reevaluation and a time to retrace ones steps.She said, We must see the Easter as not just a time to celebrate the resurrection of Christ but a time to soberly reflect on the significance of his suffering death and resurrection and how well we are emulating the virtues he taught.For parents, it is a time to reflect on how well you have brought up your children. The family still holds the key to bringing up good Nigerians and therefore parents must raise their children up in the right way so that we can have good Nigerians.I therefore wish every Nigerian Christian and friends a wonderful Easter celebration.Zubairu Gwari, emir of Birnin Gwari in Kaduna state, has asked his subjects to defend themselves against suspected bandits invading their ...

Zubairu Gwari, emir of Birnin Gwari in Kaduna state, has asked his subjects to defend themselves against suspected bandits invading their communities.





One of the 23 local government areas in Kaduna, Birinin Gwari has recorded a high level of insecurity in recent times.





It was in the area that 11 soldiers were killed earlier in the month.





In an interview with Daily Trust, the first class traditional ruler said he asked his subjects not to behave like fools and get killed.





A month ago, in one area called Anguwan Gajere, the bandits attacked a village, and the villagers fought back, in the process they killed more bandits than the people of the town, he said.





All of a sudden, we were told that the people who came were Fulani men, and Miyetti Allah was in the vanguard of protecting them. What we have been preaching to our people is that they should not sit down like fools and watch themselves and their families get killed. If you can do anything to protect yourselves, protect yourself. I will repeat it in front of anybody.





We cant be fools to wait for somebody that will not come. Nobody can stop me from telling my people to protect themselves. And that is what we are doing now because the policemen that are in Birnin Gwari cannot protect. The soldiers that are being brought come and sometimes make matters worse. I am also appealing to the president to come and see things for himself, because we are also Nigerians.





The emir said his people are living in hell adding that the activities of the suspects have stunted all development activities in the area.





We have been standing up against these people, fighting them in the hope that it would end, all to no avail, he said.





 I must say that the Kaduna state government, particularly this present governor, has done his best, and I believe he is still doing so, but I think when you say somebody is doing his best, maybe their best is not enough. That is why, when they do something, it would look like they are succeeding, but then, eventually, the bandits find a way to unleash terror on us.





Gwaris call comes a week after Theophilus Danjuma, a retired army general, called on Nigerians to defend themselves against killers.



Leah Sharibu, the only student of Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, still in Boko Haram custody, reportedly made an ...

Leah Sharibu, the only student of Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, still in Boko Haram custody, reportedly made an unsuccessful attempt to escape.





The insurgents abducted 110 students on February 19 and released them a month later, with the exception of Sharibu and five students who died in captivity.





They reportedly held Sharibu back for refusing to renounce her Christian faith.





Some of Sharibus schoolmates said while in custody, she had sneaked away with two other girls  but was unfortunate to walk into the wrong arms.





We thought she was just going round the corner, but she sneaked out along with Maryam and Amira (the other two classmates), Aisha Ibiwa, one of the girls, told UK Guardian.





They were said to have walked for three days in the course of their escape from the insurgents. A family they met for help on how to return home to Dapchi rather facilitated their return to the insurgents.





Hajara Adamu, another of Leahs friends, recalled: The Fulani man (from the family) said to them, so you are the missing girls that weve heard about on the radio. He gave them a jerrycan filled with cows milk and brought them back.





Leah and her group werent flogged. They [Boko Haram] said it was because they had suffered a lot while trying to escape.





Adamu said she had also tried to escape but suffered same fate as Sharibu.





She added that the insurgents laughed at them for attempting to escape, mocking them that we wanted to go back to the land of unbelievers.





While in custody, the girls recalled that one of the Boko Haram leaders whom they knew as the Khalifa came to see them every week.





During those visits, he was said to have told them they would not stay for too long in custody.





We dont have any issue with you  our issue is with the government, he had told them, according to Adamu. Theyve taken our men. Dont worry, youll all go home soon.





Hed take off his balaclava and say: You shouldnt go back to Nigeria. Its a country of sinners and unbelievers. When you go back, convince your parents to come back here to the Islamic caliphate with you.





N5,000 WELCOME-HOME GIFT FROM BUHARI





Upon their return, the girls met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja, before reuniting with their families in Yobe.





Adamu recalled that the president gave them N5,000 each, among other items.



Reno Omokri, former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan has criticized Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed over the looterss list he...

Reno Omokri, former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan has criticized Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed over the looterss list he released on Friday.





Recall that Lai Mohammed had released the controversial list of treasury looters at a press conference in Lagos earlier today.





Reacting, Omokri queried the absence of minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and other APC members on the list.





He wrote on his Twitter page How can Buharis looters list not include Amaechi, who admitted to looting when he said we steal because Nigerians dont stone us.





What of Nyako who is facing a 29 billion fraud trial?





Does being APC members absolve them from sin? Buhari is fighting opposition, not corruption!



Former Interim National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi has expressed concern over the high level of poverty, divisiveness, mutual distrust and suspicion in the country.Makarfi who spoke in his Easter message to Christians in the country, asked Nigerians to imbibe the spirit of forgiveness, humility and tolerance for the country to grow from strength to strength.Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Digital/New Media, Tolu Ogunlesi, has described Nigerians as animals for slandering Na...

Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Digital/New Media, Tolu Ogunlesi, has described Nigerians as animals for slandering Naomi Campbell.

Campbell, a super model, had shared a tweet alongside several photos with Buhari at the Eko Atlantic City launch.





The pictures of Buhari with the Super Model stirred up controversies on the social media.





Reacting, the Presidential aide recalled that Naomi had met late ex-South African President, Nelson Mandela more than once.





He wondered why some of you animals are slandering her.





He, however, took to his social media Saturday morning to apologise for the comment.





He wrote: Naomi Campbell met Nelson Mandela more than once. He hugged her, called her his honourary granddaughter.





She visits Nigeria for a fashion festival and meets President @MBuhari, and some of you animals are slandering her. YOURE RAVING MAD WITH NOBODY TO TELL YOU.





Synonyms for animal include brute, beast, monster, savage, devil, demon, fiend, villain, barbarian, ogre, according to the Oxford Dictionary.





Following lashes from Nigerians, he added on Saturday morning, Id like to clarify. I would NEVER describe/think of Nigerians, or those who disagree with me, as animals.









My comment specific to those who thought it appropriate to denigrate/slander Naomi Campbell.



The member representing Lokoja/Kogi Federal constituency in the House of Representatives, late Buba Umar Jibril was on Friday buried at Ka...

The member representing Lokoja/Kogi Federal constituency in the House of Representatives, late Buba Umar Jibril was on Friday buried at Kabawa Cemetery in Lokoja, amid tears and prayers from families, friends and colleagues.

Jibril, 58, a three-time member of the House of Representatives, died in the early hours of Friday in Abuja.





The burial, which was concluded at around 3 p.m., was attended by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, Kogi Deputy Governor, Mr Simon Achuba, Kogi House of Assembly Speaker, Mr Matthew Kolawole, members of the house, among others.





Speaking to newsmen, the Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara, said: We have lost one of our own, Buba Jibril, whom if wishes are horses, we will wish he lives forever.





But we are mortal and all of us have to answer one day or the other, however, Jibril has answered the call.





He had a dogged spirit, when we recently visit him in London with the leadership of the House; we chatted and laughed together, apparently we dont know that he would answered this call today.









It is very unfortunate, we have lost a leader and a brother, who was an accomplished legislator per excellent, and for me personally he was my die hard supporter. We will surely miss him.





It was unfortunate that we have to do this again; our prayer to God is that the death of lawmakers should stop and God should preserve all of us.





I dont think it has happened before not to my recollection that we have lost about three senators and five members of the House of Representatives.





Our prayer is that God should grant his entire family members, the government and the people of Kogi, and the entirety of NASS the fortitude to bear the irreparable lost, Dogara said.





Mr Matthew Kolawole, the Speaker, Kogi House of Assembly, told newsmen that the state Government and the Kogi House of Assembly, would miss him a lot.





Dont forget that he was a former speaker of Kogi House of Assembly, we will miss him a lot.





I pray that God almighty will give all of us the heart to bear the irreparable lost.





What happened today is a big lesson to all of us who are still living, in any position we are, no matter how rich you are, just remember sometime, someday, you will drop dead, and when you do, you are going to give account of your life and stewardship to God.





It is a debt we will all pay sometimes, someday, Kolawole said.











The Presidency on Saturday said the recent call made by a former Minister of Defence, Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd.), that Nigerians should not rely on security agencies but defend themselves in the face of killings across the country as shocking and scary.It said unrestrained pronouncements were capable of encouraging criminal gangs to defy legal governing and democratic institutions.The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba, Shehu, said these in a statement made available to journalists.Shehu urged prominent Nigerians to use their national influence wisely and shun public declarations that are capable of threatening national security.He also advised former leaders to take advantage of the various fora where they can advise the government on security matters without resorting to the exploitation of emotional sentiments.Shehu wondered if any country can survive if its citizens rise against its military.He said Nigerians must be careful to avoid the mess that destroyed other African countries like Somalia.Despite Danjumas verdict on the armed forces however, the presidential aide commended the Nigerian militarys efforts to maintain peace and stability, despite being pulled in various directions by elements determined to destabilise the country and government for their selfish reasons.The statement read, The Presidency wishes to appeal to prominent Nigerians, who have national influence, to use their influence wisely and not continue to engage in public declarations that are likely to inflame emotional passions and threaten National Security.The Presidency is very worried that criminal gangs will feel justified in defying legal governing and democratic institutions, and authority of legitimately elected democratic government if unrestrained pronouncements are made.Silence can be dignified, but sometimes it can be misinterpreted and exploited. It is both shocking and scary to hear the recent comments by a senior citizen calling for Nigerians to defend themselves.The Presidency commends the Nigerian militarys efforts to maintain peace and stability, despite being pulled in various directions by elements determined to destabilise the country and government for their selfish reasons.What country would survive if its citizens rise against the countrys organised, trained and equipped military?We advise former leaders to take advantage of the various fora where people with a history of national security can offer advice to the government without resorting to the exploitation of emotional sentiments.The civil war motto: To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done rings very timely at this time in our nations history. We must be careful to avoid the mess that destroyed other African countries like Somalia.The reaction came exactly one week after Danjuma last Saturday while speaking at the maiden convocation of the Taraba State University, Jalingo, and the 10th anniversary of the institution told Nigerians to defend themselves against killers in the country, saying the armed forces were not ready to defend them.The former Chief of Army Staff had stated, I am not a politician and politics is one profession I dont want to belong to because if I am a politician, I will not say what I am going to say to you now.When I arrived in this arena, I saw rich cultural display and I was amazed at the rich cultural heritage of our people. Taraba is a mini Nigeria with diverse ethnic groups living together peacefully, but the peace in this state is under assault.There is an attempt at ethnic cleansing in the state and of course, some rural states in Nigeria. We must resist it. We must stop it. Every one of us must rise up.Our Armed Forces are not neutral. They collude with the bandits to kill people, kill Nigerians. The Armed Forces guide their movements; they cover them. If you are depending on the Armed Forces to stop the killings, you will all die one by one.This ethnic cleansing must stop in Taraba State and other rural states of Nigeria otherwise Somalia will be a childs play.I ask every one of you to be alert and defend your country, defend your territory and defend your state. Defend yourselves because you have no other place to go. God bless our country.The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, and other individuals have since supported Danjumas call.By now you must have heard that 17 groups from Northern Nigeria, including the Arewa Consultative Forum have told President Buhari point blank that he has failed and that they will not support his reelection.I saw this coming way back on February 16, 2018, when Zamfara state Governor, Abdulaziz Yari lamented as follows after gunmen butchered his citizens like chicken in Zurmi.On that day, Yari, previously a rabid Buharist, said:I feel let down facing the people of this state whenever I remember the promise I made to them that when they elect President Muhammadu Buhari into power, these killings will end. But unfortunately, things are now getting worse.This is just as Afenifere and Ohaneze have both said God forbid to a Buhari second term.When it seemed as though every strata of the Nigerian society, except the die hard serial sycophant, Nasir El-Rufai, has rejected the President, reprieve came his way when he was given a leadership award by the family of the late American civil rights hero, Martin Luther King Junior.For good measure, MLKs family also appealed to Nigerians to reelect President Buhari.But whatever reprieve the President got turned out to be a Pyrrhic victory because exactly two days after the MLK family endorsement, the real family of Martin Luther King Junior, comprising his biological children, denied the so called family they came to give President Buhari his award and issued a strong denial.On March 28, 2018, the Martin Luther King Junior Center released a statement saying The award given to President Buhari of Nigeria was not given by The King Center, at the request of The King Center or by the children of #MLK and #CorettaScottKing.What an embarrassment to Nigeria! But should we be surprised? Muhammadu Buhari, the man who makes fake promises, commissions fake projects, gives fake plagiarized speeches has now been exposed as a recipient of fake awards. Nigerians should have known that a President who could not produce his WAEC certificate is susceptible to fakery!I was wondering how Martin Luther King Juniors children will come to Nigeria to give an award to a tyrant! Their father had a dream and they came to Nigeria to associate with a nightmare? For what? Thank God they have denounced the award as fake!It seems our President is now scandal prone because just before this incident, he had another scandal involving Bill Gates.Apparently, President Buhari had invited Bill Gates to the Presidential Villa for the National Economic Council meeting, thinking Mr. Gates would praise him, but instead he got the shock of his life when his guest criticized his handling of the economy, saying it does not reflect the needs of Nigerians and that his economic blueprint lacks choreography. He then went on to describe Nigeria as one of the most dangerous places in the world to give birth!But harsh as his statement may have been, Bill Gates did not say the whole truth.Yes, it is true that Nigeria, under Buhari, is the worst place in the world to be born. But it is only true if you are a human being.If you are a cow, then Nigeria is like paradise. Humans can be killed so that you can live. Under Buhari, the value of human life has fallen and the value of cattle life has risen! In fact, the Buhari government loves cattle so much that they want to take land from human beings to give it to cattle to colonize!After reading Mr. Gates uncharacteristically blunt rebuke, I could not help but remember that it was just like yesterday that Buhari was crying in 2011 for Nigeria as if he knew the solutions to Nigerias problems. He deceived Nigerians and they made him President only to discover that he himself was Nigerias problem. Just like PHCN, problem has changed name to Buhari!I have said it before and I will say it again, former President Jonathan might have made mistakes (tell me which human being does not make mistakes) but President Buhari himself is a mistake. Jonathan may have faced one or two problems, especially with Boko Haram, but Buhari is himself a problem!Talking about Boko Haram, observant Nigerians cannot help but notice that these days, you read, hear and watch about Boko Harams plans from government officials. Does Boko Haram still need an official spokesman again? It is from a government official that we learnt that Boko Haram would release or not #DapchiGirls. It is from their mouths we heard that Boko Haram is showing goodwill.It was the minister of information that was trying to convince us that Boko Haram released #DapchiGirls out of the goodness of their heart without insisting on a ransom or prisoner swap. I am tempted to ask whose information minister Lai Mohammed is? Nigerias or Boko Haram? What an interesting time to be alive.And to show how low Nigeria has sunk under Buhari, the APC Governor of Lagos declared Thursday a public holiday to celebrate Buharis visit to Lagos on Thursday March 28, 2018.Lagos has a GDP of $100 billion per annum. By shutting the state down, Lagos loses $250 million. Do you now see why our economy collapsed under Buhari? More attention is given to Buharis ego than to economic matters. It is behaviour like this that has caused 10 million Nigerians to lose their jobs under Buhari!Lagos state recently borrowed $200 million. Now she is losing $250 million because of the public holiday declared for Buharis visit. That money can build 10 new hospitals and 100 new schools and 10,000 bore holes. But instead, the APC prefers to waste it on a public holiday for Buhari!When Bill Gates said President Buhari prioritizes physical capital over human capital, people like Nasir El-Rufai, Buharis favourite court jester, came out to attack him. But just a week after Mr Gates apple truth to power, Buhari is going to Lagos and the APC government declared a public holiday tomorrow for him. Does this not vindicate Bill Gates?By preventing workers and businesses from opening for business for one day, the government is setting back human capital just for the physical capital of opening a bus stop. This is a pure example of why Bill Gates said Buhari prioritizes physical capital over human capital.And this is the same Lagos state that is aggressively looking for funds, so much so that it has jacked up the Land Use Charges to ridiculous levels. This is the same state that is shutting itself down and losing the $250 million that it accrues to its GDP on a daily basis! I just hope Governor Ambode will not try to recoup these lost revenue by increasing other charges.And to show you how backward Buhari is, 34 years ago he canceled an underground railway train project (metroline) for Lagos state as a military dictator, then 34 years later he returns to the same Lagos to commission a bus station? It is like putting your 1 million in fixed deposit for 34 years and returning to collect 1,000! I would have been so disappointed if Lagosians turned out to celebrate this retrogression passed off as progress. Thank God my Lagos peeps are smarter than that.In fact, the Buhari administration should be filmed and shown as a drama series on Africa Magic channel. Their hourly drama is more entertaining than any drama Africa Magic currently shows. The infighting in the government and the APC will put Wrestle Mania to shame. The backstabbing and hypocrisy is another thing!The other day, it was the President himself who told us of the incompetency and insubordination of his own Inspector General of Police who refused his direct order to relocate to Benue State.What punitive action did he take against IGP Idris? None.Then on Wednesday March 28, 2019, Nigerians woke up to hear that suspected assassins who had allegedly confessed to have been hired by Senator Dino Melaye had escaped from police detention.The reaction of the IGP was almost immediate. He removed the Kogi state commissioner of police.The irony of an incompetent IGP sacking an incompetent commissioner of police for letting suspects escape though. At least, the IGP is doing what Buhari should have done to him but lacked the balls to do. The most consistent things in Buharis government are incompetence and confusion.Just look at the inconsistencies of the Buhari administration with regards to the anti terror war. You claim you defeated Boko Haram, then try to borrow $1 billion to defeat the defeated Boko, then the defeated Boko Haram kidnap (allegedly) and release #DapchiGirls, you announce ceasefire with the defeated Boko Haram, following which you offer the defeated Boko Haram amnesty. Your minister of information then goes on air to preside a defeated Boko Haram of showing goodwill. Is your head spinning yet?Well, let me spin your head some more by quoting a letter written by Lai Mohammed, the current minister of information. He wrote this letter on April 18, 2013:: We have been compelled to write a letter to the Lagos State governor asking him to please prevail on the President to reschedule his visit. But if his visit must go on, he should use another means of transportation such as the helicopter so that the whole town is not locked up.Anytime Mr President is coming to Lagos, our roads are closed, and traffic congestion is at its highest. The whole city is shut down for the entire day. You can imagine when were expecting about 10,000 people from different parts of Nigeria to our convention, all heading for the same place. Its going to be chaos. So, were appealing to Mr President, through the Governor, to please reconsider his visit. And if he must come, he should inflict the minimum pain and hardship on Nigerians.-Lai Mohammed, National Publicity Secretary, of the All Progressive Congress.JokePDP: We apologise for our mistakes.FG: Return all stolen loot first.PDP: OK.. we wish to start with those who served under the PDP during its 16 years in office beginning with Abdullahi Adams, Danjuma Goje, Timipre Sylva, Rotimi Amaechi, Aliyu Wammako, Nasir El Rufai, Audu Ogbeh, Murtala Nyako, Rochas Okorocha, Musiliu Obanikoro, Kwakwanso, Chris NgigeAPC (Cuts in): Dont bother again.Influential 'madams' who traffic girls from Edo State to Europe, America and other parts of the world, otherwise known as madam...

Influential 'madams' who traffic girls from Edo State to Europe, America and other parts of the world, otherwise known as madams, are now said to be jittery about the curse placed recently by the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II on human traffickers and those who aid them.The revered monarch did not only place a curse on those who paint the state in a bad light through the trafficking of girls from the state, he also forced the native doctors who aid the traffickers by administering oaths on the girls to enslave them to their masters and madams, as the case may be, to reverse the effect of the oaths administered on the girls.The pimps and madams concerned are now jittery and are said to be in disarray over the curse placed upon them should they continue their nefarious activities. The turn of events is said to be due to the importance attached to the curses from the revered Benin monarch and their efficacy. There are antecedents. An age-long myth subsists about the efficacy of curses that proceed from the mouth of a ruler of the Benin Kingdom. It is widely believed that such curses do not go unfulfilled once the target is guilty of the sin for which he or she is charged.And the Obas curse is no respecter of age or status. The story is also told of Ikoka, a community in Ovia South West Local Government Area, which remains yet a remote village in spite of the fact that it serves as a host to one of the largest rubber plantations in the country.It is said that Ikoka village and its people were cursed by Oba Ewuakpe in the 14th Century after the people asked him to work when he asked them for food. The curse he placed on the community, according to historians, is that only their women would experience progress, while houses built in the village would collapse as they are being built and their roads would turn bushy as they are being cleared.Today, Ikoka is tucked away inside the rubber plantation without an access road to the community. To get to the village, one has to navigate through the rubber plantation. Thus, it is believed that the village is still under the curse of the late Oba.Residents of Iguomon community in Uhunmwode Local Government Area recently cried out that they were dying from strange ailments because of a curse placed on the community by Oba Erediauwa. Inhabitants of the community had to besiege the Obas palace to beg that the curse to be revoked in order to save them from further calamity.Pa Roland Ugiagbe Okhuorabo, the man who was supposed to be installed as the next Odionwere (the traditional ruler of the community), was quoted as saying that he would not present himself to be installed until the curse is revoked.The foregoing are pointers to how much the inhabitants of Benin Kingdom hold the Obas words in awe. The people see him as Gods representative on earth. All the deities in the land belong to him and consequently are under his directives. His words are law across the state because almost all the traditional rulers in the state and some communities in neighbouring states are princes from the palace.But besides the Oba, Edo residents are known to fear curses from any juju. For example, when fire gutted the Obas market in Benin in 2004, many of the traders came in the morning and found that some thieves had used the fire outbreak as a cover to loot their shops. Adun, promptly summoned Aiyelala worshippers who held a procession round the market, warning whoever had stolen the goods to return them. By the following day, the thieves had returned the goods and placed them at different locations in the market.The jitters that followed the curses recently proclaimed by Oba Ewuare II on the individuals responsible for the trafficking of female prostitutes from the Benin Kingdom to Europe, America and other parts of the world, would be better understood in the foregoing context.Recent reports indicate that things are no longer at ease in the camps of pimps, madams and native doctors responsible for trafficking young women from the kingdom to work as prostitutes in foreign lands. Many madams responsible for trafficking young women abroad are said to have been in shock on account of the curses the Oba proclaimed at a ceremony attended by priests from various shrines in the state.The priests at the said ceremony included the Ohen Okhuae, Ohen Ovia, Ohen noriyekeogba, Ohen Ake, Ohen Niwuo, Ohen Sango, Odionwere, Iwueki the Enigies and native doctors. Some ancient juju and several others known as esusumahi were brought out as instruments for the invocation of the curses.At the said occasion, the Oba also performed rites that were meant to set trafficked victims free from the various oaths they have been made to swear at various shrines in the state or elsewhere. The Oba also warned native doctors in the kingdom to return whatever items they had collected from the trafficked girls.In invoking the curses, the Oba said: From today, we end all the oaths and it will not affect those placed on the oaths. Anybody that walks on Edo land and eats the food cooked with salt and oil will die if they continue to do things that will bring shame to the land.The juju will kill those who want to henceforth engage in human trafficking. Even those who go to other places to perform juju will also die. Native doctors should not force girls again, and they should return the things they collected from the girls. News of the Obas action reportedly spread across Europe like wild fire. Checks conducted by our reporter indicated that the madams were shocked at the pronouncements. The Obas curse created a huge war in Europe between traffickers known as madams and their girls.The girls are expected to pay as much as 35,000 depending on how much the madam spent to bring them to Europe. According to a source in Italy, the madams are not happy even though some immediately released their girls after the Obas curse. The Obas curse came as a shock to them. They said there was no warning or signs that such a thing would happen.They said the Oba should have given them some time to free the girls themselves. It is difficult for the madams to take any extra step to recover their money, because as you know, our people fear curses more than death. But some madams are saying the Oba did not mention anything like money. They said the Oba only removed the oath they took before coming. But some madams said they are not from Benin. The madams dont have anything to tell the native doctors again because the Oba has already placed a curse and warned the native doctors not to back them. In a chat with our reporter, a renowned native doctor, Chief Clement Okooboh, said the Oba had neutralised all the oaths trafficked victims were placed on, warning other native doctors to desist from the act or face the wrath of the gods. Chief Okooboh stated that all sons and daughters of Edo land must adhere to the Obas directive and also pass the message to other people.His words: At the pronouncement from the palace, everybody knows their direction. If you have been involved in oath taking, you know that all that is over. Anything that has to do with human trafficking, unless you are travelling for better things. That is where I think we have to support. You should know that anything that happens must first happen in the spiritual. Whatever it takes to make sure the negative yoke is broken physically, we should do it spiritually. We will not run away from that because it has been said that we should not support those travelling abroad.Before I travel with my children, I do one or two things with our deity for safe trip. I know the implications of oath taking. I have never encouraged it, especially when it comes to travelling by land. I have never encouraged people to travel by land. Those who are still paying deaf ears to our fathers instructions should be ready to face the wrath of the gods. Our father has renounced the oaths. Whatever thing they have been doing, the Oba has neutralised all the oaths placed on the girls. What he is telling the native doctors is not to engage in the act again. Whoever is calling the girls to come and renounce is stupid. He is daring the gods of our land.#TakeBackNigeria, a socio-political group amplifying Omoyele Sowores candidacy for the 2019 presidential election, has described the ruli...

#TakeBackNigeria, a socio-political group amplifying Omoyele Sowores candidacy for the 2019 presidential election, has described the ruling All Progressives Party (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as evil twins of corruption.





Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, in an interview with TheCable had said his efforts, since 1999, have been focused on ensuring that Nigerias democracy thrives and that those who aspire to lead the country are accountable to the people.





In a statement on Saturday, #TakeBackNigeria described APC and PDP as two wrecking machines trying to take Nigerians for another horrendous four-year ride in 2019.





The movement said the only difference





We want both the APC and PDP to know that Take Back Nigeria movement has declared that it is our sacred duty to remind Nigerians of the atrocities that have been perpetrated on the Nigerian people by both parties, the statement read.





We are vigilant. We are watching. We will call out falsehoods. We will expose the corruption of both the PDP and the APC. Never again will we allow our nations destiny to be turned into a commodity to be passed around by the same men and women, who have ruined this nation for almost three decades, and whose only difference is the most recent name by which they choose to call themselves.





Our movement believes that Nigeria deserves better than these evil twins of corruption and mismanagement called APC and PDP.





The group added that despite all the lip service being paid to anti-corruption by the Buhari government, not a single major conviction of corrupt politicians has been concluded by the administration.





We want to make it clear to both parties that Nigerians are saying to them enough is enough, it said.





For every looter called Uche Secondus in the PDP, there is a Bukola Saraki from the APC. For every seizure of our sisters from Chibok under the PDP, there is an equally disastrous assault on our daughters in Dapchi, under the APC.



The Enugu state police command has come down hard on a Twitter user who drew its attention to the inhumane condition of police cells in th...

The Enugu state police command has come down hard on a Twitter user who drew its attention to the inhumane condition of police cells in the state.

One Twitter user simply identified as Kelsonwa had asked what the command was doing about the bad state of cells in the police stations.





What are you doing about your cells, whereby a person being detained cant even breathe fresh air before he or she gets bail, the user had asked.

@PoliceNG_Enugu what are you doing about you cells, were by a person been detained can't even breathe fresh air before he or she gets bail March 30, 2018

Apparently angered by the tweet, the command immediately took a swipe at the user.





Replying via its handle, it wrote: Sir, you dont go to cell expecting to be served chicken and chips.

Sir, you dont go to cell expecting to be served Chicken and Chips. https://t.co/dgC7B14maq March 30, 2018

The reply did not go down well with many Nigerians, with some accusing the police in the state of having no regard for human dignity.





One user with the name Ifeatu said: This reply is Lame. And proof that @PoliceNG_Enugu has zero regard for human rights and dignity.





Joe Abah, who is very influential on the social interactive platform, described the response as shameful.

This is even more shameful. I have visited Enugu prisons. If your prisons reflect the priority you place on human rights, it is clear that you have none.  Dr. Joe Abah (@DrJoeAbah) March 30, 2018

This is a shameful tweet, which I have reported to your bosses.  Dr. Joe Abah (@DrJoeAbah) March 30, 2018

Woow.. Everyday you guys stray further away from the light. So disgusted.  OLUWAYEMI (@Yeahmeahh) March 31, 2018

He mentioned 'breathing air'. I did not read anything about chicken and chips. This is a biased and shameful tweet from a representation of a law enforcement agent in Nigeria, and its sad. Smh.  Immanuel Nwankwo (@ImmanuelNwankwo) March 31, 2018

Human Rights you talking about how many human right activist do you have in each station and how many of them are called upon,when needed?  l KLs  17 (@Kelsonwa) March 30, 2018

The command, however, later cleared the air, saying it was not in our plans to violate anybodys right, as the Nigerian police strive to secure lives and properties while administering transparency injustice.





At that, we dont wish for anybody to enter any of our cells, as our cells are for those who break the law, it said.A New Jersey woman who has lived in the United States for 20 years was deported to Bangladesh Thursday night, the night of her heartbroken daughter's prom.

Salina Sikander, of Runnemede, cried during the last few hours she spent with one of her three children, Shajeda Sikander, a high junior whose prom fell on the same night as her mother's deportation.

A spokesperson with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed the deportation.

She "had been ordered removed by an immigration judge, [and] departed the United States for Bangladesh in compliance with her removal order," he said in a statement.

Court documents from 2010 show Sikander's father's application for asylum was rejected, along with her and her brother.

Her father, Shamsuddin Sikander, had come to the US in 1993 and applied for asylum on the basis he was persecuted for his political beliefs, according to the ruling. In 1998, an immigration judge denied that asylum, and in 2010, the motion was deemed "untimely."

Shajeda skipped the Triton Regional High School prom to say goodbye to her mother. Her father was deported in November.

She and her brothers will continue to live in the US with other family members.

Amanda Hoover can be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj. Find NJ.com on Facebook.



Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tipsStacey Dash won't make it to Congress.

That's because Dash, an actress and former Fox News contributor has dropped out of the race about a month after announcing her run.

CNN reports that Dash, whose campaign slogan was "Dash to D.C.," decided to withdraw her bid for Congress in part because of what she calls "bitterness surrounding our political process."

Dash, 51, a Republican, confirmed she was running for Congress shortly after CNN reported in late February that she had filed paperwork to run in California's 44th district, which includes Compton, North Long Beach, Watts and San Pedro and is represented by Nanette Barragan, a Democrat.

"After much prayer, introspection and discussions with my family, I am withdrawing my candidacy for California's 44th Congressional District," Dash said in a statement to CNN. "I started this run with the intention to address the pressing issues in the district where I live. I hoped, and remain hopeful, that I can assist people living here on the national level. My goal was, and remains, to improve the lives of people who have been forgotten for decades by the Democratic Party."

I have released this statement on my campaign. It's not an easy one. pic.twitter.com/HvKuUad48F -- Stacey Dash (@REALStaceyDash) March 30, 2018

Dash, whose memoir, "There Goes My Social Life: From Clueless to Conservative," was published in 2016, went on to say that "the overall bitterness surrounding our political process" and "rigors of campaigning" and holding office would have a negative impact on her family and "spiritual principles." When she spoke to CNN last month, Dash attributed her decision to run for office to a higher power.

The actress, who grew up in the Bronx and attended Paramus High School, is best known for her role opposite Alicia Silverstone in the 1995 movie "Clueless," but in 2014 she became a contributor for Fox News, where her incendiary comments often drew the ire of social media. Among her headline-making moments: the time she called potential victims of sexual assault "naughty" and "bad girls." Dash also expressed her view that there shouldn't be a Black History Month and that transgender people should relieve themselves in the bushes.

Dash appeared at the Oscars in 2016 for bit with host Chris Rock in the wake of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, following comments she made on Fox rejecting the boycott along with the existence of Black History Month and BET. Rock introduced her as "the new director of our minority outreach program."

"I cannot wait to help my people out," Dash said with a smile. "Happy Black History Month."

Members of the audience and those watching on social media cringed.

In 2015, Fox News suspended Dash for on-air profanity after she used explicit language in comments she made about President Barack Obama. Last year, the cable network decided not to renew Dash's contract.

In her book, Dash, who has advocated arming more people with guns to prevent mass shootings, talks about using a gun to defend herself from an ex-boyfriend. She says she fired the weapon at the man after he raped her -- "A gun saved my life," she told People magazine.

When her memoir came out in 2016, Dash launched a political website, Dash America, where she called for a return to "Reagan's Hollywood."

Under a section of the website proclaiming that women "are attractive and sexy," Dash said that "hiding our power and our intelligence behind the dumpy and frumpy clothes that so defined the women's lib movement in our lifetime is damaging to women. And it's damaging to the country. Our appearance should express our strengths."

Dash America's "about" section called the project "the 21st century's most exciting political movement." Its website is now defunct.

Dash posted the statement she emailed to CNN on Twitter in a letter that she also posted to her website. The message, which she called "not an easy one," expands upon her political beliefs.

"I believe we live under a system of 'Plantation Politics' which offers people on the lower end of the economic spectrum little more than symbolic gestures instead of true political empowerment and improvement," she wrote. "The high crime rate, unacceptable high school dropout rate, and decaying infrastructure are all problems that could receive federal attention and funds, but not if we focus on distractions and partisanship instead."

Dash went on to reference her controversial stances.

"... The real controversy is how decades of government corruption and political disempowerment have created a system where skyrocketing home prices, dirty needles in the streets, and long bus trips to other districts for jobs are somehow considered acceptable by the government officials representing the 44th District," she said.

A pinned tweet on Dash's account was still posted as of Friday afternoon, soliciting supporters for donations to her campaign.

Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.An appeals court has refused to reinstate a year of retirement benefits for a former Newark mayor who worked as an Essex County College professor, ruling that it was reasonable for the pension program to strip Sharpe James of those earnings because of his federal conviction.

A 2008 file photo of Sharpe James.

James, Newark's mayor for 20 years who served 18 months in prison, called the Appellate Division decision "ludicrous and an insult to justice and fair play," he told NJ Advance Media in an email.

At issue was James' yearlong service as a senior fellow and municipal government professor for Essex County College's Urban Issues Institute between 2006-07. He earned $150,000 in a position created specially for him, according to the case.

Prior to becoming Newark's mayor, James worked at Essex County College for 18 years as a physical education instructor, eventually chairing the department, according to court papers. He returned to the college in 2006 at the end of his mayoral term.

The New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits revoked his pension earnings for his last year at the college, citing that James' conviction by a jury on mail fraud charges was a betrayal of public trust and brought dishonor on his teaching position, according to court records.

An administrative law judge initially ruled that the credits should be applied because the misconduct "did not involve greed or personal enrichment and did not result in financial loss to the citizens of Newark."

But the Division of Pensions and Benefits rejected that argument. James appealed, arguing in court that the conviction was unrelated to his role at the college.

The Appellate Division subsequently upheld the decision by the Division of Pensions and Benefits. The three-judge panel wrote that it was reasonable to conclude that James' "misconduct as mayor brought dishonor on his position at ECC, where he served as a teacher and role model to college students."

In a lengthy response to NJ Advance Media, James insisted he should have been a free man. One of the key charges against him -- theft of honest services -- was overturned by an appeals court after he served his time behind bars. His conviction on four other counts were upheld in the high-profile case in which James was accused of questionable land deals with a close, personal friend that he did not disclose his relationship with.

James wrote to NJ Advance Media that denying "his exemplary earned pension at Essex County College from July 1, 2006 through July 1, 2007, when he had not been charged with any wrongdoing, no unfavorable press, no indictment and being praised widely by the administration, faculty, students and community is unwarranted and unfair."

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook.JERSEY CITY  Police recovered six guns and more than $30,000 worth of drugs during a raid of an apartment building near Saint Peter's University, authorities said.

Seven people were arrested during the investigation inside a "fortified" unit at 100 Glenwood Ave., a five-story building surrounded by the Saint Peter's campus, city spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said.

The street crimes unit conducted the search at about 8 p.m. Tuesday and recovered four handguns, a stolen shotgun, nearly $6,000 in cash, on top of a wide array of drugs and prescription pills, Wallace-Scalcione said.

An airsoft gun was also recovered inside the apartment, court records indicate.

Kelvin Lopez, 24, Siul Garcia, 28, Carlos Cepeda, 37, Henry Abad-Batista, 34, Jesus Garcia, 22, Jason Robles, 28, and Trevor Gonzalez, 25, were charged with multiple weapons and drug offenses, authorities and court documents said.

Inside the apartment, police recovered approximately 616 grams of marijuana, 6 ounces and 45 black top vials of cocaine, 17 grams and 136 glassine bags of heroin, and 54 orange pills believed to be MDMA, according to criminal complaints for the men.

The criminal complaints say the group maintained a fortified premise to distribute and manufacture drugs in the apartment, specifically by having a metal steel frame door, metal latch guard, and three dogs, which included 1 pit bull."

The seven men are also charged with endangering the welfare of a child for a juvenile who was allegedly inside the apartment with the drugs and guns.

The firearms seized during Tuesday's raid are among 10 guns the Jersey City Police Department recovered this week. So far this year, Jersey City police have confiscated a total of 82 firearms -- four more than had been seized at this time last year -- Wallace-Scalcione said.

The Jersey Journal's Patrick Villanova contributed to this report.

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.-A North Bergen man caught by a surveillance camera was arrested Friday afternoon on charges he destroyed a cement tablet of the Ten Commandments outside a Catholic church in Jersey City on Holy Thursday, authorities said.

Juan Matos, 38, has been charged with criminal mischief and desecration of venerared objects, Jersey City public safety spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said tonight.

Wallace-Scalcione said Matos was spotted in the area of the church today and he was quickly apprehended. The incident is not considered a hate crime or bias incident, Wallace-Scalcione said.

The large tablet had been anchored to one side of the Our Lady of Victories church's main door on Kennedy Boulevard at Ege Avenue.

Security video from the church shows a man walking south on Kennedy Boulevard at 3:45 p.m. He then climbs the short stairs that lead to the church door and sends the tablet crashing to the ground. The man then casually walks past the church, continuing southbound.

The Rev. Victor Poloma told The Jersey Journal Friday afternoon that the Ten Commandments tablets were on the doors 20 years ago when he arrived at the parish, and they could be 100 years old. He was ready to forgive the man who committed the crime.

"It's a sad thing, but there's nothing we can do, just pray for them," Poloma said today. "They are God's children, too."A 36-year-old man died hours after being assaulted on a Guttenberg street earlier this week, authorities said.

A pair of teenagers have been charged in connection to the death of Sebastian Aguilar, a Guttenberg resident, who was found lying on the ground on 70th Street between Broadway and Hudson Avenue around 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said.

The man was treated at the scene and transported to Palisades Medical Center for his life-threatening injuries. He was pronounced dead at approximately 7:40 a.m. the next morning, Suarez said.

The cause and manner of death are pending an investigation by the Regional Medical Examiner's Office.

A preliminary investigation revealed that Aguilar was assaulted by multiple attackers while walking through the neighborhood. Two of the alleged assailants -- a 14-year-old juvenile and a 15-year-old juvenile -- were identified and charged for their involvement in the attack, Suarez said.

The teenagers face charges of aggravated assault and endangering an injured victim. The HCPO's Homicide Unit continues to investigate the case with assistance from the Guttenberg Police Department. Additional charges are expected to by filed, Suarez added.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact the HCPO at 201-915-1345 or leave an anonymous tip on the HCPO website. All information will be kept confidential.

Aguilar's death is Hudson County's fifth homicide of the year and second this week. A 20-year-old New York woman was stabbed to death inside a Union City apartment building early Monday morning.President Donald Trump Thursday signaled his desire to pull troops out of Syria "very soon," surprising the Pentagon and the State Department.

The approximately 2,000 U.S. troops inside Syria have been working alongside Syrian Democratic Forces, reclaiming territory from ISIS to include the city of Raqqa -- the terrorist organization's once self-proclaimed capital in Syria.

Trump, pushing his "America First" agenda, told a crowd in Ohio Thursday, "We're coming out of Syria very soon. Let the other people take care of it now, very soon. Very soon, we're coming out."

The president's seemingly off the cuff comment contradicts how Trump himself has spoken about American military action, saying the U.S. should not set any timelines or declare any actions to the enemy.

"America's enemies must never know our plans, or believe they can wait us out," Trump said in August while announcing a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan.

Withdrawing "prematurely" would only give ISIS the opportunity "to regenerate capabilities and reestablish local control of territory."

Top brass have said the U.S. would stay in Syria until ISIS has been defeated and a political process is underway -- neither of which is currently true.

Should the U.S. pull troops out of Syria?

Vote in our informal and unscientific poll and let us know why in the comments section.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.Donald Trump's appointment of John Bolton as national security advisor is akin to naming a serial arsonist as fire marshal.

I understand that in some quarters the appointment wins applause on grounds the guy at least brings some knowledge to the subject of national security. But in Bolton's case what he primarily brings to the subject is more gasoline -- and an inclination to use it.

On the record, he's a war monger. He has spoken approvingly of a first-strike military attack on North Korea (despite the destruction the North could quickly visit on South Korea and its 30,000-plus U.S. troops). And while we're at it, why not drop some big ones on Iran?

Like Trump himself, Bolton's a big fan of battle, so long as he's not in it. He escaped service during Vietnam as a Yale student and later by enlisting in the National Guard to, as he once inelegantly put it, avoid "dying in a Southeast Asian rice paddy."

Nothing wrong with the National Guard; it's a grand institution. In my day though, it improved one's chances of avoiding active service in Korea during that unpleasantness. It evidently served a similar purpose in the Vietnam Era.

Bolton is a familiar figure in Washington, usually on the ultra-conservative fringe for GOP politics. The capstone of his career, until now, was brief service as United Nations ambassador under President George W. Bush.

He got a lot of notice in that job, not much of it praiseworthy. Nor did he get much favorable notice during his service in secondary jobs in the State Department. If his critics have it right, Bolton brooks no opinions that differ with his own, hardly the personality you'd look for in a diplomat. But then Bolton routinely disparages diplomats.

His tenure in Washington and the UN was marked by confrontation, not just with foreign emissaries but with his own subordinates -- a "kiss up, kick down" sort of guy, some said. Others accused him of twisting American intelligence findings to bolster his hard-right political views. Sound familiar?

He was a big believer in the Iraq war, for example, never doubting the wildly erroneous claim that Saddam Hussein was sitting on a pile of weapons of mass destruction -- a claim that was a weapon of mass deception.

It should be no surprise that Bolton never won Senate confirmation as UN ambassador; even some Senate Republicans couldn't stomach the guy and his obnoxious personality.

He served an interim appointment at the UN, then quit when that term was up and a confirmation vote he couldn't win loomed if he wanted to continue.

For someone whose job involves at least some modicum of coordination, if not actual cooperation, with foreign counterparts, Bolton seems ill-suited for the post of national security advisor. It he has any sort of a guiding principle it seems to be that the best foreign policy requires America to go it alone with as few allies as possible to consult or interests to consider.

It will be fascinating to see how he gets on with Trump whose "I'm always right, you're always wrong" personality closely resembles his own. The early signals are mixed.

They agree Iran could benefit from a good, thorough bombing. And the president probably can bank on Bolton's support if, come May, he decides to torpedo the nuclear deal with Iran struck by Barack Obama. But beyond that the relationship may need some repair.

For example, originally Trump, like Bolton, was for bombing North Korea preemptively; now the president wants to palaver with Kim Jung-un in pursuit of a deal. How's that likely to sit with the belligerent Bolton? Someone's going to need a change of heart.

Likewise, Bolton in the past has seen Russia and Vladimir Putin as spawn of the devil. But Bolton better have a care there. Putin is Trump's new best friend, remember.

The Russian dictator may even hold some embarrassing Trump IOUs or photos resembling French postcards. Never can tell these days. In any case, it looks like Bolton's going to have to swallow hard and tread lightly where Putin and Russia are concerned.

Bolton's severest critics believe that, unrestrained, he poses a grave threat to the security of the country. Could be -- but probably only if he becomes more of a reckless, right-wing influence on Trump than Trump is on him.

Trump and Bolton. . . .where do we get guys like this? More important still, why do we keep them?

John Farmer may be reached at jfarmer@starledger.com. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.If you're looking for evidence of political turmoil in Hudson County, it was not to be found at Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop's Ward B town hall meeting where the biggest concerns were parking, filth and his executive order suspending demolitions.

Following his Feb. 22 State of the City speech, Fulop has been holding town hall meetings in each of the city's five wards. It's always best to check in on such an event when they don't expect you. It was held in the Coptic Orthodox Church of St. Mark on West Side Avenue where a very polite cadre of police officers greeted and held the door open for you. Had I known, they could have parked my car.

There was a great deal of questions among those in the half-filled large room. These are Councilwoman Mira Prinz-Arey's constituents and she was present, as was Freeholder Bill O'Dea, prince of these here parts. As often happens at these democratic (with or without a capital letter) gatherings, a handful of residents tried dominating the two-hour session with long lists of gripes and others repeatedly uttered their concern about an issue - the temporary ban on demolitions.

Still the mayor managed to keep the pace moving along allowing as many as possible to possess the conch shell. The one complaint that seemed not to have an answer was that of one woman who wanted to know why the meeting was held on a very religious time on the calendar?

"As a Christian this is Holy Week and to have a meeting on this Holy Day is not satisfying," she said. "There are people attending Holy Week services. If it was held on another day this room would be full."

The big issue of the evening was brought up by several people who say the mayor's executive order of a temporary ban on demolitions will financially hurt them.

Fulop said the ban will only be around for about a month and a half, or as long as it takes for the City Council to make some changes to zoning. He said an ordinance will be introduced at the April 11 council meeting.

The new ordinance is expected to save those houses that are 50 years or older and have a significant architectural feature or is considered important to the streetscape of a block.

"A temporary stop was necessary because all developers, big or small, saw there would be a change in legislation for permits and you would see hundreds of applications all at once," the mayor said. "When the new legislation is approved we will rescind the executive order. If you have already been approved by historic or planning you can move forward. I know there are a lot of people concerned but the stop is only for about a month and a half and then there will be a new standard in place."

Officials said determinations on housing demolition will be done quickly and in many cases it will be immediately obvious.

"We want to save historic parts of Jersey City," Fulop said. "The executive order only stops new applications ... residents say they're sad to see a lot of the city's history go. We're trying to find that balance that is fair."



City officials say they're going through already submitted applications and that the majority of them are not from individual local resident developers but rather builders who work throughout the city, are familiar with the process and are at city offices on a regular basis.

"There are many applications that have been approved and the projects have not moved forward," one official said. "There's a huge backload of those projects waiting from six weeks to six months that have been sitting there. People have been called to let them know their applications are complete but they have not picked them up."

The ordinance will deal specifically with R-1 zoning.

"... mostly that low rise housing stock that most of you live in," Fulop explained. "The proposed change is going to move away from what they call that Bayonne Box style of house where they cut the curb and you have that kind of parking that you can't qualify for with an existing house. You cut the curb and you eliminate parking for the rest of the neighborhood. There's going to be conversations around that on what you want going forward and I would really recommend that you stay engaged in that."

The city wants to eliminate curb cuts because the practice often chops up an entire block. "It comes down to believing that the streets should be public and should not be essentially privatized," one official said. There have also been complaints that such homes with curb cut driveways are sometimes not even used and the cars are parked along the shrinking curbside.

Below are some highlights of the evening.

Several people remarked that the scarcity of parking spaces is exacerbated by public school teachers not using a school lot and parking on local streets. There were also complaints about hazardous conditions created by parents dropping off and picking up children at school, often double parking. The feeling is educators and parents seemed not to care.

Fulop said his office would discuss the matter with Superintendent of Schools Marcia Lyles. In the meantime, police officials said a uniformed presence might help alleviate the congestion.

On available parking it was suggested that the ward consider zone parking or parking permits. "Next month the Heights is moving toward zone parking," Fulop said. "Put together parking committees, get together with the community, and in a couple of months decide what you want and we'll be glad to implement it. But it's not that easy to agree." It would mean paying for annual parking and visitors permits.

One woman had her shopping list of complaints that included "a ridiculous amount of potholes on Clermont ... a plethora of sinkholes."

The mayor said there's $4.5 million available for paving streets -- and repairing winter-damaged roads. It has to be done at certain times of the year when asphalt plants are operating, Fulop said.

The filthy state of streets and sidewalks was a common complaint. One resident said he was also upset over the state of disrepair at the post office at the corner of Harrison and Bergen.

"It looks like a third world country," he said. "What it says is that we don't matter. One day I went to the Bergen post office and they told me, 'We don't have any stamps.' "

There were murmured comments made by others in response that suggested they had similar experiences.

Fulop and several officials explained that there are now increased inspectors and litter patrols. The mayor said the city obtained 11 new street sweepers that will soon become operational. He also said there is one pending solution to the garbage and filth on sidewalks.

"Starting in the next month, public works is expanding its number of garbage bins, "the mayor said. "They're switching bins with different entry points instead of the large opening at the top because most of the problems we have in areas outside houses and businesses by trash cans is because people who live on those corners toss their household trash into those receptacles."

As for the post office, Fulop said, "Our Congress people who will take the lead for any solutions."

INSIDER NOTES

-- Former Assemblyman Louis Manzo, a Jersey City native, has a new book out. If you recall, his first was about his old nemesis, former Gov. Chris Christie called "Ruthless Ambition." It was not a flattering portrayal.

Manzo got caught up in the Operation Bid Rig III FBI sting. From the start I called the Manzo indictment hard to believe and predicted he'd beat it. Eventually a federal judge dropped all the charges. Manzo lost his shirt and condo paying for his defense and had to move out of his hometown to the Jersey shore where he wrote his angry but well-researched tome.

His second novel is a fictional tale involving his old St. Als parish with some so-called familiar neighborhood characters. The title is "An Irish Lullaby" with a publishing date of late summer or early fall. It seems he feels he found his calling because he's already working on his third book.

Still it's hard to take the politician out of a guy who ran so many times unsuccessfully to become mayor of the Hudson County seat. Manzo's political blog on his "Ruthless Ambition" website has resurfaced with his opinion on national politics. Does this mean that some of the upheaval in the Hudson County Democratic Organization may tempt him to sniff around? Maybe.

-- U.S. Rep. Albio Sires of West New York held a fundraiser at the Liberty House in Liberty State Park in Jersey City last week for his re-election bid. Besides fellow Congressmen Bill Pascrell of Paterson and Donald Payne Jr. of Newark showing up, Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise and Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner attended and praised Sires.

The latter two are battling Fulop and Union City Mayor and state Sen. Brian Stack in the county's latest Democratic Party civil war. Oh wait, Turner is Switzerland and staying "neutral" in this battle - which is why both sides don't like the mayor of the small North Hudson municipality and have taken to badmouthing him. Sorry Richard.

Meanwhile Sires announced his retirement from office following his run this year for his final term in Congress. He didn't actually say he was leaving but he practically did when he criticized Fulop and Stack at the Liberty House for wanting to dump DeGise and shake up the party's status quo. John Heinis conveniently recorded the speech on Hudson County View.

Stack will be the HCDeadO chairman in June and no way is Albio on the official party line in the future. Guarantee that the other side of the civil war will also want to deep-six Sires after this year, as they wanted to do in the past - except he was always protected back then by, you guess it, Stack.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Agustin C. Torres' columns appear on the nj.com opinion website on Saturdays and occasionally in the print edition of The Jersey Journal. Submit letters to the editor and guest columns at jjletters@jjournal.com.A 22-year-old Garfield man died early Saturday after being shot in the parking lot of a nightclub in Paterson, authorities said.

Police responded to reports of gunfire in the area of Ellison Street at 1:54 a.m., the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office and Patterson Police Department said in a release Saturday.

When authorities arrived at D'classico nightclub they found Parker Sams with a gunshot wound and took him to St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, where he died from his wounds.

The prosecutor's office did not release any additional details, citing the investigation as ongoing.

The Passaic County Prosecutor's Office asks anyone with additional information about this incident to contact us on our tips line at 1-877-370-PCPO or tips@passaiccountynj.org or contact the Paterson Police Detective Bureau at 973-321-1120.

Olivia Rizzo may be reached at orizzo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LivRizz. Find NJ.com on FacebookTORONTO -- Get used to John Sterling's home run call for Giancarlo Stanton.

It's here to stay.

"It's amazing," Sterling said of the stir the call caused. "I'm sticking with it."

Sterling, the Yankees' radio voice, will continue to say "Non si puo de stoparlo!" each time Stanton homers, the way he did twice in Thursday's 6-1 win over the Blue Jays, his first game in pinstripes.

Sterling said he started trying to figure out what he'd use for Stanton's call immediately after the Yankees traded for him in December.

He's known for his pipes but also known for his over-the-top home run calls, which included "An A-Bomb! For A-Rod" for Alex Rodriguez and "Bern, baby, Bern!" for Bernie Williams.

So Sterling called Berlitz Learning Center, a language learning school, and asked for a phrase that rhymed with Giancarlo, and also jibbed with hitting a home run

Three days later, someone from the school called with two suggestions. He picked one and rolled with it.

Sterling said he was surprised by the reaction to the call but likes that it's far different than what anyone expected.

Before Friday's game, Stanton said he hadn't heard the call.

Days ago, Sterling told the New York Times that he was a bit worried about how the call would be received.

"This one is so different," he said, according to the Times. "It's an Italian phrase that rhymes. I don't know if anyone will get it. I'm really worried. Well, not really worried. In fact, I'm not worried. Let's say I'm mildly concerned.

"Boy, I hope it works. It may not."

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.The Times-Picayune is marking the tricentennial of New Orleans with its ongoing 300 for 300 project, running through 2018 and highlighting 300 people who have made New Orleans New Orleans, featuring original artwork commissioned by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune with Where Y'Art gallery. Today: Louisiana Congressman Hale Boggs.

The icon: Congressman Hale Boggs.

The legacy: When Hale Boggs was sworn in as one of Louisiana's junior congressmen on Jan. 3, 1941, he became -- at just 26 years old -- the youngest member of that august body. But anyone who underestimated the grit of the young, charismatic, Tulane-educated Democrat, who had already hardened his knuckles while working to bust up Huey P. Long's political machine, did so at their own peril. After the plane in which he was flying disappeared over Alaska, he was declared dead on Jan. 3, 1973 -- 32 years to the day of his swearing-in as a freshman congressman. In the intervening years, however, his considerable political savvy helped him become one of the most powerful men in Washington -- and a Louisiana political legend.

The artist: Maddie Stratton.

The quote: "He was a master strategist, a brilliant debater and a great compromiser -- in the best sense of that word. His gregarious nature, his charm and ready wit complemented his intelligence and persuasive use of power." -- House Speaker Carl Albert, in eulogizing Hale Boggs

Explore more of Maddie Stratton's work online at WhereYart.net and in person at the Where Y'Art gallery, 1901 Royal St.

Thomas Hale Boggs Sr. was born Feb. 15, 1914, in Long Beach, Mississippi.

Source: The Times-Picayune archive

More on 300 for 300:Attorneys for Alton Sterling's children described a mix of reactions -- appreciation, disappointment, sadness, anger and "a call for help" -- in response to Friday's (March 30) release of graphic body-cam footage of Sterling's death, along with the Baton Rouge Police Department's decision to fire the officer who killed Sterling and suspend the other officer involved.

"We appreciate the courage that was shown today by our new police chief," attorney Michael Adams said during a Friday night news conference.

Late Friday afternoon, Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul announced that officer Blane Salamoni had been fired after an internal investigation determined that he violated use of force and command of temper policies in fatally shooting Sterling outside of a Baton Rouge store in July 2016.

Officer Howie Lake II, who did not fire a gun, has been suspended for three days without pay for violating the command of temper policy, Paul said.

The officers, in documents also released Friday that detail the police department's internal investigation, said that Sterling was reaching for a gun in his pocket and that Salamoni had no choice but to use deadly force.

While attorneys for Sterling's family said they were disappointed that Lake had not been fired, Adams said he respected that Lake was given the maximum punishment allowed for his violation.

"His actions were egregious," Adams said, adding that Lake should have assisted Sterling.

The Sterling family's attorneys also addressed Friday's release of body-cam video of Sterling's killing, calling it "a day for truth."

"And what that truth is, is the silent complaint -- or the loud one -- of every black person in the inner city who has to deal with an officer like Blane Salamoni," said attorney L. Chris Stewart. "Today you got to see firsthand the example that so many black people suffer with."

Attorneys said such video footage is still traumatic for Sterling's family, adding that due to the ubiquity of social media, his five children must watch their father die "over and over and over again." One family member, seeing the videos released Friday, had an anxiety attack.

"There's nothing that can make it OK," Stewart said.

The attorneys said they were stunned by elements of the graphic footage, despite warnings from federal Department of Justice employees that Salamoni's actions and language were "outrageous."

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"We didn't know they were so hateful," Stewart said, describing the video as pulsating with hatred. "You can clearly see that there was no value put on Alton Sterling's life by Blane Salamoni."

"The actions are just simply unconscionable," attorney Brandon DeCuir added.

Earlier Friday, when asked if he had any thoughts for Sterling's family as they watched the newly released videos, Chief Paul said, "They're in our prayers, just like our officers are in our prayers ... and I hope this brings some closure to them."

The attorneys also called for the formation of a national, elected independent body to investigate officer-involved shootings.

Earlier this week Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced that no state criminal charges would be filed against the officers -- and that the case would not go before a grand jury. Landry's decision also took "way too long," DeCuir said, with Stewart calling Landry's decision-making process "a crap investigation."

Federal investigators last May announced they would not seek charges against the officers for any violations of Sterling's civil rights. Landry began a state investigation after the federal investigators and state police turned over information of their probe.

The local district attorney recused himself from any state criminal investigation into Sterling's death, citing his professional relationship with Salamoni's parents, who have served as police officers in Baton Rouge. That left Landry's office to review evidence and decide whether any state charges were warranted.

Earlier this week, attorneys for Sterling's family said they will focus on another avenue to "right this wrong" -- the family's civil suit against the Baton Rouge Police Department and the two officers involved in Sterling's death.

Friday night, the attorneys also pushed for a deeper, cultural fix, saying the relationship between officers and community members must improve.

"You aren't just the tip of the spear but you're the shield," Steward said. "The black community doesn't get the shield a lot. It gets the spear. And that has to stop."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A man was shot in the leg outside a French Quarter restaurant Friday afternoon (March 30), New Orleans police said.

The shooting took place outside the Vieux Carre Wingery in the 700 block of St. Louis Street.

Police said shortly after 6 p.m. that they had arrested a suspect in the case but gave no further information.

The man, who is around 30 years old, works as a chef at the Wingery and was smoking a cigarette outside the restaurant when he got in an argument and was shot, according to coworker Ahmed Hammad.

Police blocked off a portion of St. Louis between Royal and Bourbon streets, but allowed foot traffic between the streets on the sidewalk. As detectives investigated the scene, the typical activity of a Friday in the French Quarter continued. Live 80s covers blared from a nearby bar along Bourbon and hungry pedestrians picked up slices from the pizzeria neighboring the Wingery.

Blood was visible in the business's doorway and a trail of blood led into the restaurant. A shell casing could be seen on the street outside.Three men arrested in Jefferson Parish with dozens of counterfeit gift cards pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday, admitting their roles in a scheme to steal credit and debit card information.

Yusniel Hernandez Perez, 32, Yadier Aluijas Fernandez, 31, and Henry David Martinez, 23, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit access device fraud according to U.S. Attorney Duane Evans' office.

The men are Cuban nationals who were living in Texas, according to authorities. They and a fourth defendant, Alayn Alvarez Castro, put skimmers on gas station pumps in the New Orleans area and in Baton Rouge to collect the credit and debit card information of unsuspecting service station customers, Evan's office said.

The men then took the information and encoded it onto gift cards that they used to purchase merchandise or other gift cards, according to authorities.

The men were arrested July 24, 2017, when Detective Carl Koppeis with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office was at a Walmart in Harvey and noticed an employee arguing with Fernandez, court records said. Fernandez wanted to use a gift card to buy another gift card, but store policy banned the practice.

Koppeis noticed Fernandez had a Walmart bag containing several gift cards and suspected, based on his experience, that the cards had been encoded with stolen credit and debit card numbers.

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Koppeis was at the store investigating the different theft of credit card information from a gas station skimmer, according to court records. The thief cashed a money order purchased with the stolen data at the Walmart.

The detective followed Fernandez to a vehicle in which Martinez and Perez were occupants, court records said. After a traffic stop, investigators found 29 gift cards on the defendants and scattered throughout the vehicle.

The suspects were taken to the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna. During processing, corrections officers found another 45 cards hidden in a sock under Fernandez's genitals, court records said. Perez had 12 counterfeit cards in his shoes.

The case was investigated by the Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Secret Service.

Perez, Fernandez and Martinez are scheduled for sentencing at 1:30 p.m. on July 11. They face a maximum sentence of five years in prison.Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commissionMar 31, 2018 JB

Justin Prabhakaran the young music director is known for his melodies. His work gains more significance because of the re-recording support he provides to the content oriented films that he works in. Now Justin Prabhakaran is all set to make his debut in Telugu too.

About this he says, "I signed my debut Telugu movie starring Vijay Devarakonda in Bharat Kamma direction. I am sure this movie will be very important and special in my career. Right now the composing is going on. My friendship with the director beyond professional means has got this film. We had earlier worked formaroprapancham" a short film that was well received by the audience. The title of the feature film will be announced soon. The popularity of Vijay Deverakonda among the youth makes my debut film a great platform to make a debut in Telugu too.

As far as the Tamil projects are concerned my next is Nadodigal 2, an untitled film of S J Suriya's and Atharva 's Othaiku Otha. I have already done a movie in Malayalam and it invoked great response too. Now as I step into Telugu my aim is to work in many languages as I strongly believe that how music has got no linguistic barriers music director also has got no barriers.By Susannah Morgan and Jeff Merkley

We are all better off when every person in our community has the opportunity to be healthy and prosperous. That's why we have a shared responsibility to ensure that everyone has access to the most fundamental resource: enough food to eat.

Every month, 240,000 Oregonians receive food from the Oregon Food Bank network. Through Oregonians' generosity, the network is able to help the most vulnerable among us have enough to eat, get our neighbors through tough times or bridge the gap for workers in jobs that don't pay a family wage. More often than not, folks are able to receive fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, dairy, and whole grains that provide a solid nutritional foundation.

The federal government also provides support for food banks, through The Emergency Food Assistance Program. The program provides nutritious foods from American growers and producers that serve as the cornerstone of food banks' food supply. It also includes financial assistance that helps offset costs of critical operations like warehouses, refrigeration, trucks, and drivers. The program benefits a wide array of Oregonians-- Oregon growers and producers, families with low incomes and food banks.

On March 23, Congress approved a 2018 spending package that boosted the assistance program's storage and distribution funding by $5 million, to more than $64 million. The funding increase comes after a years-long effort to match funding to the rising need across the country. Through hard-fought battles on the Senate Appropriations Committee, funding has now increased $15 million over three years. The most recent boost adds $63,000 for the Oregon Food Bank network at a critical time--a time when food banks across Oregon are expanding their cold-storage capacity to provide more produce to families experiencing hunger.

By working together, we--food banks and federal representatives, along with each of you--have been able to accomplish the monumental task of helping to ensure our fellow Oregonians have enough to eat. But this latest funding victory can't be our last.

The first line of defense against hunger in America is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, known as food stamps. For more than 40 years, SNAP has proven to be an effective and efficient way to both feed families and bolster economies by increasing money spent at local retailers. According to Feeding America, for every one meal provided by a food bank, SNAP provides an astonishing 12 meals. SNAP helps one in eight Americans--including 650,000 Oregonians--make ends meet. Most beneficiaries are our most vulnerable neighbors: children, seniors, and people with disabilities.

Over the last several years, proposals have been floated on Capitol Hill to cut SNAP benefits and restrict eligibility by upwards of one-third--a threat that has become more pronounced as the president has regularly put assistance programs on the chopping block. If Congress and the president followed through on cuts of that magnitude, the Oregon Food Bank network could have to increase its capacity to distribute upward of 2.4 million meals each month. That is a massive increase in food distribution and clearly an impossible mandate through charitable donations.

Congress is scheduled to reauthorize SNAP this year as part of the farm bill. Taking food off the tables of Oregon families has no place in the farm bill or any other legislation. We will work together to fight against those proposals and protect the people SNAP serves from hunger and suffering.

Our neighbors should never be punished for facing economic hardship. They should be given the resources to be healthy and prosperous. We will continue working in partnership and with our generous community to ensure every Oregonian and every American has enough to eat.

Susannah Morgan is chief executive officer of the Oregon Food Bank. Jeff Merkley is a Democratic U.S. senator representing Oregon.Last September, Portland Police leadership ceremoniously announced that the bureau would abandon its secretive gang member database, containing information for hundreds of suspected gang members, gang affiliates and, it turned out, many who didn't fall into either category. Recognizing the imperfectness of the database and its "unintended consequences," the bureau said it would alert anyone who had been placed on the list, purge the database and move on.

Only, it didn't move on. While the bureau's Gang Enforcement Team dropped the database, investigators continued to amass a gang list in a less formal manner. But instead of following set procedures that provided some protection of citizens' rights, Portland Police decided to just wing it. They circulated information each month amongst officers identifying about 30 people as active gang members and associates. They had no supervision or policy directing how to determine such a designation. And they kept the public in the dark until an audit released last week by the City Auditor's Office revealed its existence, as The Oregonian/OregonLive's Maxine Bernstein reported.

This from a bureau that is ostensibly trying to rebuild community trust? It's disturbing how familiar this all is. "The core of the problem," The Rev. LeRoy Haynes said in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board, "is a lack of persistent accountability between policies and practice."

The revelation of a second gang list is only one of the findings that show how deeply baffled the Portland Police Bureau remains by the public's expectations of transparency and accountability. In a separate review, the City Auditor's office found serious flaws in the Gang Enforcement Team's patrol operations, in which the team could not explain why Portland's tiny percentage of African American residents somehow accounted for nearly 60 percent of the drivers targeted by traffic stops. The police bureau also could not provide data showing whether these traffic stops were effective in meeting their stated goals, including arresting those who may commit gang violence. In fact, most reports lacked any information on whether the stop even involved a gang member.

The lack of documentation gets even worse for the category of police interactions characterized as "mere conversations," in which police officers initiate an encounter but are not legally detaining the person. Unlike traffic stops, for which police officers record the race of the driver, police officers don't collect such information in "mere conversations," even though those instances have increased dramatically in recent years for gang enforcement patrols.

These are not harmless errors. As Urban League of Portland Chief Executive Nkenge Harmon Johnson said on OPB's Think Out Loud, these traffic stops and "mere conversations" - initiated for petty infractions and disproportionately affecting African Americans - don't promote a sense of trust or desire to collaborate with police. It doesn't even matter that the target of a "mere conversation" is technically free to leave at any time, she said.

"If you are a black person in this country what are the odds that you think it's safe to walk away from a police officer who wishes to engage in a conversation with you?" Harmon Johnson asked in a pointed and poignant moment. "We see fairly regularly encounters with black people being shot to death by police officers in otherwise benign situations. ... So the idea that you're free to go - you don't have to have this conversation with a police officer - isn't real."

Missing policies and missing data create the conditions for lapses in judgment and abuses of authority. Like any organization made up of people, Portland Police is fallible. That's exactly why it needs deliberate protocols to guide their actions and data collection to assess how they align with their goals.

Oregonian editorials

Editorials reflect the collective opinion of The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board, which operates independently of the newsroom. Members of the editorial board are Laura Gunderson, Helen Jung, Mark Katches and John Maher.

To respond to this editorial, post your comment below, submit an OpEd or a letter to the editor.

If you have questions about the opinion section, email Laura Gunderson, editorial pages editor, or call 503-221-8378.

Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw, who took over the bureau after it made the gang database announcement last year, appears to be taking the audits' recommendations to heart. She told The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board that she understands why some people feel the bureau misled them about the gang database. But, she said, the new list arose not out of malice but out of officers' continuing need for an investigatory tool to help them do their job. The problem was that the bureau missed the opportunity to engage the community on what it planned to do once it got rid of the database and to tell the public up front "here's what we're using and how it's being used," she said.

She has committed to developing a directive regarding the gang list, consulting legal counsel to ensure it safeguards citizens' rights and exploring how to collect data on "mere conversations." And Outlaw emphasized that she wants to look at how to gather such information across the bureau's operations - not just the gang enforcement patrols.

Those are all welcome and necessary steps. But there's one more piece she and Mayor Ted Wheeler should focus on: restoring community oversight. A conflict-ridden community oversight board created as part of a police reforms settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice was disbanded more than a year ago. While Wheeler has proposed a new committee to take its place, the city has made little progress in moving forward the idea - which still needs a judge's approval as well.

A community oversight committee can and should play a role in shaping or monitoring the police bureau's rebooted gang list. Similarly, it would be an ideal forum for the police bureau to regularly report on the demographic breakdowns of those stopped for mere conversations. And while community oversight can't solve any reluctance or hostility that Portland Police officers may have toward transparency, it can be a constant reminder that this bureau cannot operate without it.

- The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial BoardIt's been nearly one week since a passerby noticed the wreckage of a GMC SUV belonging to an Oregon family crushed at the base of a rocky seaside cliff in Mendocino County, California. The ensuing investigation surrounding the deaths of two local women and three of their adopted children, along with the whereabouts of another three who are still missing, has turned up just as many questions as answers.

Where are the three children?

Were they in the car at the time of the crash?

Why was the family, all eight of whom had moved to Woodland, Washington, in the last year, traveling in California?

Parents Jennifer and Sarah Hart, both 38, were found dead in the 2003 GMC Yukon they'd taken on the trip. Jennifer Hart was in the driver's seat. Children Markis, 19; Abigail, 14; and Jeremiah, 14, were also discovered dead near the vehicle.

Devonte, 15; Hannah, 16; and Sierra, 12, are still missing. Authorities in Mendocino and Clark counties did not provide updates Saturday.

But the story has piqued interest across the country as Devonte was the focus of a 2014 viral photo taken during a series of demonstrations in Portland following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Devonte Hart, then 12, was photographed tearily hugging Portland police Sgt. Bret Barnum on Nov. 25 of that year. The boy was rarely seen during public events without a small sign around his neck that read, "Free hugs."

The image spread as the Black Lives Matter movement gained traction, its slogan becoming a rallying cry against police brutality in protests across the country.

The family became a national focal point in the months since the photo was published. The photo first appeared on OregonLive before spreading to NBC News, Time magazine and eventually going global.

Friends have told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the attention was not always positive. The family reported receiving racist emails and death threats and were criticized for having same-sex parents.

Jen and Sarah Hart were white. Their six adopted children were black.

The Harts were known as a creative force and source of inspiration to those who knew them.

"The impact they had on everyone around them was truly remarkable and it was like nothing I've ever seen in my life," Rich Waryan, who knew the Harts when they lived in Minnesota, said.

Local musician Max Ribner said the women were amazing parents.

"They'd nursed those six kids back to life," he said. "These children were coming from some of the roughest childhoods you could imagine."

New Zealand-based news outlet Paper Trail in 2014 reported that by the age of 4, Devonte had been abused, neglected and shot at, among other traumas.

Barnum, the Portland police officer seen hugging Devonte in the 2014 viral photo, released a statement late Saturday to The Oregonian/OregonLive.

"As you can imagine, the tragic news about Devonte and his family deeply saddens me," Barnum wrote. "The short interaction with Devonte in November 2014 was certainly one of those moments in my career which reinforced my love, passion, and duty in providing compassion and service to my community."

Barnum wrote that he isn't comfortable talking about the case while the investigation is ongoing.

The idyllic picture of the family portrayed in Facebook posts and through the memories of friends stands in stark contrast to court and police records. In November 2010, police investigated the family when Abigail Hart, then 6, told a teacher in Minnesota that Jen Hart hit her with a closed fist, plunged her head in a cold bath and hit her again, court records show.

Sarah Hart pleaded guilty to abusing Abigail and was sentenced to a year of probation for misdemeanor domestic assault, court records show.

The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services in 2018 was investigating the family as the children were "identified as potential victims of alleged abuse or neglect."

Those allegations stem from interactions neighbors in Woodland, Bruce and Dana DeKalb, say they had with the Hart siblings three months after the family moved in next door. The couple, who for 22 years have lived two miles from Interstate 5 on a winding, wooded road in remote Clark County, said they awoke at 1:30 a.m. one night to find Hannah Hart on their doorstep.

The girl had apparently tried to crawl through the blackberry bushes on the DeKalbs' property to get to another house, the couple told reporters Wednesday. She gave up when she came across a fence and ended up pounding on their front door. Bruce DeKalb answered.

The Woodland resident thought the girl was 7 or 8 because she was missing her two front teeth, he told reporters. Bruce DeKalb was stunned to find out she was nearly a teenager.

The DeKalbs told The Washington Post that Hannah Hart dashed inside the house and made her way upstairs after Bruce opened the door. She woke up Dana DeKalb, and the Hart family soon came to look for the girl.

Hannah Hart was crouching between the DeKalbs' bed and a dresser, the Post reports. The next day, the Harts introduced the children to their neighbors and offered the couple a letter of apology.

Jen and Sarah Hart told Bruce DeKalb that Hannah's teeth were missing because she didn't want them fixed, the couple told reporters Wednesday.

The Oregonian/OregonLive's stories of the Hart family crash:

--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344

ecampuzano@oregonian.comThe children stand in a row, hands skyward, flashing peace signs toward the mountains and clouds stretched before them.

They swim. Hike. Gaze skyward for the eclipse. Birdwatch, read books and grow flowers and vegetables. Play in the mud, pick blackberries in the backyard and eat chocolate cream pie for breakfast.

The family, judging by Jennifer Hart's Facebook postings, is happy, healthy and engaged.

A selection of screen captures from the Oregon woman's Facebook profile provides an intimate look at a family first thrust into the public's eye when a photo of one child hugging a Portland police officer went viral in 2014 and again this week after their SUV was found on its roof at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

The entire eight-person family -- parents Jennifer Hart and Sarah Hart, both 38, and the children they adopted, Markis, 19; Abigail, 14; Jeremiah, 14; Devonte, 15; Hannah, 16; and Sierra, 12  appears to have died in the crash. A passer-by saw the SUV and reported it to police Monday afternoon.

Authorities are investigating the crash as an accident and said so far they have no reason to believe the crash was intentional.

Mourners have taken to social media en masse, remembering the Harts as loving and unconventional. Their recollections align with the stories depicted in photographs and touching writings in the posts provided Friday to The Oregonian/OregonLive by friends of the couple.

But court records and other official documents paint a more troubled portrait of the family.

In April 2011, Sarah Hart pleaded guilty to abusing daughter Abigail after the then-6-year-old told police one of her mothers had hit her with a closed fist, put her head in a cold bath, then hit her again. Sarah Hart was sentenced to a year of probation for misdemeanor domestic assault, court records show.

In July 2013, after the family had moved to Oregon, police responded to a call at their West Linn home. Police characterized the call as a state Department of Human Services referral.

Last year, shortly after the family moved to Woodland, Washington, neighbors said, Hannah Hart showed up at their door, wrapped in a blanket and asking for protection, saying she was being abused. More recently, Devonte had been asking the same neighbors for food, saying his parents had withheld it as punishment. The requests escalated, and last week, neighbors Bruce and Dana DeKalb contacted authorities.

On March 23, 2018, Washington State Department of Social and Health Services opened a Child Protective Services investigation in which the Hart children are "identified as potential victims of alleged abuse or neglect." The Harts left home that day.

None of that squares with the images of a happy family Jennifer Hart presented on Facebook, and on a YouTube channel in her name that showed the children dancing, singing and interacting with nature.

A photo from October 2015 shows the Hart clan, clad in flannel shirts, posing for a goofy group photo. "There's no point in pretending to be normal. #funkyflannelfamilyfun," Jennifer Hart wrote.

Another shows two boys reading in a well-kept nook, a chicken perched nearby and books on the shelves.

One posted March 8 shows two of the kids, caked in mud and flexing muscles for the camera.

Another posted March 15 spotlights poignant black-and-white portraits.

"Yesterday we celebrated the 9th anniversary of the official adoption day of Sierra, Jeremiah, and Devonte," Jennifer Hart wrote in the caption. "We celebrate all.the.things in this family: The day we met our kids. The day they came home. The official finalization/court date. Birthdays of cats, dogs, chickens. Seasons. Anniversaries. Tuesdays. Why? Why not? I get this one precious life to live."

Life, judging by the photos, was good. And some close to the family insist it wasn't an act.

Family friend Max Ribner, a Portland musician who plays in the band Nahko and Medicine for the People, said the Harts were amazing parents.

"They'd nursed those six kids back to life," he said. "These children were coming from some of the roughest childhoods you could imagine."

Ribner said he first met the family in 2012 when playing the Shangri-La music festival in Clarks Grove, Minnesota. He said he remembered the Hart children because they had dressed in matching outfits and were as close to the stage as possible. The family, he said, always traveled as a pack.

Ribner said that Sarah Hart first came out to Portland around 2012 to look for a job and to see if the area would be a good fit for their family. They'd been living Alexandria, Minnesota, a small town of 13,000 northwest of Minneapolis.

She found a job at Kohl's. Jennifer and the kids joined her sometime in 2013, he said.

"I think there was an openness of community out here that gave them some breathing room from the challenges they had in Minnesota."

Ribner said the mothers talked often about the difficulties they faced because they were a same-sex couple raising six adopted black children.

Of the children, Ribner said, "They were readers, they were writers, they were poets, they were dancers. And they were brave. They didn't have any judgment. But they also felt pain, too."

In 2013, Ribner began offering music classes to kids at his home in Southeast Portland. He said that all six of the Hart children participated in the program and that he and the children wrote songs together and played music twice a month for nearly a year.

He said that music was a passion in the Hart family.

"They exposed their children to conscious music with a message. Music that talks about social revolution and racial equality."

The kids never had cellphones. But they traveled and explored. They regularly attended concerts, events and festivals in the Portland area and throughout the Northwest.

He said the family was civically engaged and community-oriented. They volunteered with homeless people. Devonte would forgo gifts for his birthday, instead asking friends and family to donate money to a charity. They loved celebrating Earth Day.

Ribner once asked Devonte what he wanted to be when he grew up. The boy's answer? "A hero."

Rich Waryan also met the Harts at Shangri-La in 2012 and kept in contact with them during their time in Alexandria and, later, Oregon. In fact, he told The Oregonian/OregonLive, he was the one who ordered the Carfax and test drove the 2003 GMC SUV with Jennifer Hart before the family purchased the vehicle.



He had spoken with Jennifer Hart on the phone March 15, the same day she posted the black-and-white family portrait to Facebook. Waryan had called the women, he said, to congratulate them on nine years with the children.

"The impact they had on everyone around them was truly remarkable and it was like nothing I've ever seen in my life," he said.

Oregonian/OregonLive reporters Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, Kale Williams, Eder Campuzano, Molly Young, Lizzy Acker and Mike Rogoway contributed to this story.For the second time, Dana Parks left Judge Kenneth R. Walker's courtroom in tears.

For the second time, she was denied the right to speak uninterrupted at the sentencing of her abuser.

On Friday, Parks appeared in Multnomah County Circuit Court for a hearing to determine if her constitutional right to be heard at sentencing had been violated.

Her ex-boyfriend, Zachary Ball, pleaded guilty in December to felony assault IV, attempted assault and coercion. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

At his Jan. 29 sentencing, Parks read from a prepared victim's impact statement, giving a wide-ranging account of how Ball hurt her physically and emotionally over the course of their relationship. During the roughly 20 minutes she spoke, Judge Walker interrupted her three times and ultimately walked out of the courtroom before she could finish.

"I've heard enough," he said.

It's rare for a victim to give such a lengthy statement at sentencing, but there's no rule against it.

It's even more rare for a judge to silence a victim.

On Friday, Parks' attorney, Yazmin Wadia with the Oregon Crime Victims Law Center, argued the judge should have let Parks read her entire victim's impact statement at Ball's sentencing, because she is allowed by law to have a "meaningful role" in the criminal justice process.

"Silencing the victim in front of her abuser empowers that abuser," Wadia said. "Hearing only part of the victim's impact statement essentially sends the message that this is just being done pro-forma. We have to do this, let's check the box and move on."

At the start of Friday's hearing, Walker addressed Parks directly.

"I never at any point intended to, in any way, embarrass you or to diminish your value," Walker said. "You are an important part of this process, and I respect that. I want you to know that in over a thousand sentencings I've done, and maybe thousands of victims I've listened to, I've never had occasion ever to intervene or terminate a victim's statement. This day I did it because I thought you went beyond the bounds of what the law allows."

Wadia said Oregon law gives victims the right at sentencing to "reasonably express any views concerning the crime, the person responsible and the impact of the crime on the victims."

She emphasized the word "any."

There is no time limit on a victim's right to be heard, no restriction on what a victim may say.

Wadia asked that Ball's conviction be vacated and he receive a new sentencing hearing where Parks could speak uninterrupted.

Defense attorney Jonathan Sarre said Parks had already received "a reasonable opportunity to express her views" and a new sentencing for Ball was unnecessary.

"She went on for over 20 minutes about a number of things that don't even really impact what sentence the court would impose," he said.

Parks, dressed in all black, sat in the courtroom gallery flanked by four victim's advocates. When Walker invited her to speak directly to the court, she stood next to her attorney.

"I do feel that my rights as a victim to be heard were violated," she said.

During her Jan. 29 statement, Parks began to describe an alleged sexual assault, for which Ball had never been charged. That was the first time Walker cut her off, saying, "I don't want to hear that."

"I was shut down," Parks said Friday. "I was told 'I don't want to hear that.' Not 'Objection, you can't say that.' It was 'I do not want to hear that.' And it was callous and it felt like someone was using their power over me to silence me."

"I assure you I wasn't doing that," Walker said. "I know you felt that way."

"I felt that way," Parks said. "It all, for me, was related to the crime. I was describing everything  red flags, history. For me it all pertained to the crimes Zachary committed against me."

Walker asked if she wanted to read the rest of her victim's impact statement now, while Ball was in attendance. After a brief conference with her attorney, she declined.

Wadia first wanted the judge to find that Parks' constitutional rights had been violated. Then, they would request she speak at a new sentencing.

But he did not do that.

"Miss Parks had a reasonable opportunity to express her views to the court," Walker said, "and I find no constitutional or statutory violations of her right to be heard."

In an email sent after the hearing, Walker said he didn't think the victim's request met the "very high bar" to order a new sentencing hearing.

Three victims' rights advocates have filed complaints about Walker with the Oregon Judicial Fitness Commission over this case. Rape survivor Danielle Tudor wrote a guest commentary for this newspaper calling on Judge Walker to resign.

I doubt this is the last we hear about this issue.

Wadia requested Walker's order in writing  and if I were a betting woman, I'd say this case is headed for an appeal. It will hinge on the definition of being "heard." Is a victim still heard by the court when her statement isn't allowed in full?

A week and a half ago, I met Walker in his chambers. He told me then that during this hearing, "If Miss Parks wants to make an additional statement, I will allow her to do that."

He did offer to let her to read her statement in full, but he did not grant a new hearing. He did not think he had violated her constitutional rights.

And though Walker insisted in email that he did apologize during the hearing, I never heard that.

I heard a defense of his actions, but I never heard, "I'm sorry."

-- Samantha Swindler is a columnist for The Oregonian/Oregonlive

@editorswindler / 503-294-4031

sswindler@oregonian.comBoyd Coffee Co. plans to shutter operations in Portland and Eugene and lay off 230 people, including 135 in Oregon.

Boyd sold last year to a Texas coffee roaster, Farmer Bros., for $58.6 million in cash and stock. Boyd's revenue had stagnated around $100 million, and the company said Farmer was in a better position to capitalize on industry consolidation.

"Operations are moving out of the area, predominantly to (Texas)," Boyd Vice President Ann Nordquist said in an email Friday. She said layoffs will be complete by Oct. 1.

Boyd dates its founding to 1900 in Portland, and says it was among the world's oldest family-owned coffee companies before its sale. Farmer Bros. said Friday that it will continue to market the Boyd's brand.

-- Mike Rogoway; Twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- President Donald Trump is blasting California Gov. Jerry Brown's pardon of five ex-convicts facing deportation, including two whose families fled the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia four decades ago.

In a tweet Saturday, Trump listed the ex-convicts' crimes before they were pardoned Friday. They include misdemeanor domestic violence, drug possession, and kidnapping and robbery.

Trump wrote: "Is this really what the great people of California want?"

Brown's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brown's pardons marked the third time the Democrat intervened on behalf of immigrants who were deported or faced deportation over convictions. Brown has accused the Trump administration of "basically going to war" with California over immigration policy.

Brown's pardons don't automatically stop deportation proceedings, but eliminate the convictions on which authorities based their deportation.

-- The Associated PressLuke Crafton for WGBH, (c) WGBH 2018

By Kristi Turnquist | The Oregonian/OregonLive

In August 2017, "Antiques Roadshow" returned to Portland, for the first time since 2004. Clearly, plenty of people had been eagerly awaiting another visit from the popular PBS show. The 23,000 requests for free tickets to the Portland taping represented the highest number received for any of the show's summer 2017 stops in cities including Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Green Bay, Wisconsin; St. Louis, Missouri; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Newport, Rhode Island.

Ultimately, about 3,000 pairs of tickets were awarded in random drawing. Some 5,000 to 6,000 people showed up, toting up to two items per person for appraisal. Organizers estimated about 10,000 items were brought in for examination.

Three hourlong "Antiques Roadshow" episodes were taped at the convention center. The first Portland hour airs at 8 p.m. Monday, April 2 on PBS/10. The other Portland-filmed hours follow, with hour two airing at 8 p.m. Monday, April 9, and hour three airing at 8 p.m. Monday, April 16.

Which items turn out to be treasures, or heirlooms worth more than their owners suspected? We'll find out more when the Portland-filmed episodes air. But we already know about a few objects that were appraised at the Oregon Convention Center. Here's a sneak peek (including the Eero Saarinen "womb settee" pictured above).

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Luke Crafton for WGBH, (c) WGBH

Appraiser Julie Scott, right, examines a circa-1860 German doll in the first of three "Antiques Roadshow" episodes filmed in Portland.

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Luke Crafton for WGBH, (c) WGBH 2018

Appraiser Francis J. Wahlgren, right, discusses an Abraham Lincoln-inscribed photograph during the first of three Portland-filmed "Antiques Roadshow" episodes.

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Luke Crafton for WGBH, (c) WGBH 2018

A Chinese white jade dish and rice bowl were among the objects appraised in the first of three "Antiques Roadshow" episodes filmed in Portland.

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Luke Crafton for WGBH, (c) WGBH 2018

Appraiser Jasmani Francis, right, examines some circa-1950 mascot carvings.

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During the show's visit to Portland, "Antiques Roadshow" executive producer Marsha Bemko talked about Portlanders' love of public television.

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The Oregonian/OregonLive/file

"Antiques Roadshow" comes to Portland

We spent time at the Oregon Convention Center in August 2017, talking to people who brought collectibles and other items to be appraised at the "Antiques Roadshow" taping. Here's the story.

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Appraiser Peter Loughrey shared his thoughts about an Eero Saarinen womb settee, which has a connection to Hugh Hefner and Playboy.

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Don't EditFrank Miller's Sin City is a place where beauty and horror are two sides of the same coin. It's where human depravity is as common as cars on the street, but the motivations of the characters are uniquely human. With so many different plots happening at once, Sin City becomes a way to translate many ideas into one cohesive piece. Louis-Gabriel Nouchi, a French menswear designer was inspired by Miller's masterpiece for his newest collection, which follows a similar theme of multiple worlds.

"I try to design clothes that can be translated in different universes, [but] have their own personality at the same time," Nouchi told PAPER. He studied fashion design under Raf Simons and at French Vogue during Carine Roitfeld's tenure, giving him a love of practicality and form  but through his own grunge influence. "I love when people can adapt [and] transform a jacket into several things. This modular way of thinking is key in the brand."

Looking at the lookbook images, it's easy to see how he designs for worlds both bizarre and real. A jacket with a a wide lapel recalls historical men's tailoring, but detachable sleeves can turn into a grungy waistcoat, or launch in firmly into avant-garde with one sleeve removed (beautifully modeled by disabled model Luc Bruyere)  all while showing off a bit of naughty underarm. Even the timeless white t-shirt can be cinched up like a straightjacket, a cheeky statement on the more serious consequences of toxic masculinity. It's as though Peter Murphy was cast in an 80s slasher flick, and we can dream.

But amidst Nouchi's horror fantasy, there is very real knitwear. A preppy sweater silhouette is subject to the jacket's deconstruction, its sleeves becoming scarves. Nouchi is keen to expand his business with knits and jersey garments, explaining that he's "working hard with [the] factories to develop new things, [like] fabrics and yarns." He understands that scaling his two-person business is a slow, deliberate process. "It takes time to develop those things, and I want to do it step by step," he says.

Still, the lookbook is just a one way to translate his work. Nouchi is foremost focused on seeing real people wear his clothing. He may designs traditional menswear, but is not limited by notions of gender. "My style isn't only for men, [it's] also for women. I tried to erased the classic gender separation, and for me, a woman is more sexy with men's clothes on her," explains Nouchi. Indeed, people of all genders can appreciated a well-tailored coat, regardless if they are violent comic book characters or your neighbor. "A true vision with a true wearability is the key."

Photography & art direction: Thibault-Theodore Babin

Styling: Phil Gomez

Model: Luc Bruyere

Hair & makeup: Jennifer Lecorre

Harness: Bond Hardware, Boots: ChanelOfficer Blane Salamoni, who shot and killed civilian Alton Sterling in 2016, has been fired from the Baton Rouge Police Department, reports CNN. The BRPD also released four videos of Sterling's death, including body cam videos and surveillance camera videos from a local convenience store. PAPER will not embed the graphic videos in this post. A second officer, Howie Lake II, received a three-day suspension for pinning Sterling down during the incident.

BRPD Police Chief Murphy Paul announced the developments on Friday evening at a press conference. Citing "use of force" and "command of temper," he explained that Salamoni had been terminated from the BRPD. "Fear cannot be a driver for an officer's response to every incident. Unreasonable fear within an officer is dangerous," Chief Paul said. Salamoni and Lake II had both been placed on paid administrative leave since the incident nearly two years ago.

"These actions were not minor deviations from policy as they contributed to the outcome that resulted in the death of another human being," said Chief Paul. Still, he insisted that the firings were not motivated by protests of Sterling's death or the Black Lives Matter movement. "My decision was not based on politics. It was not based on emotions. It was based on the facts of the case."

Sterling was killed on July 5, 2016, at a Triple S Food Mart convenience store in Baton Rouge, LA. Officers were responding to a call of a man drawing his gun. Sterling was shot after being tased for allegedly resisting arrest. The convenience store owner, Abdullah Mulfahi, told NBC News that Sterling never threatened the police with a gun before being shot.This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questionsNews and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism.Top Adviser Highlights Deadlock Between Khamenei and Ahmadinejad

03/31/18

Source: Radio Farda

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's military adviser Hossein Dehghan has likened defiant former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to "the door of a mosque, which may not be burnt or thrown away," an allusion to the fact that Ahmadinjad is part and parcel of the Islamic regime in Iran regardless of his harsh criticism of Khamenei and his government.



file photo: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Speaking to the conservative weekly magazine Mosallas, Dehghan used the ironic Persian proverb, stressing that Ahmadinejad has always been the same during his two terms in office as President from 2005 to 2013.



Dehghan, who was Ahmadinejad's defense minister in his second term, used another metaphor, adding "Some people said at the time that Ahmadinejad was "like a fireball in your hand. You could toss it from hand to hand, but you could not let it fall down."



It is not clear whether this metaphor was used by others in the regime, including Khamenei and Dehghan was just repeating it. Still, Dehgghan's words be a warning to Ahmadinejad's critics that Khamenei is not going to get rid of him so easily.



The statement by Dehghan was published shortly before the Iranian year started on March 21. By then Ahmadnejad had already published at least three critical letters to Khamenei, in which he had harshly criticized him and demanded drastic changes in the political system and Khamenei's own office.



Ahmadinejad was a local governor in Maku and Khoy, small towns in northeastern Iran, during the 1980s. He became governor general of Ardabil province in the 1990s, was Tehran's mayor from 2003 to 2005 and was twice elected as Iran's President in 2005 and 2009.



The disputed 2009 election which brought millions of protesters to streets and ignited the reformist Green Movement, as well as his controversial actions and statements made him world famous.



In 2011, when his intelligence minister resigned under his pressure, Khamenei overturned his decision and the two characters fell out.



file photo: Hossein Dehghan

Former defense minister and current advisor to Khamenei,





The gap between the two became increasingly wider ever since and other Iranian conservatives close to Khamenei distanced themselves from Ahmadinejad.



Ahmadinejad started writing and publicizing his critical letters to Khamenei after his disqualification to run for President in May 2017 and as the Iranian Judiciary increased its pressures on Ahmadinejad's aides. His criticisms mainly targeted Judiciary Chief Sadeq Amoli Larijani and his brother parliament speaker Ali Larijani.



Recently, as his criticism also targeted Khamenei and his office and demanded major structural reforms in Iran's political system, Khamenei indirectly accused him of "doing the enemy's job," and "playing the art of the opposition although he was in control of the country for eight years."



Khamenei said most recently that "Some people are being unfair. They use the freedom existing in the country to say that there is no freedom. And foreign media reflect their statements." This was clearly a direct response to Ahmadinejad who had written to him that "No trace of freedom has remained in the country after four decades of rule by Islamic Republic."



Dehghan's statement could reflect the Khamenei's's difficult position in dealing with the defiant and outspoken former president; a situation that has evolved to become yet another deadlock in a political system already plagued with paralyzing economic, political and cultural bottlenecks.Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dalex Finance, Mr Kenneth Thompson, has urged government to increase taxes and introduce new ones to raise revenue to save the Ghanaian economy from imminent collapse.

Mr Thompson urged the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori Attah to face the reality, take tough decisions and Ill be there to support you.



Sharing his thoughts on the economy at a lecture organised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana (CIMG), Mr Thompson stated that Ghanas debt level had reached an alarming level, a situation that could create negative effects on the economy and throw governments flagship programme, One District One factory out of alignment with planned spending.



We are not likely to reduce our expenditure on salaries in the short term, and even though there has been some capping of statutory obligations the net effect is negligible. Our only hope is to increase revenue in the short to medium term in order to fund consumption expenditure, he stated.



He urged government to get the informal sector to start paying individual taxes, enforce evidence of tax payment on property registration, for example, vehicle registration, company registration, land title registration and increase taxes across board especially property taxes.



"That is our hope in the short term, and reduction in profligate spending, example stopping the purchase of numerous Toyota Land Cruisers that cost over GHC 600,000 each, he admonished.





Ghana is broke

According to Mr Thompson, Ghana is broke and heading for a disaster,



Cedi overvalued



Ghanas overvalued cedi had made the countrys exports expensive and non-competitive, while imports were relatively cheap.



The development, he noted had resulted in stunted economic development and unemployment.

Ken Thompson made the case that the trickle-down effect of the overvalued cedi will jeopardize most, if not all government initiatives including the Planting for Food and Jobs programme.



The initiatives are likely to be non-competitive because of the overvalued cedi, Mr Thompson argued.



We spent almost 100 per cent of all our revenue including grants on three line items as follows: compensation to employees, interest payments, and, statutory payments, example GETFund, District Assemblies Common Fund, and NHIS," he said.



Mr Thompson also raised concerns over the rise in government expenditure which he described as worrying.



Borrowing spree unhelpful



The Dalex CEO criticised the use of borrowed funds to settle recurrent payments.



Since we spend over 100 per cent of our revenue on compensation to employees, interest payments, and statutory payments, all our other expenditure is done from monies borrowed. We are borrowing to fund consumption and not to fund investment.



"Our debt is piling up (70 per cent of GDP), and, we may not be in a position to repay in future. Even before then, any natural or man-made disaster could send us into a default tailspin of government obligations causing intolerable hardship, widespread business failures, and mass unemployment, he stated.

Source: The Finder









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Featured VideoNot all foods are created equal.

When it comes to dishes that have stood the test of time and changed a culture, Pennsylvania has two of them.

That is according to Thrillist, which published its list of the 101 dishes that changed America.

Both the cheesesteak and the Pitts-Burger made the cut.

Thrillist gives the cheesesteak invention credit to Pat's King of Steaks (sorry Geno's) in the 1930s. The cheesesteak earns its spot for being so widespread and a signature American sandwich. Everyone knows what a Philadelphia cheesesteak is, Pat's owner Frank Olivieri told Thrillist.

"It's just an amazing sandwich," he told the publication. "To me, it falls in the same category of the perfect pastrami on rye, the perfect corned beef sandwich, or the perfect slice of New York pizza."

Just as cheesesteaks has become Philadelphia's signature contribution to the American culinary world, so has Pittsburgh's Primanti Bros. sandwich the Pitts-burger. This fries-in-a-sandwich concoction was invented in 1933 and earns its spot on the list for redefining what a sandwich could be.

Prior to Primanti's, sandwiches were standard meat, condiment, cheese on a roll affairs. Primanti's opened the horizons and started the loaded sandwich trend.

As for the rest of the list, it includes everything from Toll House cookies to hot dogs. Deep dish pizza, California rolls and tableside guacamole also made the cut. You can see the full list at thrillist.com.

Want more stories about Philly? Click here for all our coverage of the City of Brotherly Love. If Pittsburgh is more your jam, click here for all our coverage of Steel City.The 2018 White House Easter egg roll will be held Monday, April 2, and will be hosted by first lady Melania Trump.

The event has been held for 140 years.

According to the White House, the egg roll started in 1878 when Rutherford B. Hayes was president.

In order to participate in the egg roll, people must file an application. The deadline to apply was Feb. 23. The winners of the ticket lottery were notified by email in early March.

According to the White House, that egg-rolling parties may have started when Abraham Lincoln was president but then were discontinued by President Ulysses S. Grant because of "landscape concerns."

"In 1878, a group of bold children walked up to the White House gate, hoping to be allowed to play egg-rolling games there. President Hayes told his guards to let the children enter, and soon Easter Monday on the White House grounds became an annual tradition. President Benjamin Harrison added music to the festivities in 1889 with the United States Marine Band. Egg roll attendance grew so popular that the number of guests had to be limited, and in 1939, the Secret Service had to go so far as shutting down a 'racket' of children trying to sneak adults into the event for a fee."

In 1981, first lady Nancy Reagan started the tradition of giving those in attendance a wooden Easter egg with the signatures of the president and first lady.

White House Easter egg roll through the years 53 Gallery: White House Easter egg roll through the years

For more on Easter:Following three nights of interviews with candidates, Allentown City Council deadlocked for 11 rounds of voting Thursday night, unable to select a new interim mayor.

On the 12th ballot, a council member finally gave in, giving former city Councilman Ray O'Connell the win.

O'Connell will serve through Dec. 31, 2019, the day before the city's next mayor elected by voters is to be sworn in.

He succeeds disgraced ex-Mayor Ed Pawlowski, who resigned days after his conviction in his federal corruption trial. Council President Roger MacLean has been serving as interim mayor.

O'Connell, a longtime Allentown educator, was one of two candidates for interim mayor who was nearly barred from consideration. The other was Hasshan Batts, who is director of operations for Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley in Allentown.

The city solicitor's office said O'Connell is ineligible to serve because the city's 1987 Home Rule Charter prohibits any city appointment within one year of someone leaving the city's employ; O'Connell's council tenure ended in January.

Batts was ineligible to be mayor because of prior felony convictions, the solicitor's office ruled.

Going against the solicitor's opinion, council voted to consider the candidacies of both O'Connell and Batts.

Through 11 ballots Thursday night in council chambers, three council members each voted for O'Connell and for Charlie Thiel, another of the 17 city Democrats with whom council scheduled interviews this week. An initial field of 32 candidates was whittled down over other eligibility issues.

Councilwoman Cynthia Mota consistently voted Thursday night for Batts before backing O'Connell in the 12th round. City Clerk Michael Hanlon, who read council's handwritten ballots aloud, said after 15 rounds of deadlock, the decision on who becomes interim mayor would have been out of council's hands.

Had council failed to appoint someone, Lehigh County Court could have been petitioned by three council members or 10 registered city voters to fill the vacancy with someone who is qualified.

The other council members backing O'Connell were Ed Zucal, Daryl Hendricks and Julio Guridy. Voting for Thiel were council members Candida Affa, Courtney Robinson and MacLean, the president and interim mayor.

"No Dr. Batts? No O'Connell," angry residents started to chant, a reference to the solicitor's office concerns about their eligibility. Batts holds a doctorate degree in health science from Nova Southeastern University in Florida.

Robinson was among those who spoke out on Batts' behalf, but indicated council's hands were tied.

"Unfortunately we are just coming out of a situation in which rules that elected officials didn't like were ignored, and that's why we're here tonight," he said. "That's why the candidates are here tonight."

MacLean said he was impressed with Batts and his ideas, but he voted against allowing both O'Connell and Batts to continue with their candidacies this week.

Residents spoke out from the audience, and Allentown officials confirmed, that York residents elected a mayor with prior felony convictions. But that was based on a York County Common Pleas Court decision, not a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that cites the Pennsylvania Constitution and takes precedence, Assistant Solicitor Frances Fruhwirth said.

"A person with a felony is ineligible to hold a position of public trust," Fruhwirth said Thursday night. "In other words, it's a disqualification by virtue of Constitutional mandate. It's not something city council has any control over."

Emily Opilo, who covered Pawlowski's indictment and trial and the mayoral selection extensively for The Morning Call, shared via Twitter the opinion of city Solicitor Daniel McCarthy's office that Batts is ineligible to be interim mayor after having pleaded guilty to two counts of drug possession with intent to deliver and being sentenced to prison. Authorities found him with 5 kilograms of cocaine, two bales of marijuana, six loaded guns and $50,000 cash, according to the ruling.

Here's the Allentown solicitor's opinion on Batts' eligibility pic.twitter.com/f211kKt9hY  Emily Opilo (@emilyopilo) March 29, 2018

Batts, who is 42, had been arrested in September 2007 in the Lehigh County case. He was sentenced in August 2008 to five to 10 years in state prison. His court docket reads as of October 2012, "Penalty Satisfied."

He was upfront about his past, writing in his application letter to council: "I've experienced firsthand the negative impact of incarceration and the redemption that is possible through hard work and a commitment to actualize one's potential. Overcoming the difficulties of growing up in an impoverished neighborhood helped me develop the compassion, grit and unique perspective of someone who's experienced the pain of poverty, crime, drugs and struggle up close."

MacLean, a former Allentown police chief, said that with 40 years' law enforcement experience, he appreciates what it takes for someone to turn their live around.

"It's beyond city council's ability to change it right now," he said.

Mota, along with a sizable and vocal chunk of the audience Thursday night, was unswayed in her view that Batts was the right person for the job.

"We gave him an opportunity to interview. We listened to the public," she said, turning to Guridy, who had commended residents for speaking out with a sense of "hope for the city, regardless of who the mayor is."

"I agree with you, they're asking for change, for hope," Mota said. "But I mean, we need to give people hope and giving hope is also part of changing, part of changing the system. And it is a shame."

She said council is guilty of a double standard, after its vote to ban the box on city job applications that asks whether someone has been convicted of a crime.

O'Connell served on Allentown City Council from 2009 through 2017, and also waged a write-in campaign for mayor last year after Pawlowski refused to suspend his campaign while under indictment. O'Connell had come in second in the 2017 Democratic primary election behind Pawlowski, who went on to win a fourth four-year term that began this past New Year's Day.

O'Connell was sworn-in immediately Thursday night.

He has a master's in education from Lehigh University and worked for the Allentown School District from 1972 until 2010, most recently as a consultant in human resources, alternative education programs and community and student services.

"My first priority will be to restore trust and confidence in city government," O'Connell wrote in his application to be considered for interim mayor. "We must make it absolutely clear that the 'for sale' sign put in front of city hall is gone for good.

"We will do this by reforming the ethics board, rekindling a relationship with city staff and city council and making sure that our fiscal house is in order."

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook.Time is ticking down until China's first space station plummets back down to Earth from space.

Exactly when, and where, the space station will land is a mystery, but all of Pennsylvania is in the area where debris from the reentry could fall.

Tiangong-1 is expected to reenter the atmosphere sometime on Sunday, according to Aerospace Corporation. Chinese officials announced in March 2016 they lost control of the space station, but amateur satellite trackers claim the station has been orbiting uncontrolled since at least June 2016, according to the agency.

Tiangong-1, or "Heavenly Place," was launched on Sept. 30, 2011 and is China's first space station and hosted two manned missions onboard.

AeroSpace anticipates the space station will reenter Earth's atmosphere at 2 p.m. UTC on Sunday, or 9 a.m. locally, give or take 16 hours. Aerospace Corporation has created a dashboard the gives up-to-date information on the space station's location.

The agency published a map showing the areas where debris could land within a given region. Areas of yellow indicate the areas with the highest probability, which includes the entire state of Pennsylvania and states in the northern tier of the U.S.

The Chinese space station Tiangong-1 is expected to make reentry sometime in early April, but the chances of debris actually hitting someone are remote.

While Pennsylvania is an area where the space station could land, scientists currently aren't sure where exactly the reentry will occur. Scientists can say, however, Tiangong-1 will reenter somewhere between 43deg North and 43deg South latitudes.

"It is a well-known scientific principle that any measurement or prediction will always have an associated uncertainty," the agency reports. "In general, it is much easier to predict an accurate reentry time rather than an accurate reentry location."

It may be possible to see the space station reentering the atmosphere, depending on your location, the time of day, and visibility.

"Depending on the time of day and cloud visibility, the reentry may appear as multiple bright streaks moving across the sky in the same direction," according to AeroSpace. "Due to the relatively large size of the object, it is expected that there will be many pieces reentering together, some of which may survive reentry and land on the Earth's surface."

While it's possible that some debris could make it to the Earth's surface, don't take shelter in an underground bunker just yet.

Aerospace Corporation says the chance of space debris hitting you is less than 1 in 1 trillion. In fact, you are a million times more likely to win the Powerball.

AeroSpace also notes that a toxic, corrosive substance called hydrazine still on the spacecraft could survive reentry. Those who happen to come across any debris that makes it to the ground are asked to avoid touching it or inhaling any vapors it may emit.

Those who see the space station reenter are asked to contact Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies.Anchors at Sinclair Broadcast Group stations were forced to read from the same script decrying "fake stories" and "biased reporting" in the last week.

Philly.com reports the script was given to anchors across the country, and echoed a statement made by Scott Livingston, vice president of news at Sinclair.

"This promo addresses the troubling trend of false stories on social media, and distinguishes our trusted local stations as news destinations where we are committed to honest and accurate reporting," Livingston said in a statement to CNN. "This promo reminds our viewers of this mission."

Sinclair has four news stations across Pennsylvania -- in Harrisburg, Altoona, Pittsburgh, and Scranton.

@CBS21NEWS anchors Robb Hanrahan and Jasmine Brooks read the same Sinclair script. pic.twitter.com/JJkrn1tqx6  Rob Tornoe (@RobTornoe) March 30, 2018WILLIAMSPORT - Two of the six accused alleged members of a white nationalist organization have agreed to plead guilty while a third continues to argue the government fabricated the crimes of which they are charged.

Joshua Michael Steever of Manville, New Jersey, described as the founder of the Aryan Strikeforce, and Connor Drew Dikes of Silver Spring, Maryland, have signed agreements filed in U.S. Middle District Court to plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute 500 or more grams of methamphetamine.

That charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years with the maximum being life.

Meanwhile, Justin Daniel Lough, of Waynesboro, Virginia, on Friday continued to seek dismissal of his indictment on the basis of outrageous government conduct.

He charges law enforcement enlisted him and the others in 2016 and 2017 to transport across state lines on four different occasions 48 pounds of simulated methamphetamine, machine gun parts and AR-15 receivers.

Assistant Public Defender D. Toni Byrd, who represents Lough, contends in a brief that the six had not committed any of the crimes with which they are charged before undercover agents engaged their services.

The government conceiving, planning and directing this "outrageous conduct" is a violation of basic principles of due process law, the brief says.

The government presented them with a brand new criminal enterprise for which they could earn money, she claims.

Assistant U.S. Attorney George J. Rocktashel, who is prosecuting the case, maintains well before the undercover investigation the FBI received information about illegal activity involving firearms and drugs in Potter County.

Through state police and law enforcement sources, the FBI determined that Aryan Strikeforce members regularly traveled to the property of the organization's then president Ronald Pulcher for weapons training and other things, he says.

At one of those gatherings, according to cooperating witnesses, a plan was discussed to conceal a bomb inside the oxygen bottle of a strikeforce member who was terminally ill and willing to blow himself up, the document states.

The bomb was to be detonated to kill protestors at a white nationalist rally in Harrisburg, the prosecutor wrote in a brief in support of the charges.

READ MORE: White nationalist group discussed detonating explosive device at Harrisburg protest: court document

Byrd's response to those allegations is as follow: "Talk is cheap, but of more import is the lack of any evidence that Lough and his co-defendants ever actually followed through, attempted to follow through or had the means for such an undertaking. These purported discussions were more likely fantasy talk fueled by alcohol and do not support the government's generation of the crimes in this case which involved neither explosives nor bomb-making activities."

Byrd charged the government's investigative technique in this case was to manufacture crime which otherwise would not have been committed based on the belief it had to neutralize ongoing threats of violence.

Rocktashel has defended the way evidence was gathered against the six, saying their illegal activities posed a serious risk to public safety.

It required the use of investigative techniques ,including undercover FBI employees who recorded meetings with Aryan Strikeforce members, he said.

Byrd attached to her brief an account of an FBI interview of Lough after his arrest a year ago in Virginia.

READ MORE: Prosecutor: Aryan Strikeforce member wanted all the guns he could get

In it, Lough admits being a member of a skinhead group known as the Hammerskins while living in Arizona and being associated with but not a member of the Aryan Strikeforce.

He referred to the strikeforce as a "bunch of [expletive] retards" but also indicated he shared their ideology, the report states.

Others named in the indictment are Henry Lambert Baird of Brown Mills, N.J., Jacob Mark Robards of Bethlehem, and Stephen Davis of Bumpass, Va.

The six, all of whom are detained, are accused of being members of the Aryan Strikeforce and the Eastern Service Unit of Combat 18.

Combat 18 refers to itself as the "official armed wing of Blood and Honour," a neo-Nazi organization started in the United Kingdom in the 1990s, a court document states.By Rogette Harris

People are very cynical about politics and politicians in general so when election day rolls around it's easy to forget the consequences elections have on our daily lives.

Rogette Harris (PennLive file photo)

We've all seen the vicious cycle.

Low turnout on election day, people aren't happy with the results, a march/protest is organized, and millions of people attend demanding change.

This occurs on both the left and right aisle of democracy. While I admire and, in the past, have participated in political protests, we must remember that although marches and rallies bring attention to vital issues and situations, real change takes place at the ballot box.

Recently, students across the U.S. walked out of school, marched and demanded action to stop gun violence.

Although impressive, the main question is if the young people behind the 'March for Our Lives' movement will be a political force at the ballot box this fall and beyond.

Republicans are skeptical. Democrats are hopeful. And outside groups that favor gun control aren't taking any chances. For example, organizations who want stricter gun control laws are spending millions of dollars to make sure young voters' passion and enthusiasm on the issue doesn't fade before the November midterm elections, when the Republican Party's control of Congress is tested.

Past voting patterns show how much work these organizations have ahead of them. Just 15 percent of eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 20 cast ballots in the last midterm election.

Still, the mobilization of young people following a shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school has raised the prospect of a shift that could re-shape the American political landscape this fall and beyond.

"We are going to make this the voting issue," said David Hogg, a student organizer of the march. "We are going to take this to every election, to every state, and every city. We are going to make sure the best people get in our elections to run not as politicians, but as Americans."

Polls show that Americans are increasingly in favor of stricter gun laws.

By an almost 2-1 margin, they say tightening gun-control laws and background checks would prevent more mass shootings in the United States, according to a USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll.

Even wider margins of Americans say semiautomatic weapons such as the AR-15, which was used in the Florida shooting, should be banned.

The same poll shows that Americans do not think Congress will pass stricter gun laws. Fewer than one in five, 19 percent, say the odds are excellent or good. More than three in four; 76 percent, rate them as fair or poor.

Will these students be able to achieve their goals? With the number of people who came out on March 24th you'd think the easy answer was yes. However, the only way to change any policy issue is through the ballot box. If you know a member of the Legislature that doesn't back gun control, don't vote them back in office. That sounds easy, but it is extremely difficult to do.

In 2016, millennials were around 19 percent of voter turnout in Dauphin County. That percentage decreased to 9 percent in 2017 in the year where 10 judicial positions were on the ballot. If President Trump's election did anything it showed the importance of judicial elections.

"Either represent the people or get out," said one of the organizers of the "March for Our Lives" on Aprile 24. "Stand for us or beware. The voters are coming."

That was the same warning millions of young people issued during hundreds of marches to end the Vietnam War; during the calls for No Nukes in the 1980s and the March for Women held right after the election of President Trump. However, the young vote has failed to materialize when it counts.

It took eight years and a lot of protests to end the Vietnam War.

It might have happened sooner if young voters had followed through on their pledges to use the ballot box to effect change and get the attention of their elected representatives.

To be fair, the recent protests on gun violence have already spurred action on school violence.

States are beginning to restrict gun sales to those under 21, which of course is being challenged by the National Rifle Association. Furthermore, federal legislation has been introduced to help schools acquire panic buttons for classrooms to quickly alert first responders in case of an active school shooter incident.

If we really want to shake up Washington, the next march must be to the ballot box. It's the only way to put lawmakers on notice that we want them to make decisions for the good of the country rather than their political interests.

Real change begins at the ballot box.

Rogette Harris, the chairwoman of the Dauphin County Democratic Committee, is a PennLive/Patriot-News community columnist. Her work appears more or less monthly on PennLive Opinion.State Treasurer Joe Torsella, along with treasurers of two other states, wants to meet with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in hopes of finding a way to ease the problem that marijuana-related companies are having in securing financial institutions willing to do business with them.

Sessions' January directive to federal prosecutors allowing them to more aggressively enforce the federal law outlawing marijuana has made financial services institutions gun-shy about banking the cannabis industry in Pennsylvania or 28 other states where marijuana is legal for medical or recreational use.

Without a relationship with a bank, said Steve Schain, senior attorney in Philadelphia with the international Hoban Law Group, marijuana-related businesses must operate on a cash-only basis which makes bookkeeping and paying bills more challenging and increasing their vulnerability to crime.

"Cash has to come on and off the property, placing targets on the backs of growers, processors or dispensers and their respective customers and vendors," Schain said. "For example, while attempting to stop a June 18, 2016, robbery, Colorado dispensary security guard Travis Mason was shot to death. Additionally, employee theft concerns spike, and commercial landlords' and insurers' discomfort with piles of cash may result in being dropped, evicted or having rent and premiums increased."

Torsella, along with the treasurers of California and Oregon and representatives from the cannabis industry, sent a letter Thursday to Sessions asking to meet with him to have a conversation to provide some clarity to the situation.

Sessions' rescission in January of what is referred to as the Cole Memos shifted the direction as to how the 48-year-old federal ban on cultivating, distributing and possessing marijuana was to be enforced by federal prosecutors.

Instead of making enforcing the marijuana law a low priority, Sessions, who views marijuana as a gateway drug, gave the prosecutors the green light to enforce the federal prohibition on marijuana as they saw fit.

That, in turn, created an uneasiness for some financial institutions in providing banking services to marijuana-businesses that operate in compliance with their state's laws.

"With legalization taking place, there are sound public policy reasons for providing financial institutions and other entities that do business with the cannabis industry some comfort that they will not be prosecuted or lose access to customer assets simply for banking this industry," the letter states.

It goes on to say that the Cole Memos provided a roadmap for banks to follow to ensure they were following the rules related to banking such as those about money laundering and keeping drug money out of the hands of cartels or drug gangs.

"The absence of the Cole memos now leaves the industry and financial institutions in the dark," the letter states.

A spokeswoman for Torsella was unable to provide further comment about the letter on Friday.Walmart Canada apologized on Saturday for the "confusion and disappointment" it caused when it chose to end its involvement with a Quebec program that provides job training for people with intellectual disabilities. Signage at a Laval, Que., Walmart store is seen on Tuesday, May 3, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan RemiorzPakistan's Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, center, poses for a photograph with her family members at her native home during a visit to Mingora, the main town of Pakistan Swat Valley, Saturday, March 31, 2018. Yousafzai arrived in her hometown for the first time since a Taliban militant shot her there in 2012 for advocating girls' education. (AP Photo/Abdullah Sherin)Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama speaks at an event marking the beginning of the 60th year of his exile in India, in Dharmsala, India, Saturday, March 31, 2018. The Dalai Lama thanked India for giving shelter to him and said Tibetans have turned their unfortunate circumstances into a path of enlightenment by reviving their spirit and influence wherever they are. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)NYT Editorial Board: A cold war with Russia?



amazingreveal



The United States consulate in St. Petersburg, which Russia announced will be closed.





To all outward appearances, Russia's retaliatory expulsions of American and other diplomats followed the old Cold War pattern : A Soviet deed would prompt Western punitive measures. Moscow would blithely deny any wrongdoing, declare itself victimized by a two-faced West and strike back with equivalent measures. So it was, for example, when the United States boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980 over the invasion of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union led an Eastern Bloc boycott of the Los Angeles Games four years later. And so it is now again, in Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Mr. Putin has fully embraced the old Kremlin aversion to ever admitting wrongdoing , whether it's shooting down a Malaysian jetliner , or killing Alexander Litvinenko , or seizing Crimea , or fighting in eastern Ukraine , or cyber-meddling in Western elections , or doping Olympic athletes . Or using a lethal chemical weapon to poison a double-agent and his daughter in a provincial city in England.

So far, deja vu all over again. But there is a difference, and a potentially dangerous one. During the original Cold War, Moscow and Washington recognized that their ideological hostility and nuclear arsenals needed to be contained, so they talked through back channels and across a hotline to prevent unexpected crises from triggering confrontations, worked on disarmament and held regular meetings at all levels, up to the top.

A military hotline still operates to avoid clashes between American and Russian forces in Syria, but as tensions rose last week, Antonio Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, suggested it was time to revive the Cold War channels of communication and control. Those mechanisms have been dismantled, he said. I do believe that mechanisms of this sort are necessary again.

Post-Communist Russia is not the obvious enemy the Soviet Union was. Throughout Russia's slow slide into authoritarianism, there has lingered a hope that relations with Moscow can be reset, as Hillary Clinton sought to do and as President Trump seems eager to do. And while Mr. Putin's drive to restore Russian influence and might  witness his proud unveiling of an intercontinental missile in March that can reach any point in the world  is an echo of Soviet behavior, Russia has also undergone a considerable transformation since 1991. Russians travel widely and have nearly unlimited access to information and technology, and the Soviet command economy has given way to far greater consumerism.

More significantly, there is no Western consensus on Russia of the sort that held against the Soviet Union. European politicians like Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Hungary or Czech President Milos Zeman are open admirers of Mr. Putin, and President Trump's relations with the Kremlin are a major question mark. Though the United States expelled 60 Russian diplomats and closed the Russian consulate in Seattle, Mr. Trump made no comment on the crisis, either when he called Mr. Putin last week to congratulate him on his re-election or since.

All that makes the current confrontation less predictable than the showdowns of the Soviet past. Both Britain and the United States have left open further actions against Russia, to which Moscow would inevitably respond, and the deterioration in relations could affect efforts to find common ground on Syria or Islamist terrorism.

That, however, is not an argument for looking the other way when Russia violates the most elemental norms of international behavior. Russia is not the old Soviet Union, which makes it all the more imperative for the West to send a clear message that the old wiles and subterfuges also belong in the dustbin of history.

The former K.G.B. agent in Mr. Putin may find it intolerable that a turncoat is living comfortably in Britain, but it must be made clear to him that the West will unite in fury  yes, including Mr. Trump's America  when Russia's most fearsome weapons are deployed in a peaceful English town.





The New York Times Editorial Board is composed of journalists with wide-ranging areas of expertise. Their primary responsibility is to write The Times's editorials, which represent the voice of the board, its editor and the publisher. The New York Times is an American newspaper based in New York City with worldwide influence and readership. Founded in 1851, the paper has won 122 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper. Petroleumworld does not necessarily share these views.

Editor's Note: This commentary was originally published on March 31, 2018 , on Page A20 of the New York Times, NY edition with the headline: A Colder War With Russia? . Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest of our readers and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Petroleumworld and its owners.



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Petroleumworld News 04/02/2018Pictured in 2015, the former Embreeville state hospital site has continued to deteriorate in West Bradford Township, Chester County. According to the developer who purchased the land on which the complex sits, the psychiatric facility suffers from asbestos, mold, and possible soil contamination. Read more

Developers and community residents are hardly ever on the same page when it comes to large-scale real estate projects.

Which makes at least part of what is happening in West Bradford Township a tiny miracle: Residents, officials, and a developer agree that the deteriorating, shuttered Embreeville State School and Hospital complex should be demolished.

Their rare harmony, however, falls apart when it comes to deciding what should happen next to the controversial psychiatric site in this affluent Chester County town. For years, developers, residents, and officials have squabbled and litigated what should replace the hospital and the land that encircles it. Finally, on Wednesday, a key zoning decision may offer some clarity.

If Embreeville Redevelopment LP  the group that purchased the property in 2013  has its way, the 225-acre property would be transformed into a sprawling residential and commercial complex, erasing the crumbling 16-building hospital site, plus dozens of acres of open land, to build 1,100 residential units and more than 50,000 square feet of commercial space.

But many West Bradford area residents want those largely untouched fields and forests to stay just as they are. Others, meanwhile, acknowledge that development is eventually likely and are arguing now  before it's too late, they say  for a more modest project, such as a retirement home, that would less severely affect roads and schools.

The fierce debate over the fate of this West Bradford swath  soon entering its fifth year  is the latest example of the land-use feuds in the Pennsylvania suburbs. As with the fight to preserve Crebilly Farm in Westtown Township, or the argument over the Archdiocese of Philadelphia land in Delaware County, the conflict brewing in West Bradford underscores the tensions that townships face as they plot future growth.

Yet the West Bradford property is different from other suburban fights, mostly because it consists of more than just untouched land. Beyond determining the fate of hills and woodlands, a decision on the Embreeville site requires figuring out what to do with a 900,000-square-foot former psychiatric facility  one not only steeped in a dubious past, but also an expensive future. The estimated bill for demolishing the buildings and removing the asbestos, mold, and possible soil contamination on the site is more than $13 million.

On Wednesday, the West Bradford Zoning Hearing Board will decide on the developer's challenges to the zoning ordinance, thereby green-lighting or derailing Embreeville Redevelopment's path toward ultimate approval. Residents and the developer are expected to appeal if it does not go their way.

"We cannot expect an automatic victory to come from whatever decision is made," said State Sen. Andy Dinniman (D., Chester). "My experience in Chester County is that our citizens are bright, they know to organize, and they understand the law very well. So the developer will not be in" for an easy time.

A model hospital gone awry

The psychiatric facility and its surrounding land had been the subject of attention even before Embreeville Redevelopment purchased it from the state for slightly more than $1 million in 2013.

Starting in 1798 as land for the Chester County poorhouse  Pennsylvania's first  the rolling West Bradford hills eventually became home to the county's insane asylum, too. In the early 1900s, the state took control, forming a network of public hospitals serving Pennsylvania's mentally ill.

In many ways, the Embreeville psychiatric hospital was initially a standout, according to news accounts. Lauded in the mid-1900s for its "open hospital" policy  meaning that wards were unlocked and patients could travel in and out at will  the Embreeville complex was known for its low return rates, efficient discharges, and "model hospital" designation. In 1968, a reporter for the Gettysburg (Pa.) Times wrote that "the image of the mental hospital as a dark and festering dungeon where mentally ill struggle to merely survive  is being offset by hospitals like Embryville."

By the 1990s, however, the situation at Embreeville had shifted. More than a decade earlier, the state psychiatric hospital had closed, and a smaller state-run institution for the intellectually disabled had replaced it. There, abuse allegations began to surface  reports of rape, drugging, and assault. In 1994, a year after the U.S. Department of Justice sued Pennsylvania over the allegations, a settlement came: Embreeville would close.

The Embreeville center was not the lone target of allegations  or closure. In the late 20th century, public mental institutions were shuttered nationwide amid a deinstitutionalization wave. From a mental-health standpoint, the policy meant moving patients out of state "insane asylums" and into centers where they could get better care.

For savvy real estate developers, it meant available  albeit complicated  land.

In the drivers seat

Even before Embreeville closed in the 1990s, officials were exploring what to do with the complex and its surrounding acres. Fearing the space could become a "dumping ground" for unwanted uses, said Jack M. Hines Jr., township manager at the time, officials looked at a variety of ideas: a park, community college, or fire training center, for example. One even suggested offering the facility to production companies for horror-film sets.

Amid the planning and evaluating, the Embreeville facilities deteriorated. Outside, weeds and tall grass sprouted. Inside, paint chipped, windows caved, and asbestos coated the floors.

A few yards away, though, pristine open space  fields, forests, creeks, and wetlands  flourished, supporting recreational fields and an Indian gravesite memorial.

State and local politicians knew even a decade ago that development pressure was mounting. Situated in the center of Chester County, West Bradford had already experienced a shift away from its rural landscape and toward a residential one. Between 1990 and 2005, the township's population spiked 12 percent, nearing 12,000 residents. Much of Chester County was experiencing the same.

So Dinniman, with Republican Chris Ross, a state representative at the time, arranged for the township to buy the 200-plus acres from the state for less than $1 million.

"We knew there were controversies around other pieces of state property, such as the Haverford State Hospital, so we said, 'Let's avoid all that; let's get the land to the township at a very reasonable price,' " Dinniman said. "Then, the township could develop a portion if they thought a portion should be developed, but the township was going to be in the driver's seat."

Ultimately, however, West Bradford Township backed out, citing a declining real estate market, high cleanup costs, and an unfair taxpayer burden. In 2012, the township wrote that the acres had been appraised, and its value "determined to be negative $6.87 million."

The lone bidder

A few months later, the state moved to sell the property  zoned as institutional and mixed use  in a public bid. The lone bidder: developer Ken Hellings, who, in partnership with Conrad Muhly, the CEO of Terra, an environmental remediation company, and a member of the Brandywine Valley SPCA's board of directors, formed Embreeville Redevelopment LP with a third unidentified backer.

Hellings declined to comment. His lawyer could not be reached. But according to Hellings' most recent public plans, the developer hopes to build multifamily units, single-family homes, and commercial space on the site. In a 2013 memo, Hellings' team said the development would be "compact" to "maximize open space and minimize land disturbance." It also planned for "active recreation" and a dog park.

Hellings has said in the past that the scale of his design is necessary to account for the demolition and cleanup costs. To make his plan work, Hellings originally asked the township to approve an amendment to the zoning ordinance allowing for residential use on the site. Since, however, Hellings has challenged West Bradford's entire zoning ordinance as invalid, alleging that it does not meet the township's obligation to provide enough multifamily housing.

If West Bradford's zoning board rules for Hellings, that does not automatically give him the go-ahead, said Justin Yaich, West Bradford's township manager. "He would still have to go through the planning process, the permitting process  there are still a lot of things that go into play  than a simple vote of the board."

Even so, dozens of residents are expected to attend Wednesday's decision.

"We're saying, why would we put high-destiny building in the furthest corner of the township  away from grocery stores and public transportation?" said township resident Eric Bennett, 38. "1,200 units easily equates to 2,500 extra cars. Roads already have traffic congestion problems.  And the builder's profits come at the expense of residents who will have to pay for the infrastructure to support it."Thats right: More snow. The highest amounts are expected north and west of Philadelphia, with lower amounts toward the Shore. Read more

Winter isn't done with us yet.

The region is under a winter weather advisory as forecasters predicted several inches of snow would fall overnight Sunday into Monday.

This follows the late March storm that dropped 7.6 inches of snow in Philadelphia, the biggest snowfall of the season.

>> Read more: How accurate were Philly forecasters' snow predictions? We graded them.

It's rare  though not unheard of  to get snow in April.

The 1915 blizzard paralyzed the region, with the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer proclaiming: "EASTER BLIZZARD GRIPS ENTIRE EASTERN COAST."

Don't expect that this time around.

Rain was expected to start Sunday night and change over to snow before sunrise Monday. Snow at a rate of an inch an hour could fall in the morning before tapering off around midday, the National Weather Service says. Accumulations are mostly expected on grassy surfaces, rather than roads.

Whatever falls won't stick around for long.

The angle of the sun is much higher in April than in the winter months, meaning that the snow melts fast. Still, several school districts Sunday night already were announcing two-hour delays for Monday.

If you think we're done with snow after Monday, you might be wrong. There's another chance in the forecast next weekend. Hooray!

>> Read more: March was colder than February in Philly  again

Staff writer Tony Wood contributed to this article.As alumni, taxpayers, and supporters of public education, we were glad to learn that Abington High School would not be renamed after Stephen Schwarzman. Earlier in the week, we, along with other members of the Abington alumni community, were dismayed and alarmed by the Abington school board's decision to grant naming rights for our beloved  publicly funded  alma mater in exchange for $25 million from hedge-fund billionaire Schwarzman.

While Schwarzman is a fellow graduate of Abington High, we have doubts that he is a true friend to public education, or to the mission of providing quality K-12 schooling to every child, regardless of race or nationality.

Schwarzman once compared the policies of President Barack Obama to those of Adolf Hitler. As a prominent supporter of President Trump, he has been complicit in attacks against public education, immigrants, people of color, women, low-income communities, and our very democracy.

The destructive forces of institutionalized greed have decimated once-sacred institutions, including public education, and have consequently weakened the political power of working people and middle-class families in America. The cult of Wall Street and corporate largesse has done no favors for working people, such as the thousands of teachers in West Virginia who launched a historic walkout after receiving no raises for four years.

Those of us who were lucky to be raised in the diverse, affluent Montgomery County suburbs didn't know this in our youth, but Pennsylvania has the most inequitable public education funding system in the country. Due to years of policy failures at the state and federal levels, local school districts have had no choice but to force homeowners to shoulder much of the cost of public education through ever-soaring property taxes.

Unfortunately, not every community has the tax base of Abington, and we see the byproducts of a public education system lacking investment every day as working adults. Too many schools in Pennsylvania  and across the nation  make do with too few resources, too few teachers and support personnel, overcrowded classrooms, unsafe drinking water, leaky roofs, and broken heating systems. The kids who attend these schools are sent a message of how little they are valued by leaders in government and private industry, and it sets them up for failure as adults.

Equitable education funding is essential to building all of the things we want: safe, diverse communities and a strong economy. There is something grotesque in endowing millions of dollars to one of the wealthiest school districts in the commonwealth  one that, however unintentionally, has benefited from systemic inequality.

Changing the name of our high school to honor a hedge-fund billionaire would have been a slap in the face to all of the educators, parents, schoolchildren, and allies in labor who have been fighting to ensure that all public schools, especially those that serve the most vulnerable children, have the resources they need. It's especially offensive to students, teachers, and families in those communities who have been attacked by the Trump administration.

The point of publicly funded institutions is to provide collective funding, but also collective ownership, collective responsibility, and collective accountability. Public school systems are accountable to taxpayers and, in the case of the Abington School District, they're accountable to the voters. Inserting private funding of this magnitude has the tendency to confuse decision-makers about to whom they answer. The fact that a billionaire donor was given naming rights after making a significant contribution, without public input, exemplifies the problems with this type of funding arrangement.

Whatever people think about taxation, public money is honest money; it's collected from the hard work of taxpayers and appropriated in public meetings by elected legislators and school directors. This donation by Schwarzman can hardly be called transparent.

The outcry to this toxic gift from the Abington community and from alumni currently residing as far away as Washington state demonstrates just how specious it was to entertain the ego of a billionaire and claim that it was in service to the students. "Abington Schwarzman High School" would have been insulting to taxpayers, to parents, to teachers, to students, and to alumni who have supported public education through their time, their money, and their advocacy.

Our alma mater  Abington Senior High School  is a public school, and a very good one at that. It prepared us to be successful in college and in our careers in government and politics. Abington belongs to the public and should be accountable to the public. Bidding off pieces one by one runs counter to the very point of institutions that were created to strengthen the middle class and all communities. Twenty-five million dollars is a lot of money  but our core democratic values should not be for sale.

Joe Corrigan, Abington Class of 2004, is principal at Edge Hill Strategies LLC. Julie Wertheimer, Abington Class of 2003, lives and works in Philadelphia.For the second year, the American Legion Auxiliary is offering a free Womens Safety Class on Tuesday, April 3, from 1-5 p.m.

Find out different ways to make your location less of a target and learn how to use everyday items for self defense. Learn current online safety strategies that help protect privacy and hidden online dangers and how to avoid them. Personal traveling safety from driving home after work to international travel. Lower risk while dating or in other social situations

Agenda is as follows:

Definitions and the Law, Understanding Risks in Todays World

Home, Car, Public Transportation, Travel Internet and Socializing

Common Sense Demonstrations of Womens Defense & Fighting

Joanne Correia is the founder of Common Sense Safety Classes and a globally recognized speaker for more than 30 years. As a 2nd Degree Black Belt and one of the leading instructors for the National Academy of Self Defense, Joanne enjoys her time teaching RAD (Rape Aggression Defense) Systems training programs in Basic, Advanced, Weapons and Keychain Defense.

For more than a decade, Correia has run women, senior and childrens safety programs and taught American Red Cross First Aid and AED/CPR. She is a retired vice president at Gartner Inc., a leading research firm in the technology industry. She is a member of the American Legion Auxiliary and the Matlacha Hookers. She loves to ride motorcycles, relax on her boat and hang with her husband, dogs and friends on Pine Island in Florida and New England.Lawyers for the family of Stephon Clark said they plan to file a federal lawsuit as soon as Friday over his death in a police shooting, CBS News reports.

Clark, a suspect in vehicle break-ins was killed March 18 in a low-light confrontation with two Sacramento police officers at the end of a foot pursuit. The officers reportedly mistook his cellphone for a gun.

The family also announced Friday the results of an autopsy performed by a specialist they hired. Clark was hit eight times out of the 20 shots reportedly fired, the independent expert reported, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Dr. Bennet Omalu conducted an autopsy days after Clark was killed by police. He told reporters that his examination showed that Clark was hit by eight bullets, and all but one entered while his back was facing police.

The county coroner's official autopsy results are not expected to be completed for several weeks.A former Minnesota FBI agent has been charged with leaking classified information to a journalist, reportedly pertaining to a series of articles published by online news site The Intercept.

Terry Albury, an airport counterterrorism liaison, was charged this week by the Justice Department for knowingly and willfully transmitting documents and information relating to national defense to a reporter, Minnesota Public Radio reports.

He was also charged for refusing to hand over documents to the government, MPR News reports.

Alburys attorneys, JaneAnne Murray and Joshua Dratel told Time their client was driven by a conscientious commitment to long-term national security and addressing the well-documented systemic biases within the FBI.The ShapeShift Modular Holster System from Alien Gear is just that, a system. The ShapeShift starter kit comes with all the parts necessary to make four holster configurations: a standard inside-the-waistband (IWB) holster, an appendix IWB holster, an outside-the-waistband (OWB) belt slide holster, and an OWB paddle holster. Reviewers have compared the system to a Lego kit for people who need concealed carry options.

Alien Gear's ShapeShift holster starter kit comes with everything you need to make four different carry configurations and quickly switch between them. (Photo: Alien Gear)

Alien Gear founder and CEO Thomas Tedder says the ShapeShift modular holster concept grew out of the company's switch from thermoforming its holsters to making them from injection-molded polymer. "At the same time that we started using injection molding, we also built an engineering department with the goal of making our parts better, and we started experimenting with design," he says.

The company's expanded engineering capabilities also included rapid prototyping on high-end 3D printers. Tedder says he set a goal of producing a stronger shell with a smaller footprint than thermoformed shells. The shell is the envelope of material that actually covers the gun in a holster. "The shell we developed was barely larger than the handgun itself," he says. "And once we got that shell shrunk down, we came to realize that it could do just about anything really well. It could be mounted in a variety of configurations." That shell was the foundation for the ShapeShift concept.

But it took about two years from idea to engineering to prototyping to create the ShapeShift system that is now on the market. "We went through hundreds and hundreds of iterations of designs," Tedder says. "That's the benefit of our fast prototyping capabilities. We can have an idea, 3D model it, 3D print it, test it, and later that day reject it and have a new prototype to test."

One of the reasons the ShapeShift went through so many iterations is that Tedder insisted that it be comfortable to wear. "That was the main project of one of our engineers for a whole year," he says. "We wanted to get the cut of the fabric and the design of the plastic just perfect. So I'd wear it for a while, and I'd tell him it was 'pinchy.' He got really tired of hearing that. But the result is that this is the most comfortable and concealable holster system on the market."

Tedder says the key to making the ShapeShift comfortable is not just its smaller size compared to similar holsters. "It's flexible and it's breathable," he says. "We put a neoprene backer on our holsters to make them easier to wear, and the neoprene is perforated so it breathes."

In addition to its comfort benefits, Tedder says the ShapeShift offers substantial economic benefits to Alien Gear customers. "Why buy four complete holsters for as much as $200 (total) when they are the exact same shell with different backs? For under $100, our starter kit lets you carry in four different configurations with one shell and four backs."

Alien Gear offers much more in the ShapeShift line than just the starter kit. The company currently offers all the holsters in the starter kit for individual purchase as well as an ankle holster, a MOLLE holster, a drop leg holster, and a backpack holster. "You can buy one holster and every expansion kit will work with it," Tedder says. "People really love buying the expansion kits. We have customers that buy each expansion kit as it gets released." Tedder says the company plans to release five or six new ShapeShift expansion packs later this year.

www.aliengearholsters.com"All of life can be worship," says Jamie Robinson, pastor of worship at Autumn Ridge Church in Rochester.

Earlier this winter I had the opportunity to sit down with Robinson in his Autumn Ridge office to discuss the topic of worship. The spiritual practice of worship is last stop of our Lenten series.

Robinson, his wife and two daughters (ages 9 and 11) moved from the United Kingdom to the United States in April 2017. Prior to living in Rochester, Robinson served as a worship leader at a conference and retreat center.

It was there that he met the senior pastor of Autumn Ridge, Rev. C. John Steer, who invited him to consider a position on the church staff. Not too long after that conversation, Robinson reached out to Steer to set up an interview.

He and his family are now joyfully settled into life in Minnesota, and he finds deep value in his call as the congregations worship pastor.

For Robinson, "Worship is our internal response to the good news of the Gospel." That internal response can weave its way into all aspects of our lives and not just the praise and singing that happens on Sunday mornings.

"There is a danger in worship only being equated to singing," he said. "Its more. Its the whole time that people are together. From the gathering to the time people are leaving the building."

Some of the parts of a typical worship service include scripture, music, communion, creeds, prayers, sermon and an offering.

Robinson reflected that worship is not limited to an hour spent in a religious building on Sundays. Broadly speaking, worship is giving worth to something. Worship is whatever consumes our focus.

"Everyone is worshiping something all the time," Robinson said. Our service in the world, our work, and the way we interact with our friends and family can all be extensions of our worship.

While worship is partly individual, it can also be a collective experience.

"We were made for communion with one another," Robinson said. "When you meet with others, you get a bigger glimpse of who God is." Participation in a church family is one way of experiencing the blessings of collective worship.

Are you wondering what it might feel like to be part of a spiritual community and engage in the spiritual practice of worship? Robinsons advice to those who havent worshiped for awhile is this: "Come and see. Come and experience. All of us who turn up to church  were all on the same level. None of us are perfect. We are all under the grace of God. We all come through the same doors. We all stand before the same God."

His refreshingly honest words are a reminder that God doesnt require or expect our perfection. Instead, we worship just as we are, fully loved and accepted.

Worship isnt just a space to go and confess what we already believe to be true about God. Its also about making space to experience awe and express gratitude for the glorious mystery of it all. As we transition into Easter tomorrow, may the wonders of worship capture your spiritual imagination and fill your heart with love and peace.DISH THREAT Britain will cripple EU Galileo satellites global coverage if EU locks UK out of it

ExclusiveBy Tom Newton Dunn, Political Editor26th March 2018The SunBRITAIN will cripple the EU Galileo satellites global coverage if the EU presses ahead with a threat to lock Britain out of it.A Brussels plan to strip Britain of access to the joint space system after Brexit has infuriated Downing Street.Ministers will hit back with a pledge to turn off key infrastructure for it on the Falklands, Ascension Island and Diego Garcia.The Galileo satellite  relied on by businesses as well as the military  uses dishes and boosters on Britains overseas territories to give it global vision The 8.5bn programme provides a European encrypted navigation system to rival the USAs GPS.The tit for tat block will be relayed to EU negotiators in a formal letter soon.A Whitehall source told The Sun: Galileo relies on a huge amount of British know how, as well as our territories all over the world.Trying to cut us out of it would backfire badly on the EU Commission. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson accused EU chiefs of playing politics with security with the threat yesterday.Saying he was deeply disappointed by the move, Mr Williamson also claimed it has little support from member states.He added: What has been notable as I have spoken to so many defence ministers across Europe is that they think the EU Commissions view is wrong.It will not only be detrimental to Britain but will also be highly detrimental to European security.So I very much hope the EU Commission will take the opportunity to see sense, recalibrate its position and not play politics on something that is so vitally important.Early this month, President Trump tweeted:

Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isnt the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!

Trumps tweet was foolish at several levels, as I argued here. For one thing, folks who know what theyre talking about  e.g., Trey Gowdy  say that the Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, is doing a good job investigating. Indeed, it was Horowitz who turned up the notorious Strzok-Page text messages in the course of his investigation of the Department of Justice/FBI handling of the Clinton email investigation in advance of the presidential election.

Moreover, Sessions was, in fact, using Justice Department lawyers with prosecutorial power in connections with potential FISA and related abuses. Since November, John Huber, the U.S. Attorney for Utah, has been on the case. Trump apparently didnt know this, but he should have. Sometimes its better to talk to the Attorney General than mindlessly to blast him on Twitter.

Huber was appointed by President Obama, but his name was submitted by Senators Hatch and Lee of Utah. Thus, his selection by Sessions seems like a shrewd move. As Obamas nominee it will be difficult for critics plausibly to paint him as anti-Democrat. But as the favorite of Hatch and Lee, Republicans should be confident that hes not in the Democrats pocket. Moreover, because Huber works out of Utah, its unlikely that hes connected in any way with D.C. insiders such as James Comey and Andrew McCabe.

What about the decision to use a U.S. attorney rather than appoint a special counsel? This decision also seems sound, and not just because I dont like special counsels. The combination of the IG and the USA should be able to accomplish as much as a special counsel would  and accomplish it faster and with less fanfare.

The absence of fanfare is an advantage because it makes it more difficult for Democrats and their media partners to push the idea that anyone is being persecuted. A Justice Department investigation headed by two Obama appointees is harder to shoot at than a special counsel. And, of course, nothing prevents Sessions from appointing a special counsel if changed circumstances militate in favor of doing so.

In sum, Sessions has handled this matter well, Trumps foolish tweets notwithstanding.Przepraszamy!

Ogoszenie na stanowisku:

Systems DEVLOPER/Support Analyst



wygaso z dniem 2018-03-31



Ta propozycja bya zozona przez Luxoft Poland sp. z o.o.

Mozliwe przyczyny wygasniecia ogoszenia to:

oferta zozona przez pracodawce zostaa wycofana z naszej bazy

ogoszeniodawca zakonczy proces rekrutacji uzyskujac odpowiednia ilosc pracownikow

zleceniodawca zmodyfikowa tresc ogoszenia i jest ono dostepne pod innym adresem WWW

dostawca tresci usuna ogoszenie z bazy danych

bedny adres WWW ogoszenia

Jezeli poszukujesz pracy w branzy Informatyka / Telekomunikacja, zajrzyj tutaj: Praca Informatyka / Telekomunikacja

Jezeli poszukujesz pracy na stanowisku Systems DEVLOPER/Support Analyst, zajrzyj tutaj: Praca Systems DEVLOPER/Support Analyst

Jezeli poszukujesz pracy w miescie: Warszawa, zajrzyj tutaj: Praca Warszawa



Pamietaj, ze mozesz takze rozpoczac poszukiwanie pracy od strony gownej, kliknij tutaj.

Inne ogoszenia, ktore mogy byc w kregu Twoich zainteresowan:Przepraszamy!

Ogoszenie na stanowisku:

Senior FullStack Dev



wygaso z dniem 2018-03-31



Ta propozycja bya zozona przez Luxoft Poland sp. z o.o.

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propozycja zamieszczona przez pracodawce zostaa wycofana z serwisu praca.egospodarka.pl

rekruter zakonczy proces rekrutacji uzyskujac odpowiednia ilosc pracownikow

zleceniodawca zmodyfikowa tresc zlecenia i jest ono dostepne pod innym adresem url

dostawca tresci usuna ogoszenie z bazy danych

bedny adres url ogoszenia

Jezeli poszukujesz pracy w branzy Informatyka / Telekomunikacja, zajrzyj tutaj: Praca Informatyka / Telekomunikacja

Jezeli poszukujesz pracy na stanowisku Senior FullStack Dev, zajrzyj tutaj: Praca Senior FullStack Dev

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Inne ogoszenia, ktore mogy byc w kregu Twoich zainteresowan:GLENDALE, California, March 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Coming off the success of their trip to the Mumbai in February, Blockchain enabled Export Portal looks forward to showcasing what ExportPortal e-Commerce platform can do for international trade at The Vietnam Expo in Hanoi, April 11-14.

Ally Spinu, CEO of Export Portal, said, "Machinery and automation are fast replacing farmlands across Vietnam and contributing to the nation's foreign trade and foreign affairs. Export Portal understands the innate desire to compete on the world stage and offer an alternative to rising manufacturing costs from other countries. We want the best of Vietnam to be a part of our success story."

While spending a week in Vietnam, Ms. Spinu and her team will be meeting with business leaders and government officials about where Export Portal's platform can be of service to spur more global trade. Her team's own experience in searching for promotional products manufactured around Hanoi proved difficult because there was absolutely no assurance that the product would have even come from Vietnam. What would any other company from anywhere else in the world do? We know the end of that storywhich is why we created ExportPortal.com.

Ms. Spinu continued, "The world's trade commerce is tired of deceptive internet marketing and ExportPortal.com doesn't want any country to miss any opportunity. Our private blockchain backbone in conjunction with our KYC process means that companies can establish their own course for as a company in good standing that buyers from around the world can believe in."

To meet us in Vietnam or to discuss international e-Commerce with our Business Development Lead, Email Export Portal at: [email protected] or via WhatsApp: 1+ (818)213-6181. Our team has a plan, but we still want to know where in the world we should go next to continue our 100+ Country World Tour in 2018!

About Export Portal & ExportPortal.com:

Blockchain enabled international B2B ecommerce (http://ec-b2b.com/)

Ecosystem that is fast looking for more than just investors (http://b2b-ec.com/).

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Any industry; any sized company; any country: Free to join

Related Links

http://www.ExportPortal.com



SOURCE Export PortalNew Delhi : Globally, major strides have been taken in cinema as far as gender equality is concerned. But when it comes to nudity, men still prefer to keep themselves clothed even while playing sexually-emboldened characters.

Take, for example, last year's game-changing same-sex love story "Call Me By Your Name" which features the incredibly charismatic Armie Hammer as a visiting American student who has a passionate affair with the son of his hosts in Italy.

Armand Douglas Hammer, a straight man in real life, who has unabashedly played gay roles in at least three recent films, revealed that his co-star Timothy Chalamet and he remained naked on the sets while shooting their love scenes. However, they had both stipulated in their contracts that there would be no bared private parts on screen.

In an interview, the film's writer, the renowned James Ivory, said: "Certainly, in my screenplay there was all sorts of nudity. But according to (director) Luca, both actors had it in their contracts that there would be no frontal nudity, and there isn't, which I think is kind of a pity. Again, it's just this American attitude. Nobody seems to care that much, or be shocked, about a totally naked woman. It's the men. This is something that must be so deeply cultural that one should ask: 'Why?'"

Indeed, why?

Explaining his reluctance to go starkers on camera, Armie explained how he didn't want a picture of his penis to surface on the internet to embarrass his daughter.

Fair enough. We must respect the self-censorship that an individual imposes on artistic liberty. And Armie is partially right. Nudity can get mortifying in the family. I remember the pain and suffering that the fiercely committed Seema Biswas went through after her full frontal nudity in Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen hit the theatres.

For all her reservations, she did it nonetheless. Somehow women have always had an easier time exteriorising their character's candour through nude scenes. Top contemporary actresses in the West like Jennifer Lawrence and Sally Hawkins have appeared without their clothes in award-winning films last year.

Male actors, though, have always been shy. This lopsided reading of physical objectification goes back to the cinema of Yash Chopra where the romantic songs shot in snowcapped Switzerland featured heroines in skimpy chiffon sarees while the heroes were padded up in woollens.

Even the much-vilified item songs are almost invariably meant for the male gaze. So many girls. Where are the item boys?

Women, it is pretentiously presumed, are too shy to gaze at anything except the cooking range. And then, after dinner, the lights go out. Women are, of course, presumed to be loath to objectify men. But some Bollywood's resident beefcakes don't mind being item boys.

Randeep Hooda, who played a dangerous sex machine in his latest release "Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster", used his sexuality with the power of a gun. After seeing his libidinous act, Shobhaa De wrote on a micro-blogging site, "Finally figured out what Sush(mita) saw in Randeep Hooda. He's hotter than all the Khans."

During the release of the film, Randeep had told me: "Of course, I love the thought of being an object of desire in a slow romantic item song for women. Wouldn't you love it too? Every man wants to be desired by the opposite sex. And why just ladies? I don't mind being admired by men too."

In Rohit Dhawan's "Desi Boyz", Akshay Kumar and John Abraham performed a striptease pole dance, as the ladies drooled to their heart's content. The trend of item boys in Bollywood started with Abhishek Bachchan who surrounded himself with a bevy of beauties and sang "One love" for Mahesh Manjrekar's film "Rakht" in 2004.

In Soham Shah's "Kaal", Shah Rukh Khan took off his shirt and joined Malaika Arora for a water-drenched raunchy romp.

But these remain isolated instances.

It's the women who get objectified in the item songs. So when Armie Hammer gets nervous about being exposed to his daughter's friends, we should also spare a thought for all the female actors who are regularly dunked in water, soaked in the rain and made to wear as much as decency requires.

Women have families too.

(Subhash K. Jha can be contacted at jhasubh@gmail.com)Dharamsala, March 28 : Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) President Lobsang Sangay on Wednesday said his government-in-exile "doesn't want to cause inconvenience to host India".

Speaking on cancelling of events planned by his administration earlier in New Delhi to mark the beginning of the 60th year of the Dalai Lama stepping on India soil, he told reporters here: "Whatever we do, we don't want to cause inconvenience to our hosts or to the persons who want to meet us."

"They may have particular reasons as to why these coming months are sensitive. So, we completely understand and respect that. There is no disappointment at all but rather an understanding of the situation," he said.

Sangay was responding to a media query regarding a circular issued by the Indian government relating to the "Thank You India" events starting on March 31.

Without mincing words, he said the government and people of India have done the most for Tibet.

"Every year, in all the formal and non-formal events, we Tibetans always say thank you India. I think it's important that we also demonstrate our gratitude in deeds."

"His Holiness the Dalai Lama calls himself a 'son of India'. So, we should be saying thank you a lot. Moreover, our relationship with India is like parent and children. Therefore, we want to thank India," he said.

Amidst the recent tensions with China, the Indian government was reported to have cautioned its senior officials last month to stay away from events aimed at marking the start of the Dalai Lama's 60th year of exile.

After cancelling events in the national capital, the Tibetan government-in-exile will now start pan-India "Thank You India" programmes to mark the beginning of the 60th year of the Dalai Lama arriving in India.

The Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet to India in March 1959.

To mark the events, Sangay on Wednesday released a "Thank you India" music video, performed and produced by artistes of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, thanking India for its hospitality and assistance.

Sangay said the yearlong events lined up as part of the campaign include a mass tree plantation drive to support a green India movement, participating in Yoga Day events organised by the government of India, distribution of food to the hungry and homeless and a mass cleanliness drive to observe the Indian government's Swachh Bharat initiative.

Acknowledging the growing Chinese pressure on global leaders on the Tibet issue, Sangay said: "Wherever I go, be it Europe, the US, the pressure is increasing."

The CTA is organising a public event here to officially launch the "Thank You India" campaign on March 31.

It will be one of the largest events ever organised by the Tibetans in Dharamsala and hundreds of guests are expected to attend, including Naren Das, a member of the first delegation that received the Dalai Lama when he first set foot on India.

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will attend the event.

The Dalai Lama, in an interview to CNN News18, has said he "doesn't care about how Chinese pressure forced the cancellation of the events of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Delhi".

He said it was more about "how you feel for Tibetans and how Tibetans feel for India".

The Tibetan administration in exile is based in the north Indian hill town of Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh.Chennai, March 30 : DMK leader M.K. Stalin on Friday asked Chief Minister K. Palaniswami to convene a meeting of his cabinet and pass a resolution condemning the Central government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Cauvery issue.

In a statement issued here, Stalin also said the state government should file a contempt of court petition in the Supreme Court against the Modi government for not setting up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) within six weeks of its order.

The deadline for setting up the CMB ended on March 29.

Stalin said the Tamil Nadu government should have approached the apex court with a contempt petition when the Union Minister for Water Resources and the Union Water Resources Secretary spoke against the apex court order on constituting the CMB.Paris, March 31 : France's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that it regretted Russia's decision to expel four French diplomats.

"Russia's decision to expel four French embassy staff from Russia does not surprise us. We regret this and want to point out that to this day Russia has refused to give any explanation about the attack in Salisbury," the ministry said, Xinhua reported.

Despite the diplomatic row over the poisoning affair, "France reiterates its commitment and willingness to engage a constructive dialogue with Russia on all international issues," the French Foreign Ministry added.

Russian former double spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious on a bench in a shopping centre in the southern British city of Salisbury on March 4. They were poisoned with a nerve agent in the first such attack in a European country since World War Two.

The British government accused Russia of involvement in the nerve toxin attack on the ex-Russian double spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, which left both of them critically ill, but the Russian authorities have denied the accusation.

On Monday, France told four Russian diplomats to leave the country within a week in "full solidarity" with Britain that accused Moscow of poisoning one of its former agent on British territory.

Earlier on Friday, Moscow expelled 59 diplomats from 23 countries in retaliation to the coordinated move to knock out Russian diplomats by dozens of western countries.

In a separate statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it also summoned the British ambassador and informed him that Britain has to downsize its diplomats stationed in Russia to the same level as Russia has in Britain within a month.

Earlier this month, more than two dozens of countries announced the expulsion of around 150 Russian diplomats over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter with a nerve agent.

Tensions between Russia and western countries have exacerbated over the ongoing exchange of diplomatic sanctions.United Nations, March 31 : The UN Security Council will hold emergency consultations on the situation in Gaza after Israeli soldiers reportedly killed 15 Palestinian protesters along the border fence.

"At the request of #Kuwait, the @UN Security Council will meet at 6.30 p.m. in informal consultations... to discuss the latest developments in #Gaza," the Kuwaiti mission to the United Nations tweeted on Friday, which is a UN holiday.

Delegations of two other Security Council members -- France and the Netherlands -- also tweeted the news.

The official UN alert to journalists says it will be a closed-door meeting.New York, March 31 : A UN employee has accused a top organisation official of sexual assault and claimed that the world body failed to take her complaint seriously, the media reported.

In an exclusive interview with CNN on Friday, Martina Brostrom accused Luiz Loures, a UN Assistant Secretary General, of grabbing her in a hotel elevator, forcibly kissing her and trying to drag her to his room during a conference in 2015.

"I was pleading with him, and I was just bracing with all that I could just to not leave the elevator," Brostrom, a policy advisor at UNAIDS, the organisation's global AIDS programme, told CNN.

"What has happened to me, how the situation has been mishandled -- it mustn't happen to any other woman," she added.

Loures had co-operated with a 14-month investigation, which concluded that Brostrom's claims were unsubstantiated.

But Brostrom has slammed the probe as "deeply flawed".

Loures, who was also the deputy executive director of UNAIDS, is leaving the UN at the end of his contract this week.

A spokesman for UNAIDS told CNN that the investigation into Brostrom's allegations followed "due process" and she was welcome to appeal.

Brostrom is one of three women to describe similar encounters with Loures.

Malayah Harper, told CNN that Loures assaulted her in a strikingly similar way at a hotel in 2014.

A third unidentified woman also complained of an assault a few years ago.

Several people close to UNAIDS chief Michel Sidibe have said that they warned him about Loures over a period of at least three years.

At a staff meeting in February, Sidibe denied being warned.

He also praised Loures' decision to leave the UN as "courageous" and attacked employees who spoke publicly about sexual harassment claims at the UN, saying "they don't have (a) moral approach".Lucknow, March 31 : A statue of Dalit icon Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was vandalised in Allahabad on Saturday, police said.

The statue with its head chopped off was found by residents at a park in the city's Trivenipuram locality.

"We are aware of the matter and are trying to locate the suspects," Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Allahabad Aakash Kulhari told IANS.

He said a case has been registered and ruled out any tension in the area following the incident.

A similar incident took place in Meerut on March 7.Brussels, March 31 : The monthly allowance of Belgium's Prince Laurent had docked for a year after a vote by the country's federal parliament, the media reported on Saturday.

The sanction, imposed after the prince attended a Chinese embassy reception last year in full naval uniform without government permission, was suggested by Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, the BBC reported.

The prince was warned by Michel to seek foreign ministry permission before conducting any diplomatic activity but the royal went to the event and tweeted a photo of himself there.

The lawmakers voted for a 15 per cent cut to his $378,000 annual allowance.

The prince, who is the younger brother of King Philippe, wrote a lengthy emotional letter to parliament before the vote on his endowment, arguing that, as a royal, he was unable to work for a living.

He described the vote as "the trial of my life" and said it would "likely cause me serious prejudice" if MPs went against him, the BBC reported.

"This allowance, the reduction of which is being discussed as a result of political or media currents, is the price of a life - the price of my life, which is largely behind me now," he said.New Delhi : The World Economic Forum annual meeting last month revealed some startling facts about India and the world's economy. The Oxfam survey highlighted that the richest one per cent in India accounted for 73 per cent of the wealth generated in the country, showcasing the worrying trend of income inequality. Recommendations to alleviate this included promotion of labour-intensive sectors and investment in agriculture.

On the other hand, India is aggressively pushing for solar power with a 100 GW target for 2021-22. The installed capacity crossed 20 GW in 2017, with 18.4 GW in the form of ground-mounted projects and 1.6 GW on rooftops. This provides us with the opportunity to innovate in terms of systems design and link solar power to India's labour-intensive agriculture sector.

The trend in India is the promotion of large solar parks with capacities more than 250 MW, at each location, in bigger states. The official solar park target has been increased to 40 GW. Recent tenders for these parks have driven the tariff down to less than Rs 2.50/unit, making solar cheaper than coal. However, rooftop photovoltaic (RTPV) systems, which are expected to contribute 40 GW as well, have still not taken off in India and need a boost.

Ground-mounted PV solar projects require around four-five acres of land per MW, and 120,000 to 200,000 acres of land are required to meet the 40 GW solar park target. Most of the proposed solar parks have faced issues when it comes to identification and acquisition of land. The common practice today is to identify land with low agricultural yields and then lease them out from farmers for 25-30 years at an annual rate of Rs 20,000-Rs 30,000/acre.

The problem here is that 40 GW of solar parks will result in 160,000 to 200,000 acres of land lying unutilised below the PV panels. Moreover, farmers will only receive a marginal increment in their revenue. Is there a way then, to optimise the usage of land, whilst increasing the farmers' revenues significantly?

Enter, the polyhouse. A polyhouse is an enclosed space where a variety of plants can be grown perennially by controlling the ambient temperature, humidity, air flow and lighting conditions. Polyhouses are a proven concept in India; enterprising farmers have reported five-fold increases in agricultural yield and resultant revenue per acre of land. Central and state governments also encourage polyhouses by providing 40-60 per cent capital subsidies on polyhouse investments made by farmers. Innovative irrigation methods, such as drip or mist, have reduced the water requirement in polyhouses by more than 60 per cent per acre for typical crops. One acre of polyhouse also creates 10-12 jobs. Is it then possible to change solar parks to solar polyhouse parks where farmers adopt modern farming techniques, while PV panels adorn the roofs of the polyhouse structures?

Polyhouses with RTPV have been successfully implemented in developed countries with colder climates; PV panels are seamlessly integrated into the roof structure. This design allows heat to get trapped inside the polyhouse, which contributes to making the internal conditions favourable for plant growth. However, in tropical parts of India, the typical design of polyhouses is such that the roof is designed as a broken dome structure, which allows better air circulation and ventilation, and hence control over the ambient temperature. RTPV systems will have to be placed over the roof structure of these polyhouses with an external integration design. This means that the supporting structure of the polyhouses will need to be made stronger to accommodate the extra weight of the panels and their mounts.

Agricultural experts claim that while it is technically feasible to install PV panels on polyhouses, it will obstruct light from entering the structure and negatively impact plant growth. However, initial analyses show that artificial lighting inside the polyhouse can compensate for the loss of natural lighting because of the PV panels.

Polyhouses with 1 MW RTPV capacity will need around seven acres of land and the auxiliary electricity consumption will be around 12 per cent. Although the land required per MW increases and electricity exported per MW to the grid decreases, the resultant co-benefits, in terms of revenue and yield, increase for the farmers. PV system developers fear that costs will go up if RTPV designs are put on the table. However, with accurate structural engineering, the costs might actually come down by reducing the size of the mounting structures.

This proposed innovation of polyhouses with RTPV has the potential to pave the way for inclusive growth in India by linking solar to agriculture. Structural and lighting engineers, along with polyhouse design specialists, need to work together to develop working designs for various parts of the country. This could even culminate into a specific policy being announced to promote this concept. It is a win-win situation for farmers, who had all but given up on their lands, as well as the government when it comes to choosing land for large solar projects.

(Saptak Ghosh is a Research Scientist at the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy [CSTEP], Bengaluru. The views expressed are those of CSTEP. He can be reached at saptakg@cstep.in)Islamabad, March 31 : Nobel peace laureate and young education activist Malala Yousafzai visited her home in Swat Valley, more than five years after she was shot in the head there by the Taliban.

Malala Yousafzai, 20, along with her parents, State Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and others landed near her family home in Mingora in the morning amid tight security, the Pakistani media reported.

In October 2012, Malala Yousafzai -- then 15 years old -- was attacked when she was returning from her school. She was later flown to London for medical treatment.

The activist, who is on four-day visit to Pakistan, met her friends and family before visiting the Swat Cadet College Guli Bagh, some 15 km outside of Mingora.

Yousafzai arrived in Pakistan early Thursday. She later delivered an emotional speech at the Prime Minister's Office in Islamabad saying it had been her dream to return "without any fear".

"Always it has been my dream that I should go to Pakistan and there, in peace and without any fear, I can move on streets, I can meet people, I can talk to people.

"And I think that it's my old home again... so it is actually happening, and I am grateful to all of you," an emotional Yousafzai said on her return.

Due to security reasons, her entire itinerary had been kept tightly under wraps.

Meanwhile, in a televised interview with Geo TV aired on Friday, the activist said she plans to return to Pakistan permanently once her studies are completed.

"It is my plan to return to Pakistan after completing my education because it is my country and I have equal rights on it like any other Pakistani."

The Oxford University student, who had said that she wanted to run for Prime Minister, said there was "definitely a difference between the Pakistan of today and in 2012".

"Things are becoming better, people are uniting and a campaign for better Pakistan is ongoing, people are active which is very good."

Yousafzai plans to return to Britain on Monday.New Delhi : New Delhi March 31 (IANS) Actress-turned-author Twinkle Khanna and film and television personality Ekta Kapoor will be honoured with FLO Icon Award at the 34th Annual session of FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) here.

President Ram Nath Kovind will be the chief guest and deliver the key note address at the session of FLO, the women's business wing of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The session will be held on April 5, a statement said.

ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar will be the guest of honour.

During the session, FLO will honour ten Indian women achievers, including Kochhar, with the FLO Icon Award.

The award winners include Falguni Nayar, Founder and CEO, NYKAA, for digital entrepreneurship; and Namita Gokhale, author and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival, for promoting literature.

"The session is a perfect platform for sharing best practices and experiences across 15 locations pan India, in a unified effort to play a catalytic role towards women empowerment. It also marks the ushering in a new year and continuing the legacy that FLO has walked upon, in the past 34 years of its existence," said FLO President Vasvi Bharat Ram.Mumbai, March 31 : Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan was happy to meet acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan on Saturday here. He says it was very inspiring to hear him talk about the virtues of celluloid.

"My fanboy moment. Inspiring to hear Nolan and Tacita Dean talk of the virtues of celluloid as an artist's medium," Shah Rukh tweeted on Saturday.

Nolan is regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers of the 21st century courtesy titles like "Batman Begins", "The Dark Knight", "The Dark Knight Rises", "Inception", "Interstellar" and "Dunkirk".

Work and love for cinema has brought him to the country. Nolan is in India to draw attention to the importance of celluloid in the digital age.

Indian filmmaker and archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, founder of the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF), is hosting Nolan at a three-day event 'Reframing the Future of Film' here from March 30 to April 1. Celebrated visual artist Tacita Dean will also be part of it.

Shah Rukh also thanked Dungarpur for making him a part of this initiative.

Nolan will also be present for the screenings of two of his recent films -- Oscar-nomianted "Dunkirk" and "Interstellar".

The Hollywood director, who had come to India to shoot "The Dark Knight Rises" in Jodhpur back in 2011, is expected to fly out on April 2.

According to a source in the know, Nolan's scheduled is pretty packed and he will not get time for leisure activity during his trip.Accra, March 31 : As the Ghanaian government struggles to find a solution to the country's accommodation problem, Indian-owned Swami International has stepped in with a $12 million, 12.4 acre Paradise Estates township made up of 102 houses in the capital Accra.

This is part of the company's $50 million investment in real estate across two other West African countries, Gambia and Senegal, its General Manager, Tarun Singh, told IANS.

Swami entered the West African real estate market two years ago, Singh said, in response to an African Development Bank (AfDB) report that the continent "was growing with an urbanisation rate of 3.4 per cent, with cities across the continent experiencing the fastest urban growth rate globally. Unfortunately, it looks like this is not being matched by the ability to provide affordable houses".

He said the Swami Group entered a market that has real demand and is perhaps providing what governments across the continent are not able to do.

The international real estate group, Knight Frank, in a report on Africa's real estate sector for 2017, said rapid population growth across Africa -- faster than any other global region -- together with urbanisation, is driving the property market activity across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Singh said the company had already completed a similar project in Senegal and had moved on to a second one at Diamniodo, a new development at the new airport.

"Our decision to come to West Africa is due to the peace and security we find in the countries that we are operating in," he added.

Singh, however, said there were some problems that needed to be solved, including skilled workers to be engaged on large-scale housing projects and poor utility services, in order to attract more investors into the real estate sector in the three countries.

In addition to the provision of houses in Gambia, Singh said the company has also provided rural electrification and boreholes for the people. "In addition, we have also ventured into agriculture with the cultivation of potatoes in Senegal and bananas in the Gambia," he said.

The AfDB has identified a huge deficit in the real estate sector which it said had hit the poor hard because of affordability and this had remained a key challenge to developing the housing finance market.

(Francis Kokutse can be contacted at fkokutse@gmail.com)Raipur, March 31 : Satyanand Pradhan, a Chhattisgarh teacher, was struggling to walk after he broke his leg in a 2017 accident. With a limp, he made several rounds of a local revenue office to get the title of a piece of land bought months ago registered under his name.

He kept visiting the office but officials kept it delaying on one or the other pretext.

As his five-month struggle seemed endless, Chief Minister Raman Singh paid a prevoously unannounced visit to Pradhan's village Khairkhuta.

The visit was part of the Chief Minister's "Lok Suraj Abhiyan" -- which his officers explained was a grassroots level outreach, hearing from people them about their problems and taking developmental intiatives to the last person in the row.

Samadhan Shivir or redressal camps are part of the initiative.

An anguished and frustrated, Pradhan narrated his "woeful tale" to the Chief Minister at Khairkhuta in Mahasamund district.

Raman Singh instantly ordered the redressal of Pradhan's problem.

The teacher is among thousands who have benefited from the Chief Minister's outreach programme in a state that also faces major security challenge from the Maoists.

The campaign has taken him to remote areas of the state with people from panchayat to block and district levels narrate their own problems or those related to developmet schemes of the state as well as central government.

Raman Singh, on one such visit, told IANS that the programme aimed at improving governance and getting direct feedback on various welfare measures taken by the state and central governments.

"There can't be a best way of social audit. It lays the foundation for policy making, course correction and also helps in administrative oversight.

"The idea is to bring all levels of government together in villages and cities to interact with people, get feedbacks so that policy formulation in the future is as full-proof as possible in satiating the needs of the people," the BJP's longest serving Chief Minister said.

No prior announcement about scheduled visits is made. A district collector is informed a day before. The top district officer then sends out the message to others and an announcement is made to the public on the morning of the day of the Chief Minister's visit.

Also accompanying him is Chief Secretary Ajay Singh and his personal secretary and one or two more officers from his office.

People are gathered in a "chaupal" style meeting. All officers of district line departments are called. Villagers seeking solutions to their problems related to governance speak up one by one. The concerned department is ordered to hear them out and, if possible, solve the problem instantly.

The grassroots level outreach comes ahead of state assembly elections due this year in which Raman Singh will seeking a successive fourth term in office Officials said the initiative targeted at delivering development to people and bringing governance at their door-steps.

According to the officials, the Chief Minister had received over 30 lakh applications, including grievances and demands, in January this year. Some of them were frivolous but the genuine ones were sorted out.

They said 98 per cent of these cases have been solved under the Lok Suraj Abhiyan launched on March 11 and that concluded on Saturday. He has covered all the 27 districts of the state in the last 20 days.

In the last leg of the programme, Raman Singh visited Mohla in Rajnandgaon, Kheltukdi in Kabirdham and Mura in Raipur.

Some of the common enqueries the Chief Minister makes are about if people are getting good quality rice, salt and chana (gram) from their ration shops.

"Does it open regularly? If you feel any discrepancy tell me right now. I am here to address these issues."

During the course of the visit, concerned officials publicly announce the details of complaints received by them along with the action taken in each case. They also share the details of status of implementation of schemes.

On some occasions, Raman Singh didn't even hesitate to warn erring officials.

"Some issues should be solved on humanitarian grounds. If you feel any official is not hearing your concerns, you tell me right now. I will take corrective steps," he said, asking one official to solve the issues of the villagers by the end of camp at Khairkhuta.

The complaints the Chief Minister received during his visits were mostly related to ration cards, housing schemes, MNREGA and poor electricty supply.

The Chief Minister also makes a small address, selling to his potential voters various development projects of the central as well as the state government.

At one meeting, he asked people to raise their hands if they were getting benefits of Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, ODF status under Swachh Bharat Mission and others like state's health smart card.

Then there is a review meeting with district officials about the implementation of these schemes.

Raman Singh also distributed LPG cylinders, charan padukas (slippers) and even tractors to some beneficieries on the spot.

The Chief Minister said during his visits he found that number of complaints were reducing while the demands of the people were growing.

The Chief Minister told IANS that many of the schemes have covered over 90 per cent of the people of the state and "we will try to sort out the rest of the issues in the next two-months".

Political analysts in the state say the move was to fight "anti-incumbency" against Raman Singh who became Chief Minister in 2003 and has been undefeated since.

"Through this move, the Chief Minister gauges public mood and targets to end anti-incumbency against his government," Ravi Bhui, a senior journalist in Raipur, told IANS.

Subhash Jain, a businessmen in Mahasamund told IANS: "This is the DNA of Raman Singh's success. He reaches to any village in a role of nayak (hero) and leaves the place after satisfying everyone. This is such a programme which should be adopted by all the chief ministers."

(Brajendra Nath Singh can be contacted at brajendra.n@ians.in)New York, March 31 : While the surface conditions on Venus are known to be inhospitable, with temperatures soaring above 450 degrees Celsius, the cloudy, acidic atmosphere of the planet could potentially harbour microbial life, a new study suggests.

The research, detailed in the journal Astrobiology, supports the idea of habitability of Venus' clouds which was first raised in 1967 by biophysicist Harold Morowitz and astronomer Carl Sagan.

"To really know, we need to go there and sample the clouds," said co-author of the new study Rakesh Mogul, Professor at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

"Venus could be an exciting new chapter in astrobiology exploration," Mogul said.

On Earth, terrestrial microorganisms -- mostly bacteria -- are capable of being swept into the atmosphere, where they have been found alive at altitudes as high as 41 kilometres by scientists using specially equipped balloons, according to study co-author David Smith of NASA's Ames Research Center.

There is also a growing catalog of microbes known to inhabit incredibly harsh environments on our planet, including the deep ocean hydrothermal vents, the toxic sludge of polluted areas, and in acidic lakes worldwide.

The study to explore habitability of Venus' clouds led by Sanjay Limaye of the University of Wisconsin-Madison was further inspired by his visit to Tso Kar, a high-altitude salt lake in Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir.

There he observed the powdery residue of sulfur-fixing bacteria concentrated on decaying grass at the edge of the lake being wafted into the atmosphere.

For the study, the researchers focused on unidentified particles that make up unexplained dark patches observed in the clouds of Venus.

Spectroscopic observations, particularly in the ultraviolet, show that the dark patches are composed of concentrated sulfuric acid and other unknown light-absorbing particles.

Those dark patches have been a mystery since they were first observed by ground-based telescopes nearly a century ago, Limaye said.

They were studied in more detail by subsequent probes to the planet.

The particles that make up the dark patches have almost the same dimensions as some bacteria on Earth, although the instruments that have sampled Venus' atmosphere to date are incapable of distinguishing between materials of an organic or inorganic nature, the study said.

The patches could be something akin to the algae blooms that occur routinely in the lakes and oceans of Earth, according to Limaye and Mogul.

"Venus has had plenty of time to evolve life on its own," explained Limaye, noting that some models suggest Venus once had a habitable climate with liquid water on its surface for as long as two billion years.

"That's much longer than is believed to have occurred on Mars," he added.Thiruvananthapuram, March 31 : The Thiruvanathapuram Latin Diocese on Saturday slammed the the state's Pinarayi Vijayan government for not doing a proper rehabilitation programme in wake of Cyclone Ockhi, while complimenting the Tamil Nadu government for rising to the occasion.

Addressing reporters here, Archbishop M.Susaipakiam said they were told that the political leadership is busy with their party Congress and other things.

"While the total dead in Kerala on account of Ockhi was 146, the compensation has been handed over to just 49. But in Tamil Nadu, the compensation has been given to 146 dead," he said.

The Church leadership also demanded that a social audit should be conducted in the way the funds for Ockhi relief and rehabilitation have been spent.

Even as the Church says that the total dead is 146, according to the Kerala government figures, 52 people were killed and 91 remain missing.

Cyclone Ockhi struck Kerala's southern districts on November 30 last year and the worst affected were two fishing villages in the state capital and a huge majority of the affected belonged to the Latin archdiocese.

The Church leadership also pointed out that they have so far spend Rs 14 lakh for medical relief to the affected, besides they have held numerous counselling sessions in the coastal hamlets and that also has cost them a good sum of money.

The Kerala government had informed the ongoing assembly session that the process of giving compensation to the families of the missing was underway and it would be done once the formalities are over.

It had, in January, announced that while the compensation to the families of the dead would be given Rs 2 million each and the same amount would be given to the families of the fishermen who have gone missing, but only after verification.

It had then started giving a monthly allowance of Rs 10,000 each to the families of the missing fishermen.Patna, March 31 : Nearly a week after an arrest warrant was issued against Union Minister Ashwini Choubey's son Arijit Shashwat, accused of inciting communal violence in Bihar's Bhagalpur district, Bihar Police has failed to arrest him.

The police have also failed to trace another BJP leader Anil Singh -- the main accused in communal violence in Aurangabad district, who managed to escape from police custody.

Both Shashwat and Singh are absconding.

Although a five-member special police team has been constituted to arrest Shashwat, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, it is yet to make any breakthrough.

"Police have been doing everything to arrest both accused," senior police officer Gupteshwar Pandey said.

Last week, a case was lodged against Shashwat for taking out a procession without prior permission, inciting communal passion and roaming on the streets with arms in Bhagalpur.

Shashwat's father Choubey has described the FIR as "a piece of garbage", which was registered by "corrupt police officers in Bhagalpur".

Shashwat unsuccessfully contested the last assembly polls as a BJP nominee from Bhagalpur, considered a stronghold of Choubey who was elected MP from Buxar in 2014.

Anil Singh, who was arrested in connection with the communal violence in Aurangabad during Ram Navami procession, escaped from police custody two days ago.

Singh, who is also associated with Hindu Seva Samiti, is said to have played the key role in incite communal passion in Aurangabad.

Ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) spokespersons are, however, downplaying the issue, saying there is rule of law in Bihar under Nitish Kumar and culprits or accused would not be spared.

Nitish Kumar's JD-U is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA which also comprises the Lok Janshakti Party and the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party.

Over half-a-dozen Bihar districts, including Aurangabad, Nawada, Samastipur, Munger, Bhagalpur and Nalanda, are currently in the grip of communal tension. Additional security forces have been deployed in the affected towns.

Last week, communal tension starting from Aurangabad district during Ram Navami processions, spread to Samastipur, Munger, Nalanda, Sheikhpura and Gaya districts.

The opposition parties have slammed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for what they called his "failure to handle the situation".Kolkata, March 31 : The upcoming Panchayat polls in West Bengal would be held in three phases in the first week of May, the State Election Commission announced on Saturday.

"The Panchayat polls would be held in three phases on May 1, 3 and 5. The counting would be take place on May 8," State Election Commissioner A.K. Singh told the reporters here.

A total of 58, 467 polling stations will be set up in 20 districts for the over 5.08 crore voters, he said.

The first phase of elections would be held in 12 south Bengal districts including North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia and the two Midnapore districts. Polling in Murshidabad and Birbhum would be held in the second phase while the third phase of polling would comprise six districts in north Bengal.

Singh also said that the notice inviting nominations for the polls would be issued from April 2 while the last date of submitting the nominations would be April 9, adding that the model code of conduct for the elections came into force in the entire state starting Saturday.

However, he remained silent on whether central force would be used to conduct the elections as per the demand of the state's opposition parties.

Reacting to the announcement, the state BJP accused the Bengal government of trying cut short the campaign time of the opposition parties and said they might move the courts.

"We are ready for the elections anytime. But the state government is trying to cut short time for election campaign by announcing the dates while the higher secondary examination is going on. We might move to court against this," state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said.

Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sujan Chakraborty also termed the decision to announce the elections during the examination as "wrong" and said people of the state would give the ruling Trinamool Congress a stern reply against their hooliganism.Hyderabad, March 31 : The Andhra Pradesh police on Saturday claimed to have foiled an alleged attempt by the Maoists to kill University of Hyderabad Vice-Chancellor Podile Appa Rao to avenge the death of Dalit student Rohith Vemula two years ago.

Police in East Godavari district of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh on Friday arrested two former students of the university - Ankala Prudvi Raj, 27, and Chandan Kumar Mishra, 28, from Pichukalapadu junction on Bhadrachalam-Charla Road late on Friday, a police officer said on Saturday.

According to police, they were allegedly deployed by the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist to eliminate the Vice Chancellor to avenge the death of research scholar Vemula.

The Dalit student had committed suicide in his hostel room on the campus on January 17, 2016 in protest against the discrimination of Dalits. The incident triggered massive protest by the students, who blamed the Vice Chancellor along with two central ministers for the suicide. The incident had also sparked nation-wide uproar.

East Godavari district Superintendent of Police Vishal Gunni told reporters that Prudviraj, a native of Krishna district and Mishra of Howrah in West Bengal were picked up while they were returning from Bastar forests after meeting Yapa Narayana alias Haribhushan, the secretary of Telangana State Committee of CPI-Maoist.

"On interrogation, it was revealed that they were planning to kill the Vice Chancellor. The Maoist party thought assassination of the VC would help them get some recruitments," he said.

Police claimed that Prudviraj was arrested in the past after he was caught escorting a woman believed to be the wife of top Maoist leader Pulluri Prasada Rao alias Chandranna. He was jailed for some time and was released on bail. He was also a member of Telangana Vidyarthi Vedika, a students' body.

Mishra, who joined the Hyderabad Central University in 2013 for a post-graduate course, was a member of the Telangana Praja Front and SFI.

Both the accused were produced before a court, which sent them to judicial custody.New Delhi, March 31 : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday praised Imam Rashidi of Asansol and Yashpal Saxena from Delhi, as both of them appealed for peace despite losing their sons in communal violence.

He also asserted that his party will not allow ideology of BJP and RSS to win.

"After losing their sons due to hate and communalism, messages from Yashpal Saxena and Imam Rashidi show that love will always defeat hatred in India.

"The foundation of Congress rests on compassion and mutual brotherhood. We will not allow the hatred spreading BJP/RSS ideology to win," Gandhi tweeted in Hindi attaching messages from both the fathers.

Yashpal Sexena's son Ankit Saxena was killed on February 1 by the family of a woman he was in a relationship with.

According to Delhi Police, the woman's family was against their relationship as they belonged to different communities and had told him to end it.

Asanol mosque Imam, Maulana Imdadul Rashidi's 16-year-old son became a victim of violence, triggered by Ram Navami processions in West Bengal.

Both the fathers had appealed for peace.Kandahar, March 31 : At least 30 militants have been killed and nearly a dozen others injured as clashes erupted in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, an official said on Saturday.

The government forces raided Taliban hideouts in Sara Baghal area of Miwand district on late Friday and in addition to killing insurgents, several hideouts of the militant group were destroyed, Kandahar police chief General Abdul Razed told Xinhua news agency.

The security forces also seized 26 motorbikes, eight vehicles and computers of the militants, besides destroying a health centre of the Taliban.Mumbai, March 31 : Thousands of Muslim women, most attired in the black 'burqa' staged a silent protest march at Azad Maidan here on Saturday, demanding withdrawal of the bill banning 'Triple Talaq' passed by Lok Sabha last December.

Organised by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board's (AIMPLB) Women Wing, and described as the "first, exclusive Muslim women's protest rejecting the Bill and supporting the Sharia Laws" it elicited huge response from Muslim women across the country.

Though the march was silent, the women carried placards loudly proclaiming their demands with slogans opposing the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017,and expressing their support to protect the Shariah.

"Our demand is very clear. Take back the Triple Talaq Bill. It is anti-women, anti-gender justice, anti-children, will destroy families, push Muslim husbands into jail and damage the Muslim society," said AIMPLB Women Wing President Asma Zehra.

She added that so far, more than five crore women have joined a signature campaign supporting the AIMPLB's stand on the issue and submitted it to the Law Commission, on the Bill, currently pending before the Rajya Sabha.

"This Bill is an attempt to interfere with the personal laws which we cannot accept. The protest is also aimed at the handful of women who distributed sweets after the government passed the Bill hurriedly in the Lok Sabha," she said.

Zehra said the Bill is "legally defective, puts women in legal-social complications, focuses on jailing Muslim men without helping women in any manner" and has been opposed legal experts, womens rights groups and Muslim women across India.

He further alleged that the Triple Talaq Bill not only criminalises Talaq, but moves a step towards the Uniform Civil Code which the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh seeks to impose.

"The Indian Constitution has granted the people the freedom to practice their religion but this government wants to deprive the citizens of their constitutional right," she added.

AIMPLB executive member Monisa B. Abidi said that instead of bringing in a law that criminalises 'Triple Talaq', the government should have asked the community to bring in changes and internal reforms.

Lawyer Munawwarai Alware said Muslim women "strongly favour Shariah Laws" and cannot be cheated with hollow slogans.

Jamat-e-Islami Hind's Arshia Shakeel pointed out that the Islam is "a complete way of life, Muslims are blessed by Sharaih Law which is a complete code in individual and social matters and the community is satisfied with it.

Other prominent women who addressed the gathering included AIMPLB's Sumaya Sajjad Nomani, Zakiya M. Farid Shaikh, Ishrath Shahabuddin Shaikh, Saleha Sohel, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat's Aaeen Raza, SNDT University's Prof Shabana Khan, Shia Jamaat's Farah Jafri, and Moballigha Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat's Salma Rizvi.

Later, the gathering adopted four resolutions: "1. We strongly oppose the 'Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017' and demand that the government must take it back, 2. We support Muslim Personal Law and will not tolerate any changes in the Muslim Personal Law matters. 3. We oppose all moves to bring in Uniform Civil Code (UCC), in India. 4. 99 per cent Muslim women have full faith in the leadership of All India Muslim Personal Law Board."

Procession coordinator and media in-charge Maulana Burhanuddin Qasmi said around 200,000 women from all over India joined the protest while convenor Salamat Ullah Nadvi said that they highlighted the fact that the Bill, instead of protecting Muslim women, would deprive them of even the rights which they are currently entitled to and be detrimental to their interests.

Various political parties like AIMIM and Muslim leaders from different parties have supported the Muslim women's demands raised in today's protest.

"It is very rare that so many thousands of women from different sects in the Muslim community have joined together to protest against this Bill," said Congress legislator and ex-minister Naseem Khan.

Later, a delegation of women leaders met Governor C. V. Rao and submitted a memorandum to be forwarded to the President, Prime Minister and others at the centre, Maulana Qasmi told IANS.Washington, March 31 : A federal judge has issued a sweeping order temporarily preventing the US government from blocking access to abortion services for undocumented, pregnant teens in immigration custody.

Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of US District Court on late Friday barred the government from "interfering with or obstructing" pregnant minors' access to medical appointments, counselling, abortion procedures or other care", writing that it infringed on their constitutional rights, the Washington Post reported.

"The administration cannot strip unaccompanied immigrant minor children of their right to make their own reproductive choices," Chutkan wrote in the decision.

The order came in a case brought last year on behalf of a Central American girl in a Agovernment-funded shelter that set off a national debate over the constitutional rights of such undocumented teens to terminate their pregnancies.

The judge allowed the case to proceed as a class action on behalf of many other teens who crossed the border illegally and while in federal custody may want to seek abortion services.

In filings, the US government acknowledged there were at least 420 pregnant unaccompanied minors in custody in 2017, including 18 who requested abortions.

The Trump administration had refused to "facilitate" such procedures for pregnant teenagers travelling alone on the grounds that they had the option to voluntarily return to their home countries or to find private sponsors in the US to assist them in obtaining procedures.

The policy position marked a shift from that of the Obama administration, whose Office of Refugee Resettlement did not block immigrants in US custody from having abortions at their own expense, and paid for services for teens in cases of rape, incest or a threat to the woman's life.

It was unclear late Friday whether the Trump administration would appeal the ruling. A Justice Department spokesman did not comment on the move, while the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) -- representing the teens -- expressed relief at the court action.

"The Trump administration's cruel policy of blocking young immigrant women in federal custody from accessing abortion is a blatant abuse of power," said Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project.

"We are relieved that the court issued an order preventing the administration from continuing this practice," she said.New Delhi, March 31 : State-run Indian Oil Corp (IOC) on Saturday announced plans to invest about Rs 1.43 lakh crore towards increasing its refining capacity to 150 million tonnes (MT) by 2030, even as the public undertaking said it aims to change its profile of being "a refining company alone" to becoming an energy corporation.

Talking to reporters here after taking charge last month as IOC Director (Refineries), B.V. Rama Gopal also said that the company is investing Rs 16,628 crore in upgrading its refineries to produce Euro-VI emission norm compliant petrol and diesel, instead of the currently used BS-IV, which is slated to be implemented in Delhi from Sunday.

Besides this, "IOC is investing Rs 15,600 crore in expansion of petrochemical projects and another Rs 74,600 crore in raising the capacity of its existing refineries," Rama Gopal said, making for capital expenditure of Rs 1.06 lakh crore over a five-year period.

The Director also said another Rs 36,500 crore worth of projects are in pipeline, which are yet to be approved by the Indian Oil board.

According to a statement, the company plans to raise the capacity of its Panipat refinery in Haryana to 25 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) from the current 15 MTPA, while its Koyali refinery in Gujarat would be expanded to 18 MTPA from 13.7 MTPA.

The Director also said that a new refinery was being set up in Maharastra's Ratnagiri district by a joint venture in which IOC has 50 per cent stake and 25 per cent each is held by the state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp.

"Foreign investors are willing to participate. Land acquisition is in progress in association with Maharashtra government and the refinery should come up in about 5 years' time," he said.

On IOC's plans on alternate fuels, he said it is setting up a new unit at its Panipat refinery to manufacture ethanol from refinery off-gases for blendiing with petrol under the national ethanol blending programme.

Besides, a plant to convert agricultural stubble to ethanol is being set up also at Panipat at a cost of Rs 760 crore, he added.

On IOC's alternate energy development, Rama Gopal said the company plans to increase its current solar power generation of 188 MW to 261 MW by 2020.

The nation's biggest oil marketer, which operates 11 refineries, including two owned by its subsidiaries, registered a record output of 69 million tonnes last year. Its refineries have a total capacity of 80.7 MTPA.Moscow, March 31 : Russia on Saturday told the UK that a total of more than 50 of its diplomats will have to leave, amid a deepening row over the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter on British soil, according to a BBC report.

Moscow initially expelled 23 British diplomats in retaliation to the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats by London. But now the Russians were considering the expulsion of more British diplomats, the report said.

It said the UK and Russian diplomatic missions should be the same size in each country. The move means that at least another 27 UK officials will be sent home.

The report also said that some of the additional reduction could be made up by laying off local staff.

The UK blames Russia for the nerve agent attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal on March 4 in Salisbury, southern England. But Moscow denies this.

On Friday, British Ambassador in Moscow, Laurie Bristow, was told that the UK had a month to cut its diplomatic mission in Russia to the same size as the Russian mission in Britain.

Some 150 Russian diplomats have been expelled by mainly Western countries as their governments have rallied behind Britain.

Russia initially hit back at the UK, but then announced 60 US expulsions. On Friday, it called in a string of foreign ambassadors with news that their own countries' measures were being matched.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres issued a warning over "a situation that is similar, to a large extent, to what we lived during the Cold War".

Meanwhile, in a separate development, Russia's Transport Ministry demanded an official explanation over the alleged searching of an Aeroflot passenger plane by UK officials at London's Heathrow airport on Friday.

"If there is no explanation, the Russian side will deem the actions towards our plane as illegal and also reserve the right to take similar action against British airlines," it said in a statement.

The Russian Embassy in London accused the UK of improperly searching a Russian airplane and said it constituted a "provocation and a violation of international rules".

"Today, we have witnessed another blatant provocation by the British authorities," said a statement from the Embassy's press office. "This kind of event is extraordinary."Bengaluru, March 31 : Continuing his attack on the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, Rajasthan Congress head Sachin Pilot on Saturday questioned "why nobody in the government has taken the responsibility in the case of the CBSE paper leak that rocked the country this week".

At the India Today Karnataka Panchayat 2018, Pilot said the government is playing the blame-game instead of taking charge of the leak that has put the career of 30 lakh students at risk.

The opposition Congress has used the paper leak to attack the NDA government, alleging that an "exam mafia" is flourishing under the Central government.

Randeep Singh Surjewala, communications in-charge of the Congress, said on Friday: "Why did CBSE deny news of repeated paper leaks of Accounts, Economics, Maths (papers) despite e-mail evidence? Why should HRD Minister and the CBSE Chairperson not be sacked?"

On Wednesday, the education board said it will conduct re-tests for Class 10 mathematics and Class 12 economics after reports emerged that question papers for the respective exams had leaked on WhatsApp.New Delhi, March 31 : Before his work trip to Mumbai, acclaimed Hollywood director Christopher Nolan enjoyed a short stay with his family here away from the glare of arch-lights.

Nolan was welcomed to the capital in 'desi' style, and enjoyed some Indian flavours during his stay in the capital.

According to a well-placed source, the director, who has lent his creative vision to bring forward immersive stories like "Batman Begins", "The Dark Knight", "The Dark Knight Rises", "Inception", "Interstellar" and "Dunkirk", was in the national capital for three-four days, and left for Mumbai on March 29.

Nolan, who is in India to draw attention to the importance of celluloid in the digital age, stayed at The Taj Mahal Hotel here.

"Nolan, his wife and acclaimed producer Emma Thomas Nolan and their children were treated with a warm traditional Indian welcome," the source told IANS.

They were surprised with customised welcome amenities and macaroons inspired by flavours of India placed in their Oriental-themed luxury suite.

The family also relished a meal at Wasabi by Morimoto, a Japanese restaurant.

"Three of the stellar dishes specially crafted for the family included tuna pizza, the signature sushi and sashimi platter, rock shrimp tempura and Teppanyaki Soba - a sumptuous vegetarian delicacy for Ms. Emma Thomas," added the source.

In fact, Nolan also posed with the team of the restaurant and praised them saying the "food was excellent".

Nolan is regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers of the 21st century. He continues to use the traditional film for his movies.

Work and love for cinema has brought him to the country. Indian filmmaker and archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, founder of the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF), is hosting Nolan at a three-day event 'Reframing the Future of Film' in Mumbai from March 30 to April 1.

According to another source, Nolan's Mumbai trip is packed and he has no time for leisure.

"It is all about meeting people associated with the film industry to talk about the issue, which has brought him to India. He is expected to fly out on April 2," the source told IANS.

As part of his work trip, he has met Indian superstars like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Kamal Haasan.

Talking about filmmaking at a session in Mumbai, Nolan said: "There are odds that one faces in the process of filmmaking... financing the film, shooting the film... odds are there in it. So, the question arises that why somebody would be interested to shoot a film in film camera which is more difficult to shoot?

"But filmmaking is not just about logic and pragmatism, it is about dreams, magic and experience."

Nolan, who had come to India to shoot "The Dark Knight Rises" in Jodhpur back in 2011, will also be present for the screenings of two of his recent films - Oscar-nominated "Dunkirk" and "Interstellar".

(Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)Ahmedabad, March 31 : The Gujarat Police on Saturday claimed that the Dalit youth who was killed in Bhavnagar district late Thursday allegedly for keeping a horse used to harass local girls and the villagers were angry with his activities.

District Superintendent of Police Pravin Mal told reporters that initial investigations had revealed that 21-year-old Pradeep Rathod might not have been killed because he was a Dalit and the higher castes had objections over his using and keeping a horse.

Police had already detained three persons in the case.

"The preliminary investigations reveal that the boy was not killed just for owning the horse as has been alleged in the FIR lodged. Instead, we have come across a lot of complaints about objectionable behaviour of the boy from various quarters and perhaps some persons may have killed him for that," he said, adding: "We are trying to ascertain the true reason and nab the culprits."

Rathod from Timbi village, which is an hour's drive from Bhavnagar, was found dead on the streets of the village late on Thursday.

In his police complaint, his father Kalubhai Rathod alleged that Pradeep had received threats from members of upper castes in the village after buying a horse couple of months ago. He had alleged that his son was killed for the very same reason.

Police said that during their investigations, they had received complaints against the character of the boy. "Some villagers complained that the boy would perform stunts on the horse and on motorcycle whenever he confronted young girls. He also used to enter into fights," Pravin Mal said.

Police said that they have also come across multiple complaints against Pradeep's father for being involved in various incidents of land grabbing in the past.

Mal said the police were yet to identify and nab the culprits who killed Pradeep and as for the three persons picked up by them on Friday, they were detained for mere questioning. Four police teams had been constituted further investigate the matter and nab the culprits in the case.

Meanwhile, Pradeep's family on Saturday performed his last rites.New Delhi, March 31 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditya Nath said on Saturday that any tie-up between the SP and the BSP to counter the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha polls cannot be dubbed as an alliance, as it would be jut a "compromise for power".

"Is it a coalition or a compromise for power," Adityanath asked during an interview with Hindi news channel Aaj Tak when asked whether a coalition between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) could damage the prospects of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019.

Taking a swipe at the opposition leaders, Adityanath sought to know from them that even if they join hands, who would be their leader.

"First let them decide who will lead them. They must decide, will it be Akhilesh Yadav or Mulayam Singh Yadav or Mayawati or maybe Rahul Gandhi if the Congress joins them. Rahul Gandhi must find his space. There are only two seats in a Cycle (SP's poll symbol), you can't add a third," he said.

The BJP badly lost the recent Lok Sabha bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur as the BSP did not field its candidates in support of the SP candidates. Later, Mayawati vowed to continue the alliance in 2019.

Adityanath singled out overconfidence in the BJP ranks as the reason for defeat in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls.

"Whenever you are overconfident about something these situations arise, but this is a lesson. In the coming days, we shall learn from these mistakes and improve," he said, adding that the BJP would win 80 out of 80 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh.

Speaking about the recent incidents of police shootouts on an almost daily basis, the Chief Minister said that there had not been a single fake gun battle.

"I guarantee security for each and every one in Uttar Pradesh. Criminals, anti-nationals and anti-social elements should be afraid of the law in the state. We are seeing the results, known criminals are seen vending vegetables in Meerut," he said.

The Yogi government completed its first year in office some 10 days ago and coined a slogan "Ek Saal, Nayi Misaal"(One year of setting examples).

On the biggest achievement of his government's one year in office, he said the popular perception had changed amongst both Indians and foreigners in the past one year.

"We have tried to provide a positive environment for people. The biggest sign of changing perceptions about the state at home and abroad was the Investor's Summit," he said.

Asked if he sees himself as the Prime Minister sometime in the future, he said: "I am not a contender for any post, I am a yogi, the party has given me an opportunity of serving the people of the state and I am doing that."Chandigarh, March 31 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday appointed its Rajya Sabha MP Shwait Malik as the new president of its Punjab unit.

Malik, a former Mayor of Amritsar, replaces Union Minister Vijay Sampla.

The new state BJP President is considered close to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who had unsuccessfully contested the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat elections in the April-May 2014 general elections.

After his name was announced in New Delhi, Malik told media that he would work for strengthening the party in Punjab. He said that the BJP's alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal would continue.

Malik was picked up by the BJP to be its Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) from Punjab in 2016.

The Akali Dal-BJP alliance finished third in the assembly elections in Punjab last year. The Congress won 77 seats in the 117-member assembly while new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) finished second with 20 seats.New Delhi, March 31 : Union Minister Anant Kumar Hegde should be reprimanded for his remarks against the Constitution and Dalits, his ministerial colleague Babul Supriyo said on Saturday.

At the India Today Karnataka Panchayat event, Supriyo said the BJP could not be held responsible for Hegde's "debatable" remarks.

Hegde should be "reprimanded" for his comments, said Supriyo, who is Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries.

Hegde has reportedly said people who identify as secular are unaware of their parentage, claimed the BJP government intends to change the Constitution, and enraged Dalits by using the term "barking dogs" to describe protesters.Gelsenkirchen (Germany), March 31 : Schalke 04 on Saturday stretched its winning streak to six games after beating Freiburg 2-0 in the Bundesliga 28th round, tightening its grip on the second position in the German league table.

Both teams failed to score in the first half, but Daniel Caligiuri opened the scoring for Schalke after converting a penalty in the 63rd minute, reports Efe.

Freiburg forward Nils Petersen was sent off in the 65th minute, with Schalke forward Guido Burgstaller doubling his side's lead just eight minutes later to seal the 2-0 home win.

Schalke has 52 points and second place in the Bundesliga table, 14 points behind leader Bayern Munich, which is set to host third-placed Borussia Dortmund later on Saturday.

Freiburg remains in the 14th position with 30 points.

In other Bundesliga action on Saturday, RB Leipzig made a thrilling 3-2 away win over Hannover 96, jumping to fourth place with 46 points, two points behind Dortmund.

Hannover 96 is in the 13th position with 32 points.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen lost out on two possible points in the league table after a 0-0 home draw against Augsburg to occupy the fifth position with 45 points, while Augsburg is in ninth place with 36 points.

Hamburger, which is at the bottom of the table, snatched a point after managing a 1-1 away draw against VfB Stuttgart, which holds the eighth position with 38 points.

1899 Hoffenheim thrashed 17th-placed FC Koln 6-0 to occupy the seventh position with 42 points.New Delhi, March 31 : The Delhi Police SIT, investigating the CBSE paper leaks case, has got a response by Google team which helped them identify the man who has sent the mail to alert the Board Chairman Anita Karwal, a police officer said.

The police officer, speaking anonymity because he was not authorised to give probe details, said: "The man who sent the alert to CBSE Chairman is being questioned to ascertain from where he got the question papers and who were the culprits in this syndicate."

"The man using email id 'dev0532@gmail.com' had alerted Karwal on March 28 regarding the leak of Class 10 mathematics paper," he added.

"Beside this, three persons including a school principal, a CBSE employee and one more have also been questioned in the probe," he said, adding police are also checking seven teachers' bank account details to establish any money laundering was done in this syndicate.

He said the SIT has already written to WhatsApp Headquarters in California, seeking its help "to revive the deleted chats and messages shared on these groups, has also got some details which are being examined with Cyber experts".

Meanwhile, Special Commissioner of Police R.P. Upadhyaya said: "The SIT has so far questioned 53 students and 7 teachers in connection with the leak of Class 10 maths and Class 12 economics question papers. Six WhatsApp groups figuring in the trail of transmission of papers are also being looked into."

"Two more ACP-rank officers with their teams have been added in SIT for further probe," he added.

The CBSE paper leak of Class 10 maths and Class 12 economics question papers has affected lakhs of students across India.

Earlier the CBSE academic unit at Rouse Avenue near ITO had on March 26 received some sheets of handwritten answers of economics paper in an envelope without sender's name.New Delhi, March 31 : Thousands of Staff Selection Commission (SSC) candidates on Saturday held a demonstration here in protest against the "SSC paper leak scam" and demanded resignation of Minister of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) Jitendra Singh for not ordering a CBI probe into all SSC examinations.

The SCC candidates gathered at Parliament Street at 11 a.m seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged paper leak in the Combined Graduate Level (CGL) Examination held in February.

The body of SSC candidates leading the agitation, Yuva Halla Bol, said: "We have been demanding an independent and time-bound CBI investigation into all SSC examinations. Even after over a month of protest, the government has not agreed to our genuine demands. The inaction and insensitivity clearly proves that this government is anti youth."

"If the government can't listen to the genuine demands of protesting candidates, the Minister of DoPT should resign. We shall continue this movement with energy and resolve until our demands are met," the committee said in a statement.

As the protesters started moving towards Parliament, they were stopped. But, when they broke the barricades, the police applied mild force to disperse them.

"Dozens of SSC examinees, who were peacefully marching towards Sansad Bhawan, suffered injuries in the baton charge by police and were manhandled," it said.

"We condemn the role of some anti-social elements who tried to hijack and mislead genuine angst and plight of the students. Groups with vested political interests, who were never part of the SSC movement, tried to disrupt Yuva Halla Bol with their indisciplined and irresponsible behaviour," Swaraj India Delhi's chief Anupam, who has been involved with the protests from beginning, told IANS.

The organising committee of students did not endorse or support the actions of such elements, Anupam added.

The protesters said that they would go up to the Supreme Court to bring the culprits of the SSC scam to justice and ensure reforms in the functioning of the Commission.

Subsequently, the protesters gathered at Connaught Place and held rallies in the area, surrounded by police and Rapid Action Force personnel. The police later detained some of them.Mumbai, March 31 : Multiple Oscar-nominated filmmaker Christopher Nolan, known for "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight" famed filmmaker Christopher Nolan says he is interested to watch and know more about Indian cinema.

On a visit to India to create awareness about celluloid films in the digital era, Nolan, at an interaction with select media here, asked about if he watched any Indian films, said: "I have watched some Indian cinema, not enough thoughabut enjoyed them very much. I want to watch more of them."

The "Insomnia" maker landed in Mumbai on Friday after his quick trip to Delhi has interacted with many iconic personalities of Bollywood including Shah Rukh Khan, Kamal Hassan on Saturday on the subject matter of 'Reframing The Future Of Film in India'.

"In fact that is one of the reasons why I am here in India, other than I believe in the cause (referring to saving celluloid film), is to meet more people from the Indian film industry and engage with the people from one of the greatest film culture of the world, to learn more about it," Nolan said.

Being one of the iconic filmmakers who made some films like "Interstellar", "Dunkirk", "Inception" using high-end technology, supporting the celluloid film is quite a traditional thought. Asked about how he reconciles these two elements, Nolan said: "Film is a media to tell a story so you can use whatever technology you want it for."

"For example in 'Dunkirk', we tried to tell the story in an ambitious way, in a different way. We used interesting structural techniques and approaches. Traditionalist in terms of working methodology, to me that is a technical question and not an artistic question," he said.

Born in 1970 in London, Nolan had a keen interest in storytelling and eventually that transformed into his aspiration to become a professional filmmaker. At the tender age of seven, he used his father's camera to make short films. In fact, at the age of eight, Nolan, who was highly influenced by watching "Star Wars" made a stop motion animation called "Space Wars".

While it is fascinating to observe how the man with so well-versed with use of modern technology, living in a digital era of 21 century, does not use social media and cell phones which otherwise a part of every global citizen.

Asked about what made him stop using social media, Nolan said: "Well, I really don't have to think about my Facebook... I am not really interested in social media. We may live in a digital age but we are also living in an analogue world. One of the interesting things about celluloid film is also; it really has a very good relationship with the real life; that for me at least, digital doesn't. it is about powerful storytelling too."

"There is a problem with the word digital. The word digital semantically means what? What is digital? Digital technology is used in everything. I used a massive amount of digital technology in my films," said the 47-year-old film director.

Nolan, asked about if he would like to make a film to address any political issue like the way Steven Spielberg did in his film "The Post", maintained: "Well, no I tend to be instinctive to my choices of stories that grabs me."

"I think it is more important for me to present myself as a practical filmmaker. I think it would be very difficult for me to muster any enthusiasm," he added.

So, what is the way to preserve the practice of celluloid filmmaking?

"It is really about encouraging new filmmakers on celluloid filmmaking, going to labs and making sure that those technicians are passing the knowledge to the future generation. In America, there are theatre chains that conduct workshops, something that Shivendra (Singh Dungarpur, founder of Film Heritage Foundation) is also doing in India."

"I think we should start getting testimonies from people who understand this technology (celluloid filmmaking) well and getting it in a book form. But at this moment, through workshops, we can teach and get people hands on to these types of equipment," he said.

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)Mumbai, March 31 : Multiple Oscar-nominated filmmaker Christopher Nolan, known for "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight", says he is interested to watch and know more about Indian cinema.

On a visit to India to create awareness about celluloid films in the digital era, Nolan, at an interaction with select media here, asked if he watched any Indian films, said: "I have watched some Indian cinema, not enough thoughabut enjoyed them very much. I want to watch more of them."

The "Insomnia" maker, who landed here on Friday after his quick trip to Delhi, interacted with many iconic personalities of Bollywood including Shah Rukh Khan and Kamal Hassan on Saturday on the subject matter of 'Reframing The Future Of Film in India'.

"In fact that is one of the reasons why I am here in India, other than I believe in the cause (of saving celluloid film), is to meet more people from the Indian film industry and engage with the people from one of the greatest film culture of the world... to learn more about it," Nolan said.

Being an iconic filmmakers who made films like "Interstellar", "Dunkirk", "Inception" using high-end technology, supporting the celluloid film is quite a traditional thought. Asked about how he reconciles these two, Nolan said: "Film is a media to tell a story so you can use whatever technology you want it for."

"For example in 'Dunkirk', we tried to tell the story in an ambitious way, in a different way. We used interesting structural techniques and approaches. Traditionalist in terms of working methodology... to me, that is a technical question and not an artistic question," he said.

Born in 1970 in London, Nolan had a keen interest in storytelling and eventually that transformed into his aspiration to become a professional filmmaker. At the tender age of seven, he used his father's camera to make short films. In fact, at the age of eight, Nolan, who was highly influenced by watching "Star Wars" made a stop motion animation called "Space Wars".

It is fascinating to observe how the man with so well-versed with use of modern technology, living in a digital era of 21 century, does not use social media and cell phones which otherwise a part of every global citizen.

Asked about what made him stop using social media, Nolan said: "Well, I really don't have to think about Facebook... I am not really interested in social media. We may live in a digital age but we are also living in an analogue world. One of the interesting things about celluloid film is also; it really has a very good relationship with the real life; that for me at least, digital doesn't. It is about powerful storytelling too."

"There is a problem with the word digital. The word digital semantically means what? What is digital? Digital technology is used in everything. I used a massive amount of digital technology in my films," said the 47-year-old film director.

Asked about if he would like to make a film to address any political issue like the way Steven Spielberg did in his film "The Post", he maintained: "Well, no I tend to be instinctive to my choices of stories that grabs me."

"I think it is more important for me to present myself as a practical filmmaker. I think it would be very difficult for me to muster any enthusiasm," he added.

So, what is the way to preserve the practice of celluloid filmmaking?

"It is really about encouraging new filmmakers on celluloid filmmaking, going to labs and making sure that those technicians are passing the knowledge to the future generation. In America, there are theatre chains that conduct workshops, something that Shivendra (Singh Dungarpur, founder of Film Heritage Foundation) is also doing in India."

"I think we should start getting testimonies from people who understand this technology (celluloid filmmaking) well and getting it in a book form. But at this moment, through workshops, we can teach and get people hands on to these types of equipment," he said.

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)Jerusalem, April 1 : The Palestinians on Saturday accused the US of blocking a UNSC statement on the situation in the Gaza Strip and said Washington's objection encourages Israel to continue its aggressive action against the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian National Authority Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad al-Malki said in an official statement that "Washington would block any effort in the Security Council related to the massacre committed and to be committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip," Xinhua reported.

He added that "without the absolute US protection in the Security Council, Israel won't dare to commit terrible crimes against the Palestinians."

In a closed-door session held at a request of Kuwait to discuss the bloody incidents in the Gaza Strip on Friday evening, the UN Security Council failed to agree on a statement condemning Israel's repression of the Palestinian popular protests on the anniversary of the Land Day.

"The decision was to go for an official open session, but the US side opposed the idea that the Security Council issues a statement to condemn Israel's repression of demonstrators," said Representative of the state of Palestine in the UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour.

He also said "the efforts are continuing... we will see in the next few hours and days whether we will succeed in this, or what are the other steps if they remain insistent on not allowing the council to assume its responsibilities in condemning the crime and prosecuting those responsible."

Mansour unveiled that "several European countries, including the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, demanded an investigation into events in the Gaza Strip, pointing out that the Palestinian side is pushing in this direction."

He also said the Palestinian side "won't accept a probe conducted by the Israelis themselves, but we want to investigate by impartial and fair bodies to brief the world in on this crime," stressing on the need to start the probe as soon as possible.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Saturday that the objections of the United States at the UN Security Council have led to thwarting the issuance of a resolution denouncing the Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people and the killing of 16 Palestinians.

He added that this provides a cover for Israel to continue its aggression against the Palestinian people and encourage it to defy international legitimacy resolutions that aim at ending the occupation.

President Abbas held Israel totally responsible for the events on Friday and declared Saturday as a national mourning day.

A coordination committee composed of Palestinian political factions, civil society organizations and youth groups called weeks ago for a large popular rally at nearly 700 meters away from the Israeli border fence under the title of the "Great March of Return" starting on Friday.

The Friday rally was the start of a six-week long protest that is expected to reach a peak on May 15, the day Israel celebrates its establishment and Palestinians mark the forcible transfer of two thirds of the Palestinian people and the ethnic cleansing of 418 Palestinian villages.

Demonstrators demand that Palestinian refugees should be allowed the right of return to the towns and villages from which their families fled or were forcibly driven out of when the State of Israel was created in 1948.London, April 1 : Hundreds of family and friends, including actor Eddie Redmayne, who played Stephen Hawking in the 2014 biographical drama "The Theory of Everything," attended the renowned scientist's private funeral Saturday in Cambridge.

The service honoring Hawking was held at the University of Cambridge's St. Mary the Great church, even though the celebrated cosmologist and mathematician, who died on March 14 at age 76, was an atheist, Efe reported.

Hundreds of people lined the streets for the funeral procession, from Hawking's home in west Cambridge to the city's centre, where the church is located.

His coffin was topped with white "Universe" lilies and white "Polar Star" roses, which were placed on the casket by his three children, Lucy, Robert and Tim.

When the funeral procession arrived, St. Mary the Great's bell tolled 76 times, one for each of the professor's life, who was diagnosed with motor neuron disease in his 20s and was soon forced to use a wheelchair and eventually a speech synthesizer.

During the service, Redmayne gave a reading from Ecclesiastes and astronomer Martin Rees read from Plato's Apology 40, "The Death of Socrates," while eulogies were delivered by professor Fay Dowker, a former student, and Hawking's eldest son Robert.

After the funeral, a private reception was held at Cambridge's Trinity College, one of the university's most prestigious institutions.

Hawking's ashes will be interred on June 15 in London's Westminster Abbey, near Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin's graves.

Hawking, who turned down a Knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II, helped establish the foundations of modern cosmology and became an icon of popular culture, appearing on numerous shows and TV series, including "The Simpsons," "Star Trek" and "The Big Bang Theory."

Hawking's rise to fame came after publishing "A Brief History of Time" in 1988, in which he explains the latest discoveries regarding the nature of black holes and the origins of the Universe for non-specialist readers.DKC Knives Releases New Line: The Handcrafted Damascus Steel "LITTLE JAY Series" of Pocket Knives DKC has excelled this time. It's a perfect knife: a good weight and size and fits perfect in your pocket. Some knives are too heavy and bulky, but this is spot on. I loved the knife so much I have ordered 5 altogether for different members of my family

DKC Knives, known for their beautiful handcrafted Damascus steel knives, has just released it's newest series to their custom made line. THe"Little Jay Series, is a beautifully handmade custom pocket knife that is both compact and built for high performance. This series of knives are made for everyone, with over 12 different tailored designs and distinct Damascus steel blade. The 3.6 inch blade is perfect size for easy transportation, and is extremely durable. One review from an Etsy customer raved, "DKC has excelled this time. It's a perfect knife: a good weight and size and fits perfect in your pocket. Some knives are too heavy and bulky, but this is spot on. I loved the knife so much I have orderered 5 altogether for diferent members of my family." Each knife from the "LITTLE JAY SERIES" knife is equipped with a leather seethe and sharpening stone. DKC Knives is proud to announce the new "LITTLE JAY SERIES" as one of the best selling line of pocket knives.

DKC Knives has a variety of unique engraved Damascus steel knives that are sleek, elegant, and durable. DKC Knives is a USA based custom handmade knife manufacturer that has a variety of knives that make perfect gifts for men as well as women. Damascus steel knives are coveted by knife collectors around the world for its distinct patterns. Even if youre not a knife collector, most people appreciate the beautiful craft of a handmade knife. Its truly a piece to admire. So if youre looking for a gift for a special occasion, DKC Knives provides a unique service of helping you find the right knives for your group or loved one. Owner of DKC Knives, Paul Gordon, explains, One of the great things about finding a company like DKC Knives is that we have over 350 models. Once you see how much he likes the first knife, you will now know what to buy for him for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, and other occasions for the rest of his life. Many customers own over 50 pieces of our collection...its that nice.

Today Damascus steel knives are coveted by knife collectors around the globe. DKC Knives are affordable and of high quality. Gordon reiterates that, "DKC Knives was founded with a mandate to bring reasonably priced handmade Damascus folding pocket knives, and fixed blade hunting knives to the public at very reasonable costs. Today DKC Knives can be purchased for a relatively modest cost of $60 to $300". DKC Knives has a growing list of collectors that own many of the company's models.

DKC Knives makes it full knife collection available direct to the public through it's on line web site http://www.dkcknives.com. While both men and women buy and collect knives, the DKC line up has been a tremendous hit with women wanting an incredible gift for their husband, boyfriend, or a special loved one. "Knives are a guy thing, no doubt about it," said Gordon. "But we see more and more women building up large collections of knives. Its not uncommon to see many customers coming back and purchasing multiple sets of knives because of the unique characteristics each knife brings. Knives are works of art and can be enjoyed for a lifetime and be handed down to younger generations. So dont stress any further for the perfect gift, DKC knives is your answer.

DKC Knives is based in Castro Valley California. The company website is http://www.dkcknives.com. DKC Knives can be follow on Facebook as well as Instagram. Interested parties can sign up for the company newsletter at http://www.dkcknives.com and get updates on new knife releases.Ron Norman, CEO of Team Decades (http://www.teamdecades.com), releases paper explaining why firms prefer hiring executives from outside their company.

"While it is true that some companies like hiring senior-level executives from within the firm, more and more we see the preference for 'outside' hiring becoming more commonplace," according to Ron Norman. "Importing talent from competing firms provides insight and information about what to expect in a particular segment of industry."

"In the Intelligence community, attracting a member of an adversarial country's Intel service is considered a coup and a far more desirable 'catch' than promoting someone from within," says Norman, going on to say that, "Business today has more in common with an Intelligence service than one might think."

"The marketplace is a very volatile atmosphere," Norman emphasizes. "If one can anticipate what the competition is likely to do next, a company can avoid the embarrassment of selling cars with dual headlights when everyone else is coming out with quad headlight models, if you see what I mean."

Every client receives two-year continuous marketing from Team Decades.San Jose Serviced Apartment In springtime, people are ready to peel off their winter wear and get outside to enjoy the warmer weather.

Key Housing, the leading service to locate short term, corporate, and serviced apartments in cities as diverse as San Jose, Milpitas, and Cupertino, is proud to announce its selection for the April, 2018, featured housing with serviced apartment options. It is the "Verdant" complex, located in San Jose, California,

In springtime, people are ready to peel off their winter wear and get outside to enjoy the warmer weather. Im sure visiting executives want to take advantage of the nice California weather when they are on business in Silicon Valley and San Jose, explained Robert Lee, President of Key Housing. Our featured spring property for San Jose, Verdant, perfectly represents the best that a furnished apartment has to offer guests as spring explodes in April.

To review the new featured apartment complex for Spring 2018, Verdant of San Jose, please visit: http://www.keyhousing.com/rightside.asp?action=form3&ID=899. Interested persons looking for tips and insights on how to find serviced or furnished apartments in the tight San Jose short term and corporate housing market can also review Key Housings lively blog page at http://blog.keyhousing.com/tag/san-jose-serviced-apartments/.

Featured San Jose Furnished Apartments Go Green for Spring 2018

Here is background on this release. Executives searching for a serviced apartment for a long-term or short-term stay may find so-called featured (or furnished) apartments a smart and eco-friendly choice. San Jose's "Verdant" complex is a case in point. It is close to shopping and the Bay Pointe VTA Station, and so the location can encourage employees to practice healthy living. Corporate managers looking to house a VIP in Silicon Valley may find a top serviced apartment the best choice. Furnished apartments close to public transportation, shopping and hiking trails can be considered an eco-friendly alternative. Executives may not have to purchase furniture or rent a car which could lead to a lighter carbon footprint.

For this reason, Key Housing has announced it has selected "Verdant," a San Jose serviced apartment as the featured complex for April, 2018. Here, green living and a healthy lifestyle converge at a top San Jose complex offering serviced apartments to visitors from Europe and the United Kingdom.

ABOUT KEY HOUSING

Based in Folsom, California, Key Housing Connections Inc. (http://www.keyhousing.com/) specializes in corporate housing and corporate rentals in cities like San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco. Whether the need is for a serviced apartment or a short term rental, corporate housing or short term apartments, just browse our listings to find the rental that fits ones short term corporate housing needs. We are competitive with extended stay hotels in cities such as Silicon Valley, San Diego and San Jose. Many nurses, interns and people seeking pet friendly corporate rentals or corporate relocation services depend on us for furnished apartments and other temporary housing needs. Whether after San Jose serviced apartment or a short term rental in Silicon Valley we can aid the search for the right apartment in the Golden State. After all, we're among the top-rated short-term apartment listing service in areas like Orange County and Los Angeles County. Whether it's serviced apartments or a furnished rental, just search, click or call today!

Key Housing

(800) 989-0410The benefits of empathy extend inside and out. It doesnt just help others, it helps us on a personal level too. Empathy is powerful. Its intertwined with every aspect of the human experience.

Its difficult to identify a life situation that would not benefit from empathy. Consoling a grieving friend requires empathy. Comforting a scared child requires empathy. Being patient with a flustered cashier requires empathy. Helping a stranger, getting along with peers and colleagues, saving an animal, and compromising with an adversary all require empathy. However, this powerful, unassuming trait does much more than benefit our relationship with others. Research from PsychTests.com indicates that empathy is not just personable, its personal.

After collecting data from 9,234 people who took PsychTests Emotional Intelligence Test, researchers compared the scores of empathetic and non-empathetic on various interpersonal (dealing with others) and intrapersonal (dealing with self) competencies. The differences were striking:

(Note: Mean scores range on a scale from 0 to 100).

INTERPERSONAL TRAITS/SKILLS

Ability to read body language



Score for Empathetic group: 82

Score for Non-empathetic group: 39

Social Insight



Score for Empathetic group: 83

Score for Non-empathetic group: 30

Social Skills



Score for Empathetic group: 70

Score for Non-empathetic group: 51

Conflict-Resolution Skills



Score for Empathetic group: 76

Score for Non-empathetic group: 37

Flexible Mindset



Score for Empathetic group: 76

Score for Non-empathetic group: 55

INTRAPERSONAL TRAITS/SKILLS

Ability to identify emotions in self



Score for Empathetic group: 74

Score for Non-empathetic group: 21

Self-Esteem



Score for Empathetic group: 70

Score for Non-empathetic group: 50

Resilience



Score for Empathetic group: 73

Score for Non-empathetic group: 57

Perseverance



Score for Empathetic group: 80

Score for Non-empathetic group: 55

Standing by ones values



Score for Empathetic group: 77

Score for Non-empathetic group: 58

If there is one emotional intelligence skill that we would recommend developing, its definitely empathy, explains Dr. Jerabek, president of PsychTests. When we compared empathetic and non-empathetic people on 31 different factors related to emotional intelligence, the differences were statistically significant across the board. Empathetic people are happier, more self-aware, self-motivated, and optimistic. They cope better with stress, assert themselves when it is required, and are comfortable expressing their feelings. There was only one scale where non-empathetic people scored higher: Need for Approval.

Its easy to understand why empathy is so important to the development of happy and healthy relationships with others. If you want to truly understand family, friends, colleagues, strangers, or even rivals, you have to put yourself in their shoes and see the world from their perspective. But how does empathy play a role on an intrapersonal level? Well, the ability to perceive other peoples emotions starts with being able to identify and reflect on your own feelings. If you lack empathy, youre more likely to have trouble connecting and getting along with others. This can negatively impact self-esteem and life satisfaction, and without a supportive network of friends, coping with stress will also be much more difficult. And chances are that empathetic people are more likely to have good emotional intelligence in general, and the benefits of EQ are numerous. Empathy is powerful. Its so intertwined with every aspect of the human experience that we would hardly be able to survive or at least thrive without it.

Want to assess your emotional intelligence? Check out https://testyourself.psychtests.com/testid/3979

Professional users can request a free demo for MEIQ - R9 (Multidimensional Emotional Intelligence Quotient - 9th Revision) or any other assessments from ARCH Profiles extensive battery: http://hrtests.archprofile.com/testdrive_gen_1

To learn more about psychological testing, download this free eBook: http://hrtests.archprofile.com/personality-tests-in-hr

About PsychTests AIM Inc.

PsychTests AIM Inc. originally appeared on the internet scene in 1996. Since its inception, it has become a pre-eminent provider of psychological assessment products and services to human resource personnel, therapists, academics, researchers and a host of other professionals around the world. PsychTests AIM Inc. staff is comprised of a dedicated team of psychologists, test developers, researchers, statisticians, writers, and artificial intelligence experts (see ARCHProfile.com). The companys research division, Plumeus Inc., is supported in part by Research and Development Tax Credit awarded by Industry Canada.Elvira Covarrubias, Enrollment Specialist, helps Sierra Promise Student "I often reflect on my own experience enrolling in college and it was scary and intimidating. I see the same thing in the faces of our students. They don't know even where to even begin. But over a short time she sees them go from confused and overwhelmed--to relieved.

About 750 students from 15 area high schools, some who thought they'd never go to college, will board buses on April 20 and head to the Rocklin campus of Sierra College for a celebration to kick off Sierra Promise.

For over half (56%) of the students, they will be the first in their family to attend college. But they'll be on that bus, prepared by Sierra Promise counselors, college-ready before high school graduation, and with an education plan literally in hand. When they arrive on campus with access to financial aid, they will sign up for fall classes at early priority registration. They are students with a head start on college, intent on becoming nurses or welders, teachers or business owners, firefighters, psychologists and engineers.

During the welcome ceremony at Buzz Ostrom stadium, while listening to the DJ on the Quad, they will find a familiar face--the person who has come frequently to their high school their Sierra Promise Enrollment Specialist.

One of them is Elvira Covarrubias who, as one of her assignments, works with Sierra Promise students at Woodcreek High, near Maidu Regional Park in Roseville. "I often reflect on my own experience enrolling in college and it was scary and intimidating," she said. "I see the same thing in the faces of our students. They don't know even where to even begin. But over a short time she sees them go from confused and overwhelmed--to relieved. She added "They are soon making decisions confidently about their majors and career options."

Working Together

While it's the Enrollment Specialists who are the direct link from college to student, the Sierra Promise partnership also includes, at each of the high schools, one resident counselor who is trained and compensated by the college for accepting duties as the Sierra Promise transitions counselor. They provide career guidance and help students develop individual college education plans which align their high school instruction with requirements of their anticipated major or workforce certificate.

Because many students are uncertain about their career, there are classes in high schools where students explore interest areas while also earning college credit. The counselors can then work out a schedule of courses that will meet the requirements of a degree or certificate in the area of a student's interest. The goal is to connect classes to careers.

From the college side, the team of six Sierra Promise Enrollment Specialists, travel weekly to designated high schools to assist students with all the enrollment steps, financial aid and scholarship requirements; and to provide guidance.

"It's very hands-on with the students," said Kylee Keroher who supervises the Enrollment Specialists and sees students at Bear River High near Lake of the Pines south of Grass Valley. "I see them at lunch or ask to pull them briefly out of class. A student can be anywhere in the process, she said, just applying or pretty far into it--and needing a nudge. Has the student completed her Financial Aid paperwork? Did he activate his mySierra account on the college website? Did she send in her transcripts? We track them through each step.

The Sierra Promise Agreement

One of the required steps is for the student is to sign the Sierra Promise agreement, Commitment to College which the Enrollment Specialist also signs. It says what's expected of the student and what, in turn, the college promises to help them with. Through counselors, workshops, events and campus resources, the Sierra Promise Team of Enrollment Specialists and Transition Counselors are able to help students complete the college application, develop the education plan, give them priority registration and connect them to services that help them succeed. In return, students agree to complete registration of 15 units per semester and consider their financial aid options.

Sierra Promise students also have the opportunity to participate in fun and engaging activities aimed at building relationships with the Sierra College community, as well as connecting students with our many campus resources. As part of Summer Jam, students will be presented with a college orientation that explores major and career interest areas, tips and strategies for college success, and setting educational goals.

The second part of the Summer Jam event runs for five half-days and offers students the chance to brush up on their Math and English skills before beginning the Fall Semester.

A Community Investment

Funded by one-time grant of $750,000 in seed money from the Community College Chancellor's office and augmented by generous donations from community members to the Sierra College Foundation, Sierra Promise is around to stay. It addresses serious problems faced by educators nationwide; one being how to increase the success of students enrolling in community college. Additionally, recent analysis indicates that a startling 75 percent of students in each incoming class drop out without completing their education.

And this is happening at a time when, of the 11.6 million jobs created in the post-recession economy, all but 100,000 of them required a college education. This, according to the Georgetown University Education and Workforce Center which also reports that employers have found that they get higher-quality work, greater productivity, and more innovation from workers who are college educated.

"A trained workforce is key to making our communities attractive to business and industry," said Stan Nader, longtime mayor of Lincoln, the fastest growing small city in the nation. He said Promise will help students focus on their careers early on to be more efficient and successful in their education. "Such initiatives shorten the time students need to earn their degree or certificate. At city hall and in the business community we love to bring these focused students in as interns.

Willy Duncan, the President of Sierra College said that Promise initiatives statewide are most successful when driven by community groups, elected officials and civic leaders--something he's hoping to see happen throughout the college district. "Where we come together and do something about a problem that's so very close to home. It's a community investment in local families and the future of our economy."

For more information on Sierra Promise: https://www.sierracollege.edu/student-services/support-programs/promise/index.php

###Terence and team have amazing work ethic and dedication that compliments our existing FSE team perfectly.

Leading national critical power service company, Quality Uptime Services, announced they have acquired DC Power Support, a Southern California-based company. Quality Uptime Services, headquartered in Bethel, Connecticut, is one of the nations leading independent critical power service organizations providing UPS and battery preventive maintenance and emergency service programs for critical power equipment across all makes, models, and KVA size. Acquiring DC Power support is another step in strengthening their West Coast presence.

DC Power brings a significant horse-power boost to our battery business, said Ben Caiola, Vice President & CFO of Quality Uptime Services. Terence Yhap, former DC Power Support President/Owner and Adrian Hernandez, former DC Power Battery FSE, have joined Quality Uptime as employees. Jason Schneider, former DC Power Vice President/Owner, will be assisting us with integration and West Coast business development.

We are very excited to be a part of such a well-oiled machine, said Jason Schneider, Not to mention the resources Quality Uptime Services can bring to our existing clients as well as the level of service we can put towards prospective clients. Im super excited for the future!

We have successfully partnered with DC Power Support for many years. Terence and team have amazing work ethic and dedication that compliments our existing FSE team perfectly. We are very excited to have them join the team and help us sustain the growth of our battery division, states John Raio, President of Quality Uptime Services.

About Quality Uptime Services

Supporting a national client base across all industries, Quality Uptime Services provides UPS and battery preventive maintenance and emergency services through a team of factory-trained field service engineers. With over 8.2 million sq.ft. of raised floor under contract and 97% customer retention, clients confidently engage Quality Uptime Services to maintain 100% uptime. Follow Quality Uptime Services: Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

For more information on how Quality Uptime Services can help you with UPS and battery maintenance, visit QualityUptime.com or contact Frank Monticelli, Vice President at Quality Uptime Services, at (917) 971-6234, fmonticelli(at)qualityuptime(dot)com.Metrohm USA is proud to partner with the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) and host a webinar describing the USP monograph modernization program and the impact of this program for analytical instruments in pharmaceutical laboratories.

Many USP monographs are decades old and do not reflect recent innovations and technology updates. These innovations coupled with new instrumentation make laboratory analysis more efficient, cost-effective and safe. With this in mind, the USP has embarked on a global initiative to modernize many monographs across all compendia with a clear goal of replacing them with selective and sensitive methodologies.

Metrohm USA invites scientists to attend this educational webinar where Dr. Leonel Santos, Director of Chemical Medicines at USP, will provide an overview of the USP monograph modernization program. Dr. Michael Chang, Scientific Liaison Officer, will present an example of a successful modernization project where over-the-counter (OTC) products were analyzed for the quantification of zinc (USP 591) with selective Ion Chromatography (IC) methods.

Dr. Hari Narayanan of Metrohm USA will also provide a concluding overview of common chemical analysis techniques, their selectivity and sensitivity and share example case studies of their implementation.

This complimentary webinar will take place on April 12th at 11 am EDT. To register, visit the Metrohm USA webinar events page (URL: https://www.metrohm.com/en-us/support-and-service/webinar-center/) or the registration page for the event: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1630052/2F0B9F603503719059C75A1F92736443

Company Description:

Founded in 1943 in Herisau, Switzerland and celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, Metrohm operates in more than 80 countries with its own subsidiaries and exclusive distributors. Metrohm USA is Metrohms largest subsidiary, employing more than 250 people across North America.

Metrohm offers a complete line of analytical laboratory and process systems for titration, ion chromatography, electrochemistry and spectroscopy. From routine moisture analysis to sophisticated quantification, we are ready to help you develop your method and configure the optimum system. Move your analysis from the lab to the production line with our dedicated process analyzers. At Metrohm we provide systems that find solutions. http://www.metrohm.comToday, Reloadly officially released their brand-new mobile top up app on App Store and Google Playstore. Reloadly enables users to send mobile recharge to anyone and anywhere in seconds, connecting over 4.5 billion prepaid subscribers. 80% of the worlds mobile subscribers are prepaid users, and studies show theyre out of balance 30% of the time. Reloadly aims to bridge the gap and help more subscribers to have credit on their mobile phones. The app supports over 500 mobile operators and every major currency in the world, so users can top up phone credit easily and instantly, no matter where they are in the world.

The app is available for both Android and iOS, with each version individually developed in order to guarantee the best possible user experience across all smartphone operating systems. The Reloadly app prioritizes speed and user-friendliness. Via the app, users can deliver airtime credit to any person, device and location, in less than 15 seconds. That means its easy to top up your own phone for that all-important call to your grandparents, or to send top up credit to your family members devices, so they can use it to call you, text you, chat with you or access the internet through prepaid data usage!

The top up process takes just 3 steps:

1. Select a number from your contact list,

2. Chose the amount to recharge,

3. Pay with your credit card

The Reloadly app comes with several features that help us bring you the most convenient top up experience. For example, once you select a phone number from your contact list, the app will automatically detect its country and mobile operator, saving you time and unnecessary steps along the way. Additionally, you can opt to store your credit card details securely within the app, to make topping up even quicker next time. These are just some of the features that make Reloadlys top up process smooth, secure and fast as possible.

So theres really no excuse not to keep in touch with your family and friends back home!

Even more interesting are the opportunities beyond topping up devices. Reloadly sees huge potential for this type of technology to be turned into an API, a toolkit for developers that allows other app makers to implement money transfers within their apps. The planned release date for this feature is February 2018.

Download the Reloadly app today and call your friends and family.Strategic Business Plans from Wise We appreciate companies and entrepreneurs that enable families and loved ones to find their joy in life again and regain self-esteem, and we know that help with a business plan can ease some of the stress small business owners often face.

National Reconciliation day is April 2, 2018, and counselors are looking forward to helping couples, family members and others gain a better understanding of what it takes to mend relationships and make them work. Wise Business Plans is now offering individual, family and group therapists and mental health care specialists the extensive business knowledge, forward-thinking planning strategies and proficient grasp of market data that leads to increased public awareness and business expansion options.

"Our relationships are what make life worthwhile. When you aren't getting along with someone you care about, it can cause your entire life to suffer," said Joseph Ferriolo, Director of Wise Business Plans. "In some ways, business planning can be viewed in a similar manner because a company can flounder and lose its way due to lack of planning and effective support."

Wise Business Plans specializes in creating professionally written small business plans, each custom written by accomplished MBA small business planning writers, researchers, and financial modelers, and graphically designed by experts. The Wise Business Planning team of experts utilizes careful market research on many levels, and an understanding of both the client base and potential sources of continuing cash flow, to formulate an individual outline for a business plan for a loan, a business plan for expanding your business, e-learning business plans or SBA business plans.

"We appreciate companies and entrepreneurs that enable families and loved ones to find their joy in life again and regain self-esteem, and we know that help with a business plan can ease some of the stress small business owners often face. We are proud to partner with family counselors to assist them toward long-term success in their chosen field," said Ferriolo.

Wise Business Plans (http://www.wisebusinessplans.com), staffed with professional MBA writers, researchers and financial experts, is a trusted partner for businesses across a broad spectrum of products and services. Our mission is to empower our clients to make the best possible business decisions, boost company performance and facilitate their funding success by laying the groundwork for strong businesses that excite, inspire and retain talented and exceptional employees.Certificate of Excellence from Taste of Blue Ridge

Taste of Blue Ridge is a community consisting of five tribes. These are restaurants, chefs, farmers, community local sourced stores, and beverages with an emphasis on breweries. "Are you a foodie? Do you travel for food? Here is a look at the food scene just outside of Washington DC right in your backyard, said Nancy Craun, Founder of Taste of Blue Ridge.

Taste of Blue Ridge is a marketing movement to highlight the food talent here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It also shows the commitment of the locals and businesses to the highest quality local sourced food products.

Over the last eight years as I worked to develop the tourism marketing platforms for Go Blue Ridge Travel and our first marketing community  Virginia Kids Trail, I often ate in restaurants thru out the Shenandoah Valley and experienced the phenomenal food local chefs were creating. I began to interview the chefs realizing they were often newcomers to the valley with excellent training from around the United States and the world, said Craun.

Thru the Virginia Tourism Marketing Leveraging program, a new website was created which launched this March. It is centered on the people behind the food and the food events people can attend. There will be six culinary events called Root to Table which will show the strength of our marketing community thru the collaborations between partners including the chefs, farmers, beverage retailers, and food vendors.

Let me introduce you to five of our chefs. Taste of Blue Ridge is populated with personal interviews so click these links and learn more where there passion for food began, said Craun.

Chef Erik Foxx-Nettnin is head chef at Magnolias at the Mill in Purcellville, Virginia. Born in Clinton, Maryland and raised in both Virginia and Maryland. Chef Erik Foxx-Nettnin learned from some of the top chefs in the United States. When I worked in DC it was impossible to truly know the farmers behind the locally sourced food products we used. Now that I am right in the middle of the farm hub, I can interact on a daily basis with these farmers and truly build menus around the animals and crops being raised here in the valley, said Chef Erik.

Chef Steve Ferrell is head chef at The Redbook Restaurant - Hillbrook Inn and Spa in Charles Town, West Virginia. Born in Silver Spring, Maryland, Steve Ferrell grew up in the small town of Brunswick, Maryland. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate with Chef Erik. At Hillbrook's Redbook Restaurant, I have the opportunity to develop meals for thirty people a day and at Magnolias Erik puts out a 1000. It really shows me the great opportunity I have to experiment that it not possible in a high volume restaurant where so many cooks are creating the food product. I am truly blessed to have this opportunity at Hillbrook Inn. said Chef Steve.

Chef John Lawrence is executive chef at The George Washington Hotel  Georges Food and Spirits in Winchester, Virginia. Having worked in many seafood towns including the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Chef John has brought a seafood twist to the menu at Georges Food and Spirits. I added oysters  you have to have oysters. I have worked with the Rappahannock Oyster Company in Virginia for years as my house oysters. We serve them raw, we serve them baked, and we are now added fried oysters to the menu. I want people to see Georges Food and Spirits as a wonderful place to get good seafood. said Chef John

Chef Mindy Biddle is head chef at Locke Store in Millwood, Virginia. A native of New Jersey, her greatest influencer was her mother. When asked about her love of food  Its all about intuition: you smell, you taste, you share, you tweak. Its art, its creative  its always an exciting morning to begin a new soup and put the finishing touches on the soup from the day before: spices early, with fresh herbs and zest to brighten and finish the job, said Chef Mindy.

Chef Michael Ritenour is executive chef at Massanutten Resort outside of Harrisonburg, Virginia. Chef Michael joined the Massanutten team in 1995 and has been happy as the Executive Chef for over 20 years. When asked what inspired him - I had an uncle who is a chef, and so was my father. I think its a combination of being exposed at a young age and genetics from family members," said Chef Michael.

The Blue Ridge Mountain region has evolved over the past ten years. The locals travel the world and many ethnic cultures have made the Shenandoah Valley home. Plan a trip picking one of our luxurious lodging venues. Use Go Blue Ridge Travel to incorporate favorite activities like hiking, history, and the arts. This region has music, food, and art festivals every weekend.

About TasteofBlueRidge.com

Launched in April 2016, Taste of Blue Ridge is a marketing umbrella managed by Encore Event Partners, LLC, a marketing consulting firm based in Shepherdtown, West Virginia. Tastes mission is two fold -

For the consumer  B to C:

Create amazing food experiences thru itineraries connecting restaurant owners, chef, farmers, breweries, wineries, cooking schools, shops and lodging partners.

For the food member  B - B:

Taste of Blue Ridge strives be a food community of excellence that delivers support solutions to community members, meets our customers' needs of a food experience, offers development opportunities for our community members, provides growing value for the contributes to our community.

Contact: Nancy Craun Founder and Owner

Phone: 540.533.1853

Email: brb(at)BlueRidgeBride(dot)comNEWSALERT-AFGHAN-TALIBAN-EXECUTION Witness says Taliban have hanged a dead body from a crane in the main square of Herat city in western Afghanistan. (AP)Witness says Taliban have hanged a dead body from a crane in the main square of Herat city in western Afghanistan. (AP)

SCYThe FBI has subpoenaed Ted Malloch, an American academic with ties to Republican strategist Roger Stone and former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage, to testify in the Russia investigation.

Malloch was detained at the Boston Logan International Airport in Massachusetts on March 27 after flying in from London, according to a statement sent to Business Insider. He said that after he was directed to a "special line for passport control," he and his wife were escorted to a separate corridor by a TSA official and an FBI agent, where they searched his belongings.

Later, he said, FBI agents separated him from his wife and took him to a secure conference room where they seized his electronic devices and interrogated him in connection with the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 US election.

Malloch said investigators questioned him about his involvement in President Donald Trump's campaign, his relationship with the longtime Republican strategist Roger Stone, and whether he had ever visited the Ecuadorian embassy where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange resides.

Malloch said he told agents he had met with Stone three times, knew nothing about WikiLeaks, and never visited the Ecuadorian embassy. He added that he had no Russia contacts.

Stone is currently at the core of the controversy surrounding WikiLeaks, the radical pro-transparency organization that published thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign at the height of the 2016 election. The US intelligence community believes the breaches and subsequent dissemination of emails were carried out on the Kremlin's orders.

Stone said he has communicated only indirectly with Assange in the past. He is also known to have been in direct communication with WikiLeaks and the Russia-linked hacker Guccifer 2.0 during the election.

Stone, who acted as an informal adviser to Trump during the campaign, attracted scrutiny when he sent out several tweets in the summer of 2016 which raised questions about whether he had prior knowledge about WikiLeaks' plans to publish the hacked emails. He denied knowing about the document dump in advance.

In an interview Friday, Stone described Malloch as someone who became a "self-appointed surrogate for Trump" during and after the campaign.

"He's very articulate, he's good on TV, he knows the issues," Stone said. "He did a good job of representing Trump's point of view."

Malloch recently wrote a book, "The Plot to Destroy Trump: How the Deep State Fabricated the Russian Dossier to Subvert the President," which is set to be released in May. The book includes a foreword by Stone, as well as blurbs by Farage and Alex Jones, the founder of the far-right conspiracy website InfoWars.

Asked about the nature of his relationship with Malloch, Stone initially said he met Malloch three times but later said he recalled only two meetings with him. Stone's and Malloch's first meeting was at a New York restaurant, Strip House, during the 2016 campaign. The two men dined with Jerome Corsi, a far-right political commentator and conspiracy theorist, Stone said.

Stone said his conversation with Malloch and Corsi at dinner was friendly but not memorable, and that they discussed "Brexit and globalism." He added that they never discussed WikiLeaks, Assange, or Russia.

Malloch's description of what the FBI questioned him about, as well as his subsequent phone call to Corsi, indicates agents likely questioned him about the 2016 dinner with Corsi and Stone after detaining him.

Stone said his second meeting with Malloch occurred last month, following a speech Stone gave at the Oxford Union. The Republican strategist said he met Malloch and his wife after the address, but didn't recall what they had discussed.

Afterward, Skyhorse Publishing, which is publishing Malloch's upcoming book, reached out to Stone and asked if they could transcribe his remarks during the speech and use them as a foreword for the book. Stone said he agreed, and that he was never in direct contact with Malloch about the book.

A significant figure in the Trump-WikiLeaks probe

Corsi first broke the news of Malloch's FBI subpoena, telling InfoWars that a shaken Malloch had called him while he was being interviewed by agents at an FBI office in Cleveland earlier this week.

A representative for Malloch said he is slated to testify before a grand jury in the Russia investigation on April 13. Malloch said that based on the advice of legal counsel, he would not comment further on his conversations with FBI agents. He said in his statement that while he willingly cooperated with investigators, he objected to the way he had been detained and questioned.

"

Malloch is a controversial figure in American politics. He catapulted into the national spotlight amid reports last year that Trump was considering appointing him the US ambassador to the European Union.

But Malloch attracted scrutiny when the Financial Times reported that he made several misleading claims in his autobiography, including that former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher had once called him a "genius," that he was the first to coin the phrase "thought leadership," and that he was a fellow at Oxford University. Malloch was subsequently dropped from consideration for the EU post.

Nonetheless, he has remained a constant presence in the right-wing media sphere and has earned significant praise from far-right figures like Stone, Farage, Jones, Corsi.

Simpson then mentioned Malloch, whom he described as a "Bannon Stone associate" tied to UKIP and who Simpson believed was "a significant figure in this."

Asked last year whether he had discovered any "factual links" between Farage and WikiLeaks, Simpson pointed to Farage's trips to New York, and said he had been told, but had not confirmed, that "Nigel Farage had additional trips to the Ecuadorian Embassy...and that he provided data to Julian Assange."

"What kind of data?" Schiff asked.Cape Verde has the highest access to electricity of about 76 percent in West Africa whilst Liberia is among the least countries with 31 percent access to electricity.

Dr Bello who was speaking at a Sustainability Conference in Accra, said the countrys quest for renewable energy is expected to reach about 25 percent by the year 2020. Renewable energy growth presently stands at 13.4 percent but the nation is exploring vehemently other opportunities including wind energy.

The nation is believed to have loss US$2.1 million daily in power production due to severe electricity supply challenges. The recent one was in 2015 where there was erratic power supply.

However, the generational capacity has more than doubled since then, increasing from 1,730 MW in 2006 to 3,795 MW in 2016.

The electricity supply challenges is attributed to a number of factors, including a high level of losses in the distribution system, which is mainly due to the obsolete nature of distribution equipment, as well as nonpayment of revenue by consumers. Other factors are an overdependence on thermal and hydro sources for electricity generation and a poor tariff structure, which makes it difficult for the utility companies to recover the cost of electricity production.He said: "Ebony told me to give her just two years to go into music but I did not agree because I wanted her to be a lawyer. After sometime, I agreed because she assured me she will go back to school so I did not even go for her things in her."In the past, the veracity of quotes he attributed to the pope has been called into question, especially after the 93-year-old Scalfari admitted to never using a tape recorder during interviews.

After death, the souls of people who repent are pardoned by God and join in his contemplation, but those who do not repent, and therefore cannot be pardoned, disappear, Francis said.

There is no hell where the souls of sinners suffer in eternity, Pope Francis he told Eugenio Scalfari, a 93-year-old atheist philosopher during a conversation in the Vatican.

Francis said: after death, the souls of people who repent are pardoned by God and join in his contemplation, but those who do not repent, and therefore cannot be pardoned, disappear.

Hell does not exist  what exists is the disappearance of sinful souls, he added.Prince of Ghana comedy, Lekzy Decomic is set to host the 5th edition of the much-awaited comedy event dubbed Easter Comedy Show on Saturday, 31st March 2018 at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC)The Laughline" host is undoubtedly one of the go-to MCs in the country, having taken control of a plethora of high-profile events over the years.Lekzy Decomic promises patrons of this years event nothing but the best of rib cracking jokes back to back.The Easter comedy comes with a host of female artistes namely Nana Yaa, Adina, Aramide etc who will set the stage on fire with amazing performances.A list of Comedians billed for the event includes, ID James Brown, Salvador, Lekzy, Okey Bakassi, Gandoki, Josh2Funny amongst others.The Easter Comedy Show seeks to promote Africa finest comedians.2017 Easter Comedy ShowLekzy took a page from the former president of Ghana, His Excellency John Dramani Mahamas book to treat fans to an evidence-based comedy show inviting a few people to the stage in his funny display.The Easter Comedy Show sandwiched a great musical mash-up display between Lekzy De Comik and Ghanas Queen of Comedy Heiress Jacintas performances.The Kente Collection was inspired by Selina Bebaako-Mensah, Creative Director and CEO of the brand to design a collection that truly portrays the beautiful Ghanaian culture and identity.

Selina Beb had a spectacular finale show where she joined a diverse group of designers and fashionistas for the eighth edition of the New Orleans Fashion Week.

READ ALSO: 7 times Nana Addo rocked African prints like no other President

The Kente Collection features the Selina Beb handbags in several variants and accessories handmade with the authentic woven Kente fabric embellished with colourful beads.

Expressing her excitement for this feat, Ms Bebaako-Mensah remarks that she is glad to have had the opportunity to showcase her latest Kente Collection and represented Ghana to the world.

She said, Its been a pleasure to have been able to explore and design amazing handbags and accessories out of our Kente fabric which represents a key part of our Ghanaian cultural heritage.

The New Orleans Fashion Week is a great platform with a driving force that unites fashion professionals in a series of high-end runway shows, presentations, pop-up boutiques, networking opportunities and social experiences.

READ ALSO: 5 times Nana Ama Mcbrown and her husband were just the perfect couple

Selina Beb is an award-winning designer recognised globally for making authentic African inspired handbags and accessories.

She was recently awarded at the Bi-Annual European & International Women Inventors (EIWIIN) in Italy and have showcased in major fashion shows including African Fashion Week London, Glitz Africa Fashion Week amongst others.According to Citifmonline.com that first reported the story, the deceased were part of a youth fellowship team of 15 that had gone there to pray.

In the course of the swimming, one person was drowning and the next person wanted to help and he got drowned. The third person who also wanted to help also got drowned,a brother of one of the deceased, Kwame Mac-Joseph narrated.

He told Citi FM that there were no rescue team around and onlooker were not willing to help following the drowning of the other persons that had gone to the aid of the first person who drowned.

According to him, We just received a call from the Labadi police that we should come to the police station, theyve found two of the bodies and my brother was part of it.

READ MORE: Multiple investigations launched into injection deaths at New Senchi Health Centre

"They also said one of them had a wedding ring on his finger. So two people have been found and its left with one person."The three deceased persons are Bande Yobi, Kwadwo Adjei Kyeremeh and Eugenia Atsupui Gapher, who are 78, 31 and 42-years-old respectively.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has dispatched a team of personnel to the health facility located at Akradie, according to the Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service, Dr Badu Sarkodie.

The Food and Drugs Authority has also dispatched a Pharmacovigilance team from its regional Eastern Regional Office to collaborate with the GHS on the matter.

The Police, it has been reported, have picked up two medical staff of the health centre believed to have administered the drug to help in investigations. They are James Yeboah and Simon Takeramah.

Meanwhile the FDA says preliminary investigations into the matter shows the injection administered may have been contaminated during preparation.

It identified the drug as o.9% Normal Saline which is prepared by mixing it with Benzathine Penicillin Powder for Injection.

"Benzathine Penicillin is presented as powder for Injection and should be reconstituted with STERILE water for injection and also used immediately to avoid contamination," according to the FDA.

According to reports, two other persons are currently in critical condition after receiving similar injections from the same health facility.

A family member of one of the deceased said her uncle died on Monday after receiving an injection at the Senchi Health Center.

According to her, the deceased uncle had visited the hospital to treat a skin condition and was injected by one of the medical officers.

Meanwhile the FDA says it has "dispatched the Pharmacovigilance team from the Eastern Regional Office to Akradie to investigate the issue in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service and will keep you updated as more information becomes available.""I have never been reckless, I will never been reckless in my statements," he said on Newsfile Saturday.

The Deputy NDC General Secretary is on police enquiry bail after he was picked up by Criminal Investigative Departments (CID) operatives on Tuesday for saying there will be a "civilian coup d'etat" against the government.

He spent two days in the custody of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI). While he was there, he was visited by bigwigs of the NDC including former President John Mahama.

READ MORE: Anyidoho opens up on custody time

Anyidoho is expect to report to the CID on Tuesday.He told Citi FM: The persons who are said to have been given those injections have been handed over to the police. We looked at the criminal aspect of it for which then I needed to make a formal complaint to the police statements were taken from them and they have been detained for further investigations.

The three deceased persons are Bande Yobi, Kwadwo Adjei Kyeremeh and Eugenia Atsupui Gapher, who are 78, 31 and 42-years-old respectively

The Food and Drugs Authority has issued a statement saying the injection administered may have been contaminated during preparation.

It identified the drug as o.9% Normal Saline which is prepared by mixing it with Benzathine Penicillin Powder for Injection.

"Benzathine Penicillin is presented as powder for Injection and should be reconstituted with STERILE water for injection and also used immediately to avoid contamination," according to the FDA.

According to reports, two other persons are currently in critical condition after receiving similar injections from the same health facility.

A family member of one of the deceased said her uncle died on Monday after receiving an injection at the Senchi Health Center.

According to her, the deceased uncle had visited the hospital to treat a skin condition and was injected by one of the medical officers.

Meanwhile the FDA says it has "dispatched the Pharmacovigilance team from the Eastern Regional Office to Akradie to investigate the issue in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service and will keep you updated as more information becomes available."READ MORE: How parliament was under tight security as MPs approve hosting of US military

The signing followed direct negotiations between Ghana and Exxon Mobil without an open competitive tender due to the nature of the field, where the depth ranges from 2,000 to 4,000 meters, Ghanaian officials said, according to Reuters.

Speaking to RT International following a protest led by the Ghana First Patriotic Front against the military cooperation deal, Mr Horne said Exxon Mobil is concerned about its investment in West Africa and therefore will desire an enhanced US military role in the Ghana.

He said: "Keep in mind that the US oil giant has been exploring offshore oil from Ghana and reportedly have discovered many finds of petroleum.

READ MORE: Lawyer to challenge military deal with US in Supreme Court

"And I dare say these US oil giant are also concerned about protecting their investment in West Africa. And therefore they would also demand, desire an enhanced and increased US military role."He distanced the party from the comments made by its General Secretary, Koku Anyidoho, who said in a media interview that there will be a "civilian coup d'etat."

READ MORE: Embattled Koku Anyidoho to face CID again on Tuesday

Speaking on Joy FM's Newsfile Saturday, Mr Ablakwa said: "The whole episode is quite unfortunate at all levels. General Secretary of the party and our leader did the right thing by distancing the party from the statement by Koku Anyidoho.

"The NDC believes in our democratic dispensation, believes in the current constitutional order and would not do anything to subvert the constitution and the current democratic dispensation.

"This is a party that of the seven elections that have been conducted in the fourth republic, we have a better record at winning elections.Anxious about the cold weather, they left their bikes behind in Moscow but did bring along leather vests, an icon of the Virgin Mary and a press secretary, a snarling Russian woman whose main job was to keep away the press.

At a time of growing alarm over Russias readiness for reckless action abroad following the nerve agent attack on a former spy in England, the bikers so-called Russian Balkans Tour set nerves on edge, highlighting how easily Russia can keep everyone off balance by dialing tensions up and down with low-cost foreign forays.

The Night Wolves billed their tour, funded with a $41,000 grant from the Kremlin, as a pilgrimage meant to showcase the shared Orthodox faith of Russia and the region, at least the bits of it inhabited by ethnic Serbs like Republika Srpska, which is legally part of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

But they enveloped their activities  mainly visits to churches and drinking sessions with local nationalist hot heads  in such secrecy that they stoked concern over what Russia is up to in Bosnia, a rickety state backed by the West but undermined from within by the Republika Srpska, which covers about half its territory and wants to secede.

Russia is very good at creating tension and getting attention  it is like a dog running after a car, said Aleksandar Trifunovic, the editor of Buka, a popular online news site in Banja Luka. The tubby bikers, he added, were a joke but had nonetheless sent a message that Russia stands behind the Republika Srpska and its leader, Milorad Dodik, whom the United States last year labeled a significant threat to Bosnia and placed on a Treasury Department sanctions list.

Sending bikers without bikes, Trifunovic noted, was much cheaper than sending hard cash, with which Moscow has been extremely sparing.

Dodik, the Republika Srpskas president, complained in an interview that, despite his frequent meetings with Russias president, Vladimir Putin, he was still waiting for Moscow to follow through on what he said was a 2014 promise to provide his government with loans of at least $625 million.

We have received nothing from Russia, said Dodki, a former American protege who has morphed into a hard-line Serb nationalist. We had a promise but got nothing. We are a bit disappointed.

Instead, Dodik got the Night Wolves, such a motley crew that one local newspaper asked whether it would not have been better for Moscow to send some ballet dancers.

They looked pathetic; even I am taller than they are, said Srdjan Puhalo, a bookish, ethnic Serb psychologist who posed with the bikers for photos outside Christ the Savior Cathedral in Banja Luka, perhaps the most enthusiastically pro-Russian city outside Russia.

Dodik, whose security forces have been stocking up on weapons and recently purchased 2,500 automatic rifles for the police forces, insisted that he did not want violence and wanted the Republika Srpska to secede peacefully from Bosnia and join the European Union. The chances of that happening, however, are near zero, not least because his would-be country claims territory, like the border town of Brcko, that does not belong to it and has a habit of belittling Bosnian Muslims as fanatics.

He described the Night Wolves, a mix of Russians and Serbs, as harmless tourists who were far more welcome than men in short trousers with beards but no mustaches, a reference to the dress code and shaving habits of Muslims who follow a rigid form of the faith promoted by Saudi Arabia and who many Serb nationalists believe, against all evidence, are numerous in Bosnia.

While claiming not to know much about the Night Wolves, Dodik in January gave a medal to their leader, Alexander Zaldostanov, a burly bruiser and friend of Putins, to honor what he described as the bikers contribution to human rights, the rule of law and relations between Republika Srpska and Russia.

That the Night Wolves are not just another group of motorcycle enthusiasts, never mind human rights activists, however, has been evident since March 2014, when its members traveled, this time with their bikes, to Crimea to set up road blocks and provide other support for a Moscow-orchestrated takeover of the Ukrainian peninsula on the Black Sea.

Some of them went on to fight alongside pro-Russian rebels who seized power in eastern Ukraine.

They then reappeared in 2016 in Montenegro, joining events celebrating pan-Slavic solidarity and hostility to the West ahead of what authorities there have since claimed was an unsuccessful, Russian-sponsored coup attempt aimed at blocking the countrys entry to NATO.

Washington takes such a dim view of the Night Wolves that the Treasury Department placed the gang on a sanctions list in December 2014, accusing the bikers of kidnapping, assault and close ties to Russias security services. It has since added various affiliates, like a bike shop in Moscow, to the list.

These guys are not goodwill ambassadors  we can all be sure about that, said Emir Suljagic, a former deputy defense minister in Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital.

The Night Wolves gang, which has local branches around the region, he added, are part of an extremist ecosystem nurtured by Russia through its ties to the Serbian Orthodox Church and radical Serb nationalists who still dream of a Greater Serbia. It was that idea that led to murderous ethnic cleansing in the early 1990s and also the creation of the Republika Srpska, whose founding president, Radovan Karadzic, was convicted in The Hague of war crimes in 2016.

The Security Ministry in Sarajevo declared the bikers, a security threat and barred Zaldostanov and the leader of the Night Wolves Serbian chapter from its territory. The Bosnian news media covered the progress of the Night Wolves as if they were an invading army, something that Dodik dismissed as anti-Russian hysteria.

As the bikers started out on their meandering journey from Belgrade, the Serbian capital, to Banja Luka and then back, the United States put down markers of its own by sending the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, Wess Mitchell, on a diplomatic tour of the region.

The parallel tours, one by a button-down American diplomat, the other by a group of unkempt Russian and Serbian bikers, are all part of a long struggle for influence in an unstable region with an unhappy history of inciting wars and an insatiable appetite for great power conspiracy theories.

Spying is a very popular game in the Balkans, said Milos Solaja, a professor of international relations at the University of Banja Luka. People here greatly enjoy intrigue and conspiracies.

Russia is not going to start World War III over the Republika Srpska, he said, and only wants to be represented here  there is no big conspiracy. Bosnia, he added, has been permanently failing for more than a decade and did not need any prodding by Russia to become a failed state.

After a night of heavy drinking, the Night Wolves started their Russian Balkan Tour with a visit to Velika Remeta, an Orthodox monastery founded in the 14th century near the Serbian town of Novi Sad.

Their host was the monasterys abbot, Father Stefan, whose office displays a big map of Serbia showing the countrys borders at the time of the monasterys founding: They reach down into what are now Greece and Albania. We had access to three seas then, the abbot lamented. Now we have none.

He denied having any interest in politics and said he was not sure what the bikers were up to. But, with a clock decorated with a portrait of Putin on his office wall and a Russian flag on his desk, Father Stefan said he was happy to receive anyone who cherished the long spiritual bonds between Russia and Serbia.

He served the bikers  who he acknowledged did not seem very religious  homemade red wine and cherry liquor.

Apparently eager to avoid parallels with the Night Wolves antics in Crimea, the groups leader, Zaldostanov, did not join his comrades on their Balkan tour.

The purpose of our pilgrimage is to expand the spiritual bond between people and friends in Serbia and the Republic of Srpska, Yevgeny Strogov, the stand-in leader, told journalists at the border crossing between Serbia and Bosnia.

The trip, he said, was all about connecting cultures, adding that Russia and Serbs have the same culture and the same religion. That means a lot to us.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.The Delta State High Court in Asaba sentenced Agbofodoh, who is the community head of Ekpan, Uvwie Council Area of Delta State, after he was found guilty of all four count charges preferred against him, including murder.

The traditional leader was arrested on June 17, 2016, and was later arraigned in court.

Charges brought against him were conspiracy to commit murder, the substantial offence of murder, conspiracy to commit attempted murder and an attempted murder.

ALSO READ: Tramadol overdose kills young man in Abraka, Delta state

In October 2012, Agbofodo was said to have been involved in the killing of one Edigbe Ikpesa and several others within Ekpan and its environs.

He was also implicated in the Delta Mall robbery and vicious destruction in January 2016.

54 soldiers get death penalty

Capital punishment, with methods of execution ranging from hanging to shooting, is a legal penalty in Nigeria.

In 2017, Amnesty International called on the Nigerian government to stop the planned execution of some inmates on death row in Lagos State but the government rejected the call, pointing that the death penalty is expressly authorized by section 33 of the Constitution of Nigeria.The concert tagged Flavour of Africa will be homecoming of sorts for the Golibe, Ada Ada crooner.

The concert, which promises to be a spectacular musical experience, is sponsored by Life Continental Lager Beer. Flavour is giving this free concert to his fans especially the people of Enugu  the coal city where he started his career  as a form of giving back for their love and support over the years.

The show will feature some of Africas biggest performers including Phyno, Tekno, Zoro and Semah at the Michael Opara Square.

If you are a fan of songs like Golibe, Ada Ada get ready for a riveting concert with Flavour. You also stand a chance of winning backstage passes, signed CDs, other spectacular gift and many more freebies on the day.

And thats not all; you could Win a VIP ticket to the Flavour of Africa Concert Live in Enugu by guessing the first 3 songs he will sing on stage, all you have to do is follow @lifelager_ng on social media to participate.According to the statement shared on Facebook, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Dopemu has been given the mandate to look into the case of physical assault which was shared on Social Media and succeeded in getting the CP's attention.

According to the reports, a police inspector is alleged to have slapped a young lady inside a bus transporting passengers from Obalende to Dopemu.

The CP via the statement assured the public that the findings in the case would be made public as usual.

ALSO READ: Woman tortured to death by banker husband buried amidst tears

House help arrested for feeding baby with vomit

A house help, Cecile Ngumbo, has been arrested by Kenyan police after being filmed assaulting and feeding her employers 15-month-old baby with vomit.

According to the reports, the suspect has now been charged to court on charges bordering on child abuse and human cruelty.

The 35-year-old was reportedly accused of subjecting the child to cruel punishment at Ngara estate in Nairobi on March 14, 2018.

During the trial proceedings, the court heard that Ngumbos employer had CCTV cameras installed to monitor the house.

However, she received the biggest shock of her life when she saw Ngumbo's maltreatment of the baby.

Police records revealed that Ngumbo was seen feeding the baby with vomit, kicking and pinching her.

Her employer reportedly confronted her before later reporting the case to the police.

In her defence, Ngumbo pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, adding that she has three children to take care of.The Gabonese military officer was, on Wednesday night, March 28, 2018, stabbed to death in his sleep, by his wife whose identity has not been revealed.

Local media in Gabon reports that the wife had become enraged by the fact that the deceased secretly fathered a child.

READ ALSO: Man murders boss's neighbour over job transfer

The officer's corpse was reportedly picked up on Thursday, March 29, 2018.

May his soul rest in peace.

Unwanted lover slices ex-boyfriend's neck with blade after argument

Following a disagreement, a woman has reportedly sliced the neck of her ex-boyfriend who earlier warned her to stop reporting him to family.

This was her response following a slap from former partner who reportedly slapped her for disobeying the order.

The victim was rushed to the St James Hospital, Amukpe, Delta State, where the incident occurred.

A gory image of the violent assault showed the ex-boyfriend on a bed with a deep cut to his neck.The Chairman of the association, Alhaja Lateefat Gbajabiamila, said that the aim of the exercise was to create awareness about the need for people to go for regular medical check-up.

The exercise was organised in collaboration with Motus Health Initiative, a non-governmental organisation.

Gbajabiamila said: I have realised over time that many people do not care about their health status; they just want to work.

Even when they are ill, they diagnose the ailment and treat themselves without even going to the hospital.

We do not want them to carry on with such attitude and that is why we try to educate them on the importance of going to visit the doctor when they are ill.

I am so happy about the turn out of people; it is all for their good. Some people have high blood pressure which is hidden and they are not aware.

It is important that people check themselves regularly so that they can know their status and stay healthy. 

She said that the association plans to carry out more free medical exercise in future in order to provide healthcare delivery for residents.

Gbajabiamila said: We just started this exercise; we intend to carry our more medical check ups, maybe twice in a year and also depending on the turn out of people and funds available.

This way, we will be able to reach out to many residents in the area and also create awareness about the CDA so that people attend meetings.

We want people to be aware of the CDA, because we are next to the government.

The government asks from the association what the community wants and when people do not come for meetings, they do not get to participate in the community. 

Also, the Executive Director, Motus Health Initiative, Dr Babajide Onanuga, said that the major challenge facing communities include inaccessibility to healthcare delivery.

According to him, the organisation is partnering with the CDA to revolutionalise healthcare delivery in the community and country at large.

One reason we engage in what we are doing is we have found out in communities that there is a great divide in accessing healthcare.

Also, even if the facilities are available, people cannot pay for healthcare.

We are trying to limit these barriers by reaching out to communities to give free healthcare services, and in that way, the healthcare is delivered,  he said.

Two participants, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), expressed gratitude to the association for the exercise.

A business woman, Mrs Juliet Mbekwe, said she was happy to be part of the exercise as she was never opportuned to visit the clinics for check-ups.

This is a good initiative that is being brought to our community; I have not visited the hospital since my last delivery.

This is so, because I go to work everyday and never have time for myself.

Exercise like this one will give many people the opportunity to know their health status and also help peole who cannot afford healthcare,  Mbekwe said.

Another participant, Mr Kehinde Olaniyi, said he was passing by and saw that free medical treatment was given to people in the area.

Olaniyi said: I had to come and participate, because it is the only opportunity I have to get checked by the doctors.

A free exercise like this is good for me, because I cannot afford to pay for healthcare each time I try to visit a hospital.

I appreciate this gesture by the association and hope they continue in the future so that we can enjoy the services and stay healthy. 

NAN reports that the free medical services enjoyed include eye, malaria, breast cancer, diabetes screening.Mr Samuel Okasanmi the spokesperson of the state Police command disclosed this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in llorin.

According to him, the command is still making some arrests, and has deployed its personnel to Agaka to ensure law and order.

The police image maker assured residents in the area to go about their legitimate business, stating that peace had since returned to the area.

When NAN correspondent visited Agaka, all shops in the area were locked as traders desert the area.

Security operatives were seen keeping vigil to ensure maintenance of law and order.

The Chairman of Agaka Traders Association, Alhaji AbdulRahman Mohamned said the violence has paralysed business activities as most shop owners have deserted the area.Musa spoke with newsmen in his palace shortly after his chieftaincy investiture and turbaning ceremony held at Government Secondary School, Jiwa, on Saturday.

The event was also part of his 17th anniversary and 66th birthday celebrations.

I am now 66 years and today is my 17th year on the throne; so I have every reason to thank God; it is worth celebrating.

You can see the crowd; I thank everybody that honoured my invitation; may God reward them.

My message to those honoured today is that we should be our brothers keepers.

I am asking FCT indigenes and Nigerians to embrace one another; we should love one another and live in peace.

We do not have any other country but Nigeria, said the traditional ruler.

He said that a Lebanese was among those honoured because of his contributions to wealth creation and employment in the FCT.

Musa said the Lebanese had a factory at Idu industrial park which was within Jiwa emirate.

When I visited his factory, I discovered he employed 500 Nigerians, both men and women.

The chairs he manufactures are exported to African countries; so, if he can do something like that in my chiefdom; I need to appreciate it.

If he can accommodate Nigerians of every nationality there, he needs to be encouraged, he said.Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews on Friday, some of the dealers attributed the boom to the Chiristians abstinence from eating meat on a Good Friday when Jesus Christs crucifixion took place on the Cross of Calvary.

Mrs Mary Ijezie, a fish dealer at Garki Market said she had transacted so much business since she opened her shop to customers, although she did not disclose the volume of sales.

According to Ijezie, customers were buying fish, either dried or fresh at exorbitant prices in order to observe the significance of Good Friday, adding that the catholic faithful were prominent among her customers.

She explained that a kilogramme of fish was going to her customers for N1,000 while the largest size of catfish was selling between N3,000 and N5,000.

Mrs Lauretta Abor, a dealer in frozen fish at Ogbete Main Market, also said she recorded good sales since she resumed business, attributing the boom to the large number of Christians who were observing Good Friday.

Abor said that a carton of fish was selling for between N16, 000 and N18, 000, adding that a unit of frozen fish sold for between N300 and N600.

We are always prepared for this day because it must surely come for us to make good sales and be happy at the end of the day, she said.Olakpe gave the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday, saying that he was impressed with the motorists orderliness throughout the duration of the presidents visit.

The LATSMA boss said majority of the motorists complied with the directions and adhere to the official instructions during temporary restrictions on some major roads in Lagos on Thursday.

We appreciate the level of compliance of the motorists during the presidents visit to Lagos State; our officials and personnel of Nigeria Police Force really ensured there was steady movement of vehicles despite restrictions to some areas.

About 1,000 LASTMA officials were deployed to various routes to maintain free flow of traffic during the visit, from Ikeja axis up to Lagos Island to ensure orderliness in the city, he said.

The LASTMA boss appealed to the drivers, especially the commercial bus drivers, to maintain orderliness and obey the traffic rules and regulations during the Easter festivities.

Olakpe also urged motorists plying Agege, Iyana-Ipaja, Cement along Lagos-Abeokuta expressway, to exercise patience as the ongoing road reconstruction would soon be completed.SAN DIEGO, March 31, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Recover has now partnered with several New Jersey drug rehabs call The Recover at (888) 510-3898 if you are searching for a New Jersey drug rehab. They offer the best drug rehabs, alcohol rehab facilities and drug detox programs in New Jersey. Give us a call if you battle drug addiction, alcohol addiction or prescription medicine abuse.



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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b930c19e-de35-4182-a5f7-a1f9282dfca7The President's media aide Bashir Ahmed and other State House officials had also said the award was given by the late civil rights activist's nephew, Isaac Newton-Farris.

Newton-Faris, one of the organisers of the leadership award, reportedly urged Nigerians to allow Buhari continue as president because of his tremendous achievement.

The award, however, became controversial when the Martin Luther King Centre, which is a memorial of the late preacher, said it has no knowledge of the event.

Multiple reports alleged that the King family was given $3.5 million to give Buhari the award.

But Newton-Farris described the allegation as insulting and embarrassing.

"Its a lie It's fake news Everyone in Nigeria should be ashamed," he told select journalists in Lagos on Friday, March 30.

He said it is a dent on the image of the King family, adding that what he said about Buhari was based on his personal conviction.

ALSO READ: I am grateful to those investing in Nigeria - Buhari

The King family led by the matriarch, Naomi Barbara King, were in Nigeria as part of the activities initiated to celebrate a low- key Black History Month in the country and to deepen the partnership between Africa and its Diaspora.

Presidency reacts

On Friday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President Buhari on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, also clarified that the award was not given on behalf of The King Center.

She said the award was given by Naomi in a personal capacity.

"As part of the activities, they visited President Muhammadu Buhari and gave him a commemorative plaque for his fight against corruption", Abike Dabiri said.Farris Isaac Newton, a nephew to American Baptist minister and civil rights activist, Martin Luther King has expressed dissatisfaction over the allegation that the family got $3.5million to honour President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, Nigeria.

Farris, a former CEO of the The King Centre for five years and a Senior Fellow CEO of the centre, noted that he feels insulted by the allegation.

He went further to say he feels every Nigerian should be ashamed of embarrassing and slandering the good name of th Martin Luther King family.

"I'm insulted and anyone in Nigeria should be ashamed of embarrassing and slandering our good name. We came here to honour your country, your people, to establish a new bond between America and Africa," Farris said.

In a short video, Farris said:"I am the nephew of Martin Luther King Jr and you can not buy me or any member of my family for that fact. So this fake news, this slander, this lie on the family's character is a lie. Anything that I have done here or said about your president came from my heart in my brain.

"This is not based on any compensation, no money or in exchange for anything. We don't deal like that, the Martin Luther King family which includes three branches that is Martin Luther King Jr., who is the second son, the oldest and matriarch of the family and who is my mother, Dr Christine Farris and my second uncle, AD Williams King but none of us throughout the three branches are buyable or bribeable, we don't do things for money, we do things on principle."

The Award

On March 28, 2018 in Abuja, Nigeria, the Martin Luther King's family through his nephew, Farris Isaac Newton presented an award to Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari.

Farris was quoted to have said Nigerians should give Buhari time, because he is one of the most legitimate leaders that the African continent has produced.

The Nigerian Presidency had earlier said that Buhari was conferred with the 1st Black History Month National Black Excellence and Exceptional African Leadership Award 2018 by the visiting Martin Luther King Jnrs family.

The King centre's reaction

The King Centre, founded by Corretta Scott King has denied its association with an award purportedly given to Nigeria's president Muhammadu Buhari.

The Centre in a tweet, distanced itself from the award given to Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari allegedly on its behalf on Wednesday, March 28, 2018.

Abike Dabiri reacts

Meanwhile, Abike Dabiri, a three term Nigerian lawmaker and Senior Special Adviser to the President Buhari on Foreign Relations & Diaspora has reacted to the allegation that the Martin Luther King family were paid.A NAN correspondent who visited the market on Good Friday reports that the mood at the market remained somber following the fire incident.

The affected traders were seen trading from the booth of their vehicles or under the blazing sun with large umbrellas in their bid to get business back on the feet .

As part of early efforts to reconstruct the market, workers from the Kosofe Local Government came with three garbage trucks clearing debris from the burnt stalls.

One of the affected traders, Mrs Veronica Ehveve, told NAN that she lost goods worth over N1 million in the inferno.

The fire affected me a lot because I just bought my goods on March 22 and by the next day everything just got burnt.

Kosofe Local Government staff, led by the Chairman, Afolabi Sofola, came to the market on March 23 to see how much was destryed by the fire.

Many traders had just borrowed money from the cooperatives and everything is gone, she said.

Ehveve said she had no insurance and gave a passionate plea for government assistance.

We want the government to help us to quickly rebuild this place which will make us leave where we are and go back to our stalls; we also need financial assistance, she said.

Another trader, Godfrey Eboh, a popular cosmetics trader, told NAN that he lost three shops and goods worth at least N3 million in the blaze.

Eboh said: It was not easy for me recovering from the fire incident, I had borrowed money from different sources to make my business grow when the incident happened.

I own three shops, I use two for cosmetics and one for weavon and attachments, I lost goods worth N3million in 2015 fire incident and I also lost goods worth N3million during last Fridays fire, he said.

Eboh, who gave an emotional plea for government assistance said: They should please help us, the economy has been so tough for us, right now we are looking up to God.

Mr Gbenga Fayemi, the Secretary of Binukonu Market thanked the Kosofe Local Government for its prompt response to the tragedy.

Fayemi said:I will like to thank the chairman, Mr Afolabi Sofola for his response, health inspectors and officials from the local government have been here to survey the area and clear the debris.

Regarding rendering financial assistance to the affected traders, Hon. Sofola said he will make an appeal to Governor Ambode and we believe and hope something positive will emerge from that.

The market executives have also gone to the Local Government Secretariat and the palace of the Oba of Ojota to express their feelings about the fire incident, Fayemi said.

Mr Afolabi Sofola, Chairman, Kosofe Local Government, in a telephone interview with NAN, said that the council would commence reconstruction of the market immediately after Easter.

We will make a passionate appeal to the state government to come to the aid of the traders.

I am also going to make it mandatory for all our markets to be insured, the Kosofe Local Government chairman said.

The Ojota monarch, Oba Olawale Cole, told NAN that the traders needed to be cautious about their health, safety and security following the fire incident.

I had meetings with the Iya-Oloja and the market executives to brainstorm on measures to ensure that a similar incident never happen again.

I have spoken with the Chairman of the local government and I am going to have a meeting with him too so that the Council of Obas and Kosofe Local Government will work together to prevent a reoccurrence, he said.

Oba Cole said that there was need for the provision of fire-fighting equipment such as fire extinguishers and fire alarms in markets.The party dismissed the listin a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan on Friday in Abuja.

PDP described the list as an extension of Federal Governments media trial and challenged it to come up with names of its members against whom the government had secured convictions.

Ologbondiyan stated that the list put forward by the Federal Government as purported looters amounts to a cheap blackmail, saying that none of those listed have been indicted or convicted by any court of competent jurisdiction or any panel of enquiry in the country.

PDP said the list made available by the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, only revealed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Presidency have no prove of corruption against the PDP.

The party added that in its frenzy and desperation, the Federal Government even included names of individuals who were not standing trial or under investigation for any act of corruption, as well as people not even PDP members.

The APC Federal Government has manifested its frenzy by going after matters that are in court and in which none of the persons have been convicted.

The party said that the APC thus betraying its desperation to mislead the public, the court and divert attention from the heavy looting involving its members.

We are not in doubt that the individuals he has mentioned will take their legitimate stride and pursue appropriate action in the court.

However, attacks on individuals, who are members of our party, does not in anyway detract from the fact that the PDP, as a political platform, is not a party of corruption.

Ologbondiyan added that it was unfortunate that the APC and its government under whose watch horrendous sleazes were happening on daily basis.

He noted that the APC led government which had failed to fulfill the littlest of its campaign promises, could spend a wholesome three years searching for flimsy allegations to discredit PDP and its members.

This is a government that is yet to account for $26 billion (N9 trillion) stolen through corrupt oil contracts in the NNPC, N1.1 trillion worth of crude diverted to service APC interests, N18 billion Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) intervention fund stolen by APC officials.

This include the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, the N10 billion National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) for which members of the Buhari cabal were indicted.

This includes the Mainagate, where the APC government recalled and reinstated an individual indicted for scam running into billions of naira.

This is in addition to cover provided for serving ministers indicted for corrupt enrichment, among whom is a prominent former APC governor from the South South, who was indicted by his state for stealing billions of naira to fund President Buharis campaign in 2015.

He emphasised that the PDP was on a rebound, saying that such flimsy allegations by the APC and its horde of looters, could not stop it from challenging the Federal Government to fulfill its campaign promises.

Since, the APC has decided to draw this attack, we will no longer hold back but appropriately commence a serialization of all looters hiding in APC and the Presidency, he said.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government through, Lai Mohammed, had released a list of persons who allegedly looted dry Nigerias economy under PDP watch, describing the list as just a tip of the iceberg.

Among those listed at a news conference on Saturday in Lagos by Mohammed were, the PDP Chairman Uche Secondus, saying he on the Feb. 19, 2015 took N200 million only from the office of then NSA

Then PDP Financial Secretary on the 24th of Oct. 2014, he took N600 million only from the office of then NSA.

Then National Publicity Secretary Olisah Metuh, who is on trial for collecting N1.4billion from the office of then NSA.

Dr Raymond Dokpesi, Chairman of DAAR Communications  On trial for taking N2.1 billion from the office of then NSA

 Former SSA to President Jonathan, Dudafa Waripamo-Owei  On trial over N830 million kept in accounts of four different companiesThe triplets, two boys and a girl, were said to have been delivered within minutes after the first baby was delivered at 12:11 a.m. through caesarean section.

Mr Joel Adeyemi, the Director (Nursing Services) at the hospital, described the condition of the mother and the babies as clinically perfect without any complication.

As you can observe the mother and the babies are in the normal ward and doing fine.

Although, the babies were delivered through surgery, nonetheless the babies weights and condition, health wise, are perfect, he said.

Adeyemi said the hospital had witnessed more than 10 deliveries of twins in the last one month.

Ogunsola, the mother of the triplet, who is a pepper seller, said she was excited and had no sleepless night over the birth of the babies, saying they were gifts from God.

The Almighty God that gave them to me will surely provide for their upkeeps, she said.

Mr Abiodun Ogunsola, an electrician and father of the triplet, on his part, said he had no regret or fair over their birth.

He, however, said that the family would wholeheartedly welcome assistance from any individual or group as regard the medical bill and upkeep of the babies.

Our God is awesome and kind; I know He will surely stand by the family, he said.

Chief Festus Awoniyi, the Acting Traditional Head of Omu-Aran, descried the birth of the triplets as a welcome development and a positive omen for the community.

It will be recalled that the traditional ruler of the community, the Olomu of Omu-Aran, Oba Charles Ibitoye, joined his ancestors on Dec. 1, 2017.Danjuma also called on Nigerians to defend themselves against incessant killings by Fulani herdsmen across the country.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, expressed worry that such statements will encourage criminal gangs to feel justified in "defying legal governing and democratic institutions, and authority of legitimately elected democratic government".

He urged prominent Nigerians to use their national influence wisely and shun public declarations that are capable of inciting violence thereby threatening national security.

Shehu also advised former leaders to desist from exploiting emotional sentiments of Nigerians and use various fora where they can advise the government on security matters.

The presidential aide added that Nigerians must be careful not to plunge the nation into a full-scale crisis like the case of Somalia.

Shehu said, "The Presidency wishes to appeal to prominent Nigerians, who have national influence, to use their influence wisely and not continue to engage in public declarations that are likely to inflame emotional passions and threaten National Security.

"The Presidency is very worried that criminal gangs will feel justified in defying legal governing and democratic institutions, and authority of legitimately elected democratic government if unrestrained pronouncements are made.

"Silence can be dignified, but sometimes it can be misinterpreted and exploited. It is both shocking and scary to hear the recent comments by a senior citizen calling for Nigerians to defend themselves.

"The Presidency commends the Nigerian militarys efforts to maintain peace and stability, despite being pulled in various directions by elements determined to destabilise the country and government for their selfish reasons.

"What country would survive if its citizens rise against the countrys organised, trained and equipped military?

"We advise former leaders to take advantage of the various fora where people with a history of national security can offer advice to the government without resorting to the exploitation of emotional sentiments.

"The civil war motto: To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done rings very timely at this time in our nations history. We must be careful to avoid the mess that destroyed other African countries like Somalia."

Last Saturday, Danjuma said there is ethnic cleansing going on Taraba and others states, accusing the military of colluding with the killers.

The ex-Chief of Army staff stated this while speaking at the maiden convocation of the Taraba State University, Jalingo, and the 10th anniversary of the institution.

He had said, "I am not a politician and politics is one profession I dont want to belong to because if I am a politician, I will not say what I am going to say to you now.

"When I arrived in this arena, I saw rich cultural display and I was amazed at the rich cultural heritage of our people. Taraba is a mini Nigeria with diverse ethnic groups living together peacefully, but the peace in this state is under assault.

"There is an attempt at ethnic cleansing in the state and of course, some rural states in Nigeria. We must resist it. We must stop it. Every one of us must rise up.

"Our Armed Forces are not neutral. They collude with the bandits to kill people, kill Nigerians. The Armed Forces guide their movements; they cover them. If you are depending on the Armed Forces to stop the killings, you will all die one by one.

"This ethnic cleansing must stop in Taraba State and other rural states of Nigeria otherwise Somalia will be a child's play.

"I ask every one of you to be alert and defend your country, defend your territory and defend your state. Defend yourselves because you have no other place to go. God bless our country."

Mixed reactions have trailed the viral statements with many support the call for Nigerians to defend themselves.Yari gave the order in Anka when he visited the emir to condole with the emirate over the killing of over 30 persons by gunmen in Bawan Daji village of Anka local government area of the state.

He said this is an order from the president and from the governor of the state.

According to him, we cannot continue to watch criminals as a parallel government, doing what they want and carrying sophisticated firearms, maiming and killing innocent citizens in the state.

The governor further directed for the disbandment of five communities and the removal of the village and district heads of the affected communities in the emirate with immediate effect as they were accused of harbouring bandits.

He said that any person or group found associating with bandits should also not be spared but treated as the firearms carriers and bandits.

Responding, the Emir of Anka, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad said we need more security personnel who are also committed to carry out their responsibility effectively.

The emir reiterated that the people had no problem of herders/farmers clashes at the moment.

What we are facing is armed banditry by trigger happy criminals who attack innocent rural dwellers and steal their cash and property,  he said.In an interview with BBC Hausa, Senator Melaye accused APC members of sabotaging the efforts of one another.

The Kogi lawmaker expressed displeasure over the harsh treatment meted out to APC members by the Federal Government.

There are many crises in APC, let the truth be told, Melaye announced.

He continued: Everybody is sabotaging one another. Something should be done, otherwise, the funeral trumpet may be blown on APC.

I have to say the truth. There are problems in this party. Look at how senator Misau was taken to court, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki was also taken to court, then you said we should not tell the truth?

I am not afraid to tell the truth on anybody, whether on Buhari, Saraki, or even my father. I have to speak against injustice. APC and PDP patrionise the same market, he noted.

Yahaya Bello behind my recall

Again, Senator Melaye accused the Kogi state governor, Yahaya Bello of sponsoring his recall from the Senate.

His only offense, the Kogi Senator said, was advising Governor Bello to pay state workers their salaries and other entitlements.

I will only return to my constituency on May 20, 2019 because I enjoy massive love from my constituents. The matter is also at Supreme Court, Melaye declared.

This is all a handiwork of Yahaya Bello, just because I advised him to pay salary arrears to Kogi State workers. You are all aware how his government, despite receiving two trenches of Paris Club refund fund, failed to pay salary for several months.

We can recall how a worker committed suicide for lack of salary. Hunger and poverty dont know any political party. So, for telling him this, that is why he is witch-hunting me.

This man is not working in Kogi State. You cannot show even one Kilometer road constructed by his administration, and he said we should not tell the truth. I must tell the truth even if I would be killed, he emphasised.

Melaye wanted

Meanwhile, the Kogi State Police Command has declared Senator Melaye and seven others wanted for alleged conspiracy and illegal possession of firearms.

Melaye and the others were declared wanted after two accused persons linked to the him allegedly escaped from Police custody during a jailbreak.The party said the President's anti-corruption war failed on arrival because he lacks the moral right to fight it as he is allegedly a "beneficiary of the corruption freebies" himself.

The opposition party said this in a statement issued on Saturday, March 31, 2018, by its spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan.

He alleged that the funds used in the 2015 election for Buhari were "proceeds of corrupt activities" of known All Progressives Congress (APC) governors and leaders.

"We challenge Buhari to make open the sources of fund available to his campaign in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 race as well as the names of the donors," the statement said.

"We are particularly interested in the fund allegedly provided by a south-south governor for the 2011 presidential election as well as how the cost of litigation was paid by then Buhari campaign.

"President Buhari and his party leaders have huge confessions to make on how they raked in state stolen resources to prosecute elections of 2015. If the federal government and the APC are serious about fighting corruption and not just out to persecute PDP members, they should have began with the probe into the source of the billions of naira used for President Buharis 2015 presidential campaigns, particularly in the face of allegations that the fund was looted from treasuries of various APC states.

"The PDP ask can president Buhari in all honesty claim ignorance of reports in the open media that a South-south governor looted several billions from his state accounts and diverted the sums into Buharis 2015 campaigns?

"Can the presidency and the APC inform Nigerians what steps the federal government has taken to investigate this allegation, which has been in public domain and to clarify their roles as beneficiaries of the alleged looted funds?" Ologbondiyan added.

The opposition party is reacting to the list of alleged treasury looters, who are mostly PDP members, released by the Federal Government.

The PDP spokesman also challenged Buhari to tell Nigerians what he has done about the alleged stealing of N1.1 trillion worth of crude oil under his watch as minister of petroleum.

He further said, "The presidency should tell Nigerians what has been done to recover the stolen N18 billion internally displaced persons (IDPs) intervention fund and the N10 billion National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) fund alleged to have been stolen from the treasury single account (TSA) by APC officials and presidency cabal.

"The Buhari presidency must immediately explain why it has been providing cover for the cabinet minister reported to have bought a property worth N280 million in Abuja from corrupt enrichment.

"How can a President who enjoys the company of perjurer, looters and is never aware of the activities of corrupt people around him, fight the menace of corruption?"

Looters' list

On Friday, March 30, 2018, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed released a list of some of those who have allegedly looted the nation's treasury.

ALSO READ: Be ready to prove your case in court, PDP chairman challenges Lai Mohammed

PDP chieftains who are currently being tried for corruption and financial crimes.Mantu revealed that he gave money to officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security operatives to manipulate elections in favour of the PDP.

He disclosed this during an interview on a Channels Television programme, Hard Copy.

On how he rigs elections, he said, "I dont have to go and change election (results) but when you provide money, you give money to INEC boys that if they see any chance they should favour you, you provide money to the security (personnel); I tell you its not necessarily when I am contesting election but when my party sponsors a candidate, I will like that candidate to win election."

Mantu, who pronounced himself as a born-again politician in 2017, said he also bought the loyalty of agents of other political parties in order not to raise any objection to the outcomes of the elections.

The politician commended the current PDP chairman, Uche Secondus, for apologising to Nigerians for the party's past mistakes.

He advised other politicians to repent from electoral malpractice and urged Nigerians to vote wisely in 2019.

"I am tired of living in poverty in the midst of plenty and I believe that we have the resources that people can live a decent life without being beggars to those who have.

"So we need good governance and good governance can only be provided by good people; good people who are truly repentant, who are concerned about the well-being of the people", he added.

The PDP, which held power for 16 years, has been at loggerheads with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which took over power in 2015, over who is the most corrupt party.

PDP's apology

On Monday, March 26, 2018, PDP chairman, Secondus apologised to Nigerians for impunity, imposition of candidates and other mistakes made by the party in the past.

Speaking at a public national discourse on 'Contemporary Governance in Nigeria', he said, "I hereby, as the National Chairman, do admit that the PDP made a lot of mistakes.; we are humans, not spirits and the ability to admit is key in moving forward.

"We admit that we have made several mistakes; we have passed through all our challenges and have acquired the experience no other party can boast of.

"We were sanctioned by Nigerians at the polls in 2015; let me use this opportunity to apologise for our past mistakes.

"It is the honest thing to do, a legacy to transfer to our children; we cannot continue like that.

"When we make mistakes, we should come out boldly to the people and apologise."Reacting to the apology on Thursday, a national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu advised Nigerians not to accept the apologies tendered by the PDP.

Tinubu stated this at a colloquium organised to mark his 66th birthday in Lagos.

He said the apologies is deceitful and an attempt to hoodwink Nigerians to get a political advantage ahead of the 2019 elections.SAN DIEGO, March 31, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TheRecover.com has just partnered with a group of Sacramento Drug Rehab Centers, As drug addiction can be devastating to the individual doing it and to the persons family. We probably all know someone who has had a drug problem at one time or another, and we were not sure what to do to help them. If you are struggling with an addiction issue or it is happening to someone you know, you are urged to contact a drug rehab in Sacramento to find out about treatment.



Are prescription drugs a problem with addicts?

Perhaps you are engaging in prescription drug abuse, and you cannot see just how adversely it is impacting your life. There are many classifications of pharmaceutical drugs, and when abused, these medications cause various effects on the human body. The most commonly abused classifications of drugs include the following; painkillers, stimulants and central nervous system depressants. Prescription drug abuse is a serious and growing problem all across the United States, and as such, more people than ever before are seeking help from a drug treatment program to receive professional rehab.

How do drugs affect the body and brain?

Like other substances of abuse, prescription drug dependence causes changes in the function and appearance of the human brain. Depending on what kind of drug a person happens to be taking, the effects can range from fatigue, depression, and insomnia to more serious things. Repeated use of stimulant drugs can lead a user to become uncharacteristically aggressive and to experience feelings of hostility and paranoia. In high doses, certain drugs can cause an overdose, coma, and death. You can receive the help you need to become sober through contacting a drug rehabilitation center about treatment.

Does your loved one need an intervention?

Have you ever been confronted by others about your drug abuse? Do you clam up and become angry when friends and family request you to stop abusing drugs? Have your loved ones done and said everything imaginable to get you to accept professional help? Trying to reach an addict is nearly impossible because the individual does not want to talk about their problem and nor does the person want to address the issue. The only thing most addicts care about is using and getting high so sometimes the best thing loved ones can do is contact a drug rehab in Sacramento to receive information about an intervention.

Why should someone consider going into drug rehab in Sacramento?

Trying to lead any normal life while you are suffering from a drug problem is going to be nearly impossible. You have no idea how unmanageable and destructive drug addiction can become, and it is not something to ignore or minimize. When you have had trouble due to drug dependence, and it is affecting your life in adverse ways, the best thing you can do is enter a treatment program to get the help you need to become clean. Contact a drug rehab in Sacramento today and talk to a caring admissions specialist who can help you work out a plan for receiving treatment because it is the best decision you can ever make

Author: Kevin Leonard

Organization: TheRecover.com

Address: 27420 Jefferson Ave, Temecula, CA 92590

Phone: 888-325-2454

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c28de27b-9a5b-49e3-8284-d21cfdc0bbbaThe bitter row has stalled the efforts of the new nation to take its place in the European Union and other international institutions.

As the Greek and Macedonian foreign ministers meet in Vienna on Friday amid a new push for a solution, here is some background.

Rejected from the start

Macedonia proclaims its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 but its international recognition is immediately blocked by Greece because of the name.

Besides claiming it as part of its heritage, Greece also has a province bordering the new country that has the same name and fears Skopje may be harbouring territorial ambitions.

In 1992 more than a million Greeks join a rally in the northern city of Thessaloniki, once the most important city in ancient Macedonia, to proclaim "Macedonia is Greek".

A country called FYROM

It is only with the adoption of a provisional name -- the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) -- that the country is finally admitted into the United Nations in 1993.

Most other nations, including Russia and the United States, later recognise its constitutional title, the Republic of Macedonia.

Greece clamps down

In 1994 Greece pushes its point by imposing an economic embargo on Macedonia, including preventing it from using the port at Thessaloniki, its main trading post.

Greece also demands Macedonia drops from its flag the rayed sun of Vergina, which it claims is an ancient Greek symbol, as well as certain articles from its constitution.

A thaw

In September 1995 the neighbours sign in New York an accord opening the way for a normalisation of their trade and political ties, but leave hanging the name dispute.

The following month they open liaison offices in their respective capitals and a new Macedonian flag -- with the controversial sun replaced -- is raised for the first time at the United Nations.

Greek vetoes

Macedonia becomes a candidate for membership of the European Union in 2005 but Greece blocks the start of negotiations, which must be agreed unanimously.

In 2008 Macedonia presents itself as a candidate for membership of the NATO military alliance, under the provisional name, but is again met with a Greek veto.

Relations sink with the erection in Skopje in 2011 of a huge statue of Alexander the Great. Athens sees this as an attempt to appropriate one of its greatest military heroes.

'A solution is feasible'

Soon after his election in June 2017, Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev promises a new push to settle the dispute and relaunch the drive for EU and NATO membership.

There is optimism after mediation talks at the UN headquarters in January.

But tens of thousands of people demonstrate in Thessaloniki later that month to insist "Macedonia is Greek and this is not negotiable".

Zaev announces his country will drop Alexander the Great's name from that of its main international airport and a key highway.

Early February he says Macedonia will also include a geographic designation in a future name.Opposition challenger Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) had a narrow edge over Samura Kamara of the ruling All Peoples' Congress (APC), in a ballot with a turnout of more than 80 percent.

"The race is too close to call," Edmond Abu, director of the Native Consortium and Research Center, told AFP on Friday.

The key to victory lies with whoever wins Kono, a diamond-rich district in the east of the country, Abu said.

The runoff should have taken place on Tuesday but was delayed so the High Court could hear a complaint by the APC that some ballots had been tampered with.

The court lifted an injunction on Monday, but the National Electoral Commission said it needed four extra days for preparation because of lost time.

Bio, 53, is bidding to end a decade in power by the APC.

He is a blunt-talking retired brigadier who took part in a 1992 coup and briefly led a junta in 1996 that helped pave the way for democratic elections.

In 2012, he lost the election to the APC's Ernest Bai Koroma, who is stepping down after a decade in power.

Tension

Bio's platform is focused on education and criticism of the government's closeness to China, while Kamara is presenting himself as a continuity candidate who will develop Koroma's programmes on health care and road construction.

But the campaign has been characterised by ugly verbal exchanges and occasional violence.

Bio has accused the APC of using police intimidation against his party and the electoral commission, and of sponsoring the court case to cling to power.

Police have reported a string of attacks on candidates and supporters on both sides since the first round, which saw Bio lead the field by a mere 15,000 votes.

Kamara has said he is "satisfied" with the court decision, and repeated calls for the vote to go ahead peacefully.

"The safety and security of Sierra Leone is in our hands. We should not allow an election to undermine our integrity," he said.

The APC broadly relies on the Temne and Limba people in its northern strongholds, while the SLPP is more popular in the south with the Mende ethnic group.

Sierra Leone, rich in minerals, was a British colony from 1787 until 1961. Three decades later, it plunged into a civil war that lasted 11 years and claimed 120,000 lives.

Koroma's decade-long tenure was marked by the 2014-16 Ebola crisis, which killed almost 4,000 people, and a mudslide that struck the capital Freetown in 2017, killing hundreds.Were going to protect everyone across the board, so Im very very enthused about the fact that we have gotten it done, she told reporters Friday.

But the failure of the bills to actually define sexual harassment led some womens rights advocates and employment lawyers to warn that the policies could be narrowly interpreted. They said the language should have incorporated a more expansive understanding of gender-based discrimination, as well.

A group of seven women who had previously worked as staff members in the Legislature and have publicly accused legislators of sexual harassment called the bill ill-conceived and incomplete, adding that true progress must include listening to the victims who have actually endured the process.

Several lawmakers also lamented the lack of transparency in the negotiation process, which did not include public hearings.

Sen. Liz Krueger, a Democrat from Manhattan who has been vocal about the need for stricter policies, equivocated in her support, saying the bill was a really good try.

Still, the bill passed the Senate unanimously, and an identical version passed the Assembly. It will go to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is expected to sign it into law.

The bill will cover both the public and private sectors, requiring employers to develop anti-harassment policies and training and barring the state from awarding bids to any company that failed to comply. It would also extend protections to independent contractors who might not be defined as employees. The new policies allow for publicly funded payouts for substantiated claims of harassment against state employees, but would require them to reimburse the government within 90 days.

The bill does not, however, address settlements in which there is no formal finding of liability. In 2015, the state paid $545,000 to settle harassment claims related to a former assemblyman from Brooklyn, Vito Lopez.

The bill also does not address long-standing criticisms of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, a committee made up in large part of members appointed by the governor. The group is investigating several high-profile harassment claims but has often been called toothless. Cuomo had suggested creating a new arm within the commission specifically to investigate harassment complaints, but Young said Friday that it was unclear where that proposal stood, or if there would be money available to pay for it.

Young conceded that the wording of the new policies would not necessarily cover other forms of gender-based harassment, such as inappropriate comments. But she defended the need for a flexible definition of harassment, citing how quickly understandings of acceptable behavior have evolved in recent months in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

A stricter sexual harassment policy was one of just a few policy issues to be included in the budget talks. New Yorks push mirrored those in many other state legislatures: 29 states have introduced new sexual harassment bills in 2018, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which called the number of proposals unprecedented.

But in Albany, as usual, policy quickly became inextricable from politics.

While lawmakers in both parties, as well as Cuomo, had agreed in principle on the need to formulate new policy  a rare point of consensus in the Capitol  the actual negotiations turned out to be anything but unifying.

Womens rights advocates denounced Albanys secretive model of budget negotiations, which they said would allow the new policies to be hammered out by four men in a room: Cuomo and three legislative leaders, including Sen. Jeffrey D. Klein  who was accused in January of forcibly kissing a former staffer, Erica Vladimer.

Senate Democrats, who are a minority in the chamber, denounced their exclusion from closed-door negotiations, which came after the governors office said in February that their conference leader, Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins of Westchester, would be included in discussions.

On Wednesday, asked why Stewart-Cousins had not been privy to the leaders meetings, Cuomo told reporters that the new policies were being formulated not by the four men but by a working group for which Senate Democrats had been invited to provide input. But Stewart-Cousins said no such group existed.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.And an about-face for Scott, who decided to consider new gun control measures only after a teenager was accused of plotting a school shooting in Vermont in the days after the violence in Parkland.

No state is immune to the risk of extreme violence, Scott said in a statement Friday, adding, If we are at a point when our kids are afraid to go to school and parents are afraid to put their kids on a bus, who are we?

The bill, which passed the Senate, 17-13, on Friday after clearing the House earlier in the week, would raise the minimum age to purchase a gun to 21 and ban bump stocks, which are devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to fire more rapidly. It also contains restrictions that go beyond those in the measure signed in Florida, like an expansion of background checks and a limit on the capacity of magazines that can be sold or possessed in the state.

The passage of the bill is likely to be hailed as a victory by activists pushing for tighter gun laws around the nation after the Parkland shootings. It comes less than a week after hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in protest of mass shootings and gun violence  including 2,500 who squeezed onto the steps of the Capitol in Montpelier.

I think the message that most members of the Legislature  not all  took is that public opinion is changing in Vermont, said Eric Davis, an emeritus professor of political science at Middlebury College.

Madison Knoop, a college freshman who organized last weekends march in Montpelier, called the bills advancement such a good first start.

The day after the Parkland shooting, Scott, a moderate Republican who has kept his distance from President Donald Trump, said he saw no need for new gun laws  a position in line with years of precedent in Vermont, a rural state with a committed population of hunters.

Scott shifted his stance a day later, after a teenager was arrested and accused of planning a school shooting in Fair Haven, Vermont. Everything should be on the table at this point, Scott said.

Lawmakers are expected to approve two more gun control measures next week. One would allow law enforcement officers to remove guns from people considered at risk of harming themselves or others, and the other would allow firearms to be taken from people arrested or cited for domestic assault.

Some Democrats joined Republicans in opposing the measures that advanced Friday. State Sen. Dick Sears Jr., a Democrat, expressed deep unease with the ban on high-capacity magazines, which had been included in the House bill.

And state Sen. John Rodgers, a Democrat representing a rural stretch of northern Vermont, mourned a change in the states culture before he voted against the bill.

I think maybe if we pass this bill, maybe it is over, maybe the Vermont I grew up with is over, and its changed, Rodgers said, according to Vermont Public Radio.

On Saturday afternoon, Recoil magazine and Magpul Industries, which makes firearms accessories, were planning to distribute free 30-round magazines at the Statehouse to show their disdain for the expected law. Magazines of that size that are in residents possession before the ban goes into effect would not be subject to the law.

Evan Hughes, vice president of the Vermont Federation of Sportsmens Clubs, which was opposed to the legislation, said he would be among the crowd on Saturday.

Our legislators, he said, have drastically underestimated the response from the gun-owning community.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.They came to Kenya in a bid to share Jean-Remy Moets lifelong goal, To share the magic of champagne with the world.

Pierre-Louis Araud, Mr Alexandre Helaine, the Moet Hennessy Eastern Africa Market Manager, influencers and media personalities came together for an awesome experience in an event never witnessed before.

All the attendees were catered for and had a feel of the rich heritage, fineness of the iconic Champaign; Maison Moet & Chandon.

While speaking during the event, Mr Araud stated that, Kenya for Moet & Chandon House represents the future in Africa. We deeply believe that soon Kenya will be in the top three markets in Africa together with Nigeria and South Africa. I really feel great energy in Nairobi and Kenya in general, further adding I feel this great sense of celebration and savoir-fete and that is at the centre of our DNA.

The ideal drink that was founded in 1743 was the first ever Champaign the world ever had.Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale

Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada.

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We're sorry, this article is not currently availableTyra Banks says she had a nose job early in her modeling career.

ADVERTISEMENT

The 44-year-old "America's Next Top Model" and "America's Got Talent" host said in an interview with People published Wednesday that she feels "a responsibility to tell the truth" about having plastic surgery when she was younger.

"Natural beauty is unfair," Banks told the magazine. "I get really uncomfortable when women who are these natural beauties judge anybody who does anything to themselves."

"I had bones in my nose that were itching and growing," she said of having a rhinoplasty. "I could breathe fine, but I added cosmetic surgery. I admit it! Fake hair, and I did my nose. I feel I have a responsibility to tell the truth."

Banks shared similar sentiments about plastic surgery in a previous interview with Yahoo! Singapore.

"I hate when models say, 'Oh, plastic surgery is just a wrong thing,'" the star said. "What are you talking about?"

"You won the genetic lottery... You look like this specimen that's making people everywhere feel insecure and you're going to ridicule someone for getting plastic surgery?" she explained.

Banks discusses her nose job and more in her memoir, "Perfect is Boring," which debuts April 3.

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS!

Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source!

She presently serves as a host and judge on the VH1 reality competition "America's Next Top Model," as well as the host of NBC's "America's Got Talent."In anticipation of a legislative ban on standard capacity rifle magazines, the editors of RECOIL magazine are working with MAGPUL Industries to facilitate the delivery and distribution of 30-round PMAG rifle magazines free of charge to the citizens of Vermont in an overnight operation dubbed the Green Mountain Airlift.

In order to support the law-abiding gun-owners of Vermont and blunt the assault on their Second Amendment rights, RECOILs Rob Curtis will give away 1,200 30-round PMAGs on Saturday afternoon in front of the Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier starting at 2pm.

We invite the public to track the shipment of magazines from MAGPULs Cheyenne, WY facility to Vermont using the following FedEX tracking number: 771880807512. Should the shipment be delayed, the distribution will shift to 2:30pm on the date the shipment arrives.

Were grateful to MAGPUL's Duane Liptak for spearheading the overnight donation of 400 pounds of freedom to the Green Mountain State, says Curtis. His swift action means we will get the magazines here before Governor Phil Scott signs S.55 into law, trampling the rights of law-abiding Vermonters.

At the moment, the Vermont legislature is finalizing passage of S.55, a gun control bill that raises the age for long gun purchases to 21, requires mandatory background checks on nearly all non-commercial private firearm transfers, bans standard capacity rifle magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, and outlaws bumpstock devices.

RECOIL and MAGPUL invite the citizens of Vermont to the Statehouse at 2:30pm on Saturday March 31st to receive a free 30-round PMAG standard capacity rifle magazine and show their support for the Second Amendment of the United States. A representative from the Vermont Federation of Sportsmens Clubs will be on hand to accept donations that will fuel the legal challenge to the new restrictions.SAN DIEGO, March 31, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TheRecover.com Partners with a group of drug rehabs throughout the nation including a drug rehab in Utah, If you are like many people who are addicted to drugs, rehab may be the furthest thing from your mind. Even if you are fortunate enough to be able to acknowledge that a problem exists, you may believe you can deal with it yourself, with no help from anyone. There are reasons to consider a drug rehab in Utah anyway. Call The Recover at (888) 510-3898 for 24 hours live assistance from one of our counselors.



First, giving up a drug habit is very difficult. Addiction means drugs are controlling you, not the other way around. From the possibility of relapse to the possibility of withdrawal symptoms, drug rehab in Utah is the best place to get clean.

Second, using drugs is only one part of addiction. There are many parts of your life that have been affected by drug addiction. A Utah drug rehab will help you address each issue, and begin to deal with it appropriately.

Most addicts find addiction has caused a considerable amount of chaos in their lives. Although each persons situation is unique, you may have developed problems with personal and family relationships, difficulties at work or school, difficulty in being responsible with money, and numerous other issues. The drug rehab in Utah can assist with all of these issues and more.

You can learn how to be more responsible, communicate more effectively with the people in your life, and set reasonable goals. The eventual result will be a life that is much more stable than the life you have now. While the changes cannot all occur overnight, every part of your life can change for the better.

Drug use can lead to physical and mental health issues. The professionals you meet at the rehab know how to approach these issues in the context of treating drug addicts. You will not risk misdiagnoses, nor be placed on medications that could block your recovery.

Learning how to truly enjoy life is an issue many addicts face when they try to get clean. A rehab that offers Narcotics Anonymous meetings is one option that can help you with this problem. In addition to the many other benefits of N.A., you will see how addicts have learned to enjoy life to its fullest without using drugs.

You will see that these options are open to you, too. It may have been a long time since you went through a day or night without drugs. Your N.A. experiences will provide you with plenty of examples of why a drug-free life is better. N.A. can help you decide drug-free is the way for you.

The drug rehab in Utah will also offer activities. Regardless of what you like to do, or want to learn how to do, activities have many benefits. You will learn how to put your free time to good use, participate in something you love, and realize that boredom does not have to be a part of your life.

Some addicts claim the main reason they use drugs is that they are bored. While you will learn that you do not need constant excitement, true boredom can become a thing of the past. Life is meant to be enjoyed, and the activities at the rehab can be an excellent start. From fun to relaxation, rehab can help you relearn these important aspects of life.

A Utah drug rehab can prepare you for life. When every question or problem you have is addressed, you will learn how to meet every challenge life presents without picking up another drug. When your health issues are treated, you can look forward to a healthier future. When you meet others who are in recovery, you will see addiction does not need to mean being alone and isolated. From the treatment program itself to all of the other benefits of rehab, you will be prepared for a clean life.

Today can be the day to make the decision. If you want a better life than a life of active drug addiction, you have already made one important decision. You can follow it up by deciding to enter into a drug rehab in Utah. A good way to look at this decision is your life can only be what you make it, and rehab can help you make it the best.

Author: Kevin Leonard

Organization: TheRecover.com

Address: 27420 Jefferson Ave, Temecula, CA 92590

Phone: 888-325-2454

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/12840afc-c0c8-4d3f-abeb-18b02162bc95SAN DIEGO, March 31, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For most people, the journey into addiction recovery almost always begins with drug rehabilitation programs. The Recover partners with the best dual diagnosis drug rehabs that offer clients medical detox as an important first step in the treatment process.



Important Fact: Not all drug rehab programs offer clients drug detox. In some traditional rehab centers, clients must first complete a medical detox in a hospital before being eligible to enroll for residential treatment services.

There are two types of drug detox.

Unassisted drug detoxification

Medically assisted drug detoxification

Unassisted Drug Detoxification

Unassisted detox can be very dangerous. In this type of detox program, medications are not provided to ease discomfort during the detoxification process.

Important Fact: More often than not, medications are required for people who are chemically dependent on alcohol or drugs.

Medically Assisted Drug Detoxification

The most successful method for getting through alcohol and drug detoxification is to utilize prescription medications that ease the withdrawal symptoms during this critical early addiction recovery stage. Providing medications during the initial stages of drug addiction treatment is the primary component of medically assisted drug detox facilities.

Safely Completing Drug Detox

The keys to effective drug detox are safety and comfort. The Recover partner rehab centers primarily focus on creating these two elements during each stage of the withdrawal process from alcohol and other drugs. To learn more about our detox programs call (888) 510-3898.

Dignity during Drug Detoxification

The physical environment and staff approach during the detoxification process are also highly critical aspects of completing drug detox and beginning the journey towards recovery.

Throughout the detox period, each clients emotional responses are usually heightened because of the physical and psychological factors associated with the withdrawal process. Therefore, it is crucial that the best drug detox program creates a living atmosphere of safety and dignity so that patients can complete detoxification uninterrupted from unnecessary distractions.

Types of Drug Detoxification  Stages of Withdrawal

There are mainly three different stages of withdrawal during drug detoxification.

Acute

Sub Acute

Post Acute

Acute Withdrawal

The acute stage of withdrawal can be thought of as the most serious level of detox. During this time, which usually lasts 1-96 hours, the most medications are required to assist the body is eliminating its dependency on alcohol and other drugs.

Sub Acute Withdrawal

The sub acute stage of withdrawal can be thought of as the second most serious level of withdrawal. Not every person who undergoes drug detox will require acute withdrawal treatment. However, nearly every person who enrolls in drug detox will require sub acute withdrawal support. This stage also requires medications to ensure comfort during detoxification.

Post-Acute Withdrawal

The post-acute withdrawal stage can persist for several weeks or months. Most Los Angeles drug rehab centers do not provide medical assistance for post acute withdrawal syndrome.

Call to Speak with a Detox Specialist

If you would like to learn more about the most effective methods for drug detox in Los Angeles call (888) 510-3898 Now. A credentialed detoxification counselor will conduct a free assessment of your situation and help you to determine what type of drug detox program might be the best fit for you.

Author: Kevin Leonard

Organization: TheRecover.com

Address: 27420 Jefferson Ave, Temecula, CA 92590

Phone: 888-325-2454

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/274556d1-a4f5-4bb3-a7b5-8537076aae8cPorterville, CA (93257)

Today

Abundant sunshine. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. High 93F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A clear sky. Low 61F. Winds light and variable.50 years ago, on April 1, 1968, Tata Consultancy Services -- now India's leading IT company -- was born.

The foundation for TCS was laid by Faqir Chand Kohli whose life touched directly or indirectly many, many, Indians, says Shivanand Kanavi, the well-known technology journalist who as vice-president, TCS, has known Mr Kohli for two decades.

He has been variously described as: The 'Bhishma Pitamaha of the Indian software industry', a la the epic Mahabharat; a master strategist and visionary whose systematic building of TCS 1974-1996 not only created a pioneering IT giant but also laid the groundwork for the rise of a $100 billion Indian IT industry; a classical mentor, whose proteges have gone on to build many other successful companies; a 'Henry Ford of IT services', who moved software development from artisan-like activity to an industrial assembly line of a software factory and so on and so forth.

I think all of them are perhaps true but inadequate to describe Faqir Chand Kohli's work or his personality. I have interacted with him for nearly two decades, first as a business journalist and then as a TCS executive, and he continues to surprise me with newer and newer facets of his personality.

He is a man of very few but carefully chosen words. A lot of thought and homework goes behind almost every word he speaks on a subject. An impatient newcomer who tries to interrupt him will be soundly put down.

He can't stand fools and those who speak off the cuff without doing their homework and would not hesitate to tell them so.

As S Ramadorai, who was picked by him as his successor to lead TCS from 1996 to 2009 points out in his book The TCS Story and beyond, Kohli is hard on the outside and soft and considerate inside and would listen to alternate or even dissenting views if they are grounded in facts and if they are defended with conviction.

Ramadorai says he developed a method to put forward his views to FCK (as he is fondly called by many TCSers) through carefully written memos followed by a discussion, which worked remarkably well.

However, many others less prepared in TCS used to find a call from Kohli's implacable secretary rather daunting and some even dreaded it.

Kohli's contribution to Indian software industry and TCS is rather well-documented. So let me bring out some lesser known but significant contributions from him, which he seems to make with consistency and regularity.

Most people in India seem to have been carried away by the spectacular success in IT services. A decade ago, some politicians even started calling India, quite prematurely, an 'IT superpower' in their own inimitable style.

However, the man who started it all is far removed from such pompous statements. He has been painstakingly advocating that India cannot be a significant player on the global technology map without a developed hardware industry.

India missed the microelectronics revolution mainly due to policies of the government at that time.

Later the global chip industry evolved into a design and testing segment and a chip fabrication segment and Kohli advocated developing appropriate courses in IITs and other engineering colleges to develop the human resources for high-end chip design and testing which today constitutes about 80 per cent of value.

As a result India has become home to a thriving chip design and testing industry. However, Kohli has been emphasising that India needs to produce about 6,000 MTechs (four-five times the current output) every year in VLSI (Very Large Scale Integrated Circuits) design to reach the sophistication of Israel, which is a leading player in the field.

A passion for Kohli has been improving the standards of engineering education.

Nearly two decades ago he started advocating that a handful of IITs are insufficient and at least 50 existing colleges in India have the potential to reach the IIT standards.

As a result of his persistence he was tasked by the government of Maharashtra to identify such colleges and put in motion a plan to upgrade the ones in Maharashtra.

Kohli took up the challenge in not only coming up with a gap analysis report but also engaged himself as an active chairman of the board to raise the standard of College of Engineering at Pune, a 150-year-old institution and alma mater of such illustrious names like M Visvesaraya, C K N Patel, Thomas Kailath, Hatim Tyabji et al. It had gone downhill since then.

He gave them a systematic road map, mentored them step by step to achieve parity with IITs in undergraduate and post-graduate engineering education. The results are there for all to see and COEP is being cited as a success story of a turnaround by many experts.

Kohli's association with education in fact goes back several decades. He was introduced to Dr P K Kelkar, who was then the principal of VJTI, Mumbai, in the 1950s. Soon he was designing a course on control systems to be introduced for the first time in India at VJTI. He used to give some lectures there as well, in his time-off from Tata Electric.

Association with Kelkar developed further when Kelkar was made in charge of establishing IITs in Mumbai and then in Kanpur. Kohli actively worked with Kelkar in building IITs and during his visits abroad for TCS work, did some talent spotting and faculty recruitment as well.

This led to IIT Kanpur developing the first MTech programme in computer science in India. He not only recruited many of the IITians into TCS, but also invited many IIT professors to do training and consulting assignments in TCS.

This culture of strong academic association continues in TCS to this day.

Kohli is not content with the current proliferation of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in India, though it has been spectacular in the last decade.

He has been advocating focused efforts to develop Indic Computing so that over the 90 per cent of India's population which does not know English and carries out its business in Indian languages would then cross the digital divide.

'And then you will see a genuine ICT revolution,' he often says.

Kohli is unafraid to be contrarian.

For example, when much dust was raised recently over organised retail of both Indian and foreign pedigree, as possibly threatening the livelihood of small businesses and especially retailers, he advocated the development of appropriate IT tools to help small businessmen and traders.

Combining IT with their ingenuity and inherent entrepreneurship he believes would enable Indian small businesses match anyone and thrive.

This is typical of Kohli; when faced with a problem he never regresses into defensive strategies nor engages in empty bravado but advocates appropriate technological and societal solutions.

For example, when he saw the problem of adult illiteracy in India which was reported to be to the tune of 34 per cent in the 2001 census, he started working along with his colleagues P N Murthy and Kesav Nori on designing a solution. He based it on innovative teaching and deep understanding of the processes of cognition and learning.

It led to a Computer Based Functional Literacy package, which can teach any one to read in any of the Indian languages within 35 to 40 hours at an average total cost of Rs 100 per person.

It can use old discarded computers of even Intel 486 vintage and a package with animated graphics and a voiceover to explain how individual alphabets combine to form various words and their associated meaning.

The setting for the lessons is visually stimulating and crafted in a manner that learners can easily relate to.

It is said that this approach can help India achieve a literacy rate of 90 per cent in about five years, which might otherwise take over 30 years.

Kohli is a strong institution builder and the Computer Society of India, Nasscom, Manufacturers Association of Information Technology, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organization (ASOCIO) owe a lot for their growth and evolution to his untiring efforts and leadership.

IEEE, the largest professional organisation in the world, with nearly a half a million engineers as members, honoured him with the prestigious Founder's Medal, in the USA.

Most know Kohli as a leader of the IT industry but very few know about his contributions to the power industry. He is a fellow of the IEEE, not for his contributions to IT but for his contributions to power engineering.

During his nearly two decades at Tata Electric Companies (now Tata Power) and in the capacity of chief load dispatcher, Kohli was one of the chief architects of a system which has delivered stable, high quality, uninterrupted electricity to the city of Mumbai rivalling New York.

In the mid-sixties, under his leadership, Tata Electric was the third utility in the world, the first in Asia, to employ a digital computer to plan load dispatch.

His paper on the 'Economics of long-distance extra-high-voltage transmission lines' written in 1963 won great acclaim and in fact created the basis and plan for Power Grid Corporation of India.

His pain is palpable when he discusses the current situation of power sector in India. The 35 to 50 per cent transmission and distribution 'losses' reported by various utilities enrage him.

He says that with appropriate systems one can reduce it to below 10 per cent. His track record in Tata Electric speaks for itself, where the losses used to be a mere seven to eight per cent.

'It is common sense that if you apply appropriate technology and a certain amount of investments and achieve these levels of efficiency then you have automatically doubled the power available to consumers without further investments in power generation,' he exclaims.

He is never a man to engage in empty pontification.

Even now one would find him engage young power engineers from IIT Bombay in vibrant discussions on efficient power system design.

Ever the entrepreneur, he is encouraging them to set up a power system consulting group.

Kohli was also a pioneer in bringing the culture of management consultancy to India.

In fact many of TCS's early engagements were management consultancy assignments.

'I think at one time we could have built a world class management consulting company too in India,' he sometimes says wistfully.

Kohli's achievements in power and IT industry and active interest in solving varied societal problems make him an engineers' engineer much like Bharat Ratna M Visvesvaraya.

A workaholic, who scoffs at the concept of retirement and fading into the sunset, who is deeply engaged in using technology and systems approach to solving societal problems even though he is past 90!

Kohli is a great intellectual asset to India and we wish he also enjoys a long life like the legendary Visvesaraya.

Courtesy: Business India

This feature was first published on Rediff.com in March 2014.

Shivanand Kanavi may be contacted on his e-mail ID: skanavi@yahoo.com; you can read his blog here: www.reflections-shivanand.blogspot.com/; and on Twitter he is: @shivanandkanaviWhen movie aces meet, what do they talk about?



Photograph: Kind courtesy Kamal Haasan/Instagram

Kamal Haasan met Christopher Nolan in Mumbai and was surprised to know that the celebrated director had seen his 2015 film Papanasam.

Nolan -- who has made amazing movies like Memento, The Prestige, Inception, the Dark Knight series, Interstellar and Dunkirk -- is in India on a three-day trip along with visual artiste Tacita Dean.

His wife Emma Thomas -- who has produced all of Nolan's movies -- and their four children accompanied the legendary movie-maker.

'Met Mr Christopher Nolan. Apologized for seeing Dunkirk in the digital format and in return I am sending 'Hey Ram' in digital format for him to see. Was surprised to know he had seen 'Papanaasam',' Haasan tweeted, alongside a picture of himself with Nolan.



Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar

Filmmaker-archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, who is hosting Nolan in Mumbai, hopes the director's trip to India will draw attention to the cause of film preservation and restoration.



Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar

After Nolan deliveres a lecture on Sunday, he will take part in a discussion with prominent Indian movie folk like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kamal Haasan, Shyam Benegal and others.



Photograph: Kind courtesy Shah Rukh Khan/Instagram

Shah Rukh Khan also posted a picture of himself with Nolan and wrote, 'My Fanboy moment. Inspiring to hear Mr.Nolan & Ms.Tacita Dean talk of the virtues of celluloid as an artists medium. Thanks #ShiviDungarpur for having me over.''While economic ties are making incremental progress, it is in the security and strategic domains that the India-Japan synergy is more compelling,' says Dr Rajaram Panda.



IMAGE: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his home in Tokyo, March 30, 2018. Photograph: Ministry of External Affairs

At Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono's invitation, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj paid an official visit to Japan from March 28 to 30, 2018.

Effectively she was in Tokyo for only a day as she arrived on the 28th evening and departed on the 30th morning, leaving out 29th as the only day for engagement.

Broadly, her visit could be divided into two parts. The first part was her engagement with the Indian community at an event organised by the Indian embassy, to which I was invited and attended.

Organised by the Vivekananda Cultural Centre at the embassy, the minister recalled the remark of the late sage Vivekananda about the virtue of Japan and why all Indians at least once should visit and see the country in their own eyes.

In her address, the minister extolled the high credentials the Indian Diaspora have enjoyed in their country of settlement.

In particular, she mentioned three virtues that all Indians carry with them once they leave Indian shore. These, she mentioned are, 'good neighbourly spirit, hard-working, and law- abiding', which have endeared them with the host country across continents.

She also mentioned that there has been a dramatic 'transformation' in the way Indian missions function as an extended family for every Indian in their country of adoption.

By coming to the help of any Indian living abroad and in distress, the minister has injected a new dimension to Indian foreign policy, which no previous foreign ministers ever achieved.

In particular, she mentioned how a Tamil-speaking old lady stranded at a Malaysian airport on her way back from Australia lost her son from a heart attack and was rescued after the MEA's immediate intervention. This happened about two months ago. This was the first part.

In the second part of her visit, Mrs Swaraj co-chaired the 9th India-Japan Strategic Dialogue with Kono, her counterpart, on March 29.

The India-Japan Strategic Dialogue is a bilateral summit being held in India and Japan alternately since 2007.

Both leaders reviewed all aspects of bilateral relations and exchanged views on regional and international issues of common interest.

India and Japan concluded a Special Strategic and Global Partnership during Prime Minister Narendra D Modi's landmark visit to Japan in 2014.

Bilateral relations have been strengthened in diverse sectors significantly over the last few years.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to India in September 2017 provided further impetus to ties.

Backed by civilisational links, both countries have unearthed the hidden synergy in a host of areas that has fetched mutual benefits.

As a result, bilateral relations have been strengthened in diverse sectors, such as in areas of nuclear energy, defence and science and technology.

The big ticket project already inked between the two countries is the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project based on the Shinkansen super speed trains in Japan.

The ground breaking (bhoomi pujan) ceremony of the bullet train project to be built with Japanese aid was held during Shinzo Abe's visit to India on September 14, 2017.

As against the earlier deadline of 2023, a new deadline of August 15, 2022 coinciding with the 75th year of India's Independence has been set to make the project operational.

India is the major beneficiary of Japan's soft loans disbursed through the Japan International Cooperation Agency to the tune of $23.36 billion, emerging as JICA's largest recipient since 2008. The biggest component of the loan amount has gone to the bullet train project.

Japan is also today one of the largest investors in India, with a growing presence in infrastructure projects, manufacturing, financial markets and capacity-building, among others.

Japanese FDI in India has seen steady growth. Japanese FDI during 2016-2017 totalled $4.7 billion, an increase of 80 per cent over the previous year.

However, bilateral trade totalled $13.61 billion in 2016-2017, a decrease of 6.21 per cent from the previous year's figure of $14.51 billion.

While India's exports to Japan for 2016-2017 were $3.8 billion, India's imports from Japan for the same year accounted for $9.76 billion.

The doubling of the trade deficit during 2013-2014 ($6.81 billion) and 2016-2017 ($3.85 billion) is a matter of worry that both nations need to address.

The troubling aspect on the trade front is that the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed in 2011 has not been able to address this trade imbalance.

India needs greater market access to more of its products to Japan if this trade imbalance issue has to be resolved.

The case of Japanese auto major Nissan invoking the international arbitration clause in the CEPA to recover unpaid tax refunds to the tune of $770 million and the case being stuck in the Chennai high court for a settlement sends a negative signal to Japanese companies to do business with India.

The government's policy intervention is urgently needed to restore the risk of losing faith in business.

The nuclear issue is a sensitive one in Japan since its Hiroshima experience.

The anti-nuclear sentiment further gained strength after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Because of public disapproval, Japan was forced to shut down all its nuclear reactors, rendering nuclear energy as a source of its power to zero.

Its stated policy is not to trade with any country that is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

India's position is that the NPT is a discriminatory treaty which it refused to sign, but upholds its commitment to a moratorium to conduct any further nuclear tests.

After sustained negotiations, Japan was convinced about India's credentials and the civil nuclear deal was clinched in 2016, paving the way for nuclear commerce between the two countries.

This allows Japan to export nuclear power plant technology to India besides helping in nuclear waste management. This demonstrates the trust both nations share.

While economic ties are making incremental progress, it is in the security and strategic domains that the India-Japan synergy is more compelling.

Given the talks about the revival of the quadrilateral dialogue between Japan, the United States, Australia and India to counter China's increasing muscle flexing in the South China Sea, and to ensure navigation rights in the Indo-Pacific region, Minister SSwaraj's visit assumes special significance.

Japan is also a partner in the Malabar exercises which India has been conducting with the US since 2002.

Soon after her return, the minister will visit China to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation foreign ministers meeting, ahead of the SCO summit that is expected to be attended by Prime Minister Modi in the Chinese city of Qingdao in June.

Exchanging yen loan agreements for $1.4 billion, Kono underlined India as Japan's 'most important' partner in its 'Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy'.

In a remark that appeared to target China's actions in the South China Sea, Kono remarked 'Our Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy and India's Act East Policy should be further merged.'

Complimenting Kono's remarks, Swaraj stressed that the 'growing convergence on economic and strategic issues' between the two countries is 'important for peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.'

Besides bilateral trade, Japanese loans for important projects such as the Mumbai metro line from Cuffe Parade, a sea water desalinisation plant and an intelligent transport system to reduce traffic congestion in Chennai, tree planting schemes in Himachal Pradesh as well as loans for the North East Connectivity project were major highlights in the discussion.

The respective envoys signed and exchanged notes concerning the provisions for four yen loan projects.

Mrs Swaraj also called on Fumio Kishida, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council and a former foreign minister.

The level of trust and friendship that both nations share with each other is demonstrable from the fact that India chose Japan as the only foreign nation to participate in development projects in India's north east, a critical part of its Act East policy, which aims to ramp up economic, cultural and political connectivity linkages between the region and Southeast Asia.

As the foreign minister mentioned, there is no issue of conflict between the two countries, only of cooperation and this has maintained the momentum in the relationship.

The observations Abe made when he addressed the Indian Parliament during his first term as prime minister in 2007 -- 'A strong India is in the best interest of Japan, and a strong Japan is in the best interest of India' -- still resonates and remain the cardinal philosophy of conducting relations between the two countries.

Irrespective of the change of governments in both India and Japan, there has been continuity in policy on both sides.

Sushma Swaraj's predecessors S M Krishna and Salman Khurshid extensively worked for furtherance of India-Japan ties, to which Mrs Swaraj has provided an additional push.

Then prime minister Manmohan Singh hosted Prime Minister Abe as the chief guest at the Republic Day parade in 2014.

The several joint maritime exercises, agreements on sea cooperation, cooperation in large-scale energy and infrastructure and developmental projects are testimony of the strong India-Japan bonding, the larger impact of which can be felt in the Asia-Pacific narrative.

Both India and Japan have also stood their ground together to combat terrorism and extremism that oppresses South Asia.

As a counter to China's Belt and Road Initiative, both India and Japan are working together to establish the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor.

This could have figured in the Sushma-Kono discussion. The external affairs ministry announced that all aspects of bilateral relations and views on regional and international issues of common interests were to figure in the strategic dialogue.

In short, Swaraj's Japan visit sets the agenda for Modi's annual India-Japan summit with Abe towards the end of this year.

Dr Rajaram Panda is ICCR India Chair Visiting Professor at Reitaku University, Japan. The views expressed are personal and do not represent either of the ICCR or the Government of India.'Nitish is now a helpless junior ally of Hindutva.'

'He just cannot think of reining in the hoodlums raging, marauding and killing in the mohallas,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.



IMAGE: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, flanked by Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and assembly Speaker Vijay Chaudhary, leads a human chain against child marriage and dowry in Patna, January 21, 2017. Photograph: PTI Photo

Bihar, and many parts of West Bengal, close to Bihar, has been engulfed in communal tension and violence.

Religious processions (Ramnavmi and Chaiti Durga; in late January it was Saraswati Puja) carrying illegal weapons, entering Muslim mohallas, shouting incendiary slogans, ransacking masjids and madrasas (at Rosera in Samastipur) were the order of the day in the last few days.

So much so that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is not able to prevent it even in Silao (Nalanda), his home district.

The Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal, despite its huge cadre base, on the other hand, is hardly doing anything proactively to confront the menace.

Despite the Godhra train carnage and subsequent massacres of 2002 in Gujarat, Nitish, then the Union railways minister, chose to continue in alliance with the ruling BJP.

It should therefore not surprise anyone that Nitish is sort of choosing to fail to rein in the hoodlums raging across Bihar. But it does surprise many! Why?

Because:

a. Nitish governed Bihar between 2005 and 2013 in alliance with the BJP when the BJP was not in power at the Centre. Then, he was the dominant ally, keeping the Hindutva agenda at bay, with various other exercises of social coalitions -- Ati Pichhra, Mahadalit, Pasmanda and women empowerment.

b. Indian electorates arguably have strange ways! Are they too generous in giving the benefit of doubt to their leaders -- political, as well as religious? Nitish pulled out of the Mahagathbandhan with the RJD and Congress in July 2017 for reasons best known to him.

Speculation suggests that:

a. Nitish re-aligned with the BJP to avoid the discomfiture to be inflicted upon him in the Srijan scam case and other such cases pending, or to come up, against him.

b. Nitish was not comfortable with the ever-growing demands of the Yadavas and that by the next elections, Tejaswi could anyway have tried to replace him, given the fact that his core support base, the Yadavas (12%), are numerically far ahead of the Kurmis (4%), to which Nitish belongs; and given the fact that Muslims (17%) have always trusted Lalu, rather than Nitish, makes the RJD's base far more stronger. Nitish did test it in the 2014 election that Muslims could not trust him;

c. If an ndtv.com report (Manish Kumar, December 4, 2017) is to be believed, Lalu and his Man Friday, Prem Gupta, approached Arun Jaitley, the Union finance minister, asking for some reprieve in corruption investigations and that as a quid pro quo Lalu would kick out Nitish within 24 hours. As it leaked out to Nitish, he brought an end to Bihar's Mahagathbandhan.

Be that as it may, it did not require great intelligence to guess and foresee that Nitish's realignment with the BJP in 2017 was not going to keep him as a dominant partner within the National Democratic Alliance unlike what he really had been between 2005 and 2013.

His credibility and trustworthiness among the electorate, as well as among the allies, on both sides of the divide, have dipped low because of opportunistic hoppings.

In this situation, it was anticipated that the fiercely and unprecedentedly ascendant saffron outfits would outsmart and marginalise him.

The spurt in the communal clashes in Bihar after June 2013 (when Nitish pulled out of the NDA), and its further resurgence since July 2017, when Nitish re-joined the NDA, after the BJP formed the government in Uttar Pradesh, and the proliferation of various saffron outfits, including the Hindu Yuva Vahini -- spreading from its headquarters in Gorakhpur (UP) to the adjacent Saran (Bihar) -- is exactly on predictable lines, at least for Bihar watchers.

Precisely because of this, Nitish is now a helpless junior ally of Hindutva.

He just cannot even think of reining in the hoodlums raging, marauding and killing in the mohallas.

He cannot do what Mamata Banerjee is doing. Her police is seen directly confronting with the marauders.

Senior bureaucrats claim that Nitish's higher bureaucracy is cozying up with his dominant partner for more remunerative central assignments.

They are therefore no longer cooperating with him in maintaining law and order and in preventing the armed processions shouting provocative slogans by forcefully entering Muslim mohallas.

True, Nitish did succeed in penalising the rioters of the Bhagalpur massacre (1989-1990). But now even if he wished to rein in the rioters, he can no longer do anything.

His ally, now a dominant one, cannot allow him to do so.

The card of Hindutva, as an electoral saviour of the incumbent regime, is being played out in utter desperation.



IMAGE: Samajwadi Party workers rejoice after the party shocked the BJP in the Lok Sabha by-elections in Gorakhpur and Phulpur. Photograph: PTI Photo

It appears that the victory of the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance in the Lok Sabha by-elections in Gorakhpur and Phulpur has created anxiety in the saffron camp. Particularly, because Gorakhpur, the UP chief minister's bastion, was wrested away by a subaltern community of fishermen (Nishads/Mallahs).

This specific community has been organising itself and asserting itself politically in parts of eastern UP and northern Bihar.

The Mallahs (Hindu fishermen, including allied/similar sub-castes like Gangotas and Kevats -- the boatmen -- those earning their livelihood by river water) are now emerging as the 'Dominant Castes' in these parts.

The rise of the Mallahs in Muzaffarpur (Bihar) since the 1990s almost sealed the prospect of a Bhumihar being elected from the Muzaffarpur Lok Sabha seat. The Bhagalpur Lok Sabha seat is represented by an RJD MP who belongs to Gangota community.

Similar fear of the Rajputs is emerging about Gorakhpur. The Nishads have also staked their claims on Yogi Adityanath's Gorakhnath Math.



IMAGE: RJD Supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav with his daughter Misa Bharti and sons Tej Pratap and Tejashwi Yadav. The RJD ruled Bihar from 1990 to 2005. Photograph: PTI Photo

It has to be understood that Bihar and Uttar Pradesh had long spells of Backward and Dalit rule since 1989-1990, against which the spell of Hindutva sort of crashed despite such mobilisation in the Ram Janambhoomi's name in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Thus, the ideological bulwark of 'social justice' kept Hindutva on hold.

Had these two provinces been a Congress stronghold after 1989-1990, these provinces too could possibly have fallen to Hindutva just as they did in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and also in Rajasthan to a large extent, besides Maharashtra and Gujarat, where Congress rule did not offer any ideological counterpoint to Hindutva.

Additionally, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra have relatively lesser proportion of Muslims. These provinces therefore, arguably, offer now relatively less incentives to Hindutva mobilisation as years of such activities in these provinces seem to have reached saturation by now.

In Bihar and UP, Muslims have a sizeable number and a corresponding public profile. It therefore offers a fertile ground for the kind of polarising agenda, now when the supremos of the Backward and Dalit political parties have become single caste monopolies with meteoric rise in the political and economic fortunes of the supremos and their kin.

As against it, ascendant Hindutva offers some sort of political career 'open to talent'. For such aspirational youth, communal activities are exercises in political CV building.

Jobless youth therefore join in for money, a piece of action, and for political rise. Under friendly regimes, there is a renewed push to consolidate and expand to new grounds.

This further explains why there is a sudden spurt in communal tension and violence in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

One may see some pattern in the recent violent communal onslaught in Bihar.

The geography of the violence suggests that those places are more prone to such violence, where:

i. Either the BJP's allies are likely to stake their claim to Lok Sabha seats in 2019, or

ii. Incumbent BJP MPs feel insecurity due to the discontent of certain caste groups which may desert the BJP:

a. Munger (where Lalan Singh, a close aide of Nitish, is supposed to be an important leader);

b. Rosera (Samastipur), which was once represented by Ram Vilas Paswan, has a sizeable Kurmi, Koeri and Dalit population. Besides, Rosera town has a significant presence of Muslim traders; the incumbent Samastipur MLA is a Muslim, Akhtarul Islam Shaheen of the RJD;

c. Jamui (currently represented by Chirag Paswan, Ram Vilas Paswan's son);

d. Aurangabad (represented by the JD-U in 2009; its nominee Sushil Kumar Singh is now in the BJP, and the incumbent MP);

e. Silao (Nalanda, Nitish's home turf);

f. Bhagalpur (which has been Ashwini Chaubey's preferred choice to contest from; violence broke out here after Ashwini's son Arijit Chaubey allegedly led a mob, and even mocked at the FIR lodged against him);

g. Siwan (from where the JD-U would like to contest);

Violence broke out in:

a. Marwan (Muzaffarpur, Vaishali Lok Sabha seat), which is currently represented by the LJP;

b. Aba Bakrpur, Mahuwa (Hajipur Lok Sabha seat), represented by Ram Vilas Paswan;

c. Dhaka (Champaran, Motihari Lok Sabha seat), which is represented by Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh who has to feel irate farmers;

d. Gaya's incumbent BJP MP Hari Manjhi feels insecure after Jitan Manjhi went over to the RJD;

e. Nawada, represented by the BJP's Giriraj Singh who keeps issuing polarising statements. This was, till 2014, supposed to be a safe seat for the JD-U, and has also witnessed intra Yadav rivalries. The JD-U's Kaushal Yadav (his wife Purnima Yadav is the Congress MLA from Gobindpur, Nawada) and the RJD's Rajballabh Yadav compete with each other.

With more intensified communal polarisation, the BJP may be trying to torpedo the emerging alliances of backwards and Dalits. That may explain the renewed spurt and virulence in communal skirmishes since late March.

The BJP's rising desperation has also got to do with the fact that smaller allies representing specific subordinated castes (Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP, Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP, and the BJP's other such allies in UP), have not been able to strengthen their base, despite being in alliance with the ruling BJP.

Immediately after the UP by-poll results, some allies -- including Ram Vilas Paswan -- vented their discomfiture against the BJP. All this dissent is being sought to be made ineffective by consolidating the Hindus, behind the BJP, through intensified communal polarisation.

In this scenario, it seems almost inevitable that Nitish would increasingly be cornered into political oblivion.

Even if he would merge with the BJP, he may not remain on the top any longer.

Meanwhile, Bihar keeps sliding on all fronts, for which Nitish cannot deny a considerable share of blame.

The Opposition is not mobilising its cadres to confront the hoodlums head on. RJD cadres do not seem to pursue a politics of direct, on-the-street, intervention nor is it resorting to legal battles in each case of rioting, to rein in the hoodlums.

Secondly, Tejaswi Yadav -- Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar assembly -- does not seem to be sincere about propping up leaders from non-Yadav OBCs and Dalits who had deserted the RJD primarily because of the Yadav hegemony.

Other secularists and liberals are, for instance, not able to ask even the Muslim clergy NOT to bring out huge processions in several towns on a misogynist issue.

They erred in 1986 when they upturned the justice dispensed to Shah Bano through Parliamentary legislation, giving rise to majoritarian reaction.

They are repeating that mistake again. Yet many of the liberal-Left intelligentsia, and 'Muslim-friendly' regional formations, are hardly speaking out against them sternly, giving some sort of credence to the Hindutva canard of Muslim appeasement.

This is what has been corroding their credibility during these many decades, giving rise to the menace of majoritarianism. The point is simple. Caste and gender based regressivism/conservatism and communalism have a cause-effect relationship.

The need of the hour is to frankly accept past mistakes, to regain the people's trust.

Only then will secular progressive forces be able to convince the electorate while exposing the failures of the incumbent regime on all fronts, and to expose them as to why they have resorted to poisoning society and the body politic with fear and hatred.

Mere opportunistic stitching of coalitions will not convince the electorate that such an arrangement will really sustain itself and deliver on economy and employment.

Professor Mohammad Sajjad is at the Centre of Advanced Study in History, Aligarh Muslim University, and is author of Muslim Politics in Bihar: Changing Contours (Routledge 2014/2018 reprint).'The Tibetan movement will never turn violent during the Dalai Lama's life-time.'



IMAGE: His Holiness The Dalai Lama with retired Havaldar Naren Chandra Das, one of the five Assam Rifles soldiers who escorted him to India during his escape from Tibet in March 1959. Guwahati, April 2, 2017. Photographs: PTI Photo

Professor Robert Thurman is a well-known figure in the United States. Not only because a few years ago, he was nominated as one of the 25 most influential Americans by Time magazine, but also for being a senior scholar at Columbia University, one of the Dalai Lama's oldest supporters and Hollywood beauty Uma Thurman's father.

He speaks to Claude Arpi about as diverse subjects as his years when he was a monk in north India in the 1960s, his relations with the Dalai Lama (Thurman's latest best-seller is entitled Why the Dalai Lama Matters), but also of 'capitalist' China, the Buddhist wave in the West, his idea of a Second Renaissance, his work for preserving Indian sastras at Columbia University, the Barack Obama-Dalai Lama encounter and his vision for the future of the planet.

The first of a multi-part interview:

Professor Thurman, I would first like to ask you about your involvement with India, Tibet and the Dalai Lama. How did it start?

I first came to India in 1962, when I was 21. I reached in November after staying in Turkey for eight months. I was looking for some spiritual teaching (from Sufi masters). Then, I thought yoga would be 'the thing'.

Here in Delhi, I met some swamis; I liked them, but when I later met Tibetans lamas, something woke up in me, it was like my spiritual vasana (present consciousness of past life perceptions).

I had discovered the Buddha Dharma in its original form.

There were very few books on Buddhism at that time?

But I met the lamas themselves. I was so excited. I got a job in the lama's school in Dalhousie (Himachal Pradesh). I started to study the Tibetan language and Buddhism, while teaching English to the young lamas.

It is there that I met an old Mongolian lama called Geshe Wangyal. He had lived in Tibet for 35 years and escaped early after the Chinese invaded Tibet in the 1950s (he eventually migrated to the US).

It is with him that I started serious studies. I had karma with him.

You know how it then worked in Asia: You met someone, and this person gave you a message to carry for one of his friends somewhere else. It is how I met him.

The minute I saw Wangyal, I could not move, I was stuck on the spot. It was karmic.

I learned the Tibetan language in 10 weeks with him. I studied with him for about a year-and-a- half.

Had you met the Dalai Lama by then?

I saw him from a distance in 1962, but in 1964, I was introduced by Wangyal.

I wanted to become a monk, but Wangyal kept refusing; I wanted to devote my life to (Buddhist) studies.

Wangyal told me: "You are sincere, you are already living like a monk, but in the long term, it is not your karma, don't formally become (a monk)."

I was not ready to listen to him, I wanted to shave my head and go for it.

Wangyal told the Dalai Lama: "This boy is a good boy, he is serious, but although he is serious, don't make him a monk. In the American life, he won't be able to keep his vows."

His Holiness made me wait about a year and I was eventually the first foreigner to be ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk in 1965.

It is so easy to be a monk, you have so much social support, it is like getting a life-long McCarthy Fellowship; you are supported by the community; it is wonderful.

After the Dalai Lama had given in, I remained a monk for one-and-a-half year only.

I had been sent back to the West (to Argentina with a lama as Spanish translator), but it was difficult, there was nobody to speak too, not even the Hare Krishna people at that time; everybody thought that I was mad.

There was no support for a monk. So after sometime, I re-entered the university, became a lay person, then I fell in love and married, and so on Geshe Wangyal was right.

Now, I have to say that I am the first ex-monk.

The title of your book is Why the Dalai Lama Matters. Could you tell me why the Dalai Lama matters, in the United States, in India, but also in China?

The Dalai Lama matters on the world plane.

I call him the world leader although he does not have a country today and has no (political) recognition.

He is an ethical and spiritual leader, but also a social and political leader; because he brings ethics and spirituality into politics. It is where it should be.

Politics should be about truth and ethics. Politicians should serve people's ideals. The Dalai Lama brings this (into politics).

All leaders who have met him agree with this, except for the leaders of China who say that he is not a nice fellow; although, they perhaps know, but can't say it.

The Dalai Lama met the first two generations of Chinese political leaders (Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping etc)?

But he has never met the current leadership. It is amazing that the leadership of China has not met him for more than 50 years; those who met him are dead today.

In 1959 Mao would have said (after the Dalai Lama escaped to India): 'We won the battle of Lhasa, but we lost the war.'

Mao knew how powerful and important a leader the Dalai Lama was

To answer your question, one thing what we need today on the planet is to reduce the greed of consumer capitalism and the hatred of universal militarism. These are the two banes of the planet.

Consumerism destroys the environment, so is materialism, either capitalist or Communist materialism.

Militarism uses up enormous resources, even poor countries have huge military budgets; today even rebels can undertake terrorist actions; militarism is a great danger for humanity.

The Dalai Lama teaches contentment against consumer greed, environment protection against capitalist or Communist greed; he teaches ahimsa in the Gandhian tradition.

And he exemplifies it.

Being against militarism, he points the way towards demilitarisation. I wrote the book because many people who like the Dalai Lama believe that he is politically naive; they reject his middle way plan and his insistence on non-violence resistance against genocide and he promotes dialogue, even in front of tyrants because he sees them as human beings.

People think that it foolish, I think that it is intelligent.

Do you see any hope in the Tibetan issue?

Absolutely, I am very hopeful.

But young Tibetans believe that it has led nowhere.

Some may say this and the press magnifies it.

Today's world ideology believes that only militarism is powerful, and everything, which deviates from it, should be assaulted.

They had a conference in Dharamsala in November 2008 and the middle way approach was reaffirmed. Some (youth) just expressed impatience with the fake level of the dialogue; they said: "What is the point to negotiate, if the (Chinese leadership) denounces the Dalai Lama at the same time?"

They wanted a stronger stand in the dialogue and I agree with them. (But the movement) will never turn violent during the life-time of the Dalai Lama, because the (Tibetan youth) love the Dalai Lama.

They may grumble; Tibetans are very individualistic.

It is said that when you have 20 Tibetans in a room, you have 40 different horns (like the yaks), they have an individualistic mentality. It is good.

This interview was first published on Rediff.com in April 2010.Scuttled holiday plans, clashes with entrance dates, another round of tuitions and above all the phobia of facing the examination day yet again -- sum up the dilemma being faced by class 10 and 12 students of Central Board of Secondary Education across the country.

IMAGE: CBSE students protest after the Board announced the re-exam after the paper leak. Photograph: PTI Photo

We are really disappointed. The CBSE chairman was aware of the leak of Mathematics paper a day before the examination. They should have cancelled the paper earlier itself. Many of us had plans to go for a vacation, but the plans stand cancelled now.

-- Aujaswi Maken, Class 10 student and Delhi Congress chief Ajay Makens son

First of all, the authorities should have ensured there was no paper leak. Why should we suffer and go through the same drill? The paper was so good and now we have to again prepare for it. Also, my film making entrance exams are clashing with the tentative dates being announced by CBSE on television.

-- Vanshika, a Class 12 student who has to reappear for the Economics paper

The state Joint Entrance Board Engineering examinations will be held on April 22. Will the CBSE authorities explain how can one prepare for the Economics re-examination on April 25 while preparing for the engineering entrance which is far more tough?

-- Somasree Banik, a student from Kolkata

I am feeling pressured and it is very difficult for me to study maths again. Recalling all those formulae is tough. I have to again take tuitions and pay the fees. I feel that the coming paper (re-test) will be tougher. Also, my entrance exam for another school has also been affected.

-- Shreya, Class 10 student from Chennai

I used to spend 16 hours everyday to prepare for the board exams. And then you come to know that the papers have been leaked. What is the guarantee that the re-examination will not be tampered with? If our system is flawed, what is the fault of students?

-- Nikhil, Class 12 student from Gurgaon

All my plans have gone haywire with these developments. My preparations for admission to the Presidency University, Kolkata and Benaras Hindu University, where the entrance exams will be held in mid-April and May, respectively will now be affected.

-- Soumyadip Chandra, a Class 12 student in Kolkata

I got to know that question papers were being offered at Rs 16,000 a night before the exam, and Rs 3,000 if one wanted it on the examination day. This is such a sorry state of affairs. I had planned to go out of station after the exams, but now I have to again face the exam.

-- Sneha Aggarwal, a student in Gurgaon

If such an incident happens, there should be a re-exam, but the energy levels of students will not be same as before. Punishing all students for a few peoples mistake is unfair.

-- Anisha Jain, Class 10 student from Delhi

My entrance tests are lined up from April 20. I had also enrolled myself for various crash courses. Now, what should I do? Should I prepare for the re-examination or the entrance? I am confused.

-- Manisha, Class 12 student from Haryana

There is confusion about the maths re-test. It is adding to our stress level. The CBSE should clear the confusion.

-- Rishabh, Class 10 student from AmbalaThe Class 12 Hindi (elective) paper being circulated on the social media was fake, the Central Board of Secondary Education said on Saturday and urged people not to spread rumours regarding the paper.

The CBSE is scheduled to hold the Class 12th Hindi (elective) examination on April 2.

A fake question paper of Class XII - Hindi (elective) (enclosed) is being circulated on social media i.e. WhatsApp, YouTube etc, the CBSE said in a release.

It added that the question papers circulating on these social media platforms were either of a previous year or fake.

Hence, it is requested not to circulate the news about these fake papers, so that the students and other stakeholders are not misled, the release said.

The board also enclosed the fake Hindi paper, which it said was being circulated on the social media, with its statement.

On Friday, School Education Secretary Anil Swarup had said the re-examination of the CBSE Class 12 economics paper would be held on April 25, while the Class 10 mathematics re-test, if required, would be conducted only for Delhi-NCR and Haryana in July.

The announcement had come after the board received complaints that the question papers for the two subjects were leaked.

Meanwhile, a group of students on Saturday continued their demonstration near the CBSE office at Preet Vihar against the leak of Class 10 Mathematics and Class 12 Economics papers.

A student from Cochin approached the Supreme Court against the re-examination of Class X Maths paper.

Rohan Mathew approached the apex court against the decision of the CBSE to cancel and re-conduct the mathematics exam held on March 28 over the question paper leak.

Mathew sought the courts direction to the education board to publish results on the basis of already held examination.

He also sought setting up of a special high-powered committee to conduct a detailed investigation into the case.

Google sends reply to Delhi Police

The Delhi Polices Crime Branch has got a reply from Google on the details it had sought pertaining to the e-mail address from where the CBSE chairperson was sent a mail about the Class 10 mathematics paper being leaked, an official privy to the probe said.

A senior police officer said they had got a reply from the online search engine but refused to divulge further details.

Meanwhile, the police continued with their quest to trace the origin of the papers leak as they visited the schools and coaching centres in outer Delhi that had come under their scanner. More than 60 people have been questioned till now, but the officer said there was no breakthrough in the case so far.

In order to identify the sender of the e-mail, the police had written to Google, asking it to share the details of the e-mail ID. On Friday, the police had sent a reminder to the website to expedite the process.

CBSE leaks: 2 coaching centre directors arrested, 4 students detained in Jharkhand

Six more people, including two directors of a private coaching centre in Jharkhand, were apprehended in connection with the CBSE question paper leaks, police said. Since Friday, 12 people, including Class 10 and 11 students, have been apprehended in the CBSE leak case from Jharkhands Chatra district, they said.

The police had on Friday detained six Class 10 students in the case.

The police said that among those apprehended on Saturday, four are students of different schools in the district and two directors of a private coaching centre.

A Class 11 student was detained from the Navodaya Vidyalala campus. He had hid chits containing answers of a leaked question paper in the schools bathroom, police said.

Two students are from Patna, they said.

The police said that the directors have been put under arrest.

-- With inputs from ANI

Photographs: PTI PhotosThis is the Nobel Peace Prize winner's first visit to Pakistan since she was shot in the head by Taliban militants more than five years ago.

IMAGE: Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan's Swat Valley with her family. In an interview, she said she plans to return to her country once her studies are completed. Photograph: @Malala/Twitter

Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, on Saturday was in tears as she returned home in Pakistans Swat Valley where she survived a near-fatal attack by Taliban in 2012 for advocating girls education.

Malala, 20, reached her ancestral home in Makan Bagh in Mingora on a day-long trip along with her parents and two siblings, amid tight security, sources said.

Pakistans State Minister for Information Marriiyum Aurangzeb also accompanied the education activist for the visit, during which she met her childhood friends and teachers after more than five years.

IMAGE: Malala posted this image of Swat Valley on her Twitter feed, calling it the most beautiful place on earth. Photograph: @Malala/Twitter

Tears of joy rolled down Malalas eyes during her meeting with them. She was filled with emotions when she visited her home and met with her friends, the sources said.

After her brief stay at home, Malala, who on Thursday set foot in Pakistan for the first time since the 2012 attack, was airlifted to the Swat Cadet College where she is expected to address a ceremony, they said.

She is also expected to inaugurate a girls school in Shangla district, they added.

In an interview to Geo News on Friday, Malala had said that she plans to return to Pakistan permanently after her studies.

My plan is to return to Pakistan as this is my country. I have the same right on the country as any another Pakistani, she said.

She had reiterated her joy of being in Pakistan and her mission of providing education to children.

IMAGE: Children attend a class at Khushal school that Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai used to attend, in her hometown of Mingora in Swat Valley, Pakistan. Photograph: Faisal Mahmood/Reuters

We want to work for the education of children and make it possible that every girl in Pakistan receives a high-level education and she can fulfil her dreams and become a part of society, the Nobel laureate said.

Malala was shot at by a Taliban gunman in December 2012 for her female education campaigning in the Swat Valley in northeastern Pakistan.

Severely wounded, she was airlifted from one military hospital in Pakistan to another and later flown to the Great Britain for treatment.

Post the attack, the Taliban released a statement saying that they would target Malala again if she survived.

At age 17, Malala became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for her education advocacy in 2014 when she shared the coveted honour with Indias social activist Kailash Satyarthi.

IMAGE: Security has been increased outside Khushal school that Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai used to attend. Photograph: Faisal Mahmood/Reuters

Unable to return to Pakistan after her recovery, Malala moved to Britain, setting up the Malala Fund and supporting local education advocacy groups with a focus on Pakistan, Nigeria, Jordan, Syria and Kenya.

She is currently studying at the Oxford University.

Malala began her campaign aged just 11, when she started writing a blog for the BBCs Urdu service in 2009 about life under the Taliban in Swat, where they were banning girls education.

In 2007, the Islamist militants had taken over the area and imposed a brutal rule. Opponents were murdered, people were publicly flogged for supposed breaches of the sharia law, women were banned from going to market, and girls were stopped from going to school.

The Taliban, who are opposed to the education of girls, have destroyed hundreds of schools in Pakistan.BW Offshore has signed an interim extension agreement for Abo FPSO with Nigerian Agip Exploration Ltd, a subsidiary of ENI S.p.A., until 30 April 2018.

The short term extension has been agreed to secure operational continuity while joint work is continuing to conclude the negotiations.

For further information, please contact:

Knut R. Sthre, CFO, +47 911 17 876

IR@bwoffshore.com or www.bwoffshore.com

About BW Offshore:

BW Offshore is a leading global provider of floating production services to the oil and gas industry. BW Offshore has a fleet of 15 FPSOs and one FSO represented in all major oil & gas regions world-wide. BW Offshore has a long track record on project execution and operations. In more than 30 years of production, BW Offshore has executed 39 FPSO and FSO projects. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5 -12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Saturday claimed that the people of Karnataka have made up their minds to throw out the Siddaramaiah government in the assembly polls slated for May 12, as they were disappointed with it on several fronts, especially corruption.

IMAGE: Amit Shah joined the statewide door to door campaign "Mushti Dhanya Sangrah Abhiyana" in Chinnenahalli Village, Srirangapatna, Mandya. Photograph: @AmitShah/Twitter

Shah, who is on a tour of Mysuru, Mandya and Ramanagara districts, said that his party would put up a good show during the polls in the old Mysuru region.

Electoral contest in old Mysuru region has been between the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular which is led by former prime minister H D Deve Gowda. The BJP could not secure even a single seat in these districts in the previous polls.

Hassan, Chamarajnagar, Mysuru, Mandya and Ramanagara fall under old Mysuru region.

The people of Karnataka have made up their minds to throw out the Siddaramaiah government. They are disappointed with it on many fronts, with corruption being the main issue. The relationship between corruption and Congress party is akin to water and fish, Shah said.

The Karnataka government is like an ATM for the Congress to indulge in corruption, he said, and alleged that this relationship of corruption has only been expedited by the Siddaramaiah government.

Shah said the JD-S was not in a position to form a government because it can only win a few seats, and the BJP was the only party which can defeat the Congress.

Alleging that all parameters of development under the Siddaramaiah government were on the ebb, he said, Though Bengaluru is mopping up revenue in good numbers, it is not percolating down to smaller cities and villages.

IMAGE: BJP president Amit Shah visits the Kote Sri Anjaneya Swamy Temple in Mysuru. Photograph: @AmitShah/Twitter

On farmer suicide, the BJP president said, As many as 3,500 farmers have committed suicide and Siddaramaiahji is terming these as minor incidents. In my political life, I have never come across such an irresponsible statement on farmers suicides.

To a query, Shah said the Congress government in the state was raking up the issue of religious minority tag for Lingayats to prevent B S Yeddyurappa from becoming chief minister after the polls and for dividing the community.

Yeddyurappa is a Lingayat strongman and the BJPs chief ministerial candidate for the coming Karnataka Assembly polls 2018.

This is a nefarious strategy of the Siddaramaiah government for political gains. Had Siddaramaiahji been serious about giving minority status to Lingayats, he should have done it in the early stages of his five-year term. Why now, after four-and-a-half years? Shah asked and claimed that the United Progressive Alliance government had rejected a similar proposal in 2013.

In a move with major electoral ramifications ahead of the assembly elections, the Karnataka Cabinet earlier this month decided to recommend to the Centre grant of religious minority tag to Lingayat and Veerashaiva Lingayat community, who follow the philosophy of 12th century social reformer Basaveshwara.

Asked about the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central governments stand on the minority tag to Lingayats, Shah said, We havent yet received the proposal in the administrative format. Why dont you ask this state government why it has not sent it so far?

BJP does not raise such emotional issues during elections as any comment on it highly impacts voters, he said adding that his party would make its stand on the matter known after the election.

Asked whether there would be the same strategy for Karnataka polls as was followed in the Assembly elections in the northeastern states, Shah said, There are different strategies for different states. It depends on a particular states dynamics.

The win in Karnataka will open the gates for the BJP to make inroads in south India, he said.The funeral of legendary British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking was held on Saturday in a private ceremony attended by around 500 people comprising family, friends and colleagues, at a church near the Cambridge University college that was his academic home for more than 50 years.

IMAGE: Pallbearers carry the coffin out of Great St Marys Church at the end of the funeral of theoretical physicist Prof Stephen Hawking, in Cambridge. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

One of the worlds best known scientists and author of A Brief History of Time died peacefully at his Cambridge home on March 14 at the age of 76.

The British cosmologist had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease in his 20s and spent much of his life in a wheelchair.

IMAGE: Jane Hawking and her son Timothy arrive for Stephen Hawking's funeral. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

British actor Eddie Redmayne, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of the world-famous theoretical physicist, was among the main speakers at the ceremony.

The private funeral service at the University Church of St Mary the Great near Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge University was chosen by Professor Hawkings children.

Lucy, Robert and Tim Hawking said they chose to hold the funeral in Cambridge in recognition that it is the city their father loved so much and which loved him.

IMAGE: A floral tribute left outside Great St Marys Church for Stephen Hawking who died peacefully at his Cambridge home on March 14. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Our fathers life and work meant many things to many people, both religious and non-religious. So, the service will be both inclusive and traditional, reflecting the breadth and diversity of his life, they said in a statement.

IMAGE: Actor Eddie Redmayne was among the first to have arrived in Cambridge for the funeral. Redmayne played the theorectical physicist in the Oscar winning movie "Theory of Everything."

Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Hundreds of people who had gathered outside the church clapped, when the hearse carrying Professor Hawkings coffin arrived. As the funeral cortege reached the church, the bells rang out 76 times, once for each year of the physicists life.

White lilies representing the universe and white roses representing the polar star were placed on top of his coffin, carried into the church by six porters, all in traditional uniform, from Gonville and Caius College where Professor Hawking was a Fellow for more than 50 years.

IMAGE: Actor Felicity Jones and film director Charlie Guard arrive at Great St Marys Church, where the funeral of theoretical physicist Prof Stephen Hawking was held. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

The service was officiated by Reverend Dr Cally Hammond, Dean of Gonville and Caius College, which was his professional base for most of his life.

The funeral will be followed by a private reception at Trinity College, Cambridge University.

A book of condolence for the famous Fellow of Gonville and Caius College remains open at the premises as well as online.

IMAGE: Crowds gather outside Great St Marys Church, where the funeral of theoretical physicist Prof Stephen Hawking is being held, in Cambridge, Britain. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Ahead of the funeral, the college released new black and white photographs of Hawking taken in 1961 at a summer school for young astrophysicists at a castle in Sussex, southern England, when he was 19.

They showed him playing croquet and in a sailing dinghy, two years before he began experiencing the first symptoms of the motor neurone disease that would later leave him almost completely paralysed.

IMAGE: Members of the church choir arrive at Great St Marys Church. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

It was announced earlier this month that Hawkings ashes will be buried near the grave of Newton, another famous British scientist, during a thanksgiving service on June 15.

It is entirely fitting that the remains of Professor Stephen Hawking are to be buried in the Abbey, near those of distinguished fellow scientists. Sir Isaac Newton was buried in the Abbey in 1727. Charles Darwin was buried beside Isaac Newton in 1882, said the dean of Westminster, the Very Rev John Hall.Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Uttar Pradesh was trying to defame and harass its political opponents in the name of inquiries, adding that it would reap the fruits of what it was sowing in the future.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also accused the Yogi Adityanath regime of speaking lies and hoodwinking the people as regards the projects launched by the previous SP government in the state.

The BJP-led state government only wants to defame and harass its political adversaries, as a result of which senior SP leader Azam Khan is being harassed in the name of recruitment in the Jal Nigam... though this government is not giving jobs, it is raising questions on the ones already given, Yadav told reporters.

Whether it is the Lucknow-Agra Expressway or the Gomti riverfront project of the previous government, this government is only speaking lies and hoodwinking the people...the political opponents are being humiliated through the investigating agencies...but it is also a fact that they will have to reap the fruits tomorrow of what they are sowing today, he added.

Referring to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurating an elevated road in Ghaziabad on Friday, Yadav said it was already inaugurated earlier.

He (Adityanath) charged us with spreading parivarvad (dynasty politics) in his speech...I want to ask, which one is the Yadav lane on the elevated road (that he inaugurated), he added.

Admitting that he had reached this place in politics because of parivarvad, the SP chief said he also had to face several challenges in his political career.

I admit that I am standing here today because of dynasty politics, but I have also had to prove my mettle before the public, he said and asked Adityanath whether he would have reached this high, if it was not for parivarvad.

To a question on Union minister Ramdas Athawale inviting Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati to join the National Democratic Alliance, Yadav said, Athawaleji is a very good minister. When I was an MP, no one else used to entertain the House as much as him.

To another question, he said the BJP was worried because of an understanding between the SP and BSP and wondered what would happen when there would be an understanding between 45 political parties all over the country.

Alleging that atrocities on Dalits had gone up under the BJP-led government in the state, the SP chief asked the ruling regime to do some development work.

Teachers, shiksha mitras and others are getting lathis, instead of jobs...the government is not able to find a way to give jobs on the existing vacancies, he said.

Yadav refused to reply to a query on an understanding between the SP and BSP for the coming Legislative Council election.

Image: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav accused the Yogi Adityanath regime of speaking lies and hoodwinking the people as regards the projects launched by the previous SP government in the state. Photograph: Akhilesh Yadav/FacebookThe jump from the luxury level to ultrapremium is a huge financial and emotional leap, filled with decisions. Think building a house with an architect. In this strata, the old chestnut what money really buys is choice could not be truer.

In Geneva, the brands plan some surprises.

Rolls will be unveiling a feature that will allow owners to display art in their dashboard, and on the floor will be three different Phantoms. Bentley will be revealing the plug-in Bentayga Hybrid S.U.V. Also on the floor will be a Bentayga V8, Continental GT and the Flying Spur by Mulliner.

The average Bentley sells for $250,000, a Rolls-Royce $375,000. Rolls, which is owned by BMW, offers about 60 leather options and about 30 variations of wood. Ponder over 64 standard paints choices and several dozen custom hues. In total, a library of 44,000 colors are available.

Still on the fence? Shades can be customized.

Some clients are very decisive when choosing the paint and interior, others can take months, said Mark Maakestad of Bellevue Bentley-Lamborghini-Rolls-Royce in Washington State.

Many of these cars are rewards for selling off a company or a milestone in life. They want to get it right.

It is possible to Lyft to a Rolls showroom and drive off in a Wraith thats in stock, but customization is what uber luxury is about.



Thorsten Franck, a product designer for Rolls-Royce, who has done work on the Gallery.

The skys the limit. Literally. Starlight headliners that recreate the nights sky with pinpoint lights in the ceiling are standard in a Rolls-Royce Phantom and optional in most others. Astrology buffs can even customize it with the exact mapping of the heavens on the day and place where they were born.

The new 2018 Phantom VIII is the first car built on what Rolls-Royce calls its new Architecture of Luxury, a high-strength aluminum chassis. This twin-turbocharged V12 leviathan has a starting price of about $450,000. Phantoms are strictly bespoke, or custom made. No two will be the same, unless a customer orders copies.

Motorists tend to be happy with real wood trim and stitching on the instrument panel. Phantom VIII owners will soon have the pleasure of gazing upon the Gallery, the new dashboard feature being unveiled in Geneva. Its a glass panel that arcs fully across the dash, behind which owners can have commissioned art placed.

Have a small Picasso you cannot travel without? This is your ride. Imagine the delight of kindergartners to find their artwork immortalized in Moms Phantom instead of the refrigerator. Rolls will connect clients to artists working in ceramics or oil paint if they lack classic art, or children.



Gerry Spahn of Rolls-Royce says a few cars wander into the seven figures when a clients demands turn exotic. It might mean custom sheet metal.

Each of our cars is unique with 80 percent of them bespoke historically, he said. We had an Asian buyer who wanted 464 diamonds lacquered into the wood interior trim. Silver or gold specks can be embedded in the paint. We had a client specify diamond dust in the paint.



The Continental GT will be on the floor of the Geneva motor show.





Rolls engineers took two months figuring out the process of keeping the finish smooth.



Matching the paint to a husbands wedding cummerbund or wifes signature lipstick is possible. In the Britain, Bentley said that a buyer cut off the salesmans tie for use as a color swatch, saying it was his perfect exterior color. Interior stitching can be specified to color, length and width. If a buyers favorite tree is felled by lightning, its veneer can be installed to keep its memory alive.

Chartreuse door panels with mauve leather seats are possible, but the manufacturer may put its foot down. Jeff Kuhlman, chief communications officer of Bentley Americas, said: We can do anything, but we dont do everything. There was a gentleman who wanted ostrich leather seating, and we could provide that. Another wanted snakeskin, but we felt it wasnt durable enough for our standards.

Safety and government regulations can also hinder customization. Mr. Kuhlman said an Asian customer requested a glass dashboard enclosure to display his finest whisky. This was rejected because the airbag could have launched the spirits into the front passenger.

These two classic brands have evolved to cater to modern clients. When it arrived in 2003, Bentleys Continental GT attracted more women and reframed the Volkswagen-owned company toward younger millionaires. Its Bentayga recently filled the brands need for a sport utility vehicle. Rolls-Royce will soon begin private showings of the Cullinan S.U.V. that rides on the same Architecture of Luxury as the Phantom VIII.

Stuart Robinson, a semiretired real estate investor of Snohomish, Wash., said that he and his wife, Jane, fell for a 2017 Rolls-Royce Wraith Black Badge with its striking rear-hinge doors.

Im in the garage a couple times a day and walking toward the Wraith, I get the feeling of, oh my gosh, I cant believe I own it, Mr. Robinson said. It just makes me wish for the next dry day to drive it.Articles Sorry, there are no recent results for popular articles.

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Service: 3 p.m. Sunday, April 1, at Conyers Church of Christ, Conyers, Ga., with interment at Greenlawn Cemetery, in Lakeland, Ga.; Visitation: 2-4 p.m. Saturday, March 31, at Caldwell & Cowan Funeral Home, Covington, Ga.

James Curtis Davidson "JC," age 90, of Covington, Georgia, passed away peacefully at his home, Thursday, March 29 (2018) after a long and hard-fought battle with cancer. Born in Keener, May 1, 1927, he was the only child of the late James Lloyd Davidson and Faye Hester Davidson.

After graduating from Bergman High School, JC joined the Navy in 1945 and proudly served his country during WWII. He then went on to pursue his college education at Arkansas Polytechnic College where he earned a B.S. degree in Science and Mathematics. JC started his long career, 32 years, with Exxon Co., USA, via Carter Oil and Humble Oil, that took him around the globe as a professional geophysicist. He rose through the ranks to be promoted to the top of the company as geophysical supervisor in Exxons Southwestern Exploration in Midland, Texas. There he met his wife of 43 years, Gail Wynn Davidson.

JC was a lifelong and faithful servant of his God. He loved, treasured, and honored God, family, and friends. His faith centered in the Church of Christ. With great passion, JC delved into genealogy, and historic preservation and research, for the restoration of his home. His intelligent, critical mind brought into his home computers, smart phones, WIFI, and anything he found to keep up with the world. JCs compassion and love for people, along with his unrelenting love of clever fun, brought a constant flow of loving friends who treasured his Christian and fun-loving personality. He was loved by all. JC was a true Southern gentleman and a loving husband and friend.

Survivors include his loving wife, Gail Wynn Davidson; an uncle and aunt, Hoyt and Laura Davidson of Harrison; as well as many special cousins who adored and loved him, and that he loved and adored.

A funeral service for Mr. Davidson will be at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 1, at Conyers Church of Christ, 1410 Flat Shoals Road, SE, in Conyers, Georiga, with Bobby Wood officiating.

Interment will follow at 1 p.m. Monday, April 2, in Greenlawn Cemetery, West Main Street, Lakeland, Georgia.

Friends may visit with the family from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, March 31, at Caldwell & Cowan Funeral Home, 3134 Floyd Street, in Covington, Georgia.

Donations in JCs memory may be made to the Church of Christ, or any charity of your choice.Former Barcelona and Chelsea full-back Juliano Belletti insists that he still a fan of Chelsea, having spent 3 years at Chelsea, winning two FA Cups and a Premier League title during his time at Stamford Bridge.

The Brazilian is now a respected pundit on Brazilian station SporTV, but he told the official Chelsea website that he still has great affection for Chelsea. When I was here we won the Premier League, here at home and had some good Champions League matches.

I had the respect of the supporters with me and my family. It was an honour for me to play here and with the amazing team-mates I had. They had a lot of quality as people, and as players. Im a Chelsea supporter, I really like this club.

Chelsea play Spurs on Sunday at Stamford Bridge and Belletti recalls scoring for the Blues against Tottenham, In the all years since, the Chelsea supporters remember that goal. Its good to have a moment when I made the Chelsea supporters so happy with one goal, and the intensity of my play.Re: Samoa Airways chief opens up

Remember the 16,000 travellers the Samoa government sabotaged their flights in November to December last year in a desperate effort trying to get us to fly this stupid Samoa airways causing a lot of disadvantages and extra costs to some who didnt know how to maneuver the situation, after our fares were paid and had been booked earlier in the year?

Well, sour taste to fathom for the C.E.O.; never would ever the 16,000 affected passengers including me and family would ever never to fly Samoa airways; ever.

We are certainly happy with Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand they surely looked after us their valued customers.

And to say the fare were expensive is a fat lie; the fare was always low. And if the fare then were expensive, definitely the Samoa government was part of the joint venture that made the fare expensive.

Why then did not the Samoa government object to the joint venture management if they had known the fare was expensive?

The propaganda garbage I do not buy; cut the rubbish and talk facts; not all are fools only a small number.

Tofaeono Joe HollywoodPrime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Maleilegaoi has threatened to ban social media platforms from Samoa completely.

That will happen if gutless anonymous bloggers continue to use the freedom social media affords them to abuse Government officials and innocent members of the public.

The Government will do what it takes to settle this matter once and for all, even if it means banning Facebook, Tuilaepa said.

Most governments have banned Facebook, and we have been holding back because of the positive impact of social media.

Tuilaepa issued the warning during his weekly media conference.

He said the Government has had enough of faceless ghosts who use sites such as Facebook to post defamatory claims against unsuspecting victims.

Tuilaepa said these faceless writers have been posting countless allegations including extra marital affairs, corruption and sensitive details about public figures, their families and their children.

Because its all based on lies, those affected are government leaders, he said.

Those behind the social media posts are driven by the devil, their hearts are filled with hatred and Im certain they dont rest at night as they continue to make up fabrications.

Tuilaepa added that these writers have gone as far as to level allegations against Church Ministers.

If the allegations are true, they would have been published in the Samoa Observer. It then allows us the opportunity to sue them and find out the accuracy of the allegations.

Only gutless people would such a thing and make up these stories. Maybe their parents did this as well.

He said other lies posted involve parents having sexual intercourse with their children.

Tuilaepa said he has an inkling about whom they are and they would eventually be caught.

He warned that once they are found, they could be dead in two days given the hatred they have provoked.

Tuilaepa said he has some names but does not want to say them yet because bullets will be fired and thats what he doesnt want.

So I advise them not to play with fire. I want them to know that no matter where you hide, you will be caught.

According to the Prime Minister the only reason the government is delaying the move to ban Facebook is because there are numerous people who utilize this site for the right reasons.

He said the Tui Samoa Cable was established for the betterment of services and connection to the outside world but this is the negative impact.

The Country is in turmoil due to these unfounded allegations.

According to the Prime Minister, the former Prime Minister Tofilau Alesana Eti in the past sued the Samoa Observer for a story it published.

The case ended up in Court and the claim reached a million tala. If the faceless writers were found, they would the same fate.

When it comes to seeking the truth, the government will do whatever it takes to get to the truth. That is why I have instructed the Attorney General that even if it reaches millions, he needs to do it."

Attorney General Lemalu Hermann Retzlaff confirmed the Police are investigating who are behind the social media posts.

I am informed that as per the normal procedure, the Police Commissioner is fully briefed and has assigned a team to undertake an investigation."

We await the outcome of that, before we can formally advise in any way as to a way forward. I cannot otherwise comment at this stage, said Lemalu.The Elders Committee of the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (C.C.C.S.) is adamant.

They will not obey the demand by the Government for all Church Ministers to pay income taxes.

The law became effective in January 2018. Which means many of the Church Ministers of C.C.C.S. are breaking the law.

The Church is adamant that they will only agree after a discussion during their annual Malua conference next month.

This is according to the minutes of their meeting held on 14 March 2018.

A copy of the minutes has been leaked to the Sunday Samoan.

It is understood the Churchs stance on this matter during the Fono Tele 2017, as indicated in a letter by the Church Ministers, is that we will not pay taxes, the documents read.

The Church has also appealed to the Government to consider the request until the Fono Tele in 2018.

According to the minutes of the meeting, the denominations are asking the Elders Committee to consider the implication if the Government decides to prosecute Ministers for not obeying the law.

But the Elders Committee has insisted to leave the matter for discussion at the Fono Tele. It means that from now until May, C.C.C.S. church Ministers will continue to defy the Government.

According to the minutes, the meeting was attended Reverend Elder Tavita Anesone; Secretary, Rev. Iosefa Uilelea; Rev Liki Tiatia of America; Rev Iosefa Tui of Hawaii; Rev Malifa T Malifa of New South Wales; Rev Aviti Etuale of Victoria; Rev Lauie Lupematasila of Queensland; Rev Tauaaga Mataafa South Queensland; Rev Tumama Vili New Zealand; Rev Tanielu Mamea Manukau; Rev Lucky Slade Auckland; Rev Asotasi Time of Apia East; Rev Siolo Tauati Apia; Rev Fili Matalavea Malua; Rev Tautiaga Senara Aana; Rev Tunumoso Iosia Falealili-Safata-Siumu; Rev Leaso Tupai Faasaleleaga and Rev Amuia Seuala of Ituotane.

Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr Sailele Malielegaoi said no one is above the law.

That was his response regarding Church Ministers who do not pay their taxes.

Last year, despite the strong opposition from the church, Parliament passed the Bill, taxing the Head of State and Church Ministers, for the first time since Samoa became politically independent.

The measure went into effect in January 2018.

Last month, Prime Minister Tuilaepa confirmed the General Secretary of the C.C.C.S., Reverend Vavatau Taufao, sought the Government to delay the implementation on the new law to Church Ministers until the General Assembly in May, 2018.

The Prime Minister told the Sunday Samoan that is not how things work in the real world.

Their request for postponement will not be considered."

That is not how things work in the real world, where we have to wait for an organisation to accept the law in order for it to be implemented."

The law is directed to the Church Ministers, in case a Church Minister thinks they can deviate from this law, no they cant."

No one is above the law, said the Prime Minister.

He said the same rule applies to a Chief of any village.

If they violate the law, they will be held accountable in accordance with the law."

I reminded the Reverend Vavatau that he paid taxes as well."

And that if anyone who would understand it is him and he should do his job and inform the Elders of the Church about what should be done."

He was a Professor at the N.U.S, a well-educated person, who should explain to the Elders the impact of the law.

Repeated efforts to get comments from Reverend Vavatau have been unsuccessful as of press time.Last Wednesday will always be a memorable day for a hard working Samoan student with roots in Samalaeulu, Faiaai, Apia and Leulumoega.

Charlie Viane Sofe, who is studying at the University of Canterbury, was among nine outstanding high achieving students attending various tertiary institutions throughout New Zealand who were presented with the New Zealand Prime Ministers Pacific Youth Award.

Hosted by the Ministry of Pacific Peoples, the ceremony was held at the Fale o Samoa, in Mangere, where New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, presented the awards.

The awards recognize Pacific excellence and academic leadership of the Pacific Youth undertaking studies throughout New Zealand.

Charlie, 21, is the youngest of nine children of Fualau Misiolo Sofe of Samalaeulu and Faiaai and Margaret Fruean Misiolo of Apia and Leulumoega.

He was presented the Pacific Cooperation Foundation  International Scholar Award, recognizing a young person who epitomizes the strong positive relationship between New Zealand and the Pacific Islands through their leadership, community service (both New Zealand and home nation) and academic performance.

Charlies parents were immensely proud of their son that they flew out to New Zealand to attend the awards ceremony.

Charlie during his brief speech acknowledged the grace of the Almighty for making things possible and giving him the opportunity to receive such a prestigious award. He thanked the Prime Minister of New Zealand and all the people involved in the set up of the awards ceremony and thanked the prayers and support from his families and friends in New Zealand and Samoa during his studies.

He did not shy away in thanking his proud parents for making the trip over to witness this special award. It was indeed a joyous moment for not only Charlie but for his parents and family.

His achievements were not only a product of the encouragement, determination and support from his parents and families, but also the guidance from his E.F.K.S. Apia church and the community where he grew up.

He has expressed his interest in completing his studies at the end of the year and returning to Samoa to contribute to the development of his family and country.

His long-term goal is to set up an engineering firm with his older brother who is also an engineer. Prior to getting there, he wishes to work for the government and build his network to enable him to understand more about the dynamic of the fast pace work in Samoa in the engineering field. Finally, he wishes to further his studies in Engineering and hope to be a successful engineer and continue to make his parents and family proud.

Charlie was born, raised and educated in Samoa, until he obtained a scholarship to pursue a Bachelors of Civil Engineering (Honours) at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch New Zealand. He attended Vaivase Primary School and progressed to Samoa College in 2009.

During his education in Samoa, he excelled in his studies, which culminated in his achievement of the Top Overall prize for the Foundation Programme at the National University of Samoa in 2013.

In addition to his formal education, he also attended Sunday school and aoga Faifeau at his congregation, E.F.K.S. Apia under the guidance of Rev. Elder Utufua Naseri and Faletua Taiaopo.The driver of a vehicle that crashed into the Governments greenhouse at Nuu during the wee hours of Friday morning has been arrested and charged.

Larry Warren has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, says Police Superintendent Auapaau Logoitino Filipo.

The driver has been charged with D.U.I. of 100 milligrams of alcohol. Hes remanded on bail and is to sign at the Faleata Police Station every Friday until April 17, 2018, said Auapaau.

Bystanders told the Sunday Samoan that the vehicle took down the barbed wire fence before crashing into the Governments greenhouse located in Nuu.

According to Police, Mr. Warren, who works for the Samoa Observer, was taken to the hospital for a medical check given he suffered injuries on his face.

Mr. Warren, following the hospital check, was taken into Police custody and was released on Friday morning.

Auapaau also appeals to members of the public to be considerate prior to taking the wheel of their vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

The Police wishes to remind the general public about drinking and driving this public holiday and of course every day."

It is illegal and operating a vehicle when under the influence of alcohol is a dangerous mix, so take a cab or call a friend to pick you up, but dont drive."

The safety of passengers and pedestrians are in every drivers hands. Lets be safe this Easter holiday.The National University of Samoa has a new Director for the Centre for Samoan Studies (C.S.S.). Dr. Safua Akeli Amaama becomes the first female to be appointed to the role.

N.U.S. Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Fui Leapai Asofou Soo, made the announcement during a press conference last week.

Professor Silafau Sina Vaai was also re-appointed as Professor in English for the next five years.

Dr. Safua is the daughter of Malaesala Suluape Visesio Akeli and Vaoiiva Patu Akeli from the villages of Faleseela, Tiavea, Vaiala and Samalaeulu.

The mother of two holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Otago University, Honors in History from Victoria University of Wellington, Masters in History from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, and graduated from the University of Queensland with a Doctorate degree in Philosophy History.

Dr. Safua says she is humbled to be the first woman to be appointed the C.S.S. and she looks forward to working together with her colleagues and contributing to the development of Samoa.

It is an exciting time for C.S.S. and N.U.S. I am in this position where it has always been highly qualified men, so this is the first time a woman has now directed the center.

It is exciting in terms of some of the other opportunities that we are looking at broadening our projects in archaeology and cultural heritage, as well as a way for the Samoa language and culture programme.

Our development studies programme is very popular at the moment. We have about 60 students doing their diploma, masters and PhD.

So this will be important for us as we try and develop the programme across the N.U.S. faculties in terms of trying to acquire some scholarships for our graduate students and that will be an important objective as director.

The 36-year-old added C.S.S. is a central part of the university.

I guess for me what is important is continuing with the projects that we are currently working on and also trying to extend some of our programmes in line with our recent and external review that we have had. So that will be on top of the list.

Our function is the research arm of the university, trying to push research and also trying to get students involved in research and that way we could help build their capacity.

There are many exciting opportunities I am hoping to extend some of our partnerships overseas to tertiary institutions and cultural sectors. There is quite a lot of work ahead.

I guess for us is to focus on the partnerships we have here in Samoa such as with the villages, which is something that we will need to maintain and to enable us to carry out our research and take it back to the community.

Dr. Safua left Samoa at the age of five and was raised in New Zealand before she moved to Australia. For her to return to her homeland has been an eye opener especially learning more about her ancestors.

I was working in the Museum of New Zealand at Te Papa. I have been there for almost six years. So I have a lot of opportunities in developing collections and working with communities, which is quite a demanding role and I see this role as no different as well.

It is a daunting time for us but we have got the familys support. My family currently lives in Brisbane, so my parents will retire shortly and it is good that we are now here.

The urge to learn and always trying to find out more is what drives me. I love research and I guess I am a geek as what other people would say. I just like to learn about new knowledge also history because that is my field.On the grounds of the newly opened Chanel Primary School lies a broken door. It leans unsteadily on a foundation block that used to support a building  the buildings gone now.

But the door is stubborn, latching on, a remnant of sorts, hinting of possible roles where it may have guarded some precious secret or rite in the past.

Perhaps this is the door that kept the first flag hoisted at Mulinuu in 1962 when Samoa became the first Pacific country to formally break the shackles of colonialism  the flag that was given to Father B.F. Doherty, the founding Rector of Chanel College.

A symbol of the regard in which Chanel was held as Samoa the nation was born. With it the implied responsibility to produce leaders and men on which the Pacifics first sovereign nation would build a solid foundation and trailblaze a future on its own terms, a beacon other Pacific countries could follow.

And so it was. In its early days, Chanel came to be known as Samoas elite boarding school. Its reputation grew beyond Samoas shores with enrolment applications received from American Samoa, Tokelau and New Zealand.

The list of former graduates is proof Chanels early reputation was merited with some of Samoa, American Samoa, and Tokelaus leaders having schooled through its doors.

For Samoa, Chanel groomed Archbishop Alapati Mataeliga, Monsignor Etuale Etuale, Minister of Private Enterprise Lautafi Fio Selafi Purcell, Minister for Finance Sili Epa Tuioti, Tiufea Rudy Meredith to name a few; for American Samoa it produced Taufetee John Jr. Faumuina, a pioneer student; Vailiuama Steve Leasiolagi, Dr. Jerome Amoa, Iulogologo Joseph Pereira, Vaitoa Hans Langkilde, Oloipola Herman Gebauer, Sepp Steffany amongst many others.

While for Tokelau, it smithed current Commissioner for its Public Service, Casimilo Perez, Aleki Silao former advisor to Archbishop Mataeliga, Sio Perez, Minister of Finance and Health, Mose Pelasio, Minister responsible for Telecommunications and Fisheries to name some.

But alas, when Chanel commemorated its 50th anniversary in 2012, it was no longer the flag bearer of Samoas education system. The pride felt on that day in 1962 when Fr. Doherty was handed the Samoan flag and aspirations of a nation was now best symbolised by a broken door without a wall to stand on, nor a room to give it purpose and identity.

But like the legendary bird in Greek mythology, the phoenix, from the ashes of Chanels former glory, a small group has rekindled what they believe is Chanels rebirth  raising a better and stronger version.

Johns Water Tank

On the grounds of the newly opened Chanel Primary School stands a water tank. It leans sturdily on a foundation block newly built to support its weight  the water tank stands majestic radiating the impression it shall withstand the efforts that sun, wind and rain will throw at it.

The donator of the tank, John Ballinger says it is not the physical tank thats important, rather, it is what the tank houses that his donation symbolizes. The tank, he admits, may well be gone in the future but the water inside will always remain the essential substance for life.

But then he confessed the truth: The real story is Aleki cornered me to donate the tank because he found out I had gone to a Catholic school in Australia  even though I was not a Catholic!

Just a few steps away, hidden by the new administration block, lies the aforementioned broken door.

The Primary School

The symbolic combination of the broken door and Johns water tank captures the concept behind Chanels rebirth. Specifically, the small committee of former students believes the Primary School is the critical foundational ingredient to successfully nurture the new Chanel hatchling.

The concept and solution are both simple.

Chanel is no longer one of the competing first choice colleges for Year 9 students. That in itself confirms the quality of entry-level cohorts is low which means the march of low-quality cohorts moving up the colleges levels will continue the expected trend  low academic achievements.

Correspondingly that status propagates the cycle of demise and deterioration of Chanel reputation impacting negatively on all other aspects of the college such as staffing, inter-college competitions, community perception, appeal for donations, sponsorship leverage, employability of graduates, and level of former students association involvement.

Stopping the Chanel rot

The answer to stopping the rot: improve the quality of entry-level cohorts to the college.

It was that simple solution that brought a small group of former students together to build a Primary School; and secondly, to staff it with quality teachers who will produce better quality students to feed the college.

They figured if things go according to plan then the negative impacts noted in the previous paragraph will naturally self-correct themselves.

It is now history that the old Maurista buildings, with the permission of Archbishop Alapati Mataeliga, have been transformed into the Chanel Primary School.

Former head boy Aleki Silao may be the glue that holds the committee and nudges/re-establish international networks but the muscle doing the heavy lifting is Tiufea Rudolf Meredith.

A no-nonsense businessman, he didnt mix words when describing the early committee days and frustration at the lack of progress.

It got to the stage where I told our committee to stop the talk, talk, talk and start walking. To start building the primary school and commit to the plan to hire qualified teachers. Its the only way to produce quality students who will carry that quality and feed it through the college, the sure way to rebuild Chanels academic reputation and regain our elite standing in Samoa and American Samoa.

He added: We gratefully acknowledge the support of his Grace, the Archbishop, for granting us the use of the Maurista School, the land and existing buildings in Moamoa to start the school.

With support from the committee, Archbishop Mataeliga, Chanel Old Students Association (C.O.S.A.) from various parts of the globe, as well as former teachers like Peace Corps Robert Fallon who donated US$20,000 (T$7,864) to the cause; the project went ahead with the goal of opening a fully fledge primary school by February 2018.

Midway through the second half of 2017, the renovations were well on track, the school buildings and associated infrastructure would be completed in time.

However, the crucial second part of the foundation had yet to be laid  recruitment of quality teachers  now a seemingly impossible task given the new school year was less than six months away.

But as Victor Hugo once said, There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.

So the committee armed its idea with dogged determination and plenty of faith (prayers) because deep down they believed it was only a matter of time before the impossible morphed into the possible.

And as Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi emphasised during his opening address: What you need to succeed is an A.K.E. As far as committee members were concerned, they had an over-abundance of A.K.E.

Tepora the Principal

Apart from an overdose of A.K.E, there was another critical part needed to turn the impossible to the possible, and this ingredient entered the recipe one sunny October afternoon when Tepora Tui was relaxing on the couch watching a bit of TV.

That was the afternoon Monsignor Etuale appeared on the big screen.

He was talking about an initiative to try and get a Primary school up and running and that they were on the look-out for good quality teachers in order to raise the standards at Chanel, recalled Tepora.

I turned to my husband and said, I think they need teachers.

At that time, Tepora was in the first year of a two-year leave spell from her teaching job in Australia, so she could be with her parents who had just retired to Samoa.

It could have been Monsignor Etuales handsome face or perhaps what he said that piqued Teporas interest forcing her to find out more.

Not long after her initial query, she got a mild surprise while using MacDonalds wifi connection, when one of the committee members, Leota Laki Sio, contacted her.

It was funny; they contacted me and asked whether I had curriculum vitae. I said Im updating it and then he said can you bring it now, theres men waiting for you here and I said hold on give me a minute.

Once settled, Tepora made her way to the interview and not too long afterwards, Chanel Primary School appointed Tepora its inaugural Principal.

With experience and qualifications from both New Zealand and Australia, Tepora brings a wealth of methodologies, passion and bilingual expertise to students, staff, board, parents and community.

What really motivated me to take up this role was the idea of being part of something new. The out-of-body-wow experience I had was re-enforced when I first met the teachers here. They all had the same idea; the same vision that of being part of something new.

The phoenix rebirth just got real

That for our entire team, we came in with the buildings but for the actual school itself, we are its first living breathing parts.

So it is a pretty powerful space to find yourself, knowing that you are not part of the furniture but actually a living part of the schools growth from the very beginning.

Tepora is aware of the cohort quality at her starting point.

No, we dont have the privilege of taking the icing on the cake selecting from the best children.

What we have are children from everywhere with different learning backgrounds, different school structures so we need to accommodate that and so in some areas had to lower the benchmark because these children are at different levels. The priority is to move them from where they are and go forward.

The reality is these children will achieve based more on their individual growth as opposed to a school benchmark.

However, our Year 1 will be our marker moving forward. As the years go by we would be able to say okay here is our perfect class, here is what we expect them to achieve at this point in time because the goals and the teaching expectations are those benchmarked in our ideal system.

The other cause for optimism is the variety of teaching backgrounds collected from the newly recruited staff.

We have got American teaching background added to New Zealand and Australian systems to those who have taught here in Samoa, so we have quite a repertoire of ways of teaching and from which to customize content to students at different stages of learning.

And that is what will be critical to our success because if there is only way that a teacher can teach reading for example, then they are stuck if the student doesnt take it in whereas in our team already, I have found this flexibility of delivery in action whether its at mixed ability grouping, ability grouping, target teaching these variety of different approaches should allow us to address our students different stages of learning.

The door leaning on the foundation might be broken but it can be fixed. A new strong wall can be constructed on which the door can be affixed. The door could open to the classroom that the first cohort of Year 1 at Chanel Primary hatchlings enters through to Chanel College in 2026.

A group that rose from the pile of ashes of academic and reputation poverty in 2017 to restake Chanels mantle of producing leaders and reformers of a better future for Samoa, American Samoa, and Tokelau.

But a lot of water has to flow under the bridge between now and then to produce the same leadership fruits of the past.

The Chanel education initiative need its supporters the likes of John Ballinger, his Water Tank and staff in Opetaia Opetaia and Ben Tolovaa; of Atafu, Nukunonu and Fakaofos contributions to the opening in February; of C.O.S.A. members financial help from New Zealand, Australia, American Samoa and elsewhere on the globe, former teachers, affiliates and supporters.

This is a reality that Tiufea Rudy Meredith, Aleki Silao, Leota Laki Sio, Tamaseu Randy, Sala Petelo, Rev Afa Tyrell and their committee know why they must continually stoke the fire giving life to Chanels rising phoenix because eventually it will lead them to the door.

The one that spoke, If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

To those who want to be part of this living legacy contact: Aleki Silao | Em: [email protected]Fifteen Police officers from the Samoa Police Service have graduated with the Operational Safety Trainer (O.S.T.) Qualifier Programme Firearms and Defensive Tactics course.

After five weeks of training, the officers have now become certified O.S.T. trainers.

The graduation was held at the Tamaligi Police Station. Three O.S.T. instructors from the Solomon Islands carried out the training.

The programme is an initiative by Samoa, the Solomon Islands and funding partner, Australia.

Among the 15 graduates, were two females, Nepa Papalii and Vaimoana Krieg.

According to Ms. Krieg, the eldest child of Susana Mann and Ronnie Mann, from the villages of Tiapapata, Tanugamanono and Satufia Savaii, it was a challenging experience for her.

It feels like a great achievement. It was not easy. It was a big challenge especially for us females, in doing our techniques and handling a firearm. It requires a lot of care and seriousness in our job.

Here in Samoa it is different. Culture is there to handle everything and with the experience we had with firearms, I just hope we wont use our firearms. But if we have to, then we have to be confident enough to do so, said the 27-year-old.

When asked about the driving force behind her achievement, she said: Being a female and waking up being just two females was a challenge. I wanted to be above them and I am not saying that this is a competition or anything. I wanted them to see that it was not a hassle for us girls, we are all the same.

Ms. Krieg is calling on all women to be confident in not only what they do, but also themselves.

Believe in yourself that you can do more and dont fear what people might say. Just be who you are and strive for the best and what you want to be.

The Mission Commander Samoa-Australia Police Partnership, Peter Timson, says the training and the initiative is to promote relationships between the Pacific Islands.

So we have the Solomon Police here training the Samoan Police. Like last year, we have sent Samoan Police to assist the training of the Vanuatu Police. So it is about developing capabilities in the region and recognising the skills that are in this country.

We had to get the approval from the Solomon Commissioners for the officers to be released, paid for their airfares and accommodation here, he said.

One of the O.S.T. instructors, James Tome, from the Solomon Islands, this experience for them was remarkable because they did not only get to teach the Samoan Police officers, but also learn from them.

The main purpose of the training was mainly dealing with the officers in knowing the best options of when to use which force in certain situations.

You have to pick up the right force to use, that was the aim.

All around, the Samoan Police have the legislations and laws in the legal use of force, but they have no practical side. That is why we are here. Now they know and they understand how to use whatever options.

The gun that they were using to train the Police Officers was the glock. It is a pistol 9 millimetres.

For this training, we only train with the glock 17, a pistol 9 millimetres, that is the only weapon that they are qualified in. They have other weapons and maybe in the future we could qualify them in those different kinds of weapons.

It is only when there is a situation when they need to use the firearm then the commissioner would give those orders or the Prime Minister, and then the commissioner could pick on those who now know how to use the gun, Mr. Tome adds.

He mentioned they will be here three weeks longer to train another team under the same programme.

There would be 12 of them, the other three dropped out but there was supposed to be 15. There would be three females coming on board for the next.

It was a bit challenging training the females, but in Samoa the females are different from where I come from. They are really smart and they fit in well with the males during the training. Not like where I come from, there is a barrier between the females and males.There is something different about Samoa this Easter Sunday.

People might be dressed in their Sunday best and heading to different churches throughout the country, but their hearts and minds will be firmly on Lupesoliai Joseph Parkers mission to defeat Anthony Joshua this morning.

With daylight savings giving people in Samoa an extra hour this morning, most of them used the opportunity to go to church. As this piece was written, many of the churches, especially early morning masses, have finished.

That lot are back at home waiting for the fight. Others whose church services start later will be praying for a short sermon so they can run back to a TV nearby to catch the big fight.

The Parker fight is the talk of town.

At Faleula, they are driven by the United we stand, divided we fall motto.

This Parker Fever caused people to all turn their heads when the line of Taxi Stands and different vehicles from the village of Faleula.

The town of Apia was flooded with white taxis, with their flags and red banners on the hood of their cars.

More than 40 cars showed up in the same spirit; that was to support Parker.

The Faleula Taxi Stand together with the Triple Seven Taxi Stand from Sogi, despite the distance they had to drive they still stuck by what they believed and drove around Mulinuu and Apia.

Even though Parker is not here to witness this, they stated that through technology he will get the message that he is not alone in his fight.

According to one of the members of Triple Seven Taxi Stand, Bill Maiava, it does not matter if Parker does not know them personally or even is from their village, they will support him all the way.

This is a very emotional time for everyone to support Parker in this upcoming fight. It may be a small country but we want the world to know that in this small country we breed warriors.

He may not know each one of us personally but the blood of our forefathers flow within in our veins.

We know that we are spending a lot of Petrol in terms of driving around but we did this on Thursday as well, it does not matter to us. Parker is one of our own, said the 30-year-old.

Bill explained: The reason we went for red banner because red is a significant color. In this season that we are in with the suffering of our savior, he spilled his blood for the thousands to be saved. The color of blood is red.

Even though we dont come from the same village with Parker but through the blood that was shed for all, we are all one.

Mayor of Faleula, Tuumaialo Petelo Tupuola says there is no better way to encourage Parker but support him in any way they can.

We have gathered here today because Parker is a Faleula and he is from. This is our way of cheering from a mile and showing our support.

To let known to Samoa the people of Faleula are supporting Joseph Parker. This is the biggest fight that he will be undergoing and it is a must for us to do something, to make aware that he is always in our prayer.

He has made us all proud and the standard that he has made. All these taxi drivers come from all different villages but they have joined for one cause which is to support Joseph Parker, he said.

He explained: Even the people from the village came in their own personal cars and drove together with us. We want to show support that the son of Samoa will rise up the champion in this fight.

We are thankful for the support of the different people and taxi stands that showed up because even though Joseph is from Faleula but he is Samoan and we are all Samoans at heart.

Tuumaialo adds that todays service is being dedicated to Parker.Joe Luka has only one wish this Easter.

Speaking to the Village Voice team, he shared his wish for a Good Samaritan to donate to him some iron roofing.

For more than 10 years, he lived alone in a rundown shack in Tapatapao, with no water supply and electricity.

A grounds man, farmer and a family man all at once, he is seeking for assistance to improve his house.

His house needs so many repairs, but he only desires iron roofing. He understands that every family in Samoa is trying to cope with the expensive cost of living.

Mr. Luka shared hard work overcomes all obstacles in life.

He helps his parents and also his three brothers who attend school.

The only thing that I need is iron roofing. This house that I live in is only suitable during fine weather.

When it rains, I would have to go and stay with my neighbour because my house leaks pretty bad and it feels like there is no roof over my head, said the 40-year-old.

He explained: I am from the village of Vaiusu but I have moved here because there is nobody to look after our land. I live here and work on the land but at the same time I am a grounds man.

All the money that I earn is given to my parents. Everything that they need in their house such as grocery shopping, cash power that is what the money is for.

Despite his situation, Joe makes use of every resource that he could find for his home.

I dont have a family, meaning that I am not married and have any children. I live independently because my parents rely on me.

I have been here for a very long time and I have decided to stay here for good and take care of my parents with having to sell the crops that I have on the farm and the money I earn from being a grounds man.

We were almost late to claiming our land because another family was going to move here.

As long if I could get iron roofing then I would have no problems. I understand that everyone is struggling and seeking for assistance would be too much. To have iron roofing would allow me to rebuild another house that is more stable then what I am living in now.

The cost of living is expensive, but for me as long as there is tea and taro with coconut cream for dinner, then I am thankful because I have made it to the next day.

I earn $160 a week. The money that I earn is never enough. The prices of the products have increased. I have to give money to my parents but also the money that I would need to survive here.

He also mentioned there is no water supply and that is why he does not have a proper toilet. He uses his neighbours toilet.

I need a water tank and it is just ironic of how we live right next to water reservoirs but the water supply does not reach my own land.

I shower down the river and there are times during drought when it does not flow any more than I am left with no choice but cannot shower.

Joe adds his power has been disconnected ever since Tropical Cyclone Gita because a breadfruit tree took his wire down that was connected to his neighbours house for power source.GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  Israel will target militant groups inside Gaza if violence along the territory's border with Israel drags on, the chief military spokesman warned on Saturday, a day after 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the area's deadliest violence in four years.

The violence significantly petered down Saturday as just small groups of Palestinians threw stones in several areas near the fence, drawing Israeli fire that injured 25 people, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

Friday's mass marches were largely led by Gaza's ruling Hamas group and touted as the launch of a six-week-long protest campaign against a stifling decade-old blockade of the territory.

Protests are aiming to culminate in a large border march on May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israel founding. The date is mourned by Palestinians as their "nakba,"or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were uprooted in the 1948 Mideast war over Israel's creation.

Organizers set up five tent encampments, each several hundred meters from the border to serve as launch points for protest.

Some young men broke away Saturday, throwing stones at Israeli soldiers on the other side of the fence, drawing live rounds and tear gas.

In two separate incidents, an Associated Press reporter saw two men who walked close to the fence get shot in the legs by soldiers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated the soldiers Saturday for allowing the rest of the country to celebrate the Passover holiday safely.

"Israel is acting determinedly and decisively to protect its sovereignty and the security of its citizens," he said.

Palestinian health officials said 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire and more than 750 hit by live rounds Friday, making it the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 cross-border war between Israel and Hamas.

It appears unlikely protests will continue at such a scale, with larger turnouts only expected after Friday noon prayers, the highlight of the Muslim religious week.

In Friday's confrontations, large crowds had gathered near the fence, with smaller groups of protesters rushing forward, throwing stones and burning tires.

Israeli troops responded with live fire and rubber-coated steel pellets, while drones dropped tear gas from above. Soldiers with rifles were perched on high earthen embankments overlooking the scene.

Israel's military initially claimed Friday that "thousands of Palestinians are rioting in six locations throughout the Gaza Strip, rolling burning tires and hurling stones." Video released by the army appeared to show less actually engaged in direct violence.

On Saturday, the chief army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, said that while thousands of Palestinians approached the border Friday, those engaged in stone-throwing were in the hundreds.

Manelis denied soldiers used excessive force, saying those killed by Israeli troops were men between the ages of 18 and 30 who were involved in violence and belonged to militant factions.

He alleged Gaza health officials exaggerated the number of wounded, and that several dozen at most were injured by live fire, with others suffering from tear gas inhalation or other types of injuries.

Manelis said soldiers knew who they were shooting at and how many people were hit by live fire.

The Gaza Health Ministry did not provide names and ages of those killed.

Four of the 15 dead were members of the Hamas military wing, the group said Saturday. The group said a fifth member who was not on the Health Ministry list was killed near the border, and that Israel has the body. It said another man is also missing in the border area.

Gaza City's Shifa Hospital received 284 injured people Friday, the majority with bullet injuries, said spokesman Ayman Sahbani. He said 70 were under the age of 18 and 11 were women.

He said 40 surgeries were performed Friday and that 50 were planned Saturday. "These are all from live bullets that broke limbs or caused deep, open wounds with damage to nerves and veins," he said.

Among those recovering from surgery was 16-year-old Marwan Yassin who said he had thrown stones with a slingshot at the fence Friday and was shot in both legs. One leg was wrapped in bandages and the other had a cast and metal fixtures.

Yassin said he would not return to the border because of the risks. His mother said at his bedside that she would forbid him from participating in future protests.

Protest organizers have said mass marches would continue until the day of the "nakba," an anniversary with particular resonance in Gaza where the vast majority of 2 million residents are descendants of refugees. The day, May 15, will this year also coincide with the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Manelis reiterated Saturday that Israel "will not allow a massive breach of the fence into Israeli territory."

He said that Hamas and other Gaza militant groups are using protests as a cover for staging attacks. If violence continues, "we will not be able to continue limiting our activity to the fence area and will act against these terror organizations in other places too," he said.

The border protests were seen as a new attempt by Hamas to break the border blockade, imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militant group seized Gaza in 2007 from forces loyal to its rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The continued closure has made it increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern.

Life in the coastal strip has deteriorated further in recent months, with rising unemployment, grinding poverty and daily blackouts that last for hours.

The prospect of more protests and Palestinian casualties in coming weeks could also place Israel on the defensive.

At the United Nations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an independent investigation, while Security Council members urged restraint on both sides. The council didn't decide on any action or joint message after an emergency meeting Friday evening.

Abbas, the West Bank-based leader, renewed a call for international protection of Palestinians.

In the West Bank, shopkeepers observed a commercial strike called by political activists Saturday to protest Israel's response to the Gaza marches.The Santee City Council has chosen a tentative map that outlines the boundaries for the new voting districts that will be used in the November election.

The move is an important step as the city transitions from at-large voting, where candidates are elected by voters citywide, to a system where candidates are elected from four distinct districts.

Santee has had citywide voting since it incorporated in 1980.

The map that the City Council voted 4-1 on was submitted by resident Dustin Trotter. It has not been finalized, but has the citys OK thus far in the process, which needs to finish up before July.

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Trotters rendition, called Peoples Map, divides the 16-square-mile area city into quadrants of approximately equal amounts of residents based on data from the 2010 U.S. Census, which uses a population of just over 53,000.

The quadrants on the Peoples Map are bisected for the most part by North Cuyamaca Street and Carlton Oaks Boulevard.

Only City Councilman Stephen Houlahan was not in favor of the Peoples Map. He said maps drawn up by the citys outside consultants, NDC Corp., offered better representation for constituents.

Several residents faulted the Peoples Map. Van Collinsworth said the map would particularly aid Trotter, who ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in the 2016 election, if he decides to run again in 2018.

If the City Council adopts the map, Trotter would be in a district that currently has no incumbent living in its boundaries. The other maps under consideration would have put him into the district where Houlahan lives. Houlahans seat wont be up until 2020.

Three council seats will be open in the upcoming election, including Brian W. Jones, who has announced he will be running for Senate, as well as those seats currently occupied by incumbents Rob McNelis and Ronn Hall.

The City Council can approve the Peoples Map by ordinance at its next meeting on April 11, with a second reading scheduled for April 25.

July is the citys unofficial deadline for redistricting to be finished in time for candidates who are interested in running for a City Council seat in the November 2018 election.

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Nomination papers will be available for interested candidates from July 16 through Aug. 10.

Estimates of Santees current population lean more toward 58,000, with the city still growing thanks to several coming housing developments.

Districts will need to be redone in 2021 once the 2020 census information has been taken. More than 1,200 new homes and apartments have been built in Santee since the last census in 2010 and more are coming.

The council is still unhappy that it is being forced into district voting to comply with the California Voting Rights Act; cities that have refused to make the change have been threatened with legal action.

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The main reasons for by-district voting in California are to guarantee minorities have a voice in elections and to increase minority political participation and representation.

Santee is predominantly Caucasian. The 2010 census said Santees makeup is about 83 percent white, 16 percent Hispanic or Latino, 4 percent Asian and 2 percent African-American.

Jones said that if he is elected to the Senate, one of the first things he will do is look into the legislation of by-district voting and see how to overhaul this whole thing and make it workable.

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karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.comSan Marcos City Council and the San Marcos Unified School District board met jointly Thursday evening to try to carve out space for the districts growing number of students.

The discussion covered topics including school enrollment, potential new school sites, and funding for facilities. And it aired the sobering fact that the school district, which recently financed reconstruction of San Marcos High School through a $287 million school bond measure, will need another high school in the next few years.

Within three to four years, we would like to have a new high school, Superintendent Melissa Hunt said. Otherwise, the two high schools we have will be pressed.

School officials said they have been discussing that imminent need since the newly rebuilt San Marcos High School opened in 2014. City officials asked whether they have made progress toward a third campus.

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Knowing that you need a high school in three years, dont you already have a plan of action in place? Mayor Jim Desmond asked school officials. It seems that the closer you get to the cliff of needing a new high school, it seems that a plan of action sooner rather than later would be prudent.

Officials also asked how the district will pay for a new high school, given that voters approved the $287 million Proposition K less than a decade ago.

One of the things were very concerned about is, theres only so much in taxes people are going to pay, Councilwoman Kristal Jabara said.

The swiftly growing student enrollment figure is due partly to the districts reputation for good schools, and partly to overall population growth in San Marcos, officials said. The city itself is newer, with a population that has grown fivefold since 1980, from about 20,000 in that year to 100,000 today, according to the city presentation.

San Marcos has several housing developments in the pipeline, including the Brookfield project on Twin Oaks Valley Road and Discovery Village, west of Twin Oaks Valley Road, at the intersection of Bent Avenue and Discovery Street. Current residents say theyre worried that adding more homes to those neighborhoods could further strain the schools. A group of them have submitted signatures for a ballot measure in opposition to the Brookfield project.

Unlike many neighboring school districts, San Marcos Unified is seeing annual increases in enrollment. Its current enrollment of 20,903 is expected to rise to about 25,840 within 20 years, according to the school district presentation. The additional enrollment translates into more school funding for each new student, but also to additional responsibilities and expenses for the schools.

Officials acknowledged that the school district needs to strike a balance between opening enough classroom space for current and future students, and overbuilding facilities that it may not need down the line.

We have been the fastest-growing city among our peers, partly because were a younger city, San Marcos City Manager Jack Griffin said, but added that could taper off. Were gliding down to a lower rate of growth. Were in a place where those gigantic spurts of growth, those big development (are slowing.) Theres no San Elijo two on the horizon.

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Council and school board members also discussed how to adjust the capacity of each campus by changing the way they use the space. One option could include year-round scheduling, or offering some high school science classes in summer to make better use of limited lab space, they said.

Schools can also fit more students on campus by filling unused rooms with classes. In the most extreme cases of overcrowding, specialized facilities such as music and art rooms and maker spaces where students try their hand at design and construction, can be transformed to classrooms. That option, however, risks undermining some of the educational programs that families expect from the schools, they acknowledged.

The reason that people want to live here... that developers want to build here, is that kids come here and they get a world-class education, said resident Becky Shipley, one of the organizers of the petition against the Brookfield development. If you take that away, if you take away music space and art space, no one is going to want to live here.

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deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennanFormer Oceanside Mayor Terry Johnson, whose previous term ended in 2004, has announced he will be back on the ballot for a council seat in November.

Its likely to be the most interesting election the city has seen in years, for a number of reasons.

Oceanside and several other North County cities recently changed the way they elect their city councils. Candidates now must live in the newly formed district that elects them, instead of representing the city at large. Districts 1 and 2 will be the first in Oceanside to use the new system.

Also, the citys voters could face two ballot measures  one that would create a local sales tax of 0.5 percent, and another that could help guide the future of the citys farms, parkland and open space.

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So far, no candidates or measures are officially on the ballot. The filing period opens in July.

Johnson and one other person, Christopher Felix, are the only potential candidates as of Friday who had filed formal statements of intention with the Oceanside city clerks office. Both live in District 2.

Felix, a church youth minister, could not be reached for comment. Johnson said hes excited about the possibility of returning to politics.

I love the diversity of District 2, said Johnson, 66, a retired union electrician who lives in a house he bought 40 years ago.

Terry Johnson (Union-Tribune file photo by John Gibbins )

Johnson was first elected in 1992 and was the citys first black council member. He was re-elected to the council in 1996, then elected mayor in 2000.

However, he was often outspoken on a number of subjects and ran into political trouble as mayor, particularly after openly criticizing the Police Department when some of the departments employees complained of racism and sexism. He lost his bid for re-election as mayor to long-time police Officer Jim Wood, who remained mayor until he retired for health reasons in January.

Oceanside is one of San Diego Countys oldest and largest cities, with a population estimated at 175,000 in 2016.

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Johnsons home district is packed with military veterans, retirees, mobile-home parks and a broad range of ethnic and social groups.

Some of the citys most notorious violent crimes have occurred in District 2, including the 2006 fatal shooting of Oceanside police Officer Dan Bessant during a traffic stop in a gang-plagued neighborhood near the back gate to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

Public safety remains an important issue even though crime rates have fallen in recent years, Johnson said.

Just because it has cooled down doesnt mean we need to relax, he said. We need to keep those young people busy, and the crime rate should stay lower.

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The city needs to offer more recreational opportunities for young people and work with the school districts to keep kids in school until they get into college, graduate and find jobs, Johnson said.

Hes also a strong supporter of senior citizens and mobile-home tenants, he said, two hallmarks of Oceanside politics.

District 1, which covers the citys northwestern quadrant, is home to two incumbent council members, Esther Sanchez and Chuck Lowery, and both are expected to seek re-election.

If Sanchez wins in November, Lowery would be off the council and unable to run for the seat again until Sanchezs term ends in 2022. He would have to move to another district to be a candidate in 2020.

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If Lowery wins in November, Sanchez, who was re-elected in 2016, could serve the remaining two years of her term as an at-large council member. However, she could not run for re-election when her term ends in 2020 unless she moves to District 3 or 4 and runs there.

Councilman Jack Fellers current term also expires in 2020, and hes the only council member in District 4, which will be due for election that year. District 3, also due for election in 2020, has no current council members living in it.

Also on the November ballot, Oceanside voters are likely to see a half-cent sales tax, which would be the citys first local sales tax. Revenue from the tax would help pay for police and fire protection, street maintenance, parks and recreation services and other general fund expenses.

City officials have been studying the idea for more than a year, and the council has until August to place the measure on the November ballot. If approved by voters, it would increase the total, including state and county taxes, to 8.25 percent in the city.

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Another likely ballot measure is the Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources, or SOAR, initiative, which would require a vote by Oceanside residents on any change to land zoned for open space or agriculture in the citys General Plan.

SOAR proponents have turned in more than 13,000 signatures to the city clerks office and are waiting for the minimum number of signatures to be verified by the county registrar of voters.

If the county verifies the minimum of 8,800 signatures, the initiative will be placed on an upcoming City Council agenda, where the council can either adopt the initiative outright or place it on the November ballot.

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philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com

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Twitter: @phildiehlWhen fifth- and sixth-graders at Torrey Hills School were challenged to find housing options for the homeless, veterans and elderly, they started by thinking small.

Really small.

In fact, their solutions fit into less than 500 square feet. As part of a math and design project, 105 students at the Carmel Mountain campus teamed up to make scale models of tiny homes for people with mobility issues, mental disabilities and other needs. They will eventually build full-scale models, and lobby to include tiny homes in county housing plans.

The students displayed cardboard models of their designs Thursday, and explained how they would use the compact space to make life comfortable for people with unique needs.

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I learned its harder for people in wheelchairs, said Defne Deniz Yavuz, 10. It would be way harder for them to live in a regular home than in a home built for them.

The exercise allowed them to sharpen their geometry skills, learn design thinking and develop empathy for people facing housing struggles, their teachers said.

The kids really had this heartfelt need to help homeless people, said sixth-grade teacher Holly Morey, who started the project.

One of their advisers, Marine veteran Ryan Garza, made his way through the exhibit to view their creations. Garza, 31, lost a leg and sustained a traumatic brain injury when he was injured by an explosive device during his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan. He shared the housing features that helped him adapt to his injuries.

Space to roll a wheelchair 360 degrees is a must. An accessible shower with a textured floor that helps him stand securely on one foot is important, he said. And window dimmers and noise insulation helps him avoid harsh light and sounds that can trigger anxiety. The kids absorbed it all with compassion, he said.

I think its brilliant, and I love these kids, Garza said. You can see theyre eager to learn and they want to help. Ive never seen anything like that.

At Torrey Hills School Yoshi Yamada, left, and Sasha Spitsberg, at right, pose with their tiny home design in the Natural Disasters category. (Charlie Neuman )

Morey launched the project after her students donated to Puerto Rican children left homeless by Hurricane Maria, and wanted to explore the issue further. She contacted Sarah Raskin, a design engineer with the Del Mar Union School District, and asked her to develop a project to combine math standards for calculating area and volume, with science standards focused on engineering and sustainability.

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Morey also sought advice from experts including Mia Roseberry, the CEO of Wounded Warrior Homes in San Marcos; Tony Rodriguez, a homeless man featured in the documentary Tony the Movie; volunteers with the emergency relief organization Shelterbox; and others. They suggested home features that would benefit the people they work with.

Student Ai Nguyen and her partner Sofiya Gordiychuk, both 11, designed their home for survivors of tsunamis, hurricanes and floods, keeping in mind the need to recuperate from injuries sustained in the disaster.

We want them to feel as comfortable as possible, Nguyen said. Theres a handicapped room if a person got injured in a hurricane.

Andy Kim and Sachin Wijay created their model with an eye for the details that wounded veterans would need. For instance, they included a wall-mounted floating desk designed with space so a wheelchair could slide under it. A similar floating bed would also allow easy access for wheelchair users and provide extra storage. The shower featured a chair for seated bathing.

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We learned about how a veterans lifestyle is coming back from a war, said Wijay, 10.

How difficult it is after war, Kim added. It gave us empathy for them, as well.

Yavuz and her partner Nitika Tatineni, 12, said they literally stood, or rather sat, in the place of a disabled person before they designed their home for wounded warriors. Before building the model, they practiced navigating in a wheelchair in the school courtyard.

We basically put ourselves in their shoes, to see how we would go around to do our daily lives in a wheelchair, Yavuz said.

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At Torrey Hills School, a student participating in the tiny home event reaches in the kitchen doorway of her design to adjust the sink faucet. (Charlie Neuman )

It was harder than they thought. Stoves are tough to reach, refrigerators are awkward and swinging doors tricky to open. Harsh light and bright colors could worsen post-traumatic stress disorder, a common condition among returning veterans, so soothing shades of blue and green are preferable.

In a normal house, theres a lot of things that prevent them from living a normal life, Tatineni said.

In their model, they substituted sliding doors for hinged ones. And they added a wheelchair -accessible stove with an automatic shutoff function for safety, since people with mental disabilities or traumatic brain injury may have trouble with memory and focus.

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Its wonderful to see this kind of program in a school because the children are forward thinking, Roseberry, of Wounded Warrior Homes, said of the projects. When I was in sixth grade I wasnt thinking about what I can do to support my community. Its nice to see theyre community thinkers, which will bring about community leaders.

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deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennanRaising Chula Vistas sales tax is the only way the city can afford to hire more cops and firefighters, Mayor Mary Salas said during a public forum Thursday evening.

Voters will have a chance to approve or reject a half-cent sales tax increase in Junes election. The money will go toward the general fund, but the city set up an oversight committee to make sure it goes to hiring police officers and firefighters.

When asked what the backup plan is if voters reject the measure, Salas said there isnt one.

The backup plan is to do what weve done for a number of years and thats kick the can down the road, she said Thursday. We cant afford to do that. That would require us to keep the status quo and seeing decreasing service to the community, and I dont think thats what the public wants.

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There are fewer police officers and firefighters per capita in Chula Vista than anywhere else in San Diego County. The staffing shortages stem from the recession, when the city laid off public workers to tighten the budget. As Chula Vistas population grew and the economy recovered, public safety staffing has not kept up, according to statistics from Chula Vista.

During Thursdays forum, the Police Department shared some figures that underscore the staffing shortage. Chula Vista has more than 60 schools but only 8 school resource officers. On average, there are only 13 patrol officers working in Chula Vista at any given time.

The local police officer and firefighters unions support the ballot measure.

Police Chief Roxana Kennedy assured the public that Chula Vista is still one of the safest cities in San Diego despite the staffing levels. She did not publicly endorse the tax hike measure but made it clear the department doesnt have a lot of options.

Taxes are not a fun word, she said. But then I ask you, what options do we have? So make an informed decision and understand that this is just the first step for the police department, if the community chooses. If the community doesnt, I completely understand, but the community also needs to understand that were challenged and we cant provide at times the level of service.

City officials say raising the sales tax is the best short-term solution to the problem. If approved, Chula Vistas sales tax will be the highest in the county, tied with Del Mar and National City.

The current sales tax is 8.25 percent and the county average is 7.8 percent, according to state figures. Passing the measure would raise it to 8.75 percent.

Thursdays forum came a week after the City Council heard A grim financial outlook for the citys future.

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Analysts say rising pension costs are projected to triple, taking a bigger cut of the general fund. Despite cost-saving measures and modest revenue increases, analysts anticipate year-over-year deficit growth that will grow to $10 million in 2020 and $29 million in 2023, according to their report.

After the presentations, Mayor Salas was asked if the city can afford to keep growing. She said they cant afford not to.

The whole model of the General Plan, the whole structure of upcoming economic development, is that its going to be very bullish times for the city in the future, she said. If you dont grow, you stagnate and if you stagnate, you die as a city.

Contact Gustavo Solis via Email or TwitterRIP, Cellar 3.

In another blow to Green Flash, on Friday the San Diego brewery closed its Poway barrel-aging facility, Cellar 3. This was a stunning end to a week that began with Green Flash shutting down its Virginia brewery, laying off 43 employees and halting distribution in 10 states.

Founded in Vista in 2002, Green Flash had once been among the nations most ambitious craft breweries, distributing in all 50 states while trying to establish a national profile. In 2014, the company bought Alpine Beer; and in 15 it opened a brewery and taproom in Virginia Beach while, closer to home, inaugurating Cellar 3.

At 12,000 square feet, Cellar 3 was smaller than Green Flash Virginia, which had 58,000 square feet. Yet the Poway operation may have been more ambitious. Cellarmaster Pat Korn was charged with shepherding a lineup of notoriously fickle beers, from Flanders-style sour ales to smokey stouts maturing in bourbon barrels.

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But the facility never had the time it needed to reach the heights, Korn said in a brief interview Friday.

Its too bad they didnt finish the five-year plan I had in place to really make it successful, said Korn, who left Green Flash and Cellar 3 in January, when the company laid off 15 percent of its employees and pulled out of 32 states.

Green Flash has suffered a rapid, steep descent. In 2016, the Mira Mesa-based company was the nations 37th largest craft brewery and the countys third largest, trailing only Stone and Ballast Point. By 2017, though, it had fallen to 43rd place.

Some industry observers believe the loss of brewmaster Chuck Silva, who left in 2015 to start his own brewery in Paso Robles, was a fatal blow.

It was his recipes that gave the brand heart, said Gonzalo Quintero, who teaches courses in the business of beer at San Diego State University.

The brewerys timing was bad, too, as they expanded after the boom in craft beer had peaked. As Quintero put it, Green Flash was simultaneously striking while the iron was cooling.

Green Flash co-owners Mike and Lisa Hinkley could not be reached for comment Friday.Multifaceted saxophone star Branford Marsalis has cited several reasons over the years for his decision to step down in 1995 from his high-profile position as the music director and band leader on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

They included the need to spend more time with his family, a desire to tour with his genre-leaping band  the now-defunct Buckshot LaFonque  and his reluctance to continue being Lenos happy-go-lucky comedic foil.

But there was another important consideration that fueled his departure from The Tonight Show, as this multiple Grammy Award-winning artist now acknowledges.

The reason I left was to push myself and see how good I could become, instead of coasting and getting by like I did prior to that, said Marsalis, who performs a chamber-music concert in San Diego next Sunday, April 8, at the Music Box as the special guest of the Chicago-based Kontras Quartet. (Ticket information appears below.)

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The performance, billed as Highways & Byways, is being presented by San Diegos Art of Elan. It will include the world premiere of Beg, Borrow or Steal, composer Dan Viscontis quintet for string quartet and saxophone, which Art of Elan co-commissioned.

Asked if he achieved his goal of becoming as good as he hoped after leaving The Tonight Show, Marsalis demurred.

I dont really do a hope thing, he said. Its more of a calculation. I calculated myself practicing so many hours a day. And I calculated that, if I did, then  in five or six years  I can do this, or I can do that. Its always a trajectory, a long-term goal.

In classical music, I gave myself 10 years to get good, and it took 15. If you dont reach a goal, keep doing it!

An eclectics eclectic, Marsalis is likely the only saxophonist anywhere whose past collaborators range from the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia to Miles Davis, the Grateful Dead and Public Enemy. His many other musical partners have included Sting, Dizzy Gillespie, Carole King, Stevie Wonder, Joshua Bell, Angelique Kidjo and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

The New Orleans-bred saxophonist recently completed writing the new musical score for the Broadway revival of Children of a Lesser God. This summer, time allowing, he will start writing a book.

The one-eyed man is always king

Former Tonight Show band leader and music director Branford Marsalis poses with the shows then-host, Jay Leno, in 1995. (AP file photo by Dana Fisher )

My strongest point in music is my ability to play music, Marsalis said, speaking from North Carolina, where he has lived with his family since 2001. My weakest point is my ability to play the saxophone.

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Could he elaborate?

I dont play the saxophone very well, said Marsalis, whose brother is famed trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. Their father, Ellis, is one of New Orleans most esteemed pianists and music educators.

Like, at fast tempos, I dont really play as well as I should, the saxophonist continued. Its not as crisp as it should be or as it is when you listen to Chris Potter, Mark Turner or Joshua Redman, who play excellently. Its like the difference in opera between a big voice and a coloratura. A coloratura can sing all these difficult things. Big voices have to train more intensely and for longer.

Is Marsalis, one of the most acclaimed saxophonists of the past 30 years and a former music faculty member at Michigan State University, being modest about his abilities?

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If you knew music the way I know it, youd know Im not being modest, he replied.

I dont even believe in modesty. I believe in humility, but not modesty. Theres no point in it. A long time ago, when I made it to the Louisiana all-state high school band  without playing very well  my father said: Well, you know, son, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is always king.

Marsalis laughed at the memory.

I was like: Damn! Youre not even going to say: Way to go?  he recalled. And my father said: Ive never met a musician who improved by kissing his own ass. It was pretty hard to refute that! I was like: OK.

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Marsalis laughed again.

My goal is to play music better, play the saxophone better, never stand still and (to embrace) newness, he said. Dont fall for the fools gold; just do what you do better.

Musical ambassadors

The Chicago-based Kontras Quartet will reunite on stage with Branford Marsalis on April 8 at San Diegos Music Box. (Photo courtesy Art of Elan )

His quest for the new will be furthered by Marsalis Art of Elan concert here with the Kontras Quartet. The groups cellist, Jean Hatmaker, is the younger sister of violinist Kate Hatmaker, Art of Elans co-founder and executive director.

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The siblings will perform the second movement of Czech composer Erwin Schulhoffs Duo for Violin and Cello, while Jean Hatmaker and San Diego Symphony principal flutist Rose Lombardo will play Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos The Jet Whistle  Assobio a Jato for Flute & Cello.

The quartet will perform Viscontis Black Bend and Czech composer Osvaldo Noe Golijovs Tenebrae on its own. It will then team with Marsalis for the world premiere of Viscontis Beg, Borrow or Steal and the first movement of German composer Adolph Buschs 1925 work, Quintet for Alto Saxophone and String Quartet.

Its a very romantic piece by Busch that Branford loves and requested we do, Kate Hatmaker said.

Branford has a real generosity of spirit and a curiosity to try new things, as does the Kontras Quartet, which has worked with Steve Martin on some of his bluegrass things. And that fits in well with Art of Elan. Because, like us, Branford and the quartet perform music from a lot of genres, are committed to community engagement and are real ambassadors for the music of our times.

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Marsalis 1986 album, Romances for Saxophone, was his first foray into classical music. A showcase for his soprano sax playing, it featured his interpretations of music by Villa-Lobos, Stravinsky, Satie and Ravel.

In 2001, he recorded Eternal with Minnesotas Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

In 2012, Marsalis was a featured soloist here at the La Jolla Music Societys annual SummerFest, where he earned raves for his performances of Buschs Quintet in E Major for Strings and Alto Saxophone and Hindemiths Trio for Tenor Saxophone, Viola and Piano.

For the second half of his SummerFest concert, he and Eric Revis  the bassist in Marsalis jazz quartet  ripped through improvisation-fueled reinventions of Tiger Rag and It Dont Mean a Thing (If It Aint Got That Swing). Art of Elan would be wise to ask the saxophonist to include a jazz selection at his April 8 Music Box concert as a bonus for the audience.

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Marsalis returned here in 2014 for a Sherwood Auditorium concert with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. That performance soared when he was on stage and lagged when he was not.

His desire to improve in any stylistic setting is a constant. Its inspired in large part by an oft-quoted musical dictum, which has been credited to both classical piano legend Vladimir Horowitz and jazz piano legend Hank Jones.

Namely: If you dont practice for a day, you know it. If you dont practice for a few days, your spouse knows it. If you dont practice for a week, the whole world knows it.

I practice every day now, Marsalis affirmed. But when I was younger, I didnt. Hank practiced every day. And Horowitz clearly practiced every day. Thats one of the things that made me want to practice again. I heard a recording of (jazz sax great) Dexter Gordon, at 70, and he was a shadow of himself. Then, I heard Horowitz, at 80, and he was killing it! I said: Boy, Ive got to start practicing.

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And what, specifically, does he practice?

I practice classical music, because its art, he replied. Im currently learning a Henri Dutilleux piece that has a tempo of 144 (beats per minute), and I cant play it past 120 without double-tonguing. Im figuring that, by the end of the summer, Ill be able to play it.

Jazz is colloquial. I practice jazz by learning solos, but the idea of practicing patterns is not my thrill. A lot of what Im working on is: How does one play ballads better? How do you maintain your projection as you age? Im not a lick-oriented player.

Jazz guys generally dont get better, to me. Because they stop practicing once they establish themselves, with the exception of Sonny Rollins. Not being able to do something is more of an impetus for me than being able to, because that means youve got something to learn.

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Marsalis on the record

Branford Marsalis has the ability to fit in well in almost any musical setting. (Photo by Jennifer Taylor/The New York Times )

Branford Marsalis ability to stand out in a variety of musical contexts is a matter of record. We asked him to recount a few of his memorable collaborations, beginning with:

Grateful Dead, 30 Trips Around the Sun (concert compilation CD box set, 2015)

Marsalis: I think the thing that surprised them is that I was actually listening to them and interacting with them. I wasnt just playing some licks I knew. And Jerry (Garcia) and I hit it off really well. My microphone was next to his and he heard me incorporating his stuff into my playing, and he started smiling. We spent a lot of the night looking at each other. They were game  and they were great.

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Miles Davis, Decoy (1984)

One of the best records Miles did in that period. Was it intimidating to work with him? No. But I was in awe of his brilliance. Miles would intimidate those that could be intimidated, and didnt intimidate those that couldnt be. But he was really good at forcing you to listen to music in a way (other) people didnt.

He introduced the idea to me of chord changes as a guide, not a moral principle. Hed say: Play these changes. Great, now stop playing them  and play. If he caught you still looking at the changes, hed crumble them up, and say: Now play. So he was forcing me to hear things, not read them. He didnt want me to regurgitate things I already knew, and that was a good lesson.

Sonny Rollins, Falling in Love with Jazz (1989)

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Marsalis: It was great. I learned a lot more about Sonny playing a concert with him than on that record, but it was an honor to be asked. I learned so much about how to play like him in concert, watching how he responded to the energy and the music. The record was cool, although I basically did a bad version of playing like him. ... It was hard not to do that, if you were listening to him. Otherwise, I could have shut off my ears and played whatever I wanted to. But I dont have that ability to ignore what Im hearing.

Public Enemy, Fight the Power (from the soundtrack to Spike Lees 1989 film, Do the Right Thing)

Marsalis: That was fun. Keith Shocklee and Eric Sadler worked really well together in co-producing it, and they put together a really cool thing. Eric was the sample king and Hank was the overall conceptualist. (Public Enemy rapper/lyricist) Chuck D was great. It was a unique time. When I came in, the track was basically done. I played three takes. One was regular; it was diatonic and soulful. The next take was jazz licks. And the third was free-jazz.

I said: Which one do you like? And they said: All three! They put them together and called it the power sax version. They dont hear sound the way I do. They hear the rhythm of the sound and its not attached to any tonality, the way it is when youre in music school.

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Art of Elan presents Highways & Byways, featuring the Kontras Quartet and Branford Marsalis

When: 7 p.m. next Sunday, April 8

Where: The Music Box, 1337 India St., downtown

Tickets: $25 (general admission), $50 (reserved), $550 (VIP package for six people with food and beverages); must be 21 or older to attend.

Phone: (619) 795-1337

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Online: musicboxsd.com

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george.varga@sduniontribune.com

Twitter @georgevargaA man with $10 million in U.S. currency was arrested Friday at Tijuanas A.L. Rodriguez International Airport, authorities said.

The suspect was taken into custody after he tried to pick up the moneybills of different denominations that had been stuffed into 31 white plastic sacks.

He was unable to show documentation proving the shipments legal origin, according to a statement from Mexicos Federal Police.

Large cash seizures are often the proceeds of illicit drug sales, and help finance the activities of criminal groups that smuggle drugs across the border.

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sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com

@sandradibbleArchbishop Jose H. Gomez presided over the annual Blessing of the Animals ceremony Saturday in downtown Los Angeles, an Olvera Street tradition that dates back to 1930.

The event, held in anticipation of Easter vigil Mass, got underway at 2 p.m. in the plaza in front of Pico House. Dozens of Angelenos brought their dogs, cats, sheep, cows, horses, birds, pigs and other animals.

The ritual dates to the 4th century, when saints began to bless animals for the services, comfort and companionship they provide humans. Saturdays blessing lasted about an hour.

An Easter vigil Mass was scheduled for 8 p.m. at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels downtown.

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On Sunday, the archbishop will celebrate Easter Mass in English beginning at 10 a.m. at the cathedral. Father David Gallardo will celebrate the Mass in Spanish at 1 p.m.

Easter is a great day filled with hope and joy for us, Gomez said in a statement. Christ is risen and we know we will rise with him! Easter tells us that Gods love is stronger than death. And that Jesus is on our side.

carlos.lozano@latimes.com

UPDATES:

3:30 p.m.: This article was updated with new details about the afternoon ceremony.

This article was originally posted at 11:30 a.m.The San Diego Rescue Mission has helped countless men and women overcome addictions, homelessness and other issues since forming in 1954, and a new program is addressing the question many have faced with anxiety as they strike out on their own.

What comes next?

A dozen men living at the mission already are working on their next chapter by learning skills that could lead to careers in welding, plumbing, office work and other fields as part of a partnership between the faith-based nonprofit and San Diego Continuing Education.

Its nice to know that if Im willing to put in an effort, then someone is willing to meet me half way, said Ozzie Lubach, 29, who is studying plumbing at Continuing Education, the adult education arm of the San Diego Community College District.

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Lubach  longtime San Diegans may recognize the name from the old Lubachs Restaurant his family ran from 1956 to 1990  is in the first wave of the new program. Another 12 students are in the wings and will begin classes this summer.

About seven months ago, Lubach was homeless and living in the river beds at Mission Valley. As one of 180 people living in the Rescue Missions Mens Center, he is getting help to overcome addictions hes struggled with since a teenager, among other issues.

When he earns his certificate in June, Lubach said he will be ready to start work as an apprentice at a business owned by a friend who will pay him $23 an hour.

I was talking with a friend at the mission, and he said, This is your chance to get off the streets, Lubach said, recalling the moment he decided to apply for the program. It hit me like a ton of bricks. The weight of the opportunity was a little bit overwhelming for a minute. Im actually being presented with something where I can move on with my life and better myself.

The program is an outgrowth of an existing partnership forged in 2016 that provides clients at the mission with community college classes in English as a second language, parenting, career technical education and courses to earn a high school diploma.

Carlos Cortez, president of San Diego Continuing Education, said he is working exclusively with the Rescue Mission because it offers the wrap-around services that are needed for homeless people to be able to focus on their classes and overcome issues related to their homelessness.

Mental health, counseling, spiritual guidance, all these are helping to make them whole again, he said.

He also stressed that classes are most effective when in actual schools rather than in shelters, which is why students are bused each day from the mission to a Continuing Education campus..

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Donnie Dee, who became president of the Rescue Mission just eight months ago, said he became aware of the importance of job-training by talking to new clients coming into the mission.

I always ask them, Tell me your name, tell me where youre from and tell me why youre here, Dee said. And you know what keeps coming up? Jobs, jobs, jobs.

Many people coming into the mission told Dee they had lost their jobs because of their addictions or other problems. Dee said he told them they will find help with their addictions at the mission. As for job-training, he had some work of his own to do.

After talking with former Rescue Mission President Herb Johnson and other directors, Dee said he learned that clients sometimes felt they were making progress, but six months into the year-long program they became discouraged because they had no job prospects in the future.

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They feared they would become homeless again.

Dee and Cortez talked about the partnership in November, but there were obstacles. For one, Dee said there was no money in the budget for a new program, and he expected it wouldnt launch for a year.

Classes at Continuing Education are free, but students have to pay for their own materials, which is about $100 a class.

I was on a conference call with Carlos and his executive leaders, and I said, I dont think we have the money to pay for that. We may have to wait, Dee recalled. He said, Hold on a second, put me on mute, came back on the conference call and said, Well pay for it.

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While the material costs were covered, Dee said the mission still faced the challenge of transporting clients to classes at the districts Educational Cultural Complex about six miles away.

Dee said he brought up the issue one day at lunch with someone from the Carlsbad car dealership Hoehn Motors, and to his surprise hs received a donation of a new $34,000 van.

God just made it so clear that we were supposed to venture down this road, Dee said.

The final piece is to line up jobs for students earning certificates in the program. Cortez said he and others will work with San Diego Workforce Partnership to enroll students as clients in that job center and provide incentives for employers to hire them.

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Mayor Kevin Faulconer also is helping with an April 4 breakfast meeting with business leaders who will hear about the program in presentations from Dee and Cortez.

The program began in January with a 40-hour career-college readiness session, and classes began in January. The first two waves of students are from the missions Mens Center, and Dee said clients from the womens center were not included because it was undergoing a leadership change. Women will be part of the program in the future, he said.

Lubach attends classes twice a week, but he wanted to help out the program so he drives students from the mission to the school five nights a week.

Im not looking to just be able to live a life, he said about his future career. I want to live a life worth living.

Justin Williams, 32, has lived at the mission since October and is studying welding.

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His spiral into addiction began after his mother died in 2013, and he said his decision to get clean was more of a calling than anything else.

I looked at the friends around me, I saw their addictions, and said, I dont want to live like that no more, he said.

Williams said hes found the support he needs to stay clean at the mission, and he was excited by the opportunity to improve his skills in welding, a field he worked in for a couple of years in the past.

Ive had the potential to become something great, so Im pushing myself to become that again, he said. Im trying to find that spark in me. Im just taking it one day at a time.

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Cortez said donors who would like to help extend the program beyond its pilot year and expand it to more students can contact Allison Bechill, the executive director of the Continuing Education Foundation, at abechill@sdccd.edu.

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Homeless Playlist  On Now San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases On Now Homeless entrenched in booming tent city along Santa Ana River On Now San Diego mayor agreed to homeless hub, then delayed, advocates say On Now Homeless outreach in San Diego On Now Video: Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #8 On Now In poverty himself, 'Water Man Dave,' is the fearless saint of San Diego's homeless 5:41 On Now Video: Homeless living in cars find safe havens 2:21 On Now Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #7 On Now Pitching a tent plan for San Diego's homeless On Now Homeless efforts get $80M boost for various services

gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

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760-529-4939Lifeguards and firefighters worked together on two cliff rescues in the Box Canyon area of La Jolla on Friday afternoon.

At about 12:15 p.m., crews from San Diego Fire-Rescue helped a 20-year-old woman who had fallen and injured her hand. She was carried out on a litter and did not need to be transported to the hospital.

Lifeguards also helped another 20-year-old woman who also had fallen, but was not injured. She was walked out using a rope set-up and was released at the scene after being evaluated by medics.

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Homeless Playlist  On Now San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases On Now Homeless entrenched in booming tent city along Santa Ana River On Now San Diego mayor agreed to homeless hub, then delayed, advocates say On Now Homeless outreach in San Diego On Now Video: Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #8 On Now In poverty himself, 'Water Man Dave,' is the fearless saint of San Diego's homeless 5:41 On Now Video: Homeless living in cars find safe havens 2:21 On Now Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #7 On Now Pitching a tent plan for San Diego's homeless On Now Homeless efforts get $80M boost for various services

gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

760-529-4939A woman was transported to a hospital with serious injuries and a man was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving following an accident in Chula Vista on Friday.

Lt. John Autolino of the Chula Vista Police Department said the accident occurred around 6:15 p.m. when a man driving a black BMW southbound on 5th Avenue ran a red light at G Street.

The BMW T-boned a westbound red Honda Civic, striking the car on the passengers side as it passed through the intersection on G Street on a green light. Autolino said the BMW was going about 60 miles an hour, a high speed for the residential street.

The 36-year-old female driver in the Civic sustained a broken rib and bruises to her chest and neck. Her 3-year-old daughter was secured in a car seat and was not injured.

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The 22-year-old driver of the BMW sustained a possible broken right wrist and was arrested for felony driving under the influence, Autolino said.

The woman and her daughter were taken to UC San Diego Medical Center.

Homeless Playlist  On Now San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases On Now Homeless entrenched in booming tent city along Santa Ana River On Now San Diego mayor agreed to homeless hub, then delayed, advocates say On Now Homeless outreach in San Diego On Now Video: Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #8 On Now In poverty himself, 'Water Man Dave,' is the fearless saint of San Diego's homeless 5:41 On Now Video: Homeless living in cars find safe havens 2:21 On Now Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #7 On Now Pitching a tent plan for San Diego's homeless On Now Homeless efforts get $80M boost for various services

gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

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Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

760-529-4939A mother who was killed in a collision in Mira Mesa early Friday has been identified as Judy Suong Tuyet Bui, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiners Office.

The 26-year old mother was killed when she came out of a driveway on Calle Cristobal, east of Camino Santa Fe, about 7:10 a.m, San Diego police said. Her white Acura Legend collided with a westbound gray Honda Accord, driven by a 26-year-old man.

Buis 4-year-old child in a car seat survived but suffered critical injuries including a fractured skull, broken ribs and injuries to the knee and pelvis.

The collision is still under investigation.

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Twitter: @gregmoran

greg.moran@sduniontribune.comSan Diego State Universitys director of choral studies, Patrick Walders, has been suspended with pay from his teaching duties for more than a year as school officials investigate allegations of an affair with a student.

Details of the allegations, and references to the complaint and Walders paid suspension were disclosed in court records for a civil action Walders filed last year in San Diego Superior Court.

Walders continues to hold his job at SDSU and the Union-Tribune could find no evidence that the school has taken any disciplinary action against him.

Patrick Walders, the director of choral studies at San Diego State University, has been on paid suspension from his teaching duties for more than a year as school officials investigate a complaint stemming from an alleged sexual relationship with a female student, an investigation by the San Diego Union-Tribune has found.

Walders, 43, has worked at SDSU since 2011, according to his faculty page on the universitys website as of Friday. In addition to his job at the university  which he still holds  he has an active career as a professional conductor and vocalist. He serves as the choral director at La Jolla Symphony & Chorus, where he debuted with much fanfare earlier this month.

The complaint, filed early last year under a civil rights law known as Title IX, is not a public record and the university does not comment on personnel matters.

However, the existence of the Title IX complaint stemming from Walders alleged sexual relationship with a student was made public in sworn court records that a teaching assistant filed in San Diego Superior Court opposing an effort by Walders to gain a restraining order against him.

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Title IX sets standards for investigating allegations of gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment and misconduct at colleges and universities that receive federal funds.

University policy governing consensual sexual relationships between employees and students forbids such relationships when an employee exercises or influences significant academic, supervisory, administrative or other specified authority over the student or fellow employee with whom they are sexually involved.

The schools investigation under Title IX will help officials determine the nature of Walders relationship with the student and whether it violated school policies.

Christine Hutchins, a spokeswoman for SDSU, told the Union-Tribune on Tuesday that Walders remained on the universitys faculty, but is currently not overseeing the choirs nor conducting.

Hutchins did not answer the Union-Tribunes other questions, including inquiries about Walders employment status, the Title IX complaint or whether the university had received any similar complaints about his conduct. She would only say that the university does not comment on personnel matters.

Walders attorney, Matthew English, responded Tuesday to the Union-Tribunes questions for this article with a short statement on behalf of his client.

Dr. Walders is not at liberty to discuss the details of his administrative leave, other than to confirm the fact of it, the statement said. Dr. Walders wants to respect the integrity of the process, and allow it to proceed to conclusion unimpeded.

A civil action Walders filed last year in San Diego Superior Court against his teaching assistant at the time contains sworn statements that disclose the existence of the complaint, and some of the details surrounding it.

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Walders filed paperwork on March 17, 2017 in San Diego Superior Court to request a civil harassment restraining order against Michael Sakell, 27, Walders graduate teaching assistant and student at the time, court records show. Walders said in a sworn statement that he feared for his safety and the safety of his wife and daughter after Sakell allegedly threatened him during an SDSU-sponsored trip to a seminar in Austria in February 2017.

Walders said Sakell interrupted a private conversation Walders was having with one of the attendees at the seminar, a woman who I later learned Mr. Sakell had an interest in, Walders wrote in the statement. Sakell apparently jumped to some conclusions in his mind and reacted in an emotional, aggressive way that Walders said made him feel concerned for his and the womans safety.

Later, Walders wrote in the statement, Sakell contacted some of Walders professional colleagues and told them the details of whatever conclusion he apparently reached when he first walked in upon my conversation in Austria. Walders went on to tell the court he believed Sakell approached the university and made wild accusations that have led to my being suspended with pay pending investigation.

Walders also accused Sakell in the sworn court records of contacting his wife to make similar allegations, causing her to feel uncomfortable and unsafe.

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Walders told the court that the accusations had also harmed his career, with sponsors canceling scheduled choral events in the San Diego area or his participation in them because they wanted to distance themselves from the situation until it was resolved.

Sakells attorney, Nicholas Moore, filed a statement with the court April 5, 2017 on Sakells behalf. The statement said Sakell denied the allegations against him and said that he had not made false statements to anyone about what he witnessed in Austria.

The statement went on to say that Walders description of the event as a private conversation was at best a euphemism, and at minimum an intentional misrepresentation of the sexual acts (Walders) was engaged in at the time with the woman, who was one of Sakells fellow students.

He also denied Walders allegation that Sakell had made a report to the university that resulted in Walders paid suspension.

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Walders suspension from his university position stems from a report the female student, not (Sakell) made to Title IX regarding the inappropriate relationship between that female student and (Walders), Moore wrote in the statement.

As for the allegation that Sakell had contacted Walders wife, Moore told the court Walders wife had approached Sakell, who she had known for years, to ask what happened  and Sakell claimed he had the text messages to prove she contacted him. The text messages were not included in the public court file.

The court records did not name the female student.

A Superior Court judge ultimately denied Walders request for a restraining order against Sakell, because Walders did not meet the high burden of proof required, according to a ruling filed in April 2017.

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Though Walders is not currently overseeing choirs at SDSU, he continues his work outside the university, as choral director at La Jolla Symphony & Chorus.

Diane Salisbury, executive director of the La Jolla Symphony & Chorus, provided a statement in response to the Union-Tribunes request for comment on the allegations against Walders.

The management and board of the La Jolla Symphony & Chorus are aware of the allegation, understand it is being investigated and are awaiting the decision of SDSU so we can determine what action we will take, if any, the statement said. The La Jolla Symphony & Chorus takes all such allegations seriously. In the meantime, the work of the LJS&C continues as usual.

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morgan.cook@sduniontribune.comAssemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletchers bill to fold the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority into the Port of San Diego threatens to derail one of the most important projects on the regions horizon  the replacement of the 50-year-old Terminal 1 at San Diego International Airport.

A delay would be disruptive to airlines and a blow to travelers who have been waiting for a new terminal with more gates, seating, restaurants, shops and security lanes.

Related:

Airport options: Thoughts on control of San Diego International

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Why airport control belongs with Port of San Diego

Terminal 1 is full. Its replacement is desperately needed. Without expansion, San Diego will lose out to other cities because new flights will end up elsewhere. Any disruption in airport leadership will significantly set back negotiations for the new terminal, possibly leading to years of delay.

The airport authority has a history of delivering projects on time and under budget. The Terminal 1 replacement represents the culmination of 10 years of planning and development that began with the expansion of Terminal 2 West and includes the consolidated Rental Car Center. A parking plaza and new international arrivals facility will be completed by summer.

The airports projects have benefited numerous small and local businesses. The Terminal 2 expansion provided $415 million in contracts to local businesses; $118 million to small businesses. For the $316 million Rental Car Center project, $186 million was awarded to local businesses; $70 million to small businesses.

The airport authority was authorized by state legislation in 2001  when it was under the port  one of several examples nationwide of airport ownership transferring to single-focus agencies. Rarely, if ever, have those moves been reversed, with good reason.

Airlines and other stakeholders prefer a nimble, independent agency focused on providing and planning for air transportation. The port, responsible for maritime operations and real estate holdings in five cities, already has a lot on its plate. An asset as important to the regional economy as the airport should be managed by an entity solely focused on its success.

In the mid-1990s, the port launched a $145 million expansion of Terminal 2. Costs ballooned to more than $232 million, a 62 percent increase, and completion was behind schedule. There was finger-pointing and litigation.

Compare that to the airports on-time, under-budget and award-winning expansion of Terminal 2 West opened in 2013  the worlds first LEED Platinum commercial airport terminal.

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Air travelers have benefited not only from improved facilities but also from more direct flights. Since the airport authority was formed, Southwest Airlines, for example, has nearly doubled its nonstop flights from 17 to 33. Today, the airlines provide nonstop service to 60 domestic destinations and nine international destinations, including Europe and Asia. In 2003, the airport had 38 domestic nonstops and three international nonstops.

Our regions economy benefits tremendously from the airport. There really is no good reason to go back to the way things were, and many good reasons to continue under the excellent leadership the airport now enjoys.

Gonzalez Fletcher talks about the need for regional governance, but the truth is, her bill would mean the airport would be governed by just the five port cities. This would disenfranchise nearly half of the countys population in Carlsbad, Del Mar, El Cajon, Encinitas, Escondido, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, Oceanside, Poway, San Marcos, Santee, Solana Beach, Vista and the unincorporated areas.

The airport authoritys board includes representatives of all 18 cities, the county, state agencies and the military. The airport authoritys annual revenues climbed from $85 million in 2003 to nearly $250 million today. Total assets have risen from $487 million to more than $2.2 billion.

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Regarding traffic: The new Rental Car Center removed all rental cars from Harbor Drive, and the Receiving and Distribution Center took 75 trucks a day off Harbor Drive. The airport authority also added a fourth westbound lane to Harbor Drive and spearheaded formation of the Harbor Drive Mobility Committee.

While the airport remains a committed regional partner, federal law limits the spending of airport revenue off-site. Nevertheless, the airport does all it can within the airport footprint to contribute to overall improvements that impact Harbor Drive and surrounding areas.

This legislation is a solution in search of a problem. It attempts to fix issues that dont exist, and in doing so, would cause serious unintended consequences.

Boling is chairman of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, Montgomery is vice president of airport affairs for Southwest Airlines and Black is a former port commissioner and former president & CEO of the Downtown San Diego Partnership.San Diego, whether we like it or not, is no longer a sleepy little beach town. It is a major metropolitan city with substantial air traffic that is looking to increase by some 10 million trips annually over the next 10 years. It is a region that suffers from increased traffic around the airport, no direct public transit to and from the airport, and a very real threat of sea-level rise that could leave our airport literally under water.

Nonetheless, the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority continues to look inward at its expansion plans without mitigating for the effects on the surrounding communities. Its stacked with members from areas far to the east and north of the city that dont have the same priorities as the metro region.

Related:

Airport options: Thoughts on control of San Diego International

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San Diego Airport leadership change unnecessary, disruptive

This reality is why I have introduced legislation to place the airport authority back under the control of the Port of San Diego. By doing so, we would improve communication and regional planning among all the agencies whose input is critical for our future growth.

The airport authority began operating as an independent agency in 2003, with the expectation that to accommodate future growth we would need to move the location of the airport. This effort failed in 2006 when voters overwhelmingly rejected a ballot initiative. In other words, one of the airport authoritys main reasons for existing as an independent agency evaporated more than a decade ago.

Meanwhile, the airport authority has been woefully slow to address congestion that will only get worse in the coming years.

Were all acquainted with the traffic along Harbor Drive. This traffic impacts not just travelers but also nearby neighborhoods and businesses. The airport authority acts as if its responsibility for planning and mitigation ends at the exact footprint of the international airport. By not working with the city, the county and the port, the airport authority is leaving taxpayers with the bill for an expansion that should be funded in part by passenger fees.

We must also expand public transit to and from the airport to relieve congestion. At last count, travelers arrived at San Diegos airport via public transit at a rate of one-fifth the national average for all U.S. airports, an embarrassment for a city that has boldly committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Today, the only way to get to the airport via public transportation is by a single bus route convenient to very few. Getting to the airport by trolley involves hauling your luggage down a hill and across Pacific Highway, then flagging down a shuttle.

The authority has been unwilling to invest in infrastructure outside its boundaries. Other metro area airports have taken much more proactive action. Both Los Angeles and San Francisco are planning massive projects to improve public transportation to their airports. San Diego needs to be every bit as bold and strategic.

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The port is much better equipped than the authority to address these traffic and transit challenges. The port is already the landlord for the international airport and most of the land bordering the airports footprint, giving the Port the flexibility under FAA rules to connect the trolley system in ways that would make it infinitely more convenient to get to the airport via transit.

The airport authority also hasnt done nearly enough to plan for sea level rise. Climate change will leave our runways under water without proper planning and mitigation. If we wait for that reality, it will be much harder and costlier to fix.

The port has to make plans for sea level rise on all of its property and has been tasked by the state to undertake these studies and identify steps to mitigate any potential impacts. As it stands, the port lacks the power to take action but would gain this authority if it takes over operation of the airport.

The airport is currently the largest tenant of the port. Its operations and expansions affect other port tenants, the city and the entirety of the ports planning. Streamlining communication and planning into one regional agency will help speed-up decisions and force expenditures on mitigations that are currently going unaddressed. The airport authority cant continue to operate in a bubble, with a governing board that includes representatives who are rarely affected by the everyday operations along our waterfront.

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If we are going to be successful in planning for the next generation of air travel, we need to streamline our operations. Its time to put the authority back in our port.

Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego, represents the 80th Assembly District.In July 1943, at the height of World War II, toxic fumes were so thick in parts of Los Angeles that residents believed they were facing a gas attack from Japan. Soon after, blame fell on an industrial plant owned by Southern California Gas Co.  a theory that was abandoned when the plant shut temporarily but fumes still blanketed the city and reports of respiratory illnesses and eye irritation continued. Eventually, Caltech chemist Arie Haagen-Smit figured out that what came to be known as smog was mostly ozone created when sunlight hit exhaust from motor vehicles and oil refineries.

Related: Trumps EPA: Debate over vehicle emission laws begins

The Golden State has led the world in responding to air pollution ever since. Haagen-Smits research prompted automakers to install the first vehicle emissions controls and inspired Gov. Ronald Reagan to name the chemist as the first head of the California Air Resources Board in 1968. Two years later, when Congress followed Californias lead by enacting the 1970 Clean Air Act, lawmakers acknowledged the states severe air pollution problems and locked its pioneering regulatory response in history by allowing state officials to enforce stronger air pollution standards than the federal governments. This deference has been key to the state becoming an immensely positive influence on the modern environmental movement  and thus on the economy and on how people live. Californias policies drive technological change in the transportation sector, not just nationally, but internationally, the Yale Environment 360 magazine noted.

The Trump administration seeks to imperil this history by ending Californias leadership on vehicle emissions and mileage standards. Next week, EPA Secretary Scott Pruitt is expected to propose dropping Obama administration rules issued in 2012 that force automakers to nearly double the average miles per gallon of new cars and trucks by 2025. Pruitt is also prepared to pursue a court fight, at the urging of automakers, to block California from continuing to set its own stricter rules for vehicles, which are now followed by 12 other states.

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California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has filed 28 lawsuits against the Trump administration  a mind-boggling two a month on average  and his mixed success so far suggests some of his efforts are more political statements than surefire winners. But if Becerra sues the administration over its attempt to force California to weaken its vehicle emissions and fuel standards, that wont be a political fight. It will be a fight to stave off disaster. Seventy years ago, air pollution seemed a local problem. Now there is a scientific consensus that greenhouse gases (including ozone) released as a result of human activity are warming the entire planet with potentially catastrophic results. That is why The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board called President Donald Trumps move last year to withdraw from the Paris climate accord the worst decision of his life. A bid by his administration to keep California from continuing its global environmental leadership would be similarly atrocious.

Weve got the scientists, weve got the lawyers, and were ready to fight, Gov. Jerry Brown told a meeting of the American Geophysical Union a month after Trumps election, anticipating a conflict over climate change. And we will persevere.

Believers in science must hope Brown is right.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion

Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/30/2018 -- Cherrystone Auctions, a stamp auctioneer based in New York City hosted its February 2018 Public Auction in its gallery on 119 West 57th Street. The auction featured a total of 1,689 lots covering U.S. and Worldwide Stamps and Postal History.



Cherrystone Auctions has started the year on a high note after hosting a huge public auction featuring 1,689 lots in its New York City galleries. The company's February 2018 Public Auction was held on the first week of the month starting from 9.00 am Tuesday up to 4 pm Wednesday. The company received pre-auction bids via phone, email, ordinary mail, auction agents, and fax, up until the day before the first day of the live auction. The public auction culminated in a live bidding session held at Cherrystone's gallery at 119 West on 57th Street in New York City. In addition to conducting on-the-floor bidding in the company's gallery, Cherrystone also allowed registered customers to place live online bids using the company's interactive internet-based bidding platform CherrystoneLIVE. The company featured all the 1,689 lots in a colored printable catalog, which was published on its website. Cherrystone charged all participants a 10% vendor's commission and all auctioned lots were settled within 45-60 days after the sale.



With 1,689 lots, Cherrystone's February 2018 Public Auction was substantially larger than its preceding December 2017 auction, which had 1,400 lots. An almost exclusively unused 1847-1982 U.S. collection fetched the highest price of $35,000 at the auction. A complete set of 1935 Chelyuskin, Russia Air Post came second with $24,000, which tied with an 1854 British Commonwealth India sheet of 96 stamps. A good number of the featured lots earned several thousand dollars and majority of the rest raked in several hundreds. The next public auction will be held in the same venue on March 20-21, 2018.



Further details can be found at https://goo.gl/NqJK9X.



About Cherrystone Auctions

Cherrystone Auctions was originally founded as a retail store in 1967 in the heart of New York City. The family owned and operated company is a global leader in Philatelic Auctions, bringing over to $30 million worth of stamps and postal history to market yearly. Cherrystone hosts 6-8 public stamp sales every year. The company's president, Paul Buchsbayew, is a member of A.I.E.P. (Association Internationale des Experts Philatelie) and is a recognized expert in Russian material, which he has exhibited around the world. The vice president, Joshua Buchsbayew, has had vast experience with stamps of the world with personal interests in United States Classics.



The stamp company's reviews can be seen at https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cherrystone+Auctions/@40.765176,-74.0129631,13z/data=!4m18!1m12!4m11!1m3!2m2!1d-73.9786308!2d40.7655011!1m6!1m2!1s0x89c258f745eaf831:0x3afa6bcffd833576!2sCherrystone+Auctions,+119+W+57th+St+Suite+316,+New+York,+NY+10019!2m2!1d-73.9779436!2d40.7651163!3m4!1s0x89c258f745eaf831:0x3afa6bcffd833576!8m2!3d40.7651163!4d-73.9779436.



Contact:

Joshua Buchsbayew

Company: Cherrystone Auctions, Inc.

Address: 119 West 57th Street Suite 316, New York, NY 10019

Phone: 212-977-7734 or 800-886-9313

Fax: 212-977-8653

Email: info@cherrystoneauctions.com

Website: https://www.cherrystoneauctions.comMore and more European embassies in Armenia have started using intermediary organizations for citizens to submit documents for visas.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Armenian citizens would have to apply for Schengen visas for Germany, Austria, Sweden and the Benelux countries via VisaMetric LLC starting from April 3.

However, the choice of this company as the one collecting sensitive personal data of Armenians has raised many issues because of its Turkish origin (Armenia has no diplomatic relations with its neighbor Turkey).

German Ambassador Matthias Kiesler sought to dissipate concerns in a press conference earlier this week, saying that the company was chosen for objective reasons, since it has long-time practical experience and has won tenders in the region and in Central Asia.

The ambassador also noted that its a Russian-Turkish consortium. However, looking at the companys registration documentation, its still not clear where its Russian roots are.

VisaMetric LLC was registered in Armenia on February 28 this year. Charter capital is 15 million drams. The only founder-shareholder is another Turkish company, VisaMetric Visa Services and Consultancy Foreign Trade Organization.

VisaMetric's founder company is registered in Istanbul. Hetqs Turkish contacts helped us acquire the registration certificate from the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The company has a very short history. It was registered on January 22 this year. Charter capital is 2.5 million Turkish liras, equivalent to $ 624,000. The mission of the organization is to organize travel visas on behalf of foreign embassies and consulates, coordinate visa applications and consulting services, and provide consulting services for application study, as well as other activities envisaged by the contract.

An Italian, Francesco Boari ,is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company. Our colleague in Turkey, Taraf newspaper correspondent Ozgun Ozcer, says that Francesco Boari is the son of wealthy businessman Enrico Boari, who has lived in Istanbul for more than 30 years and founded an Italian college in Istanbul in 2014.

Our colleague didnt find any information about Efimiya Ozber, Deputy Director of Turkish VisaMetric.

Mavica Nicola, the third person in the board of directors, is the founder of the Visa Management Service (VMS) in Russia, providing visa-related services to the Italian Embassy in Russia.

Theres another company with a similar profile, iData, registered at the same address together with Turkish VisaMetric. According to the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Enrico Boari, Francesco Boari's father, runs iDatas board of directors, having the same E. Ozber as his deputy.

The Agency for Personal Data Protection of the Armenian Ministry of Justice started an investigation process to find out how much the personal data processing by Visa Metric LLC complies with the Armenian legislation.

Armenias Ministry of Justice issued a statement on March 30, saying that VisaMetrics activities are suspended until the investigation by the Agency is finalized.

Top photo: Francesco BoariArmenian President Serzh Sargsyan today appointed Armen Smbatyan as the countrys ambassador to Israel.

Smbatyan served as Armenia's ambassador to Russia from 2002-2010, and had been an adviser to the president on international cultural-humanitarian cooperation since 2014.The hotel, located in Chhoti Gwaltoli area, is close to Sarvate Bus Stand. Considered to be a commercial hub, the area, which is also near the railway station, is very crowded in the evenings.

A multi-storey structure, the MS Hotel, collapsed near Sarvate Bus Stand late on Saturday, killing 8 people. At least a dozen more are feared trapped in the debris. Several vehicles parked around the hotel have also been buried in the debris.

According to police, at least five people have been rescued from the rubble and rushed to nearby hospitals.

Watch:

The relief and rescue operation was on in full swing.

Locals came rushing in to assist with the rescue operations and to offer medical aid to the injured.

Hotel MS near Sarvate Bus Stand collapsed due to a car collision at around 9PM. 8 have feared deceased and many are injured. Authorities including Police,IMC & Fire Brigade are conducting heavy rescue operation. Injured are being rushed to near hospitals. May God help.#Indore  Bharat Mujumdar (@bharatmujumdar) March 31, 2018

According to eyewitnesses, a speeding car hit the pillar of the somewhat dilapidated structure around 9.20pm and it came crashing down. The incident triggered panic in the commercial area dotted with eateries that were bustling with customers.

The hotel had at least 25 rooms.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- With the Passover season upon us -- Friday, March 30, marks the first night of Seder -- the Staten Island Council of Jewish Organizations (COJO-SI) hosted its annual Passover Food Drive and Distribution.

Thanks to the efforts of COJO-SI, on Tuesday at the Young Israel of Staten Island in Willowbrook, some 800 local families are able to enjoy Passover 2018 with the traditional foods necessary to experience festive Sedarim and holiday meals.

FYI: This year marks the 40th year that COJO has helped ensure that all members of the Staten Island community can celebrate Passover in a dignified manner in accordance with Jewish traditions and customs.

Mendy Mirocznik, president of COJO -- and our source -- acknowledged Larry Cohen, director of the Food Pantry at COJO and his team of volunteers for going above and beyond in organizing the Passover food drive and distribution.

He shouted praises for the generous COJO Food Pantry partners who made the Passover Food Drive and Distribution possible, such as, Zanita Johnson, manager of Member Services at Food Bank for New York City, Susan Fowler, of City Harvest, David Greenfield, CEO Met Council, Rabbi Yaakov Lehrfield, and Dr. Lousi Emmer, president of Young Israel of Staten Island.

Also on hand in supporting and assisting with the Passover food distribution was New York City Councilman Joe Borelli.

"The COJO Passover Food Relief is just one component of our pantry that services all people of Staten Island. Our goal is to make sure that no person goes hungry in Staten Island," said Mirocznik.

Scott Maurer, CEO and Executive Vice-President of COJO agreed and added:

"My dream is that no one should experience poverty and hunger and the pantry should go out of business due to a lack of clients in need. However, until we reach that day, we here at COJO are in the business of combating hunger."STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Part of a $168 billion budget passed by the Senate on Friday is a law allowing judges to disarm convicted domestic violence perpetrators.

"The Senate passed common sense legislation to close a glaring loophole that has allowed convicted domestic violence perpetrators to possess firearms," said Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn).

According to the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence in 90 percent of the "deadliest mass shootings in United States history," the shooter had a history of domestic violence.

"We have seen the atrocities that have occurred in Las Vegas, Northern California and Sutherland Springs, all of which were carried out by people with a history of domestic violence. Tonight we make clear that firearms have no place in the hands of domestic abusers," said Savino.

"I'm proud to have worked on this issue that will help protect women and New Yorkers from gun violence. I thank Governor Cuomo, Assemblywoman Amy Paulin and my colleagues in the Senate for working together to advance this legislation," she added.

COMBATING SEXUAL HARASSMENT

The state budget also includes language that requires businesses bidding on state contracts to certify that they have adopted and implemented a written policy addressing sexual harassment prevention in the workplace. It also mandates that businesses provide annual sexual harassment prevention training to all of its employees.

"The new rules will terminate state taxpayer-financed settlements for state officials who are found to be guilty of accusations made against them. This law will also prohibit mandatory arbitration for cases of alleged sexual harassment and will end secret settlements unless otherwise requested by the victim," said Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Mid Island).

Said Gov. Andrew Cuomo: "We put into place the strongest and most comprehensive anti-sexual harassment protections in the nation, ending once and for all the secrecy and coercive practices that have enabled this unacceptable behavior for far too long."

FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK and TWITTERPage Content

The Collective Prevention Services (CPS), a department of the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour, is calling on the community to practice hand hygiene and cough etiquette in order to prevent the spread of influenza.

Keeping hands clean through improved hand hygiene and cough etiquette which are two of the most important steps one can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. Washing your hands should take 40 to 60 seconds.

Hand hygiene is a simple and effective solution to reduce both the spread of infection and multi-resistant germs, and to protect the community.

Flu viruses also may spread when people touch something with the flu virus on it and then tough their mouth, eyes, or nose. Many other viruses spread these ways too.

Symptoms of the flu include sudden onset of fever, cough (usually dry), headache, muscle and joint pain, sore throat and a runny nose. The cough can be severe and can last two or more weeks. Most people recover from fever and other symptoms within a week.

However, influenza can cause severe illness or death in high-risk groups such as pregnant women at any stage of pregnancy; children younger than five-years; people older than 65-years; people with chronic medical conditions such as HIV/AIDS, asthma, heart and lung diseases and diabetes; people with increased risk of exposure to influenza, which includes health care workers.

Many diseases and conditions are spread by not washing hands with soap and clean, running water. If clean, running water is not accessible, as is common in many parts of the world, use soap and available water. You can also use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 per cent alcohol to clean hands.

Your hands should be washed before, during, and after preparing food; before eating food; after using the toilet; after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.

Flu viruses are thought to spread mainly from person to person through the coughing, sneezing, or talking to someone with the flu.

People infected with the flu may be able to infect others beginning from day one before symptoms develop and up to five to seven days after becoming sick. That means you may be able to spread the flu to someone else before you know you are sick.

Preventive actions entails: try to avoid close contact with sick people; cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze (cough etiquette); throw the tissue in the trash after you use it; clean and disinfect surfaces and objects that may be contaminated with germs like the flu.

For more information call CPS at 542-1122, 542-1222, 542-1322 or 542-1570.iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- The prisoner who escaped from immigration officials at John F. Kennedy International Airport earlier this week was captured halfway across the country on Friday.



An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official confirmed Mohamadou Lamine Mbacke was taken into custody in Chicago Friday afternoon. Chicago ABC station WLS-TV reported Mbacke was found while at a Starbucks at about 1:30 p.m.



Mbacke, 31, was spotted by undercover officers at the coffee shop, according to a witness.



"All of a sudden -- see seven cops kind of running from the outside into the inside, and they kinda huddled around him. There wasn't any fuss or anything. It was just they all exchanged words with him, they got the handcuffs, and they left in like a group huddle," Zimbo Gessert, a Starbucks employee, told WLS-TV.



Mbacke was being deported to his native Senegal on Tuesday night when he bailed from Terminal 4 at JFK Airport at about 8:30 p.m. According to ICE, surveillance footage showed Mbacke hailing a cab and driving off.



The prisoner was with officials at JFK while waiting for a connecting flight from Detroit to Dakar. New York ABC station WABC-TV, citing sources, said the officials had turned to get him food when he took off.



It is not clear how he got to Chicago.

Mbacke entered the U.S. legally in 2005, but was ordered to be deported in September 2015 after being released from state prison for multiple weapons and firearms offenses, according to ICE.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2018 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy StatementAlgiers, March 31, 2018 (SPS) - The international community should not stop upholding Sahrawi people's inalienable right of to self-determination, said the president of the U.S. non-profit organization Defense Forum Foundation, Suzanne Scholte.

"We must continue to press for an end to the crimes the Moroccan regime is committing against the people of Western Sahara, as well as uphold the Sahrawis' right to self-determination," Suzanne Scholte told APS on the eve of her participation in the International Conference on the Right of Peoples to Resistance, held in Algiers on 30 and 31 March.

"This is a very inspiring event for me because it brings together people from many countries with different backgrounds but who all have the same heart as mine for the people of Western Sahara," added Scholte, who also chairs the U.S. Western Sahara Foundation.

The 2008 Seoul Peace Prize winner underlined that she shares, with the participants in the conference, "a common bond in the belief in the inalienable right to self-determination, which has been denied to the Sahrawi people," adding that this situation "cannot be tolerated."

"My fervent hope is that this conference will hasten the day that the brutal occupation of Western Sahara will end and those Sahrawis living in refugee camps since Morocco's illegal invasion can return their homeland," she added, expressing indignation at the violations against Sahrawi people under King Mohammed VI's regime.

The two U.S. NPOs Defense Forum Foundation and Kennedy Foundation are participating in the two-day conference, which will bring together over one hundred participants from 53 countries.

The conference, co-organized by the Algerian National Committee of Solidarity with Sahrawi People (CNASPS) and the Embassy of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in Algiers, aims at breaking the media blockade imposed by Morocco on the occupied Sahrawi territories and providing a platform for exchange between the participants to reaffirm the right of Sahrawi people to resist the Moroccan occupation. (SPS)

062/SPS/APSNew York, March 31, 2018 (SPS) -United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres reiterated the position of the United Nations (UN) in favour of direct and unconditional negotiations between the Polisario Front and Morocco to settle the Western Sahara conflict.

"In its resolutions since the beginning of 2007, the Security Council has enjoined me to facilitate direct negotiations between the parties to the conflict, which must take place without preconditions and in good faith," the UN chief said in a report on Western Sahara, of which APS obtained a copy.

Guterres said the two parties to the conflict must "show political will (...) and work under compromise" to prepare for a fifth round of negotiations.

In this connection, the UN chief recalled the approach he proposed in his first report on Western Sahara in 2017 to reopen the process of negotiations under the guidelines of the Security Council, with a view to reaching a just, lasting and mutually acceptable solution that leads the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara."

"The Security Council affirmed in its resolution 2351 (2017) its full support for this proposal," said the same official.

In his second report on Western Sahara, the UN chief underscored "the determination" of the Polisario Front, reiterated in last January by President Brahim Ghali, to "engage in unconditional negotiations and fully cooperate with the UN Secretary General and his personal envoy."

In contrast, Morocco, which has been blocking the UN process since 2012, rejects any negotiation that is not part of its autonomy plan. According to Guterres, Morocco stands on this position and reiterated it to his Personal envoy Horst Kohler during his visit to Rabat.

The UN Secretary General said he was "encouraged by the steps taken by Kohler since his appointment to relaunch the political process. (SPS)

062/SPS/APS



Algiers, March 31, 2018 (SPS) - President of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and Secretary General of the Polisario Front Brahim Ghali on Friday, in Algiers, said it is unacceptable that the United Nations, which is directly responsible for the conflict zone in Western Sahara, is "absent" from protecting and monitoring human rights, welcoming Algeria's support to the Saharawi people's and their right to self-determination.

In an opening address at the 6th international conference on ""Peoples' Right to Resistance: the Case of Sahrawi People," Ghali said it is "unacceptable to see the United Nations, which is the direct responsible for the conflict zone in Western Sahara, "absent from protecting and monitoring human rights."

In this respect, the Saharawi president welcomed the support of Algeria, the "country of resistance per excellence," to Western Sahara people and their right to self-determination through a clear, unfailing position, in line with the international law.

Western Sahara's leader said Algeria has "always backed liberation causes in the world, including the Sahrawi people issue, under the leadership of President of the Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika who has always defended the rights of African, Asian and Latin-American peoples to self-determination and independence."

He also welcomed "Algeria's key role in the promulgation of the historic UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 in 1960, relating to the granting of independence to colonized countries and peoples."

Ghali expressed recognition and gratitude to Algeria which, he said, "is the Mecca of resistance movements against injustice and oppression and a destination for the fighters for freedom and dignity."

Mentioning the latest developments of Western Sahara issue, Ghali said he is satisfied with the position of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic on the world stage, especially in Africa, as a result of African Union's last decisions according to which Morocco's occupation authorities were required to respect the post-independence borders, hence the necessity to withdraw from the occupied territories of Western Sahara."

Western Sahara cause has been backed by a "legal arsenal, including the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued on 27 February 2018, supporting its previous decision taken in late 2016, the International Court of Justice's ruling of 1975 and the decision of the South African Supreme Court on the withdrawal of many companies implicated, with Morocco's occupation authorities, in plundering the natural resources of Western Sahara," the leader of the Polisario Front said.

President Ghali called the European Union to for an "immediate and rigorous implementation of the CJUE's decision."

"With the decision of the CJUE, Europe must assume its direct historical responsibility, especially as Spain (the European power administering Western Sahara) "has not assumed its responsibility in the decolonization of the last colony in Africa. (SPS)

062/SPS/APS



Algiers, March 31, 2018 (SPS) - The member of the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party in South Africa, Zwelivelile Mandela on Friday, in Algiers, called the UN Security Council to assume its moral and legal responsibilities towards Western Sahara people and to set a date for a referendum on their self-determination.

"In line with Resolution 1514, the United Nations must assume its moral and legal responsibilities over this long-running conflict and set a date for a referendum on self-determination in Western Sahara," Zwelivelile said in a speech at the sixth Conference on "Peoples' Right to Resistance: the Case of Sahrawi People."

Zwelivelile, the grandson of the South-African leader, Nelson Mandela, denounced the illegal exploitation of Western Sahara's natural resources, stressing the need to "create an international lobby" to put the those resources "under a UN mandate to protect them."

He seized the opportunity to launch an appeal for Saharawi young people to tell their own stories about the struggle against Moroccan occupation on social media.

"You will thus inspire the whole continent on anticolonial struggle."

"We won' defeat Morocco's occupation forces unless we are unified," Zwelivelile Mandela told the participants at the two-day conference.

The speaker underlined the historic position of the late South-African leader, Nelson Mandela, on Western Sahara, who "considered the struggle of the Saharawi people as his own struggle, their pain as his own pain and their suffering as his own suffering."

In addition to Saharawi delegations from refugee camps and the occupied Western Sahara territories, the conference is attended by nearly one hundred participants from 53 African, Latin-American, Arab and European countries. (SPS)

062/SPS/APS



Crypto Exchange, Everything that You Need to Know about ItPhone components and airplane landing gear built in Sri Lanka By Sunimalee Dias View(s): View(s):

European based telecommunication companies embed transformers and inductors manufactured in factories in Ratmalana, Sri Lanka? Absolutely  the next flight you take could ensure a safe landing because the gear is manufactured here by a company named Etal that has been carrying out operations for the past 10 years.

Etal Group Pvt Ltd General Manager Scott Robinson told the Business Times in an interview last week that the BOI company believed that Colombo was an ideal location in terms of logistics and shipping and they also have a good quality workforce from the factory floor to the design department where engineers from local universities are hired to join in.

He pointed out that 50 per cent of the total demand of Etals sales are manufactured out of Sri Lanka mainly for the European market and now India has also opened up to buying from Colombo since the company started its own operations here. Colombo is the base that manufactures about five million units of production per year.

The factory floor comprises mainly of a female workforce who are operators and are generally considered flexible and committed in carrying out some of the tedious operations even by hand as well, Mr. Robinson said. However, Sri Lanka has to import its raw materials in order to manufacture the inductors and transformers, it was pointed out and these mostly are brought down from China.

Etal has a presence in China as well and in this respect Colombo is faced with a clear challenge in terms of increased costs to import the raw materials and manufacture them in order to compete in terms of cost which is approximately seven per cent of the total production cost, Mr. Robinson said. Some of the manufactured components are used in aeroplane landing gear, deep sea fishing radar systems as well, he said.

Colombo is the largest unit in the Etal Group with 360 employees with a larger amount of the production volume is mainly for the telecommunication companies in Europe. The operations in Estonia has about 60 employees where they manufacture for the military and defense sector. Etal initially started its operations in Colombo more than 10 years back with a sub contractor but had subsequently set up their own operations in the country due to the viability of having operations here.

It has been a slow and steady build and now we are looking at transferring the design work which was previously based in Sweden to the Research and Design Centre in the UK, Mr. Robinson explained. He noted that Colombo based engineers would offer their input to the centre from the Asian capita and moreover the shifting of the R&D centre to the UK was also due to the fact that the companys President is based there.

Since the Colombo operations began 10 years back, the company had set up a second manufacturing plant. We had a steady increase in demand for our products, he said adding that the company is always on the lookout for new acquisitions to expand their client portfolio. China and India are the companys customers as well and the sales workforce operates out of Sweden, the UK, and India with an office in China to check on quality and logistics.

The Colombo based manufacturing facilities located in Ratmalana commenced operations in 2008 and has capabilities that include manual and automatic fine wire winding and among other the it fully cover the manufacturing requirements of a wide range of standard and custom designed inductive components and assemblies.?Will Sri Lankan family firms be around in 3 years? View(s):

There are three corporate decision makers in Sri Lanka right now, says a HR solutions firm.

First, the founder of a company, hesitant to hand over the reins of a company that took him or her years to build. His or her children are uninterested in taking over the family firm or intent on pursuing dreams elsewhere. Next, the one who inherited their parents company and must navigate their family dynamic. Lastly, the new boss who took over the business and is faced with a change resistant mould, according to HR Consortium (Pvt) Ltd, a total HR solutions provider.

Like many Asian countries, Sri Lanka too is confronted with family firms realising that change needs to come fast and this is where HR Consortium (Pvt) Ltd is raising the question, Are Business Chairpersons managing their organisations Human Asset with the same rigour as they do their Financial Assets? Or is it too late now?

It says the recruitment landscape has shifted rapidly from a buyers market to a sellers market. The biggest challenge today is to attract and retain people. Gone are the days that the recruiter could specify the salary and job objective to filter out the ideal candidates for the job vacancy. Now candidates broadcast their personal brand and set their conditions. They chase a clear idea of what they want; unless they find it at work, they will not commit. Who are these elusive individuals? Millennials.

Millennials find their job interesting and worthwhile if their voice is heard and their ideas implemented. On the side of the management, there is no thought about how employees add value to the business. The HR Consortium sees the employees need to be involved in the decision making as their value proposition. The last employee satisfaction survey report lies untouched on the HR Heads table. Has the companys research partner done a good job gathering data that could possibly be included into the business plan for the next quarter? Probably. But it is insight, not data that can be translated into action, the company says.

The business research unit of The HR Consortium, Second Curve (Pvt) Ltd, has gained insights by recording the employee displayed emotions, enabling them to measure their emotional stamina. The significant patterns are used to build action plans and initiatives. It doesnt stop there. Unfortunately, most companies have trouble putting suggestions to practice.

Second Curve offers an Employer Brand Tracker that is more than a document picking which employee is an asset and who needs to be kicked out. It is an expansive study blending the different visions of the boss, the board of directors, the senior managers and each employee. Second Curve collects insights, strategies and solutions and passes them on to The HR Consortium. Then a holistic answer is developed to solve the multitude of issues.SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A Town of Onondaga man was arrested Thursday after a string of burglaries on Limehill Drive, according to the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office.

Jonathan Streeter, 39, of Limehill Drive, was charged with four counts of burglary, third- and fourth-degree grand larceny, criminal mischief and criminal tampering, deputies said.

Streeter burglarized several homes in his own neighborhood, stealing electronics, jewelry and money, deputies said. He has been accused of committing four burglaries, deputies said. He also had an active violation of probation warrant, deputies said.

The 39-year-old was arraigned Friday in Centralized Arraignment Court and is currently being held in the Onondaga County Justice Center, deputies said.ROME, N.Y. -- After receiving calls about a car driving the wrong way in Rome on Friday, Oneida County deputies responding to a separate call came car to car with a 2003 Toyota Camry, according to the Oneida County Sheriff's Office.

The car, traveling north in a southbound lane on Route 26, was only stopped after the Rome Fire Department set up a road block to stop the Camry, deputies said.

Shashikantbhai Patel, 41, of Bel Air, Maryland, was arrested and charged with aggravated DWI, open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle, and traveling in the wrong direction, deputies said.

Patel was held in the Oneida County Jail and arraigned in Centralized Arraignment court, deputies said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement later called the sheriff's office about Patel, deputies said. ICE issued a detainer warrant to hold Patel for deportation from the U.S., deputies said.To the Editor:



I am heartsick over what we are seeing from our federal government especially coming out of the President's office and cabinet departments. Presently I am almost through reading the latest book detailing how much trouble we are in as a democratic republic: "How Democracies Die," by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. It contains detailed descriptions of how other democracies failed and how some of these countries all over the world recovered. They catalog all the machinations that demagogues use to cement their power and maintain control over the citizenry and get their way.



We have always felt that we had a 'bulletproof" constitution with social norms respected for over 200 years that would save us from falling into the morass of allowing a demagogue to be elected legitimately and then turn into an authoritarian tyrant. The firing of Andrew McCabe, a 22-year respected employee of the FBI, set off this condemnation of President Donald Trump. McCabe was considered an asset to the director with a sterling record from the administration of the agency and his immediate supervisor.



The manner in which he was publicly fired was the act of an anguished tyrant; it was mean, spiteful, vengeful and the hallmark of a sixth-grade bully stealing a student's lunch money. This method is a carbon copy of moves by other dictators all over the world.



One can see the bad fallout from this firing. First, it demoralizes other public servants in the FBI and other agencies. Second, the administration of the FBI sees this as an unwarranted smear. Third, it demonstrates just what type of tyrant Trump has become. That is extremely worrisome to many citizens in this country.



The only saving grace is that the national sentiment is with McCabe, as evidenced by Congress willing to hire him for a month to save his pension, a GoFundme movement to replace it with small donations, plus advice to sue for a wrongful firing. Plus, it seems to be backfiring on Trump.



Personally, I do not wish Trump any bodily harm. As a Christian, I don't want that on my conscience; that is left to his Maker. But if he were to sit in prison, penniless, contemplating his abuses of executive power and harm to all the citizens of this diverse country, even before he stole the Office of the Presidency, by collusion, cheating, lying and other actions like this one, I would applaud loudly and breath a great sigh of relief. Maybe we can wend our way back to being a civilized, democratic republic.



Rosemarie Pagano Bundy

SyracuseALBANY -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo has directed the state Labor Department to investigate reports of threatening and coercive behavior at Albany Medical Center, where nurses are attempting to unionize.

Roughly 2,100 nurses are eligible to vote in an election on April 12 and 13. They'll be asked to vote for or against joining the New York State Nurses Association, a union that represents approximately 40,000 nurses around the state and recently negotiated a contract for nurses at Westchester Medical Center.

The effort to unionize began more than a year ago, organizers said, when Albany nurses were inspired by the success the union had negotiating contracts elsewhere. But in recent weeks, as the election has neared, nurses have been subject to an escalating series of "coercive and intimidating" actions by management, they said, and filed complaints with the state Labor Department.

On Thursday afternoon, the governor issued a statement calling for an investigation into those complaints, saying he is "deeply disturbed" by the alleged behavior.

.@NYGovCuomo has directed @NYSLabor to investigate reports of threatening and coercive behavior at @AlbanyMed, where nurses are trying to unionize. @bethanybump reports: https://t.co/rOjV8cbdzv  Times Union (@timesunion) March 29, 2018

"New York state is a union state and we believe in the fundamental right to organize," he said. "At a time when organized labor is under attack from President Trump and the federal government in Washington, I stand shoulder to shoulder with our union brothers and sisters and those seeking to organize, especially the men and women who serve our sick and elderly at hospitals across the state.

"The right to organize is paramount, and New York state will not stand for any attempts to intimidate, illegally prevent, or dissuade workers from unionizing.

The alleged behavior, organizers said, included warning Filipina nurses who are in Albany on work visas that unionizing might affect their immigration status, warning nurses that their raises and vacation that were already in the pipeline would either be canceled or held up if they decided to unionize, writing up nurses who discussed the union drive on non-work time, tearing down informational flyers from bulletin boards, and holding one-on-one and "captive audience" meetings to discourage nurses from organizing.

"I have been a union lawyer for a little over 35 years, and some of the conduct we have seen going on in Albany to fight unionization is among the most vicious and overreaching that I have ever seen in a union organization drive," said Susan Davis, general counsel for the New York State Nurses Association.

Albany Medical Center, in a statement to the Times Union, said it respects its nurses and is closely following laws and regulations to ensure they have the right to make a "free and informed choice."

"Unfortunately, we have received numerous reports of our nurses who intend to vote no being subjected to intimidation and bullying by union supporters," a hospital spokesperson said. "This is a situation we cannot tolerate. We join with the governor in calling for an end to anything other than honest and respectful dialogue."

Organizers say the hospital should have filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees the election process, if it had received such reports.

Albany Medical Center nurses have attempted to unionize in the past. From 2001 to 2003, there were at least three drives to join New York State United Teachers, which represents nurses as well as teachers. Each of those elections failed by a narrow margin, organizers said.

In recent years, nurses employed by other area hospitals, including Nathan Littauer in Gloversville and Bellevue Woman's Center in Niskayuna, have successfully organized and gained union representation.

- By Bethany Bump, Times Union, Albany, N.Y.SYRACUSE N.Y.---

The Fashion Association of Design Students (FADS) is a student organization at Syracuse University that encourages creativity and promotes fashion in the community. The organization produces at least one fashion show a semester in addition to assisting the production of the Senior Thesis Collection Show in April.

FADS also conducts editorial style shoots using student models, photographers and stylists. The organization is open to all students in any field of study with an interest in fashion.Redistricting proposal places Tama County outside Rep. Hinsons district

New maps could lead to a remaking of the political landscape in Iowa  Tama County included. What is now a quadrant of four U.S. ...Welcome, DISH customer! Please note that we cannot save your viewing history due to an arrangement with DISH.

Watchlist and resume progress features have been disabled.

ACCEPTNow that the Galaxy S9 is out of the way, Samsung redirects its focus on the Galaxy Note 9, which might release earlier than intended.

Several industry insiders have speculated that the South Korean company made the decision to move the phablet's launch earlier than usual. Sources noted that the sales numbers for the recently released flagship smartphone supposedly failed to meet its expectations. Tech experts reviewed the most recent model and concluded that it does not really innovate much compared to its predecessor. Therefore, consumers are reportedly hesitant to invest now and prefer to wait for the next model instead.

Analysts Offer Their Opinions

A recent report from its home country even confirms that buyers opted to stick around with their Galaxy S8 or Note 8 units. Surprisingly, the younger users supposedly displayed an entirely different buying pattern this year. Surveys conducted showed that the target demographics shied away from the premium-tier smartphones and opted for value-centric midrange models this time around.

Others attributed the poor sales to the lack of a wow factor, which was apparent during the months before the company officially unveiled the device during the 2018 MWC in Barcelona, Spain. Several made their way online, which took away any kind of surprise elements the manufacturer planned to reveal during the show.

Suspected Improvements

It seems that Samsung has a lot of work in its hands to deliver something new with the Galaxy Note 9. For starters, The Investor, claims that rumors about an under-display biometric sensor are not true. This is something that might disappoint a lot of its fans. Currently, Vivo flaunts the honor of being the first smartphone maker to use the new fingerprint sensor technology by Synaptics.

Company insiders likewise revealed that the upcoming phablet with come with a bigger screen. It is unclear if this means a bigger chassis, or even smaller bezels, which is possible given the capabilities of its manufacturing arm. It is estimated to sport a 6.38-inch display, which makes it a little bit larger than the 6.32-inch touchscreen of the Galaxy Note 8.

Expected Availability

Given the information collected form insiders, consumers might see the release of the Galaxy Note 9 earlier than expected. It was discovered that the OLED panels intended for the new smartphone model will start its production in April. Samsung normally kicks off manufacturing around June, which allocates at least two months before it releases the new units.

This means that the Note 9 could be on store shelves as early as June or as late as August, which clearly places it ahead of Apple and its annual September reveal schedule.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Far Cry 5 has just been released, but that didn't stop players from fully exploring the capabilities of the Arcade Mode.

The Far Cry Arcade feature lets players create their own map and game modes with assets from Ubisoft. In the span of a couple days, users have already created maps in the style of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Battle Royale and Counter-Strike's de_dust2 map.

Just like in Counter-Strike, the Far Cry Arcade map allows players to form a team and then snipe one another. Most of the usual sightlines are there, but the bomb-defusing objective mode is missing. Still, it's good enough to take players back into their previous "Rush B" moments.

The PUBG clone looks pretty similar, and it can support up to 20 participants. The map is still bare in comparison, though, but players are already having a go at one another on it.

Aside from these two games, players have also tried recreating the Baker's House from Resident Evil 7 and the Upside Down from the Stranger Things series. Someone also made a bare recreation of Call of Duty's Nuketown, where there are 11 NPC enemies.

These creations are impressive, considering that Far Cry 5 was only released on March 27. While they look pretty close to what the maps they're mimicking, the first creations are still a little bit rough on the edges.

Far Cry Arcade To Improve Over Time

The possibilities are virtually endless, and Ubisoft is not stopping at the current state of the map editor. The Far Cry Arcade currently has over 9,000 items from Ubisoft's games, including Assassin's Creed, Watch Dogs, and previous Far Cry installments. According to Philip Fournier, associate producer, the three major expansions coming to Far Cry 5 will also add something to Far Cry Arcade.

"If the mainline Far Cry 5 game is a cake  with all its layers  then Far Cry Arcade is our cookbook," said Fournier.

"We give you all of the tools and ingredients and then it's up to you, the player, to make your own scenarios, anecdotes and moments that you can share with rest of the community."

The gaming company also promised new content to be added regularly, as well as live events to support the community in creating more maps. Ubisoft Montreal hopes to support this feature for a long time.

Far Cry 5 is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.The Moto Z3 Play passes through the FCC, revealing some of its key specifications and apparently, the leaks are not too far off.

Moto Z3 Play Specifications Revealed

The FCC filing was made for a Motorola handset with the model number XT-1929. According to the listing, the Moto Z3 Play is equipped with a Qualcomm processor, which is the Snapdragon 636, plus a 4 GB RAM.

The phone is coming in two memory configurations: 32 GB and 64 GB. There are also single-sim and double-sim models coming to different locations. However, it looks like the United States is only getting the 64 GB and single-sim configurations.

The display size stands at 6.1 inches while the dimensions are similar to the Moto Z2 Play. It should mean that the mods will be compatible with the latest model as well.

The Moto Z3 Play also has a 5-megapixel camera. In line with the previously leaked renders of a case, it has a dual-camera setup at the back, which is expected to have 12-megapixel and 8-megapixel sensors.

Aside from these, fans also expect at least a 3,000 mAh battery under the hood.

There is no information regarding the price as of now, but it's speculated to be around $450 to $500.

Moto Z3 And Z3 Play Might Be Coming In April

Motorola is tight-lipped when it comes to the release of its premium line of handsets. However, there's a chance that the Moto Z3 and Moto Z3 Play are both arriving in April.

Along with the announcement of the recent change in leadership, Motorola also teased something special coming soon.

"We realize we've had a great deal of transformation over the past years, and we're grateful for our fans' support and commitment," the announcement reads.

"We're excited for what 2018 (and beyond!) is going to bring us and look forward to sharing our first products of the year with you next month!"

Moto Z3 is the higher-end version of the Z3 Play with either a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 or 845 chip paired with at least 6 GB of RAM under the hood. With the higher specifications, however, comes a much higher price.

Fans also speculate that Motorola is dropping the Z3 handsets sometime in July or August. In 2017, the Z2 line was released a few weeks apart around that time, leading many to believe that the company might be referring to other phones.

A likely candidate is the Moto G6, a midrange smartphone recently spotted on TENAA. It should come with the Moto G6 Play as well.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Google has a lineup of new products and features to roll out soon. For one, audiobook lovers will be pleased to receive new features for Google Play Books playback.

This week saw several new announcements from the search company such as the first Chrome OS tablet and mobile-first indexing. Users who have integrated their technology needs with the company's various platforms will be happy to know that improvements appear to be on the agenda.

If only its Android ecosystem can eventually get timely updates across devices at the same time, it would take away Apple's biggest advantage over the operating system.

Smart Resume

These days, consumers rely entirely on their smartphones for their communication needs. It is understandable that individuals use their devices for SMS, social media, chat applications, and calls.

Now, imagine if the user is in the middle of a chapter of an audiobook and gets interrupted. Chances are, audio playback immediately pauses immediately, which is ok if it is in between words or sentences.

However, there are instances wherein listeners lose track of story since the alert or interruption happened mid-word or mid-phrase. The Smart Resume function rewinds the track intelligently to the beginning of the sentence or the word to keep the story going.

Limited Sharing

Google Play Books also gets a new sharing feature called Family Library. It permits users to provide access for up to five people for free. The option might be limited to certain titles, but it should allow the other users to listen to audiobooks or read ebooks the owner shared on iOS, Android, and the web.

The company enabled the feature (audiobooks only) for 13 more countries such as Italy, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Spain, South Africa, Germany, Chile, Switzerland, Netherlands, Mexico, Norway, and Japan.

Bookmarks, Speed Control And Google Assistant Support

The latest update gives listeners more options on how they approach their audiobook experience. Bookmarks let users mark several parts of the story and revisit them quickly. The pace can be set via the new controls to listen to three times the speed or as slow as 0.5 times the default.

Finally, Routines feature in Google AAssistant allows a hands-free experience for users who want the digital assistant take care of everything.

Value For Its Users

Experts believe that improvements to Google Play Books are just one of Google's planned features for its various platforms. Other apps that are regularly used by consumers could also be getting upgrades in the near future.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Samples of comets are allowing scientists to learn more about the formation of the solar system. Using comet dust that was gathered from NASA's Stardust mission in 2006, these particles date from the beginning of the solar system.

These samples could give more data that dates from that time and gives a bigger clue as to how it formed.

Wild 2

Current knowledge about the beginning of the solar system is scarce. What is known so far is that at the beginning of the solar system, there was only an early protosolar disk of gas and dust which eventually became the solar system. Comet dust was gathered from Comet 81P/Wild, also known as Wild 2.

Wild 2 came from the Kuiper Belt that is beyond the orbit of Neptune. Scientists don't have many samples from objects that originate in the Kuiper Belt. This is a comparison to the amount of material collected from asteroids that comes from meteorites, and from the Moon that was collected from the Apollo missions.

Material from further out in the solar system is more primitive according to Andrew Westphal, who wrote a paper on the importance of stardust science. He stresses that material that comes from comets has been in a deep-freeze for 4.6 billion years. This allows scientists to gather more information to create a picture of what the solar system was like during its early years.

Water On Comets

One of the more important aspects of this study is to determine if the water was present in Wild 2. Water that is found on comets is different than the water that is found on Earth. Evidence shows that water present on comets has a variable deuterium to hydrogen ratios.

This means that the water that is present on Earth was not delivered by comets. It is speculated that it was asteroids that were responsible for transporting water to Earth. Scientists want to study more comets that originate from the Kuiper Belt is to get a better picture of the origin of the water.

Researchers were not able to find molecules with low boiling points such as water. Such molecules didn't survive being caught in the aerogel and aluminum foil collector that was used to gather the comet dust.

To look for water in the space dust, scientists searched for phyllosilicates. These are clays that are able to preserve water in them. There were no phyllosilicates found by the scientists.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Smuggler drones might sound like enemies in a science fiction movie, but apparently, such drones have been caught in real life.

In one of the negative applications of the technology, smugglers were found to have used drones to help sneak $80 million worth of iPhones from Hong Kong to China.

Smugglers Caught Using Drones

Chinese authorities have just taken down a major smartphone smuggling operation that involves drone technology, arresting 26 people in connection with it.

The officials claimed that the smugglers used drones to fly a pair of 200-meter cables between Hong Kong and Shenzhen in mainland China. With the set-up, the smugglers, which usually carried out their operations after midnight, were able to transport small bags containing over 10 refurbished iPhones each in only seconds. In one night, as many as 15,000 iPhones may be smuggled between the two countries, the authorities said.

TechCrunch's Devin Coldewey provided a clearer explanation on how the drones were used by the smugglers. The assumption is that the drones first delivered the ends of the cables to Shenzhen, and flew back with the other end attached to them. The bags containing the iPhones could then be attached to the cable on the Hong Kong side, and if the drones flew straight up, the bags will slide down all the way to Shenzhen. Clever.

The smugglers often steal the iPhones or buy them at very low prices in Hong Kong, then sell them for a profit in China. This allows Chinese customers to acquire authentic iPhones, while smugglers get rich from their illegal business.

Good Applications For Drone Technology

Drone technology may have its bad side, such as when used to smuggle iPhones or sneak drugs into prisons. However, there are also many good applications for drones.

NASA is thinking about sending a drone to Mars as a companion to a new rover that will be sent to the Red Planet. While the Mars Rover 2020 will perform experiments on the ground such as trying to transform carbon dioxide to oxygen, the Mars drone will explore parts of the Red Planet that ground-based unmanned vehicles will find hard to reach.

Meanwhile, in Rwanda, drones are saving lives by delivering blood to hospitals at a fraction of the time, compared to when the blood is delivered by land. From about four hours, the blood arrives to remote parts of Rwanda in just 30 minutes. The drones travel at speeds of as fast as 60 miles per hour, and they release the package containing the blood with a parachute into the hands of waiting hospital staff.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul fired one officer and suspended another in connection to the Alton Sterling shooting on Friday after nearly two years of investigations and a public outcry.

Paul's decision comes less than a week after Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry ruled out criminal charges Tuesday against Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II for their involvement in the shooting of Sterling.

Salamoni shot and killed Sterling during a struggle outside a convenience store where the 37-year-old black man was selling homemade CDs. Lake helped wrestle Sterling to the ground, but Lake didn't fire his gun.

Here's the latest in the Sterling saga:

Salamoni fired, Lake suspended 3 days

Officer Blane Salamonis interactions with Sterling in July 2016 violated departmental policies that warranted his dismissal, Paul said, and his termination as a Baton Rouge Police officer became effective Friday.

The second officer involved, Howie Lake II, handled the situation more appropriately, Paul said, even de-escalating the situation. For that, he was given a 3-day suspension for some of his actions that night.

Paul said his decision was not based on politics or emotion, but on "the facts of the case. Read the full story here.

+11 Baton Rouge officer who shot Alton Sterling is terminated; other officer involved suspended three days After nearly two years of investigations and a public outcry over the fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling, Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy

Unreleased video, audio shows deadly, heated scene at Triple S

Baton Rouge police released graphic new video and audio Friday of the Alton Sterling shooting, including officer-worn body camera footage, surveillance footage from the Triple S Food Mart and 911 audio calls that offered a more complete account of the deadly encounter that ignited national protests two summers ago.

Body camera footage, at times grainy, show a disturbing struggle in which Officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II sought to subdue Sterling outside the Triple S Food Mart.

On his body camera video, Salamoni can be heard shouting profanities at Sterling from the beginning of the encounter, threatening to shoot Sterling in the head if he fails to place his hands on the hood of a vehicle. Sterling seems confused at times throughout the encounter  asking the officers, "What I did, sir?" and, seconds later, telling them they are hurting his arm. Read the full story here.

New Alton Sterling shooting videos show deadly, heated scene at Triple S Baton Rouge police released graphic new video Friday of the Alton Sterling shooting, including officer-worn body camera footage that offered a

Surveillance at Triple S Food Mart shows an overhead angle of where Sterling was selling homemade CDs before he was approached by Baton Rouge officers, as well as Salamoni quickly becoming physical with Sterling  placing him in a headlock within seconds of arriving on the scene and drawing his service weapon almost immediately after. Read the full story here.

+2 Video: Surveillance of Alton Sterling shooting gives graphic look at altercation, aftermath Surveillance at Triple S Food Mart where Alton Sterling was shot and killed by Baton Rouge police in July 2016 shows, for the first time publi

Meanwhile, 911 call audio pieces together how the altercation began, with an anonymous man telling the dispatcher that a man had threatened him with a gun around 12:35 a.m. July 6, 2016. Read the full story here.

Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Listen to the 911 calls in the Alton Sterling case The encounter with two police officers that ended in the shooting death of Alton Sterling started with a 911 call about 12:35 a.m.

Overall, Paul described the newly released footage as "shocking to the conscience," even though it does not "tell the whole story of the investigation."

Salamoni tells his side of the story

Salamoni has not publicly addressed his deadly encounter with Sterling, nor did he answer questions about the shooting during a disciplinary hearing earlier this week at the advice of his attorney.

He did, however, offer a detailed defense of his actions more than two months after the July 2016 shooting, telling internal affairs investigators at the time that he used repeated profanities after the shooting because he was "so mad at Sterling for making him kill him."

Salamoni also told police he became convinced during the struggle that Sterling intended to kill his colleague, Lake, and that he believed if he Sterling was successful, he and Sterling would engage in a 'gun battle' and Sterling might have killed all the civilians in the area. Read the full story here.

Police records: Salamoni told investigators he was 'mad at Sterling for making him kill him' Nearly three months after the Alton Sterling shooting, Officer Blane Salamoni defended his decision to use deadly force, telling Baton Rouge p

Baton Rouge officials, community leaders react

Paul's decision to fire Salamoni earned him praise from some who have watched the controversy unfold since the shooting occurred, while others -- including the Baton Rouge Police Department Union -- said they still stand with Salamoni, Lake and their actions that night.

East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, who called last year for the termination of Salamoni and discipline of Lake, released a statement that applauded the decision from her newly appointed police chief.

Reps. Ted James and C. Denise Marcelle, both Democrats who represent Baton Rouge, and Metro Councilwoman Tara Wicker said they were devastated by what they witnessed on the videos, with Marcelle calling the firing a "small piece of justice."

Gov. John Bel Edwards also released a statement late Friday reiterating how disturbing the videos were.

But John McLindon, Salamoni's attorney, said the officer did not violate police policy, and that none of this would have happened had Sterling complied with the police officers' commands.

The Baton Rouge Union of Police released a statement saying they stand behind both officers, and that police are faced with many complicated and highly intense situations.They said they expect a fair and impartial ruling when the officers review their discipline to the Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board. Read the full story here.

+2 'A small piece of justice': elected officials, community members react to Alton Sterling videos, officer firing Elected officials and religious leaders who have long called for the firing of Baton Rouge police officer Blane Salamoni said they were stunneAfter months of uncertainty, low-income residents of the flooded public housing authority in Denham Springs are finally in line to get some good news.

The federal government has approved tenants of the 52-unit apartment complex for vouchers that can be used to defray the cost of rent, while they wait for the complex to be rebuilt.

Income-based housing is sparse in Livingston Parish, and the loss of the housing authority and the Livingston Manor apartments in Denham Springs displaced many seniors living on Social Security income.

Denham Springs Housing Authority Director Fred Banks said most residents have had to double up with relatives or pay rents they cannot afford. One former tenant is living out of a car, he said, while another is paying $600 of her $800 monthly income for rent.

Banks said the good news comes as the Federal Emergency Management Agency appears to be wrapping up its review of the flooded buildings.

FEMA has obligated $1.9 million so far to the housing authority, with another $5.1 million in final review, spokeswoman Melissa Wilkins said in an email. That funding is for demolishing and rebuilding one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in the complex. Review is still underway for two multiunit complexes, four-bedroom apartments and the administrative buildings.

"I feel a little better about it today than I did last week and the week before, Banks said Monday. It looks like they are pushing to get it out.

Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Banks said he's hopeful FEMA will finish its review before September, when a new crew of FEMA staffers is due to take over.

Banks said he will begin reaching out this week to former tenants of the approximately 200-person complex, in order to sign them up for vouchers.

Banks said the vouchers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will work like Section 8, in which tenants can choose their own apartments, and the tenants will pay 30 percent of their adjusted gross income.

HUD has approved $263,000 worth of vouchers, which are good as long as the family is participating in the program, agency spokesman Scott Hudman said.

Hudman has said the agency was unable to start the process to provide the vouchers until FEMA agreed the public housing would be demolished in early November. The five-month holdup, he said, was just the time involved in processing the application, doing due diligence and obligating the funds.

Livingston Manor, a 45-unit, privately owned senior housing complex subsidized by HUD that served a similar group of people, is also getting closer to repairs.

Alan Brockman, president of Sunquest Properties, which manages the apartments, has applied for a disaster loan through the Louisiana Housing Corp. According to the agency, the environmental review is complete, and the project is expected to go out for public notice next month.

Residents of Livingston Manor are not eligible for tenant protection vouchers because it is a contracted facility and not public housing, Hudman has said.Fearful of large-scale protests like those that surrounded the Dakota Access pipeline, Louisiana legislators have joined their counterparts in other states to introduce legislation that specifically protects pipelines and establishes penalties for people who seek to damage them.

Environmentalists consider the proposal a dangerous infringement on First Amendment rights, especially language that criminalizes conspiracy to damage a pipeline or even just trespass.

The issue came to a head in the last week, when work crews found damage to equipment being used to build Bayou Bridge, a controversial Louisiana pipeline owned by the same company that owns Dakota Access. Up to that point, pipeline opponents had fought Bayou Bridge through courts, at permit hearings and via protests. Leaders of local environmental groups have denounced the destruction of property, but investigators are still trying to identify who caused the damage.

House Bill 727 was introduced Monday. Louisiana law specifically prohibits trespassing at various sites known as critical infrastructure. Power plants, oil refineries, chemical plants, water treatment facilities, natural gas terminals and the like are already considered critical infrastructure. The new law would add pipelines and construction areas for critical infrastructure sites.

The bill also lays out penalties for people who damage such sites  one to 15 years in prison with a $10,000 fine or six to 20 years plus a $25,000 fine if the damage could threaten human life or disrupt site operations. Blowtorches, explosives and possibly firearms all could be used to damage pipelines, according to various sources.

Finally, it criminalizes conspiracy to commit trespass with up to a year behind bars. Conspiracy to commit damage would be punishable by one to 20 years and fines of up to $250,000, depending on whether the judge thinks the conspiracy would have threatened life or operations.

Louisiana must protect its energy sector workers, property owners and the pipelines that form the backbone of the states economy, bill sponsor Rep. Major Thibaut, D-New Roads. Dozens of other legislators have signed on to co-sponsor the legislation.

Theres a right way to go about protesting and a wrong way.  One mishap puts us all in danger, Thibaut said.

And its not just about industry workers, he said. He said protesters need an incentive not to damage property for their own safety as well.

Environmental leaders and activists have criticized the bill.

By criminalizing damage to pipelines, legislators would be heading down a slippery slope of going after the people trying to protect the land and water rather than the people who destroy them, said Cherri Foytlin, leader of the Leau Est La Vie resistance camp.

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Im not saying its a bad thing, Im just saying its the wrong thing to focus on, she said.

Meg Logue, of 350 New Orleans, noted that laws already are in place against trespassing and damage to private property. She would know; she was one of three people arrested a few weeks ago for blocking a Bayou Bridge construction site in Assumption Parish.

The trio stood or sat in a construction area but did not damage any property, and Logue said she isnt interested in doing so. Like Foytlin, she sees the problem as a one of establishing priorities.

Three Bayou Bridge protesters arrested, block access to work site in Assumption Parish Work temporarily stopped on the Bayou Bridge pipeline near Belle Rose Monday after a handful of environmental protesters stood in the way of t

Thats what these pipeline companies are doing  theyre poisoning the environment. Wheres their (prison time)? she asked.

Pam Spees is worried about the bill language concerning conspiracy. A lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, Spees has represented various groups that have fought Bayou Bridge and state authorities in court. The conspiracy provision allows law enforcement to arrest people before they have actually done anything wrong, even if they are just planning a nonviolent protest, she argued.

Thats a thought crime, basically. The thought is a felony. Thats really alarming, she said.

+2 Judge sides with governor's office in pipeline public records spat with environmental group Environmentalists lost another round in court Friday in their continuing fight to stop the Bayou Bridge pipeline project from going forward.

The conspiracy aspect was included for a very specific purpose  to allow authorities to prosecute people who might pay others to damage a pipeline, according to Tyler Gray, attorney for the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association.

Gray, who helped draft the bill, conceded that the conspiracy language is vague but said it is legally sound.

The legislation is needed because existing laws are not clear and law enforcement needs authority to separate peaceful assembly from criminal damage, Gray said.Gov. John Bel Edwards said Thursday he will support legislation that would reduce the value of student test results in teacher evaluations and make it easier for teachers to earn a form of job protection called tenure.

Those and other proposals will be debated when the Louisiana Legislature begins its 2018 regular legislative session on Monday at noon.

Edwards, in a statement, said the portion of his legislative agenda released Thursday will focus on children and senior citizens, including a measure aimed at ending financial exploitation of those aged 60 and over.

One of his measures, House Bill 651, would reduce the percentage of a teacher's evaluation based on the growth of student achievement from 35 percent to 15 percent. The rest of the review is based on classroom observations by principals and others, 50 percent, and whether teachers meet student learning targets, 15 percent.

The proposal is sponsored by Rep. Frank Hoffmann, R-West Monroe and a veteran educator.

Hoffmann was an early sponsor of teacher evaluation measures and has long said that, when problems are found, he will sponsor bills to address them.

Timeline of controversial Louisiana teacher evaluations sparks new concerns Controversy continues to bubble around the state's soon-to-be-revived annual evaluations for public school teachers.

However, the measure is sure to spark controversy.

Opponents are expected to argue that another reduction in the role of test results for teacher reviews  it was initially 50 percent  would water down changes aimed at ensuring meaningful teacher reviews.

In the past almost all teachers routinely won satisfactory job reviews, which critics said showed the job checks had little meaning.

Using test results to rate teachers applies to about 15,000 of Louisiana's roughly 50,000 teachers.

The rest are based in part on whether teachers met goals agreed to by eucators and principals at the start of the school year.

Student test results will again play a role in the reviews this year after a four-year moratorium called because of the state's move to tougher academic standards.

The current teacher review rules stems from a compromise among groups that often disagree on public school issues: Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, Louisiana Association of Educators, Louisiana Federation of Teachers, Louisiana Schools Boards Association, Council for a Better Louisiana and Edwards.

Edwards tried unsuccessfully last year to let school district officials use student test results as they saw fit when evaluating teachers.

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Governor's bid for major changes in teacher evaluations sparking pushback Louisiana's 2010 overhaul of annual teacher evaluations was touted as a way to provide a meaningful snapshot of teacher effectiveness and impr

The governor will also back another Hoffmann bill that would ease requirements for new teachers to earn tenure.

Under current rules, teachers have to earn the top rating for five out of six years.

Under the proposed change, they could do so by achieving a lower standard for five out of six years.

The current rules were part of former Gov. Bobby Jindal's sweeping overhaul of public schools, which won legislative approval in 2012.

Backers said it was too easy to earn tenure. Critics said the overhaul set the bar so high that it all but ended chances for most teachers to ever land the job protection.

Tougher tenure rules led to the exit of about 1,700 educators, or around 3 percent of the workforce, according to a report last year by Tulane University.

Edwards support for the two bills was something of a surprise after similar legislative efforts were squashed in 2016 and 2017.

"I am a proud partner with legislators who are pairing action with values in order to tackle the real challenges before us when it comes to improving K-12 education in Louisiana," he said.

The governor will also back a proposed task force  House Bill 676 by Rep. Stephanie Hilferty, R-Metairie  aimed at improving early childhood education, especially from zero to age 4.

Other Edwards-backed measures would ban students from being shamed because they cannot pay or owe money for school lunches, SB245; launch a study to see if foster care can be extended through age 21; and toughen penalties for the crime of sexual battery against those with infirmities. The current maximum is 10 years.

The proposal, House Bill 389, by New Orleans Democratic Rep. Gary Carter, would raise that to 20 years.

The anti-exploitation measures are Senate Bill 355, sponsored by state Sen. Danny Martiny, R-Metairie, and House Bill 505 by Rep. Thomas Carmody, R-Shreveport.

It would require a director, officer, attorney or accountant at a bank or other financial institution to notify the firm if they suspect financial exploitation of a person over the age of 60.As Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome watches, left, Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul, right. announces that his office will now conclude its internal affairs investigation into the two officers involved in the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling Tuesday March 27, 2018, in Baton Rouge, La.Five people, four of whom are juveniles, were struck by an alleged drunk driver while fishing Friday evening in Pointe-aux-Chenes, according to a release from the Louisiana State Police.

Three of the victims received moderate to serious injuries and were airlifted to University Medical Center in New Orleans; the remaining two were treated at Terrebonne General Medical Center with minor injuries.

The driver in the crash was identified as Jan Breaux, 45 of Raceland. State Police said Breaux was intoxicated and travelling south on Island Road in a Ford F-150 about 8 p.m. Friday. Breaux allegedly entered a right curve in the roadway and crossed the center line before running off the roadway to the left.

Breaux struck the group -- four juveniles and one 17-year-old -- who were located past the shoulder of the roadway.

Breaux was not injured and was wearing her seatbelt, State Police said. A field sobriety test indicated her blood alcohol content was over the legal limit of .08, according to the release. Breaux was booked into Terrebonne Parish Criminal Justice Center on three counts of first degree vehicular negligent injuring, two counts of vehicular negligent injuring and careless operation.

The condition of the victims in the crash was not immediately available.A man who spent nearly three decades in prison on a murder conviction that was later overturned  and who for years has worked as a paralegal and investigator for prominent New Orleans defense attorneys  was arrested Friday on allegations that he tried to smuggle drugs into the city's jail, authorities said.

Earl Truvia, 59, faces counts of attempting to introduce contraband into a penal institution as well as illegally possessing and intending to distribute marijuana and the pharmaceutical painkillers tramadol, hydrocodone and gabapentin, according to a statement from Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office attorney Blake Arcuri.

A document filed in court by the Sheriff's Office said Sgt. Lance Wade received a tip that a 28-year-old inmate named David Hester was having drugs smuggled into the city's main jail, the Orleans Justice Center.

Monitored jailhouse phone calls involving Hester suggested he and his girlfriend, 24-year-old Alexis McKinniey, were collaborating with inmate Taivon Aples, 25, a second unidentified woman and someone named "Earl" to have a package smuggled in on Friday.

A phone number mentioned as belonging to "Earl" was registered to Truvia, who had requested to visit Hester on four occasions this year, the Sheriff's Office said.

Truvia had asked to see Hester on Friday for a meeting related to the inmate's case that would be privileged, or not monitored by law enforcement authorities.

Wade and other deputies searched Truvia after he showed up at the jail's attorney visitation area about 6 p.m., Arcuri's statement said. The deputies said they found a package of drugs under his jacket, and they arrested him.

Hester, who was arrested earlier this year on a count of murder, and Aples, who had been locked up on allegations of illegal gun and drug possession, are assigned to the same housing unit, the Sheriff's Office said.

It did not immediately appear that deputies had booked the inmates or the women mentioned in the court document in connection with the allegations against Truvia.

Truvia and Gregory Bright spent 27 years imprisoned for the murder of 15-year-old Eliot Porter, whose body was found under a building at the former Calliope public housing complex after he had been shot in the head on Halloween in 1975.

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The Innocence Project New Orleans took up the cause of Truvia and Bright, finding that authorities had withheld evidence and that the lone eyewitness was a heroin addict and schizophrenic who testified under a false name, among other flaws with the prosecution.

The state Supreme Court vacated the pair's convictions in 2002 and ordered new trials for them. Prosecutors then dropped the charges against both, and they were freed.

A fixture in the halls at Criminal District Court, Truvia has worked as a paralegal and investigator for high-profile defense attorneys John Fuller and Martin Regan.

Truvia's name was mentioned alongside Fuller's in a lengthy memo that the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office sent to several other law enforcement agencies in 2016 accusing the two men of tampering with or intimidating witnesses in a number of cases.

Fuller dismissed the memo as "baseless and inflammatory." One of the incidents mentioned in the unusual, 200-page dossier  sent out as Fuller was defending the man later convicted of killing former Saints player Will Smith  resulted in a reprimand for the attorney. Fuller said his offense was an uncharacteristic decision made in the heat of legal battle.

Truvia stopped working for Fuller at the end of 2016 and was working for Regan at the time of his arrest.

Regan said word of Truvia's arrest came as a "total surprise and shock" and that he would assist law enforcement in any further investigation of the matter.

Regan said later that he had fired Truvia.

"Mr. Earl Truvia's relationship with our law firm has been immediately terminated. We have learned that the alleged recipient of the purported contraband and the other parties implicated were not current clients of our law firm," Regan's statement said. "Mr. Truvia had absolutely no permission or approval of this law firm to visit the inmates in question."if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi...Malala Yousafzai plans to return to Pakistan permanently once her studies are completed, she told Pakistani media in Islamabad Friday, the second day of her emotional trip back more than five years after being shot by Taliban gunmen.

Security has forced the Nobel laureate, whose arrival in the country dominated headlines and social media, to keep her itinerary tightly under wraps.

But in a televised interview with Pakistan's largest private broadcaster Geo TV Friday the 20-year-old said that the country, which has long battled extremism, is "becoming better".

"Definitely, there is a difference" between the Pakistan of today and in 2012, when she was airlifted to a British hospital after being shot in the head by Taliban gunmen angered over her stance as an advocate for girls' education.

"Things are becoming better, people are uniting and a campaign for better Pakistan is ongoing, people are active which is very good."

The Oxford student, who has said that she wants to run for prime minister one day, added: "It is my plan to return to Pakistan after completion of my education, because it is my country and I have equal rights on it like any other Pakistani."

Her comments came after she broke down in tears as she delivered an emotional televised speech Thursday saying it was a "dream" to be back in the country after so many years.

Malala is widely respected internationally as a global icon for girls' education, but opinion is divided in Pakistan, where some conservatives view her as a Western agent on a mission to shame her country.

"Pakistan has not done well by its heroes," an editorial in the English-language Dawn newspaper on Malala's homecoming said Friday, noting that the country's other Nobel laureate -- physicist Abdus Salaam -- had been widely shunned for being a member of the persecuted Ahmadi minority.

Read also: Malala makes first trip to Pakistan since Taliban attack

With intense criticism among the many messages of welcome, even the people she is meeting have been kept in the dark about her presence.

Women's rights activist Nighat Dad said that she and a group of other feminists from across Pakistan who were gathered on Thursday were not told they would be seeing Malala until the last moment.

The organiser, Oscar-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, only told them "It'll be the highlight of your year," Dad said -- adding that she had been right.

- Changing lives -

Malala became a global symbol for human rights after a gunman boarded her school van on October 9, 2012, asked "Who is Malala?" and shot her.

The Pakistani Taliban accused her of "anti-Islamic" activities and of "smearing" the militant group in statements released after the attack.

She was treated for her injuries in the British city of Birmingham, where she also completed her schooling.

The youngest-ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, she has continued to be a vocal advocate for girls' education while studying at Oxford University.

Swat, Malala's former home in Pakistan's rugged northwest, was overrun by the Taliban in 2007, where they imposed a brutal regime including banning girls from school.

They were pushed out in a military operation in 2009, but security has remained fragile, as the attack on Malala three years later demonstrated.

However in recent weeks authorities have lifted prohibitions against tourists visiting the mountainous region, famed for its beauty, as security improves.

Residents say Malala's story has changed the lives of other girls in the area.

"Parents are sending their girls to school so Malala has been successful in her aim," Swat resident Shahista Hakeem told AFP.

Many of those who live in the area were happy to hear of Malala's return to Pakistan, Hakeem said, adding: "We want that she should come to Swat also.""We should not be afraid of the consequences. Everything we put out there is being scrutinized, used to humiliate us," said Devi Asmarani, chief editor of feminist publication Magdalene, about how more people should speak out and voice their stories to counter intolerance.

Devi was a member of the speaker panel at "Writing on Diversity", an event hosted by The Jakarta Post and The Jakarta Post Writing Center in partnership with Raffles Hotel Jakarta and British Council Indonesia. Along Devi were former chief editor of The Jakarta Post Endy Bayuni and British Council Indonesia country director Paul Smith.

This was the second writers' gathering, held on March 21 at The Writers' Bar, Raffles Hotel, South Jakarta. A small gathering with alumni of The Jakarta Post Writing Center and TheJakartaPost.com community writers as the audience, the discussion focused on how writers can employ diversity to help counter rising intolerance.

"[Diversity] is far easier to pronounce than acted upon, and has created a serious rift in the fabric of our global society. We want to address this issue in the context of why 'diversity' is the very thing that makes us human. And we often wonder why something that is inherent to our identity is so hard to understand," says Maggie Tiojakin, managing director of The Jakarta Post Writing Center.

Read also: Jakarta Post Writers' Gathering aims at cultivating new writers

Diversity can be problematic indeed, according to a participant. Kevin Tiganna, a political analyst who is also an alumnus of the Writing Center, talked about the difficulties he faced when holding an event about diversity, saying that the very word "diversity" itself often held back the people who needed to be reached out to the most.

Another participant questioned how writers should approach diversity, as many were wondering whether they had the authority to do so. Paul Smith from British Council Indonesia stated that there was no definite approach as "diversity needs diverse approaches and diverse views".

One thing all participants agreed on was the need for diversity among the writing community itself. Devi encouraged all people to share their experiences, no matter how uncomfortable.

Endy Bayuni, on the other hand, emphasized the importance of diversity in the newsroom, as the media should also reflect the society it reported on. (asw)The critically endangered Sumatran tiger is being increasingly forced out of its habitat, leading to a rise in human-tiger conflicts, an activist has warned. The habitat centers of the Sumatran tiger on the island shrank to 23 pockets in 2016 from the previous 29 recorded in 2010, tiger conservation project manager at the Indonesian office of the Zoological Society of London, Yoan Dinata said.

The tiger population now faces bigger threats such as a declining area for them to live in and widespread poaching, he said in Jambi on Wednesday.

There are four Sumatran tiger habitats in Jambi, they are Kerinci Seblat, Bukit Tigapuluh, Berbak-Sembilang and Harapan forest.

Their habitats have been disrupted and constrained due to the massive expansion of palm oil plantations in Sumatra, forcing them to roam outside their habitats.

The latest human-tiger conflict made...Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Adel Zaanoun (Agence France-Presse) Gaza City, Palestinian Territories  Sat, March 31, 2018 11:08 1274 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cc3d2c7 2 World Gaza,protest,Israel Free

Clashes erupted as tens of thousands of Gazans marched near the Israeli border in a major protest, with 16 Palestinians killed and hundreds more wounded in the conflict's worst single day of violence since the 2014 Gaza war.

Israel's military targeted three Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip with tank fire and an air strike after what it said was an attempted shooting attack against soldiers along the border that caused no injuries.

Protesters, including women and children, gathered at multiple sites throughout the blockaded territory, which is flanked by Israel along its eastern and northern borders.

Smaller numbers approached within a few hundred metres (yards) of the heavily fortified border fence, with Israeli troops using tear gas and live fire to force them back.

Israeli security forces used a drone to fire tear gas toward those along the border, in one of the first uses of the device, a police spokesman said.

The health ministry in Gaza said 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces.

More than 1,400 were injured, including 758 by live fire, with the remainder hurt by rubber bullets and tear gas inhalation, it said.

Palestinians accused Israel of using disproportionate force, as did Turkey.

The UN Security Council held emergency talks Friday to discuss the risks of further escalation in Israeli-Palestinian violence in the Gaza Strip, but failed to agree a joint statement on the deadly clashes.

"There is fear that the situation might deteriorate in the coming days," said assistant UN secretary general for political affairs, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, urging maximum restraint.

Israel's military alleged that the main protests were being used as cover by militants to either break through the border or carry out attacks.

"It is not a peaceful demonstration," an Israeli military official told journalists.

The army said it estimated some 30,000 demonstrators were taking part in the protests.

"Rioters are rolling burning tyres and hurling firebombs and rocks at the security fence and at (Israeli) troops, who are responding with riot dispersal means and firing towards main instigators," it said.

Protesters were demanding hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled during the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948 be allowed to return.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya attended the protest, believed to be the first time he has gone so close to the border in years.

Hamas and Israel have fought three wars since 2008, the most recent of which in 2014 ended with a fragile truce.

The demonstration is planned to last six weeks, until the inauguration of the new US embassy in Jerusalem around May 14.

The upcoming embassy move has added to tensions surrounding the march.

US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December has infuriated Palestinians, who claim its annexed eastern sector as the capital of their future state.

The protest also began as Jewish Israelis were to mark the Passover holiday.

Israel announced a "closed military zone in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip," accusing its Islamist rulers Hamas of using the lives of civilians "for the purpose of terror".

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a tweet directed to Gazans in both Hebrew and Arabic that "Hamas's leadership is playing with your life".

Protests along the border are common but the "March of Return" protest is different because it is intended to include families with women and children camping near the border for weeks.

Protester Saeed Juniya erected a small tent a few hundred metres from the border fence east of Gaza City, where he was accompanied by his wife and children.

"We are determined and not scared as we are not doing something wrong. The people are demanding their land and to return to their country," he said.

Organisers say the camps will remain in place until May 15 when Palestinians commemorate the Nakba, or "catastrophe", of the 1948 creation of Israel with the exodus of more than 700,000 Palestinians.

According to the United Nations, some 1.3 million of Gaza's two million residents are refugees and the protest is calling for them to be allowed to return to land that is now Israel.

Washington's plans to launch its new embassy to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Israeli state, further stoking Palestinian anger.

"We are deeply saddened by loss of life in #Gaza today," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert wrote on Twitter.

"Int'l community is focused on taking steps that will improve the lives of the Palestinians and is working on a plan for peace. Violence furthers neither of those goals."

The launch of the protests comes as Palestinians mark Land Day, commemorating the killing of six unarmed Arab protesters in Israel in 1976.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Depok  Sat, March 31, 2018 20:25 1273 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cc496f1 1 City apartment,construction,project,Depok,Depok-administration Free

Residents of Beji Timur, Depok, blocked Jl. Taufiqurrahman on Saturday in protest against the development of an apartment building, which they had initially been informed would be a boarding house, developed by PT SCC Investment Corp.

PT SCC has committed many violations, thats why the residents affected [by the violations] are taking this firm measure, said one of the residents Fatia.

It all started in January 2017, when the developer began development of a project they called Apartkos Avicenna.

It is reported that the developer kicked off the construction after only obtaining the Land Use Permit (IPR), and without the Building Construction Permit (IMB).

Residents were told that the company was building a boarding house and needed approval from the residents.

Head of Neighborhood Unit (RT) 05, Community Unit (RW) 02, Beji Timur Ahmad Daujat, said he complied with the developer's request to collect signatures from the residents in a show of support for the boarding house development project.

They required 10 signatures, but only four were willing to sign, said Daujat as quoted by tempo.co.

They later learned that the developer was not building a boarding house but an apartment building instead.

Upon finding out this information, they withdrew the petition of approval and sent a letter of admonishment as well as a legal notice to the Depok Mayor on May 9 and Sept. 15, 2017.

According to the head of Depoks Public Order Agency, Yayan Arianto, they had sent an initial warning letter to the developer a few days ago. (iwa)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, March 31 2018

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti showcased her inner fashionista by strutting down the runway in a kebaya designed by Anne Avantie during Indonesia Fashion Week (IFW).

Anne said, as quoted by kompas.com, she felt proud to have the minister walk the catwalk in one of her designs.

I asked the minister whether she wanted to come from the backstage or from the audience [....] She then replied that since she would appear on the catwalk like a model, she wanted to come from backstage, Anne said.

Susi did not hesitate to showcase the tattoos on her legs.

She wanted the design to be able to showcase her tattoos because she told me it is okay to show off your tattoos, Anne said.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, March 31, 2018 18:59 1273 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cc48879 1 World Israel,Gaza,Palestine,Indonesia Free

Indonesia has strongly condemned the attacks by Israeli security forces against Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border that left 16 people dead and hundreds injured.

The Indonesian government and people convey our deepest condolences and solidarity to the Palestinian people demonstrating on the border of Gaza and Israel, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Jakarta says that Israel is obliged to protect civilians as stipulated under international human rights law.

It calls for a thorough investigation into the disproportional use of violence by Israel and for its results to be made public.

Indonesia reiterated that the impacts of violence and atrocities committed by Israeli soldiers will threaten peace efforts in Palestine and the Middle East, the statement says.

Israeli security forces used a drone to fire tear gas toward those along the border, in one of the first uses of the device, a police spokesman said as quoted by AFP.

The health ministry in Gaza said 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces. More than 1,400 were injured, including 758 by live fire, with the remainder injured by rubber bullets and tear gas inhalation, it said.

Protesters were demanding that hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled during the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948 be allowed to return, according to AFP.

The demonstration is planned to last six weeks, until the inauguration of the new US embassy in Jerusalem around May 14. (ahw)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, March 31, 2018 16:50 1274 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cc47941 1 City ahok,blasphemy,Artidjo-Alkostar,FPI Free

Supreme Court justice Artidjo Alkostar, who presided over a case review petition filed by former Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, has denied claims that he is closely connected to the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).

"That's wrong, very wrong," Artidjo told Tempo on Saturday.

The court announced on Monday that a panel of justices led by Artidjo had rejected Ahok's petition against his conviction, which sentenced him to two years in prison for defaming Islam.

A series of sectarian rallies spearheaded by the FPI preceded the conviction, read on May 9, 2017. The rallies demanded that the administration of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who led Jakarta with Ahok as his deputy governor between 2012 and 2014, prosecute Ahok for blasphemy.

Ahok's legal defense team submitted the case review plea last month, saying that it was based on an error by the North Jakarta District Court judges in issuing their verdict against the controversial politician.

Reports about the alleged Artidjo-FPI connection emerged on Thursday. The reports are based on a 2014 statement by FPI leader Rizieq Shihab saying that Artidjo was a chairman of the FPI's law and human rights division before taking a job as Supreme Court justice in 2000.

Artidjo, meanwhile, said he had never been involved in any activities of the FPI.

He said he had previously defended non-Muslim minorities in several cases during his law career, which includes a three-year stint as a Human Rights Watch lawyer for its Asia Division and a seven-year stint as director of Yogyakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Yogyakarta).



"I once defended the Catholics in East Timor and Romo Mangun in Code River [in Yogyakarta], so it's impossible [that I have a connection with the FPI]," said Artidjo, referring to Catholic activist Yusuf Bilyarta Mangunwijaya, who defended residents living on the banks of Code River who were facing eviction by the then New Order administration. (mos/ahw)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Tangerang  Sat, March 31, 2018 15:01 1274 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cc456bb 1 City murder-case,Tangerang,domestic-violence,crime Free

A Tangerang District Court prosecutor is seeking a 15-year prison term for Lukman Nurdin Hidayat, 37, who is accused of murdering his wife and two daughters.

On Thursday, district prosecutor Tiamilla said the suspect was charged under Article 338 of the Criminal Code on murder, because there was no basis to charge him with premeditated murder under Article 340 of the Criminal Code.

The murder took place on Oct. 14, 2017, in the Graha Siena residential complex in Ciakar, Panongan, Tangerang. The suspect allegedly beat his wife and stabbed her repeatedly with a knife before turning on his daughters, aged 3 and 8.

Lukmans lawyer, Alexander J. Silalahi, said the 15-year prison term was too high, noting that the prosecutor should have taken into account the fact that the suspect had turned himself over to the police.

The suspect has admitted to and shown remorse for the murder, said Alexander, as quoted by tempo.co. (jlm)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, March 31, 2018 11:25 1274 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cc3e74d 1 City car,theft,jakarta,crime Free

The Penjaringan Police arrested on Thursday a man suspected of stealing a car on Tuesday by pretending to be an intel member.

Penjaringan Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Rachmat Sumerkar said in a statement on Friday that the suspect hitchhiked and was picked up by the victim.

The suspect pretended to be an intel member at Kalideres Terminal, where he asked for a ride from the victim. The suspect took over the wheel at some point and took the victim to an inn, where the suspect locked the room from outside and drove off with the car, said Rachmat as quoted by kompas.com

The victim was rescued by the innkeeper in the morning and reported the incident to the police, when it became known that the car was to be brought to a dealer of stolen goods named Legito in Pandeglang, Banten.

After detaining Legito, the police then arrested the suspect in Kapuk Empang, North Jakarta, on Thursday.

The police have confiscated the car, three vehicle registration papers, two knives and a set of car keys.

The suspect was charged under Article 365 of the Criminal Code on aggravated robbery with a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison, while Legito is charged under Article 408 of the Criminal Code on dealing stolen goods, with a maximum sentence of four years in prison. (jlm)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Andi Hajramurni (The Jakarta Post) Bulukumba  Sat, March 31 2018

The acknowledgment of the phinisi, a traditional boat mainly built by the Bugis-Kajang ethnic group in South Sulawesi, as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage has highlighted the essential exploration skills Indonesians have inherited from their ancestors.

The move is also seen by many as the international communitys acknowledgement of the importance of traditional boat-building techniques applied by the nations forefathers, especially the people of Bulukumba in South Sulawesi.

These methods have been passed on from generation to generation and continue to develop to this today.

Jafar Pallawa, 60, a boat craftsman from Ara, Bontobahari, Bulukumba, said he and other members of the regencys boat-making communities were proud that their works had been acknowledged as a cultural heritage.

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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) United Nations, United States  Sat, March 31, 2018 13:49 1274 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cc455ab 2 World Palestine,Gaza,United-Nations,SecurityCouncil Free

The UN Security Council heard fears of a further escalation in Israeli-Palestinian violence in the Gaza Strip during emergency talks Friday despite a failure to agree a joint statement on deadly clashes.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also called for an "independent and transparent investigation" and reaffirmed "the readiness" of the world body to revitalize peace efforts, a spokesperson said.

Kuwait requested the meeting to discuss the unraveling situation in Gaza, where Palestinians said Israeli fire killed 16 people in the conflict's deadliest single day since the 2014 Gaza war.

"There is fear that the situation might deteriorate in the coming days," said assistant UN secretary general for political affairs, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, urging maximum restraint.

Britain and the United States expressed regret that the timing of the meeting -- the first night of Passover -- meant Israeli officials could not attend. Leading ambassadors sent deputies in their place.

"It's vital that this Council be balanced in its approach," a US diplomat told the meeting. "We should have found an arrangement for all parties to participate tonight," he added.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of life today," the diplomat added. "Bad actors who use protests as a cover to incite violence endanger innocent lives," he added.

"The risk of escalation is very real," the French representative said. "There is the possibility of a new conflict in the Gaza Strip."

In a written statement before the meeting, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, blamed Hamas for the violence.

"While Jews around the world gathered with their family at the Seder table to celebrate the Passover holiday, the Palestinians sunk to a new deceitful low so that they could use the UN to spread lies about Israel," Danon later said.

"This shameful exploitation of our holiday will not succeed in stopping us from speaking the truth about the Hamas terror-gatherings that aim to destabilize the region," he concluded.

The violence broke out as tens of thousands of Gazans marched near the Israeli border to demand the right of return for Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled since the creation of Israel.

Israeli troops used tear gas and live fire to force back Palestinians who approached the heavily fortified border fence.

Israeli tank fire and an air strike also targeted three Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip after what the military said was an attempted shooting attack against soldiers along the border that caused no injuries.

The health ministry in Gaza said 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces and more than 1,400 were injured, including 758 by live fire, with the remainder hurt by rubber bullets and tear gas.

Palestinians accused Israel of using disproportionate force. The Israeli military said the protests were used as cover by militants to either break through the border or carry out attacks.Low-cost air carrier Citilink is offering many benefits for passengers who travel abroad, particularly for medical reasons. This benefit applies to passengers traveling to Penang, Malaysia, for example.

Tempo.co reported that the chief financial officer of Citilink, Fransetya Hutabarat, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Tan Seang Aun, the executive director of the Penang Center of Medical Tourism (PMED).

The MOU was signed immediately after the maiden flight of Citilink from Jakarta to Penang landed on March 25.

Citilink passengers can possibly enjoy a price reduction for medical treatments and pick-up service from the airport by the hospital, Fransetya explained to tempo.com in Penang on Monday.

In the near future, Citilink is planning to add more benefits, most likely based on collaborations with hospitals in Penang. Hospital business practitioners in Penang reacted to Citilinks venture to their city positively.

We hope there will also be patients coming from Jakarta to Penang, not only from Medan, said Dr. Hwang Vee Cherin, a pediatrician from Island Hospital in Penang. He later explained that most foreign patients getting medical treatment in Penang hailed from Medan, as the distance between two cities was closer. It only takes 40 minutes to fly from Medan to Penang.

Almost 80 percent of the patients in Island Hospital are Indonesian.

Gleneagle Hospital CEO Ivan Loh expected the direct flight from Jakarta to Penang would make traveling more convenient for the passengers, adding that passengers would be able to use Citilink boarding passes to enjoy attractive promotions.

Read also: Citilink opens direct route from Jakarta to Penang

The airline also signed an MOU with other parties in Penang, such as the local tourism authority, the hotel association and the Asian Masters Games Committee, which conducts the biggest sporting event in the Malaysian city.

Garnering four stars from Skytrax this year, Citilink has targeted regional expansions starting with its inaugural flight to Penang, Malaysia. (mut)The first phase of the Garuda Indonesia Travel Fair (GATF) 2018 will be held at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) in Senayan, South Jakarta, from April 6 to 8, starting at 10 a.m.

This years GATF is seeking to target 80,000 travel enthusiasts, compared to last years second phase that attracted over 60,000 visitors.

We can prepare pre-paid baggage for passengers and they can also choose preferable seats, said Nina Sulistyowati, Garuda Indonesias director of marketing and IT, at a press conference held at the Hard Rock Cafe in South Jakarta on Thursday. There will be happy hours in the morning as well as the evening, best deals up to 50 percent and regular discounts.

The ticket price for a round trip to Singapore, for instance, can be purchased with prices starting at Rp 800,000 ($56) and a round-trip ticket to Japan can also be booked, with prices starting at Rp 2.7 million.

Read also: Garuda Indonesia to open Denpasar-Mumbai route in April

GarudaMiles members will also receive discounts of up to 50 percent. For instance, if we need 10,000 miles to travel to certain cities, now its only 5,000 miles, Nina said, adding that the airline provided 3 million seats for GATF.

Moreover, travel agents, hotels and traveling equipment companies are set to join the event.

GATF supports the governments 10 priority destinations and other domestic as well as international destinations. Garuda has 68 domestic and 22 international routes, said Sigit Muhartono, Garuda Indonesia's director of cargo who was also present at the press conference, adding that the airline would add three new routes this year. China and Japan are still peoples favorite destinations.

Aside from Jakarta, the event will also be held in Ambon, Balikpapan, Padang, Pekanbaru, Pontianak and Batam. (asw)Its almost Easter! And we have to admit- looking for chocolate eggs might be a childish tradition but we love it!

And while the usual chocolate eggs have always been a welcome treat, which would not last too long, we have to admit there are some chocolate egg masterpieces, which we would not even risk eatingmaybe.

This year the luxury Belgian chocolatier Godiva has unveiled its most expensive and extravagant Easter egg to date. The 5,000 gold leaf adorned masterpiece is made from 25kg Belgian dark and white chocolate. The egg measures a metre in height and half a metre in width and was created by Godivas new Creative Development Chef, Cherish Finden, to mark her first Easter with the globally renowned chocolatier.

The handcrafted egg was unveiled by Cherish at Godivas Regent Street boutique and took the renowned pastry guru and her team of three assistant chefs 192 hours to create. The large 25kg Atelier egg is accompanied by five 420g smaller luxury eggs and is currently on display at the central London boutique, retailing at an incredible 5,000.

The show-stopping Atelier egg is made entirely from chocolate, using delicious Godiva 72% dark and white Belgian chocolate, handcrafted with edible gold and white chocolate pearls, specially made by Chef Finden. Not only is the egg impressive in size, but also a visual masterpiece.

Cherish Finden adds,

This is my first Easter at Godiva, and as our Atelier eggs have become something of a tradition, I wanted my first official creation as Creative Development Chef to be something spectacular, and really capture the artistic and premium craftsmanship of the brand. For the design, I took inspiration from Godivas links with Belgian royalty. Its also a big year for the British royal family, so I felt a regal theme was an apt choice. Godiva is famed for its intricate artistry, and I think that comes across from the level of detail included in the design.

Weve been working through the night over the weekend and have even had tools sent over from the Godiva head office in Belgium, to ensure that it was nothing less than a masterpiece.

Chef Finden has been recruited by Godiva to oversee and lead menu development for its cafes, which will be launched globally throughout 2018-2019. The brands strong heritage, craftsmanship and knowledge of chocolate complements Chef Findens strive for innovation and artistry  as demonstrated by Godivas 2018 Atelier Easter Egg.Sting, the former frontman of The Police and reggae-fusion aficionado Shaggy only planned to hook up in the studio for one song but were brought together by their shared love of Jamaica to create a full 12-track album. The new addition to the album is Morning Is Coming, a blissfully downtempo, late summer evening track making for nourishing and easy listening. The melody reflects both artists' soulful influences, with the lyrics acting as a positive reminder to always keep looking up,The full albumis due out on 20April this year, with Sting and Shaggy extending their collaboration on an epic tour of some of Europes most iconic music venues.Dakota College at Bottineau is pleased to announce that Sheila Braaten has accepted the Farm and Ranch Business Management (FBM) instructor position with DCB in Rugby. She began work in the Rugby office, located at Rugby High School on March 19th.

Sheila brings over 20 years of solid experience in agriculture to her new role. She has extensive knowledge of agronomy through her previous positions as an agronomist, agricultural production specialist, and agronomy consultant. Additionally, she and her husband operated their own farm for a number of years. Most of her previous employment has been in the Rugby area and the north central region of North Dakota.

Sheila will be working with BillieJo Shae and Rodney Armstrong, the Farm Business Management instructors from Dakota Colleges FBM programs in Minot and Bottineau, as she transitions to her new role. One of Sheilas first goals will be to meet all of the producers in the Rugby program.

Braaten has been actively involved in the community. She is currently an advisory board member of the Rugby High School Agricultural Education program and serves as the secretary/treasurer of the Rugby FFA Alumni chapter.

 DCBA new course is teaching high school students at Wolford about mental toughness.

For one hour a week, students in grades 9-12 have been taking up I Am Resilient, a program in which students learn about self-awareness, optimism, mental agility, character-building and other subjects. Social Studies instructor Eric Wasvick teaches the course at Wolford.

Because of our small numbers, he [Wasvick] is able to reach all the students adequately in one session per week, said Wolford High School Principal Joel Braaten.

Braaten said the course is unlike traditional ones in that it is not graded using formal assessments. It involves reviews of material each day, and if behavior is observed then students are reminded of lessons. The goal, he said, is to equip students with tangible, and easily-implemented methods to create a more positive life experience.

We hope to help the students recognize their own emotional perspective, and help them actively enhance the areas where they may have shortcomings, Braaten said. We have found this to be a valuable tool to help students lead more positive lives and help them cope with difficult situations.

Braaten said the Wolford School found out about I Am Resilient from former Bisbee-Egeland Superintendent Tom Nitschke, who had been working on it for years. Nitschke began working with retired North Dakota Small Organized Schools Executive Director Robert Tollefson. Executive Director Elroy Burkle pursued the effort after Tollefsons retirement.

In 2016 Nitschke made a presentation at a N.D. School Boards Association meeting. Braaten said the presentation went so well that on March 15, 2017, the Wolford School hosted Nitschke and his team for an all-day in-service. The decision was made after that to implement I Am Resilient for grades 9-12.

In August 2017 Wasvick attended a training session in Bismarck, where attendees went through condensed versions of lessons with Nitschke.

Braaten said six schools in the state are using I Am Resilient currently, with a number of other schools that have either received or are waiting to attend training. Dakota Prairie, Starkweather, North Star, and Devils Lake Centrals middle and high schools are area schools using the curriculum.On Tuesday, March 27 the Rugby Job Development Authority met and held its regular monthly meeting.

Tanner Johnson led the meeting and opened with a directors report. Next there was a review of the open executive director position by Karin Fursather, who is in charge of the executive search committee. Eight candidates have applied for the position since it was reposted. The committee for the search met March 27 and reviewed the candidates applications.

A decision was made to continue monitoring the need for additional office help until an executive director is hired.

The HAMC Kids Next Door Daycare subsidy request was reviewed. A discussion was held about the financial figures that were presented. It was determined to conduct further review.

Student loan recipients had their reimbursements paid directly to their student loan accounts this month. One more Student Loan Request was received from an applicant. That request was approved.

In an effort to make walking and biking easier, safer, and more fun, the North Dakota Department of Transportation is teaming up with the Rugby community to plan, design, install and evaluate demonstration projects in 2018, referred to as ND moves: active transportation and transit plan. Rugby was one of eight communities named in the selection process for assistance in beautifying the downtown area.

Daunne Heilman reported on the ND moves program. Heilman said the improvements will be a project to improve some type of street enhancements, perhaps new crosswalks downtown. The project is early in its inception, and she said she has a great crew who will help her put together a plan. This concept is not new in North Dakota. Bismarck and Fargo have both used demo projects to test new bike way designs and gather feedback from community members. The plans for Rugby will be developed in a community workshop, to be announced, spring of 2018. Implementation will be summer of 2018 with an evaluation in the fall. More information and materials can be found on the JDA web site. Heilman will be coordinating this effort.

A discussion was held on having a board clarification of powers of the executive board. Johnson said the board will put together a document to discuss and clarify efficiencies and asked for assistance from the prior executive director. Johnson said this will help in the transition for the new director when one is hired.

The JDA board has received notification that the EDND conference will be held in Jamestown, June 19-21, 2018 at the Gladstone Inn & Suites. The JDA will pay for members to attend, and registration opens in April. Also the 2018 Statewide Housing Conference is April 25-26 in Bismarck.

The next regular meeting of the JDA will be held Thursday, April 26, 2018 in the JDA offices in Rugby.Although he was born in Thief River Falls, Minn., Ralph Erickson considers himself a Rugby native.

In an investiture ceremony held in Fargo earlier this month where he was the guest of honor, Erickson said that to understand him is to understand Rugby.

That little town of about 3,000 people molded me, formed me and taught me how to be a man, Erickson said.

Erickson moved to Rugby from Langdon in 1966, when his father took an assistant county executive director position with the Pierce County Agricultural Stabilization & Conservation Service (what is now the Farm Service Agency). He started school in the second grade and graduated from Rugby High School in 1977.

So to me Rugby is home and always will be, Erickson said.

Forty years after graduating from RHS, Erickson was nominated and went through confirmation hearings and votes for a judgeship in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which covers North and South Dakota, Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska. President Donald Trump nominated Erickson to the seat, which had been vacated by Kermit Bye, in June 2017.

Erickson said he had been interviewed prior to the nomination by a dozen lawyers from the White House and the Department of Justice.

My sense leaving the interview was that I really liked the people that I had a chance to talk to and that even if it didnt work out it was a pretty amazing place for a kid from Rugby to end up, Erickson said.

A few weeks later Erickson received a call from an associate White House counsel that the president was interested in vetting him for nomination.

The overwhelming emotion that I was filled with when they told me I was the presidents choice was Boy I sure hope Im smart enough to do this job,' said Erickson. And gratitude. It is a very humbling thing to have the president offer you a chance to sit on the second highest court in the country.

Erickson said the hearing process was remarkably stressful, with background checks and an extensive Senate Judiciary questionnaire in addition to a hearing. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 20-0 to approve Erickson and the next step in the process was a vote by the Senate as a whole.

Erickson was voted in by a 95-1 vote.

As the floor debate and vote took place, Erickson was in a trial and after its adjournment received a message to call White House Counsel Don McGahn. McGahn congratulated Erickson on both his and the presidents behalf.

From lawyer to judge

Erickson said there was a period when he was in sixth grade where he said he wanted to be a lawyer.

But it was around his junior year of college when law school started to come into focus. And at that time he had never been inside a courtroom.

I knew some lawyers and judges from Rugby, but really I had no clue as to what lawyers did, Erickson said.

Erickson credits Judge Ray Freiderich and John McClintock, Sr., as his biggest motivators to become a lawyer.

Erickson graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Jamestown College in 1980 and went on to law school at the University of North Dakota, graduating in 1984.

He was in private practice for 10 years, and served as a magistrate judge for Cass County from 1993 to 1994.

Erickson said there is a steep adjustment going from being a lawyer to a judge.

I was lucky because by nature Im a bit more judicial than lawyerly, said Erickson. In fact I had a partner tell me when I was new associate, You have to realize youre a lawyer not the judge.'

In 1994 Erickson became a county judge for Traill, Steele, Nelson and Griggs counties. In 1995 he became the judge for the East Central Judicial District a post he held until 2003.

In 2003 he was appointed by President George W. Bush to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota. He served as chief judge for the district from November 2009 to November 2016.

On the bench

Erickson has presided over several trials over the years.

He was a judge on the Waters of the United States case.

He presided over the first capital case tried in North Dakota in over a century; a live broadcast murder trial in State of North Dakota v. Garcia; a tobacco case in Florida that resulted in a large tobacco verdict in federal courts.

Erickson said his most memorable work has been with kids in juvenile court, Indian Country (a technical term in the U.S. Code for all reservation and treaty lands) cases, and family courts.

All of this work is memorable for the same reason, said Erickson. Its an opportunity to do the greatest good. To make our little corner of the world a bit better.

The best part about being a judge is when you get a chance to make our community a better community.Coteau Community Market offers local, organic, minimal waste foods

The Coteau Community Market is a co-op that will connect local growers, producers and consumers to their foods and their community.We should expect people to do the right thing, even when the law doesn't explicitly spell out the right thing. If the executor of an estate takes money for himself, even if that action isn't specifically banned under the state's relevant laws, most people would consider that not only theft but also especially foul theft given the circumstances. Similarly when society allocates money for the feeding and care of those who are incarcerated, most of us would think it particularly wicked for someone to steal that money for his own use. In Alabama, however they do things differently. It's considered smart, not corrupt, for sheriffs to take state, federal and municipal tax funds meant to feed prisoners and use the money for their personal purposes. Sheriff Todd Entrekin of Etowah County, Alabama, of whom it must be said does not look as if he has missed too many meals, argues that Alabama law allowed him over the past three years to pocket more than $750,000 in tax dollars earmarked for prisoner food and instead use the money to eat millions of barbecued pigs feet to purchase numerous homes for his wife and himself.

In September, Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin and his wife Karen purchased an orange four-bedroom house with an in-ground pool and canal access in an upscale section of Orange Beach for $740,000.

To finance the purchase, Entrekin got a $592,000 mortgage from Peoples Bank of Alabama, according to public real estate records. The home is one of several properties with a total assessed value of more than $1.7 million that the couple own together or separately in Etowah and Baldwin counties.



Some Etowah County residents question how a county sheriff making a five-figure annual salary can afford to own multiple houses, including one worth nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.

But ethics disclosure forms Entrekin filed with the state reveal that over the past three years he has received more than $750,000 worth of additional "compensation" from a source he identified as "Food Provisions."



Entrekin did not deny that he received the money when asked about it via email last week. Ethics forms he filed in previous years do not list any income from such a source.

Entrekin told AL.com last month that he has a personal account that he refers to as his "Food Provision" fund. And Etowah County resident Matthew Qualls said that in 2015 Entrekin paid him to mow his lawn via checks with the words "Sheriff Todd Entrekin Food Provision Account" printed in the upper-left corner. AL.com viewed a photograph of one such check





To give the devil his due, Entrekin is not the only Alabama sheriff to miss the difference between personal funds and public funds. It seems that the state has a pretty big problem with that sort of thing.

Alabama  Sheriffs in Alabama have found an unscrupulous means of stealing money from the taxpayers of their state by embezzling money from funds that are collected for the purpose of feeding inmates. It is not an isolated incident either.



In only three years, one Alabama sheriff stole over $110,000 in taxpayer dollars that was slated to feed inmates in the jail his department oversees. During the same period, another sheriff was caught writing checks for personal expenses from a similar taxpayer-funded program intended to feed inmates. Others were caught using the money to loan shark. None of the sheriffs has been charged and they all claim their outright theft of tax dollars is entirely legal.



These sheriffs and many more across the state of Alabama are now the subject of a lawsuit jointly filed Jan. 5 by the Southern Center for Human Rights and the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.The day after the violent clashes that occurred on erev Shabbos along the Gaza border, due to the Land Day march organized by Hamas, was accompanied by demands for an inquiry.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 16 persons were killed and over 1,400 wounded from the IDF response. Some 20,000 or more Gazans lined the border to southern Israel and began confronting and attacking soldiers, with several cutting through the fence and trying to enter Israel. (Photos Below)

A post shared by TheYeshivaWorld.com (@theyeshivaworld) on Mar 30, 2018 at 4:03pm PDT

One of the videos being aired by Gaza media is an 18-year-old shot in the back as he was leaving the fence area. The claim is he was shot by the IDF and fell to the ground as he was fleeing the area.

At least 10 known terrorists with track records of terrorist activity were killed whilst carrying out acts of terror during the violent riots along the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip on Friday March 30, 2018 pic.twitter.com/FgwgmLzvdn  PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) April 1, 2018

The European Union is calling to probe the events and the confrontations which occurred on Friday along the border. EU officials feel there was no justification for the use of live ammunition.

The EU is demanding an independent transparent probe into the events, joined by the left-wing Meretz party, with the latter also demanding a probe. Members of the Arab List in Knesset decry the use of live ammunition against unarmed persons along the border fence, calling the actions of the IDF murder.

However, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman rejected the claims against IDF activity, insisting the response was expected and appropriate. IDF soldiers repulsed Hamas military wing operatives with determination and professionalism, just as we expected them, and I fully back them up, he said. Lieberman in his Twitter account added I did not understand the choir of hypocrites who wanted a commission of inquiry, they got confused and thought that Hamas organized the Woodstock Festival yesterday and we have to give them flowers.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also spoke out, giving his backing to the IDF response. He praised the soldiers who are maintaining the nations borders, thereby permitting Israelis to enjoy a quiet holiday.

The most moral army in the world will not be lectured by those who have indiscriminately bombed civilian populations for years. Apparently this is how #AprilFoolsDay is celebrated in Ankara.  PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) April 1, 2018

PM Netanyahu: Erdogan is not used to being talked back to. He should start getting used to it. He who occupies Northern Cyprus and the Kurdish region and butchers civilians in Afrin should not lecture us about morality and values.  PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) April 1, 2018

Machane Tzioni party leader Avi Gabbai also spoke out in support of IDF soldiers, explaining no one can expect to simply cross the border at will. He spoke of how tires were burned by Gazans and how soldiers were under attack, responding justifiably.

Published Motzei Shabbos & First Day Pesach from Eretz Yisrael

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.

Ms P. R. writes: In October last year we went to Barcelona. I had topped up my ICE cashcard to 1,000 (about 900) and on arrival I withdrew 250. The next day my handbag was stolen and with it the card and the money. By the time we had been to the police and cancelled the card, thieves had drawn cash and spent the rest in a store.

This was sorted out after five weeks and I was given a new card, credited with 750. In January we went to Tenerife where I drew 250 in cash, but then the card was declined.

Double hit: The prepay card was reported stolen in Barcelona, above, yet crooks used it again two months later

After spending 30 on phone calls, I found that the old stolen card had been used again, but ICE had debited it to my new card and we were left with almost no money.

ICE stands for International Currency Exchange. It works with the long-established Raphaels Bank to issue a prepaid Mastercard.

Travellers can deposit as much as they like on to the card which saves them from carrying all their holiday money in cash.

It also means that if the card is lost or stolen it cannot be used to run up huge bills as on a credit card. It can only be used up to the amount you deposited.

All this should mean that it is close to being safe as any piece of plastic in your purse can be. As you found in Barcelona, when your card was stolen and the thieves went on a speedy shopping spree, ICE issued you a new card and credited it with the 750 you had lost.

The company told me: In the unlikely event that one of our customers has funds stolen from their account we will refund them promptly. This is in line with the regulations in place which is what we have done in this instance.

So what went wrong with your replacement card? It was not stolen, but it was drained of cash by whoever still had the original card.

ICE has investigated and found that a forced transaction was made in December for 447. A forced transaction is one that bypasses the normal authorisation process and sidesteps checks that would show whether the card was valid or had been reported stolen. It even avoids checks that would show whether the card has any money left on it.

This process can have a legitimate reason. For example, a car hire firm could use it when a customer returns a car that has been damaged.

But ICE has confirmed the forced transaction involving your card was a clear case of organised fraud, involving a merchant who pushed the spending through the system without checks.

ICE has found this was a sophisticated scheme used by an organised gang. It added: We are working with the relevant parties and authorities to prevent further fraud on our prepaid card products.

Meanwhile, ICE has refunded all your 447 losses from the second stage of the scam  and the company has added a further 100 as a gesture of goodwill.

Confusion: Three refused to accept M.R.'s daughter was the customer

Were in a two and eight  over Three

M.R. writes: My daughter has a problem with mobile phone company Three. When she set up her contract, unknown to her, Three entered a wrong name but with her correct address and bank details.

Three wrote to the wrongly named person about a problem, but the letter went to my daughters address.

She visited the Three shop in Nottingham twice and staff were sympathetic but said she did not have an account with Three.

Your daughter got the worst of both worlds. Three was collecting its charges from her bank account by direct debit and she could use the phone. At the same time Three refused to accept she was the customer and said the phone was registered to a Miss Fatima.

You have told me that when Three accepted there had been a mistake, it cut off the phone number, disrupting your daughters work. Worse still, it wrote to Miss Fatima at your daughters address, demanding 73 in outstanding charges. It refused to discuss this with your daughter because, of course, she was not Miss Fatima.

Three does not appear to have caused the error in the first place. When I enquired, staff told me your daughters account was set up by a dealer. On the same day the business also set up an account for Miss Fatima, but reversed the names and numbers when notifying Three. The bottom line is that Three is cancelling the demand for 73, refunding 41 it had already collected and adding a further 120 to make up for the inconvenience.Confidential reports have revealed for the first time the private concerns about Brexit of some of Britains leading companies.

Pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca, Amazon, store chain John Lewis, British Gas owner Centrica and fast food chain McDonalds are among the businesses to have laid bare their fears about being left short of workers after Brexit if there is a draconian clampdown on immigration.

Protest: John Lewis, headed by Paula Nickolds, wants its file removed from the dossier

Ministers have been warned that:

Head offices will be moved out of the country and thousands of jobs will be lost;

The supply of life-saving drugs will be hindered;

Care services for the elderly will be shut down;

Major infrastructure projects  including the nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset  will face severe delays;

Amazon deliveries will be put at risk.

The frank revelations are contained in documents submitted to the Home Office as part of a major consultation about immigration policy after Brexit.

Many of the remarks are much more hard-hitting than previous public statements from big businesses, which have tended to be bland and non-committal.

Some firms were under the impression that their views would be kept secret. A number of the submitted files were marked confidential and one company made clear it did not want its response to be divulged even if there was a Freedom of Information request. Nonetheless, the Home Office went ahead and published the documents.

The John Lewis Partnership  whose managing director is Paula Nickolds  has since demanded that its file be removed, but other firms do not yet appear to have protested.

The companies complained of the potential for skills and labour shortages at every level. AstraZeneca warned that any restriction of access to foreign workers could damage its ability to discover and deliver life-changing medicines to patients around the world.

Four Seasons Health Care, which operates 260 care homes for the elderly across the UK, said it has experienced difficulties recruiting nurses since the Brexit referendum. It warned it may have to shut services if it cannot hire EU staff.

Johnson & Johnson, the US consumer goods and drugs giant behind Johnsons Baby Oil and mouthwash Listerine, said it would be forced to move jobs and work overseas if workers from the EU are prevented from coming to Britain.

Amazon said it was reviewing contingency plans for a hard stop to the freedom of movement between the UK and the EU.

It raised question marks over its ability to remain operational and successful here, particularly during peak periods suggesting it may struggle to make deliveries. The company described the scenario as a very high concern.

Jacobs, a US engineering contractor with 7,000 employees in Britain, said it could be forced to reduce the size of its UK operations or move its head office overseas. It said difficulty recruiting could force prices up.

French energy giant EDF, which is building two nuclear power plants at Hinkley Point, raised the spectre of an energy crunch.

The firm estimates it will need 7,500 non-British workers to complete the project and if they are not available, the 20 billion cost of building Hinkley Point C could soar and the 2027 completion date be pushed back.

The John Lewis Partnership urged the Government to stick to a flexible immigration policy, saying EU workers play an integral role in the company.

Fast-food giant McDonalds said a reduction in EU migrants would have a significant detrimental impact on the hospitality sector.

Tech firm IBM said the UK could risk losing its status as a leader in areas such as artificial intelligence and cyber-security.

And financial data provider Bloomberg, which has more than 4,000 employees in London, said there are not enough competent candidates from the UK to meet our needs at present, adding: Therefore any unduly inhibitive immigration controls would stunt our growth and wider success.

The Home Offices Migration Advisory Committee, which ran the consultation, said last night that firms had been aware their submissions would be made public.

The papers will be used to compile a report due to be released in September as the Government seeks to put in place a new immigration system by 2021.MBABANE  Death has yet again robbed the country of a resourceful person in Gideon Jabulani Mahlalela.



Mahlalela was the first Swazi Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Swaziland Railway (SR).

His untimely death was confirmed by his daughter Thobile in a brief interview on Thursday.



Babe Mahlalela passed away this morning (Thursday) at around 2am, confirmed Thobile who answered Mahlalelas telephone.

She explained that Mahlalela died while undergoing treatment in one of the local hospitals.



Adding, Thobile said her father had been sick for a while, without disclosing the ailment.

We are still not sure about the dates for the funeral because we are still waiting for his son who is based overseas. However, we are planning to have the funeral on Saturday. If we can be able to secure a venue on time, the memorial will be held on Thursday.



In the event there are changes, Thobile said they would keep the public informed and further stated that Mahlalela is survived by two children. Initially, Mahlalela had three children.



Thobile disclosed that they recently buried their sibling in August, last year.

She also expressed hope that her brother, Jama would be in the country within the next three days.

The parastatal where Mahlalela started working in 1982 passed its deepest condolences to his family, friends and relatives.

Sive Manana, Swaziland Railway Corporate Communications Manager, said they heard about the sad news on Thursday morning, adding that staff was informed of the sad news on the same day.



We had not anticipated receiving such news because we had known that he was in good health.

Manana pointed out that the company was still to get more details from the family about the passing of their former CEO.

Since the news is still fresh, we are going to give the family sometime before we go to pass our condolences.

He described Mahlalelas death as a loss, not only to Swaziland Railway, but to the entire country.MBABANE  The extradition request for Sipho Shongwe to the Republic of South Africa while he faces a murder charge in the country does not sit well with Judge Sipho Nkosi.



The judge made this known on Thursday during the continuation of Shongwes bail hearing at the High Court.

Shongwe has been charged with the murder of businessman Victor Gamedze while in South Africa he is wanted for escaping from lawful custody, forgery and uttering.



Shongwe and the Crown made submissions on whether or not he was released from Barberton Maximum Prison using fraudulent documents.



Judge Nkosi wanted to determine if Shongwes release was lawful and if so, the court would continue to hear his bail application and if not, he would not be granted bail.



After the parties made their submissions, Judge Nkosi said he would make a ruling on the nature of Shongwes release from prison next Friday. The Crown is, however, adamant that the judge does not have jurisdiction to determine whether Shongwe escaped.



While Shongwe fights for his freedom in the country, the Hawks in neighbouring South Africa are reportedly investigating the circumstances surrounding his release from Barberton Maximum Prison, allegedly on parole, where he was serving a life sentence.

South Africa has made a request for Shongwe to be extradited to that country to answer on allegations that he escaped from prison in 2008. The extradition hearing is pending before Manzini Principal Magistrate, David Khumalo.



MBABANE  Are our relatives being certified dead and taken to the mortuary while still alive?



The question came up from a family that believes one of their own was also certified dead while still alive at the Releigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital and taken to the mortuary.



They raised the question after reports by the Times of Swazilands March 26th publication, of how police had to be called in to calm a situation that was turning volatile at the Dups Funeral Home.



This was after an aggrieved Langa family is said to have confronted staff at the funeral home as it was of the view that their relative had been wrongly declared dead at the RFM Hospital.



Their relative had been admitted to the hospital on March 12 and doctors presumed that she was suffering from heart failure.

She was certified dead two days later but the family was not convinced.



Another family is adamant that their daughter was alive and was actually in a coma when a doctor at the same hospital pronounced her dead and instructed that she be taken to the mortuary.



They claim that this was done without her being properly checked if she was still alive or not.

According to Ephraim Zwane, a relative, their daughter, Sakhile Dlamini was diabetic and would at times have blackouts, where she would be a comatose condition. in



She often lost consciousness, they narrated

[March 30, 2018] April Johnson Named Vice President of Claims at BETA Healthcare Group

BETA Healthcare Group (BETA) announced today that April Johnson has been named Vice President of Claims effective January 1, 2019, following the retirement of Andrea Raub at the end of 2018. Ms. Johnson is currently the Vice President of Alternative Risk and Insurance Services and is actively involved in business development, operations and overall management of the professional liability claims staff in BETA's Southern California offices. In her new role, Ms. Johnson will assume responsibility for the management of the entire professional liability Claims Department and her business development and operational duties will be consolidated under Insurance Operations. "Retirement of a long-term leader often presents a unique challenge for an organization to hire a successor who can seamlessly and effectively assume management of the department with minimal disruption. BETA has been fortunate to have had two strong leaders in its Claims Department for many years, and April was the obvious choice to succeed Andrea. Already intimately involved with the management of the claims staff, this will be a natural transition for her," said Tom Wander, BETA's Chief Executive Officer. "I am honored and privileged to be selected for this position. I look forward to building upon the many initiatives begun by Andrea, ensuring we maintan our ethical, economical and efficient approach to claims handling and further enhancing our reputation for providing excellent claims services to our members and insureds," added Ms. Johnson.



Ms. Johnson has worked at BETA for more than 18 years and has been involved in claims department supervision and management for 16 years. Before joining BETA in 1999, she was a senior associate with a large national insurance defense law firm, specializing in medical professional liability and employment practices liability. She has a Bachelor of Science degree with High Honors in Business Administration from San Diego State University and a Juris Doctor, Cum Laude, from University of San Diego School of Law. She has earned the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation and is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM). About BETA Healthcare Group

BETA Healthcare Group (BETA) is the largest professional liability insurer of hospitals on the West Coast and provides coverage to more than 250 hospitals and healthcare facilities. In addition, BETA provides workers' compensation coverage for over 40,000 healthcare workers in California. BETA also has a long-established and growing commitment to physicians, providing medical professional liability coverage to over 6,000 physicians and more than 50 medical groups. Beyond primary liability and workers' compensation coverage, BETA provides an entire suite of alternative risk and insurance services, including excess healthcare professional liability coverage, excess workers' compensation coverage, third-party claims administration services, risk management consulting services and claims management consulting services. Whether with hospitals, medical groups, clinics or hospices, BETA has earned a reputation for financial strength, rate stability, quality service and breadth of coverage that is unparalleled in the industry. For more information, please visit www.betahg.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180330005296/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][March 30, 2018] FOOT LOCKER SHAREHOLDER ALERT by Former Louisiana Attorney General: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Reminds Investors with Losses in Excess of $100,000 of Lead Plaintiff Deadline in Class Action Lawsuit Against Foot Locker, Inc. - FL

Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until May 8, 2018 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE: FL), if they purchased the Company's shares between August 19, 2016 and August 17, 2017, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. What You May Do If you purchased shares of Foot Locker and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-fl/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by May 8, 2018.



About the Lawsuit Foot Locker and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On August 18, 2017, the Company revealed negative financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2017, including revenue significantly below expectations, attributed in part to lower same-store sales, that many more stores were being closed than previously announced, and that weaker sales were expected for the rest of the fiscal year. On this news, the price of Foot Locker's shares plummeted. About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include the former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180330005245/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][March 30, 2018] RH INVESTIGATION INITIATED by Former Louisiana Attorney General: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Investigates the Officers and Directors of RH - (RH)

Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF"), announces that KSF has commenced an investigation into RH (NYSE: RH). In 2015, RH launched new product lines, notably, "RH Modern" repeatedly emphasizing its preparedness for the launch pertaining to necessary inventory investments and proper inventory levels, as well as its subsequent performance. On February 24, 2016, RH disclosed negative Q4 2015 results caused in part by "shipping delays as certain vendors are struggling to ramp up production" and that "poor in-stocks also suppressed orders." Then, on June 8, 2016, RH revealed that it had issued $18 million in customer accommodations "largely as a result of RH Modern production delays" contributing to negative Q1 2016 results. Thereafter, RH and certain of its executives were sued in a securities class action lawsuit, charging them with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. Recently, the court presiding over that case denied RH's motion to dismiss, noting in part that "rosy epresentations concealed that RH Modern was suffering from a severe lack [of] inventory" and citing an internal RH memo stating that customers were "on fire" and that RH had "let customers die."



KSF's investigation is focusing on whether RH's officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to RH's shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws. If you have information that would assist KSF in its investigation, or have been a long-term holder of RH shares and would like to discuss your legal rights, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-rh/ to learn more.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180330005285/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][March 30, 2018]

314e Corporation Names Douglas Herr Senior Vice President

FREMONT, Calif., March 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 314e Corporation, a healthcare IT consulting company, announced the appointment of Douglas Herr as senior vice president for Epic services. Herr will work closely with clients to support sales efforts, oversee delivery and support for 314e consultants. He will lead efforts to develop additional solution offerings and extend 314e capabilities in post go-live optimization, standardization and adoption-oriented Epic services. His responsibilities will include resource management, quality control, client satisfaction, vendor relations and operations.

Prior to 314e, Herr was vice president for Leidos Health where he was responsible for the direct management and oversight of the Epic practice. Herr also held leadership roles in client and vendor relations at Logic Healthcare, Stoltenberg Consulting, maxIT Healthcare and ACS Healthcare Solutions.

"Douglas brings years of healthcare IT leadership and Epic experience to the 314e team. We are thrilled to have him as part of the 314e family and to continue to provide innovative solutions and exceptional servie to our customers," said 314e SVP of Operations Alok Sharma.







Herr graduated from Emerson College with a Bachelor of Science in speech. Herr is a member of several associations including HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society), CHIME (College of Healthcare Information Management Executives), Child Health Corporation of America (CHCA) and the National Eagle Scout Association.

About 314e Corporation

314e Corporation is a full-service Healthcare ONLY Information Technology solutions and services company headquartered in Fremont, California, with a regional office in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Since 2004, 314e has helped over 150 healthcare providers across the country with IT Advisory, EHR, business and departmental application implementation and support, Business Intelligence, Integration and Interoperability, as well as Security and Infrastructure services. 314e was recently named 2018 Best in KLAS in Technical Services. To learn more about 314e, visit www.314e.com.

Media Contact

314e Corporation

info@314ecorp.com

510.371.67636

Related Links

314e Webpage

314e LinkedIn

View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/314e-corporation-names-douglas-herr-senior-vice-president-300622402.html

SOURCE 314e CorporationAbsinthe has often been portrayed as a dangerously addictive psychoactive drug and hallucinogen. The chemical compound thujone, although present in the spirit in only trace amounts, was blamed for its alleged harmful effects. By 1915, absinthe had been banned in the United States and in much of Europe, including France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria-Hungary. Although absinthe was vilified, it has not been demonstrated to be any more dangerous than ordinary spirits. Recent studies have shown that absinthe's psychoactive properties (apart from that of the alcohol) have been exaggerated.

Lifted Spirits releases Kansas City area's first absinthe - Kansas City Business Journal Lifted Spirits, a Kansas City craft distillery at 1734 Cherry St., is about to release the first absinthe made in the area. Absinthe is a high-proof liquor, traditionally made with three core ingredients: wormwood, fennel and anise. It has an herbal, floral and black licorice flavor.

The local hipster fantasy land gets just a bit more gully . . .Read more about the "business" of pushing last legal drug that is appropriately taxed and therefore legal:The announcement triggered an apoplectic reaction on the Left. Democrats in Congress such as Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) expressed their outrage at the notion that the United States would want to know how many citizens it actually has.Labor issues will likely be a focus for Democrats in 2018 JEFFERSON CITY * In March 2016, Democrats whipped up union members outside the Missouri Capitol, rallying them against the anti-labor proposals that attract attention every year in the GOP-controlled Legislature. The Democrats - chief among them then-Attorney General Chris Koster and then-Secretary of State Jason Kander - also made pitches for themselves to the blue-collar crowd.

There are more frustrated workers and people fighting to survive economically than there are activists among the ranks of special interest group social justice warriors . . . If the Missouri elite are smart, they'll tout collective bargaining rights before playing identity politics with the GOP who are far better at using social issues to dominate the electorate. Read more:TDOV is a day to show your support for the trans community. It aims to bring attention to the accomplishments of trans people around the globe while fighting cissexism and transphobia by spreading knowledge of the trans community. Unlike Transgender Day of Remembrance, this is not a day for mourning: this is a day of empowerment and getting the recognition we deserve!

Today we examine the Kansas City discourse in terms of a remarkable shift away from traditional heartland conservatism toward tolerance, acceptance and downright jubilation of alternative lifestyles.But first . . .Here's what makes this day so special. . .Accordingly, just a few moments agoHer supporters claim that progress on the new airport, work against violence on the Mayor's anti-crime task force and her happy hour bar meetings have propelled her to the top of the list of contenders who might lead Kansas City in an upcoming election.Meanwhile, not everybody is a fan of Council Lady Jolie and rising Midtown KC crime along with frustration about City Hall transparency work against her otherwise progressive image.Still . . . More than any other serous candidate for Mayor in Kansas City, MO - Council Lady Jolie has the love of4th District denizens who still view her as a champion for LGBT rights and potentially the first openly gay honcho in City Hall history.You decide . . .Greece is one of the top destinations in the world for religious tourism

Greece is slowly but surely edging closer to Easter  a religious occasion celebrated across the country with more gusto than in many other Western Christian countries.

Unlike most European nations, which will celebrate on April 1st, Greece will adhere to the Orthodox Easter, which falls early this year  April 8th.

Orthodox Churches still use the Julian calendar for Easter, which means that there can be a 13-day lag behind the Gregorian.

So, for example, on Mount Athos  an autonomous religious state in northern Greek prefecture of Chalkidiki under the protection of Athens  is it always 13 days behind the rest of Europe.

One reason behind the Orthodox community having its own Easter date is a tradition going back centuries which states the church must celebrate after the Jewish Passover to maintain the Biblical sequence of Christs Passion.

In 2018, Passover starts on March 30 and ends April 7  just one day before Orthodox Easter.

Nevertheless, the Passover link has been largely dropped by Western Christianitys calculation of Easter. In fact, the last time the two great Christian denominations shared a date for Easter was in 2017.

Calculating the date

Another complicating factor historically was finding a date and sticking to it. During the early days of their faith, Christians celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ at different times.

It was the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council in 325 AD who came up with a uniform way of setting the date. They ordered that Easter was to be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox, but always after Passover.

In order to ensure there was no confusion as to when the vernal equinox took place , the date of the vernal equinox was set to be March 21 (April 3 on the Julian Calendar).

The first full moon after this equinox this year falls on Saturday, March 31.

To this day, the Orthodox have stuck with this method of calculating the date of Easter, leading to it usually falling later than in the Catholic countries.

Nevertheless, in 1923, a group of Orthodox churches met in Istanbul to re-examine the calendar issue, eventually adopting a controversial position that important religious dates would follow the most astrologically-accurate Georgian calendar  except Easter.

So, in 2018 Greek Orthodox will celebrate Good Friday on Friday, April 6, Easter Sunday on April 8 and Easter Monday on April 9.

Watch Greek Reporters documentary on Rocketwar, a unique Greek Easter custom taking place on Greece's Chios Island during Easter...

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:pixabay.com

Source: greekreporter.comeditorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Mohali, March 30

The role of four more persons has come under the scanner in the case of the murder of a 28-year-old CTU employee, Abhishek Guleria, whose body was found alongside the Pinjore-Baddi road on March 25.

Sources said on a statement of one of the accused Forest Hill employees, liaisoning officer Gurdeep Bains, his assistant Tarsem Singh and security in-charge Balwinder Singh, who had allegedly disposed of the body after finding it in the tank of sewage treatment plant of the resort, the police on Friday questioned Ramesh Kumar, Dharampal, Davinder Kumar and Ramesh Chand, who work as security guards at the resort.

The SIT, headed by Inspector General (Crime) Shashi Prabha Diwedi, on Friday visited the resort in Nayagaon for an inspection along with Mohali SP (Detective) Harbir Singh Atwal, who has now been included in the four-member SIT.

The sources said the police had summoned the security guards to record their statements for their alleged role in assisting the others in lifting the body out of the tank and tying and wrapping it in a sack before dumping it.

Mohali SP Harbir Singh Atwal said the SIT inspected the spot at the resort where the body was found, before visiting the farm where the victim had met some acquaintances for drinks in Nayagaon.

During the inspection, which lasted over two hours, several employees of the resort were questioned, and the police were trying to ascertain how and when the victim entered the resort since the CCTV footage was inconclusive.

The police said that Lt Col Baljit Singh Sandhu (retd), Chairman of WWICS Group, an immigration consultancy, and owner of Forest Hill Resort, had not been traced yet. A case under Sections 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code had been registered against the three resort employees, who are under remand.

Lt Col Sandhu was named in the FIR, while no charges had been pressed against him.

The victim, Abhishek Guleria, a Burail resident and native of Himachal Pradesh, had gone missing on March 14. He was found dead on the Pinjore-Baddi road on March 25.editorial@tribune.com

Ishrat S Banwait

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 30

After the Punjab and Haryana High Court rapped the Chandigarh Police for their failure to curb noise pollution, especially due to modified silencers and pressure horns, the traffic police have been actively challaning such vehicles. According to the traffic police, 1,800 challans have already been issued for noise pollution in the first three months of this year.

This has not only dampened the spirit of nuisance makers but has also sparked a reverse trend. A visit to auto mechanics in the city disclosed that the youths are now approaching them for installing original/non-modified silencers in their motorcycles. Earlier, they had spent money to get the company-fitted silencer removed to install the one that produces a louder sound.

One of the mechanics in Sector 21, Ehsan, said, Till some time ago, boys would get their silencers modified or buy other ones which produce loud sounds. However, for the past few weeks, they are coming to get the genuine silencers fitted back.

He said they were also discouraging people from getting their silencers modified or changed now by informing them they could get challaned or their vehicles could be impounded.

Low availability of original silencers

Other than the challan, getting the original silencer refitted to their motorcycles is also burning a hole in the pocket of bike owners with modified silencers. It has been learnt that the availability of original silencers is low as even shopkeepers used to sell these to scrap dealers. However, now they are being bought back from them and they are charging anywhere between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000.

The owner of City Autos in Sector 21, Arun Mahajan, said, Modified silencers cost around Rs 2,000. Now, people have to spend the same amount for refitting the original silencers. He said he sold the original silencers that were removed for around Rs 75 per silencer to scrap dealers, who bought it according to the weight of the metal.

While the police on March 8 had told the High Court that they had issued 690 challans this year for noise pollution, SSP (Traffic) Shashank Anand claimed that the number had reached 1,800 till Friday. However, youths owning Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycles say the traffic police are unnecessarily harassing them. The police had told the court that of the 71 motorcycles impounded for the offence till March 8, 34 were Bullets.harinder@tribunemail.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 30

A youth, Aman, was stabbed to death in a brawl outside a liquor vend in Sector 25 on Friday night. Sources said two groups clashed near the vend and the fight turned ugly.

One person was seriously injured and taken to the GMSH, Sector 16, where he was declared dead.

Stone pelting continued till midnight, according to reports. The police reached the spot and were trying to control the situation till the filing of this report.singhking99@yahoo.com

Swati Dey

Tribune News service

New Delhi, March 31

Several SSC aspirants took to the streets against the paper leak and scam, demanding a Supreme Court-monitored probe by the CBI. Protestors clashed with the police in Lutyens' Delhi today accusing the government of failing to prevent the alleged paper leak.

The protesters, who also demanded adequate jobs for the countrys educated youth, had given time till 3 pm to the concerned authorities for a written assurance on their demands and said they would march towards the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

Large number of police and security personnel were deployed in the area and when the protesters attempted to march towards the DoPT, they were detained.

As per a senior police officer, around 3,000 SSC aspirants were protesting near the Parliament Street police station. Around 3 pm, they attempted to proceed towards the Parliament.

The protesters held up traffic in Lutyens' Delhi for over an hour. Police managed to disperse them and around 200 protesters were detained, who were currently under detention at various police stations, the officer added.

The protestors have claimed of being lathicharged by police, and have shared the photos on social media.

(With inputs from PTI)editorial@tribune.com

Mukesh Tandon

Tribune News Service

Panipat, March 31

Superintendent of Police (SP) Rahul Sharma has directed the DSP (Headquarters) to conduct an internal departmental investigation into the reported negligence by police personnel in connection with the paver-throwing incident on the car of Health Minister Anil Vij here on Friday.

The DSP was directed to submit his inquiry report by Monday. The police produced accused Deepak and Amit in court today and sought remand of the cousins for further investigation into the case. The court admitted the request and allowed one-day police custody of the accused.

Sources said the youths were frustrated and had gone to India Gate in New Delhi two or three days back to protest the apex courts recent decision on the SC/ST Act. The sources said they had decided to oppose the dilution of the Act before Vij and came to the Mini-Secretariat for the purpose.

They believed that the decision was taken by the apex court, but BJP was responsible for it, said the sources. That was the reason they damaged the BJP ministers car, added the sources.

The sources further said the SP sought complete details of employees posted in the security of the minister on Friday and directed the DSP (HQ) to conduct an inquiry into the lapse in security.

All personnel present during the incident were summoned to the Police Headquarters at the Mini-Secretariat on Saturday. DC Sumedha Kataria said that the incident was very unfortunate and both youths were in custody.

It was decided that the matter, especially lapses in security and reported negligence of police personnel in the ministers security, should be investigated properly, she said. It was decided that the inquiry would be conducted by a DSP, she said. The matter could not be taken lightly as it was a serious offence, she added.

The SP said he had ordered a special investigation into the incident and DSP (Headquarters) Jagdeep Duhan would submit a detailed inquiry report, including responsibility of police personnel, by Monday. Stringent action would be taken against the police personnel found guilty in the inquiry, he added.

A youth damaged the car of the minister by throwing a paver on it in the porch of the Mini-Secretariat on Friday. The police arrested the attacker and his accomplice after the incident.

No objection to pardon: Vij

Ambala: Anil Vij said on Saturday that he would have no objection if the youth who damaged his car was pardoned. He said, "It was an act by a crazy person and he was reportedly in an inebriated condition. I asked the SP to pardon him, but the administration has its own procedure. It was an act of negligence by the police. I would not have any objection if he was pardoned." TNSeditorial@tribune.com

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, March 31

Long weekend due to a holiday for Good Friday and the Thank You India event organised by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) brought hordes of tourists to Dharamsala in the past few days. However, this spurt in tourists also brought in steep hike in airfares to Dharamsala.

Sanjay Sharma, a HPCA spokesperson, who wanted to fly to Delhi on Thursday said the airfare of both Air India and SpiceJet that operate flights between Delhi and Dharamsala did not come down from Rs 19,000 (for a one-way ticket) due to which he had to cancel his trip.

Tourists who flew in from Delhi to Dharamsala this week said they had to shell out up to Rs 18,000 for a SpiceJet flight. Sources here said rates of the Air India flight to Dharamsala peaked to Rs 19,372 last week.

Sanjeev Gandhi, general secretary of the Upper Dharamsala Hoteliers Association, said in case the airfares to Dharamsala were not reduced it could hit tourism in the area. He said most of the tourists were now taking flights to Chandigarh and Amritsar and coming to Dharamsala by road due to the high fare. The airfare from Delhi to Amritsar ranged between Rs 6,000 and Rs 7,000. However, airfares to Dharamsala were unreasonably high, he said.

Deepak, a travel agent, said in the lean tourist season, the airfares from Dharamsala to Delhi ranged upto Rs 4,000 and Rs 5000. However, in the peak tourist season, the aviation companies increase the rates to make unreasonable profits. It goes upto Rs 22,000 for one way trip from Delhi to Dharamsala. Travelling to international destinations like Singapore, Thailand and Dubai was cheaper than coming from Delhi to Dharamsala, he said.

Anurag Thakur, the BJP MP from Hamirpur, said the Gaggal airport in Kangra district was the only airport in Himachal that could be expanded. The Union Government had asked the state government to acquire land for the expansion of Gaggal airport. However, the previous Congress government had expressed its inability to acquire the land due to which the expansion of airport could not be carried out, he said.

Anurag Thakur said the airfares for Dharamsala remained high as bigger planes could not land here. Just 70- seater planes could land here due to which the air fares remained high, he said.

Besides the Gaggal airport in Kangra, there are two more domestic airports in Himachal  Shimla and Kullu. The sources here said the Airports Authority of India had demanded about 500 acres in Shimla for expansion of the airstrip. However, such a huge chunk of land was not available in the area. The present strip of the Shimla airport can handle just about 42-seater planes. At present, besides Air India no other company is maintaining 42-seater planes. Sources here said the companies did not maintain 42-seater planes as these were economically unviable.

The Kullu airport was located between two hills and it was very difficult to expand it, so the bigger planes cannot land there, the sources said.

The Himachal Government had written to the Government of India that flight rates to Himachal should be subsidised as was being done in Jammu and Kashmir and Northeastern states. However, the demand has not been accepted by the Government of India so far.pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh), March 31

BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav, Minister of State for Culture Mahesh Sharma and BJP MP Shanta Kumar on Saturday attended the Tibetans' Thank You India-2018 event at Dharamshala.

The year-long event has been planned by Central Tibet Administration to mark 60 years of the Dalai Lamas arrival in India.

Speaking at the event in McLeodganj, Madhav said India appreciates the desire of the Tibetans-in-exile to return to their motherland, and that they should not consider themselves refugees in their second home.

India has always welcomed people in problem with open arms. Many people came to India as refugees, and found love and shelter here. The life of a refugee is very tough and full of struggles, but the Tibetans should not consider themselves refugees as they are living in their second home, Madhav said.

He said that then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru followed the dharma of the land to give shelter to the Tibetans, though we followed the one-China policy at the political level.

Actually, the Dalai Lama should be thanked for coming to India along with so many Buddhist scholars, the BJP leader said.

Buddhism went from eastern India to Tibet 1,300 years ago. We are bound by spirit, religion, culture and knowledge. So, we are brothers, and brothers do not thank each other, he said.

We appreciate your desire to go back to your motherland ... And we wish you all the luck. This desire must not vanish. Till then, India is your home. India is the land of the Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi and the Dalai Lama, Madhav said.

Union Minister Mahesh Sharma said, India and Tibet have decades-old relations which cannot be measured by any scale. Our relationship is that of an elder and a younger brother, who need not thank each other. He said it is painful to call the Tibetans refugees.

You are our guests. Our relationship is like flower and fragrance, he added.

BJP MP Shanta Kumar said, Dharamsala has become the spiritual centre of the world due to the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama here. It is the greatness of the spiritual leader that he wanted to thank India.

Tibetan leader takes on China

Lobsang Sangay, the president of the Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan government-in-exile, quoted the Dalai Lama as saying, India is the guru (teacher) and we are the chelas (disciples). And to respect the guru is our dharma. We are thankful to India, as we rebuilt the Tibetan civilisation, revived the Tibetan culture and preserved and promoted the Tibetan identity in India, he said.

No other country has done what India did for the Tibetan people in the past 60 years, he said.

The Dalai Lama says he is the son of India and, therefore, we are all its grandchildren, Sangay said.

Lashing out at China, he said the situation in Tibet is very grim. It is more difficult for the media to go to Tibet than to North Korea.

Since the formation of our government-in-exile, China has destroyed the Tibetan culture and carried out a number of killings, he alleged.

Sangay said that our government-in-exile in an exclusive product of the Make in India campaign, which is supported by all Tibetans.

Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi and Himachal minister Kishan Kapoor were among those who attended the event.

The event, which was earlier planned in Delhi, was shifted to McLeodganj in upper Dharamshala after the Indian government directed its officials to stay away from it, citing sensitive time for relations between India and China.

Dalai Lama embraces jawan who escorted him in 1959

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama got emotional on Saturday as he embraced one of the five Assam Rifles jawans, Naren Chandra Das, who escorted him in India after his escape from Tibet.

In 1959, as a young trooper Das, now 80, escorted the Dalai Lama, now 82, on his arrival in Arunachal Pradesh. Dalai Lama has lived in exile ever since fleeing Tibet in March 1959.

"I feel blessed once again as His Holiness touched me and bumped his head with my head," Das told reporters after he was honoured by the leader at the 'Thank You India' event.

Das said he was overwhelmed by the gesture of His Holiness for inviting him.

In 2017, Das was reunited with the Dalai Lama for the first time in 58 years at a festival organised by the Assam government.

Das, who joined the force in 1957, said he was told to escort the Dalai Lama along with others. "We were directed only to escort the Dalai Lama and not to speak with him," said Das.

He was then posted at Lungla near the China border after having completed his training at Tawang in the then North East Frontier Agency, now Arunachal Pradesh, he said.

The Dalai Lama has lived in India since fleeing China in 1959 after a failed uprising against Communist rule in Tibet. Agencieseditorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, March 31

Shanta Kumar, BJP MP from Kangra, said on Saturday that China should pave the way for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet.

He stated this while addressing the Thank You India event at Tsuglagkhang Temple in Dharamsala.

The move would improve Chinas image in the world, he said. Lobsang Sangay, president of the Central Tibetan Administration, termed the Chinese occupation of Tibet as illegal. He said about one million Tibetans had lost their life since the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

However, all this has not broken the spirit of the Tibetans. They still want the Dalai Lama back in Tibet, he said. He thanked India for helping them preserve the culture, heritage and religion of Tibet.

Spiritual leader embraces trooper who escorted him in Indiaeditorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 31

Aimed at providing relief to owners of over 25,000 unauthorised structures made in violation of building norms, the State Government has filed a review petition in the High Court against its earlier order restraining the amendment in the Town and Country Planning Act to give relief to the violators.

The review petition was filed in the High Court on Friday against the earlier order passed by a Division Bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol of December 22, 2017. The court in its order had struck down the Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning Regularisation Amendment Act, 2016 allowing the regularisation of unauthorised structure, be it residential or commercial.

The Congress and BJP have been in favour of granting relief to people whose buildings have not been regularised due to violation in building norms and deviation from the approved building plan by the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department. The number of such structures is estimated to be over 25,000 with the highest concentration being in Shimla, urban and rural areas.

The fate of these unauthorised structures has been hanging in balance as the High Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has come down heavily on the Government for being sympathetic towards the violators. The High Court through an earlier decision had barred the State Government from bringing in retention policy to give relief to the owners of these illegal structures. A total of six such policies have been made from time to time to accommodate violators.

The ruling

Insertion of Section 30-B by the amending Act is contrary to the object and purpose of the principal Act, as also ultra vires of the Constitution of India. The Bench

Unfettered power to govt

It observed that Section 30-B of the amending Act gave unfettered power to the government to regularise all illegal constructions carried out either without any sanction or in excess of the compoundable limits. The amending Act is in fact a legislation for a class of dishonest persons, the 86 page judgment read.editorial@tribune.com

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, March 31

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Saturday injected optimism that irrespective of the time it may take, the peaceful struggle of the Tibetan people would succeed and the issue will remain alive so long the spirit of the people remains with it.

I dont know how much more time the Tibetan struggle would take. But till the spirit of Tibetans remains, the issue would remain alive. The Tibetan issue is an issue of justice, the Dalai Lama said in response to a media query at the Thank You India-2018 event organised by the Central Tibetan Administration here, attended by several hundred of his followers.

Union Minister for Culture Mahesh Sharma, Kangra MP Shanta Kumar, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav, Congress MP Satyavrat Chaturvedi and Himachal Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Kishan Kapoor attended the event.

The Dalai Lama bestowed honour on Assam Rifles soldier Naren Chandra Das, who received him at the Indian border 60 years ago.

Emphasising that confrontation does not yield any result, he said an amicable resolution of the Tibetan issue was the only way out. Stating that China follows a socialist form of government, he said it meant that everybody should have equal rights. Tibetans are not demanding separation from China but Tibetan people should have the autonomy to preserve their culture, language, environment and religion, the Dalai Lama said.

Underscoring that there was no change in policy over Tibet since the days of Jawaharlal Nehru to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as India stands by its One China policy, Ram Madhav said India continues to receive love letters, especially when such events are attended even though the relations with Tibetans were cultural and religious.

The statement is a nodding acknowledgment of an anticipated reaction from China. The event was shifted from Delhi after the Centre advised officials to stay away from it, citing sensitive time in Sino-Indian relations.

India, he said, always welcomed different communities with open arms and an open heart. The country has hosted many different people in history such as the Parsis and Jews who came and found love, peace and shelter.editorial@tribune.com

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 30

Ahead of the April 2 nation-wide bandh call on the Supreme Court (SC) orders regarding the alleged dilution of the provisions in the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, paramilitary forces have already been deployed in the Dalit-dominated Doaba region.

The Jalandhar city police have already got deployed one company of the CRPF from the Sarai Khas camp. The recently set up blue-uniformed Rapid Action Force personnel from the force have been deployed at various important intersections of the city, certain sensitive and volatile areas and are standing guard to ensure that there are no untoward incidents.

Meanwhile, senior police officials have already started holding backdoor talks with various Dalit groups on the issue, urging them not to block the national highways and hold protests peacefully. The strength of all police stations has been enhanced and gazetted officers have been deployed at every police station for better communication and coordination, said IG Jalandhar Praveen Sinha.

Though the district administration has not urged the commercial establishments to keep their premises shut, it is intending to hold a meeting with various market committees, asking them to tell the shopkeepers to maintain peace. Precautions are Members of the All India Adi Dharam Mission, All India Adi Dharam Sadhu Samaj, BSP (Ambedkar) Shiv Sena Socialist have also given their support to Bharat Bandh against the provisions of the SC/ST Act.

In this regard, Jalandhar Tribune spoke to a few of the experts to determine the seriousness of the issue. State SC Commission Chairman Rajesh Bhagha, while giving reference of the cases in which hazardous atrocities were occurred to the SC/ST community, said, We should infer from the cases like Abohars Bheem Tank case in which his arms and feet were chopped off and killing of two SC boys in Machhiwara.

Therefore, its necessary for the apex court to look into both sides of the coin. If it thinks the Act is being misused, it should also take into account the incidents, where it has benefited the community. People have already fought many battles to make the SC/ ST Act a reality and weakening the Act would only bring discontentment among the distressed community.

He further suggested that if the authorities and the court really want to do something, it should make the caste-ridden country into a caste-free country where people would belong to only one caste. The top courts verdict of banning automatic arrests and registration of criminal cases under the SC and the ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989, is completely insensitive as the law protects the marginalised communities against discrimination and atrocities. It has weakened the Act and along with the feeling of fear, there is resentment among the community, he expresses his opinion.

He further said, Even today caste system has a major role to play in society and atrocities done to the community people are not new. We have enough number of examples to quote. If the court fears of any wrongdoing of the Act, it should work in the direction of removing the shortcomings and proper investigation should be conducted by officials on their part. The government should also intervene in the matter and take the responsibility that the Act wouldnt be diluted.

Agreeing to this, Congress SC leader Jagdish Samrai said, If the court thinks that the Act is being misused, diluting the Act wont be fruitful. Rather it should be made more stringent. For instance, if people are breaking traffic rules, we should not dilute the rules. In fact, making the rules stricter would command people to follow these. And, otherwise too misuse happens in other cases as well. Whenever the government launches any scheme, doesnt it get dissipated? Hence, before bringing out any conclusion and making the law ineffective, the Supreme Court needs to review its verdict.

See also P2editorial@tribune.com

Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 31

A day after visiting eastern Ladakh, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday visited Northern Command headquarters at Udhampur.

The General was briefed by General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), Northern Command, Lt General D Anbu on overall security situation along the Line of Control (LoC) and the hinterland in the command theatre.

Giving details, Northern Command PRO Col NN Joshi said the Army Chief interacted with senior military commanders and got a first-hand assessment of the prevailing operational conditions and preparedness.

He appreciated the high standards of operational readiness in the difficult terrain and challenging operational environment. The General also lauded the synergy and cooperation between the Northern Command, Air Force, Central Armed Police Forces, civil administration, and J&K Police operating in the region, Joshi said.

The Northern Command looks after the entire Kashmir valley, Ladakh region and a major part of Jammu region, except Jammu plains, which fall under the Western Command. The Northern Command has to look after the security of three types of borders, 740-km LoC with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Actual Ground Position Line at Siachen and Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China in eastern Ladakh.

This command is one of the most active operational areas of the Army which has to tackle the challenge of infiltration and ceasefire violation on the LoC, armed insurgency in hinterland of the Valley, inclement and harsh weather conditions at Siachen and unpredictable situation along the LAC.

On Friday, General Rawat visited forward areas in eastern Ladakh and reviewed security situation and operational preparedness. The Army Chief had extolled all ranks for their unwavering dedication and high morale in toughest climatic conditions.editorial@tribune.com

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 31

Amid reports that the Sangh Parivar is assessing the gains and losses of running a government with the Peoples Democratic Party in J&K, top leaders of the state BJP met RSS sah sarkaryavah (joint general secretary) Manmohan Vaidya in Jammu on Saturday morning to discuss the prevailing situation in the state.

Highly placed sources said the BJP leadership presented a report card of the three-year performance of the coalition government headed by the PDP.

During an hour-long meeting, the BJP leaders briefed the senior RSS functionary about the achievements of their ministers in the coalition, a source said, adding, the party delegation said it was because of the coalition compulsion that the BJP ministers were not able to carry forward the party agenda in the government.

The BJP delegation which met Vaidya included state BJP president Sat Sharma and general secretaries Ashok Koul and Narindra Singh.

Although the RSS and BJP leadership is tight-lipped over the meeting, sources said Vaidya had not received encouraging reports about the performance of the party ministers in the coalition government. The central leadership is aware of the recent controversy in J&K over some contentious decisions taken by the coalition government, a source said.

The issues like an FIR against the Army after the Shopian incident and the governments proposed surrender policy for militants has created a fear among a section of the Sangh Parivar, the source said.

Before meeting the BJP delegation, Vaidya had received feedback from leaders of some Sangh Parivar offshoots which briefed him about the controversial decisions taken by the coalition government of which BJP is an equal partner, a source said. The issues like proposed rewards for surrendered militants, controversial decisions of the Tribal Affairs Ministry, Kathua murder and alleged rape case, deportation of the Rohingya and the rehabilitation of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and West Pakistani refugees were brought to the notice of the RSS leader, the source further said.

Sources said the RSS leader was told that after abandoning its core agenda of Article 370 abrogation and putting an end to the discrimination against the Jammu region, BJP leadership, had in the Agenda of Alliance, promised to work out one-time settlement for the PoK refugees of 1947, 1965 and 1971. They had promised to take measures for the sustenance and livelihood of the West Pakistan refugees, extending benefits accruing to the people living on the Line of Control to the people living on the International Border, giving the ST status to the Kolis, Chopans and the Paharis. The RSS leader was told that no steps had been taken in the last three years to fulfil the promises.editorial@tribune.com

Suhail A Shah

Anantnag, March 31

Militants carried out two attacks in south Kashmir on Saturday, killing a Special Police Officer (SPO) of the J&K Police in Pulwama district and injuring another in Anantnag district.

The slain policeman has been identified as Muhammad Ashraf Mir of Machpoona in Pulwama district. The injured policeman has been identified as Trilok Singh. He was shifted to a hospital in Srinagar for specialised treatment.

The police said Mir  who was posted with a counter-insurgency unit in Srinagar  had visited Pulwama to condole the death of a relative when he was ambushed, chased and shot by militants. The shooting took place around 4.30 pm on Saturday.

He was fired at by militants in the Murran Chowk area of the town. He was at present residing at Channapora in Srinagar and was off-duty, said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Pulwama, Chaudhary Muhammad Aslam.

Mir was rushed to a hospital with multiple firearm injuries and succumbed there. The case is being investigated, said the Pulwama SSP.

Earlier during the day, suspected militants opened fire at SPO Trilok Singh in the Khannabal locality of Anantnag town.

He was on duty at Khannabal Chowk when militants fired at him, a senior police officer said. The officer said Trilok was immediately rushed to District Hospital, Anantnag. A doctor at the hospital said Trilok Singh had a bullet injury on the right side of his chest.editorial@tribune.com

New Delhi, March 31

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate a dialogue process with Pakistan at the earliest as the key for peace was with the neighbouring country.

Speaking at a function organised by a group of Kashmiri Pandits owing allegiance to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mufti said that war was never an option.

Reconciliation is the mantra which we need to follow and therefore, I request Modiji to engage with Pakistan, she said.

We need to take an assurance from the neighbouring country that they should not be allowing their soil to be used against India. After all, we all know that the key for peace is in Pakistan. They have been pushing terrorists into the state, she said.

The CM said that efforts should be made for changing the slogan of azadi.

This can be achieved. Why cant Jammu and Kashmir be a gateway to the Central Asian countries?

If the CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) is a possibility, so can be this. If new roads are opened, the slogan of azadi will automatically change, she said at a gathering of 200 Kashmiri Pandits, who had to leave their homes after the onset of militancy in 1990.  PTIeditorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 31

The mortal remains of 1971 war hero Brigadier Narinder Singh Sandhu (retd), a Maha Vir Chakra awardee, were consigned to the flames here on Saturday with full military honours. A large number of serving and retired officers, relatives and well-wishers bid adieu to the 85-year-old war veteran who had been battling cancer.

Prominent among them were the General Officer Commanding, 1 Corps, Lt Gen AS Kler, who is Brigadier Sandhus son-in-law, the Chief of Staff, Western Command, Lt Gen GS Dhillon, Deputy Chief of Army Staff and Colonel of the Dogra Regiment Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, the Director Sainik Welfare, Punjab, Brig JS Arora, president and vice-president of War Decorated India Lt Gen GS Sihota and Brig KS Chandpuri, respectively, Colonel of the 65 Armoured Regiment and General Officers Commanding of several divisions based in the region. The Commanding officer of 10 Dogra, the battalion Brigadier Sandhu had commanded in the India-Pakistan war, was present too.

A ceremonial guard from the Dogra Regiment and 3 Cavalry reversed arms as a mark of respect while buglers sounded the Last Post. Wreaths were laid on behalf of the Governor, the Punjab Chief Minister and the GOC-in-C, Western Command. However, no political leader or senior officer from Punjab was seen.

An alumnus of Khalsa College, Amritsar, Brigadier Sandhu was commissioned into 3 Cavalry in 1953. While commanding 10 Dogra in the Dera Baba Nanak Sector in 1971, he captured a key bridge in Pakistans territory, aborting the enemys attempts to mount an offensive into Punjab. In spite of a bullet injury in his leg, he continued to lead his men.

During the 1965 Indo-Pak war earlier, he had been Mentioned-in-Dispatches for gallantry in the Battle of Asal Uttar in Punjab when his lone cavalry unit destroyed several M-47 Patton tanks of a Pakistani armoured division.

Pilot of AI plane hijacked in 1971 dead

Faridabad: Capt MK Kachru, pilot of the Indian Airlines plane hijacked to Pakistan in January 1971, died here on Saturday after prolonged illness. He was 93. Capt Kachru was flying an Indian Airlines plane, carrying 26 passengers and a crew of four, from Srinagar to Jammu when two Kashmiris hijacked it and forced him to fly to Lahore. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, then foreign minister of Pakistan, turned up at the airport and hailed the hijackers, who had demanded the release of some prisoners from Indian jails. The demand was refused by India. PTIeditorial@tribune.com

Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, March 31

Two statues of Dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar were vandalised in different parts of Uttar Pradesh, triggering protests by locals who demanded arrest of culprits.

Later in the evening, the Allahabad district administration announced that a new statue, being brought from Varanasi, would be installed in place of the one beheaded by miscreants. Sources said protests by SP and BSP supporters, including newly elected Phulpur Lok Sabha MP Nagender Pratap Singh Patel, pressured the district administration to repair the statue. However, after the protesters expressed dissatisfaction at the repair work, the district administration decided to replace it with a new one.

Protests were held at both Allahabad and Siddhartha Nagar, demanding action against the culprits.

At Trivenipuram in Jhunsi area of Allahabad, the head of Ambedkars statue was chopped off on Friday night. Allahabad SSP Akash Kulhary described the situation as under control. He said an FIR had been filed at the Jhunsi police station against unidentified persons.

In Gohaniya village under Domariganj police station in Siddharth Nagar, the arm of Ambedkars statue had been broken.

Reacting to the incidents of vandalism, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asked the district magistrates and senior police officials to take stern action against the perpetrators so that such incidents were not repeated in future.

BSP president Mayawati said instead of adding Ramji to the name of Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar the Yogi government should pay more attention to its basic job of maintaining law and order.

Mayawati appealed to her supporters to maintain peace and harmony and not be provoked by the caste-based designs of the BJP.

Accusing Yogi as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi of insensitivity to caste-based humiliation and violence against Dalits and Dalit icons, Mayawati said the BJP was continuously indulging in caste-based violence.

Referring to the incident in Gujarat where a youth was killed for mounting a horse, Mayawati said: It goes to prove how the poison of caste-based hatred has taken roots in the so-called model state of Gujarat.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav described the BJP as the party most deeply entrenched in caste-based hatred. Atrocities against Dalits have multiplied ever since the BJP government came to power in the state. Such incidents are meant to humiliate and terrorise Dalits, he alleged.

In recent times, at least five such incidents of damaging Ambedkars statues have been reported from Aligarh, Azamgarh, Meerut and other parts.

On March 5, Ambedkars statues in the Gandhi Park area and in a park in the Ghantaghar area of Aligarh were found broken. Two days later a similar incident took place in Meerut on March 7.rchopra@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, March 31

The ED on Saturday said it had attached assets worth Rs 4.53 crore, including 29 plots and deposits in 10 bank accounts, of the main accused in the Bihar topper scam that had rocked the state in 2016.

The action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against the Secretary cum Principal of Vishun Roy College in Vaishali district, Bachha Rai alias Amit Kumar, comes at a time when two CBSE question papers of Class X and XII have leaked and police are looking for culprits.

The agency, in a statement, said it had attached 16 plots in the name of Bachha Rai in Lalganj, Mahua, Bhagwanpur and Hajipur and 13 plots in the name of his wife Sangeeta Rai.

Bank deposits in the name of his daughter Shalini Rai, a flat in Patna and a two-storey house in Hajipur of the Rai family have also been attached.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had registered a money laundering case last year to probe alleged irregularities in this case, related to the state school examination board, taking cognisance of Bihar Police FIR and the findings of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to probe the scam.

The scam had rocked Bihar in June 2016 after Ruby Rai, a student of Vishun Roy College in Vaishali district who had topped in the arts category, failed to answer basic questions and went on to describe political science as prodigal science that taught cooking.

Embarrassed by the irregularities, the state government had ordered a SIT probe in the matter.

It was alleged in the police charge sheet, the ED said, that Bachha Rai used to receive huge cash as illegal gratification from students for manipulating their results with the help of officers and staff of the Bihar School Education Board (BSEB), including then chairman Lalkeshwar Singh.

The central probe agency said its probe found that Bachha Rai has laundered his illicit wealth by acquiring huge properties in his name and that of his wife and daughter, which could not be explained by them.

Further, proceeds of crime have been laundered through a trust run by his (Bachha Rai) family member.

Most of the properties have been purchased by them in cash, against which no corresponding withdrawal has been made from their bank accounts, the agency said.

The ED alleged Rai and his wife manipulated their Income Tax returns and their agricultural income was declared almost 70 times more after the scam broke, as compared to previous years.

The agency had booked eight people, including former BSEB chairman Prasad and four principals.

This is the first attachment in the case and the ED said further probe in the case is in progress. PTIuttara@tribuneindia.com

Suresh Dharur

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, March 31

Andhra Pradesh police on Saturday claimed to have foiled a Maoist plot to kill Hyderabad Central University Vice-Chancellor Podile Appa Rao with the arrest of two persons in Khammam district.



The duo was arrested at Pitchukulapadu Junction on BhadrachalamCherla road on Friday, a police press release said here. They were allegedly returning from Bastar forests after meeting Yapa Narayana alias Haribhushan, the secretary of Telangana State Committee of CPI (Maoist).



Police said that the duo was tasked to kill the vice-chancellor in view of the antagonism among students against the Vice-Chancellor after the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohit Vemula in the university hostel three years ago. The Maoist leadership believed that assassination of the Vice-Chancellor would help them attract fresh recruits into the outfit from the university.



The arrested were identified as Ankala Prudviraj (27), a native of Krishna district and Chandan Kumar Mishra (28) of Howrah in West Bengal. Both had studied at the Hyderabad Central University and were attracted towards the Maoist-Leninist ideology. Prudviraj was stated to have earlier been arrested by the police after he was caught escorting a woman believed to be the wife of Pulluri Prasada Rao, alias Chandranna. He was jailed for some time and was released on bail. Prudviraj was also a member of Telangana Vidyarthi Vedika.



Chandan Kumar Mishra hailed from Howrah in West Bengal and had joined the Hyderabad Central University in 2013 for a post-graduate course. He was a member of the Telangana Praja Front and SFI. He later joined the Maoist party.



In December last, Chandan Mishra was stated to have met Haribhushan in Cherla area through another person working in Telangana Vidya Vedika. Later in January, both Prudviraj and Chandan Mishra met Haribhushan in a forest area between Cherla and Venkatapuram areas with the help of a Maoist courier. Haribhushan, it was stated, explained the partys ideology and asked them to ensure recruitment from HCU into the party. During these discussions on situation on HCU campus, the suicide of Rohit Vemula came up and they decided that if the V-C was killed in the name of Maoist party, there was a possibility of attracting many students into the party fold.



Later, the duo went to the forest area on being summoned by Haribhushan. The Maoist leader was stated to have told them that it was time to kill the V-C and handed over some letterheads to be dropped at the place of offence. The police nabbed them while they were returning to the city, the release said.editorial@tribune.com

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 31

India, it seems, is militarily preparing for a hot summer along the Line of Actual Control (LAC)  the de facto 3,448-km boundary with China running all along the Himalayan ridge line.

Post the 73-day (June 16 to August 28, 2017) Doklam stand-off, India has increased patrolling along the far-eastern part of Arunachal Pradesh. The remote mountainous terrain at Kibithu, Walong and the Lohit valley are in greater focus.

Surveillance is not possible through UAVs due to dense tree foliage. Hence, patrolling has to be on foot in the valleys of Lohit, lower Subhansiri, upper Subhansiri, Siang, Dibang, Delai and Dau.

These are very narrow valleys in which the invader will have a military disadvantage, said a senior military officer.

Walong, Kibithu and Lohit were the locations of pitched India-China battles in 1962, but things have changed. India has militarily tailored its response to stall any incursion.

A rather candidly written History of the conflict with China produced 30 years after the war by the Historical Division of the Ministry of Defence describes the battle of Walong: A defensive battle against heavy odds, the troops fought bravely, but being out-numbered and out-weaponed in automatics and ammunition, suffered heavily. But it was no walkover. Indian troops offered stiff resistance, but they had to vacate their positions, says the MoDs book.

After that, India has had a fully functional airstrip at Walong and a division (some 20,000 troops) located in the eastern-most corner of India. All key bases have road connectivity, a far cry from 1962 when a 14-day Tezu-Walong trek was the only option.

Indias move has come after Beijings troops have taken to intensive patrolling in areas that are disputed all along the LAC and have been building military infrastructure.

US confirms military build-up on both sidesrchopra@tribunemail.com

Kibithu (Arunachal Pradesh), March 31

India has deployed more troops and significantly increased patrolling in the mountainous terrains of Dibang, Dau-Delai and Lohit valleys along the borders with China in the Tibetan region in Arunachal sector following the Doklam face-off, the most tense military confrontations between the two countries in decades.

Military officials said India is also strengthening its surveillance mechanism to keep an eye on Chinese activities along the borders in the strategically sensitive Tibetan region and has even been regularly deploying choppers to carry out recce.

They said India had been focusing on dominating the treacherous terrains, which included snow-clad mountains at an altitude of over 17,000 feet, and river passes, as part of a strategy to counter Chinas rising assertiveness along the border in Dibang, Dau-Delai and Lohit valleys.

Post Doklam, we have increased our activities manifold. We are fully prepared to deal with any challenge, said an army officer posted in Kibithu, the easternmost village on Indias border with Chinas Tibetan region.

The official said the Army had been enhancing its Long Range Patrols (LRPs) where troops in small groups went for patrols for 15-30 days as part of an overall approach to maintain the sanctity of the Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between India and China.

Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam from June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. The face-off ended on August 28.

We have increased our deployment of troops while focusing on all strategically important areas, including a tri-junction among India, China and Myanmar, said the official who wished not to be quoted as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The official said China had been ramping up its infrastructure development along Indias border, particularly in the Tibetan region, and there was a need for India to enhance its road network for quick movements of troops.

The Army uses a foot suspension bridge to carry its military supplies to its Kibithu post, considered very important from operational point of view, as the only road connecting the East bank of Lohit river with West bank remains closed due to landslides for most part of the year.

However, a senior official of the Border Roads Organisation said a number of roads, including one to connect the Dibang Valley with Lohit Valley, had been finalised which would improve the inter-valley connectivity in Arunachal.

China has been laying new roads and improving its overall infrastructure along the nearly 4,000-km-long border with India.

Earlier this month, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said China had undertaken construction of helipads, sentry posts and trenches for its army personnel near Doklam.

Sources said China had been keeping its troops in north Doklam and significantly ramping up its infrastructure in the disputed area.

In January, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat had said the time had come for India to shift its focus from borders with Pakistan to the frontier with China, indicating the seriousness of the situation. PTIpardeepdhull@gmail.com

Smita Sharma



Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 31

Pakistan has requested India to allow tours to the Indus Basin, including to Kishenganga and Ratle hydropower projects.

According to sources, the Pakistani delegation repeated its request pending since 2014 at the Permanent Indus Waters Commission (PIC) meeting that concluded on Friday in Delhi. The tour has to take place within five years of request as per norms under the PIC which is an established mechanism under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

The treaty signed with the World Bank mediation after nine years of negotiations mandates the PIC to meet at least once a year alternately in India and Pakistan. India has said it will consider our request, said a Pakistani source. Since signing of IWT in 1960, India has arranged 70 tours for Pakistani side, while the Indian team has been hosted 48 times by Islamabad.

The 114th round of the routine PIC meet that took place on 29th and 30th March was attended by a six-member Pakistani delegation led by Syed Muhammad Mehar Ali Shah and by Indias Indus water commissioner PK Saxena along with technical experts and representatives from Foreign and Water Ministry.

Discussions included data sharing, flood information and administrative matters. It is learnt that Pakistan raised objections on designs of Pakal Dul (1000MW) dam and Lower Kalnai (48 MW) project under construction in Jammu and Kashmir in Chenab basin. Islamabad calls the designs violative of the IWT while India dismisses the objection as baseless. As per the treaty, India is supposed to share details of the design six months before the start of construction.

Sources also suggested that India offered discussion on the 850 MW Ratle hydroelectricity project but Pakistan turned it down. According to the Pakistani delegation the matter has been discussed at higher level of secretaries in Washington last year and so it is out of ambit of the commission. IWT allows control of water flowing in eastern rivers of Beas, Sutlej and Ravi to India, while Pakistan has control over Indus, Chenab and Jhelum.rchopra@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, March 31

A group of students on Saturday staged a demonstration near the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) office at Preet Vihar here against the leak of Class 10 mathematics and Class 12 economics papers.

The students tried to block the road in front of the CBSE office, but we kept them away. A group of about 25-30 students are protesting outside the CBSE office, said a senior Delhi Police officer.

The board has announced a re-examination of the Class 12 economics paper on April 25, while the re-test for the Class 10 mathematics paper is likely to be conducted in July.

Education Secretary Anil Swarup said on Friday that a preliminary inquiry had revealed that the leak for the Class 10 mathematics paper was restricted to Delhi and Haryana.

Two cases have been registered in the paper leak incident so far. The Crime Branch of Delhi Police has questioned nearly 60 people, including students and tutors, in this connection. PTIrchopra@tribunemail.com

Faridabad, March 31

Capt MK Kachru, pilot of the Indian Airlines plane hijacked to Pakistan in January 1971, died here on Saturday after prolonged illness, his family said.

He was 93, they said.

Capt Kachru was flying an Indian Airlines plane, carrying 26 passengers and a crew of four, from Srinagar to Jammu when two Kashmiris hijacked it and forced him to fly to Lahore.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, then foreign minister of Pakistan, turned up at the airport and hailed the hijackers, who had demanded the release of some prisoners from Indian jails.

The demand was refused by India.

Though the passengers and the crew were transported back to India by land route via Amritsar, the plane was set on fire.

India had hit back by banning flights of Pakistani aircraft in Indian airspace. PTIrchopra@tribunemail.com

Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, March 31

A large number of protesters have collected at the site of the vandalised statue of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar at Trivenipuram in the Jhunsi area of Allahabad.

Speaking to this reporter, Allahabad SSP Akash Kulhary described the situation as under control.

He said the protesters were demanding the lodging of an FIR against the culprits which had already been done at the Jhunsi police station against unidentified persons.

The police are searching for the culprits who reportedly vandalised the statue on Friday night.

Condemning the incident in a tweet, Samajwadi party state president Naresh Uttam said, The feudal forces in the state under the BJP rule are constantly attacking the statues of Baba Saheb Ambedkar. The BJP government is continuously humiliating the Father of the Indian Constitution. The Prime Minister, the President and even the UP Governor are silent on the issue.

Meanwhile, another incident of vandalisation of Ambedkar statue was reported from Siddharthnagar.

The incident occurred at Guhaniya village under Domariyaganj police station.

Following this, angry protesters started gathering.editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, March 31

Madanpal, a farmer from Jalalpur village in Meeruts Sardana subdivision, was shocked to discover that a sum of Rs 58,682 he had received towards payment of crop debt from the Yogi Adityanath government had been recovered from his bank account.

Displaying the certificate of payment of the loan given to him at a grand function last year, Madanpal said he felt grossly cheated. The bank had recovered the amount from the Rs 65,000 deposited in his State Bank of India account in the Lavar branch towards payment for cane crop. Accompanied by village pradhan Gaurav Chaudhury, the beleaguered farmer narrated his tale of woe before the media at the Samajwadi Party office here on Saturday.

At least 31 farmers from 12 villages have met the same fate. They all had accounts in the SBI branch at Lavar, he claimed, adding that he had been told by the bank manager he had orders from the top to recover the money and this was just the beginning of the process.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav accused the Yogi government of cheating the farmers by getting Rs 36,000 crore allocated for paying off debts of farmers and now harassing them. He said he had been told 27 farmers had committed suicide in Mahoba district alone after the government did not pay off their debt as promised.

He accused the CM Yogi government of blatantly lying and failing to initiate any development work in the state in the last one year.editorial@tribune.com

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, March 31

Two city-based Class XII students have claimed that they had information regarding the paper leak. Jhanvi Behal and Varun Malhotra said some people were selling the question paper on WhatsApp.

Jhanvi had written a letter addressed to the PMO and Police Commissioner, Ludhiana, on March 17 after the rumours of accountancy paper leak, which was held on March 15. The students had sought action on the matter since they apprehended that the question paper of economics, scheduled for March 25, might also be leaked.

Varun said: We approached a person who had claimed on a video-sharing platform that he had the question paper. We did not get the paper as we refused to pay him Rs 700. But we have evidence in the form of WhatsApp chats and call recordings. The person was from Rajasthan. He was selling economics paper. We reported the matter to the crime branch, but no action was taken.

He claimed that even political science paper was leaked. My cousin from Delhi has told me about that. We are trying to collect evidence.

Police Commissioner RN Dhoke said he had not received any complaint.

ADCP (Crime) Rattan Singh Brar said: We did not get any written complaint. There was something about guess papers which were prepared taking into account last 10 years papers. Thats not leak.editorial@tribune.com

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, March 31

After spending Rs 30-35 lakh on Government Primary School, Badrukhan village, NRIs, panchayat and residents have proved that government schools can be made better than private schools without government aid. All NRIs and their families were honoured on Saturday during a function in the school, which is the only government school in the district to start free school bus service for its students.

Like me, all NRIs of the village want to contribute for the development of our village and mainly for education. We have donated money and will donate more if need arises, said Yadwinder Singh, a Canada resident who migrated from the village in 1990.

Families of other four NRIs  Gurdeep Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Charnjit Singh and Darbara Singh  were also honoured during the function as the NRIs could not attend the function.

With the help of the village panchayat, we have started free school bus service for our students. The number of students has been increasing every year as our board results of Class V have been 100 per cent for the last three years, said Vishal Sharma, head teacher of the school.

The school has total 275 students from pre-nursery to Class V. It has eight rooms, out of which four have been constructed recently. Every room has been painted specially keeping in view the age of class students.

Apart from this, the school has a generator set, two water coolers, LED TV in the head teacher room, while the installation of CCTVs would be done in all classrooms in the coming some days.

To provide best education, we are spending as much as we could, said Harbans Kaur, village sarpanch.editorial@tribune.com

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, March 31

The state police have deployed extra security at all 900 RSS shakhas in the state after an input by the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

In this border district, there are nearly 30 shakhas, while the neighbouring district of Pathankot has only 16 such places.

A communique from the state intelligence authorities has asked commissioners of police (CPs) and SSPs to personally visit these shakhas. Large shakhas are given the priority. The communique has been dispatched to police chiefs based on intelligence inputs.

An SSP-rank officer disclosed that such alerts were routine matters. He, however, admitted that extra security had been deployed at most of these places.

Batala SSP Opinderjit Sing Ghuman said all shakhas in the city and its adjoining towns had been well covered (an euphemism to describe enhanced security in and around these places).

An RSS spokesman claimed that meetings were held in open grounds in the morning. Police officers visit us almost everyday at the break of dawn. The security has been increased. Such things happen whenever the RSS tries to expand its base in the state.

These alerts actually showcase the tension between two communities. The animosity between the RSS and Sikh hardliners dates back to the 1980s, when militants uprooted shakhas from border areas of Punjab, he said.editorial@tribune.com

Hugh and Colleen Gantzer

Tucked away in the rustling sal forests and giant boulders of Madhya Pradesh is the worlds oldest art gallery. Its named after the strongest of the Pandava brothers. However, the images were painted on the ancient rocks long before the Mahabharata was written.

On NH 69 from Bhopal to Pachmarhi, we turned right at the Bhimbetka sign, drove through a sere landscape of parched grass, a few trees, slabs of rock and rising black boulders, and parked in a green lot. A fence demarcated the area protected by the Archaeological Survey of India and declared as a World Heritage site.

Straight ahead, down the path that arrowed through the trees, we saw huge masses of rocks towering above the landscape. Many millennia ago, those boulders had looked down on a dense, wet, forest with blue lakes and shimmering green swamps. This was home to herds of elephant, Indian bison and rhinoceros, possibly tigers and leopards as well. The hunter-gatherers, who were our ancestors, needed a place from where they could spot the movements of wildlife and watch out for other, possibly, hostile tribes. That great outcrop of rocks was just what they wanted.

We call them cave men, and in colder climates, they probably did prefer caves. Here, however, caves would be dark, damp, and stuffy. If predators or enemies blocked the mouths of the cave, cringing humans would be trapped. Pragmatically, they chose rock shelters. Overhanging slabs of rock gave them protection as well as the freedom to escape. There are plenty of rock shelters in Bhimbetka and many are rich with the first art ever created by humans. In fact, according to our Archaeological Survey of India:

These caves were discovered in 1957-58. Out of the 750 rock shelters, 500 are adorned with paintings. This was the centre of human activity right from Lower Paleolithic times, up to the medieval period: Linear depiction of human figures, hunting, riding, communal dances, warfare, etc. and day-to-day activities of ancient man. Mineral colours used are green, red, ochre and white. The cup marks made on the rocks date to 1,00,000 BP (Before the Present). This pushes back the date of the cognitive development of man at Bhimbetka to many thousand years earlier than similar sites in various parts of the world, making it the earliest cognitive human evolution.

In other words, thinking, creative, humans developed in India. In fact, it was, probably, women who made these paintings. We have seen village huts with striking murals on them: most of them were painted by women. They had the time to recollect and record the tales told to them by the male hunters. It was a tedious process. Mixing coloured earths, vegetable dyes and soot with animal fat, they applied them with brushes shredded out of fibrous twigs, or filled charcoal outlines with fat and blew powdered pigments on to them through hollow bones. In time, the fat and pigments were absorbed by the cellular structure of the rocks and, very gradually, they became as lasting as tattoos on human skin.

The paintings vary in theme. The Zoo Cave, teems with animals and hunters and a man riding a giant elephant with enormous tusks. At the lower part of the Zoo Cave, there is a man carrying a shield and something resembling an Australian boomerang. The Austrics of India are believed to have migrated to Australia when the last Ice Age had frozen much of the oceans, making it easier for people to hop from island to island, landmass to landmass.

Every time we visit Bhimbetka, we see something new: The depiction of a surgical amputation, a blood-offering to a sacred tree, a deer used as a saddled animal as only the Sami people of Finland do today and stick-figures and vague symbols, resembling the religious emblems of Shamanic rituals, which often featured women mystics guiding the ancient tribes.

Most people exposed to Bhimbetka leave with a sense of wonder. We, however, have returned over and over again. And every visit has been a new experience as we enjoyed fresh insights into the evolution of our ancient, and ceaselessly restless civilisation.shalender@tribune.com

Ira Pande

Two recent public debates that have attracted a lot of attention need to be properly understood because often in the din of media slugfests, the real issues get lost in the noise over counter-charges. The first debate is about the Facebook leaks that have triggered a worldwide panic attack over the sanctity of the personal data stored in Zuckerbergs servers and its misuse by various agencies to further selfish political and commercial ends. Fresh accusations are hurled every day by political parties about data robberies by rivals, raising questions about how elections are won or lost across the world. No one, not even mature democracies like the UK and US, have been able to insulate themselves against data leaks despite their very sophisticated protection codes and algorithms. What is even worse is that the bogey of a sinister Russia (the original Big Brother) manipulating both the last US Presidential election and Brexit takes this theft into an area of unethical political interference in sovereign territories. I was transported to the era of the Cold War that many millennials may not even know about, when the USSR and the USA were locked in a game of one-upmanship and counter espionage. Read John le Carre to know more.

The Facebook leaks are a bigger version of the Aadhaar leaks that recently shook the country. Alarming media reports over how the state is spying over all of us almost threatened to become an AAP-style campaign. The result is that today there is such a severe lack of trust in the government that most people uncritically buy the sinister plot theory without realising that our bank accounts or mobile phone services have already freely shared the information that was innocently handed over by us. Otherwise, how do so many private insurance companies, travel agents, real estate brokers and sundry other tele-pests gain access to our phones and emails? I am sick (as Im sure many of you are) of the unsolicited junk mail sent to me offering a range of choices from a suitable bridegroom to tempting holiday offers and property deals. What will you call this, but criminal breach of my personal details without my consent?

In the case of the Facebook controversy, how have the outraged voices forgotten that they willingly use the site to share private details (from silly selfies and confessional posts to political opinions and social attitudes) that are read by millions of people connected to the FB network? I am not on any social media handle, except WhatsApp, and have long decried the fact that prolonged and obsessive use of these services is destroying relationships, attention spans and individual minds. Depression, suicide, psychological disturbances are only some of the spin-offs of this phenomenon that is also killing human contact and civilized social behaviour. Yet, it is funny how no one complains about that with the same vehemence and fervour. We seem to have lost our sense of balance and are so eager to be part of the Me-too gang that we join protests and campaigns without any deep understanding of the issue.

The other debate is on the shrinking of the liberal intellectual world. This is a prolonged wail from those who have long ago lost their claim to speak for the poor, the marginalised and the minorities. In a world increasingly turning right-wing and majoritarian, where education is merely a tool to get a lucrative job, this was a dystopia waiting to be born. In the rough and noisy present-day political akhara, the feeble voices raised in defence of social justice, human rights and the minorities may soon cease to be heard. Most democratic societies that like to consider themselves liberal and egalitarian have slowly morphed into uncaring, selfish and corrupt plutocracies where xenophobia reigns supreme.

All this leads me to think that while India seems to have perfected the art of holding elections efficiently, we have only produced an imperfect democracy. The spectacle of our MPs in Parliament shouting slogans and disrupting the business of the day in session after session should concern us all. Their behaviour only tells us that while they have perfected the art of winning elections, what they owe the constituencies that elected them is nobodys concern. Our political world is now the epicentre of corrupt match-fixing while our elections have become the means to promote cronyism and personal success.

Where are the liberal thinkers and public intellectuals who should insert some sense of ethical responsibility into our warring tribes? Alas, many of them are compromised by their own ideologies and concerns of self-preservation. As their numbers dwindle, even those political parties that stood for farmers and workers, minorities and women have abandoned their responsibility and are busy wooing religious leaders or industrialists. And as we wait for better sense to prevail, the earth is being poisoned with plastic and industrial effluents, our rivers are running dry and our schools are being run by illiterate charlatans.

As I reflect on the world we inherited from our parents and see what we are leaving our children, I hang my head in shame. The future generations will remember us as the men and women who betrayed their own people. Even the colonial masters did not exploit the land as we have: history will find it hard to forgive us and the leaders we elected.Vijay C Roy

Vijay C Roy in Chandigarh

Are you hooked to brands, and ready to shell out anything for this pair of trousers, that shirt, or shorts or whatnot? Take a look:

In December last year, an investigation by a news channel revealed that at least 40% of the apparels available online is counterfeit, and that their listings are by duplicate manufacturers. The Meerut police raided the Brahmpuri area of the city and recovered a large number of fake products.

American fashion house Ralph Lauren Corporation launched a drive last year to clean up the Indian market of fake and counterfeit products, mostly under its Polo brand. In September armed with court orders, Ralph Laurens lawyers conducted raids on a Hyderabad-based company that operated half-a-dozen Lauren Polo branded outlets and seized 6,000 shirts, T-shirts, jeans and other products with the Polo logo. The company has filed around 60 cases in various courts over the years against companies and individuals that manufactured or sold counterfeit Polo Ralph Lauren products.

In August last year, an official of a Delhi-based company and the police recovered over 1.5 lakh fake tags of branded garments from the business premises located in Sukhram Nagar, Jail Road. The company official alleged that after manufacturing tags, the accused sold them to companies manufacturing garments. This caused huge losses to the real company, which pays tax to the government and has the legal authority to manufacture tags.

In January this year, Chandigarh Police arrested two shopkeepers of Sector 45 for allegedly selling counterfeits apparels.

India is home to a burgeoning counterfeit market  growing 20% each year  where clothes, shoes, watches, leather goods and jewelry are served as foils to genuine products. At present, the size of counterfeit luxury products in India is 5 per cent of the overall market size of the country's luxury industry which is worth over Rs 49,000 crore, according to Assocham.

Industry insiders say counterfeiting has been a challenge not only for major corporations and fashion houses but also consumers. Gandhi Nagar market, Lajpat Nagar in Delhi, AC Market Ludhiana, Sector 22 and Sector 15 market in Chandigarh any many more are the hubs of fake products.

Indian apparel sector

The domestic apparel industry is the second largest contributor to the retail industry after food and grocery. It is valued around Rs 3 lakh crore. Entry of international brands, changes in preferences from non-branded to branded, a fast-growing economy and a large young consumer base in has made India a highly lucrative market. Thanks to mass media and social media penetration, the youth is becoming fashion conscious. This has opened up unprecedented opportunities for the retail market.

Market experts say it is very difficult to assess the size of counterfeit apparels. There are many factories located at non-descript locations involved in counterfeit products. Many of them produce copies of multinational brands as margins are high. The activity not only deceives consumers but also the state exchequer, said Narinder Chugh, an apparel exporter from Ludhiana. According to insiders, Delhi is the hub of counterfeit products as nearly 70% counterfeit products originate from the national capital.

It is an open secret that counterfeiting is on the upward swing. In the past two years, we have seen at least four incidents where we came across counterfeiting of our products. The only way for us is to keep a regular check and conduct raids with the help of law enforcement agencies, says Sandeep Jain, MD, Monte Carlo.

Customer at the core

Counterfeiting appears in two different forms, deceptive and non-deceptive. For the first, the consumer is unaware that s/he is buying a copy. For the latter, consumers intentionally purchase fakes.

The biggest concern is the customers attraction towards pirated products is directly proportional to the price of these products which are sold at least 40 % less than the original. A common man with limited knowledge falls for the counterfeits due to cheaper or deep-discount rates. Enforcement of laws against counterfeiting is not strict in India, which is another big jolt for the brand industry.

Counterfeiting has assumed international importance and has been growing dramatically across the globe. So, original manufacturers and governments find themselves in a constant battle against counterfeiters. Manufacturers of genuine goods demand strict action from statutory bodies. Geeta Gulati, an IP Law practitioner, the major reason for the market of counterfeits is the psychology of the consumers. The challenge will remain as long as the Indian consumers remain willing to buy branded products at a lesser price. The other factor is the total ignorance of the consumer. For the manufacturer, the biggest challenge to copyrighted property is the protracted litigation with poor implementation of the court order, says Gulati.

Check your togsrchopra@tribunemail.com

Peshawar, March 31

Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, on Saturday was in tears as she returned home in Pakistans Swat Valley where she survived a near-fatal attack by Taliban in 2012 for advocating girls education.

Malala, 20, reached her ancestral home in Makan Bagh in Mingora on a day-long trip along with her parents and two siblings, amid tight security, sources said.

Pakistans State Minister for Information Marriiyum Aurangzeb also accompanied the education activist for the visit, during which she met her childhood friends and teachers after more than five years.

Tears of joy rolled down Malalas eyes during her meeting with them. She was filled with emotions when she visited her home and met with her friends, sources said.

After her brief stay at home, Malala, who on Thursday set foot in Pakistan for the first time since the 2012 attack, was airlifted to the Swat Cadet College where she is expected to address a ceremony, they said.

She is also expected to inaugurate a girls school in Shangla district, they added.

In an interview to Geo News on Friday, Malala had said that she planned to return to Pakistan permanently after her studies. My plan is to return to Pakistan as this is my country. I have the same right on the country as any another Pakistani, she said.

She had reiterated her joy of being in Pakistan and her mission of providing education to children.

We want to work for the education of children and make it possible that every girl in Pakistan receives a high-level education and she can fulfil her dreams and become a part of society, the Nobel laureate said.

Malala was shot at by a Taliban gunman in December 2012 for her female education campaigning in the Swat Valley in northeastern Pakistan.

Severely wounded, she was airlifted from one military hospital in Pakistan to another and later flown to the Great Britain for treatment.

Post the attack, the Taliban released a statement saying they would target Malala again if she survived.

At age 17, Malala became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for her education advocacy in 2014 when she shared the coveted honour with Indias social activist Kailash Satyarthi.

Unable to return to Pakistan after her recovery, Malala moved to Britain, setting up the Malala Fund and supporting local education advocacy groups with a focus on Pakistan, Nigeria, Jordan, Syria and Kenya.

She is currently studying at Oxford University.

Malala began her campaign aged just 11, when she started writing a blog for the BBCs Urdu service in 2009 about life under the Taliban in Swat, where they were banning girls education.

In 2007, the Islamist militants had taken over the area and imposed a brutal rule. Opponents were murdered, people were publicly flogged for supposed breaches of the sharia law, women were banned from going to market, and girls were stopped from going to school.

The Taliban, who are opposed to the education of girls, have destroyed hundreds of schools in Pakistan. PTIuttara@tribuneindia.com

Riyadh, March 31

Saudi air defence forces on Saturday intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Huthi rebels at the kingdom's southern city of Najran, state media reported.

State-run Al-Ekhbariya television gave no further details but did not report any casualties or damage from the missile.

Yemen's Saba news agency, run by the Iran-backed Huthis, said the missile had been fired at a Saudi National Guard base in Najran, just over the border from Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition has intervened against the insurgents.

Saba said the attack had caused deaths among Saudi forces but provided no details.

The coalition on Thursday said it intercepted another missile fired by the Houthis at the southern city of Jazanthe latest in a series of such attacks that have drawn widespread condemnation.

The UN Security Council this week condemned "in the strongest possible terms" multiple missile attacks launched by the Huthis on Saudi territory, saying they posed a threat to regional security.

In one of the biggest such attacks yet, Saudi forces last weekend said they intercepted seven missiles fired by rebels toward cities including Riyadh, killing one person.

The coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 to push back the Houthis who captured the capital Sanaa and forced the government into exile.

Riyadh has accused archrival Tehran of providing the missiles and threatened retaliation against Iran. Tehran denies the charge. AFPshalender@tribune.com

Moscow, March 31

Moscow has told Britain it must cut just over 50 more of its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia in a worsening standoff over the poisoning of a Russian former spy and his daughter in England, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

More than 100 Russian diplomats have been expelled by various countries, including 23 from Britain itself, to punish the Kremlin over the March 4 attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the historic English city of Salisbury.

London says Moscow was responsible for poisoning the Skripals in the first known use of a military-grade nerve agent on European soil since World War Two. Russia flatly denies that and has cast the allegations as part of an elaborate Western plot to sabotage East-West relations and isolate Moscow.

Russia had already retaliated in kind by ejecting 23 British diplomats. On Friday, the Foreign Ministry summoned British Ambassador Laurie Bristow and told him London had one month to further cut its diplomatic contingent in Russia to the same size as the Russian mission in Britain. It also expelled 59 diplomats from 23 other countries for backing Britain.

A spokeswoman for Britains foreign ministry called the Russian move regrettable, and said it was considering the implications of the measures. It did not say how many diplomatic staff in Russia would be affected, while the British Embassy in Moscow says it does not make staff numbers public.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Reuters the demand meant Britain would have to cut a little over 50 more of its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia on top of the 23 diplomats who have already gone home.  Reuters

Plane searched in UK, Moscow unhappy

Moscow has demanded an official explanation from London for the search of a Russian passenger plane in London on Thursday. Calling it a blatant provocation, Moscow said it could reserve the right to take similar action against British airlines in Russia

Britain said the Aeroflot passenger plane was searched at Heathrow airport on Friday as part of a normal security measure. Once the checks were carried out, the plane was allowed to carry on with its onward journey

UK mulls access to spys daughteruttara@tribuneindia.com

MOSCOW, March 31

Moscow has told Britain it must cut "just over 50" more of its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia in a worsening standoff over the poisoning of a Russian former spy and his daughter in England, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

As relations continued to deteriorate, Moscow also demanded an official explanation for the search of a Russian passenger plane in London on Thursday and said it could reserve the right to take similar action against British airlines in Russia.

More than 100 Russian diplomats have been expelled by various countries, including 23 from Britain itself, to punish the Kremlin over the March 4 attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the historic English city of Salisbury.

London says Moscow was responsible for poisoning the Skripals in the first known use of a military-grade nerve agent on European soil since World War Two. Russia flatly denies that and has cast the allegations as part of an elaborate Western plot to sabotage East-West relations and isolate Moscow.

Russia had already retaliated in kind by ejecting 23 British diplomats. On Friday, the Foreign Ministry summoned British Ambassador Laurie Bristow and told him London had one month to further cut its diplomatic contingent in Russia to the same size as the Russian mission in Britain. It also expelled 59 diplomats from 23 other countries for backing Britain.

A spokeswoman for Britain's foreign ministry called the Russian move regrettable, and said it was considering the implications of the measures. It did not say how many diplomatic staff in Russia would be affected, while the British Embassy in Moscow says it does not make staff numbers public.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Reuters the demand meant Britain would have to cut a little over 50 more of its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia on top of the 23 diplomats who have already gone home.

"We asked for parity. The Brits have 50 diplomats more than the Russians," Zakharova said on Saturday.

When asked if that meant London would now have to cut exactly 50 diplomatic and technical staff, she said: A little over 50.

Separately, Russia's Ministry of Transport demanded Britain explain why an Aeroflot passenger plane was searched at Heathrow airport on Friday, in what the Russian Embassy in London called a "blatant provocation".

Britain's interior ministry was not immediately available to comment on the plane search.

Visits?

Britain's foreign office also said on Saturday it was considering allowing visits under consular access terms to Yulia Skripal, who is recovering in hospital against all expectations and no longer in critical condition.

Russia's embassy said that it had contacted Viktoria Skripal, Yulia's cousin, who would like to see her.

The BBC, citing sources, reported on Friday that Yulia was conscious and talking, a factor, which may influence the investigation of how she and her father were poisoned.

Britain must now decide how it wants to make the cuts to its Russian diplomatic team and may be forced to lay off some Russian support staff as well as sending home fully-fledged diplomats to satisfy Moscow's demand.

Russia ordered the closure of another British consulate, in St Petersburg, earlier this month in its first retaliatory step.

The poisoning on UK territory has united much of the West in taking action against what it regards as the hostile policies of President Vladimir Putin. This includes the United States under President Donald Trump, who Putin had hoped would improve ties. Reuters



pardeepdhull@gmail.com

London, March 31

The UKs largest teaching union on Saturday warned against pressuring schools into banning hijab for very young girls for fear of increasing backlash from the local communities.

The National Education Union (NEU), which is debating the issue at a meeting in Brighton over the weekend, criticised the countrys schools watchdog for interfering in the matter.

The chief of the Office for Standards in Education, Childrens Services and Skills (Ofsted) Amanda Spielman has spoken out about her concerns over Muslim girls as young as five wearing the headscarf and suggested that school inspectors explore why they are doing so.

I think it is a problem that Amanda Spielman, Her Majestys chief inspector [of schools], speaks out on this in a way which I think is frankly very political, said Kevin Courtney, the joint general secretary of the NEU, at the opening of the NEUs annual conference yesterday.

People feeling so much pressure from Ofsted, our worry is that instead of consultation we will find schools saying: we are going to ban the hijab. And we think that would be very damaging to community relations. Its not a sensible place to go, so our guidance will be about how you have dialogue, respectful dialogue and dialogue based on love for one another, he said.

Courtney said that new guidance from the union would be issued to schools on developing uniform policies, making clear that headteachers should not take the decision but needed to reach an agreement with the local community.

The comments come in the wake of controversy around St Stephens School in east Londons attempt to ban the hijab for very young girls.

It led to complaints of bullying of the schools staff, including Indian-origin principal Neena Lall, and Spielman came out in support of Lall.

But after heavy opposition from community leaders and abusive comments on social media, Lall was forced to withdraw the ban earlier this year.

Spielman had earlier announced that Ofsted inspectors would ask young pupils themselves why they wore the hijab in an attempt to build a wider picture.

That individual Ofsted inspectors would ask individual Muslim girls why they were wearing the hijab, and then to imply that they were wearing the hijab because they had been sexualised, indicates somebody who isnt in touch with Muslim communities at all, Courtney said, as he tabled a motion to be debated by the NEU.

The motion states that Spielmans statements have ramifications beyond the school gates and must be seen in the context of increased attacks on the Muslim community and particular stereotypes about Muslim girls and Muslim women.

Ofsted branded the NEUs comments disappointing.

Theres nothing political about ensuring that schools and parents arent being subject to undue pressure by national or community campaign groups.

Headteachers need to be able to take uniform decisions on the basis of safeguarding or community cohesion concerns, and Ofsted will always support them in doing that, a spokesperson said. PTIThe domain turkeytelegraph.com may be for sale. Please click here to inquireHer lower limbs are paralysed due to spine injury, said a doctor attending to her.Zehru NissaSrinagar:A woman who tried to save her husbandshe couldntfrom suspected militants and a militant who sustained a serious bullet injury last evening are critical at the ICU of SKIMS, Soura.Fareeda Banos husband Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh, a special police officer, was killed by suspected militants at his home in Bijbehara. In her attempt to save him, 45-year-old Fareeda sustained critical injuries to her lung and spinal cord.

Her lower limbs are paralysed due to spine injury, said a doctor attending to her.

The militant, Asif Ashraf Malik, 20, who was shot at by government forces in Shopian last evening, has suffered bullet injury in his liver and other internal organs including intestine, leading to internal bleeding.

We repaired the tears in the internal organs during the overnight surgery that went on till 5:30 am, said a doctor.

Since early morning, family members of both the injured persons have been anxiously waiting outside the ICU to hear from the doctors about their condition.

Rahti Begum, grandmother of Asif, pleaded with the policemen guarding the entrance to the ICU, to let her in.

Last time I saw sahba (Asif) was seven months ago. Let me see his face once, she wailed.

Next to Rahti, relatives of Fareeda are inconsolable.

Nobody should go through what we have suffered, said one of Fareedas relatives, adding the couple didnt have any child.

Joint medical superintendent SKIMS Dr Farooq Jan said both the injured have been taken off the ventilator.The Mejlis (Parliament) of Turkmenistan of the sixth convocation convened its first meeting in Ashgabat. President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov attended the meeting.

The head of state congratulated the newly elected members of parliament and wished them great successes in their work. The President of Turkmenistan also thanked the outgoing Speaker of the Parliament, Akja Nurberdiyeva, and members of the Mejlis of the fifth convocation for their work. He noted that they made a worthy contribution to improving the national legislation.

Then, the members of parliament proceeded to election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Mejlis, setting up parliamentary committees and election of their chairmen. Gulshat Mammadova was unanimously elected Speaker of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan by secret ballot, while Kasymguly Babayev was unanimously elected Deputy Speaker of the Mejlis by open vote.

Following the election of the parliament leadership, the President of Turkmenistan addressed the meeting. He outlined a number of tasks facing the members of parliament.

 TURKMENISTAN.RU, 2021Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir  Glamorising the use of human shields by the army in Indian-administered Kashmir, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) official in India is selling T-shirts online showing the infamous scene of an Indian army jeep with a human shield tied to the front that has created outrage in the region.



The online shopping site run by Delhi BJP spokesman Tajinder Pal Singh Baggas company, Bagga Fashions, is selling the T-shirts with caption Indian army  saving your a** whether you like it or not.

The T-Shirts are being sold for 495 rupees ($8).

The image used on the T-shirts is of 27-year-old Farooq Ahmad Dar, a resident of Chill Village in Budgam area of central Kashmir. Dar was tied to the front of an army jeepby Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi on April 9 last year.

Kavita Krishnan

 @kavita_krishnan Thuggish BJP leader Bagga sells Kashmir Human Shield T-Shirt saying its wearing patriotism on chest. Court found Army Major act of tying man to jeep unconstitutional. Celebrating the flouting of Constitutional values isnt patriotic! https://thewire.in/rights/bjp-leader-kashmir-human-shield-t-shirt  via @thewire_in

Dars family says he is traumatised and has had to stop working.

His life changed completely since the incident. Sometimes he leaves home without informing anyone. His condition has worried us, Dars brother, Ghulam Qadir told Al Jazeera.

He used to weave shawls to earn livelihood, but now he doesnt work any more. He doesnt do anything normal now. He is very depressed.

The incident took place during by-elections, in which Dar had also voted.

The by-election was marred by violent clashes between security forces and stone-throwing young men that left at least eight people killed and more than 200 wounded.

Selling the pain

Justifying the use of human shield picture on the T-shirts, Bagga told Al Jazeera that it is a tribute to the army officers heroic act.

We are selling the T-shirts from last six months, and we have sold thousands of them. I dont think we are doing anything wrong. That day, the stone pelters were trying to attack polling booths and army with stones and petrol bombs, he told Al Jazeera.

If tomorrow they walk with the pictures of Kashmirs dead pasted on their clothes, it wont surprise us SHABIR AHMAD, A SRINAGAR RESIDENT

It was his quick thinking that he tied the person to jeep instead of opening fire, he could have also opened fire in self-defence. He did it to save lives, Bagga said adding that people supported the act.

Except few leftists, everyone supports it.

Soon after the incident, the Indian army commended the officer, who was awarded the Chief of Army Staffs Commendation Card for his sustained efforts in counterinsurgency operations.

Video footage showing Dar bound to the jeep was widely shared and caused a public outcry in the restive Himalayan region, where people and human rights groups termed the incident a war crime.

The use of the picture on T-shirts has further outraged the residents who termed it selling the pain.

If tomorrow they walk with the pictures of Kashmirs dead pasted on their clothes, it wont surprise us, says 43-year-old Shabir Ahmad, a Srinagar resident. There is no humanity left in India, how can one celebrate the pain of others. They are telling us we dont belong to them.

Serious human rights violations

People have also expressed their resentment on the social media.

Kavita Krishnan, a womans rights activist based in New Delhi, criticised Bagga on Twitter, saying Celebrating the flouting of Constitutional values isnt patriotic!

Noted Kashmiri human rights defender, Khurram Parvez, said it is nothing new.

This is what sells in India; they want to boost the morale of army towards impunity which they are already enjoying in Kashmir. The BJP government wants to sell the armys military might which is getting support from its people.

Human Rights Watch had also criticised the rewarding of the officer and said it included serious human rights violations.

The state-run Human Rights Commission in the region last year termed the act illegal and recommended that the victim be paid $15,000 as compensation for humiliation physical and psychological torture.

However, the state government, a coalition between Peoples Democratic Party and the BJP, rejected the recommendation.

Critics say Prime Minister Narendra Modis hardline policy was not working in Kashmir, which has seen a rise in violence amid stalled talks between India and Pakistan.

Rebel groups in Indian-administered Kashmir have for decades battled against troops and police, demanding independence or a merger of the Himalayan territory with Pakistan.

Tens of thousands of civilians and security force personnel have been killed since the rebellion began nearly 25 years ago.Srinagar: At least 185 students were killed in Jammu and Kashmir in last fifteen years, reads a report released by Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS).

JKCCS in a report Terrorized: Impact of violence on the children of J&K has stated that During the years (2003  2017) under study, 185 students have been killed in various incidents of violence in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the report, during 2003-17, the killing of 62 students was recorded in north Kashmir while south Kashmir witnessed 53 student killings with 47 killings in central Kashmir.

However, the released report further reads that in 2010 unrest, 38 students were killed while in 2016 unrest, 37 student killings also take place at the hands of forces.

Indian armed forces and JK Police have killed a singularly highest number of them i.e. 136 children in the given period, accounting for 73% of the total killings of students. The killing of students due to explosions accounted for 20 killings, while unidentified gunmen killed not less than 12 children. Militants are responsible for the killing of five students, while three children have been killed due to cross LoC shelling, reads a report.

JKCCS report revealed that the pattern of student killings in Jammu and Kashmir indicates that Kashmir division accounts for 87% i.e. 162 student killings from 2003 to 2017, while in Jammu 15 students have been killed in different incidents of violence in the given period.

As per the report of JKCCS, north Kashmirs Baramulla district has accounted for most number of student killings (37 students) followed by 30 student killings in Srinagar and 20 in Pulwama district.

The state violence against students in Jammu and Kashmir comprises targeted killings, extra-judicial killings, custodial killings, use of lethal and

excessive force during protest demonstrations leading to killings, beatings, and

deaths due to torture by forces.

JKCCS in a report while citing a recent student uprising has stated that The attack on students constitutes an attack on education and incidents such as Indian armed forces assault on students of Pulwama Degree College, which precipitated into a large-scale one-month long student protest in the valley, reflect that the student community has unquestionably suffered in the ongoing armed conflict in Jammu and Kashmir.

From 31 June 2017 to 1 March 2018, not less than 38 incidents of violence against students were recorded and these incidents include the state-imposed closure of schools, reads the report.A street view of Rome's Regina Coeli prison where Pope Francis is celebrating the Mass of Our Lord's Supper on Thursday afternoon

At the Mass of Our Lords Supper on Holy Thursday afternoon, Pope Francis washed the feet of Christians, Muslims and a Buddhist prisoner, recalling the way Jesus washed the feet of his 12 disciples before sharing the Last Supper with them.

By Philippa Hitchen

Since the start of his pontificate, Pope Francis has chosen to celebrate the Mass of Our Lords Supper outside the Vatican, travelling to detention centres and a home for the disabled to wash the feet of prisoners, refugees and other marginalized people. It is a tradition that he began as archbishop of Buenos Aires, where he would regularly mark the Holy Thursday liturgy in local jails..

Regina Coeli is Romes oldest and best known prison, housing inmates from over sixty different nationalities. Situated just a stones throw from the Vatican, along the banks of the River Tiber, it was built on the site of a 17th century convent that was converted into a jail in the late 19th century.

Problems of overcrowding and suicide

Like other prisons in Italy, it has made news headlines for problems of overcrowding and high suicide rates. During his visit, the Pope will greet inmates, visit the sick in the prison infirmary and meet prisoners held in a section for those needing special protection during their incarceration.

As part of the celebration of Mass there, he will kneel down with a towel and a basin of water to wash the feet of twelve inmates, imitating Jesus gesture of humility and service.

Pope to wash feet of Christians, Muslims, Buddhist

The twelve men, selected by prison authorities, come from Italy, the Philippines, Morocco, Moldavia, Columbia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Eight of them are Catholics, while two are Muslims, one is a Buddhist and one is an Orthodox Christian.

In 2013, shortly after his election as Pope, Francis visited a youth detention centre, where he chose, for the first time, to wash the feet of some women and non-Christians, leading to a change in the liturgical regulations laid down in the Roman Missal. He has also met with men and women in detention centres on most of his pastoral visits abroad.

Fourth pontiff to visit Regina Coeli

Previous pontiffs have also visited the Regina Coeli prison: Pope John XXIII in 1958, Pope Paul VI in 1964, and Pope John Paul II in the year 2000.The head of Egypts Coptic Orthodox Church has sent double greetings to Pope Francis for Easter and for 5 years of his pontificate.

By Robin Gomes

Pope Tawadros II, the head of Egypts Coptic Orthodox Church has sent greetings to Pope Francis on the occasion of Easter which Orthodox Christians will celebrate a week later on April 8, according to the Julian calendar.

"To his Holiness pope Francis, Christ is risen. He is truly risen! I send you greetings of Happy Easter. It is the feast in which we rejoice because Jesus Christ is risen and has conquered death, and after defeating death he has made the Cross the Cross of life, Pope Tawadros said in a video message speaking in Arabic.

The Italian bishops news agency SIR recorded the video message in Saint Mark's Cathedral in Cairo, the seat of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

While wishing Pope Francis good health and happiness, the Coptic Pope also urged for prayers for Coptic Christians.

Pope Tawadros also felicitated the Holy Father on the completion of 5 years of his pontificate on March 13. I am happy to send this message from the land of Egypt. I congratulate you, Your Holiness, on the fifth anniversary of your election, Pope Tawadros said.

The 65-year old Coptic Pope recalled his visit to Rome in May, 2013, two months after the Roman Pontiffs election. It was a beautiful visit. We were filled with the Holy Spirit. I trust you always pray for us, and we too remember you in our prayers. Pope Tawadros concluded invoking the Lords blessing on the Popes service, mission and health and wished him a long life. (Source: SIR)Lack of a valid work permit remains grounds for a foreign workers deportation, Photo: Le Toan

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MoLISA) last week issued a draft governmental decree on sanctions in the sectors of labour and social insurance. Under the drafts Article 30, a series of punishments are imposed on foreigners working in Vietnam, as well as their employers, if found to violate labour-related regulations.

Specifically, foreigners working in Vietnam will be deported from Vietnam if they work without a work permit or with an outdated work permit, except for cases in which they are exempt from having a work permit by the countrys authorised agencies.

In fact, under the current regulations, the same punishment is also stipulated, and there is no reason for the punishment to be removed under this draft, because such a violation is considered to be very serious, affecting the Vietnamese labour environment, according to MoLISA.

The draft, expected to take effect this year, also stipulates that employers will face a fine of somewhere between VND5-VND10 million ($227-454) if they fail to or insufficiently report their usage of foreign employees to authorised agencies. Under the current regulations, the fine is only VND1 million-VND2 million ($45-$90) for this type of violation.

A new feature in the draft decree states that if an employer uses from one to 10 foreign employees who have no work permit or an outdated work permit, they will earn a fine of VND30-VND45 million ($1,363-2,045).

The more foreign employees of the type are used, the higher the fines for the employer will increase, such as VND45-VND60 million ($1,363-2,727) for 11-20 people, and VND60-VND75 million ($2,727-3,409) for 21 people and more. What is more, the employer could be suspended from operations for one to three months if the violation is more serious.

Tran Trong Binh, a senior attorney from French Hanoi-based international law firm Audier and Partners LLC, told VIR with his own opinions that it is quite necessary to maintain the sanction of deporting violators from Vietnam.

This is aimed to enhance the strictness of Vietnams law, Binh said. I think all the sanctions are necessary, as they will help enhance the awareness of foreign labourers in Vietnam and their employers about respect towards the countrys law.

Local authorised agencies have discovered many cases related to foreign workers having no work permit in Vietnam over the past few years, continued.

In November 2017, the Department of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs of the south-central province of Binh Thuan reported to the provincial Peoples Committee that, following examinations of the usage of workers at the Vinh Tan power centre in Tuy Phong district, the department discovered that more than 500 foreign workers were working without any work permit at the centres Vinh Tan 1 plant, constructed by Chinese contractors, and Vinh Tan 4, built by Japanese and South Korean contractors.

Nguyen Lan Phuong, partner at the law firm Baker and McKenzie Vietnam, told VIR that she also agreed with the fines for violators set out in the draft decree.

In general, it is quite necessary to impose fines on foreigners working in Vietnam found to be violating the countrys labour laws. This is aimed to ensure the enforcement of the state management over labour issues and also to ensure labourers interests, Phuong said.

However, drafters should only apply supplementary punishment in the case of serious violations  for example for 20 people upward. This is aimed to limit negative impacts on enterprises activities, she suggested.If the conflict occurred only between the US and China, Viet Nam would have a good chance to export to the US. - Photo giathep24h.vn

On March 22, US President Donald Trump signed a memorandum that would impose 25 tariffs on up to US$60 billion in annual imports from China. In retaliation, China announced similar tariffs on about $3 billion of US imports.

Though there is still speculation that China may expand its target to a broader range of US business interests, international experts believe the current trade spat between the two economic powers will be resolved through ongoing negotiations rather than moving toward a full-fledged trade war.

This issue, however, continues to weigh on investor sentiment and raise near-term volatility in global markets.

Vietnams securities market performed better when the benchmark VN-Index declined for only two times in the past three weeks, gaining 4.5 per cent since March 9. The VN-Index has continued setting new record highs this week.

According to Nguyen Duc Hung Linh, head of analysis at Saigon Securities Inc, Viet Nams stock market is strong on its own, helping to ease the short-term impact of the US-China trade issue. They are the escalating equitisation process of State-owned enterprises (SOEs), listings of big companies, quick expansion of the market size and the possible upgrading of the local market to emerging market status.

Since early 2017, most of companies that have recently had large IPOs have seen their stock value increase, bringing profits to both domestic investors and foreign funds.

This trend is expected to continue in 2018 and more good investment opportunities will be offered for foreign investors in the future, Linh told an online seminar on risks and opportunities for Vietnamese businesses amid the threat of a global trade war on cafef.vn on March 29.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were net buyers of VND5.4 trillion in the Vietnamese market in January but from early February until now, they have withdrawn about VND1 trillion.

According to Linh, domestic money inflows have remained strong and together with stable macroeconomic conditions, the market will continue to grow.

Limited impact

Responding to concerns over escalating trade tensions between the US and China and its impact on Vietnam, Tran Toan Thang, head of the World Economic Department of the National Centre for Socio-Economic Information and Forecast (NCIF) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said: No one wins in a trade war. All parties in this war will lose.

According to Thang, a large-scale trade war will not likely occur as all parties are aware of the consequences but minor conflicts can happen.

If the conflict occurred only between the US and China, Vietnam would have a good chance to export to the US, Thang said. He added that on the other hand, if China could not export to the US, it would boost its exports to other countries, including Vietnam.

However, as Vietnams economic openness as measured by its import-export rate is rather high, Thang warned that the country might find it difficult to achieve growth targets if a real trade war broke out.

According to Nguyen Huy Do, marketing director at Vietnam-Italy Steel Co, Vietnam can increase exports to other markets when the Comprehensive Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) takes effect in the near future.

The CPTPP has 11 member countries. Vietnam has the most favorable conditions for exporting garments and steel, Do said, adding that through the CPTPP Vietnam will gain a good opportunity to export without challenge from its biggest competitor, China.

In addition, Vietnam is a developing country, so the demand for construction steel is rising and the industry is less reliant on exports.

The steel industry witnessed a growth rate of 18 per cent in 2016 and 12-13 per cent in 2017.The sixth GMS with the participation of the six prime ministers and head of delegation of the six GMS countries and reperesentatives of ADB, WB and ASEAN members

The summit was chaired by Vietnams Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, with the participation of Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen, Lao PDRs Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, Myanmars Vice President Henry Van Thio, Thailands Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of China Wang Yi.

Asian Development Banks (ADB) president Takehiko Nakao, ASEAN secretary general Lim Jock Hoi, and chief executive office and chief finance office of World Bank (WB) Joaquim Levy also attended the summit.

The summit highly appreciated important achievements of GMS over 25 years on the basis of 3C strategy Connectivity, Competitiveness, and Community. Co-operation scale is over $21 billion with hundred projects covering all sectors, notably the co-operation of building and upgrading numerous airports, 80 bridges, 10,000 kilometre road, 500km railway, and 3,000km electrical transmission line.

This is also the leading co-operation mechanism of building cross-nation economic corridors such as Earth-West, North-South, and Southern coastal economic corridors.

Other co-operation sectors such as trade, agriculture, environment also obtained good outcomes. Currently, GMS is a dynamic, integrated area, consisting the fastest-growth economies.

Co-operation orientation in the next five years, the summit has approved the Hanoi Action Plan for 2018-2022 and the Region Investment Framework 2022 to determine the major co-operation contents and make some adjustments to meet demand of country members development.

This framework contains 227 projects with total investment of nearly $66 billion.

GMS Summit also agreed with Vietnamese PM Phuc's proposal to start the process of building long-term vision post 2022 for GMS co-operation in order to help country members implement the Agenda 2030 by the United Nations.

Co-operation in terms of coping with climate change, environmental protection, and water sources management were also discussed on the basis of cross-border co-operation and mutual efforts to ensure food, water resources, and energy security.

Additionally, leaders has recognised fields co-operation strategy on the fields of transport, tourism, agriculture, and environment, as well as ratify the report of 25 years of GMS co-operation and GMS e-commerce co-operation.Vietnam is expected to gain the most from the AHKFTA, Photo: Le Toan

Edward Yau, secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, told VIR that among ASEAN countries, Vietnam is expected to gain the most from the ASEAN-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement (AHKFTA), as the country is Hong Kongs fourth-largest trading partner within ASEAN.

Yau led a high-level Hong Kong business delegation which came to Vietnam last week to explore opportunities for more trade and investment in Vietnam.

According to Yau, there are many attractive infrastructure developments in Vietnam, including railway, port, highway, and city construction. These projects require professional services, including funding, business consultancy, architecture, and engineering, which have reached a high level of development in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong can be a professional service provider as well as a financial trading hub for Vietnam, Yau said.

The businesses and startups that use Hong Kong as a home base to serve the whole region are also interested in the Vietnamese market.

Margaret Fong, executive director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, said that Hong Kong-based companies have been investing in Vietnam for many years, some for over half a century, mainly in the manufacturing and real estate sectors. She expected that this trend will continue into the future in anticipation of the AHKFTA.

A new sector for Hong Kong investment will be the financial technology (fintech) industry, which is attracting new companies to Vietnam. Another type of technology which has seen good development in Hong Kong is biotech, which is also an area of interest for Vietnam.

Hong Kong is home to many companies specialised in branding, marketing, e-commerce, and e-logistics. With extensive expertise, these companies are looking to go international and Vietnam is emerging as a market with great potential for them. On top of that, Hong Kong can provide professional services such as legal, accounting, and business consultancy services to serve the countrys fast-paced development, according to Fong.

The AHKFTA is expected to boost and facilitate trade and investment between Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland, and ASEAN economies. The agreement will reduce the customs duties imposed by ASEAN and improve Hong Kongs overall competitiveness in the international market.

ASEAN was already Hong Kongs second-largest trading partner in merchandise trade in 2016 and the fourth-largest in service trade in 2015. As the sixth-largest economy of ASEAN, Vietnam is set to become a close economic partner of Hong Kong.

Indeed, Vietnam and Hong Kong enjoy strong bilateral business ties. In the first seven months of 2017, foreign direct investment (FDI) from Hong Kong to Vietnam reached $600 million, which made Hong Kong the fifth-largest source of FDI for Vietnam. FDI from Hong Kong to Vietnam more than doubled between 2012 and 2016, from $373 million in 2012 to $848 million in 2016.GS25, 7-Eleven, and Circle K were among the foreign brands breaking open Vietnam's 24/7 retail scene

In 2017, South Korea-owned convenience franchise chain GS25, under the management of GS Retail, officially entered Vietnam by setting up a joint venture with local SonKim Land.

Yun Ju Young, managing director of GS25 Vietnam, unveiled that the convenience chain planned to launch the first four stores in Ho Chi Minh City through franchising, followed by a total of 50 stores in major cities, such as Hanoi, Haiphong, Danang, and Can Tho by the end of 2018.

Yun also stated that the capital city of Hanoi would be the latter part of its expansion strategy in Vietnam. The Korean retailer expects to open 2,500 convenience stores across the country over the next decade.

Previously, GS25's convenience rival, Japanese-owned 7-Eleven, an American international chain of convenience stores, entered Vietnam in 2015 through a franchising deal with a joint venture named Seven System Vietnam.

Nonetheless, the Texas-headquartered brand did not launch any convenience stores in Vietnam until 2017, with the first store located in the business hub of Ho Chi Minh City. In contrast with GS25, 7-Eleven only expected to set up about 1,000 convenience stores across Vietnam in the next ten years.

GS25 was one of the 31 foreign companies penetrating the Vietnamese marketplace through franchising in 2017 alone. These multinationals mainly came from the UK, the US, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan from sectors such as food and beverages (F&B), education, and consumer goods.

Prominent brands among the multitude of franchisers currently present in Vietnam include the Costa coffee chain of UK-owned Costa International Limited and Dutch apparel retail ITX MERKEN B.V with its cluster of clothing, footwear, and accessories brands including Pull & Bear, Stradivarius, and Massimo Dutti.

Previously, American Circle K, launched its first convenience store in Ho Chi Minh City on December 25, 2008 through franchising, followed by the next 69 non-stop stores in the same city. In 2017, the US-owned retailer opened its 100th convenience outlet, also located in Ho Chi Minh City, after a decade in Vietnam.

In addition, Singapore-invested franchising Shop n Go, set foot in Ho Chi Minh City in 2005 as the first foreign convenience brand to enter the country's 24/7 retail market. To date, the Singaporean brand distributes products ranging from processed food and F&B items to makeup and skincare products.Foreign investment funds, not banks, are the most active buyers of stakes in local banks, Photo: Le Toan

Big fish

Last week, Hanoi-based VPBank announced its plan for a private placement that will offer a total number of shares equivalent to 15 per cent of the banks ordinary shares at the time of the event to both local and foreign investors. As of December 31, 2017, VPBank reported 1.57 billion total outstanding shares, of which 1.497 billion are ordinary shares.

The sale of VPBank stake to shore up its chartered capital is expected for the second quarter or early in the third quarter of the year, as the bank announced during its annual general meeting. Chairman Ngo Chi Dung shared his confidence that investors will pay a premium price for the shares, well above the current market price, thanks to the banks strong performance in 2017 and bright prospects for 2018.

Dung noted that the bank seeks to increase its capital this year as both the local and the global macro-economic conditions are supportive enough to proceed with its capital raising plan. Opportunities may pass us by any time, so it is just the right time for us to go ahead with it; should the sale go through, our capital adequacy ratio (CAR) will go up to 18 per cent, he said.

It is yet unknown whether investors will now wait for the upcoming event or if they are already in negotiations with the bank for a fair price. What has become evident, however, is that foreign investment funds are very interested in local banks, evident in the recent investments worth $370 million that two separate legal entities under private equity investor Warburg Pincus poured into Techcombank. Thanks to this, the lender will have the funding it needs for expansion and to further strengthen its brand in the country.

VinaCapitals Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF) gained prominence with another example, when it acquired almost 5 per cent of Orient Commercial Bank (OCB) for $11 million last October. The deal, according to VOF managing director Andy Ho, was a rather rare opportunity to own a meaningful stake in a bank that has high lending and earnings growth.

In addition to negotiating an attractive price, we were able to obtain certain minority protections and performance commitments, which made this transaction all the more attractive, Ho said at the time.

In addition to those who have already received investment or are en route to finalise investment deals, there are a multitude of banks that are anticipated to go to the main bourses in 2018 and 2019, allowing investors more options of increasingly transparent bank stocks to choose from.

These banks, which currently listed on the over-the-counter (OTC) trading platform, include Techcombank, Maritime Bank, Saigon Bank for Industry and Trade (Saigonbank), OCB, ABBank, SeABank, Nam A Bank, and VietABank.

TPBank has been approved by the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HSX) last Thursday to list 555 million shares on the exchange.

A piece for all

The above-said lenders are commercial ones. For those with an appetite for state-owned banks, there are a couple that are planning to offload some of their stakes to sound investors.

Vietcombank (HSX: VCB), the third-largest lender in terms of assets, has gotten the thump-up from the government to offer 10 per cent of its stakes, equivalent to over 350 million shares, to foreign investors, either through private placement or a public auction. The offering is likely to take place in the second quarter of the year, according to the bank. The state currently owns 77.11 per cent of the bank, while Japans Mizuho Corporate Bank holds 15 per cent of its stakes.

Back in 2016, Vietcombank inked a memorandum of understanding with Singapores sovereign wealth fund GIC to sell 7.73 per cent or 305.8 million of its stakes out of the lenders initial plan to issue 359.77 million new shares in a private placement in 2017.

However, the deal fell apart, as both parties could not come up with an agreeable and fair price. GIC offered a discount from the market price to buy VCB stocks, which then posed a major obstacle for the government to approve the deal. VCB stock price more than doubled over the course of the year, with its price listed at VND74,400 ($3.38) a share last Wednesday, up almost 115 per cent in value year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the largest lender in terms of assets, BIDV (HSX: BID), with 95.28 per cent owned by the state, is said to be close to signing an agreement with Korean KEB Hana Bank as part of an attempt to boost its capital and CAR under the requirements of the Basel II guidelines. BIDVs foreign ownership limit (FOL) is set at 30 per cent, and the bank does not currently have any strategic foreign investors.

Gaining popularity

It is not until now that local banks have become attractive to foreign investors. Foreign banks took the initiative to invest in their local peers over a decade ago. Banks like HSBC Holdings Plc., Standard Chartered Plc., and BNP Paribas were once major shareholders at local lenders like Techcombank, ACB, or OCB. They have now disposed of their holdings in their local counterparts.

Others like Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Societe Generale, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui Corporation, and Mizuho Corporate Bank are still holding on to their stakes at VIB, SeABank, VietinBank, Eximbank, and Vietcombank, respectively. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) also owns 4.99 per cent of TPBank.

The past years also saw several successful transactions, such as TPBank in 2017 sealing a deal with Finland-based PYN Fund Management to hand over 4.99 per cent of its stakes in exchange for approximately $40 million.

VPBank, through its initial public offering (IPO) last year, got a total of $250 million in foreign funds. Available room for foreign investment at the bank filled up fast as soon as it got listed on the southern bourse.

HDBank, with its recent debut on HSX, was of interest to some 76 foreign investors, including Deutsche Bank AG, Credit Saison, and JP Morgan Vietnam Opportunities Fund, which had earlier paid $300 million for 21.5 per cent of the lenders holdings.

According to HSBC Vietnam CEO Pham Hong Hai, foreign investors now have a new basis for their investment decision, as the health of the local banking sector has improved over time following the restructuring progress, on the back of a more competitive environment and better legal foundation, and it promises to be a sector of foreign interest in the future.

In my view, foreign investors are pretty optimistic about Vietnams economic prospects and are looking to enlarge their businesses here. The finance and banking sector is set to benefit from such moves, as the growth of the economy and businesses will lead to an increase in demand for finance and banking services, Hai told VIR.

To ensure sustainable development, I think that now and then, international financial institutions may not invest on a widespread scale, but rather invest intensively into areas of strength as well as in corporate governance and risk management. Enhancing customer experience with digitalised features will also be an area of focus for banks to invest in, Hai added.

Equity investors vs bank investors

It is worth noting that currently, local banks seem to attract attention and investments from non-banking or private equity investors rather than banks. While finding a bank as a strategic foreign investor used to be a goal for Vietnamese banks, as they were expected to provide not only financial capacity but also experience and expertise in the banking industry, it is not always easy to find one now.

Foreign banks may also experience a conflict of interest when they hold a local incorporate and at the same time manage their investments here. This could be explained with a look at the recent case of BNP Paribas, which divested from its partner OCB.

As our stake in OCB was a minority stake without strategic involvement and was not in line with our overall business development plan in Vietnam, we decided to dispose of our remaining holdings, said BNP Paribas country head for Vietnam Aymar de Liedekerke Beaufort in an emailed interview.

We now see a tendency of foreign lenders not spreading their investment, but rather focusing on developing the markets in which they have the competitive advantage as well as those with the scale and capability to generate growth in line with the parent banks, said HSBCs Hai. They may also not focus on mergers and acquisitions or become strategic partners of local banks, but focus more on their organic growth, in this case on the local unit of the foreign banks.

Foreign investment funds, meanwhile, are more likely to actively seek to invest in local banks with room for growth and healthy corporate governance.

For VPBanks Dung, he stressed that now is the right time to conduct a private placement, as foreign investors, in this case foreign investment funds, are making their way to Vietnam.The demand for eggs is rising, with some companies wanting to boost production for export, Photo: Le Toan

Ba Huan JSC recently made a splash when receiving $32.5 million worth of investment from VinaCapitals Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF). According to Pham Thi Huan, chairwoman of Ba Huan, with additional capital from VinaCapital, Ba Huan is developing a poultry processing plant worth VND400 billion ($17.56 million) in Ben Luc district in the southern province of Long An. The project is slated to be inaugurated in April or May this year.

The company will also expand two poultry projects in Long Ans Thanh Hoa and Duc Hoa districts, with a VND300 billion ($13.17 million) investment from VinaCapital. The expansion is expected to raise Ba Huans egg production capacity by 20-30 per cent.

Huan said that the egg supplier currently has a local capacity of one million eggs per day. Overall, with the ongoing expansion and fresh investment from VinaCapital, the company aims to achieve a 30-50 per cent increase in productivity one year from now.

Andy Ho, VOFs managing director, told VIR that VinaCapital will invest $32.5 million in Ba Huan over the next 12 months. Based on mutual commitments, the fund will consider boosting capital for the second phase of Ba Huans expansion.

Ho is optimistic about the outlook of Vietnams pasteurised poultry egg market, as consumers are spending more on high-quality, healthy products. Vietnam has huge potential for exports to other Asian markets like Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Japan.

VOF thus hopes that Ba Huan will be able to supply its products to those markets over the course of its long-term development.

Meanwhile, Hoa Phat has recently also branched out into egg production by developing two chicken farms in the northern province of Phu Tho and the southern province of Dong Nai. The farms are expected to raise a total of 600,000 chickens for eggs annually, and will likely begin operation in March. The company aims to supply 20 million high-quality chicken eggs to the market in 2018, with a view to providing 300 million units by 2020.

According to Hoa Phat, the supply of egg products has grown by 6-7 per cent in the last few years. Eggs are a cheap but incredibly nutritious foodstuff, suitable for both high- and low-income segments.

As this supply is projected to grow further in the near future, Hoa Phat will supply eggs to the domestic market via supermarkets, convenience stores, and industrial parks.

Meanwhile, Vinh Thanh Dat JSC produces about 700,000 fresh eggs a day, which can reach up to one million a day in peak season. Besides, the firm is building a processed egg facility to produce instant eggs, salted eggs, and century eggs for convenience stores, as well as for export.

Other notable egg producers in the market include the likes of Dabaco Vietnam, with an output of 300-400 million eggs per year; and DTK Corporation, which is teaming up with Japans largest egg producer Ise Foods to build high-tech production facilities, with the intention of exporting to Japan.

Hoang Thanh Van, head of the Department of Livestock Production under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, told VIR that Vietnams egg market looks to have further room for growth in the future. Annual egg consumption per capita in the country stands at 152 units, which is below the global average of 200. In 2017, Vietnam produced nearly 11 billion eggs, surpassing the 10 billion mark for the first time.

According to Van, the current annual output of 10-12 billion eggs only meets domestic demand. The country needs to increase its output for export, as well as produce more high value-added products such as pasteurised fresh eggs, salted eggs, century eggs, and egg powder.

Van noted that Vietnam is exploring potential international markets for locally produced eggs, with a target of exporting one billion eggs. The country will also propose a certain export ratio to local egg producers in the time to come.

It is obvious that the competition in the egg market is becoming more intense with the introduction of new players and the expansion of existing companies.

Truong Chi Thien, director of Vinh Thanh Dat, said that his strategy is to raise duck egg production, as the segment is largely untapped by foreign firms and large corporations. In 2017, his companys total revenue from duck eggs climbed 40 per cent year-on-year.An escape back to my roots

Its late June 2017; Im on my way back to England from a short break to Croatia. The aerial view of the earth from above leaves me in awe and I think back to my second night in the town of Split, Croatia.News video footage of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his meeting with China's President Xi Jinping is seen on a large screen above a restaurant in Beijing. (Photo: AFP/Greg Baker)

Acting on a request from the United States, it was the largest-ever package of sanctions designations on North Korea approved by a council committee, diplomats said.

The move is part of a global crackdown on the smuggling of North Korean commodities in violation of UN sanctions resolutions, which were adopted in response to Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

The sanctions were approved as the United States moves to open talks with North Korea on its nuclear drive, with a summit possible between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un by the end of May.

Despite the diplomatic opening, the United States has made clear they will keep the pressure on Pyongyang to shift course by pressing on with sanctions.

Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, on Friday welcomed the "historic" sanctions package," calling it "a clear sign that the international community is united in our efforts to keep up maximum pressure on the North Korean regime."

"We want to thank the members of the Security Council, as well as Japan and South Korea, for working with us to keep up the pressure and for their commitment to implementing UN Security Council resolutions and holding violators accountable," Haley added.

A total of 13 North Korean oil tankers and cargo vessels were banned from ports worldwide along with 12 other ships for helping Pyongyang smuggle banned commodities or supplying oil and fuel shipments, according to a UN document obtained by AFP.

Two other North Korean vessels were hit with a global assets freeze, but are not banned from port entry.

Twenty-one shipping and trading firms were hit by an assets freeze. Three of them are based in Hong Kong including Huaxin Shipping, which delivered shipments of North Korean coal to Vietnam in October.

NORTH KOREA FLOUTS SANCTIONS

Twelve North Korean firms were blacklisted for running ships involved in illegal transfers of oil and fuel, according to the document.

Two other companies - Shanghai Dongfeng Shipping and Weihai World Shipping Freight, also based in China - were blacklisted for carrying North Korean coal on their vessels.

The remaining firms are in based Singapore, Samoa, the Marshall Islands and Panama.

A businessman identified as Tsang Yung Yuan was hit by a global travel ban and assets freeze for organizing illegal shipments of North Korean coal with a North Korean broker in Russia.

Last year, the Security Council adopted a series of resolutions to ban North Korean exports of commodities in a bid to cut off revenue to the nuclear-armed state's military programs.

The measures severely restrict deliveries of oil and refined petroleum products to North Korea, but sanctions monitors have reported that Pyongyang has used vessels to dodge those restrictions.

North Korea earned US$200 million in revenue last year from exports of coal, iron, steel and other banned commodities, according to a recent report.

Only eight North Korean vessels had so far been banned from ports for sanctions-busting - so the inclusion of 13 other ships on Friday was expected to significantly cripple North Korea's maritime network.

The United States had initially asked the United Nations to ban 33 ships and 27 firms over smuggling, but China put a hold on that request to review the list.

Earlier this month, the White House said Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed in a phone conversation to keep up the sanctions pressure on North Korea until Pyongyang takes concrete steps toward denuclearisation.Comrades no more!

Our Emperor Prachanda has proven time and again that he is a magician and has unlimited magic tricks up his sleeves. When our experts think that he has lost his way, our great magician comes up with a new trick to surprise us all.Congress CC meeting postponed until further notice

The Nepali Congress Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting has been postponed until further notice.Jagat Lal Master: The Master from Masangalli

Masangalli. A narrow galli that cuts between the dazzling temple of the Seto Macchindranath (or Janbaha Dyo) and Mahabouddha, towards Bir Hospital, has seen several avatars in the recent past. Popular today for its innumerable Kurta and Sari whole sellers,HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A man suspected of fatally shooting an off-duty police officer in a small Kentucky city has been killed by law enforcement officials in Tennessee.

Kentucky State Police Trooper Rob Austin says in a statement Friday that 34-year-old James K. Decoursey of Hopkinsville "had a brief encounter with law enforcement" officials in Clarksville, Tennessee, where he "was shot and died from his injuries."

Kentucky State police say Decoursey shot and killed 38-year-old Hopkinsville officer Phillip Meacham Thursday afternoon, then fled on foot then before taking off in a pickup truck.

Meacham, who was married and had two school-age children, had been with the Hopkinsville department since May 2017. Before that worked for about 14 years with the Christian County Sheriff's Department.

Hopkinsville is about 73 miles (117.48 kilometers) northwest of Nashville, Tennessee.

____

1:03 a.m.

The manhunt continues for a man suspected of fatally shooting an off-duty police officer in a small Kentucky city, then fleeing in a stolen truck.

Kentucky State police say 38-year-old Hopkinsville officer Phillip Meacham was shot Thursday afternoon.

Police identified the suspect as 34-year-old James K. Decoursey of Hopkinsville. They say he fled on foot then took off in a 1997 white Chevrolet pickup truck with license plate 2070GH. Police say Decoursey should be treated as armed and dangerous. A Tennessee Highway Patrol helicopter was aiding the search.

Meacham, who was married and had two school-age children, had been with the Hopkinsville department since May 2017. Before that worked for about 14 years with the Christian County Sheriff's Department.

Hopkinsville is about 73 miles (117.48 kilometers) northwest of Nashville, Tennessee.

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)(CNN) -- David Hogg, a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, on Friday rejected an apology from Fox News host Laura Ingraham for her tweet mocking his college acceptance record.

Asked by CNN's Alisyn Camerota whether he accepts the apology from Ingraham, who tweeted to more than 2 million followers, Hogg said simply, "No."

"She's only apologizing after a third of her advertisers pulled out," the gun control activist continued, referencing the advertising boycott he called for after her tweet. As of Friday morning, seven advertisers had pulled out of Ingraham's show, Camerota said on "New Day."

"I think it's great that corporate America is standing with me and the rest of my friends," Hogg said on CNN. "Because when you come against any one of us, whether it be me or anybody else, you're coming against all of us. And I think it's important that we stand together as both corporate and civic America to take action against these people and show them that they cannot push us around, especially when all we're trying to do here is save lives."

Ingraham apologized Thursday in a tweet that also commended Hogg for his 4.2 GPA. She also stated she believed her show was the first to feature Hogg, who has become a recognizable figure in the aftermath of February's mass shooting at his school in Parkland, Florida.

"I think it's really disgusting, the fact that she basically tried promoting her show after apologizing to me," the 17-year-old said on CNN.

The-CNN-Wire

 &  2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.Finance Minister Khatiwada says privatisation has essentially failed

The KP Oli government has taken a dim view of privatisation pursued by successive governments since 1990. In its first policy paper on economy that came out on Friday, the government said the privatisation drive of the 90s has failed essentially.NC leader Khum Bahadur Khadka dies

Nepali Congress (NC) leader Khum Bahadur Khadka died at New Delhis Apollo Hospital on Friday. He was 68. Khadka, who had earlier undergone kidney transplant, was suffering from multiple ailments. He was hospitalised a moth ago.Sydney: Moscow has given two Australian diplomats a week to leave Russia in retaliation for Canberra booting out two of its spies.

In a joint statement on Saturday morning, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said there was no justification for the expulsions by Russia.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says the Australian expulsions from Russia were not unexpected. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen, AP

They said the expulsions were "disappointing" but not unexpected.

"Australia's action was in concert with 28 other nations expelling a total of 153 Russian diplomats in an unprecedented demonstration of global solidarity with the United Kingdom," the statement said.Pauline Hanson's new book has reignited her long-running war of words with her One Nation co-founder, with David Oldfield describing the firebrand senator as a "fraud" who has "never had an original thought".

Senator Hanson this week released a collection of speeches to Parliament - made in both her original 1990s incarnation in the lower house and since returning to Canberra in 2016 - called Pauline: In Her Own Words.

But Mr Oldfield - Senator Hanson's one-time confidant and a former deputy leader of the party he helped create - has rubbished the book and its title, saying the speeches contained within are not her words at all.

Pauline Hanson and David Oldfield at a One Nation function in 1999. Credit:Robert Pearce.

"Not only are they not her words, they're not her thoughts," said Mr Oldfield, who went on to his own career in NSW politics and then reality TV. "Pauline didn't have any original thoughts. She's never had an original thought."Hi Nicole,

Before I start, I absolutely love your column! So thank you. I am a single male, 37, no kids, and just now have decided Ive had enough of renting. I am an advocate of minimalist living and have lived and worked in Japan and France, where I rented apartments so small most Australians would be horrified.

Banks won't lend for property they consider "too small".

As it happens I have $250,000 in cash and earn a salary of $110,000. Ive been trying to purchase a small apartment around $380,000 to $400,000. Yet my bank refuses to lend me the $130,000 to $150,000 as they claim the floor sizes are too small.

Why is this? Ive over half the deposit in cash yet still not getting approved? I feel as though the bank wont lend me a small(ish) amount as its of not much value to them.Top marks to the tax experts at Pitcher Partners for alerting investors and business owners to the additional tax penalties facing company shareholders not eligible to claim a cash refund of imputation credits on their dividends. The Pitcher Partner analysis highlights that retirees and other low tax investors will be penalised for investing via listed investment and other company structures.

Some investment structures are more tax-effective than others, under Labor's proposed rules. Credit:Jim Rice

Investing directly in personal names or via a trust, all income received is taxed only in the hands of the recipient. When a company structure is used to own assets, the situation changes dramatically with all income except franked dividends received from domestic shares subject to the separate company tax levied on all income received by the company.

The company tax covers realised capital gains, personal exertion income, rent, interest income, unfranked dividends and taxable overseas income. All these possible sources of income are subject to company tax before they are distributed to shareholders as dividends.

The imputation credit system was introduced to ensure that company owners are not adversely affected when dividends received are taxed again in the recipients hands. This is achieved by allowing full credit including via cash refunds for company tax already paid when the dividends received are subject to tax.A 24-year-old man has been charged after leading police on a car chase through Perth's northern suburbs on Friday night.

A police spokeswoman said the Mazda hatchback he was driving was stolen a week ago from East Perth.

Vision from the police helicopter as the man is arrested. Credit:David Allan-Petale

Mirrabooka detectives said they attempted to stop the car just after 8.30pm in Koondoola when the man sped off.

A police helicopter pursued the car as it continued to Warwick before colliding with a Toyota Corolla at the Ellersdale and Erindale Road intersection.The State Government has waived Rottnest landing fees for children under 12 for the next six months in a bid to increase tourism to the island.

Visitors to Rottnest usually pay a landing fee which goes towards conservation and maintenance which is $6.50 per day and $8 overnight for children under 12.

Rottnest Island. Credit:Rottnest Island Authority

The deal will see kids receive free Island admission when travelling to Rottnest Island after 11am.

The offer runs from 3 April to 20 September 2018, excluding school holidays and is expected to encourage additional numbers to Rottnest Island during the traditional off-peak periods.Washington: A Maryland man who collected cash payments from a foreign company to plot an Islamic State attack in the United States and help the group develop weaponised drones has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Mohamed Elshinawy, 33, of Edgewood, pleaded guilty to supporting IS, terrorism financing and making false statements in connection with a terrorism matter, according to a statement from the US attorney's office in Maryland.

The plot included help in financing the development of weaponised drones. Credit:AP

Between February and December of 2015, Elshinawy conspired with others to support IS, also known as ISIS, and provide the terrorist group with financial services, material support and other resources, the government said.

"In various other conversations, Elshinawy pledged his allegiance to ISIS, described himself as its soldier, committed to making violent jihad, and asked that others convey his message of loyalty to ISIS leadership," the statement from federal prosecutors said.Dakar: Two slave-owners in Mauritania face 10 and 20 years in prison after a court handed down the country's harshest anti-slavery ruling yet.

The West African country criminalised slavery in 2007 and this was the third ever prosecution. In past cases, slave-owners were sentenced to two to five years.

"This is a big victory," Jakub Sobik of Anti-Slavery International told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"The sentences are quite high and in line with the law, which is by no means a given."

Slavery is a historical practice in Mauritania, which became the last country worldwide to legally abolish it in 1981.Tel Aviv: A mass protest of thousands of Palestinians along Gaza's border with Israel, billed as peaceful by its Hamas organisers, erupted in violence overnight, with at least 15 Palestinians killed and several hundred wounded in clashes with Israeli soldiers.

Friday marked the beginning of six weeks of protests Hamas had planned against Israel and the Palestinian displacement surrounding its 1948 creation. The demonstrations began with tent camps set up 800 metres from Gaza's 40-kilometre frontier with Israel; the climax is to come in mid-May with a mass march to the border that Israel fears will become an attempt to breach its territory.

Palestinian protesters evacuate a wounded youth during clashes with Israeli troops along the Gaza Strip border with Israel, on Friday. Credit:AP

Hamas leaders presented the initiative as a peaceful effort, though they readily conceded it might get out of hand. It did just that within hours, as demonstrators threw rocks and firebombs and rolled burning tires at Israeli soldiers, who responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition.The cosmologist had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease in his 20s.

The renowned British physicist died peacefully at his Cambridge home on March 14 at the age of 76.

Cambridge: A funeral service for Professor Stephen Hawking will include traditional religious themes when family and friends gather at a church near the Cambridge University college that was his academic home for more than 50 years.

In 2014, he declared he was an atheist in a response to a journalist of the Spanish El Mundo newspaper: "What I meant by 'we would know the mind of God' is we would know everything that God would know if there was a God, but there isn't. I'm an atheist."

Saturday's private funeral service at the University Church of St Mary the Great will be attended by family, invited friends and colleagues.

In a statement, Hawking's children Lucy, Robert and Tim said, "On behalf of our whole family we want to express our huge gratitude to all the wonderful tributes to our father and to those who have sent us messages of condolence.

"Our father lived and worked in Cambridge for over 50 years.

"He was an integral and highly recognisable part of the university and the city.Oli visit to deepen ties

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli embarks on a three-day state visit to India on April 6. Kathmandu and New Delhi on Friday officially announced the visit, first reported by the Post last week.Permanent teacher job test deferred yet again

The Teachers Service Commission has yet again postponed the test to hire teachers on permanent positions indefinitely following protests by teachers and students, who have been on a hunger against the plan to hire temporary teachers exclusively.President sad over unsolved Dasdhunga accident

President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday expressed her sadness that the cause of the Dasdhunga incident remains unsolved after so many years. She referred to the premature death of the then CPN-UML General Secretary Madan Bhandari in a car accident at Dasdhunga, Chitwan on May 16, 1993.Province 2 chief stops Indian anthem from being played in Saptari

Province 2 chief Ratneshwor Lal Kayastha requested against playing Indian national anthem at a public programme attended by people from both Nepal and India at Rajbiraj in Saptari.One dead after shooting on Louisville highwayBy WestKyStar & Civic Beautification Board Mar. 12, 2018 | 10:45 PM | PADUCAH, KY

As is the case each spring, it's a mystery exactly when the showy dogwood buds will burst open marking the beginning of Paducah's 54th annual Dogwood Trail. The Civic Beautification Board has decided to move the opening trail date to April 8th. This should give the buds plenty of time to pop and the blossoms will then start appearing. Residents are encouraged to light their blooming trees, shrubs, plants and even turn on their porch lights. When neighborhoods "light up" the annual Dogwood Trail is beautiful both day and night.These dates are events related to this spring's Dogwood Trail:April 8 - The lighted Dogwood Trail begins.April 10 - CBB members will be judging the best lighted trees on and off the trail. There will be ten winners chosen on and two off the trail.April 11 - Dogwood Trail winners will be announced and signs will be placed in their yards.April 12 - Trolley rides will take guests along the lighted trail at dusk. The trolley will depart from the PATS building at 850 Harrison St.April 14 - The annual Dogwood Tree Sale will take place at local nurseries.April 15 - Dogwood Trail Bike Ride & dinner on the grounds. Start at BikeWorld, 809 Joe Clifton Dr. at 2:30 pmMay 8 - A Dogwood reception and presentation of awards to the winners on the lighted Dogwood Trail and Dogwood Art & Photography Contest will take place during the City Commission meeting starting at 5:30 pm at City Hall.For more information, email cavanderboegh@aol.com or jackie@rexsmithfamily.com.Check out this year's trail route...

On the Net:Nurse Honored for Work With Sex Assault Victims

Advertisement

By West Kentucky Star Staff

Mar. 30, 2018 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 30, 2018 | 09:11 PM | PADUCAH, KY

A Paducah nurse was among those honored in Frankfort for contributions in combating sexual assault.



Kristy Schwetman, an emergency room nurse at Lourdes Hospital, was presented an award for her work as a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) at the 13th annual Sexual Assault Awareness & Prevention Month Awards at the Capital Plaza Hotel Thursday night.



Schwetman began working at Lourdes in 1993 and was certified as a SANE in 2001. For a time, Schwetman was the only SANE at Lourdes and committed herself to being on call 24/7 for victims of sexual violence.



In addition, Schwetman is also a member of the Purchase Area Sexual Assault and Child Advocacy Center as well as the McCracken County Sexual Assault Response Team. She also works with area hospitals in sexual assault nursing training.



Earlier in the day, Schwetman and other award winners were recognized during a ceremony inside the Capital Rotunda to kick off Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month in Kentucky.Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required.

Your Full Name: (optional)

Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required.Think Tanks: Challenges to Tackle

There has long been a fascination with state-supported think tanks in Nepal. Most recently, the new government led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has publicly announced that it is thinking of establishing a think tank under the prime ministers office (PMO).Two invigilators expelled for dereliction of duty

Two invigilators of Saptari were expelled for indulging in immoral acts during the final day of the Secondary Education Examinations (SEE) on Saturday.Upgradation of Syabrubesi road to begin in August

Work to upgrade the Syabrubesi-Rasuwagadhi road to a two-lane, all-weather highway will begin in August, the Department of Roads said. The 18-km section makes up the final stretch of the crucial Galchhi-Trishuli-Rasuwagadhi highway linking Nepal and China.President Donald Trump lashed out at California Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday morning, continuing a longstanding feud between his administration and the Golden State over immigration.

"Governor Jerry 'Moonbeam' Brown pardoned 5 criminal illegal aliens whose crimes include (1) Kidnapping and Robbery (2) Badly beating wife and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize (3) Dealing drugs. Is this really what the great people of California want?," the President tweeted, along with a tag to Fox News.

On Friday, the Democratic governor granted 56 pardons and 14 commutations.

Five of those pardons went to immigrants facing possible deportation, according to The Sacramento Bee: Sokha Chhan, Daniel Maher, Phann Pheach, Francisco Acevedo Alaniz and Sergio Mena.

According to the governor's office, Chhan served almost a year in jail and three years of probation for domestic abuse. Maher served five years in prison and three years on parole for kidnapping, robbery and possession and use of a firearm. Alaniz served time for vehicle theft; Pheach and Mena, for possession of a controlled substance for sale.

"Those granted pardons all completed their sentences years ago and the majority were convicted of drug-related or other nonviolent crimes," a statement from Brown's office said.

Chhan, who was sentenced in 2002, according to The Bee, came to the United States at the age of 13 from Cambodia while fleeing the Khmer Rouge regime. He is currently in federal custody awaiting deportation.

Maher, who was sentenced in 1995 to five years in prison, came to the United States legally at the age of 3 from Macau, but lost his green card when he was convicted.

Pheach, who was convicted in 2005 and sentenced to six months, came to the United States at the age of 1 from Cambodia. He is awaiting deportation.

Alaniz, convicted in 1997, served five months in prison and 13 months on probation.

Mena was sentenced in 2003 and served three years of probation.

The pardons by the governor could greatly affect whether the five will be deported, according to The Bee.

A spokesperson for Brown's office told CNN they find Trump's comments "rather curious given President Trump's proclamation yesterday declaring April 'Second Chance Month' to 'celebrate those who have exited the prison system and successfully reentered society.'"

The spokesperson also reiterated that the pardons are granted "to individuals who have demonstrated exemplary behavior and have lived productive and law-abiding lives following their conviction."

Maher, for example, began working for the nonprofit Ecology Center in Berkeley after prison. His colleagues told CNN in 2015 that he was a kind, generous and dependable man and had. Maher told CNN in July 2015 that he had "worked hard to turn (his) life around."

A fundraising page set up for Pheach by his wife describes him as a "bright-minded, selfless person" with a stable job and a loving family. Chhan was awarded sole custody of his five children and according to Brown's office, served in Army Reserve.

Trump's Twitter attack on Brown is the latest in a developing standoff over immigration policy. It also comes of part of a larger tendency on the part of the President to characterize undocumented immigrants as dangerous criminals.

In early March, the Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit against the state and its top officials to stop a cluster of so-called "sanctuary state" bills. In remarks announcing the suit in Sacramento, Attorney General Jeff Sessions decried officials who support sanctuary city policies as "extremists" promoting "open borders." He reserved particular ire for Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, who announced publicly that federal authorities would be conducting immigration crackdowns. Immigration officials slammed the move, accusing her of allowing hundreds of criminals avoid capture.

Brown fired back at Sessions following those remarks, calling the attorney general's appearance a "political stunt" that was full of "lies" and untruths.

The verbal tit-for-tat continued later that day, when Sessions appeared on Fox News with a further message for California.

"Somebody needs to stand up and say, 'No, you've gone too far. You cannot do this.' This is not reasonable. It is radical, really," he said.UTICA- The Mohawk Valley Police Academy swore in 30 new officers on Friday night at the Stanley Theatre.

They're all headed to a several different law enforcement agencies in the area. They had to endure countless hours of training to earn this honor.

NEWSChannel 2 spoke with Deputy Daniel Waltz who will be part of the Oneida County Sheriff's Office. He said he's proud to serve the area. "My father was a fireman, I'm just used to helping people. That's what I've always gravitated towards, and I say from the point where I was about 5 years old, I saw troopers do a bunch of exhibitions on it, that sealed the fate, that's when I knew that's what I wanted to do."



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Thank you for your support!Without any opposition from the Democratic Party and little attention in the corporate media, President Donald Trump and his fascist advisors are quietly carrying out the most dramatic rightwing shift in US immigration policy in a century. They are laying the basis for mass roundups and the brutalization of hundreds of thousands of immigrants in an expanding network of internment camps nationwide.

The Trump administration announced a series of new policies on Thursday. The first policy change targets the poor and working class by blocking immigrants who have used a broad array of social programs from receiving legal permanent residency.

While immigrants were previously denied permanent residency if they had used cash programs, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a change on Thursday that adds almost all forms of government support to the list of banned services, including noncash programs such as food stamps, Medicaid, the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP), food programs for women and infants (WIC), school lunches, housing and heating assistance, health care subsidies, and the earned income tax credit, which is used by about 20 percent of the population.

Any immigrant who uses a social program will be labeled a public charge and found ineligible for legal status. Immigrant parents will be penalized even if their US citizen children use social programs to which they are legally entitled.

As a result of this policy change, hundreds of thousands or millions of workers will go without food, health care, housing and other basic needs for fear of deportation. The Trump administrations strategy is to create a permanent underclass of deeply impoverished people who can be scapegoated for societys ills.

The administration also announced Thursday that it will require all visa applicants to submit their social media records dating back five years to determine if they are admissible for entry to the US. This policy will allow immigration officials to deny visas to applicants with left-wing political opinions.

The administration also announced plans last week to include a question on the 2020 US census requiring people to state whether they are citizens. This change will give the police, military and deportation agencies a map of where undocumented people live, raising the specter of mass, coordinated raids to round up immigrants.

The administration is also enacting a series of policy changes that systematize abuse in the immigration detention system. On Thursday, ICE announced that it will detain pregnant immigrants captured by ICE or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents.

Last fall, the Trump administration fought to deny detained immigrants access to abortion, even in cases where the immigrant was raped by smugglers. According to official counts, 506 pregnant women have been detained since December 2017. The administration has also split detained families by moving immigrant parents and children to different facilities.

Trump has unleashed fascistic elements within ICE and CBP who are engaged in widespread mistreatment of detained immigrants. In December, ICE shackled 92 Somalis together by their wrists, legs and waists on a deportation flight for over 40 hours, forcing them to urinate on themselves. According to a March 4 report in the Intercept, ICE agents beat and threatened the immigrants. When the Somali government refused to accept the deportees, agents brought the immigrants back to immigration detention centers in Florida and continued to beat them, calling them nigger and boy and promising to send you back to the jungle.

A recent report by a group of nonprofits documented routine beatings and sexual abuse of immigrants at a detention center in West Texas. One immigrant said he was placed in solitary confinement, where I was forced to lie face down on the floor with my hands handcuffed behind my back while I was kicked repeatedly in the ribs by the wardenWhen I told him, Ill get a lawyer to sue you, the warden responded, Weve got enough money.

When World Socialist Web Site reporters visited the West Texas Detention Facility, a local business owner boasted that local police let us shoot immigrants and roll their bodies into the riverbed.

The US Supreme Court ruled this year that immigrants have no right to bail, meaning thousands more will face indefinite detention in these hellholes.

In March, Democrats joined Republicans in passing a $1.3 trillion spending bill that strengthens the framework for mass detention and deportation, including:

 A 10 percent ($641 million) increase in funds for ICE.

 Granting the Trump administration the right to allocate funds to expand the number of beds at immigrant detention centers as necessary to ensure the detention of aliens prioritized for removal.

 $1.6 billion for wall construction and border militarization, including $251 million to build a second wall in San Diego and $263 million for planning, design and technology for futuristic militarized walls.

 Hiring hundreds more CBP agents.

Democrats voted for the bill 39-8 in the Senate, compared to Republicans who barely supported it (voting 25-23), on the grounds that it was not sufficiently reactionary.

The deal included no protection for the 1.8 million people eligible for protection from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Though the program expired on March 5, beneficiaries can renew their DACA protections while litigation plays out in the federal courts.

Democrats explicitly refused to include DACA as a demand in the budget negotiations. Since March 6, the day after DACAs expiration, the Democrats have made a deliberate decision to ignore the issue. In the hundreds of Twitter posts by Democratic leaders Charles Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden since March 6, only two tweets reference DACA.

The Democrats claims to support immigrants are a sham. The Democratic Party expressed its real priorities during the budget negotiations in February in a letter to the Republican leadership signed by Pelosi, Schumer, Steny Hoyer and others. Referring to the Russian president and his operatives, the Democrats letter claimed, The most essential elements of Americas democracy are under attack by a foreign adversary and Congress must respond immediately.

The Democrats demanded $300 million for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to counter the influence of hostile foreign actors operating in the US, especially Russian operatives operating on our social media platformsin other words, to censor the Internet and ban left-wing and antiwar information and opinions.The draconian measures taken by the government of Ecuador to cut off all access to the outside world by Julian Assange represent a reactionary attack on basic democratic rights that must be vigorously opposed by workers and youth in every country.

Ecuadorian authorities have blocked the WikiLeaks founders access to the Internet as well as all other means of communication from Quitos embassy in London, where Assange has been confined for nearly six years. In addition, it is barring visitors from seeing him, leaving him with fewer rights than a prisoner behind bars.

Assange continues to face coordinated conspiracies by the British and US governments to have him arrested and extradited to face US charges of treason and espionage, which carry potential death penalties.

The attack on Assange is part of a global assault on democratic rights that increasingly recalls the darkest days of the 1930s, in the midst of the rise of fascism and the drive to world war. It is significant that he was subjected to his enforced isolation in part for making a telling comparison on Twitter between the German governments recent arrest of Catalonian leader Carles Puigdemont at the behest of Spain and the 1940 arrest of the president of Catalonia, Lluis Companys, who was extradited by the Nazis to Francos fascist dictatorship, which tortured and executed him.

The placing of Assange under what amounts to incommunicado detention coincides with a drive by governments all over the world to impose censorship on the Internet. Assange has been in the forefront of the resistance to this antidemocratic campaign.

These actions are also bound up with a sharp turn to the right not only by the government of Ecuador, but by those of a number of Latin American countries that were previously associated with the so-called turn to the left or Pink Tide, which began in 1998 with the election of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

In August of 2012, Ecuador announced that it was granting asylum to Assange, who faced trumped-up sexual misconduct allegations in Sweden. The Swedish investigationwhich was dropped last Maywas a fabrication designed to enable his extradition from the UK to the US, where he would be tried for the offense of making public hundreds of thousands of confidential documents exposing US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with the conspiracies of the US State Department worldwide. While Sweden has dropped the case, British authorities are still seeking Assanges arrest.

When the government of Ecuadors former president Rafael Correa granted Assange asylum, it declared that it was a fundamental human right that should be respected by every government and was necessary in the case of Assange, who faced the threat of ending up in Guantanamo or suffering the kind of torture and abuse meted out to Chelsea Manning. When it asked the British government to allow Assange to leave for Ecuador, London not only denied the request, but threatened to revoke the diplomatic status of Quitos embassy and send police to storm the building.

The intransigence of the British government has kept Assange trapped in the confines of the embassy ever since under conditions described as arbitrary, unreasonable, unnecessary, disproportionate by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which called for him to be freed and compensated.

The Ecuadorian government cut off Assanges communications after he expressed his opinion via Twitter on two of the most burning current world developments, condemning Germanys detention of Puigdemont and questioning the measures taken against Russia over wholly unsubstantiated allegations of its involvement in the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury earlier this month.

Assanges messages, the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry stated, put at risk the good relations that the country maintains with the United Kingdom, with the rest of the states of the European Union and other nations.

Other nations no doubt includes the United States, with which the new government of President Lenin Moreno has been seeking a rapprochement.

The silencing of Assange came just one day after the Ecuadorian government welcomed a delegation from the US Southern Command, the Pentagons arm in Latin America and the Caribbean, headed by Southcoms deputy military commander, Gen. Joseph DiSalvo, and its chief political officer, Ambassador Liliana Ayalde. Southcom issued a statement declaring that the discussions were held to strengthen security cooperation and exchange ideas and reiterate US commitment to the longstanding partnership.

Was the timing a coincidence? Or did the Pentagons representatives deliver a blunt directive to their Ecuadorian counterparts to silence Julian Assange? The obvious question that follows is what other demands have been made. Do they include handing over Assange to Washington?

Since his election last May, MorenoCorreas hand-picked successorhas carried out a sharp turn to the right, implementing tax cuts for big business, cuts in social spending and an attempt to reduce Ecuadors dependence on loans and investment from China in favor of closer relations with US imperialism, which is seeking to reassert its hegemony in the region and counter Beijings growing influence.

The turn to the right in Ecuador is part of a broader ebbing of the-called Pink Tide, i.e., the rule by various populist, nationalist bourgeois parties in Latin America. It is of a piece with the election of the right-wing multimillionaire Mauricio Macri in Argentina in 2015, the impeachment of Workers Party President Dilma Rousseff in 2016 and her replacement by her right-wing vice president Michel Temer, the intense crisis of the government of President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela and the defeat of Bolivias President Evo Moraless attempt to amend the constitution to secure for himself a fourth term in office.

The right-wing turn in Latin America was prepared by all of the governments that were identified with the so-called turn to the left that began two decades ago. While proclaiming themselves as left-wing and even socialistillusions that were promoted by a host of pseudo-left organizations in Latin America, the US and Europethese were bourgeois governments that defended private property and the interests of both native and foreign capital.

On the basis of the commodities and emerging markets boom, they were able to create minimal assistance programs for the poor and assume a stance of limited independence from US imperialism, in large part based upon expanded commercial ties with US rivals, particularly China.

With the crisis resulting from the collapse in the prices of commodities, particularly oil, upon which Ecuador depends for 40 percent of its earnings, these governments responded by implementing mounting attacks on the working class, thereby diminishing their popularity and paving the way for the return of the right.

Correa had himself ordered the severing of Assanges Internet connection in 2016 under US government pressure over WikiLeaks publication of leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee, and two years earlier he had transferred more than half of Ecuadors gold reserves to Goldman Sachs to secure the confidence of capitalist financial markets.

Similarly, the Workers Party government in Brazil and the Kirchnerista Peronist government in Argentina carried out antidemocratic measures and attacks on workers rights that paved the way for the rise of the most right-wing governments to rule those countries since the fall of the US-backed military dictatorships.

These developments have confirmed that the defense of democratic rights, the overcoming of the regions pervasive poverty and inequality and the overthrow of imperialist domination can be achieved only through the political mobilization of the working class, independent of all bourgeois partiesincluding the PT in Brazil, chavismo in Venezuela, Peronism in Argentina and similar movementsbased on a socialist program and the unification of the struggles of the workers of Latin America with those of workers in the US, Europe and across the globe.

The attack on Assange has posed this same fundamental question on an international scale. The only genuine constituency for the defense of democratic rights is the working class. Working people must come to the defense of Assange, demanding the lifting of the restrictions on his communications and his immediate freedom. Any attempt to arrest or extradite him must be answered with mass demonstrations and work actions in the UK, the US and all over the world.

This campaign in defense of Assange and the other victims of state repression can be waged successfully only as part of the struggle of the international working class to put an end to the capitalist system, whose historic crisis threatens humanity with both world war and police state dictatorship.Last week, 26-year-old Carlos Borroto was found dead in his cell at Hudson County Corrections and Rehabilitation Center in Kearny, New Jersey, a suburb of Newark. He had tied a laundry bag around his neck and hanged himself from his bed. His death marks the fourth suicide, and sixth death overall, at the jail since June 2017.

The act of desperation cannot have taken prison officials by surprise. When officers of the West New York police department arrested Borroto on Friday, March 23, on open warrants, he yelled, I want to jump off a bridge! The officers brought Borroto to Palisades Medical Center, where he was evaluated and released into police custody. He had been charged with domestic violence, aggravated assault, animal cruelty, and resisting arrest.

While he was being processed for incarceration, Borroto told correctional staff that he had mental health problems. If the staff had properly reviewed their records, they would have known that in May 2017 Borroto had told medical personnel at the jail that he had suicidal thoughts. But, overlooking his previous report of suicidal thoughts and his current complaint of mental health problems, the staff assigned him to the general population instead of to a mental health ward.

In response to Borrotos death, Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise issued a hypocritical statement of outrage. After he met with staff at the jail on Monday, the county ended its $29.4-million contract with CFG Health Systems, which had provided medical care at the jail.

Borrotos suicide is only the latest product of the criminal neglect and inadequate health care that has persisted for years at Hudson County jail.

While she was on mental health watch in January, 34-year-old Cynthia Acosta used a torn sheet to hang herself from the bed of her cell in the infirmary. An officer held Acosta as someone cut the sheet, and staff immediately administered CPR and called 911. First responders were able to regain Acostas pulse and bring her to Jersey City Medical Center, but she died there two days later.

On the day of Acostas suicide, Dominick J. Ramunni, 41, collapsed inside the jail while awaiting sentencing for burglary. He was pronounced dead approximately 45 minutes later after a failed attempt at CPR. Prison officials began a review of Ramunnis medical history to determine whether he had been receiving appropriate treatment.

In July 2017, 48-year-old Jennifer Towle died after ingesting three liters of inedible items such as a nail clipper, an examination glove, Styrofoam, condiment packages, milk cartons, paper, a band-aid, a plastic bag, and a cookie wrapper. Towle had been on suicide watch because of her diagnosis of depression. At the time of her death, she was two days from being released after serving a six-month sentence for driving while intoxicated. The medical staff at the jail asserted that they had given Towle the care she needed, said county spokesperson Jim Kennell.

While incarcerated at the facility in June 2017, 35-year-old Rolando Meza Espinoza had gastrointestinal bleeding and was sent to Jersey City Medical Center. He died two days later in the centers intensive care unit. An autopsy was not performed.

Meza, an immigrant from Honduras, had cirrhosis of the liver, anemia, and diabetes. He had been arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who mistook him for someone else. He was brought to Hudson County jail, which partnered with ICE. While in jail, Meza only received treatment for diabetes, despite asking a nurse for the other medications that he needed. Shockingly, staff did not notify Mezas family of his death. His relatives only learned what had happened two days later when they called the jail to check on him.

Other inmates have survived their time at the facility despite a lack of proper care but have been released in significantly poorer health. An HIV-positive man from the Dominican Republic identified by his lawyers as John Doe was arrested in November 2014 because of an ongoing immigration case. In January 2015, he complained of pain and received a diagnosis of hemorrhoids from the medical staff. The staff did not consider other explanations for the pain, nor did they monitor the mans condition. During the next 12 months, medical staff did not screen or treat the man despite his ongoing complaints of bleeding, swollen feet and ankles, fatigue, and numbness.

After a medical exam in January 2016, staff sent the man to a hospital in East Orange, where doctors found a cancerous mass in his rectum. In April 2016, he underwent installation of a Mediport (a device inserted under the skin to draw blood or inject medicines) to enable the administration of chemotherapy for stage four cancer. Five days after the surgery, Hudson County jail released him with no plan for continuity of care or any information regarding how to maintain the Mediport, according to his lawyers. Because the jail had not given the man his medical records indicating his need for emergency care, two hospitals denied him treatment before he finally was able to receive care.

Throughout these years of medical neglect and unnecessary deaths, DeGise largely held his peace. His sudden intervention to end the contract with CFG comes at a time when his own political career is on the line. Weeks ago, Mayor Steve Fulop of Jersey City and Mayor Brian Stack of Union City said that they would not support DeGises run for a fifth term in 2019. Earlier this month, in another effort to save his own skin, DeGise announced that the county would end its unpopular partnership with ICE.

Despite the public outcry and official protestations of outrage, medical treatment at the jail is not likely to improve. The county will select another contractor to provide medical services, and the new contractor will have the same incentives as CFG to cut expenses and reduce services so that it can maximize profits for its shareholders.When placed in the context of the global anti-Russia propaganda campaign spearheaded by Britains Conservative government, Thursday saw the greatest Easter miracle since Christ rose from the dead.

For weeks, the worlds media has cited uncritically government claims that double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned March 4 with a weapons grade nerve agent, known as a Novichok.

The agent was described as so deadly that the comatose Skripals were unlikely to ever recover, and that if they did they would be brain damaged and physically compromised. On Wednesday there were even media headlines that their life support might have to be turned off.

Yet Thursday saw reports from Salisbury NHS foundation trust that 33-year-old Yulia is no longer in a critical condition and was conscious and talking.

Yulias apparent recovery blows a hole in an official narrative that, by rights, should sink it forever. Instead, as has happened on repeated occasions, the story will no doubt be modified as required. Nothing must be allowed to prevent the UK, in alliance with the United States, from continuing its push for further economic sanctions and the expulsion of diplomats to justify pre-existing plans for military aggression on Russias borders and in the Middle East.

There are innumerable inconsistencies, contradictions and flat out lies in the case made against Russia. Above all there has been no convincing political explanation advanced as to why Russia would target the Skripals.

Nor is there anything linking the attempted murder of the pair to anyoneleast of all the Russian state and the government of President Vladimir Putin. For the government, everything hangs on the single assertion, based on undisclosed findings from Britains Porton Down chemical weapons facility, that the Novichok nerve agent used was of a type developed in Russia and was so sophisticated, and its delivery so complicated, that a state actor must have been involved.

Maintaining this lie has involved an accumulation of smaller lies, which depended on their being accepted without question by the media. Even before the news regarding Yulia, this web of deceit was in danger of unravelling.

Initial reports after the March 4 discovery of the Skripals reported as the likely cause of their illness a white powder that was identified as the opioid fentanyl. It was not until March 6 that Russia was officially suggested for possible involvement and March 7 before the Metropolitan Police first stated that a nerve agent was used.

On March 8, it was announced that a police officer, later named as Sgt. Nick Bailey, was seriously ill in hospital because he was one of the first responders to the incident. Police added that 21 people had received (unspecified) treatment.

Four days later, March 12, with hundreds of police and military personnel roaming Salisbury dressed in biohazard suits, sealing off the bench area where the Skripals were found, cordoning off the Zizzi restaurant at which they had dined earlier, etc., Prime Minister Theresa May told Parliament that Porton Down had identified the nerve agent as of Russian origin. It was therefore highly likely that Russia was responsible for the poisoning.

Russia has repeatedly denied possession of Novichoks, which were developed in the former Soviet Union. It has pointed out that other states now hostile to Russia, including Ukraine, could have possession and that its formula and the scientists involved are now both available to the UK and the US.

However, the issue raised by recent events is whether there is any proof whatsoever that a military-grade nerve agent was involved in the assassination attempt. Three related issues are of significance what a Novichok is, how it is delivered and what it is supposed to do.

After its supposed identification, Novichok was described as being five to 10 times more lethal than VX and sarin and, like them, either a liquid or a gas.

One of its creators, Vil Mirzayanov, who defected to the US, was interviewed March 16 by the Guardian, describing it as the most powerful and unique chemical weapon in the world. 

No non-state actor had the capability of weaponising Novichok. You can kill yourself  it is impossible without high technical equipment No one country has these capabilities like Russia, because Russia invented, tested and weaponized Novichok.

I believe they brought [in a] binary version, Mirzayanov said. Its two ampules, small containers, like a big bullet, put them together in a spray or something, and after that, some mechanism which is mixing them, a couple seconds and after that youre shooting It could touch any skin and in a couple minutes would take effect.

Upon exposure the effects are fast and dramatic. The nervous system is hit, victims are unable to breathe, they cough and foam at the mouth, the effects on the digestive system trigger vomiting, muscles convulse Many of those affected will wet themselves and lose control of their bowels.

Given this account, the story of white powder naturally had to be abandoned. And it had to be explained how a Novichok was delivered in a way that allowed for such complexities and still meant that the Skripals left home for seven hours, during which time they went to the local pub, had a meal at a restaurant and only then collapsed.

The first story was that Yulia had unwittingly brought the agent into the country after it was planted in her suitcase. The second story is that it was placed on the Skripals clothessupposedly accounting for the delayed impact. The third was that it was pumped as a gas through the air conditioning of the Skripals car.

None of this made sense and things worsened after no one else suffered any ill effects. Various figures were given of hospital attendees, but all were released without treatment. On March 22, DS Bailey left Wiltshire Hospitalmaking his own recovery several days in advance of Yulia.

Amid this debacle, May spoke in Parliament Tuesday boasting of the expulsions of 100 Russian diplomats by 18 nations, including 60 told to quit the US.

Speaking at the start of a debate on national security and Russia, May declared that Sergei and Yulia Skripal remain critically ill in hospital. Sadly, late last week, doctors indicated that their condition is unlikely to change in the near future, and they may never recover fully.

If Yulias recovery two days later were not embarrassing enough, the police also chose that day to announce that the delivery of the Novichok to its intended victims had been carried out by smearing it on the front door of Sergeis house!

No explanation was offered as to how this unsophisticated ruse remained undiscovered for weeks, or why no one other than the Skripals and DS Bailey had been impacted. Instead, the Metropolitan Police terrorist unit announced that it was now cordoning off a childrens play area near the Skripals home, while handing back control of the London Road cemetery, where Sergeis wife and son are buried, the Maltings shopping centre and the Ashley Wood complex to the Wiltshire police.

All over the world there is deep skepticism regarding the claims made by the UK government. This is more than justified. The faces may have changed since Blairs Labour Party produced its dodgy dossiers to justify war against Iraq in 2003, but not the hypocrisy, scheming and intrigue that the British bourgeoisie have developed to a fine art.For the past 20 years, Hope Workman has hustled up a dirt path on the side of a mountain in Lovely, Kentucky, just to get drinking water. She doesn't trust what comes out of her tap.

If she's by herself, she'll take her ATV. If one of her daughters is coming along, they take their four-wheel-drive truck. It takes her about seven minutes to grind up the hill before she reaches her destination: a small plastic well tapped into the side of the mountain with a 3-foot PVC pipe.

The day CNN visited, the temperature was just above freezing, and Hope's hands shivered as she filled jug after jug with crystal-clear drinking water.

"This is what we go through to get water, unfortunately," she said.

Workman is not the only person in Martin County, Kentucky, or America for that matter, who struggles to get clean water. Two well-publicized crises include Flint, Michigan's, lead contamination and Puerto Rico's failing water systems in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

As our water infrastructure system ages, experts say, keeping America's water clean becomes increasingly challenging. The American Society of Civil Engineers gives the nation's drinking water infrastructure a grade of D.

According to the the society, about 1 million miles of pipes crisscross the country to deliver us clean water, much of it overseen by local municipalities that are challenged with aging hardware. Many of these pipes were laid underground nearly a century ago and are reaching the end of their life spans. As they age, they can crack, and water breaks become more common. In fact, the entire country loses nearly 6 billion gallons of water a day just to leaky pipes.

For many cash-strapped local utilities, it's difficult to find the resources to manage a problem we rarely see.

Faucets run brown

But when the problem does come to the surface, it's hard to ignore. Just ask the residents of Martin County. Customers of the county's water district post videos and pictures on social media of brown cloudy water spouting out of their taps. Sometimes, it comes out looking like blue Gatorade. Sometimes, it smells like diesel fuel.

Locals ask themselves, "Just what's in the water?"

Until several months ago, customers received notices on the back of their water bills stating that their water had been tested and found to be above federal limits of trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids. These contaminants are a reaction between the chlorine used to treat the water for bacteria and organic matter that may be found in the water or the pipes. Exposure to these chemicals could mean an increased risk of cancer.

Eastern Kentucky has some of the highest levels of cancer in the country due to smoking and obesity, but residents here also wonder whether their water is to blame.

'We're just scared of the water'

Martin County resident BarbiAnn Maynard is convinced that her mother's cancer was related to the water.

"We don't really know what to do. We're just scared of the water and have been for years," she said.

"You're afraid to wash your hands if you've got a cut," Maynard said. Taking a shower is no better. "I don't feel like I'm getting clean. I might smell a little bit better, but I don't feel any better about it."

Dr. Don Lafferty, a local physician, feels that he's in a difficult position when patients ask him whether the water is the source of their health issues. "I can't tell them it's safe or it isn't safe," he told CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

"We shouldn't have to be asking ... in 2018 whether or not water is causing cancer in our region."

Where the War on Poverty began

Nestled in the hills of Eastern Kentucky, Martin County has had a long history tied to coal. Between 1918 and 2015, the county produced more than 436 million tons of coal. But as the coal industry died out, Martin County struggled. Nearly 40% of its population lives at or below the federal poverty level. The unemployment rate in the county is almost double the national rate.

But poverty has been endemic to the area for years. President Lyndon Johnson came here in 1964 to launch his War on Poverty.

"In 2018, in the very place where LBJ declared war on poverty ... water is our number one issue. That's hard to imagine," said Gary Ball, editor-in-chief of the local weekly newspaper, The Mountain Citizen.

What's happened in Martin County is a worst-case scenario that may be happening in other parts of the country, said Lindell Ormsbee, director of the Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute at the University of Kentucky.

"I think it's somewhat of a systematic representation of what's happening in a lot of other places where no one's looking. It's almost like the proverbial canary in the mine," Ormsbee said.

What is happening?

A large part of the issue in Martin County is just hardware itself. There are about 300 miles of piping that deliver water across the county, placed up and over rocky terrain, making them even more susceptible to leaking. Today, more than half of the water that leaves the Martin County Water District treatment center doesn't make it to the faucet.

When water systems are operating optimally, there is enough going through the pipes at a high enough pressure that debris from outside the pipe can't make its way inside. Essentially, there's so much water going through so quickly that even if there is a crack in the pipe, the water can act as a barrier. But as soon as that pressure drops or there's less water going through the pipes, there is suddenly room for soil, debris and chemical residue to sneak into the drinking water.

And because of the leakage issues, the Water District hasn't been able to flush the water lines clean in years, said Joe Burns of the Kentucky Rural Water Association. "As far as systematic lines, it's been years since it's even been able to be accomplished."

Burns' group is working with the Martin County Water District to help make improvements as best as they can. They've been able to reduce the levels of byproduct contaminants to under federal limits by simply changing where they add the chlorine.

But on top of issues with the lines, there are upgrades to the water treatment facilities, pumps and meters that still need to be made.

Investments in hardware and software are needed

For a financially struggling municipality, it is hard to find resources outside raising water rates, which is difficult for a community of people who mostly live on a limited income.

Infrastructure isn't just pipes and hardware, Ormsbee said; it also includes financial and technical management.

Small water systems, such as Martin County, that serve less than 10,000 customers supply water to nearly 20% of the country. In addition to infrastructure and financial challenges, many of these systems can have a difficult time attracting the technical expertise to help. In fact, small systems made up 72% of EPA violations in 2015 and 2016.

Some citizens in Martin County feel that they've been forgotten. "Appalachia has been at the forefront in helping to improve this country for many years. ... We've sent people to die in all of our country's wars. We've populated this country with people in all industries," Lafferty said. "We are Americans, too."

Ball points to a new government center and a business complex in Inez, the county seat. The cost is nearly $20 million, money that he said could have been spent on upgrading the water system.

Some relief

Recently, Martin County received federal grants amounting to $3.4 million to go toward its water system. Experts believe that overhauling the system would take $13.5 million to $15 million.

President Trump's infrastructure proposal gives some residents hope. The $1.5 trillion plan touted by the White House is supposed to cover all infrastructure upgrades in the nation, but experts believe that it would cost the country $1 trillion just to maintain and meet the demands for drinking water for the next 25 years.

Critics further point out the White House's plan earmarks only $200 billion in federal investment. The remainder is to be made up by the states and the private sector.

"Time will tell," Lafferty said. "Politicians should remember that 'forgotten people' usually have long memories."The FBI this week detained and questioned Ted Malloch -- who says he was an informal Trump campaign adviser in 2016 who was rumored last year to be a candidate for US ambassador to the European Union -- as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, Malloch said.

Malloch issued a written statement saying he was detained by the FBI on Tuesday after he arrived on an international flight to Boston, where federal investigators took his cell phone and questioned him about Republican operative Roger Stone and WikiLeaks. Malloch, who has authored a not-yet-published book accusing a so-called "deep state" within the US government of fabricating the opposition research dossier on President Donald Trump and Russia to try to destroy Trump, said he was served with a subpoena before he was released to appear before Mueller's grand jury in Washington, which he's expected to do next month.

"The questions got more detailed about my involvement in the Trump campaign (which was informal and unpaid); whom I communicated with; whom I knew and how well -- they had a long list of names," Malloch said. "They seemed to then focus more attention on Roger Stone (whom I have met a grand total of three times and with groups of people); Jerome Corsi, a journalist who edited a memoir I had written some years ago; and about WikiLeaks, which I knew nothing."

He said was asked specifically if he had visited the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been holed up for nearly six years. He had not, he said.

Malloch's statement shines another light into the workings of Mueller's probe into potential collusion between Trump's campaign team and Russia, which has also investigated potential financial crimes and other matters.

Malloch is not the first witness to say he was asked about Stone, a longtime Trump associate. Former Trump aide Sam Nunberg said the special counsel's team pressed him about Stone and WikiLeaks, too.

The special counsel's office declined to comment.

Malloch was a professor in London who now runs a consulting firm. At one point early in the Trump administration, Malloch was rumored to be in line to become US ambassador to the EU, but questions were raised about inaccuracies in his biography and EU officials expressed alarm at his views, and he was not selected for the post.

Malloch has ties to Nigel Farage, the British politician who was a key driver of Brexit, according to the Guardian, which first reported Malloch was questioned by the FBI.

Glenn Simpson, whose firm Fusion GPS hired ex-British intelligence agent Christopher Steele to compile the dossier on Trump and Russia, mentioned Malloch in testimony to the House Intelligence Committee last year, calling him a "significant figure" in the Brexit campaign with ties to former Trump campaign chief and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon as well as Stone.

In his statement Thursday, Malloch suggested that his upcoming book, "The Plot to Destroy Trump," was the reason he was questioned by federal investigators.

"What could they want from me -- a policy wonk and philosophical defender of Trump? I am not an operative, have no Russia contacts, and -- aside from appearing on air and in print often to defend and congratulate our President -- have done nothing wrong," Malloch said.

He is scheduled to appear before Mueller's grand jury on April 13, he said.LOS ANGELES (AP)  A Los Angeles judge has determined that California law requires coffee companies to carry an ominous cancer warning label because of a chemical produced in the roasting process.

Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle said Wednesday that Starbucks and other coffee companies failed to show that the threat from the chemical was insignificant.

The Council for Education and Research on Toxics, a nonprofit group, sued Starbucks and about 90 other companies, including grocery stores and retail shops, under a state law that requires warnings on a wide range of chemicals that can cause cancer. One of those chemicals is acrylamide, a carcinogen present in coffee.

While plaintiff offered evidence that consumption of coffee increases the risk of harm to the fetus, to infants, to children and to adults, defendants medical and epidemiology experts testified that they had no opinion on causation, Berle wrote in his proposed ruling. Defendants failed to satisfy their burden of proving  that consumption of coffee confers a benefit to human health.

The coffee industry had claimed the chemical was present at harmless levels and should be exempt from the law because it results naturally from the cooking process necessary to make the beans flavorful.

The ruling came despite eased concerns in recent years about the possible dangers of coffee, with some studies finding health benefits.

In 2016, the International Agency for Research on Cancer  the cancer agency of the World Health Organization  moved coffee off its possible carcinogen list.

Studies indicate coffee is unlikely to cause breast, prostate or pancreatic cancer, and it seems to lower the risks for liver and uterine cancers, the agency said. Evidence is inadequate to determine its effect on dozens of other cancer types.

The lawsuit was brought under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, passed by voters as Proposition 65 in 1986. It allows private citizens, advocacy groups and attorneys to sue on behalf of the state and collect a portion of civil penalties.

The law has been credited with reducing chemicals that cause cancer and birth defects, such as lead in hair dyes, mercury in nasal sprays and arsenic in bottled water. But its also been widely criticized for abuses by lawyers shaking down businesses for quick settlements.

Coffee has been shown, over and over again, to be a healthy beverage, said William Murray, president and CEO of the National Coffee Association, in reaction to the decision. This lawsuit has made a mockery of Prop. 65, has confused consumers, and does nothing to improve public health.

The lawsuit has been brewing for eight years and is still not over. A third phase of trial will later determine any civil penalties that coffee companies must pay.

With potential penalties up to $2,500 per person exposed each day over eight years, that figure could be astronomical in a state with close to 40 million residents, though such a fine is unlikely.

Attorney Raphael Metzger, who brought the lawsuit and drinks a few cups of coffee a day, said he wants the industry to remove the chemical from its process. Coffee companies have said thats not feasible and would make their product taste bad.

Getting it out is better for public health than leaving it in and warning people, Metzger said. Thats especially important for coffee drinkers because coffee drinkers are addicted.

Metzgers client brought a similar case later taken up by the state attorney general that resulted in potato-chip makers agreeing in 2008 to pay $3 million and remove acrylamide from their products rather than post startling warnings that can be found throughout California and are largely ignored.

Parking garages, for example, post signs saying, This area contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects and other reproductive harm.

Regulations adopted in recent years now require more specific warnings that list the chemical consumers may be exposed to and list a website with more information. Parking garages, for example, will have to post that breathing air there exposes drivers to carbon monoxide and gas and diesel exhaust and that people should not to linger longer than necessary.

Many coffee companies have already posted warnings that specifically say acrylamide is found in coffee and is among chemicals that cause cancer. However, many of those warnings are posted in places not easily visible, such as below the counter where cream and sugar are available.

In the first phase of the trial, Berle said the defense failed to present enough credible evidence to show there was no significant risk posed by acrylamide in coffee.

The law put the burden on the defense to show that the level of the chemical wont result in one excess case of cancer for every 100,000 people exposed. Berle said the epidemiology studies presented were inadequate to evaluate that risk.

Having failed to show there was no significant risk to drinking coffee, the second phase of trial let the industry put on a backup defense. It had to show that there should be a less strict level set for coffee because of health benefits from drinking it.

Berle said the coffee companies failed to show that.

The judge has given the defense several weeks to file objections to the proposed ruling before he makes it final. California judges can reverse their tentative rulings, but rarely do.

About a dozen of the defendants in the case have settled at some point during the long legal process and agreed to post warnings, Metzger said. With some defendants dismissed or affiliated with larger companies about 50 defendants remain.

Among the latest to settle was 7-Eleven, which agreed to pay $900,000. BP West Coast Products, which operates gas station convenience stores, agreed to pay $675,000.

Even at Starbucks shops where the labels are posted, many coffee drinkers are unaware of them.

At one shop in downtown Los Angeles, afternoon coffee drinkers said they might look into the warning or give drinking coffee a second thought, but the cup of joe is likely to win out.

I just dont think it would stop me, said Jen Bitterman, a digital marketing technologist who drinks three shots on ice two times a day. I love the taste, I love the ritual, I love the high, the energy, and I think Im addicted to it.

Darlington Ibekwe, a lawyer in Los Angeles, said a cancer warning would be annoying but wouldnt stop him from treating himself to three lattes a week.

Its like cigarettes. Like, damn, now Ive got to see this? he said. Dude, Im enjoying my coffee.

Associated Press writer Amanda Lee Myers in Los Angeles and AP Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee contributed to this story.Editor's note: This story contains graphic descriptions of videos that show of the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling.

(CNN) -- It took Baton Rouge police Officer Blane Salamoni less than 90 seconds to shoot Alton Sterling, but police took nearly two years to fire the officer and release footage from his body camera.

Salamoni's firing Friday was the latest chapter in a tumultuous week for Sterling's family. State officials decided not to file criminal charges against the two officers involved in the fatal 2016 shooting, saying their actions were justified. Days later, police said Salamoni violated use-of-force policies.

A second officer, Howie Lake II, was suspended for three days without pay for losing his temper during the incident.

And for the first time since the shooting, members of Sterling's family were able to watch several graphic videos of the deadly confrontation.

"Today was a troubling day, it was a sad day, but it was a day for truth," L. Chris Stewart, an attorney for the family, told reporters. "Truth that we don't really see too often."

Videos show deadly encounter

As Baton Rouge police Chief Murphy Paul announced the disciplinary actions against the officers Friday, the department released new videos showing the incident that unfolded as police responded to a 911 call of a man with a gun at a convenience store.

Surveillance video from the Triple S Convenience store shows Sterling selling DVDs outside and packing up his goods as Lake arrives and confronts him.

When Salamoni arrives to help Lake, he pulls his gun seconds later, according to his body camera video. Ten seconds into the video, as Sterling questions why the officers are trying to detain him, Salamoni shouts, "Don't f----- move or I'll shoot your f---- a--. Put your f------ hands on the car."

Video from Lake's body camera shows the officer approaching Sterling, trying to get him to put his hands on the hood of a car, and eventually struggling with him on the ground. During the altercation, another person, presumably Salamoni, screams, "He's got a gun!" and soon thereafter gunshots are heard.

When the officers get up, Sterling is lying on the ground outside the front door of the convenience store with a blood-soaked red shirt.

A gun is not visible in the video, but Lake tells another officer he put it in his car. The officers had been responding to a call from a homeless man who said Sterling showed him a weapon after he approached Sterling for money.

Police have said a .38-caliber handgun was found at the scene.

Less than 90 seconds passed from the moment when Lake first approached Sterling to the firing of the final shot, according to a Department of Justice report of the July 5, 2016, shooting.

The four videos released Friday include the convenience store surveillance video as well as two police-worn body camera videos and a video recorded by the dashboard camera in one of the police cars.

Two bystander videos released not long after the 2016 shooting had captured the final part of Sterling's struggle with the two white officers.

Family attorney says Sterling was not violent

Stewart said the videos show that Salamoni came at Sterling like "a pit bull and immediately escalated the entire situation."

Sterling didn't threaten or put a hand on the officers, Stewart said. He just kept asking Salamoni and Lake what he had done.

"It's a tough job; they have to deal with a lot, but (with) high duty comes high expectations," Stewart said. "You're not just a warrior but a guardian. You don't just look after white people, you look after black people and Hispanics and Asians and everyone else."

Michael Adams, another attorney for the Sterling family, said the videos released Friday show a different depiction of the man.

"Today you saw that Alton Sterling was not some wild, deranged, cocaine-filled, high, big black man who was out of control. The person who was out of control was Blane Salamoni," Adams said.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said earlier this week that Sterling had illicit drugs in his system, which may have contributed to "his noncompliance."

An autopsy report by the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner's Office indicated Sterling had cocaine, methamphetamine, hydrocodone, a marijuana ingredient, caffeine, nicotine and alcohol in his blood.

The family's attorneys said Sterling was not violent.

"Never once pushed an officer, touched an officer, kicked an officer, did anything," Stewart said. "But yet he ended up dead."

'Fear cannot be a driver' for officers

An internal police investigation into Sterling's actions determined the officers' actions "were not minor deviations from policy," Paul said Friday.

"Our police officers are held to a higher standard," the chief said. "Fear cannot be a driver for an officer's response to every incident. Unreasonable fear in an officer is dangerous."

Salamoni's firing and Lake's suspension are the first serious consequences for the officers since the shooting.

They had been accused of violating Sterling's rights under the Fourth Amendment, but federal prosecutors found there wasn't enough evidence to warrant civil rights charges against them.

The two officers had separate closed-door disciplinary hearings Thursday. Salamoni chose not to answer any questions, and Lake answered every question, Paul said.

Salamoni will appeal, his attorney, John McLindon, said.

"Blane understands that he's not going to be a Baton Rouge police officer again," McLindon said. "He wants to more or less clear his name and have a higher authority say what he did was consistent with your training and the law."

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that both officers violated use of force policies. Blane Salamoni was fired for violating use of force policies. Howie Lake II was cited for losing his temper.

CNN's Nick Valencia, Steve Almasy and Ralph Ellis contributed to this report.

TM &  2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP)  The state of Indiana will soon dedicate a new historical marker in Terre Haute commemorating Syrian immigrants who flocked to the area in the early 20th Century.

An unveiling ceremony at Indiana State Universitys Foundation Office will be held on April 19, celebrating the community known as Little Syria on the Wabash.

The marker will later be installed near the office.

According to the Indiana Historical Bureau, Arabic-speaking Christian Syrians migrated to the area in the early 1900s.

State historical markers are used to recognize significant people, organization, places and events in Indiana history. More than 630 historical markers have been installed throughout the state.If President Donald Trump makes good on his promise to get out of Syria "very soon," one of the biggest winners will be Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government.

Although the Kremlin has tried to cast its involvement in Syria as primarily an air campaign, there are extensive Russian boots on the ground through military contractors, and a US withdrawal would make their job of combating forces hostile to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad considerably easier.

Trump made the unexpected announcement on Thursday during an event in Ohio that was meant to focus on infrastructure reform. Trump, though, barely focused on infrastructure and instead held court in a campaign-style speech where he touched on everything from war and peace to the ratings of a new television sitcom.

"We're knocking the hell out of ISIS. We'll be coming out of Syria like very soon," Trump told supporters outside of Cleveland. "Let the other people take care of it now."

The comment caught much of the Trump administration off guard, leaving officials inside the Pentagon -- including some who had worked directly on the campaign to combat ISIS in Syria -- scratching their heads. It also contradicted a long-held Trump pledge to never telegraph future military decision.

One defense official told CNN after the speech that it was unclear what the President meant. Even almost 24 hours after the remarks, a National Security Council spokesperson responded to questions about the comment by simply stating: "The President's comments speak for themselves."

And even those close to Trump were confounded. A senior administration official told CNN on Friday that some aides to the President were surprised by his remark.

"We are still trying to figure out what he meant about Syria yesterday," the official said.

Critical time in Syria

The uncertainty around the President's plans on Syria come at a critical time for the National Security Council. White House officials are bracing for staffing changes at the council with the arrival of new national security adviser John Bolton. It's a "guessing game" as to which officials will be out the door, an official said.

Any decision by Trump to pull out of Syria would also go against the current military assessment, a fact that left some national security officials concerned about the impact of a withdrawal, another senior administration official told CNN.

The Pentagon's current assessment is that now is not the time to consider withdrawal, citing numerous challenges in Syria. One issue is that the US leaving would create a vacuum in the area, similar to what happened after soldiers left Iraq.

Additionally, the official noted unresolved questions, like what to do with some 400 foreign ISIS fighters being held by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and a decision about whether the United States could accept a future where Assad remains in power.

And most foreign policy experts believe that vacuum would likely be further filled by Russia.

Angela Stent, director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies at Georgetown University, told CNN on Friday that "if the US were to withdraw, it seems to me the Russians would have a free hand" in Syria and the forces "fighting Assad would be weakened."

Additionally, Stent said, a US withdrawal would help Iran, a country whose forces are fighting alongside Russians in Syria.

"I do wonder if that is something the President thought about when he made that announcement," Stent said, noting that any departure would elevate Russia's status to make it "the main power broker in that area."

The involvement of both US and Russian forces in Syria has complicated the conflict, leaving the countries to do a delicate dance in order to avoid directly attacking one another.

That hasn't always worked, though.

Several Russians hired as paramilitary contractors to fight with pro-Assad forces were killed by US air strikes in February, according to friends and family of those killed. The US and Russia have maintained "deconfliction" communications channels to avoid direct combat, but the lines do not prevent all conflicts.

The conflict has also cost US lives. On Friday, a US official with knowledge of the initial reports from the battlefield told CNN that at least one US solider was killed in an improvised explosive device attack in the Manbij area of Syria on Thursday.

US-Russia tension

Trump's suggestion that the United States is in the process of withdrawing from Syria comes amid simmering tensions between the United States and Russia.

After the United States expelled 60 Russian diplomats and closed a consulate in Seattle, Russia responded by expelling the same number of foreign service officers and closing the consulate in St. Petersburg.

Tensions between the two countries have boiled throughout the Trump administration, despite the fact that the President has avoided directly attacking Russia and dismissed most questions about Russia as nothing more than an attempt to discredit his 2016 election as special counsel Robert Mueller investigates Russian meddling in the election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

While Trump has personally remained silent, his administration has confronted Russia. The administration unveiled new sanctions on Russia earlier this year, punishing individuals indicted by Mueller in February in a sweeping new effort to come down on Moscow for its interference in the 2016 election.

Ever since taking office, Trump has been in the middle of a tug-of-war between his desire to appear like a strongman president and his campaign promise to withdraw the United States from foreign conflicts.

While Trump has frequently touted the gains made against ISIS since taking office, he repeatedly slammed President George W. Bush's handling of the Iraq war during the 2016 campaign.

"General George Patton, General Douglas MacArthur are spinning in their graves at the stupidity of what we're doing in the Middle East," Trump said during a presidential debate to slam Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state.

As president, however, Trump has only maintained foreign involvement in wars. Last year, for example, Trump vowed the US will "fight to win" in Afghanistan, extending a 16-year war that he once proposed fully ending.Millions of women and children have marched on Washington demanding #EqualityNow, #EqualPay, and #GunReformNow. The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have made it to the Oscars and set off a tidal wave that is taking down sexual predators and helping to change workplace cultures, from Hollywood to news media and Capitol Hill.

And daily, the latest details of each Trump tweet, tawdry presidential tales from Stormy Daniels and the Russia investigations in Washington lead the news.

Meanwhile, in communities across the country, police are still killing unarmed black people. Police are still killing and brutalizing black and brown children, women and men -- and getting away with it.

Watching yet another grieving grandmother like Sequita Thompson bury her 22-year-old grandchild Stephon Clark Thursday after he was shot (eight times, six of those shots in the back, according to an independent autopsy released by the family) and killed by police in her backyard in Sacramento, many are asking what can be done to stop these police killings across the nation.

One answer can found in Philadelphia, where a newly-elected district attorney, Larry Krasner, is making sweeping reforms and exposing and indicting rogue cops.

Krasner, who was elected by overwhelmingly black and Latino voters and heavily supported by #BlackLivesMatter movement activists, has been committed to the revolutionary justice reforms he promised during his progressive campaign. And voters are keeping him accountable.

Since taking office in January, Krasner has fired 31 prosecutors who he said not did not fit his law-reform agenda. He has also publicly released the names of 29 current and former police officers whose misconduct was so flagrant -- excessive force, racial bias, burglary and filing false reports -- that prosecutors did not want to use them as witnesses, according to philly.com. Krasner was responding to a court order to publicly release the officers' names, something the previous DA had refused to do.

Krasner's most groundbreaking work to date is his five-page list of policy changes for the prosecutor's office. It calls the new policies "an effort to end mass incarceration and bring balance back to sentencing." Measures include ending all prosecutions of marijuana possession regardless of weight, and scrapping marijuana paraphernalia crimes. It calls for an end to charges for sex crime workers with fewer than three offenses, rehab programs for those with more than three. The document restructures how plea deals are made, advising prosecutors to begin deals offering the lesser prison sentence, not the highest as had been done in the past.

But the most radical change now directs prosecutors to "explain and justify" on the record the taxpayer costs to put each person they sentence in prison. According to the document, it costs between $42,000 and $60,000 a year to put a person in prison. A two-year sentence would, at a minimum, cost taxpayers $84,000. And Krasner points out how these costs compare to the salaries of average teachers, firefighters and other citizens.

Krasner's just getting started, and we've yet to see the results of his reforms. But what's happening in Philadelphia is progress toward more equal justice for black and brown citizens, at a time when it is desperately needed.

More than 72 black and Hispanic people have been killed by police to date in 2018, according to the Washington Post. That number reached 402 in 2017. Not all police killings are unjustified, but black Americans are killed at a much higher rate than whites.

Yet there are few federal investigations. Rarely do any prosecutors call for these officers to be charged and most never get prison time. These cases have become routine, accepted as a cruel type of justice for black and brown Americans.

The justifications for these shootings always sound the same, like in the recent decision by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry not to file charges against the two white Baton Rouge police officers who shot and killed Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man. Cellphone video shows Sterling pinned to the ground moments before he was shot six times outside a convenience store. Police said he was reaching for a gun.

The Baton Rouge Police Department is holding disciplinary hearings against the two officers to determine if their conduct followed departmental rules. The family, as many families have been begun to do in these police killings, has filed a civil lawsuit as a way to seek recourse outside of the criminal courts.

In Sacramento, Stephon Clark's story is similar: Clark was shot in his grandmother's backyard after he raised his hands, as police ordered. Police said Clark had a gun. Turns out Clark was holding a cell phone. Sound familiar? Protests in response to Clark's death continue, but they won't bring him back.

Will it ever end? With each of these police shootings, the racial divide in our nation grows deeper. Mistrust and anger grow. And the hypocrisy of our justice system is exposed. Everyone is at risk when the government fails its citizens.

Yet I see slim rays of hope, like Philadelphia, that equal justice will one day be more than a far-fetched idea.

It was uplifting to see thousands of young people at the #MarchForOurLives call for gun control reforms in the wake of continuous mass school shootings. They have made their targets known: the NRA and the politicians it supports. The students have a list of demands, which include sensible gun control laws to keep classrooms safe. We know the fight won't be easy, but the goal is clear.

The NRA is powerful, yes. But it is a public organization. We can track its leaders, track the money it uses to influence elections and draft gun-favorable legislation. We can challenge politicians who accept their campaign donations. We can vote them out of office if we don't like their agendas. The lines are not so clear when it's police who are doing the killing and maiming, fully protected by a justice system that rarely rules these acts illegal.

What happens when it's the police -- your own government -- that you live in fear of every day, not some hyped-up gunman with an assault rifle? That's the reality for black and brown children and adults.

And we know that President Trump's agenda does not include addressing issues of police brutality and injustice in the black and Latino communities. The White House calls these police killings a "local matter."

District Attorney Krasner, like so many other Americans, understands that we must fix our broken, biased justice system. And he knows rogue officers should be held accountable. It's clear those reforms won't come from Washington. But I still believe we can make a difference one city at a time, one voice at a time, one vote at a time.VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP)  A Methodist minister is jailed in Mississippi after being arrested on charges that he had sex with two girls between the ages of 14 and 16.

Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace tells local media that deputies arrested the Rev. Troy Anthony Piccaluga at his home in Redwood on Thursday.

The 48-year-old Piccaluga, who pastors United Methodist churches in Eagle Lake and Redwood, was charged Friday with two counts of statutory rape and one count of sexual battery.

It's unclear if Piccaluga has a lawyer to speak for him. He remains jailed in Vicksburg after a judge denied bail at a Friday hearing.

Pace says contact took place between January and March in Warren County, but won't say where. He says deputies continue investigating after searching Piccaluga's home Thursday.THOMASVILLE, GA (WALB) - Police believe Jarobby Jackson and Desmond Swain may have left the state of Georgia.

They say, Wednesday's incident has a long history behind it and it was possibly retaliation.

Reports detail bystanders lying on the ground after a Grey Chevy Impala drove by with someone firing a shotgun out the window.

The victim in this case was not injured, but it was a near miss.

Because of the history, police believe that if these two aren't found soon, something else bad could happen.

"This is a volatile situation, it has been going on for quite sometime. We have been getting complaints about both individuals and guns have been involved and shots have been fired," said Captain Maurice Homes, Thomasville Police Department. "It's extremely important that we get these individuals off the streets because if this situation continues to escalate it could end up deadly."

Investigators are considering Jackson and Swain armed and dangerous, and if you see them, don't approach them, instead, they say, call 911.

THOMASVILLE, GA (WALB) - Thomasville Police are looking for two armed and dangerous men who are wanted in connection to a drive-by shooting Wednesday at the corner of Fern and Wright streets.

Retaliation is the word investigators are using to describe the latest in a series of incidents between Jarobby Jackson, Desmond Swain and another man.

"It was very dangerous; it happened in broad daylight," said Sergeant Toby Knifer of TPD.

Incident reports detail bystanders lying on the ground after a Grey Chevy Impala drove by, with someone firing a shotgun out the window.

The victim in this case was not injured but it was a near miss.

"It very easily could have, an innocent person could have been struck or killed in this incident, Luckily and fortunately that didn't happen," said Knifer.

Because of the history, police believe that if these two aren't found soon,

another incident could happen.

"We believe that it could escalate to something worse than what happened yesterday. That's what we need to prevent, not only the safety of all those involved but also the general public. Any innocent persons, their safety is a major concern," said Knifer.

Other incidents involving the two men and now the victim in the most recent case date back in March of 2017.

Before the shooting Wednesday afternoon, Police said they were looking for the victim because another family member of Jackson and Swain reported his involvement in an aggravated assault. Police said that report ended up being false.

"It takes up time, it takes up resources, to investigate, because of course, we are going to investigate every complaint," said Knifer.

Thomasville Police are encouraging Swain and Jackson to turn themselves in at the jail justice center, here.

They will be charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and two counts of aggravated assault.

Jackson will also be charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Copyright 2018 WALB. All rights reserved.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (The News Service of Florida) - Following a ruling by a federal judge earlier this week that found the state's system of restoring voting rights for ex-felons is unconstitutional, several pastors and former felons from across Florida gathered Friday to ask state leaders to quickly address the issue.

The "Clergy Coalition for Civil Rights" held a news conference in Tallahassee, calling on Governor Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet to make changes to the state's clemency process.

Under the current system, felons must wait at least five years before applying to have their civil rights, including the right to vote, restored.

Once an application is made, the process can take years to complete.

The restoration of felons' rights has long been controversial in Florida, with critics of the state's process comparing it to post-Civil War Jim Crow policies, designed to keep blacks from casting ballots.

"When a person has served his or her time in prison, paid their debt to society, paid restitution and are off probation, it is the humane and right thing to do," said Reverend RB Holmes of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church.

38 states automatically restore voting rights for most felons, and two states, Maine and Vermont, even allow prisoners to vote from behind bars.

Automatically, restoring the right to vote for convicted felons in Florida could add between 600,000 and 1.6 million voters to the state's voting rolls, according to national voting-rights experts.LANDER  An observant Wyoming Department of Transportation maintenance employee saw tire tracks and a hole in the fence along Wyoming 28 south of Lander Tuesday, eventually leading to the rescue of a Fort Washakie woman.

LANDER  An observant Wyoming Department of Transportation maintenance employee saw tire tracks and a hole in the fence along Wyoming 28 south of Lander Tuesday, eventually leading to the rescue of a Fort Washakie woman.

Candice Tindall, 25, of Fort Washakie was extricated from her crashed vehicle by Fremont County fire and emergency services personnel after they were dispatched to the scene...SKOPJE, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Russian Ambassador to Skopje Oleg Shcherbak called Thursday the decision of the Macedonian government to expel a Russian diplomat as "regretful, groundless and unprecedented" in the entire history of Russian Macedonian relations.

Shcherbak told reporters here at a press conference that Macedonian authorities took what he called a hostile step towards Russia under the influence from foreign countries.

Nonetheless, he said that such influence didn't excuse the Macedonian authorities from the negative consequences in the two countries' bilateral relations.

According to Russian ambassador, Macedonia's move to expel Russian diplomat was 'hasty' and 'short-sighted' falling against the official position on fostering constructive and mutually beneficial relations with Russia.

Shcherbak also said that the Macedonian officials did not want to provide evidence over its claims regarding the activities of the Russian diplomat.

Two days ago, Macedonian Premier Zoran Zaev announced the decision to expel a Russian diplomat here over the recent poisoning of Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter on March 4 in Britain.

Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov said the expelling was also aimed at protecting Macedonia's security interests, because the diplomat exceeded the mandate in attempting to obtain classified information important for Macedonia's security.

But, Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov called the decision as hasted, voicing his stance against such decision.BERLIN, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The German Foreign Ministry said Friday that four of their diplomats were expelled from Russia in retaliation over the Skripal case.

The German government earlier this week expelled four diplomats over the case of the poisoning of the Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Britain.

"This message from Moscow is not surprising," said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, "Our reaction in the case of Skripal was necessary and appropriate as a political signal, in solidarity with Britain and because Russia has refused to clarify any facts."

In a concerted move with the United States, EU and NATO allies expelled Russian diplomats this week.

Maas said even in the current situation, Germany remains ready for a dialogue with Russia, adding Berlin wants to continue working for "a constructive future of relations" between the two countries.

Former Russian double agent Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious on a bench outside a shopping center in Britain's southwestern city of Salisbury on March 4.

Britain claimed the pair were exposed to a nerve agent and held Russia responsible.

The Russian government has denied any role in the incident.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 02:39:57|Editor: yan

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CHICAGO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) grain futures closed mixed over the trading week which ended March 29, with the corn and soybean prices soaring by double digits due to surprisingly lowered planting expectations.

During the shortened trading week because of the Good Friday holiday, the most active corn contract for May delivery rose 10.5 cents, or 2.78 percent, to 3.8775 dollars per bushel. May wheat delivery lost 9.25 cents weekly, or 2.01 percent, to 4.51 dollars per bushel. May soybeans went up 16.5 cents weekly, or 1.60 percent, to 10.4475 dollars per bushel.

Earlier this week, funds trimmed their market exposure ahead of Thursday's report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on stocks and seeding, the most important one of the first quarter as it would set the stage for CBOT price action into early summer.

Meanwhile, funds cut their market length as it was moving toward the end of the month and the first quarter. That net long position reduction also led to pressure on CBOT futures.

To most analysts' surprise, the USDA on Thursday lowered the prospective planting outlook for corn and soybeans, which contradicted with the previous expectations of the trade.

The USDA said in the report that corn planted area for all purposes in 2018 is estimated at 88 million acres, down two percent or 2.14 million acres from last year.

As for soybeans, planted area for 2018 is estimated at 89.0 million acres, down one percent from last year.

The acreage declines, despite large stocks, prompted 2 percent to 4 percent rise of corn and soybean prices before they settled on Thursday.

The market trend of soybeans, however, is more complicated when taking the trade disputes between the United States and China into consideration.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum that could impose tariffs on up to 60 billion U.S. dollars of imports from China, a move that would probably draw retaliation from China.

The American Soybean Association immediately expressed its "significant concern" about the potential for China to retaliate against U.S. soybeans as China is the largest buyer of U.S. soybeans, consuming nearly one third of U.S. production worth 14 billion U.S. dollars annually.

Traders have been following the development closely with the hope that negotiations between the two economic powers could solve their disputes and avoid a trade war which might also hurt the U.S. agricultural sector.

In the past week, CBOT wheat saw a two percent loss due to the rainfall in the mid-south plains and increased planting estimates.

Rain fell in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, expected to ease the dryness and improve wheat conditions there.

The USDA planting estimates released on Thursday reported a three-percentage increase for all wheat crops, thus further dragging down CBOT wheat prices, which have so far suffered losses for four trading weeks in a row.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 02:44:58|Editor: Yamei

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LOS ANGELES, March 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. private spaceflight company SpaceX has completed Friday morning the delivery of 50 communications satellites into orbit for Iridium Communications on the one year anniversary for reusable rockets.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 7:13 a.m. PDT, carrying 10 satellites for Iridium Communications, as part of the company's Iridium Next constellation. SpaceX has launched the first four missions, totaling 40 satellites, in 2017.

"Today, this is our fifth launch for the Iridium constellation, using only three rockets," SpaceX materials engineer Michael Hammersley said during live commentary.

The first stage of Falcon 9 for the Iridium-5 mission previously supported the Iridium-3 mission from SLC-4E in October 2017. SpaceX didn't attempt to recover Falcon 9's first stage after Friday's launch.

Friday is exactly one year to the day after SpaceX's first used Falcon 9 rocket launch and landing. Since then, the company has commonly reused Falcon 9 first stages on later missions. It is pursuing fully reusable rockets in an effort to lower the cost of spaceflight.

The satellites began deployment about an hour after launch.

"Due to some restrictions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA for short, SpaceX will be intentionally ending live video coverage from the second stage just prior to engine shutdown," Hammersley said. He did not elaborate on what those NOAA restrictions might be.

A successful deployment of all 10 satellites was confirmed about one hour and 12 minutes after the liftoff.

"Successful deployment of all 10 @IridiumComm NEXT satellites to low-Earth orbit confirmed," the Hawthorne, California-based company tweeted.

There is also another heightened interest in this launch.

By using "Mr. Steven," a large navigable platform ship with extended "arms" and a net strung between them, SpaceX was trying to "catch" one of the two payload fairings that enclose the satellite at the top of the rocket.

"Attempting recovery of fairing falling down from space (right now) with our boat, Mr Steven. It's a giant steel & webbing catcher's mitt superstructure on a high-speed ocean ship," Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, tweeted.

These fairings were separated from the rocket at about three minutes after launch.

The value of these fairings is about six million U.S. dollars, and recovering and reusing them would save money for SpaceX. Currently, a typical Falcon 9 launch costs around 62 million U.S. dollars, according to the company.

"Mr Steven is 5 mins away from being under the falling fairing," Musk tweeted after Friday's launch.

SpaceX's previous attempt to catch a Falcon 9 fairing just missed earlier this year.

Friday's mission, called Iridium-5, is the fifth set of 10 satellites in a series of 75 total satellites that SpaceX will launch for Iridium's next generation global satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT.

When completed, the constellation will consist of 66 operational satellites and nine spares in orbit. SpaceX has launched the first four missions, totaling 40 satellites, in 2017.

The company plans to have a total of 75 satellites launched into orbit by mid-2018.

Iridium is so far the only mobile voice and data satellite communications network that spans the entire globe, including across oceans, airways and polar regions.

According to the company, it is on track to fully replace the world's largest commercial satellite network of low-Earth orbit satellites in what will be one of the largest "tech upgrades" in history.

The satellite communications company has partnered with Thales Alenia Space for the manufacturing, assembling and testing of 81 Iridium NEXT satellites.

Iridium's next-generation global satellite constellation will deploy a cross-linked low-Earth orbit architecture, covering 100 percent of the Earth's surface. The process of replacing the satellites one by one in a constellation of this size and scale has never been completed before.

SpaceX initially aimed to launch the Iridium-5 mission Thursday, but a technical glitch with one of the satellites forced a delay.

Friday's launch is one of two missions in four days for SpaceX. Another used Falcon 9 rocket will launch an uncrewed Dragon cargo ship, which has also flown previously, to deliver cargo to the International Space Station.

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) cargo mission is scheduled to launch on Monday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, with Dragon arriving at the space station next week.

Under an agreement with NASA, SpaceX is now developing the refinements that will enable Dragon to fly crew. Dragon's first manned test flight is expected to take place as early as 2018, according to SpaceX.Containers full of granny smith apples are seen in an apple orchard of Auvil Fruit Company in Wenatchee, Washington State, the United States, on Nov. 3, 2017. China has become one of Auvil's biggest overseas markets for its apples and cherries in recent years since the company learned about the B2C platform Tmall. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

CHICAGO, March 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. protectionist measures of unilaterally imposing steep tariffs will not solve trade problem but risk opening a Pandora's box to backfire on its own economy, said U.S. experts.

"The recent action by U.S. President (Donald) Trump to slap tariffs on China outside of the established WTO rules ... is troubling," Tom Watkins, an advisor to Michigan-China Innovation Center, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"While it has some short term political benefit to President Trump's political base of disenfranchised voters, it is unlikely to have any significant long-term economic benefit to working class people in America, nor address real issue of free and fair trade imbalances," Watkins said.

A sample of clean, processed soybeans at Peterson Farms Seed facility in Fargo, North Dakota, U.S., Dec. 6, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

Many U.S. scholars echoed Watkins' view, as Trump signed a memorandum last week that could impose tariffs on up to 60 billion U.S. dollars of imports from China and place restrictions on Chinese investments in the United States.

China's Ministry of Commerce issued a warning the following day and also announced a plan for reciprocal tariffs on imported U.S. products worth about 3 billion dollars, targeting 128 categories of U.S. products including pork, wine and seamless steel tubes.

"Tariffs are not going to correct the trade deficit with China," said Khairy Tourk, a professor with the Stuart School of Business of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. "The reality is that the tariff burden will fall on the silent majority, the consumers. This would be difficult for the middle class and it could backfire on those responsible for the price increases."

Tourk said China's measured response shows that Beijing is not eager to start a trade war. "Obviously, if the situation is to escalate, the global economy will suffer," the expert added.

Grapes are seen at the Kunde Winery in California, U.S., Oct. 10, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

"A trade war only disadvantages our already disadvantaged populations," said William J. Carroll, president emeritus of the Benedictine University.

U.S. National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) posted a statement on its website the same day when Trump signed the memorandum, in which NPPC President Jim Heimerl said higher tariffs on imports from China will in turn harm U.S. producers and undermine the rural economy.

"No one wins in these tit-for-tat trade disputes, least of all the farmers and the consumers," said Heimerl.

File Photo: Workers cut pork at Park Packing, one of Chicago's few remaining slaughterhouses, in Chicago, Illinois July 18, 2015. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

U.S. pork industry exported 1.1 billion dollars of products to China in 2017. "China is a very important market for U.S. pork producers. In 2017, China was the second largest U.S. pork export market by volume and the third largest export market by value," Jim Monroe, NPPC senior communications director, told Xinhua.

Scholars said U.S. trade deficit is a problem, but not in the way Trump's administration thinks. "The deficit reflects lack of savings," said Tourk. It in fact reflects a deeper problem of imbalance in the flow of international investment.

"The best policy to increase American exports is to increase productivity," the professor said, adding this will require years to accomplish.PARIS, March 30 (Xinhua) -- France's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that it regretted Russia's decision to expel four French diplomats.

"Russia's decision to expel four French embassy staff from Russia does not surprise us. We regret this and want to point out that to this day Russia has refused to give any explanation about the attack in Salisbury," the ministry said.

Despite the diplomatic row over the poisoning affair, "France reiterates its commitment and willingness to engage a constructive dialogue with Russia on all international issues," the French Foreign Ministry added.

Russian former double spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious on a bench in a shopping center in the southern British city of Salisbury on March 4. They were poisoned with a nerve agent in the first such attack in a European country since World War Two.

The British government accused Russia of involvement in the nerve toxin attack on the ex-Russian double spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, which left both of them critically ill, but the Russian authorities have denied the accusation.

On Monday, France told four Russian diplomats to leave the country within a week in "full solidarity" with Britain that accused Moscow of poisoning one of its former agent on British territory.

Earlier on Friday, Moscow expelled 59 diplomats from 23 countries in retaliation to the coordinated move to knock out Russian diplomats by dozens of western countries.

In a separate statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it also summoned the British ambassador and informed him that Britain has to downsize its diplomats stationed in Russia to the same level as Russia has in Britain within a month.

Earlier this month, more than two dozens of countries announced the expulsion of around 150 Russian diplomats over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter with a nerve agent.

Tensions between Russia and western countries have exacerbated over the ongoing exchange of diplomatic sanctions.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 05:10:17|Editor: Chengcheng

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A wounded Palestinian is evacuated during a protest along the border fence between Gaza Strip and Israel in Gaza City, March 30, 2018. Although the anti-Israel Palestinian mass rally in Gaza was supposed to go peaceful, the demonstrations turned violent, leaving at least 16 Palestinians killed and over 1,400 others injured. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)

GAZA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Although the anti-Israel Palestinian mass rally in Gaza was supposed to go peaceful, the demonstrations turned violent, leaving at least 16 Palestinians killed and over 1,400 others injured.

The rally, dubbed Great March of Return, is a month-and-half long sit-in staged along the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel to demand the return of Palestinians refugees who were forced to leave their cities during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948.

The sit-in started Friday, which coincides with the Palestinian Land Day, an annual occasion marking the Palestinians' protest over Israeli confiscation of their lands.

The event will wrap up on May 15, the commemoration day of Israel's Independence Day and the Palestinian Day of "the Nakba," or the catastrophe, when thousands of Palestinians were expelled from their towns and cities that became later Israeli territories.

The rally is also meant to defy a tight Israeli blockade that has been imposed on the coastal enclave since 2007, when Hamas had violently seized control of Gaza after routing forces loyal to the Palestinian Authority.

Organizers said the rally was going to be peaceful as demonstrators would stay 700 meters away from the border with Israel. As groups of protesters got closer to the fence, it sparked clashes with Israeli troops stationed along the borders.

Since early Friday, thousands of Palestinians flocked to the rally, amid Israeli readiness to foil any border infiltration attempts.

Witnesses said confrontations broke out when Israeli soldiers fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of Palestinian protesters.

They added that Israeli army deployed more forces, including armored vehicles, snipers, sniffing dogs and soldiers equipped with tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition to prevent Palestinians from reaching the fence.

The Israeli army declared a status of alert and deployed large forces along the borderline area.

"I will not leave the sit-in..I came here to stay until it is over," Abu Adham Darabeh told Xinhua as he waved the victory sign.

The old man, who comes from a village near Gaza, said the Israeli response to the peaceful rally will not make him leave.

The rally is considered Gaza's largest mass protest in the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered in an unprecedented scene near the Gaza Israel borderline.

Entire families and people of ages joined the rally, which came from an idea made by academic and human rights figures and later adopted by the Palestinian factions.

Abu Hossam Obeid, 55, told Xinhua that he came with his wife and children to demand their right to return to the lands of his father and grandparents who had been forced to flee in 1948.

"We came here to deliver a message to the world and Israel that we are here and committed to our hope to return to our country and the homes of parents and grandparents soon," the man said as he sat near a tent.

So far, it is almost impossible to bring back Obeid and other Palestinian refugees to their lands, but the man expressed his joy to be at the nearest point to his original town of Majdal, north of Gaza.

Tents were set up in at least five main areas in eastern Gaza Strip, with toilets, meals and internet services provided to encourage participants to join the sit-in.

"When our ancestors were forced out by Israelis, they turned into homeless people in tents, and we will return to our land from tents," said Um Omar, a 41-year-old woman from Gaza.

The Palestinian refugees' struggle to return home has been one of the key and thorniest issues in the final status negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis, as both cling to their own beliefs in this regard.

The Palestinians base their assertion of the right of return on the United Nations General Assembly resolution number 194 of 1948, which calls for allowing the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland and payment of compensation for those not wishing to go back, a resolution that Israel still denies.LONDON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of people may turn up in Cambridge to watch the funeral of the renowned British physicist, Professor Stephen Hawking, on Saturday, media reports said Friday.

Cambridge University is working with the police to supervise the area around Great St Mary's Church, where the service is scheduled to kick off on Saturday.

There will be no public access to the church because the funeral has been designated as a private service for family, friends and colleagues.

It is not known how big the crowds will be, but given Professor Hawking's worldwide fame, some sources in Cambridge are predicting large numbers.

"The funeral service will be attended by Professor Hawking's family, invited friends and colleagues," the university said in a statement.

"This is a private service and no-one without an invitation will be allowed entrance to the church before or during the funeral service," it said.

"Police, council officers and event control officers will be on hand to assist the public in the areas concerned," it added.

Hawking died peacefully at home in the British university city of Cambridge in the early hours of March 14 at the age of 76, defying the predictions of doctors that he would pass away 50 years earlier.

Hawking, a legendary figure in the modern history of physics, is known for his work with black holes and relativity, and has authored several best-sellers on science, despite being bound to wheelchair after contracting a motor neurone disease in 1963 at the age of 21.

He broke new ground on the basic laws which govern the universe, including the revelation that black holes have a temperature and produce radiation, now known as Hawking radiation.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 09:30:47|Editor: Chengcheng

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DAMASCUS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A total of 4,849 rebels and their families departed the Syrian capital's Eastern Ghouta countryside on Friday night, according to the state news agency SANA.

They are the seventh and latest batch of evacuees leaving areas in the central part of Ghouta, including 1,485 rebels, toward rebel-held areas in the northern Syrian province of Idlib.

A day earlier, 7,003 evacuees left the area, including 1,234 rebels with the rest being their family members, who chose to head toward rebel-held areas in the north, under a deal reached recently between the Syrian government and the rebels with the mediation of Russia.

Since the evacuation began last Saturday, there have been over 170,000 rebels and their families, as well as other civilians, evacuating the Eastern Ghouta area, according to estimates accumulated from official media reports.

The Russian-backed Syrian army has advanced and captured 90 percent of that region.

Eastern Ghouta, a 105-square-km agricultural region consisting of several towns and farmlands, poses the last threat to the capital due to its proximity to government-controlled neighborhoods east of Damascus and ongoing mortar attacks that target residential areas in the capital.

Four major rebel groups are currently positioned inside Eastern Ghouta, namely the Islam Army, Failaq al-Rahman, Ahrar al-Sham, and the Levant Liberation Committee, also known as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 09:45:50|Editor: Chengcheng

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UNITED NATIONS, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Kuwaiti ambassador to the United Nations on Friday demanded the Security Council take action to stop Israeli violence against Palestinians in Gaza.

"We would ask the (Security) Council to take action," Mansour Al-Otaibi, the Kuwaiti ambassador, told reporters. The council should condemn the violence and stop it, he said.

The ambassador, whose delegation requested an emergency meeting of the Security Council after Israeli soldiers reportedly killed at least 15 Palestinian protesters and wounded about one thousand others along the border fence, said the Israeli military was in violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.

On Friday, thousands of Palestinians started the first day of the Great March of Return, a month long sit-in staged along the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel to demand the return of Palestinians refugees who were forced to leave their cities during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948.

Al-Otaibi said the Palestinian demonstrators were unarmed and what was happening in Gaza is a dangerous situation.

Carl Skau, Swedish Alternate Representative to the Security Council, said Friday that the use of force must be proportionate. "It seems that the Israeli security forces have been using live ammunition today," he told reporters.

Skau said that he was appalled by the loss of life and the large number of the wounded in Gaza and that Friday's incidents must be immediately investigated. He also voiced concern about reports of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

The focus now is to avoid further escalation, said Skau. "All parties must show restraint, but of course in particular the Israeli security forces."

He said the humanitarian situation in Gaza is terrible, calling for an end to the closure of the strip.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 10:15:56|Editor: Chengcheng

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WASHINGTON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said Friday that the United States urges the parties involved to take steps to lower tensions in Gaza.

Israeli soldiers have reportedly killed at least 16 Palestinian protesters and injured more than 1,400 on Friday in the ongoing violence that erupted during Palestinian demonstrations close to the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of life in Gaza today," Nauert tweeted, urging "those involved to take steps to lower tensions."

"The international community is focused on taking steps that will improve the lives of the Palestinians and is working on a plan for peace. Violence furthers neither of those goals," she added.

The Kuwaiti Mission to the United Nations tweeted on Friday that at the request of Kuwait, the Security Council "will meet at 6:30 p.m. (EST)(2230 GMT) in informal consultations" to discuss the latest developments in Gaza.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 10:20:57|Editor: Chengcheng

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VIENTIANE, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Funding for unexploded ordnance (UXO) surveys and clearance is needed from various sources as there is currently a funding shortfall, Lao local daily Vientiane Times Saturday quoted an official report as saying.

The National Regulatory Authority (NRA) for the UXO/Mine Action sector in Laos will continue its fundraising drive this year, said the report.

The NRA needs 31.6 million U.S. dollars to pay for the survey and clearance of UXO in at-risk areas, as well as to assist the survivors of UXO-related accidents by paying for medical checkups and treatment, and helping with employment.

Last year, the NRA sourced more than 26.8 million U.S. dollars through the Lao government and overseas organizations, which was used for several UXO clearance projects.

The NRA outlined the current situation at a meeting it hosted on Wednesday and Thursday to review its activities.

It is expected that 4,480 hectares of land still contaminated by UXO will be cleared by the end of this year, and be used for agriculture, industry, tourism, and infrastructure development.

In 2016, some 3,365 hectares of land was cleared of UXO. Clearance teams found 94,061 items, including 77,043 cluster munitions.

In 2017, a total of 108,586 UXO items were removed, including 84,977 cluster munitions, on 3,882 hectares of land.

According to the NRA's annual project review, from 2008 to 2017, some 920 people were injured or killed in almost 600 UXO-related accidents, with the number of fatalities recorded at 244.

During this period there was a substantial decrease in the annual casualty figures, from over 300 in 2008 to 41 in 2017.

The figure of 41 almost reaches the target figure of 40 set in the National Strategic Plan for the UXO sector of Laos. There has been a steady decline in the number of accidents caused by the destruction of UXO items and through lighting fires, cutting grass, and disturbing explosive devices.

The NRA, a Lao official institution dealing with UXO issues, has worked with international organizations to clear UXO. It is hoped that with sufficient effort and funding, UXO accidents can be made a thing of the past by 2030.

According to statistics from Lao authorities, from 1965 to 1973, the United States dropped some 2 million tons of ordinance on Laos during the Vietnam War, including 2.7 million cluster bombs which are designed to break apart and release a payload of smaller bombs. As many as 30 percent of these bombs did not explode.

Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world per capita. Over the years, thousands of Lao people have been killed or injured, usually farmers tending their fields and children playing.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 10:41:01|Editor: Chengcheng

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by Juan Limachi

LIMA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Nestled in the mountains on the way to Peru's ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu, an orchid reserve features hundreds of various kinds of plants, including one resembling the hummingbird.

"We have (orchids) in the shape of animals, humans, insects, butterflies, all with the sole objective of getting pollinated," biologist Carmen Rosa Soto said.

The biologist, from Inkaterra, an association dedicated to the conservation of flora and fauna, recently offered Xinhua a tour of the Waqanki Orchid Center, the orchid and nature reserve managed by the group.

"Orchids are considered to be the most evolved plant family. In Machu Picchu alone there are more than 89 genera, each presenting different forms, different sizes," Soto said.

Each orchid's particular shape and color evolved over centuries to attract the area's pollinators, often by mimicking the native insects and hummingbirds that alight on the different plants, she said.

"The major pollinators are the wasps, bees, butterflies and a small group of hummingbirds."

According to Joseph Quispe, a local orchid specialist, the reserve gets its name from the Masdevallia veitchiana, the national treasure of Peru referred to as Waqanki by the people of the Ancient Inca civilization, who were believed to have first cultivated the plant.

The bright two-tone orange-fuchsia flower has three petals, with the top one gradually tapering into a narrow needle that resembles a hummingbird's long, slender beak.

Unique to Peru, the orchid has become a symbol of Machu Picchu, where there is a legend that explains its unusual shape, said Quispe.

Quispe said the legend tells the story of a princess of the Incan Empire who was heartbroken when the warrior with whom she was in love with went off to war. She ran through the forest shedding tears of blood, which made the orchid crimson.

The forlorn princess died and was transformed into a Waqanki orchid. Waqanki in the native Quechuan language means "you will cry."

When "the warrior returned and found his lover was gone, he asked the mountains to turn him into a hummingbird ... and that's why the orchid is shaped like that," Quispe said.

The orchid grows wild in Peru, but has been successfully cultivated elsewhere.

The reserve, which also serves as a study center that regularly hosts experts from around the world, attracts an array of visitors, from scientists to nature lovers, Quispe said.

Quispe said the reserve has recently registered 18 new species, with one more registration still in the process.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 11:01:03|Editor: Chengcheng

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MINSK, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The first two months of 2018 saw a 1.7 percent decline in Belarus' external debt, the Belarusian Finance Ministry said Friday on the government's official website.

Its foreign debt has decreased to 16.4 billion U.S. dollars by 278.8 million dollars in January and February, with the exchange rate differences taken into account, the ministry said.

From January to February, Belarus attracted external state borrowing totalling 742.8 million dollars, namely 600 million dollars in eurobonds, 104.6 million dollars borrowed from the Russian government, 23.8 million dollars from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), 14.1 million dollars from Chinese banks and 0.3 million dollars from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

During the same period, Belarus spent about 1.065 billion dollars to repay its external debt, namely 800 million dollars in eurobonds, 175.3 million dollars paid to Chinese banks, 82.2 million dollars to the Russian government, and 7.3 million dollars to the IBRD.

In the first two months this year, the Belarusian government sold 63.3 million dollars worth of domestic government bonds nominated in foreign currencies to corporations and individuals and redeemed 51.8 million dollars worth of domestic government bonds nominated in foreign currencies and Belarusian rubles from individuals.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 11:06:04|Editor: Yamei

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U.S. President Donald Trump (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said that the United States will withdraw its troops from Syria "very soon," according to a transcript provided by the White House on Friday.

The statement soon sparked questions as U.S. military officials were reportedly not informed of the decision.

"We'll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now," Trump said in a speech in Richfield, Ohio earlier on Thursday.

"By the way, we're knocking the hell out of ISIS," said Trump. "We're going to be coming out of there real soon. We're going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be," he said.

The statement seemed to contradict the military's stance.

On Thursday, Pentagon spokesperson Dana White told reporters that "important work remains to guarantee the lasting defeat of these violent extremists" in war-torn Syria.

Trump's remarks have further aroused doubts regarding the U.S. military's activities in Syria, as the U.S. military said on Friday that two members of the U.S.-led coalition were killed in a roadside bomb attack in the nation, with one of them being a U.S. service member.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 11:06:05|Editor: Chengcheng

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UNITED NATIONS, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations (UN), on Friday asked the Security Council to stop Israeli violence against Palestinians after at least 15 Palestinian protesters were killed by Israeli soldiers on the border fence in Gaza.

"We expect the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility because the situation ... in Gaza is a threat to international peace and security," Mansour told reporters at the UN Headquarters in New York as the council was holding an emergency meeting over the situation in Gaza.

"It is the responsibility of the Security Council to condemn this atrocity against our people, to stop it immediately and to deal with the issue of bringing those who are responsible to justice," said the diplomat.

He also asked the council to seriously consider the issue of providing international protection to civilians in Gaza.

On Friday, thousands of Palestinians started the first day of the Great March of Return, a month-long sit-in staged along the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel to demand the return of Palestinian refugees who were forced to leave their cities during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948.

Kuwaiti Ambassador to the United Nations Mansour Al-Otaibi, whose delegation requested the emergency meeting of the Security Council, also demanded action from the Security Council to stop Israeli violence in Gaza.

"We would ask the council to take action," Al-Otaibi told reporters before attending the emergency meeting in the form of closed-door consultations.

Carl Skau, Swedish Alternate Representative to the Security Council, said Friday that the use of force must be proportionate. He said the humanitarian situation in Gaza is terrible, calling for an end to the closure of the strip.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 11:21:07|Editor: Chengcheng

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WASHINGTON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday spoke with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan as bilateral relations continue to be strained over Turkey's military operations in Syria.

According to a statement from the White House, the two leaders discussed "regional developments and the strategic partnership" between the United States and Turkey.

They "expressed support for continued efforts to increase cooperation between their two countries, to advance shared interests as NATO allies, and to work through issues that affect the bilateral relationship," said the White House.

Also on Friday, Erdogan said that Turkey has started preparations for further operations to clear northern Syrian regions and Iraq's Sinjar of Syrian Kurdish militants.

"Turkish forces also could launch operation in northern Iraq's Sinjar suddenly," he said.

Turkey has no intention of harming soldiers of allied nations positioned in the region, but it could not allow the People's Protection Units (YPG) to roam free, Erdogan said.

Turkey repeatedly urged the United States and the U.S.-backed YPG to retreat from Syria's Manbij, where 2,000 American troops are stationed.

Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch on Jan. 20 to clear the YPG, which Ankara considers a terror group affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, from northwestern Syria.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 12:36:14|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The central government has launched a nationwide spring semester inspection to prevent and control security risks in schools.

The inspection, initiated by the Education Supervision Committee of the State Council, will focus on local governments' promotion of education, improvement of school security risk prevention systems, and the management of areas surrounding campuses in their respective jurisdictions.

Members of the Leading Party Members Group of the Ministry of Education will lead six major groups to 11 provincial areas to supervise the inspection.

According to the plan, provincial, municipal, and county-level education agencies should conduct checks, while each school was ordered to undertake a self-assessment.

The spring semester usually runs from March to mid July.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 13:01:20|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BUCHAREST, March 30 (Xinhua) -- People are currently witnessing the emergence of a new multipolar world order and China will play a major role in that, said Samir Ghattas, president of the Cairo-based Middle East Forum for Strategic Studies.

Ghattas said so Friday during a conference themed "Determinants of the New World Order in Relation to Conflict or Dialogue of Civilizations" here in the Romanian capital.

Ghattas said that the world is evolving into a multipolar one and that there is no chance to return to the unipolar or bipolar world order of the past.

A new world order, he said, will be defined by the emerging economies, including China. "The question is how will the economy of the new order look like, because we have seen lately China's tremendous economic strength, exceeding any other country."

The scholar said the free market economy in Western democracies and the centralized economy "have already proved their weak aspects," so there must be a third model that works best -- the one that has proven successful by China, he said.

"China has exceptional economic achievements with the centralized political power of the Communist Party of China. It will be interesting to see how this system, which has yielded fabulous economic achievements, will survive in the new world order," Ghattas said.

He mentioned in particular China's Belt and Road Initiative. "China is the biggest investor in the development of the Suez Canal, for instance, which will become a big hub and will be connected to the Belt and Road."

"I consider the Belt and Road Initiative a very important project and lots of countries will benefit from it," he added.

The scholar acknowledged that chaos will occur while the new world order takes shape, a process he said will see Western powers "do their best to preserve their supremacy" while the emerging powers "do their best to become major actors."

However, Ghattas rejected the idea of a "clash of civilizations" and favored instead the notion of "dialogue of civilizations."Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 13:21:24|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China's non-manufacturing sector expanded at a faster pace in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Saturday.

The non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index came in at 54.6 this month, up from 54.4 in February.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 reflects contraction.

The service sector, which accounts for more than half of the country's GDP, reported steady expansion with the business activity index standing at 53.6, well above the boom-bust line of 50, according to NBS data.

The producer service and logistics sectors were particularly robust as manufacturers resumed operation after the Spring Festival holiday, according to NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe.

The wholesale, retail, and accommodation sectors saw slower expansion as the holiday season ended, while business activity in sectors including road transport, catering, and real estate contracted.

Construction business picked up in March due to warmer weather and further progress in infrastructure construction. Its business activity index rose to 60.7 from 57.5 in February.

Both service and construction firms remained positive on the market outlook in March as the business outlook index stayed above 60 this month, an optimistic range, for the 11th month in a row, NBS data shows.

The service sector contributed 58.8 percent to economic growth last year.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 13:36:25|Editor: Chengcheng

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GHAZNI, Afghanistan, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A total of four militants have been killed and several others injured as government forces launched cleanup operations in the eastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan, provincial police chief, Mohammad Zaman said Saturday.

The operations, dubbed Ankabot Sia (black spider) and launched Friday have also liberated several villages from the clutch of Taliban militants, the official contended.

Without mentioning the possible casualties of security forces and providing more details, the official said that the operations would last until the restive Khogiani district and adjoining areas are cleansed of insurgents.

Taliban militants are yet to make comment.HANOI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of the six-country Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) attended the 6th GMS Summit here on Saturday, mainly to map out directions and operational focus for the sub-region's development in the near future.

The theme of the summit is "Leveraging on 25 Years of Cooperation, and Building a Sustainable, Integrated, and Prosperous GMS."

The leaders, including prime ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, a Chinese state councilor and a Myanmar vice president, plus leaders of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank and the ASEAN General secretary, are to touch upon a report on recent outcomes of GMS cooperation and the Hanoi Action Plan 2018-2022, another report of the GMS Business Council on achievements of GMS private sector, and endorse the Hanoi Action Plan 2018-2022, the Regional Investment Framework 2022 and the 6th GMS Joint Declaration.

The action plan, including strengthening links between rural and urban areas in the sub-region, provides the directions and operational focus for the remaining five years of the GMS Strategic Framework.

The Regional Investment Framework 2022 consists of over 200 projects.

China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam launched the GMS Economic Cooperation Program in 1992, with assistance of the ADB, to enhance economic relations.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 14:06:32|Editor: Chengcheng

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MEXICO CITY, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Mexico's presidential race officially kicked off on Friday with four contenders competing for the nation's highest office.

Leading in the polls is left-of-center candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a longtime leader of Mexico's progressive sectors who has served as mayor of Mexico City and ran for the presidency twice before.

Lopez Obrador is the candidate of the "Together We Will Make History" coalition comprised of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), a party he founded in 2014, the Workers' Party (PT) and the Social Encounter Party (PES).

His lead is largely fueled by discontent with Mexico's right-of-center ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), whose candidate is former finance minister Jose Antonio Meade, currently in third place.

The PRI is perceived as being soft on corruption, but with more than 70 uninterrupted years in power from 1929 to 2000 and again from 2012 to the present. Thus, the party's strength lies in its powerful institutional organization.

Ricardo Anaya, who ranked second in the polls, is a young but ambitious politician who climbed up the ranks of the conservative National Action Party (PAN). His candidacy alienated some within the party who backed Margarita Zavala, who is the the wife of ex-president Felipe Calderon (2006-2012).

To outflank Zavala, Anaya formed an unlikely alliance with Mexico's once left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), which together with a third smaller party, comprise the "Mexico to the Front" coalition.

As a result, Zavala was forced to run as an independent, which is the first ever presidential candidate with no official party alliance in the country's history, as independent candidates have not been allowed before.

Also for the first time, some half a million Mexicans residing abroad will be able to take part in the July 1 general elections.

The candidates are already very familiar to the electorate since the official campaign season, which runs through June 27, was preceded by a pre-campaign period that began in December 2017.

More than 80 million registered voters will choose some of the 500 federal deputies and 128 senators that make up the national legislature, though some seats are filled by proportional representation in keeping with the percentage of votes each party gets.

Locally, voters will choose a mayor for Mexico City and eight governors, as well as 972 local deputies and 1,597 mayors.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 14:31:36|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Congratulations have been pouring in from around the world since Xi Jinping was elected Chinese president by a unanimous vote on March 17 at the annual session of the National People's Congress, China's national legislature.

Xi was also unanimously elected chairman of the Central Military Commission.

In their congratulatory messages, leaders of foreign countries, political parties and organizations expressed confidence that under Xi's leadership, China will achieve greater prosperity and make more contributions to world peace and development.

The following is an edited version of some of the messages.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis congratulated Xi on being elected as Chinese president, saying that he is willing to work with Xi to promote the development of the comprehensive Romania-China partnership.

King Felipe VI of Spain wished Xi would make great achievements while fulfilling his sublime mission as Chinese president and wished the Chinese people prosperity, progress, happiness and well-being in the future.

British Prime Minister Theresa May congratulated Xi on being elected as Chinese president, wishing him and the Chinese people greater success.

The "Golden Era" of Britain-China relations has brought tangible benefits to both countries, said May, adding that she hopes the global comprehensive and strategic partnership between the two countries can be further strengthened.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said Xi's leadership and experience will contribute greatly to China's lasting prosperity and he is willing to work with Xi to promote the Indonesia-China comprehensive strategic partnership further.

President of Timor-Leste Francisco Guterres, also known as Lu-Olo, congratulated Xi on being elected as Chinese president, saying he believes the partnership between the two countries will be further consolidated.

Angolan President Joao Lourenco said Xi's election as Chinese president by a unanimous vote fully demonstrated the Chinese people's support for and recognition of Xi's high prestige and outstanding talent.

Lourenco said he believes that Xi will lead the Chinese people to further promote the country's development.

Cote d'Ivoire's President Alassane Ouattara extended the most sincere and warmest congratulations to Xi on his election as Chinese president. He hoped Xi would achieve success as president, and wished the friendly Chinese people happiness and health.

Zambian President Edgar Lungu said Xi's election as Chinese president fully embodied the Chinese people's determination and desire to realize the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Lungu said that under Xi's leadership, China will transform itself into a modern socialist country that is harmonious and prosperous.

Malawian President Peter Mutharika warmly congratulated Xi on his election as Chinese president by a unanimous vote, adding that Xi's election fully showed Chinese people's trust and confidence in Xi's leadership of the Communist Party of China and the country.

Prime Minister of the Government of National Accord of Libya Fayez al-Serraj congratulated Xi on being unanimously elected to his second term as Chinese president.

He said Xi's election will promote the friendly relationship between Libya and China and help the bilateral ties develop further so as to benefit the two peoples.

President of Guyana David Arthur Granger said that he wished that under Xi's leadership, China will prosper and become stronger and that the friendly cooperative relations between Guyana and China will further develop.

President of the Federated States of Micronesia Peter M. Christian said Xi's election by a unanimous vote is the best testament to Xi's wisdom, insight and leadership as the leader of a major country.

The various policies and measures taken by Xi have boosted the Chinese people's trust in the government and won the wide respect and support of the international community, he said.

President of Benin Patrice Talon, President of Cape Verde Jorge Carlos Fonseca, President of Latvia Raimonds Vejonis, Prime Minister of the Bahamas Hubert Minnis and Premier of Niue Toke Talagi are also among those who sent their congratulatory messages to Xi.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 14:36:38|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The first Global AI Art Competition was launched in Beijing, with the aim of encouraging the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and art to tap its industrial potential.

Works from around the world that combine AI with fine arts, music, and literature can be submitted online until September. The prize-winning works will be auctioned in November and exhibited in Beijing and Shanghai in December.

Li Zhu, founder of Innovation Angel Funds, said he sees a promising future for AI art.

"Everyone can demonstrate their artistic ideas with the help of AI. Now we have AI technology that can change a picture's hue and light, compose music, and color cartoons," Li said.

According to Qin Jingyan from the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Science and Technology Beijing, art is an expression of personal wisdom with intellectual property, while AI is a technology developed by a group. When incorporated with AI, art is no longer a personal thing.

Although AI art is unlikely to become a world-leading art form, it can have practical applications in our everyday lives, said Fu Zhiyong, associate professor at the Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University.

The competition was jointly launched by Tsinghua University, art critique and consulting website ping99.com and Innovation Angel Funds.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 15:10:06|Editor: Yamei

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An agriculture expert (C) teaches fertilization know-hows to members of a fruit and vegetable cooperative farm in Yiyuan County, east China's Shandong Province, March 30, 2018. Authorities in Yiyuan County have assigned special expert teams to local farms for on-the-spot supports during the high time of spring farming. (Xinhua/Zhao Dongshan)Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 15:21:45|Editor: Jiaxin

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KUWAIT CITY, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Kuwait has condemned Israel's brutal attacks on the unarmed Palestinian demonstrators in the occupied territory, the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported on Saturday.

Kuwait has followed up with the sorrow reports of Israel's brutal attacks on the Palestinian demonstrators, which are in defiance of international resolutions and violation of all international norms, an official source at the Foreign Ministry of Kuwait was quoted as saying.

The source said that Kuwait, out of its responsibilities towards Muslim and Arab issues, and through its non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council (UNSC), called for an emergency meeting of the UNSC to discuss the ongoing Israeli attacks.

It went on saying that Kuwait strongly supports the legitimate demands of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to provide international protection for Palestinian people in the occupied territory.

The source called on the Security Council to shoulder its historic responsibilities in maintaining international peace and security, and combating immediately the Israeli repressive practices against the Palestinians.

On Friday, thousands of Palestinians started the first day of the Great March of Return organized by various Palestinian factions and political powers including the Islamic Hamas movement, which rules Gaza, and Abbas' Fatah Party.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that the Israeli army opened fire at the Palestinian demonstrators, killing 16 of them and wounding 1,416 others.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 15:26:45|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese police have warned the public of potential major traffic risks ahead of Tomb-sweeping Day, which falls on April 5 this year.

The large number of people visiting cemeteries, travelling via road, and farming-related traffic activities pose threats to road safety, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement.

Forecasted rain overlapping the travel peak is also likely to have a negative impact.

The risk of major traffic accidents concerning commercial passenger vehicles during the Tomb-sweeping holiday is usually 11.4 percentage points higher than on ordinary days, figures from the ministry show.

Tomb-sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival, is a traditional Chinese holiday during which people pay tribute to deceased friends and family members.HANOI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of the six-member Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) have adopted three documents here on Saturday, including the 6th GMS Summit Joint Declaration, the Hanoi Action Plan 2018-2022, and the Regional Investment Framework 2022.

The Regional Investment Framework 2022 includes a list of 227 investment projects worth 66 billion U.S. dollars which will be implemented by the six GMS countries in the next five years, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc announced at a press conference on Saturday in Vietnam's Hanoi capital right after the 6th GMS Summit concluded.

Under the joint declaration and the action plan, the GMS countries, including China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam pledged for stronger multifaceted cooperation, including cooperation on transport, agriculture, tourism, environment and e-commerce, said the prime minister.

The Hanoi Action Plan 2018-2022 calls for an expansion of the three key economic corridors in the GMS to boost connectivity between the six countries as well as within rural and urban centers to ensure a more equitable distribution of the benefits of economic growth.

Its key thrusts include refined sector strategies and priorities; improved planning, programming and monitoring systems; and enhancements in institutional arrangements and partnerships.

The GMS leaders also put forth orientations for mid-term cooperation within GMS countries and between them with development partners, and kicked off a process of defining a long-term vision for the sub-region to ensure its common prosperity, inclusive growth and sustainable development, he said.

At the press conference, President of the Asian Development Bank Takehiko Nakao stated that there is a big room for the GMS to develop because it connects with Southeast Asia, East Asia and South Asia, and many members have high economic growth rates of around 7 percent in recent years.

The bank, which prioritizes infrastructure development in the GMS, will provide some 7 billion U.S. dollars for the GMS countries to implement the 227 projects, Nakao said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 16:21:53|Editor: Jiaxin

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JERUSALEM, March 31 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fell in an open area in southern Lebanon Friday night, said the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in a statement on Saturday.

"This is due to a technical malfunction," noted the IDF, adding "There is no risk of leaked information."

The Israeli army also added that the incident is currently being reviewed.

The Israeli media reported that Hezbollah's al-Manar TV station reported the drone crash and posted photos from the crash site.

The report said the unmanned aircraft went down between the villages of Beit Yahoun and Baraachit in southern Lebanon.

According to the Israeli media, the IAF drone was on an intelligence-gathering mission in southern Lebanon as part of routine operations, which also included an increased activity of IAF fighter jets in northern Israel.

The crash of an IAF drone in enemy territory is considered unusual and would allow Hezbollah to learn its abilities and capabilities and possibly help it develope similar aircraft.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 16:31:54|Editor: Lu Hui

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A wounded Palestinian is evacuated during a protest along the border fence between Gaza Strip and Israel in Gaza City, March 30, 2018. Although the anti-Israel Palestinian mass rally in Gaza was supposed to go peaceful, the demonstrations turned violent, leaving at least 16 Palestinians killed and over 1,400 others injured. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)

JERUSALEM, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Israeli military on Saturday warned of an expanded military operation against Hamas if violence on the border with Gaza continues.

Israeli Military spokesman Brigadier General Ronen Manelis said in a briefing to journalists hours after a Palestinian protest turned violent on Israel's southern border.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians participated in the demonstration on Friday, as Israeli Jews marked the holiday of Passover.

Fifteen Palestinians were reportedly killed from Israeli fire. The Israeli military spokesman said they were all men and the majority of them were militants.

The Palestinian Health Ministry reported 1,000 injuries by live fire, rubber bullets and tear gas.

"The State of Israel cannot and will not allow this to continue," said Manelis, adding "We will be forced to respond within the Gaza Strip."

Until now, after weeks of violent exchanges between Hamas and the Israeli military, Israel's actions were limited to airstrikes against Hamas military installments.

Gaza militants have been increasing their actions in the border area. Manelis said the army knew four bombs which were planted along the border yesterday.

Violence is expected to continue before May 15, the Palestinians' Nakba Day, or known as the day of their catastrophe, which coincides with Israel's 70th Independence Day.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 16:46:57|Editor: Jiaxin

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RAMALLAH, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs Riad Malki slammed Saturday the obstruction of issuing a final statement after the UN Security Council over the Gaza events by the United States.

Malki told Xinhua "we were sure that Washington would obstruct any effort at the Security Council with regards to the massacre committed and will continue to take place by Israel."

Malki said that after the U.S. thwarted the issuance of a statement by the UNSC, this would "clarify to those who continue to bet on the American role in the Arab region that Washington is totally biased to Israel."

The UNSC failed Saturday to reach an agreement on a final statement over the event in Gaza after 15 Palestinians were killed and over 1,200 injured by Israeli forces during Land Day rally at the border between Gaza Strip and Israel on Friday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held Israel totally responsible for the events on Friday.An Israeli Air Force spy drone crashes in southern Lebanon on Saturday. (Xinhua Photo)

JERUSALEM, March 31 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fell in an open area in southern Lebanon Friday night, said the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in a statement on Saturday.

"This is due to a technical malfunction," noted the IDF, adding "There is no risk of leaked information."

The Israeli army also added that the incident is currently being reviewed.

The Israeli media reported that Hezbollah's al-Manar TV station reported the drone crash and posted photos from the crash site.

The report said the unmanned aircraft went down between the villages of Beit Yahoun and Baraachit in southern Lebanon.

According to the Israeli media, the IAF drone was on an intelligence-gathering mission in southern Lebanon as part of routine operations, which also included an increased activity of IAF fighter jets in northern Israel.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 17:42:08|Editor: Lu Hui

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A wounded Palestinian is evacuated during a protest along the border fence between Gaza Strip and Israel in Gaza City, March 30, 2018. Although the anti-Israel Palestinian mass rally in Gaza was supposed to go peaceful, the demonstrations turned violent, leaving at least 16 Palestinians killed and over 1,400 others injured. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Gaza witnessed its bloodiest day since the 2014 Israel-Palestine conflict with at least 17 Palestinians killed and over 1,000 wounded as a march by thousands of Palestinians to Gaza's border with Israel turned violent Friday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared Saturday a day of mourning for those who died during the protests and the United Nations (UN) Security Council held an emergency meeting over the situation Friday.

Riyad Mansour, Palestine's permanent observer to the UN, said at least 17 civilians were killed, including children. Gaza medical officials had put the toll at 16.

PEACEFUL RALLY TURNS VIOLENT

The anti-Israel rally, dubbed the Great Return March, is a month-and-a-half-long sit-in along the border fence between Gaza Strip and Israel to demand the right of return for thousands of Palestinian refugees who were forced to leave their cities during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948.

The sit-in started Friday, coinciding with Palestinian Land Day, an annual occasion marking Palestinians' protest against Israel's confiscation of their land.

It will wrap up on May 15, Israel's Independence Day and also the Palestinian Day of the Nakba or Catastrophe Day, when thousands of Palestinians were expelled from their towns and cities that became Israeli territory.

Organizers had said the rally would be peaceful with the demonstrators staying 700 meters away from the border. But as groups of protesters got closer to the fence, clashes started with Israeli troops stationed along the border.

Witnesses said confrontations broke out when Israeli soldiers fired tear gas shells to disperse hundreds of protesters.

They said the Israeli army deployed more force, including armored vehicles, snipers, sniffer dogs and soldiers equipped with tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition.

The Israeli army declared a state of alert and deployed large forces along the border area.

People of all ages had joined the rally, which was the brainchild of academics and human rights figures and adopted by Palestinian factions.

Tents were set up in at least five main areas in eastern Gaza Strip, with toilets, meals and internet services provided to encourage people to join the sit-in.

"When our ancestors were forced out by Israelis, they turned into homeless people in tents, and we will return to our land from tents," Um Omar, a 41-year-old woman from Gaza, said.

CALL TO STOP VIOLENCE

On Friday, Palestinian diplomat Mansour asked the Security Council to stop the Israeli violence against Palestinians in Gaza.

"We expect the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility because the situation ... in Gaza is a threat to international peace and security," he told reporters in New York.

Mansour also asked the council to seriously consider providing international protection to civilians in Gaza.

Mansour Al-Otaibi, Kuwait's ambassador to the United Nations, also demanded action from the Security Council.

Carl Skau, Swedish alternate representative to the Security Council, said the use of force must be proportionate. Calling the humanitarian situation in Gaza terrible, he called for an end to the closure of Gaza Strip.

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon, however, called the rally "a well-organized and violent terror-gathering" under the banner of a peaceful march and asked the international community not to be deceived.

FEAR OF ESCALATION

The international community has expressed alarm at the flare-up of conflict in a volatile region.

In the emergency Security Council meeting in New York, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, the UN's acting chief for political affairs, feared the situation might deteriorate in the coming days.

Some Security Council members suggested an investigation and emphasized that Israel should ensure that it uses force proportionally. Some noted Israel's security concerns and called on demonstrators to avoid violence.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for an independent and transparent investigation into the violence.

He also appealed to those concerned to refrain from any act that could lead to further casualties, particularly any measures that could place civilians in harm's way.

The United States urged the parties involved to take steps to lower tensions in Gaza.

The Palestinian refugees' struggle to return home has been one of the key and thorniest issues in the final status negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis.

Palestinians assert the right to return based on the United Nations General Assembly resolution No. 194 of 1948, which calls for allowing Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland and paying compensation to those not wishing to go back, a resolution that Israel rejects.

(Xinhua reporters Shang Xuqian in New York, Zhu Dongyang and Liu Chen in Washington, Emad Drimly in Gaza, and Saud Abu Ramadan in Ramallah also contributed to the report.)

Related

Israel warns of wider military operation if violence with Gaza continuesFREETOWN, March 31 (Xinhua) -- More than 3 million Sierra Leone voters went to the polls on Saturday to cast their ballots in the presidential run-off election.

The election was supposed to be held on March 27 but was postponed due to a high court interim injunction which affected the distribution of voting materials across the country.

While 16 political parties contested in the first round of vote in March 7, the runoff election would be contested by two candidates - Julius Maada Bio of the main opposition Sierra Leone People's Party(SLPP) who secured a first lead with 43.3 percent and Samura Kamara of the ruling All People's Congress(APC) who got a second position with 42.7 percent.

According to the country's 1991 Constitution, a political party should pull 55 percent to be declared outright winner but any of the political parties that participated the first round could not reach that threshold, hence the runoff.

For the runoff, it does not require a party to reach the 55 percent threshold but the one that would lead by a vote could be declared winner.

Meanwhile, voters would also vote for Members of Parliament and Local Councils in areas where there were some challenges to conduct elections in the first round.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 17:47:11|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Visitors enjoy a harp performance at the Athens Acropolis Museum in Greece, on March 31, 2018. The summer season of the Athens Acropolis Museum was launched Friday evening with a music concert featuring an ancient Greek organ known as the "hydraulis." At the concert held in the museum's Parthenon Gallery, visitors had the opportunity to enjoy a performance featuring the musical instrument played by the Greek organist Ourania Gassiou, as well as a harp performance. (Xinhua/Lefteris Partsalis)

ATHENS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The summer season of the Athens Acropolis Museum was launched Friday evening with a music concert featuring an ancient Greek organ known as the "hydraulis."

At the concert held in the museum's Parthenon Gallery, visitors had the opportunity to enjoy a performance featuring the musical instrument played by the Greek organist Ourania Gassiou, as well as a harp performance.

The hydraulis, the ancestor of the Western church organ, was invented by Ctesibius, one of the most famous engineers of his time in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria in Egypt in the third century B.C.

Operated by compressed air that was first channeled through a container of water to equalize the pressure, the water organ was found in temples, theaters, hippodromes and fairs, and was favored by emperors and the aristocracy of the Roman Empire.

Before the music concert, the museum's president Dimitris Pandermalis introduced the Dion hydraulis, a wonderfully preserved instrument from the first century B.C., which was discovered in 1992 in the region of Pieria in northern Greece.

"Carefully, tenderly, as though it were a newborn baby, we swaddled the find and the earth which clung to it and took it to an on-site laboratory," said Pandermalis, who witnessed the excavation of the instrument.

In 1995 a reconstruction project was started, and by 1999 a replica of the hydraulis was built based on the original model and in accordance with ancient descriptions.

The remains of the ancient hydraulis are exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Dion, in the village of Dion, where it was found.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 17:52:12|Editor: Jiaxin

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Syrian soldiers carry a wounded freed soldier (C) in the capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta countryside on March 31, 2018. Eight Syrian soldiers were set free from rebels' captivity in Eastern Ghouta countryside on Saturday, the latest group to be released amid evacuation of rebels from that area, according to the state Ekhbaria TV. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

DAMASCUS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Eight Syrian soldiers were set free from rebels' captivity in Eastern Ghouta countryside on Saturday, the latest group to be released amid evacuation of rebels from that area, according to the state Ekhbaria TV.

The TV aired footages of the freed abductees, who reached the government-controlled crossing on the outskirts of the town of Arbeen in Eastern Ghouta.

On Monday, 28 people were set free from Eastern Ghouta, as part of the deal that was reached recently between the rebels and the Syrian government under the Russian mediation.

The deal allows the evacuation of rebels and their families from Eastern Ghouta and stipulates the rebels' to release kidnapped soldiers and civilians kept in their custody for years.

More abductees are expected to be freed soon, and the large number of abductees is expected to freed from the rebel-held Douma district.

Meanwhile, the evacuation of rebels and their families toward rebel-held areas in northern Syria is still ongoing from central towns in Eastern Ghouta after the army captured 90 percent of the towns in neighborhoods in that area.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 17:57:13|Editor: Jiaxin

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HANOI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Saturday that China will further deepen its reform and opening-up in the new era.

Wang said on the sidelines of the sixth summit of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation that the best way for China to commemorate the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up is to follow through on the commitment.

The Chinese official said the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which was held in October last year, drew up the blueprint for China's future development, ushering the world's second largest economy onto a new journey toward a modern socialist country.

"China is now in a new era of development and at a new historical starting point," said the Chinese state councilor.

He said China will adopt policies for high-standard trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, create a more fair and free business environment, and significantly broaden market access.

"This November, we will host in Shanghai the first International Import Expo, offering a big market to all countries, " said Wang.

"You are welcome to participate in the expo and seize this opportunity."Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 18:22:16|Editor: Jiaxin

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A Palestinian man walks next to a closed shop during a general strike in the West Bank city of Nablus on March 31, 2018. The West Bank and Gaza Strip witnessed Saturday a general strike as a national mourning over the deaths of 15 Palestinians who were killed by Israeli gunfire in Land Day rally in Gaza Friday. (Xinhua/Ayman Nobani)

RAMALLAH, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The West Bank and Gaza Strip witnessed Saturday a general strike as a national mourning over the deaths of 15 Palestinians who were killed by Israeli gunfire in Land Day rally in Gaza Friday.

The strike included the commercial sector, banks, schools, universities and public institutions in both Gaza and the West Bank.

At least 15 Palestinians were shot dead and over 1,200 were injured Friday as Israeli forces opened fire towards scores of Palestinian protestors marking Land Day at a rally held at the borders between Gaza and Israel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held Israel fully responsible for the incident and declared Saturday as a national mourning day.

In a statement issued by the Office of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, he urged the "international community to settle the final status issues, at the top of which is the issue of refugees, based on the UN General Assembly resolution 194 and the establishment of the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital."

It is expected the massive Palestinians will take part in funeral processions in Gaza later on Saturday.

A coordination committee of Palestinian political factions, civil society organizations and youth groups called weeks ago for a large popular rally at nearly 700 meters away from the Israeli border fence under the title of "Return Rally" starting Friday.

The Friday rally was the start of a six-week long protest that is expected to reach a peak on May 15, the day Israel celebrates its establishment and the Palestinians mark the forcible transfer of two thirds of the Palestinian people and the ethnic cleansing of 418 Palestinian villages.

Demonstrators demand the right of return for the Palestinian refugees to the towns and villages from which their families fled or were forcibly driven out of when Israel was created in 1948.

The rally organizers chose to start their activities on Land Day. On March 30, 1976, Israeli soldiers killed six unarmed Palestinians during demonstrations in protest over an Israeli decision to confiscate thousands of acres of lands in the Galilee and the Negev areas.

Since then, Palestinians have designated this day to mark the sacrifices of the Palestinian people's lives in defending their lands, through planting trees and various activities that highlight their respect for their lands.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 18:32:18|Editor: Jiaxin

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RIYADH, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Saudi Presidency of State Security announced on Saturday the arrest of 13 Turkish nationals for security-related cases, Ajel online news reported.

The authority, which is responsible for state security cases, announced the news on its website.

It highlighted that 12 Turkish residents were arrested on Sunday, while the 13th was arrested on Tuesday, without stating the nature of their cases.

The authority was formed in July last year to counter terrorism and carry financial probes. The formation was part of a royal order, in which all security institutions are now connected to the new body.

The presidency includes the CID, special security forces, emergency forces and police aviation.

The order stated the reason for forming the authority to continue developing the security sector to meet challenges and deal with emergencies with efficiency.

The Saudi-Turkey ties are facing tensions, especially after the supporting stand of the later towards Qatar that Saudi Arabia has been boycotting with other Gulf states for almost a year.

Qatar has been accused of supporting terrorism and interfering the internal affairs of other countries.

Turkey since then has been providing military and commercial assistance to Qatar, including various consumer products such as milk and food that used to be imported from neighboring countries.Palestinians protest along the barrier between Gaza Strip and Israel in Nahal Oz, on March 30, 2018.(Xinhua/JINI)

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Gaza witnessed its bloodiest day since the 2014 Israel-Palestine conflict with at least 17 Palestinians killed and over 1,000 wounded as a march by thousands of Palestinians to Gaza's border with Israel turned violent Friday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared Saturday a day of mourning for those who died during the protests and the United Nations (UN) Security Council held an emergency meeting over the situation Friday.

Riyad Mansour, Palestine's permanent observer to the UN, said at least 17 civilians were killed, including children. Gaza medical officials had put the toll at 16.





PEACEFUL RALLY TURNS VIOLENT

The anti-Israel rally, dubbed the Great Return March, is a month-and-a-half-long sit-in along the border fence between Gaza Strip and Israel to demand the right of return for thousands of Palestinian refugees who were forced to leave their cities during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948.

The sit-in started Friday, coinciding with Palestinian Land Day, an annual occasion marking Palestinians' protest against Israel's confiscation of their land.

It will wrap up on May 15, Israel's Independence Day and also the Palestinian Day of the Nakba or Catastrophe Day, when thousands of Palestinians were expelled from their towns and cities that became Israeli territory.

Organizers had said the rally would be peaceful with the demonstrators staying 700 meters away from the border. But as groups of protesters got closer to the fence, clashes started with Israeli troops stationed along the border.

A wounded Palestinian is evacuated during a protest along the border fence between Gaza Strip and Israel in Gaza City, March 30, 2018. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)

Witnesses said confrontations broke out when Israeli soldiers fired tear gas shells to disperse hundreds of protesters.

They said the Israeli army deployed more force, including armored vehicles, snipers, sniffer dogs and soldiers equipped with tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition.

The Israeli army declared a state of alert and deployed large forces along the border area.

People of all ages had joined the rally, which was the brainchild of academics and human rights figures and adopted by Palestinian factions.

Tents were set up in at least five main areas in eastern Gaza Strip, with toilets, meals and internet services provided to encourage people to join the sit-in.

"When our ancestors were forced out by Israelis, they turned into homeless people in tents, and we will return to our land from tents," Um Omar, a 41-year-old woman from Gaza, said.





CALL TO STOP VIOLENCE



On Friday, Palestinian diplomat Mansour asked the Security Council to stop the Israeli violence against Palestinians in Gaza.

"We expect the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility because the situation ... in Gaza is a threat to international peace and security," he told reporters in New York.

A wounded Palestinian is evacuated during a protest along the border fence between Gaza Strip and Israel in Gaza City, March 30, 2018. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)

Mansour also asked the council to seriously consider providing international protection to civilians in Gaza.

Mansour Al-Otaibi, Kuwait's ambassador to the United Nations, also demanded action from the Security Council.

Carl Skau, Swedish alternate representative to the Security Council, said the use of force must be proportionate. Calling the humanitarian situation in Gaza terrible, he called for an end to the closure of Gaza Strip.

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon, however, called the rally "a well-organized and violent terror-gathering" under the banner of a peaceful march and asked the international community not to be deceived.





FEAR OF ESCALATION

The international community has expressed alarm at the flare-up of conflict in a volatile region.

In the emergency Security Council meeting in New York, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, the UN's acting chief for political affairs, feared the situation might deteriorate in the coming days.

Palestinians take part in a protest along the Israel border with Gaza, demanding the right to return to their homeland, on the 42nd Anniversary of the Palestinian Land Day, in Gaza City, on March 30, 2018. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)

Some Security Council members suggested an investigation and emphasized that Israel should ensure that it uses force proportionally. Some noted Israel's security concerns and called on demonstrators to avoid violence.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for an independent and transparent investigation into the violence.

He also appealed to those concerned to refrain from any act that could lead to further casualties, particularly any measures that could place civilians in harm's way.

The United States urged the parties involved to take steps to lower tensions in Gaza.

The Palestinian refugees' struggle to return home has been one of the key and thorniest issues in the final status negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis.

Palestinians assert the right to return based on the United Nations General Assembly resolution No. 194 of 1948, which calls for allowing Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland and paying compensation to those not wishing to go back, a resolution that Israel rejects.

(Xinhua reporters Shang Xuqian in New York, Zhu Dongyang and Liu Chen in Washington, Emad Drimly in Gaza, and Saud Abu Ramadan in Ramallah also contributed to the report.)



Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 18:57:21|Editor: Zhou Xin

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Chinese Shaolin monks demonstrate traditional Chinese martial arts in Athens, Greece, March 30, 2018. A group of Buddhist monks from China's Shaolin Temple showed off their Kung Fu skills to a Greek audience here Friday, demonstrating traditional Chinese martial arts. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

ATHENS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A group of Buddhist monks from China's Shaolin Temple showed off their Kung Fu skills to a Greek audience here Friday, demonstrating traditional Chinese martial arts.

The monks, who impressed the world with their performance during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, will also perform on Saturday and Sunday at the Taekwondo stadium, a venue of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

The performance, titled "Shaolin: The Legend," is part of the program of the 2017 Greece-China Year of Cultural Exchanges and Cooperation of Creative Industries aimed at bridging the two countries and peoples through culture.

The performers from the Shaolin temple, which has been at the heart of Chinese martial arts for centuries, visited Greece in 2011.

"We have been practicing in particular for this performance for three months. Our target is to show the legacy of the Shaolin culture through this show to audiences," Master Sun Fusheng told Xinhua.

The new production showcased the strength of the human body, and reminded the audience of many Chinese Kung Fu films like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers."

The audience was amazed by the skills of the Chinese Kung Fu masters who flew through the air in serial back flips, balanced on the tip of spears and splintered wooden blocks with bare hands.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 19:17:23|Editor: Jiaxin

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SANAA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- UN special envoy Martin Griffiths left Yemen's Sanaa on Saturday, after a week-long visit where he met with chief of dominant Shiite Houthi rebel group to negotiate resumption of stalled peace talks.

"All the people I met, both in Riyadh and Sanaa, spoke about their strong desire to move ahead with a political solution," Griffiths said in a statement he distributed to reporters in Sanaa airport upon he left.

He said he will work harder to find ways to help resume peace talks between the Yemeni warring parties and give hope to all Yemeni families.

Houthi leader Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, leader of the revolutionary committees, was quoted by his group media that the group's chief Abdul-Malik al-Houthi met with UN envoy Griffiths through a telephone network due to security reasons.

Griffiths' visit aimed at bringing the Houthis to the negotiating table after the peace process between the battling forces has stalled since August 2016.

Earlier this month, Griffiths met with Yemeni President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, where they discussed ways to resume the UN-brokered peace negotiations between the internationally-recognized government and the Houthi rebels.

Griffiths succeeded recently the UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed in February.

Three previous peace talks sponsored by the United Nations and hosted in Kuwait and Switzerland in 2016 had failed to end the war.

Yemen has been locked in a civil war for three years after the Iranian-allied Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces including Sanaa in late 2014.

Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military coalition since March 2015 to support the government of President Hadi after the Houthis forced him into exile.

The war has killed more than 10,000 Yemenis, half of them civilians, displaced over 3 million others, and created the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, according to UN humanitarian agencies.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 19:32:25|Editor: Jiaxin

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RAMALLAH, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian leadership said Saturday that the United States has obstructed a UN resolution to denounce the Israeli aggression and killing 16 Palestinians in Friday's mass protest.

The U.S. provided a cover for Israel to continue its aggression on the Palestinian people and encourage it to defy international legitimacy resolutions that aim at ending the occupation, said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a statement.

The continuing protection of the U.S. administration of the Israeli occupation will only increase Palestinian resilience and Palestinian insistence on its positions against liquidating the Palestinian cause, said the statement.

"The Palestinian official and popular movement will go on until we realize our legitimate rights, to expose the occupation policy whether at the UN Security Council or at the UN General Assembly to request international protection for our unarmed people," said the spokesperson.

The UNSC held an urgent session Saturday over the Gaza violent incident at the request of Kuwait, this month's chair, but failed to reach an agreement on a final statement over the incident that left 15 killed and over 1200 injured.

In light of that, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an independent and transparent investigation into the Gaza rally incident and the killing of 15 Palestinians.

Abbas held Israel totally responsible for the incident and declared Saturday as a national mourning day.

A coordination committee composed of Palestinian political factions, civil society organizations and youth groups called weeks ago for a large popular rally at nearly 700 meters away from the Israeli border fence under the title of "Return Rally."ADDIS ABABA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia and China have been enjoying strong relationship and cooperating in different areas, one of which is human capacity building, according to officials from the governments of Ethiopia and China.

The Economic and Commercial Counselor's Office of the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia on late Friday organized a briefing on the 2018 human resource development cooperation under the China-aid framework.

Ethiopia and China have been moving in the fast lane, with rapid progress in all areas of pragmatic cooperation in many fields, said Liu Yu, Economic and Commercial Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia.

In line with the cooperation between the two countries in human resource development, China has provided training programs to more than 5,500 Ethiopians in China, under the China-Aid Framework, covering various fields, including, education, health, governance, agriculture and manufacturing, according to the Chinese Economic and Commercial Counselor Office in Ethiopia.

Speaking to Xinhua, Ayelech Eshete, Ethiopia's State Minister of Public Service and Human Resource, said Ethiopia and China have been enjoying strong relationship and cooperation in different areas, including human capacity building.

The state minister also expressed firm belief that the overall cooperation between the two countries, and on human resource development in particular, would continue in a strengthened manner in the future.

The training programs offered by China to Ethiopians aim at improving managerial skills and practical techniques for government officials, senior managerial personnel and specialized technicians of Ethiopia, according to the Chinese commercial counselor.

With the knowledge they have acquired in China, Ethiopians are contributing to economic development in their country, while playing role in deepening the friendship and cooperation forged between the two countries.

"In the context of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, China will keep striving to sponsor more Ethiopians to study in China, and strengthen win-win cooperation with Ethiopia in all areas," said Liu.

"As Ethiopia is an old and true friend, the Chinese government and people are ready to join hands with the Ethiopian government and people to build a more beautiful future with more shared interests," she added.

In 2018, China provides hundreds of training programs at multilateral level, and 25 shot-term programs will be held for Ethiopia, in particular, at bilateral level.

The training areas at the bilateral level with Ethiopia include industrial park management, investment promotion, railway management, hydroelectric technologies, poverty reduction, urban development, science and technology, industrial technologies, social governance and media technology.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 19:37:27|Editor: Zhou Xin

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CHANGCHUN, China, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Changchun Yatai lost to Guangzhou Fuli 2-1 on home turf on Saturday, still seeking for their first win after the fourth round matches of the Chinese Super League (CSL) 2018 season.

It was the home side that broke the deadlock in the 61st minute when Zhang Xiaofei received a cross from Tan Long to open the account.

In the 77th minute, Eran Zahavi awarded Guangzhou the equalizer as his direct free-kick shot beat the wall of players into the deep net.

And a penalty kick turned out be the winner when Renato Ribeiro Calixto converted it in the stoppage time, as a follow-up shot by Odion Jude Ighalo was disallowed after Du Zhenyu's penalty shot was saved.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 19:42:29|Editor: Zhou Xin

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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during the sixth summit of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation in Hanoi, Vietnam, March 31, 2018. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

HANOI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday called on countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) to seize opportunities and break new ground for the cooperation and development in the sub-region.

Addressing the 6th GMS Summit, Wang noted that over the past 25 years, the six GMS countries have cooperated with and supported each other, sought development paths that suit their national conditions, and advanced toward peace, stability and prosperity.

"We have actively participated in economic globalization, worked together to mitigate the Asian and global financial crises and emerged as a strong driving force for Asia's economic growth," he said.

"Our interests are connected, so are our destinies. With a joint desire to achieve development and prosperity, we must seize the opportunities that come our way and take concrete action to break new ground in the development and cooperation in our sub-region."

The Chinese state councilor said the GMS countries - Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam - need to foster stronger growth.

"As the world economy is shifting from old to new growth drivers, GMS countries can and must make new strides in tapping new sources of growth," he said. "We can only make our growth more energized and efficient by riding the wave of innovation and change."

Wang stressed the need to support openness in GMS economic cooperation.

"We must continue to drive trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, support the multilateral trading system and promote an open, inclusive and balanced economic globalization that benefits all," he said.

The Chinese state councilor also emphasized the need to improve the network of connectivity in the sub-region.

"China will work with other GMS countries to further harmonize policies, regulations and standards and implement the Cross Border Transport Facilitation Agreement, as these efforts will help us strengthen the weak links in institutional connectivity and build an all-round and multi-dimensional connectivity network," he said.

Wang also called for closer GMS partnership.

"It serves the common interests of all GMS countries to forge a closer partnership for common development and shared prosperity," he said. "It is important that we treat each other with respect and as equals and deal with sub-regional affairs through consultation."

"We must stay development-oriented and pursue win-win and all-win outcomes in cooperation. We must uphold inclusiveness and mutual trust to ensure that our development and cooperation are not affected by turns of events."

According to a blueprint mapped out by the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China for China's future development, China will make all-out efforts, in the new era, to pursue high quality development, further deepen its reform and opening-up, and continue to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with its neighboring countries, Wang said.

Pointing out that GMS countries are natural partners in and primary beneficiaries of the Belt and Road Initiative, he said. "We could synergize GMS cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative and realize interconnected development through coordinated actions."

China will also further harmonize policies and enhance the synergy between economic corridors to fully leverage their role in boosting the economy so as to build a "more close-knit community of shared destiny" in the sub-region and open a brighter future for the sub-regional development, he said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 19:42:30|Editor: Jiaxin

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Syrians evacuate from rebel-held areas in Eastern Ghouta, countryside of the capital Damascus, March 31, 2018. The evacuation of the rebels and their families as well as other civilians from Syria's Eastern Ghouta has seen so far the departure of 188,000 people in March. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

DAMASCUS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The evacuation of the rebels and their families as well as other civilians from Syria's Eastern Ghouta has seen so far the departure of 188,000 people in March.

The evacuation of people in Eastern Ghouta is split into two categories, the evacuation of rebels and their families toward rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib, and the evacuation of civilians from Eastern Ghouta toward government-controlled areas in Damascus.

State news agency SANA said on Saturday that as many as 38,000 of rebels and their families have left central towns of Eastern Ghouta, namely Jobar, Zamalka, Ayn Tarma and Arbeen since the evacuation began last Saturday toward rebel-held areas in Idlib.

The rebels reject to reconcile with the government or to live under its rule.

The process is still ongoing, and the latest batch left on Friday evening with 6,276 people, including 1,968 rebels leaving by 129 buses.

On the other hand, over 150,000 civilians have evacuated their areas in Eastern Ghouta since mid-March to government-controlled areas, according to SANA.

Those civilians have been hosted in shelters on the outskirts of Eastern Ghouta, amid assurances that they will return home when the situation in Eastern Ghouta entirely settles.

While the evacuation of rebels and their families from the central towns of Eastern Ghouta is ongoing, the district of Douma in the northern side of Eastern Ghouta is yet to see similar deal achieved for the evacuation of the Islam Army rebels from that area.

Still, SANA said on Friday that a deal for the evacuation of Islam Army could be reached soon amid ongoing negotiations through the Russians.

But some thorny issues have been delaying the conclusion of such an agreement, reportedly about the destination of the Islam Army.

But this group, the most powerful in Eastern Ghouta, stressed that it rejects what it described as the "forceful displacement" of the people of Eastern Ghouta.

If the deal is reached in Douma, the entire Eastern Ghouta will be free of rebels, and that is a major boost to the security of the capital, as that region was the last threat to Damascus after the army secured major areas in its surroundings.

Eastern Ghouta, a 105-square-km agricultural region consisting of several towns and farmlands, poses the last threat to the capital due to its proximity to government-controlled neighborhoods east of Damascus and ongoing mortar attacks that target residential areas in the capital, pushing people over the edge.

Four major rebel groups are currently positioned inside Eastern Ghouta, namely the Islam Army, Failaq al-Rahman, Ahrar al-Sham, and the Levant Liberation Committee, known as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 19:47:31|Editor: Jiaxin

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RIYADH, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Saudi air defense forces have intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile targeting the border city of Najran on Saturday, Al Arabiya reported.

The missile was intercepted at 10:20 a.m. local time (0720 GMT). The Saudi-led coalition air force also located and destroyed the missile's platform.

Another border city, Jazan, was also targeted with a missile on Thursday that was intercepted by the forces.

The missile attacks became more intense with the completion of the third year of the coalition's war in Yemen against Houthi militias.

The war shows no signs of ending, amid the ongoing conflicts between political parties and armed groups in Yemen and the previous announcements of the coalition that its war will continue until the full empowerment of the elected Yemeni government.

The UN Security Council affirmed last week that the ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi militias threaten the security of the region, expressing concerns over the militia's announcement to target Saudi Arabia and other countries.HANOI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The prime ministers of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (CLV) on Saturday endorsed an action plan to connect CLV economies till 2030.

According to the action plan, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia will focus on connecting their institutions and policies, infrastructure, especially transport and electricity, and human factors involving cooperation on education, training, healthcare and culture, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told reporters after the 10th CLV Summit on Development Triangle Area in Vietnam's capital.

The action plan and the 10th CLV Summit Joint Declaration will help boost comprehensive cooperation among the three nations, making the CLV an indispensable part of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, and strengthen connectivity among the three economies, the Vietnamese prime minister said.

Better connectivity will help enhance the three countries' competitiveness, effectively participate in regional and global value chains and better respond to common challenges, he said.

At the summit, the three prime ministers also agreed to gradually expand the development of the triangle area which currently consists of 13 border provinces of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

They also agreed to beef up cooperation to combat cross-border crimes, make an overall plan for fostering tourism in the development of the triangle area, to perfect a plan on developing the three countries' rubber industry, and to bolster cooperation on environment protection and natural resource management.

The CLV summit was also attended by top and senior officials of the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 20:02:36|Editor: Zhou Xin

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YANGON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Macao Orchestra from China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has held its first ever concert in Myanmar's Yangon.

Titled "Macao Orchestra in Myanmar" and held at the Strand Hotel on Friday night, the concert was jointly organized by the Chinese Embassy and the Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao SAR.

The concert was an important cultural exchange activity between the Macao SAR and Myanmar which would expand the dimension of China-Myanmar relations, Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Hong Liang said in a message to the event.

The visit by Macao Orchestra would also inject new impetus into China-Myanmar's people-to-people bonds, he added.

Alexis Tam Chon Weng, secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao SAR government, also expressed his belief that the concert could bring people of the two countries closer.

He hoped that Macao and Myanmar could have more cultural exchanges and cooperation in the future.

The group of musicians led by Lu Jia, music director and principal conductor, performed well-known masterpieces of Mozart.

Macao Orchestra is a professional orchestra formed by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR government in 1983. It has become well-known in Asia, performing Chinese and Western classics and playing a key role in the music and cultural life of Macao residents and overseas audiences.

The orchestra has performed in at least 30 cities across China as well as in Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Portugal, Spain, the United States, among others.SEOUL, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Three South Koreans were presumed to have been kidnapped by pirates in seas off Ghana, the foreign ministry said Saturday.

Marine 711, a fishing boat with three South Koreans aboard, was believed to have been abducted in seas off Ghana at about 5:30 p.m. on Monday (Ghana time), according to a press release from the foreign ministry.

While the abductors had been driving the fishing boat to the waters off Nigeria, three South Koreans were taken away on a separate speed boat. The whereabouts of the speed boat and the abductees were not known yet.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs off Staff (JCS) said the abductees, which were reportedly known to have been a captain, a mate and an engineer, had been kidnapped by Nigerian pirates.

The remaining 40 sailors of Ghanaian nationality were reportedly set free. The fishing boat arrived at a Ghana port on Wednesday.

A South Korean battleship, which was operating in the Gulf of Aden, was dispatched early Wednesday to the nearby sea, the foreign ministry said.

The South Korean government is closely cooperating with Ghana, Nigeria and other nations to find out the whereabouts of the abducted people.by Ye Zaiqi, Wu Xiaoling

SAN FRANCISCO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The recent Facebook scandal about 50 million users suffering breach of their private data shows that stronger government regulation is needed to make social media companies protect their users' privacy better, an industry expert said Friday.

Bob O'Donnell, president and chief analyst of TECHnalysis Research, an American market research and consulting firm, said the privacy crisis plaguing Facebook, the world's largest online social media company, indicates that social media companies may not be able to properly handle users' data.

So the government needs to step in to ensure that "each citizen's data is private up to a certain level."

Facebook has been under fire since the past week after it was found that the data of 50 million users was leaked to a third-party application and allegedly misused by British analysis company Cambridge Analytica to swing public opinion in U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign in 2016.

"The bigger issue really from this whole story is the fact that people are just becoming aware of how much information people have and how many of these services (the companies) have controlled without the knowledge of their users," O'Donnell said.

While some people argue that Facebook asked for users' permission to access their data, the problem is, O'Donnell said, that the users didn't understand the implications before their data was shared secretly and used for "a lot of not-so-good purposes".

Social media companies collect information from all kinds of places and have "huge power" concerning their users, he said. They can use the data to track people, as in the case of Facebook, which was said to be able to even track phone calls by its Android users.

"People are upset about this and there is this sense of ... a big brother-like situation ... That's been a big concern for people," he said.

The Facebook data leak has undermined people's trust in social media firms, the chief analyst said. Social media has evolved, becoming more like a publishing platform, and a lot of negative things have happened there, he said, upsetting people.

Social media users mostly don't realize their data is being used and how these platforms could manipulate them. They need to strike a balance between communication needs and the information they are sharing, he cautioned.

In addition, social media firms should take steps to win back users' trust. "I think the only way you can start to build trust is by offering very clear explanations of what data they have, what they can use, how they can use it."

Meanwhile, the government's role should be enhanced. It should press social media firms to establish better mechanisms to protect user data.

"The government at this point is going to have to be looking out for citizens and say what is best for citizen safety, not necessarily for the company's," he said.

He thought there should be government regulations to protect users' interests, saying, "This will then have an influence on business models."

O'Donnell expects the Facebook crisis to affect the whole ecosystem of social media firms. The silver lining is, he added, an enhanced public awareness of what these issues are, which will help bring changes.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 21:27:50|Editor: Lu Hui

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File photo taken on April 16, 2013 shows British physicist Stephen Hawking attending an activity at California Institute of Technology, the United States. Renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking has died at age 76, a family spokesman said on March 14, 2018. The professor died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Cambridge, the spokesman said. (Xinhua/Yang Lei)

CAMBRIDGE, Britain, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The funeral of Professor Stephen Hawking was held Saturday at a church near the Cambridge University college where he was a fellow for more than half a century.

Up to 500 family members, friends and colleagues attended the private funeral service at the Great St Mary's Church, officiated by the Reverend Dr Cally Hammond, Dean of Gonville and Caius College, where Hawking was a fellow for more than 50 years.

In a statement, Hawking's children, Lucy, Robert and Tim, said: "On behalf of our whole family we want to express our huge gratitude to all the wonderful tributes to our father and to those who have sent us messages of condolence."

Hawking's children said they had chosen to hold the funeral in Cambridge because Hawking lived and worked in Cambridge for more than half a century and was "an integral and highly recognizable part" of the city which "he loved so much and which loved him."

Thousands of citizens and visitors are estimated to have turned up outside the church to pay their respect, watching Hawking's coffin being carried by six porters into the church.

Partial road closures were implemented in Cambridge as the funeral cortege passes from the professor's home in the west of the city to King's Parade and the area around Great St Mary's Church.

The funeral will be followed by a private reception at Trinity College, also close to the church.

More than three thousand people have visited Gonville & Caius College since Hawking's death to sign a book of condolence, which the college said will be eventually presented to Hawking's family.

In addition, an online version of the book also gathered thousands of messages from well-wishers all over the world.

The renowned British physicist died peacefully at home in Cambridge in the early hours on March 14 at the age of 76.

A legendary figure in the modern history of physics, Hawking is known for his work with black holes and relativity, and has authored several best-sellers on science, despite being bound to wheelchair after contracting a motor neurone disease in 1963 at the age of 21.

He broke new ground on the basic laws which govern the universe, including the revelation that black holes have a temperature and produce radiation, now known as Hawking radiation.

Hawking's ashes will be interred next to the remains of Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin at Westminster Abbey in London on June 15.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 21:32:51|Editor: Jiaxin

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ACCRA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Ghanaian Navy is making joint efforts with neighboring partners to try to locate and rescue three missing South Korean sailors, a military spokesperson told Xinhua Saturday.

Eric Aggrey, spokesperson of the Ghana Armed Forces, said the Ghanaian Navy is collaborating with their partners along the Guinea Coast to garner information to enable them to locate and rescue the missing crew members.

"When the partners find the vessel, the Ghana Navy will be informed," he said to Xinhua.

The South Korean foreign ministry said on Saturday that three South Korean sailors are presumed to have been kidnapped in seas off Ghana.

In a release, the ministry said a South Korean navy ship in charge of anti-piracy operations in waters off Somalia has been dispatched to the nearby area.

The unidentified pirates seized a fishing boat named the Marine 711 with over 40 crew members aboard, including the three South Koreans on the high seas of Ghana near Togo.

The Ghanaian Navy has rescued the vessel abandoned by the pirates. The whereabouts of those kidnapped are unknown but they are believed to have been taken hostage at Bayelsa in Nigeria.

According to reports by the state-run Ghana News Agency, the pirates riding a speedboat reached on March 26 the vessel sailing to bait grounds for anchovy.

The reports said the pirates were said to have released the vessel the next day, at around 17:30 GMT, which berthed at the Tema fishing harbor on Wednesday.

The pirates wielding guns were nine in number, Daniel Mensah, second officer in the hijacked vessel, told the local media, adding that the pirates took them hostage at Keta, directed them through Togo, Benin and ended up in Nigerian waters.

The South Korean foreign ministry said it was closely cooperating with Ghana, Nigeria and other nations to find out the whereabouts of those kidnapped.File photo shows fishmen and vendors wait for boats with sea products at the fishing port of Jamestown in Accra, capital of Ghana. (Xinhua/Shao Haijun)

ACCRA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Ghanaian Navy is making joint efforts with neighboring partners to try to locate and rescue three missing South Korean sailors, a military spokesperson told Xinhua Saturday.

Eric Aggrey, spokesperson of the Ghana Armed Forces, said the Ghanaian Navy is collaborating with their partners along the Guinea Coast to garner information to enable them to locate and rescue the missing crew members.

"When the partners find the vessel, the Ghana Navy will be informed," he said to Xinhua.

The South Korean foreign ministry said on Saturday that three South Korean sailors are presumed to have been kidnapped in seas off Ghana.

In a release, the ministry said a South Korean navy ship in charge of anti-piracy operations in waters off Somalia has been dispatched to the nearby area.

The unidentified pirates seized a fishing boat named the Marine 711 with over 40 crew members aboard, including the three South Koreans on the high seas of Ghana near Togo.

The Ghanaian Navy has rescued the vessel abandoned by the pirates. The whereabouts of those kidnapped are unknown but they are believed to have been taken hostage at Bayelsa in Nigeria.

According to reports by the state-run Ghana News Agency, the pirates riding a speedboat reached on March 26 the vessel sailing to bait grounds for anchovy.MOGADISHU, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (Farmajo) on Saturday suspended an impeachment motion against House Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari amid political impasse.

Jawari, who addressed a news conference in Mogadishu, said the move to suspend the motion which was due for debate on Saturday followed a crisis meeting he and his two deputies held on Friday evening with President Farmajo.

"After the talks, the president requested that we stop today's parliamentary session and also called for talks on the current political tension and we all agreed to that," said Jawari, who has been accused by lawmakers of violating the constitution.

The president held a crisis meeting with Jawari and his two deputies including chairman of the Senate Abdi Hashi Abdullaahi on Friday evening to forestall a political crisis which has been condemned by international community.

"I have accepted the president's proposals and we will issue a way forward on the implementation of the issues raised later. We have to work for the stability and interest of the nation," Jawari added.

The remarks come amid political standoff in Somalia following a dispute between the Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire and Jawari which has brought business in the Lower House to a standstill.

Early this month, more than 100 lawmakers tabled a motion of no confidence motion against Jawari accusing him of violating the constitution.

A motion to remove Jawari from office failed on March 15 to garner enough numbers to meet the 92 quorum threshold after 16 lawmakers withdrew their support in the last minute.

The impeachment motion which has been postponed thrice was to be debated on Saturday amid intense lobbying on Friday night over the motion with anti-Jawari lawmakers making efforts seeking to attain more signatories for the vote of no confidence against the speaker.

Jawari, who was re-elected in 2017 for the second term in office, has blamed the prime minister for being behind a motion of no confidence against him and for ordering security forces to occupy Parliament and has vowed to face the motion on the floor of the house if the legal requirements are met.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 22:02:54|Editor: Jiaxin

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BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Beijing Guoan scored three goals within 10 minutes to win the first-ever Beijing derby 4-0 over Beijing Renhe in the Chinese Super League history here on Saturday.

Guoan dominated the possession at the beginning but couldn't find the net until they earned a free kick in the 43rd minute when Jonatan Soriano curled it into the top corner with both power and precision.

The home side doubled the lead just two minutes into the second half as center-back Yu Yang netted a bullet header in a close range from a corner kick off Renato Augusto.

Guoan rode the momentum to add the third four minutes later as the new signing Jonathan Viera cut inside from the left and unleashed a missile to go beyond a helpless Zhang Lie.

Guoan then sealed the match on 83 minutes when substitute Yu Dabao put his name on the scoresheet with a penalty kick four minutes after coming off the bench.

Later, Renhe striker Jaime Ayovi scored a goal but was flagged offside.AMMAN, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Congress has approved 1.52 billion U.S. dollars in assistance to Jordan, said Jordan's Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation in a statement on Saturday.

The Congress set the aid for this year at no less than 1.525 billion U.S. dollars, of which no less than 1.082 billion U.S. dollars will be economic assistance and no less than 425 million U.S. dollars as military assistance.

Jordanian Planning and International Cooperation Minister, Imad Fakhoury, underscored that these figures significantly exceed the indicative amounts included in the recently concluded Memorandum of Understanding (2018-2022) on Strategic Partnership between the two countries, adding that the aid this year is 250 million U.S. dollars above the memorandum level.

Fakhoury stated that this attests to the U.S., both Congress and the administration, great understanding of the challenges that Jordan is facing and to the role Jordan has been playing regionally and globally in the fight against terrorism and extremism.

It also comes in recognition of and support to the reform efforts that Jordan is carrying on all fronts and in appreciation to burdens Jordan is shouldering as a result of the crises in the region, said the minister.

Both the MoU signed in February and the 2018 Budget reflect the strong strategic partnership between the United States and Jordan, said Henry Wooster, Charge d' Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Amman.

"For over six decades, the United States has been committed to Jordan's security and economic prosperity. This budget is a reflection that this commitment is stronger than ever," Wooster said.1. Yes. Several other districts factor them in. It would provide a more complete picture.

2. Yes. Theyre not as accurate, but they can be useful in spotting a trend in infections.

3. No. The district is keeping tabs on those numbers, so the public doesnt need to.

4. No. As long as the public health district is aware of those stats, thats all that matters.

5. Unsure. The district isnt obligated to include them, but it might be helpful.

Vote

View ResultsTIRANA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Around 24 protesters and police officers were injured as the result of a violent protest held in Albania's Durres-Kukes highway against the Albania's first toll road starting from April 15, Albanian interior ministry confirmed Saturday.

Protesters gathered around midday in the highway, also known as Nation's Road, to protest against tax set to be imposed by the government from mid-April.

The protest came out of control and the protesters clashed with police forces, destroying and burning the tax-paying counters set by the concessionaire company.

After nearly four hours of protest, the Albanian ministry of interior reported that 12 protesters and 12 police forces were wounded.

Albanian Minister of Interior Fatmir Xhafaj in a press conference strongly condemned the violence used by the protesters on the police forces and on the public and private property.

President of Albania Ilir Meta called for restraint, dialogue and avoiding violence in order to normalize the situation and restore the regular movement of the vehicles and the waiting citizens, after the violence has created a traffic jam of about 10 km long.

The opposition leader of the Democratic Party, Lulzim Basha called on the country's Prime Minister Edi Rama to immediately suspend the fee for crossing the Nation's Road.

Rama called the protest as barbaric violence over common property, saying the violent reaction to law enforcement in Kukes will receive the deserved answer in accordance with the law.

Every driver will have to pay an average toll of 5 euros when crossing on the Nation's Road that connects Albania to Kosovo, according to the government.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 22:42:59|Editor: yan

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RIYADH, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Foreign Ministry denied on Saturday media reports of scheduled visit of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud to Iraq, Saudi Press Agency reported.

An official from the ministry hailed the bilateral ties between the two countries and the recent positive developments in all sectors, after more than two decades of cold relations.

The ties between the two states have improved in the recent years, with officials from both countries exchanging visits. In the last quarter of 2017, Saudi Arabia and Iraq singed in Riyadh an agreement to form a coordination council.

The agreement was signed by the Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Saudi Arabia aims with the council and other initiatives to reduce the influence of Iran in Iraq.

King Salman has repeatedly stressed the significance of supporting Iraq, its security and stability, prompting the re-opening of the new Arar border crossing last year after it was closed for more than 27 years.

In 2017, Iraq and Saudi Arabia also opened air links when Saudi budget carrier flynas made the first commercial flight from Riyadh to Baghdad since 1990.LONDON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A British official said on Saturday it was routine for border officials to search aircraft, after Russia demanded an official explanation over the alleged searching of an Aeroflot passenger plane by British officials at London's Heathrow airport on Friday.

British Security Minister Ben Wallace said in a statement that it was "routine for Border Force to search aircraft to protect the UK from organized crime and from those who attempt to bring harmful substances like drugs or firearms into the country".

"Once these checks were carried out the plane was allowed to carry on with its onward journey," he added.

The Russian Embassy in the Britain in a statement released Friday called it a "blatant provocation" by the British authorities.

The passenger jet was searched upon landing at Heathrow Airport following a scheduled flight from Moscow on Friday, according to the Russian embassy, saying that this kind of event is "extraordinary."

The Russian embassy said the British officials tried to search the aircraft without the crew being present, which is "something categorically prohibited by the rules in force."

"After an Embassy officer arrived at the airport long negotiations were conducted that allowed to ensure the right of the captain to be take part in the search. After the search was over, the British officers refused to provide any written document that would specify the reasons for their actions, their legal foundation and their outcome," the embassy said in the statement, suggesting that the plane had been searched in connection with the diplomatic crisis which has erupted following the Salisbury spy poisoning.

The Russian embassy said the attempts to get in touch with the Britain's Foreign Office in order to clarify the reasons of the inappropriate behavior of British officials did not bring fruit, and it has sent a diplomatic note demanding the British side to provide explanations of the incident.

On Saturday, Russia's Transport Ministry also said it wanted to know what had happened. "If there is no explanation, the Russian side will deem the actions towards our plane as illegal and also reserve the right to take similar action against British airlines," it said in a statement.

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Relations between Russia and the West have been strained after former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench outside a shopping center in Britain's Salisbury on March 4.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said the substance used in their poisoning was a Novichok-class nerve agent developed in former Soviet Union. London expelled 23 Russian diplomats and announced a series of restrictive measures against relations with Russia. More than two dozen countries also announced the expulsion of around 150 Russian diplomats, in a sign of showing support to Britain.

Moscow denies involvement in the incident. Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday asked Britain to downsize its diplomats stationed in Russia to the same level as Russia has in Britain within a month in retaliation to measures imposed following the Salisbury incident. The ministry informed ambassadors of 23 countries of its decision to expel employees of their diplomatic missions in Russia in a tit-for-tat response to the recent hostile actions by their countries against Moscow.MOSCOW, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Russia has allocated about 3.04 billion rubles (53 million U.S. dollars) to develop its digital economy, according to an order by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev published Saturday.

The fund will be used to finance IT infrastructure and technology research centers in the country and boost Russia's information security, said the order, which was published on the government's website.

Russia's state program Digital Economy, approved in July 2017, consists of five areas -- regulation, education and human resources, cyber security, research, and IT infrastructure.

The Russian economy largely relies on natural resource exports and arms sales. The country is seeking to improve the structure of its economy.

"Digital conversion of the economy is an issue of our global competitiveness and national security ... We should have a full-fledged digital environment," Medvedev said at a government meeting last year.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 23:03:07|Editor: yan

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DAMASCUS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Four strategic towns of Syria's capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta countryside are cleared of rebels, as the last batch of rebels and their families got on the buses to leave toward rebel-held areas in the north, according to the state media outlets.

The liberation of Jobar, Zamalka, Ayn Tarma and Arbeen will be declared in the next few hours, as the last rebel batch is preparing to leave those areas, leaving the entire Eastern Ghouta free of rebels except the district of Douma in the northern part of Eastern Ghouta.

State news agency SANA said that 10 buses entered Arbeen to evacuate the remaining rebels and their families from the four towns, adding that 38 buses have become packed and ready to leave with 1,706 people, including 494 rebels.

SANA said the liberation of the four towns constitutes a major step in declaring the entire Eastern Ghouta free of rebels.

Technically, the four towns have become free of rebels as the last batch is preparing to leave, with the army forces preparing to enter those areas after losing them to the rebels six years ago.

Earlier in the day, SANA said as many as 38,000 rebels and their families have evacuated central towns of Eastern Ghouta toward rebel-held areas in Idlib since the evacuation process started last Saturday.

The four towns are considered to be the most dangerous to the capital due to their proximity to eastern Damascus neighborhoods. The rebels in those areas have repeatedly attempted to infiltrate the capital from those areas and have launched countless mortar shells on the neighborhoods of Damascus.

After the four areas, only the district of Douma in the northern part of Eastern Ghouta remains under the Islam Army's control amid ongoing negotiations mediated by the Russians for achieving similar agreement in Douma.

The pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said the agreement of Douma could be concluded in the next hours.

This development came as the Syrian army has so far captured over 90 percent of Eastern Ghouta in an offensive that has been dragging on since late last month.

Eastern Ghouta, a 105-square-km agricultural region consisting of several towns and farmlands, poses the last threat to the capital due to its proximity to government-controlled neighborhoods east of Damascus and ongoing mortar attacks that target residential areas in the capital, pushing people over the edge.

Eastern Ghouta was controlled by four major rebel groups, namely the Islam Army, Failaq al-Rahman, Ahrar al-Sham, and the Levant Liberation Committee, known as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 23:03:07|Editor: yan

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BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A spokesperson from the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council on Saturday expressed resolute support to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government's lawful handling of "Hong Kong independence" activities.

The spokesperson made the comments targeting "Hong Kong independence" remarks made by University of Hong Kong associate professor Benny Tai Yiu Ting.

"We resolutely hold and support the HKSAR government handling 'Hong Kong independence' activists' collusion with external separatist forces in accordance with the law, to safeguard China's sovereignty and security, as well as maintain Hong Kong's long-term prosperity, stability and the fundamental interests of its society," said the spokesperson.

The spokesperson said that "we have taken note of University of Hong Kong associate professor Benny Tai Yiu Ting recently participating in a meeting of 'Taiwan independence' organization in Taiwan and blatantly preaching 'Hong Kong independence'," and "we also noticed that the HKSAR government expressed strong condemnation over the event."

A handful of people in Hong Kong have colluded with outside separatist forces, blatantly preaching "Hong Kong independence," the spokesperson said. "This has exposed their attempt to split our country and has severely violated the Constitution of China, the Basic Law of the HKSAR and relevant laws in Hong Kong."

"This is a challenge to the bottom line of the 'one country, two systems' principle," said the spokesperson. "We will not turn a deaf ear to or tolerate such kind of activities."Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 23:18:11|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China on Saturday urged Japan to adopt a correct historical view when educating the youth and stop provocations in Diaoyu Islands issue.

The Japanese government on Friday endorsed a revised high school textbook guideline, obliging students to be taught that Diaoyu Islands are Japan's inherent territory with no territorial disputes.

"China resolutely defends its territorial sovereignty and any attempt to infringe upon China's sovereignty over Diaoyu Islands will be futile," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said, adding that Diaoyu Islands and its adjacent islets have been an inherent part of Chinese territory since ancient times.

The Chinese side has lodged stern representations with the Japanese side on this, Lu said.

"We urge the Japanese side to face up to the history and reality, adopt a correct historical view when educating the youth, and stop stirring up trouble on the issue," he said.LONDON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- As London recorded its 10th knife murder in the last 17 days, Britain's top cop Saturday blamed social media sites for fuelling violent crime.

London's Metropolitan Police Crime Commissioner Cressida Dick said social media sites drove children to commit violence and murders "within minutes".

Dick, the Met's first ever female chief, said in an interview with the Times newspaper in London that trivial disputes between young people often escalated into murder and stabbings at unprecedented rates.

"The goading of rivals on online message boards and video sites "revs people up" and normalised violence," she said.

A febrile online atmosphere was among factors responsible for rising knife crime, said the 57-year-old commissioner, adding that also to blame were drug-dealing, absent fathers and socio-economics.

"Violence is on the increase across the country and yesterday a 36-year-old woman became the tenth person to be stabbed to death in London in 17 days," said Dick who has made the tackling of violent crime her central mission.

Dick said she would not be cowed by political correctness in her efforts to reduce violence, particularly knife crime.

She announced a new task force with about 100 police officers focused on violent crime, as a further 600 officers raise awareness in London's schools as the police treat violence as a public health issue.

Latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that fatal stabbings in England and Wales are at their highest level since 2010-11, with 215 homicides involving a knife or other sharp instrument in the year to March.

Dick said that social media companies need to take down content that stoked violence.

"There's definitely something about the impact of social media in terms of people being able to go from slightly angry with each other to 'fight' very quickly," she said.

Dick said gangs who "posture on social media", including rap videos in which they goaded rivals, glamorised violence.

"It makes [violence] faster, it makes it harder for people to cool down. I'm sure it does rev people up," she told the Times.

Dick said it was shocking that young black men were ten times more likely to be killed and she said it was beyond her remit to comment on social policy, but acknowledged that the phenomenon of absent fathers was a "challenge" as male role models were important.

"Many young men involved in crime were "looking to be loved", she added.

Dick backs the use of "stop and search" an important strategy if it was intelligence-led, saying "We will be out on the streets more; stop and search is likely to go on going up."

British Prime Minister Theresa May, in her previous job as interior minister, or Home Secretary, ordered a reduction of police stop and searches after figures show 1.5 million people were searched in 2009. There were fears the tactic discriminated against ethnic minorities, and the searches fell by two thirds.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 23:38:14|Editor: yan

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TAIYUAN, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China on Saturday launched three Gaofen-1 imaging satellites as part of the country's high-definition earth observation project.

The satellites was launched off on the back of a Long March 4C rocket at 11:22 a.m. Beijing time from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province. It was the 270th flight mission by a Long March carrier rocket.

As high resolution imaging satellites that are accurate to two meters in distance, they will be used for fields including disaster warning, ecological protection, infrastructure construction, transportation and emergency response.

The satellites, designed by China Spacesat, have a lifespan of six years.

They will work together with another previously launched Gaofen-1 satellite.

Since the inception of the Gaofen project in 2013, China has had an increasingly clearer view of the planet.KATHMANDU, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the main tourism promotion body in the country, is set to open its website in Chinese language targeting the Chinese tourists.

China is the second largest source market for Nepal's tourism.

In 2017, Nepal received a total of 104,664 Chinese tourists, second only to Indian tourists whose number stood at 160,832.

Deepak Raj Joshi, chief executive officer at NTB, told Xinhua on Saturday that they were working on the Chinese language-based website. "We have targeted to open it within the next month," he said.

According to him, work on translating content into Chinese language is undergoing. "In the website, the information about destinations being liked by the Chinese tourists, major tourism destinations, various activities, foods, locations where the Chinese foods are available, information about the guide services and the air routes to Nepal will be available," Joshi said.

The NTB is also exploring a Chinese company who can host the website. "Stakeholders told us that it is better to find a Chinese host to have unhindered operation of the website," he said.

For this, the NTB has written to the Nepali embassy in Beijing to find a credible Chinese host for the Chinese language website. Currently, NTB is operating its website only in English language.

Amid growing arrivals of Chinese tourists in Nepal, the Nepali authorities have been making effort to facilitate the Chinese tourists. During last Chinese Spring festival, NTB made arrangement of welcoming the Chinese tourists in Chinese language and facilitating their travel at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.MOSCOW, March 31 (Xinhua) -- More than 50 staff members of Britain's diplomatic missions in Russia have to leave as tensions between Russia and the West have sharply escalated over the death of an ex-spy, a local report said Saturday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced Friday that Britain must downsize its personnel in diplomatic missions in Russia within a month to the same level as Russia has in Britain, without disclosing how many people will be expelled.

"Russia offered parity. Britain has over 50 people more (than the Russian staff in Britain)," Interfax news agency reported, citing Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

Former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were reportedly exposed to a nerve agent and found unconscious on a bench at a shopping center in the British city of Salisbury on March 4.

Britain accused the Kremlin of masterminding the attempted murder of the two Skripals by employing a Soviet-era, military-grade nerve agent Novichok. The Russian government denied any role in the case.

On March 14, Britain announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and Russia expelled an equal number of British diplomats three days later.

In a show of solidarity with Britain, many European countries and the United States announced the expulsion of around 150 Russian diplomats.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday informed ambassadors of 23 countries of its decision to expel employees of their diplomatic missions in Russia in a tit-for-tat response to actions by their countries against Moscow.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 23:48:16|Editor: yan

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DAMASCUS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The towns of Zamalka, Arbeen, Ayn Tarma and Jobar in the capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta countryside have become empty of rebels on Saturday with the last batch leaving toward rebel-held areas in northern Syria, state news agency SANA reported.

The four strategic towns of Eastern Ghouta are declared liberated, as the last batch of rebels and their families got on the buses leaving toward rebel-held areas in the north, according to the state media outlets.

The liberation of the towns will make the entire Eastern Ghouta free of rebels except for the district of Douma in the northern part of Eastern Ghouta.

SANA said that over 38 buses have become packed with 1,706 people, including 494 rebels.

The liberation constitutes a major step in declaring the entire Eastern Ghouta free of rebels, said SANA.

The army forces will be deployed in the four towns, after entering parts of them, as the state TV said the Syrian official flag is hoisted in Arbeen.

Earlier in the day, SANA said as many as 38,000 rebels and their families have evacuated central towns of Eastern Ghouta toward rebel-held areas in Idlib since the evacuation process started last Saturday.

The four towns are considered to be the most dangerous to the capital due to their proximity to eastern Damascus neighborhoods. The rebels in those areas have repeatedly attempted to infiltrate the capital from those areas and have launched countless mortar shells on the neighborhoods of Damascus.

After the four areas, only the district of Douma in the northern part of Eastern Ghouta remains under the Islam Army control amid ongoing negotiations mediated by the Russians for achieving similar agreement in Douma.

The pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said the agreement of Douma could be included in the next hours.

This development came as the Syrian army has so far captured over 90 percent of Eastern Ghouta in an offensive that has been dragging on since late last month.

Eastern Ghouta, a 105-square-km agricultural region consisting of several towns and farmlands, poses the last threat to the capital due to its proximity to government-controlled neighborhoods east of Damascus and ongoing mortar attacks that target residential areas in the capital, pushing people over the edge.

Eastern Ghouta was controlled by four major rebel groups, namely the Islam Army, Failaq al-Rahman, Ahrar al-Sham, and the Levant Liberation Committee, known as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.KATHMANDU, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Nepal on Saturday opened its first "accessible" trekking trail in the country's famous tourism city Pokhara, targeting the disabled people with physical limitations and elderly population.

The trail was inaugurated as a part of three-day international conference on Accessible Tourism' held for the first time in the Himalayan country from March 29 to March 31 in the city.

Nepal's Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari inaugurated the 1.3-km section of the 14-km long hiking path in the ridge connecting Sarangkot to Naudanda areas, Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the main tourism promotion body of Nepal, said in a press statement.

"The trail offers a magnificent view of Mt. Annapurna, Mt. Fisthtail and Mt. Manaslu Himalaya range," it said.

The NTB, one of the organizers of the conference, built the trail with the local trail development committee. It said that the trail would enhance the prospect of attracting a strong segment of disabled and elderly tourists' population to Nepal. The trail is well endowed with proper signage and has accessible washroom.

"The concerned authorities have pledged more support in the coming fiscal year that will begin in mid-July this year to lay down all the standards and facilities to establish the trail as 'probably the best' and 'leading trail' in Asia," the NTB said.

During the inauguration, Minister Adhikari said the trail could be a benchmark of Nepal's commitment to tourism and his ministry would look into this to establish it as a model trail in Nepal.

Deepak Raj Joshi, chief executive officer of NTB said the initiative to build the trail was taken to add innovation in product and to diversify the tourism trails to generate greater interest among visitors and to ensure that no one is left behind in experiencing magnificence of Nepal's beauty.

'Accessible tourism' is an emerging concept to ensure that tourist destinations, products and services are accessible to all people, irrespective of their physical limitations, disabilities or age. The global tourism off late has witnessed a major boom in accessible tourism.

The estimated population of accessible segment is one billion in the world, and considered as rapidly growing and one of the niche and high-end segment in tourism, according to the NTB.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 23:53:17|Editor: Liangyu

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Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, also member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, attends a State Council meeting on advancing institutional reform in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2018. (Xinhua/Gao Jie)

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng on Saturday called for unremitting efforts to smoothly advance institutional reform of the State Council.

Han, also member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks at a State Council meeting on advancing the reform.

The fundamental aim of the reform is to transform government functions and optimize functions of its institutions, said Han, noting that government performance should be improved in all aspects.

"The government's functions of economic regulation and market supervision should be strengthened and improved, while micromanagement and direct intervention should be reduced," he said.

"The government's roles in public service and social management should be strengthened to ensure and improve people's living standards," he said.

Han also called for a smooth transition in the reform with no "unfulfilled responsibilities and undone jobs."

"The State Council's work and its institutional reform should facilitate each other," he said.

China announced a massive cabinet reshuffle plan earlier this month, which proposed the formation, merging and restructuring of multiple organs.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-31 23:53:18|Editor: yan

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DAMASCUS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army on Saturday declared a major victory after wresting control over much of the Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus.

In a statement, the army said after a series of "precisely-planned" military actions, the Syrian army has captured 31 towns and areas in Eastern Ghouta, still in fight with the rebels in Douma district, the last rebel stronghold north of Eastern Ghouta.

Hundreds of rebels have been killed and their command centers destroyed during the offensive which began late last month, according to the military statement.The British embassy in Russia is pictured on March 15, 2018. (Xinhua/Wu Zhuang)

MOSCOW, March 31 (Xinhua) -- More than 50 staff members of Britain's diplomatic missions in Russia have to leave as tensions between Russia and the West have sharply escalated over the death of an ex-spy, a local report said Saturday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced Friday that Britain must downsize its personnel in diplomatic missions in Russia within a month to the same level as Russia has in Britain, without disclosing how many people will be expelled.

"Russia offered parity. Britain has over 50 people more (than the Russian staff in Britain)," Interfax news agency reported, citing Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

Former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were reportedly exposed to a nerve agent and found unconscious on a bench at a shopping center in the British city of Salisbury on March 4.

Britain accused the Kremlin of masterminding the attempted murder of the two Skripals by employing a Soviet-era, military-grade nerve agent Novichok. The Russian government denied any role in the case.

On March 14, Britain announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and Russia expelled an equal number of British diplomats three days later.

In a show of solidarity with Britain, many European countries and the United States announced the expulsion of around 150 Russian diplomats.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday informed ambassadors of 23 countries of its decision to expel employees of their diplomatic missions in Russia in a tit-for-tat response to actions by their countries against Moscow.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-01 00:08:21|Editor: Chengcheng

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The coffin of British physicist Stephen Hawking is carried into the Great St Mary's Church in Cambridge, Britain, on March 31, 2018. The funeral of Professor Stephen Hawking was held Saturday at a church near the Cambridge University college where he was a fellow for more than half a century. (Xinhua/Stephen Chung)

by Xinhua Writers Jin Jing, Gu Zhenqiu, Zhang Jiawei

CAMBRIDGE, Britain, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The drizzle kept falling. Cambridge seemed to be weeping as thousands of citizens and visitors gathered on Saturday in respectful mourning silence outside the university church, Great St May's.

Up to 500 families members, friends and colleagues attended the private funeral service after the legendary British physicist professor Stephen Hawking's coffin was carried through Cambridge's main King's Parade street into the church.

The solid oak coffin, carried by by six porters all in formal black uniform, was covered by an arrangement of white lilies, which represent the universe, and white roses symbolizing the polar star.

The private service, officiated by the Reverend Dr Cally Hammond, Dean of Gonville and Caius College, Hawking's academic home, was described as "both inclusive and traditional, reflecting the breadth and diversity of his life," according to a statement by Hawking's children.

Also among those inside the church was Eddie Redmayne, who played the role of professor Hawking in the 2014 biographical drama The Theory of Everything.

Great St Mary's Church dates back to the 13th century, almost as old as Cambridge University itself. The church bell, considered the model for the Big Ben in London, chimed 76 times ahead of the funeral at around 1400 GMT to remember the great scientist who died at home on March 14 at the age of 76.

On the streets of Cambridge, the outpouring love and sorrow for Hawking's death are heart-felt and genuine.

Karen Smart, a Cambridge alumna, drove all the way from Suffolk, a city about 80 km east of Cambridge. She and her husband have been waiting outside the church since Saturday morning.

"I will never see someone like Professor Hawking in my life time again. He is such an intelligent and compassionate person," Smart told Xinhua, "That's why I feel that I need to be here to pay my respect."

Professor Alexander Boksenberg, honorary professor of Experimental Astronomy at University of Cambridge, have known Hawking when the latter was a doctoral student at Cambridge.

"He (Hawking) was very friendly and remained so to everyone through the electronic means possible to him for the rest of his difficult physical life," Boksenberg said.

Boksenberg, also former director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, became Hawking's next door neighbor for a year when he moved to Cambridge in 1990.

"Hawking was possessed with a brilliant intellect coupled with a deep concern for humanity in the world. This enabled him to rise above his dreadful motor neurone disease and become one of the most famous scientists in the world," Boksenberg said.

A legendary figure in the modern history of physics, Hawking is known for his work with black holes and relativity, despite being bound to wheelchair after contracting a motor neurone disease in 1963 at the age of 21.

He broke new ground on the basic laws which govern the universe, including the revelation that black holes have a temperature and produce radiation, now known as Hawking radiation.

Meanwhile, Hawking sought to explain many of these complex scientific ideas to a wider audience through popular books, most notably his bestseller A Brief History of Time.

In the highest honor of his achievements, Hawking's ashes will be interred at Westminster Abbey in London near the remains of Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin on June 15. In a statement, Cambridge University described Hawking as" an inspiration to millions."

Mei Jianjun, director of the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge, told Xinhua that rarely had a scientist been so effectively engaged with the public as professor Hawking.

"The inspiration and encouragement given by professor Hawking went beyond the scientific field. Maybe not many people understand Hawking radiation, but because of Hawking, people feel so close to the universe and science," said Mei.

Great St Mary's church is just a stone's throw away from Gonville and Caius, the Cambridge College where Professor Hawking was a fellow since 1965. Flowers of tribute are overflowing outside and the college flag has been flying at half-mast since Hawking's death.

More than three thousand people have visited Gonville & Caius College to sign a book of condolence, which the college said will be eventually presented to Hawking's family. An online version of the book also gathered thousands of messages from well-wishers all over the world.

Some of them said their lives were inspired and even changed by Hawking, who once said: "however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at."

Chris Warnes, a visitor who just signed the book placed beside a picture of Hawking in the porters' lodge of the college, said Hawking has taught him never to give up.

"Thanks to Hawking, I will always remain curious about life and remember to look up at the stars," he said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-01 00:08:22|Editor: yan

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GUANGZHOU, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chiye, a Chinese glass manufacturer, has long hoped to build an overseas factory to expand output. But the executives have been hesitant about where to go.

"We worried about a number of things that are important to glass makers, such as traffic and infrastructure," said Liu Wenjie, chairman of the company based in Hebei Province.

Progress was made earlier this year after an intermediary helped the company find a position in an industrial park in Malaysia. Chiye intends to move in.

Attractions of the Kulim industrial park include that it offers natural gas at half the price in China and that it has stable supplies of water and electricity and good security services, Liu said. "If we set up a plant ourselves, there would be many uncertainties."

Overseas industrial parks, many backed by the government of the host country, have attracted Chinese manufacturers aimed at going global, with quality infrastructure and services, as well as preferential policies in financing and taxation, said He Zhenwei, secretary-general of China Overseas Development Association.

"For Chinese companies, the parks reduce the risks and costs of operating abroad. For the host country, the parks create jobs, expand exports, and help with industrialization," He said at a forum on globalization of Chinese companies held earlier this month in Guangdong Province.

An industrial park in Egypt has attracted more than 70 companies that have invested a total of 1 billion U.S. dollars and created 3,300 jobs during the past nine years, according to TEDA, a Chinese builder.

An additional zone in the park, covering 6 square km, is ready to open. It is expected to attract investment of 2 billion U.S. dollars and create 40,000 jobs, said Wei Jianqing with TEDA.

A China-Belarus industrial park in Minsk has attracted 28 companies from China, Belarus, the United States, and European countries since it opened last year. The park, welcoming high-end industries such as big data and e-commerce, offers generous tax discounts.

"For example, companies are exempted from a corporate income tax for 10 years starting from the day when they make a profit," said Zhan Wang with China CAMC Engineering Co., Ltd. that built the park.

By the end of 2017, Chinese companies built 99 industrial parks in 44 countries and regions. Among them, 75 parks are in 24 countries along the Belt and Road, attracting 3,879 enterprises with total investments of over 25 billion U.S. dollars and creating 219,000 jobs, according to China's commerce ministry.

Overseas industrial parks are a path to realize the Belt and Road Initiative and a platform to boost international industrial operation, according to Ren Hao, head of Tongji University Development Institute.

Intermediaries have emerged to match the parks and companies.

UTOU, an online intermediary based in Guangdong Province, has 6,000 registered members, including governmental organs, embassies, industrial parks, and investment organizations.

"We have noticed that foreign embassies are increasingly interested in advertising the parks through our website," said Xiang Jing with UTOU.BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China-Europe freight trains have made 1,000 trips in the first three months, up 75 percent compared with the same period last year, according to China Railway Corporation.

The company said the record was made because of increased rail routes and an accelerated train speed on the Chinese side.

The cross-border rail network has bridged 43 Chinese cities with 41 European cities in 13 countries.

More than 7,600 journeys have been made between cities in the two continents since March 2011 when the service started.

The China-Europe rail service is considered a significant part of the Belt and Road Initiative. It is expected to boost trade between China and Europe, China's largest trading partner.

The number of such train trips is expected to reach 4,000 in 2018, according to Zhao Jun, head of the freight department of China Railway Corporation.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-01 00:43:28|Editor: yan

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DAMASCUS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army on Saturday declared a major victory after wresting control over much of the Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus.

In a statement, the army said after a series of "precisely-planned" military actions, the Syrian army has captured 31 towns and areas in Eastern Ghouta, still in fight with the rebels in Douma district, the last rebel stronghold north of Eastern Ghouta.

Hundreds of rebels have been killed and their command centers destroyed during the offensive which began late last month, according to the military statement.

It added that the victory in Eastern Ghouta secured the road between Damascus and other Syrian areas in the north and also to the eastern areas in Syria reaching the Iraqi border.

Retrieving those areas also end the suffering of the Damascus' people as a result of the mortar attacks launched by the rebels from Eastern Ghouta.

The statement also said the victory in that area deals a blow to the "terrorist projects" targeting Syria.

Meanwhile, the army pledged to continue its battles against terrorism in all of Syria.

The declaration comes after the last batch of rebels evacuated their last stronghold in Eastern Ghouta on Saturday.

The rebels evacuated the towns of Zamalka, Arbeen, Ayn Tarma and Jobar to rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib.

Those towns have witnessed mass evacuations of rebel and their families over the past week.

The liberation of the four towns constituted a major step in declaring the Eastern Ghouta free of rebels, said state news agency SANA.

Earlier in the day, SANA said as many as 38,000 rebels and their families have evacuated central towns of Eastern Ghouta toward rebel-held areas in Idlib since the evacuation process started last Saturday.

The four towns are considered to be the most dangerous to the capital due to their proximity to eastern Damascus neighborhoods. The rebels in those areas have repeatedly attempted to infiltrate the capital from those areas and have launched countless mortar shells on the neighborhoods of Damascus.

After the four areas, only the district of Douma in the northern part of Eastern Ghouta remains under the Islam Army control amid ongoing negotiations mediated by the Russians for achieving similar agreement in Douma.

The pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said the agreement of Douma could be included in the next hours.

Eastern Ghouta, a 105-square-km agricultural region consisting of several towns and farmlands, poses the last threat to the capital due to its proximity to government-controlled neighborhoods east of Damascus and ongoing mortar attacks that target residential areas in the capital, pushing people over the edge.

Eastern Ghouta was controlled by four major rebel groups, namely the Islam Army, Failaq al-Rahman, Ahrar al-Sham, and the Levant Liberation Committee, known as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.A rebel fighter from Eastern Ghouta, holds his weapon as he kisses a child after arriving in Qalaat al-Madiq, some 45 kilometres northwest of the central city of Hama, on March 30, 2018. (AFP photo)

DAMASCUS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army on Saturday declared a major victory after wresting control over much of the Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus.

In a statement, the army said after a series of "precisely-planned" military actions, the Syrian army has captured 31 towns and areas in Eastern Ghouta, still in fight with the rebels in Douma district, the last rebel stronghold north of Eastern Ghouta.

Hundreds of rebels have been killed and their command centers destroyed during the offensive which began late last month, according to the military statement.

It added that the victory in Eastern Ghouta secured the road between Damascus and other Syrian areas in the north and also to the eastern areas in Syria reaching the Iraqi border.

Retrieving those areas also end the suffering of the Damascus' people as a result of the mortar attacks launched by the rebels from Eastern Ghouta.

The statement also said the victory in that area deals a blow to the "terrorist projects" targeting Syria.

Meanwhile, the army pledged to continue its battles against terrorism in all of Syria.

The declaration comes after the last batch of rebels evacuated their last stronghold in Eastern Ghouta on Saturday.

The rebels evacuated the towns of Zamalka, Arbeen, Ayn Tarma and Jobar to rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib.

Those towns have witnessed mass evacuations of rebel and their families over the past week.

The liberation of the four towns constituted a major step in declaring the Eastern Ghouta free of rebels, said state news agency SANA.

Earlier in the day, SANA said as many as 38,000 rebels and their families have evacuated central towns of Eastern Ghouta toward rebel-held areas in Idlib since the evacuation process started last Saturday.

The four towns are considered to be the most dangerous to the capital due to their proximity to eastern Damascus neighborhoods. The rebels in those areas have repeatedly attempted to infiltrate the capital from those areas and have launched countless mortar shells on the neighborhoods of Damascus.

After the four areas, only the district of Douma in the northern part of Eastern Ghouta remains under the Islam Army control amid ongoing negotiations mediated by the Russians for achieving similar agreement in Douma.

The pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said the agreement of Douma could be included in the next hours.

Eastern Ghouta, a 105-square-km agricultural region consisting of several towns and farmlands, poses the last threat to the capital due to its proximity to government-controlled neighborhoods east of Damascus and ongoing mortar attacks that target residential areas in the capital, pushing people over the edge.

Eastern Ghouta was controlled by four major rebel groups, namely the Islam Army, Failaq al-Rahman, Ahrar al-Sham, and the Levant Liberation Committee, known as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-01 01:03:31|Editor: yan

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WUHAN, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China has seen a rise in the number of organ donations since the country began a pilot donation program in 2010, according to the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC).

By the end of March, nearly 46,500 organs had been donated in China and nearly 422,000 Chinese had registered for voluntary organ donations, said the RCSC.

China ranks first in Asia in terms of the annual numbers of organs both donated and transplanted, the RCSC said at a memorial service for organ donators in central China's Hubei Province on Saturday.

After long-term efforts, China has established a mechanism for fair allocations of the donated organs, the RCSC said.Firefighters try to extinguish a fire engulfing warehouse of the World Food Programme in Hodeidah, Yemen March 31, 2018. (Reuters photo)

SANAA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A huge fire engulfed warehouses belonging to the World Food Programne (WFP) in Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Saturday, completely destroying the facilities filled with humanitarian aid, rebel Houthi-controlled state Saba news agency reported.

Saba quoted an unnamed local official in Hodeidah as saying that the fire damaged all humanitarian aid inside the warehouses.

Saba did not gave further details. WFP officials could not immediately be reached to comment on the report.

The firefighters put off the fire in the morning. It was not clear what caused the fire and how many storages were destroyed.

Ahmed al-Mazghabi, an official at the local council in the port, told Xinhua that the authorities launched an investigation into the accident.

Hodeidah, where 80 percent of Yemen's food imports arrive, is the only port kept by Houthi rebels after the Saudi-led coalition and the Yemeni government forces recaptured the southern port city of Aden along with other southern governorates in 2016.

The entire 25 million people of Yemen are dependent on food, fuel and medicine imports, primarily through seaports, and more than 17 million Yemenis, or more than two-thirds of the population, are food insecure, according to the United Nations.

Yemen has been locked in a civil war since three years ago after Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern parts including capital Sanaa in late 2014.

Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military intervention coalition in Yemen since March 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthi rebels forced him into exile.

The UN has listed Yemen as the country with the world's worst humanitarian crisis, where 7 million Yemenis are on the brink of famine and cholera has caused more than 2,000 deaths.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-01 01:28:35|Editor: ZD

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Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) and President of the Asian Development Bank Takehiko Nakao attend the press conference of the sixth summit of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, March 31, 2018. At the summit which concluded in Vietnam's capital on Saturday with the release of a joint summit declaration, the leaders adopted and gave full support to the Hanoi Action Plan (HAP) 2018-2022 and the Regional Investment Framework (RIF) 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

HANOI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) countries agreed here on Saturday to take concrete actions to achieve deeper economic integration, greater regional connectivity, closer trade links and financial cooperation, consolidated people-to-people bonds, and closer links with the rest of the world.

At the 6th GMS Summit which concluded in Vietnam's capital on Saturday with the release of a joint summit declaration, the leaders adopted and gave full support to the Hanoi Action Plan (HAP) 2018-2022 and the Regional Investment Framework (RIF) 2022. The HAP is to provide necessary adjustment and sharpen the focus to ensure maximum effectiveness of the GMS Economic Cooperation Program.

To support the HAP, the RIF 2022 was formulated, identifying a pipeline of 227 projects with an indicative cost of 66 billion U.S. dollars. The RIF is a "living pipeline" of projects that will be reviewed and updated regularly to adapt to changing conditions and priorities.

The leaders pledged support for the full realization of the GMS 3 Cs (Connectivity, Competitiveness and Community), the core building blocks of the GMS Economic Cooperation Program.

Specifically, the GMS leaders strongly supported the economic corridor approach that transforms transport networks into transnational economic corridors, linking production, trade and infrastructure. They welcomed the decision to extend the corridor network as a response to the sub-region's dynamism.

Regarding innovation, new technologies and digital transformation as critical new sources of growth, the leaders wanted to boost the GMS Cross-border e-Commerce Cooperation Platform which facilitates growth of e-commerce for higher efficiency, better connectivity and transformation of micro, small and medium enterprises.

The leaders noted recently completed strategies for tourism, safe and environmentally-friendly agro-based value chains, environment and transport. They were committed to further fostering cooperation in health, urban development, hardware and software connectivity and economic corridors, and doubling related capacity-building efforts.

The leaders encouraged greater cooperation among member countries in undertaking trade promotion activities, accelerating the development of economic corridors and cross-border trade infrastructure, and improving trade management capacity. They encouraged implementation of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area and early conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Recognizing the crucial role of regional cooperation and integration in promoting economic development and showing support for the principles of open regionalism, the leaders will seek to tap synergy and complementarity between the GMS program and other global and regional initiatives, including the ASEAN Community, the Belt and Road Initiative, the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation mechanism, and the Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam Cooperation, among others.

At the summit, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out four necessary actions GMS countries should take to break new ground in the development and cooperation in the sub-region. According to him, the countries need to "foster stronger growth," "support openness in our practical cooperation," "improve our network of connectivity," and "deepen our partnership."

"The GMS, once an important area along the ancient Maritime Silk Road, is now where the Silk Road Economic Belt connects with the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. This puts the GMS countries in a solid and unique position in the Belt and Road cooperation," he said.

Meanwhile, President of the Asian Development Bank Takehiko Nakao said "Today, GMS countries are among the fastest growing economies in Asia and the world. They recognize the benefits of being regionally integrated and globally connected. ADB will continue to facilitate the GMS Program, which has been built on mutual trust and the 3 Cs' of connectivity, competitiveness and community."

The GMS Program has supported projects worth 21 billion U.S. dollars since its establishment in 1992 in sectors such as transport, tourism, health, urban development, environment, human resources development, agriculture and energy.

The 7th GMS Summit will be held in Cambodia in 2021.NEW DELHI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- At least one person was killed and many injured when a building collapsed in Indore city of India's central state of Madhya Pradesh late Saturday night.

According to "India Today" TV channel, five more persons were trapped under the debris of the collapsed building, as rescue operation was under way.

The injured have been rushed to a city hospital, TV reports added. It was yet unknown how many people were injured.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-01 01:58:41|Editor: Liangyu

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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) meets with Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith in Hanoi, Vietnam, March 31, 2018. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

HANOI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China and Laos pledged here Saturday to strive for more achievements in the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC).

The pledge was made at a meeting between Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith.

Wang said the Chinese and Lao leaders have reached important consensus on jointly building a community of shared future with strategic significance, charting the course for the future development of China-Laos relations.

He called for well planning and carrying out high-level exchanges and comprehensively advancing practical cooperation between the two countries.

He said China-Laos railway is a flagship project of the bilateral cooperation and also a concrete outcome of the dovetailing of the development strategies between China and its neighboring countries under the framework of China's Belt and Road Initiative.

Wang hoped that the two countries strengthen planning and coordinating on the project and ensure its smooth progress.

As co-chairs of the LMC, Wang said China stands ready to work with Laos for greater achievements of the LMC.

Wang believed that Laos, an important member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), will continue to play a positive role in the development of the China-ASEAN relations.

Thongloun, for his part, said Laos and China have witnessed important progress in their pragmatic cooperation since last year.

The project of the China-Laos railway, in particular, has been progressing smoothly and the Lao people have been enjoying substantial benefits from the joint development of the Belt and Road Initiative, he noted.

Laos is ready to maintain close high-level exchanges with China and continue to further cooperation in regional connectivity, he said.

As Laos co-chairs the LMC with China, Thongloun said his country is willing to cooperate with China closely to push for more fruits from the LMC as well as sound and steady development of the ASEAN-China relations.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-01 02:03:41|Editor: yan

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by Xinhua writers Liu Wei, Zhang Quan

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- With the aim to build a more fair and transparent regulation process for technology exports and foreign investment, China has issued a guideline tightly reviewing the transfer of intellectual property rights to overseas buyers.

"To establish and perfect the review mechanism for IP transfers overseas is not a move to upset foreign investors. The guideline has rather formulated concrete measures to secure a better business environment," said Zhang Zhicheng, director of the Protection and Coordination Department at the State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO).

"The government will only review two categories of IP transfers: technology restricted for exports and international acquisitions of Chinese enterprises," Zhang said.

The proposed IP transfers will be reviewed if they involve patent rights, exclusive rights to layout designs of integrated semiconductors, software copyrights, or rights to new plant varieties.

According to the guideline released Thursday, Chinese companies and individuals have the right to transfer their IP to overseas enterprises, individuals or groups.

IP transfers will be reviewed if they appear to affect national security or the country's core technology in key fields.

When China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, it entered into the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights to bring its IP laws to an international level. Meanwhile, the government has gradually transformed its manufacturing-based economy to an innovation-based economy.

Over the past decades, China has become a major producer of innovative technology and the second biggest source of international patent applications, according to an UN announcement.

"China has mastered a series of key technology and developed some high-quality intellectual property. If we fail to strictly review core IP transfers related to national security, we may put the country at the risk of losing control of key technology in important fields and suffering major financial losses," said Zhang.

In 2017, China's intellectual property royalties earned abroad surpassed 4 billion U.S. dollars, according to SIPO.

"Besides the financial influences, improper review of core IP transfers could restrain China's self-developed innovation abilities and competitive advantages internationally," Zhang said.

Regulating IP transfers involving national security complies with international rule and practices, he said, citing the WTO's Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, which gives recognition to all members to protect legitimate interests according to their own regulatory autonomy.

He noted that the developed economies like the United States, EU, and Japan have similar review systems.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-01 02:13:43|Editor: Chengcheng

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Mourners carry the body of a Palestinian who was killed a day earlier during clashes with Israeli troops near the borders, during his funeral in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, March 31, 2018. The UN Security Council held an urgent session Saturday over the Gaza violent incident at the request of Kuwait, this month's chair, but failed to reach an agreement on a final statement over the incident that left 15 killed and over 1,200 injured. In light of that, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an independent and transparent investigation into the Gaza rally incident and the killing of 15 Palestinians. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)

RAMALLAH, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinians on Saturday accused the United States of blocking a United Nations Security Council statement on the situation in the Gaza Strip and said the U.S. objections encourage Israel to continue its aggressive actions against the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian National Authority Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad al-Malki said in an official statement that "Washington would block any effort in the Security Council related to the massacre committed and to be committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip."

He added that "without the absolute U.S. protection in the Security Council, Israel won't dare to commit terrible crimes against the Palestinians."

In a closed-door session held at a request of Kuwait to discuss the bloody incidents in the Gaza Strip on Friday evening, the UN Security Council failed to agree on a statement condemning Israel's repression of the Palestinian popular protests on the anniversary of the Land Day.

"The decision was to go for an official open session, but the U.S. side opposed the idea that the Security Council issues a statement to condemn Israel's repression of demonstrators," said Representative of the state of Palestine in the UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour.

He also said "the efforts are continuing ... we will see in the next few hours and days whether we will succeed in this, or what are the other steps if they remain insistent on not allowing the council to assume its responsibilities in condemning the crime and prosecuting those responsible."

Mansour unveiled that "several European countries, including the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, demanded an investigation into events in the Gaza Strip, pointing out that the Palestinian side is pushing in this direction."

He also said the Palestinian side "won't accept a probe conducted by the Israelis themselves, but we want to investigate by impartial and fair bodies to brief the world in on this crime," stressing on the need to start the probe as soon as possible.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Saturday that the objections of the United States at the UN Security Council have led to thwarting the issuance of a resolution denouncing the Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people and the killing of 16 Palestinians.

He added that this provides a cover for Israel to continue its aggression against the Palestinian people and encourage it to defy international legitimacy resolutions that aim at ending the occupation.

Abu Rudeinah said in a statement published by WAFA Saturday that it will only increase Palestinian resilience with the continuation of the U.S. approach to protect the occupation and obstruct all international attempts to pressure Netanyahu's government to stop its aggressiveness.

"The Palestinian side can go to the General Assembly of the United Nations, the International Criminal Court and the Commission on Human Rights and we will not stop in our quest to condemn the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people," said Nabil Shaath, an aide to President Abbas for foreign affairs.

Disabling a Security Council statement on Gaza "asserts that the United States is a partner in the crime with its strategic ally," said Hanan Ashrawi, the official in Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee.

"We are looking for a unified international position to act to provide urgent protection to the Palestinians, and to hold Israel accountable for these crimes," she said.

Mahmoud al-Aloul, deputy chairman in President Abbas Fatah Party, considered the U.S. position "a new development in the U.S. bias towards Israel."

President Abbas held Israel totally responsible for the events on Friday and declared Saturday as a national mourning day.

A coordination committee composed of Palestinian political factions, civil society organizations and youth groups called weeks ago for a large popular rally at nearly 700 meters away from the Israeli border fence under the title of the "Great March of Return" starting Friday.

The Friday rally was the start of a six-week long protest that is expected to reach a peak on May 15, the day Israel celebrates its establishment and Palestinians mark the forcible transfer of two thirds of the Palestinian people and the ethnic cleansing of 418 Palestinian villages.

Demonstrators demand that Palestinian refugees should be allowed the right of return to the towns and villages from which their families fled or were forcibly driven out of when the State of Israel was created in 1948.NAIROBI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of orphaned children from a rescue centre in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi were on Saturday given an Easter treat by Chinese mobile firm, Transsion Holdings whose flagship brands include Tecno, Infinix and Itel.

The orphaned and abandoned children from Emmanuel's New Hope and Rescue Center that is located in Nairobi's low income Kayole suburb enjoyed an Easter treat that included music performance, donation of toys, motivation talk and birthday gifts.

Guo Ce, the Economic and Commercial Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Kenya, hosted the orphaned children who have benefited from a long-term corporate social responsibility (CSR) project supported by Infinix.

The children were given a guided tour at the Economic and Commercial section of the Chinese Embassy in Kenya where they observed photographs cerebrating different aspects of China-Kenya bilateral cooperation.

It was a refreshing experience for the orphaned children to gain new understanding about China and its contribution to Kenya's economic and industrial development.

They marveled at photographs of China-funded infrastructure projects like the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and a major highway in northern Kenya.

The Easter treat culminated in live performances among Chinese and Kenyan children and donations of gifts.

Joseph Kagai, the administrator of Emmanuel New Hope and Rescue Center, commended Infinix and Chinese Embassy in Kenya for the Easter treat saying it was a psychological boost to children.

"Today's event was great and a special way to celebrate Easter for the children. The children got rare exposure to different aspects of Chinese culture they had not known before," said Kagai.

Bernice Wanjiru, a social worker at the orphanage, hailed benevolence of Chinese commercial entities that have transformed the lives of disadvantaged children in Kenya.

Children too appreciated the Easter treat and said they looked forward to support from Chinese nationals and companies operating in Kenya to enable them realize their dreams.

Perez Kagai, a nine-year-old class-three pupil relished his first visit to the economic and commercial section of Chinese embassy in Kenya where he was treated to music, captivating images and toys.

"I was also happy to see the guitar and the performance by Chinese children. My friends were happy for the birthday present and cakes," said Perez adding that his dream career is engineering.PARIS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- One man was killed and four other people injured on Saturday afternoon in a funfair accident of Neuville-sur-Saone (Rhone) in southeastern France,according to the twitter of the regional prefecture Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes and the Rhone.

According to quotes from several media, a merry-go-round consisting of three arms with pods would have collapsed when turning at very high speed.

A 42-year-old man nearby was killed. An eight-year-old child ejected from the place was seriously wounded.

Firefighters were called at 4:40 p.m.local time.

The regional authorities announced that investigation has been started.WASHINGTON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. and British Departments of Defense on Saturday released names of the two soldiers killed in a bomb attack on Thursday in Syria.

The Pentagon said in an announcement that the soldier, who was supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, is Master Sgt. Johnathan J. Dunbar, 36, of Austin, the state of Texas.

Dunbar died on Friday in Manbij, that is not far from the Syrian border with Turkey, "as a result of injuries when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated near his patrol," the Pentagon said.

It added that the incident is under investigation.

Also on Saturday, the British Ministry of Defense confirmed that Sergeant Matt Tonroe from the 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment was also killed in the Syria action "whilst on duty in the Middle East on the 29th March 2018."

The U.S. military said on Friday that two personnel of the U.S.-led coalition were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Syria. Five others were wounded in the attack that occurred on Thursday night.

Turkey has threatened to expand its military operation in Syria to Manbij, where 2,000 American troops are stationed. The town has seen a number of small explosions in recent weeks.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that his country would "be coming out of Syria like very soon."

However, Pentagon spokesperson Dana White told reporters later that "important work remains to guarantee the lasting defeat of these violent extremists" in the Arab country.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-01 04:09:00|Editor: Chengcheng

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Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife Najib Balala (3rd L, front) unveils the tombstone of Sudan, the late world's only remaining male northern white rhino, in Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia county, northern Kenya, March 31, 2018. Kenyan wildlife officials and global wildlife conservationists on Saturday converged at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in northern Kenya where a memorial service for the late world's only remaining male northern white rhino fondly named Sudan took place. (Xinhua/Lyu Shuai)

NAIROBI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan wildlife officials and global wildlife conservationists on Saturday converged at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in northern Kenya where a memorial service for the late world's only remaining male northern white rhino fondly named Sudan took place.

Kenya's cabinet secretary for tourism and wildlife, Najib Balala, and hundreds of conservationists graced the memorial service to honor Sudan who died on March 19 at the age of 45 after battling complications related to old age.

Balala, while unveiling a plaque in honor of Sudan who weighed about 3 tonnes, reiterated Kenya's commitment to protecting the giant land mammals like elephants and rhinos whose survival is at stake due to poaching and climatic shocks.

"Sudan represented the endangered species that today we have lost. We have a role to play in order to save this species," said Balala.

"We want to start a campaign that this heritage is not about the government. It is not about tourists coming and watching animals but it is ours to preserve," he added.

The last remaining male northern white rhino in the planet was born in 1973 in the wild Africa and later transferred to a zoo in Europe until 2009 when it was relocated to Ol Pejeta conservancy.

Sudan has left behind his biological daughter Najin and a grand daughter Fatu, whom he lived with at the Ol Pejeta conservancy located in northern Kenyan county of Laikipia.

Balala said Kenya will honor the memory of Sudan by devoting greater efforts to protect an estimated 1,200 remaining population of rhinos in the country.

At the same time, the Cabinet Secretary lauded China for banning of trade in ivory, saying the move will boost protection of elephants and rhinos. China honors its commitment to ending commercial processing and sales of ivory by the end of 2017.

"We want to thank China for the great job they have done by banning trade of ivory in China and we want to encourage the rest of the world to do the same thing," said Balala.

Sudan's demise has triggered urgency by international scientists and conservationists to rally behind modern reproductive technologies in a bid to ensure northern white rhino species do not become extinct.

Richard Vigne, the CEO of Ol Pejeta Conservancy, said that various technologies are being explored to halt total extinction of northern white rhinos.

"Najin and Fatu are the world's last remaining female northern white rhinos and they are under 24 hour protection. So far the technology for the recovery of the species has managed to remove eggs from southern white rhinos in European zoos," said Vigne.

"Those eggs have not yet been fertilized to a point they can be frozen as embryos, but experimentation is continuing to perfect that process," he added.

Vigne revealed that international scientists will soon visit Ol Pejeta conservancy to remove eggs from the last two remaining female northern white rhinos and preserve them for future breeding through modern reproductive technologies.

On Saturday, a somber mood engulfed Ol Pejeta conservancy as wildlife enthusiasts paid their last respect to Sudan.

James Mwenda, the lead care taker at Ol Pejeta conservancy, said the death of Sudan served as a powerful reminder to humanity to intensify efforts to save endangered wildlife species.

"We are determined to use all the lessons we have learnt from Sudan to be the driving force in conservation of wildlife. What we lost will always be on our hearts," said Mwenda.U.S. PresidentDonald Trump answers questions from the press before departing the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on March 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday attacked the online retail giant Amazon for a second time in a week, accusing the company of scamming U.S. Postal Service (USPS) over cheaper shipping costs.

"While we are on the subject, it is reported that the U.S. Post Office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon. That amounts to Billions of Dollars," Trump tweeted on Saturday.

Amazon boxes are seen stacked for delivery in the Manhattan borough of New York City, January 29, 2016. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

"If the P.O. 'increased its parcel rates, Amazon's shipping costs would rise by $2.6 Billion.' This Post Office scam must stop," he wrote on Twitter, urging the retail giant to pay real costs and taxes.

It would cost Amazon 1.46 U.S. dollars more to ship an average package through USPS if costs were "fairly allocated," according to a Citigroup analysis released last year.

An Amazon.com Inc driver stands next to an Amazon delivery truck in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 21, 2016. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

The latest attack comes two day after Trump claimed that Amazon's shipping practices have negatively impacted retailers and local governments.

"I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!" Trump tweeted on Thursday.

Trump's wealthy friends have also complained to the president that "Amazon is destroying their businesses," news website Axios reported last week, adding the president was obsessed with Amazon and considering ways to rein in the company's power.

"He's wondered aloud if there may be any way to go after Amazon with antitrust or competition law," a source who has spoken to the president told Axios.

A worker prepares packages to be shipped inside of anAmazon fulfillment center in Robbinsville, New Jersey, U.S., November 27, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

But the White House said Wednesday that the administration currently proposes no specific policies to regulate the online retail giant.

"We have no announcements and no specific policies or actions that we're currently pushing forward or considering taking," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.

According to The Hill, Amazon does collect such taxes on products sold to consumers in states with sales taxes in place, but the company doesn't collect taxes in all states on behalf of third party sellers that use Amazon as a marketplace.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-01 06:09:17|Editor: Yamei

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Syrians evacuate from rebel-held areas in Eastern Ghouta, countryside of the capital Damascus, March 31, 2018. The evacuation of the rebels and their families as well as other civilians from Syria's Eastern Ghouta has seen so far the departure of 188,000 people in March. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

DAMASCUS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- After seven years of war, the Syrian army is succeeding to wrest control almost over the Eastern Ghouta region, which was the last dagger pointed to the eastern rim of Damascus.

Starting late last month with massive military reinforcements, the Syrian army has started a military tactic to eliminate the rebel presence in Eastern Ghouta, taking specific areas at first that enabled it to split that region into several areas, which pushed an array of rebel groups to give in and accept to evacuate their positions for the Syrian army.

Last Saturday, the evacuation of the rebels in Eastern Ghouta started after they have become convinced that the military campaign of the Syrian army wasn't going to stop until fully recapturing Eastern Ghouta and also after negotiations mediated by Russia.

This Saturday, the last batch of rebels and their families evacuated their last stronghold in central towns in Eastern Ghouta, after a week busy with the evacuation of thousands of rebels and their families leaving to rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib.

Over 40,000 rebels and their families have evacuated areas in Eastern Ghouta so far toward Idlib, while 150,000 civilians chose to evacuate to government-controlled areas near Damascus.

The news of the near liberation of the key towns of Jobar, Zamalka, Arbeen and Ayn Tarma started emerging on Saturday morning, as the last batch of rebels was preparing to leave.

Later in the evening, the Syrian army released the statement of victory in Eastern Ghouta, saying the army units captured 31 towns and areas in Eastern Ghouta, while still in a fight with the rebels in Douma district, the last rebel stronghold north of Eastern Ghouta.

Hundreds of rebels have been killed and their command centers destroyed during the offensive which began late last month, according to the military statement carried by state news agency SANA.

It added that the victory in Eastern Ghouta secured the road between Damascus and other Syrian areas in the north and also to the eastern areas in Syria reaching the Iraqi border.

Retrieving those areas also end the suffering of the Damascus' people as a result of the mortar attacks launched by the rebels from Eastern Ghouta.

The statement also said the victory in that area deals a blow to the "terrorist projects" targeting Syria.

Meanwhile, the army pledged to continue its battles against terrorism in all of Syria.

The four towns of Jobar, Zamalka, Arbeen and Ayn Tarma were considered to be the most dangerous to the capital due to their proximity to eastern Damascus neighborhoods. The rebels in those areas have repeatedly attempted to infiltrate the capital from those areas and have launched countless mortar shells on the neighborhoods of Damascus.

After the four areas, only the district of Douma in the northern part of Eastern Ghouta remains under the Islam Army control amid ongoing negotiations mediated by the Russians for achieving similar agreement in Douma.

The pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said the agreement of Douma could be included in the next hours.

Eastern Ghouta, a 105-square-km agricultural region consisting of several towns and farmlands, poses the last threat to the capital due to its proximity to government-controlled neighborhoods east of Damascus and ongoing mortar attacks that target residential areas in the capital, pushing people over the edge.

Four major rebel groups have been in control of Eastern Ghouta since 2012, namely the Islam Army, Failaq al-Rahman, Ahrar al-Sham, and the Levant Liberation Committee, known as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.ALGIERS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Algeria on Saturday welcomed the reconciliation that just concluded between the two Libyan cities of Misrata and Zentan.

The spokesman of the Foreign Ministry Abdelaziz Benali Cherif said that this agreement is "a step in the right direction towards of national reconciliation and understanding in Libya," official APS news agency reported.

He noted that Algeria stresses the importance of the unification of national institutions, including a united army under civilian authority, with the role of preserving security and integrity of Libya.

Representatives of the Libyan cities of Zentan and Misrata met last Wednesday and made a final statement, stressing "the need to unify the army and the police under a civilian authority and to combat terrorism under all its forms."

Libya has been engaged in a civil war since the 2011 ouster and death of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, which eventually divided the war-torn country into two governments, a UN-backed one in Tripoli and a parliament-backed, military-oriented one in Tobruk.

Algeria has been making diplomatic efforts to promote peace dialogue in Libya. The North African nation insists that foreign military interference would only lead to more chaos rather than resolving the crisis.

Algiers is concerned that the instability in Libya would affect homeland security of Algeria in the long run.NEW DELHI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Nine people died when a four-storey hotel collapsed late Saturday in Indore, a city in India's central state of Madhya Pradesh, local press The Asian Age reported.

Ten people were rescued and rushed to hospitals, while more people were feared trapped under the debris of the hotel, the report said. The identities of the deceased is not yet known.

"Many people are feared trapped under the debris of the collapsed hotel. Rescue operation is on. I cannot say right now exactly how many people are trapped under the debris," Indore municipal corporation mayor Malini Gaur was quoted as saying.

Fire tenders and state disaster management rapid action force have been deployed in the rescue operation.

Local police said the cause of the mishap was yet to be ascertained.Latest News

Washington, DC - A federal grand jury has indicted today six MS-13 members, five of whom were unlawfully in the United States, on charges in connection with their MS-13 gang activities, including racketeering conspiracy; murder in aid of racketeering; violent crimes in aid of racketeering; use, carry and possession of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence; and conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering.

The indictment was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Departments Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen M. Schenning for the District of Maryland; Special Agent in Charge Andre R. Watson of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) Baltimore Office; Special Agent in Charge Daniel L. Board Jr. of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Baltimore Field Division; Police Chief Timothy J. Altomare of the Anne Arundel Police Department and State Attorney Wes Adams of the Anne Arundel States Attorney Office.

Charged in the nine-count indictment are alleged MS-13 members and associates Moises Alexis Reyes-Canales aka Sicopata, 19; Marlon Cruz-Flores, aka Little S, 22; Fermin Gomez-Jimenez, 20; Manuel Martinez-Aguilar, aka El Lunatic and Zomb, 19; Juan Carlos Sandoval-Rodriguez, aka Picaro, El Pastor, and Gasper, 20; and David Diaz-Alvarado, 20. All the defendants except Cruz Flores, of Annapolis, Maryland, were illegally residing in Annapolis.

MS-13 is a national and transnational gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants from El Salvador. Branches or cliques of MS-13, one of the largest street gangs in the United States, operate throughout Anne Arundel County, Prince Georges County, Montgomery County and Frederick County, Maryland. MS-13 members are required to commit acts of violence to maintain membership and discipline within the gang. One of the principal rules of MS-13 is that its members must attack and kill rivals, known as chavalas, whenever possible.

According to the indictment, at least prior to in or about 2015, and continuing through at least in or about 2017, Reyes-Canales, Cruz-Flores, Gomez-Jimenez, and Martinez-Aguilar, participated in a racketeering conspiracy that included assaults, murder, attempted murder, robbery, and drug trafficking.

According to the indictment, MS-13 members and associates conspired to murder a rival gang member. On or about March 11, 2016, Sandoval-Rodriguez lured the victim to a park in Annapolis, Maryland with the intent to murder the victim. On or about that same date, Cruz-Flores, Gomez-Jimenez, Sandoval-Rodriguez, and Diaz-Alvarado, and other members and associates of MS-13 murdered the victim in Annapolis, for the purpose of gaining entrance to, maintaining, and increasing position in MS-13.

According to the indictment, on Oct. 23, 2016, Reyes-Canales, Cruz-Flores, Gomez-Jimenez, and Martinez-Aguilar conspired to and attempted to murder two victims in Annapolis, for the purpose of gaining entrance to, maintaining, and increasing position in MS-13. Reyes-Canales, Cruz-Flores, Gomez-Jimenez, and Martinez-Aguilar, and other members and associates of MS-13 attempted to kill one of the victims by stabbing the victim multiple times and attempted to kill a second victim by shooting and stabbing the victim multiple times.

All of the defendants are currently detained on related federal or state criminal charges. Initial appearances have not yet been scheduled.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The investigation was conducted by HSI Baltimore, ATF Baltimore, Anne Arundel Police Department and Anne Arundel States Attorney Office. Trial Attorney Matthew Hoff of the Criminal Divisions Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Seema Mittal, as well as Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Samantha Mildenberg of the District of Maryland are prosecuting this case.New Delhi: Priyanka Chopra, who has been missing from the Bollywood cinema since last years, apparently wants to get back to her roots. After spending days in Mumbai, the global star recently took a flight to flow back to the sets of 'Quantico' in Ireland to shoot for few sequences of the third season. 'Quantico' season 3 is all set to premiere on April 26th in the US.

Meanwhile, reports suggest that Priyanka is keen to do a Hindi film before she takes up any more international project. Apart from Quantico, Priyanka will also be seen in 'A Kid Like Jake' and 'Isn't It Romantic?'. A source told Mid-Day that the actress has shown her interest to be a part of Salman Khan's 'Bharat' and isn't very keen for the fourth season of Quantico. The source said that Priyanka feels that the show will get repetitive if it goes beyond the third season.

Any decision on the next season of Quantico will be taken by the makers only after reviewing the response the third season gets, he added further.

Apart from 'Bharat' which will be directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, Priyanka is also in talks with Margarita With A Straw' helmer Shonali Bose for his next project. In addition, she is also considering another project, which will be based on the life of Kalpana Chawla.

Last month, buzz also did rounds that Piggy Chops might be seen in the sequel to her hit film 'Aitraaz'. The film, released in 2004, won her accolades and several awards for portraying a negative character with much conviction on-screen. 'Aitraaz' starred Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka in lead roles and was hailed as an interesting watch at that time

Despite all the talks, the actress is yet to make an official announcement about the same.LUCKNOW: In the latest incident of statue defacing, a sculptor of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar was damaged in Siddharthnagar's Gohaniya of Uttar Pradesh. This is the second incident of vandalism within 24 hours. One of the hands of the statue was damaged by unidentified people.

The incident took place on Friday night. Following the incident, locals staged a protest.

Statue of BR Ambedkar vandalised by miscreants in Siddharthnagar's Gohaniya last night; locals stage protest demanding action against the culprit pic.twitter.com/Ce3RHbxbGh  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 31, 2018

Earlier today, another sculptor of Ambedkar was damaged in Uttar Pradesh's Allahabad. The incident took place on Saturday in Jhunsi's Trivenipuram. The head of the statue was completed destroyed by miscreants.

Despite strong words by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and clear directives from the Ministry of Home Affairs, there seems to be no end to incidents of vandalism of statues of iconic leaders and ideologues. Several incidents of statue vandalism have been reported from various parts of the country over the last few months.

Last week, the Rajasthan Police had arrested one person for vandalising the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Jaisalmer. This came just days after a statue of countrys first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was defaced in Katwa's Telephone Maidan in West Bengal.

In another related incident earlier this month, a statue of Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mukherjee was found vandalised in Assam's Kokrajhar. Also, a life-size statue of Michael Madhusudan Dutt, a prominent poet during the 19th century Bengal renaissance, was found defaced in Raniganj of West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district.

Reports of incidents of statues vandalism started emerging soon after the results of the Assembly elections in Tripura were announced. Following the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Left bastion, a mob demolished a statue of Communist ideologue Vladimir Lenin in Tripura.

Following this, a statue of Dravidian ideologue 'Periyar' EV Ramasamy was damaged in Tirupattur in Tamil Nadu. This was followed by defacing statues of Dr BR Ambedkar in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh and Mahatma Gandhi in Taliparamba in Kannur district of Kerala.

These incidents have sparked a war of words between political parties as well. PM Modi, however, had recently made an appeal to people to not indulge in the vandalism of statues. Following this, the Union Home Ministry had issued a directive to states to ensure that no such incidents take place.BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has called the proposed disinvestment of Air India a 'potential scan' and said he will file a private criminal law complaint if he finds out anyone has stepped out of line.

The maverick MP's threat comes just days after the Ministry of Civil aviation submitted a memorandum on divesting 76 percent stake in the national carrier. The ministry had said it would transfer full management control of the debt-ridden airline to the private promoters who pick up the stake.

This is not the first time Swamy is questioning the Narendra Modi government's intention to sell off its stake in Air India. Last year, he had asked of the need to disinvest when the airline's flights were occupied.

"The proposed sale of Air India is potentially another scam in the making. Selling family silver is not divestment," said Swamy in a tweet on Saturday.

"I am watching who is doing what and will, if I see culpability, file a private criminal law complaint," he warned.

The proposed sale of Air India is potentially another scam in the making. Selling family silver is not divestment. I am watching who is doing what and will, if I see culpability, file a private criminal law complaint.  Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) March 31, 2018

Swamy, no stranger to being at odds with the stand of the party he joined in 2013, soon found a young BJP MP defending his party. Pratap Simha, the Lok Sabha MP for Karnataka's Mysore Constituency, responded to Swamy's tweet.

"Dear Sir, I have the highest regard for u n I am also in the parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism n culture under which Air India comes. Der is no meaning in spending public money to retain loss making AI n govt has better things2 do rather than running airlines," read Simha's tweet.

Dear Sir, I have the highest regard for u n I am also in the parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism n culture under which Air India comes. Der is no meaning in spending public money to retain loss making AI n govt has better things2 do rather than running airlines  Pratap Simha (@mepratap) March 31, 2018

Air India, which has more than Rs 52,000 crore debt burden, is surviving on a Rs 30,000 crore bailout package extended by the previous UPA government in 2012.

The government has proposed selling 76% stake in the airline as well as transfer management control to private players. Besides, Air India would divest 100% stake in Air India Express and 50% shareholding in AISATS, an equal joint venture with Singapore-based SATS.

Air India had 11,214 permanent employees as on December 1, 2017. These include 2,056 people on deputation to other companies and agencies. The airline also had 2,913 employees on contract and 2,661 people on deputation from other companies, among others, as per the memorandum. Among the permanent staff, as many as 4,217 are set to retire in the next five years, it added.

(With PTI inputs)NEW DELHI: Right across the LAC (line of actual control) in Arunachal Pradesh, a cluster of fresh Chinese infrastructure has been observed. The cluster includes a new camp for People's Liberation Army (PLA) along with several houses.

The new constructions have come up in Tatu, which lies on the other side of Kibithu town in Arunachal Pradesh's Anjaw district. Kibithu is one of the five Border Personnel Meeting points between the Indian Army and China's PLA.

The heightened activities by China along the border is being witnessed as a fresh dare to India.

A Chinese telecommunications tower and observation post with surveillance equipment was also observed as a part of their new infrastructure in Tatu, reported news agency ANI.

#Chinese telecommunications tower and observation post with surveillance equipment, a part of their infrastructure in #Tatu, which is on the other side of #ArunachalPradesh's Kibithu. pic.twitter.com/I0PAmh0ZHo  ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2018

Earlier this month, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had informed in Parliament that China has been constructing helipads, sentry posts and trenches for its army personnel in Doklam. It was also ramping up infrastructure in the region.

Last week, Indian envoy Gautam Bambawale had warned that any attempt by China to change the status quo along the border can lead to another Doklam-like stand-off between the two nations.

"In order to maintain the peace and tranquillity (along India-China border), there are certain areas, certain sectors which are very sensitive, where we must not change the status quo. If anyone changes the status quo, it will lead to a situation like what happened in Doklam," Bambawale told a Hong Kong-based magazine.

India and China were engaged in a 73-day-long standoff in Doklam along the Sikkim sector from June 16, 2017, after the Indian side stopped Chinese troops in the building of a road. The face-off ended on August 28, 2017.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman later said that India is alert and ready for any unforseen situation. We are alert and ready for any unforeseen situation in Doklam. We are constantly working on the modernisation of our forces. We will maintain our territorial integrity, Sitharaman had said.

Both the countries have been going back and forward in an effort to reboot ties bilateral ties. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's is expected to visit China in June 2018.

With ANI inputsUnion HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar has confirmed that not all class 10 students, who appeared for the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) board examinations, will have to appear for the re-examination following the Mathematics question paper leak. According to the minister, out of the 16 lakh students, more than 14 lakh will not appear for the re-exam. Notably, the CBSE had announced on its official website cbse.nic.in recently that class 10 Mathematics and class 12 Economics examinations would be conducted again.

Taking to microblogging site Twitter, the minister further said that even in Delhi and Haryana, where the police investigation into the paper leak is underway, the retest will be held only if a large-scale leak is discovered during the probe.

Javadekar also targeted news channels, blaming them for the confusion over the re-examination of class 10 Mathematics and class 12 Economics paper. Besides, he mentioned names of all states and union territories where class 10 students will not be made to take the test again.

In a series of tweets, he said:

"Class-X students from J&K, Uttarakhand,Himachal,Punjab, Chandigarh,Rajasthan,UP, Bihar, WB,North eastern states, Jharkhand,Odisha,Andhra, Telangana,Karnataka,TN, Puduchery,Andaman, Lakshadweep,Kerala, Karnataka, Goa,Maharashtra,Gujarat,MP, Chhattisgarh,will not give Maths retest".

Class-X students from J&K, Uttarakhand,Himachal,Punjab, Chandigarh,Rajasthan,UP, Bihar, WB,North eastern states, Jharkhand,Odisha,Andhra, Telangana,Karnataka,TN, Puduchery,Andaman, Lakshadweep,Kerala, Karnataka, Goa,Maharashtra,Gujarat,MP, Chhattisgarh,will not give Maths retest  Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) March 30, 2018

"I am amazed to see headlines in some news channels about confusion over retest. Out of 16 lakh students, more than 14 lakh students of Class X will not have to give retest in Maths. This is final decision."

I am amazed to see headlines in some news channels about confusion over retest. Out of 16 lakh students, more than 14 lakh students of Class X will not have to give retest in Maths. This is final decision. (1/2)  Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) March 30, 2018

"As far as Delhi and Haryana, where police investigation is on, retest for Class-X Maths will be conducted only if investigation points to large scale leak. There should be no confusion."

As far as Delhi and Haryana, where police investigation is on, retest for Class-X Maths will be conducted only if investigation points to large scale leak. There should be no confusion. (2/2)  Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) March 30, 2018

The statement by the HRD minister comes hours after Education Secretary Anil Swarup announced that class 12 Economics papers re-examination will be held on April 25. Swarup said the investigation into the leak of the Class 10 Mathematics examination paper is still underway, and indicated that the paper may only have been circulated in Delhi and Haryana.

He said the decision on whether to hold a re-exam of Class 10 Mathematics in Delhi and Haryana would be made within the next 15 days, based on the information that the investigation finds.Kibithu: India has deployed more troops in the mountainous terrains of Dibang, Dau-Delai and Lohit valleys along the borders with China in Arunachal sector.

PTI quoted military officials as saying that India is also strengthening its surveillance mechanism to keep an eye on Chinese activities along the borders.

The officials also said that India has been focusing on dominating the treacherous terrains which include snow-clad mountains at an altitude of over 17,000 feet and river passes, as part of a strategy to counter China's rising assertiveness along the border in Dibang, Dau-Delai and Lohit valleys.

"Post Doklam, we have increased our activities manifold. We are fully prepared to deal with any challenge," the news agency quoted an Army officer, posted in Kibithu, as saying.

Meanwhile, right across the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh, a cluster of fresh Chinese infrastructure has been observed. which includes a new camp for People's Liberation Army (PLA) along with several houses.

The new constructions have come up in Tatu, which lies on the other side of Kibithu town in Arunachal's Anjaw district. Kibithu is one of the five Border Personnel Meeting points between the Indian Army and China's PLA.

A Chinese telecommunications tower and observation post with surveillance equipment were also observed, reported news agency ANI.

#Chinese telecommunications tower and observation post with surveillance equipment, a part of their infrastructure in #Tatu, which is on the other side of #ArunachalPradesh's Kibithu. pic.twitter.com/I0PAmh0ZHo  ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2018

Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day-long standoff in Doklam from June 16, 2017, after the Indian side stopped the building of a road in the area by the Chinese Army. The face-off had ended on August 28, 2017.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said on March 25, 2018, that India was "alert" and ready to deal with any "unforeseen situation" in Doklam. She had also said that the government was constantly working towards modernisation of forces.

"We are alert and ready for any unforeseen situation in Doklam. We are constantly working towards the modernisation of our forces. We will maintain our territorial integrity," she had told reporters in Dehradun on the sidelines of a function to honour families of distinguished Armymen, war widows and veterans, as per PTI.

Earlier on March 5, 2018, Sitharaman had said that Indian and Chinese troops had "redeployed" themselves away from the face-off site in Doklam and China had undertaken construction of helipads, sentry posts and trenches for its Army personnel there.

And, in January 2018, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat had said the time had come for India to shift its focus from borders with Pakistan to the frontier with China.

(With Agency inputs)NEW DELHI: Delhi's Patiala House court on Saturday sent former media baron Peter Mukerjea to judicial custody till April 13 in the alleged INX Media bribery case.

Peter Mukerjea, former co-director of INX Media Ltd, will be produced through video conferencing in further hearings. He will be taken to Mumbai later in the day.

#INXMediaCase: Peter Mukerjea sent to judicial custody till 13th April by Delhi's Patiala House Court, will be produced through video conferencing in further hearings pic.twitter.com/bQRKQUp3Gs  ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2018

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) who is probing the bribery case, Peter did not co-operate with the investigators. Due to this, the agency could not confront him with Karti Chidambaram or his CA - both accused in the case.

"Peter Mukerjea didn't cooperate with the investigators. That's why CBI couldn't confront him with Karti or his CA. For the next dates, Peter will be produced through video conferencing from Mumbai Jail. He will be taken to Mumbai today," CBI told Patiala House Court.

Peter and his wife Indrani Mukerjea - who is already in jail in connection with the murder of her daughter Sheena Bora - are co-accused in the money INX Media corruption case along with Karti Chidambaram, son of former union minister P Chidambaram.

Karti allegedly received Rs 3.5 crore from the Mumbai-based INX Media, now known as 9X Media, for helping it get Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance in 2007 when it was run by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea.

The FIR does not mention Chidambaram senior, though it said he cleared the FIPB approval for Rs 4.62 crore FDI in the firm at an FIPB meeting on May 18, 2007.New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi will attend a Dalit Sammelan here on April 23, in wake of the Supreme Court's order diluting some stringent provisions of the SC/ST anti-atrocity Act.

The party will also organise a protest on April 4 at Parliament Street against the verdict on the SC/ST Act and the atrocities and oppression against the Dalits in different parts of the country, said a party source.

The Congress had also urged the government to take "corrective steps" in Parliament and file a review petition in the Supreme Court. Congress members had also protested in Parliament over the verdict.

In an order on March 20, the Supreme Court said the arrest of an accused under the Act was not mandatory and recourse to coercive action would be taken only after preliminary inquiry and sanction by the competent authority.

The court also said that there was no "absolute bar against grant of anticipatory bail in cases under the Act if no prima facie case is made out or where on judicial scrutiny the complaint is found to be prima facie mala fide".

Aspirants of Staff Selection Commission (SSC) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) on Saturday protested at Parliament Street in New Delhi over leak of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class 10 and class 12 board examination papers. A group of students also protested at CBSE board office at Preet Vihar in the national capital. Notably, the CBSE had announced on its official website cbse.nic.in recently that class 10 Mathematics and class 12 Economics examinations would be conducted again.

According to Delhi Police, the students also made attempts to block the road in front of the CBSE office. But we kept them away. A group of about 25-30 students are protesting outside the CBSE office," said a senior Delhi Police officer.

This comes even as Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar confirmed that of the 16 lakh students who appeared for class 10 Mathematics examination, less than 2 lakh students might have to appear for the re-examination.

Taking to Twitter, Javadekar clarified that even in Delhi and Haryana, where the police investigation into the paper leak is underway, the retest will be held only if a large-scale leak is discovered during the probe.

Javadekar also targeted news channels, blaming them for the confusion over the re-examination of class 10 Mathematics and class 12 Economics paper. Besides, he mentioned names of all states and union territories where class 10 students will not be made to take the test again.

The statement by the HRD minister came after Education Secretary Anil Swarup announced that class 12 Economics papers re-examination will be held on April 25. Swarup said the investigation into the leak of the Class 10 Mathematics examination paper is still underway, and indicated that the paper may only have been circulated in Delhi and Haryana.

He said the decision on whether to hold a re-exam of Class 10 Mathematics in Delhi and Haryana would be made within the next 15 days, based on the information that the investigation finds.LUCKNOW: In yet another incident of statue defacing and vandalism, a sculptor of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar was damaged in Uttar Pradesh's Allahabad. The incident took place on Saturday in Jhunsi's Trivenipuram. The head of the statue was completed destroyed by miscreants.

Despite strong words by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and clear directives from the Ministry of Home Affairs, there seems to be no end to incidents of vandalism of statues of iconic leaders and ideologues. Several incidents of statue vandalism have been reported from various parts of the country over the last few months.

Last week, the Rajasthan Police had arrested one person for vandalising the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Jaisalmer. This came just days after a statue of countrys first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was defaced in Katwa's Telephone Maidan in West Bengal.

In another related incident earlier this month, a statue of Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mukherjee was found vandalised in Assam's Kokrajhar. Also, a life-size statue of Michael Madhusudan Dutt, a prominent poet during the 19th century Bengal renaissance, was found defaced in Raniganj of West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district.

Reports of incidents of statues vandalism started emerging soon after the results of the Assembly elections in Tripura were announced. Following the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Left bastion, a mod demolished a statue of Communist ideologue Vladimir Lenin in Tripura.

Following this, a statue of Dravidian ideologue 'Periyar' EV Ramasamy was damaged in Tirupattur in Tamil Nadu. This was followed by defacing statues of Dr BR Ambedkar in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh and Mahatma Gandhi in Taliparamba in Kannur district of Kerala.

These incidents have sparked war of words between political parties as well. PM Modi, however, had recently made an appeal to people to not indulge in vandalism of statues. Following this, the Union Home Ministry had issued a directive to states to ensure that no such incidents take place.The government is awaiting a nod from Baghdad ambassador, for Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh to fly to Iraq to bring the mortal remains of Indians, who were killed by ISIS in Mosul.

Singh has confirmed that he will fly to Iraq soon after the nod in a C-17 plane to bring back the mortal remains of 39 Indians. As soon as we get a nod from Baghdad ambassador, we will leave with a C-17 plane to bring back the mortal remains with due honours, he said.

The minister further confirmed that the mortal remains of all Indians would be handed over to their families, who are in different states in India. We will hand over the mortal remains to their families. They won't have to come to the airport, said the former Army chief.

According to earlier reports, Singh is slated to leave for Iraq on April 1, Sunday.

This comes even as the Congress party has moved a privilege motion against External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Singh saying they "deliberately misled" the families of the 39 Indians.

Making a statement on the issue in Lok Sabha recently, Sushma Swaraj had hailed the role of VK Singh in ascertaining the identity of the Indians who got killed in Iraq. She had made a special mention of him while addressing Parliament.

"Mortal remains were sent to Baghdad. For verification of bodies, the DNA samples of their relatives were sent there and four state governments - Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar - were involved in this," she had further said.

Sushma Swaraj had also told the House that when VK Singh would return from Iraq with the mortal remains, the plane would first go to Amritsar, then to Patna and then to Kolkata.

A group of Indian labourers, mostly from Punjab, Bihar and Himachal, was taken hostage by ISIS when it overran Iraq's second largest city Mosul in 2014.

The workers were trying to leave Mosul when they were intercepted and taken hostage by the ISIS fighters.

One of the captured Indians, Harjit Masih from Gurdaspur, had managed to escape and claimed to have witnessed the massacre of the others.

The Government of India (GoI) rejected his claim and maintained that all efforts were on to find the missing Indians and, without any credible information, the workers would be considered alive.

The GoI had even asked Iraq for help in locating the missing Indians after Iraqi forces recaptured Mosul from ISIS.

The government in Iraq too had earlier expressed its inability to confirm if Indians taken hostage by the ISIS in Mosul three years ago were alive or dead.

(With agency inputs)Kibithu: Miles away from home, the soldiers of Sikh Light Infantry Regiment celebrated Bada Khana in Arunachal Pradesh's Kibithu on Saturday.

#WATCH Soldiers of Sikh Light Infantry Regiment celebrating Bada Khana in Kibithu #ArunachalPradesh pic.twitter.com/i2pSD5N47I  ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2018

Soldiers of Sikh Light Infantry Regiment celebrating Bada Khana in Kibithu #ArunachalPradesh pic.twitter.com/9cjKgywf1y  ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2018

Bada Khana, which literally means a 'Big Meal' is grand feast. In Kibithu, the feast was held in the Sikh infantry of the Indian army.

Kibithu town in Arunachal Pradesh's Anjaw district lies on the LAC (line of actual control) and is one of the five Border Personnel Meeting points between the Indian Army and China's PLA.

Earlier, reports of China building infrastructure in Tatu, which lies on the other side of Kibithu. The newly built cluster included a camp for People's Liberation Army (PLA) along with several houses. The heightened activities by China along the border is being witnessed as a fresh dare to India.Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has said neither India nor Pakistan are in a position to fight a war. She urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to re-open talks between the two neighbours. She also appealed to Kashmiri Pandits who fled the Valley to return to their roots.

Mufti's appeal to PM Modi mirrors similar statements made by her political opponent, National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah. She raised the example of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee's bid to move forward with talks with Pakistan to press her case.

"I urge Prime Minister Modi to talk to Pakistan, just like Vajpayee ji did. Neither we nor Pakistan are in a condition of fighting a war. Both countries know if there will be a war, nothing will be spared. Both nations will lose everything," said Mufti, news agency ANI reported.

The reference to Vajpayee was his repeated bid to stabilise relations with Pakistan during the Musharraf era, despite the Kargil conflict. The bids had failed, with Pakistan's military-political establishment returning to the pattern of violent attacks to go hand in hand with peace efforts.

Mufti also urged Kashmiri Pandits, who fled Kashmir to escape violence during the militancy of the 1990s to return to the Valley. "Kashmiri Pandits should visit Kashmir. Their younger generations should see where their roots belong to. We will make all arrangements. Whatever has happened in the past is unfortunate, but now we will have to move forward," she said.

Efforts made by the Jammu and Kashmir government to relocate Kashmiri Pandits in the region have failed to take flight. They have either not been able to attract members of the community, many of whom live in refugee-camp-like conditions, or have faced criticism of trying to ghettoise them in select areas.

(With inputs from ANI)Mysuru: Equating the Congress with corruption, BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday cautioned the Karnataka voters against re-electing the ruling party on May 12 as it would result in more graft in the southern state.

"If the same party (Congress) is re-elected and forms the government, then corruption will turn into a tsunami wave," Shah told the media here on the second day of his visit to the state's old Mysuru region.

Claiming that the people wanted to oust the corrupt Congress from power, the party chief said the ruling party had turned the state government into an 'ATM' of corruption for itself.

"The Karnataka government is nothing but the 'ATM' of corruption for the Congress," Shah said.

Noting that 3,500 farmers had allegedly committed suicide across the state over the last four years due to agrarian crisis, Shah it was unfortunate Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had termed the death of so many farmers as a conspiracy.

"It's a pathetic and insensitive statement by the Chief Minister," he said.

Blaming the Congress for ignoring the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Shah regretted that the grand old party had prevented the Modi government from giving constitutional status to the OBCs by blocking an amendment bill in the Rajya Sabha.

"Siddaramaiah says he is a OBC leader and that his government was doing a lot for the OBCs. If it were so, why did he fail to convince his party on not stalling the constitutional amendment," the BJP leader said.

Appealing to the people to vote for the BJP in the ensuing assembly election, Shah said the state would development rapidly under its chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Centre.

"If the people in the state are looking for change, it's only the BJP under Yeddyurappa's leadership is capable of providing it," claimed Shah, adding the regional party Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) would not be in a position to form the next government in the state.

Vote count is on May 15 after single-phase polling on May 12.

Bengaluru: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, who is touring the poll-bound Karnataka, said Tuesday that the party will clear its stand on the Lingayat issue after the Karnataka Assembly elections.

He also called the decision of the Karnataka government to give minority status to Lingayat community as a strategy to 'polarise votes'. Addressing the media in Mysuru, Shah termed the step as a part of plan chalked out to stop their chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa from becoming the CM.

"This is a strategy to stop Yeddyurappa ji from becoming Karnataka CM. They (Siddaramaiah government) want to polarise Lingayat votes but the community is aware of it. BJP will make its stance clear after polls," Shah said, as per ANI.

The Siddaramaiah government recently recommended to the Centre to accord a religious minority tag to Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats in what is seen as an attempt to wean away a section of them from the BJP.

The BJP chief added that the Congress has become a 'symbol of corruption' and said that the people of Karnataka have made up their mind to change Siddaramaiah government.

The Karnataka government led by Siddaramaiah is the ATM of corruption for Congress party. I have not seen a govt as insensitive as this, which disappointingly says that farmer suicides are part of a conspiracy. pic.twitter.com/WT0PDCLKWJ  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) March 31, 2018

On Friday too, stepping into the home turf of Chief Minister Sidddaramaiah, Shah had told him that his 'time' had come to an end. Shah had begun his fourth round of visit in the state on Tuesday to with a tour of old Mysuru areas and had asserted that Siddaramaiah and JD(S) would receive "biggest shock of their lives" from the region in the Assembly polls.

"It is said that the BJP is a bit weak here (old Mysuru region), but after seeing the work of the party workers, I expect Siddaramaiah ji and the JD(S) to get the biggest shock of their lives from this (Old) Mysuru region," he had told a party convention, PTI reported.

Addressed the Navashakti Samavesh of three assembly constituencies in Mysuru. Karyakartas of @BJP4Karnataka unit is all set dislodge the corrupt Siddaramaiah government and bring in the BJP government with full majority. pic.twitter.com/bxdopfFo0n  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) March 30, 2018

Addressed the Navashakti Samavesh in Chamarajanagar (Karnataka). The Siddaramaiah govt. has become a symbol of corruption and violence. Congress cannot take Karnataka on the path of development only a BJP government can develop Karnataka and restore its pride. pic.twitter.com/48KmtPfLC4  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) March 30, 2018

There are multiple fronts on which CM Siddaramaiah has failed his own constituency. Mandya-Mysuru region has one of the highest farmer suicide rates in the state. Last year, there were more than 265 infant deaths in just 7 months in Mysuru district.  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) March 30, 2018

The BJP president had begun his third leg of the tour on March 26, 2018, by seeking blessings of 111-year old Sri Shivakumara Swami of Siddhaganga Mutt in Tumakuru, a revered seer of the Lingayat community.

The meeting with the Lingayat seers is being seen as an attempt to reach out to the Lingayats/Veeshaivas, who are numerically and politically powerful in the state and form a major voter base for the BJP.

The elections to the 224-Karnataka Assembly will be held on May 12, while the counting of votes will take place on May 15.

(With Agency inputsNew Delhi: Bigg Boss 11 finalist Hina Khan looked ethereal in a red Kanjeevaram saree that she wore in Dubai Fashion League. She wore a Kundan set and her hair was tied in a bun. Although she looked drop-dead gorgeous, Hina's look reminded us of Deepika Padukone from HT most stylish award 2018.

Check out the pictures:

A post shared by Hina Khan (@realhinakhan) on Mar 29, 2018 at 11:06am PDT

A post shared by Hina Khan (@realhinakhan) on Mar 29, 2018 at 11:08am PDT

Hina Khan was the most stylish contestant in the Bigg Boss house and even after coming out the house she won the Most Stylish TV personality award. Post her stint in the reality show, the actress was seen in various fashion events. Recently, she walked the ramp for Kolkata-based designer label Osaa by Adarsh at the Lakme Fashion Week 2018.

Hina remained a popular contestant till the end of Bigg Boss but some of her comments weren't received well by the audience. The actress was on great terms with fellow contestants Priyank Sharma and Luv Tyagi but their relationship turned sour towards the end of the show.

Post her innings in Bigg Boss, Hina is enjoying the break with beau Rocky Jaiswal. They were holidaying in Dubai recently.

The TV actress played the role of Akshara in 'Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai' for 8 long years. She is one of the highest-paid actresses in Indian television industry. She was also the first runner-up in reality shows 'Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 8'.NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board chief Waseem Rizvi has repeated his allegation that madrassas are creating are promoting hard line sentiments against Hindus and Shias. He also alleged that the Darul Uloom seminary in Deoband is hosting hard line foreign preachers.

"The hardliner mentality being created in madrasas against the Hindu and Shia communities is the cause behind recent incidents of communal violence," Rizvi said, supposably referring to recent communal tensions in Bihar and West Bengal.

He also alleged that the hard line sentiment may not be home-grown, and may instead be seeping in through foreigners. "In Darul Uloom and other madrasas situated in the border areas in India, some foreign hardliner are teaching students" Rizvi said, according to news agency ANI.

This is not the first time such an opinion is being expressed from the UP Shia Waqf Board. In January, some of the members of the board had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for madrassas to be shut down across the country.

Apart from the allegation on radicalisation, Rizvi had said madrassas were providing "misplaced and misconceived religious education". He had also pointed out that Muslim students studying in such institutions are moving towards unemployment since madrassas are not recognised as educational institutions.

The Shia body has often found itself on the other side of opinion from Sunni organisations like waqf boards and the personal law board. The most visible disagreement between the two sect-based outfits in recent times has been over the Ayodhya controversy.

Rizvi has on a number of occasions supported the construction of a Ram Janmabhoomi temple at the disputed location in Ayodhya, and a mosque elsewhere. The waqf had even pledged to donate 10 silver arrows to be used on a proposed 100-meter tall statue of Ram.

(With inputs from ANI)LUCKNOW: In the wake of an alleged case of a paper leak in the examination to recruit junior engineers to the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL), the latter invalidated all recruitment examinations held in 2018.The announcement follows the detection of irregularities in the online recruitment exams by the UP Special Task Force (STF).

Along with the invalidation of exams, Aptech, a private firm which conducted the examination, was black-listed, while two officials of the Electric service commission were suspended following the abnormality.

For the unversed, the recruitment exam to the UPPCL was conducted on February 11 and results were to be announced on February 20.

However, a copy of the answer-key of the examination was reportedly circulated on social media a day before the exam. Furthermore, a few candidates who appeared for this exam alleged that a section of their fellow candidates had access to the question paper before the exam began.

Following this, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered an STF probe into the matter, after which a four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted.

Meanwhile, the state Chief Secretary (Energy) assured that the miscreants will be punished by the law, adding that officials of the UPPCL will be interrogated.Further details are awaitedA wanted criminal with Rs 20,000 bounty on his head was injuring in firing by Uttar Pradesh police during an encounter in Muzaffarnagar area. In a fierce gunbattle between the police and criminal shots were fired at the cops first wherein SHO Virendra Kasana escaped injury as a bullet hit his bullet-proof jacket.

Two other criminals, however, escaped unhurt during the encounter. While the police went for combing operation in adjoining forest area to trace them, but failed to nab them. A Hyundai Santro car, and a gun and bullets in the possession of the wanted criminal, were recovered by the police following the encounter. Several tools used for cow slaughter were also recovered by the cops.

Ratanpuri police personnel in the area got a tip-off about some criminals were going in a Santro car to carry out an incident. Acting swiftly, the police cordoned off the area and began checking of all vehicles.

When they discovered a Santro car approaching them, the cops signalled the driver to stop. But instead of stopping the vehicle, the criminals opened fire on police personnel and fled the spot. The cops chased them. Realising threat, the criminals abandoned the car and ran towards sugarcane fields near the road to Salawa.

The cops continued to chase them and fired at the criminals wherein wanted criminal Gulzar suffered injuries. He was later shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Gulzar has previously been charged with loot, attempt to murder, and over dozen cases of cow slaughter.KOLKATA: The local body elections in West Bengal will be held in three phases, the State Election Commissioner AK Singh announced on Saturday. The three phases have been scheduled over a span of five days.

"The Panchayat polls would be held in three phases on May 1, 3 and 5. The counting would be take place on May 8," Singh announced, according to news agency PTI. He said nominations would be accepted from April 2 till April 9.

Voting will take place in close to 58,500 polling stations across 20 of the 23 districts of the state. Over 5.08 crore electors are eligible to cast their votes in the election.

Singh did not offer clarity on whether he would request for central police forces to maintain control during the election. This has been a key demand of opposition parties in the state.

The panchayat elections promise to be a heated affair. The ruling Trinamool Congress will look to consolidate its grip on power, while the Left will be fighting hard to expand its presence in a state that was once its fortress. The BJP too is making efforts to expand its footprint in West Bengal, where it has historically been present in name only.

The heated political climate can be expected to add to tensions and possible violence in some parts of the state, which have for long been prone to violence clashes between the cadre of the main parties.

However, for the moment, political parties seem more focussed on complaining that the elections have been scheduled at such short notice, or that they have been set during the examinations season or that there has been no announcement yet on the deployment of central police forces to ensure the integrity of the elections.

(With inputs from PTI)Freetown: Sierra Leone voted on Saturday in a poll delayed by fraud allegations to choose a successor to President Ernest Bai Koroma who leaves a country struggling after the Ebola epidemic and a commodity price crash.

The face-off between opposition leader Julius Maada Bio and ruling party standard-bearer Samura Kamara was supposed to take place on Tuesday but was rescheduled after a complaint about ballot tampering in the first round of voting this month from a member of Kamara`s All People`s Congress.

Neither is a clear front-runner after a first round that Maada Bio narrowly won with 43.3 percent of the votes versus 42.7 for Kamara, short of the 50 percent needed for outright victory. Counting had begun on Saturday evening and the elections commission said a result would be announced in the coming days.

Whoever succeeds Koroma, who is stepping aside after his maximum two five-year terms in office, faces an uphill struggle to overturn years of hardship. A slump in the price of its commodity exports since 2015 and the Ebola crisis in 2014 and 2015 crippled the economy, which shrank by a fifth in 2015.

"I want a better country, I want development for my country, so today I come to cast my vote for a leader who can develop this country," said Mohamed Kamara after casting his vote at a polling station in western Freetown.

Voting was completed on a hot and humid day in mostly peaceful conditions though there were clashes between supporters in at least one polling station, according to witnesses. On the streets of Lumley in western Freetown, police opened fire during a violent dispute. A Reuters witness said no one was killed.

Many voters complained that a heavy police presence inside polling stations had deterred people from casting their ballot.

Staff at two polling stations said turnout was lower than in the first round. Many were forced to walk to their nearest voting station because of a driving ban imposed on election day for security reasons.

"There is low turnout in different parts of the country because of the huge presence of security forces," Julius Maada Bio said after voting in Freetown.

President Koroma also noted the low turnout when he spoke in Freetown, and urged people to head to their polling stations.

Concern about policing comes after the National Electoral Commission last week said that police had tried to intimidate staff in the run-up to the election.

Speaking to the media, army spokesman Major Paow Kagbo said the military personnel were there to ensure the election was "free and fair".

Politics in the West African country of over seven million people has been dominated by two parties: the ruling All People`s Congress, now fielding ex-foreign minister Samura Kamara, and the Sierra Leone People`s Party behind Julius Maada Bio, who briefly ruled as head of a military junta in 1996.

The generally peaceful nature of the election, and the fact Koroma is stepping down while some other African presidents seek to extend their mandates, is seen as a positive sign for Sierra Leone that was ripped apart by a 1990s civil war.Moscow: Moscow has told Britain it must cut just over 50 more of its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia in a worsening standoff over the poisoning of a Russian former spy and his daughter in England, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

Separately, Moscow also demanded an official explanation for the search of a Russian passenger plane in London, saying it could reserve the right to act similarly against British airlines in Russia. Britain said the search was routine.

More than 100 Russian diplomats have been expelled by various countries, including 23 from Britain itself, to punish the Kremlin over the March 4 attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the historic English city of Salisbury.

London says Moscow was responsible for poisoning the Skripals in the first known use of a military-grade nerve agent on European soil since World War Two. Russia flatly denies that and has cast the allegations as part of an elaborate Western plot to sabotage East-West relations and isolate Moscow.

Russia had already retaliated in kind by ejecting 23 British diplomats. On Friday, the Foreign Ministry summoned British Ambassador Laurie Bristow and told him London had one month to further cut its diplomatic contingent in Russia to the same size as the Russian mission in Britain. It also expelled 59 diplomats from 23 other countries for backing Britain.

A spokeswoman for Britain`s Foreign Office called the Russian move regrettable, and said it was considering the implications of the measures. It did not say how many diplomatic staff in Russia would be affected, while the British Embassy in Moscow says it does not make staff numbers public.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Reuters the demand meant Britain would have to cut "a little over 50" more of its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia on top of the 23 diplomats who have already gone home.

"We asked for parity. The Brits have 50 diplomats more than the Russians," Zakharova said on Saturday.

Asked if that meant London would now have to cut exactly 50 diplomatic and technical staff, she said: "A little over 50."

The Russian Foreign Ministry later published a list of 14 questions its London embassy sent Britain`s Foreign Office about the case on Saturday. It included queries about why Russia had not been granted the right to provide the Skripals with consular assistance following the incident and about France`s role in the investigation.

Russia`s Ministry of Transport meanwhile demanded Britain explain why the Aeroflot passenger plane was searched at Heathrow airport on Friday, in what the Russian Embassy in London called a "blatant provocation".

"After the search was over, the British officers refused to provide any written document that would specify the reasons for their actions, their legal foundation and their outcome," the embassy said, concluding that the action was "connected with the hostile policy" of the British government towards Russia.

Britain disagreed.

"It is routine for (Britain`s border agency) to search aircraft to protect the UK from organised crime and from those who attempt to bring harmful substances like drugs or firearms into the country," Security Minister Ben Wallace said in a written statement.

"Once these checks were carried out, the plane was allowed to carry on with its onward journey."

Britain`s Foreign Office also said on Saturday it was considering allowing visits under consular access terms to Yulia Skripal, who is recovering in hospital against all expectations and is no longer in critical condition.

Russia`s embassy said that it had contacted Viktoria Skripal, Yulia`s cousin. "Upon receiving confirmation that Yulia Skripal`s condition is getting better and she is able to communicate, she said she would like to go to London and to visit her cousin," the embassy said.

The BBC reported on Friday that Yulia was "conscious and talking," a factor which may influence the investigation of how she and her father were poisoned.

Britain must decide how to make the cuts to its Russian diplomatic team and may be forced to lay off some Russian support staff as well as sending home fully-fledged diplomats.

Russia ordered the closure of another British consulate, in St Petersburg, earlier this month in its first retaliatory step.

The poisoning on British territory has united much of the West in taking action against what it regards as the hostile policies of President Vladimir Putin. This includes the United States under President Donald Trump, who Putin had hoped would improve ties.The militants used grenade launchers and mortars in Luhansk sector

Russian militants have shot at Ukrainian positions 32 times during the first day of the Easter Ceasefire. One Ukrainian soldier died, three were injured. The Donbas conflict HQ reported on Facebook.

According to the report, the militants used grenade launchers and mortars in Luhansk sector near Avdiivka, Vodyane, Marinka, Pavlopil, Hnutove, Verhnyotoretske, Lebedynske, Bogdanivka, Butivka mine, Kamianka, Novotroitske, Pisok, Opytne, Mariinka, Shyrokino, Talakivka and Pyshchenvyk.

The occupants used machine guns and small arms near Katerynivka and Luhanske, as the message informs.

Earlier, another ceasefire was launched at midnight on March 30, this time it is dedicated to Easter celebrations.

The representatives of the OSCE emphasized the importance of the ceasefire and the disciplinary measures to be taken if necessary. They also stressed that the refusal of offensive actions and intelligence operations, non-application of the reprisal fire and weapons withdrawal.

Related video:

Ukraine news on 112.internationalMilitants violated the Easter ceasefire, set at midnight on March 30. The enemy has performed 16 shootings at Ukrainian positions in the Donetsk sector. This was reported on the Donbas conflict HQ Facebook page.

The militants were shooting from 82-mm mortars in Donetsk sector at our defense works near Talakivka (Donetsk region), used grenade launchers near Opytne, Verkhnyotoretske and Bohdanivka (Donetsk region), and an anti-aircraft mounting near Vodyanoy. Besides, the militants were shooting from the small arms near Avdiivka, Opytne, Novotroitske, Butivka mine and Pavlopil.

The enemy obligated the ceasefire in Luhansk sector entirely.

One Ukrainian soldier died as a result of the battles, three soldiers were injured. The injured were taken to the hospital, they received the medical assistance.

Earlier, another ceasefire was launched at midnight on March 30, this time it is dedicated to Easter celebrations.

The representatives of the OSCE emphasized the importance of the ceasefire and the disciplinary measures to be taken if necessary. They also stressed that the refusal of offensive actions and intelligence operations, non-application of the reprisal fire and weapons withdrawal.

Related video:According to the mission, the lorry column consisted of ten cargo vehicles, three trucks, two ambulances and two police cars

The militants held off the OSCE observers to the humanitarian convoy from Russia, as the organizations report as at March 30 shows.

An armed man in Luhansk wearing a military-like cloth refused to grant access for the SMM patrol to the storage, where the lorry column was heading to. The column was labelled as a humanitarian assistance from Russia. The mission team left the area, as it was noted in the report.

The representative of the OSCE informed, that the SMM team saw the lorry column consisting of ten trucks with a sign Humanitarian assistance from Russia in Russian language. The column was heading through the Molohvardiysk checkpoint (which is not under Ukraines control) and Luhansk.

According to the mission, the lorry column consisted of ten cargo vehicles, three trucks, two ambulances and two police cars.

The SMM team saw these trucks being unloaded on the territory of the object in Luhansk. The observers saw ten men in a cloth with the Ministry of Emergency Situations insignias unloading the boxes wrapped in plastic. An armed man wearing a military cloth did not allow the SMM team to enter the object territory. Later, the witnesses saw the column moving towards southeast end of Luhansk, the OSCE report shows.

Earlier, another ceasefire was launched at midnight on March 30, this time it is dedicated to Easter celebrations.

The representatives of the OSCE emphasized the importance of the ceasefire and the disciplinary measures to be taken if necessary. They also stressed that the refusal of offensive actions and intelligence operations, non-application of the reprisal fire and weapons withdrawal.

Related video:TASS

Russia plans to expel more than 50 employees of the British diplomatic mission in addition to the 23 already expelled diplomats. This was stated by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova on her Facebook page.



According to her statement, the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats by several countries in Europe and in the world was a "London campaign."



"In retaliation to the actions of the British side within a month an appropriate staff will be reduced to bring the total number of employees of the British Embassy in Moscow and the British Consulate General in Russia in line with the number of Russian diplomats and administrative and technical workers who are on long-term business trips in the UK", said Zakharova.



She also clarified that at the moment the number of British employees in Russia exceeds the number of the Russian mission in the UK by more than 50 people.



We remind you that Russian diplomats are massively expelled from European countries and NATO countries because of the poisoning of ex-officer of the Russian intelligence Sergey Skripal in Salisbury. Britain accused the Kremlin of using chemical weapons, which led to poisonings among more than 20 British citizens.



It was reported about the deportation of Russians from about 30 countries around the world, including the United States, Canada and Australia. In addition, the number of accredited Russian diplomats has been reduced in representations of the governing bodies of NATO and the UN. Ukraine also joined the international community's response to the poisoning of Skripal and expelled 13 diplomats.

Related: IMF demands Ukraine raise gas price to market level112 Agency

President of the United States Donald Trump ordered to suspend the allocation of $ 200 million for the restoration of Syria, according to The Wall Street Journal with reference to officials.



According to sources, the decision was made after Trump learned from the media about Washington's obligations to pay an additional $ 200 million to restore Syria.



On the eve, on Thursday March 29, speaking in Ohio, Trump said that the US "very soon" will leave Syria. "Let others take care of this," he said.



According to the WSJ, the White House ordered the US State Department to suspend funds for the restoration of Syria. The State Department said that they do not yet have a formal plan of the president to "exit from Syria."



The New York Times in December 2017 wrote that there are about 2,000 US military in Syria.



The war in Syria continues from 2011. In the fighting, government forces, oppositionists, radical Islamists, Kurds and militants of the "Islamic state" are taking part. In September 2014, an operation against ISIS was launched by a coalition led by the United States. In September 2015, Russia joined the conflict in Syria, in August 2016 - Turkey also joined it.

Related: Massachusetts recognizes Holodomor in Ukraine as genocide

Related: IMF demands Ukraine raise gas price to market level112 Agency

Russian billionaire Ziyavudin Magomedov and his brother Magomed were detained by police. They faced suspicions of embezzlement in a particularly large amount. This is reported by the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, informs Interfax.



As reported, along with the Magomedov brothers, was detained Arthur Maksidov, the head of one of the companies of the Suma group, which was co-owned by Ziyavudin Magomedov.



Irina Volka, the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said that cases against detainees have been filed under articles on fraud and organization of a criminal community in which, according to the investigation, they stole 2.5 billion rubles from the budget for the construction of various infrastructure and energy supplies. In particular, according to the newspaper Kommersant, it is about 750 million rubles allocated for the construction of the stadium "Arena Baltic" in Kaliningrad. In addition, several episodes are associated with the Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port.



At the moment, the investigators conducted searches in 25 subjects of the federation. In addition to both Magomedov and Maxidov, there are six more suspects in the case.



Now the court selects preventive measures for detainees, the pre-trial investigation lasts.



Ziyavudin Magomedov takes 63rd place in the list of the richest businessmen of Russia according to Forbes.

Related: Ministry of Culture to seek sanctions against Crimean museums for transfer of paintings to Russia112 Agency

The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine intends to seek sanctions against Crimean museum workers for the transfer of paintings to Russia. This is stated in the response of the press service of the Ukrainian Ministry to the information request of "Crimea. Realii."



"The use of museum items of the state part of the Museum Fund of Ukraine, stored in the museum institutions of Crimea and Sevastopol, for exhibiting at exhibition projects outside Ukraine is illegal," the report said.



The ministry added that after the annexation of Crimea, communication with cultural institutions located on the territory of the peninsula was lost, but the Ministry of Culture was able to gather information about some facts of the movement of paintings from the annexed peninsula to the territory of neighboring Russia.



The Ministry of Transport reported the fact of the movement of 38 paintings from the collection of the National Picture Gallery in 2016 from the Crimea to Russia.



We recall, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called on the international community to strenghten sanctions against Russia because of the presidential elections in Crimea.

Related: Russia announced expulsion of more than 50 British diplomatsHe also believes that the supporters of the Nord Stream  2 construction are Russian accomplices in its Hybrid war

Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko believes that the construction of the Nord Stream-2 poses a serious danger for Ukraine. He stated this in the interview for Funke media group, which will be published on Saturday on March 31, as Deutsche Welle reports.

On one hand, Kyiv will lose $2 billion of customs in a year, which Kyiv levied for Russian gas transit to Europe. On the other hand, Russian Gazprom is likely to reduce the amount of gas supply for Ukraine and therefore it will weaken the state. The Nord Stream-2 is a tool of political pressure for Russia, Poroshenko stressed.

He also believes that the supporters of the Nord Stream-2 construction are Russian accomplices in its Hybrid war.

Poroshenko believes, that the Skripals case will influence the laying of the pipe, which is to connect Russia with Germany.

The Nord Stream-2 AG secured approval for the construction and maintenance of the pipeline in Germany's Exclusive economic zone.

Russias leading energy enterprise Gazprom and its partners intend to start implementing the Nord Stream-2 project worth almost 10 billion euros in April 2018. The 1,200-kilometers-long pipeline is to be laid through the Baltic Sea, linking Russia and Germany  bypassing Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic States. The capacity will be as twice as larger than that of the Nord Stream-1. The construction is to be complete by late 2019.

The Nord Stream-2 is the project on building a second transit gas pipeline from Russia to Germany in the Baltic Sea. Barack Obamas administration was against the project. The construction works are to begin in 2018. The project foresees further broadening and modernization of the Nord Stream pipeline. By promoting the Nord Stream-2, Russia aims to refuse from the transit of its gas supplies through the Ukrainian territory.

The construction of gas pipeline the Nord Stream-2 doesnt imply terminating the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine, but the transit can be preserved only through competitive tariffs and canceling the Ukrainian lawsuits against Gazprom.

Earlier, more than ten world-known companies stated that they would like to participate in managing of Ukraines gas pipeline system.

Related video:According to her, the relatives of the political prisoners are worried whether the Ukrainian Consulate could work properly and protect Ukrainian citizens

Russia expels 13 diplomats from Ukraine, mostly from the Embassy in Moscow, 5 from the Consulate in Rostov, and from the cities where most of the trials of Ukrainian political prisoner are held. Iryna Herashchenko, the Chairman of Verkhovna Rada, wrote on Facebook.

Russia, by tradition, is acting mean and painful. They expel 13 of our diplomats mostly from the Embassy in Moscow and 5 diplomats from our Consulate in Rostov as a reaction to the expulsion of 13 Russian diplomats doing some precarious business in Ukraine. Most trials of Ukrainian political prisoners take place there (in Rostov,- ed.), she wrote.

According to her, the relatives of the political prisoners are worried whether the Ukrainian Consulate could work properly and protect Ukrainian citizens.

Yes, the stress and the pressure on our consuls, who stay to work in the Mordor will increase, but they realize the responsibility they bear and their noble mission. They will perform their duties in full, strive for the access to the prison, they will also be present at the court, Herashchenko stated.

Meanwhile, in her opinion, a department to support hostages relatives and political prisoners should be set in the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and IDPs.

As the Presidents Envoy, I intend to appeal to all of the EU and G7 states with a request for being present at the trials of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars  in Moscow, Rostov, wherever this farce is going on. This will be a gesture of solidarity with Ukraine, which supports Britain and the world, Herashchenko stated.

She added that unlike the Ukrainian consuls, Russian consuls do not concern about lives of ihtamnets (a soldier, a representative of Russian Armed Forces, who conduct a Hybrid war on the territory of another state -, ed.)

Russian consul visited Aheyev, who liberal Nezavisimaya Gazeta was crying about, one time, some of 20 convicted Russians  not even once, the deputy informed.

Earlier, Russia declared 13 Ukrainian diplomats personae non-gratae on March 30. This was a reaction to the expulsion of 13 Russian diplomats from Ukraine due to the Skripals case. 23 states were involved in the responsive measures taken by Russia.

The USA announced its decision to expel 60 Russian diplomats on March 26 due to the Skripals case. 28 states took same measures afterwards.

Related video:According to the message, Ukraines asset declaration system should hold public officials accountable and not place unnecessary burdens or pressure on civil society

The USA called Ukraine for cancellation of e-declaration for the public figures, as it was reported on the website of the U.S. Department of State.

The United States strongly encourages the government of Ukraine to repeal legislation that requires the asset declarations from civil society and international members of state-owned-enterprise supervisory boards. Ukraines asset declaration system should hold public officials accountable and not place unnecessary burdens or pressure on civil society. This punitive law targets those very individuals who seek to increase transparency and accountability in Ukraine, fulfilling the promises of the Euromaidan and the Ukrainian peoples aspirations for a democratic country governed by the rule of law. , the message says.

It was noted that the bill concerns those people who aspire to increase the level of transparency and accountability in Ukraine, fulfilling Euromaidan promises and Ukrainians aspirations to the democracy, ruled by the rule of law.

We urge the Ukrainian government to expeditiously cancel the asset declaration requirements, in line with recommendations by the Venice Commission, and, in the interim, provide a temporary amnesty for those individuals who do not file declarations by the upcoming deadline, the message says.

Parubiy suggested that the issue of the cancellation of e-declaration for social activists be the first to discuss at the Verkhovna Rada session on April 3. The Chairman added, that they should also discuss the decriminalization of the article on the social activists e-declarations failed to send or sent late.

It should be mentioned that the deadline for the submission of the declaration of assets expires on April 1.

Earlier, the Verkhovna Rada refused to consider the bills which are cancelled or reschedule the deadline for submission of the electronic declarations of property and revenue of the NGOs representatives, which deal with corruption.

As it was reported, the Group of Seven called Ukraine for cancellation of the e-declaration for anticorruption crusaders.

Related video:YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Yulia Bogdanova, owner of the building which housed the Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) shopping mall in the Russian town of Kemerovo, has plead guilty in court for the fatal fire which killed 64 people, RIA Novosti reported.

Bogdanova was charged with violating fire safety requirements, which led to fatal consequences.

According to the investigation, the CEO was numerously notified by her staff that the fire alarm system is faulty, but she failed to do anything about it.

A fire broke out on the top floor of the Zimnyaya Vishnya (or Winter Cherry), a four-story shopping mall in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on March 25, eventually engulfing an area of 1,500 square meters. According to latest reports, the disastrous inferno claimed the lives of 64 people, including 41 children. Seventy-six people, including 27 children, were hurt.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. There is no obstacle for ratification of the new Armenia-EU agreement in Luxembourg, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Frank Engel representing Luxembourg told ARMENPRESS in an exclusive interview.

There is no obstacle, there are simply procedural issues. It is in process, the MEP said, adding that he has no doubt that the signatories will remain faithful to their commitments.

This is something that the diplomatic service and leadership of Armenia began with great decisiveness, and I have no doubt that they will realize their part with great willingness and desire. We succeeded in signing it, which is very good, but the signing and ratification is one issue, whereas its practical implementation is another issue, since it will require progress in a number of sectors, I am sure that those who must do this know what and how they should do, and they will do it, MEP Frank Engel said.

Speaking about the recently inaugurated Honorary Consulate of Luxembourg in Yerevan, MEP Engel said he knows Consul Suren Zohrabyan very well and he is sure that he will succeed in the development of bilateral relations.

It would be very good for business exchanges between the two countries to increase, because they arent on a level which they couldve perfectly be, there is still place for development and I am sure that the consul can organize this.

Armenia signed CEPA with the European Union on November 24, 2017. Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini signed the deal in the presence of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and President of the European Council Donald Tusk in Brussels.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Two Afghan soldiers were killed and three others were wounded as a roadside bomb went off in Kandahar, Afghanistan, RIA Novosti reported.

The explosion took place in the morning of March 31 as the military vehicle approached the roadside IED.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS/HH. The tragic incident in Artsakh once again proves the difficulties people face while demining territories and making the land safe for the population, HALO Trust Artsakh Program Manager Michael Newton told Hayastani Hanrapetutyun (Republic of Armenia) newspaper. Mr. Newton refrained from giving any assessments to the incident yet.

The incident is being scrutinized and the public will be informed about the investigation.

We are closely cooperating with the law enforcement agencies and the government of Artsakh. We also invited external investigators expecting to receive more complete information. Experts of the staff of our organization risk their lives in different parts of the world in carrying out difficult work. The tragic incident which took place in Artsakh once again proves the difficulties people face while making the land safer for the population. All parties of the conflict should realize this and not allow new war escalations and tragedies at the border, Mr. Newton said, without hiding concern.

Doctors continue fighting for the lives of Aram Mkrtchyan and Garik Ghahriyan, the two survivors of the blast. Both underwent serious surgeries.

Ghahriyan remains in a serious condition due to heavy blood loss. The deminer also suffered a ruptured spleen and kidney, along with numerous other traumas.

Mkrtchyan is said to be in a serious but stable condition and remains under intensive care.

Artsakhs healthcare minister Karine Atayan personally visited the hospital to see the victims and the doctors.

A vehicle belonging to Halo Trust, a de-mining organization, exploded on a landmine in the Ghazanchi area of Artsakh on March 29, killing three de-miners who were in the car. Two others were seriously wounded. In a statement following the incident, HALO Trust called the blast an accidental detonation.

Law enforcement agencies are investigating the incident.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Member of Parliament Nikol Pashinyan, the leader of the opposition Yelk faction of the Armenian parliament, launched a 14-day walking tour from Gyumri to Yerevan. The opposition politician will walk across the country starting from the Vardanants Square of Gyumri, Armenias second largest city, until he reaches the Freedom Square of the Armenian capital  Yerevan.

Earlier the MP had announced intentions to start a street protest, which, however, was turned down by two other parties of the Yelk alliance  Bright Armenia and Republic.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani military made more than 250 individual ceasefire violations in a week at the Artsakh line of contact.

The defense ministry of Artsakh told ARMENPRESS that Azerbaijani forces fired nearly 3000 rounds at their positions in the period of March 25  March 31.

The Defense Army forces remain in control of the tactical-strategic situation and confidently continue their service, the defense ministry said in a statement.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan personally attended the inauguration of The Alexander in downtown Yerevan. The Alexander is a luxury hotel of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, a subsidiary of Marriott International.

The president toured the new hotel, which is one of a kind in Armenia in terms of class. Sargsyan was briefed on the investments, jobs and services of the hotel, the presidents office told ARMENPRESS.

The Alexander is part of The Luxury Collection of Marriott International.

Nearly 60 million USD was invested for the construction of the hotel.

144 jobs were created with an average wage of nearly 600 dollars. Executives of the hotel said they plan to increase the number of jobs to 170.

The hotel can serve up to 230 visitors at once.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. The grand opening of The Alexander, a luxury hotel of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, a subsidiary of Marriott International, took place Saturday in downtown Yerevan. The hotel is part of The Luxury Collection.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan attended the inauguration ceremony. Numerous guests including politicians and businessmen were in attendance.

Photos by Gevorg Perkuperkyan

The construction of the nearly 60 million dollar hotel began back in 2014. The Alexander is one of its kind in terms of class in Armenia. The hotel can host up to 230 guests at once, with rates ranging from 400 dollars up to nearly 3800 dollars.

Businessman and philanthropist Sergei Hambardzumyan, the founder of the hotel, told reporters that this is a significant day for him. Armenia and Yerevan deserve to have the best hotels. Making investments in my country is a significant event for me. Where else can we invest our money if not in our country. I get pleasure in investing in Armenia, he said.

The name of the hotel is no coincidence, and Hambardzumyan told reporters about the personal story behind it.

We expected an Alexander to be born in our family, but only girls were born. Upon discussing how to name the hotel, Alexander was suggested, he said, adding that Alexander is also his fathers name.

The current 144 jobs are planned to be increased to 170 with an average salary of nearly 600 dollars. The hotel offers all kinds of facilities ranging from a SPA center, a gym, pool, beauty salon, a bar and a restaurant, as well as five conference halls.

A French chef has been brought in to serve the very best of French cuisine.

Jean Cadars, general manager of The Alexander, told reporters that they expect numerous guests as part of the La Francophonie year.

Welcome to this hotel. We are proud to open the hotel of The Luxury Collection world famous hotel chain. It will contribute to the development of tourism. Major events are expected in Armenia this year, with many guests being expected. The quality of service which we offer here, in my opinion, is unique, he said.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. HREESH  (meaning Monster in Armenian) is an Armenian-developed unmanned combat aerial vehicle (aka kamikaze drone) with a capability of striking concealed targets in a range of up to 20 km.

The loitering munition, manufactured by Pro MAQ, has been presented at the ArmHitTec 2018 International Armament and Defense Technology Exhibition in Yerevan.

Pro MAQ also displayed another production  the BEEB multifunctional combat UAV and the T1 artillery guiding UAV.

Vahan Vardanyan, project coordinator of Pro MAQ, told ARMENPRESS that the weapons have been successfully tested in all weather conditions. HREESH is a combat suicide unmanned aerial vehicle designed for striking targets in the range of 20km. It enables to strike concealed targets, Vardanyan said.

Vardanyan said BEEB 3200 is a multifunctional device which can be used for both reconnaissance operations and attacks. A separable section is added which stores the bombs. BEEB 3000 is also a recon UAV with up to 5 hours of flight time and 50 km range, he said.

BEEB 1800 is also a recon/assault UAV similar to HREESH, with a mounted warhead and self-guiding ability.

Speaking about T1 laser designator, Vardanyan said the device provides coordinates for artillery strikes.

Pro MAQ also displayed communication devices which are virtually impossible to be jammed  as proven by tests.

Asked about the commercial advantaged of their products, Vardanyan said their devices are more affordable.

According to him the defense ministry of Armenia is interested in the products.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanTOKYOFan email convinced Axel Abysse he wasn't the only person seeking a good fisting tutorial aimed at soothing the concerns of inexperienced bottoms, while simultaneously emphasizing minimizing risk and maximizing pleasure. When he had the opportunity to initiate Pup Eight into the intimate activity, it proved the perfect time to create what he and others had been seeking.

Abysse just announced the release of the free 5-minute tutorial at AxelAbysse.com

Step-by-step instructions in the form of overlaid graphics allowed Axel and Eight to share a deep connection, beginning with kisses and caresses, progressing to punches and destruction of the hole. Tips offer techniques for the fister to ease entry and reduce any harm to the fistee. For the bottom, the text is a visual checklist in relaxing and opening up the hole to make a first session successful and full of pleasure.

Pup Eight is a New Zealander studying abroad, and truly an inexperienced fisting bottom. Dressed in full latex, pup hood, and padlocked neck chain, he yields to Axels careful but insistent penetration. Abysse demonstrates how to keep the bottom receptive, relaxed, and free from anxiety.

Since my first upload, Abysse explains, I keep getting messages from fans inspired by my videos. They ask for advices, tips, techniques. Most of them are very young and inexperienced. I always take time to answer as I feel its important to explain whats happening and how. Nowadays, theres a tutorial about everything, for everyone. Fisting becoming more and more popular, Ive thought about making one for a while.

Then I recently met Pup Eight, who was an FF virgin," he continues, "I initiated him to the pleasure of fisting, and it was the perfect occasion to capture how I do it. We shot a very intimate session, available on AxelAbysse.com for the members. Then edited this free tutorial version available for everyone to enjoy.

My tutorial isnt a fisting encyclopedia. It probably wont answer every question. But I am convinced porn has a strong responsibility towards sex education and safety. With thousands of amateur videos out there, its sometimes tempting to simply imitate what we see without properly knowing how. Fisting requires some basic knowledge to avoid any harm (wearing gloves to avoid infections, for example). But I mostly try to give out tips to help a bottom to relax. How to set the right mood and make a connection with him. We start very slowly, until he can take an intense punch-fucking.

The only purpose of fisting is pleasure," he assures. "Its not a sport, never a competition. You dont have to set goals, imitate your favorite videos, or try to impress anyone. Theres just one thing to reach through fisting: bliss. At your own path, your own way. Relax, spread your legs, and let your partner(s) explore your body with you.

Axel Abysses fisting tutorial, titled Fisting for Puppies (and Everybody Else) is free and available for viewing online here.CYBERSPACEPassage of the controversial FOSTA bill by the United States Senate last week has set off new fears of internet censorship in the U.S., fears that seem as if they are already being realized with several major online platforms moving to ban offensive language or images, as well as any content that could be construed as promoting sex trafficking.

But the FOSTA anti-sex-trafficking bill is only the domestic version of what appears to be materializing this year as a global wave of online censorship extending from Europe to the Middle East to South Africa and elsewhere.

According to a report by a former Google policy manager, published in the European edition of Politico, the European Commission recently threatened to pass legislation mandating that internet platforms immediately remove extremist and other objectionable content.

And major platforms such as Google itself have shifted from opposing internet censorship to proudly touting their cooperation with governments in their attempt to rid the internet of objectionable material, William Echikson, now head of the Digital Forum at the Center for European Policy Studies, wrote in his Politico article.

According to Googles own semi-annual transparency report, requests by governments to remove content reached an all-time high in 2017, the latest date for which data was available, with nearly 20,000 such requests recorded in the first six months of that yearthough just 831 of those requests came from governments in the United States.

The first six months of 2015 saw fewer than 3,500 government requests for takedowns, according to the Google report. Removal requests by governments specifically targeting adult content also spiked over the past two years, according to Googles transparency report.

At the same time, the European Parliament continues this month to debate a bill that would require internet services to install automated content filters designed to block material that may violate copyrights. Because the automated filters dont recognize such limitations on copyright as fair use, and are often easily manipulated by hackers and censors, activists have dubbed these content filters censorship machines.

In South Africa, the federal parliament passed a bill on March 6 allowing the countrys Films and Publications Board to regulate and even ban user-generated content on YouTube and other, similar services.

In Egypt, online censorship has long been practiced by the government but is now set to become enshrined in an actual law. The countrys parliament is set to pass a new cybercrime bill that would allow the government to order the censorship of websites (when) evidence arises that a website broadcasting from inside or outside the state has published any phrases, photos or films, or any promotional material or the like which constitute a crime.

Internet censorship is so tight in Kazakhstan that late last year, the countrys president signed a law that prohibits users from posting anonymous comments online, while the National Security CommitteeKazakhstans equivalent of the CIAwas last year given control over the national telecommunications network that is the countrys only point of access to the internet.

And in Turkey, internet censorship is so complete, according to Turkish tech journalist Ahmet Sabanci, that use of workarounds such as Virtual Proxy Networks and other forms of disguising IP addresses has simply become routine for internet users in the country.

While the United States has not yet reached the levels of censorship seen in some other countries, by gutting Section 230 of the Communications Decency Actwhich protected online platforms from liability for user contentthe U.S. Congress appears to have opened the door to new, restrictive measures.

Its easy to see the impact that this ramp-up in liability will have on online speech, the longtime online civil liberties group known as the Electronic Frontier Foundation warmed in an article published following the Senate FOSTA vote. Facing the risk of ruinous litigation, online platforms will have little choice but to become much more restrictive in what sorts of discussionand what sorts of usersthey allow, censoring innocent people in the process.Now that it is fully apparent, to all who have the ability to pay some modicum of attention, that Imposter President Biden has extreme cognitive issues, in addition to being an inveterate liar: Can OUR Republic continue with this Executive Office that has completely failed, so many times, on far too many issues here at this early date in this abysmal presidency?

No, Joseph R. Biden is completely unqualified, morally and cognitively, to represent real Americans, and lead this Republic of disparate peoples.

Yes, Joseph R. Biden has started whispering again, even softer now than before; so, I know he still cares, plus, OUR media will soon stop reporting on Afghanistan in favor of OUR Socialist ideals.Liberty Ridge Farm from their website: Above.

onIn 2012, Cynthia and Robert Gifford, a Christian couple who owned a farm in upstate New York where marriage receptions were often held, politely refused to hold a gay marriage on the premises when a lesbian couple targeted their farm as their venue of choice.The lesbian couple sued, prompting a three-and-a-half year legal battle that culminated in the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division upholding a decision by the New York Division of Human Rights in 2014, in which an administrative law judge for the state, Magdalia Pares, fined the Giffords $10,000 and ordered them to pay the lesbian couple $1,500 each.In the appeals court ruling, presiding judge Karen Peters wrote, "The Giffords are free to adhere to and profess their religious beliefs that same-sex couples should not marry, but they must permit same-sex couples to marry on the premises if they choose to allow opposite-sex couples to do so."But now, the Giffords have created the perfect response to the whole unfair situation: they inform anyone who wants to hold a wedding on their property that they will donate a percentage of their profits to organizations that champion traditional marriage in America.As Faithwire reports: "Displayed at the bottom of each page in the 'Weddings' section of its website is a clearly marked disclaimer that reads":At Liberty Ridge Farm, our deeply held religious belief is that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, and the Farm is operated with the purpose of strengthening and promoting marriage. In furtherance of this purpose and to honor and promote our moral and religious beliefs, we donate a portion of our business proceeds to organizations that promote strong marriages such as the Family Research Council. The patronage of all potential clients for all services offered is welcome regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, military status, sex, disability or marital status. All couples legally permitted to marry in the state of New York are welcome to hold their wedding at Liberty Ridge Farm. We serve everyone equally.The long, hard slog for the North Carolina Green Party is over. The state officially recognized the Green Party, allowing its candidates to appear on state ballots.said J.J. Rizzo, co-chairman of the Triangle Chapter of the Green Party.The nine-member Bipartisan State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement voted unanimously March 27 to approve the Green Party petition to be recognized. Minor parties historically have had trouble gaining access to election ballots due to restrictive laws that favored Republicans and Democrats.The Libertarian Party has had ballot status in the state off and on since 1976. A law passed in 2007 reduced the threshold for gaining ballot access from receiving 10 percent of the vote for governor to 2 percent. Mike Munger got 3 percent of the vote in the 2008 gubernatorial election, giving Libertarians continuous ballot status.Ballot access for minor parties eased further last year with passage of Senate Bill 656 - a law enacted over Gov. Roy Cooper's veto. The Electoral Freedom Act lowered many barriers.A party now can get on North Carolina's ballot if its presidential candidate qualifies for a general election ballot in at least 35 states. In 2016, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was on the ballot in 38 states.A party also can reach the ballot by collecting petition signatures equal to 0.25 percent of the total votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election. The threshold had been 2 percent. The petitions must include 200 signatures from at least three congressional districts rather than four, the previous standard.said Tommie James, secretary of the state Green Party.James said the political landscape no longer will be the same in North Carolina.James said. And it should expand a debate that's been dominated by Republicans and Democrats on important statewide issues.Lack of ballot access has made it more challenging to run candidates.James said.she said, but the party has established an endorsement process as it prepared to gain state recognition.The state party immediately began contacting leaders of its five local chapters after the vote.James said.Republicans posted a congratulatory email, with a political barb, while the Elections Board was still meeting.Republican Party Vice Chairwoman Michele Nix said.Nix said.A request for comment sent to several Democratic Party officials had received no response by press time.A new report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation ranks Raleigh 11th out of 20 cities for ease in operating food trucks within city limits. It's the only North Carolina city ranked in the report.With help from the Institute of Justice and the National Food Truck Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation started the Food Truck Nation project. It's a comprehensive study of local food truck regulations in 20 cities across the U.S scoring cities in three categories: obtaining permits and licenses; complying with restrictions; and operating a food truck.Raleigh's Food Truck Nation score is based on the rules and regulations within either Raleigh city limits or Wake County and doesn't include other Triangle jurisdictions.While the study says Raleigh ranks above average in terms of food truck regulations by imposing fewer of them, it also notes the diversity of regulations across the Raleigh metro area increases the cost and complexity of running a food truck.Brent Woodcox, special counsel to Republicans at the General Assembly, said.For the permit and license category, the study examined the number of procedures required to operate, the number of trips to regulators, and the cost associated with those steps. Raleigh ranked 10th for this category with 24 procedures, 16 trips, and $846 in fees required.Raleigh's lowest ranking on the index - a 14 out of 20 - is for complying with restrictions. As the study explains, Raleigh's low ranking is more due to the number of proximity limits rather than the distance."Our lowest scores are due to the City Council placing limitations on food trucks using public right-of-ways as well as relatively high burdens when it comes to zoning, licensing, and taxes," Woodcox said.Raleigh has nine proximity restrictions amounting to 325 feet of restrictions. Food trucks must be 150 feet from a residential property, 100 feet from the front door of a restaurant, and 50 feet from a food vendor cart.Hours of operation are also restricted depending on where the food truck is operating. If a food truck is within 150 feet of a residential property, then the hours of operation can't go earlier than 7 a.m. or later than 10 p.m., otherwise a food truck can run from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m. The city also restricts the number of food trucks that can operate in any given space to prevent a food truck rodeo.The study also looked at the number of required procedures, such as health and safety inspections, and the cost of compliance. Raleigh scored an 11 for 22 trips and $22,827 in compliance cost.Other North Carolina cities, such as Durham and Charlotte, which recently relaxed its regulations, are friendlier to food trucks.Woodcox said Raleigh should embrace food trucks because they give new entrepreneurs an easier path to starting their own food service-oriented business."If we want Raleigh to be a city of opportunity for all, we need to find ways to encourage these small business owners to thrive and not have government regulations standing in their way," Woodcox said.I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2018

On Thursday, President Trump attacked Amazon, a company he has long targeted thanks to its ownership by Jeff Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post. Here was Trump's latest missive:Now, there are plenty of tech companies Trump could rightly target - most obviously, social media companies like Facebook, which are getting spanked by both the Right (for discrimination against conservatives) and by the Left (for alleged privacy violations). But he's chosen Amazon out of personal pique with Bezos.Virtually all of the claims in this tweet are wrong, however.First, Amazon pays state taxes in 45 states plus the District of Columbia. The law doesn't require companies without a physical nexus in a state to pay taxes in that state, but Amazon does anyway; they also pay property taxes on their facilities in various states. According to CNN.com, Amazon likely paysIn any case, why would Trump be stumping for higher taxes on profitable companies? He's supposed to be a free market guy, right? But not really. He just likes some companies and doesn't like others. If Amazon produced steel, presumably he'd set up tariffs in their benefit. But they're a web-based company that sells products all over the United States, and their owner doesn't like him. So screw those guys.Trump is also wrong about the post office. Amazon may be the only company keeping the U.S. Postal Service afloat - many companies now ship via FedEx. Amazon doesn't have a sweetheart deal with the post office - it pays the normal bulk rate.Finally, Trump may be right about Amazon competing other businesses out of the market. But that's always true. Web-based businesses are cheaper than brick and mortar. Is Trump against web-based businesses? He wouldn't be president without them (see, e.g., his own militant case for using Twitter).Here's the bottom line: Amazon is an incredible American success story. They're efficient, and they bring consumers what they want. Trump has no business attacking them for engaging in perfectly legal activity.Riff Raff, photographed above being readied for transport -- after being darted with an immobilizing agent -- in order to save him from being killed after he had been labeled a problem elephant. Riff Raff is the victim of the growing problem of human-elephant conflict in South Africa. Photo by Waldo Swiegers /AP Images for The HSUS

1.6K shares







The life of a 40-to-45-year-old collared bull elephant in South Africa is hanging in the balance as conservation groups battle to save him from being shot as a nuisance animal on a reserve thats been his home for more than half his life. Riff Raff is a victim of a growing problem in South Africa, human-elephant conflict (HEC), which can frequently arise in situations when elephants and people share increasingly scarce habitat and resources. Such conflict has resulted in more than 50 elephants being killed in 2016 alone.

South Africas population of approximately 24,000 elephants is protected within enclosed private game reserves and national parks. When bull elephants leave their natal herds in search of a new home range, they sometimes destroy fences they encounter, with repeat fence-breachers often targeted to be killed as problem or damage-causing animals (DCA). Earlier this month, Riff Raff was labeled a DCA and was sentenced to be killed.

Thanks to an anonymous donor, Humane Society International-Africa and partners Elephants Alive, Wildlife Vets, and Global Supplies were able to step in to relocate him from the Limpopo reserve to another habitat in the greater Balule Game Reserve. This relocation mimicked the natural process of migration and dispersal that would occur in the absence of fences.

Helicopters, tranquilizers, antidotes, cranes, elephant-sized crates, and trucks capable of carrying the 6400 kg pachyderm were required to move Riff Raff through the rugged terrain to the new reserve. Despite the successful transportation to a new place where conservationists hoped he would safely settle, Riff Raff decided to abandon this territory and unexpectedly set out on an approximately 35-mile journey back home. He reached his former home range in less than two days.

However miraculous his return may be, Riff Raff now faces possible death once again. But were not going to let that happen without doing everything we can to save him.

Riff Raff is a magnificent bull elephant who symbolizes a very sad and serious challenge in South Africa, and indeed in all countries that are home to elephants. Many elephants labeled as a problem are simply bull elephants doing what they are biologically hard-wired to do, and that is to leave their herd and find their own new range and unrelated females so they can move up in the bull hierarchy and sire offspring. With fences, crops, and human settlements common in and surrounding elephant protection areas, and with drought a major factor that drives elephants to make choices they normally wouldnt, they often encounter and sometimes break fences, and then all too often land-owners and provincial authorities seek to solve that problem with a rifle.

If Riff Raff is killed it will be a tragedy, not only on an individual scale, but for so called problem elephants nationally. Riff Raff has been monitored for 18 years and has been fitted with a radio-collar to better inform the DCA challenge. The hope of HSI-Africa and its partners is to buy Riff Raff some time on his home reserve in Limpopo by getting permission to strengthen weak spots in the perimeter elephant-proof fence and mitigate fence-breaching behavior with non-lethal means while they search for a new reserve further away where he will have another chance to settle down. Success is not guaranteed, but we must try.

Riff Raffs dilemma also symbolizes the unique challenges presented by South Africas fenced-in game reserves in the management of elephantsmegaherbivoreswhose numbers can double within 10-15 years if left unchecked. With fences preventing migration, biodiversity and ecosystems can be negatively affected. This also exacerbates the HEC situation as increasing elephant numbers, particularly of bull elephants, results in increased competition, which forces bulls to literally explore the greener grass on the other side of the fence.

Traditionally, lethal population control methods such as culling were deployed. However, since 2000, HSI has supported an innovative, humane, non-lethal form of elephant population control called immunocontraception. Through a partnership of provincial, private, and national reserves, more than 800 female elephants across 26 South African reserves are being treated with a non-hormonal, non-steroidal vaccine that prevents conception. With a single female capable of reproducing 8  10 calves in her lifetime, HSIs immunocontraception program has spared thousands of elephants from being culled.

Humans are increasingly moving into lands that were traditionally only occupied by elephants. So its not the fault of these amazing creatures that there is a human-animal conflict situation. Therefore, Its imperative to use non-lethal solutions as part of the national strategy. Simply killing wild animals that get in our way is not the answer. Governments and other stakeholders must support proactive non-lethal mitigation and population control strategies that speak to the drivers of elephant movement and conflict.

We have not given up hope on Riff Raff. HSI-Africa has joined forces with Elephants Alive and Global Supplies in a second attempt to save him from being killed. Please consider making a contribution to help HSIs wildlife program to help fund this critical rescue as well as our work to end other wildlife abuses around the world.

Yahoo! JAPAN



Yahoo! JAPANNews / National

by Staff reporter

GOVERNMENT is concerned with the arrest of Zimbabwean students in Northern Cyprus, who are not on government scholarships, a cabinet minister has said.Eight Zimbabwean students were arrested last week for a series of armed robberies and break-ins.Minister of State Responsible for Government Scholarships in the Office of the President, Christopher Mushohwe told H-Metro that they were concerned about the arrests and were finding ways to assist.He said the students are not on government scholarships, but since they are Zimbabweans, the government was compelled to assist."We are concerned about the students' plight as they are Zimbabwean citizens."The students arrested in Northern Cyprus are not on government scholarship, they went there on a private arrangement on the backdrop that they are getting full scholarships but later realised that they had been deceived," said the Minister.He also said that they had engaged Northern Cyprus representative and Turkish Ambassador on the way forward"I spoke to the Turkish Ambassador to help us work with the Universities where those students were attending school. This can help us to locate the agents who sent them there, so that they can help in finding a solution," said Minister Mushohwe.Turkey controls the Northern part of Cyprus where most Zimbabweans are studying on private scholarships.Dr Mushohwe said most students are left stranded in countries such as Australia, China, Russia and Canada after receiving fake scholarships, resulting in them engaging in criminal activities to survive and pay for their tuition.The Minister appealed to parents and students to verify the authenticity of the scholarships before they leave for studies."I appeal to parents and students seeking private scholarships to verify with universities abroad if the scholarships are genuine and also to verify if they are offered on 100 percent basis.""The problem is that parents and students get too excited that they got scholarships and fail to verify their genuineness. Circumstances like these could have been avoided." said Dr Mushohwe.Many international university agents have sprouted in the country offering scholarships abroad which have turned out to be fake. The agents are taking advantage that Zimbabweans enjoys going to school.News / National

by AFP

Khama has visited all of Botswana's 57 constituencies since December, bidding a long goodbye to a population of just 2.2 million after serving the constitutional maximum of 10 years in office.He will be succeeded by Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi, a full 18 months before elections.Khama's two terms in power have been defined by his country's rapid development thanks to lucrative diamond and beef exports and by a reputation for good governance.He has also become renowned for straight talking  breaking with diplomatic convention to criticise leaders including US President Donald Trump and then-president Robert Mugabe in neighbouring Zimbabwe.On Tuesday, his tour finished in his ancestral village of Serowe in the east of the country, with a day of songs, poems, gifts, ululation and pleading for him to remain in office.Thousands of jubilant villagers dressed in blue, white and black, gathered in a kgotla, a traditional courtyard, to hear Khama speak."I was a soldier, I didn't have interest to join politics, I had future plans, away from politics," he told the crowd, adding that his predecessor Festus Mogae had to persuade him to take over in 2008.Son of independence leaderKhama, 65, has cultivated a down-to-earth image  despite his father Seretse Khama serving from 1966 to 1980 as Botswana's first president after independence from Britain.Edna Monyena, a village elder in her 80s, lavished praise on the outgoing president, telling him that he was "an honest man, a straightforward man" who showed "real love".Many elderly female villagers wore blue dresses printed with portraits of Khama's father, and some used cow bones as percussion instruments as they stood up to sing and dance.Khama was showered with gifts including a 44 truck, 143 cows, hundreds of chickens, over 415,000 pula ($44,000), and a fully-equipped luxury caravan that his brother Tshekedi dubbed a "mobile state house".The avid conservationist also received a framed picture of a rhino."I wanted him to be 50 years more in office, I want him to work until the Almighty calls him," unemployed Sadie Moleta, 23, told AFP in Serowe, where Khama is a chief of the Bangwato tribe.Khama, a former pilot and military chief, demonstrated his outspoken streak when he recently accused Trump of promoting policies that encourage poaching, and summoning the US envoy over Trump's alleged slur against African countries in January.Khama called on Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe to step down well before the nonagenarian was ousted, and his government has also urged Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila to resign after his term expired in December 2016.The Botswana leader's on-schedule departure has made a public display of obeying the constitutional term limit.But his own record in office has not been without its critics, who accuse him of an autocratic leadership style.He led the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) to landslide victories in two elections, although the party won less than 50 percent for the first time in the 2014 vote.Uneven legacy?Often seen as one of Africa's success stories, Botswana has recorded rising unemployment since 2009 as diamond prices fell.The drop in revenue forced Khama to halt many planned investments in recent years."Internationally, he positioned himself as a moral leader in the region, stepping down as an example of a leader who respects laws and traditions  and inviting both President Kabila and Mugabe to respect democracy and the rule of law," Matteo Vidiri, a BMI Research analyst, told AFP."(But) a slowing economy and increasing public discontent has damaged the narrative of Botswana's 'special character', of a country being able to escape the 'resource curse'."The opposition blames Khama for creating a society of "beggars"."He killed the spirit of self-reliance creating dependency through handouts," Kesitegile Gobotswang, deputy president of the Botswana Congress Party, told AFP."The economy shed jobs under his leadership."Khama, who is unmarried, was born in Britain as his father married white British woman Ruth Williams  a mixed-race partnership that caused widespread shock in Africa and Britain.Incoming president Masisi, 55, will be inaugurated on Sunday.-News / National

by Staff reporter

President Emmerson Mnangagwa's decision to name and shame companies alleged to have externalised funds and assets has turned into a nightmare for local companies that are being snubbed by potential suitors and trading partners.This came out during a breakfast meeting organised by the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) yesterday, where representatives of a number of companies said they have been struggling to do business ever since the list was published by the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC).On March 19, the OPC released a long list of companies purported to have illegally taken money and assets outside the country.Initially, Mnangagwa had given the culprits a 90-day window period within which they were to return the loot in exchange for their freedom.The period stretched from December 1, 2017 to February 28, 2018.After the expiry of the three-month moratorium, he further extended the deadline by another two weeks, to February 19. During that period, government neither asked questions nor preferred charges against those that repatriated the money or assets.This included cases that were before the courts where judgments were yet to be passed.A few individuals and companies came forward, but many opted to play hide-and-seek with the authorities.On Monday last week, Mnangagwa lived up to his word by naming and shaming the alleged culprits who could not take advantage of his moratorium.Government has said it would subsequently use legal instruments to those that have failed to comply, including triggering prosecutions.The list, however, emerged as scandalous as it turned out that most of the companies appearing on it were actually legitimate importers and exporters whose transactions were not processed on time and were thus erroneously criminalised.This has had the effect of compromising their standing since most foreign partners are reluctant to do business with firms that have criminal records.ZNCC president Divine Ndlhukula said several member organisations are desperately trying to engage the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to clear their names and salvage their reputations."Their partners abroad are now a bit jittery and obviously that is affecting them. I think there is need for the list to be revised so that only people that externalised are the ones that would appear on it," she said."Currently, there are a lot of people that are on the list who never externalised. It's important that those companies are cleared because that affects their brands and their business and it's important that something be done about it," she said.Ndlhukula advised the affected companies against suing government for wrongfully exposing them."I don't think going the legal route is the best way. I think the powers-that-be, whoever and wherever that list was generated from; they should revise that list and say these were stated wrongly so that those people can go back to their partners and say we have been cleared."If it is the RBZ, obviously they have got to revise that list. I'm sure by now they have had over a 100 engagements by a number of people who feel that they were put on that list when they do not belong to that list. So they should really correct that," she added.Jeffrey Rugare, a local businessman who runs an alternative energy solutions concern, narrated how his business partners in Zambia spurned him after his company  Global Solar Company  was wrongly put on the list.He said the RBZ mistook his $50 000 deal to import solar power equipment for externalised funds, adding that Global Solar Company was wrongly put on the list because of a malfunctioning Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) system, which missed its acquittals.This was during the time when Zimra was processing transactions manually."Government is expecting my company to bring back the money when we imported goods which are already circulating on the market. We did not externalise, we are Zimbabweans. We have created employment in the country. We are the first company owned by young Zimbabweans to start manufacturing energy bulbs in the country and we are appearing on the list."So if they criminalise us, who is going to do business (with us)? We instead attracted money into the country from our foreign investors who made this business possible. We have a lot of questions to ask. I believe somebody lied to the president. We need a cure from that list because it is affecting our brand. For example, we also operate in Zambia and I sent a message to our partner there to say we wanted to come and start manufacturing there. But he said, hope Mnangagwa will not say you externalised'. We are trying to do business for our country and a foreigner writes this."This list, people believe it but it's a fake list. We want to build our country, it's our home. But if you do this, you are killing us," he pleaded.ZNCC members also heaped the blame on local banks saying they were complicit in the production of the "fake list".Former ZNCC president Luxon Zembe opined that the list was replete with companies doing their best to stay afloat despite the difficult operating environment in Zimbabwe.He pointed an accusing finger at the banks for misinforming the OPC.But Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (Baz) president Charity Jinya refuted the blame saying it lay squarely with the companies that did not clear their transactions on time."I don't believe it because if it's more than 90 days, there was an opportunity for banks to write to clients asking for transactions to be cleared. This gives the opportunity for the company to say it should be off the list. No one is perfect, mistakes are common, but there is a process where banks communicate with clients and clients communicate with banks formally and on the back of formal communication, information is then passed through to the RBZ because this is the system which is also under the control of the RBZ," Jinya said.She also denied allegations that banks breached client confidentiality by divulging information about their clients to third parties, saying government had direct access to such information through the RBZ."The entire banking system is connected to the central bank, they know everything and the clients know it too," she said.Deputy Finance minister Terrence Mukupe admitted that government had erred and had now started the process of clearing those that were wrongly implicated.We would like to put our weight behind Felix Magalela Mafa Sibanda as your Vice President because we believe that he got the qualities , qualifications and will serve you and serve the MDCT family faithfully. We trust him. And we believe he has the right experience needed to be by your side as we walk towards economic freedom .Opinion / Columnist

The United States recently pronounced that the sanctions against targeted Zimbabwe government Ministers will not be lifted anytime soon, not before the looming general elections and the apology from Zimbabwe government to the victims of 80s genocide that claimed lives of innocent women and children at the time when the current Head of State was the Minister for Security (Intelligence). All organs of national security were under his absolute command.It is therefore prudent that the sanctions remain in place indefinitely or such a time that the Zimbabweans are treated equally irrespective of tribe as it has become an open secret that tribalism is used for marginalisation of ethnic groups and is exactly what was used to justify the launch of state sponsored massacres largely against defenceless pregnant women of Ndebele descent.I originate from Esigodini where I witnessed first-hand the brutality of partisan Zimbabwe Army which had orders to persecute people on tribal lines. I lost families during the moment of madness period as it is described by the erstwhile President who surprisingly blames Mnangagwa for being the brains behind the genocide.The situation went from bad to worse as the continuity of executions went on unabated for years and the world watched in deafening silence from a distance. It was clearly a traumatic environment. Most residents were displaced, while some their whereabouts are still not known to date.The sight of people in military fatigue on daily basis sent a chilling feeling down my spine. These versions of events although it happened decades ago but are as vivid in my mind as though it happened yesterday.I therefore, fully support the United States' stance on delaying to lift sanctions pending the restoration of human rights and constitutional reforms. The Junta led government is illegal partly because it's not answerable to the people of Zimbabwe but itself and is setting a bad precedent for the future generations.What is even more appalling is that all chief culprits in thoughtless massacres are still alive and living large. These are criminals masquerading as genuine Ministers that should be forcibly caged or dragged to Hague.The historic moment when Mugabe nose-dived from hero to zero the nation was gripped with a false sense of hope based on earlier reports that they would be a transitional government in the aftermath of Mugabe's political demise. However, it turned out that the nation had been dubbed by the junta into believing the military will not play a part in political affairs as per Constitution of Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe National Army is part of a political organisation so called ZANU which is a direct violation of the country's constitution.The freedom of speech and assembly is non-existent, Zimbabwean people have never known peace since ZANU government assumed power. Old mine shafts in Matabeleland are an eyesore as a result of government cruelty and bias against Ndebele population as people were evidently and mercilessly thrown alive into acid filled mines.The government approved a statutory instrument for Zimbabwe military to dump decomposed bodies in Bhalagwe mine of opposition political parties largely in Southern Region of Zimbabwe which beggars belief that reckless executions were necessitated by hunger for power and deep rooted hatred of Ndebele nation. I have been threatened but I shall never be silenced until the trial of the Mugabe, Perence shiri, Mnangagwa, Chiwenga and Sekeramayi is resumes in Hague.More information about USA sanctions against Zimbabwe can be accessed through the link Mnangagwa's role in the Massacres follow the Link.Sarah Engelhard stepped out of Montreal's Windsor Station on the first night of Passover, 1944. Twelve years old and shivering, her thin Spanish clothesshort sleeves and ankle sockswere no match for Canada in March.

"One thing we knew was that this Montreal was not for siestas or fiestas, but for facing cold facts," Engelhard recalled.

But as a young Jewish refugee, it was better than where she came from: a Europe at war, and the Holocaust that would have seen her family killed.

Engelhard's story is one of many highlighted in a new online exhibit by the Montreal Holocaust Museum, Building New Lives. It follows the stories of Jewish refugees brought to Canada during the Second World War, and what happened after they put down roots in Canadian soil.

In an interview with CBC's Daybreak, she admitted that didn't completely understand what was happening when she was a child, moving from one country to the next in hiding. But Engelhard said she vividly remembers the fear in the air.

"My parents were trying to save me from the horror, but they couldn't," she said. "I didn't understand the reason, of course. But you just know."

Life in hiding in Europe

Some of Engelhard's first memories were in France, where her family lived under false identities. Even with forged papers to support their lives there, Engelhard said they were never really safe.

"They would cordon off streets," she explained. "My cousin, who was living with us, had falsified papers. He was picked up one day was never seen again."

Her family, along with five other Jews, fled over the Pyrenees into Spain.

A local let them stay in their attic, on a farm in the countryside. One morning, the owner came to them and told them to be ready to leave the next day.

"When she cracked open the door there was a German. A Nazi officer," Engelhard said. The nine of them packed into the German's car, and they drove off, unsure of their future.

Story continues

"There were three border crossings, at which point the guards would speak in German to our German driver. They asked where were they were going, and he said, 'we're taking these Jews to a concentration camp.'"

Instead, the driver drove them to a shelter in Barcelona, where he revealed that he wasn't a Nazi officer at all. It was a ruse to smuggle the Jews safely past the checkpoints, and into the relative safety of the city.

Engelhard would live there illegally for two and a half years  until she first heard about a country called Canada.

Crossing the Atlantic to Montreal

In 1944, word came that her family would be granted visas to immigrate to Canada.

Engelhard, twelve years old and out of school for years, didn't know anything about geography. Canada was a mystery to her, and she had no idea what to expect.

They boarded a ship, the Serpa Pinto, for what many at the time called the 'Trip of Hope'a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, and away from the war. They docked in Philadelphia, before taking a train north to their final destination: Montreal.

Though the weather was foul, it wasn't the cold that struck her. As she drove to her new home, Engelhard said that she stared out the car window, perplexed at the houses passing her by.

"It was the stairs outdoors: baked on with ice and snow," she laughed. "I couldn't understand why, in weather like this, you would have steps outdoors! That was my introduction to Montreal."

Life after the war

It was difficult to adjust, she said.

"Now, when refugees come, we are prepared for them. We help with language, we help with housing, we help with clothing," she explained.

"[But there was] nothing like it. And it was very difficult."

Engelhard was back to school for the first time in years, but she didn't speak the language, and immediately realized that she was different from her peers. But that didn't stop her from trying to fit in with the other girls.

"When we came here, I tried so desperately...to be like everybody else," she lamented. "I didn't know at the time, but I could not be exactly like everybody else. Because I had experienced what, in my head, in my experience, was miracles: where you're ready to die and you're given life. And so I tried to adjust to a life that was not me."

In the end, she realized that she had to go back to her rootsto the Holocaustto find her identity, and then she was able to move forward.

Engelhard hopes that people take away the spirit in the stories like hers, be it God or the strength of those who are struggling.

"The people who can testify like I do we were we were meant to to be off the face of the earth. But this will never be, because that spirit is the spirit that always wins."

Sarah Engelhard's story, and those of other survivors who arrived in Canada, is available online as part of the Montreal Holocaust Museum's exhibit, Building New Lives. The exhibition is free.SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria will not expel Russian diplomats in response to a nerve agent attack in England that the British government has blamed on Moscow, its prime minister said on Friday. Boyko Borissov said the Black Sea country, as a current chair of the European Union presidency, needed to keep dialogue open with Russia amid an escalating standoff between the West and Moscow over the nerve agent attack on March 4. After the first known use of a military-grade nerve agent on European soil since World War Two, most EU and NATO members, including the United States, have expelled Russian diplomats. Several EU countries, including Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Slovenia and Austria, however, have not joined the coordinated action. Bulgaria has expressed its solidarity with its EU and NATO allies by recalling its ambassador from Moscow for consultations, Borissov said, but stressed that more evidence was needed for further action. "As chair of the European Council we must keep the communication channel (open), as we have done in times of an over-tensed situation in our region at present with Turkey. We must do the same with Russia," Borissov said. "At this stage, we do not think we should expel Russian diplomats and officials," Borissov said, after a meeting of the government's security council over the nerve gas attack that included a hearing of the Bulgarian ambassador to Moscow. Borissov said the ambassador will return to Russia after the Orthodox Easter on April 8. Calls for Bulgaria to expel Russian diplomats have faced strong opposition both in the coalition government as well as in other political parties in parliament which favor pursuing good ties with Russia. Bulgaria, which was liberated from Ottoman rule by Russia, became one of the most obedient Soviet satellite states during the Cold War. Many Bulgarians feel a strong cultural affinity for Russia, with which they share the Cyrillic script and orthodox Christianity. Bulgaria is also almost fully reliant on Russian gas supplies, military equipment and tourism revenues. (Reporting by Angel Krasimirov and Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - More than 100 Central American migrants, including dozens of minors, were found crowded inside a sweltering truck without food or water in Mexico en route to the United States, authorities said on Friday. The 136 migrants, from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, were rescued in the violent southeastern state of Veracruz after 24 hours in temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), Mexico's migration institute INM said. Tens of thousands of Central Americans fleeing violence and poverty in their homelands aim to pass through Mexico to the United States every year, often transported by human traffickers who subject them to perilous conditions. More than 800 Central American migrants have been found in truck trailers or safe houses in Mexico so far this year, according to a government document seen by Reuters. Border apprehensions fell when U.S. President Donald Trump took office last year and vowed to stamp out illegal immigration, suggesting fewer crossing attempts, but have picked up in recent months. The migrants in Veracruz were discovered by federal police and migration agents who heard cries for help from within the truck, which had been abandoned near a freeway. Authorities said they counted 49 minors among the group, 13 of whom were traveling alone and will receive aid to apply for refugee status in Mexico. The adults, as well as the accompanied children, will be sent back to their home countries. Last month, 103 Central Americans, including 36 minors, were rescued from an abandoned truck in the violent northern state of Tamaulipas, where migrants often attempt illegal border crossings. In July, 10 people died after a truck stuffed with more than 100 Guatemalan and Mexican migrants was abandoned in a Texas parking lot. (Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Bill Trott)By Kay Johnson ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai says she has pined for her home in Pakistan's picturesque Swat Valley, even as she recalled two years living in fear under the Taliban's harsh interpretation of Islamic law. Visiting her homeland for the first time since a Taliban gunman shot her in the head over her blog advocating girls' education, 20-year-old Yousafzai also contradicted Pakistani critics who accuse her of promoting an ideology at odds with the country's Islamic values. "I am proud of my religion, and I am proud of my country," she told Reuters in an interview at her hotel on Friday. Wearing a rose-printed head scarf and flowing tunic and trousers - one of many outfits family and friends brought her from Pakistan to Britain, where she is studying at Oxford University - Yousafzai said she was elated at being home. "I had never been so excited for anything. I've never been so happy before," she said. On Saturday, Yousafzai flew by helicopter to visit her childhood home in Swat Valley amid heavy security. "I miss everything about Pakistan ... right from the rivers, the mountains, to even the dirty streets and the garbage around our house, and my friends and how we used to have gossip and talk about our school life, to how we used to fight with our neighbors." She said she has wanted to return before but, aside from security concerns, there was the hectic pace of school and her entry exams to Oxford, where she began studying last year for a degree in politics, philosophy and economics. NOBEL PRIZE Yousafzai's journey to becoming the youngest ever Nobel winner began with the local branch of the hardline Taliban movement taking over her hometown in Swat, about 250 km (160 miles) from the capital, Islamabad, in 2007, when she was 9 years old. The Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) banned television, music and girls' education, and burned about 200 schools, following the example of the 1990s Taliban government in neighboring Afghanistan, which forcibly excluded women from nearly every aspect of public life. "I still remember each and every moment, right from the fear while sleeping at night that you might not be alive the next day," Yousafzai said. "The fear that if you are going to school, someone might stop you and throw acid in your face." Her father was a teacher in a school that educated girls and managed to stay open until early 2009. After the Pakistani army drove out the Taliban in mid-2009 she became a symbol for girls' education through a blog she wrote for the BBC's Urdu service, which started while the Taliban were still in power, and a documentary "Class Dismissed", that profiled her. It made her a target. In 2012, a masked gunman boarded her school bus, singled her out and shot her. The Taliban later said it had carried out the attack for her promotion of liberalism. She was flown to Britain for surgery and has remained abroad since, co-writing a best-selling book "I Am Malala" and starting a foundation advocating girls' education worldwide. In 2014 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with an Indian activist. POLARIZING FIGURE Though she is perhaps the world's best-known Pakistani, Yousafzai - known almost universally as just "Malala" - is polarizing figure at home, beloved by many but reviled by others. A group of private schools in Pakistan declared Friday to be "I Am Not Malala Day", for what its spokesman described as her "anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan ideology". That description puzzles Malala. "I just don't know anything I've said that makes me anti-Pakistan or anti-Islam," she said. "Islam has taught me the importance of peace. Islam has taught me the importance of education. The first word of Islam, or the first word of the Koran, is 'Iqra' which means 'read'." Government commitment to education was one of the subjects of her meeting on Thursday with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, whose government, along with the army, helped arrange her trip, including providing security. "We did talk about education and I appreciated what he has done, but I think there is a lot more that needs to be done. The government promised 4 percent of GDP for education but only so far has increased it to 2.7," she said. Meetings with the prime minister - as well as other world leaders - might seem a far cry from a schoolgirl's life in the Swat Valley, but Malala said some aspects of her life, like attending Oxford, were longtime dreams. "My initial plan was that I would continue my education, I would continue speaking out for the girls who cannot go to school ... and one day once I finish my secondary education, I will apply to Oxford," she said. "So it was in my plan ... I did not know that this attack would happen and I would move to the UK, but I wanted to focus on Pakistan and continue to do as much as I could for girls education." (Writing by Kay Johnson; Editing by Alex Richardson)Defence lawyers are sounding the alarm about sweeping changes to the criminal justice system unveiled Thursday by the Liberal government, warning the proposals will further stack the deck against those accused of a crime while doing little to promote a more equitable justice system.

Bill C-75, introduced Thursday by Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, will remove sections of the Criminal Code that allow for peremptory challenges  which allow lawyers to remove a potential juror without giving reasons  in an effort to reform jury selection so the panels are "more representative of the Canadian population."

Some defence lawyers tell CBC News they actually use these challenges to make juries more diverse  by challenging some would-be white jurors  to ensure a fairer trial for visible minority clients.

The government is arguing the reverse, saying that ending peremptory challenges will prevent Crown attorneys and defence lawyers alike from barring minority candidates from juries.

Some believe that's what happened in the Colten Boushie trial  that Indigenous jurors were weeded out to better the odds of a not-guilty verdict for Gerald Stanley, the white farmer accused of Boushie's murder. Stanley was found not guilty of second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Indigenous man.

"This one case is going to strip away peremptory challenges, and it's only because of the [Boushie] backlash, which should tell you how crassly political this whole bill is," Solomon Friedman, a prominent Ottawa-based defence lawyer, said in an interview with CBC News.

"The fact that this bill was pushed out in the afternoon before a long weekend, when Parliament is going to rise for two weeks, tells you how ashamed the government really is of this bill."

Wilson-Raybould pitched the proposal as a way to initiate "a necessary culture shift" in the country's justice system, and reduce the overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in the country's criminal justice system.

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"The great irony of all this is it's in response to Colten Boushie, where the complaint is that the jury wasn't representative enough," Friedman said. "But I can tell you this, when I have an accused person who is Indigenous, if I have a young black man, I want a juror that looks like my client, that has had similar life experiences.

"I use peremptory challenges to get a more diverse and representative jury, to see if I can get racialized individuals on the jury. That is now gone. We cannot do that now."

Friedman said the jury pool is overwhelmingly white, older and middle class.

Friedman said that during his last homicide trial, the Crown dismissed every young black man with a peremptory challenge. "Every one  and our clients were all racialized. I find the Crowns are using their challenges to keep off minorities or Indigenous individuals. I'm trying to use them to keep them on the jury."

The Ontario Crown Attorneys Association did not respond to a request for comment on the proposed reforms.

Move made in haste

Friedman said the move to eliminate these challenges was made in haste. He said it was irresponsible for the minister to say she's not yet prepared to move on eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for some offences  because she hasn't had enough time to examine the issue, despite 18 months of consultation  when the Boushie case wrapped just a month ago.

He said if the government is serious about bolstering Indigenous representation on juries it ought to spend money on advertising targeted at Indigenous communities, to encourage people to actually respond to their jury summons and show up for jury selection.

Another defence lawyer, Michael Spratt, said he's also troubled by the move to eliminate peremptory challenges.

"When you have 100 people lined up, potential jurors, only a very small percentage, a disproportionately small number, are people of colour," he said. "We will often use preemptive challenges to excuse white jurors or non-minority jurors so we can get to those racialized jurors that look like our client."

The government maintains Canada is simply following the well-worn path taken by other jurisdictions, such as England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which have abolished peremptory challenges in the name of equity.

"These amendments would signal that discrimination of any kind, including in the jury selection process, fails to promote fairness and impartiality and has no place in the criminal justice system," a spokesperson for Wilson-Raybould said in an e-mailed statement. "The goal of the measure is to increase public confidence in the jury selection process."

Another source of concern for lawyers is the federal government's move to do away with preliminary inquiries except in the case of crimes that carry a life sentence, which is expected to reduce the number of preliminary inquiries by 87 per cent. There are now more than 9,000 a year.

Eliminating preliminary inquiries fundamentally unfair: lawyer

The government has said this will go a long way to clear persistent backlogs in the country's criminal justice system. The Supreme Court's Jordan decision, which imposed hard timelines on criminal trials, has resulted in cases being dismissed because of delays  something Wilson-Raybould hopes to address with this legislation.

The minister said she also heard during her cross-country consultations that these hearings can re-traumatize victims by having them make multiple appearances in court.

But Solomon said doing away with the inquiries  held to determine if there is enough evidence for an individual to be tried on their charges  is fundamentally unfair to people accused of a crime.

"It's long been a part of the English common law that people shouldn't be in jeopardy in front of a judge or a judge and jury unless there's sufficient evidence. That's what the preliminary inquiry does, it screens it out," he said.

"It also allows you to meaningful test the Crown's evidence, to narrow the issues, to have a preview of how witnesses will testify. That's all going to be gone."

Spratt said it's disingenuous to say eliminating these inquiries will have a meaningful impact on delays when they constitute only 3 per cent of all court time in the Ontario justice system.

"They save a lot of time down the road. It narrows issues, shortens trials, and in some cases actually eliminates the need for trials in some cases," he said.

"If the justice minister really wanted to take active measures to reduce court delays, the low hanging fruit is, of course, mandatory minimum sentences."A B.C. Liberal MLA is calling on the province to step in after a dinosaur museum in Tumbler Ridge closed its doors this month, arguing it has the potential to be Canada's premier dinosaur display.

The Peace Region Paleontology Research Centre and Dinosaur Discovery Gallery in Tumbler Ridge idled its operations and sent layoff notices to staff after failing to secure a $200,000 funding request from the District of Tumbler Ridge, which has a population of about 2,000 people.

Mayor Don McPherson said the decision was driven by a desire to have the museum work more closely with the local geopark society, which manages Tumbler Ridge's status as a UNESCO-recognized destination for its unique geological heritage.

McPherson also said there were concerns about the fact the district has been funding the museum for over a decade with little support from other levels of government.

"We've been funding this museum to the tune of over $2 million," he said.

'It would be a huge loss for the province'

Mike Bernier, the Liberal MLA representing Tumbler Ridge, said he's been advocating for the province to start funding the museum in recognition of its unique collection of dinosaur bones and fossils, the largest in B.C.

"I believe that it's time the province steps in and helps, instead of the local government having all the burden," Bernier told CBC Daybreak North host Carolina de Ryk.

"It would be a huge loss for the province."

Discoveries made through the museum and research centre include: the northernmost prints of brontosaurus; the only Tyrannosaurus trackway in the world; the only known footprints of the carnivorous Therizinosaur; and the most complete dinosaur skeleton ever found in the province.

Museum curator Rich McCrae said he's not sure there are any other facilities in B.C. that could take on Tumbler Ridge's collection, meaning many of the items could wind up in other parts of the world if the museum shuts down.

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Bernier said he believes with provincial backing, the museum could be a tourism draw that outshines what's on display at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alta.

"This is not just a typical museum that a lot of communities have to showcase their history. This has global significance," he said.

"The paleontological finds that Tumbler Ridge has far outstretches what Drumheller has. We just need an opportunity to be able to showcase that."

Problems 'best resolved locally': province

Bernier said he has raised the issue with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, and hoped the current closure would add some "urgency" to those discussions.

However, a spokesperson for the ministry said it had not received any request from the museum itself to assist in its funding shortfall, adding it "appears to be the result of a local issue" that is "likely best resolved locally."

McPherson said the district of Tumbler Ridge isn't opposed to funding the museum, but council wants it to first reach a memorandum of understanding with the geopark society as to how the two entities will work together.

Representatives for the museum board and the geopark society said negotiations on that memorandum of understanding are in progress.The Manitoba government will not cover the cost of a procedure a woman says gave her back the ability to walk pain free.

Sandra McCrea travelled to Germany in 2017 to get water-assisted liposuction on her legs to treat her lipedema. The procedure was endorsed by her doctor in Winnipeg and she applied to Manitoba Health to have the $22,000 surgery reimbursed.

After the province denied coverage she appealed, but on Wednesday McCrea received a letter from the Manitoba Health Appeal Board denying her appeal.

"It boils down to money," McCrea said. "They don't want me to set precedent."

The appeal board describes itself as an independent, arms-length appeal process. Its members are appointed by the Manitoba Legislature.

The letter McCrea recieved calls the procedure "emerging" and says there was not adequate proof it worked.

For McCrea, every step she takes without flinching is proof enough: "I never realized how much pain I was coping with until I had the surgery."

Lipedema, a chronic condition that predominantly affects women, causes abnormal fat deposits to build in the legs, arms and buttocks. The deposits feel like marbles under the skin, and can be tender to the touch and ache.

After decades of living with the condition, McCrea says, her knees are shot because she has had to carry the excess weight for so long.

She has no regrets about spending the $22,000 on the surgery plus her costs of living and travel to Germany for the seven-week recovery.

"[It was] absolutely worth it to be pain free," she said.

Anna Kennedy is the executive director of the Canadian Lymphedema Framework, an umbrella organization that advocates for patients with lipedema, a disease often related to lymphedema (a condition of localized fluid retention and tissue swelling caused by a compromised lymphatic system).

"Both diseases are not well known. Treatment for them is usually not covered," she said. "Most health professionals when they're presented with someone with lymphedema or lipedema don't really know what to do."

She says currently rates of lipedema are not tracked nationally so it's hard to know how many people are afflicted. Kennedy, like McCrea, believes there are many other women like her who are living with lipedema and don't know it.

McCrea's only recourse is to apply for a judicial review of the appeal board's decision. However, she says she cannot afford a lawyer.A Regina business owner who was among those targeted in a six-store pot-themed raid by Regina police Wednesday said the cops went overboard at his store.

But the police said the search was done after a judge was swayed by evidence "compelling enough" to grant a warrant.

Jonathan Metz owns Green Street Clinic on Francis Street. His store helps connect people with doctors who can help them obtain Health Canada licences to possess and consume cannabis.

Green Street doesn't sell pot but does offer hemp-based edibles that help treat arthritis and anxiety in dogs, says Metz.

'We don't sell marijuana'

Metz says two plain-clothes officers entered his store Wednesday night and asked to buy some pot. After he told them he doesn't sell pot, he says he told them he could help them get a licence.

When he asked them for ID to help fill out forms needed to apply for a licence, they told him he was under arrest, Metz says.

Metz was read his rights, asked if he wanted to call a lawyer and put in handcuffs, he says.

"They were saying that we were trafficking. I asked them, 'Well, who did we sell any cannabis or marijuana to? How did you guys get this warrant when we haven't sold anything to anybody?' We even have liability forms that people sign that say we don't sell marijuana," said Metz.

'They even took' the ATM guy's money

The police took his personal laptop and phone and some patient information, including people's addresses, conditions and the medications they're on, he says.

"They even took  the guy from the ATM, he walked in right when they were here. They detained him and took his money as well. And he was just here to fill the ATM.

"It's crazy," said Metz.

Metz was ultimately released and is not among those charged yet, though police say more charges from the raids are anticipated.

"I understand they have a job to do but taking my personal stuff from my other businesses, like, I own a gym and a personal training company and today I had to try and get a hold of my clients but I couldn't contact them because all that stuff is in that laptop and on that phone."

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Police still looking over items

Elizabeth Popowich, a spokesperson for the Regina Police Service, said the authority to conduct a search is not granted lightly.

"Essentially police have to provide evidence compelling enough to persuade a judge to permit police to enter a place and specific enough that they name what they expect to find in the search," she said.

"Computers and business files might be included as potential evidence of an illegal business."

Police are still examining all the items seized, she added.

"Certainly it's possible there were items seized in a search that prove, upon completion of the investigation, to be unrelated to the alleged offences. If that's the case, there's a process to have those items returned to their owners."

At a Thursday press conference, Regina Police Chief Evan Bray said "a lot of the activity that was happening [at the locations raided], even after legalization, won't be legal and won't be allowed to happen: selling to youth, selling edibles."ATHENS (Reuters) - A Greek lawyer representing a Russian woman who blew the whistle on alleged wrongdoing at Malta-based Pilatus Bank, says his client fears for her life if she is extradited to Malta. Maria Efimova was identified by slain investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia as one of her sources. Galizia, killed in a car-bomb attack in Oct. 2017, had reported that the Maltese prime minister's wife was the ultimate beneficiary of funds in a secret company in Panama, including funds from Azerbaijan transferred through Pilatus Bank. The prime minister and his wife have denied the accusation, and a magistrate's investigation in Malta is under way. Three men have been charged with Galizia's death. Efimova has been held in the women's wing of the Korydallos maximum security prison in Athens since earlier in March. Greek lawyer Alexandros Papasteriopoulos told Reuters TV in an interview in Athens that she turned herself in because she felt there was a risk to her safety. "She received a message that, 'you have to protect yourself' and therefore she went to seek for this protection from the Greek police," he said. He did not say who sent Efimova the message. A Greek court is scheduled to hear a Maltese extradition request on April 12 for Efimova on the strength of an arrest warrant for alleged misappropriation of funds. Efimova denies the charges brought by her former employers and says she had permission to use the money. Papasteriopoulos said she has filed a lawsuit against the bank for unpaid wages. "She says that 'I will never have any fair trial in Malta and I am directly afraid of (sic) my life', this is very clear," Papasteriopoulos said. On Tuesday anti-corruption activists in Malta wrote to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras urging him to grant asylum to Efimova, but Papasteriopoulos said it was unlikely she would request it. "Malta is a European member state and its quite difficult to prove that the rule of law is severely violated there, so I don't think that at the time being she thinks of submitting a political asylum request in Greece," he said. (Reporting By Deborah Kyvrikosaios; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)A St. John's entrepreneur is working with two other companies to launch an operation in Newfoundland that will focus on developing different strains of cannabis and hemp.

Chris Snellen is the founder of CEPG Systems, which designs controlled-environment plant-growth systems and currently operates a hydroponic grow operation in the city's east end that cultivates lettuce, mushrooms and other plants.

He's now partnering with Future Farm Technologies of B.C. and Rahan Meristem, an Israeli company, to start a hemp breeding program in St. John's.

The project will focus on growing new cannabis strains specifically tailored for specific medical and commercial uses.

"There are so many cannabinoids that the science is a little behind," Snellen told CBC Radio's On The Go.

"So what we're hoping to do is work with the people who are breaking down exactly which cannabinoids are performing which benefits, and then breeding plants that have more of that cannabinoid in it."

The collaboration between the three companies will go ahead once they get a dealer license from Health Canada, which will allow them to start doing research and development on new cannabis strains.

The plan isn't to start producing large quantities of smokeable pot, but to develop the strains themselves as small amounts of cannabis leaf tissue, which will ideally be sold as intellectual property to licensed producers around the world.

3 companies, 3 specializations

Snellen will be providing the land and building for the operation. Beyond that, his role will be facilitator  overseeing the hydroponic and related systems that make the project happen.

Rahan Meristem will bring more than 30 years' experience breeding plants to the table. The company has previously worked with fruit companies like Chiquita and Dole and most recently had success with stevia sweeteners.

Snellen said Rahan Meristem's revolutionary methods could work wonders when it comes to developing new strains for cannabis producers.

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"Their process is about five times faster than regular flower breeding," he said.

Future Farm Technologies is in the business of extraction, and already a Florida facility for growing THC-free hemp (that's the kind that doesn't get you high), which has many different uses.

Snellen said the plan is to eventually produce new strains that can be used for both medical, industrial and recreational use. He hopes to have some ready by this time next year.

As the self-described "boots on the ground" for the project in St. John's, Snellen has been busy meeting with municipal, provincial and federal officials to get the proper permits to move ahead. He says the province has been more than co-operative, especially when it comes to helping his company finally get ownership of their land and buildings.

"They've enabled this project of Israelis and Canadians and Americans coming together in a bunker to grow marijuana," he said.FRIDAY, March 30, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Neurons in a brain area involved with social and emotional behavior normally increase as children become adults, but this does not occur in people with autism, new research contends.

Instead, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have too many neurons in this part of the brain -- the amygdala -- and lose neurons as they mature, according to researchers at the MIND Institute at the University of California, Davis.

"The amygdala is a unique brain structure in that it grows dramatically during adolescence, longer than other brain regions, as we become more socially and emotionally mature," study senior author Cynthia Schumann said in a university news release.

"Any deviation from this normal path of development can profoundly influence human behavior," she said. Schumann is an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

For the study, Schumann's team examined the brains of 52 people who had died, including some with autism. They ranged in age from 2 to 48.

The researchers were surprised to find that the number of neurons in one part of the amygdala increased by more than 30 percent from childhood to adulthood in individuals who had developed normally.

In people with autism, however, the number of neurons was higher than normal in young children and declined with age.

"We don't know if having too many amygdala neurons early in development in ASD is related to the apparent loss later on," Schumann said.

"It's possible that having too many neurons early on could contribute to anxiety and challenges with social interactions. However, with time, that constant activity could wear on the system and lead to neuron loss," she said.

Learning more about how neurons in the amygdala change during adolescence might lead to new treatments for autism and other brain disorders, according to the researchers.

Previous studies have linked amygdala dysfunction to disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.

The study findings were published recently in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on autism spectrum disorder.The CCEA chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved proposal of enhancing scope of Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY). The Central Government will now contribute Employers full admissible contribution for first 3 years from date of registration of new employee for all sectors including existing beneficiaries for their remaining period of 3 years. It will benefit the informal sector workers as the will get social safety net and result in more job creation.

Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY)

PMRPY has been in operation since August 2016. Under it, Government is paying 8.33% contribution of Employers to Employees Pension Scheme (EPS) in respect of new employees (joined on or after 1st April 2016) having new Universal Account Number (UAN), with salary up to Rs. 15,000/- per month.

The scheme has dual benefit i.e. it incentivize employers for increasing employment base of workers establishments and enables large number of workers to find jobs in such establishments. Its direct benefit is that these workers get access to social security benefits of organized sector. Till now, the scheme has produced quite encouraging results and has added about 31 Lakhs beneficiaries to formal employment involving expenditure of more than Rs. 500 crore.China has successfully sent pair of twin Beidou-3MEO satellites  Beidou-30 and Beidou-31 into space as part of its third and final stage of launching its domestic Beidou (Compass) satellite navigation system.

They were launched on board Long March-3B carrier rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest Chinas Sichuan Province. It was 269th mission for the Long March rocket family.

Key Facts

The twin satellites are MEO satellites i.e. Medium Earth Orbit component of the third phase of Beidou satellite navigation system. They will work together with six previously launched BeiDou-3 satellites once they pass series of tests. They were developed by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites at Chinese Academy of Sciences and China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, respectively. These satellites are part of fleet of Beidou satellites that will expand the system to global navigation coverage. These satellites reside in 21,500  21,400 km nominal orbit at 55.5 degrees. These satellites are using new bus that features phased array antenna for navigation signals and laser retroreflector.

BeiDou Navigation System

BeiDou is 2nd generation of Chinese homegrown navigational system seen as rival to USs Global Positioning System (GPS). It was named after Chinese term for plough or Big Dipper constellation. It comprises constellation of total 35 satellites including 27 MEO (21,500 km orbits) satellites, 3 IGSO satellites and 5 GSO satellites.

The first BeiDou satellite was sent into space in 2000. The system became operational in December 2011, with constellation of 10 satellites providing services in China only. In December 2012, it began offering services to customers in Asia-Pacific region. On its completion in 2020, it will provide services to global customers. Currently it used for civilian services in field of navigation, messaging, transportation and weather forecasting sectors. It also has military applications.Jade was rushed to a hospital with erratic heartbeat and collapsed lungs on her return to England (Photo: AFP)

Going under the knife to get physical or facial features enhanced is becoming increasingly common among people across the globe. The likes of Kim Kardashian have also inspired people to get boob jobs and butt lifts, which may not be as flawless as they seem.

In a shocking case from Turkey, a British woman almost lost her life on the operating table while undergoing surgery to get a posterior identical to that of Kim Kardashian. The woman named Jade paid around Rs 3 lakh for a four day trip to a cosmetic clinic in Turkey.

The procedure involved taking fat out of her stomach and back to pump into her buttocks. The woman faced agony and was given morphine by doctors, but she ignored their advice to rest for seven days and flew back to England in two days.

She wasnt informed by doctors in Turkey that she had to be resuscitated after what may have been cardiac arrest. Jade was rushed to a hospital with erratic heartbeat and collapsed lungs on her return to England.

She is now considering suing the clinic as she has a letter from a local GP stating that she had cardiac arrest.Following several days of demonstrations in Irans Khouzestan Province by ethnic Arabs protesting against Iranian state TV for ignoring Iranian Arabs, a top cleric in the provinces capital city, Ahvaz, has warned demonstrators to watch out for the enemys sedition and conspiracies.

Iranian official news agency IRNA on March 30 quoted Ahvaz Friday Prayers leader Abolhassan Hassanzadeh as saying, Although the Arabs of Khouzestan were rightly annoyed by state TVs behavior, they should watch out for the enemys sedition and conspiracies.

Hassanzadeh said the behavior that offended the ethnic Arabs was not a deliberate act.

Iranian state TVs biased coverage and politically incorrect programming has been frequently criticized by the media and the public, and at times has stirred controversy, sometimes leading to mass protest demonstrations.

watch out for the enemys sedition and conspiracies

An animation broadcast during the highly popular comedy show The Red Hat on March 22 depicted children from various parts of Iran in local costume, but Arabs were absent. Ethnic Arabs of Khouzestan rallied in Ahvaz in the following days in protest, and social media videos showed clashes between the demonstrators and riot police.

Hundreds of ethnic Arabs staged a demonstration on March 28 in front of state TVs local headquarters in Ahvaz. Videos released on social media show police using tear gas to disperse demonstrators.

Several news websites, including the foreign-based Iranian Human Rights News Agency, which covers human rights violations in Iran, said several demonstrators were arrested.

The videos also show demonstrations in Ahvaz and some other cities and small towns across Khouzestan.

The videos also show ethnic Arabs in local costume dancing and singing to celebrate their ethnicity as part of an annual cultural event that coincided with the protests.

Iranian state TV, which is supervised by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who appoints its chairman, has annoyed ethnic groups in various parts of Iran by broadcasting politically incorrect and sometimes biased programs.

A program that undermined the Iranian Lor tribes stirred controversy and caused mass demonstrations in Lorestan in 2016.

The volatile province of Khouzestan was the scene of mass demonstrations in 2005, when according to a letter leaked to the media the government was allegedly planning to change the ethnic makeup of the provinces population in order to make political control easier.

Several demonstrators were killed and hundreds were arrested during the rallies in 2005.

The letter was rumored to have been authored by Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who was then deputy president.

At the time, Abtahi refuted the content of the letter and said it was fabricated.(AFP) - Eight members of Iran's Gonabadi Sufi minority are on hunger strike, Amnesty International said Friday, protesting alleged torture in prison after protests in which security forces members were killed.

"One of the men, Abbas Dehghan, has allegedly been threatened with his wife being raped in front of him if he does not 'confess'," the rights group said in a statement.

Amnesty said the eight hunger strikers require medical care for injuries sustained during their arrest in the violent clashes with security forces on 19 February.

The violence erupted during a demonstration by members of the Gonabadi order, known as dervishes, who were protesting the arrest of members of the sect, as well as rumors that their leader would soon be arrested.

One member of the sect has been sentenced to death for driving a bus into a group of police officers during the protests, killing three. Two members of the Basij, an Islamic militia tasked with a number of policing duties, were also killed in the clashes.

The men on hunger strike are being held in Shapour detention center in Tehran, Amnesty said, describing it as "notorious for extracting 'confessions' through torture".

"Commonly reported methods of torture include kicking and punching; beatings with plastic pipes, cables or whips; prolonged binding; and various forms of suspension including one known as the 'chicken kebab', in which the person is suspended from a pole with their arms bent back and tied to their ankles and then flogged," the group said.

More than 300 people were arrested in the February clashes. Amnesty said some families were not informed of their whereabouts and the detainees have been denied access to lawyers until their interrogations are complete.

At least 20 members of the sect have been charged so far, Amnesty said, with more charges expected. It said one protester had died from injuries to his head, which police say were received during the clashes. The family told Amnesty it took two weeks for them to be informed of his death.

A mystic branch of Islam, Sufism is tolerated in Iran but perceived as a "deviation" by many conservative members of the Shiite clergy. Emerging in the nineteenth century, the Gonabadi order is one of the most important Sufi branches in Iran. Its followers regularly complain of being harassed by authorities and discriminated against by the Islamic Republic.The head of Irans Literacy Movement Organization (ILMO) says nearly 2 million women across the country are illiterate.

Citing Ali Baqirzadeh, state-run Iran Labor News Agency (ILNA) reported, Nearly 1,800,000 women still suffer from illiteracy across Iran.

According to Baqirzadeh, the total number of 10- to 49-year-olds who are illiterate in Iran is nearly 2.7 million.

However, Baqirzadeh maintained that the illiteracy gap between men and women in Iran has narrowed in recent years and said the current gap amounts to 12%.

The head of the ILMO said the percentage of illiterate women in Irans villages is much higher than in urban areas, while in some of the provinces the rate is above 30%.

The rate of illiteracy in Iran has never been reliably reported as different authorities present different statistics.

In summer 2017, Baqirzadeh told the IRGC-run Fars news agency that there were nearly 9 million totally illiterate persons living in Iran.

Earlier, Baqirzadeh had announced that efforts were under way to eradicate illiteracy by the end of the Fifth National Development Plan (2015).

Improving literacy is not only a cultural and educational move but also impacts all sections of society, he said.

Baqirzadeh had also noted a meaningful link between illiteracy and crime, saying that as the number of educated people increases, the crime rate declines.

According to UNESCO, illiteracy increases the likelihood of remaining in poverty. Completing 12 years of school provides an 80 percent chance of earning an income high enough to escape the poverty cycle.

Adult illiteracy not only affects income and awareness of rights but also contributes to poor nutrition and health.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 101 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said March 31.

Armenias armed forces were using large-caliber machine guns.

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, March 31

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

A number of procedures related to the April 11 presidential election in Azerbaijan will be completed on April 1.

The deadline for submitting appeals to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan to monitor the presidential election throughout the country expires on April 1.

According to the Calendar Plan of main actions and measures for preparing and holding the presidential election, appeals must be submitted to the CEC 10 days before the election, that is, before April 1.

Furthermore, the deadline for filing an appeal to the CEC to obtain a special permission to monitor the progress of election commissions' meetings expires tomorrow.

The decision-making process on accreditation of organizations wishing to hold exit-polls during the presidential election will also be completed before April 1.

Eight candidates were registered to participate in the April 11 presidential election in Azerbaijan.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

Trend:

The Heydar Aliyev Foundation has sent aid to families of the victims and wounded in a fire in the Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) shopping mall in Kemerovo, Russia, the Foundation told Trend.

The aid was delivered to Kemerovo upon the instruction of President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Mehriban Aliyeva.

Over the centuries, friendly and neighborly relations have tied Azerbaijan and Russia. Both nations have always supported each other during the difficult times.

The Heydar Aliyev Foundation has put forward an initiative to share the pain of the Kemerovo tragedy, share the sadness of the families of the dead and to support those who suffered. The Azerbaijani government supported this initiative of the Foundation.

The aid was sent to Kemerovo on a private plane on March 30 and delivered to the injured and the families of the dead.

Condolences were extended to the families of the victims on behalf of Mehriban Aliyeva and the entire Azerbaijani people, and it was noted that the Azerbaijani people stand by the victims.

The Foundation's employees also laid flowers at the memorial site to honor memory of the tragedy victims.

Delivery of the aid to families will be continued today.

A fire erupted on the top floor of the Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) four-story shopping mall in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on March 25. The fire killed over 60 people, most of whom are children.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

Trend:

As part of the visit to Turkey, Azerbaijans defense minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov visited Turkeys Baykar Makina company, which produces unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Azerbaijans Defense Ministry said in a message March 31.

In a meeting with the leadership of the company, Hasanov discussed the issues of military-technical cooperation and viewed the military products of the company.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

Trend:

A march to the Guba Genocide Memorial Complex was organized on March 31 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Genocide of Azerbaijanis.

Representatives of the Azerbaijani state and government, MPs, heads of committees and companies, representatives of the diplomatic corps, heads of religious confessions and citizens from all regions of the country took part in the march.

First, flowers were laid at the monument of National Leader Heydar Aliyev.

Then, the participants began to march to honor victims of the 1918 March Genocide of Azerbaijanis.

The march, organized in accordance with the presidential order "On the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Genocide of Azerbaijanis", began from the Guba branch of the State Pedagogical University and continued to the Memorial Complex.

During the procession, which was attended by thousands of people, the participants chanted slogans as "Armenian vandals should be punished!", "A 100-year terror by Armenia!", "Do not forget the genocide of 1918!", "Justice for Khojaly!" and others.

The participants later laid a wreath and flowers to the monument erected in the territory of the Guba Genocide Memorial Complex in memory of the genocide victims.

Afterwards, a minute of silence was observed.

The Guba mass burial site was discovered on April 1, 2007 during construction work carried out in the area.

Later, employees of the Archeology and Ethnography Institute of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences conducted an extensive research which revealed that the graveyard was related to the genocide committed in 1918 by Armenians against civilians. The studies found the bones of more than 400 people. More than 50 of the remains belonged to children, 100 to women, the rest to the old men. Along with Azerbaijanis, Lezgis, Jews, Tats and representatives of other ethnic groups, killed by Armenians, were buried there.

On Dec. 30, 2009, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the establishment of the Guba memorial complex to the victims of genocide. The complex, created with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, was opened on Sept. 18, 2013.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

Trend:

A republican science conference, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Genocide of Azerbaijanis has been held at the Guba Genocide Memorial Complex.

Addressing the conference, Azerbaijani Presidents Assistant for Public and Political Affairs Ali Hasanov said genocide crimes still occur in the world due to double standards and failure of leading countries to timely react to such crimes.

He noted that Azerbaijan joined the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1996.

This convention was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1948. Although 70 years have passed since its adoption, genocide crimes still occur in many parts of the world. The main reasons are double standards prevailing in the world, failure of the international community, especially leading states to timely and adequately react to genocide crimes, added Hasanov.

Reminding about President Ilham Aliyev's January 18, 2018 decree "On the 100th Anniversary of the 1918 Genocide of Azerbaijanis", Hasanov noted that the "Action Plan on the 100th Anniversary of the 1918 Genocide of Azerbaijanis" was approved under the decree.

He stressed that the preservation of the burial discovered in Guba back in 2007 has always been in focus of attention of the head of state.

"Upon the instructions of the head of state, Head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev signed the order "On Some Issues Related to the Guba Genocide Memorial Complex" on June 5, 2017. Under the order, a commission was set up to investigate the current situation in the complex and prevent the destruction processes. The commission revealed that acceleration of decomposition of human remains and activation of landslides complicates the preservation of the burial in its form. Therefore, it was deemed advisable to bury human remains in accordance with traditions and customs, install a commemorative plaque, and, if necessary, create conditions for excavation in order to carry out further historical research. This was reported to the country's leadership. In accordance with the proposals of the commission, the victims of the genocide were buried, and a memorial plaque was installed over the burial," Hasanov said.Headline changed, details added (first version posted on 12:21)

Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

Trend:

Azerbaijans defense minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov, the Minister of National Defense of Turkey Nurettin Canikli and the Minister of Defense of Georgia Levan Izoria held a trilateral meeting in Turkeys Giresun city on March 31, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry said in a message March 31.

During the meeting, issues on the prospects for the development of military cooperation, the processes taking place in the world and the region, the activities carried out in the sphere of ensuring peace, stability and economic development in the region and other issues of mutual interest were discussed.

It was stressed that friendly ties are developing between the three neighboring peoples, and the relations between the countries that have risen to the level of strategic partnership reflect the will of the three countries peoples.

It was noted that these ties, based on mutual trust, play an important role in establishing peace and stability, including continued development in the region, as well as ensuring the well-being of the three countries peoples.

Speaking at the meeting, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov brought to the attention of his colleagues that this year March 31 is celebrated in Azerbaijan as the 100th anniversary of the Genocide of Azerbaijanis.

The minister of defense noted that during the period from March 30 to April 3, 1918, more than 10,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and missing in Baku and other surrounding areas as a result of pogrom and riots by Armenian armed bands.

Nurettin Canikli expressed his condolences to the Azerbaijani people in connection with the genocide.

Following the meeting, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of defense.

During the press conference held after the talks, the defense ministers informed the mass media about the issues discussed and the outcome of the meeting.

Speaking to media representatives, Zakir Hasanov invited his colleagues to Azerbaijan to attend the next trilateral meeting of the defense ministers to be held in the country.Details added (first version posted on 12:45)

Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

Trend:

A republican science conference, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Genocide of Azerbaijanis has been held at the Guba Genocide Memorial Complex.

Addressing the conference, Azerbaijani Presidents Assistant for Public and Political Affairs Ali Hasanov said genocide crimes still occur in the world due to double standards and failure of leading countries to timely react to such crimes.

He noted that Azerbaijan joined the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1996.

This convention was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1948. Although 70 years have passed since its adoption, genocide crimes still occur in many parts of the world. The main reasons are double standards prevailing in the world, failure of the international community, especially leading states to timely and adequately react to genocide crimes, added Hasanov.

Reminding about President Ilham Aliyev's January 18, 2018 decree "On the 100th Anniversary of the 1918 Genocide of Azerbaijanis", Hasanov noted that the "Action Plan on the 100th Anniversary of the 1918 Genocide of Azerbaijanis" was approved under the decree.

He stressed that the preservation of the burial discovered in Guba back in 2007 has always been in focus of attention of the head of state.

"Upon the instructions of the head of state, Head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev signed the order "On Some Issues Related to the Guba Genocide Memorial Complex" on June 5, 2017. Under the order, a commission was set up to investigate the current situation in the complex and prevent the destruction processes. The commission revealed that acceleration of decomposition of human remains and activation of landslides complicates the preservation of the burial in its form.

Therefore, it was deemed advisable to bury human remains in accordance with traditions and customs, install a commemorative plaque, and, if necessary, create conditions for excavation in order to carry out further historical research. This was reported to the country's leadership. In accordance with the proposals of the commission, the victims of the genocide were buried, and a memorial plaque was installed over the burial," Hasanov said.

Ali Hasanov noted that the genocide of Azerbaijanis of 1918 really became the most difficult trial on the path to the creation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR).

However, despite the brutal extermination and heavy losses, the Azerbaijani people, having passed these trials, defended their lands, he added.

The first independent republic in the East was created, he said. As you know, centenary of the ADR formation will be celebrated in two months. On May 16, 2017, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a special decree regarding the celebration of this anniversary in the republic at the state level.

Despite that our people were subjected to genocide by Armenian nationalists in various periods of history, survived mass extermination, deportation, ethnic cleansing and terror, these crimes didnt receive political and legal assessment, Ali Hasanov noted. This happened because every time Armenians carried out their insidious intentions, relying on the support of their patrons, in other words, on the central government, on the holders of real power.

Thats what exactly happened in 1905-1907, 1918-1920, 1948-1953, and subsequent periods, he added. For the same reason, the facts of the genocide were either concealed or presented in a distorted form, and the research work was carried out under strict administrative and ideological control. There was no opportunity to save the tragic pages of the past in the memory of the next generations so that people wouldnt remember this tragic lesson in their history.

In the end, in the late 80's - early 90's of the last century, the Armenian expansionist chauvinism emerged once again, the Azerbaijani people again were subjected to serious trials, deportations, ethnic cleansing, occupation and experienced such a terrible tragedy as the Khojaly genocide, Ali Hasanov said.

Only in the years of independence we got an opportunity to create a true picture of our past and give political and legal assessment of the genocide repeatedly committed against our people, he said.

From this point of view, the decree The Genocide of Azerbaijanis, signed by the national leader Heydar Aliyev on March 26, 1998, has an important historical significance. In this document, the tragedies accompanied by the seizure of Azerbaijani lands, mass pogroms, deportations and ethnic cleansing from the beginning of the 19th century until the present period were regarded as separate stages of the policy of genocide deliberated and systematically implemented by Armenians against Azerbaijanis, and March 31 was announced as the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis.

Ali Hasanov reminded that on the initiative of the national leader Heydar Aliyev, the Khojaly genocide received political and legal assessment, and February 26 was declared Khojaly Genocide Day.

Thanks to the work carried out as part of the international campaign Justice for Khojaly, launched in 2008 at the initiative of Vice President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the facts related to the tragedy were brought to the attention of international community, millions of people in the world were informed, said Ali Hasanov.

The global progressive forces, public, political, scientific and cultural figures must lead a determined struggle against ethnic, racial and religious intolerance, resulting in genocide crimes, the cases that create hostility, Ali Hasanov added.

On the other hand, in every country, just like in Azerbaijan, it is necessary to achieve that ethnic, cultural and confessional diversity would be accepted as a national heritage, human values, so that multiculturalism and tolerance would become a way of life of the society.

He noted that todays republican conference, alongside with exposing the actions of Armenian nationalists against humanity, is a contribution of Azerbaijans scientific community to the purposeful activity of the Azerbaijani state so that such cases would no longer occur and peoples safe living in peace and tranquility would be ensured.

There is no doubt that interesting reports and speeches will be heard at the conference, new facts and valuable proposals will be voiced, Ali Hasanov added.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

Trend:

Not only Azerbaijani citizens, but the entire Turkic world should not forget about March 31, head of Turkey-Azerbaijan Interparliamentary Friendship Group Necdet Unuvar told Trend.

"This day symbolizes the brutal murder of thousands of our brothers in Azerbaijan by Armenians. This symbolic day shows the inhuman method of punishment committed against one nation exactly 100 years ago," he said.

"It is very sad that many countries keep silent about this, despite the fact that there are thousands of documents, videos and photographs confirming the crimes of genocide to which Azerbaijan has been subjected over the last 100 years many times and in many places," he added.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

By Ilhama Isabalayeva - Trend:

The policy of hardcore nationalism in Armenia is at state policy level, Azerbaijani MP Aydin Mirzazade told Trend March 31.

Surveys conducted by influential foreign organizations show that Armenian nationalism, the aggression of Armenians towards other nations knows no bounds, said the MP.

Mirzazade pointed out that they are very aggressive not only towards Azerbaijanis and other Muslims, but also towards Jews.

As a result, today, almost 100 percent of the countrys population are only Armenians. This is the root cause of their tragedies. When the hardcore nationalism policy of Armenians, who are unfriendly to other nations, reaches the official state policy level, the country lags behind in development and its political reputation falls, said the MP.

He noted that over time, humanity begins to reveal the true face of Armenian nationalists.

We will continue to witness researches with such results, Mirzazade believes.

Residents of Armenia turned out to be the most intolerant in relation to the Jews among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, according to a sociological survey conducted by Pew Research Center.

Pew Research Center conducted research in 18 countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the period from June 2015 to July 2016.

According to the revealed data, 32 percent of Armenians would not like to see the Jews among the citizens of their country.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

Trend:

Opening of the Day of Kyrgyz Goods was held in Moscow with participation of the Minister of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic Artem Novikov and Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Ilya Torosov within the 20th meeting of the intergovernmental commission for trade, economic, scientific, technical and humanitarian cooperation, Kabar reports citing the press service of the Ministry of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The event was held to attract attention to the Kyrgyz goods and increase the recognition of domestic products in the trade networks of the Russian Federation and to form interest of Russian buyers to the Kyrgyz products as high-quality organic products at affordable prices.

Agricultural and food products produced in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic, with participation of about 30 local producers, were presented in the event.

On Dec. 15, 2017, a Memorandum of Intent was signed between the Ministry of Economy of Kyrgyzstan and the Russian company X5 Retail Group at the sixth Kyrgyz-Russian interregional conference in Bishkek.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

Baku has hosted the "Business Incubators - A Successful Platform in Development of Small Businesses" event, organized by the Azerbaijani Economy Ministry.

Representatives of government bodies, education institutions, technology parks, business incubators, start-ups and experts attended the event.

Executive Director of the Agency for Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Orkhan Mammadov, addressing the event, noted that the development of SMEs, being an integral part of the country's successful economic policy, has always been in the focus of the government.

"The main goal of reforms in this direction is to turn the SMEs into the main driving force of the development of the Azerbaijani economy," Mammadov said.

He reminded that in December 2017, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev decreed to create the Agency for Development of SMEs to ensure consistency of the ongoing reforms as well as introduction of effective coordination and modernization of the system regulating entrepreneurial activity, increasing the role of SMEs in the country's economy, and increasing their competitiveness.

The Agency will be engaged in organizing, coordinating, evaluating and regulating the SME houses, which will provide entrepreneurs with a range of services of state agencies and entrepreneurs in accordance with the "single window" principle, Mammadov said.

The Agency will operate in three directions, he said, adding that the first direction will cover measures to support existing enterprises, ensure their access to foreign markets, provide business services to state bodies and organizations in accordance with the "single window" principle.

Within the second direction, the Agency will support new ideas and development of new enterprises and start-ups as well as help them prepare business and marketing plans, and access to concessional financing.

The third direction is linked with the provision of all necessary procedural and legal documents for launching and doing business, including registration of business entities, issuance of licenses and permits, provision of notary and banking services through the SME houses.

"Our main task in the development of SMEs is to create a favorable business environment, increase the role of SMEs in the economy, their competitiveness and share in the country's total exports, ensure all possible elements of production and services through SMEs, especially the intellectual component. Our task is to increase the share of SMEs in GDP and employment through these measures," Mammadov said.

Mammadov then invited all representatives of SMEs to actively cooperate with the Agency.

The event ended with signing of a memorandum on expansion of cooperation and joint activities with 18 business incubators.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

Trend:

Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Arkady Dvorkovich said that Russia and Kyrgyzstan are consulting on the supply of Russian passenger aircraft Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) and -21 for the national air carrier of Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz news agency "Kabar" reported citing RIA Novosti on March 31.

"Consultations are underway. There are, of course, some temporary technological and financial issues, because a scheme for such supplies has to be developed. We some use of delivering already flown airplanes instead of new ones, because the former have already been tested, have passed a certain service cycle," Dvorkovich said.

Russian Gazeta.ru reported earlier that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a proposal to allocate 85 billion rubles to create a new truncated version of Sukhoi SuperJet (SSJ100).Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

Opening of a direct flight between Azerbaijan and Egypt will positively affect the tourism development, Azerbaijans Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev said at a meeting with the newly appointed Egyptian Ambassador to Baku Adel Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim.

The minister stressed that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to the development of relations with Egypt. He said that the first embassy of Azerbaijan on the African continent was opened namely in Egypt.

Azerbaijan and Egypt successfully cooperate in energy, trade, education, pharmaceuticals and other areas, he added.

Mustafayev noted that Minister of Investment and International Cooperation of Egypt Sahar Nasr was invited to Baku and the organization of a business forum is expected as part of her visit.

During the meeting, the minister also expressed gratitude to the Egyptian ambassador for the fair position of his country in the issue of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

In turn, Ambassador Adel Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim noted that both countries have great opportunities for expanding economic cooperation.

In this regard, the ambassador noted the importance of holding business forums, business meetings and other events with the participation of business circles.

Azerbaijans trade turnover with Egypt amounted to $8.05 million in 2017, $1.48 million of which accounted for the export of Azerbaijani products to this country, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

Trend:

Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Kazakhstan Dirk Jan Kop paid a visit to Kokshetau city this week, Kazinform refers to the press service of Akmola region akimat.

The Dutch diplomat and governor of the region Malik Murzalin discussed the issues of cooperation in production industry, agriculture and tourism.

Emphasizing the long-term partnership relations with the Kingdom, the region's governor said there are 7 Kazakh-Dutch joint ventures operating in Akmola region and foreign trade turnover between the region and the Kingdom in 2017 amounted to USD 3,2 million.

"Among imported goods are large cattle stock, poultry, potato seeds, animal feed, hand tools, mechanical devices, agricultural vehicles. Having significant export potential, other than raw product, Akmola region is ready to export processing industry goods," Malik Murzalin underlined.

In his turn, Dirk Jan Kop expressed interest of the Dutch side to activate and extend joint production activity.

He said that the relations between our countries are better than ever. "We have business relations in oil and gas field, and have set up agricultural cooperation in recent years. We also have good experience of introduction of Dutch technologies in Aktobe, Almaty and Shymkent. Also there are two companies in Akmola region which operate Dutch technologies in agriculture. In this respect the issues of crop growing, cattle breeding and hothouse are interesting to us," he added.

The parties discussed the outlooks of further mutually beneficial cooperation. To strengthen friendship relations between the Netherlands and Kazakhstan each of the sides agreed to receive business delegations. Malik Murzalin emphasized that the region is also interested in Dutch investments and new technologies in the tourism sphere.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:

The price index in the real estate market of Baku in February 2018 increased by 1.75 percent, Nusret Ibrahimov, director general of the MBA Group consulting company, real estate expert, told Trend.

During the month, the prices increased for primary housing and land areas, as well as rental of commercial properties, he said,

"Thus, prices in the primary housing market in February increased by 1.55 percent, in the land market - by 1.99 percent, and in the market for renting of commercial properties - by 1.83 percent. Meanwhile, the prices in the secondary housing market decreased by 2.13 percent, in the rental market - by 4.2 percent, and in the market of commercial properties - by 3.69 percent, " Ibrahimov said.

The expert noted that the prices in the real estate market increased by 3.22 percent since early 2018. According to him, growth is mainly linked with an increase in the cost of apartments in the primary housing market.

"So, prices in the primary housing market increased by 8.5 percent from the beginning of the year. The price growth in the land market hit 2.72 percent, in the market of commercial properties - 0.36 percent, and their lease - 4.75 percent, while prices in the secondary housing market decreased by 1.63 percent since early 2018, and prices in the rental market for residential premises have not changed since the beginning of the year," the expert said.

In general, according to Ibrahimov, the real estate market is expected to grow by 3-4 percent in the first quarter of 2018.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

Trend:

Deputy Minister of Labor, Migration and Employment of Tajikistan Nurullo Mahmadullozoda commented on the provisions of the agreements between the governments of Tajikistan and Kazakhstan on migration, Tajik news agency Khovar reported.

During the official visit of President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon to Kazakhstan on March 14-15, the governments of the two countries signed agreements on readmission, the Executive Protocol on implementation of the Readmission Agreement, and the agreement on procedure for the stay of citizens of Tajikistan in the territory of Kazakhstan and citizens of Kazakhstan in the territory of Tajikistan.

In accordance with the agreement between the governments of Tajikistan and Kazakhstan on readmission and the Executive Protocol, the authorized bodies of the parties, in accordance with the established procedure and conditions, will receive and transfer citizens who violate the current national legislation in the territories of the party states.

Based on the agreement on the procedure for the stay of citizens of Tajikistan in the territory of Kazakhstan and citizens of Kazakhstan in the territory of Tajikistan, citizens of states upon entry into the territories of both states are exempt from the registration obligation (registration at the place of stay) for 30 calendar days from the date of entry. Registration of citizens of both states is carried out for a period not exceeding 90 days from the moment of crossing the state border.

According to Nurullo Mahmadullozoda, Kazakhstan is one of the countries where Tajik citizens temporarily stay and work. In particular, according to the registration of exit and entry of citizens of the country through the crossing points on the state border of Tajikistan, in 2017, 12,336 citizens of Tajikistan left for Kazakhstan for temporary labor migration.

In addition, in the territory of Kazakhstan there are Tajiks (permanent residents) who are engaged in labor activity and private entrepreneurship.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

By Fikret Dolukhanov  Trend:

Uzbekistan embarked on an extensive advertising of the country's tourism potential in Tajikistan to attract tourists from the neighboring republic, the press service of the State Committee of Uzbekistan on the Development of Tourism stated.

The press service noted that the State Committee of Uzbekistan on the Development of Tourism is using various ways to attract more tourists from the neighboring country after the implementation of the visa-free regime between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

As can be seen from the photos posted on the website of the State Committee, advertisements of tourism destinations of Uzbekistan is printed on cars of city taxi services of Tajikistan.

Such advertising platforms are designed to increase the awareness of the people of Tajikistan about attractions in Uzbekistan and to raise interest in traveling around the country, the press release read.

Earlier, Dushanbe and Tashkent ratified the agreement on visa-free regime between the two countries following the visit of Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Tajikistan. Hence, starting from March 16, citizens of Tajikistan can stay in Uzbekistan without a visa within 30 days.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanovBaku, Azerbaijan, March 31

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

After a break of nearly two years, Azerbaijans Silk Way West Airlines has again introduced scheduled service into Budapest, the capital of Hungary, said a message published on the website of the airlines.

The Hungarian capital has once more become part of Silk Way West Airlines global cargo network. The first flight landed at Liszt Ferenc International Airport in the morning of March 18, 2018. From there on, the airline is connecting Budapest and the cargo hub in Baku twice a week on Thursday and Sunday, said the message.

The flights will be executed with Boeing 747 full freighters of which Silk Way expects to add two more to its existing fleet of more than ten 747 freighters in due course.

Having already included Vienna and Kiev into its network portfolio, the re-launch of the Budapest connection will be part of the European expansion with more destinations to follow during the course of this year, said the message.



We have recognized an increasing demand for scheduled services to and from Eastern Europe, which we believe came along with the rise of the ecommerce and tech business in this specific region. In the spirit of the ancient silkroad, we want to facilitate this growth by providing regular shipping opportunities to Central Europe as well as into the booming Middle Eastern and Asian markets with the establishment of this connection said Wolfgang Meier, CEO at Silk Way West Airlines.



We are proud to welcome the new cargo flight of Silk Way West Airlines to Budapest. The new flight creates additional export opportunities for the Hungarian industry, and through the international network of Silk Way West Airlines not only the main cargo hubs of Western Europe become accessible for its partners in industry and logistics, but markets in the Middle East and Asia too, noted Rene Droese, director property and cargo of Budapest Airport.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_ZeynAshgabat, Turkmenistan, March 31

By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend:

Gulshat Mammadova was unanimously elected the chairman of the sixth convocation Turkmen Parliament, the Turkmen government said in a message March 31.

According to the Constitution of Turkmenistan, a candidate for this position is elected by a secret voting.

Mammadova was nominated as an MP from the Gunesh election district No. 7 of the Ashgabat city.

The newly-elected speaker expressed deep gratitude for the trust and assured that she will spare no effort for the well-being of Turkmenistan and implementation of the policy of progressive reforms.

Kasymguly Babayev was elected the deputy speaker.

The parliamentary election in Turkmenistan was held on March 25.Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, March 31

By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend:

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has signed a decree to appoint Serdar Berdimuhamedov as Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan.

The activity of the Foreign Ministry is regulated by the laws "On the diplomatic service", "On the status of diplomatic representations of Turkmenistan abroad", "On diplomatic ranks", "On consular institutions of Turkmenistan", and "On the foreign policy concept of Turkmenistan".

To date, Turkmenistan has established diplomatic relations with 142 countries.

Thirty-eight diplomatic missions and consulates of Turkmenistan operate abroad. Thirty-five diplomatic missions of foreign countries are accredited in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan is a party to 139 international conventions and treaties.Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, March 31

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Ashgabat has hosted an International Scientific Conference Turkmenistan's Chemical Industry on the Path of Progress, the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper reported.

Prospects of production of mineral fertilizers and other products, strengthening and expanding partnership ties, exchange of experience and training of personnel will be considered during the conference.

The event is designed to strengthen the Turkmen economic potential and expand the export capabilities of the industry.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has sent his greetings to the participants of the conference.

It is impossible to imagine the daily life of people, the economic growth of the country without the products of the chemical industry, he said. Therefore, taking into account the important tasks facing the industry, the Turkmen state makes enormous efforts to support the activities of the domestic chemical industry, first of all by creating big modern facilities and modernization of the existing production facilities in accordance with the modern requirements.

Representatives of about 40 foreign companies and firms will take part in the event, including Mitsubishi Corporation and Kawasaki Plant Systems Ltd (Japan), Samsung and LG International Corporation (South Korea), Shell International B.V. (Netherlands), MAN Diesel & Turbo SE (Germany), Haldor Topsoe A/S (Denmark), Oxbow Sulfur & Fertilizer Sarl (Switzerland).

The structure of Turkmenistans Turkmenhimiya State Concern includes ten facilities. The main products manufactured by the facilities of the industry are intended for the agro-industrial complex of the country.

Ammonium-carbamide complexes are successfully operated in the Turkmen cities of Tejen and Mary, according to the report.

Based on the contract signed with a consortium of Mitsubishi Corporation (Japan) and GAP Insaat Yatirim ve Dis Ticaret A.S. (Turkey), construction of the third big ammonium-carbamide complex with a capacity of 1.155 million tons of carbamide per year is nearing completion in the Garabogaz city of the Balkan province. Turkmenhimiya State Concern is working to develop the production of potash fertilizers.

In March 2017, the Garlyk potash fertilizer plant was commissioned. The program for the development of the chemical industry envisages construction of new facilities for the production of potash fertilizers at the Karabil and Tyubegatan deposits.

In order to expand the production of phosphate fertilizers at the Turkmenabat chemical plant, a sulfuric acid plant with capacity of 500,000 tons per year was commissioned in July 2016. Turkmenistan occupies one of the leading positions in the world in terms of reserves of hydro-mineral raw materials, and in particular iodine and its derivatives, the report said.

In the near future, it is planned to start construction of new plants for the production of iodine, bromine and their derivatives in the Balkan province of Turkmenistan.

The promising sphere of the chemical industry development includes production of household chemicals, organic polymers such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, as well as carbamide-formaldehyde, melamine-formaldehyde resins and various paints on their basis, adhesives, construction and other materials.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

By Gazenfer Hamidov  Trend:

Irans oil exports to Japan (including gas condensates) in February reached 5.04 million barrels, according to the official data.

Compared to the preceding month, the figure indicates a fall by 20 percent, Japans ministry of economy, trade and industry said in a statement.

Compared to February 2017, the exports registered a fall by 21.8 percent.

The figure includes 478,704.9 barrels of condensate exported from Irans South Pars gas field, which is 51 percent less compared to condensate exports to Japan in January. However, it is 67 percent less, while compared to February 2017.

Besides condensate, the Islamic Republics oil export to Japan includes 253,831.6 barrels of light oil, 2.912 million barrels of heavy oil.

Iran was Japans fifth oil supplier after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar with a share of 6 percent in February 2018, while the country supplied 6.5 percent of the Asian countrys oil demand in February 2017 (6.45 million).

The Islamic Republic supplied 5.9 percent of Japans oil demand in January 2018.

Saudi Arabia exported 34.83 million barrels of oil to Japan in February 2018 (41.5 percent of the countrys total crude imports.)

Irans oil exports to Japan reached 83.94 million barrels in the fiscal year of 2016, which is a 38-percent increase compared to the preceding year.

Iran ensured 7 percent of Japans oil demand in 2016.

Irans oil exports increased by 1 million barrels per day (mb/d) in 2016 to 2.42 mb/d and the figure would increase to 2.59 mb/d in 2018, IMF previously said in a report.The United Nations Security Council will meet to discuss the situation in Gaza at the request of Kuwait, diplomats said, Reuters reports.

At least 12 Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured by Israeli security forces confronting one of the largest Palestinian demonstrations along the Israel-Gaza border in recent years, Gaza medical officials said.Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants the U.S. military to maintain a presence in Syria, despite President Donald Trumps declaration that American forces will be pulled from the war-torn country in the near future, Time reports.

We believe American troops should stay for at least the mid-term, if not the long-term, he told TIME Thursday in a wide-ranging interview.

Bin Salman, a 32-year old who last year disrupted the line of succession when he became next in line for the Saudi throne, has emerged as the most powerful Saudi ruler in decades. In addition to being selected as the crown prince, he serves as First Deputy Prime Minister, President of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs, and Minister of Defense.

Bin Salman, who is midway through a multi-city tour in the United States, said the American troop presence inside Syria is the last effort stopping Iran, Saudi Arabias arch-enemy, from continuing to expand influence with regional allies. U.S. forces inside the country also allow Washington to have a say in Syrias future, he said.Saudi air defense forces intercepted a missile fired by Houthi fighters in neighboring Yemen at the southern city of Najran on Saturday, Reuters with reference to the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported.

Al Arabiya gave no further details. The Houthi-run Saba news agency earlier said a ballistic missile was fired at a Saudi National Guard base in Najran, saying it had led to losses in the ranks of the enemy and its military equipment.The Syrian army on Saturday declared a major victory after wresting control over much of the Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus, Xinhua rpeorted.

In a statement, the army said after a series of "precisely-planned" military actions, the Syrian army has captured 31 towns and areas in Eastern Ghouta, still in fight with the rebels in Douma district, the last rebel stronghold north of Eastern Ghouta.

Hundreds of rebels have been killed and their command centers destroyed during the offensive which began late last month, according to the military statement.Russias Aeroflot plane has been searched by the British authorities at Londons Heathrow airport, no reasons were given, an Aeroflot source told TASS.

"The British side provided no grounds for a plane search," the source said. "It was decided that after the British side finishes the search, the plane will be additionally examined by the crew and the companys office employees as the British side compelled the crew to leave the plane during the search."

Russias relations with the United Kingdom strained following the incident involving the alleged poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain and was later swapped for Russian intelligence officers.

On March 4, Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious on a bench near the Maltings shopping center in Salisbury, the UK. Police said they had allegedly been exposed to a nerve agent. Both are in the hospital in critical condition.

London immediately accused Russia of being involved, but failed to produce any evidence. UK Prime Minister Theresa May rushed to blame Russia for "unlawful use of force" against her country. She identified the alleged substance used in the attack as the so-called Novichok nerve agent, allegedly developed in the former Soviet Union. The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats and announced other restrictive measures against Moscow.

Russia has flatly rejected these allegations pointing out that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia had any programs to develop that substance. In response, Moscow expelled the same number of British diplomats from Russia and ordering to close the British Consulate-General in St. Petersburg and shut down the British Councils offices in Russia.Russia offers to host a summit of Israeli and Palestinian leaders, the nations deputy representative at the United Nations said at an open-door UN meeting on the recent Gaza violence, Sputnik reports.

"We confirm our readiness to offer a Russian platform for a meeting of Israeli and Palestinians leaders," Vladimir Safronkov told the UN Security Council.

He stressed that the Middle Eastern peace process should be based on international rules and corresponding UNSC resolutions and the Arab peace initiative.

On Friday, a mass protest, which is expected to last for over a month, started along the Israeli border. During the event the protesters have already clashed with Israeli servicemen and reportedly 12 Palestinians were killed in the scuffle.

According to the Palestinian WAFA news agency, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered to make Saturday the day of mourning to pay respect to the people killed in the Friday clashes.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for an independent probe into Palestinian deaths on the Gazan border with Israel, his spokesman said in a statement.

"The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the clashes at the Gaza fence today which resulted in at least fifteen deaths and a large number of injured. The Secretary-General calls for an independent and transparent investigation into these incidents," Farhan Haq said in a statement.

In addition, the UN urges Israel to stick to international rules amid fears that the situation in Gaza may deteriorate in coming days, the UN chiefs political affairs aide, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, said after Palestinians began a six-week protestNine people died when a four-storey hotel collapsed late Saturday in Indore, a city in India's central state of Madhya Pradesh, Xinhua reported citing The Asian Age.

Ten people were rescued and rushed to hospitals, while more people were feared trapped under the debris of the hotel, the report said. The identities of the deceased is not yet known.

"Many people are feared trapped under the debris of the collapsed hotel. Rescue operation is on. I cannot say right now exactly how many people are trapped under the debris," Indore municipal corporation mayor Malini Gaur was quoted as saying.

Fire tenders and state disaster management rapid action force have been deployed in the rescue operation.

Local police said the cause of the mishap was yet to be ascertained.Although the expulsion of diplomats from the Russian Embassy in Washington has done damage to it, the Embassy staff will continue working as efficiently as ever for the stabilization of Russian-US relations, the Russian Ambassador to the US, TASS citing Anatoly Antonov reported.

"I think the Embassy's potential has sustained damage because the people who are leaving now have supervised the practical spheres of collaboration wih the US in culture, trade and space," he said.

"The Embassy will not reduce the efficiency of its operations and it will keep up efforts to stabilize the Russian-US relations in order to prevent their further regress or a slide into an abyss, because it looks like we've reached the end of the line already," he said.On the last day of its operations, the Russian Consulate General in Seattle received about thirty visitors, a source at the diplomatic legation told TASS.

"On Tuesday, there was a very big inflow of visitors - about 300 people," a member of the consular staff said. "Fewer people came on Wednesday and Thursday and today [on Friday] we had thirty or so visitors."

"We only handed out the documents and no one was standing in line by the closure our [17:00 hours PDT]," he said.

Russias Senior Consul in Seattle, Khalit Aisin, said earlier the Russians living or visiting the West Coast could address the consular department of the Embassy in Washington, as well as the remaining Consulates General in New York and Houston, after the closure of the Consulate General in Seattle

The Consulate, which has ceased to exist at the order of the US authorities as part of solidarity with the UK over the controversial Skripal poisoning case, covered a district including Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Wyoming, Utah, and also on Guam, the American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed an order to allocate funds for financing the priority activities of the program "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation." The document was published on Saturday on the government website, TASS reports.

According to the document, 3.04 bln rubles ($53.14 mln) of budget allocations from the reserve fund of the Russian government were allocated to finance priority activities of the program.

The funds will be used for state programs "Information Society (2011-2020)", "Economic Development and Innovative Economy", "Development of the Transport System", "Development of the Electronic and Radioelectronic Industry in 2013-2025."

"Digital Economy of the Russian Federation" program approved in the summer of 2017 was designed until 2024 and includes five areas devoted to regulatory regulation, education and personnel, cybersecurity, research, and IT infrastructure.Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Saturday that the UK had been notified it should send home "just over 50" of the country's diplomats, Sputnik reported.

"We've asked for parity. The Brits have 50 diplomats more than the Russians," said Zakharova.

Over the past few days, more than 25 countries, including numerous EU member states, the United States, Canada, Albania, Norway and Ukraine, have announced their decision to collectively expel over 150 Russian diplomats as a sign of solidarity with London on the Skripal case.

Russia has already adopted a reciprocal response by ordering the equivalent number of diplomats out with regard to each of the countries.

On March 30, British Ambassador to Russia Laurie Bristow was summoned and told that London had a month to cut its diplomatic mission to the same size as the Russian mission in the UK.

Skripal, a former Russian GRU colonel who also worked for UK intelligence, and his daughter Yulia have been in the hospital since March 4 due to exposure to what UK experts say is the A-234 nerve agent. UK Prime Minister Theresa May has accused Russia of orchestrating the attack and expelled 23 Russian diplomats.

Russia has strongly rejected the accusations and offered to assist in the investigation. However, Moscow's request for samples of the chemical substance used to poison the Skripals was rejected. In response, Moscow expelled UK diplomats and ordered the British Council to cease its activities in Russia.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Iran does not oppose Turkey's military operations in the region and is not against the new operation planned in Iraq's Sinjar, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.

Yildirim noted that the Iranian leadership understands that the PKK terrorist organization is a common threat to the entire region, Turkish media reported on March 31.

"Over the past period, Iran's authorities have not spoken out against Turkish military operations in the region," Yildirim said.

Earlier, Turkey's president stated that the Turkish Armed Forces could begin military operations against the PKK in Iraq's Sinjar.

On March 29, the Turkish Armed Forces cleared the Karukr and Kani Rash settlements in the north of Iraq on the border with the Turkish province of Hakkari from the militants of the PKK terrorist organization.

The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has continued for more than 30 years and has claimed more than 40,000 lives.

The UN and the European Union list the PKK as a terrorist organization.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, March 31

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

March 2018 can be assessed as the victorious month for Turkey, as the Turkish Armed Forces liberal administrative center of Syria's Afrin district within the Operation Olive Branch in this month.

The month is also remembered with other important political and economic events in Turkey.

What important events happened in March 2018 in Turkey?

The Turkish Armed Forces completely liberated administrative center of Afrin

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that the Turkish Armed Forces and the Free Syrian Army had liberated the administrative center of the Syrian Afrin district from the PYD and YPG terrorists. After the liberation of the administrative center, Turkey sent humanitarian aid to Afrin, and announced beginning of the restoration of the city's infrastructure.

After establishing full control over Afrim, Erdogan said that the Turkish Armed Forces could enter Sinjar in northern Iraq to fight the PKK.

"If the Iraqi government delays the fight against the PKK, Turkeys Armed Forces will solve this problem rapidly," Erdogan said.

The General Staff of Turkey revealed number of deaths during the Operation Olive Branch

The Operation Olive Branch in the Syrian district of Afrin can be considered one of the most successful operations of the Turkish Armed Forces. Furthermore, there was not recorded any case of violence or cruelty by the Turkish Armed Forces, not only against civilians, but also against militants caught in captivity.

As part of the Operation Olive Branch, 51 Turkish servicemen were killed and 255 servicemen men were injured. As part of the operation, about 4,000 terrorists were killed.

Turkey's defense industry increases exports

In early March, the Turkish Defense Industry Undersecretary (SSM) said that the country's defense industry exports increased by 16.6 percent compared to the same period in 2017, amounting to $ 258.9 million in January-February 2018.

During this period, Turkey's defense products for $10.5 million were exported to Great Britain, $9.4 million - India, $8.2 million - China, $7.9 million - Qatar, $6.4 million - Italy and to Azerbaijan - $5.2 million.

The rest of the exported defense products - worth $ 191 million - accounted for other countries. In recent years, Turkey has invested about $ 35 billion in the defense industry sector.

Security measures strengthened in Ankara

Ankara police have strengthened security measures in the Turkish capital. The move came following the statement by the US Embassy in Ankara that it will suspend its work on March 5 for security reasons.

Security measures have also been strengthened in places of the Turkish capital where US citizens live. Following this, raids were conducted in several provinces of Turkey, as well as in Ankara. About 40 people were detained, including citizens of Iraq and Syria, during the raids.

Turkish Airlines (THY) plans to increase number of local pilots

Turkish Airlines (THY) intends to increase the number of local pilots in the company, THY CEO Bilal Eksi told Turkish media. He noted that a training center, where 250 people study, was established for this purpose in the western Aydin province of Turkey in 2016.

Currently, about 800 foreign pilots work at THY. It is expected that the training centers in Turkey will annually train about 400 local pilots with an annual THY requirement of 500 people.

Turkish Airlines aims to ensure that until 2023 all its pilots are locals. In 2017, the number of Turkish pilots working in the company hit 2,611 people.

Turkey detains 2 Greek servicemen  tensions between Athens, Ankara grow

On March 2, two Greek servicemen were detained in Turkey. The incident occurred in the forest area around the Evros River, along which the border between the two countries runs.

The General Staff of Greek Armed Forces said that there was one junior officer among the Greek servicemen detained by Turkish border guards.

Commenting on the incident, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said that Ankara will not extradite two Greek servicemen who illegally crossed the Turkish border.

On March 7, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hami Aksoy sharply criticized Greek President Prokopios Pavlopoulos and urged him to respect the territorial integrity of Turkey.

This statement was made in response to statements by President Pavlopoulos that Greece must return its historical lands.

Plane belonging to Turkeys Basaran Holding crashes

A private Turkish plane traveling from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Istanbul disappeared from the radar at 17:40 on March 11. Eight passengers and three crew members were on board the plane belonging to Turkish firm Basaran Holding. The aircraft crashed in a mountainous area in western Iran and caught fire after the crash. Later, a representative of the Emergency Situations Office of Iran reported about the death of all passengers and crew.

Turkey sent a commission to Iran to investigate causes of the crash.

Canakkale-1915 bridge in Turkey to open earlier than scheduled

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has changed the date of commissioning of the Canakkale-1915 suspension bridge, which was scheduled for 2023. He said that the bridge will be opened March 18, 2022.

Erdogan noted that the bridge is being built at an accelerated pace.

The construction of the Canakkale-1915 suspension bridge, which will become the longest suspension bridge in the world, was launched in March 2017.

The bridge will not only connect the Gelibolu peninsula with the Lapseki area, but will also shorten the transportation of goods from Europe to the Aegean and Western Mediterranean regions of Turkey, bypassing Istanbul.

Turkey sends second protest note to Germany

Turkey sent Germany a second diplomatic note over the recent upsurge of attacks targeting Turkish mosques and cultural associations. The first protest note was sent March 12.

Turkey tests ballistic missiles

Turkey has successful tested the first domestically developed ballistic missiles.

The missiles were jointly developed by Turkeys Scientific and Technological Research Council and the countrys Defense Industries Research And Development Institute.

For the first time they were presented at the IDEF 2017 13th International Defence Industry Fair in Istanbul.

Skripal case not in Turkeys interests

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag clarified the Skripal case and noted that Turkey doesnt intend to take any measures against Russia in connection with this incident.

The crisis concerns relations between Russia and the UK, and they must resolve this issue between themselves, the deputy prime minister said.

Turkish PM talks on EU future

Internal problems of the EU threaten its existence, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.

Yildirim noted that the EU, as before, applies double standards regarding Turkey.

Despite the contradictory steps of the EU towards Turkey, Ankara is a supporter of the development of relations with this structure, Yildirim said.

An association agreement between the EU and Turkey was signed in 1963. Ankara filed an application for membership in the EU in 1987, but accession negotiations were launched in 2005.

Turkey expects over 30M tourists in 2018, simplifies system for registration of companies

Turkey expects the number of tourists visiting the country to be over 30 million in 2018, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said. Yildirim said that the tourism sector will be profitable in Turkey in 2018.

He added that Turkey will also simplify the registration system of companies.

According to the Turkish Institute of Statistics (TUIK), Turkey's revenues from the tourism sector grew by 18.9 percent in 2017 compared to 2016, and amounted to $26.283 billion.

By late 2017, 32.4 million tourists visited Turkey, which is by 27.84 percent more than in 2016.

In 2017, 58,422 companies with foreign capital were registered in Turkey.

In 2017, the number of registered German companies was 428, Syrian - 256, Iranian - 231 and Russian - 146, and the number of foreign companies registered in Turkey grew 14.38 percent compared to 2016.

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Rufiz Hafizoglu, expert on Turkey, head of Middle East Desk at Trend News Agency. Follow him on Twitter:@rhafizogluTurkey will host a trilateral meeting on Syria gathering leaders from Turkey, Russia, and Iran next week, the Presidential Press Office said on March 31, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

The meeting hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on April 4 will be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, according to a statement.

Besides regional developments and the ongoing Syrian war, the Turkish and Iranian leaders are also expected to hold talks to discuss bilateral relations.

Turkey, Russia and Iran are the guarantor countries who brokered a cease-fire in Syria in December 2016 leading to the Astana talks in the Kazakh capital, which are being held parallel to UN-backed discussions in Geneva, to find a political solution to the conflict.

Ankara will also host the seventh meeting of Turkey-Russia High-Level Cooperation Council with participants from Ankara and Moscow on April 3, the statement read.

During the meeting, the leaders will also exchange views on regional and international issues as well as bilateral relations.

As part of his visit, the Russian president will also attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant on April 3.A professor and author who once presented himself as a possible Trump administration ambassador to the European Union was detained and questioned by the FBI at Boston Logan airport and served a subpoena from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is probing possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Ted Malloch said in an emailed statement to NBC News that he was flying from his home in the U.K. via Boston to Cleveland, Ohio to celebrate Easter when he was stopped Wednesday, an incident first reported by the Guardian.

NBC News has independently confirmed that Malloch was detained and questioned at the airport, but not the details of the encounter.

According to Malloch, when he exited his flight from London he was taken aside by a TSA official and an FBI agent, and separated from his wife.

Malloch said two FBI agents then told him he was being detained to answer questions related to the special counsel's investigation.President Donald Trump has told advisers he wants an early exit of U.S. troops from Syria, two senior administration officials said on Friday, a stance that may put him at odds with U.S. military officials who see the fight against Islamic State as nowhere near complete, Reuters reports.

A National Security Council meeting is set for early next week to discuss the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State in Syria, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plan.

Two other administration officials confirmed a Wall Street Journal report on Friday that said Trump had ordered the State Department to freeze more than $200 million in funds for recovery efforts in Syria while his administration reassesses Washingtons role in the conflict there.

Trump called for the freeze after reading a news report that the U.S. had recently committed an additional $200 million to stabilize areas recaptured from Islamic State, the paper said.

The funding was announced by departing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in February at a meeting in Kuwait of the global coalition against Islamic State.

The decision to freeze the funds was in line with Trumps declaration during a speech in Richfield, Ohio, on Thursday, where he said it was time for America to exit Syria.

A spokesperson for the White Houses National Security Council said that in line with the Presidents guidance, the Department of State continually re-evaluates appropriate assistance levels and how best they might be utilized, which they do on an ongoing basis.

Trump is spending Easter weekend at his Palm Beach, Florida, estate.

Well be coming out of Syria, like, very soon, Trump said on Thursday, based on allied victories against Islamic State militants.

Let the other people take care of it now. Very soon, very soon, were coming out, Trump said. Were going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be.

Trumps comments came as France said on Friday it could increase its military presence in Syria to bolster the U.S.-led campaign.

While the Pentagon has estimated that Islamic State has lost about 98 percent of the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria, U.S. military officials have warned that the militants could regain the freed areas quickly unless they are stabilized.

Trump still needs to be convinced of that, said the U.S. officials with knowledge of the NSC meeting.Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants the US military to maintain a presence in Syria, he told on Thursday during his multi-city tour of the United States, Al Arabiya reports.

We believe American troops should stay for at least the mid-term, if not the long-term, he said.

The presence of the troops, which have a remote base at Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, will also allow Washington to have a say in Syrias future, the crown prince said.

If you take those troops out from east Syria, you will lose that checkpoint, Prince Mohammed said. And this corridor could create a lot of things in the region.

There are currently about 2,000 US troops working with Syrian Democratic Forces to re-capture territory from ISIS.

The crown princes remarks came just hours after Trump told a cheering crowd in Ohio that US troops will soon be pulled out.

By the way, were knocking the hell out of ISIS, Trump said. Were coming out of Syria very soon. Let the other people take care of it now, very soon. Very soon, were coming out.President Donald Trump has told advisers he wants an early exit of U.S. troops from Syria, two senior administration officials said on Friday, a stance that may put him at odds with U.S. military officials who see the fight against Islamic State as nowhere near complete, Reuters reported.

A National Security Council meeting is set for early next week to discuss the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State in Syria, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plan.

Two other administration officials confirmed a Wall Street Journal report on Friday that said Trump had ordered the State Department to freeze more than $200 million in funds for recovery efforts in Syria while his administration reassesses Washingtons role in the conflict there.

Trump called for the freeze after reading a news report that the U.S. had recently committed an additional $200 million to stabilize areas recaptured from Islamic State, the paper said.

The funding was announced by departing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in February at a meeting in Kuwait of the global coalition against Islamic State.

The decision to freeze the funds was in line with Trumps declaration during a speech in Richfield, Ohio, on Thursday, where he said it was time for America to exit Syria.

A spokesperson for the White Houses National Security Council said that in line with the Presidents guidance, the Department of State continually re-evaluates appropriate assistance levels and how best they might be utilized, which they do on an ongoing basis.

.In all 24,318 persons died due to COVID-19 in the state as per the official statistics until Friday. For giving them the said compensation, Rs 121.5 crore out of the remaining Rs 160 crore in the fund will have to be utilised.Description

The New York International Auto Show will be returning to the Jacob Javits Convention Center for 10 days of non-stop excitement. With four full floors devoted to the world's top automakers and nearly 1,000 vehicles, it's no wonder that the show has consistently held the highest attendance of any car show in North America for its entire 117-year history.



Dates and Times:

Friday, March 30th, through Sunday, April 8th

Monday  Saturday: 10 AM  10 PM

Sundays: 10 AM  7 PM



Early access and tours led by automotive experts are also available. See the show's official website for tickets and additional information!If you go to grab a cup of coffee in California, it may come with a cancer warning.

A superior court judge in Los Angeles ruled this week that coffee shops should be required to post a warning that drinking coffee could increase the risk of cancer. The ruling was preliminary, but it could lead cafes and restaurant owners across the state having to put up warning signs, CNN reports.

The problem stems from acrylamide, which is on a Californias list of chemicals that could potentially cause cancer. The chemical is created when coffee beans are roasted.



The California Safe Drinking Water and Tax Enforcement Act of 1986, also known as Prop 65, requires that California business disclose when any chemicals on that list are present. The rule has led to warning labels on everything from airports to Disneyland for chemicals found in those buildings construction.



The judge in the coffee case has given defendants, which include the coffee chain , until April 10 to file objections to the proposed ruling.

See original article on Fortune.com

More from Fortune.comThough many convicted criminals serve time and receive help reforming, for one Bitcoin trader, his record continues to grow from felony marijuana charges to money laundering.

First reported by CCN earlier as an unlicensed money transmitting business, it appears as though Thomas Mario Costanzo, who often goes by Morpheus Titania, hasnt yet learned his lesson in following the law, including legal Bitcoin trading, and now awaits his June sentencing regarding yesterdays trial.

Participating in Costanzos investigation, begun in 2014, were the IRS, DEA, USPS, Scottsdale Police Department, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, and Maricopa County Sheriffs Office. A Phoenix federal jury has now found the Arizona resident guilty of five counts of money laundering.

Trading Bitcoin with undercover agents, Costanzo encouraged cryptocurrency as a means of purchasing illegal drugs. Without providing transparency about transactions, crypto was promoted as a way to limit exposure with law enforcement.

Found guilty of exchanging nearly $165,000 from alleged drug traffickers (undercover federal agents) over the course of two years, Costanzo failed to identify his customers. He also concealed proceeds and charged anywhere from seven to ten percent commission for peer-to-peer transactions, rather than functioning within the legal limits for online exchange.

Arizonas Bitcoin Laws

According to Arizonas HB2417 bill, passed last spring:

SMART CONTRACTS MAY EXIST IN COMMERCE. A CONTRACT RELATING TO A 36 TRANSACTION MAY NOT BE DENIED LEGAL EFFECT, VALIDITY OR ENFORCEABILITY 37 SOLELY BECAUSE THAT CONTRACT CONTAINS A SMART CONTRACT TERM.

But while Bitcoin, and alt crypto, transactions are legal in the state, it would be expected that residents trade in accordance with the law. At minimum, doing so would help Arizona residents avoid twenty-year prison sentences and quarter-million-dollar fines per conviction, like those potentially awaiting Costanzo.

Story continues

As CCN correspondent P. H. Madore wrote in July, 2017, people like Costanzo are not the norm in Bitcoin trading. What is the norm in Bitcoin trading is following the confines of the law to the best of ones ability.

Though this is a case of one criminal using Bitcoin in an illegal manner, it gives an unnecessarily bad name to cryptocurrencies, especially in a time when their validity and the governance thereof is in question.

Theres too much fear-driven propaganda already, and those interested in Bitcoin or alt trading need to remember breaking the law isnt what cryptocurrencies were designed for. And just because one man cant manage to govern himself, the future of crypto is not at risk.

Even for those questioning the SECs inquiries into crypto regulations, regulations such as Know-Your-Customer (KYC) verifications serve to protect all involved, necessary when it comes to potential trading with criminals such as Costanzo.

Featured image from Shutterstock.



The post Criminal Bitcoin Trader Found Guilty of Money Laundering in Arizona appeared first on CCN.

By David Shepardson LOS GATOS, California (Reuters) - Tesla Inc said on Friday that a Tesla Model X involved a fatal crash in California last week had activated its Autopilot system, raising new questions about the semi-autonomous system that handles some driving tasks. Tesla also said vehicle logs from the accident showed no action had been taken by the driver soon before the crash and that he had received earlier warnings to put his hands on the wheel. "The driver had about five seconds and 150 meters of unobstructed view of the concrete divider with the crushed crash attenuator, but the vehicle logs show that no action was taken," Tesla said. The statement did not say why the Autopilot system apparently did not detect the concrete divider. The fatal crash and vehicle fire of the Tesla near Mountain View, California, involved two other cars and delayed traffic for hours. The 38-year-old Tesla driver died at a nearby hospital shortly after the crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which launched an investigation into the crash earlier this week, did not immediately comment late Friday. The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the fatal crash. Autopilot allows drivers to take their hands off the wheel for extended periods under certain conditions. Tesla requires users to agree to keep their hands on the wheel at all times before they can use autopilot, but users routinely tout the fact they can use the system to drive hands-free. The NTSB faulted Tesla in a prior fatal autopilot crash. In September, NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said operational limitations in the Tesla Model S played a major role in a May 2016 crash that killed a driver using autopilot. That death -- the first fatality in a Tesla vehicle operating in Autopilot mode -- raised questions about the safety of systems that can perform driving tasks for long stretches with little or no human intervention, but which cannot completely replace human drivers. The NTSB said Tesla could have taken further steps to prevent the systems misuse, and faulted the driver for not paying attention and for "overreliance on vehicle automation." In January, NHTSA and NTSB launched investigations into a Tesla vehicle, apparently traveling in semi-autonomous mode, that struck a fire truck in California. Neither agency nor Tesla has offered any update. The government probes raise the risk for Tesla and automakers at a time when the industry is seeking federal legislation that would ease deployment of self driving cars. The crash comes soon after an Uber vehicle in Arizona in self-driving mode struck and killed a pedestrian in the first death linked to an autonomous vehicle. Tesla said late Friday that "Autopilot does not prevent all accidents  such a standard would be impossible  but it makes them much less likely to occur. It unequivocally makes the world safer for the vehicle occupants, pedestrians and cyclists." Tesla said that in the United States "there is one automotive fatality every 86 million miles across all vehicles from all manufacturers. For Tesla, there is one fatality, including known pedestrian fatalities, every 320 million miles in vehicles equipped with Autopilot hardware." Tesla in September 2016 unveiled improvements to Autopilot, adding new limits on hands-off driving. On Thursday, Tesla said it was recalling 123,000 Model S sedans built before April 2016 in order to replace bolts in the power steering component that can begin to corrode after contact in cold temperatures with road salt. No accidents or injuries were reported. (Reporting by David Shepardson in Los Gatos, California and Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler and Kim Coghill)amazon seattle

AP

President Donald Trump is "obsessed" with Amazon, a source told the news website Axios on Wednesday.

The president may target the retail giant because he thinks Amazon has gotten a free ride from taxpayers, the Axios report says.

Compared with traditional brick-and-mortar retailers, Amazon often pays lower sales taxes and receives other financial incentives from states and cities where it operates.

The undetermined city for its new headquarters, dubbed HQ2, is likely to provide similar economic incentives.

President Donald Trump is "obsessed" with Amazon, a source told the news website Axios on Wednesday, and is considering going after the online retail giant using legal means.

The president thinks that Amazon has contributed to the downfall of brick-and-mortar retailers and that it receives an unfair advantage in the form of tax breaks from local and state governments, according to the Axios reporter Jonathan Swan.

Amazon did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

But there's evidence to support Trump's claims about Amazon's tax breaks.

When Amazon opens and operates offices, warehouses, data centers, or Whole Foods locations in cities across the US, it often accepts economic incentives.

From 2005 to 2014, the company received at least $613 million in local government subsidies to build warehouses and another $147 million for its data centers, according to a report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a group that pushes for local resources to be dedicated to community development.

Many cities and states have allowed the online retailer to pay lower tax rates than traditional brick-and-mortar retailers.

In Alabama, for example, Amazon runs five Whole Foods stores and a distribution center that opened late last year. Though the stores and shipping facility have a physical presence, Amazon pays a lower state sales tax than other retailers (8% compared with 10%).

Story continues

AL.com reports that Amazon collects the 8% tax from shoppers in the state who buy things on its website or at Whole Foods. Most of the tax revenue goes to the state's general fund, and the remainder is distributed to cities and counties based on population.

While the lower tax rate gives Amazon an advantage over brick-and-mortar retailers in Alabama, local governments are not getting as much revenue as they could be receiving. Since 2016, Amazon has participated in Alabama's Simplified Use Tax Remittance Program, which allows eligible online retailers to pay an 8% tax.

Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange told Business Insider that the state this month tried to negotiate with Amazon about paying the higher tax rate. But the company will continue to pay 8%.

"Amazon doesn't have stores, right? No, they have Whole Foods," he said on Wednesday. "We've agreed to take a 2-point haircut to be able to get Amazon, Whole Foods ... and whomever else they buy. We're going from $140 million in tax collection to $80 million just by what happened ... at the Legislature."

It's not unusual for large companies to receive government subsidies. In return, local governments are promised an increase in jobs and economic prosperity. But that doesn't always happen.

whole foods

Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesA 2018 study by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that the overall employment rates don't change when Amazon opens a new warehouse in a city.

The researchers say warehouse wages also do not change when Amazon comes. Cities and states providing tax incentives to Amazon for warehouse construction may be getting a "bad bargain," one of the study's authors, Ben Zipperer, told Business Insider.

Amazon, which has opened fulfillment centers in 25 states, disputes the group's findings.

"If you look at more current information, you will see that these data points are not demonstrative of our current network, community impact, and both the direct and indirect job creation near fulfillment centers," a company representative said previously, adding that "Amazon's investments led to the creation of 200,000 additional non-Amazon jobs, ranging from construction jobs to healthcare industry positions."

In Seattle, Amazon's hometown, the company has created thousands of jobs and jump-started the city's tech ecosystem. Since 2000, the area has added 99,000 new jobs  30% of which are in tech  contributing to a construction boom.

But Seattle has also seen rising housing prices and gentrification, and its unemployment rate has not declined significantly.

This year, Amazon is expected to announce the city for its new headquarters, known as HQ2. The company says the campus will bring 50,000 jobs over the next two decades, and most of the 20 finalist cities have said they are offering economic incentives to lure the tech giant  for example, New Jersey has said it wants to award Amazon $7 billion in tax breaks if it chooses the Newark area.

It's not clear what kinds of larger effects Amazon will have on HQ2's metro area. But the company is likely to get a sweet deal wherever it goes next.

NOW WATCH: Dropbox CEO talks about how he went from rejecting Steve Jobs to an $11 billion IPO

See Also:

SEE ALSO: An HQ2 finalist wants to name a city after Amazon and create a highway called 'Jeff Bezos Parkway'The US dollar bounced from the crucial level of 105, and of course the massive uptrend line that we have seen for months. This is a bullish and potentially important turn of events, but we obviously have a lot of work to do to turn things around.

The US dollar rallied against the Japanese yen during the week, reaching as high as the 107 handle, before giving back some of the gains. Ultimately, I think that this market should continue to find support at the 105 level, and more importantly, the daily uptrend line that I have marked on the chart. This uptrend line goes back to April 2016 and is crucial. With so many potential support reasons just below, I suspect that we will find buyers every time we dip. We may be trying to form a bit of a basing pattern, and that of course could be a nice buying opportunity.

However, if we were to break down below the 105 handle, I think that could unwind the market rather drastically. Essentially, I believe that the 105 level is one of the most important levels on this chart, so I think it will continue to be very noisy in this area, but longer-term I think that we are trying to find enough momentum to continue going higher. This will be helped if the talk of trade wars disappears, as this market has been reacting quite negatively to the idea of a spat between the United States and China. On the other side of that coin is that if the trade wars were to flareup, I think that we breakdown rather significantly as the risk trade would unwind quite drastically on the news. If we do, then I think the market goes down to the 100 handle.

USD/JPY Video 03.04.18

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:Good morning. Fortune digital editor Andrew Nusca here, filling in for Alan.

Summer demand for H-2B visas, issued for seasonal or temporary nonagricultural work for everything from holiday resorts to fisheries, is outstripping supply once again. Some lawmakers tried earlier this month to obtain an increasetheres an annual cap of 66,000, split between the summer and winter seasonsbut failed. Their argument: With a U.S. unemployment rate of just 4.1%, businesses need foreign workers where American ones are scarce. (The counterargument: Businesses simply need to try harder.)

The situation puts the Trump administration in a somewhat precarious position, pitting part of the business community against its America-first policies. (It also puts the president in an awkward spot, since some of his personal properties employ these kinds of workers.) With a record 81,000 requests for summer H-2Bs, its clear that the business community needs relief. Whether the administration in its second year can better balance politics and economics, well, thats the question.

The news below. Have a wonderful weekend.

Top News

Walmarts Largest Deal

Walmart is reportedly in preliminary talks to buy insurer Humana in yet another megadeal that would make major waves in the health care industry. With a market cap of about $37 billion, Humana would be Walmarts biggest acquisition by a long shot. It would also turn the worlds largest retailer into a drugstore king. Wall Street Journal

Global M&A Gets Real

Speaking of deals: Global mergers and acquisitions reached a record high in first quarter of 2018, totaling $1.2 trillion in value. (Among them: Cigna-Express Scripts, E.ON-RWE.) Clarity on taxes and strong equity and debt markets instilled confidence in corporate chiefs to be more aggressive. M&A volume was up substantially in Europe and the U.S. and modestly in Asia. Reuters

Trumps Trade Zeal

In his first public appearance in an almost a week, the U.S. president applauded a new trade agreement with South Korea, yet suggested that hed delay it as leverage in ongoing negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear program. You know why? he asked. Because its a very strong card. The remarks undercut White House efforts to promote the initiative. New York Times

Story continues

Facebooks Data Spiel

In an internal memo written in 2016, a top executive at the social networking company weighed the costs of the companys practices with the value of its mission. We connect people. Period. Thats why all the work we do in growth is justified, the exec wrote. All the questionable contact importing practices. All the subtle language that helps people stay searchable by friends. All of the work we do to bring more communication in. The work we will likely have to do in China some day. All of it. Facebooks data collection practices continue to receive scrutiny. BuzzFeed

Around the Water Cooler

Cathays Wardrobe Compunction

After more than 70 years of requiring its female flight attendants to wear skirts, Cathay Pacific, one of Asias largest airlines, will allow them to wear pants (that is, trousers) instead. Flight attendant unions earlier this month called on Cathay to drop its skirts-only policy. (Its uniform for female flight attendants includes a red skirt, black stockings, and black heels.) It remains one of the few airlines in Asia to make the change. The Guardian

Microsofts Major Reorganization

On Thursday Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed an overhaul of the companys org chart that aims to bolster its best-performing businesses (such as the cloud platform Azure and its business productivity suite Office 365) and deemphasize Windows. Nadella lieutenant Terry Myerson, who led the latter group, will retire. Fortune

Time Warner-AT&Ts Exhortation

In the fifth day of an antitrust trial, attorneys for media giant Time Warner argued that the U.S. governments evidence that its proposed sale to AT&T could adversely affect rivals was disconnected from the real world. TWX lawyers even managed to get a government witness from Comcast to back their argument on cross-examination. Bloomberg

Huaweis 5G Orchestration

The U.S. government may call its progress in 5G wireless technology a national security threat, but the Chinese telecom giant is working to influence peers anyway by sending large teams of representatives to industry gatherings to swamp conversations with technical recommendations. Analysts widely believe China will lead the 5G push. Wall Street Journal

This edition of CEO Daily was edited by Andrew Nusca. Find previous editions here, and sign up for other Fortune newsletters here.The quantum promise

One of today's most promising emerging technologies is quantum computing. Its so new, in fact, most people don't yet understand how it can improve the governments efficiency and national security. But its showing enough promise that the Trump administrations latest budget request included funding for quantum computing as it relates to the U.S. exascale computing program.

To get a sense of what quantum computing offers, GCN spoke with Bob Sorenson, vice president of research and technology and chief analyst for quantum computing at Hyperion Research. Heres a lightly edited transcript of that conversation.

Lets start at the top: What is quantum computing?

Theres so much confusion and mystery about what the quantum phenomena is and how it works. The best way to address it is to say that what quantum computing brings to the table is the ability to generate new kinds of algorithms, new kinds of applications and new kinds of use cases to solve problems that heretofore were unsolvable on traditional, binary-digit Von Neumann computer architectures.

Whats drawing attention to it now?

The development of the hardware has been going on for a number of years -- I would say certainly more than a decade -- and there was lots of interest as far as what quantum processes could be used for. For a long time, it was in some sense a solution looking for a problem. People were playing around with quantum hardware, but the simple idea, OK, what do we do with this from a compute standpoint? was a head-scratcher.

In the last few years weve seen an emergence in quantum computing hardware, but also in counterpart development -- in applications research, in algorithm research that asks how we can generate interesting algorithms that could be turned into applications and use cases that change the state of play in attacking some of the more interesting compute problems around the world.

Such as?

For years, the standard quantum computing algorithm that people rallied around was this idea of Schors algorithm, which was fundamentally a process whereby you could take a very large number that was a product of two prime numbers. You didnt know what the two initial prime numbers were, but you basically could factor it.

For a traditional computer, thats a really, really hard task. As the numbers get big, the factoring gets really hard, and you could actually have processes whereby it would take hundreds of thousands of years on the fastest computer in the world to factor a number that big. Thats why those kinds of large numbers are the basis for a lot of encryption technology thats being used out in the world today -- because to break the encryption, you have to do this factoring.

Now, quantum comes along, and this Schors algorithm offers a way to factor that number orders of magnitude faster than would ever be possible on a traditional computer. That presented an interesting algorithm, an interesting use case for quantum from a cryptographic standpoint, and thats what drove quantum development for, say, the last 10 years.

What can government IT managers do to ease into quantum computing?

Get involved in some of the research and development work and perhaps work with the commercial sector to help really define the directions that quantum computing development takes. Were not looking at, say, the IRS buying a quantum computer next month in order to review tax returns more quickly. Those kinds of end-use applications are years away.

Are any agencies using it now?

Within the Department of Energy, theres lots of R&D going on. Oak Ridge National Lab has a pretty aggressive quantum computing development program, and the Department of Energy Office of Science writ large is also looking at quantum. There have been some large position papers, if you will, coming out of the executive branch.

So, its getting underway.

Theres lots of work going on out there, and as I said, its all very nascent. The concern I have is theres a lot of hype out there right now about what quantum can accomplish, and were not even in the wild west stages yet. I think were maybe five years away from justifying this as wild west.

I think what we need to do is understand that this is a nascent technology. The hardware field is pretty wide open right now, and it remains to be seen how many interesting algorithms and applications can be gleaned from whats available. Theres a lot of promise, but its still based on a lot of optimism and a lot of hope that interesting things will happen.

What elevator speech could an IT official give to an agency executive to get support for quantum?

Youve got to get the best tools into the hands of the U.S. industrial base in order for it to remain economically competitive, which, of course is good in terms of national security concerns as well. To do that, you need to take some risks on some interesting far-reaching technologies, and quantum is right now one of the most promising out there.Is He Losing Balance Of Mind?

Notwithstanding his frequent political U-turns, alleged rank opportunism and nepotism, one cannot but agree the fact that Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is a seasoned politician and commands respect from all political leaders across the country.

Yet, of late, one can find Naidu speaking incoherently and losing his balance of mind while making statements whether it is inside the assembly or at public meetings. This was the opinion expressed by former Congress MP and an intellectual politician Vundavalli Arun Kumar.

Participating in a television channel interaction, Vundavalli said many people might differ with Naidu and his politicking, but there was absolutely no doubt that he was the most popular politician from the south.

Apart from Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa, Chandrababu was the only leader who was well-known in the north. Now that Jayalalithaa is no more and Karunanidhi is inactive, Naidu is the only tall leader from the south, he said.

Vundavalli, however, said Naidu, of late, appears to have lost his mental balance.

I am thoroughly disappointed with him. There is a huge difference between Naidu of 2000s and now. I do not know what has happened to him, but definitely there is something wrong with him, he said.

The former MP suspected that Naidu had turned megalomaniac, describing himself as super hero and claiming to have achieved everything on the earth.

If you have made any achievement, people will give you credit automatically. But Naidu himself is boasting of what he has done. This is crazy, Vundavalli observed.

Click Here for Latest Direct-to-OTT Releases (List Updates Daily)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UN Photo/Albert GonzAlez Farran

New York, Mar 31 (JEN): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the successful conclusion of the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), which officially closed its doors on Friday, and congratulated the West African countrys people and Government for turning the page on crisis and conflict.

In a statement from a UN spokesman, the Secretary-General also commended the Governments ongoing efforts to keep Liberia on the path the peace and sustainable development.

The UN chief appreciated the contributions of all partners in the Liberian peace process over the years, particularly the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), whose green helmets laid the foundation for UN peacekeepers in Liberia ahead of UNMILs establishment in 2003.

Guterres also expressed appreciation for the excellent leadership of his Special Representative for Liberia, Farid Zarif, and thanked all previous leaders of the Mission, and paid tribute to all uniformed and civilian personnel who served with UNMIL.

The Secretary-General expresses his profound respect to the memory of the 202 peacekeepers who lost their lives in the service of peace during the nearly 15 years the Mission was deployed in Liberia, said the statement, adding that the UN chief also expressed his gratitude to all troop- and police-contributing countries.

Even though the peacekeeping operation has wound down, the UN family still present in Liberia will remain committed to supporting the Government-led reform process with a view to ensuring that the hard-won peace can be sustained and the country and its people will continue to progress and thrive, the statement concluded.

Liberia, the first independent country in Africa, enjoyed nearly a century and a half of stability before falling into chaos, enduring two devastating civil wars between 1989 and 2003.

More than a quarter of a million Liberians were killed and nearly a third of the population was uprooted.

The UN Security Council established the peacekeeping mission for Liberia in October 2003, as violence lingered even after warring factions agreed to a cease-fire and a plan for political rebuilding.Image: Wikimedia common

Ottawa, Mar 31 (IBNS): Two men were shot in Kanata, one of the largest suburbs of Ottawa, on Friday night, media reports said.

Both the men are in their 20s.

Ottawa Paramedics said they were called to Kanata Centrum at around 9.30 pm on Friday where they found two men with injuries in their bodies.

Both the men were taken to trauma centre. One of the victims is in critical condition while the other is stable.

The Guns and Gangs Unit has taken over the investigation from Ottawa police.

Following the shooting, the police had shut down the Eagleson Road overpass for the sake of investigation.

Further details awaited.

(Reporting by Suman Das)This is the term that the editorials author, Brookings Doha Center visiting fellow Ranj Alaaldin, used in describing the prototype that Iran was striving to emulate in the form of other proxies throughout the region. Specifically, Alaaldin describes a project whereby Iran-backed paramilitaries utilize Shiite propaganda to promote sectarian charities and alternate sources of public services, and to facilitate the takeover of public property by those groups. The long-term goal of these efforts is described as securing formalized control over state institutions.

Alaaldin also notes that such projects are currently focused on Syria and Iraq specifically because their recent and ongoing conflicts with the ISIL and various rebel groups has created an opening for Iranian paramilitaries while also weakening the existing state structures in a way that makes it much more difficult for local authorities to resist the Iranian power-grab. The article concludes by observing that unless this pattern is interrupted by other outside actors, these Iranian allies will shape the future of the Syrian state and the political landscape of whole Middle East.

The broad nature of that conclusion speaks to other observations that have been made by numerous experts on the Middle East  observations that were reiterated by Dr. Jonathan Spyer in a recent interview that was featured at the Tower on Friday. In it, Spyer described Iranian involvement in Syria as a critically important part of the Islamic Republics larger regional empire building program. He also echoed the Times editorials call for Western policies aimed at confronting this program.

Although Spyer admitted that the regime had found the resources to sustain its foreign interventions even before the 2015 nuclear agreement provided Iran with large-scale sanctions relief, he nonetheless described the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action as a windfall that strengthened and broadened the Iranian hand. Consequently, he argued that while actions to undermine or strengthen that agreement would not halt Irans imperial ambitions, they would demonstrate the political will for long overdue efforts to confront and counteract those ambitions.

In January, US President Donald Trump threatened to cancel sanction waivers in May unless Congress and the European signatories to the JCPOA agreed upon a plan that would address his concerns about fatal flaws in the nuclear deal. The most recent reports signify uncertainty about the progress of talks between those powers. On one hand, Britain, France, and Germany have proposed new sanctions on Iran in hopes that these would convince the White House to remain a party to the deal. But on the other hand, the European Union has reportedly proven averse to those efforts, which also fall short of Trumps demands by focusing only on tangential issues like the Iranian ballistic missile program and the regimes support of terrorism.

But expert commentaries like the above-cited pieces in the Times and the Tower suggest that terrorist sponsorship is one of, if not the most pressing issue in need of a coordinated response from Western powers. In fact, another article, published at Counterpunch on Friday, argued that the influence of Irans regional proxies is steadily becoming more serious as the regimes operatives strive to unify all of those proxies under the banner of anti-Western Resistance while also eliminating undesirable elements who oppose the persistent entanglement of Shiite militias in conflicts throughout the Middle East.

That article even went as far as to suggest that Qassem Suleimani, the leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps foreign special operations wing, the Quds Force, has arranged the killing of a number of these undesirables, including factions of the Syrian establishment that were resistant to the situation that had been embraced by President Bashar al-Assad, in which security decisions were made not by Damascus but by Tehran.

These sorts of accusations arguably make it seem more imperative for Irans adversaries to confront Irans imperialism before Suleimani and others succeed in making their militant proxies not only entrenched but also unified and mutually supportive. And whether it is in response to this particular threat or simply the persistence of Irans already-established influence over Iraq and Syria, some of those adversaries are certainly pressing for the implementation of strong, collective, and nearly immediate measures.

Illustrating this phenomenon, Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman addressed the United States on Friday through the pages of the Wall Street Journal, in order to consolidate the message that he had been expressing throughout an American tour over the previous week. Salman offered the pointed warning that unless the US and its allies moved to expand economic sanctions and prevent the spread of Iranian influence, a large-scale Middle Eastern war would break out within 10 to 15 years.

The danger of open, cross-border conflict was made more apparent in February following an alleged incursion into Israeli airspace by an Iranian drone. The incident resulted in the destruction of the drone and the bombing of its ostensible launch site in Syria, and after which a dozen other sites were also destroyed and one Israeli fighter jet shot down.

Since then, Israel has apparently put forth effort to keep pressure on the Islamic Republic and to suggest that an international response to Irans regional activities is necessary in order to prevent the Israelis from taking matters into their own hands. This message was loudly reiterated this week when Israeli media produced a story claiming that seven of the Israeli Air Forces F-35 stealth fighters flew several clandestine missions over Iran, to gather reconnaissance over suspected Iranian nuclear sites.

The Aviationist picked up on this story and expressed extreme skepticism about its plausibility, but also acknowledged that it was a sign of the increased likelihood of such advanced Israeli aircraft being deployed to Iran in the future, in the event that Israel does not recognize progress toward constraining Irans imperialist ambitions. As part of those ambitions, the Islamic Republic has evidently given a permanent foothold to Hezbollah in Syria, thus expanding upon what Israel views as an existential threat.

Naturally, threats to Israel correlate closely with threats to American interests in the Middle East. And this is certainly a driving force in the Trump administrations push for more assertive confrontation of the Iranian regime. At the same time, the Iranian threat to Western interests is not limited to the immediate region. As Iranian influence grows there, it also establishes deeper connections to other nations and particularly other adversaries of the United States farther to the east.

This was the focus of an article published by The Hill on Friday, which highlighted the role that Armenia is beginning to play in linking Iran to Russia at a time when Western powers are taking an increasingly hard line in dealing with provocations from both of those sources. The article credits the European Union with providing Armenia an economic alternative to its dealings with Russia and Iran. It also recommends that the US support these efforts. And naturally, one way of doing so may be by making it more costly for would-be neutral parties like Armenia to do business with the Islamic Republic.

It will certainly be easier for the US and its allies to discourage such countries from establishing those business ties than it would be to convince them to give up on such times once they have been established. This, therefore, constitutes another reason why efforts to rein in the expansion of Iranian influence may be viewed as an imperative at this historical moment.

The aforementioned Counterpunch article provides yet another reason, insofar as it highlights the strong and growing opposition to Iranian interventions among the nations own population and the various organizations it counts as prospective allies. Despite the apparently ongoing efforts to weed out dissenting Shiite voices, Counterpunch finds that recent protest actions have demonstrated a remarkable lack of fear for Irans security forces. This is particularly evident in the wake of Irans domestic uprising in late December and January, which gave rise to bold slogans decrying the Iranian project in Syria and even calling for a change of government in Tehran.

Following those demonstrations, the National Council of Resistance of Iran called for the new Iranian calendar year, begun on March 21, to be a year full of uprisings. In light of such calls-to-action, international efforts to constrain Irans influence may be seen as imperative not only on account of the emerging threats but also on account of the potential presence of domestic allies who will help those efforts to find success.The Christian holiday of Easter marks the day followers believe Jesus Christ returned to life. Christians usually observe the holiday with religious services in church. But Easter is also a time for families to get together and enjoy a special dinner with traditional foods.

People in the United States come from all over the world. And different cultures celebrate Easter with different foods.

In one of the oldest neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. there is an Italian market that carries special goods to celebrate an Italian Easter.

Suzy and Bill Menard own Via Umbria, in Georgetown. In the middle of the store they have placed a huge chocolate egg.



"That egg weighs 13 pounds. It's a milk chocolate egg. And then, it probably took 4 hours for them to do just the decorations on the front of it. So, you get your beautiful Buona Pasqua (Happy Easter in Italian) with the floral script."



But if a 13 pound egg is too much for you, Via Umbria offers many smaller Easter chocolates as well.

"Fabric wrapped eggs in milk and dark chocolate, our different versions of the Easter bunny, we've got chocolates that have been hand-painted, covered with nuts, and also the smaller version of the beautiful, big chocolate egg we looked at earlier."



There are many different kinds of cakes for celebrating Easter. One, the Colomba cake, is shaped like the bird called a dove. Doves represent peace in many cultures.

Suzy says the Colomba cake it is a yeast cake that rises for 30 hours before baking.

"They use all rich butter and fresh eggs and the yeast takes 30 hours to rise that's what gives it its beautiful texture."



She also describes some of the meat products that they sell, such as lamb and pork. These can be used to make traditional dishes for Easter dinner.

We also have our signature porceda, which is the rolled pork belly, seasoned and cooked over high heat and cooked for a long period of time to get crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, as well as a local ham.

She adds that her store has something for people of all cultures. For Frederico Ribigini, the place is a taste of home.

"For me it's amazing because, as I am from Umbria, from Italy. They have the Colomba. That is a classic cake in Italy. They have Buona di Pasqua, the chocolate eggs. Yes, here, you can definitely you can find a lot of gifts to give for Pasqua."

Menard says those who do not like to cook can eat a daytime Easter meal at Via Umbria.

"On Easter we have some extra special family-style appetizers including a fresh farro salad and asparagus salad. And, one of the entrees features a lamb ragu and, of course, for dessert we are going to have an Umbrian Ciaramicola."

This ring-shaped cake has a sweet topping made from whipped sugar and egg whites. Historians say that this cake plays an important part in an ancient Umbrian tradition. Young women old enough for marriage bake this cake for the person they love on Easter Sunday.

Im Anna Matteo.

Mariama Diallo reported this story for VOA News from Washington. Anna Matteo adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver edited the story.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

decoration  n. something that is added to something else to make it more attractive

floral  adj. of or relating to flowers

script  n. a type of handwriting in which all the letters in a word are connected to each other

yeast  n. a type of fungus that is used in making alcoholic drinks (such as beer and wine) and in baking to help make dough rise

texture  n. the way that something feels when you touch it

signature  adj. something (such as a quality or feature) that is closely associated with someone or something

crispy  adj. having a pleasantly thin and crisp outer layer

tender  adj. easy to chew or bite : not tough

classic  adj. used to describe something that has been popular for a long time

appetizer  n. a small dish of food served before the main part of a meal

entree  n. the main dish of a meal especially in a restaurant

ragu  n. a hearty, seasoned Italian sauce of meat and tomatoes that is used chiefly in pasta dishes and that is typically made with ground beef, tomatoes, and finely chopped onions, celery, and carrots

dessert  n. sweet food eaten after the main part of a mealIn 1975, Venezuelan musician Jose Antonio Abreu created a network of music education programs for children. It became known as El Sistema. As the director of El Sistema, Abreu was able to gain government support for the network, and turn it into one of Venezuelas model programs.

Abreu died March 24 at age 78. Now, El Sistemas new director, Eduardo Mendez, promises to continue the program's tradition of musical excellence and social service.

Mendez said the program must overcome Venezuelas severe economic crisis. The crisis has forced hundreds of musicians to leave the country.

El Sistema now includes about 300 community schools. The network has given children in poor neighborhoods a chance to study classical music. It has produced world-famous musicians, including the director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel.

But Mendez says leading the orchestra network through Venezuela's social and economic crisis will not be easy.

He says that 8 percent of the program's teachers have recently left Venezuela to seek a better life in other countries. The network's highly praised Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra has lost 42 percent of its musicians over the past six months. Most of those positions have been filled with younger musicians.

Mendez said, "It hasn't been easy to convince people to stay. Many of these people are leaving in search of economic stability."

Mendez worked with Abreu for 15 years. He said his goal will be to strengthen beginner music programs and explore new types of music for students to learn.

El Sistema says 980,000 children and young musicians are currently part of its programs throughout Venezuela.

Moving forward, Mendez will have to avoid conflicts between musicians and Venezuela's government. Critics have accused him of using the music program as a propaganda tool.

Tensions between El Sistema and Venezuelan officials developed in 2017. At that time, Gustavo Dudamel criticized President Nicolas Maduros attempt to form a national assembly of mostly government supporters. Some critics viewed the move as another step toward dictatorship.

Maduro asked Dudamel to "not attack those of us who have been crucial to the expansion of the [musical] movement."

Venezuelan officials then cancelled two El Sistema trips through the United States and Asia. Dudamel was to lead the series of performances. No official explanation was given as to why the trips were cancelled.

Mendez said Dudamel will continue to be El Sistema's creative director. Dudamel is expected to lead several concerts in Venezuela in August and September. He may also take part in an El Sistema exhibition in May at a United Nations meeting in Vienna.

Reporters asked Mendez whether he would permit his musicians to voice their political views. He said he would not censure anyone.

"Everyone is responsible for his actions, and is responsible for saying or doing what they think is right," Mendez said.

Im Jonathan Evans.

Jonathan Evans adapted this story from an Associated Press report. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

convince  v. to cause (someone) to agree to do something

censure  v. to officially criticize someone or something strongly and publicly

exhibition  n. an event at which objects such as works of art are put out in a public space for people to look at; a public show of something

propaganda  n. ideas or statements that are often false or exaggerated and that are spread in order to help a cause, a political leader, a government, etc.

stability  n. the quality or state of something that is not easily changed or likely to change American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved.

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Asset Allocation: The Key to a Successful Portfolio. Are You Paying Attention to Yours?

What does your portfolio asset allocation look like? Have you intentionally invested based on asset allocation? If not, it's understandable. Most people don't consider how they'll allocate their investments when they first get started investing.

Read ArticleConocoPhillips engages in the exploration, production, transportation and marketing of crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, natural gas liquids, and liquefied natural gas on a worldwide basis. It operates through the following geographical segments: Alaska; Lower 48; Canada; Europe, Middle East and North Africa; Asia Pacific; and Other International. The Alaska segment primarily explores for produces, transports and markets crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The Lower 48 segment consists of operations in the U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico. The Canada segment is comprised of oil sands development in the Athabasca Region of northeastern Alberta and a liquids-rich unconventional play in western Canada. The Europe, Middle East and North Africa segment consists of operations and exploration activities in Norway, the United Kingdom and Libya. The Asia Pacific segment has explorations and product operations in China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia. The Other International segment handles exploration activities in Columbia and Argentina. The company was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

Read MoreAnadarko Petroleum Corporation engages in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of oil and gas properties. It operates through three segments: Exploration and Production, WES Midstream, and Other Midstream. The company explores for and produces oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). It is also involved in gathering, processing, treating, and transporting oil, natural-gas, and NGLs production, as well as the gathering and disposal of produced water. The company's oil and natural gas properties are located in the United States onshore and deepwater Gulf of Mexico; and Algeria, Ghana, Mozambique, Colombia, Peru, and other countries. As of December 31, 2018, it had approximately 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent of proved reserves. The company was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.

Read MoreBCE Inc., a telecommunications and media company, provides wireless, wireline, Internet, and television (TV) services to residential, business, and wholesale customers in Canada. It operates through three segments: Bell Wireless, Bell Wireline, and Bell Media. The Bell Wireless segment offers wireless voice and data communications products and services. The Bell Wireline segment provides data, including Internet access and Internet protocol television; and local telephone, long distance, satellite TV service, and connectivity, as well as other communications services and products. This segment also buys and sells local telephone, long distance, data, and other services from or to resellers, and other carriers. The Bell Media segment provides conventional TV, specialty TV, pay TV, and streaming services; and digital media, radio broadcasting, out-of-home advertising services. It owns and operates approximately 35 conventional TV stations; 27 specialty and four Pay TV channels; 3 direct-to-consumer streaming services; 109 licensed radio stations; and websites. The company was formerly known as Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. BCE Inc. was founded in 1880 and is headquartered in Verdun, Canada.

Read MoreWall Street analysts have given CBL & Associates Properties a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but CBL & Associates Properties wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.Please enable cookies on your web browser in order to continue.

The new European data protection law requires us to inform you of the following before you use our website:

We use cookies and other technologies to customize your experience, perform analytics and deliver personalized advertising on our sites, apps and newsletters and across the Internet based on your interests. By clicking I agree below, you consent to the use by us and our third-party partners of cookies and data gathered from your use of our platforms. See our Privacy Policy and Third Party Partners to learn more about the use of data and your rights. You also agree to our Terms of Service.Ormat Technologies, Inc. operates as a holding company. The firm engages in the provision of geothermal and recovered energy power business. It operates through the following segments: Electricity, Product and Energy Storage. The Electricity segment focuses in the sale of electricity from the company's power plants pursuant to PPAs. The Product segment involves in the manufacture, including design and development, of turbines and power units for the supply of electrical energy and in the associated construction of power plants utilizing the power units manufactured by the company to supply energy from geothermal fields and other alternative energy sources. The Energy Storage segment consists of battery energy storage systems as a service and management of curtailable customer loads under contracts with U.S. retail energy providers and directly with large commercial and industrial customers. The company was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Reno, NV.

Read MoreComputer giants Microsoft have donated dozens of computers to the school where a Ghanaian ICT teacher stole the hearts of social media users when he drew features of a Microsoft Word processing window on a chalkboard.

The innovative Ghanaian teacher instantly become a social media sensation after pictures of him drawing the features went viral early this month.

According to This is Africa.com , Okwura Kwadwo had no computer to demonstrate Microsoft Word to his students, so he drew it on the chalkboard.

In a Facebook post, he wrote: Teaching I.C.T in Ghanas school is very funny. I.C.T on the board paa. I love ma (my) students so have to do what will make them understand what am [Im] teaching.

His creativeness soon grabbed the attention of a Cameroonian entrepreneur Rebecca Enonchong, who set out to find him and also sent a message to Microsoft Africa.

The computer giant immediately pledged to equip Kwadwo with a teaching device.

Delivering on its promise, Microsoft collaborated with eSolutions Consulting  a local Education partner in Ghana  and delivered technological resources to equip a computer lab at Betenase Junior High School, located in Sekyedumase, Ashanti Region, Ghana.

The computer lab donation includes devices for students and lab teacher, tables and chairs, school uniforms, mathematical sets, device security storage units, 1-year free 3G connectivity, a projector, screen, UPS back up and routers. All devices will also be provided with Office Professional Plus software.

Warren La Fleur, Education Lead for West East and Central Africa at Microsoft said, As a technology brand that is on a mission to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more  Microsoft believes that enablement must start at grassroots level  by way of education. It is the teachers and the work they do through their lessons that allow for this to happen effectively.

We are extremely impressed by the work educators all over the continent are doing.  As economies like Ghana become increasingly digital, technical thinking and understanding technology becomes of supreme importance.

Quartz Africa said that Kwadwo had been teaching ICT for the past six years.

The report quoted Kwado as saying that although he had a personal laptop, he did not use it because the features differed from what was in the official syllabus, which required him to teach his students, among other things, parts of a system unit and monitor, the steps connecting them and how to boot a computer with a desktop as their reference.

[So] if you bring a charged laptop to class and just press the power button, then all of a sudden, everything will be on [and that does not work], he was quoted as saying.

The school needed at least 50 computers to fully achieve its goal.

Microsoft has donated dozens of computers to the school where Ghanaian ICT teacher, Owura Kwadwo Hottish, who used a blackboard to teach students about the contents of a Microsoft Word interface works. pic.twitter.com/EVgam8Jrxf  Africa Facts Zone (@AfricaFactsZone) March 30, 2018

News24

Now read: Microsoft to add new accessibility features to Windows 10Armenia legislature opposition factions hold discussions with lawyers

Armenia defense minister receives former, new commanders of Russia peacekeeping forces in Karabakh

European Heritage Days being held in Artsakh

Minute of silence to be observed in Armenia on September 27

Biden, Modi favor US-India cooperation in defense industry

Special court session underway in case of Armenia opposition MP, medical doctor

Biden says India should become permanent member of UN Security Council

1,066 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia FM, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy discuss Karabakh peace process

Man, 32, found dead at Yerevan building courtyard

Armenia initiative founder: Vaccinated person died of COVID-19

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs meet with Armenia, Azerbaijan FMs, statement issued

Chad Transitional Military Council head forms transitional parliament

Sri Lanka shaman pledges to beat coronavirus with blessed water but dies of virus

Newspaper: Armenia authorities find key to getting rid of unwanted community leaders

Newspaper: How much spent from Armenia state budget for 30th Independence Day anniversary event?

Armenia analyst: Aliyev tried to soften accusations of not going until the end, allowing Russia troops deployment

Armenia human rights activist: Authorities might blame ex-chief of army's General Staff for defeat in war

UN: Over 350,000 people have died in Syria over the past decade

Armenia opposition MP not allowed to leave for Strasbourg to attend PACE session, fellow deputy doesn't attend

Russia Federal Security Service blocks large network of illicit traffic in narcotic drugs coordinated by Turkey

Thousand-man demonstrations taking place in Berlin ahead of elections

Brazil President's son tests positive for COVID-19 after trip to New York

Armenia PM: Karabakh conflict can't be considered resolved through the use of force

Karabakh Ombudsman: Azerbaijan's raging battle against state emblems of Artsakh is manifestation of Armenophobia

Armenia MP: All cases of Special Investigation Service will be transferred to Corruption Prevention Commission

Armenia MOD receives UK Ambassador

Opposition Armenia faction of National Assembly of Armenia to hold consultation

Saakashvili promises to return to Georgia soon

Digest: Russian and French FMs discuss Karabakh situation, more on COVID-19 situation in Armenia

Erdogan says improvement of Turkey-US relations is necessary

Nakhchivan's ex-internal affairs minister sentenced to 11 years in prison

Armenia parliament approves several amendments and supplements to existing laws

Armenian political party leader: Aliyev accused Armenia of everything that Azerbaijan needs to be accused of

Opposition "Armenia" faction MP: Azerbaijan is preparing to implement agreements reached behind our backs

Armenian deputy parliamentary speaker: There are confidential ties and talks between Armenia and Turkey

Karabakh Investigative Committee accepts for proceedings case of Azerbaijani soldiers who fired at harvesters

First autumn snow falls on Armenias Mount Aragats (VIDEO)

Armenia parliament holding special session for the second time today

Azerbaijan hands over one fallen soldiers remains to Armenian side, in Artsakhs Shushi

Armenia PM: We intend to fully implement Police reforms

Armenia minister: Enlargement of communities will entail job cuts

Asian Development Bank forecasts GDP growth of 5.2% in Armenia for 2021, 3.5% for 2022

Opposition MP: 110,000 people already left Armenia this year

Armenia State Revenue Committee chairman meets with Eurasian Economic Commission minister

Armenia seasoned diplomat dies

Dollar still losing value in Armenia

Armenia Central Bank chief attends 22nd session of Monetary Policy Advisory Council

China Ambassador to Armenia meets with students of Chinese-Armenian Friendship School (PHOTOS)

Armenia Ombudsman receives US ex-Ambassador, presents Azerbaijan's violations of borderline residents' rights

Newly appointed Ambassador of Nigeria presents Letters of Credence to Armenia President

Armenia Parliament Speaker receives UAE Charge d'Affaires

Armenian and Iranian FMs meet, Armenia's Goris-Kapan road also discussed

Defense minister receives head of Red Cross delegation in Armenia

Armenia Security Council secretary: We raise Goris-Kapan road issue in discussions with Russia colleagues, Azerbaijan

Aliyev: Putin asked me not to humiliate Pashinyan in our presence during signing of November 9 statement

Armenia Security Council chief: We need to normalize relations with Turkey

Armenia parliament passes, in 1st reading, controversial changes to law on community enlargement

FM, Jordan deputy PM confer on Armenian POWs, Azerbaijan provocations

Azerbaijan files lawsuit against Armenia with International Court of Justice

Minute of silence to be observed, church requiem services to be offered in Artsakh on September 27

Armenia PM on COVID-19 situation: We definitely have to do it if we sense there is need to get vaccinated again

Russia and France express mutual commitment to further work to stabilize Nagorno-Karabakh situation

Health minister on coronavirus situation in Armenia: About 85% of our bed capacity already used

Pashinyan: Vaccine protects against COVID-19 by 97.5%

906 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Opposition factions boycott Armenia legislature special session

Armenia FM lauds Cyprus principled position on Karabakh issue

Azerbaijan submits new bids to buy weapons from Russia

Armenia FM, UN Commissioner discuss issues of displaced Artsakh Armenians

Azerbaijans Aliyev offers Armenia peace in exchange for Zangezur corridor

Nearly 20 EU countries propose to re-elect Ghebreyesus as WHO chief

Newspaper: Artsakh President targeted

Trump leads in terms of voter support

Newspaper: Armenia government members to come to parliament

Scientists warn of magnetic storms on Earth this week

Schoolchildren and parents get into massive brawl on Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border

Deputy PM: No corridor issue being discussed, any passage through Armenia's sovereign territory will imply transit

Armenia FM at UN General Assembly: We call on increasing pressure on Azerbaijan

Armenia Deputy PM: It's rather difficult to say when Amulsar gold mine will be opened

Armenia FM meets with Finnish counterpart

Armenia Deputy PM: Pashinyan-Erdogan meeting is not planned

Turkey's Erdogan: We are receiving positive messages from Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan

Armenia 1st President hosts Kyrgyzstan's ex-president

Armenia FM meets with Council of Europe Secretary General

Armenia PM sends congratulatory message to Catholicos Patriarch of Armenian Catholic Church

Armenia Emergency Situations Ministry: Iranians didn't participate in putting out fire near park

Armenia PM orders to ensure enforcement of order for COVID-19 vaccination or PCR test starting October 1

Armenian lawyer: I won't force my employees to get PCR test for COVID-19 and will protect their rights in court

Armenia PM sacks Public Council Secretariat chief

Armenian man charged under organizing of illegal migration in Russia shows up to Armenia police station

France FM to meet with US counterpart

Armenia justice minister introduces newly appointed head of Penitentiary Service

Digest: US Congress demands Armenian POWs release in Baku, more on COVID-19 vaccination in Armenia

Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani Prosecutors General meet in Kazakhstan

Russia ambassador to Armenia underscores continued development of multipolar cooperation bridges

Armenia peacekeepers in Kosovo mark Independence Day anniversary

US Under Secretary of State: We look forward to progress, including via OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair mechanism

Azerbaijan FM declares country's willingness to normalize relations with Armenia

US, Russia start talks over sustainable development at level of businessThe My Step campaign which is launched by the opposition Civil Contract Party of Armenia, and whose objective is to prevent the third term in office by incumbent President Serzh Sargsyanbut this time as the next prime minister, kicked off Saturday from Gyumri.

The respective statement by this political force notes that party chairman, MP Nikol Pashinyan, took his first step, whereby the start of this 14-day walking campaign from Gyumri to capital city Yerevan was announced.

Over the course of these 14 days, the participants in this campaign will walk for around 200 kilometers, take about 300 thousand steps, and on April 13, hold a rally at Liberty Square in downtown Yerevan.

The statement also reads that the Pashinyan-led Civil Contract Party, which is part of the opposition Yelk (Way Out) bloc, has announced the start of a street effort no to permit Sargsyan from continuing his rule in Armenia.

The Yelk blocs other two political parties, however, have not joined in this campaign.Home | News | General | Getting pregnant fast becoming a death sentence in Nigeria

FG budgets N55.19 trillion in 10 years, allocates only N2.51 trillion to health

By Clifford Ndujihe

BY the end of 2018, the Federal Government would have spent the sum of N55.19 trillion as budgets for 10 years, if the N8.612 trillion proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari for this year is approved by the National Assembly.

Of this hefty sum, only N2.51 trillion or 4.55 per cent was allocated to the Health sector. This is a far cry from the World Health Organisation, WHOs recommended 13 per cent or the 15 per cent declared by the African Union in 2001 in Abuja, which Nigeria is a signatory to.

Over the years, budgetary allocations to Nigerias health sector have remained disappointingly and scandalously low in spite of the numerous challenges bedeviling the sector.

In 2009, a miserly N103.8 billion or 3.4 per cent of the N3.049 trillion budget was allocated to health. The trend continued in 2010 (see table) when only 3.14 per cent of the federal budget was voted for healthcare. A little rise in allocations to health was witnessed in 2011 (5.19 per cent), 2012 (5.73 per cent), 2013 (5.67 per cent), 2014 (5.33 per cent), and 2015 (5.08 per cent).

In the last three years, allocations to health have remained abysmally low. In 2016, President Muhammadu Buharis first full year in office, out of the N6.061 trillion budget, only about N250 billion or 4.13 per cent was voted for the health sector.

A similar scenario played out in 2017 when out of a N7.444 trillion appropriation, a paltry N308 billion or 4.13 per cent went to the health sector.

Except something happens, 2018 will be worse. Out of President Buharis proposed N8.612 trillion budget, an insignificant N340.45 billion or 3.95 per cent was voted for the health sector. It is worse when it is noted that not even the amount allocated is eventually released to the sector.

If the government had implemented the AUs 15 per cent recommendation, the sum of N8.279 trillion (compared to N2.51 trillion) would have been allocated to the health sector in the last 10 years. The extra N4.769 trillion would have boosted the provision of healthcare facilities and fighting prevailing diseases like malaria.

Ill-equipped hospitals

It is therefore not surprising that Nigeria, the largest black nation, has one of the worst health indices in the world. Many public hospitals are mere consulting clinics with little or no equipment and poor facilities.

Last October, the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, complained of lack of drugs and equipment at Aso Rock Clinic, which provides medical services to the president, vice-president and their families, aides, members of staff of the State House and other entitled public servants and also serves as a prime training facility for house officers and other medical personnel.

Few weeks ago, I was sick  they advised me to take the first flight out to London but I refused to go. I said I must be treated in Nigeria because there is a budget for an assigned clinic to take care of us. If the budget is N100 million, we need to know how the budget is spent. Along the line, I insisted they called Aso Clinic to find out if the x-ray machine was working. They said it was not working. They did not know that I was the one that was supposed to be in that hospital at that very time. I had to go to a hospital that was established by foreigners in and out 100 per cent, she said.

If Aso Rock Clinic is so afflicted, what obtains in other government hospitals is left to the imagination.

Nigeria loses billions of naira to medical tourism

Last December, former Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, said that Nigeria was losing N175 billion annually to medical tourism. He spoke at the opening ceremony of the 2017 Faculty of Clinical Sciences 10th Faculty Week & Scientific Conference, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, themed: Medical Tourism in Nigeria. He said that the wasted fund was more than 50 per cent of the proposed N340.45 billion 2018 federal health budget.

Poor health indices

According to the Malaria Society of Nigeria, MSN, Nigeria has the highest number of malaria deaths in the world. With about 100 million malaria cases and about 300,000 deaths annually, Nigeria has the highest number of malaria casualties worldwide, said MSN President, Dr Babajide Puddicombe, citing figures from the WHO.

Nigeria also has the highest Cancer death rate in Africa. The WHO said recently that cancer is the second leading cause of death globally and accounted for 8.8 million deaths in 2015. Globally, nearly 1 in 6 deaths is due to cancer. In Nigeria, cancer leads to over 72,000 deaths per annum. This number is set to increase given that there are over 102,000 new cases of cancer every year.

Dangerous place to give birth

Chairman, Bill and Melinda Foundation, Bill Gates, Bill Gates, penultimate week, said that Nigeria is one of the most dangerous places in the world to give birth.

Gates, who stated this at the Expanded National Economic Council presided over by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, said: Nigeria is one of the most dangerous places in the world to give birth with the fourth worst maternal mortality rate in the world ahead of only Sierra Leone, Central African Republic and Chad. One in three Nigerian children is chronically malnourished.

Nigeria records 756,000 under-five deaths annually  Official

Indeed, the federal government said recently that the country records about 756,000 under five deaths annually.

Osarenoma Uwaifo, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, disclosed this at a two-day annual symposium on experience sharing on Integrated Community Case Management of Childhood illness (ICCM) in Abuja.

Mr. Osarenoma, who was represented by Bose Adeniran, Head, Child Health Division, said that the data was made known by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (IGME).

According to him, Nigeria contributes 11 per cent of total global deaths of under-five, ranking second on the list of countries with burdens of child mortality.

He said one in every eight children born in Nigeria die before their fifth birthday.

He said that pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria represented an estimated 58 per cent of under-five deaths with malnutrition underlying about 50 per cent of them.

He said that majority of these childhood deaths can be prevented with high impact interventions and treated with very low-cost medicines which most of these children living in hard to reach areas do not have access to.

According to BudgiT, an online budget analyses media, every day, approximately 2,300 under-five-year-olds and 145 women of childbearing age die in Nigeria. These deaths are mostly preventable. About 50 per cent of maternal deaths in Nigeria is said to result from pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, obstetric haemorrhage and complications from unsafe abortion.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...Home | News | General | Trump declares April Sexual Assault Awareness month

US President Donald Trump  who has himself been repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct  on Friday designated April 2018 National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month amid a national debate over the issue. Trump

Sexual assault crimes remain tragically common in our society, and offenders too often evade accountability, said a proclamation from Trump released by the White House. These heinous crimes are committed indiscriminately: in intimate relationships, in public spaces, and in the workplace.

Too often, however, the victims of assault remain silent. They may fear retribution from their offender, lack faith in the justice system, or have difficulty confronting the pain associated with the traumatic experience, it continued.

My administration is committed to raising awareness about sexual assault and to empowering victims to identify perpetrators so that they can be held accountable.

At least 20 women have publicly accused Trump of engaging in sexual assault or harassment prior to becoming president. The White House has maintained that the women are lying.

Last month, Trump described allegations that he kissed a receptionist without her consent as Another False Accusation in a post on Twitter, calling instead for coverage of the story of the women taking money to make up stories about me. One had her home mortgage paid off.

Since former film mogul Harvey Weinsteins dramatic downfall over allegations ranging from harassment to rape, the #MeToo campaign has seen a deluge of accusations topple men from powerful positions in a number of industries including Hollywood, the media and politics.

In February, allegations of domestic abuse led two Trump staffers to resign. The Republican leader came under fire for lamenting the shattered lives of those accused, saying the allegations could be false.

The 2016 presidential campaign that launched Trump to the White House saw the unearthing of an infamous Access Hollywood tape in which the real estate tycoon bragged about groping women.

I dont even wait, Trump says in the clip. And when youre a star, they let you do it, you can do anything. Grab them by the pussy.

Trump dismissed his lewd comments as locker room banter.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...Home | News | General | When your lies to posh lover

THERE comes a time in a womans life when she has to decide who to settle with and make a go for him. Laila was once briefly engaged to her childhood sweetheart who took off with one of her close friends. Now approaching 30, shes been involved with Joseph, a photographer who runs his own studio. He specialises in society events and sells photographs to most of these society magazines, explained Laila. Hed taken so much time and money setting up his business that he didnt give marriage a thought until he was convinced he could look after a prospective family.

Thanks to his job, he took me on a few society events that gave me a peep into the world of the other halfand how they live. It was at one of these events, a society wedding, that I meet Taofik. A strictly-by-invitation event, Joseph has wangled a card from one of the organisers, and that was how I found myself sitting at this table with beautifully dressed guests. I wasnt bad looking myself. Thanks to the lady I worked with who recently passed to me a few of her clothes, I matched what most of the women were wearing and my freshly fixed hair attachment shone.

The wedding reception was straight out of the pages of a magazine. The bride wore an obviously expensive gown and the wedding train was not disappointing. I could get used to this, I thought, sipping a glass of cold wine. By the time the meals arrived, I was already charged up and chatting with a couple of men on my table. At first, I didnt notice Taofik who was seated at the table next to mine but as the evening wore on, we ended up sitting next to each other. Are you related to any of the celebrants? he asked seriously. I shook my head and took a closer look at him. He was smart and courteousand handsome to boot. The groom and I work in a big legal firm. Im a solicitor, he offered.

l nodded calmly as if it was nothing to me that he was a high-flying lawyer. He went on to tell me he was working hard towards being made a partner of the firm and my heart started thumping. I might be onto something good here, I thought to myself. I could tell he liked what he saw too as he couldnt take his eyes off me and kept filling my glass. But would his interest last when he discovered what I did for a living? That I was a sales assistant to a boss who ran her shop from home? So when he asked what I did, I blurted out, I worked for a businesswoman as her PA. She has an office in her house. There was no need to let on my job entailsno typing or telephoningjust persuading grumpy customers to buy enough stuffs so I could get paid at the end of the month.

Id arranged to go home with one of my friends as Joseph would have to take some photographs to clients offices that very day. When Taofik asked if I had my own transport, I shook my head and he offered to give me a lift. But I told him Id already arranged for transport. If he took me home, he would realise I was obviously beneath him. I was already regretting the half truth about what I did. After all, I worked very hard and was earning an honest living.

As we left the venue, he asked me out and I agreed. One date led to another and each time I saw him, I fell for him a bit more. And that was even before I saw his flashy jeep and ultramodern flat. If Id owned up straightaway about deceiving him, I could have made a joke of it. But every time I was about to tell him, I thought about how successful he was and the words stuck firmly in my throat. I lived in fear of him phoning to say hed meet me from work, so I kept a smart skirt, top and pair of heels there, just in case. I even added to my lies that I lived in a flat when all I had was a one-room apartment.

Then out of the blues, he wanted to know what I thought of marriage. Both of us werent getting younger, he said, and the earlier we set plans for a wedding rolling, the easier it would be for us to save for it. Part of me was walking on air, glad he thought we had a future together. But part of me panicked. From where would I get money for a fancy wedding? A few months later, he wanted to know how much rent I paid. By this time, hed assumed I lived in one of my bosss flats where hed picked me up from work a few times. If he could arrange for us to buy a government flat, the rent on my flat combined with our salaries and the rent from his fancy pad, should be enough for us to afford the mortgage.

That brought me down to earth. I dont have a fancy salaryjust cash payments that barely covered my rent and food. There was no way I could take on any mortgage! I blustered some excuse about how we shouldnt rush things, but a few months later, Taofik is now suggesting we go and check out some estate agents his office uses from time to time. If I refuse, hell wonder why. But if I go, my secret will be revealed as soon as we meet his lawyer friends.

I really love Taofik, but our whole relationship is built on sand. I cant keep up this pretence any longer. At first, I was ashamed to admit what I did for a living. But now, I really have something to cringe aboutall the cowardly lies Ive told. Im scared stiff theyre going to cost me the man of my dreams. All those posh life-styles, fancy parties and generous cash gifts will end. And as for Joseph, the way I treated him when I landed Taofik, he would be a price fool if he as much as looked at me.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Why we must address Out-of-School children menaceTolu

By Simeon Ndaji

Out-of-School-Children-Empowerment Foundation (OSCEF), is an NGO that is passionate about childrens education and strives to support local government, state government, and Federal Government agenda on eradication of the out-of-school-children, who are victims of social vices and parental care.

In this interview with Saturday Vanguard, Mr Kelani Akeem Tolu, OSCEF chairman spoke on the objective of the foundation and his vision to harness every childs potential especially those who are victims of circumstances by ensuring they get back to school.

Tolu

Excerpts:

When did you establish Out-of-School-Children-Foundation and what led to the realisation of this dream?

In 2012, I was among the delegates who went to Abuja for the National Council on Education under the auspices of the former Minister of Education, Professor Rukaayat Rufai, who said at the forum that the population of out-of-school children in Nigeria was 10.5 million, according to UNESCO report.

Professor Rufai said something drastic must be done to stem the dangerous tide affecting the education sector. She said that it will be formidable to work in partnership with NGOs, adding that proffering solution to the problem will require a holistic approach involving the Federal Government, state governments, local governments and individuals who will set up NGOs that will leverage on the roles of Local Government Education Authority (LGEAs),Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and other stakeholders to proffer far reaching solutions. But it was in 2010 I came up with the idea to establish the foundation.

Was there any follow up after the Abuja National Council on Education?

Former Chairman, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Alhaji Gbolahan Daudu made a worthwhile impact morally, financially, and he exposed us to relevant training on capacity building. I am undergoing a 5-year training (2014-2018) on transparency and accountability in basic education. We are being groomed to develop capacity to look into Basic Primary Education. The Executive Director, Human Development Initiative, Mrs Olufunsho Owasanoye inspired me by her support and encouragement.

Minister of Education, Professor Adamu Adamu speaking on Valentine Day on AIT, made a passionate plea for Nigerians to join hands to support Federal Government to fight Out-of-School children menace.

How do you leverage on the roles of these stakeholders to achieve your aim?

We serve as an intermediary between community and public schools. We approach public schools authority and also work with Human Development Initiative (HDI) whose focus is on the quality of education in Nigeria. We obtain approval from SUBEB, consequently get clearance letter from the public schools to enroll or re-enroll the pupils/ students in school as the case may be;provide them with school bags, sandals, uniforms and some affordable books to resume academic work.

What are your challenges?

Personally, I feel bad when I see children roaming the streets instead of being in school. There are poor parents who could not send their children to government schools that are relatively affordable. But in some cases it is just ignorance on the part of some parents. For parents, who are handicapped or physically challenged, concerned citizens of Nigeria should come to their rescue.

Our work is to identify these unfortunate children and help get them back to school. Our challenges basically are inadequate funds,accommodation,Big office space to ensure better training and mobility for monitoring the children, who are not in school.

How would you feel if your expectations are dimmed by no response?

I will not give up because I have passion for these Out-of-School children. Let us not forget that there are skills and creativity lurking in them that must not be allowed to waste; and they are likely to be exposed to crimes to the detriment of the society at a time the government has been unable to win the war against insurgency. Boko Haram militants are using children who are supposed to be in school for destruction of lives and properties.

However, I will do more if there are responses from governments, people, philanthropists and individuals to support us.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Onicha-Ugbo, Issele-Uku Monarchs confer chieftaincy titles on Josephine Ada Kachikwu

All roads will on Sunday, April 1, 2018, lead to Onicha-Ugbo and Issele-Uku towns in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State as the traditional rulers of the two neighbouring communities honour the Chairman, Delta State House of Assembly Service Commission (DTHASC), Barrister (Mrs.) Josephine Ada Kachikwu with Chieftaincy titles.

Speaking with Vanguard in her country home at Onicha-Ugbo, Barrister Kachikwu disclosed that the royal father of Onicha-Ugbo Kindgom, HRM Obi Victor Chukwumaleze will confer on her the Chieftaincy title of the Ochiligwe of Onicha-Ugbo kingdom while the traditional ruler of Issele-Uku (Oligbo) Kingdom, sHRM Obi Nduka Ezeagwuna II will honour her with the chieftaincy title of the Ezinne of Oligbo Kindom.

She explained that Ochiligwe means Mother of Multitude while Ezinne means Good Mother.

Barrister (Mrs) Kachikwu hails from Issele-Uku and married to Kachikwu family of Onicha-Ugbo.

She thanked the two monarchs for finding her worthy of the prestigious chieftaincy titles, pointing out that the honour/recognition might not be unconnected with her contributions to the development of the two communities and betterment of humanity.

Barrister Kachikwu, who said that she has a passion to touch lives, especially those of the needy and the less privilege in the society, enjoined well-to-do individuals to extend their hands of fellowship to the needy, saying that by so doing, the society would be a better place to live in.

While saying that she was enthusiastically looking forward to the D-day, she averred that the honour will spur her to do more for the development of the two communities and for the betterment of humanity and society at large.

PROFILE: BARR. (MRS) JOSEPHINE ADA KACHIKWU

Barr. (Mrs.) Josephine Ada Kachikwu, nee Odoe, the flamboyant Executive Chairman of the Delta State House of Assembly Service Commission, is a multi talented woman. She was born into the family of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson Odoe of Ishiekpe Quarters in Issele-uku, Delta State, Nigeria.

Growing up, she developed interest in the paramedical area of medicine and went all out to train as a midwife. Practicing the midwifery profession gave her satisfaction, but as a wife of one of the greatest Jurists in the defunct Bendel State and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Late Justice Francis Okafor Kachikwu, she was informally learning Law from her Late husband without knowing. This informal education developed to a stage that Law, as a profession, became her new found love.

Josephine Ada Kachikwu

She pulled out of her paramedical career and went the whole hog to study law in one of the premier universities in Nigeria, the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo state, where she bagged a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree and thereafter, proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, Abuja, to cap it up with Barrister-At-Law (B.L.).

With the Law qualification in her kitty, along with her professional midwifery credentials, she was now burning with desire for entirely new challenges; but politics beckoned to her more than any of the rest. This was simply because it was her belief that politics would give her a better opportunity to emancipate her people economically, politically, socially, and even culturally. Consequently, she went into partisan politics and this decision paid off handsomely. Today, she has successfully contributed to the political awareness of her people, mobilized them to contribute positively to nation-building.

Side by side with politics, she ventured into the primary occupation of her people which is farming, but this time, in the modern way. Today, she is the proud owner of the largest piggery in Delta state. She also has expanded the project to include five plantations of arable and cash crops namely banana, tomatoes, pawpaw, oil palm. She is not succeeding alone but has also mobilized young farmers to go into modern farming.

Barr. (Mrs.) Josephine Ada Kachikwu is a strong member of Onicha-Ugbo Progressive Union (OPU) and has served in several capacities as Secretary of Benin City Branch and Assistant Secretary-General of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Union.

She is Chairman, The Friends of The Daughters of Charity, Province of Nigeria, Rivers State, Nigeria.

Membership of Professional Bodies

 Member, International Bar Association

 Member, Nigerian Bar Association

 Member, International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Nigeria.

The Lawyer, Politician, Farmer, Community leader and Philanthropist received several awards such as:

v Award of Excellence to a Worthy Daughter in appreciation of her contributions toward the development of Onicha-Ugbo Youths and Humanity, by HRM Agbogidi Obi Chukwumalieze 1 of Onicha Ugbo, in 2009.

v In 2010 she received nomination to serve in Onicha Ugbo Patriotic Union Bureau of Medical and Health Management Services.

v In 2015, she received an award, in recognition of her exemplary and dedicated services to her father land and humanity, by HRM Agbogidi Obi Chukwumalieze 1 (JP) members of Obi in Council and the good people of Onicha-Ugbo.

v Again in 2015, Award of Excellence, Profession/Uniqueness in Gods Vineyard was given to her by The Diocese of Asaba, Cathedral Church Of St. Peter, Asaba.

v However, in June 2016 she received a Meritorious Service award in recognition of her numerous contributions to church and humanity by Catholic Men Organization (CMO) Onicha Ugbo, Delta State.

v Moreso, in August 2016 she was given another award in recognition of her selfless contribution to the development of the community and the church by Catholic Youth Organization of Nigeria (CYON), Benin Ecclesiastical Province.

In December,2016, she received from His Royal Majesty (HRM) Obi Ezeagwuna II, the obi of Issele-uku, an award for Excellence in Development  in recognition of her contribution to the development of Issele-uku.

Then in 2017, the Anioma Youth Network for Development ( AYND), in recognition of her contributions towards the development of Aniocha North and beyond, gave her an award for service to humanity and the country at large.

She is an Ambassador for peace (Inter-Religious Affairs) and International Federation for World Peace. She is a philanthropist and a Benefactor to the following:

Lepers settlement, Ogwashi Uku, Delta State. The physically challenged at Madonna Special School Okpanam, Delta state. Family Care Edu-vision Intl Services, Abuja Gipec Chaplaincy Corps, Lagos.

She is a Patroness, Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) in Delta State

Patroness Odimma Oligbo Social Club, Issele Uku, Delta State.

Political Life/ Position Held

Barr. (Mrs.) Josephine Ada Kachikwu is a wonderful political activist who has in her peaceful and friendly approach, contributed immensely to the political awareness of the people of Aniocha North L.G.A and beyond. She has equally been making out time to mentor a groups of women folks across the Aniocha North landscape, thereby helping them to forge a formidable platform for their active involvement in politics and governance of their respective locality.

In spite the fact that she ran for the Chairmanship position of Aniocha North L.G.A in 2003 but lost gallantly, she remained steadfast, loyal and committed to her political agenda for her people.

She was appointed a member of the Library Board of Delta State in 2006. Other positions held include:

 Member, Delta State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy in 2007-2009.

 Member, Delta State House of Assembly Service Commission 2010  2011

 Executive Chairman, Delta State House of Assembly Service Commission- 2011 till date.

This great Amazon has also made her mark in the intricate corporate world; she has attained the enviable position of General Manager, KAMEJOSCO Enterprises Nigeria Limited, Benin City, Edo State.

She is also the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, JOEDAKA Agro-Allied Company Limited, Onicha- Ugbo.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Meet and greet this great Amazon, Lawyer, -Mother, Grand-Mother, Great Grand-Mother, Humanitarian, Role model and Politician with rising profile, Barr. (Mrs.) Josephine Ada Kachikwu.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Our leaders in power have failed us

Full text of Communique of the Summit of Northern Groups

Leading Northern Groups and Associations held a Summit of their leaders at Arewa House, Kaduna on Saturday 24th March, 2018. The Summit was convened to assess the security, economic and political circumstances of the North and Northern communities in other parts of Nigeria. Specifically, the Summit reviewed the worrying state of insecurity under which virtually all Northerners live; the worsening economic fortunes of the vast majority of Northerners and the options that are available to the North as it prepares to engage the political process towards the elections of 2019.

The Summit noted that in spite of notable successes by the administration against the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, many Northern communities still live under its threat. In many other parts of the North, communities are routinely exposed to attacks from shadowy killers, and suspicion and anger at known and suspected killers are pitching Northerners against each other. Armed bandits terrorize rural communities almost at will, while kidnappings and abductions have assumed alarming notoriety as crimes. The nations security and law and order assets are stretched beyond points where they cant provide even the most elementary confidence and protection of citizens. The North has rarely been so exposed to multiple and varied threats.

Arewa

The economy of the North continues to deteriorate in spite of the evident willingness of Northerners to work hard and earn legitimate incomes. Its basic infrastructure suffers massive deficits in funding while its growing population starves from lack of critical investment in human capital development. Federal government spending is severely tilted against the North, while most State governments only pay lip service to real development in their states. Agriculture shows limited glimpses of recovery, but almost entirely through efforts of peasants and antiquated processes. The North is completely de-industrialized, while the rest of the nation moves towards sustainable growth and development. There is no evidence of bold thinking, strong political will or serious concern by any leadership at any level to reverse the alarming decline of the Northern economy.

Since 2015, Northerners have occupied positions with the potential to make decisive differences in the economy, security or political fortunes of the region. The hopes that leaders who have exercised power since 2015 will reverse the abuse and neglect of the region in the previous decade have been betrayed. Weak governance, gross insensitivity and unacceptable levels of incompetence have been compounded by battles of attrition in which northerners have sapped each others strength. Weak and incoherent responses to provocations from other parts of the country around the imperatives of re-visiting the foundations and structures of the Nigerian state have created the false image of a North without its own positions beyond survival as the parasite of Nigeria. The historic gains in Northern political unity secured by Northern votes in the 2015 elections have been wasted by the poor management of conflicts between and among Northern communities. Today Northern communities are erecting barricades against members of other communities, and politicians who have failed to lead and make impacts in lives of the poor and the vulnerable are daily feeding the people with hate and resentment instead of searching for genuine and lasting solutions. In a region with enough resources for every community or trade, our people are now fighting for morsels, while leaders think of new ways to turn our misery into electoral capital.

The Summit, having undertaken a thorough analysis of the state of the North and our communities, therefore:

URGES all leaders, elders and communities to seek peaceful resolutions of conflicts between and among communities. Lives lost, injuries suffered and losses incurred in any community must be redressed firmly and fairly. The roots of co-existence and inter-dependence in all Northern communities are much deeper than the barricades being erected around communities. All persons who are involved in killings and crimes against communities must be brought to book. DEMANDS immediate and decisive steps to improve the security of lives and economic assets in the North by the federal and state governments. Too many communities are at the mercy of attacks from sundry groups of criminals who appear to have unchallenged access to space and weapons. APPEALS to Northern Governors and President Muhammadu Buhari to set in motion serious initiatives towards achieving higher levels of trust among Northern communities which is vital for the imperatives of peace and justice. INSISTS that the routine denial of the rights of the North to its fair share of budgetary allocations by the federal government must cease from the 2018 budget. Northern representatives in the National Assembly must live up to their oaths to protect the rights of their constituencies to equity in the allocation of national resources. WARNS that no Northern politician should expect to be voted for in the next general election unless they demonstrate a willingness to champion a massive assault on poverty and underdevelopment in the North. In this regard, most political office holders from the North are hereby served notice that they have failed the test to lead the region towards economic recovery and growth. ASSERTS the rights of all Northerners to examine all options in political choices they will make in 2019. The leadership selection process must be critically interrogated to present the best leader to Nigeria as a whole. No one should take the North for granted, and it is not for sale. It will resist shedding its blood for any candidate, and will critically scrutinize all politicians who will seek our mandate. At this stage, all options are on the table, and politicians who have betrayed the hopes and mandates of our people should be prepared to suffer rejection, in the same manner the votes of the North rejected the attempt to continue with impunity, corruption and indifference of the previous regime. ADVISES all Northerners to be alert to plans to weaken the region through the manipulation of our fears and vulnerability and our ethno-religious differences. There must be vigilant scrutiny of opportunities for manipulation by outsiders of our present challenges. We must stand up and unite against those who kill villagers in Kogi, in Zamfara, in Benue, in Adamawa, in Borno, in Kaduna and in every village or town. No Northern blood is more precious than others, and we can only heal if we adopt common positions to finding solutions to our problems. INVITES attention of the rest of Nigeria that the North knows its interests and place and will defend them in the context of Nigeria. Our people are willing and eager to put our union as a nation on the table and discuss with other Nigerians the relative values of ALL options and negotiate them with responsibility and respect. CAUTIONS the Presidency and members of the National Assembly and Governors to resist the temptation to abuse the political process in pursuit of their personal ambitions. COMMITS to sustaining the strong interests behind this Summit through other activities and actions which will strengthen Northern unity and prepare it to extract the maximum benefits from the 2019 elections.

The Summit welcomes the release of the Dapchi girls, and urges the government to intensify efforts to secure the release of all other abducted Nigerians. It calls on the government to ensure that no abductions occur again, and all communities are sufficiently protected and young Nigerians are free to acquire education without fear.

Signed

*Professor Ango Abdullahi , CON

Chairman ACF Political Committee Convener, Northern Elders Forum

*Dr. Yima Sen

Northern Elders Forum (NEF)

*Amb. Ibrahim Mai Sule

Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF)

*Engr. Bello Suleiman

CODE Group

*Mataimaki Tom Maiyashi

Arewa Research Development Project (ARDP)

*Zannah Hassan Boguma

Borno Elders Forum

*Nafiu Baba-Ahmed

Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria

*Dr. Ibrahim Yakubu Lame

Northern Union

*Yerima Shettima

Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF)

*Pastor Aminchi Habu

United Christian Leaders Eagle Eye Forum (UCLEEF)

*Balarabe Rufai

Coalition of Northern Groups

*Isa Tijjani

Labour Veterans Association

*Rev. Bitrus Dangiwa

CAN Northern Chapter

*Umar Ahmed Zaria

Jamaatu Nasiril Islam (JNI)

*Alh. Buba Adamah

Arewa People Unity Association

*Hassan El-Adamu

Arewa Initiative For Good Governance

*Abdulazeez Suleiman

Northern Emancipation Network

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Loading...Home | News | General | Security deployments: Weve lost faith in the Federal Government - Taraba state government

- The Taraba state government has said that it no longer had confidence in the Federal Government

- This is due to the security deployments by the government to the state

- This was made known by the senior special adviser to the Taraba state governor on media and publicity, Dan Bala Abu

The Taraba government has said that it no longer had confidence in the Federal Government security apparatus deployed to the state.

The government's position was made known by the senior special adviser to the Taraba state governor on media and publicity, Dan Bala Abu who spoke to journalists on Friday, March 30.

Abu said that although there was relative peace now in Taraba, the state government did not have confidence in the security apparatus of the Federal Government to maintain peace and security in the state.

An aide to the Governor Darius Ishaku spoke on behalf of the Taraba state government. Photo source: Twitter

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He said that the Taraba people were continually losing faith in the ability of the present crop of security personnel deployed in the state to conduct their affairs without bias.

He said that the people of the state were not satisfied with the way the military were harassing, disarming them and even collecting their kitchen knives while the attackers wielding sophisticated weapons like AK-47 were allowed to go on a killing spree.

His words: What we are saying is that even the relative peace we are enjoying now, we still do not have confidence in the military.

We are saying that we have lost confidence in the military because nothing has been done to all our complaints that people were being disarmed and that the military are discriminating in the way they doing it.

They collect their kitchen knives from them while they leave the other persons who are carrying AK-47. So where is the justice in this matter, thats why we are saying that we have lost confidence?

We have the right to say that the people that were posted to restore peace are not doing what is expected of them, that they are biased. It is left for them to find out what is wrong and do what they have do to correct the wrongs being done.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to sack all the security chiefs immediately for their failure to curb killings in different parts of Nigeria.

The demand was made by the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) in a communique issued after their expanded national executive meeting held in Ado Ekiti on Thursday, March 29, following the recurrent massacre in Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa states.

The YCE noted that most Nigerians have lost confidence in the security chiefs especially the inspector general of police, Ibrahim Idris. The group added that the military can no longer be trusted to protect all Nigerians.

READ ALSO: Security agencies have been corrupted - Obasanjos coalition insists

Should Nigerians pick up arms to defend themselves against herdsmen? on NAIJ.com TV

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Source: Naija.ng

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Loading...Home | News | General | Call your people to order - Emir of Anka tells Fulani leaders

- The Emir of Anka in Zamfara, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad, says it is disturbing that Fulanis are always mentioned when attacks occur in parts of the country

- He states that the issue of frequent attacks should be addressed before it is too late

The Emir of Anka in Zamfara, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad, has said Fulani leaders should be worried that attacks in almost all parts of the country are alleged to be carried out by people of Fulani extraction.

The monarch made the statement on Friday, March 30, when briefing journalists in his palace over the recent attacks that occurred in Bawan Daji village at Anka local government area of Zamfara state, The Independent reports.

READ ALSO: Breaking: FG releases names of alleged looters

It is disturbing to hear that most of the criminal attacks taking place in almost all parts of the country, involve the Fulani or they are always mentioned, he said.

The monarch urged the Fulani leaders to call on their people and find out what they really wanted.

This meeting should be called immediately because it is a matter of urgency that should be addressed before it is too late, the traditional ruler said.

He said the recent attacks in Bawan Daji village was allegedly carried out by attackers reported to be of the Fulani extraction.

NAIJ.com had earlier reported that more than 30 persons were on Thursday, March 29, buried in Bawan Daji village of Anka Local Government Area of Zamfara, following a gunmen attack on the village.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the bandits attacked the area after some members of the community held a meeting to discuss measures to be taken against the bandits during the 2018 farming season.

The bandits had earlier threatened that there would be no farming activities in the area in this years rainy season.

Liman Umar, one of the community leaders and the deputy Imam of the village, told newsmen that the bandits had been harassing people in the area, brandishing sophisticated weapons without talking to anyone.

Nigerian herdsmen vs Nigerian farmers on NAIJ.com TV

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Source: Naija.ng

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Loading...Home | News | General | I had no money but she loved me and treated me as a king - Young pastor surprises wife with duplex house on birthday (photos)

- A young Nigerian man named Surpriser David Ekwueme recently celebrated his lover's birthday in style

- Ekwueme revealed that his wife, Nonso David loved him when he had nothing

- To mark her new age, he gifted her a multi million naira duplex house

A few men like Surpriser David Ekwueme who appreciate the woman who sticks with them through thick and thin still exist. The young Nigerian pastor recently showed off the multi million naira duplex he gifted his older wife, Nonso David on her birthday, now that he is well to do.

Ekwueme who is the founder and head pastor of Throne of Grace Assembly Int'l has recently experienced a turn around in finances. In a recent post, he explained how life used to be tough but his woman stood by him. His love for her grew because she treated him as a king regardless. Now that things are better for him financially, his plan is to spoil her silly, with all the best things in life.

To start off, he asked his friends to celebrate her as she clocked a new age on March 27. The man of God also showed off the new muliti million naira house he built for her, saying it will be their new home.

READ ALSO: Photos of Fatima Dangote and Jamil Abubakar on honeymoon trip

In his post, he said: "The woman that said yes to me when I have no house of my own and cannot feed myself still leaving with someone. I had no money in my pocket and bank account but she loved me and treated me as a king. Today is her birthday, my surprise to her was to take her to our new home and she was astonished. Friends wish her well for me."

Happy birthday to Nonso!

Meanwhile, after 32 years of childlessness, a pastor welcomed his first baby and recently dedicated her in church.

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Should a 'homeless' man move into a house built by his wife? on NAIJ.com TV:

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Source: Naija.ng

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Loading...Home | News | General | Edo APC youth leader shot dead, CP displays cache of arms

Obaseki expresses shock, orders police to fish out killers

By Simon Ebegbulem

THE Edo State Police Commissioner, Mr Johnson Kokumo, yesterday displayed cache of arms and ammunition including 10 AK47 rifles and 16 Pump Action recovered from armed robbers and illegal arms in the hands of individuals.

Meanwhile suspected armed robbers Wednesday shot dead the youth leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Etsako West Local Government Area of the state, Mr. Samson Sedi.

Nigerian youths

Governor Godwin Obaseki expressed shock and called on the police and other security agencies to find the killers.

CP Kokumo, who briefed journalists yesterday, said the exercise to mop up arms was in compliance with the directive of the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, that illegal arms in circulation should be recovered, adding that five suspects were arrested during the exercise.

The Police boss who also disclosed that one person was arrested in connection with the killing of three persons last week at Ugboha by alleged herdsmen and the suspect who was arrested with guns and ammunition has been charged to court.

He said, the Command also arrested one David Ajiri for alleged conspiring with others still at large to rob one Jackson Okuomoise of a Lexus jeep with registration no BEN 330 TA and other valuables. The robbers thereafter abducted the victims friend named Onyeka shot him and left him dead.

The command also arrested three members of a kidnap gang who threatened to kidnap one Reuben Eghbor if he refused to pay the sum of one million naira.

Obaseki who reacted to the killing of the APC youth leader, said I was shocked on receiving the news of Mr. Samson Sedis death. My heart goes out to his family. I have ordered the relevant security agencies to arrest the killers and prosecute them without delay.

He described the late Sedi as a grassroots mobiliser, a philanthropist who cared for orphans and a great lover of people, whose death is a huge loss to Edo people and the APC.

Mr. Sedi was allegedly killed by armed robbers while attempting to rescue a female petrol station attendant in Jattu, Etsako West Local Government Area, who was being robbed on Wednesday in Jattu.

I learnt he was driving into a road around a petrol station in Jattu and heard a female petrol station attendant shouting for help. The late Sedi, drove into the petrol station to ascertain what was happening, only to be shot by the armed robbers who were operating at the petrol station. Sedi has been with us in our party for a long time and I sympathise with his family, the governor said.

Sedi who was fondly called Power Remain by his friends and supporters, was a rallying point for APC youths in his ward and constituency.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...Home | News | General | Forget Viagra, Research Claims this Herbal Remedy Works for Boosting Men Sexual Performance and Getting Stronger Erections

Impotence, also known as erectile dysfunction, is a condition where a man is unable to get proper erection. The condition affects at least one in ten men in Nigeria at some point in their lives.

Erectile dysfunction can occur at any time of life, but it becomes more common with age.

Research show that, half of the total population of men in Nigeria who are over 40 years old suffer from weak erection, quick ejaculation and having a small manhood size.

Believe it or not, there are actually 3 things that are the root cause of premature ejaculation and weak erection:

1. Having a Penis heart attack;

Do you know what a penis heart attack is? Its known as the condition when you cant have a proper erection.

And the main reason for this is that your body cant pump enough blood into your penis muscles (due to excess fat that blocks some of the small blood vessels in your body and arteries).

The solution to this is to cut down on your weight and avoid eating too much fatty foods.

2. Smoking and heavy drinking

This explains itself smoking too much and drinking excess alcohol causes weak erection and poor sexual performance.

3. Old Age

Most men have destroyed their body responses due to bad habits of youth times like excessive masturbation.

At 35 years and above, the only way left to get stronger erections and last longer during sex is to take some male enhancement drugs.

I have tried lots of them and truth be told, most of them do not really work.

But not until recently when I came across a research about capsules made from ginseng, which has been long used by Malaysian men as a natural aphrodisiac.

A recent study found out that men with weak erection and premature ejaculation improved their sexual performance in the bedroom after taking the tablets for just a few weeks.

Although drugs such as Viagra and Cialis, have been proven to help men get stronger erections, but unfortunately they come with 2 problems,

1) dangerous side effects that can cause havoc to the body system and damage the penis permanently

2) in the last ten years, about 30 percent of men who take these drugs do not see improvement

The unique part about gingseng is that its a purely herbal remedy and has a curative effect for men with erectile dysfunction.

The root of gingseng contains several active substances, called either ginsenosides or panaxosides, that are thought to be responsible for the medicinal effects of the herb.

Some few months ago, I was lucky to come across one of such herbal supplement made from gingseng.

Good news is that, it was recommended to me by a Doc friend and men health specialist. And he also checked properly to confirm that the herbal supplement is NAFDAC approved and certified.

And when used and administered professionally will help you boost your testerone levels, cure the root cause of your premature ejaculation and weak erection.

Without wasting time, let me introduce you to the NAFDAC Approved supplement that helped me and over 542 Nigerian men completely cure quick release, weak erection and restore sexual stamina and vigor without side effects of any kind.

Duraman Herbal Capsules

NO SIDE EFFECTS  APPROVED BY

NAFDAC REG. NO = A7-1514L

Make no mistake about it. This supplement is made from the roots of a plant found in Malaysia and Malaysian men say it is the closest thing nature has ever come to the perfect aphrodisiac because of its wonderful ability to boost testerone levels and treat the root cause of erectile dysfunction.

The NAFDAC approved supplement known as Duraman Herbal Capsules contains 30 capsules. It helps men to restore their sexual stamina, boost libido (also known as sex drive) and permanently cures premature ejaculation and poor erections.

Its the exact herbal supplement that changed me from a 30seconds man in the bedroom to performing for over 25minutes.

Get the Premature ejaculation killer (Duraman Herbal Capsules) at a special discount price here

And the best part about Duraman Herbal Capsules is that

 its 100percent natural, it has no side effect on you even if you are a diabetic or hypertensive patients.

 Also, its safe for Nigerian men no matter how old you are.

 Even though you have been struggling with these problems of premature ejaculation and weak erections for years, it will surely help you permanently cure it.

 Just 1 container of Duraman Herbal Capsules is enough to cure you of your sexual problems and end the miserable life of living with poor erections and quick ejaculation

 Once you start using it, you no longer have to suffer from watery sperm, just use Duraman Herbal Capsules with natural honey to cure watery sperm

 To be taken 1 tablet morning, and 1 night as a permanent cure to weak erection, low sperm count and quick ejaculation.

Click Here to Order for the Duraman Herbal Capsules (The Natural Supplement that restores your sexual stamina and Boosts Your Manpower)

The best part about Duraman Herbal Capsules is that, it is made of purely natural ingredients. No chemical of any kind.

The composition of the supplement is basically herbs and of profound research and combination.

Its NAFDAC Approved, not only as food supplement but as nutriceuticals.

Duraman Herbal Capsules has a triplicate effect; permanently cures your quick ejaculation, restores body function and ultimately gives a curative effect.

I know you have come across several adverts online about one product or the other that claims to boost sexual performance, and you do not know who to believe anymore.

But be rest assured that Duraman Herbal Capsules is one of the supplements that helps men boost your testerone levels, while also lowering your blood pressure.

And the good thing about Duraman Herbal Capsules is that, you begin to see results almost IMMEDIATELY.

Go Here Now to Order for the Duraman Herbal Capsules that permanently cures your quick ejaculation and weak erections almost immediately even if you are a over 65 year old baba

Even if everything you have tried in the past did not work for you, this is different and will definitely help restore your sexual stamina so that you can satisfy your woman completely.

Right now, I and my wife are enjoying sex like young couples and no more shame or embarrassment of releasing too quick during sex. We make love as long as 25minutes or even more until she moans, and tells me Baby, am okay

Do you know how great it feels for you to know that you can satisfy your woman anyday, and anytime you make love to her! It gives you much sexual confidence and makes you feel like a complete man.

Are You Also Tired and Frustrated About How Small Your Manhood Is, And You Just Wanted a Natural Way to Make Your Manhood BIGGER and Stronger (Without Any Side Effects)

You see, after I improved my sexual performance, my wife was still complaining of how small my manhood was and how it was almost useless to her.

I had to run back to a men health specialist to ask if there was something natural I could use to make my manhood grow bigger, thicker and longer.

I explained to him how ladies used to laugh at me during my bachelor days just because my manhood was too small and tiny.

And most times these ladies do not like having sex with me after the first time of seeing my manhood.

The men health specialist again decided to show mercy upon me and recommended an enlargement gel that have helped over 1,300 Nigerian men to increase their penis size up to 3.5inches.

By just using the gel to massage their manhood via penile massage techniques or exercises.

The enlargement gel imported from Japan works for increasing the length and girth of your manhood without any side effects.

What you simple do is to use the enlargement gel to massage your entire manhood and testicles before going to bed.

To order for Your Bottles of the Titan enlargement gel, Click Here Now to Place order and Get the Products at a Discount Price!

Once I started using the enlargement gel, I was surprised at the results I got. To ensure it is real, I had to take out a measuring tape to measure my penis size, which was 3.2inches when flaccid but now up 5.5inches.

And you know the best part about the Titan enlargement gel, the results are permanent. No shrinking of penis or any side effects of any kind.

Yes, your manhood can become BIGGER just like my own when you start making use of the gel.

My manhood is now increasing in size and getting longer, we measured it recently and it has added 3.4inches in 4weeks of using the titan gel

My wife now plays with my penis and gives me blowjob, sex is exciting and much better!

Bottomline is, these 2 products (Duraman Herbal Capsules & Titan gel) recommended for me helped permanently cure my quick ejaculation problem and it also increased my manhood size (no side effect at all).

Click Here Now to order for your bottles of the Titan enlargement gel and Duraman Herbal Capsules today and start using it!

Below are testimonies from real people like you who have used these products and what they saying about it

My wife ordered the Duraman Herbal Capsules, titan gel and nadi from your store. and she insisted I give it a try. I am now 53 and I have tried all kinds of medications just to help me get good erections and stay longer. At the end of the first week of using the Duraman Herbal Capsules and nadi, I started to notice that my erections were more frequent and i dont release too fast during sex with my wife. I dont know how it works, but to me, it is God sent. thanks for this wonderful products Abdul M.  Chikun lga, kaduna

Another testimonial

AMAZING could be the best word I can use to descrbe my situation. I have had high blood pressure for more than 10 years. and even had quick ejaculation. About two months ago, I placed order for the complete kit of Duraman Herbal Capsules, titan gel and nadi capsules. I started taking it regularly, as prescribed. Within few weeks, I noticed that I now last up to 15minutes and still have much sexual energy to go another round. During my semi-annual checkup, my primary physician was stunned to see that my blood pressure to be 120/81. I cant think of anything else but that your products is really helping me improve my sexual performance and regulating my blood pressure. Thanks for the service Mr. Adepoju A.  Dutse Alhaji, abuja



Another testimonial.

I need to say a big thank you for helping me get this Duraman Herbal Capsules product. For 3 and half years I had this quick ejaculation problem and it really affected my life. I was reluctant to try this your product because I lost hope after several attempts. But when I showed my wife, she encouraged me to order for it, and give it a try. I use to last only 2 minutes when having sex with my wife, but now we have it for like 20 minutes and she enjoys the sex. Am really happy I can now make love to my wife like a real man. Mr. Chukwudi, Port Harcourt.

I could load this page with testimonials but it will be saying the same thing these 2 products are proven to help you transform your sex life and ensure that you can satisfy your woman in bed.

Fortunately for me, I do not have to go through any humiliation or embarrassment of releasing in few seconds and having a small manhood anymore.

My manhood is now bigger and normal like a matured man.

To top it off, my wife and I are experiencing exciting sex and we make love like young couples now.

Shes no more irritated by my small manhood because now it is much bigger and makes her scream and moan.

What about you?

Are you still suffering from this embarrassing problem of having small manhood that makes women run away from you or even deny you from having sex with them?

Are you serious about getting a natural cure that can make you last longer in bed and something that works for increasing your penis?

If you answered yes, then you should get the 2-in-1 solution Duraman Herbal Capsules and Titan gel to transform your sex life starting from today!

Click Here to Get the Duraman Herbal Capsules that made me last extra 25minutes in bed with my woman!

Here is a breakdown of the price

Here is a breakdown of the price for the Duraman Herbal Capsules Herbal capsule and Titan enlargement gel

Duraman Herbal Capsules only  N15,000

Titan gel only  N13,000

If you are ordering for both (that is, Duraman Herbal Capsules and TITAN GEL)  N22,000

(That is you will get a discount of N6,000 instead of paying N28,000  So, you will pay N22,000 only for BOTH)

But to Make It Even Better, When You Order Today,

You will Also Get a FREE BONUS ENCLOSED

to Your Parcel

*NOT available anywhere Else

Heres how to get it: When you order for BOTH products today

at N22,000 you will get your own free bonus of the

herbal capsule that cures sexually transmitted infections like

staph, gonorrhea, chlamydia etc.

FREE BONUS: NADI CAPSULE

NADI capsule is premier tonic for anti-infection, anti-virus, anti-toxin,

stable blood pressure. Its effective for the treatment of S.T.D

staphylococcus, Gonorrhea, syphilis, etc. (contains 30 capsules)

NAFDAC REG NO. A7-0200L

One of the main causes of premature ejaculation and weak erections is due to sexually transmitted infections in the body system. And you need to treat them as soon as possible to completely cure your erectile dysfunction.

Nadi herbal capsule contains 30capsules for complete cure of sexually transmitted infections and to flush off toxins from your body system.



When you order today, you will get the NADI herbal capsules for free.

Remember, the free bonus is ONLY available to those that place their order right away. Dont procrastinate, else you may not get it.

So the deal is, place your order for the 2 products, today, and you get access to the extra BONUS, absolutely FREE!

Without wasting time, let me show you how to order for these 2 products (Duraman Herbal Capsules and Titan enlargement gel) that will transform your sexual life and make you experience much better sex with your woman.

To order for the Duraman Herbal Capsules and titan enlargement gel at the discount price today, follow the instructions below

To erase the fear of getting scammed, we introduced payment on delivery option to all States in Nigeria

This means you will pay for the products only when it has been brought down to you face to face by our courier service agent

Pay on Delivery Option Available to All States in Nigeria

Heres How to Order for Your own Duraman Herbal Capsules & TITAN GEL at a Discount Price today (PAYMENT ON DELIVERY AVAILABLE NATIONWIDE)

Depending on the product that you are ordering for

*If you are ordering for only Duraman Herbal Capsules indicate the code DURAMAN HERBAL CAPSULES in your text message

*If you are ordering for only Titan enlargement gel indicate it TITAN GEL in your text message

*If you want to order for the 2 products together text Duraman Herbal Capsules AND TITAN GEL

DURAMAN HERBAL CAPSULES ONLY  N15,000

TITAN GEL ONLY  N13,000

DURAMAN HERBAL CAPSULES AND TITAN GEL  N22,000

Heres what to send to us

Text the CODE with the following information below

1. Your Full Name

2. Your Phone Number

3. Delivery Address

Send This Information as a text message to 08179478879

Please Note: Your address Must Include Local Government and State. Detailed Enough to make it traceable by our courier company that will come around to deliver to you.

You will get a SMS and Call from us within 24 hours to confirm your Order Before we Parcel It Across to You.

DELIVERY TIME

Once we received your order, and your details are correct, you will receive an sms or call confirmation from us. Your products will then be sent to our courier service partner and the items should get to you within 2-5 Days.

Note: The product will be packaged discreetly and no one else will know whats inside, and every other information will be kept private and 100% confidential.

Option 2

If you live in Lagos, or nearby, you can also walk into our marketing department office to pick up the products.

You will meet our team ready to give you these products at same price

That is you Pay at our office, and get it instantly

Vantagesoft Marketing Enterprises

Block B, Suite 9, Primal Tek Plaza, Beside ECO centre,

by Mokola Bus stop, opposite Gowon Estate Market,

Egbeda-Idimu road, Egbeda, Lagos.

or

Suite 3B, First Floor, Shopping plaza beside NNPC Filling station,

Ilo awela road, opposite Toll Gate Bus stop, ota

off Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway

(Monday  Saturday 9am  5pm)

Customer support line: 08179478879

Remember, if you procrastinate on this, two things are bound to happen:

Either the prices for the product goes up pretty soon and you pay the normal price which is times 2 or,

Your sexual performance continues to worsen because you refuse to use something that actually helps transform your life. Your woman keeps on complaining and nagging, while you get frustrated more.

Dont procrastinate, go ahead and get access to the 2 products today and start using them to become a better lover in the bedroom.

Heres How to Order for Your own Duraman Herbal Capsules & TITAN GEL at a Discount Price today

(Payment On Delivery Option Available In All States In Nigeria)

Depending on the product that you are ordering for

*If you are ordering for only Duraman Herbal Capsules indicate the code DURAMAN HERBAL CAPSULES in your text message

*If you are ordering for only Titan enlargement gel indicate it TITAN GEL in your text message

*If you want to order for the 2 products together text Duraman Herbal Capsules AND TITAN GEL

DURAMAN HERBAL CAPSULES ONLY  N15,000

TITAN GEL ONLY  N13,000

DURAMAN HERBAL CAPSULES AND TITAN GEL  N22,000

Heres what to send to us

Text the CODE with the following information below

1. Your Full Name

2. Your Phone Number

3. Delivery Address

Send This Information as a text message to 08179478879

Please Note: Your address Must Include Local Government and State. Detailed Enough to make it traceable by our courier company that will come around to deliver to you.

You will get a SMS and Call from us within 24 hours to confirm your Order Before we Parcel It Across to You.

DELIVERY TIME

Once we received your order, and your details are correct, you will receive an sms or call confirmation from us. Your products will then be sent to our courier service partner and the items should get to you within 2-5 Days.

Note: The product will be packaged discreetly and no one else will know whats inside, and every other information will be kept private and 100% confidential.

Heres full details of how to order now and Get the Duraman Herbal Capsules & Titan gel within a few days at your doorstep

Right now, all you need to do is get access to the 2 products; and start using it to get a much bigger manhood and cure your premature ejaculation within the shortest time you ever thought possible.

You have the opportunity to get these 2 products now at a much affordable price and save yourself from embarrassment and frustration that you are suffering in the bedroom.

Over 2,300 Nigerian men have used these 2 products to improve their sexual performance and they have wonderful testimonies to give about it.

Go Here Now to order for the products and start using them

Dave Taidi  08179478879

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...Home | News | General | President Buharis fake award and the Bill Gates rebuke  Reno

By now you must have heard that 17 groups from Northern Nigeria, including the Arewa Consultative Forum have told President Buhari point blank that he has failed and that they will not support his reelection.

I saw this coming way back on February 16, 2018, when Zamfara state Governor, Abdulaziz Yari lamented as follows after gunmen butchered his citizens like chicken in Zurmi.

On that day, Yari, previously a rabid Buharist, said:

I feel let down facing the people of this state whenever I remember the promise I made to them that when they elect President Muhammadu Buhari into power, these killings will end. But unfortunately, things are now getting worse.

This is just as Afenifere and Ohaneze have both said God forbid to a Buhari second term.

When it seemed as though every strata of the Nigerian society, except the die hard serial sycophant, Nasir El-Rufai, has rejected the President, reprieve came his way when he was given a leadership award by the family of the late American civil rights hero, Martin Luther King Junior.

For good measure, MLKs family also appealed to Nigerians to reelect President Buhari.

But whatever reprieve the President got turned out to be a Pyrrhic victory because exactly two days after the MLK family endorsement, the real family of Martin Luther King Junior, comprising his biological children, denied the so called family they came to give President Buhari his award and issued a strong denial.

On March 28, 2018, the Martin Luther King Junior Center released a statement saying The award given to President Buhari of Nigeria was not given by The King Center, at the request of The King Center or by the children of #MLK and #CorettaScottKing.

What an embarrassment to Nigeria! But should we be surprised? Muhammadu Buhari, the man who makes fake promises, commissions fake projects, gives fake plagiarized speeches has now been exposed as a recipient of fake awards. Nigerians should have known that a President who could not produce his WAEC certificate is susceptible to fakery!

I was wondering how Martin Luther King Juniors children will come to Nigeria to give an award to a tyrant! Their father had a dream and they came to Nigeria to associate with a nightmare? For what? Thank God they have denounced the award as fake!

It seems our President is now scandal prone because just before this incident, he had another scandal involving Bill Gates.

Apparently, President Buhari had invited Bill Gates to the Presidential Villa for the National Economic Council meeting, thinking Mr. Gates would praise him, but instead he got the shock of his life when his guest criticized his handling of the economy, saying it does not reflect the needs of Nigerians and that his economic blueprint lacks choreography. He then went on to describe Nigeria as one of the most dangerous places in the world to give birth!

But harsh as his statement may have been, Bill Gates did not say the whole truth.

Yes, it is true that Nigeria, under Buhari, is the worst place in the world to be born. But it is only true if you are a human being.

If you are a cow, then Nigeria is like paradise. Humans can be killed so that you can live. Under Buhari, the value of human life has fallen and the value of cattle life has risen! In fact, the Buhari government loves cattle so much that they want to take land from human beings to give it to cattle to colonize!

After reading Mr. Gates uncharacteristically blunt rebuke, I could not help but remember that it was just like yesterday that Buhari was crying in 2011 for Nigeria as if he knew the solutions to Nigerias problems. He deceived Nigerians and they made him President only to discover that he himself was Nigerias problem. Just like PHCN, problem has changed name to Buhari!

I have said it before and I will say it again, former President Jonathan might have made mistakes (tell me which human being does not make mistakes) but President Buhari himself is a mistake. Jonathan may have faced one or two problems, especially with Boko Haram, but Buhari is himself a problem!

Talking about Boko Haram, observant Nigerians cannot help but notice that these days, you read, hear and watch about Boko Harams plans from government officials. Does Boko Haram still need an official spokesman again? It is from a government official that we learnt that Boko Haram would release or not #DapchiGirls. It is from their mouths we heard that Boko Haram is showing goodwill.

It was the minister of information that was trying to convince us that Boko Haram released #DapchiGirls out of the goodness of their heart without insisting on a ransom or prisoner swap. I am tempted to ask whose information minister Lai Mohammed is? Nigerias or Boko Haram? What an interesting time to be alive.

And to show how low Nigeria has sunk under Buhari, the APC Governor of Lagos declared Thursday a public holiday to celebrate Buharis visit to Lagos on Thursday March 28, 2018.

Lagos has a GDP of $100 billion per annum. By shutting the state down, Lagos loses $250 million. Do you now see why our economy collapsed under Buhari? More attention is given to Buharis ego than to economic matters. It is behaviour like this that has caused 10 million Nigerians to lose their jobs under Buhari!

Lagos state recently borrowed $200 million. Now she is losing $250 million because of the public holiday declared for Buharis visit. That money can build 10 new hospitals and 100 new schools and 10,000 bore holes. But instead, the APC prefers to waste it on a public holiday for Buhari!

When Bill Gates said President Buhari prioritizes physical capital over human capital, people like Nasir El-Rufai, Buharis favourite court jester, came out to attack him. But just a week after Mr Gates apple truth to power, Buhari is going to Lagos and the APC government declared a public holiday tomorrow for him. Does this not vindicate Bill Gates?

By preventing workers and businesses from opening for business for one day, the government is setting back human capital just for the physical capital of opening a bus stop. This is a pure example of why Bill Gates said Buhari prioritizes physical capital over human capital.

And this is the same Lagos state that is aggressively looking for funds, so much so that it has jacked up the Land Use Charges to ridiculous levels. This is the same state that is shutting itself down and losing the $250 million that it accrues to its GDP on a daily basis! I just hope Governor Ambode will not try to recoup these lost revenue by increasing other charges.

And to show you how backward Buhari is, 34 years ago he canceled an underground railway train project (metroline) for Lagos state as a military dictator, then 34 years later he returns to the same Lagos to commission a bus station? It is like putting your 1 million in fixed deposit for 34 years and returning to collect 1,000! I would have been so disappointed if Lagosians turned out to celebrate this retrogression passed off as progress. Thank God my Lagos peeps are smarter than that.

In fact, the Buhari administration should be filmed and shown as a drama series on Africa Magic channel. Their hourly drama is more entertaining than any drama Africa Magic currently shows. The infighting in the government and the APC will put Wrestle Mania to shame. The backstabbing and hypocrisy is another thing!

The other day, it was the President himself who told us of the incompetency and insubordination of his own Inspector General of Police who refused his direct order to relocate to Benue State.

What punitive action did he take against IGP Idris? None.

Then on Wednesday March 28, 2019, Nigerians woke up to hear that suspected assassins who had allegedly confessed to have been hired by Senator Dino Melaye had escaped from police detention.

The reaction of the IGP was almost immediate. He removed the Kogi state commissioner of police.

The irony of an incompetent IGP sacking an incompetent commissioner of police for letting suspects escape though. At least, the IGP is doing what Buhari should have done to him but lacked the balls to do. The most consistent things in Buharis government are incompetence and confusion.

Just look at the inconsistencies of the Buhari administration with regards to the anti terror war. You claim you defeated Boko Haram, then try to borrow $1 billion to defeat the defeated Boko, then the defeated Boko Haram kidnap (allegedly) and release #DapchiGirls, you announce ceasefire with the defeated Boko Haram, following which you offer the defeated Boko Haram amnesty. Your minister of information then goes on air to preside a defeated Boko Haram of showing goodwill. Is your head spinning yet?

Well, let me spin your head some more by quoting a letter written by Lai Mohammed, the current minister of information. He wrote this letter on April 18, 2013:

: We have been compelled to write a letter to the Lagos State governor asking him to please prevail on the President to reschedule his visit. But if his visit must go on, he should use another means of transportation such as the helicopter so that the whole town is not locked up.

Anytime Mr President is coming to Lagos, our roads are closed, and traffic congestion is at its highest. The whole city is shut down for the entire day. You can imagine when were expecting about 10,000 people from different parts of Nigeria to our convention, all heading for the same place. Its going to be chaos. So, were appealing to Mr President, through the Governor, to please reconsider his visit. And if he must come, he should inflict the minimum pain and hardship on Nigerians.-Lai Mohammed, National Publicity Secretary, of the All Progressive Congress.

Joke

PDP: We apologise for our mistakes.

FG: Return all stolen loot first.

PDP: OK.. we wish to start with those who served under the PDP during its 16 years in office beginning with Abdullahi Adams, Danjuma Goje, Timipre Sylva, Rotimi Amaechi, Aliyu Wammako, Nasir El Rufai, Audu Ogbeh, Murtala Nyako, Rochas Okorocha, Musiliu Obanikoro, Kwakwanso, Chris Ngige

APC (Cuts in): Dont bother again.

Reno Omokri

Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years: Chibok, 2015 and Other Conspiracies

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...Home | News | General | They want to auction the children of the poor to Mr Breton Woods, Shehu Sani taunts el Erufai

The Senator representing APC, Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sani has said that the if you borrow money that you can pay, you are a businessman; if you borrow money that you cant pay you are a slave.



This came as the Kaduna state government on Friday said the decision of the Senate to reject its request for $350 Million Dollars World Bank loan for infrastructural development amounted to elevating the ego of some of its members above the demands of public policy.

Senator Shehu Sani reacting to the Senates rejection of President Muhammadu Buharis request for Governor El-Rufai to borrow from the World Bank a loan of $350Million Dollars for infrastructural development as contained in the 2016  2018 External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan said further that: They will leave for their children mansions to inherit; they will leave for your children debt to inherit.

They want to auction the Children of the poor to Mr Breton Woods in order to secure a comfortable life for their children.

Recalled the Senate on Thursday rejected Kaduna State Development Policy Operation (DPO) in the sum of USD350 million as contained in the 2016  2018 External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Three Senators, Shehu Sani, APC, Kaduna Central; Suleiman Hunkuyi, APC, Kaduna North and Laah Danjuma, PDP, Kaduna South said that it became imperative for the credit facility to be rejected because critical stakeholders from the State were never consulted and for the fact that the State was already heavily indebted.

The rejection followed the presentation of the Report of Committee on Local and Foreign Debts Kaduna State Development Policy Operation (DPO) Credit Facility of USD 350 by its Chairman, Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central)

According to Senator Sani, the Committee recommended that the Senate do reject the request of USD350 million for Kaduna State as contained in the 2015 2018 External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan of Mr. President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

That with the high total debt stock of Kaduna State at the moment, the new borrowing sought, will make the debt service to revenue ratio high, thereby worsening the State Governments ability to meet its other basic obligations to the people and further erode the economic viability of the State.

That the Senate do reject Kaduna State Development Policy Operation (DPO) in the sum of USD350 million only as contained in the 2016  2018 External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan of Mr. President Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

Senator Sani further said that in its findings, the Committee discovered That the Development Policy Operation, DPO (Budget Support) of USD 350 million for Kaduna State was approved by World Bank in 2016 and captured in 2016  2018 borrowing plan as approved by the National Assembly.

That the credit facility has an attractive low financing data of 1.25% interest; moratorium of 5 years and a 25 year maturity tenor.

That the facility is already captured in the 2016-2018 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

That according to the latest Debt Management Office figures, Kaduna State has a total debt stock of USD232.1 million.

That approving the current loan request of USD350 million for Kaduna State will bring its total debt stock to USD582.1 million.

That if this loan request is approved, the new total debt stock of USD582.1 million for Kaduna State will be unsustainable and necessarily attract huge financial burden on the meager federal allocation to the State.

With the new borrowing, the Debt Service to Revenue Ratio of Kaduna State will further be increased and thus impact negatively on the ability of the State to meet Other basic needs of its people.

The new debt stock will likely, further erode the economic viability of the State.

But on Friday the Kaduna state government said the decision of the Senate to reject its request for $350Million Dollars World Bank loan for infrastructural development amounted to elevating the ego of some of its members above the demands of public policy.

In its first reaction to decision of the senate to reject the loan request, the state government said all indices point to the fact that even with the loan, the state government would be in a good financial standing to finance its loans without any problem.

It would be recalled that the senate on Thursday rejected the request of the Kaduna state government to access a loan facility of $350milion from the world bank to facilitate its infrastructural development.

The three senators from the state, Shehu Sani, Suleiman Hunkuyi and Danjuma Laah said that it became imperative for the credit facility to be rejected because critical stakeholders from the State were never consulted and for the fact that the State was already heavily indebted.

But addressing a press conference on Friday, the Kaduna state Commissioner for Finance, Suleiman Abdu Kwari said the excuse given on the floor of the Senate as to the size of the loan is baseless.

The creditor and the ratings agency have adjudged that Kaduna State can sustainably manage the credit which has a 10-year moratorium and a 40-year repayment period. The State average monthly FAAC allocation for the preceding twelve months is N3.295bn, while our current monthly debt service is N467.12mn. Also, the monthly debt service forecast of the FGN Budget Support Facility of N14.169bn with a moratorium of 18months and World Bank Loan of $350mn with a moratorium of 10years are N191.767mn and N98.843mn respectively.

If the State is to repay all loans today, the total debt service would be N757.735mn representing 23% of total deductions as a percentage of total allocations. This is less than the threshold for sub-national borrowing which is capped at 40%. In view of this, Kaduna State is within the sustainable debt level.

What the Senate displayed was elevating the ego of some of its members above the demands of public policy. As the three senators from Kaduna State spoke, it was apparent that they have put their personal frustrations above the right of the people of Kaduna State to decent investment in human capital development through good schools and hospitals, and better quality of life and accelerated economic growth through the provision of infrastructure.

The Kaduna State Government is grateful to the House of Representatives for its kind endorsement of the request. We march on with the task of governing the state, and we shall continue to enjoy the support of our development partners he said.

The Kaduna state government said it painstakingly followed the conditions laid down by the world bank before it was deemed qualified to access the loan.

In 2014 and early 2015, we had campaigned about the poor state of Kaduna State public schools and hospitals. As soon as we took office, the problems we had campaigned about became our responsibility to resolve.

And we were shocked to learn in our first week in office that at least 50% of our pupils sat on floors because of a lack of classroom furniture. We also received briefings indicating that apart from lacking doors, windows, roofs, toilets and water, many of our schools also had unqualified teachers.

In response, Governor El-Rufai declared a state of emergency in education and started to fix schools and buy furniture. After fixing almost 10% of our over 4200 primary schools, the government realised that it would need a minimum of N60bn just to fix primary schools. A lot more would be needed to actually build new schools that can have enough classrooms, staff rooms and other facilities. There was no doubt that we would need support to raise the required resources.

The Governor took an album that out Budget and Planning ministry had compiled showing pictures of our schools, and shared it with the federal Minister of Finance, and subsequently, our development partners, including the World Bank.

That is how the conversation that led to the World Bank loan started. The World Bank scrutinised Kaduna State and they are convinced we meet their standards. We have healthy Fitch ratings B Credit Rating with Stable Outlook.In November 2016, Fitch Ratings assigned Kaduna State a long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) of B and a National long-term rating of A+(nga) with stable outlooks).

Having checked our laws, our accounts and our performance, the World Bank was convinced that Kaduna State merits their support. Therefore, on 20th June 2017, the World Bank announced that it has decided to provide a budget support facility of $350m to Kaduna State.

Our Commissioners have appeared before the relevant committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and presented detailed explanations for the rationale and the purposes of the loan. Our delegates were commended for the quality of their presentations.

Nobody in those committees of the National Assembly can honestly claim not to be aware of the justification and the purpose of the loan. In fact, the House of Representatives endorsed the loan. When our officials appeared before the Senate, no questions were asked he said.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Herdsmen attack will soon end,Gov. Ortom tells Benue people

By Peter Duru, Makurdi

As Christians celebrated this years Easter, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has urged the people of the state to be hopeful that his administration would bring the menace of herdsmen in the state to an end to enable the thousands of internally displaced persons currently in eight camps across the state return home.

Ortom

He assured the people of the state that his administration would continue to prioritize the security of lives, property and the general welfare of the people of the state. In a statement, the governor through his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akas said, the death and resurrection of Jesus which is the meaning of Easter is a period when Christians should draw closer to God so they can appreciate His abundant grace and mercy upon their lives in the face of adversities.

The Governor urged the people of the state to continue to show love to one another as Christ Jesus taught his followers.

He, however, expressed worry over the increasing number of children and other categories of people in IDPs camps and called on other Nigerians as well corporate organisations to assist the state government in managing the humanitarian crisis.

He admonished Benue people to pray for the innocent persons who recently lost their lives in Logo, Guma, Okpokwu and other parts of the state following herdsmen attacks and called for continuous trust in God that things would get better.

I am confident that we will overcome current economic and security challenges and our state will move onto the next level of development.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Buharis parables about Tinubu

By Emmanuel Aziken

Was the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP being mischievous last Thursday when it advised Asiwaju Bola Tinubu not to be deceived by proclamations of comradeship by President Muhammadu Buhari?

From the left, Minister for Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu; Former Osun State Governor, Chief Bisi Akande; Wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; President Muhammadu Buhari; National Leader, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; His Spouse, Senator Oluremi Tinubu; Governor Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos; His Wife, Mrs. Ambode and the Senate Leader, Senator Ahmed Lawal during the events to mark the 10th Bola Tinubu Colloquium that commemorates the 66th Birthday celebration of Asiwaju Tinubu at the Eko Hotel and Towers, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Buhari had more than shown his expression of love for Tinubu, at least in the last few months.

Last Thursday the president moved the whole apparatus of government to Lagos with his presence and that of his deputy, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo at the 10th Bola Tinubu Colloquium. Buhari also hailed Tinubu who he described as his friend and political partner as a political strategist at the colloquium that marked the 66th birthday of the former Lagos State governor.

Two days earlier, the president sacrificed some of his political capital when he compelled the National Executive Committee, NEC of his party, All Progressives Congress, APC to revisit the extension of the tenure of the party executives of the party across all levels.

The presidents new stance was to the pleasure of Asiwaju Tinubu who had been insistent on the exit of the John Odigie-Oyegun led national executive of the party.

So, given the presidents inclinations towards Tinubu, the advise from the PDP could as well be surprising. Does the president mean any harm to Tinubu?

After Tinubu helped to weave the alliance that emerged as the APC in 2013 and subsequently helped the party to win the 2015 presidential election, there were insinuations everywhere that Asiwaju was abandoned by the president in the positioning of people and policies in the government.

That claim was echoed largely because the president went beyond Tinubu to pick all the ministers from the Southwest. Even more irritating for the Tinubu Camp was the claim that those on the wrong side of progressive politics in the Southwest politics were picked.

The wound perhaps reached an irritating level about two years ago when the president at the last minute cancelled a state visit to Lagos at the last minute on the claim that he was unwell. Critics were not amused when the same day that the president was reported to be unwell he was seen cavorting with Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State in his office in Abuja.

So, it was not difficult for friend and foe to insinuate a cold war in the first two years of the Buhari administration especially as Tinubu spent a large part of his time outside the country. The implication was that Tinubu had bought a bad market in his support for Buhari to be president.

However, perspectives started changing last November when the president tapped Tinubu to accompany him to the African UnionEuropean Union summit in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

It was while in Ivory Coast that the president set the political landscape on edge during a meeting with the Nigerian community when he gave an inkling on his possible quest for re-election.

The president said he came along with the governors of Akwa Ibom and Bauchi States, Udom Emmanuel, and Mohammed Abubakar because he might be needing their votes in future.

The president followed up that parable when he gave another parable about a gift for him from Tinubu.

I also thank our leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He has brought me a very beautiful piece of information, which I was not aware of until I sat down and read it this evening, the president said.

Till date that riddle has not been deciphered. What we know is that the president has progressively inclined himself towards Tinubu.

Tinubu has himself not been impervious to the entreaties of the president and has increasingly raised the decibel about the alleged evils of the PDP. It is claimed that even while Buharis political capital may have been flattened by the challenges of governance, that Tinubu does not see it that way. Buharis challenges in office are merely accidents of the inheritance from the PDP and should be wished away in the perspective of the former Lagos State governor.

Perhaps Tinubu may have gone too far in his relationship with Buhari that whatever dangers or caution from the PDP may not be fathomable in the eyes of Nigerias most acclaimed political strategist.

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Loading...Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode has reacted to a list of looters published by the Federal Government on Friday.

According to Fani-Kayode, the names of President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi and other leaders in the All Progressives Congress (APC) were missing.

He revealed in a chat: No list of so-called looters is complete without the names of Muhammadu Buhari, Yemi Osinbajo, Rotimi Amaechi and all the other APC leaders on it. They are not only thieves but they invented the art of corruption. They are corrupt in body, spirit and soul.

They have stolen and misappropriated vast sums of money from the Nigerian state and they have snuffed out and destroyed many lives.

When we get them out of power and take over, we will open the books, expose them for what they are and each and everyone of them will suffer the consequences of their unprecedented graft and monstrous larceny.

One day, Nigerians will learn that Buhari is not an angel but a devil and that his entire government and team is infested with demons and incorrigible rogues.

The names in the list revealed by the Federal Government included PDP chieftains, who are currently being tried for alleged financial crimes.

The PDP has challenged us to name the looters under their watch. They said they did not loot the treasury. Well, I am sure they know that the treasury was looted dry under their watch. Yet, they decided to grandstand. This shows the hollowness of their apology, Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed said as he released the names.Aisha Wakil, popularly called Mama Boko Haram has lamented the harsh effect of Boko Haram insurgency on women in Borno State.

Mama Boko Haram revealed that many women now used ashes and sand in place of sanitary pad during their monthly menstrual cycle.

Wakil disclosed this during her advocacy visit to Emir of Kano, Alhaji Lamido Sanusi,

According to her, Boko Haram insurgency had greatly affected the North East region, especially women and children.

She said: One of the effects of insurgency is that women and girls are using sand and ashes in place of sanitary pad for their menses and this is unhygienic and unhealthy for women and girls.

Menstrual pad is a luxury for poor women in Borno.

She added that: Strange as it may sound but poor women and girls in community and IDP camps are still using rags filled with sand, or ashes as an alternative for sanitary napkins during their menstrual period, thus exposing themselves more to vaginal infections.

The team of complete care and aid headed by Wakil were received by the Wali of Kano, who said he was a police commissioner in the old Gongola State.

Wali also lamented that insurgency had drawn the North East region back, urging for assistance to the region.

He said the people of Kano were ready to offer their assistance to the victims of insurgency in the North East.The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, has told the President Muhammadu Buhari government and the Minister of Culture and Information, Lai Mohammed to be ready to prove the allegation of financial impropriety against him.

Secondus gave the threat in a statement issued by his spokesman, Mr Ike Abonyi, on Friday night.

The statement reads: The attention of the National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, has been drawn to a press conference addressed by the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Friday claiming that the National Chairman collected N200m from the purse of the National Security Adviser (NSA).

Prince Secondus is challenging Mr. Mohammed to be ready to establish his allegations in court immediately.

The PDP chairman said the agenda of the minister was to damage his reputation and distract him from serving his party but that he had failed woefully

For the purposes of some gullible public, Prince Secondus never collected any money from the NSA under any guise, he stated.

Also listed at the news conference by Mohammed were former PDP Financial Secretary, who allegedly collected N600 million from the same source on the October 24, 2014.

Then National Publicity Secretary Olisah Metuh, who is on trial for collecting N1.4 billion from the office of then NSA.

Dr Raymond Dokpesi, Chairman of DAAR Communications, on trial for taking N2.1 billion from the office of then NSA.

Former SSA to President Jonathan, Dudafa Waripamo-Owei, on trial over N830 million kept in accounts of four different companies, he had said.The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Friday, threatened to expose individuals in the fold of the ruling All progressives Congress, APC, indicted to have looted their state resources.

It also said that the looted funds were massively deployed for the electioneering campaigns of President Muhammadu Buhari in the last 2015 general polls.

We will no longer hesitate to go public with the list of indicted individuals in their fold who looted their state resources and deployed such funds to Buhari 2015 Campaign, the party said.

PDP spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan made this declaration in Abuja through a press statement he made available to newsmen.

This threat may not be unconnected with the latest APC allegation that the PDP national chairman Uche Secondus and former publicity secretary, Olisa Metu were among those who looted the country dry in the immediate past PDP-led federal government.

The party further explained that it had the list of prominent individuals who looted public funds, parading as the war chest of the APC, yet, were provided cover by the Buhari administration.

PDP also asserted that none of its members in their re-branded fold was either convicted or indicted of corruption and looting of any public funds.

The opposition party said the allegation preferred against Secondus and Metu were politically motivated just to smear and discredit the PDP.

Part of statement reads, we make bold to state that in President Buharis cabinet are former APC governors indicted by their states for looting funds belonging to the people, bulk of which were used to finance the Presidents 2015 campaign.

They believe that they must take revenge on everything. This is why they are going about hounding everybody perceived to hold opinions that are contrary to their interest.

This explains why they have continued to keep people like the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) in detention, even after he has been granted bail by the courts and have been after figures like Senate President Bukola Saraki, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu as well as politicians perceived to be interested in the 2019 Presidential elections.

It is incongruous and shameful that the Presidency and APC are still engaging in their hypocritical media trial of asking the PDP to refund alleged looted funds, when the world is aware that those who looted the economy are all in the APC where they have become the poster faces of President Buhari and his discredited party.Home | News | General | Tragic! See how jealous wife allegedly stabbed her husband to death for having a baby mama (photos)

- A certain lady has landed in police custody after she allegedly ended the life of her husband

- According to reports, the scorned woman stabbed her husband to death in his sleep

- When asked, she confessed to killing him for having a child with another woman

They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. A jealous wife has allegedly ended her husband's life over infidelity. According to reports, the heart-broken woman stabbed her man to death for getting a woman residing in a foreign country pregnant.

The deceased is said to have been a sergeant in the Gabonese army and being in Gabon often, he found another woman in whom in panted a seed child. On finding out, his wife flared up and stabbed him multiple times while he was asleep.

The young soldier died immediately on March 28. His body was found covered in blood in their apartment. The woman was arrested by the police and while in custody, she confessed to killing him for going behind her to have a child with another woman.

READ ALSO: Naomi Campbell visits Nigeria, meets President Buhari

Jealous wife stabs husband to death Source: Facebook

The widow is currently in police custody and reports say, she will taken to court where she will be given the deserved punishment for her actions.

In the same light, a Nigerian lady allegedly stabbed boyfriend to death while fighting at a nightclub.

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Why do Single ladies prefer to date married men? (Nigerian Street Interview) on NAIJ.com TV:

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Loading...Home | News | General | Stop inciting Nigerians to take up arms - Abubakar Bambado cautions Danjuma

- Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar Bambado states that the call by Theophilus Danjuma for people to arm themselves is an invitation to anarchy

- The monarch tells the former chief of army staff to be mindful about his utterances

- The Coalition for Nigeria Movement says statement by Danjuma should not be dismissed

The chairman of the association of Fulani chiefs in the south-west, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar Bambado, has told former chief of army staff, Lt Gen Theophilus Danjuma, to desist from making statements that could incite Nigerians to take up arms against each other.

Vanguard reports that Bambado questioned why someone of Danjumas status chose such an avenue to talk on such a sensitive issue when he knows how to get across to the president without heating up the polity.

READ ALSO: Breaking: FG releases names of alleged looters

Bambado said: He (Danjuma) has access to President Muhammadu Buhari and can easily take his evidence, if any, to him, but telling people to arm themselves is an invitation to anarchy, which, when it happens, will consume us all.

The monarch cautioned Danjuma to be mindful about his utterances, adding that as an expert in security matters, the former military chief should know better that his comments can cause havoc of an unimaginable proportion in the country.

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Meanwhile, the Coalition for Nigeria Movement led by former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has raised concerns that security agencies in the country may have been corrupted by the government ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The Punch reports that spokesman for the group, Akin Osuntokun, said the statement by a former minister of defence, Lt Gen Theophilus Danjuma (retd.), that the military was failing to protect Nigerians from attacks should not be dismissed.

He faulted the claims by security heads that there were plans by some groups to disrupt the processes leading to the 2019 elections.

TY Danjuma, Nigerian army and the herdsmen crisis | Naij.com TV

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Loading...Home | News | General | Show more love to one another, Okowa urges Nigerians at Easter

AS Christians in the country join their counterparts around the world to celebrate Easter, Delta State Governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, has called on Christians and all Nigerians to see the Easter period as an opportunity to increase their efforts at showing love and promotion of peace among mankind.

Okowa, in his Easter message to Deltans, Nigerians and Christians in particular, urged them not to relent in cooperating and supporting governments at all levels in their efforts to put in place programmes and measures that would enhance and improve the standard of living of Nigerians.

In the message signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Charles Aniagwu, Okowa charged Nigerians, particularly Christians, to emulate Jesus Christ who, through his love for mankind, decided to sacrifice his life for people to live.

Mr Charles Aniagwu,

Easter is a period to share love and promote peace. Jesus Christ lived and died for peace and love to reign and we can all emulate the exemplary life of Christ by becoming promoter of peace and love, adding Easter is the reason why we are called Christians. But Christianity places a demand on all of us, a responsibility to look out for each other and be our brothers keepers, he said.

The governor felicitated with the people, particularly Christians, on the occasion of this years Easter, a period he said was meant for sacrifice and forgiveness as exemplified by the life and times of Jesus Christ.

He also used the opportunity to thank the people of the state for their unflinching support for his administration, noting that the successes he had so far recorded would not have been possible without them.

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Loading...Home | News | General | We've imported N2.09 trillion worth of petrol to tackle fuel crisis - NNPC reveals

- The NNPC has said that 9.8 million tins of fuel have been imported into Nigeria since the fuel scarcity began

- The corporation said the petroleum product was imported to combat the fuel crisis ravaging the country

- According to NNPC, the countries major challenge in petroleum products remains the cross border smuggling due to price disparity between Nigerian and her neighbouring countries

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Friday, March 30, said it has imported $5.8 billion (N2.09 trillion) worth of petrol since last year.

The group managing director of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru, said the petrol - about 9.8 million metric (tons) were imported into the country to combat the last fuel sacristy, Vanguard reports.

Baru while speaking at a public hearing by the Senate committee on public accounts said the corporation carried out the massive importation in fulfillment of its statutory role of supplier of last resort to ensure that Nigerians do not suffer as a result of product unavailability.

READ ALSO: Three bombers killed in Maiduguri after failed attempt to infiltrate town

Represented by the chief operating officer, finance and account, Abdulrazaq Isiaka, the GMD said the NNPC's move to purchase the large amount of fuel has helped in reducing the sufferings of Nigerians.

He said the intervention became necessary after the inability of major and independent oil marketers to import fuel due to its high landing cost.

READ ALSO: Southwest elders condemn Buhari's visit to Lagos, says timing is suspicious

He said the cost of the product also made recovery and profitability difficult.

The GMD also noted that cross border smuggling due to price disparity between Nigerian and her neighbouring countries has remained serious challenges in the quest for fuel queue-free situation in the country.

However, the chairman of the Senate committee, Matthew Uroghide, in his response said the public hearing was a part of the Committees duty to find lasting solutions to the problem of fuel scarcity in order to make life easy for all Nigerians.

NAIJ.com earlier reported that members of the House of Representatives began probe into the activities of the major fuel depots across Nigeria.

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The House ad-hoc committee led Danlami Kurfi was set of by the lower chamber to investigate all the activities of staff of the Nigerian Petroleum Marketing Companies, and staff of government owned depots

Kurfi during one of the probe sessions called for documents of sales made to independent petroleum marketers.

What will Nigerians do if FG increases fuel pump price to N180/litre? - on NAIJ.com TV

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Loading...Home | News | General | Interpol ignores Nigeria police, fails to declare Dino Melaye wanted

- The International Police is yet to declare Senator Dino Melaye wanted

- This is despite claims by the Nigeria Police Force that the senator is on the radar of the global police organisation

- Senator Melaye has been seen severally in public places since he was declared wanted

The International Police is yet to declare Senator Dino Melaye wanted, three days after the Nigeria Police Force claimed that the lawmaker and seven other suspects are on the radar of the global police organisation.

Checks on the Interpol website reveals that the profiles and pictures of the lawmaker representing Kogi West Senatorial District and the other suspects were not displayed as at Friday, March 30.

Out of the 113 wanted persons featured on the platform, only one fugitive, Festus Chinedu, 32, is a Nigerian.

He is wanted by the Uruguayan authorities for drug trafficking and participating in a criminal organisation.

Senator Melaye has been seen severally in public places since he was declared wanted.

The police had alleged that Melaye contracted some political thugs and handed over a bag containing an AK-47 rifle, two pump-action guns and N430, 000.00 to share.

The lawmaker was said to have met with the suspects on Airport Road, Abuja inside his car in December 2017.

Senator Melaye has since denied the allegations threatening to sue the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.

Meanwhile, CP Esa Sunday Ogbu has assumed duty and taken over as the Commissioner of Police in Kogi state on Friday, March 30.

He replaces CP Ali Janga, who was redeployed after the suspects in the senator's case escaped from prison.

Kogi West senatorial district to recall senator Dino Melaye from the Nigerian Senate on NAIJ.com TV

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Loading...Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty, a Connecticut Democrat, has apologized for how she handled harassment claims against a former top aide made in 2016 by a former female staff member, and is now facing calls to resign.



Etsy issued a statement on Twitter Thursday evening saying she was "horrified and angry" to learn of the harassment claims against her former chief of staff Tony Baker, and admitted she "failed to protect" the female staffer who came forward with the accusations, which included death threats and physical violence according to the Connecticut Post, which first reported the news.



Esty, now in her third term in Congress, did not immediately remove Baker from her staff for several months after the allegations surfaced against him, instead demanding he get counseling and ordered an internal review process to "investigate" the conduct in her office.



Andrew Ricci, a spokesperson for Esty's former chief of staff, denies that Baker ever physically harmed the staffer, and confirms that he recently left his job as the Ohio Director for the Sandy Hook Promise, a gun violence prevention advocacy group. Esty told the Washington Post that she wrote Baker a letter of recommendation for the job with the Sandy Hook Promise, a decision she now says was a mistake.



In a statement provided to ABC News, Baker said he appreciated that Esty encouraged him to seek counseling and treatment for alcoholism.



"In 2016, Elizabeth was the only person who stopped to ask me how I was doing and urged me to get help beyond just becoming sober. I immediately sought comprehensive help, which has been invaluable in my life of recovery. I have a lot of respect for Anna and I agree that stories like hers need to be told," Baker wrote, referring to Anna Kain, the former Esty staffer that made the claims against him.



Ricci confirmed to ABC News that Baker has been undergoing treatment for alcoholism for nearly two years, and in that time has undergone counseling for anger management.



Stephanie Morris, a spokeswoman for the Sandy Hook Promise, also confirmed to ABC News that Baker is no longer employed by the group. Morris declined to expand on the circumstances of Baker's departure.



In the wake of the revelations, the Hartford Courant newspaper has called on Esty to resign her seat in Congress, calling her handling of the situation "appalling."



"Ms. Esty had every opportunity  and every responsibility  to at least suspend Mr. Baker on the spot and hold him accountable for his behavior. Instead, she went with the script that has cloaked sexual assault and harassment in Congress for decades. She is complicit," an editorial published by the paper Friday read.



The National Republican Congressional Committee, the GOP's campaign arm, also called on Esty to resign.



"Elizabeth Esty orchestrated one of the most disturbing Washington cover-ups in recent memory. There is no place for someone who protects abusers in Congress, and she should resign immediately," a statement from the NRCC provided to ABC News read.



"I am sorry that I hurt her, her friends, family, and co-workers, and many of my present and former staffers," Esty wrote.



Esty also praised her former staffer who came forward, especially amid the ongoing #MeToo movement, during which instances of harassment, misconduct, and violence against women have been exposed, including by current and former members of Congress.



"Im inspired by the courage this young woman is demonstrating by speaking up  in the one company town of DC  to say MeToo," Etsy wrote.



Esty says she removed Baker from her staff after learning that the claims against him were not an "isolated incident" and that he had "victimized" multiple female members of her staff. Esty then "hired a new chief of staff, made changes to senior staff, changed employment policy, and instituted mandatory harassment trainings," according to her statement.



In her statement on the incident, Esty now says that changes need to be made in Congress when it comes to how these incidents are handled and addressed.



"I know that Survivors come first  we need to believe them and support them. And we need to include survivors and allies alike in the conversation about how to implement the changes necessary both in Congress and more broadly to prevent this from happening again," Esty wrote.



"I've asked myself over and over again, how did I not see this? How could I have let down so many people?" Etsy wrote, "I know firsthand that we need stronger workplace protections, and to provide employees with a platform to raise concerns. But that's not enough. Those concerns must be listened to. And people in power must take action. Now that I know, I must do better. We all must do better."



The revelations come during a session of Congress that has already seen multiple members resign over allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment. Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. and Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn. all resigned their seats last year after allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct surfaced against them.



The office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. did not respond to a request for comment on the situation regarding Rep. Esty when asked by ABC News.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Home | News | General | 2019: One million youths march for Ambode re-election

Youths in their hundreds on Saturday embarked on a symbolic march from Maryland to Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park in Ojota to endorse Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode for another term in office.

Scores of youths marching on Ikorodu Road on Saturday, March 31, 2018 to endorse Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State for a second term.

The youths, drawn from various groups including Lagos Youth Initiative (LYI), Lagos State Students Union, Liberal Minds Grassroots Forum, Lagos of Our Dream (Project LOUD), Asiwaju Redrive Youth Initiative, A Plus Vanguard, National Association of Scrap and Waste Dealers Employers of Nigeria (NASWEDEN), among others, said the decision to support the Governor was as a result of his various infrastructural strides and massive empowerment initiatives such as the N25billion Employment Trust Fund.

Speaking at the event, Lagos State Chairman of LYI, Comrade Temitope Ogungbo said the walk was organised to appreciate and mobilize support for Governor Ambode judging by the fact that the promises made to the people of the State have been fulfilled.

He said: We are here today to show appreciation to the man that has done well. Three years back, he made a promise here at Ojota Freedom Park and those promises have been fulfilled and the Governor has even done more than what he promised.

The promises are employment, empowerment, among others. When you talk about youths in Lagos State, Governor Ambode has employed many youths into the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority; he established Neighbourhood Safety Corps which has employed over 5,000 youths; he has also employed over 20,000 youths through the Cleaner Lagos Initiative; thousands of youths and businesses have also been empowered through the N25billion Employment Trust Fund of the Governor Ambode administration, among others.

We see all these initiatives as very good and something that requires the youths to pay back by asking the Governor to continue in office, and that is why we invited all our groups from the 57 Local Government Areas and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) of the State to embark on symbolic walk to endorse Governor Ambode for second term.

He particularly urged those yet to get Permanent Voters Cards to utilize the opportunity of the ongoing registration exercise to register and get their cards to vote for continuity of the good works of the Governor in the state.

Also, Lagos State Chairman of Liberal Minds, Mr Sanni Ganiyu said the State was blessed to have a caring, good and dynamic leader like Governor Ambode who, according to him, has positively touched all sectors and sections of the state.

Governor Ambode has performed credibly well; he has served us successfully; he has virtually touched all sectors of the economy, be it in the area of sports, roads, roads, health, agriculture, security, employment, education and so on.

As a matter of fact, the common man, disabled or physically challenged are not left out as they have all benefitted tremendously from this administration, and that is why we are all out to support Governor Ambode for another term in office, Ganiyu said.

Member, Board of National Agricultural Extension Research, Hon Ganiat Alli-Balogun, said since assuming office, Governor Ambode had done wonders and a lot for people of the State.

She said: Today, you can see the youths of Lagos State here to support Governor Ambode for second to continue his good works. Everyone is happy because of the brilliant projects that have been executed in the State.

Talk of the beautification, the infrastructural amenities, the schools and so on and so we thank God for all the good work of our Governor.

On their parts, leaders of NASWEDEN in Lagos State  Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi, Comrade Friday Okoh and Mrs Olufunke Akinwale said the association was fully in support of the Cleaner Lagos Initiative of the State Government, and that their members were all saying no vacancy in Alausa come 2019.

Highpoint of the event was the performances by ace musicians, Humble Smith and Queen Seyidat, among others.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...The Enugu state police command has come down hard on a Twitter user who drew its attention to the inhumane condition of police cells in the state.





One Twitter user simply identified as Kelsonwa had asked what the command was doing about the bad state of cells in the police stations.

What are you doing about your cells, whereby a person being detained cant even breathe fresh air before he or she gets bail, the user had asked.

@PoliceNG_Enugu what are you doing about you cells, were by a person been detained can't even breathe fresh air before he or she gets bail  l KLs  17 (@Kelsonwa) March 30, 2018

Apparently angered by the tweet, the command immediately took a swipe at the user.

Replying via its handle, it wrote: Sir, you dont go to cell expecting to be served chicken and chips.

 EnuguStatePolice (@PoliceNG_Enugu) March 30, 2018

The reply did not go down well with many Nigerians, with some accusing the police in the state of having no regard for human dignity.

One user with the name Ifeatu said: This reply is Lame. And proof that @PoliceNG_Enugu has zero regard for human rights and dignity.

Joe Abah, who is very influential on the social interactive platform, described the response as shameful.

This is even more shameful. I have visited Enugu prisons. If your prisons reflect the priority you place on human rights, it is clear that you have none.  Dr. Joe Abah (@DrJoeAbah) March 30, 2018

This is a shameful tweet, which I have reported to your bosses.  Dr. Joe Abah (@DrJoeAbah) March 30, 2018

Woow.. Everyday you guys stray further away from the light. So disgusted.  OLUWAYEMI (@Yeahmeahh) March 31, 2018

He mentioned 'breathing air'. I did not read anything about chicken and chips. This is a biased and shameful tweet from a representation of a law enforcement agent in Nigeria, and its sad. Smh.  Immanuel Nwankwo???????? (@ImmanuelNwankwo) March 31, 2018

Human Rights you talking about how many human right activist do you have in each station and how many of them are called upon,when needed?  l KLs  17 (@Kelsonwa) March 30, 2018

The command, however, later cleared the air, saying it was not in our plans to violate anybodys right, as the Nigerian police strive to secure lives and properties while administering transparency injustice.

At that, we dont wish for anybody to enter any of our cells, as our cells are for those who break the law, it said.Home | News | General | Herdsmen menace capable of tearing Nigeria apart  Uduaghan

endorse Okowa for a second term in office

By Festus Ahon, ASABA

Immediate past Governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, Saturday lamented that the terror being unleashedon innocent Nigerians by the ravaging fulani herdsmen was capable of tearing Nigeria apart.

Uduaghan

Speaking at the grand reception organized by the people of Ubulu-Uku in honour of their daughter, Mrs Onyemeachi Mrakpor, who represents Aniocha/Oshimili Federal constituency at the National Assembly, Uduaghan said the sensitive nature of the insurgency has successfully created a web of intrigue.

The former Governor who chaired the ceremony, said the issue of Herdsmen insurgencies is very sensitive. The challenge has the potential of breaking the country. It has done a lot of damages. Farmers are no longer going to farm. This means increase in hunger level. It is that bad.

While paying glowing tribute to the departed king of Ubulu-Uku, HRM, Obi Edward Akaeze who was kidnapped and murdered by gunmen, Uduaghan ommended the lawmaker for her brave stand in presenting the issue of the ravaging herdsmen on floor of the green chambers.

Uduaghan who spoke further, endorsed Governor Ifeanyi Okowa for second term in office, urging political office holders to give unflinchingly support the Governor to succeed.

He said Dr Okowa will be the Governor of Delta State from 2015 to 2023. Our Governor, dont listen to the stories you hear, you know the way people talk, dont worry, no shaking, we are here for you.

Delta is a PDP state, it will remain a PDP state; Deltans ensure you go and get your permanent voters cards, it will enable you prepare for the 2019 elections. I want to urge political office holders not to give the Governor stress, add value to the Governors activities, dont give him stress.

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa who also spoke at the event, commended Mrs Mrakpor for attracting development to her people.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Katsina Emir decries increase rate of youth into drugs

By Bashir Bello

KATSINA  The Emir of Katsina, Dr. Abdulmumini Kabir Usman has on Saturday decried the increasing surge in use of dangerous and hard drugs and peddling amongst youths in the state.

Supplements

The Monarch lamented the increase in youth into drugs in the state during the turbanning ceremony of the Speaker of the state Assembly, Hon. Abubakar Yahaya Kusada as Garkuwan-Katsina and other illustrious sons of the state.

Dr. Usman said the intake of the drugs poses security threat to the state hence the need to curtail it.

The Emir also frowned at the spate of rape cases in the state while calling for a concerted effort to address the menace.

According to him, the issue of rape has become a major problem in the state. This thing happen everyday and police cannot be everywhere.

This is where the role of eminent personalities comes in. You have to take this message to the people, enlighten them and educate them on the inherent dangers of the menace.

As parents, we have to monitor the movement of our children because they are vulnerable and can be easily deceived by some unscrupulous elements who may want to take advantage of them and dehumanise them, especially the young girls, Dr. Usman, the Emir noted.

Others turbaned include the former Deputy Governor under Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state, Abdullahi Garba Faskari as Dan Yabanin Katsina and Sani Danlami as Garkuwan Gabas among others too numerous to mention.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Imo's success story would not be complete without the outstanding role Uche Nwosu played - Okorocha

- Imo state governor has assured the people of the state that his son-in-law would perform better than him as a governor

- Rochas Okorocha said Uche Nwosu knows all the secret to the success story

- According to the governor, the success story of Imo state would not be complete without the outstanding role of Nwosu

The governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha, has said that he is convinced his son-in-law would be a better governor than he is once he assumes power in 2019.

Okorocha said Uche Nwosu who he has anointed to replace him knows all the secret to the success story of his role as a governor in the state, the Nation reports.

While speaking at a stakeholders meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Mbaitoli Local government council of Imo state, Okorocha said, the story of the achievements of the Rescue Mission Government in the state would not be complete without the outstanding role of Nwosu.

READ ALSO: Tears flow in Lagos as 2 people die in building collapse (photos)

"There is no project of this administration that Uche Nwosu didnt make contribution in terms of ideas and dedication to see the Project completed. He knows the secret behind all the successes we have recorded. He knows how we have done all we have achieved without complaining of paucity of fund like those before us had done," Okorocha said.

He added that: If I allow any of these people aspiring to become governor in 2019 to take over, it wont be long before Imo people would begin to regret my exit because I know the sacrifices we have made to achieve all these as a government."

READ ALSO: What country would survive if its citizens rise against the military - Presidency queries TY Danjuma's call to self-defence

But for Uche Nwosu, he knows the whole secret and I have no doubt, he would do better than me. And when that happens Imo people may begin to forget me. But I want him to do better than me," he said.

NAIJ.com earlier reported that Okorocha challenged the Imo Catholic Archbishop of Owerri Diocese, Anthony Obinna, over the governorship candidature in the state.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

He said Archbishop Obinna will fail in his alleged plot to install a governor on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the state in 2019.

Okorocha noted that since the cleric could not succeed in his attempt to make APGA win the governorship election in 2015, he will still loose in 2019 and subsequent attempts.

What is cooking in Imo state? on NAIJ.com TV

[embedded content]

Source: Naija.ng

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Loading...Home | News | General | Biafra: IPOB warns Ohanaeze against summit, threatens to kill Nwodo, Governors

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has warned the leadership of Ohaneze Ndigbo against holding the proposed summit on restructuring in Enugu.The group said it would ensure that such gathering summit was disrupted, whether the venue is flooded with security or not.

A press release signed by Emma powerful, publicity secretary of the IPOB, said that the summit would only hold if its members were all killed.

It further threatened that if such happened, Nwodo and all leaders of the southeast and the governors from the region who supported the summit would not be spared, including their families, no matter where they resided.

Should the Nigerian army arrest or kill anyone on that day, Nnia Nwodos children and that of the governors and anybody else involved in the betrayal of IPOB and Biafrans in General will suffer the same fate regardless of where they are, he said.

The group said it was not unaware of nocturnal meetings between Nwodo and a top military officer attached to 82 division, in the hope of holding the summit that would enslave Igbo for another 100 years.

IPOB said Ohanaeze was free to meet on any other agenda including referendum, but will not accept any meeting on restructuring.

Part of the press release made available to DAILY POST in Awka read, We warn Chief John Nnia Nwodo of Ohanaeze Ndigbo not to dare hold the Fulani sponsored Igbo summit in Enugu. IPOB warns Nnia Nwodo and his collaborators in crime not to dare or face the consequences from the youth.

We respect and recognise our elders including freedom of speech and assembly but not one designed to enslave us in the deadly Nigerian contraption for another 100 years.

We are well aware of the nocturnal meetings between Nnia Nwodo and a certain Brigadier General affiliated to the GOC of 82 Division Enugu.

If Ohaneze Ndigbo likes let them surround the venue with armored tanks and Fulani soldiers, this is certain, the summit will not hold unless Nnia Nwodo and his collaborators kill us all on that particular day.

Nnia Nwodo and his collaborators are in the liberty to call summit to sensitize and educate our people for the upcoming referendum not restructuring to remain in Nigeria.

The group said both Ohanaeze Ndigbo and South East governors forum had outlived their usefulness, and merely existed to entrench Fulani dominance and influence over Igboland and Biafra in general.

Without exception, they are all Hausa Fulani errand boys and girls. We have taken the liberty of chronicling the sad history of Igbo people and wider Biafra in Nigeria.

Majority of Igbos and Biafrans do not want Nigeria any more, if Nnia Nwodo and his collaborators in Biafraland are in any doubt, they should conduct a plebiscite towards the democratic demand for Biafra independence.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...Home | News | General | North ready to debate Nigerias existence, restructuring  Ango Abdullahi

The Spokesman of Arewa Consultative Forum, Prof. Ango Abdullahi has expressed the Norths readiness to debate whether Nigeria should remain as a country or not.

Abdullahi added that some Nigerians believe the regions making up the country were mistakenly put together by the British colonialists.

The ACF chieftain told ThisDay Newspaper: The issue of restructuring, of course, is a subject that were ready to discuss with anyone. The issue of the country and its existence is also an issue that were prepared to discuss with anyone who questions the very basic need for having the country as it is now; because there are some people who are arguing along those lines that Nigeria, ab initio, had been mistakenly put together by the British. Although some clergymen say it is God; its not God. It is the creation of the colonial masters.



The ACF chieftain also claimed that many members of Boko Haram terrorists were graduates and PhD holders, arguing that the primary cause of the groups emergence was not its hatred of Western education.

The Boko Haram phenomenon has nothing to do with Western education. It has never been the basis of its coming into existence. Many of the members of Boko Haram are graduates; many active members of Boko Haram are graduates. Also, I can tell you that some of them are PhD holders. So, it has got nothing to do with Western education, the elder statesman said

Abdullahi stated further that the collapse of the countrys socio-economic structures, rather than aversion for Western education, was what inspired the insurgency, pointing out that a number of the terrorist groups leaders were from Kogi State.

He said: It has more to do with the manner in which the socio-economic structures of the country are being managed. The areas where there is easy recruitment of Boko Haram members are the poorest areas of this country North-east. But it might interest you to know that quite a number of the active leadership of Boko Haram is from Kogi State. It has nothing to do with Western education; in fact, many of the Boko Haram members are more educated than those who claim to have had Western education. The crisis of Boko Haram either the current type or the future type of Boko Haram that this country will end up having must be related to our willingness to manage this country so that we avoid all those ingredients that cause disaffection, anger, and distrust.

In addition, he also condemned how Nigerias political office holders often displayd their wealth in the midst of abject poverty, warning that a new Boko Haram will emerge if the nations resources was continued to be mismanaged by the leaders.

Seeing people affluently mismanaging our resources to the detriment of the majority that are wallowing in abject poverty; this is what will breed either new Boko Haram or a new version (of extremists) in the future unless something is done about it.

The level of unemployment of graduates in this country is frightening and this is a recruiting ground for the banditry were witnessing in our society today, he said.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...Home | World | Africa | Chamisa mocks Mnangagwa

MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has mocked President Emmerson Mnangagwa over his scarf, adding that the 75-year-old politician does not even know what Wi-Fi is.

Speaking at a rally in the capital this week, Chamisa said "He (Mnangagwa) is going around putting a scarf even when it is hot".

"I said old man yarova sei chinja yakupfekedza scarf nekunopisa (you are being frightened by MDC to an extent of putting on a scarf even in hot weather)," he said, adding "we don't have anything to do with that old man as we are going to defeat him in this year's election".

Mnangagwa has made the Zimbabwe flag-designed scarf part of his fashion statement.

Since the time he went to Davos, Switzerland, Mnangagwa has consistently worn the scarf, be it at party events or government engagements.

Chamisa went on to say Mnangagwa could not pretend to be the solution to Zimbabwe's problems.

"We have the keys to unlock the economy, we are the young generation we can work with the international community we can call (France president Emmanuel) Macron and say can you please help us to grow our economy. Do you think Mnangagwa can do that if Macron asked him about Wi-Fi he will think that Macron is asking him about his wife," Chamisa said, adding "this is an old generation, we are going to give them a rest in the next election, we are going to say our elders you did a great job go and rest".

"There is no question we are going to win this year but we are demanding electoral reforms," Chamisa said. This comes as a leading political analyst, Ibbo Mandaza, recently predicted a victory for Chamisa in the forthcoming elections, as long as the polls are free and fair.

For the first time in two decades, the forthcoming elections will not feature ousted former president Robert Mugabe and the popular late MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai - who lost his valiant battle with colon cancer in February this year.

Mugabe's 37-year, iron-fisted rule was dramatically ended by the intervention of the military last November, paving way for the installation of his long-time aide, Mnangagwa, as his successor both in government and in Zanu-PF.

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Loading...Home | World | Africa | Mnangagwa's looters list backfires

President Emmerson Mnangagwa's decision to name and shame companies alleged to have externalised funds and assets has turned into a nightmare for local companies that are being snubbed by potential suitors and trading partners.

This came out during a breakfast meeting organised by the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) yesterday, where representatives of a number of companies said they have been struggling to do business ever since the list was published by the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC).

On March 19, the OPC released a long list of companies purported to have illegally taken money and assets outside the country.

Initially, Mnangagwa had given the culprits a 90-day window period within which they were to return the loot in exchange for their freedom.

The period stretched from December 1, 2017 to February 28, 2018.

After the expiry of the three-month moratorium, he further extended the deadline by another two weeks, to February 19. During that period, government neither asked questions nor preferred charges against those that repatriated the money or assets.

This included cases that were before the courts where judgments were yet to be passed.

A few individuals and companies came forward, but many opted to play hide-and-seek with the authorities.

On Monday last week, Mnangagwa lived up to his word by naming and shaming the alleged culprits who could not take advantage of his moratorium.

Government has said it would subsequently use legal instruments to those that have failed to comply, including triggering prosecutions.

The list, however, emerged as scandalous as it turned out that most of the companies appearing on it were actually legitimate importers and exporters whose transactions were not processed on time and were thus erroneously criminalised.

This has had the effect of compromising their standing since most foreign partners are reluctant to do business with firms that have criminal records.

ZNCC president Divine Ndlhukula said several member organisations are desperately trying to engage the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to clear their names and salvage their reputations.

"Their partners abroad are now a bit jittery and obviously that is affecting them. I think there is need for the list to be revised so that only people that externalised are the ones that would appear on it," she said.

"Currently, there are a lot of people that are on the list who never externalised. It's important that those companies are cleared because that affects their brands and their business and it's important that something be done about it," she said.

Ndlhukula advised the affected companies against suing government for wrongfully exposing them.

"I don't think going the legal route is the best way. I think the powers-that-be, whoever and wherever that list was generated from; they should revise that list and say these were stated wrongly so that those people can go back to their partners and say we have been cleared.

"If it is the RBZ, obviously they have got to revise that list. I'm sure by now they have had over a 100 engagements by a number of people who feel that they were put on that list when they do not belong to that list. So they should really correct that," she added.

Jeffrey Rugare, a local businessman who runs an alternative energy solutions concern, narrated how his business partners in Zambia spurned him after his company  Global Solar Company  was wrongly put on the list.

He said the RBZ mistook his $50 000 deal to import solar power equipment for externalised funds, adding that Global Solar Company was wrongly put on the list because of a malfunctioning Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) system, which missed its acquittals.

This was during the time when Zimra was processing transactions manually.

"Government is expecting my company to bring back the money when we imported goods which are already circulating on the market. We did not externalise, we are Zimbabweans. We have created employment in the country. We are the first company owned by young Zimbabweans to start manufacturing energy bulbs in the country and we are appearing on the list.

"So if they criminalise us, who is going to do business (with us)? We instead attracted money into the country from our foreign investors who made this business possible. We have a lot of questions to ask. I believe somebody lied to the president. We need a cure from that list because it is affecting our brand. For example, we also operate in Zambia and I sent a message to our partner there to say we wanted to come and start manufacturing there. But he said, hope Mnangagwa will not say you externalised'. We are trying to do business for our country and a foreigner writes this.

"This list, people believe it but it's a fake list. We want to build our country, it's our home. But if you do this, you are killing us," he pleaded.

ZNCC members also heaped the blame on local banks saying they were complicit in the production of the "fake list".

Former ZNCC president Luxon Zembe opined that the list was replete with companies doing their best to stay afloat despite the difficult operating environment in Zimbabwe.

He pointed an accusing finger at the banks for misinforming the OPC.

But Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (Baz) president Charity Jinya refuted the blame saying it lay squarely with the companies that did not clear their transactions on time.

"I don't believe it because if it's more than 90 days, there was an opportunity for banks to write to clients asking for transactions to be cleared. This gives the opportunity for the company to say it should be off the list. No one is perfect, mistakes are common, but there is a process where banks communicate with clients and clients communicate with banks formally and on the back of formal communication, information is then passed through to the RBZ because this is the system which is also under the control of the RBZ," Jinya said.

She also denied allegations that banks breached client confidentiality by divulging information about their clients to third parties, saying government had direct access to such information through the RBZ.

"The entire banking system is connected to the central bank, they know everything and the clients know it too," she said.

Deputy Finance minister Terrence Mukupe admitted that government had erred and had now started the process of clearing those that were wrongly implicated.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa

Loading...Home | World | Africa | Dictator Ian Khama steps down, hands over to Masisi

Khama has visited all of Botswana's 57 constituencies since December, bidding a long goodbye to a population of just 2.2 million after serving the constitutional maximum of 10 years in office.

He will be succeeded by Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi, a full 18 months before elections.

Khama's two terms in power have been defined by his country's rapid development thanks to lucrative diamond and beef exports and by a reputation for good governance.

He has also become renowned for straight talking  breaking with diplomatic convention to criticise leaders including US President Donald Trump and then-president Robert Mugabe in neighbouring Zimbabwe.

On Tuesday, his tour finished in his ancestral village of Serowe in the east of the country, with a day of songs, poems, gifts, ululation and pleading for him to remain in office.

Thousands of jubilant villagers dressed in blue, white and black, gathered in a kgotla, a traditional courtyard, to hear Khama speak.

"I was a soldier, I didn't have interest to join politics, I had future plans, away from politics," he told the crowd, adding that his predecessor Festus Mogae had to persuade him to take over in 2008.

Son of independence leader

Khama, 65, has cultivated a down-to-earth image  despite his father Seretse Khama serving from 1966 to 1980 as Botswana's first president after independence from Britain.

Edna Monyena, a village elder in her 80s, lavished praise on the outgoing president, telling him that he was "an honest man, a straightforward man" who showed "real love".

Many elderly female villagers wore blue dresses printed with portraits of Khama's father, and some used cow bones as percussion instruments as they stood up to sing and dance.

Khama was showered with gifts including a 44 truck, 143 cows, hundreds of chickens, over 415,000 pula ($44,000), and a fully-equipped luxury caravan that his brother Tshekedi dubbed a "mobile state house".

The avid conservationist also received a framed picture of a rhino.

"I wanted him to be 50 years more in office, I want him to work until the Almighty calls him," unemployed Sadie Moleta, 23, told AFP in Serowe, where Khama is a chief of the Bangwato tribe.

Khama, a former pilot and military chief, demonstrated his outspoken streak when he recently accused Trump of promoting policies that encourage poaching, and summoning the US envoy over Trump's alleged slur against African countries in January.

Khama called on Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe to step down well before the nonagenarian was ousted, and his government has also urged Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila to resign after his term expired in December 2016.

The Botswana leader's on-schedule departure has made a public display of obeying the constitutional term limit.

But his own record in office has not been without its critics, who accuse him of an autocratic leadership style.

He led the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) to landslide victories in two elections, although the party won less than 50 percent for the first time in the 2014 vote.

Uneven legacy?

Often seen as one of Africa's success stories, Botswana has recorded rising unemployment since 2009 as diamond prices fell.

The drop in revenue forced Khama to halt many planned investments in recent years.

"Internationally, he positioned himself as a moral leader in the region, stepping down as an example of a leader who respects laws and traditions  and inviting both President Kabila and Mugabe to respect democracy and the rule of law," Matteo Vidiri, a BMI Research analyst, told AFP.

"(But) a slowing economy and increasing public discontent has damaged the narrative of Botswana's 'special character', of a country being able to escape the 'resource curse'."

The opposition blames Khama for creating a society of "beggars".

"He killed the spirit of self-reliance creating dependency through handouts," Kesitegile Gobotswang, deputy president of the Botswana Congress Party, told AFP.

"The economy shed jobs under his leadership."

Khama, who is unmarried, was born in Britain as his father married white British woman Ruth Williams  a mixed-race partnership that caused widespread shock in Africa and Britain.

Incoming president Masisi, 55, will be inaugurated on Sunday.-

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Loading...The New Zealand dollar went back and forth during trading on Thursday, as we continue to grind around the 0.72 handle. Ultimately, the market will need to make some type of decision, and perhaps we may get the necessary moves in the commodity markets to facilitate that.

The New Zealand dollar went back and forth during trading on Thursday, as we continue to dance around the 0.72 handle, an area that has been support a couple of times recently. The market will continue to respect this area, at least until we can get some type of movement that allows for the New Zealand dollar to break free of either the 0.7220 resistance barrier or break below the 0.7185 support level. These are short-term levels, but that is whats needed to release the kinetic energy to send this market and a much clearer direction. In the meantime, I suspect that scalpers are going to go back and forth in this pair, taking advantage of these quiet conditions.

If commodity markets rally, that should help the New Zealand dollar go higher, perhaps reaching towards the 0.7250 level. Otherwise, if the commodity markets fall significantly, that could send the New Zealand dollar down to the 0.7150 level underneath. Thats an area that has been supportive recently, so I would expect some type of kickback from that area. Longer-term, I anticipate that we should see buyers step in based upon value if nothing else, but right now I think we will continue to see a lot of noise, so keep that in mind, and keep your position size small. Short-term scalpers will continue to love this market if we can stay between the 2 levels that I mentioned previously. I think that the markets will continue to be very difficult, but eventually will show where it wants to go.

NZD/USD Video 30.03.18

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:Are any of these on Netflix besides the Ritual?



Attack the Block is seriously underrated. I actually got my mom to watch it AND she really liked it.



I love Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later

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The Hallow was fairly recently, we watched it in FFAF one night!

But I'm not sure, I was going to check for them but this was already taking me way longer it should to get done Lol

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under the skin is in netflix canada i believe

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The Descent (and Descent Part II, bleh) are on U.S. Netflix.



Edited at 2018-03-31 07:24 pm (UTC)

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Oh I think that's how I watched them. Lol. I forgot

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i dont think i ever saw the sequel...

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I should try to get my mom to watch Attack the Block. I love watching Shaun of the Dead (and Hot Fuzz, which is probably one of her favorite movies?) with her.

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Event Horizon is such a creepy film. Shame the effects don't hold up tho. And Attack the Block is ridiculously underrated!

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It really is. What I love the most is that it's isolated to just one area so you see how just THEM are affected. Plus, the way they did the aliens was super original and really cool to see on screen

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IT'S TOO MUCH MADNESS TO EXPLAIN IN ONE TEXT!!!

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Event Horizon is literally one of the worst fucking films Ive ever sat through. So many people I know call it their fave movie and I feel like I missed something.

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yessssss! Thank you for all those recs! <3



Did you ever see The Mirror, I think it came out in the past few years? I noticed it on a list of british horror films but I had never heard of it.

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my mother grew up watching hammer films but I've not had the chance to see more than a couple :/

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Afraid of The Dark had an interesting atmosphere to it, kinda gave me The Reflecting Skin and Poison for the Fairies vibes, even the poster/dvd cover.

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Kill List is so good! and i totally forgot about the cottage

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I was hoping someone would mention Hammer Horror, some of the best stuff came from that studio and it almost all stars either Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee, two of the best ever.



Also Amicus had some good shit, too.

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Bless you for this post. I was planning to look for some horror films to watch after I get off work today. Will definitely check out some of these!

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Hope you find something you enjoy bb!

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Under The Skin, Attack the Block, Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later are probably some of my favorite movies ever. On the other hand I have no idea if I even liked Eden Lake but it was interesting? Idk it was so nihilistic that it made me kind of queasy lol.

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I hated Eden Lake.

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I remember watching Event Horizon a long time ago and it fucked me up, lol.



I enjoyed Attack the Block. I didn't find it scary; just funny.

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28 days later <3



jack oconnell was honestly disturbing in eden lake

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he is WILD in eden lake. so scary

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the hell/other world scenes in Event Horizon effed me up. I love Shaun of the Dead so much! I haven't watched it in forever though; I need to dig out my DVD.

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I love Shaun of the Dead so much too. I haven't seen the movie in a couple of years, but there was a period of time when I was obsessed with Simon Pegg lol. I think Hot Fuzz is my favorite of his, though.

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I think is the first icon I ever saw you with and you had it for a long time

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i gotta go to dinner w my bf's parents when i get off but this post is making want to just go home and watch shaun of the dead really bad lol

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I remember seeing a little bit of Event Horizon when my mom was watching it, and it scared me half to death.

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K-Shop suprised me recently. And my fav Triangle is missing tbh!

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Oh yeah, I forgot to say in the post that I limited it to movies I've seen lol. I saw Triangle come up on a number of other lists around the internet but I never watched it. I'll definitely look for it!

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Triangle is a glorious mess and I love it.

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Deathwatch should be on here tbh, really underrated brit horror movie!

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Its honestly a really good film, but the end really makes it good. imo. Jamie is really good it in.

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Thanks for the rec, I'll look for it :)

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lol 2:00

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lmao, iconic tbh!

i love when he's flipping through the channels esp when it gets to the "eaten alive" part lol

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I love 28 days later and I know its been used to death but in the house in a heartbeat is still my all time favorite movie music.

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Under the Skin is a masterpiece.

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I cant believe that it is so low on IMDb. (6.3) Also, a lot of people found it boring. I was terrified and completely absorbed by this film. It was just so unsettling. Im a huge Kubrick fan so it might be why I loved it.

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Yeah it's funny, I went to see it with my BF and the whole time I was like in love with the movie and at the end I was like "wow!" and he was like "yea that was boring and i didn't get it." We also had a wildly different experience watching The Witch! (Again, I loved it; he, not so much)

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Also just to add there are a lot of 1 star reviews from people saying they walked out of the theatre. I have a super high tolerance for weird or bizarre stuff, so this was right up my alley I guess!

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Some people really didn't like it but it's so disturbing.

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LinkI manage my stress with alcohol 

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I think this is exactly what I am actually going through tbh. I was so surprised that I finished dozen beer bottles. 6 wasn't enough. I noticed like 3 empty pinot noir bottles in my bin and like, I have another one that is full and ready for me to finish in one sitting. I'm like this is why I don't usually drink much of alcohol cos id finish em in one sitting and gets easily bored with it lol.



This, I stopped smoking weed and vape etc etc so I can fully focus on work hard as twice. What else do I got going on?



Tl;Dr: Like, fully legalize weed 1000% 

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I bottle it up until I have a mild breakdown.

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elderly pedophile Ted Nugent downing 50 chocolate Ensure bottles before fighting David Hogg.



lmao my current bored hobby is trolling the chuds over David Hogg. they're all losing their minds over this teenager ajfhsakfa. their brains are short-circuiting and breaking over these teens

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needs the nobody tag

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came in just to say that.

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i'm pretty stoned but i'm sure i had it originally but it was probably removed because of over-use. ironic, no? there are worse nobodies than ted, he can chill...

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Lmao @ ur icon!!

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I honestly cannot even name a single song he ever played. And I'm pretty good with my 70s and 80s band trivia.

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He has a song called 'Jailbait.' Look up the lyrics. Have brain bleach nearby.

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Jesus Christ

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omg

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WTFFFFFFFFF



"i just know that you're clean"



"i'll share her with you"





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what the fuck

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wow

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Well he did gain legal guardianship of 17 year old so he could have sex with her, so that's "art" imitating life.

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what an all around horrific human being he is

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I high-key found Roseanne saying David Hogg was giving a Nazi salute more offensive than mocking his intelligence.

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If she thinks that holding his fist up is a Nazi salute that says something about HER intelligence (or lack thereof)

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I thought conservatives liked Nazis now? She better stay on message or her BFF Cheeto will turn on her.

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If anyone gave a nazi salute it was ingrahm at the RNC.

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Laura Ingrahams Ratings Slip 9 Percent From Prior Night (When She Still Had All Her Sponsors) - SF Gate https://t.co/TaxHRLvgBp  DL Hughley (@RealDLHughley) March 31, 2018





bye bye

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I have hated her for so long. I would do a jig if she got fired.



Although I wish FoxNews itself got canned.

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AMAZING. my cousin interned wirh her show as an undergrad and he ended up quitting like three weeks in. he's as conservative catholic as it gets so she must be horrific if he couldn't tolerate her.

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He's such a trash shit pile wearing a skin suit. These kids are extremely badass and have done more in the past few weeks than you have in your entire life, Ted. Now kindly fuck off. And take the rest of the trash shit piles with you.

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So attacking a group that supports basically only gun manufacturers at this point is soulless, but some pedophile, inbred looking mother fucker mocking child victims of a massacre is fine.



Don't know who your God is there buddy but he fucking sucks.

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I handle my stress with the following gym, getting deepthroated, weed, and going to therapy.

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Sounds like a pretty decent combo, ngl.

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Edited at 2018-03-31 10:44 pm (UTC)

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She's trash and her show sucks

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i still dont understand how ABC let her ass come back on that show when she was dressed as hitler putting gingerbread cookies into a fucking oven.

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It is mind boggling. It's probably for the same reason people voted for Trump after he bragged about grabbing women by their genitals - $$$$ is more important than human lives.

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Why? Just why?

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in b4 some fucking dunce runs in to defend her goddamn hitler cosplay

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how long until she does something wild and advertisers start dropping from her show?

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She's trash, always has been. ABC should never have rebooted this show.

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And she's spreading all this "QAnon" horseshit about Tr*mp freeing sex slaves or something. After, you know, falsely accusing her parents of incest. The fact that ABC/Disney is willing to align with her for $$$ is amazing.

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People seem to be forgetting the amazing vine of Roseanne Barr telling some parrots "Bush did 9/11" https://t.co/34qbAhQB14  Mark Di Stefano  (@MarkDiStef) March 31, 2018

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"All the same, as an American, I believe that he reflects a dying, desperate voice in America, and is a remnant of the paranoia and dysfunction in our country's cultural DNA pool."



Yes please let these ass backwards way of thinking fade into the abyss. I'm so tired of hearing people like him try to justify the murder of children. Asshole

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That picture makes me sick to my stomach. And I don't! (manage my stress)

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I feel like the Parkland protestors are exposing the truly soulless - if you feel okay shitting on kids who experienced that level of trauma, and dont want others to experience that, you are not worthy of breathing air.

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i hate how lack of compassion is prized among conservatives. everyone's a sensitive snowflake liar. everyone's dramatic, people need to toughen up. like, no they don't. we are supposed to be mad at children being killed. school shootings are not supposed to be part of american culture.

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it's horrifying.



i legit heard from a woman i work with, the week or so after the orlando shooting, state her opinion that it wouldn't have been as horrible a tragedy if more people were allowed concealed carry inside the club.



like........... the delusion......... i am shocked sometimes by where i see and hear it.........

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why is he alive and prince is dead?

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LinkThe Hyloscirtus japreria frog is a new species discovered in the remote Perija mountain range shared by Venezuela and Colombia

Venezuelan and Colombian scientists have identified a new species of frog in the Perija mountain range shared by both countries that is home to unusual species like this small amphibian.

With multi-colored skin and a distinctive song, the Hyloscirtus japreria was discovered during expeditions over the past decade living in rivers and cascades at altitudes above 1,000 meters (3,280 feet).

It was named in honor of the Japreria, a disappearing indigenous ethnic group in the Perija in the northwestern Venezuelan state of Zulia.

The frog's discoverypublished in February in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Zootaxabrings to 37 the number of species identified as belonging to the Hyloscirtus genus.

Small in size, the males measure between 2.8 and 3.2 centimeters (up to 1.25 inches) in length and the females from 3.5 to 3.9 centimeters.

The journey that led to their discovery began in 2008.

"Several years went by before we found enough evidence that it was a new species," biologist Fernando Rojas-Runjaic, the coordinator of the study, told AFP.

Once they determined it was a "stream frog, we had to verify that it wasn't a Hyloscirtus platydactylus, another species found in the Perija in 1994," he added,

The scientists recorded the find with cameras and high-definition sound recorders to capture its distinctive coloring and analyze its song.

Characteristics of a new species of frog found in the Perija mountain range between Venezuela and Colombia

The sounds emitted by the frog, which can be heard from 15 meters (yards) away, is one of its most distinctive characteristics, said expedition member Edwin Infante.

The H. japreria is also characterized by a pale yellow dorsal area with tiny dark brown spots and small reddish brown smudges.

It also has whitish stripes in certain parts of its eyes, ears, thighs and feet. The frog's iris is grey with a slender black reticulation.

Working with Rojas-Runjaic, of the Caracas-based La Salle Natural History Museum, were Colombian biologist Fabio Meza-Joya and Venezuelans Infante and Patricia Salerno.

Reaching the frog's habitats required expeditions of several days on foot and mule into the Perija mountains.

Access to the mountain range from Colombia was restricted for decades because of a conflict with leftist guerrillas, "which produced information vacuums," said Meza-Joya, adding that a 2016 peace agreement with the main rebel group should open the way for new discoveries.

"It opened a window to go into areas that were inaccessible. With peace, knowledge about biodiversity increases," he said.

Meza-Joya stressed that amphibians are fundamental to ecosystems, acting as regulators of insect populations that can be vectors of disease.

"Some species show marked vulnerability to environmental change so they are considered excellent indicators of the health of ecosystems," he said.

Explore further Search for vanishing frogs leads to discovery of new species

 2018 AFPIn this Friday, Nov. 24, 2017 file photo, a prison guard walks outside a courtroom during an appeal by Yevgeniy Nikulin from Russia who faces charges of hacking computers of American companies, in Prague, Czech Republic. The Czech Republic extradited a Russian man to the U.S. to face charges of hacking computers at LinkedIn, Dropbox and other American companies, an official said Friday March 30, 2018. Yevgeniy Nikulin was flown to the U.S. overnight, Justice Ministry spokeswoman Tereza Schejbalova said. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A Russian man arrested over a year ago in the Czech Republic made his first appearance Friday in a U.S. courtroom, denying that he hacked computers at LinkedIn, Dropbox and other U.S. companies, compromising the personal information of millions of Americans.

Yevgeniy Nikulin, 30, pleaded not guilty to computer intrusion, aggravated identity theft and other charges in federal court in San Francisco. Nikulin had been extradited from Prague earlier in the day.

Prosecutors say Nikulin penetrated the computers of Silicon Valley firms in 2012 and potentially gained access to the personal information of millions of Americans.

"This is deeply troubling behavior once again emanating from Russia," U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a news release.

He said computer hacking is "a direct threat to the security and privacy of Americans" and that the U.S. won't tolerate it.

Nikulin's defense attorney has said his case is politically motivated in the U.S.

Czech Justice Minister Robert Pelikan's decision to send Nikulin to the U.S. was announced just minutes after the country's Constitutional Court released a statement that it rejected a last-minute appeal from the Nikulin as "groundless."

No further details were immediately available about the decision in which both the U.S. and Russia suspect him of criminal wrongdoing.

The Czechs arrested Nikulin in Prague in cooperation with the FBI in October 2016. Russia also wanted him extradited on a separate charge of internet theft in 2009.

Both countries submitted their extradition requests on the same date.

The Russian authorities previously had said they would do all they could to prevent Nikulin's extradition to the U.S.

Czech courts previously ruled both extradition requests meet the necessary legal conditions, leaving the decision to the justice minister.

But after a last-ditch complaint filed by Nikulin with the country's Constitutional Court, the minister had to hold off on a decision until the court ruled.

Earlier this week, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said in Prague that under Czech extradition law "we have every reason to believe and expect that Mr. Nikulin will be extradited to America."

But the Czech Republic's pro-Russia president, Milos Zeman, repeatedly asked Pelikan to allow Nikulin's extradition to Russia, the minister said. Zeman has no official say in cases like this one.

Pelikan's decision will likely further strain relations between the Czech Republic and Russia after the Czechs expelled three Russian diplomats in solidarity with Britain over a nerve agent attack on an ex-spy.

In a statement published by Russia's Tass news agency, the Russian Embassy in Prague called the step "deeply disappointing."

"Prague once again preferred the notorious allied solidarity without taking into account all the factors and circumstances of this case," Alexei Kolmakov, the embassy's press secretary, was quoted as saying.

Explore further Czechs extradite alleged Russian hacker to US

 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.Out of control, Chinese satellite Tiangong-1 is about to crash on Earth soon at an unknown place, revealed European Space Agency (ESA). Scientists are tracking the movement of the satellite weighing 19,000 pounds that will meet its doom within the first week of April. Moving at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour, the space station will turn into a fireball soon after entering the atmosphere of Earth, however, experts are still not sure whether the satellite will hit earths surface or will get vanished in the atmosphere itself.

The space agency said that it cannot precisely predict the exact location of the crash of the Chinese space module. It said that exactly when and where the Tiangong-1 will burn up is currently difficult figure out accurately and it is also unaware of how much of the broken pieces will reach the Earths surface. The ESA scientists say that the exact estimations of Tiangongs re-entry are difficult to attain owing to the complexities of modeling the atmosphere, the dynamics of the uncontrolled reentering object and the limitations in observing the space module.

According to USSTRATCOMs Joint Space Operations Center, the out-of-control Tiangong-1 is currently orbiting with a perigee of 235 km and apogee of 257 km. Perigee is the closest point to the Earth during an orbit and apogee is the farthest point from Earth during an orbit. The scientists say that the space station is decaying in an accelerated manner due to the atmospheric drag. The more Tiangong-1 will approach lower altitude, the more it will get decayed.

Now the big question is where exactly the spacecraft will crash. No exact information on it has been given yet. Ailor, from the nonprofit Aerospace Corporation, said, the company will not forecast anything in it until five days before the space station is expected to break apart. Is it also said that, when it will happen, the parts of this big spacecraft like titanium scaffolding and glass fiber wrapped fuel tanks can hit the ground at a speed of more than 180 miles per hour. After losing its control over the space station, China is now not in a stage to tell whether the spacecraft will disintegrate over the Point Nemo, the Pacific Ocean.

As per the reports, the Tiangong-1 will most probably reenter Earth somewhere between 43 degrees north and 43 degrees south latitudes. In the map, these two points indicate the central United States down to the southern point of Australia. Jay Melosh, a professor of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences at Purdue University said that the chances of space station crashing at either extreme is quite high. Melosh told that Tiangong-1 is like a pendulum and the space station spends more time at the limits of its swings that when it is moving at high speeds. Launched in 2011, the Tiangong-1 lost its connection with the Chinses space agency in September 2016 and since then it is orbiting Earth.

Tracking Tiangong is tough for scientists as space is cluttered with over 170 million pieces of space debris that are in circulation. Most of them are very small in size and only 29,000 of those are larger than about 4 inches. Although the size might be small but moving at speed of thousands of miles per hour, these objects can pose serious threat to satellites orbiting Earth. For example, a collision with a (4-inch) object would entail a catastrophic fragmentation of a typical satellite, according to the European Space Agency. Smaller pieces could still destroy spacecraft systems or penetrate shields, possibly making bigger satellites such as Tiangong-1 unresponsive and turning them into massive pieces of space debris themselves. Also, if some of these objects change it trajectory towards then they can cause havoc on Earth and might disrupt lifestyle.

In order show how much space pollution we humans have created, Stuart Grey, a scientist and lecturer at the University College London, has made a video which compares the amount of space debris present in 1957 with space chunks in 2015. It was 1957 when Russians launched the Sputnik satellite and released first of the man-made chunk in space. Since then there has been tremendous increase in the numbers and now these numbers have grown so much that they are threatening space projects and more importantly mankind itself.

Every white dot in the video represents a space debris released during space missions. Agencies have started proposing ideas to clear up space chunk before things quickly get out of hand. Moreover, reusable rocket can significantly reduce the number as these satellites do not leave chunks behind.

With an aim cleaning the space junk, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) had designed a space junk collector, but the mission failed miserably. As per the announcement made JAXA, the tentative mission for cleaning space junk or debris from the lower orbit of the earth ended up in a large disappointment. Earlier, JAXA already had confirmed regarding the malfunction in its space junk collector and Mondays announcement marked corroborated failure stamp at the ambiguous mission.

While Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)s H-II Transfer Vehicle Kounotori 6 (HTV6) succeeded in shipping the supplies to the onboard crews of the International Space Station (ISS), the junk collector failed to meet the goals of eliminating space debris from earths orbit. The Japanese space cargo ship took off on 9th December 2016 and ran off from the ISS on 28th January. On Monday, 6th February, the spaceship re-entered into earths atmosphere. Following undocking of the spacecraft from the space station, the Japanese scientists projected it to remove some space wreckage from the low-earth orbits with the help of Kounotori Integrated Tether Experiments (KITE), an on-orbit expression of electrodynamic tether on HTV.

Attributable to the unanticipated malfunction in garbage collecting system, the collector failed to gather the space junk productively, which triggers the zooming of more than 100 million bits of space junk in the orbital region of Earth. And due to this unexpected break, Japanese scientists were expecting some serious threats to both the earth and ongoing space missions. The whizzing refuse, as expected by experts includes the recycled devices, gathered from the old spaceships and junked pieces of the old missile.Like many other people living near the Mekong River and its tributaries in Cambodia, Khmer farmer Srey Ly Bik regards the waterways as life-sustaining.

Separated from his family during the Khmer Rouges brutal reign in the late 1970s, Srey Ly Bik travelled from place to place with a team of doctors, picking up rudimentary medical skills along the way, until he found his father in Kbal Romeas village on a bend of the Srepok River, a Mekong tributary, in 1979.

He met his wife there and they had six children. Thanks to the nutrient-rich sediment carried downriver, the soil was fertile and he was able to grow rice and vegetables.

Is Mekong River set to become the new South China Sea for regional disputes?

But he had to leave in August 2015 after the government announced that his old village and a few nearby ones were part of the 75 square kilometres (29 square miles) to be flooded by the building of Cambodias biggest dam, the Lower Sesan 2.

I went back to the old area a few days ago just to check the water level, and my old home has been totally inundated and I cant even recognise where it is now, Srey Ly Bik said.

He said he had sold all his property, including 30 buffaloes and a tractor, because he was too old to farm the rocky soil in the area he had moved to.

The US$816 million Lower Sesan 2 Dam, a 400 megawatt hydropower project, is one of the symbols of Chinas growing influence in Indochina as it builds infrastructure for poorer Southeast Asian countries.

Under President Xi Jinpings Belt and Road Initiative, a cornerstone of Chinas foreign policy and its pursuit of national rejuvenation, Beijing is seeking to transform transport and trade links across Eurasia and Southeast Asia through massive infrastructure investment.

Chinese cash and casinos are flooding this Cambodian beach town, but locals say business is about to die

China believes that roads have to be built before making money, and this is a way of development China wants to introduce to the rest of the world through the Belt and Road Initiative, said Hu Zhiyong, an associate professor at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. Once successful in Southeast Asia, such a pattern, a key part of the Belt and Road Initiative, could be introduced to other places, such as Africa and South America.

Story continues

On Saturday, the six nations through which the Mekong flows adopted an ambitious investment plan to develop 227 projects worth US$66 billion over the next five years. The deal was agreed at a summit in Hanoi by the prime ministers of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, the vice-president of Myanmar and Chinas foreign minister.

Stephanie Jensen-Cormier, China programme director of the California-based NGO International Rivers, said Chinese hydropower companies were building 41 dams in Southeast Asia.

Thats a lot of projects and environmental and social impacts are therefore quite significant, she said.

Such investment could be appealing to countries like Cambodia, the poorest member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which was occupied by Vietnam for a decade after the fall of the Khmer Rouge.

Five things to know about the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation summit

Cambodian officials say the Mekong Rivers hydropower potential could be a magnet for investment and help to pull the countrys people out of poverty.

The difficulties of an emerging post-crisis country, even though its 20 years later, is that we have difficulties competing if we dont have the necessary infrastructure, said Sok Siphana, a lawyer and adviser to the Cambodian government, To me, infrastructure matters  if electricity charges are much higher than your neighbours and you happen to be a small market, not like Vietnam, Thailand or Myanmar.

To us, competitiveness is how to reduce the cost of doing business and electricity is probably the biggest winning factor.

But to people like Futh Kheun, a 39-year-old Lao whose family had lived in Old Srekor village for generations, the construction of the dam meant that land, property, traditions and culture were literally washed away.

Together with 66 other families from the village, Kheun refused to relocate. Instead, he moved to higher, forested ground, from where he could see the water rise, inundating the old village.

Kheun said he viewed the dam project as a deal between the elites of the two countries, with little consideration for the local people.

Why are there fewer fish? Southeast Asias poor suffer as Chinese money floods Mekong River, depleting resources

In other countries that have no rivers, no water resources, they still have electricity, but for our country, we have everything, we have coal, rivers, and water, he said. Why did people prioritise a dam for electricity? The construction of the dam is causing suffering to local people.

China is Cambodias largest foreign aid donor and biggest investor, but Cambodian sentiment towards China can be negative. People in the cities complain about rude Chinese tourists flooding scenic sites and the poor quality of Chinese-made goods, while people in rural areas worry about Chinese investors taking away the natural resources they rely on.

Leang Bunleap, executive director of the 3S Rivers Protection Network in Stung Treng province, where the Lower Sesan 2 Dam is situated, said many Chinese investors failed to consider local concerns but always sought good relations with the government, which could trigger a popular backlash.

Chinese investors seem to encourage government to continue to provide licences to these projects such as mining, economic land concession and coal energy because they say that could help to increase income, develop the economy and provide more jobs, but thats not for all people as some are now forced to leave their homes and the environment is damaged, Leang Bunleap said.

There have been painful lessons for Chinese investors elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

China pledges more investment in Cambodia, but is Phnom Penh selling itself short?

Myanmars government announced seven years ago it was suspending construction of the US$3.6 billion Myitsone Dam at the head of the Irrawaddy River because of environmental concerns following strong opposition from the public.

And in Cambodia in 2015, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, a close friend of Beijing, ordered the suspension of the China-backed Chhay Areng hydropower dam in the southwestern province of Koh Kong until this year a bid to stem growing opposition.

As China expanded its investment around the world, local backlashes seemed to be becoming more common, especially in Southeast Asia, Africa and South America, said Ren Peng, an expert on Chinese overseas investment with the Global Environment Institute, a Beijing-based NGO that advocates sustainable development.

Unlike their Japanese or Western counterparts, which often adopted a two-pronged approach that took care of the needs of governments and local people, Chinese companies tended to make relations with government officials the priority, while ignoring the real needs of local people.

China will provide equipment for 2018 Cambodia election after EU, US withdraw support

Unlike in China, where government is the only policymaker, in Southeast Asia, government is often questioned by the people, Ren said. The closer the investor gets with the government, the more opponents there are.

About 140km (87 miles) south of the Lower Sesan 2 Dam, on Kaoh Real, an island in the middle of the Mekong in central Cambodias Kratie province, Loeurn Sitha grows rice and vegetables that are popular in the market in the riverbank village of Sambor, all thanks to the nutrient-rich sediment carried downriver.

Like Srey Ly Bik, Loeurn Sitha fled his hometown during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. He has called the island home since 1994.

The soil here is the really good, and its quite easy living here, the 50-year-old said as buffaloes and cows wandered through paddy fields reduced to stubble after the rice harvest.

Is China chipping away at the Asean bloc?

When some Chinese showed up on the island about 2007, villagers in Kaoh Real and Sambor began to worry.

I heard from other people that they wanted to build a dam here, but nothing was specific, Loeurn Sitha said. I dont want to move, I dont want to move to another place.

I dont know about other people, but for me I dont want compensation, as I have everything here. If I moved, I would lose everything.

With little information from the local government, public discussion of the proposed dam and any Chinese involvement in the project seemed to be taboo. A local official, who refused to be identified due to the sensitivity of the topic, said any decision to go ahead with the dam would have serious implications because it would be the Mekong mainstream dam closest to the coast, and the largest in Cambodia.

Proactive diplomacy in Mekong River dispute only way to resolve brewing conflict

Some Sambor villagers said they had been asked their opinions about the dam project as recently as early January.

In 2006, China Southern Power Grid signed a memorandum of understanding with the Cambodian government to carry out a new feasibility study for the Sambor dam, which was first proposed in the 1950s. But the Chinese company withdrew from the project in 2011 after conducting a geological study of the site, saying it was doing so because it was a responsible company.

From the Cambodian governments point of view, the sale of electricity from the dam would be an important source of income, with plans to sell 70 per cent of the power to Vietnam and 10 per cent to Thailand.

The Lower Sesan 2 Dam is joint venture in which Chinas Huaneng Hydrolancang International Energy, a subsidiary of Huaneng Group, holds a 51 per cent stake, Cambodias Royal Group 39 per cent and Vietnams EVN International Joint Stock 10 per cent.

It is billed by Huaneng Groups website as another fruit of the Belt and Road Initiative and a window project for its future investment in Southeast Asia.

Once in full operation, the dam would be able to generate an estimated 1.97 billion kilowatt-hours of hydroelectric power each year for use in Cambodia, which could significantly decrease electricity costs and have enormous meaning for Cambodias economic development, the website said.

China denies using citizens overseas to project influence abroad

The company also said that to benefit those relocated to make way for the dam, it had built roads, new resettlement villages and schools to improve their livelihoods.

Still, Thun Phann wonders whether her decision to relocate, reached after years of struggle, was the right one. Last year she became the last person to move into a resettlement village, where she now lives with her husband and 16-year-old son.

She and her husband farm new land assigned to the family, but the fish she can catch after tending to the fields are too small to sell for a good price in the market, and she instead cuts wood in the forest to supplement their income.

And living in the new village, where the water in the well near their house is not fit for drinking, has increased the familys expenses. Without water supplies from the river, Thun Phann has to pay US$15 a month for bottled water.

She also pays about 75 US cents per kilowatt for electricity, even though the developers of the dam told villagers power would be free for the first three years after they moved.

Resource-hungry China is in overdrive as it wages water wars by stealth

Thun Phann said she was happy to see that a hospital had been built in the new village, but soon realised she needed to pay for medicine too, despite a promise from the developers that they would not be charged in the first year.

The developers never showed up, probably fearing we would raise all these problems, she said.

Thun Phann said she missed the water most.

Ive lost water and river, she said. I didnt want to move, but I couldnt do anything about it.

Hu said Chinese companies needed to carefully address the impact of their investment on local people and the environment when promoting belt and road projects, and they were learning how to do that.

If that can be overcome, Chinese investment would benefit more, he said.

This article Are Chinese-funded dams on the Mekong River washing away Cambodian livelihoods? first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.By Fathin Ungku

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch declined on Friday an invitation from Singapore to give evidence at a public hearing on "fake news", saying the hearing was not a "true consultation" but a "media event".

A parliamentary committee has been reviewing possible measures to prevent "deliberate online falsehoods", mirroring efforts in various countries to tackle false information amid growing questions about the influence of internet companies.

Activists worry that laws aimed at stopping "fake news" could be used to stifle free speech.

The rights group, in a recent report that ruling party politicians in Singapore criticised, urged the government to amend or repeal laws that it said were too broadly worded and used to "arrest, harass, and prosecute critical voices".

Singapore later invited the group to give evidence at the hearing.

"We have ... reluctantly come to the conclusion that these hearings are not a true consultation on how best to deal with 'fake news', but a media event aimed to showcase those who agree with the government's views and criticise those who do not," Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

Singapore's parliament did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Vikram Nair, a member of the ruling People's Action Party, said this week Human Rights Watch had used "clearly false" examples to further its agenda and undermine public discourse in its report.

Human Rights Watch said it had tried to contact Singapore authorities before the publication of the report but received no response.

The eight-day hearing - the longest in Singapore's history - drew to a close on Thursday.

Two witnesses who gave evidence at the hearing filed formal complaints to the committee over the way evidence was presented in official summaries of their hearing, according to copies of the complaints the witnesses sent to Reuters.

Story continues

"I was horrified to see my views so drastically misrepresented," Kirsten Han, a freelance journalist and activist, said in her complaint.

Another witness, Terry Xu, an editor of an online blog, asked that the summary be amended "so as to reflect the entirety of what was said during the hearing".

Representatives of the parliamentary committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the complaints.

The committee will prepare a report on possible new legislation in May, after parliament's mid-term break, its chairman, Charles Chong, told the final session on Thursday.

(Reporting by Fathin Ungku; Editing by Robert Birsel)Malala Yousafzai landed in the Swat valley Saturday for her first visit back to the once militant-infested Pakistani region where she was shot in the head by the Taliban more than five years ago. The visit by the 20-year-old Nobel laureate was kept tightly under wraps and she was accompanied by the Pakistani military, who were providing heavy security, as well as her mother and father and two brothers. After flying by army helicopter to the northwestern region from Islamabad, she met with friends and family before visiting the all-boys Swat Cadet College Guli Bagh, some 15 kilometres (nine miles) outside of Mingora, the district's main town. She looked happy on arrival at the school, where she is expected to speak with students before returning to Islamabad. Mingora is where Malala's family was living and where she was attending school on October 9, 2012, when a gunman boarded her school bus, asked "Who is Malala?", and shot her. She was treated first at an army hospital then airlifted to the British city of Birmingham. Her near-miraculous recovery, and tireless career as an education advocate, have since turned her into a global symbol for human rights, and in 2014 she became the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize when she was just 17. The trip comes two days after Malala, currently a student at Oxford University in the UK, made her emotional return to Pakistan, where her unannounced visit has been met with widespread joy and pride. She broke down in tears as she made a televised speech on Thursday, saying it was her "dream" to be back, and has vowed to Pakistani media that she will return permanently after she has completed her education. However she has also been met with pockets of intense criticism. Malala is widely respected internationally, but opinion is divided in Pakistan, where some conservatives view her as a Western agent on a mission to shame her country. There had been much speculation within the country over whether she would go to Swat during her visit. The mountainous region, once a prized tourist destination famed for its pristine scenery, was overrun by the Pakistani Taliban in 2007. The militants imposed a brutal, bloody rule, but the army drove them out in 2009 in an operation widely touted as a success story in Pakistan's long battle with extremism. Recently restrictions on tourists visiting the area were lifted. However security has remained fragile, as the assault on Malala three years after the military operation demonstrated. In February this year 11 military personnel were killed in an attack, and analysts have warned the militants still have a presence there.2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #13

Posted on 31 March 2018 by John Hartz

Skeptical Science Facebook page during the past week. A chronological listing of news articles posted on thepage during the past week.

Editor's Pick

Stanford law and science experts discuss court case that could set precedent for climate change litigation

A closely watched federal trial pitting two cities against major oil companies has taken surprising and unorthodox turns. Stanford researchers examine the case, which could reshape the landscape of legal claims for climate change-related damages.

A federal trial pitting two cities against major oil companies could reshape the landscape of legal claims for climate change-related damages. (Image credit: Walter Siegmund/Wikimedia Commons)

A judge in California took an unusual step in trying to untangle who is to blame for increasingly frequent droughts, floods and other climate change-related extreme weather. The case in San Francisco is weighing the question of whether climate change damages connected to the burning of oil are specifically the fault of the companies that extract and sell it.

The judge in People of the State of California v. BP P.L.C. et al. had both the plaintiffs  the cities of Oakland and San Francisco  and the defendants  several major oil companies  answer basic questions about climate change in a tutorial format. Counter to what some might have expected, an oil company lawyer largely confirmed the consensus science on the issue, but challenged the idea that oil companies should be held accountable.

Stanford Report spoke with Katharine Mach, a senior research scientist at the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Science, and Deborah Sivas, the Luke W. Cole Professor of Environmental Law, to get their perspectives on the climate tutorial, the science in question and the role of the judiciary in confronting climate change challenges.

Stanford law and science experts discuss court case that could set precedent for climate change litigation by Rob Jordon, Stanford News, Mar 30, 2018

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Sat Mar 31, 2018Hundreds of people got together in two separate rallies on Saturday to demand justice for Stephon Clark, the 22-year-old black man who was killed by two Sacramento police officers earlier this month. The demonstration took place shortly after an independent autopsy found that the officers shot Clark eight times, including six in the back. Former Sacramento Kings player Matt Barnes led the main protest in downtown Sacramento that included the presence of Clarks fiancee and children.

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Saturday at Noon! Lets try & make a difference pic.twitter.com/UyIR0vyYeB  Matt Barnes (@Matt_Barnes22) March 30, 2018

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They killed Stephon Clark. They continue to kill us, he told the crowd. Its more than color. Its about wrong and right, Barnes told the crowd. He called on police to get more involved in the neighborhoods. Learn the community that youre out here patrolling, he said.

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Matt Barnes speaking at a rally in Sacramento pic.twitter.com/JBpquLPWx3  Dominique Walker (@DomoWalk) March 31, 2018

Meanwhile, an already planned march to honor labor leader Cesar Chavez was modified to focus on Clarks death as well. Viva Cesar Chavez, Viva Stephon Clark!shouted the protesters.

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Hours before the Saturday demonstrations, protesters had already taken to the streets in a late Friday rally that went into the early morning hours. It marked the fourth straight night of peaceful protests to demand justice for Clark. Hundreds, including Barnes and civil rights activist Al Sharpton, attended Clarks funeral on Thursday.

Calls for charges against two officers in the shooting of Stephon Clark are intensifying after autopsy contradicts police accounts https://t.co/GjftZXVuOo pic.twitter.com/y2XG4mejln  CBS News (@CBSNews) March 31, 2018

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg issued a statement urging patience until the official autopsy is released. We have an obligation to everyone involved, including the family of Stephon Clark, to wait for the full findings and results from the official autopsy and investigation, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said. As the mayor of our city, I assure the community and the public that we will aggressively seek answers to all of the questions the community is rightfully asking. As important, we will aggressively seek appropriate change to the protocols and training that led to this unacceptable outcome.In addition to lashing out at Amazon and the Washington Post, President Donald Trump had another person on his sights during his Saturday morning tweetstorm: California Gov. Jerry Brown. In a tweet, the commander in chief criticized Brown for pardoning five ex-convicts who were facing deportation.

Governor Jerry Moonbeam Brown pardoned 5 criminal illegal aliens whose crimes include (1) Kidnapping and Robbery (2) Badly beating wife and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize (3) Dealing drugs. Is this really what the great people of California want? @FoxNews  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2018

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Governor Jerry Moonbeam Brown pardoned 5 criminal illegal aliens whose crimes include (1) Kidnapping and Robbery (2) Badly beating wife and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize (3) Dealing drugs. Is this really what the great people of California want? the President wrote on Twitter while tagging Fox News. The tag to Fox News is appropriate considering that the language he used in the tweet was pretty much a copy of a graphic that was broadcast on Fox & Friends.

Trump might be busy golfing today, but he still has time to Tweet (almost word for word) graphics from his favorite show, Fox & Friends.



Though, he did come up with the "Moonbeam" part all by himself! pic.twitter.com/LdkZr7B0QY  Lis Power (@LisPower1) March 31, 2018

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Brown granted 56 pardons and 14 commutations on Friday. Those granted pardons all completed their sentences years ago and the majority were convicted of drug-related or other nonviolent crimes, said a statement from Browns office. Although the pardons dont automatically stop the deportation proceedings they do eliminate the state convictions federal authorities based their deportation decisions on, notes the Associated Press. That gives the mens lawyers strong legal arguments before immigration judges to try to prevent the deportations.

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A Brown spokesperson told CNN that the presidents comments were rather curious given President Trumps proclamation yesterday declaring April Second Chance Month to celebrate those who have exited the prison system and successfully reentered society. The spokesperson emphasized the pardons are granted to individuals who have demonstrated exemplary behavior and have lived productive and law-abiding lives following their conviction. In reality though this is just a continuation of a longstanding feud between the governor and the Trump administration over immigration policy considering this is the third round of pardons in which Brown has stepped in to help out immigrants who were at risk of deportation.Blog Archive Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (4) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (3) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (4) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (3) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (5) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (3) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (2) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 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25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (3) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (3) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (4) Apr 11 (5) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (2) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (3) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (3) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (2) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (6) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (5) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (7) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (3) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (4) Feb 28 (5) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (5) Feb 21 (5) Feb 20 (5) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (6) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (3) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (6) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (6) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (4) Jan 27 (5) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (6) Jan 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25 (4) Oct 24 (5) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (4) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (4) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (5) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (6) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (4) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (5) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (4) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (3) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (5) Sep 04 (4) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (6) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (5) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (7) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (7) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (4) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (6) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (4) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (5) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (4) Jul 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26 (5) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (6) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (6) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (6) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (7) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (5) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (7) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (4) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (3) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (6) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (5) Feb 24 (8) Feb 23 (7) Feb 22 (8) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (7) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (7) Feb 11 (6) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (5) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (4) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (4) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (7) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (6) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (5) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (7) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (7) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (5) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (5) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (7) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (6) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (5) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (4) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (7) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (6) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (7) Dec 03 (6) Dec 02 (4) Dec 01 (4) Nov 30 (6) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (4) Nov 27 (7) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (5) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (5) Nov 17 (6) Nov 16 (7) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (5) Nov 13 (5) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (7) Nov 10 (6) Nov 09 (7) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (9) Nov 06 (7) Nov 05 (7) Nov 04 (7) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (6) Nov 01 (6) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (7) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (6) Oct 23 (10) Oct 22 (6) Oct 21 (5) Oct 20 (5) Oct 19 (5) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (6) Oct 14 (7) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (6) Oct 09 (8) Oct 08 (6) Oct 07 (5) Oct 06 (4) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (5) Sep 30 (6) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (7) Sep 25 (6) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (6) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (6) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (7) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (7) Sep 07 (6) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (6) Sep 03 (7) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (6) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (5) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (5) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (8) Aug 24 (5) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (7) Aug 21 (7) Aug 20 (6) Aug 19 (7) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (6) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (6) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (5) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (7) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (4) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (4) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (5) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (6) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (3) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (5) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (4) May 30 (5) May 29 (5) May 28 (5) May 27 (8) May 26 (7) May 25 (7) May 24 (5) May 23 (2) May 22 (5) May 21 (4) May 20 (5) May 19 (5) May 18 (5) May 17 (5) May 16 (7) May 15 (7) May 14 (7) May 13 (5) May 12 (6) May 11 (8) May 10 (4) May 09 (6) May 08 (10) May 07 (8) May 06 (5) May 05 (6) May 04 (7) May 03 (7) May 02 (8) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (10) Apr 27 (6) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (8) Apr 22 (6) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (10) Apr 19 (7) Apr 18 (7) Apr 17 (8) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (9) Apr 13 (11) Apr 12 (8) Apr 11 (5) Apr 10 (10) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (9) Apr 06 (10) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (5) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (7) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (8) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (7) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (8) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (7) Mar 10 (6) Mar 09 (8) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (7) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (7) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (9) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (7) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (5) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (8) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (4) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (7) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (5) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (10) Feb 02 (9) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (9) Jan 28 (6) 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29 (7) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (7) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (7) Oct 22 (7) Oct 21 (6) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (7) Oct 18 (6) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (6) Oct 13 (7) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (8) Oct 09 (8) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (7) Oct 05 (8) Oct 04 (6) Oct 03 (8) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (10) Sep 29 (7) Sep 28 (10) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (5) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (6) Sep 18 (6) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (6) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (7) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (10) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (3) Sep 08 (8) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (7) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (6) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (6) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (5) Aug 25 (9) Aug 24 (7) Aug 23 (8) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (9) Aug 20 (8) Aug 19 (7) Aug 18 (6) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (6) Aug 12 (5) Aug 11 (7) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (9) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (6) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (7) Aug 02 (8) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (8) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (9) Jul 25 (9) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (7) Jul 21 (9) Jul 20 (6) Jul 19 (9) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (2) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (7) Jul 14 (7) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (7) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (6) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (5) Jun 27 (6) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (7) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (5) Jun 22 (7) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (6) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (7) Jun 12 (8) Jun 11 (5) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (7) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (7) May 30 (4) May 29 (5) May 28 (1) May 27 (5) May 26 (8) May 25 (5) May 24 (8) May 23 (8) May 22 (7) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (9) May 18 (5) May 17 (9) May 16 (7) May 15 (5) May 14 (11) May 13 (6) May 12 (13) May 11 (5) May 10 (7) May 09 (7) May 08 (8) May 07 (9) May 06 (6) May 05 (5) May 04 (2) May 03 (6) May 02 (7) May 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08 (1) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (1) Sep 05 (1) Sep 04 (2) Sep 03 (1) Sep 02 (1) Sep 01 (1) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (1) Aug 28 (1) Aug 27 (1) Aug 26 (1) Aug 25 (1) Aug 24 (1) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (2) Aug 19 (1) Aug 18 (1) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (1) Aug 14 (1) Aug 12 (1) Aug 09 (1) Aug 08 (1) Aug 07 (1) Aug 05 (1) Aug 04 (1) Jul 31 (1) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (5) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (4) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (6) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (6) Jun 18 (5) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (5) Jun 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02 (3) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (4) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (5) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (4) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (5) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (5) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (2) Oct 19 (4) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (4) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (6) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (2) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (4) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (3) Sep 09 (3) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (6) Sep 04 (5) Sep 03 (4) Sep 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03 (2) Dec 02 (2) Dec 01 (2) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (2) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (1) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (1) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (1) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (2) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (1) Nov 16 (1) Nov 15 (1) Nov 14 (1) Nov 13 (2) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (2) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (1) Nov 08 (2) Nov 07 (1) Nov 06 (2) Nov 05 (2) Nov 04 (1) Nov 03 (1) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (2) Oct 31 (2) Oct 30 (2) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (2) Oct 25 (2) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (2) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (1) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (1) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (2) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (1) Oct 03 (2) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (1) Sep 29 (2) Sep 28 (1) Sep 27 (3) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (2) Sep 24 (1) Sep 23 (2) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (1) Sep 20 (1) Sep 19 (2) Sep 17 (2) Sep 16 (2) Sep 15 (1) Sep 14 (1) Sep 13 (1) Sep 12 (3) Sep 11 (1) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (2) Sep 08 (2) Sep 07 (1) Sep 06 (1) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (2) Sep 03 (1) Sep 02 (1) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (1) Aug 25 (1) Aug 24 (2) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (1) Aug 18 (1) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (1) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (1) Aug 13 (1) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (2) Aug 09 (1) Aug 08 (2) Aug 07 (1) Aug 06 (1) Aug 05 (1) Aug 04 (1) Aug 03 (2) Aug 01 (1) Jul 31 (2) Jul 30 (1) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (1) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (2) Jul 23 (2) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (1) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (2) Jul 18 (2) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (1) Jul 13 (2) Jul 12 (1) Jul 11 (2) Jul 09 (5) Jul 08 (1) Jul 07 (1) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (1) Jul 03 (2) Jul 01 (1) Jun 30 (1) Jun 29 (2) Jun 28 (2) Jun 27 (2) Jun 25 (2) Jun 24 (1) Jun 23 (2) Jun 22 (2) Jun 20 (1) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (1) Jun 15 (1) Jun 14 (3) Jun 12 (1) Jun 11 (1) Jun 08 (1) Jun 07 (1) Jun 05 (1) Jun 04 (1) Jun 03 (1) Jun 01 (1) May 31 (1) May 27 (2) May 25 (2) May 24 (1) May 23 (2) May 22 (1) May 21 (1) May 20 (2) May 19 (1) May 18 (1) May 17 (2) May 14 (1) May 13 (1) May 11 (2) May 10 (2) May 09 (1) May 07 (2) May 06 (1) May 05 (1) May 04 (1) May 03 (3) May 02 (1) May 01 (1) Apr 29 (1) Apr 28 (1) Apr 27 (1) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (1) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (2) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (2) Apr 17 (1) Apr 15 (1) Apr 13 (1) Apr 10 (2) Apr 08 (1) Apr 07 (1) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 03 (1) Apr 02 (1) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (1) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (1) Mar 25 (1) Mar 24 (1) Mar 22 (2) Mar 21 (1) Mar 20 (1) Mar 18 (1) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (1) Mar 14 (2) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (1) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (1) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (1) Mar 04 (1) Mar 03 (2) Mar 02 (2) Mar 01 (2) Feb 28 (2) Feb 27 (1) Feb 26 (1) Feb 25 (1) Feb 23 (2) Feb 19 (2) Feb 13 (1) Feb 12 (1) Feb 02 (1) Jan 31 (1) Jan 22 (1) Jan 18 (1) Jan 16 (1) Jan 09 (1) Jan 01 (1) Dec 20 (2) Dec 15 (1) Dec 13 (1) Dec 11 (1) Nov 30 (1) Nov 27 (1) Nov 20 (1) Nov 11 (1) Nov 10 (1) Oct 23 (1) Oct 20 (1) Oct 01 (1) Sep 30 (1) Sep 29 (1) Sep 24 (2) Sep 15 (1) Sep 13 (1) Sep 12 (1) Sep 08 (1) Sep 02 (2) Aug 31 (1) Aug 28 (1) Aug 27 (2) Aug 24 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (1) Aug 18 (3) Aug 16 (1) Aug 15 (1) Aug 14 (1) Aug 11 (1) Aug 08 (1) Aug 07 (1) Aug 03 (1) Jul 27 (1) Jul 26 (1) Jul 24 (1) Jul 22 (1) Jul 21 (1) Jul 19 (1) Jul 15 (1) Jul 14 (1) Jul 13 (3) Jul 10 (1) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (1) Jul 06 (1) Jul 03 (1) Jul 01 (1) Jun 28 (1) Jun 24 (2) Jun 20 (1) Jun 19 (1) Jun 18 (1) Jun 15 (1) Jun 14 (2) Jun 11 (1) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (1) Jun 07 (1) Jun 06 (1) Jun 04 (2) Jun 03 (1) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (1) May 31 (3) May 30 (1) May 29 (1) May 28 (2) May 26 (1) May 25 (1) May 18 (1) May 17 (1) May 15 (1) May 09 (1) May 07 (2) May 02 (1) May 01 (1) Apr 30 (1) Apr 27 (1) Apr 26 (2) Apr 23 (1) Apr 22 (1) Apr 19 (1) Apr 18 (1) Apr 12 (1) Apr 11 (1) Apr 09 (1) Apr 07 (1) Apr 05 (1) Apr 01 (1) Mar 30 (1) Mar 27 (1) Mar 25 (1) Mar 22 (2) Mar 19 (1) Mar 18 (1) Mar 16 (1) Mar 15 (2) Mar 13 (1) Mar 12 (1) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (1)Tech companies go to great lengths to ensure their secrets stay secret. Code names, keycard readers, stringent nondisclosure agreementsall are fair game when youve got world-changing technology on your hands. Its not entirely surprising then that when notoriously secretive augmented reality startup Magic Leap finally began shipping its first batch of AR headsets to developers this week, it did so with a stringent order for recipients: that the device be stored in a locked safe.

According to Bloomberg, Magic Leap wants to maintain control around its debut product, the Magic Leap One, a gogglelike mixed reality headset equipped with six cameras for its lightfield phototonics. For now, we know only a handful of details about the device: It will debut sometime this year; it may come in different sizes; and it will be quite expensive, likely in the $1,000 to $2,000 range. It also will digitally insert things into your environment, so, for example, you can create a virtual TV screen on a wall where one doesnt exist. Despite the lack of public details, the Florida-based startup has raised $2.3 billion in funding since its founding in 2011 but the company is so secretive that it took more than six years for the public to even learn the name of its first hardware endeavor.

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Magic Leap is far from the first company desperately trying to keep an emerging technology under wraps. Below are four other examples of Silicon Valley companies going to extremes to ensure company secrets stay secret.

The First-Generation iPhone

Now that its been more than 10 years since the iconic products debut and many of the original engineers codes of silence have expired, weve learned more about the extreme lengths Apple went to ensure nobody learned about it. For example, for those working at Apple in the early 2000s, it seemed as if people were disappearing, Brian Merchant wrote in his book The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone.

I had been hearing rumblings about, well, it was unclear what was being built, but it was clear that a lot of the best engineers from the best teams had been slurped over to this mysterious team, Evan Doll, an Apple software engineer at the time, said. When engineers were brought on board, they were told no details about the project.

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That was just the start. The endeavor was codenamed Project Purple, and there was secrecy even among those working on it. Those dealing with the software, for example, had no idea what the device looked like. I got taken into areas where there were black cloths everywhere, said ex-Apple engineer Terry Lambert in a 2016 Quora Q&A. Lambert also noted that Apple would use different code names for the same project, so people working on the same product might not ever realize itthe touch-screen device itself was code-named Wallaby, for example. According to senior software engineer Greg Christie, design decisions about the device were made in a plain, windowless room. Development was done in a locked down Cupertino, California, building equipped with multiple badge readers and security cameras dubbed the purple dorm.

Alphabet X

While weve learned more about Alphabets semisecret research lab in recent years and its numerous moonshot projects, for a long time, Google X (now just called X) was a mystery. Fast Company got a first look inside the 250-person strong Google X lab in 2014, after it had already debuted a handful of projects such as Googles driverless car program (which we now know as Waymo), Google Glass, and balloon-powered internet called Project Loon.

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The purpose of X is to develop world-changing products and companies that solve a major problem in a radical, yet feasible way. Now, while we know the purpose of X and a handful of its past and current projects, the bulk of what it does is still top secret. It considers hundreds of ideas each year, but only a few turn into legitimate projects that we may end up learning about.

Apples MicroLED Displays

More recently, Apple has reportedly been developing a new kind of display technology called MicroLED, and it has been given a serious level of security. According to Bloomberg, Apples secretly been working on the technology for the past few years in a facility in Taiwan and a 62,000-square-foot manufacturing facility near its headquarters in California. Typically, Apple outsources its display components, but with its manufacturing facility, the company has been testing the feasibility of bringing display production in house. And while Apples California building is too small for mass production, it does serve another useful purpose: It keeps the companys proprietary technology out of the hands of its partners for as long as possible. We put a lot of money into the facility, a person close to the matter told Bloomberg. Its big enough to get through the engineering builds [and] lets us keep everything in-house during the development stages. Its a lot of effort to go through just to keep an emerging technology secret.

Theranos

Before its cover got blown in a Wall Street Journal investigation, Theranos did a good job of keeping its revolutionary blood-testing technology secretor more correctly, keeping the blood-testing technologys shortcomings a secret. Theranos promised to conduct a multitude of health diagnostics using a fraction of the blood it would normally require, at a fraction of the cost. Founded in 2003, the health tech startup raised more than $700 million from investors, peaking at a $9 billion valuation in 2014. Theranos and its founder Elizabeth Holmes maintained tight lips on the trade secrets of the revolutionary technology, saying only that the company had optimized the chemistry of traditional lab tests but that it still used the same fundamental methods as existing methods. In fact, Theranos reportedly outsourced some of its tests, used third-party laboratory equipment, and ran tests that were completely fake. One reporter even claims that Theranos press representatives may have pulled the fire alarm in a Palo Alto Walgreens in order to prevent her from questioning patients getting bloodwork. Holmes managed to build an entire corporation based on secrecyand the ruse lasted until late 2015. Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission dubbed Theranos an elaborate, years-long fraud. Holmes was required to forfeit control of the company, pay a $500,000 fine, and wont be allowed to act as an officer or director of a public company for 10 years.Tesla was confronted with a series of mishaps and reality checks this week at the tail end of its worst month ever on the market.

The electric car manufacturers stock dropped 8 percent on Tuesday, and then again on Wednesday, its biggest two-day decline since 2016. Teslas shares have lost nearly a quarter of their value within three weeks.

There are a number of shareholder anxieties about car safety that could be setting off this decline and extending it into the future. The National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation last week into a fatal Model X crash in California that resulted in a fire; authorities have not determined the cause of the crash or if autopilot was involved.

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Then, on Thursday, Tesla voluntarily recalled 123,000 Model S cars, which accounts for almost half the cars its ever sold. The manufacturer claimed that it had seen evidence of excessive corrosion in its power-steering bolts in cold climates. Though there is no indication that the defect has caused any accidents, Tesla will be retrofitting the component.

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Tesla has also been struggling with manufacturing delays for the Model 3, which is supposed to be a more affordable and widely available version of its higher end electric cars. CEO Elon Musk has consistently overestimated the production volume for the new vehicle. His initial ballpark figure for the second half of last year was 100,000 to 200,000 units, but the company ended up only selling 1,770. Musk then assured the public that Tesla would be producing 20,000 units per month by December, but when that didnt happen, the company said that it aimed to produce 2,500 per week by the end of March and 5,000 per week by the end of June. These production bottlenecks have fueled speculation that Tesla was trying to cut costs by laying off hundreds of people in the fall, though the company has claimed that these employees were fired for poor performance.

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The missed targets led Moodys to downgrade Teslas outlook from stable to negative and to also lower its corporate family rating and senior notes rating. Teslas ratings reflect the significant shortfall in the production rate of the companys Model 3 electric vehicle, Moodys release on the decision read in part. These lower rankings make it more expensive for Tesla to borrow funds. The organization further stated that Tesla needed to raise more than $2 billion from investors to keep afloat and pay its steep debts.

Tesla is currently valued at around $59 billion, and just recently managed to raise $1.8 billion during its first junk bond offering in August. However, the Wall Street Journal reported this week that the company had spent $3.4 billion just last year, stoking concerns that the company may soon run out of cash.Male lace makers meet in Krakovany

The festival had international participation.

Men who make bobbin lace organized their first meeting in Slovakia in Krakovany near Piestany. Making bobbin lace is usually considered the domain of women.

Matej Pisca, one of the organizers, grew up seeing his mother make bobbin lace. She is passionate about the topic and helped organize other festivals of bobbin lace. It is not surprising that her son, instead of being an observer, also dedicates his time to making bobbin lace.

It is hard to say how many men make bobbin lace. I know about 12 in Slovakia but I am sure there are more, said Matej Pisca as quoted by the TASR newswire.

He thinks that it has begun to be more common for men to make bobbin lace.

I like traditional lace the most. We have twenty types of lace in Slovakia, probably a world rarity, he noted, as cited by TASR.

International participants

Pisca is in his thirties, the youngest lace maker at the festival was 22 years old and the oldest Vladimir Pagacik from Myjava is over 60 years old. Besides Slovaks, there were also lace makers from South Africa and Estonia.

We are glad that they came to learn how to make our unique lace here in Slovakia. Those who have only seen Slovak lace in pictures did not believe that it was bobbin lace until now. It is very different from others, said Pisca for TASR.

The event is called Men Making Lace Festival. Its location will change according to the homelands of attending lace makers.

Unique lace

In Krakovany, they learnt how to make krakovianska lace, considered to be unique in the world.

Everywhere else, lace is made with four sticks, krakovianska is made with five, said Daniela Piscova, director of the recent Festival of Bobbin Lace.

She explained that krakovianska lace is a university of lace making. Lace makers have to come up with an idea, design it, count the pattern and make it.

When you look at it, it doesnt look like bobbin lace, it seems like it is woven and its very colourful, similar to folk costumes in Krakovany and its surroundings, she added.

31. Mar 2018 at 7:35 | TASR, Compiled by Spectator staffThe courage to be free is the courage to speak out

US Ambassador to Slovakia salutes the courage of journalists like Jan Kuciak, their dedication, and their craft, and repeats that it is unacceptable for them to face violence or intimidation anywhere in the world.

People came out to the SNP Square in Bratislava on the freezing evening of February 26 to light candles in the memory of investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his partner Martina Kusnirova, who were murdered. (Source: Sme)

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It operates through the following business segments: Investment Banking, Global Markets, Asset Management, and Consumer & Wealth Management. The Investment Banking segment serves public and private sector clients around the world and provides financial advisory services, help companies raise capital to strengthen and grow their businesses and provide financing to corporate clients. The Global Markets segment serves its clients who buy and sell financial products, funding and manage risk. The Asset Management segment provides investment services to help clients preserve and grow their financial assets. The Consumer & Wealth Management segment helps clients to achieve their individual financial goals by providing a wealth advisory and banking services. The company was founded by Marcus Goldman in 1869 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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KG, Global Life Sciences Solutions Germany GmbH, Global Life Sciences Solutions Korea Ltd., Global Life Sciences Solutions Manufacturing UK Ltd, Global Life Sciences Solutions New Zealand, Global Life Sciences Solutions Operations UK Ltd, Global Life Sciences Solutions Singapore Pte Ltd, Global Life Sciences Solutions USA LLC, Global Life Sciences Technologies (Shanghai) Co Ltd., Global Life Sciences Technologies Japan KK, Hach Company, Hach Lange Finance GmbH, Hach Lange GmbH, Hach Lange Sarl, Hach Sales & Services Canada LP, Hach Ultra Japan KK, Hach Water Quality Analytical Instru. (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., HemoCue AB, HyClone Laboratories LLC, Hybritech Incorporated, Hyclone Life Sciences Solutions India Private Limited, IDBS Group, IRIS International, Imaging Sciences International, Immunotech SAS, Immunotech Sro, Intabio LLC, Integrated DNA Technologies, Integrated DNA Technologies BVBA, Integrated DNA Technologies Inc., Integrated DNA Technologies Pte. 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Shanghai, Leica Mikrosysteme Vertrieb GmbH, Life Sciences Holdings France SAS*, Lifschultz Industries, Linx Printing Technologies, Linx Printing Technologies Limited, MDS Analytical Technologies, Marconi Data Systems, McCrometer Inc., Microtest, Molecular Devices, Molecular Devices (Austria) GmbH, Molecular Devices LLC, Navman Wireless, Navman Wireless OEM Solutions, Nihon Pall Ltd., Nihon Pall Manufacturing Limited, Nobel Biocare, OTT Hydromet Corp, Pall, Pall (Canada) ULC, Pall (China) Co. Ltd., Pall (Schweiz) GmbH, Pall Aeropower Corporation, Pall Artelis BVBA, Pall Asia Holdings Inc., Pall Australia Pty. Ltd., Pall Austria Filter Ges.m.b.h, Pall Corporation, Pall Europe Limited, Pall Filtersystems GmbH, Pall Filtration Pte. Ltd., Pall Filtration and Separations Group Inc., Pall France SAS, Pall GmbH, Pall India Pvt. Ltd., Pall International Sarl, Pall Italia Srl, Pall Korea Ltd., Pall Life Sciences Belgium BV, Pall Life Sciences Puerto Rico LLC, Pall Manufacturing UK Limited, Pall Medistad BV, Pall Netherlands BV Irish Branch, Pall Technology UK Limited, PaloDEX, Pantone LLC, Pelton & Crane, Phenomenex, Phenomenex Inc., Precision NanoSystems, QHC Ireland Finance Limited, Radiometer, Radiometer Basel AG, Radiometer K.K., Radiometer Medical ApS, Radiometer Medical Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Radiometer Turku Oy, Raytek, Reytek Corporation, SH Switzerland Finance Sarl, Sea-Bird Electronics Inc., SenDx Medical Inc., Shanghai AB Sciex Analytical Instrument Trading Co. Ltd., Sutron, Sybron Dental Specialties, TCIL Ireland Finance Ltd., Tektronix, Thomson Industries, Tianjin Bonna-Agela Technologies Co. Ltd., Trojan Technologies, Trojan Technologies Group ULC, VSS Monitoring, Videojet Do Brasil Comercio de Equipamentos Para Codificacao Industrial Ltda., Videojet Technologies (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Videojet Technologies Europe B.V., Videojet Technologies Inc., Viridor Waste Management Limited, Vision Systems Limited, Willett International, X-Ray Optical Systems Inc., X-Rite, X-Rite Europe GmbH, X-Rite Incorporated, X-Rite Switzerland GmbH, XOS, Yukon Hong Kong Holding Limited, and Zhuhai S.E.Z. Videojet Electronics Ltd..Augusta Gold Corp., a junior exploration company, engages in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties in the United States. It primarily explores for gold, silver, and other metals. The company holds interests in the Bullfrog gold project located in the north-west of Las Vegas, Nevada. It also owns, controls, or has acquired mineral rights on Federal patented and unpatented mining claims in the state of Nevada for the purpose of exploration and potential development of metals on a total of approximately 7,800 acres of land. The company was formerly known as Bullfrog Gold Corp. and changed its name to Augusta Gold Corp. in January 2021. Augusta Gold Corp. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Read MoreThe Bank of New York Mellon pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 2.64%. The Bank of New York Mellon does not yet have a strong track record of dividend growth. The dividend payout ratio of The Bank of New York Mellon is 33.92%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, The Bank of New York Mellon will have a dividend payout ratio of 29.44% next year. This indicates that The Bank of New York Mellon will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

View The Bank of New York Mellon's dividend history.Ibstock plc manufactures and sells clay and concrete building products and solutions primarily in the United Kingdom. Its principal products include clay bricks, brick components, concrete roof tiles, concrete stone masonry substitutes, concrete fencing, pre-stressed concrete, and concrete rail products. The company provides facing bricks, walling stones, architectural masonry products, cast stones, facade systems, and retaining walls, as well as lintels, sills, and arches; and cladding solutions; roof tiles, chimneys, soffits, and roofing accessories; and fencings, caps and copings, bollards, balustrades, path edgings, and urban landscaping products. It also offers floor beams, door steps, gully surrounds, screed rails, insulated floorings, and hollowcore products; and rail and infrastructure products, such as troughing, cable theft protection, boards, blocks, bases, catchpits, and inspection chambers. In addition, the company offers engraving, cutting, and bonding services; floor beam and block design, supply, and fitting solutions; bespoke concrete products; and staircases and lift shafts services. Its products are used in new build housing; repair, maintenance, and improvement; and infrastructure markets. The company sells its products under the Forticrete, Supreme, Anderton, and Longley brands to customers in the construction industry. Ibstock plc was founded in 1825 and is headquartered in Ibstock, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreLloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates through three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance and Wealth. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings accounts, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, credit cards, and other financial services to personal and small business customers. The Commercial Banking segment provides lending, transactional banking, working capital management, risk management, and debt capital market services to small and medium-sized entities, corporates, and financial institutions. The Insurance and Wealth segment offers life, home, and car insurance products; and pension, investment, and wealth management products and services. It also provides digital and mobile banking, and telephone services, as well as advisory services for savings, investments, and planning for retirement. The company offers its products and services under the Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows, MBNA, Schroders Personal Wealth, Black Horse, Lex Autolease, Birmingham Midshires, LDC, IWeb, and Agricultural Mortgage Corporation brands. Lloyds Banking Group plc was founded in 1695 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreBank of America Corp. is a bank and financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking and nonbank financial services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth and Investment Management, Global Banking, Global Markets, and All Other. The Consumer Banking segment offers credit, banking, and investment products and services to consumers and small businesses. The Global Wealth and Investment Management provides client experience through a network of financial advisors focused on to meet their needs through a full set of investment management, brokerage, banking, and retirement products. The Global Banking segment deals with lending-related products and services, integrated working capital management and treasury solutions to clients, and underwriting and advisory services. The Global Markets segment includes sales and trading services, as well as research, to institutional clients across fixed-income, credit, currency, commodity, and equity businesses. The All Other segment consists of asset and liability management activities, equity investments, non-core mortgage loans and servicing activities, the net impact of periodic revisions

Read MoreThe Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, produces, distributes, and markets gas in Hong Kong and Mainland China. It is involved in the provision of liquefied natural gas, methanol, and coal and other chemicals; conversion and utilization of biomass, and industrial and agricultural waste; and operation of natural gas refilling stations, piped city-gas projects, upstream and midstream developments, water and wastewater treatment projects, energy exploration and utilization ventures, and aviation fuel facilities. The company supplies town gas to approximately 1.9 million customers. It also provides network connectivity, and data center and cloud computing services; and engages in the software development, solution implementation, and systems integration activities. In addition, the company offers consultancy and engineering contractor services, including utilities installation, infrastructure construction, and civil and building services engineering for public and private projects; and designs and manufactures gas meters and metering systems. Further, it is involved in water supply and wastewater treatment serving 2.4 million customers. Additionally, the company manufactures polyethylene piping and fittings; and engages in the customers center, cafA, restaurant, retail sale, automatic meter reading system development, laboratory testing, payment gateway and related, project management, landfill gas project, financing, logistics, oil, research and development, property development, and securities investment activities. The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in North Point, Hong Kong.

Read MoreWall Street analysts have given Greencore Group a "Buy" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but Greencore Group wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here."A little fill here and there may seem to be nothing to become excited about. But one fill, though comparatively inconsequential, may lead to another, and another, and before long a great body may be eaten away until it may no longer exist.

Our navigable waters are a precious natural heritage, once gone, they disappear forever," wrote the Wisconsin Supreme Court in its 1960 opinion resolving Hixon v. PSC and buttressing The Public Trust Doctrine, Article IX of the Wisconsin State Constitution.A conference on the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) and global trade was held in Hanoi on Friday within the framework of the first-ever GMS Business Summit initiated by Vietnam to boost open trade and build a multilateral trade system in the region.

The event enabled participating businesses to talk with government agencies of GMS countries on the benefits, opportunities and challenges from globalization and cross-border trade, which are crucial to the GMS development.

Enterprises were also updated about the cooperation achievements that GMS countries have gained over the past 25 years.

The GMS countries are Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi.

The session offered an opportunity for delegates to recognize and evaluate changes and developments in international trade order and reposition of GMS countries in regional and global trade panoramic.

The panels also discussed solutions to catching up with new developments in the global economy and continuously capitalize on tremendous opportunities that are set for the GMS economies.

Stronger cooperation needed

Vietnams Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh highlighted notable achievements of the GMS over the past time, including the development of economic corridors by outlining nine priority railways to increase railway connection.

GMS countries have ratified the Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-Border Transport of Goods and People, signed the Early Harvest Memorandum of Understanding, implemented the one-stop-shop model, and cooperated in the field of e-commerce, he said.

The Vietnamese official underlined huge opportunities for the GMS to forge economic and trade links and cooperation with China and India through economic corridors and free trade agreements signed between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China and India.

It is also possible to connect the GMS Economic Cooperation Programme with other regional cooperation structures such as ASEAN, Mekong-Japan Cooperation, Mekong-Ganga Cooperation, and Belt and Road Initiative in addition to joining regional and global value chains, especially in the fields of their strengths such as garment-textile, footwear, agriculture, seafood and tourism.

However, Khanh also put an emphasis on challenges posed to GMS countries such as limited number of cooperation projects in cross-border trade promotion and facilitation in the region and differences in border gate and e-commerce management regulations and policies, causing difficulties to harmonize regulations to make it easier for trade.

He called on GMS nations to continue promoting open trade and build a multilateral trade system.

To this end, it is necessary to upgrade border gates, simplify administrative procedures, harmonize customs procedures and control effectively border gates.

It is also essential that border management agencies enhance cooperation, expand the one-stop-shop models along economic corridors and sign agreements on mutual recognition of standards on food hygiene and safety, animal and plant quarantine.

The GMS should develop transport infrastructure and logistics along economic corridors, and database to facilitate trade, he suggested.

The region needs to increase opportunities to support businesses, especially small-and medium-sized ones, to take part in regional value chains, he recommended.

At the session, delegates exchanged the situation of cooperation in trade and investment among GMS countries.

They also talked about new development trends in the global economy that have impact on GMS countries and require adjustments of policies and enhancement of GMS cooperation such as building the ASEAN Economic Community, developing e-commerce, shifting to digital economy, and leveraging on opportunities from new-general free trade agreements and the fourth industrial revolution.HANOI - Vietnams foreign exchange reserves have exceeded $60 billion, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said on Friday.

The amount appears to be a record high. Foreign exchange reserves of the Southeast Asian country have been growing steadily in recent years, backed by robust exports.

The government reported a trade surplus of $1.3 billion for the first quarter of 2018.

We are trying to improve Vietnams business environment, aiming to make it one of the most favorable and competitive among ASEAN countries, Phuc said in a speech to a Greater Mekong Subregion Summit in Hanoi.

The prime minister reiterated that the government intends to cut the corporate income tax rate to 15-17 percent from 20-22 percent.The director of the Ho Chi Minh City branch of Eximbank has been replaced in light of a headline-grabbing scandal where a depositor had more than US$10 million in her savings accounts stolen by the lenders ex-leader.

Eximbank deputy CEO Van Thai Bao Nhi will take her second role as chief of the Ho Chi Minh City branch, while its ex-director, Bui Thi Thien Tam, was transferred to the credit institutions headquarters for another position, the bank said Friday.

The personnel reshuffle was announced five days after police launched legal proceedings against five Eximbank employees for their role in helping a wanted former executive steal VND245 billion ($10.8 million) from different savings books of a customer named Chu Thi Binh.

Two of the bankers have been taken into custody, while the three others were banned from leaving their residence to serve the investigation.

Le Nguyen Hung, a former deputy director of Eximbank Ho Chi Minh City, used fake papers and forged authorization letters, with the authentic signature of Binh, for his whopping savings theft. Eximbank admitted in February that Hung is on the run overseas after a wanted notice was issued for him in December 2017.

Police escort two arrested Eximbank employees in Ho Chi Minh City on March 26, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Nhi has been overseeing the operations of the Ho Chi Minh City branch since the scandal broke out.

On top of the removal of the branch chief, Eximbank also reported to the State Bank of Vietnam on Friday that it has fortified regulations on cash withdrawal of savings worth more than VND2 billion ($88,106) to alleviate risks.

Under the new rules, fingerprint authentication is made mandatory if a depositor wants to authorize anyone to use his or her account. Eximbank clerks in charge of customer profiles and supervisors will also be transferred across branches and transaction offices to prevent corruption.

In the case of Binh, investigators confirmed that the authorization letter, with the real signature signed in advance by the victim and one forged by Hung, was verified without the presence of both the two relevant individuals.A street in Ho Chi Minh Citys District 4, long known as a top destination for foodies, particularly snail lovers, has been officially entitled a food street, adding to the southern metropolis list of culinary havens.

An opening ceremony for the Vinh Khanh Food Street was held on Friday night, with the presence of several local officials and a large crowd of foodies.

Vinh Khanh is an S-shaped street, linking Ben Van Don and Ton Dan Streets in District 4. The whole thoroughfare now serves as the food street.

District 4 deputy chairman Lam Tan Hung said that the successful launch of Vinh Khanh Street Food was credited to various efforts by local authorities.

The street food will help promote numerous local businesses and spur the social-economic development of District 4 in particular and Ho Chi Minh City in general, the official said.

Lam Hung Tan, District 4 deputy chairman, speaks at the opening ceremony of Vinh Khanh Food Street in Ho Chi Minh City on March 30, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Vinh Khanh Street has been home to dozens of small eateries, particularly those serving snails, for the past four years and known by countless customers across the city.

Officially naming Vinh Khanh as a food street will help popularize the place to many other people, both Vietnamese and foreigners, according to local authorities.

The entitlement brings in many others benefits such as ensuring food safety standards, better regulating the selling prices, as well as improved security for customers.

The place will offer various signature Vietnamese dishes, particularly a wide selection of dishes made from seashells.

Local officials attend the opening ceremony of Vinh Khanh Food Street in Ho Chi Minh City on March 30, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A musical performance is held during the opening ceremony of the Vinh Khanh Food Street in Ho Chi Minh City on March 30, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Customers are seen at Vinh Khanh Food Street in Ho Chi Minh City on the opening day on March 30, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

In August last year, the first food street in Ho Chi Minh City was launched on Nguyen Van Chiem Street in District 1.

Food stalls along Nguyen Van Chiem Food Street in District 1, Ho Chi Minhh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Not long after, Bach Tung Diep Park, also located in District 1, was chosen to host the citys second culinary haven in October 2017.

Customers wait to be served at a food stall at Bach Tung Diep Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi TreVietnam and Cuba signed multiple cooperation documents during the March 28-31 state visit to the Caribbean country by Vietnamese Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong.

The documents include a cooperation agreement between the Vietnamese Party and its Cuban counterpart during 2018-23, an agreement between the two countries governments, which frees Cuba from its debts to Vietnam, and another agreement on judicial support in criminal affairs, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday.

A memorandum of understanding on the enhancement of scientific and technological collaboration between Vietnams Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, and other memoranda between the two countries ministries were also inked on this occasion.

The two states agreed to scale up efforts to review and push for the signing of a new trade agreement, putting it into force as soon as possible, under a freshly-signed agreement on the end of negotiations of the new deal.

General Secretary Trongs visit is made at the invitation of First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba General Raul Castro Ruz.

Vietnam and Cuba have issued a joint statement, following talks between General Secretary Trong and President Raul Castro, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Nguyen Phu Trong (L), General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, decorates Cuba's President Raul Castro with the Gold Star Order, during a ceremony at the Revolution Palace in Havana, Cuba March 29, 2018. Photo: Reuters

Vietnamese and Cuban leaders shared their views that the special friendship and solidarity between Vietnam and Cuba is a symbol of era and an invaluable asset of the Parties and people of the two countries.

They affirmed their resolve to carry forward the bilateral friendship which was fostered by President Ho Chi Minh and Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro.

The leaders agreed on the need to expand and deepen the friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries, thus actively contributing to their national construction and defense, and to maintaining peace, stability, and development in the region and the world.

During the talks, they expressed their joy at the flourishing bilateral relations between the two nations, and affirmed their determination to turn the special relations into a new development period, on the basis of political trust.

They stressed that the two sides should work closely to improve the efficiency of bilateral economic, trade and investment cooperation, while comparing their notes on international and regional issues of common concern.Read whats in the news today, March 31!

Politics

-- Vietnam-Cuba relations are an invaluable asset, said Vietnams Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong during his meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro on Friday as part of his official visit to the Latin American country.

Society

-- Vietnams culture ministry is mulling over lifting a regulation that requires Vietnamese songs composed before 1975 or by overseas Vietnamese to be approved by a performing arts watchdog before they can be performed, produced or broadcast in the country.

-- The first quarter of this year saw 2,149 people died in 4,674 traffic accidents across Vietnam, according to the National Committee of Traffic Safety.

-- A five-year-old girl in Vietnam died on Friday with symptoms of vomiting, coughing and cyanosis after having lunch at her nursery school in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum.

-- Passengers on Vietnams north-to-south trains SE3/4 and SE5/6 have complained about poor quality of free meals served on board, which is part of a recently implemented scheme to improve railway service quality.

-- Government inspectors have found wrongdoings of over VN230 billion (US$10.1 million) by authorities in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang between 2011 and 2016 in cases related to land and environment.

Lifestyle

-- A new food street was launched on Friday along the Vinh Khanh Street in District 4, Ho Chi Minh City, offering a variety of local cuisines including the neighborhoods signature snail dishes.

Business

-- Lotus farmers in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap  the countrys largest lotus growing hub  are sitting on fire as vast areas of lotus farms have been affected by a disease that cause the flowers to rot in large numbers.

-- Some flights between Hanoi and the cities of Dien Bien Phu, Dong Hoi and Vinh operated by Vietnam Air Services Company (VASCO) have been cancelled until April as the state-run airlines lack replacements for some faulty aircraft parts.

-- Vietnams Eximbank has started implementing a new protocol that requires all cash withdrawals of VND2 billion ($87,800) or more to be closely supervised by bank officials, following the theft of VND245 billion ($10.76 million) from a customers savings that made headlines in February.

-- A new fertilizer plant capable of producing up to 10,000 metric tons of fertilizer a year has gone into operation in the Mekong Delta province of Long An, after a development that cost VND319 billion ($14 million).

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Police in Ho Chi Minh City are hunting for a suspect in a robbery at a local mobile phone store, whose security guard was tied up and saw nearly 100 gadgets taken away.

The unidentified suspect broke into a Viettel mobile phone store on Luy Ban Bich Street in Tan Phu District at around 11:30 pm on Thursday and managed to neutralize Nguyen Van Huong, the only security guard on duty, according to police officers.

The robber tied up the 45-year-old guard and left with 98 stolen phones, worth VND1.1 billion (US$48,400), at around 3:30 am the following morning.

The suspect had also cut off the establishments power and disabled its surveillance cameras.

Huong only managed to untie himself 30 minutes after the suspect had left, and immediately notified the store owner of the robbery.

Local police examined the store on Friday morning and are hunting for the suspect.

CCTV footage of the cell phone robbery on March 28 in Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City

In related news, Ho Chi Minh City police are also searching for a suspect who robbed a woman of her mobile phone at knifepoint on Thursday.

The 37-year-old victim was standing in front of a mobile phone shop in the outer district of Binh Chanh at around 2:50 pm, when a man approached her and took out his knife.

After forcing the woman to give him her mobile phone, the suspect left on a motorbike with no license plate.

The broad daylight robbery was filmed by a security camera of the phone shop.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Big Brother is returning to TEN with Lisa Wilkinson as host.

It will kick off the networks 2019 ratings year with CBS ordering the series to replace Im A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

In a win for true believers, TEN is also returning the series to its core, with a stripped nightly show, Sunday evictions, Big Brother Up Late on ELEVEN and 24 / 7 webcam streaming. Unlike Nines family friendly revival in 2012, TEN is promising adult content in an MA timeslot.

CBS honcho Armando Nunez sealed the deal with Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk during a flying visit last week. The shows return to Dreamworld marks another feather in the cap for the Gold Coast.

Annastacia Palaszczuk said, With the Logie Awards, Commonwealth Games, Tidelands, Harrow, Safe Harbour, The Family Law and Dora the Explorer, Queensland is now a powerhouse in Australias film & television industry. TENs commitment to local jobs is a win for fans and industry alike.

Lisa Wilkinson said, Big Brother is the grand-daddy of Reality TV experiments. Who can forget Sara-Maries bunny ears, Marty & Jess falling in love, or Merlins Free the Refugees protest? It is watercooler TV meets eviction confessions, and Ive been practicing those famous words, Its time to go'

TEN Chief Content Officer Beverley McGarvey said, We always knew TEN would return to TVs favourite Reality show when the time was right and give fans the show they truly deserve. We cant wait to meet the next housemates set to have Australia talking.

The return of Big Brother will come 11 years after it ended on TEN, with a 3 season run on Nine from 2012-2014. Sources suggest it was always part of CBS master-plan to poach Lisa Wilkinson for the shows revival, rather than The Project.

Now the bigger picture is clear. Wilkinson on The Sunday Project is actually a warm-up to Sunday night evictions, a source tells TV Tonight.

CBS owns the Big Brother brand and it is cheaper to produce than Im A Celebrity in South Africa. There arent that many hosts with both the Live TV and interview skills to make it work -you can bet Lisa wont let anybody get away with turkey-slapping.

CBS will also use 24 / 7 web-cam streaming to launch CBS All Access in the Australian market. Fan favourite Mike Goldman is understood to be finalising a deal as Up Late host, fending off strong interest from HotDogs.

Were baaaack baby! he told TV Tonight.

Ive been rehearsing my dancing-doona impressions and bum-dancing, ready to unleash more mayhem on the Goldie! Bring it ornnnn!

With its diehard fanbase, Big Brother is the networks best shot to take the fight up to Married at First Sight & My Kitchen Rules.

Sources say Peter Helliar attempted to rework Cram as a possible alternative, locking himself in the Dreamworld house and throwing brussel sprouts at Fitzy & Bree but execs were just not impressed.

Update: April Fools thanks for playing again!

Photo: Roberto ParlavecchioWhenever Vijay Mallya the Indian fugitive businessman would appear in the Queen's Court during extradition proceedings, people noted that he was always accompanied by a young girl. It is now known that this girl is Pinki Lalwani who is an ex-Air Hostess of Vijay Mallya's defunct Kingfisher Airlines. The Times of India has reported that the duo had just celebrated three years of "togetherness" recently and are expecting it to tie the Knot.

Mallya and Pinki

Mallya 62 selected Pinky 39 in 2011 as an air hostess for his airline Kingfisher Airlines. The man who is often referred to as the " king of good times" was attracted to her and the two have been in a relationship for the last three years.

The airline declared bankruptcy in 2012.

Swindling Indian banks

Mallya is accused of swindling Indian banks to the tune of rupees 12000 crores (131,13 GBP) and then escaping to London to avoid being put on trial for his offences. The Indian government has approached the British government to extradite the tycoon to face charges. He was arrested by Scotland yard and is currently out on bail.

During his days in India Mallya lived a flamboyant life and was always surrounded by beautiful women. His Kingfisher Airlines calendar of bikini-clad women is extremely popular. Mallya has been married twice earlier and has three children from both the marriages. He is presently married to Rekha Mallya, who he has not divorced.

It will be interesting to see how Mallya manages marries Pinki without divorcing Rekha.

The BJP government headed by Narendra Modi is under fire in India for allowing the businessman to escape from Delhi. It is possible that Mallya, who is a member of parliament was tipped off by someone from inside the government. PM Narendra Modi brought this topic up with Theresa May during her visit to Delhi in 2016.

Extradition

Mallya does not appear to be bothered about the extradition proceedings or the charges against him. He is now eagerly looking forward to marrying Pinky who is over three decades younger than him. He seems to be pretty confident that he will not be extradited to India but he does have a point when he says that the banks are already recovered 6000 crores by selling his properties in India and the remaining amount is grossly exaggerated.

He claims that the debts piled up due to bad business deals. He also does not expect a fair trial in India.

Last word

Not much is known about Pinki except that she is an attractive Sindhi girl. Mallya who has the credit for being a connoisseur of everything beautiful cannot be faulted for his choice.NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP)  The Cypriot government is ready to "tangibly support" the sale of the island nation's Cooperative Bank to private investors and to guarantee the security of deposits.

Cyprus government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou said Friday that there's already been interest from domestic and foreign investors, which bodes well for its prospects.

But he said an "organized whispering campaign" and irresponsible rumors has led to an "unjustified" withdrawal of deposits.

Prodromou blamed a political party he didn't name for trying to reap political gain by spreading rumors that have rattled depositors.

The bank is 77-percent state-owned and is the number one bank for domestic deposits.

But it's weighed down by bad loans, representing nearly 60 percent of the total loan book.

See Also:North Korea

The United Nations Security Council blacklisted dozens of ships and companies over oil and coal smuggling by North Korea.

The council acted on a request by the US.

Several Chinese shipping companies and a Taiwanese man were also implicated.



The United Nations Security Council blacklisted dozens of ships and shipping companies on Friday over oil and coal smuggling by North Korea, boosting pressure on Pyongyang as leader Kim Jong Un plans to meet with his South Korean and U.S. counterparts.

The council's North Korea sanctions committee acted on a request by the United States, designating 21 shipping companies -- including five based in China -- 15 North Korean ships, 12 non-North Korean ships and a Taiwanese man.

The move comes days after Kim met Chinese President Xi Jinping and an announcement that the North Korean leader would meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in on April 27. He is also scheduled to meet U.S. President Donald Trump some time in May.

While Trump has agreed to meet Kim, he tweeted on Wednesday that "maximum sanctions and pressure must be maintained."

Tension over North Korea's tests of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles surged last year and raised fears of U.S. military action in response to the North's threat to develop a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

But the situation has eased significantly since North Korea sent athletes to the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February.

Nikki Haley

AP Photo/Sean Rayford

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the U.N. sanctions designations -- the largest agreed by the council's committee -- were aimed at shutting down North Korea's illegal smuggling activities to obtain oil and sell coal.

"The approval of this historic sanctions package is a clear sign that the international community is united in our efforts to keep up maximum pressure on the North Korean regime," she said in a statement.

The list was part of a request by Washington late last month for 33 ships, 27 shipping companies and the Taiwanese man to be sanctioned. China delayed that bid on March 2, but did not give a reason. The 15-member committee works by consensus.

Story continues

Washington then proposed a shortened list on Thursday, which was unanimously agreed by the committee on Friday.

The 12 non-North Korea ships are now subjected to a global port ban and must be de-registered, while the 15 North Korean ships are subjected to an asset freeze and 13 of those a global port ban.

The Taiwanese man, Tsang Yung Yuan, is accused of coordinating "North Korean coal exports with a North Korean broker operating in a third country, and he has a history of other sanctions evasion activities," according to the U.N. listing. He is subjected to an asset freeze and travel ban.

The assets of the 21 shipping companies, which include businesses based in the Marshall Islands, Singapore, Panama and Samoa, must now be frozen.

The U.N. Security Council has unanimously boosted sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in a bid to choke off funding for Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, banning exports including coal, iron, lead, textiles and seafood, and capping imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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A newly discovered 300-year-old pirate burial site may be the largest-ever found on U.S. soil, according to archaeologists.

More than 100 skeletal remains were found at the Massachusetts site, some of which might belong to Captain Black Sam Bellamy, thought to be the worlds richest pirate. However, his remains have yet to be accounted for, The Telegraph reports.

Over 100 pirates washed ashore on Cape Cod [after the wreck], and our team believe that we have located it, Casey Sherman, author and filmmaker who partnered with the research team, told The Telegraph. Its very hallowed ground...Almost every day were learning more about what happened 300 years ago.

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Bellamy and his crew are thought to have drowned in 1717, when their ship, the Whydah Gally, was wrecked. In order to confirm that some of the bones are in fact Bellamys, Sherman and researchers from the Whydah Pirate Museum have identified a descendent of the wealthy pirate in the U.K. who is willing to provide a DNA sample, according to Cape Cod Times.

The descendant is a great-great-etc nephew of Sam Bellamy. Bellamy was one of several siblings, the museum commented on Facebook.

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The femur bone pictured above was selected from the pile of bones and is being sent out for further evaluation, the museum wrote in a post on February 23.

The bone could possibly belong to Captain Samuel 'Black Sam' Bellamy, the caption read. The femur has been sent out for DNA testing and we hope to have results back in about six weeks.

If the DNA tests prove to be a match, the team hopes to return his remains to England, where he was born in 1689. During Bellamy's 28 short years on Earth, he accumulated an estimated $120 million in today's money, making him the top-earning pirate of all-time, according to Forbes.

Story continues

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekBrazilian police are searching for a British woman who disappeared after reportedly going to meditate in a remote wooded area.

Katherine Sarah Brewster, 27, is thought to have been staying near an alternative community in the village of Dom Jose in Alpestre in the southern state of Santa Catarina.

According to local reports Ms Brewster, who is originally from Sussex, went for a walk in a remote wooded area to meditate last Sunday and never returned.

It was suggested she may have been staying at a permaculture commune popular with backpackers, but UniPermacultura Dom Jose denied she was ever a guest.

Missing  Brazilian police are searching for Katherine Brewster, who disappeared in the southern state of Santa Catarina five days ago (Picture: Facebook)

In a statement published on its Facebook page, UniPermacultura said: Katherine Sara Brewster, of English nationality, was not a student, nor a guest, nor a resident of the unipermacultura or of Dom Jose, as well as at no time attended our dependencies or had contact and dialogue with some Member in our institution.

We do not know her and we had no knowledge of who she was, we only know that she resided as a guest in the house of the couple Luis Alfredo vasconcelos and Nelly, who live in the rural village of Dom Jose and have no connection, nor lived in the ecovillage The same name of the rural community, but it is not local.

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What we do know is that she came after a friend who was a guest and friend of the couple.

The statement said it wasnt known if Ms Brewster had left without warning and saying goodbye or had gone to meditate in the woods nearby, as she had done a few times.

Denial  UniPermacultura said Ms Brewster had never lived in the village (Picture: Facebook/UniPermacultura)

It added that the community of Dom Jose is made up of quiet and quiet families and that there are no cases of violence or police presence since we moved to the community 3 years ago.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: Our staff are assisting the family of a British woman who has been reported missing in Brazil and are in contact with the local police.BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court sentenced a 54-year-old man dubbed the country's "Jack the Ripper" to death on Friday for the rape and murder of 11 women and girls over the course of 14 years, state television reported.

Gao Chengyong, 54, was tried for multiple counts of homicide, rape, robbery and mutilation of corpses, according to the state television's English channel.

He admitted to killing the 11 people between 1988 and 2002 in northwest China's Baiyin city in Gansu Province and Baotou city in the northern region of Inner Mongolia, the report said. The youngest of the victims was eight years old.

Gao was arrested in August 2016 at his own grocery store following a DNA test stemming from an unrelated crime committed by one of his relatives, state TV said, ending a 28-year search.

(Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Michael Perry)

See Also:Updated | Ralph Peters, who recently walked away after a long stint as a Fox News analyst, accused the network on Friday of blocking him from speaking on Russia issues because he refused to unswervingly support President Donald Trump.

In an op-ed published in The Washington Post Friday, the retired lieutenant colonel claimed he was the only person on the Fox payroll who was trained in Russian studies and the language, and that had met Russian intelligence officers in person.

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But dating back to fall 2016, when national security issues surrounded Trump, Peters said he was increasingly blocked from speaking on Russian affairs and the intelligence community, despite being an expert.

I did not hide my views at Fox and, as word spread that I would not unswervingly support President Trump and, worse, that I believed an investigation into Russian interference was essential to our national security, I was excluded from segments that touched on Vladimir Putins possible influence on an American president, his campaign or his administration, Peters wrote.

Peters said he was only rarely allowed to comment on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin targeted Trump. As special counsel Robert Muellers indictments hit, he could not even talk about how Russians operate.

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Fox never tried to put words in my mouth, nor was I told explicitly that I was taboo on Trump-Putin matters, Peters wrote. I simply was no longer called on for topics central to my expertise.

He also said that Foxs prime-time lineup preaches paranoia, attacking processes and institutions vital to our republic and challenging the rule of law. Fox suspended Peters for a couple of weeks in 2015 for using profanity to bash ex-President Barack Obama.

Story continues

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Peters, who did not renew his contract on March 1, said the only reason he stayed as a contributor for so long was the seductive opportunity to reach millions of Americans.

I rationalized that I could make a difference by remaining at Fox and speaking honestly, Peters wrote. I was wrong.

A Fox News spokesperson in an emailed statement to Newsweek Friday afternoon said: There is no truth to the notion that Ralph Peters was blocked from appearing on the network to talk about the major headlines, including discussing Russia, North Korea and even gun control recently. In fact, he appeared across both networks multiple times in just the past three weeks.

This story has been updated with a comment from Fox News.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekNEW YORK (AP)  Attorney Gloria Allred says she's no longer representing a former contestant on "The Apprentice" who has accused President Donald Trump of unwanted kissing and groping.

Allred is famous for advocating for women who accuse powerful men of sexual harassment. She didn't disclose a reason for her split with Summer Zervos.

The decision came days after a New York court said Zervos could proceed with a defamation lawsuit against the Republican president.

Zervos says Trump hurt her reputation by publicly denying her claims that he subjected her to unwanted advances.

Most of the legal work in the lawsuit was being performed by a different attorney, Mariann Wang, who continues to represent Zervos.

Allred said her firm's withdrawal "has nothing to do with the merits of her case against President Trump."

See Also:A woman many viewed as a gold digger when she married then-Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe faced off against literal gold diggers this week who allegedly worked illegally on her farm.

At former first lady Grace Mugabes farm in Mazowe, just north of the capital Harare, hundreds of workers allegedly uprooted citrus trees, damaging buried irrigation equipment and bringing up gold ore to send off for refining, according to the Zimbabwean newspaper NewsDay. When Mugabe confronted them on Thursday, they reportedly said a Chinese miner had employed them but would not give a name.

This is politically motivated, the woman told NewsDay, pointing to the workers allegedly singing a revolutionary song associated with her husband being ousted from power a few months ago.

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Robert Mugabe, 94, spent several years as prime minister before his 30-year stint as president, during which time he was accused of human rights abuses, corruption and other crimes. He resigned following a military-led coup in November that sprang up when Mugabe fired his vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, in what many saw as part of a strategy to set up 52-year-old Grace Mugabe, his second wife, for the presidency.

Mnangagwa is now president.

Grace Mugabe reported the illegal gold mining on the farm to the police, according to NewsDay, when she could not get them to leave the property herself.

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The workers started to shout obscenities at me and continued with their unlawful activities, the woman said in a statement about the incident, according to BBC News. She said she was shocked when she discovered the estimated 400 workers illegally mining for gold on the farm.

As Mugabe was headed to the police station to file a report, NewsDay said, one of the workers shouted to her, You no longer have any power to remove us.

Story continues

grace-mugabe

ZINYANGE AUNTONY/AFP/Getty Images

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekVIENNA (AP)  The foreign ministers of Macedonia and Greece are meeting in Vienna with a United Nations' mediator in an effort to resolve a decades-old dispute over the former Yugoslav republic's name.

Nikola Dimitrov and Nikos Kotzias were meeting with the UN's Matthew Nimetz Friday in the latest round of talks for a solution to the issue which began after Macedonia gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and has prevented the small Balkan country from joining NATO.

Greece argues the term "Macedonia" implies territorial claims on its own province of the same name.

A recent change of government in Macedonia has fueled hopes an agreement can be found, although intensified talks have also met with major demonstrations in both countries by those who don't want to see any compromise.

See Also:NEW YORK (AP)  A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by Exxon Mobil aimed at stopping an investigation by New York and Massachusetts officials into whether the oil giant misled investors and the public about its knowledge of climate change and how the issue could affect its business.

U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in New York said Thursday that Exxon's lawsuit was "running roughshod over the adage that the best defense is a good offense."

Exxon says it's reviewing the decision.

Irving, Texas-based Exxon sued New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Massachusetts counterpart Maura Healey in 2016 after they subpoenaed documents about Exxon research into the role of fossil fuels in climate change.

Exxon accuses the officials of trying to take away the company's free-speech rights on an important issue.

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SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria needs more time to decide whether to follow NATO and EU allies in expelling Russian diplomats over a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy, its deputy prime minister said on Thursday.

Bulgaria, current holder of the European Union's presidency, recalled its ambassador from Moscow after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in the first known use of a military-grade nerve agent on European soil since World War Two.

But it has stopped short of following most EU members and allies in NATO, including the United States, which have expelled dozens of Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity with Britain over the March 4 attack.

"The political situation in Bulgaria is such that these types of decisions have to be taken by consensus," deputy prime minister Tomislav Donchev told Reuters in an interview.

"At the moment, for good or bad, there is no such consensus," he said.

The diplomatic standoff between the West and Russia has struck a raw nerve in Bulgaria, where one of the junior partners in the coalition government and also the opposition Socialists, favour pursuing good ties with Russia.

On Friday Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said the government has expressed its solidarity with its EU and NATO allies, but would not expel Russian diplomats for now as it needed to keep dialogue open with Moscow as an EU chair.

Bulgarian deputy foreign minister Juri Sterk met the Russian envoy to Sofia on Friday and expressed Sofia's serious concerns over the reports of a possible link of persons and organisations from Russia and the use of a nerve agent in England.

Separately, further highlighting the sensitivity of the issue for the coalition, the government issued a statement saying Donchev had not made any "assessments" about the government's stance regarding the parties to the Skripal case.

"BARBARIC" ATTACK

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Bulgaria, which was liberated from Ottoman Turkish rule by Russia, became one of the most obedient Soviet satellite states during the Cold War. Many Bulgarians feel a strong cultural affinity for Russia, with which they share the Cyrillic script and Orthodox Christianity.

This legacy translates into a coalition government in which the centre-right GERB party shares power with three smaller nationalist parties which to varying degrees support better ties with Russia and argue that Bulgaria should take a balanced position over the Skripal case.

They have opposed a call by a senior GERB official for Bulgaria to follow the lead of its allies and expel Russian diplomats.

Both President Rumen Radev and the biggest opposition party, the Socialists, are also insisting that more concrete proof is needed of Russian involvement in the Skripal poisoning.

"I categorically think these (calls for Bulgaria to expel Russian diplomats) are a mistake," said Volen Siderov, leader of the pro-Russian, nationalist Attack party, one of GERB's junior coalition partners.

"We have one unclear case. We have no evidence of Russia's participation," he said in a statement.

Donchev said in his interview that any action undertaken by Bulgaria would be seen as a signal of solidarity with Britain and its allies and also as a signal to Russia.

Touching on the domestic political situation, he said: "Taking into account that our government is a coalition... I am not convinced that such a decision can be taken so easily and so quickly."

Donchev said Bulgaria would wait for a report from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, adding that Sofia was monitoring developments closely.

"What happened in Great Britain is ... unacceptable. It is barbaric, it is a chemical weapon, it is a military toxic substance," Donchev said.

Referring to Bulgaria's history of close ties with Russia, Donchev said: "This is an undeniable fact. History, though, is sometimes a good, and sometimes a bad, teacher in politics."

(Additional reporting by Angel Krasimirov; Editing by Richard Balmforth and Gareth Jones)(Photo: tfund)

Nikolas Cruz, who is charged with 17 counts of murder for the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., is getting fan mail, seually suggestive photographs of young women, money, and more sent to jail.

According to the Sun Sentinal, which obtained copies of some of the letters, the 19-year-old is being showered with attention while being held at the Broward County jail. Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein estimated that Cruz has received between 100 and 200 pieces in the mail since he arrived in mid-February. In my 40 years as public defender, Ive never seen this many letters to a defendant. Everyone now and then gets a few, but nothing like this, he told the paper.

While the jail, which screens all incoming missives (minus legal documents), has read Cruz some of the religious letters, Finkelstein noted that we have not and will not read him the fan letters or share the photos of scantily-clad teenage girls.

Cruz currently has about $800 in his commissary account, and Finkelstein shared that this has been filled, in part, by his fanbase. To raise funds, some supporters have gone so far as to create merchandise, including a $2 purple bracelet with the words Justice for Nik and T-shirts that read I stand with Nikolas Cruz.

(Photo: Ebay)

However for Finkelstein, its the letters that shake him up the most because they are written by regular, everyday teenage girls from across the nation.  That scares me. Its perverted. Finkelstein added that he worries everyday boys and girls are starting to view him in an elevated way, looking up to his fame and notoriety.

Gaining this celebrity status most likely served as one of Cruzs motivators for perpetuating the massacre. This love for notoriety and the desire to get it by being an anti-hero or villain goes back to Bonnie and Clyde, Jesse James, and Jack the Ripper, Sherry Hamby, PhD, a research professor of psychology at Sewanee, the University of the South, and the founding editor of the American Psychological Associations journal Psychology of Violence, told Yahoo Lifestyle.

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There are lots of figures from our past that have gone down in history in this way and proven that its a successful way to go down in history, Hamby explained. The desire to have fame in and of itself is not unusual or pathological, but theres definitely this subgroup of the population who want to get it any way they can, and violence is not off the table for them.

The media, Yahoo included, is partly to blame for the accused shooters fame. A problem resulting from reporting on mass shootings is, according to Hamby, that the tragedies have been proven to act like an infectious disease, and have elements of whats known as social contagion. Unfortunately, one of the side-effects of so much attention is exposure to high-risk, vulnerable youth. And for those who are experiencing a lot of rejection, alienation, and family problems, associating with figures like Cruz can have a titillating effect. While most individuals respond to tragedies like the one at Parkland with horror, distress, or frustration, a person psychologically at risk can yield a completely different response.

Its just hard to even begin to express how different their reaction could be, Hamby noted. They see this, and it looks like power, a way of showing everybody. It may remind them of things theyve seen in other violent media or video games and is now made real to them, and they might have a very positive response.

Research is starting to emerge revealing how important it is, even in milder cases, how to disperse information during events like mass shootings, Hamby said, adding, You have to be careful in how you talk about this so it doesnt cause some to fantasize and project themselves into the world of the bad guy.

Additional reporting by Jennifer Gerson Uffalussy.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.Pippa Middleton's father-in-law has been placed under formal investigation by French police over a suspected rape of a minor, reports say.

Paris prosecutors arrested David Matthews during a visit to France, but later released him and placed him under judicial control, a court source told the Reuters news agency.

Mr Matthews had been taken into custody for questioning last Tuesday by investigators from the country's juvenile protection brigade, it is claimed.

The source said the alleged rape took place in 1998-99 and Europe 1 reported that a complaint was filed in 2017.

A spokesperson for the Matthews family was quoted by the Daily Mail Online as saying: "David Matthews categorically denies the allegation and unequivocally contests the untrue and scandalous accusation."

Mr Matthews, who is in his early seventies, is the father of James Matthews, the husband of Pippa Middleton.

Pippa is the sister of Prince William's wife Kate.

David Matthews owns Eden Rock in St Barths, a luxury resort popular with the rich and famous.

His other son, Spencer Matthews, is a reality TV star.DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Amira Gharmoush's family has been a victim of both sides of the war for the eastern Ghouta region near Damascus. The 67-year-old Syrian mother of nine is now hoping to piece back together what's left of it.

She fled eastern Ghouta four years ago when, she said, one of her three daughters was killed by insurgents in the area, the last major rebel stronghold near Damascus until the Syrian government launched a ferocious campaign to recapture it.

Two of her six sons accompanied her on her journey out of eastern Ghouta at the time. They were detained by the Syrian government and she has not heard from them since.

The other four sons stayed inside eastern Ghouta, separated from their mother by the frontlines of a war that has broken up countless families and killed hundreds of thousands of people over the last seven years.

As the frontlines shifted in recent weeks, Gharmoush was reunited with two more of her sons. They fled eastern Ghouta two weeks ago as the government offensive pushed closer to their homes, uprooting them and many thousands more.

Backed by Russia, the assault has underlined President Bashar al-Assad's unassailable position in the war.

TEARS, HOPE

Gharmoush spoke at a Syrian government supervised shelter for displaced people, where she was visiting the sons who left Ghouta recently. She expressed hope that she would soon see the two sons who remain in the area.

Both are in Douma, the last town under rebel control. "It's been four years since I've seen them," she said, her eyes full of tears.

"My hope is that my sons who are in Ghouta get out, and that the ones who are detainees get out, and to bring my children together so we all live together," said Gharmoush.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says more than 1,600 civilians have been killed in the government bombardment of the area, which has been besieged for years.

More than 140,000 people have been displaced from eastern Ghouta since the offensive got underway in February, according to figures cited by the Russian military and the Observatory.

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The Russian defence ministry said on Friday around 32,000 rebel fighters and members of their families had so far been transported to oppositon-held areas in the Idlib region of northwestern Syria, Interfax reported.

Many of those who have not gone to Idlib are in shelters for the displaced near Damascus. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid has said the displaced are not permitted to leave the shelters until they have undergone a screening process.

Gharmoush sat next to her seven-year-old granddaughter - the child of the daughter who was killed four years ago, who she has cared for ever since.

Gharmoush says her daughter was killed for delivering bread to government troops stationed at a checkpoint near their village, Otaya.

She did not say which rebel group the killers belonged to. Reuters could not verify the account.

Gharmoush, who has been working as a household servant in the capital since fleeing her farm, says she dreams of going back to her home in Otaya, where they kept sheep and cows.

"I would be the first one to return. If my home is destroyed I will put up a tent like the one I am in now and stay there. I will gather my children and we will stay together."

(Reporting by Kinda Makieh in Damascus; Writing by Tom Perry: Editing by Andrew Bolton)Learn About the Cash Game Festival Bratislava on April 4-8

March 31 2018 Jason Glatzer

The Cash Game Festival heads to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava for the first time at Banco Casino for five days and more than 120 hours of nonstop poker action on April 4-8.

The festival continues to grow in popularity, especially among recreational players, thanks to its fun atmosphere both on and away from the poker felt. This atmosphere should be even more electric thanks to another first, collaborating with another recognizable poker tour with the MPN Poker Tour Bratislava kicking off at the same venue on April 5.

This also marks the first time that Unibet will be one of the partners, joining existing partners Betsson, NordicBet and 32Red.

Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk

Cash Game Festival Co-Founder Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk is understandably excited about all of the new aspects about the Cash Game Festival Bratislava.

"The upcoming Cash Game Festival is a first in many ways," von Zweigbergk said. "It is our first time in Bratislava, Slovakia, our first time collaborating with an existing recognizable poker tour such as MPNPT, and our first time with our new partner in Unibet. I am very excited about all of this."

Despite the many new aspects the Cash Game Festival will bring to Bratislava, the core idea surrounding the festival will be the same as in the past. Twice a day, the Cash Game Festival will host two televised feature tables on 20-minute delays at 5:30 p.m. CEST and 8:30 p.m. CEST on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel. Since PokerNews will once again be at the Cash Game Festival, the stream will also be embedded in our coverage.

Henry Kilbane and George Sandford

The British duo of Henry Kilbane and George Sandford, who served as guest hosts during the last Cash Game Festival in London, will be the main commentators for the first-time in Cash Game Festival history. Kilbane and Sandford both discovered the tour as players and will share strategy along with having some fun in the booth to create educational and entertaining streams not to be missed.

In addition to the feature table, there will be endless action on side tables available at any stake and any game you can think of including no-limit hold'em, pot-limit Omaha, open-face Chinese poker, Sviten Special, super dealer's choice and much more.

There are also many activities planned away from the felts for players who qualified through Cash Game Festival's partners and for those that wish to purchase the hospitality package. Unlike tournament festivals where players may be stuck at the tables, players at cash games can take breaks as they see fit and can attend as many or all of the activities their hearts desire.

Head to the Cash Game Festival website to learn more about the event and how to register for the televised feature and side tables.

How to Attend the Cash Game Festival Bratislava

The Cash Game Festival Bratislava kicks off on Wednesday, April 4. There is still plenty of time to attend the festival and see what all the fun and great poker action is all about.

If you wish to head to the festival from out of town, it is recommended that you fly to the nearby airport in Vienna and then take an inexpensive bus to the heart of Bratislava. there are still plenty of rooms available at the casino's hotel, the four-star Crowne Plaza for just 90 a night. This rate includes a twin room, free entrance to the spa, and breakfast.

Tallinn After Bratislava

Three weeks after Bratislava, the Cash Game Festival heads back to where it all began to the Estonian capital of Tallinn on April 25-29 for another five-days of nonstop poker action.

This will mark the seventh time the festival has visited Tallinn, including the first three festivals before it embarked internationally in the beginning of 2016.

You can register for this event, including a seat at the televised feature tables, at the Cash Game Festival website.

*Images courtesy of the Cash Game Festival.5 top Compelling headlines that the media that used in March 2018, certainly seem to demonstrate that titles and headlines are vital for attracting readers.

In our internet age, many hundreds of thousands of people have turned to the internet as freelance Writers. To be successful, there are SEO skills and social networking that need to be understood, but a compelling headline can make or break readership levels.

The top five headlines that I came across this March that I rated from bottom to top, were compelling enough to make me click through. Can you resist these?

5) 'Flight secrets: Passengers admit to joining Mile High Club - with the cabin crew'

This headline was taken from the Express, UK. Just look at those power words that grab us. Straight up the word "secret" grabs the attention. Then there's the compelling suggestion that this Article contains something a bit scandalous and s*xy.

Note that there is also the naughty suggestion in this that whatever was secret and naughty involves many people, where they use the word 'crew.' Did this title attract you as a reader? Or could you resist clicking through to read the article?

4) '9 of the most catastrophic family meltdowns witnessed in Ikea'

This tantalizing headline came from the Express and Star. Ikea is a place best known for home-made meals and their fabulous meatballs in particular.

Their headline was compelling and the itch to click through made exactly that happen for this reader.

Note the catastrophic. it conjures up something so totally out there that it immediately arouses curiosity. Meltdown is a powerful word too, and we can all identify with family. This article was more compelling-sounding than it actually was to read.

It was interesting enough to keep the reader reading for a few more juicy bits, and that was the whole reason for the headline.

3) 'One Actor Chose to Get Bitten by Zombies Rather Than Stay on The Walking Dead'

Gizmodo used this compelling headline to describe how and why Jeffrey DeMunn, (Dale Horvath) left the "Walking Dead." It's a very clever play on words as 'Zombies' are hot and who doesn't watch "The Walking Dead?" If you are a "Walking Dead" fan, it is not very likely you could resist this headline.

It gave nothing away, except that everyone knows that being bitten by Zombies is way out there.

Many writers may have written something a bit more deathly-dull, like, "Jeffrey DeMunn tells show-makers he wants out of The Walking Dead."

The extreme inferences in Gizmodo's headline made this article a reader's mouse-click for sure.

2) 'Trump taps doctor, decorated diver to rescue Veterans Affairs'

There are plenty of boring headlines about Trump and his nomination, Ronny Jackson, to run Veterans Affairs. None of them were as compelling as the headline above that was run by Reuters. Alliteration is nothing new when it comes to interesting and compelling headlines that draw the reader in. This is probably why Reuters tried this approach on a dreary if controversial, subject.

Alliteration is the use of the same letters or sounds of closely connected words. Not only do we have this in "Trump" and "taps," and "decorated and diver," but there is an interesting 'mind picture' with the "decorated diver." Many people assume that a diver is doing something out of the norm. Decorated (brave) makes us feel "wow, someone brave is outside the norm (apart) from us ordinary mortals." And not only is he brave and unusual, "but he is on a mission to rescue something we all hold dear - our veterans."

Here you have nine simple words that string together a whole essay of information that compels us to click the article.The reader simply has to find out who this over-the-top person is.

What and why something has to be rescued by our brave hero can only be discovered by reading the article itself.

1). 'You know that Chinese satellite crashing to Earth within days? Its not alone'

Top marks for the most compelling headline that readers cannot resist in March. It simply has to go the Washington Post for this article about the Chinese space debris that is heading for Earth in an uncontrolled re-entry.

Many readers and writers probably already heard the story so many times they are bored with it. Most people will remain bored until, or if, it splatters a herd of elk in outer Mongolia.

Without any doubt, I rank this headline the most compelling in the month of March in 2018.

Below you can take a look at the biggest breaking news headlines in 2017.When it comes to eating Dessert, the more creative it is, the better. That's why dessert connoisseurs all over the world are coming up with more amazing ideas to incorporate into these sweet treats. After all, cooking, baking, and dessert-making are all art forms in itself.

Now, here's one concept that has made its way into the world of dessert: the pinata. Originally, pinatas were used for birthdays and other celebrations. Now the concept of the pinata is often associated with the Mexican and Latin culture, but it also began in Europe.

The term pinata itself came from the Italian term "pignatta." But the idea of breaking a container filled with treats wasn't unique to Europe either, as it was already being done in the ancient Mexican cultures.

While the pinata history is long and varied, there's a new story to finally add to the timeline and that's the chocolate pinata. Here's what it looks like.

Mendel's chocolate pinata in Istanbul, Turkey

For those who are looking to travel to Turkey anytime soon, make sure to drop by Mendel's Chocolatier in Istanbul, where they serve an amazing chocolate pinata that's filled with more chocolate, seasonal fruits, marshmallows, and churros, Buzzfeed Food reported.

Foodies will love breaking down the chocolate ball to reveal the goodies inside. The pinata also comes with delectable dipping chocolate for more dessert fun. Mendel's is also home to the chocolate bomb and other amazing cakes and pastries.

Uncle Julio's original chocolate pinata

For those who don't want to look too far for their chocolate pinata fix, you can head over to Uncle Julio's in the United States for a fix. This version features caramel sauce, fresh seasonal fruits, homemade churros, raspberry sauce, and some rich chocolate.

According to their website, Uncle Julio's specializes in "made from scratch" Mexican food.

The restaurant's claim to fame was The Swirl, which they described as "the original frozen collision of margarita layered with home-made sangria." Today, the restaurant also serves the original chocolate pinata, which is available in their locations in Boca Raton, Florida, Peachtree Road and Sandy Springs in Atlanta, Skokie, Vernon Hills, Orland Park, Naperville, Lombard, and Oakwood in Illinois, and in Gaithersburg and Brentwood in Maryland.

Then there's Alliance, Allen, Austin, Fort Worth, and Dallas in Texas, and One Loudoun and Gainesville in Virginia. Eater Dallas reports that it costs $20 and can serve three to four people. Check out the video below for a visual feast of this amazing treat.With the holiday weekend taking place, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump each sent out their own separate greetings. In response, their critics made sure not to hold back.

Trump's holiday message

As the start of Passover begins on Good Friday, those who practice Judaism and Catholicism will be getting together to celebrate with family and friends. Due to the holiday weekend, news over at the White House has been slower than usual, with Donald Trump and Melania Trump deciding to send out their thoughts in separate Twitter posts.

Wishing everyone happiness and health on this #GoodFriday. pic.twitter.com/I49O9pZaoG  Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) March 30, 2018

In a video post by Donald Trump on March 30, the president made sure to send well wishes to those who celebrate. "At this holy time of year, families across out nations, gather in homes, churches and synagogues to light candles and praise God," Trump said. "During the sacred holiday of Passover, Jewish families around the world give thanks to God for liberating Jewish people," he added. "For Christians, we remember the suffering and death of God's only son and his glorious resurrection," Trump said, before concluding, "Thank you. God bless you, and God bless America."

In a tweet sent out by Melania Trump, the first lady kept her message short and sweet.

"Wishing everyone happiness and health on this Good Friday," Melania posted, while attaching a video showing her recent trip to St. Mary's Medical Center.

Instant backlash

After both Donald Trump and Melania Trump tweeted out their holiday messages, those who oppose the first couple took time to respond. "Give me a break, this is the ultimate fake news!

You could have never written that for yourself. You even looked fake, big orange man. But no worries, MUELLER IS COMING!" one tweet read.

How dare you give a religious sermon after what you have done to your family shame on you #shame #IBelieveHer #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal #ethics  peter meister (@petermeister15) March 31, 2018

Please, somebody tell me what inane bullshit he's spouting. I really don't want to hear his voice.  Anne Hamilton (@AnneHamilton01) March 31, 2018

Give me a break, this is the ultimate fake news! You could have never written that for yourself. You even looked fake, big orange man. But no worries, MUELLER IS COMING!  MuellerIsComing (@jjh1708) March 31, 2018

"He is the laughing stock of the world, a clown indeed," a Twitter user wrote, while attaching an edited picture of Donald Trump looking like a clown.

"How dare you give a religious sermon after what you have done to your family shame on you," yet another tweet went on to read. "Please, somebody tell me what inane bullsh*t he's spouting. I really don't want to hear his voice," an additional tweet read.

I feel sorry for you. It must be awful to be married to a man who loves only himself. If you have any self respect, take the boy and leave. Believe me, the whole world will understand.  Palynla (@palynla) March 30, 2018

Mrs Trump, you were raised Catholic, so you should now betterGood Friday is NOT a day to wish people happiness. Its the most solemn day of the liturgical year. Big mistake by you and your staff to wish people happiness and health today.  Deirdre donahue (@Deirdredonahue1) March 31, 2018

Good Friday is such a good time to reflect on how one can integrate bullying children in to the teachings of Jesus.  Marshmallow (@M_Fluffycakes) March 30, 2018

"STOP with this CHARADE!!

Your credibility is shot! This is literally 17 minutes from Mar-a-Largo... This is nothing more than a Photo Op and a PR Campaign in an attempt to boost your vile husband's ratings! Will Not Work!" a social media user sent back to Melania Trump. "I feel sorry for you. It must be awful to be married to a man who loves only himself. If you have any self respect, take the boy and leave. Believe me, the whole world will understand," a follow-up tweet read.Hawaii Five-O came roaring back from its March Madness hiatus on March 30 with an episode full of heart, loyalty, and looking to the greater good. Alex O'Loughlin took his directorial debut in the 18th episode for Season 8, E hooko kuleana (To Do Ones Duty), and the actor expressed his commitment to depicting his heart for the human condition as he prepared for his work behind the camera.

Speaking of heart, Scott Caan gives a marvelous performance as Danny from back in 1999, a cop on call who comes to a domestic disturbance with his partner, and cannot leave an abused wife in peril.

He also cannot help falling in love, and ultimately, heartbreak leads to his future.

Adam (Ian Anthony Dale) is literally a breath away from being in prison for the murder of Tashiro when McGarrett and Captain Grover (Chi McBride) go full throttle to get answers. Lt. Commander McGarrett tasks Junior and Tani (Beulah Koale and Meaghan Rath) to be patrol officers, truly allowing them to get the feel for those on the front line of protection. Their day of duty teaches about intuition and trust much more than codes from the police manual, ending with a lesson in senior self-protection.

Life in chains

Three storylines are woven together in this moving episode merging past to present. The action opens as Brooke Gardner (Joanna Christie) is in a brutally abusive marriage, feeling chained to that existence by her husband, Ray (Daniel Kaemon).

Paralyzed with fear, she shuns Danny's intervention, so he gives her his card, telling her to hide it for safety, and to know for sure that if she calls, he will come. Even at the moment Danny leaves, he is targeted by Ray.

Faithful Hawaii Five-O viewers will recall that the last time we saw Adam, he was speeding away with a scream, nearly sure he was betrayed by Jessie (Christine Ko).

This episode begins with a really rough day, as the task force leader is arrested and taken for interrogation after Hideki Tashiros dead body is revealed in the trunk of his car. Adam is chained to the table, but unflinching as ever, refusing to surrender his confidential informant.

Junior and Tani arrive at McGarrett's office to find their boss strumming Blue Hawaii with Frank Bama (Jimmy Buffett), the only person allowed to be barefoot in this office, relates the commander.

The Portuguese guitar is a gift from Frank, but the day won't be any gift for Junior and Tani, who must complete a shift in uniform before being Hawaii Five-O. Junior insists that he should not be the only recruit to do the honored work, so both ride on patrol.

Truth can be hard to find

The scenes are beautifully meshed, and flow through memories and eras as only Hawaii Five-O can do. Brooke has returned to positively identify Rays body, and Danny reveals how he nearly lost his life over the lasting grudge of the man from whom she ultimately broke free. After a beating that sends her to the hospital, Danny tracks Ray down at a bar in off-duty hours, taking his pistol, but instead, he calls for a car to arrest him.

He divulges that he is the man who is involved with Brooke, leading to another beating, and harbored anger held for 20 years, feeding the tragedy of what happened while Hawaii Five-O was in quarantine after exposure to hemorrhagic flu.

Danny helps Brooke find safety in a shelter, and she finds the strength to start a new life. The scenes are fully authentic and empathetic through both actors, with Caan a standout. For their parts alone, this episode is a keeper. The most moving of their scenes is one when Brooke is reflecting on how she came so close to being the one on the slab, and Danny reminds her as she holds Rays ashes that this should be about you and not about her abuser. She flings the ashes into the air, finally embracing her freedom.

Another scene shows Danny's ex-wife, Rachel (Claire van der Boom) when she literally bumps his car as he leaves Brooke. Every door that closes leads to another open one, and a later scene shows Rachel and Danny present-day, as she invites him to finish a story with Charlie (Zach Sulzbach).

Junior and Tani do their share of good work in the community, from settling a lovers quarrel over a hotel stay, to helping a father seek intervention to restore and maintain the love of his son. The natural interplay between Koale and Rath adds just the right sass to Hawaii Five-O. There shift ends on a stinging humorous note, when Junior tries to help an elderly lady safely across the street only to be sprayed with mace.

Tani cannot wait to tattle on how her Navy Seal partner was owned by a grandma.

It takes a McGarrett-style chase to get Jessie in for questioning, and more chains, too. She convinces Grover and the commander that she was fleeing for her life, but never surrendered Adam to the crime bosses on high. She takes them to the scene that she described as a bloodbath only to find the whole area swept clean. McGarrett finds enough to know that she's telling the truth, and Adam is free.

The episode closes with a cliffhanger when Steve tells Adam that a genetic family match of a female has been detected from Tashiros body. I have a half-sister, he speaks as the Hawaii Five-O theme and credits roll.

The only thing missing from this episode was Eddie, but there are more weeks to come, and a bright possibility of Hawaii Five-O Season 9. Michelle Borth returns for an episode on April 13.lisa marie presley's ex Michael Lockwood was spotted on Wednesday, March 28, with the couple's twin daughters Harper and Finley. According to the Daily Mail, UK, he was eating ice cream and wearing "Blue Suede Shoes" of all things. While some celebrity news followers did not think much about the "Elvis vibe" that Lockwood was reportedly putting out, other elvis presley fans were not impressed.

Elvis fans unimpressed with Lisa Marie Presley's Marilyn Manson video

Some believe that this move by Michael Lockwood was just a dig at his ex-Lisa, Marie Presley.

As previously reported Lisa and Michael are undergoing a nasty divorce. Lisa admitted in court that she is facing financial devastation and was too broke to pay the outrageous amounts Lockwood was demanding for legal fees and spousal support.

Elvis' daughter getting no support from Priscilla during tough times?

Lisa reveals that she has not been working, and is living in her daughter Riley Keough's house. The judge was not too sympathetic to the King of Rock and Roll's daughter, Lisa Marie, and gave her 30-days to pay Lockwood $100,000.

Variety pointed out that Lisa Marie recently made an appearance in the new Marilyn Manson video which is believed to be a job she took to pay off the $100,000.

Michael has no plans for making things easy on Lisa Marie, he continues to push for $40,000 a month in spousal support claiming that LMP owes him for giving up his career to tend to hers.

He also is not buying the "I'm broke" stories that Presley has been telling the courts and has even accused her of hiding money and assets from the courts.

In more Presley family news, Priscilla Presley has been making the rounds promoting the upcoming HBO documentary "Elvis Presley: The Searcher" which airs on HBO on April 14.

Besides discussing the upcoming documentary Priscilla has also been taking a trip down memory lane herself, detailing personal and intimate moments between herself and Elvis.

The ex-Mrs.Presley has even gone as far as discussing Elvis' final days and his battle with drug addiction. What she has not really commented on are her daughter's latest financial troubles and divorce.

At this time Lisa's divorce has not yet been finalized, and it is speculated that the spousal support issues and custody agreements over the couple's 9-year-old daughters will continue to be a nasty battle for several more months. Lisa Marie admitted that she suffered from severe drug addiction issues while married to Lockwood. She spent several months in rehab following the announcement of their split.

However, it is feared that Lisa's past drug issues may play a huge role in the custody case. What are your thoughts? Do you believe Michael Lockwood is doing everything he can to get under Lisa Marie Presley's skin, or are the blue suede shoes purely coincidental?Maci Bookout has had it with Ryan Edwards and won't take it any longer. The "Teen Mom OG' star has reportedly filed for a protective order for Ryan to stay away from her and her family. Maci Bookout is obviously very concerned when it comes to Ryan Edwards and she has every right to be. According to The Ashley, Maci and husband, Taylor McKinney are taking no chances when it comes to the family's safety.

Ryan Edwards will face jail time if he violates Maci's protection order

The report reveals that Maci and Taylor have officially filed the PO against Maci's ex- and Bentley's father Ryan.

The entire family has been listed in the PO terms.The Hamilton County courts will make their decision on Monday, April 2. The details of the report are not completely clear, and the exact date that the protection order was filed is not known, only that it has been filed in the last 15 days.

'Teen Mom OG' dad Ryan Edwards could lose everything

The protection order is strictly for Ryan at this time. Tennessee protection order laws clearly state that Ryan Edwards cannot abuse, stalk or assault those listed on the papers - Maci's entire family. He will also not be permitted to contact them in person or by phone, and he will also not be permitted to attempt to contact them through another person, (Mackenzie, Jen or Larry).

It is assumed at this time that Maci Bookout, who has stated all along that she did not believe Ryan Edwards was clean felt the need to make a move. If the PO was filed this week then it is clear that Ryan's recent heroin-related arrest and cheating scandal has a lot to do with Maci's decision.

As previously reported, Ryan Edwards' life is in complete chaos this week.

Just a day after sharing the news that he and his wife Mackenzie Standifer, were expecting their first baby together, Ryan was arrested at his home. There have also been multiple reports that Ryan was also busted cheating on the dating site Tinder. So far three women have come forward and admitted that Ryan had contacted them on the dating website.

Mackenzie Standifer has remained mostly quiet on the subject only stating after Ryan's arrest that it was from an old charge last year and that he is sober. She also spoke out after "Teen Mom 2" cast member Kailyn Lowry tweeted about Ryan's arrest and stated that Mackenzie had used Ryan's position on reality TV to secure a 'check.'

Standifer answered back calling Kail a 'b**ch' and said that she should not be talking, as this comes from a woman who gets pregnant every two seconds with three different people.

It is also unknown as to what the future holds for Ryan and Mackenzie Edwards. It is speculated that Ryan will issue an apology of sorts and then return to a rehab treatment center for help with his drug, and possibly sex addiction issues, At this time it is all in the judge's hands.

If the judge rules in favor of the protection order and Ryan attempts to break any of the terms, he could be arrested and face up to a year in jail.

Do you believe Maci Bookout made the right move in filing a protection order against Ryan Edwards?Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a diversified financial institution, provides various financial products and services to personal, business, public sector, and institutional clients in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through four strategic business units: Canadian Personal and Business Banking; Canadian Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; U.S. Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; and Capital Markets. The company offers chequing, savings, and business accounts; mortgages; loans, lines of credit, student lines of credit, and business and agriculture loans; investment and insurance services; and credit cards, as well as overdraft protection services. It also provides day-to-day banking, borrowing and credit, investing and wealth, specialty, and international services; correspondent banking and online foreign exchange services; and cash management services. The company serves its customers through its banking centers, as well as direct, mobile, and remote channels. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was founded in 1867 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Read MoreCurrently women over age 65 are not recommended to be tested for cervical cancer, but new research presented this week may turn that practice on its head.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), which provides evidence-based recommendations about preventive treatments and testing, states in its guidelines that only women between 21 and 65 years of age should be tested for cervical cancer either by pap smear or by human papilloma virus (HPV) testing. (HPV is responsible for most cases of cervical cancer.) This age range means the USPSTF believes the net benefit does not outweigh the harms of testing for women over 65 if the women have had adequate prior screening and are not otherwise at high risk for the condition. The recommendation is followed by most doctors because it can ensure that testing will be covered by health insurance.

However, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Alabama presented new research at the 49th Society of Gynecologic Oncology Annual Meeting in New Orleans this week that may encourage an expansion of that age group. The study authors examined data on cervical cancer diagnoses from two databases  SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results) and the NCDB (National Cancer Database)  and found:

The SEER data showed that cervical cancer cases declined from 2000-2014 in people age 20 to 49, as well as those over 75. However, about 20 percent of 10,000 cases examined were in women over age 65, which is the equivalent of approximately 1 in every 5 cervical cancer diagnoses.

Data from NCDB data showed similar results. When looking at numbers from 2004-2014, about 19 percent of approximately 20,000 cervical cancer cases were found in women over 65.

The data also showed that only 5.1 percent of cervical cancer cases were diagnosed from age 20 to 29, while in comparison, 8 percent were diagnosed from age 70 to 79, which contradicts the misperception that women are usually only diagnosed with cervical cancer at a younger age, according to the study author Sarah Dilley, M.D.

"What is interesting is that even though incidence rates are going down, we found that the absolute number of cancer cases is not significantly decreasing in women who are age 65 or over. We hypothesize that this is because the overall number of women in this age group is increasing," Dilley, a gynecologic oncology fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told ABC News.



The study authors suggest that USPSTF and other similar groups revisit the screening age limits, but additional research will be needed before a recommendation is officially made, Dilley said.According to an article on spine-health.com there is insufficient evidence to definitively recommend shoe insoles for specific types of lower back pain, such as a herniated disc or degenerative disc disease, and these two lower back conditions often earn prescriptions for insoles.

Research in a 2016 study in JAMA Internal Medicine concluded that treatment procedures with insoles do not appear to prevent LBP. So why are insoles prescribed with such frequency? Besides dangerous opioids and expensive acupuncture, there is little else to help  as easily and cost-effectively, and on a daily basis  as insoles. The next steps are costly surgeries with long recovery times.

If you do want to give insoles a try, you may as well go for the cost-effective kind. A 2009 study in American Family Physician concluded that there was no evidence that custom orthoses [shoe insoles ] are more effective than prefabricated [store-bought] ones for reducing pain. Custom-made orthoses are molded by orthopedic doctors and typically are more costly.

According to a 2011 study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, some study participants reported short-term improvement in low back pain with the use of custom-made shoe orthotics, but their overall reduction in pain did not last more than 12 weeks.

Maybe instead of doling out cash on costly insoles look to more holistic approaches such as yoga and meditation.Coding skills are in demand: The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 15 percent increase in the number of web developer jobs available between 2016 and 2026.

There are several ways to learn how to code. Some websites such as Codecademy  the one Beigle-Bryant usedoffer free courses that you can try out at your pace, as well as paid courses. Another route is an immersive boot camp that requires 40 to 80 hours per week of in-person courses that can last up to 15 weeks.

Approximately 10 percent of boot camp graduates are over the age of 40, according to data from Course Report, a website that offers research and reviews of coding education options.

We talk to people who were working for 20 years but had to take off for health or family, says Liz Eggleston, cofounder of Course Report. When they come back in they want to try something different. Other people dont take any time off. Theyve been in book publishing or music or retail and then decide that they want to change careers. So, everyone kind of has a different motivation.

More than 45 million people worldwide have completed a course on Codecademy, with nearly a million of them over the age of 55. Its never too late to get started, Sims says. Theres a bit of popular thought that you have to be an expert in math or computers. There really is no prerequisite.

Other free schooling includes Dash, Khan Academy and Learn Enough. The coding tutorials on these websites are typically modular, breaking each course into smaller segments that you complete at your own pace. Many students study for an hour or two each night.

There also are approximately 100 in-person, immersive coding boot camps nationwide that charge tuition of upwards of $12,000. Among the more prominent are General Assembly, Flatiron School and Fullstack Academy. Course Report can be helpful for exploring the differences among the schools. These boot camps generally are not eligible for federal student loans. Some boot camps do partner with finance companies to offer their students loans for tuition.

Some community colleges and universities  including Northwestern, Rutgers, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Texas at Austin  have recently introduced boot camps. You can apply to enroll in the boot camp without being a student at the university. These collegiate-run boot camps tend to be slightly more affordable than the privately operated boot camps.

If you want to code as a hobby or build your blog or website, then you should start with something free, Eggleston says. If your goal is to do a few contract jobs a year, then I would suggest a part-time program. But if your goal is a full-time job, then a coding boot camp might be the best fit. You just have to calculate your [return on investment], which is something we tell everyone.

While it does take time and commitment to learn to code, the investment can pay off in many ways.

As an older worker transitioning from one job to another, its hard to stay positive because you have to continually prove yourself, says Beigle-Bryant. Learning to code was a way to stay positive and productive.Northern State looking to buck trend against USF in Ag Bowl

University of Sioux Falls (2-1) holds the same record as Northern State so far this season, but boasts a 4-0 record against the Wolves since 2013.New Mexico State Police released more details and identified the officers involved in a police shooting in mid-March that brought a Northwest Albuquerque neighborhood to a standstill while tactical units from almost every law enforcement department flanked the area.

State Police Lt. Elizabeth Armijo said neither the suspect, 40-year-old Michael Nieto, nor any officers were injured during the five-hour standoff, in which State Police Sgt. Jeremy Vaughn fired at Nieto.

Armijo said the incident began around noon on March 15 when State Police were searching for Nieto, who had probation violation warrants stemming from burglary and auto theft.

Police found Nieto at his apartment at Candelaria and Fifth NW.

Officers announced their presence, but Nieto refused to surrender, Armijo said. Nieto shouted to law enforcement from inside his apartment that he would shoot officers if they did not leave.

She said police were fleeing the area, fearing they would be shot.

Armijo said Vaughn, a 15-year veteran of the State Police, told investigators he heard what sounded like gunshots from inside the apartment and saw Nieto pointing a black revolver at the officers from the window.

Sgt. Vaughn then fired one shot at Nieto from his department-issued rifle, she said. Nieto was not struck by gunfire.

Armijo said Nieto then holed up inside the apartment while Albuquerque police and the Bernalillo County sheriffs SWAT team responded, alongside State Polices Tactical Team, to rescue officers who had taken cover.

She said the State Police Crisis Negotiation Team was in talks with Nieto until 5 p.m., when he surrendered without further incident.

Agents located numerous .38-caliber rounds and a black flare gun inside the residence, Armijo said.

She said Nieto has an extensive criminal history dating to 1995 that includes charges related to motor vehicle theft, DWI and child abuse and drug offenses.

Armijo said the incident remains under investigation.An Albuquerque developer has plans to build 41 single-family homes in the Mariposa Master Planned Community outside Rio Rancho.

Price Land & Development Co. on Friday said it purchased 10 acres from Mariposa East, a real estate investment and development firm. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The 10-acre parcel will comprise the Jemez Vista Neighborhood, according to a news release. It is the newly formed Price Land & Development firms first acquisition.

Mariposa is a premier community in this region, and has been gaining increased attention for its balance of wide open spaces and connected, fully-amenitized living, said Garret Price, president of Price Land & Development. Given Mariposas sophistication and consumer-oriented attributes, we felt confident that Jemez Vista is the perfect first investment and sets the standard for our future partnerships.

Price Land & Development plans to prepare the 41 lots for two local homebuilders to begin building Jemez Vista in September 2018.BATON ROUGE, La.  A Louisiana police chief on Friday fired the white officer who fatally shot a black man during a struggle outside a convenience store nearly two years ago, a killing that set off widespread protests.

Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul announced officer Blane Salamonis firing less than a week after Louisianas attorney general ruled out criminal charges in Alton Sterlings July 2016 shooting death.

Paul also suspended officer Howie Lake II, the other officer involved in the deadly confrontation, for three days. Lake helped wrestle Sterling to the ground but did not fire his weapon that night.

Paul said he fired Salamoni for violating department policies on use of force and command of temper. He suspended Lake for violating only the latter policy.

My decision was not based on politics, Paul said during a news conference. It was not based on emotions. It was based on the facts of the case.

Both officers had remained on paid administrative leave since the shooting.

Police also released body camera footage and other videos of the officers deadly encounter with Sterling. Two cellphone videos of the incident quickly spread on social media after the shooting, but the new videos show the clearest and most complete picture of what happened that night.

In the body camera footage, an officer can be heard repeatedly using profanity as he shouts at Sterling and at one point threatens to shoot him in the head as Sterling asks what he did. Authorities have said Salamoni made that threat as he pointed a gun at Sterling.

When Sterling complains that the officers are hurting him, one of the officers says to use a Taser on him and an electric buzzing can be heard. The officer believed to be Salamoni then runs at Sterling, tackling him as the camera footage blurs with motion.

Someone yells hes got a gun, then gunshots ring out.

Salamoni told an internal affairs investigator in September 2016 that he cursed at Sterling to send a message that the officers werent playing, according to a report released Friday. Salamoni also said he saw Sterling reach for and hold a gun in his pants pocket right before he shot him during their struggle on the ground.

Trying to explain why he swore at Sterling after the shooting, Salamoni said he was so mad at Sterling for making him kill him and for trying to kill us, the report says.

L. Chris Stewart, a lawyer representing two of Sterlings five children, said the newly released videos show officer Salamoni attacked Sterling without provocation like a wild dog.

The most obvious thing that stands out is Alton wasnt fighting back at all, Stewart said. Hes trying to defuse it the whole time.

Salamoni shot Sterling six times during the struggle outside the Triple S Food Mart, where the 37-year-old black man was selling homemade CDs. After the shooting  as Sterling lies on the ground  an officer can be heard using profanity to say Sterling was stupid.

Salamonis attorney, John McLindon, said he will appeal the officers firing to a civil service board. Salamoni knows he probably cant return to the Baton Rouge police force but wants to prove he did nothing wrong, his lawyer said.

He did what he was trained to do, McLindon added.

The officers recovered a loaded revolver from Sterlings pocket. As a convicted felon, Sterling could not legally carry a gun.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced Tuesday that his office isnt charging either officer with state crimes. The Justice Department ruled out federal criminal charges last May.

Less than an hour after the chiefs announcement Friday evening, Travis Hicks, 33, was selling CDs in the parking lot outside the store where Sterling was killed. He said the videos released Friday confirmed what most people in the neighborhood already knew.

Hicks said he didnt think Lake deserved to be fired but thought the fact that Salamoni was not criminally charged shows a double standard.

If it was one of us, he said, gesturing at two African-American men browsing his table of CDs, it would have never took that long. They would have sent us right to Angola, Hicks said, referring to Louisianas state prison.

In June 2017, Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome called on Pauls predecessor, Carl Dabadie Jr., to fire Salamoni. Dabadie refused, saying it would be improper and premature because the shooting remained under investigation.

Salamoni, 30, had served as a Baton Rouge police officer for four years before the shooting. Lake was a three-year veteran of the force.

Lake had a separate hearing Thursday before Paul and three of his deputies before the chief announced his disciplinary decision. Lakes attorney, Kyle Kershaw, said his client wants to return to his patrol job in Baton Rouge after his brief suspension.

Every measure that he employed was exactly what he was taught at the academy, Kershaw said.

For nearly two years, Sterlings family and many other Baton Rouge residents have called on authorities to release all of the video footage of the shooting. The shock of finally seeing and hearing it overwhelmed Andrika Williams, the mother of three of Sterlings children. Williams told her attorney, Michael Adams, that she had an anxiety attack and collapsed when she saw one of the newly released videos in a friends social media post as she walking in her neighborhood Friday evening.

Every time they see this footage, they relive this. Its horrible to watch, Adams said.Several people living in a northeast Albuquerque home were arrested after police say the home was being used as a chop shop for stolen motorcycles.

Several people living in a northeast Albuquerque home were arrested after police say the home was being used as a chop shop for stolen motorcycles.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, Andrew Haggard, 29, Anthony Gomez, 32, Frank Bradley, 52, Crystal Stevens, 35, and Michael Broward, 62, were all booked on charges of receiving and transferring of a stolen vehicle and altered motor vehicles.

Police say officers began surveillance on a possible motorcycle chop shop in the 1400 block of Conchas NE and arrested Gomez after he left the home on a stolen motorcycle Thursday around noon.

Gomez told police he knew the motorcycle was stolen and added that several other stolen motorcycles are kept at the home.

According to the complaint, based on that information, Albuquerque and State Police officers formed a perimeter around the home and made announcement for those inside to come out. Police say several people tried to flee the backyard while several others came out the front. All were taken into custody.

Several motorcycles were in the backyard and were either cut in half, parted out, missing engines or altered from original form, an officer wrote in the complaint.

The complaint states Broward is the homeowner, while Haggard, Gomez, Bradley and Stevens live there.The Leanos family lost a mother and now the Sandoval family has, too, as Elaine Sandoval heads to prison for at least the next six years for killing Karina Leanos while driving drunk in February 2017.

Second Judicial District Judge Cindy Leos on Friday sentenced Sandoval to 19 years in prison, the maximum she could have received as requested by Leanos family during the sentencing hearing. Leos suspended seven years and Sandoval has the potential to earn half of her sentence off for good behavior.

There is no really good solution, no really good outcome here, Leos told the courtroom packed with Leanos extended family, including some of her four children, and Sandovals family, including her three teen and pre-teen children.

Another family is going to lose their mother, but at least your children will still have you around, Leos told Sandoval as she handed down the sentence.

Sandovals children, who sat through the entire sentencing listening to the sorrow of Leanos family, shuddered and cried out as their mother learned her fate.

We love you, Mom. Bye, Mom, they cried out as Sandoval was led away in handcuffs.

Sandoval, now 34, apologized to the Leanos family for their loss and for her role in it.

She explained that she had been working a night shift as a personal health aid and had gone to a friends house for her lunch break at 3 a.m. to help her friend with something. That friend gave her two lemonades, which she said she didnt know had alcohol, and the next thing she knew, shed crashed into a car.

Police say that Sandoval was driving on a suspended license from a previous DWI and that she sped south on Pennsylvania and ran a red light at Lomas, crashing into and killing Leanos, 27, who was also finishing her night shift and on her way to pick up her kids from overnight daycare. Sandoval was charged with DWI vehicular homicide.

A blood test showed she had a 0.19 blood alcohol content level. She had a 0.23 BAC in her 2012 DWI, prosecutors told the judge.

My life did a 360-degree turn about 20 times, after learning of the fatal death, Leanos mother told the judge through a Spanish interpreter.

Now she is raising the two older children, the oldest 10. The youngest two live with their father in Albuquerque.

Leanos brother asked Leos to sentence that woman to the maximum.

She didnt kill a stray dog or stray animal. She killed my sister, he told Leos.

Leanos family, including her youngest son, age 4, were in the courtroom.

Ive been watching that little boy. Hes a little boy who is never going to see his mother again. He shouldnt be going through this, but he is because of what you did, Leos told Sandoval.

Leos said she felt that Sandoval had not taken full responsibility for the crash and had only shown remorse for her own familys loss.

Sandoval, and those speaking on her behalf, said Sandoval has been in intense alcohol addiction recovery and participating in therapy to heal from a very traumatic childhood. She also supports her ailing mother, who lives next door, and financially supports her sister, who has suffered a stroke, and her family who live on a nearby Native American reservation.MENLO PARK, Calif.  Weve made a bunch of mistakes. Everyone needs complete control over who they share with at all times. Not one day goes by when I dont think about what it means for us to be the stewards of this community and their trust.

Sound familiar? Its Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressing a major privacy breach  seven years ago .

Lawmakers in many countries may be focused on Cambridge Analyticas alleged improper use of Facebook data, but the social networks privacy problems go back more than a decade. Here are some of the companys most notable missteps and promises around privacy.

2007

The social media darling unveils its Facebook Platform to great fanfare. Zuckerberg says app developers can now access the web of connections between users and their friends, a set of connections Facebook calls the social graph.

The social graph is changing the way the world works, he says .

That November, Facebook launches Beacon , which shares what users are doing on other websites with their Facebook friends. Many users find it intrusive and difficult to disable. Massachusetts resident Sean Lane buys his wife a diamond ring for Christmas on Overstock.com, but Facebook ruins the surprise , an incident leading to a class-action lawsuit.

In December, Zuckerberg apologizes and enables users to shut off Beacon. I know we can do better, he says .

2008

Facebook launches Facebook Connect , aiming to correct Beacons mistakes by requiring users to take deliberate action before they share activity from other websites when logged in using Facebook. More than 100 websites use the tool at launch, including CNN and TripAdvisor.

2009

Facebook announces privacy improvements after a yearlong review by Canadas Office of the Privacy Commissioner found that it geared its default privacy settings toward openness, failed to inform users their data would be used to serve ads, and leaked data to third party developers, including when their friends used apps. Facebook vows to encourage users to review their privacy settings but does not agree to all the recommendations.

Beacon is officially shut down, settling Lanes class action lawsuit.

The American Civil Liberties Union warns people that Facebooks default settings mean that when a friend uses an app or takes a quiz, the quiz- or app-maker can peer into your profile, even if youve made it private.

2010

App-makers exhibit a sophisticated grasp of data they can scoop from Facebooks social graph.

The Wall Street Journal reports that many popular apps are transmitting personalized Facebook data to dozens of advertising and internet companies, among them, Zyngas breakout game FarmVille. Facebook responds by shutting down some apps.

Prior to the Journal report, Facebook says it has redesigned its privacy tools, giving its 400 million users the power to control exactly who can see the information and content they share.

2011

The Federal Trade Commission reaches a consent decree with Facebook after an investigation of its broken privacy promises to consumers.

The FTC alleges, among other things, that:

Facebook made its users friend lists public in December 2009, even if they had been set to private, without telling them.

Even if users limited data sharing to friends only, data was actually shared with third party apps that friends used.

Facebook failed to verify the security of apps it put on a verified apps list.

Facebook promised not to share personal information with advertisers, but did.

Facebook promises to submit to a privacy audit every two years for the next 20 years, and Zuckerberg owns up to mistakes.

2012

Facebook introduces new methods to help advertisers reach people in ways that protect your privacy, including an encryption tool called Custom Audiences that lets marketers match the email addresses of sales leads to the addresses that Facebook users used to set up their accounts.

Facebook also rolls out new privacy tools aimed at simplifying its convoluted and confusing privacy controls. Among other things, it narrows the scope of app permissions so they dont suck in as much user data automatically.

2013

Facebook shares two-year-old anonymized data on billions of friendships between countries with Cambridge researcher Aleksandr Kogan and co-authors a research paper with him (published in 2015).

Kogan creates a quiz app, installed by around 300,000 people , giving him access to tens of millions of their friends data.

2014

Facebook says it dramatically limits the access apps have to friend data, preventing the type of data scoop Kogan and others were capable of. It also requires developers to get approval from Facebook before accessing sensitive data.

2015

Facebook says it learns from Guardian journalists that Kogan has shared data with Cambridge Analytica in violation of its policies. It bans the app and asks Kogan and Cambridge Analytica to certify they had deleted the data.

It rolls out Security Checkup , a new tool aimed at simplifying its convoluted and confusing privacy controls.

2017

Facebook introduces Privacy Basics , a Frequently Asked Questions site aimed at simplifying its privacy controls.

2018

Facebook says it learns from The Guardian and other media outlets that Cambridge Analytica did not delete improperly obtained Facebook data and suspends the company, Kogan, and whistleblower Christopher Wylie from its service.

Zuckerberg tells CNN that Im really sorry that this happened. He promises to audit app makers that gathered massive amounts of data prior to 2014 and to notify affected users. Amid calls for investigations in the U.S. and U.K., the FTC begins investigating whether Facebook broke its 2011 consent decree.

Our responsibility now is to make sure that this doesnt happen again, Zuckerberg says.

Facebook redesigns its privacy settings menu on mobile devices and says in a blog post, Its time to make our privacy tools easier to find.

___

Follow AP Technology Writer Ryan Nakashima at https://twitter.com/rnakashiSANTA FE  The state Attorney Generals Office is seeking revocation of conditions of release pending trial for an Espanola city councilors wife who is facing voter fraud charges stemming from her husbands narrow election victory in 2016.

Court filings by the AGs Office also indicate that Laura Seeds, married to Councilor Robert Seeds, is also under investigation for her conduct during the recent 2018 municipal election, when Robert Seeds ran unsuccessfully for Espanola mayor.

The court documents cite a phone call Laura Seeds allegedly made to a witness  the Espanola city clerk  which the AGS Office says took place on the same day Seeds received notice that she is the target of a new grand jury investigation for possible election intimidation and disturbing a polling place in early March. The clerk runs Espanolas city elections.

On March 13, Laura Seeds was released on her own recognizance after pleading not guilty to 10 charges of possession of another persons absentee ballot, one count of conspiracy to violate the municipal election code and two counts of making false statements. The charges, filed by the AGs Office, stem from Robert Seeds campaign two years ago when he beat his District 4 council opponent by two votes.

As a condition of her release, Seeds is prohibited from contacting potential witnesses. An AGs Office motion filed Tuesday states that Seeds could only speak with City Clerk Anna Squires for business and not to discuss this matter (the existing voter fraud charges).

But a March 23 report from an AGs Office agent, attached to the motion, states that Squires reported that Seeds had called her on March 21 and asked what she (Squires) told the Attorney Generals Office.

Earlier that same day, according to the motion, Seeds attorney had received notice that Seeds was the target of a new grand jury investigation looking into alleged illegal conduct during the most recent city election. Her husband was running for mayor and lost March 6 to restaurant owner Javier Sanchez.

Squires was asked how the call from Seeds made her feel and she stated she was fine but that Seeds for the first time sounded scared, the agents states. It goes on to say Seeds requested records from the City Clerks Office of any complaints filed against her.

(Seeds) contact with a witness in this matter, with that same person being a potential witness in another criminal matter, was not innocuous as such conduct is prohibited by courts to prevent interference with witnesses, the motion states.

The potential new charges against Seeds that are under investigation  for actions on or around March 2, the last day of early voting this year  include intimidation in a municipal election, coercion of voters and disturbing a polling place during an election. The motion does not provide details.

The AGs Offices senior counsel Matt Baca declined to comment. Squires didnt respond to phone and email messages from the Journal. Messages left for both Seeds and her attorney, Yvonne Quintana, were not returned.TIJUANA, Mexico  Hector Barajas, who became the face and voice of deported veterans after his own deportation, will be allowed to return to the place he considers home and become a U.S. citizen.

Barajas burst into joyous tears seated on a couch in Tijuana on Thursday afternoon in front of a large U.S. flag as he read a document informing him that he would be sworn in as a citizen on April 13 in San Diego.

Im coming home, Mom! he added.

Nathan Fletcher, a candidate for county supervisor who has championed the deported veterans cause, sat beside Barajas on the couch, his hand rubbing Barajas shoulder in congratulations. Norma Chavez-Peterson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego, sat on the other side of Barajas, telling him that an ACLU attorney had already arranged how he would get back home.

Barajas was honorably discharged from the Army in 2001 but struggled readjusting to civilian life. He took a plea deal for a charge of shooting at an occupied car in 2002. Because of that conviction, the government took away his green card, and he was deported in 2004 after he finished a prison sentence.

I made bad decisions, he told the San Diego Union-Tribune last year about that time in his life. I put myself in that situation.  I wouldnt put myself in that situation again.

Barajas founded the Deported Veterans Support House, known to many as the Bunker, in 2013 to support deportees in Tijuana. He became a leader in a push for legislative changes to help U.S. military veterans who had not become citizens avoid deportation and to bring back those who were already removed.

He was born in Mexico but raised in Los Angeles from age 7. Because he had a green card, he was able to serve in the Army and was part of the 82nd Airborne Division from 1995 to 2001. At the time, he thought hed automatically become a citizen, but that was not the case.

Members of the military are allowed to apply for citizenship with no waiting period. They still have to fill out the paperwork and pass the tests.

Noncitizens who serve in the military are still at risk for deportation if they commit crimes that can cause the U.S. to revoke their green cards.

Advocates have argued that conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and other challenges that veterans face when they leave the military can make it more likely that they commit such crimes. They say that the veterans should be expected to serve whatever sentences theyre given for the criminal convictions but that deportation goes too far. The ACLU has documented at least 239 cases of deported veterans living in 34 countries.

Critics of the deported-veterans movement say that a green card is a contract and any violation should result in deportation, regardless of military service.

In April 2017, California Gov. Jerry Brown pardoned Barajas, along with two other deported veterans, saying he has shown that since his release from custody, he has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character and conducted himself as a law-abiding citizen.

Barajas hoped that might eventually allow him to return to the U.S., but he knew it was no guarantee. He applied for citizenship before receiving the pardon.

Marco Chavez Medina, a deported Marine whom Brown also pardoned, crossed back into the U.S. in December after his green card was reinstated. Barajas and several other deported veterans escorted him to the San Ysidro port of entry.

Barajas has a middle-school-age daughter named Liliana who lives in Los Angeles. He said that while he waited to find out if the U.S. would let him back in, he dreamed of reuniting with her.

Finally, after years of fighting for the rights of deported veterans to return to the U.S., Hector will be able to return home as an American citizen, said Jennie Pasquarella, director of immigrants rights for the ACLU of California and one of Barajas attorneys. Hector, like a true soldier, has fought day in and day out since his deportation on behalf of deported veterans across the globe. He never gave up hope that he would one day return to his home and be reunited with his family.



2018 The San Diego Union-Tribune

Visit The San Diego Union-Tribune at www.sandiegouniontribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

_____NEW YORK  A majority of young people believe President Donald Trump is racist, dishonest and mentally unfit for office, according to a new survey that finds the nations youngest potential voters are more concerned about the Republicans performance in the White House than older Americans.

The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and MTV found that just 33 percent of Americans between the ages of 15 and 34 approve of Trumps job performance.

Thats 9 points lower than all adults, who were asked the same question on a separate AP-NORC survey taken this month.

Trump doesnt care about us, said 27-year-old Nicole Martin, an African-American graduate student in Missoula, Montana. Im not going to say hes unfit like he has schizophrenia. I do kind of think hes twisted in the head. He just comes off as disgusting to me.

The survey is the first in a series of polls designed to highlight the voices of the youngest generation of voters. The respondents, all of whom will be old enough to vote when Trump seeks re-election in 2020, represent the most diverse generation in American history.

They would occupy the largest share of the electorate  if they vote at the same rate as older Americans. But history suggests they are also the least likely to vote this fall. In the 2014 midterm elections, for example, only about 20 percent of 18-29 year-olds cast ballots.

Asked if she will vote this fall, when the presidents party, but not the president himself, will be on the ballot, Martin said: I havent really thought about it.

Still, there are signs that seven months before the midterm elections, young people appear to be more engaged in politics. Nearly half of younger Americans, 47 percent, say theyre personally paying closer attention to politics since Trumps election; 2 in 10 say theyre engaging in political activism more than before.

High school students led massive protests nationwide last weekend that called for gun control in the wake of the recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead, and the poll found that young people are more focused about guns than any other issue. Twenty-one percent say the nations gun laws are their top concern, while 15 percent cited the economy and 8 percent said social inequality.

There is widespread agreement among young people about Trump, with more than 7 in 10 saying he doesnt reflect my personal values.

He doesnt seem to be really for women. He doesnt seem to be for Black Lives Matter. He doesnt seem to be for DACA, said Meghan Carnes, 23, of New York City, referring to a program to allow young immigrants to stay in this country. He doesnt seem to be for the kids worried about guns. Its extremely disappointing to have a president who doesnt seem to care.

The new poll finds that 60 percent describe Trump as mentally unfit, 62 percent call him generally dishonest, and 63 percent say he is a racist. In a mid-February AP-NORC poll, 57 percent of all adults in the U.S. said they believe Trump is racist.

Spencer Buettgenbach, 23, of Topeka, Kansas, said the Republican president has emboldened attitudes about racism, sexism and homophobia by normalizing abusive talk.

Especially living in Kansas  for me as a gay man  its kind of scary, he said. Hes like the worlds worst boogeyman.

The poll also found that young people overwhelmingly support watching out for minorities: 69 percent favor a pathway to legal status for immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, 59 percent favor protecting the rights of LGBT citizens, and 58 percent say the same for Muslims.

Among other issues young voters feel the strongest about:

 76 percent want the government to allow them to refinance student loan debt at lower rates

 67 percent want a health care system in which the government provides health insurance to all Americans.

 60 percent want the government to take steps to address climate change.

A narrow majority, 55 percent, favor legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. Just under half, 46 percent, believe abortion should be legal in most cases, with 26 percent opposed.

Trumps domestic priorities are far less popular among young people. Only 22 percent favor the Republican-backed tax overhaul, while 40 percent are opposed. More than half oppose construction of a wall along the Mexican border to curb illegal immigration. Thirty-six percent want to increase defense and military spending, though just 27 percent say theyre opposed.

Kristopher Cochran, 22, a conservative who voted for Trump, said hes neutral about the presidents job performance so far. He suggested Trump is being treated unfairly by the media  an opinion shared by 54 percent of young Americans.

Cochran, a mechanical engineering student at Virginia Tech, dismissed concerns about Trumps mental fitness.

If he was mentally unfit, I dont think he would have made as much money as he did, but I can see why people would think that, he said. Im not a fan of his incessant need for Twitter. He acts like a child.

Cochran is not alone in his strong feelings about the presidents use of social media. Asked how they would advise Trump on Twitter, 49 percent said theyd tell him to delete your account and 37 percent said take it down a notch.

Just 13 percent said, Keep doing what youre doing.

___

The Youth Political Pulse poll of 1,027 young Americans age 15-34 was conducted Feb. 22 to March 9 by the AP-NORC Center and MTV. The poll was conducted using NORCs probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

___

Online:

AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research: http://www.apnorc.orgWASHINGTON  President Donald Trumps unscripted remark this week about pulling out of Syria very soon, while at odds with his own policy, was not a one-off: For weeks, top advisers have been fretting about an overly hasty withdrawal as the president has increasingly told them privately he wants out, U.S. officials said.

Only two months ago, Trumps aides thought theyd persuaded him that the U.S. needed to keep its presence in Syria open-ended  not only because the Islamic State group has yet to be entirely defeated, but also because the resulting power vacuum could be filled by other extremist groups or by Iran. Trump signed off on major speech in January in which Secretary of State Rex Tillerson laid out the new strategy and declared it is vital for the United States to remain engaged in Syria.

But by mid-February, Trump was telling his top aides in meetings that as soon as victory can be declared against IS, he wanted American troops out of Syria, said the officials. Alarm bells went off at the State Department and the Pentagon, where officials have been planning for a gradual, methodical shift from a military-led operation to a diplomatic mission to start rebuilding basic infrastructure like roads and sewers in the war-wracked country.

The officials werent authorized to comment publicly and demanded anonymity.

In one sign that Trump is serious about reversing course and withdrawing from Syria, the White House this week put on hold some $200 million in US funding for stabilization projects in Syria, officials said. The money, to have been spent by the State Department for infrastructure projects like power, water and roads, had been announced by outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at an aid conference last month in Kuwait.

The officials said the hold, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, is not necessarily permanent and will be discussed at senior-level inter-agency meetings next week.

The State Department said it continually reviews appropriate assistance levels and how best they might be utilized. And the agency said it continues to work with the international community, members of the Coalition, and our partners on the ground to provide needed stabilization support to vulnerable areas in Syria.

The United States is working everyday on the ground and with the international community to help stabilize those areas liberated from ISIS and identify ways to move forward with reconstruction once there has been a peaceful political transition away from (Syrian President Bashar) Assad, according to a statement from the Department.

Trumps first public suggestion he was itching to pull out came in a news conference with visiting Australian Prime Minister Alastair Campbell on Feb. 23, when Trump said the U.S. was in Syria to get rid of ISIS and go home. On Thursday, in a domestic policy speech in Ohio, Trump went further.

Well be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now. Very soon  very soon, were coming out, Trump said.

The public declaration caught U.S. national security agencies off-guard and unsure whether Trump was formally announcing a new, unexpected change in policy. Inundated by inquiries from journalists and foreign officials, the Pentagon and State Department reached out to the White Houses National Security Council for clarification.

The White Houses ambiguous response, officials said: Trumps words speak for themselves.

The mission of the Department of Defense to defeat ISIS has not changed, said Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman.

Still, without a clear directive from the president, planning has not started for a withdrawal from Syria, officials said, and Trump has not advocated a specific timetable.

For Trump, who campaigned on an America First mantra, Syria is just the latest foreign arena where his impulse has been to limit the U.S. role. Like with NATO and the United Nations, Trump has called for other governments to step up and share more of the burden so that Washington doesnt foot the bill. His administration has been crisscrossing the globe seeking financial commitments from other countries to fund reconstruction in both Syria and Iraq, but with only limited success.

Yet its unclear how Trumps impulse to pull out could be affected by recent staff shake-ups on his national security team. Tillerson and former national security adviser H.R. McMaster, both advocates for keeping a U.S. presence in Syria, were recently fired, creating questions about the longevity of the plan Tillerson announced in his Stanford University speech in January. But Trump also replaced McMaster with John Bolton, a vocal advocate for U.S. intervention and aggressive use of the military overseas.

The abrupt change in the presidents thinking has drawn concern both inside and outside the United States.

Other nations that make up the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS fear that Trumps impulse to pull out hastily would allow the notoriously resourceful IS militants to regroup, several European diplomats said. That concern has been heightened by the fact that U.S.-backed ground operations against remaining IS militants in Syria were put on hold earlier this month.

The ground operations had to be paused because Kurdish fighters who had been spearheading the campaign against IS shifted to a separate fight with Turkish forces, who began combat operations in the town of Afrin against Kurds who are considered by Ankara to be terrorists that threaten Turkeys security.

This is a serious and growing concern, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said this month.

Beyond just defeating IS, there are other strategic U.S. objectives that could be jeopardized by a hasty withdrawal, officials said, chiefly those related to Russia and Iran.

Israel, Americas closest Mideast ally, and other regional nations like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are deeply concerned about the influence of Iran and its allies, including the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, inside Syria. The U.S. military presence in Syria has been seen as a buffer against unchecked Iranian activity, and especially against Tehrans desire to establish a contiguous land route from Iran to the Mediterranean coast in Lebanon.

An American withdrawal would also likely cede Syria to Russia, which along with Iran has been propping up Syrian President Bashar Assads forces and would surely fill the void left behind by the U.S. That prospect has alarmed countries like France, which has historic ties to the Levant.

In calling for a withdrawal very soon, Trump may be overly optimistic in his assessment of how quickly the anti-IS campaign can be wrapped up, the officials said. Although the group has been driven from basically all of the territory it once controlled in Iraq and 95 percent of its former territory in Syria, the remaining five percent is becoming increasingly difficult to clear and could take many months, the officials said.

___

Associated Press writers Robert Burns and Jonathan Lemire contributed to this report.Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 2 Vote(s) - 4.5 Average

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Its the worst time in history to be a clown. Havent they suffered enough? LopDude

 Warning level 1200% 

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03-30-2018 08:18 PM



Posts: 19,674









Post: #1 Its the worst time in history to be a clown. Havent they suffered enough?

Advertisement Stephen King, author of 'It' and the murderous, sewer-dwelling Pennywise, was scorned repeatedly at a recent clown convention



BLOOMINGTON, Minn.  This has been a terribly sad time for clowns, those purveyors of happiness whose recorded history dates back to ancient Greece. Last year was possibly the pits.



Clowns witnessed the shuttering of venerable Ringling Bros., the largest and latest of circuses to close. The layoffs of regional Ronald McDonalds. The movie  dont get them started  It.



It has been one packed clown car of woe.



And it comes on top of decades of portrayals of depressed, malevolent and downright crazed clowns in movies and on TV, not to mention in real life: Krusty on The Simpsons,' Zach Galifianakis on Baskets, Twisty on American Horror Story, the Great Clown Scare of 2016, Insane Clown Posse, Heath Ledgers Joker, Jack Nicholsons Joker, John Wayne Gacy



Recently, 240 entertainers assembled for the World Clown Association convention in Minnesota. In March.



Which prompts the question: Havent clowns suffered enough?



Ah, but you cant keep a good clown down. The craft requires putting on a good face, after all, and clowns remain a genial, outgoing, colorful lot, ready to laugh off their cares.



Theres no secret that clowning is taking a hit. Its not something new, former Ringling clown and International Clown Hall of Fame founder Greg DeSanto offered in his keynote address to the 36th annual convention, a tribute to Ringling Bros. The kitsch thing to say is Im afraid of clowns. What do you think Im going to do? Make you laugh?



https://www.pressherald.com/2018/03/30/i...ed-enough/ Let us honor the Lop fallen-never forget them Let us honor the Lop fallen-never forget them BLOOMINGTON, Minn.  This has been a terribly sad time for clowns, those purveyors of happiness whose recorded history dates back to ancient Greece. Last year was possibly the pits.Clowns witnessed the shuttering of venerable Ringling Bros., the largest and latest of circuses to close. The layoffs of regional Ronald McDonalds. The movie  dont get them started  It.It has been one packed clown car of woe.And it comes on top of decades of portrayals of depressed, malevolent and downright crazed clowns in movies and on TV, not to mention in real life: Krusty on The Simpsons,' Zach Galifianakis on Baskets, Twisty on American Horror Story, the Great Clown Scare of 2016, Insane Clown Posse, Heath Ledgers Joker, Jack Nicholsons Joker, John Wayne GacyRecently, 240 entertainers assembled for the World Clown Association convention in Minnesota. In March.Which prompts the question: Havent clowns suffered enough?Ah, but you cant keep a good clown down. The craft requires putting on a good face, after all, and clowns remain a genial, outgoing, colorful lot, ready to laugh off their cares.Theres no secret that clowning is taking a hit. Its not something new, former Ringling clown and International Clown Hall of Fame founder Greg DeSanto offered in his keynote address to the 36th annual convention, a tribute to Ringling Bros. The kitsch thing to say is Im afraid of clowns. What do you think Im going to do? Make you laugh? LoP Guest

lop guest

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03-30-2018 08:19 PM











Post: #2 RE: Its the worst time in history to be a clown. Havent they suffered enough?

They will never suffer enough! Chuckles

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03-30-2018 08:34 PM



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Post: #3 RE: Its the worst time in history to be a clown. Havent they suffered enough?

Good for PETA . 146 years of animal abuse. Clowns should have been all criers all the time if they only knew. Like they didn't know. (This post was last modified: 03-30-2018 08:34 PM by Chuckles .) LoP Guest

lop guest

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03-30-2018 08:38 PM











Post: #4 RE: Its the worst time in history to be a clown. Havent they suffered enough?

Shoulda went to school somewhere other than clown college LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-30-2018 08:39 PM











Post: #5 RE: Its the worst time in history to be a clown. Havent they suffered enough?

The place for them is congress. Chuckles

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03-30-2018 08:46 PM



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Post: #6 RE: Its the worst time in history to be a clown. Havent they suffered enough?

LoP Guest Wrote: (03-30-2018 08:39 PM) The place for them is congress.

:snorting: :snorting: LoP Guest

lop guest

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03-30-2018 08:50 PM











Post: #7 RE: Its the worst time in history to be a clown. Havent they suffered enough?

and mimes too, don't forget that they suffer in silence. PopEye

I Yam What I Yam

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03-30-2018 08:57 PM



Posts: 12,072









Post: #8 RE: Its the worst time in history to be a clown. Havent they suffered enough?

AtomIcarus Wrote: (03-30-2018 08:34 PM) Good for PETA . 146 years of animal abuse. Clowns should have been all criers all the time if they only knew. Like they didn't know.

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who haven't got it.

George Bernard Shaw

____________________ Chuckles

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03-30-2018 09:09 PM



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Post: #9 RE: Its the worst time in history to be a clown. Havent they suffered enough?

PopEye Wrote: (03-30-2018 08:57 PM) AtomIcarus Wrote: (03-30-2018 08:34 PM) Good for PETA . 146 years of animal abuse. Clowns should have been all criers all the time if they only knew. Like they didn't know.



Choke on it, Popeye. I know your games. It wasn't a circus, it was a prison.







Choke on it, Popeye. I know your games. It wasn't a circus, it was a prison. (This post was last modified: 03-30-2018 09:10 PM by Chuckles .) Flic Vange

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03-30-2018 10:26 PM



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Post: #10 RE: Its the worst time in history to be a clown. Havent they suffered enough?





Voltaire: I detest your views but I would give my life to protect your rights to express them.



https://globalcrypto.exchange/i/R0NYMTYxMDUyMDY0OQ==



Bitcoin-bc1qq9r87uasrxv59hz92zy9t47r96aezdfuqnujfx

Bitcoin-bc1qq9r87uasrxv59hz92zy9t47r96aezdfuqnujfx LoP Guest

lop guest

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03-30-2018 11:05 PM











Post: #11 RE: Its the worst time in history to be a clown. Havent they suffered enough?



Treat the experimenter of comedy

A bit nicer



One day they may well play a trick you wont like



Hey wiseguyTreat the experimenter of comedyA bit nicerOne day they may well play a trick you wont like Donald J Trump

Homer's University of GREATNESS

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03-30-2018 11:59 PM



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Post: #12 RE: Its the worst time in history to be a clown. Havent they suffered enough?

LoP Guest Wrote: (03-30-2018 08:50 PM) and mimes too, don't forget that they suffer in silence.

"Go with the flow, like a twig on the shoulders of a mighty stream" Del Griffith



Chuckles

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03-31-2018 03:49 AM



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Post: #13 RE: Its the worst time in history to be a clown. Havent they suffered enough?

Anyone see that Impractical Jokers where Q was handcuffed to a mime for 24 hours? Lol. Hilarious.























SANTA FE  Republican Rep. Sharon Clahchischilliage withstood a legal challenge Friday aimed at kicking her off the ballot.

She was challenged because she had written her middle initial in by hand at the top of her petitions  a potential problem because state law prohibits altering the header.

But Clahchischilliage said it was ridiculous for opponents to try to push her off the ballot  and consequently, out of office  simply because of an initial.

In any case, the state Republican Party announced Friday that Clahchischilliage won the court case.

Democrats resorted to filing frivolous lawsuits because they know they cant win a fair fight against outstanding candidates like Sharon Clahchischilliage, GOP Chairman Ryan Cangiolosi said in a written statement.

Clahchischilliage, whos retired, lives in Kirtland, in northwestern New Mexico.

All 70 seats in the state House are on the ballot this year. Democrats hold a 38-32 edge in the chamber.

census: State Sen. Howie Morales, a Silver City Democrat and candidate for lieutenant governor, joined the chorus of Democrats condemning the Trump administrations plan to ask people about their citizenship in the 2020 census.

Critics say it could dampen participation in the count by immigrants, endangering the accuracy of the census  particularly troublesome for a state such as New Mexico that relies so heavily on federal funding.

This blatant political interference would also lead to gross distortions of our funding streams and redistricting processes, Morales said.

public funding: New Mexico offers public funding for candidates running for a statewide judicial office or seats on the Public Regulation Commission.

And 13 candidates qualified this year for public financing, according to the Secretary of States Office.

To qualify, the candidates had to collect a certain number of $5 contributions from voters.

This years publicly financed candidates are:

 Democrat Kristina Bogardus and Republican Stephen French for Court of Appeals, Position 1.

 Democrat Jacqueline Medina and Republican Hank Bohnhoff in Court of Appeals, Position 2.

 Democrat Briana Zamora and Republican Emil John Kiehne in Court of Appeals, Position 3.

 Democrat Megan Duffy and Republican Daniel Jose Gallegos in Court of Appeals, Position 4.

 Democrat Kevin Sanders and Republican Jefferson Byrd in Public Regulation Commission District 2, which covers eastern New Mexico.

 Republicans Joseph Aaron Bizzell, Ben Hall and Chris Mathys in Public Regulation Commission District 5, which covers southwestern New Mexico.

Dan McKay: dmckay@abqjournal.comIts familiar ground for attorney Benjamin Crump  addressing reporters alongside grieving relatives of unarmed black men killed by police.

With each death, the Tallahassee, Florida, attorney has helped lead community demands against a legal system that some believe is blind and deaf to blacks seeking justice.

With Crump leading the way, Trayvon Martins parents settled a wrongful death lawsuit against a homeowners association in Florida, where Martin was killed by a white neighborhood watch captain.

The lawyer also helped Michael Browns family reach a financial settlement with the city of Ferguson, Missouri, after Brown was slain by a white police officer.

Now, he is in Sacramento with the family of 22-year-old Stephon Clark, who was shot eight times by police in the backyard of his grandparents home.

The officers were responding to a report of someone breaking car windows and opened fire because they thought the 22-year-old Clark was pointing a handgun at them. Only a cellphone was found nearby.

No family should have to endure this pain and suffering as they try to seek answers for an execution of their loved one who was only holding a cellphone, Crump, flanked by members of Clarks family, said at a news conference. Mostly peaceful protests have followed the shooting.

Police have said officers who shot Clark saw the suspect facing them, advance forward with his arms extended, and holding an object in his hands.

Crump was not available for an interview with The Associated Press but said during the March 26 news conference that Clarks death is reminiscent of so many police shootings of unarmed black and brown people.

We will fight for Stephon until we get justice for Stephon, he said.

By taking on police and communities in wrongful death and brutality cases, Crump has become a voice for the voiceless, according to Sean Walton, a Columbus, Ohio-based attorney who also represents families in lawsuits involving police.

Ben Crump has been a pioneer for his ability to generate attention to matters that normally get swept under the rug, Walton said. Were actually doing what we can to convince local prosecutors to bring charges against police officers.

Crump is best known for representing the families of Martin and Brown.

Martin, 17, was shot to death in 2012 in Sanford, Florida, by white neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman, who was later acquitted of all charges.

Brown, 18, was killed by white Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, who was cleared of wrongdoing and later resigned.

Both Martin and Brown were unarmed. Crump said Brown was executed in broad daylight.

Crump also represents the family of Terence Crutcher, 40, who was shot to death by white Tulsa, Oklahoma, police officer Betty Jo Shelby. Police video showed Crutcher, who was unarmed, walking away from officers and toward his SUV with his hands up when he was shot. A jury found Shelby not guilty of first-degree manslaughter.

Crutchers estate has filed a civil rights lawsuit against Tulsa, Shelby and other police officers.

I applaud his tenacity, Crutchers father, the Rev. Joey Crutcher, said of Crump. We needed to have a hard-hitting blow from somebody.

Some attorneys who take high-profile cases walk a tight line between representing clients and adhering to ethics, according to Michael Downey of the Downey Law Group in St. Louis, Missouri.

Most states have rules to ensure lawyers dont do things outside the courtroom that harms the process inside court, said Downey who teaches courses on legal ethics.

It has certainly become more common for lawyers to be engaged in aggressive behavior, he said. The vast majority of them are trying to do civil things  trying to increase the recovery by settlement or judgment.

A 2016 survey of police officers by the Washington-based Pew Research Center shows a significant number of departments have taken steps to reform policies involving interactions between citizens and police, said Rich Morin, Pew senior editor.

We do know police behavior has changed  some good. Some, depending on the interpretation, not so good, he said.

Morin said nine out of 10 officers reported being concerned about their safety, but three-quarters were reluctant to use force. About three-quarters of people in a separate survey said interactions with police and black residents have become more tense.

Many said police now are less willing to stop and question people who seem suspicious, he said. On one hand, you can say great! Police arent rousting folks just for sport. On the other hand, some will say the police are reluctant to do their jobs these days.

Under former President Barack Obama, the Justice Department opened investigations into the slayings of Martin, Brown and Crutcher. However, President Donald Trumps administration has said Clarks death is a local issue.

It is a clear signal to the base, which Trump has been careful about, that he is going to take the side of police in these kinds of matters and is not going to criticize them or hold them to great scrutiny, said Nicholas Valentino, an associate professor of communication studies and political science at the University of Michigan.MOSCOW  Russian diplomats and their families climbed aboard buses and left their embassy in Washington on Saturday while across the Atlantic, American envoys took down the flag from outside the U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg, loaded up boxes, closed the office down and headed home.

The moves were the latest in a spy poisoning case that has escalated East-West tensions, with both sides expelling more than 150 of each others diplomats from two dozen countries.

Britain has insisted that the Russian government was behind the nerve agent poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter March 4 in the English city of Salisbury, a charge the Russians vehemently deny.

The Tass news agency says all of the 60 Russian diplomats ordered out of the United States were heading for a homebound flight on Saturday night.

In St. Petersburg, workers at the US consulate hurried to meet the Saturday deadline to close the consulate, imposed by Russia just two days earlier. In brief comments to reporters, U.S. Consul-General Thomas Leary said we are ready to leave.

A truck with bags and boxes left the consulate in the late afternoon, its driver waving and honking his horn several times. Outside the elegant 19th-century building, someone had placed four yellow tulips and a card from neighbors reading hope to see you again.

City workers came to inspect the building late Saturday, but it was not clear if all the staff had departed.

Russians watching the activity expressed mixed views on the consulates closure.

The American side always knows that we can strike back if we are attacked, said Valentina Petrova, 77.

But 24-year-old Artem Zykov saw it differently.

Russia should have found different mechanisms to respond without such radical measures, Zykov said.

British officials, meanwhile, said Saturday the government is considering Russias request for access to the daughter of the former Russian double agent. Russian officials insist they have a legal right to see 33-year-old Yulia Skripal, who lived in Moscow and was visiting her father, Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury when they were attacked with a nerve agent that apparently came through his front door.

The Foreign Office said it was reviewing the Russian request in line with our obligations under international and domestic law, adding that the governments consideration will include the rights and wishes of Yulia Skripal.

British officials say she is recovering in the hospital while her 66-year-old father remains in critical condition.

The Russian Embassy in London called her recovery good news in a tweet Friday and said Russian diplomats had a right to see her under the 1968 Consular Convention.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday also issued lists of questions it wants Britain and France to answer in the case, including to what extent French investigators have been involved in probing the poisoning and why.

Russia contends that Britain is exploiting Russophobia to undermine Moscow. On Saturday, its London embassy issued a statement warning Russians travelling to the U.K. that they could be subject to provocations including having various items planted in their luggage.

In another illustration of the deteriorating relations, the Russian Embassy in Britain complained about the alleged search of a Russian airliner at Londons Heathrow Airport.

The embassy said British Border Forces and Customs officers searched an Aeroflot flight from Moscow on Friday in violation of international rules. In a tweet, the embassy called it another blatant provocation by the British authorities.

British officials responded Saturday that its routine to search some incoming flights. Russia has sent a diplomatic note demanding an explanation of the search, which delayed the flight to Moscow.

___

Katz reported from London. Lynn Berry in Washington and Irina Titova in St. Petersburg contributed.Cameras surrounded a smiling Hector Barajas-Varela as he stood outside a small building known as The Bunker, a support house for deported U.S. military veterans in Tijuana, Mexico, not far from the California border.

Tucked in his left arm was a blue folder with a letter from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, delivering the good news he had waited more than a decade to hear. As cameras clicked, Barajas-Varela held a cellphone in his right hand, telling his mother in Southern California that hes coming home. Then, he turned to friend, gave him a high five and a hug.

I got it, he said, laughing. I got it, bro. Two weeks.

Barajas-Varela, an Army veteran, learned Thursday that he has been granted U.S. citizenship, 14 years after he was deported to Mexico because he committed a crime. In two weeks, on April 13, he will attend a naturalization ceremony in San Diego, the last step in the process of becoming an American.

On paper, its nice to be validated, he told The Washington Post on Saturday. Its the government validating what most of us already feel.

This is our country, he said of the United States. Nothing is going to change about what we feel and who we are and what were willing to risk our lives for.

Barajas-Varela was born in Mexico, but he grew up in the Los Angeles area. He became a permanent resident, or a green-card holder, in 1992. Three years later, he joined the Army and was honorably discharged in 2002. But not long after, Barajas-Varela lost his legal residency because he committed a crime. He was convicted of shooting at an occupied vehicle in the Los Angeles area. Nobody was hurt, and Barajas-Varela spent 13 months in prison and another month on parole.

He was deported to Mexico in 2004.

He has lived in Tijuana since, in a small shelter he had turned into a haven for people like himself: veterans who lost the right to live in the United States because of criminal convictions. The Deported Veterans Support House has served about 20 people since 2013. The Bunker provides services and legal resources to deportees adjusting to a life outside the United States. The support house also has identified and made contact with more than 300 deported men and women from more than three dozen countries, Barajas-Varela said.

Barajas-Varela could have applied for citizenship before he was discharged in the Army, but he had mistakenly believed that serving in the military automatically guaranteed it.

He finally applied while he was living in Mexico, and in 2016, passed the English and civics portions of the naturalization process. Applicants are required to pass oral and written English tests, and another one on U.S. government and history.

Last April, California Gov. Jerry Brown, D, pardoned Barajas-Varela for the crime that led to his deportation, removing a potential barrier from his path to citizenship.

He has shown that since his release from custody, he has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character, and conducted himself as a law-abiding citizen, according to the pardon, which also cites medals that Barajas-Varela received while in the Army.

In December 2017, Barajas-Varela filed a federal lawsuit to compel the USCIS to make a decision on his citizenship application, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial counties. The lawsuit was dismissed after the agency agreed to make a decision by Thursday.

Despite gaining his citizenship, Barajas-Varela said he plans to stay in Mexico and live in The Bunker for another year to continue his work supporting deported veterans.

To make sure that if I leave, it doesnt close down . . . I got a commitment to these guys, he said.

Two deported veterans are now living in The Bunker, Barajas-Varela said. The support house opened a second location last year in Juarez, Mexico, near the Texas border, and another one is in the works in the Dominican Republic.

For years, deported veterans have received little to no attention in Washington, because politicians are unlikely to support convicted criminals. The Trump administrations hard-line immigration policy has steered the debate toward cutting legal immigration, creating a border wall and imposing travel restrictions on people from predominantly Muslim countries.

Margaret Stock, a retired Army officer and an Anchorage-based immigration lawyer, said that the majority of deported veterans, like Barajas-Varela, were green-card holders who were honorably discharged from service, but were convicted of a crime after returning to civilian life.

Barajas-Varelas case is unusual, however: Only a small handful of deported veterans have managed to make it back to the United States legally, Stock said.

Its extremely rare because it takes an enormous amount of legal resources to convince the government to approve a naturalization case for somebody whos been deported, said Stock, whom Barajas-Varela consulted about his case years earlier.

Most deported veterans are charged with an aggravated felony, a blanket term that runs the gamut, from violent crimes such as murder and rape, to nonviolent ones such as theft and tax evasion, Stock said. People with that type of conviction are ineligible for American citizenship  unless the governor of the state where they were convicted decides to grant a pardon.

Barajas-Varela is the second deported veteran to receive a pardon from Brown, the California governor, according to the ACLU. The first was Marco Chavez, a Marine Corps veteran who regained his lawful residency and was allowed to come back to California in December. He had been deported to Mexico 15 years earlier over an animal cruelty conviction.

In April 2016, Daniel Torres became a U.S. citizen after living in The Bunker in Tijuana for five years. Torres was brought to the United States illegally as a child and enlisted in the Marine Corps using a fake birth certificate. He joined the Marines in 2007 and served in Iraq.

Barajas-Varela said he plans to eventually move back to the Los Angeles area to be with his family, to have a house and to find a job there. He has an 11-year-old daughter who was born after he was deported.

I have a responsibility to my daughter, to make sure she gets to college, he said.



The Washington Posts Theresa Vargas contributed to this article.On March 26, a crew from Japans Nippon TV filmed an old-fashioned, dark green trains arrival in Beijing. The footage prompted much speculation about the identity of the passengers onboard, as the train was coming from North Korea and its arrival caused Chinese authorities to tighten security around the train station and the Chinese capital. Two days later, on March 28, Chinas official news agency Xinhua finally announced that the green train had been carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol-ju on their first foreign trip since Kim came to power in 2011.

The news caused an international media frenzy and launched numerous think pieces about North Korea and Chinas intentions in the run-up to the two highly publicised summits: one between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in April, and the other between Kim and US President Donald Trump in May.

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In South Korea, however, the news about Kims visit was received with nothing more than a shrug. The close ties between Beijing and Pyongyang were already known, so it was not a shock for South Koreans to learn that Kim wanted to have a face-to-face meeting with Chinas President Xi Jinping at this critical juncture.

More than anything, the visit confirmed what many observers here have believed all along: North Korea is serious about dialogue and wants to shed its long-standing image as a pariah state. It is ready to join the international community once again.

It may seem incredible how quickly things have turned around on the Korean Peninsula since the peak of tensions last year. Pyongyang was trading verbal tirades with Washington and conducting weapons tests as late as November. The Trump administration was hardly blameless, ratcheting up its rhetoric and giving rise to concerns that war was imminent.

The hostility seemed to have dissipated overnight, when Kim floated in his new years address the idea of sending a delegation to the South for the Pyeongchang Olympics in February. Kim indeed sent his sister and top diplomat to attend the opening ceremony. South Korea reciprocated by dispatching a delegation of its own in early March. The result was an announcement that caught many off-guard: Kim was willing to commit to denuclearisation and was going to attend the third-ever inter-Korean summit in history. He also invited Trump to a meeting, which the US president quickly accepted.

Surprising as that development might have been, North Koreas 180-degree turn was in every way in keeping with the countrys past behaviour: alternating between confrontation and conciliation. Before starting any negotiation, Pyongyang is always eager to strengthen its bargaining position, which it did in this case by testing what is widely believed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile and declaring itself a nuclear state in November. Its belligerence was in itself a sign that a change in the regimes tone was due.

And South Korea had kept open the possibility of dialogue so that North Korea could reach out without losing face: Since taking office last May, South Korean President Moon Jae-in invited North Korea to the Olympics multiple times and stressed the importance of dialogue even as he joined the US in supporting more sanctions. That open-arms policy meant Pyongyang could initiate dialogue at any time once it chose to do so.

Improving inter-Korean relations has been a big concern for the Moon administration from the very beginning. For the important post of heading the National Intelligence Service (NIS)  the countrys main spy agency  the government appointed Suh Hoon, who was involved in arranging the two previous summits with North Korea in the 2000s. Suh also lived in Pyongyang for two years in the 1990s while the international community tried to build light-water reactors for North Korea in exchange for shutting down the weapons programme.

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The NISs duties include handling the delicate task of communicating with North Korea, at least unofficially. Suh was among the South Korean delegates who visited Pyongyang on March 5 and secured a pledge from North Korea to seriously consider giving up its nuclear programme.

Kim Jong-uns Beijing visit comes at a time hardliners in both Washington and Seoul are spreading scepticism about North Koreas commitment to denuclearisation. Can Pyongyang really be trusted after all these years? But such a question betrays foolishness on the part of those who ask it in the first place. It assumes continuity in the regimes thinking regardless of who is in charge. One would not try to guess Trumps behaviour based on Barack Obamas track record since they are obviously two very different leaders. Yet, when it comes to North Korea, the tendency in the English-speaking pundit circle is to lump its three successive leaders together as though they think as one, and to presuppose that North Korea is fundamentally incapable of change.

Lee Jong-seok, South Koreas former unification minister and Deputy Secretary-General of the National Security Council, says Kim Jong-un could not be more different from his father and North Koreas previous leader Kim Jong-il, who was mainly interested in exaggerated slogans and self-aggrandising. Kim Jong-un is a cold pragmatist, Lee said at a forum I organised on Thursday. Even though improving the national economy is one of Pyongyangs top priorities, Kim Jong-un excluded economic officials from his Beijing entourage to show that denuclearisation comes first and to avoid misunderstanding that he was courting China simply to ease the current sanctions, Lee added.

To show seriousness, Kim even made the point of being quoted by Xinhua as saying, It is our consistent stand to be committed to denuclearisation on the peninsula, and somewhat implausibly justifying this change in position as the will of his late father and grandfather, in order to create a domestic rationale.

With North Korea obviously committed to a different approach, the high-level talks between the two Koreas on Thursday to prepare for the upcoming summit went off without a hitch. The two sessions lasted less than one hour and 30 minutes respectively, and a joint statement confirming the summit date as April 27 emerged by early afternoon.

A headache for South Korea now is not Pyongyang or Beijing, but the Trump administration, which has been quick to take credit for the current rapprochement but never hesitated to question North Koreas motives throughout. Sounding every bit the self-serving businessman he is known to be, Trump said on Thursday that he might even use the renegotiation of his countrys free trade agreement with South Korea  currently ongoing  to force Seoul to change its North Korea policy. Trumps appointment of known hardliner John Bolton as his new national security adviser is another source of worry.

About one month is left before the inter-Korean summit in late April, and that is hopefully enough time to make the US see reason. If North Korea can change, why not the US? But Washington has never been so volatile, and the fear is that it will torpedo the fragile path towards peace.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.On Monday, April 2nd, the Ethiopian Parliament will confirm Abiy Ahmed, a standard bearer for the reformist faction of the ruling Council of the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), as the countrys prime minister. Following the dramatic resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on February 15, the ruling party elected Ahmed as its new chairman in its most competitive leadership race to date, paving the way for him to become the first Oromo head of government in Ethiopia.

Ahmed will come to power amid a highly combustible crisis  a highly divided country, a vanguard party on the verge of crumbling, an economy at a standstill, a state of emergency, and an agitated population calling for revolutionary change. The retired lieutenant general and former director of the Intelligence and National Security Network (INSA), faces the tortuous task of uniting a divided nation and reforming a deeply authoritarian and kleptocratic state. Early in January, the ruling party itself admitted the menacing nature of the division within the country and pledged to work towards national reconciliation.

The new prime minister has the opportunity to move that pledge forward by crafting a new platform for peaceful co-existence and national reconciliation. But his most urgent and immediate task will be to set out a new vision for the country.

A new vision

The new prime minister needs to move away from the socially and politically ruinous policies and ideologies of the ruling party, such as revolutionary democracy, developmental state, and democratic centralism used thus far in Ethiopias history to circumvent the constitutional order and democratic accountability. The partys ideological beacon Meles Zenawi, who ruled the country for over two decades with an iron-fist, used these policies to maintain absolute control over federal and state governments and institutions by channelling decisions via the party system rather than elected representatives. His successor, Hailemariam Desalegn, strictly adhered to Zenawis policies and visions. Nearly seven years after Zenawis death, his authoritarian policies and vision still shape the ruling party and the country.

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The Ethiopian state and society have changed irreversibly and these authoritarian policies can no longer provide the cement that can hold this diverse country together. The new prime minister needs to imagine and articulate a new vision and progressive policies capable of responding to the urgent needs of the time. The country needs to move away from the emphasis on security and stability, towards the rule of law, democratic accountability, and human rights to create a sustainable breakthrough towards a lasting peace and prosperity.

Without a new ideological vision and a clear sense of the country and the society we want to have, the new leader will lose control of the narrative and risk squandering the historic opportunity he has to push reforms through.

National reconciliation

Ethiopia is a deeply divided nation. During the tenure of Meles Zenawi as prime minister, historical differences between various ethnic groups in Ethiopia  particularly between the Oromos and the Amaharas  have been used as an anchor for a policy of divide and rule. To secure the absolute invulnerability of the ethnic Tigrean elites to which Zenawi belongs, the Oromos and Amharas were presented as eternal adversaries who hold mutually exclusive views about Ethiopias past and future. Oromos were cast by the government as secessionists that threaten the unity and stability of Ethiopia, while Amharas were presented as a hegemonic group seeking to resurrect the old feudal empire. Within this framework, the current arrangement, in which ethnic Tigrayan elites play a central role, was presented as the only viable option to take the Ethiopian state forward. Over the years, both groups played into the hands of the regime, and unwittingly helped sustain the narrative it used to legitimise inequality between ethnic groups.

The protests of the last three years ruptured this narrative that allowed the regimes policy of divide and rule to thrive. The protests allowed the notions of solidarity and unity to gain traction, transforming the national discourse from one of mutual antagonism to strategic collaboration and coordination. The expression of solidarity that began with protesters in Oromia and Amhara slowly permeated the social body, eventually reaching up to the Amhara and the Oromo wings of the ruling coalition. Ahmeds election as prime minister would not have been possible had it not been for the decisive support of ethnic Amharas.

However, the country still remains divided. In the short term, a comprehensive package of measures designed to restore constitutional rule and confidence in democratic institutions can help orient political thinking away from historical fatalism towards civic citizenship. In the long term, the country needs to find a way to confront its internal divisions and establish a sound basis for reconciliation and democratic consolidation.

Widening the political space

Political repression is perhaps the single most important factor behind the current crisis in the country. Over the last three decades, the state built an Orwellian surveillance infrastructure reminiscent of the Stasi in East Germany, and its security forces acted with total impunity, vitiating the authority of the law and sapping citizens trust and confidence in institutions of justice.

Ahmed cannot hope to implement vital reform agendas while the state of emergency is hanging over his head. One of the new prime ministers most important and immediate tasks will be to lift the state of emergency and ensure the full restoration of constitutional rule: There can be no reform while the emergency is in place. This is an important step for the new leader, not only to implement critical reforms, but also to maintain public trust and confidence in his ability and willingness to reform critical institutions.

Widening the political space also means repealing a slew of repressive legislation, and policies that decimated the press and civil society, and shrunk the political opposition to extinction, including the anti-terrorism proclamation, the press law, and the charities and societies law.

Although the prime minister is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces with extensive executive power under the Constitution, it is not clear to what extent the deep state, and its overbearing military-security complex would allow him the space necessary to drive reform agendas that will undermine the undue influence they wield within the country.

Ahmed was elected with a landslide, but without any support from the Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), a faction that is still at the locus of power, and controls the intelligence and the military. Although he has strong support within the EPRDF, parliament and the formal structure of government, his single greatest challenge will come from the intelligence agencies and the military.

However, coming on the back of the protests of the last three years that reconfigured the political landscape and a strong mandate from the ruling coalition Ahmed will be different from his predecessor Hailemariam Desalegn, who was largely seen as a complaint placeholder for Zenawi. Ahmed knows the military-security apparatus and its culture. He has a strong party mandate and public support behind him. He comes to power at a time when those previously in charge are reviled by the populace. These factors put him in a unique position to leave a positive and enduring legacy by carefully balancing the need for stability with the need for renewal.

Ahmeds premiership will not end Ethiopias ongoing nightmare. Ethiopians will not wake up in a free country the day after he is confirmed. However, with the right strategies and tools, his premiership can pull the country back from the brink of explosion and mark the beginning of the end of a painful era.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.African migrants held at detention centre without food in Yemen

Migrants from the Horn of Africa continue to seek work in wealthy Gulf states, even attempting a dangerous transit through war-torn Yemen.Blane Salamonis dismissal comes days after Louisiana ruled out criminal charges in 2016 shooting of Alton Sterling.

A white police officer who fatally shot a black man in the southern US state of Louisiana has been fired, a police official said.

Baton Rouge officer Blane Salamonis dismissal was announced on Friday by Police Chief Paul Murphy.

The disciplinary measure came after Louisianas attorney general ruled out criminal charges against the two police officers involved in the 2016 shooting death of Alton Sterling.

Paul told reporters he fired Salamoni for violating department policies on the use of force and command of temper. He also suspended officer Howie Lake II, the other officer involved in the deadly encounter, for three days.

Lake helped wrestle Sterling to the ground but did not fire his weapon that night.

Sterling, 37, was fatally shot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on July 5, 2016, in a scuffle with police outside a shop where he had been selling CDs. His killing came amid national outrage over deadly violence from law enforcement that disproportionately affected minorities.





The disciplinary measures against Salamoni and Lake were designed to bring closure to a cloud that has been over our community for far too long, Paul said.

Police also released body camera footage and other videos of the officers confrontation with Sterling.

In the body camera footage, Salamoni can be heard using expletives as he shouts at Sterling to put his hands on a car. At one point, Salamoni points a gun at Sterlings head and threatens to shoot him in the head as Sterling asks what he did.

When Sterling complains that the officers are hurting him, one of the officers appears to use a Taser on him. Salamoni then runs at Sterling and tackles him to the ground.

Someone yells Hes got a gun, then gunshots ring out.

Paul called the footage graphic and shocking to the conscience.

Disappointment, sadness, anger

Lawyers representing Sterlings five children welcomed Salamonis firing, but expressed disappointment that the officers would not face charges.

There is disappointment, there is sadness, there is anger, said lawyer Chris Stewart at a news conference.

It was clear that Blane Salamoni came out like a pitbull and immediately escalated the situation by putting a gun to this mans head, using profane language, threatening his life and he ended up taking his life.

Michael Adams, another lawyer for the Sterling family said: The person who was out of control was Blane Salamoni. The person who stood by and let him be out of control was Howie Lake. Thats a tragedy.

Lousiana Attorney General Jeff Landy this week said the two officers would not face charges as they had reason to believe Sterling was armed, under the influence of illegal drugs and was resisting arrest.

According to the police, a loaded handgun was found in the right front pocket of Sterlings pants.

Fatal shootings by police

Salamonis firing comes amid anger over another fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man in the western state of California.

Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old father of two, was killed by police earlier this month outside his grandmothers backyard in Sacramento.

Police said the officers who shot at Clark 20 time feared he was holding a firearm, but it was revealed later he was only holding a mobile phone.

An independent autopsy report, released on Friday, showed that Clark sustained eight gunshot wounds, mostly in his back.

The killing of Clark has reignited the call to end what activists say is institutionalised racism among US police forces.

According to the Washington Posts Fatal Force database, more than 980 people were killed by police in 2017. The Guardian identified more than 1,090 police killings the previous year.

Nearly a quarter of those killed in 2016 were African Americans although the group accounts for roughly 12 percent of the total US population.

According to a watchdog group The Sentencing Project, African American men are six times more likely to be arrested than white men.

People of colour make up around 67 percent of the 2.2 million people in US prisons and jails.

These disparities, particularly the killing of African Americans by police, has prompted the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, a popular civil rights movement aimed at ending police violence and dismantling structural racism.Lunaticoutpost.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program , anaffiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.Amazon, the Amazon logo, MYHABIT, and the MYHABIT logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.Don't be a pest to the forum.No profanity in thread-titles or usernamesNo excessive profanity in postsNo Racism, Antisemitism + HateNo calls for violence against anyone..This website exists for fun and discussion only. The reader is responsible for discerning the validity, factuality or implications of information posted here, be it fictional or based on real events. The content of posts on this site, including but not limited to links to other web sites, are the expressed opinion of the original poster and are in no way representative of or endorsed by the owners or administration of this website. The posts on this website are the opinion of the specific author and are not statements of advice, opinion, or factual information on behalf of the owner or administration of LunaticOutPost.Com. The owners or administration of this website can't be hold responsible for content hosted on sites that posters link to in; including, but not limited to, posts, signatures, private messages and such. This site may contain content not suitable for minors and if you feel you might be offended by such content, you should log off immediately.This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Users may make such material available in an effort to advance awareness and understanding of issues relating to civil rights, economics, individual rights, international affairs, liberty, science & technology, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.In accordance with industry accepted best practices we ask that users limit their copy / paste of copyrighted material to the relevant portions of the article you wish to discuss (no more than 50% of the source material) provide a link back to the original articleIf you are a legal copyright holder or a designated agent for such and you believe a post on this website falls outside the boundaries of "Fair Use" and legitimately infringes on yours or your clients copyright please contact [email protected] This website is owned by :Marco ZwaneveldDrijfriemstraat 522516 XR The HagueNetherlands.I will not rent, sell, share or otherwise disclose your personal information to any third party.We might contact you from time to time regarding your purchases or the services (like forums and announcement lists) you have subscribed to.Some of the 3rd party advertisers on lunaticoutpost.com may use cookiesto track peformance and/or to serve relevant ads.If you wish to read more and/or opt out of such cookies, please visit: http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/State-affiliated media says 1,107 people have been arrested for violating the emergency decree announced last month.

Authorities in Ethiopia have arrested more than 1,100 people since the country declared a state of emergency after the prime ministers resignation last month, according to state media.

Hailemariam Desalegns abrupt decision to step down on February 15 came after more than two years of anti-government protests.

The move prompted the government to declare a six-month state of emergency  the second such measure in two years  in a bid to stem political unrest amid long-standing demands for greater freedoms.

The state-affiliated Fana Broadcast Corporate said on Saturday that 1,107 people have been detained for violating the emergency decree, which includes a ban on protests and the dissemination of publications that could incite and sow discord.

They were detained for killing peaceful civilians and security forces, setting houses and financial institutions ablaze, illicit movement of firearms, destroying government and public institutions (and) blocking roads, Fana reported, citing Tadesse Hordofa, chairman of the State of Emergency Inquiry Board.

Oromo PM elected

Anti-government demonstrations broke out among the Oromo, Ethiopias biggest ethnic group, in 2015 and later spread to the Amhara, the second biggest group.

The protests, which initially began over land rights but later broadened to include calls for greater political representation at the national level, met a harsh government response.

Human rights groups said hundreds of people were killed by security forces during the violence, while thousands of others were arrested.

Earlier this week, the ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition elected Abiy Ahmed as its leader.

He is set to be sworn in as prime minister early next week, succeeding Hailemariam and becoming the first Oromo prime minister in the 27 years EPRDF has been in power.Funerals held for Venezuelas prison fire victims

President Nicolas Maduro has yet to respond to demands for answers about the deaths from a fire in one of Venezuelas notoriously overcrowded prisons.Palestinians mourn 17 killed by Israeli forces in Gaza during Land Day march calling for return of Palestinian refugees.

Funerals have begun for the 17 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces as thousands marched near Gazas border with Israel to mark the 42nd anniversary of Land Day.

Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip held the funeral for 30-year-old Sari Abu Odeh late on Friday.

He was shot dead earlier in the day after Israeli forces fired live ammunition at protesters and used tear gas to push them back from a heavily fortified fence as they began a planned six-week demonstration demanding the right of return for refugees.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 1,400 others were wounded at the demonstration which commemorated Land Day, which stems from March 30, 1976, when six unarmed Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed by Israeli forces during protests against the Israeli governments decision to expropriate massive tracts of Palestinian-owned land.

Mohammed Najjar, 25, was shot in the stomach during a clash east of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, while Mahmoud Muammar, 38, and Mohammed Abu Omar, 22, were both shot dead in Rafah.

Among the other victims were Ahmed Odeh, 19, Jihad Freneh, 33, Mahmoud Saadi Rahmi, 33, Abdelfattah Abdelnabi, 19, Ibrahim Abu Shaar, 20, Abdelqader al-Hawajiri, Hamdan Abu Amsheh, Jihad Abu Jamous, Bader al-Sabbagh and Naji Abu Hjair, whose ages remain unknown.

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Earlier on Friday, Omar Waheed Abu Samour, a farmer from Gaza, was also killed by Israeli artillery fire while standing in his land near Khan Younis, just hours before the demonstrations.

Funerals for the rest of those killed are set to take place throughout the day on Saturday.

In honour of those killed, the Palestinian Authority declared Saturday a day of national mourning.

Schools, universities, as well as all government institutions, across the country will be off on Saturday, as per President Mahmoud Abbas decision to declare a day of national mourning for the souls of the martyrs, a statement issued on Friday said.

Adalah, a legal centre for Palestinian rights in Israel, condemned the Israeli armys use of force, calling it a brutal violation of international law.

Live gunfire on unarmed civilians constitutes a brutal violation of the international legal obligation to distinguish between civilians and combatants, the group said in a statement.

It also said that it would launch an investigation to demand that those found responsible for the killings be brought to justice.

Yara Mahamid, a student from Gaza told Al Jazeera, that Israeli aggression wouldnt deter Palestinians from protesting.

We came to commemorate Land Day because we have to confront the [Israeli] state.

We came out to remember our martyrs and to reclaim ownership of our land. We will resist until our last breath. We shouldnt negotiate anymore. We shouldnt give up our rights, she said.

This years Land Day comes on the heels of months of anger over US President Donald Trumps decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem.

It is widely expected the US will be transferring its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in the run-up to the Nakba, day of catastrophe, on May 15, when Israel was officially declared a state and more than 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes.

International reaction

At Kuwaits request, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting late on Friday, but failed to agree on a joint statement.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an independent and transparent investigation and reaffirmed the readiness of the world body to revitalise peace efforts.

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However, Mansour al-Otaibi, Kuwaits Ambassador to the UN, issued a statement criticising the Security Councils for failing to take action against Israel.

People in occupied Palestine are disappointed that the Security Council met, but did not take action yet to stop this massacre and to hold those responsible to account.

The Jordanian government also issued a statement laying responsibility on Israel for the deaths of the Palestinian protesters.

Mohammad al-Momani, spokesperson for the Jordanian government, said: As an occupying power, Israel bears responsibility for what happened in Gaza today, as a result of the Israeli violation of the Palestinian right to protest peacefully and the use of excessive force against them.

The Turkish and Qatari governments released similar statements, condemning Israels use of force.

Phyllis Bennis, a fellow with the Institute for Policy Studies and author of the book, Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, told Al Jazeera that there needed to be more than just condemnation of Israels actions.

Friday was only the first day of what is anticipated to be a six-week non-violent protest. Camps and tents had been set-up, playing fields for children had been erected, but days earlier, the Israelis decided to send 100 snipers there and who were prepared to use force against anyone who approaches the fence.

Given the size of the Gaza Strip, and that the fence encircles all of it, the notion of approaching it, just means living inside Gaza, she said.

So asking for a strong statement from the US and others isnt enough. And issuing strong statements simply doesnt go far enough.Foreign Ministry spokesman slams Mohammed bin Salman after Saudi heir warned war with Tehran was just 10-15 years away.

Irans Foreign Ministry spokesman has lashed out at Saudi Arabias crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, after the 32-year-old heir to the throne warned war with Tehran could be just 10 to 15 years away.

Bahram Qassemi warned bin Salman  known in as MBS  not to dice with death and called on veteran Saudi officials to teach the delusional novice of the fate former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein endured after he challenged the Iranian nations resolve.

This delusional novice, who is still too big for his boots, either does not know what war is, or has not studied history, or unfortunately has not talked to a venerable person, Qassemi was quoted by Iranian media as saying.

Reciting a verse from a 13th-century poem, Qassemi added: The ant seeking to grapple with an eagle is hastening to perish.

He then asked Persian linguists in the Saudi royal family to translate the verse accuately for the crown prince.

Qassemis comments came after bin Salman said that Saudi Arabia could engage in a military confrontation against Iran if tougher international sanctions were not imposed against the Islamic Republic.

We must achieve this in order to avoid a military conflict, if we fail to do this, we will probably have a war with Iran in 10-15 years, bin Salman told The Wall Street Journal.

Saudi Arabia has expressed alarm at what it views as creeping Iranian influence in the region and has stepped up its efforts to contain what it considers Irans expansion through proxy conflicts and direct military engagement in Yemen.

The kingdom has been a staunch critic of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which it says will alleviate Irans economic woes and allow it to prop up affiliates like Hezbollah.

Saudi authorities have repeatedly commended US President Donald Trumps tough stance on the landmark agreement.More than five years after being shot by Taliban gunmen, education rights icon returns to meet family and friends.

Islamabad  Malala Yousafzai, the 20-year-old Pakistani education rights icon, has returned home to her native Swat Valley for the first time since being shot by the Taliban there more than five years ago.

Yousafzai flew from the capital Islamabad to Mingora, the main town in Swat, by helicopter on Saturday morning. She briefly met friends and teachers from her old secondary school before heading to an event organised in her honour at a nearby college.

Security was tight across the valley, security officials told Al Jazeera, with local police coordinating with the military, which still has a sizeable presence in a valley once ruled by the Pakistan Taliban.

Mostly the trip is private, she is visiting her friends and family in Mingora, Akhtar Hayat Khan, a senior police official, told Al Jazeera.

Yousafzai returned to Pakistan on Thursday, the first time she had been able to return since Pakistan Taliban gunmen shot her in the head on her way to school in October 2012.

Since then, she has championed the cause of young womens right to an education, campaigning around the world and raising millions of dollars to launch programmes in Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya, Lebanon and elsewhere.

So much joy seeing my family home, visiting friends and putting my feet on this soil again. #Home #Pakistan pic.twitter.com/B8VN5Odd27  Malala (@Malala) March 31, 2018

In 2014, she jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Indian rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, becoming the youngest person ever to do so.

Last year, she was accepted for a Bachelors degree programme at Oxford University in the UK, where she has resided since receiving treatment there in 2012 for wounds sustained in the attack.

She has often spoken, however, of how much she has missed home, and particularly the mountains of the picturesque Swat Valley, where she hails from.

I had always dreamed that I could come back to Pakistan, and that I could move on the streets, talk to people, meet people, without any fear, she said at an event in Islamabad on Thursday, where she was visibly emotional at her return, often wiping tears from her eyes.

Taliban crackdown

The Pakistan Taliban ruled the Swat Valley with an iron fist for almost two years until 2009, when the military launched an operation to remove them from the northern Pakistani region.

While the operation was successful in reinforcing the writ of Pakistans government over the valley, sporadic attacks against Taliban opponents continued for several years after it was completed, including the one against Malala.

As recently as last year, anti-Taliban leaders were still being targeted in attacks, although the frequency of such attempts has decreased.

In February, at least 11 Pakistani soldiers were killed in a suicide attack on a military base in the town of Kabal, about 10km west of Mingora.

Congratulations to students at KKF Model School in Shangla on your first day! I was proud to give my @NobelPrize money to help build this school for girls in my home community. Thank you @MalalaFund, @Aman_Foundation, @TheBigHeartUAE & @susanmccaw. pic.twitter.com/HF4vsSdNpp  Malala (@Malala) March 15, 2018

Pakistan has blamed that attack on Afghanistan-based Pakistani Taliban fighters, and on Thursday handed Afghan authorities a dossier regarding those allegations, according to a Pakistani foreign ministry statement.

It is unclear if Yousafzai will visit her native village in the neighbouring district of Shangla, located about 35km from Mingora, where her Malala Fund has helped build a new secondary school for children in the area.

Asad Hashim is Al Jazeeras Web Correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashim.Mayor of Senegals capital sentenced to five years in prison

Khalifa Sall, Dakars mayor, plans to appeal against his five-year sentence for corruption, claiming that the trial is politically motivated and intended to end his campaign for president next year.Britain has to reduce its diplomatic staff in Russia by more than 50 people, the Russian foreign ministry said.

Russia has told Britain it must send home just over 50 more of its diplomats in a worsening standoff with Western countries over the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in the UK.

The Kremlin has already retaliated in kind against Britain and ejected 23 British diplomats over the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. London says Moscow was behind the attack  an allegation Russia denies.

British Ambassador Laurie Bristow was summoned again on Friday to be told that London diplomats had one month to cut its diplomatic contingent in Russia to the same size as the Russian mission in Britain.

On Saturday, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the media that meant Britain would have to cut a little over 50 of its diplomats in Russia.

We asked for parity. The Brits have 50 diplomats more than the Russians, Zakharova said.

Wave of expulsions

Russia on Friday expelled 59 diplomats from 23 countries in retaliation for the wave of ejections of Russian officials.

It came a day after Moscow ordered the expulsion of 60 US diplomats in response to a similar move by Washington earlier this week.

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Russia on Thursday also revoked the permit for the US consulate in St Petersburg  meaning it must shut down  and issued a protest note to US Ambassador to Moscow Jon Huntsman regarding what it called outrageous and unwarranted diplomatic action against Russia.

Over the past few days, 25 European countries  along with the US, Canada, and Australia  expelled more than 120 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity with the UK after the alleged attack.

NATO also announced seven officials working in the Russian mission to the alliance will have to leave.Dozens more wounded in second day of Gaza protests as condemnation over Israeli militarys use of live fire grows.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised Israels security forces after the killing of 17 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, just as condemnation of the Israeli armys use of live ammunition against protesters grows.

In a statement on Saturday, Netanyahu thanked his troops for guarding the countrys borders and allowing Israeli citizens to celebrate the [Passover] holiday peacefully.

Well done to our soldiers, he said.

Several countries and rights groups have denounced the shooting of the Palestinian protesters, who demonstrated in their thousands along Gazas eastern border on Friday.

More than 1,500 others were wounded when Israeli forces fired live ammunition at protesters, used tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets to push them back from the border area, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

On Saturday, 49 more people were wounded in the ongoing demonstrations.

Palestinian rights group Adalah said the Israeli army on Saturday accidentally took responsibility for the attacks on Palestinian protesters, before deleting a post from their official Twitter page.

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Yesterday we saw 30,000 people; we arrived prepared and with precise reinforcements. Nothing was carried out uncontrolled; everything was accurate and measured, and we know where every bullet landed, a screenshot of the post, shared by Adalah, read.

In the aftermath of the protests, leaders in several countries denounced Israels actions.

I strongly condemn the Israeli government over its inhumane attack, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday during a speech in Turkeys largest city, Istanbul.

Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the United Kingdoms opposition Labour Party, described the Israeli armys use of force as appalling.

The UK government must make its voice heard on the urgency of a genuine settlement for peace and justice, he said in a statement on Twitter.

Similar statements were issued from the Jordanian government, which called the attacks a violation of the Palestinian right to protest peacefully and the use of excessive force against them.

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Qatar also condemned Israel on Friday, while Kuwait requested an emergency United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on the same day.

However, the United States blocked the issuing of the UNSC statement that condemned Israels use of force.

Walter Miller, US representative to the UN, said bad actors were using the protests as a cover to incite violence and endanger innocent lives.

Millers comments echoed the Israeli governments stance towards Fridays demonstrations, which blamed Hamas, the movement that governs the Gaza Strip, for the killings, saying they used violent riots to camouflage terror.

UN call for investigation

The mass protests, called the Great March of Return, were organised by civil society groups and supported by all political factions to call for Palestinian refugees right of return to their homes.

Palestinians in Gaza gathered at five different locations along the border with Israel, originally positioned about 700 metres away from a highly fortified fence.

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an independent and transparent investigation and reaffirmed the readiness of the world body to revitalise peace efforts.

Federica Mogherini, the European Unions diplomatic chief, also called for an independent probe into the use of live ammunition by Israels military.

The EU mourns the loss of life. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims, Mogherini said in a statement on Saturday.

The use of live ammunition should, in particular, be part of an independent and transparent investigation, she added.

Freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are fundamental rights that must be respected.

Mansour al-Otaibi, Kuwaits ambassador to the UN, issued a statement criticising the UNSC for failing to take action against Israel.

People in occupied Palestine are disappointed that the Security Council met, but did not take action yet to stop this massacre and to hold those responsible to account, the statement read.

Land Day commemoration

Fridays demonstration also marked Land Day, the annual commemoration of an incident that took place on March 30, 1976, when six unarmed Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed by Israeli forces during protests against the Israeli governments decision to expropriate massive tracts of Palestinian-owned land.

Land Day is seen by Palestinians as a continuation of an ethnic cleansing campaign carried out by Zionist armed groups in 1948, when more than 750,000 Palestinians were driven off their lands in an event known to Arabs as the Nakba, or catastrophe.

Some 70 percent of Gazas two million population are descendants of the 1948 refugees.

Friday also marked the beginning of a six-week sit-in demonstration leading up to the commemoration of the Nakba on May 15.

When I saw the beauty of our stolen lands, the trees and the picturesque nature of it all, I wondered: why are we trapped here in a coop? campaign organiser Ahmad Abu Artema, told Al Jazeera.

The developments come on the heels of months of anger over US President Donald Trumps decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital.

Trump also obliged Israeli demands to cut funding to UNRWA, the UN development body tasked with aiding millions of Palestinian refugees.Coal mining under the reservoirs of Australias most populous city may be starting to affect the water.

Many environmentalists are expressing concern over Sydneys water supply.

Coal mining is affecting the regions catchments  a network of dams, rivers, lakes and wetlands spanning 16,000sq kilometres  that supply water to the countrys most populous city.

Mines have operated in the region for well over a century, but recent data shows that those operating underneath the catchments are altering the landscape and impacting water stores.

While the opposition is trying to limit these mines expansions, the New South Wales government backs the industry as its primary source of revenue, and curbing activity could impact the livelihoods of mine workers in the region.

Here is where the issue stands now:

What is the problem?

More than four million people drink water supplied by Sydneys catchments, but mines are affecting the quality and quantity of this water.

Coal companies use a technique called longwall mining, an efficient, but invasive extraction method that cuts away sections of coal and leaves large empty spaces underground. These spaces can collapse, cracking bedrock and diverting water into the mine.

An independent analysis of the citys water catchments, published in 2016, found an emerging issue of unquantified loss of surface flows associated with underground coal mining.

Potential environmental impacts include drained swamps and streams, lower groundwater levels, more rock permeability, and habitat loss for plants and animals.

Pollution is also of concern; some mines are leaking contaminants into the environment.

While some sections of the catchments have been designated Special Areas and granted government protection, mines can still gain approval to operate directly within these areas.

SPOTLIGHT: Australias Mine Games

What is the government response?

The state government has faced pressure to address growing concerns over water.

Its not usual that mines are not granted approval, Georgina Woods, spokesperson for a community action organisation called Lock the Gate, told Al Jazeera.

There has been a lot more  concern in recent years, particularly about the damage in the catchment.

In a statement issued this month, the government stated that mining has occurred in the catchment for over 160 years without any major impacts on water supply and that all mines in the catchment are currently required to limit water losses and follow strict water monitoring conditions, but it has launched an independent panel to assess the issue.

Last year, the government received criticism for tabling an independent study looking into Sydneys water supply. It has also received backlash for approving a coal mines extension after a court shut down the project over concerns about water pollution.

There is a close relationship between the mining industry and government in New South Whales, said Woods. The government doesnt always separate out the interests of mining companies from the public interests and finds it hard to take a long-term strategic view of the damage the mining industry is doing.

Coal is the primary revenue for the state, bringing in over $13bn to the economy in exports alone. More than 95 percent of coal exports go to Asia, with the largest buyers being Japan, China, and South Korea.

Mines around Sydneys water catchments also directly or indirectly generate a total of 3,700 jobs.

How urgent is the issue?

The governments 2016 independent study said that although mining could lead to small changes in the levels of impurities in water in the regions dams in past years, treatment plants can still maintain water quality.

There is no immediate threat to water supplies in Sydney, said Woods. Its much more of a long-term question that we are raising here.

What is the bigger picture?

Coal mining and coal politics are pretty deep and complicated in Australia, Roderick Campbell, Research Director at the Australia Institute, told Al Jazeera.

One of the largest mining debates in Australia centres around Adani mine, a controversial project in Queensland that, if approved, would be the largest mine in Australia and cost $16.5bn in investment.

Proponents argued that the mine would bring in revenue and job opportunities, while opponents pointed to funding problems and potentially damaging environmental consequences. The project received backing from the federal government, which broadly supports mining in the country.

[The mine] has become the symbol of the coal industry and the future of coal, Campbell said.World Food Programme warehouses full of cooking fuel and food supplies burned in rebel-held port.

A huge fire has broken out in Yemens rebel-held Hudaida port, destroying large quantities of aid supply.

The blaze on Saturday engulfed warehouses full of cooking fuel and food supplies belonging to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the Houthi-run Saba news agency reported.

The fire destroyed huge amounts of fuel and humanitarian aid and foodstuff, a WFP employee told Reuters news agency, adding that there would be an investigation to determine the cause, which remained unknown.

Some port workers said it might have been triggered by an electrical fault, while others blamed negligence.

Had the fire been controlled from the beginning, it wouldnt have reached this extent, said Mohammed Ghalleb, a guard of a storage facility.

By sunrise, the fire was huge, warehouses were burning, and the fire was expanding and spreading from store to store.

Abdul Rahman al-Faqih, director of public relations of the Hudaida Civil Defence Branch, said: Maybe negligence was the cause of the fire. Security and safety procedures were not at the required level, despite the existence of stickers and logos detailing safety measures.





Hudaida port, situated on the Red Sea, handles the bulk of Yemens imports, including food and aid supplies.

Yemen, the Arabian Peninsulas poorest country, has been wracked by violence since the Houthis overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014.

The conflict escalated in March 2015 after a coalition of Arab countries assembled by Saudi Arabia launched a massive bombing campaign aimed at rolling back their advances.

A three-year civil war in the country has led to massive food shortages and the worst recorded cholera outbreak, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The UN, which calls Yemen the worlds worst humanitarian crisis, says 22.2 million people are in need of aid, while 8.4 million are on the verge of famine.

In November 2017, the Saudi-led coalition eased a three-week-long blockade on rebel-held parts of Yemen, following an international outcry.

However, rights groups warned that the spectre of mass famine would continue to loom over Yemen.Dr Marc Lamont Hill is an award-winning journalist and author and is the Steve Charles Professor of Media, Cities, and Solutions at Temple University. Hill is known for his work addressing the intersections of race, justice, politics and culture. His latest best-selling book is We Still Here: Pandemics, Policing, Protest and Possibility which follows on the success of Nobody: Casualties of Americas War on the Vulnerable from Flint to Ferguson. Hill has received numerous prestigious awards from the US National Association of Black Journalists, GLAAD, and the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.It is about time we had someone who can convene a jury and subpoena witnesses, but can he and will he present the case mounting against his boss to that grand jury and present his boss with a subpoena?

While it is reassuring to note that A.G. Jeff Sessions has climbed down from the back side of the milk carton, where his missing visage had been hiding, long enough to appoint Utah U.S. attorney John Huber to independently investigate claims of FBI abuses in surveilling the Trump campaign and other matters, one question remains. Can he investigate the commission of his boss, Rod Rosenstein's, of a fraud upon the FISA court by signing a FISA warrant application that relied on a fake British-Russian dossier financed by Team Hillary and the DNC?

Some who have long been investing the Deep State coup don't think so. House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) exploded on The Ingraham Angle on Fox Thursday night on both the justification for a special counsel and the Mueller-like conflict of interest inherent in Huber's appointment:

"When the attorney general writes Congress and says, only under 'extraordinary circumstances' do we appoint a second special counsel, well, how about these facts, Laura?" Jordan asked. "James Comey's been fired; Deputy Director Andrew Mccabe has been fired; Jim Baker, former chief counsel of the FBI, has been demoted and reassigned; Peter Strzok, former deputy head of counterintelligence, has been demoted and reassigned; and Lisa Page, former FBI counsel, has been demoted and reassigned. If those aren't extraordinary circumstances warranting a second special counsel, I don't know what the heck is. "So I don't know why the attorney general keeps postponing this," Jordan continued. "Everyone in town knows we need a second special counsel to get to the bottom of this. How can Mr. Huber  he's probably a great lawyer, I don't know much about Mr. Huber from Utah  but how can he investigate his boss, Rod Rosenstein? That's who he reports to.

House Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) echoed Jordan's sentiment, reciting his mistrust of anything the DOJ, which has been dragging its feet in cooperating with House investigations, says or does:

"I disagree with the attorney general, and I can tell you tonight, I went through and reviewed some redacted things that were given to our committee, and on seven pages, there were 12 material facts  material facts, not just names  material facts that were omitted by the Department of Justice," Meadows said. "It's time that they come clean and give Congress what we need," he continued. "When we look at the multiple reactions that have taken place, this Department of Justice is not complying with the subpoena and with the oversight responsibility we have in Congress. For the attorney general to suggest that there is not enough there is just extremely disappointing."

Former House Oversight chairman Jason Chaffetz noted in a tweet:

Rosenstein is asking Huber to do something that's unfair and inappropriate. You're asking Huber to investigate his boss.

It can be said that Huber's appointment has all the advantages of a special counsel and none of the disadvantages. Sessions can fire Huber if he strays off the reservation or just doesn't do his job properly. But would he? Sessions is the man who recused himself from the Russian collusion investigation when he didn't have to. This is the A.G. who had to be dragged kicking to this point despite evidence a first-year law student couldn't ignore. This is the A.G. who fought to prevent testimony from the FBI informant in an earlier FBI investigation into Russian attempts to gain access to U.S. nuclear resources such as uranium, an investigation in which both Mueller and Rosenstein were up to their eyeballs.

Rod Rosenstein misled the FISA court and signed off on the FISA application to spy on Trump's campaign adviser, Carter Page, actions documented in the four-page House Intelligence Committee memo:

A secret, highly contentious Republican memo reveals that Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein approved an application to extend surveillance of a former Trump campaign associate shortly after taking office last spring, according to three people familiar with it. The renewal shows that the Justice Department under President Trump saw reason to believe that the associate, Carter Page, was acting as a Russian agent[.] ... The memo's primary contention is that F.B.I. and Justice Department officials failed to adequately explain to an intelligence court judge in initially seeking a warrant for surveillance of Mr. Page that they were relying in part on research by an investigator, Christopher Steele, that had been financed by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign[.]

Rod Rosenstein committed a self-evident fraud upon the FISA Court. And now his subordinate is going to investigate him? Can the swamp drain itself? Carter Page has vehemently denied the allegations in the dossier and has sought the release of the memo to show its falseness and to show that the DOJ of Rod Rosenstein and the FBI of Andrew McCabe colluded with the Democrats to keep Hillary Clinton out of prison and Donald Trump out of the White House:

The former Trump campaign adviser who was spied on by the U.S. government prior to the 2016 election is "very much" in favor of the release of a controversial congressional memo alleging abuses of the surveillance warrant application process[.] ... Page pressed for the release the FISA application in a May 14 letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. "If FISA warrants indeed exist as has been extensively reported, wide-ranging false evidence will be inevitably revealed in light of the fact that I have never done anything remotely unlawful in Russia or with any Russian person at any point in my life," he wrote. What remains unanswered about the application for the warrant on Page is how heavily it relied on the dossier and whether the FBI and DOJ vetted the allegations made about him by Steele[.] ... Page has vehemently denied the allegations made against him in the dossier, which was put together by former British spy Christopher Steele, commissioned by opposition research firm Fusion GPS, and financed by the Clinton campaign and DNC. In the 35-page dossier, Steele alleges that Page was the Trump campaign's main backchannel to the Kremlin for the purposes of campaign collusion. Steele claims that Page was working with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and that during a trip to Moscow in July 2016, he met secretly with two Kremlin cronies, Igor Sechin and Igor Diveykin. The dossier also alleges that it was Page who "conceived and promoted" the idea of having hacked DNC emails released through WikiLeaks in order to swing Bernie Sanders supporters away from Hillary Clinton and into the Trump camp. Page denies all of the claims. He says he does not know Manafort and has never spoken with Sechin and Diveykin.

Needless to say, Rosenstein did not grant Page's request to see the FISA application to determine how much it was based on Steele's fake dossier. Nor has he expressed any dissatisfaction with the Mueller witch hunt he was responsible for launching,

In an interview with a local D.C. TV station, Rosenstein admired the monster he created, who now runs an alleged investigation into supposed Russia-Trump collusion that quickly morphed into what amounts to a silent coup against a sitting president of the United States:

The U.S. Department of Justice official who appointed special counsel Robert Mueller to investigate Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election said he is satisfied with the special counsel's work[.] ... "The Office of Special Counsel, as you know, has a degree of autonomy from the Department of Justice. But there is appropriate oversight by the department. That includes budget. But it also includes certain other details of the office. It is part of the Department of Justice. And we're accountable for it."

Yes, Mr. Rosenstein, you certainly are accountable for the Mueller witch hunt. Mueller has picked staff and prosecutors as if he were stocking Hillary Clinton's Department of Justice. He has picked a bevy of Clinton donors, an attorney who worked for the Clinton Foundation, a former Watergate assistant prosecutor, and even a senior adviser to Eric Holder. Objective professionals all.

Oh, what tangled webs Rosenstein and the FBI have woven. Republican lawmakers, needless to say, are not amused at all this, casting the obvious doubts on Rosenstein's praise of Special Counsel Mueller:

Several conservative lawmakers held a news conference Wednesday demanding more details of how the FBI proceeded last year in its probes of Hillary Clinton's use of personal email and Russian election interference. This week, the conservative group Judicial Watch released an internal Justice Department email that, the group said, showed political bias against Trump by one of Mueller's senior prosecutors[.] ... "The question really is, if Mueller was doing such a great job on investigating the Russian collusion, why could he have not found the conflict of interest within their own agency?'' Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) asked at the news conference. Meadows, leader of the Freedom Caucus, cited a litany of other issues that he said show bias on the part of the FBI and Mueller, including past political donations by lawyers on Mueller's team.

A good question Rosenstein won't answer. Rosenstein is satisfied with Mueller, and why shouldn't he be? The two go back a long way and cooperated in the cover-up of an FBI investigation into Russia's use of bribes, kickbacks, and money-laundering to grab U.S. uranium supplies and real collusion with Hillary Clinton, only to resurface years later to chase phantom collusion between Team Trump and Russia.

Mueller and Rosenstein were both involved in the FBI investigation dating back to 2009, with current Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, as noted, up to their eyeballs in covering up evidence of Hillary's collusion, bordering on treason, with Vladimir Putin's Russia:

Prior to the Obama administration approving the very controversial deal in 2010 giving Russia 20% of America's Uranium, the FBI had evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were involved in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering in order to benefit Vladimir Putin, says a report by The Hill[.] ... John Solomon and Alison Spann of The Hill: Federal agents used a confidential U.S. witness working inside the Russian nuclear industry to gather extensive financial records, make secret recordings and intercept emails as early as 2009 that showed Moscow had compromised an American uranium trucking firm with bribes and kickbacks in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, FBI and court documents show[.] ... From today's report we find out that the investigation was supervised by then-U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein, who is now President Trump's Deputy Attorney General, and then-Assistant FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who is now the deputy FBI director under Trump. Robert Mueller was head of the FBI from Sept 2001-Sept 2013 until James Comey took over as FBI Director in 2013. They were BOTH involved in this Russian scam being that this case started in 2009 and ended in 2015.

If evidence of bribery, kickbacks, extortion, and money-laundering in the Uranium One affair were not grounds for a special prosecutor assigned to investigate Hillary Clinton, what is? Rosenstein's goal apparently has long been to shield Hillary Clinton from prosecution for her crimes and to use any means to bring down the Trump administration he supposedly was appointed to serve. Now he has stooped so low as to employ a fake Russian dossier in a witch hunt the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy could only envy

Rosenstein, Mueller, McCabe, et al. have used the office of special counsel and a politicized FBI and DOJ to conduct a silent coup against a duly elected president and are unindicted coconspirators in Hillary's crimes and should be the targets of their very own special counsel.

Rod Rosenstein should be the target of an investigation, not the overseer of one. Maybe the question before us is not whether a second special counsel is needed, but whether one is needed to investigate just Rod Rosenstein and his Deep State activities. One wishes Mr. Huber luck. He will need it.

Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investor's Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine, and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications.What's more, in the hands of today's leftists, the Second Amendment  and anything else in the U.S. Constitution with which modern liberals are unhappy  is in jeopardy whether or not it is "repealed." As most now well know, John Paul Stevens  a retired associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court  recently gave his direct endorsement to the shockingly foolish  but increasingly popular among Democrats  idea that the Second Amendment should be repealed.

Few should be surprised by Stevens's position in this matter. With the way too close Heller decision a decade ago, he almost got his wish. In 2008, liberals were a mere one vote short of effectively killing the Second Amendment. In a republic that properly respected and understood its Constitution, Heller wouldn't have been necessary, and under the absurd circumstances that such a case should make it to the highest court in the land, the vote to uphold the Second Amendment wouldn't be close.

As Charles Cooke put it:

Heller recognized what was obvious to the amendment's drafters, to the people who debated it, and to the jurists of their era and beyond: That "right of the people" means "right of the people," as it does everywhere else in both the Bill of Rights and in the common law that preceded it. A Second Amendment without the supposedly pernicious Heller "interpretation" wouldn't be any impediment to regulation at all. It would be a dead letter. It would be an effective repeal. It would be the end of the right itself.

In their efforts to remake America into their image of a leftist utopia, rarely have liberals let the Constitution stand in their way. For decades now  whether as public executives, legislators, or judges  liberals have conveniently ignored the Constitution or "interpreted" it beyond recognition.

For two centuries, the "right" to health care, housing, a "living wage," marriage, education, and the like escaped the vast majority of Americans  including our politicians and jurists. In the late 19th century, President Grover Cleveland explained well the prevailing thought on government and a citizen's "right" to public funds. While taking a stand against government aid involving a deserving orphanage in New York City during a severe economic crisis, Cleveland  a Democrat  said:

I will not be a party to stealing money from one group of citizens to give to another group of citizens. No matter what the need or apparent justification, once the coffers of the federal government are opened to the public, there will be no shutting them again[.]

In 1887, after vetoing a bill that appropriated $10,000 to buy grain for several drought-stricken Texas counties, Cleveland declared:

Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character, while it prevents the indulgence among our people of that kindly sentiment and conduct which strengthens the bonds of a common brotherhood.

Nevertheless, in recent decades, as they increasingly made a god of government and sought to build a massive welfare state (through which votes could be purchased), Democrats and those like-minded have fully embraced the notion of "paternal care on the part of the government."

Today's liberalism stands upon two duplicitous notions that both require a modern "interpretation" of our Constitution: 1) the godless pagan principle of "Do What Thou Wilt" and 2) the presence of an "omnicompetent" government that is all too eager to mother us. And as C.S. Lewis put it, "[i]f we are to be mothered, mother must know best."

Of course, and in spite of the claims of modern liberals, such a political philosophy does not bring justice, and it certainly does not promote liberty. On the contrary, as Lewis also noted, such a modern State exists "not to protect our rights but to do us good or make us good  anyway, to do something to us or to make us something." Something, indeed. Lewis depressingly concludes that under such a regime, "[t]here is nothing left of which we can say to them, 'Mind your own business.' Our whole lives are their business."

One of the primary functions of the U.S. Constitution, as the Preamble expressly declares, is to "secure the Blessings of Liberty." One of the chief means through which such Blessings are "secured" is by ensuring the right of the people to arm themselves. Of course, a government that increasingly makes our "whole lives ... [its] business" is in direct conflict with the idea of securing "the Blessings of Liberty." Thus, we get "interpretation" of a "living Constitution"  especially when it comes to things like guns.

To repeal a Constitutional amendment is an arduous effort. Thanks to Barack Obama, Democrats today are in no shape to pursue repeal of anything, but thanks in large part to men and women like John Paul Stevens, they don't have to.

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

Image: mike via Flickr.The basic premise behind Christianity is that humanity, and also by extension the universe, is flawed  the theological term is fallen  so flawed that there is no way any human could set himself right with a just, perfect, and holy Creator. If humanity is to be reconciled to the Creator, it must be the effort of the Creator Himself, since only the Creator is capable of effecting such as massive work.

This Sunday, Christians around the world will celebrate Easter. Some prefer to call it Resurrection Day. Now most Christians  whether nominal or serious  just accept the holiday without much thought. But if they would examine the claims, most Christians would be shocked.

Christianity's claim is that the Creator did come down to Earth, with the purpose of reconciling God to man, in the person of Jesus Christ, who is both man and God. His human nature would be the Son of God through a virgin; his divine nature would be God incarnate.

Jesus would absorb all the wrongs of mankind in Himself to clear out the account. The classic wording for this is that He (Jesus) paid the penalty for our sins. If one is more modern, and eschews the concept of retributive justice, then one could say Jesus absorbed within Himself all the consequences of man's wrongs, with the idea of setting it right.

Now, the idea of suffering on someone else's behalf is not new, but Christianity takes the concept a large step forward and makes this claim: death would not be able to hold Jesus, and He would come out of the grave. And this resurrection would be the signature that Christ indeed set things right between God and man. Indeed, He would more than pay the price for man's transgressions.

Many of us, who came out of nominal Christian homes, of whatever denomination, gave it little thought and just accepted it sort of vaguely  but if true, such a resurrection should stop us in our tracks.

No other religion makes this claim.

Mohammed did not claim to die for our sins, nor did he resurrect. In fact, Mohammed admitted that he had his own sins.

Hinduism offers mankind just the possibility of setting things right by endless reincarnations, with the idea that over time, we will finally arrive at perfection ourselves. The problem is that even if humans arrive at perfection, it does not do away with the bad karma accumulated from prior reincarnations. In fact, the hidden flaw of Hinduism is that each reincarnation only makes our problems worse with an endless accretion of bad karma.

Buddhism, which is an outgrowth of Hinduism, has the same fatal flaw.

But what about this Jesus? Was He like other humans in being sinful? Christianity addresses the problem by stating that Jesus was unique in His sinlessness, by virtue of the fact that He is God, and therefore He, Jesus, did not have our sinful nature. He is a rather unique case.

This is further amplified by an Old Testament (Tenach) prophecy, where it is stated that Jesus would bear the sins of others, not his own.

He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Surely He has borne our griefs

And carried our sorrows;

Yet we esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten by God, and afflicted.

But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed. ... And He bore the sin of many,

And made intercession for the transgressors.

This is the famous "suffering servant" passage of Isaiah 53. Some have claimed that the passage refers to Israel (the Jewish people themselves); however, verse 3 notes that "[w]e [the Jewish people] did not esteem Him." Now, if the suffering servant were Israel, then it means that the Jewish people did not esteem themselves. Whatever the many virtues and flaws of the Jewish people, they do not generally lack for self-esteem. Without such self-esteem, they would not have survived the diaspora, but would have merged into the other nations. No, this passage is referring to an individual who would die for the sins of others.

The whole process is conditioned on this person coming out of the grave. If He did not resurrect, He would have been as sinful as the rest of us, deserving of death, and unable to pay for anyone else's sins. But, if He were the Son of God, He would be infinite in value, and His sacrifice could atone for whoever accepted it.

The fact is that if Jesus did not come out of that grave, then Christianity is pointless, despite what liberal preachers say. Christianity is not positive thinking or a good attitude. Either Christ came out of that grave or the whole religion is a fraud.

As Paul wrote, "[a]nd if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty" (1 Cor. 15:14).

But if Jesus did come out of that grave, then all of history changes. The ramifications are immense.

Islam is false. Hinduism is false. Buddhism is false. Rabbinic Judaism  which rejects Christ  is incomplete.

If He came out of that grave, then He is the only way to God. Think about it: if we could save ourselves, why would God have even sent Jesus to die for us and then resurrect? We can't earn our way back to Heaven. Our good deeds will not save us.

Christianity, though producing a tolerant civilization, makes a unique claim. Not only is there only one God  both Judaism and Islam agree on that point  but the only way to approach that God is through His Son  which both Islam and Rabbinic Judaism deny.

I am not going to go into other points such as the Trinity, denominational doctrines, etc.

The first thing you have to do  if you have not decided it already  is settle once and for all: did Jesus come out of that grave?

If He did, then that is a very inconvenient fact for much of the world, including merely nominal Christians  but it is also the central drama of history.

Mike Konrad is the pen name of an American who wishes he had availed himself more fully of the opportunity to learn Spanish better in high school, lo those many decades ago. He runs a website about the Arab community in South America at http://latinarabia.com.This declaration from the one-eyed cleric Mullah Omar on March 2, 2001 created a chill throughout the free world, succeeding another declaration issued by Afghanistan's Taliban regime stating that all pre-Islamic statues in the country were to be destroyed. That edict, and the resulting demolition, has been condemned worldwide as "cultural terrorism."

"The real God is only Allah, and all other false gods should be removed."

Much more destruction on a broader range is taking place in Iran under the direction of Iran's theocrats. The heinous destruction of the two Buddha statues by Afghanistan's Taliban pales in comparison to the present barbaric designs of the Islamic Republic.

According to the World Book Encyclopedia, "cultural genocide" is a term used to describe the deliberate destruction of the cultural heritage of a people or nation for political or military reasons.

The intolerant monolithic Islamists have been on the march, lashing out with fury at non-Islamic people and cultures. This ideology of violence and death spares neither the living nor the non-living heritage of humanity: wherever and whenever it can, it commits cultural terrorism  wiping out other people's precious cultural treasures.

Over its life span, the Islamic Republic zealots have tried innumerable times to cleanse pre-Islamic Persian heritage in the name of Islam. First, they declared war against the Persian New Year or "Nowruz," and then, they went after other Persian traditions and customs. In 1979, Khomeini's right-hand man, the Ayatollah Sadegh Khalkhali, tried to bulldoze Iran's greatest epical poet Ferdowsi's tomb and Persepolis palace. Fortunately, the total bulldozing of the relics of the palace was averted by local Iranian patriots who were determined to preserve their heritage; who literally stood in front of the bulldozers and did not allow the destruction of this heritage of humanity.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, which holds in great contempt any non-Islamic belief or heritage, has embarked on destroying many pre-Islamic archeological sites in Iran such as Pasargadae and Persepolis, some of humanity's most prized cultural heritage, on the pretext of building a dam.

Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria continue their war on the region's cultural heritage, attacking archaeological sites with bulldozers and explosives. The so-called Islamic State (ISIS) released a video that shocked the world by showing the fiery destruction of the Temple of Baalshamin, one of the best preserved ruins at the Syrian site of Palmyra.

The Islamic State continued destroying invaluable architecture and antiquities in northern Iraq. Libraries that housed priceless manuscripts, detailing the heritage of Mosul and other towns, were burned to the ground. Even books of Islamic studies were not spared, as they contained a version of Islam that ISIS rejects.

Faced with the growing terrorist threat in the world, the Parliamentary Assembly stressed the need for an overall approach to combating terrorism, combining cultural with political, economic, legal, and social methods. It is not a matter here of confusing blind terrorism and its innocent victims with what are sometimes acts of resistance to oppression and violation of human rights.

Culture in all its aspects  the arts, heritage, religion, the media, science, education, youth, and sport  can play an important role in preventing the development of a terrorist mentality, in dissuading would-be terrorists, and in cutting them off from wider support. Its importance in this respect is, however, often underestimated.

The basis for any cultural action against terrorism lies in understanding the complex and delicate relationship between terrorism and its cultural context.

The assembly stands resolutely against attempts to qualify any specific world, national, regional, or local culture as terrorist. At the same time, under certain conditions, any society is capable of producing terrorism. Extremist interpretation of elements of a particular culture or religion, such as heroic martyrdom, sacrifice, and holy war, as well as secular ideologies (nationalist and revolutionary), can also be invoked to justify terrorist acts.

Culture is, however, also becoming increasingly an object of terrorism. Beyond the physical damage and destruction of monuments, temples, and symbols of a given culture and way of life, such terrorist acts target the cultural identity of a people. They also harm a cultural heritage that is common to all peoples of the world.

Generations of humanity will bemoan the loss of this living testimony to the nobility of mankind. The destructive hand of any kind of zealot must be stayed. Stand up, raise your voice, and do what is in your power to preserve what is rightfully yours.

Header image: Juan Llanos via Flickr.Connecticut Democrats have a big #MeToo problem on their hands and are split over what to do about it. A few want to force the resignation of a sitting member of the House of Representatives to avoid a loss in November. But most of the prominent Dem officeholders want to stick with a loyal Democrat who only tolerated but did not commit domestic violence.

Breaking with all other party leaders, Democratic state Sen. Mae Flexer of Danielson is calling for U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty to resign over her handling of repeated acts of domestic violence by a since-fired chief of staff against a former aide. Flexer  an architect of the "Time's Up Act,'' introduced by Democrats in the state Senate as an overhaul of Connecticut's sexual harassment laws  is the first office holder in Esty's own party to call for the congresswoman's resignation. "The congresswoman failed her staff on every level when she decided to protect an alleged abuser instead of them," Flexer said. "It's completely unacceptable. Her failure to do the right thing here hurt us all, especially as more and more women are courageously coming forward. It's time for Rep. Esty to step aside."

In the fevered atmosphere of the #MeToo movement, Rep. Esty behaved in a way that could offend enough voters to swing Connecticut's Fifth Congressional District to a Republican challenger. State Senator Flexer speaks to the constituency aroused by revelations of widespread abuse of females in politics and the media. They do not tolerate those who tolerate abuse.

It took three months until Esty dismissed her top adviser, Tony Baker, who not only received a $5,000 severance payment, but got a favorable recommendation from his one-time boss that led to his hiring by Sandy Hook Promise.

Personal loyalties seem at work here  by Esty for her valued former employee and by other Connecticut pols to her.

Democrats, including Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and U.S. Rep. Rosa Delauro, have rallied around Esty. Prominent Democratic women in the General Assembly have remained silent since the Washington Post reported that Esty kept Butler on the job for three months after learning about his behavior in 2016.

Republicans have been calling for her to resign, but in fact the best outcome for the GOP would be for Esty to hang in there and for feminists like Flexer to denounce her. Esty won re-election in 2016 by a solid 58-to-42-percent margin, but the district itself, while loyally Democratic, gave Hillary Clinton only a 4% margin in 2016. If enough Democrats are disgusted by Esty, a good GOP candidate (a woman, perhaps) could win, just as the candidacy of Roy Moore handed a safe GOP Senate seat to the Democrats in a special election.

Control of the House majority could hang in the balance here. Watch for more Democrats to start pressuring Esty to reign and hand the seat to an untainted Democrat.The latest example occurred on the Gazan border where thousands of Palestinians rioted against the Israeli military on Passover Friday, resulting in 17 dead and 1,400 injured. Another 13 were wounded during demonstrations today as Hamas ginned up outrage at the IDF response to armed Palestinians attacking soldiers.

This is the real tragedy of the Palestinian people: cynical leaders feeding a delusion about "reclaiming" land leading to futile protests.

Thousands of Palestinians had been protesting the anniversary of the death of six Israeli Arabs killed in protests in 1976.

CNN:

In an article on its website, the United Nations reported that Taye-Brook Zerihoun, the deputy UN political affairs chief, told Friday's Security Council meeting that around 30,000 people participated in and around the March at various locations in Gaza. Soon after the demonstrations started, the UN report said, "(T)he situation turned deadly in several spots." "Some of the casualties were reportedly the result of live ammunition used by Israeli security forces during the March. Other casualties followed armed clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, including the shelling of a Hamas observation point," the United Nations said. "Reports indicate that most of the demonstrators stayed well away from the border fence and were not violent," the United Nations reported Zerihoun as saying. "However, there are also reports that some protesters engaged in stone-throwing and violent behavior; some reportedly carrying weapons," Zerihoun said. He reportedly told the Security Council that Israeli security forces said that militants tried to get through the fence in attempt to plant explosives. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Friday that IDF troops responded with riot dispersal means and firing toward main instigators. An IDF official warned any breach of Israeli sovereignty would be treated severely after a week of attempted and successful breaches of the border fence from Gaza. Confrontations escalated into Saturday. Israeli fighter jets targeted three Hamas sites after an IDF position was shot at in northern Gaza, according to an IDF statement. Tank fire also targeted the three sites following an exchange of fire.

We all know how unbiased and fair any U.N. "investigation" is going to be. But what exactly was the IDF supposed to do? Armed Palestinians were mixed in with "peaceful" protesters, firing at soldiers. The military tried to target "agitators," but when there are 20,000 people screaming, throwing rocks, and firing at you, it's a dead certainty that innocents will be hit.

This, of course, is exactly what the Palestinians were counting on. They know that their allies around the world in governments and the U.N. will do the rest. As sure as night follows day, Israel will be blamed for defending itself from Palestinian violence.

The fact is, much of the world does not know the truth or care about the truth. One thing is certain: Israel is again under siege and those predisposed to hate the Jewish state, will have their excuse to criticize them.Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 1 Vote(s) - 1 Average

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Page: 1 2 3 Russia Cracks Down On Internet Freedom RiskyRob

( Lop V.I.P.)

User ID: kaput

03-31-2018 09:40 PM



Posts: 8,137









Post: #1 Russia Cracks Down On Internet Freedom

Advertisement



If reports coming out this week hold true, extremely far indeed.



The controversy centers around an app called Zello, which acts as a kind of walkie-talkie, assisting communication between close friends or in groups of up to a thousand people.



The app gained a lot of press in 2017 when it was revealed it was being used as an unofficial rescue co-ordination tool while Hurricane Harvey was battering the United States. It quickly shot to the top of the download charts after being downloaded a million times in a day.



But while the app clearly has some fantastic uses, Zello seems to represent a challenge to the authority of the Russian government.

Under the so-called Yarovaya law, services like Zello, ISPs, and other telecoms companies, are required to register with Russian telecoms watchdog Rozcomnadzor. Amendments to come into force this year also require them to store the actual content of user communications for six months and metadata (such as who communicated with who, when, and for how long) for three years.



Encrypted services are also required to share keys which allow law enforcement bodies so that they can decrypt messages sent and received by users, something which has communications and VPN companies extremely concerned.



Until now, Zello has reportedly failed to register itself so as a result, the service has become a blocking target for Russian authorities. Zello uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) and last summer it was reported that dozens of Amazons IP addresses ended up on Russias official blacklist. This week, however, a much more worrying proposition raised its head.



Operators of at least four Internet service providers confirmed to Russias Vedomosti that Rozcomnadzor had issued recommendations that they block access to Zello. The letter speaks of an experiment in which ISPs take action to block 36 Internet subnets  representing a staggering 15 million IP addresses  in order to take Zello down.



https://torrentfreak.com/russia-asked-is...pp-180331/  Ascended Master Russia is developing a track record of being one of the most aggressive countries on the site-blocking front. Already many thousands of sites are rendered inaccessible to the general public but just how far will the government go to achieve its aims?If reports coming out this week hold true, extremely far indeed.The controversy centers around an app called Zello, which acts as a kind of walkie-talkie, assisting communication between close friends or in groups of up to a thousand people.The app gained a lot of press in 2017 when it was revealed it was being used as an unofficial rescue co-ordination tool while Hurricane Harvey was battering the United States. It quickly shot to the top of the download charts after being downloaded a million times in a day.But while the app clearly has some fantastic uses, Zello seems to represent a challenge to the authority of the Russian government.Under the so-called Yarovaya law, services like Zello, ISPs, and other telecoms companies, are required to register with Russian telecoms watchdog Rozcomnadzor. Amendments to come into force this year also require them to store the actual content of user communications for six months and metadata (such as who communicated with who, when, and for how long) for three years.Encrypted services are also required to share keys which allow law enforcement bodies so that they can decrypt messages sent and received by users, something which has communications and VPN companies extremely concerned.Until now, Zello has reportedly failed to register itself so as a result, the service has become a blocking target for Russian authorities. Zello uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) and last summer it was reported that dozens of Amazons IP addresses ended up on Russias official blacklist. This week, however, a much more worrying proposition raised its head.Operators of at least four Internet service providers confirmed to Russias Vedomosti that Rozcomnadzor had issued recommendations that they block access to Zello. The letter speaks of an experiment in which ISPs take action to block 36 Internet subnets  representing a staggering 15 million IP addresses  in order to take Zello down. Ascended Master (This post was last modified: 03-31-2018 09:46 PM by RiskyRob .) LoP Guest

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03-31-2018 09:58 PM











Post: #2 RE: Russia Cracks Down On Internet Freedom

RiskyRob Wrote: (03-31-2018 09:40 PM) Russia is developing a track record of being one of the most aggressive countries on the site-blocking front. Already many thousands of sites are rendered inaccessible to the general public but just how far will the government go to achieve its aims?



If reports coming out this week hold true, extremely far indeed.



The controversy centers around an app called Zello, which acts as a kind of walkie-talkie, assisting communication between close friends or in groups of up to a thousand people.



The app gained a lot of press in 2017 when it was revealed it was being used as an unofficial rescue co-ordination tool while Hurricane Harvey was battering the United States. It quickly shot to the top of the download charts after being downloaded a million times in a day.



But while the app clearly has some fantastic uses, Zello seems to represent a challenge to the authority of the Russian government.

Under the so-called Yarovaya law, services like Zello, ISPs, and other telecoms companies, are required to register with Russian telecoms watchdog Rozcomnadzor. Amendments to come into force this year also require them to store the actual content of user communications for six months and metadata (such as who communicated with who, when, and for how long) for three years.



Encrypted services are also required to share keys which allow law enforcement bodies so that they can decrypt messages sent and received by users, something which has communications and VPN companies extremely concerned.



Until now, Zello has reportedly failed to register itself so as a result, the service has become a blocking target for Russian authorities. Zello uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) and last summer it was reported that dozens of Amazons IP addresses ended up on Russias official blacklist. This week, however, a much more worrying proposition raised its head.



Operators of at least four Internet service providers confirmed to Russias Vedomosti that Rozcomnadzor had issued recommendations that they block access to Zello. The letter speaks of an experiment in which ISPs take action to block 36 Internet subnets  representing a staggering 15 million IP addresses  in order to take Zello down.



https://torrentfreak.com/russia-asked-is...pp-180331/

The Kremlin has always had an iron grip on Russian broadcast and print media. Russia has never been a free society but I think the speed that technology moved at overtook their ability to control and monitor.



Putin, as a FSB colonel, wants to know what everyone in Russia is saying and thinking all the time. He always wants to have that option of picking up those defiant truth speakers in the middle of the night. The Kremlin has always had an iron grip on Russian broadcast and print media. Russia has never been a free society but I think the speed that technology moved at overtook their ability to control and monitor.Putin, as a FSB colonel, wants to know what everyone in Russia is saying and thinking all the time. He always wants to have that option of picking up those defiant truth speakers in the middle of the night. RiskyRob

( Lop V.I.P.)

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03-31-2018 10:02 PM



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Post: #3 RE: Russia Cracks Down On Internet Freedom

LoP Guest Wrote: (03-31-2018 09:58 PM) The Kremlin has always had an iron grip on Russian broadcast and print media. Russia has never been a free society but I think the speed that technology moved at overtook their ability to control and monitor.



Putin, as a FSB colonel, wants to know what everyone in Russia is saying and thinking all the time. He always wants to have that option of picking up those defiant truth speakers in the middle of the night.

And this Zello, by allowing many people to communicate at once, poses an especially dangerous threat to a totalitarian dictatorship. No wonder Putin fears this. And this Zello, by allowing many people to communicate at once, poses an especially dangerous threat to a totalitarian dictatorship. No wonder Putin fears this.  Ascended Master LoP Guest

lop guest

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03-31-2018 10:32 PM











Post: #4 RE: Russia Cracks Down On Internet Freedom

RiskyRob Wrote: (03-31-2018 10:02 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (03-31-2018 09:58 PM) The Kremlin has always had an iron grip on Russian broadcast and print media. Russia has never been a free society but I think the speed that technology moved at overtook their ability to control and monitor.



Putin, as a FSB colonel, wants to know what everyone in Russia is saying and thinking all the time. He always wants to have that option of picking up those defiant truth speakers in the middle of the night.

And this Zello, by allowing many people to communicate at once, poses an especially dangerous threat to a totalitarian dictatorship. No wonder Putin fears this.

Yes in police states like China What's app became very popular before they clamped down on it because it offered the users private encrypted chat. It looks like Zello did the same for Russians. The stakes are much higher for Russians though because their country is a police state run by the mafia. They have no hesitation in killing their freedom seekers in the most violent and blatant ways, just to send a message. Yes in police states like China What's app became very popular before they clamped down on it because it offered the users private encrypted chat. It looks like Zello did the same for Russians. The stakes are much higher for Russians though because their country is a police state run by the mafia. They have no hesitation in killing their freedom seekers in the most violent and blatant ways, just to send a message. TheKeyling

lop guest

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03-31-2018 10:57 PM











Post: #5 RE: Russia Cracks Down On Internet Freedom

The internet in Russia is fine ... no problems.



As for the west - facebook, twitter, gmail, google, amazon ... well?



These are your real tyrants.



BTW, Putin was elected - unlike a certain US president appointed by court judges?





Seriously -y ou Yanks just need to go home, and shut the f*#k up.



Most of the World is against you now.

Think about that. Monk-1

Registered User

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03-31-2018 10:59 PM



Posts: 5,687









Post: #6 RE: Russia Cracks Down On Internet Freedom

LoP Guest Wrote: (03-31-2018 09:58 PM) RiskyRob Wrote: (03-31-2018 09:40 PM) Russia is developing a track record of being one of the most aggressive countries on the site-blocking front. Already many thousands of sites are rendered inaccessible to the general public but just how far will the government go to achieve its aims?



If reports coming out this week hold true, extremely far indeed.



The controversy centers around an app called Zello, which acts as a kind of walkie-talkie, assisting communication between close friends or in groups of up to a thousand people.



The app gained a lot of press in 2017 when it was revealed it was being used as an unofficial rescue co-ordination tool while Hurricane Harvey was battering the United States. It quickly shot to the top of the download charts after being downloaded a million times in a day.



But while the app clearly has some fantastic uses, Zello seems to represent a challenge to the authority of the Russian government.

Under the so-called Yarovaya law, services like Zello, ISPs, and other telecoms companies, are required to register with Russian telecoms watchdog Rozcomnadzor. Amendments to come into force this year also require them to store the actual content of user communications for six months and metadata (such as who communicated with who, when, and for how long) for three years.



Encrypted services are also required to share keys which allow law enforcement bodies so that they can decrypt messages sent and received by users, something which has communications and VPN companies extremely concerned.



Until now, Zello has reportedly failed to register itself so as a result, the service has become a blocking target for Russian authorities. Zello uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) and last summer it was reported that dozens of Amazons IP addresses ended up on Russias official blacklist. This week, however, a much more worrying proposition raised its head.



Operators of at least four Internet service providers confirmed to Russias Vedomosti that Rozcomnadzor had issued recommendations that they block access to Zello. The letter speaks of an experiment in which ISPs take action to block 36 Internet subnets  representing a staggering 15 million IP addresses  in order to take Zello down.



https://torrentfreak.com/russia-asked-is...pp-180331/

The Kremlin has always had an iron grip on Russian broadcast and print media. Russia has never been a free society but I think the speed that technology moved at overtook their ability to control and monitor.



Putin, as a FSB colonel, wants to know what everyone in Russia is saying and thinking all the time. He always wants to have that option of picking up those defiant truth speakers in the middle of the night.

Yeah that truth.. More dangerous then lies apparently. Yeah that truth.. More dangerous then lies apparently. Donald J Trump

Homer's University of GREATNESS

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03-31-2018 11:12 PM



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Post: #7 RE: Russia Cracks Down On Internet Freedom

TheKeyling Wrote: (03-31-2018 10:57 PM) The internet in Russia is fine ... no problems.



As for the west - facebook, twitter, gmail, google, amazon ... well?



These are your real tyrants.



BTW, Putin was elected - unlike a certain US president appointed by court judges?





Seriously -y ou Yanks just need to go home, and shut the f*#k up.



Most of the World is against you now.

Think about that.

"Go with the flow, like a twig on the shoulders of a mighty stream" Del Griffith



TheKeyling

lop guest

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03-31-2018 11:14 PM











Post: #8 RE: Russia Cracks Down On Internet Freedom

Homer Simpson Wrote: (03-31-2018 11:12 PM) TheKeyling Wrote: (03-31-2018 10:57 PM) The internet in Russia is fine ... no problems.



As for the west - facebook, twitter, gmail, google, amazon ... well?



These are your real tyrants.



BTW, Putin was elected - unlike a certain US president appointed by court judges?





Seriously -y ou Yanks just need to go home, and shut the f*#k up.



Most of the World is against you now.

Think about that.





Yanktard.



I guess nuclear war is coming.



link to image: https://media1.tenor.com/images/8b7bb690...id=5960432 LoP Guest

lop guest

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03-31-2018 11:16 PM











Post: #9 RE: Russia Cracks Down On Internet Freedom

Quote: Seriously -y ou Yanks just need to go home, and shut the f*#k up.



Most of the World is against you now.

Think about that.

..they aren't stopping indulging in american things yet tho are they.

(food franchises/movies/etc) ..they aren't stopping indulging in american things yet tho are they.(food franchises/movies/etc) Monk-1

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03-31-2018 11:16 PM



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Post: #10 RE: Russia Cracks Down On Internet Freedom

Homer Simpson Wrote: (03-31-2018 11:12 PM) TheKeyling Wrote: (03-31-2018 10:57 PM) The internet in Russia is fine ... no problems.



As for the west - facebook, twitter, gmail, google, amazon ... well?



These are your real tyrants.



BTW, Putin was elected - unlike a certain US president appointed by court judges?





Seriously -y ou Yanks just need to go home, and shut the f*#k up.



Most of the World is against you now.

Think about that.







LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-31-2018 11:16 PM











Post: #11 RE: Russia Cracks Down On Internet Freedom

Monk-1 Wrote: (03-31-2018 10:59 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (03-31-2018 09:58 PM) The Kremlin has always had an iron grip on Russian broadcast and print media. Russia has never been a free society but I think the speed that technology moved at overtook their ability to control and monitor.



Putin, as a FSB colonel, wants to know what everyone in Russia is saying and thinking all the time. He always wants to have that option of picking up those defiant truth speakers in the middle of the night.

Yeah that truth.. More dangerous then lies apparently.

Not very keen when the names of at least two of his childhood friends turned up on the paradise papers. No, not keen on those sorts of truths. Not very keen when the names of at least two of his childhood friends turned up on the paradise papers. No, not keen on those sorts of truths. LoP Guest

lop guest

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03-31-2018 11:19 PM











Post: #12 RE: Russia Cracks Down On Internet Freedom

TheKeyling Wrote: (03-31-2018 10:57 PM) The internet in Russia is fine ... no problems.



As for the west - facebook, twitter, gmail, google, amazon ... well?



These are your real tyrants.



BTW, Putin was elected - unlike a certain US president appointed by court judges?





Seriously -y ou Yanks just need to go home, and shut the f*#k up.



Most of the World is against you now.

Think about that.

Yeah we know you get great access from your FSB troll farm. Yeah we know you get great access from your FSB troll farm. Monk-1

Registered User

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03-31-2018 11:19 PM



Posts: 5,687









Post: #13 RE: Russia Cracks Down On Internet Freedom

LoP Guest Wrote: (03-31-2018 11:16 PM) Monk-1 Wrote: (03-31-2018 10:59 PM) Yeah that truth.. More dangerous then lies apparently.

Not very keen when the names of at least two of his childhood friends turned up on the paradise papers. No, not keen on those sorts of truths.

What are the paradise papers. What are the paradise papers. Donald J Trump

Homer's University of GREATNESS

User ID: 1337

03-31-2018 11:28 PM



Posts: 6,934









Post: #14 RE: Russia Cracks Down On Internet Freedom

TheKeyling Wrote: (03-31-2018 11:14 PM) Homer Simpson Wrote: (03-31-2018 11:12 PM) link to image: https://media1.tenor.com/images/8b7bb690...id=5960432 Quote: I guess nuke war is comin

Not yet. The globalists haven't invaded Iran yet.



Maybe after that. Not yet. The globalists haven't invaded Iran yet.Maybe after that. "Go with the flow, like a twig on the shoulders of a mighty stream" Del Griffith



(This post was last modified: 03-31-2018 11:30 PM by Donald J Trump .) LoP Guest

lop guest

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03-31-2018 11:32 PM











Post: #15 RE: Russia Cracks Down On Internet Freedom

Monk-1 Wrote: (03-31-2018 11:19 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (03-31-2018 11:16 PM) Not very keen when the names of at least two of his childhood friends turned up on the paradise papers. No, not keen on those sorts of truths.

What are the paradise papers.

A massive leak of secret papers detailing hidden offshore accounts in tax havens. It's been a who's who of politicians, businessmen and gangsters.



http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-n...9274&sid=6 A massive leak of secret papers detailing hidden offshore accounts in tax havens. It's been a who's who of politicians, businessmen and gangsters. Advertisement

















The numbers illustrating the dangers of cell phone use while driving are downright startling. In fact, at any given time throughout the day, approximately 660,000 drivers are attempting to use their phones while behind the wheel of an automobile.

Based on the data out there, it certainly appears that cell phones and driving are much more dangerous to teenagers than guns, so, where are the people who say one death is too many for a teens possessing cellphones? Where are the teen activists advocating that cell phones be taken away?

 The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year.  Nearly 330,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by texting while driving.  1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving.  Texting while driving is 6x more likely to cause an accident than driving drunk.  11 teens die every day as a result of texting while driving.  According to a AAA poll, 94% of teen drivers acknowledge the dangers of texting and driving, but 35% admitted to doing it anyway.  21% of teen drivers involved in fatal accidents were distracted by their cell phones.  Teen drivers are 4x more likely than adults to get into car crashes or near-crashes when talking or texting on a cell phone.

At the same time, there are also many ways that Facebook and other social media outlets can be psychologically damaging.

Since more than 300 teens (way more than die from school shootings) die each month from distracted driving caused by cell phones, and social media are psychologically damaging, I will believe David Hogg, George Clooney and others are serious about teen deaths and mental health when I see signs and protests demanding that cell phones be made illegal or at least kept out of the hands of everyone until he orshe turns 21.

I also would like to see protests against the Promise program that allows troubled and dangerous youths like school shooter Nikolas Cruz to impose a danger on other students and the community by hiding the problem. The non-reporting allowed Cruz to get the guns, not the NRA

The school, the police and the FBI all allowed Cruz to go unpunished but instead of teen activists protesting them, their protest is against the NRA and guns.

Here is a story that most of the media somehow didnt have much time to cover. Al Sharptons half brother was charged with capital murder because a car he was driving had a passenger who shot and killed a woman. This occurred one day after he participated in a rally advocating gun control.

Al Sharpton's half brother was arrested and charged with capital murder after a 23-year-old woman was shot dead in Alabama in a dispute over a car, authorities said Monday. Jennings' death came just a day after Glasgow's homeless and community ministry, Ordinary People Society participated in the nationwide March For Our Lives, which advocated for gun control and protested gun violence.

It makes you think he isnt as much against guns as he said he was.

Most of the media also gives scant coverage to illegal aliens who kill U.S. citizens. That's because it obviously doesnt fit the agenda.

There were studies after the ten-year assault gun ban that showed little or no reduction in violent crime. So why doesnt the media report that? Why do politicians and others always want to try things that havent worked before? Dont they learn from history or dont they care?

Chicago has very strict gun laws and they dont reduce violent crime, if at all.

Why arent there protests demanding that the cops get violent gangs off the streets? Instead of those protests, we get protests complaining cops are too tough.

Instead of wanting police to get tough on criminals in Chicago to make the streets safer, students are protesting $95 million for a police academy.

Since police and the government dont enforce existing gun laws very well, since previous bans on assault weapons didnt work very well if at all and since states, cities, Democrats and Hollywood refuse to enforce laws that keep dangerous illegal immigrants off the street why would more laws work? It appears they just want government control and results dont matter.

I look forward to student protestors demanding that politicians enforce immigration laws that Congress passed.

I will believe that students, professors, Hollywood, the media and other Democrats actually know history when we see the following signs in bold letters:

Hitler took away the guns and millions died

This only occurred around 80 years ago. You would think people could understand that it could happen again if a tyrannical powerful politician took control.

The people of the United States would not be free if only the British had guns

Maybe students should learn about the Revolutionary War and the actual reason for the second amendment instead of the garbage they are being taught today.

It is a true shame that the media dont report wall to wall on the large prolife rallies in the way they report on the anti-second amendment rallies. Almost all reporting today is based on an agenda (almost always the Democrat agenda)instead of reporting the actual news. That is truly dangerous to our freedom.There's no real natural disaster or surge in violence in Honduras, where most of the migrants are from. This is a cold, calculated, organized effort to storm the U.S. border with thousands of illegals.

Here's some rather disturbing news from Mexico. Mexican immigration authorities are turning the other way as thousands of migrants from Central America flood immigration points headed for America.

BuzzFeed:

For five days now hundreds of Central Americans  children, women, and men, most of them from Honduras  have boldly crossed immigration checkpoints, military bases, and police in a desperate, sometimes chaotic march toward the United States. Despite their being in Mexico without authorization, no one has made any effort to stop them. Organized by a group of volunteers called Pueblos Sin Fronteras, or People Without Borders, the caravan is intended to help migrants safely reach the United States, bypassing not only authorities who would seek to deport them, but gangs and cartels who are known to assault vulnerable migrants. Organizers like Rodrigo Abeja hope that the sheer size of the crowd will give immigration authorities and criminals pause before trying to stop them. "If we all protect each other we'll get through this together," Abeja yelled through a loudspeaker on the morning they left Tapachula, on Mexico's border with Guatemala, for the nearly monthlong trek. When they get to the US, they hope American authorities will grant them asylum or, for some, be absent when they attempt to cross the border illegally. More likely is that it will set up an enormous challenge to the Trump administration's immigration policies and its ability to deal with an organized group of migrants numbering in the hundreds. The number of people who showed up to travel with the caravan caught organizers by surprise, and has overwhelmed the various towns they've stopped in to spend the night. Pueblos Sin Fronteras counted about 1,200 people on the first day.

Everyone should write a letter to the Mexican government thanking it for its generosity  at our expense.

This tactic of organized attack on our border is not new, but it's never happened on this scale before. Where are we going to put them, with detention centers on our border already bursting? Mexico is deliberately, coldly creating a humanitarian crisis for the U.S. In some contexts, this is an act of war. They are looking to paralyze U.S. border enforcement and force the government into choosing between starving thousands or accepting them at the border.

I don't envy Trump in this situation. There is little room for compromise with the Mexican government, whose leaders apparently decided to facilitate this attack. Is there a way we could force them to feed, house, and care for so many illegals before they get to the U.S.? Or, in turning back the flood of illegals trying to cross our border, can we count on Mexico to offer them assistance to go back from where they came?

These ignorant, illiterate migrants have been sold a bill of goods by those who are trying to manipulate the Honduran masses into advancing a political agenda. It doesn't get much more despicable than that.Pashtun Muslims battle Taliban

There is a popular uprising forming against the Taliban, and it is being carried out by Pashtun, a Muslim-majority group whose leaders tell us they share our values. The Pashtun are a tribal people of about 40-50 million. The majority live in Pakistan's North and West Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA); Pashtun also constitute Afghanistan's ethnic majority. The two regions were united until 1896, when the British divided their homeland between Afghanistan and what was then-British India. The "Durand Line," which was named after Sir Mortimer of the same name, forms the boundary between Afghanistan and Pakistan and has never been recognized by the Afghans as legitimate.

Despite the fact that there are more Pashtun than Poles, few people in the West are familiar with them. Those who are aware of them tend to focus on their representation among the Taliban. While it is true that many Taliban are Pashtun, the vast majority of Pashtun are virulently anti-Islamist. In an exclusive interview in Frankfurt, Germany, Pir Riaz, chairman of the Pashtunistan Freedom Movement, told us, "Pashtuns as a nation is totally democratic and secular  no forced conversions ever in our entire history. During India's partition [when one to two million people lost their lives in communal rioting], there were no riots in Pashtunistan. Many people even fled to us for safety, and we still have Sikhs and Hindus living peacefully and safe. The greatest number of our intellectuals are anti-Islamist, and they reflect the Pashtun people who are very democratic and freedom-loving. Because Pashtun have always been among the ruling elite in the region, it is not surprising that some turned away from Pashtun values and supported the Taliban. They and all of their supporters represent far less than one percent of our people." Over the last few weeks, Pashtun have been battling the Taliban, fighting those radicals who are killing young Americans in Afghanistan. Thus far, these incidents have resulted in property damage only due to Pakistani military presence. In the videos linked below, you can see Pakistani military men in the crowd, protecting the Taliban and identifying the Pashtun rioters. On February 6, in Dera Ismail Khan, hundreds of people attacked the Taliban office and took their weapons, promising more to come. Ten days after the attack, the local Taliban leader told Pashtun elders: "We are not terrorists. We are working for Pakistan's military intelligence and ISI. The state is behind us." Pashtun long have accused Pakistan of supporting the Taliban. Now others including President Trump have come to the same conclusion. On February 6, gleeful Pashtun tore down the Pakistani flag in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunwa. They never have desecrated the American flag, according to Riaz. Richard Benkin is an American human rights activist, and Roohul Amin is a former journalist and Pashtun rights activist. Dr. Benkin's involvement has been partially funded by the Middle East Forum.There are storms, and there is Stormy Daniels.

A federal judge on Thursday denied a motion from Stormy Daniels seeking to depose President Donald Trump and his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen in the case over the adult film actress's nondisclosure agreement. Michael Avenatti, Daniels' attorney, filed the action in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Tuesday asking permission to question Trump for two hours. Avenatti also sought to depose Cohen. According to the filing, Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford but who goes by her stage name, wants Trump to answer questions about their alleged affair and wants Cohen to discuss the reported hush agreement he struck with her. After the motion was struck down by a judge as premature, Avenatti vowed during a CNN interview on Thursday afternoon to re-up the legal maneuver, possibly by the end of the day. "We can refile this motion," he said. "That's exactly what we're going to do."

So where are we?

In the short run, they will appeal the judge's decision.

In the long run, this storm will pass.

First, the Trump-Daniels incident occurred when he was a private citizen. By all indications, it was totally voluntary. No one forced anyone to do anything  or, as they say, two consenting adults.

Second, the Republican women who voted for Mr. Trump calculated all of this prior to voting. After all, we got daily stories for weeks before election day about this woman or that woman. No one voted for Mr. Trump thinking he was a perfect husband. At the same time, the women who voted for him were looking for someone to fix the economy and protect their husbands' jobs.

Third, there is the hypocrisy factor. Did you see any marches calling on President Clinton or Senator Ted Kennedy to resign?

There is no storm here unless something brand-new appears. My guess is that something would have appeared already, especially weeks before the campaign.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.A day after saying U.S. troops would be out of Syria "very soon," the Trump administration announced that it is freezing $200 million in aid for Syrian recovery efforts that had been pledged by former secretary of state Rex Tillerson.

The administration's actions, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, send more mixed signals on a highly sensitive issue: Suspending the funds could alarm Saudi Arabia, Israel and others worried about growing Iranian influence in the restive region. The White House ordered the freeze to the State Department funding following a news report the president read noting the U.S. had committed an additional $200 million to support earlier recovery efforts in Syria, a State Department official confirmed to POLITICO. The additional funds were pledged by former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in February during a meeting in Kuwait with the coalition to defeat ISIS. Tillerson, who was fired by Trump on March 13, earlier this year introduced a strategy for the ongoing war in Syria that called for U.S. troops to stay in the country for the foreseeable future to ward off ISIS resurgence and Iran's influence. Trump's declaration he wanted to soon end the U.S. presence in Syria was just the latest instance in which the president has publicly undercut or defied his foreign policy team, to the frustration and confusion of U.S. officials and America's allies.

I've never found Trump's Syria policy very confusing; he doesn't want to be there and doesn't think it's a good idea to pour money down a hole. What his "foreign policy team" wants is irrelevant. Trump has the final say.

Trump's instincts on Syria are spot on. ISIS has been pushed out of Iraq and is reduced to pockets of fighters in Syria. The threat of a nation-state of terrorists that can threaten U.S. allies in the region by conquering territory is pretty much gone. That doesn't mean that ISIS can't cause enormous trouble for countries like Egypt, Yemen, and Afghanistan. But this is a problem that can now be handled by regional powers like Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

We have only about 2,000 troops in Syria, most of them special forces and most of them assisting the Kurds. But the Kurds are at war with Turkey  a war the U.S. is sitting out  and besides, within the political context of Syria's post-civil war environment, the U.S. has chosen not to agitate for Kurdish independence or any kind of a Kurdish state.

So getting out while the going is good would appear to be the proper strategy. As far as pouring money into a failed state like Syria for "recovery," let the U.N. divvy it up. Half of the money will be stolen anyway, so why bother? We didn't make the mess, and the American taxpayer shouldn't have to pay to clean it up.

The prospect of Iran using Syria as a base is troubling, but the Israelis are dealing with that problem and don't need or want our help.

All said, Trump's Syria policy makes more sense than just about any other foreign policy he has put forward.It's also thanks to genetics that we can sustain the number of people currently living on this planet, not to mention allowing infertile couples to have babies and all sorts of other good and useful things. As it so often happens, people tend to fear what they don't understand, so a little education on the matter wouldn't go amiss.Well, it looks as though Lexus now looks to fuse the automotive industry with this discipline for the first time with its Lexus Genetic Select initiative. In broad terms, this seeks to offer the carmaker's clients the possibility of having a vehicle made specifically for them based on the structure of their DNA.Given the number of options we have these days, choosing a car can become stressful when in fact it should be a reason for joy. The Japanese manufacturer wants to take this burden off its clients, and all it needs in return is a sample of their saliva. Don't worry, there's no reason to feel ashamed: as the clip shows, the whole procedure can be carried out in the privacy offered by your strategically placed hand.A simple visit to an authorized Lexus dealership after making sure you are well hydrated is all you need to configure the perfect vehicle for you. After spitting in the sample collector, Lexus and 23andMe, its genetics specialist partner will take care of all the rest. Based on the results, everything from the actual model to the color, trim level, and powertrain configuration will be chosen for you to best suit your DNA.The best thing about this is that you'll get your bespoke vehicle that reflects your personality 100% (it's actually 99.99967%, according to Lexus) in just 48 hours from dropping the sample. However, it looks as though carrying a bottle of water with you at all times might become a bit of a habit since a dry mouth could translate into being unable to start the car. That's right, you no longer have to go the trouble of keeping a key in the pocket and pushing a button to ignite the engine: all you need to do is lick the steering wheel. The real question is which part of the car needs licking to get the doors open in the first place?Well, we've got the perfect example of just how different two Neunelfers can be, even when sharing most of their badge.To be more precise, the visual comparo we've brought along for today involves a pair of 2018 GT3s. We're looking at a Mint Green standard model, if we may call it so and at a GT Silver-dressed GT3 Touring Package.The two have recently landed in Littleton, Colorado, with the pics found in the Instagram post at the bottom of the page allowing us to feast our eyes on the differences between the two.Nevertheless, both machines come with yellow calipers, which means they're fitted with PCCB (Porsche Carbon Ceramic) goodies.And while the photos could do a better job of helping us compare the two (the focus on the Mint Green GT3 is clear, so we wished the GT Silver TP received more pixel space), these are enough to make a point.Of course, the differences between the TP and the non-Touring GT3s go well beyond the surface and we're not even referring to the spec differences between the two machines we have here.To be more precise, the fixes rear wing adorning the posterior of the GT3 signals its more aggressive overall tune, which is more suitable for track time.And while the GT3 Touring, which is only offered with a six-speed manual, comes with a more relaxed attitude, a recent review involving the two showcased an unexpected aspect.We're talking about the soundproofing, as it seems that the TP is louder (think: from inside the car) than the non-Touring car.So, could a Zuffenhausen fanatic's garage hold both? Probably.4Motion

As per Automotive News Europe , the new addition will give Skoda a true competitor in Europes small SUV sector, which grew 6.4 percent to 1.34 million sales last year. It will be made at the Mlada Boleslav plant in the Czech Republic, with the newcomer accounting for much of the planned 80,000 capacity increase.Like the Arona and T-Roc, the Vision X or whatever the production model will be named rides on the Volkswagen MQB A0 platform . What that means in terms of oily bits is three- and four-cylinder powerplants, good ol manual and fast-shifting DSG, as well as the Haldex-clutchall-wheel-drive system offered as an option.Bearing the mind the concept is hybridized , theres a case to be made for an eco-friendly drivetrain as well. Skoda chief executive officer Bernhard Maier confirmed at the conference that the automaker developed an electric axle, with Skoda now discussing who, when, and where we will produce it.Maier further told the media the concept gave a good idea of the production cars design, so dont expect anything too different from the Vision X presented at the Geneva Motor Show. If Skoda carries over the 2,645-millimeter wheelbase of the concept to the production model, the Vision X will be pretty practical, as in roomier than the T-Roc (2,603 mm) and Arona (2,566 mm).If small SUVs are your thing, Volkswagen announced that its gearing up for the convertible take on the T-Roc. According to chief executive officer Herbert Diess, the T-Roc Cabriolet will go into production in Palmela, Portugal no later than 2020.This shenanigan comes from Supercar Blondie, a YouTuber we've featured in the past, who has now taken delivery of her V10 tool. We're talking about a Huracan LP610-4 , which is the standard model, if we may call it so.Speaking of which, the Raging Bull recently gave us yet another reason to refrain from labeling it as "standard" - despite its on-paper drawbacks compared to the Ferrari 488, namely the power- and torque-to-weight ratios, the Sant'Agata Bolognese machine managed to one-up its Maranello rival in a series of drag races.Returning to the delivery shenanigan we're here to discuss, this took place in Dubai, where the vlogger lives, with the stunt involving an Easter Egg. And we won't go any further with this part of the tale, as we don't want to ruin the giggles delivered by the video.We're looking at a gearhead whose real name is Alex Hirschi. The 31-year-old aficionado was born in Boonah, Queensland, but she decided to leave Australia for Dubai in 2008. And while Alex used to be a journalist, she dedicates her time to social media stunts nowadays.Oh, and you shouldn't think that her baying the said Huracan in the clip documenting this Easter present means she has a light foot. On the contrary...For instance, as we showed you back in September last year, Alex loves to pull burnouts, with her machine of choice back then being a rather unlikely one, namely the McLaren 720S.P.S.: Alas, the video was filmed vertivally, so you'll have to prepare yourself for that.Elaine Herzberg, a 49-year-old Tempe resident, was involved in the deadly crash on March 18 as she was pushing her bike across the unlit road at night. The sensors onboard the Uber vehicle failed to pick her up as did the person sitting behind the wheel, who video shows was looking away from the road when it all happened.The incident had immediate repercussions with the ride-hailing company's autonomous program quickly suspended. It didn't end there, however, as other companies did the same, including Toyota and NVIDIA. It also cast a bad image on every other player on the market, with Tesla taking a blow as well - not helped by the fact one of its vehicles was also involved in the company's second deadly Autopilot crash. Uber would obviously like to put this behind it as quickly as possible, but with all the media's eyes turned toward it, it's finding it to be more easily said than done. A major step in that direction has just been taken, however, as the company has reportedly reached a settlement with the victim's family.Uber representatives refused to comment, and the family is more than likely prohibited by the settlement itself to reveal its value, so we'll never know any figures. What we do know is that it's been done, as confirmed by the family's lawyer, Christina Perez Hesano, quoted by several major news networks, including the LA Times. Everyone seems to agree more similar incidents will occur in the future and there's nothing the authorities can do about it apart from banning self-driving car tests altogether. But the cold facts show that, in the end, we should be looking at a positive balance sheet - a few lives lost during the technology development compared to thousands saved once it hits its stride. For the moment, though, Uber's license to operate its autonomous cars in Arizona has been suspended as the company decided to halt its activity in other states on its own accord.A number of companies have tried a range of variations on the traditional airship in recent years, attempting to combine the simplicity of buoyant flight with new technology to create marketable aircraft  so far, with limited success. Now a new French company, Flying Whales, with support from Chinese aviation conglomerate AVIC, is working on a design that will be able to carry up to 60 tons of cargo. The 500-foot-long airship will load and unload without landing, using slings, a feature that will make it possible to harvest wood from deep forests without roads, the company says. The aircraft will be powered by hybrid distributed electric propulsion and may be capable of remotely piloted flight. The first flight is expected in 2021.

Sebastien Bougon, founder and CEO, told the Sydney Morning Herald, We have a solid base. The wood market alone justifies our investments, and weve got low-risk prospects beyond. Flying Whales already has raised more than $300 million in capital, according to the Herald. Besides AVIC, investors include Bpifrance, which has invested 25 million euros; Frances national forestry office; and the Nouvelle Aquitaine region in the southwest of the country. Other recent airship projects include the Airlander, in England, and a mystery project reportedly underway in Silicon Valley.In a rare feat, Florida signed time zone legislation this month that would recognize daylight saving time (more sunlight in the evenings, less in the mornings) throughout the year. Such a change would have an unusual effect: for half of the year, the state would be an hour ahead of the rest of the east coast and in its entirely own time zone from the rest of the country.

Bottom line: States are currently free to observe standard time throughout the year (Hawaii and Arizona do). But theres a catch; For the Florida law to go into effect, Congress would need allow states the autonomy to recognize daylight saving time year round. It does not appear likely to do so.

The case for more evening sunlight

Florida hasn't been alone in wanting more PM daylight between November and March. New England states, with their early winter sunsets, have pushed for permanent daylight saving time and even a shift ahead to Atlantic Standard Time. The advantages:

Businesses get a boost, as more commercial and recreational activity happens in the evening than the early morning.

Earlier sunsets contribute to winter depression.

It's safer because there's more daylight during a more heavily trafficked time of day.

The other side

State-specific time zones create regional headaches. This could get particularly onerous in the Northeast, where it's common to cross state lines on the daily commute.

A separate time zone puts a state out of sync with the rest of the country. TV schedules get thrown off, and start times for national sports and entertainment events must be accommodated.

Aggrieved parties include early risers, such as farmers, who must tend to the fields ahead of the sunrise.

Where things stand

Each year, statehouses draft dozens of bills in an effort to legislate the clock. Florida's Sunshine Protection Act is a rare case of a bill getting passed and signed. But that was only half the battle in establishing this policy. Now Congress must act.

Marco Rubio proposed bills in the Senate, both to allow Florida to permanently recognize daylight saving time and make the whole country do so. According to the Sun-Sentinel, he said this week that lawmakers haven't gotten behind the bill along any sort of ideological lines.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce is not optimistic: "Heres the key takeaway: despite all the rhetoric, changes are not imminent and are, in fact, very unlikely to occur anytime soon."By Rashid Shirinov

Today Azerbaijan commemorates one of the bloodiest pages of its history  the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis, which was committed by Armenian nationalists exactly a century ago, on March 31, 1918.

In the early 20th century, Armenian nationalists expanded their activities towards the idea of a "Great Armenia" put forward by the Dashnaktsutyun Party, systematically expelled Azerbaijanis from their historical lands and native homes and embarked on a policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide. For example, in 1905-1906 the Armenians committed massacres against Azerbaijani civilians in Baku, Ganja, Karabakh, Irevan, Nakhchivan, Ordubad, Sharur-Daralayaz, Tiflis, Zangezur, Gazakh and other places, perpetrated ruthless massacres against the local population, burned and destroyed cities and villages. Armenian armed forces destroyed more than 200 Azerbaijani villages in Shusha, Zangezur and Jabrayil region, Irevan and Ganja provinces, expelling tens of thousands of Azerbaijanis from their homes.

After the developments that occurred in Russia in February and October of 1917, the Dashnaktsutyun Party and the Armenian National Congress launched even wider activities against Azerbaijanis. In 1918, while the entire world was involved in the World War I, the Armenian armed brigades, using the prevailing anarchic situation in the region, attempted to exterminate the Azerbaijani nation throughout the territory of Azerbaijan and present-day Armenia, and subsequently to establish an Armenian state on the Azerbaijani lands. Fortunately, the dedication of Azerbaijanis and the formation of self-defense groups did not allow this to happen.

The Armenians started with Baku and its environs. More than 12,000 Azerbaijani civilians living there were killed only because of their ethnicity. People were burned in their homes, tortured and killed with unparalleled cruelty. Armenian bandits collected corpses in the courtyard of Taza Pir mosque in Baku and lit a bonfire with them.

Anatoly Kvasnik, a Baku Jew who witnessed the genocide in the city, wrote in his testimony: "The organized bloody conspiracy of Armenians against the Muslim population was aimed to physically destroy them first in Baku and then in the outskirts, capturing all their property and moving all their natural wealth and political dominance in the hands of the Armenians."

Bloody events soon spread out covering the entire territory of Azerbaijan. In March-April 1918, about 8,000 civilians were slaughtered in Shamakhi. Armenian gangs stormed the city, setting houses on fire. Those who were trying to escape from the fire, were shot. The majority of Muslim monuments of culture, including the Friday Mosque of Shamakhi, were set on fire and burnt to the ground with elderly, women and children hiding in it. People were buried alive, while some were brutally tortured before being killed.

Moreover, Armenian nationalists killed with utmost cruelty more than 16,000 people in Guba province in the first five months of 1918. The facts of mass extermination of the Azerbaijanis of Guba by Armenian-Dashnak gangs were proven again in the 21st century  the discovery in 2007 of mass graves in Guba is a fact confirming the Armenian brutality. The study of the burial site revealed that people were subjected to unprecedented violence and killed with cruelty during the Armenian armed attack on Guba in 1918.

A ruthless massacre of the Azerbaijanis was also perpetrated in Shusha, Irevan, Zangezur, Karabakh, Nakhchivan, Kars and other regions. When committing these atrocities on historical Azerbaijani lands, the Armenians burned schools and mosques and destroyed samples of material culture of Azerbaijanis.

Shamakhis 58 villages were wiped off the face of the earth, as well as 112 villages in Guba, 272 in Ganja, 211 in the Irevan province, 82 in Kars and many other settlements. About a million people were driven from their ancestral lands.

After the proclamation of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic on May 28, 1918, the newborn government investigated the March events. In 1919-1920, the ADR commemorated March 31 as the national day of mourning. Later, during the presidency of Heydar Aliyev in Azerbaijan, March 31 events were officially recognized as the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis, according to the presidential decree in 1998.

"Remembering the tragic events of 1918 is extremely important, primarily because the aggression of Armenians against Azerbaijani people continues to this day," says Natig Mammadzada, head of the History of the Genocide of Azerbaijani People Department of the Institute of History of Azerbaijan's National Academy of Sciences.

He reminded that Armenian nationalists repeated the extermination of Azerbaijanis in February 1992, during the Nagorno-Karabakh war, in the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly.

"The comprehensive peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia must necessarily guarantee today's and future generations of Azerbaijanis the impossibility of repeating the tragic events like those that took place in the spring of 1918 and subsequently occurred during the Karabakh war," Mammadzada noted.

A century ago Armenian terrorists committed atrocities of such brutality and viciousness that words cannot fully describe them. These violent and inhuman actions should never be forgotten and can never be justified. The world community has to remember and keep the memory of the genocide of 1918.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Azerbaijans defense minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov has left for Turkeys Giresun to attend the trilateral meeting of defense ministers of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry told Trend.

The meeting of the defense ministers will take place on March 31.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

March 31, commemorated in Azerbaijan as the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis, reflects the memory of the victims of the bloody massacre committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis in March 1918, reads a statement issued by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry on the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis.



"After the October Revolution in Russia in 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power in Baku and viewed the Armenian nationalist party of Dashnaksutyun as an ally to capitalize the situation on the ground," the statement reads. "Leader of the Russian Bolsheviks Vladimir Lenin appointed ethnic Armenian Stephan Shaumyan as Extraordinary Commissar of the Caucasus."



The statement notes that at the beginning of tragic March events, the Baku Soviet and Dashnaksutyun Party, under the pretext of combating counter-revolutionary elements, set about a plan to liquidate Azerbaijanis throughout the Baku Province.

"By the acknowledgements of Stephan Shaumyan, 6,000 armed soldiers of the Baku Soviet and 4,000 armed men from Dashnaksutyun Party took part in the massacre of Azerbaijani civilians. On March 30, Armenian-Bolshevik units subjected Baku to volley fire from ships. Then, armed Dashnaks attacked the homes of Azerbaijanis and carried out their merciless slaughter only because of their ethnicity. In this period, Armenian-Bolshevik units wiped out more than 20,000 Azerbaijani civilians in Baku," according to the statement.



"Genocide of the Azerbaijanis by the Dashnaks was not limited to Baku. Within a short period of time, Armenians committed massacres in Shamakhi, Guba, Irevan, Zangezur, Karabakh, Nakhchivan and Kars. As a result, more than 16,000 people were killed with utmost barbarity in the Guba province in the first five months of 1918; a total of 167 villages were destroyed, 35 of which do not exist to this day. Armenian forces also slaughtered local Jews in Guba," the statement reads.



The statement said the massacre of March 1918 was well prepared and ruthlessly implemented against Azerbaijanis based on deliberate policy of racial discrimination and ethnic cleansing.



"The March events of 1918 became the focus of attention following the proclamation of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR). The Extraordinary Investigation Commission (EIC) was established by the ADR on July 15, 1918 in order to investigate the violence against Azerbaijani population. An important trait of this commission was that it was comprised of the best lawyers of that time representing different nationalities  Russians, Jewish, Polish, Georgians and even Armenians. Based on this evidence, the EIC prepared 128 reports and drafts to file lawsuits against 194 persons accused of different crimes against a peaceful population. Thus, by mid-August, 24 people in Baku and about 100 people in Shamakhi were arrested. This was the first attempt to conduct a political and legal assessment of the policy of genocide perpetrated against the Azerbaijanis. However, the demise of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic made it impossible to complete this work," the statement reads.



The statement notes that after restoring its independence in 1991, Azerbaijan resumed political assessment of genocide of March 1918 and is committed to complete ADRs unfinished attempts to bring about justice. On the eve of the 80th anniversary of the tragedy, the then President Heydar Aliyev issued a Decree to announce March 31 as a national day of mourning. The Decree has become a key document for conducting a political and legal assessment of the genocidal acts committed against Azerbaijanis in the beginning of the 20th century.



The commemoration of the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis raises the awareness of the world community to the facts of massacre and ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis in the past and present, according to the statement.



"Since late 1980s, unleashing a war against Azerbaijan and occupying its territories, Armenia continued the policy reminiscent of March Massacre by carrying out ethnic cleansing of more than one million Azerbaijanis in Armenia and in the seized lands of Azerbaijan, committing numerous war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide, including Khojaly Genocide of February 1992."



"While commemorating the 100th anniversary of March Massacre and remembering the innocent victims, we strongly condemn the deliberate and continued policy of genocide, crimes against humanity, racial discrimination and ethnic cleansing by Armenia against the people of Azerbaijan, and reiterate the importance of ceasing impunity of Armenia to prevent occurrence of such inhumane crimes," the statement reads.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed an order on the construction of a carpet weaving workshop in Kurdamir district.

Under the presidential order, two million manats were allocated from the 2018 state budget to Azerkhalcha Open Joint Stock Company.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, addressing a government meeting, said that a meeting of the National Council should be held on the eve of Independence Day, marked on Sept. 27, the Turkmenistan TV channel reported.

In early October 2017, a decision was made to transform and rename the Council of Elders into the National Council.

The Council of Elders was serving exclusively as an advisory body. From 1992 to 2008, it was the highest representative body of Turkmenistan.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzFormer Houston City Councilman Larry Green died of an overdose of methamphetamine and chloroethane, medical examiners have determined.

The 52-year-old's March 6 death is classified as an accident, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences reported on its website Friday morning. The Houston Police Department's case remains open, but police do not suspect foul play.

Methamphetamine is a common and powerful illegal stimulant. Chloroethane, also known as ethyl chloride, is used as a solvent, refrigerant and local anesthetic, the IFS said in a statement. The chemical also is sold under names such as "Black Max" or "Maximum Impact" and used as a recreational inhalant to create a "sense of drunkenness and relaxation," IFS said.

Green, who represented southwest Houston for more than six years, remains the only person elected to lead District K, one of two seats added after the 2010 Census led the council to grow from nine to 11 districts, plus five at-large seats.

The councilman was remembered as a fierce advocate for the communities he represented, bringing street repairs, a new police station and an economic development zone to his district.

Mayor Sylvester Turner echoed others at City Hall Friday in saying he was unaware of any substance abuse issues Green may have confronted away from the office. He added that the councilman served his district honorably and effectively.

"That is how I will choose to remember him. More than anything, I ask people to continue to pray for his family, who must deal with his death every single day," Turner said in a statement. "The autopsy results do not diminish the great work he did for the people of District K. However, it does remind us that our actions have consequences.

"I hope everyone will continue to celebrate his life instead of focusing on his death," the mayor continued.

Green's family, meanwhile, asked for privacy.

"While learning the information we have about the circumstances of his passing is painful, it does not change the fact that Larry was a wonderful, caring person and a dedicated public servant for the people of Houston," it said in a statement. "Our family is grateful for the outpouring of love and support we have received, and we ask for privacy during this difficult time."

Donald Perkins, the District K chief of staff who worked for Green throughout his tenure, said Friday morning that he did not know nor want to know the county's determination, preferring instead to address residents' calls about missed trash pickups and broken water lines.

"I love the fact that he's at peace and I focus on the fact that he left a legacy in the district," Perkins said. "I just want everybody to know that the District K office is going to continue to be very professional, very responsive, and we're going to continue to move the spirit and the legacy of what Councilman Green wanted for us moving forward."

District B Councilman Jerry Davis, who often shared a chuckle with Green during long meetings from their adjacent chairs at the council horseshoe, said it would be inappropriate to discuss the county's findings in Green's absence.

"His work speaks for itself," Davis said. "The work that he's been doing, it's been proven the last two weeks in the outpouring of support from people in the community, colleagues, even the media displaying everything he's done, the wonderful things he's done in the city for the last six years and two months."

District C Councilwoman Ellen Cohen felt similarly.

"I'm sorry to learn of the results of the autopsy, but it doesn't take away from the fact that he was a good man and did great things for his district. And a good friend," she said. "Our offices are next to each other, and so I had a chance to see the relationship he had with his constituents, and it doesn't change what he did for his district."

Councilman Mike Laster joined the council at the same time as Green, representing newly created District J, which shares a border with District K in the southwest.

"I continue to grieve the loss of my brother Larry Green," Laster said. "I choose to remember the man he was, the good he did, and the legacy he leaves. I trust in the sure and certain hope that he rests in the eternal arms of a loving and gracious God."

Civic leaders praised Green's work ethic, marveled at the number of events and community meetings he attended, and said the councilman was known to answer texts after midnight. Green took builders on tours around his district, pitching its numerous vacant tracts for development. He organized an aggressive tree-planting program and was a champion for a program that hires artists to beautify electrical boxes at intersections.

"He gave himself to this district," Turner said at Green's funeral service two weeks ago. "The district loved him. He loved them back. And Larry was hands-on, and he wanted better because if you've lived in districts and neighborhoods that have been under-served, what brings you satisfaction is to make it better."

Green practiced law for two decades, served as district director for U.S. Rep Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, and ran the job training nonprofit HoustonWorks USA for four years, leaving that post a few months after winning his council seat. As a councilman, he chaired the transportation, technology and infrastructure committee and also held leadership posts with the National League of Cities.

Nine candidates have filed for a May 5 special election to fill his seat.

Green is survived by a brother, two nieces, two nephews and numerous family members in Texas and Louisiana.Arnold Schwarzenegger was last night reported to be recovering in hospital in LA after undergoing emergency open-heart surgery.

It came after a failed valve replacement procedure.

The 70-year-old Terminator actor, who went on to become the govenor of California, had gone to Cedars-Sinai Hospital on Thursday to have a scheduled catheter valve replacement.

TMZ reported yesterday that complications developed during the procedure which led to Mr Schwarzenegger needing emergency open-heart surgery.

They said his condition was described as stable.

In a recent interview, Mr Schwarzenegger spoke out about turning 70.

"I know I'm 70, but so what?' he told The Project. "It's only on my passport or my driver's licence, but I feel the same way as I did 20 years ago. I feel good about myself. I work out. I make my movies. Life is great. I feel useful and productive."It's hard to pinpoint the precise moment that Facebook turned from a community network into an ethically dubious organisation in the public eye. The Cambridge Analytica scandal has, of course, been pivotal, prompting, at the time of going to Press, shares to crash by 11%, high-profile advertisers such as Mozilla and Commerzbank to withdraw support and Mark Zuckerberg to go to ground for four days before apologising on CNN after the hashtag #WheresZuck went viral to tell us that he's "really sorry" and feels "really bad".

But some say the tide began to turn as recently as August 2016. That's when Zuckerberg, under intense pressure from Right-wing news organisations, such as Breitbart, fired the supposedly biased humans who curated the site's Trending News section and replaced them with algorithms. Within days, the feed was dominated by fake news items about Hillary Clinton, pushed up the rankings by bots and trolls. We all know where that led.

Or perhaps Facebook turned in 2014, when it published the results of an "emotional contagion" study it had secretly conducted on 689,000 users. Researchers wanted to find out if showing people more negative posts made them more negative. Their conclusion? Yes: "Emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same emotions without their awareness."

"That's really important for advertisers," says Jonathan Taplin, author of Move Fast and Break Things: How Facebook, Google and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy. "You're feeling depressed. Some cool shoes pop up. Maybe they'll make you happy. And it's particularly powerful when it comes to politics."

Others say Facebook turned in 2012, around the time of its initial public offering. The IPO is that mythical moment in a start-up's life when Wall Street investors buy shares and founders become billionaires. But shareholders want those impressive user numbers - Facebook had about one billion users at the time - turned into dollar signs and it isn't always clear how to do this.

However, Facebook figured out a way. It could take all of the information we share about our favourite Rihanna songs, and our postcode, and our feelings about Jeremy Corbyn, and our Ocado shop, and our ethnicity, and sell it to advertisers.

Couple that information with the ability to track your location via your mobile and Facebook became, as John Lanchester put it in the London Review of Books, "the biggest surveillance-based enterprise in the history of mankind". It's now up to 2.2 billion users, by the way - more than the combined populations of Europe and China.

Or you could point to any number of other decisions. The subtle changes to user terms and conditions in 2011 that potentially opened up their data to app developers. The decision in 2010 to allow the developers of games, such as FarmVille, to scrape your data and your friends' data. Or perhaps the introduction of the 'Like' button in 2009.

"Is it any coincidence that the race to the bottom in media - toward clickbait headlines, toward the vulgar and prurient and dumb, toward provocative but often exaggerated takes - has accelerated in lock-step with the development of new technologies for measuring engagement?" wondered James Somers in The Atlantic magazine recently.

But there was something ugly in that code from 2004, when 'TheFacebook' evolved out of FaceMash, a Harvard-based hot-or-not face comparison site, which turned social envy, comparison and judgment into a fun game. (An interesting fact about Zuckerberg is that he studied psychology alongside computer science).

When Zuckerberg asked 4,000 of his peers for information and photos to populate the new site, he bragged to his friends: "People just submitted it ... I don't know why ... They 'trust me' ... dumb f***s."

The #DeleteFacebook campaign is well under way, backed, notably, by Brian Acton, founder of WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook. "It is time. #deletefacebook," he wrote on Twitter last week. But once you factor in the enormous reach of all social media into our intimate lives - Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, the lot of them - you might wonder how far this goes.

And, for those who are shocked that people have been using social media platforms to spy on our most intimate desires and reconfigure democracy, well, the signs have been there all along.

To anyone who has been paying attention, the only surprising thing about the Cambridge Analytica scandal is that anyone is surprised. "This is not an aberration," says Douglas Rushkoff, author of Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus and professor of media theory and digital economics at City University of New York.

"What we're seeing is these platforms performing exactly as they were designed to do. People with a lot of money invest money in a platform that encourages people to share as many private details about themselves as they can. The platform sells that information to other people who want to change our behaviour: marketers, political agents, compliance professionals. That's the way these platforms advertise themselves to their customers."

And you must remember that you, Average Facebook User, are not the customer. You are the product, as the saying goes. Facebook's customers are the people it sells advertising to: household brands, media organisations, political parties and so on.

"One of my graduate students asked me, 'What does it matter if they have my data?'," says Rushkoff. It's not such a bad question. It doesn't hurt when your data is extracted. "But it's a question that only someone of great privilege can ask," he counters. "People might be denied loans, or apartments, because of their data. In China, they're being denied social benefits because of friends they have, or things they've liked on social media."

The Chinese Communist Party is currently trialling a "social credit" system where citizens' data will be used to "provide the trustworthy with benefits and discipline the untrustworthy (so that) integrity becomes a widespread social value". Remember the talk about Zuckerberg running for President?

Even in liberal countries like our own, CVs are no longer the first port of call when looking at a new employee - it's a name search on Google then a stealth stalk of the candidate's social media profiles.

"I think consumers and users of technology have more power than they think they have," says Kathryn Parsons, founder of Decoded, which aims to spread digital literacy. "I'm a believer in empowerment and education. Know how your data is being used. Understand the platform."

But some people understandably feel that it's not clear where to turn. You might think, "Oh well, at least Instagram's a bit more cheerful", but Facebook owns Instagram. "Hmm, I guess I can keep in touch with my family on WhatsApp." Facebook owns WhatsApp, too. It's not as if Twitter, or Snapchat, seem to be increasing the sum of human happiness, either.

"They're all guilty. They're all part of the problem," says Taplin. "All of them have consistently allowed bad actors to use their platforms. Within hours of the mass shooting in Florida, YouTube featured videos claiming (surviving) school kids weren't real. Those were the most popular videos. These are sources of propaganda and lies. And there's an entire generation who get all their news from these platforms."

One of the most persistent arguments against social media is that it makes people unhappy. A 2017 research paper entitled 'Association of Facebook Use with Compromised Well-Being: A Longitudinal Study' found that Facebook interactions made people unhappier over time, while real-life interactions made them happier, but apart from that, the evidence for the psychological evils of social media isn't that conclusive.

Amy Orben, an experimental psychologist specialising in social media at Oxford University, believes fears are overplayed. "We've been researching this day-in, day-out for years and I think the striking thing is simply the lack of solid evidence we have at the moment," she says. "There seems to be a small negative effect on adolescent mental health, but it's tiny. We can only actually predict about 1% of someone's well-being from social media. We need more nuanced evidence."

Is there anything we should be worried about? The effect of filters on self esteem? Orben points out that "passive consumption" - simply scrolling down the news feed with no particular aim - does seem to make people depressed.

"Even Facebook warns about that. But that's very small. If you're directly interacting with people, it's just another method of communicating."

Zuckerberg says he just wants to connect people. But as Zadie Smith (who was at Harvard when FaceMash emerged) once wrote of Facebook and Zuckerberg: "The quality of that connection, the quality of the information that passes through it, the quality of the relationship that connection permits - none of this is important. That a lot of social networking software explicitly encourages people to make weak, superficial connections with each other and that this might not be an entirely positive thing, seems to never have occurred to him."

Better connections are available, if you improve the code.

Maybe Zuckerberg could do it himself? Disentangle the controversial advertising model. He retains the controlling stake after all. He can do what he likes. Like turn it back into a social network where you can stay in touch with your friends.

The sort of platform he claims he's always wanted to make. "That would be brave and heroic," says Kathryn Parsons. "Ready Player One eat your heart out - he should secure the movie rights."

Perhaps, people shouldn't hold out much hope from his apology - or the response of his shareholders. "Our main fear was that Zuckerberg would propose fundamental changes to the business, we are relatively relieved," said financial analysts at Macquarie last week. And, of course, increased regulation is the thing those who profit from social media sites fear the most.

Maybe we ought to put a little more faith in ourselves. "The thing I always felt bad about was how little of our intuition we bring to these spaces," says Rushkoff. "In the mid-Nineties, as the net began to turn from a research tool into a human manipulation space, I'd always tell people: 'Keep a hold of how you feel on these platforms. Does it make you feel anxious? Stay in touch with your instincts.' When you walk into a bar you do this: 'Is this a place I'm likely to get beat up? Or scammed?' You can feel it."

Reality may be catching up, in any case. The EU's General Data Protection Regulations, arriving in May, will mean sites such as Facebook can't take your information without your explicit consent. And they can't throw you off if you say "no".

In addition, the Government's Data Protection Bill, currently making its way through parliament, gives the commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, the right to fine social media platforms if they fail to play by the rules with users' data.

Andrew Orlowski, executive editor of tech publication The Register, agrees that politicians are finally wising up. "They have been in awe of them. But there's a huge lobbying operation, as well. If you asked 100 people, 'Do you want less control over the photos you post on Facebook?', everyone would say no. People want more control.

"But Silicon Valley has pushed this amazing message that no one owns anything and copyright is evil and allowing people to have control would break the internet.

"Thankfully, that era seems to be slipping away now."A Military Cross winner has expressed his disgust at a vote by Derry City and Strabane District Council urging local schools not to facilitate armed forces recruitment events.

Ex-soldier Doug Beattie, an Ulster Unionist MLA, questioned Sinn Fein over its support for the motion, which he described as "offensive in the extreme".

Independent councillor Gary Donnelly put forward the motion calling on schools "to refuse British armed forces access to children/pupils as part of their attempt to glamorise/recruit for their imperialist ventures".

It passed with 24 councillors, including Sinn Fein and independents, voting in favour. Unionists voted against, while the SDLP abstained.

The council has no power to control who schools invite on their premises.

Mr Beattie said: "For Sinn Fein to back a motion - no matter how ludicrous - to prevent anyone considering a career in the British military receiving career advice while at school sets a clear sectarian agenda. How does Sinn Fein explain away the work of British military nurses who helped fight the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone?

"How do they tell children, who are threatened by indiscriminate republican bombs, that the person defusing the bomb and keeping them safe is a British soldier?

"Just how do they propose to undermine the work of British UN peacekeepers in Southern Sudan, while at the same time promoting the Irish Defence Force UN peacekeepers in the Lebanon?

"Does Sinn Fein want equality? Do they promote respect? Are they truly advocates of integrity?

"The actions of their councillors in backing this motion sends a clear message to what they ironically call their 'unionist brothers and sisters'.

"That is: you are not welcome now and you are not welcome in the future and you will never be welcome in any united Ireland in which we have any influence."

DUP MLA Gary Middleton also criticised the vote, describing it as the "latest example of an extremely divisive agenda being promoted in the council".

"Firstly, it should be noted that the council has absolutely no power to enforce this or tell local schools what to do," he said.

"It is clear, however, that some councillors wish to intimidate schools from doing nothing more than providing young people with the information about pursuing a career in the armed forces should they wish to do so."

Mr Donnelly said his move was sparked by Army recruitment stalls in schools in Belfast.

"The British Army has a policy of recruiting child soldiers. I brought this motion... to send a very clear message to them that we don't want them preying on children here," he said.The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland has urged his fellow clergy to admit that they sometimes fail or need help and encouragement.

Archbishop Eamon Martin said the daily duties of ministry brought them face-on with trauma and tragedy.

He said clerics struggled with the same range of problems their congregations face, such as ill-health, loneliness and disappointment.

In a remarkably frank and personal pre-Easter address, Archbishop Martin also touched on the recent death of his mother Catherine.

Speaking at the Chrism Mass in St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh, held for clergy to recommit themselves to the priesthood, the Primate of All Ireland said: "I know that your priestly ministry brings you face to face with terrible traumas.

"You suffer with so many families at times of sudden loss. You are often among the first on the scene of car accidents or fires, you accompany grieving parishioners, sometimes in heart-breaking moments when children or young people have died tragically."

The archbishop added: "To minister like this is not easy, so please take care of your health and wellbeing.

"You have been generous in answering God's call to serve, and in remaining committed to your priestly promises over many years.

"However, there are times when we all need help and priests are no exception. Priests struggle with illness, loneliness and increased frailty of old age.

"Priests can also have their personal disappointments, can fail to cope with criticism or fear of the unknown. It is not a sign of weakness as a priest to admit that you sometimes fail or need help and accompaniment.

"We must not think that we have always to be in control, always to be the 'fixers', the ones with all the answers, forgetting that we too are human, we have our own sinfulness, vulnerabilities and needs.

"Sometimes it is our feet that need to be washed, our heads that yearn for anointing, our troubles that crave the soothing balm of understanding."

Archbishop Martin also referred to the recent death of his mother. Catherine (Katie) Martin passed away on March 21. Her funeral took place last Friday.

He said: "In recent weeks my family and I have experienced at first-hand the comforting pastoral presence and prayers of priests, especially during my mother's final illness and at her wake and funeral. Thank you.

"I know your priestly ministry brings you face to face with many situations like this and often with the terrible traumas that afflict life in the 21st century."

He urged priests "to seek help when you need it" and added: "Be open to receiving help from a friend, a counsellor or mentor, a therapist or sponsor, especially when you find yourself drifting from the warmth of Christ's embrace towards the clutches of the 'Evil One'."

Archbishop Martin urged clerics to surround themselves with trusted friends and family.

"Feel the warmth and supportive closeness of your faithful people," he said. "Accept their care and welcome their gratitude and appreciation of your ministry among them.

"It is important sometimes to admit that like everyone else we priests are as much in need of hope and the joy of Christ's love as to those to whom we have the privilege to minister.

"This is why at this Chrism Mass I thank God for our faithful people, friends, family and brother priests, like those with us today, who 'wash our feet', offer us consolation, loving support and understanding, who stand by us in trials, stay close to us in adversity, and sustain our vocations by their solidarity and forgiveness."Seamus Mallon at the Dublin service commemorating all those who died in the Troubles

Former Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon, has urged people never to forget the "treasure of peace".

Mr Mallon had been invited to address the Dublin Unitarian Church at St Stephen's Green in Dublin as it held a Good Friday commemorative service for all those who died during the Troubles.

Speaking on his way into the service, he said that some people were now saying that the Good Friday Agreement had been damaged and that it was finished.

"It's not," he insisted.

"And I would make a plea that they all, instead of talking about an end to it, that we look upon it (the Agreement) as a new beginning, of the creation of something unique on this island that will respect each tradition, each religion, each ethnic grouping and make, for the first time, a pluralist society based on the goodness of human beings, rather than any dogma."

When asked what advice he would give to those trying to get the institutions back up and running, the former SDLP deputy leader said that while he had always believed that each generation had a right to write its own history, there was much to build upon.

"Let's have another look. The peace is there. The Good Friday structures are there," he said.

"The absolute overriding objectives of the Good Friday Agreement, they are there.

"Let's have a look straight in the eye of all of the problems."

He pointed out the key element remained, that "the treasure of peace for people on this island should never be forgotten."

The full list of nearly 3,600 people who died between 1966 and 2016 was read out at the ceremony.

It was the 18th annual service for those who died, said Rev Bridget Spain.

She explained: "Each year we read the names of all the people who were killed in more than 30 years of violence."The Easter weekend is shaping up to be a washout, according to the UK's Met Office.

Forecasters have issued a yellow warning for rain, running from Easter Monday through to Tuesday morning.

And tomorrow - Easter Sunday - will see temperatures across Northern Ireland hovering just a few degrees above freezing point.

Brave hearts venturing out and about over the holiday period should wrap up well, as the bitter east wind will make it feel many degrees colder.

Today, there are expected to be a few bright or sunny intervals in what's forecast to be a generally cloudy day.

Scattered showers will develop from late morning into the afternoon and the mercury will begin to drop toward nightfall.

While conditions will be mainly dry and cold on Sunday, forecasters warn that sleet and hill snow will move north on Monday and Tuesday, with some heavy falls being expected on high ground. And as the unsettled conditions continue, the Ulster Farmers' Union warned that the cold weather was putting pressure on the agricultural community as their members struggled to ensure that they have enough fodder to feed their livestock.

UFU president Barclay Bell said: "We have experienced one of the wettest winters following persistent rainfall which has made conditions for farmers very difficult.

"Soil has been at saturation point and as a result there were real difficulties in doing field work. This prolonged period of wet weather across the province has put major feeding pressure on farmers.

"Many have had cattle housed since August and struggled to get silage cut in the autumn of 2017," the farmers' leader said yesterday.

He explained that many farmers now faced having to buy extra meal to supplement their silage stocks in order to feed their animals.

Rathfriland farmer Mr Bell said: "It has been a difficult spring.

"Cows are calving and sheep are lambing and farmers are unable to put their animals out to grass, because there is no grass."

He said the cold weather has also impacted on the growth of winter crops.

"This, in turn, has meant a delay in the planting of spring crops.

"With a cold spell forecast over the Easter break, and snow and sleet showers forecast in some places, we are keeping a close eye on things and are in regular contact with both DAERA and CAFRE," added Mr Bell.Former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has called for Ireland to expel the Israeli ambassador over the killing and wounding of Palestinian protesters. (Brian Lawless/PA)

Former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has called for Ireland to expel the Israeli ambassador over the killing and wounding of Palestinian protesters.

A least 15 Palestinians were killed on Friday as thousands protested the right of return for refugees.

Mr Adams said: "There can be no justification or excuse by Israel for the calculated slaughter by Israeli military snipers of unarmed Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border with Israel.

"I visited Gaza and the Israeli town of Sderot in 2009. The conditions for the almost two million Palestinians surviving in the Gaza strip were appalling. It is an open prison, under siege by Israel, with the people of Gaza being denied the basic requirements of a decent life," he said.

"In the nine years since then the Israeli stranglehold on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank has increased. More Palestinian land and water rights have been stolen and significant numbers of new Israeli settlements have been constructed on Palestinian land in flagrant breach of international law."

Mr Adams said he was urging the EU and UN to take a stand against Israeli violence, and urged the Irish government to expel the Israeli ambassador "as a first step in formally and officially recognising the state of Palestine".

"The time for excuses is long over," he added.

Palestinian health officials said 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire and more than 750 hit by live rounds, making it the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 cross-border war between Israel and Hamas.

During Friday's confrontations, large crowds gathered near the border fence, with smaller groups of protesters rushing forward, throwing stones and burning tyres.

Israeli troops responded with live fire and rubber-coated steel pellets, while drones dropped tear gas from above. The army released video showing soldiers with rifles perched on high embankments overlooking the scene.

Brig Gen Ronen Manelis, the chief army spokesman, denied allegations of excessive use of force, saying those killed by Israeli troops were men between the ages of 18 and 30 who were involved in violence and belonged to militant factions.

On Saturday demonstrations are being staged in Derry, Belfast and Dublin in protest at the killing of Palestinian protesters by Israel.Hundreds of mourners were told yesterday that the life of Belfast man Ryan McManus, who died in a car crash last weekend, was defined by loyalty.

The 22-year-old's favourite Oasis song, Wonderwall, was played as his coffin was carried into Roselawn Crematorium where the rector of Saint Thomas's Church, the Rev Paul Jack, described Ryan as "a happy man who will be missed in many ways".

"Even though he only had 22 years he certainly made his mark," he added.

"Family was at the core of Ryan's life, but he doted on his girlfriend Lauren and was blessed in a way that millions of people in this world aren't."

Mr McManus worked in the Hovis bakery in Belfast.

The former Broadway Swifts and Sandy Row FC player was a passenger in his girlfriend's car when it crashed near Crumlin last Sunday.

The clergyman said he could not explain why this tragedy had happened, but encouraged loved ones to "reflect on happy memories on this, the darkest of days, Good Friday".

"How Ryan lived is much more important than how he died - he was loyal and completely devoted to his family," Rev Jack added.

He asked the congregation to remember Lauren - who was unable to say a final farewell - and her father Joe in their prayers.

"They are both significantly ill in hospital," he said.

James McCann paid an emotional tribute to his best friend, who was affectionately known as Dingle.

"Ryan had a big smile and an even bigger heart - he was loyal, caring and trustworthy," Mr McCann said.

He broke down and wept as he described how the boy he had known since the age of 11 "stepped up to the plate" following his father's death a number of years ago.

"My heart is broken, but I will always cherish the good times," he added. Before Oasis' Champagne Supernova brought the service to an end, Reece McManus paid a heartbreaking tribute to his big brother.

"We went through thick and thin, there wasn't a day went by when we weren't arguing but we always ended up saying how much we loved each other," he said.

"Ryan would have given me his last breath before that crash - just to see me smile."Clergy from the Ormeau Road in Belfast join together to carry the cross

Parishioners from Clonard Monastery in west Belfast make their way along Clonard Street during the Falls/Shankill walk

Presbyterian Moderator Rt Rev Dr Noble McNeely (front right) with clergy at the Good Friday Walk of Witness in Lisburn

Hundreds of worshippers turned out in the rain yesterday to hear the Presbyterian Moderator deliver a message of hope for Good Friday.

The Right Rev Dr Noble McNeely led clergy from Lisburn and the surrounding area in a cross-community Walk of Witness through the city centre.

In his Easter address to the gathering, he said: "On Good Friday we are remembering the cruel crucifixion of our Saviour on a rugged cross at Calvary.

"God demonstrates his love for us in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

"The cross is a picture of suffering, yet the key to healing; a picture of vicious hatred, yet the key to love."

Rev Mervyn Ewing of Seymour Street Methodist Church, who is chairman of Lisburn City Centre Ministers Fellowship, said attendance at the annual Easter Walk of Witness was on the increase.

"I sense a rising momentum to acknowledge the significance of Good Friday," he said.

"To be part of such an event is a very moving experience." Rev John Brackenridge of Lisburn 1st Presbyterian Church said: "It's an event that is open to everyone - an open invitation - and we are glad to see anyone who comes along.

"Everyone is given a warm welcome."

Meanwhile, in east Belfast Bloomfield clergy gathered to carry the cross on their Good Friday procession, while in west Belfast parishioners from Clonard Monastery participated in the Falls/Shankill walk.

And in the south of the city in Ballynafeigh, clergy came together to carry the cross on their ecumenical Good Friday procession. Members of Cooke Centenary Church on the Ormeau Road joined other Protestant and Catholic church members in the annual Easter witness from Ormeau Park.A representative of Belfast's Islamic Centre says members of the local Muslim community are concerned after 'Punish a Muslim Day' letters were circulated online by racists

A representative of Belfast's Islamic Centre says members of the local Muslim community are concerned after 'Punish a Muslim Day' letters were circulated online by racists.

The letters have been sent to Muslims in England.

In the posts, April 3 is listed by the thugs as a day to target Muslims, ranging from verbal abuse to violence. The posts encourage fellow racists to carry out attacks against Muslims as "they have hurt you, they have made your loved ones suffer. They have caused you pain and heartache".

Earlier this month the National Police Chiefs' Association said the letters were subject to a counter-terrorism investigation.

Belfast Islamic Centre said that many local Muslims had become fearful after seeing the letters on social media.

"As many of you are aware despicable 'Punish a Muslim Day' letters have been mailed to Muslims across England by hate-filled individuals in an attempt to spread fear and division in society," it added.

"No letters have been received in Northern Ireland. However, we understand images of the letters have gone viral and have been shared on social media, causing considerable alarm within the community and many of you have been in touch seeking reassurance.

"Belfast Islamic Centre staff regularly liaise with police and politicians on issues affecting the Muslim community and particularly in recent months in tackling hate crime and potential safety issues."

The centre added that it did not believe there was an increased threat.

The PSNI said hate crime in any form would not be tolerated.

"We work with our partners across the public, private and voluntary sectors to provide reassurance and support to victims and promote tolerance and respect for all cultures and identities," it added.A masked gang armed with a hammer, pick axe and saw have robbed a shop in North Belfast

A masked gang armed with a hammer, pick axe and saw have robbed a shop in North Belfast.

The incident occurred at a shop on the Ardoyne Road on Thursday night. Three people in the store were left badly shaken by the incident, police said.

A PSNI spokesman said: "Shortly after 11pm as staff were closing the shop three males entered the store. All of the men had their faces covered and were brandishing a hammer, a pick axe and an electric saw.

"All of the staff were forced back into the store and one of the suspects attacked the ATM, however he was unable to open it. The males then took a sum of cash from a till and left the property.

"They left the scene in a dark coloured saloon car."

Detectives at Musgrave can be contacted on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference 1643 29/03/18.The sisters of one of the Derrylin fire victims have spoken for the first time about their heartbreak at the loss of her and other family members.

In a letter to the Belfast Telegraph, Denise 'Dee' Gosset's siblings Frances and Susan said they had waited until now to break their silence as they needed time and privacy to come to terms with the "horrific circumstances" of the tragedy.

The sisters also thanked this newspaper for contacting them to inform them of their loved ones' deaths, saying that without this they "may not have known about this tragedy befalling our family for some time".

Three generations of their family - including a baby and two teenagers - died in the arson attack at a bungalow on the Co Fermanagh village's Molly Road on February 27.

Their identities were only confirmed by the Coroner's Service on Monday as Denise Pauline Gosset (45), also known as Crystal; Sabrina Patricia Elizabeth Gosset (19), also known as Elektra; Roman Edward Lewis Gosset (16), and Morgana Ulva Amira Quinn (1).

Sabrina and Roman were Denise's children, while Morgana was Sabrina's daughter.

A memorial service for the family was held in Derrylin Parish Church on Wednesday.

The victims originally came from Aberdeen, and had lived in Tralee, Co Kerry, for three years before moving to Derrylin around 18 months ago.

Grieving Frances and Susan described their sister as "a good mother who loved her four children and granddaughter", and said their niece Sabrina was "a loveable young woman".

They added that Roman was a "lovely, polite young man", and little Morgana was a "beautiful baby girl" who was adored by her mother.

They said: "We would also like to apologise for not speaking out earlier, but the shock and devastation this loss, particularly under such horrific circumstances, has left us needing time and privacy to come to terms with it.

"A month on, we still can't believe we will never see or hear from them all again."

The siblings expressed their "heartfelt thanks" to the emergency services, the Derrylin community, and Dee's landlord Tommy Fee, for their "immense bravery in trying to rescue our family and in dealing with the aftermath and investigation".

They described their sister as an "intensely private person".

They continued: "Dee, our youngest sister, was a lovely woman with a fine sense of humour and fun.

"She was a good mother who loved her four children and granddaughter and spent many happy times with them at the beach, walking in the countryside and practising crafts together." Denise was a keen cook and animal lover who ran an online jewellery and knitwear business.

During the day she looked after little Morgana while Sabrina attended art college.

"Sabrina, a loveable young woman, was very much like her mother," the letter continued.

"Sabrina's greatest passion was art, particularly Japanese Manga, and she loved drawing.

"Sabrina gave birth to a beautiful baby girl in November 2016, whom she named Morgana.

"Dee enjoyed looking after her granddaughter during the day, but Sabrina could not wait to get home to her adored baby daughter."

Roman was popular and "a lovely, polite young man who looked so much like his father".

The sisters also extended their "love and heartfelt wishes" to Denise's surviving children, Yasmina and Bentley.

They said: "We will all miss Dee, Sabrina, Roman and Morgana in our hearts and lives, but they will never be forgotten because of our treasured memories of them all."

Daniel Allen (27), of Molly Road in Derrylin, is charged with four counts of murder and arson with intent to endanger life.

He was previously remanded in custody and appeared in court in Enniskillen again via video-link on Monday, where the case was adjourned for a month.The former first minister has been criticised for appearing on RT (Chris Radburn/PA)

Alex Salmond will no longer present his political debate show on a national radio station.

The former First Minister of Scotlands weekly Sunday afternoon phone-in on LBC has ended after just six months.

It comes as Mr Salmond faces criticism for continuing to host a political show on RT following the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

An LBC spokesman said: Alex Salmond has completed his contract as presenter of the Sunday afternoon show on LBC.

Were now discussing other projects with him.

Salmond on Sunday was last aired on the channel on March 25, having first broadcast in September.

In November he began hosting The Alex Salmond Show on the Russian state-backed television channel, RT.

The broadcaster has been accused of being a Kremlin propaganda machine, although it claims its journalists are independent.

Mr Salmond received fresh calls to cease his work with RT in the wake of the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, but he defended his show saying he had full editorial control.

I signed up to a 6 month contract with LBC last September, which completed at end of March. Ive had a great time with listeners, who are both opinionated & fun and I enjoyed the phone-in experience. I look forward to launching another project with LBC, currently under discussion https://t.co/PP4mKUj4Jw  Alex Salmond (@AlexSalmond) March 31, 2018

The incident has been linked to the Russian state, which denies any involvement, as Mr Sergei had been a double agent for the UK and the chemical used was first developed by the former Soviet Union.

Mr Salmond said: I signed up to a six month contract with LBC last September, which completed at the end of March.

I have had a great time with the listeners at LBC, who are both opinionated and tremendous fun, and I really enjoyed the phone-in experience.

I look forward to launching another project with the station which is currently under discussion.

The Alex Salmond Show is produced by Slainte Media and has been described by RT as a mixture of current affairs, discussion and friendly exploration into the personalities behind the public figures of the guests.

A Scottish Conservatives party spokesman said: Alex Salmond has proved a national embarrassment by refusing to step down from his role as a presenter on Russia Today.

It is hardly surprising that his current contract with LBC has not been renewed given his ongoing involvement with a Kremlin propaganda outlet.

He should do the decent thing and walk away.

Mr Salmond added: The Scots Tories are a bunch of laughable lickspittles. The idea that I would be bullied off air, whether it be on LBC or The Alex Salmond Show, by that crowd is risible.

The difference is that I say what I believe to be true on air. The Scots Tories get told what to think by their Westminster bosses.Katherine Brewster called home on Friday after days in the wilderness (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

A British woman who was reported missing in a remote part of Brazil has been found safe and well.

Katherine Brewster, 27, staying in the village of Dom Jose in the southern area of Alpestre when she went missing last Sunday.

According to local reports Ms Brewster, originally from Sussex, went for a walk in a remote wooded area to meditate and never returned.

However, her family said on Friday she had called home after days in the wilderness.

Her mother, Dr Diane Brewster, told the BBC her daughter had wanted time alone in the rural forested area.

Reports had suggested she may have been staying at UniPermacultura Dom Jose, a permaculture commune popular with backpackers, but staff said she was never a guest.

Instead she had been staying with a couple in a nearby village.

A Inglesa que havia se perdido nas matas de Dom Jose na cidade de Alpestre - RS foi encontrada com vida agora pelo... Posted by UniPermacultura on Friday, March 30, 2018

UniPermacultura posted pictures of Miss Brewster on Facebook on Sunday, writing: Katharine went out to make a trail alone, on a rainy day without telling the couple who hosted her on Sunday and disappeared.

We organised searches with the local neighbours and this morning Clair Jappa found her, following clues.

She was hurt, and she couldnt walk, and she had to be loaded on her back.The funeral of Stephen Hawking will be held at the University Church of St Mary the Great in Cambridge (Joe Giddens/PA)

The funeral of Professor Stephen Hawking will be held at a church near the Cambridge University college that was his academic home for more than 50 years.

Renowned British physicist Prof Hawking died peacefully at his Cambridge home on March 14 at the age of 76.

The cosmologist had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease in his 20s.

Saturdays private funeral service at the University Church of St Mary the Great will be attended by family, invited friends and colleagues.

Professor Stephen Hawking's funeral on Saturday will be a private service conducted by @CaiusCollege. We apologize that we will not be able to admit members of the public to this service.

A Condolence Book may be found at https://t.co/Cbomlmyprs for those wishing to pay tribute. pic.twitter.com/JbITnIqNov  Great St Mary's, The University Church (@GreatStMarys) March 26, 2018

The church, which can seat up to 1,200 people, is near to Gonville and Caius College, where Prof Hawking was a fellow for 52 years.

Prof Hawkings coffin will be carried by six porters from the college, all in traditional uniform including bowler hats.

Many porters at the college knew Prof Hawking and provided support when he visited for dinners and other events, and they were asked by his family to be pallbearers.

Six Gonville & Caius College Porters will carry the coffin of Professor #StephenHawking at his #funeral @GreatStMarys Church in Cambridge on Saturday, allowing them to pay tribute to the physicist - a Fellow of Caius for over 52 years. Read more here: https://t.co/DWydmXdsev pic.twitter.com/SVZLYLWKx4  Gonville & Caius College (@CaiusCollege) March 29, 2018

Head porter Russ Holmes will walk ahead of the coffin as it is carried into the church.

He will wear his formal college uniform of top hat and tails, and carry a silver-topped ebony cane of office.

In a statement, Prof Hawkings children Lucy, Robert and Tim said: On behalf of our whole family we want to express our huge gratitude to all the wonderful tributes to our father and to those who have sent us messages of condolence.

Expand Close Professor Stephen Hawking death PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Professor Stephen Hawking death

Our father lived and worked in Cambridge for over 50 years.

He was an integral and highly recognisable part of the university and the city.

For this reason, we have decided to hold his funeral in the city that he loved so much and which loved him.

Our fathers life and work meant many things to many people, both religious and non-religious.

So, the service will be both inclusive and traditional, reflecting the breadth and diversity of his life.

We would like to thank Gonville and Caius College, the University of Cambridge and Trinity College, Cambridge for their assistance with our fathers funeral service.

Prof Hawkings ashes will be interred close to the remains of Sir Isaac Newton in Westminster Abbey on June 15.

A book of condolence for Prof Hawking remains open at Gonville and Caius College, and an online book has also been set up.A police officer at a cordon near the Maltings in Salisbury where Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found on a bench after they were attacked with a nerve agent (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Russia has demanded to know why it has been denied consular access to the Skripals in a fresh list of questions for British authorities.

The embassy published a list of 14 questions on Saturday over the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury.

The first question on the list read: Why has Russia been denied consular access to the two Russian nationals, Sergei and Yulia Skripal, that have become crime victims in the British territory?

More questions to UK Govt on Salisbury poisoning.https://t.co/xS6vd4eyP3 pic.twitter.com/zmgMFmvNrL  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) March 31, 2018

It also included demands to know what treatment the pair were given and queried Frances involvement in the investigation and asked if the Novichok could have been researched, developed or produced in the UK.

The Russian Embassy previously released a list of 27 questions about the case, including details about the Skripals condition.

It also claimed Mr Skripals niece had been inquiring after his health but that she had been ignored by the Foreign Office, and asked why no images or footage of the Skripals in hospital had been published.

Earlier on Saturday, the UK Foreign Office said it was considering a request from Russia to see Ms Skripal.

A spokeswoman for the FCO said the rights and wishes of Yulia will be taken into account as well as internal laws.

Ms Skripal spent three weeks in a critical condition after she and her father were exposed to Novichok on March 4.

The Russian Embassy had said it insists on the right to see Ms Skripal, 33, after it emerged she was improving rapidly.

An FCO spokeswoman said: We are considering requests for consular access in line with our obligations under international and domestic law, including the rights and wishes of Yulia Skripal.

Mr Skripal remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

The Russian embassy also accused British authorities of another blatant provocation after an Aeroflot flight was allegedly searched by Border Force officers at Heathrow.

An embassy official suggested that the jet, which had arrived from Moscow on a scheduled return trip, had been searched in connection with the diplomatic crisis over the Salisbury spy poisoning.

The row intensified after the Kremlin ordered Britain to reduce the number of diplomats in Moscow down to the same amount that Russia has in London.

In response to reports that more than 50 British diplomats would be removed, the embassy said: It is not about expulsion of British diplomats, it is about setting the overall number of people working at UK diplomatic missions in Russia and Russian diplomatic missions in the UK on the same level.

Expand Close A police cordon remains in place on Christie Miller road in Salisbury (Jonathan Brady/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp A police cordon remains in place on Christie Miller road in Salisbury (Jonathan Brady/PA)

The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats in the wake of the poisoning of Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia with the nerve agent Novichok.

Russia has told a number of countries  including Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Norway and Australia  they must send home the same number of diplomats as they had ordered to leave their nations.

So far, more than 150 Russian diplomats, some of whom are suspected spies, have been told to return home by the UKs allies.

Expand Close Investigations are continuing into the Salisbury incident (Andrew Matthews/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Investigations are continuing into the Salisbury incident (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Scotland Yard believes Mr Skripal and his daughter, who was visiting him from Russia, first came into contact with the deadly chemical at his home.

Detailed forensic testing revealed the highest concentration of Novichok was found on the front door.

Mr Skripal and his daughter have been patients at Salisbury District Hospital since they were discovered unconscious on a park bench close to The Maltings shopping centre nearly four weeks ago.

Wiltshire Police Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who was also exposed to the nerve agent, was discharged from the hospital last week.Some of the bikes dumped along one mile of the Lagan

Some of the bikes dumped along one mile of the Lagan

Some of the bikes dumped along one mile of the Lagan

Some of the bikes dumped along one mile of the Lagan

Some of the bikes dumped along one mile of the Lagan

Unusually low water in the Lagan on Wednesday afternoon revealed what people most like to throw in the river - bicycles.

I noticed this on an afternoon stroll in Belfast with my camera.

Other photographers might have been drawn by the wildlife on the newly emerged sandbanks; I had an eye for litter.

And between the Albert Bridge and the Ormeau Road I found 15 bicycles, some of them lying fully exposed, some of them buried deep in the mud.

That walk is one mile long.

Some were children's bikes, some were full-sized road bikes and some were so decayed that it was hard to tell what they had been when brand new or freshly stolen.

There were other items in the water, a couple of shopping trolleys, even a satellite receiver dish for someone's television, but there were more bikes than anything else.

Did people just get fed up with their bikes or grow out of them and throw them into the river?

Were many of them stolen and discarded?

It's impossible to tell why bicycles make up more of the rubbish in our river than any other item, aside perhaps from beer cans and bottles.

Each of them will have cost someone hundreds of pounds. Each will have been loved. Many of them will have been fresh, bright Christmas presents.

Some people are not sentimental about their bikes. They ride them to work because they can't afford a car or public transport and are perhaps glad to be done with them.

Maybe some of those bikes broke down and the owners threw them away rather than take the trouble to fix them.

That seems illogical, given that there is not much that can actually go wrong with a bike.

But there they are, in the mud by the side of the Lagan, usually covered by the water. I have walked that route hundreds of times over the years and have never seen this litter exposed like this by low water, so I made a record of it. Had I walked further along the river, I would no doubt have seen more.Dr Nandita Palshetkar, Director, IVF and Infertility at Fortis Bloom IVF Center

Dr. Nandita Palshetkar is one of the pioneers of IVF Clinics In India specialising in Assistive Reproductive Technologies and has been instrumental in helping over 25,000 aspiring parents to have a baby of their own. She is credited with an average IVF success rate of 35-45% in started cycles in women under 35.

On the occasion of International Women's Day, Dr. Nandita Palshetkar shares her personal side with BioSpectrum-

My Daily Routine-

My morning starts with a small walk and light gym twice to thrice a week. Then breakfast with the family. My husband, son, daughter in law all have early mornings and busy days so we try to get in one meal together, at least breakfast. Then I head to the hospital and consult and operate depending on the days schedule. Its almost night by the time I reach home and my husband being totally loving waits for dinner. And then watch tv with my husband and call it a night.

My idea of fitness and nutrition-

Fitness and nutrition are an important aspect of my life. I do a small walk every morning and light gym twice to thrice a week. I also do a bit of Pranayam two to three times a day. I believe in YOGA . I go for the detox sessions with fasting every 6 months.

My favourite cuisine-

Japanese

My favorite holiday destination-

What better than our own country. Ive travelled globally for conferences and workshops but the rich culture and heritage in India somehow always appeals to me and is very relaxing. I love history and ancient architecture so whenever I visit a place I make it a point to visit the heritage and culture of the city.

My idea of balance between personal and professional life-

Its kind of difficult to do so but my family is so supportive that it makes it much easier. My husband has been by my side for over 30 years and you know women are good at time management.

My role model-

My father, Dr. D.Y.Patil, is one of the people who has influenced my life greatly. He is a visionary and his ability to bond with everyone is something I admire the most. His selflessness, humility and kind heartedness are qualities I endear.Dr Parvathi Unninayar Iyer, Director, Paediatric Cardiac Intensive Care, Fortis Escorts Heart Institute

Dr Parvathi U Iyer is currently Director, Paediatric Cardiac Intensive Care at the Fortis Escorts Heart Institute (FEHI), New Delhi - one of the busier Paediatric cardiac programs in India. She is a pioneer in the specialty of Paediatric cardiac critical care. She was closely involved in setting up the Paediatric program in 1995 - the first integrated program that incorporated an intensivist in India. She graduated from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and trained in Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive care at the Royal Childrens' Hospital, Melbourne and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney.

On the occasion of International Women's Day, Dr Parvathi U Iyer shares her personal side with BioSpectrum-

My Daily Routine-

I start my day at 5 o clock in the morning. I make coffee for the family. I get ready and plan my entire day. Around 5.30 I call the hospital to check on the overnight status of our patients. I prepare a tentative care plan for the hospital for all my patients. I draw up separate to do lists for work and home. I assign tasks to my domestic staff and expect these to be done when I return home usually around 6pm. Of course I am available on the phone for hospital emergencies around the clock.

My idea of fitness and nutrition-

It is extremely important to me. I feel life is very precious and one should value it. I am disciplined about my fitness and nutrition.

My favourite cuisine-

I like all kinds of vegetarian cuisine but I prefer South Indian as it is light and easy to digest.

My favorite holiday destination-

Japan is my favourite holiday spot because of its beauty. I feel the people there are very gentle courteous, disciplined and hospitable. Visitors feel very safe there.

My idea of balance between personal and professional life-

When I was younger I found it difficult strike a balance between both but with time I have learned to be more organised and now I dont neglect either of them.

My role model-

My role model is Marie Curie because she was very focussed about her work and despite her achievements remained a humble person. She was a complete human being from being a good mother to being a fine person.The Myra mobile app, which is available both on android and iOS platforms, offers fast online access to medicines with doorstep delivery.

Bengaluru-based Metarain Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which runs online pharmacy app Myra, has raised about Rs 12 crore ($1.84 million) in a fresh round.

Tokyo-headquartered management consulting firm Dream Incubator led the round with an infusion of Rs 6.5 crore ($1 million), while existing investors Matrix Partners and Times Internet accounted for the rest.

The Myra mobile app, which is available both on android and iOS platforms, offers fast online access to medicines with doorstep delivery. It caters to consumers in select areas of Bengaluru and Mumbai, as of now.

According to recent reports, Japan-based Dream Incubator has launched a $44-million tech investment fund focused on Indian startups.The company has already invested Rs 450 crore in acquiring laboratories in India and abroad and upgrading them.

Neuberg Diagnostics is planning to invest Rs 300 crore in India, the Middle East and Africa as part of its expansion plans.

The company having focus on new generation technologies in the diagnostics space, has already invested Rs 450 crore in acquiring laboratories in India and abroad and upgrading them.

Neuberg at present has 50 labs and 500 centres in the south and west India, and plans to increase the total count to 150 labs and 1,000 centres in the next three years.

An alliance of five top laboratories like Anand Diagnostic Laboratory, Supratech Micropath, Ehrlich lab, Global labs and Minerva Labs, the company plans to have three infrastructure models  global centre of excellence, regional reference centres and satellite centres.

It also wants to establish research centres in the US and European markets, to get access to latest technologies and bring it to IndiaShivom will also establish a development centre at Fintech Valley Vizag.

Andhra Pradesh government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with German firm Shivom to use the latter's blockchain-based global DNA ecosystem to enable predictive medicine for state's citizens.

Andhra Pradesh which is India's eighth largest state with a population of over 60 million has also selected blockchain technology primarily to maintain the privacy of citizens DNA data.

Shivom will also establish a development centre at Fintech Valley Vizag and also work closely with the Government of Andhra Pradeshs International Institute of Digital Technologies (IIDT) at Tirupati on cybersecurity and analytics.

This significant partnership demonstrates a monumental shift in focussing not just on genomic data for research but instead using the predictive power of the genetic data to empower the Andhra Pradesh healthcare system to shift from reactive to more preventative.The machine, RxT17, started undergoing clinical trials recently at the JSS Medical College Hospital, Mysuru.

Researchers at Renalyx Health Systems in Bengaluru have come up with a made-in-India dialysis machine, which is expected to reduce cost of the medical procedure.

The machine, RxT17, started undergoing clinical trials recently at the JSS Medical College Hospital, Mysuru.

The machine is cloud-enabled and can be connected to a mobile app, so that nephrologists can monitor its functioning and the patients response from anywhere.

The company has patents and active collaborations with premier institutions, including IIT Kharagpur, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) and PESIT in Bengaluru.

The company intends to take the new dialysis machine to rural areas too, given its ability to connect seamlessly and its capacity to run on solar power. Such features are not available in dialysis machines imported from Japan, the US and Germany.

Dialysis machines are imported from Germany, Sweden and China at a cost of Rs 10-11 lakh a piece. A dialysis session costs between Rs 2,500 and Rs 4,000. The new machine is likely to be priced at Rs 4 lakh and it could reduce the cost of dialysis to Rs 1,000.Following this transaction, Ranjan Pai will become the largest investor with a 37.9% stake and TPG will follow with 20%.

The Fortis Healthcare board has approved the transaction in which its healthcare division will be merged with Manipal Hospitals. Apart from it, it will also sell a majority stake in its SRL Diagnostics to the same group.

Following this transaction, Ranjan Pai will become the largest investor with a 37.9% stake and TPG will follow with 20%. The promoters of Fortis Healthcare, Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh will have a 0.3% stake, down from about 0.8%. Each Fortis Healthcare shareholder will get shares in Manipal Hospitals in the ratio of 10.83 for every 100 held.



The Singh brothers welcomed the move, reports The Economic Times. The demerger of Fortis hospital business into Manipal Hospitals, promoted by Dr Ranjan Pai and backed by TPG, will unlock significant value for all stakeholders and will further accelerate and expand access to high quality healthcare services in India, they said in a release. We are happy and confident that the combination will be value accretive for all stakeholders.

In the second part of the transaction, Manipal Hospital will buy a 50.9% stake in SRL Diagnostics from Fortis Healthcare and other private equity investors at a total equity valuation of Rs 3,600 crore. This includes Manipal Hospitals buying a 20% stake from Fortis Healthcare and an additional 30.9% stake from private equity investors.

As part of the transaction, Pai and TPG will invest Rs 3,900 crore in Manipal Hospitals. The funds will be used to finance the acquisition of the SRL stake. In addition, it will support the proposed acquisition of hospital assets owned by the Singapore-listed RHT Health Trust and the growth of the hospitals and diagnostics businesses.



The Fortis brand will also be transferred to the merged company, said a person familiar with the deal. Manipal Hospitals will be a publicly traded company and Fortis Healthcare will be an investment holding company.Here's Why Pear-Shaped Women Are Less Prone To Diabetes And Heart Diseases Wellness lekhaka-Shatavisha Chakravorty

Since time immemorial, the body shape of a woman is something that has attracted a lot of attention both at a personal as well as the global level. The universal debate of whether a curvy body is more attractive over a petite one is something that can never have a clear-cut answer.

Indeed, there are men in every social, economic and chronological cycle who prefer slim and petite over curvy women. The vice versa is true as well. But the shape or structure of a woman's body is not to entertain men.

There is much more to it and it is time we explore all of that instead of merely sexualizing a woman's body.

One of the key aspects of the shape of a woman is directly related to her health.

A research has shown that women of a particular body type are more likely to fall prey to a certain type of disease while that of some other type are likely to lead a much healthier life.

This goes on to prove that the shape of a woman's body is definitely more than what meets the eye. This article explores why and how pear-shaped women are less prone to heart ailments and diabetes.

 Fat Accumulation

One of the things that pear-shaped women are generally not fond of is the accumulation of fat that takes place in their body. However, on a positive note, pear-shaped women are protected from heart illnesses. This is because in their body, the hips and the thighs are considered to be the safe area for fat accumulation. Thus, any extra weight that they put on here does not put any pressure on the heart and these types of people are able to lead a much healthier life. This goes on even as they age, making them healthier than their skinny counterparts.

 When Family History Is Challenged

All of us are well aware of the fact that diabetes and heart diseases are things that run in a family. While family history is something that cannot be challenged, it has been seen that among the people who have a family history of these diseases, apple-shaped people (who have the fat accumulation around the waist region) are the ones who take up these diseases early on in their lives and tend to suffer for a much longer period of time. Medical science has proven that all this is directly connected to the region in which there is maximum fat accumulation in the body.

 Absorbing All The Unhealthy Stuffs

Since the hips and thighs of this type of people have a lot of mass, they act like a sponge and absorb the lipids. This type of mass retention of lipids is actually good for the body. Thus, this acts as a safe storage for all the fat that is present in the body and prevents the same from making their way to the blood and reaching the organs. Consequently, the heart and liver of this type of women have to work less, which leads them to be healthier for a longer period of time in the journey of life.

 Types Of Fat

In a society that is as stereotypical as that of ours, 'fat' is a word that is used to sham people. However, the fact remains that there are different types of fats and each of them takes different amount of time to release. The most dangerous type of fat is the belly fat that is released in the body merely two hours after having a meal. However, pear-shaped women do not really have much of a belly fat. They have fat around their hips and thighs and these can be stored in the body for months at end, making the way less harmful.

 Obesity And Its Impact

One fact that is to be noted here is that while we talk of body shapes, it is only with regard to women who have their BMI in the permissible range. It is understood that obese women are at a greater risk of heart ailments and they have a greater tendency of catching diabetes as well. Thus, if you find yourself to be way overweight than what your age, sex and height dictate, it is time that you shed those extra kilos. However, if you have the ideal weight and find your body to be pear shaped, it is time that you start rejoicing the fact that you own a body that is healthier than that of most people around you.

 When Waistline Is What Matters

While it is a well-accepted fact that diabetes and heart illness can strike a person at any given age, middle aged and older women are at a greater risk. This data was issued by the World Health Organization in its report released in the month of June. The same study went on to explain that women in the age group of 35-50 having a 38-inch waist (or anything greater than that) are at a three times higher risk of developing coronary heart disease than women having a waistline of 28 inches or lesser. Thus, it is all the way more important for middle-aged women to have lesser amount of fat accumulation around the waist, in order to tackle coronary illnesses.

 Role Of Exercise

All of us are well aware that regular exercise is one of the best ways to tackle heart illness. Squatting and doing push-ups is of particular importance here. Now, because of their body structure, pear-shaped women are the ones who are likely to find it easier to exercise and end up doing so more often as compared to their skinny and apple-shaped counterparts. This in turn fosters the path for a healthier lifestyle; one that is devoid of heart diseases and that has blood sugar levels well under control. Thus, diabetes is under control and is not very commonly seen in this type of women.

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Story first published: Saturday, March 31, 2018, 20:30 [IST]Why Is The Festival Called Easter Faith Mysticism lekhaka-Shatavisha Chakravorty

Easter is one of the most important Christian festivals. Unlike Christmas which falls on the 25th of December every year, the date of celebration of Easter varies from year to year. As of this year, the festival of Easter Sunday will occur on the 1st of April.

Needless to say this was not the date when Easter was celebrated last year and neither will the Easter of 2019 be celebrated on the same date. However considering the fact that the festival of Easter has stood every test of time it will be fair on our part to say that Easter will continue to be celebrated with the same fervor in the decades and centuries to come as well.

Just like other Christian festivals of Christmas and Halloween, the festival of Easter has also gone through a major change in the past couple of centuries. It has evolved in such a way that a number of Christian and non Christian elements have blended together to give the festival its present form.

However despite it all, something that has remained constant over the years is the essence of this festival and the fact that it is celebrated with the same fever even today as was done centuries ago.

Read on to know why this festival is known as Easter, the role of the Jewish Passover and how the mode of celebration of this festival has undergone a change over the years.

 A difference in nomenclature

Easter is a name that is more popular in the English speaking parts of the globe. However it is to be noted that Christianity is something that evolved in Jerusalem and has its influence in many non English speaking parts of the globe as well.

In those places Easter literally translates to 'Passover which is a direct reference to the festival of Passover that is celebrated by the Jews. A very good example in this regard would be that of the Greeks calling the festival of Easter as that of 'Pascha.

 The legend that says it all

It is believed that on one Passover, somewhere around AD 30, a number of disciples of Jesus travelled with the Lord himself to the holy city of Jerusalem in order to celebrate the festival. Since Jesus had a huge following of disciples on his own, the triumphal procession that followed his presence disrupted the celebrations in the city.

The Romans were not happy about the same. It hurt their ego to see someone else having greater popularity then that of their own. Being as brutal as they were, this clash of ego resulted in the execution of Jesus in the same year.

 Connecting the dots

Following his execution, some of his followers who were a part of the procession claimed that they were able to see him alive even after his death. This fell in place with the theory of Easter wherein the Lord resurrected from his grave a couple of days after execution.

Hence if we look at things from a logical perspective, it does seem fair to commemorate these two very important historical events in close proximity of each other.

 From Judaism to Christianity

Thus in the initial days of this religion, Easter was celebrated on the same day as that of the Jewish Passover. The festival of Passover fell on the 14th day of Nisan. Roughly translated to our modern calendar, this will fall somewhere around the month of March or April.

Thus it is interesting to note that even back then the festival of Easter was celebrated in a manner that is pretty much similar to that of modern day celebrations. Another fact that must be brought to light at this point is the fact that by choosing the day of resurrection of Jesus Christ as the same day as the Jewish festival of Passover, the continuity with which the religion of Christianity emerged out of that of Judaism is also highlighted.

 The official declaration

History is a testimony to the fact that Emperor Constantine favored Christianity over that of Judaism. In AD 325 he organized a meeting of Christian leaders from across the globe. This was done with the view to resolve some major disputes of the Council of Nicaea that were hampering his administrative work. It was in this meeting that it was decided that Easter shall be celebrated on a Sunday and not on the 14th day of Nisan.

 Settling for a Sunday

That one decision on the part of the council of Emperor Constantine is what changed the course of history for this major religion.

While the decision did make sense, (considering the fact that some people believed that Jesuss tomb was found on an auspicious Sunday while others were of the opinion that Jesus resurrected from his grave on a Sunday) it is interesting to note that a decision that was taken in a court some millennial early seems to hold significance even today. True to this date, Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon of the vertical equinox.

 Changing times, constant name

As the centuries passed by, the form of celebration of Easter kept on changing on a dynamic basis. In the initial days when Christianity split to the two major components of Catholics and Protestants (we are talking about the early days of America here), the festival of Easter seemed to gain greater popularity among the Catholics. The Protestants felt that the festival was tainted by too much of merrymaking and did nit deem it fit for celebrations.

 Surviving through the years

As the pages of history turned itself and society progressed, a number of changes were noted in the celebration of this festival. Children started taking the central stage and Easter bunnies and Easter Eggs became a way of life. However despite it all, it will be fair on our part to say that this is one festival that has stood every test of time.

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Story first published: Saturday, March 31, 2018, 10:05 [IST]By David Holohan

On the arrival of the Trump administration to the White House in 2017, there were widespread concerns as to what impact the incoming presidents policies would have on global stock markets.

Investors could have been forgiven for hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

Unexpectedly, US equities surged over the following 12 months, spurred on by a fiscal spending splurge combined with the delivery of significant corporate tax cuts. One of the strongest performing parts of the market over this period was the technology sector.

Spurred on by jubilant management teams and bullish investment strategists, investors have piled into the tech shares, expounding the adage that this time it is different to justify the increasingly racy valuation multiples that were attached to the ever-increasing tech stock prices.

The reality is that it is never different and human frailties continually fall victim to not believing in the warnings from the past.

There are several warning signals that we could be approaching the top of the cycle for technology.

In recent weeks, the flow of money into the US technology sector has been significant, running at the highest annualised rate since the early 2000s, reflecting upbeat optimism among retail investors that the momentum that carried the sector higher in 2017 will continue indefinitely.

The valuation multiples of several of the largest companies in the technology sector have recently been at levels, where previous IT CEOs derided fund managers for buying their shares during the dotcom bubble.

Both Netflix and Facebook  despite their recent travails  are among several technology companies that are trading over 10 times revenue, a level that the CEO of Sun Microsystems asked fund managers after the boom: What were you thinking of buying shares at such ratings? Netflix and Facebook had also probably reached a point whereby the extent of their expensiveness left no room for additional upside.

Amazon is also a company that is in the crosshairs of US politicians, including President Donald Trump, as rivals cannot compete with an internet behemoth whose investors do not seem to require the company to generate profits. The market capitalisation of technology versus the overall value of the US economy is back to levels last seen during the height of the dotcom bubble and raises a further flag.

While there is a good argument that technology is a more important part of the economy than during the dotcom bubble, for large parts of the last decade, it was possible to invest in large technology companies trading on 10 to 15 times earnings versus the current 15 to 25 times that has become the norm over the past two years.

Significant share buybacks have augmented these ratios while underlying profit growth is expected to be a lot less spectacular in the year and years ahead, stripping out the benefit of lower corporation tax rates.

And management teams typically recommend buyback programmes to the board towards the top of the economic cycle and then, having used their cash resources, do not have the ability to take advantage of subsequent weaker share prices to purchase their stock at the low point of the cycle.

Investors should use the current malaise in the technology sector to examine the business models of companies to understand whether they can generate profits or not. Many companies have received the benefit of the doubt from markets over the past several years, but as larger investors face increasing losses from selloffs, their attention will turn to those companies who have performed exceptionally but have weak fundamental underpinnings.

Many social media companies and cloud computing start-ups fall into this category of having business models that focus on generating user growth but have no tangible profits and no firm way of generating them in the future. Unfortunately for investors, the shares of these companies are now priced at levels that suggest the next big move will be to the downside and as a sector that provided marvel on the way up, may cause a lot of distress on the way down.

David Holohan is chief investment officer at MerrionBy Ruth Doris

With house prices continuing to rise and predictions of a 20% surge in 2018, the property market is showing no signs of a slowdown.

Latest figures reveal that a three-bedroom semi-detached house now costs an average of 229,000 nationwide, with sellers forking out a hefty fee to estate agencies.

Irish start-up Moove wants to disrupt the market and give buyers and sellers more choice and control during the sale process.

Its hybrid online model, based on Purplebricks in the UK, offers substantial savings for sellers of up to 7,200 on a typical agents fee.

According to founder David Madden, Moove provides the same services as a traditional estate agent for a flat fee of 1,800 including Vat. The usual for sale signs, brochures, bidding, and negotiation offers are all included.

We guide the process right to completion with solicitors and conveyancing, he says.

Starting out as an estate agent at age 17, Mr Madden worked for his parents business selling property in Spain before moving to London when the Irish property market crashed.

While in the UK, he noticed that the hybrid/online estate agent model, pioneered by Purplebricks, was beginning to gain traction.

Where Moove differentiates itself from the traditional estate agency model is on price and technology, he says.

Buyers and sellers can log onto the platform and communicate with each other even after office hours.

For example, buyers can view property for sale on a bank-holiday Monday, send a message to the owner to say theyd like to view a property, and, after viewing, put in an offer.

We could come into the office on Tuesday morning with a sale agreed. Theres no other estate agent who can do that.

Mr Madden points out that a buyer needs to view a property before making an offer, so sellers arent bombarded with silly offers.

The flat fee of 1,800 does not include showing the property, which will be the responsibility of the vendor. However, if the seller isnt comfortable with viewings, they can avail of a slightly more expensive 2,500 package, which includes viewings.

The potential savings of using Moove instead of a traditional estate agent are considerable, according to Mr Madden.

We just sold a property in Sutton and saved the owner 9,500. With that amount of money you could buy a new car or put in a new kitchen.

Mooves biggest challenge is to convince the public that there is an alternative to paying thousands and thousands of euro in commissions, says Mr Madden.

He admits the company has lost potential listings because of a perception that its too good to be true.

Mr Madden explains that his revenue model works because overheads are cut to a minimum.

The reason we can do the 1,800 package so low is because we dont have to be physically at the property for viewings.

We can still make a fairly decent profit. It just goes to show the sheer profit margins being made on property transactions.

Launching in August 2017, Moove raised 40,000 on the Irish Investment Network, which allowed the company to pay for public relations and advertising and iron out a few cobwebs on the website.

The company has had six sales so far and currently has 26 listings, ranging from Killarney in Kerry to Malin Head in Donegal.

Moove is currently completing a second round of fundraising on Crowdcube with a target of 200,000.

That is earmarked for expansion and advertising costs.

Mr Madden says hes confident it will hit that target in the next two to three weeks.

Next up for Moove is an app launching in May that works seamlessly with the back end of the website  Mr Madden explains that 60% of the companys traffic is on mobile.

The focus for Moove is on residential sales in Dublin for the moment, with plans to expand to Cork and Limerick.

The target is to get up to 400 properties listed by the end of 2018 and complete another, larger, round of fundraising next year, with a target of 2.5m-3m.By John Whelan

Regardless of a good, bad, or no deal, three out of four manufacturing companies in the North believe they will be worse off after Brexit.

This was the stark message delivered by Stephen Kelly, chief executive of lobby group Manufacturing NI, at a recent special conference on Brexit and the Norths manufacturing industry held in Belfasts Titanic Hotel.

Industry speakers saw the burden of non-tariff barriers and increased regulatory requirements as a likely consequence of Brexit and considered them of more concern than the possibility of direct tariffs being introduced.

An example is the requirement for a certificate of origin document which is considered the minimum to prove goods were made in the region once Brexit kicks in.

The full cost of producing this cert has been calculated by Manufacturing NI at 544.

It said no commitment has been given on nontariff barriers to trade. Added complexity in trading and consequent added costs were inevitable and it warned there will be casualties.

A survey by Manufacturing NI reported that 38% of manufacturers were planning on moving facilities out of the North due to Brexit.

All were being hampered by the slow progress in Brexit negotiations.

The December Joint Agreement with the European Union, followed by the March 19 statement was considered by the manufacturing industry as a fudge.

Little credence is given to Theresa Mays December commitment to an agreed solution, specific to the North, which would create a new customs partnership with the EU in a way that removes the need for a UKEU customs border, facilitated by new technological systems.

The House of Commons Committee on Northern Ireland Affairs is very much at one with manufacturers in the North and stated in its latest review report: We have, however, had no visibility of any technical solution anywhere in the world, beyond aspirational, that would remove the need for a physical infrastructure at the border.

One of the more intractable issues at customs border crossings internationally are what are called sanitary and phyto-sanitary checks.

Importing countries require a certificate from the exporters agricultural offices for fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, live animal and other products.

How these sanitary and phytosanitary matters will be dealt with, as well as imports of other regulated goods such as pharmaceutical and medical devices, will be at the heart of the detailed proposals that are being called for.

However, in a recent BBC interview, the UKs Brexit secretary David Davis said solutions will be found to the border issue and a trade deal with Brussels is now incredibly probable.

The EU withdrawal deal includes a fall-back option of the North effectively continuing to remain in the customs union, but Mr Davis said either the UK-EU trade deal or new technology could prevent that.

When challenged that there were no other borders of that kind in the world, Mr Davis said: We have got a whole load of new technology now.

Businesses in the North see this as more bluster than substance.

Manufacturing jobs are concentrated in areas with high levels of exports that predominantly flow to other EU countries. Therefore, a disruption to EU trade could lead to a significant reduction in jobs in that sector.

There have been many analyses of the economic impact of Brexit on the North, all showing a negative outcome for the economy.

Perhaps the most worrying was the UK Treasury report which shows the Norths economy contracting 12%.

This worst case scenario would push it into recession and it is this very worrying picture that Manufacturing NIs Stephen Kelly focuses in on, saying: We continue to be used by both sides to either blunt Brexit or achieve the impossible deal. Both sides are keen to appear concerned but are our interests really that important to either side?

John Whelan is a leading trade consultantAn angler has been airlifted to safety after falling from cliffs earlier today at Knockadoon Head in County Cork.

Irish Coast Guard Helicopter Rescue 117 was called to the scene and the man was transferred to Cork University Hospital, where his injuries are described as serious but not life-threatening.Another march will take place today to support people who've reported rapes and to seek improvements in how they are treated in the courts system.

It follows multiple rallies in cities throughout Ireland on Thursday in support of rape victims after the acquittal of all four defendants in the Belfast rape trial.The UK Foreign Office has said it is considering a request from Russia to see Yulia Skripal over the Salisbury poisoning.

An FCO spokeswoman said: "We are considering requests for consular access in line with our obligations under international and domestic law, including the rights and wishes of Yulia Skripal."It's the "lesbian kiss" (or "romp" depending on what tabloid you read) that has been teased by Ten for weeks in a bid to get tongues wagging about their latest instalment from The Bachelor franchise, The Bachelor in Paradise, but all is not what it seems.

The clip that has been played over and over (and over) again is of Megan Marx sharing a steamy, late-night swim and pash with a tanned, long-hair brunette that many have assumed is Tahitian boheme, Elora Murger.

(Marx is one of three women who came out as bisexual following Richie Strahan's season on The Bachelor. Her ex-girlfriend, Tiffany Scanlon, and Alex Nation, are the other two.)

But it's believed the real identity of the mysterious brunette is a far cry from fire twirling Murger.

The kiss:"Times have changed ... but people still think a white person is normal and everything else is a deviation." Credit:Paul Jeffers We decide to share the scallops, then it's gnocchi with pear, walnuts and gorgonzola for her, a spaghettini with spanner crab, chilli, tomato and capers for me. When I order a glass of white wine, she opts for a mineral water. Stynes has spoken publicly about her unhealthy relationship with alcohol and stopped drinking altogether 18 months ago. In The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald she wrote: "You know that feeling when you've had your hair up in a tight ponytail all day and haven't even noticed, but it's been giving you a headache? And it's not until you take your hair out and rub your head that you realise you've been suffering. Drinking is like that for me. The first couple of drinks are a glorious relief. You didn't even know you were in pain." The Circle: (from left) Chrissie Swan, Yumi Stynes, Gorgi Coghlan, Denise Drysdale. Although she had stopped before, she feels that this time "has actually got to be legit".

Does she wish she'd done it earlier? "I don't know. I've found it funny how hard it was to talk about. Even now if I say to female friends, who have a lot of overlap in terms of experience, 'Look I just can't drink, it's not good for me', they'll say 'You were fine!' There's a complete denial of it. And then other friends, I'm looking sideways at their consumption, and they'll literally say 'I don't have a drinking problem', while consuming two bottles of wine." Stynes in 2002. She feels amazing since giving up booze and on reflection realises the other times she abstained were the same. But it's not for everyone. "I think at this stage of our lives people have been around the block. They've seen friends battle addiction, they've seen people deal with alcoholism, they've seen relationships break down, for various reasons so they're so much less judgmental about things." Stynes married Martin Bendeler  to whom she proposed  on the beach in Byron Bay in 2012, with just their mums and the kids at the ceremony. They have a son and a daughter; Stynes has two daughters with Ben Ely, from the band Regurgitator. Fairfax reporter Kerrie O'Brien had lunch with broadcaster and writer Yumi Stynes at Centonove in Kew. Credit:Paul Jeffers

"When I was a single mum and dating I just assumed it would be someone from [the industry]. So I was surprised that I was attracted to this  I called him The Civilian. So that was his nickname for a while. Every once in a while I run into someone who says 'So, how's The Civilian?' and I think 'Oh gawd, that was my very disrespectful name for him!' " Mother to a two-and-a-half-year-old (known simply as Manbaby to the public), three-year-old Mercy, Dee Dee, 13, and Anouk, 16, Stynes works hard on being honest. Stynes and Samantha Lane in Agony Guide to Life, with Adam Zwar. "One [of the girls] told me I was cooler than Katy Perry the other day," she says, laughing out loud. "Isn't that cute? I'm trying not to be cool, I'm trying to be honest and I think they know that that's legitimate... Be frank and never laugh at a question and give them respect with my answers." Bendeler is studying law full time and is the family's primary carer. Stynes has a theory that the best relationships are those in which each party thinks the other is a little bit better than them; happily, that is her reality. "He's a gift," she says. "He's smart, handsome, he's really kind, he's clever and I think he thinks that about me."

Receipt for lunch. He's the son of a single mum so he arrived pretty evolved, she says. Having had a boy after three girls, she wonders what happens when they hit puberty, "that turning point when they turn into these taciturn, grunting [beings]" "I hope our generation of boys can be taught that they're allowed to be sweet and cry and have heartaches and seek comfort. I guess that's something that women never stop doing, seeking female comfort and support. Our daughters can do that and there's no point at which it's not allowed." Spaghettini with spanner crab, chilli, tomato and capers at Centonove. Credit:Paul Jeffers Unfortunately, it seems different for many boys: "From about 10 until 19, they have to be armoured like an ox."

In a revision of her cheffy ambitions, while on maternity leave, she recently wrote a cookbook. Called Zero F*cks, it had been percolating for a while; the title reflects her aim of making great food with a minimum of fuss. "I'm cooking all the time, thinking about how to nurture my babies, simplify food, keep my teenagers happy, so that was something where I thought I can just write it." Potato gnocchi with gorgonzola, pear and walnuts at Centonove. Credit:Paul Jeffers A few publishers said thanks but no before Stynes teamed up with Hardie Grant. Even those who rejected the idea were generous in providing feedback, she says. "It's really good to hear stuff and  then to say, well, I'm not owning that. If you don't like the word f--- in my book, well, that's totally acceptable and predictable but I'm not gonna take that and change the name of my book." At one point, she wept at the book shoot when she realised that it was working: the photographer got it, as did the stylist. "The dish we were working on was the birthday cake, and I started to cry thinking about how stressed you get trying to get it right, and if you fail, [feeling] you're a bad mum, so much guilt "

"The feedback is that the voice is so clearly me, [it's] not like it's ghost written. Clearly I'm just trying to get through the day," she says with a laugh. In the book she says she felt like the only Asian kid living in country Victoria. Was that really the case? "There was a family who ran the Chinese food shop. It was very conspicuous. You couldn't just walk down the street and no one know that it's you," she says. "Times have changed since then but people still think a white person is normal and everything else is a deviation." Straight shooting is the order of the day on the podcast she hosts for the ABC. Called Ladies, We Need to Talk, it covers women's health and sexuality; vaginas, masturbation and menstruation have featured, as well as mental load, love and libido. "I thought I'm living, breathing this stuff. The feminist aspect of it, the women's health aspect, overcoming taboos." Appearing on KIIS FM's afternoon show three days a week with co-host Katie 'Monty' Dimond is a joy, she says. "That is like my dream job, I'm so happy there ... You can say stuff on radio and people know that you're just joking or you're taking the piss or you're being mischievous. I think with TV they expect you to be squeaky clean." "You do get addicted to telling stories and wanting to share stuff.""Like a chicken breaking out of an egg, be ready to leave behind your sins and anxieties, sorrows and regrets," he said.

In his message delivered in the classroom of six-year-olds, Archbishop Fisher encouraged Catholics to see Easter with the eyes and heart of a child.

The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher, has broken with tradition to deliver his Easter message in a room full of Sydney school children via YouTube rather than a written message.

"May the risen Christ who burst forth from the tomb, bring Easter hope and promise to all."

In his Easter message, the leader of Australias largest Anglican Diocese, the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Glenn Davies, has urged Christians to talk about their faith. Dr Davies said free speech about faith and spirituality has always been difficult.

These days there is a lot of talk about free speech  are we really allowed to talk freely about

faith? Dr Davies asked. It was the same in Jesus day. The Roman rulers wanted to control the

influence of religion on public life.

The Archbishop also cited a survey that showed that when gathering with friends more than

half of all Australians were willing to talk about religion or spirituality. The survey indicated that

the youngest Australians, Generation Z, are the most comfortable talking about it.

Many will tell you the so-called I-generation is rejecting faith, but I dont see that at all. The

timeless events of Easter and Jesus love for us are vital truths for everyone. At least Gen Z is

willing to talk about it  are you? the Archbishop asked.

Keith Garner, the CEO of Wesley Mission, which will host its 6am Easter sunrise service at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday, said Easter was the most significant time on the calendar for Christian people.

"It makes all of us stop and take stock of our lives,'' he said.

"Just as a shell of an egg contains new life, so the empty tomb of Jesus Christ contains just that; emptiness which tells of One who has broken free of all that fear and death represents. As a result, our world is changed forever.By mentioning the bite, Haddish has let the world know that, not only is a semi-ordinary person able to pierce the great and powerful realm that is Beyonce's inner sanctuary, it is entirely possible to invade her space so violently as to make contact with her epidermis.

Haddish, known for this fleeting moment as a "break-out star", has only just begun to penetrate the upper echelons of fame, and, unknowingly or not, has bent the first rule of celebrity friendship: thou shalt not let the public know that celebrities are fallible.

Actress and comedian Tiffany Haddish caused a whir of controversy this week by letting slip in an interview with GQ that her new friend Beyonce, the most successful female vocalist of our time, was bitten on the face by an unnamed actress at a party.

It is now almost beside the point that the perpetrator was probably actress Sana Lathan (who issued a weak denial via Twitter), or even that Beyonce quickly moved on. What matters here is that the internet whipped itself into a frenzied blur of outrage that such a transgression could occur in the first place.

In a world where politicians lie and collude; sportsmen cheat and newly married couples commit adultery for public consumption, we are left to rely on a few sacred texts from which to draw meaning. One of those is the idea that once an ordinary person gains admission into the celebrity realm, they are bound by honour, and something akin to fame-insurance, not to speak of what transpires therein.

Oh, we know there are countless anecdotes given by "insiders" and "friends" who claim all sorts of strange and wonderful things about celebrities (usually that they are "depressed" about their "ballooning" weight gain).

But we also know that these unnamed sources are either publicists or the writers themselves. Rare is the celebrity who will go on record to talk about another celebrity. Even model and self-confessed "loud mouth" Chrissy Teigen has her limits, tweeting "I've said too much" when asked to weigh in on the Beyonce biting.

Haddish, however, has not been ex-communicated - yet. Although by Friday she announced she'd signed a non-disclosure agreement.Jan Marshall has channelled her fury into a blog and a book and regards herself as a survivor. Credit:Justin McManus Marshall, now 64, said she was robbed of her financial independence. She lives in a share house on Newstart payments on the outskirts of Melbourne. She channels a lot of her fury into a blog, runs a support group and recently wrote a book detailing her experience, Romance Scam Survivor: The Whole Sordid Story. Plenty of Australians fall for it Marshall is not alone. Scamwatch statistics reveal Australians lost a financially crippling $90,928,622 in 161,528 scams in 2017. Its April Fools Day on Sunday, so its important to be vigilant, with a spike in finance-related scams common around this time of year.

More than half the reports related to scams or fraud, while one in five related to a purchase or sale, and 7 per cent to cyber bullying. Email, social networking and website advertising are the top three targets of cybercriminals, the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN) says. Its not just older Australians being scammed, either. Those aged between 20 and 39 years of age made up more than two out of five victims who reported to ACORN. About one in five were 60 or over, and more than one in three were aged between 40 and 60. Fewer than one in 20 were teenagers or children. Scams can take unlikely guises, too. Australians were recently warned to watch out for scammers setting up fake ads pretending to sell cute puppies, with more than $310,000 lost and 584 reports about this scam in the past 12 months, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)s Scamwatch. One of the puppies used in the recent scam identified by ACCC Scamwatch. Scammers often claim they have moved interstate or overseas and that you will need to pay for transport or medical costs before the puppy can be delivered. People in the 25-34 age group reported losing the most money to this scam, and women are three times more likely than men to get caught out.

Puppy scammers play on peoples emotions who have their heart set on a particular breed. Once they see that cute puppy picture in an ad, they drop their guard and tend to miss the warning signs theyre dealing with a scammer, ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard says. An internet search using the exact wording could help reveal a scam. Scammers get lazy and use the same wording over and over again. People are good at sharing intel like this online to save others from getting caught, Rickard says. Be careful what you share The financial effects of cyber attacks are worsening, and home users are warned that social media and email accounts, banking logins and sharing personal information - including photos and personal files - remain the biggest threat. The Australian Cyber Security Centre 2017 Threat Report also identified ransomware as an increasingly concerning method of extorting funds from victims. It is one of the most prevalent financially motivated cybercrime threats worldwide and is likely to remain so due to its continuing success, the report reads.

But even still, your personal information can end up in the wrong hands through no fault of your own, says cybersecurity expert Michael Connory. Cyber criminals and hackers are focused on corporate Australias substandard cybersecurity protocols, with poor data management practices creating an environment of high risk and potential exposure for innocent consumers, Connory, who is the chief executive of IT security firm Security in Depth, says. Clicking yes to allow personal credit card information to be stored in the belief it will make our lives easier isnt always the case, he says. Sharing employment history, birthdate and addresses could be enough for someone to steal your identity, he says. It doesnt take much more from a social engineering perspective for someone to take these pieces of information being shared on social media and completely destroy your life. They can decimate your financial history.

Get a secure letterbox, change passwords often and make them tricky, and install anti-virus and anti-spyware on home computers, Connory says. You should also request your own credit report, which will alert you to any bogus credit applications, he says. ACCC deputy chairwoman Delia Rickard says scammers often repeat language. Australians should stop and think before they click on an email or provide information over the phone, says Rachael Brigham, head of cards, payments and fraud, Cuscal, which offers anti-fraud services to Australians transferring money. A bank or organisation will never contact you out of the blue to ask you for personal information such as a date of birth or request a password change, she says. Trust your instincts. If you have any doubt whatsoever, dont proceed. And if its too good to be true, it most likely is, Brigham says.

Scammer full of promises Marshall was scammed in 2012, but accepting the situation and moving on has been difficult. I couldnt believe it had happened. Its difficult to describe how it affects you. I had never been in love before, so those feelings were all new for me. It was a very hard recovery process. I had been abused and emotionally manipulated by criminals. Marshalls scammer was full of promises for a future together. I know now I was love-bombed by him, so my brain was flooded with oxytocin. There was an increasing feeling of trust and bonding. It was a lot easier to step over the inconsistencies in his stories. Its important for people who have been scammed to understand that theyve been abused. Im a survivor. Im much stronger as a person every time I tell my story.This increases in importance the closer you are to retirement, because of whats known as sequencing risk .

There are a few reasons for this. First, events such as the global financial crisis or lesser market shocks come around every decade or so. Its easy to make money in a bull market, but for a long-term investment such as super you need to know if your fund can perform when the bears come out to play as well.

If you're early in your working life, then the long-term average counts because you have many years ahead of you for any bumpiness to even out. But the nearer you are to making withdrawals from your fund rather than letting compound growth run its course, the more the sequence of returns matters.

If youre forced to start selling shares when markets are weak, youll burn through your money faster than if you get the benefit of good returns in the early years of retirement to make up for any withdrawals.

Thats because once you sell a share, it doesnt matter if its performance is better next year. You can only sell it once. The longer you go before you hit a weak patch, the more compound growth youll get for your super balance overall before you take a hit.

Second, theres the mulligan rule of investment.

Analysis published in The Economist looked specifically at investment funds. Over the 10 years to December 2017, only a handful of British and European equity funds beat the market index  less than one in four for sterling-denominated funds and less than 15 per cent for euro-denominated funds.The ACT government official responsible for child protection said he was not surprised by figures showing high numbers of children experiencing family violence and neglect in the territory.

ACT executive director for children, youth and families Mark Collis said the 38 children involved in an analysis of child protection were some of the most complex cases dealt with by the system.

The government's executive director of child and youth services, Dr Mark Collis. Credit:Jamila Toderas

The report, released under Freedom of Information, showed more than 80 per cent of children involved in the review were subject to family violence for years with minimal change or intervention, and about 70 per cent of the same cohort were found to have suffered serious neglect that persisted over several years.

Dr Collis said the report on the first year of operation of the case analysis team was prepared for quality assurance.The extent of building quality issues in the ACT is more serious than anyone is aware because people are unwilling to complain about problems that could de-value their assets, according to campaigners for change.

Gary Petherbridge stands in front of Kingston Tower, a building he believes was built correctly unlike developments now. Credit:Jamila Toderas

Meanwhile Labor member for Murrumbidgee Bec Cody said she hears complaints about building quality as often as complaints about roads, rates and rubbish.

Owners Corporation Network ACT president Gary Petherbridge said there was a huge undercurrent of unreported issues particularly in apartment complexes, where owners faced a catch-22.When you're trying to find who has the best wordplay in Canberra, there can only be pun.

In a competition of double entendres, witticisms, and the occasional groan, dozens of contestants - or pun-dits - square off at Smith's Alternative in the ultimate challenge to see who can come up with the best in a 'pun slam'.

Organisers Georgia Johnston and John Lombard. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos

Called Capital Punishment, the event has been running every month at the Civic venue since August last year, and has been attracting a growing crowd since.

Organisers John Lombard and Georgina Johnston said the idea for the event was inspired by similar competitions overseas, and can often descend into 'pun-demonium'.As many pet owners will know all too well, four-legged friends are another member of the family.

But if people are too sick or frail to care for their furry family member in the same way they used to, a team of Canberra volunteers is there ready to help.

PAWS volunteers Jan Phillips, left, Di Johnstone, right, and Northside community services social inclusion co-ordinator Sam Muller, centre, with Kirsty the scottish terrier, Sherlock the havanese, and Mintie the west highland white terrier. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

For the past 10 years, the PAWS (Pet Assistance and Wellbeing Service) program has been assisting Canberra pet owners by providing pet walking, transport to the vet, or feeding and grooming.

Penny Canning-Menon from Northside Community Services - the organisation that runs the program - said PAWS aims to look after pets while their owners are going through difficult times.Child advocates have called for a ban on smacking to help address the domestic violence epidemic gripping the country.

The ACT Human Rights Commission has called for clear legislation to prohibit the use of violence against children including within the family.

Smacking children should be made illegal in Australia, advocates say.

Former ACT children's commissioner Alasdair Roy said he had been calling on the government to ban smacking for eight years.

"Children are the only group of people you can legally hit," he said.Tharwa Valley Forge's new veterans makers program has been so popular it will use a year's worth of funding in 12 weeks, leaving more than 100 people on a waiting list.

The two-day program, funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs, includes bladesmithing, blacksmithing, bow-making, and leather and wood work.

Naresh and Skye Bains taking a knife-making course together at Tharwa Valley Forge. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

The popularity of the program, designed for veterans and their families, was anticipated by the forge's programs manager Mark Toogood, a veteran himself.

After being medically-discharged from the army, Mr Toogood found himself at a loss. But a knife-making course at Tharwa helped him find himself again.Bilby triplets have been born at a breeding facility in southern Queensland, with the births announced on Good Friday.

As Queenslanders tucked into chocolate treats in the shape of the endangered species, with proceeds helping to support the animals, the Save the Bilby Fund's conservation park in Charleville, about 750 kilometres west of Brisbane, unveiled their latest additions.

The trio of baby bilbies.

Save the Bilby Fund CEO Kevin Bradley said he was ecstatic to announce the triplets arrival.

The Easter bilby has come early to Charleville this year and our babies have arrived just in time for the tourist season, he said.Questions have been raised over the deal to bring Dora the Explorer to Queensland, after a Brisbane small business owner claims he lost $20,000 in takings because of street closures put in place during the filming of Thor: Ragnarok two years ago.

The state opposition, which has questioned the use of taxpayer funds in the Dora deal, said small business owners should not be left out of pocket as a result of Hollywood productions and called upon the Palaszczuk government to treat them with more respect.

The Queensland government was forced to fund extra incentives to get the Dora deal across the line after the federal government refused to come up with the cash.

Mark Prickett, owner of Bike Obsession in Mary Street, claims he was never offered any compensation and only discovered the street would be fenced off after seeing a "small" sign the day before the barriers were installed.

Mr Prickett said the street was closed to traffic at both ends and while it was still open to pedestrians, many were deterred by the large barriers.A Mirrabooka dry cleaning business owner has been convicted in the Perth Magistrates Court over a contaminated area near his business.

Hong Dung Quach was fined $22,250 and ordered to pay $7,242 in costs for failing to investigate the contamination of soil and groundwater with dry cleaning chemicals beneath his business.

Hong Dung Quach was fined $22,250 and ordered to pay $7,242 in costs. Credit:Louie Douvis

Initial inquiries conducted by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) indicated the contamination could have occurred through the dumping of dry cleaning wastes into a stormwater soakwell.

Mr Quach was served with an investigation notice in April 2016 and failed to comply with the requirements of the notice.Professional bull rider Jason O'Hearn was thrown to the ground by bucking bull Akubra High Flyer in about four seconds early last week.

So most people would probably have forgiven him if he had cursed when he drew the same bull for the final round of the Sydney Royal Rodeo Series, The Federation Challenge, on Thursday night.

Bull rider Jason O'Hearn won the final round of the 2018 Sydney Royal Rodeo Series, The Federation Challenge at The Sydney Royal Easter Show. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Not O'Hearn. He wanted to get back on Akubra - the current reigning Australian bucking bull champion - to show who was in control. "He got one up on me and threw me off, and I wanted to get one back," the cowboy said of the final round at this year's Sydney Royal Easter Show.

O'Hearn was the only cowboy in the finals to last the full eight seconds, scoring 91 points out of 100. The ride won him $10,000, taking his winnings for the week's competition to $14,000.Mrs Vernons is not a lone voice. Ken Freedman, LiveBetters former work health and safety co-ordinator, shares Mrs Vernons concerns about client safety. Mr Freedman worked for the organisation between 2015 and 2017, and became troubled by what he described as the organisations lack of strong risk management oversight to protect the most vulnerable people in our communities. He made an internal complaint to the group's president Peter Mangles in August last year, addressing what he said he and other employees regarded to be an unsafe, unhealthy and unethical organisation in rapid decline with the risk of multiple adverse events looming on the horizon. A month after lodging the complaint, he said, he resigned, fed up with the ongoing issues. His complaint is a 61-page document, seen by Fairfax Media, which outlines poor reporting mechanisms, the failure to properly respond to serious incidents, and an undermining of the organisations alcohol and drugs policy. In response to Mr Freedmans complaint, LiveBetter employed BDO Australia to undertake an investigation into the issues. Other emails seen by Fairfax Media, however, reveal LiveBetter staff have been raising similar concerns with senior management since 2015, when the organisation was known as CareWest.

An internal complaint from two other staff members to senior managers in December 2015 highlights concerns that client placements were not being organised correctly, incidents were not being reported nor investigated, teams were put through rushed training, and staff were not given suicide protocols. Since then, according to their most recent annual report, the organisation has merged with seven previously separate organisations during the rollout of the NDIS. Originally based in Orange, LiveBetters operations now span the length of NSW, west of the Dividing Ranges, and are in the process of expanding into regional Queensland and Victoria. It expects to continue its expansion up until 2020. In its 2016-17 annual report, LiveBetter, a government-funded not-for-profit, reported a 35 per cent increase in net assets in the previous financial year, and a 46 per cent increase in revenue. Much of this was due to higher government grant income - LiveBetter received $40.5 million in government grants in 2016-17, up from $28.6 million the year before. But while the organisation states it is confident that we have sufficient working capital to pursue significant growth under the NDIS, long-standing staff concerns about risk management in existing facilities remain unaddressed.

In response to questions from Fairfax Media about concerns expressed by parents, staff and ex-staff, chief executive Tim Curran said LiveBetter is extremely concerned at the nature of these questions and allegations, and totally rejects any wrongdoing or failure in our duty of care concerning clients. There was no adverse finding against any current manager, he said in reference to the recent BDO investigation, but added it did highlight the need for improvement to our incident policy and procedures which have been implemented. He did not respond to questions concerning specific allegations made against senior members of staff or LiveBetters ongoing relationship with BDO Australia. In the annual report, former president George Blackwell said he was concerned with the pace of the NDIS rollout and the haphazard fashion in which the crucial independent planning and assessment functions are being conducted. Mr Curran did not respond to questions about whether LiveBetter was struggling to adequately manage client care alongside its burgeoning growth. Meanwhile, parents such as Mrs Vernon were worried for the wellbeing of their loved ones.

An incident in July last year saw Mrs Vernons son Liam and a LiveBetter care worker threatened with a makeshift spear  a kitchen knife strapped to the bottom of a broom  by another client. LiveBetter responded by placing Liam in a motel for a week without overnight care. Ive got Liam ringing me, needing to take valium, asking: Why me, mum? What have I done wrong? Am I going to be homeless again? What have I done? she said. Its a horror story. According to records from March last year, 48 other incidents were labelled as high severity and marked as overdue to be addressed. With inaction, it will be a matter of time before LiveBetter [has] a fatal incident, Mr Freedman wrote in an email to management following the attack on Liam. Mr Freedman pushed the need to address overdue incidents to senior staff. Instead of investigating incidents, however, Mr Freedman said he was instructed by a senior manager to bulk close down incidents in the lead up to governance meetings and audits.

Emails dating from 2015 also show staff complaining they were not being made aware of incidents, and not receiving responses when they asked for situations to be investigated. Comprehensive incident reports are crucial to determine when additional safeguards need to be put in place, and to communicate to staff members when clients may have a history of violence or absconding. Some care staff have been left troubled by their training and responsibilities. I dont believe I should have been doing what I was doing, with [clients] with these conditions and not knowing how to handle it, one staff member said. There should be far more training, far more testing, far more supervision on site.

Before new carers commence working in a facility alone, the staff member said they are supposed to have three buddy shifts where they work alongside a more experienced carer. Of the three buddy shifts, I had one at night before I was there first thing in the morning by myself, they said. I had no idea what to do. A mother of a former CareWest client, who wished to remain anonymous, reported feeling similarly isolated. They say [the NDIS] is about choice, but in a small community like Orange with 40,000 people, LiveBetter takes care of 90 per cent of everything, she said. Where's your choice? It's take it, or leave it. Its this lack of choice that has meant Deirdre Gunning has kept her daughter Lisa*, who has autism, in a LiveBetter group home despite the fact she has suffered multiple assaults while under its care.

Ms Gunning said these assaults were domestic violence at its best. In 2014, Lisa, who was 24 at the time, indicated to her support worker that she had been sexually assaulted by a senior staff member of CareWest. When this was reported to police, an internal CareWest document indicated that, due to Lisas disability, she would not be able to provide a statement that would hold up in court. A NSW Police spokesman confirmed that an extensive investigation took place in 2015, but that no further police action would be taken at this stage. Mr Curran refused to comment on specific allegations, but said any serious allegation against a senior manager of the organisation is referred to external investigators to ensure impartiality in process. Ms Gunning said: People with autism just seize up and they cant talk to strangers, so he gets away with it. These people are fully aware that these clients cannot go through the court process.

In February 2018, Mr Mangles sent a letter to staff members thanking them for their participation in the investigation. It does appear that our company policies and procedures need to be revisited to ensure they are effective in providing role clarity and clear and effective processes which can be easily followed, we are immediately addressing policy and procedure gaps and may need your further assistance in doing this, it reads. Mr Curran said the organisation recognised the need to constantly evolve and improve. We take complaints, allegations and problems seriously and immediately address issues as well as creating longer term resolutions, he told Fairfax Media. For now, Mrs Vernon said Liam is not doing very well.A man accused of an attack outside a southeast Queensland pub which left another man in hospital with a fractured skull has been granted bail.

Zachary Raymond Hardingham, 22, was charged with grievous bodily harm over the assault on Thursday night outside the Narangba Valley Tavern north of Brisbane.

The incident occurred outside the Narangba Valley Tavern.

Police allege Hardingham assaulted another 22-year-old man, causing him to fall and hit his head on the ground.

The court was told the fight started inside the pub, and Hardingham initially intervened to stop it.Jakarta: Protests on the streets of Indonesia's capital are nothing new.

From the downfall of former president Suharto, nigh on 20 years ago, when students took to the streets en masse to the more recent protests against former governor Ahok - a lazy 200,000 converged on central Jakarta for one rally in December 2016 - Indonesians aren't afraid to make themselves heard.

Gojek, Uber and Grab drivers shut down part of Jakarta on Tuesday to demand equal pay. Credit:James Massola

And so, last Tuesday, thousands of ojek (the Bahasa word for motor cycle taxi) drivers swarmed to the Jalan Meda Merdeka Barat, across the road from the Presidential palace, to voice their concern about pay and conditions.

The riders worked mostly for GoJek, a local start-up that has grown exponentially in the last three years.Pope Francis has presided over solemn Good Friday services amid heightened security at Rome's Colosseum for the Via Crucis procession, and a new communications controversy at home over the existence of hell.

Wearing his white coat to guard against the night-time chill, Francis listened intently along with some 20,000 faithful as the meditations re-enacting Christ's crucifixion were read out in the torch-lit Colosseum.

Pope Francis presides over the Via Crucis torchlight procession in Rome on Good Friday. Credit:GREGORIO BORGIA

At the end, he delivered a meditation of his own, denouncing those who seek power, money and conflict, and prayed the Catholic Church will always be an "arc of salvation, a source of certainty and truth".

The Good Friday procession, the seminal event in Christianity leading to Christ's resurrection celebrated on Easter Sunday, also coincided with a new communications controversy in the Vatican over the Pope's reported assertion that hell doesn't exist.Calling for removing non-tariff trade barriers between India and Pakistan, the Indian envoy said on Friday both the countries need to shun violence and normalise relations in order to take the two-way trade to $30 billion from the present $5 billion.

Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria, addressing the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), also said that there is no better way of improving bilateral relations than mutually beneficial economic ties.

India has been pushing Pakistan for normalisation of trade on the basis of the September 2012 roadmap that mentioned removal of all restrictions on trade through the Wagah border and grant of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India by December 2012. Pakistan, however, did not adhere to the timeline. India has already given Pakistan the MFN status - which is nothing but a promise not to discriminate against imports from the country that has got the status.

Bisaria said mutual relations between the two countries should be built on the basis of trade and economy, and violence and war should not be an option.

Bisaria's statement came at a time when relations between the two nuclear-power neighbours are at a low amid heightened tensions following claims and counter-claims by both the countries about harassment of each other's diplomats.

The Indian High Commissioner also said that India and Pakistan should have the future different from the past and must not carry the burden of history.

"Both Pakistan and India need to take more steps to remove non-tariff barriers that are a major impediment to bilateral trade relations," Bisaria said.

"We should not talk about negative and positive lists rather we should work on the windows of opportunities. At present, over $5 billion trade is being done through third country but after removal of non-tariff barriers, liberalisation of visa and normalisation of mutual relations, the two-way trade could touch a high $30 billion," he said.

Stressing that both India and Pakistan could cater to each other if they utilise youths, Bisaria said that two-third population of India is below the age of 35 and same is the case in Pakistan where 65 per cent population is under the age of 35.

"Chambers of the commerce and industry of both the countries are important lobby as not only they can play an instrumental role in strengthening mutual trade and economic ties but also influence the policy makers," he said.

LCCI President Malik Tahir Javaid said at present an unfavourable scenario has developed both at political and diplomatic fronts.

"We have been witnessing time and again that first there is a trust deficit, then some joint efforts are made for trust building, then some incident happens and we end up yet again at trust deficit. One such (terror) incident must not halt the process of relation building. Both countries should give the peace another chance to prevail in the region for our youth and coming generations," he said.

Pakistan and India need to show a lot of maturity and act very sensibly, he added.

India Pakistan Trade

Pakistan was the largest buyer of Indian cotton in the 2015-16 season (October-September). It bought 2.5 millon bales (one bale is 170 kg); India's total cotton exports were 6.5 million bales.

While Pakistan imported cotton, India imported cement due to shortage of fly ash supplied by thermal power units. Cement imports do not attract basic Customs duty. Indian cement makers have been pushing for additional duties on imported cement.

Trade, it seems, is the only aspect of Indo-Pak relations that has not been hit by the deteriorating ties between the two countries. It rose 6.1 per cent to $409.96 million in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. In 2015-16, both countries had traded goods worth $5.31 billion, down from $6.71 billion in 2014-15.

India has also seen a surge in demand for its sugar. In 2015-16, Indian mills had exported sugar worth $46.46 million to Pakistan.

India has been traditionally supplying meat, chemicals, artefacts, medicines and agriculture products to Pakistan. Since last year, there has been a surge in demand for Indian cotton, dairy products and sugar, too. India buys nuts, fruit, cement, leather products, some chemicals and rare earth materials from Pakistan.

India and Pakistan trade from two routes - the Mumbai-Karachi sea route and the Wagah land route. There are two other points - Chakan Da Bagh in Poonch and Salamabad in Uri - but they are used only for trade between Jammu & Kashmir and POK.

with PTI inputsSubramanian Swamy has trained his guns at the government once again, this time over the proposed Air India disinvestment. The Rajya Sabha MP said in a tweet that he will file a criminal complaint if he sees any wrongdoing in the sale of the national air carrier.

"The proposed sale of Air India is potentially another scam in the making. Selling family silver is not divestment. I am watching who is doing what and will, if I see culpability, file a private criminal law complaint," Swamy wrote in his tweet.

The proposed sale of Air India is potentially another scam in the making. Selling family silver is not divestment. I am watching who is doing what and will, if I see culpability, file a private criminal law complaint. - Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) March 31, 2018

The Air India disinvestment has also been criticised by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. "I am sorry to read in the media about the Govt inviting expression of interest for selling Air India, the jewel of our nation. We strongly oppose this and want this order to be withdrawn immediately. This Govt must not be allowed to sell our country," she said in a tweet.

The Civil Aviation Ministry floated preliminary information memorandum inviting bids for the sale of 76 percent stake in the debt-laden Air India and transfer management control to private players. Interested bidders could furnish expressions of interest by May 14. Professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP India has been appointed as transaction adviser for the strategic disinvestment process.

The memorandum also invited bids for the sale of 50 percent shares India holds in Air India SATS Airport Services. It is a joint venture between the debt-laden Indian carrier and Singapore Airport Terminal Services. The divestment process will also include Air India Express, the completely-owned international arm of Air India.

The government has ordered that entities willing to participate in the Air India sale process must have a minimum aggregate net worth of Rs 5,000 crore. Domestic airlines with zero or negative net worth can participate in the bidding process by forming consortiums which fulfil the prescribed criteria.

In June 2017, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave an in-principle nod to the strategic disinvestment of the airline, which has a debt burden of over Rs 50,000 crore. Subsequent to the decision, the Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM), headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, was set up to decide on specific issues.Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Vistara have flagged serious concerns over the data on technical snags faced by airlines in 2017, which was provided by the government in Parliament.

They maintained that the data was leading to a "false illusion" about safety of the airlines.

In a letter to Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, the airlines have demanded an investigation by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to the matter so that accurate information is provided to Parliament and public at large.

"It seems apparent that the number of technical snags being reported by various airlines is inaccurate. This discrepancy and misreporting of data is leading to false illusion of the relative safety of some airlines over others," the airlines said in their letter on March 28.

On March 13, Sinha, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha had said that airlines reported more than 24,700 technical snags last year.

Airline-wise break up was also furnished.

"As you are aware reporting of snags is mandatory in India and accurate reporting of such snags is in the interest of passengers and aviation safety.

"We request you to get this matter investigated by the DGCA so that accurate information may be made available to Parliament and the travelling public," the letter said.

According to the minister's reply, the technical snag faced by Jet Airways in 2017, which has a fleet of 110 aircraft, was 9,689 (88.08 snags per annum).

IndiGo, the country's largest private carrier, which has a fleet size of 151, faced only 340 technical snags (2.25 snags per annum).

Similarly, SpiceJet, which has a fleet size of 57 aircraft, faced 4,903 snags (86.02 snags per annum). Vistara, with a fleet size of 17 aircraft, faced 1,225 snags (72.06 snags per annum).

IndiGo at present operates over 1,000 flights per day, SpiceJet 408 flights and Jet Airways 600 flights.A video showing an angry bunch of SpiceJet air hostesses accusing the airline of strip-searching them at Chennai airport has gone viral, with the airline denying the claims. The air hostesses said they were being strip-searched for the past few days after de-boarding flights. This was being done by the airline's own security personnel on the suspicion that they were swindling cash collected from the sale of food and other items onboard.

While SpiceJet confirmed that their security teams undertook "random pat-down searches" at a few of the stations on the night of Wednesday and Thursday as part of security and safety standard operating procedures (SOP), the airline rejected the allegation that the crew was strip-searched.

The budget carrier said the allegations regarding deviation from SOPs were being investigated and strict action would be taken if anybody was found guilty.

"One of the objectives of this search is to ensure that there is no pilferage of company money/goods, smuggling or any illegal activity that an employee may be lured into. This also ensures security and safety of our passengers, employees and assets. This search is essentially the same as what any passenger goes through at any of the Indian airports," said a SpiceJet spokesperson.

He said the searches were conducted as per the laid down procedures in closed rooms by well-trained employees of the same gender. During the searches on Wednesday and Thursday, a few cases of pilferages were detected and appropriate disciplinary action was initiated, the spokesperson added.

Kamal Hingorani, Senior Vice President, SpiceJet, reportedly wrote an email to the protesting cabin crew, blaming the strict search on suspicion of dozens of cabin crew taking cash and company material from flights.

"We have therefore been compelled to carry out spot checks, which in any case is a company policy. It is in all our interests that the 'black sheep' amongst us is identified and removed so that honest employees are not blamed," Hingorani's mail said, according to a NDTV report.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.Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation has released an employment notification calling out for aspirants to apply for the post of Junior Assistant cum Data Entry Operator. Those interested can check out the eligibility, salary scale, how to apply and the complete details of the government job here. Selected candidates can earn up to industry standards. The last date to apply for the government job is Apr 25, 2018.

Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd Recruitment 2018 For Managers: Earn Up To INR 137790

Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Post Junior Assistant cum Data Entry Operator Organisation Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation Educational Qualification Class 12 Age Limit 18 to 45 years Skills Required Knowledge in computers and good typing speed Salary Scale Industry standards Job Location Bangalore Industry Transport Experience Freshers can apply Application Fees INR 750 Application Start Date Apr 5, 2018 Application End Date Apr 25, 2018 Official Website http://www.mybmtc.com/ Official Advertisement https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NgN6RI84wLSprsFszfKwi6azcAwXML1R/view

Also Read: Southern Railway Recruitment 2018 For Trade Apprentices

How To Apply For Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation Recruitment 2018

In order to apply for BMTC Recruitment 2018, follow these steps:

Step 1:

Log on to the BMTC official website.

Step 2:

Click on the Recruitment tab.

Step 3:

The link to apply online will be available from Apr 5, 2018.

About BMTC

Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation is the sole government transport for the urban, suburban and rural areas. According to the BMTC official website, its mission is to provide good quality, safe and hygienic transport services at affordable rates.Step 1

Log on to the BMRCL official website.

Step 2

Click Careers.

Step 3

The list of notifications will be displayed on the screen.

Step 4

Click on the link to apply online against No. BMRCL/ 31/ ADM / 2018/ O&M dated : 26-02-2018 and Addendum dated : 27-03-2018

Step 5

The procedure to apply will be displayed on the screen.

Step 6

Select Application Form.

Step 7

Select the notification number and name of the post.

Step 8

The application form will be displayed on the screen. Fill your details in the space provided.

Step 9

Click Next and follow the subsequent pages.The entire nation is still under shock with the CBSE question papers leaking. Despite nationwide protests over the row of question paper leak, the board has released the re-exam date for the class 12 economics.

CBSE has released a press statement stating that the board has referred to the Delhi Police for a detailed investigation. It added that the criminal investigations are on. Meanwhile the board has addressed the exam date for class 12 economics.

According to the press release, "The Board would be conducting the Class XII Economics paper (Code 030) for all candidates except the students in CBSE schools located abroad. The candidates will appear from the same allotted centres using the same Admit Card. The date of the said examination will be April 25, 2018."

It further added, "As regards, Class X Mathematics (Code 041), the initial inquiries have revealed that the leak was restricted to Delhi NCR and Haryana. Details are still being worked out. In view of this, it has been decided that re-examination will not be considered for any other state except Delhi NCR and Haryana. If after a detailed inquiry it is found necessary to conduct a re-examination, it will be held in July, 2018."

"All other examinations would take place as scheduled. All are also requested to visit CBSE website for any update for any authentic information / instruction. Board has also created a mail id examhelp.cbse@gmail.com," it concluded.

The question paper leak has affected over 2.2 million students, out of which 5 lakh candidates will take the class 12 economics on April 25, 2018. While coming to the clash of dates with other exams, a few state-level entrance examinations are scheduled around the same date. The Andhra Pradesh EAMCET is scheduled from April 22 to 25 and Kerala Engineering Architecture Medical (KEAM) will be conducted from April 23 to 24, 2018.Photo: The Canadian Press Names of deceased Woodlands School attendees are seen on a wall behind Health Minister Adrian Dix Saturday.

Hundreds of survivors of abuse at a notorious psychiatric institute and school in suburban Vancouver will receive compensation from the government, after previously being left out due to a legal loophole.

Provincial Health Minister Adrian Dix says residents who lived at Woodlands in New Westminster before 1974 will each receive $10,000.

He says anyone who received a lower amount through a class action lawsuit will have their compensation topped up to a total of $10,000.

More than 1,100 survivors were promised compensation in a December 2009 settlement.

But those who attended the school before 1974 were left out because the provincial government wasn't responsible for the residents' care until then.

Many former residents have alleged they were the victims of physical and sexual abuse at Woodlands, which was run as a psychiatric institution and also housed people with disabilities until it was shut down in 1996.Vacations are supposed to be a time to enjoy life, relax, and explore somewhere new. But sometimes you get hit with a mysterious illness that leaves you bed ridden for most of your expensive getaway. If youre looking to travel somewhere new but are prone to illness or worried about getting sick, the destinations on this list might be places you should avoid.

Dominican Republic

Most Americans who travel to the Dominican Republic are aware that its unsafe to drink the tap water. But why? Its because you run the risk of developing gastro infections. Travelers diarrhea is one of the most common illnesses picked up by people traveling overseas. You get it by consuming food or water thats contaminated with bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Since sanitation practices are different in various countries, your digestive system isnt used to those organisms. You end up with a very upset stomach.

Next: This country has a nickname for its common illness.

India

According to an Australian survey, India was the No. 1 destination where Australians fell ill while traveling. Indian cuisine uses various spices and seasonings, specifically curry, that tend to disagree with people who are unfamiliar with the cuisine. It is a form of travelers diarrhea, but some call it Delhi belly. Hepatitis A and typhoid vaccines are recommended before travel. India also carries a risk of cholera.

Next: Zika virus is present in this country  and its not in the Caribbean.

Vietnam

Vietnam took the No. 2 spot in Australias survey of travelers who fell ill. Although travelers diarrhea is the most common form of illness, the CDC also recommends hepatitis A and typhoid vaccinations before traveling to Vietnam. Zika virus is also present in Vietnam, and it can lead to serious birth defects if it infects pregnant women.

Next: This country ranked third for most likely to get people sick, according to Australias survey.

Thailand

In that same Australian survey, Thailand was the No. 3 spot where Australians fell ill when traveling. The CDC recommends vaccinations for various diseases like hepatitis A and typhoid before going to Thailand. Both of those diseases are easily contracted by eating contaminated food or water. Thailand also has a risk of malaria and travelers diarrhea.

Next: Diseases like typhoid and malaria are common in this country.

Mexico

Travelers diarrhea is common in Mexico. Hepatitis A and typhoid vaccines are recommended. Although most people traveling to Mexico tend to stay at the resort, anyone who is traveling outside of the resort or to remote areas is also urged to get a rabies vaccine. Rabies is common in animals like dogs, bats, and other mammals found in Mexico, according to the CDC. Use bug spray as well to avoid contracting malaria.

Next: This country has very poor health care, so getting sick could end in tragedy.

Madagascar

The gorgeous waters and mountains in Madagascar might make it seem like a desirable destination. But it actually carries serious risks. In 2015, International SOS named Madagascar an extreme risk country for travelers. The country has very sparse access to medical care, especially in remote areas. In the event of an emergency, finding an adequate hospital can be very difficult. Plus, Madagascar is not known for having great sanitation practices.

Next: Rabies is prominent in this countrys bats.

Chile

Besides the recommended typhoid and hepatitis A vaccines, one other vaccine the CDC recommends is rabies. But that does not apply to all travelers. Rabies is prominent in bats in Chile, so if youre traveling to remote areas, you risk coming in contact with rabid animals. It is also not recommended to drink tap water or eat undercooked foods while in Chile due to the risk of travelers diarrhea.

Next: A mosquito-borne virus added this country to the list.

Martinique

This small Caribbean island makes the list for its threat of chikungunya virus. This is a mosquito-borne virus that originated in Africa in the 1950s but made its way to the Caribbean in 2013. In 2014, Martinique reported 73,000 cases of chikungunya virus. Although Caribbean countries have cracked down on preventative measures to avoid the virus, its still possible to contract it. Always wear mosquito repellent when outdoors and become aware of the symptoms associated with the virus: aches, fever, muscle pain, nausea, and rash.

Next: This country recently had a yellow fever outbreak.

Brazil

Brazils potential risks are similar to many other countries on this list, with the exception of one disease: yellow fever. In the past few years, Brazil has seen severe yellow fever outbreaks. Another outbreak emerged in early 2018. From July 2017 to March 2018, there were more than 1,000 reported cases of yellow fever. And 340 people died. Now, the country is in a rush to vaccinate all of its citizens, so be sure you get a vaccination before you go.

Next: This might not be a country, but its still crawling with disease.

Cruise ships

Cruise ships are breeding grounds for disease. Thousands of people in tight quarters is exactly where disease thrives  thats why illnesses like norovirus are often reported on cruise ships. There is no vaccination or way of preventing norovirus (a nasty stomach bug) besides practicing proper hand washing and staying away from others who are infected. But on cruise ships, its very hard to avoid anyone for long.

Next: Here are some tips to avoid getting sick while traveling.

Bring insect repellent

Always travel with insect repellent. Many diseases can be spread through bugs  especially mosquitoes. If youre not properly vaccinated, the next best way to avoid a mosquito-borne illness is to always be sure to use bug spray whenever youre outside. Even if youre relaxing on the patio of your resort, be sure to adequately protect yourself.

Next: Avoid this in any underdeveloped country.

Avoid tap water  including ice

Avoiding tap water is not as mindless as it sounds. Its easy to forget about the ice in your drink or accidentally rinse your toothbrush off under running water. Both of those things involve ingesting tap water, so be careful. Some resorts in places like Dominican Republic and Mexico do filter their ice, but they definitely dont filter the water coming from your hotel sink. Always practice proper precautions, and avoid foods washed in tap water (such as fresh fruits and lettuce) as well.

Next: Never order this.

Never order undercooked foods

Consuming undercooked foods anywhere can be risky, and traveling to another country is no exception. When you consume undercooked foods, you risk bacterial infections from the meat, seafood, etc. that you could be eating. Always make sure to ask for your steak or burger well done to minimize the risk. Never order raw fish or on the half shell specials while traveling, either.

Next: Dont ignore these CDC warnings.

Always get vaccinated when necessary

Its important not to disregard the necessary vaccinations required for the country youre visiting. Whether its hepatitis A, typhoid, yellow fever, or another vaccine, its important to take all recommendation vaccinations seriously. The CDC only recommends vaccinations that it thinks are necessary to your safety.

Next: Dont interact with these while youre away.

Dont touch stray animals

While most adults know to avoid stray animals, children do not. Sometimes, cats or small dogs might run stray at resorts (cats are especially common at Caribbean resorts). While the animals are mostly harmless, they still run the risk of spreading disease. If you see an animal at a resort or throughout your vacation, educate small children on the dangers of touching these animals and always ask them to tell if you if they suffer even the most minor scratch or bite from an animal.

Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook!Its no secret that President Donald Trump is obsessed with Fox News, and he has continued to hire the networks pundits and contributors to serve in his administration.

Not too long ago, Trump hired two men who appeared on Fox News regularly (although one of those hirings was reversed days later). They were hardly the first to go right from working for the network to working for Trump. Of course, many of these hires had distinguished government careers before jumping to cable, although one mainly just had journalism experience.

Heres a look at all of the people who have gone right from Fox News to either a White House job or another position in the U.S. government.

1. John Bolton

Trump announced on March 22nd that John Bolton would replace H.R. McMaster as his national security advisor. Bolton previously served in government under President George W. Bush and President Ronald Reagan. But over the past decade, he has become particularly well known for his appearances as a commentator on Fox News.

In fact, Bolton spoke on Fox News in a previously scheduled interview less than an hour after the announcement of his hiring was made. He said on the show that I think Im still a Fox News contributor.

Trump had considered Bolton for the position of secretary of state back in 2016 before going with Rex Tillerson instead.

Next: This regular Fox News guest was hired, only for his hiring to be reversed.

2. Joseph E. diGenova

Also in March 2018, Trump announced he would hire Joseph E. diGenova to his legal team. DiGenova is a former United States attorney who appeared regularly as a legal pundit on Fox News. While on Fox, he pushed a conspiracy theory that a group of F.B.I. agents had orchestrated a plot to frame Trump in the Russia investigation.

There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didnt win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime, he said a few months earlier. Make no mistake about it: A group of F.B.I. and D.O.J. people were trying to frame Donald Trump of a falsely created crime.

Strangely, though, just a few days later, the White House said that diGenova would not join the legal team after all. The administration said he and another lawyer who was to be hired had conflicts while adding that those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the President in other legal matters.

Next: This Fox News journalist joined the State Department in 2017.

3. Heather Nauert

Heather Nauert worked in journalism starting in 1996, beginning with Fox News in 1998 and then going to several other outlets, including ABC. She returned to Fox in 2007, where she worked as an anchor for about a decade. She was an anchor on Fox & Friends, one of President Trumps favorite shows.

In April 2017, the Trump Administration announced that Nauert would be joining the State Department as its spokesperson. Then, in March 2018, she became the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

Next: This Fox News personality became the White House Director of Strategic Communications.

4. Mercedes Schlapp

Mercedes Schlapp previously worked for the George W. Bush presidential campaign and was his Director of Specialty Media. But in recent years, she was a Fox News contributor. She also contributed to other outlets such as The Washington Times.

In September 2017, Trump announced that Schlapp had been hired as the next White House Director of Strategic Communications. Schlapp continued to appear regularly on Fox News after taking on this position, this time speaking for the White House.

Next: This Fox News personality has already left the administration.

5. K. T. McFarland

McFarland previously worked in the Department of Defense during the Ronald Reagan Administration. But she began appearing regularly as a Fox News commentator in the 2010s. Shortly after the presidential election, Trump announced that McFarland would be serving as his Deputy National Security Advisor, meaning she would be working under Michael Flynn.

However, after the resignation of Michael Flynn, and because she was reportedly thought to be a weak deputy, McFarland was asked to step down from the position. She was then to become the next U.S. Ambassador to Singapore, but she withdrew her nomination due to concerns over whether she had honestly answered questions about Flynns contacts with a Russian ambassador.

Next: This Fox news personality joined the Treasury Department.

6. Tony Sayegh

In addition to working at a political consulting firm, Sayegh began appearing regularly on Fox News starting in 2009. He became a Fox News contributor in 2013 and would serve as a guest very frequently on a variety of Fox shows.

In March 2017, Sayegh was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. Since then, he has continued to appear regularly on Fox, especially on Fox Business, now representing the Department of the Treasury.

Next: This recent hire is not from Fox News, but hes from another cable channel.

7. Trump also hired Larry Kudlow from CNBC

Although hes not from Fox News, another cable hire worth mentioning is Larry Kudlow. Kudlow was well known for being the host of CNBCs The Kudlow Report, a show about business and politics. He previously worked at the Office of Management and Budget in the Ronald Reagan Administration.

In March 2018, the Trump Administration announced Kudlow as the new Director of the National Economic Council. He succeeded Gary Cohn, who had recently resigned.

Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook!For Subscribers Beulah United Methodist Church celebrates 150 years of history

The Beulah United Methodist Church is celebrating its 150-year-history with a service on Sept. 26.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

"There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends." (John 15:13)

The heroic French officer killed after he offered to swap his life for a female hostage in an ISIS-inspired terror attack in Trebes, was motivated by his faith and the example of Jesus Christ.

Arnaud Beltrame, 44, a lieutenant colonel in the French National Gendarmerie, left his gun outside when he entered a supermarket where a terrorist affiliated with ISIS had already shot and killed two people on March 23rd.

While he carried no weapons, he had "the sword of the Spirit." The officer left his phone on so authorities could listen in, according to The New York Times.

Beltrame spent two hours inside the Super U market face-to-face with Radouane Lakdim, a 25-year-old French citizen born in Morocco.

The French officer was a double valedictorian who graduated at the top of his class from military school in 1999 and from the gendarmerie school in 2001. He was deployed in Iraq in 2005 and received military honors for his service there.

Tragically, authorities heard gunshots through the open phone connection, rushed in and killed the terrorist, but Colonel Beltrame had been "seriously wounded" and passed away that night due to his injuries.

Beltrame was born into a nonreligious family but converted to Christ at age 33. During a Catholic pilgrimage in 2015, he prayed to meet the "woman of his life" and a short time later met Marielle, whom he married in a civil ceremony the following year. The couple did not have children.

Beltrame recently made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The city's cathedral is the final destination of the "Camino" or "Way of St. James," a leading Catholic pilgrimage route. The cathedral is said to contain the remains of the Apostle James, brother of the Apostle John.

MOREThere's been news lately about the earthquake warning given to California of the "big one" that may hit soon. The "big one" has been speculated on for a while, so much so that it inspired a big budget action movie, the 2015 film San Andreas.

What people don't know however is that there have been prophecies of such an earthquake spanning back to the early 20th century before any of this research on the San Andreas fault-line had been researched.

One such prophetic dream came from a 17 year old Joe Brandt in 1937. It's an incredibly realistic prophecy with details that he certainly couldn't have known beforehand. However, there are some keys that means that this dream might well be fulfilled soon.

Connecting the dots

Everyone in his dream along Hollywood Boulevard were expecting the coming earthquake. With this recent alert given to California (and the movie which shows how the mega-quake would play out), now the time is prime for this to occur.

Also, it perhaps gives a hint that Donald Trump is going to be president and occur shortly after he is sworn in, as he said:

"I wondered what year it was. It certainly was not 1937. I saw a newspaper on the corner with a picture of the President. It surely wasn't Mr. Roosevelt. He was bigger, heavier, big ears."

Obama doesn't fit the bill of being bigger and heavier than Roosevelt, but Trump does.

Joe also recounted about the way people were dressed:

"Those crazy kids. Why are they dressed like that? Maybe it is some big Halloween doings, but it don't seem like Halloween. More like early spring."

Since early spring is just a couple of months after Donald Trump would be sworn in, it's very likely that the mega-quake could occur somewhere in the early new year.

The many confirmations

Another reason this prophecy is believable is because it fits in with other prophecies. Not only did Joe Brandt see California being thrown into the sea (due to tsunamis after the quake) but others have seen the same thing. Preacher William Branham said in April in 1965:

"We don't know what time, and you don't know what time that this city, one day, is going to be laying out in the bottom of this ocean."

One YouTube prophet says that the earthquake will occur on Passover  which is between April 10 and April 18 next year. That fits the timeline of a Spring mega-quake. There are prophecies that say that 2017 is the time for great destruction in America.

When science and prophetic warnings collide

Although some doubt, through a multitude of witnesses words get established. There are dozens upon dozens of people that have had the same dream about the Californian mega-quake. Plus, in recent months the science has been backing it up. The earthquake is imminent.

There are some signs that could tip off when this earthquake will occur like watching for the bizarre behaviour of animals. Joe Brandt said it was strange that he didn't hear any birds before the quake hit.

There are also earthquake prophecies set for Brisbane, Australia in the future also but it will not create the damage that the Californian quake will create. Only the Lord knows what will occur in the future, but we've been given this indications through prophecy and science that are not to be ignored.

The weather will get worse and earthquakes will hit. The bible alerts us to earthquakes (meaning there will be many, and there are). I'd like to think I'm prepared.

Bridget Brenton sometimes shares things on www.101arguments.com.

Bridget Brenton's previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/bridget-brenton.htmlEvangelical leaders start 40-day fast to call for immigration reform

Evangelical pastors of Hispanic congregations have reportedly begun a 40-day fast to call for reform of U.S. immigration policies.

According to the Associated Press (AP), the pastors and members of their congregations began the fast on Wednesday. It was organized by the advocacy and legal services group Agencia ALPHA and is part of the Massachusetts-based campaign called Immigrants Make America Strong, which aims to reform the country's immigration policies in support of undocumented immigrants.

One of the pastors participating in the fast compared the plight of illegal immigrants to Israelites persecuted in Egypt.

"People leave their lands for reasons that are very frightening," Rev. Jose Rodriguez, of the Waltham Worship Christian Center, told AP. He expressed hope that members of Congress would be moved by their prayers.

Other pastors have been visiting illegal immigrants in their homes and holding short services there because they are afraid of leaving the house for fear of being detained by the authorities.

The Rev. Sergio Perez, president of a Hispanic fellowship of Christian pastors, said he has heard about churchgoers being detained by local authorities and turned over to federal immigration officers. "That fear ... that's why for me, as a pastor, I need to represent them," he told AP.

Immigration has been an issue of focus for religious leaders under the Trump administration. Several religious groups are currently protesting against the decision to include a new citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. census.

While the question about citizenship status has not been on the survey since 1950, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced on Monday that it has accepted the request by the Justice Department to include it in the upcoming census.

Several religious organizations denounced the decision, among them the Rev. John Dorhauer, president of the United Church of Christ, who said it was a "not so subtle attempt to disenfranchise vulnerable communities and diminish their capacity to affect their political future."

Tony Suarez, executive vice president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said Congress must take action to ensure immigrants in the U.S. do not live in fear.

"Congress must fix our broken immigration system, which in turn will bring people out of the shadows, allow a proper census and more importantly allow families to live the American dream without fear," he said, according to Religion News Service.Evangelist Luis Palau shares encouraging news about his stage 4 lung cancer

Two months after announcing his lung cancer diagnosis, evangelist Luis Palau is praising God after receiving news that there has been an improvement in his condition after undergoing chemotherapy treatment.

Palau, who has been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, took to Facebook earlier this week to share the results of a recent CT scan and blood test.

"All tumors had shrunk by one-third! No new growth of the tumors whatsoever. All fluid around my lungs was resolved. Blood work looked good," the 83-year-old evangelist exclaimed.

He said that the doctors were "amazed" by the results and further noted that the medical team had initially stated that the chemotherapy was only intended to slow the growth of the tumors.

"They never expected the treatment to actually reverse the growth. Everyone is very encouraged and praising the Lord for the wonderful news," he wrote.

Palau explained that the results had given the doctors the confidence to give him another round of the same therapy. The evangelist praised God and asked his followers for further prayers as he undergoes another round of therapy, noting that the treatment is "not easy on the body."

"It is still a battle. The outcome is still unknown. We take it one day at a time, trusting the Lord. But today we are very encouraged! Thank you for your prayers!" the post concluded.

Palau made the announcement about his lung cancer diagnosis in a video posted on YouTube last January.

Palau's son, Kevin, explained in the video that the evangelist had suffered from a "kind of a chest cold... that wouldn't go away" after returning from a trip to the U.K. in December.

The family learned that Palau had cancer in his lungs and found out in January that the disease was already in stage 4, which was the most advanced stage. Lung cancer patients at that stage are typically given a five-year survival rate of less than 10 percent.

Palau noted at the time that it would "take literally a miracle" to cure him of the disease.

In the video, Andrew gave his assurance that Palau's sons and his ministry would carry on with its mission while he recovers from cancer.

Kevin has been elected to be president of Palau's ministry 10 years ago, while his other son, Andrew, has been anointed as an evangelist.

Palau and his ministry have worked with hundreds of churches to bring the Gospel to cities across the globe, including London, Mexico City, Madrid, Moscow, Washington D.C., Hong Kong and Singapore.

A feature length film about Palau's life has been slated for release in theatres in North America, South America and Spain in October 2018.'Game of Thrones' star hopes non-believers will also enjoy his new movie about Apostle Paul

James Faulkner is most well-known for his role in blockbuster HBO series "Game of Thrones", but the actor has said the he hopes that both believers and non-believers would like his new film, where he portrays the Apostle Paul.

In an interview with The Christian Post, the actor said that "Paul, Apostle of Christ" is a film for everyone. It will appeal to both Christian and secular viewers because the story of St. Paul is encompassing and relatable to all.

"This is a film about humanity and belief and what it is to be a good person," Faulkner said. "Be more generous to your fellow human being," he added. "You know, [that message] has a particular effect on the non-believer, who normally would revile and persecute Christians just as much as Saul did before he becomes Paul."

"Paul, Apostle of Christ" features Faulkner's character in his final days in prison as the Romans, through Emperor Nero, vow to put an end to Christianity. The movie also centers on Paul's relationship with the Apostle Luke, who takes high risks to visit his mentor in prison to continue to spread his testimony of Jesus Christ.

Faulkner has testified that playing Apostle Paul was transformative for him because he learned so much by reading and reflecting on Paul's letters, and by reading through notes that writer and director Andrew Hyatt gave him. In the short time that he filmed the movie in Malta, Faulkner learned deeply that despite being pushed to extremes, Paul never denounced his faith, not even when his life was on the line.

The actor believes that the message of the film holds true today since persecution, judgment and condemnation still exist in the modern world, especially on social media.

"Paul, Apostle of Christ" is currently in select theaters across U.S. The movie also stars "Passion of the Christ" actor Jim Caviezel as the Apostle Luke.WASHINGTON  Citing both moral imperatives and concerns about accuracy, religious groups are speaking out against a new citizenship question slated to be included in the 2020 U.S. census.

The U.S. Department of Commerce, which oversees the census, announced Monday it would accept a request made in December by the Department of Justice to include a question about citizenship status  something that hasnt been on the mandatory survey since 1950. In a statement, officials at Commerce argue the change is an attempt to enforce the Voting Rights Act.

Citizenship questions have also been included on prior decennial censuses, the statement reads in part. Between 1820 and 1950, almost every decennial census asked a question on citizenship in some form.

However, several religious organizations  many of them progressive-leaning or representing minority faiths  see the decision as potentially doing more harm than good to the census, which is used to determine the allocation of federal funds and the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Tony Suarez, executive vice president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and member of President Trumps unofficial evangelical advisory board, appeared to criticize the census question indirectly on Wednesday, arguing it evokes fear in immigrants because Congress has yet to pass immigration reform legislation.

The bottom line is we need to know who resides within our borders, Suarez said. The census plays an important role in our way of life and government. Congress embarrassing 30-year streak of futility on the issue of immigration reform has led us to the point where a question regarding citizenship strikes instant fear in immigrant communities and visions of mass deportations. Congress must fix our broken immigration system, which in turn will bring people out of the shadows, allow a proper census and more importantly allow families to live the American dream without fear.

Liberal religious organizations and denominations were more forceful in expressing their displeasure.

Barbara Weinstein, director of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, issued a statement railing against the decision, referring to the Jewish responsibility to support the engagement of all people.

We strongly condemn the Department of Commerces decision to include a question about citizenship on the 2020 Census, Weinstein, whose denomination is the largest Jewish one in the U.S., said. At a time when Americas immigrant communities feel increasingly threatened, the effects of this decision are not hard to foresee: Census response rates from immigrant communities will be suppressed, undermining the Censuss integrity overall.

The Rev. John Dorhauer, general minister and president of the United Church of Christ, said in an email the new citizenship question is a not so subtle attempt to disenfranchise vulnerable communities and diminish their capacity to affect their political future. The Rev. Jennifer Butler, CEO of the progressive faith-based organization Faith in Public Life, derided the decision as a discriminatory change. Catholic nun Sister Simone Campbell, head of Catholic social justice lobby NETWORK, invoked the Christian belief that all people are created in Gods image, saying in a statement that implementing a question designed to suppress respondents is evidence of the Republican desire to control who matters in our country.

One of the most forceful critiques came from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose news release described the question as part of the Trump administrations white supremacist agenda designed to drag our nation back to the false white paradise of the 1950s.

The criticisms echoed a letter sent to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Jan. 10 by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights  a coalition that includes several faith groups. It asked him to reject the Department of Justices untimely and unnecessary request for a citizenship question on the census, saying doing so would destroy any chance for an accurate count, discard years of careful research, and increase costs significantly.

Signatories included an array of faith-based groups, such as the General Board of Church and Society for the United Methodist Church, Sikh Coalition, Franciscan Action Network, PICO California, Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers), National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, Bread for the World, Church World Service and Interfaith Worker Justice, among others.

The faith-based criticisms add to the outcry of several political leaders. At least 12 states plan to sue the Trump administration over the change, arguing it violates the Constitution and fewer people will participate.

The White House redirected requests for comment to officials at the Department of Commerce, who did not immediately respond.Americas most prolific oil field is now its worst market for natural gas.

A pipeline shortage thats leaving gas trapped in West Texas Permian Basin means prices for the fuel there are the lowest of any major U.S. hub, wresting that distinction from Appalachias Marcellus Shale. Prices for Permian gas, produced alongside oil in the play, have tumbled 30 percent from a year ago, while output rose to a record. And the pipeline crunch is also pummeling the regions oil market.

All that gas production is creating a dilemma for drillers, who may be forced to curtail oil output if they cant get their gas to market. Producers can burn off some of the gas -- a process known as flaring -- but state regulators typically wont allow that to happen indefinitely. And as mild spring weather limits demand for the heating fuel, explorers may be giving their gas away, according to broker Ion Energy Group LLC.

The low-cost crude oil reserves buried in the Permians layers of shale have drawn explorers in droves, but roughly one-third of the output from those wells is gas, according to RS Energy Group. As gas production from the play surges, however, pipeline capacity has failed to keep pace.

Another factor working against Permian producers: the calendar. Gas for delivery at the Waha hub in West Texas has already slid 13 percent so far this month to trade at $1.84 per million British thermal units Tuesday, a 29 percent discount to supplies of the fuel at Louisianas Henry Hub, the benchmark for U.S. futures. And the Permian rout will only deepen in the coming weeks as mild spring weather curtails heating demand and wind generation picks up, displacing gas-fired power plants, said Kyle Cooper, consultant for Ion Energy in Houston.

The current discount at Waha is clearly already reflecting the concern that people cant easily get all the Permian natural gas out to other markets, he said.

Pipeline developers including Kinder Morgan Inc. are proposing new conduits to ease Permian bottlenecks and transport the fuel to demand centers. But relief wont come immediately: Kinders Gulf Coast Express, a $1.75 billion line connecting the basin to eastern Texas, is slated to begin operations in October 2019.

Tellurian Inc., which is developing a gas export terminal in Louisiana, announced an open season on March 20 for a 625-mile pipeline from West Texas to Louisiana. That project may begin service in 2022.

Hedging output

Drillers like Apache Corp. have moved to insulate themselves from the Permian gas collapse by hedging output and locking in long-term supply contracts. The company, along with Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and Exxon Mobil Corp., has signed up for capacity on Gulf Coast Express.

But until new pipelines enter service, the risk of Permian production cuts looms. Conduits in the basin are full to bursting, pushing oil prices in the region to a discount versus the national benchmark at Cushing, Oklahoma, according to the consultancy Facts Global Energy.

The ultimate downside scenario is you have to effectively slow down on your oil production because you cant evacuate gas from the basin, said Colton Bean, director of midstream research at the Houston investment bank Tudor Pickering Holt & Co.

As pipelines continue to get crowded, some drillers are likely to boost production of compounds extracted from gas, such as ethane used to make plastic. The problem of limited space isnt nearly as dire on conduits for natural gas liquids.The prominent pastor of a Houston megachurch Friday vehemently denied charges that he intended to "cheat" investors by selling millions of dollars in historic Chinese bonds, saying he also invested in the bonds in hopes of helping his ministry.

As members of the black faith community rallied around him, Kirbyjon Caldwell, the 64-year-old senior pastor at Windsor Village United Methodist Church, said he would fight the federal fraud charges filed Thursday against him and a Shreveport financial planner.

"These bonds are legitimate," Caldwell said. "The process is legitimate. I fully maintain that the accusation is baseless, and I hold evidence in my hand to the authenticity and the legitimacy of the bonds."

His attorney, Dan Cogdell of Houston, said Caldwell will surrender to authorities in the next 10 days and post bond in Shreveport.

"Reverend Caldwell has been a spiritual force in this city, in this state, in this country, for 30 years," his attorney, Dan Cogdell, said. "These charges are false. If any person deserves the presumption of innocence, it's that man right there."

Caldwell spoke up Friday as a group of black pastors said they are supporting Caldwell, a community leader who served as a spiritual advisor to President George W. Bush.

"On behalf of African-American churches ... we stand with our own," the Rev. Terry K. Anderson of Lilly Grove Missionary Baptist Church said to applause during a Good Friday service. "He has our full support."

READ ALSO: Pair of Houston residents convicted for 'pill mill' that sold 30,000 illegal prescriptions

Caldwell and Gregory Alan Smith, 55, have been charged with 13 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering in a scheme that allegedly duped elderly and vulnerable investors out of nearly $3.5 million, according to an indictment filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The indictment says Caldwell used his position in the church to help lure investors into buying the historic bonds, which are not recognized by the Chinese government. He and Smith told investors they could see returns as high as 15 times their initial investment, according to the indictment.

The charges accuse Caldwell and Smith of cheating 29 investors between April 2013 and August 2014. The bonds are described in the indictment as "mere collectible memorabilia" with no investment value.

Caldwell and his Wyoming-based company, LDT, have been accused of keeping nearly $2 million of the investments. Smith received $1 million and "offshore third parties, at least one in Mexico" received most of the rest, according to the indictment.

Smith is the operator and manager of Smith Financial Group in Shreveport. In 2010, he was permanently barred from having any association with Financial Industry Regulatory Authority members after he was caught misappropriating investor funds, according to the indictment.

Caldwell said none of the investors was a church member. He said he met Smith through a colleague, but declined to answer questions on whether he might have been misled by his partner.

Caldwell and Cogdell said Friday the pastor has returned almost $1 million to investors who were apparently "dissatisfied" with the time taken to get returns. None of the investors got the money they'd been promised, according to the indictment.

READ ALSO: Acevedo vows gang crackdown after 11 kids have been slain in 16 months

The allegations against Caldwell have stunned community leaders and members of Windsor Village United Methodist Church, who have described their senior pastor as a "pillar" and a man of upstanding character. Caldwell is known not only locally, but nationally for being a friend and spiritual adviser of former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

A Houston native, Caldwell developed a friendship with Bush when he was governor, and he offered the benediction for his 2011 inauguration as president. Caldwell is also a limited partner in the Houston Texans. Officials there declined to comment about the allegations.

Caldwell also serves on the board of trustees of Baylor College of Medicine and is an independent director of NRG Energy.

Under Caldwell's leadership starting in 1982, Windsor Village church grew from 25 members to more than 16,000, and is one of the largest protestant churches in the nation, according to the church website.

Ray Bady, director of youth ministry at Windsor Village, said that church members "all know who (Caldwell) is" and that they can attest to his positive work in the community, especially during Hurricane Harvey. Bady said he doesn't believe a word of the allegations.

"It's absolutely out of nowhere," Bady said. "Our responsibility in this is just to pray, to continue to pray. Our bible teaches us that the prayers of the righteous prevail."

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said Caldwell is "charged and not convicted."

"I think it is important that we separate the two," she said. "With the kind of integrity and honesty I have seen in Reverend Caldwell over the years, and his astute business knowledge, I am going to assert that he is innocent until proven guilty. ... Let the facts be the definer and not the rumors."

While Caldwell's church was closed Friday, the news conference was filled with Caldwell's friends and supporters, who shouted out choruses of "amens" at each denial of the accusations.

Family friend Ronique Bastine-Robinson said after the press briefing that while the allegations were a surprise, everyone should wait to cast judgment until all of the facts of the case come to light.

"They were shocking, but they weren't not enough to make me doubt his innocence," Bastine-Robinson said. "I'm in support of waiting until the whole story is out."

Pastors also spoke in support at the combined Good Friday service between the Lilly Grove church and Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church. Anderson said and Wheeler's pastor, the Rev. Marcus D. Cosby, decided to stand in solidarity with Caldwell.

"A brother does not need you when he's up; he needs you when he's down," Anderson told several hundred people gathered for the service. "And brothers and sisters, hear me: If they do it to Kirbyjon Caldwell, don't think you are ... exempt from them coming after one of us."

Cogdell said expects the case to go to trial in federal court.

"He is absolutely, 100 percent not guilty," Cogdell said. "I plan on beating this case like a rented mule."

If convicted, the men could face up to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud count and for the wire fraud counts, and up to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering and the money laundering.

They also could each face $1 million in fines.Houston Symphony music director Andres Orozco-Estradas appointment as the next chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, announced Thursday, is not expected to affect his current relationship with Houston Symphony.

Incoming Houston Symphony CEO John Mangum said Orozco-Estrada will still fulfill the five-year contract he signed with the symphony in 2017, meaning hell be music director through the 2021-22 season.

But when asked about the chances of the Colombian-Austrian conductor staying with Houston Symphony as music director after 2022, Mangum said, its early to be thinking about that. Well have to see how things unfold.

In the classical world, high-profile conductors often travel across the world to guest conduct while also holding contracts and titles with multiple organizations that, while guaranteeing a certain amount of concerts each season, dont require a full-time commitment residency.

That means a music director is different from the CEO of a company or an artistic director at a theater or ballet company. The latter typically live in town and hold the position as a full-time job. A music director, especially a high-profile one, flies into town for the weekend concert and is in another continent the next week.

Orozco-Estradas profile has risen immensely since his arrival as music director at the symphony in 2014. The conductor has since been named music director of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic, as well as debuting at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and the Chicago Symphony.

If Orozco-Estrada holds his current titles through 2021, the Vienna appointment would become his fourth major commitment. But since its not unusual for symphonies to populate its seasons with conductors, Houston Symphony can accommodate his schedule by inviting guests. Houston Symphonys upcoming season includes conducting appearances by French maestro Fabien Gabel, British conductor and composer Bramwell Tovey and violinist Itzhak Perlman.

An Orozco-Estrada replacement could be chosen out of a pool of Houston Symphony guest conductors. But music directors also get hired from conservatories, assistant conductors at symphonies and emerging conductors coming out of festivals such as Tanglewood and the Aspen Music Festival.

You might invite a good conductor to come back and tackle different repertoire. The orchestra can size them up, Mangum said. You get that feedback. Opportunities arrive if they have some initial success.

Mangum first heard about Orozco-Estrada seven years ago through industry word-of-mouth, after musicians praised the mans conducting style. Orozco-Estrada was not yet a major player on the international scene.

But his prominence says a lot about the Houston Symphony and where the citys cultural scene stands internationally, said board President Janet Clark.

The Vienna appointment reinforces all that hes been accomplishing in Houston, she said. Its an indication of the excellent work we do here.

Alecia Lawyer, artistic director of River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, said the appointment speaks to the international vibrancy of our arts. Its like this Bean conversation thats going on. Theres so much here, period, its overwhelming.

Lawyer was referring to a recent column in the Chicago Tribune that jokingly called Houston a cultureless abyss that spurred mostly-friendly sparring on the cultural value of Houston versus Chicago.

So yes, Lawyer said, the Houston music directors impending title in Vienna shows that abyss couldnt be more inaccurate a description for the city. But it shouldnt be surprising for people in Houston that the Houston Symphony music director is a hot entity, she added. We know our city, and the depth and breadth of our cultural scene. Its not surprising.A former Houston police officer faces multiple charges after he allegedly harassed an ex-girlfriend repeatedly and posted nude photos of the victim on a public Facebook page.

Stephen McGee, 44, of Clear Lake, was arrested on the stalking charge on March 22. He was released on $2,500 bond, then arrested again March 29 after he allegedly violated a protective order and went to the victim's house.

When Webster police officers approached him on March 29 at the victim's apartment, he allegedly fled from officers and was arrested shortly after.

STALKER GETS 5 YEARS: Victim says 'There was not a day that I didn't feel scared'

At the beginning of March, McGee allegedly made a Facebook account under an alias and used the account to post nude photos of his ex-girlfriend on the public Facebook page for Studio 80, a popular 80s-themed nightclub in Webster, according to Harris County court records.

McGee allegedly tagged the victim in the photos so her Facebook friends would see them.

A manager for the club, who knew the victim, preserved the images as evidence before deleting them and notifying the victim, court records show.

McGee is also accused of stalking his ex-girlfriend, harassing her, her roommate and another man the victim was dating, court records show.

On Dec. 18, 2017, McGee allegedly tracked the victim's phone to an apartment and threatened the man she was with that "bad things would happen" if the other man continued to see her.

On Feb. 22, McGee allegedly logged into the complainant's Apple ID account and used GPS to find her at another apartment, where her new roommate reported she felt threatened by the suspect. On that occasion, the suspect allegedly set off car alarms in the apartment parking lot and banged on the door.

The victim also reported that on one occasion in March, her vehicle sustained a dent and a tire on the vehicle was punctured.

On March 22, the ex-girlfriend told police she found a white substance on the fuel area of her vehicle, and was told by a mechanic that the car was damaged because there was sugar in the fuel tank.

"Complainant stated that she believes that the defendant did it because he was angry that she did not respond to his text the previous night requesting they get back together," the criminal complaint states.

McGee is charged with stalking (felony), unlawful disclosure of intimate visual material (felony), violating a protective order (misdemeanor) and evading arrest (misdemeanor).

He is currently held in the Harris County Jail. Bond had not been set as of Friday afternoon.

City of Houston Human Resources confirmed that McGee was previously employed as a sergeant with the Houston Police Department. McGee left HPD on Oct. 4, 2016.The Harris County justice of the peace accused of paying prostitutes for sex, abusing drugs while on the bench and sexting a bailiff officially resigned this week - although her attorney says it has nothing to do with the claims against her.

Hilary Green had already been temporarily suspended by the Texas Supreme Court and was headed for trial next month to determine her judicial future. But on Tuesday - even as lawyers worked to prepare for the upcoming Austin court date - the long-time Precinct 7 jurist sent a letter to Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, announcing her decision to leave the bench.

"Effective immediately, please allow this letter to serve as my formal resignation from my position as Justice of the Peace, Precinct 7, Place 1," Green wrote. "Due to the unexpected death of my father and my mother's newly diagnosed illness, it is important for me to focus all my attention on my family."

Green's attorney, Chip Babcock, emphasized that his client's departure was motivated solely by personal considerations.

"It is totally unrelated to the charges which she continues to deny and contest," he told the Chronicle Thursday. The pending proceedings to unseat her - and lack of income, given her suspension without pay - took a toll on her, according to Babcock.

"She was looking at years of additional litigation," he said. "It's sad because all these allegations that her husband and former boyfriend leveled against her were known by the voters when they re-elected her by an overwhelming majority. It's a very, very sad case."

Now, it will be up to county commissioners to appoint a replacement.

"The Party thanks Hilary for her 11 years of service on the bench," the Harris County Democratic Party said Thursday in a statement, also offering condolences for the death of Green's father. "Our hope is the Harris County Commissioners Court will appoint someone who is a representation of the people and will serve with dignity and honor."

The county Republican Party offered a decidedly different response.

"It is sad that Democrat JP Hilary Green waited until now to resign, long after her admitted drug abuse and other sordid conduct came to light," said GOP County Chair Paul Simpson. "Thankfully, our Harris County Commissioners Court can now appoint a replacement JP who can faithfully administer the justice our citizens deserve."

The laundry list of accusations against Green was fully revealed last year in a 316-page court filing by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. The document outlined four separate judicial misconduct complaints lodged against her between 2012 and 2016, including accusations lobbed by former lover Claude Barnes, who claimed he and the judge had hired call girls together for three-way sex on at least two occasions.

In her response to the commission, Green admitted to many of the allegations, including illegally obtaining prescription drugs and using marijuana and ecstasy at the same time she was presiding over low-level drug possession cases involving minors in her court, the records show.

Another misconduct complaint, initiated by the commission itself, was based on broader allegations published by the Chronicle in a May 16, 2015 article that described claims made in by her ex-husband, former city councilman Ronald Green.

In divorce filings, Green alleged that the judge had previously lied to the state commission when they investigated her relationship with a convicted conman.

Their 2015 divorce proceedings also revealed a series of other accusations as Ron Green - then Houston's second-highest-ranked political official - accused his wife of being a "longtime drug addict" who abuses prescription pills, violating laws by "driving under the influence" and "operates daily with impaired judgment as evidenced by her presiding over cases in which she has ongoing sexual relationships with litigants and witnesses."

Hilary Green accused her now former husband of concealing assets, and He admitted infidelity in court documents.

Last May, the state commission put out its lengthy finding in favor of an immediate suspension, and in the summer the state Supreme Court approved that action.

Had her removal trial in Austin moved forward as planned in April, she could have faced years of appeals ahead, Babcock said.

In light of Green's resignation, county commissioners are expected to appoint a replacement who will serve until November 2018. Voters in the November election will then decide on her successor. Her term would have expired in 2020.

The political parties will in the coming months determine which candidates will be on the ballot.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis will likely select the interim appointment.

"Commissioner Rodney Ellis will consult with community leaders and legal experts to select a qualified candidate," an Ellis spokesman said. "He plans to have a candidate to submit to Commissioners Court for approval on April 10."Dozens of children screamed in excitement Saturday morning as they dashed for the brightly colored Easter eggs at Meadowlake Park.

Montgomery County Young Life hosted its fourth annual Pancake Party on Saturday, March 31, to bring the community together to have fun while raising money for a good cause. Volunteers passed out free pancakes and bacon to hungry egg hunters and their families. Attendees were invited to donate or purchase Young Life apparel to help send local teenagers to Young Life camps this summer in Georgia, Florida, Colorado and North Carolina.

Paige Shaver, staff associate, said Young Life spreads the gospel of Jesus Christ.

"Young Life builds authentic relationships in hopes of sharing the love of Jesus with (teenagers) and we are raising money to help send them to camp this summer," Shaver said.

At the summer camps, teenagers will participate in activities with their peers and hear a message about God's love each night.

"They will get the chance to be in a cabin with other kids from their school. The activities include mountain biking, zip lines. Every night we have Young Life Club. We have singing and games and a camp speaker that ties together the gospel story," Shaver explained.

Young Life volunteers regularly connect with area high schoolers to listen to their stories and build relationships. Shaver said that as teenagers search to find their identity in this world, Young Life helps to guide them to a truth they can believe in.

"We believe that teenagers are searching for something to satisfy them. We think that the hope and good news found through Jesus Christ enables them to live life to the fullest and experience joy and eternal life."

For more information about Young Life visit www.mocoyounglife.com or send an email to mocoyounglife@gmail.com.City public works employees in Shenandoah sent to investigate illegal trash dumping and claims of rampant rodents in a 3-acre wooded parcel of land owned by the city were surprised to find an elaborate hunting setup, replete with a camouflaged blind tent, multiple cameras and a feeder to attract animals.

The incident was detailed to members of the Shenandoah City Council on March 28, with several council members expressing surprise that the elaborate hunting set-up was so close to neighborhoods, homes and yards where children play.

Shenandoah Assistant Police Chief Barry Gresham said the public works employees found the gear several weeks ago after residents of the area had complained to city officials about an abundance of rodents emerging from the one of the 3-acre heavily wooded plots of land owned by the city. The three plots, identified as Cedarwood, Rosewood and Holly Hill, are owned by the city but are rarely maintained and are still undeveloped. The specific piece of land the hunting set up was on was not disclosed.

"The public works people went out there and found the stuff," Gresham said. "It appears to be more than likely a bow and arrow blind, it was more like a tent. It's kind of strange."

Gresham said the site was cleaned out and the information about what was found was turned over to game wardens based in Montgomery County.

Game Warden Brannon Meinkowsky said officials found a hunting stand, multiple motion-sensor activated game cameras and a feeder with corn in it. He added that game wardens do not know if potential hunters were using firearms, bow and arrow or a crossbow, noting that no shell casings were found at the site.

Shenandoah Communications Manager Debbie Pilcher said Monday that the investigation has since been closed after no evidence was found of game being killed.

There are several local and county ordinances and regulations in regard to hunting in incorporated areas of the state, Meinkowsky said. Montgomery County has an ordinance prohibiting the discharge of a firearm inside an area less than 10 acres in size that is inside an incorporated city. Texas also has specific seasons for hunting various animals with deer season being held from October or November through January depending on whether a hunter uses a bow and arrow or a rifle or shotgun. A separate season for muzzle loaders is held after the other two seasons end.

Meinkowsky said the reason regulations on where a person can hunt in relation to occupied homes exist is because of the danger presented by discharging firearms and not knowing where a bullet may end up.

"It's a danger because you never know where someone might be," he said. "When you hunt in close proximity to residential areas it makes it that much more dangerous."

Possible charges for hunting in this area could include illegal discharge of a firearm within Shenandoah city limits, hunting out of season, hunting on private land without consent of the owner, illegally hunting deer at night, illegal discharge of a weapon in Montgomery County and other charges.

"This is actually a common occurrence in this county. You have a large population and limited areas to hunt," Meinkowsky added. "This same thing happened two months ago in the city of Conroe. We apprehended that suspect."Posted Saturday, March 31, 2018 5:00 am

Arrests

The following arrests were reported by the Webster County Sheriffs Office and are not meant as an indication of guilt.

Feb. 27

 Shawn A. Jackson, 41, came in on a Webster County warrant for failure to register as a sex offender and a Christian County warrant for non-support.

 Crystle Whittenburg, 30, came in on a Webster County warrant for possession of a controlled substance.

 Crystal M. Kenney, 21, was arrested for driving while intoxicated.

 Kenneth N. Johnson, 37, came in on a Webster County warrant for possession of a controlled substance.

 Davis K. Smith, 53, was arrested on Newton County warrants for no valid license and no insurance.

 Lacy J. Evans, 31, was arrested on a Marshfield warrant for stealing and a Webster County warrant for tampering with a motor vehicle.

 Everett E. Haslett, 26, was arrested on a Marshfield warrant for failure to register a motor vehicle.

 Aaron J. Martin, 22, was arrested on a Greene County warrant for failure to register a motor vehicle.

Feb. 28

 Charles F. Hollingshead, 47, came in on a Henry County warrant for a traffic violation and a Webster County warrant for non-support.

 Michael L. Kinyon, 39, was placed on a 12-hour detox.

 Derek M. Rust, 38, was arrested on a Webster County warrant for a probation violation.

 Matthew R. Miller, 32, was placed on a 24-hour hold for possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

 Charles J. Medina, 58, was arrested on a Webster County warrant for third-degree domestic assault.

March 1

 Donald E. Nutsch, 31, came in on Webster County warrants for no insurance and failure to register a motor vehicle.

 Thomas Hearin, 32, was arrested on a parole violation.

 Adam C. Haymes, 43, was brought in on a Webster County warrant for first-degree tampering.

 Craig A. King, 26, was arrested on Rogersville warrants for defective equipment, failure to drive in the right lane, no insurance, failure to display plates, and careless and imprudent driving.

 Jolene E. Ireland, 28, came in on a commitment sentence.

 Lance A. Bahnmiller, 38, was arrested on Webster and Christian County warrants for driving while revoked.

March 2

 Tina M. Esquivel, 39, was placed on a 24-hour hold for fourth-degree domestic assault.

 James J. Mayberry, 53, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and a Douglas County warrant for a traffic violation.

 Laurie M. Clark, 39, was placed on a 24-hour hold for possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

March 3

 Ryan W. Stafford, 21, was arrested on Greene County warrants for driving while revoked and property damage.

 Michael E. Scranlin, 40, was placed on a 12-hour detox.

 Adrain D. Johnson, 32, came in on a 24-hour commitment sentence.

 Aaron B. Kilfoy, 39, was arrested on Greene County warrants for stealing and fourth-degree domestic assault.

March 4

 Stefanie N. Flatten, 36, was placed on a 24-hour hold for possession of a controlled substance.

 Sean T. Falk, 27, was brought in on a second-degree burglary charge.

 Shawnae R. Kurtenbach, 19, was arrested for minor in possession.

March 5

 Roger W. Gardner, 30, was arrested on a Greene County warrant.

 Keith R. Allen, 23, was arrested on a probation violation.

 Ethan W. Barnett, 28, was arrested for stealing a motor vehicle and possession of a controlled substance.

 Laura J. Bethurem, 45, was placed on a 12-hour detox.

 Boshawn K. Thomas, 42, was arrested for driving while suspended and a Scott County warrant for fraud.

 Trevor L. Perryman, 19, was placed on a 24-hour hold for fourth-degree assault.

 Rheaya A. Goodwin, 31, was brought in on a writ for court.

 John M. Parks, 34, was brought in on a probation violation.

 Payten R. Slocum, 25, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and driving while intoxicated.

 Kenny O. Grabher, 49, was arrested on a Marshfield warrant for stealing.

Filings

Dissolution with children

March 8

 Jessica R. Arthur v. Mark R. Arthur

March 9

 Russell Choate v. Krystina Choate

March 13

 Christin L. Shipman v. Brandyn D. Shipman

Dissolution without children

March 13

 Ashley N. Cornelison v. Daniel Cornelison

Miscellaneous domestic relations

March 8

 Gail Brown v. Amelia Pryor et al

Motion to modify paternity

March 7

 Ryan Tilden v. Briana Ayers

Reg. foreign judgment - dissolution

March 12

 State of Missouri et al Gaudiano v. Leonard L. Gaudiano

March 13

 State of Missouri Dunavan et al v. Brian K. Channel

Felony

March 7

 State of Missouri v. Brittany Nicole Hayes

March 13

 State of Missouri v. Katelyn E. Emrick

 State of Missouri v. Jessica Pender

 State of Missouri v. Joseph Dwayne Hale

 State of Missouri v. Jason Dale Harvey

 State of Missouri v. Brianna N. Youmans

 State of Missouri v. Michael E. Ripple

 State of Missouri v. Adriano R. Clark

 State of Missouri v. Jerron C. Griffin

 State of Missouri v. Miranda J. Cantrell

 State of Missouri v. Johnnie A. Blackledge

 State of Missouri v. Jacob D. McNish

 State of Missouri v. Lacy J. Evans

 State of Missouri v. Zachary H. Fritz

 State of Missouri v. Darrell W.E. Graves

 State of Missouri v. Virgil L. Ellison

Certificate of lien - Department of Revenue taxes

March 9

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Ronica J. Wheeler

 Department of Revenue - CE v. James W. Jackson et al

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Paul D. Barnes et al

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Carrie A. Porter

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Aimee A. Verdeyen

Administrative order

March 7

 Webster County Childrens Division v. Louie Eugene Aragon Jr.

March 12

 Megan L. Engelking v. Dale L. Rogers

March 13

 Webster County Childrens Division v. Miranda Jade Cantrell

Transcript judgment

March 7

 Division of Employment Security - BPC v. Oscar M. Hernandez

Dispositions

The following dispositions were reported by the Webster County Circuit Clerks office.

Transcript judgment

March 7

 Division of Employment Security - BPC v. Oscar M. Hernandez - Other final disposition.

Administrative order

March 7

 Webster County Childrens Division v. Louie Eugene Aragon Jr. - Other final disposition.

March 12

 Megan L. Engelking v. Dale L. Rogers - Other final disposition.

March 13

 Webster County Childrens Division v. Miranda Jade Cantrell - Other final disposition.

Certificate of lien - Department of Revenue taxes

March 9

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Ronica J. Wheeler - Other final disposition.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. James W. Jackson et al - Other final disposition.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Paul D. Barnes et al - Other final disposition.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Carrie A. Porter - Other final disposition.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Aimee A. Verdeyen - Other final disposition.

Personal injury - vehicular

March 8

 Skerry v. Rawls and Inevitable Transportation - Dismissed by parties.

Breach of contract

March 9

 Nicholas Tabor et al v. State Farm Fire and C. et al - Other final disposition.

Dissolution without children

March 8

 James T. Burtchett v. Melissa G. Burtchett - Consent judgment.

Dissolution with children

March 9

 Casey J. Zunker v. Joseph W. Tober - Uncontested.

Reg. foreign judgment - dissolution

March 7

 State of Missouri Dunavan et al v. Brian K. Channel - Other final disposition.

March 8

 State of Missouri et al Gaudiano v. Leonard L. Gaudiano - Other final disposition.

Family access motion

March 8

 David R. Daniel et al v. Amanda L. A. M. Ireland - Tried by civil court.

Judgments

The following judgments were reported by the Webster County Circuit Clerks office.

March 7

 Division of Employment Security - BPC v. Oscar M. Hernandez. Certificate of assessment of overpaid benefits. Judgment for petitioner in the amount of $1,123.20.

March 8

 James T. Burtchett v. Melissa G. Burtchett. Court dissolves marriage. Debts and property divided.

March 9

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Paul D. Barnes et al. Certificate of tax lien - individual income tax. Judgment for petitioner in the amount of $817.84.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. James W. Jackson et al. Certificate of tax lien - individual income tax. Judgment for petitioner in the amount of $153.76.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Carrie A. Porter. Certificate of tax lien - individual income tax. Judgment for petitioner in the amount of $283.99.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Aimee A. Verdeyen. Certificate of tax lien - individual income tax. Judgment for petitioner in the amount of $144.01.

 Department of Revenue - CE v. Ronica J. Wheeler. Certificate of tax lien - individual income tax. Judgment for petitioner in the amount of $151.21.

Marshfield P.D.

The following calls were handled by the Marshfield Police Department.

Feb. 2

 Checked suspicious vehicle in the area of Banning and Hubble.

 Checked well being of person in the 100 block of Blair.

 Checked suspicious vehicle in the 500 block of Pine Ridge.

 Responded to theft in the 200 block of Elizabeth.

 Responded to theft in the 14000 block of Highway 38.

 Assisted citizen in the 300 block of Crittenden.

 Checked well being of person in the 100 block of Blair.

 Checked suspicious subject in the 1300 block of Blair.

 Assisted citizen in the 300 block of Crittenden.

 Assisted citizen in the 800 block of Washington.

 Checked suspicious subject in the 700 block of Washington.

Feb. 3

 Assisted agency in the area of Route A and Route KK.

 Responded to 911 call in the 600 block of Maple.

 Assisted motorist in the 14000 block of Highway 38.

 Responded to theft in the 1100 block of Spur Drive.

 Assisted motorist in the 14000 block of Highway 38.

 Responded to motor vehicle wreck in the area of Spur Drive and Interstate 44.

 Checked suspicious subject in the area of Elm and McVay.

 Assisted citizen in the 200 block of Pine Ridge.

 Checked suspicious activity in the area of Church Street.

 Checked well being of person in the area of Cologna and Route J.

 Checked suspicious activity in the 14000 block of Highway 38. One subject arrested for drugs.

 Checked suspicious activity in the 600 block of Church Street.

 Responded to juvenile complaint in the area of Jackson and Walnut.

Feb. 4

 Checked suspicious activity in the 500 block of Pine Ridge.

 Assisted agency in the 1700 block of Route J.

 Checked well being of person in the 200 block of Hillcrest.

 Responded to motor vehicle wreck in the area of Church Street and Jefferson.

 Assisted citizen in the area of Pine and Jackson.

 Checked suspicious activity in the 500 block of Pine Ridge.

 Checked well being of person in the 400 block of Washington.

 Responded to alarm in the 600 block of Locust.

 Responded to motor vehicle wreck in the area of Crestwood and Pine.

 Assisted motorist in the area of Hubble and Banning.

 Responded to motor vehicle wreck in the 200 block of Hillcrest.

Feb. 5

 Checked suspicious subject in the 500 block of White Oak.

 Responded to alarm in the 1000 block of Banning.

 Responded to motor vehicle wreck in the area of Locust and McVay.

 Responded to report of property damage in the 600 block of McVay.

 Responded to animal complaint in the 200 block of Pitts.

 Responded to alarm in the 1000 block of Banning.

 Assisted agency in the 100 block of Crittenden.

 Assisted agency in the area of Walnut and Madison.

Feb. 6

 Assisted agency in the 100 block of Pleasant Prairie.

 Responded to animal complaint in the 800 block of Marshall.

 Assisted motorist in the 900 block of Washington.

 Checked suspicious vehicle in the 500 block of Hubble.

 Checked suspicious activity in the 900 block of Washington.

 Responded to alarm in the 900 block of Washington.

 Responded to disturbance in the 200 block of White Oak.

 Responded to disturbance in the 1500 block of Jefferson.

 Assisted motorist in the 200 block of Pine.

 Responded to 911 call in the 700 block of White Oak.

 Responded to motor vehicle wreck in the area of Hubble and Marshall.

 Assisted agency in the 200 block of Blair.

 Responded to disturbance in the 200 block of Oak Grove.

 Responded to alarm in the 900 block of Washington.

 Assisted motorist in the area of Vivian and Spur Drive.

 Responded to disturbance in the 200 block of White Oak.

Feb. 7

 Responded to juvenile complaint in the 300 block of Crittenden.

 Responded to theft in the 14000 block of Highway 38.

 Checked well being of person in the area of Wilson Way and Marshall.

 Responded to report of property damage in the 600 block of Washington.

 Assisted paramedics in the 200 block of Pitts.

 Checked suspicious vehicle in the area of York Drive.

 Responded to 911 call in the 800 block of Jackson.

 Responded to disturbance in the 400 block of Clay.

 Responded to disturbance in the 1300 block of Spur Drive.

 Checked suspicious activity in the 500 block of Pine Ridge.

Feb. 8

 Responded to disturbance in the 400 block of Clay.

 Assisted citizen in the 800 block of Washington.

 Assisted motorist in the 500 block of Commercial.

 Responded to 911 call in the area of Route A.

 Assisted agency in the 1000 block of Smith.

 Assisted motorist in the 700 block of Washington.

 Assisted motorist in the area of Jefferson and Clay.

 Responded to animal complaint in the 1000 block of Banning.

 Assisted motorist in the 1200 block of Banning.

 Assisted motorist in the 14000 block of Highway 38.

 Responded to 911 call in the 400 block of Burford.

 Checked suspicious vehicle in the 200 block of Clay.

 Responded to 911 call in the 400 block of Burford.

 Assisted motorist in the 400 block of Burford.

 Assisted paramedics in the 400 block of Haymes Court.

County commission

The following are minutes from recent meetings of the Webster County Commission.

Jan. 29

 Mary Clair, treasurer, presented invoices paid against officeholder side funds for commission review. She also presented a settlement of county funds for the month of December 2017 and also an annual settlement of all county funds for the 2017 calendar year.

Mary also informed the two commissioners present that the year-end settlement contained errors related to late-year reclassification of expenses between the Capital Improvement (Road) and Road & Bridge Funds. The county clerk and treasurer agreed the year end balances of the funds affected would be corrected in a budget amendment  tentatively scheduled for March 26.

 Associate commissioner Dale Fraker moved to transfer $15,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Prosecuting Attorneys Administrative Handling Costs (AHC) Fund. Associate commissioner Randy Owens seconded. The vote was two in favor, none against. Motion carried.

 Fraker moved to transfer $3,300 from the General Revenue Fund to the Community Crime Education and Prevention (formerly, DARE) Fund. Owens seconded. The vote was two in favor, none against. Motion carried.

 Nathan Morris was interviewed regarding the possibility of accepting a position as the countys first Information Technology (IT) Supervisor. Possible terms of employment were considered.

 Mike Sturdefant, road and bridge department supervisor, discussed: additional signage on New Hope Road; drainage on Good Hope Road; a fencing program on Greenwood Road; and the private roads in Spring Hill subdivision (Klemme Drive; Williams Way), west of the community of Northview.

Jan. 30

 Shelly Clift, deputy county clerk, presented invoices against funds under commission supervision. Said invoices were reviewed and approved.

 Stacy Burks, representing American Red Cross of Southern Missouri, introduced herself to the associate commissioners. She also presented information concerning the services the Red Cross provides to victims of disasters, including fire, flood, or tornado.

 At 10 a.m., a meeting was held concerning a number of pending road projects. Those presented included: Mike Sturdefant, road and bridge department supervisor; Wayne Turner, special projects manager for the road and bridge department; Stan Whitehurst, county clerk; and Mike Beaty, of Great River Engineering. Spencer Jones, also with Great River Engineering, joined the meeting in progress.

Topics covered included: design of the extension of Elm Street (north of State Hwy CC); applications for soft match credit under the Bridge Replacement-Offsystem program for replacement of a number of low water crossings; and preliminary design of the bridge over Gourley Ford on Beach Road.

The meeting also gave opportunity for county representatives to express dissatisfaction with the performance of certain aspects of the engineering firm. It was announced that the county would be issuing a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for general engineering services in early March (rather than merely renewing the selection of Great River, as in past years).

Jones stated he believed the issues could be remedied, and expressed hope that Great River would be allowed to submit a letter of interest. The commission stated that competition is good, and that Great River would be welcome to do so, and would receive fair consideration.

 During this time, the design team working on the new jail held a meeting of contractors preparing to work on the early phases of the project. At approximately noon, commissioners Owens and Fraker joined the following for a working lunch: Adam Kuehl, HMN Architects; Nick Smith, Jeff Harrelson and Craig Ericson, of Septagon Construction Management.

At approximately 1:30 p.m., the group was joined by others at the courthouse for a jail status meeting. Also present were: Sheriff Roye Cole; Ben Berkstresser, prosecuting attorney; Stan Whitehurst, county clerk; and Nathan Morris, candidate for the position of IT Supervisor.

Ericson reported that the county road and bridge department had completed its work of rough excavation, rock breaking, and dressing up of the building pad the prior week. The building site was turned over to Gillespie Excavating LLC on Jan. 23. The contractor will be responsible for final grade and compaction, as well as the installation of stormwater and sewer drain lines, water lines, and some other utility work at the site. The county has also agreed to pay Gillespie to break rock in the trench required to install a sanitary sewer line on the north edge of the property at a contingency rate agreed to in their original bid.

Other contractors involved in the early phases have begun ordering material and preparing to mobilize on site. It is estimated footings may be ready to pour around March 1.

The meeting ended at approximately 3:30 p.m.

Jan. 31

 On Wednesday, Jan. 31, commissioner Owens met with David Day at the intersection of Center Point Road and Normandy Road to plan repairs to a drainage problem at that location.

Mike Sturdefant, road and bridge department supervisor, and Dorisel Bennett, Fordland crew chief, were also present.Posted Saturday, March 31, 2018 8:15 am

Ozarks Technical Community College unveiled its new strategic plan Your Dreams, Our Plan  OTC 2025 last week at the OTC Springfield Campus. The plan features three initiatives: student success, access to education and alignment with community needs.

As the communitys college, our goal is to meet the needs of the communities that we serve, said Dr. Hal Higdon, OTC chancellor. Evaluating our goals, and soliciting feedback from our students, and our internal and external stakeholders, ensures we are meeting these needs.

The three strategic initiatives are:

1. Improve experiences at every point in the institution to increase opportunities for students to attain their educational goals.

2. Increase and sustain the colleges physical and online capacity to ensure every citizen in OTCs service area has an opportunity to access college services.

3. Actively engage the community and external groups to best meet the educational and workforce needs of OTCs service area.

Everyone in the OTC service area had an opportunity to provide input to Your Dreams, Our Plan  OTC 2025. The college sent out thousands of postcards with a link to a survey, held more than 10 community events to gather feedback in open forums, and hosted discussions with faculty, staff and students. OTC received more than 1,000 comments and suggestions.

The colleges strategic plan is actively used by employees at the college to align their day-to-day work with the initiatives set forth in the plan. When individual departments engage in their own strategic planning for the year, they are required to align each goal to one of the institutions strategic initiatives.For picture posts from 2010 and earlier, see the Earlier Picture Posts PageMichael Vowell never thought hed teach basic Hebrew on one of Judaisms highest holidays.

But this year was about inclusion. And so, despite the yarmulkes dotting the crowd before him, with humor and patience the rabbi gave remedial lessons on his faiths language to a Seder dinner that may have set records.

Seder marks the beginning of Passover, the weeklong celebration of the Israelites freedom from the Egyptians during pre-Biblical times. This year, though, Vowell and other leaders at Houstons Congregation Beth Messiah Synagogue decided to use the holiday to bring people of different faiths and backgrounds together.

People need hope right now, he said. They dont need to be berated. They dont need to have two long fingers pointed in their face.

The message worked. Nearly 1,400 people arrived at the Hilton Americas Houston in downtown Friday, a number that Vowell and others believe may make their Seder dinner among the largest ever in Houston.

The crowd, which included families from as far away as Argentina and Ukraine, would have once been unthinkable for Vowell and his congregation. Founded in a peanut farmers living room 36 years ago, Beth Messiah has grown from a handful of parishioners to a congregation of more than 400.

The brand of Judaism practiced at the synagogue  Messianic Judaism  is itself a relatively new phenomena. Its practitioners identify as Jews, but believe that Jesus is the messiah  something that has drawn the ire of many mainstream Jews since it first started becoming more popular in the 1970s.

Were not universally loved  thats true, Vowell said. For a long time we were kind of the ugly stepchild, so for us to be here at a Passover this large would have been unthinkable.

Nearby, Grant Rothberg sat with 25 or so other members of Sagemont Church. He said had come because of the shared history between Christianity and Judaism.

Its a reminder, he said. Theres a thread of history that we see all the way from the freedom from slavery during Exodus until the freedom of our sins through Jesus.

Not all have traditionally appreciated that common history, though. Many of the Messianic Jews in attendance Friday said theyve faced backlash for their faith from friends and family, some of whom see it as a betrayal of Judaism.

Growing up in Argentina, Agustin Wainberg said Passover was always seen as an opportunity to reach out to those of other faiths.

Still, his conversion to Messianic Judaism was not without conflict. His brothers initially disapproved of his faith, which some see as inherently conflicting, but he said theyve since become more accepting.

And so to be surrounded Friday by a diverse group of accepting people was particularly important, he said.

Its just really fulfilling, he said.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the time period in which the Israelites escaped slavery.Houston might be one of the most diverse cities in the nation, but that doesn't mean it's one of the most equal.

A recent U.S. News & World Report study examining the overall health of communities found that Harris County is actually lacking when it comes to equity among its resident.A suspect who led police on a slow-speed chase through west Houston wound up crashing through a police station Friday night.

Houston police officers were called out to a domestic disturbance where a man threatened to kill a woman and his own father. As police arrived, the suspect got into a vehicle and started to flee.

The chase ran west on Westheimer Road west of the Beltway 8 and never went faster than 40 mph, police said. At some point, the suspect blew and tire and turned south on South Dairy Ashford Road.

FATAL FIRE: One dead in northwest Houston house fire

He drove about a mile down Dairy Ashford into the 3200 block, where the Houston Police Department has a substation. Authorities said the suspect crashed through the front entrance of the police station before being apprehended.

He will likely face felony charges for fleeing from police.

No other information was available. Check back for updates on this developing story as they come in.

Jay R. Jordan is a breaking news reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan.Tommy Overstreet was so sure his Rosharon home was going to be inundated by Hurricane Harvey that he and his wife packed up and stayed with friends before becoming overwhelmed by rising waters.

As it turned out, he ended up right in the path of Harvey  and a new calling. Their house flooded, but ours didnt, he said recently. That was the house we started cleaning up after the flood, and I told my wife, If were so blessed that we dont get flooded, Im going to help as many people as I can.According to Robert Herjavec, "You never know the situation you grow up in until you compare it to something else."

And after a long successful career, Herjavec's life couldn't be more different from where he started.

Born in the communist country of Croatia, then known as Yugoslavia, Herjavec's house had dirt floors, hay, and no running water. Yugoslavia was a great country if you were a Communist, but Herjavec's dad was ardently anti-Communism.

He was thrown in jail twenty-two times, and the final time Herjavec's father was warned that his chances had run out. He promptly gathered one suitcase, Herjavec and Herjavec's mother, before fleeing by boat to Canada.

The move took its toll on Herjavec's father. He went from being a manager in Yugoslavia to sweeping floors, and was never quite the same. Herjavec's success has always been driven by the sacrifice and hardship his parents endured. The last thing he wanted to do is squander away their hard work.

However, early on, Herjavec was unfocused. He wanted to be a detective, a vet, a race car driver. The list was always changing.

The flip-flopping stopped when Herjavec's best friend went for an interview at a computer company, a position that did not interest Herjavec at all. That was until he learned the starting salary, a whopping $30,000. Herjavec ended up landing the job himself, securing his start in the computer business.

Herjavec has undoubtedly justified the risks his parents took and then some. His cyber-security company, The Herjavec Group, is now one of the largest technology companies in the world.

From an immigrant who came over to America on a boat, to a multi-millionaire, Herjavec knows that the road to success isn't easy. He explained: "Entrepreneurship is the great equalizer. It's not about who your parents are, it's not about your color, it's not about your sex, and it's not about your religion. Business doesn't care. Business only cares about the value that you add."

Shark Tank airs weeknights starting at 7P ET.Owning a home, the most common way Americans build wealth, can become a distant dream for many crushed by student debt.

Eighty-three percent of people ages 22 to 35 with student debt who haven't bought a house yet blame their educational loans.

PM Images | Getty Images

In the late 1990s, Ed McKinley fell in love with a $65,000 house by a lake in New Hampshire. The owners let him move in early and pay rent until the buying process was completed. Inside his new home, McKinley installed a modern stove, painted the walls and began to redo the floors. Then came the bad news. "The mortgage company decided that my income-to-debt ratio was a little bit higher than they were comfortable with," McKinley, 59, said. They were referring to his $34,000 in federal student loan debt. He had to pack up and leave. "It's crushing," McKinley said, choking up. "I have a very strong desire to own a piece of land that I can put my signature on."

Ed McKinley Source: Ed McKinley

Student loan debt has become a major barrier to home ownership in America. Some 45 million people in the United States carry student debt. The average borrower owes more than $30,000, according to Student Loan Hero, a website for managing education debt. Almost a fifth owe more than $100,000, according to the National Association of Realtors. People's monthly student loan payments can eat up a large slice of their income, threaten to push down their credit scores and make saving nearly impossible  all huge impediments, of course, to landing in a house. For every 10 percent in student loan debt a person holds, their chance of home ownership drops between 1 and 2 percentage points during their first five years after school, according to the Federal Reserve.

More than 80 percent of people ages 22 to 35 with student debt who haven't bought a house yet blame their educational loans, according to the National Association of Realtors. "Student loan debt holders do want to own a home, that's part of their American dream," said Jessica Lautz, managing director of survey research at the National Association of Realtors. "It's just really hard to get there right now." To be sure, people who receive more education also tend to earn higher incomes, possibly offsetting some of the financial distress of student loan debt, said Jonathan Spader, a senior research associate at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. "You have these competing influences of greater access to education versus reduced ability to buy a home because of student loan debt," Spader said.

Challenge one: debt-to-income ratio

Slphotography | Getty Images

Almost one-fifth of people with student debt who apply for a mortgage  like McKinley, are denied because of their "debt-to-income ratio," what a person owes versus how much they make, according to the National Association of Realtors. The median income for student loan borrowers is $59,746, according to analysts at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. For borrowers under 30, the average monthly loan payment is $351, according to Student Loan Hero. "The bank looks at it as 'unsecured debt'," said Doug Amis, a certified financial planner at Cardinal Retirement Planning in Cary, North Carolina. "With a mortgage, you have the asset of the house. If you stopped paying, you could foreclose on the house. But you can't go and foreclose on an education." In other words: banks know you'll most likely be stuck with your student debt until you pay it off. "The mortgage officer wants to see that your overall expenditures on housing and debt  including student loans and car payments  is not more than 36 percent of your income," Amis said. "That's really going to limit things if you're only making $50,000 a year." In certain areas where the cost of living is higher, that debt ceiling is pushed up.

Challenge two: credit score

Kirby Hamilton | Getty Images

Eight percent of student loan borrowers are denied a mortgage because of their credit score, according to the National Association of Realtors. Mike, a government worker in Yukon, Oklahoma, said banks offering loans would line up at his law school at the University of Toledo. (He asked to use his first name only because of his job with the government). He graduated in 2008, with more than $200,000 in debt, into the Great Recession. He couldn't find a job and soon defaulted on his student loans, like 40 percent of borrowers are expected to do by 2023, according to the Brookings Institution. He felt helpless. "I just ignored it, there was no way  they were wanting $1,200 a month," Mike said. His credit score sank into the low 500s, which is considered very poor by credit data company Experian. "If I went into any bank in Oklahoma, they would just laugh at me," Mike said.

Challenge three: down paymentFacebook employees were in an uproar on Friday over a leaked 2016 memo from a top executive defending the social network's growth at any cost  even if it caused deaths from a terrorist attack that was organized on the platform.

In the memo, Andrew Bosworth, a Facebook vice president, wrote, "Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools. And still we connect people. The ugly truth is that we believe in connecting people so deeply that anything that allows us to connect more people more often is *de facto* good."

Mr. Bosworth and Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, have since disavowed the memo, which was published on Thursday by BuzzFeed News.

But the fallout at the Silicon Valley company has been wide. According to two Facebook employees, workers have been calling on internal message boards for a hunt to find those who leak to the media. Some have questioned whether Facebook has been transparent enough with its users and with journalists, said the employees, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. Many are also concerned over what might leak next and are deleting old comments or messages that might come across as controversial or newsworthy, they said.

More from The New York Times:

Facebook Introduces Central Page for Privacy and Security Settings

Zuckerberg, Facing Facebook's Worst Crisis Yet, Pledges Better Privacy

Facebook Exit Hints at Dissent on Handling of Russian Trolls

In some of his tweets, Mr. Mosseri also defended Facebook. When writers from Vox and BuzzFeed tweeted that they noticed that stories critical of Facebook were receiving surprisingly low levels of traffic on Facebook, Mr. Mosseri jumped in.

"We 100% do not take any action on stories for being critical of us," he tweeted.

Tweet here

Mr. Bosworth, the author of the 2016 memo, also took to the Twitter. Late Thursday, he said he did not agree with what he wrote in the memo "and I didn't agree with it even when I wrote it." He added that "the purpose of this post, like many others I have written internally, was to bring to the surface issues I felt deserved more discussion with the broader company."

After BuzzFeed published the memo, Mr. Bosworth deleted it from an internal message board where it had originally been posted. In a statement to BuzzFeed, Mr. Zuckerberg praised Mr. Bosworth as "a talented leader who says many provocative things" and said he and most people at Facebook did not agree with the memo and that the company had realized that it could not just be about connecting people.

Facebook employees said on Friday that discussions were raging across the company regarding the merits of the post. Some called for executives to aggressively pursue action against those leaking to the media, said two Facebook employees, as well as for the company to do more to screen for potential whistle-blowers during the hiring process.

At least one former Facebook employee, Alec Muffett, wrote on Twitter that Mr. Bosworth's memo was responsible for his decision to leave the company.

"Between overwork and leadership direction evidenced thusly, I could never stay," wrote Mr. Muffett, who formerly worked as a Facebook engineer.

Tweet here

"There are some amazing engineers working at Facebook, folks who care deeply about user privacy, security, and how people will use the code that they write," Mr. Muffet said later in a message. "Alas this episode may not help" to achieve more transparent internal product discussion, he said.The online bulk delivery start-up Boxed is attracting lots of attention from big retail.

As one of Boxed's earliest investors, the founder of venture capital firm Greycroft told CNBC he's not surprised by the heightened interest in the privately held company. In just three years Boxed went from $40,000 in sales to more than $100 million annually. Based on its latest funding round, Boxed is valued at around $470 million.

"Everyone in retail is talking to everybody else, because today's biggest business story is who wins in this massive retail transition online," Greycroft founder Alan Patricof told CNBC.

Case in point, grocery giant Kroger recently made an offer to buy Boxed, but no deal was reached, a source close to the situation told CNBC. The source, who would not reveal Kroger's bid price, also said the two companies are no longer talking. Earlier this month, there were reports that Kroger had submitted a bid for Boxed for as much as $500 million.

Entrepreneur Chieh Huang, the 36-year-old Taiwanese-American who co-founded Boxed in 2013, refused to comment directly on Kroger, but he did tell CNBC he's keeping his options open.

"Without naming actual names, we have had conversations with just about every retailer under the sun," Huang said. "International and domestic: some more serious than others."

Boxed, often dubbed the "Costco for millennials," sells and delivers a range of goods including sparkling water, chips, cookies and toilet paper in bulk  without the membership fee required to shop at other warehouse retailers.

Along with the big products, Boxed also offers big savings. It sells a 28-ounce bottle of Sriracha hot sauce for $2.99, half what shoppers might pay at a traditional retailer. The spicy condiment is one of more than 1,000 products available for sale on the Boxed platform.Russia has told Britain it must send home "just over 50" more of its diplomats in a worsening standoff with the West over the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain.

Russia has already retaliated in kind against Britain and ejected 23 British diplomats over the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. London says Moscow was behind the attack, something Russia denies.

British Ambassador Laurie Bristow was summoned again on Friday and told London had one month to cut its diplomatic contingent in Russia to the same size as the Russian mission in Britain.

On Saturday, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Reuters that meant Britain would have to cut "a little over 50" of its diplomats in Russia.

"We asked for parity. The Brits have 50 diplomats more than the Russians," said Zakharova.

When asked if that meant London would have to bring home exactly 50 diplomats, she said: "A little over 50."The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission formMcVey wants more school pupils to take on Saturday jobs to help develop a work ethic

Williamson battles against GKN deal

British teenagers should be encouraged to take up Saturday and after-school jobs to prepare them for the world of work, the Work and Pensions Secretary has said. In her first interview since being promoted earlier this year, Esther McVey says that teenage employment is important if Britain is to provide more resilient home-grown workers after Brexit. Ms McVey made the comments after official research from the Governments immigration advisers claimed earlier this week that Britons were perceived to be less hard-working than European immigrants and had far higher levels of absenteeism. Some employers are concerned that young British workers are not ambitious or resilient enough to take over jobs after Brexit which are currently filled by European immigrants. 

Theresa May is facing a battle between two key cabinet allies over the hostile takeover of a British engineering company as her defence secretary puts up last-minute objections to the deal. Gavin Williamson is to provide an evidence pack to Greg Clark, the business secretary, over potential concerns with the 8.1 billion takeover of GKN by Melrose Industries, an investment firm. Mr Clark has already demanded that the bidder for GKN gives Whitehall a veto over the future of the 259-year-old engineers defence business. Melrose has made a series of commitments.  The Times

Clark defends speculators  The Times

Williamson held a secret summit with Im a Celeb winner Georgia Toffolo in a bid to boost his popularity  The Sun

Gove to announce an ivory ban

Anti-Semitism 1) Labour must do better says Corbyn..

Michael Gove is to announce a complete UK ban on the ivory trade next week. The Environment Secretary will unveil the crackdown after 60,000 people responded to a government consultation exercise. He is expected to close a loophole which allows the sale of antique items made from ivory before 1947 amid fears it is being exploited by dealers. His officials at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs may leave in place an exemption to let musical instrument dealers to buy and sell antique pianos.  The Sun

Jeremy Corbyn has said Labour must do better as a row continues over how the party deals with hostility to Jews. In a Passover message, he said it was easy to denounce anti-Semitism abroad but sometimes harder to see it closer to home. It came as Jewish Labour peer Lord Winston said Mr Corbyn had encouraged and endorsed anti-Semites. Dozens of Labour politicians are urging him to suspend a senior Momentum figure amid further anti-Semitism claims.  BBC

Anti-Semitism 2) Labour members believe the claims are exaggerated

Anti-Semitism 3) Sugar depicts the Labour leader with Hitler

Nearly eight out of ten Labour members believe that accusations of antisemitism are being exaggerated to damage Jeremy Corbyn and stifle legitimate criticism of Israel, according to a YouGov poll for The Times. The leader was still overwhelmingly backed by members, with 80 per cent saying that he was doing a good job and 61 per cent saying he was handling the antisemitism crisis well. Some 69 per cent supported his response to the Salisbury poisoning, after he seemed reluctant to blame the Kremlin.  The Times

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has urged businessman Alan Sugar to delete a tweet depicting Jeremy Corbyn sitting next to Adolf Hitler. The Twitter spat is the latest fallout from an increasingly heated debate over anti-semitism in the Labour Party. A close ally of Mr Corbyn who was forced to resign over a Holocaust row has claimed that Labours anti-Semitism problem was a ruse stirred up to attack the Labour leader.  Daily Telegraph

Anti-Semitism 4) Frank Fields constituency party smears Jewish group

Anti-Semitism 5) Further revelations are likely as more old Facebook posts emerge

Labour has begun an investigation into senior figures in Frank Fields local constituency association who turned down diversity training from the Jewish Labour Group (JLG), falsely claiming that it had links to the Israeli government and Islamic State. Minutes of a meeting, passed to The Times, recorded a discussion among senior figures in the Birkenhead Labour Party as they decided to reject the offer of training by the JLG made by Labours national executive committee (NEC).  The Times

As to where the scandal now leads, Labour would dearly like to put the row behind it. But that seems a huge challenge. Last night, Corbyns senior Labour aide son Seb was still listed as a Facebook friend of Elleanne Green, who is supposedly suspended from the party. (Meanwhile, his youngest son, Tommy, was revealed by the Mail yesterday as having endorsed a series of vile anti-Semitic Facebook sites.) In cyberspace, our mistakes, of course, tend to live on forever. So only a fool would bet against this being the last time Jeremy Corbyns old dalliances with anti-Semites and other extremists comes back to haunt him.  Guy Adams, Daily Mail

Anti-Semitism 6) Those around Corbyn cant see its a problem says Blair

Tony Blair has hit out at Jeremy Corbyns Labour Party as ugly and really quite disgusting over the anti-Semitism scandal and has claimed the problem did not exist during his time as leader, it has been revealed. Jeremy Corbyn has been under intense pressure over his handling of the anti-Semitism row within his Party. Mr Blair said: If anyone had been engaged in it, we would have acted to root it out immediately. Its a horrible thing. Its an ugly and really quite disgusting thing.Speaking on BBC Radio 4s The Week in Westminster, Mr Blair added: It has become a problem because Im afraid the people around Jeremy Corbyn, maybe even himself, dont really think its a problem.  Daily Express

Anti-Semitism 7) Jewish success means the far left regard them as the enemy says Charles Moore

Jews are a minority everywhere but Israel, often a persecuted minority, so they might be expected to enlist in Jeremys ragged army. But no, they have a theory and practice of living successfully in modern Western democracies. Instead of forming a rainbow alliance of grievance to humiliate the dominant indigenous culture, they flourish within it. In the Corbyn mindset, this makes them collaborators with the enemy. By the same logic, modern Israel  a democratic, Western state, with the rule of law, surrounded by autocracies, dictatorships and semi-governed spaces  is an affront to his doctrine of victimhood.  Charles Moore, Daily Telegraph

Jews are the canary in the coalmine  Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian

Anti-Semitism 8) Corbyn will be ousted predicts Oborne

May is in her strongest position since the General Election, and Corbyn in his weakest  James Forsyth, The Sun

Momentum candidate defeated in National Union of Students elections

Boldly, I shall make a set of predictions. First, morally decent MPs such as Keir Starmer and the ambitious Emily Thornberry will soon conclude that they cannot serve under Corbyn. If that happens, I expect very many others to follow. Then, regardless of the iron-like grip Momentum has on the party machine, I predict that Corbyn will be removed as leader of the parliamentary party. Inevitably, the party will then be engulfed in a bloody civil war, ending in a formal split. A similar rupture happened in the 1930s during the Great Depression, when one section of the party supported the austere economic policies of the Conservatives while the other rejected them and broke away to set up Independent Labour under George Lansbury.  Peter Oborne, Daily Mail

Splits in the National Union of Students were exposed this week as its president fought off a challenge from a member of Momentum, Jeremy Corbyns cheerleaders. Shakira Martin, who has said that she would welcome Tories, was comfortably re-elected as leader of the organisation that represents seven million students. Sahaya James, a vocal supporter of Jeremy Corbyn and a member of Momentums ruling national co-ordinating group, had made a pitch for the leadership.  The Times

Britain threatens to close down den of spies Russian trade mission

Russia ramps up retaliation  Financial Times

Teaching union challenges Ofsteds hijab guidance

Britain has threatened to shut down the Russian trade mission in north London, describing it as a den of spies as diplomatic tensions between the two countries reached a new height. London escalated the row between the two countries after Moscow said more British embassy staff would have to be expelled from Russia as the fallout from the Salisbury poisoning intensified. That came after Russian officials accused Britain of provocation following an enhanced search by a rummage team of UK border officials of an Aeroflot flight from Moscow.  Daily Telegraph

Teachers have condemned Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector, for suggesting young Muslim girls should not wear the hijab to school. The union said that her statements could lead to violence against women who cover their heads. Members of the National Education Union (NEU) are due to debate an emergency motion at their annual conference criticising Ms Spielmans views and saying that she must be robustly challenged. Kevin Courtney, the joint head of the union, said that he believed Ms Spielman had overstepped the remit Ofsted should have by suggesting inspectors would speak to young girls under the age of eight wearing a head covering and ask them why they were doing so.  The Times

Met chief calls for more stop and search

A Fair Cop  Leader, The Times

Unionists condemn vote to ban British Army recruitment

Cressida Dick has had a gruelling first year as Metropolitan Police commissionerMany police officers believe that the knife crime increase is linked to a reduction in stop-and-search after reforms introduced by Theresa May as home secretary amid concerns that young black men were being targeted. I do think that some officers probably did slightly lose confidence. They were fearful that they might get into trouble, or they might not be supported if they had a complaint, she says. She wants to see more stop-and-search. When I talk to the parents of knife crime victims they all say get out there and do more so thats one of the things you will be seeing in the next year. Im not going to criticise the past Im just going to say that my officers know that I fully support them in using the stop-search professionally. It will be done fairly and irrespective of race.  Interview with Cressida Dick, The Times

Unionists have slammed a motion put forward by a former dissident republican seeking to ban the British Army from recruiting in schools. Gary Donnelly, who is now a councillor on Derry City and Strabane District Council, put forward a motion calling on educational facilities in the area to refuse British Armed Forces access to pupils. The motion passed with 24 councillors, including Sinn Fein and the independents, voting in favour.  Belfast Telegraph

>Today: ToryDiary: Twenty years on, the Belfast Agreements devolution model isnt working

Business warns against Scottish tax rises

Two of Scotlands most valuable industries warned Nicola Sturgeon that hiking income tax would damage their ability to attract the highly skilled workers they need to flourish, it has emerged ahead of a rise being implemented next week. The Scottish Lifesciences Association (SLA), which represents 140 firms that export medical technologies, diagnostics, medicines, vaccines and pharmaceutical services globally, said the move could undermine a target of doubling turnover to 8 billion. In a letter to the First Minister, disclosed under Freedom of Information laws, it warned a hike would hit the sector particularly hard as higher wages are required to attract and retain the staff with specialist skills it requires.  Daily Telegraph

>Yesterday: Jonathan Clark on Comment: How should we reform our tax system after Brexit?

Public sector gender pay gap revealed

Groundbreaking legislation forcing companies to disclose their gender pay gap for the first time has revealed that almost nine out of 10 public sector organisations pay men more than women. As government departments, councils, NHS trusts, universities, schools and other public bodies with more than 250 employees scrambled to report their gender pay gap before the midnight deadline on Friday, reported figures revealed that women in the public sector are paid on average 14% less than their male colleagues.  The Guardian

Schwarzenegger stable after heart surgery

France hit by strikes protesting at Macrons reforms

Arnold Schwarzenegger has undergone heart surgery in Los Angeles. The Austrian-American film star and former California governor, 70, had a scheduled procedure to replace a valve at Cedars-Sinai hospital on Thursday. The device was installed to repair a defective aortic valve in 1997. Thursdays operation lasted several hours, TMZ website reports. Schwarzenegger is said to be recovering well and reportedly commented after waking from surgery: Im back.  BBC

Fear of nationwide protests before the anniversary of the May 1968 uprising is gripping the Elysee Palace with strikes spreading across the public and private sectors as President Macron seeks to reform the French economy. Workers at Air France, the national carrier, downed tools yesterday, and unions called a strike today at Carrefour, the countrys biggest private employer and largest supermarket chain. French rail workers will walk out on Monday in the first of several strikes planned over the next three months, while workers at the national television broadcaster will go on strike next week, as will public utilities staff.  The Times

Parris: Hardwick has been scapegoated

News in brief

UK investment is at a record high. So why has almost no one reported it?  Ross Clark, The Spectator

Nicola Sturgeon will soon have to confront Scotlands sluggish economy  Chris Deerin, New Statesman

NEC member says Party members exaggerating anti-Semitism to harm Corbyn  Paul Waugh, Huffington Post

Dozens of Labour MPs call for Shawcroft to be suspended  Independent

The meaning of happiness  Marian L. Tupy, CapX

Only one individual comes out well from the Parole Board affair this week, and he has been sacked. Nick Hardwick, the boards chairman, had nothing to do with the flawed decision-making of a panel who recommended the black cab rapist John Worboys (now known as John Radford) be released early. It was not his fault the Ministry of Justice failed to supply the panel with all the information it needed to make a proper assessment of Worboys suitability for parole, nor his fault the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service looked away from allegations they should have pursued. Mr Hardwick has been scapegoated.  Matthew Parris, The TimesGeorge Maggs is an Associate Lecturer at the University of the West of England.

Traditional Feminism aimed to create a society within which men and women were treated equally, with equal rights and equal access to the same opportunities. Feminists fought successfully to hand women the right to vote, to permit them entry into previously barred professions, and for equal pay for work of equal value.

Once these objectives were achieved however, feminism morphed into something far more sinister. While traditional feminism espoused equality of opportunity for men and women, modern feminism no longer does. Instead, like Marxism, it aims to impose equality of outcome from the centre by restricting the freedom of both men and women.

Classical Liberals and Conservatives should not be afraid to call it out for what it is: a gendered form of reconstituted Socialism.

Marxists view the capitalist system as one of oppression, with the owners of capital (the bourgeois) deliberately and methodically oppressing workers (the proletariat) in a system of class hierarchy. Socialists hope to overturn this unequal system through state ownership of capital and central wealth redistribution. Modern feminism has simply taken the same tired notion of hierarchical oppression and replaced the bourgeois with men and the proletariat with women. Women are seen as the victims of a patriarchal system in which men subjugate women to benefit themselves.

Quite why men should seek to privilege other males in favour of their female friends and relatives is never fully explained. However, in line with Marxism, the only way feminists believe this repressive, male dominated capitalist structure can be overturned is by placing greater power in the hands of the state, by restricting peoples choices and freedoms, and by fundamentally altering society to better align with feminist principles.

Contemporary feminists now campaign for women to be sacked from jobs which require them be physically attractive (as this is a form of male objectification) while also calling for female quotas in boardrooms and parliament. Women cannot be trusted to make decisions feminists agree with, so outcome equality must instead be imposed by an increasingly authoritarian state apparatus.

In recent years, intersectional marxists and feminists have sought to divide people not just along class and gender lines, but also into categories of race and sexual orientation. They argue that there isnt just one tyrannical hierarchy, but several. Men oppress women, but privileged white women also discriminate against ethnic minorities. Rich, white, straight men (boo hiss) prejudice everyone, while if you are poor, black or gay you are deemed so oppressed that only government intervention can possibly enable you to unlock your potential (Corbyn 2017).

While both socialism and feminism claim to be concerned with helping the least fortunate, this is self-evidently and emphatically not the case. Such leftist views are overwhelmingly extolled by middle-class individuals and are used not to help the working-classes, but to drag down those above them in the social hierarchy.

Individuals who believe that the current system should be torn up and reconstructed tend not to be poor, but rather well-off professionals who have not seen their incomes rise at the same rate as other upper middle-class people. The gap between the top 10-20 per cent and the bottom 80 per cent has remained fairly constant in recent years. What has changed is the gap between the top one per cent and the rest of the top 10-20 per cent. It is middle-class envy of the one percent  rather than any concern for the poor  which is responsible for the rise of socialism in Britain today. This is openly acknowledged by Marxist thinkers like Danny Dorling, and partly explains why metropolitan areas like London overwhelmingly vote Labour, while the countryside and suburbs remain solidly Conservative.

What is true of socialism is also true of feminism. As we saw from the fallout of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the great and the good sprouted a #metoo Twitter storm, and there were endless egocentric speeches from wealthy Oscar winners declaring that #timesup on male oppression in Hollywood. The furore over the Presidents Club scandal in January was equally palpable. Members of Parliament and the press were falling over themselves to virtue signal their fury at white men surrounding themselves with attractive women while raising money for charity.

Earlier this month however, when it emerged that another rape gang had been operating with impunity, this time in Telford, the silence was deafening. It is estimated that in this latest tragedy to befall young working-class women in areas with large Muslim populations, over 1,000 teenage girls were raped, beaten, drugged and abused at the hands of older men. Their police complaints were ignored, and some girls were even killed by their abusers. It is difficult to imagine anything more awful or heart-breaking.

Yet the BBC could hardly bring itself to cover the story. When it did, BBC Shropshire claimed that events had been sensationalised by right-wing media. Because the girls were white and working-class and the perpetrators of an ethnic minority (and therefore inherently oppressed by the racist, Western, capitalist system), it was considered un-newsworthy and was barely mentioned in Parliament. Instead, Caroline Lucas, a Green Party MP, tabled an urgent question on the toxic political culture in Westminster which apparently degrades women in some way.

Modern Feminism has one rule for middle-class women who may have been taken advantage of by white men, but quite another for working-class girls abused by men of colour. This is because feminism, like its Marxist counterpart, is far from concerned with the genuinely oppressed. The two ideas are simply tools used to rationalise middle-class envy and to undermine those who happen to earn more money.

They are equally as contemptable as each other. We should not be scared to say so.Mark Ellse is a physicist, author and formerly an independent school headmaster and proprietor. He ran a building and transport company for fifteen years.

The roars from Labour in the House of Commons when Margaret Thatcher nearly referred to the Community Charge as the poll tax showed the importance of a word or two.

There is a world of difference between charging people the same amount for the same service and charging them to vote. Thatcher knew that and the left knew it too: part of political victory over the Community Charge was winning the battle over the language with with the argument was described.

There are good reasons why those on the left are keen to devote efforts to controlling political language. Believing in the perfectibility of mankind through the state, wanting to see every change as a step on the path, means that they cling to the language of virtue.

Those of us with conservative views are more ready to see the essential compromises of political decisions. To our mindset it is obvious that one might have to, for instance, cut benefits, or freeze pay. The reasons for such steps are so obvious that we dont instinctively give care to our language. The left then leap upon us. It was ever so: one thinks back to milk-snatcher Thatcher, for instance.

But in these times, when the political atmosphere is so emotionally driven, the conservative position needs to be defended with language that is given very careful consideration.

The obvious need to protect future generations from the effects of our own profligacy mean that Conservative governments see the need to balance the budget. Such is prudence, a thoroughly virtuous concept. Why on earth have we allowed this virtue to be pilloried as austerity, with all the negative connotations that are associated with that word?

The Chancellor says that the public are weary of austerity. Jacob Rees-Mogg spoke about the consequences of austerity in the NHS. When we use the language of the left, not only do we fail to carry the electorate with us, we also muddle our own thinking, undermining amongst ourselves our own understanding of our own political position and the need for it.

Other battles have been lost over similar negligence of thought and language. The waiting period for Universal Credit is an example.

In the West Midlands, 60 per cent of the population have savings of less than 100. The reason for this is not poverty but simply because there is a general assumption that one doesnt need a piggy bank any more because the state will provide. There is an entirely proper debate to be had about the period for which we should expect people to provide for themselves and families, and a week is certainly not unreasonable: the state needs to encourage a modicum of thrift.

But the really difficult political battlefield, which is threatening to cause untold harm to so many aspects of society lest we bring some reason to bear, is about equality. Equality is such a good-sounding word that, along with freedom and brotherhood, seems to be so much a cornerstone of civilisation that no one dare demur. But question it we must if we wish to avoid slipping into chaos.

Grudgingly or happily, we see that the concept of the equal value of different people comes from Christian roots. A religion which says there is neither Jew nor gentile, slave nor free, male and female, for you are all one is certainly a great leveller. But, good Lord, it doesnt mean that they are all the same! After all, whats the point of diversity if we are all the same?

Arguments for having a balance of races and genders in decision-making bodies in part stem from the belief that people are different and that assembling different views leads to better decisions. If we are all the same, it makes not a scrap of difference.

We need clarity of thought. If one gets the vocabulary wrong, the thinking will be wrong. We need to define our words very carefully if our thoughts are to be coherent. We need to differentiate equality, the concept that all people are of equal value, from same-ism, the belief that all are the same.

The left is already engaging on this issue. Traditional feminists rebel against the Owen Jones same-ist concept that gender is merely a matter of social construct and personal preference. The former recognise that same-ism ultimately undermines all concepts of the protection of those that are vulnerable. If we are all the same, how can we identify who we should protect?

It is the same-ist who becomes indignant when finding out that even in Norway, where equality is an art form, men outnumber women four to one in engineering. It is the same-ist who cannot accept that male and female aspirations are different and that there will always be fewer women wanting to sacrifice their home lives for promotion and that women will always have a free time preference and men a salary preference. It is same-ism that is unable to take a broad view of gender difference and recognise a same-ist denial of the biological reality of sex will do no good for the few with personal complications but will bring misery to many that it confuses.

We should be bold. Equality we extol. Same-ism is nonsense.Yesterday marks (just about) the two-decade anniversary of the Belfast Agreement, more widely known by its Republican-preferred name: the Good Friday Agreement.

The Agreement, as we shall call it henceforth, has been thrust under the spotlight following both the Brexit vote, with its implications for the border with Ireland, and the not-unrelated collapse of the devolved legislature in early 2017.

Its inauspicious that the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the power-sharing Executive drawn from it, isnt even sitting to celebrate the twentieth birthday of the treaty which created them.

To be fair, many of the problems with the current devolution arrangements actually stem from the 2007 St Andrews Agreement, especially the rules change which meant that the largest party, rather than the largest side, got to nominate the First Minister. This allowed the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein to squeeze the smaller parties and deepened the polarisation of the Assembly.

Nonetheless, the aura of sanctity that surrounds the Agreement  which I have written on previously  does have an unfortunate habit of short-circuiting debates about whether or not devolution to Northern Ireland has really worked, at least in its present basic shape.

The British Government is manifestly reluctant to introduce direct rule, even though there is no sign that the Assembly will be back on its feet anytime soon. This is problematic: not only is it poor democratic practice to have a part of the country run day-to-day by the civil service without political oversight, but there are serious flaws in how Westminster is currently legislating on Ulster issues.

Worse still, evidence presented to the ongoing inquiry into the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal which brought down the Executive suggests that the small Northern Irish civil service is simply not capable of properly administering the huge range of powers heaped on its shoulders by London. The Province has perhaps the most extensive ranged of devolved powers in the UK, but is drawing on a pool not much larger than a big English county.

This suggests that even if a political deal to restore the Assembly could be struck tomorrow, deep-seated problems with the entire system would remain. And thats before considering the fact that any deal would, history suggests, not provide stability for long.

After a year of suspension, preceded by years of near-constant crisis over one issue or another, it seems clear that Ulsters devolution arrangements might benefit from a wholesale re-assessment, perhaps with Westminster retaking some of the more onerous powers and the establishment of two or more smaller, local bodies to administer devolution.

In an interesting coincidence, yesterday also marked the 39-year anniversary of the assassination of Airey Neave, Margaret Thatchers Shadow Northern Irish Secretary, by the INLA in 1979.

Somewhat shamefully the Tories allowed his proposal for restoring local government to Ulster  reviving the county councils, or some variant thereupon  to die with him. But Lord Lexden, the Conservatives official historian and writer for this site, has disinterred them as a possible alternative to Stormont.

But with the basic shape of the devolved settlement enshrined in the Agreement, and thus taking on some of the characteristics of holy writ, any such exercise seems unlikely.At the General Election last year, the Labour Party, under Jeremy Corbyns leadership, secured 40 per cent of the vote. That was a considerable advance on the showing under Ed Miliband in 2015 (30.4 per cent) or under Gordon Brown in 2010 (29 per cent). Or, for that matter, under Tony Blair in 2005 (35.2 per cent). This was a shocking result given the appalling views that Corbyn has expressed on a range of subjects.

It was already apparent that many antisemites had come to regard the Labour Party as providing them with a safe space. Corbyn has described Hamas and Hezbollah as his friends. Yet the antisemitism of these groups is explicit and extreme. The Hamas Charter calls for the murder of Jews, not just in Israel but around the world. It endorses The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious fraudulent text used by those promoting Jewish conspiracy theories.

In recent days we have seen confirmation of the depth of anti-semitism in the modern Labour Party. But it was already pretty well known last year. Despite that 12,878,460 shrugged and voted Labour anyway.

Will anything change? Perhaps. The Jewish Leadership Council protest outside Parliament this week had the slogan Enough is Enough. It struck a chord. There comes a point at which a fair minded person with a mild interest in current affairs can no longer give Corbyn and his Party the benefit of the doubt on this issue. Surely there is a limit to how many Facebook groups Corbyn joined without noticing the content, or murals he endorsed without looking at them, or terrorists he can describe as friends and then say he is being merely diplomatic? Blaming everything on the Daily Mail is an inadequate response.

It is not just about Corbyn. A YouGov poll of Labour Party members for The Times was published this morning. It asked:

There has been quite a lot of news coverage recently about antisemitism in the Labour Party. Which of the following statements comes closest to your view?

Three options were given:

Only 19 percent went for:

It is a serious and genuine problem that the party leadership needs to take urgent action to address.

By contrast 47 percent chose:

It is a genuine problem, but its extent is being deliberately exaggerated to damage Labour and Jeremy Corbyn, or to stifle criticism of Israel.

There were 30 percent who plumped for:

It is not a serious problem at all, and is being hyped up to undermine Labour and Jeremy Corbyn, or to stifle legitimate criticism of Israel.

So even if Corbyn resigned (which he shows no sign of contemplating) that would not mean that anti-semitism would vanish from the Labour Party. But it is certainly hard to see how many in the Jewish community could wish to see Jeremy Corbyn returned as Prime Minister after the General Election. The Jewish population in the UK is relatively small  around 300,000 or about half a percent of the population of the UK. But in a some constituencies the number of Jewish voters is considerable. They include some marginal constituencies. In Finchley and Golders Green, the Conservative MP, Mike Freer, had a majority last year of 1,657. Matthew Offord, also a Conservative MP, has a majority of 1,072 in Hendon. Then there is Harrow East where the Conservative MP, Bob Blackman, has a majority of 1,757. Theresa Villiers, again a Conservative MP, only hung on in Chipping Barnet by 353. All these seats are on the list that Labour needs to gain to put Corbyn into Downing Street.

Seats with large Jewish populations which returned Labour MPs last year include Ilford North and Bury South. I suspect that many Jewish people were content to vote for their Labour candidate on the assumption that there was no risk of a Labour Government. Would they take that chance another time?

Although the local elections should be about local issues it is inevitable that the results for Barnet Council will be taken as a measure of the strength of feeling on this issue. If after all this coverage, Labour still gain control of the Council then the Corbynistas will say there is nothing to worry about.

On the other hand, it should not be assumed that only the Jewish community are affronted by Jeremy Corbyns stance on this issue. Another YouGov poll, this time among the general public, has found a significant decline in his personal approval rating. It is possible that he has finally run out of excuses.In an expansion of AVLs partnership with the University of California-Riverside (UCR) Bourns College of Engineering Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT), AVL donated $1 million worth of emissions testing instrumentation and software to develop the mobility laboratory of the future at CE-CERT.

Kyle Kimel, president of AVL Test Systems, Inc., said the donation is part of AVLs push for a more complete emissions training center. He added it will be a research hub for zero-impact emissions technology in Southern California.

AVL is partnering with CE-CERT because we share a common goal, Kimel explained. We both want to educate students entering the automotive or air quality fields and develop these future engineers and researchers."

AVL modernized the CE-CERT light-duty testing facility with its road-to-lab workflow and advanced automation technology, meaning AVL is now better-positioned to provide top-of-the-line training courses and to facilitate pioneering emissions research.

The automotive world is changing rapidly, and zero is now the most important number. Experts at CE-CERTs light-duty testing facility will address this challenge and work toward the strategic goals of zero emissions and zero vehicle accidents. The testing facility will achieve this by focusing on areas such as electrification, dynamic energy and emissions management (DEEM), simulation, traffic patterns, ADAS, connected vehicles, and artificial intelligence. As the Internet of Things (IoT) impacts vehicles more and more, the tools in this facility will allow CE-CERT to stay on the cusp of the industrys latest advancements.

Through partnerships with more than 45 universities and technical centers worldwide, AVLs research activities are an incubator for innovative toolchains and services supporting the automotive industry to realize its mission of zero" as AVL and other companies develop cleaner solutions for the worlds transportation, energy, and manufacturing industries.

AVL

www.avl.com

Bourns College of Engineering Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT)

www.cert.ucr.edu

 Edited from an AVL press release by CFE Media. See more Control Engineering energy efficiency stories.Security flaws in existing mobile networks could find their way into 5G networks too, the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security, ENISA, has warned.

Thats potentially bad news for the internet of things (IoT), where millions of insecure devices are being connected to mobile networks without adequate thought being given to the authentication and encryption of communications.

The danger is that known flaws in SS7 and Diameter, the signaling protocols used in 2G, 3G and 4G mobile could be built into 5G too, allowing traffic to be eavesdropped or spoofed, and location information to be intercepted, ENISA said in a report published Thursday.

There is a certain risk of repeating history with the move to 5G, it said, adding that the ability of 5G networks to support more users and more bandwidth increases the danger.

Attackers can exploit the SS7 signaling protocol used in 2G and 3G networks to intercept or divert text messages sent via SMS. This wouldnt be so bad if it just meant the attacker knew your friend would CU L8R -- but many organizations use SMS two-factor authentication, assuming that only a phones owner will see a message sent to it.

Thats a risky assumption: As ENISA notes, several German banks have seen customers accounts drained of funds when mobile one-time passwords sent via SMS were intercepted.

Researchers have also demonstrated denial-of-service attacks on 4G networks using the Diameter signaling protocol, allowing them to disconnect a targets mobile phone from the network temporarily or permanently.

Those attacks are likely to be just the start of it. While work is being done in addressing SS7 and Diameter attacks, only a small portion of the protocols has been studied, ENISA said. It is expected that new vulnerabilities shall be discovered.

Even where flaws have been discovered and fixes proposed, little has changed, ENISA complained. Several proposals to secure SS7 and Diameter have never been adopted by the industry (MAPsec, TCAPsec, Diameter over IPsec, Diameter over SCTP/DTLS).

5G networks use other protocols in addition to, or instead of, SS7 and Diameter, but that doesnt put an end to the problem. The use of common internet protocols such as HTTP, TLS, and the REST API in 5G networks means that when vulnerabilities in those protocols are discovered, exploits and penetration testing tools for them will be readily transferrable to mobile networks too.

This implies that the grace period between vulnerability discovery and real exploitation will become much shorter compared to SS7 and Diameter, ENISA said.

Of particular concern to ENISA is that network operators are already talking about rolling out 5G networks, while standards bodies still havent nailed down all the security issues.

This might ultimately put Europe, where 5G deployment is lagging, ahead of the U.S. and some Asian countries, which are talking of offering commercial 5G service

ENISA wants to see laws and regulations changed so that network operators are required to secure their signaling systems -- rather than hindered as is the case today. It also suggests government funding could be allocated to improving the security of signaling systems.

This isnt just an EU matter, it warned: poor security in networks elsewhere in the world can provide a way in for attackers to meddle with corresponding networks in Europe -- or vice versa.There are certain skills that no first responder ever wants to use, but must be prepared for  including those needed in the event of a mass casualty.

Fire, police, emergency medical services and telecommunications personnel from Fairfield County participated in three days of specialized, hands-on mass casualty training at Fairfield Regional Fire School in late March to practice how to handle horrible situations with a quick, orderly response.

The training is designed to provide first responders with the dynamic of  active shooters, hostile events, said Bill Ackley, a Stamford EMS captain and an instructor for National Center for Biomedical Research and Training, who helped lead the training efforts.

The training is federally funded at no cost to states or communities through a national preparedness program, Ackley said.

In Region 1  New England  the three-day training offered was an extension of a monthly eight-hour class offered by the NCBRT. About a dozen different agencies from Connecticut were represented at the recent training efforts.

It sounds kind of odd to people that police, fire and EMS need to practice to work together, Ackley said. They think they work together on a regular basis.

But typically, fire or EMS personnel are on the outskirts of a situation while police handle the inside response. But, Ackley said, in a large incident - like a mass casualty - its all hands on deck.

Its important to learn to integrate what each agencys responsibilities are, Ackley said.

On the third day of the course, first responders practiced four active shooter drills, said Bridgeport fire Capt. Giovanni Sanzo, one of many first responders who participated in the training.

The police had a real person (shooter) that moved throughout the building, he said. There were live patients with injuries for fire and EMS to treat and care for. Ambulances were brought in to simulate bringing a patient out of the building and into an ambulance for transport to a hospital.

Scott Bisson, the director of training for Fairfield Regional Fire School, said the program used mannequins and live actors with special effects makeup to simulate realistic victims.

This is extremely realistic, hands-on training that brings all disciplines together in a unified command structure that we hope will never need to be used at scenes of active violence, Bisson said.

He stressed the importance of practicing before an incident takes place.

Sanzo said the fire department was fortunate to participate in the training.

The Bridgeport Fire Department has recognized the unfortunate growing need for its members to be prepared to respond to an active shooter, Sanzo said.

The training  called the Active Threat Integrated Response Course  helped first responders combine their efforts to respond to an active shooter incident, Sanzo said.

During the course, Sanzo said, police were trained on how to enter the scene, stop the attack and provide quick lifesaving medical treatment to victims. Fire and EMS worked to integrate with law enforcement efforts to form rescue task forces.

More Information Who participated Aquarion Water Company Police Department Bridgeport Fire Department and AMR Connecticut State Police Danbury Police Department Fairfield Fire Department and Fairfield Regional Fire School Greenwich Police Department Norwalk Police Department, Norwalk Hospital EM and Norwalk 911 Stamford EMS and Stamford police and fire departments Stratford EMS, Stratford police and fire departments and Stratford 911 Westport 911 Future training The next eight-hour class will be April 11 in New Canaan, Ackley said. Every participant received a tourniquet at the end of the class. So far, Ackley said, they have given out 160. He said there are also 325 to 340 first responders trained in hemorrhage control because of the monthly class. See More Collapse

The RTFs are designed to allow medical and fire personnel to enter a scene under police security, Sanzo said. Treating the victims before moving them can increase their odds of survival, he said.

The Bridgeport Fire Department recently put into service specialty medical bags which allow firefighters to bring tactical emergency casualty care supplies to patients at scenes, Sanzo said. The bags carry triage tape, tourniquets, bandages and chest seals.

This ATIRC training also allows us to train using the bags in practical application, proving their effectiveness, Sanzo said.

In Norwalk, police Lt. Terry Blake said it was an easy decision to have members of the police department attend the ATIRC training.

We have always had members attend these events, he said. Norwalk has been training for active shooters  for many years.

The city developed a response plan for emergency situations  including mass casualty incidents  in 2016 in collaboration with Norwalks fire and police departments, emergency medical services and the office of emergency management.

We certainly do all we can in the City of Norwalk to be prepared should a significant incident occur, Blake said.BRIDGEPORT  A male victim was stabbed in the city late Saturday afternoon, police officials said.

Early reports indicated someone had been shot in the 600 block of Pearl Harbor Street shortly before 5 p.m. Bridgeport spokesperson Av Harris later said the incident did not involve a shooting, but someone had been stabbed.

The male victim was stabbed around 4:45 p.m., Harris said.

Bridgeport Police Chief AJ Perez said the stabbing was more of a slashing that occurred during a family dispute.

Were looking at it as a domestic violence situation. he said.

As of 5:15 p.m. Sunday, police had not released any further information about the dispute or the victim, but Perez said the dispute did not result in serious injury.As the Fourth Industrial Revolution unfolds with billions of people sharing a wide and deep array of data -- texts, tweets, GPS coordinates, all manner of photos, videos, environmental data, clickstreams, status updates, likes and reposts, pumping trillions of real-time signals into the digital universe -- what does the future hold? This data is like food for the whale of artificial intelligence.

Related: 17 Amazing -- and Surprising -- Uses of Facial Recognition Technology

In terms of a resource, this AI-food-rich data ocean makes the California gold rush, or the Texas oil boom, seem like tiny puddles. Vast amounts of data are flooding the digital space on a global level. AI-based algorithms will be propelling innovation in every sales arena from products to services and the more data you have, the more accurate the algorithm. Collecting and processing "big data" has become a focus for companies large and small.

And how does the AI whale digest this data? Through interconnected devices with embedded "eyes." Termed "deep learning," these artificial neural networks use layered machine learning algorithms that mimic the structure of animal brains. Utilizing gigantic data pools, deep learning can identify and interpret complex patterns much in the same way as the human brain. Some artificial neural networks are now extremely adept at employing these patterns to mimic the way humans recognize faces.

So, which company is in front of the deep learning fleet? Facebook, of course. Facebook holds the single largest collection of facial data, and in 2015 it introduced a greatly enhanced version of its "tag photos" feature, DeepFace, which employs a nine-layer neural network that matches features in separate photographs with 97.25 percent accuracy. DeepFace not only connects your face with your name, but it can literally pick your face out of a crowd, and a human brain is only .28 percent better at this than the program. Facebook has invested big-time in DeepFace, spending billions of dollars devouring the competition (including Face.com, Masquerade and Faciometrics).

Related: 3 Competitive Advantages of Deep Learning for Your Company

Recently Facebook was granted a new patent, "Techniques for emotion detection and content delivery," which captures users' facial expressions via the camera in real time as they scroll through their feed, tracking their emotions when exposed to various content. This emotional data could not only personalize your Facebook feed at a whole new level, but could also link to live in-store cameras, matching and identifying shoppers, calling up information gleaned from Facebook and identifying the shopper's current moods. Your shopper is sad today? Why not play her favorite song as she approaches the shoe rack?

The possibilities for a radically personalized shopping experience are endless. And despite its dominance, Facebook is far from the only company plunging into these waters. Ebookers, a travel site owned by Expedia, has introduced a tool called SenseSational, which uses real-time facial recognition software to track users' faces as they choose images and sounds that are most appealing to their senses. The tool then sorts the user into one of four "tribes": The Adventurer, Culture Collector, Sun Seeker and Bon Vivant. And it suggests destinations and activities that match their tribe's travel preferences.

Singapore Technologies Electronics is now promoting its Advance Fare Gate System to private and public transportation organizations. This product identifies the facial features of commuters as they pass through fare gates, and charges a prepaid account accordingly, eliminating the need to show a fare card, and potentially easing crowding during busy rush hours.

Related: Why 'Fail Fast' Is a Disaster When It Comes to Artificial Intelligence

As the bounty of AI expands before us, many tech giants, scientists and entrepreneurs say that now is the time to discuss the potential challenges and consequences of this new frontier. Facebook has already faced resistance to DeepFace on several fronts -- a lawsuit and bans in Europe. Privacy concerns abound. If Facebook can watch you when you scroll your feed, can it watch you while you look at other sites? Or while you move around your home? Does collecting data straight from a camera require consent? Where is the data stored, and who can access it?

What about civil liberties? Could facial recognition be used to identify someone participating in a lawful protest? In the wrong hands, could artificial intelligence and deep learning turn our society into a sci-fi dystopia? One thing is certain -- those questions will not vanish and businesses and developers will have to navigate them as they chart these new waters.

In the right hands, however, facial recognition can be put to good use. Be it ethical, such as the Central Railway in Mumbai, which has announced it will implement cameras with facial recognition by the end of the year to trace past movements of criminal offenders and be prepared to arrest them when they travel again; or to improve customer service, as when candy retailer Lolli&Pops uses in store cameras to recognize members and connect them with a profile, so that sales associates can greet them by name and provide them with personalized product suggestions.

Leaving the dialogue open for ethical debate, companies can approach deep learning from any angle they can envision. The whale of artificial intelligence is hungry. You can feed it whatever big data you wish, and watch it grow.

Related:

What Entrepreneurs Need to Know About Facial Recognition Technology

Watch a Developer Erase His Face With the iPhone X

Researchers Claim They Can Dupe iPhone X Face ID With a Mask



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com

Vernon County, MO - A Nevada, Mo., woman was charged with a felony after she allegedly tried to smuggle drugs inside a Bible to an inmate.

Ashley A. Despain was charged with delivery or possession of a controlled substance in a jail, according to the Vernon County Sheriff's Office. She allegedly attempted to smuggle the drugs inside the Vernon County Jail on Monday evening.

The local sheriff called it the "wrong way of trying to help someone."

"Usually (a Bible) is something you bring to help somebody through situations," Sheriff Jason Mosher told The Star on Wednesday. "Thats probably the wrong kind of help  putting drugs in it."

Typically, authorities do not allow citizens to deliver items to inmates, Mosher said, but exceptions are made for books and the Bible. He added the inmate was "expecting" the delivery, though he was unsure of the relationship between Despain and the inmate.

The jailer on duty noticed a lumpy part of the Bible's binding. The jailer then found a small baggie of suspected marijuana wedged between the binding and the Bible's pages.

Despain was arrested in the parking lot. A passenger who had accompanied Despain to the jail was also arrested in the parking lot on an outstanding warrant, Mosher said.

Mosher called the alleged smuggling attempt a first for the Office.

"This will now be on our list ... something to check and be on the lookout for," Mosher said.

Despain's bond was set at $5,000. She was arraigned Wednesday.Connor Yoder accounts for 4 TD's, North Star mauls Meyersdale

North Star got back in the win column with a drubbing of Meyersdale. Connor Yoder, Ethan Yoder and Carter Weible shined in the victory.On Friday, the 13th of Rajab (the seventh month of the Islamic calendar) - which falls on March 31 this year - a momentous event took place.

According to Shia beliefs and as confirmed by some Sunni texts, Fatima binte Asad, wife of Abu Talib, was heavily pregnant and had come to the Holy Kaaba to circumbulate it when she felt labour pains. Suddenly, the wall of the Holy Kaaba cracked open and she entered inside; there she gave birth to a baby boy. To this day, the followers of Ali swear that they can see the crack though it has been filled up since, and they try and touch the wall's surface during Hajj and Umrah.

I, too, have often done the same, despite the objections of the guards posted there, who feel it is biddat (innovation).

It is said that once Fatima Binte Asad had entered the Kaaba, the walls were sealed again and it was only on the third day that the locks on its doors could be opened when Muhammad, the babys cousin, came in. Thus, this was the first face the newborn saw, and he was named Ali (exalted).

Ali followed his cousin Muhammad everywhere like a baby camel and thus he learnt the lessons of the two worlds. As a young boy, he was the first male to embrace Islam as his religion and Muhammad as the Prophet of God. The first woman was the Prophets wife, Khadijah.

To this day, the followers of Ali swear that they can see the crack, though it has been filled up since.

Ali was a medium-built man with piercing eyes. He was unusal as he was not only a man of wisdom and scholarship, but also one of the bravest warriors known to the world and a just administrator. As Sir Edward Gibbon said, He united the qualifications of a poet, a soldier, and a saint; his wisdom still breathes in a collection of moral and religious sayings.

He is the hero of millions of qawwalis: The most famous being the saying of the Prophet (pbuh)

Man kunto Maula

Fa hazaa Aliyun Maula (whoever accepts me as a maula/ Ali is his maula too

We have grown up on stories about Alis legendary wisdom and bravery. As a devotee of Hazrat Ali, I would like to share a few of them with you.

His sayings and letters have been preserved in a compilation called Nahjul Balagha or Peak of Eloquence. Whenever I have shared his wise thoughts on social media, it has been met with an enthusiastic response.

In fact, I often use his words to respond to my trolls. Some of my favourites are:

The sin which makes you sad and repentant is more liked by Allah than the good deed which turns you arrogant. Forgiveness is the best revenge. If you succeed in misleading somebody, do not think of him as being a big fool. Rather think about how he trusted you. The moment you start arguing with an ignorant fool, you have already lost. The best form of devotion to the service of Allah is not to make a show of it. Imam Ali once said to his son Imam Hasan, My son, learn four things from me and through them you will learn four more. If you keep them in mind, your actions will not bring any harm to you: The greatest wealth is wisdom; the greatest poverty is stupidity; the worst is that of vanity and self-glorification; and the best nobility of descent exhibits itself in politeness and in refinement of manner. The next four things, my son, are: do not make friendship with a fool, because when he will try to do you good, he will do you harm; do not make a miser your friend, because he will run away from you at the time of your dire need; do not be friendly with a vicious and wicked personm because he will sell you and your friendship at the cheapest price and do not make friend of a liar, because like a mirage he will make you visualise very near the things, which lie at a great distance and will make you see at the great distance the things which are near to you".

For someone who lived his life by The Prophets teachings, Ali was not afraid to adapt to changing circumstances. There is a tradition set by the Holy Prophet that "with the help of hair dye, turn old age into youth so that you do not resemble the Jews".

When Imam Ali was asked to comment upon this, he said that in the early stage of Islam, there were very few Muslims. The Holy Prophet had advised them to look young and energetic, and to not adopt the fashion of the Jews (priests), who had long, white flowing beards.

But Muslims were not in a minority then, theirs was a strong and powerful state, and hence they could choose any style they liked.

When Ali became the fourth Caliph of Islam, he appointed Malik Ashtar as the governor of Egypt. His instructions to him are a statement of good governance and kept in the United Nations as an example. I am reproducing some portions here (translated by Rasheed Turabi):

Be it known to you, O, Malik, that I am sending you as Governor to a country which in the past has experienced both just and unjust rule. Men will scrutinise your actions with a searching eye, even as you used to scrutinise the actions of those before you, and speak of you even as you did speak of them...

Remember that the citizens of the state are of two categories. They are either your brethren in religion or your brethren in kind. They are subject to infirmities and liable to commit mistakes. Some indeed do commit mistakes. But forgive them even as you would like God to forgive you.

Do not say: I am your overlord and dictator, and that you should, therefore, bow to my commands, as that will corrupt your heart, weaken your faith in religion and create disorder in the state.

Maintain justice in administration and impose it on your own self and seek the consent of the people, for, the discontent of the masses sterilises the contentment of the privileged few and the discontent of the few loses itself in the contentment of the many. Remember the privileged few will not rally round you in moments of difficulty: they will try to side-track justice, they will ask for more than what they deserve and will show no gratitude for favours done to them...

Unloose the tangle of mutual hatred between the public and the administration and remove all those causes which may give rise to strained relations between them... "

He then went on to give wise advice on how to keep the army happy, how to choose a chief justice, how to redress the woes of cultivators for even if there is a temporary loss of revenue by reduction of taxes it could be made up "in the hour of greater prosperity of the land and enable you to improve the condition of your towns and to raise the prestige of your state".

He advocated meeting the poor and the oppressed periodically in an open conference without armed guards to hear their grievances.

Today, he is mostly remembered for his legendary bravery, and justifiably so.

In the battle of the Trench, the famous Quraish warrior Amr bin Abd e Wud challenged someone from the army of Muhammad to face a duel, which was the custom of war:

I am Amr bin Abd e Wud, the greatest warrior in Arabia. Is there anyone among you who has the courage to meet me in personal combat?

No one responded to the giants call. When Ali rose, he was stopped by the Prophet, who said, This is Amr bin Abd e Wud.

Twice the Prophet stopped Ali, but the third time Ali simply said, I am Ali ibn Abu Talib.

Alis agility and his quickness with his feet helped him parry the giants blows. Ali also had the famous double-edged sword Zulfiqar in his hand. The Zulfiqar was to become one of the deadliest swords in myth.

Soon, Ali had Amr flat on his back, on the ground. When Amr could not break Alis hold and rise, he spat on his face.

Ali, who had been lowering his dagger on Amrs throat, rose, took a step backwards and sheathed his weapons. When Amr then jumped up (to retaliate), Ali swung the Zulfiqar at him and killed him.

He then went back to The Prophet. Muhammad asked, O Ali! Why did you step back when you were just about to kill Amr?

O Messenger of God, just as I was about to run my dagger on his throat he spat at me and abused me. If I had killed him, then it would have been a personal revenge as I was furious. I had to overcome my rage and so stepped away. I wanted to kill him only for the sake of and in obedience to Allahs commands.

Cries of triumph could be heard from the victorious army:

La Fatah Ila AliLa Saif Ila Zulfiqar (Truly there is no victor like Ali/ And no sword like the Zulfiqar).

Note: There are many dates given for Alis birth, but as it is recorded that he was born on a Friday, it has been narrowed down to 16 BH - the year 13 Rajab fell on Friday. This date has been fixed as July 17, 607 CE, according to Kitab Maqtal Ali by Abu Mikhnaf, originally published 156 AH/773 AD; from which Ali Ibn Abi Talib's birthdate was replicated by IMAM (Imam Mahdi Association of Marjaeya) Cultural Publication; Volume 2, Issue 5.

Also read: Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti's Urs: Why death anniversaries of Sufi saints are celebrated as weddingsKim Jong-un, North Koreas young dictator, has caught the imagination of the world, for the wrong reasons of course. Yet, he continues to fascinate. Whether he is threatning the US, launching ballistic missiles or conducting nuclear tests, he is always in the news. Whether he is spewing anger against the US or making peace overtures, this young man with a cherubic face remains in the limelight.

Ever since he succeeded his father in 2011, Kim - then in his late 20s (no one is certain about his exact date of birth) - has kept the world in tenter-hooks, no one sure what the young man would do next.

Initially, there was skepticism about his ability to take over the reins of power. But Kim has shown he may be eccentric but an astute and decisive leader, taking on none other than US President Donald Trump and cleverly manipulating a meeting later this year.

Kim Jong-uns latest move - travelling to China and meeting President Xi Jinping in Beijing - has again caught the world by surprise as did his earlier decision to break the ice and send a team for the Winter Olympics in South Korea. Reams have been written about the armoured train which took the reclusive leader to Beijing. Stories of the lavish meals and expensive wines stocked on the train are being written and repeated across the world. How much of the stories are factual is impossible to guess, but the tabloid press of the UK is giving British readers lucid descriptions to hook them on to the colour story.

India is also giving much play to Kim Jong-un: his visit to China is being splashed across television channels, including the Hindi network. This is a surprise, considering that Indians are a self-absorbed people. They love to contemplate their navel, meaning the majority are not interested in what is happening in the world, except when it affects India.

Yet, Kim Jong-un's coverage of his recent visit to China has been exhaustive. Hindi television channels are reporting every bit of news about the North Korean leaders visit. Why is he in focus? Is it because a young leader of an isolated nation seems to have outwitted the worlds most powerful nation?

Yet, Kim Jong-un's coverage of his recent visit to China has been exhaustive. Photo: PTI

By not abandoning the nuclear option, unlike Iraqs Saddam Hussain or Libyas Muammar Gaddafi, Kim has been able to avoid their fate.

North Korea has been smart enough to conduct its diplomacy from a position of strength. Many ordinary Indians may not be familiar with the strategic dimension of North Koreas nuclear policy. Yet, everyone is aware that this 30-something young man holds all the aces. The average Indian knows he is a strong leader and is fascinated by the stories that are woven around him.

As a nation, India loves strong leaders. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is admired across the country as he is seen as a tough politician who can take his opponents head on. He is the man with the 56-inch chest that the average Indian loves. That is not a random thought put out by the BJP, but a calculated move knowing Indians' admiration for a strong and decisive leader. This image has stuck with Modi and helped the BJP.

Indira Gandhi remains a popular figure to this day, though she was singlehandedly responsible for destroying institutions. Her tough stand during the Bangladesh war of liberation and her success in breaking up Pakistans eastern wing helped build her image as a decisive leader.

It was said that she was the only man in her Cabinet of pygmies! Her father Jawaharlal Nehru, a liberal leader who contributed much to nation building, is not admired by the average citizen. He is regarded as a man who could be taken for a ride by the Chinese.

The fact that an unprepared India was humiliated by the People's Liberation Army in the 1962 border skirmish has also helped to create the image of Nehru as a bleeding heart liberal, unable to take tough decisions. In a country where Chanakyas work is much admired, getting the better of your opponents by fair or foul means doesn't shock anyone.

Perhaps, Hindi television channels, knowing peoples fascination for strong leaders, are dishing out exactly what will catch audience attention.

Vladimir Putin, another tough leader, however, does not elicit the same response. Perhaps the blood and gore, and the drama that is woven into the Kim Jong-un story, fascinates people.

Soon after taking over from his father, Kim purged both the party and the government of those he suspected would or could potentially oppose him.

Within a year of taking power, Kim Jong-un killed his uncle Jang Song-thaek as well as his aunt and several of his cousins. This was the uncle responsible for helping him to succeed his father.

Analysts initially predicted that Jang would be the power behind the throne, and guide the inexperienced young man to govern North Korea. Soon enough, Kim showed his true colours. He also got his elder brother murdered in Malaysia in February 2017.

He is almost a character from ancient Indian mythology.

Also read: When UR Ananthamurthy visited North Korea: 'Our great leader Kim is creating his age. He has gone beyond Buddha, Marx, and Lenin'2 hours ago

Asset Allocation: The Key to a Successful Portfolio. Are You Paying Attention to Yours?

What does your portfolio asset allocation look like? Have you intentionally invested based on asset allocation? If not, it's understandable. Most people don't consider how they'll allocate their investments when they first get started investing.

Read ArticlePrecision Drilling Corporation, an oilfield services company, provides oil and natural gas drilling and related products and services in North America and the Middle East. The company operates in two segments, Contract Drilling Services, and Completion and Production Services. The Contract Drilling Services segment offers onshore well drilling services to exploration and production companies in the oil and natural gas industry. This segment's services include land drilling, directional drilling, and turnkey drilling; and procurement and distribution of oilfield supplies, as well as manufacture, sale, and repair of drilling equipment. As of December 31, 2020, it operated 227 land drilling rigs, including 109 in Canada; 105 in the United States; 6 in Kuwait; 4 in Saudi Arabia; 2 in the Kurdistan region of Iraq; and 1 in the country of Georgia. The Completion and Production Services segment provides service rigs for well completion, workover, abandonment, maintenance, and re-entry preparation services; wellsite accommodations; oilfield surface equipment rentals; and camp and catering services to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies. This segment operated 123 well completion and workover service rigs, including 113 in Canada and 10 in the United States. It also had approximately 1,400 oilfield rental items, including surface storage, small-flow wastewater treatment, power generation, and solids control equipment; 113 wellsite accommodation units; 966 drill camp beds; 822 base camp beds; and three kitchen diners in Canada. Precision Drilling Corporation was incorporated in 1951 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Read MoreMiami-Dade, FL - A Florida personal injury attorney allegedly caused severe personal injuries that resulted in a womans death during a drunken-driving hit-and-run accident.

Miami Lakes attorney Marcos Gonzalez-Balboa was arrested earlier this week and faces felony charges in the December 2017 death of Tatum Holloway, including DUI manslaughter, vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a crash, and tampering with physical evidence. Gonzalez-Balboa is also the defendant in a recently filed civil complaint over Holloways death.

According to police, Gonzalez-Balboa spent about $350 on at least 20 drinks at a bar before stumbling out, entering his car, and leaving the property. Later that night, he allegedly lost control of his car and struck Holloway as she was walking back to a work event from a nearby restaurant. Miami-Dade police Detective Jeffrey Childers states in an affidavit that [t]he impact of the crash was so great that the victims body was vaulted upward and into the windshield of the subjects vehicle, [and] then hurled about 51 feet from the area of collision.

Childers notes that prior to the accident, surveillance footage showed no damage on the personal injury attorneys car, but his windshield was shattered the morning after the accident. Gonzalez-Balboa blamed a coconut, and had his windshield replaced shortly after the hit-and-run accident.

David W. Bianchi of Stewart Tilghman Fox Bianchi & Cain, who represents Holloways father in the civil suit, said that Gonzalez-Balboa has a serious alcohol problem, and that [i]t finally went too far, and he killed somebody.

Its even more outrageous because he is a lawyer and he fled, Bianchi said. Not only did he flee, but on the same day that he killed her, he went out and got somebody to put a new windshield in his car.

Gonzalez-Balboa plans to enter a not-guilty plea to the criminal charges, and is being held at a Miami-Dade County jail on $150,000 bond.Xcel Energy, Inc. operates as a holding company, which engages in the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity. It operates through the following three segments: Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility and All Others. The Regulated Electric Utility segment generates, transmits and distributes electricity primarily in portions of generates, transmits and distributes electricity in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico. In addition, this segment includes sales for resale and provides wholesale transmission service to various entities in the United States. It also includes commodity trading operations. The Regulated Natural Gas Utility segment transports, stores, and distributes natural gas primarily in portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Michigan and Colorado. The All Others segment engages in steam, appliance repair services, nonutility real estate activities, processing solid waste into refuse-derived fuel and investments in rental housing projects that qualify for low-income housing tax credits. The company was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Whirlpool: 1900 Holdings Corporation, ADC, Aeradriatica S.p.A., Airdun Limited, B. Blend Maquinas e Bebidas S.A., BUD Comercio de Eletrodomesticos Ltda., BWI Products Limited, Bauknecht AG, Bauknecht Hausgerate GmbH, Bauknecht Limited, Beijing Embraco Snowflake Compressor Company Limited, Bill Page Orchestra, Bill Page Orchestra Inc., Brasmotor S.A., Brunson Place Properties, Brunson Place Properties LLC, CNB Consultoria Ltda, Cannon Industries Ltd., Centro de Desarrollo Tecnologico e Innovacion WHM S. de R.L de C.V., Comercial Acros Whirlpool, Comercial Acros Whirlpool S. de R.L. de C.V., Consumer Appliances Service Limited, Ealing Compania de Gestiones y Participaciones S.A., Elera Delaware, Elera Delaware Inc., Elera Holdings Corporation, Embraco Europe S.r.l., Embraco Eurosales S.r.l., Embraco Industria de Compressores e Solucoes em Refrigeracao Ltda., Embraco Luxembourg S.a r.l., Embraco Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Embraco Mexico Servicios, Embraco Mexico Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Embraco North America, Embraco North America Inc., Embraco RUS LLC, Embraco Slovakia S.r.o., Everest Campus, Everest Campus LLC., General Domestic Appliances Holdings Ltd, General Domestic Appliances International Ltd., Guangdong Whirlpool Electrical Appliances Co., Guangdong Whirlpool Electrical Appliances Co. Ltd., Haceb Whirlpool Industrias S.A.S., Hefei Rongshida Sanyo Electric, Hefei Whirlpool Enterprise Management Service Co. Ltd., Hoover Comercial Limitada, IRE Beteiligungs GmbH, Indesit Argentina S.A., Indesit Company, Indesit Company Beyaz Esya Pazarlama A.S., Indesit Company Beyaz Esya Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., Indesit Company Ceska S.r.o., Indesit Company Domestic Appliances Hellas Mepe, Indesit Company International Business S.A., Indesit Company Luxembourg S.A., Indesit Company Magyarorszag Kft, Indesit Company Nordics AB, Indesit Company Polska Sp. zo.o., Indesit Company Singapore Pte. Ltd., Indesit Company UK Holdings Ltd., Indesit IP S.r.l., Indesit International ZAO, Indesit Ireland Ltd., Indesit Middle East FZE, Indesit Ukraine LLC, Industrias Acros Whirlpool S. de R.L. de C.V., Industrias Acros Whirlpool S.A. de C.V, Jackson Appliances Ltd., Joint-Stock Company Indesit International, KitchenAid, KitchenAid Australia Pty Ltd, KitchenAid Australia Pty Ltd., KitchenAid Delaware Inc., KitchenAid Europa Inc., KitchenAid Global, KitchenAid Global Inc., KitchenAid Inc., KitchenAid Korea Limited, KitchenAid Promotions, KitchenAid Promotions LLC, KitchenAid Trading Co., KitchenAid Trading Co. Ltd., LAWSA S.A., MLOG Armazem Geral Ltda., Maytag Corporation, Maytag Limited, Maytag Properties, Maytag Properties LLC, Maytag Sales, Maytag Sales Inc., Maytag Worldwide N.V., Merloni Domestic Appliances Ltd., Nineteen Hundred Corporation, Polar S.A., Qingdao EECON Electronic Controls and Appliances Co., Qingdao EECON Electronic Controls and Appliances Co. Ltd., South American Sales Partnership, THC Assets Corporation, Up Points Servicos Empresariais S.A., Vitromatic S.A. de C.V., WCGP Nova Scotia Co., WHirlpool EMEA Finanace S.a r.l., Whirlpool (Australia) Pty. Limited, Whirlpool (B.V.I.) Limited, Whirlpool (China) Co. Ltd., Whirlpool (China) Investment Co., Whirlpool (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Whirlpool (Hefei) Trading Co., Whirlpool (Hefei) Trading Co. Ltd, Whirlpool (Hong Kong) Limited, Whirlpool (Japan) Co. Ltd., Whirlpool (Thailand) Limited, Whirlpool ASEAN Co., Whirlpool America Holdings Corp., Whirlpool Argentina S.r.l., Whirlpool Asia B.V., Whirlpool Asia Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool Asia Inc., Whirlpool Asia LLP, Whirlpool Belux N.V./S.A., Whirlpool Bermuda Euro Ltd., Whirlpool Beyaz Esya Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S., Whirlpool Bulgaria Ltd., Whirlpool CIS Ltd., Whirlpool CR, Whirlpool CR spol. s.r.o., Whirlpool CSA Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool Canada Co., Whirlpool Canada Co. (post 9/1/05 amalgamation company), Whirlpool Canada Holding Co, Whirlpool Canada Holding Co. (post 4/18/06 amalgamation company), Whirlpool Canada Investments S.a r.l., Whirlpool Canada LP, Whirlpool Canada Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool Chile Limitada, Whirlpool Colombia S.A.S., Whirlpool Comercial Ltda., Whirlpool Company Polska Sp. z o.o., Whirlpool Company Ukraine LLC, Whirlpool Croatia Ltd., Whirlpool EMEA S.p.A., Whirlpool Ecuador S.A., Whirlpool Eesti OU, Whirlpool El Salvador, Whirlpool El Salvador S.A. de C.V., Whirlpool Electrodomesticos S.A., Whirlpool Eletrodomesticos AM S.A., Whirlpool Enterprises, Whirlpool Enterprises LLC, Whirlpool Europe B.V., Whirlpool Europe Coordination Center, Whirlpool Europe Holdings Limited, Whirlpool Ev Aletleri Pazarlama Ve Ticaret A.S., Whirlpool Finance B.V., Whirlpool Finance Center Corp., Whirlpool Finance Luxembourg S.a r.l., Whirlpool Finance Overseas Ltd., Whirlpool Financial Corporation, Whirlpool Financial Corporation International, Whirlpool Floor Care Corp., Whirlpool France Holdings SAS, Whirlpool France SAS, Whirlpool Germany GmbH, Whirlpool Global B.V., Whirlpool Global Investments B.V., Whirlpool Greater China Inc., Whirlpool Guatemala, Whirlpool Guatemala S.A., Whirlpool Hellas S.A., Whirlpool Holdings Corporation, Whirlpool Home Appliances B.V., Whirlpool Home Appliances Limited Liability Company, Whirlpool Hungarian Trading Limited Liability Company, Whirlpool India Holdings Limited, Whirlpool Insurance Company, Whirlpool Insurance Company Ltd., Whirlpool Internacional S. de R.L. de C.V., Whirlpool International GmbH, Whirlpool International Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool International Manufacturing S.a r.l., Whirlpool Ireland Appliances Limited, Whirlpool Ireland Limited, Whirlpool Italia Holdings S.r.l., Whirlpool Italia S.r.l., Whirlpool Japan Co. Ltd., Whirlpool Japan Inc., Whirlpool Kazakhstan LLP, Whirlpool Latin America Corporation, Whirlpool Latvia S.I.A., Whirlpool Lietuva UAB, Whirlpool Ltd Belgrade, Whirlpool Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool Luxembourg Investments S.a r.l., Whirlpool Luxembourg S.a r.l., Whirlpool Luxembourg Ventures S.a r.l., Whirlpool MEEA DMCC, Whirlpool Magyarorszag Kereskedelmi Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Whirlpool Management Services S.a.g.l., Whirlpool Maroc S. a r.l., Whirlpool Mauritius Limited, Whirlpool Mexico Holdings LLC, Whirlpool Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Whirlpool Mexico S.A. de C.V., Whirlpool Mexico Ventures LLC, Whirlpool Microwave Products Development Limited, Whirlpool NAAG Holdings Corporation, Whirlpool NAR Holdings, Whirlpool NAR Holdings LLC, Whirlpool Nederland B.V., Whirlpool Nordic, Whirlpool Nordic A/S, Whirlpool Nordic AB, Whirlpool Nordic AS, Whirlpool Nordic OY, Whirlpool Oceania Inc., Whirlpool Overseas Holdings, Whirlpool Overseas Holdings LLC, Whirlpool Overseas Hong Kong Limited, Whirlpool Overseas Manufacturing S.ar.l., Whirlpool Peru S.R.L., Whirlpool Polska Appliances Sp. z o.o., Whirlpool Polska Sp. z o.o., Whirlpool Portugal, Whirlpool Portugal S.A., Whirlpool Product Development (Shenzhen) Company Limited, Whirlpool Properties, Whirlpool Properties Inc., Whirlpool Puntana S.A., Whirlpool R&D S.r.l., Whirlpool RUS LLC, Whirlpool Realty Corporation, Whirlpool Romania S.r.l., Whirlpool S.A., Whirlpool SSC Limited, Whirlpool Slovakia Home Appliances spol. s.r.o., Whirlpool Slovakia spol. s.r.o., Whirlpool South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Whirlpool Southeast Asia Pte, Whirlpool Sweden Aktiebolag, Whirlpool Taiwan Co. Ltd., Whirlpool Technologies LLC, Whirlpool UK Appliances Limited, Whirlpool UK Pension Scheme Trustee Limited, Whirlpool Ukraine LLC, Whirlpool WW Holdings B.V., Whirlpool do Brasil Investements B.V., Whirlpool do Brasil Ltda., Whirlpool of India Limited, Whirlpool Osterreich GmbH, Whirlpool Osterreich GmbH, Xpelair, Xpelair Ltd., Yummly, Yummly Canada Ltd., and Yummly Inc..FedEx Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of a portfolio of transportation, e-commerce, and business services. It operates through the following segments: FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, FedEx Services, and Corporate, Other & Eliminations. The FedEx Express segment consists of domestic and international shipping services for delivery of packages and freight. The FedEx Ground segment focuses on small-package ground delivery services. The FedEx Freight segment offers less-than-truckload freight services across all lengths of haul. The FedEx Services segment provides sales, marketing, information technology, communications, customer service, technical support, billing and collection services, and certain back-office functions. The Corporate, Other & Eliminations segment includes corporate headquarters costs for executive officers and certain legal and finance functions, as well as certain other costs and credits not attributed to the firm's core business. The company was founded by Frederick Wallace Smith on June 18, 1971 and is headquartered in Memphis, TN.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Abbott Laboratories: 3A Nutrition (Vietnam) Company Limited, ABON Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AGA Medical Belgium, AGA Medical Corporation, AGA Medical Holdings Inc., ALR Holdings, AML Medical LLC, APK Advanced Medical Technologies LLC, ATS Bermuda Holdings Limited, ATS Laboratories Inc., Abbott, Abbott (Jiaxing) Nutrition Co. Ltd., Abbott (UK) Finance Limited, Abbott (UK) Holdings Limited, Abbott AG, Abbott Asia Holdings Limited, Abbott Asia Investments Limited, Abbott Australasia Holdings Limited, Abbott Australasia Pty Ltd, Abbott B.V., Abbott Bahamas Overseas Businesses Corporation, Abbott Belgian Investments, Abbott Bermuda Holding Ltd., Abbott Biologicals B.V., Abbott Biologicals LLC, Abbott Bulgaria Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Capital India Limited, Abbott Cardiovascular Inc., Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc., Abbott Delaware LLC, Abbott Diabetes Care Inc., Abbott Diabetes Care Limited, Abbott Diabetes Care Sales Corporation, Abbott Diagnostics GmbH, Abbott Diagnostics International Ltd., Abbott Diagnostics Technologies AS, Abbott Doral Investments S.L., Abbott Equity Holdings Unlimited, Abbott Equity Investments LLC, Abbott Established Products Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Finance Company SA, Abbott Financial Holdings SRL, Abbott France S.A.S., Abbott Fund Tanzania Limited, Abbott Gesellschaft m.b.H., Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, Abbott Health Products LLC, Abbott Healthcare (Puerto Rico) Ltd., Abbott Healthcare B.V., Abbott Healthcare Costa Rica S.A., Abbott Healthcare LLC, Abbott Healthcare Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Healthcare Private Limited, Abbott Healthcare Products B.V., Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd, Abbott Holding (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding GmbH, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited Luxembourg S.C.S., Abbott Holdings B.V., Abbott Holdings LLC, Abbott Holdings Limited, Abbott Holdings Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Hungary Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Iberian Investments (2) Limited, Abbott Iberian Investments Limited, Abbott India Limited, Abbott Informatics Asia Pacific Limited, Abbott Informatics Canada Inc, Abbott Informatics Corporation, Abbott Informatics Europe Limited, Abbott Informatics France, Abbott Informatics Germany GmbH, Abbott Informatics Netherlands B.V., Abbott Informatics Singapore Pte. Limited, Abbott Informatics Spain S.A., Abbott Informatics Technologies Ltd, Abbott International Corporation, Abbott International Enterprises Ltd., Abbott International Holdings Limited, Abbott International LLC, Abbott International Luxembourg S.ar.l., Abbott Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Ireland, Abbott Ireland Financing Designated Activity Company, Abbott Ireland Limited, Abbott Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Abbott Knoll Investments B.V., Abbott Korea Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Bangladesh) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco (Dos) SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Laboratories (Mozambique) Limitada, Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Philippines), Abbott Laboratories (Puerto Rico) Incorporated, Abbott Laboratories (Singapore) Private Limited, Abbott Laboratories A/S, Abbott Laboratories Argentina Sociedad Anonima, Abbott Laboratories B.V., Abbott Laboratories C.A., Abbott Laboratories Finance B.V., Abbott Laboratories GmbH, Abbott Laboratories Inc., Abbott Laboratories International LLC, Abbott Laboratories Ireland Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited - Laboratoires Abbott Limitee, Abbott Laboratories NZ Limited, Abbott Laboratories Pacific Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Laboratories Products B.V., Abbott Laboratories Residential Development Fund Inc., Abbott Laboratories S.A., Abbott Laboratories SA, Abbott Laboratories Services Corp., Abbott Laboratories Slovakia s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trustee Company Limited, Abbott Laboratories Uruguay S.A., Abbott Laboratories Vascular Enterprises, Abbott Laboratories d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories de Chile Limitada, Abbott Laboratories de Colombia S.A., Abbott Laboratories de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Abbott Laboratories druzba za farmacijo in diagnostiko d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories(Hellas) Societe Anonyme, Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios del Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Abbott Laboratuarlari Ithalat Ihracat ve Ticaret Ltd.Sti, Abbott Laboratorios Lda, Abbott Laboratorios do Brasil Ltda., Abbott Limited Egypt LLC, Abbott Logistics B.V., Abbott Management GmbH, Abbott Management LLC, Abbott Manufacturing Singapore Private Limited, Abbott Mature Products International Unlimited Company, Abbott Mature Products Management Limited, Abbott Medical (Hong Kong) Limited, Abbott Medical (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Medical (Portugal) Distribuicao de Produtos Medicos Lda, Abbott Medical (Schweiz) AG, Abbott Medical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Australia Pty. Ltd., Abbott Medical Austria Ges.m.b.H., Abbott Medical Balkan d.o.o. Beograd (Novi Beograd), Abbott Medical Belgium, Abbott Medical Canada Inc./ Medicale Abbott Canada Inc., Abbott Medical Danmark A/S, Abbott Medical Devices Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Espana S.A., Abbott Medical Estonia OU, Abbott Medical Finland Oy, Abbott Medical France SAS, Abbott Medical GmbH, Abbott Medical Hellas Limited Liability Trading Company, Abbott Medical Ireland Limited, Abbott Medical Italia S.p.A., Abbott Medical Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Korea Limited, Abbott Medical Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Medical Laboratories LTD, Abbott Medical Nederland B.V., Abbott Medical New Zealand Limited, Abbott Medical Norway AS, Abbott Medical Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Medical Sweden AB, Abbott Medical Taiwan Co., Abbott Medical U.K. Limited, Abbott Medical spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Middle East S.A.R.L., Abbott Molecular Inc., Abbott Morocco SARL, Abbott Nederland C.V., Abbott Nederland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Netherlands Investments B.V., Abbott Norge AS, Abbott Nutrition Limited, Abbott Nutrition Manufacturing Inc., Abbott Operations Singapore Pte. Ltd., Abbott Operations Uruguay S.R.L., Abbott Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Overseas Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Overseas S.A., Abbott Oy, Abbott Point of Care Canada Limited, Abbott Point of Care Inc., Abbott Poland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Procurement LLC, Abbott Products (Philippines) Inc., Abbott Products (Spain) S.L., Abbott Products Algerie EURL, Abbott Products B.V., Abbott Products Distribution SAS, Abbott Products Egypt LLC, Abbott Products Limited, Abbott Products Limited Liability Company, Abbott Products Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Products Operations AG, Abbott Products Operations LLC, Abbott Products Romania S.R.L., Abbott Products Tunisie S.A.R.L., Abbott Products Unlimited Company, Abbott Resources Inc., Abbott Resources International Inc., Abbott S.r.l., Abbott Saudi Arabia Trading Company, Abbott Scandinavia Aktiebolag, Abbott Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, Abbott South Africa Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Strategic Opportunities Limited, Abbott Trading Company Inc., Abbott Universal LLC, Abbott Vascular Devices (2) Limited, Abbott Vascular Devices Limited, Abbott Vascular Inc., Abbott Vascular Instruments Deutschland GmbH, Abbott Vascular International, Abbott Vascular Japan Co. Ltd, Abbott Vascular Limitada, Abbott Vascular Netherlands B.V., Abbott Vascular Solutions Inc., Abbott Ventures Inc., Abbott West Indies Limited, Abbott drustvo sa ogranicenom odgovornoscu za trgovinu i usluge, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc., Alere, Alere (Shanghai) Diagnostics Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Healthcare Management Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Medical Sales Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd., Alere A/S, Alere AB, Alere AS, Alere AS Holdings Limited, Alere BBI Holdings Limited, Alere Bangladesh Limited, Alere China Co. Ltd., Alere Colombia S.A., Alere Connect LLC, Alere Connected Health Limited, Alere Connected Health Ltd., Alere Diagnostics GmbH, Alere DoA Holding GmbH, Alere GmbH, Alere GmbH (Austria), Alere GmbH (Germany), Alere HK Holdings Ltd., Alere Health B.V., Alere Health BVBA, Alere Health Corp., Alere Health Sdn Bhd, Alere Health Services B.V., Alere Healthcare (Pty) Limited, Alere Healthcare Connections Limited, Alere Healthcare Inc., Alere Healthcare Nigeria Limited, Alere Healthcare S.L., Alere Holdco Inc., Alere Holding GmbH, Alere Holdings Bermuda Limited, Alere Holdings Pty Limited, Alere Home Monitoring Inc., Alere Inc., Alere Informatics Inc., Alere International Holding Corp., Alere International Limited, Alere Lda, Alere Limited, Alere Limited (New Zealand), Alere Medical BVBA, Alere Medical Co. Ltd., Alere Medical Pakistan (Private) Limited, Alere Medical Private Limited, Alere North America LLC, Alere Oy Ab, Alere Philippines Inc., Alere Phoenix ACQ Inc., Alere Pte Ltd, Alere S.A., Alere S.r.l., Alere S/A, Alere SAS, Alere San Diego Inc., Alere Scarborough Inc., Alere Spain S.L., Alere Switzerland GmbH, Alere Technologies GmbH, Alere Technologies Holdings Limited, Alere Technologies Limited, Alere Toxicology AB, Alere Toxicology Inc., Alere Toxicology S.r.l., Alere Toxicology Services Inc., Alere Toxicology plc, Alere UK Holdings Limited, Alere UK Subco Limited, Alere ULC, Alere US Holdings LLC, Alere s.r.o., Alisoc Investment & Co, Amedica Biotech Inc., Ameditech Inc., American Generics S.A.S., American Medical Supplies Inc., American Pharmacist Inc., Antares S.A., Apica Cardiovascular Limited, Aquagestion Capacitacion S.A., Aquagestion S.A., Arriva Medical LLC, Arriva Medical Philippines Inc., Arvis Investments Limited, Atlas Farmaceutica S.A., Avee Laboratories Inc., Axis-Shield AD III AS, Axis-Shield AD IV AS, Axis-Shield AS, Axis-Shield Diagnostics Limited, Axis-Shield Ltd., BBI Animal Health Limited, BBI Diagnostics Group 2 Public Limited Company, Banco de Vida S.A., Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions Inc., Bioalgae S.A., Biohealth LLC, Biosite Incorporated, Bosque Bonito S.A., Branan Medical Corporation, Brandex Europe C.V., British Colloids Limited, CFR Chile S.A., CFR Interamericas EL Salvador Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, CFR Interamericas Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, CFR Interamericas Panama S.A., CFR Pharmaceuticals, California Property Holdings III LLC, CardioMEMS LLC, Caripharm Inc., Cephea Valve Technologies, Cephea Valve Technologies Inc., Colibri Medical Aktiebolag, Comercializadora y Distribuidora CFR Interamericas Honduras S.A., Concateno South Limited, Concateno UK Limited, Consorcio Tecnologico en Biomedicina Clinico-Molecular S.A., Continuum Services LLC, Cozart Limited, Dextech S.A., Diagnostik Nord GmbH, Distribuciones Uquifa S.A.S., Domesco Medical Import-Export Joint-Stock Corporation, Duphar International Research B.V., Endocardial Solutions, Epocal (US) Inc, Esprit de Vie S.A., European Chemicals & Co, European Drug Testing Service EDTS AB, European Services S.A., Evalve Inc., Evalve International Inc., FARMINDUSTRIA S.A., Fada Pharma Paraguay Sociedad Anonima, Fadapharma del Ecuador S.A., Farmaceutica Mont Blanc S.L., Farmacologia Em Aquicultura Veterinaria Ltda., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV Ecuador S.A., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV S.A., Fernwood Investment S.A., First Check Diagnostics LLC, Focus Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Forensics Limited, Forestcreek Overseas S.A., Fournier Pharma Corp., Fournier Pharma GmbH, Fournier Pharmaceuticals Limited, Framed B.V., Gabmed GmbH, Garden Hills LLC, Global Analytical Development LLC, Globapharm & CO LP, Glomed Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Golnorth Investments S.A., Gynocare Limited, Gynopharm Sociedad Anonima, Gynopharm de Centroamerica S.A., Gynopharm de Venezuela C.A., Hi-Tronics Designs Inc., IDEV Technologies Inc., IG Innovations Limited, IMTC Finance B.V., IMTC Holdings B.V., IMTC Technologies Inc., Ibis Biosciences LLC, Igloo Zone Chile S.A., Igloo Zone S.L., Inmobiliaria Naknek S.A.C., Innovacon Inc., Instant Tech Subsidiary Acquisition Inc., Instant Technologies Inc., Instituto de Criopreservacion de Chile S.A., Integrated Vascular Systems Inc., Inverness Canadian Acquisition Corporation, Inverness Medical (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Australia Pty Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Hong Kong Limited, Inverness Medical Innovations SK LLC, Inverness Medical Investments LLC, Inverness Medical LLC, Inverness Medical Shimla Private Limited, Inversiones K2 SpA, Inversiones Komodo S.R.L., Ionian Technologies LLC, Irvine Biomedical Inc., Kalila Medical, Kangshenyunga S.A., Knoll UK Investments Unlimited, LLC VeroInPharm, Laboratoires Fournier S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano Lafrancol S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano del Ecuador S.A., Laboratorio Internacional Argentino S.A., Laboratorio Synthesis S.A.S., Laboratorios Lafi Limitada, Laboratorios Naturmedik S.A.S., Laboratorios Pauly Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Laboratorios Recalcine S.A., Laboratorios Transpharm S.A., Laboratory Specialists of America Inc., Lafrancol Dominicana S.A.S., Lafrancol Guatemala S.A. Sociedad Anonima, Lafrancol Internacional S.A.S, Lafrancol Peru S.R.L, Lake Forest Investments LLC, Lightlab Imaging Inc., Limited Liability Company Abbott Laboratories, Limited Liability Company Abbott Ukraine, Limited Liability Company VEROPHARM, Lung Fung Hong (China) Limited, Mansbridge Pharmaceuticals Limited, MediGuide LLC, MediGuide Ltd., Medscreen Holdings Limited, Metropolitana Farmaceutica S.A., Midwest Properties LLC, Murex Argentina S.A., Murex Biotech Limited, Murex Biotech South Africa, Murex Diagnostics Inc., Murex Diagnostics International Inc., Natural Supplement Association LLC, Negocios Denia Sociedad Anonima, Neosalud S.A.C., Nether Pharma N.P. C.V., NeuroTherm LLC, Normann Pharma-Handels GmbH, North Shore Properties Inc., Novamedi S.A., Novasalud.com S.A., Nutravida S.A., OJSC Voronezhkhimpharm, Omnilab Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OptiMedica, Orgenics France SAS, Orgenics International Holdings B.V., Orgenics Ltd., PBM-Selfcare LLC, PDD II LLC, PDD LLC, PT Alere Health, PT. Abbott Indonesia, PT. Abbott Products Indonesia, Pacesetter Inc., Pantech (RF) (PTY) LTD, Pembrooke Occupational Health Inc., Penagos S.A., Pharma International Sociedad Anonima, Pharmaceutical Technologies (Pharmatech) S.A., Pharmatech Boliviana S.A., Polygon Labs S.A., Quality Assured Services Inc., RF Medical Holdings LLC, RTL Holdings Inc., Ramses Business Corp., Recben Xenerics Farmaceutica Limitada, Redwood Toxicology Laboratory Inc., Rich Horizons International Limited, SC VEROPHARM, SJ Medical Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., SJM International Inc., SJM Thunder Holding Company, SPDH Inc., Saboya Enterprises Corporation, Salviac Limited, Scanax AS, Sealing Solutions Inc., Selfcare Technology Inc., Shandong Abbott Dairy Product Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Medical Devices Science and Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Shanghai Si Fa Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Sinensix & Co., Spinal Modulation LLC, St. Jude Medical, St. Jude Medical AB, St. Jude Medical ATG Inc., St. Jude Medical Argentina S.A., St. Jude Medical Asia Pacific Holdings GK, St. Jude Medical Atrial Fibrillation Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Brasil Ltda., St. Jude Medical Business Services Inc., St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Colombia Ltda., St. Jude Medical Coordination Center, St. Jude Medical Costa Rica Limitada, St. Jude Medical Europe Inc., St. Jude Medical Export Ges.m.b.H., St. Jude Medical GVA Sarl, St. Jude Medical Holdings B.V., St. Jude Medical India Private Limited, St. Jude Medical International Holding, St. Jude Medical LLC, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings II, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings NT, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings SMI S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings TC S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Mexico Business Services S. de R.L. de C.V., St. Jude Medical Middle East DMCC, St. Jude Medical Operations (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico LLC, St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc., St. Jude Medical Systems AB, St. Jude Medical Turkey Medikal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Standard Diagnostics Inc., Standing Stone LLC, Swan-Myers Incorporated, TC1 LLC, Tendyne Holdings Inc., Tendyne Medical Inc., Thoratec Delaware LLC, Thoratec Europe Limited, Thoratec LLC, Thoratec Switzerland GmbH, Tobal Products Incorporated, Topera GmbH in Liquidation, Topera Inc., Tremora S.A., Tuenir S.A., TwistDx, UAB Abbott Laboratories, UAB Abbott Medical Lithuania, Union-Madison Realty Company Inc., Unipath Limited (dba Alere International/aka Cranfield), Unipath Management Limited, Unipath Pension Trustee Limited, Veropharm, Veropharm Limited Liability Partnership, Vida Cell Inversiones S.A., Vida Cell S.A., Vivalsol, W&R Pharma Handels GmbH, Western Pharmaceuticals S.A., X Technologies Inc., Yissum Holding Limited, ZonePerfect Nutrition Company, eScreen Canada ULC, eScreen Inc.,      ( ), and Abbott Laboratories Baltics.The following companies are subsidiares of EnerSys: ABSL Power Solutions Inc., ABSL Power Solutions Ltd., Acumuladores Industriales EnerSys SA, Alpha Alternative Energy Inc., Alpha Broadband Services Inc., Alpha Innovations Industria e Comercio de Produtos Eletronicos Ltda., Alpha Innovations Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Alpha Mexico Network Power S.A. de C.V., Alpha Tech Energy Solutions India Private Limited, Alpha Technical Services Ltd., Alpha Technologies Asia Ltd., Alpha Technologies Ltd., Alpha Technologies Pty. Ltd., Alpha Technologies Services Inc., Argus Research Ltd., Battery Power International Pte Ltd., Cooperative Enterprises Inc., DCPM Engineering Sdn Bhd, EH Batterien AG, EH Europe GmbH, EH Global Holdings GmbH, ENAS Industrial Batteries Morocco Sarl, EnerSys (Chaozhou) Huada Batteries Company Limited, EnerSys (China) Huada Batteries Company Limited, EnerSys (Chongqing) Huada Batteries Company Limited, EnerSys (Jiangsu) Huada Batteries Company Limited, EnerSys (Yangzhou) Huada Batteries Co. Ltd., EnerSys A/S, EnerSys AB, EnerSys AD, EnerSys AE, EnerSys AS, EnerSys Advanced Systems Inc., EnerSys Asia Limited, EnerSys Assad Sarl, EnerSys Australia Pty Ltd., EnerSys BV, EnerSys Battery Private Limited, EnerSys CJSC, EnerSys Canada Inc., EnerSys Capital Inc., EnerSys Cayman Euro L.P., EnerSys Cayman Holdings L.P., EnerSys Cayman Inc., EnerSys Cayman L.P., EnerSys Delaware Inc., EnerSys Delaware LLC I, EnerSys Delaware LLC II, EnerSys Delaware LLC III, EnerSys Delaware LLC IV, EnerSys Delaware LLC V, EnerSys Energy Products Inc., EnerSys Europe Oy, EnerSys European Holding Co., EnerSys GmbH, EnerSys Holdings (Luxembourg) Sarl, EnerSys Holdings UK Ltd., EnerSys Hungaria Kft., EnerSys India Batteries Private Ltd., EnerSys LLC, EnerSys Ltd., EnerSys Luxembourg Finance Sarl, EnerSys Malaysia Sdn Bhd, EnerSys Mexico Holdings LLC, EnerSys Mexico Management LLC, EnerSys Participacoes Ltda., EnerSys Reserve Power Pte. Ltd., EnerSys S.r.l., EnerSys SARL, EnerSys SPRL, EnerSys de Mexico II S de R.L. de CV, EnerSys de Mexico S de R.L. de CV, EnerSys s.r.o., EnerSys sp. z o.o., EnerSystem Argentina S.A., EnerSystem Chile Ltda., EnerSystem de Argentina S.A., EnerSystem do Brazil Ltda., Enersys Aku Sanaya Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Esfinco Inc., Esrmco Inc., GAZ GmbH, Hawker GmbH, Hawker Power Systems Inc., Hawker Powersource Inc., ICS Industries Pty Ltd, ICS Industries Pty Ltd., ICS Sheet Metal Pty Ltd., IE EnerSys South East Asia Technologies Pte. Ltd., IE Technologies Pte Ltd., Industrial Battery Holding Ltda., International Communication Shelters Australasia Pty Ltd., Lancord Pty Ltd., Lenmic Pty Ltd., MIB Energy Sdn Bhd, National Infrastructure Pty Ltd., National Infrastructure Services Pty Ltd., NaviSemi Energy Pte Ltd., NaviSemi Inc., New Pacifico Realty Inc., NorthStar Battery Company LLC, Outback Power Technologies Inc., Powercom (NSW) Pty Ltd., Powersafe Acumuladores Industrialis Unipessoal Lda., Powersonic S de R.L. de CV, Purcell Systems, Purcell Systems Inc., Purcell Systems International AB, Quallion LLC, Riverfront Holding S. de R.L. de C.V., Shenzhen Huada Power Supply Mechanical & Electrical Co. Ltd., Telecomponents & Supply (Hong Kong) Ltd., The Enser Corporation, UTS Holdings Sdn Bhd, UTS Technology (JB) Sdn Bhd, UTS Technology (PG) Sdn Bhd, YCI Inc., and Yecoltd S. de R.L. de CV.The following companies are subsidiares of Becton, Dickinson and: (Bard Istanbul Healthcare Limited Company), Accuri Cytometers, Accuri Cytometers Inc., Adaptec, Alverix, Alverix Inc., Atto Bioscience, BD Holding S. de R.L. de C.V., BD Infection Prevention BV, BD Kiestra BV, BD Kiestra Total Lab Automation, BD Rapid Diagnostic (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., BD San Luis Potosi S.A. de C.V., BD Switzerland Sarl, BD Ventures LLC, BD West Africa Limited, BDX INO LLC, Bard (Thailand) Limited, Bard ASDI Inc., Bard Access Systems Inc., Bard Acquisition Sub Inc., Bard Australia Pty. Limited, Bard Benelux N.V., Bard Brachytherapy Inc., Bard Brasil Industria e Comercio de Produtos Para a Saude Ltda., Bard Canada Inc., Bard Chile S.p.A., Bard Colombia S.A.S., Bard Czech Republic s.r.o., Bard Devices Inc., Bard Dublin ITC Limited, Bard EMEA Finance Center Sp.z o.o., Bard European Distribution Center N.V., Bard Finance B.V. & Co. KG., Bard Financial Services Ltd., Bard Finland OY, Bard France S.A.S., Bard Global Holdings I LLC, Bard Global Holdings II LLC, Bard Global Holdings III LLC, Bard Healthcare Inc., Bard Healthcare Science (Shanghai) Limited, Bard Hellas S.A., Bard Holding SAS, Bard Holdings Limited, Bard Holdings Netherlands B.V., Bard Hong Kong Limited, Bard IP Holdings Inc., Bard India Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Bard International Holdings B.V., Bard International Inc., Bard Korea Ltd., Bard Limited, Bard MRL Acquisition Corp., Bard Malaysia Healthcare Sdn. Bhd., Bard Medica SA, Bard Medical Devices (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Bard Medical R&D (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Bard Medical SA (Proprietary) Limited, Bard Mexico Realty S. de R.L. de C.V., Bard Norden AB, Bard Norway AS, Bard Pacific Health Care Company Ltd., Bard Peripheral Vascular Inc., Bard Poland Sp. z.o.o., Bard Productos Plasticos e Medicos Ltda., Bard Reynosa S.A. de C.V., Bard S.r.l., Bard Sdn. Bhd., Bard Shannon Limited, Bard Singapore Private Limited, Bard Sourcing Office Singapore Pte. Ltd., Bard Sweden AB, Bard UK Newco Limited, Bard de Espana S.A., Becton Dickinson (Gibraltar) Holdings Ltd., Becton Dickinson (Gibraltar) Limited, Becton Dickinson (Gibraltar) Management Limited, Becton Dickinson (Mauritius) Limited, Becton Dickinson (Pty) Ltd., Becton Dickinson (Thailand) Limited, Becton Dickinson A.G., Becton Dickinson A/S, Becton Dickinson Argentina S.R.L., Becton Dickinson Asia Holdings Ltd., Becton Dickinson Asia Limited, Becton Dickinson Austria GmbH, Becton Dickinson Austria Holdings GmbH, Becton Dickinson B.V., Becton Dickinson B.V. Saudi Limited Company, Becton Dickinson Benelux N.V., Becton Dickinson Biosciences Systems and Reagents Inc., Becton Dickinson Canada Inc., Becton Dickinson Caribe Ltd., Becton Dickinson Croatia d.o.o., Becton Dickinson Czechia s.r.o., Becton Dickinson Dispensing Belgium BVBA, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Denmark A/S, Becton Dickinson Dispensing France SAS, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Ireland Limited, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Norway, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Spain S.L.U., Becton Dickinson Dispensing UK Ltd., Becton Dickinson Distribution Center N.V., Becton Dickinson East Africa Ltd., Becton Dickinson Euro Finance Sarl, Becton Dickinson Europe Holdings S.A.S., Becton Dickinson France S.A.S., Becton Dickinson GSA Beteilgungs GmbH, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings I Inc., Becton Dickinson Global Holdings II LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings IV LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings V LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings VI LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings VII LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Services Centre Sdn. Bdn., Becton Dickinson GmbH, Becton Dickinson Guatemala S.A., Becton Dickinson Hellas S.A., Becton Dickinson Holdings Limited, Becton Dickinson Holdings Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson Hungary Kft., Becton Dickinson India Private Limited, Becton Dickinson Industrias Cirurgicas Ltda., Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy AB, Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy Holdings UK Limited, Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy Systems Inc., Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy Systems Inc. S.A. de C.V., Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy UK, Becton Dickinson Insulin Syringe Ltd., Becton Dickinson International Holdings II Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson International Holdings III Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson International Holdings Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson Israel Ltd., Becton Dickinson Italia S.p.A., Becton Dickinson Ithalat Ihracat Limited Sirketi, Becton Dickinson Korea Holding Inc., Becton Dickinson Korea Ltd., Becton Dickinson Ltd., Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Finance S.a.r.L., Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Global Holdings Sarl, Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Holdings II S.a.r.L, Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Holdings III S.a.r.L, Becton Dickinson Malaysia Inc., Becton Dickinson Management GmbH & Co. KG, Becton Dickinson Matrex Holdings Inc., Becton Dickinson Medical (S) Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Devices (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Devices (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Products Pte. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Technology (Jiangsu) Co. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Netherlands Global Holdings II C.V., Becton Dickinson Netherlands Holdings B.V., Becton Dickinson Netherlands Holdings II B.V., Becton Dickinson Norway AS, Becton Dickinson O.Y., Becton Dickinson Overseas Services Ltd., Becton Dickinson Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd., Becton Dickinson Penel Limited, Becton Dickinson Philippines Inc., Becton Dickinson Polska Sp.z.o.o., Becton Dickinson Portugal Unipessoal Lda., Becton Dickinson Pty. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Research Centre Ireland Limited, Becton Dickinson Rowa Germany GmbH, Becton Dickinson Rowa Italy Srl, Becton Dickinson S.A., Becton Dickinson Sample Collection GmbH, Becton Dickinson Scot Financing L.L.P., Becton Dickinson Scot Financing L.P., Becton Dickinson Sdn. Bhd., Becton Dickinson Slovakia s.r.o., Becton Dickinson Sweden AB, Becton Dickinson Sweden Holdings AB, Becton Dickinson Switzerland Global Holdings SarL, Becton Dickinson Technology Campus India, Becton Dickinson U.K. Limited, Becton Dickinson UK Financing I Ltd., Becton Dickinson UK Financing II Ltd., Becton Dickinson Venezuela C.A., Becton Dickinson Venture LLC, Becton Dickinson Verwaltungs GmbH, Becton Dickinson Vostok LLC, Becton Dickinson Worldwide Investments Sa.r.L., Becton Dickinson Zambia Limited, Becton Dickinson and Company Ltd., Becton Dickinson de Colombia Ltda., Becton Dickinson de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Becton Dickinson del Uruguay S.A., Benex Ltd., Biometric Imaging, Bridger Biomed Inc., C. R. Bard, C. R. Bard (Portugal)-Produtos e Artigos Medicos e Farmaceuticos, C. R. Bard Do Brazil Productos Medicos Ltds., C. R. Bard GmbH, C. R. Bard Inc., C. R. Bard Netherlands Sales B.V., CME America LLC, CME Ltd., CME Medical (UK) Limited, CME UK (Holdings) Limited, CRISI Medical Systems, CRISI Medical Systems Inc., Caesarea Medical Electronics, Cardal II LLC, Care Fusion Development Private Limited, CareFusion, CareFusion (Barbados) SrL, CareFusion (Shanghai) Commercial and Trading Co. Limited, CareFusion 213 LLC, CareFusion 2200 Inc., CareFusion 2201 Inc., CareFusion 302 LLC, CareFusion 303 Inc., CareFusion Asia (HK) Limited, CareFusion BH 335 d.o.o. Cazin, CareFusion Corporation, CareFusion D.R. 203 Ltd., CareFusion France 309 S.A.S., CareFusion Germany 318 GmbH, CareFusion Iberia 308 S.L., CareFusion Israel 330 Ltd., CareFusion Italy 312 S.p.A., CareFusion Manufacturing LLC, CareFusion Mexico 215 S.A. de C.V., CareFusion Netherlands 328 B.V., CareFusion Netherlands 503 B.V., CareFusion Netherlands 504 B.V., CareFusion Netherlands Financing 283 C.V., CareFusion Resources LLC, CareFusion S.A. 319 (Proprietary) Limited, CareFusion Solutions LLC, CareFusion U.K. 244 Limited, CareFusion U.K. 305 Limited, CareFusion U.K. 306 Limited, Carmel Pharma AB, Carmel Pharma Inc, Cato Software Solutions, Cell Analysis Systems Inc, Cellular Research, Cellular Research Inc., Clearstream Technologies Group Limited, Clearstream Technologies Limited, Clontech Laboratories Inc, Corporativo BD de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Cubex, Cytopeia, DLD (Bermuda) Ltd., DVL Acquisition Sub Inc., Davol Inc., Davol International Limited, Davol Surgical Innovations S.A. de C.V., Difco Laboratories Incorporated, Distribuidora BD Mexico S.A. de C.V., Dutch American Manufacturers (D.A.M.) B.V., Dymax Corporation, Embo Medical Limited, Enturia de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Enturican Inc., FJ International Inc., FlowCardia Inc., FlowCardia LLC, FlowJo LLC, Franklin Lakes Enterprises L.L.C., GSL Solutions, Gamer Lasertechnik GmbH, GenCell Biosystems, GenCell Biosystems Ltd., GeneOhm Sciences, GeneOhm Sciences Canada Inc., Gentest Corporation, Gesco International Inc., Gesco International LLC, HandyLab Inc, HandyLab Inc., IBD Holdings LLC, Ionotophoretics Corporation, JoHome LLC, Kabushiki Kaisha Medicon (Medicon Inc.), Liberator Health and Education Services Inc., Liberator Health and Wellness Inc., Liberator Medical Holdings Inc., Liberator Medical Supply Inc., LifeBond, Limited Liability Company Bard Rus, Loma Vista Medical Inc., Loma Vista Medical LLC, Lutonix Inc., Med-Design Corporation, Med-Design Investment Holdings Inc., Med-Safe Systems Inc., MedChem Products Inc., Medafor Inc., Medegen LLC, Medinservice.com Inc., Medivance Inc., NAT Diagnostics, NAT Diagnostics Inc., NOW Medical Distribution Inc., NOW Medical Distribution LLC, Navarre Biomedical LLC, Navarre Biomedical Ltd., Neomend Inc., Nippon Becton Dickinson Company Ltd., Omega Biosystems Incorporated, P.R.C.(Isialys)Societe a responsabilitie limitee(Societe a associe unique), PT Becton Dickinson Indonesia, PharMingen, PreAnalytiX GmbH, Pristine Access Technologies Inc., ProSeed Inc., Procesos para Esterilizacion S.A. de C.V., Productos Bard de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Productos Para el Cuidado de la Salud S.A. de C.V., Puls Medical Devices AS LC, PureWick Corporation, Roberts Laboratories Inc., Rochester Medical Corporation, Rochester Medical Ltd., Saf-T-Med, Safety Syringes, Safety Syringes Inc., Sendal S.L.U., SenoRx Inc., SenoRx LLC, Shield Healthcare Centers Inc., Sirigen, Sirigen II Limited, Sirigen Inc., Sistemas Medicos ALARIS S.A. de C.V., Specialized Cooperative Corporation, Specialized Health Products Inc., Specialized Health Products International Inc., Specialized Health Products International LLC, Staged Diabetes Management LLC, Straub Medical, Straub Medical, Straub Medical (US) LLC, Straub Medical (United Kingdom) Ltd., Straub Medical France, Surgical Site Solutions Inc., TVA Medical, TVA Medical GmbH, TVA Medical Inc., Touchstone Medical Limited, Tri-County Medical & Ostomy Supplies Inc., TriPath Imaging, TriPath Imaging Inc., Vas-Cath Incorporated, Vascular Pathways Inc., Venetec International Inc., Venetec International LLC, Y-Med Inc., and Y-Med LLC.The following companies are subsidiares of Illinois Tool Works: A V Co 1 Limited, A V Co 2 Limited, A V Co 3 Limited, ACCU-LUBE Manufacturing GmbH - Schmiermittel und -gerate -, AIP/BI Holdings Inc., Accessories Marketing Holding Corp., Advanced Molding Company Inc., Allen Coding GmbH, Allen France SAS, Alpine Automation Limited, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Holdings Inc., Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, Arylux Hungary Elektromechanikus Alkatreszgyarto Kft, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix (Suzhou) Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Holdings Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel (Ireland) Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Brooks Instrument LLC, Buell Industries Inc., CAPMAX Logistica S.A. de C.V., CCI Realty Company, CFC Europe GmbH, CS (Australia) Pty Limited, CS (Finance) Europe S.a.r.l., CS Mexico Holding Company S DE RL DE CV, CSMTS LLC, Calvia Spolka z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnosci, Capital Ventures (Australasia) S.a r.l, Capmax Logistica S.A. de C.V., Celeste Industries Corporation, Coeur, Coeur (Shanghai) Medical Appliance Trading Co. Ltd, Coeur Asia Limited, Coeur Holding Company, Coeur Inc., Compagnie Hobart, Compagnie de Materiel et d'Equipements Techniques-Comet, Constructions Isothermiques Bontami C.I.B., Crane Carrier Company, Despatch Industries, Diagraph Corporation Sdn. Bhd, Diagraph ITW Mexico S. de R.L. De C.V., Diagraph Mexico S.A. DE C.V., Dongguan Ark-Les Electric Components Co. Ltd., Dongguan CK Branding Co. Ltd., Dorbyl U.K. (Holdings) Limited, Duo Fast de Espana S.A.U., Duo-Fast Korea Co. Ltd., Duo-Fast LLC, E.C.S. d.o.o., ECS Cable Protection Sp. Zoo, ELRO (Holding) AG, ELRO Grosskuchen GmbH, ELRO-WERKE AG, Elga Skandinavian AS, Elro Group, Eltex-Elektrostatik-Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Envases Multipac S.A. de C.V., Eurotec Srl, FEG Investments L.L.C., Fasver, Filtertek, Filtertek De Mexico Holding Inc., Filtertek De Mexico S.A. de C.V., GC Financement SA, Gamko B.V., Gun Hwa Platech (Taicang) Co. Ltd., HOBART Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Hartness International, Hobart (Japan) K.K., Hobart Andina S.A.S., Hobart Brothers International Chile Limitada, Hobart Brothers LLC, Hobart Dayton Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Hobart Food Equipment Co. Ltd., Hobart Foster Belgium, Hobart International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Hobart Korea LLC, Hobart LLC, Hobart Nederland B.V., Hobart Sales & Service Inc., Hobart Scandinavia ApS, Hobart Techniek B.V., Horis, ILC Investments Holdings Inc., ITW (China) Investment Company Limited, ITW (Deutschland) GmbH, ITW (EU) Holdings Ltd., ITW (European) Finance Co. Ltd., ITW (European) Finance II Co. Ltd., ITW (European) Finance III Co. Ltd., ITW (Ningbo) Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., ITW AEP LLC, ITW AOC LLC, ITW Aircraft Investments Inc., ITW Alpha Sarl, ITW Ampang Industries Philippines Inc., ITW Appliance Components EOOD, ITW Appliance Components S.A. de C.V., ITW Appliance Components S.r.l.a, ITW Appliance Components d.o.o., ITW Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, ITW Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd., ITW Australia Pty Ltd, ITW Automotive Components (Chongqing) Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Components (Langfang) Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Japan K.K., ITW Automotive Korea LLC, ITW Automotive Parts (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, ITW Automotive Products GmbH, ITW Automotive Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Bailly Comte, ITW Befestigungssysteme GmbH, ITW Belgium, ITW Brazilian Nominee L.L.C., ITW Building Components Group Inc., ITW CER, ITW CP Distribution Center Holland BV, ITW CS (UK) Ltd., ITW Canada Inc., ITW Celeste Inc., ITW Chemical Products Ltda, ITW Chemical Products Scandinavia ApS, ITW Colombia S.A.S., ITW Construction Products (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW Construction Products (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., ITW Construction Products AB, ITW Construction Products AS, ITW Construction Products ApS, ITW Construction Products CZ s.r.o., ITW Construction Products Italy Srl, ITW Construction Products OU, ITW Construction Products OY, ITW Contamination Control (Wujiang) Co. Ltd., ITW Contamination Control B.V., ITW Covid Security Group Inc., ITW DS Investments Inc., ITW DelFast do Brasil Ltda., ITW Delta Sarl, ITW Denmark ApS, ITW Dynatec, ITW Dynatec Adhesive Equipment (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., ITW Dynatec GmbH, ITW Dynatec Kabushiki Kaisha, ITW EAE B.V., ITW EAE Mexico S de RL de CV, ITW EF&C France SAS, ITW EF&C Selb GmbH, ITW Electronic Business Asia Co. Limited, ITW Electronic Components/Products (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW Electronics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.A., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Finance Designated Activity Company, ITW Finance Europe S.A., ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, ITW France Finance Alpha S.A.S., ITW GH LLC, ITW GSE ApS, ITW GSE Inc., ITW Gamma Sarl, ITW German Management LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones, ITW Global Investments II Inc., ITW Global Investments Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics (Thailand) Ltd., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Italy S.R.L. in liquidazione, ITW Great Britain Investment & Licensing Holding Company, ITW Group France (Luxembourg) S.ar.l., ITW HLP Thailand Co. Ltd., ITW Holding Quimica B.C. S.L. Sole Shareholder Company, ITW Holdings Australia L.P., ITW Holdings I Limited, ITW Holdings II Limited, ITW Holdings III Limited, ITW Holdings IV Limited, ITW Holdings IX Limited, ITW Holdings Inc., ITW Holdings UK, ITW Holdings V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, ITW Hungary Finance Beta Kft, ITW ILC Holdings I Inc., ITW IPG Investments LLC, ITW Imaden Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW India Private Limited, ITW International Holdings LLC, ITW Invest Holding GmbH, ITW Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, ITW Ireland Unlimited Company, ITW Italy Finance Srl, ITW Italy Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lombard Holdings Inc., ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW M FILMS II LLC, ITW MH LLC, ITW Meritex Sdn. Bhd., ITW Metal Fasteners S.L., ITW Mexico Holding Company S. De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology (China) Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Plastic (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers (Wujiang) Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Philippines Holdings LLC, ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Real Estate Germany GmbH, ITW Residuals III L.L.C., ITW Residuals IV L.L.C., ITW Rivex, ITW SMPI, ITW SPG Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Simco-Ion (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., ITW Slovakia s.r.o., ITW Spain Holdings S.L., ITW Specialty Film LLC, ITW Specialty Films France, ITW Specialty Materials (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., ITW Spraytec, ITW Sverige AB, ITW Sweden Holding AB, ITW Test & Measurement Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, ITW Test & Measurement GmbH, ITW Test and Measurement Italia Srl, ITW Test and Measurement Services Industry and Trade Ltd., ITW Texwipe Philippines Inc., ITW Thermal Films (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW UK, ITW UK Finance Beta Limited, ITW UK Finance Delta Limited, ITW UK Finance Gamma Limited, ITW UK Finance Limited, ITW UK Finance Zeta Ltd., ITW UK II Limited, ITW Universal II LLC, ITW Welding, ITW Welding AB, ITW Welding GmbH, ITW Welding Products B.V., ITW Welding Products Group FZE, ITW Welding Products Group S. DE R.L. De C.V., ITW Welding Products Italy Srl, ITW Welding Products Limited Liability Company, ITW Welding Produtos Para Solgdagem Ltda., ITW Welding Servicios Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Welding Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Ideal Molding Technologies LLC, Illinois Tool Works (Chile) Limitada, Illinois Tool Works (ITW) Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Norway AS, Impar Comercio E Representacoes Ltda., Industrie Plastic Elsasser GmbH, Inmobiliaria Cit. S.A. de C.F., Innova Temperlite Servicios S.A. de C.V., Innovacion y Transformacion Automotriz S.A. de C.V., Instron (Shanghai) Ltd., Instron (Thailand) Limited, Instron Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Holdings Limited, Instron International Limited, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, International Leasing Company LLC, International Truss Systems Proprietary Limited, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kester Components (M) Sdn. Bhd., Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems (Canada) Inc., Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MOA Enterprises Inc, Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, Norden Olje AB, North Star Imaging Europe, North Star Imaging Inc., Nova Chimica S.r.l., Orbitalum Tools GmbH, PENTA-91 OOO, PR. A. I. Srl, PT ITW Construction Products Indonesia, Pacific Concept Industries Limited (Enping), Panreac Quimica S.L., Paslode Fasteners (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Peerless Machinery Corp., Penta Dnepr LLC, Penta Sever OOO, Penta Volga OOO, Polyrey, Premark FEG L.L.C., Premark HII Holdings LLC, Premark International, Premark International LLC, Prolex Sociedad Anonima, QSA Global Inc., Quimica Industrial Mediterranea S.L., Ramset Fasteners (Hong Kong) Ltd., Rapid Cook LLC, Refrigeration France, S.E.E. Sistemas Industria E Comercio Ltda., ST Mexico Holdings LLC, Sealant Systems International Inc., Sentinel Asia Yuhan Hoesa, Shanghai ITW Plastic & Metal Co. Ltd, Simco (Nederland) B.V., Simco Japan Inc., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques  SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes (Hong Kong) Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Taiwan) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes BVBA, Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek (China) Limited, Teknek (Japan) Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode (Kunshan) Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V.B.A., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta (Guangzhou) Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Vesta Global Limited, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, ZF TRW (Engineered Fasteners and Components), and Zip-Pak International B.V..FBL Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, sells individual life insurance and annuity products. The Annuity segment sells various traditional annuity products that primarily consist of fixed rate and indexed annuities, and supplementary contracts. The Life Insurance segment offers whole life, term life, and universal life policies. It also involved in the property-casualty business; and provision of wealth management, investment advisory, and marketing and distribution services for the sale of mutual funds and insurance products, as well as leasing services. The company markets its products to Farm Bureau members, and other individuals and businesses through exclusive agents and agency managers under the consumer brand name of Farm Bureau Financial Services in the Midwestern and Western sections of the United States. The company was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Read MoreWall Street analysts have given MDxHealth a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but MDxHealth wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.The following companies are subsidiares of Barclays: Adler Toy Holding Sarl, Aequor Investments Limited, Alymere Investments Limited, Alynore Investments Limited Partnership, Analog Analytics, Analog Analytics Inc, Analytical Trade Holdings LLC, Analytical Trade Investments LLC, Analytical Trade UK Limited, Archstone Equity Holdings Inc, Ardencroft Investments Limited, B D & B Investments Limited, B.P.B. (Holdings) Limited, BB Client Nominees Limited, BBAIL SAS, BCAP LLC, BIFML PTC Limited, BMBF (No.24) Limited, BMI (No.9) Limited, BNC Brazil Consultoria Empresarial Ltda, BNRI ENG 2013 Limited Partnership, BNRI ENG 2014 Limited Partnership, BNRI ENG GP LLP, BNRI England 2010 Limited Partnership, BNRI England 2011 Limited Partnership, BNRI England 2012 Limited Partnership, BNRI Limehouse No.1 Sarl, BNRI PIA Scot GP Limited, BNRI Scots GP LLP, BPB Holdings SA, BVP Galvani Global S.A.U., Barafor Limited, Barclay Leasing Limited, Barclaycard Funding PLC, Barclaycard International Payments Limited, Barclays (Barley) Limited, Barclays Aldersgate Investments Limited, Barclays Alzin Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Asia Limited, Barclays Asset Management Limited, Barclays BR Investments S.a r.l., Barclays BWA Inc., Barclays Bank (Suisse) S.A., Barclays Bank Delaware, Barclays Bank Ireland PLC, Barclays Bank Ireland Public Limited Company, Barclays Bank Mexico S.A., Barclays Bank PLC, Barclays Bank UK PLC, Barclays Bayard Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Bedivere Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Bordang Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Brasil Assessoria Financeira Ltda., Barclays CCP Funding LLC, Barclays Cantal Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Capital (Cayman) Limited, Barclays Capital Asia Holdings Limited, Barclays Capital Asia Limited, Barclays Capital Canada Inc., Barclays Capital Casa de Bolsa S.A. de C.V., Barclays Capital Derivatives Funding LLC, Barclays Capital Effekten GmbH, Barclays Capital Energy Inc., Barclays Capital Equities Trading GP, Barclays Capital Finance Limited, Barclays Capital Futures (Singapore) Private Limited, Barclays Capital Holdings (Singapore) Private Limited, Barclays Capital Holdings Inc., Barclays Capital Inc., Barclays Capital Japan Securities Holdings Limited, Barclays Capital Luxembourg S.a r.l., Barclays Capital Mauritius Limited, Barclays Capital Nominees (No.2) Limited, Barclays Capital Nominees (No.3) Limited, Barclays Capital Nominees Limited, Barclays Capital Principal Investments Limited, Barclays Capital Real Estate Finance Inc., Barclays Capital Real Estate Holdings Inc., Barclays Capital Real Estate Inc., Barclays Capital Securities Client Nominee Limited, Barclays Capital Securities Limited, Barclays Capital Securities Mauritius Limited, Barclays Capital Trading Luxembourg S.a r.l., Barclays Claudas Investments Partnership, Barclays Claudas Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Commercial Mortgage Securities LLC, Barclays Converted Investments (No.2) Limited, Barclays Corporation Limited, Barclays Direct Investing Nominees Limited, Barclays Directors Limited, Barclays Dryrock Funding LLC, Barclays Electronic Commerce Holdings Inc., Barclays Equity Holdings Limited, Barclays Equity Index Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Europe Client Nominees Designated Activity Company, Barclays Europe Firm Nominees Designated Activity Company, Barclays Europe Nominees Designated Activity Company, Barclays Executive Schemes Trustees Limited, Barclays Financial LLC, Barclays Financial Planning Nominee Company Limited, Barclays Funds Investments Limited, Barclays Funds and Advisory Japan Limited, Barclays Global Service Centre Private Limited, Barclays Global Shareplans Nominee Limited, Barclays Group Holdings Limited, Barclays Group Operations Limited, Barclays Group US Inc., Barclays Index Finance Trust, Barclays Industrial Development Limited, Barclays Industrial Investments Limited, Barclays Insurance Guernsey PCC Limited, Barclays Insurance Services Company Limited, Barclays Insurance U.S. Inc., Barclays International Luxembourg Dollar Holdings S.a r.l., Barclays Investment Management Limited, Barclays Investment Solutions Limited, Barclays Investments & Loans (India) Limited, Barclays Korea GP Limited, Barclays Lamorak Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Leasing (No.9) Limited, Barclays Leto Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Long Island Limited, Barclays Luxembourg EUR Holdings S.a r.l, Barclays Luxembourg Finance S.a r.l., Barclays Luxembourg GBP Holdings S.a r.l., Barclays Luxembourg Global Funding S.a r.l., Barclays Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Barclays Luxembourg Holdings SSC B, Barclays Marlist Limited, Barclays Mauritius Overseas Holdings Limited, Barclays Mercantile Business Finance Limited, Barclays Merchant Bank (Singapore) Ltd., Barclays Nominees (George Yard) Limited, Barclays Nominees (Guernsey) Limited, Barclays Nominees (Jersey) Limited, Barclays Nominees (Manx) Limited, Barclays Oversight Management Inc., Barclays Payment Solutions Inc., Barclays Pelleas Investments Limited Partnership, Barclays Pelleas Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Pension Funds Trustees Limited, Barclays Principal Investments Limited, Barclays Private Asset Management (Monaco) S.A.M, Barclays Private Bank, Barclays Private Clients International Limited, Barclays Receivables LLC, Barclays SAMS Limited, Barclays Securities (India) Private Limited, Barclays Securities Japan Limited, Barclays Security Trustee Limited, Barclays Services (Japan) Limited, Barclays Services Corporation, Barclays Services Jersey Limited, Barclays Services LLC, Barclays Services Limited, Barclays Shea Limited, Barclays Singapore Global Shareplans Nominee Limited, Barclays Switzerland Services SA, Barclays Tenedora De Immuebles SL., Barclays Term Funding Limited Liability Partnership, Barclays UK Investments Limited, Barclays US CCP Funding LLC, Barclays US Funding LLC, Barclays US GPF Inc., Barclays US Investments Inc., Barclays US LLC, Barclays Unquoted Investments Limited, Barclays Unquoted Property Investments Limited, Barclays Wealth Management Jersey Limited, Barclays Wealth Nominees Limited, Barclays Wealth Services Limited, Barclays Wealth Trustees (India) Private Limited, Barclayshare Nominees Limited, Barclaytrust Channel Islands Limited, Barcosec Limited, Barsec Nominees Limited, Blossom Finance General Partnership, Branchcall Computers (Pvt) Limited, Braven Investments No.1 Limited, CP Flower Guaranteeco (UK) Limited, CP Newco 1 Limited, CP Newco2 Limited, CP Newco3 Limited, CP Propco 1 Limited, CP Propco 2 Limited, CP Topco Limited, CPIA Canada Holdings, CPIA England 2008 Limited Partnership, CPIA England 2009 Limited Partnership, CPIA England No.2 Limited Partnership, CPIA Investments No.1 Limited, CPIA Investments No.2 Limited, CRE Diversified Holdings LLC, CREW Tahoe Holdings LLC, CREW Tahoe LLC, Calthorpe Investments Limited, Capton Investments Limited, Carnegie Holdings Limited, Central Platte Valley Management LLC, Chapelcrest Investments Limited, Charles Schwab Europe, Claudas Investments Limited, Claudas Investments Two Limited, Clydesdale Financial Services Limited, Cobalt Investments Limited, Compania Regional del Sur S.A., Compania Sudamerica S.A., Condor No.1 Limited Partnership, Cornwall Homes Loans Limited, Crescent Crown Land Holding SPV LLC, Crescent Legacy LLC, Crescent Plaza Residential L.P., Crescent Plaza Residential LLC, Crescent Plaza Residential LP LLC, Crescent Real Estate Member LLC, Crescent Resort Development LLC, Crescent TRS Holdings LLC, Crescent Tower Residences GP LLC, Crescent Tower Residences L.P., Curve Investments GP, DBL Texas Holdings LLC, DMW Realty Limited, Desert Mountain Development LLC, Desert Mountain Properties Limited Partnership, Develop Training Group Limited, Dorset Home Loans Limited, Durlacher Nominees Limited, EWRD Summit LLC, Eagle Financial and Leasing Services (UK) Limited, East West Resort Development V L.P. L.L.L.P., East West Resort Development VII LLC, Equity Limited Partnership, Equity Value Investments No.1 Limited, Equity Value Investments No.2 Limited, Erimon Home Loans Ireland Limited, Expobank, FIRSTPLUS Financial Group Limited, Finpart Nominees Limited, First Assurance, Foltus Investments Limited, Full House Holdings Limited, Gallen Investments Limited, Global Dynasty Natural Resource Private, Globe Nominees Limited, Gracechurch Services Corporation, Grays Station LLC, Grupo Financiero Barclays Mexico S.A. de C.V., Hawkins Funding Limited, Heraldglen Limited, Holding Stuttgarter Strae GmbH, Hurley Investments No.1 Limited, Imalivest Mineral Resources LP, Investors In Infrastructure Limited, J.V. Estates Limited, JV Assets Limited, Kirsche Investments Limited, LTDL Holdings LLC, La Torretta Beverages LLC, La Torretta Hospitality LLC, La Torretta Operations LLC, Lagalla Investments LLC, Leonis Investments LLP, Liability Partnership, Long Island Assets Limited, Long Island Holding A LLC, Long Island Holding B Limited, MK Opportunities GP Ltd, MK Opportunities LP, MVWP Investors LLC, Maloney Investments Limited, Marbury Holdings LLC, Menlo Investments Limited, Mercantile Credit Company Limited, Mercantile Leasing Company (No.132) Limited, Meridian (SPV-AMC) Corporation, Mintaka Investments No. 4 Limited, Mira Vista Development LLC, Mira Vista Golf Club L.C., Mountainside Partners LLC, Murray House Investment Management Limited, Naxos Investments Limited, Nile Bank, North Colonnade Investments Limited, Northstar Mountain Properties LLC, Northstar Trailside Townhomes LLC, Northstar Village Townhomes LLC, Northwharf Investments Limited, Northwharf Nominees Limited, OGP Leasing Limited, Oakes Millers Ltd, Ownership Trustee Limited, PIA England No.2 Limited Partnership, Palomino Limited, Pecan Aggregator LP, Pelleas Investments Limited, Pelleas Investments Two Limited, Pippin Island Investments Limited, Preferred Liquidity LLC, Preferred Liquidity Limited Partnership, Procella Investments LLC, Procella Investments No.1 LLC, Procella Investments No.2 LLC, Procella Investments No.3 LLC, Protium Finance I LLC, Protium Master Grantor Trust, Protium Master Mortgage LP, Protium REO I LP, R.C. Grieg Nominees Limited, RVH Limited, RVT CLO Investments LLP, Razzoli Investments Limited, Real Estate Participation Management Limited, Real Estate Participation Services Limited, Relative Value Holdings LLC, Relative Value Investments UK Limited, Relative Value Trading Limited, Roder Investments No. 1 Limited, Roder Investments No. 2 Limited, Ruthenium Investments Limited, SPM GP Limited, Securitized Asset Backed Receivables LLC, Servicios Barclays S.A. de C.V., Societe Civile Immobiliere 31 Avenue de la Costa, Solution Personal Finance Limited, Southern Peaks Mining LP, Standard Life Aberdeen, Surety Trust Limited, Surrey Funding Corporation, Sussex Purchasing Corporation, Sutton Funding LLC, Swan Lane Investments Limited, TPLL LLC, TPProperty LLC, Tahoe Club Company LLC, Tahoe Club Employee Company, The Logic Group Enterprises Limited, The Logic Group Holdings Limited, Third Energy Holdings Limited, US Real Estate Holdings No. 2 Limited, US Real Estate Holdings No.1 Limited, US Real Estate Holdings No.3 Limited, US Secured Investments LLC, Union Center LLC, United Counties Bank, Verain Investments LLC, Walbrook Group Ltd, Wedd Jefferson (Nominees) Limited, Wessex Investments Limited, Westferry Investments Limited, Wilmington Riverfront Receivables LLC, Woolwich Homes Limited, Woolwich Plan Managers Limited, Woolwich Qualifying Employee Share, Woolwich Surveying Services Limited, Woori BC Pegasus Securitization Specialty Co. Limited, and Zeban Nominees Limited.Buckeye Partners, L.P. owns and operates liquid petroleum products pipelines in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Domestic Pipelines & Terminals, Global Marine Terminals, and Merchant Services. The Domestic Pipelines & Terminals segment transports liquid petroleum products, including gasoline, jet fuel, and various distillates. This segment also provides crude oil services, including train loading/unloading, storage, and throughput; and turn-key operations and maintenance, asset development, and construction services for third-party pipeline, terminal, and energy assets, as well as operates and/or maintains third-party pipelines. It owns and operates approximately 6,000 miles of pipeline located primarily in the northeastern and upper midwestern portions of the United States, and services 100 delivery locations; 110 active terminals that provide bulk storage and throughput services with aggregate storage capacity of 55 million barrels; and 2 underground propane storage caverns. The Global Marine Terminals segment provides marine accessible bulk storage and blending, rail and truck rack loading/unloading, and petroleum processing services located primarily in the East Coast and Gulf Coast regions of the United States, as well as in the Caribbean. This segment owns and operates seven liquid petroleum products and crude oil terminals. The Merchant Services segment is involved in the wholesale distribution of refined petroleum products, including gasoline, natural gas liquids, propane, ethanol, and biodiesel, as well as petroleum distillates, such as heating oil, diesel fuel, kerosene, and fuel oil. This segment also provides fuel oil supply, butane, and distribution services. Buckeye GP LLC serves as the general partner of the company. Buckeye Partners, L.P. was founded in 1886 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Read MoreBunzl plc operates as a distribution and services company in the North America, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and internationally. The company offers food packaging, films, labels, counter-service packaging, foodservice disposables, take-out food packaging, first aid products, point of purchase displays, stationery, bags, and cleaning and hygiene supplies to grocery stores, supermarkets, retail chains, convenience stores, food wholesalers, ethnic grocers, and organic food outlets. It also provides food packaging, napkins, disposable tableware, food service disposables, guest amenities, light and heavy catering equipment, cleaning and hygiene products, and safety items to hotels, restaurants, caterers, the leisure sector, and food processors and packers; and footwear, gloves, safety helmets, workwear, harness equipment, tools, safety signs, traffic management, and ancillary site equipment, as well as ear, eye, respiratory, and face protection products to customers in the industrial and construction markets. In addition, the company offers cleaning systems, floorcare items, hand cleansing products, hygiene paper, janitorial products, cleaning machines, mops, polishes, and protective clothing and washroom chemicals to facilities management companies, contract cleaners, and other industrial and healthcare customers; and counter service packaging, point of purchase display items, stationery, and cleaning and hygiene products to department stores, boutiques, office supply companies, retail chains, and home improvement chains. Further, it provides gloves, aprons, bandages, facemasks, gowns, headwear, mattress covers, overshoes, procedure packs, tapes, wipes, incontinence products, and swabs to the healthcare sector, including hospitals, retirement and nursing homes, and doctors' surgeries and clinics; and various products to government and education establishments. Bunzl plc was founded in 1854 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreEnbridge Inc. operates as an energy infrastructure company. The company operates through five segments: Liquids Pipelines, Gas Transmission and Midstream, Gas Distribution and Storage, Renewable Power Generation, and Energy Services. The Liquids Pipelines segment operates pipelines and related terminals to transport various grades of crude oil and other liquid hydrocarbons in Canada and the United States. The Gas Transmission and Midstream segment invests in natural gas pipelines, and gathering and processing facilities in Canada and the United States. The Gas Distribution and Storage segment is involved in natural gas utility operations serving residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Ontario, as well as natural gas distribution and energy transportation activities in Quebec. The Renewable Power Generation segment operates power generating assets, such as wind, solar, geothermal, and waste heat recovery facilities; and transmission assets in North America and Europe. The Energy Services segment provides energy marketing services to refiners, producers, and other customers; and physical commodity marketing and logistical services in Canada and the United States. The company was formerly known as IPL Energy Inc. and changed its name to Enbridge Inc. in October 1998. Enbridge Inc. was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Read MoreGKN plc engages in engineering business worldwide. The company's Aerospace division manufactures airframe structures, including wings, fuselages, empennages, and nacelles and pylons; commercial engines, fan rotatives, fan statics, booster and compressors, turbine exit and inlet structures, and space propulsion products; aircraft systems, such as wiring and interconnection systems, aircraft transparencies, ice protection, landing gears, and tanks and flotation systems; and after market, and MRO services. Its Driveline division offers electric driveline, and vehicle architecture and integration services; all-wheel drive solutions; CV joint systems; and driveline services. The company's Powder Metallurgy division provides metal injection molded components, metal powders, and metal filters for automotive, automation, renewable energy, medical engineering, consumer product, gas filtration, liquid filtration, sparging, and fluidizing applications. The company also provides Titanium-based alloys, as well as nickel and stainless steel alloy powders; develops, manufactures, and supplies wheels and structural products for agriculture, construction, mining, utility, and material handling sectors; and manufactures hubs and spindles for off-highway machinery. In addition, it offers structural assemblies, such as chassis frames, front and rear sub-frames, cross members, suspension arms, control arms, rear non-driven axles, steel and aluminium panels and assemblies and cast aluminium wheels for the automotive and off-highway market; and logistics and freight services. GKN plc was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Redditch, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreHorizonte Minerals Plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the identification, acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral projects in Brazil. The company primarily explores for nickel deposits, as well as cobalt deposits. It holds 100% interest in the Araguaia ferronickel project and the Vermelho Nickel-Cobalt project located in the south of the CarajAs mineral district in northern Brazil. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Read More13 Wall Street research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Hugo Boss in the last year. There are currently 8 hold ratings and 5 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street research analysts is that investors should "hold" Hugo Boss stock. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in BOSS, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares.

View analyst ratings for Hugo Boss or view top-rated stocks.The following companies are subsidiares of ITT: AIMCO Industries LLC, AcousticFab LLC, Allen Osborne Associates, Axtone, Axtone Bahntechink GmbH, Axtone GmbH, Axtone HSW sp. z.o.o., Axtone S.A., Axtone s.r.o., Blakers Pump Engineers, Bolton Insurance Co., Bolton International RE S.C.A., Bolton International S.C.A., Bombas Goulds S.A., Bombas Goulds de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bombas Goulds de Venezuela C.A., Bornemann Inc. (Canada), Bornemann S.A. DE C.V., C&I QSF LLC, C&K Components, Canberra Pumps do Brasil, Carbon Industries Inc., Computer & Equipment Leasing Corporation, DITTHA GmbH, Distribuidora Arbos C.A., Dolphin Technology, EP Industries Europe B.V., Edo, Electrofilm Manufacturing Company LLC, Ellis K. Phelps & Co., Energy Machine Services, Enidine Kabashiki Gaisha (Enidine Company Limited (Japan)), EnviroTech LLC, Equipos Hidraulicos S.A., European Pump Services B.V., F.B. Leopold, FLOJET Corp., Flowtronex PSI, Godwin Pumps, Goulds Mexico Holdings LLC, Goulds Pumps (IPG) LLC, Goulds Pumps (N.Y.) Inc., Goulds Pumps (NY) Inc. (PERU BRANCH), Goulds Pumps (NY) Inc. (TAIWAN BRANCH), Goulds Pumps (PA) LLC, Goulds Pumps Administration Inc., Goulds Pumps Canada Inc., Goulds Pumps Co. Ltd., Goulds Pumps LLC, Goulds QSF LLC, Hartzell Aerospace, Hydro Air Industries, ITT (China) Investment Co. Ltd., ITT (China) Investment Co. Ltd. (SHANGHAI BRANCH), ITT (Shanghai) Fluid Technology Co. Ltd., ITT Aerospace Controls LLC, ITT Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, ITT Automotive Enterprises Inc., ITT Blakers PTY Ltd, ITT Blakers Unit Trust, ITT Bombas Goulds do Brasil Ltda., ITT Bornemann GmbH, ITT Bornemann-Goulds Pumps S.R.L., ITT C'treat LLC, ITT Cannon (Hong Kong) LTD, ITT Cannon (Hong Kong) LTD (TAIWAN BRANCH), ITT Cannon Electronics (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd, ITT Cannon GmbH, ITT Cannon GmbH (DENMARK BRANCH), ITT Cannon Korea Ltd., ITT Cannon LLC, ITT Cannon LLC (DUBAI BRANCH), ITT Cannon Ltd., ITT Cannon Mexico Inc., ITT Cannon Veam Italia s.r.l., ITT Cannon de Mexico S.A. de C.V., ITT Community Development Corporation, ITT Corporation India PVT. Ltd., ITT Egypt LLC, ITT Engineered Valves LLC, ITT Enidine GmbH, ITT Enidine Inc., ITT Finance Hong Kong Ltd., ITT Fluid Technology Asia Pte Ltd., ITT Fluid Technology International (Thailand) LTD., ITT Fluid Technology International Inc., ITT Fluid Technology International Inc. (DUBAI BRANCH), ITT Fluid Technology International Inc. (RUSSIAN BRANCH), ITT Fluid Technology S.A., ITT Germany Holdings GmbH, ITT Goulds Pumps Colombia S.A.S., ITT Goulds Pumps Inc., ITT Goulds Pumps Inc. (GREECE BRANCH), ITT High Precision Manufactured Products (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., ITT Holding LLC, ITT Holdings Czech Republic s.r.o., ITT Industries France S.A.S., ITT Industries Global S.a.r.l., ITT Industries Holdings Inc., ITT Industries Holdings Limited, ITT Industries Limited, ITT Industries Luxembourg S.a r.l., ITT Industries Rus LLC, ITT Industries Spain SL, ITT International Holdings Inc., ITT International Luxembourg S.a r.l., ITT Investments Luxembourg S.a.r.l., ITT Iran S.K., ITT Italia s.r.l., ITT Italy Holding Srl, ITT Japan B.V., ITT Korea Holding B.V., ITT LLC, ITT Luxembourg Europe Sarl, ITT Luxembourg Worldwide Sarl, ITT Manufacturing Enterprises LLC, ITT Motion Technologies America LLC, ITT Motion Technologies GmbH, ITT Motion Technologies LLC, ITT Motion Technologies Luxembourg S.a.r.l., ITT Motion Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V, ITT Netherlands B.V., ITT Netherlands Europe B.V., ITT Netherlands Worldwide B.V., ITT Rheinhuette Pumps LLC, ITT Rheinhutte Benelux B.V., ITT Rheinhutte Pumpen Austria GmbH, ITT Rheinhutte Pumpen Co. Ltd., ITT Rheinhutte Pumpen GmbH, ITT Rheinhutte Pumpen do Brasil Industria de Bombas Ltda., ITT Saudi Co., ITT Technical Services S.K., ITT Torque Systems Inc., ITT Water & Wastewater U.S.A. Inc., ITT Water Technology (TX) LLC, InTelCo Management LLC, InTelCo Properties LLC, Industrial Tube Company LLC, Industries QSF LLC, International Motion Control, International Motion Control Inc., International Standard Electric Corporation, International Telephone & Telegraph Corp., K and M Electronics, Kentucky Carbon Corporation, Koni BV, Koni France SAS, Koni NA LLC, LLMZ Kamax, Leland Properties Inc., Matrix Composites, Matrix Composites Inc., Nova Analytics, O.I. Corporation, PT ITT Fluid Technology Indonesia, Pci Membranes, Precision Stainless, Qingdao Kamax Buffer Equipment Company Ltd., Qume, Rheinhutte Pumps Nordic Filial, Rheinhutte Pumpen Group, Rule Industries, Rule Industries LLC, SRA International's Airport Operations Solutions (AOS) group, STX Pte. Ltd, Shanghai Goulds Pumps Co. Ltd., Shanghai Hengtong Purified Water Development, Shanghai Hengtong Water Treatment Engineering, Sinton Engineering Group, Standard Electric, Standard Tecknik Services, Stanford Telecommunications Inc, Svedala Robot BV, TDS Corporate Services LLC, Uniservice Wellpoint, Venus Holdco LLC, WAM China Ltd., WC Wolverine Holdings Inc., Water Pollution Control Corp., Wolverine Advanced Materials (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Wolverine Advanced Materials Asia Limited, Wolverine Advanced Materials GmbH, Wolverine Advanced Materials LLC, Wolverine Advanced Materials LLC (INDIA BRANCH), Wolverine Automotive Holdings Inc., Wolverine Brasil Representacao Ltda., Wolverine Japan KK, Wolverine Press (Changshu) Co. Ltd., Wolverine/Tekno Laminates and Composites Ltda., and YSI Inc.The following companies are subsidiares of Dover: ALMATEC Maschinenbau GmbH, Accelerated Production Systems, Advansor A/S, Advansor Dover International (Poland) sp. z o.o, Alfred Fueling Systems Holdco Ltd., Alfred Fueling Systems Inc., Alfred Fueling Systems Intermediate Holdco Ltd., All-Flo Pump Company Limited business, Anman LLC, Anthony Equity Holdings Inc., Anthony Holdings Inc., Anthony Inc., Anthony International Foreign Sales Corp., Anthony International Holding Company, Anthony Mexico Holdings LLC, Anthony North Holdco Inc., Anthony Specialty Glass LLC, Anthony TemperBent GP LLC, Automatik Grundstucksverwaltung GmbH & Co. KG, Automatik Plastics Machinery (Taiwan) Ltd., Automatik Plastics Machinery Sdn. Bhd., BSC Filters Limited, Background2 Limited, Belanger Inc., Belvac Middle East FZE, Belvac Production Machinery Inc., BlitzRotary GmbH, Butler Engineering and Marketing S.P.A., CEP Liquidation LLC, CP Formation LLC, CPC, CPC Europe Inc., CPI Products Inc., Caldera, Caldera Inc., Canada Organization & Development LLC, Chief Automotive Technologies (Shanghai) Trading Company Ltd., Chippewa Square Captive Insurance Company, Colder Products Company GmbH, Colder Products Company LTD, Cook Compression BV, Cook Compression LLC, Cook Compression Limited, Cook-MFS Inc., DD1 Inc., DDI Properties Inc., DE-STA-CO Benelux B.V., DE-STA-CO FRANCE, DE-STA-CO Shanghai Co. Ltd., DFH Corporation, DSR BZ Holdings LLC, De Sta Co (Asia) Company Limited, De-Sta-Co Cylinders Inc., DeStaCo Europe GmbH, Delaware Capital Formation Inc., Delaware Capital Holdings Inc., Destaco Ema Industria e Comercio Ltda., Dover (China) Investment Co. Ltd. , Dover (Schweiz) Holding GmbH, Dover (Shanghai) Industrial Co. Ltd., Dover (Shenzhen) Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Dover (Suzhou) Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Dover Asia Trading Private Ltd., Dover Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Dover Business Services EMEA Limited, Dover Business Services LLC, Dover Business Services Philippines Corporation, Dover CLP Formation Limited Partnership, Dover CR spol s r.o., Dover Canada Finance LP, Dover Canada Holdings ULC, Dover Canada Operations ULC, Dover Corporation Regional Headquarters, Dover DEI Services Inc., Dover Denmark Holdings ApS, Dover EMEA FZCO, Dover Energy, Dover Energy UK Ltd, Dover Engineered Systems Inc., Dover Engineered Systems UK Ltd, Dover Europe Inc., Dover Europe Sarl, Dover Fluids Inc., Dover Fluids UK Ltd, Dover France Holdings S.A.S., Dover France Participations SAS, Dover France Technologies, Dover Fueling Solutions UK Limited, Dover Germany GmbH, Dover Global Holdings LLC, Dover Global Trading Pte. Ltd., Dover Holdings de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Dover India Pvt. Ltd., Dover Intercompany Services UK Limited, Dover International B.V., Dover International Operations Inc., Dover International Ventures Inc., Dover International Ventures Tunisia S.a.r.l., Dover International ithalat ihracat ve Pazarlama Limited Sirketi, Dover Italy Holdings S.r.l., Dover Luxembourg Finance Sarl, Dover Luxembourg Participations Sarl, Dover Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Dover Luxembourg Services Sarl, Dover Operations South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Dover Overseas Ventures Inc., Dover Refrigeration & Food Equipment Inc., Dover Refrigeration & Food Equipment UK Ltd, Dover Resources International de Mexico S. de R.L. C.V., Dover Solutions Colombia SAS, Dover Southeast Asia (Thailand) Ltd., Dover Spain Holdings S.L., Dover UK Pensions Limited, Dover WSCR Holding LLC, Dover WSCR LLC, Dover do Brasil Ltda., Dow-Key Microwave Corporation, Dressor Wayne Data Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Dressor Wayne Fuel Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, EOA Systems Inc., Ebs-Ray Holdings Pty Ltd, Ebs-Ray Industries Pty. Ltd., Ebs-Ray Pumps Pty. Ltd., Em-tec GmbH, Ettlinger Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH, Ettlinger Management Inc., Ettlinger North America LP, Ettlinger Vertrieb und Service GmbH & Co. KG, Ettlinger Verwaltungs-GmbH, Fairbanks Environmental Limited, Ferguson CO. S.A., Fibrelite Composites Limited, Fibresec Holdings Limited, Fibresec Limited, Finder, Finder Oriental (Beijing) Trading Co. Ltd, Finder Pompe S.R.L., Finder United Saudi Arabia Company, GAL LLC, GIIER LLC, Gala Industries Asia Limited, Gala Industries Incorporated, Gala Kunststoff-und Kautschukmaschinen GmbH, Guangdong Tokheim LIYUAN Oil Industry Technology Limited Company, Highland Park Insurance Company, Hill PHOENIX Inc., Hill PHOENIX WIC LLC, Hill Phoenix Costa Rica Sociedad De Responsabilidad Limitada, Hill Phoenix El Salvador Limitada de Capital Variable, Hill Phoenix Guatemala Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix Honduras Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Hiltap Fittings Ltd., Hydro Systems, Hydro Systems Europe Ltd., Hydronova Australia-NZ Pty Ltd, Industrial Motion Control LLC, Inpro/Seal LLC, International Trade and Equipment B.V., JK Group SPA, JK Group USA Inc., K&L Microwave DR Inc., K&L Microwave Inc., K. S. Boca Inc., KPS (Beijing) Petroleum Equipment Trading Co Ltd., KPS Asia Sdn. Bhd., KPS Fueling Solutions Sdn. Bhd., KPS Hong Kong Holding Limited, KPS UK Limited, KS Formation Inc., KS Liquidation Inc., KSLP Liquidation L.P., Kiian Digital (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Knappco LLC, Lianyngang Jump Petroleum and Chemical Machinery Co. Ltd., Liquip, Liquip International Pty Limited, MARKEM FZ SA, MARKEM Holdings Inc., MARKEM International Inc., MARKEM S.A. de C.V., MARKEM Tag Inc., MARKEM UK Holdings 1 Unlimited, MARKEM UK Holdings 2 Limited, MIP Holdings Inc., MS Printing Solutions S.R.L., Maag Automatik GmbH, Maag Automatik Inc., Maag Automatik Plastics Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Maag Automatik Srl, Maag Pump Systems (US) Inc., Maag Pump Systems AG, Maag Pump Systems SAS, Marathon Equipment Company (Delaware), Markem Imaje Center of Competencies Spain S.L.U., Markem-Imaje, Markem-Imaje (China) Co. Limited, Markem-Imaje A/S, Markem-Imaje AB, Markem-Imaje AG, Markem-Imaje AS, Markem-Imaje Application Innovation Center Sarl, Markem-Imaje B.V., Markem-Imaje CSAT GmbH, Markem-Imaje Co. Ltd., Markem-Imaje GmbH, Markem-Imaje Holding, Markem-Imaje Identificacao de Produtos Ltda., Markem-Imaje Inc., Markem-Imaje India Private Limited, Markem-Imaje Industries, Markem-Imaje Industries Limited, Markem-Imaje KK, Markem-Imaje LLC, Markem-Imaje Limited, Markem-Imaje Ltd., Markem-Imaje N.V., Markem-Imaje Oy, Markem-Imaje Pty Ltd, Markem-Imaje S.A., Markem-Imaje S.A. de C.V., Markem-Imaje S.r.l. a socio unico, Markem-Imaje SAS, Markem-Imaje Sdn Bhd, Markem-Imaje Software Development Centre Pvt. Ltd., Markem-Imaje Spain S.A.U, Markem-Imaje Unipessoal Lda (Portugal), Markpoint Holding AB, Midland Manufacturing LLC, Mouvex, Neptune Chemical Pump Company, Northern Lights (Nevada) Inc., Northern Lights Funding LP, Northern Lights Investments LLC, Nova Controls Inc., OK International (UK) Ltd., OK International Holdings Inc., OK International Inc., OPW Engineered Systems Inc., OPW Fluid Transfer Group Europe B.V., OPW Fluids Group Inc., OPW France, OPW Fuel Management Systems Inc., OPW Fueling Components (SuZhou) Co. Ltd., OPW Fueling Components LLC, OPW Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OPW Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., OPW Slovakia s.r.o., OPW Sweden AB, Officine Meccaniche Sirio S.R.L., PDQ Manufacturing Inc., PISCES by OPW Inc., PSG (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, PSG (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., PSG Worldwide Inc., Petro Vend Sp. z o.o., Pike Machine Products Inc., Piston OPW Inc., Pole/Zero Acquisition Inc., Precision Brasil Equipamentos E Servicos Para Postos De Combustiveis Ltda., Precision Service - Servicos De Manutencao E Instalacao De Postos De Abastecimento De Combustivel Ltda., Pump Management Services Co. LLC, RAV Equipment U.S.A. Inc., RAV Equipos Espana S.L., RAV France, Rav Equipment UK Limited, Ravaglioli Deutschland GmbH, Ravaglioli S.P.A., Reduction Engineering GmbH, Revod Corporation, Revod Finance Ireland Limited, Revod Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Revod SAS, Revod Sweden AB, Robohand Inc., Rosario Handel B.V., Rotary Lift Consolidated (Haimen) Co. Ltd, SE Liquidation LLC, SWEP A.G., SWEP Germany GmbH, SWEP Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., SWEP North America Inc., SWEP Slovakia s.r.o., SWEP Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Scheer Pelletizing Systems & Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Scheer Taiwan Machinery Co. Ltd., Seabiscuit Motorsports Inc., Simmons Sirvey Corporation, So. Cal. Soft-Pak Incorporated, Solaris Laser S.A., Space S.R.L., Start Italiana Petrol Cihazlari Sanayi Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Start Italiana S.R.L., Swep Energy Oy, Swep International A.B., Swep Japan K.K., Sys-Tech Solutions Inc., TQC Quantium Quality S.A. de C.V., TTSI III Inc., TWG Canada Consolidated Inc., TXHI LLC, Tartan Textile Services Inc., The Curotto-Can LLC, The Heil Co., Tokheim Belgium, Tokheim China Company Limited, Tokheim GmbH, Tokheim Group, Tokheim Guardian Venture Sdn. Bhd, Tokheim Hengshan Technologies (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Tokheim Holding, Tokheim Holding B.V., Tokheim India Private Limited, Tokheim Netherlands B.V., Tokheim Sofitam Applications, Trans - Logistic Group S.R.L., Tulsa Winch Inc., Unified Brands Inc., Val TemperBent Glass L.P., Vectron Frequency Devices (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Vehicle Service Group LLC, Vos Food Store Equipment Ltd., Warn Automotive LLC, Waukesha Bearings, Waukesha Bearings Limited, Waukesha Bearings Russia LLC, Wayne Fuel Management UK Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems (Rus) Limited Liability Company, Wayne Fueling Systems Australia Pty Ltd, Wayne Fueling Systems Canada ULC, Wayne Fueling Systems Deutschland GmbH, Wayne Fueling Systems Italia S.R.L., Wayne Fueling Systems LLC, Wayne Fueling Systems Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems Pte. Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems Sweden AB, Wayne Fueling Systems UK Holdco Ltd., Wayne Industria e Comercio Ltda., Wei Li Pump Shanghai Co. LTD., WellMark, and Wilden Pump and Engineering LLC.Randgold Resources Limited is engaged in gold mining, exploration and related activities. The Company's activities are focused on West and Central Africa. The Company operates through the gold mining segment. The Company operates various mines, such as Morila, Loulo, Gounkoto, Tongon and Kibali. The Company is exploring in African countries, such as Mali, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Company also holds an interest in the Massawa project. The Company holds Morila Limited, which holds interests in the Morila mine in Mali. As of December 31, 2016, Morila mine has produced 122,370 ounces (oz) of gold. The Company holds a controlling interest in the Loulo mine, located in Mali, through Societe des Mines de Loulo SA (Loulo). The Loulo mine is mining from over two underground mines. As of December 31, 2016, Loulo mine has produced 350,604 oz of gold. It has a controlling interest in the Gounkoto mine through Societe des Mines de Gounkoto SA.

Read MoreWall Street analysts have given Old Mutual a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but Old Mutual wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.Reckitt Benckiser Group plc manufactures, markets, and sells health, hygiene, and home products. The company offers acne treatment creams, facial washes, and cleansing pads; disinfection, hygiene, and first aid products; condoms, sex toys, and lubricants; heartburn and indigestion solutions; and cough and chest congestion, multi-symptom, and sinus remedies for adults and children under the Clearasil, Dettol, Durex, Gaviscon, and Mucinex brands. It also provides analgesics; footcare and footwear products; sore throat medications; and women's beauty products under the Nurofen, Scholl, Strepsils, and Veet brand. In addition, the company offers fragrances and devices; water softeners; home cleaning products; dish washes; toilet bowl cleaners; disinfectants; sprays, baits, and plug-ins for pest control; stain removals; and fabric washing products under the Air Wick, Calgon, Cillit Bang, Finish, Harpic, Lysol, Mortein, Vanish, and Woolite brands, as well as infant and child nutrition products under the Enfamil and Nutramigen brands. It operates in the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia/CIS, Turkey, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, and internationally. The company was founded in 1823 and is headquartered in Slough, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Tesco: Adminstore Limited, Adsega Limited, Alfred Preedy & Sons (Trustees) Limited, Alfred Preedy & Sons Limited, Anthony Heagney Limited, Arena (Jersey) Management Limited, Armitage Finance Unlimited, Armitage Luxembourg s.? r.l., BLT Holdings 2010 Limited, Bath Upper Bristol Road Management, Bedminster Estates Limited, Beehythe Estates limited, Berry Lane Management Company Limited, Blinkbox Books Limited, BlinxBox, Booker Group, Brian Fords Discount Store Limited, Broadfields Management Limited, Brookmaker (GP) Limited, Broughton Retail Park Nominee 1 Limited, Broughton Retail Park Nominee 2 Limited, Broughton Retail Park Nominee 3 Limited, Broughton Retail Park Nominee 4 Limited, Buckingham Road (Bletchley) Management Company Limited, Bugden Ltd, Buttoncable Limited, Buttoncase Limited, Canterbury Road Management Limited, Cardiff Cathays Terrace Management Company Limited, Careneed News Limited, Cheshunt Finance Unlimited, Cheshunt Holdings Guernsey Limited, Cheshunt Hungary Servicing Limited Liability Company, Cheshunt Luxembourg S.? r.l., Cheshunt Overseas LLP, China Property Holdings (HK) Limited, Chirac Limited, Cirrus Finance (2009) Limited, Cirrus Finance Limited, Cirrus Luxembourg s.? r.l., Clarepharm Limited, Clondalkin Properties Limited, Comar Limited, Commercial Investments Limited, Crazy Prices, Crest Ostrava a.s, Cullens Holdings Limited, Cullens Stores Limited, Daily Wrap Produce Limited, Day And Nite Stores Limited, Delamare Cards Holdco Limited, Delamare Cards MTN Issuer plc, Delamare Finance PLC, Delamare Group Holdings Limited, Delamare Holdings BV Netherlands, Delamare Luxembourg s.? r.l. Luxembourg, Delamare One Limited, Dunnhumby Ventures LLC, ELH Insurance Limited, Edinburgh Butterfly Farm Limited, Edson Investments Limited, Edson Properties Limited, Ek-Chai Distribution System Co. Ltd., Euphorium (London) Limited, Euphorium (North London) Limited, Euphorium Group Limited, Euphorium IP Limited, Europa Foods Limited, Faraday Properties Limited, Flitwick Pharmacies Limited, Food & Wine Lovers Limited, Forum Liberec s.r.o, Freds Food Construction Limited, Freehold and Leasehold Property Fund, Gain Land Limited, Genesis sp. z o.o., Gibbs News Limited, Gibbs Newsagents Limited, Gida Sanayi A.S., Giraffe, Giraffe Cafe Limited, Giraffe Concepts Limited, Golden Island Management Services Limited, HIT hypermarket Sp. z o. o., Halesworth SPV Limited, Harris and Hoole Holdings Limited, Harris and Hoole Limited, Harris and Hoole Nominees Limited, Homeplus, Hymall Co. Ltd., J E Properties Holdings Limited, Jasper Sp. z o. o. Poland, KSS Retail Limited, Kabaty Investments Tesco (Polska) Sp. z o. o. Sp.k, Kingsway Fresh Foods Ltd, Koxka Hungary Refrigeration LLC, Launchgrain Limited, Launchtable Limited, Laws Stores Limited, Lazada Group S.A., Lee (Southern) Limited, Lek?ren? Tesco Bansk? Bystrica k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Dunajsk? Streda k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Ko?ice k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Lama k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Nitra k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Petr?alka k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Pie?tany k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Pre?ov Vukov k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Senec k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Spi?sk? Nov? Ves k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Trenc??n s.r.o. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Zlat? Piesky k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Zvolen k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Linebush III Holdings Limited, Linebush III Limited, Linebush IV Limited, Linebush Limited, Linebush V Limited, London and Home Counties Superstores Limited, Lowfoods Limited, M & W Limited, Merrion Shopping Centre Ltd, Mills (East Midlands) Limited, Mills (West Midlands) Limited, Mills Group Holdings Limited, Mills Group Limited, Mobcast Services, Monread Developments Limited, Morgam Holdings Limited, Morgam News Limited, Motorcause Limited, NPL (Hardgate) Limited, Nabola Development Limited, NutriCentre Limited, OC FORUM Liberec Ltd., Oakwood Distribution Limited, Obchodn? dom Bratislava s.ro, Obchodn? dom Ko?ice s.ro., Obchodn? dom Nitra s.ro., Obchodn? dom Pre?ov s.ro., Old FEHC Inc., Old FEPC LLC, One Stop Community Stores Ltd, One Stop Convenience Stores Limited, One Stop Stores Limited, One Stop Stores Trustee Services Limited, Orpingford, Orpington (Station Road) Limited, Oxford Fox and Hounds Management Company Limited, PEJ Property Developments Limited, Paper Chain (East Anglia) Limited, Pharaway Properties Limited, Power Supermarkets Limited, Premier Garage (Worthing) Limited, Pulford Foods Limited, R.J.D. Holdings, Retail Property Co. Ltd, S Bottomley & Bros Limited, Sanders Supermarkets Limited, Sandtable Limited, Sarcon (No. 239) Limited, Seacroft Green Nominee 1 Limited, Seacroft Green Nominee 2 Limited, Shire Park Limited, Shuke Advertising (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Snowman Retail 1 Limited, Snowman Retail 2 Limited, Sociomantic AB, Sociomantic Labs B.V, Sociomantic Labs Inc, Sociomantic Labs Internet Hizmetleri Limited ?ireketi, Sociomantic Labs LLC, Sociomantic Labs Limited, Sociomantic Labs Private Limited, Sociomantic Labs Pte Ltd, Sociomantic Labs S.r.l, Sociomantic Labs SARL, Sociomantic Labs Servicos Web Ltda, Sociomantic Labs Sp.z.o.o., Sociomantic Labs s.r.o., Sociomantic S.L.U., Sociomantic labs GmbH, Spen Hill Developments (Holdings) Ltd, Spen Hill Developments (Portishead) Ltd, Spen Hill Developments (Tonbridge) Limited, Spen Hill Developments Limited, Spen Hill Management Limited, Spen Hill Properties (Holdings) plc, Spen Hill Properties (Southend) Limited, Spen Hill Regeneration Limited, Spen Hill Residential No 1 Limited, Spen Hill Residential No 2 Limited, Station House Welling Management Limited, Statusfloat Limited, Stewarts Supermarkets Limited, Streatham Management Company Limited, T & S Management Services Limited, T & S Properties Limited, T & S Stores Limited, TESCO (POLSKA) sp. z o.o., TESCO Akad?mia K?pz?si ?s Fejleszt?si Kor?tolt Felelss?g T?rsas?g, TESCO MOBILE POLSKA SP. Z O.O., TESCO STORES SR a.s., Tapesilver Limited, Teesport (GP) Limited, Teesport (Nominee) Limited, Telegraph Properties (Kirkby) Limited, Tesco (Foxtrot 1) Limited, Tesco (Foxtrot 2) Limited, Tesco (Fujian) Industry Limited, Tesco (Jersey) Limited, Tesco (Overseas) Ltd, Tesco (Yorkshire) Limited, Tesco Aqua (1LP) Limited, Tesco Aqua (3LP) Limited, Tesco Aqua (FinCo1) Limited, Tesco Aqua (FinCo2) Limited, Tesco Aqua (GP) Limited, Tesco Aqua (Nominee 1) Limited, Tesco Aqua (Nominee 2) Limited, Tesco Aqua (Nominee Holdco) Limited, Tesco Atrato (1LP) Limited, Tesco Atrato (GP) Limited, Tesco Barbers Wood Limited, Tesco Bengaluru Private Limited, Tesco Blue (1LP) Limited, Tesco Blue (FinCo2) Limited, Tesco Blue (GP) Limited, Tesco Blue (Nominee 1) Limited, Tesco Blue (Nominee 2) Limited, Tesco Blue (Nominee Holdco) Limited, Tesco Capital No. 1 Limited, Tesco Capital No. 2 Limited, Tesco Card Services Limited, Tesco Card Services Limited, Tesco Card Services Ltd., Tesco Chile Sourcing Limitada, Tesco Coral (GP) Limited, Tesco Corporate Treasury Services PLC, Tesco Depot Propco Limited, Tesco Distribution Holdings Limited, Tesco Distribution Limited, Tesco Dorney (1LP) Limited, Tesco Dorney (GP) Limited, Tesco Dystrybucja Sp. z.o.o., Tesco EU IT Services s.r.o., Tesco Employees Share Scheme Trustees Limited, Tesco Estates Limited, Tesco Europe B.V. Netherlands, Tesco Family Dining Limited, Tesco Food Sourcing Brazil Representa??o De Servi?os Ltda., Tesco Food Sourcing Limited, Tesco Foundation (Nadacia Tesco), Tesco Freetime Limited, Tesco Fuchsia (1LP) Limited, Tesco Fuel Limited, Tesco Global Employment Company Limited, Tesco Guangdong (HK) Co. Limited, Tesco High Beech Limited, Tesco Holdings BV, Tesco Holdings Limited, Tesco Home Shopping Limited, Tesco Hungary (Holdings) Limited, Tesco International Franchising s.r.o., Tesco International Internet Retailing Limited, Tesco International Services Limited, Tesco International Sourcing Limited, Tesco Ireland Holdings Limited, Tesco Ireland Limited, Tesco Ireland Pension Trustees Limited, Tesco Jade (GP) Limited, Tesco Joint Buying Service (Shanghai) Co Limited, Tesco Kipa Kitle Pazarlama Ticaret Lojistik ve, Tesco Kirkby (General Partner) Limited, Tesco Kirkby (LP) Limited, Tesco Kirkby (Nominee 1) Limited, Tesco Kirkby (Nominee 2) Limited, Tesco Kirkby (Nominee Holdco) Limited, Tesco Kirkby (Unitholder 1) Limited, Tesco Kirkby (Unitholder2) Limited, Tesco Lagoon GP Limited, Tesco Licences Limited, Tesco Lotus Retail Growth, Tesco Lotus Retail Growth Freehold and Leasehold Property Fund, Tesco Maintenance Limited, Tesco Mauritius Holdings Limited, Tesco Mobile (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Tesco Mobile CR s.r.o., Tesco Mobile Communications Limited, Tesco Mobile Ireland Limited, Tesco Mobile Ireland Limited, Tesco Mobile Limited, Tesco Mobile Services Limited, Tesco Mobile Slovakia s.r.o, Tesco Mobile Slovakia s.r.o., Tesco Mobile CR, Tesco Nanjing Zhongshan, Tesco Nanjing Zhongshan (HK) Co. Limited, Tesco Navona (1LP) Limited, Tesco Navona (GP) Limited, Tesco Navona (Nominee 1) Limited, Tesco Navona (Nominee 2) Limited, Tesco Navona (Nominee Holdco) Limited, Tesco Navona PL Propco Limited, Tesco Opticians Limited, Tesco Overseas (Holdings) Limited, Tesco Overseas Investments Limited, Tesco Overseas ULC, Tesco Passaic (1LP) Limited, Tesco Passaic (GP) Limited, Tesco Passaic (Nominee 1) Limited, Tesco Passaic (Nominee 2) Limited, Tesco Passaic (Nominee Holdco) Limited, Tesco Passaic PL Propco Limited, Tesco Pension (Jade) Limited, Tesco Pension Investment Limited, Tesco Pension Trustees Limited, Tesco Personal Finance, Tesco Personal Finance Compare Limited, Tesco Personal Finance Group Limited, Tesco Property (No.1) Limited, Tesco Property (Nominees) (No.1) Limited, Tesco Property (Nominees) (No.2) Limited, Tesco Property (Nominees) Limited, Tesco Property A.S., Tesco Property Finance 1 Holdco Limited, Tesco Property Finance 1 PLC, Tesco Property Holdings (No. 2) Limited, Tesco Property Holdings Limited, Tesco Property Limited, Tesco Property Nominees (No.5) Limited, Tesco Property Nominees (No.6) Limited, Tesco Property Partner (GP No.2) Limited, Tesco Property Partner (GP) Limited, Tesco Property Partner (No.1) Limited, Tesco Property Partner (No.2) Limited, Tesco Red (1LP) Limited, Tesco Red (GP) Limited, Tesco Red (Nominee 2) Limited, Tesco Red (Nominee Holdco) Limited, Tesco Sarum (1LP) Limited, Tesco Sarum (GP) Limited, Tesco Seacroft Limited, Tesco Secretaries Limited, Tesco Services Limited, Tesco Sourcing India Private Limited, Tesco Stores (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Tesco Stores (Thailand) Ltd, Tesco Stores CR a.s., Tesco Stores Limited, Tesco Technology Services HK Limited, Tesco Treasury Services PLC, Tesco Trustee Company of Ireland Limited, Tesco Underwriting Limited, Tesco Vin Plus SA, Tesco Worldwide Limited, Tesco for Thais Foundation, Tesco-Global Stores Privately Held Co. Ltd, Tesco.Com Limited, The Brookmaker Limited Partnership, The Teesport Limited Partnership Limited Partnership, The Tesco Aqua Limited Partnership Limited Partnership, The Tesco Atrato Limited Partnership, The Tesco Blue Limited Partnership Limited Partnership, The Tesco Coral Limited Partnership, The Tesco Dorney Limited Partnership, The Tesco Kirkby Limited Partnership Limited Partnership, The Tesco Navona Limited Partnership Limited Partnership, The Tesco Passaic Limited Partnership Limited Partnership, The Tesco Property (No.2) Limited Partnership, The Tesco Red Limited Partnership, The Tesco Sarum Limited Partnership, Trent Hypermarket Private Limited, Trigger Retail Ltd, Valiant Insurance Company DAC, Value House Properties Limited, Variable Preference, Ventnor High Street Management Company Limited, Verulam Properties (2001) Limited, Verulam Properties Limited, Victoria BB Sp z.o.o., WE7, WSC Properties Limited, Wanze Properties (Dundalk) Limited, Weymouth Avenue (Dorchester) Limited, Whitecastle Properties Limited, Wm. Low Supermarkets Limited, Woolwich Central Residents Management Company Limited, Worple Road Plc, Xiamen Firste Property Limited, Xiamen Firste Property Limited, aAcklam Management Company Limited, dunnhumby (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, dunnhumby (Thailand) Limited, dunnhumby Canada Limited, dunnhumby Consulting Services India Private Limited, dunnhumby Czech s.r.o., dunnhumby Employment Company Limited, dunnhumby Holding Limited, dunnhumby Hungary Kft, dunnhumby IT Services India Private Limited, dunnhumby Inc, dunnhumby International Limited, dunnhumby Ireland Limited, dunnhumby Italia Srl., dunnhumby Limited, dunnhumby Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., dunnhumby Netherlands B.V., dunnhumby Norge A.S., dunnhumby Overseas Limited, dunnhumby Poland Sp z.o.o, dunnhumby Slovakia s.r.o., dunnhumby South Africa (Pty) Ltd, dunnhumby Trustees Limited, and dunnuhumby.TransMontaigne Partners L.P. provides integrated terminaling, storage, transportation, and related services. The company operates through Gulf Coast terminals, Midwest terminals and pipeline system, Brownsville terminals, River terminals, Southeast terminals, and West Coast terminals segments. It offers its services for companies engaged in the trading, distribution, and marketing of light and heavy refined petroleum products, crude oil, chemicals, fertilizers, and other liquid products. The company operates 8 refined product terminals in Florida with approximately 7.0 million barrels of aggregate active storage capacity; a 67 mile interstate refined products pipeline; 2 refined product terminals with approximately 5 million barrels of active storage capacity; and 5.4 million barrels of aggregate storage capacity. It operates 1 crude oil terminal in Cushing with an aggregate active storage capacity of approximately 1.0 million barrels; 1 refined product terminal located in Oklahoma City with aggregate active storage capacity of approximately 0.2 million barrels; 1 refined product terminal located in Brownsville with an aggregate active storage capacity of approximately 0.9 million barrels; and a 16 mile LPG pipeline from its Brownsville facility to the U.S. border. In addition, the company operates a 174 mile bi-directional refined products; 7.1 million barrel terminal facility on Houston Ship Channel; 12 refined product terminals with approximately 2.7 million barrels of aggregate active storage capacity, as well as operates a dock facility; 22 refined product terminals located along Colonial and Plantation pipelines with an aggregate active storage capacity of approximately 11.9 million barrels; and 2 refined product terminals with active storage capacity of approximately 5.0 million barrels. TransMontaigne Partners L.P. was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of LyondellBasell Industries: A. Schulman, A. Schulman 's-Gravendeel B.V., A. Schulman AG, A. Schulman Asia Limited, A. Schulman Belgium BVBA, A. Schulman Canada Ltd., A. Schulman Castellon S.L., A. Schulman Europe GmbH & Co. KG, A. Schulman Europe International B.V., A. Schulman Europe Verwaltungs GmbH, A. Schulman Gainsborough Ltd, A. Schulman GmbH, A. Schulman GmbH (Austrian Branch), A. Schulman Holding Company France S.A.S., A. Schulman Holdings (France) S.A.S., A. Schulman Holdings S.a.r.l., A. Schulman Inc., A. Schulman Inc. Limited, A. Schulman International Inc., A. Schulman International Services BVBA, A. Schulman Ireland Limited, A. Schulman Magyarorszag Kereskedelmi Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, A. Schulman Nordic AB, A. Schulman Plastics (Branch), A. Schulman Plastics (Dongguan) Ltd., A. Schulman Plastics (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., A. Schulman Plastics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., A. Schulman Plastics BVBA, A. Schulman Plastics India Private Limited, A. Schulman Plastics PTY. LTD., A. Schulman Plastics S.r.l., A. Schulman Plastics SAS, A. Schulman Plastics bvba Bornem Sucursala Cluj-Napoca, A. Schulman Plastics organizacni slozka, A. Schulman Plastk Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, A. Schulman Plasticos do Brasil Ltda., A. Schulman Polska Sp. z o.o., A. Schulman Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, A. Schulman S.A.S., A. Schulman S.a.r.l., A. Schulman Thermoplastic Compounds Limited, A. Schulman Thermoplastic Compounds Sdn Bhd, A. Schulman de Mexico S.A. de C.V., A. Schulman del Peru S.A.C., A.Schulman Poznan Sp. Z o.o., ARCO Chemical, AS Global Holdings Inc., AS Mex Hold S.A. de C.V., AS Worldwide LLC, AS Worldwide LLC & Cie S.C.S., ASI Akron Land Co., ASI Employment S.A. de C.V., ASI Investments Holding Co., Al Waha Petrochemical Company, BKV Beteiligungs- und Kunststoffverwertungs-gesellschaft mbH, BMC Deutschland GmbH, BMC Dongguan Limited, BMC Far East Limited, BMC TetraDURTurkey Plastik Hammadde Kompozit Uretim Sanayi ve Ticaret Limted Sirketi, Basell (Thailand) Holdings B.V., Basell Advanced Polyolefins (Dalian) Co. Ltd., Basell Advanced Polyolefins (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Basell Advanced Polyolefins (Thailand) Company Ltd., Basell Arabie Investissements SAS, Basell Asia Pacific Limited, Basell Bayreuth Chemie GmbH, Basell Benelux B.V., Basell Chemie Koln GmbH, Basell Europe Holdings B.V., Basell Germany Holdings GmbH, Basell Holdings Middle East GmbH, Basell Iberica Poliolefinas Holdings S.L., Basell International Holdings B.V., Basell International Trading FZE, Basell Italia S.r.l, Basell Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Basell Moyen Orient Investissements SAS, Basell North America Inc., Basell Orlen Polyolefins Sp. Z.o.o., Basell Orlen Polyolefins Sprzedaz Sp. Z.o.o., Basell Poliolefinas Comercial Espagnola S.L., Basell Poliolefinas Iberica S.L., Basell Poliolefinas Ltda., Basell Poliolefinas S. de R.L. de C.V., Basell Poliolefine Italia S.r.l., Basell Polyolefin Istanbul Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Basell Polyolefine GmbH, Basell Polyolefines France S.A.S., Basell Polyolefins Company BVBA, Basell Polyolefins India Private Limited, Basell Polyolefins Korea Ltd., Basell Polyolefins UK Limited, Basell Sales & Marketing Company B.V., Basell Service Company B.V., Basell Slovakia s.r.o., Basell Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Basell UK Holdings Limited, Basell UK Ltd., Brindisi Servizi Generali S.c.a.r.l., Bulk Molding Compounds Inc., Bulk Molding Compounds Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bulk Molding Compounds do Brasil Industria de Plasticos Reforcados Ltda., Citadel Brazil Holdings LLC, Citadel Intermediate Holdings LLC, Citadel Plastics Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Citadel Plastics Holdings Inc., Citadel Plastics Mexico Holdings LLC, Citadel Plastics Netherlands Holdings LLC, Compagnie Petrochimique de Berre SAS, Compagnie de Distribution des Hydrocarbures SAS, EMS Holding Ltd., EPS Ethylen-Pipeline-Sud Geschaftsfuhrungs GmbH, EPS Ethylen-Pipeline-Sud GmbH & Co. KG, Elian S.A.S., Equistar Bayport LLC, Equistar Chemicals LP, Equistar GP LLC, Equistar LP LLC, Equistar Mont Belvieu Corporation, GuangZhou Basell Advanced Polyolefins Co. Ltd., HGGC Citadel Plastics Holdings Inc., HGGC Citadel Plastics Intermediate Holdings Inc., HMC Polymers Company Limited, HPC Holdings LLC, Hadlock Plastics LLC, Houston Refining LP, I.F.M. S.c.a.r.l., ICO Europe C.V., ICO Holdings LLC, ICO Holdings New Zealand Limited, ICO Petrochemical Cayman Islands, ICO Polymers Cayman Islands, Indelpro S.A. de C.V., Infraserv GmbH & Co. Hochst KG, Inmobiliaria Satchmo S. de R.L. de C.V., Innovacion Y Desarrollo en Materiales Avanzados A.C., J.R. Courtenay (N.Z.) Limited, LPI Holding Company, LYB (Barbados) SRL, LYB Advanced Polymer Solutions Ireland Limited, LYB Americas Finance Company LLC, LYB Equistar Holdings LLC, LYB Export Holdings Limited, LYB Exports Inc., LYB Finance Company B.V., LYB International Finance B.V., LYB International Finance II B.V., LYB International Finance III LLC, LYB Ireland 2 Limited, LYB Ireland Limited, LYB La Porte Hyperzone LLC, LYB Luxembourg S.a r.l., LYB Matrixx Holdings Inc., LYB Receivables LLC, LYB Trading Company B.V., LYB Treasury Services Ltd., Limited Liability Company "LyondellBasell Polyolefins", Limited Liability Company A. Schulman, Lucent Polymers Inc., Lyondell Asia Holdings Limited, Lyondell Centennial Corp., Lyondell Chemical Company, Lyondell Chemical Europe Inc., Lyondell Chemical Overseas Services Inc., Lyondell Chemical Products Europe LLC, Lyondell Chemical Properties L.P., Lyondell Chemical Technology 1 Inc., Lyondell Chemical Technology L.P., Lyondell Chemical Technology Management Inc., Lyondell Chemie (PO-11) B.V., Lyondell Chemie (POSM) B.V., Lyondell Chemie Nederland B.V., Lyondell Chimie France SAS, Lyondell China Holdings Limited, Lyondell Greater China Holdings Limited, Lyondell Greater China Ltd., Lyondell Greater China Trading Limited, Lyondell Japan Inc., Lyondell PO-11 C.V., Lyondell POJVGP LLC, Lyondell POJVLP LLC, Lyondell POTechGP Inc., Lyondell POTechLP Inc., Lyondell Refining Company LLC, Lyondell Refining I LLC, Lyondell South Asia Pte Ltd, LyondellBasell Acetyls Holdco LLC, LyondellBasell Acetyls LLC, LyondellBasell Advanced Polyolefins Mexico S.A. de C.V., LyondellBasell Australia (Holdings) Pty Ltd, LyondellBasell Australia Pty Ltd, LyondellBasell Brasil Ltda., LyondellBasell Canada Inc., LyondellBasell Central Europe Kft., LyondellBasell China Holdings B.V., LyondellBasell Circular Economy B.V., LyondellBasell Covestro Manufacturing Maasvlakte V.O.F., LyondellBasell Egypt LLC, LyondellBasell F&F Holdco LLC, LyondellBasell Finance Company, LyondellBasell Holdings France SAS, LyondellBasell Hungary Kft, LyondellBasell Industries Holdings B.V., LyondellBasell Industries N.V., LyondellBasell Investment LLC, LyondellBasell Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., LyondellBasell Polyolefin (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., LyondellBasell Services France S.A.S., LyondellBasell Subholdings B.V., LyondellBasell Taiwan Co. Ltd., LyondellBasell Transportation Company LLC, Millennium Chemicals, Natpet Schulman Specialty Plastic Compounds, Ningbo ZRCC Lyondell Chemical Co. Ltd., Ningbo ZRCC Lyondell Chemical Marketing Co. Ltd., OE Insurance Ltd, Oil Casualty Insurance Ltd., Oil Insurance Limited, PD Glycol LP, PO JV LP, PO Offtake LP, POSM II Limited Partnership L.P., POSM II Properties Partnership LLC, PT A.Schulman Plastics, PT ASchulman Plastics Commercial, PTT Chemical PCL, Poly Pacific Polymers Sdn. Bhd., Poly Pacific Pty. Ltd., PolyMirae Co. Ltd., Premix Holding Company, Premix Inc., Prime Colorants Inc., QCP B.V., QCP Holding B.V., QCP IP B.V., Quantum Composites Inc., RIGK GmbH Gesellschaft zur Ruckfuhrung industrieller and gewerblicher Kunstoffverpackungen mbH, Rayong Olefins Co. Ltd., Rexene - LDPE and PP Businesses, SCG ICO Polymers Company Limited, SJS Plastiblends, San Jacinto Rail Limited, Saudi Ethylene & Polyethylene Company, Saudi Polyolefins Company, Sociedad Espanola De Materiales Plasticos Semap S.A., Societe des Stockages Petroliers du Rhone SA, Solvay Engineered Polymers, Surplast S.A., TRV Thermische Ruckstandsverwertung GmbH & Co. KG, TRV Thermische Ruckstandsverwertung Verwaltungs-GmbH, Technology JV LP, The Matrixx Group Incorporated, ULSAN PP Co. Ltd., YNCORIS GmbH & Co. KG, Zylog Plastalloys, and tetra-DUR Kunststoff-Produktion GmbH.Wall Street analysts have given Hawaiian Macadamia Nut Orchards a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but Hawaiian Macadamia Nut Orchards wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.Sanchez Energy Corporation, an independent exploration and production company, focuses on the acquisition and development of U.S. onshore unconventional oil and natural gas resources. It engages in the horizontal development of resources from the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas. It also holds an undeveloped acreage position in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) in Mississippi and Louisiana. As of December 31, 2017, the company had assembled approximately 285,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford Shale; and owned approximately 37,000 net acres in the TMS. Sanchez Energy Corporation was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Read MoreTelefAnica Deutschland Holding AG provides integrated telecommunication services to private and business customers in Germany. It offers voice, data, and value-added services in mobile and fixed line networks; access to infrastructure and services for its wholesale partners; and digital products and services in the fields of Internet of Things. The company provides its products and services through a network of independently operated franchise and premium partner shops, and online and telesales channels, as well as indirect selling channels, such as partnerships and co-operations with retailers. It markets its products and services under the O2, Blau, AY YILDIZ, Ortel Mobile, FONIC, netzclub, and TArkeiSIM brand names. As of December 31, 2020, TelefAnica Deutschland Holding AG had approximately 47 million customers. The company was formerly known as TelefAnica Germany Verwaltungs GmbH and changed its name to TelefAnica Deutschland Holding AG in September 2012. The company is based in Munich, Germany. TelefAnica Deutschland Holding AG is a subsidiary of Telefonica Germany Holdings Limited.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of WESCO International: 1502218 Alberta Ltd., ALLNET Technologies Pty. Ltd., AXE Distribution Solutions Trinidad Ltd., Accu-Tech Corporation, Anixter (Barbados) SRL, Anixter (CIS) LLC, Anixter (Switzerland) Sarl, Anixter (U.K.) Limited, Anixter Argentina S.A., Anixter Asia Holdings Limited, Anixter Australia Pty. Ltd., Anixter Austria GmbH, Anixter Bahamas Limited, Anixter Belgium B.V.B.A., Anixter Cables y Manufacturas S.A. de C.V., Anixter Canada Inc., Anixter Canadian Holdings ULC, Anixter Chile S.A., Anixter Colombia S.A.S., Anixter Communications (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Anixter Communications (Shanghai) Co. Limited, Anixter Costa Rica S.A., Anixter Czech a.s., Anixter Danmark A/S, Anixter Deutschland GmbH, Anixter Distribuidor de Soluciones Empresariales e Industriales S.A., Anixter Distribution Ireland Limited, Anixter Dominicana SRL, Anixter Egypt LLC, Anixter Espana S.L., Anixter Eurotwo Holdings B.V., Anixter Fasteners Deutschland GmbH, Anixter Financial Inc., Anixter France SARL, Anixter Guatemala y Compania Limitada, Anixter Holdings Inc., Anixter Holdings Mexico LLC, Anixter Hong Kong Limited, Anixter Iletisim Sistemleri Pazarlama ve Ticaret A.S., Anixter Inc., Anixter India Private Limited, Anixter Information Systems LLC, Anixter International, Anixter Italia S.r.l., Anixter Jamaica Limited, Anixter Japan KK, Anixter Jorvex S.A.C., Anixter Limited, Anixter Logistica do Brasil LTDA, Anixter Logistica y Servicios S.A. de C.V., Anixter Magyarorszag Elektronikus Halozati Rendszer Kereskedelmi es Szolgaltato Kft, Anixter Mid Holdings B.V., Anixter Middle East FZE, Anixter Morocco SARL AU, Anixter Nederland B.V., Anixter New Zealand Limited, Anixter Norge A.N.S., Anixter Operaciones y Logistica s De RL De CV, Anixter Panama S.A., Anixter Pension Scheme Trustees Limited, Anixter Pension Trustees Limited, Anixter Peru S.A.C., Anixter Philippines Inc., Anixter Poland Sp.z.o.o., Anixter Portugal S.A., Anixter Power Solutions Canada Inc., Anixter Power Solutions Inc., Anixter Procurement Corporation, Anixter Puerto Rico Inc., Anixter Real-Estate LLC, Anixter Receivables Corporation, Anixter Saudi Arabia Limited, Anixter Singapore Pte. Ltd., Anixter Slovakia s.r.o., Anixter Sub Holdings B.V, Anixter Sverige AB, Anixter Thailand Inc., Anixter U.S. LLC, Anixter Venezuela Inc., Anixter de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Anixter do Brasil Ltda, Atlanta Electrical Distributors, Atlanta Electrical Distributors LLC, Atlas Gentech (NZ) Limited, Avon Electrical Supplies, B.E.L. Corporation, Brews Supply, Brown Wholesale Electric, Bruckner Supply, CBC LP Holdings LLC, CDW Holdco LLC, Calvert Wire & Cable Corporation, Carlton-Bates Company, Carlton-Bates Company (CBC), Carlton-Bates Company de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Carlton-Bates Company of Texas GP Inc, Central Security Distribution Pty. Ltd, Communication Cables LLC, Communications Supply Corporation, Conney Investment Holdings LLC, Conney Safety Products, Conney Safety Products LLC, Distribuidora Materiales Electricos E-Supply Limitada, EECOL Electric, EECOL Electric Bolivia Ltda, EECOL Electric Corp., EECOL Electric Peru S.A.C, EECOL Industrial Electric (SudAmerica) Limitada, EECOL Industrial Electric Ecuador Limitada, EECOL Industrial Electric Limitada, EECOL Power S.A., EECOL Properties Corp, Eurinvest B.V., Eurinvest Cooperatief U.A., Fastec Industrial, HMH Pension Trustees Limited, Hazmasters, Hazmasters Inc., Herning Underground Supply, Hi-Line Utility Supply, Hi-Line Utility Supply Company LLC, Hill Country Electric Supply, Hill Country Electric Supply L.P., ICV GP Inc., Infast Group Limited, Inner Range Pty. Ltd, Itel Container Ventures Inc., Itel Corporation, Itel Rail Holdings Corporation, J-Mark Inc., LaPrairie, Liberty Wire & Cable Inc., Monti Electric Supply, Needham Electric Supply, Needham Electric Supply LLC, Obras Y Servicios Sunpark S.A.C., PT Anixter Indonesia, Potelcom Supply, Pro Canadian Holdings I ULC, RECO LLC, RS Electronics, Reily Electrical Supply, SASK Alta Holdings S.A., Services Voice Video and Data Distribution de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Servicios Anixter S.A. de C.V., Signal Capital Corporation, Signal Capital Projects Inc., Stone Eagle Electrical Supply GP Inc., Stone Eagle Electrical Supply Limited Partnership, TVC Communications, TVC Communications L.L.C., TVC Espana Distribucion y Venta De Equipos S.L., TVC International Holding L.L.C., TVC UK Holdings Limited, Tri-Ed Puerto Rico Ltd. Inc., Trydor Industries, Voice Video and Data Distribution de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., WDC Holding Inc., WDCH LP, WDCH US LP, WDI USVI LLC, WDI-Angola LDA, WDINESCO B.V., WDINESCO II B.V., WDINESCO III B.V., WEAS Company S. de R.L., WESCO (Suzhou) Trading Co. Ltd., WESCO Australia Pty Ltd, WESCO Canada GP Inc., WESCO Canada I LP, WESCO DC Holding I LP, WESCO DC Holding II LP, WESCO DC Holding III LP, WESCO DC Holding IV LP, WESCO Distribution Canada Co., WESCO Distribution Canada LP, WESCO Distribution HK Limited, WESCO Distribution II ULC, WESCO Distribution III ULC, WESCO Distribution IV Inc., WESCO Distribution Inc., WESCO Distribution Ireland Limited, WESCO Distribution NL B.V., WESCO Distribution Pte. Ltd., WESCO Distribution de Mexico S. de R.L., WESCO Distribution-International Limited, WESCO Enterprises Inc., WESCO Equity Corporation, WESCO Holdings LLC, WESCO Integrated Supply Inc., WESCO Integrated Supply Polska Spolka z o.o., WESCO Netherlands B.V., WESCO Nevada Ltd., WESCO Nigeria Inc., WESCO Procurement Canada ULC, WESCO Real Estate I LLC, WESCO Real Estate II LLC, WESCO Real Estate III LLC, WESCO Real Estate IV LLC, WESCO Receivables Corp., WESCO Services LLC, WESCO TLD Holdings Co. Ltd., WND Nigeria Limited, WireXpress Ltd., Xpress Connect Supply Hong Kong Limited, XpressConnect Holdings B.V., XpressConnect International B.V., XpressConnect Supply B.V.B.A., XpressConnect Supply Colombia S.A.S., XpressConnect Supply Inc., XpressConnect Supply Mexico S.A. de C.V., and XpressConnect Supply do Brasil Ltda.logo_ddn_tag_Site JN with Tagline logo-sns_tag_Site

Our apologies, unfortunately our website is currently unavailable in most European countries due to GDPR rules.Tickets are valid for travel on the airline's 45 city domestic network from the date of purchase till September 30, 2018 on one-way journeys.

Mumbai: Private carrier Jet Airways on Friday announced special fares for its four-day Easter sale which commenced on Friday, offering up to 20 per cent discount for bookings in premiere and up to 10 per cent for travel in economy classes in the domestic sector.

Besides, it is also offering discount of up to 30 per cent on base fares for premiere and economy travel on select international routes during this period, the airline said in a statement. The tickets are valid for travel on the airline's 45 city domestic network from the date of purchase till September 30, 2018 on one-way journeys, the airline said.

The special fares for international travel are applicable for both one-way as well as return journeys and can be availed for bookings on routes from India to destinations such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Bahrain, Doha, Dammam, Kuwait, Riyadh, Jeddah, Muscat, Kathmandu, Dhaka, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Amsterdam, Paris, London and Toronto, it informed.In 2017-18, OLX facilitated workshops with police authorities in Noida, Gurugram, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.

New Delhi: OLX, India's leading online classifieds, launches its consumer safety initiative, OLX Webwise.

The initiative aims to raise awareness among users about measures to keep oneself safe while transacting online.

Under Webwise, OLX will be promoting online safety through its initiatives which includes, Product updates, user safety guidelines, awareness programs with law enforcement authorities and customer support.

Keeping user experience at the heart of the platform, OLX has been working towards building a safe and secure product.

The current mobile app features mandatory registration login, chat first interactions and hyper-local browsing, which takes away the inconvenience of interacting with unknown users.

OLX India works closely with law enforcement authorities and civil society organisations to conduct workshops with cyber-crime cells on emerging trends in online space and assisting them with tools for their investigation.

In 2017-18, OLX facilitated workshops with police authorities in Noida, Gurugram, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, it intends to continue the outreach with authorities across other cities in the coming fiscal year.

With its social media channels, OLX is addressing some of the prominent issues faced by users by urging them to follow simple tips such as - avoid making advance payments, meet at public places to buy/ sell, make transactions face-to-face and verify product before buying.

By addressing these issues, OLX wants to nudge users to wisely take actions to safeguard themselves online.

To take the initiative offline, OLX launched a trust and safety help centre, which is managed by a specialised team trained to handle and address issues affecting user's trust and safety.

The helpline will assist users seeking redressal for matters around safety such as fraudulent transactions, suspicious ads, advance payments and more.

Further, the team will provide safety guidelines, which offer users a more detailed insight into staying safe on the platform.

OLX encourages users to report fraud as well as alert the team of any suspicious activity they encounter while using the platform.

Users can connect with the trust and safety help centre on +91 9999140999 or email at safety@olx.in.

"Online fraud, like offline, are a reflection of the ailments plaguing our society. We believe addressing this larger eco-system issue is a shared responsibility. As a consumer centric brand, we take trust and safety as a key priority across functions. With our awareness initiatives such as OLX Webwise combined with constant improvement of our product, our attempt is to educate and help create a safer online experience for our users," said Irwin Preet Singh Anand, COO, OLX India.

OLX WebWise - No Advance Payment

As a part of the Webwise initiative, OLX has released four safety tip videos on social media:

Film 1: No advance payments - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cThoS4sFpCc

Film 2: Meet face-to-face - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZSD1eF8Ojc

Film 3: Meet at public places - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52Wn8Es2Dyw

Film 4: Check before you buy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SZ4IRT9sGI

Each film shows two wise men having an intellectual conversation and giving an important safety tip, in a humorous and unpredictable setting.

The series is running on all social media channels of OLX India, in the last one week all four films have crossed over nine million views on YouTube.

Credits

OLX

Abhishek Upadhyay, Marketing Head, OLX India

Nisheeth Srivastava, Creative Lead, OLX India

Agency Name: Enormous Brands LLB

Account Management Team: Shivi Verma, Heena Kohli, Samrat Motilal

Creative Team: Ashish Khazanchi, Abhishek Chaswal, Khurram Haque, Ashish Adpur, Gaurav Uppal, Vageesh Gautam, Harshil Bhardwaj

Production House: Uncommonsense Films, Director: Ankur Kapoor,

Executive Producer: Ashutosh Joshi.Icons and statues are symbols. These symbols are materially connected, intertwined with economic logics and the struggles against these prevailing economic logics. On one hand, the production and circulation of symbols is an economic activity. On the other hand, symbols have material ramifications that are tied to relations of power in society, both reproducing existing social configurations as well as offering windows into the possibilities for social transformations. It essentially means that depending upon the transformations we see in any particular society, as power shifts, so does the nature of celebration or desecration of symbols. Symbols in this sense work to reproduce particular images to tell particular stories and therefore for those in positions of power, these symbols become critical resources that are mobilised to serve particular goals. For those at the margins of society, the struggle is often over securing access to the sites of symbol making as well as over removing material markers of oppression.

The fundamental idea behind democracy is its openness to a wide range of symbols, which offer a window into the plurality of ideas. These symbols stand in as anchors to divergent thoughts and opinions and as markers of the possibilities of debates and differences in a society. Look at the recent context of desecration of the statue of Lenin in Tripura, the Ambedkar statue in Meerut, the defacement of the Periyar statue in Tamil Nadu and the Shyamaprasad Mukherjee statue in Kolkata. The latter had existed throughout the entire period of Left rule in Kolkata. Usually, when you have a space that actually is open to difference and is committed to democratic ideals, each of these statues, symbols and images have an opportunity to stand in as a discursive register. The question then remains: What are the limits to the public presence of symbols in democracies? What about those symbols that are in essence antithetical to ideals of democracy? This question needs to be contextualised in the ambits of the struggles for social justice and equality against the dominant images that legitimise erasure.

Look for instance at the tensions over the removal of Confederate statues (markers of White supremacy and support for slavery) in the US. These tensions are reflective of struggles over power in perpetuating racist ideas, the opportunities for transformations in these racist logics that have for long served as dominant ideas of the US, and the deep histories of slavery and racism in the US. The emergence of movements for removal of statues of the leaders and members of the Ku Klux Klan and defenders of slavery is a transformative opportunity for interrogating and challenging the deeply racist rationalities that threaten human dignity and equal opportunity. Particularly amid the rise of far-right White nationalism in the US, social justice movements seek the removal of racist Civil War era symbols from public spaces. Similarly, consider the presence of statues of colonial figures in post-colonial contexts. These statues are reflective of a colonial past and a history that is fairly oppressive, with those particular icons being markers of oppression and attack on human freedom. The struggle for removal of these statues is a narrative anchor for making claims to ideas of justice, dignity, and equality of the margins. Usually, democracies leave enough room for these markers to be present as sites of contestation, conversation, and debate. However, for groups that have historically been oppressed, the struggle against these public symbols is one of crafting a different public narrative, one that challenges the violence of oppression.

Similarly consider the emergence in public veneration of icons that were once marked as fundamentally antithetical to the spirit of Indian democracy. The presence of such a statue in a public space threatens the very ideas of pluralist democracy because they stand for the message of hate and foreclosure of democratic discursive space. The presence of these statues in public spaces threatens the very idea of democracy, marking who can and can't participate in democratic opportunities. Then the question we ought to ask is: What are the limits to icons, symbols and images in public spaces in a democracy, particularly in terms of the boundaries of how far these symbols and images go in perpetuating anti-democratic ideals? What democratic processes ought to be mobilised for addressing symbols that explicitly stand in for and perpetuate hate?

The lack of critical habits of democracy makes room for all forms of politics of heuristics, often feeding on hatred and polarisation. Symbols and imagery become shortcuts to political movements as well as co-opt possibilities of democracy through the circulation of images of hate and bigotry. They appropriate images to cultivate their particular agendas under the guise of nationalism and patriotism. So icon-politics works in terms of perpetuation of authoritarian power when citizens do not critically interrogate power but rather are driven by heuristics and emotions. The absence of reason from public discourse complements the rise in icon-based politics.

Hindu fundamentalists attack the wall of the 16th century Babri Masjid with iron rods on December 6, 1992 AFP

Globally, the degeneration of democratic habits in societies has been systematically accomplished through political economic transformations that on one hand have systematically privatised public resources and on the other hand, have erased opportunities for democratic public participation. The various sorts of strategies of authoritarian power and control we are witnessing globally are reflections of the democracy deficit catalysed by neoliberal policies that systematically target democracies and erase opportunities for voice even as they consolidate power in the hands of the global elite. It actually works to mobilise citizens, not as citizens, but as mobs that are driven by the seductions of collective heuristics rather than to actually reason, to participate in argument; and to participate in the everyday habits of democracy. What we then have is the habit of cult-making amid a global politics of dispossession led by the elite class. Examples are galore of cult-making through holograms, brands, images and the management of images as spectacle, with political party investments in gargantuan campaigns becoming the norm. Observe for instance the tremendous growth in the large-scale image-based promotional campaign industry facilitated by big data, which is antithetical to the very ideas of everyday engagement and reason grounded in processing information critically. Cult-making not only works in terms of promoting narrow sentiments of religious and nationalist feelings, but also in terms of promoting wholesale the neoliberal rationality driven by "trickle-down" heuristics. Symbols emerge as tools of persuasion without being critically interrogated, silencing opportunities for discourse, debate and dialogue.

Active vigilance is a primary resource against undemocratic tendencies globally. The cultivation of the habits of democracy across a variety of institutions is a key challenge today as basic access to fundamental educational and communicative infrastructures is highly unequal across the globe. Political agendas of the ruling dispensations are worked into textbooks and into the very fabric of academic institutions. To challenge the hegemony of iconography, iconoclasm and related symbolisms in academia, media, and a wide variety of other communicative institutions, we have to begin by returning to cultivating and recognising the everyday habits of democracy in the grassroots. Critical thought, one that questions the workings of power in perpetuating injustice, inequality, and discursive erasure, is the antidote to the global rise of image politics.Mumbai: Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut will be seen representing India at the "Gandhi goes Global" Summit in New jersey, USA. The actress will share stage with world renowned personalities like Former First lady of United States of America, Michelle Obama and the Media proprietor, Philanthropist, Actress & talk Show Host Oprah Winfrey.

The motto of the initiative "Gandhi going global" is to spread Gandhian philosophy globally through interactive activities, educational programs, motivational talks and cultural events. The event is scheduled to take place on 18 & 19 August.

Speaking about it, Kangana said, "For me, its always been about the impact you make on the society and how you contribute to it. Sharing the Stage with Michelle and Oprah will be inspiring. I've never been anybodys fan but I admire and idolise women like Oprah. Once I get back to Mumbai, I will know exactly what I be talking on and for How long , depending on which I will prepare my speech."Rating:

Cast: Ram Charan, Samantha, Jagapathi Babu, Anasuya, Aadhi Pinisetty, Brahmaji and others

Director: B. Sukumar





Rangasthalam, the first work of Sukumar with Ram Charan, has already been creating a huge buzz at the box-office. The makers announced that it's a period drama that happened in a village in the 80s. Chitti Babu (Ram Charan) has partial hearing loss but lives a happy life in Rangasthalam, a fictional village in Andhra Pradesh. He is good at heart and falls in love with Rama Lakshmi (Samantha) who lives in the same village. Phanindra Bhupathi (Jagapathi Babu) is the unopposed chief of this village since the last three decades and no one dares to go against him. The Co-operative Society runs by the village chief's people charge high interests from the people, showing false accounts.

Trouble starts when Chitti Babus elder brother Kumar Babu (Aadhi Pinisetty) comes from Dubai and questions the societys false accounts. Some villagers are murdered by the chief and Rangasthalam village turns into Ranasthalam (a land in war). Kumar Babu decides to contest for the village chiefs post and files his nomination. The village politics and how the two brothers take on the chief and a surprise twist is the climax of the story. Director Sukumar has made his own mark in Telugu cinema through this film. His takes, narration and the way he presents the actors are also completely different from other directors. In Rangasthalam, Sukumar has done a film based on a normal revenge story that happened in the 1980s

The other good side about Sukumars films is that they have technical brilliance and this film too falls under the same category. The village atmosphere, the rustic look, the ambience etc. are stunning. He simply brings back the rural life to the current era in this film. He has made the village life look more realistic in the film. Sukumar also uses the narration in a very clever sense. The film starts with Chitti Babu saving the local MLA from a major attack and then tells the story of his village. The protagonists hearing loss is used very effectively by the director in humourous and emotional scenes. The only issue is the long duration of the film. Apart from this, it is another Sukumar mark film with interesting scenes, songs and a surprise climax.

When it comes to performance, the film belongs to Ram Charan. Till now, Ram Charan had done many commercially successful films, but Rangasthalam is one which reveals the brilliant actor in him. He has engrossed himself as the character. It is not that easy to play the role of a visually challenged person but he looks completely natural. Jagapathi Babu has once again proved himself. He is an overall asset to the film. Samantha has completely turned into a village girl and this is going to be another feather in her career. Anausya is a big surprise in the film and she too has come out with flying colours. Aadhi Pinisetty has supported the other cast well. Brahmaji did a great cameo. For Prakash Raj, it is another easy character role. Pooja Hegde sizzles in the special song.

Music director Devi Sri Prasad always gives better music and background score for Sukumars films. Two songs are really nice and Devi has once again showed his talent in background score. Ratnavelu, one of the finest cinematographers, actually captures the entire village atmosphere in a beautiful way, especially Godavari and the surrounding areas. Ramakrishna and Mounica, the two productions designers, they should be appreciated for their excellent art work. Finally, Rangasthalam is a regular story shown in a unique way by director Sukumar. Though the second half drags a bit, you can still watch the film once. This film belongs to Ram Charan who is well supported by others.Chennai: After Rani Mukerjee's much talked about Hichki released, the unheard Tourette syndrome has caught the attention of many. Tourette syndrome, which is a neuro-behavioural disorder, is known to affect children and adults due to genetic and environmental factors that usually manifests in adolescence (before age 18). While Tourette syndrome (TS) is characterised by repetitive, involuntary movements and vocalisations called tics. Children who usually show tic symptoms without motor symptoms are misunderstood for TS. Medicos discuss various causes, symptoms and treatments for the Tourette syndrome and emphasise on neuro-psychiatric approach to the treatment of TS.

People who get this not only have vocalisations such as a grunt, cough, eye-blinking or throat clearing but can also involve the use of abusive language. TS was once considered a rare and bizarre syndrome, most often associated with the exclamation of obscene words or socially inappropriate and derogatory remarks (coprolalia), says Dr Meenakshi Sundaram, consultant neurologist, Apollo Hospitals. With an incidence of 1 per 1,000, TS is mostly due to genetic or inherited factors. Though the severity decreases after the age of 25, TS can affect the social life of the affected person. Children who exhibit Coprolalia have to discontinue schooling mostly because when they are in school, teachers and other students cannot understand their behaviour. These children are not mentally retarded and hence, need not be sent to special schools and a psychotherapy with neurological observance can help reduce the effect, added Dr Meenakshi.

Tics are a common phenomenon for the manifestation of various genetic disorders and it is not the only symptom of TS. Transient tics with vocalisations for more than a year are diagnosed as TS. It need not necessarily affect a person's IQ, while some patients are mentally slow, others can be very intelligent. While there is a need to spread awareness among the teachers and parents to treat people affected with TS in a normal way, there is a need for a multi-disciplinary approach to treating it.

Though the symptoms can be suppressed for a time period, they tend to rebound later and medications are the best possible way to control it. A multi-disciplinary approach with support from psychiatrist and counsellor along with neurological treatment can help to reduce the effect of TS, said neurologist Dr Satish Kumar.Not only was she India's first female doctor, but she was only 19 years old at the time (Photo: Google)

Google on Saturday dedicated its doodle to mark the 153rd birth anniversary of India's first lady doctor Anandi Gopal Joshi.

The doodle is created by Bangalore-based artist Kashmira Sarode, who portrayed Joshi celebrating her medical degree.

As Google writes in its blog, "In 1886, a young doctor stepped off a ship from America, eager to take up the role of physician in charge of the female ward at Kolhapur's Albert Edward Hospital. Not only was she India's first female doctor, but she was only 19 years old at the time. Her name was Anandi Gopal Joshi, and her story is one of courage and perseverance."

As per the custom in the 19th century India, Joshi, born on March 31 1865, was married at the age of nine; her husband encouraged her to continue her education.

She earned her medical degree from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, now known as Drexel University College of Medicine, and returned to India with dreams of opening a medical college for women.

"Joshi's young life was tragically cut short when she died of tuberculosis before her 22nd birthday.

However, her legacy and the path she paved for generations of women continues today. Interestingly, even a crater on Venus is named after her!" the blog adds.The incident took place on the night of March 23, but came to light on Friday after the arrests by Vivek Nagar police.

Bengaluru: A 26-year-old sepoy at the Army Service Corps (ASC) Centre, Bengaluru, was brutally murdered by his two colleagues following a tiff and later his body was burnt. The incident took place on the night of March 23, but came to light on Friday after the arrests by Vivek Nagar police.

Pankaj Kumar (26), a native of Uttar Pradesh, is the deceased and the accused have been identified Murali Krishna (35), hailing from Andhra Pradesh and Dhanraj (25).

The police investigation revealed that Pankaj and Murali who worked at the centre as drill inspectors were not in good terms for the past two years, after the former accused the latter of stealing his identity card.

As it is considered a serious offence in the army, an internal inquiry was initiated against Murali. Ever since the inquiry was ordered, Pankaj and Murali used to fight over it while Murali feared that he may be court-martialled. On the night of March 23, the duo fought over the same issue. Later, Murali sought the help of junior sepoy Dhanraj and went to Pankajs barack with a knife and a rope at around 11 pm.

Murali stabbed Pankaj while he was asleep while Dhanraj fastened the rope around his neck until he died. The duo then took the body to a garbage dumpyard on the premises and burnt it by pouring petrol.

The incident came to light the next day when Pankajs colleagues found him off duty. They checked on him at the barrack only to find him missing and there were traces of blood.

They then searched for him around the campus and found Pankajs half burnt body, following which the incident was brought to the notice of the corps officials, the police said.

The police who were informed about the internal inquiry on Murali and a tiff between them, Murali was detained for questioning. During the interrogation Murali confessed to killing Pankaj with the help of Dhanraj. The Vivek Nagar police arrested the duo and booked them under sections 302 (murder) 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.The boy, Abhishek Kumar was admitted to the hospital with wounds on his legs and back. (Photo: PTI/Representational)

Patna: "What is the reason behind his detention" was all he asked. Perceived as a display of arrogance, a class 12 student was thrashed by two police officers and put behind bars for three days for speaking in English in Bihars Khagaria district.

The two cops were suspended from service on Friday after they were found guilty of excesses.

The boy, Abhishek Kumar was admitted to the hospital with wounds on his legs and back. He had left home to visit his maternal uncle, who was in custody in a bike-theft case, according to a report in The New Indian Express.

In a bid to release his uncle, Abhishek reached Chautham police station with the owners book of his uncles bike. However, the man was not released.

Enquiring why his uncle was being kept in custody even after the documents, Abhishek asked,"What is the reason behind his detention?"

At this, the cops got furious and started beating him.

The police officers apparently did not understand my question in English. More than that, they saw my speaking in English as a display of arrogance, Abhishek was quoted as saying by the The New Indian Express.

A probe was ordered by DSP Ramanand Sagar which found the two policemen guilty.

Policemen in Bihar often find it difficult to read or write English and are seen discouraging people from filing complaints in English.

Last year, a Bihar Police in-charge of Kotwali police station in Munger district informed a local police court that a particular case could not be investigated because the FIR was written in English.The accident happened around mid-night when Sujeeth was going to his room in Anepalya after work.

Bengaluru: In a hit-and-run incident, a 20-year-old cyclist died after an unidentified vehicle hit his cycle at CMT Junction in Ashok Nagar on Thursday late night. The deceased has been identified as Sujeeth, a native of Tripura.

He had came to the city a year ago was working at a hotel in Shivaji Nagar. The accident happened around mid-night when Sujeeth was going to his room in Anepalya after work.

As Sujeeth was riding his cycle an unidentified vehicle rammed into his cycle and sped away. Sujeeth who sustained grievous head injuries was rushed to a nearby hospital by the passerby, but he succumbed while undergoing treatment.

The Ashok Nagar traffic police have obtained the CCTV footage from cameras installed at the accident spot and are examining it to identify the vehicle involved in the accident.Tommy Bahama opened its new store at First Street Napa on Friday, March 30.

The 2,800-square-foot store includes a collection of mens and womens sportswear, swimwear, footwear and accessories as well as home decor items.

This newest Tommy Bahama location represents the brands resort design, which is full of distinctive architectural and design elements.

The shop is located at 1270 First St. and is open daily.

Tenants currently open at First Street Napa now include Tommy Bahama, Archer Hotel Napa, Charlie Palmer Steak Napa, Overland Sheepskin Co., Compline wine bar + restaurant + merchant, Napa Valley Jewelers, State & First by Maris Collective, Eikos Modern Japanese Cuisine, Brown Estate and Pacific Union International.

The project recently announced additional retail, culinary, hospitality, and creative office space tenants to open in 2018 that include Napastak Napa Valley, Mecox, Lush, John Anthony Family of Wines and Silicon Valley Bank.The arrest of two Maoists who had hatched a plan to kill University of Hyderabad Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao Podile, spoiled hopes of the party to garner trust and support of students.

HYDERABAD: The arrest of two Maoists who had hatched a plan to kill University of Hyderabad Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao Podile, spoiled hopes of the party to garner trust and support of students.

They were said to have believed that by committing the act, it would have led to a lot of students joining the maoist movement.

The Vice-Chancellor was unperturbed by the entire hullabaloo and said he had no comment to make as he had received no direct threat or direct alert from the police. He also added that until he did, he would consider the whole episode inconsequential.

Rohith Vemulas suicide on January 17, 2016, did shake the nation and sparked a debate against caste discrimination in higher educational institutions.

Sunkanna Velpula, one of the students who was expelled with Vemula, says, Our movement led to frustration among a few students because it was not bearing any fruit. In 2016 itself, a few students had asked us to approach the Maoists but we declined because our movement would get a negative tinge and active protesters would be labelled as sympathisers of Maoists.

The accused were also formerly students of the varsity. Universities across the city already made their stance clear by not granting admission to students who were politically active. Scrutinisation of posts of students on social media was also being done by university authorities before admission which had led to widespread protests.

Many educated people trapped by Maoists: SP

An attempt to kill University of Hyderabad Vice-Chancellor P. Appa Rao was foiled and East Godavari police arrested two alleged Maoists on Friday.

East Godavari Superintendent of Police Vishal Gunni, who produced the arrested Chandan Kumar Mishra and Ankala Prudvi Raj, told mediapersons here on Saturday that Maoists had hatched a plan to kill Dr Rao. The two were arrested at Pitchukulapadu T Junction on the Bhadrachalm-Cherla Road on Friday.

Mr Gunni said that on information, Anti-Naxal Squad personnel were searching vehicles and nabbed the duo. Chandan, 37, and Ankala, 27, met Haribhaushan in December 2017 through a person working on Telangana Vidhya Vedhika and spoke about their interest in Maoist ideology.

The next month they were made to meet Haribhushan in a forest area between Cherala and Venkatapuram. Discussions were also held on the suicide of Vemula Rohith in UoH and its repercussions.

On receipt of call, Ankala along with Chandan later met Haribhushan and revealed the plan and instructed them to leave a few letter heads of Maoists to be dropped at the site after murdering the VC, Mr Gunni said, adding that a number of well-educated persons were being trapped by Maoists.

V-Cs security beefed up

Cyberabad Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar said University of Hyderabad V-C Appa Rao was provided with round-the-clock one personal security officer (1+1 security), following a threat after a few incidents at the university. We will review the security and beef it up depending upon the requirement, he added.

The Cyberabad police received information from their East Godavari counterparts about the conspiracy of the two Maoist sympathisers to kill the Vice-Chancellor who were arrested on Friday evening.

The police had already provided security to the Vice-Chancellor after the Rohith Vemula issue. The university was on boil after the research scholar committed suicide in July 2015 allegedly due to the harassment of university authorities.

Following the turmoil, students had conducted a protest for days at a stretch resulting in few violent incidents on the campus. Following, an assessment by the intelligence department, the Cyberabad police provided a personal security officer (PSO) to the Vice-Chancellor.A three-story building collapsed near Sarvate Bus Stand at around 10 pm on Saturday. Rescue operations are underway (Photo: Twitter/ANI)

Bhopal: Around 50 people are feared trapped under the debris of a four-storey hotel that collapsed late on Saturday evening in Indore.

Ten people were rescued and rushed to hospitals. Of them, nine  two women, seven men  died, while one is said to be in critical condition. The identities of the deceased is not yet known.

It is suspected that around 9.17 pm, a speeding car hit the hotel leading to its collapse. There was no confirmation of the claim. There were 25 rooms in the hotel.

Sources said that some passersby at the time of the mishap might also be trapped under the debris.

Many people are feared trapped under the debris of the collapsed hotel. Rescue operation is on. I cannot say right now exactly how many people are trapped under the debris, Indore municipal corporation mayor Malini Gaur said.

We are getting details on occupants in the rooms of the hotel from the management, a senior Indore district police officer told this newspaper.

Cause of the mishap is yet to be ascertained. Right now we are focusing on the rescue of the trapped people, the police officer said.

The hotel was located in the posh Sarweta bus stand area. Fire tenders and state disaster management rapid action force have been deployed in the rescue operation.Thiruvananthapuram: Health minister K.K. Shylaja on Saturday warned staff of government hospitals and medical colleges against behaving rudely with the patients. In a direct talk with nursing staff, nursing assistants and attendants, Ms Shylaja said strict action would be taken against hospital staff who indulge in rude behaviour with patients or harm them physically. The ministers direct interaction with hospital staff came in the wake of the incident in which a nursing staff had twisted finger of elderly patient at the MCH Thiruvananthpuram.

She said it was the duty of doctors, nursing staff and other employees to provide relief to the patients who come to hospitals with various health issues. While patients might express discomfort and behave differently because of health related problems, the employees should maintain restrain and should not lose cool. The minister said the staff should listen to the patients with patience.

There is no need for a special code of conduct for employees. Efforts should be made to understand patients without getting provoked or irritated, she said. Ms Shylaja said staff organisations working in health sector particularly hospitals should ensure presence of their members during duty hours. She directed higher officials to take disciplinary action against those shirking official responsibilities.

The minister said there may be occasions when patients would be made to lie on the floor following non availability of beds. In such circumstances, the staff should take extra care to such patients and ensure they get proper treatment.

The government recognises the valuable services being rendered by a majority of staff in medical colleges and government hospitals. But incidents like the one that happened in Trivandrum medical college bring disrepute to the entire fraternity. She said the government was taking measures to develop infrastructure facilities and increase staff strength in hospitals. More than 4,700 employees have been posted in medical education department since the LDF government came to power. As many as 1,000 posts of nurses have been created in the medical education department.BHUBANESWAR: In a shocking incident, a monkey on Saturday morning reportedly snatched a 16-day-old baby boy from his parents and fled to jungle at Talabasta village under Banki police limits in Odisha's Cuttack district.

According to reports, the animal lifted the infant, son of Rama Krushna Nayak of the village, while he was sleeping near his parents inside their house.

"At around 6 am, my sister-in-law had just gone to wash her face while her husband was still sleeping beside the baby. The monkey sneaked into the room and took away the baby," Ramakrushna's younger brother's wife said. On being informed, forest officials and fire personnel reached the spot and launched a search operation to trace the baby.

Till last reports came in, the child was yet to be traced.

We have formed three teams to trace out the infant. Search operations have been intensified," said forest range officer Sangram Keshari Mohanty. The infant's father has resorted to Adhia Puja (prostration) before the village deity praying for safe return of his son.

Several persons were injured in attack by monkeys in the area few days ago. The local residents expressed displeasure over alleged inaction of the Forest Department despite repeated complaints in this regard.Srinagar: The restive Kashmir Valley is once again witnessing escalation in violent attackers on policemen. Over past few days, at least, two policemen were killed and one was critically injured in sneak attacks by suspected militants.

In one such attack the wife of one of the police officials was critically wounded.

On Saturday, two such attacks took place in southern part of the Valley considered by officials as a hotbed of insurgency. One Special Police Officer (SPO) was killed and another was critically wounded, officials said.

The police said that SPO Muhammad Ashraf Mir was critically wounded when militants shot him in chest near Murran Chowk, a busy intersection in Pulwama district. He was rushed to the district hospital where he succumbed, the police added. Mir, a resident of Pulwamas Machpona, was a former militant who had been absorbed by the police department after he decided to shun violence. He was posted in Srinagar as an SPO and was currently off duty, the police said. He also owned an eatery in Pulwama town, the local sources said.

Earlier during the day, another SPO identified as Turaq Singh (a report mentioned his name as Trilok Singh) was shot and critically wounded by gunmen at Khanabal Chowk in neighbouring Anantnag district.

On March 29, SPO Mushtaq Ahmed Sheikh was shot dead by suspected militants inside his home in Anantnags Katoo Wapzan village. His wife Fareeda Mushtaq was critically injured in the incident.

Officials said that apart from usual combats, hundreds of policemen have been targeted by militants in similar fashion during the three-decade old militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, many of them while off duty and visiting their homes. Such attacks saw escalation in March and April last year when a number of policemen and their kin were killed or wounded.

Following a series of militant attacks at policemen or their families, the police department had issued an advisory asking its field personnel to avoid visiting their homes for the next few months. It had while referring to the unfortunate incidents wherein militants and anti-national and anti-social elements have caused damage to the life and property of police personnel, asked them to exercise extreme caution while visiting their homes.

The advisory had said, They should preferably avoid visiting their homes for the next few months as their personal security is of paramount importance. It had also asked all the heads of various formations to brief their officers and men regarding the threat so the life and property of police personnel were secured.

On Saturday, there was speculation that the police department was in view of renewed attacks contemplating to issue a fresh advisory to its men.

However, Director General of Police, Shesh Paul Vaid, told this newspaper Were trying to identify the people who are behind these attacks. I dont think there is a need to issue a fresh advisory to our boys.

Meanwhile, Army Chief, General Bipin Rawat, on Saturday visited the headquarters of Northern Command in garrison town of Udhampur where he was briefed by Lt. Gen. D Anbu, GOC-in-C, Northern Command, on the overall security situation along the Line of Control and the hinterland in the command theatre.

A defence spokesman said that the Army Chief interacted with the senior military commanders and took a firsthand assessment of the prevailing operational conditions and operational preparedness. The spokesman added, He appreciated the high standards of operational readiness in the difficult terrain and challenging operational environment and also lauded the synergy and cooperation between the Northern Command, Air Force, Central armed police forces, civil administration, and J&K Police operating in the region.In complaints written to the SpiceJet management, women asked if it was the policy of the airline 'to remove sanitary pad and touch private parts'. (Photo: File/Representational)

Hyderabad: Flight attendants of the Spicejet airline were strip-searched by security personnel in the wake of allegations about swindling cash collected from the sale of food and beverages on board.

The airline personnel conducting the security checks behaved unethically when they touched the women inappropriately, making them feel highly uncomfortable, staff claimed. However, the airline denied this charge.

Flight attendants staged a protest at Chennai airport early on Saturday after they were allegedly strip-searched by the airlines own security personnel. There was no protest at Hyderabad International Airport.

Even before the protest broke out on Saturday, a post on social media by a crew member who went through the traumatic experience, but had not been immediately forthcoming, went viral. It read, This is to bring to your notice that the cabin crew of the Spicejet team are not willing to tolerate this humiliation of getting frisked after or before flights. We are not thieves here, we all come from good families and will not put up with a company that mistreats us. It is not written anywhere in black and white that we will be body frisked or have someone go through our personal belongings in our bags. Its completely disrespectful to all of us.

If you still continue to do this, we would not want to work for such an airline. We would like you to stop, else now onwards none of us will report for our duties and you may hire people who are willing to work with you under such conditions.

The security teams who stripped us had forgotten our dignity while doing the check and touched our sensitive parts.

A flight attendant, who shuttles between Hyderabad and Bengaluru told DC, How can they be considered as a brand if they dont know how to respect their employees? Many crew members kept quiet fearing they would be punished. I hope the aviation ministry will take note of whats happening in all bases.

Another former airline staff member, who worked for a different firm, came out in support of the protesting flight attendants, saying, No respect left. GDCA and Government of India please look into this matter.

One of the objectives of this search is to ensure that there is no pilferage of company money/goods, smuggling or any illegal activity that an employee may be lured into. This also ensures security and safety of our passengers, employees and assets. This search is essentially the same as what any passenger goes through at any of the Indian airports, a SpiceJet spokesperson was quoted by a news agency.BJP National President Amit Shah addresses the Navashakti Samavesh of three Assembly constituencies in Mysore on Friday. (Photo: PTI)

Mysuru: Stepping into the home turf of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, BJP President Amit Shah on Friday told him that his "time" has come to an end and he would be mistaken if he thought that saffron ideology could be stalled by unleashing violence against BJP and RSS workers.

Shah began his fourth round of visit to the poll-bound Karnataka with a tour of old Mysuru areas, asserting that Siddaramaiah and JDS would receive "biggest shock of their lives" from the region in the May 12 assembly polls.

"It is said that the BJP is a bit weak here (Old Mysuru region), but after seeing the work of the party workers, I expect Siddaramaiahji and the JD(S) to get the biggest shock of their lives from this (Old) Mysuru region," he told a party convention Mysuru.

Shah is presently covering the districts of Mysuru, Chamarajanagara, Mandya and Ramanagara, where BJP had not won even a single seat in the previous election.

The principal challenger to the ruling Congress is JDS in these districts.

Referring to his gaffe at Davanagere earlier this week, Shah said though he had committed a mistake in his speech while referring to Siddaramaiah's corruption, people of the state would not do the same because they knew Siddaramaiah's rule well.

"Siddaramaiah and Rahul Gandhi were very happy over my gaffe while speaking about Siddaramaiah's corruption. I had made a mistake, but the people of Karnataka will not make it, because they have understood Siddaramaiah's government very well," he said.

In a slip of the tongue at a press conference at Davangere while attacking the Siddaramaiah dispensation as the "most corrupt" one, Shah had said the Yeddyurappa government would get the number one award in corruption.

He had, however, corrected himself after being prompted by BJP MP Prahlad Joshi, who was seated next to him.

Shah also accused Siddaramaiah of playing with Karnataka's pride by not celebrating the "jayanti" of noted Kannada poet Kuvempu or renowned engineer Sir M Vishveswaraiah.

"Siddaramaiah only remembers to celebrate the jayanti of Tipu Sultan (the 18th-century ruler of Mysore) to get votes," he said.

Shah also met the Wadiyar royal family of Mysuru on Friday at their private palace, triggering peculations about their supporting or joining the BJP.

According to sources, during the closed door meeting with the scion of royal family or the present titular Maharaja-Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar and Rajamata Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, Shah reportedly discussed various issues, including politics.

Amid speculations in the media, Yaduveer, the 27th "King" of the Wadiyar dynasty, recently ruled out his political entry.

"I have told several times that I'm not interested in politics. There is no chance at all about me joining any party. I'm not interested in politics. Through social work we will continue our relationship with the public," he said.

Shah also said that his party, if voted to power, would make efforts to hunt down the killers of RSS and BJP workers in Karnataka, and hand out severest of punishment to them.

"I would like to tell the people of the state that Siddaramaiah's time has come to an end. Soon after BJP forms the next government under Yeddyurappa's leadership, it will make all efforts to hunt down killers (of RSS and BJP workers) from any corner of the world," he said.

Shah was speaking to reporters after meeting the family of BJP worker Raju, who was hacked to death in March 2016.

"They will be sent to jail and handed out stringent punishment," he added.

Shah said Siddaramaiah was mistaken if he and his government thought they could stall saffron ideology from spreading by unleashing violence against BJP and RSS workers.

"In politics, there is no room for violence. If Siddaramaiah and his government think they can stall our ideology from spreading, then he is mistaken," he said.

Targeting the Karnataka chief minister, Shah in a tweet said there are multiple fronts on which CM Siddaramaiah has failed his own constituency. Mandya-Mysuru region has one of the highest farmer suicide rates in the state. Last year, there were more than 265 infant deaths in just 7 months in Mysuru district, he said.

"Mysuru is just 140 Km away from the state capital, yet it has failed to attract any major investments. In 5 years, CM did nothing to fulfill his promise to widen Mysuru-Bengaluru roadway. It was PM Modi who fulfilled this long standing demand with a new 8-lane road," Shah tweeted.

Continuing BJP's bid to reach out to the prominent Lingayat community, Shah began his fourth leg of Karnataka visit by meeting it's prominent pontiff at Suttur Mutt here.

"Took blessings of Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Mahaswamiji of Sri Suttur Math in Mysuru," he tweeted after his meeting with the seer.

The BJP president had begun his third leg of tour on March 26 by seeking blessings of 111-year old Sri Shivakumara Swami of Siddhaganga Mutt in Tumakuru, a revered seer of the Lingayat community.

The meeting with the Lingayat seers is being seen as an attempt to reach out to the Lingayats/Veeshaivas, who are numerically and politically powerful in the state and form a major voter base for the BJP.

The visit assumes significance as it comes in the backdrop of the Siddaramaiah government's move to recommend to the Centre to accord a religious minority tag to Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats in an attempt to wean away a section of them from the BJP.Bengaluru: In what could be the biggest win of the environmentalists against the mining lobby at Bannerghatta National Park (BNP), one of the stone quarry owners operating at the park, Kushal Stone Crushers agreed to abide by the eco-sensitive law once it is finalised by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MOEF), raising hopes that other quarries would follow suit.

The Shivanahalli village based company has said in the open declaration, We respect the law and will abide by the regulation of the MOEF that is pertaining to the vicinity of the area. We will however require time because the company is liable for all the loans that will be due, which was given on the basis of the documents submitted by the respective departments.

The forest department last week had said that a new proposal to the MOEF regarding eco-sensitive will be sent. Till a new law comes to place, we will abide by the Safe Zone regulation of 1991 passed specifically for the BNP in 1991. This prohibits the mining activities within 1 km of the park. The earlier draft lapsed, said, Mr C Jayaram, Additional Chief Principal Conservator of Forest, BNP.

The forest officials had denied that mining was being conducted in the eco-sensitive areas, despite the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) reports that proved otherwise. The satellite images released by the IISc published on March 23 in DC proved that stone quarrying in the eco-sensitive buffer region had been continuing.

Tree doctor, Mr Vijay Nishanth was elated at the recent developments and said, This is a huge relief. However, I will still reiterate my question - how did the mines and geology department give permission to carry out mining activities near the forest area. According to a forest official, the land on which mining is taking place falls under the revenue department and the permission to carry out mining in the area was given for a 20 year period.

On Wednesday, retired Justice MF Saldanha had written a letter to the chief minister requesting him to intervene and stop the mining since the ramifications on ecology and the habitats of the surrounding village are huge.Students from other regions don't need to take a re-exam but there is still a lot of anxiety in the city.

Bengaluru: Students outside the Chandigarh and NCR area can return to their post-exam glee, with the CBSE Board announcing on Friday afternoon that the board's re- exams will only be held in the areas where the leak actually took place. So far, students and parents alike panicked, having reached the end of the hectic exam season only to face the prospect of an extension.

"Students from other regions don't need to take a re-exam but there is still a lot of anxiety in the city," says Mansoor Khan, trustee, Delhi Public School. "We have been sending out emails and taking calls to reassure our students' families that there is no need for them to worry at the moment."

Protests erupted across New Delhi on Friday morning as angry school students, galvanised by Congress youth leaders, gathered across several parts of the city. Members of the Congress National Students Union even began a march towards Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar's residence, but were stopped. "We are suffering because of CBSE's mistakes" is the angry, youthful refrain heard across the country, with nearly 2,00,000 students waiting on tenterhooks for more news on the question paper leak.

The question papers of the Class 12 economics exam, held on March 26 and that of the Class 10 Mathematics exam, held on March 28, were leaked on social media mere hours before the exams were scheduled to begin.

Parents and students alike took to social media to express their woes: "I hv kids who hv gone thru n is going thru the tough stress of board exams, graduations m admissions ! To hv thm suffer this trauma of re-exams for no fault of theirs is terrible!" (sic), MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Twitter. "Every year the stories of paper being leaked circulates and the nightmare of RE-EXAMINATION haunts every kid during their 10/12th standard. And now, its a reality to a lot of them and it sucks. After undergoing all the pressure and gruelling, this happens?

Shame on this system," wrote Amruthavarshini Halugodu on Twitter. In Karnataka, every year has brought with it the disturbing news of a question paper leak. Only a week ago, the state-run SSLC board exams began across the state, again in the midst of fears of a question paper leak. Six students have been barred for malpractice.

The PUC board was thrown into chaos in 2016 when the Chemistry paper was leaked, not once, but repeatedly. 14 people were arrested in that case.

"The question here is not really how many students have to take a re-exam. This makes the Indian system of education look bad," said Khan, adding, "It also takes away a great deal of the board's credibility.A large number of police and security personnel were deployed in the area and when the protesters attempted to march towards the DoPT office, they were detained by the police. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Thousands of Staff Selection Commission candidates held a demonstration in the heart of Delhi on Saturday to protest against the alleged SSC paper leak, leading to a scuffle with police.

The SSC aspirants, demanding a Supreme Court-monitored probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI, staged a protest at Jantar Mantar and accused the government of failing to prevent the alleged paper leak.

The protesters also demanded adequate jobs for the educated youth of the country.

The protesters had given time till 3 pm to the authorities concerned for a written assurance on their demands and said they would march towards the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) office.

A large number of police and security personnel were deployed in the area and when the protesters attempted to march towards the DoPT office, they were detained by the police.

They were currently under detention at various police stations, the officer added.

The SSC conducts the examinations for recruitment to the lower categories of posts in the central government.MBS-Express services include transport and delivery of documents, packages and dry goods, delivery of wine pallets, pick-up and delivery of high volume goods and supplies for bottling runs, smaller van deliveries for small wine shipments or to access small country lanes where larger trucks cannot go and barrel transport.

Dominguez said he is always looking for ways to improve customer service as well as identify new business opportunities. After helping out a few of his wine clients with last minute transport challenges, he realized there was a greater need for a local transport service in the wine industry and beyond.

Wine and dry good transport is one of the many challenges wineries face in adhering to production schedules, said Dominguez.

If wines or other materials arent readily available for bottling day, it impacts the crews and production schedules which may result in staff downtime, production delays, or late deliveries, which can be costly for companies, said Dominguez.

Its exciting to think about what the next generation of Maldonados will bring to our family businesses or what new opportunities for growth they will introduce, said Maldonado.Military officials said India is also strengthening its surveillance mechanism to keep an eye on Chinese activities along the borders in the strategically sensitive Tibetan region and has even been regularly deploying choppers to carry out recce. (Photo: PTI)

Kibithu (Arunachal Pradesh): India has deployed more troops and significantly increased patrolling in the mountainous terrains of Dibang, Dau-Delai and Lohit valleys along the borders with China in the Tibetan region in Arunachal sector following the Doklam face-off, the most tense military confrontation between the two countries in decades.

Military officials said India is also strengthening its surveillance mechanism to keep an eye on Chinese activities along the borders in the strategically sensitive Tibetan region and has even been regularly deploying choppers to carry out recce.

They said India has been focusing on dominating the treacherous terrains which include snow-clad mountains at an altitude of over 17,000 feet, and river passes, as part of a strategy to counter China's rising assertiveness along the border in Dibang, Dau-Delai and Lohit valleys.

"Post-Doklam, we have increased our activities manifold. We are fully prepared to deal with any challenge," said an army officer posted in Kibithu, the eastern most village on India's border with China's Tibetan region.

The official said the Army has been enhancing its Long Range Patrols (LRPs) where troops in small groups go for patrols for 15-30 days as part of an overall approach to maintain the sanctity of the Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between India and China.

Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam from June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. The face-off ended on August 28.

"We have increased our deployment of troops while focusing on all the strategically important areas including a tri-junction among India, China and Myanmar," said the official who wished not to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The official said China has been ramping up its infrastructure development along India's border, particularly in the Tibetan region and there was a need for India to enhance its road network for quick movements of troops.

The Army uses a foot suspension bridge to carry its military supplies to its Kibithu post, considered very important from operational point of view, as the only road connecting the East bank of Lohit river with West bank remains closed due to landslides for most part of the year.

However, a senior official of the Border Roads Organisation said a number of roads including one to connect the Dibang Valley with Lohit Valley has been finalised which will improve the inter-valley connectivity in Arunachal.

China has been laying new roads and improving its overall infrastructure along the nearly 4,000 km long border with India.

Earlier this month, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said China has undertaken construction of helipads, sentry posts and trenches for its army personnel near Doklam.

Sources said China has been keeping its troops in north Doklam and significantly ramping up its infrastructure in the disputed area.

In January, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat had said the time had come for India to shift its focus from borders with Pakistan to the frontier with China, indicating the seriousness of the situation.Tabrez Bana visited the police station in Yiwu a few days ago to complain about threats by the businessmen and has been reported missing since. (Photo: PTI/Representational)

New Delhi/Beijing: Fearing the abduction of an Indian national in central China's Zhejiang province, Indian authorities in Shanghai have sought details of his whereabouts from the Chinese government, diplomatic sources said on Friday.

The Indian Consulate in Shanghai filed a "note verbale", a diplomatic communication, with the local office of the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, seeking details of Tabrez Akbarali Bana, a resident of Mumbai, the sources said.

Bana has been reported missing from the Chinese commodity market Yiwu for the past a few days, amid concerns that he may have been abducted by local businessmen over a trade dispute.

Tabrez Bana visited the police station in Yiwu a few days ago to complain about threats by the businessmen and has been reported missing since.

Indian officials fear he may have been abducted by the traders, who aggressively pursue foreign businessmen who owe them money.

Family sources say Bana may have been picked up by the traders because of a mistaken identity.

Hundreds of Indian traders visit Yiwu, the world's biggest commodity market, to purchase goods and sell them via retail outlets in India.

Similar cases involving trade disputes have been reported in the past in China. Two Indian traders - Sunder Agrawal and Deepak Raheja - had to face cases for allegedly cheating Chinese suppliers in 2012.Thiruvananthapuram: An absolute ban on plastic will be imposed in all the 1240 temples under the Travancore Devaswom Board from April 1. Devotees will not be allowed to take their mobile phones into the temple premises, too. Administrative officers in temples have been asked to put in place a token system, and a mobile shelf modelled on a cloak room, in temples for the temporary safe-keep of the mobile phones of devotees. Traders will be prohibited from selling puja items like oil, camphor and incense sticks in plastic bottles, cases, or covers.

Likewise, devotees will not be allowed to bring any ritual-related materials like oil or ghee into the temple premises in plastic containers. We have already issued strict orders to traders to change their ways, TDB president A. Padmakumar said. In Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple, which the TDB president had converted into a lab of sorts for his anti-plastic drive, plastic trays kept in shops selling puja materials have been replaced by receptacles made from palm spathes (paala paathram). Steel tumblers, instead of disposable plastic bowls, are now placed near temple counters for devotees to take oil and pour in giant stone lamps.

They can either leave the tumblers near the lamp or take it back to the counter. Each temple needs to keep some 50-odd steel tumblers for the purpose. It is not costly either, the president said. The Aranmula model will be followed in all other temples, he added. However, rendering devotion free of plastic is complicated. The TDB is still unsure as to how to deal with the large inventory of incense sticks and other materials in plastic packaging already in the possession of traders. We have, for instance, asked them not to sell in packets and instead to take out the incense sticks or camphor from out of the plastic package, and sell them in loose form covered in paper or any biodegradable material, Mr Padmakumar said. He, however, knows it is not a practical solution.

But even if we find it hard to dispose of the existing inventory, traders have been prohibited from purchasing materials in plastic packaging from April1, he said. With the ban imminent, new innovations have cropped up. For instance, Kudumbashree has created a cover for incense sticks from the outer layer of the banana tree stem. We are also planning to lease out space in Devaswom lands for small industries that can manufacture biodegradable packaging materials, the TDB president said.KOZHIKODE: The Catholic Diocese of Mananthavady which is campaigning to protect the rights of farmers amid the increasing human-animal conflict in Wayanad, is fighting to bring out a system to reduce the high number of animals by introducing Animal Birth Control (ABC) project among wildlife. Former spokesperson of the diocese Fr Thomas Joseph Therakam told this newspaper that it is high time the state explore ways to reduce the multiplication of wildlife making life an ordeal for farmers.

In many countries certain mechanisms are in place like hunting the wildlife just before the mating season and also implementing ABC among problem making animals like wild boar and monkeys. Such countries maintain healthy animal-habitat ratio which helps smooth living of animals as well as human beings, he said. However, environmentalists and wildlife experts dismiss the ideas as foolish and said that there is no data driven reports to substantiate the claims of increasing animal population.

Wayanad Prakriti Samrakshana Samiti president N. Badusha told this newspaper that rather than the increase in population, the loss of quality of habitat is the main reason that forces wildlife into human settlements. The increasing heat due to global warming, poor habitat management, ever expanding jungle weeds like lantana and mono-crop like Eucalyptus and Teak has caused much damage to the jungle, he said, adding that ABC among the monkey population that create disturbance in human habitats is the only exemption.

Environmental activist Prof E. Kunhikrishnan told this newspaper that the contention of the diocese is against the facts. Take the human population increase in the last 50 years and also study the forest cover vanished in the same period. Then you can easily diagnose the reasons for the conflict. The mushrooming of resorts and erasing out the remaining patches of greenery has caused much havoc, he said. It is up to man to decide how many animals he wants to retain. It is to be kept in mind that without the greenery, jungle and animals, your tourism will not sustain. So it is time to thing sensible ways of reducing the conflict, he pointed out.However, Chief Medical Officer of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, SAH Zaidi clarified that the patients were tied to the bed as the beds did not have side guards. (Photo: ANI)

Aligarh: In what can be termed as medical apathy, two people, who got injured in a railway accident, were seen lying on the bed with their hands and legs tied in AMU's Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College.

The two patients were seen seeking help, while hospital staff remained missing from the emergency ward.

However, Chief Medical Officer of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, SAH Zaidi clarified that the patients were tied to the bed as the beds did not have side guards.

"They are being treated by senior doctors. Our beds don't have side guards. The patients don't have any relative with them and our staff can also not sit here all the time. So, we have tied them to the bed to stop them from falling."

The injured were admitted to the hospital by the Railway Police of Aligarh.Bengaluru: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths have arrested the co-founder and editor of an online right-wing leaning web portal PostCard News Mahesh Vikram Hegde for allegedly spreading fake news with an intention to instigate communal unrest on Twitter. One of Hegde's twitter followers is Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Hegdes arrest was made after he tweeted a photo of Jain monk Upadhyaya Mayank Sagar Ji Maharaj with a caption Very sad news, yesterday in Karnataka Jain muni attacked by Muslim youth. No one is safe in Siddaramaiahs Karnataka.

Mahesh Vikram Hegde

Later, he tweeted the same content on the PostCard News handle. Police acted after a c omplaint was filed against him at Sanjay Nagar police station by a member of the Congress' KPCC.

The post on the Jain monk turned out to be fake after an Alt News expose found that the photo was taken from an online Jain news portal, Ahimsa Kranti.

We have found that the Upadhyaya Mayank Sagar Ji Maharaj was recently injured in an accident. He sustained minor injuries. But, Mr. Hedge has misused the photo on social media platform calling it an attack," police said.

PostCard News has received sustained flak for spreading fake news and hatred posts against minorities and Dalits and complaints were filed against the portal in the past in this regard.

Mr. Hegde was booked under sections 153A (attempt to promote enmity between religious groups), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage senti ments) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

Soon after Hegdes arrest, support started to pour in for him from BJP. Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha was first to tweet in his support. He tweeted Today morning Coward Congress Govt (Karnataka) arrested @mvmeet Mahesh Vikram Hegde under unconnected IT act 66, that too by using CCB! Shame on you @INCKarnataka.

However, contrary to his claim, Hegde was not booked under any IT act but under various sections of IPC. Soon after, hashtag #ReleaseMaheshHegde was trending on many groups that support the BJP.Hyderabad: Social media details, including usernames, previous email addresses, and phone numbers, could be sought from US visa applicants in future as part of the visa vetting process. This is still at the proposal stage with the US State Department seeking public comments. The requirement will be for all types of visas, immigrant and non-immigrant and impact nearly 15 million foreigners who apply for US visas every year. The US State Department, in documents to be published in Fridays Federal Register website noted that it wants to get public comments on this proposal. According to the document, one particular question lists several social media platforms and asks the visa applicant to provide any identifiers used for those platforms during the five years preceding the date of application. The proposal documents were posted on Thursday but the 60-day public comment period commences on Friday after the edition is published.

These social media checks were announced last year too. A couple of years back, Facebook chats gave information to immigration officials that some students from Hyderabad were more interested in earning money by taking up jobs instead of pursuing studies. The incidents that happened in the past may be the reason for officials to take the social media path. Since people share a lot of details on social media in personal chats or on posts, the actual intention of the person can be revealed. This proposal will not go forward as the public would certainly veto it, said Subhakar Alapati, director of Global Tree Overseas Education and Immigration Consultant, Hyderabad.

While the world is debating privacy of data on social media, this proposal is seen as an intrusion into a persons privacy. While social media posts are a great way to really read into the character of people, everyone who vents on a public platform due to unhappiness, frustration or fear, isnt necessarily a threat, says Sabina Xavier, Chief Operating Officer of Y-Axis Consultancy. Its doubtful whether such checking will do much to protect national security, but it will add to the workload of immigration officers.

Multiple H-1B applications would attract rejection

Multiple H-1B applications for the same person with different job offers will be rejected, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services has warned ahead of the H-1B visa filing season commencing on April 2. In a policy memorandum released on Friday, USCIS said that it will deny or revoke the approval of all H-1B cap-subject petitions filed for that beneficiary.

USCIS highlighted the case of an applicant who filed from two companies for one client project. It stated that Company S-Inc and C-LLC filed H-1B petitions for the same candidate to work in substantially the same position for the same end-client through the same two vendors in the same fiscal year. People have been exploiting the lottery process because the probability of a person with multiple nominations getting picked is higher. There were allegedly several instances in the city itself where multiple visa applications were filed for the same person using this loophole.

Very rarely does a company file multiple applications for the same beneficiary because two distinct positions exist. This is a loophole that they tend to use to increase their chances of getting in their employee. Unfortunately, Indian tech companies get the giants share of the H-1B and it is misused by them, said Sabina Xavier, Chief Operating Officer of Y-Axis Consultancy.

Submitting multiple applications undermines the lottery system and is misused by employers who are exploiting the system. People often employ these tactics to improve their chances of winning. For 65,000 visas, if a person files two petitions, then he/she will have probability of 2/65000 and not 1/65000, said Subhakar Alapati, director of Global Tree Overseas Education and Immigration Consultant, Hyderabad.

JNTU, Osmania University Alumni hold most H-1B



Most H-1B visa holders from India in 2017 were students from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) or colleges affiliated to it. Around 747 BTech alumni from JNTU secured H-1B visas in 2017, while Anna University, Chennai, was the leader with nearly 850 graduates. Four of the top 10 universities in which most of the H-1B visa-holders were educated are in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Some 223 alumni of Osmania University, 153 of Andhra University and 138 of Acharya Nagarjuna University were given H-1B visas, according to data sourced by Quartz from the Office of Foreign Labour Certification.

This seems to suggest that its not true that graduates and post-graduates of IITs, IIMs and BITS Pilani prefer to work abroad; most of those who went to the US on H-1B visas are from other universities. At the Masters level, too, the largest number of those hired in 2017 was from JNTU and Anna University. Experts say that this is not surprising as many tech-hubs and companies are in South India.

The Indian tech giants are heavily vested in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad and thats where the bulk of their workforce is. So, its expected that majority of the applicants come from Anna University, JNTU, Madras University or Osmania University, says an expert. The fact that more students from Telugu states apply for the visa could be attributed to the craze among Telugu people to go abroad. While 30 per cent of H-1B visa holders are Indians, about 70 per cent of these are from the south. People are inclined to pursue engineering and go abroad unlike other states where they pursue different disciplines, including literature and the arts, says another expert.Earlier on Friday, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee filed a complaint with the EC against BJP president Amit Shah, citing the violation of model code of conduct. (Photo: File)

Mysuru: The Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday filed a complaint with the Election Commission against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for violating the model code of conduct.

According to the Centre ruling party, the Chief Minister "bribed" two women, who welcomed him at Chamundeshwari temple in Mysuru, with Rs 2,000 each.

The party further alleged that Siddaramaiah paid Rs 2,000 to a priest of the temple in an attempt to polarise him ahead of the Karnataka Assembly Election.

Earlier on Friday, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee filed a complaint with the EC against BJP president Amit Shah, citing the violation of model code of conduct. According to the complaint, Shah handed a cheque of Rs 5 lakh to the family of murdered RSS worker Raju with an intention to polarise voters in Mysuru.

The election for 224-seat Karnataka Assembly will be held on May 12 and the counting of the votes will take place on May 15.TIRUVARUR: S. Banupriya, a class 8th student of a Panchayat Union Middle School at Klachery West near Needamangalam in Tiruvarur District was declared as the winner of the 8th Annual Pramerica Spirit of Community Awards (SOCA) hosted by DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance (DPLI) in the Individual Category for fighting against the beliefs and superstitions attached to menstruation in her village.

The girl organised awareness rallies in her village, performed street plays and invited a doctor working in the primary health centre (PHC) to educate the people in her village and counsel school girls. Through her persistent efforts, this young girl has been able to shake the beliefs and superstitions of many.

She has been able to sensitize almost 1,500 people in her village and there has been a gradual shift in the way girls are now treated during menstruation, according to Anoop Pabby, MD & CEO, DPLI. In a release at Tiruvarur on Friday, Mr. Anoop Pabby said that the eighth Annual Pramerica Spirit of Community Awards (SOCA) hosted by DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance (DPLI) felicitated 29 school students for their extraordinary efforts in the area of community service at a function in Gurugram. These finalists w-ere shortlisted from over 4,000 applications . He further said that Banupriya and another girl student Ishita Mangla of Delhi Public School also received the top honor in the Individual Category for their initiative, honoured at a ceremony in Gurugram, near New Delhi recently. Both the winners were presented with gold medallions, Certificates of Excellence, a cash prize of Rs 50,000 each and a return trip to Washington by end of April.

According to the police, Prudhiviraj and Chandan Kumar, both former students of the university, wanted to join the CPI (Maoist) group and in regard to it met Haribhushan Telangana State Maoists Committee secretary in the Cherla forest area in December, 2017. (Photo: PTI)

Hyderabad: The East Godavari police on Saturday arrested two people who allegedly conspired to kill University of Hyderabad Vice Chancellor, V Appa Rao.

The duo was identified as Ankala Prudhiviraj of Andhra Pradesh and Chandan Kumar Misra of West Bengal.

According to the police, Prudhiviraj and Chandan Kumar, both former students of the university, wanted to join the CPI (Maoist) group and in regard to it met Haribhushan Telangana State Maoists Committee secretary in the Cherla forest area in December, 2017.

They discussed about various issues relating to the University of Hyderabad (UoH) and the Rohith Vemula suicide issue and the developments following it. During the talk, they planned to kill the Vice Chancellor so as to attract the students to the Maoist party. They believed that if the vice chancellor is killed students might get inclined to the Maoist movement and join the group in large numbers, Superintendent of Police, East Godavari Vishal Gunni, said. He added that after killing the Vice Chancellor, they would drop in some pamphlets bearing the signature of Maoist to spread the message of their involvement.

The duo were nabbed by the police on Friday evening at Pitchkulapadu T Junction on Bhadrachalam  Cherla road.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Cyberabad, V C Sajjanar, said that Appa Rao is provided with one plus one security following a threat after a few incidents at the University of Hyderabad.

We will review the security and beef it up depending upon the threat perception, he said.The city is also working on a program to help low-income residents afford higher water bills. That plan is still being developed, according to Interim Public Works Director Steve Hartwig.

Joseph told staff he wants the plan for the assistance program fleshed out by the May 15 hearing before voting on the new rates.

An elderly woman who has lived in American Canyon for more than 50 years told the council on March 20 that paying more for water will be difficult for her and the person she lives with.

We need help, said the woman who did not give her name. She said they live on a fixed income of $33,000 annually, and already pay $70-$80 a month for water.

Other residents who spoke at the meeting said they understood the need to raise the rates.

As much as I dont want the rates to go up, said Troy Noonan, who served on the citys Water Rate Advisory Committee (WRAC), Im all in on this proposal.

The city held two public workshops in March to inform residents about the rate plan. But no one  other than city officials and WRAC members  showed up at the March 5 meeting held at Canyon Oaks Elementary School.Hyderabad: A father and son duo, farmers in Vikarabad district, died of electrocution in their field on Thursday night. The incident happened while they were watering their sugarcane field. The deceased were identified as Boyini Lakshmaiah and his son Boyini Santosh. Lakshmaiah belonged to Buddaram village in Peddemul mandal. The water level in the borewell in their field had decreased and so they sought help of farmers of neighboring fields for supply from their borewells.

Late at night, the two came to the field to set up the water supply. They set up pipe connection from the borewell in the neighbouring field to their field. The owner of the neighbouring field had set up an electric fence to protect crop from wild boars. Unaware of this, the two suffered an electric shock as they tried to cross over the fence and died on the spot.After the announcement of the poll schedule, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee held a meeting at the state secretariat, Nabanna. (Photo: PTI)

Kolkata: West Bengal is going to the Panchayat Elections in three phases in May.

Declaring the poll schedule on Saturday the West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) announced that the first phase, the largest one among the three rounds, would be held on May 1 in most of the districts in South Bengal.

As many as 12 districts: North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Howrah, Hooghly, Burdwan East, Burdwan West, Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram, East Midnapore and West Midnapore will go to the rural polls, said WBSEC commissioner A K Singh in the afternoon.

The second phase will be held on May 3 when elections will be held in only two districts: Murshidabad and Birbhum while the third phase will be held on May 5 when the polls will be held in six districts of North Bengal: Coochbehar, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and Malda.

The election results will be declared on May 8, Singh added.

While the WBSEC will issue the notification on April 2, the model code of conduct has been effective with the announcement of the poll schedule.

Singh however refused to comment on whether the central para-military forces would be sought for deployment during the polls.



All opposition parties earlier demanded to the state poll panel for the central forces' deployment.

Soon after the announcement of the poll schedule, chief minister Mamata Banerjee and panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee held a meeting at the state secretariat: Nabanna.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh however threatened to move the court against the poll schedule.

"It was assumed that the Panchayat polls would be held in May. But it has been scheduled during the final examinations at the schools. While April 9 has been set as the deadline for filing nominations, the examination will continue till April 12. So there is not enough time for us to campaign," he said.

Ghosh argued, "It was the Trinamool Congress which had earlier moved the Calcutta High Court in 1999 against the polls be held during the examinations. The court then directed that polls should not be held during the examinations. But now the Trinamool being in power is doing the opposite."

He added, "We will contest the polls. But at the same time we will also explore the scopes to move to the court on the legal aspect which includes court's order against the polls during school examinations."

CPI(M) MLA Sujan Chakraborty alleged, "The International Labour Day is observed on May 1 everywhere. But neither the Trinamool government nor the state poll panel is bothered about the significance of that day. That is why the first phase has been scheduled on May 1. This is anti-labour. It is also the shortest possibile time to hold the rural polls."

Congress MLA Manoj Chakraborty claimed, "The votes will be looted if the central forces would not be deployed. So we demand the central forces' deployment. It seems there is a ploy in scheduling only two districts in the second phase. Moreover there is very little time left to us to carry out election campaigns."

Trinamool secretary general Partha Chatterjee however said, "The opposition parties have no bases. Still they are opposing us for the sake of opposition. They have no cards in their hands to reach out to the mass. That is why they fear of facing the elections and talk of courts. But we are with the mass always."It would be a first as the Karnataka assembly has never seen a religious head being elected to it.

Bengaluru: Will the 2018 state poll see a saffron-clad seer enter the Legislative Assembly? If it does, it would be a first as the Karnataka assembly has never seen a religious head being elected to it.

While the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) don't seem keen on fielding any swami in these polls, the BJP is reportedly considering fielding a few. Basavananda Swami, a pontiff from north Karnataka, who is reportedly a big fan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is lobbying hard to get the BJP ticket for Kalaghatagi constituency in Dharwad district, which is currently represented by Labour Minister, Santhosh Lad.

Another seer, Rajashekharananda Swamiji of Vajradehi Mutt in Gurupur, Mangaluru, who is close to right wing Hindu organizations, is also lobbying hard for a BJP ticket. He is willing to contest either from Ullala or Bantwala constituency. But the party may not field him as if he loses, it could indicate that Hindus are weak and not united, said BJP leaders.

Meanwhile, its claimed that Udupi Shiroor Mutt pontiff, Lakshmivara Teertha Swami, who had announced a couple of weeks ago that he intended to enter the poll fray, is being influenced by sitting MLA and Mnister, Pramod Madhwaraj, who is allegedly trying hard to divide the Brahmin vote, and sail through the elections with the help of other communities.

In any case, both the BJP and Sangh Parivar are reportedly not keen on the seer as he has various interests such as car racing and might not receive the support of the Brahmins in Udupi.New Delhi/ Hyderabad: After the bitter fallout with the BJP, Telugu Desam supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is expected to reach out to the Congress and likely to meet Mallikarjun Kharge, the partys leader of the House in the Lok Sabha during his two-day visit to New Delhi early next week.

Mr Naidu is leaving for Delhi on Monday night. After snapping ties with the BJP, this is his first visit to Delhi. He will return to Vijayawada on Wednesday.

Mr Naidus interactions with the Congress leaders are likely be limited to the issue of the No Confidence motion, the TD has moved against the BJP in the Lok Sabha as the anti-Congress sentiment in Andhra Pradesh is too strong, and the TD chief has anyway evinced interest in the formation of a non-Congress, non-BJP Federal Front.

The Opposition will try to push for a debate on the No Confidence Motion on April 2-3. Though the CM announced his decision to visit the capital to raise state issues on the floor of the Assembly, the dates might be tinkered with.Hyderabad: Congress MLA Revanth Reddy on Saturday said that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has lost his control on the administration and the state finances.

Referring to the CAG report that declared the state to be a revenue- deficit state, Mr Reddy accused Mr Rao of taking full rest and confining himself to managing the people by giving sentimental slogans.

Mr Reddy said the CAG report has exposed the failure of the state government on several fronts.

He criticised state finance department principal secretary K. Rama Krishna Rao for the economic decline of the state and asked the state government book a criminal case against him.

He accused the government of committing a financial crime by showing loans as income to project a surplus budget.

He said that the CAG revealed a 40 per cent variation in the Budget allotments and expenditure. Mr Reddy said the Congress will lodge a complaint to investigation agencies over financial irregularities.

He alleged that Mr Chandrasekhar Rao is planning to escape from this mess by making finance minister Etela Rajendar a scapegoat and removing him from the Cabinet on the pretext of financial irregularities exposed by the countrys top auditor.

He said if Mr Chandra-sekhar Rao is sincere, he should resign owning the moral responsibilities.Hyderabad: Telangana Congress working president Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Saturday criticised IT minister K.T. Rama Rao for describing his party as a third grade party.

Speaking to media, Mr Vikramarka said that the country had won independence under the leadership of the Congress and it is the same party which gave statehood to Telangana.

Highlighting the prom-inent positions that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has given to his relatives, Mr Vikramarka said Jawaharlal Nehru did not have his daughter Indira Gandhi in his Cabinet; neither did Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi have any of their family members in their Cabinets.

However, he said the KCR Cabinet is loaded with his family members and that Mr Rama Rao was speaking without knowing the history of the Congress. He accused the CM of turning Telangana into a debt-ridden state.

He sought to know the reason for buying power at higher rate by spending Rs 6,000 crore when the cheaper power is available in the open market. He demanded that the government issue a white paper on the electricity department.Chennai: Toughening its stand against the Centre on the Cauvery issue, the AIADMK on Friday announced a massive fasting protest by its cadres on April 3 in all the district headquarters to condemn the Centre for not constituting the Cauvery Management Board despite the Supreme Court order. This is the first time the ruling party and its government have taken on the Centre on any issue even as the Opposition parties, particularly the DMK, have been accusing them of being subservient to the BJP regime post-Jaya.

Centres recalcitrant procrastination despite the Supreme Court on February 16 setting a six-week deadline for constituting the CMB and making it clear that it was its final order on the Cauvery issue, has caused untold misery and mental agony, said a statement issued by the AIADMK headquarters here late evening. It also said the protest-fast was aimed at pressuring the Centre to constitute the CMB without further delay.

Earlier in the day, deputy CM and AIADMK coordinator O. Panneerselvam had announced at a mass-wedding function in Madurai that the protest-fast would be held on April 2.

The agitation would shake up entire India, but would be conducted in peaceful manner without disrupting normal life, he said while recalling the various measures undertaken by late Jayalalithaa during her tenure as the CM, such as the legal battle she initiated in 2011 to obtain the Central gazetting of the Cauvery Tribunal Award in 2013.

Cauvery is the livelihood right of Tamil Nadu. Our strident voice will continue to ring for ensuring we do not lose that right. The AIADMK members will hold protest-fast in all the district headquarters in Tamil Nadu on April 2 to pressure the Centre to constitute the Cauvery Management Board, OPS said.

Party sources said the agitation date got shifted to the next day, April 3, to complete the huge task of distributing the organising task among the functionaries in the 51 AIADMK districts across the state.

Speaking at the same mass-marriages function, Chief Minister K. Palaniswami rubbished the Opposition charge that the AIADMK and its government had not done enough to pressure the Centre to constitute the CMB.

Pointing out that the AIADMK MPs had paralysed the Parliament proceedings with their agitation for CMB, he said, We have created history by halting Parliament work for 17 days for a state issue.

Meanwhile, April 2 turned out to be an important date on the DMKs Cauvery calendar, as the partys working president M.K.Stalin has convened an all-party meet on that day to discuss strategy for getting the CMB formed.Madurai: There is no vacancy in the political arena in Tamil Nadu, said Chief Minister K. Palaniswami, while referring to the ambitious proclamations from some explaining their foray into the state politics.

Obviously referring to the assertions recently made by actors Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth that political instability coupled with bad governance has now created a huge void in the Tamil Nadu political arena, which they promised to fill by their honest politics, the CM said some persons were seeing political vacancies that do not exist. Each one of the AIADMK functionary, including himself, had arisen from the ranks and through hard work for the party and for the people, he said presiding over a mass-marriage function here on Friday.

He said the AIADMK "is the only party with 1.5 crore cadres forming the solid foundation". The government, he said, had been continuing with great zeal the good work executed by late Jayalalithaa during her CM tenure. Such a popular party and its government cannot be shaken by any force, he asserted.

The CM also listed out the several welfare schemes for women and children instituted by Amma, and said his government would continue to implement them all.Mysuru: BJP national president, Amit Shah, who is currently campaigning in the state for the coming assembly poll, asserted on Friday that the JD(S) could not throw the Congress out , but the BJP could and the biggest shock defeat for the party would begin from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's hometown of Mysuru.

We are looking for transformation of the state for the sake of its women, youth, Dalits, and tribals. Do the people want the BJP, which is committed to development or the Congress which is collecting commission? he asked, addressing the Navashakthi convention of BJP workers of 656 booths of Chamaraja Narasimharaja and Krishnaraja constituencies at the Maharaja's College grounds.

Mr Shah , who arrived in Mysuru by a special flight Thursday evening, is participating in a series of events in old Mysuru region over Friday and Saturday.

Accusing the Congress of playing votebank politics, he said while its government in the state did not remember to celebrate the birth anniversaries of Kuvempu or Sir M . Vishweswaraiah, it celebrated the birth anniversary of Tipu Sultan to attract votes.

He claimed the Modi government had released the most funds, compared to any government at the Centre to Karnataka. Besides the Rs 79,000 crore it gave for 11 schemes to Karnataka during the period of the 14th Financial Commission, the Centre has released Rs 2,19,506 crore to Karnataka, which is the biggest amount given by any Union government to it post- Independence. Siddaramaiah says the Centre has not done Karnataka any favour by releasing these funds. We agree, it is the right of the people of Karnataka, Mr Shah said, adding that the UPA government at the Centre had released only Rs 88,583 crore to the state during the 13th Finance Commission by comparison.

Referring to his slip of the tongue on the issue of corruption when speaking in Chitradurga recently, he said, Everyone from Siddaramaiah to AICC president, Rahul Gandhi was happy that I made the mistake. I may have erred, but the people of the state will not and will take the right decision this election. If I start writing, the list of corruption will extend from one end of Karnataka to Kerala.

BJP state chief, B S Yeddyurappa in his speech accused the Congress of protecting those involved in the murders of 24 Hindu BJP and RSS workers in the state and urged the people to teach Mr Siddaramaiah a lesson by defeating him in Chamundeswari and his son in Varuna. JD (S) leaders Sandesh Swamy, Sandesh, Ramakrishna and Mahadevappa joined the BJP on the occasion.In appointing John Bolton as his national security adviser, President Donald Trump is sending strong signals to his country and the world. First, in choosing a notorious hawk, he has lain to rest all expectation and hope that power will tame him. Second, he has no interest in securing independent let alone contrary advice so essential to making a sound decision, all the more so in the realm of foreign policy where decision-makers have to act on imperfect evidence, conflicting instincts and even conjectures out of sheer necessity. Third, he has once again signified his contempt for the diplomatic route; he has no interest in compromise. Fourth, he has all but destroyed the authority and prestige of the office of the NSA, as well as undermined the National Security Council (NSC). Both the NSA post and the NSC were set up around the same time, in 1947. Both were emulated, or imitated, by other countries with results varying from useful to superfluous. Both are pre-eminently sound in conception, but their success relies on the political chief executives humility and respect for internal debate in foreign policy-making. These qualities are not always conspicuous in Presidents and Prime Ministers. They tend to believe that acquisition of great power fetches in its train great wisdom as well.

Dangerous at any time, Boltons appointment at this sensitive moment in world affairs is a threat to peace. He is on record with his opposition to the accord with Iran the world over. US partners in Europe, Russia and China strongly support it. Saudi Arabia opposes it, and Trumps adventures in the region served only to widen the Iran-Saudi Arabia divide. The other issue is even more sensitive. It is North Koreas nuclear programme.All the signals suggest that its leader Kim Jong-un seeks a peaceful compromise. Trumps suggestions of recourse to force are not a good way to ensure the success of his summit with Kim Jong-un, which is due in May. Appointment as NSA, one who is not only a sworn enemy of the Iran deal but a fervent advocate of a pre-emptive attack on North Korea, is not a good signal to send to Pyongyang. The New York Times summed up the reaction everywhere: There are few people more likely than Mr Bolton is to lead the country to war. After many a meeting and documents galore, in 1947, the US Congress enacted the National Security Act. Seventy years travails of the NSC have not robbed the statutes statement objectives of their relevance, they fortify it. Its main function is to advise the President with respect to the integration of domestic, foreign and military policies relating to national security so as to enable the military services and other government departments and agencies to cooperate more effectively.

The act defines the councils duties in precise terms: (1) to assess and appraise the objectives, commitments and risk of the United States in relation to our actual and potential military power, in the interest of national security, for the purpose of making recommendations to the President in connection therewith; and (2) to consider policies on matters of common interest to the departments and agencies of the government concerned with the national security, and to make recommendations to the President in connection therewith. Each President used the NSC just as he wished. Eisenhower accorded to it much importance. Kennedy used it as a sounding board. During the Cuban crisis, he set up a smaller executive committee of the NSC to deliberate on how the crisis could be defused. The fundamental principle underlying the setup is very sound. All relevant considerations are urged at one place (the NSC) before the political leadership  diplomatic, military, economic, etc. The NSA formulates the options objectively, with his recommendations. The final decision is for the elected leader to take.

By arrangement with DawnNapa County Airport had 46,000 takeoffs and landings in 2016-17. It serves everyone from businesspeople and wine country tourists arriving in private jets to local aviators flying their small planes.

The airport had a far different beginning. In November 1942, the county was poised to buy land to be used for a $1 million airport that would aid with World War II coastal defenses, the Napa Journal reported that year. The U.S. Army would build the airfield and the county would take control after the war.

In early November 1943, workers began pouring concrete for the runways, the St. Helena Star reported that year. They poured the concrete in 25-foot strips, 8 inches deep in the middle and a foot deep on either side.

Today, the main runway rates a 47 on the FAAs pavement scale of one to 100, with 100 being the best. This is considered poor condition, a county report said.

Workers do two runway checks daily to monitor conditions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The runway surface is something of a patch job.

The patches dont provide a real rough ride, Baer said. But the old concrete with the seams between the joints does make for a rougher ride than a newly paved runway will provide.In the clash of opposing imaginaries new flashpoints are emerging as signals of intensifying polarisation between what is made out to be a suppressed Hindu majority sentiment versus a socially diverse and ipso facto political appeasement of the Muslim minority that has encouraged a new assertiveness. Celebratory rallies have morphed into communal rioting and at least five deaths in West Bengal over aggressive and weaponised Ram Navami processions validate this narrative.

Underlying this imagined substance of India, over which the BJP and its Sangh Parivar and the Trinamul Congress in West Bengal, the Bahujan Samaj Party-Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, Congress in Karnataka, Telugu Desam and Telangana Rashtra Samithi in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, DMK in Tamil Nadu, RJD in Bihar is another idea, another fierce contest. That is of centralisation of power captured in the slogan of one nation-one party raised by Amit Shah and Narendra Modi under the guise of mainstreaming the populations of states where Opposition parties rule. The confrontation between plural politics and state leaders representing the idea of diversity is being challenged, so as to defeat it by the idea of homogeneity  political, social, religious, cultural and of course economic.

The contesting claims of what the nation shall be in political, social, religious and cultural terms is reflected in the first communal riots on Ram Navami in West Bengal. In 2018, the new calendar of communal tension points seems to have been formally unveiled. The invention of new weaponised celebrations by the BJP-Sangh Parivar began in 2016 on a small scale, expanded in 2017 with Astra Puja significantly timed to clash with Muharram, all of which contributed to communalisation of the political contest between the ruling TMC and the former ruling parties, the CPI(M)-led Left Front and the Congress, on the one hand, and the BJP-Sangh Parivar as the challenger, on the other.

Between the old and new the contours of politics in India is changing. Bengal is at the forefront of the confrontation. It is as much a war against divisive communal and polarising politics of the BJP variety, embodied in Mr Modi and his style of almost presidential governance and in Mr Shah and his style of all-conquering general, against the diversity of regional parties and their compulsion to be culturally, communally and politically accommodating. It is thus a clash of titans; each regional leader is a titan on his/her turf, whereas Mr Modi believes that is a role only he can play.

Mamata Banerjee should have seen this coming, given that Ram Navami celebrations organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and Hindu Samhati became a political issue in 2017, and was taken a step forward with the Astra Puja celebrations. The rioting that erupted in West Bengal over the past week reflects the escalation of social-religious-political tensions. The rioting started from Purulia and turned into a political battle of domination in Asansol, represented by BJP MP and Union minister Babul Supriyo, which is also the stomping ground of BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh, MLA from Kharagpur. The geographical concentration of rioting in Raniganj-Asansol and Durgapur is because the BJP is turning the coal-railway-heavy industry belt into its own fiefdom.

Instead of simply disconnecting the Internet, belatedly organising a flag march in Asansol, knee-jerk reactions that are designed to turn the least enchanted into disgruntled voters and so potential BJP recruits, Ms Banerjee needed to be smarter. Merely thundering that she would not allow West Bengals history of communal harmony to be disrupted by the BJP-RSS-VHP, instructing her police to strongly deal with weapon-wielding Ram Navami processions, or declaring such processions were banned, except those that were around for 50, 100 or even 10 years, was appeasement tactics, wrapped in the guise of firm administrative management. The fact that Section 144 CrPC was used so sparingly to work as a preventive measure in areas that West Bengals police and intelligence apparatus should have known might turn into riot zones opens

Ms Banerjee to the sort of criticism from the CPI(M) and Congress that would weaken her image and give the BJP another advantage.

The wooing of disgruntled BJP leaders like Shatrughan Sinha, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, that too in New Delhi, and her conversations with regional parties and the Congress have made Ms Banerjee a dangerous and bold rival, an icon and spearhead in uniting the states against the BJP-Sangh Parivar in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. As Shatrughan Sinha declared his meeting with Ms Banerjee was to save the nation, and this was endorsed by Yashwant Sinha, the vulnerability of Ms Banerjee to every sort of attack from the BJP went up several notches.

The gathering of federal forces, the call for one is to one fights against the BJP, and the invitation to parties like the Congress with previous alliances to join in a strategy of vote consolidation imposes on Ms Banerjee the responsibility of guarding her own turf by paying far more attention to the BJPs intentions than she has so far. Till the Ram Navami riots Ms Banerjee was being equivocal in dealing with communally-polarising politics. To fight the BJP on that front,

Ms Banerjee needs to craft a political message that woos the Hindu voter, including those who alienated by the BJPs crudely formulated Hindus in danger-Muslim appeasement charge against her. This includes finding the political skills to delink the riots and communal flareups from the BJPs justification that these are a fallout of her politics of minority appeasement.

Reviving friendships, calling in favours with regional and national parties and leaders in a whirlwind New Delhi trip is politics with a lot of optics. But it doesnt make Mamata Banerjee an unassailable rival of the BJP nor an unchallenged leader of the federal front. The strategy of destabilisation in West Bengal requires her to focus on her front and back yards as well. With panchayat elections just weeks away, the fight to corner the BJP has just begun.In anticipation of talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump in May, Mr Kim took the world by surprise recently when he rode in his armoured train to Beijing. The surprise was all the greater as the North Korean dictator has visited no country since assuming office in 2011, nor invited any foreign leader to Pyongyang. But in Beijing he was received with pageantry and pomp associated with state visits. Apparently, Mr Kims unofficial visit to China was at the invitation of President Xi Jinping. Presumably, the official tag has been eschewed in order to keep the talks under wraps and avoid issuing public statements.

China is isolated North Koreas biggest benefactor, in economic and military terms. And yet, in recent years relations between the two havent exactly been warm, presumably because China has gone along with UN-imposed sanctions against the North on account of its nuclear activities. But China overlooked this and invited Mr Kim. Evidently, it is keen to ensure that in its talks with Washington, Pyongyang does not strike up a posture independent of China or overlooking Chinas geopolitical interests. Pyongyang possesses nuclear bombs and missiles to deliver them thanks to Chinese indulgence and its building up of the North as a counter to US-defended South Korea. No American leader has ever talked to a North Korean leader before, and there has been speculation that Pyongyang could aim to tilt geopolitics by attempting to do a deal with Washington which would discomfit Beijing. By hosting Mr Kim, China has also tried to see that Russia is cut out of any role of influence when Pyongyang and Washington talk.The governments invitation for expression of interest (EOI) from prospective buyers of Air India is one of the most decisive documents issued by any government for disinvestment of its stake in the hapless national carrier. The offloading of 76 per cent would reduce the governments shareholding to less than 25 per cent and is a commendable measure of the governments seriousness. A shareholding of 25 per cent would have given the government representation on the board and led to accusations that it was interfering in its day-to-day working. With its stake below 25 per cent, the government is signalling its assurance to prospective buyers that there will be no interference. The airline can now be run professionally and will have the wherewithal to compete with the best worldwide. The successful buyer will be answerable to its shareholders for the airlines performance.

The stipulation that the buyer must have a net worth of Rs 5,000 crores will take care of this. The sale will also boost the governments finances as it had already poured in Rs 23,993 crores of taxpayer funds out of the Rs 30,231 crores needed for the turnaround plan. This money, as finance minister Arun Jaitley noted, will allow the government to undertake its commitments in sectors like health and education that have so far been overlooked, despite the new universal health scheme.

Will this make Air India great again? If it does, the government stands to benefit as it could monetise the rest of its holding and use the proceeds to reduce its losses and provide for payment of staff. The buyer, under the EOI, has to take over the airlines debt and liabilities that come to a huge Rs 33,392 crores or $5.13 billion. Interestingly, if the buyer is a listed profitable entity, these losses could reduce its outgo. The government has done well to secure the interests of employees as the new owner cant get rid of them for a year. It has also wisely taken on the responsibility of paying staff arrears, that comes to Rs 1,298 crores. Air India has 11,214 permanent employees, of a total of 24,823 employees.

This hopefully brings to near closure the privatisation process mooted way back in 2000 under the earlier NDA government headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee. Then disinvestment minister Arun Shourie had privatised 25-odd corporations, including hotels, but Air India was a political hot potato. It was an era when a national carrier was a countrys pride, but that era has passed, with new airlines mushrooming. Around 2004-05, Air India was nearly killed in favour of a private airline, and deprived of many profitable parking slots abroad, besides being burdened with a huge number of aircraft it didnt need. One should also note the airline has assets of Rs 52,000 crores, both tangible and intangible, and enviable slots both at home and abroad.The Union finance secretary may soon get a two-year fixed tenure as is the case with the Cabinet secretary, home, defence and foreign secretaries and CBI, Raw and ED chiefs. Sources say that the government is seriously considering this option. It is felt that the complexities of managing the country's ever-evolving economic policy cannot be dealt by an official with a tenure shorter than two years.

Sources feel the move could also have been triggered by the circumstances around the present Union revenue secretary, Hasmukh Adhia. A Gujarat-cadre IAS officer of the 1981 batch, Mr Adhia was appointed in the first week of November 2017 as finance secretary  just a year ahead of his scheduled retirement. In case the finance secretary's post is given a fixed tenure, it will keep Mr Adhia in service till November 2019. But a bigger question is that Mr Adhia is seen as the strongest contender for the post of Cabinet secretary following the completion of the extended tenure of Union Cabinet secretary P.K. Sinha on June 12 this year. What will happen if Mr Sinha gets another extension?

PMs advice ignored

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has run into unexpected resistance in 115 backward districts earmarked for modernisation. The PM had urged states to appoint young IAS officers as district magistrates in the 115 backward districts. However, the states, particularly West Bengal and Odisha, have ignored Mr Modi's advice, seeing in it a hegemonic design of the Centre. It's not surprising that the Opposition parties rule these two states.

Sources say that while the PM wanted states to focus on appointing IAS officers in the age group of 25-30 years, Bengal and Odisha have chosen to appoint promotee IAS officers who are considerably older. The average age of district magistrates in charge of the 115 backward states is 40-plus. Mr Modi's keenness on appointing younger officers is put down to his belief that younger officers are more enthusiastic about identifying factors for the backwardness of these districts and addressing the issues than their older colleagues. But apparently, the message has got diffused in the prism of politics.

Redressing cops grievances

Gujarat has got its first full-term DGP, Shivanand Jha, after almost two years. During these two years, three interim chiefs headed the state police force. A 1982-batch IPS officer, Mr Jha is keen to put his stamp on the police force. To begin with, he has revived the long defunct police grievance redressal committee, aiming at resolving the job and deployment-related issues of policemen and even their personal problems. The committee had been set up in 1989 with great enthusiasm, which later waned.

The committee is headed by Mr Jha and other members include DGP (administration) Mohan Jha, additional DGP (police reforms) V.K. Mall, one police officer of the rank of IG and one of the rank of SP in the committee. Similar committees would also be set up at district and city level, with two members and representatives from different classes and ranks, including woman cops. According to sources, the state-level committee will meet once every three months to discuss the issues raised by police personnel and officials in the district and city level meetings. Mr Jha has also said that a separate committee would also be set up for the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) with the same structure.The flood of truth

Breaks through the dam of lies

But truth doesnt come in floods

It comes in drops, in tears, in sighs

The dams rise up and irrigate

All human discourse

Its too late..

My brothers, sisters its too late...



From Hey Bhagwan, What About Hindustan? By Bachchoo

I dont think sub-continentals understand anti-Semitism. Every other form of discrimination, from caste, class and colour, is known to us and rife. Jews are not numerous enough to be against.

Last week, several Jewish organisations and non-Jewish commentators accused Britains Labour Party of being seriously, even fatally, anti-Semitic.

The Jewish newspapers and Jewish Labour Movement members protested against what they said was a trend and tolerance within the party. They highlighted the role and stance of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. The national media, which took up the issue, pointed to Mr Corbyns support for anti-Jewish organisations such as Hamas and Hezbollah throughout his political career. Mr Corbyn cant backtrack from his publicly proclaimed support for these organisations but his defence for supporting them and, in the past, calling them my friends, is the standard Leftist protest that his statements and support were anti-Zionist and anti-Israeli policies towards the Palestinians, but not anti-Jewish.

The immediate issue which the Jewish organisations and commentators seized upon was not so immediate. In 2012, a mural in the East End depicted six supposed bankers or capitalists playing monopoly on a board which was placed on the backs of prostrate brown workers bent forward with their hands on their knees, bearing the burden of the board and the oppressors game. The mural has a very Bangladeshi-looking womans agonised face and a brownish figure with a raised revolutionary fist. The background contains cogwheels presumably to symbolise international capitals dark satanic mills.

At that time, Jeremy Corbyn had expressed his approval of the mural as a work of agitprop art. Jewish commentators have now denounced the mural and Mr Corbyns approving remarks about it as anti-Semitic, claiming the features of the bankers or capitalists in the painting are clearly intended to portray Jews. Mr Corbyn, probably acting on advice, has apologised for his earlier approval of the mural and says he hadnt looked at it carefully enough.

Ive been looking at pictures of the mural now and though I dont think I can distinguish any specifically Jewish features (a couple of the gentlemen with big noses could easily be Parsi), the American artist who painted it, Mear One, acknowledges that the figures are Jewish and Anglo. I must brush up on my ethno-recognition skills.

Mear One, probably not the name given to him at birth (but one never knows with American and Bengali parents), picked on Hanbury Street in Brick Lane which is a specific majority Bangladeshi Muslim area.

The East End of London, in which it is situated, has a few decades of politics into which Islamic identity and fundamentalist ideology and attitudes have been dragged. This borough of Tower Hamlets has more mosques per square mile than Mecca. It has had majority Bangladeshi municipal councilors, reflecting the composition of the electorate. The rebel politician George Galloway who was expelled from the Labour Party when Tony Blair was Prime Minister, stood as its parliamentary candidate and won against Labour candidate Oona King. The campaign wasnt clean. Galloway stood virtually on the contention that he supported Saddam Husseins regime in Iraq and opposed the Blair-Bush war. Fair enough, but there were certainly undertones of anti-Semitism in the campaign against Ms King, who is Jewish by birth.

Mr Corbyns tentative 2012 approval of the mural has been the pivot of the latest protests against Labours alleged anti-Semitism under his leadership. The protesters quote other incidents and this onslaught has prompted Mr Corbyn and the leadership of the Labour Party to denounce anti-Semitism and distance themselves from any of it in very strong terms. Mr Corbyn has now publicly acknowledged that there are pockets of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party and they would be diligently rooted out.

There are two sources of anti-Semitism in a party, which in its 112 years of existence, has been the champion of minorities and the enemy of race prejudice. There have been lapses  the party, under PM Jim Callaghan, wasnt particularly fair to Kenyan Asians with British passports who fled persecution in Africa. Nevertheless, the partys constant concern for the plight of Palestinians has emerged in pockets of the party as anti-Zionism and as anti-Israel. The left factions of the party have been vociferous in their denunciation of Israeli policy and this has been very often interpreted as crossing the line, however thick it is, into anti-Jewishness. The second factor is that the Labour Party has electorally captured the inner city constituencies of England with a decisive population of Muslim immigrant communities. All of these communities are now three generations old but their allegiances are demonstrably influenced by Saudi money and preachers infiltrating their mosques and institutions, by differing degrees of sympathy for Islamist aims if not terrorism and by blatant anti-Jewish sentiments.

The Labour Party has 12 Muslim MPs in Parliament. Two of them have been disciplined for anti-Semitic remarks and it is very likely that Jeremy Corbyn included these communities but obviously not the MPs theyve elected, in his calculation of pockets of anti-Semitism.

I began the column, gentle reader, by noting that in my experience there was no anti-Semitism in India. Come to think of it, in my childhood in Pune, there was a red brick synagogue at the end of our street in Pune Cantonment which we natives called Lal Deval. It was the temple for the fair-skinned Baghdadi Jews of the town. I was, as a teenager, aware that the brown-skinned Bene-Israeli Jews had their own synagogue in Pune City. Within Punes Judaism a tacit apartheid prevailed.

I later heard that several of the brown Jews from our city had attempted to emigrate to Israel, experienced racist treatment and returned to hospitable Pune.The ministry of women and child development held a high-level consultation on March 26 to push forward its agenda of introducing the concept of pre-nuptial agreements within Indian family law. A similar idea was floated by the ministry in November 2015, but it couldnt make much headway as the proposal faced severe opposition from senior officials who felt that introducing such a concept would change the sacramental character of Hindu marriages.

But since women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi has been pushing for it, the idea has surfaced again. Ostensibly, this is being done to secure the rights of women at the time of divorce. Divorce cases in India often run into several years of courtroom battles over property, assets and maintenance, and women often end up losing out on their rightful share. If the terms of property division and maintenance are clearly spelt out in a legally valid document prior to marriage, it would ensure women get the assets and support they are entitled to without going through lengthy litigation, the minister said.

But there seems to be a hidden agenda too  of saving the precious time of our overburdened courts. Though we are quick to enact progressive laws  maintenance laws, the Domestic Violence Act, Family Courts Act, etc  the implementation of these laws is dismal. It is obvious that courts dealing with womens rights have failed to protect women. Issues of property division, child custody and maintenance have become highly contested. While this works out to be a boon for matrimonial lawyers, it is a bane for litigants, more so, for women, who lack the staying power to engage in long-drawn litigation. The courts have tried to deal with this by referring the couple to mediation, where they can mutually arrive at an agreement. But subtle pressure is exerted during these proceedings upon the wife to settle on the husbands terms. The wife who refuses is seen as stubborn and overdemanding. Many mediators, including judges, function from the patriarchal premise that family assets belong exclusively to the husband.

To cut short these problems, introducing the notion of pre-nups (as they are popularly referred to) is viewed as a magic wand, since it sounds progressive (and Western), where the parties themselves settle their future rights at the time of entering into marriage. A simple solution to the problem at hand, or so it seems. If women are being deprived of their rightful share in family assets, they themselves are to blame for not being prudent, diligent and farsighted!

But how will women, who are usually married at a young age, be in a position to decide their future economic entitlements at the time of marriage? And do they have the autonomy to do so?

There are even deeper concerns here. Despite codification, Hindu marriages continue to be governed by a sacramental notion that a bejewelled bride is offered to the groom (sahalankar kanyadhan). Further, it has to be topped up with dowry to make amends for her lower status. Within this patriarchal premise, the brides family is placed at a lower plank, and they lack the negotiating power to strike a favourable deal for division of matrimonial assets at a future date. Against this ground reality, how will a pre-nuptial contract between the parties secure the rights of women?

Introducing the notion of pre-nuptial agreements will transform the sacramental Hindu marriage into a purely contractual obligation. Are our overwhelmingly Hindu parliamentarians ready for this? This is the moot question which the bureaucrats were trying to raise. Unless the Hindu marriage sheds its sacramental veneer, it will not be possible to introduce the concept of pre-nup into the Hindu law of marriage.

Since the Islamic law, from its inception, viewed marriage as a contractual obligation, the nikahnama (marriage contract) provides for conditions to be written into it to secure the future rights of the bride. She can even divorce herself if the husband violates these conditions. The same can also be enforced in a court. In addition, instead of the Hindu notion of dowry, the Islamic law provides for mehr, a sum which the groom must assure as the future security of the bride in her matrimonial home. Indeed a revolutionary concept for 7th century Arabia.

But if we look around, we notice that mehr amounts have become paltry and the Hindu notion of dowry has crept into Muslim marriages, which sets off the safeguard which the Islamic law provides for women.

Though conditions can be written into the nikhanama, a Muslim bride, similar to a Hindu bride, is not in a position to lay down conditions in the nikahnama despite the religion granting her this right. During our discussions about including conditions in the nikahnama, we were informed that it is inauspicious to discuss the breakdown of marriage when entering into it. So in most cases, beyond the paltry amounts of mehr, no conditions are included in the nikahnama or iqrar nama(pre-nuptial contract).

We also have the example of the Goan law which provides for a pre-nuptial agreement. This is based on the continental (European) law, which transformed Christian marriages from sacrament into contracts in the early 19th century, and the Portuguese introduced it in their territories. But experience says that women are better off if they do not enter into these contracts as the notion of community property (joint family property) protects them better since the husband cant dispose of the family assets without her consent, at least notionally. Pre-nup agreements are drawn by wealthy husbands to wriggle out of the situation where the wife is given the right only to a paltry amount as maintenance. At the time of marriage, women do not understand the implications of signing on the dotted line.

At the high-level meeting, lawyers and activists who were present felt that rather than rushing into it, there is a need for further evidence-based research to understand the ground reality. This was quickly turned into a project of producing a document based on the experience of Western countries which permit such agreements. But Indian realities are very different, and merely borrowing ideas from the West may not suit Indian conditions.

While discussing these problems at a meeting which lasted just barely about an hour, some of us made a valuable suggestion that since a marriage under the Special Marriage Act (SMA) is purely a civil contract, the option of a pre-nup agreement should be introduced within this law. This would be easier to bring about, since registering the marriage under SMA is purely optional. This would also give a boost to the government agenda of bringing a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), since SMA is our optional civil code.

But the government does not seem to be interested in adopting these workable solutions towards the UCC. The interest of the present government seems to be merely to target the Muslim community, project them as backward and keep the issue of UCC on the boil till the next general election.Its a Sunday noon. Im at the San Jose airport, looking out of the massive glass facade awaiting my flight. Light and water meet and a rainbow graces the sky  as though in an implicit promise of the bounty to come, like a bridge between ground reality and lofty dreams. Could this trip be as productive as ever? Im about to find out. My previous tours to Costa Rica have been spectacular. After all, the cloud forests of this country, whose name is a somewhat-understated geographical description (Costa Rica literally translates to rich coast), host a dizzying 500,000 species. Theres more species per unit area here than in any other country on the planet.





Now, as I do every year, Ive brought with me an eager group of photography enthusiasts, excited by the promise of a bounteous land, stoked by the prospect of portraying its abundance. We check in to our first destination, and the raw beauty takes me aback as though I were here for the first time. Indeed, if we really look with the heart, photographing wildlife carries with it an inherent promise of uniqueness. No two days are the same in the wild; let along any two years. Its an ever-shifting, ever-transiting universe  where wonder is the only constant.

The next day we see a magnificent toucan in action. With its outlandishly beautiful bill and vividly contrasting colours, its a gorgeous avian subject to photograph, and Im thrilled the groups been this fortunate. Amid all the fervent shouting out of settings for the tour participants to nail the pictures, I take a quiet moment to admire it and notice how in the silence of the changing greens of the forest, its perched with its bright colours in a defiant devotion to its habitat.





Later, we set out in the Atlantic Lowland Rainforest Range to make images of monkeys, aracaris and Montezuma oropendolas. Watching birds in the wild has always made me understand better why they symbolise freedom in the world of humans: their simple act of flying means boundlessness to us. Perhaps disregarding gravity and owning its share of the sky makes a bird relatable to those of us who wish to outdo limitations and seek what lies beyond them.





In the Central Volcanic Range Cloud Forest, I have always loved photographing macaws in flight against the lush-green forest backgrounds as well as on attractive perches. They are a riot of colours! Ive also made images of them when it was raining and it was as though different elements were in conversation with the vivacious hues of this bird  in the soft wetness and a gentle touch of the drizzle.

Halfway down the tour and we have arrived at the highly enjoyable task of photographing hummingbirds, with our multi-flash set-ups right on the lodge premises. The set-up includes some attractive native flowers that entice the birds with their nectar, which allows us to make some stunning images that depict their glorious details. Hummingbirds flit about swiftly, teasing and taunting our vision and our reflexes. They are like little uprisings on their own as, in their infinite innocence; they challenge us to record the marvel of their surreality. In certain parts of this wonderland, the forest rumble becomes a roar  in the magnificent waterfalls that descend with dignity and gravitas. I amuse myself thinking that in the verdant fabric of the forest, these white threads exist to complete the wreaths of green.





But were now approaching the most critical part of the tour  up in the Talamanca Range Cloud Forest in pursuit of one of Earths rarest and most spectacular birds: the resplendent quetzal. Ive been blessed in the past to have enjoyed multiple and leisurely views of it, and have come to believe that living without seeing and photographing it is one of lifes great losses. For the quetzal is a bird that makes you fall in love with it at the very first sight, and Im anxious to see if my group will get to be in love. We arrive at the site, and hit pay dirt with such startling ease; Im taken aback with a paroxysm of pleasure. A male, attired in his long green tail, red belly and green jacket on a picturesque perch sits supreme.

Im stunned! His beauty is all-pervasive, and despite having seen and photographed the bird on several occasions in the past, I find it hard to believe that something as lovely as this can possibly exist. And it occurs to me that the tour that has reached its zenith with this sight of nature at the apogee of design.

Now, the white-naped jakobin is another bird Ive been expecting to photograph, and next day, it turns out we havent exhausted all our luck, and are fortunate enough to encounter this avian beauty as well. As we see it hover in the air, it feels like time itself has learned some stillness.

We take a breather from all the frenzy, and in the lap of the induced calm, I cannot help but rave about the beauty of the Costa Rican wilderness. I can almost feel the textures of the numerous different trees, growing riotously densely, etching themselves on my memory. This exquisite allure then hauntingly hurtles through my memory space and contends for my attention. Its as if my vision helps me transcend my own unclear understanding of what nature means, and a singular tranquillity settles upon my mind like the mist enveloping the waterfall before us.

The sight slowly sinks in and seeps through all the crevices of my heart, and as I look back at the tour, I see all the snakes and the frogs weve seen and photographed; all the variety of wildlife that lives and thrives on this blessed land. And when the snakes have been slothful and not always slithered away, and the little adorable frogs have stayed and not leaped off, theyve been a boundless joy to watch and photograph. And yet again I return with great memories, memories birthed by the womb of this great country with its myriad life forms. I return with their soul-stirring innocence, their formidable beauty, and the trust that exists between my reverence and their power to enchant having grown my love for it a bit more. I know it is a steadfast love that will keep me returning time and again in search of good light, and in its wake, a glimpse of the world beyond.

 The writer is a wildlife photographerFacebook wants to provide regular updates on what they are doing and the progress theyre making.

Last fall Mark Zuckerberg announced the steps that they are taking steps to protect elections from abuse and exploitation. Given all the work underway, Facebook wants to provide regular updates on what they are doing and the progress theyre making. This week, leaders from Facebook spoke with members of the press to review their ongoing election efforts. The following is a transcript of their remarks.

Guy Rosen, VP of Product Management

Morning everyone, Im Guy Rosen, and I help coordinate all of the safety and security work underway here at Facebook.

By now, everyone knows the story: during the 2016 US election, foreign actors tried to undermine the integrity of the electoral process. Their attack included taking advantage of open online platforms  such as Facebook  to divide Americans, and to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt.

Now, none of us can turn back the clock, but we are all responsible for making sure the same kind of attack our democracy does not happen again. And we are taking our role in that effort very, very seriously.

Today, were going to outline how were thinking about elections, and give you an update on a number of initiatives designed to protect and promote civic engagement on Facebook.

There are four main election security areas that we are working on. They are:

First, combating foreign interference,

Second, removing fake accounts,

Third, increasing ads transparency, and

Fourth, reducing the spread of false news.

This is a comprehensive approach we deploy in elections around the world, and were here today to share our thinking about what we are doing so that you can better understand our approach.

Now, Ill turn it over to Alex.

Alex Stamos, Chief Security Officer

Thanks, Guy. Good morning everyone, Im Alex Stamos, Facebooks Chief Security Officer, and I would like to discuss how we think about different types of misinformation  and the adversaries who propagate it.

When you tease apart the overall digital misinformation problem, you find multiple types of bad content and many bad actors with different motivations. It is important to match the right approach to these various challenges. And that requires not just careful analysis of what has happened. We also have to have the most up to date intelligence to understand completely new types of misinformation.

The term fake news is used to describe a lot of different types of activity that we would like to prevent. When we study these issues, we have to first define what is actually fake. The most common issues are:

Fake identities this is when an actor conceals their identity or takes on the identity of another group or individual;

Fake audiences so this is using tricks to artificially expand the audience or the perception of support for a particular message;

False facts  the assertion of false information; and

False narratives which are intentionally divisive headlines and language that exploit disagreements and sow conflict. This is the most difficult area for us, as different news outlets and consumers can have completely different on what an appropriate narrative is even if they agree on the facts.

Once we have an understanding of the various kinds of fake we need to deal with, we then need to distinguish between motivations for spreading misinformation. Because our ability to combat different actors is based upon preventing their ability to reach these goals.

The most common motivation for organized, professional groups is money. The majority of misinformation we have found, by both quantity and reach, has been created by groups who gain financially by driving traffic to sites they own. When were fighting financially motivated actors, our goal is to increase the cost of their operations while driving down their profitability. This is not wholly unlike how we have countered various types of spammers in the past.

The second class of organized actors are the ones who are looking to artificially influence public debate. These cover the spectrum from private but ideologically motivated groups to full-time employees of state intelligence services. Their targets might be foreign or domestic, and while much of the public discussion has been about countries trying to influence the debate abroad, we also must be on guard for domestic manipulation using some of the same techniques.

Misinformation can also be spread by less organized groups or individuals. These might be people who enjoy causing chaos and disruption, who you might call a classic internet troll. Or they might be innocent users who share a false story without realizing that the story or the person pushing it are fake.

Some groups might have multiple motivations  for example, some ideologically driven groups are also self-funded via the ad money they generate from their sites.

Each country we operate in and election we are working to support will have a different range of actors with techniques are customized for that specific audience. We are looking ahead, by studying each upcoming election and working with external experts to understand the actors involved and the specific risks in each country. We are then using this process to guide how we build and train teams with the appropriate local language and cultural skills.

At the end of the day, were trying to develop a systematic and comprehensive approach to tackle these challenges, and then to map that approach to the needs of each country or election.

Let me turn it now to Samidh to outline some of our specific product efforts.

Samidh Chakrabarti, Product Manager

Thanks, Alex. Im Samidh Chakrabarti, Im a product manager here at Facebook and I lead all of our product work related to elections security and civic engagement.

Let me start with our ongoing efforts to fight fake accounts  because thats one of the most frequent ways that we see bad actors try to hide behind false identities. Over the past year, weve gotten increasingly better at finding and disabling fake accounts. Were now at the point that we block millions of fake accounts each day at the point of creation before they can do any harm. Weve been able to do this thanks to advances in machine learning, which have allowed us to find suspicious behaviors  without assessing the content itself.

Now our work also includes a new investigative tool that we can deploy in the lead-up to elections. Id love to tell you a little bit about how it works.

Rather than wait for reports from our community, we now proactively look for potentially harmful types of election-related activity, such as Pages of foreign origin that are distributing inauthentic civic content. If we find any, we then send these suspicious accounts to be manually reviewed by our security team to see if they violate our Community Standards or our Terms of Service.

And if they do, we can quickly remove them from Facebook. This proactive approach has allowed us to move more quickly and has become an important way for us to prevent misleading or divisive memes from going viral.

Now as Mark briefly mentioned last week, we first piloted this tool last year around the time of the Alabama special Senate race. By looking specifically for foreign interference, we were able to identify a previously unknown set Macedonian political spammers that appeared to be financially motivated. We then quickly blocked them from our platform.

Weve since used this in many places around the world, such as in the Italian election, and well deploy it moving forward for elections around the globe, including the US midterms.

Let me close by saying that to support these and other security initiatives, we are making huge investments both in technology and in talent. This year, for example, we are doubling the number of people who work on safety issues overall from 10,000 to 20,000, and that includes content reviewers, systems engineers and security experts. So far, Im pleased to say were on track, and our defenses are steadily coming together for the US midterms.

Now let me now turn to my colleague Tessa.

Tessa Lyons, Product Manager

Thanks, Samidh. Im Tessa Lyons. Im a Product Manager on News Feed and I focus on false news.

We know that people want to see accurate information on Facebook  and so do we. So were working hard to stop the spread of false news.

Today, I want to talk about one part of our strategy: our partnership with third-party fact-checking organizations. Were seeing progress in our ability to limit the spread of articles rated false by fact-checkers, and were scaling our efforts.

Heres how it works:

We use signals, including feedback from people on Facebook, to predict potentially false stories for fact-checkers to review.

When fact-checkers rate a story as false, we significantly reduce its distribution in News Feed  dropping future views on average by more than 80%.

We notify people whove shared the story in the past and warn people who try to share it going forward.

For those who still come across the story in their News Feed, we show more information from fact-checkers in a Related Articles unit.

We use the information from fact-checkers to train our machine learning model, so that we can catch more potentially false news stories and do so faster.

We know that we will always be behind if were just going after individual stories  so we also take action against Pages and domains that repeatedly share false news. We reduce their distribution and remove their ability to advertise and monetize  stopping them from reaching, growing, or profiting from their audience.

Were ramping up our fact-checking efforts to fight false news around elections. Were scaling in the US and internationally, expanding beyond links to photos and videos, and increasing transparency.

In the US, we recently announced a partnership with The Associated Press to use their reporters in all 50 states to identify and debunk false and misleading stories related to the federal, state and local US midterm elections.

Internationally, we have fact-checking partners in six countries and were working to expand to more. Our most recent launches were in Italy and Mexico, where we enabled fact-checking partners to proactively identify and rate stories, ensuring we could take action quickly in the run-up to their elections.

As of yesterday, were fact-checking photos and videos, in addition to links. Were starting in France with the AFP and will be scaling to more countries and partners soon.

And, over the coming months, well be taking additional steps to increase transparency around our fact-checking efforts, including clearer notifications to Page admins and greater clarity around the appeals process.

Finally, we know we cant go it alone. So were doubling down on our partnerships with academics, technology companies and other partners.

Now, let me turn it over to Rob Leathern, to talk about ads transparency.

Rob Leathern, Product Management Director

Thanks, Im Rob Leathern and Im on the ads team. We believe people should be able to easily understand why theyre seeing ads, who paid for them, and what other ads that advertiser is running. Last fall we announced we will build a new transparency feature for all ads on Facebook and provide additional transparency for US federal election-related ads.

Already weve been testing transparency across all ads in Canada, something we call View Ads. With it, you can click on any Facebook Page, and select About, and scroll to View Ads. There youll see all ads that Page is running across Facebook  not just the ones meant for you. This summer well make that feature globally available.

Next well build on our ads review process and begin authorizing US advertisers placing political ads. This spring, in the run up to the US midterm elections, advertisers will have to verify and confirm who they are and where they are located in the US. The process will include a number of checks and steps:

First, Page admins will have to submit their government-issued IDs and provide a physical mailing address for verification,

Second, well confirm each address by mailing a letter with a unique access code that only their specific Facebook account can use, and,

Third, advertisers will also have to disclose what candidate, organization or business they represent.

Once authorized, an advertisers election-related ads will be clearly marked in peoples Facebook and Instagram feeds. This is similar to the disclosure you see today for political ads on TV. The political label will also list the person, company, or organization that paid for the ad with a paid for by disclosure.

This summer, well launch a public archive showing all ads that ran with a political label. Beyond the ad creative itself, well also show how much money was spent on each ad, the number of impressions it received, and the demographic information about the audience reached. And we will display those ads for four years after they ran. So researchers, journalists, watchdog organizations, or individuals who are just curious will be able to see all of these ads in one place. This will offer an unmatched view of paid political messages on the platform.

We recognize this is a place to start and will work with outside experts to make it better. We also look forward to bringing unprecedented advertising transparency to other countries and other political races.

Now Ill turn it back to Guy to wrap up.

Guy Rosen, VP of Product Management

Thanks. Let me close with a last  but very important  point about why were even doing this work: because civic discourse is something we at Facebook strongly believe in. And we know it can thrive on our platform when its safe, its authentic and its accurate. Thats our goal and thats why we are taking all of the steps we just outlined.

To get a complete transcript on the event, click here. For an audio of the event, click here.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.If there is no explanation, the Russian side will deem the actions towards our plane as illegal and also reserve the right to take similar action against British airlines, it said in a statement. (Photo: Pixabay/ Representational)

Moscow: Russias Ministry of Transport said on Saturday that Moscow would demand an official explanation from Britain for why a Russian Aeroflot passenger plane had been subjected to a search at Heathrow airport on Friday.

The Russian embassy in Britain complained about the search at the time.

On Saturday, the Ministry of Transport said it wanted to know what had happened. If there is no explanation, the Russian side will deem the actions towards our plane as illegal and also reserve the right to take similar action against British airlines, it said in a statement.School officials told the inquest how Elena Mondal (Centre), who wanted to be a doctor, once fled a classroom in tears clutching a pair of scissors, before collapsing in a corridor and cutting her arms in a toilet. (Photo: Facebook/Elena Mondal)

London: An Indian-origin teenager was found hanging in the premises of a top UK grammar school as she felt excluded after her classmates did not include her in a WhatsApp group, according to an inquiry into her death this week.

14-year-old Elena Mondal was found by her teachers, hanging unresponsive, at Hampstead's Henrietta Barnett School in north London last year.

Psychiatrist Emily Hallgarten told Barnet Coroner's Court that the 14-year-old may have felt excluded after her friends did not include her in a WhatsApp group, the Sun reported.

School officials told the inquest how Elena Mondal, who wanted to be a doctor, once fled a classroom in tears clutching a pair of scissors, before collapsing in a corridor and cutting her arms in a toilet.

According to the probe the girl's parents, Shyamal and Moushumi Mondal, had feared that their daughter was being bullied at the girls' school, which was ranked the top performing state-funded school in the UK in 2016 and 2017.

A well-being manager at the school, Kelly Barry, said that the girl had been referred to the school counsellor after missing meals and complaining of depression but had missed several appointments.

When asked if the school's "hothouse culture" could be putting pupils at risk of mental health issues, she said: "It is not unusual for teenage girls at different points to engage in experiments with food or self-harm."

Consultant psychiatrist Cathy Wainhouse added that Elena Mondal may not have intended to die instead hoping that she would be found by friends before her "dramatic statement" went wrong.

The inquest has been put back until an expert psychiatrist can assess reports from the physiological care provided to Elena Mondal before her death.This is where the conventional wisdom on Bolton and Trump's 'war mongers' collapses. The incoming national security adviser is no neoconservative. He does not believe in nation-building or using the U.S. military for humanitarian reasons. He is a cold-eyed realist who opposed President Bill Clinton's belated intervention in the Balkans. In his 2005 confirmation hearing to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Bolton said he didn't know if it would have been feasible for America to try to prevent the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

Pompeo had a better record on humanitarian intervention when he was a member of Congress, but he also went along with a policy to end the feeble U.S. effort to fight the Assad regime. In July, when he was CIA director, Pompeo pulled the plug on the agency's program to support anti-regime rebels in Syria.

This leaves Mattis. He, too, is reluctant to use military force and was wary of getting involved in Syria in Obama's first term when we was the commander of U.S. Central Command. But Mattis is also a keen student of history. He understands the consequences of a hasty retreat from Syria, particularly if the alternative is a vacuum that could be exploited by the remnants of the Islamic State. This is particularly dicey at the moment now that Turkey has entered the war against America's allies, the Kurds.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Friday for an independent investigation into deadly clashes in Gaza between Palestinians and Israeli troops, while Security Council members urged restraint on both sides. (Photo: File)

United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Friday for an independent investigation into deadly clashes in Gaza between Palestinians and Israeli troops, while Security Council members urged restraint on both sides.

The council didnt decide on any action or joint message after an emergency meeting Friday evening.

Kuwait convened it hours after the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 cross-border war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules the coastal strip.

Fifteen people were killed and more than 750 wounded by Israeli fire as thousands of Palestinian protesters marched to Gazas border with Israel, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The Israeli military said that thousands of Palestinians threw stones and rolled burning tires toward troops, that Palestinian gunmen fired toward soldiers in one incident and that militants were trying to conduct attacks under the cover of protests.

Guterres wants an independent and transparent investigation into the violence, spokesman Farhan Haq said.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said he was disappointed the Security Council didnt coalesce to condemn what he called a heinous massacre of peaceful demonstrators, or to support his call to provide protection for Palestinian civilians.

We expect the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility and defuse this volatile situation, which clearly constitutes a threat to international peace and security, Mansour said.

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said the international community must not be deceived by what he termed a well-organized and violent terror-gathering under the banner of a peaceful march.

The Palestinians sunk to a new deceitful low so that they could use the UN to spread lies about Israel while its representatives werent there because of the Passover holiday, Danon said in a statement.

Some Security Council members suggested an investigation and emphasized that Israel should ensure force is only used proportionally.

Some also made a point of noting Israels security concerns and calling on demonstrators to avoid violence. They all expressed alarm at the flare-up of conflict in a volatile region.

The situation is extremely worrisome, said Swedish deputy Ambassador Carl Skau. Equatorial Guineas ambassador, Anatolio Ndong Mba, warned that continuing violence could escalate out of control and could further imperil what is already a very delicate situation in Gaza.

The US, which often complains about what it sees as anti-Israel bias at the UN, urged all involved in the conflict to lower tensions.

Bad actors who use protests as a cover to incite violence endanger innocent lives, added Walter Miller, an adviser at Washingtons UN mission.

Russia and China, meanwhile, emphasized a need to step up diplomatic efforts toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a whole. Israel and Hamas have fought three cross-border wars in recent years.

The protests come as Gaza is in the 10th year of a border closure. Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade after Hamas seized Gaza from forces loyal to the militants rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in 2007.Visiting her homeland for the first time since a Taliban gunman shot her in the head over her blog advocating girls education, 20-year-old Yousafzai also contradicted Pakistani critics who accuse her of promoting an ideology at odds with the countrys Islamic values. (Photo: AP)

Islamabad: Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai says she has pined for her home in Pakistans picturesque Swat Valley, even as she recalled two years living in fear under the Talibans harsh interpretation of Islamic law.

Visiting her homeland for the first time since a Taliban gunman shot her in the head over her blog advocating girls education, 20-year-old Yousafzai also contradicted Pakistani critics who accuse her of promoting an ideology at odds with the countrys Islamic values.

I am proud of my religion, and I am proud of my country, she told Reuters in an interview at her hotel on Friday.

Wearing a rose-printed head scarf and flowing tunic and trousers  one of many outfits family and friends brought her from Pakistan to Britain, where she is studying at Oxford University  Yousafzai said she was elated at being home.

I had never been so excited for anything. Ive never been so happy before, she said, though she would not discuss whether she had received security clearance to visit Swat.

I miss everything about Pakistan  right from the rivers, the mountains, to even the dirty streets and the garbage around our house, and my friends and how we used to have gossip and talk about our school life, to how we used to fight with our neighbours.

She said she has wanted to return before but, aside from security concerns, there was the hectic pace of school and her entry exams to Oxford, where she began studying in 2017 for a degree in politics, philosophy and economics.

Nobel Prize

Yousafzais journey to becoming the youngest ever Nobel winner began with the local branch of the hardline Taliban movement taking over her hometown in Swat, about 250 km (160 miles) from the capital, Islamabad, in 2007, when she was 9 years old.

The Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) banned television, music and girls education, and burned about 200 schools, following the example of the 1990s Taliban government in neighbouring Afghanistan, which forcibly excluded women from nearly every aspect of public life.

I still remember each and every moment, right from the fear while sleeping at night that you might not be alive the next day, Yousafzai said. The fear that if you are going to school, someone might stop you and throw acid in your face.

Her father was a teacher in a school that educated girls and managed to stay open until early 2009.

After the Pakistani army drove out the Taliban in mid-2009 she became a symbol for girls education through a blog she wrote for the BBCs Urdu service, which started while the Taliban were still in power, and a documentary Class Dismissed, that profiled her.

It made her a target. In 2012, a masked gunman boarded her school bus, singled her out and shot her. The Taliban later said it had carried out the attack for her promotion of liberalism.

She was flown to Britain for surgery and has remained abroad since, co-writing a best-selling book I Am Malala and starting a foundation advocating girls education worldwide.

In 2014 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with an Indian activist.

Polarising Figure

Though she is perhaps the worlds best-known Pakistani, Yousafzai  known almost universally as just Malala  is a polarizing figure at home, loved by many but reviled by others.

A group of private schools in Pakistan declared Friday to be I Am Not Malala Day, for what its spokesman described as her anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan ideology. That description puzzles Malala.

I just dont know anything Ive said that makes me anti-Pakistan or anti-Islam, she said. Islam has taught me the importance of peace. Islam has taught me the importance of education. The first word of Islam, or the first word of the Koran, is Iqra which means read.

Government commitment to education was one of the subjects of her meeting on Thursday with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, whose government, along with the army, helped arrange her trip, including providing security.

We did talk about education and I appreciated what he has done, but I think there is a lot more that needs to be done. The government promised 4 percent of GDP for education but only so far has increased it to 2.7, she said.

Meetings with the prime minister  as well as other world leaders  might seem a far cry from a schoolgirls life in the Swat Valley, but Malala said some aspects of her life, like attending Oxford, were long-time dreams.

My initial plan was that I would continue my education, I would continue speaking out for the girls who cannot go to school  and one day once I finish my secondary education, I will apply to Oxford, she said.

So it was in my plan  I did not know that this attack would happen and I would move to the UK, but I wanted to focus on Pakistan and continue to do as much as I could for girls education.ST. GEORGE  D. McGarren Flack, a Dixie State University assistant professor of studio art, has been named a 2018 Visual Art Fellow for the state of Utah.

Each year, the Utah Division of Art & Museums honors two visual artists who exhibit excellence to encourage their careers. The art fellow position comes with a $10,000 reward, and artists must demonstrate professionalism in their practice through quality images and documentation.

Flack was introduced to art while fulfilling prerequisite courses for medical school. After taking drawing classes, his lifes focus changed. He started painting at Brigham Young University, where he earned a bachelors degree in fine arts. He went on to graduate from the University of Utahs Master of Fine Arts program. Since then, he has been painting full time.The Vatican has dismissed a recent report that claimed Pope Francis said hell doesn't exist.

La Repubblica published an article written by the news outlet's liberal and atheist founder Eugenio Scalfari that claimed Pope Francis said sinners dont suffer for eternity and that hell doesn't exist.

"They are not punished, those who repent obtain the forgiveness of God and enter the rank of souls who contemplate him, but those who do not repent and cannot therefore be forgiven disappear," Pope Francis said, according to a translation on Catholic blog Rorate Caeli.

"There is no hell, there is the disappearance of sinful souls," Pope Francis reportedly said.

However, the Vatican later released a statement dismissing the report.

"What is reported by the author in todays article is the result of his reconstruction, in which the literal words pronounced by the Pope are not quoted. No quotation of the aforementioned article must therefore be considered as a faithful transcription of the words of the Holy Father," the Vatican said in a statement, according to a Catholic News Agency translation.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Thursday the conversation was a private meeting, without releasing any interview," Crux reported.

Burke said that the pope's quotes from Scalfari's piece were the fruit of his own reconstruction" and they are not cited textually."

Vatican statement says that Scalfari's quotations of the pope in today's report should not be "considered a faithful transcription of the Holy Father's words." No specific denials.  Francis X. Rocca (@FrancisXRocca) March 29, 2018

In fact, the news agency reported that this is the second time on the same topic that Scalfari has misrepresented the Popes words following a private audience."

The other instance happened in 2015, and the Vatican also dismissed that claim.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that hell exists, according to The Vaticans Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Immediately after death, the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, 'eternal fire.' The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs, the Catechism of the church reads.

Pope Francis has mentioned the existence of hell before, according to Crux.

Our Lady foretold, and warned us about, a way of life that is godless and indeed profanes God in his creatures, Pope Francis said in 2017. Such a life  frequently proposed and imposed  risks leading to hell.U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr. will lose some staff starting in April after Russia announced Thursday that it will expel 60 U.S. diplomats and close the U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg, according to CNN.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday that 58 diplomats from the U.S. mission in Moscow and two more from Yekaterinburg would be declared persona non grata and would be given incompatible with diplomatic status."

The diplomats have until April 5 to leave the country, according to CNN. There will still be roughly 700 U.S. diplomats left in Russia.

The other U.S. consulate in Vladivostok, Russia, will not be affected.

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously asked the U.S. to reduce its number of diplomats by 750 in July 2017. At the time, there was believed to be about 1,200 U.S. State Department employees in Russia, according to BBC.

Huntsman Jr. was told of the recent decision by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Thursday. The U.S. ambassador told local Russia news outlet RBC that the U.S might target Russia's assets abroad, according to The Washington Post.

However, Huntsman Jr., the former governor of Utah, was "warned that such a move would have the 'gravest consequences for global stability,'" according to The Washington Post, which reviewed a readout of Huntsman Jr.'s meeting with Ryabkov.

Russias decision comes after the United States expelled 60 Russian diplomats Monday as a response to the United Kingdom blaming Moscow exposing a former Russian double agent and his daughter to a nerve agent, BBC News reported. The father and daughter remained hospitalized since the March 4 poisoning.

Huntsman Jr. said earlier this week that Russia needs to change its behavior so that relations between Russia and the U.S. can improve, according to the Deseret News.

The United States is ready to cooperate and forge a better relationship between our two countries. But that will only be possible when Russia chooses to become a more responsible partner, he said in a brief video posted on the U.S. Embassy website.

Ambassador Jon Huntsman of @USEmbRu on the Expulsion of Russian Intelligence Officers: With these actions, the United States along with its allies and partners make clear to #Russia that its actions have consequences. pic.twitter.com/f61v832U4q  Department of State (@StateDept) March 26, 2018

Huntsman Jr. said the decision by at least 21 countries to oust 135 Russians is a sign for Russia to change its behavior.

With these actions, the United States along with its allies and partners make clear to Russia that its actions have consequences, he said.

He told a Russian radio station earlier this year that he expected to see Putin and President Donald Trump to meet.

"We have to take the steps that build the trust and create a framework of problem-solving that results in enough success where the people in Russia and the people in the United States can say, 'OK, I understand why theyre having a formal meeting. Theyve done enough together; theyve built enough trust. Theyve had enough in the way of success in Syria and Ukraine, (North Korea)," Huntsman Jr. told Echo of Moscow.SALT LAKE CITY  Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, looked more like the high school history teacher he was years ago Friday when he lectured students participating in his annual education conference about federalism at the state Capitol.

Pacing the floor of the state House chamber in front of advanced placement students seated at the desks of state representatives, Bishop acknowledged the topic is often seen as making listeners' "eyes glaze over."

But using references to the musical "1776" about the signing of the Declaration of Independence and a series of slides, Bishop tried to stress the importance of what he described as a system where neither state nor national government dominates.

"Federalism is not liberal, is not conservative, is not Republican, is not Democratic," said Bishop, a former Utah House speaker and Box Elder High School history and government teacher who was first elected to Congress in 2002.

He spoke of the need for limiting the role of Washington, D.C., but said "a smaller federal government doesn't necessarily mean less government overall. It means government programs closer to the people."

His breakout session with students was one of a half-dozen held during the nearly daylong conference. Others focused on the congressional committee process, including a mock hearing, executive branch agencies and lobbying.

Another member of Utah's congressional delegation, Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, also addressed the entire group to compare local and national governments.

Curtis, a former Provo mayor, pointed out that state lawmakers often do what they complain the federal government does: Impose their will on cities and other local entities.

"Would it surprise you that as a mayor, I got mad at the state all the time for telling us what to do in our city?" Curtis asked, noting state lawmakers consider that different since they see local governments as political subdivisions of the state.

"It's the principle. What's the principle? The form of government closest to the people is the best to make the decision," he said, calling that concept "a strong, strong Utah value."

Asked what could go wrong with federalism, Curtis answered, "Not as much as can go right."

Timary Sessions, a senior at Clearfield High School, questioned Curtis about the federal government's involvement in advancing civil rights and other issues through legislative action and court decisions.

Curtis said it is up to voters, not other governments, to step in when local entities or states get something wrong. It's the people who make those decisions, he said, and "Guess what, next election that will be taken care of."

Sessions said she would have liked to have heard alternative viewpoints about federalism from Curtis. She said she believes the federal government needs to step in when states rights come at the expense of civil rights.

"That's the reason why we have this system in place, is because one way isn't right," she said. "I think this being an educational opportunity, those ideas should have been presented and allowed to flourish."SALT LAKE CITY  When Margot Lee Shetterly was writing 'Hidden Figures," she had little idea it would become such an inspirational phenomenon  both in print and on the silver screen  to a generation of impressionable young people who today dream of one day becoming the next great mathematician.

"There was no way to know that so many people would be interested in it," the Hampton, Virginia, native explained Friday. Speaking on the University of Utah campus Friday, Shetterly and former NASA chief scientist Ellen Stofan engaged with a group of students from recently renamed Mary W. Jackson Elementary School located on Salt Lake City's west side. Both were invited by the University of Utah MUSE Project and were the keynote guests for the project's theme year event on empowerment.

Hidden Figures," a best-selling book and the source for the award-winning movie released in 2016, told the story of a group of African-American women who served as mathematicians and engineers for NASA in the 1950s and 1960s. As depicted in the book and the film, the women made outstanding contributions to the success of Americas space program despite institutional racial prejudice and gender discrimination.

Sixth-grader Justice Porter, 12, said the ladies in the book served as role models for women and girls who find themselves in situations involving discrimination.

"It's important to share your feelings about (discrimination) and if someone is being rude, stand up for yourself," she said. Regarding the recent decision to change the name of her school from Andrew Jackson Elementary to Mary Jackson Elementary, she had always thought it was 'weird' that the school was named after a historical figure who was a slave owner, she said.

"Especially because our school is full of different races and cultures, so it didn't sync with our school," Porter said. "When we changed the name, I thought it was a small change, but it made a big difference."

Classmate Olivia Egbert, 12, said meeting Shetterly and Stofan was an inspirational experience that she'll remember fondly for years to come.

"(Stofan) told us that she wants to see us go to Mars because we're the future generation that will be the first to walk on another planet," Egbert said. "Shetterly) signed my book and she said, 'Be the next generation and thanks for supporting the women in the story and in history.'"

"It really made me look up to her (even) more and gave me more inspiration for what I should be doing and how I should be helping people," she said. About the name change, she said the new moniker now offers a better representation of the students in the school than under its previous namesake.

"It really shows the diversity that we have," Egbert said. "The name we use to have (Andrew Jackson) didn't really show diversity or who the people are in the school. Mary Jackson really shows the (variety of) people (who are) in the school."

In explaining how she came to write the book, Shetterly noted that her father was an engineer at NASA, and she grew up in Virginia near the facility where the Hidden Figures scientists worked for many years.

"I was intrinsically interested in this story because my dad worked at NASA, so I knew a lot of these women growing up," she said. "So I was in many ways writing the book I wanted to read. For many reasons, the book has 'spoken' to a lot of people in a time with a message they were looking for."

Shetterlys book was the primary text for the MUSE empowerment theme, and the project has distributed hundreds of free copies to U. students, explained MUSE Project Director Mark Matheson. During their keynote presentation, Shetterly and Stofan reflected on the story in "Hidden Figures" as an example of personal empowerment and achievement, and discussed the impact of encouraging women and other underrepresented people in STEM fields today.

"Telling this story is critically important so that all girls  girls of every color  think that women have always been doing this and making a difference," Stofan said. "It's important to tell these stories for girls to have someone who looks like them (and) to know that people like them have already blazed a trail. It makes you say, "If she could do it, then I could do it too.'"

Stofan is a professor and researcher who served as NASAs chief scientist from 2013 to 2017 when she was the principal adviser to the agency's top administrator on programs and strategic planning. Before ascending to chief scientist at NASA, she held senior positions at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and New Millennium Program.

Stofan is also an honorary professor at University College London and an outspoken champion of young women and people of color who aspire to careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

"What was so powerful about this (experience) was seeing my students just be so inspired and think that they can go out and do anything they want and be empowered," said Jana Edward, principal at Mary Jackson Elementary. "I definitely think it will give them the inspiration to consider multiple careers."SALT LAKE CITY  Several hundred protesters marched in downtown Salt Lake City on Friday to call for further changes to LDS Church policies regarding local bishops' interviews with minors.

The march, led by a group called Protect LDS Children, started at the Salt Lake City-County Building at noon and made its way up State Street, ending in front of the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake police estimated about 800 to 900 were in attendance.

Organizers then presented a church representative with books they said contained the stories of those who have been uncomfortable or mistreated in interviews with bishops.

"We share a common concern for the safety and well-being of youth," Church spokeswoman Irene Caso said in a statement on behalf of the church, after meeting the group at the church office building.

Protect LDS Children Director Sam Young, a Houston-area church member and former bishop, said the group is seeking a 10-word change in policy from the church's general authorities: "No one on one interviews, no sexually explicit questions ever."

On Monday, the LDS Church announced significant policy changes regarding bishop interviews, allowing children, youth and women to invite another adult to be present during the interview.

The guidance to local church leaders now says: "When a member of a stake presidency or bishopric or another assigned leader meets with a child, youth, or woman, he or she should ask a parent or another adult to be in an adjoining room, foyer, or hall. If the person being interviewed desires, another adult may be invited to participate in the interview. Leaders should avoid all circumstances that could be misunderstood."

Young told the Deseret News this week that he was encouraged by the church's response.

"The one thing that I really like is that the church is listening," he said. "That is wonderful. I'm very happy to hear that."

Still, Young said he is concerned that the policy doesn't do enough to protect children. He contends it could give a bishop "big cover" by putting the responsibility on the child to think to ask for another adult to be present, which many may not think to do.

He also said the policy doesn't address eliminating sexually explicit questions from interviews, contending that such questions can be damaging to youth.

Young was asked how his policies would enable the LDS Church to ensure that those who enter temples or serve missions are living its teachings on chastity and the importance of virtue.

"How do we establish worthiness? Well how about (asking), 'Would you like to go on a mission?' Do you live the law of chastity?' (And then) we're done," Young replied.

Young said he has been unhappy with the church's policy on bishop interviews ever since he learned a few years ago that four of his six daughters had been asked detailed, "sexually explicit" questions, including one when she was 12 years old.

He said he posed a question on Facebook as to whether anyone else had experienced something similar. He said he received more than 3,000 stories.

Young collected those stories and copied them into 15 bound books that he and other protesters delivered to church spokeswoman Caso, who received the books. She was asked to give one to each of the members of the LDS Quorumof the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency.

"We condemn any inappropriate behavior or abuse regardless of where or when it occurs," Caso said. "Local church leaders are provided with instructions regarding youth interviews and are expected to review and follow them."

A caring, responsible spiritual leader plays a significant role in the development of a young person by reinforcing the teaching of parents and offering spiritual guidance. We express gratitude for the thousands of volunteer church leadersmen and womenwho selflessly serve and mentor youth, individuals and families throughout the world. As with any practice in the church, we continually look for ways to improve and adjust by following the Savior in meeting the needs of our members.

Protect LDS Children held a rally prior to the march, where speakers included those who are survivors of childhood sexual abuse, as well as licensed therapists who said a professionally trained counselor is in a significantly better position to talk to a child about sex.SALT LAKE CITY  Millions of Mormons made history Saturday morning when they simultaneously stood where they were around the world and sustained President Russell M. Nelson as the 17th leader of the LDS Church at the start of an international general conference.

They also witnessed President Nelson alter the face of the senior leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He called the first Asian-American apostle, Elder Gerrit W. Gong, 64, and the first Latin American apostle, Elder Ulisses Soares, 59. Elder Soares was emotional as the two men moved to their new seats with the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

The news came as part of the historic solemn assembly conducted by President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency, after the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang, "We Thank Thee O God for A Prophet."

The solemn assembly is an ancient practice restored by Joseph Smith, said President M. Russell Ballard, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve. He characterized it as gift because it was part of an orderly way to transition from one leader to another at the start of a new chapter in church history.

President Nelson is considered by Mormons to be "the Lords living mouthpiece for all humankind," said Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Twelve. They embrace him like they would Peter or Moses if they lived in their day and are willing to follow his voice, said Elder Neil L. Andersen, also of the Twelve.

The solemn assembly was a public manifestation of Mormons willingness to sustain President Nelson as their anointed leader and Gods prophet and to follow his counsel, Elder Andersen added.

"Following the prophet in a world of commotion is like being wrapped in a warm, soothing blanket on a freezing cold day," he said.

During the solemn assembly, the First Presidency stood alone at first and sustained President Nelson as the president of the church. Then they sustained the entire First Presidency, with President Dallin H. Oaks as first counselor.

The callings of Elder Gong and Elder Soares were unveiled as President Eyring read the names of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Church members took to social media to herald the announcement of the first men of color in the history of the Twelve.

Elder Gong's ancestors immigrated from China in the 1800s. He served as special assistant to the U.S. ambassador in Beijing, China, in 1987. From 2011 to 2015, Elder Gong was a member of the Asia Area Presidency, headquartered in Hong Kong. He has been a General Authority Seventy since 2010.

Elder Soares was born in Brazil. He has served as a full-time missionary, elders quorum president, counselor in a bishopric, high councilor, stake executive secretary, regional welfare agent, stake president, president of the Portugal Porto Mission and as a General Authority Seventy since 2005.

Both men were serving in the Presidency of the Seventy at the time of their calling.

Melchizedek priesthood holders stood and sustained senior church leadership followed by all members of the Relief Society, then the Aaronic Priesthood and the Young Women. Finally, all church members stood as one to sustain their leaders.

The two new apostles fill vacancies created by the deaths of President Nelson's predecessor, President Thomas S. Monson, in January and Elder Robert D. Hales during the last general conference in October.

Elder Andersen welcomed Elder Gong and Elder Soares to what he called the "unparalleled brotherhood" of the Twelve. Elder Andersen said President Nelson's role is to call people to change, repent and return to the Lord. He told church members they can expect critics to attack their prophet.

"And dont be alarmed when the prophets warning voice counters popular opinions of the day," he said. "The mocking fireballs of annoyed disbelievers are always hurled the moment the prophet begins to speak. As you are humble in following the voice of the Lords prophet, I promise you an added blessing of safety and peace."

That doesnt mean that following a prophet is always easy.

"Dont be surprised if at times your personal views are not initially in harmony with the teachings of the Lords prophet," Elder Andersen said. "These are moments of learning, of humility, when we go to our knees in prayer. We walk forward in faith, trusting in God, knowing that with time we will receive more spiritual clarity from our Heavenly Father."

He held up as an example President Nelson, who in 1982, before he became an apostle, said that he never asked when the church president is speaking as a man or a prophet.

"My interest has been," he said then, "'How can I be more like him?  My philosophy is to stop putting question marks behind the prophets statements and put exclamation points instead."

He called President Nelson a watchman on the tower, brilliant, wise, full of good judgment, faith and courage.

Orderly succession in the church is one of many gifts from God, President Ballard said. He listed others  knowledge that one can do all things through Jesus Christ, the Sabbath day, sacrifice, service  and then said the Savior is the matchless, supreme gift. He also said exercising faith can fill life with faith, joy, happiness, hope and love.

Then he said the gospel of Jesus Christ in its truest sense  pure religion  is to succor, lift and strengthen those in spiritual and temporal need.

"Doing so requires us to visit them and assist them that their testimonies of faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and his Atonement will be anchored in their hearts," he said.

He expressed hope that God would help Latter-day Saints treasure their membership "in his restored church" and he urged church members to record their feelings regarding the solemn assembly in their journals.

Elder Stevenson spoke more about succession. He honored late church President Thomas S. Monson, who died Jan. 2, and described how the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles led the church during the 12-day interregnum before the Twelve sustained and set apart President Russell M. Nelson on Jan. 14. The process meant there was not a second of interruption in church leadership.

"This divinely ordained process leads to another divinely called prophet," Elder Stevenson said. "Just as President Monson was one of the grandest inhabitants to grace this earth, so is President Nelson. He has been profoundly prepared and specifically tutored by the Lord to lead us at this time."

He talked about President Nelsons internationally recognized prowess as a heart surgeon and researcher.

"Interestingly, as President Nelsons call to the Twelve 34 years ago ended a professional medical career of strengthening and repairing hearts, it began a ministry as an apostle devoted to strengthening and repairing hearts of countless tens of thousands around the world."

Elder Stevenson said he has spoken to President Nelsons former students, future surgeons who were residents under his tutelage. They described how he was unlike other surgeons, who could be consumed by the stress of surgery and mistreated their residents. President Nelson treated residents with a Christlike heart while maintaining high expectations for them, said Elder Stevenson, who added, "I feel like I have been one of his residents in training.'"

"President Nelson has an exceptional way of teaching others and offering correction in a positive, respectful and uplifting manner," he added. "He is the embodiment of a Christlike heart and an example to us all. From him, we learn that in any circumstance we find ourselves, our conduct and hearts can be in accordance with the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Two General Authority Seventies shared difficult stories of untimely deaths.

Elder Brian K. Taylor told the story of a friend who as a teenager caused a serious car accident that killed another driver. She struggled through physical recovery and emotional and spiritual recovery as she dealt with the pain of causing a life to be lost. A counselor invited to repeat the phrase, "I am a child of God" 10 times a day.

At first she couldn't, but then as she did she felt Jesus Christ "mending her wounded soul," Elder Taylor said.

"Christ felt my pains, my sorrows, my guilt, his friend said. "I felt Gods pure love, and had never experienced anything so powerful! Knowing I am a child of God is the most powerful knowledge I possess!"

Elder Taylor said the world is engaged in "a great war over divine identity." He said Satan aims to destroy both belief in God and in the knowledge that all are his children. He said each person can find power in understanding her divine identity and can experience that power by learning about the Savior, seeking God and reading the Book of Mormon.

"Coming to know our Father changes everything, especially our hearts, as his gentle Spirit confirms our true identity and great worth in his sight.'"

Elder Larry J. Echo Hawk told a personal tale of tragedy to underscore the peace brought by forgiveness.

He said a drunk teenage driver killed his younger brother and sister-in-law 36 years ago. His parents and sister comforted the drivers parents after his sentencing, an example that helped Elder Echo Hawk begin the path to forgiving the young man.

"Only with the help of the Prince of Peace was my painful burden lifted," he said. "My heart will always miss Tommy and Joan, but forgiveness now allows me to remember them with unfettered joy. And I know we will be together again as a family."

He said followers of Christ are to be forgiving even when others may not seem to warrant it.

"We can all receive unspeakable peace and partnering with our Savior as we learn to freely forgive those who have trespassed against us" by abandoning anger, resentment and pride.

"I invite all of us to forgive completely and let healing occur from within," he said. "And even if forgiveness doesnt come today, know that as we desire it and work for it, it will come  just as it eventually did for me after my brothers death."

He also encouraged others to forgive themselves, too.

Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Seventy said God allows his children to flounder and fail for several reasons  so they can gain experience, learn to prize the good, prove that only by his grace can they become like him and to develop attributes that are refined only by opposition and affliction.

He said Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ allow countless second chances on our journey back to their presence.

"Repentance is Gods ever-accessible gift that allows and enables us to go from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm," Elder Robbins said. "Repentance isnt his backup plan in the event we might fail. Repentance is his plan knowing that we will. This is the gospel of repentance, and as President Nelson observed, It will be a lifetime curriculum.'"

It is expected that later today, President Nelson will speak to the entire church for the first time since he was introduced as the faith's new leader in a broadcast on Jan. 15, when he pledged to serve God and church members "with every remaining breath of my life."

It would mark the first time a church president has spoken at a semiannual conference since April 2017. President Monson was unable to attend the October conference because of poor health.

President Nelson is expected to speak multiple times during the conference, which includes two more sessions today at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. MDT at the 21,000-seat Conference Center across from Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City.

Sunday sessions are at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. MDT.

Those interested can watch the conference live on DeseretNews.com, which also will provide summaries of each of conference talks soon after they end and news coverage of the conference throughout both days.

Deseret News reporters and web producers will be live tweeting through all conference sessions using the hashtag #ldsconf.

The 188th Annual General Conference convenes at the end of a week in which church leaders reinforced their denunciations of all forms of abuse, changed church policies about bishopric and stake president interviews, donated $1 million to ease hunger in Africa and announced the open house and dedication dates for the highly anticipated Rome Italy Temple.

After the conference, the approximately three dozen messages from church leaders will be available on demand on LDS.org, the general conference YouTube channel and the Gospel Library app in more than 80 languages.SALT LAKE CITY  Utah Hispanic lawmakers condemned the decision by President Donald Trump's administration to include a question about U.S. citizenship status on the 2020 census.

House Minority Assistant Whip Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City; Reps. Rebecca Chavez-Houck, D-Salt Lake City, and Mark Wheatley, D-Murray; and Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, echoed the outrage expressed by the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, of which they are members.

"This is blatant political tampering with our nation's critical population counting process," said Romero, the first president caucus.

The state legislators joined the Hispanic caucus in calling on the Trump administration to reverse course, and if it doesn't, they say Congress must step in to protect the integrity of the census.

The Constitution requires that every resident of the United States be counted in a once-a-decade census, whether or not they are U.S. citizens. The count is used to draw political boundaries and allocate hundreds of billions of dollars in federal grants.

"The people of our state demand that all of us be counted in the Census, just like the Constitution explicitly states," Chavez-Houck said. "We will not allow political interference and racial bias to put into question the accuracy of our state's population count."

It the Trump administration's decision stands, about 100,000 Utah residents likely would not participate in the census, she said.

"This could have terrible consequences for Utah such as skewing our reapportionment planning, losing out on long-term federal funding and hurting morale for Utahns overall," Chavez-Houck said.

The Utah Legislature passed her resolution this year calling on Congress to assure a complete and accurate census.

Earlier this Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, proposed federal legislation to ensure the estimated 9 million Americans, including thousands of LDS Church missionaries, living outside the country are counted in the census.

Only those in the military and working for the federal government abroad are counted now. States with high numbers of overseas residents might receive less funding for federal programs and could be underrepresented in Congress.So Burger was a gun guy. And it is good for all of us to keep that in mind, especially those impressive Parkland, Fla., high school student activists who are motivating our leader-lite nation, and also their National Rifle Association critics.

Because 20 years after that night, a then-retired Burger flat-out dissected and devastated what has become the NRAs most successful rallying cry and legal argument  that the Second Amendment must be interpreted as guaranteeing governments cannot infringe upon an individuals right to own todays wide assortment of devastating weapons, including military-style and assault-style rifles such as the AR-15.

Strict-constructionist Burger knew well the meaning and impact of his words on the NRA, as he talked in a 1991 PBS interview about the interpretation of the Second Amendment that has become the NRAs mantra:

This has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.

The former chief justice explained that it was a fraud, to insist that the Second Amendment was even about an individuals right to bear arms. And he made a very academic historic case for his position in an article he wrote in Parade magazines Jan. 14, 1990, issue.Vedanta set to take control of Electrosteel with Rs5,000 crore offer

The Committee of Creditors of debt-laden Electrosteel Steels is understood to have selected the highest bidder, Vedanta, for debt resolution of the company. The Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta is believed to have offered close to Rs5,000 crore for the bankrupt steel firm.

The lenders panel decided to choose mining and resources conglomerate Vedanta as the highest bidder at their meeting on late on Thursday, as advised by the resolution professional. The lenders panel decided to choose mining and resources conglomerate Vedanta as the highest bidder at their meeting on late on Thursday, as advised by the resolution professional.

The resolution professional had received bids from Vedanta, Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors, Tata Steel and Renaissance Steel in January this year.

Reports quoting sources familiar with the development said the objections from Renaissance Steel, which had questioned Vedantas eligibility to bid, had been overruled. The formalities are expected to be completed early next week.

A resolution for Electrosteel Steels is being worked out under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

Against the near-Rs5,000-crore offer by Vedanta, Electrosteel owes lenders close to Rs11,300 crore. However, the lenders decided to finalise the selection of a bidder following a nudge by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to the committee of creditors (CoC) to meet at the earliest.

The committee also discussed Renaissance Steels objections to bids by Tata Steel and Vedanta with regard to their eligibility under Section 29 (A) of the IBC.

Renaissance Steels chairman Abhishek Dalmia had questioned the eligibility of the two bidders for their alleged violation of Sec 29(A) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

The NCLT had admitted State Bank of Indias (SBI) insolvency petition against Kolkata-based Electrosteel Steels on 21 July last year. The case was referred to the bankruptcy court under Section 7 of the IBC following Reserve Bank of Indias intervention.

The nine-month deadline for completion of the insolvency resolution process completion expires on 17 April.Sacked employee files discrimination case against Wipro in US court

A former employee of Wipro, who worked in its American operations for six years from 2010, has filed an employment discrimination case against the company.

Rex Trewin, a former global university recruiting manager, alleged in his suit that the company ignored his contribution and penalised him for stressing the importance of complying with employment laws and regulations, said a report in The Times of India.

A copy of the complaint reviewed by TOI shows Trewin alleging that he was given more responsibilities without proper staff or resources after he complained to his reporting authority, says the report.

The ex-employee claimed his service was terminated after he took time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act in November 2015, after his mother became ill.

Wipro, the defendant in the case, has engaged in a pattern and practice of the systematic termination of its American employees, in favour of Indian employees, alleged Trewin in his complaint.

The company later changed the justification for his termination by informing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that it related to integrity issues.

The Bangalore-headquartered company told the paper that it did not comment on pending litigation. But it was committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity and provides all our employees with a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment of any kind.Skripal skirmish shatters Russia's ties with the West

In a tit for tat move, Russia has ordered the expulsion of more than 150 diplomats from nearly two-dozen countries in retaliation for such action taken against its own diplomats in those nations.

The Russian foreign ministry spokesman said his country was responding to action taken by these nations against its diplomats. Trouble broke out after Britain accused Russia of initiating a chemical weapon attack on Sergei Skripal, a former Russian double agent, and his daughter, in Salisbury, on March 4

Both Britain and the US accused Moscow of using Russian-made nerve gas against the two. In retaliation for the alleged action, Britain expelled two dozen Russian diplomats, with a quickly retaliation from Moscow with an equal number of expulsions of diplomats.

The US, Germany and more than a score of other western countries announced similar expulsions of Russian diplomats over the past few days to express their solidarity with Britain.

According to a spokesperson of the German foreign ministry, our reaction in the Skripal case was necessary and appropriate as a political signal, out of solidarity with the United Kingdom and because Russia has refused to give any clarification of the facts.

The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office described the alleged Russian act as a flagrant breach of international law and the Chemical Weapons Convention and actions by countries around the world have demonstrated the depth of international concern.

Russia of course has denied any state involvement in the incident; it has also suggested that Britain could have perpetrated the attack as a provocation.

With the US also taking the lead in initiating action against Russia, Moscow also decided to expel 60 American diplomats and to also close the consulate in St Petersburg. The US then announced the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle.

In retaliation for the mass expulsions of its diplomats from several western countries, Russia decided to likewise declare diplomats from those countries as persona non grata.

The Russian government summoned the heads of diplomatic missions from several countries and handed notes of protest and declared the relevant number of diplomats from those nations persona non grata.Videocon loan: CBI probes ICICI Bank-Deepak Kochhar nexus

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has initiated a preliminary enquiry into alleged irregularities in the grant of loan to Videocon industries by ICICI Bank in a transaction involving Deepak Kochhar, the husband of ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, and the Videocon Group led by Venugopal Dhoot.

Videocon had availed a Rs3,250-crore loan from the bank, of which Rs2,810 crore remained unpaid and was declared NPA in 2017. ICICI Bank was part of a consortium of 20 banks that granted loan to the Venugopal Dhoot-led Group to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore.

Dhoot allegedly gave Rs64 crore in 2010 through a fully owned entity to NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd he had set up with Deepak Kochhar and two of his relatives. It is alleged that he transferred proprietorship of the company to a trust owned by Deepak Kochhar for Rs9 lakh, six months after he received the loan from ICICI Bank.

Reports quoting CBI sources said the CBI has named ICICI CEO Chanda Kochars husband Deepak Kochar, the Videocon Group and some unknown officials. However, the role of Chanda Kochar will also be examined if the enquiry leads to a nexus between the ICICI Banks grant of loan to Videocon Group and quid pro quo deals with her husband, a CBI official said, adding that an FIR will be registered depending on the evidence gathered during the enquiry.

The CBI said initiated the inquiry on the basis of source information and CBIs own intelligence.

The agency will enquire into the series of alleged transactions between Deepak Kochar and Videocon Group and any relation thereof with grant of loans to the Group by ICICI, sources said.

The CBI probe does not name Chanda Kochhar even though questions have been raised on the financial dealings. ICICI Bank board says it has full faith in MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar even as it dismissed reports on credit disbursement.

ICICI Bank chairman M K Sharma also defended Chanda Kochhar saying that she was not the chairman or part of the credit committee that granted loans to Videocon and hence there was no conflict of interest

Meanwhile, markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is looking into the matter for any possible disclosure and corporate governance-related lapses.

A whistleblower on Friday cited "evidence" to allege that ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar and her family were "a huge beneficiary" of a loan sanctioned to Videocon Group by the bank, according to an ANI report.

"Evidence shows strong links that Chanda Kochhar and her family are a huge beneficiary of this loan. Government should order investigation and audit to check why loan was given to a sinking company," alleged Indian Investors Protection Council trustee Arvind Gupta.

"Venugopal Dhoot transferred money from Videocon Group to Supreme Energy, in which he had 90 per cent shares. He promoted it and later transferred it to Deepak Kochhar. Deepak Kochhar then transferred his shareholdings to Pinnacle Energy. Pinnacle Energy was a trust formed by Kochhar family. Now they are saying they sold their NuPower Renewables shares much before. NuPower Renewables was a special purpose vehicle made to revert allegations in the future. ICICI never gave it loan, but the company was benefited," Gupta said.Fleet of automated electric taxis could deliver environmental and energy benefits

It may be only a matter of time before urban dwellers can hail a self-driving taxi, so researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) decided to analyse the cost, energy, and environmental implications of a fleet of self-driving electric vehicles operating in Manhattan.

Using models they built and data from more than 10 million taxi trips in New York City, they found that shared automated electric vehicles, or SAEVs, could get the job done at a lower cost  by an order of magnitude  than present-day taxis while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. What's more, they found that "range anxiety" is moot because smaller cars with a smaller battery range were sufficient to complete the trips, although more charging stations would be needed.

Their study, "Cost, Energy, and Environmental Impact of Automated Electric Taxi Fleets in Manhattan," was published recently in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The corresponding author is Gordon Bauer of UC Berkeley's Energy and Resources Group, and co-authors are Jeffery Greenblatt and Brian Gerke of Berkeley Lab.

"The EV industry is focusing on the personal car market, trying to make the range as large as possible," says Greenblatt. "The standard now is 200 miles. We suspected you wouldn't need as much for taxis. We found plenty of times during the day when a portion of taxis could slip off to recharge, even if just for a few minutes. This greatly reduces the need to have a big battery and therefore drives down cost. It is dependent on having a fairly dense charging network."

The researchers developed an agent-based model to simulate the movement of 7,000 taxis around Manhattan throughout the day. They also built models to analyse the cost of service and optimal placement of vehicle chargers. They found that costs would be lowest with a battery range of 50 to 90 miles, and with either 66 slower Level 2 chargers per square mile or 44 faster Level 2 chargers per square mile.

"Manhattan currently has about 500 chargers for public use, which include Tesla chargers," Bauer said. "We found that we would need to at least triple that capacity."

The study also estimated that a fleet of SAEV taxis drawing power from the current New York City power grid would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 73 per cent and energy consumption by 58 per cent compared to a fleet of automated conventional gas-powered vehicles.

Greenblatt points out that there are still many barriers to the wider penetration of personal EV ownership, including high cost and limited range. "By switching to a shared fleet that's automated, you can provide electric service to people essentially now," he said.

He notes that shared vehicles are best suited for dense, urban environments: "We're not saying these shared vehicles will be the right thing for road trips, but for the vast majority of urban trips, people drive short distances," Greenblatt said.

The researchers said they were motivated to study this topic because they think it will be "the next big thing" in transportation, Greenblatt said.

"For a long time, personal transportation seemed like the hardest problem to solve," Gerke said. "Now suddenly it seems like there's an obvious path to achieving it, which is the electrification of vehicles coupled with changing the way we get around from private vehicle ownership to shared approaches. Shared approaches are starting to work in urban areas."

Gerke previously researched lighting efficiency, and was surprised by how quickly the market switched from incandescent to LED bulbs. "It was a better product and it was cheaper overall," he said. "When you have those together, people adopt it really fast. I suspect there will be a similar transformation that will occur in the transportation sector in the next decade - it will occur faster than people think."A part-time worker in a takeaway premises in Blackrock felt pressured into buying alcohol for a group of local teenagers who messaged him their drinks order on Facebook, Dundalk District Court was told last week.

Stephen Wang (38) of Rock Road, Blackrock was summonsed for two offences of purchasing intoxicating liquor for delivery to under 18 year olds, on Main Street, Blackrock on the 16th and 24th of June last year.

Sgt. Vincent OConnell told the court on Wednesday that he was on mobile patrol in Beech Park, Blackrock when he encountered a number of youths.

He said he took them home to their parents, a complaint was subsequently made and following an investigation the identity of the person who had bought them the alcohol from local shops was established.

The court heard the teens had messaged the defendant on Facebook to get them the drink.

The Defence solicitor said his client had felt pressurised as the youths were congregating outside the takeaway where he works part time.

He added Mr. Wang had no previous convictions, has been in Ireland 12 years, has an unblemished record and was deeply apologetic when questioned and admitted the offences straight away.

At Dundalk district court, Judge John Coughlan imposed a 600 euro fine for the first offence and gave the defendant six months to pay.(Photo: REUTERS / Finbarr O'Reilly)Dressed-up Israeli Arab Christian women walk to join an Easter Monday parade in Tel Aviv's Jaffa neighbourhood, April 21, 2014.

The case of a person claiming asylum as a Christian in the United Kingdom who was expected to least know the authors of the Gospel according to officials has gained media attention.

An Israeli Arab who claimed asylum in Britain after saying she was a Christian convert had "no idea" what Easter was about, a UK High Court judge has said in an ongoing case.

Justice Nicholas Mostyn said the woman had also been unable to name any of the evangelists - gospel authors Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the Press Association reported.

He said the woman's claim to have converted to Christianity was "hard to believe," after he heard her case at a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

Judge Mostyn said he had looked into the legal issues relating to the woman's children as he outlined background to her asylum claim in a written ruling on those issues.

The judge said Britain's Home Secretary Amber Rudd had refused the asylum claim of the woman, an ethnic Bedouin, and she had launched an appeal against that decision.

The judge said reasons why Home Office officials had refused the woman's asylum claim had featured in evidence in the case relating to her children.

"The official has demonstrated why in numerous respects the (woman's) credibility is fatally compromised," said Mostyn.

"For example, he demonstrates that the claim that the (woman) had become a Christian convert is hard to believe in circumstances where she does not know the name of any of the evangelists, and has no idea what Easter is for or about."

The woman had said she was not safe in Israel and made allegations about members of her family.

She said she had been "grossly mistreated" by her father and brothers and that such behavior was endemic in her culture.

And she said Israeli authorities turned a blind eye to "honor violence" meted out to Arab citizens.

UK Home Office officials had concluded that there was "ample legislative protection" for women in danger in Israel.

The judge said he had analyzed issues concerning what should happen to the woman's children who are seven-year-old twins living in Britain.

He said he had decided that the children should return to Israel with their mother if her appeal against asylum refusal failed.Thomas Jefferson once said: "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of Arms."

Please recall just who is seeking to control the guns. Incrementally thus far they have sought to outlaw only certain weapons, ones that look or sound scary and have high potential for a high rate of firepower. Admittedly these are not always the best weapons for hunting - but not like any American should own a car which can exceed the speed limit or have any high-performance vehicle of any kind. Cars kill more Americans than guns annually, as does medical malpractice. Yet none are seeking to address these issues with banning them, or even restricting them per se.

Gun control is about control not about guns. Those who do not recall history are condemned to repeat it. Please recall just how well gun control has worked for Native Americans. They were flat-out controlled, much to our collective shame.

The right to protect oneself goes far beyond American law, British Law, into ancient times. We have a right to self-preservation. If those who want to control succeed we will be back to muzzle loaders? Crossbows? Bow and arrows? Slings? Swords, spears, and shields?(Photo: Vatican Media)Pope Francis celebrates mass at Rome's Regina Coeli prison on Holy Thursday, March 29, 2018.

Pope Francis has washed and kissed the feet of 12 prison inmates, including two Muslims and a Buddhist, in a Holy Week ritual after saying the death penalty should be abolished because it is neither Christian nor humane.

He spoke of the death penalty just before leaving the prison, a former 17th century Catholic convent that was transformed into a jail 1881, Reuters news agency reported.

"A punishment that is not open to hope is not Christian and not humane," he said in response to closing comments by the prison director, a woman.

"Each punishment has to be open to the horizon of hope and so the death penalty is neither Christian nor humane," said the 81-year-old pontiff.

On Good, Friday, the day Christians believe Jesus was put to death by crucifixion, the Pope led services under tight security, urging people, including ministers of his Church, to rediscover the capacity to feel shame for their role in the world's ills.

"Before your supreme love, shame pervades us for leaving you alone to suffer for our sins: shame for running away from trials, although we say thousands of times: 'If everyone leaves you, I will never leave you';

"Shame for choosing Barabbas instead of you, power instead of you, appearance instead of you, the god of money instead of you, worldliness instead of eternity;

"Shame for all those people, including some of your ministers, who let themselves be deceived by ambition and vain glory, forgetting their dignity and first love."

For a sixth successive year, the Pope had held the ritual on Holy Thursday in an institution rather than in the comfort of the Vatican or a Rome basilica, as did his predecessors, when he visited Rome's Regina Coeli prison.

Reuters reported that conservatives have criticized him for including women and non-Christians in the rite in the past.

Regina Coeli is Rome's oldest and best-known prison, housing inmates from more than 60 different nationalities.

It is situated near the Vatican, along the banks of the River Tiber and was built on the site of a 17th century convent that was converted into a jail in the late 19th century.

Like other prisons in Italy, it has made news headlines for problems of overcrowding and high suicide rates, Vatican News reported.

During his visit, Francis greeted inmates, visited the sick in the prison infirmary and met prisoners held in a section for those needing special protection during their incarceration.

The Pope brought up a passage where two disciples "who wanted to climb the corporate ladder" asked Jesus to give them the most important places, reported Vatican News.

After looking at them with love like he always did, Jesus told them they didn't know what they were asking. He described what those in positions of power do: "command and make others serve them."

In thinking of past times, Francis said there have been many kings and cruel people who have made slaves of other people. But Jesus says it must not be this way with us.

"The one who commands must serve," the Pope said. "Jesus overturns the historical cultural habits of that time, but also of our own day."

If only the kings and emperors of the past had understood Jesus' teaching and had served instead of commanding and killing, "so many wars would never have happened," Pope Francis observed.

The 12 male inmates were from Italy, the Philippines, Morocco, Moldavia, Colombia and Sierra Leone. Eight were Catholic, two were Muslim, one was an Orthodox Christian and one a Buddhist.

Since his election in 2013, Francis has several times called for an worldwide ban on capital punishment, prompting criticism from Christian conservatives, particularly in the United States.March 30, 2018 -- Genome Research recently published a paper (Bhattacharya et al. 2018) describing the whole-genome sequencing of the Atacama skeleton. The manuscript underwent rigorous peer review by experts in evolutionary genetics and paleogenomics and the editors of Genome Research stand behind the review process and the publication of this paper. The reported work has garnered significant public and scientific attention due to interest in the topic. At the same time, questions have been asked about the ethical standards that guided the investigation of the skeleton and the subsequent publication of the results (Nolan and Butte 2018).

Genome Research has an established track record of adherence to policies that protect human subjects in biomedical research. Current human subjects research policies do not typically cover the study of specimens of uncertain biological origins, such as the Atacama skeleton. The DNA sample from the Atacama skeleton did not qualify as human subjects research as defined by the Federal Office of Human Research Protections. Thus, neither specific approval nor exemption was required for the study reported in the paper.

Nevertheless, the concerns about the study expressed by some Chilean scientists, their government, and some members of the public must be taken seriously. We also recognize the sensitivities related to the history and acquisition of the sample. The editors and publisher of Genome Research acknowledge that these issues require further discussion and agreement on rules of usage from within and outside the biological research community.

This experience highlights the evolving nature of this field of research, and has prompted our commitment to initiate community discussions aimed at establishing journal policies and author guidelines necessary for the publication of studies involving historical and ancient DNA samples.

The Editors and Publisher of Genome Research

###

Charlatanry S, Li J, Sockell A, Kan MJ, Bava FA, Chen SC, Avila-Arcos MC, Ji X, Smith E, Asadi NB, Lachman RS, Lam HYK, Bustamante CD, Butte AJ, Nolan GP. Whole-genome sequencing of Atacama skeleton shows novel mutations linked with dysplasia. Genome Res. 2018 Published in Advance March 22, 2018, doi:10.1101/gr.223693.117

Nolan GP and Butte AJ. The Atacama Skeleton. Genome Res. 2018 Published in Advance March 30, 2018, doi:10.1101/gr.237834.118

Media Contacts:

Interested reporters may contact Dana Macciola, Administrative Assistant, Genome Research; +1-516-422-4012).

About Genome Research:

Launched in 1995, Genome Research is an international, continuously published, peer-reviewed journal that focuses on research that provides novel insights into the genome biology of all organisms, including advances in genomic medicine. Among the topics considered by the journal are genome structure and function, comparative genomics, molecular evolution, genome-scale quantitative and population genetics, proteomics, epigenomics, and systems biology. The journal also features exciting gene discoveries and reports of cutting-edge computational biology and high-throughput methodologies.

About Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press:

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press is an internationally renowned publisher of books, journals, and electronic media, located on Long Island, New York. Since 1933, it has furthered the advance and spread of scientific knowledge in all areas of genetics and molecular biology, including cancer biology, plant science, bioinformatics, and neurobiology. The Press is a division of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, an innovator in life science research and the education of scientists, students, and the public. For more information, visit our website at http://cshlpress.org.A University of Texas at Arlington researcher is working to determine how blood flow and cardiac muscle contraction affects gene development that leads to ventricular chamber development in the heart.

Juhyun Lee, an assistant professor in the Bioengineering Department, is using a two-year, $154,000 Institutional Research Grant from the American Heart Association to develop a new microscope that can capture 3-D motion, then add time to construct a 4-D beating heart using optical imaging techniques with fluorescent nanoparticles in a zebrafish. Victoria Messerschmidt and Zach Bailey, two doctoral students, and Richard Bryant, who is seeking his master's degree, are helping Lee on the project.

"We are trying to understand biological forces through engineering," Lee said. "This research is still in its basic stages, but what we learn now could someday allow doctors to pre-identify heart abnormalities and diagnose congenital heart conditions that could then be treated with gene therapy."

Lee must build his microscope because none are commercially available that can capture 3-D motion plus time. Once it is built, he will inject the zebrafish with nanoparticles that attach where certain genes are expressed and track how genes affect ventricular development. He is using zebrafish because their bodies are transparent in the embryonic stage, so it is easy to see the nanoparticles without the use of magnetic resonance imaging.

Lee will use his new microscope to create a 4-D model of a beating heart based on the images and genetic information collected from the fish, then apply computation models to that data to test his findings.

This will include modifying the genes and using them to modulate contraction and hemodynamics or blood flow to see how changes in biomechanical forces affect gene development and then chamber development. In response to hemodynamic forces, ridges and grooves form in a wavelike pattern called a trabecular network in the direction of the blood flow. Too much or too little trabeculation can lead to defects with high mortality rates.

"If we can understand the effects of biomechanical forces on the genes that cause ventricular chamber development, we can discern the optimized shape of the ventricle and best contraction rate. From there, it could be possible to change the levels of gene expressions," Lee said.

Lee's work is the latest example of UTA's research in cardiac health in support of health and the human condition, a key tenet of the University's Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions | Global Impact, said Michael Cho, professor and Alfred R. and Janet H. Potvin Endowed Chair of the Bioengineering Department.

"Even in its early stages, Dr. Lee's work is exciting in its potential for making large strides in correcting cardiac defects in the future," Cho said. "This research will offer critical insight into how the heart forms and the biomechanical factors that affect cardiac growth, and that knowledge will allow better research into potentially life-saving techniques down the road."

Other recent examples of UTA research in cardiac health include:

* Michael Nelson, assistant professor of kinesiology, is using a $3.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the link between fat storage in the heart and cardiovascular disease, as well as the influence of gender on the development of cardiac dysfunction. * Bioengineering Professor Kytai Nguyen earned a National Institutes of Health T-32 grant totaling more than $1 million over five years to recruit and train outstanding doctoral students in nanotechnology and nanomedicine related to cardiovascular and pulmonary issues. * Mark Haykowsky, a cardiovascular exercise scientist in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation, received a $308,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study exercise intolerance in older heart failure patients with preserved ejection fraction, or HFpEF. * Yi Hong, an assistant professor in the Bioengineering Department, was awarded a $211,000 R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop materials that will allow doctors to use a 3-D printer to create unique new blood vessels for children with vascular defects.

###MADISON, Wis. -- In the search for extraterrestrial life, scientists have turned over all sorts of rocks.

Mars, for example, has geological features that suggest it once had -- and still has -- subsurface liquid water, an almost sure prerequisite for life. Scientists have also eyed Saturn's moons Titan and Enceladus as well as Jupiter's moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto as possible havens for life in the oceans under their icy crusts.

Now, however, scientists are dusting off an old idea that promises a new vista in the hunt for life beyond Earth: the clouds of Venus.

In a paper published online today (March 30, 2018) in the journal Astrobiology, an international team of researchers led by planetary scientist Sanjay Limaye of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Space Science and Engineering Center lays out a case for the atmosphere of Venus as a possible niche for extraterrestrial microbial life.

"Venus has had plenty of time to evolve life on its own," explains Limaye, noting that some models suggest Venus once had a habitable climate with liquid water on its surface for as long as 2 billion years. "That's much longer than is believed to have occurred on Mars."

On Earth, terrestrial microorganisms -- mostly bacteria -- are capable of being swept into the atmosphere, where they have been found alive at altitudes as high as 41 kilometers (25 miles) by scientists using specially equipped balloons, according to study co-author David J. Smith of NASA's Ames Research Center.

There is also a growing catalog of microbes known to inhabit incredibly harsh environments on our planet, including the hot springs of Yellowstone, deep ocean hydrothermal vents, the toxic sludge of polluted areas, and in acidic lakes worldwide.

"On Earth, we know that life can thrive in very acidic conditions, can feed on carbon dioxide, and produce sulfuric acid," says Rakesh Mogul, a professor of biological chemistry at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and a co-author on the new paper. He notes that the cloudy, highly reflective and acidic atmosphere of Venus is composed mostly of carbon dioxide and water droplets containing sulfuric acid.

The habitability of Venus' clouds was first raised in 1967 by noted biophysicist Harold Morowitz and famed astronomer Carl Sagan. Decades later, the planetary scientists David Grinspoon, Mark Bullock and their colleagues expanded on the idea.

Supporting the notion that Venus' atmosphere could be a plausible niche for life, a series of space probes to the planet launched between 1962 and 1978 showed that the temperature and pressure conditions in the lower and middle portions of the Venusian atmosphere -- altitudes between 40 and 60 kilometers (25-27 miles) -- would not preclude microbial life. The surface conditions on the planet, however, are known to be inhospitable, with temperatures soaring above 450 degrees Celsius (860 degrees Fahrenheit).

Limaye, who conducts his research as a NASA participating scientist in the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Akatsuki mission to Venus, was eager to revisit the idea of exploring the planet's atmosphere after a chance meeting at a teachers' workshop with paper co-author Grzegorz S?owik of Poland's University of Zielona Gora. Slowik made him aware of bacteria on Earth with light-absorbing properties similar to those of unidentified particles that make up unexplained dark patches observed in the clouds of Venus. Spectroscopic observations, particularly in the ultraviolet, show that the dark patches are composed of concentrated sulfuric acid and other unknown light-absorbing particles.

Those dark patches have been a mystery since they were first observed by ground-based telescopes nearly a century ago, says Limaye. They were studied in more detail by subsequent probes to the planet.

"Venus shows some episodic dark, sulfuric rich patches, with contrasts up to 30-40 percent in the ultraviolet, and muted in longer wavelengths. These patches persist for days, changing their shape and contrasts continuously and appear to be scale dependent," says Limaye.

The particles that make up the dark patches have almost the same dimensions as some bacteria on Earth, although the instruments that have sampled Venus' atmosphere to date are incapable of distinguishing between materials of an organic or inorganic nature.

The patches could be something akin to the algae blooms that occur routinely in the lakes and oceans of Earth, according to Limaye and Mogul -- only these would need to be sustained in the Venusian atmosphere.

Limaye, who has spent his career studying planetary atmospheres, was further inspired to revisit the idea of microbial life in the clouds of Venus by a visit to Tso Kar, a high-altitude salt lake in northern India where he observed the powdery residue of sulfur-fixing bacteria concentrated on decaying grass at the edge of the lake being wafted into the atmosphere.

Limaye notes, however, that a part of the equation that isn't known is when Venus' liquid water evaporated -- extensive lava flows in the last billion years likely have either destroyed or covered up the planet's earlier terrestrial history.

In the hunt for extraterrestrial life, planetary atmospheres other than Earth's remain largely unexplored.

One possibility for sampling the clouds of Venus, says Limaye, is on the drawing board: VAMP, or Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform, a craft that flies like a plane but floats like a blimp and could stay aloft in the planet's cloud layer for up to a year gathering data and samples.

Such a platform could include instruments like Raman Lidar, meteorological and chemical sensors, and spectrometers, says Limaye. It could also carry a type of microscope capable of identifying living microorganisms.

"To really know, we need to go there and sample the clouds," says Mogul. "Venus could be an exciting new chapter in astrobiology exploration."

The Wisconsin scientist and his colleagues remain hopeful that such a chapter can be opened as there are ongoing discussions about possible NASA participation in Russia's Roscosmos Venera-D mission, now slated for the late 2020s. Current plans for Venera-D might include an orbiter, a lander and a NASA-contributed surface station and maneuverable aerial platform.

###

Terry Devitt, 608-262-8282, trdevitt@wisc.edu

This research was supported by NASA grants NNX09AE85G and NNX16AC79G. The VAMP concept is under development by Northrop Grumman Corp.The number of former discarded children who have applied to receive reparations through a government programme has spiked ahead of an Easter deadline, it has been reported.

Switzerland has agreed to pay up to CHF25,000 ($26,200) in compensation to those who as children were victims of forced labour policies or placement in institutions, often suffering abuse or neglect. The Verdigkinder practice continued until 1981.

The number of people who had asked for compensation was 4,500 at the beginning of the year. But by March 30 it had risen to 7,839, the Federal Office of Justice told Swiss public television SRF.

Guido Fluri, who launched an initiative in 2014 to spur the reparations, said that the last-minute rise was the fruit of an information campaign over the past months. We were able to reach people who were isolated, not yet informed, or undecided, he said. The initiatives backers hope for more than 8,000 requests. The official deadline is March 31, but according to the SRF report, requests can be submitted until Tuesday, April 2, midnight.

Huge effort

The justice ministry said it expected 8,500 requests  originally it was prepared for around 10,000 -15,000 requests. The ministrys Claudia Scheidegger rejected allegations that some people found the administration work daunting or were afraid of the authorities. Officials had tried everything in their power to contact people, sending out more than 10,000 letters to various organisations and care homes, she told SRF in its report.

She added that the ministry had received some messages that people were not interested because they did not want to revisit their painful histories.

The government announced the compensation scheme, which followed on official apologies to the survivors of this dark period of Swiss history, in September 2016, and launched it the following December. It put CHF300 million in the fund, which is supposed to be distributed to the estimated 12,000-15,000 victims.Britain said Saturday that border officials had searched an incoming Aeroflot plane, a move Russia called an act of "blatant provocation" in the ongoing diplomatic spat between London and Moscow.

Britain said it conducts routine checks on aircraft to protect the UK from organised crime and people attempting to bring harmful substances into the country.

The Russian embassy in London said Fridays search on a scheduled plane arriving from Moscow at London Heathrow Airport was extraordinary.

Britains Security Minister Ben Wallace said in a statement: It is routine for Border Force to search aircraft to protect the UK from organised crime and from those who attempt to bring harmful substances like drugs or firearms into the country.

Once these checks were carried out the plane was allowed to carry on with its onward journey.

The Russian embassy suggested the jet had been searched in connection with the diplomatic crisis over the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter on British soil earlier this month.

We have witnessed another blatant provocation by the British authorities, it said of the search. This kind of event is extraordinary.

The embassy claimed British officials at first tried to search the plane without the crew, although the captain was eventually allowed to be present.

It claimed their requests for clarification on the search had been met with no response.

We have no other explanation but that the incident at Heathrow is in one way or another connected with the hostile policy that the UK government is conducting with regard to Russia, it said.

Relations between Russia and the West have been plunged into crisis following the first use of chemical weapons in Europe since World War II.

Skripal, who came to Britain in a spy swap, and his daughter Yulia have been in hospital since March 4 after they were poisoned in the southwestern English city of Salisbury.

British authorities say a Soviet-designed nerve agent dubbed Novichok was used.

London, supported by its major Western allies, says there is no alternative conclusion other than Russian state involvement. Moscow denies being behind the attack.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is verifying Britains findings.

rjm/txwWelcome to the News Release Wire Selection Control Panel.

Instant News WireThe $1.6 billion Congress allocated this month for border wall construction will be spent on about 100 miles of new and replacement fencing, including 33 miles in the Rio Grande Valley, a top Homeland Security official said Friday.

Construction is expected to begin this year, Customs and Border Protection Acting Deputy Director Ronald Vitiello said during Fridays news conference.

The Valley is the busiest stretch of border in the country for illegal immigration, and the Trump administration for the last year has said it wants to fill gaps in the existing 20 miles of fence built years ago atop flood-control levees in Hidalgo County. Fridays announcement largely confirmed previous reports that most new wall construction will be in South Texas. Vitiello, who called the Valley the priority area, said much of the remaining funding this year will be spent on replacing existing border fencing.

Vitiello used the term wall throughout his briefing, which was streamed online, but in some cases he said the new construction would resemble existing bollard fencing.

Along with the South Texas stretches, the Border Patrol is replacing 28 miles of primary and secondary fencing near San Diego, replacing two miles of squat vehicle barriers near Calexico, California, with 30-foot-high bollard fencing, building 20 miles of new wall in New Mexico, and putting up four miles of new wall in El Paso.

Construction of the fencing in Calexico, which was funded last year, is under way and the New Mexico portions will begin in April, Vitiello said.

The other projects still need some design work and the bids will go out for that, he said. These projects are funded. These are going to happen this year, but it depends on other factors as far as the design and acquisition of land.

In South Texas, eight miles of fencing in Starr County will provide the biggest challenges because there is little publicly owned land near the Rio Grande. The federal government will likely be forced to condemn private tracts, some of which have been owned by the same families since Spanish land grants were awarded in the 18th century.

Stakeholders who attended a meeting with Border Patrol officials last year said the segments in Starr County would likely look like the existing fencing in Cameron County, which is made of of 6-inch-wide and 18-foot-tall steel posts with 4-inch gaps between them.

In Hidalgo County, DHS will build concrete shores topped with steel fencing on government-owned flood levees.

Congressman Henry Cuellar, the Laredo Democrat whose district would see most of the South Texas construction, said Friday that the funding for the levee wall was part of a compromise to limit the impact on landowners.

Cuellar said he expects construction in Starr County to be closer to the Falcon Dam, away from the population centers of Roma and Rio Grande City. Cuellar and other members of the Texas congressional delegation were also able to include a three-mile gap in the levee wall to allow access to the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.

Even though I dont want to see a fence in Starr County this will probably cause the least amount of headaches, Cuellar said.

Environmentalists have criticized the levee walls that they say make it difficult for animals to escape the Rio Grande floodplain when the river rises. The area is home to the endangered ocelot, a small, brightly colored wildcat.

The levee wall construction will cut off almost all of Hidalgo County from the Rio Grande, said John Michael Torres, the communications director for La Union Del Pueblo Entero, a Valley-based community services organization.

Our community continues to the river, he said. Whether thats public spaces like Bentsen Palm State Park or La Lomita Chapel, or community spaces like Chimney Park RV Resort, our community doesnt end at the levees and our natural spaces dont end at the levees.Wed like to lend our voice to the growing chorus of supporters for Measure C.

Napa wine grapegrowers and vintners have harvested so much more than grapes from the bounty of the land, now its time we returned the favor.

In an unprecedented time when a hostile federal government is attempting to roll back established protections for national monuments, repeal decades long safeguards for coastal waters, and undo 50 years of environmental progress, we must be more proactive than ever as good stewards of the land we call home.

Its a scientific fact that California has more biological diversity, including more endemic species, than any other state in the union.

And Napa County has particularly high levels of biological diversity compared to California. We are living in one of the great biodiversity hot spots in the nation.

The forests, meadows and woodlands in Napas mountains and hills harbor 1,700 plant species, 1,400 of which are native. Unfortunately an alarming 126 species are rare or threatened, particularly by loss of habitat due to vineyard conversions. Measure C will give needed protection for our own botanical Eden by preserving habitat, preserving our valley aquifers, keeping the air clean, storing carbon, and many other benefits.SUTHERLAND SPRINGS  Good continues to flow from the outbreak of evil here nearly five months ago when 26 congregants were slain at the First Baptist Church Sutherland Springs and 20 others were wounded.

That theme was repeatedly heard Friday at a news briefing about a new federal law authored by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn thats intended to prevent similar tragedies by bolstering the federal background check system used in gun purchases.

Its something thats going to make us all feel a little bit safer, said Pastor Frank Pomeroy, a handgun holstered on his hip, referring to the Fix NICS Act that aims to close holes in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) administered by the FBI.

Cornyn met with Pomeroy and about 20 congregants at the church grounds Friday before presenting them with a U.S. flag that had flown over the nations Capitol on March 23, the day President Donald Trump signed the bill into law.

Every time a mass shooting occurs in America, public demands are heard for elected leaders to Do something, Cornyn told a battery of media cameras outside the former worship hall that has been converted into a memorial to the shooting victims

I believe this law will save lives, Cornyn said. Its not just mere symbolism, and it really answers a prayer  that some good might come out of this tragedy.

He called it a partial solution to the problem of keeping guns out of unauthorized hands. It tightens NICS-related reporting requirements by the military and federal agencies to prevent prohibited persons from obtaining guns.

Previously existing laws should have barred Devin P. Kelley from purchasing the weapons he used the Nov. 5 massacre before turning one on himself while fleeing the crime scene, Cornyn said, noting firearm purchases are prohibited by convicted felons and perpetrators of domestic violence.

But Kelley slipped through the cracks and was able to buy guns, he said, by lying on the purchase application about his criminal history, his dishonorable discharge from the military and having been institutionalized for mental issues.

The federally licensed dealer did not learn about his history, despite running a background check, because the Air Force had failed to upload information on Kelly for inclusion in the NICS system.

This is a real problem, said Cornyn, noting the Air Force has provided data to the FBI about 4,000 other overlooked service members since the massacre at the small church in rural Wilson County.

Several families of shooting victims are suing the Air Force over the admitted failure of Holloman AFB in New Mexico to report Kelleys 12-month sentence in a domestic violence case in which he fractured his baby stepsons skull.

The FBI is the worlds premier law enforcement agency, Cornyn said, but NICS can only function well if the needed information is provided.

If his Fix NICS law had been in place, he said, We like to think that this tragedy would have been averted.

The Fix NICS law requires federal agencies and states to produce NICS implementation plans for uploading data about persons ineligible to purchase guns, and provides for incentives and penalties.

However, more work remains to be done, the senator said, including passing a law that makes lying on gun purchase applications a criminal offense.

A separate bill, designed to close a loophole that allows weapons to be sold by unlicensed dealers at gun shows without background checks, was also introduced but didnt pass.

Joining in the praise of Cornyn for sponsoring the Fix NICS law were Wilson County Judge Richard Jackson, Sheriff Joe Tackitt Jr. and Freeman Martin, regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

I hope that we never ever have to hear about something like this happening again, and I think this legislation will help us a lot, said Tackitt, echoing Jacksons earlier remarks.

National police agencies support the law, Freeman said, who also praised locals in the still-healing community for their perseverance, unity and strength in the face of the tragedy.

Youve all shown such amazing grace as you continue to move forward, he said.

Stephen Willeford, a church neighbor who grabbed a gun and fired on Kelley, said, I want to thank our God for taking something so evil and turning it around.

He praised Cornyn for the bill and also for his tireless support of the right to bear arms.

Cornyn voiced support for federal regulation of bump stocks, which permit assault-style rifles to fire like fully automatic weapons, but suggested more emphasis needs to be placed on addressing mental health problems like those seen in a majority of mass shooters.

Its not the gun itself, but the person who is using it that I think we need to be focused on, he said.

Asked about the sidearm carried at the briefing, Pomeroy said he has had a concealed carry license since long before the attack on his church.

Its not because of that, but it may have made me a little more adamant, he said.

Before the briefing, Parishioner David Colbath, wounded multiple times by Kelley, said locals appreciate Cornyn and his legislation, saying, Theres a possibility it could save lives down the road.

He also expressed gratitude for the overall support shown for the congregation, including a pledge made this week by Myrick, Gurosky & Associates, an Alabama firm, to begin work in May on a new $3 million church and education center that will be funded with donations.

The community is blessed and thankful to have a new church coming, said Colbath, 56.San Antonio fire union chief Chris Steele, who has refused to negotiate a new contract for firefighters while the city pursues its lawsuit against the union, said this week he would be willing to meet informally with key city officials to discuss a plan for the union to take over management of its own health care.

After weeks of vocal criticism from each side in the talks and the unions decision to mount a petition campaign for a referendum on the city charter, Steele sees his proposal as an olive branch.

He said hed meet to go over the details of his health care proposal with Deputy City Manager Erik Walsh and Trey Jacobson, the chief of staff for Mayor Ron Nirenberg.

The mayor said hes willing to talk, but he said if the union has a proposal on health care, its negotiators should put it in writing and offer it to their counterparts.

If its a talk, I always have my door open, Nirenberg said. But were not going to negotiate a deal outside of the negotiating room. Thats how we got into this situation 30 years ago.

City leaders remain leery. They first invited Steele to begin negotiations in February 2014, and have done so several times since. Hes never taken them up on the offer.

City officials say costs have skyrocketed and its no longer sustainable to offer premium-free health insurance to public-safety personnel, their spouses and their children. They say they will continue giving 100 percent coverage to uniform personnel, but the first responders need to pay a portion of the cost to insure their families.

Meanwhile, firefighters argue that over the decades of collective-bargaining, they have forgone salary increases to maintain their health care coverage. They have been working since October 2014 under the evergreen clause of their contract, which keeps the agreement intact for up to a decade or until a new contract is signed.

They dont get salary increases under the clause, but they continue to receive premium-free health care for themselves and their families. In November 2014, the city sued in an attempt to have the evergreen clause declared unconstitutional. The city lost in district court, and then an appeals court also sided with the fire union.

The city is now asking the Texas Supreme Court to rule on the matter.

City negotiators also rejected the unions proposal made during mediation last year to take over health care because it wasnt fiscally sustainable, city officials said.

Jeff Coyle, the citys chief spokesman, told reporters earlier this week that the city knows how to manage health care costs, and the program the union points to as a model hasnt worked.

The city has proven to be a much better manager of health care costs over time. And I say proven because we have that model in place today with the retirement health care plan, Coyle said. It is a managed trust where money is put into it, and it is not managed by our third-party administrator. That retiree health care plan that the union president has said they like is only 36 percent funded and has a several-hundred-million-dollar unfunded liability.

The Texas Legislature in 2007 set a 10-year period to address the funding shortfall, which ultimately didnt happen. So beginning last year, Coyle said, the city, active-duty members and retirees all had to increase their payments into the fund.

But Steele says hes confident that the union can manage health care.

He said the city estimates that health care for firefighters is costing about $25,000 annually for each member.

If you cut me a check for $18,000 (per member) a year, well take care of the rest, he said earlier this week. Well manage it; well tell our guys this is what you have to pay, this is what you have to pay for the kids We said if it does not work, and we raise the white flag and say Im sorry its not working, we will go on the civilian plan  not the police plan.

Steele said if the union takes over its own health care, firefighters would pay premiums and the citys annual contribution would be a percentage of the memberships base pay. It would only increase, he said, as their salaries increased.

Thats different from what they presented in mediation, city officials said.

Nirenberg said he hoped Steele would make a counter-proposal to the one the city offered earlier in the week, which included pay raises, a city-managed health care plan with monthly premiums only for employees spouses and children, and a six-month evergreen.

Our negotiation team will vet any reasonable proposal that fits within the cost-containment guidelines set by council policy, he said.

Well before the collective-bargaining agreements were set to expire in September 2014, city officials had begun to signal that health care would be a major issue. Costs had risen dramatically since the CBAs had been negotiated decades prior, and left unchecked, officials warned they would crowd out other city services, such as libraries and parks.

The council subsequently voted on a policy that requires the overall cost of public safety to remain below 66 percent of the general fund.

The San Antonio Police Officers Association accepted a contract in 2016 that requires officers who choose the PPO health plan to pay monthly premiums for family members.

Steele has acknowledged that shared health care costs are coming.

Were open to all that and recognize thats the future, where the health care industry is  with the employee taking some responsibility for the cost, he said earlier this week.

But union members want to manage their own health care instead of relying on the city to do it for them. Theres a significant level of distrust among union members with the city in charge of their health care, but theyre willing to pay premiums if they control the program. If it goes belly up and the firefighters go onto the civilian health care plan, that would be a boon for municipal coffers.

Though Steele has said hed meet informally with Walsh and Jacobson, relations between the two sides remain frosty.

I do have to ask: Why is Chris Steele trying to communicate with everyone except the city negotiators, and trying to negotiate through the media, which we both agreed not to do when we met last? Nirenberg said Friday. We are legally obligated to negotiate in public. We have reached out directly to Steele over a dozen times.

Nirenberg has held a couple press conferences recently, one using a large digital clock to display the number of days since the firefighters contract expired (its been nearly 1,280 days). At a subsequent press conference on the steps of City Hall, Nirenberg, several council members and business leaders stood in unison and discussed the harm on the city that would be caused if the fire union pushes forward with a series of proposed charter amendments.

Steele said he and his membership are tired of the attacks and have lost trust in city officials.

We dont believe him. Its hard after the last month of him spewing venom, Steele said in one breath.

But he said he knows a different Nirenberg than his members.

I think the mayors a good guy, and I believe that in his heart of hearts, he wants to come to a deal, Steele said. But its hard to believe him with his public display. It makes it harder for me representing my guys because thats the only part they see.

Steele said his membership is in a hard line, and he needs an olive branch from city officials.

If I could get a bone somewhere from the city, then it could help me sell it to the membership, and we could get some movement, he said. Its going to be tough unless theres some kind of give from the city first so I can say to my members, Look, theyre extending this olive branch.For gun control advocates, a perfect illustration of how not to engage Second Amendment activists unfolded this week in Olmos Park, a small municipality just north of downtown.

In an amateurish instance of taking the bait and making their problems much worse, Olmos Park police tased and arrested a man who was openly carrying a firearm on McCullough Avenue. As a result, a much bigger gun rights rally is now planned for April 7 at the H-E-B on Olmos Drive  and authorities are concerned that the planned demonstration, dubbed the Olmos Park PD Forced Education Rally, will spawn a counterprotest by Antifa, a so-called antifascist movement known for its violent tactics, according to a police source.

This all started Tuesday, when Olmos Park police were dealing with CJ Grisham, a longtime gun rights activist and retired Army sergeant who bases his philosophy on a strict observance of state law and a loose interpretation of human psychology.

In 2014, for instance, when state lawmakers still were debating whether to allow Texans to carry handguns openly, Grisham reminded a Senate committee that it already was legal to carry a loaded long gun in Texas.

Weve proven that if people arent going to be threatened by the open carry of long arms, Grisham told the committee, they wont be threatened by the open carry of pistols.

The unchecked assumption of that statement, of course, was that a stranger toting a loaded rifle on a public street is not an inherently alarming sight to some people. Grisham knows that assumption is critical: By state law, its legal for anyone to carry a loaded rifle or shotgun openly, as long as he or she does not intentionally or knowingly display the weapon in a manner calculated to alarm.

The ambiguity of that law  how can anyone know what a gun-toting stranger is thinking?  often ties police in knots, and its what Olmos Park police were grappling with when Grisham, president and co-founder of Open Carry Texas, showed up Tuesday on McCullough Avenue openly carrying a firearm.

We told you guys you were gonna learn, a man tells police in a video of the confrontation. Todays your education.  At some point youre going to realize no crime is being committed.

Eventually, an officer forced Grisham to the ground, injuring the activists head. He was charged with assault of a police officer, interfering with the duties of a public servant and obstructing a roadway, according to court records.

Grisham, who lives in Temple, was drawn here by an Olmos Park ordinance that prohibited anyone other than an authorized police officer from carrying a loaded rifle or shotgun on public streets, a clear contradiction of state law. Olmos Park City Council unanimously repealed the ordinance Thursday.

Incidentally, San Antonio has the same problem  and Open Carry Texas knows it.

The citys code states it is unlawful for any person, other than duly authorized peace officers, to carry a loaded rifle or shotgun on any public street. On Friday, Open Carry Texas vowed on its Facebook page to continue to fight that ordinance.

Police Chief William McManus acknowledged the ordinance is in conflict with state law.

It does contradict, McManus told me. We conform with state law in this case. We dont enforce the city code; we enforce the state law.

He added, We very well may recommend the change in city code.

All this focus on the precise letter of the law is necessary, especially in a debate as contentious as the one over gun control. But police arent the only ones who should be expected to know state law.

In Texas, openly carrying firearms on private property is not permitted without the property owners permission. And H-E-B  the site of Grishams April 7 rally  prohibits open carry, according to spokeswoman Dya Campos.

H-E-B and the parking lot is private property, Campos told me. Weve always allowed customers to conceal carry licensed guns in our store, but open carry and long rifles are not permitted.

Permission is needed, she added. It is not a public space.

For someone who justifies his provocative actions by obsessively stating the law, Grisham ought to know better.Hospital mergers and acquisitions have hit a high nationally, as evidenced by two major health care deals announced back-to-back in Connecticut this past week.

On Tuesday, it was revealed that Ascension Health had started the process of selling St. Vincents Medical Center in Bridgeport to Hartford HealthCare. The next day, Western Connecticut Health Network  which includes Danbury, Norwalk and New Milford hospitals  announced it would join forces with Health Quest Systems, a four-hospital group in New York, to form a $2.4 billion medical system.

The standalone hospital has gone the way of the dinosaur, said Angela Mattie, professor and chairwoman of Quinnipiac Universitys Department of Healthcare Management and Organizational Leadership. There are still some good community hospitals out there, but thats the outlier, not the norm.

These deals come on the heels of many other major mergers, acquisitions, sales and other arrangements in the health care field, including the announcement last year that drugstore giant CVS planned to buy Hartford-based insurer Aetna for $69 billion.

In some ways, health care is like any other industry, said Patricia Baker, president and CEO of the Connecticut Health Foundation. Think about banks. How many different banks are there any more?

In fact, last year hospital and health system transactions nationwide were at their highest point in recent history, according to a report from Kaufman Hall, which provides management consulting and software to various businesses.

Baker and other experts said there doesnt seem to be an end to this string of health care business deals.

At this rate, were going to end up with a few health systems, and its going to be hard for community hospitals to survive, she said.

Her foundation pushes for health care access for all state residents, particularly low-income individuals.

Deals on the rise

There were 115 hospital and health system transactions announced in 2017, which was an increase of 13 percent from 2016, according to the Kaufman Hall report, which the organization releases annually.

Not only was that the highest number in recent history, but the deals have increased in value as well.

Of the 115 transactions, 11 (including the CVS-Aetna deal) involved sellers with net revenues of $1 billion or greater. This was the highest number of so-called mega deals in recorded history.

The report forecast that there will likely be even more activity on the health care scene in 2018. Some of that, Kaufman Hall officials said, will be from relatively unexpected players, such as Amazon, which recently made overtures into pharmaceuticals.

Innovative companies will be looking to focus on one or more segments of the health care space where they can deliver a more optimal product than exists today. Disruption is guaranteed if they do, said Anu Singh, Kaufman Halls managing director, in a statement.

Locally, experts agreed that these big business deals involving hospitals and other health care businesses wont be ending anytime soon.

In the case of both the St. Vincents-Hartford deal and the Western Connecticut-Health Quest deal, the transactions would mean an expansion of coverage areas.

St. Vincents would be Hartford Healthcares only holding in Fairfield County, meaning it would be encroaching onto territory previously dominated by Yale New Haven Health Systems, which includes Yale New Haven, Bridgeport and Greenwich hospitals.

The merger between Western Connecticut and Quest, meanwhile would create a seven-hospital network serving 1.5 million people and stretching from the Hudson River to the shores of Long Island Sound.

Why this happens

The reasons behind this boom in health care deal-making are clear, Mattie said, and financial health is chief among them. These mergers, sales and partnerships have the potential to decrease administrative costs and lower overhead, she said.

However, there has been some disagreement over how well these arrangements cut costs, and whether any potential savings trickle down to the consumer.

A study released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2012, for instance, showed that hospital consolidation usually results in higher prices. In some cases, the research showed, the increase was as high as 20 percent.

Baker said, though the report is a few years old, it speaks to an important point. Hospital mergers decrease competition in the marketplace, she said.

Competition often leads to lower prices, Baker said.

But Quinnipiacs Mattie argued that there are some potential benefits to consumers from these transactions. For one thing, when hospitals join a health system (or two health systems merger) theres a bigger brain bank of both administrative and clinical staff to draw from, she said. Also, further consolidation could lead to better access to patient medical records, which Mattie said could eventually lead to better research and better patient care.

The bottom line, Mattie said, is that discussion around mergers and acquisitions in the health care field need to start centering on how to provide lower cost and better care to consumers.

That has to be the dialogue  striving for value, she said. Were too costly and were not safe enough. Were all going to be patients at some point in our lives.Downtown

Greenwichs role in the Civil War will be marked with a special ceremony April 7 outside the Havemeyer Building on Greenwich Avenue.

At 10 a.m., the Grand Army of the Republic Civil War Veterans Memorial will be rededicated. The ceremony will include the replanting of a white oak tree at the same site where one was planted on April 9, 1914, marking the anniversary of the Confederacys surrender at Appomattox.

The original oak tree died recently, and replacing it has been a priority for several community groups, including the Greenwich Veterans Council. The council was formed to put together all of the towns veterans groups, including American Legion Post 29, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and others, under one umbrella to have a concentrated focus on veterans issues and patriotic events in town.

The ceremony was put together by the Greenwich Veterans Council in cooperation with the Greenwich Historical Society as well as the town government and members of the community.

There were more than 450 volunteers from Greenwich who served in the 10th volunteer regiment, said Erf Porter, a member of the council. Thats documented. And then we have about more than 20 other units where people from Greenwich served in. It equals 7 percent of the towns population in 1865.

Of those who served, town records show 69 were killed in action.

Greenwichs share of loss was dramatic, Porter said.

The event will take place rain or shine. In the event of bad weather, the ceremony will be moved inside the lobby of the Greenwich Public Safety Complex across the street from where the tree will be planted.

Central Greenwich

Prom season is rapidly approaching, but the price for formal wear and all the right touches to make the night a memorable one for Greenwich High School students can be enormous. So once again, students are working with Neighbor to Neighbor to ease the burden of those costs.

Neighbor to Neighbor, which serves as a food bank and also accepts clothing donations, is teaming with the GHS Former Attire Club for the Prom Project. In its fifth year, the project provides formal dresses and tuxedos at no cost to area high school students who might not otherwise be able to afford the cost of prom clothing.

In addition to floor-length and cocktail-length gowns and tuxedos, shoes and accessories will also be available. More than 100 dresses were given away in 2017, and in order to make this years project a success, the project is asking the community for donations. Susan Hanover Designs donated dozens of gowns at a Former Attire Event in March.

Donations are currently being accepted, and the distribution will begin Thursday. Neighbor to Neighbor is accepting new or gently used gowns, tuxedos and items such as handbags and even jewelry. Nancy Coughlin said the project started with the hundreds of dresses the Former Attire Club had, and it has grown to the point where donations are nearly split between donated gently used dresses from people and those given by local businesses.

The need has only grown over the years, Coughlin said, with social media putting more pressure on high school students to wear something special and stylish for prom. Dress prices and even renting a tuxedo can total hundreds of dollars, she said.

When youre a student who cant afford a dress or a parent trying to find a way to get a dress for your child and you dont think you can afford it, its heartbreaking, Coughlin said. To do this is a gift to people who need a dress.

Donations are being accepted at Neighbor to Neighbors headquarters on the Christ Church Greenwich campus at 248 E. Putnam Ave. Any GHS students who have items to donate can also take them to school. Coughlin said they are looking especially for donations of tuxedos.

The three-day pop-up store event for the Prom Projects distribution will take place at the historic Tomes Higgins House, which is also on the Christ Church campus at 216 E. Putnam Ave.

Students can pick up what they need for prom from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. All students are welcome, but they are asked to bring a student ID.

The project is a major initiative for the Former Attire Club, and co-presidents Kate Piotrowski and Audrey Brandes are excited for it. They especially like the set-up that makes it like a shopping experience, with many options for anyone looking for something special for prom.

The pop-up store has dressing rooms, music, refreshments and racks of donated new and gently used dresses, Brandes said. Its the most rewarding and fun experience.

More information about the Prom Project and all of Neighbor to Neighbors services can be found on its website at www.ntngreenwich.org or by calling 203-622-9208.

Old Greenwich

The Planning and Zoning Commission will meet Tuesday night at Town Hall about a proposal to make changes to the traffic circle outside of the Perrot Memorial Library.

The proposal involves replacing a bridge on Sound Beach Avenue and changing the traffic circle to something resembling a more traditional roundabout while also raising the elevation of the road to prevent flooding. Neighbors have objected to the changes, though, saying they would cause traffic issues and potential accident hazards in the area  two issues the towns Department of Public Works said it is trying to address through the change.

Project opponents spoke out at the commissions meeting on March 6, focusing particularly on the plan to elevate Sound Beach Avenue. The bridge is in poor condition and needs to be replaced by the state, and raising the street would bring it into compliance with federal regulations, the town said.

The towns emergency services and the Flood and Erosion Control Board have given their endorsements for the project. At the March 6 meeting, the Planning and Zoning Commission discussed the size of the planned roundabout and how it would fit in with existing town regulations, discussions which are expected to continue Tuesday night.

The zoning approval would allow the project to begin. The money for it has so far received all the necessary approvals.

The project is projected to cost $4.9 million in total, and the state is slated to reimburse the town for the construction costs. On Monday night, the towns Board of Estimate and Taxation approved funding in the 2018-19 municipal budget for the project. The Representative Town Meeting will consider the allocation during its May budget vote.

Byram

The Andrew Lost childrens adventure and science fiction books have had a loyal audience since they were first released more than 15 years ago. And now, its author is coming for a special event at the Byram Shubert Library on April 11.

Judith Greenburg, who writes under the pen name of J.C. Greenburg, authored the series from 2002 to 2008. The series includes 18 books, which come together for five complete adventures. They tell the tales of Andrew Lost, a boy inventor whose work always seems to have some kind of unforeseen consequence that has to be undone.

Greenburg will be talking about her work as a writer in the event at 11 a.m. She is the featured speaker in the Esther Banker Memorial Series, which the library has held for more than five years. The free event is open to the community, including children, as it will be part of the librarys programming slate during the April school recess.

According to the library, one of the goals of the event is to inspire children to pursue their own interests in writing and in science.

Her books are really fun, said Judy Crystal, a member of the Friends of Byram Shubert Library. They are science and science fiction and creepy, crawly animals. I had never heard of her until I did some research, and the books are just wonderfully fun. This is something kids are going to be really interested in.

The series is in memory of Esther Baker, a lifelong resident who worked as library director for nearly 25 years.

She was beloved in the community, Crystal said. She was a wonderful, wonderful person and in many ways was the heart and soul of this library.

More information about Greenburgs appearance and other programming during the school recess can be found online at https://www.greenwichlibrary.org/byram-shubert/ or by calling 203-531-0426./

Headquartered at the Burroughs Community Center in Bridgeport, the organization Our Woven Community began in 2014. Our Woven Community empowers refugee women to learn entrepreneurial skills and become self-sufficient leaders while taking pride in their heritage and earning direct economic benefits. Twelve artists from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Burundi work together with volunteers to design products, manage materials and sell the finished items. The artists learn to operate sewing machines to create handbags, scarves and other items using donated fabrics.

The Fairfield Museum is displaying a variety of the products produced by Our Woven Community in the Ruth Carlson Horn Gallery. In addition, the exhibition features biographies of some of the women who participate in the program. Sauda, for example, is originally from Burundi, where she lost her mother and siblings due to violence. She escaped with her three children and fled to a refugee camp in Tanzania. She spent 15 years there before arriving in the United States. The handcrafted items and biographies will be on view through April 29. In addition, items created by the women involved in Our Woven Community are available for purchase at the Museum Shop, open daily 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 370 Beach Road.by Matthew Williams | White Sox Correspondent | Fri, Mar 30th 11:43pm EDT

Dallas Keuchel gave up three earned runs on seven hits and one walk over six innings in Fridays loss to the Rangers.

Fantasy Impact:

It was not the prettiest game, but Keuchel still managed to get the quality start. He struck out four during the contest and the former Cy Young winner will look to get a win next time out vs. the Orioles.British horticulture should look to the Dutch and turn to more intensive greenhouse-based agriculture post-Brexit, according to the Shadow Defra Secretary.

Labour's Sue Hayman urged farmers to be more productive after Brexit, and warned agriculture could be bargained away in the Brexit negotiations.

Ms Hayman told the remarks during a visit with local fishermen at Sutton Harbour in Plymouth with local MP Luke Pollard.

The Shadow Defra Secretary said that whilst she agreed on the Government's current approach to emphasising conservation and environment work, she said productivity must also be supported.

The farming industry has told of its concern over Defra Secretary Michael Gove's commitment to a "green Brexit", one which focuses on animal welfare and the environment over food production.

But Ms Hayman said farmers should also be supported with further policies to increase food production.

She said British horticulture should look to the Dutch model, with more intensive greenhouse-based agriculture, funded out of post-Brexit farm subsidies.

The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant by showing what the future of farming could look like. They are the country's greenhouse complexes, some of them covering 175 acres.

Our productivity has dropped over the past 40 years. We only produce 60% of what we eat. I think we need to encourage greater productivity as well as environmental benefit, Ms Hayman explained.

According to a report released earlier this year, the USA and the Netherlands are out-performing the UK on agricultural productivity by as much as three times.

She continued: If you go to the supermarket, lettuces, tomatoes all come in from Spain. There is not reason why we couldnt fund horticultural to build greenhouses and grow more or our own produce in this country.With the ongoing dismissal of bot accounts, Twitter has conducted an audit to verify the number of fake followers or ghost accounts.

In a social media check, it has emerged that Bollywood's leading lady reigns social media with the highest number of genuine followers amongst celebrity pages.

As per the Editor of popular UK based magazine Eastern Eye, Asjad Nasir, Deepika Padukone is number one #Bollywood star overall on the three most popular social networking sites (Facebook, Instagram & Twitter) with the most combined real followers.

Asjad Nazir took to his social media handle and tweeted,"It is official! The number one #Bollywood star overall on the three most popular social networking sites (Facebook, Instagram & Twitter) with the most combined real followers is @deepikapadukone (remarkable considering she uses social media less than others)"

Deepika Padukone who commands the title of the Most Followed Asian Woman on social media with an audience base of more than 75 million followers across platforms.

The latest finding brings to the forefront the massive organic hold the actress has on social media, by being followed by real users.

Considering that Deepika uses social media sparingly as opposed to her Btown colleagues, her social media wealth proves that Deepika rules the audience's hearts in the digital universe too.

The actress is known to have some of the most loyal fan clubs on social media, with her fans celebrating every minuscule detail of Deepika's life. More recently, social media was a testimony to a unique phenomenon whereby fans took to platforms in support of Deepika's last release, Padmaavat, pledging to watch every film of the actress first-day first show.

Deepika's fandom and massive audience pull resulted in Padmaavat becoming the highest opening film of 2018. The magnum opus period drama mounted on the actress currently stands at a whooping 300 plus crores business in India, marking Deepika's first entry into 300 cr club and seventh in the 100 crore club.Neerali, the upcoming film of Mohanlal, which will be the actor's first big release of the year 2018, is expected to come out during the Eid season of 2018. The shoot of the film has been completed and the post production works of the movie is moving at a full pace.

Meanwile, here is another big news related to this Mohanlal starrer. According to the latest reports that have come in, the satellite rights of Neerali have already been sold.

Reportedly, Surya TV has bagged the broadcast rights of this upcoming Mohanlal movie. The announcement regarding the same was made through the official Facebook page of the channel. Earlier, Suriya TV had also bagged the broadcast rights of Mammootty's much awaited movie, Abrahaminte Santhathikal.

Take a look at the Facebook post of the channel..

Scripted by Saju Thomas, Neerali has been directed by Bollywood film-maker Ajoy Varma. Recently, reports had surfaced that the film will have some splendid graphics works and a huge amount is being spend for the same.

Neerali also features Nadiya Moidu, Suraj Venjaramoou, Dileesh Pothen, Parvathy Nair, Nasser etc., in important roles. The makers are yet to make an official announcement regarding the exact release date of the movie.Antony Varghese As Jacob

Jacob is entirely different from Vincent Pepe, the role done by Antony in his debut movie. First of all, the young actor was completely convincing in portraying the character, as it is. His amazing screen presence too supported that cause. He was in complete control of the character and some of his dialogues and reactions are sure to bring in huge applause. Special mention for his performance in the action sequences.

Chemban Vinod Jose As Kallan Devassia

Chemban Vinod Jose portrays the role of Kallan Devassia and the character was safe in the hands of the actor. He takes care of the humour department and he handles that with ease. Yet another memorable performance from the actor.

Vinayakan As Simon

Vinayakan appears as Simon, one among the senior-most members in the prison. As usual, he has put up a controlled and matured performance and does complete justice to the character. Nevertheless, he could have given a bit more screen space.

Rest Of The Cast

Titto Wilson, who had played the role of U Clamp Rajan in Angamaly Diaries essays a crucial role in the movie and he makes a mark yet again. Rajesh Sharma was perfect in his role. Lijo Jose Pellissery too was impressive in his short role.

Script & Direction

The script of the film has been written by Dileep Kurien. The story of the film is quite straight forward and the writer doesn't rely much on twist or suspense factor. Some of the sequences have been well-written, especially those in the second half. Nevertheless, there are quite a few logical loopholes in the script, which could have been addressed as well.

Tinu Pappachan has made a stunning debut giving the film a treatment that it required and deserved. He has ably packaged the movie in the form of a thriller, with some tremendous edge of the seat moments. It was nice to see him use the style quotient without compromising on the reality factor of the movie. The way in which he has used some of the artists deserves appreciation.

Other Departments

Special mention to Gokul Das for the exemplary art work, as everything looked so real. BGM by Alexander plays a big role in keeping the viewers glued to their seats as it supports the film in crucial points. Nothing much has to be said that Gireesh Gangadharan's camera work as the visuals add to the versatility of the movie. The editing was also impressive. Meanwhile, the VFX works were pretty disappointing.External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday met Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and the two leaders discussed ways to strengthen the bilateral ties.

Tokyo: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday met Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and the two leaders discussed ways to strengthen the bilateral ties.

Swaraj, who was here on a three-day visit, also conveyed the greetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Abe.

"EAM @SushmaSwaraj called on Japanese Prime Minister @AbeShinzo today morning in Tokyo. EAM conveyed the greetings of PM @narendramodi to PM Abe," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet.

During the meeting, Abe told Swaraj that the traditional friendship between the India and Japan was characterised by "heart-to-heart" bonds and blessed with a huge potential for growth.

"PM Abe said that India-Japan traditional friendship is characterised by heart-to-heart bonds and blessed with a huge potential for growth," Kumar tweeted.

EAM @SushmaSwaraj called on Japanese Prime Minister @AbeShinzo today morning in Tokyo. EAM conveyed the greetings of PM @narendramodi to PM Abe. PM Abe said that  traditional friendship are characterised by heart-to-heart bonds and blessed with a huge potential for growth pic.twitter.com/jN8GWI4Nau  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) March 30, 2018

Swaraj, who was on her first visit to Japan in the capacity of the external affairs minister, had reached Tokyo on Wednesday to attend the ninth India-Japan Strategic Dialogue.

She met her counterpart Taro Kano on Thursday and the two leaders reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral ties.

Describing the meeting as "very productive", Swaraj said her trip had laid a sound foundation for Modi's visit to Japan for the next bilateral Annual Summit later this year.

Hours after meeting Abe, Swaraj departed from Tokyo, concluding her first official trip to Japan.

"Sayonara! EAM @SushmaSwaraj departs from Tokyo after her first official visit to Japan for the 9th #IndiaJapan Strategic Dialogue," Indian Embassy in Tokyo tweeted.

Sayonara! EAM @SushmaSwaraj departs from Tokyo after her first official visit to Japan for the 9th #IndiaJapan Strategic Dialogue. Ambassador @SujanChinoy and @MofaJapan_en Ambassador Hideaki Hoshi see off EAM at Narita Airport. #KonnichiwaNamaste pic.twitter.com/hk2jmZKQY8  India in Japan (@IndianEmbTokyo) March 30, 2018

On Thursday, Swaraj met Chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council and former Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida.

Swaraj also addressed a gathering of Indian diaspora at the Vivekanand Cultural Centre in Tokyo.

According to official figures, Japanese FDI in India during 2016-17 was $4.7 billion, an increase of 80 percent over the last year.BJP MP from Asansol and Union minister Babul Supriyo took to Twitter to clarify his point of view and said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cannot stop him from doing his 'duty'.

A day after an FIR was registered against Union minister Babul Supriyo for allegedly assaulting an IPS officer in violence-hit Asansol-Raniganj area, the BJP MP from Asansol took to Twitter to clarify his point of view and said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cannot stop him from doing his "duty".

Earlier on Thursday, Supriyo and a senior West Bengal BJP leader were stopped by the police from entering the Asansol-Raniganj area, where the situation continued to remain tense after violence erupted over a Ram Navami procession.

Internet services were suspended and prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC were clamped in the area, following clashes between two groups on Sunday and Monday over a Ram Navami rally at Raniganj.

Posting a video tahtshowed women and men agitating, Supriyo claimed that crying women came to him and pleaded he visit Chandimari "where their homes hv been burnt down, looted, false cases registered against their children" and said in a tweet, "I wil drive away being their elected MP?I dont hv a duty towards my people-they dont hv a Party or Religion, they r Victims."

2/3:C this videoWomen crying& pleading me 2 visit Chandmari where their homes hv been burnt down, looted, false cases registered against their childrenI wil drive away being their elected MP?I dont hv a duty towards my people-they dont hv a Party or Religion, they r Victims pic.twitter.com/cuIXoRSu9N  Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) March 30, 2018

Supriyo also said that he will take those responsible to the court and vowed to fight against the "injustice". The BJP leader also said he has already file an FIR against the "one Police officer who assaulted me, pushed&threatened me". He also questioned why the Rapid Action Force (RAF) surrounded him. "Why encircle me with RAF?What ws RAF doing when the victims were beaten, their houses burnt down&looted?" Supriyo said in a tweet. Supriyo, who is the Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, also said that the police stopped him from talking to people form his own constituency. "Police file cases against me cuz I visit the Victims in my OWN constituency where victims belong 2 ONLY one community?Is that a crime in Bengal?Everytym the same story!!Police wil push&pull me&stop me frm talking 2 people cuz they r spelling the truth out?" he said in another tweet.

4/5:Check this vdo tooPolice file cases against me cuz I visit the Victims in my OWN constituency where victims belong 2 ONLY one community?Is that a crime in Bengal?Everytym the same story!!Police wil push&pull me&stop me frm talking 2 people cuz they r spelling the truth out? pic.twitter.com/CjL0osyjq6  Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) March 30, 2018

He also hit out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that she had forgotten "her own struggle against CPIM atrocity" and that she cannot stop him from doing his duty.

He also said that a TMC councillor was allowed to move freely but when he tried out of the car, the RAF had to be controlled by the RAF. "TMC councillorS can move around freely in an area&if I try 2 get down frm the car I am a criminal who needs 2 b engulfed by RAF, wrapped tight by Cop-hands, TOUCHING me bodily?Didi probably forgot her struggle against CPIM atrocityShe JUST CANNOT STOP ME FROM DOING MY DUTY," Supriyo said.

5/5:TMC councillorS can move around freely in an area&if I try 2 get down frm the car I am a criminal who needs 2 b engulfed by RAF, wrapped tight by Cop-hands, TOUCHING me bodily?Didi probably forgot her struggle against CPIM atrocityShe JUST CANNOT STOP ME FROM DOING MY DUTY pic.twitter.com/ZcSid4TXXZ  Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) March 30, 2018

He also slammed media reports that claimed that he came to the area with 150 boys in tow. Supriyo said the reports were false and that he had only six to seven men with him. He was talking to a few elderly people sitting in his car and decided to get out of it as "it isnt courteous 2 sit in car&talk". He claimed that's when a few victims rushed to him and asked him to visit the camp across the street, complaining of police brutality and complete non-cooperation. He criticised Banerjee and said all of this was in line with the "appeasement politics" of the Trinamool Congress chief.

Supriyo claimed police officers and three TMC workers started abusing him and threatening people who spoke to him.

Supriyo had tried to enter the Railpar area in Paschim Bardhaman district, where police stopped his car, citing security reasons.

Reportedly, a group of people shouted slogans against the minister and demanded that he immediately leave the area.

He also claimed that only the deployment of Central forces can bring back peace in the area as locals don not have faith in the police.

News channels showed him engaged in a verbal duel with police personnel, who had surrounded his vehicle.

"As a public representative, I have every right to visit my constituency, especially when people are in trouble. It is my duty. But the police is saying I won't be allowed to go as Section 144 is imposed in the area. Being a minister, I cannot violate rules," Supriyo said.

The minister, earlier this week, had blamed inaction on part of the police for Sunday's violence over Ram Navami celebrations in Raniganj, neighbouring Asansol.

With input from PTILike a true bureaucrat, the Gujarat-cadre IAS officer ostensibly ignored the mail. A prompt notice of the exam's postponement till a later date could have saved the day.

The leaked CBSE question papers may not only affect the future of millions of students, it may also queer Narendra Modi's pitch when he sits for the Lok Sabha exam in 2019. The rapidly escalating controversy has a direct impact on India's millions of first-time voters, a politically unattached constituency that the prime minister has been wooing through different outreach programs. When millions of affected students and their parents enter the booths to cast their ballots, the CBSE's bungling and the Union HRD ministry's ineptitude will be fresh on their minds.

It would be a little cynical to suggest that Modi's concern for students stems solely from electoral compulsions. Through his radio addresses, speeches, programs, events, the prime minister comes across as a leader who wants to communicate with the young and is genuinely interested in addressing issues that worry them. For instance, Modi has authored a book on exam-related anxieties. He has held a 'charcha' with students on 'Pariksha', an interactive session to deal with the pressure of examinations.

The irony of his own government adding to the students' exam distress is therefore, stark.

More than two million students will now be forced to take a retest  for no fault of theirs  on subjects that they have studied diligently all through the year.

Mathematics (Class X) and economics (Class XII) are crucial papers that shape a million futures. Students are reportedly apprehensive that the revised papers might be tougher than the ones they have cleared. This possibility cannot be dismissed, as the fear that a tougher paper might adversely affect the students' prospects.

The CBSE failed at multiple points. It failed to ensure the sanctity of a system on which rests the future of our children. It failed again when the issue of a leaked mathematics paper was brought to the notice of CBSE chief Anita Karwal the night before the exam through an email to her official ID.

Like a true bureaucrat, the Gujarat-cadre IAS officer ostensibly ignored the mail. A prompt notice of the exam's postponement till a later date could have saved the day. The inconvenience of appearing for a cancelled exam is considerably lower than having to clear it twice.

The board was guilty twice of dereliction of duty and it failed the third time when it issued a casual notification asking the students to reappear for the exams while chief Karwal went incommunicado, ostensibly to take advantage of a long weekend. She eventually surfaced when the situation has spun out of control to declare that: We have taken the decision in favour of the students and in utmost fairness. Very soon we will announce the dates (for re-test). Students don't have to worry about anything. We are with them.

In case the CBSE chairperson needs reminding, forcing the students to suffer for board's incompetence isn't synonymous with "favour". Mere words that "we are with you" when actions tell otherwise are of no help. Karwal's reaction reveals the mindset of an official who has grown accustomed to wielding power sans accountability  in short an incompetent bureaucrat among many such who wheel the system and hinder, not help, India's progress. Her approach to a crisis speaks of irresponsibility, callousness and insensitivity. If the students have now broken into a protest, refused to be penalized for the Board's crime and demanded justice, their outrage is justified.

If the CBSE failed its students, so did the Union HRD ministry. Prakash Javadekar's failure lies not only in ensuring a fool-proof system for exam, he also failed miserably to mitigate the crisis. He had little to offer in news conferences beyond an assurance that such leaks won't happen again. Few take a politician's promise seriously. Javadekar appeared clueless and short of ideas beyond placatory noises when affected students and their families wanted to see some accountability.

However, the minister's bigger failure lies in his inability to crack the whip and showing Karwal the door. Surely some amount of accountability needed for a systemic failure on this scale? Justice, in this case, not only should be done but also seen to be done. The sum of all the chaos that we have witnessed so far is this  over 28 lakh students must appear for a retest while the CBSE refuses to show any contrition or tender apology for its recklessness, and the minister fails to hold even one individual within the system that he runs, as responsible.

The final responsibility for this real and perceived injury lies with the prime minister, as does the burden of his Cabinet colleague's inability to deal with a crisis. Modi's outreach to the young and proactive efforts to make them a part of the 'New India' story now lies in tatters. He might still be the most popular leader among students but he suddenly finds himself vulnerable to attacks from the Opposition and insinuations that his concern is 'vote-deep'.

PM wrote Exam Warriors, a book to teach students stress relief during exams. Next up: Exam Warriors 2, a book to teach students & parents stress relief, once their lives are destroyed due to leaked exam papers. pic.twitter.com/YmSiY0w46b  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 30, 2018

The exam leaks destroy the hopes and futures of millions of students. The Congress always protected our institutions. This is what happens when institutions are destroyed by the RSS/BJP. Believe me when I say, this is only the beginning.  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 29, 2018

The Congress has quickly jumped in to create some political capital out of students' crisis but in his zeal to target Modi, Rahul Gandhi may have forgotten that the erstwhile UPA regime was a sieve when it came to paper leaks. A memory refresher course on leaked question papers during Congress reign is available here, here and here.

This cannot be the BJP's argument, however. Instead of trying to deflect the blame or seek excuses, it must act, and do so quickly. The young doesn't forget.

GoldSeek Radio: Arch Crawford and Bix Weir, and Chris Waltzek





By: Chris Waltzek, GoldSeek.com Radio

-- Published: Sunday, 1 April 2018 | Print | Disqus Featured Guests Arch Crawford & Bix Weir Show Highlights Part I of the discussion of Bix Weir of RoadtoRoot-A includes comments on silver and Bitcoin.

While gold remains the de facto king of currencies, Bix Weir outlines his highly bullish case for silver.

The duo agree, silver represents an ideal safe haven as a hedge against the Echo Bubble, which threatens to ignite the Great Recession II.

While research suggests the Comex gold / silver ratio is 100:1, our guest identifies a competing figure of 2,000:1, paper to bullion.

The supply situation is just as impressive; although the gold / silver ratio is near 80:1, the empirical ratio is 1:1, as stockpiles of gold exceed that of silver.

The theoretical value of silver is $1,000+, a 50+ fold relative discount to current prices.

In 2016 100 billion ounces of silver is currently traded on exchanges, although only 50 billion ounces exist, ergo the silver market may be nearing a key, bullish inflection point.

All silver ETFs and proxies are based on the fractional reserve system dynamics, magnifying the investment risks associated with rehypothecation, making the case for 1:1 gold / silver.

The resulting threat to the global financial system is many times larger in scale / scope than the combined impact of MF Global, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers debacles.

Both Bix Weir and the host plan to HODL silver until market manipulation comes to an inevitable halt.

The discussion includes Bitcoin / Altcoins and the crypto-sphere. Nearly 3 billion global inhabitants have zero access to banking resources , including services taken for granted.

Nothing is required for most of the disenfranchised to open a Bitcoin or Ethereum account.

Using a mobile phone and voila, even the indigent are a "walking bank."

Not even a phone is required to download a free Bitcoin wallet at a local library desktop.

Bix Weir is leery regarding the Bitcoin ramp to $20,000 and subsequent decline under $8,000 - he suspects powerful interests intended to dump Mt. Gox BTC inventory at high prices.

Due to the hype of numerous impending Bitcoin forks, Fork-apalooza.

Excitment regarding the new BTC futures contracts, caused liquidity to dry up as investors bought the rumors and then sold the fact.

Financial markets are discounting mechanisms that typically anticipate events up to six months in advance and adjust prices, a priori.

BTC statistics reveal that the months of Nov. / Dec. tend to be favorable for BTC, while January - March are less so; April - June tend to be recovery periods.

Those who disparage the value aspects of cryptocurrencies fail to recognize the value inherent in the Bitcoin PoW concept, where SHA256 hashing power is key to the integrity.

SHA256 vastly reduces the 51% attack risk inherent even in DPoS / PoS protocols. Bitcoin is based on a "trust-less" system that removes the middleman or third party.

Bitcoin removes the banking intermediary, eliminating wasteful fees while increasing efficiency, just as email is 100's of times less wasteful / costly than traditional snailmail.

The TCP/IP protocol remains the backbone of the internet, despite a myriad of solid competing alternatives, as the TCP/IP had first mover advantage and early adoption, similar to Bitcoin.

Satoshi Nakamoto and new developers defeated the Byzantine General problem, the consensus issue, by distributing the blockchain ledger among key, collaborative hash nodes.

Bitcoin detractors make the following points: coin mining is too costly, cannot be used to pay taxes and is an inadequate store of wealth.

The host counters: Arizona now accepts BTC for State tax payments, credit card company verification systems consume several fold the electricity of crypto mining.

At $7,000 per coin, BTC's price remains 600% higher than 12 months prior.

Traditional fiat money is doomed - the host coins a new crypto-battle cry: "Bitcoin is an unstoppable fiat money, computer virus." Arch Crawford, head of Crawford Perspectives , outlines his technical perspective on US shares, gold, silver indexes.

Our guest continues to monitor the technical condition of the PMs sector, noting the positive inverse golden cross.

Given the sharp advance in the gold, silver, commodities, XAU and WTIC , Arch Crawford is anticipating a new bull market, music to the ears of PMs aficionados.

Regarding US equities indexes, volatility was too low for too long - he expects a return to the mean resulting in a capitulation moment.

His account remains short equities since January 15th without margin. After the 3 day Easter / Passover weekend, stocks could rebound from lows.

The new $60 billion trade tariffs imposed by the Administration on China, suggests increased tensions between the US and China / N.K.

Should relations continue to deteriorate, the potential for military conflict may add a new twist to the geopolitical / financial arenas.

On the domestic economic front, the discussion veers to the hawkish FOMC rate hike strategy.

The current Fed Funds Futures (FFF) at the St. Louis FRED website indicates low odds of another rate hike at the upcoming May meeting.

Odds are high for June rate increase to 150-200 basis points (80% odds); about even odds of a final 2018 increase at the December meeting.

The threat of higher rates has rattled some perspective home buyers, resulting in higher SFH default rates and potentially ending the echo housing bubble (figure 1.1.). Guest Bios Bix Weir Road to Root-A Bix Weir has 30 years' experience in the financial industry with various fortune 500 companies. He is the creator of the "Road to Roota Theory" and his commentary is published at www.RoadtoRoota.com. Bix has dedicated his efforts over the last 15 years to exposing the long term manipulation of the gold and silver markets. He has worked closely with the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee helping to pull the curtain away from the Cabal of International Bankers that has taken control of our free market system. At RoadtoRoota.com Bix deals with the conspiracy and manipulation side of the gold, silver and financial markets and is not constrained by conventional thinking of how market prices fluctuate. Bix has developed this website to aid in the discovery of the truth behind our massively manipulated markets and to help expose those who threaten our free market system.

Website. Arch Crawford Stockmarket Cycles Arch Crawford cut his technical analysis teeth as first assistant to top Wall Street technician Robert Farrell at Merrill Lynch in the early 1960s. In 1977, following Archs extensive research into astrophysical phenomenon, astrology and its correlation to market performance, he edited and published the premiere issue of Crawford Perspectives market timing newsletter. Today, nearly 40 years later, Crawford Perspectives continues to bring readers one of the most highly regarded and consistently accurate market timing newsletters available. Website: click here.

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Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron promised 1.5 billion ($1.85 billion) of public funding into artificial intelligence (AI) by 2022 in a bid to reverse a brain drain and catch up with the dominant US and Chinese tech giants.

The investment is part of an AI strategy laid out by the centrist leader at the elite College de France research institute in Paris and builds on a report that points to the assets and drawbacks of France in the field.

Business-friendly Macron wants to turn France into a startup nation and bets that easing labour laws and higher investments technology will create jobs, alleviate the domination of Alphabets Google, Facebook and lay out the seeds for Europe-based champions.

Theres no chance of controlling any effects (of these technologies) or having a say on any adverse effect if weve missed the start of the war, the president said on 29 March in front of a row of ministers and top executives, including BNP Paribas Jean-Laurent Bonnafe.

He spoke between two blackboards covered with complex equations in the main amphitheatre of the institute, founded in the 16th century.

The first goal is to make better use of the French higher education system that trains computer engineers and mathematicians only to see them leave for jobs at top US tech companies. Some of them have secured high-level positions Google and Facebook, and Facebook, which opened an AI research centre in Paris in 2015.

What a waste, said Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire earlier on 29 March. France pays for the training of doctoral students who then head to the United States.

Lady Gaga of mathematics

The AI plan was inspired by a government-commissioned report by Cedric Villani, the self-styled Lady Gaga of Mathematics and winner of the mathematics equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

Villani, who is also a lawmaker in Macrons party, said in the report the brain drain to Silicon Valley companies showed the excellence of French schools and justified a doubling of their salaries, a proposal that was eventually left out.

The report also pointed to the need for greater collaboration between government research centres and private companies to keep the best minds at home, an idea that was praised by Macron and could lead an easing of the conditions needed for state researchers to work in for private companies.

Macrons AI plan calls for the opening up of data collected by state-owned organizations such as Frances centralized healthcare system to drive up efficiency through AI, the field in computer science that aims to create machines able to perceive the environment and make decisions.

The amount to be spent, about $450 million, represents a drop in the ocean of AI spending worldwide, which consultancy firm McKinsey estimated between $20 and 30 billion for the biggest tech companies alone in 2016.

In a sign Macrons efforts to woo top scientists and businesses may be starting to bear fruit, Samsung Electronics, Japans Fujitsu and London-based Google-owned DeepMind announced plans to beef up their operations in Paris earlier.

IBM also announced on Thursday its intentions to recruit 400 AI experts in France over the next two years.

Before unveiling his plan, Macron hosted a dinner with about a dozen AI experts at the Elysee Palace.

Guests included Yann LeCun, the New York-based Frenchman who until recently ran Facebooks AI research lab, and Demis Hassabis of London-based DeepMind, creator of the AlphaGo system that in 2016 beat an elite human player of the Chinese game Go.My wife's Infiniti SUVs have had it since 2010 or so. I hated it from the moment I first used it. The primary reason is that your vehicle will slow down when you come up behind a vehicle. It does it so gently that you might not notice that you're now traveling slower than your desired speed.



My 2018 F150 has it but I can shut it off with a dash pushbutton or permanently with some additional steps.



I don't seem to mind it in my Ford but I think it's because I've grown accustomed to it, monitor my speed closely and take manual control to pass.



One fun use for it is to set the cruise at about 100 MPH and pull in behind a fast moving semi. They'll maintain about 80 MPH so you'll follow along at 80. When they're warned to slow down by another trucker, your vehicle will automatically slow with them.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.21:13

The Trump administration has said it wants to start collecting the social media history of nearly everyone seeking a visa to enter the US.





The proposal, which comes from the state department, would require most visa applicants to give details of their Facebook and Twitter accounts.





They would have to disclose all social media identities used in the past five years.

About 14.7 million people a year would be affected by the proposals.





The information would be used to identify and vet those seeking both immigrant and non-immigrant visas.





Applicants would also be asked for five years of their telephone numbers, email addresses and travel history. They would be required to say if they had ever been deported from a country, or if any relatives had been involved in terrorist activity.





The proposal would not affect citizens from countries to which the US grants visa-free travel status - among them the UK, Canada, France and Germany. However, citizens from non-exempt countries like India, China and Mexico could be embroiled if they visit the US for work or a holiday.Top Android P features you should know Features oi-Abhinaya Prabhu Android P is the next big Android update and here we have listed the notable features of the same.

At the Google I/O 2018 conference held yesterday, Android P was announced officially. The company rolled out the Developer Preview of the OS to users of Pixel devices and select non-Pixel smartphones too. Google touts the latest iteration of the mobile OS to be aimed at simplicity, intelligence and digital well-being. Also, it will leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning.

My Cloud Home: Unboxing and Set Up

Given that the Android Oreo successor is now official, we have listed out some of the latest features of this platform over here. Take a look at the new features to know how it will let you focus on your digital well-being and provide you with enough balance between your phone and family time.

Smart Text Selection

If you are switching between apps constantly, Smart Text Selection will recognize the meaning of the selected text and suggest relevant actions. It will make it easy for you to perform the action that you want.

Smart auto-rotate display

The latest iteration of Android OS brings a major improvement to auto-rotate. A new rotation icon will pop up next to the navigation icons and lets you choose if you want to rotate the screen or not for those apps those are used in portrait mode such as Gmail. This feature is aimed at preventing accidental auto-rotate, which is quite annoying.

Smart Volume

Usually, the volume interface appears horizontally and it could be annoying if you need to turn down the volume of the audio or video that is playing. Now, the volume interface appears vertically and there are also preset icons for a full ring or mute vibration.

Adaptive Brightness

Adaptive Brightness is another feature coming to the OS. This will adjust the brightness based on AI by learning how you like to set the brightness depending on the surroundings.

Adaptive Battery

This feature will prioritize the battery power only for the apps and services those you use the most with machine learning. This way, you will be able to make the most out of the battery life with an enhanced performance.

App Actions

App Actions aims at offering smarter suggestions and predicts what you will do next. In case a pair of headphones is plugged into the device, the feature will resume your favorite Spotify playlist. The actions will be shown all over Android such as Smart Text Selection, Launcher, Play Store, Assistant and Google Search.

Slices

Slices is a new feature offering a deeper look into your favorite apps. If you are searching for Lyft in Google Search, then an interactive Slice will show you the price and time for a trip.

ML Kit

The new ML Kit for developers to make them proficient with machine learning. It is a set of cross-platform APIs available via Firebase. It offers on-device APIs to the developers for face detection, text recognition, image labeling and more. This will let mobile developers build apps based on machine learning.

Redesigned Quick Settings

The Quick Settings interface has been redesigned to offer a simpler and better way to edit screenshots. It has simplified volume controls, efficient management of notifications and more.

Android Dashboard

The new Android Dashboard will take care of your digital well-being. It will learn your habits, focus on what really matters to you, and tell you how long you have been using specific apps. It will ask you to switch off the app and spend time with your family. The App Timer will let you set limits on apps.

Shush mode

Shush mode is an upgrade to Do Not Disturb mode. It will silence the calls, notifications and visual interruptions that will pop up on the screen. If you turn the phone over on a table, the device will automatically enter the DND mode.

New System Navigation

The new system navigation in Android P is a gesture-based feature. You can swipe up on the home button to see a redesigned Overview. It will also show previews of recently used apps.

Wind Down mode

Wind Down will switch the night light when it is dark and turn on Do Not Disturb mode and fade the screen to the grayscale mode during bedtime. You can choose the bedtime and it will remind you to sleep.

Security and privacy

The latest Android iteration comes with many security and privacy enhancements including DNS, protected confirmations, encrypted backups and more.

Best Mobiles in IndiaSamsung Galaxy A6 and Galaxy A6+ spotted at FCC News oi-Abhinaya Prabhu Galaxy A6 and Galaxy A6+ could be replacements to the Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 smartphones.

Samsung is rumored to be working on a slew of smartphones to be launched this year and the Galaxy A6 is one of them. We recently came across reports regarding the Galaxy A6 and Galaxy a6+ smartphones. It was said that these smartphones will be released in select markets such as Russia, Europe and the Middle East. And, we have also come across these smartphones hitting the benchmark and WiFi certification websites.

Now, the Galaxy A6 and Galaxy A6+ have been spotted at the FCC, the certification website in the U.S. Well, this does not indicate that the North American launch of these phones could happen soon as the Galaxy A8 and A8+ those were also spotted at the FCC haven't been released in the market. The FCC certification could also indicate that the launch could be on the cards for a few South American markets where Samsung releases affordable smartphones.

Given that these upcoming Samsung smartphones have been spotted at the FCC, it is likely that their announcement might happen in a few weeks from now. However, it might also take a few months for these smartphones to be made available for purchase.

While the exact launch date of the Galaxy A6 and Galaxy A6+ smartphones remain unknown, we know a few key specifications of these smartphones. From the leaked Geekbench listing, the Galaxy A6 is believed to arrive with an Exynos 7860 SoC paired with 3GB RAM while the Plus variant could feature a Snapdragon 625 SoC and a larger 4GB RAM.

Both the smartphones are believed to be unveiled with Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box. And, there is a belief that these phones could receive the Android P update probably with the Project Treble support in the future.

The pricing of the Galaxy A6 and Galaxy A6+ smartphones remain unknown for now. The leaked specifications suggest that these smartphones could replace the Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 smartphones. And, we have no clues if these smartphones will feature the Infinity Display with 18.5:9 aspect ratio as the Galaxy A8 and Galaxy A8+ smartphones launched late last year. Anyways, we need to wait for an official confirmation from Samsung regarding the Galaxy A6 duo.

Via

Best Mobiles in IndiaLack of strict implementation, poor employee awareness are to be blamed for cyber frauds in BPO: Su News oi-Priyanka While enough measures exist in the BPO sector to keep a check on cyber frauds, it is the lack of seriousness at the organizational level towards the issue which is the root cause to the problem.

According to a new survey by ASSOCHAM and global software giant Microsoft, most cyber frauds in India's booming business process outsourcing (BPO) sector occur due to lack of strict implementation of existing information security protocols together with poor employee awareness.

It was noted that awareness about cyber frauds was low among freshers and job applicants, but it was relatively higher inexperienced employees.

"Both employees and customers are to be blamed for cyber frauds as employees lack ethics and customers for being careless about security and privacy," admitted experienced BPO professionals while acknowledging that computer hacking, credit card/bank frauds, malware/virus, tech support scams are "most prevalent."

While enough measures exist in the BPO sector to keep a check on cyber frauds, it is the lack of seriousness at the organizational level towards the issue which is the root cause to the problem as casual attitude is often passed down to employees, a survey said.

"Basic protocols like frisking/checking before entry/exit, no mobile phones on the floor, no pen and paper and others are frequently overlooked, thereby exposing gaps."

It was also revealed that there is certain casualness, as the general feeling is that most cyber frauds occur on a larger scale, and the security staff is not aware of implications of not following proper protocols.

"There is also little awareness of the importance of protecting data of clients leading to the casual attitude of employees towards data."

While the seriousness of implications and fear of repercussions is not deeply instilled in the employees' minds, they can also get trapped or perpetuate those frauds unknowingly.

The survey sample design comprised of four focus group discussions (FGDs) and 20 in-depth interviews (IDIs) held across Delhi-NCR and Kolkata.

Best Mobiles in India

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BRIDGEPORT -Eight days after he was arrested on gun charges for a second time - in two states-Christopher Barlow has been released from custody.

The former Easton EMT, who police said was found hiding a cache of bomb-making materials in the towns emergency services building while he was under investigation for allegedly taking semi-nude photos of a female accident victim in the back of an ambulance, posted $25,000 bond.

He was let out on bond here, confirmed Easton Police Chief Timothy Shaw. But I was told he was going back up to Massachusetts where he has a number of restrictions.

Last month Plymouth County Massachusetts District Attorney Timothy Cruz put out a warning to the 27 police chiefs in his county when Barlow, who was charged there with impersonating a Homeland Security agent and stockpiling firearms and explosives made bail.

Let me be clear again, Barlow has made no direct threats to public safety, Cruz said at a subsequent press conference. But he acknowledged at the press conference that Barlow had visited a school in the area in violation of his release conditions.

In the Easton case, Barlow, 21, is charged with two counts of stealing a firearm, voyeurism, making a false statement and illegal alteration of records.

He is scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court here on April 5.

In November 2015, Barlow, then a student at Sacred Heart University, was accepted into the live-in EMT program in Easton. As a member of the program Barlow attended classes in the morning and assisted on EMS calls during the evenings and early mornings.

While in the program Easton EMS officials received numerous complaints against Barlow but all the complaints were determined to be unfounded, according to the arrest affidavit.

Police said during an investigation of Barlow they uncovered several photographs and videos he had secretly taken.

They said some of the photos showed Barlow in the back of an ambulance removing the clothing of a woman who had suffered a head injury to reveal her naked chest, the affidavit states.

Police said Barlow also installed a hidden video camera in the mens bathroom at Easton EMS and recorded his colleagues in various stages of undress without their permission.

On May 30, 2017, police said Easton EMS officials opened a locked cabinet Barlow had been using in the centers garage and found more than six pounds of chemical powders and other materials to make a thermite bomb.

In Barlows bedroom in the center, police said they found an empty gun box, 9mm ammunition, the missing keys to a police vehicle, a stolen EMT badge and a Velcro badge reading, Maritime Law Enforcement U.S. Coast Guard.

Police said EMS officials later intercepted a package addressed to Barlow that contained three pistol bullet magazines.

Barlow was arrested at his Massachusetts home on June 26, 2017 on charges there. Police said Barlow had two handguns that had previously been reported stolen from an Oxford resident who had formerly worked at the Easton EMS center along with more chemicals and various badges including one from the Easton Police Department.No matter what you do, if you decide to pursue entrepreneurship, youre going to have to deal with a lot of nos. But it isnt the setback that defines who you are, but how you handle it. You want to make sure that if you hit a brick wall, you dont let it deter you from staying the course.

Read on for what the most innovative and successful leaders took away from their brushes with rejection.

Related: She Was Told 'No' 100 Times. Now This 30-Year-Old Female Founder Runs a $1 Billion Business.

Steve Jobs

There's no denying that Jobs is a tech icon. But his famously combative leadership style often rubbed people the wrong way, so much so that in 1985, he was fired from the company he founded when Apples board of directors removed him. In the interim, Jobs launched another business, software company NeXT, and bought a little animation studio called Pixar. In 1997, he returned to Apple and set it on the course to become one of the most valuable publicly traded companies. In his oft-quoted 2005 Stanford University commencement speech, Jobs said that this time away from Apple was actually beneficial. I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

J.K. Rowling

In 2016, the Harry Potter author took to Twitter to share some of the toughest rejection letters she received over the years, both for the first Harry Potter book -- which was famously turned down 12 times before Bloomsbury agreed to publish it -- and for her Cormoran Strike detective series, which she wrote under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. Since she was applying anonymously, she didnt have the benefit of the Potter cache when she submitted that manuscript. But she kept going anyway. I wasn't going to give up until every single publisher turned me down, but I often feared that would happen, Rowling wrote. I had nothing to lose and sometimes that makes you brave enough to try.

Elon Musk

If you look closely, Musks career is actually littered with rejections and missteps. He apparently didnt get any traction when he applied for a gig at Netscape in the 1990s. He was fired from his job as PayPals CEO after spending some time in the position after the company bought his finance startup X.com. His early attempts at building an aerospace business saw him dealing with less than enthused Russian entities that refused to sell him any rockets. But after each rejection, he went on to build something new. After his stint at Netscape came his first business, Zip2. After PayPal, he went on to co-found Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and The Boring Company. Musk still deals with setbacks such as Tesla production bottlenecks and enough rocket explosions to edit together a montage. But he is still reaching for the stars.

Oprah Winfrey

While Winfrey is a huge success now, it was actually an early setback that helped forge the media icon she later became. After seven months as a co-anchor for the evening news at a local Baltimore station, sharing the news desk with a veteran anchor who frequently disrespected her, Winfrey was fired from the job. She was then tapped to host the networks morning show, People Are Talking, which yielded some less than stellar reviews in the early go. Undeterred, Winfrey was going to make the most of the opportunity. Reflecting on the experience to The Baltimore Sun, Winfrey said, "Not all my memories of Baltimore are fond ones.  But I do have fond memories of Baltimore, because it grew me into a real woman. I came in naive, unskilled, not really knowing anything about the business -- or about life. And Baltimore grew me up.

Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett, one of the richest men on the planet, has been operating in the business world for a long time. The octogenarian CEO of Berkshire Hathaway starting making investments when he was just 11-years-old. You might think most of his career was smooth sailing, but the Oracle of Omaha has dealt with rejection too. At 19, he tried to get into his dream school Harvard, but it didn't happen. In an interview with Alice Schroeder in her biography of the tycoon, he shared how his application went awry. "I looked about 16 and emotionally was about 9. I spent 10 minutes with the Harvard alumnus who was doing the interview, and he assessed my capabilities and turned me down." While Harvard wasnt the right fit, it led him to Columbia where he honed his skills in investing. It has clearly paid off.

Barbara Corcoran

Real estate mogul and investor Barbara Corcorans career also began somewhat inauspiciously. The then 22-year-old waitress got a loan from her boyfriend to launch a real estate firm. They built the company together, but then seven years in, she was blindsided when he told her that he was leaving -- and marrying her secretary. Years later, when Corcoran was in contention to be one of the judges on Shark Tank, she had the job, lost it to another female entrepreneur, and then won it back by writing a letter to the production team telling them what they would lose out on if they didnt hire her for the team. I said that all the best things happened to me on the heels of rejection and I considered his rejection a lucky charm, Corcoran told Entrepreneur. I cited half dozen similar situations throughout my career where obstacles turned into my greatest opportunities.

Jeff Bezos

Even though Amazon is so successful that American cities are actively bidding to host the ecommerce giant's second headquarters, at the beginning of the companys life, Bezos was met with a lot of questions about whether it could even get off the ground. In an interview with 60 Minutes, he explained the juggling act he had to do to raise early funds for the business. I had to take 60 meetings to raise $1 million, and I raised it from 22 people at approximately $50,000 a person, Bezos recalled. It was nip and tuck whether I was going to be able to raise that money. So, the whole thing could have ended before the whole thing started. That was 1995, and the first question every investor asked me was: Whats the internet?' Eventually, it seemed that people caught on to what he was building.

Sallie Krawcheck

Krawcheck was one of the most recognizable women on Wall Street. But in 2008, during the height of the financial crisis, she was publicly fired from her position as Citigroups chief financial officer after she said that the firm had an obligation to pay back some of the money that their clients had lost because of its advice. Krawcheck also believes that being a woman in a high-ranking leadership role led to her dismissal. But she channeled that rejection into becoming a first-time entrepreneur and launched an investing platform for women called Ellevest. The biggest risk is not taking any career risk," Krawcheck told Entrepreneur. "We all need to be pushing ourselves in different directions, otherwise we risk having the world just pass us by.

How do you bounce back from rejection? Let us know in the comments.

Related:

Stories of Rejection From 8 of the World's Most Successful Entrepreneurs and Leaders

Internet Trailblazer Jean Case Shares How to Make Your Failures Matter

Those on Track to Achieve Success Share This Mindset



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com

Earlier today, we dug up some info on an alleged Galaxy A6 and A6+ pair, currently in the works. Some extra snooping around also led us to interesting finds on a few other Samsung devices, all bearing the SM-J720 model number, in a few typical variants - M, D/DS, F and F/DS. Examining current and old J-series model numbers leads us to believe this is likely the Galaxy J7 (2018).

On to particulars, then. FCC documentation is rarely very descriptive in terms of internals, but it does cite exact dimensions for the device - 153mm x 76mm. With diagonal measurement set at 162mm for the entire phone and 140mm for the display. That translates to a 5.5-inch panel.



Bluetooth certificate  Wi-Fi certificate  Letter to FCC

It was also brought to our attention that a few SM-F720 devices recently received their Bluetooth SIG and Wi-Fi Alliance certifications. This only further cements the likelihood of a US release, but doesnt really provide much extra info. Luckily, GeekBench seems to have more than a few listings for the SM-J720F. All of them with nicely converging scores and reporting 3GB of RAM, an Android 8.0 environment and an Exynos 7885 chipset, clocked at 1.6GHz.

Some specs on the latter chip were leaked a few months ago. These include two Cortex-A73 cores, plus six small A53 cores and a Mali-G71 GPU, all built on an efficient 14nm development process. The Exynos 7885 is yet to be officially announced, but has also been spotted powering what appeared to be a Samsung Galaxy A5 (2018).

A few other bits and pieces of information are also worth noting, although we can't exactly say if they fit anywhere in the bigger puzzle. For instance, one of the FCC letters states that the only difference between the SM-J720M/DS and SM-J720M is the SIM tray. That could explain why some Bluetooth certification documents refer to the test subject as "J7 Duo". Alternatively, "Duo" could also be an actual model name on some markets. If that is the case, we also know that Samsung has procured the "Galaxy J7 Crown" and "Galaxy J7 Orbit" trademarks in the past. But, if and how that all fits in is anybody's guess.

Source 1 | Source 2 | Source 3 | Source 4 | Source 5 | Source 6Back in October last year, in the wake of multiple Pixel 2/2 XL issues, Google extended the manufacturer warranty for both flagships from one to two years. But the length of the Preferred Care program remained unchanged (one year), effectively making the extended coverage useless.

That's, however, changing now. The Preferred Care coverage for both Pixel 2 and 2XL has been extended by 6 months. This means now users have a total of 30 months of accidental damage coverage, effective when the device is purchased.

Those already using the Pixel 2 series have started receiving notifications informing them about this change.

For those who aren't aware, Pixel 2 Preferred Care coverage also includes 6 months of mechanical breakdown coverage, which is effective after the two-year manufacturers warranty.

Via | GoogleGoogle is gearing up to officially launch its Home and Home Mini devices in India next month. The news was originally picked up as part of a communication by Redington India with its retail partners. This move has been widely anticipated, since the Google Assistant rolled out support for Hindi last month. Plus, Amazon's competing Alexa and its Echo Plus, Echo and Echo Dot devices have recently begun selling in the country as well. Officially expanding the ongoing, cut-throat voice assistant battle to a vast new battleground. Alexa has the benefit of a substantial library of local skills at launch, but it still can't understand or speak Hindi.

This might just be Google's secret weapon in the fight. As per reports by local users of imported Google Home devices, the process of localization for the Home smart services is already under way and a lot of it has to do with language recognition. Apparently, right around the time Home devices located in India received the recent Bluetooth speaker pairing update, some other interesting options started popping up in the Google Home app. For example, the Media Accounts menu now offers support for some major India music streaming services, like Saavn and Gaana. However, the server-side roll-out appears to still be under way, since voice interaction with these services is currently unavailable.



New Google Home app options

All the while, a new English (India) language option has also been spotted on local units. Choosing it enables the Voice Match feature, unavailable with English (US). Apparently, this is anew language recognition model, Google has tailored specifically to better come with the local English dialects and be able to tell apart different family members and tailor its responses and actions accordingly. As per early user reports, the recognition is still not as good as the one in Google Assistant, but is a big improvement over the default English (US), which sometimes failed to even pick up trigger words. Hopefully, come next month, once the roll out is finalized and Google Home units are officially selling across India, performance will improve even more.

There is still no specific release time frame available, nor any pricing for Google Home hardware. Even with the company's breakthroughs in local language support, pricing might actually pose a big issue in the competition against Amazon. Most of the web giant's devices have seen substantial mark-ups when entering the country in the past. Alexa's devices are currently selling in three versions - the Echo Dot (INR 4,499), the Echo (INR 9,999) and the Echo Plus (INR 14,999).

Still, it's anybody's guess how things will play out and which system will take the lead in India. Google already opened up its Actions development platform for Indian developers back in November last year, meaning that Amazon's third-party ecosystem lead might not be guaranteed for long. Also expected to make a local debut in April are Google's Wi-Fi mesh routers.

Source 1 | Source 2Published on 2018/03/31 | Source

Added episode 10 captures for the Korean drama "Queen of Mystery Season 2" (2018)

Advertisement

Directed by Choi Yoon-seok-II, Yoo Yeong-eun-I

Written by Lee Seong-min-II

Network : KBS

With Kwon Sang-woo, Choi Kang-hee, Lee Da-hee, Park Byung-eun, Kim Hyun-sook, Kim Won-hae,...

16 episodes - Wed, Thu 22:00

Synopsis

"Queen of Mystery" tells the story of a prosecutor's wife who's always dreamed of being a detective. After actually solving a case, she ends up in an unlikely crime-fighting duo with a young police captain.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2018/02/28

MorePublished on 2018/03/31 | Source

Added episodes 3 and 4 captures for the Korean drama "Switch - Change The World" (2018)

Advertisement

Directed by Nam Tae-jin

Written by Baek Woon-cheol, Kim Ryoo-hyun

Network : SBS

With Jang Keun-suk, Han Ye-ri, Jung Woong-in, Jo Hee-bong, Shin Do-hyun, Ahn Seung-hwan,...

32 episodes - Wed, Thu 22:00 (2x35min)

Formerly known as "Operation King" (, gong-jak-wang)

Synopsis

A smart con artist impersonates a prosecutor. He passed all the necessary exams, but never managed to get work in the legal profession.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2018/03/28

MoreAccording to researchers from the Rollins School of Public Health, approximately 57,000 birth defects of the brain and spine could be immediately prevented every year in 71 countries by adding folic acid to wheat flour.

Vijaya Kancherla, PhD, an epidemiologist for the Center for Spina Bifida Prevention and research assistant professor at Emorys Rollins School of Public Health, was lead author of the study published in Birth Defects Research. The research team assessed the birth defects cases in the 71 countries where there is an immediate potential for wheat flour fortification. Researchers identified large quantities of potentially preventable birth defects in countries such as China, which represents more than 13,000 folic acid-preventable cases of anencephaly and spina bifida annually.

Its important to note that 57,000 is an annual number. If fortification is sustained, in 20 years that would mean over 1 million fewer children with severe birth defects in these 71 countries, says Kancherla. Fortification can be easily started in these countries using their current milling infrastructure, and the result would be an immediate prevention of unnecessary disability and death in children for years ahead.

Past research estimated that 233,200 live births with spina bifida or anencephaly could be averted if women had more folic acid prior to conception and in the first 28 days of pregnancy. Folic acid is a form of vitamin B9. Fortifying wheat flour with folic acid supplies this essential vitamin through commonly consumed foods such as bread and pasta.

Kancherla used four criteria to identify countries with the immediate potential for wheat flour fortification:

Existing flour fortification does not include folic acid. At least 30 percent of wheat flour is industrially milled, with an industry defined as one with a capacity to produce at least 20 metric tons of flour a day. Less than 50 percent of industrially milled wheat flour is fortified, regardless of fortification legislation. More than 75 grams of wheat flour per person per day is available for human consumption, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Fortifying wheat flour with folic acid has reduced the prevalence of birth defects in every country that has studied birth defect prevalence before and after fortification, explains Kancherla. Chile, South Africa and the US have also reported millions of dollars in averted healthcare expenditures due to prevention of spina bifida.

To reduce the risk of a pregnancy being affected by a birth defect of the brain and spine, the World Health Organization recommends that women take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily. But less than 30 percent of women voluntarily take folic acid supplements at the right time in most countries. Countries began fortifying wheat flour with folic acid for birth defect prevention in 1996 and currently 81 countries include folic acid in their standards for mandatory wheat flour fortification.

Emory UniversityLawyers for Paddy Jackson have indicated he intends to take a libel action against Labour Party senator Aodhan O Riordain.

The former minister tweeted about the Belfast trial shortly after the jury cleared Mr Jackson of rape.

His comment questioning the outcome, which was reposted hundreds of times, made reference to "smug, well-connected middle-class boys".

In a statement yesterday, KRW LAW said it had no option but to issue a notice of intention to sue Mr O Riordain "for defamatory comments".

"I can confirm we have issued pre-action libel correspondence against a named Senator in the Republic of Ireland," said senior associate Marie Hans of KRW LAW solicitors.

"The legal action relates to a tweet sent to a number of other persons before it was eventually taken down.

"We will not hesitate to repeat similar legal action against anyone who, deliberately or otherwise, sees fit to attack our client.

"We are examining carefully every item of social media commentary which seeks to challenge the integrity of the jury's full endorsement of our client's innocence. High Court proceedings will issue shortly in both Belfast and Dublin."

Mr Jackson (26), from Oakleigh Park, Belfast, and his Ireland team-mate Stuart Olding (25), of Ardenlee Street in the city, had denied raping the same woman at a house in south Belfast on June 28, 2016.

Mr Jackson denied a further charge of sexual assault.

Blane McIlroy (26), of Royal Lodge Road, Belfast, had denied exposure, while Rory Harrison (25), of Manse Road, denied perverting the course of justice and withholding information.

On Wednesday, all four men were found not guilty.

Regretted

Mr O Riordan discussed the tweet with his party leader shortly after removing it from the internet on Wednesday.

Brendan Howlin said the Senator "instantly regretted" posting the message and took it down "immediately".

"He put his hands up, made a mistake, it should haven't have happened," Mr Howlin said.

The hashtag #suemepaddy trended on Twitter yesterday after news of the planned legal action against Mr O Riordain.

Posters used it to support the Senator and the complainant in the case.Ulster and Ireland star Paddy Jackson addresses the media after his acquittal in Belfast on Wednesday. Photo: PA

The foreman of the jury in the Belfast rape trial could face arrest and a contempt of court charge over comments made online following the trial's verdict.

The remarks in the comment section of an online news article were made by somebody claiming to be a juror from the controversial case.

Expand Close Ireland and Ulster rugby player Stuart Olding with his solicitor Paul Dougan after he was found not guilty of rape. Pic:Mark Condren / Facebook

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Whatsapp Ireland and Ulster rugby player Stuart Olding with his solicitor Paul Dougan after he was found not guilty of rape. Pic:Mark Condren

The matter was referred to the Attorney General's (AG's) office in Northern Ireland by the Lord Chief Justice.

The Lord Chief Justice instructed the person to have these comments taken down immediately.

It is understood the AG's office is satisfied that the comments made on the Broadsheet.ie website were indeed written by a genuine juror.

A spokesperson said AG John Larkin is considering whether the comments are in contempt of court.

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Whatsapp Paddy Jackson walks from court on Wednesday a free man after being cleared of rape. Photo: Independent News & Media

The PSNI has said "we are aware of comments made on a social media platform".

Defended

However, the Herald understands that if action is taken on the comments, it will not be until next week at the earliest, with the AG's office being closed until Wednesday.

Broadsheet.ie said it has also been contacted by the PSNI.

Spokesman John Ryan def- ended naming the juror as "Shayna" on the site, stating that this was how they wanted to be referenced.

He added that Shayna had been a voluntary contributor on the site for about seven years.

When asked what the PSNI had contacted Broadsheet.ie in relation to, he said: "They wanted screen grabs of Shayna's comments since June of last year."

He said the website had contacted its hosting service.

A comment has been sought from the PSNI in relation to this matter by the Herald.

It is the latest twist in a trial that gripped the nation, and ended with the acquittal of the four defendants earlier this week.

Ireland and Ulster rugby players Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding were found not guilty at Belfast Crown Court on Wednesday of raping a then-19-year-old woman.

Mr Jackson (26) was also found not guilty of sexually assaulting the student.

The rugby players' close friend Blane McIlroy (26) was found not guilty of exposure.

A second friend, Rory Harrison (25), was found not guilty of perverting the course of justice and withholding information.

The commenter - who has said they were the foreman in the trial - posted a statement on Broadsheet.ie yesterday in reference to their earlier comments.

"I received a phone call on Thursday from the office of The Lord Chief Justice in Belfast regarding comments I had made on Broadsheet.ie. I was asked if I had a lawyer, and was told that I am liable for arrest," they said.

"I was instructed to contact Broadsheet to take down any reference to myself in reg-ard to the 'Ulster Rugby Rape Trial' - I was the foreperson on the jury. Broadsheet reacted momentarily to comply."

The person added: "The comments I made referring to the case were within the parameters of the judge's discharge to all the jurors - the one thing she said was 'do not reveal conversations or discussions that occurred in the jury room'.

"Following my comments on Broadsheet, there is now an order, delivered to me yesterday, by the Judge, Patricia Smyth QC for the jury members to not comment on this case at all."

The juror could not be contacted for comment by the Herald.Student Ibrahim Halawa was detained in Egypt for four years. Photo: Gerry Mooney

Three hundred Irish people held in overseas prisons have sought assistance from the State since 2013, the Government has revealed.

"We estimate that, at any time, there are around 1,200 Irish men and women in detention overseas," said Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney.

Last year, the State provided consular assistance in 53 new cases of Irish people jailed overseas. Eleven people have been helped this year.

However, not every Irish prisoner seeks consular assistance, said the minister.

Complex

"Working with the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO), we try to offer support to as many people as we possibly can," he added.

The most high-profile case in recent years was that of Dublin student Ibrahim Halawa, who was detained in Egypt from August 2013 to last October.

Mr Coveney said such a case "can be extremely difficult and complex, and can require the deployment of significant resources over a protracted period".

In a written Dail reply to Independent TD Mattie McGrath, the minister said: "Every case is different and is considered and approached on its own merits.

"Some cases may last only a relatively short time, and the assistance needed may be quite straightforward.

"It is impossible to provide precise statistics for the number of Irish citizens detained or imprisoned overseas.

"In some cases, the individuals involved do not seek any assistance or do not want the Irish authorities to be informed of their situations.

"In other cases, regrettably, local authorities sometimes fail to notify the Irish authorities of the imprisonment of our citizens."

Explaining the help provided, Mr Coveney said: "Our embassies and consulates provide direct assistance through consular visits and practical advice and assistance to individual detainees, and our consular assistance team at HQ provides ongoing support and assistance to the families of such prisoners.

"Support and assistance in all cases is provided on a non-judgemental basis, irrespective of the offence of which the citizen has been accused or convicted."Russia will expel an Irish diplomat from Moscow in response to the Government's decision to expel a Russian diplomat from Dublin.

Confirming the anticipated move by the Kremlin, the Government branded it "unjustified" and "regrettable".

Earlier this week, Ireland ordered a Russian diplomat to leave the embassy in Rathgar.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Ireland was showing solidarity with the UK in the wake of the Salisbury chemical attack on former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.

Neutrality

Yesterday, Tanaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney confirmed Russia had reacted in kind.

"There is no justification for this expulsion," a spokesman for Mr Coveney said.

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"Our staff do not engage in activities which are incompat- ible with their diplomatic status. This decision to expel an Irish diplomat is regrettable."

After taking action against Russia, Mr Varadkar insisted he had not undermined Ireland's long-standing neutrality.

Ireland is "not neutral" when it comes to the use of chemical weapons and cyberterrorism, he said last week.

Sinn Fein heavily criticised the diplomatic sanction imposed by the Taoiseach.

Russia's ambassador to Ireland, Yury Filatov, also criticised the expulsion.

"This kind of decision is totally unwarranted, uncalled for, senseless and regrettable," he said.

Mr Filatov said his colleagues at the Russian embassy in south Dublin have "done nothing illegally".

Speaking in the Dail last week, Mr Varadkar defended himself against accusations that he had gone into "full macho mode" by joining French president Emmanuel Macron to convince EU leaders to take action.

The Taoiseach said Ireland's long-standing neutrality is not under threat.

"We do not join military all- iances, we will not be joining Nato and we will not be part of a European army," he said.

After initially expressing reservations about getting involved in the UK's battle, Fianna Fail backed the Government's move.The garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) seized cannabis herb worth 1.6m yesterday in an operation targeting international drug smugglers.

The haul was discovered when officers raided a property in Tullow Road, Carlow.

They also seized 21,000 in cash.

Detectives had been targeting the activities of a Polish- based drugs trafficking gang based in the South-East.

Two men, aged 38 and 39, were being questioned last night at Kilkenny Garda Station about the seizure.

Assistant Commissioner John O'Driscoll, the head of Special Crime Operations, said the seizure was "significant".

Europe

He said the arrests were the result of An Garda Siochana liaising with police throughout Europe.

"The seizure of cannabis herb at premises in Carlow arises from ongoing liaison with law enforcement authorities in Europol and Poland with whom we are jointly targeting an organised crime group," he added.

In an unrelated operation, gardai and Revenue officers yesterday seized drugs worth 35,000 in Co Roscommon.

The drugs were discovered in a box that had come from South America. Around 500g of cocaine was found in boxes of sweets and biscuits.

A foreign national in his 40s was arrested and detained at Castlerea Garda Station.Friday night highlights: South edges Catoctin in wild finish

After a relatively tame first three quarters, the fourth quarter was anything but as South Hagerstown beat Catoctin at School Stadium.To his critics his work is overrated, overpriced and obvious. To his fans, he is a living legend - the incarnation of the Pop Art movement. Either way, at 63, Jeff Koons says he just wants to focus on creating the art he wants to make.

Koons works are brash, voluptuous and carry astronomical price tags but that hasnt dimmed appetite for his pieces in Asia, where he is presenting at Hong Kongs edition of Art Basel - a top event for wealthy collectors looking to snap up new status symbols.

The American pioneer has brought some of his signature mirror-polished steel sculptures to the fair as well as his Gazing Ball series, in which shiny blue spheres are inserted into reproductions of classic European masterpieces, including works by Rembrandt and Tintoretto.

Koons set an auction record for the highest price paid for any work by a living artist in 2013 when his orange Balloon Dog fetched US$58.4 million at Christies in New York. But he insists the monetary value attached to his art is just an abstraction to him.

Im flattered that my works are perceived by society as having some relevant value. But the beauty to have impact with real individuals, that they can come across their own potential, thats what really brings me joy, he tells AFP, impeccably dressed in a sharp dark blue suit.

His work is polarising. In January, artists, gallery owners and officials in Paris signed an open letter objecting to a planned 12-metre tall Bouquet of Tulips memorial designed by Koons as a tribute to the victims of the terror attacks on the city in November 2015.

The letter described Koons as an emblem of industrial art which is spectacular and speculative. Koons would not comment on controversy, but when asked how he deals with criticism, he said he tries to focus on his work.

I think that people always find honesty very shocking. So when you are honest and just make the things that you want, it reveals something about human nature, he said.

Facing failure

Pennsylvania-born Koons works are bright, extravagant and large-scale.

He seems unafraid of controversy - he gained notoriety for a series portraying himself and his porn star ex-wife Ilona Staller in explicit poses. Today Koons is relaxed and lively at Hong Kongs David Zwirner gallery where some of his Gazing Ball pieces are on display, their glazed surfaces reflecting every corner of the exhibition space.

Reflected surface affirms the viewer, affirms you, right here, right now, but it also affirms everything else in the world, says Koons.

He describes the sapphire-coloured spheres as objects trying to communicate with the viewers. His balloon animals are inspired by what it means to be a living, breathing organism, he says, with art a process of accepting oneself and others.

Koons says surrealist art has been a means for self-exploration since he was a teenager.

Once you can go inward and find where you accept yourself, automatically you want to go outside, and you want to go to the external world. Thats the journey that art can take you (on), he says.

Koons describes technology as a wonderful tool and recently partnered with Snapchat to create a Pokemon-Go type game in which users hunt virtual Koons sculptures around the world. He says he is working on a virtual reality project to be released in a years time but warns young artists not to see tech as a quick creative fix, rather a means to express something metaphysical.

Most importantly, he says they must believe in themselves, recalling how when he started out there was no audience for his art and he had to move back in with his parents.

Ive always been a risk taker, because I believe in going for something. I believe in the excitement, the stimulation, of trying to achieve something, he says.

If there was failure, I really didnt have any option other than to go for it.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for moreAt least nine people were killed and half a dozen injured after a four-storey building collapsed near Sarvate bus stand in Indore on Saturday evening, police officials said.

The building housed MS Hotel - a lodge cum eatery, besides several other shops.

Till now, seven people have been rescued from the debris. The deceased include two women. Half a dozen injured persons have been rushed to the MY Hospital, Indore DIG Harinarayanchari Mishra said. At least a dozen more people are still feared trapped inside the building, the DIG added.

Divisional commissioner Sanjay Dubey, while confirming the deaths, said the exact reason for the collapse is not clear.

According to eye-witnesses, a car hit one of the pillars of the building at around 9.30 pm and the entire structure came crumbling down.

Officials said the rescue operation is underway and many people are still feared trapped inside.

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan called an urgent meeting with authorities in Bhopal to take stock of the situation.

(With inputs from Shruti Tomar from Bhopal)Over the years Radhika Apte has taken to voicing her opinions on many sensitive subjects of great importance, be it a take on-screen nudity or opening up about casting couch - this time it is menstrual hygiene. The actor has expressed her happiness over governments initiative of providing low-cost sanitary napkins in the rural area.

The scheme will provide sanitary pad packet for Rs 5 to girl students in district schools. Women in rural areas will be provided packs of sanitary pads for Rs 24 or Rs 29. The price of the pads has been kept low to ensure that more girls and women can avail its benefits.

Read: Baaghi 2 movie review: Goa bears Tiger Shroffs wrath and so do we

Speaking on the same, Radhika said, As we know menstrual hygiene is an issue women have been facing over the years. Its great that the initiative to provide low-cost sanitary napkins has been undertaken it is an empowering step for many women.

Read: Thats a tough one: Tiger Shroff fails to name the president of India. See video

Radhika always has an active voice on social issues relating to women empowerment.

In her last film PadMan, Radhika played a character of a woman, who inspired Arunachalam Muruganantham to make sanitary pads. She was glad to be a part of something that made a difference in the society.Actors Varun Dhawan and Anushka Sharma are currently shooting in the capital for their next film Sui Dhaaga: Made in India, being directed by Sharat Katariya. The actors reached Delhi on Monday and started shooting in Modi Nagar (near Ghaziabad), where they were welcomed and greeted by a huge crowd on the sets of the film. For the next couple of days, they shot in Chandni Chownk and Shankar Market (near Connaught Place), as both are famous for wholesale fabric material. The film shows Varun playing a character called Mauji, a tailor, and Anushkas character, Mamta, reportedly is an embroidery designer.

Varun Dhawan shot in Delhis Shankar Market (AMAL KS/HINDUSTAN TIMES)

On Thursday, we spotted Varun shooting in Shankar Market in Connaught Place sans his co-star Anushka. The entire area witnessed tight security including CRPF and Delhi Police deployed around the location, along with more than 20 bouncers standing every 100 meters. The filmmakers hired the shop and reconstructed the interiors, with new plywood, according to the scene. They also painted a few pillars outside the shop that were taken in the frame, says a market local, adding that people have been waiting around the market for hours only to get a glimpse of Varun.

Varun Dhawans character is named Mauji in the film. (AMAL KS/HINDUSTAN TIMES )

For most of the scenes in the film, Varun can be seen wearing cotton shirts with sleeveless sweaters and sporting a moustache, while Anushka looks demure in her no makeup look. Talking to us, Varun earlier said, Sui Dhaaga is a pan India film and every Indian will relate to it. It has got lots of humour and music. Its a very tough film and physically, we had to do a lot o practice to train for our roles. In the end, both Anushka and I want to do a good film. I found a good partner in Anushka and we both have really relied on each other and we are having a good time shooting in Delhi.I live in the same apartment, work out at the same gym and use the same laundry, Daniel Mallory says, when asked how life has changed after The Woman in the Window.

That, though, is all that remains unaltered for the man described as the megastar author of 2018, whose debut novel has been hailed as the years instant bestseller, sold in an astounding 37 territories outside the United States, making it to the top of The New York Times bestseller list, and winning a $1 million movie deal with Fox.

He wrote his hugely successful novel under the pseudonym A.J. Finn, of which Finn is the name of a French bulldog, his favourite breed

Thirty eight-year-old Mallory has now become a full-time writer, having relinquished his job an executive editor at William Morrow, publisher of The Woman in the Window. He is presently travelling extensively, promoting the book in the United States and in Europe. Ill probably move into a new apartment and get a couple of dogs, he says, speaking on the phone, from his home in New Yorks Chelsea neighbourhood.

Mallory loves dogs  while he doesnt own any at present, he volunteers at a dog shelter twice a week. He wrote his hugely successful novel under the pseudonym A.J. Finn, of which Finn is the name of a French bulldog, his favourite breed. The AJ is from Alice Jane, a cousin hes very fond of.

I chose to go with a pseudonym because I wanted the manuscript to be judged purely on merit and not based on authorship, given my position in the publishing world. Also, Im a private person and didnt want to see my name everywhere. Another consideration was that I felt it would be disconcerting for

the authors I worked with to walk into a bookshop and see their editors name on a stack of hardcovers, he says.

Always mystery

In any case, both Dan Mallory and A.J. Finn have acquired worldwide fame now and The Woman in the Window is that not-so-common phenomenon, a publishing sensation. Mallory says that with his years of experience in the business of books  he worked at Sphere, the crime imprint, in London before moving to William Morrow  he knows there is no such thing as a guaranteed bestseller.

For India, with love: From Bollywood to rogan josh, Mallory confesses his love for all things Indian, and Arundhati Roy! India is not on the book tour itinerary, but its one of the places Im dying to visit, says Mallory. His interest was fanned by the 1994 John Irving novel, A Son of the Circus, which paints Mumbai as an extravagant circus of a city. He says he hasnt read enough writing from India, then adds, But as I glance at my bookshelf even as I speak, I realise I have quite a few books by Indian writers. Arundhati Roy is one of my favourite writers and I like Amitav Ghosh very much. I must confess I havent read . V. S. Naipaul and I intend to correct that soon.

Mallory has also seen several Indian movies, or Bollywood musicals, as he calls them. I must have watched at least 50 films and I love them, he says. I like to see the stars reappear in many films.

What about Indian food? Yes, its one of my favourite cuisines, he says. I spent several years in London where the curry rules and I love a good chicken tikka masala.

He says he can cook up a very good rogan josh, but his attempts to make naan havent been entirely successful. Perhaps he should come to India and tuck into authentic Indian food? Certainly, says the writer, basking in the warm glow of success.

Who could have predicted Fifty Shades of Grey would become the hit it did or that erotica as a genre would come into its own? he asks. The psychological thriller has, of course, been enjoying an upsurge in recent years, with the success of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn  who has described Mallorys work as astounding, thrilling, amazing  and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. Mallory has admitted these novels gave him the impetus for his work, but adds he did not give a thought to how it would fare with critics or on bestseller lists.

When I began on this book in the summer of 2015 (he wrote at night and on weekends while he was still working at William Morrow) I was aiming only to type in those two words, The End, he says. While working to reach that point, he focused on writing words that would coruscate with elegance and beauty. Consider an archipelago of tiny moles, trailing across her back, a pulpy sunset, the dregs of dust, buildings paper-cut against the glow, Ingrid Bergman, never more luscious, slowly going insane, I shudder, wade deeper into my wineglass, Now the night has my heart in its claws.

While psychological thrillers are often written in a flat tone, one of my goals was to write distinct, memorable sentences, Mallory says, much like the prose stylists he admires, Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene and Henry James.

Blood vs brain

He doesnt shy away from pointing to his other key reference points, the psychological thriller movies he is a fan of, particularly those of Alfred Hitchcock. His top film choices are Shadow of a Doubt (1943)  one of Hitchcocks favourites, he points out  Gaslight (1944), and Rear Window (1954). Others include La Diabolique, the 1955 French classic and Dead Calm (1989), starring Nicole Kidman.

Mallory says he hadnt envisaged his novel as a film at the time of writing, but concedes its a cinematic book, especially given the leitmotif of films noirs

Mallory says he is drawn to these films because of the power of suggestion and the restraint they display. Psychological thrillers can so often be saturated with blood and profanity. I have nothing against the latter  I swear a great deal myself  but violence puts me off, he says.

He remembers as a teenager watching a gory slasher film and Psycho (1960) back to back, and finding the Hitchcock film much scarier. Theres a timeless sophistication to these films, he says.

Mallory says he hadnt envisaged his novel as a film at the time of writing, but concedes its a cinematic book, especially given the leitmotif of films noirs. Is he going to have a say in the casting, especially who might play the protagonist, Anna Fox?

No, I will leave that to the folks at Fox, he says, though I do know that many actresses have evinced interest in the part and all of them would be perfectly suited.

Inside the mind

Daniel Mallory who wrote his debut novel, The Woman in the Window, in total secrecy and published it under a pseudonym, now has a two-book deal (Photo courtesy: Harper Collins India )

Fox, the eponymous Woman of the title is, like Mallory, a Hitchcock fiend. She is suffering from a mental illness and Mallory has been able to nuance her character with his own experience of battling depression while he was doing his post-graduate studies at Oxford and, later, working at Sphere.

Anna Fox suffers from agoraphobia, he says. And while shes unable to step out of her New York apartment, there were days when my depression was at its worst, when I couldnt bear to leave my bed, he says. So, I have poured a lot of myself into Anna.

I must confess I havent read V. S. Naipaul, and I intend to correct that soon

He also went online and connected with several people afflicted with agoraphobia to understand the condition better. I declared upfront to them what my purpose was and I did do my homework, Mallory says.

He now has a two-book deal and the second one is in the same genre. Its set in San Francisco and if The Woman in the Window made liberal use of classic movies, a recurring theme in his next novel is going to be the detective fiction of Agatha Christie. Clearly, the classic and the timeless hold a particular charm for Dan Mallory. His elegantly crafted novel, praised as being one of those rare books that really is unputdownable by Stephen King, could well stand the test of time, too.

(Priya Bala is a senior writer based out of Bengaluru. She specialises in food, travel and lifestyle writing.)

From HT Brunch, April 1, 2018

Follow us on twitter.com/HTBrunch

Connect with us on facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunchIt started with a moment of curiosity. Two years ago, I was invited to speak at a gathering of alumni from Delhis Catering College (known within the trade as the Pusa Institute because of its location). As I looked around at the audience, I noticed that everybody who mattered in the hospitality sector seemed to be there.

How was that possible? I wondered why the Mumbai Catering College, which is as highly regarded, had not been able to produce such famous and powerful alumni.

Finally, an hotelier I met solved the mystery for me. Both catering colleges were outstanding, he said. The reason so many of the Delhi colleges students were so successful had little to do with the calibre of the institute.

It was because the Pusa college attracted more Punjabis. And Punjabis were natural hoteliers who always rose to the top of the profession.

He was right, of course.

We sometimes forget how much Punjabis have shaped our hospitality sector. The Oberois are proudly Punjabi. ITC hotels have Punjabis at the top (Yogi Deveshwar who gave the hotel division its distinct identity is a Punjabi, so is Nakul Anand who pushed the chain into luxury). The Kwality-Gaylord group which opened restaurants all over India in the 1950s and 1960s is owned by Punjabis. Most famous Indian chefs are Punjabis: Satish Arora, Arvind Saraswat, Manjit Gill, Hemant Oberoi, Sanjeev Kapoor, Vineet Bhatia, Gaggan Anand, Manisha Bhasin, Vikas Khanna and so many others. The judges of MasterChef India have come and gone but they have all had one thing in common: from Akshay Kumar to Kunal Kapoor to Zorawar Kalra, they have all been Punjabis.

Today, anybody who opens an Indian restaurant anywhere, regards a tandoor as an essential component of his kitchen

Even the Taj, which was the least Punjabi of the major chains has now been headed by two Punjabis, one after the other: Rakesh Sarna and Puneet Chatwal. Both Sarna and Chatwal were among the most successful Indians in the global hotel industry before they came home and those Indians who continue to serve in key positions in foreign hotel chains  Radha Arora, Sandeep Walia, and Raj Menon (dont be misled by his name), for instance  tend to be Punjabis.

Most important of all is the food: what most of the world thinks of as Indian cuisine is a Punjabi invention.

I was reminded of this last month when I heard of the passing of the legendary Kundan Lal Jaggi. I never met Jaggi properly. We said a brief hello last year when he was given the Legendary Cuisines Award at the Chefs Conference. I wanted to chat to him about his role in creating some of the best known dishes of Indian cuisine and we fixed a meeting. Sadly, he fell ill before we could meet and never became well enough to talk about his career.

In the 1940s, Jaggi worked in a restaurant called Moti Mahal in Peshawar. Moti Mahals claim to fame was that it used the tandoor (normally used for baking naans etc.) to roast a chicken. The dish was called Tandoori Chicken and though it was popular in Peshawar, it was relatively unknown elsewhere.

Kundan Lal Jaggi was in charge of the Moti Mahal kitchen in Delhi when it started

In 1947, during the horrors of Partition, Jaggi had to leave Peshawar along with Kundan Lal Gujral, another employee of Moti Mahal. The two arrived in Delhi as refugees and joined up with Thakur Das Mago, another Moti Mahal hand who had also fled to Delhi.

The three men had no means of income and possessed only the skills they had picked up at Moti Mahal in Peshawar. They contacted Moka Singh Lamba, the owner of Moti Mahal and told him that they wanted to start a similar restaurant in Delhi. Would he like to join them? Moka Singh, who was quite old by this time, told them that he had no desire to start all over again. They were welcome to start a restaurant on their own and they could even call it Moti Mahal if they liked.

So the three men took a shop in Fatehpuri and began making a facsimile of the Peshawar Tandoori Chicken. But their breakthrough came when a Sikh gentleman sold them a space in Daryaganj for Rs 6,000. Gujral, Jaggi and Mago opened a full-scale Moti Mahal there and began serving their tandoori dishes.

Moti Mahals claim to fame was that it used the tandoor to roast a chicken

The three men divided their responsibilities. Kundan Lal Gujral, who was the natural extrovert, became the face of Moti Mahal. He was the one who looked after the front-of-the-house and maintained relationships with such powerful patrons as Jawaharlal Nehru. Mago looked after the finances. And Jaggi was in charge of the kitchen.

One reason I had wanted to meet Jaggi was because many of the dishes we now consider staples of Indian cuisine were invented in the Moti Mahal kitchen in the 1950s. The original butter chicken, for instance, was created in that kitchen. How the dish was invented remains a mystery. Kundan Lals grandson, Monish Gujral, who has done so much to revive the Moti Mahal name, says it emerged out of a desire to reuse the leftover tandoori chicken. A rich gravy was needed to rehydrate the chicken and butter chicken was created as a result.

Monish Gujral, Kundan Lal Gujrals grandson, has done a lot to revive the Moti Mahal name

I spoke to Neelu Jaggi, daughter-in-law of Kundan Lal and she told me that right till the end, Jaggi (he was 95 when he passed away) would supervise the making of butter chicken at home to his own recipes. He shunned the recent innovations (honey, methi etc.) and made the dish as it was originally created, with tomatoes, cream and butter.

Moti Mahal also reinvented the Punjabi black dal. Until Moti Mahal started doing it, few people put tomatoes in the dal. Now the rich, tomato-flavoured, buttery dal is the version that most Indian restaurants serve. One theory is that the Moti Mahal founders had the bright idea of using the same sort of gravy they used for butter chicken to perk up the traditional dal. Neelu says that Jaggis real concern was with slow-cooking. The Moti Mahal dal would not taste right unless it was cooked for hours on a slow flame.

The rich, buttery dal that most restaurants serve now took birth at Moti Mahal

Though we now think of Moti Mahal in terms of chicken (butter chicken, tandoori chicken etc.), it also popularised many mutton dishes. The seekh kebab was usually cooked over an open flame till Moti Mahal turned it into a tandoori dish and the Barrah Kebabs popularity is almost entirely down to Moti Mahal. My father-in-law was very particular about the tenderness of the meat, about cooking it so that it retained all its juices and the aroma of the dish was all important, Neelu recalls.

Eventually alas, the original Moti Mahal went into a decline and the founders and their descendants sold it.

Kebab samplers from the kitchen of Moti Mahal Delux

But the legacy of those men, three penniless Punjabi refugees from Peshawar, endures. At its simplest level, it endures in the dishes they created: butter chicken and the black dal.

But at a more significant level, their legacy lies in the rise of tandoori cooking. The original Peshawar Moti Mahal may have invented tandoori chicken but it was the Delhi Moti Mahal that taught us how the tandoor, an oven that was traditionally used only to bake breads, could be transformed into a means of imparting unusual flavours to meat, fish and chicken. Today, anybody who opens an Indian restaurant anywhere in the world, regards a tandoor as an essential component of his kitchen. Without the pioneering work of the Moti Mahal founders, this would never have happened.

Though we think of Moti Mahal in terms of chicken, it popularised many mutton dishes, like the Barrah Kebab

The Moti Mahal story also demonstrates why Punjabis are Indias natural restaurateurs, hoteliers and chefs. Gujral, Jaggi, and Mago lost everything during Partition. But within a few years they had created a successful new restaurant and revolutionised Indian cuisine.

Lakhs of other Punjabi refugees followed similar trajectories. They fled from bloodshed and unspeakable violence, leaving everything they owned behind. But in no time at all, they were back on their feet again, flourishing in a new city.

It is ironic that people who had seen so much tragedy and suffering were able to offer such warm hospitality. But then, hospitality is the natural skill of the Punjabi. It is a skill that has shaped Indias hotels and restaurants and indeed, our cuisine itself.

From HT Brunch, April 1, 2018

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Connect with us on facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunchAs the new week begins, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services or USCIS will announce, almost certainly, that the number of petitions it has received for H1B visas outnumber the available quota and, therefore, it will hold yet another lottery to determine the fortunate thousands who will arrive in America in 2019, staffing mainly tech sector cubicles.

But numbers are trending down. Last year, there were 37,000 fewer people wanting the visa than in 2016. Given that the current occupant of the White House uses the word immigration as invective, thats hardly a surprise. Over the last 15 years or so, however, theres been a sort of consensus in America that these foreign coders, mainly from India, are stealing the organic avocado sandwiches from the mouths of hungry locals. If Donald Trump is the latest to try and build a wall between them and Silicon Valley and similar IT hubs, hes part of a pattern across parties.

Of course, Democrats arent quite as concerned about illegal crossings at Americas Southern border, because thats a useful political tool to keep the US immigration system broken. Unlike the undocumented, those that fill in the reams of paperwork required for an application, with volumes of private information that would make data-miners at Cambridge Analytica salivate, get high salaries in exchange for low expectations of security.

So, you have those like Vikram Rangekar, a former Linkedin employee and serial entrepreneur, who decided to shift base to Toronto in 2016 because green card paths are completely blocked in the US. Instead of fantasising about the American dream, hes also trying to pull others like him to Canada, with a website Movnorth, which addresses their queries and offers resources. Its tough to sustain a start-up culture when even a founder can face imminent immigration hassles and has to stay in H1 limbo in his or her own company. Ragnekar is among the evangelists for a young movement away from the US, one that seems to be taking hold. The weather may not be as welcoming up north as that in Mountain View or Santa Clara, California, but several degrees of comfort are offered by a predictable permanent residency process.

All tech talent will not bypass the American magnet, but enough will look at other options, ones that actually want to attract them. The next generations Satya Nadellas or Sundar Pichais could well be working out of the Toronto-Waterloo corridor or somewhere in Europe, or even remain in India, as the next wave of tech innovation, in artificial intelligence or virtual reality turns the Facebooks as we now know them into artefacts of this decade like MySpace or Geocities of earlier times.

There will be fewer Indians with fresh H1Bs on their passports heading to the US this year. And this is a phenomenon that may outlive the Donald Trump Administration. Americas immigration impasse isnt going away, only the talent is.After five months without a government, members of the Centre-Left Social Democratic Party (SDP) have now voted to join another coalition led by Chancellor Angela Merkel. There has been no great sense of urgency in Germany. Its economy continues to grow, and its politics remain stable. Yet, the weakness of this latest grand coalition is bad news for Europe and for the world. Europe needs leadership, and Frances Emmanuel Macron needs a strong Eurozone reform partner. At the global level, liberal values like respect for rule of law, human rights, open markets, and open borders need a champion. Germany, like the US, is far from a perfect messenger on these questions, but with Donald Trump touting America First, Xi Jinping erasing term limits in China, and strongmen emerging in country after country, Angela Merkel is still the best defender of these values. Her task has only become more difficult.

Much has changed in Germany over the past five years. The new coalition earned a collective 53% of the vote in last Octobers election, down from 67% at the previous vote in 2013. Recent polls suggest the share might fall below 50% if another vote were held today. A February survey dropped the SPD below the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD), which will now serve as Germanys main Opposition party. SPD members voted by a two-to-one margin to join the new government, but the partys youth league campaigned against the idea, and even those who voted yes appear to have done so without much enthusiasm.

A politically weaker Germany is bad news for Europe because a diminished Merkel will leave the EU without forceful leadership at a time when reform is very much on the agenda. Macron has proposed sweeping changes designed to bolster the Eurozone and counter resentful nationalism with common EU-wide policies on defence, taxes, and asylum rules. He has called for a Eurozone parliament, Eurozone ministers, a Eurozone budget, better coordination on tax policy, and a common approach to border controls. But Macron needs Merkels strong backing to ensure that leaders of the European Council, Commission, Parliament, and Central Bank can agree to these plans before all of them are replaced in 2019.

Its not only Europe that needs strong political leadership from Germany. When Donald Trump won the US presidential election, Merkel made no attempt to compensate for his lack of experience, erratic temperament, protectionist, anti-immigration campaign rhetoric. Instead, she offered congratulations with a clear rendering of the terms on which the two leaders and two governments could work together successfully: Germany and America are bound by common values  democracy, freedom, as well as respect for the rule of law and the dignity of each and every person, regardless of their origin, skin color, creed, gender, sexual orientation, or political views, she wrote. It is based on these values that I wish to offer close cooperation, both with me personally and between our countries governments.

As Trumps words and actions have shifted US policy away from the promotion and defence of these values, though Washington itself has always delivered on them imperfectly and inconsistently, Merkels voice has only become more important. Her refusal to compromise on the ideals that have defined the European Unionthe free movement of goods, services, money, and peopleher welcome for refugees, her backing for the EU itself, the most ambitious and idealistic political project in human history, and her rejection of the populist/nationalist trends that increasingly define the politics of a growing number of influential countries have only become more important.

But now shell lead a government that must answer questions and challenges posed not by the Centre-Left but the far-Right. Her weaker position at home will make it harder to offer concessions and broker compromise in Europe and elsewhere. The EU will be much more vulnerable to future crises, and western liberal values will be harder to defend.

Merkel isnt finished. As she begins her fourth and final term as Germanys chancellor, her party remains Germanys strongest, and she is more popular than the party. Germanys economy will continue to expand. Unfortunately, Europe and the world need more leadership than a frustrated and erratic Donald Trump and a beleaguered Angela Merkel can provide.

Ian Bremmer is the president of Eurasia Group and author of the forthcoming book Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism.

The views expressed are personalThink of a company. Lets call it F.

F is in the news business. Lets assume it is a newspaper company. It decides what news people get to read in the paper. And by virtue of having a significant subscriber base, it gets advertisements from advertisers who want to reach that audience with their messages.

F is definitely a media company.

Unless, of course, it isnt in the newspaper business but a digital one, and its name is Facebook.

Facebook is a social media platform and security researcher Renee DiResta, who has studied the spread of disinformation online for years, described such platforms as designed for fast information flows and virality in a seminal paper. The messaging platform it now owns --- WhatsApp --- is all that, and on steroids.

In 1964, Marshall McLuhan wrote in Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man that the medium is the message. His intent was to highlight that the medium has the power to influence people, not just in terms of the content carried (the message), but purely by itself, because of its characteristics. In the years since the phrase has been used for almost all media but it is perhaps most apt when dealing with social media.

Only, Facebook Inc. sees neither its eponymous social network nor its messaging platform as media.

As Wired magazine wrote recently, the notion that Facebook is an open, neutral platform is almost like a religious tenet inside the company. The Wired article also pointed out that there are legal reasons for this:  Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act that shelters internet intermediaries from liability for the content that their users post.

Yet, this desire to be hands-off with the content on the platform has wrought havoc.

In hindsight, it should have always been clear that the power to influence people, preferably anonymously, would eventually be misused by someone passing off fake news as real. There is now reason to believe that the Russians may have done that ahead of the 2016 US elections. Fake news is a global problem. According to a recent report in the New Straits Times, Facebook and WhatsApp are the biggest sources of fake news in Malaysia. According to Wired, WhatsApp has a big fake news problem in Brazil.

In India, fake news is an even bigger problem on WhatsApp than it is on Facebook.

But that hasnt been all. According to a recent report by ABC, publishers of inflammatory content on Facebooks Instant Articles may have benefited from advertising that the company drove their way. Under the companys Instant Articles feature, publishers put up content directly on Facebook, rather than on their websites.

Then theres the controversy surrounding Cambridge Analytica, which harvested data from Facebook and used that to try and influence poll outcomes. This is extremely worrying, especially in a country such as India, which doesnt (as yet) have a data protection or privacy law that can protect users.

Clearly, things are out of control.

To be fair, Facebook hasnt been unresponsive. Even while continuing to maintain its position  it is a platform  it has sought to address the issue of fake news. For instance, it has partnered with external fact-checking units. In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica controversy, The Guardian quoted Samidh Chakrabarti, Facebooks product manager, as saying that the companys new investigative tool would tackle the issue of the spread of fake news and that the company would also now proactively look for potentially harmful types of election-related activity, such as pages of foreign origin that are distributing in authentic civic content. The same article said that Facebook partners with AP journalists across all US states to check facts.

WhatsApp is even trickier to moderate, although the messaging platform has been experimenting with a header that tells users when a message has been forwarded.

The question that many are asking is whether this is enough. The network effect may be responsible for the rapid dissemination of content on Facebook and WhatsApp and the filter-bubble (a term coined by Eli Pariser to explain an algorithmic skew that directs a certain type of content to users based on factors such as their past browsing behaviour and search history) for why people often end up seeing content that reinforces their world view as opposed to an opposing point of view that may give them a sense of balance. But it is Facebook that has to be responsible for the content on its platform.

For that, though, Facebook has to first admit that it is a media company. And while just 5% of the content on Facebook is news, the company has to admit that it is also a news media company. That means sticking to basic journalistic processes concerning accuracy, fairness, disclosure, and labelling, things that the social media company doesnt seem to have thought through.

Unlike print and electronic (TV) media, digital media companies in India are not regulated; and unlike these companies, they do not have an industry body that serves as a self-regulatory organisation. If Facebook wants to profit from the media business, it has to follow the same rules that media companies do.The death of probably the worlds most famous cosmologist, Stephen Hawking, has re-opened the debate about the validity of religion. To put it simply: has science disproved god? Hawking didnt leave much room for god when he said we humans are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But he did say we are special because we can understand the universe. Albert Einstein said: The only incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible. A Christian theologian I read recently maintained that this mystery left room for god. He quoted Pope John Paul II praising Einsteins eminent contribution to the progress of science.

Scientism is the theory that the only proper way to answer questions including religious questions is to employ the methods of natural science. Belief in it is widespread and has certainly contributed to the decline of religious observation in the West. But in spite of the efforts of some ardent atheist scientist like Richard Dawkins, science has not made religion intellectually disreputable. In Hawkings own university, the study of religion is flourishing. The Master of Hawkings own College, Trinity Hall, is an Anglican priest and the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, is the Master of another college. Francis Collins who leads the Human Genome project is a Christian. In a lecture he gave at St Stephens College, Delhi, the scientist and theologian David Gosling said: Most of the galaxy of brilliant Hindu scientists who distinguished themselves in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were struck by similarities between certain scientific ideas, which resembled ancient Hindu notions. Many of the successors of that galaxy see no clash between Hinduism and science.

I would suggest that there would be no reason for religion and science to clash if they kept to their own domains. Going back to Einstein again he said: Representatives of science have often made an attempt to arrive at fundamental judgements with respect to values and ends on the basis of scientific methods and in this way have set themselves in opposition to religion. These conflicts have all sprung from fatal errors. Of course this does not mean that science does not influence religion, that, for example, it doesnt often show that literal interpretations of certain stories in scriptures are incredible, that they are myths not history. Myths of course are not lies, as is commonly believed, but symbols of realities. But then science should stop short there because the interpretation of myth lies in the domain of religion. Ceylonese Tamil philosopher and metaphysicist Ananda Coomaraswamy put it much better than I can: [the] real conflict between science and religion is impossible: the conflicts are always of certain scientists ignorant of spiritual philosophy with fundamentalists who maintain that the truth of their myth is historical.

Why should we worry if scientism has led to the decline of religion in parts of the world when so many seem happy to believe that god is dead, killed by science? One reason is that scientisms threat to religion has created a fundamentalist religious backlash throughout the world. Another reason is that the spiritual reality enshrined in religious myths is lost to so many. Many say today it doesnt matter because I can be spiritual without being religious. They forget that the common experience of god, which lies at the heart of the mysticism of all religions, was experienced by religious mystics. Historically religion has provided individuals with a moral code to live by, a purpose to live for, and a society to live within. Those who welcome the loss of religions influence on public life might recall the history of four nations who banished god: Revolutionary France, Nazi Germany, Stalins Russia and Maos China.

But in the end there is a bigger inner threat to religion than scientism. Its posed by those who discredit religion by the fundamentalism. I believe religion is still intellectually respectable provided it is saved from those who proclaim it loudest, just as I believe in science provided scientists dont go beyond their domain.

The views expressed are personalFormer chief minister Harish Rawat a month ago publicly announced of his willingness to contest from Haridwar parliamentary constituency in the 2019 general election.

Now, former Congress state unit president Kishore Upadhyay has shown his willingness to contest from the seat.

It has created uproar within the party after pro-Rawat faction termed it as anti-party stance as Haridwar has been political bastion of the former chief minister. Rawat got elected as parliamentarian from the seat in 2009.

The two factions claim that their leaders were capable of regaining the seat for the party from the ruling BJP.

Former chief minister and BJP leader Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank is the current MP from the constituency.

Upadhyay, former Tehri legislator, on Friday night at Jay Ram Ashram expressed his willingness to contest from Haridwar as a large number of district party leaders urged him to do so.

Its overwhelming that a large number of party cadre and office bearers wants me to contest from Haridwar seat. As the state party president, I had given major preference to Haridwar and have been quite close with local people since 90s, when the separate statehood movement and inclusion of Haridwar into Uttaranchal had become a major issue, he said.

If the party high command directs me to contest from Haridwar, I will abide by it and will try to ensure that I win Haridwar seat for the party, said Upadhyay.

Congress spokesperson and former Mahanagar president Anshul Shrikunj said it will be moral boosting and game changer for the Congress if Upadhyay contests from the seat.

Upadhyay is the lone party leader who can revive the Congress in Haridwar and credit goes to him for ensuring three legislators winning on party ticket from Haridwar district, said Shrikunj.

Congress Sewa Dal organiser Rajesh Rastogi said any other party leader, barring Rawat, have no chance of winning the Haridwar constituency for the Congress.

Only Harish Rawat has mass and cadre following, it was evident in 2009 when he won with record 1.25 lakh votes.

Kishore Upadhyay has been the state party president. So, he should ensure that he dont trespass any other leaders constituency. People and party workers want Harish Rawat to contest from Haridwar and not any other leader, who comes for just a few hours to attend party function, marriage parties or press conferences, said Rastogi.

Since drubbing of the Congress in 2017 assembly election, particularly loss of both Rawat from Haridwar rural segment and Upadhyay from Shahspur, both the leaders are eyeing the general election for their political survival.

In the 2014 general election, Rawat had fielded his wife Renuka from Haridwar, who lost to Nishank.

In the past few months, Rawat has attended a number of programmes in the district, giving hint of his electoral plans. Similarly, Upadhyay is also frequently touring the district.A jail with a capacity of 2,000 prisoners will be built in Udham Singh Nagar districts Kichha to reduce burden on other prisons, a top police officer said on Saturday.

The new jail, for which the formalities are being completed, would help in decongesting jails, said PVK Prasad, the inspector general of prisons.

The Supreme Court on Friday said prisoners too have a right to live with dignity and has called for jail reforms. The apex court also said prisoners cannot be kept like animals.

Following the ruling, the state prisons department said there was not much problem in the jails of Uttarakhand and whatever congestion exists was being removed by shifting prisoners to other jails and building of new ones.

Here are 4,800 inmates in the jails of Uttarakhand out of which 50% are under trials and move in and out of jails. There had been overburdening of jails such as the Haldwani jail from where 200 inmates have been shifted to the Sitarganj jail, IG prisons Prasad said.

He said new jails were being built at Pithoragarh and land acquisition related issues of the proposed Champawat jail were being solved so that it could be built on time.

Dushyant Mainali, a social activist in Haldwani, said the prison department needs to usher in reforms of the jails.

Ordinary inmates face a lot of problems on day to day basis due to corruption and lack of funds and the government must look into this.

Prisoners who have clout or money power are having a good time in jails while those from poor background are at the receiving end. Reforms need to be brought in at the earliest, he said.Two alleged cattle lifters from Haryanas Mewat district were arrested after a dramatic chase and early morning shootout with the Delhi Police in the citys Dwarka area on Saturday. More than 30 rounds were exchanged between the alleged criminals and the policemen during a 10-kilometre chase.

Police said the cattle thieves, transporting half-a-dozen stolen cows in a mini truck, fired over 20 bullets and also hurled stones at the police. A police vehicle was damaged by stones and after the truck rammed it.

The police fired around a dozen rounds in self defence. Finally, a bullet fired by the police deflated one of the trucks tyres, forcing the cattle thieves to stop.

Recently named Indias most backward district by NITI Aayog, Mewat has emerged a hub for cattle smuggling, with several instances being reported from the district over the past year.

One of the alleged cattle lifters suffered two bullets wounds in his legs and was arrested. He was identified as Liyakat Ali from Mewat. His accomplice, Taj Mohammad, who climbed and hid in a tree was also arrested. At least six more men managed to flee on foot, the police said. Six stolen cows were recovered from the truck. .

Devender Arya, deputy commissioner of police (police control room), said that a head constable suffered injuries to his legs as he lost his balance while scaling a wall while pursuing the alleged thieves and fell down. Those who fled included Haarish Mohammad, leader of the cattle lifting gang, and Irshad, owner of the seized truck. Haarish has been involved in 10 cases of dacoity related to animal theft, added Arya.

According to him, at around 2.30am on Saturday, the police control room received a call claiming that cows were being loaded into a truck at Sector-1, Dwarka, and that the occupants of the truck were throwing stones at people trying to stop them.

A police vehicle responded to the call and began chasing the truck. The cattle thieves started throwing stones and firing on the police vehicle. They rammed it and ran a police picket; a second police vehicle also joined the chase; and finally, one of the bullets fired by the police punctured the trucks tyre, forcing it to a stop, Arya explained.

The occupants tried to escape on foot under cover of gunfire but in the exchange that followed, one of them was hit.

We are interrogating the two to nab their absconding associates, said Shibesh Singh, DCP, Dwarka.For Binod Mairta, a writer, the history of Delhi can be divided into two periods: pre-Metro and post-Metro. Delhi was a highly staid and stratified city; it did not have the chemistry of a metropolis. But Metro changed that, says Mairta, whose book, A Rose on The Platform, explores the role Metro plays in the matters of the heart. Metro is the only transport mode where you can find someone from a lower middle-class neighbourhood in east Delhi travelling with someone from an elite south Delhi neighbourhood. The new metro stations look like airport terminals, greatly adding to the experience of the city.

Since its inception in 2002, Delhi Metro has come a long way  not just in terms of its reach in the sprawling city, but how its stations look and feel  and the role they play in the lives of Delhiites. Many stations on the newly opened sections of Pink and Magenta lines such as new Netaji Subhash Place and Kalkaji Mandir boast of sleek, sophisticated interiors: baffle ceilings with an interesting play of LED lights; marbled walls with dozens of artworks; granite floors; designer panels on trackside walls.

If Netaji Subhash Place station looks like a modern airport terminal, the new Azadpur station, with its high- ceiling and massive fans, exudes an old-world charm. And today, people go to the citys slick subterranean spaces, that also boast high-end food and retail outlets, not just for their daily commute, but also to eat, drink, shop and socialise.

When I took a ride with my father on the inaugural day in 2002, the stations were bare whitewashed brick structures. Now many new underground stations are fine examples of interior urbanism. They have emerged as vibrant public spaces, says Aditya Gupta, 29, an architect ,as he admires artworks inside the newly opened Netaji Subhash Park station. Hundreds of works of over 48 artists  both upcoming and experienced  adorn the stations on the Pink and Magenta lines. Artists say many Delhi metro station concourses are like vast art galleries.

Thousands of people can view your work in hours, which is not possible in a conventional art space. Nothing excites an artist more than the sight of people viewing her art, says Renu Sharma, a mosaic artist, whose work will be displayed in the soon-to-be-opened Chirag Delhi, Munirika and Vasant Vihar stations. While functionality and legibility continue to be our primary concerns, we now also focus on the aesthetics of the stations. We are creating stations with a contemporary look. says Anuj Dayal, chief spokesperson, Delhi Metro.

Art in transit

Metros brush with art began in right earnest with the Mandi House station when the Mandi House-Janpath-Central Secretariat section on Line 6 opened in 2014. It has since engaged various organisations such as INTACH, ICHR , and India Habitat Centre (IHC) to promote artworks at various stations. Most stations opened in the past three years have paintings, sculptures or installations. Over the years we realised Metro can also be a vehicle to promote art and culture. We invite entries from artists to display their work at the stations, says Dayal.

Metro has collaborated with India Habitat Centre for regular exhibitions at Mandi House and Jor Bagh stations which have dedicated exhibition space under the Art in the Metro initiative. The ongoing exhibition at Mandi House, titled , The City of Waste has on display 42 photographs by six French researchers, exploring the role of waste workers in society. Over the past two years, we have displayed everything from graphic novels to paintings to photographs. We showcase art that is immediate and has a strong cultural significance, says Alka Pande, curator, Visual Arts Gallery at IHC, which is responsible for putting up exhibitions at the two stations. Our aim is to bring aesthetics to everyday commute.

Art in Metro at Mandi House, which has an average daily footfall of about 1.9 lakh, seems to be a hit with commuters-- one can see people stopping and looking intently at exhibits throughout the day. The new metro stations provide the right ambiance for people to engage with art, says Manish Sharma, a graphic designer and painter. Many people find it intimidating or dont have the time to visit an art gallery; the Metro, which sees a huge rush of people from diverse backgrounds, is a perfect place to democratise art.

He believes Delhi Metro is beginning to rival the Stockholm subway system -- often referred to as the worlds longest art gallery with stations on the 110km network displaying thousands of sculptures, mosaics, paintings, installations, engravings, and reliefs by over 150 artists.

Metro social

For many Delhiites, delightful, air-conditioned stations are also whole new unique public spaces that give them a break from the malls. Thousands of them come to metro stations such as Connaught Place to catch up with friends and familyan interesting example of how socialising can become part of the traveling experience. Underground metro stations have a charm and energy of their own. I often meet my aunts who live in Paschim Vihar at the Rajiv Chowk station over coffee. Metro is one place where women can feel safe in the city, says Nidhi Khanna, 23, who lives in Noida. Sitting a few seats away from her at a cafe at the Rajiv Chowk station is Rohit Wadhwa, 22, waiting for a friend. I love to watch people waiting, meeting, getting in and out of the trains. I met my girlfriend here at Rajiv Chowk, says Wadhwa. At times, the two of us just take a long ride in the train. Its cool and comfortable, and people look at you just as commuters.

In fact, meeting cupid on Delhi Metro is no longer a distant possibility. According to the findings of Train Of Love survey conducted a few years back by MetroMates, a dating website, a lot of Delhiites are looking to forge not just friendships, but also find love in the Metro. Asked if you have ever made friends or had a date with your fellow travelers, 23% of the respondents said yes. And to a question if Delhi Metro is good for finding new friends, date or love, 51% respondents said that the Metro is good for finding new friends; 26% said that it is good for finding a date and 23% felt the Metro is good enough for finding love too.

A muse for writers

No wonder then Metro has become a muse for many writers, who are penning many transit love stories. I was always fascinated by the possibilities Metro provides to young men and women to know each other and fall in love, says Pratyush Sinha, author of Love in Metro: story of love & ego. I wanted to explore what happens when young men and women travel everyday in the same space, at the same time in such close proximity, without attracting too much attention, says Sinha, who is writing another love story set in the Delhi Metro.

Every writer has his own favourite stations -- Mairta refers to Kashmere Gate as Alpha and Omega of Metro life. Its so majestic; its four perpendicular lines running at different levels are like vessels carrying blood, he says. One of the reasons he likes Kashmere Gate is because it boasts of bookshops set up by the Sahitya Akademi and the National Book Trust.

Opened in 2016, Sahitya Akademi Metro Bookshop at Kashmere Gate has black and white pictures of Indian literary greats such as Toru Dutt, Devaki Nandan Khatri and Nagarjun. The teakwood shelves are stacked with hundreds of titles in over two dozen Indian languages, and the tastefully done interiors are illuminated by soft, low-hanging lights. The bookshop also has a club for Metro commuters. Many people ask for Chetan Bhagats books. But, thankfully, we also get a lot of people who appreciate serious literature that we sell, says Darwan Singh, who manages the shop.

A foodies paradise

Not just restaurants, food kiosks, and bookshops, stations such as Nehru Place and Dhaula Kuan have food malls and food courts. Nehru Place is home to Epicuria, Delhis first food mall with high-end bars, fine-dining restaurants that attract people from all over Delhi. I often come here for business lunch. I get down from the train and go straight down to the basement, which has the interiors of a five-star hotel. No taxi, no auto, no traffic hassles, says Aman Sachdeva, a marketing manager with an MNC in Faridabad.

Last year, Dhaula Kuan became the latest food destination on Metros map with the opening of a food court called Palate of Delhi, which boasts of many popular Indian and international fast food and quick-serving chains. A lot of our customers are from Delhi cantonment and students from the south campus, says Krishan Kant, a manager at the food court, which has an American highway-style drive-in and drive-out pizza outlet.

Abhimanyu Dalal, a well-known architect, says Metro stations have evolved over the years in terms of architecture, interiors, and social space. At the same time, he feels Metro needs to focus more on the exteriors of the elevated stations and should have more sitting benches. Elevated stations need to be better designed; they are like visual clutter on the cityscape. Besides, stations need to be better integrated with the city and there has to be continuity in terms of where lifts, footpath, and stairs are placed, says Dalal.

There are budget issues, but we are beginning to focus on the exterior,too. Many of our new elevated stations such as Sukhdev Vihar have a different look.

The Metro stations that you must be on your itinerary this summer

THE ARTS STOPS

Mandi House (Regular art exhibitions)

Metro has collaborated with IHC for displaying art at the new Mandi House and Jorbagh stations that have dedicated panels for art exhibitions under Art in the Metro initiative. Both the stations have regular exhibitions curated by India Habitat Centre. The ongoing exhibition at Mandi House is titled The City of Waste, which has on display 42 photographs by six French researchers, exploring the role of waste workers in society.

INA (Art & crafts gallery)

The station has a crafts gallery with over 58 panels displaying paintings and handloom by national award-winning painters, craftsmen and artists from all over the country. The exhibits include Mithila paintings from Bihar, terracotta tiles from Rajasthan, Tanjore paintings from Tamil Nadu, fine straw work from Kerala and pithora painting from Gujarat.

Lok Kalyan Marg (A crafts map gallery)

The station is home to a unique gallery of craft maps, such as a shawl map of Srinagar, and a map made entirely out of terracotta stars. There are 48 craft maps covering all Indian states. Conceptualized by Dastkari Haat Samiti, a national association of Indian crafts people, the maps also give information about the haats, art hubs and festivals of each state.

THE MUSEUM STOPS

Patel Chowk (Metro museum)

The Delhi Metro Museum at the Patel Chowk Metro Station showcases the genesis and history of the Delhi Metro, covering its all major milestones. Possibly the only museum in a functional Metro station worldwide, it has a rich display of photographs and models of the metro train, stations, etc; there are interactive pods that show videos and films on many technical aspects such as the working of the tunnel boring machines and segment launchers.

Udyog Bhawan Metro station (A museum replica corner)

The National Museum has set up a Museum Replica Corner and 11 displays at the Udyog Bhawan Metro station. These displays provide a glimpse into the precious collections of the National Museum and other art-related activities. The idea behind the initiative is to direct commuters to the National Museum, which is about a 5-minute walk from the Udyog Bhavan station.

THE LITERARY STOP

Kashmere Gate (Bookshops)

The station has well-stocked bookstores, one each by National Book Trust and The Sahitya Akademi. The Akademi bookstore, opened in 2016, called Sahitya Akademi Metro Bookshop, has hundreds of titles in over two dozen Indian languages. The shop has tastefully done interiors with have black and white pictures of Indian literary greats such as Toru Dutt, Devaki Nandan Khatri and Nagarjun, adorning the walls.

THE FOOD STOP

Nehru Place Metro Station (Eating out joint)

It is home to the Epicuria, perhaps Delhis first food mall that offers high-end cafe, bars fine-dining restaurants that attract people from all over Delhi. It a perfect place to connect with friends with some awesome food and drinks.The Class 12 Hindi (Elective) paper being circulated on the social media was fake, the CBSE said on Saturday, urging the people not to spread rumours regarding the paper.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is scheduled to hold the Class 12th Hindi (Elective) examination on April 2.

...a fake question paper of Class XII - Hindi (Elective) (enclosed) is being circulated on social media i.e. WhatsApp, YouTube etc., the CBSE said in a release.

It added that the question papers circulating on these social media platforms were either of a previous year or fake.

Hence, it is requested not to circulate the news about these fake papers, so that the students and other stakeholders are not misled, the release said.

The board also enclosed the fake Hindi paper, which it said was being circulated on the social media, with its statement.

On Saturday, school education secretary Anil Swarup had said the re-examination of the CBSE Class 12 economics paper would be held on April 25, while the Class 10 mathematics re-test, if required, would be conducted only for Delhi-NCR and Haryana in July.

The announcement had come after the board received complaints that the question papers for the two subjects were leaked.The Bihar police have so far registered 15 cases and arrested over 215 people in connection with communal violence that rocked the state over the last fortnight, director general of police KS Dwivedi said on Saturday.

Communal violence, which broke out during Ram Navami procession at Nathnagar block in Bhagalpur district on March 17, engulfed 11 of the 38 districts in Bihar by March 30.

Attempts were made to disturb communal peace in some areas. However, the police acted effectively with the help of central forces and locals to control the situation, Dwivedi said.

Communal clashes were reported from Bhagalpur, Siwan, Aurangabad, Gaya, Kaimur, Samastipur, Munger, Jamui, Sheikhpura, Nalanda and Nawada. The last of the clashes was reported from Nawada when miscreants vandalised an idol of lord Hanuman idol on Friday.

The district administration took out a Sadbhavna rally (peace march) in Munger on Saturday to restore peace. Communal clashes had broken out in the district headquarters on March 28.

Participants in the peace march held banners and placards, conveying messages of communal harmony and brotherhood. The administration also sought cooperation from the public in helping the police identify anti-social elements fomenting trouble.

The Bihar police had deployed over 300 personnel of the special branch to identify those fanning communal tension in Aurangabad.

The police registered nine FIRs against 200 people in Aurangabad, including BJP district spokesperson Ujjawal Kumar, RJD district president Mohammad Yusuf. They have been charged with criminal conspiracy, rioting and unlawful assembly, outraging religious feelings and violating provisions of the arms Act.

Violence in Aurangabad was triggered when miscreants pelted stones on a Ram Navami procession passing through Nawadih colony on March 25. Over 45 people and some policemen were injured in the stone pelting.

According to the police, nearly 70 shops were torched by rioters and more than 90 shopkeepers were affected by the riots.

However, no death has been reported in any of the communal clashes so far.

On Saturday, a local court rejected the bail plea of Union minister Ashwini Choubeys son Arijit Shashwat, accused of inciting communal violence in Bhagalpur district. Shahwat has been on the run since the police filed a case against him last week.Four pilgrims died and 52 others sustained injuries when pandals at an ancient Ram temple in Andhra Pradeshs Kadapa district collapsed as gales accompanied by heavy rains lashed the area on Friday night.

More than a lakh pilgrims gathered at the temple at Ontimitta to witness the celestial wedding of Lord Rama and Sita as part of the annual brahmotsavams of the temple.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, along with his wife Bhuvaneshwari and officials of the endowments department, was to arrive at the temple to present silk clothes and talambralu (sacred rice) to the deity in the evening.

However Naidus entourage had to stay put at the guest house of the roads and buildings department at Kadapa, about 30 km from the temple, till 9pm due to the inclement weather.

Despite heavy rains, the temple priests did not stop the kalayanam (wedding), but the pilgrims waiting under the tents had a tough time in witnessing the event.

While the tin sheets providing cover to the waiting pilgrims were blown away due to strong winds, at least six big pandals made of corrugated bamboo roofing sheets collapsed causing a mild stampede as pilgrims ran helter-skelter.

Pilgrims M Chinnaiah of Badvel and Vengaiah of Porumamilla village were killed when the bamboo sheets fell on them. Another pilgrim Meena from Machilipatnam died of electrocution as she came in contact with live wires, while Venkata Subbamma of Ontimitta died in the stampede.

According to reports reaching here, as many as 52 people were injured and they were immediately shifted to Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) at Kadapa. They were all declared out of danger.

After the rains subsided around 9.15 pm, Naidu and others reached the temple and participated in the wedding ritual. Later, the chief minister visited the Kadapa hospital where he announced an ex gratia of Rs 15 lakh each to the families of the deceased.

Ontimetta has been declared the venue for the official annual Ram Navami celebrations ever since Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated in June 2014.

The sudden and untimely rains and hailstorm lashed several parts of Rayalaseema, which had been reeling under high temperatures for the last few days.

Reports of crop damages and death of animals are pouring in from Anantapur, Kadapa and Chittoor districts.Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday visited Northern Command headquarters in Jammu and Kashmirs Udhampur district and reviewed overall security situation along the Line of Control.

General Rawat, who was on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, visited forward areas bordering China in the eastern Ladakh region on Friday.

On Saturday, the he visited Northern Command Headquarter at Udhampur, a defence spokesman said.

He was briefed by Lieutenant General D Anbu, GOC-in-C, Northern Command, on the overall security situation along the Line of Control (LoC) and the hinterland in the command theatre, the spokesman said.

The chief interacted with senior military commanders and took a firsthand assessment of the prevailing operational conditions and preparedness, the spokesman said.

Rawat lauded the high standards of operational readiness in the difficult terrain and challenging operational environment, he said.

He also lauded the synergy and cooperation between the Northern Command, Air Force, Central Armed Police Forces, Civil Administration, and the JK Police operating in the region, he said.

Rawat arrived at Leh on Friday and visited forward posts in Eastern Ladakh.The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in a statement issued on Saturday, warned that there was an attempt being made to vitiate the atmosphere by posting provocative messages through fake social media accounts of the organisations chief Mohan Bhagwat.

The RSS has clarified that Bhagwat is not on Twitter or Facebook. The clarification comes in wake of a complaint filed in a Jodhpur court that deals in SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) cases by Narendra Kumar, a resident of Pali in Rajasthan. Kumar has also written to the Jodhpur police commissioner to take action in the case under different provisions of SC/ST Act.

A tweet attributed to Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat that statues of all great personalities should be demolished was posted by the handle @mohan_bhagwat_ on March 8. A complaint was filed by one Narendra Kumar under the provisions of the SC/ST Act. In this regard, we wish to clarify that the said account is fake, RSS Jodhpur Prant Prachar Pramukh, Manohar Sharan said.

Sharan said people should be alert as an attempt was being made to vitiate the atmosphere by posting provocative tweets in the name of the RSS chief. The group has also apprised the Jodhpur commissioner about these fakes.

The Jodhpur police are yet to receive court orders. The matter has not come before us, Udaimandir (Jodhpur) SHO Rajesh Yadav said.

Recently, Bhagwat had said he was not on social media as it made people self-centred. Social media means me, my and mine and that I have to express my opinion on every issue, he had said.West Bengal governor KN Tripathi on Saturday held an hour-long meeting with senior police and administration officials here and took stock of the situation in violence-hit areas of Raniganj and Asansol.

One person was killed and two police officers suffered serious injuries on Monday when clashes broke out between two groups over a Ram Navami procession in Raniganj area of Bardhaman West district.

The violence fanned out to Asansol areas, prompting police to suspend Internet services and clamp prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC in trouble-torn areas of the district.

Read | Amit Shah sets up 4-member BJP panel to look into Bengal violence, submit report

The governor, who reached Asansol circuit house this morning, is scheduled to visit the violence-hit areas of Raniganj and Asansol areas later in the day.

Earlier this week, the state government had advised him against visiting Asansol and Raniganj, citing security reasons.

Union minister Babul Supriyo and state BJP Mahila Morcha president Locket Chatterjee were also stopped from entering the Asansol-Raniganj area by police on Thursday.

The Imam of Noorani Masjid, Imdatullah Rashid, had said that his son was also killed in the violence but there was no confirmation from the police on the incident. Rashid had also appealed for peace in the area.

Read | Lessons from Darjeeling come handy in quelling Asansol unrest during Ram Navami celebrations

Prohibitory orders are still in force as the situation is tense, a senior police officer said.

No fresh incident of violence was reported from the area in last three days, he said, adding that a huge contingent of the police and the Rapid Action Force (RAF) is patrolling the area.A Bihar court on Saturday rejected the bail plea of Union minister Ashwini Choubeys son Arijit Shashwat, accused of inciting communal violence in the states Bhagalpur district, a government lawyer said.

After hearing both sides, the Bhagalpur district court declined to grant bail to Shashwat.

Last week, a case was lodged against Shashwat -- a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader -- on charges of taking out a procession without prior permission, inciting communal sentiments and roaming with arms on the streets of Bhagalpur.

Shashwat, who has been evading arrest, had moved the bail plea in the civil court, following which the court on Tuesday sought the case diary from the police to ascertain his role in the communal flare-up on March 17.

After that, acting on an application from the district police, the court issued an arrest warrant against Shashwat.

Choubey has already described the FIR as a piece of garbage that was registered by corrupt police officers in Bhagalpur.

Shashwat unsuccessfully contested the last assembly polls as the BJP candidate from Bhagalpur, considered a stronghold of Choubey, who was elected MP from Buxar in 2014.

On the run

Nearly a week after the arrest warrant was issued against Shashwat, Bihar Police has failed to arrest him.

The police have also failed to trace another BJP leader Anil Singh -- the main accused in communal violence in Aurangabad district, who managed to escape from police custody.

Police have been doing everything to arrest both accused, senior police officer Gupteshwar Pandey said.

Anil Singh, who was arrested in connection with the communal violence in Aurangabad during Ram Navami procession, escaped from police custody two days ago.

The opposition parties have slammed chief minister Nitish Kumar for what they called his failure to handle the situation.

Ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) spokespersons are, however, downplaying the issue, saying there is rule of law in Bihar under CM Kumar and culprits or accused would not be spared.

Kumars JD-U is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA, which also comprises the Lok Janshakti Party and the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party.

Over half-a-dozen Bihar districts, including Aurangabad, Nawada, Samastipur, Munger, Bhagalpur and Nalanda, are currently in the grip of communal tension. Additional security forces have been deployed in the affected towns.

Last week, communal tension starting from Aurangabad district during Ram Navami processions, spread to Samastipur, Munger, Nalanda, Sheikhpura and Gaya districts.The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday said it has attached assets worth Rs 4.53 crore, including 29 plots and deposits in ten bank accounts, of the main accused in the Bihar topper scam that had rocked the state in 2016.

The action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against the secretary-cum-principal of Vishun Roy College in Vaishali district, Bachha Rai alias Amit Kumar, comes at a time when two CBSE question papers of Class 10 and 12 have leaked and police are looking for culprits.

The agency, in a statement, said it has attached 16 plots in the name of Bachha Rai in Lalganj, Mahua, Bhagwanpur and Hajipur and 13 plots in the name of his wife Sangeeta Rai.

Bank deposits in the name of his daughter Shalini Rai, a flat in Patna and a two-storey house in Hajipur of the Rai family have also been attached.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had registered a money laundering case last year to probe alleged irregularities in this case, related to the state school examination board, taking cognisance of Bihar Police FIR and the findings of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to probe the scam.

The scam had rocked Bihar in June, 2016 after Ruby Rai, a student of Vishun Roy College in Vaishali district who had topped in the arts category, failed to answer basic questions and went on to describe political science as prodigal science that taught cooking.

Embarrassed by the irregularities, the state government had ordered a SIT probe in the matter.

It was alleged in the police charge sheet, the ED said, that Bachha Rai used to receive huge cash as illegal gratification from students for manipulating their results with the help of officers and staff of the Bihar School Education Board (BSEB) including the then Chairman Lalkeshwar Singh.

The central probe agency said its probe found that Bachha Rai has laundered his illicit wealth by acquiring huge properties in his name and that of his wife and daughter, which could not be explained by them.

Further, proceeds of crime have been laundered through a trust run by his (Bachha Rai) family member.

Most of the properties have been purchased by them in cash, against which no corresponding withdrawal has been made from their bank accounts, the agency said.

The ED alleged Rai and his wife manipulated their Income Tax returns and their agricultural income was declared almost 70 times more after the scam broke, as compared to previous years.

The agency had booked a a total of eight people, including former BSEB chairman Prasad and four principals.

This is the first attachment in the case and the ED said further probe in the case is in progress.The Dalai Lama thanked India on Saturday for giving shelter to him and said the Tibetans have turned their unfortunate circumstances into a path of enlightenment by reviving their spirit and influence wherever they are.

At a public event in Dharamsala marking the beginning of the 60th year of his exile in India, the 82-year-old spiritual leader got emotional and embraced one of the five Assam Rifles troopers who escorted him to India after his escape from Tibet.

Union culture minister Mahesh Sharma, members of Parliament Shanta Kumar and Satyavrat Chaturvedi, and BJP leader Ram Madhav were present at the event along with functionalities of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).

Earlier this month, media reports said India had told top officials to avoid events held by Tibets exile government to celebrate the Dalai Lamas life in India, fearful of hurting relations with China.

Overwhelmed

I feel blessed once again as His Holiness touched me and bumped his head with my head, said Naren Chandra Das, now 80, who escorted the Dalai Lama on his arrival in Arunachal Pradesh.

Das said he was overwhelmed by the invitation he received to attend the event that marked the onset of a year-long Thank You India campaign. The Dalai Lama has lived in India since fleeing China in 1959 after a failed uprising against Communist rule in Tibet.

This is your land

BJPs Ram Madhav said India had always hosted people in difficult times with an open heart.

He expressed hope in his speech that the Dalai Lama would be able to find a solution to the Tibetan issue through peaceful and democratic means that will facilitate your honourable return to your homeland.

We know the life of a refugee is very tough...we hosted many people in trouble. India always welcome with open hands and open heart those in difficulties.

Addressing the Tibetan administration-in-exile, he said: Friends, we dont want to use the word refugee (for you). This is your land. At the most, you are in exile and Tibet is waiting for you.

China says Tibet has historically been part of its territory since the mid-13th century, and has governed it since 1951. But many Tibetans say the region was effectively independent for most of its history.

Hard-hitting speech

Lobsang Sangay, the prime minister of the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile in India, urged his compatriots to strengthen efforts to make the return of the Dalai Lama to his native land a reality.

He said Tibet has seen 60 years of destruction of its civilization, culture and identity by the Chinese since the Dalai Lama fled to India.

He said the Dalai Lama dreamt of himself in a room in the Potala Palace filled with light where he will be reunited with Tibetans inside Tibet. The Potala Palace in Lhasa was the residence of the Dalai Lama until he fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising.

Thousands and thousands of Tibetans have been killed and have died for the cause of Tibet. Many of them have burned themselves alive, he said in a hard-hitting speech.BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday declined to reveal the nature of discussions he had with the Wadiyar royal family of Mysuru, amid speculation that the party was seeking to enlist their support in the May 12 assembly polls.

As far as my meeting with the royal family members is concerned, I only want to say that it was a courtesy visit. However, what transpired between us, I cannot reveal it, he told reporters in Mysuru.

Shah, who is touring the old Mysuru region, met the royal family at their private palace in Mysuru on Friday, triggering speculation about their supporting the BJP.

During the closed-door meeting with the scion of royal family or the present titular Maharaja, Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, and Rajamata Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, Shah reportedly discussed various issues, including politics, the sources said.

Had a wonderful meeting with Maharaja Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, Rajamatha Pramoda Devi Wadiyar and Maharani Trishika Kumari Devi of the Royal Family of Mysuru, Shah had said in a tweet after the meeting.

Amid speculation in the media, Yaduveer, the 27th King of the Wadiyar dynasty, had recently ruled out his political entry.

I have told several times that Im not interested in politics. There is no chance at all about me joining any party. Im not interested in politics. Through social work we will continue our relationship with the public, he had said.

The previous scion, Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, represented Mysuru Parliamentary constituency four times and had lost once.

Srikantadatta mostly remained with the Congress, but also had a short stint with the BJP.In his fourth round of visit to the poll-bound Karnataka, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Saturday claimed that the Siddaramaiah government will be thrown out in the May 12 Assembly polls , mainly because of corruption.

I have toured almost across the entire state and I can see that the people have decided to throw out the Siddaramaiah government, Shah said at press conference in Mysuru even as the Congress debunked his claim saying people know that BJPs chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa had led the most corrupt government in the state.

The most important issue is corruption. Congress and corruption are related like fish and water. This relationship has been promoted very well by Siddaramaiah. There is a whirlwind of corruption under Siddaramaiah, which will become a tsunami if this government is voted back to power, the BJP president said.

Shah said the state government had failed on all indicators of human development and had been the worst in the country in terms of utilising central funds. Despite Karnataka being the information technology hub and accruing the benefits that come from this, nothing has percolated to the bottom, he said.

In a no-holds barred attack, Shah described the Karnataka government as an ATM of corruption for the Congress. He also insisted that the Janata Dal (Secular) would not be able to address this situation as it was only limited to a few seats. There is only one organisation that can bring about change and that is the BJP under the leadership of (BJPs chief ministerial candidate) BS Yeddyurappa.

Earlier this week, Shah made a faux pas at Davangere saying that the BS Yeddyurappa government was the most corrupt, a mistake he quickly corrected. But the Congress had quickly latched onto it to mock Shah, saying that the BJP president was speaking the truth.

The BJP president also criticised chief minister Siddaramaiah of not being able to address the woes of the Other Backward Classes. I want to ask Siddaramaiah, who keeps saying that he is an OBC leader, why did your party stop the Constitutional amendment the central government was bringing for sub-categorisation of the OBCs?

When asked about Siddaramaiahs recent criticism that the Centre was diverting taxes collected from the southern states towards northern ones, Shah said state taxes were being used to run the country, and that the situation was similar even in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Where will money for running the army and the Parliament come from? In a federal structure how can you talk in this way? Do they want to break up the country? Shahs comments comes ahead of a meeting of finance ministers of southern states convened by the Kerala finance minister Thomas Isaac in Kochi on April 10.

Shortly after Shahs accusations, Karnataka law minister TB Jayachandra hit back saying there was nothing wrong in a state asking that it get its just share of the taxes. Karnataka is one of the highest sources of tax revenue and we are only asking for a greater devolution of this to the state, he said.

Jayachandra said there was no question of breaking from the country, and described the BJP chiefs remark as irresponsible. In a democratic structure we are raising our concerns. Besides, we do need lessons from the BJP on the meaning of federalism. They are ones who are out to divide this country, he said.

On the possibility of mining baron G Janardhan Reddy getting ticket to contest, Shah said Reddy was not part of the BJP. Once the state leadership sends the parliamentary board of the party the list of hopefuls, we will take a decision on whether or not to field those tainted with corruption charges, Shah said.

Reddy, a former Karnataka minister spent 40 months in jail following his arrest for illegal mining and was released on bail in January 2015.

On Saturday, Shah also addressed a convention of organic farmers in Mandya. Some western scholars say this is default organic farming devoid of scientific thought. But this is advanced organic farming, the importance of which was realised by our seers and ascetics, Shah said.Warning that delay in resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan has the potential of undermining the Agenda of Alliance of the PDP-BJP government, the PDP on Friday said AoA is a commitment to the people to resolve the Kashmir problem through reconciliation and dialogue.

Agenda of Alliance (AoA), which became instrumental for forming the coalition government in Jammu & Kashmir between PDP and BJP, is an express commitment to the people of the state on resolution of Kashmir problem through reconciliation and dialogue, PDP vice president Sartaj Madni said.

He said delay in resumption of sustainable dialogue and revival of peace initiatives between India and Pakistan are causing worries and have the potential of undermining the AoA.

He emphasised the need to carry forward the initiatives that are necessary for fulfilling the promises made in the alliance document in the interest of peace in the region and bringing an end to the miseries of the people of the state.

Madni said the appointment of Dineshwar Sharma as an interlocutor has set in motion the process required for forging reconciliation.

The state government has taken several confidence building measures to instil faith and trust among the people, particularly youth along with holistic development plans and misery mitigating welfare measures, he added.

Madni recalled how PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed contributed to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayees peace campaign which changed the discourse and created an ambience for conflict resolution.

Madni said even as the state government made concerted efforts to carry forward the developmental agenda and pursued the course for political reconciliation through series of welfare and amnesty measures, the dip in Indo-Pak relations pushed the state into fresh spell of trouble.

Madni said Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had desired otherwise when he entered into government formation understanding with the BJP.

It was his hope and belief that under the leadership of Narendra Modi, the Vajpayees initiative will be resumed and Indo-Pak relations would improve, he said.

He had envisioned that Modis massive electoral mandate will work as added strength to settle long pending dispute, Madni said.

He said it is heartening to note that the Union government has bound itself not to fiddle with Article 370, as promised in the AoA.

However, much needs to be done at diplomatic and political level to assuage the feelings of the people and creating of a congenial atmosphere matching the 2002-2005 golden period, he said.A journalist from Kurukshetra stares at years in jail in Australia on charges of smuggling people into the country under the garb of a media contingent for the Commonwealth Games that start on April 4.

The Australian Border Force (AFB) detained Rakesh Sharma, 46, and eight others at the Brisbane airport on Wednesday for allegedly facilitating forged documents. The eight men, aged between 20 and 37, were allegedly holding temporary activity visas but claiming to be accredited media representatives.

Quoting AFB officials, the Brisbane Times news website said Sharma appeared in a Brisbane magistrate court that remanded him in custody, and the magistrate ordered an interpreter fluent in Hindi to be organised for the next hearing, April 6.

Rakesh Sharma of Kurukshetra works with a Hindi newspaper and is posted in Chandigarh. (AFB)

The offence carries a minimum five-year sentence and maximum of 20 years; the charge applies to anyone accused of smuggling five or more people, reported the Australian media.

Sharma, a resident of Sector 13 in Kurukshetra, works with a Hindi newspaper and is posted in Chandigarh for the past several years. His family in Kurukshetra is not aware why he was detained in Brisbane.

I dont know what happened in Australia. I came to know from my brother-in-law that he is in trouble there, Sharmas wife Priyanka said.He left on March 27 saying that he has to catch a flight to Australia at 11am from Delhi, and after that I could not talk to him. I also sent a WhatsApp message to him, but there was no response, she said. I dont know anything about the people travelling with him.

Priyanka said she will take up the issue with external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to get more information about him and to bring him back to India. About a month ago too, he had gone to Australia for five days. He has visas for several countries, including the US and Japan. But I dont know what he does there, she said.

Sharmas mother Shakuntala Sharma is a state executive member of the ruling BJP.The executive council of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak, on Friday suspended an associate professor over a Facebook post in which he had questioned the universitys reluctance to accept the state governments appointment of a financial officer.

Ashwani Dhingra, an associate professor in mechanical engineering department, said he had on February 10 written this post on his personal Facebook account: The Haryana government has deputed a financial officer at MDU Rohtak. But people here at MDU are protesting his appointment. MDU wants grants from the state government then why not a financial officer? Now, everyone can understand the fear if governments financial officer is appointed, a lot could be exposed.

Dhingra said he followed up the post in comment section, where some university officials termed the governments appointment of financial officer at MDU a threat to the universitys autonomy.

Dhingra wrote: Autonomy does not mean the monopoly to do financial irregularities. The appointment is being resisted because someone from outside will act like a watchdog over university. Already, our university has spent huge amount in non-fruitful (sic) activities.

He further wrote in one of the comments that the present financial advisor working at MDU was appointed through nepotism.

Two weeks after the Facebook post, Dhingra said he received a notice from the university seeking his explanation on his post.

The notice said Dhingra had defamed the image of the university and asked him to furnish documentary evidence of the financial irregularities and unfruitful activities as he mentioned in his Facebook post.

The notice stated he had violated the universitys guidelines which made it clear that no professor was allowed to give a statement in the media. The notice further asked Dhingra to prove nepotism charge in appointment of present financial advisor.

In his reply to the notice, Dhingra said he attached the recent report of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, which had rapped the MDU for irregularities and wasting crores of rupees on unfruitful activities.

Dhingra further alleged in his reply that he was being harassed by MDU vice-chancellor BK Punia for the irregularities he had highlighted on several occasions including the recent one where he filed a police complaint against the V-C and some others for allegedly rigging the teachers association elections in which he was contesting for the presidents post.

But the reply was reportedly found to be unsatisfactory by the executive council, which ordered his suspension till further notice.

This is witch-hunting and attack on my freedom of speech. They decided to take action against me by hook or crook, Dhingra said.

V-C Punia did not respond to HTs repeated calls. He had said that Dhingra violated UGC and MDUs norms with his Facebook post when HT had contacted him earlier over the notice.

BLURB Teacher had questioned universitys reluctance to accept state govts appointment of financial officerA policeman and a civilian were shot at and injured by militants in Anantnag and Pulwama districts of south Kashmir on Saturday, the police said.

According to a police official, special police officer Turag Singh on traffic duty in Khanabal Chowk area of Anantnag was fired upon by unidentified militants, leaving him injured, a police official said.

The injured policeman was rushed to a nearby hospital, from where he was referred to a hospital here for better treatment, he said.

In Pulwama district, a civilian -- identified as Mohammad Ashraf Mir, a resident of Machpuna Pulwama, but presently staying in Chanapora area of the city -- was shot at and injured by militants near Murran Chowk area, the official said.

Mir was rushed to a hospital and his condition was stated to be critical, he said.

On Thursday, militants killed a special police officer was killed and injured his wife in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir. In another incident that day, militants fired upon a man at Chancer in Kulgam district. He was hit by a bullet in the leg and was admitted to a local hospital.Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh is expected to fly to Iraq on Sunday in a C-17 plane to bring back mortal remains of the 39 Indians, killed in the war-torn country, sources said today.

Sources also said the minister is expected to bring back the bodies by late Monday or Tuesday.

MoS Singh will most probably leave tomorrow for Iraq to bring back mortal remains of these 39 Indians. After coming back, he will first go to Amritsar followed by Patna, Kolkata to hand over bodies to their relatives, a source said.

Families of some of these victims had met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj here on March 26.

Earlier this month, Swaraj had told Parliament that as many as 40 Indians were abducted by terror group ISIS from Mosul in Iraq in June 2014, but one of them escaped posing as a Muslim from Bangladesh.

The remaining 39 Indians were taken to Badoosh and killed, she had said.The social media monitoring cells of paramilitary forces have noticed suspicious Facebook profiles, mostly of women posing as research scholars or tourists, and believed to be operated by Pakistani and Chinese handlers, attempting to befriend troopers active on social media.

Senior paramilitary officers, who asked not to be identified, say there has been an increase in the number of such approaches over the past two to three years, especially targeting troopers posted on Indias eastern and western borders. They said there has been no leakage of sensitive information because of strong preventive mechanisms.

Earlier this year, a senior IAF officer was held for being allegedly involved in espionage and attempting to access sensitive documents after being befriended by a woman on a social media platform.

Read | Seduced by models on Facebook, IAF officer shared secret info with Pakistani agents

The messages are usually innocuous. One such message, seen by HT, reads: I am a student from China now my major is international relationship. I have to finish a essay about Indo-China border police. Is it convenient for you to offer me any stories about their daily life? If you need my help next time, I will try my best!

The paramilitary officers said the efforts target troopers of the Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Central Reserved Police Force (CRPF). The individuals claim to be interested in visiting India as a tourist or in some cases pose as research students.They initiate conversations with troopers who post their professional details online or have their photographs in uniform, a senior ITBP officer said.

The official added that under the social media guidelines for the forces , it is clearly mentioned that troopers and officers must not accept friend requests from strangers and also refrain from putting out official details on their profile.

Documents seen by HT show that troopers and officers have been asked to be particularly careful while using Facebook, Twitter, Vkontakte, Qzone, Odnoklassniki, LinkedIn and Google+.

There are lapses, the ITBP officer admitted, usually involving junior troopers. They do not have that much access to sensitive information but whenever such things are noticed, measures are immediately taken to inform the concerned jawan. With the checks and balances in place that we have, no untoward case has been reported.

Subimal Bhattacharjee, a cyber policy adviser and a member of the Research Advisory Network of Global Commission on Internet Governance, said this looks like a surveillance exercise aimed at finding out three key details: size of companies posted in sensitive regions, troop movement and type of weapons used by forces.

Despite being directed to check their social media activities, paramilitary forces are increasingly using online platforms to communicate. The threat is very real and security personnel have been found using symbols and uniforms of their force, making them vulnerable, Bhattacharjee said.

A senior Border Security force offer added: We cant say for sure whether the profiles are handled by Pakistani or Chinese nationals but without a doubt there is a malafide intent beneath all this.

A senior officer of the CRPF said on condition of anonymity that while the social media monitoring cells are monitoring online activities 24X7, there is a need for far greater vigil given the vastness of social media.The top leadership of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will go into a five-day huddle in April to draw up the specifics of the organisations role in the run-up to the 2019 general elections, a senior RSS functionary aware of the planned meeting said.

The meeting comes in the wake of feedback from RSS foot soldiers and affiliates that hints at growing disappointment with the BJP-led government at the centre and in poll-bound states such as Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh.

Although the RSS, the ideological fount of the BJP, asserts that it is not involved in electoral politics, it has decided to coordinate with the BJP and oversee poll preparations for the Lok Sabha elections as well as assembly elections in states where the BJP is in power, the person cited above said on condition of anonymity.

According to him, RSS brass led by its chief Mohan Bhagwat will meet in Pune from April 17 to 21 for the brainstorming.

It is not clear if the RSS will invite the BJP high command to the meeting.

There are several reasons for which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government seems to be losing support-- these are mostly related to the economy, job cuts and the recent bank scams. The Sangh feels that there ought to be better communication between the party and the people, and these issues will be taken up at the Pune meeting, the functionary said.

BJP spokespersons did not respond to queries about the impending RSS meeting in Pune.

Another concern in the RSS is the growing coalition of regional parties readying to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will again be the BJPs face for the 2019 elections. Parties such as the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), theTelangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are in the process of forming a federal front to take on the BJP.

The Sangh doesnt think highly of coalitions.

While the BJP has been euphoric about state electoral triumphs, taking to 21 the number of states where it is in power, the RSS is apprehensive about the partys recent reverses in by-elections in states it is already governing. Another RSS functionary, who also requested anonymity said the by-election results in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the loss the party faced in Punjab, the dip in its numbers in Gujarat, the home state of Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, are being perceived as warning signs. The BJP lost all the Lok Sabha seats in the recently held by-polls in UP and Bihar; two seats in Rajasthan and two assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh.

The Sangh brass has hinted at the need to change the partys leadership at the state level in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh; there are apprehensions about the administration of states such as Haryana and Uttarakhand, which will be discussed with the BJP high command before the campaign rolls out, the second functionary said.

Aprils meeting is also a clear sign that the RSS will seek to strengthen the BJPs election campaign, ending speculation that the Sangh is not on the same page as the party on several key issues, including economic policies.

 The RSS and the BJP are closely associated. While winning elections is crucial for the BJP, the Sanghs larger agenda is cementing its ideology and maximising its reach. The RSS has been around even during the Congress rule, but it is to its advantage if the BJP comes to power; so it will pull out all the stops to help the party, said an associate professor at Banaras Hindu University, who asked not to be named.Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led governments in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat for the desecration of Ambedkar statues and the murder of a Dalit man allegedly for owning and riding a horse.

She didnt spare the Narendra Modi government either for its alleged insensitivity towards these caste-based cases.

Instead of making Baba Saheb Ramji Ambedkar a part of a selfish motive, the Yogi Adityanath government in UP must set aside its insensitivity in dealing with casteist cases and act against the culprits, the BSP chief said and appealed to the people to maintain peace.

In a statement issued on Saturday, hours after Ambedkar statues were desecrated in UP, one each in Allahabad and Sidharthnagar, she said: Rather than letting Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar in his popular identity, the Yogi government is trying to make him Ramji Ambedkar to serve its political selfishness.

The government instead should act with an iron fist against all those anti-social people so that such incidents do not take place again, she said.

According to Mayawati, the desecration happened because of a lack of intent to act against miscreants.

She said replacing the damaged statues with new ones wont solve the problem, and the government should implement law and order seriously.

The former UP chief minister questioned Prime Minister Modis silence on cases related to casteist oppression and Dalit atrocities.

She accused the Gujarat government of protecting the culprits involved in the murder of a young Dalit man, who was killed after he allegedly refused to follow an upper-caste order to give up a horse he had bought. It has been alleged that Dalits are not allowed to ride or own horses, a traditional symbol of nobility.

The poison of casteism is too widespread in Gujarat and the government was doing nothing to curb it, Mayawati said.Everyone has a number to offer. Six for Kunsang, four for Lobsang, 13 for Yangzom.

Everyone also has stories to go with the number. Yangzom offers one about her friend, Thinley (Name changed). A decade after fleeing Tibet to come to India, he started getting desperate to return. A teaching job in Mcleodganj and a circle of friends notwithstanding, the separation from his family in Tibet had started overwhelming him. With the Chinese authorities not relenting, the only way he could go back was to cross over into China, clandestinely, from Nepal. He tried doing exactly that, only to be arrested by Chinese authorities and deported back to India.

Had he been successful, Thinley would have been Yangzom Tserings 14th Tibetan friend to have left India in the last few years.

In Mcleodganj, the home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan community in India, it is now becoming increasingly apparent: the town is fast losing its Tibetans to migration. Youngsters are quick to quantify this by the number of friends they have lost to this trend.

While some are migrating to the West, many are now choosing to go back to Tibet.

Lobsang Wangyal, a journalist and the organiser of the Miss Tibet beauty pageant. (Anushree Fadnavis, Hindustan Times)

The numbers are hard to come by-the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) confirms the trend but says it has no way of quantifying it, especially those returning to Tibet. Unofficial estimates from the Foreigners Registration office in Dharamshala indicate the number could be as high as around 100 Tibetans of estimated 15,000-strong Mcleodganjs population having migrated each year in the past two years.

What is worrying the community is that even while young Tibetans are keen to move out, the inflow of Tibetans into India has now reduced drastically; it is down to a trickle, says Sonam Norbu Dakpo, the spokesperson for the CTA.

As the community, spread over 44 other residential settlements across 10 states in India, embarks on celebrations to mark the start of the 60th year of its existence in India this week with a host of events spread across the country, many of these questions are now gaining traction, especially after the Indian governments stunning refusal to participate in these celebrations, purportedly to salvage its ties with China.

Not Just The Lure Of A Better Life

To understand better why young Tibetans are preferring to move out of India is to understand the complexities that surround every Tibetans existence here.

On paper, the Indian government recognises Tibetans only as foreigners, not refugees. India has refused to sign the 1951 United Nations convention on refugees, which defines refugees and makes States accountable for their wellbeing. The governments obstinance has proved costly for the community. They cannot own any property here, neither can they apply for government jobs. Till 2014, Tibetans could not even avail of loans to start businesses. Though that policy has been changed on paper, there has been little change in ground realities. Although the law allows them to take up private sector jobs, there have been cases of even those being denied by companies since they are not Indian citizens.

Economically, many of the Tibetans in Tibet and across the world are doing relatively better than the Tibetans in India, says Lobsang Yangtso, a Tibetan, born in Tibet, who is finishing her PhD from New Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University. Yangtsos statements are validated by data coming out of Tibet indicating robust economic growth in the region. Yangtso is now contemplating a move to the West, possibly the US, to pursue her post-doctoral studies. I am not allowed to teach in Indian government-run universities here, nor work for the government. This restrict my options a lot, she reasons.

A close friend of hers recently went back to Tibet, after having been raised in India and studying biotechnology. His parents insisted on his coming back.

CTA spokesperson Sonam Norbu Dagpo agrees with the trend. The number (of Tibetans migrating) is definitely on the increase. The communitys youngsters have rising aspirations which, often, are not realised here.

Economic migration, however, is a small part of the story. The Tibetan communitys precarious existence in India is symbolised by a document called the Registration Certificate and a ritual around it. The very act of renewing it is an unnerving one; imagine lining up to get a document renewed, knowing your entire existence depends on that one signature, says Tenzin Choezin, the head consultant at the Tibetan government-run Tibetan Career Centre, which guides young Tibetans through various career options. Till recently, Tibetans would have to queue up each year to renew it. The policy was changed in 2014, making the document valid for five years.

The India Factor

Behind the precarity that the RC carries lie the perceptions around the Indian state and its inconsistent policy towards the community. Prime among these is the contradiction that while it backs the Tibetan struggle in many ways, India has always maintained that Tibet is a part of China.

In addition, with the Dalai Lamas advancing age, an anxious community in India is increasingly trying to gaze into the crystal ball of State policy, looking for signs that the Indian government wont turn its back on them after his death.

A string of recent events has not left them feeling very optimistic.

After a Public Interest Litigation last year paved the way for Tibetans to apply for Indian citizenship, the Indian government issued a circular in June that many felt was a rude reminder of their precarity. The government asked Tibetans opting for Indian passports to vacate their homes in Tibetan settlements and the accompanying welfare benefits. Many Tibetans panicked, many protested. The Indian government, later, revoked the order partly-Tibetans will still lose their benefits but they dont have to vacate their homes anymore.

This partial relief it provided was short-lived. In early March there were news reports of cabinet secretary PK Sinha having issued an order discouraging Indian bureaucrats and leaders from participating, ironically, in a series of events organised by the Tibetan government-in-exile to thank the Indian State for its support to the community in the past six decades. (Union culture minister Mahesh Sharma was, however, present in Dharamshala on March 31 at the opening event of the year-long programme planned by the Tibetans.)

Many in the community keep wondering what will become of the community after His Holiness and whether India will continue to allow us to live here or not, says Tenzin Tselha, the National director for the Students for a Free Tibet, an active youth body which mobilises youngsters for the cause of an independent Tibet.

This unease is also driving many to migrate to safer places. Older parents, Tselha says, are thinking ahead and asking their children to start looking beyond India. Parents in Tibet are asking their children to come back while those in India are pushing their children to move to the US and Europe, she adds.

When Migration Begets Migration

Complicating this mix of the economic and political is the personal.

Some, like Tsering Tsos sister, just dont fit in. Her sister came here when she was 17 and stayed on for a few years, pursuing her education. But she wasnt enjoying it. She missed family and the environment; she didnt know how to communicate with people, especially because of the language barrier and hence, returned recently, says Tsering.

A crucial factor that drives many to migrate is also the distance that migration creates in personal relationships.

Tibetan youth in India, separated from their families in Tibet, are forced to rely on close friends and acquaintances they make. This situation brings the children together and they become each others family away from home, developing very close bonds, says Sonam Dechen, Associate Director of the Mcleodganj-based Tibetan Centre For Conflict Resolution, which works extensively with young Tibetans. With the growing migration, these bonds might now be coming loose.

Tsultrim, a Tibetan living in India, and his partner Molly speak to his mother in Tibet via WeChat, while the two have lunch in Mcleodganj. (Anushree Fadnavis, Hindustan Times)

Kunsang Tenzings story exemplifies this. The 33-year-old came to India at the age of six, after his divorced parents put him in his grandmas care, who then took Kunsang to India. He has never lived with his family since then; they admitted him to a boarding school and soon after, migrated to the United States. He remembers the winter breaks at school distinctly-he spent them in the school dormitory because he had no family to come home to.

Kunsang found solace in the company of six close friends that he made while growing up. They became his family.

They have now all left, spread across Europe and North America. In the next one or two years, I will be gone to the US too, he says.

But, the journey to boarding the flight out is seldom easy. Many first gain entry through a tourist visa and later seek political asylum as a refugee. Often, though, their statelessness makes it difficult to obtain even a tourist visa; locals say only two of every 10 applications are successful.

Agents get fake documentation made and charge differently for each country. The going rate for the US, for instance, is about Rs 20 lakh, says Lobsang Wangyal, a journalist and the organiser of the Miss Tibet beauty pageant.

Then there are sham marriages, where foreign tourists offer to marry young Tibetans for a price and a visa. A local journalist, not wishing to be identified, recounts one of her friends had agreed to pay an American tourist close to Rs 15 lakh to get a spouse visa.

The CTA admits to these happenings. There is an international mafia at work which is smuggling Tibetans out and charging huge sums of money. Hence, we are educating our community to not get involved with this, said Karma Choeying, additional secretary of the CTAs Home department. He recounts cases of people being dropped in the middle of Africa unexpected and being arrested. We had to work through UN agencies to get them released.

The Fall-Out

Some in the community believe that migration will have a net positive effect, pointing to the increased awareness about the Tibetan cause being a result of migration. The Tibetan diaspora contributes immensely to the cause, especially because of their improved financial standing, says Dawa Rinchen, the CTAs officer in-charge of the Dharamshala settlements.

But, the emigration is leaving the CTA with few takers for agriculture and handicraft production, the communitys traditional occupations. Young Tibetans who achieve higher education dont want to come back to agriculture and instead, want to move to other countries for a better life. Our handicraft societies, especially, are not doing too well, Choeying, from the CTAs home department says.

Many point to the resultant brain-drain. Migration is not bad for the cause because people continue to contribute to the struggle even when they move away. The problem is that skilled people are moving out of the Tibetan community in India, creating a lack of skilled, well-trained people in India, says Yangtso.

Choezin, from the Tibetan Career Centre, agrees. The best of our minds are going away, often to wash dishes in a European cafe.

For many young Tibetans, having grown up without as much as a letter from their parents due to the censorship in China, the desire to migrate is often interwoven with a desire to, finally, find a home.

For some like Tsultrim, 30, home might be the United States where he plans to move and settle down later this year with his partner Molly Laurie, an American journalist based in Mcleodganj. This doesnt come without its pangs of anxiety. Tsultrim has been craving to go back to Tibet to see his ailing mother; his visa request has been rejected eight times by the Chinese authorities.

For many others like Yangzom whose desire to move is driven by financial need, migration means leaving behind her life in India she carefully cultivated. For her, home might mean having to recreate all of that again.

But some like Yangtso have made peace with the realisation that the move might not end the search for home, after all.

The concept of home is complicated. Somewhere deep down, it is so much more than just being a house. It doesnt really matter where you settle down.

On the Move: A Tibetan in India explains while she must migrate to the West for the sake of her family in Tibet

Tsering Yangzom fled Tibet to come to India 19 years ago, but is now planning to move to the West. (Anushree Fadnavis, Hindustan Times)

She had to check herself in disbelief each time she studied the options. 19 years ago, when she clutched a strangers hand to flee the horror of her life in Tibet, she never imagined she would ever want to do this.

But, here she was. For months now, she had been trying to figure out different ways to go back to Tibet. Her brother had been constantly asking her to come back.

28-year-old Tsering Yangzom didnt remember the last time she saw him in flesh. But, he was calling her now, telling her that they should reunite. Because we dont know what happens to people when, he kept telling her.

Going back was a big decision. When Yangzom left Tibet, she was escaping not just the Chinese invasion. She was escaping from what she had hoped was an escape. Left orphaned when she was only a few months old, Yangzom lived with her aunt and her husband. I was treated as a maid servant there; by 5, I was working not just on their farm but also on other peoples farms, she says. A kind neighbour, a witness to her struggle, took her away to Lhasa, a journey that took 15 days on foot. From there, she escaped to Nepal and, ultimately, reached India.

For her, life in India has been like a dream. Currently, she handles Public Relations for the National Democratic Party of Tibet, the primary political party of the Tibetans in exile. I gain immense satisfaction from my job. You can do so much more for the Tibetan cause from here, in Mcleodganj. Having grown up without it, Yangzom says the thing that she enjoys the most at work is the atmosphere; the support and the solidarity with her colleagues who have turned close friends has kept her going, she says.

This wont hold her back, though. Till a week ago, she had been desperately studying every option she could to go back to Tibet. He really wanted to see me, she insists. Then, she got an unexpected phone call from her sister in Tibet. Her brother, 42, was dead.

Her family tells her he passed away in his sleep. I dont know if that is a fact.

His death has robbed her of the reason to go back to Tibet. But, it has given her the reason to move out of Mcleodganj nonetheless. My brother has 5 children and his death has landed them in dire straits. The only hope is if I could migrate to the West and send them money so that they could go to school, she reasons.

Having worked in non-governmental organisations for seven years now, Yangzom knows that the money is not enough to sustain her family. She cant be content with the friends and the good atmosphere she has found here, any more. She hopes to recreate it again, though. Of the 14 friends I had here, 13 have migrated to the West; most of them are in America.

Nineteen years after her escape, Yangzom now prepares to start her life afresh all over again.The Sikkim governments decision to prohibit sale of some non-organic vegetables and fruits in the state from Sunday has drawn the ire of traders, who fear the move, apart from affecting their businesses, will also lead to food crisis.

Sikkim was declared an organic state in January 2016 after it made the use of chemical pesticides a criminal offence. To give a further push to its organic-farming experiment, the state government headed by five-time chief minister Pawan Chamling had earlier announced a blanket ban on entry of selected non-organic vegetables and fruits into the state from April 1. Later, it modified the decision saying it would not prevent entry of the non-organic items into the state, but would not allow their sale.

We will not check consignments and confiscate non-organic products entering Sikkim, but we will not allow their sale in our markets from April 1, said secretary of Sikkims horticulture department Khorlo Bhutia.

With the ban coming into effect in another 24 hours, traders in the state are in a defiant mood.

We will continue to bring non-organic farm produce and sell them. Since the government failed to understand our problems, we will continue to do what we have been doing for decades, said vice president of the All Sikkim Traders Association (ASTA) Lakpa Sherpa.

Sikkims farmers cannot meet the total local demand for fruits and vegetables. This demand goes up during tourist seasons. More than 95% of fruits and vegetables consumed in Sikkim comes from Siliguri in West Bengal, said Sherpa. The ban can only lead to a crisis, he added.

A wholesaler of fruits, associated with the Lall Bazaar Traders Association in Gangtok said: The state capital alone requires 35,000 kilos of potato and 50000 kilos of banana each day. Local farmers simply cannot meet the demand.

Traders in Sikkim feel that most vegetables will soon be in short supply. Only organic cabbage, cauliflower and beans may meet the local demand since these are produced in large quantity in the state.

But the difference in price is huge. Organic cauliflower is being sold at Rs 120 a kilo against Rs 20-25 for the non-organic variant, said a trader at Gangtoks Lall Bazaar.

Traders in Siliguri are equally worried.

Tapan Saha, former president of Siliguri Onion and Potato Merchants Association said: Though the Sikkim government has the right to do what it feels will be good for the state, the ban on sale of non-organic products will affect many lives.

More than 70 tons of vegetables and fruits are sent to the hilly state every day from Siliguri. It will take Sikkim a long time to become self-sufficient in organic farming, Saha said, adding hundreds of traders and wage labourers in Siliguri will suffer due to this ban.

Sikkim government, however, said there would be no shortage.

We have adequate supply of organic fruits and vegetables in our state. We are promoting our farmers and the move is not meant to affect anyone, Bhutia pointed out.

Non-organic products to be prohibited for sale in Sikkim include maize, beans, brinjal, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, capsicum, carrot, chayote, cucumber, drumstick, okra, leafy vegetables, spinach, pea, radish, tomato, pointed gourd, banana, guava, mango, orange, papaya, ginger, green chili and turmeric.The United States has said it has discussed with India a newly enacted American law that could potentially determine the purchase of the S-400 air defence missile system from Russia as sanctionable activity.

In a carefully worded statement to Hindustan Times, the US state department did not directly say if the purchase of the weapon system by India was sanctionable.

Refusing to confirm or deny discussions with the US on this issue, an Indian official in New Delhi said, Indias relations with third countries (such as Russia) were not a part of discussions with the US and our defence requirements were determined by us only, independent of pressures and outside influence.

India and Russia finalised an inter-governmental agreement on the S-400 Triumf air defence systems in October 2016 and are currently in advanced negotiations for at least five systems worth an estimated $4.5 billion. The negotiations have been stuck because of differences over the price, Indian officials said.

Reports have suggested India and Russia will try to sort out these differences during defence minister Nirmala Sitharamans upcoming visit to Moscow. Vladimir Drozhzhov, deputy head of Russias federal service for military-technical cooperation, told reporters on Thursday Moscow hopes to ink the deal with New Delhi in 2018.

But the deal could set India and the US on a collision course, Cara Abercrombie, a US defence department official with expertise on military ties with India and who is currently with Carnegie, wrote in an op-ed in Axios, an online news publication, this week.

It could leave India open to sanctions under the Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which mandates the US administration to punish entities engaging in a significant transaction with...the defense or intelligence sectors of Russia.

The legislation was signed into law by President Donald Trump in August 2017 and went into effect in January. It seeks to punish Russia for malign activities in Ukraine and Syria and meddling in the 2016 US polls.

Abercrombie suggested a waiver from US Congress to allow India to go ahead with the deal in view of its security needs.

A US state department spokesperson said on Friday in response to a question on whether the S-400 deal could run into CAATSA trouble, We have discussed CAATSA with the government of India, and the US intends to work with our partners to help them identify and avoid engaging in potentially sanctionable activity.

The spokesperson added: We are engaging with a range of countries to avert future defence acquisitions, and the secretary of state will take appropriate action when and if we determine sanctionable activity has occurred.

At stake is also Indias long-standing defence relationship with Russia, something the Americans acknowledge as they try and wean India away from its ally of several decades.

Approximately 60% of Indias defence inventory is Russian-made, Abercrombie wrote in the op-ed, adding this was a legacy of Indias Cold War-era relationship with the Soviet Union.

She added, Forcing India to abruptly cut off Russian supplies would create unacceptable risk to Indias self-defence. If forced to choose between a robust, well-equipped military and US goodwill, India would likely choose the former.

After Russia and Turkey signed an $2.5-billion agreement last December for four batteries of S-400s, US officials threatened Ankara with sanctions under CAATSA. Turkey angrily brushed aside these threats.

Each S-400 surface-to-air missile system includes a radar and targeting equipment, multiple missile launchers and a command and control centre, and can detect and bring down drones, stealth aircraft, and ballistic and cruise missiles within a range of 400 km and up to 30 km.

The system can operate under conditions of intense enemy fire and electronic countermeasures. Its missiles can hit aerial targets at ranges up to 250 km and intercept ballistic missiles across a 60-km radius.

China was the first overseas customer for the S-400 and Russia recently began supplying the six systems ordered in 2014. Saudi Arabia is also in talks for the system but negotiations have been held up by differences over transfer of technology.With the arrest of four people, the Alwar police on Saturday claimed to have solved the murder mystery of Khairthal businessman Mukesh Agarwal.

Three of the arrested people are residents of Raipur Mewan village under Kishangarhbas police station in Alwar district, while the fourth person belongs to Haryana, Alwar superintendent of police Rahul Prakesh told reporters. All the accused are aged between 18 and 25 years.

Agarwal, a 40-year-old businessman, was shot dead when he was going to his house after closing his shop on March 9, said Prakesh, adding that the accused took away his bag containing money.

The shooting incident caused outrage among the local residents and traders and Khairthal remained closed for three days.

Prakesh said that during investigation in the case, police interrogated criminals of nearby states, but could not get success. The police also kept watch on employees working at Agarwals shop and found the activities of an employee, Chotu alias Dharmendra, suspicious. Further probe established that Chotus cousin Lal Chand had a criminal background in Haryana. Police then interrogated Chotu and Lal Chand and solved the murder mystery, said Prakash.

The SP said that Chotu had told his cousins Kuldeep and Lal Chand about Agarwals wealth. The duo, along with another cousin, Sunil of Haryana, planned to loot Agarwal. Sunil provided a 9mm pistol for the loot.

On the day of murder, after being informed on mobile phone by Chotu, all the three accused reached near the Agarwals shop and waited for him. When Agarwal came out of the shop, Lal Chand and Kuldeep tried to snatch his bag, said Prakash. When he resisted, Lal Chand fired from the country-made pistol at him and both snatched the bag containing 1.2 lakh and fled, he added.

After their arrest, the police are interrogating the accused further to find out their involvement in other cases, the SP said.Newly-appointed AICC general secretary in-charge for organisation and training Ashok Gehlot Saturday said his new role at the national level notwithstanding, he would continue to play an active role in Rajasthan politics.

It was believed that with Gehlot getting the vital responsibility in the organization, state Congress president Sachin Pilot will now get a free hand in managing the affairs of the partys state unit. Gehlot, however, has indicated that his involvement in Rajasthan politics was far from over.

Recalling the words of former Jodhpur Maharaja Hanuwant Singh after being elected to the first Lok Sabha, Gehlot said: Mai thansu door nahin (I am not far from you). Speaking to media here, he said that Rajasthan was and would always be close to his heart.

Asked whether after getting the new responsibility, he would be away from the states politics, Gehlot said that even when he was made in-charge of Gujarat elections, such rumors did the rounds.

The former Rajasthan CM who a day ago replaced Congress veteran Janardan Dwivedi as in-charge for organisation and training, said he would work towards strengthening the Congress before the 2019 general elections. Gehlot also said that he was given the new responsibility because of his loyalty towards the party and Congress president Rahul Gandhis trust in him.

I would do everything possible to rise to his (Gandhi) expectation, he told reporters.

The Congress leader arrived in Jodhpur Friday to condole the death of his close friend Jawahar Surana. A senior Rajasthan Congress functionary, Surana died Friday at a private hospital following prolonged illness.

Terming his new role in the party a huge responsibility, Gehlot said, I would do my best to meet the partys expectations. I have always treated myself as a simple worker of the party regardless of the responsibilities and have always tried to put in my best.

This is a huge responsibility for me and I would now work to further consolidate the position of the party keeping in view the general election next year, he said.

We together would work for strengthening the party, expand its base and bring it back to the power by infusing a new life in the Congress and its cadres across the country, Gehlot said.

He said more youths would associate with the Congress after they are told about the partys ideology and the contribution and sacrifices of great leaders. We need to think about the atmosphere of fear, hatred, intolerance, and violence that has been prevailing in the country these days, Gehlot said.

The Congress would work for restoration of affection, love and humanity across communities and bring a peaceful atmosphere in the country, he said.

The senior Congress leader also brushed aside the talks of possible rift in the partys state unit. He said that in the three by-elections held recently in the state, the Congress won with huge votes. It was the result of the unity of the party leaders.

Gehlot said there was lot of resentment against the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government and people want change.After breach in a reservoir at Malsisar in Jhunjhunu district on Saturday afternoon water from the reservoir flooded the nearby area. However, there was no casualty, officials said.

Jhunjhunu collector Dinesh Kumar Yadav said that a reservoir of the water supply scheme suffered a breach causing the water to flow out of it. The reservoir was full to its capacity. There have been no casualties. The buildings and system of the reservoir have been damaged though, he added.

The water was moving towards the Malsisar village, but the district administration erected mud barriers with the help of JCBs (excavating machines) and diverted the water, said Yadav. The water moved towards the mounds where it stagnated. Were trying to cut through the mounds to help the water escape. Our tehsil and treasury buildings, besides two or three houses, have been flooded, he added.

The water to the Malsisar reservoir comes from Taranagar through pipelines. After filteration at Malsisar, the water gets distributed to the areas in Jhunjhunu and Khetri.

The collector said that 15-20 JCBs have been engaged to make way for the stagnated water. We called teams of National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force, but situation is under control and we didnt require much help from them, he added.Cats in Iraqs southern city of Basra are purring with delight as the countrys first feline hotel opens for guests. In a part of the country where many struggle to make ends meet, a prime venue for cat naps may seem like a luxury. But Mehdi Fadel, owner of Bella, a longhaired Angora, was enthusiastic when he heard about the 4Cats Pet Hotel on social media.

I really liked the idea because my family and I travel a lot and its always hard to find a place where we can leave our cat, he said as he came to take Bella home. The hotel was the brainchild of Ahmad Taher, a 24-year-old veterinary student and feline fan.

Ahmad Taher, a 24-year-old senior veterinary student, feeds a cat staying for short periods at the cat hotel. (AFP)

Located above a vets clinic, it provides a comfortable place for cats to play when the owners are away. A nights stay, including meals of pate, grooming and various other treatments, costs between 5,000 and 7,000 Iraqi dinars ($4-6). But its not just for fat cats  cash-strapped clients receive a discount.

Cats are king in the hotels two rooms. Its three current guests are free to play with toys, relax in beds, or take a snooze on a carpet of fake grass. There are even scratching posts for those who feel the urge to climb or sharpen their claws. Fadel, 23, said the hotel regularly sent him messages and pictures via the WhatsApp messaging app while he was away, keeping him up-to-date on Bellas stay.

Ahmad Taher clips the claws of a cat staying for short periods at the cat hotel. (AFP)

Mohammed Jassem, the vet who runs the clinic on the ground floor, said the idea of setting up a hotel for cats initially shocked residents of Basra, rich in oil but poor in infrastructure. But cat lovers quickly embraced the idea, he said. They like it and people began leaving their animals with us when they took off on holiday, he said. Taher said he plans to expand the hotel to host dogs and even birds.

Check out some more photos of the hotel:

One of the resident cats at a a cat hotel. (AFP)

Taher tends to cats. (AFP)

One of the resident cats at the cat hotel. (AFP)

Follow @htlifeandstyle for moreKABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  One of the founders of the Taliban and the chief enforcer of its harsh interpretation of Islamic law when they last ruled Afghanistan said the hard-line movement will once again carry out executions and amputations of hands, though perhaps not in public.Google on Saturday dedicated a doodle to mark the 153rd birth anniversary of Indias first lady doctor Anandi Gopal Joshi. The doodle is created by Bangalore-based artist Kashmira Sarode, who portrayed Joshi celebrating her medical degree.

As Google writes in its blog, In 1886, a young doctor stepped off a ship from America, eager to take up the role of physician in charge of the female ward at Kolhapurs Albert Edward Hospital. Not only was she Indias first female doctor, but she was only 19 years old at the time. Her name was Anandi Gopal Joshi, and her story is one of courage and perseverance.

As per the custom in the 19th century India, Joshi, born on March 31, 1865, was married at the age of nine; her husband encouraged her to continue her education. She earned her medical degree from the Womens Medical College of Pennsylvania, now known as Drexel University College of Medicine, and returned to India with dreams of opening a medical college for women.

Joshis young life was tragically cut short when she died of tuberculosis before her 22nd birthday. However, her legacy and the path she paved for generations of women continues today. Interestingly, even a crater on Venus is named after her! the blog adds.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for moreIts been a month of firsts for Bangeshwar Mahato, 62: first tiger attack, first drone. On February 28, a tiger snatched one of his cows and wounded another. About a week later, when he was resting in front of his hut one afternoon, some people from his village ran past shouting and pointing upwards. He looked up to see a small machine in the sky. It was a very small helicopter, he whispers.

Mahato is a farmer from Amliya village on the edges of the Lalgarh forest, in Jhargram, West Bengal. His was one of eight cows (seven adults and a calf) to disappear, one after another, in the last week of February. We initially thought it was hyenas, says Mahato. There are also leopards in the surrounding forests, but they dont attack such big animals.

After multiple complaints from villagers of three villages in the area, the forest department set up camera traps. What they saw on March 3 was a first for them too  an adult Royal Bengal tiger was stalking across the frame. This forest spanning parts of Jhargram and West Midnapore districts has no record of tiger sightings in documented history, going back 50 years, says state principal chief conservator of forests, Ravi Kant Sinha.

The clip sparked a frenzy in the villages and, as the forest departments scrambled to find and relocate the animal before there was more bloodshed, a worried state government sent in help via the Kolkata police, in the form of two drones (and cops to operate them).

For two days, the drones flew over the forest near the affected villages, but the vegetation was too thick for it to see through and the aerial scan was abandoned.

The hunt moved to the ground, where traps were laid. Three weeks on, there are still 30 people, including veterinarians and a tranquiliser team, on standby in the Lalgarh forest area, in case the traps or camera traps help net their prey.

The tiger is a cautious animal and it is always a challenge to capture one, says Nilanjan Mallik, field director of the states Sunderban reserve, which is providing assistance on the ground.

***

Villagers now keep their cows tethered indoors. Theyve been asked not to enter the forest until its caught. So they cant collect sal leaves for sale, or firewood. Earnings have dipped. (Vipin Kumar / HT Photo)

Worried villagers now walk about with their eyes trained on the ground, shouts greeting every fresh sighting of pug marks.

Three traps have been laid in the spots where the marks were most concentrated. First, goats were tried as bait; their bleats are often helpful in luring predators. After 16 days, the bait was changed to plump pigs, which were considered more tempting.

The tiger has studiously avoided the cages, even though pug marks have been found nearby.

Any trap or cage is a foreign object and a big cat can recognise this, says Mallik. In some cases, a tiger goes for the prey anyway because it is desperate. Here, there is enough prey for the big cat in the forest. There is plenty of boar and deer. So it can afford to ignore the traps.

***

At tea stalls, bus stops and chaurahas, the big cat is all anyone can talk about. Everyone has a pet theory about where its come from, why its here and the best way to catch it.

There is no tiger, says Anubrata De, a sales executive in his 40s taking a break at a tea shop gathering in Midnapore town about 40 km away. The Maoists dont want people to enter the forest. Thats why all this talk of a tiger.

What about the pug marks? says another man at the stall. Have you seen them yourself? De shoots back. How can a tiger not go for prey for so long?

Local hoteliers say people who come here for the hills, forts and forests are starting to ask if they can go tiger-spotting too. We read about it in the newspapers and thought why not at least try, says Saikat Das, a biker on holiday here with friends. (Vipin Kumar / HT Photo)

Paresh De, a chemist in Midnapore town, suggests they bring in hunters, build machans and wait for it to appear near the cages at night. To the locals who gather in his shop in the evenings, he has become somewhat of an expert. We need huge nets that will be thrown down on the tiger as soon as it is close, he says. I have watched a lot of such videos on YouTube.

The big cats even become something of a tourist attraction. Last week, Madhushudhan Karmakar, who runs an adventure tourism company in Jhargram, had a group of seven bikers walk into his office asking if he could help them go tiger-spotting. I explained that the forest is out of bounds right now, because of the tiger, he says.

The staff at the Rajbari government guest house in Jhargram say their visitors are asking about the tiger too.

Tourists generally come here for the peace and quiet, the hills, forests, and forts like Jhargram Raj Palace and Kurukbera. We read the newspaper and got curious. Since we were here, we thought why not at least try to spot the majestic Royal Bengal tiger, says Saikat Das, one of the bikers who approached Karmakar.

***

Pata is caretaker of this shrine to a local saint named Ram Swarup (seen in photo). He is believed to have lived here 85 years ago, next to the cave of a tiger that he befriended. (Vipin Kumar / HT Photo)

PUG MARKS FROM THE PAST Though recorded history does not have a mention of a big cat, the folk culture and history of adivasis in the area is replete with stories of tigers. On our Bondebota puja which happens in the end of March we worship the tiger. Every five years, 52 villages in the area get together to worship Bondebota or tiger god, says Indrajit Singh, 62, in Kakrajhor village of Jhargram. Another reference of tigers is found in the local history of Laljal village in Belpahari block. The people here follow a saint, Ram Swarup who stayed in the village 85 years ago and is believed to have a pet tiger. The image of the saint is also worshipped with the pet tiger and the cave of the tiger, which is next to his ashram is considered a holy place.

Conservationists think the big cat travelled here from either the Simlipal tiger reserve in Odisha, about 255 km away, or the Palamu tiger reserve in Jharkhand, 400 km away.

Tigers can travel long distances for a range of reasons, says Joydip Kundu, general secretary of the conservation organisation, Society for Heritage and Ecological Researches (SHER) and member of the state wildlife board. A stronger tiger may have chased it out of its territory. Sometimes, a disturbance like mining or road-building can prompt a move.

For the villagers, the reasons and origins are academic pursuits. They want to be allowed back into the forest.

Our lives depend on the forest. We get food and fuel from there. Our cattle graze there. How long can we keep them tied up at home? says Gopinath Murmu, 60.

Murmu claims to have seen the tiger even before the traps did. It was the size of a big calf but smaller than a cow, he says. I just saw it for a few seconds in the forest. Since then I have not ventured in or taken my cattle there.

***

The tiger hardly anyone has seen is now starting to affect the local economy. Couples like Murmu and his wife, who work as farm labour in harvest season, earn an additional Rs 50 a day collecting sal leaves, which are used to make plates, and twigs for sale as firewood.

With the forest out of bounds, these earnings have stopped. Now, some days we earn nothing. How will we eat if this goes on, Murmu says.

In the markets of Lalgarh, eateries are paying double for the sal leaf plates and dry wood fuel. Supply has really dipped, says Shyamal Mahato, who supplies sal plates from Lalgarh to Jhargram and Binpur 1.

***

The three policemen from Kolkata are still in Binpur 1, meanwhile. They have to stay put as long as the drones remain in the region. We were well-received by the people when we first arrived, said one. But since then, we have had little to do.

The villagers say they are losing patience with all the official talk and want to see some action. We are traditionally a community of hunters. If the department has failed let us do the job, said one villager who has been volunteering with the forest department to help keep villagers out of the forest. Why put our lives and livelihoods in danger?

The forest department reiterates that they are doing all they can. The tiger though has not moved out of the area, says chief conservator Sinha. We can only ask that people in the area to cooperate for their safety.Eleven schools in Diva and Mumbra were declared illegal on Thursday and the principals booked for running them for many years. Police said the education department of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) found the schools were illegal. Following this, an inquiry was conducted and on Thursday, a case was lodged with the Mumbra police station for cheating and other relevant sections of the IPC.

An officer from TMCs education department said, The eleven schools violated the norms of the Right to Information Act and were declared unauthorised by the district education officer. We had sent them several notices to close but they chose to ignore them. We had even published their names in the newspaper last year for parents to know. Finally when these schools did not bother to shut down, we approached the police.

These are among the 60 unauthorised schools across the city. Remaining schools will soon be targeted too, said the officer.

TMCs deputy municipal commissioner Sandeep Malvi confirmed that a case has been registered against the principal and secretaries of these 11 schools.

Deputy commissioner of police zone-1, D Swamy, said, Notices have been sent to 11 schools out of which eight are from Diva and three are from Mumbra.

Senior inspector of Mumbra police station, K Pasalkar, said, A case of cheating has been registered and we are investigating the matter. We have sent notices but the schools have exams so it will be not possible to vacate the schools at once.

A police source said, We have sent notices to all the schools and we suspect that there will be more than 1,000 students in them. The time to transfer them to another school is limited. Also, the other school might have enough students and we doubt there will be seats available.

Shakib Ansari, 34, a Mumbra resident, said, If the schools are illegal, how come the corporation woke up after so many years? They should not have allowed the school to be built in the initial stage. We cannot shift our children immediately. Also, the schools were nearby and our children would go walking. Now I doubt that our children will get admission in other nearby schools.Two of Maharashtras senior politicians, incumbent industries minister Subhash Desai and his predecessor Narayan Rane, used rampant discretionary powers, overriding opinion of their department and the Maharashtra Industries Development Corporation (MIDC), to denotify thousands of acres of land meant for industry in the state. Former chief minister Rane was recently elected to Rajya Sabha on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket.

This was revealed in an inquiry report by former bureaucrat KP Bakshi  tasked to examine denotification of industries land from 2002 to 2017 following allegations of graft against Desai  although it stopped short of indicting the two politicians.

The report was submitted to the state government on March 21 and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday, in the Assembly, gave a clean chit to Desai on the basis of the report. However, the chief minister missed mentioning the other details that have come out in the probe report.

The report states that in the past 15 years, from 2002 to 2017, in 160 denotification cases, around 32,000 hectares of land  roughly the size of 118 Bandra-Kurla Complexes  meant for industry was denotified.

Denotification of industrial land is controversial as land earmarked for industry, often close of cities and in prime developing areas, gets opened up for development. In many cases, land instead of going back to its original use  largely agriculture  is grabbed by private developers.

While the 15-year timespan included stints of various industries ministers, including Congress Patangrao Kadam, Rajendra Darda and Ashok Chavan, the report shows that maximum cases of denotification using discretionary powers were during the tenures of Rane and Desai.

There are 55 to 60 cases of denotification by Rane, followed by 40 to 45 by Desai. In majority of these cases, the ministers used their discretionary powers, overriding the opinion of their departments, said a senior industries official, who accessed the report. In the remaining instances, ministers did not use discretionary powers to go against opinion of the officials.

Desai has refuted the findings, pointing out that he had overruled the departments opinion in only a few cases.

Out of 7,000 hectares of land that was denotified in my tenure, the decision of around 5,000 hectares of land was in process when I took over and I found the decision to denotify just, said Desai. In only a few cases, I have taken a decision overruling the departments opinion and that too after considering farmers protests and pleas.

Till the time of going to press, Rane was not available for a comment as several calls to him went unanswered and there were no responses to text messages sent to him. The single-man committee led by Bakshi was set up by Fadnavis after allegations of graft against Desai, a senior Shiv Sena leader, for denotifying industrial land in Igatpuri taluka to favour some private developers.

Following an uproar in the state Assembly, Fadnavis set up an inquiry in August 2017, but expanded its scope to include industries ministers from 2002.

No, the report does not indict the ministers because they are entrusted with such powers by law. Also, my committee was not asked to unearth a scam, so it does not go into what happened behind the scenes pre and post such denotification, said Bakshi. However, my observation is that ministerial discretion in 5% to 10% of cases is okay. Using such powers rampantly may not be appropriate. The former bureaucrat also blamed the administration, saying in majority of the cases, the officials in the industries department had failed to cite correct rules, which could have deterred the ministers from taking unilateral decisions.

The committee was asked to examine if there were similar cases of industrial land denotifications as done by Desai in the Igatpuri (Nashik) case, whether this had been done by following government rules and whether there was any conflict of interest while making the decisions.

The report gave a clean chit to ministers over the conflict of interest charge, but pointed out that not all 160 cases of denotifications have happened by following all rules and regulations.

The report also observed that in many cases, the industries minister, who functions in two capacities as chairman of MIDC and as a minister, forwarded the denotification petitions selectively to either the MIDC CEO or the industries department secretary. The report observed that this raises suspicion on whether the decision was based on connivance between certain officials and ministers.

The government should decide guidelines to decide which proposal, depending on size of plot, can be forwarded to a secretary and which ones to the MIDC CEO, to avoid such suspicions and a possible nexus, said Bakshi. Desai said that in 2016, he flagged the issue that denotification of industrial land requires policy framework and cannot depend on discretion of minister or officials.

My decision to denotify has been based on prevailing ground circumstances, largely pleas from farmers, where the land was often not acquired and they continued to till it. Or there were instances where no progress had been done for years on such notified land, said Desai.

The report notes that Rane, in his defense before the committee, had said decisions were taken based on prevailing circumstances and as per his wisdom. He had pointed out instances of denotification where villagers had been opposed to such acquisition by industries department and even concerned collector had said acquisition costs would be high. Rane was the industries minister in CongressNCP governments from February 2009 to November 2009 and from November 2010 to October 2014. Desai took charge of the industries department in December 2014.A 59-year-old in Worli was duped to the tune of Rs9.50 lakh by a man, who faked his identity, under the pretext of marriage.

The complainant met the accused after he responded to a matrimonial advertisement she had posted in a newspaper in 2015. He identified himself as Madhukar Apte, a middle-aged manager of a private firm. Apte claimed that he was a divorcee and lived alone in Mulund, the woman said in her complaint. The duo met at a restaurant in Worli in 2015.

We started talking over the phone but I wanted him to meet my family. After some days, he met my mother and sister, the complaint read. When she prodded him for marriage, the accused told her that he will first get his son married.

The accused then started taking money from the woman regularly. He initially said his mother had a heart attack. Later, he took more money to purchase a plot in Ratnagiri, the victim said in her complaint. The accused avoided answering every time he was asked about marriage.

The victim then started asking him for the money she had given him. She smelt a rat when he asked the money to be transferred to the account of one Arun Gurav. When she confronted him, he told her that Gurav was his friend. To clear the dues, the accused gave her a cheque of Rs9.75 lakh which bounced.

After a few days, he told her that his mother passed away. When I tried contacting him later, his phone was switched off, the complaint read. She then decided to visit his place in Ville Parle.

When my sister went there, she learnt that no one called Apte stayed there. A woman opened the door, who told us she was Guravs wife, read the complaint. The victim was shocked to learn that Gurav had faked his identity as Apte.

In December 2017, when she confronted him, he confessed he was Gurav. He gave me three cheques which bounced, the complaint read. She then approached the Worli police who registered a case under section 419 and 420 of the IPC.After the fire at Kamala Mills compound in December that killed 14 people, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has added one more level of check to issue health licence and fire NOCs to businesses, while offering the service online under the ease of doing business policy.

BMC has mandated all applications for health licence will now be filed online. This applies to more than 35 types of businesses, including restaurants, bars and pubs, eateries, groceries stores, and clinics. While filing an application, the applicant will have to give an undertaking on fire compliance and attach relevant proof. The health official of the ward will check validity of the application, conduct a site inspection, give his nod, and forward the application to the fire and building and factory department. If an application is found invalid, the health official will inform the applicant within three days. The ward-level official from the newly-formed fire compliance cell will then inspect the spot for fire compliance. He is mandated to complete it within seven days. This officer reports to the assistant commissioner of the ward.

Similarly, the building and factory department will check if the building is commercial, legal or dilapidated. The department will give a nod within 10 days.

The application will then be sent to the ward officer, via the deputy health officer. The entire process will take upto 30 days from the date of application. If it is not completed during this time, the application will be cancelled.

While grave irregularities were noticed at Mojos Bistro and 1Above after the fire, the ward-level authorities claimed they had no knowledge of it, as final approvals were given by the departments. A civic official said, The licence will have the health officers digital signature. It can be issued only after the assistant commissioners nod. This means the ward officer will be kept in the loop about any irregularity.The Maharashtra government will file a review petition against the Supreme Courts order that bans automatic arrests and registration of criminal cases under the Scheduled Castes (SC) and the Scheduled Tribes (ST) Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989, a legislation meant to protect the marginalised communities from abuse and discrimination.

The state social justice minister, Rajkumar Badole, made the announcement on Saturday.

He said that the review petition will be filed through the Maharashtra State Commission for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe.

The bench of justices AK Goel and UU Lalit on March 20 had ruled that no arrests can be made under the Act without prior permission. It also held that a court can grant a pre-bail arrest (anticipatory bail) if it, prima facie, finds the complaint is an abuse of the law, false, motivated and intended to blackmail, or to harass a person. This was done to prevent the rampant misuse of the tough provisions of the law, according to the judges.

Badole said that they will also try to get the case transferred to the Constitutional Bench of the apex court as the legislation, which is being passed by the Parliament, cannot be changed due to an isolated case. He said the government will take the further steps after taking advice from the Attorney General of India, KK Venugopal.After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) consolidated its position as the single largest party in the Rajya Sabha after the recent elections to the upper House, the Maharashtra unit of the party has set its target of emerging as the largest party in the states legislative Council. By becoming the largest party in the upper House, the BJP will not only have a working majority with the help of its ruling partners, but will also be in a position to claim the posts of chairman and deputy chairman of the Council.

As many as 21 seats of the upper House are falling vacant in May, June and July, with the election process likely to begin from first week of April. These seats will be filled by 11 members of legislative Assembly (MLAs), six will be elected from local government bodies and two each will be chosen from graduate and teachers constituencies.

Based on the change in the number of MLAs after the 2014 elections and in local bodies during the last couple of years, the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are expected to lose their first and second position in the upper House.The BJP is aiming to win 9 to 10 of the outgoing seats in a bid to take over the reign of the upper House.

Congress and NCP together have a strength of 42 members, while the BJP-Sena collective has a tally of 27 members in the upper House. Of the members of legislative Council (MLCs) to be elected from among the MLAs, the Congress-NCP will be able to win only three seats against its outgoing tally of seven. From the six seats to be elected from the local bodies, BJP and Shiv Sena are likely to wrest at least three seats from the opposition parties. From among the teachers and graduate constituencies, the BJP is eyeing to win Nashik teachers constituency and trying to wrest the Konkan graduate seat from the NCP, said a Congress leader who is privy to the council elections.

The BJP may exchange support with the Shiv Sena for Hingoli-Parbhani local body constituency and Mumbai graduate constituency, where public health minister Deepak Sawant (Shiv Sena) is the sitting MLC. In Hingoli-Parbhani and in Nashik, the Shiv Sena holds the key in local bodies. NCP has sitting MLCs from both these seats. With improved numbers in the Osmanabad-Beed-Latur local bodies, the BJP is eyeing to dislodge Congress sitting MLC and former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukhs brother Dilip Deshmukh. The BJP is expected to retain its two seats from local bodies in Vidarbha.

According to the sources from these political parties, there will be a major understanding within parties for the three seats to be elected from Konkan. One seat has to be elected from graduates and local bodies, which are a mixed bag of all parties. Peasants and Workers Party of India MLC Jayant Patil may work out an agreement with the BJP, Shiv Sena and the NCP for his seat in exchange of support for other two seats. Various organisations representing teachers are likely to support Kapil Patil (Lok Bharti) in Mumbai and Sandeep Bedse, former NCP leader and close aide of Chhagan Bhujbal, in Nashik.

Once in the majority, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is likely to claim the posts of the Chairman and deputy chairman in the legislative Council. At present, Ramraje Nimbalkar of the NCP is the Chairman and Manikrao Thakre of the Congress is the deputy chairman of the upper House.

Besides the two important chairs, we will get a major respite from the oppositions high-handedness due to the lack of majority. It becomes almost impossible for the government to clear the major bills, forcing it to refer back to the Assembly for passage. The Opposition has been alleging about the bias of the Speaker in the Assembly, but the Council Chairman is not far behind when it comes to favouring the opposition, said a senior BJP minister.

State BJP chief Raosaheb Danve said the party is confident about consolidating the highest number of seats in the upper House. We will bag the maximum seats from those falling vacant over the next three months. We will be the largest party in the upper House. Our endeavour would be taking Shiv Sena along in these polls. Claiming the posts of chairman and his deputy will be a decision to be taken at an appropriate time, he added.

Congress leader and deputy chairman in the Council, Manikrao Thakre said, I think Congress-NCP will be able to retain the majority in the upper House. Even if we do not, it is not necessary that BJP-Sena combine will immediately claim the posts. We did not claim them when Sena-BJPs number reduced after their rule between 1995-99 and allowed NS Pharande to complete his term as the Chairman, he said.Just days ahead of the budget session of the state legislature that took off on February 26, estranged allies  the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)  announced that they would contest all upcoming polls together against the BJP.

The statement from the local leadership came days after NCP chief Sharad Pawar praised Congress president Rahul Gandhi and predicted ache din for the Congress. The coming together of the allies led to an expectation of a sharper political strategy. However, over the last month, during the budget session, one witnessed a dismantling of the Opposition as it failed to score on even a single issue in the legislature.

This was clearly not because of the lack of issues. The voters honeymoon period with the Devendra Fadnavis-led government, now three years old, is over. There is serious discontent on the ground and the farmers strike of last year, the Dalit agitations and the farmers long march this year are few examples of this.

Lack of co-ordinated strategy and leadership

Our leadership in the legislature is our biggest weakness. Instead of targeting the government on one issue and then holding on it for maximum impact, we generally chase too many issues, said a Congress legislator. The leader of the Opposition in the assembly, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, is not taken seriously within the Congress-NCP as he has failed to put the government on the mat through sharp speeches or exposes like his predecessor, BJP leader Eknath Khadse. There is a trust deficit regarding Vikhe-Patil, since everyone knows he shares cordial relations with the CM, said an NCP leader.

Other alternatives like former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, capable of a sharp and studied attack on the Opposition is probably not an option for the state Congress as he is isolated in the party and the NCP leadership continues to see him as an enemy.

The NCP is also battling leadership crisis as its senior-most leader, Ajit Pawar, continues to be hounded by the shadow of the irrigation scam. The leader of Opposition in the council, Dhananjay Munde while more aggressive than Vikhe-Patil is largely focussed on battling his cousin and BJP minister Pankaja Munde. This time he was also subdued, probably thanks to an audio clip that went viral, alleging he asked for a bribe to drop a calling attention motion.

This state of leadership has effectively left no impact in the legislature. For instance while the Opposition managed stalling the work of the house in the initial week, it failed to hit the government hard on anything.

A classic example of this is that the Opposition could not force the government to table former bureaucrat K P Bakshi committee report on industries minister Subhash Desai (submitted when the session was on) or even the Johnny Joseph-led committee report on bureaucrat Radheshyam Mopalwar to discuss the clean chits given to them.

They have to be on the offensive because situation has changed from 2014, said Prakash Bal, political analyst. He said the Opposition was a disaster because of Congress-NCPs darbari style of politics.

They dont want to get their hands dirty. They hope the political atmosphere will get created against the BJP and then they will sit back and reap the benefits, said Bal.It has been a fortnight since 28-year-old Kirti Vyas, a resident of Grant Road, mysteriously disappeared, moments after she is claimed to have been dropped close to her house by two of her friends on March 16.

Like every day, Vyas left her house for work at 8.50 am to board the 9.11 am Virar fast train from Grant Road station. Vyas did not return home that evening, following which around 11pm anxious family members called the salon at Andheri (East) where she worked. The family was told that Vyas never reported to work that day.

This prompted Vyas sister Shefali, to approach DB Marg police station. The police registered a missing complaint and began with the investigation.

The 15-day disappearance has made her family members extremely anxious. Shefali said that her missing sister was detected with Type 2 diabetes three years back and has been on daily medication. Shefali and Vyas friends have created a Facebook page to help trace her.

Each passing day is like a ticking bomb for us, said Shefali.

The police discovered through the Closed Circuit Televisions (CCTV) footage that Vyas had not reached the railway station that day.

In the footages investigated by the police, the woman is seen walking down the alley from her house to the main road, following which she gets into a Ford Ecosport vehicle, which had tinted glasses. Shop owners in the vicinity also told DB Marg police officers that they saw Vyas sitting in the vehicle.

Investigations led police officials to the vehicle, which belonged to her colleagues who claimed that they had dropped her near Navjivan Society on Lamington Road in Grant Road, after they went for a short trip around South Mumbai.

According to her colleagues, Vyas was with them for around 18 to 20 minutes, after which they dropped her on Lamington Road. But inexplicably, when police officers checked the missing womans call data records, they found that her phone was switched off at Mahalaxmi, an hour after her friends claimed to have dropped her.

We are investigating the case in all angles, but so far the woman has not been traced, said Pandurang Shinde, senior police inspector of DB Marg police station.

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Edit CloseThe Dahisar police have booked an unidentified truck driver, after two youngsters were killed when a dumper hit their two-wheeler on Friday morning. The incident took place around 6.35am at Dahisar.

One of the victims, Ritesh Gupta, 21, was died immediately from the impact. The other rider, Dhanu Gupta, 22, was taken to the hospital by the locals.

When the dumper hit the activa, the pillion rider was not wearing a helmet. Ritesh was perceived to be dead at the spot. Dhanu was rushed to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries, said an officer from the Dahisar police station.

We are currently recording statements of the eye witnesses. Teams have been formed, and we are on the lookout for the unidentified accused, said the officer.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ONWith the real estate sector hit by massive slowdown, the state government has decided not to hike the Ready Reckoner (RR) rates this year.

The order for this was issued on Saturday where the Inspector General of Registration said, Taking into consideration the slowdown in the real estate sector, there will be no hike in RR rates for the year 2018-19. The 2017-18 ready RR will continue to be applicable this year, across the state.

The RR is a guide published annually by the state government, which determines the rate of properties in a particular area, on which stamp duty and registration charges are levied. In addition, all calculations related to real estate are based on RR, whether it is premium, tax collection or even income tax matters related to the construction sector.

Any hike in RR would have had a cascading effect on the entire realty sector.

Builders have welcomed the order saying that the sector could not afford any hike in RR.

The realty sector is facing a slowdown, and so, it is good that the government has taken cognisance of it. Any hike would have had disastrous effect on the realty sector, said Sukhraj Nahar, chairman and managing director, Nahar Group.

The registration and stamp duty department determines the RR, on the basis of several factors. Some of the factors are stamp duty registrations, sales data, local surveys, visits to property exhibitions, as well as major transactions conducted in the year.In addition to making commute in the city easier, the Mumbai Metro-1 corridor (Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar) has now brought Mumbaiites together for one of the largest single-wall art projects in Mumbai. Commuters have breathed life into the Metro depot by painting on a 4,260-square-feet wall at Andheri. The colourful imagery is intended to depict life in a Metro.

The initiative, launched by the Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL), began on Saturday, with 86 commuters participating in the activity. In the second phase, which will begin on Sunday, volunteer artists from across the city will take over. The art is likely to be completed over the next three days.

With the intent to use metro spaces for creative expressions, MMOPL started the annual Majhi Metro (my Metro) festival in 2013, even before Metro lines became operational.

Earlier in 2014, they had organised a competition for college students to paint the stations walls with murals depicting life in Mumbai as a part of the festival. The Reliance-owned MMOPL constructed the citys first metro line on a public-private partnership.

A spokesperson from MMOPL said, Every year, we introduce something new to take the Majhi Metro festival forward. The objective is to bring the masses together and celebrate art at public platforms. The 11.4-kilometre Metro line corridor, with 12 stations, provides connectivity between the eastern and western parts of the city. Around 3.50 lakh commuters use this line on a daily basis.The first open senate at the University of Mumbai with elected members after three years brought together several members against one major problem that is plaguing everyonechaos surrounding the examinations and results.

Most members unanimously demanded that first and second-year examinations to be handed over back to colleges. Others questioned the reason behind re-hiring MeritTrac for On-Screen Marking (OSM) of university papers, especially after the chaos it caused last year. The university senate was hearing out an adjournment plea by one of the senate members on Friday evening.

The law department seems to be the worst affected because for assessment, we need teachers to report for assessment duty but in most colleges, 95% of the teaching staff consists of practicing advocates so we cant force them to report for assessment, said Rashmi Oza, head of the department of law, MU. She has suggested to the senate as well as the acting vice chancellor to exempt law from OSM. That way we can finish the assessment work quicker and announce results in time, she added.

While several senate members pointed that common exam time table has been causing trouble to teachers who end up supervising for exams till evening and then follow this with assessment duty, infrastructural limitations was another problem that was highlighted. Infrastructure management is a nightmare for almost all colleges, because not only are we looking at conducting degree college exams, but we also need the classrooms to conduct junior college exams. It impossible to manage all this and be able to adhere to the university set exam schedule, said Tushar Desai, senate member and principal of D G Ruparel College, Matunga.

Many senate members have also highlighted the problem in teacher tagging by MeritTrac, which led to confusion amongst teachers at the time of assessment.

For the time being, we have ensured that any technical glitches that had plagued the assessment process last year should not be repeated. MeritTrac has assured us that errors will be avoided as much as possible and our aim has always been to announce results in time, said Devanand Shinde, acting vice chancellor, MU.In its first open senate after three years, the University of (MU) presented a budget of Rs572.6 crore for the academic year 2018-19. This is the first open budget, as the senate comprises of elected and nominated members, unlike last two years where the senate members were all ad hoc.

However, the university once again failed to achieve its target of generating surplus. Instead, it showed a deficit of Rs51.1 crore for 2018-19. Owing to paucity of time, the budget will be discussed by the senate on Saturday before it is passed unanimously.

Some of the highlights of the budget include construction of a new museum complex and convention centre, new hostels for girls, quarters for teaching and non-teaching staff, digitisation of records and manuscripts from heritage library of the varsity.

Several projects and works of students from various art and architecture colleges and other institutes get dumped at the end of the year. We have decided to build a place that can house these works under one roof, said Devanand Shinde, acting vice-chancellor of MU.

Budgetary provision for the project is Rs3.5 crore. Shinde added the museum will work as a place to showcase the talent and ideas of students to outsiders. The purpose of the convention centre will be to hold exhibits and other workshops which can accommodate thousands of people.

The university is growing and so should our infrastructure, he said. All new constructions will come up at the universitys Kalina campus.

The budget also makes way for a common student placement cell, which will also be set up at the Kalina campus.

This cell will be open to the students of all [Mumbai university] affiliated colleges, said Shinde.

The MU has set aside Rs2 crore for staff quarters [100 rooms] and Rs3 crore to build girls hostel [500 rooms].

Although the senate lacked time to discuss the budget on Friday, many objected to receiving the proposed budget agenda less than 24 hours before the meeting.

This has given us no time to study the budget and share our concerns. Even worse, the university is tabling its budget after the government finished discussing the state budget. How does the university proposes to get state approvals for its budget now? asked a senate member.

Moreover, names of 10 student senate representatives were announced on Thursday  a day before the senate meeting.

We will share our concerns on Saturday, the member added.Women from across the city gathered at Azad Maidan on Saturday to protest against the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, demanding that the bill be withdrawn.

We do not want any changes in Sharia laws and completely believe in the teachings of our religion. The bill that is being brought in is anti-women, anti-children and will destroy our families and damage Muslim society. We reject all the moves by the government to bring in Uniform Civil Code (UCC), said Nazneen Qureshi, secretary, Urdu Teachers Union.

Women members of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), who had organised the protest, met governor C Vidyasagar Rao after the event to submit a memorandum with their demands.

The gathering at Azad Maidan was a part of larger protest that has been taking place across the country for months now, with Mumbai being the 180th location. The next demonstration is scheduled for April 4 at Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi.

The bill does not abide by the decisions of the court. When the Supreme Court calls triple talaq unconstitutional, how can the government criminalise it? How would the women get her maintenance if the husband is sent to jail? Talaq has never been an issue in our community, said Dr Asma Zahra, president of the womens wing of AIMPLB.

After the apex court struck down the practice of instant triple talaq last year, the bill was passed in Lok Sabha during the winter session, which criminalised the practice. As per the bill, the practice has been classified as a cognisable and non-bailable offence and a Muslim man pronouncing instant triple talaq would face three years imprisonment and a fine.

The bill requires approval from Rajya Sabha to become an act.

Last year, AIMPLB had submitted a petition with the signatures of five crore Muslim men and women to the Law Commission in support of Muslim Personal Law.

India is a secular democratic country where Right to Freedom of Religion is among fundamental rights guaranteed by our Constitution. The majoritarian attitude of the government is bulldozing this bill into a piece of legislation, which is unfortunate. The bill is completely anti-Muslim and not acceptable to Muslim women, said Monisa Bushra Abidi, member, executive committee, AIMPLB.The Supreme Court (SC) has directed city developer Fortune Infrastructure  earlier known as Hicon Infrastructre  to pay a Bandra resident,Trevor DLima, a sum of Rs2.27 crore as compensation for failing to hand over a flat booked by the latter.

In addition, the developer has been directed to refund the entire sum of Rs1.87 crore paid by DLima and pay an additional amount of Rs20 lakh for failing to hand over the parking lot.

Last week, the apex court confirmed the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions September 2016 order, holding the developer guilty of deficiency in service for failing to hand over the constructed flat and parking and therefore, liable to compensate the Bandra resident.

A person cannot be made to wait indefinitely for a flat booked by him or her, and is entitled to a refund and compensation upon the developers failure to deliver, said the apex court. However, SC has reduced the compensation amount ordered by the National Commission from Rs3.65 crore to Rs2.27 crores.

In October 2011, DLima had booked the 828-square-feet flat in Hicons Onyx on Saint Martin Road at Bandra (West) for a total consideration of Rs1.93 crore, of which he had paid Rs1.87 crore in instalments. Although the developer had accepted more than 95% of the total consideration for the flat and issued an allotment letter to the Bandra resident, it did not execute a formal sale deed in his favour.

After waiting for four years for the delivery of the flat, DLima approached the national commission in July 2015 when he noticed that the construction of the flat had not yet begun. He contended the developer had breached section 4 of the Maharashtra Ownership of Flats Act 1963, by accepting more than 20% of the sale consideration as advance payment without entering into a written agreement for sale.

The developer, who admitted that the flat along with a parking space had been booked in 2011, said that the project was delayed due to a change in the Development Control Regulations for the city. He also cited the non-cooperation on the part of the tenants residing in the old building at the site.

The developer had expressed inability to complete the project and handover the flat as booked by DLima. He pointed out that in May 2013, the land owner had entered into another agreement with Hicon Infrastructure and Zoy Shelcon, and had transferred the rights to redevelop the property in question to the latter.Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha on Saturday met politicians and prominent persons from various walks of life in Mumbai to chalk out a programme to target Prime Minister Narendra Modis policies which are harming the democratic institutions in the country.

The meeting, held under the banner of Rashtra Manch, was attended by former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, Congress MP Kumar Ketkar, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Majeed Memon, Bharatiya Janata Party (BP) dissident MLA Ashish Deshmukh and activists like Abha Singh among others. A state level core committee was formed under social activist Sudheendra Kulkarni to work out the modalities to protect the institutions of democracy which are under threat.

A series of agitations, including a silent march at Kolhapur on May 1, a farmers march ar Akola on April 7, and a rally at August Kranti Maidan in south Mumbai have been planned.

According to Majeed Menon, the whole initiative is to bring the non-BJP parties and like-minded people under one banner. He said, The Modi government is sparing no efforts to destroy various institutions like the judiciary, the media and the election commission. This forum has been formed to save them, said Menon. Prithviraj Chavan said, If these forces are not stopped, 2019 might be the last general elections in India, said Chavan.

Rashtra Manch is a non-political outfit formed on January 30 by Sinha, a bitter critic of Modi.A man accused of raping an eight-year-old girl was allegedly beaten to death by his neighbours in Loni, Ghaziabad, on Friday night.

Police rushed both the accused  24-year-old Jitendra  and the victim to the hospital. While the girl was admitted for treatment, doctors declared her alleged attacker dead on arrival.

Police said Jitendra had gone to attend a religious ceremony in the neighbourhood with his wife around 12.30 pm on Friday. After dropping her off at the venue, he brought the girl back home with him and allegedly raped her.

Neighbours caught hold of Jitendra after they noticed the child running out of his residence in tears, a police officer said, adding that they received a tip-off only after the accused was fatally injured.

Superintendent of police (Ghaziabad rural) AK Maurya said Jitendra was in an intoxicated state at the time of the incident. We took him to the hospital as fast as we could, but he had already succumbed to his injuries by then, he added.

The girls relatives have filed a police complaint.During the recent visit of the President of Vietnam, Tran Dai Quang, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken of both countries working for an independent, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. The visit of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, saw a Joint Strategic Vision of India-France Cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region, and this document refers to Indias central position in the Indo-Pacific, which has emerged as a major plank in our understanding of acting East. The terminological change ---- from looking to acting East --- represents an expansion of our focus area far beyond Southeast Asia. The Look East policy now represents a series of overlapping but concentric circles.

Chronologically, it is the middle or the South East Asian/Asean circle, which was the first to emerge with the Policy of Look East unveiled by former PM Narasimha Rao in Singapore in 1992. The 25th anniversary of this policy was observed with the presence of the Asean Heads of State or Government during the Republic Day celebrations.

Raos was the classic look east policy --- driven at both the bilateral and multilateral level - the former through bilateral relationships with the Asean member countries and the latter by using Asean as a regional organisation of the South East Asian countries. This was originally a trade and economy-driven relationship. although its security and strategic dimensions have steadily expanded.

The circle closest to us geographically emerged some years later between 1997 and 2004. In the former years, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand formed BIST-EC (EC stood for economic cooperation). Myanmar joined in a few months later. In 2004, Nepal and Bhutan became part of the grouping, which named itself BIMSTEC. In 2014, a permanent secretariat was established in Dhaka.

If trade, economic and finance were the key drivers behind the India-Asean relationship, connectivity is the buzzword in BIMSTEC. Indias Northeast and Myanmar connect the South with South East Asia. If this physical proximity is converted into real connectivity, the dividends are enormous for a sub-region otherwise wracked by poor infrastructure and insurgent groups. BIMSTEC also evokes narratives of more fundamental unities and continuities, as it comprises countries that surround the Bay of Bengal.

Today, BIMSTEC lacks energy. A late boost came on its 20th anniversary in 2017 when India found that the organisation was better suited to implement a programme of regional cooperation and connectivity rather than SAARC where Pakistan could successfully obstruct initiatives. Much like the India-ASEAN interface, BIMSTEC too is powered by key bilateral relationships apart from the regional focus given by a multilateral organisation.

The third concentric circle is the Indo-Pacific. It is the most recent and the most nebulous (in terms of defining with clarity), and the most straightforwardly strategic in its orientation. From an Indian perspective, it appears a natural evolution of our Look/Act policy as an increasingly larger share of our GDP is accounted for by external trade of which a growing proportion traverses through this region. The term also has obvious linkages to Asia Pacific, which has been in use for a long time but with the obvious difference that the Indo-Pacific strongly evokes a maritime perspective.

The new emphasis on the term and its frequent use by the current US administration is, however, related to the important new strategic development of our times - the assertion of Chinas power and in particular maritime power both in the South as also, even closer to us, in the Indian Ocean.

This leads to the rise of similar thinking in India, Japan, and others apart from the US. Of course, many of its details have to be fleshed out. Unlike in the case of BIMSTEC and Asean, in the Indo-Pacific there isnt a tightly defined group of countries, which make for India to develop bilateral and multilateral linkages. So, debates about the policy utility of the term Indo-Pacific will inevitably take place given the wide expanse it denotes. For India however, its lasting takeaway may well be that it forces us to imagine ourselves and our interests in maritime terms. This is not a small takeaway.

TCA Raghavan is former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan and Singapore.

The views are personalThe sky isnt falling, but a large chunk of space junk may be headed for NebraskaBrigadier NS Sandhu (retd) was cremated with full military honours at Cremation Ground, Sector 25, Chandigarh, on Saturday.

Brigadier NS Sandhu (retd), who was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, died of cancer in Chandigarh on Friday, family members said. He was 87.

Sandhu was awarded Indias second-highest wartime gallantry award after the unit (10 Dogra) he was commanding captured a key bridge in Pakistani territory, aborting the neighbouring armys attempts to mount an offensive into Punjab.

Sandhu was credited with scripting the splendid victory at Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab, a setback for the Pakistani army, senior officials said. Captain DS Ahlawat, one of the officers under Sandhus command, was awarded the MVC posthumously.

Sandhu was commissioned into 3rd Cavalry in 1953 and took premature retirement in 1986.

The legendary soldier was also Mentioned in Dispatches for gallantry in the Battle of Asal Uttar in Punjab during the 1965 Indo-Pak war. In that battle, a lone cavalry unit destroyed several M-47 Patton tanks of a Pakistani armoured division.

Sandhus son-in-law Lieutenant General Alok Singh Kler is the commander of a strike corps headquartered in Ambala.Its election season at the Chandigarh district courts. A look at the court building in Sector 43 reveals that violations during elections are common. The complex is dotted with massive posters of candidates contesting for the bar council elections, scheduled for April 6.

With advocates competing for the largest poster across various blocks of the court complex, the facade appears as a war zone. In a bid to strengthen their campaign, the candidates have displayed posters with their pictures, along with the information of the post they are contesting for, to woo voters.

But, according to the municipal corporation (MC) authorities the posters displayed are illegal and a violation of The Advertisements Regulation Act.

Rajiv Gupta, additional deputy commissioner of MC, said, We have constituted teams to check defacement at various places and we will make sure this is checked. Strict action against the violators will be taken.

This comes nearly six months after the Punjab and Haryana high court had expressed its dissatisfaction over the action being taken by the Chandigarh administration against those indulging in defacement of public properties. Police had launched special drives in September last year in the backdrop of 20 cases of defacement registered in the city at that time.

In the backdrop of the Panjab University student elections, UT had told the HC that those who indulged in defacing public property had been booked under Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act 2007, which carried a fine of 50,000 and/or one-year imprisonment. Several teams were constituted under the leadership of SDM concerned to deal with the menace.

Lawyers, however, as expected, have chosen to defend the move. A woman lawyer requesting anonymity said, We cant call it a violation since the posters are put up on the building, which belongs to the bar members and that of the chambers. They havent exactly put any posters where the court rooms are included. Also, they havent put any tape.

Returning officer says age-old problem

The returning officer for the elections, Karam Singh, is frustrated over the issue. Having confronted this issue every year during election time, he says his voice goes unheard. Despite having issued two notices in the past one week, the latest being on Wednesday, to refrain from causing damage to the surroundings due to pasting of posters, lawyers feel they are entitled to do this.

Singh added that he had even held a meeting in this regard, however, advocates unanimously came to the consensus that these were their chambers and hence they couldnt be stopped from hanging posters there.

Lamenting over the large sizes of posters, some as big as 20 X 35 feet, Singh said many of these banners were hung with heavy weights. Use of bamboo sticks, bricks is common to hang posters. As many as three mishaps have already occurred ever since the campaigning started.

While two scooters were damaged, in another case the window pane of a lawyers chamber was broken. However, no official complaint was filed since the lawyers solved it amicably among themselves.

Calling it a banner war, Karam Singh said after 2013, this year again has witnessed some of the biggest banners. After one of the candidates failed to appear before him for removing a banner that was hung at the entrance from the parking side, he said he had to go and personally remove the poster.

Who is to check?

Suggesting an amendment in the district bar council elections, the returning officer said if he was given the power, only then could he implement or execute direct action on the violators.

But he added that he had received oral directions from the UT administration last week to keep a check on this act.Six years ago, he was all but written off when he lost the municipal elections in Amritsar in spite of being the incumbent mayor from the states ruling alliance. But Shwait Maliks appointment on Saturday as Punjab unit chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) underlined the oft-cited dictum in politics: Never say never again.

This comes two years after he was seen as having been adjusted, again as a surprise, by the party with a Rajya Sabha seat in March 2016. This was essentially a grand re-entry into politics by Malik, bagging the seat that fell vacant after the partys then national vice-president Avinash Rai Khannas RS term expired. And now his elevation to the post of state unit president, replacing Union minister Vijay Sampla, has also left many calling him a silent operator.

The choice by the party is being seen as an effort to win back the urban vote it purportedly lost to the Congress that won 77 of 117 seats in last years assembly polls. The polls saw massive resentment against the ruling alliance of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and BJP. As the Aam Aadmi Party emerged a distant but primary opposition to the Congress with 20 of 117 seats, SAD was reduced to 15 and BJP to three. And then the Congress snatched the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat too from the saffron party in a bypoll in October.

Party leaders who did not want to be named said issues such as demonetisation of high-value notes in 2016 followed closely by implementation of goods and services tax (GST) still affects businesses and minds of the urban community in particular. With Malik, the party is aiming to concentrate on the upper caste Hindu trader again. An engineer by education, Malik, who will turn 55 on April 29, comes from hardcore urban politics and was thrice elected councillor and then remained mayor.

When Hoshiarpur MP Sampla, a prominent Dalit face, was given the post in April 2016, the party had its eye on Dalits who form nearly a third of the states population, the highest proportion among all states. Sampla was given the post when he was already a Union minister too, and was made all-powerful with a strategy that it will help the BJP make inroads into the Scheduled Castes (Dalits). But that experiment failed as the party lost badly in Samplas own area, Dalit-dominated Doaba region. Phagwara was the only seat there that the party won, and the winning candidate , Som Parkash, was openly opposed by Samplas group, a former minister said.

Among choices for replacement were the partys national secretary, Tarun Chugh, and former minister Manoranjan Kalia, whose name was being pushed forward by Sampla and Khanna. Former Jalandhar mayor Rakesh Rathore was also in the race, while the Pathankot district president of the party, Narinder Parmar, was favoured by a section in the BJPs parent body Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).

But Malik had no dearth of his own RSS credentials too, as his late father, Rajinder Malik, was a pracharak (office-bearer) of the Sangh. The backing of Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, who contested and lost the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Amritsar, sealed it further. It anyway worked for Malik that he is considered a neutral face within the BJP and has kept himself away from any controversy.

Maliks performance as Rajya Sabha MP has also helped in bagging the post, observe leaders. In the two years of his tenure till now, he has been vocal and active in raising the issues of Amritsar. He is credited with bringing special funds from the Centre for development of the city and for upliftment of Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport. A direct flight from Amritsar to Birmingham (UK) has been resumed and a new flight to Sikhisms holy town Nanded (Maharashtra) has started too.

In Amritsar, although there are rifts in the local party leadership, there was happiness over a local leader becoming president. The holy city has got the post after 15 years. Former MP Daya Singh Sodhi was the last saffron party leader from here who served as state unit chief from 1998 to 2003.

Meanwhile, former state BJP chiefs Kamal Sharma and Sampla congratulated Malik. Sharmas statement said,

Malik is full of energies and has proved himself in Rajya Sabha as well. He has risen from the level of a grassroots worker... We will unitedly work to ensure our win in next Lok Sabha polls.

Expanding party base top priority

In his first reaction after being named the Punjab unit chief of BJP, Shwait Malik said, I will not leave any stone unturned to expand the partys base in all 117 assembly segments in Punjab. We will take the party to grassroots level and will act as watchman in society. He added, The first priority is to strengthen the BJP-SAD base in Punjab keeping in view the Lok Sabha polls scheduled in 2019. He alleged that the Congress has not yet delivered poll promises to the state and people here are living in deep mess.The Telugu remake of 2 States, an adaptation of author Chetan Bhagats best-selling novel of the same name, was officially launched recently.

To be directed by debutant Venkat Reddy, a former associate of Telugu director VV Vinayak, the film will star actor-writer Adivi Sesh, popular for co-writing Kshanam, and veteran actor Rajasekhars daughter Shivani, who will be make her acting debut with the film.

The makers on Friday announced that the regular shooting will commence from April 5 in Hyderabad.

After announcing the films ensemble cast, the makers have zeroed in on Priya Chowdary, a pretty girl from Vijayawada. She will play a character named Neetu. We are glad the beautiful Priya is on board. She will be seen in a couple of very good scenes along with the main star cast. She is very popular in Vijayawada and is also a former Miss Vijayawada, read a statement from the makers.

Talking about the first schedule, the director said, Besides the lead pair, Lissy and Aditya Menon, will participate in this two-week long schedule in which we will shoot some of the films crucial scenes.

The film will be shot in Kolkata in May while the third schedule will happen in the US.

The film marks the comeback of actor Bhagyashree of Maine Pyar Kiya fame in a pivotal role. She will reprise Revathys role from the original.

In 2 States, Revathy played Alia Bhatts mother and they belonged to a Tamil family. Apparently, the Telugu remake will be about a Telugu boy falling head over heels for a girl from Kolkata.

The remake also stars Rajat Kapoor, Priyadarshi, Rahul Ramakrishna, Vidyullekha Raman, Hema and Uttej in important roles.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktopHollywood director Christopher Nolan is in India for a three-day film event and met actor Kamal Haasan on Friday night. The two artistes met at the event and Kamal shared his experience on Twitter and wrote, Met Mr.Christopher Nolan. Apologized for seeing Dunkirk in the digital format and in return am sending Hey Ram in digital format for him to see. Was surprised to know he had seen Paapanaasam.

Reframing the Future of Film is an event by Film Heritage Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation, that has organised this event to discuss the importance of restoration of film, and shooting on film vs digital. This cause is close to Nolans heart, who has been a champion of shooting on film in the west. Nolans Interstellar and Dunkirk will be screened as part of the three-day event.

Met Mr.Christopher Nolan. Apologized for seeing Dunkirk in the digital format and in return am sending Hey Ram in digital format for him to see. Was surprised to know he had seen Paapanaasam.  pic.twitter.com/iTPgQOZCMH  Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) March 30, 2018

Not only Kamal Haasan, acclaimed cinematographer Santosh Sivan, who is currently working with Mani Ratnam on the multi-starrer Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, was also present at the post event dinner.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktopIn 2016, Prabhudheva made a successful return to acting with Tamil horror-comedy Devi. The film, despite mixed reviews, ended up as a sleeper hit, giving the kind of welcome the actor-choreographer never anticipated. With many acting assignments in his kitty, Prabhudheva is eagerly looking forward to the release of upcoming dance-based Tamil drama Lakshmi, directed by AL Vijay.

In a media interaction, he opened up about the film and why he enjoyed working in it.

Talking about his reunion with director Vijay, the choreographer-turned-filmmaker said: My first film with Vijay was Devi, which turned out to be successful. I thoroughly loved the experience of working with him. We wanted to work again and this is when we thought of doing a sequel to Devi, and we almost went ahead with the plan. But Vijay brought the story of Lakshmi and I really liked it.

Having already worked in dance-based films such as ABCD and ABCD 2, Prabhudheva didnt want to do another film in the same genre just for the heck of it.

When I agreed to do the project, I told Vijay that if we do a dance-based film then it should really stand out. He had a clear vision about what he was doing and he successfully pulled it off. I believe Lakshmi will set a benchmark for dance-based films which are rare in Tamil cinema. The last 25 minutes of the film will be a dance fest, yet itll be highly emotional. Having made films that have appealed to all sections of the audiences, Vijay has handled a dance film in a very sensible way. Lakshmi is a film thatll make audiences laugh, cry and celebrate.

Read: Mercury silent film teaser -- This Prabhudheva thriller is all about bone-chilling fear

Featuring mostly newcomers, Lakshmi stars child actors from various parts of the country. Also starring Aishwarya Rajesh, Karunakaran and Salman Yusuf Khan, the film has been produced by Prateek Chakravorty and Shruti Nallappa.

Prabhudheva added it was gutsy of the producers to back such a subject and not bet on a regular commercial film with songs, dance and fights.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktopA Louisiana police chief on Friday fired the white officer who fatally shot a black man during a struggle outside a convenience store nearly two years ago, a killing that set off widespread protests.

Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul announced officer Blane Salamonis firing less than a week after Louisianas attorney general ruled out criminal charges in Alton Sterlings July 2016 shooting death.

Paul also suspended officer Howie Lake II, the other officer involved in the deadly confrontation, for three days. Lake helped wrestle Sterling to the ground but did not fire his weapon that night.

Paul said he fired Salamoni for violating department policies on use of force and command of temper. He suspended Lake for violating only the latter policy.

My decision was not based on politics, Paul said during a news conference. It was not based on emotions. It was based on the facts of the case.

Both officers had remained on paid administrative leave since the shooting.

Police also released body camera footage and other videos of the officers deadly encounter with Sterling. Two cellphone videos of the incident quickly spread on social media after the shooting, but the new videos show the clearest and most complete picture of what happened that night.

In the body camera footage, an officer can be heard repeatedly using profanity as he shouts at Sterling and at one point threatens to shoot him in the head as Sterling asks what he did. Authorities have said Salamoni made that threat as he pointed a gun at Sterling.

When Sterling complains that the officers are hurting him, one of the officers says to use a Taser on him and an electric buzzing can be heard. The officer believed to be Salamoni then runs at Sterling, tackling him as the camera footage blurs with motion.

Someone yells hes got a gun, then gunshots ring out.

Salamoni told an internal affairs investigator in September 2016 that he cursed at Sterling to send a message that the officers werent playing, according to a report released Friday. Salamoni also said he saw Sterling reach for and hold a gun in his pants pocket right before he shot him during their struggle on the ground.

Trying to explain why he swore at Sterling after the shooting, Salamoni said he was so mad at Sterling for making him kill him and for trying to kill us, the report says.

L Chris Stewart, a lawyer representing two of Sterlings five children, said the newly released videos show officer Salamoni attacked Sterling without provocation like a wild dog.

The most obvious thing that stands out is Alton wasnt fighting back at all, Stewart said. Hes trying to defuse it the whole time.

Salamoni shot Sterling six times during the struggle outside the Triple S Food Mart, where the 37-year-old black man was selling homemade CDs. After the shooting  as Sterling lies on the ground  an officer can be heard using profanity to say Sterling was stupid.

Salamonis attorney, John McLindon, said he will appeal the officers firing to a civil service board. Salamoni knows he probably cant return to the Baton Rouge police force but wants to prove he did nothing wrong, his lawyer said.

He did what he was trained to do, McLindon added.

The officers recovered a loaded revolver from Sterlings pocket. As a convicted felon, Sterling could not legally carry a gun.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced Tuesday that his office isnt charging either officer with state crimes. The Justice Department ruled out federal criminal charges last May.

Less than an hour after the chiefs announcement Friday evening, Travis Hicks, 33, was selling CDs in the parking lot outside the store where Sterling was killed. He said the videos released Friday confirmed what most people in the neighborhood already knew.

Hicks said he didnt think Lake deserved to be fired but thought the fact that Salamoni was not criminally charged shows a double standard.

If it was one of us, he said, gesturing at two African-American men browsing his table of CDs, it would have never took that long. They would have sent us right to Angola, Hicks said, referring to Louisianas state prison.

In June 2017, Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome called on Pauls predecessor, Carl Dabadie Jr., to fire Salamoni. Dabadie refused, saying it would be improper and premature because the shooting remained under investigation.

Salamoni, 30, had served as a Baton Rouge police officer for four years before the shooting. Lake was a three-year veteran of the force.

Lake had a separate hearing Thursday before Paul and three of his deputies before the chief announced his disciplinary decision. Lakes attorney, Kyle Kershaw, said his client wants to return to his patrol job in Baton Rouge after his brief suspension.

Every measure that he employed was exactly what he was taught at the academy, Kershaw said.

For nearly two years, Sterlings family and many other Baton Rouge residents have called on authorities to release all of the video footage of the shooting. The shock of finally seeing and hearing it overwhelmed Andrika Williams, the mother of three of Sterlings children. Williams told her attorney, Michael Adams, that she had an anxiety attack and collapsed when she saw one of the newly released videos in a friends social media post as she walking in her neighborhood Friday evening.

Every time they see this footage, they relive this. Its horrible to watch, Adams said.Two British militants believed to have been part of an Islamic State group cell notorious for beheading hostages in Syria were unapologetic in their first interview since their capture, denouncing the US and Britain as hypocrites who will not give them a fair trial.

The men, along with two other British jihadis, allegedly made up the IS cell nicknamed The Beatles by surviving captives because of their English accents.

The nickname belied the cells brutality. In 2014 and 2015, it held more than 20 Western hostages in Syria and tortured many of them. It beheaded seven American, British and Japanese journalists and aid workers and a group of Syrian soldiers, boasting of the butchery in videos released to the world.

Speaking to The Associated Press at a Kurdish security centre, the two men, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Amon Kotey, repeatedly refused to address allegations they were part of the cell  clearly having a future trial in mind. They complained that they could disappear after Britain reportedly revoked their citizenship.

They were captured in January in eastern Syria by the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces amid the collapse of IS. Their detention has set off a debate in the US and Europe over how to prosecute their citizens who joined IS  as the Kurds pressure the West to take them back to relieve overcrowding in prisons.

The two said the killings of the captives were a mistake  but for tactical reasons.

Many in IS would have disagreed with the killings on the grounds that there is probably more benefit in them being political prisoners, Kotey said.

I didnt see any benefit (in killing them). It was something that was regrettable. He also blamed Western governments for failing to negotiate, noting that some hostages were released for ransoms.

Elsheikh said the killings were a mistake and might not have been justified. But, he said, they were in retaliation for killings of civilians by the US-led coalition fighting IS. He said the militants shouldnt have initially threatened to kill the hostages because then they had to go ahead with it or else your credibility may go.

The beheadings, often carried out on camera, horrified the world soon after IS took over much of Iraq and Syria in 2014. The group also committed widescale atrocities including massacring thousands of Iraqi troops and civilians and taking sex slaves.

The first victim was American journalist James Foley, followed by fellow Americans Steven Sotloff and Peter Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning and Japanese journalists Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto.

Speaking to the AP on Friday, Foleys mother, Diane Foley, called on the international community and US government to have the courage to hold these men accountable in an open trial where we can face them and they can hear all the pain and suffering theyve inflicted on the world. And so that the rest of the world can understand the atrocity of their crimes.

She said she opposes the death penalty for them since it feeds jihadi desire for martyrdom and heroic afterlife.

These men do not deserve that. They deserve to be held in solitary confinement for the rest of their lives.

The leader of the cell, Mohammed Emwazi, was dubbed Jihadi John in the British media after he appeared, masked, in the videos, sometimes performing the butchery. He was killed in a US-led coalition drone strike in 2015 in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto IS capital. Another member, Aine Lesley Davis, was arrested in Turkey and convicted there in 2017, sentenced to seven years in prison.

Elsheikh, whose family came to Britain from Sudan when he was a child, was a mechanic from White City in west London.

He traveled to Syria in 2012, initially joining al-Qaidas branch before moving on to IS, according to the US State Departments listing of the two men for terrorism sanctions. It said he earned a reputation for waterboarding, mock executions and crucifixions while serving as an (IS) jailer.

Kotey, who is of Ghanaian and Greek-Cypriot descent and converted to Islam in his 20s, is from Londons Paddington neighbourhood.

Serving in the IS cell as a guard, he likely engaged in the groups executions and exceptionally cruel torture methods, the State Department said. It also said he was an IS recruiter who brought other Britons into the group.

Elsheikh and Kotey spoke to the AP at a Kurdish security building in the town of Kobani, where they were brought, initially in handcuffs and face covers that were removed. They appeared to speak openly with no signs of duress and were friendly with SDF security who came in and out of the room.

They were both initially confrontational but over the interview became more conversational. Kotey often cracked jokes  when asked whether IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was alive, he joked that some people thought Elvis never died and Tupac Shakur is still alive. Elsheikh was straightlaced and reserved, referring more often to Islamic texts.

They were unrepentant about belonging to IS  though they said they did not agree with everything it did. Kotey said he did not think suicide bombings were permissible in Islam. Elsheikh said ISs killing of a captured Jordanian pilot by burning him alive in a cage was atrocious.

But they seemed dismissive of the idea that IS was egregious in brutality.

I am not here to justify or shun every act IS did, Elsheikh said, arguing that nationals of a country cant be held responsible for crimes by the state.

They scoffed at the idea that that they were a cell and refused to comment whether they had worked as jailors, had ever seen any hostages or knew Emwazi.

They depicted the allegations as created by media and foreign intelligence  so the world can say this is the bad guy and kill the bad guy, Elsheikh said.

No fair trial, when I am the Beatle in the media. No fair trial, he added.

They said they had been questioned repeatedly by US military officials and the FBI  daily interrogations for a month, then frequent ones for weeks after.

The US has been pressing for the home countries of foreign jihadis in Iraq and Syria to take their nationals for trial. Britains defense secretary has said they should not be allowed back into the country. Former captives of the cell and families of its victims have called on Elsheikh and Kotey to be given a fair trial, whether in the United States or Britain, arguing that locking them away in a a facility like Guantanamo Bay would only fuel further radicalism.

Kurdish officials complain they are being left to deal with the IS legacy, including overburdened prisons full of militants, including foreign fighters whose home countries dont want to take them back.

Elsheikh and Kotey are held in an undisclosed location. Kotey said he shares a cell with 70 others, all but four of them Syrians, and that they are sleeping like sardines, literally head to toe, head to toe. Despite the overcrowding, he said, they get fresh air, play games and have classes.

Kotey said the US and Britain were not upholding their own laws of due process. Where are they now or are they just applicable when they suit you? he said. It just looks very hypocritical, double standards.

The two denounced as illegal the British governments reported decision in February to strip them of citizenship. The decision was widely reported in British media, though officials have not confirmed or denied it, citing privacy rules.

The revocation exposes them to rendition and torture, Elsheikh said.

When you have these two guys who dont even have any citizenship ...if we just disappear one day, where is my mom going to go and say where is my son, he said.

I found it strange that they could actually do that, revoke the citizenship of a person, Kotey said.

I was born in the UK, he said. My mother was born in the UK. I have a daughter there in the UK. ... I probably never left the UK more than 3 months before coming to Syria.

Kotey said the fairest venue for a trial may be the International Criminal Court in The Hague in the Netherlands. That would be the logical solution.Friends, family and colleagues of Stephen Hawking gathered Saturday to pay their respects at his private funeral in Cambridge, where the British science great spent most of his extraordinary life.

Hawking, who died on March 14 at the age of 76, was famously an atheist but his children Lucy, Robert and Tim chose St Mary the Great, the church of Cambridges prestigious university, to say their farewell.

Our fathers life and work meant many things to many people, both religious and non-religious. So, the service will be both inclusive and traditional, reflecting the breadth and diversity of his life, they said.

Tributes poured in from around the world upon Hawkings death, from Queen Elizabeth II to NASA, reflecting his huge impact as a physicist and an inspiration, in his refusal to give up in the face of his crippling motor neurone disease.

The funeral service -- being held a short distance from Gonville and Caius College where Hawking worked for more than 50 years -- was only open to around 500 guests who knew him.

Crowds gather outside Great St Marys Church, where the funeral of theoretical physicist Prof Stephen Hawking is being held, in Cambridge, Britain on March 31. (REUTERS)

A private reception was to follow at Trinity College.

A wider audience will attend a thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey in London on June 15, when Hawkings remains will be buried near the grave of another legendary scientist, Isaac Newton.

Actor Eddie Redmayne, who played Hawking in the 2014 biographical drama The Theory of Everything, was to give a reading from the Bible, followed by a reading by Martin Rees, Britains astronomer royal.

British actor Eddie Redmayne, who played Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, arrives to attend the funeral of British scientist Stephen Hawking at the Church of St Mary the Great, in Cambridge on March 31. (AFP Photo)

Eulogies were to be delivered by Robert Hawking, the physicists eldest child, and Professor Fay Dowker, one of Hawkings former students.

An arrangement of white lilies, to represent the universe, and another of white roses as the polar star were to be placed on Hawkings solid oak coffin.

The church bell was to toll 76 times, once for each year of Hawkings life, when his coffin arrives.

New photographs revealed

Ahead of the funeral, Gonville and Caius College released new black and white photographs of Hawking taken in 1961 at a summer school for young astrophysicists at a castle in Sussex, southern England, when he was 19.

They showed him playing croquet and in a sailing dinghy, two years before he began experiencing the first symptoms of the motor neurone disease that would later leave him almost completely paralysed.

This handout photograph released by Gonville & Caius College on March 30, 2018 and taken by fellow student Robert Smith in 1961, shows British scientist Stephen Hawking (R), with Goeran Akerblad and Brian King. (AFP Photo)

Fellow students contacted by the college recalled his left-wing views and his mischievous sense of humour.

Hawking defied predictions that he would only live for a few years, although his rare condition -- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) -- gradually robbed him of mobility.

He was confined to a wheelchair, almost completely paralysed and unable to speak except through his trademark voice synthesiser.

But the illness did nothing to dull his mind, and Hawking became one of the worlds best-known and most inspiring scientists, known for his brilliance and his wit.

His work focused on bringing together relativity -- the nature of space and time -- and quantum theory -- how the smallest particles behave -- to explain the creation of the Universe and how it is governed.

But he was also a global star -- his 1988 book A Brief History of Time was an unlikely worldwide bestseller, and he appeared as himself in television shows from The Simpsons to Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Born on January 8, 1942, Hawking died in his home in Cambridge.

After taking his undergraduate degree at the University of Oxford, he moved to Cambridge for his doctorate and stayed there for the rest of his career.

Hawkings family has asked six college porters, many of whom provided support for Hawking when he visited for dinners and other events, to carry his coffin.Four teenage girl suicide bombers have killed two people in multiple attacks in northeast Nigeria, residents said Saturday, in the latest assault since the government announced it was in ceasefire talks with Boko Haram.

The suspected Boko Haram attack took place late Friday in the northeast Borno state capital of Maiduguri, the epicentre of the groups Islamist insurgency.

The girls, estimated to be between the ages of 13 and 18, attacked the Zawuya settlement on the outskirts of Maiduguri, killing two people, residents told AFP.

We lost two people, a woman and a boy, in two of the four suicide explosions, Zawuya resident Musa Haruna Isa said.

One of the bombers blew up while trying to scale a low mud wall outside a house that starting crumbling and detonated her explosive belt, killing the boy, Isa said.

One of them exploded near an open-air mosque, injuring one person, he said, adding that another bomber panicked from the explosions from her colleagues and squeezed the trigger in the open, killing only herself.

However, police said that just one person died in the attack.

They (bombers) detonated the explosives killing themselves and one other person... 13 persons were injured and were taken to a hospital where they are responding to treatment, Maiduguri police said in a statement.

The attack highlighted the challenge the government faces in reaching a ceasefire agreement with the fractionalised Boko Haram.

Last week, when more than 100 schoolgirls were returned to Dapchi after being kidnapped by the jihadist group, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said his government was offering amnesty to repentant jihadists.

But senior security officials cautioned that reaching any agreement with the group will be difficult, as it is split into competing factions with different goals.

The Islamic State-affiliated faction reportedly in talks with the government is led by Abu Musab al-Barnawi and is known for attacks on military targets, while another faction led by Abubakar Shekau is notorious for suicide bombings killing civilians.

Zawuya, a settlement of people displaced by Boko Haram mostly from Rann, a town on the remote northeast border with Cameroon, lies close to the Muna Garage area, home to some 40,000 internally displaced people.

Both camps have been repeatedly targeted by Boko Haram attacks.I am not a sheep, I have my own mind

I have had enough of being told what and how to think

Whilst we are still allowed the remnants of free speech,

I will speak out.



I also reserve the right to discuss less controversial matters should I feel the urge.Gazans buried their dead on Saturday with calls for revenge a day after a major demonstration led to clashes that saw Israeli forces kill 16 Palestinians in the bloodiest day since a 2014 war.

But while anger seethed over Fridays events, only several hundred protesters had returned to tents erected at different sites near the Gaza Strips border with Israel by mid-afternoon to resume demonstrations planned to last six weeks in the blockaded enclave.

Thousands attended funerals for 14 of those killed -- two were buried on Friday -- with mourners holding Palestinian flags and some chanting revenge and firing into the air.

The armed wing of Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, said that five of those killed were members who were participating in popular events side-by-side with their people.

Where are you, Arabs? Where are you, Muslims? mourners chanted at one funeral, calling on the Arab and Muslim world to intervene.

A general strike was also being held in both the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian demonstrators run for cover during clashes with Israeli forces in occupied West Bank city of Hebron as a general strike is called for by local leaders in solidarity with Gaza. (AFP)

Minor clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians broke out in Hebron, while a small protest was held in Nablus, both in the West Bank.

Israel defended its soldiers actions on Friday, when troops opened fire on Palestinians who strayed from the main tent city protest -- attended by tens of thousands -- and approached the heavily fortified fence cutting off the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military says it opened fire only when necessary against those throwing stones and firebombs or rolling tyres at soldiers.

It also said there were attempts to damage the fence and infiltrate Israel, while alleging there was an attempted shooting attack against soldiers along the border that caused no casualties.

Palestinians accused Israel of using disproportionate force, while human rights groups questioned Israels use of live fire.

Unverified videos were being shared online, including one appearing to show a protester being shot while running with a tyre.

UN chief Antonio Guterres called for an independent and transparent investigation.

In addition to the 16 killed, more than 1,400 were wounded, 758 of them by live fire, with the remainder hurt by rubber bullets and tear gas inhalation, according to the Gazan health ministry.

No casualties were reported among Israelis.

Continue its aggression

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas declared Saturday a day of national mourning and in a speech said he held Israel fully responsible for the deaths.

His spokesman on Saturday called on the United States at the UN Security Council to not provide cover for Israel to continue its aggression against the Palestinian people.

An Israeli military spokesman said Fridays events were not a protest demonstration but organised terrorist activity by Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.

If it continues, we shall have no choice but to respond inside the Gaza Strip against terrorist targets which we understand to be behind these events, Brigadier General Ronen Manelis told journalists.

The six-week protest is in support of Palestinian refugees and the timetable holds significance for a range of reasons that have added to tensions.

It began on Land Day, when Palestinians commemorate the killing of six unarmed Arab protesters in Israel in 1976, and as Jewish Israelis readied to observe the Passover holiday, which started at sundown on Friday.

Palestinian men march in the Israeli occupied West Bank city of Nablus in a symbolic funeral in solidarity with those who were killed a day earlier in the Gaza Strip during clashes with Israeli forces on Land Day. (AFP)

Protests will continue until the United States opens its new Jerusalem embassy around May 14, a move that has provoked deep anger among the Palestinians, who see the citys annexed eastern sector as the capital of their future state.

May 14 will also mark 70 years since the creation of Israel, while Palestinians will mark what they call the Nakba, or catastrophe, the following day.

The Nakba commemorates the more than 700,000 Palestinians who either fled or were expelled from their homes in the war surrounding Israels creation in 1948.

Lethal force

US President Donald Trump has harshly criticised the Palestinians in the past, but the State Department said only that it was deeply saddened by the loss of life and urged steps to lower tensions.

Human Rights Watch criticised Israels actions.

Israeli allegations of violence by some protesters do not change the fact that using lethal force is banned by international law except to meet an imminent threat to life, the New York-based group said, calling the number of killed and wounded shocking.

Israels arch-foe Iran, a longstanding supporters of Hamas, condemned the shameful killing of protesters and mocked the fact that it happened as Israeli Jews prepared to mark Passover.

Israel had deployed troop reinforcements along the border, including more than 100 special forces snipers, saying it would prevent attempts to break through the fence.

Protests along the border are common, often culminating in young Palestinian men throwing stones at Israeli soldiers who respond with tear gas along with rubber and live bullets.

But the March of Return protest that began on Friday is on a larger scale and intended to involve families with women and children camping in tent cities near the border for weeks.In the Pakistani hometown of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, reminders are frequent of the daughter of scenic northwestern Swat Valley who survived a gun attack  and so are memories of harsh rule by the Taliban.

Yousafzai flew into Swat on Saturday by helicopter during her first visit to Pakistan since the Pakistani Taliban - now on the run but still able to launch attacks - shot her in the head in 2012 over her advocacy for girls education and opposition to Islamist militancy.

Yousafzais return to her hometown was eagerly awaited by admirers and family friends.

Were very happy that Malala has come to Pakistan. We welcome Malala, said Arfa Akhtar, a third grade student in a school where Yousafzai once studied. Im also Malala. Im with Malala in this mission.

Read | Ive never been so happy: Nobel prize winner Malala on return to Pakistan

Barkat Ali, 66, says he remembers holding Malala in his lap when she was a child in Mingora. He is proud of the 20-year-olds struggle to promote girls education, just as he is of his refusal 10 years ago to turn over his son when the Taliban demanded new fighters.

They were the old illiterate people who would say that our daughters will not go to schools, Ali said, recalling two mortar shells landing in his street, often patrolled by the Taliban.

Now people have become sensible. They educate their girls.

Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai (C), arrives along with her father Ziauddin Yousafzai (2L), brother Atal Yousafzai (L) and the principal of all-boys Swat Cadet College Guli Bagh, during her hometown visit, some 15 kilometres outside of Mingora, on March 31. (AFP Photo)

The Taliban took over much of the valley starting in 2007, banning girls education, killing people, flogging women and hanging bodies from electric poles to enforce their harsh interpretation of Islamic law before the Pakistani army drove them out in 2009.

Not everyone in Swat, though, has such reverence for Yousafzai, who became the youngest Nobel laureate in history in 2014 at age 17.

Resident Mohammad Nisar Khan says the international celebrity and official protection given to the young woman overshadows the sacrifices made by others in Swat.

We were the ones who stood up against the Taliban... My four uncles and two cousins were slaughtered by the Taliban in Matta. They were brutally martyred. Yet, no one has asked about me, Khan said.

Can someone show me one brave deed that Malala Yousafzai has performed ... that we have not performed at age 50?

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai (4th-L) and her family members pose for a group photo with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, in Islamabad March 29. (Reuters Photo)

Elsewhere in parts of Pakistan, her arrival was met with outright hostility from those who accuse her of building a career abroad by painting a negative picture of her homeland.

In the eastern city of Lahore, a group of private schools staged a protest on Friday with teachers and their students chanting I am not Malala, some wearing black armbands.

The organiser of the protest, Kashif Mirza, said dozens of private school chains participated and teachers told students in classes that Malala does not represent true Pakistan.

She maligned Pakistan, Islam and the Pakistani army after going abroad, said Mirza, who leads the President of All Pakistan Private Schools Federation. He said his group condemned the gun attack on Yousafzai but said since going abroad she had been influenced by foreign powers.

Other private schools, however, declined to join the anti-Malala protest.

No such day was observed in any of our branches, because we dont support any event which spreads hatred, said Tabraiz Bokhari, spokesman of Beacon House School System, with 200 affiliates across Pakistan.

In the nine years since the army drove out the Taliban, Swat has become mostly peaceful, though there are still occasional militant attacks including one several weeks ago targeting the military.

Many Swat residents, including family friend Jawad Iqbal, were hopeful Malala would be able to return on this trip.

The people of Swat and the whole of Pakistan are with Malala, Iqbal said standing in front of a portrait of Yousafzai with her father, who is a teacher.

God willing, we will counter the terrorism and extremism in our region with the weapon of education, with the weapon of a pen, with the weapons of teachers and with the weapons of books.

Along the road where Malala was shot on her school bus, resident Amir Zeb also said he hoped Malala will visit.

Malala Yousafzai is the daughter of Pakistan, he said, adding. Were proud of her.Though it has been more than a month since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau departed India after a disastrous visit in February, he continues to face intense interrogation on matters related to that eight-day trip in Canadas Parliament.

At the House of Commons sittings through this week, one name constantly echoed in the chamber  Jaspal Atwal, a convicted former Khalistani terrorist. The opposition Conservatives made it a point to hammer away at inconsistencies in the allegation made by a senior national security official that rogue elements in the Indian establishment had planted Atwal to embarrass Trudeau during his visit, a charge seconded by the prime minister.

Atwal was invited to an official dinner to honour Trudeau that was hosted by the Canadian envoy to New Delhi. The invitation was rescinded following media reports that Atwal had been convicted for the attempted assassination of a visiting minister from Punjab in 1986.

As the backwash of the India trip madeTrudeau and his Liberal Party stumble in recent opinion polls, the Opposition has seized on the matter, possibly seeing it as a winning ticket. Conservative MP Bob Saroya said his party will continue to place relentless pressure on Trudeau because it wants to expose the hanky panky around the Atwal affair.

While Canadas National Security Advisor Daniel Jean was revealed as the official who gave that contentious briefing to select Canadian journalists, including the conspiracy theory that has angered New Delhi, Trudeau tried playing the India card in countering the grilling he faced during Question Period in the House.

He said it was disappointing that the opposition still does not recognise the importance of the relationship between Canada and India. India's economy is booming and presents some significant opportunities to strengthen Canada's middle class.

To that, opposition leader Andrew Scheer retorted that they knew how important India is to Canada, and it will now fall to the Conservatives to repair the damage this government has done to our relations.

Trudeau asserted that at no time did members of our public service provide classified information to the media, nor would they. Minutes later, he appeared to contradict that statement as he said, Canadians understand that when it comes to intelligence issues and security issues, there is a need for classified information.

As with the Atwal invite, several versions of which have been floated, these are the types of discrepancies that the opposition will continue to pursue, Saroya pointed out.

Further adding fuel to the fire are reports in the Canadian media that Raj Grewal, a Liberal MP from Brampton East, helped the CEO of a construction company, for which he does paid legal work, get invited to a reception during Trudeaus trip. The opposition has sought an ethics investigation into the matter.

Speaking on the issue, New Democratic Party MP Charlie Angus said, The member for Brampton East gets himself elected and then goes into business with a local company. I know that is pretty unusual, but at least we have some kind of rules. However, he then helps his friend get access to the Prime Minister and senior cabinet ministers during the notorious India trip.

After a week of facing a barrage of questions in the House related to the India visit, there will, however, be a modicum of solace for Trudeau - the House is now adjourned until April 16.President Donald Trumps unscripted remark this week about pulling out of Syria very soon, while at odds with his own policy, was not a one-off: For weeks, top advisers have been fretting about an overly hasty withdrawal as the president has increasingly told them privately he wants out, US officials said.

Only two months ago, Trumps aides thought theyd persuaded him that the US needed to keep its presence in Syria open-ended  not only because the Islamic State group has yet to be entirely defeated, but also because the resulting power vacuum could be filled by other extremist groups or by Iran. Trump signed off on major speech in January in which Secretary of State Rex Tillerson laid out the new strategy and declared it is vital for the United States to remain engaged in Syria.

But by mid-February, Trump was telling his top aides in meetings that as soon as victory can be declared against IS, he wanted American troops out of Syria, said the officials. Alarm bells went off at the State Department and the Pentagon, where officials have been planning for a gradual, methodical shift from a military-led operation to a diplomatic mission to start rebuilding basic infrastructure like roads and sewers in the war-wracked country.

In one sign that Trump is serious about reversing course and withdrawing from Syria, the White House this week put on hold some $200 million in US funding for stabilization projects in Syria, officials said. The money, to have been spent by the State Department for infrastructure projects like power, water and roads, had been announced by outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at an aid conference last month in Kuwait.

The officials said the hold, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, is not necessarily permanent and will be discussed at senior-level inter-agency meetings next week.

The officials werent authorized to comment publicly and demanded anonymity.

The State Department said it continually reviews appropriate assistance levels and how best they might be utilized. And the agency said it continues to work with the international community, members of the Coalition, and our partners on the ground to provide much needed stabilization support to vulnerable areas in Syria.

The United States is working everyday on the ground and with the international community to help stabilize those areas liberated from ISIS and identify ways to move forward with reconstruction once there has been a peaceful political transition away from (Syrian President Bashar) Assad, according to a statement from the State Department.

Trumps first public suggestion he was itching to pull out came in a news conference with visiting Australian Prime Minister Alastair Campbell on February 23, when Trump said the US was in Syria to get rid of ISIS and go home. On Thursday, in a domestic policy speech in Ohio, Trump went further.

Well be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now. Very soon  very soon, were coming out, Trump said.

The public declaration caught U.S. national security agencies off-guard and unsure whether Trump was formally announcing a new, unexpected change in policy. Inundated by inquiries from journalists and foreign officials, the Pentagon and State Department reached out to the White Houses National Security Council for clarification.

The White Houses ambiguous response, officials said: Trumps words speak for themselves.

The mission of the Department of Defense to defeat ISIS has not changed, said Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman.

Still, without a clear directive from the president, planning has not started for a withdrawal from Syria, officials said, and Trump has not advocated a specific timetable.

For Trump, who campaigned on an America First mantra, Syria is just the latest foreign arena where his impulse has been to limit the U.S. role. Like with NATO and the United Nations, Trump has called for other governments to step up and share more of the burden so that Washington doesnt foot the bill. His administration has been crisscrossing the globe seeking financial commitments from other countries to fund reconstruction in both Syria and Iraq, but with only limited success.

Yet its unclear how Trumps impulse to pull out could be affected by recent staff shake-ups on his national security team. Tillerson and former national security adviser H.R. McMaster, both advocates for keeping a U.S. presence in Syria, were recently fired, creating questions about the longevity of the plan Tillerson announced in his Stanford University speech in January. But Trump also replaced McMaster with John Bolton, a vocal advocate for U.S. intervention and aggressive use of the military overseas.

The abrupt change in the presidents thinking has drawn concern both inside and outside the United States.

Other nations that make up the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS fear that Trumps impulse to pull out hastily would allow the notoriously resourceful IS militants to regroup, several European diplomats said. That concern has been heightened by the fact that U.S.-backed ground operations against remaining IS militants in Syria were put on hold earlier this month.

The ground operations had to be paused because Kurdish fighters who had been spearheading the campaign against IS shifted to a separate fight with Turkish forces, who began combat operations in the town of Afrin against Kurds who are considered by Ankara to be terrorists that threaten Turkeys security.

This is a serious and growing concern, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said this month.

Beyond just defeating IS, there are other strategic U.S. objectives that could be jeopardized by a hasty withdrawal, officials said, chiefly those related to Russia and Iran.

Israel, Americas closest Mideast ally, and other regional nations like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are deeply concerned about the influence of Iran and its allies, including the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, inside Syria. The U.S. military presence in Syria has been seen as a buffer against unchecked Iranian activity, and especially against Tehrans desire to establish a contiguous land route from Iran to the Mediterranean coast in Lebanon.

An American withdrawal would also likely cede Syria to Russia, which along with Iran has been propping up Syrian President Bashar Assads forces and would surely fill the void left behind by the U.S. That prospect has alarmed countries like France, which has historic ties to the Levant.

In calling for a withdrawal very soon, Trump may be overly optimistic in his assessment of how quickly the anti-IS campaign can be wrapped up, the officials said. Although the group has been driven from basically all of the territory it once controlled in Iraq and 95 percent of its former territory in Syria, the remaining five percent is becoming increasingly difficult to clear and could take many months, the officials said.M oving on? Before you crack open the bubbles and start planning that dinner party in the new rental property you have landed the tenancy of, check youve properly said goodbye to your last home  or it could cost you dear.

Londoners move a lot. According to Your Move, the average tenancy in the capital is just 20 months. This means that every other year, the average London renter is packing, unpacking and lugging boxes around the city.

Unless you are a seasoned renter moving can get you into trouble. Heres our checklist to help you avoid unpleasant surprises months later that can involve unexpected fees, potential fines and even a driving disqualification.

1. TELL PEOPLE YOU'RE MOVING

Apart from your friends and your gran, there is a mammoth list of institutions you need to inform when you move. The obvious ones are your bank, your credit card providers, your employer, your utility providers and the council.

An easy-to-forget institution is the DVLA. You might think youre changing your home, not your car. But if you unwittingly get a speeding offence, or a congestion charge fine, and the DVLA writes to your old address and doesnt get a response, the matter can escalate quickly.

It can even go all the way to the courts without you knowing a thing.

That is just what happened to Ben Hamilton, 30. He moved to take up a hectic surgical post and overlooked updating his address with the DVLA. A few months later a letter about a small fine went to his former home.

A few months more, the courts summons followed. Tried in absentia, Bens minor misdemeanour morphed into a hefty fine and a driving disqualification.

2. REDIRECT YOUR MAIL

For added peace of mind use a mail redirection service. Royal Mail charges start from 33.99 for three months and take just five days to set up.

You can apply at the post office or online from three months before to six months after you move.

If you cant afford to set up this service, make sure your landlord, neighbours and new tenants know your new address so they can forward any post to you, recommends the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). You may also want to leave stamped addressed envelopes for them to use.

But be warned, this money-saving option is not failsafe. I once found a neatly stacked pile of my mail next to an equally neat pile of my stamped addressed envelopes.

Had it not been for a trip to fix my tenants broken washing machine, I would have missed a final demand for an incorrectly generated council tax bill, with ramifications similar to Bens.

3. CLEAN THE FLAT

Inadequate cleaning accounts for over a fifth of deductions from tenants deposits, according to the Deposit Protection Scheme (DPS).

The simplest way to avoid this is to pay a reputable firm for an end-of-tenancy clean. This may even be a requirement in your contract, so check.

When the cleaners finish, make sure you take photos of their hard work. That way, if cleaning concerns do arise, it will be easier to take them up with the cleaning firm rather than have it affect your deposit.

If you can, don the marigolds, give the place a good scrub and send photos of your cleaned flat to your landlord. Remember, your aim is to return the flat in the state you found it, nothing more.

If youre worried about being charged for pre-existing marks, resend your check-in photos to your landlord to remind them of the flats condition when you moved in.

4. INITIATE THE RETURN OF YOUR DEPOSIT

Either the tenant or landlord can start the repayment process at any time after the property is vacated, says Alexandra Coghlan-Forbes, head of adjudications at the DPS.

Once the process begins, if the repayment is agreed, it will all be paid straight away, she added.

With London landlords often requiring six weeks rent as a deposit, make sure youre not the one holding up its return.

5. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS ON WEAR AND TEAR

Landlords cant deduct money for reasonable wear and tear such as a carpet that has gradually worn away, highlights the CAB.

Similarly, if youve lived in the property for many years, the landlord should expect the property to be more worn than a property occupied for just six months.

If you think any proposed deductions from your deposit are unreasonable, ask for an explanation in writing and respond.

If you need help to challenge the deductions, download the handy template letter from Shelters website or speak to the CAB. If you cant come to an agreement, raise a dispute through the DPS.

On average, we usually expect a dispute to last around six weeks from the day we have received details of the dispute from both parties, says Coghlan-Forbes.

6. SETTLE YOUR BILLS

As you wave goodbye to your old flat, take the CABs advice and snap photos of your energy meters before ringing your utility providers with their final readings.

That way you will ensure you dont pay a penny more than you owe. Other bills to remember are council tax and broadband.Photo: Screencap/Baton Rouge Police Department

The white Baton Rouge police officer who shot and killed Alton Sterling in 2016 was fired on Friday, and police released disturbing new footage showing the officer, Blane Salamoni, almost immediately threatening to shoot Sterling, who was black, during the episode. Citing the videos and other evidence, state and federal authorities declined to file criminal charges against Salamoni and a second officer, Howie Lake II, earlier this week. The Baton Rouge Police Department disciplined Lake with a three-day suspension, but fired Salamoni for violating the departments training and organizational standards and losing command of temper. Both officers had been on paid administrative leave since the shooting.

Following the announcement of the disciplinary actions against the two officers, the police department finally released the additional video footage of the shooting, which occurred in a convenience store parking lot just after midnight on July 5, 2016. The new footage includes body-cam videos from the two officers, as well as a police dash-cam video and another from the convenience stores security camera.

In the videos, Salamoni is seen pulling his gun almost immediately after confronting Sterling and trying to force him down onto the hood of a car. Salamoni points his gun at Sterlings head, repeatedly threatening to shoot him there if he doesnt obey the officers commands. As Sterling asks what he has done, the two officers try to push him onto the car. Salamoni also repeatedly yells obscenities at Sterling, at one point calling him bitch.

After the initial struggle, Lake fires his taser at Sterling twice, and then Salamoni tackles Sterling to the ground, with both men bouncing off the car as they go down. As the officers struggle on top of Sterling, one of them shouts that he has a gun and Salamoni fires three shots, then another three rounds after Sterling tries to push away. (Be warned that this video clearly shows Sterling being shot.)

Once the officers back away, Sterling is shown lying on the ground, the front of his shirt covered in blood. He moves his arms around over his body a few times, then lies motionless. One of the officers searches his pockets, but neither appear to offer any first aid to Sterling, and by the time paramedics arrive, he is dead. After the shooting, Salamoni also yells at Sterling that he is a stupid ass motherfucker. (He later told police investigators that he only said that because he was so mad at Sterling for making him kill him and for trying to kill us.)

Sterlings death was also filmed by bystanders who quickly posted the videos online, sparking street protests in Baton Rouge.

The officers had responded to a call that a man fitting Sterlings description had been seen brandishing a gun at the convenience store. Police later reported that Lake found a loaded .38 caliber handgun in Sterlings pocket after the shooting, though that gun is never clearly seen in any of the videos. Louisianas attorney general also claimed that the illegal drugs identified in Sterlings toxicology report could have caused violent and irrational behavior, but its not clear from the video that Sterling acted that way, and the most violent part of the encounter happens after Sterling was tased and tackled by Salamoni. No videos show Sterling reaching for a gun in his pocket.

Alton Sterling Photo: Facebook

After the release of the new footage, a lawyer for Sterlings family argued that the videos proved that Salamoni was the aggressor in the incident, and that Sterling seemed calm and clearly did not assault the officers or deserve to be killed for his reactions to them. Another family attorney said that Sterlings mother had an anxiety attack and collapsed after seeing one of the new videos.

Salamoni, who at the advice of his lawyer did not answer any questions during his disciplinary hearing on Thursday, will appeal his termination. Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome has said that the city will launch its own investigation into the shooting, as well.The island of Cyprus is in the Mediterranean Sea, the subtropical, Mediterranean climate. Climate in Cyprus even in throughout the year: The average temperature on the island in summer - 32 degrees in autumn - 25 degrees in winter - 15 degrees, and in the spring - 25 degrees. Swimming season begins in April and lasts until late October. Rainfall in North Cyprus are in winter (January, February and sometimes March). On the island there is no snow, moisture, frost, hence the absence of epidemics of influenza, colds, chronic cough and runny nose in the CIS countries. Northern Cyprus has no plant, no emissions Chemicals and various wastes in the sea and air, so all the vegetables and fruits grown here are organic products. An important factor in choosing the country - a peaceful atmosphere. It's no secret that in 1974 Cyprus was a war that led to the division of the island on "Greek" and "Turkish" part.



Since then everything has changed - were open border between the parties, the inhabitants of both sides attended the territory on both sides green line, and for several years now the presidents of both parties were negotiating a merger of the two sides of the island. The uniqueness of Northern Cyprus in its simplicity and beauty. Local people are very friendly, always ready help. There are rare cases of theft. But do not confuse simplicity with boredom. Northern Cyprus is not boring for anyone looking for fun - here you will find bars, restaurants, discos, clubs and various festivals, performances by famous stars, movie theaters ... So, let's look at all the facts that make Northern Cyprus the best place in the Mediterranean for the Housing Choice: A soft and equable climate absence of factories - clean air, sea products The European system of education in a foreign language (on the island at the present time there are at least seven international schools and universities, and plans to open 2) The low property prices: a studio or apartment on the beach or in the immediate vicinity you can buy it from 30,000 pounds sterling ($ 50 000), and a villa from 60,000 pounds sterling (98000 dollars). Life Safety in strane.Bezvizovy vezdLegkost to take out a loan - for those wishing to purchase property on credit-registration is not a bank, and provided the developer. Loan terms are entered into the contract, and no additional documents are not trebuetsya.Pri buying property, given the opportunity to design a residence permit, and after 6 years - a permanent residence permit.The ups and downs continue for Juelz Santana, following his short-lived fugitive run earlier in the month. First off, he was denied bail for his drug and gun charges, then this past week things started looking up in the case. The state of New Jersey decided to dismiss his case, in light of his scheduled court appearance on April the 9th. The possibility that Federal Authorities would choose to take on his case loomed in the distance. Well it so happens they did, choosing to go forward with their prosecution at the U.S. Supreme Court.



This case falls on a year in which U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions promised the "toughest possible charges and sentences against crime suspects." The roll backs show a gulf of difference between federal policy and and actual sentiment when and where it counts.



Juelz will remain behind bars pending a hearing, which will effectively sort out his residency as the State builds its case. We'll be following this case closely in the coming months. Whether you like Juelz Santana or not, if it boils down to the Criminal Justice System making an example out of rappers with age old policies, you can bet that hip hop will support its own.



[via DailyMail]WASHINGTON - The Trump administration, looking to pressure the increasingly dictatorial government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, is considering an option that only a decade ago would have seemed inconceivable: imposing sanctions that stop the flow of Venezuelan oil to the United States.

But the shale drilling boom has left the United States so awash in oil that it has enabled leaders to take aggressive postures against oil states with which they are at odds. From Iran to Sudan to Venezuela, U.S. diplomatic efforts can rely on domestic crude production to help counteract potential shocks that sanctions might bring to the worlds highly sensitized crude markets.

What its meant for the United States, its removed it from at times being a supplicant to other countries in global oil market discussions, said Carlos Pascual, a former special envoy for international energy affairs at the State Department and now senior vice president at the consulting firm IHS Markit.

This newly gained leverage is another example of how innovations pioneered by Houston companies to extract oil and gas from shale rock have reshaped the world, not only in energy markets, but also geopolitics. For half a century, the global oil supply was firmly controlled by states in the Middle East. Through the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, of which Venezuela is a member, these countries could raise and lower prices and even cut off supplies to their enemies, as OPEC did to the United States following the Arab-Israeli War of 1973.

But OPECs power is considerably reduced. The United States now produces more than 10 million barrels of crude a day - more than double what it produced in 2008 - and has surpassed Saudi Arabia to become the worlds second largest oil producer behind only Russia.

This change has been driven by growing production in the shale fields of West and South Texas, as well as North Dakota, where the combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling is expected to increase output for years to some. The oil flowing out Texas alone last year, some 3.9 million barrels a day, was equivalent to the production of the United Arab Emirates or two Venezuelas or five Libyas.

The Trump administration signaled its willingness to use oil as a diplomatic weapon earlier this month when it announced it was sanctioning 15 oil companies in South Sudan, the worlds 39th largest crude producer at 150,000 barrels a day. The State Department said government officials were using oil revenues to purchase weapons and fund irregular militias that undermine the peace, security, and stability of South Sudan.

And in Venezuela, sanctions announced last summer blocking foreign countries from loaning the government money for more than 90 days has left Venezuelas national oil company PDVSA short on cash. That in turn has delayed work in oil fields and refineries, hurting production and acting as a de facto oil sanction, said Antoine Halff, director of global oil markets at Columbia Universitys Center on Global Energy Policy.

Those sanctions were possible in part because the United States does not rely on Venezuelan crude as it once did. Crude imports from Venezuela fell to 16 million barrels in December, less than 40 percent of imported a decade ago.

The balance of trade and production [between the United States and Venezuela] has changed dramatically over the last few years, Halff said. Theres not that many U.S. refineries that import large amounts of Venezuelan crude on a regular basis. Its down to just more than a handful.

The Trump administration is not the first to use U.S. oil production as leverage in dealing with foreign countries.

That strategy has been on display since at least 2012 when the Obama administration was negotiating with Iran to give up nuclear energy programs that could help produce weapons. The United States needed the backing of Europe to impose sanctions on Iranian crude, but European leaders said they were worried it might drive up international oil prices, said Pascual, who was engaged in the talks for the State Department.

The goal was to reduce Iranian oil exports and a little over a million barrels of day was taken off the market. The U.S. was increasing its supply by a million barrels per day, he said. You can give [allies] some comfort that by taking Iranian oil off the market, youre not necessarily going to send the price of oil of skyrocketing.

In 2013, Russia invaded eastern Ukraine, setting off a debate within the Obama administration on how to respond. Ultimately, administration officials decided against sanctions to block Russian oil from global markets because Russias production was so great it would have created a worldwide oil shock - even with the U.S. ready to pick up the slack.

But in 2014, Obama imposed sanctions that blocked U.S. oil companies from helping Moscow develop what are believed to be massive and difficult to drill crude reserves off its Arctic coastline and in Siberian shale fields. The prospects in the Russian Arctic are so promising that Exxon Mobil signed a $3.2 billion deal to help Russian oil company Rosneft develop them in 2011.

But not everyone is convinced that sanctions targeting an oil states energy sector are as effective as State Department officials would like to think.

Have [the Russian energy sanctions] caused some pain? Yes, said Sarah Ladislaw, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former Energy Department official. Have they gotten us to a different position on Ukraine? I dont think so.

Right now, all eyes are on Venezuela. Maduro has announced a general election for May, but has banned his two strongest rivals from the ballot. Most foreign affairs experts believe if Trump is going to impose oil sanctions, he will move before the Venezuelan election.

But they also say there is little to be gained by such a move. Venezuelas economy is already in free-fall and Maduro might use the sanctions as an excuse for his administrations failures as he tries to stay in power. And if the country collapsed, the United States would likely come under international pressure to help Venezuela rebuild.

Within foreign policy circles, there is an understanding that there are limits to U.S. oil diplomacy. While the threat of an oil embargo like the 1970s has likely passed, the country is still susceptible to ups and downs of the global oil market and the damage dramatic swings can inflict on the national economy.

Once a barrel of oil is loaded onto a tanker, it ceases to have a nationality. In that moment, it mixes with the tens of millions of other barrels of crude the world produces each day.

Theres this idea the U.S. is producing a ton, so whatever we do on sanctions cant affect oil markets, said Ladislaw. Thats only true until its not.In the past, Emmanuel Episcopal Church marked Holy Saturday with a Great Easter Vigil, a deeply spiritual ritual that concludes with the lighting of the paschal candle  a symbol of rebirth and renewal.

But this year, a time when so much has changed for so many, members of the Christian church in west Houston instead observed Easter eve with a Passover seder, sharing a meal of gefilte fish and matzah ball soup with Jewish worshipers from Temple Sinai.

It is a fitting metaphor.

Two communities ravaged by the force of nature. Two faiths with common roots. Two religious traditions.

Under one roof, at the same table.

Its been that way since Temple Sinai opened its doors to Emmanuel Episcopal, which was left without a place of worship after Hurricane Harveys floodwaters swallowed up the dove gray church at Eldridge Parkway and Memorial, rendering the building unusable.

Their story  of how a church and synagogue came together through crisis and upheaval, how they formed one family in the midst of fear and uncertainty, how faith was shaken and restored  is the story of this season.

It recalls the message of Passover, when Jews commemorate Gods liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt, and the traditional seder welcome that, according to Temple Sinai Rabbi Annie Belford, invites all who are hungry to come and eat.

It embodies the hope of Easter, when Christians celebrate the day Jesus rose from the dead, and the promise of redemption for those pushing through despair.

It is the story of huge loss coupled with with incredible generosity and love. Darkness and light together. Death and resurrection together, said the Rev. Andrew Parker of Emmanuel. Thats what the paschal mystery is all about. We are living it in a bigger, more tangible way.

Parker paused and blinked back tears. His expression was an amalgam of pain and gratitude, a glimpse of how far they have all come.

***

Before the light, there was darkness.

There was Harvey.

Days of pounding rain. A storm that seemed as if it would never end. And water. Water that rushed from rivers and bayous. Water that swamped roads, poured into houses, filled churches and synagogues and mosques.

Water that rose inside the Emmanuel Episcopal building, shrouding the pews, destroying prayer books, wiping out four decades of history.

It would take 10 days for the flooding to recede from the church. Lane Ferguson, senior warden at Emmanuel, did not wait that long. The Tuesday after the storm, he waded through chest-high water and hitchhiked a ride on a boat to get to the church, trying to rescue as much as he could from the building.

The following Saturday, he went back to retrieve Emmanuels eternal candle, which hung 25 feet above the altar. He carried the treasured artifact  flame still burning  from the waterlogged church.

The candle, the altar and the kitchen stove were the only things salvaged from the first floor. Everything else was gone.

It was, Parker said, like a death, like seeing someone you love beaten up. A sacred space in ruins.

Word spread quickly. Parker got messages asking if his congregation needed a place to gather. Belford was one of the first to call, but Emmanuel already had accepted an offer from Holy Spirit Episcopal Church.

For several weeks, the Emmanuel congregation held services at Holy Spirit, but the only time available was a Sunday afternoon slot, a hardship for families still reeling from Harvey. So Parker thought back to the invitation from Temple Sinai, which is just two miles from the church.

The generosity of the offer had taken him aback. But holding Christian services at a synagogue? The notion seemed odd. Some of Emmanuels members, already anxious about the future of their church, were skeptical.

Then Parker noted: If worshipping in a Jewish temple was good enough for Jesus, its good enough for Emmanuel.

At Temple Sinai, the prospect of sharing space also raised eyebrows.

After all, that congregation, too, was suffering the aftermath of Harvey. About 40 of its 200 families had lost homes in the storm. The temple spearheaded rescue and recovery efforts, distributed food to displaced families, welcomed neighborhood residents without power for coffee, doughnuts and phone charging, and forfeited dues from members impacted by flooding. It was feeling the financial strain.

Belford was peppered with questions: Would there be a cross in the sanctuary? What about security, always a concern for synagogues? Would Temple Sinai, a sunlit building where even light fixtures are in the shape of the Star of Israel, remain a Jewish space?

In the end, the rabbi says, there was only one answer.

An answer that comes from a commandment uttered in the Torah more than 30 times.

We are supposed to welcome the stranger, for we were strangers in the land of Egypt, she explained. It was the right thing to do.

An opportunity for a mitzvah. A good deed.

***

No one knew what to expect that first Sunday, the weekend before Thanksgiving.

The logistics had been tricky. The bimah, the slanted platforms used for Torah reading, had to be transformed into an altar. A member of Emmanuel crafted a wooden plank that can be switched out for the Christian service.

Temple Sinais ritual room, used to store books for High Holy Days and Haggadah pamphlets for Passover, had to be cleared for vestments, candles and a shelf filled with copies of the Book of Common Prayer bound in red. The synagogues Sunday school classes, where students prepare for confirmation and Bat Mitzvah, were shifted to the library.

There was palpable nervousness in the air. Then Belford addressed the Emmanuel Episcopal congregation, now gathered in an unfamiliar setting.

Welcome, she told them, before translating the Hebrew words inscribed in gold on lecterns in front of the sanctuary.

Tzedek. Emet. Torah.

Justice. Truth. Teach.

She instructed Parker and the Rev. Brad Sullivan to open the doors of the ark, revealing the Torah scroll. The entire room oohed.

Then she taught one more Hebrew word: shalom.

There are three meanings of the word, she explained to the congregants who had been displaced from their house of worship. It means goodbye, which applies to your journey. It means hello, which applies to where you all are. And it means peace, which is what we hope you find here.

***

Four months later, the trepidation has long vanished. Emmanuel members now greet Belford by calling Shalom, Rabbi Annie. The two congregations held a joint Advent-Hanukkah celebration, where they sang songs from both faiths, ate traditional Hanukkah food and St. Nicholas cookies. (It was, Parker said, like nothing he has ever seen.)

On March 4, the synagogues annual mitzvah day, both communities joined to do service, building a pit for GaGa (a Jewish day camp game) in the back field of the Temple Sinai property. Emmanuels sewing guild set up machines in the synagogue hallway, where young boys from the synagogue stitched pillowcases alongside ladies from the church.

They have become one family.

When Belfords mother was diagnosed with brain cancer, Emmanuel sewing guild members made a quilt for her. Every Sunday, the congregation offers prayers for her health.

The church presence has brought blessings to the synagogue, Belford said. They have given Temple Sinai members an opportunity to practice the values of their religion.

For their part, Emmanuel members say the time at Temple Sinai has helped renew their faith.

Ferguson said the hair was standing on my arms during the first service at the temple, his soul filled with wonder at the thought of the Torah scroll inside the ark.

It was new and exciting and spectacular, he said, noting that the joint quarters also have reinforced the shared ancestry of the two faiths.

That is especially meaningful this week, as Passover and Easter converged.

On Maundy Thursday, as Parker readied the sanctuary for the traditional foot washing service later that night, tables had already been set up for the Saturday seder. A silver bowl and white hand towels were laid out, not too far from Shabbat candles.

Thats fine, Parker joked. The tables are a wonderful reminder for us because Maundy Thursday is all about the Last Supper.

The foot-washing ceremony itself pays homage to Jesus commandment to love one another as I loved you. The Easter vigil service includes a reading from the Book of Exodus, which follows the flight of the Israelites from Egypt.

Like everything after Harvey, that Biblical story now carries additional significance. So too, does the Easter triduum, the period from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday, which takes Christians from the most solemn day of the Liturgical calendar to the most joyous.

We feel like we have been through a time of darkness, said Parker, who has adopted a line from a hymn as the churchs new motto: A new creation by water and the word.

Still, the Emmanuel journey is far from over. The rebuilding of the church may take up to two years, during which the congregation will remain at Temple Sinai.

Passover is a fitting metaphor for that as well, Belford said.

After the Israelites got through the Red Sea, they werent done marching. They got through marching hand-by-hand, the rabbi said, echoing a reading. Together, we just have more hands.WASHINGTON, D.C. - It was vintage Ted Cruz.

With bipartisan majorities in Congress poised to avert a government shutdown and pass a massive $1.3 trillion spending bill, the Texas Republican issued a dissent worthy of his insurgent 2016 presidential campaign, when he ran against the Washington cabal.

Now, the same bill President Donald Trump reluctantly would sign was, to Cruz, a disastrous hodge-podge of wasteful spending drafted by the Swamp in the dark of night.

While some Republicans may fret about Trumps shaky approval ratings or their partys brand among disappointed conservatives, Cruz seems to occupy his own space in the political firmament. Launching his 2018 reelection campaign in Houston on Monday, he can fall back on his own tried-and-true persona: an unreconstructed conservative born of the partys grass-roots base.

It is an identity that also could serve in some degree as a bulwark against the anti-Trump wave that has propelled his Democratic challenger, El Paso Congressman Beto ORourke, who launched his long-shot campaign a year ago Saturday.

Whatever the presidents fortunes in a tumultuous and often chaotic White House, Cruz, once Trumps fiercest GOP critic, appears ready to stand on his own.

Hes certainly not a Trump Republican, University of Texas government scholar Sean Theriault said. Hes a Cruz Republican, and I mean Cruz in all caps. He definitely marches to the beat of his own drummer.

As the Senate campaign heats up, Texas voters seem almost evenly split on Cruz, according to a February University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll.

While his favorability rating stood at 40 percent, 42 percent viewed him unfavorably in the poll.

ORourke, on the other hand, got a 29 percent favorability rating, more than double his unfavorable score of 14 percent. His problem, however, is that nearly 60 percent of the poll respondents had never heard of him or knew too little to have an opinion, making him, essentially, a blank slate for the two sides to fill.

Cruz, for better or worse, is a known quantity.

I cant imagine that very many people are going to change their opinion of Ted Cruz, Theriault said.

While Cruzs presidential campaign successfully branded him as a proven conservative in the 2016 Republican primaries, that did not necessarily translate into personal likeability, a metric Democratic strategists hope to exploit in the coming race.

Ted Cruz does have a high enough profile to separate himself, but whether thats a good thing or bad thing for him is not entirely clear, said Tom Jensen, a director at Public Policy Polling, a Democratic polling firm that had Cruz leading ORourke 45-37 percent in January.

That was a smaller margin than the 18-point lead Cruzs internal polling showed earlier.

Although Trumps approval ratings have been climbing in March, he only won deep-red Texas by nine-points in 2016, and the turbulence that has surrounded his presidency has energized Democrats across the nation.

Looking at recent GOP defeats in Virginia, Alabama and Pennsylvania, Republican strategists across the country have been taking stock of the Trump effect.

In the February Texas poll, Trump approval and disapproval was evenly split at 46 percent of voters on either side. It remains an open question whether he would be an asset or a liability for GOP lawmakers running in competitive districts, like U.S. Reps. John Culberson in Houston and Pete Sessions in Dallas.

The Pete Sessions and John Culbersons of this world probably are, more than Ted Cruz, going to have their fate determined by whether people like Trump or not, because they dont have as high a profile, Jensen said. Cruz is his own man to a greater extent than most Republicans who are going to be running this year.

Although Cruz has smoothed over his differences with Trump since their bitter 2016 GOP primary rivalry, it always has been clear that Cruz represents a much more orthodox strain of conservatism.

From Cruzs perspective, Trumps decisive advantage was his cross-over celebrity appeal, an unforeseen X-factor that may or may not still drive voters to the polls.

The percentage that Trump has that like him, theyre not political people, said GOP strategist Rick Tyler, who worked on Cruzs presidential campaign. Theyre not going to show up for other Republicans, and never have. So, the idea that Trump is going to drive people to the polls in Texas is not there. But I dont think Cruz relies on those people.

Indeed, all the early signs point to a familiar Cruz strategy of focusing on his conservative base and it die-hard tea party and evangelical activists.

The first shot of his campaign was a jingle to define ORourke as a liberal man; the second was a quip on Twitter this week speculating that his opponent would be a lock to win a Senate seat in Massachusetts - a jibe at U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedys presence in Houston this weekend to campaign with ORourke.

Some analysts do see Trump playing a role in the Texas Senate race as a catalyst for driving Democratic turnout in November.

Thats where it could have a pretty big consequence, Theriault said. Especially for those last couple of percentage points Beto would need to get over the threshold.

Analysts will be watching closely to see if Trump campaigns for Cruz in Texas as he has for candidates in other states. Given Cruzs overwhelming advantage in the state, it would appear like an unnecessary risk.

Regardless, Cruz is never going to have his arms draped around Donald Trump, Theriault said, and hes never going to push him away as much as he did at the Republican National Convention.

Ultimately, Cruzs ace in the hole is Texas, a state with active constituencies pushing so far to the right that Tyler jokingly refers to the tea party champion as a moderate.

To some analysts it means that whatever Trumps pull or push might be in November, Cruzs brand as a conservative is all that matters.

The overall Republican lean of the state suggests that even if there is a decrease (in Republican turnout), its not likely to fundamentally change the race, said Craig Goodman, a political scientist at the University of Houston-Victoria.

For Cruz, the March 23 vote against the 2018 spending bill provided a certain measure of insurance, confirming his bona fides as a fiscal hawk. It also provided the side benefit of establishing a modicum of independence from Trump, who complained publicly, but ultimately signed the bill.

It was an opportunity to go back to his grass-roots foundations and denounce the Washington cabal, the swamp, and everything else, without actually shutting down the government, Goodman said.

In fact, with a filibuster-proof 65 senators prepared to approve the spending plan, there was no danger of turning out the lights in Washington like there had been in 2013, when Cruz went to the government shutdown mat in an attempt to defund Obamacare.

Not that a federal government shutdown would have played poorly with Cruzs base in Texas.

The truth is, Goodman said, if Senator Cruz had shut down the government over this, Im not sure that he would have necessarily been any worse off.AUSTIN - For Austinites of a historic bent, news that police and the FBI relied on radio towers tracking cell-phone usage to pinpoint the location of the serial bomber brought back memories of another set of towers that arrived as Americas first serial killer terrorized the city long ago.

Austins moonlight towers have long been part of the urban fabric, even included in filmmaker Richard Linklaters Dazed and Confused, the 1993 stoner classic set in 1976. In the movie, little of note happens throughout the day until Wooderson - played by Matthew McConaughey - gathers his buddies together for a nostalgic nighttime keg party at the foot of a venerable moon tower on the last day of school.

Skip Hollandsworth, the veteran Texas Monthly writer, makes the connection between the towers dispensing perpetual moonlight and the serial killer who terrorized the city for more than a year, beginning in late 1884 (long before the term serial killer was coined). In The Midnight Assassin, his award-winning 2015 book, Hollandsworth describes Austinites living in fear - on edge, to reprise an oft-used term from the last couple of weeks - as a diabolical killer used axes, knives, an ice pick and long steel rods to rip apart young women while they slept. Seven women and one man fell victim to the murderous spree.

Early victims were African-American maids and housekeepers, often living in servants quarters or alley houses in the backyards of the citys wealthiest white families. Some victims were only injured; they were able to make their escape or to scream in time to scare off their attacker. None could identify him.

Read more: Listening to stories at the feet of Austin

In December 1884, an African-American cook named Mollie Smith was found sprawled in the snow next to the outhouse behind her employers home, a gaping hole in her head. She was the first.

The incidents were dismissed as negro murders, until Christmas Eve, 1885, when a white woman named Sue Hancock, described by a reporter as one of the most refined ladies in Austin, was discovered by her husband in their backyard, close to where the Four Seasons Hotel is today. Her head had been split open by an ax; a sharp, thin object was lodged in her brain. About an hour later, another prominent white woman, Eula Phillips, was found dead in the wealthiest neighborhood in the city, near the old, now empty Austin Public Library on Guadalupe Street. These two killings, as Hollandsworth tells the story, brought Austin to the brink of chaos.

Austin city fathers first saw the moonlight towers at the Worlds Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, a kind of worlds fair held in New Orleans in the spring of 1885, a few months after the two white women were murdered. At night the grounds of the exposition were bright as day, thanks to 125-foot-high towers that held giant, newly invented arc lights, each light emitting 36,000 candlepower.

The Austin visitors were impressed, Hollandsworth writes, but for many of them, the lamps appeared to be more like a pointless curiosity than a helpful invention. Why, they asked, would anyone want to go to such expense to light up a city throughout the night? What possible purpose would it serve?

Read more: Joe Holley pens book on Astros historic season

Those questions were easier to answer a few years later, when a newly constructed Colorado River dam and an adjoining power station provided enough low-cost electricity to run electric streetcars and install as many streetlights as the city wanted. Instead of electric streetlights atop 20-foot-high poles, the choice for almost every other American city, the mayor and city aldermen decided to go with the arc lights, atop very tall towers.

The Fort Wayne (Ind.) Electric Company fabricated 31 wrought-iron and cast-iron towers, each 165 feet tall and weighing approximately 5,000 pounds. They were shipped in pieces to Austin and erected in 1894-95. Tall and stately, supported by slender guy wires, they reminded admirers in decades to come of miniature Eiffel Towers.

Unlike other cities, where the lamps illuminated shopping districts or railroad depots, Austin positioned them all over town so they would cover as much ground as possible. Chicken owners were concerned their hens wouldnt know when to stop laying eggs in the city of eternal moonlight, but the birds turned out to be smarter than that. Even tower opponents had to admit that the lights would make it harder for a person up to no good to hide in alleys or in shady lots along hilly residential streets.

When the lights were switched on for a test on May 5, 1895, there was a sudden blinding flash and the town was in a blaze of white light that hid the rays of the moonlight, an Austin Daily Statesman reporter observed. In every nook and corner the brilliant lights sent their shooting rays and the whole face of creation was transcendent.

In more than a decade of research, Hollandsworth never found any official statements that directly connected the arc lamps to the murders. The Daily Statesman reporter seemed to be alluding to something though, when he wrote that Austins residents had spent years groping around in that darkness that threatened the life and safety of all. Hollandsworth believes the allusion is telling.

Fifteen moonlight towers still stand. Although the pale glow of their lamps is barely noticeable among the much brighter electric and mercury lights closer to the streets, theyre not going anywhere. In 1976, they received National Historic Landmark designation. Hollandsworth notes that the citys application for landmark status described the towers as quaint, nostalgic relics of a time gone by, as much a part of Austin as the streetcars are of San Francisco.

And the killer, the sadistic midnight assassin? Who knows? Despite several arrests and three trials, no one was ever convicted. His identity is a mystery to this day. Some say he ended up in London. Some say he was Jack the Ripper.Harris County filed suit Thursday against Arkema over chemical fires at its Crosby plant in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, saying the company violated a long list of environmental, safety and building regulations and put first responders at risk.

The lawsuit, filed in state district court, seeks up to $1 million in penalties and asks that Arkema be ordered to upgrade its emergency response plans, build stronger storage areas and set up a notification system for alerting nearby residents of future incidents.

About 300 homes were evacuated and more than 30 people hospitalized  including law enforcement  when a volatile chemical erupted into flames after the plant lost power and generators in Harvey floodwaters.

"This was a very dangerous situation," County Attorney Vince Ryan said in a statement Thursday. "Arkema must take responsibility for its inability to ensure the safety of the people of the Crosby community and those who protect them."

COMPLETE COVERAGE: Get the latest Hurricane Harvey recovery news

More for you Keeping us safe

An investigation by the Houston Chronicle found that the company underestimated the potential for storm damage from Harvey and failed to keep essential back-up power protected from the rising waters.

The company remains under investigation by multiple agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, and the Harris County District Attorney's office announced in September the company was under criminal investigation.

Earlier this week, the chemical board urged other chemical plants to update their emergency plans in light of the ongoing investigation into the Arkema explosions.

Arkema attorney Rusty Hardin vowed to fight the lawsuit, saying the company has been cooperating with Harris County and other authorities.

"Suing a victim is never the right solution to a natural disaster," Hardin said in a statement Thursday. "We are disappointed that this lawsuit was filed when we were in discussions with the county to cooperatively resolve the issues. As they and we all know, this was an extraordinary flooding event. Arkema and its employees, like other businesses and individuals in Harris County, were victims of this storm."

"He said the Arkema plant has not resumed production since the storm.

"Our employees are still not back to work," Hardin said. "Filing lawsuits is not the solution here. Arkema plans to continue cooperating with authorities, but we will strenuously defend against any and all unfounded claims."

Harris County's lawsuit is the third filed against Arkema over the incident. A group of first responders and Crosby residents sued in September. A separate group of Crosby residents sued weeks later.

'Tip of the iceberg'

Arkema, a French multinational company that manufactures chemicals used to create plastic products, lost control of its Crosby facility after six feet of floodwaters cut the power and wiped out its back-up generators. The power failure knocked out a cooling system crucial for the storage of volatile organic peroxides, which can begin to explode when the temperature rises.

The chemicals were moved to refrigerated trailers but they, too, began to fail.

On Aug. 29, four days after Harvey came ashore near Rockport in South Texas, officials ordered the evacuation of everyone within 1.5 miles of the Arkema plant. The first fire started in the early morning hours of Aug. 31, sending plumes of black smoke high into the air. Law enforcement officers and medical staff reported doubling over from the fumes, which left them vomiting and gasping for air, according to one of the lawsuits filed against the company.

Two additional trailers caught fire on Sept. 1. Then, on Sept. 3, the Houston Police Department's bomb squad entered the area and detonated the remaining six trailers to burn out the remaining chemicals.

The lawsuits quickly followed.

The Chronicle investigation found that poor planning and a series of equipment failures led to the fires, and that the company failed to prepare for more than three feet of water.

"It is vindicating," said Misty Hataway-Cone, an attorney representing the first responders who sued Arkema in early September. "We're at the tip of the iceberg. The revelations that have come out from their failure to plan appropriately for Harvey and their failure to properly secure these chemicals are just further indications of the complete lack of preparation and overall care at this plant."

Hataway-Cone pointed to the possibility of other litigants coming forward, saying some Liberty County workers may have been in the area.

"We don't yet know where the plumes dispersed to, and we're only getting a trickle of information from Arkema," Hataway-Cone said.

An unprecedented event

The company self-reported multiple emissions from the plant to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality TCEQ during the disaster. Before the company lost control of its organic peroxides, floodwaters overwhelmed its wastewater treatment plant, resulting in industrial wastewater leaking into county waterways. Each separate fire resulted in air emissions from the facility.

Multiple new details were revealed in the county's lawsuit. The county's suit claims that Harris County Pollution Control Department detected air pollution outside of the mandated evacuation zone during the crisis.

It also says parts of the Arkema facility is located below base flood elevation, requiring permits the company did not have.

Arkema has repeatedly insisted that the flooding was an unprecedented event.

"Arkema's Crosby plant had never experienced the type of flooding brought on by Harvey," said company spokesperson Janet Smith.

The county attorney is also asking the company to pay for the county's costs for responding to the incident. Harris County Fire Marshal's Office spent more than $40,000 responding to the Arkema site.

Despite the lawsuits, the plant remains an ongoing cause for concern for some Crosby residents.

"I would hope that they would have apologized and explained," said Adam Harris, whose home is close enough to the plant that he caught images of a plume of smoke rising after the final controlled burn. Now, he worries about the possible effects on property values.

"But it is what it is, I guess," he said. "I just have no idea what I'm living right next to. I just wish it wasn't there at this point."Hurricane Harvey spawned nearly 4,000 tons of unpermitted air pollution from 75 industrial sources in the Houston and Port Arthur areas and beyond, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis of reports supplied by dozens of industrial plants to state environmental officials.

All those Harvey-related air pollution reports packed nearly a years worth of releases into a couple of stormy weeks, based on an analysis of the total pounds of pollutants reported in 30 Texas counties that were blamed on the storm compared with the same counties reports for all of 2016. The Chronicles analysis was based on state pollution data and related enforcement databases for 2016 and 2017 provided by the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project.

Statewide, six major Texas refineries, chemical plants and a huge tank farm have acknowledged releasing anywhere from 1,883 to 28,500 but pounds of benzene  a known human carcinogen  as part of some of the most hazardous unauthorized emissions specifically blamed on the storm.

But so far, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has released only one notice of Harvey-related enforcement action. That notice cited Valero for benzene and other air pollution releases that the company says extended for 11 days at its Houston refinery, which is surrounded by the historic residential neighborhood of Manchester.

According to Valeros reports to TCEQ, the releases began when a floating roof on Tank 3 outside the Valero refinery became partially submerged due to heavy rainfall shortly after midnight Aug. 27, allowing gases to seep out. The tank, which had been scheduled to take a pipeline transfer of crude oil, was being loaded at the time the leak began. It had a capacity of 200,000 barrels, but several hours elapsed before loading activity was stopped, the TCEQs enforcement notice says.

The submerged roof eventually led to nearly a ton of benzene being released from the tank on refinery grounds. Valeros spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman for TCEQ said the Valero incident is among three notices of enforcement and 14 notices of violation the agency has issued in its review of Hurricane Harvey pollution incidents, but declined to immediately provide information about any other actions. TCEQs notices are relatively rare and are often used to compel companies to improve facilities. They rarely result in fines.

Neither state nor federal environmental authorities independently visited most of Houstons 100 major reported Harvey pollution sites  though they did visit Valero, a Houston Chronicle/Associated Press investigation found earlier this month.

That Valero visit made the environmental officials feel sick. Statewide, TCEQ has no mobile monitoring unit that it can quickly deploy to accurately measure toxic chemicals like benzene. The notice says the Houston-based officials instead used more primitive handheld monitoring devices that picked up readings for volatile organic chemicals that ranged from 1.3 to 33 parts per million  and experienced health effects ranging from dizziness, soreness of throat, upper respiratory irritations and mild headaches.

For Manchester and other neighborhoods directly affected by the industrial releases, the residents effectively suffered what Houston-based environmental activist Juan Parras calls the second storm of air pollution even as Harveys rains continued to fall.

It was probably as bad if not worse (as floodwaters) since invisible toxics can cause long-term health impacts, said Parras, who has worked for 20 years with a nonprofit he co-founded called Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services.

Benzene, and more

The lack of site visits or independent monitoring for most other Harvey-related pollution incidents means that nearly all available data about the events comes from reports the companies made to state environmental regulators. The quantities released are estimates that rely on various methodologies. Some changed radically in the weeks and months after the storm.

A full database of the 2017 TCEQ emission reports was provided to the Houston Chronicle by the Texas Campaign on the Environment, a nonprofit that obtained data through a records request. The Chronicle then did its own analysis of all air pollution reports that companies specifically blamed on the hurricane or on Harvey and that were reported in the 30 Texas counties included in Gov. Greg Abbotts disaster declaration.

That declaration, which was extended in mid-March, suspended many of the states environmental rules and may make it more difficult for regulators to make cases against polluters or for local governments to file pollution-related civil lawsuits against them, environmental lawyers have told the Chronicle.

But Rock Owens, the assistant Harris County attorney who has taken a lead on environmental enforcement in the Houston area, said he considers it an encouraging sign that TCEQ has taken action against Valero, one of the highest-profile Harvey-related polluters in the Houston.

At least six companies estimated that they released more benzene than Valero during Hurricane Harvey, records show. For example, the Chevron Phillips Chemical Plant in Cedar Bayou near residential neighborhoods in Baytown reported releasing more than 745,229 pounds of air pollution, including 14 tons of benzene due to its sitewide shutdown of Cedar Bayou Facilities in anticipation of tropical storm/hurricane.

Statewide, release of benzene was only one of the worst of many Harvey-related air pollution incidents, TCEQ data show. Industrial users also reported releasing 32 tons of butadiene and 123 tons of nitrogen oxide  a gas linked to the burning of fuel that contributes to the formation of smog, acid rain and ozone among many other contaminants. Refineries in Port Arthur reported major releases too  as did West Texas facilities that were unable to ship their products via pipeline to tank farms and terminals shut down by Harvey.

Houston had its worst ozone day of the year on Sept. 1  in the middle of all those Harvey-related releases. Normally, such spikes in ozone and toxic chemicals in the air are recorded by a network of Texas air pollution monitoring stations located in the Houston metro area and statewide, but environmental officials shut down most of those monitors to spare them from potential wind or flooding damage during Harvey.

In the case of Valeros Houston refinery, a permanent state air pollution monitoring station that normally monitors for benzene and other toxic chemicals sits in a park in the Manchester neighborhood, just across from the refinery. But the monitor was among those shut down during the storm.

Parras is among several clean-air advocates who argue that shutting down those monitors for so long during Harvey was a mistake that prioritized economic interests over human health. He doubted public assurances delivered by both the Environmental Protection Agency and by TCEQ that the air in Houston  and around reported major spill sites such as Valero and Arkema  was safe.

Regarding the air emissions  how can you say that there were no high level of air toxics if your equipment was not working? Why did you turn off those air monitors? said Parras, who received dozens of calls at his nonprofit from residents of Manchester. Residents there complained that the air was burning their eyes or that their chests felt heavy.

Houston steps in

The releases from a tank and from a flooded area inside Valeros Crude Tank Farm ultimately lasted for 440 hours and 30 minutes  until they finally ceased Sept. 14, records show. The emissions eventually totaled 120 tons of volatile organic compounds, including 1,883 pounds of benzene, according to the TCEQ notice of enforcement to Valero.

Loren Raun, chief environmental science officer at the Houston Health Department, scrambled during the storm to collect air monitoring data near Valero using the citys crews and limited equipment because of citizen complaints.

The City of Houston and activists in Houston and Port Arthur also got help from the Environmental Defense Fund, which hired a contractor to drive around both metro areas and conduct tests for benzene levels, recording several hotspots. The EDF reports were reviewed by the TCEQ and EPA but are not part of the enforcement action against Valero.

Raun said she hopes to see more action from TCEQ. It is important that TCEQ enforce the regulations, which are in place to protect human health, Raun said. The community is at risk if the regulations are not followed. TCEQ plays a very important role in enforcement.

The TCEQ provides an online air pollution monitoring tool that is supposed to allow anyone to look up reports of air emissions by major industries in real time. But during Harvey there were so many reports filed  and so many changes and amendments  that it was difficult to keep up.

Yvette Arellano, staff research director for the Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services, worked with volunteers to mine the TCEQ website and filled bulletin boards with reports of pollution even as their office took on water during Harvey. They tried to supply as much information as they could to panicked residents who texted and called for help about what they smelled or saw spewing from smokestacks.

A decade ago, the Sierra Club successfully sued several major Houston area refinery companies over excessive air pollution, reaching court settlements that helped speed upgrades and reduce emissions. Some of those same facilities again reported major pollution incidents during Harvey.

But Neil Carman, who oversees clean-air act programs for the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, said he thinks there may be much to learn from plants hit by the storm that were able to avoid major releases. Staged shut-downs, better flood protection around tank farms, improved maintenance or increased equipment that help recapture instead of burning off excess materials, he said, can keep the second storm of air pollution from hitting so hard in the next hurricane.

Ninety-five percent of the Gulf Coast plants did not have excess emissions and thats part of the story here as well, Carman said.

Associated Press reporter Frank Bajak contributed to this report.A man was shot inside a northeast Harris County gated community Friday afternoon, and authorities are searching for the shooter.

Deputies with the Harris County Sheriff's Office were called out to a shooting in the 5700 block of Easthampton Drive, inside the Pine Village North community, around 2:45 p.m. and found a man had been shot in the leg. He was rushed to Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital in unknown condition.

Police are still searching for the shooter and have little information about any suspects.

CAUSE OF DEATH: Houston councilman died of accidental drug overdose, ME rules

Now Playing: Texas News & Crime Video: Houston Chronicle

No other information was available. Check back for updates on this developing story as they come in.

Jay R. Jordan is a breaking news reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan.The motivations behind the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) are noble: to end the horrific crime of sex trafficking. But the hybrid bill - passed by the U.S. House and Senate and headed to President Trumps desk  will do little to stop sex trafficking and will instead impede the efforts of law enforcement to pursue sex traffickers. Furthermore, it will make it legally riskier for websites to host a wide variety of speech.

In 1996, Congress passed the Communications Decency Act, one of the earliest laws governing the internet in the United States. The CDA aimed to protect children from graphic online content, but the Supreme Court struck down the vast majority of this law in 1997 for being overbroad and violating the First Amendment.

But one piece of the law survived. Known as Section 230, it aimed to incentivize website operators to take measures to protect children from inappropriate material and to enable the digital innovations that would revolutionize our economy and society. The laws master stroke was ensuring that site operators and internet service providers were considered intermediaries rather than publishers, even when they moderated online discussions and removed objectionable posts.

DR. OZ: Hold internet companies accountable for sex trafficking

Without this foundational safety net, the internet could not have given voices to so many speakers, and user-generated content sites like Tumblr, Twitter and YouTube would not exist. The law rightly held the people who posted illegal or harmful content on sites responsible for their own actions, instead of the sites themselves. It also ensured that websites operators could be prosecuted for breaking federal criminal law.

Today, law enforcement often works with website operators to identify criminals who are using their sites for malicious purposes. However, FOSTA/SESTA could dry up crucial sources of information for these investigations, because it puts website operators at greater risk of prosecution if they review and evaluate the posts that they host. Whats more, many sites based in the United States would likely use broad, automated systems to filter and block user posts well beyond trafficking ads. Unfortunately, this will do little to limit the overall availability of trafficking ads online. As U.S.-based services become more inhospitable, traffickers will simply move to sites hosted overseas, outside of U.S. law enforcements jurisdiction, further limiting U.S. authorities ability to find and prosecute traffickers.

FOSTA/SESTA is expected to become law, and platforms such as Craigslist and Reddit have already started deleting lawful speech and taking down entire sections of their sites in response to the increased risk of liability. Such a broadly written law could even make it harder for people providing services to sex workers and victims of sex trafficking to share information on health and safety, which could be seen as promoting or facilitating prostitution. Thats right: This hybrid bill could interfere with services designed to reduce exploitation of sex workers, and could perversely create conditions that lead to more trafficking.

While its unfortunately too late to improve this legislation, other equally important discussions about the future of life online are looming in Congress and in legislatures around the world. Many of these focus on the role of intermediaries in responding to complex topics like disinformation, election interference, terrorist propaganda, hate speech and harassment. These discussions are extremely important, and rushed, overzealous regulations can have serious unintended consequences. Hardest hit will be the small businesses and start-ups that get squeezed out because they lack the personnel and resources to comply with regulations aimed at giant platforms.

None of these questions have simple answers, especially as we face more threats to our rights in the digital realm. However, unless we have robust discussion among regulators, innovators, advocates, law enforcement and the people who will be directly affected by these policies, we will only see more overbroad law-making that results in neither side achieving their goals, all while curtailing our fundamental freedoms. Meeting the challenges of the information age will require us to set heated political rhetoric aside and have honest discussions about the capabilities and limits of tech, the true consequences of regulation and the kind of digital future we want.Roughly 25 years ago, Congress created a program, the 340B Drug Discount Program, to help safety-net clinics and community health centers improve the health of needy communities throughout the country. Unfortunately, some bad actors are taking advantage of the program for their own benefit while communities, including some here in Texas, are suffering.

Republican Indiana Rep. Larry Buchon, a doctor, and Democratic California Rep. Scott Peters recently introduced legislation, the 340B Protecting Access to Underserved and Safety-Net Entities Act (PAUSE Act), which is a great first step to provide much-needed fixes to the program.

For those who arent familiar with the 340B Drug Discount Program, it requires the drug manufacturers to sell their medicines to eligible organizations at steep discounts but allows heath care organizations to sell the prescriptions at full price. It started out as a well-intentioned program, but some organizations are using it to drive profits instead of help patients.

EDITORIAL: Help may be on the way for some of Houston's sickest

Some bad actors have become adept at taking advantage of the program because it allows them to acquire drugs at discounts ranging as high as 60 percent. Often those discounts are not passed on to patients. In fact, according to a 2014 report from the Office of the Inspector General, two-thirds of 340B disproportionate share hospitals do not offer the discounted price to uninsured patients.

An increasingly common practice today is for a 340B hospital to buy an independent oncology practice, which prescribes high-cost cancer drugs (e.g. often more than $10,000 per month for each patient) and use the purchased clinics 340B program member status to secure steep discounts to pad bottom lines. Because of this deep margin, tax-exempt 340B hospitals can make a substantial profit. Meanwhile, our countrys cancer-care-delivery system is shrinking dramatically, and the cost of health care is rising.

The 340B Program has ballooned in recent years. What was once a program targeting safety-net clinics is now responsible for more than $16 billion in drug purchases. And, because the program is so large, it is impacting health care for all Americans. Numerous studies have shown, including the recent report by Berkley Research Group, that the 340B program is leading to upwards price pressure on drugs.

MARKS: Learn the difference between health care and health

Many safety-net participants, such as the sole community hospitals and rural clinics of rural Texas, are not the problem. The problem is that the majority of 340B hospitals and their suburban clinical affiliates provide little charity care. Too many of these participants are simply using this government program to increase their profit margins.

About 22 percent of Texas residents between 19 and 64 years of age are uninsured. The sheer magnitude of the number of sick patients who do not have insurance is high. We need appropriate transparency, oversight and operation of this federal program to ensure that funds intended to care for this population actually are used to serve it. There are countless examples of individual cancer patients who live in close proximity to 340B program eligible tax-exempt facilities who are unable to benefit from the services they provide.Often patients simply do not have access.

TROISI: Enduring good health takes prevention

Texans deserve better. With the 340B Pause Act, policymakers now have the opportunity to act and improve care for all Americans. Specifically, the 340B Pause Act would temporarily pause new enrollments of disproportionate share hospitals, as well as require basic reporting, similar to what other participants must provide. Its also important to note that the bill would not affect rural, critical access or sole community hospitals.

We urge U.S. Rep.John Culberson, R-Houston, and other members of Congress to support the 340B Pause Act. Lets not miss the opportunity to restore integrity to this program for the sake of the patients and safety-net providers who truly need it. We, as a country cannot afford to continue down the same path.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...Is BMI The Best Health Parameter Or Is It An Outdated Calculator?We've all had bad customer service experiences. We've probably all got an air travel story or two to share.

It will be hard to top this one however, as it involves five U.S. citizens traveling on a Russian airline--along with alleged blatant racism, and a 7,200-mile detour.

The five Americans were traveling from Delhi to New York City on Aeroflot earlier this year, and they say that the airline treated white passengers and ethnically South Asian U.S. citizens differently during a stopover in Moscow.

Ultimately, they claim Aeroflot forced the ethnically South Asian U.S. citizens to turn around and fly all the way back to India.

Here's what happened, the legal claim--and whether anything can really come of it.

"Mihkail" in Moscow

The incident took place January 7, according to a legal complaint, when there were big snowstorms in the eastern U.S.. Airports were closed, and the complaint says that the passengers learned when they landed in Moscow that their connecting flight from Moscow to New York had been canceled.

Bad news under any circumstances, but Russia apparently has a law that bans anyone without a visa from staying in the country for more than 24 hours--even under these kinds of circumstances. So, Aeroflot told them that waiting it out for a couple of days in a hotel in Moscow wouldn't be an option.

However, while white passengers were allegedly allowed to stay in an airport lounge while they waited, and ultimately were sent to New York on later flights, the five ethnically South Asian passengers say they were treated very differently.

As captured on a video posted to Facebook (and embedded at the end of this article), one Aeroflot employee with a nametag reading "Mihkail" told only the ethnically South Asian Americans that they'd have to go to India.

Next time, Qatar Airways?

"As Mikhail grew increasingly frustrated and angry, he began threatening the travelers with civil and criminal sanctions, including forfeiture of their Aeroflot tickets if they refused to accept that they were 'Indians' who had to return 'back to India,'" the complaint says.

The five passengers say they called the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and were told that they were in the right, and as U.S. citizens they shouldn't be sent to India. However, they were also warned that they did not want to risk becoming entangled in the Russian criminal system or going through the official deportation process.

So, they flew back to India--where they ultimately wound up purchasing one-way tickets to the U.S. on Qatar Airways, at a cost of several thousand dollars, to avoid having to travel through Russia again.

I asked Aeroflot for their side of the story, and a New York-based spokesperson emailed me a statement:

"We clearly fell short of our customary high standards of service in this incident, which occurred more than two months ago, and indeed we contacted the passengers immediately afterwards to offer our apologies. However, our thorough internal investigation established that this was not a case of discrimination based on appearance, and we do not accept this characterization in the complaint."

Can the U.S. really do anything?

The five passengers--named Marc Fernandes, Shahana Islam, Sabiha Islam, Bakiul Islam, and Anshul Agrawal--filed their complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings in Washington.

As reprehensible as the allegations are however, it's not clear to me that any agency can actually do anything for the five passengers. They're Americans after all, and the events all took place between Moscow and Delhi.

But one of the lawyers involved, Johnathan Smith of the legal advocacy and educational organization Muslim Advocates, told me in an email that he believes the U.S. agency has jurisdiction to ensure that foreign air carriers comply with U.S. laws.

"We are hoping that USDOT will expertise its jurisdiction and conduct a full and fair investigation into this matter and ensure that Aeroflot is complying with its legal obligations," Smith said.

Here's the Facebook video showing "Mikhail's" interactions with the passengers. At this point it seems they'd been stuck in the Moscow airport for several hours, waiting for any news about how or when they'd be getting home.You know that saying about how you shouldn't bring sand to the beach? Apparently Oscar Munoz, the CEO of United Airlines, might never have heard of it.

That's because Munoz, who reportedly made $18.7 million last year, is being accused this week by the state of Florida of unlawfully taking sand from the beach--in order to shore up the dunes in front of his estimated $6.8 million oceanfront home.

The state's Department of Environmental Protection sent a letter to Munoz's wife March 28, Catherine Munoz, saying that someone had filed a complaint against them for what's known as "beach scraping," prompting the agency to do an inspection.

"It was evident that sand had been taken from the [public] beach with machinery to create a 'small frontal dune at the base of the original eroded dune,'" the state letter said, according to FirstCoast ABC News.

That's not allowed, apparently--even if your house is really, really nice. It's not just Munoz, by the way; three other neighbors apparently got similar letters and now face similar allegations.

It's a civil investigation, not criminal to be clear, but could potentially result in hefty fines.

Other homes that got similar warnings belong to David Brown, the CEO and preisdnet of Web.com, Chris Aitken, managing director of bank and financial services company UBS--along with a woman named Margaret Conolly, about whom local media weren't able to find anything out.

Additionally, News4JAX's I-TEAM obtained video from an anonymous neighbor that shows "two earth movers scooping sand from the public beach last week and hauling it toward four private homes." (Embedded below.)

So, why steal sand from a beach like this to begin with? Because Hurricanes Matthew in 2016 and Irma in 2017 wrecked havoc on Florida beaches, and it can take years for dunes to rebuild naturally.

One of Munoz's Florida neighbors says building dunes the legal way, which meant trucking in sand from elsewhere, cost him $28,000. As writer Gary Leff put it on View From the Wing, "Apparently [Munoz] purchased basic economy landscaping and that doesn't come with any free dunes."

The Munoz beach mansion is located on a seven mile stretch of beach a little bit south of Jacksonville, Florida. Public records say he and his wife bought the property in 2011 for $3 million, knocked down the existing house, and built a brand new, 10,000-square foot mansion in its place.

Technically the beach behind the house is public. But while there are paths from the road to the beach, reports say local residents succeeded in making sure there are no parking spaces or restroom facilities--so fewer non-residents can use it.

"The beach, you can look at it, it's in the process of rebuilding, nature's rebuilding it," neighbor Bill Hudson told FirstCoast. "But all things like this do is disrupt the process."

It's funny; before Munoz was the head of United, he was he president of railway holding company CSX Corporation. And in that role, well, ordinary Americans never heard anything about him.

But as the CEO of one of the big U.S. airlines, his every move is scrutinized--as is his company's. They're massive, consumer businesses, in which as my colleague Chris Matyszczyk pointed out to me lately, people are simply trapped.

Meaning: If you need to travel, you need to use them. And you're literally locked in a metal tube and at their mercy for hours at a time.

So when things go wrong, they sometimes go viral--even if, as Munoz said in a speech last week, "It's just the math."

There are hundreds of United Airlines airplanes in the air at almost any moment, and so it's almost the law of averages that things will go wrong sometimes, leading to bad experiences and PR nightmares.

But how about this kind of unforced error, allegedly stealing sand from a public beach to use at your private house? It's not as if Munoz has hundreds of beach houses, right, and this just happens to be the only one with allegations of cheaply ripping off the public?

At least I don't think he has more than one massive beach house.

And I can also surmise that maybe--maybe even, probably--Munoz is simply way too busy to spend time micromanaging how or where the contractor he hired to take care of the dunes actually took care of it.

Maybe he had no idea what was going on. But really. Not the best look for a CEO, is it?After 60 years in the movie business  five of them, from 1978 to 1982, as the top box-office star in the United States  Burt Reynolds might appear to be an open book, his every feat, foible, affair and chest hair chronicled so vividly that almost nothing about him could surprise you the way that naked Cosmopolitan centrefold did in 1972.

But The Last Movie Star, Adam Rifkins study on fading glory, lost love and regret, written especially for Reynolds, does just that. (The film, now on DirecTV, opened in US theatres on Friday.)

Reynolds lays his soul bare as Vic Edwards, an all-but-forgotten film icon given a lifetime achievement award by what he assumes to be a major Nashville festival that had previously honoured the likes of Robert De Niro. Instead, hes saddled with shabby accommodations and a lippy, tattooed driver, Lil (Ariel Winter of Modern Family), for a grassroots gathering scraped together by some local fanboys. Vic is not amused.

 Burt Reynolds on Loose Women

But on his way back to the airport, he has a yearning to visit his hometown, Knoxville, Tennessee. And soon hes walking  very slowly, with Lil reluctantly by his side  down memory lane.

I heard he wouldnt do it unless I did it, and that sort of swung me to the project, Reynolds said of Rifkin. But I liked it. It was very different than anything Id done. There werent any cars or things jumping other cars or girls and stuff.

Visiting New York from Valhalla, his estate in Jupiter, Florida, Reynolds, 82, arrived at the interview with an entourage before heading to a career retrospective at the Metrograph in downtown Manhattan. His body ravaged from stunt work, he made his way with help from a fancy cane. But he fired off a barrage of jokes, and that storied charisma was still there.

How much did Adam Rifkin get right about you in his script?

Well, I dont know. I mean, Ive been acting for 60 years now. I dont know who the hell I am. But I think he did a real good job. We wanted the guy to be an Everyman who thinks hes a movie star, but its over. There are these ups and downs where he realises hes not a movie star anymore. So he just sort of wanders into the ghettos and streets and makes friends with a lot of down-and-outers, which is what he is.

Sweet but something of a rascal.

I think you have to be a little bit of a rascal, because people would be disappointed if I didnt do that. [Chuckles] Were only here for a little while, and youve got to have some fun, right? I dont take myself seriously, and I think the ones that do, theres some sickness with people like that. Thats why I live in Florida.

Vic butts heads with Ariel Winters Lil. What was she like to work with?

She started out trying to be tough. Her language was atrocious. I didnt like it. So I took her around behind the wagon and said: Ariel, I dont know if you heard Anne Bancroft talk like that or who, but I can tell you Sally [Field] doesnt. And you dont have to. It doesnt mean anything. But not only that, it throws me. I think Im doing a scene with this girl, and you say the F-word and we dont need it. And please try it a couple of days without it. Well, she didnt do it anymore, and I was so proud of her.

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Whats the difference being a movie star now and at the height of your career?

In the Seventies, [people in the industry] protected you a little more. Where are you going tonight? Well, Im going to dinner with my lady. Where? I dont want to tell you where. But Id end up telling them where, and theyd end up being there, two tables away. Now youre not protected, but if you learn how to laugh and have fun with it...

If I was as tough as Im made out to be in movies, I wouldnt have to worry. But I cant beat my way out of a paper bag now. Im too beat up. I havent had two hours of no pain for, gosh, I dont know, honey, 20 years. Because it was always this macho crap that youre full of, and I always thought, Well hell, I could do that [stunt]. And I could, except sometimes I didnt quite make it.

Is there anyone now who reminds you of yourself back then?

George Clooney. Hes got a sparkle. And he just seems like a good guy, welcoming you to the set, which I always do. Were going to make a movie, and I dont know if its going to be any good, but lets have fun.

Youve said many times that Sally is the one who got away. Did you ever try getting her back?

Id be afraid to ask her out because I think shed laugh and hang up. Joanne Woodward got me my first agent, and were really close friends, and she said: What in the hells the matter with you? Why dont you go up to her house, get on your knees and ask her if you cant be friends? And I said: I cant do that. What if she closes the door on me? And she said: Well, I closed the door on Paul [Newman, her husband] twice, and he came back. But I couldnt. All youve got left at that point is your pride. And I didnt want to bash that in too much.

 Burt Reynolds says he fell in love with Sally Field when she was 7

The film inserts your character into scenes from your own movies, like Smokey and the Bandit. It nods to your days as a sex symbol with your centrefold. Whats it like looking at that bearskin rug now?

You do stupid things. I wish I hadnt done it, but I did it. And I rose above it, I guess. Or I didnt, I dont know. But Im still here. [Sings a line from Im Still Here.]

Now you teach a Friday night acting class in Florida.

Its hysterical. [The age range] goes from 18 to 80, and the lady thats 80 was a Follies girl, and she must have been a knockout because shes still very sexy. I have more fun with her.

You still act in a handful of films each year. Why not slow down?

I dont know why I think this, but maybe Ive got my best work ahead. Maybe Ill be putting my teeth in the glass, and maybe it will be a very different kind of role, but I want to do something where Im not driving a car or a truck, where its real. Something that people wouldnt expect me to do. Probably a man in search of himself.

And now youre the subject of retrospectives. Do you enjoy basking in the adoration?

Sometimes its fun. But sometimes people surprise me with their anger. Its almost like you want to say, Well, if you think its that easy, why dont you come do it, and I can sit where youre sitting and ask you questions  dumb ones, but questions.

You famously turned down blockbuster roles like James Bond and Han Solo to continue making action movies, some of which fizzled. Why?

I was good at it, for one thing. I felt good when I did a stunt, and if it was really dangerous  like if I got out on a horse or a bull that was rank, or jumped out of this building on a bag  I felt great.

Is there a role you regret not taking?

Yeah, I turned down so many films that Jack [Nicholson] did, and he was brilliant and I couldnt have been as good. But the one I wish Id done was Terms of Endearment.

Which movie are you proudest of?

Im proud of Deliverance, because it was a very dangerous film to make, and they all said it couldnt be done, and we did it. And Jon Voight and I are now like brothers.

And yet youve apparently never fully watched Paul Thomas Andersons Boogie Nights, which earned you an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe win.

I dont like it. It was hard because it was a subject matter [the porn industry] that I find so disgusting. And I thought, If I can pull this off, Ill have done something that most people cant do, and the actors that I respect and love will be proud of me. And I think I did. The picture was a big hit, but my folks couldnt see it, and it was tough.

Are you still waiting for that Oscar?

God no, but something that the industry recognises as good work. You know, Ive had the strangest career. Im an old man, and for crying out loud, Im still thinking, its just around the corner. There are certain actors, like Voight, who I love, and [now deceased] Brian Keith and Charlie Durning, God I loved him so much. It seems like I lose one a week now. So I want to do something, some work, that we can celebrate together.

Youve still not met your own standard?

I just know that thats not the one. Ill know. And Ill call you.

In a 2015 Vanity Fair profile, you spoke about having regrets.

I did, but I dont have any regrets left.

 New York TimesSean Penn responded to the numerous haters of his debut novel by saying he's too old and too successful to care.

The Hollywood actor addressed criticism of his debut book Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff while he was on Conan on Thursday night.

Penn's novel chronicles a complex main character who seeks to kill senior citizens.

The actor explained the plot further saying, "There is an issue related to the ozone, and there's a lack of engagement with social media, to a degree, and therefore global consumerism."

He continued, "So, in culling certain demographics, we make a better world."

It gave host Conan O'Brien a chance to address the backlash Penn had been receiving - mainly from the elderly community.

Penn replied that he wrote a book that "starts from page one and doesn't end 'til it ends," explaining that it makes sense if read from start to finish.

He then added, "What I would say is: I'm 57, my pool's heated - you can say anything you like."

Penn had previously said that not everyone would enjoy his book.

Recommended Sean Penn smokes and says he is on Ambien in Colbert interview

When he appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, the actor had acknowledged that he would be criticised for his work.

Earlier this week Penn also appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert where he smoked cigarettes during his interview and revealed he had taken Ambien.

Despite what critics say, it seems like Penn will be fine."Yeah tell me again how there just aren't that many girls in the music scene." Camp Cope ends the first track on their sophomore album on How To Socialise & Make Friends - "The Opener" - with one of the many direct quotes the band has received about being a female musician. The Melbourne punk trio has heard it all: an "all-male tour preaching equality," that their "success" doesn't have anything to do with them and that male bands "worked so hard," but Camp Cope was just "lucky."

Vocalist and lyricist Georgia Maq, bassist Kelly-Dawn Helmrich and drummer Sarah Thompson have had enough with the excuses for music industry sexism. In early January, the band played "The Opener" at Falls Festival in Byron Bay where Maq improvised lyrics to criticise the event for the lack of women on their lineup singing, "It's another man telling us we can't fill up a tent, it's another f****** festival booking only nine women." It's safe to say the women of Camp Cope aren't afraid to take control of their careers.

None of this is new for Camp Cope, but they've made it their mission to use their platform to advocate for representation. Formed in 2015, the trio released their eponymous debut LP just one year later, which generated hype around the burgeoning alt-rock group. Maq had been cutting her teeth as a solo artist for two years, but began jamming with Thompson after getting to know her through the local show scene. When Maq met Helmrich in a kitchen while getting a tattoo, it was the beginning of their collaboration.

Through sharp lyrics and gritty vocals, Camp Cope's latest record How To Socialise & Make Friends is the work of three friends who stick together no matter what, tackling sexism in the music industry, the personal pain of sexual assault, the loss of a parent and the power of lasting friendships. It's harsh guitar riffs and raw confessions that make their latest work both heartbreaking and empowering, recalling the candour of Liz Phair circa Exile in Guyville and the prolific writing of Courtney Barnett.

Because of their impact in the music industry (and their stellar new album released earlier this month), The Independent spoke to Camp Cope's Kelly-Dawn Helmrich about representation in the music industry, the Melbourne music scene support network and getting the respect they deserve.

Youve obviously spoken up for female representation at festivals. How did you guys become a voice for creating change in the music industry for women?

I dont know. Thank you so much for saying that - it means a lot. I think it started with us just being really strong, opinionated women before we were a band. Then I think when we joined a band, we just felt stronger and had each other to lean on. At the start we were mostly being a voice for ourselves. We were speaking up when we found that people werent giving us the respect that we needed or we saw problems in our immediate scene that we could change and be more comfortable. As we started to do that, we wanted to branch that out to the people at our shows too because we want our audience to be safe and feel good too. Thats so important to us. To have music thats so self-reflective and emotional that reaches an audience that could be vulnerable to certain things, it feels like a responsibility to take care of the people that are there.

How is How To Socialise And Make Friends different than your previous album?

Were not doubting ourselves as much anymore and I think that comes from our incredible fan base and our support from that. I think weve been really inspired by so many women coming forward. When you look at the new album, there were some subjects we were quite apprehensive to talk about. But in recent times, everyone is talking about it so that makes us feel more confident and brave. Were definitely more confident and sure of ourselves with this album. I think you can see that lyrically with Georgia and also musically with all of us too weve grown up in the past year.

Tell me about the album title.

Theres a song How To Socialise & Make Friends obviously. Were really bad with album titles. We were potentially going to call it "Animal & Real." But I dont know where we were, but I was like we should call it How To Socialise & Make Friends because it could mean so many different things; like it could mean we dont know how to socialise and make friends because were a bit weird the three of us and music is the way we socialise and make friends and the way weve become such a tight-knit unit. Its one of those things that could mean so much and does mean so much to us and could mean lot to someone else.

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What were you guys listening to when you made the record?

We all have such different tastes in music. The second album isnt too different musically from the first album. For this album we were always listening to Hop Along and Cayetana - theyre huge influences for us as a band. We all have our own niche music tastes. TK listens to a lot of Melbourne post-punk stuff. Georgia is really eclectic with her taste - she listens to a lot of old and new music. I really like hip-hop and R&B, and I really like to listen to that to take inspiration for bass parts.

How has the Australian music scene influenced you guys sonically or lyrically?

Georgias lyrics are very Australian - there are uniquely Australian things she mentions in her lyrics. Its all weve ever known. Its a weird thing to think about because we havent really spent that much time anywhere else. I dont know how much our scene differs to other countries and how our scene differs from them.

(Camp Cope. Credit: Allison Nugent (Camp Cope. Credit: Allison Nugent)

One of the songs on the record The Face of God is a really harrowing account of sexual assault. How did that song come together?

Theyre Georgias lyrics - that was written from her perspective. I know what her statement on the song is that she said everything she needed to say in the song. I know she was a bit apprehensive about putting it on the album - she wasnt confident in how it would be received by everyone. We encouraged her to do it saying it was an important song to put out there. When we were doing the album, the #MeToo movement started, and we were more sure than ever because of that. It goes to show that as more people share their experiences, more people become comfortable to do so. It becomes more important to step outside and step outside to share your insecurities and see it as a bigger picture. Thats what Georgia felt like with the song: that it would help more people and help herself to get it out there.

Since youve spoken up for female representation, have you seen other artists supporting you or has there been any backlash?

Weve definitely had a lot of people supporting us. Were from a really cool collective here in Melbourne where our scene is really diverse, supportive and forward-thinking so were excited to be a part about that little family. I cant remember the festival name, but Lily Allen called out a festival recently for not having enough women. You can see its a global issue: you can see it everywhere which is really cool. I think people are starting to take it more seriously than ever before. Theres been lots of backlash, definitely. Women in general - when they criticise the number of women involved in a festival, ceremony or show - so many people think its them complaining theyre not a part of it, which I think is a bit ignorant. When weve called out festivals, its not saying that we deserve a higher spot or we deserve this or we want this, were trying to make people aware of how unbalanced it actually is. The backlash for women in general is that maybe theyre not good enough. Its a huge problem for women in the music industry: when they question systematic barriers in place to achieve the same success as their male counterparts theyre that maybe theyre not good enough, and its such a blow to a lot of womens self-confidence so they start to believe theyre not good enough. So we try to stay strong and push through that.

How do you want to see the music industry change in the next year?

I think I want people to stop putting the blame on groups of people that arent represented properly. I want the music industry to own up to their own failures rather than put it on the failures of women, people of colour, trans people or queer people. I think the industry needs to reflect on who theyre pushing, who theyre representing and reflect on the status quo. Something that bums me out about the music industry is that its all about money and I think it needs to change to be about making quality art thats inclusive to everyone where everyone can enjoy themselves or learn something from it.

Who is part of the collective youre a part of in Australia?

I see it as our support network. We have our label Poison City Records and were really really close to Cable Ties, who are an amazing punk band and a band called MOD CON. Were also close to Milk Records and they have the same ethos as us - thats Courtney Barnett and Jen Cloher - so theyre really close to our hearts and they help us achieve a lot of the things we want to achieve.

Can you tell me about the experience of performing The Opener and playing that together? Its such a powerful song about what women go through when theyre playing shows and dealing with inferiority in the music industry.

When we wrote that song, we felt kind of naughty. We were a bit cheeky about it like, I wonder what people are going to think about this. With "The Face of God," we were about apprehensive - there were people who told us we should release it, but when we first played it, the reaction from the audience was incredible. It convinced us that we should release it, and women could relate to it. Its a very cathartic song. When we play The Opener, its this massive release for all of these things weve been holding onto inside of ourselves and weighing on our hearts. Its almost direct quotes for most of the song. The audience reaction is everything for that song - when we first played it, they cracked at every statement at the end. It was a lot better received than we thought it was gonna be.

Who would you love to collaborate with?

I think our biggest dream world collaboration would be with Lady Gaga! We watched her documentary and we think shes such a strong force in the music industry and musically shes incredible as well.British Vogue has made history by featuring a hijab-wearing model on its cover for the first time in its 102-year history.

The powerhouse publication has been at the forefront of discussions concerning diversity for quite some time.

In April last year, it was announced that Ghanaian-born Edward Enninful would be taking on the role of editor-in-chief of the magazine, making him the first man ever to achieve the position.

Recommended Albino model previously bullied for his appearance featured in Vogue

However, in January this year British Vogue was criticised for featuring actresses Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie on the cover, alongside the names of numerous other prominent white figures, and dubbing the group of individuals as Hollywoods New Era.

Enninful has made it clear in the latest editors letter for the publication that he believes very strongly in the importance of championing diversity.

Nine models have been chosen to grace the cover of the May issue, described as fashions New Frontiers.

Among the roster of models is 20-year-old Halima Aden, who has become the first hijab-wearing model to appear on the cover of British Vogue ever since the magazine was first founded in 1916.

For Enninful, giving these nine models the opportunity to introduce themselves to the world of fashion is extremely significant.

It is a moment for Vogue to do what it has always done best: to offer a bold vision of what the future can - and should - look like, he wrote.

Even five years ago - and certainly 10 or 20 years ago - if you were shooting a group cover like this, the girls would not have looked like these young women do.

But one of the great positives of the past few months is the fashion industry finally embracing a concept that has defined my entire working life: diversity.

When I say diversity, I want to be clear that it is never just about black and white for me.

Its about diversity across the board - whether thats race, size, socio-economic background, religion, sexuality. Thats what I want to celebrate with this cover.

Aden is joined on the cover by fellow models Adut Akech, Radhika Nair, Yoon Young Bae, Faretta, Fran Summers, Vittoria Ceretti, Paloma Elsesser and Selena Forrest.

Aden and Akech have a shared history, as they were both born in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya.

To me they represent a new global idea that anything is possible, wrote Enninful.

Many people on social media are praising the pioneering cover, with an Instagram photo of the issue garnering more than 22,000 likes in less than a day.Brunching out...

Glasgows brunch scene has become something of a spectacle, with bistros and pubs offering a no-frills experience in comparison to Edinburghs boujee favourites like eggs benedict, shakshuka and mimosas. Hillhead Bookclub in the citys West End is no exception, with both food and cocktails aimed towards informality.

Based on two levels, the downstairs feels like a traditional American steakhouse, with wooden pews and low lighting creating the perfect casual-yet-structured-enough atmosphere to go with its quirky menu. The upstairs is more lounge like, with board games and mismatched sofas and chairs.

The trendy waiters operate in ripped jeans and slogan T-shirts, with the brightly lit bar at the centre serving cocktails with hilarious names like Punch Intended and Practice What You Peach out of gramophones. The menu is full of declarations that Bookclub staff are a whimsical bunch who are good folk; the food is served on various crockery collected from charity shops  it all just feels slightly desperate.

Comfort food and more unusual dishes sit side by side in Bookclubs quirky menu (Hillhead Bookclub)

Even more so when you discover that despite Bookclubs bingo nights, vintage fashion sales and student crowd, its owned by Scottish hospitality giant G1; one of the biggest pub and bar chains operating in Glasgow.

This doesnt hold back the club-house feel, nor does it prevent the food being uber-tasty and reasonably priced. Bookclub itself declares that it cosily straddles either side of pretension and carelessness.

The menu reflects this comment: informal rests side by side with formal, with a simple selection of gluten-free pancakes (under the header Bringin back the pancake stack)  available in both regular and matcha flavour  topped with comforts such as nutella (8), bacon and maple syrup (8) and blueberry jam and coconut yoghurt (7).

I opt for baked eggs with pulled spiced brisket (8) for the main, which manages to devilishly combine pulled pork and buffalo ricotta with a side of potato hash (2) thats spiced to perfection and wonderfully complements the salty flavour of the eggs.

The Bloodhound {holy mother of mary}  Bookclubs twist on a Bloody Mary (Hillhead Bookclub)

For vegetarians and vegans Bookclub has an array of choices, with every menu item coming in a vegetarian alternative; for a spicy take on the Scottish classic, the grated sweet potato cake (8) combines black beans and salsa with avocado  topped off with a poached ducks egg.

The wash it down, the cocktail options are as varied as the dishes. Delightfully listed under the headings 7 quid, 8 quid and Gramophones, the playful feel is betrayed by the very obvious ability and quality of the drinks on offer. We decided against selecting something from the Gramophones menu  instead opting for a Jezebels Daiquiri (7), consisting of Chairmans spiced rum, Chambord and raspberry, and an Indecent Proposal (8), a tropical offering of passion fruit, coconut, 8-year-old Barcardi and Velvet Falernum.

In the end, Bookclubs food and drink did the talking, despite the venue trying to communicate with us in every other way. It was executed perfectly; exciting and full of interesting flavours, and its nigh impossible to argue with brunch and a cocktail for under 16.

Hillhead Bookclub, 17 Vinicombe St, Glasgow G12 8SJ, hillheadbookclub.com, 0141 576 1700

Brunching in..

Bombay potato frittata with tomato chutney

Prep: 10 mins

Cook: 20 mins

Serves 4

400g smooth potatoes (such as Desiree), cut into 2cm cubes

1 tbsp groundnut oil

1 tsp each of cumin seeds, mustard seeds, coriander seeds

1 small onion, finely sliced

1 tsp turmeric

 tsp each of chilli powder and chilli flakes

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2cm piece ginger, finely chopped

2 tomatoes, sliced into 8 wedges each

 small bunch fresh coriander (10g), stalks and leaves finely chopped, some leaves reserved for serving

6 eggs, lightly beaten and seasoned

For the raita

200ml yoghurt

 cucumber grated and wrapped in kitchen towel to dry

Handful mint leaves, chopped

For the tomato chutney

1 handful cherry tomatoes

1 small red onion

2 tsp onion seeds

Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas mark 6. Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender, drain, then return to the pot to steam dry.

Heat oil in a non-stick ovenproof frying pan (approx 24cm). Add the cumin, mustard and coriander seeds and stir until aromatic and the mustard seeds are popping. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, before adding the turmeric, chilli powder and flakes, and the ginger and garlic. Season with salt and cook everything for several minutes. Add the tomatoes to the pan and coat well, followed by the potatoes and chopped coriander. Stir to coat everything thoroughly and cook for a couple more minutes.

Add beaten eggs. Cook over a low heat until the frittata is mostly set (about 5 mins, by which point the edges will have come away from the pan but the centre will still be liquid), then transfer to the oven until cooked through (7-10 minutes).

Serve in wedges with generous spoons of raita and chutney and reserved coriander leaves for garnish.

Recipe from lovepotatoes.co.ukCake and champagne lovers are in for a treat over at the Tom Dixon-designed hotel Mondrian London.

The luxury hotel on Londons Southbank has announced a pair of collaborations with Lily Vanilli and Laurent-Perrier to mark the Easter weekend.

Running until 2 April, an exclusive Lily Vanilli-designed dessert will be served in Sea Containers, the Thames-side restaurant; while in The Den, the hotels hang out space, will host a Laurent-Perrier Cuvee Rose champagne pop-up especially for the occasion.

Served alongside the hotels seasonal a la carte, the new powder pink pudding, crafted by acclaimed baker and author Lily Vanilli, will be a beautiful addition to the restaurants British-American menu.

Available for lunch and dinner the specially made tart will comprise of a pink lemonade filling finished with a mini meringue topping, which will be served with a crisp lemon sorbet.

Whilst in The Den, a Laurent Perrier pop-up bursting with pink florals will be in place to mark the 50th anniversary of the much-loved Cuvee Rose Champagne. The visually striking pop-up will allow guests to enjoy a glass of bubbles over the Easter weekend as well as sample a range of sweet treat pairings designed by Sea Containers.

For guests who wish to enjoy the pop-up experience in the comfort of their hotel room, a glass or bottle of the established Laurent-Perrier Champagne and cake pairing can be ordered as part of the exclusive Easter package at the hotel.

Mondrian London, 20 Upper Ground, South Bank, London SE1 9PDThe failings of dominant food systems are becoming impossible to deny. Current production methods are severely polluting. They are the cause of malnutrition. They are also inequitable, and unjustifiably wasteful.

And they are concentrated in the hands of few corporations. Entangled in the multiple crises humanity is facing, establishing global food security is considered a key challenge of our time.

Against the backdrop of climate change, resource shortages and urbanisation, the question of how to ensure adequate food supply for everyone looms rather large.

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The usual response emphasises intensifying the output of agriculture through the common model of petrochemical, large-scale, one-crop, intensive farming.

But business as usual is no longer an option for food and agriculture. The global agriculture system will have to be radically transformed to avoid further environmental and social problems, as was concluded by a three-year study commissioned by the UN and the World Bank involving more than 400 scientists. This report, as well as subsequent international studies by the UN Conference on Trade and Development and the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, have convincingly demonstrated that agroecology  farming that imitates natural ecosystems  is the most promising pathway to sustainable food systems on all continents.

Agroecology

Agroecology is based on the idea that farms should mimic the structure and functioning of natural ecosystems. In ecosystems, there is no waste: nutrients are recycled indefinitely. Agroecology aims to close nutrient loops  returning all nutrients that come out of the soil, back to the soil. In the case of vegetable farming, for example, this could be achieved through composting of vegetable scraps, human and farmyard manure.

Planting coffee crops among trees, known as agroforestry, helps dilute the impacts of climate change (Shutterstock)

Agroecology also harnesses natural processes to control pests and build soil fertility. Agroecological practices include integrating trees with livestock and crops (agro-silvo-pastoral farming), producing food from forests (agroforestry), growing several crops together in one plot (polyculture) and using locally adapted and genetically diverse crops and livestock.

Throughout the world, small-scale farmers are uniting under the banner of agroecology. They do so not only to produce healthy and nutritious food, enhance biodiversity and adapt to climate change, but also to improve their income and working conditions by developing short food chains and local markets. Local ecologies and economies are being regenerated from below through an insistence on food sovereignty (community control over the way food is produced, traded and consumed) and transformative agroecology (as opposed to more watered down versions of agroecology, such as climate-smart or conservation agriculture).

A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Show all 21 1 /21 A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons A rainbow arcs over The Angel Hotel and the town centre Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Cakes and pastries from The Angels in-house bakery Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Soda bread at The Angels bakery  its difficult not to take as many you can carry Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Abergavenny market, the traditional heart of the town, filled with food, clothes and antiques Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Country Pantry butchers in Abergavenny market Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Wintertime selection of fruit and veg at Abergavenny market Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Junes jams at the market  bring your jars to help with recycling Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Monmouthshire pinot noir from Ancre Hill Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons The Angel Hotels electric car, free (and eco-friendly) for guests to take for a spin Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Plenty of quirky little side-streets lead off from Abergavennys main thoroughfare Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Confectionery at Jules Jamess Black Mountain Gold Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Just a few of Black Mountain Golds many chocolate varieties Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Hereford butcher on Abergavenny high street, selling local beef, lamb and pork Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Welsh beef at Hereford butchers Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Snowdonia cheese at Hereford butcher, from a little further afield but unmissable when it comes to Welsh cheese Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Ill be there now in a minute! Welsh Ale from The Marches Delicatessen, off the high street Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Monmouthshire gelato at Little Treats cafe Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Abergavenny Castles visitor centre Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons A Welsh dragon in the grounds of the castle Pics by Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons The Cellar Room at The Angel, the perfect setting for afternoon tea Jo Turner A foodie weekend in Abergavenny, gateway to the Brecons Savouries and sweets served with afternoon tea, made daily by specialist baker Sally Lane Jo Turner

But changes also need to be made on a larger scale. Some bodies recognise this. Faced with the growing social and environmental costs of industrial farming, the European Union adopted a New European Consensus for Development in June 2017. This commits the EU to: Support agroecological practices and actions to reduce post-harvest losses and food waste, as well as to protect soils, conserve water resources, halt, prevent and reverse deforestation, and maintain biodiversity and healthy ecosystems.

But opening up agroecological pathways to sustainable food systems in the EU is a major challenge. Radical changes in funding priorities and research agendas are necessary. Similarly, a total overhaul of overseas aid programmes is urgently needed to support crucial transitions to agroecology in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Absent aid

However, this is not currently happening. Our recently published research shows that very little overseas aid is directed at agroecological research and development. Since 1 January 2010, no funds at all have been directed at or been committed to projects with the main focus on development or promotion of agroecological practices.

We must move away from monoculture farming and build strong ecosystems with lots of biodiversity (Shutterstock)

It is true that minor funds have been directed at projects which promote resource efficiency in farming. But this is a very basic agroecological principle. Based on the most generous interpretation of available figures, our study shows for the first time that aid for agroecological projects is less than 5 per cent of aid given for agricultural purposes and less than 0.5 per cent of the total UK aid budget. By largely supporting industrial agriculture, UK aid priorities contribute very little to the transition towards global socio-ecological sustainability.

Despite the obscure nature of available information, it is reasonable to assume that there is a similar lack of funding for agroecology in the overseas aid priorities of other so-called developed countries. There is, after all, a chronic lack of internal investment in agroecology within these nations.

Business as usual may rhetorically no longer be an option in food and agriculture. But it will be, as usual, practically the only option as long as these stark funding asymmetries remain.

In April 2018, government representatives from around the world will travel to Rome to discuss how to scale up agroecology. This UN Food and Agriculture Organisations International Symposium on Agroecology is a unique opportunity to rethink priorities for agricultural development worldwide. Among the many actions needed, we urgently need to see a substantial increase in public funding for agroecology  both within and between nations.

Nina Moeller is a Marie Curie research fellow at the University of Manchester and Michel Pimbert is a professor and director of the centre for agroecology, water and resilience at Coventry University. This article first appeared on The Conversation (theconversation.com)Staged every night at 8pm, A Symphony of Lights is a free multimedia show, which sets Victoria Harbour ablaze and is recognised as one of the worlds most spectacular light shows.

A Symphony of Lights has become a signature icon for Hong Kong, showcasing the city's vibrant and glamorous nightlife.

A new version of A Symphony of Lights, unveiled on 1 December, features dynamic rays of light sent out in rhythm from 40 buildings and locations on both sides of the Victoria Harbour. The new show incorporates a variety of exciting lighting effects such as coloured searchlights, lasers, and all-new beam lights sent out like a special fan-shaped lighting effect from the roof of the Central Government Offices and the Revenue Tower.

Ten LED panels on a number of harbourside buildings are for the first time joining the multi-media show, displaying images and messages to encourage audience participation.

The show is complemented by music from Asias leading classical orchestra the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, providing visitors with a thrilling and unforgettable sound-and-light experience. The music combines traditional Chinese flutes and string bowed instruments such as the Erhu, creating a truly distinctive sound. The nightly 10-minute show begins at 8pm.

Immediately after A Symphony of Lights, the winter version of Hong Kong Pulse Light Show begins at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Spectators can view it from the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza. The 3D projection show begins with a snowstorm which covers the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in snow and ice and blows away the numbers on the Clock Tower, stopping time just before Christmas arrives.

Winter version of Hong Kong Pulse Light Show brightens up the city's Christmas (Keith Tsuji/Getty Images for Hong Kong Tourism Board)

An ingenious dragon then sets out to find the missing numbers which are scattered across Hong Kong landmarks. The dragon eventually finds them and restarts time to save Christmas. During the show, the piazza is decorated with snowing effect along with glowing LED balls and a giant crystal ball. The eight-minute performance runs until 28 December.

Buildings on both sides of the harbour unite to form a harmonious canvas for a spectacular multimedia extravaganza featuring an array of searchlights, lasers, LED screens and lighting working in symphony to put together a nightly spectacle that transforms the Hong Kong skyline into an outdoor audiovisual feast.

An outdoor audiovisual feast (Discover Hong Kong)

Where are the best viewing locations? According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board, the vantage points are:

Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade outside the Hong Kong Cultural Centre: MTR East Tsim Sha Tsui Station, Exit L6. Follow the signs and walk for around five minutes

Golden Bauhinia Square: MTR Wan Chai Station, Exit A5. Follow the signs, take the skybridge to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, and head for the Golden Bauhinia Square

From a boat on the harbour. Check out harbour cruises for ideas

The shows music is broadcast nightly at the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront outside the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and the promenade at Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai.

Symphony of Lights, buildings on both Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, Hong Kong

For more information on Hong Kong visit: http://www.discoverhongkong.com/uk/.A week is a long time in politics. So said Harold Wilson. But for most of us, the last year feels like a lifetime, from the triggering of Article 50 last March to a transition agreed last week.

While the past 12 months have been difficult for businesses, slowly but surely there are signs that the voice of prosperity  and the crucial evidence put forward by the business community  is being heard.

Recommended We went on a tour of Brexit Britain and this is what we found

Last weeks agreement of transition until December 2020 was a genuinely historic handshake with real and immediate consequences. A quarter of our members who are planning for Brexit told us they would trigger contingency plans by the end of March if no transition was agreed. Some will now press pause on these plans, others will slow them, while EU firms with supply chains into the UK will be relieved with the extra time to plan. Its a win for common sense that will unlock investment and protect jobs.

But this is no time to rest on any laurels  there is still a lot of hard work to be done. Over the next three months, three key hurdles on the Brexit path must be cleared by negotiators in the same spirit as the win on transition.

First is addressing the issues in the rest of the Withdrawal Agreement, including the Irish border. Theres a firm commitment in the draft agreement to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, so we need the Government and the EU to bring the same pragmatism to this vital issue as they have to transition.

Second, until a workable solution for a frictionless Irish border can be implemented we believe the UK should remain in a customs union with the EU - shifting the border into the Irish Sea does not solve anything. There may come a day when the opportunity to set independent trade policies in goods outweighs the value of a customs union with the EU. But with 48 per cent of the UKs exports going to the EU, that day has not yet arrived. There is actually a lot that can be done from within a customs union to make it easier to grow trade in services with fast-growing emerging markets, like China and India, as well as more established trading partners, like the USA or Switzerland).

Third, is moving away from the risk of a limited trade agreement, like the one the EU has with Canada. For many sectors - particularly the UKs successful services sector, which accounts for 80 per cent of our economy - this is only marginally better than the disaster of no deal.

The services sector is a great British success story. Accounting for four in five jobs across the country, the UK is the worlds second largest exporter of services. British services are in demand all over the world, but the EU is the single largest destination for them - worth 90bn annually to the UK economy - with hundreds of thousands of jobs of companies and individuals benefitting from the services UK firms provide on both sides of the Channel.

Co-operation on data will help companies on both sides of the Channel. Where trade was once measured by the tonnage of ships on the seas, its now also measured by terabytes in cables under the seas. In fact, the data trade now has a greater effect on GDP growth than the millennia-old goods trade.

Finally, we cannot forget people in these lofty policy debates. For 5 million people, Brexit is not some political or business debate. Its about their lives - pure and simple. Transition is a big step closer to ensuring EU citizens who arrive here before it happens can stay on the same terms. But we must now turn to the future - surely we can agree on a preferential treatment for EU migration.

Transition has brought much needed breathing space and time for companies, but the focus must now turn to our future relationship with our biggest trading partner. Over the coming months, businesses of all shapes and sizes, across the whole country, will continue to provide the evidence to deliver a victory for common sense, prosperity and jobs.

Rain Newton-Smith is chief economist at the Confederation of British IndustryFour in five (81 per cent) of teachers said they believed they had suffered sexual harassment or bullying in the workplace since starting the profession, a shocking study has revealed.

When asked whether they had experienced bullying since starting as a teacher, only 5 per cent said they had not.

Meanwhile, a fifth (20 per cent) of teachers said they had experienced sexual harassment since joining the profession.

Sexual harassment had come from pupils, parents, colleagues or bosses at work  and some have had photos taken down their tops and up their skirts, a deeply disturbing survey shows.

Almost a third of those who have experienced sexual harassment have been subjected to unwanted touching, while two in three have had inappropriate comments made to them about their appearance.

The poll by NASUWT union  which surveyed more than 1,200 school staff  reveals that a fifth have been sexually propositioned and more than half have been subjected to inappropriate remarks about sex.

The findings come amid the ongoing allegations about Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, which triggered the #MeToo movement to expose sexual harassment across the world.

And just this week, a leader of the National Education Union revealed that girls are increasingly wearing shorts under their school skirts to prevent classmates from taking revealing photos of them.

And teachers are not immune from upskirting or photos being taken down their tops. The study from NASUWT, which has its annual conference in Birmingham, reveals that 3 per cent have experienced this.

One teacher said: A pupil filmed up my skirt during lessons. It was done to another teacher too. The pupil was suspended but then returned to school.

 Number of teachers appealing for charity cash for basic living costs surges

And school staff are most likely to have been sexually harassed by a school pupil, the survey suggests. Eight per cent of teachers said the abuse came from their students, while 7 per cent came from colleagues.

In one case, a sixth form pupil wrote a sexually explicit story about a teacher. And several teachers surveyed said they had been slapped on the backside by their colleagues.

One teacher said they had been bullied and sexually harassed by their head of department who decided to spread rumours about them having sex with other members of staff, which had led to her divorce.

He has made comments such as nice tits and has used the chat up line you plus me, subtract your clothes, divide your legs and lets multiply in front of a class of 30 year 10 boys, the teacher added.

And yet despite the scale of sexual harassment in schools, only one third of victims reported every incident they experienced, compared with 42 per cent who did not report any.

Around two in five teachers said they had suffered a loss of confidence, anxiety or depression as a result of sexual harassment.

Nearly one third (32 per cent) said they felt under pressure to change their appearance or style of clothing in an effort to put a stop to the trouble, the study reveals.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: While the scale of the sexual harassment is deeply disturbing, equally disturbing is the scale of the failure to act on the incidents that were reported.

The NASUWT will be using this survey to empower teachers to speak out. There can be no place in our schools for sexual harassment or bullying of staff.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. 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PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. 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She added: Schools should be places of safety, yet research undertaken by the NASUWT is showing us that too often teachers are being exposed to sexualised comments and abuse from colleagues, managers, parents and pupils.

The NASUWT believes that statutory provisions are urgently needed to require schools to record all incidents of sexual harassment and bullying and to have a policy to deal with such incidents.

A government spokesman said: Teachers and school staff have a right to feel safe while doing their jobs and any form of misconduct, including harassment towards them, is completely unacceptable.

We have given schools the powers they need to tackle poor behaviour such as harassment of staff. We expect all schools to have procedures in place to support staff dealing with issues like this.Britains most senior police officer has blamed social media for the soaring rate of knife crime in the UK, particularly among children.

After 13 Londoners were killed in two weeks this month, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said websites and mobile phone applications such as YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram were in part to blame for the bloodshed.

Trivial disputes could escalate into violence within minutes when rivals set out to goad each other on the internet, Ms Dick said.

Theres definitely something about the impact of social media in terms of people being able to go from slightly angry with each other to fight very quickly, she told The Times.

Recommended One person stabbed to death every three days in London in 2018

She said that insults or threats online makes [violence] faster, it makes it harder for people to cool down. Im sure it does rev people up.

She also compared the speed at which youths with no previous or very limited criminal record can become killers to the way some Islamic extremists become radicalised in a matter of days.

Last August, 15-year-old Jermaine Goupall was knifed to death in Thornton Heath, south London, in the climax of a feud between rival gangs posting mocking videos on YouTube.

So far this year, 29 people have been knifed to death just in London and fatal stabbings in England and Wales are at their highest levels since 2010-2011.

It started with the murder of four young men during New Years Eve celebrations and has continued at a rate of one fatal stabbing every three days.

Teenagers as young as 17 are among the victims, while many more have been severely injured in a spate of violence that has sparked large-scale police operations and urgent policy changes.

If the bloodshed continues at the same rate, more than 121 people will be stabbed to death in the capital by the end of the year, a dramatic 50 per cent increase on 2017.

A 23-year-old man lost his life on Thursday night after being stabbed in the neck near Plumstead railway station in south-east London.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA

The victim was able to call a friend for help and was driven to hospital, but later died from his injuries. Police do not yet know why he was attacked.

Fears are mounting over the resurgence of the so-called postcode wars that claimed dozens of lives in London over the past decade.

They saw territorial divisions between rival gangs brutally enforced across the capital, with victims unknowingly crossing invisible borders between postcodes or even smaller areas of specific streets or housing estates.

Ms Dick said drug dealing and absent fathers were also a challenge, but emphasised it is absolutely as much about socioeconomic factors as anything else.

She urged recreational drug users to consider the fear and misery they were causing by fuelling street dealing and the associated knife crime.

Press Association contributed to this reportPippa Middletons father-in-law is under investigation in France over claims he raped a minor.

David Matthews, whose son James married the Duchess of Cambridges sister last year, was questioned by police this week over an alleged attack in the 1990s.

Magistrates placed the 74-year-old under formal investigation Friday, judicial officials said.

Recommended Pippa Middleton marries financier fiance James Matthews

The rape is alleged to have taken place in 1998 or 1999 and was reported to police last year.

A spokesman for Mr Matthews said: David Matthews categorically denies the allegation and unequivocally contests the untrue and scandalous accusation.

The multi-millionaire hotel owner and former racing driver was arrested by Frances Juvenile Protection Brigade while visiting the country on Tuesday, sources told Reuters.

He was released but remains under judicial control, which means prosecutors have attached certain restrictions on where he can go or who he can meet.

Under French law, a suspect being placed under formal investigation means prosecutors believe they have serious or consistent evidence that points towards a crime.

However, investigations can be dropped without leading to a trial.

Socialite Ms Middleton married hedge fund manager and retired racing driver James Matthews last May. His father was among the guests at the lavish ceremony, as were Prince William and Prince Harry.Russia has said Britain must withdraw more than 50 diplomats from its country, as it holds the UK responsible for a global effort to cut down on Russian diplomatic missions.

Russia has already retaliated in kind against Britain and ejected 23 British diplomats over the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. London says Moscow stood behind the attack, something Russia denies.

British Ambassador Laurie Bristow was summoned again on Friday and told London had one month to cut its diplomatic contingent in Russia to the same size as the Russian mission in Britain.

On Saturday, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Reuters that meant Britain would have to cut "a little over 50" of its diplomats in Russia. It appears this figure includes the 23 who have already headed home.

"We asked for parity. The Brits have 50 diplomats more than the Russians," said Zakharova.

When asked if that meant London would have to bring home exactly 50 diplomats, she said: "A little over 50."

Additional reporting by ReutersThe British government is considering whether to allow Russian officials to visit Yulia Skripal, who is recovering in hospital after she was poisoned in an assassination attempt on her ex-spy father.

The demand for access to Ms Skripal came as Russia accused Britain of blatant provocation after border force officers searched an Aeroflot plane at Heathrow and the Kremlin ordered Britain to withdraw more than 50 diplomats from Russia.

The UK Foreign Office said it would take the 33-year-olds rights and wishes into account along with international laws after receiving requests for consular access from Moscow.

Ms Skripal is said to be conscious and talking after the nerve agent attack in Salisbury on 4 March left her fighting for life.

Recommended Russia says it is expelling more than 50 British diplomats

The Russian embassy has said it insists on the right to see her after it emerged her condition was rapidly improving.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: We are considering requests for consular access in line with our obligations under international and domestic law, including the rights and wishes of Yulia Skripal.

After the search of an Aeroflot plane at Heathrow, Russian officials warned they may take similar action against British airlines unless they receive an explanation.

The passenger jet was searched upon landing at Heathrow following a scheduled flight from Moscow, according to the Russian embassy in London.

The embassy suggested the plane had been searched in connection with the diplomatic crisis which has erupted following the Salisbury spy poisoning.

It also claimed border force and customs officers at first tried to search the plane without the crew, although the captain was eventually allowed to be present.

On Saturday, the Russian ministry of transport said in a statement: If there is no explanation, the Russian side will deem the actions towards our plane as illegal and also reserve the right to take similar action against British airlines.

The Metropolitan Police, which is coordinating the investigation into the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, said it was not part of the search.

Securities minister Ben Wallace described the search as routine.

The Russian embassy said it had complained to its British counterparts and called for an explanation.

We have witnessed another blatant provocation by the British authorities, it said in a statement. This kind of event is extraordinary. Moreover, the British officials tried to search the aircraft without the crew being present, something categorically prohibited by the rules in force.

Our attempts to get in touch with the Foreign Office in order to clarify the reasons of the inappropriate behaviour of British officials did not bring fruit. The embassy has sent a diplomatic note demanding the British side to provide explanations of the incident.

At this moment, we have no other explanation but that the incident at Heathrow is in one way or another connected with the hostile policy that the UK government is conducting with regard to Russia.

The Russian embassy has published a list of 27 questions about the Skripals which it claimed had gone unanswered by the British government. Many of the questions addressed the medical treatment the Skripals received following the attack.

Russian officials also said they had been in contact with Mr Skripals niece, Viktoria, who would like to go to London and to visit her cousin Yulia. They called on British authorities to issue her visa without delay for humanitarian reasons.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA

Tory MP Bob Seely, a Kremlin expert who sits on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, told The Independent: I think the Russians are being bloody minded and they are making a point, but I am not quite sure what that point is, other than they are going to demand this access.

Whether that is to unnerve [the Skripals], whether it is to play psychological games  the Russians love psychological warfare  or whether there is another angle here, I am not sure.

But this isnt just a standard request  they will have thought about their options.

Asked whether the Foreign Office should be considering Russias request for consular access to Ms Skripal, Mr Seely, a former soldier who lived in Russia in the 1990s, said: I would be tempted to say no until both of them are in a state, hopefully, to decide whether they want to.

I certainly wouldnt be granting the Russians access to the daughter without her consent. If she doesnt want to then the answer is no.

Otherwise I think it could be a very unnerving and unpleasant experience for her, and shes still in a vulnerable state.

Recommended Russia refuses to back down in spy death row

Mr Wallace said: It is routine for the border force to search aircraft to protect the UK from organised crime and from those who attempt to bring harmful substances like drugs or firearms into the country.

Once these checks were carried out the plane was allowed to carry on with its onward journey.

The Kremlin has also ordered Britain to withdraw more than 50 diplomats from Russia in retaliation for coordinated expulsions of Moscows diplomats by nations around the world.

Ambassadors from more than 20 nations were called into the foreign ministry in Moscow on Friday to be told of the latest wave of retaliatory measures, after dozens of countries this week banished Russian diplomats alleged to have been undeclared intelligence agents.

The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats in the wake of the poisoning of the Skripals with a novichok nerve agent. Russia has already retaliated in kind against Britain, but said it would expel a little over 50 in total to bring parity between the size of the countries diplomatic missions.

Laurie Bristow, the UK ambassador in Moscow, was among those called into the foreign ministry.

He told reporters: It is important to bear in mind why this crisis has arisen in the first place.

Its the use of a chemical weapon on the streets of the United Kingdom that has threatened the lives of a number of people in my country. We asked certain questions of the Russian state and have still not received adequate answers.

So far, more than 150 Russian diplomats have been told to return home by the UKs allies.

Ms Skripal, who is a Russian citizen, spent three weeks in a critical condition after being exposed to novichok on 4 March.

Her father, a former MI6 spy, remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital.Flights at Stansted Airport are getting back to normal after more than 100 arrivals and departures were cancelled on Good Friday.

An electrical fault started a fire on a shuttle bus parked outside the terminal at around 4.20pm. It took the emergency services 20 minutes to bring the blaze under control. No-one was hurt, but thick black smoke spread across the airport.

Brad Miller, Stansteds chief operating officer, told BBC Breakfast: The wind direction meant the smoke was blowing into and across the terminal. Inside it went very dark.

Obviously the first thing our people though was: Where is the safest place we can get them to within the terminal? That happened to be airside.

Recommended More than 100 flights cancelled or diverted after bus fire at Stansted

As soon as the decision was taken to take people straight through the security search area, the airside area was no longer sterile.

Passengers boarding flights at the departure gates at the very far end of the terminal, a 15-minute walk from security, had to be escorted all the way back to the landside area.

The entire airside departures area, as well as aircraft parked at stands, needed to be swept by security staff to ensure no passengers had stayed behind, before the thousands of travellers could be re-screened at security.

The process took so long that, shortly before 8pm, the airport and airlines agreed to keep Stansted closed for the rest of the evening rather than risk impacting the schedules for Saturday and the remainder of the weekend.

Whilst it was a really difficult call, I think they made the right decision, said Mr Miller.

More than 100 flights were diverted or cancelled as a result of the fire, representing close to 20,000 passengers at either end of the routes.

In a statement, Stansted Airport said: Our terminal team and additional staff have worked around the clock to provide welfare assistance to those passengers who were affected by the flight cancellations.

We apologise to those passengers who were affected and had their travel plans disrupted by this incident.

Most of the cancellations were on Ryanair, which grounded around 80 departures and arrivals.

The airline is operating extra flights on Saturday to and from Athens, Barcelona, Dublin, Frankfurt, Krakow and Milan Bergamo to assist stranded travellers.

A spokesperson for Ryanair said: Due to extensive disruptions caused by a fire outside the terminal building, we regret we were forced to cancel a number of flights to/from London Stansted Airport yesterday (30 March).

All affected customers were notified by SMS text and email and advised of options of a refund, free transfer to the next available flight or alternative routing.

Our Stansted flights are operating as normal today. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by these cancellations, which were entirely outside of our control, and we are working hard to re-accommodate all those affected.

On easyJet, round trips to and from Amsterdam, Bilbao and Naples were cancelled.

Departing soon? Passengers queuing at Stansted Airport (Simon Calder)

Cancelled flight? What you can  and cant  expect

Q My flight to/from Stansted on Friday was cancelled. How likely is it Ill be able to take a Saturday flight without too much delay?

Low. The numbers of travellers affected makes it unlikely that seats for more than a handful will be found on Saturday flights, except for the Ryanair rescue flights.

Most scheduled flights are already fully booked, and so many passengers on short breaks will have little option but to abandon their trips.

Q Will I get cash compensation?

No. While if you fail to travel because the airline cancels a flight, you can reclaim the air fare. But under European passengers rights rules, no compensation will be paid because the event was beyond the control of the airlines.

Neither does the Montreal Convention  which provides for compensation for actual financial losses  apply. An airline can demonstrate that it and its servants and agents took all measures that could reasonably be required to avoid the damage.

Travellers who have booked accommodation or car rental separately may still be liable to pay for it, and will have to try to claim for any losses from travel insurance.

Q For passengers who decide to continue with their journeys, what are their entitlements?

The rules on passenger care in the event of flight cancellations are clear. The airline must find hotels for everyone, provide transport and pay for meals until the travellers can be flown to their destination. In practice, though, some airlines may simply tell passengers to sort out their own accommodation.

Anyone who is told that their airline has no seats for several days is entitled to insist that the airline pays for a flight on a rival carrier.

Q How much has this cost the airlines?

Ryanair is likely to have lost at least 3m: partly through refunding passengers who had paid high fares for the Easter holidays, and partly through meeting the costs of the duty of care to stranded travellers. Other airlines, such as easyJet and Jet2, have been less affected.The first British soldier to be killed in active duty during operations against Isis has been named as 33-year-old Sergeant Matt Tonroe.

Sergeant Tonroe, who served with the sniper platoon in the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) on Thursday while embedded with US forces in Syria.

My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Sergeant Matt Tonroe at this dreadful time, said defence secretary Gavin Williamson.

Sergeant Tonroe served his country with great distinction and it is clear from the tributes made by his colleagues that he was not only exceptionally dedicated and courageous but also a gifted and intelligent instructor who was respected by everyone he served with.

Sergeant Tonroe fought to protect British values, our freedoms, and to keep us back at home safe. His sacrifice, unflinching commitment and bravery will never be forgotten.

It is the first death of British service personnel since an international coalition launched operations against Isis in 2014.

The explosion is reported to have taken place in the town of Manbij, 60 miles north-east of Aleppo and close to the border with Turkey. An American serviceman was also killed and five others were injured.

Special forces units are known to be on the ground in Syria but officials have refused to comment on their activities.

Sergeant Tonroe, from Manchester, enlisted in the Army in September 2004 and joined the Parachute Regiment in Colchester after completing his initial training.

The Ministry of Defence said in a statement that the special forces soldier had an outstanding career and had been deployed on operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that Sergeant Matt Tonroe from the 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment was tragically killed in action, the MoD said on its website.

His distinguished service reflected a man that was happiest when professionally tested on operations. He relished responsibility, the opportunity to contribute and when the time came, to lead. He was a natural in this role.

Matt was also a capable and respected parachutist. As a gifted instructor he was free with his time and his advice, and would dedicate himself to support and develop this skill in others.

He was well known within his unit, well liked by all and he will be sorely missed. When talking of Matt, his colleagues recount his humour, mischief and endless endeavours. Laidback, but a consummate professional, Matt was utterly selfless and always strived to achieve excellence.

Matt was very much a family man, making every effort to see his beloved mum around numerous overseas deployments. He is survived by his mother Michelle, his brother Alex and girlfriend Olivia.

The soldiers unnamed commanding officer said in a statement: If you had met Matt Tonroe, then you would have liked him. He bristled with the contentment of a life lived to its full.

His bravery and talent as a soldier was matched by his compassion as a human being. He was an individual, with the courage to set his own course, and the perspective to see new possibilities at every turn.

He was destined for great things in our unit; his leadership was both natural and apparently effortless.

He is already missed. Without Matt, our company has lost some of its humour, some of its warmth and some of its sheer opportunism. We will always remember him.

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

Sgt Tonroes commanding officer added: Matt Tonroe was a deeply intelligent man and one of lifes characters. He was a caring and considerate soul, a loving and dutiful son and a friend to many.

Yet he had a steel core, served his country with pride and was a first-class soldier, proven in combat, faced risk willingly and was ever ready for more. He thus died as he lived: daring and fearless in duty. We mourn his loss dearly, are proud to have known him and will honour him by continuing this fight.The most senior Tory in Brussels has accused the EUs chief Brexit negotiator of seeking to delay the final Brexit deal so that he can be in the limelight when candidates are picked for the next president of the European Commission.

In an interview with The Independent, the leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the EU parliament said Michel Barnier had no interest in finishing negotiations early because he fancied himself for the blocs top job and needed to be a part of the political theatre.

Syed Kamall, a Conservative MEP, said he expected EU negotiators would also delay striking a withdrawal agreement to intensify pressure on the UK, potentially leaving less time for Westminster to assess and approve the final treaty.

The ECR group leader, who backed Brexit ahead of the referendum despite working closely with David Cameron, further suggested that the EU did not want to solve the Irish border question quickly because it would provide a shortcut to a future EU-UK trade deal. He argued that Spain was bluffing and playing to its domestic voters by raising the status of Gibraltar in negotiations.

Its interesting the language theyre now using: lets try and get a deal just after summer, he told The Independent.

Theyve done that knowing theres going to be slippage. Its theatre  what theyll say is, Oh, were aiming for September, October. Theyll say, Really sorry Britain, you havent done enough, well have to slip a bit maybe until December again. Theyre building that in, that theatre.

He added: Dont forget, Barnier has no interest in finishing the negotiations early because he needs to be in the public limelight to be considered a spitzenkandidate. If the negotiations were ended tomorrow, hes out of the limelight tomorrow for nine months before they start considering the spitzenkandidate. He needs to be in the limelight at that point.

Syed Kamall at Tory conference (PA)

Mr Barnier is widely seen in Brussels as a potential candidate for the next president of the European Commission, which since 2014 has been chosen by the major parties nominating a lead candidate or spitzenkandidate before the European parliament elections. The selection of the candidate for the European Peoples Party (EPP), of which Mr Barnier is a member, will take place at a meeting in Helsinki in November  meaning it would probably coincide with a last-minute extension of the talks.

However, the chief negotiator has previously said he is fully focused on the Brexit discussions and would see them through to the end. One source close to Mr Barnier said his approach so far did not point to someone trying to delay talks, adding: It wasnt us who decided to hold a general election after triggering Article 50.

How the European Commission president is picked The European Commission president selection process is extremely complicated. First, the European parliament elections are held, and the votes counted. Each political group in the parliament goes into the elections with a lead candidate put forward for the presidency. Then, the European Council  comprised of all the leaders of the EU member states  picks its nominee for president from the lead candidates put forward by the parliament groups, taking into account the results of the elections. This is done using a so-called qualified majority vote  55 per cent of the countries in the EU, and 65 per cent of the population of the EU under the Lisbon Treaty. This will probably mean that the leader of the biggest group  currently the centre-right EPP  gets the commission presidency, though in theory other groups could team up and outnumber them. After the council selects its nominee, the European parliament than has to sign off the councils selection, again by majority vote.

Mr Kamall said both sides of the negotiations privately knew the talks regarding the Irish border, which has proved the most intractable issue, were a fudge to move forward to other areas.

When you have candid conversations, people tell you that they know in reality if they came up with an Irish border agreement, thats a template for the EU-UK trade agreement. But they dont want to do that now, do they? Thats supposed to be dealt with down the road, he said.

He also predicted that the Gibraltar issue was unlikely to hold up negotiations  after Spain nearly vetoed last weeks transition agreement over the territory and the EU27 called for further discussions about its status.

Its partly for show, because theyve got their domestic politics as well  but its partly because in negotiations youve got to throw more things into the pot, he said.

In negotiations you ask for more than you can want and you have things that youre prepared to give away. That is one of the things that you throw into the pot  but dont underestimate it because it could become a lightning rod later on because sometimes people then focus on things that havent been resolved.

In addition to his criticism of Mr Barnier, Mr Kamall accused the European parliaments Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt of pretending that EU citizens were going to be kicked out of Britain after Brexit to drum up political publicity. Mr Verhofstadt has been at the forefront of raising citizens rights in talks, and was greeted by grateful British supporters on a recent visit to Britain. Citizens groups say they still do not have certainty over their status, though Theresa May says the issue has been resolved.

Guy and I get on very well, he is a good politician, he knows how to get publicity, he also knows how to play the press. He knows, for example, in certain areas of the British press he will be the pantomime villain and in others he will be the focal point for those who wish Brexit could somehow be reversed, he said.

Hes picked his issues very carefully. Hes now a champion for the Irish, knowing full well that plays well, hes become a champion for the EU citizens, still pretending that they were going to be kicked out.

Mr Kamall, who says he has not yet decided what he plans to do when Britains MEPs are sent home after Brexit, called for a rethink about whether to implement a points-based Australian-style immigration system  an approach which Theresa May has rejected.

In 2016 the prime minister said that a points-based immigration system would not give the UK control over who entered the UK. The Tory MEP however said such a system would help shift the debate from one of numbers to skills.

Recalling the aftermath of the EU referendum, he said David Camerons decision to resign had given the EU an advantage in talks and time to regroup after the shock vote  also branding George Osbornes lack of regret for not doing any preparation for the possibility of a Leave vote interesting.

Brexit so far: in pictures Show all 53 1 /53 Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit campaign Boris Johnson led the VoteLeave campaign PA Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit campaign Boris Johnson MP, Labour MP Gisela Stuart and UKIP MP Douglas Carswell address the people of Stafford in Market Square during the Vote Leave Brexit Battle Bus tour on 17 May 2016. Their lead line on the tour was: We send the EU 350 million a week, let's fund our NHS instead. Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Voting day A man shelters from the rain as he arrives at a polling station in London on 23 June 2016. Millions of Britons voted in the referendum on whether to stay in or leave the European Union AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Referendum results Leader of Ukip, Nigel Farage, reacts at the Leave EU referendum party at Millbank Tower in central London as results indicated that it was likely the UK would leave the European Union AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Protesting the result A young couple painted as EU flags and a man with a sign reading Im not leaving protest outside Downing Street against the voters decision to leave the EU on 24 June 2016 Getty Brexit so far: in pictures David Cameron resigns British Prime Minister David Cameron resigns on the steps of 10 Downing Street on 24 June 2016 after the results of the EU referendum were declared and the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Theresa May Becomes the new Conservative Party leader Theresa May receives a kiss from her husband Philip, after becoming the new Conservative Party leader on 11 July 2016. May became Prime Minister two days later and although she voted to remain in the referendum was keen to lead Britains Brexit talks after her only rival in the race to succeed David Cameron pulled out unexpectedly. May was left as the only contender standing after the withdrawal from the leadership race of Andrea Leadsom, who faced criticism for suggesting she was more qualified to be prime minister because she had children AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Lancaster House keynote speech on Brexit British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her keynote speech on Brexit at Lancaster House in London on 17 January 2017. Where she spoke about her offer to introduce a transition period after the UK formally leaves the European Union in March 2019. Despite repeating the pro-Brexit mantra of no deal is better than a bad deal, the Prime Minister claimed she wanted a tone of trust between the negotiators and said Britain was leaving the EU but not Europe. She said there should be a clear double lock needed for the transitional period to make sure businesses had time to prepare for changes to their trading relationships with the EU Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Triggering of Article 50 British Prime Minister Theresa May in the cabinet, sitting below a painting of Britain's first Prime Minister Robert Walpole, signs the official letter to European Council President Donald Tusk invoking Article 50 and the United Kingdom's intention to leave the EU on 29 March 2017 Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Gibraltar nonsense Tensions have risen over Brexit negotiations for the Rock of Gibraltar. The European Council has said Gibraltar would be included in a trade deal between London and Brussels only with the agreement of Spain. While former Conservative leader Michael Howard claimed that Theresa May would be prepared to go to war to protect the territory. Spain's foreign minister stepped in only to assert that there was no need for the dispute Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Shock snap election Soon after triggering Article 50, Theresa May called on 18 April 2017 for a snap general election. The election would be on 8 June and it came as a shock move to many, with her reasoning to try to bolster her position before tough talks on leaving the EU AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Dissolution of Parliament for General Election Campaign Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement in Downing Street after returning from Buckingham Palace on 3 May 2017. The Prime Minister visited the Queen to ask for the dissolution of Parliament signalling the official start to the general election campaign Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Conservatives lose parliamentary majority An arrangement of British daily newspapers showing front page stories about the exit poll results of the snap general election. British Prime Minister Theresa May faced pressure to resign on 9 June 2017 after losing her parliamentary majority, plunging the country into uncertainty as Brexit talks loomed. The pound fell sharply amid fears the Conservative leader would be unable to form a government AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Labour gains Britains opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gives a tumbs up as he arrives at Labour headquarters in central London on 9 June 2017 after the snap general election results showed a hung parliament with Labour gains and the Conservatives losing their majority AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit negotiations begin Brexit Minister David Davis and European Commission member in charge of Brexit negotiations Michel Barnier address a press conference at the end of the first day of Brexit negotiations in Brussels on 19 June 2017 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures May speaks in Florence British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks on 22 September 2017, in Florence. May sought to unlock Brexit talks after Brussels demanded more clarity on the crunch issues of budget payments and EU citizens' rights AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU council summit  insufficient progress German Chancellor Angela Merkel joins other EU leaders for a breakfast meeting during an EU summit in Brussels on 20 October 2017. The EU spoke about Brexit and announced that insufficient progress had been made AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures DUP derails settlement on the withdrawal part of Brexit DUP Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds walks off after speaking to members of the media as a protester holding flags shouts after him outside the Houses of Parliament on 5 December 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May was forced to pull out of a deal with Brussels after the DUP said it would not accept terms which see Northern Ireland treated differently from the rest of the UK Getty Brexit so far: in pictures May suffers defeat over EU (Withdrawal) Bill Theresa May suffers defeat in parliament over EU (Withdrawal) Bill on 13 December 2017. The Government was defeated by Conservative rebels and Labour MPs in a vote on its key piece of Brexit legislation. MPs amended the EU (Withdrawal) Bill against Theresa May's will, guaranteeing Parliament a meaningful vote on any Brexit deal she agrees with Brussels. Ms May's whips applied pressure on Conservative rebels who remained defiant in the Commons throughout the day and in the end the Government was defeated by 309 votes to 305 Brexit so far: in pictures EU council summit  sufficient progress Britain's Prime minister Theresa May arrives to attend the first day of a European union summit in Brussels on 14 December 2017. European leaders discussed Brexit and announced there was finally sufficient progress at the end of the two days AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures The game moves to transition Brexit Secretary David Davis gives evidence on developments in European Union divorce talks to the Commons Exiting the EU Committee in Portcullis House, London, on 24 January 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures Trade deal is what May wants French President Emmanuel Macron gestures to Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May after they hold a press conference at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, on 18 January 2018. May and Macron agreed a new border security deal, through which the UK will pay more to France to stop migrants trying to reach British shores on 18 January 2018 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Transition period agreed The UK and EU agree terms for Brexit transition period on 19 March, 2018 Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures No agreement on Irish border The EU and UK however failed to reach an agreement on the Irish border during the successful talks on other Brexit issues AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU attacks Mays fantasy strategy For months after the March deal is struck there is little significant progress in talks. One senior EU official tears into Britains fantasy negotiating strategy and accuses Theresa May of not even having a position on a variety of important issue Getty Brexit so far: in pictures UK releases Ireland plan Britain releases a new customs plan to solve the Northern Ireland border but Michel Barnier says it leaves unanswered questions and would not prevent a hard border EbS Brexit so far: in pictures Chequers plan agreed The cabinet agrees on a plan known as the "Chequers deal" on July 6 2018. The plan seeks regulatory alignment on goods and food, divergence on services, freedom from the European Courts of Justice and an end to free movement. Many were surprised that the hard Brexiteers of the cabinet would agree to this plan PA Brexit so far: in pictures Chequers plan sparks resignations Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and numerous ministers resign in the days following the Chequers agreement Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Davis out, Raab in On 9 July, Dominic Raab replaces David Davis as Brexit Secretary. Raab is a keen Brexiteer and was a housing minister before taking over from Davis Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Barnier's "deal like no other" EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier claims on August 29 2018 that they are prepared to offer Britain a trade deal like no other, though he stressed that they will not divide or change the single market to accommodate Britain AP Brexit so far: in pictures "My deal or no deal" In an interview on Panorama on September 17, the Prime Minister insists that any Brexit deal will be offered to the EU on her terms. She asserts this amongst continued attacks on her approach to Brexit by Boris Johnson and the European Research Group, headed by Jacob Rees Mogg BBC/Jeff Overs Brexit so far: in pictures EU leaders reject Chequers Quite the blow was dealt to the Prime Minister at a EU leaders summit in Salzburg on September 20. European Council President Donald Tusk stated that the Chequers deal "will not work" Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures May demands respect Following the rejection of her Chequers plan the day before, the Prime Minister voiced her anger that the EU had dismissed it without offering an alternative. She stated that throughout this process, I have treated the EU with nothing but respect. The UK expects the same. A good relationship at the end of this process depends on it." Getty Brexit so far: in pictures People's Vote march As the People's Vote campaign and The Independent's Final Say campaign gain traction, 700,000 people turn out in London to demand a final say on the UK's Brexit deal on October 20 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures More resignations As the Prime Minister settles on a Brexit deal, Brexit secretary Dominic Raab resigns along with Work and Pensions secretary Esther McVey and many other ministers Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Final Say petitions delivered to Downing Street People's Vote supporting MPs Chukka Umunna, Justine Greening and Caroline Lucas and The Independent editor Christian Broughton deliver over a million signatures in favour of a People's Vote to the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street on December 3 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures May delays vote On December 10, the Prime Minister delayed the vote on her Brexit deal as it was near certain not to pass through the Commons due to Tory rebels and lack of DUP support AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures No confidence motion Tory MPs triggered a confidence vote in the Prime Minister on December 12. She won by 200 votes to 117 Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Commons rejects the deal Following the delay, the Prime Minister's deal was rejected in the Commons by a historic 230 votes AFP Brexit so far: in pictures Corbyn tables a no confidence motion Following the rejection of the Prime Minister's deal, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence in the government, which the government won by a margin of 19 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Plan B The Prime Minister won the support of the commons to return to Brussels to renegotiate the backstop on January 29. In the same sitting, MPs also voted against a no-deal Brexit in a non-legally binding motion PA Brexit so far: in pictures EU council president savages Brexit campaigners who failed to plan for departure: Special place in hell There is a special place in hell for pro-Brexit campaigners who demanded Britain leave the EU without explaining how it should happen, Donald Tusk has said. The European Council president launched the scathing attack as he accused anti-EU campaigners of pushing for Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely. Mr Tusk also dismissed suggestions that the EU could reopen negotiations over the controversial Northern Ireland backstop, dealing a blow to Theresa Mays hopes of securing fresh concessions as she tries to get her exit deal through parliament. Speaking in Brussels alongside Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Mr Tusk said: Ive been wondering what a special place in hell looks like for people who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely. He also tweeted the accusation moments later Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU and UK announce talks to restart after Theresa May visits Brussels Both have agreed to restart Brexit talks to find a way through the deadlock in Westminster, following a visit by Theresa May to Brussels. In a joint statement the British government and European Commission said Ms May had had a robust but constructive meeting with president Jean-Claude Juncker, and that the pair would meet again before the end of the month. But the EU again refused to reopen the withdrawal agreement and its controversial backstop  with any negotiations expected to focus on the future relationship between the UK and EU instead Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit strategy lost MPs voted down May's Brext plans, with a majority of 45. The prime minister did not appear in parliament to see another defeat PA Brexit so far: in pictures Labour and Conservative MPs resign and create the Independent Group Back row of Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Chuka Umunna and Mike Gapes, middle row of Angela Smith, Luciana Berger and Ann Coffey and front row of Sarah Wollaston, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Joan Ryan PA Brexit so far: in pictures Non-biding votes on amendments to Brexit motion On February 27 he house held a series of votes, unanimously calling for the UK and EU to guarantee citizens rights in a no-deal scenario AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Attorney General publishes legal advice A hammer blow for May as Geoffrey Cox said her renegotiated deal can still leave UK in backstop against its will. Mr Cox did say the prime ministers efforts had reduced the risk of the UK being trapped in the backstop indefinitely. MPs went on to vote against her deal by 391 to 242 UK Parliament/PA Brexit so far: in pictures No-deal off the table MPs rejected a no-deal Brexit by 43 votes on March 13, with cabinet ministers rebelling in another humiliating defeat for Theresa May. A day later they voted in favour of the prime minister seeking an extension to Article 50 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures House speaker bans May from third Commons vote on same Brexit deal John Bercow sensationally told Theresa May he would stop her making another attempt to pass her Brexit deal unless she has secured changes. The Speaker said a further meaningful vote would be ruled out of order if the motion was the same or substantially the same  under an ancient convention to stop the government bullying parliament on issues MPs have rejected Parliament Live Brexit so far: in pictures May writes to Tusk The prime minister wrote to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, to ask for a three-month extension to give her more time to try to get her deal through parliament. However the European Commission advises the EU27 should offer a short extension to May 23 or a longer one meaning the UK would participate in European elections 10 Downing Street/AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures European Council summit Theresa Mays request to extend triggering Article 50 until the end of June was rejected by the EU, and instead offered a shorter time frame. She accepted the offer of a delay until May 22 if her withdrawal deal is approved by Parliament. If MPs rejected it for a third time, the EU said Britain must propose a new plan by April 12. Ms May said she will not support a long delay because it would mean Britain participating in elections for the European Parliament Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brussels confirms preparations for a no-deal Brexit are completed They warned that it is increasingly likely the UK will crash out. In a statement the European Commission (EC) said preparedness and contingency work, which the EC has been conducting since December 2017, was now finished. The announcement came days after EU leaders agreed to a request by Theresa May to extend the UKs Brexit date AFP Brexit so far: in pictures May resigns Reuters

Looking back, they [the EU] had an advantage, because after the referendum with Cameron resigning it created uncertainty on our side, he argued.

Until that point they didnt have a unified position on what happens until Britain leaves. We could have exploited that, but because we had Cameron resign, we had to have a leadership election, fortunately it wasnt as long as we thought it could possibly have been, it could have gone on longer, it gave the EU time to regroup.Colombia Hoy



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Chavez Cuanto te queremos!



Por culpa de Chavez



Cerveza Polar







Algun dia Colombia volvera a la ideologia de Bolivar







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LOS REVOLUCIONARIOS NO TOMAN CACA-COLA No se trata solamente de un capricho, sino de una sana actitud en todos los sentidos. Desde la solidaridad con el pueblo colombiano donde la empresa Caca-Cola ha cometido los mas grandes abusos contra sus trabajadores incluyendo el presunto secuestro y asesinato de los dirigentes del sindicato, hasta la proteccion de la salud de nuestros hijos, enviciados por ese jarabe de cola y azucar, que les produce obesidad prematura. Pensemos tambien los revolucionarios, que ese dinero que gastamos en los refrescos es utilizado por esas empresas para financiar el terrorismo en nuestro pais. Es cierto, no se trata solo de la Caca-Cola, sino tambien de la cerveza, de los cigarrillos y todos esos articulos innecesarios y mas que eso, daninos para nuestra salud. Podriamos incluso pensar en un dia de parada para cada uno de ellos. Es cuestion de irnos organizando. Pero para empezar, que tal si dejamos de comprar Caca-Cola y sus similares?



























Cuando lo extraordinario se vuelve cotidiano...



Discurso del Acto de Grado en Barinas en 12 de Febrero del 2005 Queridos Graduandos:



Mas que un discurso, quiero dirigirles algunas palabras que escribi anoche, despues de visitar en las clinicas, a los estudiantes heridos, a consecuencia de los enfrentamientos con la policia de hace apenas dos dias.



Me ha tocado por razones del destino, ser la persona que les otorgue el titulo que bien merecieron con sus estudios. Y me siento sumamente orgulloso de serlo. Me consta que la Universidad de Los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora, a pesar de lo dicho por los enemigos de esta universidad, es una universidad de primera.



No tendremos la mejor planta fisica, en los salones hace calor. En el comedor hace calor. Pero no es en lo material que las cosas deben valorarse. El mayor capital es el ser humano. Y en eso, nuestra UNELLEZ, lo digo con conocimiento de causa, esta sobrada. Los llaneros venezolanos son nobles, valientes, de coraje.



En la UNELLEZ hacen vida, en este momento, aproximadamente 67000 personas. El 97% de ellas son estudiantes. Jovenes que, como Ustedes hasta el dia de hoy, buscan ese titulo, que constata los anos de dedicacion y de estudio.



Los jovenes son el rio de la vida, ustedes graduados deben ser los capitanes de esos barcos que naveguen por el rio de la vida.



Nuestra Patria atraviesa momentos muy dificiles porque decidio dejar de ser esa matrona de edad vetusta y complaciente, para ser joven, rebelde y altanera. Nuestra imagen ya no es la de una acaudalada ricachona mayamera. En nuestro rostro brilla ahora la sonrisa del Che Guevara, con su diente delantero torcido, su pelo largo y su boina con la estrella.



Entender esto, a mi me ha tomado practicamente toda la vida. Tengo 53 anos, y ya perdi mi oportunidad de derramar sangre joven a causa de un ideal.



Ustedes son jovenes, estan en la flor de la vida. No cometan por favor el error de renunciar a su instinto de rebelion. El Che Guevara fue Ministro de a Economia en Cuba. Los billetes y las monedas se adornaban con su rostro. Nada de eso le importo. Primero fue a Angola donde paso un penoso ano de combate. Despues se fue a Bolivia, donde encontro la muerte. El Che era el ultimo que comia, el que cargaba la mochila mas pesada. Siempre se sacrificaba por los demas en un estoicismo que mas parecia fervor religioso que ideologia marxista.



Si quieren un modelo de vida. Ahi lo tienen.



Dije hace unos momentos que el 97% de la poblacion de la UNELLEZ es estudiante. Se imaginan Ustedes la Universidad que podriamos tener si todos los estudiantes tuvieran la abnegacion, la combatividad del Che?



Los momentos que se avecinan van a requerir de una gran unidad del pueblo venezolano. La alternativa de continuar siendo libres o regresar a la pobreza se nos planteara en los proximos dias de forma enmascarada, o quizas peor, desenmascarada, vestida con uniforme de soldado del Imperio.



Por nuestra parte podemos esperar lo mejor. La macroeconomia no podria ir mejor, la justicia social ha mejorado notablemente. Las misiones ocupan un papel muy importante en el pago de dicha justicia social. Aqui en Barinas ya hemos cumplido con dos de las misiones, la mision Robinson y la mision Sucre. No hay analfabetismo y no hay exclusion en la educacion superior, en estas tierras de Zamora.



Pero ay malhaya! Son precisamente estos exitos los que nos hacen mas antipaticos al Imperio. Para ellos, somos inclusive un mal ejemplo que se esta contagiando al resto del continente y cuidado sino al resto del mundo.



Nunca venceremos al Imperio. Estara siempre ahi, acechando. Por lo menos hasta que el mismo no se autodestruya. Porque, sepanlo senores, el neoliberalismo es canibal. Cuando le ataque el hambre, se devorara a si mismo.



Ustedes, queridos graduandos, a partir de hoy pasan a conformar la elite profesional que debe sostener este pais en los proximos cuarenta o cincuenta anos. Anos decisivos para el logro de nuestra libertad y del rescate de nuestra Soberania.



No se dejen comprar. No se dejen corromper. No se dejen gritar. No se dejen pisar. Que nadie les diga que comer, o que vestirse, o que leer. Sean siempre autenticos, rebeldes, contestatarios. Pero eso si, profundamente patriotas, dignos de ser hijos de Bolivar.



Muchas gracias y que Dios los bendiga.





Alguna duda?



Medio siglo de Holocausto Palestino



Oscar Zanartu Nacio en Caracas en 1960. Ha realizado exposiciones individuales en las galerias Minotauro, Clave y San Francisco, y en salas de Coro, estado Falcon, y Puerto Ordaz, estado Bolivar. En Paris su obra ha sido exhibida en el Centro Cultural Tanagra, en la Exposicion Cite Internationale des Arts, en las galerias De Mars y Arver Space, al igual que en la Galeria Municipal Levallois, en Levallois Perret (Francia). En muestras colectivas, su obra se ha expuesto en Belgica, Francia, Estados Unidos y Venezuela; en Caracas intervino en la exposicion "Del genesis a la memoria", 1995, organizada por la Fundacion La Previsora. En 1982 obtuvo el Premio Nacional Critven y en 1990 la Mencion de Honor Jose Antonio Paez, en la Embajada de Venezuela en Paris. En 1991 se le concedio el primer premio de Pintura Itinerante, en Levallois Perret, Francia.



OZ1



OZ2



OZ3



OZ4



Homenaje a Jason Galarraga



La Victoria de Samotracia



Odalisca



Mas fotos de la nevada del pasado agosto 2008



























La Sierra Nevada de Merida



Nuestro precioso Churum Meru



Homenaje a Picasso



Autoretrato



Sabes lo que bebes en una Coca-Cola?

La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.

Mi profesion?

Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.

Sal en la Coca Cola?

A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.

De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:

Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gusto

Acido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)

azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)

Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantas

Mucha Cafeina

Conservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o Potasio

Dioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebe

Sal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracion

El uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.

Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.

Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.

En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).

Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.

La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.

Bebidas Light?

Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el

Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.



Publicado por loretahur



En realidad, la formula secreta de la Coca-Cola se puede detallar en 18 segundos en cualquier espectrometro optico, y basicamente la conocen hasta los perros. Lo que ocurre es que no se puede fabricar igual, a no ser que uno disponga de unos cuantos millones de dolares para ganarle la demanda que te metera la Coca-Cola ante la justicia (ellos no perderian).La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gustoAcido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantasMucha CafeinaConservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o PotasioDioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebeSal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracionEl uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el aspartamo , despues de tres semanas mojado, pasa a tener gusto de trapo viejo sucio.Para evitar eso, se agregan una infinidad de otros productos quimicos, uno para alargar la vida del aspartamo, otro para neutralizar el color, otro para mantener el tercer quimico en suspension porque sino el fondo de la gaseosa quedaria oscuro, otro para evitar la cristalizacion del aspartamo, otro para realzar el sabor, dar mas intensidad al acido citrico o fosforito que perderia su sabor por el efecto de los cuatro productos quimicos iniciales... y asi sucesivamente.Un consejo final !!Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.Publicado por loretahur

MARGARINA o MANTEQUILLA La margarina fue producida originalmente para engordar a los pavos; cuandolo que hizo en realidad fue matarlos.Las personas que habian puesto el dinero para la investigacion quisieronrecobrarlo asi que empezaron a pensar en una forma de hacerlo.Tenian una sustancia blanca, que no tenia ningun atractivo como comestible,asi que le anadieron el color amarillo, para venderselo a lagente en lugar de la mantequilla.Que tal esa?... Ahora han sacado algunos nuevos sabores para vender mas alos incautos como usted y yo.CONOCE USTED la diferencia entre la margarina y la mantequilla?Siga leyendo hasta el final... porque se pone bastante interesante!Comparacion entre mantequilla y margarina:

1.- Ambas tienen la misma cantidad de calorias.

2.- La mantequilla es ligeramente mas alta en grasas saturadas: 8 gramos,comparada con los 5 gramos que tiene la margarina.

3.- Comer margarina en vez de mantequilla puede aumentar en 53% el riesgo deenfermedades coronarias en las mujeres, de acuerdo con un estudiomedico reciente de la Universidad de Harvard.

4.- Comer mantequilla aumenta la absorcion de gran cantidad de nutrientesque se encuentran en otros alimentos.

5.- La mantequilla provee beneficios nutricionales propios mientras lamargarina tiene solo los que le hayan sido anadidos al fabricarla.

6.- La mantequilla sabe mucho mejor que la margarina y mejora el sabor deotros alimentos.7.- La mantequilla ha existido durante siglos mientras que la margarinatiene menos de 100 anos.

Ahora... sobre la margarina:

1.- Es muy alta en acidos grasos trans. (Si, esos que recien ahora loscientificos descubrieron que son malisimos y los gobiernoscomenzaron a prohibirlos) .

2.- Triple riesgo de enfermedades coronarias.

3.- Aumenta el colesterol total y el LDL (el colesterol malo) y disminuye elHDL (el colesterol bueno).

4.- Aumenta en cinco veces el riesgo de cancer.

5.- Disminuye la calidad de la leche materna.

6.- Disminuye la reaccion inmunologica del organismo.

7.- Disminuye la reaccion a la insulina.

Y he aqui el factor mas inquietante (AQUI ESTA LA PARTE MAS INTERESANTE! ):A la margarina le falta UNA MOLECULA para ser PLASTICO...!!Solo este hecho es suficiente para evitar el uso de la margarina de porvida, y de cualquier otra cosa que sea hidrogenada (esto significaque se le anade hidrogeno, lo cual cambia la estructura molecular de lassubstancias).Usted puede ensayar lo siguiente:Compre un poco de margarina y dejela en el garaje o en un sitio sombreado.Dentro de unos dias notara dos cosas:

* No habra moscas; ni siquiera esos molestos bichos se le acercaran (esto yale debe decir a usted algo).

* No se pudre ni huele mal o diferente porque no tiene valor nutritivo; nadacrece en ella. Ni siquiera los diminutos microorganismos puedencrecer en ella.Por que? Porque es casi plastico!!



No a la guerra, Si a la Paz



Misterios de la ciencia...



Los costos de la guerra



medicos y capitalismo...



Capitalismo...



medicos (2)



Quien educa a nuestros hijos?



Los Medios...



Sin Palabras...



Chistes feministas

- Cual es el problema, Eva?

- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz...

- Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.

- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...

- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.

- Que es un hombre?

- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.

- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.

- Cual es el truco?.

- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.

- Cual?

- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.





Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas?  Porque todos son unos cerdos

Un dia, en el Paraiso, Eva llamo a Dios: Tengo un problema.- Cual es el problema, Eva?- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz... - Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.- Que es un hombre?- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.- Cual es el truco?.- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.- Cual?- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas?  Porque todos son unos cerdos

Ellas...



Ellas (2)...



Tres venganzas femeninas VENGANZA NUMERO 1

Hoy mi hija cumple 21 anos y estoy muy contento porque es el ultimo pago de pension alimenticia que le doy, asi que llame a mi hijita para que viniera a mi casa y cuando llego le dije:

-Hijita, quiero que lleves este cheque a casa de tu mama y que le digas que: Este es el ultimo maldito cheque que va recibir de mi en todo lo que le queda de su puta vida!!! Quiero que me digas la expresion que pone en su rostro.

Asi que mi hija fue a entregar el cheque. Yo estaba ansioso por saber lo que la bruja tenia que decir y que cara pondria.

Cuando mi hijita entro, le pregunte inmediatamente: -Que fue lo que te dijo tu madre?

-Me dijo que justamente estaba esperando este dia para decirte que no eres mi papa!



VENGANZA NUMERO 2

Un hombre que siempre molestaba a su mujer, paso un dia por la casa de unos amigos para que lo acompanaran al aeropuerto a dejar a su esposa que viajaba a Paris.

A la salida de inmigracion, frente a todo el mundo, el le desea buen viaje y en tono burlon le grita:

- Amor, no te olvides de traerme una hermosa francesita Ja ja ja!!

Ella bajo la cabeza y se embarco muy molesta.

La mujer paso quince dias en Francia.

El marido otra vez pidio a sus amigos que lo acompanasen al aeropuerto a recibirla.

Al verla llegar, lo primero que le grita a toda voz es:

- Y amor me trajiste mi francesita??

- Hice todo lo posible, - contesta ella - ahora solo tenemos que rezar para que nazca nina.



VENGANZA NUMERO 3

El marido, en su lecho de muerte, llama a su mujer. Con voz ronca y ya debil, le dice: - Muy bien, llego mi hora, pero antes quiero hacerte una confesion.

- No, no, tranquilo, tu no debes hacer ningun esfuerzo.

- Pero, mujer, es preciso - insiste el marido - Es preciso morir en paz.

Te quiero confesar algo.

- Esta bien, esta bien. Habla!

- He tenido relaciones con tu hermana, tu mama y tu mejor amiga.

- Lo se, lo se Por eso te envenene, hijo de puta!!!



machismo y cibernetica



Chiste machista La NASA ha enviado al espacio una mision experimental tripulada por dos monos y una mujer.Apenas abandona la atmosfera, se establece comunicacion con Houston.

-Atencion, simio 1, verifique sistemas hidraulicos, controle adecuada presion de los propulsores de arranque. A 60.000 pies disminuya un 25% la velocidad.

El simio hace la sena de OK.

-Atencion, simio 2, nivele al cruzar la estratosfera y active sistemas anticongelantes. No olvide monitorear sistemas de comunicacion e indicadores de presion. Comprendido?.

El simio hace la sena de OK.

-Atencion, Houston llamando a mujer: no se olvide.

-Mujer: Si, si, ya se! -interrumpe enojada- que no me olvide darles de comer a estos monos de mierda y que no se me vaya a ocurrir tocar nada!.



.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti.

Un abogado mantiene un romance con su secretaria.Al poco tiempo, esta queda embarazada y el abogado, que no quiere que su esposa se entere, le da a la secretaria una buena suma de dinero y le pide que se vaya a parir a Italia.Esta pregunta: Y como voy a hacerte saber cuando nazca el bebe ? El abogado responde: Para que mi mujer no se entere, tan solo enviame una postal y escribe por detras: Spaghetti. Y no te preocupes mas, que yo me encargare de todos los gastos.

Pasan los meses y una manana la esposa del abogado lo llama al bufete, algo exaltada: Querido, acabo de recibir el correo y hay una postal muy extrana viene desde Italia. La verdad, no entiendo que significa.El abogado, tratando de ocultar sus nervios, contesta:Espera a que llegue a casa, a ver si yo entiendoCuando el hombre llega a casa y lee la postal, cae al suelo fulminado por un infarto.Llega una ambulancia y se lo lleva. Ya en el hospital, el jefe de cardiologia se queda consolando a la esposa y le pregunta cual ha sido el evento que precipito tan masivo ataque cardiaco.

Entonces la esposa saca la postal y se la muestra diciendole: No me explico, doctor; el solamente leyo esta postal. Vea usted mismo lo que trae escrito.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti."Tres con salchicha y albondigas y dos con almejas



Gol !!!!



Chistes de Borrachos Entra un borracho a su casa todo manchado con lapiz labial por todos lados hecho un desastre, y la mujer le pregunta:-Hombre que te paso?Y el borracho le responde:-No me vas a creer, me pelee con un payaso!



Este es un borracho que entra en un bar y le dice al camarero:-Me da cinco copas de whisky?Al rato:-Me da cuatro?Al rato:-Me da tres copas?Despues:-Me da dos copas?Luego le dice:-Me da una copa?Y le dice al camarero:-Ves? Cuanto menos bebo, mas borracho estoy!

Angela Merkels closest ally in the EUs Brexit apparatus has said the transition period could be extended if Britain needs more time to prepare for leaving the bloc.

German Christian Democrat Elmar Brok said the length of the 21-month period agreed by EU and UK negotiators should not be untouchable like the Bible, with businesses on both sides of the Channel calling for a smooth transition.

It comes after Theresa May admitted publicly that Britains new customs system may not be ready by the end of the currently planned transition, but also as a senior cabinet minister said he would refuse to accept a longer period.

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Speaking to The Independent, Mr Brok, said he would not have a principled position against the kind of extension which Brussels insiders say the British have been seeking behind the scenes.

The senior MEP, who sits in the European parliaments six-person Brexit steering group, also warned that Brexit talks were heading for a conclusion that would be more damaging to the UK than the EU.

Asked if the transition period would be long enough, he told The Independent: Lets see. I think that the transition period is just to be there to win time for such negotiations. Otherwise you would not have the transition period, you would have automatically on the 29 March next year full Brexit, with no understandings and agreements, full tariffs and full tariff barriers.

Its 21 months, but I think this 21 months should be not be the Bible. Its easier, because then the present budget circle closes and the new one starts. The European parliament said in its resolution last year that it should have a maximum three years. This is not a question of life or death, how long it should be.

He added: Prolongation might be possible, it should be very limited. But I think that is also in the common interest, because so long as the transition period is enforced the United Kingdom must fulfil all the rights of the four freedoms, the financial support of the EU budget and the rulings of the European Court of Justice. If Britain wants to prolong that, I would not have a principled position against it.

Britain is set to formally leave the EU on 29 March 2019, two years after the Prime Minister triggered Article 50 and started the legal process of exit.

But under a deal approved at the European Council summit this month, little will change until the start of 2021 during an implementation period where the UK continues to follow EU rules and keep full free movement for EU citizens.

Addressing the progress of talks so far, Mr Brok struck a positive tone: The progress was much better than I thought. We already have the transition agreement in place as part of the withdrawal agreement, which was a surprise to me.

 What is still needed to complete a deal with the EU?

We have in place, more or less, the citizens rights questions and the financial section  so lets say around two thirds of all these withdrawal things, which we have to finish in these negotiations before October, are in place.

This week Im much more confident that well come to a deal than I was a week before.

But he added: Britain has to consider that Brexit is damage for all of us, but that because of the different size of the European Union and Britain, the damage is higher for Britain  because of the lack of market access and the lack of investments from other parts of the world. They lose the gate function to the European market. They do not make investment anymore into England, they will make investments elsewhere.

Theresa May told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that sometimes the timetables that have originally been set are not the timetables that are necessary when it came to getting ready to leave.

Brexit so far: in pictures Show all 53 1 /53 Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit campaign Boris Johnson led the VoteLeave campaign PA Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit campaign Boris Johnson MP, Labour MP Gisela Stuart and UKIP MP Douglas Carswell address the people of Stafford in Market Square during the Vote Leave Brexit Battle Bus tour on 17 May 2016. Their lead line on the tour was: We send the EU 350 million a week, let's fund our NHS instead. Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Voting day A man shelters from the rain as he arrives at a polling station in London on 23 June 2016. Millions of Britons voted in the referendum on whether to stay in or leave the European Union AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Referendum results Leader of Ukip, Nigel Farage, reacts at the Leave EU referendum party at Millbank Tower in central London as results indicated that it was likely the UK would leave the European Union AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Protesting the result A young couple painted as EU flags and a man with a sign reading Im not leaving protest outside Downing Street against the voters decision to leave the EU on 24 June 2016 Getty Brexit so far: in pictures David Cameron resigns British Prime Minister David Cameron resigns on the steps of 10 Downing Street on 24 June 2016 after the results of the EU referendum were declared and the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Theresa May Becomes the new Conservative Party leader Theresa May receives a kiss from her husband Philip, after becoming the new Conservative Party leader on 11 July 2016. May became Prime Minister two days later and although she voted to remain in the referendum was keen to lead Britains Brexit talks after her only rival in the race to succeed David Cameron pulled out unexpectedly. May was left as the only contender standing after the withdrawal from the leadership race of Andrea Leadsom, who faced criticism for suggesting she was more qualified to be prime minister because she had children AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Lancaster House keynote speech on Brexit British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her keynote speech on Brexit at Lancaster House in London on 17 January 2017. Where she spoke about her offer to introduce a transition period after the UK formally leaves the European Union in March 2019. Despite repeating the pro-Brexit mantra of no deal is better than a bad deal, the Prime Minister claimed she wanted a tone of trust between the negotiators and said Britain was leaving the EU but not Europe. She said there should be a clear double lock needed for the transitional period to make sure businesses had time to prepare for changes to their trading relationships with the EU Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Triggering of Article 50 British Prime Minister Theresa May in the cabinet, sitting below a painting of Britain's first Prime Minister Robert Walpole, signs the official letter to European Council President Donald Tusk invoking Article 50 and the United Kingdom's intention to leave the EU on 29 March 2017 Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Gibraltar nonsense Tensions have risen over Brexit negotiations for the Rock of Gibraltar. The European Council has said Gibraltar would be included in a trade deal between London and Brussels only with the agreement of Spain. While former Conservative leader Michael Howard claimed that Theresa May would be prepared to go to war to protect the territory. Spain's foreign minister stepped in only to assert that there was no need for the dispute Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Shock snap election Soon after triggering Article 50, Theresa May called on 18 April 2017 for a snap general election. The election would be on 8 June and it came as a shock move to many, with her reasoning to try to bolster her position before tough talks on leaving the EU AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Dissolution of Parliament for General Election Campaign Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement in Downing Street after returning from Buckingham Palace on 3 May 2017. The Prime Minister visited the Queen to ask for the dissolution of Parliament signalling the official start to the general election campaign Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Conservatives lose parliamentary majority An arrangement of British daily newspapers showing front page stories about the exit poll results of the snap general election. British Prime Minister Theresa May faced pressure to resign on 9 June 2017 after losing her parliamentary majority, plunging the country into uncertainty as Brexit talks loomed. The pound fell sharply amid fears the Conservative leader would be unable to form a government AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Labour gains Britains opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gives a tumbs up as he arrives at Labour headquarters in central London on 9 June 2017 after the snap general election results showed a hung parliament with Labour gains and the Conservatives losing their majority AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit negotiations begin Brexit Minister David Davis and European Commission member in charge of Brexit negotiations Michel Barnier address a press conference at the end of the first day of Brexit negotiations in Brussels on 19 June 2017 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures May speaks in Florence British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks on 22 September 2017, in Florence. May sought to unlock Brexit talks after Brussels demanded more clarity on the crunch issues of budget payments and EU citizens' rights AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU council summit  insufficient progress German Chancellor Angela Merkel joins other EU leaders for a breakfast meeting during an EU summit in Brussels on 20 October 2017. The EU spoke about Brexit and announced that insufficient progress had been made AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures DUP derails settlement on the withdrawal part of Brexit DUP Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds walks off after speaking to members of the media as a protester holding flags shouts after him outside the Houses of Parliament on 5 December 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May was forced to pull out of a deal with Brussels after the DUP said it would not accept terms which see Northern Ireland treated differently from the rest of the UK Getty Brexit so far: in pictures May suffers defeat over EU (Withdrawal) Bill Theresa May suffers defeat in parliament over EU (Withdrawal) Bill on 13 December 2017. The Government was defeated by Conservative rebels and Labour MPs in a vote on its key piece of Brexit legislation. MPs amended the EU (Withdrawal) Bill against Theresa May's will, guaranteeing Parliament a meaningful vote on any Brexit deal she agrees with Brussels. Ms May's whips applied pressure on Conservative rebels who remained defiant in the Commons throughout the day and in the end the Government was defeated by 309 votes to 305 Brexit so far: in pictures EU council summit  sufficient progress Britain's Prime minister Theresa May arrives to attend the first day of a European union summit in Brussels on 14 December 2017. European leaders discussed Brexit and announced there was finally sufficient progress at the end of the two days AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures The game moves to transition Brexit Secretary David Davis gives evidence on developments in European Union divorce talks to the Commons Exiting the EU Committee in Portcullis House, London, on 24 January 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures Trade deal is what May wants French President Emmanuel Macron gestures to Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May after they hold a press conference at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, on 18 January 2018. May and Macron agreed a new border security deal, through which the UK will pay more to France to stop migrants trying to reach British shores on 18 January 2018 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Transition period agreed The UK and EU agree terms for Brexit transition period on 19 March, 2018 Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures No agreement on Irish border The EU and UK however failed to reach an agreement on the Irish border during the successful talks on other Brexit issues AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU attacks Mays fantasy strategy For months after the March deal is struck there is little significant progress in talks. One senior EU official tears into Britains fantasy negotiating strategy and accuses Theresa May of not even having a position on a variety of important issue Getty Brexit so far: in pictures UK releases Ireland plan Britain releases a new customs plan to solve the Northern Ireland border but Michel Barnier says it leaves unanswered questions and would not prevent a hard border EbS Brexit so far: in pictures Chequers plan agreed The cabinet agrees on a plan known as the "Chequers deal" on July 6 2018. The plan seeks regulatory alignment on goods and food, divergence on services, freedom from the European Courts of Justice and an end to free movement. Many were surprised that the hard Brexiteers of the cabinet would agree to this plan PA Brexit so far: in pictures Chequers plan sparks resignations Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and numerous ministers resign in the days following the Chequers agreement Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Davis out, Raab in On 9 July, Dominic Raab replaces David Davis as Brexit Secretary. Raab is a keen Brexiteer and was a housing minister before taking over from Davis Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Barnier's "deal like no other" EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier claims on August 29 2018 that they are prepared to offer Britain a trade deal like no other, though he stressed that they will not divide or change the single market to accommodate Britain AP Brexit so far: in pictures "My deal or no deal" In an interview on Panorama on September 17, the Prime Minister insists that any Brexit deal will be offered to the EU on her terms. She asserts this amongst continued attacks on her approach to Brexit by Boris Johnson and the European Research Group, headed by Jacob Rees Mogg BBC/Jeff Overs Brexit so far: in pictures EU leaders reject Chequers Quite the blow was dealt to the Prime Minister at a EU leaders summit in Salzburg on September 20. European Council President Donald Tusk stated that the Chequers deal "will not work" Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures May demands respect Following the rejection of her Chequers plan the day before, the Prime Minister voiced her anger that the EU had dismissed it without offering an alternative. She stated that throughout this process, I have treated the EU with nothing but respect. The UK expects the same. A good relationship at the end of this process depends on it." Getty Brexit so far: in pictures People's Vote march As the People's Vote campaign and The Independent's Final Say campaign gain traction, 700,000 people turn out in London to demand a final say on the UK's Brexit deal on October 20 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures More resignations As the Prime Minister settles on a Brexit deal, Brexit secretary Dominic Raab resigns along with Work and Pensions secretary Esther McVey and many other ministers Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Final Say petitions delivered to Downing Street People's Vote supporting MPs Chukka Umunna, Justine Greening and Caroline Lucas and The Independent editor Christian Broughton deliver over a million signatures in favour of a People's Vote to the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street on December 3 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures May delays vote On December 10, the Prime Minister delayed the vote on her Brexit deal as it was near certain not to pass through the Commons due to Tory rebels and lack of DUP support AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures No confidence motion Tory MPs triggered a confidence vote in the Prime Minister on December 12. She won by 200 votes to 117 Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Commons rejects the deal Following the delay, the Prime Minister's deal was rejected in the Commons by a historic 230 votes AFP Brexit so far: in pictures Corbyn tables a no confidence motion Following the rejection of the Prime Minister's deal, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence in the government, which the government won by a margin of 19 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Plan B The Prime Minister won the support of the commons to return to Brussels to renegotiate the backstop on January 29. In the same sitting, MPs also voted against a no-deal Brexit in a non-legally binding motion PA Brexit so far: in pictures EU council president savages Brexit campaigners who failed to plan for departure: Special place in hell There is a special place in hell for pro-Brexit campaigners who demanded Britain leave the EU without explaining how it should happen, Donald Tusk has said. The European Council president launched the scathing attack as he accused anti-EU campaigners of pushing for Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely. Mr Tusk also dismissed suggestions that the EU could reopen negotiations over the controversial Northern Ireland backstop, dealing a blow to Theresa Mays hopes of securing fresh concessions as she tries to get her exit deal through parliament. Speaking in Brussels alongside Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Mr Tusk said: Ive been wondering what a special place in hell looks like for people who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely. He also tweeted the accusation moments later Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU and UK announce talks to restart after Theresa May visits Brussels Both have agreed to restart Brexit talks to find a way through the deadlock in Westminster, following a visit by Theresa May to Brussels. In a joint statement the British government and European Commission said Ms May had had a robust but constructive meeting with president Jean-Claude Juncker, and that the pair would meet again before the end of the month. But the EU again refused to reopen the withdrawal agreement and its controversial backstop  with any negotiations expected to focus on the future relationship between the UK and EU instead Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit strategy lost MPs voted down May's Brext plans, with a majority of 45. The prime minister did not appear in parliament to see another defeat PA Brexit so far: in pictures Labour and Conservative MPs resign and create the Independent Group Back row of Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Chuka Umunna and Mike Gapes, middle row of Angela Smith, Luciana Berger and Ann Coffey and front row of Sarah Wollaston, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Joan Ryan PA Brexit so far: in pictures Non-biding votes on amendments to Brexit motion On February 27 he house held a series of votes, unanimously calling for the UK and EU to guarantee citizens rights in a no-deal scenario AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Attorney General publishes legal advice A hammer blow for May as Geoffrey Cox said her renegotiated deal can still leave UK in backstop against its will. Mr Cox did say the prime ministers efforts had reduced the risk of the UK being trapped in the backstop indefinitely. MPs went on to vote against her deal by 391 to 242 UK Parliament/PA Brexit so far: in pictures No-deal off the table MPs rejected a no-deal Brexit by 43 votes on March 13, with cabinet ministers rebelling in another humiliating defeat for Theresa May. A day later they voted in favour of the prime minister seeking an extension to Article 50 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures House speaker bans May from third Commons vote on same Brexit deal John Bercow sensationally told Theresa May he would stop her making another attempt to pass her Brexit deal unless she has secured changes. The Speaker said a further meaningful vote would be ruled out of order if the motion was the same or substantially the same  under an ancient convention to stop the government bullying parliament on issues MPs have rejected Parliament Live Brexit so far: in pictures May writes to Tusk The prime minister wrote to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, to ask for a three-month extension to give her more time to try to get her deal through parliament. However the European Commission advises the EU27 should offer a short extension to May 23 or a longer one meaning the UK would participate in European elections 10 Downing Street/AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures European Council summit Theresa Mays request to extend triggering Article 50 until the end of June was rejected by the EU, and instead offered a shorter time frame. She accepted the offer of a delay until May 22 if her withdrawal deal is approved by Parliament. If MPs rejected it for a third time, the EU said Britain must propose a new plan by April 12. Ms May said she will not support a long delay because it would mean Britain participating in elections for the European Parliament Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brussels confirms preparations for a no-deal Brexit are completed They warned that it is increasingly likely the UK will crash out. In a statement the European Commission (EC) said preparedness and contingency work, which the EC has been conducting since December 2017, was now finished. The announcement came days after EU leaders agreed to a request by Theresa May to extend the UKs Brexit date AFP Brexit so far: in pictures May resigns Reuters

We are looking at different potential customs arrangements for the future in order to deliver on the commitments that we have made, she told MPs on the liaison committee.

I think it is fair to say that, as we get into the detail and look at these arrangements, what becomes clear is that sometimes the timetables that have originally been set are not the timetables that are necessary when you actually start to look at the detail and when you delve into what it really is that you want to be able to achieve.

The EU has been coy on the subject of extending the transition.

Though the European Commission has steered away from the subject, saying it should be time-limited, the European Council said through its Bulgarian chair in January that there would be flexibility if more time was needed. In a joint press conference with chief negotiator Michel Barnier, Ekaterina Zakharieva, Bulgarias foreign minister, said the period could not be endless but that negotiation directives and the declaration that was approved by the council allow for the flexibility in terms of this period in case we didnt manage to achieve progress on the negotiations for the future.Theresa May has used her Easter message to pay tribute to the triumph of human spirit following the terror attacks in London and Manchester and the Grenfell Tower disaster.

The prime minister hailed the bravery of victims and communities, as well as the dedication of the emergency services, after a turbulent 2017 marred by atrocities at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Finsbury Park, the terrible attack on concert-goers at Manchester Arena, and the deaths of 71 people in the Grenfell Tower fire.

Ms May, whose father was a vicar, said the Easter story pointed to a promise of new life and the triumph of hope, as she sought to draw a line under the divisions caused by Brexit.

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Addressing the nation, she said: Over the last year, Britain has faced some dark moments, from the terrorist attacks at Westminster Bridge and London Bridge, at Manchester Arena and Finsbury Park, and the fire at Grenfell Tower.

I know from speaking to the victims and survivors of these terrible events how vital the love and support they have received from their friends, family and neighbours has been to them as they begin to rebuild their lives.

In the bravery of those facing adversity, the dedication of our emergency services and the generosity of local communities, we see the triumph of the human spirit.

The Easter story contains an inspiring promise of new life and the triumph of hope.

Ms May and her husband Philip are spending the Easter weekend on a walking holiday in Wales, before returning to her Maidenhead constituency next week.

The prime minister decided to call the disastrous snap general election during the same trip last year.

In a speech at a recent dinner for political journalists, Ms May joked that the previous event had to be postponed because of the election, adding: I was looking forward to this event so much that I called a general election to get out of it.

But I cant pull that stunt two years in a row. Or can I? I am, after all, going walking in Wales at Easter.President Donald Trump, having this week signalled a possible withdrawal of American troops from Syria, has ordered the state department to suspend more than $200m (140m) in funds for recovery efforts there while the administration reassesses its role in the conflict, administration officials said on Friday.

The freeze on stabilisation and humanitarian aid came as two members of the US-led coalition fighting in Syria were killed  one US soldier and one British  and five others were wounded by a bomb in a late night attack, the military said on Friday.

The attack took place near Manbij in northern Syria and is believed to have been carried out by remnants of Isis, a senior US military official said.

A statement posted by the US Central Command, which directs US forces in the region, said an improvised explosive device detonated about 11pm local time on Thursday.

The statement did not reveal the identities of the service members involved, how seriously the survivors were hurt or where in Syria the attack occurred. The US-led coalition includes about 30 countries, but only a few have forces on the ground.

A statement released Friday by the Ministry of Defence in London confirmed that the second soldier killed in the blast was British and that the mission was to counter fighters with Isis.

Coalition forces have been deployed to Syria to fight, alongside Kurdish militia allies, against Isis. But with that group largely routed, the seven-year-old civil war in Syria has entered a dangerous new phase.

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

Two US allies, Turkey and the Kurds, who control parts of northern Syria, are fighting each other. And the Kurds and coalition forces are engaged in a tense standoff with the Syrian government, along with its allies  Russia, Iran and Iranian-backed militias.

On Thursday, Mr Trump suggested the US could pull its approximately 2,000 troops out of Syria very soon. The comments surprised defence department officials who have maintained that some kind of US presence in parts of Syria may be necessary to avoid recreating the conditions that led to the rise of Isis  and also to avoid ceding influence in the country to Russia.

The New York TimesDonald Trump has come under fire for his track record with the Native American population on more than one occasion. The US president frequently uses the racial slur Pocahontas in relation to Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren, and has made a number of policy decisions which will destroy sacred Native American land.

The Trump administrations budget also proposes sweeping cuts to job training programmes which directly help Native Americans into work. Furthermore, during his pre-White House days as a billionaire property tycoon, Mr Trump repeatedly clashed with tribes after a 1988 federal law made it easier for casinos to open on tribal land.

These are just some of the reasons Democrat politician Debra Haaland says she is committed to standing up to the president at every opportunity. And the outspoken Trump critic hopes to have an even more powerful platform on which to do so by standing for US congress.

We have never had a native woman in Congress. It is a voice which would add positive things to the conversation about the future of our country, the 57-year-old single mother tells The Independent. There is still a majority of men in Congress. We need more women. We need more women of colour.

Ms Haaland, who lives in Albuquerque in New Mexico, was a full-time volunteer for Barack Obamas 2008 campaign and was also involved in 2016s Hillary Clinton election bid. She announced her decision to run for a seat in the US House of Representatives straight after finishing her term as state chair in New Mexico in April 2017.

The politician is both incensed and motivated by the actions of the Trump administration, which she feels are at loggerheads with the views of New Mexicans.

I am feeling like we need to fight harder than ever, she says. Trumps policies are definitely not in line with New Mexicans. Look at his immigration policies. He wants to build a wall, he wants to deport Dreamers, he wants to ban Muslims. These policies are based on racist attitudes we do not agree with at all. My main mission is to beat Donald Trump  he does not speak for New Mexico.

We need more women of colour in Congress, says Debra Haaland (Debra Haaland)

When I was state chairwoman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico we took him to task on everything he was doing in his campaign  misogyny and overt racism  we turned him out at every turn.

Ms Haaland spoke out nationally after Mr Trump called Senator Warren Pocahontas  penning a blistering column in Indian Country Today.

Trumps very use of Pocahontas name is disrespectful, she wrote. The story of Pocahontas is heartwrenching. Towards the end of her life she left her people, went to England, contracted a disease and died at a very young age. When I think of that story, and the hundreds of sad and disturbing stories of how native people have suffered throughout history, I cant imagine making a mockery of their names or their lives.

Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Show all 29 1 /29 Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump acknowledges the audience after taking the oath of office as his wife Melania (L) and daughter Tiffany watch during inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the West Front of the US capital in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jim Bourg: "This photo was shot with one of two remote cameras. The cameras were monitored and triggered remotely and the pictures were transmitted to clients worldwide within minutes of being taken." Reuters/Jim Bourg Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Obama farewell address - 10 January 2017 US President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he delivers his farewell address in Chicago on 10 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "In his final days in office, Obama made a visit home to Chicago. As he spoke from the stage to his wife and daughter in the audience, he became emotional when he talked about what they had sacrificed during his time in office. I turned from photographing the Obama women embracing to find him onstage wiping away tears." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 A combination of photos shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (left) on January 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama sometime between 12:07pm and 12:26pm on January 20, 2009. Reuters/ Lucas Jackson/Stelios Varias Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Liberty Ball - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Liberty Ball in honour of his inauguration in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "What I see when I look at this picture is the end of a very long day, not to mention weeks and months of preparation by many photographers, editors and network experts and the beginning of everything since." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception - 22 January 2017 US President Donald Trump greets Director of the FBI James Comey as Director of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy (L), watches during the Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on 22 January, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "I have covered the White House for 16 years and normally either the President or the pool is in position when an event starts. In this case the President was not where anyone expected him to be. In fact, he was almost blocking the door when the pool came in. We had to scramble to find a position without bumping him or the furniture as he greeted and thanked members of law enforcement for their security efforts during the inauguration. Luckily, he greeted FBI Director James Comey a few seconds after the pool had made its way into the room." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Private phone calls to world leaders - 28 January 2017 US President Donald Trump, is joined by his staff, as he speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office on 28 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Very early in the Trump administration, weekends were as busy as weekdays. On Trump's second Saturday the official schedule said he would be making private phone calls to a number of world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin. I arrived early and, before sitting down at my desk walked up to Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office. He, too, was just taking his coat off. I gingerly made the suggestion that previous administrations had sometimes allowed photos of such phone calls through the Oval Office windows on the colonnade. To my mild shock, he didn't even think about it twice. "We'll do it!" he said. In truth, I really only expected the Putin call, but we were outside the windows multiple times throughout the day as the calls went on." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway - 27 February 2017 Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway (L) attends as US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of dozens of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Oval Office on 27 February, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "We're often asked how much access we have to the Trump administration, and the answer is we have an awful lot. President Trump himself is very comfortable in the spotlight, and his aides are similarly unfazed by cameras. In this instance, senior advisor Kellyanne Conway was so comfortable in our presence she seemed not to consider the optics of kneeling on a Oval Office sofa to take pictures with her phone." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Angela Merkel heads to Washington - 17 March 2017 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on 17 March, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Chancellor Merkel made one of the earliest important visits of any US allies to meet Trump in his first months in office. When world leaders give joint news conferences they don't always tend to give each other their full attention - but Merkel watched Trump intently at several key moments, and here seemed particularly rapt." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump welcomes truckers to the White House - 23 March 2017 President Trump reacts as he sits on a truck while he welcomes truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting regarding healthcare at the White House on 23 March, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "The White House organised a listening session with truckers and CEO's of major American companies, regarding healthcare reform. An 18-wheeler tow truck was parked on the South Lawn of the White House and as Trump welcomed the truckers someone invited the him to come and sit in the driver's seat. Trump jumped into the cab and started yelling and pretending to drive - creating one of the most memorable pictures of the year. A lesson learned, always be prepared for the unexpected." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 6 April 2017 US President Donald Trump talks to journalists members of the travel pool on board the Air Force One during his trip to Palm Beach, Florida on 6 April, 2017. Carlos Barria: "During the many trips to President Trump's residence in Florida it is usual to see the president coming to the back of the plane to chat with journalists. During one of the trips to the so called 'Winter White House', Trump had a long talk with reporters while the Air Force One entertainment system was playing one of the latest Star Wars movies. As I was listening to Trump talk I was also looking at the movie waiting for a part of the movie to frame the mood of the day. Of the many scenes, I choose the one with Darth Vader." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House on 27 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "A day before President Trump's hundred days in office I was part of the team that interviewed the commander-in-chief in the Oval Office. I was only allowed to photograph Trump during the last five minutes of the interview. The time was very tight so I had to move fast as I had pictures in mind that I wanted to shoot. I walked into the Oval Office and saw that the President had printed maps of the country showing areas in red where he won. I raised my hands holding my camera as high as possible to get the best view of the scene using a 16mm wide angle lens." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump reacts as he arrives at Harrisburg international airport, before attending a rally marking his first 100 days in office in Pennsylvania on 29 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to celebrate his hundred days in office with a victory rally. He was in friendly territory as he won with a big difference over his opponent Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, during the November elections. As usual when the commander-in-chief arrives local residents gather to greet him. This time a small group of military personnel attended the arrival. Surrounded by secret service agents Trump walked from the Air Force One and raised his hand in a sign of victory as the crowd cheered him on." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 2 May 2017 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus watch as US President Donald Trump presents the U.S. Air Force Academy football team with the Commander-in-Chief trophy in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on 2 May, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "Covering the White House does not just mean covering the President. White House staffers are an important part of the story and their relationship with the President and each other is an indicator of how things are going in the West Wing. The tendency is to focus exclusively on the President once an event starts but I always try to look around to see how people are reacting as things unfold." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Secret Service - 4 May 2017 Secret Service agents use a presidential limousine as cover from spraying water as US President Donald Trump lands via Marine One helicopter in New York on 4 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "The best part of any trip to New York City with the sitting US President is the helicopter ride into Manhattan. The ride out at night can be stunning. Here, Secret Service agents protect themselves from the spray from the East River as Trump lands on the helipad." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures NATO Summit - 25 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wait the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) before a lunch ahead of a NATO Summit in Brussels on 25 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "One of the best parts of travelling overseas for White House coverage is the chance to see the U.S. president in different environments and (literally) a different light. Here, Trump and his wife came out of the shadows to greet France's President Macron." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump meets Putin at G20 summit - 7 July 2017 US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany on 7 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "On July 7, I witnessed one of the most important meetings of President Trump's first year in office. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Germany. The world's eyes were on these two leaders after speculation about Russian interference during the 2016 US elections. We entered the room for less than two minutes, where I took dozens of pictures. But there was this very interesting moment when Trump extended his hand to Putin for a handshake. Putin paused for a second and looked at Trump's hand. That was the picture that I was looking for, a little moment that seemed to say a lot." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures First lady - 8 July 2017 First lady Melania Trump chats with US President Donald Trump during their return from Germany at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on 8 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "After President Trump's trip to Germany he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. First Lady Melania Trump said goodbye to Trump as she was heading off in a different direction that day. While chatting a breeze blew Melania's hair up in the air." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Made in America product showcase - 17 July 2017 Vice President Mike Pence laughs as President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat as they attend a Made in America product showcase event at the White House on 17 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "This summer the White House organized an event to showcase 'Made in America' products. All kinds of exhibitors brought their products as the President and Vice President toured the event. One of the companies was Marucci Sport, a manufacturer of baseball bats based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As Trump approached a table full of baseball bats, photographers at the event, including me, rushed to get a good angle hoping that he would pick up a bat. As we predicted, he did. He took one and joked around as though he was hitting something hard. The only thing closer to him right there, was the media." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 25 July 2017 Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says hello to reporters as he and White House advisors including Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci accompany President Trump for an event celebrating veterans at AMVETS Post 44 in Ohio, July 25, 2017. Jonathan Ernst: "The most visible person in any White House is naturally the President, followed by the press secretary. But there are also the staff who support them. For those of us covering the Trump administration, there seem to be more compelling figures in the West Wing than ever before. It's crucial to know who's who and why they're important. When I raised my camera and back-pedalled ahead of the group to take this image Lewandowski gave me a hello. I liked the photo, but had no idea it would go a little bit viral, especially since Scaramucci, who was the biggest mover and shaker that week, was hidden back in the pack. But I guess the image catches a glimpse of what it's like to be a West Wing staffer on the road." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Campaign rally - 3 August 2017 US President Donald Trump arrives at a rally in West Virginia on 3 August, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Huntington for one of his usual campaign rallies. While members of his family spoke to the crowd he was waiting under a black curtain to be introduced. Suddenly he walked onto the stage, one of the first frames that I took was of his hand. I set my exposure for the light on the stage hoping to create this dark background and it worked." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Staring into the solar eclipse - 21 August 2017 Without his protective glasses on, US President Donald Trump looks up towards the solar eclipse while viewing with his wife Melania and son Barron at the White House on 21 August, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "On a day when everyone, and I mean everyone, was told not to look at the eclipse without protective glasses, Trump, President of the United States, couldn't help himself." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Harvey - 2 September 2017 US President Donald Trump poses for a photo as he and first lady Melania Trump help volunteers hand out meals during a visit with flood survivors of Hurricane Harvey at a relief centre in Houston, Texas on 2 September, 2017. Photohrapher Kevin Lamarque: "Trump, eager to deliver the image of a hands-on response to Hurricane Harvey, made this visit to a relief centre and obliged this woman with a selfie as Melania continued to work." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House - 15 September 2017 Donald Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio as he cuts the Rose Garden grass at the White House on 15 September. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the lawn, was invited to work for a day at the White House along the National Park Service staff. Frank was so focused on his task that he did not notice the President arrive to surprise him. He took his father jumping in to grab his attention and point Trump out. Photographer Carlos Barria said: The image of Trump shouting at a kid who is mowing his lawn might have many interpretations in today's politically polarized United States. But for me it was just a kid who loved what he was doing, to the point he almost appeared to ignore the President." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Take a knee - 27 September 2017 A man kneels with a folded U.S. flag as the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes him after an event at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., September 27, 2017. In September, soon after Trump had made comments condemning NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, he made a day trip to a rally in Indianapolis. Jonathan Ernst managed to capture a man on one knee with a tri-folded flag and was able to use a portion of the sign on the building he was kneeling in front of to track the man down and tell his story in full. US Army veteran Marvin Boatright wanted to send a message against social injustice. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Maria - 3 October 2017 President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 3 October, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "During an afternoon visit to Puerto Rico for President Trump to survey damage from Hurricane Maria and greet some of its victims, Trump made a stop at a church where food and supplies were being distributed. Among the items were paper towels and Trump, apparently caught up in the moment, decided to distribute some of the rolls." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Jared Kushner - 1 November 2017 White House Senior adviser Jared Kushner sits behind President Trump during a cabinet meeting in Washington on 1 November, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "The role of Jared Kushner has gone through a series of changes. He began front and centre as a high profile adviser, but as time has passed and issues surrounding him have surfaced, he has become more of a background figure." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump in China - 9 November 2017 Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands after making joint statements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 9 November, 2017. Photographer Damir Sagolj: "It's one of those "how to make a better or at least different shot when two presidents shake hands several times a day, several days in row". If I'm not mistaken in calculation, presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump shook their hands at least six times in events I covered during Trump's recent visit to China. I would imagine there were some more handshakes I haven't seen but other photographers did. And they all look similar - two big men, smiling and heartily greeting each other until everyone gets their shot. But then there is always something that can make it special - in this case the background made of US and Chinese flags. The first time it didn't work for me. The second time I positioned myself lower and centrally, and used the longest lens I have to capture only hands reaching for a handshake." Reuters/Damir Sagolj Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 10 November 2017 US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing Airport in Beijing, China, November 10, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "There is a Reuters photographer in the tight pool covering the US president for every appearance he makes 365 days a year. This was just one of 32 images of mine that were transmitted on the Reuters wire of President Trump visiting China and Vietnam that day. You never know when a sudden interaction, a gust of wind or a unique facial expression will lead to a striking image that grabs peoples' attention." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures ASEAN handshake - 13 November 2017 Donald Trump registers his surprise as he realises other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the summit in Manila on 13 November, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Having covered a few ASEAN summits, I knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. Not everyone in the room knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. A lot was written about this unscripted moment, and what deeper meaning it might have. The simple truth is that sometimes in life there are unscripted moments." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

She has also made Mr Trump aware of her ire by staging personal protests at rallies the commander-in-chief has held in New Mexico.

New Mexico, a state in the southwestern region of the US, has a population of around two million and is the fifth largest and fifth least densely populated of the 50 US states.

It is a land of vast open spaces  you can drive in any direction from Albuquerque and you will be in the middle of a beautiful desert. In some spaces you can see forever, she says. Geologists from all over the world come to New Mexico.

Ms Haaland is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna  the Native American tribe of the Pueblo people in west-central New Mexico whose population exceeds 7,000 enrolled members. She is greatly angered by the Trump administrations efforts to scale back national monuments across the US.

She was raised in a military family that moved around a lot; her father was a 30-year career marine and her mother served in the Navy.

Trumps policies are definitely not in line with New Mexicans, says Haaland (Debra Haaland)

Despite a traditionally nomadic military upbringing, she found stability during summers with her grandparents in Laguna Pueblo. Despite the fact her grandparents were subject to the then governments controversial assimilation policies, where indigenous people were forced to adopt traditional white US customs, they managed to keep their traditional practices intact  something she is very grateful for.

I feel that a lot of Native Americans are not as lucky as me, she says. There were a lot of things which the government did  they sent native folk to boarding school, cut their hair, changed their clothes, adopted them out of their families so they were never able to reconnect with their families. They basically turned them into Americans.

There are individuals who are likely still resentful but I think its important to recognise the resilience of Native American communities who have moved forward, she adds. We are active participants in our country and our politics, and were working to be successful. Just like any other community, we want to advocate for issues that are important to us.

Mr Trumps political agenda and rhetoric have come as a cruel blow to many Native Americans who had enjoyed progress under Barack Obama. The former president is praised for doing more than any other American leader to acknowledge their grievances, such as the governments historical neglect of treaty obligations.

In September 2016 the Obama administration settled lawsuits with 17 Native American tribes that accused the federal government of long mismanaging both their funds and natural resources. The settlements totalled $492.8m.

Native American history has included mass killings and attempts to deprive tribes of their land, language, rituals and overall culture. In more recent years, disputes have played out in the form of cultural and legal fights over property and casinos.

Ms Haalands goals for New Mexico include making the state a leader in renewable energy, safeguarding womens rights to an abortion, legalising marijuana, improving veteran support, backing small businesses and striving for universal health care.

The candidate for Congress has vowed to run on abortion rights and legalising marijuana

Ms Haaland says she is steadfastly committed to fighting for womens right to have an abortion  something which she has come under fire from all angles under the Trump administration.

I am absolutely going to fight for womens reproductive rights anytime I have to. We cant go backwards. A lot of women have died because of this issue of when its not safe and legal, she says.

Addressing why she is so keen to legalise marijuana, she says: I think we need to stop putting people in for-profit prisons for smoking marijuana. Especially when they target people of colour. We need to be able to prescribe marijuana for post-traumatic stress and pain issues. These are combat veterans who come back from fighting because the country sent them there and we need to take care of them. It would also help with the Opioid crisis.

Fortunately for her, she says the campaign is going well so far. Ultimately spurred by the ambition to become the first ever Native American in Congress, Ms Haaland wants to give the community which has long been marginalised by US voting laws a voice in the political mainstream.

For me, voting has never been enough, she says, her voice ringing with emotion.A US television chat show host who mocked a leading gun control campaigner has announced she is taking a week-long break from her programme.

Florida school massacre survivor David Hogg and Fox News presenter Laura Ingraham continued their public war of words as she revealed she was taking Easter week off following calls for her to quit the show.

Mr Hogg said on Friday she should resign for trying to distract from the real issue when she accused him of whining over being rejected by four colleges.

Within hours, Ms Ingraham announced at the end of her show that a great line-up of guest hosts would stand in for her for a week while she spent time with her children.

A Fox News spokesperson insisted the holiday was pre-planned vacation with her kids.

The student of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, tweeted that she should have some healthy reflections this Holy Week.

The host of the Ingraham Angle show had apologised to Mr Hogg for mocking his college rejections after seven companies took Mr Hogg up on his suggestion that they pull their advertising from her show.

He rejected her apology yesterday, and said it was great that corporate America was standing behind him and fellow pupils who were standing up for gun reform.

Nikolas Cruz has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder over the Valentines Day school shooting.

Mr Hogg, who launched a high-profile campaign for gun control, had suggested that advertisers boycott the show, and Ms Ingraham was accused of being a cyber-bully.

Nestle US, Hulu, Nutrish, TripAdvisor, Expedia, Wayfair and Johnson & Johnson all cancelled their adverts.

Ms Ingraham then issued an apology, saying: Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA. She added: On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland.

Mr Hogg, a self-styled #neveragain activist, said of the apology: From a journalistic standpoint, Id say she needs to be more objective and needs to stand down because Im not the issue here.The man who killed 10 people in one of the largest mass shootings in New York City in decades was released from prison earlier this year. The killer, Christopher Thomas, shot eight children and two women in a home in Brooklyn in 1984, a crime that came to be known as the Palm Sunday Massacre.

Thomas was released in January from Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Wallkill, after serving more than 32 years in prison.

There was only one survivor of the massacre: a crying toddler named Christina who was found on the floor, covered in blood. One of the first police officers to arrive, Joanne Jaffe, cared for the child that night and later helped raise her, a relationship The New York Times wrote about in 2014.

I hope he is rehabilitated and doesnt hurt anyone else, Ms Jaffe, who rose to become the highest-ranking female police chief in the New York Police Department before retiring this year, said in a brief phone interview late on Friday afternoon.

Thomas, now 68, had been sentenced to serve 10 consecutive manslaughter sentences, for a total of 83 to 250 years in prison. At the time of sentencing, the judge declared his intention that Thomas serve every single day, hour and minute in prison. But because he was found guilty of manslaughter, not murder, that was unlikely.

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

At the time, some jurors explained that they opted for the lesser charge because, according to an article from The New York Times in 1985, they were convinced that Mr Thomas was acting under extreme emotional disturbance because of a cocaine habit.

State law capped Thomas sentence at 50 years. With time off for good behaviour, he was eligible to be released after serving two-thirds of that time, prison officials said.

The New York TimesTed Nugent, a veteran rock musician and a board member of the National Rifle Association, has claimed the student survivors of the Parkland shooting are pathetic liars with no soul.

Speaking on a conservative talk show hosted by Joe Pagliarulo, Nugent claimed the students who have been pushing for reform of the USs gun laws and who helped inspire rallies across the nation last weekend, were mushy brained children who have been fed lies.

The level of ignorance goes beyond stupidity. Again, the National Rifle Association are a bunch of American families who have a voice to stand up for our God-given constitutionally-guaranteed right to keep and bear arms, said Nugent, 69, a long-time conservative who supported Donald Trumps run for the presidency.

The dumbing down of America is manifested in the culture deprivation of our academia that have taught these kids the lies, media that have prodded and encouraged and provided these kids lies. I really feel sorry for them because its not only ignorant and dangerously stupid, but its soulless.

Nugent, who has served as a board member for more than a decade, added: These poor children, Im afraid to say this and it hurts me to say this, but the evidence is irrefutable, they have no soul.

 March For Our Lives: Emma Gonzalez's 6 minute and 20 second speech for the Parkland victims

Since the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, near Fort Lauderdale, that killed 17 students and staff and injured more than a dozen, students such as David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez have earned widespread praise for their eloquent and impassioned demand that politicians act to prevent such incidents and do more to regulate guns.

At the same time, they have infuriated many on the right. This week, Fox News show host Laura Ingraham announced she is taking next week off, after almost a dozen advertisers dropped her show after the conservative pundit mocked a teenage survivor of the Florida school massacre on Twitter.

Florida shooting  in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Florida shooting  in pictures Florida shooting  in pictures Police arrest a suspect in connection with the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida Reuters Florida shooting  in pictures Parents wait for news after reports of a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida AP Florida shooting  in pictures Anxious family members wait for news of students AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee Florida shooting  in pictures Students being evacuated from the school AP Florida shooting  in pictures Students being evacuated from the school Getty Florida shooting  in pictures People gather waiting for word from students AP Florida shooting  in pictures Parents waiting for news on their children AP Florida shooting  in pictures People gather at a hotel where students were taken after the shooting Getty Florida shooting  in pictures Florida Governor Rick Scott speaks to the media as he visits Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School following the shooting AFP/Getty Florida shooting  in pictures Dr. Igor Nichiporenko, Medical Director Trauma, left, and Dr. Evan Boyer, Medical Director, Emergency Services, speak about treating victims and the suspect at a press conference outside Broward Health North hospital AP

Eleven companies so far have pulled their ads after a pushback by Parkland student Mr Hogg, 17, who called for a boycott of her advertisers.

The teenager took aim at the hosts show, The Ingraham Angle, after she taunted him on Twitter on Wednesday, accusing him of complaining about being rejected by four colleges to which he had applied.

The student tweeted a list of a dozen companies that advertise on The Ingraham Angle and urged his supporters to demand that they cancel their ads.

On Thursday, Ms Ingraham tweeted an apology in the spirit of holy week, saying she was sorry for any hurt or upset she had caused the teenager or any of the brave victims of Parkland.

There has been no comment from the NRA about Mr Nugents comments which were broadcast on Friday evening and first reported by Media Matters.A young black transgender woman was shot dead in a Louisiana motel this week, becoming at least the seventh transgender woman known to have been killed in the United States this year, rights advocates said.

The woman, Amia Tyrae, 28, was killed Monday at about 1.15am at a motel on Airline Highway, according to the Baton Rouge Police Department.

Dr William Clark, the East Baton Rouge Parish coroner, ruled Ms Tyraes death a homicide, caused by a gunshot wound to the chest.

Recommended Trump moves to limit transgender people from military service

The police department said on Friday night that Dedrick Butler, 22, of Denham Springs, Louisiana, had been arrested in the killing. He was charged with second-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Between 25 to 28 transgender people were reported killed in the US last year, the highest number in at least a decade, according to a report by the Human Rights Campaign and the Trans People of Color Coalition. The violence disproportionately affects transgender women of colour.

The killing of Ms Tyrae came less than a month after the shooting death of another transgender woman, Phylicia Mitchell, 46, outside her apartment in Cleveland on 23 February. Transgender women were also killed in New Mexico, Florida, New York, Massachusetts and California this year, according to data compiled by GLAAD.

Ms Tyrae worked at a home healthcare company, according to her Facebook page.

Relatives declined to comment on Ms Tyraes death. Friends and family said on Facebook that a funeral service would be held in Baton Rouge on Saturday.

NeVaa White, a friend, told Mic that Ms Tyrae had been out since at least 2009 and had a close community of friends. She made family with her peers in the LGBT community of Baton Rouge, Ms White said, adding that Tyrae didnt have an easy life, and that she was taken away in the very manner she feared.

Statistics on homicides of transgender people are difficult to compile and are not officially available because the federal government does not collect data based on gender identity. In addition, transgender homicide victims are often identified by police using the names and genders they were assigned at birth, a practice known as misgendering.

Advocates emphasise that their tallies just include the victims they know about.

It is impossible to have a complete and accurate number, MJ Okma, an associate director at GLAAD, said.

Transgender people frequently face economic hardships, discrimination in housing and hiring, and high rates of homelessness, Mr Okma said, all factors that can contribute to systematic violence. That becomes the greater context, he said.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

In 2016 in Louisiana, governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, issued an executive order that protected LGBT employees and contractors from discrimination, the first time that the state had explicitly recognised the equal rights of transgender people, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

But transgender people have continued to be targeted in the state. Three transgender women were killed there in an eight-day period in February 2017.

Violence against trans people, mostly trans women of colour and often resulting in death, continues to plague our communities, the group Louisiana Trans Advocates said at the time.

We must also recognise that the shameful content and tone of the national discourse on trans issues contribute to stigmatisation and dehumanisation that lower the barriers to this kind of violence, the organisation said.

The New York TimesA fundraising campaign to cover the legal bills of sacked former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe has smashed its target to hit $370,000 (260,000) in just 14 hours.

The page set up by the Friends of Andrew McCabe has already received more than 8,700 donations including some as high as $3,000.

The response to this effort has been remarkable and beyond our expectations, said the organisers.

Mr McCabe was fired by Donald Trumps attorney general Jeff Sessions less than two days before his expected retirement after more than 20 years service.

President Trump, who previously fired Mr McCabes boss James Comey, described the sacking as a great day for Democracy on Twitter.

Mr McCabe was accused of making improperly authorised disclosures to a journalist about FBI investigations into Hillary Clinton and misleading investigators.

He claims he was sacked because he is a witness in the ongoing Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.

His dismissal put his pension and healthcare benefits in jeopardy and he still faces an investigation by the Officer of the Inspector General as well as congressional inquiries and potential lawsuits.

The money raised on GoFundMe will only be used to defend the allegations against him and anything remaining will be donated to charity, according to the campaign.

The support for Mr McCabe has been overwhelming, humbling, and deeply appreciated, the campaign said.

He and his family continue to deal with the very public and extended humiliation that the Administration, and the President personally, have inflicted on them over the past year.

Unfortunately, the need for a legal defense fund is a growing reality.

The campaign described Mr McCabes sacking as completely unjustified, amidst repeated ad hominem attacks by the President of the United States.

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 McCabes legal team is being led by former Department of Justice inspector general Michael Bromwich.The latest Google Doodle celebrates the 153rd birthday of Anandi Gopal Joshi, Indias first female doctor.

Born at a time when most women in her country did not receive an education, she set sail for America at the age of 18 to study medicine.

She graduated from the Womens Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1885, becoming the first Indian women to obtain a degree in western medicine.

Although she died young, her determination to challenge gender stereotypes and cultural customs blazed a trail for generations to come.

Here are five things you should know about the pioneering medic.

She was motivated to study medicine by her babys death

Joshi was married at the age of just nine, as was common in 19th century India, to a man 20 years older than her.

She gave birth to their first child when she was 14, but her baby son died 10 days later due to a lack of medical care for women. This spurred Joshi to pursue an interest in medicine so she could help the many who cannot help themselves, as she later put it in her college application.

Her husband Gopalrao Joshi, a postal clerk, encouraged her ambition and helped to teach her to read and write.

She defied cultural expectations and ill health to qualify as a doctor

While she was supported by her husband, Joshis ambitions were condemned by the orthodox Hindu community, who threatened her with excommunication.

Despite that, she travelled to New York in 1883, chaperoned by two English acquaintances of a doctor friend. After arriving in America, she wrote to the Womens Medical College of Pennsylvania to ask for a place on their medical programme, one of the first in the world that accepted women. In her application she admitted her credentials may fall below the colleges usual requirements but pleaded for them to make an exception to render to my poor suffering country women the true medical aid they so sadly stand in need.

She was awarded a place, and studied her two-year diploma alongside two of the first female medical students from Japan and Syria. Despite suffering ill health throughout her studies, she graduated on 11 March, 1885.

She was congratulated by Queen Victoria

After Joshi was awarded her degree in medicine, the colleges dean wrote of her achievement to Queen Victoria, who was also Empress of India. Victoria reportedly wrote a congratulatory message in response. Joshi received a grand welcome upon her return to India, where the editor of the Kesari newspaper hailed her as one of the greatest women of our modern era.

Her life was tragically cut short

Returning to India in 1886, Joshi was appointed the physician in charge of the womens ward at Albert Edward Hospital in Kolhapur. She dreamed of opening a medical college for women, but was an ambition she never got to realise. She died of tuberculosis on 26 February, 1887, before she had even begun practising medicine. She was just 21.

There is a crater in Venus named after her

Joshi is one of a number of notable women who have lent their names to sizeable impact craters on Venus. The 34km diameter crater Joshee lies at latitude 5.5 N and longitude 288.8 E. It was named in 1997 by the International Astronomical Union.We can offer forklifts and telescopic loaders in the rangePope Francis has said he feels shame over the state of the world that future generations will inherit.

People everywhere should feel ashamed about a planet fractured by divisions and wars, a world devoured by selfishness, in which the young, the sick, the old are marginalised", he said.

The leader of the globes 1.2 billion Roman Catholics spoke out to condemn what our generation is leaving to young people.

The 81-year-old pontiff had presided at a Good Friday procession around Rome's ancient Colosseum, attended by 20,000 people. After the event, the Pope offered a brief meditation, full of what he said was shame, repentance and hope.

He told the crowd many people on Earth today should feel shame for having lost a sense of shame.

And he asked forgiveness for a host of shameful sins, apologising for those who seek power, money, ambition and vanity - including Catholic ministers.

Saying that shame could be seen as a grace from God, he urged people, including those in his own church, to rediscover the capacity to feel it for their role in the world's ills.

Many in the crowd held candles as they took part in the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession, a ritual that re-enacts Christ's crucifixion.

Authorities had tightened up security in Rome for Holy Week following a number of anti-terror arrests. Around 10,000 officers were on duty, with military jeeps and armoured vehicles parked to form barriers against lorry attacks at tourist attractions.

The crowd watch and listen as the Pope gives his Easter address

Police had issued warnings about a potential threat posed by foreign fighters returning from Iraq and Syria.

Pope Francis expressed shame because so many people, even some of your (God's) ministers, have let themselves be deceived by ambition and vainglory, thereby losing their worthiness.

The pontiff also praised those in the Church who are trying to arouse humanity's sleeping conscience through their work helping the poor, immigrants and prison inmates.Russia successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) which Nato has called "Satan 2", the country's military said.

The RS-28 "Sarmat" blasted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in its northern Arkhangelsk province, close to the Arctic Circle.

Intended to replace the aging, Soviet-era missiles that form the basis of its nuclear deterrent, Russia has been working to develop a new ICBM to replace the Soviet-designed Voyevoda, known as "Satan" in the west.

That missile can carry up to 10 nuclear warheads, the Associated Press reported.

After the launch Pentagon spokesman Johnny Michael said the US has not received any advance notice of the launch.

"I would defer you to the Russian Ministry of Defense to explain where an ejection test falls in the very early stages of the development of an ICBM missile program, and how far the item in question actually travelled," he said.

Sarmat is thought to weigh 200 metric tonnes and has a higher range than Satan, allowing it to fly over the North or South Pole and strike targets anywhere on the earth. It has been in development since at least 2011.

Presenting Sarmat and an array of other nuclear weapons earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin said that even America's most advanced missile defence systems would be rendered ineffective by them.

No kind of, not even future missile defense systems will offer any trouble to the Russian rocket complex, Sarmat, the Russian leader said in his state of the nation speech.

He added that Sarmat also carries a bigger number of nuclear warheads, which are more powerful than the ones on Satan.

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 Russian president also said the new ICBM accelerates faster than its predecessor, making it harder for the enemy to intercept in its most vulnerable phase after the launch.

He also added that Sarmat could carry an array of warheads capable of dodging missile defences.

Agencies contributed to this reportIsrael will target militant groups inside Gaza if violence along the territorys border drags on, the countrys chief military spokesman warned on Saturday, a day after thousands of Palestinians staged protests.

The mass marches were largely led by Gazas ruling Hamas group and have been touted as the launch of a six-week-long protest campaign against a stifling decade-old blockade of the territory.

Protests are to culminate in a large border march on 15 May, the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel. The date is mourned by Palestinians as their nakba, or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of people were uprooted in the 1948 Middle Eastern conflict over Israels creation.

Palestinian health officials said 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire and more than 750 hit by live rounds, making Friday the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 cross-border war between Israel and Hamas.

On Saturday, several dozen Palestinians approached the border fence in an area east of Gaza City, but stopped about 200 meters before the barrier.

It was reported that two men who walked closer to the fence got shot in the legs by Israeli soldiers in separate incidents about 15 minutes apart.

Medics at the scene said both were shot by live rounds. In all, at least 10 Palestinians were wounded by live fire on Saturday, health officials said.

In Fridays confrontations, large crowds had gathered near the fence, with smaller groups of protesters rushing forward, throwing stones and burning tires.

Israeli troops responded with live fire and rubber-coated steel pellets, while drones dropped tear gas from above. Soldiers with rifles were perched on high earthen embankments overlooking the scene.

Israels military initially claimed on Friday that thousands of Palestinians are rioting in six locations throughout the Gaza Strip, rolling burning tires and hurling stones. Video released by the army did not back such a description.

On Saturday, the chief army spokesman for the Israeli Defence Forces, Brigadier General Ronen Manelis, said that while thousands of Palestinians approached the border on Friday, those engaged in throwing stones were in the hundreds.

Mr Manelis denied soldiers used excessive force, saying those killed by Israeli troops were men between the ages of 18 and 30 who were involved in violence and belonged to militant factions.

He alleged Gaza health officials exaggerated the number of wounded, and that several dozen at most were injured by live fire, with others suffering from tear gas inhalation or other types of injuries.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Mr Manelis said soldiers knew who they were shooting at and how many people were hit by live fire.

The Gaza Health Ministry did not provide names and ages of those killed.

Four of the 15 dead were members of the Hamas military wing, the group said on Saturday. Hamas said a fifth member, who was not on the Health Ministry list, was killed near the border, and that Israel has the body. The group said another man was also missing in the border area.

Gaza Citys Shifa Hospital received 284 injured people on Friday, the majority with bullet injuries, said spokesman Ayman Sahbani. He said 70 were under the age of 18 and 11 were women.

He said 40 surgeries were performed on Friday and that 50 were planned on Saturday. These are all from live bullets that broke limbs or caused deep, open wounds with damage to nerves and veins, he said.

Among those recovering from surgery was 16-year-old Marwan Yassin, who said he had thrown stones with a slingshot at the fence on Friday and was shot in both legs. One leg was wrapped in bandages and the other had a cast and metal fixtures.

Mr Yassin said he would not return to the border because of the risks. His mother said at his bedside she would forbid him from participating in future protests.

Protest organisers have said mass marches would continue until the day of the nakba, an anniversary with particular resonance in Gaza where the vast majority of two million residents are descendants of refugees. The day, 15 May, will this year also coincide with the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Mr Manelis reiterated on Saturday that Israel will not allow a massive breach of the fence into Israeli territory.

He said that Hamas and other Gaza militant groups are using protests as a cover for staging attacks. If violence continues, he said, we will not be able to continue limiting our activity to the fence area and will act against these terror organisations in other places too.

The border protests were seen as a new attempt by Hamas to break the border blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militant group seized Gaza from forces loyal to its rival, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, in 2007. The continued closure has made it increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern.

The large turnout of marchers in the dangerous border zone also seemed to signal desperation among Gaza residents.

Life in the coastal strip has deteriorated further in recent months, with rising unemployment, grinding poverty and daily blackouts that last for hours.

The prospect of more protests and Palestinian casualties in coming weeks could also place Israel on the defensive.

At the United Nations, secretary-general Antonio Guterres called for an independent investigation, while Security Council members urged restraint on both sides. The council did not decide on any action or joint message after an emergency meeting on Friday evening.

Mr Abbas renewed a call for international protection of Palestinians.

In the West Bank, shopkeepers observed a commercial strike called by political activists on Saturday to protest Israels response to the Gaza marches.

APThe chief of the United Nations is "deeply concerned" with the clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces that have left at least 15 people dead along the Gaza fence, and has called on an independent investigation.

A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the top UN diplomat is concerned that violence might escalate, and urged nations to to avoid further casualties.

"The Secretary-General calls for an independent and transparent investigation into these incidents," Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman for Mr Guterres, said in a statement.

Recommended 15 Palestinians killed in major clashes on Gaza border

"He also appeals to those concerned to refrain from any act that could lead to further casualties and in particular any measures that could place civilians in harm's way," he continued.

The statement came after calls for an emergency United Nations meeting Friday with the UN security counsel, where nations were expected to try and hammer out a response to the violence.

At least 15 were killed and more than 1,000 more were injured during the violence, which erupted Friday as Palestinians gathered along the Gaza fence for a sit-in to honour the anniversary of Palestinian "Land Day", which marks the start of a month and a half's worth of demonstrations over lost land in Gaza.

Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Show all 10 1 /10 Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinian protesters flee from teargas AFP/Getty Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Israeli soldiers stand as Palestinian protesters gather on the Israel Gaza border AP Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations A Palestinian is carried on a stretcher after being injured during the demonstration AFP/Getty Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Israeli soldiers take aim as they lie prone over an earth barrier along the border with the Gaza strip in the southern Israeli kibbutz of Nahal Oz as Palestinians demonstrate on the other side commemorating Land Day AFP/Getty Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinian paramedics evacuate an injured man on the Gaza side of the Israel-Gaza border Reuters Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinians demonstrate with crossed-out posters depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, during a tent city protest near Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip AFP/Getty Images Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinian protesters flee from teargas AFP/Getty Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Israeli soldiers shoot tear gas grenades towards the Palestinian tent city protest commemorating Land Day AFP/Getty Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinian protesters take cover from Israeli troops AP Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinians chant slogans as they attend a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border AP

The Palestinian health ministry said that the injuries were sustained through a combination of tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets, and live rounds. The demonstrations were called forby Gaza's militant Hamas rulers, prompting Israeli security forces to double its standard troop levels on the border with more snipers, special forces, and paramilitary border police units that specialise in riot control.

The violence marked the deadliest day of demonstrations there since conflict autumn of last year.

As Friday wore on, the closed-door security counsel meeting began to appear as though it would be unable to come to consensus on a response, leading Kuwait to call for a public forum on the issue.

One top UN diplomat said that they were concerned the situation in Gaza "might deteriorate in the coming days", according to Reuters.

"Israel must uphold its responsibilities under international human rights and humanitarian law. Lethal force should only be used as a last resort with any resulting fatalities properly investigated by authorities," Taye-Brook Zerihoun, the UN deputy of political affairs, said.

The timing of the meeting caused the United States to lament that Israel was unable to attend the Friday meeting because of the holiday Passover.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of life today. We urge those involved to take steps to lower tensions and reduce the risk of new clashes. Bad actors who use protests as a cover to incite violence endanger innocent lives," US diplomat Walter Miller told the council.Turkey said on Friday that a French pledge to help stabilise a region of northern Syria controlled by Kurdish-dominated forces amounted to support for terrorism and could make France a target of Turkey.

French backing for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia, has angered Ankara at a time when it is fighting the YPG in northern Syria and considers it a terrorist organisation.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said France had taken a completely wrong approach on Syria, adding that he exchanged heated words with his French counterpart, president Emmanuel Macron, last week.

The split with France is the latest rift between Turkey under Mr Erdogan and its Nato allies in the West.

Turkey has long complained about US support for the SDF, among a number of irritants to ties with the leading Nato power. Last year it compared the German and Dutch authorities to Nazis for restricting pro-Erdogan demonstrations during a campaign for a referendum to give him greater powers.

The White House said President Donald Trump, who added fresh uncertainty on Thursday when he said that the United States would be coming out of Syria very soon, spoke to Mr Erdogan on Friday to discuss regional developments and the strategic partnership between the United States and Turkey.

The two leaders expressed support for continued efforts to increase cooperation between their two countries, to advance shared interests as Nato allies and to work through issues that affect the bilateral relationship, a White House statement said.

Turkish deputy prime minister Bekir Bozdag said the French stance was setting Paris on a collision course with Ankara.

Those who enter into cooperation and solidarity with terror groups against Turkey ... will, like the terrorists, become a target of Turkey, Mr Bozdag, who is also the Turkish government spokesman, wrote on Twitter. We hope France does not take such an irrational step.

Mr Macron met an SDF delegation on Thursday and gave assurances of French support to stabilise northern Syria. A presidential source later said France could increase its military contribution to the US.-led coalition which  alongside the SDF  is fighting Isis in Syria.

The United States has 2,000 troops in SDF-held territory and France also has some troops there as part of the coalition.

Ankara considers the YPG fighters in the SDF to be an extension of Kurdish militants who have waged a decades-old insurgency in south-east Turkey.

Turkish forces drove the YPG from the north-western Syrian town of Afrin nearly two weeks ago and Mr Erdogan says Ankara is preparing to extend operations along hundreds of miles of border, including areas where the American forces are deployed.

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 Afrin operation has already drawn international criticism, notably from Mr Macron. Ankara, meanwhile, has said it expects its allies to move their troops out of the way of a Turkish advance.

We have no intention to harm soldiers of allied nations, but we cannot allow terrorists to roam freely [in northern Syria], Mr Erdogan said.

One US service member and one other member of the US-led coalition were killed by a bomb in Syria overnight, the first to die in an attack this year.

Mr Trumps remark on Thursday that the United States would be coming out of Syria appeared to take his own administration by surprise.

US officials have said in recent months that Washington planned to keep an open-ended presence in northern Syria, to support stability in the SDF-controlled region, prevent any Isis resurgence and counter Iranian influence.

SDF spokesman Kino Gabriel said the force had not been informed of any US withdrawal plan.

Our work and coordination [with the coalition] is continuing, Mr Gabriel told Reuters in a written message.

Asked whether US forces had been informed of a decision to withdraw or were preparing to do so, a spokesman for the coalition said he would not comment on future operations.

Recommended Erdogan ally accuses Kurds of releasing Isis fighters to attack Turkey

A PYD member in Paris said Macron had promised at Thursdays meeting with the SDF to send more troops to northern Syria, provide humanitarian assistance and push a diplomatic solution.

The French presidency did not confirm that Mr Macron had pledged more troops, but the presidential source said France could bolster its military intervention in Syria within the existing framework of the US-led coalition.

The presidency also said Mr Macron was offering to mediate between Turkey and the SDF  a suggestion Mr Erdogan dismissed.

Do not engage in things beyond you, we do not need a mediator, he said, responding to the French offer in remarks to members of his ruling AK Party in Ankara. Who are you to speak of mediation between Turkey and a terrorist organisation?

Accusing Paris of appeasing terrorism, he said Mr Macron would be held accountable for his policy by his own people.

We hope France doesnt come to us for help when the terrorists running from Syria and Iraq fill their country after being encouraged by their policy, he said.

Mr Erdogan spoke last week with Mr Macron about the French presidents criticism of Turkeys Afrin campaign.

He was saying weird things and so, even if it was a bit high octane, I had to tell him some things, Mr Erdogan said. It is not anyones place to portray our armed forces as something we do not find acceptable.

APA fire broke out at the Houthi-controlled Yemeni port of Hodeidah early on Saturday, destroying warehouses filled with cooking fuel and foodstuffs, port workers said.

They told Reuters that, as of 11.00am, fire trucks had not been able to put out the blaze in the warehousing area, which they said appeared to have been caused by an electrical short circuit.

Reuters television footage showed thick plumes of smoke rising into the air and firefighters dousing flames.

Hodeidah port, on the Red Sea, handles the bulk of Yemens imports, including critically needed food and aid supplies. The three-year war in the country, which was already the Arab worlds poorest, has pushed it to the verge of famine.

The fire destroyed huge amounts of fuel and humanitarian aid and foodstuff, a UN World Food Programme (WFP) employee told Reuters by telephone, adding that there would be an investigation to determine the cause.

The Houthi-run Saba news agency reported the fire at the port, but did not mention the cause.

Workers said the warehouses also contained hundreds of thousands of mattresses meant for those displaced by the war, which has killed more than 10,000 people and crippled the economy. The United Nations says that three out of four Yemenis  22 million civilians  need relief aid.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

A Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemens civil war in 2015 to restore the internationally recognised Yemeni government that was forced into exile by the Iran-aligned Houthis.

Last year the coalition, under international pressure, eased a three-week blockade imposed on Yemeni ports and airports in November in response to a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis toward the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

ReutersOne of travels many wonders is that you start feeling the benefits as soon as you buy a ticket for a train, boat or plane, or book a great place to stay.

Anticipation is a valuable element of any trip: I booked my Qantas flight from Heathrow to Perth 11 months ahead of the first departure last weekend, and was rewarded with almost a year of looking forward to a Western Australian autumn. But I also injected some serendipity by not deciding where to stay.

On every previous visit to Perth, I have found a good value backpacker hostel in the citys Northbridge area, either using a guidebook or simply stumbling across a promising place. With the summer peak ebbing away, and a lunchtime arrival in the city, I was confident of finding a good value location.

The nonstop flight of over 16 hours must have dulled my critical faculties. I missed three signals that should have warned me against wandering into the Old Swan Barracks Backpackers Hostel and asking for a room.

First, the slogan: Sleep like a Soldier. Since when has a military association been synonymous with a good nights rest, or a recommendation for a place to stay?

Next, the sign planted to the right of the entrance reading Old Swan Barracks Hotel. Is it a hotel or a hostel?

To the left, a banner proclaims that the property was a finalist in the Best Backpacker Night in Perth awards. But not this year, nor last. Praise is rarely fainter than having being on a shortlist six years ago.

But I ignored the warning signs, and found myself handing the helpful receptionist A$60 (33) for a private room; since I was on a very different time zone to most of the guests and I thought some solitude would be better for them (and me).

The staff are pleasant and obliging. But the property isnt. The communal area is huge, and has all the atmosphere of the aircraft hangar that it resembles. People gather here not to socialise, but because it is the only place in the hostel with wifi. Internet access is as slow as in India in the 1990s, which made something as simple as writing a TripAdvisor review a matter of hours, not minutes.

Up to the room, via stairs sticky with many years of spillages. The room is plain and threadbare, and the windows cannot fully close. Im not sure I slept like a soldier, but I woke up feeling like a prisoner of war.

Next morning, the rush hour traffic sounded as though it was in the room with me. Breakfast is included, and included in breakfast you find: an Australian take on Weetabix, cornflakes, white bread and jam. To avail of it, youll need a plate, bowl and mug, for which you must pay a crockery deposit of $10. No, I hadnt heard of such a concept, either. And woe betide anyone who leaves anything behind: Please do not leave any of your belongings in our bins or anywhere on our property  $500 statutory dumping charge will be levied, warns a sign.

Next time, Ill try jail: in the shape of the YHA hostel created from a corner of the prison in Fremantle, where the Swan River meets the Indian Ocean. Im already looking forward to it.Here is a quiz question: what was the last notable vote that Margaret Thatcher cast in the House of Commons? It was asked by Andrew Adonis, the Labour peer and anti-Brexit campaigner, when he came to give a talk at Kings College, London, recently.

We had to admit we did not know, so he told us: She led a rebellion of 20 Conservative MPs in February 1992 in favour of a referendum on the Maastricht Treaty.

This is surprising because Thatcher was known as an opponent of referendums. As the new leader of the opposition in 1975, she argued against the principle of the referendum when it was introduced into UK politics by Harold Wilson. Indeed, she went so far as to refuse to commit the Conservatives to abide by the result  although she did campaign enthusiastically to stay in the European Economic Community in that referendum.

So it was a grand irony that the lady who was not for turning supported a referendum on the treaty that paved the way for the single European currency.

As prime minister, she had started to shift her position just before she left office. After Michael Heseltine launched his leadership challenge, she told The Sunday Telegraph on 18 November 1990: I would not rule out a referendum [on economic and monetary union]. I think you should hold them only on constitutional issues because otherwise you cannot separate out a particular issue in an election.

The reason Adonis brought this up was that he thinks referendums are a bad idea. He blamed Thatcher not just for anti-EU sentiment but for pushing the idea of a referendum as a way of advancing it.

And, despite being one of Tony Blairs most important advisers and ministers, he also blamed Blair for giving credibility to referendums. (This was the point of his talk: an assessment of New Labours record for a course I co-teach at the university called The Blair Years.) Before the 1997 election, Blair copied John Majors promise of a referendum on the single currency, and later promised one on the EU Constitution, neither of which were needed. He promised but never held a referendum on a proportional voting system. He also promised and held referendums on devolution to Scotland, Wales, London, Northern Ireland and directly elected mayors.

This whole headlong rush to referendums was significantly advanced by Tony, said Adonis. And that ended in what he called the massive self-inflicted wound of the 2016 vote to leave the EU. Adonis cannot be accused of opposing referendums in principle simply because he didnt agree with that result, because he was against a referendum before it was held (as was Ed Miliband as Labour leader  and he was one of only 22 Labour MPs who refused to vote for the bill in June 2015). Although it could be that Adonis feared the result would go the wrong way. And I do think he dismisses too easily the case for direct democracy on fundamental constitutional questions.

He was on less secure ground in his argument against electoral reform. I wrote earlier this week that he had changed his mind about proportional representation. He told the students that he now thinks the proportional system for European Parliament elections in 1999 was a huge mistake.

This was surprising from someone who is a great admirer (and one-time official biographer) of Roy Jenkins, the former leader of the Social Democratic Party who was drafted in by Blair to devise a new voting system for the House of Commons.

What was less surprising, perhaps, was the reason for Adoniss change of heart: it was Brexit again. Working back from the calamity of the referendum vote, he said: Ukip came in as a serious political force because of the proportional system for European elections. If we had kept first-past-the-post, there would have been no Nigel Farage.

The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Show all 8 1 /8 The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Post-Brexit immigration workers sorting radishes on a production line at a farm in Norfolk. One possible post-Brexit immigration scheme could struggle to channel workers towards less attractive roles - while another may heighten the risk of labour exploitation, a new report warns. PA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Customs union A key point in the negotiations remains Britain's access to, or withdrawal from, the EU customs union. Since the referendum there has been hot debate over the meaning of Brexit: would it entail a full withdrawal from the existing agreement, known as hard Brexit, or the soft version in which we would remain part of a common customs area for most goods, as Turkey does? No 10 has so far insisted that Brexit means Brexit and that Britain will be leaving the customs union, but may be inclined to change its position once the potential risks to the UKs economic outlook become clearer. Alamy The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Northern Ireland-Irish border Though progress was made last year, there has still been no solid agreement on whether there should be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. To ensure borderless travel on the island, the countries must be in regulatory alignment and therefore adhere to the same rules as the customs union. In December, the Conservative Partys coalition partners, the DUP, refused a draft agreement that would place the UK/EU border in the Irish Sea due to its potential to undermine the union. May has promised that would not be the case and has suggested that a specific solution would need to be found. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Transition period Despite protests from a small number of Conservative MPs, the Government and the EU are largely in agreement that a transitional period is needed after Brexit. The talks, however, have reached an impasse. Though May has agreed that the UK will continue to contribute to the EU budget until 2021, the PM wants to be able to select which laws made during this time the UK will have to adhere to. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the UK must adopt all of the laws passed during the transition, without any input from British ministers or MEPs. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Rights of EU citizens living the UK The Prime Minister has promised EU citizens already living in the UK the right to live and work here after Brexit, but the rights of those who arrive after Brexit day remains unclear. May insists that those who arrive during the transition period should not be allowed to stay, whereas the EU believe the cut-off point should be later. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreement (with the EU) Despite this being a key issue in negotiations, the Government has yet to lay out exactly what it wants from a trade deal with the EU. Infighting within the Cabinet has prevented a solid position from being reached, with some MPs content that "no deal is better than a bad deal" while others rally behind single market access. The EU has already confirmed that access to the single market would be impossible without the UK remaining in the customs union. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreements (internationally) The Government has already begun trying to woo foreign leaders into prospective trade agreements, with various high profile state visits to China, India and Canada for May, and the now infamous invitation to US President Donald Trump to visit London. However the UK cannot make trade agreements with another country while it is still a member of the EU, and the potential loss of trade with the world's major powers is a source of anxiety for the PM. The EU has said the UK cannot secure trade deals during the transition period. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Financial services Banks in the UK will be hit hard regardless of the Brexit outcome. The EU has refused to give British banks passporting rights to trade within the EU, dashing hopes of a special City deal. However according to new reports Germany has suggested allowing trade on the condition that the UK continues paying into the EU budget even after the transition period. Getty

That sounds like a bad argument against electoral reform to me. Voting systems should not be judged by whether a single vote goes the wrong way.

My view is that Farage and Ukip made themselves felt in the first-past-the-post system of UK politics. David Cameron felt under pressure from them because they threatened to take votes away from Conservative candidates in local and general elections. The money and the platform of seats in the Brussels parliament were incidental.

And the reason that Ukip was a threat to the established parties is that it represented a large number of people who wanted to leave the EU. That sentiment was not created by Farage; it created him. Public opinion forced a political system run by Remainers to give it a direct say on the countrys future.

Whether or not you agree with the outcome, I think it was the fair result of a flawed but democratic system.Good Friday is for Christians a day to dwell on the dark side of human existence, so its ironic that, in 2018, the day saw a debate over Pope Franciss belief in hell. He was reported by an old journalist friend, Eugenio Scalfari, to have suggested that, at death, sinners simply cease to exist, while those who are saved enjoy eternal life.

As news spread, the Vatican further muddied the waters with a non-denial denial, and it looks as if the Pope did endorse the doctrine of conditional immortality. The Holy Father is certainly not alone among Christians who believe eternal punishment to be inconsistent with the notion of a just, moral and omni-benevolent God.

Of course theres no clear indication of an afterlife in the Jewish scriptures, from which Christianity springs, which are more concerned with life in the here and now. It was the Persians who gave us our notions of an afterlife, but their gentle optimism envisaged the dead being purified and living in a joyful new world devoid of evil.

Eastern religions dont share the Wests notion of hell  instead they offer a release from the illusion and suffering of the present world. In fact, a survey of the Kirks attitudes to hell, carried out by St Andrews University, reported that even a new generation of more theologically conservative ministers find it deeply unattractive.

Rev Dr John Cameron

St Andrews

Dont associate Christianity with consumerism

Please can I lodge a protest against the opening line of your science correspondents otherwise excellent piece on the excessive packaging of Easter eggs. He opens: Those concerned about the rampant consumerism of religious holidays...

There is a clear link being made between the religious basis of the Easter celebration (the resurrection of Jesus) and all that is bad about our consumer society. There is no link. Easter (and Christmas) have been hijacked by companies wanting to sell us their stuff. Unfortunately, today we are far more enamoured with the stuff than the original reason for the holidays. If we shifted our focus back to the original reason we might buy less of the stuff and help save the planet.

Bernard Cudd

Morpeth, Northumberland

Esther McVey, there are not enough Saturday jobs for everyone

Im not sure if work and pensions secretary Esther McVeys comments about weekend jobs preparing youth for the world of work were made out of ignorance or from being totally out of touch with reality. While so many of the traditional Saturday jobs that she talks about have for a number of years been filled by adults desperate to find any work that will help make ends meet, and with employers helped by zero hours contracts, more recently the collapse in parts of the retail sector has seen large numbers of these jobs just disappear. What a pity she didnt bother to do some research before making her snappy sound bite, but then again if she had she would have discovered that the school kids she talks about are victims of her governments years of austerity. But that would be an inconvenient truth.

Steve Lawrence

Enfield

The silence on Gaza speaks volumes

Yet another excessive use of force by the Israeli army on the borders of Gaza. What comment from the international community, what expulsion of diplomats?

We will hear silence! What awful complacency regarding the imprisonment of a nation and the contempt shown to the United Nations.

Charles Milne

West Linton, Scottish Borders

Views and comments from the Board of Deputies and The Jewish Leadership Council on antisemitism have been prominently aired in all strands of the news media over the last few days, so it would be instructive to hear their reactions to the latest news from Israel (15 Palestinians killed and 1,000 injured in clashes on border of Gaza Strip on day of protest). If forthcoming, it would help the wider public form a more rounded opinion on their core beliefs.

Eddie Dougall

Bury St Edmunds

Lets just accept the referendum result and move on

I voted remain but Brexit cannot get reversed as this country would cease to become a democratic country! I would vote to leave next time as I have been disgusted with the behaviour of Blair, Miller, Campbell and so on, as well as the liberal media with all the negativity towards our country.

Martyn Rees

Address supplied

MPs are doing a job, but its not to represent our views

John Cushine (letters 31 March) repeats the common mistake of saying that MPs are elected to represent the views of their constituents. No, that would be impossible as their constituents views vary so widely. They are elected to make decisions on behalf of their constituents, using their own judgement about what would be in their constituents best interests.

John Wilkin

Bury St Edmunds

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. 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It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA UK news in pictures 31 July 2021 James Guy, Adam Peaty and Kathleen Dawson celebrate winning the gold medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final at the Tokyo Olympics AP UK news in pictures 30 July 2021 Great Britain's Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte celebrate their Gold and Silver medals respectively for the Cycling BMX Racing at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on the seventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 29 July 2021 Team GB's Mallory Franklin during the Womens Canoe Slalom Final on day six of the Tokyo Olympic Games. 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How is it that we live in a parliamentary democracy and yet so many voters (like John Cushine, letters 30 March) do not understand it? MPs are not delegates, elected to carry out the views of their constituents, they are representatives in parliament to use their knowledge, expertise, experience in the best interests of ALL their constituents (many of whom will have not voted for them) and the nation.

It is impossible for a one-off vote that posited more questions than it gave answers to take us forward. So the job of our MPs is to try to provide those answers over time as circumstances change. Thats why we elect them. Thats their job. Thats what theyre doing. Slavishly trying to follow what their constituents want, even if there were a coherent view amongst those constituents, is impossible. Thats why we invented parliamentary democracy in the first place. If you want rule by referenda, move to Switzerland or just surrender yourself to mob rule.

John Daintith

Chew Magna, SomersetOne of my liveliest conversations during 2016 was over a barbecue dinner in Napa, California. Our host had averred that were Donald Trump to win, it would be because people in the middle of the country were too dumb to know better. It wasnt the burgers that gave me indigestion.

He was, of course, indulging in an old cliche about American political life: that there are voters on the left and right coasts of the country who see one kind of future and everyone else in the middle who see another. You know, inhabitants of the flyover states. We see them from 37,000 feet but would absolutely prefer not to set foot in them unless its to visit, say, Aspen.

Maddening were the grotesque generalisations involved. Sorry to disabuse you, chum, but not everyone in New York or California is a progressive liberal! I also wanted to say that it was precisely this kind of condescension that was going to sink Hillary Clinton. And there was this radical thought: those people are American voters too and this is supposed to be one country.

We have a few things to report this week to suggest that on that last point I was being naive.

We will start with automobiles. Driving is driving; there is nothing different about being behind the wheel in California or Connecticut compared with Ohio or Oklahoma. The automobile experience is the same wherever you live, whichever political party you support. America, you might say, was stitched together by the railroads but has become united by cars and the highways they roll down.

Even that may soon cease to be a true statement. Scott Pruitt, in charge of environmental protection (or not) for Trump, is plotting to roll back the CO2 emission rules for cars put in place by former president Barack Obama. Suddenly, the spectre rises of America becoming two distinct markets for cars and trucks, one more or less green the other definitely dirty.

It is a future that even the car manufacturers are in two minds about. On the one hand, they will welcome the main thrust of what Pruitt is expected to announce this week: that the provisions put in place by Obama requiring that by 2025 all cars sold in the US must meet a standard of 54.5 miles per gallon, compared to 38.3mpg today, is just not achievable. On the other hand, they are afraid that Pruitts plan could mean the US market being cleaved in two for ever.

The reason for this division are the coasts. They wont have it. California certainly wont. The state has a special waiver granted to it by the 1970 Clean Air Act to set its own tough car emission ceilings. The Obama administration essentially toughened the federal standards to match those of California. But if Trump and Pruitt try to roll them back, Californias Democrat leaders will keep theirs in place. Xavier Becerra, the state attorney general, has already said so.

Were prepared to do everything we need to defend the process and the standards, he told The New York Times. Were defending them because theyre good for the entire nation. No one should think its easy to undo something thats been not just good for the country, but good for the planet. California is a huge market all on its own. But 12 other states, mostly in the east and west, not in the middle, have historically followed Californias suit on emissions. Together they account for about a third of all the cars sold in the US.

Conservative forces are already urging Pruitt to try to force California to fall in line. He is primed. The state shouldnt and cant dictate to the rest of the country what these levels are going to be, he told Bloomberg News. But California wont give in easily. The upshot might be this: models on sale in showrooms in New York and in Missouri might soon be radically different in design, engineering and even weight.

But finally, more proof that the US is already two countries rather than one, its middle divorced from the outsides, came last week courtesy of Roseanne Barr and the revival by ABC of her late-Eighties sitcom co-starring John Goodman. The first episode of its return drew 18 million viewers, more than any comedy for the past four years. Barr is a Trump fan who plays one. And guess where all the viewers were  in the flyover states. It was huge in Kansas City, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. In New York and Los Angeles it didnt make the top 20.

This was all by design. The day after Trumps victory, ABCs top brass gathered in Los Angeles and debated whether their programming executives had been too busy worrying about viewers on the coasts, liberals and progressives, and not enough about the heartland. We looked at each other and said, Theres a lot about this country we need to learn a lot more about, here on the coasts, Ben Sherwood, the president of Disney-ABC Television Group, revealed to The New York Times.

They were being smart, belatedly seeing what my Napa host failed to  and what Trump clearly saw when he was campaigning. There is another America, the bit in the middle, and it feels neglected.

Naturally, the President has been quick to salute Barr. Look at Roseanne! Look at her ratings! he told a union rally in Ohio. They were unbelievable! Over 18 million people! And it was about us!

True but truly depressing also. Its all about us and them. The coasts and the heartland. Blue states and red states. Clean cars and dirty cars. Young Victoria and Roseanne. And there was I thinking these were the united states.Three pensioners were among six people arrested after herbal cannabis estimated to be worth 1.3 million was seized in Northern Ireland.

Police believe it could be one of Northern Irelands largest hauls of the drug for some time.

The cannabis was found on a shipping pallet located inside an industrial sized fuel tank at a property in Dromore, County Down, on Friday.

Two 68-year-old women and a 72-year-old man have been released on bail pending further enquiries, while two men, aged 32 and 37, and a 42-year-old woman, remain in custody.

Cross-border operation leads to five arrests and what may be NI's largest ever cannabis seizure https://t.co/HVeoNv42hn #keepingpeoplesafe  Police Service NI (@PoliceServiceNI) March 30, 2018

The discovery was made in a joint operation by the Police Service of Northern Ireland, An Garda Siochana and Irish customs officials as part of the Cross Border Joint Agency Task Force.

Detective Superintendent Bobby Singleton said police believe the drugs are linked to an organised crime group in Northern Ireland.

He said: This seizure of herbal cannabis yesterday is estimated to be worth in the region of 1.3 million.

It is the largest seizure for some time and we are delighted to have been able to take these drugs out of circulation, in collaboration with our partner agencies.

Cannabis can ruin lives and line the pockets of organised criminals. The combined hard work and dedication of the Task Force has gone a long way in helping us achieve our shared goal of keeping people safe.

We are continuing to investigate but at the moment, we believe these drugs are linked to the activities of an organised crime group, operating in Northern Ireland.

An Garda Siochana Assistant Commissioner Barry OBrien said: I wish to commend all agencies involved in both jurisdictions which resulted in the seizure of a substantial quantity of controlled drugs.

This demonstrates the practical application of the Cross Border Joint Agency Task Force.

ACC Martin added: Our thanks go to all those involved in this operation for their diligence and professionalism.

Their combined hard work and dedication has gone a long way in helping us achieve our shared goal of keeping people safe.Thousands of people have attended rallies to demonstrate following the outcome of a rape trial.

Demonstrations were held in several cities across Ireland including Dublin, Belfast, Galway and Cork.

Ireland rugby internationals Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding were unanimously acquitted of rape on Wednesday.

The jury of eight men and three women deliberated for three hours and 45 minutes after hearing all the evidence presented during the nine-week trial at Belfast Crown Court.

In Dublin more than 4,000 protesters gathered outside City Hall.

Some waved placards with the words Stand with Survivors, Overhaul the System and referencing the IBelieveHer campaign as they marched to the Department of Justice on St Stephens Green.

Men, women and children joined the huge procession  the second major demonstration organised in the wake of the not guilty verdicts.

In Belfast, several hundred attended a protest outside City Hall organised by the socialist feminist organisation Rosa.

People also waved banners reading #IBelieveHer and #MeToo.

There were chants of two, four, six, eight, consent is not up for debate as well as my black dress does not mean yes and whatever we wear, we go yes means yes and no means no.

On Thursday Jacksons legal team said defamation proceedings were being launched against Irish senator Aodhan ORiordain over social media comments he made about the rugby internationals acquittal.

The Twitter post was subsequently deleted.

However, news of the civil suit sparked a social media backlash with a campaign #SueMeTooPaddy gaining huge traction on Twitter.

In a statement, Jacksons lawyers KRW Law said: We will not hesitate to repeat similar legal action against anyone, who deliberately or otherwise, sees fit to attack our client.

We are examining carefully every item of social media commentary which seeks to challenge the integrity of the jurys full endorsement of our clients innocence. High court proceedings will issue shortly in both Belfast and Dublin.

Meanwhile, it also emerged that online comments posted by a juror in the rugby rape trial are being investigated by Northern Irelands Attorney General.

Two other people have been questioned by police in Northern Ireland in relation to naming the complainant in the case online.

In other post-verdict developments a number of media outlets are challenging reporting restrictions still placed on the case.

Ireland and Ulster rugby players Paddy Jackson, 26, and Stuart Olding, 25, were unanimously acquitted of rape.

Jackson was also found not guilty of sexual assault.

Two other men were acquitted of lesser charges related to the same incident in June 2016.

Blane McIlroy, 26, was acquitted of exposure while Rory Harrison, 25, was found not guilty of perverting the course of justice and withholding information.

The high-profile trial, which ran for 42 days, generated an unprecedented level of public attention and prompted calls from Jacksons defence solicitor for a crackdown on social media comment during criminal proceedings.

It has also renewed the debate on whether defendants in rape trials should also be entitled to anonymity, with their names only being revealed if they are convicted.Two men have been charged with fraudulently importing drugs after police seized herbal cannabis worth 1.3 million.

The PSNI said they believe an organised crime gang operating in Northern Ireland was behind the importation of the drug, which resulted in a seizure believed to be one of the biggest in the region in recent years.

Three pensioners were among six people arrested after the haul was found on a shipping pallet inside an industrial sized fuel tank at a property in Dromore, Co Down on Friday.

Cross-border operation leads to five arrests and what may be NI's largest ever cannabis seizure https://t.co/HVeoNv42hn #keepingpeoplesafe  Police Service NI (@PoliceServiceNI) March 30, 2018

Detective Superintendent Bobby Singleton said: Cannabis is the backbone of the drugs economy and it is a significant profit maker for organised crime groups.

Along with the potential harmful effects that it can do to individuals the violence, intimidation and drug death that accompanies the drug trade in Northern Ireland means that taking this load off the street has made a significant contribution to keeping people safe.

The men, aged 32 and 37, have been charged with fraudulently importing Class B controlled drugs, possession of Class B controlled drugs and possession of Class B controlled drugs with intent to supply.

They are due to appear at Newry Magistrates Court on Monday April 2.

Two women aged 68, another aged 42 and a man aged 72 have all been released on bail pending further inquiries.

The discovery was made during a joint operation by the Police Service of Northern Ireland, An Garda Siochana and Irish customs officials as part of the Cross Border Joint Agency Task Force, established under the Fresh Start Agreement.

It followed intelligence sharing by law enforcement agencies on both sides of the border.

The PSNI has previously said there are between 60 and 70 organised crime gangs in the drugs trade in Northern Ireland.

Investigations are continuing but police have ruled out paramilitary involvement at this stage.

An Garda Siochana Assistant Commissioner Barry OBrien said: I wish to commend all agencies involved in both jurisdictions which resulted in the seizure of a substantial quantity of controlled drugs.

This demonstrates the practical application of the Cross Border Joint Agency Task Force.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin added: Our thanks go to all those involved in this operation for their diligence and professionalism.

Their combined hard work and dedication has gone a long way in helping us achieve our shared goal of keeping people safe.

Meanwhile, suspected cocaine, heroin and ketamine estimated at over 2.5 million euro was seized during a joint operation involving Gardai and customs officials at Dublin Port.Starting from today, it's 363 days and counting downwards. Brexit will formally happen at 11pm Irish time on March 29, 2019. However, the real deadline is just over six months away as an EU leaders' summit fixed for Brussels on October 18 and 19 must sign off on the EU-UK divorce deal.

That is to give the European Parliament time to sign off on the deal which will be called the "Withdrawal Agreement" or WA to the Euro-anoraks.

The EU leaders must agree the WA by a so-called "super qualified majority" - in simple terms, 20 of the 27 member governments representing 65pc of the EU population.

In extremis, that could give Ireland some leverage but very far from a veto at this point.

Blocking an unacceptable deal would involve having to recruit half a dozen allies, some with a sizeable population.

Working the European Parliament, whose MEPs have often taken a strident line, may also be an option.

Negotiations have so far been slow, described "as a game of inches" - never centimetres - by some observers.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the future of the Irish Border is now the most difficult item remaining.

There was considerable talk that in a post-Brexit world, the Border could be kept as invisible as it is now and that this could be sorted definitively at the EU leaders' summit next June.

However, it is increasingly likely it will slide all the way to the October endgame.

Fianna Fail's former Brexit spokesman, Stephen Donnelly - who has himself just exited the job to fight battles about health - rightly warned that leaving the Border unsettled until the finale was replete with risk.

Just how strong would all that EU resolve to stand by Ireland be if the only impediment to a big picture EU-UK trade deal was the Irish Border?

It is hard to argue with that, but it is equally hard to argue with a negotiating reality that the hardest nuts are more usually the last cracked.

A cursory glance at the timeline will show how slow things have been.

On June 23, 2016, the British people voted by 52pc to 48pc to end 40-plus years of EU membership.

It took a full nine months, until March 29, 2017, for British Prime Minister Theresa May to trigger the so-called Article 50 divorce mechanism, starting a two-year countdown.

Read More

The exit mechanism is scant, designed by people who never believed it would have to be used, since there is always a queue of EU applicant states.

The only other exit precedent was when a newly autonomous Greenland parted company in 1985. Greenland, still linked to Denmark, has a population comparable to Waterford's.

The UK has 65 million people, the world's sixth largest economy, and in the EU is second only to Germany in economic scale. Disentangling four decades of EU membership in under the two years allowed for by Article 50 is a suicide mission, but it continues oh so slowly.

It is, however, easy to be despondent about negotiations. The Brexit glass may not be entirely half-full, but it does contain some things.

You will have heard Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's new recounting of the old deal-maker's mantra: nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, but some significant things have actually been provisionally agreed and are likely to stay tidied away.

Significantly, the EU and the UK have agreed a divorce settlement of about 55bn to cover commitments already made by London up to 2020 and beyond, and for recurring things like pensions and salaries for British EU staff.

Let's recall that one began with some in London uttering boorishly that they would leave and pay nothing. The EU and the UK have also squared away a deal on equal reciprocal rights to live, work and enjoy "exportable" social welfare and pension rights for citizens who settle in the other jurisdictions before Brexit. Their families will also have the right to join them.

EU citizens living in the UK will see their rights transposed into UK law and upheld by its domestic courts which will have to take account of the EU Court. The two sides have also agreed a transition period, ending in December 2021, during which nothing will change as the UK steps up preparations to leave.

During that time, Britain will be completely bound by EU rules and will have no voting rights at the EU talks table.

This basket of items, admittedly with loose ends and lacking implementation detail, is not bad, given the difficulties.

Last December 8, we thought the Irish Border was at least half-squared away alongside the divorce bill, EU and British citizens' reciprocal rights and the transition period.

Mr Varadkar, and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney, will continue to be reminded that they described what they had got on the Border as "bulletproof" and "bombproof."

In fact, there were three options. The first, and preferred, is a hoped-for comprehensive EU-UK trade agreement leaving no question of a Border.

The second is based on technical means of avoiding checkpoints, from automatic vehicle registration recognition to "trusted trader" schemes and widespread small trader exemptions. It is a high-tech Border - which is still a border.

The third option, the "backstop", is a fallback position.

Simon Coveney calls it "our insurance policy." It effectively sees the North mimicking EU rules and standards.

When the EU legally codified the December 8 deal in February, London kicked and the DUP, who are underpinning the current Conservative government, hit the ceiling.

The backstop is a comfort blanket. Few in Brussels think it can work. The DUP and Tories want it taken off the table. Scarily, it's still all to play for.Britains Jacob Rees-Moggs flippant solution to the Irish Border issue appears to be to just shrug it off. Picture: PA

A sunny spot in a glum week was the elevation of Evelyn Cusack to a much-deserved promotion as boss of Met Eireann. We can anticipate weekly "weather events" morphing into multi-coloured national dramas.

Evelyn's humorous no-nonsense candour makes her a national treasure. Met Eireann's early 'Beast from the East' alerts preparing us for prolonged icy temperatures and heavy snows put us in good stead to combat hazardous conditions. Emergency planning also helped stave off Hurricane Ophelia's worst.

How we could do with the same unerring long-range forecasting one year from now. The last weekend of March 2019 is the Brexit deadline. This means no Britain at EU Council meetings or summits.

It will be judgment day for the Brexit deniers who will face the full ferocity of the Brexit Beast.

Recent weeks threw up some seriously scary scenarios. The December "deal" of full alignment North-South melted like snow - a Theresa May mirage.

In reality, nothing is agreed. Current negotiations centre on the Withdrawal legal treaty - it is supposed to be completed by October and ready for ratification in all 27 member states.

Cutting through the confusion of green, yellow and white text - used to depict the agreed/unagreed segments - our exposure to extreme economic isolation is startling.

The EU and Britain have cut deals on 39bn budget contributions up to the end of the transition period in December 2020. There are also European Court of Justice safeguards on mutual citizenship rights.

The small matter of our 500km land border still looks totally unresolved.

Jacob Rees-Mogg's Tory Brexiteers' flippant Border solution is to shrug it off, maintaining Britain won't police it.

The truth is that Britain's exit from the single market and customs union means the EU frontier cannot be frictionless from our side. The latest London thinking is that associate EU membership, like that of Norway in the European Economic Area amounts to mere "vassal state" status.

Instead of being lawmakers in Westminster, they would see themselves unconditionally accepting Brussels' rules. A wholly untenable political position, as they would see it.

A regime of agents with customs documentation for pre-registration clearance seems inevitable to comply with EU treaty rules, and this, along with CCTV screening, can be expected. Ireland Inc cannot survive on its own consumption with just 4.8 million people - so it's export or die.

Read More

It's time to start planning for worst-case scenarios North/South and East/West as the December "backstop" is far from bullet-proof.

Britain benefits from 57 EU trade deals across the globe. But the UK presumption that it will do better by exiting the customs union is fantasy. It is the sixth-largest economy in the world and could make for a disruptive neighbour. But not half as disruptive as the EU could be as the second-largest global economy.

The EU will stymie Britain's trade terms every step of the way, leaving us here well and truly up the creek logistically.

Today, annual Anglo-Irish mutual trade amounts to 65bn. Some 38,000 Irish companies, employing more than 200,000 people, depend on sales to Britain.

Even worse, 80pc of our EU single market access to 45bn of sales goes through the land bridge of the UK. If marooned, alternative routes to the ports of Cherbourg, Zeebrugge, Antwerp and Rotterdam mean 36-hour deliveries. Any prospects of continued haulage within 16 hours to continental Europe will be gone.

Opportunities of insulating ourselves from Macron/Merkel as they set about their integration project within the EU without our traditional UK back-up will be severely weakened.

The Franco-German juggernaut is driving towards making sure that 19 member eurozone states complete a European banking union, budgetary compliance and a single finance minister.

It will also insist on the establishment of a European Monetary Fund.

All of this is to be legalised by a sub-group of the European Parliament, comprising MEPs from eurozone countries.

The European Commission (disregarding the OECD) unilaterally proposes a digital tax which combines a new 3pc levy on transactions and fundamentally reforms tax liability from the host supplier country of the tech giants to the customer invoice country of payments received. This transformation principle means diverting revenue to larger states at Ireland's expense, and is potentially applicable to all sectors. Up to 4bn of our multinational corporation tax receipts could shift to continental coffers.

Tentatively, we may form opposition alliances with the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania.

However, some of these states oppose our strategic objective to increase the total European budget from 1.1 to 1.2pc of GNP. Our natural ally, Britain, is irreplaceable.

Smart, creative government thinking is vital to meet the unprecedented constitutional challenges.

Remember, it is not just Britain severing single market mobility with the EU.

Similar consequences arise for the 53 member states of the Commonwealth of Nations. Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Singapore and umpteen African and Asian states face consequential trade barriers to selling their goods into the EU - previously via the UK.

The commerce of these countries is all conducted through English. Ireland and Malta will be the only English-speaking states in the EU post-Brexit.

Ireland should apply to join the Commonwealth. Our platform can facilitate former British colonial states access to EU markets. Ireland's future unique selling point is as an open trading hub that pivots on our Siamese twin, the UK. Over recent months, there have been considerable upgraded diplomatic/business enquiries about using the Republic as a strategic EU partner.

We must establish ourselves on the global stage as the most convenient commercial conduit.

As a tiny peripheral Atlantic island with 1pc of the EU population, realistically we won't impede EU destiny.

Any Irish red lines will inevitably fade as the EU continues with deepening defence, security and migration goals. While remaining committed to eurozone obligations, we can't detach from our history, geography and culture.

As months of EU/UK arm-wrestling begin, we too may become more marginalised. Blame games have few winners. Leo could do worse than establish and embrace an advisory panel of former Taoisigh, sympathetic Anglophiles and Northern Ireland allies to assist in building a national consensus. Technical trade barriers appear unavoidable as Britain determinedly exits 'a' or 'the' customs union.

One year from now, pretending the storm won't arrive will simply leave us out in the cold.Fine Gael Brexit spokesperson Neale Richmond has written to the BBC over its "appalling" lack of probing of pro-Brexit speakers.

Mr Richmond is a regular on BBC radio and television, having appeared on prime-time shows, including 'Newsnight' and 'Spotlight'.

"Far too many interviewers take for granted what is being said by Brexiteers; they accept without asking for detail" on the Border, he claimed.

Mr Richmond said it was "worrying" that the BBC appeared to "go harder on the Remainers".

"I found it definitely on 'Newsnight'," he told the Irish Independent. "They're allowing guests repeat untruths without simple fact-checking."

In response, the BBC said it "continues to report Brexit impartially and features a wide range of different perspectives across our news coverage.

"Our journalists report independently and without fear or favour."

It is now one year until Britain will be at the end of the Article 50 period.I had occasion lately to spend a day or two in Carlow. I went there to meet people who had worked in the sugar factory and to explore the contribution it had made to the town and the region. Everyone I met was fulsome in their praise of the factory and there is no doubt its contribution to Carlow and the South East region was immense.

By all accounts it was a humane and generous place to work and there is a recognition of the huge legacy it left in terms of skills, businesses and social infrastructure.

These semi-state or publicly owned companies left huge legacies that are only now being recognised after the companies are gone or swallowed by the python of privatisation.

Indeed if you look at some of the crises currently facing the country, particularly in relation to housing and apprenticeships, companies like the Irish Sugar Company had a handle on these issues years ago.

Long before the concept of 'Corporate Social Responsibility' was conceived of Carlow Sugar Factory was practicing it. Two of its managing directors, MJ Costello and Maurice Sheehy, were firm believers in the company becoming involved in the community beyond the factory gate.

Between 1947 and 1968, the factory actively supported the development of three housing estates in Carlow. Former worker Joe McDonnell explained how it came about, "An independent committee known as the Utility Housing Committee' applied for the planning permission.

"The company provided the land, the drawings and the engineering supervision. In the earliest scheme in 1947 the prospective owners provided labour in the building of the houses," Joe explained. Grants were provided by the local authority and the national government with the remainder provided by Co Council loan

"In our estate, built in 1968, the houses cost 3,200 each," Joe said. "Of that 250 was a local government grant, 250 came in the form of a government grant and the remainder was a Co Council loan taken out over 35 years."

He recalls that just when his estate was about to be handed over there was a hold up in the Co Council grant leading to a delay in the new owners moving in to their homes. The then managing director of the Sugar Company, Maurice Sheehy, paid the builder and the houses were handed over. The workers repaid the Sugar Factory when the grant from the council came through.

Can you imagine anything like that happening today? I don't think so. Even among the 'cool, life-work-balance' companies that pride themselves in being laid back, worker friendly all decked out in T-shirt and jeans.

These havens of informality would be more likely to hide behind skyscrapers of policies and procedures before involving themselves in the social well-being of their workers beyond the water cooler. Most certainly they would not be in the habit of providing bridging loans to workers' housing associations.

During one of my meetings with the men in Carlow, a former worker reminded me that the purpose of public companies such as the Sugar company was not to make profit, it was to provide a public good, and this they did. They provided work, skills and social cohesion, a concept that is far broader than the narrow focus on the bottom line.

Since the era of Thatcher the concept of the public good has taken something of a battering. A central tenet of the Iron Lady's philosophy - that there is no such thing as society only individuals - has informed a lot of public policy since. To paraphrase the former Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, the rot set in 'as societies with markets evolved into market societies.'

Another major contribution to the social and economic well-being of the country on the part of these companies was the wealth of skills they handed on through their commitment to apprenticeships and the training of their workers. Such commitment to training and apprenticeship is regarded as core to the sustained success of Germany.

Finally, it is remarkable how many of the founders and drivers of these companies were deeply involved in the struggle for independence and the foundation of the new state. These were people who literally put their lives on the line for the public good in the course of the struggle. They were committed to the creation of a better world so their focus was much broader than the bottom line and bonuses. They were servants of the public good rather than careerists.

It is too much to expect that revolutionary zeal will survive more than a generation, neither can it be expected that methods and models of work from another era will be appropriate for today. However, real evolution and development builds on what is best. We could do well to revisit what was best in those companies that laid the foundations for modern Ireland.

From guerilla warfare to the boardroom

Among those who swapped the bandolier for the boardroom was MJ Costelloe, managing director of the Irish Sugar Company from 1946 to 1966.

Born in Cloughjordan in Co Tipperary in 1904 his godfather Thomas MacDonagh was one of the signatories to the 1916 Proclamation. He served as intelligence officer with the No 1 Tipperary Brigade of the Old IRA during the War of Independence.

In 1922, at 18 years of age he was made Colonel Commandant in the National Army and after the Civil War was sent for training in the US.

On his return he was involved in the foundation of the Irish Military College becoming Commandant. During the 'Emergency' he commanded the Army's First Division charged with defending the south coast.

In his time, the Sugar Company grew and expanded. He was responsible for naming the beet harvest the "Beet Campaign' and in his time Erin Foods was born.It is a spring that will stick in the memories of farmers for a long time to come.

Sheep farmer John Fagan from Gartlandstown, Co Westmeath - who has already delivered over 1,200 lambs so far this year - explained the severe pressures facing farmers as they were unable to get stock out of sheds and into the fields due to the cold, wet weather.

The Westmeath farmer was facing a severe labour shortage this year with difficulties recruiting a full-time worker, until three German students joined him for the lambing season.

"I'd have been under severe pressure only for the three students. They've been massively helpful. It would have been impossible," said Mr Fagan.

"It is a spring that will stick long in my memory - either as one to forget or one to remember and learn from. "I won't physically be able to do it again. I can imagine it being very tough for older farmers or those who couldn't get help."

There is mounting concern over the potential fodder shortages, with many parts of the south and south-east now feeling the pinch.

Soil conditions and continuing poor grass growth has prevented farmers from letting stock back out to the fields.

With many farmers running low on fodder, farm advisors have warned that the situation could escalate into a serious fodder crisis unless the weather improves.

Kilkenny-based Teagasc advisor Terry Carroll said that a fodder survey had not been undertaken in the south-east but anecdotal evidence suggested that the farmers were running tight on fodder.

"Another two weeks of feeding would have people very tight," Mr Carroll said.

He said poor ground conditions in the south-east meant that farmers were unable to get stock out on grass.

Baled silage in the south is moving for between 25 and 28 per bale, however, Teagasc is advising farmers to feed increased meal where possible because of the variable quality of the silage on offer in some areas.

Dairy consultant Mary Kinston said grass growth in north Kerry was generally running at 50pc of the normal levels.

Growth rates of 10kg/ha/day are currently being recorded in the south-west, but rates of 25kg/ha/day would be closer to normal.

Low soil temperatures are continuing to restrict grass growth. Ms Kinston said if temperatures were to rise to 8C, every subsequent jump of 1C would add 14kg/ha/day to grass growth levels.

However, grazing grounds also needs to dry out, with growth levels taking a major hit on saturated soils.

Supplements

Philip Creighton in Teagasc Athenry said the average soil temperature for March was 4.5C, compared with temperatures normally around 7 or 8C.

"It means growth has been severely handicapped for us. Growth measured this week at 6kgDM/ha a day, normally we'd be looking at that being up 15kg to 20kg for this week of the year. It's at least 50pc behind and when we put that into implications wise we have about 15 days of grass ahead of us when we should be up around 25.

"We are having to supplement ewes with a kilo of concentrates per ewe per day," he said. "It is tough going on people and people are under pressure."

However, he urged farmers to still ensure they are ready to go out with fertiliser as soon as temperatures are on the rise and soil is trafficable.

Testing has shown temperatures in recent days have risen to around 6C, however, a further cold spell is forecast for this Easter weekend.Walkers in the countryside have been called on to make sure they have their dogs on a lead at all times.

IFA National Sheep Chairman Sean Dennehy, Easter is a busy time and there will be a large influx of walkers in the countryside, many with dogs.

"Walkers and dog owners must be aware that Easter is a very busy time on farms with lambing and calving and there is no place for uncontrolled dogs roaming through fields of sheep or cattle, Sean Dennehy said.

"Walkers allowing dogs off the lead to run wild in the countryside, where there are ewes and young lambs, can create mayhem leading to mismothering and significant lamb losses. The message to walkers is clear: be responsible - keep you dog on a lead and under control at all times.

"Owners can be held responsible for any losses involved in dog attacks, with serious financial and legal consequences. Farmers have a right to protect their sheep flock and can shoot a dog that is worrying, or about to worry, their flock.

It comes after a spate of dog attacks in recent weeks which has seen over 50 sheep and lambs killed.

Sean Dennehy encouraged all dog owners, including farmers, to get their dogs microchipped. According to the Department of Agriculture., 85% of dogs are now microchipped.

Sean Dennehy said a single database must be introduced with controls on change of ownership so all owners are held accountable, To make microchipping effective, Minister Creed must pull together a single database to properly control ownership. Greater resources are also needed for the dog warden service.

He called on Minister Creed and the Department of Agriculture to launch a major publicity campaign on responsible ownership. He said a major TV, radio and social media campaign is required to get the message across to the 800,000 people with dogs in Ireland.

Statistics collated by IFA indicate that the problem of dog attacks on sheep may be in the order of 300 to 400 attacks per annum, with 3,000 to 4,000 sheep injured and killed. Data on dog attacks gathered by the IFA shows an average of 11 sheep killed or injured per attack.iStock/Thinkstock(DALLAS) -- A trip to her local polling place may have earned a Texas woman five years behind bars.



Crystal Mason was sentenced to five years in prison this week after she voted in the 2016 election while on parole, according to Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA-TV. Mason was on parole after serving time for a federal tax crime, her lawyer said.



"She had a good-faith belief she could vote legally, and she did so," Mason's attorney, Warrent St. John, told WFAA-TV.



The 43-year-old Mason said she had no idea she was committing a crime. Mason voted in Tarrant County, just west of Dallas.



"She testified this week in court that she was never told by the federal judge she couldn't vote," St. John said. "She was never told by halfway house folks she couldn't vote."



Mason did not want to speak when reached by WFAA-TV, but she told The Dallas Morning News she "didn't even want to vote."



Texas law states it is illegal for a felon to vote while serving their sentence, including while on parole.



"Our society is built on personal responsibility," Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson said in a statement given to WFAA-TV. "There were multiple safeguards in place to keep Crystal Mason from breaking the law, but she still made that choice."



Mason has already appealed the conviction, WFAA-TV reported.



Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.The European Union distanced itself from the idea of reviving talks on a broad free-trade agreement with the US as part of EU efforts to gain a permanent exemption from President Donald Trump's controversial import tariffs on steel and aluminium.

A day after US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross said the Trump administration is willing to restart negotiations on the stalled Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the European Commission said it's seeking a "dialogue" with Washington "on issues of common interest" including global steel overcapacity.

"More contacts will be held in the coming weeks to agree the exact scope and framework of this EU-US dialogue," a spokesman for the commission, the 28-nation EU's executive arm in Brussels, said yesterday. "The commission is committed to engage in this process in an open and constructive way. However, it should be clear that this dialogue does not represent the revival of the process for a comprehensive Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership."

The TTIP negotiations to expand the world biggest economic relationship have been frozen since Mr Trump entered the White House with an "America First" agenda that has shunned multilateral trade initiatives. This extended to the completed Trans-Pacific Partnership, from which Mr Trump withdrew.

"He terminated the trans-Pacific deal; he didn't terminate TTIP," Mr Ross said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday.

"That was meant quite deliberately and quite overtly as a message that we're open to discussions with the European Commission."

European trade chief Cecilia Malmstrom and Mr Ross spoke four days ago with their eyes on a May 1 deadline for Mr Trump to decide whether to prolong an exclusion for the EU from US import tariffs of 25pc on steel and 10pc on aluminium.

The White House justified the levies on national-security grounds that have been dismissed by the EU, which has demanded a permanent exemption and threatened to join China in applying tit-for-tat tariffs on American goods.

Mr Trump set a vague condition for prolonging the metal- tariffs waiver beyond May 1.

EU leaders showed as much annoyance as relief at the temporary exemption on March 23. (Bloomberg)What do you do when you've just raised $125m (101m) in a funding round, leaving your seven-year-old tech firm valued at $1.28bn (1.03bn)?

It's a scenario that few of us will ever encounter.

But it's one facing Intercom chief executive Eoghan McCabe. Last week, the software company he co-founded raised just over 100m in a single funding round, officially marking Intercom's entry into the Silicon Valley 'unicorn' club.

As such, Intercom not only becomes Ireland's biggest tech company but is now getting closer in status to companies like Airbnb, Stripe and Uber.

But with great cash comes great expectations, both from investors and the wider industry.

As the tech industry's IPO market gets back on track, does the huge injection of capital create a new timeline expectation for a market 'exit' of some sort, such as an Intercom flotation?

"The answer is yes and no," says McCabe. "When people invest in a round like this, there's rarely an explicit conversation about an outcome or a timeline or the terms in which we get there. Honestly, you'd be surprised. The reason is that the best companies and best investors know that as long things continue to do well, their interests will generally be aligned. Look at Airbnb. Sure, some of the early investors might have wished earlier that they had liquidity for their stock. But did they ever initially think it could be worth so much? Probably not. But yes, it's fair to say that there's an understood or unsaid set of shared expectations that includes liquidity for shareholders at some point, as well as employees and management."

But those expectations, he says, don't necessarily mean any kind of pointed focus on an IPO in the short term.

"No, the focus is on very rapidly shipping a ton of software and continuing to expand. Because those who focus too much on the outcome tend to do the poorest long term."

In terms of expansion, Intercom appears to be doing alright. The company currently has more than 25,000 paying customers in sales, marketing and customer support sectors. It also claims to "power" 500m conversations a month, saying that its conversation count is doubling every year.

There are some Silicon Valley A-listers starting to join the company too.

After the 100m funding round, the celebrity Internet analyst Mary Meeker is now on the board. Meeker, a general partner at US venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins (the lead investor in the 100m round), is noted for her globally reported annual reports on tech trends to watch.

Intercom's main business is giving other companies the online tools to talk to customers themselves. Typically, this can be through dialogue boxes and pop-up customer service chat bubbles on websites. These are fairly ubiquitous now for customer-facing companies online. In Intercom's case, many Irish and international companies use its services because they're seen as quick and easy to set up and run for anyone who wants to deal online with customer queries or sales.

The company was founded in 2011 by McCabe, Ciaran Lee, David Barrett and Des Traynor.

With the funding round under their belts, the four young Dubliners may own up to half the company, possibly giving them each a nine-figure valuation and instantly catapulting them into the realms of Ireland's richest people.

(Stripe, the online payments firm created and run by twenty-something Limerick brothers Patrick and John Collision, has been a 'unicorn' for several years but it is not classed as an Irish company, as the two siblings started and operate it primarily from San Francisco.)

For those who follow the tech industry in Ireland, Intercom has always been an interesting company in the way it approached its own development.

The products are designed and developed in Dublin, not Silicon Valley. This is the direct opposite to how international tech firms usually operate in Ireland, with the brains trust being reserved for California and other business development or tech support happening in Ireland.

The company now has almost 500 employees divided between offices in Dublin, San Francisco, London, Chicago and Sydney. However, its headquarters is technically placed in San Francisco, where its sales and marketing base is.

"We're Irish-ish," says McCabe. "We're a dual nationality company and have been from the get-go."

Doesn't he realise that the more successful they become, the more they'll be claimed as Irish?

"To be fair, Ireland is an incredible place to start and develop software," he says. "The technology community and the business environment in Dublin is maturing substantially. When you and I first spoke about Intercom a few years ago, it was still kind of magical that there was a company building tech in Dublin for a Valley firm that would raise as much money as we did. It was a novelty then, but it's not any more. Now there is a real industry. There are a whole bunch of indigenous or semi-indigenous companies doing this here. And then there are all these public companies that have set up research and development facilities in Dublin, too. There's finally an ecosystem, people who might leave Intercom and start a new successful firm or people who might leave Google and join Intercom or whatever."

Its 1bn unicorn status makes Intercom the most valuable tech company in Ireland. It's a vindication for the company's previous financial backers, including the likes of Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, the Collison brothers and other top tech entrepreneurs, either through investment firms or through social capital.

With the cash injection, Intercom will "invest aggressively" in deepening its existing product lines and coming up with some new ones.

McCabe says that this will include a degree of artificial intelligence and machine learning for greater automation.

He also says the company is close to launching a completely different type of product that "came out of nowhere".

"Sometimes successful creativity comes from a different industry or just an experiment," McCabe says of the new product, which he says won't be unveiled for a few weeks.

"This one was an idea we came across late last year and we've been working on it among a very small group of people. We're about to bring it to market."

As to the future for Intercom, one of the company's long held mantras is that"all businesses are becoming internet businesses".

Subscriptions will have an increasingly substantial part to play in that ecosystem, according to McCabe's Intercom co-founder, Des Traynor.

"We believe it will affect most businesses," he says. "So rather than buy a few CDs at a time, you might now pay a tenner a month. In a lot of cases, you can subscribe to razor blades or boxer shorts. What we're going to see, then, is the customer relationship becoming the most important thing. So that means that businesses will want to talk to their customers. Intercom's belief is that you probably want to talk to these people. So we'll see a lot more conversations."

How far will Intercom go? So far, there's little sign of any let up in growth or ambition among the founders. And Eoghan McCabe believes that more Irish tech companies are figuring out how to scale their ideas globally.

"We couldn't have done all these things if we weren't also an American company," he says. "For anyone who wants to learn from our company, there's a whole other world out there."They're calling it the 'Dermot Bannon effect', but it's far more likely to be the 'Revenue effect' which has seen Irish home owners spend 1.737bn through the Home Renovation Initiative since its 2013 launch.

The scheme, which refunds VAT paid - in the form of an income tax credit - to people redesigning or upgrading their home, has been immensely popular; 107,386 home improvement projects have been undertaken with an average spend of 16,187 according to Construction Industry Federation figures. Its purpose was to provide a boost to a construction sector in the doldrums and also to encourage home-owners unable to move house to at least do up where they were.

The most popular works are home extensions (34pc), followed by general repair and renovations (25pc), new windows (10pc) and kitchen replacement (10pc).

With a building boom on again and banks eager to lend, it looks like the scheme will come to an end this year. So, how can you qualify and what do you need to do? Here's how to get started before the deadline.

For works costing between 4,405 and 30,000 (before VAT), the added VAT is refunded to you over two years. As VAT is charged at 13.5pc for building works, the benefit is between 595 - 4,050. If the work costs more than 30,000, you won't get any extra VAT relief.

* You must be a taxpayer to get tax relief. This may exclude pensioners, even those who pay USC if their income isn't sufficient to put them in the tax net. The benefit cannot be claimed by someone other than the home owner (e.g. an adult child).

* Landlords can apply.

* You must be up to date with your Property Tax payments.

* The spend must be exclusively on repair, renovation or improvements. You cannot get VAT back on soft furnishings, white goods etc, but painting and decorating is allowed.

* Professionals such as architects, solicitors, surveyors, etc, who charge VAT at 23pc do not qualify under the scheme, so their fees must be paid in full.

What Should You Do?

* Check your contractor(s) are registered for HRI. You both apply online with Revenue (www.revenue.ie) in advance of the work. The website has a list of registered builders.

* Multiple contractors can be used but the entire job must be within cost limits (see the example).

* Get several quotes for the work and personal recommendations are always valuable. Make sure that you have a time-scale, and payment schedule in writing from contractors and that their insurance certificate is valid.

Grant Aided Work

n If you are also applying for an SEAI grant (eg, for insulation or a boiler), three times the grant amount is deducted from the HRI application before you can claim.

John and Mary get some work done to their house. They decide to get new windows, convert two rooms into open plan, employ an interior designer, and get the lot painted. The total spend is 20,500 plus VAT, however the VAT for the interior designer is charged at 23pc for professional services and does not qualify under the HRI scheme. Soft furnishings and decorative elements do not qualify either. All their contractors are registered by Revenue as qualifying. Their refund calculation is as follows:

Conversion of rooms: 8,000 + VAT @13.5pc = 9,080

Interior Designer: 2,000 + VAT @ 23pc = 2,460

New kitchen: 7,500 + VAT @13.5pc = 8,512.50

Painting & Decorating: 3,000 + VAT @13.5pc = 3,405

Total Spend: 20,500 + Vat = 23,457.50

Vat Refund allowed: 2,497.50 (designer fees disallowed)

Repayment: 104.06 per month x 24 monthsDaniel Connell uses a language trainer robot Elias during his lesson at the school in Tampere, Finland March 27, 2017. REUTERS/Attila Cser

Elias, the new language teacher at a Finnish primary school, has endless patience for repetition, never makes a pupil feel embarrassed for asking a question and can even do the "Gangnam Style" dance. Elias is also a robot.

The language-teaching machine comprises a humanoid robot and mobile application, one of four robots in a pilot programme at primary schools in the southern city of Tampere.

The robot is able to understand and speak 23 languages and is equipped with software that allows it to understand students' requirements and helps it to encourage learning. In this trial however, it communicates in English, Finnish and German only.

The robot recognises the pupil's skill levels and adjusts its questions accordingly. It also gives feedback to teachers about a student's possible problems.

Some of the human teachers who have worked with the technology see it as a new way to engage children in learning.

"I think in the new curriculum the main idea is to get the kids involved and get them motivated and make them active. I see Elias as one of the tools to get different kinds of practice and different kinds of activities into the classroom," language teacher Riika Kolunsarka told Reuters.

Read More

"In that sense I think robots and coding the robots and working with them is definitely something that is according to the new curriculum and something that we teachers need to be open minded about."

Elias the language robot, which stands around a foot tall, is based on SoftBank's NAO humanoid interactive companion robot, with software developed by Utelias, a developer of educational software for social robots.

The Maths robot - dubbed OVObot - which is a small, blue machine around 25 cm (10 inches) high and resembles an owl, was developed by Finnish AI Robots.

The purpose of the pilot project is to see if these robots can improve the quality of teaching, with one of the Elias robots and three of the OVObots deployed in schools. The OVObots will be trialled for one year, while the school has bought the Elias robot, so its use can continue longer.

Using robots in classrooms is not new - teaching robots have been used in the Middle East, Asia and the United States in recent years, but modern technologies such as cloud services and 3D printing are allowing smaller start-up companies to enter the sector.

"Well, it is fun, interesting and exciting and I'm a bit shocked," pupil Abisha Jinia told Reuters, giving her verdict on Elias the language robot.

Despite their skills in language and mathematics however, the robots' inability to maintain discipline amongst a class of primary school children means that, for the time being at least, the human teachers' jobs are safe.MELROSE has won control of GKN after an enthralling battle as the blue-chip engineer failed to fight off the 8.1bn (9.2bn) hostile bid.

The turnaround investor secured the aerospace and automotive parts company with its cash-and-shares offer, which went down to the 1pm deadline yesterday for shareholders to vote.

Veteran industry analyst Sandy Morris, at Jefferies, described the tussle for GKN as "remarkable", with insiders on both sides describing the investor vote as being on a knife-edge.

Melrose won the backing of 52.43pc of investors for its cash and paper bid which offered 1.69 shares in the combined business and an 81p payment. The deal gives existing GKN shareholders 60pc of the merged business.

Christopher Miller, chairman of turnaround investor Melrose, said he was "delighted" to have been backed by GKN investors for what he called his company's plan to create a "10bn industrial powerhouse".

His FTSE 250 business, which works under the tag-line of "buying, improving and selling" underperforming engineering companies, has been eyeing up GKN for more than a decade.

Melrose finally pounced in January, pledging to improve margins, claiming the existing management had failed to deliver on promises for years.

GKN - led by newly installed chief executive Anne Stevens - countered with its own turnaround plan. This involved merging its Driveline car parts arm with US rival Dana in a 4.5bn (5.1bn) deal, selling its powder metallurgy unit, and becoming a pure aerospace business - all while paying out up to 2.5bn to investors. The fight - with MPs, unions and pension schemes all weighing in - has been the most intense the City has seen since Kraft's swoop on Cadbury a decade ago.

GKN supplies parts for the drivetrains of half of all new cars and also has valuable and sensitive aerospace and defence contracts. Claims and counter-claims between the two camps have been flying since the bid was announced, with fears that a change of control could see major customers - including Airbus - abandon the company, that national security could be harmed or the deal could be blocked because of it. Widespread job losses were another concern, as Melrose seeks to improve its performance.

Earlier this week Greg Clark, the UK business minister, wrote to Melrose demanding it hold on to its aerospace arm for five years if it succeeded. The bidder pledged to keep the company's headquarters in the UK, retain a London listing and spend 1bn on research and development.

Mr Miller said that he looked forward to working with GKN's 60,000 global employees - 10pc of whom are in the UK - adding: "Let me assure you that GKN is in very good hands."

Shares in Melrose rose 3.4pc to 231p, valuing its cash and paper offer for GKN at about 471p last night, while GKN's stock shot up towards the offer price, climbing 9.5pc to 463p.

"I've never seen a bid like this in 31 years in the City," Mr Morris said, adding that usually it is clear long before the deadline which side has won. Speculation swirled that one of GKN's "passive" investors - which would back the incumbent management under convention - had swapped sides, tipping the vote towards the bidder.

The pressure is now on Melrose to explain how it will run GKN. GKN yesterday urged investors to accept Melrose's offer now to avoid becoming minority shareholders in an unlisted business. Melrose has said it will delist GKN from the Stock Exchange should the offer become wholly unconditional, with 75pc of acceptances. ( Daily Telegraph, London)Resident Evil and Transformers Voice Actor DC Douglas speaking at the opening of the Dublin Comic Con Anime Edition 2018 which runs until Sunday at the Convention Centre Dublin. Picture Steve Humphreys

Star Trek fans are in for a treat this weekend as one of its most popular characters attends a comic convention in Dublin.

Brent Spiner, who played Lieutenant Commander Data in the The Next Generation series of the cult classic, is one of the top guests at ComicCon in the Convention Centre Dublin running Saturday and Sunday.

Expand Close Voice Actor Eric Stuart from Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon! and Actor Seth Gilliam from The Walking Dead, Starship Troopers and The Wire speaking at the opening of the Dublin Comic Con Anime Edition 2018 which runs until Sunday at the Convention Centre Dublin. Picture Steve Humphreys / Facebook

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Whatsapp Voice Actor Eric Stuart from Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon! and Actor Seth Gilliam from The Walking Dead, Starship Troopers and The Wire speaking at the opening of the Dublin Comic Con Anime Edition 2018 which runs until Sunday at the Convention Centre Dublin. Picture Steve Humphreys

Fans will be able to meet the star, as well as other big names in the comic and Japanese anime animation genres.

Joining Spiner are Seth Gilliam, known for his work in the Walking Dead; Eric Stuart, a voice actor whose work has featured in famed Japanese kids show Pokemon; DC Douglas whose work is known throughout the video gaming industry for games such as the Mass Effect and Resident Evil series, and Kira Buckland, who lends her voice to many animations and video games.

Also at the convention will be Tara Strong who has voiced animated series such as Rugrats and My Little Pony as well as Harley Quinn in Batman: Arkham City.

ComicCon also features a large video gaming area where you can re-live your youth on many retro games or try the latest virtual reality technology.

As with all conventions in this style there is also trade stands, an artists alley, and room for dressing up as your favourite character and engaging in Cosplay.

More information on dublincomiccon.com.Ant and Dec on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here

'Saturday Night Takeaway' bosses are still undecided about how Declan Donnelly will address his co-star Ant McPartlin's absence from tonight's show.

Donnelly (42) will present the show alone for the first time in the show's history tonight.

The presenter will be without Ant McPartlin for the penultimate episode in the series although Scarlett Moffatt and Stephen Mulhern will be on hand in their regular support roles.

McPartlin has stepped back from his TV commitments and returned to rehab after he was charged with drink driving earlier this month.

But he will feature in the episode as part of the duo's pre-recorded Saturday Knight Takeaway sketch after it was decided they should be broadcast.

On Friday Dec revealed he was heading for rehearsals solo in a message on Twitter.

He wrote: "Back in studio today preparing your #SaturdayNightTakeaway for tomorrow night. Have a great Good Friday! D x."

Donnelly who recently confirmed he is going to be a father, will also present next week's final episode in Florida alone.

McPartlin will appear in court on April 4.

Producers are still deciding whether Dec speak about Ant or ignore the matter entirely.

Video of the Day

A source told The Sun newspaper: "Explaining Ant's absence has been the hardest part of planning. The bosses are torn in regards to how they can hit the right tone.

"They want to be respectful... while not bringing down the mood of the show. 'Takeaway' is all about having fun and they fear a sombre start may seriously effect the quality of the output."

This will be the first time in 20 years that Dec has had to present without Ant by his side, so he's understandably feeling the pressure ahead of tonight's show.

An insider explained: "It's going to be a strange feeling fronting the show on his own. But Dec is professional and is determined to do a good job."

ITV made the decision to pull last week's episode of 'Saturday Night Takeaway' following Ant's arrest but the broadcaster later confirmed that the final two episodes would be aired as normal but with Dec presenting for the first time on his own.

Speaking about going it alone, Dec said in a statement: "Whilst I never thought I'd be in this position, after much discussion and careful consideration we've decided that the remaining two shows of this series of 'Saturday Night Takeaway' will go ahead.

"We made a promise to take hundreds of deserving winners to Florida to watch the series finale, and we will honour that. Everyone at ITV and the 'Takeaway' team feels we owe it to the audience to complete the series."The debate surrounding the Eighth Amendment vote is stirring emotions  and leaving many undecided over which way to vote, Picture: PA

Q. I consider myself a "middle grounder", not passionately pro-life or pro-choice and yet to decide how to vote in the upcoming referendum on the Eighth Amendment. I want facts. Where are we now?

A. You are a precious commodity and crucial to the outcome on May 25. The engine is now running. Opposing groups who object to removal of the Eighth Amendment and want its retention have launched their campaigns.

Q. What are they saying?

A. Pro-life groups argue the foetus essentially is a vulnerable unborn child who needs to be protected, regardless of the wishes of their mother. This includes cases of rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormality. The pro choice campaign says women need control over their own bodies.

Abortion is already a reality in Ireland and women are buying risky abortion pills over the internet and thousands go to UK clinics. Parents whose unborn babies have a fatal foetal abnormality need to be allowed termination if they wish.

There is obvious sincerity on all sides. Both are using all methods to promote their agenda, including personal testimonies and social media. But one of the striking features so far has been the public fielding of medical doctors who are pro and anti.

Q. The Government wants us to repeal the Eighth Amendment. Has is it issued any new statements?

A. It has issued an extremely broad outline of the proposed law to be introduced if the Eighth Amendment is removed.

Q. You say extremely broad - is it a bit vague then?

A. Yes, it could be a lot clearer if it wants to inform voters. It confirms there will be unrestricted abortion available up to 12 weeks of pregnancy which just one doctor needs to certify.

After that it will only be allowed where the health or life of the mother is at risk after two doctors give permission. It will also be permitted in cases of fatal foetal abnormality.

Q. Abortion up to 12 weeks involves a woman taking two pills. Where will this happen?

A. We don't know. There is no mention of a GP surgery or clinic in the proposals. The newest element is that there will have be a three-day gap between a woman requesting the abortion and getting the pills. This is to allow for her to consider her decision.

Q. How will a doctor know she is not more than 12 weeks pregnant?

A. It says the pregnancy is dated from the first day of a woman's last menstrual period.

But this is not always clear to women. Doctors in some cases will need a woman to have an ultrasound, particularly if there is a risk of complications such as an ectopic pregnancy.

Q. Will women have access to this scan?

A. The proposed law gives no guarantee this will be available in a specific time. We know many pregnant women have to travel to another county for these early pregnancy scans and thousands are not getting a 20 week pregnancy ultrasound. This could be a major issue. It says nothing about whether a woman takes abortion pills in the presence of a doctor or at home. There is no mention of monitoring of the woman if serious bleeding happens.

Q. Will this be free?

A. We don't know.

Q. What about later abortions?

A. Termination will be allowed with no time limits for cases of fatal foetal abnormality. In cases where the life or health or the mother is at risk two doctors must give the go ahead to a termination.

Q. Will the baby be automatically aborted?

A. No. The doctors are obliged to try to deliver the unborn alive if it is judged to have reached viability, at around 23 weeks gestation or beyond.

Q. I read that late-term abortions would be outlawed.

A. The law still allows for abortions to be carried out in emergency situations to save the mother.

Q. The Government is not communicating its message well. What was Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy doing standing next to Health Minister Simon Harris announcing the referendum date. Should he not be looking after the homeless?

A. As Housing Minister he is responsible for setting the day of any referendum.

Q. What about Simon Coveney's hand-wringing?

A. He is like you but doing his soul searching in public. There is nothing wrong with still being a "don't know" for now.Right now. Up for meet. No strings attached  these are some of the common statuses young men can see on social media dating apps.

Ireland has undergone a sexual liberation over the past two decades and social media has only accelerated it.

While this hasnt been a negative for society, it has led us to becoming one of the most liberal societies in the western world.

The 2015 passing of the marriage-equality referendum confirmed that Ireland had truly become a non-judgmental country, one that had thrown off the shackles of an oppressive Catholic orthodoxy. It has led to greater social acceptance and advances for all of us.

However, social media and the internet have expanded their place in our everyday lives, so we need to analyse their place in our new, more liberal world.

While many of us know the major social media apps, such as Facebook and Twitter, social media dating apps have also become commonplace.

Many of these apps and websites are unregulated, with a tick box age-verification system that requires no actual proof of age.

Tinder is the market leader, while Grindr is the main dating app of gay (and some closeted) men.

While they dont actively encourage casual sexual encounters, a quick perusal of any dating app will show you how social media has led to a growth in casual sex online.

Take a swipe through Tinder; many profiles are looking for no strings attached fun or people who are up for a meet. Right now is an option on Grindr.

Theres absolutely nothing wrong with this. If two consenting adults want to meet for a sexual encounter and never see each other again, that is up to them.

The concerning effect is that on our younger people, particularly our younger men. Im still in my 20s  but I remember when internet dating was almost considered taboo. Now, through social media, it is commonplace.

Are these apps leading our young men to think that sex is a freely available commodity?

Take, for instance, the easy access our teenagers now have to porn. Gone are the days of boys hiding their dirty mags under the mattress.

Instead, teenagers have instant access to all types of porn, completely unobserved on their smartphones. It has become normalised for them.

Porn in itself isnt the problem. But research shows that a large proportion of straight porn has some form of violence towards women in it. The women in the videos are consenting. But what should concern us is that our young men  particularly teenagers, who may not have much actual sexual experience  are building expectations from it.

They think these encounters are normal.

On WhatsApp groups, one-upmanship can take over. How do I make myself look the best? How do I outdo my friend? How do I keep up with the crowd?

Twitter and Tumblr have a very ambiguous policy towards porn and are commonly used by teenagers.

Social media is part of the problem  but it isnt the cause of it.

Consent. Consent. Consent.

While we need to educate young men on what consent is, I think its more important to educate them on what it isnt.

Porn is fantasy.

When an action hero jumps from a plane and lands perfectly on the roof of a building in a movie, we all know its fantasy.

That needs to be communicated about porn and social media dating apps that they use.

Even the most tech-savvy parents are probably hopelessly behind their teenagers.

Teenagers will watch porn. It is up to their parents to educate them on consent.Four people have been arrested in the latest Garda operation targeting the activities of the Kinahan cartel.

Gardai seized two loaded revolvers in Clondalkin, Dublin, and made the four arrests when they stopped two cars and carried out a raid on a house in the locality.

A senior source told the Irish Independent that the weapons were being moved from 'A to B' and that another feud-related gangland murder was "not imminent".

"These weapons were being moved from one location in the city to another in preparation for yet another hit by the Kinahan cartel.

"However, the expectation was that this shooting was not to happen on Good Friday," the senior source said.

It is suspected that the ultimate intended target of the weapons which were seized was a 29-year-old north inner-city drug dealer, who has links to the Hutch mob and was very close to murdered criminal Jason 'Buda' Molyneux.

Three men, aged 26, 28 and 29, and a woman aged 28 were being questioned last night at Clondalkin Garda Station.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident police have seized what they believe could be one of Northern Ireland's largest ever hauls of herbal cannabis.

The drugs were found on a shipping pallet located inside an industrial-sized fuel tank at a property in Dromore, Co Down.

Three men and two women were detained at the address and officers carried out searches at other locations.

The estimated street value of the drugs is currently unknown. The discovery was the result of a joint operation by the PSNI, An Garda Siochana and Irish customs officials.The Taoiseach urged the EU to release a stronger statement against Russia during an EU summit, after hearing corroborating evidence from French intelligence of Russian culpability to the Salisbury attack.

Sources say the confidence French had in the legitimacy of the evidence meant Ireland could come to the same conclusions.

Leo Varadkar then moved to work alongside French President Emmanuel Macron to escalate Europe's response.

According to French sources, intelligence agencies asked the United Kingdom for an outline of the technical operations that took place in Britain in the wake of the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

"We responded favourably [to this operation], which led us to the same technical conclusions," said the source.

Questions about the "exact type of nerve gas and who exactly has the ability to utilise it" were on the list of questions from the heads of state and government in Brussels.

"Russia is the only one that had Novichok gas," said the source.

Moreover, managing it is so dangerous that it would almost certainly have to supplied by someone who had been close to where it was created, they said.

Expertise

Russia is the only country that has the nerve gas which was used and the expertise to use it, added the French source.

"We had our own technical examination combined with the intelligence we shared with the British," they told the Irish Independent.

Mr Varadkar had initially avoided apportioning blame to the Kremlin when he was first asked about Ireland's likely response at the beginning of the summit.

He condemned the attack but refused to respond to questions as to whether he believed the Kremlin was responsible.

But within hours of a bi- lateral meeting with UK Prime Minister Theresa May, and then information from French intelligence, the Irish position changed.

France and Ireland played key roles developing the Europe-wide decision to blame Russia.

"Notwithstanding the evidence presented, Mr Varadkar was also eager to show public solidarity to the UK in the wake of the attack, as a measure of the benefits of being in the EU," the Irish source said.

Mr Macron's government moved quick to expel four Russian diplomats.Simon Coveney changed his mind about the Eighth Amendment, while Leo Varadkar decided to dump his 'spin unit'

It's probably just as well that our politicians are taking the next fortnight off to spring-clean their constituency offices.

There are many dull moments in Leinster House as TDs go through the motions of pretending that 'new politics' is a functioning parliament. We are treated to votes that don't actually count for anything and late-night debates devoid of intelligent contributions.

However, the past week was anything but boring. In fact, it was frantic.

It all began on Sunday night as Tanaiste Simon Coveney prepared to board a plane from Baldonnel to Sweden for a conference.

While waiting for take-off, he was on the phone to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, discussing an 'options paper' compiled by gardai and the Defence Forces.

It didn't take them long to decide that a Russian diplomat should be kicked out of the country - but that they would sit on the announcement for a couple of days.

At the same time, the front page of Monday's Irish Independent was starting to roll off the printing press with a story that would keep the spotlight on Mr Coveney, regardless of the new cold war. It revealed how, in a matter of weeks, he had gone from opposing repeal of the Eighth Amendment to supporting abortion up to 12 weeks.

"We are two months away from a national decision on whether or not to change our legal approach to sexual health and abortion or to stick with the status quo in place since the 1980s.

"For me, it's about how the State responds to those desperately hard choices in deeply private moments of vulnerability and responsibility," he said.

This landed reasonably well in political circles, with most of his party colleagues surprised by the dramatic shift but nevertheless accepting of his 'journey'.

By Tuesday morning, however, the mood had changed as ministers learned of his unconstitutional demand for a 'super majority' in the event that a future Dail tried to amend abortion laws once again.

The idea was quickly ruled out by the Attorney General Seamus Woulfe.

That same Cabinet meeting signed off the type of legislation to be introduced in the event of the abortion referendum being passed.

Health Minister Simon Harris ensconced himself in the Seanad, where he urged senators to keep the debate moving, so that he could finally set a date.

Meanwhile, Leo Varadkar caved to the relentless pressure to shelve the Strategic Communications Unit, otherwise known as his 'spin unit'.

Of course, a review found that the unit did nothing wrong in its promotion of Project Ireland 2040 - but realpolitik suggested that it was distracting from actual issues, such as Brexit.

Speaking of which, the Government thought that Tuesday would also be a good day to release a study warning that shortages of certain foods and drugs could be a consequence of the UK's exit.

It was dropped on top of journalists around the same time as a report showing that the email accounts of senior officials in the Department of Justice's policing division and secretary-general's office had not initially been searched following a request for information from the Charleton Tribunal.

By Wednesday morning, politicians, like the rest of the country, were gripped by events in Belfast. Some felt the need to take part in the social media frenzy.

Mr Harris had to sit through another day of Seanad debates, complete with tangents about people who "made tea for the Black and Tans", before finally confirming that May 25 would be polling day.

Standing alongside him at the announcement was Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy, who had just revealed that almost 10,000 people are homeless, including 3,755 children.

In the background, Micheal Martin plotted a secret reshuffle of his Fianna Fail frontbench.

He chose 1pm on Thursday to appoint a deputy leader, despite having repeatedly said he didn't need one.

Yesterday, the Russians retaliated after an Irish diplomat was instructed to leave their country, but we were too worn out to get excited.

Politics is certainly moving fast.

That reshuffle sparked talk of a potential election.

If we move at the same pace as the past five days, I wouldn't bet against something tripping themselves up and landing on the campaign trail.A rally held in support of the woman at the centre of the Belfast rape trial outside Cork City Hall on Thursday. Photo: Daragh McSweeney

Thousands of people outraged over the Belfast rape trial are expected to take to the streets across Ireland again today.

Many protesters are expected to attend rallies in Dublin and Belfast as well as smaller gatherings planned for Cork, Galway, and Limerick.

Noeline Blackwell, executive director of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC), said the level of public anger over the manner in which the rape trial was conducted has led to a massive outpouring of support for the complainant in the case and victims of sexual violence in general.

Ms Blackwell said 16,000 people have made donations totalling 30,000 to the DRCC since the verdict was delivered on Wednesday.

A jury found rugby internationals Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding not guilty of raping a student at a house party, while Jackson was also acquitted of sexual assault.

Co-accused Blane McIlroy was acquitted of exposure while Rory Harrison was found not guilty of perverting the course of justice and withholding information.

Less than 24 hours after the verdicts were delivered, thousands of people attended rallies in Dublin and Belfast to show their solidarity with the complainant.

Another rally is planned for 2pm today beside Dublin City Hall which will march to the Department of Justice on St Stephens Green.

Speaking about the unsolicited donations the DRCC has received, Ms Blackwell said: The trust people are putting in us to help the victims of sexual violence is extraordinary.

The DRCC had received twice the normal number of calls to its helpline from survivors of sexual violence and others since the verdict was read, she said.

The sense of anger by the public, however, is not really at the verdict but the way they felt the complainant was put through the mill.

Gardai say that they are aware of todays protests and will police accordingly.It received little attention this week, but a very significant review was ordered by Children's Minister Katherine Zappone into the handling by authorities of the case involving what is feared to be the largest paedophile ring the country has ever seen.

The Dail heard earlier this month how up to 20 children had been identified as alleged victims. Those familiar with the case say there has been nothing like it in Ireland before, with grooming of children for sexual activity a major feature.

Sadly, there are fears that yet again our State authorities did not act as early as they might have on various indicators of abuse.

One senior figure familiar with the matter has told the Irish Independent: "It will be the biggest abuse case in the history of the State and explosive for the State agencies."

The Dail heard that concerns had been expressed by a whistleblower in the welfare sector over the urgency of the response of State agencies when allegations first came to light.

We do not yet know what the terms of reference for the review will be.

In a statement this week, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs said the man who will lead the review, special rapporteur on child protection Geoffrey Shannon, was assisting in the drafting of these.

Advice will also be sought from the Attorney General, so as not to prejudice an ongoing Garda inquiry. Eleven people have been arrested by detectives thus far and files are being prepared for the DPP.

Dr Shannon is well placed to know what the potential failings are, having previously conducted much research on the interactions of State agencies.

In particular, last May he found overwhelming inadequacies in the way that information is shared between An Garda Siochana and Tusla.

These findings were made in a hugely significant report, which analysed the exercise of Garda powers to remove children from the home under Section 12 of the Childcare Act.

Notwithstanding the ongoing Garda investigation in the current case, at the very minimum it must be hoped that the review asks searching questions about whether indicators of abuse were picked up by gardai, Tusla and other State agencies.

It should be able to examine whether information was shared correctly - and if not, why not. If there are uncomfortable truths, these must be faced up to.

One thing which screamed out from the Section 12 report was that the framework for information-sharing leaves a lot to be desired.

While Dr Shannon was praising the work of gardai, his report highlighted many issues of concern, the most serious of which was a lack of inter-agency co-operation.

His report said there were inadequacies in the operation of the Garda Pulse system, with numerous gaps and flaws in the data captured.

The report was critical of the fact that there was little or no emphasis on formal training of new Garda recruits in relation to child protection. The lack of a proper Tusla out-of-hours service was also heavily criticised.

Dr Shannon urged a review of the Data Protection Acts and how these impact operationally for State agencies, in order to ensure that there are no legislative roadblocks impeding child-protection services sharing information relating to vulnerable children and their families.

Just over 10 months on from publication, progress on the implementation of recommendations has been slow.

Dr Shannon urged the appointment of specialised child-protection units nationally and the appointment of social workers to them.

While this matter is being examined, Tusla and Garda authorities have yet to work out how this would operate.

Tusla also said it was still working to develop a single national 24/7 out-of hours service.

How information should be shared is yet to be resolved. A memorandum of understanding on information-sharing between gardai and Tusla is being developed and is "in a final draft stage", Tusla said.

The Department of Children has recognised that this is a critical issue and said Ms Zappone had met with Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan and Dr Shannon "to discuss the issues which might inhibit the sharing of information in cases involving Tusla and An Garda Siochana, (which are) involved in child protection and criminal prosecution respectively".

Just how much progress has been made by An Garda Siochana is unclear.

The Irish Independent submitted a list of 15 questions in relation to the recommendations last Monday and has yet to receive a response.The line-up has been announced for this year's Sundays in Spring Concert Series at the Carlingford Heritage Centre and it offers

The series gets underway on Sunday April 8th with The Voice Squad from Drogheda featuring the extraordinary talents of Gerry Cullen, Phil Callery and Fran McPhail.

The following week, there's concert marking the 80th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War and those from Co Louth who lost their lives in the fight for democracy, with performances by the wonderful Karan Casey, Niall and Caoimhin Vallely and Cormac Breathnach.

Talented young musicians from The Armagh Pipers' Club take to the stage on Sunday April 22nd while master fiddler and fiddle maker Jim McKiloop launches his CD tribute to Sean McGuire on Sunday May 6th.

Things take a classical turn on Sunday May 12th with Airs, Arias and Aris when internationally renowned musical director and founder member of the London Armenian Opera and frequent visitor to Carlingford, baritone Aris Nadirian is joined on stage by soprano Roisin Bradley and Brian Connor, pianist with the RTE Concert Orchestra.

All concerts are in the afternoon, from 4pm to 5pm.

Tickets, priced 12, concessions 10, on sale at www.carlingfordheritagecentre.ie or by phone 042 9373454/9373888Texaco Childrens Art Competition adjudicator Aoife Ruane pictured during judging of entries in this years competition, the results of which will be announced mid-April

A number of Dundalk students have brought some serious colour to the Texaco Children's Art competition with their impressive drawings!

The Texaco Children's Art Competition adjudicator Aoife Ruane was pictured during judging of entries in this year's competition, the results of which are set to be announced mid-April.

In her hand is an entry by 17-year old Eoin McBride, from St. Brigid School, Dundalk, entitled 'The Brown Bull of Cooley.'

The second student drawing being held by the adjudicator is that by 11-year old Sarah Mallon, from Realt Na Mara, entitled 'Tropical Toucan'.

Also among the top entries being considered is the visually stunning 'Friends Till Told Otherwise' print submitted by 15 year old Hannah Turnbull from St. Vincent's Secondary school.

Some 446 students from Louth are amongst those from all parts of Ireland who are taking part in the annual competition, which is now in its the 64th year inspiring students to discover their artistic talents.

The winners will be announced when prizes are presented at a ceremony that takes place in Dublin in May.One of Dundalk's longest running family businesses, McCusker's newsagents and gift shop in Earl Street, is set to close in April.

The distinctive premises with its historic arched shop front, has been run by the McCusker family for nearly 120 years.

It is currently run by the third generation of the family, and Barbara, whose husband Paddy's grandfather first opened the shop, has decided to call it a day after working in the business for 35 years.

Barbara was instrumental in expanding the business from a traditional newsagents and sweetshop to selling quality Irish souvenirs, giftwear, stocking iconic brands such as Avoca, as well as greeting cards and novelty items.

The shop's closure will be another loss to Earl Street as Tommy The Bikes cycle shop is relocating to Gray's Lane.The value of landings at Clogherhead amounted to 8 million, representing a total volume of 1,500 tonnes. The industry is a significant employer with 1,941 people living in coastal communities along the Dublin and Louth coastline employed in the seafood sector.

The aquaculture sector in the North-Eastern region, which comprises of mussel and oyster farming, was worth a total of 5.5 million last year and enjoyed 24% growth nationally.

Seafood processing also experienced significant growth last year and there are now almost 4,000 people employed in seafood processing companies across Ireland. 30 of these companies are located in the North-East.

The Business of Seafood 2017 report was published by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), Ireland's Seafood Development Agency, and launched this week by Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, Michael Creed T.D.

Jim O'Toole, CEO of BIM commented; 'Ireland's Seafood Industry is thriving, with Clogherhead playing an important part of this success. Over the last two years, the contribution of the sector to Ireland's GDP has grown by over 14%. The fact trade sales have exceeded 1 billion for the first time demonstrates the clear demand for Irish seafood and it is important we build on this impressive performance as we collectively work to achieve the targets for seafood in the Government's Food Wise 2025 report".

Ireland's Seafood Sector recorded its third consecutive year of growth in 2017, with its value up 6.4% on the previous year, to contribute 1.15 billion to Ireland's GDP. This strong growth was driven by a 12% increase in net exports (331m), a 4% increase in domestic consumption (429m) and significant ongoing investment both private and public (386m).Maura Finnegan, Una Duffy and Anne Crombie with the hand knitted chicks on sale by the North Louth Hospice

The North Louth Hospice recently took delivery of a hundred beautiful hand knitted chicks in time for Easter and were amazed to discover that they were the creations of 93 year old Mrs Molly Hogan.

The Dunleer lady's favourite past time is knitting and she has made beautiful Christening shawls featuring intricate patterns for her grandchildren, great grandchildren and family friends.

More recently she has concentrated on knitting smaller items like these chicks, which she donates to local charities like the North Louth Hospice and SOSAD in Drogheda.

Her neighbour May Callan says Molly, who is cared for very well by her family, 'is a very interesting person to talk to and a great inspiration for all in regards to active aging.'

Proceeds from the sale of the chicks go towards the services and supports which North Louth Hospice provide to those affected by cancer.

These include the volunteer driver service which brings patients from their home to hospitals in

Drogheda and Dublin for chemotherapy and radiotherapy and back home again. Last year the team of 120 volunteer drivers provided 426 trips to Drogheda and 1007 trips to Dublin. The hospice also provides comforts for patients to enable them to stay at home. All this is done on a voluntary basis with the support of the local community.Haggardstown student and former Junk Kouture finalist Meabh O'Hanrahan got the opportunity to experience the competition from a different perspective when she was selected as a student judge for the western regional final recently.

A past pupil of the St. Vincent's Secondary School, Meabh won the eastern regional final in 2013 with her design 'Unlocked' - a 1920s flapper-style dress made entirely out of keys and wire.

Meabh was delighted that one of the other judges, fellow Louth woman Tracy Fahey from Limerick School of Art and Design, remembered the outfit from five years ago.

The 21 year old who is currently studying Business Studies in DCU, was thrilled to have been asked to join the judging panel in the Helix Dublin for the western regional final.

'This competition was one of the best memories I have from school,' she recalls. 'We were one of the first groups from St Vincent's to qualify for the national final and we had a great time.'

'I modelled the dress on the Late, Late Show and we got to go to the Electric Picnic. I would certainly encourage students to take part in the competition as it's so much fun.'

While Meabh still has a keen interest in fashion, she says she decided to do business studies rather than fashion as she wanted to keep her options open.

'I would like to go into the fashion industry, perhaps doing something like branding,' she says.

She thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being on the judging panel for the western regional final.

'The standard of entries was really high which made it difficult to pick the winners but it was great fun as well.'

'We went round and looked at the entries during the day so that we could see the work involved and spoke with all the groups,' she says. 'The final itself was fantastic with so many amazing outfits.'

Meabh has been asked to help the winners of the western regional final backstage when they take part in the national final in the 3 Arena next month.Bray and Greystones are the subjects of a mixed media exhibition of old photos, and more recent paintings and drawings, at Signal Arts Centre.

Greystones-based artist Graham Shepherd started his career as an art teacher, before moving into TV graphic design. He worked at RTE where he made animated title sequences at a time without computers, a difficult but rewarding activity.

Then followed a 10-year stint working for the BBC in London. There Graham encountered the beginning of electronic graphics.

He ended his tenure there a head of news and current affairs graphics.

Returning to Ireland, he freelanced as a lecturer in art colleges. The bulk of his activity was developing modules for persons with a disability - hence the creation of a Horizon project called Art Access which had a wide reach in the realm of special needs.

Graham then travelled and did some writing, but now has returned to painting, and resurrecting some older work, as well as re-appraising what kind of photography to engage with while also making some collages.

'I see these activities in the same frame as bird watching or flying kites, so the process remains within the context of other things,' he said.

'Some images may be abrupt but the overall aim is to generate a sense of tranquillity and visual pleasure.'

The exhibition runs from Tuesday, April 3 until Sunday, April 15.

An opening reception will take place on Friday, April 6 from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m.Aron Colgan and Benjamin Holland from New Court School in Bray were both awarded Highly Commended in Mental Health Ireland's art competition. Judges thought that their entries were full of colour and both had very important positive mental health messages.

Over 1,500 Irish students drew and photographed what mental health means to them for the competition.

Anxiety, stress and depression can be difficult for teenagers to talk about. Feedback from teachers and students was this competition opened up a space for the students to think about their own mental health and those around them.

Martin Rogan, CEO of Mental Health Ireland said 'Young people in Ireland have taken a great interest in mental health and this is very obvious from the entries we have received this year. They are not just interested in their own mental health but show interest in supporting others. This competition creates a platform for discussion that provokes and evokes a deeper conversation.

'The standard of work received was at a very high level in both categories and we were delighted to host our exhibition in Dublin City Council to showcase the top 45 entries from all over Ireland.'

The Exhibition and award ceremony took place last week in Dublin City County on Wood Quay with students and their families travelling from all over Ireland to attend. Artist Lisa Butterly helped to selecting the winning entries for Art and Rosaleen Heavin for Photography.An exciting weekend of literary events took place at Arklow Library as part of the Way with Words programme.

Led by Nell Regan, Wicklow County Council Literature Curator, 'Way with Words' is a Wicklow County Council initiative supported by Creative Ireland, in collaboration with Wicklow Arts Office and Library Services.

Special guest Michael Harding was present to discuss 'The Art of the Memoir' as well as his latest bestseller 'On Tuesdays I'm a Buddhist'.

Harding also paid a visit to Arklow Men's Shed where he received a warm welcome from the members.

On Friday, fiction fans delighted in a reading by Arklow author Adele O'Neill who shared an excerpt from her latest work 'Behind a Closed Door'.

This was followed by appearances by the winner of the 2015 Kerry Group Novel of the Year, Eoin McNamee, and Audrey Magee, the Wicklow novelist whose debut novel was shortlisted for the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction, will talk books.

Saturday was a day for the children which kicked off with a storytelling session with Wexford native Joe Brennan and an illustration workshop for the under-6s with the award-winning author of the 'Mad Grandad' series, Oisin McGann.

Poet Moya Cannon then facilitated an open-mic session which will included a signed poetry recital by the Library's Irish Sign Language Group.

The teens weren't forgotten either as award-winning blogger, travel writer, social media manager and U Magazine's Social Activist 2017, Una-Minh Kavanagh, gave a workshop entitled 'Successful Blogging for teens'.

Way with Words continues in Blessington Library in the coming weeks.

Highlights for the area in April and May include the 2016 Irish Times Poetry Now winner and Wicklow-born poet, Catriona O'Reilly, reading on Saturday, April 28 while on Friday, May 11 author and Irish Times columnist, Michael Harding, will recreate his Arklow talk and also visit Blessington Mens Shed.

'Way with Words' concludes in Blessington on May 12 with the winner of the 2017 Irish Independent Crime Book of the Year Award, Julie Parsons in conversation with Rose Barrett O'Donoghue.Residents of Earlsbrook nursing home and their family members and friends came together last Friday to mark Daffodil Day.

Staff also enjoyed the party at the Meath Road home and it was a great success.

Everyone donned their bright yellow daffodils to support the Irish Cancer Society.

Vedrana Horvat, one of the social care leaders, said that all of the staff contributed on the day.

It was n opportunity for staff, residents and family members to relax and spend some time together.

The day included some delicious cakes which were made in the Earlsbrook kitchen, a raffle with prizes for everyone, and the room was brightly decorated with yellow tablecloths.

There was music and plenty of dancing and singing on the day.

There were flowers and pins at reception, and some money raised for the Irish Cancer Society.

Everyone had a fantastic time at the party, which is an event which Earlsbrook hosts each year on the important fundraising day for the Irish charity.Rachel Egan, Emma Behan, Katie Bryne, Ria Brown and Holly Farrell, who were celebrating Australia

Roisin Hiney, Louisa Farrell, Aimee Kane, Molly Fitzgerald and Andrea Farrelly ready to do some Filipino Tinikling dancing

Students at Loreto in Bray celebrated countries all over the world during diversity week at the school.

The week of activities took place in the final week before the Easter holidays.

Students from each class researched particular countries then created displays and projects to inform their fellow pupils.

The entire school body got involved in the activities.

The projects and displays included outfits, cookery, sports, arts, dance and more, typical of the countries examined.

Some of the countries they celebrated included the Philippines, India, Australia and Spain.

The girls learned new and fascinating facts about places all over the world.

The exhibits were bright, colourful, entertaining and informative.

They celebrated the diversity present in their own school and the wider communities of Bray and Ireland.

The students worked hard on their projects prior to the fun week. There was a real festival atmosphere in the school.

Students and teachers alike enjoyed each part of the exhibition, from sampling the cuisine to practicing yoga.Overall winners Dylan Symes and Sam Ireland of Wild Wicklow Crafts from Colaiste Chraobh Abhann (senior), Ross Byrne of RB Woodcraft from Arklow CBS (junior) and Setanta Ballesty, Ray McHallen and Ollie Morrison of ConsTEALations from North Wicklow Educate Together (intermediate)

Eight young entrepreneurs have been selected to represent County Wicklow at the Student Enterprise Programme National Finals in Croke Park on May 2 after impressing at the Wicklow Final last week.

A record 1,500 students from 17 schools across the county took part in the local final held at Wicklow County Campus, Rathnew, on Tuesday, March 20.

Ross Byrne of CBS Arklow won the junior category with his project RB Woodcrafts. In the Intermediate Category, Ollie Morrison, Rowan Cody, August Cowan, Setanta Ballesty and Ray McHallem from North Wicklow Educate Together Secondary School in Bray were the winners with their business ConsTEAlations

Dylan Symes and Sam Ireland from Colaiste Craobh Amhann in Kilcoole came out on top of the senior category with their enterprise Wild Wicklow Crafts.

Sheelagh Daly from the Local Enterprise Office Wicklow was quick to praise this year's entrants.

'Every year we are blown away by the ideas and the business-savvy that these students have acquired at such a young age. They really are a credit to their teachers and school staff who have helped to nurture this talent.

'We wish today's winners all the very best as they go on to represent their county at the national finals in Croke Park in May.'

Donna Spellacy O'Leary, from Showoff.ie, Frank Curran, Chief Executive of Wicklow County Council, and Robin Bradley, President of Wicklow Town and District Chamber of Commerce were special guests at the county final.

In addition to the main awards, a number of other projects were also singled out for praise.

The winners of the awards for best stand were Handy Helpers from Colaiste Chraobh Abhann (junior) and Brittas Bath Teas from Dominican College Wicklow (senior) while the innovation awards were presented to Pebble Pals from Colaiste Chraobh Abhann (junior) and Baby Bandz from Blessington Community College.

Runners-up in the junior category were Fancy Flames from Colaiste Chraobh Abhann and Sea Chain from North Wicklow Educate Together Secondary School and in the senior category were On Cloud Wine and All Forked Up, both from Colaiste Bhride Carnew.

Bark from Colaiste Chraobh Abhann was the winner of the best report in the junior category.

The award for best presentation went to Team Plum TYI from St Kevin's Community College, Dunlavin.

Senior category awards were presented to Painted Porcelain from Colaiste Bhride Carnew for best product/service; Hibbou Industries of Templecarrig School in Greystones for best market research; and Colaiste Bhride Carnew's Mini Tree for most innovative sales strategy.

Accelleries from Loreto Bray collected the social media award and also received a special commendation in the senior category.Wicklow Trade Union Centre in Bray is closing its doors after serving the community since 1993.

Manager Patricia Shortt said that the Board of Management made the difficult decision because they can no longer afford to remain open.

She asked former clients to come in before the last day - Friday, April 6 - to collect outstanding certificates or provide email contact details to have CVs or other documents sent on.

'It became financially un-viable for us to continue,' said Patricia. Rent would be the highest expense incurred by the centre.

Patricia herself has been there for the past 17 years and is distraught.

'It's more disappointing because there's nothing I can do about it. I tried all last year. There's just no way I can get customers in and get bums on seats for the training courses. There are so many free courses out there, we can't compete with that. We have overheads to pay, such as rent.

'It was a hard decision to make but, in the end, we don't want to be seen as trading recklessly. It's an awful shame because we ran a good training centre.

'Over the years a lot of people have benefited from coming here to train,' she said.

'They found that our approach to training was person-centred and we progressed a vast number of people with learning difficulties. We got them through ECDL and many other things. It was our approach to training people, including those with learning difficulties, that made us successful as a training organisation.'

She said that the information section handled many cases and got people out of trouble. 'That will be a great loss to Bray when it goes,' she said.

The centre was established as a response by the Trade Union movement to the problem of unemployment in the early-1990s, at that time running at over 4,500 in the Bray area alone. The centre adopted a policy that its service would expand to all the unemployed and disadvantaged, whether coming from a trade union background or not.

'It's a very sad day and I regret that it had to happen. But there was no way around it. We've done everything we possibly could.'

Patricia said that centres in Galway, Limerick and Dundalk have suffered the same fate.

Services provided throughout the years have included information on entitlements, secretarial and CV services, training, guidance and much more and was available to people in the entire County as well as Shankill. 'The centre always had a good feel about it,' said Patricia.

Patricia said that staff employed currently on CE schemes will be placed elsewhere in appropriate positions.Mia Jamesons granny Kathleen Kinsella, sisters Holly and Kiva and her aunty Caitriona Kinsella watching the final of Irelands Got Talent in Doyles, Rathnew, on Saturday night

Three Rathnew dancers' journey on Ireland's Got Talent came to a glittering end on Saturday night as their dance troupe Xquisite were voted runners-up by members of the public.

While the RDC group was crowned the first ever winner of the series, there is no doubt that Xquisite won the nation's heart as the youngest entrants in the competition.

The ten-member troupe included talented Rathnew dancers Freya Roche (8), Kate Goulding (9) and Mia Jameson (11).

Xquisite received the 'Golden Buzzer' for their audition, sending into last Thursday's semi-final, where they received a standing ovation and won the public vote to gain a spot in Saturday's grand finale.

Emma Goulding, Kate's mother, said the youngsters have plenty to be proud after their fantastic performances on the show.

'They aren't devastated or heartbroken but they are disappointed,' she said.

'Their goal was always to get to the final but, once you get there, you want to win. They are rightly very proud of themselves and they now have phenomenal memories that will live with them forever. RDC had 31 members so it was always going to be difficult to beat them with phone votes.'

The reception the girls have received from the public has been hugely encouraging.

'Everywhere they went people were coming up to them and wishing them well. We went for a meal in the Woodpecker and staff wanted their photograph taken with Kate. Parents from school have been great to them as well. Everyone was talking about them,' said Emma.

Freya, Kate and Mia have also forged a very close bond with the rest of the Xquisite members, who hail from Tallaght.

On Sunday, they gathered in Tallaght to watch their teacher John Nolan compete in the final of Dancing with the Stars alongside Deirdre O'Kane.

'They have become their own real tight-knit family because they are so used to being together now,' said Emma. 'They were all at a party on Sunday to support John and have become so close. They are used to competing against one another so it was a wonderful experience for them to be part of a team.'One of the most popular shows for school productions in the English speaking world was staged over three nights by students at Colaiste Treasa, Kanturk last week.

Eighty six students served up an energetic, fun packed performance to audiences who were transported 'Back to the 80s' with songs which were released during that era by Cyndi Lauper, Simple Minds and the Proclaimers, among others.

The show featured a great mixture of numbers - solos, duets and group performances, showcasing the singing, dancing and acting skills of the performers. All 86 talented young people got into character with costumes, make up, hair styles and hair accessories from the era.

The students were thrilled to perform to over 1,000 people over the three nights and matinee performance, and organisers remarked that the musical was a fantastic confidence building platform for all who took part.

Colaiste Treasa teachers Anne Marie Griffin, Yvonne O'Gorman, Cait Buckley and Colette McCarthy co-ordinated the initial auditions in October, with rehearsals beginning in earnest in November when musical director and choreographer Theresa Maher and assistant director Cerys Loughnane came on board.

Back to the 80s was written by Neil Gooding with the original musical adaption by Scott Copeman. It was later re-orchestrated and arranged by Brett Foster in 2003.The plan to honour the memory of the late entertainer Johnny Barrett has gained momentum and a special tribute show in his memory will be shown on the big screen in the Charleville Park Hotel on Friday, April 13 at 8pm.

All proceeds from the night will go towards erecting a monument of Johnny in his home town of Charleville.

A similar show that took place recently in St. John's Theatre Listowel, Co. Kerry was very well supported and in light of this the organiser, Leo Finucane from Athea, Co. Limerick has organised the Charleville event.

The two-hour show will feature Johnny and the very best of country and Irish music, with Johnny playing in dance halls all over Ireland, and bringing in the beautiful scenery of different parts of Kerry, Cork, Limerick and Clare.

The DVD of this show will be launched on the night and would be a beautiful keepsake. It will bring back fabulous memories to the thousands of people who were entertained for so many years by the late great Johnny Barrett, who is gone and who will be never forgotten as his great music will live in our hearts forever.

Again, all proceeds of the DVD will go directly to the erecting of a monument to Johnny. This will be unveiled on the 10th anniversary of his death next December in Charleville.

A location for the monument in Charleville has yet to be decided, and discussions are ongoing with Cork County Council, with the assistance of local Councillor Ian Doyle, to select a suitable position for the monument, which will be four feet in height, and be a limestone and black granite structure. The monument will be executed by monumental sculptor Leo Finucane.

Johnny, who hailed from nearby Dromina, was a hugely popular figure and his easy style established him as a firm favourite where ever he played on the cabaret circuit in Ireland. His death at a relatively young age was keenly felt by the legion of loyal fans he had all over the country. No doubt they will be delighted to learn of this development, that the memory of their favourite musical entertainer is to be perpetuated in this manner in his native Charleville.Over 400 community and voluntary groups will roll up their sleeves during the month of April and take part in An Taisce National Spring Clean campaign.

Last year, community groups and individuals collected an estimated 500 tonnes of litter, with over 35 per cent of this recycled and the balance safely disposed of. Councillor John Paul O'Shea (Fine Gael) is encouraging everyone to play their part.

Cork County Council staff will also be on hand to assist communities with the disposal of the litter collected during the campaign. Rubbish bags, gloves, litter pickers and bibs will be delivered once registered by An Taisce in preparation for the Spring Clean.

Cllr O'Shea said: "Roadside litter is still a serious problem in our county and is a scourge to the many Tidy Towns Committees, development associations and community councils who are working tirelessly on a weekly basis to keep their towns and villages clean.

"This campaign, which has grown in strength in recent years, is an opportunity for communities to join together and work in partnership with Cork County Council in the battle against litter. It is also an ideal opportunity to meet your neighbours and enjoy the social aspect of the campaign".

The National Spring Clean campaign is funded by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government but supported at local level by local authorities who support the local clean up and litter disposal.

Since the first annual litter and rubbish clean-up in 1998, National Spring Clean has seen communities from all parts of the country mark the onset of spring and the longer evenings with clean-up activities in their communities. Over the last 18 years, annual participation has grown to almost 4,000 community groups and 500,000 participants nationwide.

Cllr O' Shea said: "It is also very welcoming to see many schools within the county registering this year. Our children are our future and educating them at a young age not to litter is very important for the environmental future of our county. They will in turn teach their parents/guardians of the importance of a clean environment".

He also encouraged everyone taking part in #SpringClean18 activities to spread the word by posting photos using the #lovewhereyoulive and #SpringClean18 hashtags to social media platforms.

Participants can tag the campaign on Twitter or Instagram using either the Twitter handle @NationalSpringC, or the Instagram handle @nationalspringclean.

Participants can also post their photos to Cork County Council's Facebook and Twitter pages @Corkcoco.

To register, contact An Taisce National Spring Clean by calling 01 4002219 or online at www.nationalspringclean.orgAcross Europe this year, the wonder of heritage is being celebrated thanks to 2018 being the European Year of Cultural Heritage.

As an element of the year, Europa Nostra is running an award scheme on Cultural Heritage as an Asset for Responsible and Sustainable Tourism. The awards will be given for achievements by cultural tourist destinations which have produced significant results related to enhancing visitor experience, while respecting traditions and involving local communities.

Examples of such cultural tourism can relate to: religious and pilgrimage; coastal and marine; cultural landscapes; industry and military; historic houses, villages and cities and contributions by cultural and creative industries.

The awards are open to all tourist destinations across Europe, local and regional authorities, tourism boards and associations, destination management organisations and cultural NGOs. The closing date is July 1st 2018 and the awards ceremony will take place in Cyprus. For further information visit http://www.culturaltourism-network.eu/award-2018.html.

Tourism is greatly welcomed around the world and Ireland is no different, having received a documented 8.742 million overseas visitors in 2016, which was worth 5.1 billion to the Irish economy.

There are however tourists of a different kind that end up costing the host nation substantial amounts of money and many countries go to significant lengths to keep them out. These tourists relate to our natural world - they are the invasive species.

Non-native species are known as those that arrived in Ireland after the year 1500AD. Today in Ireland there are 1,280 non-native species out of a total species count of nearly 16,000 (15,963 to be precise). Many non-native species are well naturalised and have had varying effects - take for example the non-native trees sycamore and beech, both introduced from England in the 17th Century.

However, some non-native species are categorised as invasive i.e. those that have significant adverse impacts in the host country's wildlife. Here in Ireland it has come to the stage that there are indeed more invasive species than there are species of native bird (425 and 411, respectively).

From March 23rd to 29th organisations across the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey have been raising awareness of invasive species through Invasive Species Week, an initiative to promote awareness of such species and to help prevent their spread. Roughly 10-15 % of alien species arriving in Europe eventually become invasive, with a cost to the European economy of at least 12 billion per year. The cost to Ireland's economy is well over 2 million per year, but while money is replaceable, it is not as easy to restore healthy ecosystems after invasives have taken over.

Some of the most noted invasives in Ireland are Japanese Knotweed, Giant Hogweed, Himalayan Balsam, Rhododendron, the Grey Squirrel and the American Mink. The National Biodiversity Data Centre website (www.biodiversityireland.ie) contains excellent information on invasives for those seeking to find out more and to see what they can do.

Natural heritage, like so many aspects of heritage, needs to be conserved and valued. Something that is valued by people, not in the monetary sense, but rather in the more intrinsic, essential to who we are as a people sense, will always stand a good chance of being preserved and passed on from generation to generation. By looking at heritage in an holistic way one can see its connectivity throughout, and indeed how we are all connected to it.

The Muscrai Gaeltacht is such a place where there are layers and layers of heritage and interconnections with the local community. In recognition of the wonderful heritage that Muscrai possesses, the last few years have seen the developing of a heritage plan for the area. The plan, which has been supported by the Heritage Council, was commissioned by Cork County Council, teaming up with Muscrai group Acadamh Fodhla.

The plan has benefited from great insight and research undertaken by Acadamh Fodhla with Lead Consultant Liam Mannix and team undertaking an excellent piece of work. The plan is nearing completion and will form an integral part of the heritage of the Muscrai area upon completion.

Meanwhile President Michael D. Higgins was in Baile Mhuirne last Saturday night, 24th March, for the World Premier of Na Fianna, a new work by Peadar O Riada, based on the text of the late Mons. Padraig O Fiannachta.

At the event, the background to the plan and the scope of same was conveyed to the President, with Cllr. Gobnait Ni Mhuimhneachain present as Deputy Mayor of the County of Cork together with Irish Officer Aileen Loughrey and Heritage Officer Conor Nelligan. More information on the Muscrai Plan will be provided in the coming weeks.

With regard to upcoming events, there is plenty scheduled for the month of April, which is just around the corner. One to take note of this coming week takes place in Kinsale on April 5th, where Terry Connolly will talk about 'The Boatmen of Kinsale'. The talk, which has been organised by the Kinsale History Society, takes place in the Temperance Hall and commences at 8pm.

The following week, Thursday April 12th, will see a wonderful talk in Blarney by Liam O'Brien who will discuss the Flight of the Bremen in 1928. Further information on this talk and many more events taking place throughout April will be provided in next week's article.At an awards ceremony in Croke Park last week, Aoife O'Leary, Chloe Cottrell, Maire O'Donoghue and Aoife O'Connor from Colaiste Treasa were honoured for their participation in the 2018 Certified Irish Angus Beef Schools Competition.

Organised by Irish Angus Producer Group, ABP and Kepak, the initiative challenges students to rear five Irish Angus Cross calves for 18 months until their slaughter as part of their Leaving Certificate Agricultural Science project.

The group from Colaiste Treasa reared their calves on Frank Murphy's Glen South Farm. Their project explored the challenge of helping farmers to understand the value of planning their production system to maximise return.

The group were one of five finalists selected to take part in the competition over 18 months which aims to encourage second level students to gain an understanding about the care and attention that is required to produce and market the highest quality beef for consumers.

Mark Shorten and Conor Lehane from St. Brogan's College, Bandon, were last week announced as the overall winners of the competition.The annual Easter Commemoration takes place at the monument situated in the Town Square on Easter Sunday.

This is the 91st anniversary of the commemoration, with the Millstreet National Monument Committee co-ordinating the staging.

Guest speaker is Gerry White, the well-known military historian and an author of several books on WW1 and local history, including 'A Great Sacrifice - Cork Servicemen Who Died In The Great War' and 'The Burning of Cork' with Brendan O'Shea.

He also wrote 'Baptised in Blood', the Cork story of 1916. Recently Gerry contributed two articles to the Bord Gais Energy Book of the Year relating to the full story of Ireland's revolutionary history from 1913 to 1923.

'Atlas of the Irish Revolution', edited by John Crowley, Donal O Drisceoil, Mike Murphy and John Borgonovo.

Published by Cork University Press, the book draws together existing and ongoing research into the revolutionary period, and includes contributions from leading scholars from a range of disciplines, and Gerry White was one of many who contributed to this award winning book.

Mr White was a familiar face on television during the 1916 Commemorations and wrote extensively on the 1916 period in both local and national press in the lead up to the commemorations.

His previous visit to Millstreet two years ago saw him deliver a fascinating lecture entitled 'Order, Counter-order, Disorder The Cork Story of 1916'.

His contribution was in conjunction with the launch of he book 'Ready, Willing, Waiting, the Millstreet Story of 1916' by Noreen Meaney and The Millstreet Monument Committee.

The Millstreet National Monument Committee extend an invitation to the public all to attend the event after 11.30am ass in Millstreet. As always, the Millstreet Pipe Band will be in attendance.Things just keep getting sweeter over at Longueville House in Mallow, where every new cider they brew up seems to turn to gold these days.

Longueville House Cider has won silver along with Longueville Beverages' newest addition to the family, Cider Mor, winning gold plus being crowned Overall Champions in the Cider Cup at the Alltech Craft brew and Food Fair in the Commonwealth Cup Awards.

Alltech, Irelands largest craft brews and food festival, held this year (March 8-10) in the Convention Centre in Dublin, drew thousands of visitors and showcased craft beverages from around the world. With stiff competition from nine countries, over 70 breweries and cider mills and with almost 400 entries, Longueville's Cider Mor took on the impressive competition to win gold. This accolade is given to a beverage which 'is an excellent product that displays the correct balance of taste, aroma and appearance appropriate for the style, and a high level of technical merit'.

The Alltech Commonwealth Cup (AKA Dublin Craft Cider Cup) acknowledges outstanding performance within the food and drink industry and Longueville was honoured to take their place on this esteemed list.

"The judges were particularly impressed with Longueville Mor. This robust cider with an alcohol level of 8% had tremendous complexity with a rich apple aroma which was well balanced with dryness and acidity. The oak notes added to the complexity in flavour observed by the judging panel," said head judge Dr. Gearoid Cahill.

The Cider Mor is said to be a clever mix of Longueville's traditional cider aged in the award-winning brandy casks for six months, has a great depth of flavor and a robust and unique taste.

"We have been blown away by the popularity of our newest addition, Cider Mor, and by how well it has been received from those who love and appreciate independent, non-industrial, craft beverages and artisan produce," said Longueville's William O'Callaghan. "It is a great honour to be acknowledged by our peers and key industry influencers and to be awarded the gold medal, we are absolutely delighted."

Longueville, about two miles on the Kanturk side of Mallow, is a family run business and uses traditional methods and only specialty cider apples of Dabinett and Michelin to produce Cider Mor. And the O'Callaghans, proprietors, gae a big nod to Joan Kelleher from the North Cork Leo Enterprise Board, Mallow, for their assistance throughout the last number of years.Businesses in the Abbey Centre were once again left counting the cost this week after thieves broke into the shopping mall for the second time in less than a week.

On March 18, damage was caused to doors and windows as The Abbey Restaurant, The Kiosk Shop and EuroGiant were all broken into. At The Kiosk, a cash register was ripped from the wall and thrown on the ground, while a window was also smashed.

The most recent incident took place at some time around midnight on Saturday and saw a window pane smashed and a tip jar containing approximately 5 taken from the Abbey Restaurant. Damage was also caused at The Kiosk Shop yet again and thieves are said to have made off with a quantity of cigarettes and some other items.

Business owners were devastated to find that they had been the victims of yet another break-in and gardai are carrying out a full investigation into the matter. Anyone who may have seen anything suspicious is asked to contact Enniscorthy Garda Station on 053 9242580.It needs to be made easy for consumers to embrace a reduced plastic life

There's a push on to encourage supermarkets to reduce the amount of packaging on goods and to provide shoppers with more options when it comes to reducing waste.

Anyone who does a weekly family shop will know that frustrating feeling when along with the fridge and cupboards, the waste bin is brimming over with soft plastics.

Everything, it seems needs its own layer of plastic and for consumers, if you want to purchase the goods, you must accept the layers of plastic along with it.

I don't know what the idea is behind even putting a plastic wrapper on a bunch of bananas but it's happening.

The selection of wrapper-less fresh produce is ever-dwindling and even when the option is there, what do put them into? - a non-recyclable plastic bag.

Years ago, Ireland scoffed and rolled its eyes at the notion of bringing our own shopping bags to the supermarket.

We said it would never work and lamented the thin plastic bags of old but within a matter of months, the bag for life was where it was at.

Finally, people started thinking about the benefits of re-using things and of reducing their plastic consumption.

However, within a few years, we seem to have regressed somewhat in the amount of soft plastics that's making its way into our trolleys, and in turn, waste bins.

If consumers aren't happy with this , we need to start making it clear.

I've seen some people happily unwrapping all their products in some supermarkets and filling up the public bins to send a message and to avoid taking it home.

Many would not dream of doing this but still curse the shops when they have to dispose of the plastics themselves at home.

The thing is, it needs to be made easy for consumers to embrace a reduced plastic life.

There is no such option in the smaller towns and rural areas, but in cities there are a number of large stores where you can buy most food items loose and transport it home in your own reusable containers.

This is much more costly and much more time consuming, especially if you have to drive out of your way to get there, and therefore only the most dedicated among us will make it a regular thing.

Surely there must be a happy medium?A young pupil from Balrothery has been chosen as one of Ireland's best young painters for his entry to the Sightsavers Junior Painter Awards 2018 12-year-old George Downes, a pupil at Balrothery National School, is delighted to have his entry 'Lift off to a brighter future' paining selected.

It was inspired by the competition theme of 'Put Us In The Picture'. George's is a regional winner in the Leinster 5th/6th class category. Competition was as strong as ever with children from hundreds of primary schools across the country entering the very popular annual art competition.

George is one of the 15 finalists picked to have their paintings displayed at an awards ceremony in Dublin on April 17 where the overall winners will be revealed.

The Sightsavers Junior Painter Awards aims to inspire Irish children to express their artistic talent through painting whilst developing an appreciation of the importance and value of their sight and to bring awareness of the important work Sightsavers carries out in developing countries to prevent avoidable blindness and promote equal opportunities for people with disabilities.

This year's 'Put Us In The Picture' theme inspired colourful, imaginative and creative entries.

One of this year's judges, disability campaigner Sinead Burke, said: 'In the year that Ireland will ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, it was inspiring to see the appetite that children, teachers and communities have in exploring the nuanced conversation surrounding disability.

'I was incredibly impressed by the children's pairing of artistry and intellect as they approached complex topics including identity, the social model of disability, allyship and othering.'

The national winners will receive cash prizes for their schools, sponsored by The Book Centre and Barker and Jones bookshop, and memberships and 'toolboxes' full of arts and crafts materials from ReCreate Ireland.Community and local development groups from across Fingal have attended a seminar on promoting social inclusion in communities.

Hosted by Pobal, who work on behalf of Government to support communities, the seminar was an opportunity for community groups to reflect on future challenges to address social exclusion and poverty in a local and regional context.

Over 80 representatives from community groups in Dublin attended the seminar. Speakers included Denis Leamy, Pobal CEO; Paul Skinnader, Pobal Executive Director; Brid O'Brien, Head of Policy at the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU); and Dr Chris McInerney, Department of Politics and Public Administration UL.

The seminar discussed the vital role the sector plays in enabling inclusive communities in a changed and diverse environment. The importance of co-ordination within the sector, at local, regional and national level, to avoid duplication of effort and intervention is the responsibility of all those working in the sector.

Brid O'Brien from the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed spoke about enabling inclusive communities, promoting equality of opportunity within society particularly among those who are unemployed.

Looking at the wider challenges for the state, Dr Chris McInerney of the Department of Politics and Administration in UL, discussed the need for active policies and resources to support community work and community development to achieve the ideal of inclusive communities.Garristown will host the Fingal Old IRA Commemorative Society on Easter Sunday.

For over 70 years the Society has staged an Easter Sunday Commemoration marking the 1916 Rising anniversary.

The 5th Battalion of the Dublin Brigade known as the Fingal Volunteers played a strategic role during Easter week.

The Commemoration commences with the reading, by Orla Connolly, of the Proclamation outside Garristown Library after the 10.30 mass in the village. The Proclamation was first read on Easter Monday by Padraig Pearse outside the GPO. Padraig was familiar with Garristown as Pearse & Sons, the family Monumental Works had installed the alter in the parish church here.

The parade formed by the Society's re-enacters will march behind the Black Raven Pipe Band to the local graveyard. A Wreath in symbolic recognition of all who gave service during Easter Week and all who aided the Fingal Volunteers, during the War of Independence, will be laid on the grave of James J Heery a local who served in the GPO in 1916. A pipers lament will be played in their memory. The bugler will sound the Last Post, and Revelle as the National Flag is attended to.

On conclusion of the graveyard ceremonies, The parade will march to the Community Centre for light refreshments arriving 12.15pm. An exhibition of memorabilia and photographs will be on display there. A talk on the Fingal Volunteers will conclude the day's events. The day's events will conclude at 1.30pm.A long campaign by parents of children with special needs to secure a permanent new home for St Michael's House school in Skerries appears to be nearing an end as the Minister for Education confirms the acquisition of a new site for the school is 'at an advanced stage'.

Deputy Brendan Ryan TD raised the issue in the Dail recently where he urged Minister for Education, Richard Bruton to advance the project, saying the current school building was 'not fit for purpose'.

Deputy Ryan told the Minsiter: 'St. Michael's House special school in Skerries is at maximum capacity in a building that is not fit for purpose. I am raising this matter today to impress on the Minister the urgent need to get the site acquisition process completed as soon as possible and for the new building for St. Michael's House to be delivered without any further delays.'

He added; 'In 2015, I brought the then Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, to St. Michael's House in Skerries to see for herself the current building and how inadequate it is to meet the needs of the pupils. She recognised the need and the Department officials recognised the need but the prioritisation of the provision of new schools has been too slow.'

Detailing the urgency of the situation, Deputy Ryan said: 'The current building is unfit for purpose. The school has been housed there for 36 years and, unfortunately, the building is well past its use-by date. I have visited it several times. The mounting level of repairs needed just to keep the building in basic condition is financially onerous.

'The school received prefabs in recent years due to the poor state of the building and the benefits are acknowledged by everyone involved, but these are not long-term solutions and are merely putting the finger in the dam.'

With only six spaces available for incoming pupils in the new academic year, at least 15 local families will be left without a place in the special school for their child, Deputy Ryan explained.

Minister Bruton responded, confirming that a plan to provide a 14-classroom new school is advancing and explained that negotiations with to acquire a site from a landowner were 'at an advanced stage'.

He added: 'I confirm that a potential permanent site option has been identified and is being progressed. My Department, with the assistance of Fingal County Council, is engaging with the landowner.'

Minister Bruton also wrote to Senator James Reilly on the issue, confirming the news that site acquisition for the school was advancing.

Senator Reilly said: 'I am delighted that at long last a site for the long awaited new school for St Michaels House special school has been identified and the acquisition process is moving to completion.'

The news was also welcomed by Skerries-based councillor, Cllr Tom O'Leary, who said it was a 'great day for the parents and the excellent dedicated staff and the special students in St Michael's House'.

He said that the whole school community can at last 'look forward now with certainty to a new school and participate in the planning and design of their new school'.

In 2016, a group of parents of children at the school came together to form 'Our Children's Voice', to push the development of a new school forward following what they called a 'decade of broken promises'.

The parents' group said that a new school had been promised since 2007 and was yet to be delivered.

Two years on from the start of that campaign, it seems the parents and school community are closer than ever to their goal.There was a hive of activity in the Loch Garman Arms last week for the Gorey Malawi Health Partnership annual fundraising table quiz.

Peter Harrington from Gorey Malawi Health Partnership said they raised 1,275 for the charity and would like to thank all who made it to the table quiz.

The main aim of the charity is to support the improvement of asthma care by supporting a number of hospitals and nursing schools in Mzuzu, Malawi.

'Thanks to a significant donation by Maria Medical Technology we have funds to support the employment of medical staff in Mzuzu to advance the work,' said Peter.

There was a total of 18 teams for the quiz and funds raised were boosted by the raffle as it gave people an opportunity to contribute beyond the entrance fee.

Quizmaster Brian Cahill asked some tough questions. The team captained by Majella Healy and Lindy Vaughan were eventually overtaken by Noddy Breen's Gorey Rugby Club in the final two rounds.

The Gorey Malawi Health Partnership said they would like to thank everyone for the support.Junior Defence Minister Paul Kehoe is just back from south Lebanon where he met Irish troops serving alongside other UNIFIL peacekeepers.

'My reasons for visiting you here are very straightforward. Firstly, and most importantly I want to thank you for all you are doing to contribute to the peace and security in the region,' Minister Kehoe told the troops in a speech.

'What you do here, day in and day out, culminates in the realisation of our words of commitment to peacekeeping, and also to progress in the region. Your work and your actions fill every Irish person with pride.

'Secondly, I want to see for myself, at first hand, the situation currently facing our troops here in South Lebanon.'

The Minister said Ireland has participated in UNIFIL in various guises since its establishment in 1978. 'Ireland's participation down the years in UNIFIL has illustrated the very positive and practical difference that small countries like Ireland can make in the world's trouble spots.

'The joint participation of Ireland, Finland and Estonia in this mission demonstrates our joint contribution to international peace and security. It also demonstrates the benefits of our mutual cooperation on defence issues within the European Union through the Common Security and Defence Policy and the benefits of our participation in NATO's Partnership for Peace.

Minister Kehoe said that through a common endeavor within the EU and NATO PfP, 'we have enhanced the capacity of our forces from Ireland, Finland and Estonia, to operate together in conflict zones throughout the world.

'Here on the ground in Lebanon we can realise the benefits of those endeavors and deliver peace and security to the people of South Lebanon.'

'I am very aware of the enormous sacrifices you make here,' he told the troops, among them several from his home county.

'I realise how much you all miss your homes, your families and your loved ones. I know the dangers you face and the hardships you endure as part of your mission. I will continue to ensure that Defence Forces personnel serving on overseas missions are equipped with the essential training and equipment they require,' said Minister Kehoe.

'While your presence here is a great source of pride to Ireland, it is the difference between life and death for so many people living here.

'We may be a small nation, but we can stand tall when it comes to helping some of the most beleaguered people on this planet.'About Me Scott Because prophetic scriptures are found throughout the bible, it is obvious that a comprehensive, systematic approach would be useful, if not necessary, for the understanding of prophecy. Past prophecies have been fulfilled in a literal manner, as confirmed by the dating of these writings and historical records of confirmation. These past prophecies also serve as a model of how to interpret future prophecies. A literal view of prophecy clearly indicates a certain sequence of events will occur within a single generation, concluding with the Tribulation and Second Advent and these events will be obvious. The prophetic signs appear to be present in this generation and we believe these signs are revealed in the news from around the world. View my complete profileAt the opening of the Gorey Film Club were director of Song of Granite Pat Collins, Film Club Programmer from Gorey School of Art Deirdre Robinson and Director of Gorey School of Art Paul

Periphery Space at Gorey School of Art was a hive of activity on Thursday night for the exciting launch of Gorey Film Club.

The new purpose built community cinema situated on Mary Ward Lane is an intimate 32-seater cinema with surround sound and offers members a good, old fashioned, cosy cinema experience.

It was founded with a mission to provide the local community with access to the best Irish and World cinema. The members-only film club offers an exciting programme of independent movies.

Director of Gorey School of Art Paul Carter welcomed everyone and explained 'it is often impossible to see the best independent cinema outside of Dublin'.

'Our goal is to act as a complement to the local multiplexes and bring Gorey and the surrounding area a rich selection of quality movies and documentaries not otherwise available to see locally,' added Paul.

In addition to screening a fortnightly programme, guest speakers are also planned throughout the year.

Film Club's Programmer Deirdre Robinson said they are off to a flying start with a special screening of this year's Irish selection for Best Foreign film at the Oscars.

'We are opening with the mesmerising Irish film "Song of Granite" and are delighted to have award-winning director Patrick Cullen join us on the night for a Q&A,' said Deirdre.

The film club is run as a not-for-profit venture and operates a 25 seasonal membership scheme which makes the cost of an entertaining and informative night out amazing value.

'Local film-lovers are delighted they no longer have to trek to Dublin to see Indie movies,' said Paul. 'The response has been fantastic, so much so that unfortunately memberships for the spring season have sold out.'Ben Simon and Callum Maguire who are putting together a stage production of the famous Dingle sturgeon story.

It is more than 50 years since the incredibly rare sturgeon fish was landed in Dingle and managed to escape, but the story has been retold many times. Now the unique and unusual story is once again coming to life - this time on the stage by actor and playwright, Callum Maguire, with strong links to Killarney.

Callum, who grew up in the UK, but spent a lot of time in Killarney, with his family including his uncle, Johnny Maguire, fell in love with the now famous story when he first heard it and he now wants to bring it to life through theatre.

In 1966 this rare and very valuable sturgeon fish was brought into Dingle harbour. According to tradition at the time it should be presented to the British queen but instead the then President of Ireland Eamon De Valera promised it to the Poor Clare Sisters.

Crowds gathered at the harbour to see this famous fish, which is what caviar comes from, and local man John Brosnan, who was just 19, was on board the boat at the time.

Some confusion occurred which led to John throwing the fish overboard and it swam away never to be seen again.

However, in another rare stroke of luck, a second sturgeon was caught later that day but the skipper of that boat would not pass it onto Eamon De Valera, and instead sold it to the Billingsgate Fish Market in East London where it ended up full circle with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

Callum and co-actor and writer Ben Simon arrived in Kerry last week to meet with those still alive who were involved with the original story, including John Brosnan himself.

They also met with Rickey Keane of O Cathain Iasc Teo whose father was involved in the original landing of the fish.

Callum and Ben are bringing the play to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and are planning both a UK and Irish tour, including Kerry, with their production "Catch of the Day - The Sturgeon Story".

"We came to Kerry this week to gather material. There has been a great reaction in Dingle. It is a great story," says Callum.

"We had to go to where it all started. It is a true life story brought to life on stage." Callum and Ben have set up a Go Fund Me Page to help fund the production which includes four actors and are appealing for the public to help bring the Kerry story to the stage.

The Go Fund Me page is Get Sturgeon to the Fringe and updates can be found on Twitter.The pockets of red squirrels found throughout Ireland today are not well mixed and many of the populations appear to be genetically isolated

The red squirrel is regarded a native Irish animal. If there were squirrels in Ireland before the last ice age, it is assumed that the ice, snow and cold wiped them out together with their host trees. It is also assumed that when the ice finally melted that Red Squirrels colonised our green and pleasant land under its own steam before rising sea levels cut us off as an island.

It is not known for certain if they did colonise naturally or if people brought them here. It is not known why people would want to import them. Their remains have never been reported from archaeological digs.

The earliest evidence of the Red Squirrel being present in Ireland is a reference in a historical document dated from about the year 655 AD. By medieval times they were abundant as evidenced by the historical records of an export trade in pelts.

Exports of squirrel pelts fell dramatically during the eighteenth century in tandem with the widespread destruction of native woodlands. The trade ceased, and it is believed that the Red Squirrel possibly became extinct.

Several landlords reintroduced Red Squirrels to their estates. At least ten introductions from England are documented during the period 1815-1876. These animals are believed to have thrived, multiplied and spread.

So, is the Red Squirrel a native? And if it is, are there any natives left or are they all descendants of later introductions?

In a new collaborative study, mammal researchers, led by Denise O'Meara of Waterford Institute of Technology, used DNA to unravel the complex history of the Red Squirrel. They found that the Irish population retains a genetic footprint of a mixed ancestry. The heritage of some animals can be traced to Britain, as expected, but others retain a heritage rooted in mainland Europe.

So, our population is made up of a mixed bunch. While it might appear beneficial to the species to have such a broad genetic background, the new study shows that the pockets of red squirrels found throughout Ireland today are not well mixed and many of the populations appear to be genetically isolated and at risk of dying out in the future.

The problem is that Ireland's level of forest cover is still one of the lowest in Europe. Clear-felling, over-thinning and the lack of substantial hedgerows to act as wildlife corridors linking plots of woodland, results in populations being isolated, bobbing like a fleet of arks in a sea of uncertainty.Kerry Social Farming participants Denise Kerins of Gneeveguilla and Tracey McCarthy from Cromane at work on the OMahony Farm in Castleisland.

Kerry Social Farming held their first Farm Walk of 2018 at the farm of Helen OMahony, Lissanore, Castleisland and it was followed by the presentation of certificates to host farmers whove recently completed First Aid Responder and Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults training. Kerry Social Farming is a social inclusion project operated under the legal umbrella of South Kerry Development Partnership. The project is operated by means of a shared service model to help Vulnerable Adults to work and help on and around farms in Kerry . Photo by Domnick Walsh

Helen OMahony and Miah OMahony from Castleisland with Kerry Social Farming participant Breda OSullivan from Killorglin at work with Toby the farm dog.

Such has been the success of the Kerry Social Farming project in South Kerry it has now expanded county-wide with five new farmers in North Kerry coming on board with the unique project.

Kerry Social Farming, is a project that facilitates adults with disabilities to visit and help out regularly on farms in Kerry. The initiative allows the participants to work with animals on the farm as well as learning farm skills and life skills. It also helps them become part of the local community.

On the other side of the coin it helps local farmers develop new relationships and to have assistance and company on their farms.

The unique project has received nation-wide and European praise, and was the winner of the 2017 Kerry Community Awards as well as being honoured at the National Pride of Place Awards. The Social Farming initiative works in co-operation with many agencies in the county including Kerry County Council, disability service providers, the HSE and NEWKD, amongst others.

It is also supported through the Rural Social Scheme and the TUS programme. Kerry Social Farming has gone county-wide with five farms in North Kerry opening their doors for young adults with disabilities. These are in Tralee, Ballybunion, Ballyduff and Castleisland.

There are 11 farms participating in south Kerry. On Thursday last a farm walk took place in the farm of Helen O'Mahony in Castleisland to showcase the project and the benefits for all those involved.

Among those in attendance were participants and farmers from South Kerry as well as new farmers in north Kerry. Chairman of the board of NEWKD John Stack, who is also a farmer, and IFA Munster representative John Coughlan also attended.

A presentation was also made by Belinda Gascoigne from UCC/Skellig CRI Cahersiveen on a new Social Farming training course currently being developed.

"The idea was to promote the project in North Kerry. What is unique about this project is that it is voluntary and unique," says Kerry Social Farming Facilitator Irene Kavanagh.

Currently the project is funded by the Department of Agriculture but a long-term funding solution is key to the future of social farming and to its future across the county.The Skellig Centre for Research and Innovation is all set to hold a course on Celtic Ireland over two weekends in April.

The module is organised in conjunction with University College Cork and will form part of the Diploma in Local and Regional Studies.

Students can, if they so wish, secure five credits by completing the required module assessment.

The course aims to provide an opportunity to understand Ancient Ireland's rich cultural history and traditions. Topics are set to include the early history of Ireland, early manuscript sources, pre-Christian gods and goddesses, heroic literature, and early Irish poetry.

This module aims to help participants learn about the diverse range and oldest written sources for the period.

It will also examine surviving evidence and the themes of early heroic literature. Among these will be the warrior ethos, as well as the role of women and kingship.

The course will take place in Cahersiveen Library on 7 and 8 April and again on 21 and 22 April. It will cost just 200.

To reserve a place or obtain more information, you can contact skelligcri@ucc.ie or phone 087 3751062.It may have rained but the county was dripping in glorious yellow last Friday as the Irish Cancer Society held its National Daffodil Day.

The annual event involves the selling of daffodil pins and bunches of the flower in aid of Cancer Research. Every year sees a successful turnout but this year in particular there was a marked rise in support across the county which will undoubtedly have a positive effect in the net amount raised.

Chairman of the Killarney and South West branch of the Irish Cancer Society Eugene O'Sullivan was suitably impressed with the support on the streets.

"The turnout this year was excellent. We saw a massive rise compared to last year which is fantastic."

Eugene said the most impressive rise in support was seen in Rathmore where a very successful coffee morning and cake sale took place in St Joseph's Day Care Centre.

There were even stands on the side of the road so that cars passing could stop and purchase something. "It was fantastic in Rathmore - Breda McAuliffe and her staff were amazing. So far we know that 2,800 was raised there but they are still counting so that could rise yet," he added.

Meanwhile, in Killarney, there was also huge support for the annual event where many local schools and shops got involved in the day with some schools hosting a no-uniform day during which students wore something yellow instead of their school uniforms.

"So far, across all Killarney branches we have raised 22,000 but since the schools are closed for the Easter holidays they haven't all been accounted for yet, so that again could be more," Eugene said.

"It's great to see such massive support for such a worthy cause because everyone, whether it's directly or indirectly, is affected by cancer".

In Tralee, volunteer Kathleen Needham spoke to The Kerryman as she was selling daffodils on The Mall.

"This is my first-year volunteering for this but I have been told that the support this year is much bigger than last year, she said.

"People are being very generous and are happy to donate for the cause. It's amazing to see everyone wearing the daffodils - it's brilliant."

There was a huge response too in towns such as Listowel, Cahersiveen, Dingle, Kenmare and Sneem.

Overall, the Irish Cancer Society saw great support from the people of Kerry this year on Daffodil Day.

Well done and here's to next year!Turf cutters at Moanvenlagh bog have described as 'hopeful' a meeting with the Minister for Culture, Heritage and The Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan on the future of turf cutting at the north Kerry bog.

The Dail Eireann meeting was arranged by Deputy Michael Healy-Rae to try and reach a solution that would allow locals cut turf in a designated part of the bog, which was prohibited under a Statuary of Instruments law passed in September 2011 by the then-Minister Jimmy Deenihan.

Representatives at the meeting included Mick Looney, John Looney and Denis Scannell who say they are hopeful a solution can be found to a law that currently affects 30 turf cutters, some with cutting rights extending back to 1911.

"This is as much about culture as it is about cutting turf," said Mick Looney. The Quirke Tribunal was set up in 2012 to examine the restrictions to turf cutting and it looked at ways in which turf cutting and environmental laws could coexist. It also recommended that the EU re-examine the restrictions.

"Even though it's been a frustrating wait, we're pleased that the Minister told us the tests recommended under the Quirke Report will be finished by the end of April. The next stage will see if we can be accommodated at one end of the bog," Mick added.

The delegation also thanked Deputy Healy Rae for his 'interest and effort' in their campaign. "I'm basically looking to right the wrong that was done to the turf cutters and we remain hopeful that the Minister is now well disposed to what we're looking for," said Deputy Healy-Rae.

"We hope to finish up with a situation where they can cut turf in certain areas and by agreement. How long that's going to take I can't say, but the Minister has given us reason to be hopeful for the future," he added.Facebook, the super ego-inflating social media website which has half the world hooked, is hemorrhaging users and shares following the Cambridge Analytica revelations of the past week and I imagine its CEO Mark Zuckerberg is starting to feel like a modern day Dr Frankenstein.

To the casual observer it has been difficult to pinpoint who, exactly, the villains are in this latest intriguing international drama. Is it the Mercer family, the American billionaires who funded Donald Trump's presidential election campaign? The Russian American Cambridge Analytica creator Aleksandr Kogan? Mark Zuckerberg and the top faces in Facebook? Or Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix who was stung by Channel 4 News in an expertly choreographed set-up.

Hillary Clinton and Democrats are clinging to the belief that information gleaned by Cambridge Analytica found its way into the hands of the Russians who were hell bent, so the story goes, on getting the morally dubious Donald Trump elected, over Hilary Clinton.

all in all it has been tough times for Facebook. WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton last week urged people to delete their Facebook accounts. 'It is time,' Acton wrote, adding the hashtag #deletefacebook. Over recent days people have taken to other social media platforms to announce that they were leaving Facebook.

I, for one, am at peak Facebook. As someone in the public firing line, (albeit on the lower rung of this shaky societal ladder), I'm sick to my back teeth of all the (non) news feed updates and the occasional call-outs for a scrap or to join a silly game.

People have been worrying about what they have on their accounts, while the owners have been making money targeting them. 'If something online is free, you are the product,' one commentator said last week. How true! Afterall the web is an open market as anyone who has searched for shoes, only to find similar shoes pop up on their Facebook page will attest.

Cambridge Analytica managed to get 250,000 plus Facebook users to fill out a personality test. Once access was gained, the company was able to compile a list of 50 million Facebook user friends, most hailing from America. A company called SCL Group, who boasts of its ability of wage psychological warfare on its target audience, was funded to do just that.

How much of a difference their targeted stories, memes etc had on American voters is debatable, but there was interference in the election, one which was narrowly lost by Clinton.

Kogan is alleged to have built a Facebook app that was the quiz. The company not only collected data from people who took the quiz, (Facebook prohibited the selling of data collected with this method), but Cambridge Analytica sold the data anyway.

Raw personal material about tens of millions of Facebook users was left exposed by the company to be harvested by Cambridge Analytica.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, smarting from a $50 billion loss in his company's shares, wrote in a response to this scandal, "I've been working to understand exactly what happened and how to make sure this doesn't happen again. The good news is that the most important actions to prevent this from happening again today we have already taken years ago. But we also made mistakes, there's more to do, and we need to step up and do it.'

Money talks so I'm watching this space.The driver of a car which struck and killed a dog on the outskirts of New Ross came to the District Court seeking to recoup the cost of repairs to the vehicle.

Tania and Kieran Murphy of Ashgrove, Kilscanlon, Foulksmills took Small Claims Court action against Angela Dempsey of 26 Barrow View Heights in New Ross.

The dog, described in court at Wexford as half Staff  was hit when it strayed on to the N25 on the evening of November 1 where a 100 km/h speed limit applies.

Tania Murphy was at the wheel and she gave evidence of how she braked and swerved but was unable to avoid the animal which appeared dazzled by the headlights: I had no chance of stopping.

The following day, gardai arrived at the home of Angela Dempsey to tell her the dog was dead.

In court, Ms Dempsey said her grandchildren were still pining for the terrier which she had for eight years after it was bought by her son for 500.

She recalled how, on the date in question, she went to Wexford with her four year old grand-daughter leaving the dog locked in a shed.

The applicant looked for 845 to cover the repairs to her 171 registered vehicle but the respondent felt there was no way that the dog could have done that much damage.

Judge John Cheatle found the pet owner 70 per cent to blame for what happened and he granted a decree for 593 to the Murphys.

At first Ms Dempsey indicated that she might be prepared to pay at a rate of 5 per month but after the decree was made out she declared: Ill go to jail. I wont pay her. Do what you like, Im not paying it.Welcome Guest! You Are Here:A County Wexford launderette is going the extra miles to deliver a unique service to its customers and expand its business in the process.

Washworld and Emerald Dry Cleaners in New Ross have joined forces in their Cleaned4You business, which they launched a website for in mid-March. Owned by Pete and Deirdre Caulfield, Emerald Dry Cleaners has been in business for more than 50 years. Deirdre said they have developed a new website, designed by 2Cubed in New Ross, which enables customers to order their clothes to be cleaned. Deirdre said: 'We will collect their clothes within a five mile radius, with no delivery charge, clean them and return them. The minimum spend is 15.'

She said they are reaching out to their customers. 'It's ideal if they can't come to us. They have the option of either booki us on our website and we'll go to their house collect the items, wash them and return them, or the customer can drop the items off here and we'll wash or dry them and then deliver them back to their house.'

Services provided by Cleaned4You include tailoring, alterations, laundry, dry cleaning etc. They also cater for B&Bs and hotels.

The business was founed by Pete's uncle, the late Mick Caulfield and his father Peter. It was passed on to Pete and Deirdre in 1983. Deirdre said the delivery service is unique among launderettes in the region. 'There is noone else doing this in the area; the closest one is in Dublin so we are completely unique in the region.'

She and Pete came up with the idea based on customer demand. 'People are leading busy lives and they don't have time to be washing and drying their clothes every day.'

They hope to take on an additional member of staff once the delivery business develops.Irish Water is being called on to fund major works at Taylorstown water treatment plant near Ballycullane.

Senior Executive Engineer Daniel McCartan said water services staff worked throughout Storm Emma monitoring facilities both remotely and on site. Services for the main supplies in the area were maintained throughout for New Ross, Clonroche and Carrickbyrne and many of the small public areas, he said.

The South Regional Water Supply Scheme was severely disrupted by the storm. 'Demand increased in the hours leading up to the storm and this resulted in a small decrease of water in storage. A major ESB outage occurred between 1 p.m. on Friday, March 2 and 3.30 p.m. on Sunday, March 4, which impacted the Taylorstown water treatment plant and the Ballycullane reservoir.'

Mr McCartan said staff were on site at Taylorstown during the worst of the storm. The plant was restarted at 8 p.m. that day using an on-site generator. However, filters required full backwash to ensure good quality drinking water and to provide extended treatment capacity. The plant was operated at full capacity until the Sunday at 8 p.m. at which time through-flow was stopped due to the poor quality of raw water. Staff were on site for extended periods monitoring the process to esnure supply and quality of treated water were maintained. The plant was restarted at 3 p.m on Monday, March 5.

Mr McCartan said the impact on the Ballycullane reservoir began on March 1, pre-storm, with an increased demand and was followed by a water supply cut the next day due to the ESB outage, followed by the Taylorstown water treatment plant being shut down on Sunday and Monday. 'This was exacerbated by increases in demand across the system. By the early hours on Monday the reservoir was virtually empty and all supplies were affected.'

Most supplies were down less than two days but some customers were severely disrupted. This was due to a combination of the power outage, impacts of the storm and the subsequent shutdown of the Taylorstown plant to maintain quality drinking water. Customers most affected were in the areas of Ballycullane village, Ramsgrange and higher areas supplied by Shielbaggan and Battlestown boosters. Other areas that experienced outage due to pumping equipment failure included Ballyhack and Broomhill.

Mr McCartan said water services staff expedited pump repairs within 24 hours of the storm abating. Other measures that were implemented included water tankers being sent to the most affected areas, drinking water being supplied to vulnerable customers, vulnerable customers being contacted by phone and assistance provided where required and leak detection and repairs.

Mr McCartan said a review is under way to assess storm impacts and to make improvements to minimise outages going forward. He said water supply was restored since March 7 to all customers. In addition to infrastructure review, work is ongoing in repairing damaged equipment, managing water treatment post snow melt and finding and repairing leaks.

In response to a question from Cllr Michael Whelan, Mr McCartan said he was pushing as hard as he could with Irish Water to get the Fairgreen moved across to St Martin's Park water supply. He said the way across the bridge line in the village has been approved for Somer's Way estate to be included in the water system also. Staff and contractors were on call 24/7 througout the storm, he added. 'The contractor got machines to assist us in clearing the way for staff.'

He said a plan needs to be devised to ensure staff are accommodated near the treatment plants to ensure they can access them as quickly as possible. 'Some are down back roads. The water staff worked throughout the storm, 24/7. Staff were watching everything and working non stop even if they weren't on site. From our point of view I don't think we could have done anything differently and everything was done correctly.'

District Director Eamonn Hore said it was a good decision to shut off the water supply. 'The raw water, when it came into Enniscorthy, resulted in a boil water notice,' he said. 'It goes into all the water storage tanks as well. They would have had to boil all of the water. Tankers would have had to have been supplied for drinking water and a boiled water notice would have had to remain in place until you could prove all of the poor quality water was out of the system. You might have to go in and clean out tanks and reservoirs and empty out old reservoirs which would cause a big disruption to the whole area. Sampling and testing would have to be carried out for the HSE and EPA.'

Cllr Fitzharris said: 'It was a tough call to make and not an easy decision, fair play.'

Mr McCartan said: 'I think it was the right decision. I think that it was straightforward decision as you are trying to optimise what you have and keep it going.'

He said massive capital investment is needed for the Taylorstown plant, adding that the caretaker kept the plant going as long as he could. Describing the situation in the south west of the county as 'unprecedented,' Mr McCartan said: 'I have never seen the whole place, over 300km of network out. Any high parts of the network were empty. Operationally there as nothing we could do about it.'

Vulnerable people were contacted and updated, he added.

'A farmer with 400 animals called me; fortunately he wasn't out for long. When I rang him and others back they were glad.'

Cllr Whelan thanked Mr McCartan and his team, saying they had to get through a lot of snow to get to the Taylorstown plant. 'To get to Taylorstown in weather like that was impressive. There are hills on both sides. Maybe skiiing lessons should be provided.'

Cllr Michael Sheehan thanked the water services crew for their work in New Ross, saying: 'They were working flat out to ensure that at no time the town was out,' and Mr Hore echoed his praise.

Mr McCartan said: 'We may also look at a bigger scheme as we need to minimise the amount of infrastructure we have. We can try to improve the current set up.'

Residents affected by water outages were urged to contact Irish Water to advance the case for investment in the area, by Cllr Martin Murphy.Wexford homeowners have spent 24.1 million through the Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) since its launch in 2013.

This incentive has facilitated homeowners throughout the country in carrying out 107,386 home improvement projects over the last four years.

In Wexford, the average spend was 12,187, compared to a national spend of 16,187 per project, providing a huge boost to the Irish economy and employment in the construction sector.

A total of 1978 projects were funded through the HRI in the Model County between 2013/14 and 2018, with 369 projects so far this year.

The Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) provides homeowners with an Income Tax credit at 13.5 per cent of qualifying expenditure on home improvement works carried out on a main home or rental property by qualifying contractors. The scheme has proven successful in every county by encouraging investment in the upgrading of private and rental property, fuelled in part by increased awareness about energy efficiency.

Broken down by value, the largest amount of work was carried out completing home extensions (34 per cent), followed by general repair and renovations (25 per cent) and then window replacement (10 per cent) and kitchen replacement (10 per cent). The scheme, which has been extended until the end of December, 2018, was introduced initially in late 2013, but its extension to rental properties in late 2014 has also added further activity to this sector. Dublin dwellers are spending the most on average at 18,721 per project, followed by Donegal 17,870 and Clare at 16,682. CIF Director General, Tom Parlon said the HRI scheme has contributed greatly to the level of construction activity throughout the country since its introduction.

'These 107,386 projects represent a very strong level of private investment by Irish homeowners, who have availed of the scheme. This private investment is good news for construction companies and contractors, which is helping to sustain existing jobs and create new jobs in the industry.' The national cost to the exchequer of the Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) to date is 122 million, if the maximum credits that can be claimed by homeowners are availed of. This total cost has yielded an investment of 1.737 billion across 107,386 separate projects. Officials said they could offer no explanation for differences in renovation figures for similarly-sized towns outside Dublin and not within the Dublin commuter belt.The Mayor of London St Patricks' Day Parade was held on March 18 from a starting point at Green Park proceeding to Trafalgar Square, where thousands of people turned up for the music and festivities.

The Ballindaggin Pipe Band, proudly led by Jim Byrne, took part in its sixth parade with the contingent from the London-Wexford Association and with the Fr Murphy ladies out in front carrying the county flags.

The London-Wexford Association had a float entered in the parade courtesy of Justin Ffrench. Celtic Crunch Band supplied live music while the O'Connor School of Irish Dancing provided a fine display of Irish Dancing on the float.

To finish off the festivities, the association arranged an Irish night of music and dance and storytelling at The Mazenod Club, managed by Wexford native Anna Redmond, in Kilburn, The Ballindaggin Pipe Band gave a performance on the night and the band's chairman Pat Armstrong said they were privileged and honoured to have received such a warm reception.Rehearsals are in full swing for the New Ross Drama Workshop's production of Big Maggie.

The popular play which was written by John B. Keane will be directed by workshop stalwart Margaret Rossiter.

As an actress Margaret has appeared in many productions with the group down through the years including Dancing At Lughnasa, Curses Foiled Again, and Sharon's Grave. As a director she has directed Arsenic anf Old Lace, The Plough and The Stars and The Playboy of the Western World.

The theme of Irish rural life is explored and investigated in many of Keane's plays, and Big Maggie is no different.

It portrays aspects of Irish rural life through everyday happenings and conversations. Issues such as land, marriage, religion, power struggles, wealth, sexuality and a sense of community are very prevalent in the play.

On the day of her husband's funeral, Maggie Polpin (Brid Richardson), widowed mother of four, is now ready to take power into her own hands but at what cost? In the play the audience meet Maggie's four children Mick, Maurice, Katie and Gert (Peter Rothwell, Nicky Flynn, Brid Moloney and Seona O' Connor), local monumental sculptor Mr. Byrne (Peter O'Connor), womanising commercial traveller Teddy Heelin (Edward Hayden), as well as Maurice's fiance and her mother Mary and Mrs. Madden (Sinead Croarkin and Martina Kavanagh) and Maggie's elderly neighbours played by Peggy Hussey and John Dywer.

Speaking to the New Ross Standard this week group chairperson Edward Hayden said: 'We are delighted to be bringing the work of John B. Keane to New Ross and feel that audiences will really relate to many of the themes throughout.

'As chairperson it's great to have Margaret Rossiter leading the production team as you know that the play is in very safe and trustworthy hands and that she will extract from the text each and every varying nuance and character detail to bring our audiences the best possible play.'

The play will be performed in St. Michael's Theatre on April 26, 27 and 28 at 8 p.m. nightly. To book contact 051-421255.The 5th annual Sligo Camino will take place on Saturday 7th July this year, with online registration opening on Easter Sunday April 1st.

It takes walkers through spectacular scenery along a mix of tracks, trails, boardwalks, roads and forest paths along a 36km route linking counties Leitrim and Sligo.

Due to increased demand, up to 1,000 walkers in total will walk the Camino this year, making it the biggest event yet.

Highlights along the route include the historic 16th century Creevelea Abbey on the banks of the River Bonet, views across Lough Gill towards the Lake Isle of Innisfree, the secluded mountain lake of Lough Lumman ending with 8km of country lanes around the Annaghmore Estate.

Hikers of all ages and backgrounds will take on the challenge of hiking 36km from Dromahair, Co. Leitrim to Coolaney, Co. Sligo along the scenic Sligo Way route. This event is a must for those wishing to combine a physical challenge with inspirational scenery and uplifting camaraderie.

Walkers have given enthusiastic online reviews to the beautiful, unspoilt scenery of the "Land of Heart's Desire" including mountain paths, country lanes, forest tracks and trails and secluded mountain lakes. In the true Camino spirit, participants journey together savouring the countryside, the conversation and the connection with the landscape.

What makes the Sligo Camino extra special as an event is that it is run entirely by volunteers from community groups in the Coolaney area. Over 50 individuals are involved as stewards, walk leaders, caterers and other vital roles on the day. The community involvement guarantees a big welcome and plenty of encouragement for the "pilgrims" on their journey. Funds raised by the event go towards community facilities in Coolaney, including the building of Cafe Fia, Sligo's first Community Cafe. On the day of the event itself, the walkers will meet at Coolaney Community Centre for a safety briefing and will board buses to the start point - these will set out at different times 7am, 8:30am and 10am.

The organisers tell us that people should register for the walk only if they can walk a minimum of 8km without stopping and can walk uphill without becoming breathless. The walk is unsuitable for children under 14 years of age, even with adult supervision.

The walk incorporates clearly marked trails, paths and roadways, but also some grassy trails and boggy hillsides, so footwear such as hiking boots are recommended if the ground is heavy, along with suitable waterproof gear, depending on weather. In the case of the weather being dry in the lead up to the event, trainers or light walking shoes may suffice. The expected duration of the walk is between 6-8 hours and a first aid team as well as a 'sweep up' vehicle will be on hand.

Places on the Sligo Camino are strictly limited with registration opening on April 1st through www.sligocamino.ie, where you will also find out more information about the walk, including a map of the walk itself. The registration fee of 40 (plus booking fee) includes bus transfers, refreshments along the way, a commemorative t-shirt and a hot buffet reception at the finish.In a world that's gone to pot nobody could blame you much for wondering what it's all about these days.

In times like this, it's refreshing to realise you're not alone in pondering life's greater questions - Samuel Beckett did exactly that 70 years ago when he penned Waiting for Godot, a play arguably about nothing at all and everything.

Acclaimed theatre Druid is now bringing a fresh, funny and affecting new interpretation of the play to Sligo next week.

Regarded as one of the most significant plays of the twentieth century, it's seen as a masterpiece that draws endless interpretations and Druid's production has won acclaim from audiences and critics alike, and multiple Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards.

On a bare road in the middle of nowhere, two world-weary friends await the arrival of the mysterious Godot. While waiting, they speculate, bicker, joke and ponder life's greater questions. As dusk begins to fall, two figures appear on the horizon.

Cavan born actor Aaron Monaghan, who plays one of the lead characters waiting for Godot, Estragon, believes we can all take a little solace from the production.

"We have this amazing new design and lighting box which has added a new element to the play.

"The Galway audience loved it. I would have said myself that everyone has an idea of this play, that it's a very boring play or an existentialist play or could be very intellectual and hard to understand but it's not," he tells The Sligo Champion.

"It's now given a fresh re-interpretation for audiences. We've heard from people who've seen dozens of versions and loved ours," he says.

He's also been approached by punters who admitted to having been dragged along by their partners and then "laughed their heads off."

"It's very comic, very physical. People have come back two and three times to see it so that's very encouraging," he says.

"We found something of ourselves in it. The more we dug into the play the more comedic meaning and tragedy we found," he adds.

Druid's Godot is currently on nationwide and international tour and indeed Sligo will be the last Irish theatre the production will play in before heading to Washington, Chicago and Edinburgh later this summer.

Aaron is no stranger to Sligo, one of the few venues on the tour the actors call 'home.'

"Sligo for us is a bit of a holiday. You judge a tour by the places and we love Sligo. We love Hargadons, all the pubs and restaurants," he says.

Rehearsals can be tough going and the actors like nothing better than a soak in the Seaweed Baths at Strandhill afterwards, something that's become their "tradition."

"There's always a sense of pride playing in Sligo," he adds.

This production is directed by one of Ireland's greatest theatre directors, Garry Hynes, whose fearsome reputation, Monaghan says, is "half deserved and undeserved."

"It preceeds her but she's a puppy dog really. She's dogmatic in her pursuit of high quality. She doesn't think of limits, she goes for it," he says.

He says Hynes is one of the "best directors in the country and a great treasure of Irish theatre" with great attention given to detail.

"She's a brilliant interpreter of text and has a way of working with actors. The way she directs us one day won't be the same directions that she'd give you another day," he says.

Isn't this disconcerting? Not according to Monaghan. Hynes works with a "sense of truth every day."

"It makes going out there every night very fresh and bold," he adds.

Sligo Beckett fans can enjoy the critically acclaimed Druid Production in the Hawk's Well Theatre from 6th-7th April, starring Aaron Monaghan, Garrett Lombard, Rory Nolan and Marty Rea.

Tour details at www.druid.ieArriving at the gates of Eagles Flying in Ballymote, County Sligo, is not much different to arriving at any other farm gate. Only walking down the farm lane visitors realize more and more that they are immersing into a different world.

Suddenly they are surrounded by different birds and animals and it is hard to see which ones are pets and which ones are actually wild. This close contact will even be intensified as soon as the shows start.

The new season for Eagles Flying began on Saturday last. Eagles Flying is a multi-award winning tourist attraction.

For years it has achieved top rankings on Trip Advisor, Google and Facebook.

Last year Eagles Flying was also elected "Best Activty Provider" and received the 'Business Elite Ireland Award' as well as the Public Sector 'Excellence in Business Award'.

Now eagles, falcon, vultures, owls and hawks swoop closely over the heads or land on the heads or hands of visitors. This is only possible, because the 'bird whisperers' of Eagles Flying have a very special and friendly way of interacting with the creatures in their care.

Having enjoyed the thrills of the show, visitors are welcome to move on to the Petting-Zoo, where they can get hands-on with foxes, a raccoon, reptiles and of course all the standard pet-farm animals.

Of course you will get a plethora of information and if you have questions - feel free to ask - the resident scientists are happy to help.

A visit to Eagles Flying, just outside Ballymote town, is really worthwhile. It is fun for all the family - not for kids only. The full programme with the guided tour, bird show and pet-experience lasts for 2 hours, but they fly and you would like to stay longer.

Visitor numbers at the Ballymote attraction remain high, with 2016 their best ever year.

Lothar Muschketat, owner of Eagles Flying, says more signage would help his business significantly.

"Within the last 10 years we have had new signs on the N17 but I think in order to advertise more attractions and to guide visitors here, more signposts need to be done.

"With the Wild Atlantic Way, which is an excellent marketing tool, there are a bigger number of visitors coming to the area but they are passing through without visiting us and some others, we are a bit left out," he added.

With more than 100 birds of prey it is Irelands' largest Bird-of Prey Sanctuary. And by the way - Eagles Flying is all weather suitable.! www.eaglesflying.comThree times a week, for five hours at a time, Hughie Costello is hooked up to a machine in Sligo University to have his blood cleaned.

Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday the machine does the work his two kidneys can no longer do as a knock-on effect of Type 1 Diabetes.

He's been a diabetic since 1991 which caused his kidneys to start failing around 2007. He had 28% kidney function at that stage which fell to 11% over the following three years.

Eventually, Hughie was put on dialysis in 2010 and has been on the waiting list for a kidney transplant ever since.

He's one of 52 patients currently undergoing dialysis in Sligo.

It would be tough going for anyone but Hughie is also the sole carer of his 9 year old daughter Kaytelyn who has Down's Syndrome, since his first wife Grainne died after a brief illness five years ago.

Hughie has to lie down for 2-3 hours after each dialysis session in the unit. "The nursing staff, consultant Dr James Lineen and my GP Dr Damien Tiernan are fantastic. I was the brave one at the end of each session of dialysis when I started, but my energy is lower now," he said.

"The main message I want to get across today for people on dialysis is to be positive. My life has been like a rollercoaster but you just have to live for the hope that you're going to get that call," he said.

He drives around with a bag packed in his car and another one at home in case he gets a call from the transplant team in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.

"I have two bags ready and two mobile phones just in case and have people on standby just in case they can't contact me, for that call. I always have to have three quarters of a tank of fuel in my car in case I get the call. I could get the call anytime," he said.

His 73-year-old mother Kathleen Costello is his rock. "At the drop of a hat she's there for me. She looked after Kaytelyn while I was in hospital at Christmas for two weeks. She is my rock. I would be 100% lost without her. Grainne's family also help me out. Without them there's not a hope I'd be able to cope," he said.

"It's as if you have a battery and you're only left with 20% of it. I live for the day that I get a transplant so that I can do normal things, like go swimming with my son Morgan (3), go swimming with my daughter," he said.

"I try my best but I'm just not as active as I'd like to be with her. I plan whenever I get my transplant to bring her to Disneyland or somewhere lovely but now there's not a hope. I can't even go away for a weekend without dialysis. If I go on a foreign holiday, I've to plan four months in advance to arrange dialysis," said the 53-year-old.

Hughie met with the pre-op transplant team anaesthetist last week in Dublin to run through his details to make sure it's all systems go when he eventually does get the call.

He has no idea where he is on the list but hopes his wait will soon be over. There's a growing trend now for 'live' organ donors but none of Hughie's family are suitable donors. "If anyone wants to donate a kidney I'll take it with open arms," he smiles. "It's hard to describe it in words. It's a life-changing thing when you have kidney disease," he added.

It's had a drastic effect on his family life. "Even in my own relationships, it's a big strain. It's not easy living with someone that sick," he said.

"It affects my life and social very badly. I'm missing out on a lot of events I can't go to. I'm just existing. At the moment it's dialysis, home, dialysis, home. I have to work up the energy to go shopping and get messages in," he said.

"People say to me 'you're looking great' but they don't know what's happening inside," he said. "It will be a life-long battle until I get the transplant - if I'm lucky enough to get it before I pass away in the meantime," he quickly added.

"I want to thank my mother, my family circle and St Cecelia's School for their help and understanding of what I'm going through," he said.

Hughie also paid tribute to the Sligo branch of the Irish Kidney Association: "A great bunch of people. We're always trying to promote the importance of organ donation. Last Tuesday we made Ray MacSharry an Ambassador of our branch to open our donor week," he said.

He tells a story of how Ray, as Minister for Finance back in the 1980s, used to give a lift to Sligo dialysis patients who in those days, had to travel to Dublin for dialysis three times a week.

"We're not going to get a chance to live without a donor. In the event that people pass away unexpectedly, they should talk to their loved ones and tell them their wishes to donate. It's no good after they're dead and buried them finding a donor card," said Hughie.

"Speak to your family and Easter is a fantastic time for family members coming together. Discuss it and tell them your wishes that in the event of your untimely death you want to donate. A lot of family members would love to know that part of you is keeping someone else alive. It's a very special thing to do."Claire Byrne is the new ambassador for the Irish Kidney Association's Organ Donor Awareness campaign 2018.

The Irish Kidney Association, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, said Byrne had taken up the voluntary role of ambassador for 2018 organ donor awareness.

The prolific journalist and national radio and TV broadcaster will front the 2018 Organ Donor Awareness Week campaign which will take place from 31st March until 7th April.

She will be encouraging the public to support organ donation for transplantation while also buying Forget-me-not flower emblems and other merchandise which will be on sale by Irish Kidney Association volunteers throughout the Week.

This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the organ donor card which has developed from what started out as the kidney donor card in the same year the Irish Kidney Association was established in 1978. For Organ Donor Cards Free text the word DONOR to 50050.Sligo Credit Union has bought the former Clarence Hotel to turn into its new home. The price was not disclosed but the building which was home in the past to a bar/restaurant and a nightclub had been on the market with an asking price of 375,000.

For the past three years, the Board of Directors and Management have been looking for a suitable building to accommodate its increasing membership which now stands at over 20,000.

Sligo Credit Union's Chairman, Peter Smith, said they will now move forward with plans to renovate the building with a view to moving all its operations there in the coming year.

"Our aim will be to continue to provide the type of personal service that has made Credit Unions the most trusted brand in Ireland for several consecutive years.

"Due to increasing membership and in particular the increase in the number of members who have chosen to borrow from their Credit Union, our present offices in Stephen Street had become a victim of its own success.

"We look forward to a busy number of months ahead in putting plans together that will ensure our new premises meets our members expectations."

CEO of Sligo Credit Union, Barry O'Flynn, paid tribute to the management and staff whom he says "continue to provide a level of personal service to its members that very much reflects the ideals that its founders envisaged over 50 years ago.

"In a financial world that is increasingly heavily regulated, it is refreshing to see that basic kindness and courtesy is evident each day in the way our staff serve our members.

"The new building has the space we require to continue to deliver this type of service to all our members.

"We always want our members to be able to call in to us and talk in person with a staff member - not to direct them to 1-800 phone number or a call centre."

Sligo Credit Union manages assets of in excess of 75 million and lends approximately 1.5 million in to the local economy each month.

Chairman of the Board Oversight Committee, Michael Giblin, added the new building would continue to allow its members access to loans and savings services in the way people want. "If one of our young members wants to come in with coins to add to their savings account, it's a pleasure to be able to say that we're delighted you came in to us and it's not a problem.

"Likewise, we're as happy to do a loan to a member for 500 for a family purpose as we are a loan for 50,000 for home improvements."

Sligo Credit Union provides full on-line funds transfer for members and is progressing a full debit card facility for members.

Deputy Manager, Orla Lee, said that its 5,000 members who viewed their accounts on-line now had access to be able to transfer funds to their own, their family members or creditors accounts with same or next day value.

"The introduction of a debit card in the near future will finally allow our members real choice over where they conduct their financial affairs with a Credit Union that is fully focused on its members," she said.Sligo and Leitrim secondary schools should have been included in Phase 1 of the introduction Physical Education as a Leaving Certificate subject next September.

That's according to Sligo/Leitrim Deputy Tony McLoughlin who raised the matter in the Dail last week after several large town schools were refused permission to be included.

Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton announced at the end of February 80 schools around the country which will be taking part in the first phase of the new PE for Senior Cycle programmes: Leaving Certificate Physical Education (LCPE) and the non-exam Senior Cycle Physical Education (SCPE) Framework.

The 80 schools will offer students the chance to start studying PE for the 2020 Leaving Cert this coming September.

The nearest secondary school to Sligo included in the pilot is Abbey Community School in Boyle, Co. Roscommon.

Colaiste Cholmcille in Ballyshannon is the next nearest school offering PE or St Mary's Secondary School Convent of Mercy in Ballina.

Mayo, Cavan, Roscommon and Longford have all only one school participating in the PE pilot programme, with just two schools in Galway city and Gort participating.

Donegal meanwhile has 8 schools participating.

"How can you have 8 schools offering PE in one county and none in the next two counties? That's not acceptable to us. It looks bad for the schools. Sligo and Leitrim should have been included," a spokesperson for Deputy McLoughlin told The Sligo Champion.

In his Dail reply last week, Minister Bruton said the 80 schools were not chosen on merit but were chosen "independently" on other criteria.

A total of 369 schools applied to participate in the phase 1 roll-out, showing an outstanding demand across the country for Physical Education at Senior Cycle.

The Department of Education intends to roll out the new specification and Framework to all schools from 2020.Former comrades of Pte Thomas Walsh salute at his graveside in Rhue Cemetery last Wednesday. Pic: Tom Callanan

Two Sligo soldiers killed in the line of duty in Lebanon 29 years ago were honoured by the Irish United Nations Veterans Association last week.

In the first wreath laying ceremonies of its kind, army veterans who served with the UN overseas came to Sligo from all over Ireland on the anniversary of the deaths of Private Mannix Armstrong from Sligo, Private Thomas Walsh from Tubbercurry and Corporal Fintan Heneghan from Ballinrobe, Co Mayo.

Separate ceremonies were held for the two Sligo soldiers - at 11am in Sligo Cemetery for Pte Armstrong and at 2pm in Rhue cemetery, Tubbercurry for Pte Walsh.

All three were killed when the truck in which they were travelling hit a landmine outside the Lebanese village of Bra'shit on March 21st 1989.

The two men were on their second tour of duty in Lebanon and were due to finish up and return home to Sligo within a month of their murder.

Last Wednesday at 10.55am families, friends and former comrades in arms were escorted to Pte Armstrong's grave in Sligo cemetery by army veterans from the Irish United Nations Veterans Association (IUNVA) members of the Organisation of National Ex-Servicemen and Women of the Defence Forces (O.N.E.), 28th Infantry Battalion Association Vets.

Both Sligo soldiers had been stationed at Finner Camp before their overseas tour of duty.

Parish Priest of St Anne's Parish Fr Pat Lombard gave the graveside blessing first.

This was followed by wreath laying by members from IUNVA, ONE, the 28th Battalion Association, the 19th Battalion Association, the 17th Battalion Association and family members.

Pte Armstrong was survived by his widow Grainne and young daughter Shannon while Pte Walsh was survived by his widow Pauline and three young daughters, Donna, Laura and Paula.

Shannon Armstrong was among the family members who laid wreaths at her father's grave.

The veteran's ceremonial participation gave a moving and impressive dignity to the anniversary, the poignancy of the occasion being heightened by the playing of the well-known Last Post and Reveille military musical pieces and the national anthem.

This is the first year IUNVA attended such ceremonies in Sligo and it's hoped they will become annual events, especially since next year will mark the 30th anniversary of their tragic deaths.

Pte Walsh's brother Anthony said he and his late brother would have served with most of the veterans who attended the ceremony in Tubbercurry.

"Most of the fellows there my brother and I would have served with. There was a lot of families there and a few there of the general public," he told The Sligo Champion.

Anthony was serving alongside his brother on the same tour of duty in Lebanon when he was killed.

He remembers it as a "fairly quiet" and uneventful tour of duty and the men had only a month and a day to go.

He still remembers the day very clearly.

"I was in a camp down the road. I was less than a mile away when the explosion occurred," he said.

Anthony jumped out of bed when he heard the noise of the landmine detonating.

"I remember going out onto the balcony and I heard over the two-way radio that there were two down and one badly injured," he recalled.

The communications operator mentioned Pte Walsh over the radio without realising Anthony was standing behind him.

"That's how I found out. I knew then. I came home that Good Friday and the funerals were on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday," he said.

"It was a month and a day later that we were due to come home. That made it ten times worse, coming home a few weeks early with your brother in a coffin," he said.

Anthony paid tribute to the soldiers widows Grainne and Pauline who had to rear families on their own: "It was an awful time. They had to bring their children up without a father. Two of them are now mothers themselves."

Anthony never returned to Lebanon after that but continued to serve with the Defence Forces until his retirement.

He and his family were delighted by the UN Veterans decision to mark the men's anniversaries in Sligo this year.

"It's lovely. You can sit down and have a chat with them and a cup of tea and it's lovely to catch up with them and have an oul' talk about times gone by," he said.

"It's a fantastic thing they do. They travel around the country out of their own pockets, from Dungloe, Donegal and Galway to join us," he said.Aisling Bea attending the Glamour Women of the Year Awards 2017 in association with Next, Berkeley Square Gardens, London

Aisling Bea attends the BBC America BAFTA Los Angeles TV Tea Party 2017 at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on September 16, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Aisling Bea attends the British Independent Film Awards held at Old Billingsgate on December 10, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images)

Aisling Bea arriving at the Three Empire Awards held at The Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, London.

Aisling Bea attends the Virgin TV BAFTA Television Awards at The Royal Festival Hall on May 14, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

Aisling Bea attends the Glamour Women of The Year awards 2017 at Berkeley Square Gardens on June 6, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

Irish comedian Aisling Bea has become a vocal advocate in favour of repealing the eighth amendment.

Bea, who grew up in Kildare and now lives in London, joins a number of high profile women speaking out in favour of repeal, and she hopes that it will further expand a national conversation on women's health and reproduction.

"I remember when I got my first period I was almost afraid to tell me mother, who's quite an open, loving person. But I felt really weird, the chat just wasn't there," she told Irish Tatler.

"Reproductive issues have been so swept away, I feel like it's time for change. No matter what your views are on abortion, the Eighth Amendment in the Constitution is a very cruel, cruel law which benefits no one."

Expand Close Aisling Bea attends the 13th Annual Oscar Wilde Awards on March 1, 2018 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Aisling Bea attends the 13th Annual Oscar Wilde Awards on March 1, 2018 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)

Bea, who is a supporter of London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign, cited Ireland's dark history with Magdalene laundries and forced adoptions as contributing to her viewpoint.

"This country has had women locked up in laundries and pelvises broken, the amount of untold stories of women having babies when they didn't want to and people coming over adopting babies and taking them to America...the sadness of those stories. Are we not going to acknowledge those and go, 'Okay, now it's time for a change?'

"There's a lot of chatter about, 'people are just going to use it as a form of contraception - lazy women!' There's this idea of this loose woman walking about the rown. Repealing the Eighth Amendment is about women who don't want to be pregnant, it's not about a certain type of woman, a certain age of woman - we all known sisters and mothers who have chosen to go on with a pregnancy and those who haven't.

"But that choice is what it is. You can use your womb if you want, it's the most beautiful thing to do, if you want, but it's not our only reason to be put on this earth."

Expand Close Aisling Bea attends the British Independent Film Awards held at Old Billingsgate on December 10, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Aisling Bea attends the British Independent Film Awards held at Old Billingsgate on December 10, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images)

In addition to her personal campaigning, her professional career is going from strength to strength - she recently landed a part in an NBC pilot produced by Aseem Batra and Amy Poehler.Helen Mirren attends the screening of "The Leisure Seeker" at AFI FEST 2017 Presented By Audi at the Egyptian Theatre on November 12, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for AFI)

Actress Helen Mirren arrives at the 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton on January 15, 2007 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Not long ago, she joked she was utterly disgusted with her own once-controversial tattoo after the body art form became so completely mainstream.

But Helen Mirren has ventured back into the parlour for a good cause: saving time in the morning.

Helen, the Oscar-winning actress often lauded for her natural beauty at 72, has disclosed she has had her eyebrows tattooed on, in a move she has said makes a huge difference to her appearance.

The tattoos, which have become increasingly popular in recent years, see individual hair strokes lightly drawn in semi-permanent ink, to give a realistic-looking eyebrows to frame the face without reapplying a pencil, powder or gel each day.

I'll tell you what I had done recently, which I love - I got my eyebrows tattooed, said Dame Helen, according to a newspaper.

I was fed up of my brows barely being there and when one of my girlfriends got it done, I thought that they looked great.

They're very lightly and delicately done - but it means that when I get up in the morning and I have no make-up on, at least I have eyebrows. It's made a huge difference.

Dame Helen, face of beauty brand LOreal, has become a prominent advocate for older women, famously insisting her photographs are not excessively touched-up.

In 2016, she said she had begun to pay more attention to her eyebrows after playing the Queen on stage for theatre show The Audience.

I don't think the Queen has ever touched them, she said then. She's got quite present eyebrows. So when I was making myself up as the Queen I thought: 'Oooh, that's actually quite an interesting look.'

Dame Helen already had one small tattoo on her hand, a symbol acquired while very drunk with friends during an acting job on a Native American reservation intended to denote love thy neighbour.

Saying she has never regretted it, she told the Telegraph in 2003: "I've always been very happy about my tattoo. But back then, only prisoners, sailors and Hell's Angels got tattooed.

Now it's gone madly out of control. Even Republican senators have them."

Years later, as tattoos became even more common, she joked: I decided to get a tattoo because it was the most shocking thing I could think of doing.

"And now I'm utterly disgusted and shocked because it's become completely mainstream, which is unacceptable to me."

In 2015, a poll by the British Association of Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology found women spend an average 200 per year on eyebrow grooming. Tattooing techniques such as microblading cost hundreds of pounds and usually require several sessions to complete.

Those undergoing the cosmetic procedure, which has side effects including bruising and swelling, will have semi-permanent eyebrows to last one to three years.

Of her approach to make-up as she has aged, Dame Helen has previously said: I think we get stuck with a look, particularly when we get older. We forget that you can experiment. It's not the end of the world - you can always wipe it off again.

The irony is that - the older you get - the less you care. I think: 'God, when I was young, and probably had much better skin, I wouldn't dream of going out without mascara.'

Now I really don't mind. I mean, if you're taking your dog for a walk at eight in the morning it doesn't really matter.Rocker Ted Nugent has said the Florida students calling for gun control have no soul and are mushy brained children.

He made the comments on Friday while defending the National Rifle Association as a guest on the Joe Pags Show, a nationally syndicated conservative radio programme.

Nugent, an NRA board member, said survivors of the Parkland school shooting are wrong to blame the NRA for mass shootings.

we sure need to secure our schools and save our children but a new gunlaw will be counterproductive  Ted Nugent (@TedNugent) March 14, 2018

He went on to say that the evidence is irrefutable, they have no soul, and that the gun-control measures they support amount to spiritual suicide.

A representative for the 69-year-old did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Nugent made the comments the same day several advertisers dropped Fox News personality Laura Ingraham after she mocked a survivor of the Parkland shooting online.People attend a gathering, organized by CRIF Jewish organisation, in memory of Mireille Knoll, an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor stabbed and burnt in her Paris apartment in what authorities suspect could be an anti-Semitic murder, in Marseille, France March 28, 2018. The banner reads " Stop racism". REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier

The name Vel' d'Hiv occupies a particular - and troubling - place in the French imagination. Over two days in July 1942, French police officers arrested more than 13,000 Jews, including more than 4,000 children, on behalf of the Nazis and held them in a Parisian arena known as Vel' d'Hiv before they were deported to concentration camps, including Auschwitz. Fewer than 100 returned.

The ghosts of Vel' d'Hiv still stir soul-searching which sometimes tips into national debate, such as last year.

Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen sparked controversy when she argued that France was not culpable. In 1995, the then president Jacques Chirac admitted the responsibility of the French state and apologised.

Mireille Knoll narrowly escaped the Vel' d'Hiv round-up when she fled the French capital at the age of nine. Last week, the octogenarian Holocaust survivor was stabbed multiple times and then set on fire in her Paris apartment in what police believe was an antisemitic attack. Two men have been arrested. Ms Knoll was the 11th French Jew to die in an antisemitic attack in the past 12 years. Her killing echoes that last year of 65-year-old Sarah Halimi, who was beaten and thrown out the window of her Paris home. A judge last month classified the killing as driven by antisemitism.

Ms Knoll's murder comes amid growing disquiet within France's 550,000-strong Jewish population - the largest in Western Europe - about increasing antisemitism and how often it is manifested in violence. Daily violence against Jews rose by 26pc in 2017 compared with the year before, according to French Interior Ministry figures, with criminal damage to Jewish places of worship and cemeteries up by 22pc.

French Jews have been emigrating to Israel in unprecedented numbers in recent years, with a spike of 7,900 in the wake of an attack on a Parisian kosher supermarket two days after the satirical magazine 'Charlie Hebdo' was targeted by jihadists.

Ms Knoll's killing prompted demonstrations in Paris this week and calls for a stronger reaction to what many see as new manifestations of the older scourge of antisemitism. Some are rooted in more radical interpretations of Islam adhered to by a minority of France's Muslim population, Europe's largest. Sharon Nazarian, director of international affairs at the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, has argued that contemporary antisemitism in France is "so pernicious" because it is emanating from several quarters. "From the right in the form of classical antisemitism, from the left in the guise of criticism of Israel, and from Islamic extremists who too often target Jews," she wrote recently.

Speaking to CRIF, an umbrella group of French Jewish organisations, earlier this month, France's President Emmanuel Macron told of new plans to fight racism and antisemitism. "We have understood, with horror, that antisemitism is still alive," he said, "and on this issue our response must be unforgiving."

The growing anxieties of France's Jewish community come at a time when antisemitism is on the rise in several parts of Europe, very often enabled by the increasing popularity of populist right-wing parties whose messaging is regularly couched in antisemitic language and tropes.

In Poland, the ruling Law and Justice Party has been accused of trying to rewrite the history of the Holocaust by passing controversial legislation that would punish anyone who discusses Polish complicity.

The debate over the law has revealed a disturbing seam of antisemitism in the country. This - and the emergence of similar dynamics elsewhere in Europe - is a cause for concern for the likes of Polish Holocaust survivor and activist Marian Turski who told me when I visited Warsaw earlier this month that he feared the lessons of history had not been learned.

In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been accused of using antisemitic tropes, particularly in his government's campaign against George Soros, the Hungarian-American billionaire and philanthropist. And in the UK this week, media headlines referred to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's "antisemitism problem" following accusations that he has not done enough to tackle such sentiment within his party's ranks.

The criticism, which is not the first time Corbyn has faced such charges, followed a report which shows Labour has a backlog of over 70 complaints of antisemitism yet to be addressed. London mayor Sadiq Khan has said he is "heartbroken" that "Londoners of Jewish faith don't feel the Labour Party is for them".

The challenge of these new iterations of antisemitism is not just limited to Europe, a continent where the centuries-old prejudice led to the horror of the Holocaust. The emboldening of white nationalists in Trump's America has been accompanied by an increasingly public antisemitism on social media and at rallies like the one last year in Charlotteville, Virginia, where a counter-protester was killed.Pope Francis was at the centre of sensational claims yesterday about the afterlife, after being quoted as saying that Hell does not exist.

However, the Vatican swiftly acted to deny the comments, which spread quickly on social media. It issued a statement saying that no such interview had been granted with the elderly Italian journalist behind the 'scoop'.

Eugenio Scalfari (93), an avowed atheist who has struck up an intellectual friendship with Francis, met the Pope recently and wrote up a long story that included a question-and-answer section at the end.

Mr Scalfari, the founder of Italy's 'La Repubblica' newspaper, has prided himself on not taking notes or using tape recorders during his encounters with leaders and later reconstructing the meetings to create lengthy articles.

According to Mr Scalfari's article in Thursday's 'La Repubblica', he asked the Pope where "bad souls" go and where they are punished.

Mr Scalfari quoted the Pope as saying: "They are not punished. Those who repent obtain God's forgiveness and take their place among the ranks of those who contemplate him, but those who do not repent and cannot be forgiven disappear. A Hell doesn't exist, the disappearance of sinning souls exists."

The universal catechism of the Catholic Church says: "The teaching of the Catholic Church affirms the existence of Hell and its eternity." It speaks of "eternal fire" and adds that "the chief punishment of Hell is eternal separation from God."

The Vatican disputed that Francis said anything of the sort. It said the report was the fruit of his reconstruction" and not a "faithful transcription of the Holy Father's words".

This was at least the third time the Vatican has issued statements distancing itself from Mr Scalfari's articles about the Pope, including one in 2014 in which the journalist said the Pontiff had abolished sin.British Prime Minister Theresa May's initial response to the attack with a nerve agent in England was old-school.

She expelled 23 Russian diplomats, allowing Moscow to expel the same number of British diplomats and close the British Council and a British Consulate in Russia.

Expand Close Putin opponent Boris Nemtsov, who was murdered near the Kremlin, exposed plundering. Photo: Ivan Sekretarev / Facebook

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The joint Western action of 27 additional countries expelling Russian intelligence agents on March 26 added new force to the retaliation, but President Vladimir Putin can shrug this off.

He is likely to expel a similar number of diplomats from all the countries involved.

What would be even better is a crackdown on Kremlin money in the West - and the best place to start is by taking on the problem of anonymous ownership. The West should go after the money the Putin regime has moved here.

Russia's economic means are limited. Therefore, the Kremlin prefers cheap asymmetric or hybrid warfare, such as the hacking of elections, cyber warfare, manipulation of social media and the corruption of foreign politicians.

We need to respond asymmetrically, hurting the Kremlin more than it hurts us.

Putin controls the Russian state institutions, its secret police and its big state companies. Together with a few old friends from St Petersburg, the president is tapping the big state companies through overpriced no-bid procurement, transfer pricing, asset stripping and stock manipulation.

They are also making money by extorting old oligarchs and taking loans from state banks, not to be returned.

Boris Nemtsov, who was murdered outside of the Kremlin, and still-active opposition politician Vladimir Milov exposed this kleptocracy in their booklet 'Putin and Gazprom' in 2008. A more extensive account in English is Karen Dawisha's book 'Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia?'

The Panama Papers, a series of leaked documents on offshore accounts released in April 2016, offered plenty of evidence of Putin's secret wealth.

Overall assessments indicate a personal enrichment of Putin and his closest cronies of some $20bn to $25bn (16.2bn-20.2bn) a year since 2006.

Nemtsov and Milov documented pilfering from Gazprom of $60bn (48.6bn) from 2004 to 2007, and this was probably just over half of their enrichment, which has only increased.

By now, this group would have accumulated $240bn to $300bn (195bn-243bn).

Businessman Bill Browder estimates that Putin is the richest man in the world, with a personal wealth of $200bn (162bn).

Total private Russian holdings abroad are assessed in the range of $800bn to $1.3trn (649bn-1.05trn), according to Global Financial Integrity and a National Bureau of Economic Research study.

Putin and his friends have not accumulated their vast fortunes to consume them, but rather to maintain power in Russia.

The irony is that having undermined property rights in Russia, they - like other Russians - can only safeguard their savings abroad in countries that enjoy the rule of law, allow anonymous ownership and have sufficient financial depth for their vast fortunes.

Many countries have the rule of law, but just a few of them -those with Anglo-American law - allow large-scale anonymous ownership. Most European countries do not.

Numerous small islands allow anonymous ownership, but they lack financial depth. Only two countries can harbour most of the Russian offshore wealth - the United States and Britain - because they allow anonymous investment in real estate on a large scale.

Twenty-nine countries, including most EU countries, already demand full disclosure of beneficiary owners and 11 others have agreed to do so, too.

They have all come to the same conclusion: anonymous ownership has become a major threat to national security.

Former UK prime minister David Cameron promised to demand full disclosure in May 2016, but he resigned two months later, and his successor, May, has shown no interest in doing so even after the nerve-agent attack in Salisbury.

The United States needs to catch up. Congress is currently considering two bills that go in the right direction.

Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has submitted a draft of the True Incorporation Transparency for Law Enforcement Act for corporate transparency, and in the House of Representatives the Counter Terrorism and Illicit Finance Act has been submitted.

Congress should adopt one of these bills. The important thing is to unearth secret ownership by sanctioned individuals and entities.

Helpfully, Putin has himself told us what sanctions hurts him the most by complaining incessantly about the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 and the sanctioning of his St Petersburg cronies in March 2014 for their role in Russia's occupation of Crimea.

These acts prohibit named individuals from entering the territory of the United States and freeze their assets whenever they are detected.

So far, unfortunately, these new laws haven't proved especially effective, since the US government has detected only a few million dollars of their assets.

In 2015, the US treasury assessed that $300bn a year was laundered in the United States. According to Raymond Baker, founder of Global Financial Integrity, in a good year, the US government detects 0.1pc of that money.

The reason? Anonymous companies are allowed to invest in the States. The same is true of Britain, where the National Crime Agency estimates that $125bn (101bn) is laundered annually. This must be stopped for the sake of security.

The best British and American response to the Kremlin's hybrid warfare is to unearth the holdings of Putin and his sanctioned friends and freeze them. ( Washington Post)

Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, is writing a book about Russia's crony capitalismMalala will return to the UK on Monday (Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA)

Malala Yousafzai has visited her hometown of Mingora for the first time since a Taliban militant shot her there in 2012 for advocating girls education.

Amid tight security, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and her parents landed in the Swat Valley in an army helicopter.

Expand Close Malala Yousafzai, second right, poses with her family members and Pakistan Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, left, (AP Photo/Abdullah Sherin) / Facebook

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According to her uncle Mahmoodul Hassan, Ms Yousafzai went to her home and also planned to meet with her friends and relatives. Security was visibly increased in Mingora the previous day.

The 20-year-old had asked authorities to allow her to go to Mingora and Shangla village in the Swat Valley, where a school has been built by her Malala Fund.

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Whatsapp A Pakistani customer looks at a book of Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai at a book store in Islamabad, Pakistan (AP)

Mr Hassan said Ms Yousafzai and her family were not afraid of going to Swat, where Taliban militants wounded her six years ago.

We are grateful to the government and the army for facilitating this visit, he told The Associated Press.

In October 2012, Ms Yousafzai was shot in the head by a Taliban assassin who jumped inside her school van and yelled: Who is Malala?

Only 14 when she was shot, Ms Yousafzai has since delighted in telling the Taliban that instead of silencing her, they have amplified her voice.

She has also written a book, spoken at the United Nations and met with refugees.

On Friday, Ms Yousafzai praised the Pakistan army in an interview on the independent Geo news channel for providing her timely medical treatment, saying her surgery was done by an army surgeon at the right time.

She later received post-trauma treatment in Britain.

Expand Close The Taliban attacked Malala in 2012, when she was just 14 (Joe Giddens/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp The Taliban attacked Malala in 2012, when she was just 14 (Joe Giddens/PA)

She said she would not have been sitting in Pakistan now if she had not been treated quickly. She plans to permanently return to Pakistan after completing her studies in Britain.

Schoolgirls in Ms Yousafzais hometown were already jubilant over her arrival.

On Thursday, she met with Pakistans Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi at his office, where she also attended a gathering and made an emotional speech in which she said it was one of the happiest days of her life to be back in her country.

Ms Yousafzai has won praise from across Pakistan on her return home, but some critics on social media have tried to undermine her efforts to promote girls education.

She said she failed to understand why educated people opposed her, although she could expect criticism from militants, who had a particular mindset.

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She told Pakistani media that majority of Pakistanis supported her.

Those who do criticise have absurd kind of criticism that doesnt make any sense, she said in an interview with Pakistans The News English-language newspaper published Saturday.

What I want is people support my purpose of education and think about the daughters of Pakistan who need an education. Dont think about me. I dont want any favour or I dont want everyone to accept me. All I care about is that they accept education as an issue, she said.

Since her attack and recovery, Ms Yousafzai has led the Malala Fund in which she said has invested 6 million dollars (4.3m) for schools and books and uniforms for schoolchildren.

Ms Yousafzai became the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.

She said her trip to Pakistan was her college break as well. That was also one of the reasons because I could not miss my school. So this just finally happened. To be honest, I cant believe it that I am here in Pakistan. It still feels like a dream, she said.

Yousafzai landed in Pakistan just before dawn on Thursday, flanked by heavy security and plans to return to Britain on Monday.A Palestinian runs during clashes with Israeli troops, during a tent city protest along the Israel border with Gaza, demanding the right to return to their homeland, the southern Gaza Strip March 30, 2018. Photo: Reuters

At least 15 Palestinian protesters were killed and hundreds more injured in clashes with Israeli forces on the Gaza border yesterday in the bloodiest day of demonstrations in several years.

Thousands of Palestinians marched towards the Israeli fence around Gaza as part of demonstrations supported by Hamas, the militant Islamist group that controls the enclave.

Israel's military said some demonstrators threw firebombs and burning tyres at Israeli troops on the other side of the barricade.

Soldiers fired live ammunition as well as rubber bullets, and tear gas was dropped by drones.

The violence comes at the start of a tense period that will culminate in May with the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem and the 70th anniversary of what Palestinians call the "Nakba" - the mass displacement of Arabs during the 1948 war with Israel.

Yesterday's demonstrations were described as the start of the "Great March of Return", in which Palestinian refugees will demand to be able to return to their 1948 homes in what is now Israel.

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Hamas said that the people killed had "sacrificed their souls for the sake of the great revolution which precedes the great return".

The violence began before dawn when a 27-year-old farmer picking parsley in his field was hit by an Israeli tank shell in southern Gaza. Another farmer was injured by shrapnel.

Israel's military said troops directed tank fire toward suspicious figures on the border.

Later in the day, mosque loudspeakers urged Gaza residents to head to the border encampments. A Hamas-linked bus company ferried protesters to the area.

Tens of thousands gathered at the encampments, though not all headed to the border.

Other Palestinian factions also participated in organising the protests.

The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 1,000 people were injured, including 758 by live fire and the rest by rubber bullets and tear gas.

Meanwhile, Israel said that the marches were "a dangerous, premeditated provocation meant to fan the flames of conflict and increase tension".

The Palestinian health ministry reported that a Palestinian farmer was killed early yesterday morning by Israeli strikes in Gaza and that others were killed in clashes with Israeli forces along the border.

An Israeli official said at least two of the dead were known Hamas operatives.

A large majority of Gaza's two million people are descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war over Israel's creation.

Turkey accused Israel of using "disproportionate force" in confronting the protesters.Russia has responded tit-for-tat to a wave of expulsions of its diplomats and spies by Western nations over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in the UK.

Two dozen countries have recently ordered out more than 150 Russians, a massive action unseen even at the height of the Cold War.

That included 60 Russian spies working under diplomatic cover in the US and 23 in the UK.

In the latest escalation Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said the Kremlin would expel the same number of diplomats from each country in a retaliatory measure.

It would also close the US consulate in St Petersburg in response to the Russian consulate in Seattle being shut down, he said.

Jon Huntsman, the US ambassador in Moscow, was summoned to the foreign ministry there and informed of the moves.

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In a statement, Mr Huntsman said there was "no justification" for the move and that it showed Moscow was not interested in dialogue with the United States about important matters.

"Russia should not be acting like a victim," US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

Later, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Russia's action was "not unanticipated and the United States will deal with it".

She said the retaliation by Moscow "marks a further deterioration in the United States-Russia relationship."

Mr Lavrov called the expulsions "reciprocal".

"They include expulsion of the equivalent number of diplomats, and they include our decision to withdraw our agreement to allow the US general consulate to operate in St Petersburg.

"As for the other countries it's also all symmetrical measures as to the number of people who will be leaving Russia from diplomatic missions."

He said Russia was reacting to "absolutely unacceptable actions taken against us under very harsh pressure from the United States and Britain under the pretext of the so-called Skripal case".

Mr Lavrov accused London of "forcing everyone to follow an anti-Russian course" and "making mockery of international law".

The foreign minister said Russia had again asked the UK to allow it access to Yulia Skripal, a Russian citizen, so it could "establish the truth".

Of the 60 US diplomats being expelled 58 were at the US Embassy in Moscow and two at the consulate in Yekaterinburg. They must leave Russia by April 5.

The Skripals remain in hospital following the nerve agent poisoning. Britain has blamed Russia for the attack.

Ms Skripal (33) has regained consciousness and was said to be improving rapidly and no longer in a critical condition. Sergei Skripal (66) remains in a critical condition.

Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general, said the world was approaching a situation "similar" to the Cold War with rising tensions between the US and Russia, adding that he was "very concerned".

( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]A Facebook executive's memo, which claimed the "ugly truth" was that anything it did to grow was justified, has been made public, embarrassing the company.

The 2016 post said this doctrine applied even if it meant that people might die as a result of either bullying or terrorism.

Both the author and the company's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, have denied that they actually believe the sentiment. However, it risks overshadowing Facebook's efforts to tackle an earlier scandal.

The executive, Andrew Bosworth, said he didn't agree with the provocative memo, now leaked to Buzzfeed, in which he described the company's mentality to grow and connect people at all costs.

Mr Bosworth, who goes by 'Boz,' said on Twitter yesterday he didn't even agree with the post at the time when he wrote it.

In the 2016 internal memo, entitled 'The Ugly', he wrote that "all the work we do in growth is justified" - even if it costs someone their life because they are exposed to bullies or die in a terrorist attack.

Mr Bosworth has been at Facebook since 2006 and serves as the company's vice-president in charge of virtual reality and augmented reality efforts. Previously, he was vice-president of ads and helped create Facebook features, such as Messenger, its news feed and groups.

Mr Bosworth tweeted on Thursday that he intended the memo to be provocative and that it was one of the most unpopular things he had written internally.

In a statement to Buzzfeed, which Facebook confirmed, CEO Mark Zuckerberg called Mr Bosworth a "talented leader who says many provocative things" but added that the memo was something "that most people at Facebook, including myself, disagreed with strongly".

He continued: "We've never believed the ends justify the means.

"We recognise that connecting people isn't enough by itself. We also need to work to bring people closer together.

"We changed our whole mission and company focus to reflect this last year."

Facebook is currently facing an unprecedented crisis as it continues to grapple with Russian elections-meddling through its platform and with privacy scandals.

The company's privacy practices have come under fire after Cambridge Analytica, a Trump-affiliated political consulting firm, acquired data inappropriately.

Days after these revelations, Facebook faced new questions about collecting call logs and information on text messages from Android devices.

The company still has not explained why it needed this data and what it did with it, saying only that it was used to improve experience on Facebook.

The website Ars Technica reported that users who checked data gathered by Facebook on them found that it had years of contact names, telephone numbers, call lengths and text messages.A Palestinian protester slings stones towards Israeli soldiers during clashes with Israeli troops along the Gaza Strip (AP)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an independent investigation into deadly clashes in Gaza between Palestinians and Israeli troops.

Security Council members have urged restraint on both sides, however they have not decided on any action or joint message after an emergency meeting on Friday.

Kuwait convened the talks hours after the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 cross-border war between Israel and Hamas.

Some 15 people were killed and more than 750 wounded by Israeli fire as thousands of Palestinian protesters marched to Gazas border with Israel, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

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The Israeli military said that thousands of Palestinians threw stones and rolled burning tires toward troops, that Palestinian gunmen fired toward soldiers in one incident and that militants were trying to conduct attacks under the cover of protests.

Mr Guterres wants an independent and transparent investigation into the violence, spokesman Farhan Haq said.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said he was disappointed the Security Council did not unite to condemn what he called a heinous massacre of peaceful demonstrators, or to support his call to provide protection for Palestinian civilians.

We expect the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility and defuse this volatile situation, which clearly constitutes a threat to international peace and security, Mr Mansour said.

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said the international community must not be deceived by what he termed a well-organised and violent terror-gathering under the banner of a peaceful march.

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The Palestinians sunk to a new deceitful low so that they could use the UN to spread lies about Israel while its representatives were not there because of the Passover holiday, Mr Danon said in a statement.

Some Security Council members suggested an investigation and emphasised that Israel should ensure force is only used proportionally.

Some also made a point of noting Israels security concerns and calling on demonstrators to avoid violence.

They all expressed alarm at the flare-up of conflict in a volatile region.

The situation is extremely worrisome, said Swedish deputy Ambassador Carl Skau.

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The US, which often complains about what it sees as anti-Israel bias at the UN, urged all involved in the conflict to lower tensions.

Bad actors who use protests as a cover to incite violence endanger innocent lives, added Walter Miller, an adviser at Washingtons UN mission.

Russia and China, meanwhile, emphasised a need to step up diplomatic efforts toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a whole.

Israel and Hamas have fought three cross-border wars in recent years.

The protests come as Gaza is in the 10th year of a border closure. Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade after Hamas seized Gaza from forces loyal to the militants rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in 2007.Kolkata, Mar 31 (IBNS): Recently, Andrew Yule & Co, an Indian business conglomerate headquartered in Kolkata, celebrated 100 years of its festival honoring Lord Jagannath, an avatar of Vishnu.

But there is more to this landmark event than meets the eye. It is the perfect example of religious tolerance and liberal outlook.

The company was founded in 1863 in Calcutta (as the city was then known as) by Andrew Yule, a young entrepreneur from Scotland.

Under Sir David Yule, by 1902, the company managed more than 30 businesses, which included Jute Mills, Cotton Mills, Tea Companies, Coal Companies, Railway Company, Printing Press and even a Zamindari Company in Midnapur District of West Bengal where it promoted agriculture, forestry, fisheries, roads, schools, hospitals and dispensaries.

It was Sir David Yule, way back in 1919, who agreed to the holding of a Jagannath Puja following requests from the large group of workers who hailed from Odisha. Jagannath is worshipped as the guardian deity in Odisha.

David Yule was the nephew of Andrew Yule and was a man of liberal ideas; he encouraged local customs and hence supported the cause.

This led to the initiation of the Puja dedicated to Lord Jagannath under the Andrew Yule Mahabharata Patha by Onkar Mal Jatia, Dhundi Mahakul, Birbhadra Parida and Bikali Charan Das who were the members of the organizing committee then.

Like every year, this year too the festival was held at the company's Kolkata-based headquarters, Yule House.

Said, Ramesh Chandra Das (President, Andrew Yule Mahabharata Patha Committee), This year is very special one as the celebrations is in its centenary Year.

Dipak Kumar Dey, Secretary, Andrew Yule Employees Union spoke to IBNS and said, It is a seven day event with cultural programmes in between."

He said, About five thousand people take part and the event is still organised by employees who hail from Odisha."

(Reporting by Sourajit Choudhury)New York, Mar 31 (IBNS): Popular search engine Google on Saturday decorated its website with a doodle celebrating Indias first woman doctor Anandi Gopal Joshis 153rd birth anniversary.

In 1886, a young doctor stepped off a ship from America, eager to take up the role of physician in charge of the female ward at Kolhapurs Albert Edward Hospital. Not only was she Indias first female doctor, but she was only 19 years old at the time. Her name was Anandi Gopal Joshi, and her story is one of courage and perseverance, s per the Google doodle website.

Joshi was married at the age of nine, as was the custom in 19th century India.

Her husband encouraged her to continue her education and her interest in medicine. At sixteen, battling ill-health but determined to succeed, Joshi set sail for America.

She earned her medical degree from the Womens Medical College of Pennsylvania (now known as Drexel University College of Medicine) and returned to India with dreams of opening a medical college for women, read the Google Doodle website.

The website further said on the Doodle that it was created by Bangalore-based artist Kashmira Sarode who imagines Joshi celebrating her degree.

Google often celebrates special days of the year, events and celebrity birthdays by decorating its homepage with doodles.New Delhi, Mar 31 (IBNS): A woman stabbed and left a Flipkart delivery boy injured in New Delhi recently due to late service, media reports said.

The episode occurred in Delhi's Nihal Vihar area.

The police have identified the woman as Kamal Deep.

She reportedly attacked the delivery man as her mobile phone was delivered late.

The victim has been identified as Keshav.

The police have arrested Kamal Deep, 30, and her brother Jitender Singh, 32, for attacking and robbing the delivery man.

The injured has been identified as Keshav, a resident of Ambica Enclave in Nihal Vihar. He recorded his statement on March 24 and based on his statement, the accused were arrested. A CCTV footage also helped us crack the case, a senior police officer told The Hindu.

Apart from stabbing, the delivery man was also strangulated by the woman.

The attackers robbed Rs. 40,000 which the victim had collected by delivering items.

After finding him motionless, they robbed a40,000 cash he had collected by delivering items. They dumped him near a drain during late night in a van. The victim has been stabbed all over the body. During the scuffle, he fell down and the accused woman sat on his abdomen and attacked him with a knife, said a police official to The Hindu.

Neighbours said that the woman is extremely short tempered and she often gets into fights with neighbours over minor issues. All the allegations made by the siblings to mislead the investigation were found false. Later, her brother confessed their involvement in the crime, said the police.

The police said Rs. 40,000 stolen cash, a van used in the offence, a blood stained towel, knife and shoe laces used to strangulate the victim have been recovered.

The victim is currently undergoing treatment at Sanjay Gandhi Hospital.

E-Commerce major Flipkart called the incident as 'unfortunate'.

"There was an unfortunate attack on one of our delivery boys recently. We are working to ensure that he gets the best medical care and recovers soon. As an organisation we are committed to do everything for his health and his family's well being," Flipkart tweeted.

Image: Creative Commons



Srinagar, Mar 31 (IBNS) : A cop was seriously injured after militants attacked a police party in Khanabal area of South Kashmir's Anantnag district.

Reports said that a group of militants opened fire on a police party resulting in the injuries to a constable.

The militants reportedly managed to escape after carrying out the attack. The area was cordoned off and a search operation was on.

The injured constable, identified as Trilok Singh, has been shifted to 92 Base Army Hospital Srinagar.



(Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri)New Delhi, Mar 31 (IBNS): Vice President of India M. Venkaiah Naidu called upon Farm Scientists to focus on making agriculture viable, profitable and sustainable, besides ensuring home-grown food security to meet the needs of a burgeoning population.

He was interacting with the Agricultural Researchers on 'Doubling Farm Income by 2022 in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana' at ICAR - Indian Institute of Rice Research, in Hyderabad today.

The Vice President posed several questions to the scientists and elicited their responses on how their research was translating to empower the farmers.

Asking them to come out with innovative and out-of-box solutions to meet the challenges faced by farmers, the Vice President said, A happy farmer makes a happy country.

We know the problems. What are the solutions, what are the new ideaswhat is the way forward to take technology to the farmers he asked.

He pointed out that lack of quality seeds is one of the problems faced by farmers.

Similarly, another issue that needed attention was rising input costs. Crop diversification and promoting allied farming activities like backyard poultry were equally important to increase farmers income.

He also wanted the scientists to make e-NAM more popular with the farming community.

Stressing the need for home-grown food security, he said both productivity and production have to be increased as the country cannot depend on imported food security.

He said the Krishi Vigyan Kendras should become the hubs of activity for farmers.

Asking the scientists and researchers to spend considerable time with farmers to come out with practical solutions, he suggested that staying with farmers should be made mandatory for students pursuing agricultural courses.

Referring to agricultural credit, Naidu emphasized the need for giving timely and affordable credit to the farmers at reasonable interest.

Observing that agriculture sector needs a great deal of attention because a majority of Indians still rely on agriculture and allied occupations in the rural areas for their livelihood, he said We have a situation today where despite phenomenal increase in food production, farmers are not able to get adequate returns from their investment. Agriculture remains an unattractive vocation to many families. We must change this situation.

Asking agricultural scientists and managers come up with solutions that will impact the farmers lives positively and increase their incomes, the Vice-President said, We should focus on production and productivity to have adequate home grown food security. At the same time it is not merely increasing the production and per acre productivity alone which is important. It is also important for us to recognise that along with technology transfer and intensification of agriculture, there must be strategic diversification and attention to the key linkages in the eco-system. The farmers must be supported through market information, ware housing and cold storage facilities as well as the credit, marketing and insurance facilities.

He said the most critical need is to establish a dialogue with farmers and provide them with knowledge and material resources to increase their incomes.

Following is the text of Vice President's address:

I am happy to participate in todays interaction with all of you and learn a little more about the excellent work being done by each of your institutions. Because of a number of initiatives taken by our scientists like you and the farming community, Indias food production has increased from a mere 50 million tonnes in 1950 to 275 million tonnes in 2017. As you have just now mentioned, India is the leading exporter of rice and contributes nearly 10% to our GDP. This spectacular achievement in the agriculture sector is in a large measure due to technology led improvements in agricultural productivity, investments in R&D and allied sectors and effective transfer of this technology to farmers over the last 7 decades.

I thought I should deepen my understanding and be aware of the state of the art and the current research being conducted by each one of you and see how the research findings are proving to be beneficial to the farmers.

Thank you for your detailed briefing on your activities.

I have always held that agriculture sector needs a great deal of attention because a majority of Indians still rely on agriculture and allied occupations in the rural areas for their livelihood.

We have a situation today where despite phenomenal increase in food production, farmers are not able to get adequate returns from their investment. Agriculture remains an unattractive vocation to many families. We must change this situation.

I am happy that each one of you is engaged in doing your best in your domain. I would urge each of you to think further on possible solutions to these challenge and as agricultural scientists and managers come up with solutions that will impact the farmers lives positively and increase their incomes.

We need to focus on increasing productivity and improve the rural, agro-based economy, especially the incomes of farmers.

We should focus on production and productivity to have adequate home grown food security. At the same time it is not merely increasing the production and per acre productivity alone which is important. It is also important for us to recognise that along with technology transfer and intensification of agriculture, there must be strategic diversification and attention to the key linkages in the eco-system. The farmers must be supported through market information, ware housing and cold storage facilities as well as the credit, marketing and insurance facilities.

I think that the most critical need is to establish a dialogue with farmers and provide them with knowledge and material resources to increase their incomes. I notice that you have been engaging in this dialogue and providing the required support services as well.

There is a need for educating the farmers on various possibilities to diversify not only in terms of alternative cropping patterns but also to give them facilities for taking up allied activities like dairy, fisheries, poultry and other allied occupations. Awareness about various cropping patterns based on soil profile and water availability in different agro-climatic zones is an important element in improving agriculture productivity.

I also feel that there is immense potential for value addition through agro based industries and food processing industries. Encouraging farmers to venture into these new areas of agro-based industries can be successful only if focus upon an important element. That element is effective transfer of knowledge and technology, transferring the know-how and the do-how from the lab to the land.

We should examine as to what extent we have been successful in conveying the vast knowledge base we have in our research institutions to the farmers. We should continue to innovate and search for more effective ways of transferring this knowledge to the farming community.

It would also be possibly beneficial if there is a two way dialogue between agriculture scientists and farmers so that the researchers not only understand the farmers problems but also study any innovative practices which the farmers might have already taken up.

Of course in addition to knowledge and awareness, it is also important that timely adequate credit is available to all the farmers.

In addition, with the vagaries of nature impacting the agricultural sector, the farmers need to be given adequate financial protection through crop insurance.

I am aware that government has been taking up these issues very seriously and a number of measures have been taken up.

I am happy that all of you are actively engaged in not only advancing the frontiers of knowledge and have taken up very relevant research but are also taking up the challenge of communicating your research findings to the farming community.

I wish you all the best in your endeavours.

Jai Hind!"Srinagar, Mar 31 (IBNS): Unidentified gunmen shot dead a former militant in South Kashmir's Pulwama district, officials said on Saturday.

The victim identified as Muhammad Ashraf Mir.

He was running Hilal Hotel and Restaurant in Pulwama main town .

Reports say he was on his way to his home at Machpuan after visiting a family in Dalipora when gunmen fired upon him.

He was shifted to District Hospital Pulwama where he succumbed to his injuries.

Doctors treating him said that the victim received three bullets, one in his chest, another in leg and the third one in belly.

Sources said that the victim was a former militant who had later on joined police department.

Presently, he was working as SPO at Cargo Srinagar.

A police official said that a case has been registered and hunt has been launched to trace the assailants.

(Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri)Image: Internet Wallpaper

Cambridge, Mar 31 (IBNS): Thousands of mourners gathered on the streets of Cambridge, England, as the funeral of British physicist Stephen Hawking took place on Saturday morning.

The ceremony took place at the University Church of St. Mary the Great near Gonville and Caius College.

Hawking died on Mar 14 at an age of 76.

Hawking was known for writing several popular science books.

He wrote the science book titled 'A Brief History of Time'.

Hawking had a rare early-onset, slow-progressing form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that gradually paralysed him over the decades.

He was still able to communicate using a single cheek muscle attached to a speech-generating device.

Interestingly, he was diagnosed with a rare form of motor neurone disease at the age of 22.

He was given just few years to live but Hawking went ahead to emerge as one of the most popular scientists of recent times.

His scientific works include a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation.Islamabad, Mar 31 (IBNS): For the first time since she was shot by Taliban terrorists, Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai visited Mingora her hometown in Swat Valley on Saturday, media reports said.

Malala was accompanied by State Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, her family and others as she travelled by an army helicopter from Islamabad to Swat, Geo News reported.

She reportedly met her family and friends in the Valley.

My first visit to Swat valley after 5 and a half years since the attack. I have never felt so happy. I am proud of my land and culture. The Cadet College is beautiful and I thank the staff and principal for welcoming me. Best wishes and prayers, Malala wrote in the guest book of the Swat Cadet College Guli Bagh as reported by Geo News.

Malala was quoted as saying that she was happy to return in Swat Valley.

She returned to Pakistan on Thursday.

During this visit, Malala met Pakistan PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

Malala received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.

So much joy seeing my family home, visiting friends and putting my feet on this soil again. #Home #Pakistan pic.twitter.com/B8VN5Odd27  Malala (@Malala) March 31, 2018

She was shot by Taliban terrorists in 2012 when she was returning from school in Swat region of the country.

After initial treatment in Pakistan, she was later flown to London.

The incident was condemned internationally.

Image: Malala Twitter page

Kabul, Mar 31 (IBNS): During an operation conducted by security forces in Afghanistan at least 30 Taliban terrorists have been killed, media reports said on Saturday.

10 Taliban terrorists were injured in the incident.

The operation was conducted by security forces in Kandahar province of the country.

Police Chief Gen. Abdul Razaq told Pajhwok Afghan News Afghan Special Forces have targeted over ten militants training centres in the area and there was severe fighting.

During the operation, 26 motorcycles, 8 cars, a telephone device, computers were seized and the facility was destroyed, he told the Afghan news agency.

The Taliban has not commented on the issue so far.Ottawa, Mar 31 (IBNS): Russia has expelled four Canadian diplomats as the dispute between the Moscow Kremlin and the West over the poisoning of an ex-spy in Salisbury, United Kingdom (U.K.) continues, Global Affairs Canada said on Saturday, media reports said.

In an email to media, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said they are making their efforts to help diplomats return to their country.

The development came after Canada had decided to expel four Russian diplomatic staff, posted at the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Ottawa on the same issue.

On Mar 28, Freeland said in a statement, "The four have been identified as intelligence officers or individuals who have used their diplomatic status to undermine Canada's security or interfere in our democracy."

Theresa May, British Prime Minister had reportedly said her government had concluded that that Russia was probably responsible for the attack on Skripal, a former Russian spy, and his daughter in Salisbury.

Canada's decision, Freeland said, was in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and on Consular Relations as well as diplomatic action taken by the U.S. and several European Union (EU) nations.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump had reportedly discussed over phone on Monday and said measures taken by Canada and the United States were to support their common ally against Russia in response to the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

The U.S. administration sent a message on Monday to Russia's leaders that it would be expelling 60 Russian diplomats and ordering the closure of Russia's consulate in Seattle in response to the attack.

This action was condemned by Russia, who threatened to retaliate against Canada.

A statement by Russian embassy in Ottawa was issued on Twitter saying that Canada's decision was both "deplorable and outrageous."

Freeland stated that Canada was "taking these measures in solidarity with the United Kingdom,"

"For national security reasons I can't get into that," Canada's Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said.

Piotr Dutkiewicz, a professor and Russian foreign relations expert at Carleton University, warned that Canada was jeopardizing its relations with Russia especially in matters touching on the Arctic.

(Reporting by Suman Das)Elena Mondal, a 14-year-old Indian girl in the UK, was found hanging in the grounds of a reputed UK grammar school after she was barred from joining a WhatsApp group by her classmates.

Mondal was found unresponsive by her teachers in a wooded area near the famous Henrietta Barnett School in north London. The incident happened last year. An ongoing judicial inquiry, meanwhile, has been adjourned until an expert psychiatrist can fully assess the nature of guidance provided to the girl before her demise.

representative image

Also read: Unable To Handle Cheating Accusation By Teachers, 13-Year-Old Girl Commits Suicide In Mumbai

Her parents, Shyamal and Moushumi Mondal, expressed fears that their daughter was being bullied at the girls' school for Elena had once fled from class in a fit of tears and with a pair of scissors in her hands.

She had collapsed in the school's corridor following which she cut her arms in the washroom.

reuters

The school's well-being manager, Kelly Barry said that Elena was referred to the school counsellor after she repeatedly missed lunches and complained of depression. However, she missed most of her appointments.

Also read: Fed Up With Everyday Stalking & Lewd Comments, Class 12 Girl Commits Suicide In DelhiThe Austrian-American film star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger , underwent a open heart surgery yesterday.

Twitter

While his fans and friends were panicking about his condition but his representative mentioned it was a scheduled procedure and there is no reason for any panic. Infact, his spokesman, Daniel Ketchell even revealed the first words after Arnold regained conscious.

"I'm back," Schwarzenegger said immediately after awakening from the procedure, according to Daniel Ketchell's Twitter. The former governor of California underwent emergency open-heart surgery on Thursday but Ketchell released a statement on Twitter that the procedure was planned.

"Update: Schwarzenegger is awake and his first words were actually 'I'm back,' so he is in good spirits," Ketchell tweeted.

Schwarzenegger, 70, went to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to replace a pulmonic valve that was originally changed in 1997 due to a congenital heart defect.

Twitter

"That 1997 replacement valve was never meant to be permanent, and has outlived its life expectancy, so he chose to replace it yesterday through a less-invasive catheter valve replacement," Ketchell said.



Ketchell added that an open-heart surgery team was on hand as part of standard procedure, but was not needed.

Update: @Schwarzenegger is awake and his first words were actually Im back, so he is in good spirits. https://t.co/bJ4pxqS8l6  Daniel Ketchell (@ketch) March 30, 2018

"They frequently are in these circumstances, in case the catheter procedure was unable to be performed," Ketchell said. "Governor Schwarzenegger's pulmonic valve was successfully replaced and he is currently recovering from the surgery and is in stable condition."

Schwarzenegger, who served as governor of California from 2003-2011, is set to return to the "Terminator" franchise for the sixth film in the series, which is scheduled for release next year.You can hate her, detest her but Kangana Ranaut is unstoppable for reasons more than one. Failures and criticism have never affected her. And now, in a first, Kangana Ranaut is geared up as she will be representing India on a global platform.

According to reports, Kangana will deliver a speech at the Gandhi Going Global summit to be held in the United States.

Bollywood's 'Queen' will also be sharing the stage with former First Lady of the US Michelle Obama and talk show host and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey, who too will be present at the event.

Agencies

The main focus of the event would be to talk about Mahatma Gandhis ideology and philosophy across the globe.

The event will spread over two days including August 18 and 19 and will consist of witness interactive activities, educational programs, motivational talks and cultural celebration.

BCCL

Kangana, who is currently busy with the period drama Manikarnika spoke about the opportunity and said,

Pinterest

Speaking to the media, Kangana said, For me, its always been about the impact you make on society and how you contribute to it. Sharing the stage with Michelle and Oprah will be inspiring. Ive never been anybodys fan but I admire and idolise women like Oprah. Once I get back to Mumbai, I will know exactly what I will be talking on and for how long, depending on that I will prepare my speech.

Participating in this event would be more than 500 NGOs and organizations, over 400 universities and more than 100 high schools and the footfall is expected to be around 25,000 attendees.

On the professional front, Kangana has already wrapped up the shoot of the film Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi.

She is now all prepped up to begin her next Mental Hai Kya with Rajkummar Rao, posters of which were unveiled online a few weeks ago.News you could use that were highlights of the day... Read here

1. Bihar Boy Was Put In Lock-Up For Three Days Just Because He Spoke To Cops In English

In another bizarre incident, two police officers thrashed a class 12th student and kept him in lock-up for three days because he talked to them in English in Bihar. Two officials have been suspended now. The incident took place in Khagaria district, the boy now is in hospital. Abhishek Kumar said he was still shocked that speaking in English with the cops could turn so tragic for him. Read More

2. Toxic Reality: People Living Closer To Roads In Delhi Are At Extremely High Risk Of Cancer

Living close to roads in Delhi may increase the chances of getting lung cancer because one gets to inhale more particulate more that contains elements such as chromium and nickel, a newly drawn study says. Read More

3. Here's The Story Of 'Point Nemo', The Dumping Ground Of Spacecrafts On Earth

Officially called an "oceanic pole of inaccessibility," this watery graveyard for titanium fuel tanks and other high-tech space debris is better known to space junkies as Point Nemo, in honour of Jules Verne's fictional submarine captain. Read More

4. Mumbai's Famous Elephanta Island That Has 1500-Year-Old Caves Finally Gets Electricity

Residents have had to sleep outside, especially during summers when the temperatures would rise to an unbearable level. The residents would have to just look at the city lights from afar and keep longing for it. Until the late 80s they used kerosene lamps post which received diesel generators that provided intermittent electricity between 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm every night. Read More

5. SpiceJet Crew Complain Of A Strip-Search, Company Says It Applies For Flyers Too

Recently, an Air hostesses working with no-frills carrier SpiceJet protested at Chennai airport early morning today after they were allegedly strip-searched by the airline's own security personnel, reported NDTV. The air hostesses have alleged that they were strip-searched in the last few days. This was done after they deboarded from their flights and the security asked them to also remove their sanitary pads from their bags. Read More

6. Rajasthan Woman Thinks Of A Bizarre Remedy, Throws Acid On Baby Boy To Cure Pneumonia

This has even taken lives of many. In Rajasthan, for example, woman, a native of Vinoba Basti in Sawai Madhopur, allegedly had acid thrown on her own baby from a fake doctor as part of traditional pneumonia treatment. Read MoreSince 2006, Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections has been an independent view of family history resources and developments seen from an Ottawa perspective.Kashmir is full of youngsters who are ready to serve the nation and make it big at the international platforms. These youngsters just need encouragement from the government and independent funding agencies and they can turn things around very easily.

Adeeba Tak from Shopian will find her name in the history books for being one of the very few students across the world who managed to get a full scholarship from University of Pennsylvania!

Facebook

Making into any of the Ivy League colleges is a dream that perhaps every single student on the planet may have, and Adeeba has achieved it. Adeeba's hope and dedication as a Kashmiri girl she has created history by earning a 100 per cent scholarship from the prestigious University of Pennsylvania (U-Penn) in the US to pursue her dream of being an aeronautical engineer, reported India Today. At the time when the entire area was churning with curfew and fear, Adeeba worked hard and studied.

"I had a dream of becoming an engineer. Everyone said why pursue it, it is not good for girls. I, however, continued. My teachers were a real help. There were times when we didn't know what was happening around. There was so much unrest in 2016, but our teachers ensured we continued to study," Adeeba Tak told India Today.

UPenn/ Reuters

Her talent was recognised first when she topped the first edition of an institute's talent search examination in 2015. For more than two years, Adeeba consistently studied and prepared for an admission into U-Penn to do what she always wanted to do - Aeronautical Engineering,

Her family is proud today of what she has achieved. "I feel the children should be given opportunities to do what they want to. She has made us all proud. We are very happy," said Adeeba's mother. U-Penn is an Ivy League research university and one of the most prestigious institutions in the world that boasts of having alumni who are 30 Nobel laureates, 25 billionaires and a significant number of Fortune 500 CEOsThe Russian Defence ministry claims to have successfully test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile. The missile Sarmat reportedly test fired from Plesetsk in northwestern Russia and its in the early stage of its flight.

Russian ministry for defence

Sarmat is intended to replace the Soviet-designed Voyevoda, the world's heaviest ICBM known as "Satan" in the West.

Russian President Putin had earlier said that this missile weighs 200 metric tons and has the range greater than Satan, the last ICBM launched by the country. Sarmat can target North and South Poles and can strike targets anywhere in the world.

Putin also said Sarmat could carry an array of warheads capable of dodging missile defenses.It was just another day in the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains I woke up early to get a jump start on things. But something was different this morning.

"I was not thinking about work as usual. I was thinking about freedom."

Back in 2016 I was living in beautiful sunny California and working at one of the best top tier tech companies in the world. Life was good and there was little to complain about. And yet at this point in my life, I was looking for something different.

ap/representational image

In 2010 I was offered the chance to move to California and work with Linkedin. This was the beginning of my journey to the US on an H1-B visa to work in Silicon Valley. I moved to a beautiful city in Silicon Valley on the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains and went to work for Linkedin as a software engineer.

Linkedin was still a young company and it was exciting to be working in the heartland of tech, Silicon Valley with some of the smartest people in the world.

The cutting edge work and quality of life that working in tech and living in California provides you with is hard to beat. The natural beauty, weather and abundance of things to do make it an ideal place for families. We were a young family and and we loved our life in in the Golden State.

The quest for a green card

Having spent over six years in California and contributing in every way possible I assumed naively that it would be a few years wait till I was given a green card. I worked with people from almost every part of the world and all of them had gotten their in a year or so.

representational image

The green card was my way out of a highly restrictive H1-B visa and the chance to once again build my own startup. But this was not to be the truth I learned was very different. Green card quotas are based on place of birth and for people born in India the wait times are over 20 years.

At this point in my life I need permanence and the freedom to build a startup. To be free again during the best years of my life was worth its weight in gold. I loved my life in California but the world is a big and interesting place and I was ready for my next play.

"I explored a few options like Singapore and Berlin but none of them felt quite right."

This was when Canada came into focus, a chance meeting with a friend who runs a successful startup in Toronto got me thinking about the city.

I learned that Toronto has a fast growing tech ecosystem that values my skills and Canada has a smart merit based immigration system that will grant me a Permanent Residency if I had the points. Also Toronto is in North America and an hours flight away from New York city it seems familiar to me.

reuters/representational image

We were ready for a new adventure our family was moving to Canada.

Its been a year now since weve moved from Silicon Valley to a Toronto. Having found a great neighbourhood for us and our kids we have quickly made friends and started enjoying the complete freedom that PR grants you. For me the best of which was the chance to start working on my new startup. We miss California and all our friends there but Canada feels like home and were excited to go out and explore this beautiful country.

Beyond the US H1-B dream and moving to Canada

A 20% drop in US student visas in 2017. Singapore blocks visas for Indian tech professionals. Australia abolishes visa program popular with Indians. Headlines like this are increasingly common and signal a massive shift underway. A young technologist looking to make his way into the world needs to be increasingly aware of where the path he chooses will take him.

Traditionally the MS to H1-B and finally a Green card path has served countless smart talented Indians who went on to lead some of the top companies in the world and build a life for themselves in the US. Over the last decade, the number of Indians choosing this path has grown significantly and millions of Indians are today living and working in the US.

bccl/representational image

"Like them, I also worked in Silicon Valley alongside smart and friendly people from all over the world."

I moved from Singapore in 2010 to Silicon Valley to join Linkedin when it was still a relatively smaller company. The next 6 years were some of the greatest in terms of living in California and the work I did. But in the end, I choose not to stay and moved to Toronto Canada as a PR.

Over my time in the valley being stuck on the H1-B visa was a common underlying thread that tied Indians together. I had friends who had lived for over 10 years on the restrictive visa and were still waiting with no end in sight.

The timeline to get a Green card for a person born in India was only going up and at this point in time is over 20 years or more. To me spending my entire productive life time on a highly restrictive visa did not make sense. I wanted the freedom to pursue any opportunity, travel and build my next startup.

reuters/representational image

We moved to Toronto with a Canadian Permanent Residency which is similar to having a green card in the US. The process to get this was easy and transparent, based on merit and entirely online.

Honestly, we were a little surprised how different and inviting this seemed in comparison to everything I had encountered with other countries. We didnt need any lawyers or consultants we could just do it on our own. The application itself took less than a couple days to fill up.

When the world is closing its doors, Canada is opening theirs wider," a quote by Justin Trudeau the Prime Minister of Canada. He embodies a lot of what Canada stands for a young, friendly and accepting place that is looking to its future and understands that it lies in technology.

We picked Toronto, Canada for multiple reasons, an exciting and fast-growing tech ecosystem, a clear path to immigration, Canadian values, quality of life and the chance to live free of restrictive visas. Its been a little over a year since we moved and we love our life here.

reuters/representational image

Since then Canada has done even more to attract tech talent to the country with the new Global Talent Stream visa a fast work visa that can help companies bring in people for software engineering and AI jobs in as little as two weeks.

And the new Startup Visa that let you move your entire team to Canada and leverage the ecosystem here. Canada is also growing serious local tech talent, the University of Toronto and Waterloo are considered two of the top colleges globally for Computer Science, AI, and Machine Learning research.

I predict Canada is just getting started, over the next 10 years, I see Toronto transforming into a world-class tech center and a destination for global tech talent. Every few days, I meet newcomers to Toronto who have moved here to be part of this new tech wave. And like they say in startupland youll get to say you were there early.

Somewhere in Canada // Vikram Rangnekar

About the author: Vikram Rangnekar is a techie, entrepreneur and an author. He writes regularly about life in Toronto and the emerging tech scene there on his blog http://www.movnorth.comEmergency Protest of Israeli Massacre in Gaza

Sat., March 31, 12 Noon

Gather at UN Plaza (Market between 7th & 8th Sts.)



On March 30, Israeli occupation forces murdered at least 13 Palestinians and injured more than 1,200. using live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets, and huge quantities of tear gas. The massive protests in cities across Gaza -- the world's largest open-air prison -- were held on Land Day and were the start of a six-week long mobilization leading up to al-Nakba Day, May 15, which commemorates the expulsion of more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland in 1948 to make way for the state of Israel. The protest is called the Great March of Return, and demands that the expelled Palestinian be allowed to return to their land.



The Israeli occupation forces, while attempting to turn reality upside down by claiming to have been acting in "self-defense," reported suffering zero casualties.



Join us to protest this latest atrocity by the Israeli occupiers and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.



Initiated by the Palestine Action Network



#GreatReturnMarch



Palestine Action Network:

American Friends Service Committee

Al-Awda SF

American Muslims for Palestine

ANSWER Bay Area [Act Now to Stop War and End Racism]

AROC: Arab Resource & Organizing Center

Art Forces

General Union of Palestine Students -GUPS SFSU

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area

Middle East Children's Alliance - MECA

NorCal Friends of Sabeel

Palestinian Youth Movement -   

Queers Undermining Israeli Terror

Students For Justice In Palestine at UC Berkeley (Cal SJP) For more event information: https://www.facebook.com/events/6114509059...

Added to the calendar on Friday Mar 30th, 2018 4:19 PMWere not far away from a new release of Windows 10, and with it plenty of new APIs for your applications. One big change is support for running trained machine learning models as part of Windows applications, taking advantage of local GPUs to accelerate machine learning applications.

Building a machine learning application can be a complex process. Training a model can require a lot of data, and a considerable amount of processing power. Thats fine if youve got access to a cloud platform and lots of bandwidth, but what if you want to take an existing model from GitHub and run it on a PC?

Trained machine learning models are an ideal tool for bringing the benefits of neural networks and deep learning to your applications. All you should need to do is hook up the appropriate interfaces, and they should run as part of your code. But with many machine learning frameworks and platforms, theres a need for a common runtime that can use any of the models out there. Thats where the new Windows machine learning tools comes into play, offering Windows developers a platform to run existing machine learning models in their applications, taking advantage of a developing open standard for exchanging machine learning models.

Introducing ONNX for Windows

Microsoft is supporting ONNX, the Open Neural Network Exchange format, an open standard for sharing deep learning models between platforms and services. With ONNX you can build and train neural networks on cloud platforms or on dedicated machine learning systems, using well-known algorithms. Once trained, the algorithms can run on another framework, or with Windows machine learning as part of an application on a PC, or even an IoT device.

ONNX currently supports a range of machine learning frameworks, including Facebooks popular Caffe 2, the Python-based PyTorch, and Microsofts own Cognitive Toolkit (formerly named CNTK). While theres not direct support for Googles TensorFlow, you can find unofficial connectors that let you export as ONNX, with an official import/export tool currently under development. ONNX offers its own runtimes and libraries, so your models can run on your hardware and take advantage of any accelerators you have.

Converting machine learning models with ONNX

If youre using Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit on Azure to build and run machine learning models, you should already have access to ONNX, because its built into every version after 2.3.1, and itll soon be part of the Visual Studio Tools for AI. All you need to do to export a model is to choose ONNX as your export format, something you can do with a single line of Python or C# code. You dont even need to write the export statement into your training application; it can even be a call from an Azure Notebook or a statement in an Azure machine learning pipeline.

Microsoft also provides its own tools to convert models from some other formats, like Apples Core ML, to ONNX. Microsofts WinMLTools is a Python package, so you can use it with existing machine learning tools, like Anaconda. By integrating with familiar machine learning development environments, you can mix cross-platform data science skills with Windows developersusing the same machine learning models that now run on popular mobile platforms, as well on Windows.

Its not all plain sailing: There can be issues with working with Core ML models that deliver image outputs, because ONNX doesnt directly support image types. However, Microsofts WinMLTools documentation walks you through the process of mapping an ONNX output tensor to a collection of image files.

Adding machine learning to Windows apps

Once exported, that model can run on Windows new machine learning platform. Once imported, trained models are ready to go and can work with new data without needing any additional training. Using one, say for image recognition, can give field workers new tools for identifying problems and finding solutions using their laptops or 2-in-1s cameras. Where there are bandwidth issues, local machine learning algorithms can run over downloaded data from sensors or other monitoring tools, perhaps providing diagnostic tools for automotive repairs from on-vehicle sensors.

Building on the computational GPU support in DirectX 12, Window machine learning will run on most modern PC hardware. If a GPU isnt available, it can also use CPU resources, though this will lose much of the performance gain you get from using a GPU as a parallel processing surface. Theres also the option of working with the AI core in Qualcomm ARM devices, and with Intels plug-in AI co-processors.

Support for Windows machine learning is currently available in preview releases of Visual Studio 15.7 and in the Windows Insider release of the Windows 10 SDK. Writing UWP code to handle machine learning is easy enough; youll import the ONNX model into a Visual Studio project. This will then automatically generate the appropriate interfaces and classes, ready for you integrate them into your application. If youre using C++or C#, then mlgen, a tool in the Windows SDK, will generate wrapper classes for you.

Machine learning on the edge

Windows machine learning isnt only for the traditional PC. As you move cloud applications to what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella calls the intelligent edge, youre moving them to many classes of device. Some will be full-size servers running in cell towers, some will be hub devices with similar specifications to branch office servers or desktop PCs, abd some will be the IoT devices themselves, using embedded processors.

AMD has recently launched embedded versions of its Epyc and Ryzen processors. Like the desktop and mobile Ryzen, the embedded version runs code on its built-in GPU. At the UK launch event, one developer was demonstrating a camera that used an embedded Ryzen to scan bottles of beer for inclusions; determining if a batch should be rejected. The embedded systems machine learning model trained on more powerful systems, with a significant amount of image data. Once trained, it was exported and used to analyze the image stream from the camera.

The app itself was running on an embedded Linux, but its not hard to see a future embedded release of Windows, like Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, offering similar machine learning features on embedded Ryzen hardware. Theres also the option of support for ARMs Project Trillium embedded machine learning processors, embedding hardware that can run ARMs own neural networking software in low-power chipsets.

Bringing machine learning out of the cloud is an important step; it removes latency from applications that need to respond quickly and reduces the amount of data sent from remote sites to cloud servers. With Windows machine learning, you can use these techniques to quickly add complex algorithms to your own code, making your software more capable and more useful.Markets rebound after China fears ease Sidwell Strategies - Fri Sep 24, 10:39PM CDT Cattle on feed higher than expected. USDA Grain Stocks reports on Thursday

Cattle Market Mixed Heading into COF Report Barchart - Fri Sep 24, 4:39PM CDT Live cattle futures were lower on the last trade day of the week, giving back 30 to 47 cents in the front months. Feeder cattle, however, found strength in the afternoon to close 40 to 50 cents higher.... LEV21 : 122.925s (-0.24%) LEG22 : 132.625s (-0.24%) GFU21 : 154.625s (-0.18%) GFV21 : 157.350s (+0.32%)

Corn Market Weakens into Weekend Barchart - Fri Sep 24, 4:39PM CDT On Friday, corn prices worked lower to close 2 to 2 1/2 cents in the red. New crop futures were firmer with Red dec only giving back 3/4 cents while Sept gained 1 1/4 cents. For the week December corn... ZCZ21 : 526-6s (-0.47%) ZCPAUS.CM : 5.0977 (-0.55%) ZCH22 : 534-4s (-0.47%) ZCZ21 : 526-6s (-0.47%)

Shootin' The Bull Swift Trading Company - Fri Sep 24, 3:58PM CDT Live Cattle and Feeder Cattle Markets will have their challenges in next week's trade. The Cattle on Feed report was slightly bearish and open interest in the complex has been decreasing.

Livestock Report Walsh Trading - Fri Sep 24, 3:35PM CDT Markets wait for Reports

Natural Gas Rallies Sharply as Supplies Remain Tight Before Winter Barchart - Fri Sep 24, 2:14PM CDT October Nymex natural gas (NGV21 ) on Friday closed up +0.164 (+3.30%). Oct nat-gas prices on Friday settled sharply higher for a second day amid persistent concerns about low U.S. gas inventories ahead... NGX21 : 5.200s (+3.11%)

Crude Oil Posts Moderate Gains as Global Supplies Tighten Barchart - Fri Sep 24, 2:12PM CDT November WTI crude oil (CLX21 ) on Friday closed up +0.68 (+0.93%), and November RBOB gasoline (RBX21 ) closed up +0.0116 (+0.55%). Nov WTI crude oil and Nov RBOB gasoline prices on Friday closed moderately... CLX21 : 73.98s (+0.93%) RBX21 : 2.1377s (+0.55%)Free on Board Shipping Point vs. Free on Board Destination: An Overview

International commercial laws have been in place for decades and were established to standardize the rules and regulations surrounding the shipment and transportation of goods. Having special contracts in place has been important because international trade can be complicated and because trade laws differ between countries.

These international contracts outline provisions including the time and place of delivery as well as the terms of payment agreed upon by the two parties. When the risk of loss shifts from the seller to the buyer and determining who foots the bill for freight and insurance, all depend on the nature of the contract.

Free on board (FOB) shipping point and free on board (FOB) destination are two of several international commercial terms (Incoterms) published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

FOB shipping point and FOB destination indicate the point at which the title of goods transfers from the seller to the buyer. The distinction is important in specifying who is liable for goods lost or damaged during shipping. The primary difference between the two contracts is in the timing of the transfer of the title for the goods.

Free on board, also referred to as freight on board, only refers to shipments made via waterways, and does not apply to any goods transported by vehicle or by air.

Key Takeaways Free on board (FOB) is a trade term used to indicate whether the buyer or the seller is liable for goods that are lost, damaged, or destroyed during shipment.

Free on board shipping point indicates that the buyer takes responsibility for loss or damage the moment the goods get to the shipper.

Free on board destination indicates that the seller retains liability for loss or damage until the goods are delivered to the buyer.

FOB contracts have become more sophisticated in response to the increasing complexities of international shipping.

Free on Board Shipping Point

FOB shipping point, also known as FOB origin, indicates that the title and responsibility of goods transfer from the seller to the buyer when the goods are placed on a delivery vehicle.

Since FOB shipping point transfers the title of the shipment of goods when the goods are placed at the shipping point, the legal title of those goods is transferred to the buyer. Therefore, the seller is not responsible for the goods during delivery. FOB shipping point is a further limitation or condition to FOB, as responsibility changes hands at the seller's shipping dock.

For example, assume Company ABC in the United States buys electronic devices from its supplier in China, and the company signs a FOB shipping point agreement. If the designated carrier damages the package during delivery, Company ABC assumes full responsibility and cannot ask the supplier to reimburse the company for the losses or damages. The supplier is only responsible for bringing the electronic devices to the carrier.

Free on Board Destination

Conversely, with FOB destination, the title of ownership is transferred at the buyers loading dock, post office box, or office building. Once the goods are delivered to the buyers specified location, the title of ownership of the goods transfers from the seller to the buyer. Consequently, the seller legally owns the goods and is responsible for the goods during the shipping process.

For example, assume Company XYZ in the United States buys computers from a supplier in China and signs a FOB destination agreement. Assume the computers were never delivered to Company XYZ's destination, for whatever reason. The supplier takes full responsibility for the computers and must either reimburse Company XYZ or reship the computers.

Shipping terms affect the buyer's inventory cost because inventory costs include all costs to prepare the inventory for sale. This accounting treatment is important because adding costs to inventory means the buyer does not immediately expense the costs and this delay in recognizing the cost as an expense affects net income.

Key Differences

Another key difference between these two terms is the way in which they are accounted for. Since the buyer assumes liability after the goods are placed on the ship for transport, the company can record an increase in its inventory at that point. Similarly, the seller records the sale at the same time. If there is any damage or loss of goods during transport, the buyer may file a claim since the company holds title during delivery.

The accounting rules change for FOB destination. In this case, the seller completes the sale in its records once the goods arrive at the receiving dock. That's when the buyer records the increase in its inventory.

There is also a difference in the division of costs. When it comes to the FOB shipping point option, the seller assumes the transport costs and fees until the goods reach the port of origin.

Once the goods are on the ship, the buyer is financially responsible for all costs associated with transport as well as customs, taxes, and other fees. For FOB destination, the seller assumes all costs and fees until the goods reach their destination. Upon entry into the port, all feesincluding customs, taxes, and other feesare borne by the buyer.Police have seized what they believe could be one of Northern Ireland's largest ever hauls of herbal cannabis.

The drugs were found on a shipping pallet located inside an industrial-sized fuel tank at a property in Dromore, Co Down, on Friday.

Three men and two women were detained at the address and officers carried out searches at other locations.

The estimated street value of the drugs is currently unknown.

The discovery was the result of a joint operation by the PSNI, An Garda Siochana and Irish customs officials under the banner of the Cross-Border Joint Agency Task Force.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin said:

This seizure and the associated searches and arrests demonstrate the effectiveness of the real time intelligence sharing and cross-border collaboration that takes place daily to tackle serious and organised criminality in both jurisdictions.

"With the assistance of our colleagues in An Garda Siochana and Revenue Commissioners we have undoubtedly prevented the significant harm that would have resulted from this huge consignment of drugs reaching the streets of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland today."

An Garda Siochana Assistant Commissioner Barry O'Brien said: "I wish to commend all agencies involved in both jurisdictions which resulted in the seizure of a substantial quantity of controlled drugs.

"This demonstrates the practical application of the Cross Border Joint Agency Task Force."

ACC Martin added: "Our thanks go to all those involved in this operation for their diligence and professionalism.

"Their combined hard work and dedication has gone a long way in helping us achieve our shared goal of keeping people safe."

- Digital DeskThe Master of the National Maternity Hospital says the Eighth Amendment creates an unacceptable risk.

It is eight weeks today until polling day in the abortion referendum.

Both sides have launched their campaigns and are preparing for the debate to kick start.

Dr Rhona Mahony says some of the cases she has come across in the past made her mind up for her.

Dr Mahony said: "She was approximately 14 weeks gestation, but somatic function was maintained because she was pregnant in order to incubate her baby in what was described as a macabre experiment.

"And this was a direct consequence of the Eighth Amendment because what you had here was the conflict between, if you like, the actual clinical situation and the risk, and this balance of rights."

Meanwhile, TDs and Senators have been warned by RTE not to wear badges, emblems or clothing supporting either side of the abortion debate if they appear on the broadcaster talking about other issues.

In a letter sent to Oireachtas members, politicians were told they can wear items expressing a view if they are being interviewed about abortion.

However, in the interest of fair and impartial broadcasting, they should not do so if being interviewed on other subjects.

The broadcaster asked politicians to respect producers and staff if asked to remove badges or emblems before a broadcast.Update - 1.47pm: A pro-choice group campaigning for a yes vote in the upcoming referendum on the Eighth Amendment have said that they are "disheartened and frustrated" that pro-life protesters displayed posters claiming to show graphic images of aborted babies at their event in Co. Waterford on Wednesday.

The group, called Parents Together for Yes, held their coffee morning at their local GAA centre in Tramore when pro-life protesters displayed the posters while taking photos of parents and children attending.

Tramore mother, Jac Sinnott, a member of Parents Together for Yes, said: These coffee mornings are family events where we can bring our children, so we as parents can talk and inform ourselves about why were voting yes.

"We were shaken to find a small group of pro-life protesters at the GAA centre, targeting us together with our children.

"There was no consideration at all for the fact that some of our children were very upset by these graphic, inaccurate images. They were taking photos of us and our children which felt very intrusive."

Spokesperson for Parents Together for Yes, Sinead Redmond, said the actions will not stop the group from continuing their work.

Ms Redmond said: One in two women who need abortion care are already mothers - we wont be forced out of this debate.

"We campaign because we want a more caring and compassionate Ireland for ourselves and for our children.

Having our event for families targeted with upsetting, inaccurate images feels intimidating and silencing. Open discussion is a cornerstone of democracy.

9.45am:

By Daniel Keating

Anti-abortion posters claiming to show graphic images of aborted babies that were displayed in Waterford city have been described as distressing.

The images are being used as part of protests by Pro-Life campaigners.

Speaking on WLRFM's 'Deise Today', parent Martina Collender told Eamon Keane, parents for choice were having a coffee morning in Tramore, Co. Waterford, which was designed for parents to bring their small children to talk about the abortion issue.

According to Ms Collender, these distressing images were displayed at the front gate as little children were brought in, and as a result, the young children became very upset.

The large posters claiming to show images of aborted babies were also later displayed outside University Hospital Waterford (UHW).

Ms Collender said: I have seen these images without warning popping up all over the city and its very difficult to believe these are allowed.

These are very gruesome images of unborn children, they're incredibly graphic and very upsetting.

According to a number of attendees at the event, it is alleged that a number of Pro-Life protestors were taking pictures and videos of parents arriving at the coffee morning with their children.

Ms Collender believes that these groups can make their point without resorting to these graphic images.

People Before Profit member and campaigner Una Dunphy, who also attended the coffee morning, said: I saw them [pro-life protestors] setting up outside and was pretty much aware of what they do and how their tactics play out.

According to Ms Dunphy, one parent was so upset that her children were being photographed that she made sure organisers got in touch with Gardai.

Waterford City and County Councillor Jason Murphy said that he could only imagine the distress that these images have caused.

I wouldnt engage in shock tactics because I dont think there is any need to engage in shock tactics, lets make the argument in a very reasoned and measured way. said Cllr Murphy.Its not often that April Fools Day coincides with Easter Sunday. In fact, the last time this happened was when Jack the Ripper was around in 1888, says Robert Hume, as he looks back at some of the greatest hoaxes

As you open all those Easter eggs, dont get distracted into believing your shoelaces are undone. Watch out for drawing pins on chairs, Oreos filled with toothpaste, and clingfilm across the toilet bowl.

The media will broadcast phoney stories, and people of all ages will do awful things to one another, and  provided they dont go too far  get away with it.

Biscuits filled with toothpaste

Although celebrated from Brazil to India, Sweden to New Zealand, countries mark the ancient tradition in slightly different ways.

Worldwide wheezes

Author Bridget Haggerty describes how in Ireland people used to get someone to deliver a note that read send the fool further. These fools errands often included the verse: dont you laugh, and dont you smile, send the gowk another mile! Traditionally, pupils in Belgium lock their teachers out of school, until they promise to bring them sweets.

In Italy, where the day is called Pesce daprile (April Fish), a cut-out of a small fish (pesciolino) might be taped to the victims back. A similar antic is found in France where some people have been duped into phoning fish shops.

The Italian way: A fish is taped to a victims back on April 1

Whoever manages a successful trick in Greece will have good luck all year.

Whereas in India, people wear face paint and toss coloured dust while playing practical jokes  on March 31.

In England, it is such a serious breech of the rules to play a trick after midday that the prankster themself is deemed an April fool.

Uniquely, frolics in Scotland continue for two days. The first day is for hoaxes; on the second, people place tails or kick me  hard! signs on each others backs.

What a contrast to Saudi Arabia where theres no fooling at all. A fatwa decrees April Fools Day is a form of organised deception and lying, practised by non-believers.

Blurred beginnings

Its a bit of a mystery how all this monkey business began.

Some say it is, quite literally, as old as the Ark - when Noah sent the dove out on a useless errand. Or, that the tomfoolery derives from the Ancient Greek festival of Hilaria. Marking the beginning of the joys of spring, Hilaria was noted for masked balls, mad behaviour and practical jokes.

Fingers have also been pointed at the Roman Emperor Constantine. When court jesters told him they could do a better job of running the empire, he allowed one, called Kugel, to be emperor for the day. Kugel promptly passed a law calling for everyone to be very silly once a year. Others believe its all Geoffrey Chaucers fault. In The Nuns Priests Tale (1392), the poet wrote about a fox that tricked a proud rooster called Chauntecleer into exposing its neck on March thritty dayes and two.

But most trace the day back to the 16th century when France switched from the Gregorian to the Julian calendar, and the New Year changed to 1 January. Those who didnt realise, or didnt want to change, and continued with the traditional celebrations that culminated on 1 April, became the butt of jokes. Not convinced? Then perhaps Mother Nature inspired all the mischief by tricking us with her unpredictable weather. Whatever its origins, April Fools Day has certainly produced some marvellous hoaxes over the years:

Six of the best spoofs

1. The Annual Ceremony of Washing the Lions, Tower of London, 1698 In the earliest April Fool targeted at the general public, pranksters printed official-looking tickets promising admission to a lion-washing event in the moat. Entrance was via the White Gate.

Pandemonium broke out when hundreds showed up, only to realize theyd been tricked. Neither the lions, nor any such gate existed.

Londoners wised up. But unsuspecting out-of-towners were taken in by the stunt year after year.

2. The Swiss spaghetti harvest, 1957 At a time when spaghetti was not widely eaten outside Italy, distinguished broadcaster Richard Dimbleby hosted a BBC Panorama programme showing Swiss women plucking strands of spaghetti from trees and laying them out in the sun to dry. Viewers jammed the BBC switchboard. A number complained that the producers had got their facts wrong. Others wanted to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. Place a piece of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce, callers were told, and hope for the best.

3. Do-It-Yourself colour TV, Sweden, 1962 Technical guru, Kjell Stensson, informed viewers that they could convert their black and white TVs to colour by themselves. Just pull a nylon stocking over the screen, and the mesh would act as a prism, causing the light to bend, so it would appear as if the image was in colour. To achieve the best results, they should sit at a specified distance from the screen, and move their head to and fro to align the colour spectrum. Thousands of viewers later admitted that their families had fallen for the hoax.

4. Irish guards bearskin helmets, 1980 The British Armys official magazine, Soldier, revealed that the fur on the bearskin helmets worn by Irish guards at Buckingham Palace keeps growing and needs to be trimmed regularly.

Irish guards having bearskin helmets trimmed.

Bearskins, explained a certain Major Ursa, retain a hormone - called otiose - that lives on after the animal has died. In the spring the skins really start to sprout. An accompanying photo showed guardsmen sitting in an army barbershop, where one helmet is supposedly being trimmed. The men were only too happy to go along with the joke, commented their commanding officer, Lt Col. David Carter.

5. The Left-handed Whopper, 1998 Burger King published a full-page advert in USA Today, announcing the new Left-handed Whopper, specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans, 1.4 million of which visited Burger King joints every day.

How to cook a unicorn was discovered in 2012

Finally, after years of neglect, it proclaimed, left-handed eaters will no longer need to conform to traditional right-handed eating methods. Although containing the same ingredients as the original Whopper (hamburger, lettuce, tomato and relish), everything had been rotated 180 degrees, so left-handers could HAVE IT THEIR WAY!

A spokesperson from the Left-Handed Club is quoted as saying: We are delighted that Burger King has recognized the difficulties of holding a hamburger in your left hand that has a natural right bias to it. Burger King said thousands of customers showed up and were disappointed to find there was no such sandwich.

6. How to cook a unicorn, 2012 The British Library Medieval Manuscripts department published news of the near-miraculous discovery of a long-lost medieval cookbook from the time of Philippa of Hainault, Queen of England (1328-1369).

MS Additional 142012, f. 137r included an illustrated recipe for how to cook a unicorn: Taketh one unicorne, and then marinade it in cloves and garlic before finally roasting it on a griddle.

The recipe followed another for codswallop.

Weve been looking for this book for years, rejoiced Professor Brian Trump of the British Medieval Cookbook Project. The moment I set my eyes on it was spine-tingling.We are the third highest consumers of chocolate in the world, yet we have little experience of real chocolate. Joe McNamee meets three Cork chocolatiers determined to bring quality to the masses.

If there is ever a morning for the nations laying hens to take a breather, it is surely Easter Sunday, when the bulk of all eggs consumed will be foil-wrapped and cloyingly sweet for we Irish are apparently (Euromonitor 2017) the third highest consumers of chocolate in the world, putting away a staggering 16.3lbs per person each year

But there is an argument to be made that we are consuming an awful lot of chocolate-flavoured confectionery and far less actual chocolate.

It is an argument the only two nations to top our consumption  Germany (17.4lbs pp) and Switzerland (19.8lbs pp)  would agree with, taking the opposing side in an EU battle as to whether chocolate produced in Ireland and Britain even merited being called chocolate.

This was only settled in 2003 by a special EU derogation allowing the Irish and British version to continue to be sold in continental Europe as chocolate though it contains significantly lower cocoa mass than the EU minimum of 25% and also substitutes cocoa butter with vegetable oils and other lesser fats. In other words, the Irish consumer has had little experience of real chocolate.

However, change is afoot with the Food County of Cork once more leading the charge. Shana Wilkie, from Midleton, was the first person in the country to produce Irish bean-to-bar (BTB) chocolate while another Leesider, Rose Daly, runs The Chocolate Shop, sited in the centre of the English Market (also operating as an online retailer, www.chocolate.ie).

This bijou little emporium carries an excellent range of loose chocolates and other confectionary but deserves special recognition as Irelands first true champion of premium BTB chocolate, sporting a superb offering from around the world.

In his 1990 book, Les Vertus Therapeutiques du Chocolat, French doctor Herve Robert rubbished long-held notions that chocolate caused ailments such as migraine, acne, obesity and tooth decay, instead stating its alkaloidal cocktail of caffeine, theobromine, serotonin and phehylethylamine made it quite the tonic, an anti-depressive and an enhancer of pleasures, including sex.

Indeed, it is claimed Montezuma drank chocolate all day long, the better to service his concubines.

Whether purported aphrodisiacal powers are real or not, there is no doubt alkaloids (complex organic plant compounds found in just 10% of the world's plants) have physical consequences and benefits when ingested and only became available to Europeans in the 17th century with the arrival of tea, coffee and, yes, chocolate.

It is believed chocolate was first produced some 3,000 years ago by Mexicos earliest civilisation, the Olmec.

It is a complex and laborious procedure  both the husbandry of the notoriously fickle cacao tree and the process of turning its beans into chocolate  suggesting an extremely advanced society possessed of both time and wherewithal to produce such a premium product.

The cacao tree produces fruiting pods containing the beans and can only be grown under specific conditions  wet, humid, hot and solely in a band 20 degrees above and below the equator.

The bitter beans are first fermented to develop flavour after which they are dried and roasted. The beans are then ground, removing the shell to leave cacao nibs, which yield cocoa solids or cocoa mass and cocoa butter.

Pure (dark) chocolate is made up of cocoa mass, cocoa butter and sugar and nothing more; proper milk chocolate, made with 50% cocoa (butter and solids) also contains milk, either powdered or condensed. Irish milk chocolate usually contains more milk again, up to 20% vegetable oil and 20% cocoa solids at most.

Rose and her husband Niall opened the shop in 2000.

It's #ValentinesDay! Make memories that last a lifetime! With chocolate in your heart  pic.twitter.com/BzLdP9ExTJ  The Chocolate Shop (@wwwchocolateie) February 14, 2017

Niall would often tell the story of queuing for olives one day in about 1997, says Rose, when he realised the market and Cork had changed and a chocolate stall could survive on its own in here.

He had been wholesaling chocolate for several years before that  hed got into Belgian choc originally. Shortly after we opened he discovered the Valrhona bars. They were the first to get into the BTB concept but our stock kept going out of date because there just wasnt the demand back then. People were suspicious  even now it happens, when they think of chocolate, they think of the stuff they grew up with.

We were only surviving in the early days and that was mainly selling the loose chocolates but we hung on. Chocolate sales are seasonal and you need that in a city the size of Cork: Christmas, followed by Easter, followed by Valentines, followed by Mothers Day and, more and more, party favours for weddings and tourists in the summer. People started tasting the BTB bars but it took a long time.

The only cheese we had when we were young was Calvita and the like imagine then growing up and thinking cheese could only be cheese if it was like Calvita. If they were used to a fine chocolate at all, it was probably something like Lindt, which is quite palatable but is heavy on the vanilla and thin, designed to be eaten quickly with your coffee.

For nine-tenths of its long history, chocolate was drunk rather than eaten.

Ironically, considering the above-mentioned contretemps with the EU, a British firm, JS Fry & Sons, was the first to produce chocolate as an edible bar, in 1847.

The BTB phenomenon, where a producer carries out the entire process themselves, turning raw beans sourced from a single area, sometimes even a single plantation, into finished bars of premium quality chocolate, is still a mere chronological blip in chocolates history but they are very much here to stay.

If youve grown up only eating traditional Irish chocolate confectionery, the initial complexity of taste can almost overwhelm the novice palate, from the fruity Madagascans to the earthy notes of West Africa or the berries and citrus of a Peruvian Tumbes.

But eventually all other lesser confectionaries pale into insignificance; to this writers mind, akin to the difference between wine gums and fine wine.

Valrhona were the first to do it, says Rose, about 30 years ago. Prior to that, people werent really interested in origin. It would have been a good five years after opening before they really took off for us with people tasting and noticing the difference, wanting to try a different one or one they had tasted on holidays.

Willies Cacao was probably the second wave of BTB manufacturers and [Willie Harcourt-Cooze, raised in West Cork, schooled in Cork city] really captured the public imagination with his Channel 4 TV series. He included a lot of savoury recipes and brought out a book and his next show was about his attempts to convert people from mass market stuff to BTB.

Then in August 2016, tragically and unexpectedly, Niall died.

Heartbroken to announce the untimely death of handsome, garrulous, gregarious, irreverent chocolate loving Niall pic.twitter.com/0RM5z6BRoO  The Chocolate Shop (@wwwchocolateie) August 28, 2016

Rose and their only daughter, Niamh, were heartbroken but Rose never thought of giving up the shop.

Not for a second, and I dont fully understand that, actually. I just said, I had to go to the shop. Maybe it was denial, maybe it was a sense of, thats exactly where he was  if his spirit was anywhere, it was there. I couldnt separate him from it. It was like thinking back to the energy he put into it from the very start, the continuing passions. It was just, this was going to keep going, this was us.

It was something I had to do and still have to do, its part of the journey. When we began, it was mostly Niall that drove the shop with his personality and energy. Obviously there were two of us and he couldnt have done it without me, but in the beginning it was his baby, it was his belief that it was going to work.

Though too modest to say it, Roses knowledge and palate developed over the years in tandem with Nialls and, in conversations with this writer, Niall forever deferred to her tasting ability.

Eleven months after his death, Rose joined the world-renowned chocolate expert Martin Christy on a group expedition to a Peruvian chocolate plantation.

That also felt like part of the journey Ive been on since Niall died, says Rose, I just felt it was something we would have done together, and during that first year, I probably needed a change of scene but I wouldnt have gone on holidays  and it was absolutely fabulous.

To drive along these dusty tracks on the side of steep mountains with no barrier, to go up the Amazon on a boat, get off, literally climb up the bank and suddenly youre in the groves with the cacao pods growing right there on the trees.

We cut open hundreds of pods and sucked the beans. I found myself turning around to say things to Niall. People always say you shouldnt work with your spouse but we made a good team, he was always the outgoing one and I was doing things in the background, I was more cautious and Niall less so.

Now I have to wear both hats. Thats another part of the journey, as well.By Joe McNamee

There are some splendid dining opportunities afoot over the coming weeks.

The first, Frogs Attack, arrives courtesy of The Menus great comrade, Pascal Rossignol, of Le Caveau importers of natural and organic wines, so naturally the Glorious Grape will be very much to the fore, with top producers, Jean Foillard and Thierry Puzelat (Clos Tue-Boeuf) presenting their wines at two very special dinners.

Food will be courtesy of The Nomad Chef, the highly entertaining Anthony Cointre, who has worked in some of the very finest natural wine bars in Paris and cooked last year in Ballydehob as part of the Taste of West Cork Food Festival.

In addition, stand-up comedian and author Sebastien Barrier will entertain diners throughout the evening.

Dublins Fumbally Cafe (April 10) is the venue for the first while Corks LAtitude 51 (April 12) is the venue for the second night.

This is shaping up to be our most exciting event of the year - its not every day we get such big names in their fields under one roof!

Lots of laughs, delicious food and amazing wines guaranteed. (www.lecaveau.ie/events)

FULL MOON

The exceedingly popular Luna, in Dublin, hosts a charity lunch (April 23) in aid of Pieta House suicide and self-harm crisis centres, a cause especially dear to The Menus heart and Lunas staff and food and wine suppliers are all donating to ensure Pieta House receive the entirety of the 85 ticket price as well as all proceeds from the raffle to be held on the day. (Tickets: Tel 01 679 9009)

The Menu still gets a tingle when he recalls his own wonderful food trail through Yeats Country last summer and has high hopes for the Sligo Food Trails impending Taste of Spring Banquet (April 20), featuring a splendid combo of some fine local chefs and equally fine local produce, all cooking at the Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa, kicking off with an oyster, craft beer and drinks reception. www.sligofoodtrail.ie

BIA BEAG

Another very splendid comrade of The Menus and his Food Personality of the Year 2017, Keith Bohanna, brings his Bia Beag food advocacy organisation back once more to the very lovely Highbank Orchard, in Kilkenny, for a Fermentation Evening (April 16) featuring: Youghals Holo Organics, recently featured in this very column; King of Kefir Gerry Scullion; vegan chef James Burke, of Cornucopia, who will discuss his new business Greenshoots Food and his new product, fermented tempeh; with Jemma Kehoe on hand to discuss fermentation and health. (www.biabeag.com)

Natural foods guru Gaby Wieland offers a comprehensive Sourdough Baking Workshop (April 14) including lunch while Gaby will be joined by Hans Wieland for Cultured and fermented foods  an introduction (April 21) and the following day, Gaby leads a foraging workshop (April 22). www.neantog.com

TODAYS SPECIAL

A recent visit to The Menus favourite butchers, OMahonys, in the English Market, yielded newly arrived escalopes of Hornhill rose veal, reared just a few miles west of Cork city.

There are several classic recipes for serving veal cutlets, and all involve some additional ingredients for while the meat is impossibly tender, the flavour of such young flesh is rather on the callow side.

The Florentine Saltimbocca involves wrapping the cutlet around prosciutto and sage and then cooking it in butter with white wine or marsala but The Menu opted for his own version of the classic Viennese Wiener Schniztel, dipped in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs before tossing it into the pan to be fried to a golden crisp.

Beer of the Week

8 Degrees Neon Velvet FPA, 5% ABV; 440ml  3.60

Stockists: Bradleys, Molloys, Martins, OBriens, Sweeneys, McHughs.

Mitchelstowns best beers are now available in 440ml can format and (as usual) with a natty, striking design.

The old 330ml bottles are still available of course but if you are heading to a festival or up a mountain this weekend you will like the new cans.

The three beers released in cans are the Full Irish IPA, Citra Single Hop IPA and the limited edition Neon Velvet Fruity Pale Ale  a lively kiwi and lime infused pale ale which is also available on draught.

In the creamy soft New England style this has Citra and Amarillo and is dry hopped with New Zealand Pacific Jade and Motueka hops.Kya deLongchamps looks at some very special eggs for Easter  those of Carl Faberge.

Eggs have been a sacred symbol and favourite device in the arts for millennia.

The tension and vulnerability of the perfect unbroken egg speaks of natures promise, fertility, eternity  that deep, secretly held mystery of creation and recreation.

The Lilies of the Valley Faberge egg features three retractable medallions with portraits of the emperor and his two older daughters Olga and Tatiana.

For Hindus the entire world springs from a cosmic egg. In balder terms, the cracking of the egg is a dramatic culinary moment.

That exquisite cracking open of the fragile shell presented artisan craftsmen and jewellers with an inspirational vehicle. So familiar, the egg was something that transcended culture and country, but at Easter it was, and still is, held in the Christian community as a mark of Christs Resurrection.

Court jeweller to the Romanovs, Carl Faberge (1846-1920) was commissioned by the deeply religious and solemn Russian royal family to create an unprecedented wonder.

A century later, with the socio-political curtain ripped down and the spoils of a dynasty fastened behind bulletproof glass, we still share in the Romanovs human delight.

Its somewhat poignant that the two Faberge eggs planned for 1917 were never delivered to the family  the bloody scramble ofrevolution intervened.

Eggs with small figures, flowers or crowns inside were not uncommon in fine jewellery, and as feminine promise-keepers and love lockets, were worn around the neck on beautifully detailed chains, or set as brooches from the 1700s.

The first Faberge egg in the sizing that we know was commissioned by Tsar Alexander III (1881-1894) as an Easter gift for his wife the Tsarina Maria Feodorovna in 1885.

Marias mother Princess Vilhelmine Marie of Denmark and Norway, had kept some sort of ornamental egg on her personal desk, and Maria had never forgotten it, and spoke of the little treasure often. Her husband (well done, Alexander), was determined to honour his wife with something similar.

Beyond the unparalleled beauty of their making, what makes these pieces so moving is that theres a personal moment, a relationship specific to each one of the Imperial eggs.

The character, interests, patronage and affections of the individuals becomes clear. Every example (some only saved in grainy photographs) is unique and utterly different. Some eggs contained tiny carriages, trains, minute and multiple portraits, crystal blooms troops, yachts and maps of the empire.

Fifty-four imperial eggs known to be attached to the Russian royal family, are known today, some commissioned by Alexander III, the others by Tsar Nicholas II.

The new Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna received some, and the dowager Maria Feodorovna continued to be gifted Faberge eggs (Mama received 30 in all), together with other magnificent jewels and trinkets from her adoring son.

These small works of art can only really be compared to the most fabulous jewellery. Eleven others were made for private clients, but its these royal Romanov gifts, these intimate moments of celebration, that fascinate us most. Every one is almost beyond comprehension  showing just what the most highly talented artisans can do, with time, materials and patronage behind them.

The most expensive egg known to the family and most valuable today, due to the level of its crafting and constituent ingredients, remains the Winter Egg.

It was laid (if you like) in 1913 and designed by in-house designer Alma Pihl (1888-1976), the only female Faberge workmaster.

The Winter Egg sold at auction in Christies of New York in 2002 for (what seems a rather reasonable) $9.6million (7.7m), to the Emir of Qatar. Go online to just look at this, as no description I give here can reflect its exquisite, fairy-tale majesty.

As the name suggest, the outside of the Winter Egg is made to resemble ice-flowers on a window in 1,660 tiny diamonds over quartz, enamelling (crushed glass) platinum and moonstone.

Once opened, theres a tiny basket of quartz and demantoid (green garnet) flowers featuring another 1,378 flawless sparklers, platinum and gold all settled in a cloudy, solid gold moss.

So where can you see genuine Faberge imperial eggs today?

In Russia: Moscow and St Petersburg have the greatest number of eggs attached to the Romanovs. The Kremlin Armory houses 10 surprise style Easter eggs.

Russian oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg bought 15 eggs over the years and the Vekselberg Collection which includes 11 imperials including the much beloved Lily of the Valley egg (1898), is on show to the public in the Faberge Museum, Shuvalov Palace, St Petersburg.

Others are shown at Russian National Museum and the Fersman Mineralogical Museum at the Russian Academy of Science, during dedicated, arranged tours.

The Mineralogical Museum claim to hold the unfinished Constellation Egg intended for 1917.

Alexander Ivanov, a Russian billionaire is determined he holds a finished version of this egg  now on shown in the Faberge Museum in Baden-Baden in West Germany.

Whichever is the later, the Constellation is really a globe of cobalt blue glass studded with diamonds set on clouds of billowing quartz.

It contains a clock never destined to tell the desperate Alexandra that her time was at hand.Many male and female victims of sexual assault watched the trial in Belfast like it was their own, writes Joyce Fegan

Have you ever noticed how some seemingly mundane moments in your life can stick with your forever?

I distinctly remember a conversation I had with my school career guidance counsellor when I told her I wanted to study law. Her face contorted a little and she asked me why. Sixteen-year-old me was disappointed that my grand plan hadnt impressed her.

Because I want to fix the injustices in the world and make it a better place, I answered defiantly.

There was silence for a while and I shifted in my seat until she spoke.

There is a difference between the law and justice. Sometimes there are other ways to fight for justice in this world, she said eventually.

I left, disgusted at her obtuse remark that I was too naive to interpret at the time. Whatever she had meant, I would prove her wrong: Justice could be served through our court system.

A law degree later, her words remained with me and I, still naive, still thought she was wrong.

A decade or so later, I now know, for sure, that Ms Griffin was right.

There is the law and there is the justice system. And among all that, there are those seeking justice.

Regardless of the outcome of the Belfast rape trial, there are many male and female victims of sexual assault who watched it like it was their own.

There are the men whose bodies were violated while they were unconscious.

There are women who were living in lands where the law favours the opposite sex and you were told, You shouldnt have been out alone after dark.

There are teenage girls who felt backed into a corner at a party and didnt want to be labelled as frigid.

There are others who simply didnt want to cause a scene, because the bigger drama you make, the worse it can be.

Then there are those where the crimes that were committed against their skin happened so many years back that any possible shred of evidence has disappeared long ago.

What all of these people will have in common is a distinct lack of rage. They will play over and over in their mind all the reasons why they were culpable.

I didnt say no.

I had drink taken.

I walked into that room.

Itll be my word against theirs.

No one will believe me.

It wasnt really rape anyway.

And the most damaging: I didnt shout or scream. I just lay there.

Lets start with that one: I just lay there.

We play dead to stay alive. Its what the ingenious human body does to survive. Its called the polyvagal theory. The brain reacts to various risk situations. Once the brain has identified there is a risk, our body will respond in one of three ways; Fight, flight, or, in especially dangerous situations,

response and in especially dangerous situations - the body will

become totally immobilised.

Think of yourself out for a walk in the forest and you spy a hungry-looking wolf.

Will you take flight and run over the dried-out twigs so he can most definitely hear you? Do you take him on in hope of restraining a wild and hungry beast without a weapon? Or do you freeze, barely inhaling a breath, in the hope that he will leave you alone and you will survive?

When it comes to rape and sexual assault, this is what most men and women do. They freeze. However, this is not just theory anymore, this is scientifically proven and peer- reviewed data from last June.

In a sample of 298 women treated at a Swedish rape clinic in the space of one month, 70% reported an inability to resist their attacker. It is called tonic immobilisation. It is an evolutionary defence response to a predatory attack. A further 48% reported experiencing extreme tonic immobility.

The research was published in the journal Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica.

The reason the research is so crucial to our proper understanding of rape is two-fold. Often in court room and in police stations, this immobilisation is confused with consenting. But you didnt scream, can you explain that?

The second , and most important reason the Swedish research is so significant is because victims can experience profound feelings of shame for their supposed inaction.

Victims tend to blame themselves for not resisting, so the fact that seven out of ten have paralysis is useful to know, said lead author of the study, Dr Anna Moller, of Stockholm South General Hospital and the Karolinska Institute.

This key piece of information can help blast through all the myths that surround the crime of rape. Myths like how clothing provoked rape.

If clothing was anything to do with rape, rape rates would sky-rocket in the summer when skirts, shorts, and bikinis come out, but they do not.

Myths like alcohol diminishing the innocence of the victim  if alcohol was a cause of rape, sober people and teetotallers would never get raped, but they do.

And finally the myth that your sexual history or promiscuity can somehow cause rape  if this was correct virgins would never get raped, but we all know that is not true.

So what are we to do?

Right now, we have all these myths and dire statistics showing that in Ireland, 42% of victims never tell anyone, just 8% of them report to authorities, and only 8% of cases that go to court result in conviction.

Lets look to New Zealand. Its law commission has recommended specialist sexual violence courts, where there are no juries, just expert judges and lawyers, well versed in the myths that surround rape.

The argument is that there are powerful cultural conceptions that are unique to sexual violence as a form of criminal offending. Some of these can include moral beliefs about how a woman should behave, and misplaced ideas about how sexual violence occurs, or what the correct response should be.

In the meantime, to avoid despair, remember the oft-cited quote of Martin Luther King, formerly attributed to Theodore Parker: The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.The Conscription Crisis of 1918 had a more profound impact on the course of Irish history than the Easter Rising, writes Ryle Dwyer

Next week marks the centenary of the conscription crisis of 1918. It was essentially a bloodless revolution, and its impact has been greatly overlooked and undervalued in the story of the march to nationhood.

The immediate trigger was an overwhelming spring attack on the Western Front by Germany  the Kaiserschlacht, or Kaisers Battle  under the direction of General Erich Ludendorff. Hundreds of thousands of troops were released from the Eastern Front following the defeat of Russia, giving Germany a huge advantage which they hoped to exploit before the United States could establish itself more fully in Europe.

German troops advance in the sector near Villers-Bretonneux during Germanys last major effort to secure victory on the Western Front. Picture: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

British generals and politicians wondered whether Ireland  where conscription had not been introduced in 1916  could make up the shortfall in manpower through a compulsory draft.

Alderman Alfie Byrne proposed on April 8 that Dublin Corporation warn the British government that any attempt to implement conscription in Ireland would be resisted in every town and village.

Lorcan Sherlock, a former lord mayor of Dublin, persuaded the corporation to accept an addendum calling on the current Lord Mayor, Laurence ONeill, to invite representatives of the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), Sinn Fein, and the trade unions, to a national conference at the Mansion House, Dublin, in order to organise a united opposition to conscription.

Rumours included suggestions that clergymen would be conscripted in non-combat roles, so the standing committee of the Irish hierarchy met next day to consider that issue. Whether there is any foundation for these rumours we know not at the moment, the bishops admitted, but they unanimously denounced conscription, anyway.

To enforce conscription here without the consent of the people would be perfectly unwarrantable, and would soon and inevitably end in defeating its own purposes, the bishops insisted. It would be a fatal mistake, surpassing the worst blunders of the past four years.

Their protest was signed by Michael Cardinal Logue, along with the secretary of the standing committee  Robert Browne, Bishop of Cloyne. While they did not mention the conscription of priests, they were seriously concerned about the matter, according to Monsignor Michael Curran, secretary of the Archbishop of Dublin.

The Freemans Journal, Irish Independent, and The Cork Examiner, all provided a full report of the bishops protest. The Cork Examiner added a forceful editorial.

England has no moral right to conscript the Irish people, the editorial proclaimed.

It is for an Irish Government  a Government selected by Irishmen  to decide how the manhood of the country is to be disposed of, and if the British Government usurps that authority and attempts to enforce it by superior strength, then the hypocrisy of Great Britains declaration that she is fighting to secure the rights of small nations, will stand exposed before the world.

While the bishops were meeting (April 9), prime minister David Lloyd George introduced a new Military Services Bill. It was primarily designed to extend the maximum conscription age from 41 to 51, and modify some existing exemptions.

From the Irish perspective, the most important aspect was Clause 2, which stipulated that the government may by Order in Council extend this Act to Ireland. In other words, the British government could introduce conscription in Ireland by a back door without the necessity of any further legislation.

It was illogical and unjust to ask men in Britain from 18 to 51  even married men with families  to fight in Europe, whilst young men of 20 to 25 in Ireland are under no obligation to take up arms, Lloyd George argued. The Government shall, by Order in Council, put the Act immediately into operation.

This sparked a conscription crisis that had a profound impact on Irish politics. The crisis demonstrated not only the enormous political influence of the Catholic hierarchy, but also bolstered Sinn Fein, and effectively undermined the once dominant IPP.

The climax of British folly and blindness was the attempt to conscript the Irish clergy, Monsignor Curran wrote. One thousand Irish clerics would count mighty little against even one cohort of the Kaisers legions. But this most stupid of all steps inevitably drove the most conservative of conservative Irish bishops to share the leadership of opposition with Sinn Fein.

Those in Holy Orders would not be compelled to perform combat services, but if there was a question about any persons status in Holy Orders, the issue would be referred to a central tribunal. This tribunal would also decide whether the non-combatant privileges should extend to Christian Brothers and similar religious communities.

Tim Healy, the famous nationalist politician, derided the idea of conscripting monks from monasteries like Mount Melleray.

The Trappist monks of Melleray would, absolutely every one of them be turned into soldiers, he told the House of Commons. You are making a laughing-stock of yourselves before the Irish people. The notion of old monks, who have been 30 years in a monastery, being dragged out of the monastery to be turned into British soldiers is a matter for ridicule.

A banner over Eden Bros on Westmoreland Stt, Dublin. When Lloyd George introduced a law to bring in conscription here, nationalist Ireland began to prepare to resist  and the Catholic Church was particularly well placed to disseminate resistance and organise rallies with hardly any notice via Sunday Masses.No 34 is long gone, that stretch of the street now occupied by the former EBS HQ office block.

Daniel Cohalan, the Bishop of Cork, had a letter read out at all masses in Cork City, on Sunday, April 14, urging people to support the Mansion House Conference.

I have no doubt but that meeting will give a strong lead to the country, he wrote. It is wise to wait until the joint leaders determine the policy to be adopted. And out of evil good may emanate; the divided sections of Nationalism may combine again into a united body which nothing can resist.

The same day there many anti-conscription meetings in different parts of the country. These were usually called by Sinn Fein clubs, councillors, or the local clergy, who played a very active part in the towns and villages of Counties Donegal, Tyrone, and Derry. The local parish priest, or a local curate frequently presided at those meetings.

This is how The Cork Examiner of Monday, May 20, 1918, presented the news that the top tier of Sinn Fein leaders had been locked up.

Fr James Harkin presided at the Castlefin meeting in Co Donegal, where he administered a formal pledge to which the people subscribed. The pledge read: We, the undersigned, are determined to resist by every means in our power the application of conscription to Ireland without the approval of an Irish Parliament. We prefer to die as freemen sooner than be conscripted as slaves.

These proceedings were to provide a virtual prototype for the campaign as it went national in a big way the following weekend, with Church figures playing a leading role throughout the island. The hierarchy was so concerned about conscription that it summoned a meeting of all the countrys bishops at Maynooth on April 18, the same day as the Mansion House conference convened.

On April 16, The Cork Examiner was reporting extensively on what it labelled the Conscription Crisis which had been precipitated by Lloyd Georges Military Services Bill. If passed, it could have introduced conscription of Irish men, including Catholic clergy.

Despite the vociferous opposition of the IPP, the conscription legislation was forced through its final stages of parliament just one week later. Members of the IPP withdrew from Westminster in protest. This was tantamount to endorsing the abstention policy pursued by Sinn Fein.

Two days later, the Mansion House Conference convened, bringing together the various nationalist leaders and three prominent trade union representatives  William X OBrien, Tom Johnson and Michael Egan. Sinn Fein was represented by its president, Eamon de Valera, and deputy leader, Arthur Griffith. The IPP, which was somewhat fractured, had a strong presence.

In May 1918, Arthur Griffith was one of the large cohort of Sinn Fein leaders locked up by the British authorities. The following month, from his jail cell, he easily unseated the Irish Parliamentary Party incumbent in the East Cavan by-election.

John Dillon, who had succeeded to the leadership of the IPP following the recent death of John Redmond little over a month earlier, was accompanied by his deputy leader Joe Devlin, and joined by independents  Dublin Lord Mayor ONeill, William OBrien, and Tim Healy. The latter two had been expelled from the IPP. The co-operation of such politicians  who differed so much with each other, both politically and personally, was evidence of the unpopularity of conscription.

de Valera made a profound impression. For some days, he had been in touch with Monsignor Curran in the office of the Archbishop of Dublin. He had informed the office of his plans to draw up an anti-conscription pledge for the Irish public, and he agreed to forward this for archbishops consideration before the hierarchys meeting.

The pledge read: Denying the right of the British Government to enforce compulsory service in this country, we pledge ourselves solemnly to one another to resist conscription by the most effective means at our disposal.

Previously disunited strands of nationalist and trade union politics came together for theMansion House conference which approved Eamon de Valeras anti-conscription pledge.

This pledge was accepted by the Mansion House Conference, and de Valera proposed the conference send a deputation to enlist the support of the Catholic hierarchy, which was meeting at the same time in Maynooth.

Archbishop Walsh was expecting the deputation, and the bishops responded by virtually sanctifying the campaign against conscription.

An attempt is being made to force conscription upon Ireland against the will of the Irish nation, and in defiance of the protests of its leaders, the hierarchy declared.

We consider that conscription forced in this way upon Ireland is an oppressive and inhuman law, which the Irish shall have a right to resist by all the means that are consonant with the law of God.

This formal declaration was signed by Cardinal Logue, William Walsh, the Archbishop of Dublin; and John Harty, the Archbishop of Cashel; along with 24 twenty-four other bishops. They announced that they were directing the clergy throughout the country to celebrate Mass the following Sunday in every church in Ireland to avert the scourge of conscription.

Moreover, they directed that details should be announced at every public Mass on Sunday of the time and place of a local public meeting at which people would be formally asked to pledge themselves to oppose conscription. The bishops adopted the pledge drafted by de Valera.

During the first week of the conscription crisis, opposition was somewhat haphazard. Prior to Sunday, the various public meetings were not centrally organised. People were looking to Sinn Fein, but it was united less than six months earlier, so it was not yet fully organised. Hence the Catholic clergy moved in and essentially led the anti-conscription campaign.

The Catholic Church undoubtedly had the best-organised network throughout the country. As a result, anti-conscription meetings were held in just about every parish on Sunday, April 21, 1918.

Usually the parish priest, or a curate, presided at those gatherings, which were announced from the pulpit at the morning masses.

The priests called on the men to take off their headgear and raise their right hand and solemnly repeat the pledge. Although it was actually drafted by de Valera and presented to the Archbishop of Dublin, many people thought the bishops drafted it.

All over Ireland yesterday the pledge against conscription was solemnly taken, The Cork Examiner reported. The congregations of seven different Galway churches marched to Eyre Square after 11 oclock Mass to take the national pledge. A letter from Galway Bishop Thomas ODea was read to the gathering, denouncing conscription. I approve and bless resistance to its enforcement by every means within the law of God, he wrote. In Thurles, the Archbishop of Cashel told the gathering that Ireland was threatened with torture by the people who persecuted her for centuries.

No conscription  stand united: The Ballaghaderreen march was but one of the protests all over Ireland that summer. Picture: Photo12/UIG/Getty Images

Michael Fogarty, the Bishop of Killaloe, confidently predicted that the government would never attempt to implement conscription in Ireland, because it would be insane to move against the Irish people when they were more united that ever before. The three Cork bishops seemed to suggest much the same.

Bishop Cohalan administered the pledge to thousands of men assembled outside the Cathedral in Cork City after 12 oclock Mass, while Denis Kelly, the Bishop of Ross, read the pledge to 3,000 persons at a meeting outside the pro-Cathedral in Skibbereen.

If the people were calm, determined, and courageous, Dr Kelly said, the Order to introduce conscription would never be made.

We can, and shall, defeat this iniquitous measure of compulsory conscription, if we keep together from Donegal to Cork, the Bishop of Cloyne declared in Cobh Cathedral, as he called on everyone to do their part  to take the pledge and keep it.THAT the internet age has disrupted, to put it politely, traditional economic activities such as retail, clerical work, and publishing is well known, as are the adverse consequences for employment and prosperity. We are seeing now how the unmediated and unregulated online world can also threaten other parts of our lives that as a society we value and have worked to protect: Justice and democracy.

A juror in the Belfast rape trial has posted online comments about the case, and the name of the defendant has been published online  both of which are criminal offences in Ireland and the UK. Following the controversy in the UK about the extent to which Facebook data might or might not have been used to sway the Brexit vote this way or that, we learn that in Ireland neither the Referendum Commission nor the Standards in Public Office Commission have the power to police social media campaigns in the Eighth Amendment poll. Neither of these are trivial matters; they touch on the cornerstones, too often taken for granted and increasingly ignored in Twitterdom, of our civilisation.A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 10 satellites for Iridium Communications has blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

The rocket lifted off at 7:13am on Friday and arced over the Pacific west of Los Angeles.

The satellites are expected to be deployed into low Earth orbit about an hour after liftoff.

The Falcon 9's first stage was previously launched on an Iridium mission last October and was recovered.

The payload is the fifth set of 10 new satellites launched for Iridium, which is replacing its entire global satellite network.

Successful deployment of all 10 @IridiumComm NEXT satellites to low-Earth orbit confirmed.  SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 30, 2018

The three billion US dollar project is scheduled for completion this year, with a total of 75 new satellites in orbit.

Iridium, based in McLean, Virginia, provides mobile voice and data communications.

- PAThat is according to figures provided by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, who said that his department last year provided consular assistance to Irish people jailed overseas in 53 new cases.

The Tanaiste said already this year his department has provided consular assistance to a further 11 Irish people in foreign jails.

Mr Coveney said that not every Irish prisoner abroad seeks consular assistance and we estimate that, at any time, there are around 1,200 Irish men and women in detention overseas and, working with the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas, we try to reach out and offer support to as many of these as we possibly can.

The most high-profile case since 2013 of an Irish person detained overseas involved Ibrahim Halawa who was kept for four years in Egypt from August 2013 to October last.

"The Tanaiste said such a case can be extremely difficult and complex, and can require the deployment of significant resources over a protracted period of time.

In a written Dail reply to Mattie McGrath, Mr Coveney said: Every case is different and is considered and approached on its own merits. Some cases may last only a relatively short time, and the assistance needed may be quite straight- forward.

It is impossible to provide precise statistics for the number of Irish citizens detained or imprisoned overseas.

"In some cases the individuals involved do not seek any assistance or do not want the Irish authorities to be informed of their situations. In some other cases, regrettably, local authorities sometimes fail to notify the Irish authorities of the imprisonment of our citizens.

Of those who did seek consular assistance, Mr Coveney said that, in 2013, his department opened 55 cases in this category.

In 2014, there were 52 new cases. 2015 saw 55 new cases. 2016 saw 45 new cases, and in 2017 53 new files in this category were opened, he said. In addition, there are a number of cases which were ongoing since prior to 2013 and for which assistance continued to be provided.

Explaining the help provided, he said: Our embassies and consulates provide direct assistance in many cases, through consular visits and practical advice and assistance to individual detainees, and our consular assistance team at HQ provides ongoing support and assistance to the families of such prisoners.

Mr Coveney said the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas, receives funding from the Emigrant Support programme.

Support and assistance in all such cases is provided on a non-judgemental basis, irrespective of the offence of which the citizen has been accused or convicted, he said.

Beyond the cases where we are requested to provide direct assistance, through our partnership with the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas, and in some cases also through other emigrant support organisations, we provide substantial indirect supports to a large number of other Irish prisoners.Freedom of Information figures showed another hotel received payments of 2m to 3m.

The figures released by the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive further indicated 11 hotels received 1m to 2m with an additional 13 receiving 500,000 to 1m.

Last year, the overall amount paid out to hotels by Dublin City Council totalled 46.93m, a 20.5% jump on the 2016 figure of 38.94m.

A total of 124 hotels and B&Bs also received payments of up to 500,000 in 2017. And the city council also paid a further 12.3m to hostels and B&Bs.

The figures confirm, in spite of a commitment by Tanaiste Simon Coveney in a former role as housing minister that the use of hotels for housing the homeless would finish by the end of July last year, the number of hotels accommodating the homeless actually increased in 2017.

By last December, 70 hotels around the capital were being used to house the homeless and that was an increase of four on the 66 hotels housing the homeless in at the start of 2016.

The numbers of homeless families living in emergency accommodation in Dublin increased from 1,028 at the end of 2016 to 1,121 at the end of last year, with the number of children increasing from 2,096 to 2,385.

Figures for February 2018 show the number of homeless families in emergency accommodation in the capital increased to 1,329 which included 2,801 children.

Details reveal as part of the Government initiative to establish family hubs, the City Council spent 8.75m on hubs in 2017. Hubs are group- style homeless shelters for families and have been introduced over the past 16 months as a measure to reduce the numbers staying for long periods in hotels.

Reacting to the hotel spend, Dublin City councillor Mannix Flynn said: The spend is outrageous, but it is not surprising.

Hotels can charge a premium rate as there is a very large demand for hotel rooms in Dublin.

The notion of housing people in a hotel just beggars belief and can have a catastrophic psychological impact on those families and the children concerned.

These people have had their lives suspended living in these artificial situations that have a massive impact on them. Homelessness is on the landscape to stay.

A detailed breakdown of the hub spend shows 1.5m was paid over in 2017 to Focus Onsite Support for the largest family hub at the Townhouse on Dublins Gardiner Street.

Focus Onsite Support received fees of 4.92m for the operation of five family hubs at Bram Stoker in Clontarf; Sunnybank; Viking Lodge D8, Abberly in Tallaght and the Townhouse.

The council last year spent 97.48m on emergency accommodation that includes a large percentage going to non-profit organisations such as the Peter McVerry Trust, Dublin Simon, Focus Ireland, Crosscare, and the De Paul Trust.Party leader Mary-Lou McDonald hit out at the Governments record on homelessness. Asked whether Sinn Fein would table a motion of no confidence in Mr Murphy, she said of course its a possibility.

I have no confidence in this Government, I have no confidence in Eoghan Murphy, said Ms McDonald. We havent decided or considered tabling a motion, but certainly we could and I dont think anyone can credibly continue without calling this Government out and without calling Eoghan Murphy out.

It comes after February homelessness figures, published this week, revealed there are now 1,739 families in emergency accommodation, including 3,755 children.

A total of 222 more families entered homelessness across the country last month.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has admitted it is a national emergency.

Following the release of Februarys figures, Mr Murphy said he had asked Dublin Regional Homeless Executive to review trends and that the Government is likely to bring forward additional policies to address these aspects.

I have also asked the new inter-agency group to expedite its report regarding better co-ordination of Government resources, said Mr Murphy.

Both these reports will come in April and we will move swiftly to implement any recommendations from them.

I know that the crisis we have in homelessness is very distressing but I hope people understand that every day a huge amount of work is being put in by our teams to both prevent people from entering emergency accommodation and to exit people into sustainable tenancies as quickly as possible.

Ms McDonald said the Government does not take proposals from the opposition on board.

She suggested the Government is hoping there will be a public fatigue on the issue of housing and homelessness.

You have to bear in mind that, outside of those figures, you have now virtually an entire generation locked out of earning their own home, said Ms McDonald.

Were told consistently its not a question of money, that the resources are there, were told that there is a plan, a direction. But then the figures come out, and even before you see the figures I know in terms of my own constituency work just how desperate things are.

And even before our housing spokesperson, even when he has come forward constructively with things to speed things up around procurement and other measures, theyre just set aside.The Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) leadership is recommending that its 4,000 members at the 14 institutes of technology vote in favour of action.

The dispute arises from what the union says has been the delay of over a year on a review of lecturing.

The ballot was issued earlier this month and, if members back industrial action, could lead initially to lecturers restricting themselves to delivering only the weekly norm of class contact hours from the new academic year in the autumn.

This would mean they no longer deliver flex hours, up to two hours extra lecturing or other work that they have been required to provide as a result of successive national pay deals.

The review that was decided on in a May 2016 agreement between the TUI and Department of Education was to consider matters relevant to lecturing, with particular focus on the use of the second flex hour for duties other than teaching.

One of the two hours was already redesignated to contractual duties other than lecturing from the start of last year.

The TUI said the review was to have been completed by March 2017.

Institutes of technology lecturers are being asked to agree to industrial action up to and including strike action if the second flex hour has not been re-designated by the autumn. The ballot closes on April 18.

The key element of this action is that members will deliver no more than standard lecturing hours from the next academic year, said TUI president Joanne Irwin.

The union says that the 16 hours that those at lecturer grade must teach, or 18 hours for assistant lecturers, have long been far above international norms.

Moreover, each hour of lecturing requires a multiple of hours for the associated preparation, reflection, assessment and feedback, Ms Irwin said.

This unsustainable workload, as well as diminishing the time for and quality of service to students, is causing high levels of stress among academic staff, she said.

The situation is worse, Ms Irwin said, for lecturers who entered the profession since the start of 2011 because of the lower pay scales they are on compared to other lecturers.

A department spokesperson said as part of the May 2016 agreement, it agreed to redesignate one of the Croke Park flex hours for other uses. While it would not comment extensively in light of the current ballot, she said the departments position is that consideration of the second flex-hour is linked to the review of lecturing workload.

The department understands that the terms of reference for this review are under discussion by TUI and management. The department looks forward to this stage in the process concluding speedily and progress of the review, said the spokesperson.

The issue will be a key one for discussion by TUIs third-level members at its annual congress in Wexford next week.Lawyers for Mr Jackson, 26, confirmed that they are considering a case against the former government minister over online comments about the Belfast rape trial, with his lawyers warning that others risk similar action if they continue to attack our client.

After nine weeks of public evidence, Mr Jackson and three other co-accused were acquitted of all charges. Mr Jackson was acquitted of rape and sexual assault of a 19-year-old woman. Fellow Ulster and Ireland player Stuart Olding, 25, was also acquitted of rape; Blane McIlroy, 26, was acquitted of exposure; and Rory Harrison, 25, was acquitted of withholding information.

The verdict led to outrage on social media, nationwide protests which will continue in cities across the country today, and calls for reform of the way people who allege sexual assault or rape are treated by the courts.

In the aftermath of the trial, Labour senator and former government minister Aodhan O Riordain was among thousands of people who posted a tweet on social media site Twitter under the hashtag #Ibelieveher and referencing the co-accused, before deleting it a short time later.

In response, Mr Jacksons lawyers confirmed they have issued a legal warning to Mr O Riordain threatening to sue over the public message and saying others may face similar action.

KRW Law senior associate Marie Hans said in a statement: I can confirm we have issued pre-action libel correspondence against a named senator in the Republic of Ireland. The legal action relates to a tweet sent to a number of other persons before it was eventually taken down. We will not hesitate to repeat similar legal action against anyone, who deliberately or otherwise, sees fit to attack our client.

Mr O Riordain did not respond to a request for comment, while a Labour spokesperson declined to comment. In a Twitter message, fellow Labour senator and sex abuse survivor Mairia Cahill said: My friend and colleague @AodhanORiordain is a good guy. A decent guy. Not the sort of guy who talks about spit roast in a WhatsApp chatroom.

Despite Mr Jacksons lawyers warning they may also take legal action against other online commentators, hundreds of people took to Twitter yesterday using the hashtag #suemepaddy.

The legal threat against Mr O Riordain is in addition to action being taken by Mr Jackson and Mr Olding against the BBC for identifying them in 2016 before they were charged, a case which can also now go ahead.

Speaking at an Easter Sunday commemoration, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said she understood the online backlash to the verdict, as the treatment of the woman who alleged assault was a circus, humiliating, puerile, and voyeuristic in a way that was absolutely not necessary and is actually counter to justice.

Meanwhile, the Norths attorney general, John Larkin, has launched an investigation after a juror posted comments on broadsheet.ie about the trial after it concluded.

Two people have been questioned by the PSNI in relation to naming the complainant in the case online. A number of outlets which covered the trial are also seeking to have ongoing reporting restrictions on aspects of the case lifted.The man was reportedly due to be charged by gardai, in connection with hurtful letters sent to heartbroken Ann Boyle, at her home in Kincasslagh, Co Donegal, last year.

One of the letters had indicated that it had come from Mary, a twin, who is Irelands longest-missing person. Mary disappeared when she was visiting her grandparents in Caselard, outside Ballyshannon, on the Donegal-Fermanagh border, in March, 1977.

Despite a 41-year garda investigation, no trace of her has ever been found.

Last year, her mother received a number of hurtful letters to her home.

She later told RTEs Prime Time that she felt ill after receiving the vile letters.

An investigation was launched and a prime suspect was identified by gardai.

A man was due to be charged in connection with the malicious mail, but he has since died.

A garda source said: This aspect of the Mary Boyle investigation will not be pursued.

A person suspected of sending these letters was identified locally, but has since passed away.

A protest recently held outside the county coroners surgery, at Millbrae, Stranorlar, called for Dr Denis McCauley to hold a post-mortem into missing Mary.

Missing Marys cousin, Joe Craig, who organised the rally, said time was running out to bring whoever was responsible to justice.

He said: We need this inquest to be held to help us finally piece together the dots of what really happened to Mary on that day in 1977.

This needs to happen, so that justice can be served and that the person behind Marys disappearance can be brought to justice.

Time is running out and we simply cannot allow this to be dragged on any longer.

All we are asking for is to allow the events of that day to be pieced together at an inquest, so we can move on. Is that too much to ask?Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said she would be in favour of the independent group playing a greater role in tackling fake news on Facebook and Twitter due to the impact it could have on the vote.

As reported in yesterdays Irish Examiner, the referendum commission has confirmed that it will have no powers to police online commentary or advertising during the referendum campaign and will instead focus on providing impartial information.

Ms McDonald said while she accepts the commission is independent she would like that this impartial information include a focus on debunking fake online news.

This is the great dilemma of social media now, and the pace at which communications are out in the public domain, she said.

I dont think anybody could be fairly asked to scrutinise every single utterance on Facebook and Twitter, that couldnt be done.

I do, however, think that where messages go viral and there is a pattern, as I suspect there will be in a lot of the social media content, I think there is a role for the referendum commission to then adjudicate and take questions and call things on a fact basis, not positions of ideology or opinion.

They will have to have an eye on that because I know that will drive a good bit of the debate and the questions and the contradictions that arise. They clearly have to have some role in that.

Ms McDonalds comments came as the first referendum campaign posters were put up on lamp-posts across the country by pro-choice and pro-life campaigners.

While each side has a number of divergent campaign groups, a small number began putting up posters yesterday as the naming of the Friday, May 25 polling day means this is now allowed.

Several members of the now concluded joint Oireachtas committee on the Eighth Amendment, which recommended a series of changes to the law if a referendum is passed, have said concerns raised by Tanaiste Simon Coveney this week were legitimate but had already been examined in private session by the committee.

In particular, they said it is understandable that Mr Coveney said on Newstalk on Wednesday that pregnant women may have to undergo scans to clarify if they are within the 12-week time limit.

However, the committee members said that while this was previously discussed in private meetings of the group late last year, it was decided that this would be unreasonable as there is generally a one-to-two week margin of error around when a pregnancy has begun.He made the remarks on RTEs Late Late Show last night while explaining why he handed back the Freedom of the City of Dublin last November.

He said that, as a Dubliner, he was very sorry to do so, but he could not stomach having his name on the same roll of honour as a woman who was an accomplice to rape in her own country.

Burning people alive, raping women as they held their babies and in front of the women when they finished raping them, they burned the babies alive, he said. Thats a fact and it is on film. I dont want to be associated with this pig once.

Suu Kyi was awarded the Freedom of the City of Dublin in 2000 by Dublin City Council.

She was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1991 for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights. She spent 15 years under house arrest for charges of trying to divide the military.

Now, she is the subject of international criticism for failing to halt the persecution of the Rohingya people in Rakhine state.

Geldof said he had been criticised for grandstanding after he made his protest last November, but that he did not want to be associated with those people.

Honestly, I didnt want to, its a lovely thing, he said. Its on my wall, not many things that I have are on my wall. I took it off and undid the frame and rolled it up and thought, Jaysus well do it anyway.

It was a tough decision because the honour is not handed out liberally, he said.

[Ryan] Tubridy, if you showed up in London theyd give it to you, I mean they sort of hand it out, he said. But in Dublin it is quite precious.

And my dad was there, the kids were there. It was a great day and Ronnie Delaney was getting it on the same day. What is not to like, whats not to be proud of?

Then I saw that Aung San Suu Kyi was on it because she got it on the day that I spoke welcome to her. And I thought thats a disgrace, there shouldnt be, in effect, an accomplice to murder, at least, on this thing.

Thats a disgrace to that roll of honour, it dishonours it.

And as that roll of honour is on behalf of Dubliners and Dublin, I didnt want to make it a big thing, but I thought she should be taken off, no big deal.

Councillors voted last December to rescind the Freedom of the City from Suu Kyi and instructed that her name be removed from the Roll of Honorary Freedom.

Geldof said last night that he would like to have the honour back, but it is not in his hands.When Reah Hedrich met Aaron Higgins for the first time 20 years ago and he asked for a kiss, she shied away from him.

Little did she know the two would reunite in 2006 and be the perfect match.

In fact, the couple were more of a match than they originally thought  when Aarons health took a dramatic turn, resulting in him going on dialysis, Reah didnt think twice about offering him a kidney.

Twelve months on from a successful transplant procedure, the couple and their two children, Fionn and Stephen, are enjoying the new lease of life the procedure has given their family.

Aaron has a condition known as focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). It causes scar tissue to develop in the kidneys which limits the filtration process and can lead to kidney failure.

Aaron started to display symptoms when he was in his late teens but he didnt get diagnosed until much later. The couple, who are now in their 30s and live in Caher, Co Clare, saw Aarons health deteriorate over the past five years to a stage where his kidney function dropped to 5%. In 2015, he went on dialysis at University Hospital Limerick.

I was sick for years, but the last five years were the worst. I had gout and couldnt move my hands, which is all associated with it. I was on dialysis for two years, he said.

Once on dialysis, Aaron was placed on the waiting list for a kidney transplant, but, even before that, Reah wanted to get tested and give him her kidney.

I knew I needed a transplant years ago but because you are young, they make you withstand whatever you are going through for as long as you can sustain it.

"I was at 5% when I went on the dialysis. My kidneys werent cleaning the poison so thats why I was getting the gout. I had to watch what I was eating. I couldnt have a coffee, all that kind of stuff, and the minute you did you got sick straight away.

"I was very tired, I was yellow and had red eyes. I weighed 73 kilos, Im 103 now, and Id get very bad cramps, said Aaron.

Reah said that, even before Aaron went on dialysis, she was used to receiving calls to say an ambulance was bringing him to hospital and she always had to have her phone with her.

Once Aaron was on the transplant list, Reah was anxious that she be tested to see if she was a match.

We had a conversation one day and said lets just keep everyone else out of it and it will be more personal, less stress, less people having to get involved, and it just worked out. Reah wrote a three-page letter to the doctors and then they went for it, said Aaron.

Reah said she knew the chances of being a match were slim, but, if there was a chance, she wanted to be the person to donate.

The one thing that makes me feel uncomfortable is when they talk of it as the gift of life. But to me, that makes it a bigger thing. When you see someone you love who is so ill, you dont hesitate to put yourself forward.

"Death is such a small risk and with general anaesthetic there is always a risk. You dont think about it, you just do it. Hes here, thats all that matters, she said.

There is a 25% chance of a sibling being an exact match and it is less if it is a spouse, so Reah and Aaron considered themselves very lucky.

In October 2016, we went up for the start of the process. The first thing was that the bloods matched and then they do tissue testing. I wasnt nervous, I was willing to just do it.

"It never even crossed my mind not to go for it. I never got nervous about it and I did wonder is that normal or am I living in a bubble, said Reah.

Aaron said his family couldnt believe the kindness and even he couldnt comprehend it.

She was OK about it but I didnt want her to do it at all. They were surviving away when I got sick, but if she got sick, I didnt know what we would do, he said.

Reah said they received support from the transplant co-ordinators at Beaumont, who guided them through the process, including the potential for a negative outcome and this helped both form their decision to go ahead.

Aaron struggled with it more than me but the co-ordinators prepare you for it. I was just so determined and calm. They do give you the option before they give you the anaesthetic that if you dont want to do it, you can back out. So they take that pressure off you right up to the very end ensuring that you have that option to say no, said Reah.

She said Aaron could have also stopped it up to that point. There were other considerations too, and, with two children, the decision was not an easy one.

We felt that we should be open with the kids and let them know what was happening in a child-friendly way, so there was no secrets but they were upset.

We brought them to the cinema the week before the surgery and the older boy in the car on the way home said, When you are going up to the hospital, what if you die? You have to go through all that  what if daddy dies and what if you both die, said Reah.

Reahs surgery was set for 8am on January 30, 2017, and she was out by 3pm. Doctors told her that the moment her kidney was transplanted, it just swelled up and started pumping and that it was an extremely healthy kidney.

Aaron said there was an immediate difference when he came around after surgery.

I walked past a mirror and I had to go back and look in and I thought, Jesus Christ, is that me? I called people over to look at my face, my colouring was completely different, I was like a different person, my vision was better after a couple of days, and my hearing and sense of smell was really strong.

"My creatinine level was 950, so that was poisoned by 950%, and the next day the creatinine level was down at 200, and the next day it was down to 110, he said.

Although the surgery was a success, there is always a risk of rejection, as the couple pointed out, and the risk was always there that Reah would lose a kidney and there would be no gain for Aaron.

After three days, Aaron developed symptoms of mild rejection and was put on medication to counteract that.

Reah said when they heard the word rejection, their hearts sank, but with medication they got over that initial hurdle, although it is always a possibility.

Reah explained that the transplant co-ordinators prepared them for the fact that it might reject. The reality of it is that it might reject tomorrow, there is a chance, but fingers crossed it will be long lasting.

She said the lifespan of a live donation is approximately 20 to 25 years, whereas it is roughly 10 to 15 years for one from a deceased donor.

For her, she said it was an adjustment and she has recovered well from the surgery, with her kidney expected to grow to compensate for the loss of one.

Rather than removing Aarons non-functioning kidneys, the consultants attached Reahs donated kidney to an artery.

They were going to remove both kidneys but then they said it is so invasive so they left them in there, and now my new kidney is attached to an artery in my leg instead, said Aaron.

The couple said although the experience was harrowing and challenging, both before and after surgery, they received tremendous support from their community, their family, the Irish Kidney Associations Renal Support Centre, the renal team, as well as the transplant co-ordinators.

Travelling from Clare to Dublin was an ordeal, and the couple said having the Irish Kidney Associations Renal Support Centre made this so much easier on them as a family.

It is like a self-catering hotel. Family were able to come up and stay, I was able to stay after surgery. It was amazing. It was expensive to go up and down and then a hotel on top of that, so having a place to stay took all that stress away. It just made such a difference, said Reah.

She said she will never regret her decision as it has been life-changing.

It is an individual decision and I think if you dont want to do it then that is

totally OK and should be

respected No one should feel under pressure to do it.

Aaron said life feels different for him now because there are almost too many possibilities for him.

It is strange because now that I can do whatever I want, Im not sure what I want to do, he said.

Reah added: Aaron was out with the kids playing on the trampoline yesterday and there is no way he would be doing that before, and these are things that you have to remind yourself of.

Aaron said he has noticed that the boys are also interacting with him a lot more since the surgery.

He was so appreciative of the gift his wife gave him that, each month, he got her flowers with a message saying thanks for the kidney.

I met Reah when I was 14. She was way taller than me and I asked her for a kiss and she said no way. And now we are married and I have her kidney, said Aaron.

He added that since the surgery, he has put on four stone, something he is still getting used to, and he is started to get back to work and doing things he enjoys such as Taekwondo.

Obviously, you need to mind yourself and not get kicked in the kidney, he says, laughing.

More information on how to be an organ donor is available by phoning the Irish Kidney Association on 01 6205306, Free text the word DONOR to 50050 or visit website ka.ie/card.Nvidia continued to tout its credentials as the underlying technology for designing and deploying photorealistic virtual reality (VR) systems during its GTC Technology conference in Silicon Valley this week, including the announcement of its most powerful graphics card to date and a new system specifically designed for testing autonomous driving tech.

CEO and founder Jensen Huang reasserted that real-time rendering of photorealistic images in VR is "the holy grail" for the industry and asserted that: "Recreating virtual reality is one of the most daunting computing tasks we know and yet, on the other hand, it is an enormous industry."

Nvidia's latest proposed solution combines both hardware and software with the Quadro GV100 graphics card and RTX ray tracing technologies, with the aim of achieving the elusive goal of delivering intensive ray tracing imaging in real time.

Ray tracing is a rendering technique which traces the path of light rays in an image as they illuminate a scene and bounce off objects, which is vital to creating photorealistic VR experiences and would be nothing short of groundbreaking for the gaming industry.

This is particularly suited for the design of compute-intensive VR content, giving designers and developers the opportunity to identify high-quality lighting and shadows in imagery.

The combination of the Quadro GV100 and RTX has also been built to reduce the waiting time for developers, adding the ability to perform rendering up to 10 times faster than the traditional CPU.

Speaking at the chip-maker's annual GTC Technology conference this week, Huang said: "With the Nvidia RTX Technology and the Quadro GV100, I believe the number of frames that will be rendered will jump by a factor of 10, just so that you can iterate and try things before you get it done.

"Youll also get it done faster but most importantly, you'll save money. The more GPUs you buy, the more money you save."

"After 10 years, what makes this special is for the very first time we can bring real-time ray tracing to the market," he added. "People can actually use it. Technology has been encapsulated into multiple layers from our GPU architecture to the algorithms that makes it possible for us to do this, you are also seeing deep learning in action."

What is the Quadro GV100 and RTX?

Huang unveiled the new workstation-based graphics card, the Quadro GV100, at GTC this week, with the company claiming it to be the most powerful graphics card released to date, knocking the Titan V down the pecking order.

It comes with 32GB of memory, which can be scaled up to 64GB with multiple Quadro GPUs by using NVLink interconnect. The technology is based on Nvidia Volta GPU and contains 7.4 teraflops of double precision (64-bit) and 14.8 teraflops of single precision (32-bit), all combined with 118.5 teraflops of deep learning performance.

Nvidia's Quadro GV100 is the first workstation GPU to be built on the Volta architecture. It has powered Oscar nominees throughout the last 10 years and acts as a visual computing platform.

Huang explained that the technology includes the ability for developers to access Nvidia's RTX ray tracing technology through its OptiX application programming interface.

GPU developers are also able to access its new DirectX ray tracing API using Nvidia's Quadro GV100 and RTX technology thanks to a partnership with Microsoft.

The Quadro GV100 is available now for purchase on the company's website at $9,000.

Read next: Nvidia supercharges deep learning at GTC 2018

Earlier this week the company unveiled that it had doubled the memory of the Tesla V100 GPU to 32GB in order to tackle the most memory intensive deep learning and high-performance computing workloads.Reddit Email 156 Shares



The Qinshan nuclear power plant in Zhejiang province (Image: baike)

By Feng Hao | (China Dialogue) |  

Slowing demand for electricity and competition from renewables have halted new reactor approvals, writes Feng Hao

Globally, the outlook for new, large nuclear reactors is gloomy, according to the International Energy Agencys (IEA) World Energy Outlook. A lot of countries have backed away from nuclear power in recent years due to concerns over public safety, cost and the complex challenge of getting plants built.

But not China, whose state-backed nuclear industry has been steadily rolling out new reactors since the mid-2000s. The country has dominated growth in the sector over the past decade, and accounts for 40% of new reactors currently under construction.

This year, five reactors are expected to come online in China, with the IEA predicting that by 2030 the country will overtake the United States as the worlds biggest generator of nuclear power.

Pushing nuclear

Increasingly, Chinas decision to move ahead with new nuclear seems at odds with other countries that are abandoning the technology in favour of other low carbon options, such as wind and solar.

Xu Jiangfeng is a researcher at the Planning Research Centre of the China National Offshore Oil Corporations Research Institute. He told chinadialogue that the governments concern with energy security has resulted in a diverse mix of energy resources and technologies being pursued, including nuclear.

In price terms, the National Energy Administrations National Electricity Pricing report, published in 2016, ranks nuclear power second only to coal on cost, and says it is much cheaper than electricity generated from natural gas, wind and solar.

In an interview last year, Ye Qizhen of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Sciences, was also upbeat about the economics of nuclear power in China. He told China Energy News that power costs from Chinas Generation II+ reactor designs, which are now entering operation on the south-east coast, will be on a par with those from coal-fired power, and some may even be cheaper.

Many Chinese experts dont just regard nuclear power as reliable and safe, they also point to its role in helping China to reduce air pollution from coal-fired power. Jiang Kejun of the National Development and Reform Commission also argues that nuclear power produces lower carbon dioxide emissions than other technologies over the lifetime of a plant.

Approvals freeze

Policymakers may cite various strategic reasons for backing nuclear power but there is a question mark hanging over the sectors future growth.

China has 20 gigawatts of nuclear power capacity under construction but plans for additional capacity are being delayed. A 2020 target of 58 gigawatts of installed nuclear capacity now looks out of reach.

The National Energy Administration did not approve any new nuclear plants between 2016 and 2017. In 2017, only three new reactors started operating.

New Chinese plants coming online



Source: Jesper Antonsson (data from PRIS) 2016. Purple represents estimated plant completion.

Shi Lishan, head of the nuclear power office at the National Energy Administration, admitted at a meeting of the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering last year that, achieving targets set in the past now looks uncertain, with reactors that have been built and that are ready for fuelling and going into operation also on hold.

Reasons for the shift, according to Shi, include mixed attitudes towards new nuclear power within government, and the over-supply thats affecting Chinas power generation sector.

Competition from renewables

As Chinas economic growth has eased, so too has the growth in electricity demand. In 2015, electricity consumption rose just 0.5%, the lowest in 40 years.

Work out supply and demand and you can see that the market is unable to absorb any more nuclear power, Kang Junjie, chief engineer with Dongdian Wanwei Technology (Beijing) told chinadialogue.

This leaves little room for expansion of electricity generation, meaning fierce competition between nuclear, solar, wind and hydropower. Globally, solar and wind are replacing nuclear power as the first choice for new power generation. This is true in China, too.

Cost is a key factor: the earlier nuclear power plants are now in the mid-to-late stages of their lifecycle, with operational and maintenance costs rising, according to Kang Junjie. Meanwhile, renewables are in the ascendant, with costs continuing to fall.

Analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that the cost of power from Chinas onshore wind and solar will drop below that of coal in 2019 and 2021, respectively, suggesting that the cost advantage of nuclear power over renewables will only last a few more years.



According to Bloomberg New Energy Finances predictions, nuclear power will provide only 3% of electricity worldwide in 2040. Source: BENF New Energy Outlook 2017

But Jiang Kejun says electricity costs are just one factor to be considered. Relying exclusively on distributed generation sources like wind and solar would be expensive because coal-fired power would have to be retained as a back-up source, pushing up the cost of electricity.

Mycle Schneider, an independent energy and nuclear power consultant, told chinadialogue that he thinks future power generation will tend instead toward more flexible and distributed models, and nuclear power will struggle to fit in with this as it relies on scale to reduce costs.

Speaking at a roundtable discussion last year organised by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Zhou Jie, an energy policy expert and secretary-general of the International Forum for Clean Energy (Macau), said that slowing demand for electricity will at least give China time to make adjustments to its power sector, including reassessing the future technology mix.

Via China Dialogue

This work is under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 England & Wales License and 2.5 China License.

-

Bonus video added by Informed Coment:

CGTN from last year: Southern China county boosts wind powerReddit Email 493 Shares

Via Middle East Monitor

By Alastair Sloan | (Middle East Monitor) |  

As the church bells rang in the New Year of 2018, Norway announced that it would be cutting arms sales to any country fighting in Yemen. A couple of weeks later, Germany said the same thing. The Netherlands and Sweden have also pulled out. Very early on in hostilities, Pakistan decided, based on a parliamentary vote, not to support its closest historical ally, Saudi Arabia, in continuing the war. Qatar has also withdrawn, albeit as part of the maelstrom of diplomacy that currently characterises Gulf geopolitics. With all of this disinterest around us, why is Britain still embroiled in the fight?

Describing a conflict as a proxy war is often a form of shorthand that glosses over multiple, often more compelling, local reasons why wars erupt and continue. In this case, the war is ongoing thanks to foreign involvement, as in Syria and eastern Ukraine.

Even as support from more noble countries evaporates, France, Italy and Spain, as well as the US and UK, continue to arm their chosen protagonists. Russia and, to a lesser extent, China continue to work with Iran, which in turn is alleged to support the Houthis.

Only a few hundred people around the world can discuss the true extent of Iranian involvement authoritatively. Other than these heads of state, intelligence officials and military personnel, the rest of us are just guessing about whether Iran is fully behind the Houthis or not.

Regardless of whether Tehrans security services are closely involved in the fight, though, or its commandos are smuggling in weapons, there is no doubt that Iran would be pleased if the Houthis win. There is equally no doubt that Britain and the US would be happier if they dont.

Houthi advocates argue that the movements leaders are not seeking to install a clerical system of government, as in Iran. This is what Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are warning might happen if the Houthis control Sanaa.

In an interview with the Yemen Times, Houthi activist Hussein Al-Bukhaiti said in October 2014 that the demographics of Shia and Sunni within Yemen make such religious rule impossible. He is right; around two-thirds of all Yemenis are Sunni Muslims.

Significant efforts were made by the larger Western powers, alongside Russia and China, to prevent a nuclear arms build-up in Iran, as well as to curtail its capability for guerrilla warfare in foreign lands, through financial sanctions and increased espionage activities.

Iran has reacted to the partial lifting of sanctions by increasing its spending on defence, which is an entirely rational move given that, for many years, Tehrans main enemies  Saudi Arabia and the UAE  have been upping their defence budget too. Indeed, while Iran is the traditional bogeyman and thus is the main focus for Western politicians, media and intelligence agencies, comparatively little attention has been paid to the equally concerning and truly massive Saudi arms build-up over recent years. The government in Riyadh has gone from being a mid-ranking military power to the worlds largest arms importer.

In summer 2015, Riyadh announced that it hoped to increase defence spending by 27 per cent over the following five years. Even then, Saudi expenditure estimates showed that the budget for guns, bombs and military operatives was sky-rocketing. Arms expenditure in the years 2010 to 2014 was up four-fold on the figures for 2005 to 2009.

This pattern means that Saudi Arabias arms build-up pre-dates the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal. In 2010, when Saudi Arabia started to increase arms spending rapidly, the UN actually tightened sanctions against Tehran. As such, claims that Saudi Arabia is only hiking its spending on arms in response to Iranian aggression; or because the international community is not doing enough to restrain Iran; or in response to the 2015 nuclear deal which Riyadh laments, make less and less sense.

Saudi Arabia now spends nearly as much as Russia on defence. Most of the hardware is coming from the United States and Britain, with traditional military products  like fighter jets  coming with an aftersales package which sees hundreds of foreign military personnel stationed permanently in the Kingdom to assist with maintenance and training. This is military collaboration on a huge scale. The war in Yemen has only increased this; when the Royal Saudi Air Force ran out of bombs after its initial sorties, Britain stepped in to replenish stocks, using munitions supposedly reserved for our own Royal Air Force.

#YemeniCrisis

In a brutal calculus, the direct casualties of the war in Yemen only recently passed the ten thousand mark. This makes the conflict one of the less bloody worldwide. Make no mistake, though, the Yemen crisis should be taken just as seriously as the one in Syria. Eight million people in Yemen are now within a hairs breadth of famine, according to the international aid community, at least two million more than the number of refugees who have fled Syria. Thirty thousand nurses and doctors dealing with the cholera outbreak  which was held in check in 2017 but is now resurgent  have not been paid for ten months. Britains Department for International Development estimates that 10 million people, almost 40 per cent of the population, are in acute need and may not survive if they do not receive humanitarian assistance. In December, DfID pledged 50 million, although experts say that this might be enough to stave off famine, but not much more.

The fundamental moral paradox remains; why keep these people alive if you are also the government arming the people trying to kill them? Its a grim prospect that Britain must reckon with  as other countries have done already  and come up with a logical and morally correct answer.

Via Middle East Monitor

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.



Bonus video added by Informed Comment:

ABC News: Inside Yemens civil war where 8 million people are on the brink of starvationReddit 2K Email 3K Shares

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

Palestinians in Gaza staged an unarmed protest Friday, part of a planned multi-week event, near the Israeli line of control. They are demanding the right to return to their homes.

The Israeli army indiscriminately opened fire on the protesters with live ammunition, killing at least 17 and wounding dozens (perhaps hundreds). Hundreds were also sickened by military-grade tear gas. This was shooting fish in a barrel. There is no reason to think that the Israeli troops were in danger or received deadly fire themselves. There was rock throwing toward the fence that imprisons the Palestinians. No Israeli casualties have been reported. Some video circulating, which IC cannot confirm, appears to show victims shot in the back or while praying. This was more like a US police shooting of an innocent, unarmed victim.

Although the US press is reporting that those killed died in clashes, they appear all to have been on the Gaza side of the line of control and never actually to have encountered any Israelis. There was no clash. Shooting down innocent unarmed people on their own land is typically termed murder.

In 1948, lean, mean Jewish immigrants into British Mandate Palestine attacked Palestinian villagers and townspeople in the south, in places like Beersheba and Nejd, and drove them into the Gaza Strip, where they live to this day, many of them still in refugee camps. On Nejd lands the Europeans formed the Israeli town of Sderot, which they have peopled not only with Israelis but also Thai agricultural guest workers.

Families in Gaza displaced from Nejd could walk home in half an hour if allowed to.

70 percent of Palestinian resident families in Gaza were kicked out of their homes in what is now Israel by armed Jewish immigrants into British Mandate Palestine, and the Palestinians were consigned to 8 refugee camps. They would starve to death if it were not for aid via the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the budget of which Trump has just kneecapped. There are now 1.8 million people in Gaza, most of them desperately poor. Since 2007 they have been under a military and economic blockade by Israel, which routinely shoots their fishermen and has limited import of building materials such as cement. Israel carefully dispenses the right to leave Gaza, essentially a large jail for the victims of Israeli ethnic cleansing, and several Palestinian children have died in recent times because they werent permitted to go get good medical care.

In the course of World War I, the British army conquered geographical Palestine away from the Ottoman Empire. The other Mandatory forces authorized by the Versailles Peace Treaty, were charged with temporarily administering Syria, Iraq, Togo and other countries-in-waiting for the welfare of their inhabitants and in preparation for independence. Britain had some of these obligations in Palestine, for the then 1.3 million Palestinians, as well. But many British administrators thought of their charge as two-fold, since they also wished to establish what they called a home for the Jewish people in the midst of the teeming masses of Palestinians. They were paying off what they saw as a debt to Zionist leaders for their support in WW I. Their other debt was to the Hashemites of Mecca, to whom they awarded Transjordan.

Zionism grew up in the second half of the 19th century as a form of Jewish nationalism, modeled on the Romantic nationalism of the Germans and Italians. Most Jews of the time rejected the notion of making their religion the basis for a virulent form of modern racism or of giving Christian nationalists a cudgel with which to beat their Jewish co-citizens by declaring, as Zionists implied, that French Jews were Jewish and not French at all.

Moving people around to the inconvenience of their neighbors was a feature of authoritarian government in early twentieth century High Modernism. The British also dreamed of bringing millions of Punjabis from India into Iraq when they conquered it in 1918. Stalin moved Crimean Tatars to Central Asia. So too was the technique of partition. The French conquered Syria in 1920 and abruptly carved out of it a majority-Christian Lebanon, to make the whole region easier to rule, since they expected the Christians to support colonialism. Britain saw the European Jews it was importing as playing a similar role.

The Ottomans and their Muslim predecessors had ruled this region for nearly 1300 years with the exception of a hiatus during the Crusades. In the millennium after Christ, most Palestinian Jews had converted to Christianity and then some converted to Islam. A small number of men emigrated to Europe as merchants around 800 and they grew into the Ashkenazi Jewish community, taking non-Jewish convert wives and occasionally converting friends and neighbors. Between 1000 CE and about 1800 CE, there were almost no Jews in Palestine; Bonapartes expedition estimated 3,000 around 1799. In the 1800s some Russian charities were set up so that Jewish retirees could go to Jerusalem and spend their last days studying Torah in the holy city, and Russian Jewish residents grew in number to a few thousand.

Tens of thousands of Jews relocated to the British Mandate of Palestine in the 1920s, but they were small numbers of mainly Eastern European pioneers. They carefully set up a system whereby they received monetary support from Jewish communities in the West to buy up land, and then they alienated that land in perpetuity, forbidding its resale to non-Jews. Their goal was to buy up enough of Palestine on which to form a Jewish state, and to expel any Palestinians who would not cooperate.

By 1936 the Palestinians had figured out that the British Mandate, far from being benevolent, was predatory and malevolent, aiming at dominating them for hundreds of years and in the meantime of displacing them with Ashkenazi clients, whom the Palestinians viewed as illegal immigrants. The Palestinians launched a revolt, 1936-1939, which convinced the British to issue a White Paper promising to restrict further Jewish immigration and to schedule Palestine to become an independent country by 1949. Zionist thinkers and leaders, livid, pledged that the White Paper would not stand.

With the rise of Fascism and institutional, murderous Antisemitism in Europe in the 1930s, the number of Jewish immigrants into Palestine rose significantly in the 1930s. By 1940 there were 400,000, and the Palestinians were over a million.

When the British announced in 1947 that they planned to decamp, civil war broke out in Palestine. The Palestinians lost and 720,000 of them were expelled from their homes (these families have grown into several million). In 1967, the Israelis came after the refugees in the West Bank and Gaza and established rule over them.

Today, there is a Palestinian majority in the lands controlled by Israel. But only the Jews and a small minority of Palestinians living inside Israel can vote or have power, and their military rule controls the West Bank and encircles Gaza, which they have left without an airport or harbour or any visible means of support.

Zionist propaganda has assiduously covered up this tawdry reality, so that, amazingly enough, as with the realities of climate change, the American public is oblivious to what is being done to the Palestinians and blames them for any reaction they undertake to these massive and ongoing injustices.

White Americans are the richest people in the world and the most powerful, but have developed a sense of grievance that led them to put the Neofascist Trump regime in power in Washington. Imagine what they would do if they had been treated the way the Palestinians have been. That is why blaming everything on Hamas is silly. Hamas is a symptom, not the disease.



Bonus video:

TeleSur: FtS 03-30: Palestine: Thousands gathered in Gaza for March of ReturnPlease allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.

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Support our mission and join our community now.A statue of Dr. BR Ambedkar, also called the 'Father of Indian Constitution' was found vandalised on Saturday morning in Uttar Pradesh's Allahabad. (Photo Credit: ANI)

Allahabad, March 31: A statue of Dr. BR Ambedkar, also called the 'Father of Indian Constitution' was found vandalised on Saturday morning in Uttar Pradesh's Allahabad in Jhunsi's Trivenipuram locality. This incident has taken place just two days after the Uttar Pradesh Government passed an order to officially introduce 'Ramji' as the middle name of Dr BR Ambedkar in all documents and records in the state. On March 10, an Ambedkar statue was found vandalized in UP's Azamgarh and police had identified the miscreants though they were absconding. This incident comes days before Ambedkar Jayanti, which is celebrated on April 14.

The current statue vandalism incident also comes after the Samajwadi Party (SP), with help from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won the parliamentary bypolls in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur and Allahabad's Phulpur constituency.

The statue vandalisation spree began when the statue of Communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin was brought down in Tripura after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the Left front government out of power in the state. Following which, a statue of social reformer Ramasamy Periyar's statue, located inside the Tirupattur corporation office, was also destructed in Tamil Nadu's Vellore district. The next figure to come under attack was the bust of Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee in Kolkata's Kalighat.

April 14 is Dr. Ambedkar's birth anniversary and is celebrated with great enthusiasm by his followers all over India. This act of vandalism shows that the fight over statues is not yet over and that miscreants are still at large when it comes to creating nuisance in the society by targeting figures of national importance. The response of the state or police over the matter is awaited. (With Agency Inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 31, 2018 11:04 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).Kolkata, March 31: The Panchayat general elections 2018 in 20 districts of West Bengal is scheduled to take place in three phases in May 2018. The elections in 20 districts across the state will be held on May 1, May 3 and May 5. It must be noted that the counting of votes of all the 20 districts will take place on May 8, 2018.

In West Bengal, there are 3358 gram panchayats with 48,751 seats, 341 panchayat samitis with 9240 seats and 20 zilla parishads with 825 seats. There are around 58,000 booths across the state. In February, the commission had sought 425 senior IAS and WBCS officers to be deployed as observers for "free and fair" panchayat polls, a demand that had led to face-off with the government in 2013.

As per reports, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to visit Kalimpong in May despite her busy schedule in national politics. As per reports, she has multiple objectives, including indirect campaigning for rural polls in north Bengal. As per a report by The Statesman, sources said that the CM was not able to hold programmes in Kalimpong in February this year, and as a result, she may organise a gala in Kalimpong to promote development and to celebrate the formation of a separate Kalimpong district.

According to a report by Telegraph, a delegation of West bengal BJP leaders held a meeting earlier this week in north Bengal and passed a clear message that the organisation would not leave an inch of space to rivals, particularly Trinamul, in the forthcoming rural polls.

BJP leader Mukul Roy said that the chief minister has said that she wants to see panchayats where there will be no one in the opposition. But we want to pass a clear message to our party workers and leaders that they should put up all efforts to retain their base at each booth across north Bengal. We will not leave an inch of space to any other party and would retaliate if any coercive attempt is made," Roy said. Also, BJP president Amit Shah is scheduled to visit north Bengal next month.

According to The West Bengal Municipal Act, 1993, Darjeeling municipality is run by the Chairman-in-Council system of governance and consists of the Chairman, the Vice Chairman and five other members of the Board of Councillors.

In the last year, local body polls were held in West Bengal in seven municipal bodies  Darjeeling, Mirik and Kurseong in the hills and Kurseong, Domkol, Rayong and Pujali. It must be noted that the Darjeeling Municipality is responsible for the civic administration of the town of Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. Established in 1850, it is one of the oldest city administrative bodies in India.

To recall, in 2013, the rural polls were held in five phases following a Supreme Court order. According to the West Bengal Panchayat Elections Act, 2003, the commission and the state government hold discussions and fix the time and phases of the rural polls.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 31, 2018 04:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).Terry Leahy - Shanahoe

The death took place on Thursday, March 29 of Terry Leahy of Killeaney, Shanahoe.

Unexpectedly at The Mater Hospital, Dublin after a short illness. Husband of Valery, sadly missed by his wife, brother Richard, brothers-in-law, sister-in-law, nieces Chloe and Megan, nephew Darragh, extended family, neighbours and friends.



Reposing at his home on Saturday from 3pm with Rosary at 9pm, also on Sunday from 3pm, with Rosary at 9pm. Removal on Monday morning to St. Brigid's Church, Shanahoe, for Funeral Mass at 12 noon, followed by Burial in the adjoining Cemetery.

Tom Flanagan - Portarlington

The death took place on Thursday, March 29 of Tom Flanagan of Lea (Clonanny), Portarlington.

Peacefully at his residence surrounded by his loving family. Deeply regretted by his loving wife Margaret, son Declan, daughters Siobhan, Martina and Sarah, sons-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, brother, sisters relatives, neighbours and friends. 

Reposing at his residence from 12 noon on Good Friday with rosary at 8.30pm. Reposing on Saturday from 10am until 4.30pm. House private there after. Removal at 5.30pm to arrive at Saint John's Church, Killenard for 6pm prayers. Requiem Mass on Easter Sunday at 10.30am followed by Interment in adjoining cemetery.

Paul Byrne - Stradbally

The death took place on Wednesday, March 28 of Paul Byrne of 3 Church Avenue, Stradbally.

Died peacefully at home in the loving care of his wife Ann Marie and his children Selena and Karina and his extended family. Deeply regretted by his loving wife Ann Marie (nee Flynn formerly of Parnell Cresent, Portlaoise), his daughters Selena and Karina, brothers, sisters uncles, aunts, mother-in-law Kathleen, neighbours, relatives and friends.

Reposing in his home from 3pm on Saturday. Recital of The Rosary at 8pm on Saturday evening. Family time on Sunday morning please. Funeral arriving for 11.30am Mass on Sunday in The Church of the Sacred Heart, Stradbally. Burial after in Oakvale Cemetery.More money needs to be spent to ease congestion on early morning trains leaving Sallins for Dublin.

Fianna Fail TD James Lawless recently raised the issue in the Dail and he was critical of the disappointing response to calls for additional funding to increase train capacity for commuters from Sallins and Naas as well as Hazelhatch.

A number of commuters took to Twitter to voice their concerns toward Irish Rail at the overcrowding they experienced recently. This happened on a day when only three carriage served the morning Dublin bound 7.28am service from Sallins, he said

Speaking in the Dail, he said: The 7.28 a.m. service from Sallins to Grand Canal Dock was absolutely full leaving that station with eight stops to go. Commuters were physically unable to board the train at Hazelhatch, Adamstown and further in. There is an urgent need for greater capacity on these services. Criticising Minister for Transport Tourism and Shane Ross he said shockingly the Minister has yet to spend a single cent on new rolling stock. He asked: Where are the carriages, where are the services and where is the capacity that is so badly needed on these commuter lines?

Dep. Lawless said money must be provided for new carriages.

SEE ALSO: More Gardai for Celbridge in Kildare, TD toldBallinamore lady, Meadhbh McGivern is one of four students at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, who have all been touched by organ failure, who are holding organ donor awareness activities at the campus during Organ Donor Awareness Week (March 31  April 7).



Meadhbh and another of the students, Peter Kearney (from Celbridge) underwent organ transplants as children, a kidney and liver respectively. The other two students were involved in the living kidney donor process.



The four students have joined forces to organise information stands on organ donation at three locations around the campus during the Irish Kidney Associations Organ Donor Awareness Week.



In the following week, the students are also planning a Discussion Forum on organ donation.



Meadhbh, aged 21, made local and national headlines in 2011 over a transport debacle when her family were unable to get urgent transport to fly her to the UK for the liver transplant she was called for. Two months later she underwent a successful liver transplant at Kings Hospital in London. She was 14 years old.



Maedhbh, who is studying Applied Social Science, explained, I received my liver transplant in September 2011. My liver began to show signs of deterioration early in life. My childhood, and into my early teens was traumatic with a lot of sickness and various medical procedures.



Regular hospital stays were the norm which had a huge impact on my education and life as a young adolescent. When I was eventually listed for transplant in 2010 my health was starting to fail. School ceased in November 2010. My spleen had become so enlarged that the pain became unbearable. While a vigorous pain management regime helped, I spent my time in a daze.



Thats all behind me now. I received a liver from a deceased donor and have never looked back. While anonymous, I pray for my deceased donor and their wonderful family every day. The ending of my donors life meant a new start to mine. Needless to say, I have been a strong advocate of organ donation ever since. The importance cannot be over stated. Life is good. I am so lucky, and so thankful.

Read Also:

New Shannon-Erne Waterway Opening Hours 2018

Eslin Dramatic troupe present 'The Field' in Eslin Community Centre on Thursday 5, Friday 6 and Sunday 8 of April at 8pm sharp. Doors will open nightly at 7.15 pm.



Even at this late stage, the cast are working nightly to get their lines and moves perfected.

Noel McKeon will play the part of William Dee, in the forthcoming production. He comes over from England with intentions of purchasing a field but plans don't always work out.

The Priest (John Gildea) and Bishop (Gerard Stenson) are continually praying that all will be perfect in the eyes of God. Kenneth Wynne is the good looking young Sergeant Tom, while Pauric Kiernan is the Auctioneer and bar owner, and is able to strike a deal, even when all is not correct.



Jimmy Stenson is a very powerful Bull, with an equally powerful son Tadgh (Colm McCabe ). The two of them would strike the fear of God in man or beast.



The lady who causes all the trouble by putting up her field sale is Mrs Maggie Butler, the widow, and she is played by Joey Kilcrann. One of the finest personalities and strong performances is Mamie Flanagan played by Marie McNulty.



Her son Leamey, who is very conscious of the wrongs in society, and not happy with the actions of his father, the auctioneer, and others whom he refers to as bullies, is played by Conor Mulligan.



The last time The Field was performed in Eslin was in 1978. There was a young curate in that play, Ray Bohan. In this version Ray plays the part of the trendy farmer Dandy. Mrs McCabe is played by Ray's wife, Grainne Bohan.



One of the most entertaining performers in the Field is The Bird and in Donal McCabe, they have a great actor/performer.



This is all brought together by Director Olivia McHugh who has great experience from her years working with The Breffni Players in Carrick-on-Shannon. The producer is Enda Stenson.

Another lady with great stage experience, Mary Reynolds, is looking after costumes and Lisa Mulligan (C+D) is in charge of make-up.



Stage manager Gerard Stenson, along with Joe Reynolds and Liam McCrann, have the set looking splendid.



There are a few extra characters on stage. Shauna and Gemma Stenson are girls going home from the dance, Blaine McCrann is the Mass server, Mick and Mamie Flanagan have their children playing around the bar. Eoin McNulty, Lorraine, Laura, and Fiona McNabola, play those parts.



The troupe are grateful to everyone for whatever help they have received.

Read Also:

Mary McNutt Painting Exhibition in ArignaTHE BRITISH Ambassador to Ireland Robin Barnett has praised the efforts of Limerick City and County Councils vision for 2030 and Regeneration this week.

In an interview with local media, Ambassador Barnett said that he visited Limerick because it is a town with huge potential in a Mid-West region of huge potential.

I was here a year ago and heard a presentation of the 2030 development plan, and what really impressed me about that was, many of these plans contain a lot of words; this plan already had concrete projects and, even better, money to finance some of those concrete projects.

Mr Barnett said he welcomes the progress made in the 2030 plan, following a meeting with the councils CEO Conn Murray.

He said that there was a lot of interest in Limerick Regeneration, which has seen 322m spent on disadvantaged areas since 2008.

I think there may well be scope for the embassy to work in partnership with Limerick Council to put on an event in bringing people from the UK and, I hope, from Ireland to discuss lessons learned on Regeneration and identify opportunities for collaboration.THE Limerick woman who was widely criticised and ridiculed on Twitter after locking horns with presenter Dermot Bannon on the RTE show Room to Improve says despite the social media backlash I would definitely take part in the show again.

Sunday night's home improvement show saw architect Dermot Bannon threaten to walk off site following clashes with client Katie Ryan who was hell-bent on sticking to her guns in terms of her vision for her home.

RTE are obviously very happy with it because they got great ratings out of it, said Katie, who saw the programme for the first time when it aired on Sunday night.

While the school teacher who hails from just outside Limerick city and her dairy farmer husband Padraig Ryan hoped to create their forever home by renovating a 100-year-old farmhouse in Tipperary, Dermot's initial design immediately fell flat when it was awarded a zero out of 10 by a less than impressed Katie.

Twitter lit up immediately with people all over the country commenting on Katie and her notions

One tweeter commented:I will never complain about my wife again.

Some of it was very negative towards Padraig and my relationship. The show wasnt about our relationship, Katie told the Leader.

Padraig, who hails from County Tipperary, said he had seen some of the reaction online and felt they went very hard on her.

If there was a GAA match or something else people would be doing the same - people on Twitter slate people any chance they get.

They dont know the person. The editing wasnt the kindest to her. She is very friendly. She knew what she wanted and she knew what we wanted - I wanted what she wanted.

When asked if he knew the real Katie?

It would be a terror if I didnt! Padraig replied.

While Katie describes herself as a very passionate person, she said she did come across as more stubborn and argumentative.

It came across that I have some serious notions and Dermot even said at the start about notions. Well, I dont have any notions - Im living on a farm in the middle of the countryside!

Dermot deserves an Oscar after it, continued Katie, who has previously taught in Thomond Primary School and St Marys NS Bishop Street in Limerick city and now teaches junior and senior infants in Tipperary.

Off camera, Dermot and I got on very well together and were laughing to tears in a lot of scenes. In some of the scenes you can even see him holding back a smile, even when we were fighting about the wall.

Padraig and I did sign up to that - we knew we wouldnt have control over the editing.

We are the only house so far this season thats come in on budget. We had a certain amount of money to spend because we have other loans to be paid. It is a forever home and we are not going to be doing it again. Its my Communion money, she joked.

While Katie said she is not on Twitter she is aware of the social commentary on her appearance on the show and wont be spending my time dwelling on that.

You would have to walk in peoples shoes before you comment. In the wedding speech that my sister did, she would have described me as a tough cookie with a soft inside.

Obviously you cant walk through life with everything washing off your back but luckily I do have a tough skin but there are a lot of vulnerable people out there who wouldnt have been able to handle what happened online.

She urged people using social media, to think before they make personal comments on people and their lives.

I do think, in this day and age, people can see the negative impact social media can have on peoples lives and I think people should be a little bit more careful, said the teacher.

We are very happy with the house. I had to stand up and fight for what I wanted in the house, otherwise it would not have happened.A MAN who gardai believe is a significant figure in the illicit drugs trade in Limerick has been jailed for six years.

Quantities of heroin and cocaine, with a street value of more than 240,000, were seized after gardai observed them being handed over in the car park of a busy shop on the outskirts of the city.

Gerard Ryan, aged 28, who has an address at Galtee Close, Caherdavin has admitted possession of the drugs for the purpose of sale or supply.

Limerick Circuit Court was told the drugs were located near railway tracks at Meelick on August 26, 2014 after they were thrown from a high-powered car which was being driven by the defendant.

Detective Garda Pat Crowley of the divisional drugs unit said the Audi A6 was being pursued by gardai at the time having been observed during a surveillance operation a short time earlier.

The 06-registered Audi, which was located at a garage in Clonlara a number of days later, had been bought by the defendant for 6,500 in cash the previous day.

He said a number of cars were observed entering the car park of Spar, Old Cratloe Road and that gardai identified several people who were keeping sketch.

Ryan, he said, was observed sitting into a Volkswagen Polo and retrieving a package before returning to the Audi he had arrived in.

Both cars left the area at speed as gardai moved in.

While the Audi was not stopped on the night, Detective Garda Crowley told John OSullivan BL, prosecuting, he saw a package being thrown out the window as the car passed over the railway bridge.

The package, which contained the drugs, was subsequently recovered.

Ryan, the court heard fled to the UK the following day and was extradited in September 2016.

Brian McCartney QC said his client had put his hands up and he noted that nobody else had been prosecuted in relation to the seizure.

He said the father-of-two was in possession of the drugs for less than five minutes and that he is now drug free and doing well in prison.

Imposing sentence, Judge Tom ODonnell noted that gardai were sceptical of claims that Ryan had a drug habit at the time and that he owed money to criminal elements.

He said his admissions and guilty plea were mitigating factors and he noted he has made extremely good use of his time while in custody.

Referencing the contents of the probation report, the judge noted there is a high to moderate risk of Ryan re-offending.

He said the defendant had been in possession of significant quantities of two of the most addictive and destructive drugs and that gardai believe he is up the ladder in the drugs industry.

Having considered the matter, the judge imposed an eight year prison sentence, suspending the final two years.

Following an application from Mr OSullivan, the judge also directed the forfeiture to the State of the Audi A6.

The drugs seized by gardai are to be destroyed.A COUNTY Limerick man assaulted his ex-wife who had gone to his house to tell his new partner about text messages her former husband continued to send her, Kilmallock Court heard.

The defendant, pleaded not guilty to one count of assault.

His solicitor said the ex-wife did not want another woman in his bedroom and was fit to be tied on the night. This was denied by her.

The incident occurred in east Limerick in January 2017. On the day before the assault the defendants new partner called to meet his ex-wife.

We had a pleasant conversation. She knew about the texts he had sent me. She saw the texts on my phone. She said Its over. She hugged me and she said you will never see me again, said the injured party.

The following night she saw her former husband and his new partner outside his front door.

I said to myself they must be staying together. I said I would go up to tell him to leave me alone and stop sending me messages. I know I shouldnt have.

I rang the bell and he started firing abuse at me. I went down and sat on the bed with her. He pulled me by my two legs, down the hall and out the front door. He was kicking me. I was dazed. Then he opened the front door again, put his hands around my neck and pinned me up against the wall, she said.

Sergeant Michelle Leahy asked what the defendant said to her.

Get the F out of here. I wanted to show her more messages on my phone that she hadnt seen and he wanted to prevent me from showing them to her, said the complainant.

Sgt Leahy asked what injuries were sustained.

I went to Shannondoc. I had a lot of bruising, my neck is still in pain. My blood pressure is up. I was in total shock, she said.

John Herbert, solicitor for the defendant, began his cross examination of the ex-wife. She confirmed they were separated for two years.

Mr Herbert asked if she has sent a letter to her ex-husbands new partner.

No. I sent her the texts to show her that he was trying to see me as well, she said.

Mr Herbert, who produced an envelope in court, put it to her that she was annoyed?

I wasnt one bit annoyed, she said.

Mr Herbert said she wrote in her statement to gardai, I was annoyed.

She [new partner] told me I would never see her again. I was still in shock when I made the statement, she said.

Mr Herbert put it to her that she barged in to the house, in a state of high dudgeon, fit to be tied and annoyed at both.

You did not want another woman in his bedroom, said Mr Herbert.

No, he had plenty of women up in that house. That doesnt bother me. I was annoyed this woman lied to me, she said.

Mr Herbert said she kicked his client in the face while on the bed.

He did pull you out by the shoulders as it was the only way to restrain you, said Mr Herbert.

No, he grabbed me by the feet and repeatedly kicked me, she said.

Mr Herbert said if his client kicked her she would have needed an ambulance and not been able to go to Shannondoc.

Mr Herbert said his client called the gardai which is very unusual behaviour for someone who had just committed a heinous crime.

He knew it would look better for him, she said. The womans daughter took the stand and said she went up to the house after hearing shouting. She said she saw her father kicking her mother on the floor and pinning her up by the throat outside the front door.

The defendant was the last witness. He said he came home at around 9.45pm on the night in question.

He said he and his new partner were sitting on the bed when the doorbell went.

She [his ex-wife] shot in under my arm and went down to the bedroom. She was waving her phone, saying I have more effing texts. I said, Please leave the house.

She kicked me twice in the face. Then the two women were on the ground fighting. I pulled the two of them - they were on top of each other - to the front door. I put her [ex-wife] out the front door and closed it, said the defendant.

He said he didnt pin her up by the throat.

I didnt kick or hit her inside the house or out. I was trying to control her. I pulled her by the shoulders as gently as I could, he said.

Answering questions from Sgt Leahy, he said he had no problem with his ex-wife telling his new partner about the messages.

Sgt Leahy put it to him that he was annoyed by his ex-wife disclosing the texts.

No, he said.

Sgt Leahy asked why a daughter would give evidence against her father if it wasnt true.

It is very sad, he said.

Mr Herbert said the assault charge should be thrown out as his client used reasonable force to protect himself during the course of a criminal act like trespass. And that the medical report was not consistent with the level of force described by the ex-wife.

He did not use excessive force. If she is to believed he would have been taken away by gardai that night and he wasnt, said Mr Herbert.

Sgt Leahy said an independent witness has confirmed that the ex-wife was kicked and pinned up by the throat.

That is not reasonable force, said Sgt Leahy.

Judge Marian OLeary, who returned to chambers for a period of time to consider her verdict, said she had listened very carefully to all the evidence and read the doctors report.

I find that he used more force than reasonably necessary and is guilty of section 2 assault, said Judge OLeary.

Mr Herbert said it was never his clients intention to use any force.

The problem came to his door, said Mr Herbert.

That is accepted, said Judge OLeary.

She ordered the defendant to pay 500 to the court poor box and if it is paid she will apply the Probation Act. Recognaissance was fixed in the event of an appeal.According a statement from the British Ministry of Defense published on March 31, 2018, the British Army has taken a step towards exploring a deal for a fleet of new armoured vehicles, potentially supporting at least 1,000 British jobs, by announcing it is rejoining the Boxer 8x8 armoured vehicle program.



The BOXER 8x8 armoured vehicle presented by the German Company Rheinmetall at DSEI defense exhibition in London, September 2017 (Picture source Army Recognition)

The UK will rejoin the Boxer 8x8 armoured vehicle program and explore options to equip the British Army with the 8x8 troop carriers to modernise its vehicle fleet and meet the Armys Mechanised Infantry Vehicle requirement.

The UK played a major role in the original design, development and testing of the Boxer 8x8 armoured, and would reassume the rights it had as a project partner if a deal was to go through - allowing the option for the vehicle to be built and exported from the UK. The deal could see the Boxer fully assembled in the UK with at least 60% of the manufacturing with British industry, sustaining and developing UK industrial capabilities, facilities and skills.

Artec, the consortium who manufacture the Boxer armoured vehicle, have already made commitments to British industry by signing partnership agreements with BAE Systems, Pearson Engineering and Thales UK, in anticipation of a deal being struck.

It is expected that British companies would compete for the manufacture and supply of many of the vehicle sub-systems, as well as for a full production and assembly line in the UK. Estimates suggest Artecs planned investment in the UK could secure or create at least 1,000 jobs, based across the country including locations such as Glasgow, Newcastle, Sheffield, Stockport, Telford and Wales.



With the likes of Rolls Royce already powering Boxers with engines and Parker-Hannifin, William Cook Engineering and other British companies also supplying sub-systems for the vehicle, this deal could secure a broader industrial UK partnership.

The British MOD is now taking forward negotiations with the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) and Artec. Looking forward to the Assessment Phase, concluding in 2019, this will consider the comparable benefits of manufacturing locations and different supply chains for Boxer, as well as value-for-money. Any deal will be subject to commercial negotiation and assessment in 2019 and the aim is to have the first vehicles in service with the British Army in 2023.

OCCAR is a European intergovernmental organisation which facilitates and manages collaborative armament programmes through their lifecycle between the UK and European allies. The organisation manages the Boxer 8x8 armoured vehicle program and, as an OCCAR member state, the UK has the necessary Intellectual Property Rights to the Boxer and greater control over ensuring Britain benefits from supply chain work.

The British MOD conducted a comprehensive market analysis of Mechanised Infantry Vehicles in-service, entering service and in development. The analysis was guided by the British Armys requirements and how best to deliver them. The Boxer delivered on protected mobility, capacity, flexibility, utility and agility.

As part of the proposed deal, the UK is also expected to see substantial inward investment from Rheinmetall, one of Artecs parent companies, who signalled their intention to launch a production and integration centre for armoured vehicles in the UK as part of the programme. This would represent a significant commitment which would lead to long-lasting armoured vehicle capability in the UK.

The other of Artecs parent companies, Krauss-MaffeiWegmann (KMW), already has a substantial UK manufacturing facility in Stockport, from where it designs, manufactures and supports complex military equipment as far afield as the US and Australia, as well as parts of Europe.China's Tiangong-1 space station is due to hit Earth, and Australia is in the crash landing zone.

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Read a complete guide to China's Tiangong-1 space station crash here.

Any day now, the Chinese space station Tiangong-1 is expected to fall back to Earth  but it's uncertain where it will crash land. We know that Australia is in the potential zone, and we have been hit before by a falling space station.

But Tiangong-1 is just one of many pieces of space junk left orbiting our Earth.

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) says more than 8,000 objects have been launched in to space, with 4,788 currently still in orbit around the Earth.

Read more: 60 years in orbit for 'grapefruit satellite'  the oldest human object in space

With every launch, even more space junk is produced ranging from the rocket boosters, to flakes of paint and the satellites themselves. In 2009 an old communication satellite crashed into a new one, creating thousands of pieces of smaller debris.

By some estimates, the amount of space junk is in the hundreds-of-thousands to millions of pieces and this interactive illustration shows some of them.

Space debris (Image credit: ESA)

From a heavenly place

Tiangong-1, or "Heavenly Palace," was China's first space station  a small version of the International Space Station  and was launched in September 2011. Weighing a bit more than 8 tonnes, about 10 metres long and 3 metres in diameter, it was the first of three planned space stations.

The Chinese space lab, Tiangong-1, is about the size of a bus, and it's currently falling to Earth. (Image credit: The Aerospace Corporation)

After delays in Tiangong-2, the Tiangong-2 and Tiangong-3 were merged and Tiangong-3 was launched in 2016. Tiangong-1 has subsequently not been in use and was always designed to come down back to Earth.

But where will it crash land?

A drop in the ocean

Halfway between New Zealand and South America in the Pacific Ocean is one of the most un-inhabited places on the Earth. This is the ideal location to have large pieces come back down, as the risk to lifeforms is minimal.

While most of these objects will break up into smaller bits, choosing a remote location then further minimises the risk of these bits.

In this part of an ocean there are literally hundreds of parts of automated space vehicles, rocket boosters, and even the Russian Space Station Mir, which splashed down east of Fiji in March 2001.

China's Tiangong-1 space station is due to hit Earth, and Australia is in the crash landing zone. (Image credit: Cindy Zhi/The Conversation, CC BY-ND)

When you look at maps of satellite and space junk re-entry, the majority go straight over Australia and New Zealand. That is because re-entry starts roughly between 80km and 100km above the ground, takes around 15 to 20 minutes, and creates debris footprints hundreds-to-thousands of kilometers wide.

Therefore in order to hit the target of the southern Pacific Ocean, it must start over Australia and New Zealand.

But there's one important feature that makes Tiangong-1 different in all of this: it is out of control, according to China's space agency.

Crashed in Australia

An overhead view of the Skylab Orbital Workshop in Earth orbit as photographed in 1974 from the Skylab 4 Command and Service Modules (CSM) during the final fly-around by the CSM before returning home. (Image credit: NASA)

If you were around in 1979 and happened to be in Western Australia, you might have a unique souvenir  part of the NASA space station Skylab, which re-entered near the southern town of Esperance.

While most missions now plan on re-entry, this was not always the case and Skylab did not have a good plan for coming back to the Earth. It was designed for a nine-year lifetime, but no clear manoeuvrability was built to re-enter at a specific point.

As news came out that it was going to re-enter, and it was not clear where, there was a varied response. Some people staged Skylab parties, others operated safety measures (such as air raid siren preparedness in Brussels).

After it hit WA, the local Shire of Esperance issued NASA with a cheeky A$400 littering fine for scattering debris across its region. It was eventually paid in 2003  not by NASA, but by a US radio presenter and his listeners who raised the funds.

NASA fined for littering when Skylab fell near Esperance, WA. (Image credit: Flickr/Amanda Slater, CC BY-SA)

So in 2016 when China notified UNOOSA that Tiangong-1 was uncontrolled in its point of re-entry, this made scientists pay attention. Of course this made the public and media take notice, causing a bit of a panic in some coverage.

Don't panic!

Every day, hundreds of tons of debris, both human and natural (i.e. meteors), hit the Earth. Even those that survive re-entry and land pose a minute risk. Keep in mind, most of the Earth is unpopulated  from the oceans to vast deserts and land, nearly all people are safe.

The total surface are of the Earth is over 500 million square-kilometres. Even if a piece of space junk leaves a 1,000 square-kilometre debris field, that is only 0.0002% of the Earth's surface.

This graphic predicts details about the atmospheric re-entry and breakup of Tiangong-1. (Image credit: The Aerospace Corporation/CORDS)

In fact, the Aerospace Corporation has calculated the odds of getting hit by Tiangong-1 parts at 1 million times LESS than winning the lotto.

An image from ESA shows the region when Tiangong-1 is expected to re-enter. (Image credit: ESA)

Now that you know you don't have to worry, if you do end up being in a path that can see re-entry, you will see a show not unlike in the 2013 movie Gravity.

What are we doing about it

Of course the question has to be asked  what are we doing to both solve the junk already in space and prevent more? Well, lots actually.

A large source of space junk is all the rocket boosters and engines that are still up there and can be seen re-entering. If you remember the excitement in February around the Space X Falcon 9 Heavy launch, one of the huge reasons for excitement was that those rockets come back down safely, making them re-usable and not another piece of space junk.

Read more: Australia's back in the satellite business with a new launch

Making satellites smaller not only means they are cheaper and quicker to build, but at the end of their life they can break up even more in the atmosphere, eliminating the possibility of large pieces surviving and landing.

And for all those small bits out there, Electro-Optic Systems (EOS) and Mount Stromlo Observatory are part of the Space Environment Research Centre (SERC) which is planning to build a laser system capable of safely de-orbiting small bits of space junk

So don't worry about Tiangong-1 or other space junk hitting you, we're on it.

Brad E Tucker, Astrophysicist, Australian National University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates  and become part of the discussion  on Facebook, Twitter and Google +. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Live Science.SpaceX pulled off another successful launch today, lofting a set of new polar-orbiting satellites. By itself, this Falcon 9 launch isn't unique. It's the fifth SpaceX launch this year.

The launch was far less pioneering than SpaceX's maiden flight of the more massive Falcon Heavy rocket (carrying a Tesla car and a mannequin called "Starman") in February. SpaceX did reuse one of its rockets for today's liftoff, but that's old hat by now for the space company, which started reusing rockets exactly a year ago.

Yet, the new launch still generated worldwide attention. Why?

The answer has to do with what SpaceX launched: a set of satellites that will expand Iridium's Internet of Things (IoT) NEXT network. Earlier today (March 30), at 10:13 a.m. EDT (1413 GMT), SpaceX lofted the fifth set of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The launch was successful, according to Iridium. "All 10 new satellites have successfully communicated with the Iridium Satellite Network Operation Center and are preparing to begin testing," the company wrote in an update.

The 50 satellites currently in Iridum's NEXT network, including the 10 new ones, are improving tracking of IoT devices. The IoT refers to a growing trend of connecting common appliances or objects (such as fridges or shipping containers) to the internet to share information. "These devices are designed to do everything from tracking endangered species and monitoring power lines, to controlling shipping container temperature levels or serving as tsunami warning systems," Iridium said of its NEXT-tracked points of contact.

Tracking these devices by satellite provides an extra advantage, because in rural locations, cellphone coverage is hard to come by. Iridium promises better tracking than before, using L-band broadband service. L-band is faster than the satellite ground terminals that would be used in its place, said Maritime Executive, a business magazine. Ka-band tracking is an even faster protocol, but its global extent was limited at least as late as 2014, according to NASA. That makes L-band a good start for Iridium.

Here's where things get interesting. The NEXT network isn't nearly at full capacity, but before long it is going to cover the entire Earth. Iridum NEXT will see three more launches this year. By the time NEXT is fully deployed, at the end of 2018, it will include 75 satellites  66 that are operational satellites and nine as on-orbit spares (in case something happens to the operating ones). Another six satellites will be available as ground spares.

This is already attracting attention among Iridium subscribers. New people are joining faster than expected, Iridium chief executive Matt Desch said in a statement. Around the time of the launch, Iridium's subscriptions surpassed 1 million people.

So, SpaceX's launch  as regular as it appeared  is important because it will help Iridium better track devices all over the Earth. As NEXT becomes more powerful, this will generate all sorts of tracking information to benefit customers. For example, tracking shipping containers will increase delivery accuracy and security. Monitoring remote power lines from afar will reduce the time needed to check them in person, Desch said.

NEXT represents just one point in the growth of the global IoT market. According to Forbes, this market will triple, going from $157 billion in 2016 to $457 billion in 2020. While manufacturing is driving most of the growth right now, chances are, more consumers and companies will use IoT in the next three years. Will you be one of them? Time will tell.

Originally published on Live Science.Marine biologist and writer Rachel Carson is hailed as one of the most important conservationists in history and is recognized as the mother of modern environmentalism. She challenged the use of man-made chemicals, and her research led to the nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides. Her environmental movement also eventually led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to the National Women's Museum.

"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction," Carson said. She also famously stated, "But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself."

Early Life

Rachel Carson was born on May 27, 1907, in Springdale, Pennsylvania, and grew up on a 65-acre farm. As a child, she spent her days exploring nature and writing. Her first work was published in a children's magazine when she was 10 years old. This upbringing instilled in her first-hand knowledge of nature and wildlife that spurred her into her life pursuits. "In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth," said Carson.

Originally determined to be a writer, Carson changed her major from English to biology in college. In 1929, she graduated from the Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham College). She then went on to do graduate work at Johns Hopkins University (which was almost unheard of for women at the time) and had her fellowship at the U.S. Marine Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. During her postgraduate studies she taught at the Johns Hopkins summer school. Carson then began teaching at the University of Maryland for five years.

Contributions to science

After the five-year stint, Carson joined the Bureau of Fisheries in 1935. One of her first duties was to create a series of seven-minute radio programs about marine life. They were named "Romance Under the Waters."

In 1936, she became one of only two women employed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Bureau at a professional level, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, eventually becoming the editor-in-chief of the service's publications. She worked there until 1952. Carson also helped the government during World War II by investigating undersea sounds to assist the Navy in developing submarine detection.

While working for the government, she penned many articles that were published by the Baltimore Sun. She also wrote her first book, "Under the Sea-Wind," published in 1941. It was a scientific book on marine life, but it was written so that the average person could understand.

In 1951 she published her second book, "The Sea Around Us," according to Encyclopedia Britannica. This book became an immediate best-seller and made her a wealthy woman. The book won a National Book Award, stayed on The New York Times' best-seller list for 81 weeks and ended up being translated into 32 languages. In 1955, Carson's third book, "Under the Sea," was published.

Carson spent the 1950s researching the effects of pesticides on the food chain across the United States and Europe with the help of Shirley Briggs, editor of an Audubon Naturalist Society magazine called Atlantic Naturalist, and Clarence Cottam, another former Fish and Wildlife Service employee.

This work culminated in her book "Silent Spring," which The New Yorker was published as a serial in 1962. It took her four years to write, according to Natural Resources Defense Council.

In the book, she explained why the use of pesticides was detrimental, paying particular attention to the effects of DDT. Carson asked the important question: do humans have the right to control nature? She also introduced the concept that planet Earth can only sustain pollution levels for a certain amount of time.

An expert from "Silent Spring":

One of the most significant features of DDT and related chemicals is the way they are passed on from one organism to another through all the links of the food chains. Fields of alfalfa, say, are dusted with DDT; meal is later prepared from the alfalfa and fed to hens; the hens lay eggs that contain DDT. Or the hay, containing residues of from seven to eight parts per million, may be fed to cows. The DDT will turn up in the milk in the amount of about three parts per million, but in butter made from this milk the concentration may run to sixty-five parts per million. During the process of transfer, what started out as a very small amount of DDT may end as a heavy concentration. The poison may be passed on from mother to offspring. The presence of insecticide residues in human milk has been established by Food and Drug Administration scientists.

The book earned her a presidential commission, giving her thoughts great credibility in the scientific world. Chemical companies tried to discredit Carson as a communist or hysterical woman. Despite their efforts, around 15 million viewers tuned in to the CBS Reports TV special on April 3, 1963, entitled "The Silent Spring of Rachel Carson."

Later, Carson was asked to testify before a congressional committee about the effects of pesticides. This led to the banning of DDT. She received medals from the National Audubon Society and the American Geographical Society. Carson also was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, according to the National Women's Museum.

Impact

Carson died of breast cancer on April 14, 1964, in Silver Spring, Maryland. Sadly, she wasn't able to see the environmental revolution created by "Silent Spring," such as the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 or the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in Maine in 1966.

Carson once stated in a television interview, "man's endeavors to control nature by his powers to alter and to destroy would inevitably evolve into a war against himself, a war he would lose unless he came to terms with nature."

Additional ResourcesA piece of East Africa is expected to break off the main continent in tens of millions of years. And if you need any proof, look no further than Kenya's Rift Valley, where a giant, gaping tear opened up following heavy rains and seismic activity, according to Face2Face Africa.

The enormous crack appeared on March 19 and measures more than 50 feet (15 meters) wide and several miles along, Face2Face Africa and other news sources reported. Moreover, it's still growing longer.

The rift is likely a sign of things to come as the plate tectonics under Africa rearrange themselves. The majority of Africa sits on top of the African Plate. However, a long, vertical piece of eastern Africa lies on top of the Somali Plate. This juncture where the two plates meet is known as the East African Rift, which stretches an astonishing 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers), or about the distance from Denver to Boston. [50 Interesting Facts About Planet Earth]

To avoid confusion (given that Africa doesn't sit on only one plate), researchers call the giant African plate the Nubian Plate. In essence, the Nubian and Somali plates are being split in two, according to a piece in The Conversation by Lucia Perez Diaz, a postdoctoral researcher at the Fault Dynamics Research Group at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Here's how two plates split apart: The lithosphere, which is broken up into tectonic plates, is made of the Earth's crust and the upper part of the mantle. When the lithosphere experiences tugging forces, it becomes thinner, until it eventually ruptures, Perez Diaz wrote. This rupture has already led to the formation of the rift valley.

This cartoon illustrates why the rift is happening. (Image credit: DBoyd13 /CC by 3.0)

The rupture process is often accompanied by seismic activity and volcanism. In the East African Rift's case, a large mantle plume under the lithosphere is weakening it, allowing it to stretch, Perez Diaz said.

Rifts lead to recognizable land formations  that is, a series of depressions surrounded by higher ground. The East African Rift has a series of rift valleys that can be seen from space. However, not all of these rifts formed at the same time. Rather, they started in northern Ethiopia about 30 million years ago and spread southward toward Zimbabwe at an average rate of between 1 and 2 inches (2.5 and 5 centimeters) a year, Perez Diaz said.

As the Somali and Nubian plates move apart, the region can experience earthquakes, as it did in southwestern Kenya last week. The giant crack tore the busy Mai Mahiu-Narok road in two and split apart houses, including the home of a 72-year-old woman who was eating dinner with her family when it happened, according to Face2Face Africa.

Original article on Live Science.A jury in a Contra Costa County coroners inquest found that a man holding a machete committed suicide when he was shot as he advanced on five Vallejo police officers, authorities said Friday.

The jurys 8-4 verdict determined that 45-year-old Jeffrey Barboa of Benicia was responsible for taking his own life on Aug. 2, 2017, when he led police on a high-speed chase and then forced officers to shoot him, according to the Contra Costa County Sheriffs Office.3 1 of 3 Joe Mazza Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Courtesy Little, Brown and Company Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Luis Alberto Urrea has described his latest novel as the Mexican Finnegans Wake. Whereas James Joyces last novel has inspired generations of readers with consternation over its nonlinear, complicated, chaotic prose, its also  while not for the light-minded  really fun to read and decipher. Urreas novel is fun, too, with weighty themes of life and death. The comparisons dont necessarily end there. Urreas third-person, close limited omniscient points of view move from character to character. Code-switching figures heavily in the book to somewhat echo the created lexicon of his predecessors novel.

Urrea, who will be a featured speaker at the San Antonio Book Festival on April 7, has said that he is part Irish, offering another interesting connection to Joyce. Urrea, whose surname suggests another more involved ancestry, was born to an American mother and a father from Tijuana. But Luis was not his first son. The elder Urrea left another family behind to marry Luiss mother and start another family in another part of the country. Luiss relationship with his brother Juan was forged on what they had in common as children of a father  and respective mothers  whose stories can only be described in mythological terms.Cameras surrounded a smiling Hector Barajas-Varela as he stood outside a small building known as "The Bunker," a support house for deported U.S. military veterans in Tijuana, Mexico, not far from the California border.

Tucked in his left arm was a blue folder with a letter from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, delivering the good news he had waited more than a decade to hear. As cameras clicked, Barajas-Varela held a cellphone in his right hand, telling his mother in Southern California that he's coming home. Then, he turned to friend, gave him a high five and a hug.

"I got it," he said, laughing. "I got it, bro. Two weeks."

Barajas-Varela, an Army veteran, learned Thursday that he has been granted U.S. citizenship, 14 years after he was deported to Mexico because he committed a crime. In two weeks, on April 13, he will attend a naturalization ceremony in San Diego, the last step in the process of becoming an American.

"On paper, it's nice to be validated," he told The Washington Post on Saturday. "It's the government validating what most of us already feel."

"This is our country," he said of the United States. "Nothing is going to change about what we feel and who we are and what we're willing to risk our lives for."

Barajas-Varela was born in Mexico, but he grew up in the Los Angeles area. He became a permanent resident, or a green-card holder, in 1992. Three years later, he joined the Army and was honorably discharged in 2002. But not long after, Barajas-Varela lost his legal residency because he committed a crime. He was convicted of shooting at an occupied vehicle in the Los Angeles area. Nobody was hurt, and Barajas-Varela spent 13 months in prison and another month on parole.

He was deported to Mexico in 2004.

He has lived in Tijuana since, in a small shelter he had turned into a haven for people like himself: veterans who lost the right to live in the United States because of criminal convictions. The Deported Veterans Support House has served about 20 people since 2013. The Bunker provides services and legal resources to deportees adjusting to a life outside the United States. The support house also has identified and made contact with more than 300 deported men and women from more than three dozen countries, Barajas-Varela said.

Barajas-Varela could have applied for citizenship before he was discharged in the Army, but he had mistakenly believed that serving in the military automatically guaranteed it.

He finally applied while he was living in Mexico, and in 2016, passed the English and civics portions of the naturalization process. Applicants are required to pass oral and written English tests, and another one on U.S. government and history.

Last April, California Gov. Jerry Brown, D, pardoned Barajas-Varela for the crime that led to his deportation, removing a potential barrier from his path to citizenship.

"He has shown that since his release from custody, he has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character, and conducted himself as a law-abiding citizen," according to the pardon, which also cites medals that Barajas-Varela received while in the Army.

In December 2017, Barajas-Varela filed a federal lawsuit to compel the USCIS to make a decision on his citizenship application, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial counties. The lawsuit was dismissed after the agency agreed to make a decision by Thursday.

Despite gaining his citizenship, Barajas-Varela said he plans to stay in Mexico and live in The Bunker for another year to continue his work supporting deported veterans.

"To make sure that if I leave, it doesn't close down . . . I got a commitment to these guys," he said.

Two deported veterans are now living in The Bunker, Barajas-Varela said. The support house opened a second location last year in Juarez, Mexico, near the Texas border, and another one is in the works in the Dominican Republic.

For years, deported veterans have received little to no attention in Washington, because politicians are unlikely to support convicted criminals. The Trump administration's hard-line immigration policy has steered the debate toward cutting legal immigration, creating a border wall and imposing travel restrictions on people from predominantly Muslim countries.

Margaret Stock, a retired Army officer and an Anchorage-based immigration lawyer, said that the majority of deported veterans, like Barajas-Varela, were green-card holders who were honorably discharged from service, but were convicted of a crime after returning to civilian life.

Barajas-Varela's case is unusual, however: Only a small handful of deported veterans have managed to make it back to the United States legally, Stock said.

"It's extremely rare because it takes an enormous amount of legal resources to convince the government to approve a naturalization case for somebody who's been deported," said Stock, whom Barajas-Varela consulted about his case years earlier.

Most deported veterans are charged with an aggravated felony, a blanket term that runs the gamut, from violent crimes such as murder and rape, to nonviolent ones such as theft and tax evasion, Stock said. People with that type of conviction are ineligible for American citizenship - unless the governor of the state where they were convicted decides to grant a pardon.

Barajas-Varela is the second deported veteran to receive a pardon from Brown, the California governor, according to the ACLU. The first was Marco Chavez, a Marine Corps veteran who regained his lawful residency and was allowed to come back to California in December. He had been deported to Mexico 15 years earlier over an animal cruelty conviction.

In April 2016, Daniel Torres became a U.S. citizen after living in The Bunker in Tijuana for five years. Torres was brought to the United States illegally as a child and enlisted in the Marine Corps using a fake birth certificate. He joined the Marines in 2007 and served in Iraq.

Barajas-Varela said he plans to eventually move back to the Los Angeles area to be with his family, to have a house and to find a job there. He has an 11-year-old daughter who was born after he was deported.

"I have a responsibility to my daughter, to make sure she gets to college," he said.

---

The Washington Post's Theresa Vargas contributed to this article.GAZA CITY - Tens of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, spurred on by poverty and a growing sense of hopelessness, answered calls from their leaders Friday to march to the edges of their 140-square-mile territory and face off against the Israeli military.

The day soon turned to bloodshed as Israeli soldiers used live ammunition and tear gas to stop them breaking through the border fence, killing 15 people and injuring hundreds, the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said.

The Hamas militant group, which controls the Gaza Strip, and other Palestinian factions had called for a peaceful "March of Return" for Land Day, which marks the Israel government's expropriation of Arab-owned land in 1976.

About 30,000 Palestinian demonstrators gathered at several points along the border fence with Israel, according to Israeli army estimates.

While many Palestinians gathered peacefully, picnicking and flying Palestinian flags, some approached the fence to threw stones at the soldiers they see as their jailers. The Israeli military accused others of hurling Molotov cocktails, burning tires and trying to "infiltrate" into Israeli territory and released video of such incidents.

Israel had warned that it would use live ammunition, dropping leaflets cautioning that anyone who came within 300 meters of the fence would be in danger. But some Gazans said they did not care if they died.

"I want to be shot," said 22-year-old Yahya Abu Assar. "I don't want this life."

Palestinian factions have called for protests every day until May 15, the anniversary of Israel's independence in 1948, known to Palestinians as the "Naqba" or catastrophe, and Israeli has warned the violence Friday might only be the beginning. The U.S. administration has chosen the anniversary for the opening its new embassy in Jerusalem, and that is expected to add further fuel to demonstrations.

"Every day I'll be here," said 18-year-old Noureddine as he left the demonstration, his white shirt soaked with blood. Armed with a slingshot, he declined to give his last name. He said he had been helping to carry out the wounded, including a friend shot in the stomach and another in the leg.

When asked why he risked his life, he said protesting is simply "normal."

Palestinians in the sealed-off Gaza Strip - 99 percent of whom are denied permission to leave - say life is becoming unlivable. Unemployment among the population of 2 million is estimated to be pushing 50 percent and even higher among Gaza's youth.

The United Nations has warned Gaza is on the brink of economic collapse and a complete breakdown in services. On Friday night, the U.N. Security Council held an emergency session on Gaza developments.

Israel has imposed tight restrictions on the movement of goods and people since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007. The border with Egypt has also largely remained closed. There is only electricity for a few hours a day.

The decision by the Trump administration to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital came as another blow to Palestinians, along with the U.S. announcement that it would cut aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which provides services for Palestinian refugees.

Over the past year, attempts by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah to apply pressure on Hamas to cede control have intensified the misery as salaries to employees in Gaza have been sliced. With Hamas under pressure and reconciliation efforts with the Palestinian Authority in tatters, analysts say Hamas is trying to shift the focus away from its inability to provide services to the people.

Israel blames Hamas for the growing crisis, saying it uses resources for tunnel construction and other military purposes instead of investing to improve the lives of civilians.

The demonstrations at times had a festive atmosphere, even as Israeli drones dropped tear gas canisters in an attempt to disperse people and ambulances screamed past with the injured.

"If they don't open the crossing, we will revolt," said Abu Ahmed, a 34-year-old Palestinian, standing next to an ice cream stall before running behind an earthen barrier to take cover from flying bullets.

The first death on Friday came in the early hours of the morning when a farmer was hit by a tank shell, the health ministry said. By the end of the day, 1,416 people were injured including 758 by gunshots. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared Saturday a day of mourning to honor the victims.

Human rights groups said that Israel's actions - firing on unarmed protesters - were illegal. A spokeswoman for the Israeli military said the live fire was "not random" and was aimed at those trying to break through the fence.

Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, in charge of Israel's southern command, said there were attempts by Palestinians to carry out "terror attacks" using the demonstrations as cover. "We urge citizens to stay away," he said. A military spokeswoman said she could not elaborate further on intended terror attacks.

On Friday evening, the Israeli military said there had been a "shooting attack" in northern Gaza, during which two militants fired at Israeli troops. The military said it responded with tank fire and airstrikes. The Gaza health ministry counted two men who died from tank shelling in northern Gaza among those killed.

Citing security reasons, Israel began its blockade of Gaza after Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007 following a bloody conflict when its rival Fatah refused to give up power after it lost elections. Israel had pulled its troops out of Gaza and dismantled its settlements there in 2005. Since then Israel and Hamas have fought three wars.

"We are here to say we want to return to our land," said Suheila Abu Rish, 65, who attended the demonstration. She said her family was displaced from Ashdod, now an Israeli city 30 miles north, in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

She said her five sons and three daughters are unable to find work in Gaza and that the family relies on aid from the UNWRA to survive. Roughly two-thirds of Gazans are registered as refugees with the agency.

At a morgue at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the body of 35-year-old Jihad al-Fourina, who had been shot in the neck, was laid out for his family to collect. Relatives wept outside. Local media identified him as a member of Hamas' armed group, one of at least two people killed who the Israeli military said were affiliated with the group.

"This is the worst situation that Gaza has seen in 70 years," said Sufian Abu Zaida, a Fatah political official and former minister who was at the demonstrations. Speaking in the morning, he said, "It will be a surprise if we finish the day without tens of injured. They have nothing to lose." His prediction was far surpassed.

"They are losing hope in a peace process, and losing hope in life," Abu Zaida said.Like so much in Illinois, the origins of its newspapers were tied to politics and patronage.

This land was a wild, largely unpopulated, western territory when its first newspaper sprang up  the single-sheet Illinois Herald, published in 1814 in Kaskaskia. Its proprietor landed the job of printing territorial and national business through his friend, the territorial governor, according to the July 1918 Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society.

Some early newspapers were created to support or oppose a political candidate or issue, like the anti-slavery Edwardsville Advocate. Illinois newspapers remained political for decades in the 1800s, according to the ISHS Journal.

Publications faced many challenges: bad transportation, unreliable mail delivery and a lack of subscribers. As more settlers came to Illinois in the middle 1800s and transportation improved, newspapers fared better. The advent of railroads precipitated a newspaper boom.

Technological improvements such as the telegraph helped, too. So did wood-pulp, which made paper more economical. A lot of weeklies became dailies and foreign language newspapers arose for immigrant communities.

By the Civil War, Illinois had almost 300 newspapers, according to the Illinois Newspaper Project. While the war increased the desire for news, it brought censorship. Government restricted news sent by telegram and shut down newspapers for not supporting the war. This included the Chicago Times and the Jonesboro Gazette, according to the Abraham Lincoln Classroom online and the website of the Gazettes successor, the Gazette-Democrat.

Chicagos papers were decimated in 1871 by the citys Great Fire. Within two days, all of the major dailies were in business again, according to the Illinois Newspapers Project. Others were gone forever.

Illinois newspapers were thriving and diversifying in 1880. The state had about 1,000 newspapers, with at least one in every county. Special interest papers were increasing. In 1899, Chicago was home to a newspaper for African-Americans, the Broad-Ax. More women, such as Myra Bradwell, were in the field. She had started the successful Chicago Legal News in 1868.

In 1902, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign began offering journalism classes, partly in response to a call for more professionalism in media. Twenty-five years later, it opened a journalism school.

Radio brought a new threat, so did the stock market crash of 1929 and the Depression. As World War II raged, newspapers cashed in old machines and other scrap metal for the war effort. Editors and publishers had to comply, once again, with military censorship, and a plea from the governor. According to the Illinois Press Associations publication from February-March 1942, the governor asked Illinois newspapers to impress the public  that this is a war to finish.

After the war, the IPA fought for open government. It created a committee to investigate complaints of government inhibiting the medias access to news. Its an issue that remains today.

Newspapers have undergone drastic changes since the 1950s because of technology and competition. Insiders needlessly worried that the new invention called television would be papers death knell. But the Watergate investigation that brought down President Richard Nixon in the 1970s fueled a new generation of reporters and readers.

The end of the 1990s and the early 2000s brought the internet and cellphones, which claimed readers and advertising dollars. In response, chains bought many independent newspapers, then reduced staff and consolidated processes to decrease costs. Papers went online and charged for digital subscriptions.

Some say print newspapers are doomed; others say their readership is greater than ever because of the internet. Whats the future? No one knows, but so far the industry has survived every competitor thats come along.A 34-year-old Amarillo man was arrested Thursday for making nine threatening calls to police dispatchers and telling them he would put a bullet between anybodys eyes if they attempted to violate the law and my rights, officials say.

Earle Melverly Bishop is facing one charge of telephone harassment, a class B misdemeanor, according to court records.

According to an arrest warrant filed in Bexar County, Bishop called a non-emergency police line around 11 p.m. March 20 to complain about the arrest of a gun rights activist in February or early March.

RELATED: After arrests, gun rights activists call out Olmos Park PD

Video of the arrest has captured the attention of gun rights activists statewide, along with footage from a separate incident this week in which police forcibly arrested CJ Grisham, president of Open Carry Texas.

During the one minute and 15 second conversation, Bishop told a dispatcher that if officers continued to act outside of the law it was an act of Treason and punishable by Death, the warrant states. The dispatcher told him to contact officials at the Olmos Park City Hall during normal business hours.

During the next seven minutes, Bishop called dispatchers four other times, officials say. Several times, dispatchers told him he was tying up resources and disconnected the call.

If you hang up on me again, Im going to file charges against you under the act of Treason which is punishable by Death. Do you understand me? Bishop said during the second call, according to the warrant.

The dispatcher again told Bishop that she had to attend to other calls. I dont (expletive) care, Bishop allegedly said.

During later calls, Bishop told dispatchers that Olmos Park Police Chief Rene Valenciano should be placed under a citizens arrest for treason, the warrant states. He also said he could kill an officer acting unlawfully in cold blood and nobody could do anything about it because he violated the law first, the warrant states.

Officials say Bishop told dispatchers he could have legally executed both Olmos Park police officers who arrested the gun rights activist.

Personally myself, I own a .50 caliber Desert Eagle, Bishop said, according to the records. You come at me I blow your (expletive) brains out. I dont care.

At the end of the final conversation, which lasted 16 minutes and 11 seconds, Bishop apologized to the dispatcher and told her to have a lovely day. He then called her a derogatory epithet, the warrant states.

In total, officials say Bishop called the non-emergency line nine times  four of which were not answered because dispatchers were busy.

The following day, a sergeant with the Olmos Park Police Department began investigating the phone calls and tracked the number to Bishop.

The sergeant said he called the number and it went to voicemail, which identified Bishop. The following week, he was arrested.As the latest hope for a blue breakthrough in deep red Texas, U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke is raising a ton of cash and garnering an impressive amount of media attention.

No doubt, ORourke will make U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz work for re-election this year. All eyes will be on the Democrat from the West Texas town of El Paso. But for my money, at least, the more interesting statewide race to watch is Democrat Mike Colliers challenge to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

I know what you are probably thinking.

Mike who?

RELATED: Editorial: Final Four's $135M impact on S.A. might not have happened if Texas politician had his way

Mike Collier. The certified public accountant who ran for comptroller in 2014. Remember him? Probably not. This being Texas, and Wendy Davis being at the top of the ticket for Democrats that year, Collier garnered 38 percent of the vote.

But that was BTBB. Before the Bathroom Bill, a Patrick priority that roiled the business community, maligned transgender people and led to an open feud with House Speaker Joe Straus, a Republican. Even contemplating the bathroom bill likely cost the state millions in tourism, officials have said.

It was also before the election of President Donald Trump, which just might have been the best thing to happen to Democrats in 2016.

Its that combination of Patricks legislative priorities  his attacks on public schools also stand out with the unique political environment of energized Democrats that makes the Collier-Patrick race so interesting.

Patrick has alienated some Republicans at the exact time Democrats are, as Cruz has said, willing to crawl over broken glass to vote. Collier needs both to pull off such a huge upset, which is reflected in this years primary numbers.

It starts with enthusiasm. Democratic primary voting doubled from 510,009 votes cast in 2014 to just over 1 million votes cast in 2018. Even so, Republicans cast about 1.5 million votes in the primary, easily outperforming Democrats.

RELATED: House chairman says Gov. Abbott's staff discouraged bathroom bill behind the scenes

If anything, this suggests enthusiasm alone cant carry Democrats statewide, although it could lead to some breakthroughs in a handful of congressional or statehouse seats.

The story would normally end there  except compared with other Republican statewide candidates, Patrick underperformed in the primary.

Gov. Greg Abbott, for example, set the standard, garnering more than 90 percent of the Republican primary vote. Cruz registered 85 percent of the primary vote. But Patrick won with 76 percent of the vote against businessman and former Rockwall City Councilman Scott Milder.

Milder then said he will vote for every Republican on the ballot in November  except Patrick. Instead, he endorsed Collier, who had eked out his own primary win over Michael Cooper.

Thats where the numbers get interesting. Patrick received 1,168,331 votes this primary. Collier and Cooper combined for 958,108 votes. Milder, a strong proponent of public education, pulled 367,595 votes. All told, 1,325,703 Texans voted either for a Democrat or Milder, who then endorsed a Democrat.

In other words, more Texans voted for someone other than Patrick during the primary.

In some ways, Collier is an unlikely, but fitting figure for this political moment. Hes not a traditional politician. Hes a former auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He even once was a Republican.

He ran for comptroller in 2014 only after reading Democrats might not field a candidate. He had the finance background and the time.

I cold-called the party, he said. I literally was reading the newspaper.

After he lost, Collier took a listening tour across the state. He said he heard the same feedback from voter after voter. Stay out of social issues. Focus on education and property taxes.

So, thats what he is doing. He calls himself the pro-public education candidate. He talks a lot about school finance as the root cause for rising property taxes. The gist being Texas has failed to adequately fund public schools, which has forced local districts to pick up the slack by raising taxes. He shows little patience for bathroom bills and other policies devoid of substance.

Unlike ORourke, Collier doesnt stir the kind of enthusiasm that creates a Democratic wave. But he is more than capable of riding one. With a little Republican assistance, and a polarizing opponent, that just might be enough in 2018.Early on Sunday, March 31, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, welcomed their tired and pregnant daughter, Lynda. She had taken a late red-eye flight from Camp Pendleton, California, leaving behind her husband, Marine Lt. Chuck Robb, as he prepared to depart for Vietnam.

Obviously distraught, she immediately asked her father: Why  was her husband going away to fight, and maybe die, for people who did not even want to be protected?

Speechless, LBJ remarked that he wanted to comfort her  (but) I could not.

The start of the day mirrored many days in the preceding three years. That bitch of a war on the other side of the world had consumed him.

But this particular day, one of the most momentous in American history, culminated with him answering his daughters question and subsequently changing the nations direction for decades.

Soon after leaving his daughter, Johnson met with his former speechwriter, Horace Busby. He asked him to rewrite the last portion of his impending speech about not seeking re-election, building off some earlier work done in January before the State of the Union.

Busby encouraged LBJ, stressing, Everyone in the world thinks you would do anything to hang on to power. Hesitating for a moment, he continued, I personally feel that if you take this step it will help in the long term for people to see better all that you have accomplished in your administration.

Yes, I think thats right, I think it is very compelling, Johnson responded.

But there were other issues at play. As they talked, Johnson said, I dont know whether I would live out another four-year term here. I want out of this cage.

The response was driven partly by health concerns. I did not fear death so much as I feared disability, he recalled.

Whenever I walked through the Red Room and saw the portrait of Woodrow Wilson hanging there, he added, I thought of him stretched out upstairs in the White House, powerless to move, with the machinery of the American government in disarray around him.

But the major issue remained Vietnam. By March 1968, it consumed the president. Thus, he pondered wanting to heal some of the wounds and restore unity to the nation. This speech might help to do that. I deeply hoped so.

He thought in particular a commitment to not seek re-election and focus on ending the U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia might accomplish that goal. It was a monumental decision, and no one, not even the president, knew if it might work.

Few thought he would leave the presidency. In late 1967, Tom Wicker of the New York Times wrote: It is as likely that Lyndon Johnson will get out of the White House and go back to Texas as it is that Dean Rusk will turn dove, Dick Nixon will stop running, or J. Edgar Hoover will retire.

But some supported his decision. Texas Gov. John Connally bluntly told the president on March 31: Tonight is better than tomorrow night and last night would have been better than tonight, because time is running out.

By late afternoon, information leaked out on the announcement, and a fog enveloped the West Wing. Lady Bird characterized it as a strange afternoon and evening where people met in the hallways and looked at each other, helplessly, silent, or exploding with talk.

While Busby and Lady Bird worried LBJ might change his mind, he moved forward but admitted: When did I make the decisions that I announced the evening of March 31, 1968? The answer is: 9:01 p.m. on March 31, 1968.

Finally, at a quarter to nine, LBJ entered the Oval Office. He passed through the door, just missing a small group of reporters stationed near and thought: Theyre in for a surprise.

At 9 p.m EST, with tens of millions watching, the president opened: Tonight I want to speak to you of peace in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. No other question so preoccupies our people.

His speech primarily focused on jump-starting the peace process and halting the bombing of North Vietnam. However, near the end, he hesitated and then said: With Americas sons in the fields far away  I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office.

Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.

A collective gasp enveloped the country as people looked around for confirmation that they had heard correctly.

Soon he concluded, quickly left the Oval Office and moved to the second floor where friends waited. Lady Bird observed, Nearly everybody looked stunned and struck silent.

But the night was not over. At 11 p.m., Johnson met a group of reporters in the Yellow Room. He enjoyed the sight of the shocked reporters, each clamoring to know more.

One reporter forcefully asked: How irrevocable is your decision?

It is just as irrevocable as the statement says, LBJ snapped.

Later, another queried if he had sacrificed himself. LBJ responded: No, no, I am not sacrificing anything. I am just doing what I think is right, what I think is best calculated to permit me to render the maximum service possible.

As Johnson retired to his living quarters near midnight, he sat down with his old friend Arthur Krim and said, I never was any surer of any decision I ever made in my life, and I never made any more unselfish one.

He zeroed in on the 525,000 men whose very lives depend on what I do, and I cant worry about the primaries. Now I will be working full time for those men out there.

This was at the heart of his decision. With Vietnam continuing to haunt him, he wanted to end the war that he largely started and hopefully salvage his reputation in the process.

The next day, accolades flowed in. The Washington Post emphasized that LBJ made a personal sacrifice in the name of national unity that entitles him to a very special place in the annals of American history.  The President last night put unity ahead of his own advancement and pride.

His popularity soared as a Harris poll for April 1 found that LBJs ratings shifted from 57 percent disapproval to 57 percent approval almost overnight.

For the short and long term, LBJs decision certainly changed the discussion on Vietnam to withdrawal and negotiation. It ensured some gains, but ultimately they were hurt by his lame duck status, as well as the Nixon campaign undermining a last-minute breakthrough.

But the March 31 speech shook the foundations of the republic. It reflected LBJs honest commitment to break the deadlock in Vietnam and his genuine sacrifice of his political career for his country.

Unfortunately, any optimism came crashing to the ground only a few days later when an assassin gunned down Martin Luther King Jr, contributing to what LBJ described as a year of a continuous nightmare.

But for a fleeting moment, Americans saw a president move forward and lead.by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, March 30, 2018

On a New Jersey Transit train from Morristown to New York City late on a Sunday evening recently, a couple seated across the aisle from us were evidently excited.

They were baby boomers around our age and they were eager to engage in a conversation with two strangers because they had just come from a concert they had enjoyed very much: Alice Cooper at Morristowns Mayo Performing Arts Center.

They were thrilled to have seen Cooper, who is 70 and still performing hits such as 1970s Im Eighteen and 1972s Schools Out.

I thought of this encounter when contemplating this TV Blog about this coming Sundays three-hour live production of Jesus Christ Superstar on NBC, in which Cooper is in the cast playing the role of King Herod.

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It had me thinking: What an incredible medium TV can be sometimes. Imagine that -- Alice Cooper in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar on network television. Whoever engineered this casting coup deserves a laurel and hearty handshake.

For that matter, network television's commitment to these occasional live musicals is to be commended also. They are challenging productions, presumably requiring substantial investments in time and money. And they do not necessarily score blockbuster ratings either.

The ball got rolling with The Sound of Music on NBC in December 2013, which scored high ratings and raised expectations for similar results with subsequent productions. These have included 2014's Peter Pan, 2015's The Wiz and 2016s Hairspray on NBC. Fox produced a live version of Grease in January 2016 and A Christmas Story last December.

None of these subsequent extravaganzas scored ratings anywhere close to The Sound of Music. And yet, here comes Jesus Christ Superstar, formally titled Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert for three hours in prime time on Easter Sunday.

With its In Concert title, this production of Jesus Christ Superstar is being staged as a concert, not a full-fledged musical, according to NBC. It will be performed live before an audience at an armory in Brooklyn.

Cooper plays a supporting role, while the lead roles of Jesus and Mary Magdalene are to be played by John Legend and Sara Bareilles. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, creators of the original show that debuted on Broadway in 1971, are listed as executive producers.

Airing for three hours on a holiday evening, this live musical is in no way assured of high ratings, or even decent ratings, truth be told.

That's why all congratulations and thanks are due to NBC for mounting this production anyway. It is an increasingly rare thing in television to put on a show at great cost when a return on that investment figures to be modest at best.

This production seems as if it is going ahead for the simple reason that NBC has the ability to do it. Or to put it another way, if our biggest TV networks don't do this every once in a while, who will?

The answer is: Nobody.

Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert airs Sunday night (April 1) from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern on NBC.by Sara Guaglione , March 30, 2018

Political news publisher The Hillhas tapped Chris Guarino to become executive producer of its recently created digital video division.

Guarino will work with Krystal Ball and Jamal Simmons on the launch of a slate of new streaming programming, including an upcoming morning show and opinion show.

Guarino has served as executive producer for CNN shows, including Inside Politics and Crossfire, as well as a decade-long run as Gwen Ifill's senior producer on the PBS program Washington Week.

Ball, previously of MSNBCs The Cycle, and Simmons, a former adviser to two Democratic White Houses and a political analyst on a number of network channels, were hired by The Hill in January to host streaming shows on The Hills site.

Ball will serve as the progressive cohost on a morning show, which will launch later this spring. Simmons will initially appear as a regular analyst on the morning show before launching his own progressive opinion show later this year.

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A conservative opinion show is also in the works at The Hill.

The new digital shows are under the direction of John Solomon, who joined the publication in July 2017 as executive vice president of digital video to oversee the brand's push into video content.

This is a new era for The Hill.After another year of record growth, including a massive audience uptick, daily streaming was the next logical step, stated James Finkelstein, chairman of Capitol Hill Publishing Corp, which publishes The Hill. We were focused on a plan for video for some time and are proud to offer an impressive lineup of balanced news and information for our audiences, led by some of the biggest names in journalism.

Last December, The Hill hired four marketing executives to build the political news publisher's branded content business and market its upcoming video slate.Those of us in the brand marketing news business brace ourselves every year for the inevitable deluge of April Fools Day-inspired news.

This year, marketers seem to be grasping that tricking the media is not in their best interest and are being up front that their efforts are spoofs. There seem to be more offerings than ever before.

T-Mobile might have gone the furthest in creating not just a marketing effort, but the appearance of an actual product. The company announced Friday that it is releasing the worlds first Smartshoephone: T-Mobile Sidekicks. The high-top sneaker includes a built-in phone with features including a slide-out screen built into the sole and retractable smart laces which include hi-fi buds and double as charging cords that plug into any standard outlet.

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A 1:45-minute video on YouTube and social media shows off the features of the shoes, including toe tap contact share which is just like it sounds  users tap toes to sync their contact data into each others phones. A 4:23-minute video features T-Mobile Chief Executive Officer John Legere in what appears to be a TSN infomercial for the product. Legere, who clearly is embracing the spoof completely, is also featured as the phones no-BS personal voice assistant. Simply say 'Hey Sidekicks' and ask about anything from traffic to the best slow cooker recipes. The videos were created by Vossler.

Because everyone loves good obstacle course race, Tough Mudder is launching its most adorable event series. Baby Puppy Mudder is a mini-obstacle challenge designed to entertain adventure-seeking babies and their four-legged furry companions who pawsitively enjoy getting a little dirty. The event is being launched in support of the North Shore Animal League America, the world's largest no-kill animal rescue and adoption organization.

Free registration to Baby Puppy Mudder on toughmudder.com/babypuppy opens for a limited time on April Fools Day. Consumers will see a 55-second video on various platforms  social (YouTube, Instagram and Twitter) as well as the Tough Mudder homepage and Baby Puppy Mudder landing page.

On April 1, messaging will be posted on social and online, telling consumers that Baby Puppy Mudder is not real, but what is fur-real is the fact that all the puppies in the video do need a home and are available for adoption. Were totally having fun with it and hoping consumers will get a good laugh and realize its all for a great cause in the end. That messaging will include links to the North Shore Animal League America with information on how to adopt one of the pups.

Lexus and 23andMe are partnering for a prank that might be welcomed by weary car buyers. The two companies are announcing the long-awaited answer to perfect vehicle customization  Genetic Select. With a quick saliva sample analyzed by 23andMe, Genetic Select tailors the Lexus vehicle to exact specifications based on the customers DNA. This revolutionary new car-buying experience is being promoted via 1:41-minute video from Team One and on a microsite. A 30-second cutdown will air during Saturday Night Live and Sunday on Comedy Central.

The Genetic Select appointment takes about 10 minutes and doesnt involve a single signature or question. Lexus service staff will collect a saliva sample and send it off to 23andMe for sequence testing. Within 48 hours, the perfect vehicle will arrive at the customers doorstep. The driver wont even need a key to operate itthe revolutionary new saliva-powered start-system operates via a DNA ignition sensor on the steering wheel. Just lick and drive. Customers can make their appointments at their local Lexus dealerships starting April 1.

CarMax pranked its customers on its website and Twitter feed. The used car retailer claimed to have surveyed 500 cats and kittens to find out which features they most wanted in a vehicle. Fish-scented air freshener, a cardboard box and "more things on a string," were among the findings.

Food, Beverage And Restaurants Get In On The Fun

Chuck E. Cheeses is celebrating its brand with a playful prank that dispels popular belief and recent media reports that it is getting rid of its famed animatronics. After an announcement that the brand was removing animatronics in a few of its stores spread like wildfire, there was a public outcry to keep Chuck E. Cheese, Mr. Munch, Helen Henny, Jasper T. Jowls and Pasqually around. The truth is they arent going anywhere anytime soon (except for in a few remodeled locations where it was necessary). So, to poke fun at the fake news the brand is announcing Munchs Make Believe Bands Farewell Tour by distributing concert posters nationwide as well as seeding it to media and influencers. The theme restaurant also shared Farewell Tour content on social teasing the opportunity to see the cherished, childhood-favorite band for one last time.

On April Fools Day the company will let everyone in on the joke by sharing that although the farewell tour may not actually be visiting a city near you this year, you can rest easy knowing Mr. Munch and his band and Chuck E. himself will be making music in your local Chuck E. Cheeses for years to come. And as a thank you for rocking out with them for all these years, the brand will offer a free download of their latest album.

Other efforts are a little more obvious. Hpnotiq, the liqueur brand known for its signature electric blue hue and original flavor, is releasing a timely April Fools prank in response to Twitters recent ban of cryptocurrency-related ads. Capitalizing on the digital gold rush, Hpnotiq is set to launch Hpno-Currency in a bid to dominate the cluttered crypto market.

On April Fools Day, the Hpnotiq Financial Institution will announce its entry into crypto currency with an exclusive headline on the leading business publication, Business.Biz. Following the headline announcement, Hpnotiq will release the currency on the @Hpnotiq social handles.

The brand has created a commercial that will be shared on all of Hpnotiqs social channels (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc.). The later posts will simply have the hashtag #AprilFools to let consumers know its a joke.

Bulletproof  the food, beverage, and content company best known for Bulletproof Coffee and starting the smart fat for fuel movement  is introducing Bulletproof Grass-Fed Butter Balm.

It was supposedly inspired by an Instagram comment about CEO and founder Dave Aspreys chapped lips, the lip treatment is designed to deliver unparalleled moisture, a long-lasting boost of energy, and increased mitochondrial function with just one application. The balm will be available for purchase beginning April 1 at 12:01 a.m. online and in the beauty aisle of specialty grocers nationwide, retailing for $2.88 per tube.

For those interested in a DIY version, Dave Asprey has created a 1:25-minute video that breaks it down the step-by-step. Bulletproof is currently promoting on social and on Sunday, Dave Asprey will share on his social channels that its an April Fools joke.

Sodastream sparking water has released a 95-second video featuring Shahs of Sunset reality star, Reza Farahan, and a cameo appearance by Thor Bjornsson, aka The Mountain. SodaStreams parody presents its innovation, SodaSoak, in an infomercial style video. The presumed add-on installation enables consumers to carbonate their bath and can be purchased at BedBathandBeyond.com or GetSodaSoak.com, at an exceptional 98% discount rate.

Its not just the U.S. that has fun with April Fools Day. Burger King also got in the fun. hiring Buzzman to create a 1:11-minute video promoting its new Whopper Easy Order that can be installed in consumers homes in Belgium and is more fun than simply ordering via an app. A consumer is shown using his feet to order on the touchscreen.

Even Service Companies Have A Funny Bone

CoolSculpting, the non-invasive fat-reduction procedure, is getting in on the fun with a spot Moose Spa that shows a funny (and fictitious!) method to lose stubborn fat  a moose tapping away at a persons belly fat in the middle of a tranquil forest. The Moose Spa ad will appear on CBS, Discovery ID, Hallmark, HGTV, TLC, Fox News, TV Land and will include a microsite for consumers to learn more On April 2, CoolSculpting will launch the real ad which shows Moose Spa as the not cool fictitious method and shows CoolSculpting as the cool method to freeze away stubborn fat.

The L.A. Wine Project is getting in on the action with the launch of Blase  the worlds first rose of Indifference which the company describes as a stultifying blend of rose and activated charcoal to soothe your troubled soul. Blase is a totally new kind of wine because its made in a totally new way. We start with grapes that have seen it all: drought, industrial pesticides, mechanical harvesting. Grapes that truly dont have AF left to give, then we blend them with our tranquil-farmed, silent-harvested, scorched-black activated charcoal.. Once the infusion is complete, we just let them chill together until they develop a sort of immutable amenability.

But how does it taste, you ask? Blase tastes like all the roses that have ever existed  experienced at once. FOMO-killing aromas of everything-beautiful-in-the- world enfold an unflappable serenity thats not trying to be anything it isn't. A truly powerful elixir, Blase leaves you feeling like theres nothing left to do but enjoy the spoils of your hard-won existence.

Finally, even PR companies are getting in on the fun. According to the fifth Allison+ Partners Influence Impact Report, the main purchase drivers of our societys next group of influential verticals include reading just one more book before bedtime, immediate air tight swaddles and, in the case of our canine respondents, avoidance of neuter surgery.

These results come as the results of a first-of-its-kind survey of 20,000 U.S. babies and toddlers, 10,000 dogs and 5,000 yet-to-be-born consumers, leveraging advanced proprietary technology to translate their barks and goo-goo-ga-gas into quantifiable data. Results of the study include identification of key purchase decision drivers, core product / brand categories that they are likely to purchase and spirit animals for each of the three influencer personas.The process of determining the atomic structure of biologically active substances in medicines - a key step in developing new drugs, has been made easier with a new technique developed at the University of Zurich. Determining crystal structures more quickly and efficiently A research group headed up by Bernhard Spingler, professor at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Zurich, has now modified a method that had previously been used exclusively for the crystallization of proteins, and successfully applied it to organic salts. The team was able to determine the crystal structures of several organic salts with significantly less time and effort. "As organic salts make up about 40 percent of all active pharmaceutical ingredients, this new method can greatly speed up the development of drugs," says Spingler.

A new semi-automatic technique that combines ion exchange screening and vapor diffusion for crystallization enables faster generation of solid salts of organic molecules - a key step in developing certain pharmaceutical ingredients.

Trainee achieves breakthrough

The breakthrough in developing the novel method was achieved by Philipp Nievergelt, a trainee who had spent 10 months in Bernhard Spingler's lab after graduating from Gymnasium. The successful junior researcher is listed as first author of the study and is now four semesters into his business chemistry studies at UZH. "The traineeship got me excited about lab work and encouraged me to continue doing research," explains Nievergelt.



Source: Eurekalert

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The generation of solid salts of organic molecules is a key step in developing certain pharmaceutical ingredients. The positively and negatively charged particles that make up organic salts determine their properties, such as their solubility, crystal shape, ability to absorb water, melting point, and stability. The search for the ideal negatively charged anion to match the salt's positively charged cation has until now been a very resource-intensive process. Thanks to the semi-automatic combination of ion exchange screening and vapor diffusion for crystallization, this is not only done quicker and at lower costs. "We can now also determine the structures of the salt combinations directly after screening, since doing so only requires only very small amounts," adds crystallography expert Spingler.Advertisement

Christopher R. West, Aaron A. Phillips, Jordan W. Squair, Alexandra M. Williams, Matthias Walter, Tania Lam, PT. Andrei V. Krassioukov. 'Association of Epidural Stimulation With Cardiovascular Function in an Individual With Spinal Cord Injury.' JAMA Neurology (2018). doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2017.5055.

A case study was done to examine the effects of epidural stimulation. Isaac Darrel met with an accident six years ago and injured his spine.Side effects of the injury include dizziness, fluctuations in blood pressure and changes in bladder and bowel function. Darrel made the decision to have electrodes surgically implanted over his spinal cord in 2016 to test out a treatment known as epidural stimulation in the hopes of improving some of the side effects.With a remote control, Darrel uses the stimulator for up to 45 minutes each day, applying different programs to transmit electrical impulses into his spinal cord that mimic the same signals that would come from the brain. The programs are designed to stimulate specific nerves that help with various motor functions, but Darrel and Krassioukov have observed other positive changes."Mobility issues or paralysis are the most visible consequences of a spinal cord injury but as a clinician, I know that many of my patients suffer from other 'invisible' consequences," said Dr. Andrei Krassioukov, principal investigator of the study."Many of my patients have abnormal blood pressure and bladder, bowel and sexual dysfunctions that can be quite devastating."Before the treatment, Darrel said he often felt light-headed, especially when he moved from his bed to his wheelchair or during exercise, and his blood pressure would drop."My blood pressure would tank right down into the 60s," said Darrel, who describes feeling nauseous and like the world was spinning. "I would pass out or black out sitting in my chair sometimes. Now, since I have the implant, I'm able to turn up the stimulation enough that it makes it impossible for me to black out."The symptoms Darrel experienced are part of a disorder known asSince the surgery, a team of researchers at ICORD have been following Darrel's case and running tests to determine how his cardiovascular function has changed. Using a tilt table, they put patients into an upright position to see if they are able to maintain their blood pressure."If there is no drop in arterial blood pressure, it is considered normal," said Dr. Krassioukov. "It means the person has good control of blood vessels in their lower extremities and the abdomen."The stimulator has improved Darrel's ability to control his blood pressure as well as other benefits. "I've had better blood pressure, better core muscle, much improved bowel function, and basically I have more energy," said Darrel, who noted that this means he can now sit in his wheelchair for up to eight hours, a big improvement from the two hours he could endure prior to the surgery.The results point to the need to fully understand how this treatment could be used in clinical settings. Krassioukov and his colleagues are currently collaborating with colleagues in the U.S. on a larger trial, examining the benefits of epidural stimulation on a bigger group. They are also involved in research on a similar but non-invasive version of the treatment that involves stimulating the spinal cord with a device positioned on top of the skin at the University of California, Los Angeles."We see very interesting and exciting results but as a clinician-scientist, I need more robust data before I would recommend this procedure," he said.Source: MedindiaAdvertisement

Lead author of the study, Professor Annalena Venneri, from the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN) at the University of Sheffield, said: "Our findings suggest that if a small area of brain cells, called the ventral tegmental area, does not produce the right amount of dopamine for the hippocampus, a small organ located within the brain's temporal lobe, it will not work efficiently."The hippocampus is associated with forming new memories, therefore these findings are crucial to the early detection of Alzheimer's disease. The results point at a change which happens very early on, which might trigger Alzheimer's disease."This is the first study to demonstrate such a link in humans," said Prof. Venneri.Professor Venneri and fellow lead author Dr Matteo De Marco acquired 3Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans on 51 healthy adults, 30 patients with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, and 29 patients with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.3Tesla MRIs are twice the normal strength of normal MRI scans generating the highest quality images.The results showed a key link between the size and function of the ventral tegmental area, the size of the hippocampus and the ability to learn new material."More studies are necessary, but these findings could potentially lead to a new way of screening the elderly population for early signs of Alzheimer's disease, changing the way brain scans are acquired and interpreted and using different memory tests," said Professor Venneri, who is also an Honorary Consultant at Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust."Another possible benefit is that it might lead to a different treatment option with the potential to change or halt the course of the disease very early, before major symptoms manifest."We now want to establish how early alterations in the ventral tegmental area can be seen and also test whether these alterations can be counteracted with treatments already available."Source: EurekalertAdvertisement

"This study really advances what we know about the genetics of stroke," said Steven Kittner, MD, professor of neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) and the Baltimore VA Medical Center and a co-author of the study. "With this new information we can help researchers work to develop new treatments and new therapies."The scientists analyzed millions of genetic variants, and found 22 never before discovered genomic regions that were associated with stroke. By mining this enormous trove of data, the researchers obtained important new insights into the specific genes, molecular pathways, and cell and tissue types through which the new genetic risk factors cause stroke.The study was conducted by members of MEGASTROKE, a large international collaboration launched by the International Stroke Genetics Consortium, an international multi-disciplinary collaborative of experts in stroke genetics from around the world who have been working together for the past 10 years. MEGASTROKE members include research groups from the US, Germany, France, the UK, Japan, Iceland, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Singapore, Australia, and Canada. Fifteen sites from the United States and 11 sites from Europe received funding from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) of the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) as part of the NINDS Stroke Genetic Network Study.Stroke is the second most common cause of both death and disability-adjusted life-years worldwide, but its molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood, which makes developing new treatments challenging. This study provides extensive new insight on the biology and pathways leading to the disease.The study is especially important because it includes people of many different ethnic and genetic backgrounds. As a result, researchers can be more confident that the results apply widely.Stroke is an extremely complex disease, which can originate from alterations in various parts of the vasculature, including large arteries, small arteries, the heart, and the venous system. The researchers found genetic risk factors implicated in each of these mechanisms. They showed that some genetic risk factors contribute to specific mechanisms, while others contributed to stroke susceptibility at large. They further found shared genetic influences between stroke caused by blood vessel blockage, the most common cause of stroke, and stroke caused by blood vessel rupture , a less common cause, but more catastrophic.When the researchers took a closer look on the genomic areas uncovered by the study, they noticed that several of them overlap with genomic areas that have been implicated in related vascular conditions such as atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease, venous thrombosis, or vascular risk factors, especially elevated blood pressure, and, to a lesser extent, high cholesterol.The researchers also found that several of the implicated genes have potential as new drug targets for stroke treatment and prevention.The findings raise the possibility of developing personalized, evidence-based treatments for this complex disease. "This work provides evidence for several novel biological pathways involved in stroke that may lead to the discovery of novel drug targets," said another co-author of the study, John Cole, MD, an associate professor of neurology at UMSOM and the Baltimore VA Medical Center."These findings, which link stroke with multiple other diseases, and with dysregulation of genes, proteins, and molecular pathways in specific cell types and organs, were generated using novel bioinformatics approaches that use information from many international biological databases. This work underscores the vital importance of data sharing," said Braxton Mitchell, PhD, MPH, a professor of medicine at UMSOM and a co-author of the study.Source: EurekalertTrickery is a frequent theme in shows, no matter what the genre is. So streaming these shows on April Fools' Day is the perfect time to bring your funny side out. Whether you're looking to copy a character or just enjoy their performance, we have 14 shows that will put you in the mood for pranks, tomfoolery, and practical jokes.

1. F.R.I.E.N.D.S

One of the most watched sitcoms of all time, 'FRIENDS' literally needs no introduction. People all over the world keep comparing their friends to Joey, Rachel, Ross, Phoebe, Monica, and Chandler  the ideal group of friends. This show is a goldmine of hilarious moments that are unforgettable. Also full of ridiculous pranks.

2. Deception

The Jack Cutmore-Scott starrer, 'Deception' is a story about Cameron Black who is the world's greatest illusionist and prankster. The superstar magician Cameron joins the FBI as their consulting illusionist in order to help them solve crimes. However, after a point, his greatest secret was exposed leaving his career destroyed. Even worse, Cameron has good reason to believe this was no accident.

3. The Office

This U.S. adaptation of 'The Office' can literally crack you up in laughter instantly. Set at a paper company based in Scranton, the series is quite similar to that of Ricky Gervais's British original. Steve Carell as Micheal Scott is the star of the show. The characters are based on the British show and one can easily connect with it, as we bet you too have people like this in your office as well. There's Jim, the likable employee who's a bit of an everyman. You also have Dwight, the co-worker who is successful but lacks common sense and social skill. Every character in the show is weird and good enough to entertain you.

4. Impractical Jokers

Q, Sal, Joe, and Murr are real-life buddies who often challenge each other to the most outrageous stunts and dare ever. Basically, you can't afford to not complete the task and gets a thumbs down. The one with the most thumbs down gets punished. This is Comedy Central's best-quirky show!

5. First Day of Camp

This Netflix original delivers a pitch-perfect satire of not only camp films, but also the '80s. The jokes come at a relentless pace and even though the series is heavily playing into fun tropes, you'll really have no idea where some of these ridiculous gags are heading.

6. New Girl

You can love and hate Jess for her idealism as you follow her journey with three male roommates! Nick is a law-school dropout, Schmidt thinks he is God's gift to women and Winston is a former athlete whose career is about over. Hilarity ensues when such a diverse group of people live together. Coupled with awkward humor and light-hearted drama, this show is perfect for those want to unwind with a show that doesn't require too much mental investment.

7. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

This Amazon Original show is everything one would love to watch in a show. Miriam Midge Maisel, 1958 New York City woman has everything that one can desire of. But things take a new turn and Midge discovers a previously unknown talent--one that changes her life forever. Donning new role, she storms the world of stand-up comedy. This is one of the most critically acclaimed shows and you just can't miss it!

8. The Tick

Welcome to the world where superheroes are a real thing for decades now. An accountant with no superpowers somehow discovers that his city is owned by a supervillain. As he struggles to uncover this conspiracy, he comes in contact with a strange blue superhero. A hilarious watch indeed.

9. How I Met Your Mother

12 years on television at the McLaren's bar with Ted, Robin, Barney, Lily, and Marshall was indeed a legen-wait for it- dary affair! The versatility of its characters and the dynamism of the show was a stroke of genius for this cult show. Audiences were constantly piecing together the trail of clues to figure out who the 'mother' was. Coupled with flashbacks and forwards that tie together perfectly, Lily and Marshall's couple goals, Robin's badassery, Ted's naivety and Barney's awesomeness all come together to make this sitcom a classic.

10. 2 Broke Girls

Well, not everyone's cup of tea but '2 Broke Girls' is all about two waitresses at a greasy diner who develop a different friendship in the hopes of launching a successful business....but if only they can raise the money required for it.Eugene Taylor remembers how eager enlisted airmen like him were to fly.

Taylor, who enlisted in 1968 and deployed to Vietnam, first worked as an avionics technician. Nearly a decade later, Taylor, a tech sergeant, became a T-37 and T-38 flight simulator instructor with the 71st Flying Training Wing at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma. He became so adept that he was occasionally given the chance to fly the T-38, with permission from the pilot, during stateside flights.

It has been decades since enlisted airmen had the chance to sit in the cockpit. But as the Air Force faces the greatest pilot shortages since its inception, service leaders are contemplating a return to a model that includes enlisted pilots. A Rand Corp. study, set to be completed this month, is exploring the feasibility of bringing back a warrant officer corps for that purpose. And another, separate Air Force study is examining, in part, whether enlisted pilots could benefit from new high-tech training that leverages artificial intelligence and simulation.

With these moves, the Air Force is inching just a few steps closer to someday getting enlisted airmen back in the cockpit, on a formal basis, for the first time since World War II.

We have enlisted airmen in our Guard and reserve component who have private pilots licenses and fly for the airlines. So its not a matter of can they do it, or hav[ing] the smarts or the capability, its just a matter of us, as an Air Force, deciding that thats a route that we want to take, said Chief Master Sgt. Kaleth O. Wright, the 18th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force.

Military.com sat down with the services top enlisted leader last month to talk about enlisted aviators and reinstituting the warrant officer program.

Its something we walked away from years ago, and I wont say that we havent been willing to relook at [it], Wright said, of having enlisted pilots. Its nothing that we cant overcome.

Creating a Cadre

Wright noted there may be a few bumps in the road before an enlisted cadre could be instituted.

The main challenge would be to structure an appropriate career development path for the airmen, answering questions regarding when and how they would promote and when they would rotate to a new squadron. Wright said thus far officers naturally float to a flight commander or squadron commander from base to base, according to a system that has been in place for decades, but questioned whether the same system would work for enlisted pilots.

Additionally, the service would have to study whether enlisted airmen should be granted the right to employ weapons from an aircraft.

Whether its manned or unmanned, if theres an enlisted airman thats going to be flying and employing weapons, it requires certain authorities we would have to get by, Wright said.

For example, enlisted airmen are currently only authorized to be remotely piloted aircraft pilots on the RQ-4 Global Hawk drone, a surveillance-only platform.

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Thats just part of our age-old doctrine, that the employment of weapons, that the authority and responsibility lies with officers, he said.

Reinstituting the warrant officer program could also help leaders decide on acceptable policies that would determine if it makes us a more lethal and ready fighting force, Wright said.

What this is about is not just aviation or flying -- its about maintaining the technical expertise, Wright said. In some cases, having warrant officers will allow us retain that talent and keep those folks doing what they love.

The Air Force in the past has commissioned studies to look into bringing back warrant officers, with another study from RAND, a nonprofit institution that provides research and analysis studies on public policy, on the way.

The Air Force is partnering with RAND for a study on the feasibility of warrant officers and we are projecting a completion by the end of March, Air Force spokeswoman Capt. Kathleen Atanasoff told Military.com last month.

Last month, the Air Force began a separate study on whether it could benefit from someday allowing enlisted pilots.

Air Education and Training Command said the study, called the pilot training next initiative, explores how pilots can learn and train faster "by using existing and emerging technologies that can decrease the time and cost of training," but with the same depth of understanding to produce quality pilots.

That includes using virtual reality simulation and A.I. to get airmen in an aircraft faster, with the potential of expanding the streamlined training.

The study is expected to conclude in August, in hopes of advancing all 20 students in the program: 15 officers and five enlisted airmen.

Foundation of Skills

Taylor, the Vietnam-era airman, served in the 341X1 career field for T-37 and T-38 trainers, which would quickly disappear once the Air Force reasoned enlisted personnel were needed elsewhere.

Once airmen were taught scenarios in a classroom, they would go to him to practice the maneuvers in the simulator.

I was one of those people as an enlisted instructor, and it was the best job I ever had, Taylor said in a recent interview with Military.com.

Through months of simulation tech school paired with his past experience working on planes, Taylor had gained the skills he needed to know the aircraft. Taylors instructor career field, however, dissolved only a year later, and he moved back into avionics at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi. But he remembers his flight time and experience with the T-37 and T-38 fondly.

As a master avionics superintendent, I did get to fly in the back seat of the [T-38] aircraft six times to perform aircraft maintenance at off-station sites, he said. I told the pilot that I was a flight simulator instructor pilot at Vance. And when I flew, the pilot would say, You know how to fly this, you do it. So, I would, Taylor said.

Taylor recalled flying the aircraft from Columbus to MacDill Air Force Base,Florida.

I [then] repaired another T-38 from our base and flew the aircraft back to Columbus. The pilot made the takeoff and landing on both legs of the flight, but I did all radio calls, and navigation, he said.

Taylor would fly similar routes twice more with the same pilot.

So yes, enlisted people can definitely perform the job, he said.

According to a 1992 paper for the Air Force Enlisted Heritage Research Institute, the 341X1 and 341X2 career fields, born out of very early service ideals that enlisted members should work side-by-side with officer pilots, were Analog and Digital Trainer Specialists. The fields were part of the larger Aircrew Training Devices 34XXX specialty.

The contributions of the enlisted men and women in the training devices career field were great, noted the paper, written by Air Force student Senior Master Sgt. G. A. Werhs of the Senior Noncomissioned Officer Academy. From its very beginning in 1939 until its end in the late 80s, [the 34XXX] was [an] entirely enlisted career field. All maintenance and operations were performed by highly skilled personnel. Every aircraft in the Air Force inventory had a simulator associated with it and enlisted members were there to operate and maintain it.

[H]ow many people realize that for nearly 50 years those pilots received much of the initial training on the ground from enlisted soldiers and airmen[?] Werhs asked.

Taylor suggested the career field closed because the service didnt want enlisted troops to get to that next level: flying among officers. The service, he said, also had an abundance of pilots at the time.

The Vietnam War had wound down, so they had more pilots than the Air Force needed, Taylor said. By taking away the enlisted instructors, it let them use the pilots that were qualified to fly the T-38 instead of kicking them out of the service.

But there are many who believe that enlisted airmen, in some capacity, deserve the chance to once again get up in the air.

Rooted in History

Before the Air Force became a breakout service independent of the Army, enlisted pilots were known as "flying sergeants," receiving a promotion to staff sergeant once they completed pilot training.

Enlisted pilots, in one form or another, date back to 1912. But it wasnt until 1941, when Congress passed the the Air Corps Act of 1926 and Public Law 99, that enlisted troops were able to receive qualified training.

We never thought about whether we wanted to be an enlisted pilot or an officer pilot, said retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Edward Wenglar, a former enlisted pilot. We just wanted to be pilots, and we would gladly have stayed privates forever just to have the chance to fly, Wenglar said in a 2003 service release.

Wenglar, who served overseas during World War II, holds the distinction of achieving the highest rank of any former enlisted pilot, according to the Air Force. He died in 2011.

During World War II, whoever was in the cockpit got grandfathered in and could remain flying. But in 1942, the passage of the Flight Officer Act meant new enlisted recruits no longer got the chance to fly.

The act, Public Law 658, replaced the program's sergeant pilot rank with the warrant officer rank.

When the Air Force was created in 1947 out of the Army Air Forces, it would bring more than 1,000 legacy warrant officers in. The service stopped the program in 1959, the same year it created the senior and chief master sergeant ranks. The last warrant officer would retire from active duty in 1980.

With more than 3,000 enlisted sergeant pilots throughout the services history, 11 of them would become generals and 17 would become flying aces, according to information from the Air Force. More than 150 enlisted pilots would be killed in action.

Our careers as enlisted pilots made us better men and gave us opportunities later in the civilian world that we never would have been offered," Wenglar said in 2003.

New Focus on Warrant Officers

If the Air Force is so very concerned about the pilot shortage, they should consider warrant officers in  the transport pilot, flight engineer, boom operator and drone pilot fields, said Will Stafford, a former staff sergeant with similar maintenance, tech and simulator experiences as Taylor.

While in the Air Force in the 1970s and 80s, Stafford, outside of his military duties, would fly smaller aircraft such as Cessna 310s, Beechcraft Model 18s and some Douglas DC-3s. On his own, he would eventually become qualified on 25 different makes and models of fixed-wing aircraft, he told Military.com.

If the [Air Force] wants their veteran airmen and airwomen to return, then they had better look at how it has squandered the talent, training and dedication that many of us had, and make some serious changes, beginning with the restart of the warrant officer corps, Stafford said, referencing the Air Forces initiative to bring back retirees into staff-rated positions to balance out the ongoing pilot shortage.

This is cost-effective, and many professional fully-rated civilian pilots who have military experience would have no problem, he said.

Stafford has tried, unsuccessfully, to start a White House petition on Whitehouse.org to get the administrations attention about reinstituting the warrant officer corps. He has even tried to petition the Air Force directly by writing to then-Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, who Stafford got the chance to meet and work with when Schwartz was just a captain.

Schwartz told Stafford it just wasnt in the Air Forces plans.

Key Decisions Ahead

Wright says the new RAND study may give him and Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David Goldfein fresh perspectives.

We have to be smart about this, right? Wright said. This cant just be, Oh, this is nice to have. We have to know exactly what were buying [into] and we have a plan to implement it.

Wright said cost-benefit analysis would play into the decision.

Im looking to learn, and the boss [Goldfein] is looking to learn, again, that simple question: Will this make us a more lethal force? Will it make us more efficient? Wright said.

There is a chance through the RAND study and through some of our internal studies that the evidence reveals and the analysis reveals that warrant officers wont move the needle that much, he said.

While Wright said its hard to say when enlisted pilots or a warrant officer program may come back into the Air Forces ranks, he believes the feat can be achieved in roughly five to 10 years.

I think it would help would shortages in career fields, I think it would help with retention, I think it would help with career development.

Now theres nothing that says that, within our current system we cant do that same thing. But if youre asking me what the obvious benefits are, he said,   I think its a good thing.

Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @oriana0214.What Is ISIS-K? Two Experts on the Group Behind the Kabul Airport Attack and its Rivalry with the Taliban

By 2018, the group had become one of the top four deadliest terrorist organizations in the world.Canara Bank | Bank reported higher profit at Rs 444.1 crore in Q2FY21 against Rs 364.9 crore, net interest income jumped to Rs 6,296 crore from Rs 3,129 crore YoY.

live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

Public sector lender Canara Bank on Saturday called off the divestment process of its stake in its housing finance subsidiary Can Fin Homes. In a statement to the exchanges, the bank said that they took a decision to do so since the quote received was not in tune with the valuation.

"Canara Bank has decided to call-off the divestment process of its entire stake in Can Fin Homes which was under progress," said the bank in a notification to the exchanges.

The bank holds 30.44 per cent stake in its subsidiary Can Fin Homes. There were reports in January that Canara Bank was planning to sell its entire stake.

Can Fin has 132 branches and 20 affordable housing finance centres with a particularly strong footprint in the southern markets.

Media reports had earlier suggested that HDFC was eyeing a 30 per cent stake in Canara Banks housing finance company Can Fin Homes. HDFC had has emerged as a frontrunner among bidders to buy Canara Bank's stake in Can Fin Homes.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18 on March 28, Keki Mistry, VC & CEO of HDFC spoke about their bid for Can Fin Homes. He had said that they had made an offer about 10-15 days back and added that they have not made any revised offer.

On December 21, 2017, Canara Bank had said that they are looking to offload 4 percent stake in Can Fin Homes through merchant bankers. However, two weeks later on January 10, 2018, the bank announced that they did not accept the bids received from the bankers for the sale.Shirley Contreras lives in Orcutt and writes for the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society. She can be contacted at 623-8193 or at shirleycontreras2@yahoo.com. Her book, The Good Years, a selection of stories shes written for the Santa Maria Times since 1991, is on sale at the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society, 616 S. Broadway.When Amrita Pathak, a 24-year-old business analyst in Noida, had appeared for a video interview at a consulting firm and did not receive a response for two weeks, she assumed that she wasnt being considered for the role. However, the HR team got back after one month saying that there were some differences in opinions in the panel that interviewed her and got additional members of the department to view her video interview. She was finally hired after that.

It is not regular face-to-face interviews that companies are looking at. Now, interviews happen over videos which can be reviewed later by the hiring panel or even an external panel for additional opinions.

Eliminating human biases

Prahalad Chandrasekharan, Senior Vice President - BCD (Business Concepts Development), Randstad India, said that video interviews are picking up in India. He explained that an asynchronous module is used where one is given about to one to two minutes to answer some questions. He said that this could be a screening criteria. These are recorded live with a panel and also shared with other teams, if required.

We would want to know at the initial stage itself how serious a candidate is and that is very clear through a video interview. This helps us to short-list and submit. However, as seniority increases, clients want to meet them at least once, he added.

A video interview could have two to three stages depending on the size of the company and the job description. This would include questions seeking details of the information mentioned in the resume and also checking how confident the candidate is before a camera. This process is recorded to be shared with the relevant stakeholders.

Dedeepya Ajith John, Associate Director-Knowledge & Advisory, SHRM India said that video interviews, have the advantages of being less expensive, less time consuming, easy scheduling of the meetings, and also being able to record the interview for future revisit.

She said that sometimes candidates are also asked to pre-record their answers to the questions and send them out, thereby lessening the pressure on them to answer on the spot.

Candidates, especially freshers, are usually nervous during their first interviews. This technology, however, would help them answer the questions better.

Rakesh Gupta, Chief Human Resource Officer, Royal Sundaram General Insurance said that ideally a funnel approach could involve telephonic interview, video interview and finally face to face interview, in sequence.

Usually, an external partner is used to ensure that the process is conducted seamlessly and edited properly to be sent to the reporting head or human resource manager.

Vikas Bansal, Chief Human Resource Officer, Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance said that they have signed up with Autogram, a video platform agency which helps them build an online database of candidates and also provides the facility of video interviews.

Sometimes candidates from far flung areas, even though could be qualified for the job, are not able to come due to existing jobs or financial constraints. These video interviews could help bridge the gap. Also, costs can be saved by interviewing a candidate using technology.

Varun Gupta, CEO of travel-tech startup, Goomo said that video interviews reduces discrimination which means that we are not restricting candidates based on geography and they are treated equally with applicants who can easily make it for a face to face interview.

Further, as Anshul Prakash, Partner at law firm Khaitan & Company says it may also provide an opportunity to any other member who may not be a part of interview panel for some reason but can later provide inputs in respect of a potential candidate.

Limited advantages?

One on hand while companies are eager to adopt these in a big way, there is a raging debate between which one should be preferred, face-to-face or video interviews.

Bansal said that though video interviews do take away the charm of building that connect with an individual which is there while meeting people physically, the important thing to remember is that technology is here to stay and we need to use it as effectively as possible.

Listing the drawbacks of this technology, John of SHRM India explained that it has technology errors, poor video quality and lack of eye contact in these processes. Due to these, he added that biases can creep in between a candidate who has undergone in-person interview viz-viz a candidate who have been interviewed through video conferencing.

But others disagree. At a time when cost optimisation is one of the main goals across organisations, video interviews could be the much needed cost advantage needed for companies in India Inc.

Captain (retd), Partha Samai, senior vice president and group head-human resources, AGS Transact Technologies said that there has been a revolutionary change in hiring and this is primarily due to digitisation that has engulfed the industry. For junior, middle and senior levels, the common pattern has been digitisation.

We are doing extensive Skype interviews and Whatsapp video interviews. Only if the reporting manager insists that they need to see them, we fly the candidate down, he added.

Similarly, at Croma, initial interview rounds/ discussions are done through either phone or Skype for video interviews. Shalini Vohra, Chief Human Resources Officer, Croma (Infiniti Retail) said through initial screening on phone/video, one can gauge fitment & engagement level of the candidate.

Based on the initial evaluation if candidate is found suitable, they conduct face to face interview which helps us understand and study candidates personality better.

However, some limitations do exist when it comes to senior candidates. When it is a C-Suite board or executive role, both consultants as well as senior human resource heads in companies want to meet prospective leaders personally. Even there, Chandrasekharan of Randstad India said that these could happen over a casual meeting over coffee or breakfast outside office.

Similarly, Ruhie Pande, Chief Human Resource Officer, Godrej Properties said that while they do leverage technology and largely use Microsoft teams, Skype for the interviews; however for some senior & critical roles face-to-face meetings was preferred.

Way forward

As companies get more digital and job roles get dynamic, video interviews will take the hiring scene by storm. Once all major companies start having it as a mandatory process, candidates both from urban and semi-urban regions would be forced to be a part of it.

While minor technology glitches could be there due to connectivity issues in the country, whether or not a candidate is short-listed would depend on how they conduct themselves during the video interview or video screening process.That's all for today, readers. Thanks for staying on with our coverage of the day's action. Your enthusiasm encourages us to better our coverage every day. Do come back tomorrow for more news, views and insights.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy hit out at the government

PTI

over the disinvestment of Air India, saying it was potentially another scam in the making, reports. The former Union minister said he would watch the developments and file a private criminal law complaint, if he found culpability in the disinvestment process.

Electric car maker Tesla has confirmed the autopilot was engaged during a fatal crash last week, a development set to exacerbate concerns over the safety of autonomous vehicles, reports AFP. A Tesla Model X collided with a highway barrier near the town of Mountain View in California on March 23, catching fire before it was struck by two other cars.

20:10 Gazans buried their dead with calls for 'revenge' a day after a major demonstration led to clashes that saw Israeli forces kill 16 Palestinians in the bloodiest day since a 2014 war, reports AFP. Meanwhile, Israel said it will target terror organisations in Gaza if violence along the territory's border with Israel drags on, the chief military spokesman warned, reports AP.19:50 Pakistan arrests 52 Indian fishermen

Pakistani authorities have arrested 52 Indian fishermen for allegedly straying into the country's territorial waters, reports PTI. The latest batch of Indian fishermen was arrested on Thursday night by the Pakistan Maritime Security Forces, an official said. Eight fishing boats were also seized.

Electrosteel

Anil Agarwal group-owned Vedanta said it has won the bid to acquire bankrupt Electrosteel Steels in an insolvency auction. "Vedanta hereby informs that it has been declared as the successful resolution applicant by the committee of creditors (CoC) for Electrosteel Steels under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 and has received a Letter of Intent (LoI) today," the company said in a BSE filing. Vedanta said it has accepted the terms of the LoI.

19:23 Construction firm Madhucon Projects has bagged road projects worth Rs 734.9 crore from National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation in Nagaland.

19:17 NHAI

FY18

The National Highways Authority of India said it has awarded projects worth Rs 1,22,000 crore for constructing about 7,400 km of highways in FY18, reports PTI. It stated that out of the total projects awarded, 3,791 km length was awarded on EPC mode at a cost of Rs 43,000 crore while 3,396 km was awarded on hybrid annuity mode at a cost of Rs 76,500 crore and 209 km on toll mode at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore.

19:13 The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has arrested two men and seized fake notes of Rs 2,000, having a face value of over Rs 10 lakh, which were allegedly smuggled into India from Bangladesh for exchange with real currency in poll-bound Karnataka.

China said the financial risks arising from its mounting $1.7 trillion external debt were manageable, reports PTI. The country's foreign exchange regulator State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said all major indicators of the external debt remained within international safety standards, amid rising concerns over the debt's accumulation and its impact on China's slowing down of economy.

Nadu

The Centre and Tamil Nadu moved the Supreme Court on the issue of constitution and composition of the Cauvery Management Board in compliance with the February 16 apex court verdict on the decades-old river water-sharing dispute, reports PTI. The Centre sought three-months time to implement the apex court order due to the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections. Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, sought contempt action against the Centre for failure to frame the scheme for constitution of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee within six weeks as directed by the apex court on February 16.

Actor and former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger underwent heart surgery to replace a valve that was originally replaced 20 years ago, waking up with the words Im back in a twist on his catchphrase, reports Reuters.

19:02 CBSE

centre

Six more people, including two directors of a private coaching centre in Chatra (Jharkhand), were apprehended in connection with the CBSE question paper leaks, reports PTI. Since Friday, 12 people, including Class 10 and 11 students, have been apprehended in the CBSE leak case from Jharkhand's Chatra district, police said.

Public sector lender Allahabad Bank has reduced the base rate and benchmark prime lending rate by 45 basis points each. The move comes into effect from April 2 and will lower EMIs for its borrowers. The bank has slashed base rate to 9.15% from 9.6%. BPLR has been brought down to 13.4% from 13.85%.

CBSE

The Class 12 Hindi (Elective) paper being circulated on the social media was fake, the CBSE said and urged the people not to spread rumours regarding the paper, reports PTI. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is scheduled to hold the Class 12th Hindi (Elective) examination on April 2.

18:37 CBSE

The Delhi Police's Crime Branch has got a reply from Google on the details it had sought pertaining to the e-mail address from where the CBSE chairperson was sent a mail about the Class 10 mathematics paper being leaked, reports PTI.

The rupee lost further ground against the US currency, breaching the key psychological 65-mark as deteriorating fiscal outlook and global trade-war fears kept forex market sentiment jittery, reports PTI. Extending its fall for the second-straight week, the home currency depreciated by 17 paise to end at 65.18 against the dollar.

18:12 Snapchat

Snap said it cut 7% of its global workforce in March, reports Reuters. The social media company said it would incur about $10 million of cash expenditure due to severance costs to be reflected in the current quarter ending March 31. As a result of the layoffs, primarily in its engineering and sales teams, the company said it sees savings of about $25 million in 2018.

18:05 Ishrat

Jahan

A special CBI court set aside summons issued to two Intelligence Bureau officers - Rajeev Wankhede and TS Mittal - by a magistrate court in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case that took place in June 2004, reports PTI.

18:02 CBSE

Prakash

Javadekar's

The National Independent Schools Alliance, which claims to represent 60,000 private schools across the country, has sought the resignation of HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, alleging that the government had failed to conduct the board examinations in a fair manner. Kulbhushan Sharma, its president, said the CBSE paper leak issue had caused immense stress for children.

18:00 Virudhunagar

Ramanathapuram

NITI

Aayog's

Two districts from Tamil Nadu - Virudhunagar and Ramanathapuram -have got the maximum scores on health and nutrition in NITI Aayog's 2018 ranking of Aspirational Districts. Both districts got scores of about 58%.

17:16 Amit Shah declines to share details of discussions with Wadiyar royal family

BJP President Amit Shah today declined to reveal the nature of discussions he had with the Wadiyar royal family of Mysuru, amid speculation that the party was seeking to enlist their support in the May 12 Assembly polls.

"As far as my meeting with the royal family members is concerned, I only want to say that it was a courtesy visit. However, what transpired between us, I cannot reveal it," he told reporters.

17:01 In poll-bound Rajasthan, Raje to begin state tour on April 15

Ahead of the Assembly polls in Rajasthan due later this year, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje would begin her state tour from Charbhuja Nath temple in Rajsamand district on April 15 to highlight the works done by her government.

State Higher Education minister Kiran Maheshwari today said under the Vikas Yatra the the chief minister will cover all the Assembly constituencies.

16:45 IOC to invest Rs 1.4 lakh cr to double refining capacity

India's biggest oil firm IOC today said it plans to invest about Rs 1.43 lakh crore to nearly double its oil refining capacity to 150 million tonnes and boost petrochemical production by 2030.

While Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is expanding refining capacity to meet fuel demand, which is expected to nearly double by 2040, it does not want to remain "a refining company alone and is thus venturing into petrochemicals and alternative fuels as well," company's Director (Refineries) B V Rama Gopal told reporters.

The company currently owns and operates 11 out of the country's 23 refineries. Its refineries have a total capacity of 80.7 million tonnes per annum.

15:00 Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to visit Russia on Apr 3

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be travelling to Russia next week to attend the seventh Moscow Conference on International Security here.

This will be her first visit to Russia in her capacity as the Defence Minister.

During her three-day tour, between April 3 and 5, she will participate in the VII Moscow Conference on International Security, according to a statement from Indian Embassy here.

Sitharaman will also meet her Russian counterpart Army General Sergei Shoigu, and other senior leaders, it said. (PTI)

14:38 India increases deployment of troops along border with China near Tibetan region



India has deployed more troops and significantly increased patrolling in the mountainous terrains of Dibang, Dau-Delai and Lohit valleys along the borders with China in the Tibetan region in Arunachal sector following the Doklam face-off, the most tense military confrontations between the two countries in decades. Military officials said India is also strengthening its surveillance mechanism to keep an eye on Chinese activities along the borders in the strategically sensitive Tibetan region and has even been regularly deploying choppers to carry out recce. They said India has been focusing on dominating the treacherous terrains which include snow-clad mountains at an altitude of over 17,000 feet, and river passes, as part of a strategy to counter China's rising assertiveness along the border in Dibang, Dau-Delai and Lohit valleys. (PTI)



13:57 SpiceJet crew accuse airline of strip search



A video showing an angry bunch of SpiceJet air hostesses accusing the airline of strip searching them at Chennai airport has gone viral, with the airline denying the claims. The crew alleged that they were searched after de-boarding on the suspicion that they were swindling cash collected from the sale of food and other items on-board. While SpiceJet confirmed that their security teams undertook "random pat down searches" at few of the stations on the night of March 28 and March 29 as part of security and safety standard operating procedures (SOP), the airline rejected the allegation that the crew was strip searched. (PTI)



13:19 TMC takes out rallies; BJP, VHP stick to temple for Hanuman Jayanti celebrations



Hanuman Jayanti was celebrated across West Bengal today amid tight security. The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) took out colourful processions and organised Hanuman puja in various parts of the state. Senior party leaders and ministers were seen taking part in the celebrations. The BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) kept their Hanuman Jayanti celebrations a low-key affair with small-scale programmes at temples and mutts. (PTI)



12:07 2016 Bihar toppers scam: ED attaches assets of main accussed

The ED today said it has attached assets worth Rs 4.53 crore, including 29 plots and deposits in ten bank accounts, of the main accused in the Bihar topper scam that had rocked the state in 2016.

The action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against the Secretary cum Principal of Vishun Roy College in Vaishali district, Bachha Rai alias Amit Kumar, comes at a time when two CBSE question papers of Class X and XII have leaked and police is looking for culprits.

Bachha

Rai

Lalganj

Mahua

Bhagwanpur

Hajipur

Sangeeta

Rai

PTI

The agency, in a statement, said it has attached 16 plots in the name ofinandand 13 plots in the name of his wife. (

11:44 Oil PSUs to supply Euro-VI fuel in Delhi from Apr 1



State-owned oil firms will from tomorrow supply petrol and diesel meeting stringent Euro-VI emission norms in the national capital. Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Co will supply the less polluting fuel at all their outlets from tomorrow, IOC officials said. The Euro-VI grade fuel supplies in the national capital have been advanced from the April 1, 2020 target rollout for the entire country to show the oil industry's commitment to supplying cleaner fuel, they said. (PTI)



11:06 IOC chief Bach met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un: KCNA

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a meeting on Friday that the IOC would cooperate with the North to prepare for its participation in the 2020 Tokyo and 2022 Beijing Olympic Games, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) has reported.

Bach travelled to Pyongyang on Thursday in a visit that comes after North Korea's participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Games helped ease inter-Korean relations.

Pyeongchang

KCNA

He told Kim in a meeting that the trip was to "express the most heartfelt thanks" to North Korea's leader for helping make February'sWinter Olympics a Games that were "symbolic of peace,"said on Saturday. (Reuters)

10:54 Malala visits Pak hometown in Swat Valley



Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, today arrived in her Swat Valley hometown in Pakistan for the first time after she was shot in the head by Taliban militants for advocating girls education more than five years ago. Amid tight security, she along with her parents arrived in Swat district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on a day-long visit, reports PTI. She has been put up in Circuit House. The venue had been surrounded by the law enforcers.



10:24 Saudi govt decides to not confiscate passports of Indian airlines crew: Air India





The Saudi Arabian government has decided not to retain the passport of the Indian airline crew members on arrival in the country and issue a bar code instead, an Air India spokesperson confirmed.

The move comes as a big relief to the crew of Air India and Jet Airways, the two Indian airlines who fly to that country. Indian authorities had taken up the issue with the Saudi authorities and the decision not to retain the passport of the crews of Indian airlines came into effect from mid-February this year, the Air Indian spokesperson said.







09:33 Russia expelled diplomats from 23 countries today in retaliation against the West in a spy row, in the biggest wave of tit-for-tat expulsions in recent memory.live bse live

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Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Vistara have flagged serious concerns over the data on technical snags faced by airlines in 2017, which was provided by the government in Parliament.

They maintained that the data was leading to a "false illusion" about safety of the airlines.

In a letter to Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, the airlines have demanded an investigation by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to the matter so that accurate information is provided to Parliament and public at large.

"It seems apparent that the number of technical snags being reported by various airlines is inaccurate. This discrepancy and misreporting of data is leading to false illusion of the relative safety of some airlines over others," the airlines said in their letter on March 28.

On March 13, Sinha, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha had said that airlines reported more than 24,700 technical snags last year.

Airline-wise break up was also furnished.

"As you are aware reporting of snags is mandatory in India and accurate reporting of such snags is in the interest of passengers and aviation safety.

"We request you to get this matter investigated by the DGCA so that accurate information may be made available to Parliament and the travelling public," the letter said.

According to the minister's reply, the technical snag faced by Jet Airways in 2017, which has a fleet of 110 aircraft, was 9,689 (88.08 snags per annum).

IndiGo, the country's largest private carrier, which has a fleet size of 151, faced only 340 technical snags (2.25 snags per annum).

Similarly, SpiceJet, which has a fleet size of 57 aircraft, faced 4,903 snags (86.02 snags per annum). Vistara, with a fleet size of 17 aircraft, faced 1,225 snags (72.06 snags per annum).

IndiGo at present operates over 1,000 flights per day, SpiceJet 408 flights and Jet Airways 600 flights.A bird flies by the Vedanta office building in Mumbai August 16, 2010. India-focused miner Vedanta Resources said it will buy 51-60 percent of Cairn India for about $8.5-9.6 billion in cash to be funded via debt and cash resources, a move that would represent Vedanta's first foray into oil and gas, and help Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy fund an expensive drilling programme in Greenland. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui (INDIA - Tags: BUSINESS ENERGY) - RTXSAAV

Anil Agarwal group-owned Vedanta said it has won the bid to acquire bankrupt Electrosteel Steels in an insolvency auction.

"Vedanta hereby informs that it has been declared as the successful resolution applicant by the committee of creditors (CoC) for Electrosteel Steels under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 and has received a Letter of Intent (LoI) today," the company said in a BSE filing.

Vedanta said it has accepted the terms of the LoI. The closure of the transaction will be subject to compliance with applicable regulatory requirements and as per the final terms approved by the National Company Law Tribunal, it added.Once the beans have spilled, they take a long time to collect and be put back, if at all. Such is the case with the data breach allegations against Facebook, which refuse to die down and continued to dominate headlines all through this past week.

The issue is now probably more political than technology driven, but it is undeniable that it has pushed the data protection and online privacy debates to the forefront of public discussion.

The week began with the US Federal Trade Commission confirming that it is investigation privacy practices at the social network. Later in the week, the US press reported that Facebook could potentially be looking at millions of dollars in fines because it may have breached a 2011 consent agreement.

On Wednesday, India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said it has sent a communication to Facebook to explain data breach allegations in the country. Facebook has been given time till April 7 to respond to the allegations.

India's identity programme- Aadhaar- also continued to grapple with its own issues. The Supreme Court hearings on the combined Aadhaar petitions are still going on, and this week saw some action, the basis for which was provided by the chief executive of the Unique Identification Authority of Inida- the agency that administers Aadhaar.

UIDAI chief Ajay Bhushan Pandey this week submitted his authentication logs (to show that Aadhaar uses privacy by design) to the Supreme Court the previous week, and since they were available to the public, they were scrutinised by a cybersecurity analyst on Twitter.

Even so, Moneycontrol reported that Vidhi Centre of Legal Policy, an independent think tank funded by, among others, philanthropist Rohini Nilekani, received nearly Rs 50 lakh for helping formulate the Aadhaar Act 2016.

On the other hand the Indian IT services sector had a tough week too. US-based software exporter Cognizant reportedly had its bank accounts frozen, on grounds that the firm evaded dividend distribution tax (DDT).

Meanwhile, a report in The Times of India also said that the third largest Indian IT exporter Wipro has had a former US-based employee file a case against unlawful termination of his services.The Tamil Nadu government will move the Supreme Court on the issue of constituting the Cauvery Water Management Board, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said today even as the ruling AIADMK announced that it would observe a fast on April 2 on the matter.

With the Cauvery issue appearing to be snowballing into an embarrassment for the AIADMK which has largely been friendly with the Centre, the party announced a 'hunger strike' on Monday seeking formation of the CWMB and the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee.

AIADMK's arch rival DMK said it would hold a black flag demonstration against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his proposed visit to Tamil Nadu on April 15.

DMK, the main opposition party, said it would also hold a meeting of its friendly parties on April 1 and later announce a "massive" demonstration against the state and central governments, party top leader M K Stalin said. In New Delhi, AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP S Muthukaruppan said he would resign from the RS on the Cauvery issue.

He said the Prime Minister was not listening to them on the Cauvery issue.

"I am going to resign my post, this is a post given to me by Amma (Jayalalithaa)," Muthukaruppan told reporters at New Delhi.

Praising late J Jayalalithaa for her steps on the Cauvery issue in the past, the MP said he would like "to do something for the people," following in her footsteps.

He made it clear that the decision to resign was his own while he lauded both Chief Minister Palaniswami and Panneerselvam for their efforts on the Cauvery issue.

He said he would submit his resignation to Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu during the next sitting of Parliament.

Reacting to this, DMK leader Stalin said all ruling party MPs should resign and not Muthukaruppan alone.

Meanwhile, outfits including the pro-Tamil Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi staged protests against the Centre seeking setting up of the CWMB.

The agitations were held in Chennai and the Cauvery delta town of Tiruvarur.

Farmers' leader P R Pandian said demonstrations like the one witnessed seeking approval for 'Jallikattu' (bull taming sport) last year should be held on the Cauvery issue.

He said Central government offices should be picketed.

Speaking to reporters at Madurai, Palaniswami said the kind of petition to be submitted in the apex court was being discussed with legal experts.

Tamil Nadu's stand is that the Centre must constitute the CWMB and CWRC.

Underlining his government's commitment towards setting up of CWMB and the CWRC, Palaniswami said his party MPs had vociferously taken up the matter in Parliament leading to proceedings being stalled for over two weeks.

Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar indicated that the apex court would be approached in a couple of days.

In its February 16 judgement, the apex court had raised the 270 tmcft share of Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu's share of Cauvery water.

The apex court, which modified the 2007 award of Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal (CWDT) with respect to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, retained the share of Kerala at 30 tmcft and Puducherry at 7 tmcft, out of a total of 740 tmcft.

The apex court granted six weeks time to the Centre to formulate a scheme to ensure compliance of its 465-page judgement, which modified the CWDT award. Following the verdict, Tamil Nadu has been urging the Centre to set up the CWMB and CWRC to ensure it received its due share of water from the inter-state river.

AIADMK coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam made the announcement on hunger strike while chairing a mass wedding function organised by the party at Madurai along with Palaniswami, who is also the party co-coordinator. Pointing out that the six-week deadline given by the apex court had ended yesterday, Panneerselvam said, "The people of Tamil Nadu and the farmers are expecting an answer from the Centre on the Cauvery issue."

Stalin, also the leader of opposition in the Assembly, alleged that the AIADMK dispensation was "subservient" to the Centre.

He blamed the central and state governments for enacting a "drama" on the issue.

After chairing the party's executive committee meeting on Cauvery, Stalin told reporters that the black flag stir would be part of the next course of action his party would take up over the river water sharing issue.Nirmala Sitharaman

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be travelling to Russia next week to attend the seventh Moscow Conference on International Security here.

This will be her first visit to Russia in her capacity as the Defence Minister.

During her three-day tour, between April 3 and 5, she will participate in the VII Moscow Conference on International Security, according to a statement from Indian Embassy here.

Sitharaman will also meet her Russian counterpart Army General Sergei Shoigu, and other senior leaders, it said.

"The visit is in keeping with the tradition of high level exchanges between India and Russia.

"It will provide an opportunity to reinforce the traditional warm and friendly relations that exists between the two countries with particular reference to military technical cooperation," the statement said.Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

With the AAP keen to contest the Haryana Assembly polls next year, the party's national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today held a roadshow in the Rohtak-Bhiwani belt of the state.

Kejriwal's roadshow, which began in the morning and is expected go on till evening, comes close on the heels of a rally in Hisar on Sunday.

At the Hisar rally, the AAP leader had announced that his party would contest the forthcoming Haryana Assembly polls.

Kejriwal, who was accompanied by the AAP's Haryana head, Naveen Jaihind, had covered Bahadurgarh, Sampla and Rohtak till late afternoon during his roadshow today.

The roadshow will also pass through Kalanaur, Dadri, Bhiwani and Tosham.

At the Hisar rally, Kejriwal had attacked the BJP-led Centre and Haryana governments over a number of issues. The AAP national convener, who hails from Haryana, had invoked his Haryana roots and asked the people of the state to strengthen his party.

"We will create a new Haryana. If you want peace, security, schools, hospitals, roads, then vote for the AAP," he had said.Education Reporter

Mathew Burciaga is a Santa Maria Times reporter who covers education, agriculture and public safety. Prior to joining the Times, Mathew ran a 114-year-old community newspaper in Wyoming. He owns more than 40 pairs of crazy socks from across the globe.Travis Turner and Harlie Deckert bought their first new home on Monday morning. But to do it, they had to spend months on a waiting list. Finally, they camped overnight in an east Odessa neighborhood with more than another dozen people who all wanted to buy lots.

A whirring drilling rig nearby kept them awake. And at one point someone suspecting a homeless camp called the police, Turner said.

It rained a couple times on us out there, Turner said. But we got to meet all our neighbors.

Turner, who works at a tow truck company, said he still feels lucky. After all, the couple was seeking a new home amid scarce supply in one of the countrys hottest housing markets.

At the Odessa Board of Realtors, Executive Vice President Connie Coots said she could not remember a time when the inventory of existing homes was so low, including during the peak of the last oil boom a few years ago.

In February, the trade group reported 1.5 months of housing inventory  a measure of market that estimates how long it would take all the listed homes to sell. Thats a third of what it was at the same time last year, which was already a tight market. A balanced housing market has about six months of inventory.

New builds are just not keeping up with the demand, Coots said. If they are priced right, they are moving.

Turner, Deckert and the other hopefuls Monday were vying for one of 25 lots where Permian Homes will build new houses this year.

The latest sales were for the second phase of the Enclave at Mission Ranch development, where homes start at about $230,000 and give buyers custom options. The buyers had sought one of 78 lots in the first phase, but those quickly sold out.

In Midland or Odessa, we cant build them fast enough, Permian Homes President Greg Ferrel said. It doesnt matter the price point, or where it is, everything is selling. Thats just what the markets doing. Thats what oil is doing.

Its been that way since late 2017.

It just exploded, Ferrel said. And it hasnt slowed down since.

Permian Homes didnt advertise the Monday sale, Ferrel said. Turner said the buyers were all on the waiting list and most learned of it by seeking updates from the company.

Turner and Deckert joined the waiting list about six months ago, which already had more than 100 other people on it. She started camping out Sunday afternoon, earlier than the couple planned, once she drove by and saw other prospective buyers had beaten them to it.

Today, Odessa has one of the strongest housing markets in the country, a recent study by the insurance company Nationwide that looked at factors such home sales, the mortgage market, job and wage growth, and demographics as people flock to the area showed.

A lot of people who would like to buy homes either have to pay a lot more to get one, or they have to wait, Nationwide Chief Economist David Berson said. Its just a lack of supply.

Thats unlikely to change in the next year, as long as job growth and other indicators of a booming local economy remain, Berson said.

Turner said he and his fiancee should be able to move into their new $300,000 home around November and avoid the rent increase they would face if they renewed the lease at their Midland apartment.

Getting to pick out exactly what we want, I feel like its a pretty good deal, Turner said. Especially with all the money to be made here, all the jobs  You are kind of in the middle of everything.

Distributed by the Associated PressFarm Credit Illinois has awarded $80,000 toward youth and rural community development through its annual agriculture scholarship and community improvement grant programs.

About $60,000 in scholarships were awarded to high school seniors in central and southern Illinois to pursue agriculture-related majors and careers. Each of the 30 high school seniors received a $2,000 agriculture scholarship and two of the recipients were designated as Urban Agriculture Scholars.First page of a letter in which forest agency boss Tunou Sabuin advises forest minister Douglas Tomuriesa that Oro logging is illegal & should be stopped. Sabuin was fired soon after

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA  The governor of Oro Province, Gary Juffa, continuing his campaign to oust timber pirates from the region, will refer the illegal loggers to the Australian Tax Office and Australian Federal Police having identified they have Australian citizenship although being of Malaysian origin.

Reporting from Oro this morning, Governor Juffa said legitimate forest resource owners are ready to rise up to get rid of the Minister and the Asian illegal loggers.

He also said the head of the PNG Forest Agency, Tunou Sabuin, had been removed from his post after advising Forest Minister Douglas Tomuriesa that the logging was illegal, new permits issued and logs should be seized.

Mr Juffa visited and inspected the site of extensive logging and interviewed people there including landowners and their chiefs and illegal workers

I found no evidence of agriculture but massive environment damage caused by illegal logging, he told me.

Mr Juffa also said that Tunou Sabuin, acting managing director of the PNGFA and a career public servant, has been stood down in controversial circumstances.

It was after a meeting with me in which he assured me that what was happening was illegal, Mr Juffa said.

He assured me that the PNG Forest Agency would stop [the illegal logging] and take action.

He also confided that he felt he would be sacked for telling the Minister and his Chairman that they had erred.Letters to the Editor: Legal workers are in demand; Mental health care needed for war wounded; If you have time, a foster child needs youSonora, CA  Tuolumne County officials in tandem with public, nonprofit and forest products industry partners are eagerly eying a multi-million dollar forest health funding pot.

So much so that yesterday a local delegation headed to Sacramento to proactively present a nearly $15 million grant proposal request to CAL Fire Director Chief Ken Pimlott.

In an interview with Clarke Broadcasting shortly after the meeting, Tuolumne County Supervisor Randy Hanvelt recounts that $200 million up for grabs is from Governor Jerry Browns budget from last year, which set aside cap and trade money for forest health projects. The move led CAL Fire to issue a request for proposals on how the funds should be spent. Subsequently, Hanvelt confides, They got a ton of themand we had not heard back from Chief Pimlott. so we asked how things were going.

Time To Give The Squeaky Wheel A Pull

The call to Pimlott, which Hanvelt made about ten days ago, revealed that the number and scope of the proposals had somewhat mired the review process. So Hanvelt suggested that the Tuolumne County proposal team would be more than willing to show up and personally defend its proposal and that others should, too.

Enthusiastically, he recounts, I believe no one else has met with them before this. But we did and had a much longer meeting than we expectedpresented our proposalgot a lot of good questions, a lot of hard comments  and the end result of this whole thing is that we were encouraged. With fingers crossed he adds, We believe we will make it to the next round  and we now have a lot of ideas on how to improve our proposal and win this thing. But for now its like kissing your sister, you know  nothings final  and while we feel reasonably good about where we are  we have a lot of work to do.

Hanvelt says the $14.9 million proposal, involving a consortium that includes Tuolumne County, the U.S. Forest Service, Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions (YSS), Tuolumne River Trust and local industry leaders, includes 37 projects that would improve forest health and also set up for what he calls the next round of activity.

Planning Projects That Pay It Forward

Most of the projects are on National Forest lands, because the workwould be already environmentally qualified, Hanvelt stresses. Too, he points out, The idea is to put this under the Master Stewardship Agreement where we can keep the money on the forest. If we can make any money off the commercial sale, we roll it into the next level of projects to get our forest healthy  right now it is very unhealthy and everybody knows that.

Speculating on CAL Fires funding thoughts, Hanvelt muses, They are being very cautious because they have to get meaningful results that improve the fire resiliency of the forest and in fact the state responsibility area. Certainly, he maintains, No proposals are perfect  and ours is not either  but we have lots of ways [to increase forest health], if in fact we get to the next level like we hope and expect, and we will be in much better shape to do this.

Touting Tuolumnes Track Record

Hanvelt says CAL Fire has not yet indicated when it expects to select the proposals that will make it to the next round but hears that some other groups will be making their presentations next week.

Proud of Tuolumne Countys record with CAL Fire and other state agencies, Hanvelt says its leadership has already demonstrated  most recently through the Tree Mortality Disaster Emergency through local and state Task Force activities  an action and results-oriented attitude along with teamwork and the ability to deliver on promises made.

That said, he maintains, I am optimistic and encouraged that Tuolumne County will make something happen and start moving on our forest  and this has got to happen statewide for the maximum net benefit.Cal Fire Truck View Photos

Update at 3:30 p.m.: The CHP reports the fire was in a garage on the 18360 block of Highway 108 near Humbug Street in Jamestown. It was in the area of the former Grocery Depot and the Frosty restaurant. CAL Fire notes that people were using a hose to put out the flames when firefighters arrived. The flames put out quickly and none spread to any nearby vegetation.

Original post at 3:10 p.m.: Jamestown, CA  Firefighters are heading to a structure fire in Tuolumne County.

The CHP details that the caller indicated that a garage was on fire in the 18360 block of Highway 108 near Humbug Street in Jamestown. It is in the area of the former Grocery Depot and the Frosty restaurant. There is no word on whether the flames have spread to any vegetation. We will bring you more details as soon as they come into the news center.Tuolumne, CA  To celebrate National Colon Cancer Month Adventist Health Sonora is hitting the lanes to educate the public

Its holding the event Bowlin For Your Colon to Raise Health Awareness at Black Oak Lanes at Black Oak Casino Resort. Hospital officials describe it as an evening of education, fun and games to raise awareness for early detection and treatment of colon cancer. 120 people have registered to be able to get the ball rolling for a cure.

This free event is sponsored by gastroenterologists Neal Kaushal, MD, and Rodney Eddi, MD. and is being held Saturday, March 31, from 7 to 9:30 p.m.Twenty-three years ago, the reigning voice of the Tejano world was silenced by a single bullet lodged in the back of Selena Quintanilla Perez, the 23-year-old Lake Jackson native who had conquered the Spanish music scene and was on the brink of an English crossover before she was killed by Yolanda Saldivar  her best friend.

On March 31, 1995, two weeks away from celebrating her 24th birthday, the self-made songstress was shot outside a hotel room at 901 Navigation Blvd. in Corpus Christi, the city where she spent most of her life.Jenn March

Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake, will host community town halls this week to discuss her legislative priorities and hear from constituents.

These town halls will provide a space for constituents to share their suggestions and concerns, provide feedback about Woerner's legislative efforts so far, and ask questions about issues important to them, their families and their communities.Since 2015, The Woodlands chapter of Citizens' Climate Lobby, a volunteer-staffed environmental group that strives to influence climate policy, has been popping up at events in The Woodlands, such as farmers markets and expos.

Citizens' Climate Lobby is a national grassroots, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that aims to gather support toward climate protection by way of community outreach and working with members of congress.

"We do lobby, but the vast majority of our activities are educational," said Carol Newman, who is a retired oil and gas safety consultant and chemical engineer.

Newman's role with CCL is as a liaison to U.S. Rep Kevin Brady (R-The Woodlands).

The CCL works toward passage of legislation to place carbon pricing on fossil fuels at sources, such as ports of entry. Theoretically, that revenue would then get distributed to American households to offset higher energy prices. The plan includes a border tariff adjustment to discourage businesses from relocating to a place where they can emit more CO2s than allowed in the United States.

According to a study by Regional Economic Models, Inc., CCL's plan to stabilize the climate and boost the economy would reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough so that over 20 years the plan would cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 52 percent and add 2.8 million jobs to the American economy.

Newman said the organization is extremely data driven and that oil companies have come out publicly and said they are in favor of carbon pricing.

The Woodlands CCL Group Leader Bill Bray founded The Woodlands chapter in 2015. Bray worked as a naval architect and marine engineer at ExxonMobil.

"When I retired I wanted to advocate for higher energy prices to address climate change," Bray said. "I'd already been on talks on energy pricing when I found the climate lobby and wanted to start a chapter."

Bray said a lot of the members of the chapter are from the oil and gas industry.

Dr. Larry Kremer, a resident of The Woodlands and a retired chemist formerly with Baker Hughes, said he has been a member of the organization at the national level since 2014. Kremer said when he discovered Bray had started up The Woodlands chapter, he did not hesitate to join locally.

"Our primary goal is to get Congress to pass legislation," Kremer said. "The other thing is to build political will. We try to develop a large base in the community of like-minded people who want to do something about climate change."

CCL teaches and encourages volunteers to reach out to elected officials and local communities through collaboration with other like-minded groups, public outreach events and letter-writing campaigns.

Kremer said there are many options to get involved with the organization.

"Even if you are just someone who gets people to signs petitions, that helps," Kremer said. "There's all different levels of people who help."

In its community outreach efforts, members can be seen at the Grogan's Mill Farmers Market and events such as the Texas Wildlife and Woodland Expo hosted at LSC-Montgomery. Kremer is scheduled to present at Lone Star College-Montgomery Academy for Lifelong Learning sometime in the next quarter.

Newman said membership has nearly tripled since the beginning of 2017. She expects The Woodlands chapter of CCL to climb to more than 700 members after its exhibition at the Texas Wildlife and Woodland Expo, which was held on March 24.

And in an attempt to garner more support, Kremer said CCL has branched out from only having business-type meetings and lectures to now hosting social events.

The Woodlands CCL regularly meets at a LEED Platinum certified building off Gosling Road, which houses Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC).

HARC's focus is on air, energy and water research, said Mustapha Beydoun, vice president and chief operating officer at HARC. Beydoun also said HARC's emphasis on sustainability makes the facility a prime location for CCL's meetings.

"The intent was always to have us move into this state of the art energy efficient building, but it was also to have a meeting space for others in the region, especially that work within that same realm of sustainability of climate change that we work in," Beydoun said.

Kremer said The Woodlands chapter of CCL's greatest accomplishment so far is its growth, which, he said, can be attributed to people's concern about climate change. CCL members work diligently, on a casual basis, to talk with people at local events to answer questions and address concerns.

"Texas is ground zero for climate change," Kremer said. "People got the idea it's [only] affecting polar bears, but flooding and droughts impact people in Texas. It's beginning to impact a lot of different people in Texas."

For more information on the group, visit citizensclimatelobby.org.UPPER THUMB  Legislation that has made its way to the Michigan Senate could lead to the state criminally defining threatening behavior  specifically on the internet  for the first time.

The Michigan House recently passed House Bills 5017 and 5018. The two-bill measure describes cyberbullying as harassing or intimidating behavior.

The legislations sponsor, Rep. Peter Lucido, said his regions school district in Macomb County has seen vicious behavior online, including some that has led to fatal situations. The countys prosecutors office agreed there needs to be a law to help squelch cyberbullying, he said.

When youre dealing with these cases day in and day out, the police want some type of mechanism to help, said Lucido, a Republican from Shelby Township.

If the Senate and governor agree, Michigan would join the growing ranks of states moving to criminalize the evolving mediums for bullying. In 2016, Michigan was ranked last by WalletHubs analysis on which states are most adept at controlling bullying.

It happens, said Huron County Sheriff Kelly J. Hanson. And there are times you just cant do anything about it.

While not a huge issue, Hanson said his office does receive the occasional complaint involving cyberbullying.

Threats on Facebook and stuff like that, he said. We get called on stuff like that from time to time.

Under the proposed law, offenders could be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a $500 for the first offense with added violations carrying penalties up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. If the online intimidation escalates to an assault or serious injury, offenders may be charged with a felony and face up to five years imprisonment and a $5,000 fine. If the offense leads to a fatality, its a felony punishable up to 10 years behind bars and a $10,000 fine.

Cyberbullying is destroying lives in our schools, businesses and homes every day, Lucido said. There has to be responsibility for ones words or actions and we should all know when we cross that line with what we say.

In 2015, Gov. Rick Snyder signed a law directing school districts to apply anti-bullying policy to internet harassment as well.BEIT LAHIA, Gaza - The morning after burying 19-year-old Abdul Fattah Abdul Nabi, his family gathered in a tent set up to receive mourners, watching and rewatching a video of the moment they say Israeli soldiers shot him in the back of the head.

The video appears to show Abdul Fattah, dressed in black, running away from the border fence carrying a tire. Just before reaching the crowd, he crumples under gunfire.

"He had no gun, no Molotov, a tire. Does that harm the Israelis, a tire?" asked his brother Mohamed Abdul Nabi, 22. "He wasn't going toward the Israeli side. He was running away."

The teenager was one of at least 15 people killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on Friday, during what Palestinian factions billed as a peaceful "March of Return" to mark Land Day, the anniversary of the expropriation of Arab-owned land by the Israeli government in 1976. But it ended as the bloodiest day in the 140-square-mile territory since the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the Israeli military for guarding the country's borders. "Israel will act firmly and decisively to protect its sovereignty and the security of its citizens," he said in a statement on Saturday.

The Israel military has warned that it will "expand" its response if violence continues. Hamas and other factions in Gaza have vowed to keep up demonstrations, raising fears of more clashes.

Abdul Fattah's family is among those demanding an investigation into the Israeli response to the protest, saying videos show he posed no threat. More than 700 people were injured with live ammunition in the demonstration, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza. Another 49 were wounded Saturday, it said.

The United Nations on Saturday said it was "deeply concerned" and called for a transparent, independent investigation. Israeli human rights group Adalah and the Gaza-based Al Mezan Center for Human Rights wrote to Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to demand accountability.

In the letter, they said the use of such weapons against civilians was a "blatant violation of international laws."

Israel said it stuck to strict rules of engagement to deal with a 30,000-strong crowd along the border, saying "rioters" threw Molotov cocktails and stones, burned tires, and attempted to break through the fence.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond Saturday to requests to clarify the rules of engagement that were followed. In the days preceding the demonstration, it had dropped leaflets warning residents in Gaza to stay at least 300 meters from the border fence or risk being shot.

Israel accused Hamas of using the cover of peaceful demonstrations to carry out attacks. Hamas said five of those killed were members of its military wing, releasing their names and pictures.

Israel put the number of Hamas militants killed at eight, including a 20-year-old with a name similar to Abdul Fattah. It said two others among the dead were also members of militant groups.

Abdul Fattah's family said he worked in his brother's falafel shop during the week and in a kitchen on Fridays. They said he did not belong to an armed faction. Unlike at other funeral tents for dead militants, there were no signs showing his allegiance.

Posters bearing his photo in the funeral tent showed him dressed in a black bowtie rather than the military garb typical for fighters. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment Saturday to clarify the name discrepancy.

His family though, made no effort to hide the fact that Abdul Fattah went to demonstrations and threw stones. That's no reason to be shot, they said.

"They were throwing stones, but the stones never even reached the fence," said 28-year-old Alaa Abdul Nabi, another brother of the slain demonstrator. "It's a message, to throw a stone from our land."

Many demonstrators said they were there to protest peacefully. The family of 20-year-old Badr Sabbagh said he had just arrived to watch the demonstrations when he was shot. They rejected the Israeli army's assertion that everyone killed was involved in violence.

"He asked for a cigarette, I gave it to him, he had two puffs, and then he was shot in the head," said Mohammed Sabbagh, his 29-year-old brother. "He'd only been there 10 minutes."

"I took my grandchildren. We went to a peaceful demonstration," said his father Fayik Sabbagh, 64. "We went them to tell them this is our land, but what we found was different."

The demonstrations, which Hamas and other Palestinian factions hope to sustain for another month and a half, had died down on Saturday, with thinner crowds on the border than a day earlier.

In response to the video of Abdul Fattah's killing, the Israeli military warned that Hamas had published several videos of Friday's events, "some of which only depict parts of incidents while others are edited or completely fabricated."

Two other videos were circulated online that showed the shooting from different angles, while witnesses said Abdul Fattah was clearly running away from the fence.

Palestinian photographer Mahmoud Abu Salama was taking photos at the time, capturing Abdul Fattah's last moments. He said the man in the video wearing the green shirt had run toward the border fence to retrieve a tire left there earlier in the morning. He is seen in the video belly-crawling toward the tire before picking it up and running back to the crowd as bullets kick up dust around his feet. As he stumbles, Abdul Fattah runs to help him and grabs the tire.

He was shot from behind a few hundred meters away from the fence, Salama said.

"He was killed in cold blood," Alaa said. "We will report that to the United Nations. We want to know who participated in killing him. He wasn't armed."

But he had little hope anyone would be held accountable, a sentiment echoed by Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.

"These are the predictable outcomes of a manifestly illegal command: Israeli soldiers shooting live ammunition at unarmed Palestinian protesters," said Amit Gilutz, a spokesman for the group. "What is predictable, too, is that no one - from the snipers on the ground to top officials whose policies have turned Gaza into a giant prison - is likely to be ever held accountable."

Abdul Fattah, like the majority of Gazans of his generation, had never left the Gaza Strip. Israel has imposed tight restrictions on the movement of goods and people since Hamas took control of the area in 2007.

Over the past year, though, the United Nations has warned that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is rapidly deteriorating, adding there may be a collapse in the economy and services. The unemployment rate is estimated to be around 50 percent.

Israel blames Hamas for the worsening humanitarian situation, saying the group diverts money it should use on its civilians to nefarious military activities.CASS CITY  Dr. Robert Van Howe didn't set out to work specifically in Cass City or Caro, but the Thumb's west side definitely fit the bill.

I was looking around for a place to do some rural healthcare. I wanted to help in a community thats not as well served as others, with a shortage of physicians," said Van Howe, a board certified pediatrician, who recently joined the staff of Hills and Dales General Hospital.

Van Howe, who most recently worked at CMU Partners in Saginaw, will be seeing patients out of Millwood Street Primary Care in Caro, and Thumb Pediatrics in Cass City.

He joins Dr. Afonso Ferreira and Nurse Practitioner Norma Abbott at Millwood Street Primary Care, and Dr. Nancy Wade, Darcy Schlund-Tenbusch (FNP-BC) and Andrea Hill (CPNP) at Thumb Pediatrics.

We could not be more excited to welcome Dr. Van Howe to our team, said Jean Anthony, president and CEO of Hills and Dales. We have seen a true need for another pediatrician in both Cass City and Caro, and Dr. Van Howe is a great fit. His education, experience and passion for pediatrics are truly remarkable, and we know that patients will benefit from all of these.

Van Howe is a graduate of the Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University in Chicago and also has a masters of science degree from the University of Michigan, School of Public Health in Clinical Research Design and Statistical Analysis.

He has previously taught pediatrics at Michigan State University and served as the chief of pediatrics and a professor of pediatrics at the Central Michigan University College of Medicine.

His over 30 years of practicing medicine has taken him to many different areas, including Bell Pediatrics in Ishpeming, Marquette General Hospital, Marshfield Clinic in Minocqua, Wisconsin, and Blue Mountain Medical Group in Walla Walla, Washington.

Each stop gave him valuable experience, which he now brings to Caro and Cass City.

I think what happens when you have an experienced person is, they know how to use the resources out there that are available to them," Van Howe said. "They know when to refer (someone) to a specialist or when they dont need to refer (someone) to a specialist, and that kind of takes some time to develop. Those things that you learn with experience that are extremely helpful, make you a better doctor, and (it) makes you serve your patients more efficiently.

Along with being an experienced pediatrician, Van Howe is also an expert on circumcision, having published numerous articles and studies on the topic and being quoted as saying that Circumcision is as harmful as it is unnecessary.

Ive done a lot of research in that area, Van Howe said. I have reviewed the literature and have also done some primary studies regarding that topic, and Ive written on the bioethics of it. Its a multifaceted topic that has been very interesting over the years and has captured my attention long enough to do all this work on it.

Hills and Dales will be hosting an open house for Van Howe from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday at Millwood Street Primary Care. The event will include refreshments, giveaways and prize drawings.

Its going to be an opportunity for me to meet people in the community, families and any other people that are interested in seeing who I am and what Im about, Van Howe said.

He is looking forward to the event and immersing himself into the communities of Caro and Cass City.

I just think that theres such a community enhancement by having services available right at home, Van Howe said. People can say Yeah, this is being provided in my community, where I need it. I think thats the biggest thing that the community is looking for.Homelessness, addictions and abuse have definitely had a negative impact on the life of Jeremy Kopke. But now, life for the 29-year-old is looking much brighter.

The only thing that Ive known in life, other than work, is drugs, he said. In order to be happy, I needed drugs or alcohol. It was a state of mind.

At the age of 3, Kopke and his family left Toledo and headed to St. Helen, after purchasing a cabin from Kopke's grandmother. It was in St. Helen where the drugs, alcohol and abuse began.

I started smoking cigarettes at 12 and started using drugs at 14, Kopke said.

Adding to the dysfunction was a verbally abusive father who lashed out at Kopke and his mother.

I grew up in the construction field. My dad was a licensed builder. He started me working, picking up trash, at age 6. But, Dad was verbally abusive at work too, Kopke said.

Jeremys mother finally decided to leave the situation and left her husband.

When my mom left my dad, the first thing he did was to buy a Harley. So, basically I was raised in a bar along with all the bikers. At 9 years old, I would be in a bar until 1 a.m., Kopke said.

The dysfunction and stress continued to mount as Kopke now had to deal with two different households.

I took up smoking and getting in trouble, Jeremy said. I ended up using marijuana and spiraling downhill from there, with crack, meth, cocaine, heroin and ecstasy.

Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the 17-year-old took his carpentry skills to aid in the restoration of Louisiana. While in Louisiana, his grandmother died. Due to the distance, Kopke was not able to attend the funeral. Then as other family members slowly moved back to Michigan, Kopke decided that Michigan would be a better location than Louisiana. About a year ago, he made the move back.

Unfortunately, the addictions that had gone south with Kopke, came back with him when he returned. He ended up in the Gladwin County jail.

Homelessness

Kopke's life continued to spiral downward as he was incarcerated in early January of this year. But, it was also a turning point. On Jan. 29, Kopke got his release from jail at 6:30 p.m. However, because he had a scheduled meeting with his probation officer for the next morning and had no money, he found himself walking the streets of Gladwin on a frigid night.

I finally got in touch with a friend of mine and she said that she had a place where I could stay, which was in Midland, Kopke said.

But, the anticipated living place fell through. So with no place to stay for another night and his probation being transferred from Gladwin to Midland counties, he headed for Midland for another night of homeless living.

I was walking the streets of Midland because I now had to report to a Midland County probation officer. I hadnt eaten anything and was tired, Kopke said. I basically had lost everything."

At 2 a.m. he came across Midlands Open Door.

I found out about the Open Door while I was incarcerated. They had mentioned it to me because I was going to be released and be homeless, Kopke said.

Seeing that somebody was still up and working in the office, Kopke walked up to the office window and peeked in.

They took me in on a temporary basis and let me sleep on the couch. I was able to eat breakfast there, he said.

Midlands Open Door

It was at that point when his transformation began to accelerate.

Open Door has been a blessing. They accepted and welcomed me when I had nowhere else to go. I was able to get back on my feet, he said. With a place to stay, I was able to look for work, got myself into Ten16 treatment and AA.

At the Open Door, Kopke was not only able to receive help with his addiction and employment, but also the spiritual portion of his life.

There is a lot of God there, he said. If you turn your life over to Christ, you become a new man. The Bible says that you are a new person and the old has passed away.

As Kopke looks to the future, he would enjoy sharing his experiences to help others facing the same situation.

In this world, I am not here just for me. God put me here to not only spread His word, but to spread His love, and to show and help other people. So, for my story to be able to help others, it would mean a great deal, he said.

When Kopke sat down with the Daily News on Thursday, March 22, he had been clean for 77 consecutive days.

Now I have an appreciation for life. Before, I didnt care if I lived or died. For me, it was so sinister and dark. It was a real dark state. It got to the point of where I thought about suicide, he said.

Kopke now exudes a sparkle and passion for life.

Me and my personality, Im just goofy, period, laughed Kopke with a glow in his eyes and a smile on his face.

Not only does Kopke have a profound appreciation for the Open Door, but also the options for drug treatment in Midland.

The treatment we have for substance abuse here in Midland is awesome. We have a lot of different options and a lot of different meetings between churches, Ten16, AA and others. For people who want it, its available. No matter what your past is, and no matter how dark your past, he said.

A bright future

Through the Open Door, Kopke has found a steady position laying tile flooring, tile walls, counter tops and sinks.

We even do siding and roofing, a little bit of everything, he said.

However, between recovery meetings and work, Kopke's day are full.

I will leave for work between 7:30 and 8 p.m. and get off work between 3-5 a.m., come home and get just a few hours of sleep, he said.

Then after breakfast it's on to four Ten16 meetings a week and AA meetings. He is also in the process of obtaining his general education diploma, or GED.

Last Monday, Kopke took the next step in his recovery as he moved into the Ten16 Residential Treatment Center.

Open Door is a homeless shelter and not everybody there is dedicated to recovery, he said. For me to be able to stay clean and stay focused on my recovery and my life, I figured it would be better for me, to be in a living situation around people that are dedicated to recovery.

Now that Kopke has caught a lasting glimpse of the bright side, there is no desire to to fall back into old habits.

My recovery means a lot to me, but I dont want to put myself in a situation that could possibly bring me back down. Ive been there, and it wouldnt be hard to get back there."LANSING  For those in Michigan who are not registered to vote, signing up might soon become easier.

Passed recently in the Senate level, Senate Bills 425-429 would make Michigan the 39th state to allow online voter registration.

About 97 percent of Michigans eligible voters are registered. Most register at the time they get their drivers license.

The bills would change law to give voters the option to register online and update related references in Michigan election law. They charge the Secretary of State with setting up an online voter application.

To use it, people would need a valid drivers license or state ID card. It would go into effect 90 days after the bill was signed.

"I'm hopeful that people will utilize it, said Sen. Judy Emmons, R-Sheridan, the lead sponsor of the bills. They can already change their address online, if you're moving change your auto-registration address, your voter registration online... so we have it ready to go, and hopefully people will use it and feel secure.

Secretary of State Ruth Johnson also supports the legislation.

"Thirty-eight states offer online voter registration tools," Johnson said in a press release. "Michigan is uniquely positioned to do the same because the Secretary of State's Office oversees both driver licensing and elections, which provides a secure database that makes it easy to authenticate a voter's address, identification and signature against their driver or state ID information."

Under the proposed legislation:

 Original voter registration applications would be submitted online using ExpressSOS.com.

 The online voter registration system would automatically check that a potential voter is of the correct age and otherwise eligible to vote by cross-referencing the voter registration application information through the states driver licensing and state ID files.

 Deceased residents would be flagged via the Social Security Administration, which sends updated files every two weeks to the Secretary of State.

 Signatures would be captured through the Secretary of States driver licensing and state ID database.

The House is also considering a similar set of bills  House Bills 5548 and 5549.

Whichever set ends up prevailing would need the approval of the full Senate, full House and a signature from Gov. Rick Snyder to become law.3 1 of 3 Jerry Baker/For the Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of 3 BRANDON THIBODEAUX, STR / NYT Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Despite a $6,100 raise signed into law by Oklahoma's governor the last week of March, teachers across the Sooner State are planning to go on strike Monday in an effort to push for better wages.

Their protest comes after teachers in West Virginia went on a nine-day strike to protest their low wages in late February and early March. Educators in Kentucky and Arizona also are planning strikes and protests of their own for issues relating to pay and benefits.San Antonio police are trying to determine how two men were shot overnight after they showed up injured at an area Corner Store early Saturday.

The two victims rushed into the convenience store in the 100 block of Demya Drive about 5 a.m. with gunshot wounds, according to police.On March 25, Linda Brown  who as a little girl became the face of the court case that declared segregation in U.S. schools unconstitutional  died.

She was 75 years old.

I was around 16 years old, a junior at the high school formerly known as Robert E. Lee, when Mr. Cartwright passed out a list of landmark court cases that were going to be on the test. Brown vs. Board of Education was on that list; so was Tinker vs. Des Moines, Engel vs. Vitale, Miranda vs. Arizona, Gideon vs. Wainright, Marbury vs. Madison and Plessy vs. Ferguson.

I remember writing off this exercise as rote memorization that would never really apply in life, just more scholastic busywork. I knew all the words to every Duran Duran song ever recorded. I knew the mysteries of the rosary and every prayer required in English and in Spanish. I knew what VIA buses to take to most places in San Antonio, where exactly to transfer and how much it would cost. And after hundreds of hours of practice, I learned to type very, very fast. Clearly, memorization wasnt a problem.

The problem was that it never occurred to me that my American life was pretty good because, once upon a time, things werent quite so good for someone else.

In the early 1950s, things were not good for young Linda Brown, whose story was recounted last week in obituaries across the country.

Growing up in Topeka, Kansas, she was supposed to go to one of four segregated schools for black children. Her school was a couple of miles away from her home, and this was a tough trek for a little girl, especially when it was so cold that her tears would freeze on her face as she turned to run back home because of the cold.

One of the 18 schools set up for white children was closer to her home, but because black children were not allowed to sit in desks next to white children in an elementary school classroom, she was not allowed to enroll.

Her father joined several other families from several states in a legal challenge to segregated schools and because her last name began with a B, hers was the first name on the plaintiff list. The case became known as Brown vs. Board of Education and, in 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that the idea of segregated schools is unconstitutional, a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

Not that it ended in 1954, of course.

A couple of years ago, my daughter  the same age as Linda Brown was when she was told she couldnt go to school with the white kids  came home from school after learning about Ruby Bridges, the little girl who was escorted to school by federal marshals in 1960 during school desegregation unrest in Louisiana.

She couldnt understand why adults stood outside the school, yelling at the little girl and holding signs saying they didnt want her or any other black kids at that school. She told me that some of the kids cried when they heard the story.

The world is a different place because of Linda Brown. Its a different world today for children like my daughter because of cases that ended segregation of schools, that protected the constitutional rights of children in schools, that gave kids in classrooms across the nation the right to pray in their own way, that people accused of wrongdoing have certain rights, including the right to legal defense in court, that the Supreme Court has the right to check on the other two branches of government and that even the best nation in the world can sometimes be wrong.

The real lesson is that the world is a malleable place that is ours to change. And that working toward change isnt routine busywork.All you needed to know about student activist David Hoggs speech at the March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C., last weekend was that he affixed a price tag on the microphone to symbolize how much National Rifle Association money Sen. Marco Rubio took for the lives of students in Florida.

The stunt wasnt out of place. Indeed, it perfectly encapsulated the braying spirit of the student gun-control advocacy in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting.

These young activists are making our public debate even more poisonous and less civil, and are doing it as teenagers. They are precocious that way.

The Stoneman Douglas students experienced a horrific trauma. No one can deny their grief or blame them for being impassioned. And allowance has to be made for the fact that they are teenagers, who universally believe that they know better than their hapless elders (Hogg says the problem is that their parents dont know how to use a democracy).

Yet none of that excuses their scurrilous smears of the other side in the gun debate. The student activists presume that there is a ready solution to mass shootings that everyone knows, and the only reason why someone might not act on this universally accepted policy is malice or corruption. This makes the other side the equivalent of murderers.

So at the CNN forum, Stoneman Douglas student Cameron Kasky told Sen. Marco Rubio that looking at him is like looking down the barrel of the AR-15 held by the school shooter.

In a video interview with an outfit called The Outline, David Hogg said that the NRA and its supporters want to keep killing our children. Not that they inadvertently enable people who carry out school shootings via misconceived policy, but they themselves kill children and want to keep doing it.

Lest he be misunderstood, Hogg added, they could have blood from children spattered all over their faces and they wouldnt take action because they will still see those dollar signs.

This is the thought, if you can call it that, behind the price tag at the March for Our Lives, which Stoneman Douglas students also wore around their necks. It said $1.05, purportedly the amount of support Rubio has gotten from the NRA over his career, $3.3 million, divided by the 3.1 million public and private students in Florida.

In accusing their opponents of being bought off, the students deny the sincerity and legitimacy of supporters of gun rights. They treat the Second Amendment as an inkblot on the Constitution, and dismiss all counterarguments as transparent rationalizations. Not only is this a (appropriately) juvenile view of the gun debate that ignores Supreme Court jurisprudence, the genuine support of the NRA by millions of people and the serious, practical objections to gun-control proposals, it removes all possibility of a middle ground.

Tellingly, it is Marco Rubio who is the foremost object of the ire of the students, when he has been notably open and accommodating. He showed up at the CNN town hall to get abused, and has shown remarkable forbearance in handling political attacks on him that are shameless blood libels. He sponsored incremental school safety legislation that is becoming law, and for his trouble he is deemed a moral monster who doesnt care how many people have to die as long as he gets a few more campaign contributions.

Maybe all of this can be written off as the work of overenthusiastic, underinformed 17-year-olds. But the student activists arent acting alone. They are promoted and praised by adults who should know better. Since the kids serve a useful purpose in promoting gun control, though, it is practically forbidden in much of the media to dissent from anything they say.

It was hard to believe that our public debate could get even more sophomoric. The student activists are here to say, Yes, it can.By the time the trigger was pulled at 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 1968, fulfilling his prophecy from the night before, Martin Luther King Jr. was already slipping into history. The 39-year-old man dying on a balcony in Memphis no longer attracted the same rapt attention as the 26-year-old phenomenon who was delivered to the world stage by a bus boycott in Montgomery.

King was less than five years removed from his I Have a Dream speech at the March on Washington and little more than three years from winning the Nobel Peace Prize, yet to many of his detractors and admirers he was becoming irrelevant. A 1966 Gallup poll on his popularity gave him a positive rating of 32 percent and a negative Trump-like rating of 63 percent.

His frequent and impassioned critiques of the Vietnam War and poverty drew wide scorn, including from allies in the civil rights movement. Younger black activists were impatient with Kings nonviolence and fame, and their voices were rising in louder and greater numbers to challenge his. The Poor Peoples Campaign he was planning for Washington, D.C., and his detour to Memphis to support striking black garbage workers werent popular even among his staff.

When he walked out onto the balcony of Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel, King wasnt the icon whose birthday was a national holiday. He was an exhausted, beleaguered and polarizing figure.

If King was slipping into history at the time of his murder, 50 years later hes now one of historys favored children. Denied longevity in this life, hes now preserved as a world historical figure, the lodestar for movements seeking justice, freedom and equality through nonviolence.

That a man who nearly two-thirds of his fellow countrymen and women viewed negatively would have a national holiday less than 20 years after his death speaks to his singular stature and legacy.

King occupied a special time and place in history  circumstances and his extraordinary gifts met in a perfect union of purpose and need. Thousands of courageous women and men created the modern civil rights movement, but King emerged as its embodiment  becoming, as A. Philip Randolph introduced him at the March on Washington, the moral voice of the nation.

If, in the 18th century, the Founding Fathers gave life to the nation and if in the 19th century, Abraham Lincoln fought to keep the body politic together, it was King in the 20th century who led the struggle to redeem Americas soul.

King was rooted in the African-American experience, found his voice in the black church, waded in the nonviolent spiritual waters of Christ and Gandhi, and devoted his life to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Kings idealism made him seek to transform hearts and minds away from bigotry, injustice and suffering. Kings pragmatism made him understand that of more immediate importance was to change the countrys unjust laws, that regardless of how people thought and felt, their behavior must align with the Constitution.

Besides King himself, the person most responsible for how we view him and honor his legacy was his remarkable wife, Coretta Scott King, who died in 2006. She created the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and advocated for the national holiday, not as static memorials but living testimonials to the philosophy of nonviolence that animated and defined his work. Her purpose was to extend Kings legacy and continue his work by teaching nonviolence as a way of life, as well as a strategy for social change.

Thats how the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination should be commemorated: through living testimonials of nonviolence against the problems afflicting us. And we should pay a little less attention to the I Have a Dream King and a little more to the Where Do We Go from Here? King.

I Have a Dream is a masterpiece of oratory that is a gift to humanity. His riff on his dream is as thrilling a public performance as ever delivered.

But he said it was a dream. Like the Promised Land, were not there yet. Yet many cling to the dream motif and what they perceive as the comfortable King who doesnt challenge them. Prophets are less troublesome after theyve become martyrs.

King was unpopular when he died because he made people uncomfortable and because the marches, boycotts and other acts of direct action he led were inconvenient. He was a Christian minister who took seriously Christs teachings to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. He was a Nobel Peace laureate who believed he was charged to speak out against war.

His last book, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? challenged America to be honest about its crippling legacy of racism; to stop its senseless violence; to ease the suffering of its poor; and to make better the lives of all its people. Through nonviolence. Through love.

When I speak of love, King wrote, I am speaking of that love which all great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life  . Let us hope that this spirit will become the order of the day. We can no longer afford to worship the God of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation.

Hatred and retaliation pulled the trigger that took Martin Luther King Jr.s life. His place in history is assured. The redemption of this nations soul, if those beasts continue to roam, is not.- Kaduna state governor has blasted senators from the state for speaking against his loan request

- Senator Shehu Sani, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, Senator Danjuma Laah, a PDP senator all spoke against the loan

- The Kaduna state governor accused the senators of elevating their personal frustrations above the rights of the people

Governor Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna state has lashed out at Senators from the state for their roles in the rejection of the 350 million dollars World Bank loan for Kaduna state

Senator Shehu Sani who represents Kaduna central, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, the senator representing Kaduna North, Senator Danjuma Laah, a PDP senator who represents Kaduna South all spoke against the loan on the floor of the Senate.

El Rufai who made his feeling know on Facebook accused the senators of elevating their personal frustrations above the rights of the people.

"The Nigerian Senate has elevated the ego of some of its members above the demands of public policy. As the three senators from Kaduna state spoke, it was apparent that they have put their personal frustrations above the right of the people of Kaduna state to decent investment in human capital development through good schools and hospitals, and better quality of life and accelerated economic growth through the provision of infrastructure.

"We are grateful to the House of Representatives for its kind endorsement of the request. We march on with the task of governing the state, and we shall continue to enjoy the support of our development partners," he wrote.

READ ALSO: FG releases names of alleged looters

Legit.ng recalls that the Senate on Thursday, March 29, rejected the request of Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai to secure a 350 million dollar World Bank loan for Kaduna state.

The senators rejected the request on the premise that obtaining the loan may put so much pressure on the management of the state which presently has a debt burden of $232.1 million.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Senate took the stand after accepting the recommendations of its Committee on Local and Foreign Debt and contributions by all the three Senators from the state, who declined support to the loan request.

Sen. Shehu Sani, who presented the report on Kaduna State Development Policy Operation (DPO) Credit Facility from the World Bank, said although it was approved by the bank in 2016, accepting the loan would compound the financial situation of the state.

He said that if approved, the state total debt stock would rise to $582.1 million

Sani explained that the world bank facility was captured in the 2016  2018 borrowing plan as approved by the National Assembly and has attractive low financing data of 1.25 percent interest; moratorium of 5 years and a 25 year maturity tenor.

He added that the facility was also captured in the 2016-2018 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

According to the latest Debt Management Office figures, Kaduna State has a total debt stock of $232.1 million, he said, adding that approving the $350 million loan request would bring the states total debt stock to $582.1 million.

It would be unsustainable and a huge burden on the states finances, the senator, who represents Kaduna central said.

With the new borrowing, the Debt Service to Revenue Ratio of Kaduna state will further be increased and thus impact negatively on the ability of the state to meet other basic needs of its people.

The new debt stock will likely, further erode the economic viability of the state, he said.

Also, Sen. Suleiman Hunkuyi (APC-Kaduna North) said the loan was a misplaced priority and should be rejected.

One is amazed to find out what the governor has gone ahead to indicate to the public is completely different from what we found in the application of those facilities.

I am a representative of my people; for whatever reason the Nigerian law stipulates, this chamber shall moderate to approve for such facility.

I crave the indulgence of our colleagues that the application of that loan among other things is indeed a misplaced priority as we have clearly seen and hence strongly stand behind the prayer that this chamber do reject the request for the loan.

Similarly, Sen. Danjuma Laah (PDP-Kaduna South) said I feel the loan is not important and I am a messenger of my people, my constituency.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app

My constituency did not give me the authority for a loan to be approved for whatever reason.

The money received by Kaduna state is much; I cannot understand how there is nothing happening in Kaduna.

The government is busy retiring people, sacking people, they are asking for money to do what with the loan. This loan should not be granted, he said.

In his contribution, Deputy Senate Leader, Bala NaAllah urged the senate to reject the loan request.

We live in a democratic society; you do not look at the representative of the people, you look at the people they are representing.

Three senators have so far spoken on this matter and it happens they are from Kaduna.

It appears that apart from the resolution of the main committee, the senators appear to be in agreement that the recommendation of the committee should be upheld by the senate, he said.

Legit.ng had reported that a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Danazumi Mai Lambu said that the party may lose election in Kaduna state if the squabble in the state continues, Leadership reports.

Lambu said the continued crisis between some notable members of the party in Kaduna and the state governor Nasiru El-Rufai must be stopped.

He urged the warring parties to thread with caution to avoid jeopardizing the existing goodwill of the APC throughout the two years reign of President Muhammadu Buhari.

What does Nigeria need right now? (Nigerian Street Interview) on Legit.ng TV.

Source: Legit- Two suspected cultists have been arrested in Lagos by the Lagos state police

- They were nabbed on Thursday while trying to attack a rival gang member at Illasamajta area of Lagos

- The Lagos police urged all those who belong to cultist societies to renounce their membership

The police in Lagos state, on Friday, March 30, said they had arrested two suspected cultists, simply identified as Kanmi,( also known as Father) and Alami Samuel.

The spokesman of the command, SP Chike Oti, in a statement, confirmed the arrest to newsmen, stressing that they were nabbed on Thursday, March 29, while trying to attack a rival gang member at Illasamaja area of Lagos.

READ ALSO: FG releases names of alleged looters

Oti said the first suspect was arrested based on credible intelligence report as he had been on a wanted list for long over many violent crimes, including cultism.

The notorious cultist, identified as Kanmi alias Father has been was arrested at Illasamaja area of Lagos. Credit: RRS, Facebook

He said the commissioner of police, Mr Imohimi Edgar, directed the divisional police officer of Ilasamaja to bring to an end the reign of Kanmi the Father who had terrorised the community for long.

Also arrested was one Alami Samuel, 22 years of age, an associate of Kanmi the Father. Credit: RRS, Facebook

The statement read: "Based on credible intelligence available to Lagos state police command, that some cultists led by one Kanmi alias Father were planning to strike in Ilasamaja community on the 29th day of March 2018, the commissioner of Police, Lagos state, directed the divisional police officer of Ilasamaja, SP. Oriyomi Oluwasanmi Titilayo to bring to an end the reign of the blood thirsty cult henchman who had been terrorising that community for a long time now and had become worse since he came back from the prison.

"True to type, at exactly 5pm, Kanmi whose trade marks were sorrow, tears and blood arrived the community with his gang unknown to him that his rank had been infiltrated by the underground operatives of the Command.

"The DPO and team who were on standby for him and his gang, sighted Kanmi a.k.a Father at Hassan street, Ilasamaja with two of his criminal associates in a fight with a young man suspected to be a member of a rival confraternity. Kanmi had lifted his matchet to cut his rival before he was challenged by the police team.

"He immediately took to his heels and was pursued and arrested by the police. He was frisked and a locally made pistol loaded with two cartridges was recovered from him.

"Also arrested was one Alami Samuel, 22 years of age, an associate of Kanmi the Father.

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The CP Lagos wishes to use this medium to warn all those who belong to these nefarious clandestine societies to renounce their membership or be arrested and dealt with according to the law.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that in an unprecedented move when many are doubtful of Nigeria police, Nigerians have heaped praises on the Lagos State Police Command for their professionalism and protection during the Christmas and New year celebrations.

Legit.ng visits family attacked by Badoo cult group - on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit Nigeria- The Emir of Anka in Zamfara, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad, says it is disturbing that Fulanis are always mentioned when attacks occur in parts of the country

- He states that the issue of frequent attacks should be addressed before it is too late

The Emir of Anka in Zamfara, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad, has said Fulani leaders should be worried that attacks in almost all parts of the country are alleged to be carried out by people of Fulani extraction.

The monarch made the statement on Friday, March 30, when briefing journalists in his palace over the recent attacks that occurred in Bawan Daji village at Anka local government area of Zamfara state, The News Agency of Nigeria reports.

READ ALSO: Breaking: FG releases names of alleged looters

It is disturbing to hear that most of the criminal attacks taking place in almost all parts of the country, involve the Fulani or they are always mentioned, he said.

The monarch urged the Fulani leaders to call on their people and find out what they really wanted.

This meeting should be called immediately because it is a matter of urgency that should be addressed before it is too late, the traditional ruler said.

He said the recent attacks in Bawan Daji village was allegedly carried out by attackers reported to be of the Fulani extraction.

Legit.ng had earlier reported that more than 30 persons were on Thursday, March 29, buried in Bawan Daji village of Anka Local Government Area of Zamfara, following a gunmen attack on the village.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the bandits attacked the area after some members of the community held a meeting to discuss measures to be taken against the bandits during the 2018 farming season.

The bandits had earlier threatened that there would be no farming activities in the area in this years rainy season.

Liman Umar, one of the community leaders and the deputy Imam of the village, told newsmen that the bandits had been harassing people in the area, brandishing sophisticated weapons without talking to anyone.

Nigerian herdsmen vs Nigerian farmers on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- The Taraba state government has said that it no longer had confidence in the Federal Government

- This is due to the security deployments by the government to the state

- This was made known by the senior special adviser to the Taraba state governor on media and publicity, Dan Bala Abu

The Taraba government has said that it no longer had confidence in the Federal Government security apparatus deployed to the state.

The government's position was made known by the senior special adviser to the Taraba state governor on media and publicity, Dan Bala Abu who spoke to journalists on Friday, March 30.

Abu said that although there was relative peace now in Taraba, the state government did not have confidence in the security apparatus of the Federal Government to maintain peace and security in the state.

An aide to the Governor Darius Ishaku spoke on behalf of the Taraba state government. Photo source: Twitter

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He said that the Taraba people were continually losing faith in the ability of the present crop of security personnel deployed in the state to conduct their affairs without bias.

He said that the people of the state were not satisfied with the way the military were harassing, disarming them and even collecting their kitchen knives while the attackers wielding sophisticated weapons like AK-47 were allowed to go on a killing spree.

His words: What we are saying is that even the relative peace we are enjoying now, we still do not have confidence in the military.

We are saying that we have lost confidence in the military because nothing has been done to all our complaints that people were being disarmed and that the military are discriminating in the way they doing it.

They collect their kitchen knives from them while they leave the other persons who are carrying AK-47. So where is the justice in this matter, thats why we are saying that we have lost confidence?

We have the right to say that the people that were posted to restore peace are not doing what is expected of them, that they are biased. It is left for them to find out what is wrong and do what they have do to correct the wrongs being done.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to sack all the security chiefs immediately for their failure to curb killings in different parts of Nigeria.

The demand was made by the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) in a communique issued after their expanded national executive meeting held in Ado Ekiti on Thursday, March 29, following the recurrent massacre in Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa states.

The YCE noted that most Nigerians have lost confidence in the security chiefs especially the inspector general of police, Ibrahim Idris. The group added that the military can no longer be trusted to protect all Nigerians.

READ ALSO: Security agencies have been corrupted - Obasanjos coalition insists

Should Nigerians pick up arms to defend themselves against herdsmen? on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit Nigeria- The Emir of Anka in Zamfara, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad, expresses shock that insurgents still carried out mass killings in Zamfara state less than a week after President Buhari's visit

- He says he has lost confidence in the ability and commitment of security personnel to protect his people

The Emir of Anka in Zamfara, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad, has threatened to seek the intervention of the United Nations to end the protracted attacks on his domain by gunmen and insurgents.

The first class traditional ruler made this known in his palace when the Governor Abdulazeez Yari of the state paid a condolence visit on Friday, March 30, The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

READ ALSO: Security agencies have been corrupted - Obasanjos coalition insists

The emir expressed shock that in less than a week after President Muhammadu Buhari visited the state and charged security agents to brace up and end all forms of insecurity, insurgents still carried out mass killings.

He said he had lost confidence in the ability and commitment of the security personnel because they had failed in the discharge of their obligations to provide security to the lives and property of the law abiding residents in his domain on different occasions.

According to him, the only hope for the state is to seek the assistance of UN or African Union (AU) in fighting the insurgency in the state.

He alleged that corruption among the security agencies and judiciary was the factor fuelling the security problems in the state, saying he will make available list of all identified corrupt security personnel and judges to the state as soon as it would be possible.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app

He stressed the need to secure permanent base for security agencies to protect the areas under constant attacks by the gunmen.

Earlier, Yari expressed regret over the incessant attacks, urging the security agencies to intensify their efforts at restoring normalcy in the affected areas.

He therefore urged the security agents to apprehend all persons in possession of weapons henceforth to reduce the attacks.

Legit.ng earlier reported that the Emir of Anka in Zamfara has said Fulani leaders should be worried that attacks in almost all parts of the country are alleged to be carried out by people of Fulani extraction.

The monarch made the statement on Friday, March 30, when briefing journalists in his palace over the recent attacks that occurred in Bawan Daji village at Anka local government area of Zamfara state.

The monarch urged the Fulani leaders to call on their people and find out what they really wanted.

Nigerian herdsmen vs Nigerian farmers on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ngFrom time immemorial, Yoruba monarchs are referred to as oba no matter the town they come from but that is about to change as one of the topmost oba has decided to drop the title and adopt another one from Hausaland.

The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba AbdulRasheed Akanbi, has been known for his boldness and outspokenness.

The young king who is married to a foreign lady has been known for his controversies and he has yet dropped another one as he said he sees nothing wrong in him being referred to as an emir, a titled basically being used by traditional rulers in Hausaland.

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Oluwo of Iwo Oba AbdulRasheed Akanbi adopts emir title, gives reason

While many are seeing adopting the emir title as an insult to Yoruba culture, the monarch clarified the reason he opted for the new title. He said:

I said earlier that I would never insult the Yoruba culture for any reason. The Yoruba culture is so rich that nobody can insult it. I also said earlier that I would not say or do anything based on nothing. That is why I said we should always seek knowledge to understand issues better. The Emir title is used by the Hausa-Fulani. But has anyone researched into the meaning? Emir is not even Hausa or Fulani, it is an Arabic word. Arabic is an international language like English and French. Now, what does Emir mean? It means king. It means the same as Oba which the Yoruba find convenient to call me. If we are seeking true unity in this country, I dont see the reason why I cannot use Emir which simply means my title in another language. To me, the unity of Nigeria is strengthened by our diversity. We should appreciate what God has given us through this diversity. How did you feel watching the Super Eagles take on Poland? You felt proud as a Nigerian, not as a Yoruba or Ibo or Hausa. That was a demonstration of the unity in our diversity. The team is made up of people from different ethnic groups and they give us results. I will not relent on this issue because I believe so much in it. That is why you will always see me among the Emirs today, the Obis tomorrow and back home among my fellow Obas.

Among the controversies allegedly courted by the Oluwo of Iwo was his naming the ancient town an Islamic town.

Oba Akanbi was enthroned as the traditional ruler of Iwo town in Osun state in late 2015.

READ ALSO: Davidos second daughter Hailey plays with bundle of 100 dollar bills (photos)

Legit.ng reported that the Oluwo of Iwo land in an interview disclosed that he has the power to heal people. He also revealed that any man of God who does not pick up calls of others at night is a loser.

He also once boasted that he has the power to stop rain from falling if he wants to.

He said: I can command the rain to stop. I have done it more than once. An oba who doesnt worship lesser gods, an oba that worships no other thing than God who does not sleep. If you have a pastor that sleeps that you are relying on, you are going to lose. If you have an Imam who has a wife and when he sleeps by his wife in the night, you call him and he cant pick your call, you know you are a loser. If you have a babalawo as your backbone, your backbone will break. I have only God. It is not about Islam, it is not about Christianity, it is not about babalawo, it is about divinity.

There is light at the end of the tunnel - Ooni of Ife - on Legit.ng TV:

Source: LegitYves here. I anticipate our Brexit regulars will read this post and weep. Some Remainers and perhaps some others with not strongly held views are starting to wake up to what a train wreck Brexit could be, and that the risk of a crash out is real. So what is their remedy? Ask the EU for an extension of the March 29, 2019 deadline. I kid you not.

By Andrea Pisauro, who is researching on decision-making at the University of Glasgow. He is an enthusiastic activist of Another Europe is Possible and a loyal member of the Labour Party. You can follow him at @andreapisauro. Originally published at VoxEU

A paradox of our time: EU elections in Britain could trigger a genuine debate about Brexit, healing some of the divisions that the referendum has created.

One year ago, the government of Theresa May notified the European Council of its intention to leave the European Union. As a European citizen living in this country it was a sad time. As a person who believes in democracy, triggering article 50 had to be the necessary consequence of the outcome of the referendum.

Since then, the clock has been ticking. Article 50 requires that in one years time, that is before March 29, 2019, the UK government must sign a deal with the EU about their future relationship, or roll out of it without.

Despite Mays reassurances that no deal is better than a bad deal, it is clear that the inability to reach a deal would be a catastrophe for most of us. From one day to the next, almost 3 million EU citizens in the UK and more than 1 million UK citizens in the EU will effectively become outlaws. About 554 billion in trade between the UK and the EU would suddenly be subject to customs and levies under WTO rules. All EU grants supporting UK institutions and other EU-funded activities would be suspended. Most worryingly, a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland would come into force, endangering the Good Friday agreement which put an end to 40 years of Troubles.

In her Lancaster speech in January 2017, May considered such a scenario, suggesting that she would feel free to change the basis of Britains economic model in what Jeremy Corbyn has rightly described as a bargain basement tax haven on the shores of Europe. Everyone needs to face up to the outcome of a Tory-led no-deal Brexit: a bonfire of rights, where working conditions and living standards would be traded for tax exemptions to attract the worlds best companies and biggest investors, as May put it.

In the same Lancaster speech, Theresa May outlined a plan where Britain is set to quit both the single market and the custom union, pulling the UK out of any form of common jurisdiction with the other 27 EU nations. What will come then is not clear. In her Florence speech, May called for a creative solution for a comprehensive and ambitious economic partnership. But the time for such a creative solution is running out. It took the government six months to agree on the divorce settlements, and another three months to agree the terms of the transition period (in short: most things stay as they are until December 2020). All of which would be useless without some agreement on the terms of the future relationship according to the EU negotiating principle that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

When and if such an agreement is signed, it would require proper scrutiny by the EU Parliament and importantly, also by the UK one. This is because Labour first traded a parliamentary vote on the deal before deciding to vote in favour of triggering article 50 and then defeated the Government with an amendment to secure this meaningful vote. This parliamentary process requires time, and in order to be completed before the deadline of 29 March 2019, it implies starting it by latest October.

While May tried to detail some aspects of this comprehensive deal in her Mansion House speech earlier this month, there are no signs the EU is willing to commit to a sector by sector agreement, whose inherent complexity makes it impossible to strike in less than a few years. Moreover, no solution for Northern Ireland has been provided by the government, which has effectively agreed with the EU to allow custom checks across the Irish sea as a last resort given the lack of alternatives. Should they fail to materialise in these 6 months, the vote on the Brexit deal would become a choice between breaking apart the common market of the Irish island or that of the United Kingdom, with enormous political implications in both cases.

Brexit shadow secretary Keir Starmer has intelligently put forward six key tests to decide Labours vote on the deal. In the absence of a significant policy shift of the Government, those tests are bound to fail, and Labour would hopefully be joined by enough Tory rebels to bring down the deal. What would happen then is impossible to predict, but surely negotiations with the EU should resume to avoid a cliff-edge before the deadline.

Labours ingenious proposal to negotiate a new custom union with the EU could be a sensible solution, both for Northern Ireland and to limit friction on trade. However, there is simply no way it can be negotiated in the six months that would follow a vote against whatever Brexit deal May might strike. Disentangling the custom union from the single market is an extremely complex task which requires careful reflection on both sides, and patience doesnt run high in Brussels, after what appears to be a never-ending indecisiveness from the British side. Besides, Labour could only come to negotiate a deal after getting into government through a general election, which would steal a few more months from the total. There simply isnt enough time to change Mays Brexit course.

One year on, we need to refresh our minds. Why is the most ancient democracy on earth deploying an enormous amount of resources running round the clock to deliver a seemingly impossible task? Why March 29, 2019? Theresa May is the only person equipped to answer this question, but there is one puzzling explanation which is worth considering. On May 2019 all European citizens will vote to elect the new European Parliament, and if Brexit isnt accomplished before that date, UK citizens should also be allowed to vote in that election. What they would vote for is a matter of opinion but one could easily imagine that a EU election in Britain might trigger a national discussion about the complex implications of the referendum result.

Its easy then to see one reason why May chose that particular date. Mays decision to trigger article 50 on March 2017 didnt reflect the clarity of her Brexit strategy (which isnt clear to anyone one year later). But It might well reflect her determination to prevent any EU election happening in Britain. It is easy to imagine her motive. The referendum campaign was a time of bitter divisions across the country, divisions which have hardly begun to heal two years on. The country was effectively split in two along generational, geographical, economic and national lines.

Could the EU elections be any different, and what would be the use of electing MEPs from a state which has chosen to leave the EU? While its difficult to answer these questions, there are at least three good reasons for believing that an EU election could heal some of the divisions that the referendum has created.

First, it would be a discussion involving clear proposals and not vague ideological alternatives such as Remain or Leave, one in which nothing was to change and the other in which nobody knew what exactly was to change. Lists of candidates put forward for such an election would need to be explicit about which specific aspect of the relationship with the EU should be retained or abandoned.

Second, there is no upper limit to the number of lists of candidates that could be put forward in a EU election. Contrary to a referendum which has just two options, people could express their voting preference for those who advocate for a no-deal Brexit, or choose between those who prefer a hard or a soft Brexit (for instance retaining a custom union with the EU or not), or no Brexit at all, for that matter.

Interestingly, its not just political parties that could have lists of candidates standing: independent citizens could organise themselves to collect signatures to offer their own vision for Brexit. In fact, political parties could take the chance to skip a turn and let the people self-organise to determine their future relationship with Europe. Whichever government is in charge would get a much clearer picture of the much debated will of the people regarding Brexit, effectively democratizing the whole process.

Third, an EU election would also allow UK citizens to participate in a continental campaign about the future of the European Union, where, together with the other 500 million people, they could choose the Parliament which would vote for the next European Commission. Even if Britain is set to leave the EU, it makes sense that it should be allowed to participate in choices that will shape its future during the time it takes to understand how to leave it.

What to do then? The most sensible Brexit strategy anyone can put forward at this point is asking the European Council to extend the article 50 negotiation window and allow EU elections to happen in Britain too. If the European Council were to agree, as is allowed under the treaty, this would not only grant more time to come up with a sensible solution for the complex decisions linked to the Brexit process, it would also be a refreshing opportunity to democratise Brexit and collectively take back control of our future.

There is only one person in Britain with the sense and the power to make such a call. Brexit is what we make of it, Jezza, but we gotta ask for enough time to figure it out!Pope Francis says ashamed by state of world in Good Friday prayer DW

Camera rescued after two years lost at sea BBC (Robert M)

An Italian experiment is tantalizingly close to detecting dark matter Salon

Shipping faces demands to cut CO2 BBC

States that are passing laws to govern smart contracts have no idea what theyre doing MIT Technology Review (David L)

Political arguments inside Google have gotten so bad that 100 employees formed a group to stop cyberbullying Business Insider (David L)

How corporate dark money is taking power on both sides of the Atlantic Guardian

Stress May Not Only Affect The Brains Of The Stressed Psychology Today (David L)

We now have the first clear evidence cell phone radiation can cause cancer in rats MIT Technology Review

North Korea

France paralysed as unions revive the spirit of 1968 The Times

New Cold War

Syraqistan

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Trump Transition

Big American Money, Not Russia, Put Trump in the White House: Reflections on a Recent Report Counterpunch. Tom Fergusons study is the lead story.

Health Care

Congressmans Office Gets High School Student Suspended For Expressing His Displeasure With Congress Techdirt (Chuck L)

Texas woman gets five years prison for illegal voting Fort Worth Star-Telegram (UserFriendly)

Drugs, lies, bribery exposed in Virginias transportation agency fredericksburg.com. JTM: A reminder that corruption never sleeps unless its with a sex worker or subordinate

Black Injustice Tipping Point

The Grift

Ex-Kirkland Partner Robert Khuzami Banked $11M Partnership Share Law.com. Adrien F: Revolting. For those of you who followed the crisis, Khuzami refused to pursue CDO related abuses, no doubt because any hard look would go back to patient zero, Greg Lippmann of Deutsche Bank, where Khuzami had been General Counsel of the Americas from 2004 to 2009.

Facebook Fracas

Should Tech Companies Be More Tightly Regulated? Project Syndicate (David L)

Tesla Says Autopilot Was Engaged in Fatal Crash Under Investigation in California Wall Street Journal

Tesla reveals the driver killed in a Model X crash was traveling with Autopilot engaged, received several automated warnings before the collision Business Insider (David L)

Regulators decline to challenge CLO retention exemption Reuters

Royal Dutch Shell and Total flirt with becoming utilities Economist

Does Foreign Direct Investment Generate Economic Growth? A New Empirical Approach Applied to Spain: Economic Geography: Vol 0, No 0 (UserFriendly). Important.

Class Warfare

Antidote du jour. Timotheus: All over Latin America, Semana Santa is occasion for a total shut-down of pretty much all activity. So I thought perhaps this animal friend might be a good antidote for one of the upcoming weekend days.

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour hereFrdiay, March 23, saw a large gathering of Fethard folk assemble in the Abymill Theatre to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the Fethard Historical Society that occurred on March 23, 1988.

The evening turned into a celebration of all things Fethard and a very positive note was aired by all who participated in the event. Mary Hanrahan, one of the founding member, was MC for the evening and thanked everyone in block- so as to avoid omitting anyone - for all their help to the society, town and community, over the past 30 years.

Terry Cunningham, current chairperson, then gave a whistle stop tour - with the aid of over a hundred slides - of some the societys activities of the over the past three decades. The audience were very impressed indeed with the sheer volume, scale and diversity of the works undertaken, and the chairperson did emphasise that there had been a lot of people hours spent by society members over those years.

Clare Lee from the Planning section of Tipperary County Council spoke next and outlined very clearly the overall planning process, from national to local, with a special focus on Fethard. She assured the audience of the councils commitment to enhancing the overall environment of the area and knowledge that Fethard was a special place that required specific treatment that would safeguard and enhance its unique medieval heritage.

Last to present on the evening was Alison Harvey from the Heritage Council of Ireland, the national body that informs Government policy in the whole heritage area throughout the country. Fethard Historical Society credits Alison with being one of the first people of influence that championed Fethards cause and her work was instrumental in initiating the funding stream that enabled much conservation works on stabilising sections of the Town Wall.

Alison spoke in glowing terms of the achievements of the people and organisations of the town and how their combined efforts are looked on by the Heritage Council as somewhat of a template as to what can be achieved when everyone is pulling in the same direction.

Presentations were then made to the founding members of the original committee from 1988. Two bouquets of flowers were then presented to current members, Mary Hanrahan and Marie ODonnell, who were also members of the original committee.

The celebrations concluded upstairs in the Abymill where quite an elaborate banquet awaited and a great air of celebration - and indeed satisfaction - of a job well done was evident throughout.(Natural News) Over the past few years, raising poultry has become immensely popular in the United States  more popular than it has been in quite some time. Naturally, given the power-hungry nature of those who claim to represent us, the government is continuously looking for ways to regulate this growing trend of food independence.

As noted by ScienceDaily.com, a study that was conducted by the University of California, Davis suggests that local ordinances and regulations are not doing enough to address human and animal health when it comes to raising backyard poultry. Ironically, as people seek to take control over the way their food is grown, most ordinances fail to ensure basic health and welfare for birds and humans, explained Catherine Brinkley, assistant professor of community and regional development in UC Daviss College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Professor Brinkley is also the primary author of the study, which is entitled, A Method for Guarding Animal Welfare and Public Health: Tracking the Rise of Backyard Poultry Ordinances and was recently published in the Journal of Community Health.

The author of the study recommends that more laws should be enacted that mandate vaccinations (even though that would pose an even bigger threat to the health and well-being of those that would be affected by said law, and could potentially raise some constitutional issues), and establish manure management and general animal welfare regulations in urban and suburban areas similar to the policies that are commonly imposed on commercial chicken ranches. (Related: If youre looking to start raising your own chickens, heres a beginners guide to help you out.)

Provisions governing animal slaughter and routine veterinary care are rare, presenting a concern for monitoring and intervening in public health crises, the study goes on to say. In addition, shelters anticipate higher poultry intakes, particularly as unwanted birds are turned loose to become strays.

But while this study primarily focuses on introducing new laws and regulations as a means of combating what the author describes as a growing health issue, many believe its more about generating revenue. In most urban areas where the raising of backyard poultry is allowed, ordinances have usually been established on the local level, shaped by the citizens of that community. They commonly and adequately address the issues that normally come with raising chickens. For example, some communities ban roosters because of the noise they make that some people could see as annoying and disruptive. Removing roosters also prevents reproduction, keeping flock sizes small and manageable.

Back in 2015, a newspaper in the state of Connecticut reported that the town of Glastonbury had approved a regulation that the town council said at the time was meant to properly control and minimize complaints about raising poultry in residential neighborhoods.

The regulation, which passed by a 6-1 vote, banned roosters in residential lots of less than five acres and also limited the number of chickens individuals are legally allowed to raise depending on how much land they have. For those who have less than 1 acre, no more than ten chickens are allowed, and for those who live on between 1 and 5 acres, no more than 15. Lastly, the policy mandates that all chickens (including free-range birds) be kept in a chicken coop and fenced in.

Down the road, this regulation will be self-policing, explained Community Development Director Kenith E. Leslie. People will get their chickens in order, quite frankly, and make this regulation work.

By limiting the size of flocks, most health issues are a nonissue, as there usually arent any. Chickens, when raised correctly, are part of an ecosystem. They remain clean and healthy with space and proper food (which commercial operations dont provide), and in return they fertilize the yard and keep bugs at bay. Foul rarely require medication or vaccines of any kind.

While the study that was put out by UC Davis may have addressed the need for more regulations and ordinances on raising backyard poultry as a means of minimizing health risks, its clear that the well-being of the citizens isnt the only thing on the minds of these lawmakers. Its not farfetched to say that many of these big government politicians are simply looking for a piece of the pie, so to speak, and what better way to collect money from hardworking Americans than by way of trivial and unnecessary regulations?

Follow FoodSupply.news for more coverage of the fragile nature of our food supply.

Sources include:

ScienceDaily.com

Courant.com(Natural News) In the days following Fox News host Laura Ingrahams slight jab at the Lefts latest gun-control darling, David Hogg, for being rejected by four University of California campuses, the angry little waif called for a boycott of her advertisers.

He tweeted out to his 600,000-plus followers a list of a dozen show sponsors and advertisers and asked his flock of sheep to pick a number between 1-12 and give those companies what for.

In large part, the call-to-action has worked. As the poster child of Left-wing mainstream news, the New York Daily News, gleefully reported, as of Friday seven advertisers had pulled the plug on Ingrahams show:

Toxic TV talking head Laura Ingraham offered a tuchus-covering mea culpa Thursday after advertisers fled her Fox show because she mocked a Florida high school shooting survivor.

Nestle, Johnson & Johnson, TripAdvisor, Hulu and Rachael Rays pet food company and home furnishing website Wayfair, announced that they were pulling their ad dollars from the show after Ingraham tried to Twitter-shame Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School senior David Hogg for getting turned down by four colleges.

As of this writing, others have also pulled their advertising, feigning outrage over Ingrahams spot-on observation that young Mr. Hogg was whining on Twitter earlier about being rejected from the four schools (which, frankly, stunned me; I thought to get into a University of California school you were required to be a Left-wing lemming  a stipulation even more crucial that your grade-point average).

As Debra Heine at PJ Media reported:

The 17-year-old is determined to change the world, and in fact believes he is already doing so. In a recent interview with TMZ, during which Hogg revealed he had been rejected by four University of California campuses, he stated: At this point, were already changing the world. If colleges want to support us in that, great, if they dont, it doesnt matter, were still going to change the world.

Apparently one of the ways he aims to change the world is by deplatforming conservatives through advertiser boycotts.

This isnt new. The Left deplatforming conservative voices has been tried before and in large part has failed to quell our voices of reason. The most recent Fox News host to face the Lefts advertiser boycott drive was Sean Hannity who reported some never-before-aired information about twists in the case of murdered former DNC staffer Seth Rich.

Nobody tells me what to say on my show. They never have and frankly they never will, he said in an interview with Alt-Left HuffPost. And today, he remains on the air with ratings stronger than before.

But as you can see, there is no shortage of corporate cowards more than willing to put their investors at risk by dumping advertising on a program with great reach (Ingrahams audience is in the low millions every night) to support the latest foul-mouthed, Left-wing flavor of the month. (Related: Graham: Media should ask every congressional Democrat if they want to repeal the Second Amendment as floodgates open to ban guns.)

I have refrained from being too harsh on young Mr. Hogg a) because I have kids of my own; and b) because I have no doubt that what he and his classmates endured was horrific for them and something no child of any country should ever have to endure.

But when he begins to attack another persons livelihood, hes crossed a line.

He tweets out a list of advertisers for his lemming followers to assail; they do so and said advertisers wither like the sniveling cowards they are. That could have direct and profound financial implications for Laura Ingraham and her family.

Thats not just irresponsible, that is cruel, pure and simple. And yet he claims hes in this to solve problems and bring us all together for a nice healthy policy chat.

Like the button on his jacket says, I call BS.

Stay current at HoggWatch.com.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources include:

NaturalNews.com

PJMedia.com(Natural News) Roughly 200 students attending the University of California, Santa Barbara staged a walkout early last week to demand more resources for illegal immigrant students, even though there is a strong case to be made that these students shouldnt even be in the country to begin with. Their demands included allowing illegal immigrant students to have easy access to an attorney to defend against potential ICE raids, as well as an area on campus designated as a safe space where they could go to convene and talk about their troubles.

We URGE all of UCSBs students, staff, faculty, and the #SantaBarbara community to take immediate action and join us in our walkout. Do not be idle on this day, there is power in our joint collective, wrote the undocumented student group IDEAS (Improving Dreams, Equality, Access and Success) on their official Facebook page. Congress has failed to vote on a single piece of legislation to protect the 800,000 DACA recipients and 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. (Related: One of Californias sanctuary cities helped to protect a self-admitted murderer who killed an innocent woman).

Apparently, nobody informed this student group that these DACA beneficiaries and the 11 million illegal aliens currently in the country have no right to be here, and are technically not entitled to any kind of protections that get in the way of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents doing their job. They broke the law when they came into this country through the back door, and as for the younger undocumented students who have been in America since birth, perhaps their parents should bear some of the responsibility for bringing them into the country knowing full well that it could result in deportation.

Thankfully, even though California may be one of the most liberal and illegal immigrant-friendly states in the entire country, not everyone is so eager to cave to these demands and provide more protections for undocumented students.

DACA recipients are clearly overplaying their hand if they think that they are in a position of demanding anything from Congress or the American people. We owe them nothing, argued David Ray, director of communications at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). He added that these students should be taking their rage out on the parents, who knowingly and willingly plunged them into this situation in the first place.

Sadly, this is hardly the first time that students have organized to demand that the illegal immigrant students among them be protected from law enforcement. Back in 2016, the Hartford Courant reported that students at Yale University were participating in a campus-wide walkout in an effort to turn Yale into a sanctuary campus. The event was held in response to pledges that then president-elect Donald Trump and his team were making at the time to deport illegal immigrants from the country and to defund sanctuary cities.

Something similar happened in January of last year at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. As PJMedia reported at the time, students on campus organized and established a set of demands aimed at turning the school into a sanctuary not just for illegal immigrant students, but also for their families. Here again, students apparently forgot that this country does have existing immigration laws that need to be followed, and just because an illegal immigrant is a student doesnt automatically entitle them to be protected.

Whether its college campuses, cities or entire states, the fact that we have certain areas of the country not complying with federal immigration laws is a very serious problem that must be addressed. America is either a country of laws, or it is a country of lawlessness; it cannot be both.

Sources include:

LifeZette.com

Courant.com

PJMedia.comFor what is believed to be the first time, a deported veteran living outside the United States has been granted citizenship. Fourteen years after he was first sent to Mexico, decorated U.S. Army Veteran Hector Barajas is preparing to come home to the United States where hes scheduled to take the oath of citizenship in early April. Immigration officials confirmed to NBC Bay Area that Barajas has been approved for citizenship.

Oh my God, this is great! said Barajas, as he read documents from the US Department of Homeland Security, telling him to appear for a citizenship swearing in on April 13, 2018. Im coming home, ma, he said, crying and laughing at the same time.

In February 2017, NBC Bay Areas Investigative Unit found that just like Barajas  as many as 300 U.S. military veterans have been deported after serving honorably in Iraq, Afghanistan, and even Vietnam. The range of crimes listed as deportable offenses for those not technically US citizens was expanded significantly during Bill Clintons presidency. While violent crimes are on that list, so are minor crimes like drug possession, entering the country illegally and failure to appear in court.

Within months of NBC Bay Areas series of reports, California Governor Jerry Brown cleared the way for Barajas to become a citizen last April by granting Barajas a pardon along with two other deported veterans. Of Barajas, the Governors pardon stated, he has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character, and conducted himself as a law abiding citizen.

See full list of April 2017 pardons here

Barajas was born in Mexico, but came to the U.S. with his family at the age of 7, and became a legal permanent resident. He grew up in Compton, about an hour south of Los Angeles. When he enlisted in the US Army, Barajas said recruiters told him that his service would grant him citizenship. Barajas served as a paratrooper for six years and left with an honorable discharge. When he left the army - like a lot of soldiers - he got into trouble with the law. Drugs led him to other crimes, and he pled guilty in 2002 to firing a weapon at a vehicle. No one was wounded. Barajas was sentenced to two years in prison. He served a little more than a year behind bars and then another year of parole. After serving his time, Barajas then received a deportation order.

Hes been fighting to get back home ever since. He has an 11-year-old daughter, and other family members in the U.S. Talking with NBC Bay Area via Skype, Barajas said, Theres days when my daughter would cry, why cant you come over? Id take her to the border and I couldnt go across with her. Now I can. We can go together.

While in Mexico, Barajas created a community center, nicknamed the Bunker, where hes been helping other vets with job prospects, immigration advice and legal services. Through the Bunker, Barajas has counted more than 300 deported veterans.

Despite his struggles, he remains loyal to the United States, and told NBC Bay Area during an interview last year, My allegiance is to the United States. I was born in Mexico but my allegiance and who I choose to fight and die for is the United States of America.

Barajas vows to continue the fight to bring his fellow soldiers home, and said he would stay at the Bunker for one more year. Were going to continue to fight for them, he said. Definitely our work has started a chain reaction and I think eventually the laws will change.

See you on the other side! he added.Moments before a Tesla Model X crashed on Mar. 23 on U.S. 101 near Mountain View, California, "autopilot was engaged with the adaptive cruise control follow-distance set to minimum," Tesla revealed in a statement Friday.

The driver received several visual and audible hands-on warnings earlier in the drive but his hands were not detected on the wheel six seconds before the collision, according to the company.

The driver had about five seconds and 150 meters of unobstructed view of the concrete divider with the crushed crash attenuator, but the vehicle logs show that no action was taken, read the statement.

The driver of the Tesla was identified by the Santa Clara County medical examiner's office as Wei Huang, 38, was taken to Stanford University Medical Center where he succumbed to his injuries.

"He has a wife and two kids, two very young kids he leaves behind," the victims friend, Shawn Price, said. "He was the best."



Tesla assured it continues to do its best to investigate the matter and establish facts about the incident. They also sent their condolences to the victim's family.

"Our hearts are with the family and friends who have been affected by this tragedy," they said. "We care deeply for and feel indebted to those who chose to put their trust in us. We are incredibly sorry for their loss."

Along with sending their thoughts to the family, they wrote about how safe having one of their vehicles on autopilot is. They claim that the U.S. government found that this feature reduces crash rates by as much as 40 percent.

"In the US, there is one automotive fatality every 86 million miles across all vehicles from all manufacturers," Tesla said in a statement, "For Tesla, there is one fatality, including known pedestrian fatalities, every 320 million miles in vehicles equipped with Autopilot hardware. If you are driving a Tesla equipped with Autopilot hardware, you are 3.7 times less likely to be involved in a fatal accident."

They claim that though Tesla Autopilot does not prevent all accidents, it makes them much less likely to occur.

However, Stanford professor Sven Bieker, an expert on automated cars, says the technology in autopiloted vehicles is not advanced enough for cars to be totally self-driving.

"Which really means these are not self-driving vehicles and the driver is the driver, not a passenger yet," Bieker said.

As for Huang's family, they hope an incident like this never happens again.

"I just really hope that whatever investigation occurs that this is prevented in the future," Price said. "I don't want to see other Walters, other people, families, communities other friends ripped apart. He didn't have to go this way."



The company said in an earlier statement that it didnt know what caused the Model X to crash, and it was also unsure if the SUV was operating on its semi-autonomous "Autopilot" system. Tesla said it was working with authorities to recover logs from the damaged SUV's computer.

A missing or damaged safety shield on the end of a California freeway barrier worsened the impact of a crash involving a Tesla SUV that killed a man last week, the electric car maker said on its website.

The SUV was traveling at "freeway speed" when it hit the barrier near Mountain View. The California Highway Patrol says the SUV caught fire for unknown reasons. The 38-year-old driver was pulled from the vehicle by rescuers and later died at a hospital.

On Tuesday, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it had dispatched a two-person team to investigate the crash and fire.

Tesla's semi-autonomous system is designed to keep a vehicle centered in its lane at a set distance from cars in front of it and also can change lanes and brake automatically.

Photographs taken of the SUV show the front of the vehicle was obliterated. Its hood was ripped off and its front wheels were strewn on the freeway. Two other cars were involved in the crash, but their drivers were not reported injured, the CHP said.

Tesla said it in the statement late Tuesday that it was "deeply saddened" by the crash, which it said was made more severe because a crash attenuator, which protects vehicles from hitting the end of concrete lane divider, had either been removed or damaged in a prior accident and was not replaced. "We have never seen this level of damage to a Model X in any other crash," the company wrote.

Tesla also said its owners have driven the same stretch of road with Autopilot on about 85,000 times since 2015, and to its knowledge, there has never been a crash. Tesla says its data shows that a gasoline-powered car in the U.S. is five times more likely to experience a fire than a Tesla.

News of the crash investigation helped to send Tesla stock tumbling more than 8 percent on Tuesday. Late Tuesday, Moody's downgraded the company's credit rating and gave it a negative outlook. Shares continued to decline Wednesday, slipping nearly 4 percent after the market opened to $268.61. The shares have declined about 14 percent since the start of the year on fears of production delays with the mass-market Model 3 electric car.

The NTSB investigation is the second opened by the agency this year involving a Tesla vehicle.

In January, the NTSB and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration dispatched teams to Culver City, near Los Angeles, to investigate the crash of a Model S electric car that may have been operating under the Autopilot system.

That crash remains under investigation.

The investigations come as Congress and federal agencies grapple with how to regulate autonomous vehicles and those with systems that are partially self-driving.

Tesla has taken steps to prevent drivers from using Autopilot improperly, including measuring the amount of torque applied to the steering wheel and sending visual and audio warnings.

If the warnings are ignored, drivers would be prevented from using Autopilot, the company said.

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up for Huang's family.One man is being called a hero after he rescued several children from an apartment fire in West Lebanon, New Hampshire.

Devin Issacs said that he received a knock on his apartment door around 1:50 a.m. Friday from his neighbor repeatedly yelling," My babies!"

Issacs said he was met with smoke as he approached the door. " Flames were coming all the way up the wall in the kitchen," he said.

It was at that moment that his instincts kicked in.

"I knew there was kids involved and I promised her that I would get them out," he said.

"I grabbed [the toddler] and pushed her out," Issacs said. "The upstairs neighbor grabbed her, put her in the stroller and then my girlfriend pushed her out."

After Issacs got the toddler to safety, he grabbed the infant with the help of a neighbor who propped the door open for him.

"I bear crawled in and then got the baby out," Issacs said.

The fire engulfed the kitchen, leaving the unit destroyed. "It's significant damage back to the studs, so quite a bit of work that needs to be done there before that unit's habitable again," said Andrew Winter, Executive Director of Twin Pines Housing.

Smoke from the fire spilled over into the other three units in the building, doing enough damage to leave all of the residents displaced.

Smoke alarms signaled the Lebanon Fire Department to the scene. Fire Chief Chris Christopoulos said that in total, there were about 20 fire fighters from their department, Hanover, Enfield, and a Hartford, Vermont station.

Eight residents were transported to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and have since been released.

"It's a great thing and I applaud [Issacs] for doing it, but on the other side of it, we want to caution people," said Christopoulos, who urged caution to any bystander running back into a burning building. He reminded the public that doing so can make someone a victim as well. However, Issacs said he would do it all over again.

"Houses can be replaced," Issacs said. "Lives can't."

Christopoulos said there has not been a cause determined for the fire yet, but officials do not believe it is suspicious.

The Red Cross is working with Twin Pines Housing to get the displaced residents shelter until they are able to return to their units.What to Know A 31-year-old ICE detainee with a record escaped custody Tuesday at JFK, hopped into a taxi and fled the airport, Port Authority says

He was captured in Chicago Friday after a three-day manhunt, sources say

ICE says he has prior criminal convictions for multiple weapons and firearms offenses

The violent fugitive who bolted from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at John F. Kennedy International Airport while getting deported to his native Senegal has been captured in Chicago, federal officials say.

The Department of Homeland Security confirms that the manhunt for 31-year-old Mohamadou Lamine Mbacke is over. He was arrested by Chicago-based members of ICE at a Starbucks near Chicago Union Station with assistance from federal partners, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Angie Williams, a manager at the coffee shop said the man ordered a grande blonde roast and sat down near the restroom. A few seconds later, she said six plain-clothed officers walked in, along with a dozen more officers who posted outside. The man did not put up a fight, and was led off in handcuffs.

Earlier, ICE described him as dangerous and warned anyone who sees him should not approach him.



Mbacke, a 31-year-old with multiple prior violent convictions and nearly a dozen arrests in New York City over a four-year period, was only at JFK for a layover from Detroit en route to Senegal at the time of the brazen escape late Tuesday, sources and ICE officials have told News 4.

According to a criminal complaint, three ICE officers were waiting with Mbacke at JFK to board their connecting flight to Senegal when Mbacke asked for permission to sit about eight to 10 rows away from the officers. They granted him the request, and that's when he gave them the slip, according to the complaint.

Port Authority officials say a review of one of the airports cameras shows the detainee getting into the cab around 9 p.m Tuesday. He hasn't been seen since.

Mbacke has previous criminal convictions for multiple weapons and firearms offenses, according to an ICE spokesperson. He entered the country lawfully in 2005 before violating the terms of his status and was ordered deported in September 2015 by an immigration judge.



He was also arrested 10 times in New York City between 2006 and 2010, NYPD sources told News 4. All but one arrest is sealed; that one was marijuana-related. Those sources say he was also wanted for aggravated harassment in the city in 2016, though he wasn't arrested. His last known address is Harlem."Clueless" star Stacey Dash, who announced last month she was making a bid for Congress, has withdrawn from the California congressional race in a statement to Cosmopolitan magazine.

"My goal was, and remains, to improve the lives of people who have been forgotten for decades by the Democratic Party," Dash wrote. "At this point, I believe that the overall bitterness surrounding our political process, participating in the rigors of campaigning, and holding elected office would be detrimental to the health and wellbeing of my family."



The actress-turned-conservative political commentator had filed paperwork to run for a congressional seat in Southern California. Documents submitted to the Federal Election Commission show she intended to run as a Republican in California's 44th District, a seat held by Democrat Nanette Barragan.

Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a wide margin in the Los Angeles-area district that contains the areas of Compton, Watts, San Pedro and North Long Beach.

"The people living here deserve better," Dash wrote in her statement. "I will continue to speak out about these and other problems facing this district, as well as the distractions that take the place of real change."

Members of the Aikido Hartford dojo gathered Saturday for a memorial practice in tribute to a former member, Trooper First Class Kevin Miller.

Miller sustained fatal injuries in a crash on I-84 in Tolland while on duty Thursday.

Miller joined the Vernon dojo in 1994 after returning from service as a marine in the Gulf war, and spent years training to become a second-degree black belt.

Jack Tran, a senior member of the dojo, knew Miller all that time. He drove past the exit near where Trooper Miller lost his life just 30 minutes before the crash and said he was brought to tears when he heard the news. Tran will be part of a memorial practice.

Aikido is a martial art of love and Tran said Miller was the best manifestation of that.

I think theres some sense of angry-anger why he wasnt around with us much longer, but Ive come to accept that he lived a good life of helping others and we all have fond memories of him, Tran said.

Tran added that it was important for fellow students and their instructors to join together this morning to honor their friend and share those memories.

Miller, who was a resident of Coventry, served with the Connecticut State Police for 19 years and was assigned to Troop C in Tolland. He had previously served for Troop K in Colchester and Troop E in Montville.

A Connecticut high school employee is accused of threatening to go on a killing spree and "execute every white man he gets his hands on," police said.

Bridgeport police said 63-year-old Carl Lemon, an in-school suspension counselor at Harding High School, was arrested Wednesday on charges of second-degree threat and breach of peace.

According to a police report, a teacher reported that Lemon said he "couldn't wait for the Panthers to give the OK and a revolution begins" because he would "execute every white man he gets his hands on."

Police said Lemon also stepped on an American flag and told students: "This is what I think about it."

During an investigation, the assistant principal found an unsigned note in her mailbox that read, "Mr. Lemon talks about shooting whites a lot."

It's unclear whether Lemon has an attorney.President Donald Trump blasted California Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday for his pardon of five ex-convicts facing deportation, including two who fled the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia with their families four decades ago.

In a tweet , Trump referred to Brown as "Moonbeam," referencing a nickname a newspaper columnist coined for him in the 1970s. Trump then listed the ex-convicts' crimes before they were pardoned Friday. They include misdemeanor domestic violence, drug possession, and kidnapping and robbery.

Trump wrote: "Is this really what the great people of California want?"

A spokesman for Brown responded to a request for comment with more information about the five men but did not directly address Trump's criticism.

In a news release about the pardons on Friday, the governor's office said that "those granted pardons all completed their sentences years ago and the majority were convicted of drug-related or other non-violent crimes."

"Pardons are not granted unless they are earned," the governor's office said.

Brown's pardons marked the third time the Democrat has intervened on behalf of immigrants who were deported or faced deportation over convictions. Brown has accused the Trump administration of "basically going to war" with California over immigration policy.

Brown's pardons don't automatically stop deportation proceedings, but eliminate the convictions on which authorities based their deportation.

Trump has been criticized for his own pardon, that of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted last year of a misdemeanor contempt charge for flouting the courts in carrying out his signature immigration patrols.

Trump's pardon spared Arpaio from a possible jail sentence. The 85-year-old longtime lawman announced a run for Senate in January.

Those pardoned Friday by Brown included Sokha Chhan and Phann Pheach, who face deportation to Cambodia, a country ruled in the 1970s by the genocidal Khmer Rouge. Chhan was convicted of two counts of misdemeanor domestic violence in 2002 and served about a year in jail.

Pheach was convicted of possessing drugs and obstructing a police officer in 2005 and served six months in jail. His wife said he is in federal custody.

Also pardoned was Daniel Maher, who served five years in prison stemming from the 1994 armed robbery of a San Jose auto parts store. He was convicted of kidnapping, robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm in the case.

Maher is facing deportation to China, where he has never lived. Maher is from Macau, which became part of China after his family immigrated to California when he was 3.

Also pardoned while facing deportation were Daniel Mena and Francisco Acevedo Alaniz. Mena served three years of probation after being convicted of possessing illegal drugs in 2003. Alaniz served five months in prison for a 1997 car theft conviction.

The governor is a former Jesuit seminarian and traditionally issues pardons close to major Christian holidays. Easter falls on Sunday.

California's longest-serving governor has now issued 1,519 pardons, including 404 during his first two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983.

Associated Press writer Janie Har contributed to this report from San Francisco. Elias reported from San Francisco.A Florida woman awoke to what she believed were the consequences of a bad dish of General Tso's chicken, but instead had an unexpected baby in her arms three hours later.

The Pensacola News Journal reports 29-year-old Crystal Gail Amerson thought food poisoning was responsible for the stomach pains that woke her up early Sunday, unaware that she was actually 37 weeks pregnant.

An ambulance arrived hours later, as the pain escalated. Her second son soon entered the world in the back of the ambulance en route to the hospital.

Amerson said she's never felt many pregnancy symptoms and didn't notice much weight gain. The newborn, Oliver James, was 19 inches and weighed 5.27 pounds.

Dr. Julie DeCesare, an obstetrician-gynecologist with Sacred Heart Hospital, said she's only seen three women not know they were pregnant until just hours before going into labor in her 20 years of practice. She noted it's very unusual for fetal movement to go unnoticed by a pregnant woman, especially one with more than one pregnancy under her belt.

"Usually by 20 weeks you can feel the baby kicking," DeCesare told the Journal. "You can feel the baby move about 12-14 weeks in, usually, with a second or third baby. With a first baby it often takes longer."



Although the Chinese food was absolved of blame, Amerson said she may never look at it the same way again.West Virginia's House has OK'd a 5 percent pay raise negotiated by the governor to end a walkout by the state's teachers though schools in all 55 counties plan to stay closed Thursday.

House approval of Gov. Jim Justice's proposed raise came on a 98-1 vote Wednesday evening. The Senate, which had adjourned earlier, was expected to consider it Thursday. Its leader, President Mitch Carmichael, expressed skepticism about the governor's suddenly higher projected tax increases that would pay for the pay boosts but said that chamber would review it.

Hundreds of teachers gathered inside the Capitol on Wednesday protesting low pay and projected increases in their insurance costs and chanted "we won't back down." Others held a sign targeting legislators in the upcoming primary: "Make 'em pay in May." They occupied the House galleries to watch the vote.

"We would not be here looking at this had they not stood up and said enough is enough is enough is enough," said Delegate Rick Moye, a Raleigh County Democrat. What they really want most is a permanent funding fix to offset rising insurance costs, he added.

Teachers and service personnel in all West Virginia's 55 counties walked off the job last Thursday, noting they were among the lowest paid in the country.

All 100 seats in the House are up for election this year, along with half the 34 seats in the Senate. Teachers have promised to pay close attention to each lawmaker's actions and vote accordingly.

Justice announced the deal Tuesday evening after meeting with union leaders for teachers in all 55 counties. They'd been expected to return to work Thursday after striking a week earlier, but some strikers said they weren't satisfied.

"We believe the best course of action at this time is to return to school," West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee said at a news conference. "However we realize that not everyone will."

Lee said he hoped teachers in the closed counties return to work soon, based on evidence of progress on the pay bill and the fact that the insurance task force has been established.

Justice announced Tuesday night a proposed 5 percent pay raise in the first year, which begins July 1, a more generous offer than a pay raise bill he signed less than a week ago with 2 percent raises.

The governor's projected $58 million increase in state revenues during that fiscal year would cover the higher raises.

The teachers are also upset over rising costs in the insurance plan covering West Virginia's public employees, which the Public Employees Insurance Agency has agreed to freeze in the coming year. Justice ordered a task force to find a solution and consider various possible methods including a dedicated additional tax on the state's growing natural gas production, something teachers have proposed.What to Know Family and friends said their final goodbyes to Christopher Raguso, one of the seven guardsmen killed in a chopper crash in Iraq

Raguso was a lieutenant of the FDNY; fellow FDNYer Christopher "Tripp" Zanetis and Long Island guardsman Dashan Briggs were also killed

This week, The FDNY also mourned Michael R. Davidson, who was killed in a movie set fire in Harlem

An Air Force master sergeant and New York City firefighter who had faced bloodshed in Iraq and Afghanistan and hurricanes in Texas and the Caribbean needed to go where the action was, whether it was wrestling with his two giggling daughters or forcing his way into a burning building, his father told mourners at his funeral Saturday.

Christopher Raguso always came home to Long Island, alive - except this last time.

On Saturday morning, his flag-draped casket arrived atop a fire engine at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in the Suffolk County hamlet of Kings Park, with bagpipes intoning "Amazing Grace" and hundreds of white-gloved, uniformed firefighters lining the street. Some became pallbearers who carried him to the altar of the church where Raguso was married in 2009.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, attended the funeral along with city Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro.

Raguso, a 39-year-old lieutenant in the New York Fire Department, was killed March 15 in a military helicopter crash near the Syrian border that took the lives of seven National Guard members including three others from New York state - Capt. Christopher "Tripp" Zanetis, Tech Sgt. Dashan Briggs and Maj. Andreas O'Keeffe. They were stationed at the F.S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton Beach.

"This man's entire life was dedicated to service of others, and he has done exactly what they and the country have asked him to; that's because Chris didn't know how not to give 100 percent of himself," said his father, John Raguso, in his eulogy. "He recognized that to be good at his job, he needed to go where the action was, he wanted to be there, whether that was home wrestling with his giggling daughters, or forcing entry into the heart of a six-story tenement on fire."

Raguso was a 13-year veteran of the city fire department, having spent 11 years at Engine 249/Ladder 113 in Brooklyn's Prospect-Lefferts Gardens before he was transferred to Queens.

He also was a volunteer firefighter in Commack, where he lived with his wife and two daughters.What to Know A New York City man discovered his dog, Myko, actually belonged to another family after the pup ran away during last week's nor'easter

The man said he adopted the dog three years ago and had no idea it had a microchip linking it to another family

The dog's other family, which named him Jack, lives upstate and was overjoyed to find out the pooch was alive and well

For the last three years, you wouldnt find Kenneth Colson without his spaniel mix, Myko.

The pair would ride the subway from their Far Rockaway beach house to Manhattan. They'd head to church together. He napped with the 54-year-old's cats. The little pup Colson called his "selfie buddy" even liked to sit perched on his shoulder.

We were so attached," he said. "He was like my right arm."

But the night Myko slipped out a cracked front door during last week's nor'easter and wound up at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station, that all changed.

Thats because Myko -- which Colson adopted from an acquaintance -- actually belonged to another family who lost him and spent three years wondering what had happened to their beloved dog, which they named Jack.

Its been a roller coaster, all the way up and down to the bottom an up again, he said.

Colson said it didn't take long to realize Myko had gotten away during the March 21 storm, and he immediately launched a frantic search for the dog. He posted flyers throughout the neighborhood, started a hashtag on Facebook to and posted Mykos pictures to the dog-finding site FindShadow in hopes of finding the pooch.

Over the next few days, Myko was spotted around the neighborhood -- first at a grocery store nearby and then near their subway stop -- so Colson knew he made it through the storm.

Then, on March 23, he thought the break in the case that would reunite him with his dog came: a volunteer from FindShadow sent him a tweet from the NYPDs Transit Bureau showing Myko in the arms of a police officer near the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station.

"I said, 'Oh my gosh, it's him! It's him!,'" Colson recalled.

This little guy lost his way- Anyone recognize this pup? Our officers found him a few mins ago near Hoyt/Schermerhorn station in Brooklyn- Please reply back or call Transit District 30 at 718-797-1788 so we can can get him home pic.twitter.com/s7jASHFPnc  NYPD Transit (@NYPDTransit) March 21, 2018

Colson said he tried to get in touch with the NYPD that night, but couldnt get through. Then, the next day, a friend forwarded Colson what turned out to be a heartbreaking story published by NBC 4 New York: The NYPD told this outlet it had reunited the dog with its owner -- an owner that wasn't him.

"That's impossible, I'm the owner," he recalled saying.

By the time Colson could contact the officer who found him the following day, he began to unravel what had happened. Myko apparently had a microchip that Colson never knew about, and it returned an address for a family in Jamaica, Queens, that had since moved upstate. The officers, stunned that the dog had another owner, gave him contact information for the pups initial owner.

Colson said he worked up his nerve to call the owner earlier this week. She told him how her family had adopted the then-1-year-old Myko after their previous dog died.

The original owner told News 4 that the dog disappeared one afternoon and that they had reported the dog missing through its microchip and spent days combing through their neighborhood and posting flyers in a three-mile radius looking for the pup. The owner said she went without sleep for two days after Jack disappeared, and spent years wondering if he had been hurt or worse.

The original owner called finding out that Jack was still alive after the storm was "the best news I've had in so long."

"She had to wait three years to find out he was still alive," Colson said. "It only took me three days... Im just blessed that hes alive and I didnt have to live with that."

The 54-year-old said that as he talked to the owner, he started to make connections to his own life. He himself ran away when he was a teen and was only reunited with his mother years later, when she tracked him down on Facebook. He said because of that he knew he couldnt fight Myko's original owners for custody of the pup.

"I know what it means to be lost and found," he said. "I understand and thats why I did it. And I'm in so much pain."

Colson said giving up Myko was the hardest thing he's ever had to do. He added that he hopes other pet owners will check to see if their animals are microchipped to avoid the heartache he has felt over his "selfie buddy."

"I know he's at home now," he said. "He's been restored, and it's amazing."

NYC's 5 Most Popular Dogs of 2017 Revealed (Plus Bonus Neighborhood Faves)Abington High School becoming Abington Schwarzman High School is not going to be happening after all.

School officials in the Montgomery County town announced earlier in the week that the high school would change its name to include the last name of a billionaire, Stephen Schwarzman.

Schwarzman, an alumnus of the school who made his fortune in New York City finance, promised to donate $25 million to the high school. It has been called the largest donation to a single high school in the country.

As part of the agreement between the district and the billionaire, the school board agreed to rename the high school to include Schwarzman's name.

There was immediate backlash in the community, and the district on Saturday rescinded the name change, according to a letter from the superintendent to the community.

"The donor's representatives conveyed that nothing should detract from our important mission and agree that the school's name should remain as is," Superintendent Amy Sichel wrote in the letter dated March 31.

Some in the community were struck by the sudden announcement of the name change following a vote at the local board. The name change had previously not been publicly discussed in the weeks since Schwarzman announced he was donating the massive sum to the high school, residents said this week.

It became part of the agreement between the district and Schwarzman that the board approved.

"On behalf of the Abington community, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr. Schwarzman for his generosity and vision surrounding the project," Sichel wrote.

The donation will fund "a full-scale renovation" of the high school, including the addition of a new science and technology center, according to the district, which noted that the money will also go toward an "expanded and innovative curriculum in the evolving workforce."

"Abington will revamp its existing curriculum to ensure students are prepared for the nation's fastest growing industries," according to the district's initial announcement of the donation posted Feb. 14.

One Abington resident, Theresa Keenan, who has a son at the high school, said Saturday that the name change is only part of the discussion many in the community are having about the $25 million donation.

"People may think that now that the name change isn't happening, that this is over," Keenan said. "But there are a lot of other elements. He is looking for some sort of curriculum input. That's a private citizen who would have say over what is taught in a public school."

The school district was closed Thursday and Friday, and will be closed Monday, for the Passover and Easter holidays.A driver in his 60s was killed after he lost control of his pick-up truck in Ramona, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) said.

The crash happened around 10:45 a.m. at Pamo and Burma roads Sunday while the man and his two passengers were returning from turkey hunting.

The driver had a medical emergency, according to CHP.

The passengers helped the driver out after the truck overturned. His breathing was labored, and he died a short time later.

It is unclear if he died due to his injuries or the medical emergency.

The mans name has not been released at this time.

No other information was available.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.Walmart has agreed to pay Washington, D.C. $1.3 million over canceling plans to open a store in Southeast D.C.

The retailer pulled out of an agreement to open a store in the Skyland Town Center shopping center, angering local politicians.

When Walmart terminated its lease at Skyland, an underserved part of our community was deprived of jobs and retail options it had been promised, said Attorney General Karl Racine said in a statement. District residents expect corporations and developers to honor their commitments.

When he was mayor, now-Councilmember Vincent Gray struck a deal with Walmart: The retailer would open a store in Skyland as a condition for building stores in other parts of D.C.

Two Walmart stores opened in Northwest and one opened in Northeast, but the company dropped plans for the store at Skyland, a development surrounded by neighborhoods that the federal government considers food deserts.

Mayor Muriel Bowser and other local politicians decried the decision when it was announced in January 2016, News4 reported.

News4s Mark Segraves reports on the fury from DC leaders over Wal-Marts announcement to close dozens of stores, in addition to backing out of plans to build two additional stores in the district.

Attorney General Karl Racine promised his office would examine future deals and financial incentives offered by the city more closely. The District offered the Walmart developers $40 million in tax incentives, according to the settlement. D.C. also offered Safeway $3.6 million over four years to get out of a previous agreement that worried Walmart. Those payments werent scheduled to begin until next year.

While Walmarts decision to withdraw from its commitment to the District was extremely disappointing, this settlement represents the District and Walmarts good faith judgment that it was preferable to resolve this matter without a protracted and costly lawsuit, Racine said.The U.S. and Mexican governments are sparring over immigration and trade, but the two countries are joining forces on the high seas like never before to go after drug smugglers.

The United States, Mexico and Colombia will target drug smugglers off South America's Pacific coast in an operation that is scheduled to begin Sunday and last for the foreseeable future, Coast Guard officials told The Associated Press.

U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Paul F. Zukunft teased the idea during a recent defense conference in San Diego, saying the United States "can't do it alone."

"It's no secret we are besieged with the flow of drugs from Latin America to the United States," he said.

U.S. and Mexican forces have routinely worked together at sea, but the latest effort "marks a significant step in terms of information sharing, collaboration and cooperation between the United States, Mexico and other partner nations," according to the Coast Guard.

The Americans and Mexicans will exchange intelligence more freely than in the past, which could mean sharing information on well-traveled routes for drug smugglers or preferred paths for specific smuggling organizations, Coast Guard spokeswoman Alana Miller said.

They will also board the other country's vessels to view operations and gain expertise, Miller said. In 2015, three members of the Mexican navy boarded a Coast Guard vessel during a port call in Huatulco, Mexico, but this operation calls for more frequent exchanges, and they will be at sea.

The operation will last "for the foreseeable future as long as it's working for everyone," Miller said. "It's sort of open-ended."

Traffickers over the years have increasingly turned to the sea to move their illegal goods, traversing an area off South America that is so big, the continental United States could be dropped inside. Smugglers routinely move cocaine out of countries like Colombia to Central America and Mexico via fishing boats, skiffs, commercial cargo ships  even homemade submarines.

The operation comes after five years of record seizures by the Coast Guard. But U.S. officials say because of limited resources, the U.S. military's smallest service still catches only about 25 percent of illegal shipments in the Pacific.

Even so, the Coast Guard annually seizes three times the amount of cocaine confiscated at the U.S.-Mexico border. Yet ocean smuggling has not grabbed lawmakers' attention like the flow of drugs across the nearly 2,000-mile-long (3,200-kilometer-long) land border, where the Trump administration wants to spend billions to build a continuous wall.

As much as 20 percent of the cocaine moving through South America ends up in the United States, and most of it lands first in Mexico from seafaring smugglers. The hope is boats will be stopped before their shipments are loaded onto Mexican trucks that fan out on various routes bound for the U.S. border, authorities said. Large boats can cart 20 tons (18 metric tons) of cocaine or more.

Mexico has historically been among the Latin American countries that are most reluctant to join operations with the U.S., which can be traced back to the Mexican-American War that was fought 170 years ago. The United States cannot open military bases in Mexico, and U.S. officials, for instance, cannot venture into Mexican waters without prior permission, even if they are chasing drug vessels.

The Coast Guard now stops its pursuit and alerts Mexican authorities if suspicious boats cross into their territorial waters.

It's unclear whether this new cooperation will affect those restrictions.

Treaties with nations such as Colombia have allowed U.S. authorities more latitude, such as permitting Coast Guard officers to board Colombian-flagged ships. U.S. officials have touted Colombia's joint anti-drug efforts as a model for the region.

The U.S. and Mexican military relationship has strengthened since the two nations signed the 2008 Merida Initiative to work together in the drug war. There have been more cross-border trainings, especially with the Mexican Navy, which is considered less corrupt than the Mexican Army and has raised its profile with the captures and killings of drug bosses.

The combined operation was planned in a series of meetings over the past year. The maritime services signed letters of intent to work together to fight organized crime while respecting each country's sovereignty and territorial waters.

David Shirk, associate professor of political science at the University of San Diego, said the operation falls in line with Trump's vow to go after the "bad hombres," while President Enrique Pena Nieto has recognized organized crime is so severe that Mexico needs help.

"With more walled-off sections of the border, we've seen drug trafficking organizations literally go underground or offshore," he said.

Last year, the Coast Guard seized more than 455,000 pounds (206,000 kilograms) of cocaine worth more than $6 billion and brought more than 600 suspected traffickers back to the United States for prosecution. The Coast Guard has been criticized for holding suspects on ships where they cannot easily access lawyers. Shirk said joint operations could lead "to serious violations of suspects' rights at sea and possible human rights violations in the process."

Coast Guard officials say they respect suspects' rights. Where suspects will be sent with the three countries participating in the operation will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

U.S. military officials have been reluctant to openly discuss details of the cooperation with their Mexican counterparts, sensitive to the Mexican public's historical view and recent barbs between the two presidents.

Jorge Chabat, a political scientist at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching in Mexico City, said he doubts the combined operation will get much negative reaction from a Mexican public tired of drug violence.

"The more insecurity we have, the less nationalism we have in Mexico," he said.

Ultimately, he doubts the joint operation will make much difference.

"This is something they have to do to maintain drug trafficking at the same level, and not allow it to grow," he said. "That's the most you can do. You can't just surrender."

Associated Press writer Elliot Spagat contributed to this report.Two Massachusetts men are in custody, charged with trafficking a person for sexual servitude after being caught trying to drop women off to perform sexual acts with men for cash, according to police reports.

Thirty-year-old Jahi Malary and 28-year-old Donald Aaron, both from Lowell, were caught in an undercover investigation by Lowell Police and the Massachusetts State Police.

The women involved, aged 26 and 21, both exchanged messages with men they believed to be customers, but were in fact undercover cops. In the messages, they agreed to perform sexual acts in exchange for certain periods of time.

The behavior was saddening to hear for mothers like Betsy Stonge.

"It could be my daughter. It could be anybody's daughter," she said. "Wow. It is happening. I don't doubt it. It's just getting worse and worse each day."

Both men were granted bail. They'll be back in court next month.Anita Shreve, the best-selling novelist who explored how women responded to crises past and present in her native New England in favorites such as "The Pilot's Wife," "Testimony" and "The Weight of Water," has died. She was 71.

Publisher Alfred A. Knopf said Shreve, who had been battling cancer, died Thursday at her home in New Hampshire. Shreve had announced her illness last year on Facebook, writing that a "medical emergency" would prevent her from touring for what became her last novel, "The Stars Are Fire."

Knopf editor Jordan Pavlin said in a statement Friday that Shreve's "writing has touched the lives of millions of readers around the world, and she did some of her most elegant, rich, and unforgettable work in the last years of her life."

"Her body of work is extraordinary, and her books will continue to be read for generations," Pavlin said.

Shreve's novels sold millions of copies, especially after Oprah Winfrey chose "The Pilot's Wife" for her book club in 1999. Shreve was also a favorite source for Hollywood. "The Pilot's Wife," "Resistance" and "The Weight of Water" all were adapted into movies. Her literary honors included an O.Henry Prize for the story "Past the Island, Drifting" and being a finalist for England's Orange Prize for "The Weight of Water." Shreve wrote 19 novels in all, and preferred to work in longhand.

"The creative impulse, the thing that gets deep inside me, goes from the brain to the fingertips," she told The Writer magazine. "When you're writing by hand, even when you're not consciously thinking about it, you're constructing sentences in the best way possible. And I still get the thrill of the clean pad of notepaper and the pencil all sharpened."

Born in Dedham, Massachusetts, and a graduate of Tufts University, she began writing fiction while a high school teacher in Reading, Massachusetts. She was a fan of Edith Wharton's "Ethan Frome" and would tell her own stories of haunted characters. In "The Pilot's Wife," a woman contends not just with grief after her husband dies in a plane crash but also suspicions about the tragedy itself. "The Weight of Water" is partially based on the deaths of two women off the New Hampshire coast, the so-called "Smuttynose Murders" of 1873.

In "The Stars Are Fire," a devastating blaze upends the world of a Maine housewife. The book was inspired by the so-called "Great Fires" that swept through Maine in 1947.

"It doesn't interest me to write about women who aren't real," Shreve told The Writer in 2014. "My mother once said, `The minute I read that a character is beautiful, I flip the book over my shoulder.' It lacks authenticity."The state is mourning the loss of a 49-year-old state trooper who died when his cruiser struck the back of a tractor-trailer on Interstate 84 on Thursday.

In five months, Trooper Kevin Miller would have celebrated 20 years on the job and been eligible for retirement, according to the Hartford Courant. He leaves behind a son and a daughter.

People brought flowers and prayed for the veteran trooper outside his former Troop C barracks in Tolland yesterday.

A state medical examiner says the trooper died from blunt trauma injuries to his head and torso after his cruiser struck the back of the trailer between exits 68 and 69 in Tolland early Thursday afternoon.

The stretch of highway was closed for eight hours while police accident specialists investigated the scene.

The crash remains under investigation.A Massachusetts woman is facing multiple counts of animal cruelty after 17 dogs, 16 chickens and a dead pig were found in a filthy Rhode Island home that had been condemned and was vacant.

Police in Woonsocket said Friday that 40-year-old Korina Ferreira, of Fall River, faced arraignment later in the day.

Police went to the Woonsocket home on Thursday when a neighbor reported seeing a dog on the roof. Responding officers looked in windows and saw the dogs, which included eight newborn puppies, as well as large amounts of animal waste. Police say the home smelled and had no running water or electricity.

While police were investigating, Ferreira showed up and said the animals were hers.

It could not be determined if she has a lawyer.An employee who was arrested and charged with dealing drugs last month is now the subject of an internal investigation at the Department of Public Works in Winchester, Massachusetts.

Jeffrey Gangi, 48, of Woburn, was under surveillance for three months, according to police reports. DEA investigators and police allegedly witnessed a minimum of 15 drug deals involving Gangi. They arrested him in February behind the Sons of Italy function hall in Winchester.

Jeff has been terminated, on March 19, and at that point, we started an internal investigation, which will be ongoing for the next couple weeks, Winchester Department of Public Works Director James Gill said.

Police spoke with a confidential informant who alleged that drug distribution and addiction occur during work hours in Winchester's Department of Public Works. Based on this information, the facility launched the investigation. The informant specifically mentioned opiate pills, including Oxycodone and Percocet.

Gangi has been released on personal recognizance. If he is convicted, he will face up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.The estranged husband of former Massachusetts Senate President Stan Rosenberg was indicted Thursday on felony charges of sexual assault, distributing nude photos without consent and criminal lewdness.

Bryon Hefner, 30, was indicted by a grand jury on five counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over, four counts of dissemination of a visual image of a nude or partially nude person and one count of open and gross lewdness.

Hefner's attorney said he "intends to plead not guilty and looks forward to contesting the evidence and confronting the witnesses against him in a court of law."

He is scheduled to be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on April 24.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement that the indictments "send a clear message that we will not tolerate behavior of this kind."

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley added that the investigation into Hefner revealed "a disturbing pattern of conduct that was not only inappropriate but criminal."

The indictments allege that Hefner sexually assaulted one victim on three separate occasions in the Boston area, including once in June 2015 in a residential building and twice in April 2016 - in a vehicle and in a restaurant.

He allegedly sexually assaulted another victim in 2014 and exposed his genitals to that victim in June 2016. The indictments also allege that Hefner sexually assaulted a third victim in August 2016. All of these alleged offenses happened in Boston.

Prosecutors also allege that Hefner obtained nude and partially-nude photos of another victim without that person's knowledge and sent or showed those photos to four other people without the victim's consent.

Rosenberg stepped down as Senate president in December following a Boston Globe report that Hefner had sexually assaulted four unnamed men. Some of them had professional business before the Legislature and said they feared coming forward partly because they did not want to alienate the powerful Senate leader.

"These are serious charges," Rosenberg said in a statement Thursday. "They are now being handled by the judicial system. I have faith in that system and trust that it will adjudicate this case fairly."

Rosenberg, 68, separated from Hefner in January. They had been together since 2008 and were married in 2016. He has not been accused of any wrongdoing and has denied any prior knowledge of the allegations against his husband. He has also maintained that Hefner exerted no influence on his actions or decisions as Senate president.

Senate President Harriette Chandler also issued a statement Thursday, calling the charges "deeply disturbing" and thanking the victims for their bravery in coming forward.

Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito issued a statement commending the victims who came forward to report Hefner's "despicable" actions.

Sen. Karen Spilka, who is expected to be the next Senate president, said she and her colleagues are "heartsick" for the victims.

"This is the latest turn in one of the toughest periods in the history of the state Senate," she said. "I know my colleagues join me in believing our primary task is to continue to make the State House a welcoming and safe place, and to move forward with our important work this session."

The investigation into Hefner is ongoing, and anyone with additional information about the case is urged to call 617-963-2638.In Sioux County, where swine barns interrupt the vast landscape of corn-stubbled fields, exports of meat, grain and machinery fuel the local economy. And there's a palpable sense of unease that new Chinese tariffs pushed by President Donald Trump  who received more than 80 percent of the vote here in 2016  could threaten residents' livelihood.

The grumbling hardly signals a looming leftward lurch in this dominantly Republican region in northwest Iowa. But after standing with Trump through the many trials of his first year, some Sioux County Trump voters say they would be willing to walk away from the president if the fallout from the tariffs causes a lasting downturn in the farm economy.

"I wouldn't sit here today and say I will definitely support him again," said 60-year-old hog farmer Marv Van Den Top. "This here could be a real negative for him."

Last week, Trump announced plans to impose tariffs on a range of Chinese goods, a move aimed at punishing Beijing for stealing American technology. The Chinese government responded with a threat to tag U.S. products, including pork and aluminum, with an equal 25 percent charge.

That sent a chill through places like Sioux County, which ranks first among Iowa's 99 counties in agricultural exports. In 2016, the county sold $350 million in meat, grain, machinery and chemicals overseas. Far closer to the sparsely populated crossroads of South Dakota and Minnesota than Iowa's bustling Des Moines metro area, Sioux County is home to just 34,000 people, but more than 1 million hogs, 6 million chickens and nearly as impressive numbers of cattle and sheep.

Brad Te Grootenhuis sells about 25,000 hogs a year and could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars if the tariffs spark a backlash from China. He said it's possible he would abandon Trump if pork's price decline continues and lasts.

"Any time you're losing money, nobody's happy," the 42-year-old farmer said. "I've got payments to make, plain and simple."

Nationally, opinions on Trump's tariffs, which were a central part of his campaign pledges to get tough on China, are mixed.

Although GOP congressional leaders have argued tariffs would prompt a trade war and have urged Trump to reverse course, 61 percent of Americans who identify as Republicans nationwide favor a tariff, according to a national poll taken this month by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Still, 39 percent of Republicans say it will lead to a decrease in jobs, according to the poll, compared to 32 percent who think it will lead to an increase. That's similar to the views of all voters, the survey shows.

Countermeasures by China, which is second only to Canada in importing Iowa products, could cause pain across the American agricultural sector, according to economists. For instance, a pork tariff imposed by China, which spent $42 million on Iowa pork products in 2017, would back up the Iowa market and force prices sharply downward.

"Retaliatory tariffs from China would have a devastating impact on U.S. agricultural exports, especially if they focus on products like soybeans and hogs," said Adam Kamins, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics. "This puts northwest Iowa and the Great Plains more broadly on the front line in a trade war."

For hog farmer Tim Schmidt, the fallout of a geopolitical spat with China would force him to hold off on any new construction or maintenance on the decades-old buildings on his family-run farm along the Missouri River.

"There is an uncertainty to exactly what the next two to three years are going to look like," Schmidt said. A Trump voter in 2016, Schmidt said that if "things are bad and someone better comes along, we're willing to take a look."

Sioux County seed dealer Dave Heying echoed a common refrain that any downturn in the farm economy would curb spending throughout the local economy, with direct impact on farm machinery dealers, mechanics and agricultural construction, among other businesses.

"Protecting our U.S. industries is important, but my concern is, at what expense to the farmer?" Heying said of Trump's trade moves. "It is too early to say whether or not I would support him. These types of decisions give you hesitation."

As a presidential candidate, Trump was a somewhat awkward fit for Sioux County, where a third of its residents are members of the Dutch Reformed Church of America, which holds strictly conservative social positions. In striking contrast, the bombastic New Yorker has been married three times and shadowed by allegations of sexual harassment and infidelity.

Trump finished fourth in Sioux County in Iowa's Republican presidential caucus, but carried 81.3 percent of the vote in the general election, his second-highest county share in the state. And a large core of voters in Sioux County, where Franklin Roosevelt was the last Democratic presidential candidate to win, remains with Trump, even if the farm economy suffers as a result of his trade policies.

"You have to have faith in our innovation and entrepreneurialship in this country," said Ed Westra, a grain cooperative manager and Trump devotee. "You've got to think of the big game."

AP polling director Emily Swanson contributed to this report.Talk to residents of Amherst, Massachusetts, and you will quickly learn they love their state senator, Stan Rosenberg. They know about his tough and lonely upbringing as a foster child. And they find the story of Rosenberg's now-estranged husband, Bryon Hefner, indicted on multiple sexual assault charges, to be tragic.

A grand jury indicted 30-year-old Hefner Thursday on five counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over, four counts of dissemination of a visual image of a nude or partially nude person and one count of open and gross lewdness. His attorney says he plans to plead not guilty.

Rosenberg stepped down as Senate president in December after news of Hefner's alleged crimes came to light.

"He finally meet somebody, falls in love, turns out it's another foster child, and then that  finally finding love is what maybe knocks him down," said Andy Churchhill, a constituent. "I just think it's so sad."

And while most are disgusted by the alleged behavior of Hefner, many, like Jenny Daniell, feel Rosenberg should not have to pay the price.

"I do not feel that it is his responsibility to have governed the behavior of his husband," she said.

Still, after 32 years as a legislator, the true test for Rosenberg may come this fall when he faces at least one challenger, Northhampton Democrat Chelsea Sunday Kline. Asked if Rosenberg should consider stepping down, many constituents were clear.

"Oh, God, no," Nick Seamon said. "He's a great voice for Massachusetts. He should stay."

"Absolutely not," agreed Meryl Mandell. "In fact, I wish he were still able to get back to the head of the Senate."

But not all in western Massachusetts think Rosenberg can get past this.

"It's very embarrassing for him," Kate Marelli said. "I feel very sorry for him, but I think his career is over."

Hefner is expected to be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on April 24.

Lives changed in Uganda by Norfolk Christian charity Lives changed in Uganda by Norfolk Christian charity

A Norfolk charity providing healthcare and education to vulnerable people in Uganda recently sent a team to visit the project  and they invite people to join their next trip.

In February, a team of ten people visited Uganda with the Charity Africa With Love (Registered Charity 1079952) The charity works in Kyubira village near Masaka, they have built three schools for around 1000 children and a health centre. Due to the increase in patients this year they have commenced building a larger health centre.



The charity was founded by Norfolk Christian couple Rosemary and George Willard and every year teams from the UK visit the project. Africa With Love is making a remarkable difference in the lives of young people, since the majority of children who have AIDS are unable to attend school in Uganda. However, the charity is unique because it offers medical assistance alongside education. Rosemary said, Due to the medication these children need to take, they need to be monitored every day. Some children come as day pupils if they live near by the schools but many parents are asking if the children can board at our school. This year is the first time we have accepted a child to board with full blown AIDS.



Often, children with AIDS cannot attend school and feel so isolated, but we are able to say YES you can come to school, and they know that if they have any problems, immediately they can go to our Health Centre and receive help.



The team on the February visit included a doctor and nurse from Barnsley arranged for an eye testing day as over 60 pairs of glasses had been donated. In addition, visits were made to people in the surrounding villages to people who could not attend the health centre.



The team had sent clothes, shoes and educational materials in advance to be distributed while they were there. Older people are known as Jajjas, which translates as grandparents, and a day was designated for washing bowls and soap to be given out to the Jajjas as well as beans, rice, maize flour, sugar, tea bags and biscuits. Rosemary said, This program was meant to commence at 2pm after church, but many of them arrived at the school gates by 8am, so they attended church first.



The health centre is also blessed to have a full maternity unit, which is unheard of in a village, so many lives have been saved - both mothers and babies. Rosemary said, In January the first set of twins were born and the staff were very happy to deliver them.



The dates to visit in 2019 are from the Wednesday February 6 until Thursday February 21, arriving back on Friday. If you would like to join the team please contact Africa With Love at africacharity@hotmail.co.uk They will be pleased to give you full information.



You can also see more by visiting Africa Facebook and if you would like to donate to help with the building of the new Health Center please go to the fundraising page

https://www.gofundme.com/jajja-george-health-center



Pictured above: Building of the new health centre and some of the children

Students from Newbury College cook up a storm at London's ExCel arena

Newbury College students Lewis Tull, Emanuelle Dupas and Harley Paxford won a bronze medal at the Country Range Student Chef Team Challenge last week.

The culinary trio claimed their award at the national competition after battling it out for the prestigious title against nine other colleges from around the UK.

The trio cooked a three-course, three-cover menu in 90 minutes in front of a live exhibition audience at Hotelympia, the UKs largest food service and hospitality event, staged at Londons ExCel arena.

This years theme was Around the World in Three Spices with teams having to use a different fresh or ground spice in each of their courses.

The students also paid tribute to their tutor, Malcolm Baggott, who is overseeing the boys Level 1-2 cooking diploma.Earlier the same day, the CPV leader visited Santiago de Cuba. Joining the tour of the Cuban province was First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba Raul Castro Ruz, along with some Party and State officials of the Latin American nation.The Vietnamese leader visited Moncada Museum, which was previously a barracks and is now a museum and a school named Ciudad Escolar 26 de Julio (July 26). The museum  barracks of Moncada is known for an event on July 26, 1953, when 135 anti-Batista guerillas, under the leadership of Fidel Castro, Raul Castro and Aben Santamaria, attacked this barracks, marking the start of the fight against dictator Batista. The museum displays a number of photos and objects relating to this July 26 event. Notably, there is a photo of late Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Van Dong on his visit to Cuba in 1974.In the guest book, General Secretary Trong wrote that he was touched when visiting the museum  barracks of Moncada, a famous place that has gone down in history of Cuba.Marking the 65th anniversary of the Moncada victory (July 26, 1953), it could be affirmed that the Moncada Platform has come into the life and the ideals of independence and freedom of Jose Marti and Fidel Castro will be immortal in the history of Cuba and Latin America, he added.After that, the CPV chief and the Vietnamese delegation laid a wreath and paid tribute to Jose Marti at the tomb of the Cuban hero, who devoted his whole life to the struggle for independence and freedom of American nations.The delegation also visited the tomb of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, the founder of Cubas revolution, an eminent leader of Latin American nations and the movement of fighting for peace, national independence, freedom and socialism, and a close comrade and brother of the Vietnamese Party, State and people.Before leaving Havana for Satiago de Cuba, General Secretary Trong met with Cuban Hero and President of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) Fernando Gonzalez and Vice Chairman of the Cuba-Vietnam Friendship Association Marta Rojas.Briefing about the fine outcomes of his State visit to Cuba, the CPV leader said during his meetings with the top leaders of Cuba, the two sides discussed measures to develop the countries relations.He added Vietnam and Cuba boast time-tested relations. Despite geographical distance, the two countries have always united and supported each other wholeheartedly in the struggle for national independence in the past as well as the national development nowadays.The Party, State and people of Vietnam always keep in mind the precious assistance from the Party, State and people of Cuba, he noted.General Secretary Trong also thanked the ICAP for holding a number of diverse activities to help enhance bilateral ties, adding that Vietnam will do its utmost to unceasingly develop the friendship and fraternity between the two countries.For his part, Fernando Gonzalez described the outcomes of the two sides high-level meetings are a vivid demonstration of the close-knit relations between Cuba and Vietnam.He said the ICAP has continually coordinated with relevant agencies, organisations and the Vietnamese Embassy in Cuba to bolster ties with Vietnam. He pledged that the ICAP and the Cuba-Vietnam Friendship Association will exert every effort to contribute to the solidarity, friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

VNSNEW MILFORD  A black and white photo of some 20 women walking across the town green in the late 1890s hangs at the entrance of the New Milford Historical Society and Museum.

It is believed the photo documents the renaming of town hall as the Roger Sherman Town Hall  the first project undertaken by the Roger Sherman Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

On April 7, the chapter will kick off its 125th anniversary celebration with a tea at the museum, where guests can view that photo and other artifacts pertaining to the organizations history. The original membership applications line one wall, along with photos of the women.

Its pretty impressive that this organization is celebrating the 125th anniversary and still going strong, said Bonnie Butler, the chapters regent, or president. Its because of vibrant, hardworking women who keep it going.

The tea, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., will include speakers, and visitors can reserve a time to have a silhouette done for $30.

Other events planned are a gala, a concert, a Revolutionary War encampment and a program on Roger Sherman  the patriot who lived in New Milford and is the only Founding Father to sign the Articles of Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution.

Its going to be exciting, said Mary Schenzer, the chapters historian. We have a lot of fun things in the works.

More Information For more information about the DAR event (www.RogerShermanDAR.org), or to RSVP for the tea or a silhouette appointment, call Bonnie Butler at 860-354-5129. See More Collapse

The Roger Sherman chapter was established on May 8, 1893, making it the ninth chapter in Connecticut and the 174th nationwide. The national organization was founded in 1890.

Through the years, the women have worked to preserve history, support the military and promote education. They were recognized in 2014 as the Connecticut DAR Chapter of the Year for outstanding service and commitment.

The Roger Sherman chapter has done something to help the causes of all American wars since the Spanish-American War, Butler said.

In World War I, the chapter sent chickens to France, helped orphans and donated money. Theyve presented Quilts of Valor to veterans and brought the Wall that Heals, a replica of the Vietnam Memorial, to town in October 2016.

Butler and Schenzer said bringing the memorial to town was one of their most memorable initiatives. They recalled how moved some of the veterans were, and how some waited until nightfall so they could visit it privately.

After 50 years, it was still very emotional, Schenzer said.

The exhibit includes a section comparing the real-life DAR service with its portrayal in The Gilmore Girls, a television show about a single mother and her daughter living in small-town Connecticut in the early 2000s.

The show, though it has been off the air for a decade, still has a strong fan base, contributing to a themed festival held locally.

The Roger Sherman Chapter was invited to host a booth at the latest festival in Kent, where it had a slideshow and genealogist for women interested in joining local chapters.

Lisa Roush, the curator of the museum, said it was fitting the two organizations are working together for this exhibit, especially because they share founding members.

She said the museum has artifacts that belong to the women, but the chapter history is coming from current members.

Schenzer was always drawn to the DAR because of her grandmothers involvement and her own love of history.

She has eight storage boxes of the chapters history, including scrapbooks from the late 1800s and early 1900s documenting their efforts.

Guests will be able to look through these scrapbooks during the tea.

The person keeping the scrapbooks took pains to make them beautiful, she said, adding many of the pages have drawings.Steep Rock Association, a land trust in Washington, will offer a family event, to view the eccentric woodcock, also known as a the timberdoodle, April 6 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

The event will be held at the Macricostas Preserve at 124 Christian St. in New Preston."Ladies and gentlemen, is there a physician on board?"

The flight attendant on a flight from Rwanda to Turkey made the announcement no one wants to hear, and Rachel Zang, MD, an Emergency Medicine resident at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, jumped into action.

Zang showed her credentials to the flight crew and was taken to a man in his early 60s who felt nauseous and had a headache, though that took some time to establish. He didn't speak English nor the language of the attendants, so his son had to translate to the crew who then translated into English to Zang. Drugs in the medical kit weren't labeled in English either, only the labels on the kit's lid were. But what if someone had mixed up the medications?

Fortunately, it wasn't a major emergency and the man recovered after Zang gave him Tylenol, allowing the plane to continue without being diverted.

And then it happened again. This time, it was a two-year-old suffering from vomiting and diarrhea on a flight from the United Kingdom to the United States. After realizing there was no oral rehydration packets on board, Zang made her own: one liter of water, six teaspoons of sugar, and a half a teaspoon of salt. Squirting the solution into his mouth every five minutes with an oral syringe did the trick, and the flight continued.

After that, Zang decided now was the time to educate herself more about in-flight emergencies.

"My husband and I travel quite a bit, and we're always on international flights. I've had two incidents and my husband, who is also a doctor, has had two. I just felt like there was this gap in my knowledge," Zang said. "I didn't know what was on airplanes. I didn't know what I could ask for or what other assistance could happen."

So she researched it  learning as much as she could about the laws and what exactly is in those medical kits  and then imparted that knowledge to about 40 other physicians during a recent grand rounds at HUP. Some had gone through it and some hadn't, but all wanted to know more.

"It makes doctors nervous, even ER doctors," Zang said. "They don't know what to expectand there are just so many variables, so it makes the situation very high stress, even if the medical issue is not a big deal."

Treating In-flight

During her talk, Zang tackled many of the questions she had asked herself. What medical equipment is on board? Am I protected legally for the care I provide? What are the most common illnesses? Will I be required to show credentials?

Every day, about 165 in-flight emergencies occur on the 100,000 or so airplanes that take to the skies around the world, according to the most recent estimates, "so if you travel frequently in the span of your career," Zang said, "you will likely be called."

Today, no federal guidelines exist for physicians in these situations, and there is no mandatory reporting system that tracks in-flight emergencies. A lot of the guidance and estimates come out of medical journals, including the more recent articles in the New England Journal of Medicine from 2015 and 2013.

The U.S. government has taken its own steps to better address emergencies.

In 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) required U.S. carriers to have an emergency medical kit, along with an automated external defibrillator (AED), on board all their planes by 2004. The kits are equipped with a stethoscope, a blood pressure cuff, a bag-valve mask for CPR, an IV, needles, syringes, and a host of medications like antihistamine and aspirin, among other items to help treat issues like breathing difficulties, cardiac symptoms, dehydration, or low blood sugar.

But the kits are still relatively limited, Zang said. There are no antiemetics to treat vomiting or nausea, or sedatives to calm someone down. There is also nothing in the kit to treat OB/GYN issues and no pediatric equipment, except for a CPR mask for children. First-aid kits are required, too, and contain typical items like bandages and splints.

A few years before the kits became mandatory, the Aviation Medical Assistance Act of 1998 had already addressed credentials and liability.

Physicians do not legally need to provide credentials; the AMAA just states that the flight crew should believe in "good faith that the passenger is medically qualified." However, an update to that in a 2006 regulatory letter from the FAA said it would be preferable for the flight crew to check for credentials. Zang doesn't go on a trip without them.

U.S. physicians also aren't legally required to respond  which is not the case in Australia and France.

Regarding liability, the Act protects passengers who step forward to offer medical assistance "unless they are guilty of gross negligence or willful misconducts." And they are not responsible if equipment is broken or the plane is not diverted.

Physicians also have the option to communicate with a medical command center to help with an issue on board or to divert the plane to another airport. These are private companies staffed with emergency room specialists on the ground. For example, MedAire, a Phoenix, Arizona-based company that works with over 100 airlines, deals with 70 to 100 emergencies a day.

"I didn't know there was a medical command you could talk to," Zang said. "They know intermediate airports that the plane could be diverted to in order to [deal with] the issue you are having. If I have a patient who is pregnant, it doesn't help us to divert to airport that doesn't have OB."

As far as emergencies go, delivering babies is not high on the list. According to that 2015 NEJM study, the top in-flight emergencies are light headedness/loss of consciousness, respiratory symptoms, nausea or vomiting, cardiac symptoms, and seizures.

Gut Instincts

In the air, physicians are often faced with a make-it-work scenario.

There are no universal standards for in-flight emergencies, so different countries have different protocols and kits  and some are better than others, Zang said. And while the United States' emergency kits may be part of the pre-flight check list, meaning the airplane can't take off without one, how often the equipment or drugs in the kit are checked is less clear, Zang found.

On a recent flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Jennifer Vuich, RN, CCRN, CEN, a clinical nurse in Penn's Emergency Department, and her partner Donelle Rhoads, MD, a surgeon affiliated with Penn's Chester County Hospital, responded to a woman in her 70s who had fallen to the floor near the cockpit. After tending to her for a bit, Vuich realized she no longer had a pulse and started CPR, while another physician kept her airway open, and Rhoads called for an AED.

The woman became responsive but was believed to have gone into cardiac arrest, so Vuich administered aspirin. She also wanted to place an IV in her, but the medical equipment wasn't in a centralized, user-friendly location, she said, and the tubing was of questionable quality, so she decided not to use it.

"I also had to make the decision to not place her on oxygen because there was no way to secure it," Vuich said. "We were sitting directly behind the cockpit door, and it was left me to decide whether or not to risk it."

Thankfully, the plane made an emergency landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina, where first responders were waiting to take the woman to the hospital. Once the responders placed her on a heart monitor, she was found to be in complete heart block, Vuich said, and received a permanent pacemaker before she was discharged home.

"In a civilian medical emergency outside of a hospital setting, you really just have to go back to the basics and be resourceful," Vuich said. "It may not be as comfortable because you don't have the equipment or diagnostics that you're used to, but you just have to rely on that gut instinct and do what you can." (You can read more about Vuich's experience, including a first-person account from the patient herself, in this month's Presby Bulletin.)

Improving Care

While in-flight emergences aren't specifically covered during medical education and training, there are courses available through some airlines to better prepare physicians, including one called Doctors on Board at Lufthansa.

They also have the option to pre-register on their flights, giving them the opportunity to review what's in the medical kit before takeoff. Over 11,000 physicians are registered.

"They have one of the most extensive programs and medical kits," Zang said.

Medical and aviation organizations have also come together in an effort to improve the level of care in the sky, but nothing has been officially implemented internationally or domestically to reflect that.

The Aerospace Medical Association expert panel and International Air Transport Association have both agreed and released recommendations to update the emergency medical kit in the United States; however, Zang said the FAA has no plans to revisit what the kit contains at this time.

"It has never been updated since [2004]," Zang said, "despite obviously medicine changing in almost the last two decades."PM Phuc made the statement during a reception in Hanoi on March 30 for leaders of the Chinese provinces of Yunnan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan, who have been in Vietnam to attend the sixth Greater Mekong Sub-region Summit (GMS 6) and the GMS Business Summit.Highlighting the growing partnership between ministries, sectors and localities of the two countries as well as exchanges between their people, the PM affirmed that Vietnam always attaches great importance to fostering cooperation with China, in which collaboration among their localities plays a significant role.The fruitful cooperation among localities is a bright spot in the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, he said, adding that the Government of Vietnam always supports and creates optimal conditions, especially in terms of infrastructure, for localities to strengthen win-win partnerships.Leaders of the Chinese provinces said they are impressed by Vietnams rapid and comprehensive development, expressing their belief that the success of the GMS will open up new cooperation prospects for Vietnam and China and their localities in particular, especially in economy, trade, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges.Vice Governor of Guangdong province Au Yang Wei Min spoke highly of the close friendship between localities of China and Vietnam.Meanwhile, Li Xiu Ling, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Yunnan province, said that many enterprises of Yunnan are accompanying him during his current trip to Vietnam to seek opportunities of cooperation with Vietnamese partners.He said Yunnan hopes to step up cooperation with Vietnam through the Lao Cai-Hekou route and the building of Kunming-Hanoi-Hai Phong economic corridor as well as the Hai Phong-Lao Cai railway route.Deputy Secretary of the provincial Party Committee of Hainan Wang Lu invited leaders of the Vietnamese Government and localities to attend the Boao Economic Forum 2018 in Hainan.Leaders of both Hainan and Guangxi provinces showed their hope to boost collaboration with Vietnamese localities in the fields of tourism, education and training.PM Phuc suggested Vietnamese and Chinese localities design their cooperation plans in all fields, not only in economy and trade but also in Party and administration building.Vietnam and China should work together closely to deal with arising difficulties facing their cooperative ties for sustainable development, he said, proposing China improve its transport infrastructure to create more favourable conditions for promoting economic, trade, tourism ties and people-to-people exchanges with Vietnam.Along with applying measures to implement common perceptions reached by senior leaders of the two countries, the localities should simplify customs clearance procedures for each others goods and people, he said, noting that trade between the four Chinese provinces and Vietnam reached US$ 60 billion in 2017.Vietnamese and Chinese localities should also foster people-to-people exchanges, thus increasing mutual trust and understanding and strengthening solidarity between the people of the two countries, the PM added.

VNSA London court has indicated that it will give the green light to a group lawsuit by around 60,000 English car owners against Volkswagen, Europe's largest carmaker, over the "dieselgate" scandal.

Lawyers for Slater and Gordon and Leigh Day said on Thursday.

They had been awarded a joint legal lead in the lawsuit, which will be the largest in English legal history, subject to any further applications by other law firms.

Volkswagen (VW) has said about 11 million cars worldwide were fitted with software that cheated U.S. diesel emissions tests designed to limit noxious car fumes and carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution. About 1.2 million VW, Audi, Skoda and SEAT vehicles are affected in Britain.

English lawyers are bringing a series of allegations, including that VW manufacturers defrauded drivers, that "defeat devices" - engine management software designed to mask pollution levels - broke EU rules, that a VW software fix has caused other problems with cars and that drivers overpaid for vehicles.

The German company denies the allegations and has said it will defend itself robustly. It says it broke no English laws, that drivers here suffered no loss and that the legal proceedings are premature and unfounded.

The court application for a so-called Group Litigation Order (GLO), a key step in the litigation, is expected to be finalised after the Easter break, a spokeswoman for one law firm said.

The first pre-trial hearing is expected in early 2019.

Also Watch:New Delhi: The Supreme Court has affirmed an order levying a penalty of Rs 10 crore on SpiceJet for withholding the monies which were to be credited into the Central government's account.

A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi dismissed the appeal filed by the air carrier against a decision of the Delhi High Court in February 2017.

Apart from the penalty of Rs 10 crore on account of non-deposit of Inland Air Travel Tax (IATT) for the period from March 1996 to August 1996, a demand of Rs 8.65 Crore has also been upheld.

"Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and perused the relevant material. We do not find any legal and valid ground for interference. The Special Leave Petition is dismissed," said the bench in an order on March 23.

Senior advocate Neeraj K Kaul, appearing for the airline, sought to convince the Court that since the lessor of the aircraft has already deposited Rs 12.5 crore for getting it released, this amount should be considered as payment towards the demand and the penalty.

But the bench found force in the reasoning given by the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals) in rejecting this contention.

The Commissioner had noted that SpiceJet had not produced any letter from the lessor or any TR6 Callan to prove that Rs 12.5 crore was deposited against its liability.

Further, the Delhi High Court, while concurring with this view, deposit of this amount would represent only the aircraft and not such amounts as were to be recovered from the carrier and that the monies deposited by a third party could not be deemed to have been adjusted against the aforesaid dues of the tax as well as the penalty.

Finding no fault with these two orders, the apex court declined to interfere with the order of demand and the penalty.

The Finance Act obligated every carrier to collect tax on every inland journey from the passenger at the rate of 10% of the fare. The carrier has to credit the amount to the Central government failing which an interest over delayed payment can be charged.

The Delhi High Court had held that "deliberate withholding of monies (taxes) by the petitioner (SpiceJet) from such statutorily sanctioned collections and diversion of it by the carrier for its own private use, instead of crediting it into governments account was in blatant disregard to statutory provisions."New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education on Saturday denied reports that another question paper had been leaked.

The denial came after students protested outside CBSE office here claiming to have the leaked Class XII Hindi (Elective) paper.

In a press release, CBSE said that question paper of Class XII - Hindi (Elective) being circulated on WhatsApp and YouTube is not a real one. The papers being circulated are either from last year or fake, it added.

The Hindi exam is scheduled to take place on April 2.

Speaking the Indian Express, CBSE chairperson Anita Karwal rubbished the rumours and said, This is definitely a mischief. Group of students protesting outside CBSE claim to have it, they are circulating it too.

This comes amid growing discontent among students over the leak of Class XII Economics and Class X Mathematics papers and CBSEs plan to hold retests for them.

Angry students protested against the leaks in Delhis Preet Vihar near the CBSE headquarters and blocked traffic in the area on Saturday. A day earlier, school children and Congress youth leaders held protests in several parts of the national capital against CBSE board papers being leaked.

The board has announced a re-examination of the class 12 economics paper on April 25, while the re-test for the Class 10 Mathematics paper is likely to be conducted in July.

Meanwhile, Jharkhand police have detained nine minors in connection with the paper leaks. The minors will be produced before the Juvenile Justice Board. Three people have been arrested under provisions of Indian Penal Code while nine, who are underage, have been detained under Juvenile Act. Probe by our SIT is still underway, news agency ANI quoted Superintendent of Police in Chatra district as saying.New Delhi: Just days after the Uttar Pradesh government issued orders to change the name of Dalit icon Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar as Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, two statue of the leader was vandalised in Allahabad and Gauhaniya village in Dumariyaganj on Saturday.

The first statue with its head chopped off was found by residents at a park in the city's Trivenipuram locality.

"We are aware of the matter and are trying to locate the suspects," said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Allahabad Aakash Kulhari.

He said a case has been registered and ruled out any tension in the area following the incident.

Taking note of the latest incidents, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has issued directives to district magistrates and SPs to take steps to ensure security of statues installed in their respective districts and see that such instances are not repeated.

Close on the heels of this, another Ambedkar statue vandalisation was reported from Gauhaniya village in Dumariyaganj. The hand and nose of the statue were broken by unknown miscreants last night. This makes it fourth such incident in the state in March.

The statue is being replaced in an urgent basis and a case has been lodged against unidentified persons, Superintendent of Police, Dharamvir said.

Taking cognizance of the matter, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said that stern action will be taken against the miscreants who vandalised the statues in Allahabad and Siddharthnagar.

Earlier, an Ambedkar statue was vandalised in Rajapatti village in Azamgarh on March 10. Before that, miscreants had targeted an Ambedkar statue in Meerut.

The acts of vandalism continue in the state despite Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath issuing a directive to all senior district officials to ensure the security of statues of eminent personalities.

Earlier, BSP chief Mayawati had demanded that those disturbing peace and harmony by vandalising statues should be booked under the sedition law. She also demanded security for statues and memorials built in the memory of icons, especially those of Dalits and other backward classes.

A spate of vandalism began when a statue of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin was brought down in Tripura days after the BJP registered a thumping victory in the state Assembly elections. A statue of social reformer Periyar was vandalised in Tamil Nadus Vellore district and a bust of Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee was blackened in Kolkatas Kalighat.Hyderabad: Andhra Pradeshs East Godavari police arrested two former students of the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) on Friday for allegedly planning to kill Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao Podile.

According to police, the plan to kill Appa Rao was hatched seeing the antagonism among students against the V-C after the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula.

Vemula's suicide in January 2016 led to massive outrage and nation-wide protests seeking justice for him.

Police said, the two were arrested at Pitchukulapadu Junction on Bhadrachalam-Cherla Road when they were returning from the forests after meeting Yapa Narayana alias Haribhushan, the secretary of Telangana State Committee of CPI (Maoist).

Narayana had promised one of the arrested men that he would be a made an important cadre of the CPI (Maoist) if the VC was killed, SP Vishal Gunni said.

Ankala Prudviraj (27) and Chandan Kumar Mishra (28) had studied at HCU and had been attracted to Leftist ideologies and had decided to join the Maoists after some incidents at the university.

Ankala, a native of the Krishna district joined the university in 2010 and studied till 2013. Chandan who hails from Howrah in West Bengal, had joined HCU in 2013 for a post-graduate course.

The Maoist outfit allegedly believes that the killing of the vice-chancellor would help attract more students into their party fold.

According to a press note released by the police, "In January 2018, they met Haribhushan in a forest area between Cherla and Venkatapuram with the help of a Maoist courier. Haribhushan explained the partys principles, ideology and asked them to try for maximum student recruitment from the university."

"During the discussion, Rohith Vemulas suicide and the repercussions of the incident were also discussed and they decided that if Appa Rao was killed in the name of the Maoist party, many students would join the party," the press release added.

Haribhushan, the Maoist leader also handed them some letterheads with the outfits name on it, meant to be dropped at the murder site.Bengaluru/Mysore: Miffed by Amit Shah distancing himself from Union minister Ananth Kumar Hegdes remarks, Congress questioned the saffron party over inaction against "its party man for derogatory comments".

Amit Shah, why can't you answer legitimate questions raised today in Mysuru about BJP Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde insulting Dalits? Why haven't you taken any action against your party man for such derogatory comments? This clearly shows that BJP endorses his hate-mongering (sic), Karnataka Congress said in a tweet.

Calling Shah a political chameleon, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that BJPs anti-Dalit mindset had been exposed again.

BJP President, Amit Shah acts as a political chameleon and follows worst type of opportunism by publicly disowning Union Minister Anant Hegde. Will Amit Shah dare to sack Anant Hegde? Stop the doublespeak and act, Surjewala tweeted.

Anti-Dalit mindset of BJP exposed again!BJP President, Sh. Amit Shah acts as a political chameleon & follows worst type of opportunism by publicly disowning Union Minister,Anant Hegde.Will Amit Shah dare to sack Anant Hegde? Stop the doublespeak & act!https://t.co/5x2kCsr6dV Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) March 30, 2018

Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Ananth Kumar Hegde has recently been mired in controversy after he likened Dalits to barking dogs and said that the Constitution needs to be changed.

In January, Hegde arrived at Ballari to address a gathering. However, a group of Dalit activists blocked his vehicle and shouted slogans against him for his statement about changing the Constitution.

Hinting at the incident later, the minister later said, I am very straightforward person and talk without hesitation. I am committed to help nurture the skill already prevalent among the youth and help them become independent. I am here to realise the dreams of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and to transform the country into a skilled Bharat. We will go ahead with this commitment and not care about barking stray dogs.

Earlier, Hegde had said, Some people say the Constitution itself mentions secular and you must accept it. We will respect the Constitution but the Constitution has changed several times and it will change in the future too. We are here to change the Constitution and we will change it.

Enraged over the ministers remarks, scores of protesters heckled Shah during his two-day visit to the old Mysuru region in the poll-bound Karnataka.

BJP state general secretary Sobha Karandlaje claimed that the agitators were sent to Rajendra Kala Mandir by Congress.

The miscreants weren't really Dalit activists but were people placed by the Congress party in order to create a nuisance and disrupt Shah's meet. Congress has no right to talk about Dalits, especially after how they've treated G Parmeshwar and Mallikarjun Kharge of their own party. They have cheated B R Ambedkar, she said.

Shah sought to pacify Dalit leaders by distancing from Hegde's controversial remarks.

"Neither the BJP nor me has anything to do with Hegde's statements. We don't endorse such remarks," Shah told the Dalit leaders at a meeting here where he sought their support for the party's victory in the May 12 assembly poll.

Police later detained Dalit leader Chiranahalli Shivanna in this regard.

BJP chiefs outreach to the Dalit community is significant as he tries to dent the support chief minister Siddaramaiah garners through his AHINDA (Kannada acronym for SC/ST and backward class) voters. The Dalit community forms about 1/5th or 20% of the voting population that the BJP would surely want to tap into 45-days ahead.New Delhi: Amid the political tussle between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments over the constitution of the Cauvery Management Board, the central government has moved the Supreme Court with a plea to clarify certain issues.

The application will be mentioned on Monday before Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra for an urgent hearing.

Filing its application on Saturday, the central government has sought the intervention of the court to guide the Centre how to move ahead when the state governments have taken diametrically opposite stands on the basis of their own interpretation of the Supreme Court verdict.

While the court had asked the Centre to frame a 'scheme' for ensuring compliance of its directive on distribution of Cauvery waters among the states, the state governments have been at loggerheads over the meaning of the term 'scheme'.

Tamil Nadu government has pressed for setting up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) in terms of the order by the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal. But the Karnataka government has opposed it, saying the Supreme Court verdict talked about a 'scheme' and not the 'board'.

The discord came out in the open during a recent meeting called upon by the Centre and hence no decision could be taken as to how to take the matter forward.

This stalemate over the body, which would monitor the water sharing, also breached the six-week deadline set by the court on February 16 for framing a 'scheme'.

On Saturday, the central government, thus, approached the top court for a clarification in this regard.

It has sought to know whether the Centre could frame a scheme different from what was envisaged by the Water Tribunal as the Board.

In case the answer to this question is in the negative and the court feels that the 'scheme' it ordered has to be the 'Board' only, the Centre seeks other clarifications.

It has sought to know if the Board can be a mixture of administrative and technical body and not just a technical body, as was directed by the Tribunal. The Tribunal had made chief engineers and other technical experts as the only members comprising the Board.

Besides, the central government has asked the court whether the Board can be assigned functions apart from just monitoring and ensuring the water-sharing pattern.

Having already breached the deadline, the Centre is seeking three months more to comply with the further direction by the court regarding setting up of the body.

Constitution of the Board in terms of the Tribunal's order will, in fact, take away the entire control from the Karnataka government regarding the statistics on Cauvery water, river water, collection in dams etc.

The scheme of the Board is such that technical members will have all the information and the control with respect to the Cauvery waters. And this happens to be the most contentious point in a dispute that has been ongoing for decades between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka  which has the advantage of being the upper riparian state.New Delhi: The leak of Class 10 Mathematics and Class 12 Economics exam papers has left the CBSE and HRD ministry red-faced, and the students with a hectic calendar before competitive tests. Though fresh dates for both re-examinations have been announced, students have taken to the streets, while the opposition Congress has demanded the sacking of minister Prakash Javadekar and CBSE chief Anita Karwal.

Here are the top 10 developments on the issue:

1. 9 detained in Jharkhand: According to a report, Jharkhand police have detained nine minors in connection with the paper leaks. The minors will be produced before the Juvenile Justice Board. Three people have been arrested under provisions of Indian Penal Code while nine, who are underage, have been detained under Juvenile Act. Probe by our SIT is still underway, news agency ANI quoted Superintendent of Police in Chatra district as saying.

Three people have been arrested under provisions of IPC; Nine who are underage have been detained under Juvenile Act. Probe by our SIT is still underway: Superintendent of Police Chatra, #Jharkhand on #CBSEPaperLeak pic.twitter.com/gAg1TrmALP ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2018

2. Protests in Delhi: Angry students protested against the leaks in Delhis Preet Vihar and blocked traffic in the area on Saturday. A day earlier, school children and Congress youth leaders held protests in several parts of the national capital against CBSE board papers being leaked.

3. CBSE denies reports of another paper leak: CBSE has issued a clarification about rumours of another paper leak. In a press release, it said that rumours of leak of Class XII Hindi (Elective) were false. The papers being circulated on WhatsApp or YouTube were either last years or fake, the press release added.

4. Papers leaked on 10 WhatsApp groups, 60 people questioned: Till now, police have questioned over 60 people in connection with the case, including the administrators of over 10 WhatsApp groups on which the leaked question papers were shared, as the investigators seek to trace the origin of the leak.

5. Delhi Police seeks reply from Google: The Delhi Police's crime branch has also sought a reply from Google about an email with images of handwritten questions papers that was sent to the CBSE chairperson. The email was sent from a Gmail ID.

6. Maths paper leaked only in Delhi, Haryana: The education secretary said that the leak of the Maths paper was restricted to only Delhi and Haryana, but a retest, if conducted, would not be held before July.

6. Prakash Javadekar on paper leak: In the wake of the incident, Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday asked engineering students to devise solutions for making exams "leak-proof".

8. Parents Association to file petition: The All India Parents Association said it would file a petition in the Delhi High Court on Monday seeking a court-monitored probe into the matter.

9. Opposition on CBSE papers leak: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray asked students and parents to boycott re-examination and said that it was governments mistake and they should pay for it, not the students. Rahul Gandhi had earlier attacked the PM, saying that he is a "weak watchman" as there were leaks in everything.

10. Manish Sisodia writes to Javadekar: Delhis deputy CM and education minister Manish Sisodia has written a letter to HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, demanding that education ministers from all over the country hold a meeting to brainstorm how to strengthen the examination system to prevent any future leaks.

11. SSC candidates also protest: Scores of enraged aspirants protested at Delhis Parliament Street on Saturday against Staff Selection Commission paper leak.

Aspirants protest at Parliament Street (Photo: Ishwar Deyal/News18 Network)New Delhi: Scuttled holiday plans, clashes with entrance dates, another round of tuitions and above all the 'phobia' of facing the examination day yet again----sum up the dilemma being faced by class 10 and 12 students of CBSE across the country.

Aujaswi Maken, Class 10 student and Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken's son:

"We are really disappointed. The CBSE chairman was aware of the leak of Mathematics paper a day before the examination. They should have cancelled the paper earlier itself. Many of us had plans to go for a vacation, but the plans stand cancelled now".

Vanshika, a Class 12 student who has to reappear for Economics paper:

"First of all, the authorities should have ensured there was no paper leak. Why should we suffer and go through the same drill? The paper was so good and now we have to again prepare for it. Also, my film making entrance exams are clashing with the tentative dates being announced by CBSE on television".

Somasree Banik, a student from Kolkata:

"The state Joint Entrance Board Engineering examinations will be held on April 22. Will the CBSE authorities explain how can one prepare for the Economics re-examination on April 25 while preparing for the engineering entrance which is far more tough?"

Shreya, Class 10 student from Chennai:

"I am feeling pressured and it is very difficult for me to study Maths again. Recalling all those formulae is tough. I have to again take tuitions and pay the fees. I feel that the coming paper (re-test) will be tougher. Also, my entrance exam for another school has also been affected".

Nikhil, Class 12 student from Amity International School, Gurgaon:

"I used to spend 16 hours everyday to prepare for the board exams. And then you come to know that the papers have been leaked. What is the guarantee that the re-examination will not be tampered with? If our system is flawed, what is the fault of students?"

Soumyadip Chandra, a Class 12 student of South Point High School in Kolkata:

"All my plans have gone haywire with these developments. My preparations for admission to the Presidency University, Kolkata and Benaras Hindu University, where the entrance exams will be held in mid-April and May, respectively will now be affected".

Sneha Aggarwal, a student of Delhi Public School, Gurgaon:

"I got to know that question papers were being offered at Rs 16,000 a night before the exam, and Rs 3,000 if one wanted it on the examination day. This is such a sorry state of affairs. I had planned to go out of station after the exams, but now I have to again face the exam".

Anisha Jain, Class 10 student from Delhi:

"If such an incident happens, there should be a re-exam, but the energy levels of students will not be same as before. Punishing all students for a few people's mistake is unfair".

Manisha, Class 12 student from Haryana:

"My entrance tests are lined up from April 20. I had also enrolled myself for various crash courses. Now, what should I do? Should I prepare for the re-examination or the entrance?

I am confused".

Rishabh, Class 10 student from Ambala:

"There is confusion about the Maths re-test. It is adding to our stress level. The CBSE should clear the confusion".The event has attracted 670 travel businesses of 45 local provinces and cities and 21 countries and territories, such as Russia, the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Japan.



Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, Head of the State Steering Committee on Tourism affirmed that tourism will be the key economic sector of Vietnam.

The travel fair is considered as a bridge between people from different countries to meet, exchange, strengthen and promote the mutual understanding, the cooperation, friendship and solidarity, he said.

The growth rate of the tourism industry in Vietnam and other countries has been maintained over the past years. Vietnam has a huge tourism potential and hopes to join hands with countries and other economies in the region and around the world to promote sustainable tourism development in the future.

The success of the tourism sector of Vietnam and other countries thanks for opening and reform policies between nations and economies, Mr. Vu Duc Dam added.

The travel fair includes a series of activities, such as art programs, seminars and discussions on issues of the tourism sector with the participation of leading tourism brand names.

Businesses and tourism agencies across the country will offer to travelers tourist products related to online travel and present information technology applications in tourism.

Many promotional programs and more than 40,000 cheap airline tickets for both domestic and international destinations will be launched during the event.

The Vietnam International Travel Mart was launched for the first time in 2013 and then is considered as the biggest travel fair of the country.









Many promotional tours are introduced to travelers.

By MAI AN  Translated by Kim KhanhThiruvananthapuram: A Class 10 CBSE student in Kottayam district of Kerala took the Mathematics examination on March 28, only the question paper she answered to was that of 2016.

Ameeya Saleem, a student of Mount Carmel School, wrote the entire Maths paper on March 28 and was later discussing the questions with her friends after coming out of the exam hall when she was in for a rude shock.

She realised that her question paper was different from that of her friends. She immediately took it up with the teachers, who in turn got in touch with the CBSE regional office.

At first she was told that there is nothing to worry as CBSE is anyway doing a retest of the Mathematics paper for the paper leak that has now rocked all states across the country.

However, the Education Secretary on Friday announced that the retest will only be for students in Delhi-NCR and Haryana as the paper leak was restricted to these regions.

The hapless student is now clueless over what to do in this crisis.

The Principal of Mount Carmel Vidyanikethan Senior Secondary School in Kanjikkuzhy, had in her complaint sent to the Regional officer CBSE, Thiruvananthapuram stated that Ameeya Saleem "got an old set of question paper (Set 1) that is summative assessment (SA) 2" for the Mathematics examination.

Ameeya now says that the Board should either do a retest for her or evaluate her answers based on the question paper she got.

She said that she realised it was a 2016 question paper later as her brother had appeared for his board examinations in 2016 and had the same questions.

Meanwhile, the school authorities said, " our teachers have personally gone to the centre to inform about the case."

The principal has appealed to the concerned authorities "to do something" so that the child is not be affected.Thiruvananthapuram: A family of three and another person from Kasaragod district of Kerala, suspected to have joined terror outfit Islamic State, have been reportedly killed, according to information reaching one of the relatives of the deceased.

The deceased were among the 21 persons from Kasaragod district who went missing and later reportedly joined the ISIS in 2016.

One of the relatives of the deceased has received a message that that they have been killed, Kasaragod district panchayat member VPP Mustafa said.

But there were no details about how it happened, source of the information or from where it came, he told PTI.

When contacted, police also confirmed that such a message had been received three days ago.

As per the information, the deceased were Shihas, his wife Ajmala and their child, all hailing from Padana, and Muhammed Mansad from Thrikaripur in Kasaragod district.

The National Investigation Agency has been probing the case of the missing Keralites, suspected to have joined the terror group.

Among them, 17 were from Kasaragod and four from Palakkad.They include four women and three children. As per reports, these people had gone to Syria and Afghanistan and later reached the terror camps.New Delhi: Indias first woman doctor Anandi Gopal Joshis 153rd birth anniversary was marked with a Google doodle on Saturday.

The doodle has been created by Bangalore-based artist Kashmira Sarode, who portrayed Joshi celebrating her medical degree.

Talking about the same, Google wrote in its blog, "In 1886, a young doctor stepped off a ship from America, eager to take up the role of physician-in-charge of the female ward at Kolhapur's Albert Edward Hospital. Not only was she India's first female doctor, but she was only 19 years old at the time. Her name was Anandi Gopal Joshi, and her story is one of courage and perseverance."

Born on March 31, 1865, Anandi was married at the age of nine to Gopalrao Joshi, a widower almost twenty years her senior. He was a progressive thinker and supported education for women, which was not very prevalent at the time.

At the age of fourteen, Anandi gave birth to a boy, but the child lived only for ten days because the medical care necessary for his survival was unavailable. This situation proved to be a turning point in Anandi's life and inspired her to become a physician

She went on to earn her medical degree from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, now known as Drexel University College of Medicine. In late 1886, Anandi returned to India, receiving a grand welcome. The princely state of Kolhapur appointed her as the physician-in-charge of the female ward of the local Albert Edward Hospital.

She died of tuberculosis early the next year on February 26, 1887. "Joshi's young life was tragically cut short when she died of tuberculosis before her 22nd birthday. However, her legacy and the path she paved for generations of women continues today. Interestingly, even a crater on Venus is named after her!" Googles blog adds.Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Police on Saturday claimed that the Dalit youth who was killed in Bhavnagar district late Thursday allegedly for keeping a horse used to harass local girls and the villagers were angry with his activities.

District Superintendent of Police Pravin Mal told reporters that initial investigations have revealed that 21-year-old Pradeep Rathod might not have been killed because he was a Dalit and the higher castes had objections over his using and keeping a horse.

Police had already detained three persons in the case.

"The preliminary investigations reveal that the boy was not killed just for owning the horse as has been alleged in the FIR lodged. Instead, we have come across a lot of complaints about objectionable behaviour of the boy from various quarters and perhaps some persons may have killed him for that," he said, adding: "We are trying to ascertain the true reason and nab the culprits."

Rathod from Timbi village, which is an hour's drive from Bhavnagar, was found dead on the streets of the village late on Thursday.

In his police complaint, his father Kalubhai Rathod alleged that Pradeep had received threats from members of upper castes in the village after buying a horse couple of months ago. He had alleged that his son was killed for the very same reason.

Police said that during their investigations, they had received complaints against the character of the boy. "Some villagers complained that the boy would perform stunts on the horse and on motorcycle whenever he confronted young girls. He also used to enter into fights," Pravin Mal said.

Police said that they have also come across multiple complaints against Pradeep's father for being involved in various incidents of land grabbing in the past.

Mal said the police were yet to identify and nab the culprits who killed Pradeep and as for the three persons picked up by them on Friday, they were detained for mere questioning. Four police teams had been constituted further investigate the matter and nab the culprits in the case.

Meanwhile, Pradeep's family on Saturday performed his last rites.New Delhi: Even as the Supreme Court is yet to take a call on whether MPs, MLAs should be barred from practising law, the Bar Council of India (BCI) has adopted a resolution to stop such legislators from practising before "that Court or Judge" against whom they participate in impeachment proceedings.

While the two-page resolution did not clarify whether such legislators would be barred from the entire court or only before a judge in that court, BCI Chairperson Manan Mishra told the media at a press conference on Saturday that the prohibition would be for the entire court, be it the Supreme Court or the High Court.

The BCI made its resolution public on Saturday after rejecting the objections raised by Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Vivek Tankha - - senior lawyers and MPs, who had responded to the BCI notice stating that the lawyers' body had no jurisdiction to pass any order in this matter.

The decision also comes close on the heels of reports that Congress MPs Sibal and Tankha have supported the proposed impeachment process against the current Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

According to the BCI resolution, while the body was against any curb on legislators who want to practice law, an exception should be carved out if such MPs, MLAs want to be a part of the process to remove a judge of a constitutional court.

By a majority, the BCI decided that those MPs and MLAs who wish to participate in the impeachment proceeding in the Parliament should not be allowed to continue their practice before "that Court/Judge". The resolution was passed during adjudication of a representation filed before the BCI by BJP leader and Supreme Court lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay.

Upadhyay has also filed a PIL in the apex court with a prayer to bar MPs and MLAs from practising as lawyers. On the last hearing, a bench led by CJI Misra had issued a notice to the BCI.

After making its resolution public on Saturday, the BCI has said that its decision should be communicated to the Court on the next date of hearing. It has also clarified that until the top court decides anything against the BCI, its decision in this matter shall remain valid.Mumbai: An Indian man, who had gone missing in central China during a business visit, has been traced and is expected to return to Mumbai tomorrow, his family members said on Saturday.

Tabrez Akbarali Bana, a resident of Dongri in south Mumbai, was visiting China's Zhejiang province in connection with his jewellery business and was allegedly abducted by local traders over a payment dispute.

Indian authorities in Shanghai on Tuesday had sought details of Bana's whereabouts from the Chinese government.

Bana's father-in-law Jigar Abbas, 53, told PTI that his abduction was a case of mistaken identity as the local businessmen mistook Bana for another person with whom they had a dispute over payments.

Bana had gone missing from a market in Yiwu on March 23.

"It was a case of mistaken identity and Tabrez has been let off by the abductors after he showed them passport details to prove he was not the person they were looking for. This was his first visit to China," Abbas, who runs a stationery shop in Mumbra in the neighbouring Thane district, told PTI today.

Abbas's daughter, Afroz, is married to Bana and the couple have two children.

"I have not spoken to him personally but Bana has contacted my daughter (Afroz) and his father," Abbas said.

He said Bana was supposed to fly out of China yesterday but the flight got cancelled due to some reason.

"It has been a very trying time and we are eagerly waiting to see him. My daughter is distressed. We had decided to meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj but she was out of the country. We had also tweeted for help," Abbas said.

Bana's mother-in-law, Shahnaz, told PTI that he was abducted while he was speaking to his wife over phone.

During the conversation, Bana had told Afroz that he had completed his business dealings in China and would return to Mumbai at the earliest, she said.

"His phone was untraceable since March 23 and we tried to make a video call on March 26 but someone snatched the phone before he could speak," she said.New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate a dialogue process with Pakistan at the earliest as the "key for peace" with the neighbouring country.

Speaking at a function organised by a group of Kashmiri Pandits owing allegiance to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mufti said that war was never an option.

"Reconciliation is the mantra which we need to follow and therefore, I request Modi ji to engage with Pakistan," she said.

"We need to take an assurance from the neighbouring country that they should not be allowing their soil to be used against India. After all, we all know that the key for peace is in Pakistan. They have been pushing terrorists into the state," she said.

The chief minister said that efforts should be made for changing the slogan of "Azadi" in the Kashmir Valley.

"This can be achieved. Why can't Jammu and Kashmir be a gateway to the central Asian countries.

"If the CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) is a possibility, so can be this. If new roads are opened, the slogan of Azadi will automatically change," she said at a gathering of around 200 Kashmiri Pandits, who had to leave their homes after the onset of the militancy in 1990.

She advised people not to watch debates on television channels which only foment hatred between the two warring nations as well as the Muslims of Kashmir and the rest of the country.

"Those, sitting in studios and pontificating the nation, are only interested in the TRP ratings and not finding solution to the problem.

"Many a times I wonder who are these people who talk so much on television. Are they even aware of the ground realities," she said.

Mufti said that every second day daggers are out and a war hysteria is created.

"If a war had to happen, it would have in 2001 when the armies of the two nation were in an eye-ball-to-eye ball contact for over a year," she said.

"War (between India and Pakistan) will not happen. After the attack on Parliament in 2001, the armies of both the countries (India and Pakistan) were deployed along borders for a year, if the war did not take place back then, it will not take place now as both the nations know it will be disastrous (for both)," she said.

She also appealed for a reconciliation between the Kashmiri Muslims and Pandit community.

"I know you people had to leave your homes under difficult situations. You people have suffered but so do have those who are their in Kashmir.

"The gift of education has helped you (Pandits) in making a name for yourself but those in Kashmir are still trying to live a peaceful life," the chief minister said and made an appeal to Kashmiri Pandits to visit the Valley.

"The Valley is incomplete without you. To begin with, please come as tourists and later if you feel so, you are most welcome to go back to your homes and stay there. I am not assuring you a roller coaster ride.

"Difficulties will be there but we together have to face these difficulties. Please do not wait for the last gun to fall silent," she said.

The chief minister also apologised to the Kashmiri Pandits for delay in resolving their issues.

The Kashmiri Pandits should send their younger generations to see the state to familiarise them with their roots, the way children from Jammu and Kashmir are sent to see the rest of India, Mufti said.

She also urged the Centre to talk with Pakistan so that the Kashmiri Pandits can visit Sharda Peeth in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

When asked about the third front, she said every party has a right to be in alliance with any party it wants.

Over funds to Jammu and Kashmir, she said it is given by the Centre and the earliest they do so, the state government tries to utilise them.

A charter of demands, including health insurance, was submitted by the group of Kashmiri Pandits to the chief minister who assured that she will consider and act upon them.

Sharda Peeth, once regarded as a major centre of learning, is an abandoned Hindu temple located in Sharda village along the Neelam river near the Line of Control (LoC).New Delhi: The West Bengal Governor KN Tripathi on Saturday visited the violence-hit Asansol that has been witnessing communal clashes since the Ram Navami procession last Sunday.

The Governor held an hour-long meeting with senior police and administration officials here and took stock of the situation.

I have spoken to the police and district administration and have appraised myself of the ground situation in Asansol. Peace is paramount. I appeal to all sections of people and communities to stay away from violence, said Governor Tripathi

The Governor, who reached Asansol circuit house this morning, is scheduled to visit troubled areas of Raniganj later in the day.

Earlier this week, the state government had advised him against visiting Asansol and Raniganj, citing security reasons.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Pradesh Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was stopped by police from entering the Asansol area. In protest, supporters of the Congress leader have blocked NH2 near Asansol.

One person was killed and two police officers suffered serious injuries on Monday when clashes broke out between two groups over a Ram Navami procession in Raniganj area of Bardhaman West district.

The violence fanned out to Asansol areas, prompting police to suspend Internet services and clamp prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC in trouble-torn areas of the district.

In a remarkable show of restraint in the face of violence, Imam of a mosque in the communally tense Asansol said that he would leave the town if there was any attempt to avenge the death of his son.

Sibtulla Rashidi, 16, was reported missing after communal clashes in Rail Par area of Asansol on Tuesday afternoon. His body was recovered late on Wednesday night and identified on Thursday. He is suspected to have been beaten to death.

Union minister Babul Supriyo and state BJP Mahila Morcha president Locket Chatterjee were also stopped from entering the Asansol-Raniganj area by police on Thursday.

Prohibitory orders are still in force as the situation here is tense, a senior police officer said.

"No fresh incident of violence was reported from the area in last three days," he said, adding that a huge contingent of the police and the Rapid Action Force (RAF) is patrolling the area.Asansol (WB): West Bengal Governor KN Tripathi on Saturday held an hour-long meeting with senior police and administration officials here and took stock of the situation in violence-hit areas of Raniganj and Asansol.

One person was killed and two police officers suffered serious injuries on Monday when clashes broke out between two groups over a Ram Navami procession in Raniganj area of Bardhaman West district.

The violence fanned out to Asansol areas, prompting police to suspend Internet services and clamp prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC in trouble-torn areas of the district.

The governor, who reached Asansol circuit house this morning, is scheduled to visit the violence-hit areas of Raniganj and Asansol areas later in the day.

Earlier this week, the state government had advised him against visiting Asansol and Raniganj, citing security reasons.

Union minister Babul Supriyo and state BJP Mahila Morcha president Locket Chatterjee were also stopped from entering the Asansol-Raniganj area by police on Thursday.

The Imam of Noorani Masjid, Imdatullah Rashid, had said that his son was also killed in the violence but there was no confirmation from the police on the incident. Rashid had also appealed for peace in the area.

Prohibitory orders are still in force as the situation here is tense, a senior police officer said. "No fresh incident of violence was reported from the area in last three days," he said, adding that a huge contingent of the police and the Rapid Action Force (RAF) is patrolling the area.Two worlds collided when actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan met acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan in Mumbai on Friday, with the two instantly forming a mutual admiration society. Haasan was understandably pleased that Nolan had seen his celebrated work Paapanaasam.

"Met Mr.Christopher Nolan. Apologised for seeing 'Dunkirk' in the digital format and in return I am sending 'Hey Ram' in digital format for him to see," Kamal tweeted, adding, "Was surprised to know he had seen 'Paapanaasam'."

With titles like Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, Interstellar and Dunkirk, Nolan is regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers of the 21st century. He continues to use the traditional film for his movies. Work and love for cinema has brought him to the country. Nolan is in India to draw attention to the importance of celluloid in the digital age.

The Hollywood director is expected to fly out on April 2. Check out Haasan's tweet below:

Met Mr.Christopher Nolan. Apologized for seeing Dunkirk in the digital format and in return am sending Hey Ram in digital format for him to see. Was surprised to know he had seen Paapanaasam.  pic.twitter.com/iTPgQOZCMH Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) March 30, 2018

(With IANS inputs)One of New York state's highest courts has vacated the sentence imposed on a Genoa man who violated his probation in Cayuga County.

In 2011, Claude Zirbel, of 9569 Creeks Road, pleaded guilty to felony driving while intoxicated and first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in Cayuga County Court and was sentenced to 1 1/3 to four years in prison plus five years probation.

According to the state Supreme Court's Appellate Division, after serving the full four years in prison, Zirbel was charged with violating his probation in 2015 when he was caught in possession of alcohol during a home visit by his parole officer. He admitted to the violation and was restored to probation.

Then, in July 2016, Zirbel violated his probation a second time when he was arrested and charged with his sixth drunk driving offense in the town of Cortlandville.

Zirbel pleaded guilty to felony driving while intoxicated in Cortland County and was sentenced to one to three years in prison. Meanwhile, in Cayuga County, he reappeared before Judge Thomas Leone, who revoked Zirbel's probation and resentenced him to 2 1/3 to seven years in prison.In July 1993, J Jayalalithaa, in her first term as chief minister of Tamil Nadu, sat on a fast unto death at the Marina beach. On her agenda was to put pressure on the Congress governments, both in New Delhi and in Bengaluru, to demand monitoring and implementation committees on the interim award of the Cauvery tribunal.

The PV Narasimha Rao government caved within 80 hours. More so because the then PM knew Jayalalithaa's health would not permit her to fast for a long time and if her condition worsened, it could lead to a law and order problem given the proclivity of AIADMK cadre to attempt immolation.

The Centre rushed in then water resources minister VC Shukla to the Marina beach and it was agreed that a committee to monitor the flow of Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu would be set up. The episode was a pointer to how Chennai (then called Madras), with a powerful CM who dared to call a spade a spade, could get New Delhi to do what it wanted.

Twenty-five years later, Tamil Nadu is at a crossroads of a similar nature. Despite the Supreme Court verdict on February 16 asking the Centre to put in place a scheme to implement the Cauvery award within six weeks, March 29 passed by without any such move by New Delhi.

What the Centre is likely to do is to file a petition in the apex court, seeking clarification on what the word scheme actually means.

Even the densest will understand this is a tactic to buy time. For, if such a clarification had to be sought, it should have been done within days of the verdict, not after the deadline. This when the court had also categorically said that no extension shall be granted for framing of the Scheme on any ground. It needs some audacity to be in contempt of court in such a contentious case.

But then, the BJP, with an eye on winning the elections this summer in Karnataka, will not take any decision which will not be appreciated in the upper riparian state. Karnataka has all along objected to the formation of a board to monitor release of water downstream, which is why the court order was seen as a huge relief to Tamil Nadu.

The BJP's courage to defy the Supreme Court comes from the fact that Tamil Nadu is no longer the land of Jayalalithaa. The present crop of AIADMK leaders do not have the stomach for a fight, quite literally. Proof of that is a token one-day fast that the ruling AIADMK leaders have decided to observe on April 2. It is mere posturing by a party that does not have the spine to tell the Centre that its attitude smacks of political duplicity. The government and the 37 AIADMK MPs have failed the people of Tamil Nadu.

In order to hoodwink the people that the Tamil Nadu government is fighting for the Cauvery cause, it plans to move the Supreme Court to point out that the deadline has not been met. It will give it the fig leaf of the case being in court and therefore sub-judice.

DMK plans Jallikattu-like protests in Chennai and will show black flags when Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes visiting on April 15. The PMK wants every home in Tamil Nadu to sport a black flag, while Rajinikanth made do with just a tweet. Kamal Haasan plans to meet the Tamil Nadu chief minister over the issue, which will be nothing more than a photo-op.

But does the NDA care? No. The Tamil Nadu government could not even secure the PM's appointment with an all-party delegation from the state to request him to form the board.

The BJP in Tamil Nadu looks at Cauvery through the prism of politics. Its leader H Raja says Tamil Nadu will get Cauvery water only if the BJP comes to power in Karnataka. The national secretary of the BJP ought to know that the court order is supreme and it cannot depend on who is in power in Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru to decide whether to turn the tap on or off on Cauvery.

The AIADMK is the third largest parliamentary party group in the Lok Sabha after the BJP and the Congress. It is a travesty that despite being given such an overwhelming mandate in 2014, the AIADMK cannot secure for Tamil Nadu what is due to it.

Beyond token protests in the Well of the House, that most suspect was done at the behest of the BJP to block the no-confidence motion, the AIADMK has done precious little.

Politically speaking, Tamil Nadu has been reduced to a caricature of its earlier powerful self under a Jayalalithaa and a Karunanidhi. Only theatrics are on display with A Navaneethakrishnan, the leader of the AIADMK in the Rajya Sabha, dramatically announcing that all his party MPs will commit suicide if the Cauvery authority was not formed by March 29. Within minutes, his colleagues distanced themselves from any suicide pact.

Perhaps it is an expression of the disgust on the ground that a person from Coimbatore reportedly sent a sachet of rat poison by courier to Pollachi MP C Mahendran's address in New Delhi. The party does not need a crystal ball to gaze into its future in 2019.

(Author is a senior journalist. Views are personal)Chennai: The entire AIADMK cabinet barring Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam will participate in the April 3 fast to be observed by the party seeking formation of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB).

According to the list released by the party, senior Ministers Dindigul C Sreenivasan (Forest), K A Sengottaiyan (School Education), P Thangamani (Electricity), D Jayakumar (Fisheries) and SP Velumani (Municipal Administration) among others will head the fast organised at different locations across the state.

The party nominated seven functionaries from Puducherry including MLAs to observe fast in the neighbouring union territory on the issue. Senior party leaders, heads of various wings, MPs and MLAs were also named in the list released by the party.

The protest will be held in all 32 districts of Tamil Nadu, besides in Puducherry, urging the Centre to constitute CMB and Central Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC).

With the Cauvery issue appearing to be snowballing into an embarrassment for the ruling AIADMK which has largely been friendly with the Centre, the party on Friday made an announcement on observing the hunger strike next week.

AIADMK coordinator Panneerselvam made the announcement while chairing a mass wedding function organised by the party at Madurai along with Palaniswami, the party co-coordinator.

Meanwhile, the rival TTV Dhinakaran camp challenged the ruling dispensation to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the hunger strike.

Dhinakaran aide V Pugazhenthi told reporters here that the chief minister and his deputy should speak out against the Centre. "The fast should not be a mere eyewash," he said while recalling a hunger strike conducted by Dhinakaran in Thanjavur last week on the same issue.

Tamil Nadu's stand is that the Centre must constitute the CWMB and CWRC. In its February 16 judgement, the apex court had raised the 270 tmcft share of Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu's share of Cauvery water.

The apex court granted six weeks time to the Centre to formulate a scheme to ensure compliance of its 465-page judgement, which modified the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal award. Following the verdict, Tamil Nadu has been urging the Centre to set up the CWMB and CWRC to ensure it received its due share of water from the inter-state river.Bengaluru: Taking a dig at the BJP over its "double standard" on the ban of cow slaughter, Karnataka minister Ramalinga Reddy on Saturday alleged that the country's beef export was flourishing under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's regime.

Recalling the statements of BJP president Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during their visits to Karnataka that they would ban cow slaughter in the state after coming to power, Reddy said killing of any animal was not right.

"They (BJP) say that they will ban cow slaughter if they come to power in Karnataka, while our country exports cow meat, beef to other countries...it has been four years since they came to power, why have they not stopped these exports," he asked.

Speaking to reporters here, the state home minister noted, "If they have real love for cows, they will have to first stop the exports."

Reddy also alleged that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's regime, the country has attained second position in the global beef exports, from the third place it enjoyed earlier.

Brazil currently holds the first position, while Australia is third.

The Congress minister said the income earned by the country during 2015-16 from beef exports stood at Rs 26,682 crore.

"Does this mean for Rs 26,000 crore, they (BJP) are exporting beef and not banning it? If their sentiment about cow is true, let them stop it," he said.

Citing data by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy data, Reddy said under the Modi regime, beef exports have seen a growth of about 14 per cent every year.

BJP-ruled Maharashra and Uttar Pradesh have large number of beef processing and exporting companies, he said, adding there were allegations that BJP leaders were partners in these beef exporting companies in Uttar Pradesh.

The Karnataka minister said in BJP-ruled Goa, 30 to 50 tonnes of beef is used every day, adding in many northeastern states where the BJP is in power, they are not ready for a ban on cow slaughter for "political reasons".

"...they (BJP) are playing a drama...if they want to ban, let them ban every where and all animals. I will completely support it...let them first leave their double standard out," he said.

Reddy also termed Shah's visit to temples, Swami jis (seers) and royal family of Mysuru in Karnataka as "politically motivated" ahead of the May 12 state assembly election.

Hitting out at Shah's statement that BJP would bring the culprits involved in killings of RSS and BJP activists to justice, Reddy asked, "Who are they to bring them to justice when we have already done the job."

He said the state government has already put the culprits behind bars and in many cases, charge-sheets have been filed, adding "the BJP claimed that 23 activists were killed, while the the truth is only 10 of them belonged to the BJP or Sangh parivar. The rest were all different cases, including that of personal rivalry."

Accusing the BJP of indulging in false propaganda about the killing of 'Hindu activists', he questioned as to why the party leaders were not speaking about the killings of PFI and SDPI activists.

Regarding party ticket to his daughter Soumya Reddy to contest from Jayanagara constituency in Bengaluru for the assembly polls, Reddy said, "If she is given the ticket, she will contest from Jayanagara, if some one else is given, we will support that candidate".

About reports that she was looking at Bommanahalli constituency as a second option, the home minister clarified that his daughter would not contest from any other constituency.New Delhi: BJP president Amit Shah on Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs home turf of old Mysuru vowed that his party will give the Congress its biggest shock in the upcoming state Assembly elections.

The people of Karnataka have made up their minds to throw out the Siddaramaiah government in the Assembly polls slated for May 12 as they were "disappointed" with it on several fronts, Shah said.

Shah, who is on a tour of Mysuru, Mandya and Ramanagara districts, said that his party would put up a good show during the polls in the old Mysuru region.

In the 2013 elections, the BJP had drawn a blank in this region, which has voted the Congress or Janata Dal (Secular) for years. Siddaramaiah is the MLA from Chamundeshwari in Mysore.

Hassan, Chamarajnagar, Mysuru, Mandya and Ramanagara fall under old Mysuru region.

"The people of Karnataka have made up their minds to throw out the Siddaramaiah government. They are disappointed with it on many fronts, with corruption being the main issue. The relationship between corruption and Congress party is akin to water and fish," Shah said, as quoted by PTI.

"The Karnataka government is like an ATM for the Congress to indulge in corruption," he said, and alleged that this relationship of corruption has only been expedited by the Siddaramaiah government.

Shah said the JD(S) was not in a position to form a government because it can only win a few seats, and the BJP was the only party which can defeat the Congress.

Alleging that all parameters of development under the Siddaramaiah government were on the ebb, he said, "Though Bengaluru is mopping up revenue in good numbers, it is not percolating down to smaller cities and villages."

On farmer suicide, the BJP president said, "As many as 3,500 farmers have committed suicide and Siddaramaiahji is terming these as minor incidents. In my political life, I have never come across such an irresponsible statement on farmers' suicides."

To a query, Shah said the Congress government in the state was raking up the issue of religious minority tag for Lingayats to prevent B S Yeddyurappa from becoming chief minister after the polls and for dividing the community.

Yeddyurappa is a Lingayat strongman and the BJP's chief ministerial candidate for the coming Karnataka Assembly polls 2018.

"This is a nefarious strategy of the Siddaramaiah government for political gains. Had Siddaramaiahji been serious about giving minority status to Lingayats, he should have done it in the early stages of his five-year term. Why now, after four-and-a-half years?" Shah asked and claimed that the UPA government had rejected a similar proposal in 2013.

In a move with major electoral ramifications ahead of the Assembly elections, the Karnataka Cabinet earlier this month decided to recommend to the Centre grant of religious minority tag to Lingayat and Veerashaiva Lingayat community, who follow the philosophy of 12th century social reformer Basaveshwara.

Asked about the BJP-led central government's stand on the minority tag to Lingayats, Shah said, "We haven't yet received the proposal in the administrative format. Why don't you ask this state government why it has not sent it so far?" BJP does not raise such emotional issues during elections as any comment on it highly impacts voters, he said adding that his party would make its stand on the matter known after the election.

Asked whether there would be the same strategy for Karnataka polls as was followed in the Assembly elections in the northeastern states, Shah said, "There are different strategies for different states. It depends on a particular state's dynamics."

"The win in Karnataka will open the gates for the BJP to make inroads in south India," he said.

(With PTI inputs)Kolkata: BJP MP from Asansol, Babul Supriyo, on Friday said that he wants to be by the side of the higher secondary students from the constituency who were unable to give their Board Exams.

I want to be by the side of the 218 Higher Secondary students from Asansol, who were unable to give their board exams. They have lost a year, does it matter which community they are from? said Supriyo, who has an FIR against him for violating Section 144 and misbehaving with Police officers during his visit to Asansol in Burdwan district on Thursday.

In turn, the MP has written to the Asansol (South) Police to initiate an FIR against IPS officer Rupesh Kumar for assaulting him and hitting the Union Minister of State with his helmet.

Tension prevails in the area post clashes during Ram Navami processions on Tuesday evening. While an uneasy calm continues in the area, neighbouring Ranigunj is slowly limping back to normalcy. Security forces continue route marches, while Section 144 continues in Asansol with internet services still banned.

Supriyo believes that while appeasement politics by the ruling Trinamool Congress has ripped West Bengal in the last 3 years, it is the students appearing for board exams whose futures are at stake.

Victims of violence between the two communities have left behind their families to ponder over the grim reality that surrounds them. Amidst the tensed environment comes a ray of hope of an Imam, who has vowed to leave Asansol if anyone chooses to avenge the death of his 16-year-old son during the clashes on Tuesday.

I want peace. I lost my son. I dont want more families to lose their loved ones. I dont want more houses to burn, said Maulana Imdadul Rashidi.

Babul Supriyo has also reached out to the Imam by speaking to him from Delhi over the phone. I felt at peace. I spoke to the Imam on Friday evening, he appealed to the people not to resort to violence or else he would leave Asansol. I spoke to the Imam as I felt his words have helped Asansol and that has given me immense peace, said Supriyo.

The Union Minister of State says he has also been in touch with Home Minister Rajnath Singh ever since clashes broke out in the neighbouring constituency of Ranigunj on Monday, the area which Police prevented him from entering as Section 144 had been imposed.

Supriyo adds that he has also been in touch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apprise him of the ground situation from time-to-time. I have told Rajnath Singh and the Prime Minister everything. It pains me to see tension in the area. I hope the State Government relents and requests for central forces as a psychological balm to the people on ground, said the BJP leader.

Supriyo, who arrived in Delhi on Friday, is expected to meet Rajnath Singh on Sunday. Despite asking for a report, the Ministry of Home Affairs is yet to receive a report from the West Bengal Government on the ground situation. The state government, on their part, is assessing the situation as repercussions of the politics between the BJP and Trinamool Congress plays out in Burdwan district.New Delhi: Congress veteran Janardan Dwivedi has been replaced by ex-Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot as the AICC general secretary in charge of organisation and training in a rejig by party chief Rahul Gandhi.

While bringing organisational changes in the Congress after taking over the reins of the grand old party in last December, Rahul Gandhi also appointed Rajeev Satav and Jitendra Singh as in-charges of the party's affairs in Gujarat and Odisha, respectively.

Dwivedi, considered a political heavyweight and a close confidante of Sonia Gandhi, would step down as party general secretary, a post he held for over two decades. He had earlier also headed the party's communication wing for several years and has been part of several key decisions of the Congress.

Dwivedi was also part of a four-member committee that Sonia Gandhi, as then Congress president, had constituted to run the party in her absence, while she was undergoing treatment abroad.

Satav replaces Gehlot, who was entrusted the responsibility of AICC general secretary in charge of Gujarat, ahead of assembly polls in the state late last year.

Gehlot, who had played a crucial role in galvanising the party in the run-up to Gujarat Assembly polls, has been entrusted the task of taking care of the organisation and providing training to party workers.

This is Rahul Gandhi's first appointment for the party's general secretary post after he announced reorganising the Congress at the party's plenary session earlier this month.

However, with elections to Rajasthan Assembly only a few months away, it remains to be seen whether Gehlot would continue to campaign aggressively in the state as his new assignment entails spending more time at the party headquarters in Delhi.

"Congress President Rahul Gandhi has designated Ashok Gehlot as general secretary in charge, organisation and training, in place of Janardan Dwivedi, general secretary AICC," Dwivedi said in a statement.

It further states that a note from the Congress president says, "The party appreciates the hard work and contribution of Janardan Dwivedi, who will be stepping down from his responsibility as AICC general secretary."

In another statement, Dwivedi said, "Congress President Rahul Gandhi has appointed Rajeev Satav, MP, as the AICC in charge of Gujarat with immediate effect."

"Congress President Rahul Gandhi has appointed Jitendra Singh, ex-union minister as AICC in charge of Odisha, in place of B K Hariprasad," said a second statement.

The second order also said the party appreciates the hard work and contribution of Hariprasad, "who will be stepping down from his responsibility as AICC General Secretary in-charge, Odisha".

According to sources, Gehlot has thanked the party workers of Gujarat for extending support to him during the assembly elections and will concentrate on the upcoming elections in Rajasthan.

In yet another order, Rahul Gandhi appointed Lalji Desai as the chief organiser of the All India Congress Seva Dal, replacing Mehendra Joshi.

The party also placed on record the hard work and contribution of Joshi, who is stepping down from his responsibility as chief organiser of Seva Dal.

The changes are part of a major restructuring of the Congress under Rahul Gandhi's leadership and indicate a generational shift which the new party chief is wanting.

A completely revamped Congress is likely to be in place in the coming times, as stated by the party president himself.Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and BJP chief Amit Shah have been accused of violating the model code of conduct in poll-bound Karnataka, regarding which complaints were filed with the Election Commission.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged that Siddaramaiah gave Rs 2,000 to a priest for performing rituals during a visit to a temple in Mysore on Friday.

BJP state unit's General Secretary Ravi Kumar said in his complaint to the election panel that Siddaramaiah had given a "bribe" of Rs 2,000 each to two women who welcomed him during a visit in Chamundeshwari Assembly segment  from where the CM will contest  in his hometown Mysore on Thursday.

On the other hand, the ruling Congress claimed that Shah gave a cheque of Rs 5 lakh to the mother of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker H Raju who was allegedly murdered in 2016 in Mysore.

During his two-day trip to Mysore region, Shah on Friday visited Raju's family along with Union Minister Ananth Kumar and the party's state unit president and CM face BS Yeddyurappa.

"Shah and other (BJP) leaders handed over a cheque for Rs 5 lakh to the family, which is in gross violation of the model code of conduct," said a complaint filed against Shah by the state unit Congress leaders.

"It is safe to presume in the light of the ensuing elections that the money was paid with an intent to woo voters," the leaders said.

The Election Commission on Tuesday announced that Assembly polls would be held on May 12 for 224 seats and the votes will be counted on May 15.

(With IANS inputs)New Delhi: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Saturday hit out at the central government led by his party over its plans to privatise Air India.

Comparing the state-owned flagship airline to family silver, Swamy took to Twitter to voice his opinion.

Selling the family silver is not divestment, he said while claiming the proposed sale of AI is another scam in the making.

The proposed sale of Air India is potentially another scam in the making. Selling family silver is not divestment. I am watching who is doing what and will, if I see culpability, file a private criminal law complaint. Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) March 31, 2018

Warning that he would be following the deal very closely, he said he would file a criminal complaint and take it to court if found out there was any kind of scam in the deal.

Swamy is not the only one who has expressed reservations about the deal. Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has also expressed reservations about the deal.

I am sorry to read in the media about the government inviting expression of interest for selling Air India, the jewel of our nation, she said.

We strongly oppose this and want this order to be withdrawn immediately. This government must not be allowed to sell our country, she added.

Congress leader Ahmed Patel has also expressed reservations about the AI privatisation deal. Expressing shock over the move, Government will sell 76% equity but will retain 52% of the companys debt? Isnt this a complete sell out designed to benefit certain private agents? He has asked.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has permitted a consortium of entities to bid for Air India. The consortium will have one lead member with each entity holding 20% share.

The Centre also proposed selling 76% stakes in Air India to private parties, with the condition that the brand 'Air India' will be retained and the control of the national-carrier will be with Indian nationals.

The government in its statement proposed only companies with the minimum net worth of Rs 5,000 crore can bid for Air India and the lead member shall hold at least 51% of paid-up capital.

While the government remains committed to privatising the airline and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha has reiterated his stand in the past that Air India would be in private hands by December, time seems to be running out in the government's efforts.Mumbai: Invoking the memory of warrior king Shivaji's rule, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday asked who should be blamed for the changed times where women's safety is not guaranteed and the country needs a protest against corruption.

"Shivaji Maharaj is a source of inspiration for all those who want to fight against injustice and exploitation. Shivaji (his life) is a guide book in himself, who never discriminated against anybody on the basis of faith," Bhagwat said.

He was addressing a gathering to mark the death anniversary of the 17th century Maratha king as per the traditional Shalivahan calendar at Raigad Fort in neighbouring Raigad district.

"Shivaji is needed in every house; he should be born in my house. We should start from ourselves," Bhagwat said.

He was apparently referring to an old Marathi saying, 'Shivaji should be born but not in my house' (A hero is needed, but let us not have any trouble in my house).

"There is no guaranty that our mothers and sisters can walk on streets safely all the time, why has this come to pass? When the fort (Raigad) was repaired (when Shivaji made it his capital in the 17th century), workers found a pot of gold, but not a single coin was stolen. And in such a country, a time came when we needed to stage a protest against corruption, who is to blame?" the RSS chief asked.

Meanwhile, eyebrows were raised as the invitation card of the program, to which RSS chief was invited, also featured the name of Aditi Tatkare, the daughter of state NCP president Sunil Tatkare.

The NCP leader later clarified that his daughter's name was printed as per the protocol, as she is the chairperson of the Raigad Zilla Parishad and it was an official program.

Both Tatkare and his daughter skipped the event.New Delhi: With two of his bank accounts seized by the Income Tax department over non-payment of tax dues, Punjab Tourism Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday accused former deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal of devising a conspiracy to malign him.

Can you even think that a person who gives away Rs 40 to 50 lakh just like that would not pay income tax of a few lakhs? All this is a conspiracy hatched by Sukhbir. It is not even worth a reaction, said Sidhu.

While the tax dues of Sidhu stand at Rs 52 lakh, the politician said he had paid an income tax of Rs 3 crore.

They have sent me income tax notices at my Patiala and Delhi residences. I do not stay at both the addresses anymore. A month ago they sent a notice to my bank asking them to freeze my accounts. I learnt about it then and the very day I paid the remaining amount. Everything was cleared that day, Sidhu told The Indian Express.

The tax department observed that the former parliamentarian and state minister failed to submit documentary evidence that include bills or invoices to substantiate his claim during the course of assessment proceedings, thereafter a fresh demand was raised.

Sidhu appealed against the order in January last year but the commissioner of income tax appeals passed an order favouring the I-T departments claims.Lucknow: Taking 'parivaarvad' accusations head on, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav wanted to know from Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath if he has found any special Yadav lane in the state.

The former CM complained that the Yogi Government, rather than focusing on development, is busy inaugurating and re-inaugurating the projects commissioned by him.

There have been allegations over and over again that our party endorses dynastic politics and we work for a particular community people. I want to ask them to kindly show where we have built a separate Yadav lane'. The government has no schemes, plans of their own as such and is just inaugurating the work done by our government, said Akhilesh.

Akhilesh, while addressing a press conference in Lucknow, said the Yogi government is indulging in politics of defamation.

BJP people used to allege that people from Etawah and from a certain community were selected whenever opportunities opened up in the police department. But when the results were out, it was clear that all the eligible candidates were shortlisted. The BJP government is not giving any jobs, but is busy raising questions on jobs that were given in our regime. These people also raised questions on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway and did an intensive investigation but found nothing wrong with it. They are busy in politics of defamation and nothing else, said Akhilesh.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday inaugurated the longest elevated road in the country in Ghaziabad and had attacked the Samajwadi Party government for the delay in getting clearances for the Elevated Road, which was held up for nearly three months because it did not have environmental clearance.

Though work for the elevated road had commenced in 2014, the SP government left it midway because they did not procure clearances from the railway and the environment ministry. They used to fix their shares of commission in each project and had done it for the elevated road too. It is only with the efforts of our government and officials that the road has finally been opened, Yogi said after inaugurating the project.

The elevated six-lane road is approximately 10 kilometres-long and built on 227 single pillars. It connects UP Gate to Rajnagar Extension.

However, former CM of UP Akhilesh Yadav was quick to take a jibe and tweeted, "Ram Ram Japna, Paraya Kaam Apna (Chanting the name of Ram, and taking credit for others work).

This six-lane elevated road, built at a cost of about Rs 11,000 crores, will make it easier to commute between Delhi and Ghaziabad. Apart from this, it will also be easy for commuters to reach National Highway (NH) 58 from NH 24. It is estimated that around 4,000 vehicles would ply on this elevated road every hour.Hyderabad: Stepping up its agitation on the demand for Special Category Status (SCS) YSR Congress President YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday said that his party MPs would not only quit on the last day of the Parliament Session, but also sit on an indefinite hunger strike at Andhra Bhavan in Delhi.

Our party MPs would resign on the last day of the Budget Session and march to Andhra Bhavan in New Delhi where they would sit on an indefinite fast demanding SCS. Across the state there would be relay hunger strikes by students at their respective university campuses and at all Assembly constituencies by party cadre, youth and others along with the partys state leaders, Reddy said while addressing a large gathering as part of the ongoing Paraja Sankalpa Yatra (Padyatra) at Perecherla in Tadikonda AC, Guntur.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly said Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has been "resorting to theatrics, which could fetch him an Oscar award in the best anti-hero category".

Jaganmohan Reddy has nine MPs in the Parliament and had earlier said that they would quit their posts. Soon after Chandrababu Naidus Telugu Desam Party (TDP) removed its two ministers from the NDA government and eventually quit the alliance as well.

Immense pressure would be mounted on the Centre if all the 25 Lok Sabha members from Andhra Pradesh resigned en masse but the TDP chief had been dissuading his party MPs from quitting only to save his skin, Jagan said.

Moreover, both the Andhra Pradesh parties have issued no-confidence notices against the Modi government at the Centre over their demands for special category status for the state.

Jaganmohan Reddy has also written to all political parties seeking their support for the special status for Andhra Pradesh.Mingora: Malala Yousafzai visited the Swat valley Saturday for her first trip back to the once militant-infested Pakistani region where she was shot in the head by the Taliban more than five years ago.

"I left Swat with my eyes closed and now I am back with my eyes open," she told AFP, referring to how she was airlifted out in a coma after the attack in 2012.

"I am extremely delighted. My dream has come true. Peace has returned to Swat because of the invaluable sacrifices rendered by my brothers and sisters," she said at a school outside Mingora, the district's main town, where she was escorted by the Pakistani military.

The brief trip by the 20-year-old Nobel laureate is a highly symbolic moment for Pakistan, which regularly touts Swat as a success story in its long battle with extremism as it defends itself against accusations by the US and others that its northwest remains a safe haven for militancy.

The visit  on which she was accompanied by her father, mother, and two brothers  was kept tightly under wraps.

After flying by army helicopter from Islamabad, she met with friends and family before visiting the all-boys Swat Cadet College Guli Bagh, some 15 kilometres (nine miles) outside Mingora.

Officials had earlier said she would address students there, but she stayed only a few minutes to take photographs before leaving again to return to Islamabad.

Mingora is where Malala's family was living and where she was attending school on October 9, 2012, when a gunman boarded her school bus, asked "Who is Malala?", and shot her.

She was treated first at an army hospital then airlifted to the British city of Birmingham.

Her near-miraculous recovery, and tireless career as an education advocate, have since turned her into a global symbol for human rights, and in 2014 she became the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize when she was just 17.

Tearful homecoming

The trip comes two days after Malala, currently a student at Oxford University in the UK, made her emotional return to Pakistan, where her surprise visit has been met with widespread joy and pride.

She broke down in tears as she made a televised speech on Thursday, saying it was her "dream" to be back, and has vowed to Pakistani media that she will return permanently after she has completed her education.

However she has also been met with pockets of intense criticism. Malala is widely respected internationally, but opinion is divided in Pakistan, where some conservatives view her as a Western agent on a mission to shame her country.

There had been much speculation within the country over whether Malala would go to Swat during her visit.

The mountainous region, once a prized tourist destination famed for its pristine scenery, was overrun by the Pakistani Taliban in 2007.

The militants imposed a brutal, bloody rule, but the army drove them out in 2009. Recently restrictions on tourists visiting the area were lifted.

However security has remained fragile, as the assault on Malala three years after the military operation demonstrated. In February this year 11 military personnel were killed in an attack, and analysts have warned the militants still have a presence there.

Residents of the area have praised Malala to AFP in recent days, crediting her with helping to generate improvements in education  especially for girls  in the deeply conservative region, part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Earlier this month an all-girls school built with money from the Malala Fund opened in Shangla district northeast of Mingora, where her family lived before moving to the city.

"This is the kind of task which was impossible to achieve even over two decades," Shangla district councillor Altaf Hussain Gulab told AFP on Friday. "Malala made it possible in a period of just a couple of years."

"We have just one Malala today but after a decade or so, we will have Malalas everywhere," agreed Farman Ullah, a shopkeeper in Shangla.Washington: Was a leaked internal Facebook memo aimed at justifying the social network's growth-at-any-cost strategy? Or simply a way to open debate on difficult questions over new technologies?

The extraordinarily blunt memo by a high-ranking executive  leaked this week and quickly repudiated by the author and by Facebook  warned that the social network's goal of connecting the world might have negative consequences, but that these were outweighed by the positives.

"Maybe it costs a life by exposing someone to bullies," the 2016 memo by top executive Andrew "Boz" Bosworth said. "Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools."

While Bosworth and Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said the memo was only a way to provoke debate, it created a new firestorm for the social network mired in controversy over the hijacking of personal data by a political consulting firm linked to Donald Trump.

David Carroll, a professor of media design at the New School Parsons, tweeted that the memo highlighted a "reckless hubristic attitude" by the world's biggest social network.

"What is so striking is that an executive chose to have this conversation on a Facebook wall," said Jennifer Grygiel, a Syracuse University professor who studies social networks.

"He showed poor judgment and poor business communication skills. It speaks to Facebook's culture."

Grygiel said these kinds of issues require "thoughtful discussion" and should take place within a context of protecting users.

"When these companies build new products and services, their job is to evaluate the risks, and not just know about them, but ensure public safety."

Bosworth, considered part of chief executive Mark Zuckerberg's inner circle, wrote: "The ugly truth is that we believe in connecting people so deeply that anything that allows us to connect more people more often is 'de facto' good."

On Thursday, he said he merely wanted to open a discussion and added that "I don't agree with the post today and I didn't agree with it even when I wrote it."

Zuckerberg responded that he and many others at Facebook "strongly disagreed" with the points raised.

'Offloading' Ethical Questions

Jim Malazita, a professor of science and technology studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, said it was not surprising to see the memo in an industry whose work culture is highly compartmentalized.

Malazita said the memo frames the discussion with the assumption that technology and connecting people is always positive.

"By the assumptions built into that framework they are already shutting down a whole bunch of conversations," he said.

Malazita added that most people who learn computer science are taught to make these technologies work as well as possible, while "offloading" the question of moral responsibility.

"It's not that they don't care, but even when they care about the social impact, there's a limit to how much they practise that care."

Joshua Benton, director of Harvard University's Nieman Journalism Lab, said it may be too easy to blame Facebook for misuse of the platform.

"I'm rarely in a position to defend Facebook," he said, but the view that a technology is worth spreading even though some people will use it for terrible ends "is something you could have believed about the telegraph, the telephone, email, SMS, the iPhone, etc," Benton tweeted.

Doing the Right Thing

Patrick Lin, director of the ethics and emerging sciences group at California Polytechnic State University, said he sees "no evidence that Facebook's culture is unethical, though just one senior executive in the right place can poison the well."

"I'd guess that most Facebook employees want to do the right thing and are increasingly uncomfortable with how the proverbial sausage is made," Lin added.

Copies of internal responses at Facebook published by The Verge website showed many employees were angry or upset over the Bosworth memo but that some defended the executive.

Others said the leaks may suggest Facebook is being targeted by spies or "bad actors" trying to embarrass the company.Mingora (Pakistan): In the Pakistani hometown of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, reminders are frequent of the daughter of scenic northwestern Swat Valley who survived a gun attack  and so are memories of harsh rule by the Taliban.

Yousafzai is visiting Pakistan for the first time since the Pakistani Taliban  now on the run but still able to launch attacks  shot her in the head in 2012 over her advocacy for girls' education and opposition to Islamist militancy.

By late Friday it was not yet clear whether security considerations would allow Yousafzai to return to Swat Valley, but many are eagerly awaiting her. "We're very happy that Malala has come to Pakistan. We welcome Malala," said Arfa Akhtar, a third-grade student in a school where Yousafzai once studied. "I'm also Malala. I'm with Malala in this mission."

Barkat Ali, 66, says he remembers holding Malala in his lap when she was a child in Mingora. He is proud of the 20-year-old's struggle to promote girls' education, just as he is of his refusal 10 years ago to turn over his son when the Taliban demanded new fighters. "They were the old illiterate people who would say that our daughters will not go to schools," Ali said, recalling two mortar shells landing in his street, often patrolled by the Taliban.

"Now people have become sensible. They educate their girls."

The Pakistani Taliban took over much of the valley starting in 2007, banning girls' education, killing people, flogging women and hanging bodies from electric poles to enforce their harsh interpretation of Islamic law before the Pakistani army drove them out in 2009.

Not everyone in Swat, though, has such reverence for Yousafzai who became the youngest Nobel laureate in history in 2014 at age 17.

Swat resident Mohammad Nisar Khan says the international celebrity and official protection given to the young woman overshadows the sacrifices made by others in Swat. "We were the ones who stood up against the Taliban... My four uncles and two cousins were slaughtered by the Taliban in Matta. They were brutally martyred. Yet, no one has asked about me," Khan said.

"Can someone show me one brave deed that Malala Yousafzai has performed... that we have not performed at age 50?"

Elsewhere in parts of Pakistan, her arrival was met with outright hostility from those who accuse her of building a career abroad by painting a negative picture of her homeland. In the eastern city of Lahore, a group of private schools staged a protest with teachers and their students chanting "I am not Malala", some wearing black armbands.

The organiser of the protest, Kashif Mirza, said dozens of private school chains participated and teachers told students in classes "that Malala does not represent true Pakistan".

"She maligned Pakistan, Islam and the Pakistani army after going abroad," said Mirza, who leads the President of All Pakistan Private Schools Federation. He said his group condemned the gun attack on Yousafzai but said since going abroad she had been influenced by foreign powers.

Other private schools, however, declined to join the anti-Malala protest. "No such day was observed in any of our branches because we don't support any event which spreads hatred, said Tabraiz Bokhari, spokesman of Beacon House School System, with 200 affiliates across Pakistan.

In the nine years since the army drove out the Taliban, Swat has become mostly peaceful, though there are still occasional militant attacks including one several weeks ago targeting the military.

Many Swat residents, including family friend Jawad Iqbal, are hopeful Malala will be able to return on this trip. "The people of Swat and the whole of Pakistan are with Malala, Iqbal said standing in front of a portrait of Yousafzai with her father, who is a teacher.

God willing, we will counter the terrorism and extremism in our region with the weapon of education, with the weapon of a pen, with the weapons of teachers and with the weapons of books."

Along the road where Malala was shot on her school bus, resident Amir Zeb also said he hopes Malala will visit her hometown. "Malala Yousafzai is the daughter of Pakistan," he said, adding. "We're proud of her."Paris: The father-in-law of Pippa Middleton, whose sister Kate is married to Britain's Prince William, has been charged in France with the rape of a minor, a legal source told AFP on Friday, as a family spokesperson called the allegation "untrue and scandalous".

David Matthews was taken into custody for questioning last Tuesday by investigators with France's Brigade for the Protection of Minors in a case dating from 1998-99, after a complaint was lodged in 2017, the source said.

A spokesperson for the Matthews family, quoted by Britain's Daily Mail online, said: "David Matthews categorically denies the allegation and unequivocally contests the untrue and scandalous accusation".

His daughter-in-law Pippa Middleton married financier James Matthews last May, after shooting into the spotlight in 2011 following the wedding of her sister Kate to Prince William, the second-in-line to the throne.

David Matthews was born in Rotherham, England, and began his career selling cars before becoming a professional racing driver.

After a severe crash during a race, he turned to business, building a successful chain of dealerships before selling and becoming a property developer.

Matthews owns the Eden Rock luxury resort on the Caribbean island of St Barths, and the Glen Affric Estate in Scotland.United Nations: The UN Security Council on Saturday blacklisted 27 ships, 21 companies and a businessman for helping North Korea circumvent sanctions, keeping the pressure on Pyongyang despite its recent diplomatic opening to talks, a diplomat said.

Acting on a request from the United States, a council committee approved the largest-ever package of sanctions designations on North Korea, the council diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

The move is part of a global crackdown on the smuggling of North Korean commodities in violation of UN sanctions resolutions, which were adopted in response to Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

A total of 13 North Korean oil tankers and cargo vessels were banned from ports worldwide along with 12 other ships for helping Pyongyang smuggle banned commodities or supplying oil and fuel shipments, according to a UN document obtained by AFP.

Two other North Korean vessels were hit with a global assets freeze, but are not banned from port entry.

Twenty-one shipping and trading firms were hit by an assets freeze. Three of them are based in Hong Kong including Huaxin Shipping, which delivered shipments of North Korean coal to Vietnam in October.

Twelve North Korean firms were blacklisted for running ships involved in illegal transfers of oil and fuel, according to the document.

Two other companies -- Shanghai Dongfeng Shipping and Weihai World Shipping Freight, also based in China -- were blacklisted for carrying North Korean coal on their vessels.

The remaining firms are in based Singapore, Samoa, the Marshall Islands and Panama.

A businessman identified as Tsang Yung Yuan was hit by a global travel ban and assets freeze for organizing illegal shipments of North Korean coal with a North Korean broker in Russia.

The sanctions were approved as the United States moves to open talks with North Korea on its nuclear drive, with a possible summit meeting between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un to be held by the end of May.

Despite the diplomatic opening, the United States have made clear they will keep the pressure on Pyongyang to shift course by pressing on with sanctions.Washington: US President Donald Trump  who has himself been repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct  on Saturday designated April 2018 "National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month" amid a national debate over the issue.

"Sexual assault crimes remain tragically common in our society, and offenders too often evade accountability," said a proclamation from Trump released by the White House. "These heinous crimes are committed indiscriminately: in intimate relationships, in public spaces, and in the workplace."

"Too often, however, the victims of assault remain silent. They may fear retribution from their offender, lack faith in the justice system, or have difficulty confronting the pain associated with the traumatic experience," it continued.

"My administration is committed to raising awareness about sexual assault and to empowering victims to identify perpetrators so that they can be held accountable."

At least 20 women have publicly accused Trump of engaging in sexual assault or harassment prior to becoming president. The White House has maintained that the women are lying.

Last month, Trump described allegations that he kissed a receptionist without her consent as "Another False Accusation" in a post on Twitter, calling instead for coverage of "the story of the women taking money to make up stories about me. One had her home mortgage paid off."

Since former film mogul Harvey Weinstein's dramatic downfall over allegations ranging from harassment to rape, the #MeToo campaign has seen a deluge of accusations topple men from powerful positions in a number of industries including Hollywood, the media and politics.

In February, allegations of domestic abuse led two Trump staffers to resign. The Republican leader came under fire for lamenting the "shattered" lives of those accused, saying the allegations could be false.

The 2016 presidential campaign that launched Trump to the White House saw the unearthing of an infamous "Access Hollywood" tape in which the real estate tycoon bragged about groping women.

"I don't even wait," Trump says in the clip. "And when you're a star, they let you do it, you can do anything. Grab them by the pussy." Trump dismissed his lewd comments as "locker room banter."Pilot of Indian Airlines hijacked to Pakistan in 1971 passes away

New Delhi : Captain M K Kachru, pilot of Indian Airlines hijacked to Pakistan by two militants in 1971, passed away in Faridabad. He was 93 years old.

He was flying an Indian Airlines plane with 24 passengers and 4 crew members when two Kashmiri militants hijacked it and forced him to fly to Pakistan.

Then Pakistan foreign minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto hailed the militants who demanded release of Pakistani prisoners in exchange of life of the passengers.

Their demands were straight away refused by the India.

Though the passengers and the crew were transported back to India by land route via Amritsar, the plane was set on fire.

India had hit back by banning overflights of Pakistani aircraft in Indian airspace.Metro-North is scrambling to meet a year-end deadline to install life-saving safety equipment that can halt speeding trains and prevent crashes  but there are concerns about whether the railroad is on schedule.

The nations largest commuter railroad operator says installation of positive train control  or PTC  on its hundreds of locomotives is 63 percent complete, and officials vow they will make the Dec. 31 federal deadline to finish.

"Our schedule is a doable schedule, but it is a schedule that has risk," David Mayer, chief safety officer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, recently told a congressional committee.

"The MTA is working diligently to implement PTC in a safe, incremental and controlled roll-out," Mayer told the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. "We believe we can have all lines in operation by the deadline."

Railroad regulators, lawmakers and others are closely watching Metro-Norths performance and that of other commuter and freight railroads to see if they meet the deadline.

"I will hold Metro-Norths feet to the fire," said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

"There is no excuse for not meeting the deadline," Blumenthal said. "They should be further along, and my worry is they only have a limited amount of time left."

The stakes are high and Amtrak recently warned federal lawmakers that some rail routes  maybe even within the busy Northeast Corridor  could suffer canceled routes if railroads miss the deadline.

A March report by the federal Government Accountability Office said two-thirds of the nations 29 commuter railroads may not meet the deadline. The federal government has distributed $2.9 billion to help install PTC.

For me, it means they will not meet those deadlines, Blumenthal said of the GAO report.

PTC can halt trains traveling too fast for conditions or operating on a wrong section of track. Experts believe the system could have prevented six recent deadly train crashes, including the December 2017 Amtrak derailment in Washington State that killed three passengers and injured 60.

A 2013 Metro-North crash in the Bronx that killed four passengers also could have been prevented by PTC. The engineer, who was asleep as the train hurtled into a curve, was blamed for the accident.

Ronald Batory, Federal Railroad Administration administrator, said its the railroads responsibility to the meet the PTC requirements.

"The FRA is committed to doing its part to ensure railroads and suppliers are working together to implement PTC systems," Batory said.

Penalties and deadlines

The December 31 deadline to install PTC is an extension of a previous deadline. Railroads were ordered to install it in 2015, but enough said they could not meet the mandate that Congress extended the deadline to the end of this year.

Railroads which do not meet the new deadline, but show sufficient progress, can apply for an extension until 2020. Federal regulators, under pressure from Congress, are considering fines for failing to meet the deadline.

Blumenthal said hes asking regulators what the fines will be and demanding that penalties be high enough to prod compliance.

"I was very disappointed in the response from [Elaine Chao, U.S Secretary of Transportation] regarding DOTs enforcement plan," Blumenthal said. "All she said is they are working on it. The industry needs to know there will be penalties and that there is no tolerance for delay."

James Cameron, founder of the Commuter Action Group and Hearst Connectiut Media columnist, said PTC should have been installed years ago.

Had PTC been installed, numerous derailments and crashes that have cost dozens of lives and scores of injuries would never have happened, Cameron said. Shame on this industry for jeopardizing our lives by their inability to install this technology.

Metro-North is confident it will make the deadline for installing PTC, which uses transponders and electronic signals to keep track of trains and control them when needed.

Mayer said MTAs two railroads  Metro-North and the Long Island Railroad  have installed 80 percent of the needed transponders, 87 percent of interface units and 66 percent of the radio cases and antennas necessary to transmit PTC information and instructions to trains.

Both railroads have secured 100 percent of the necessary radio spectrum, equipped 423 locomotives, or 56 percent of the fleet, and have trained 68 percent of train and engine crews, rail traffic controllers, maintenance personnel and signal maintainers, Mayer said.

"Our work schedule still faces significant risks and technical challenges," Mayer said. "We are working diligently every single day to overcome these risks and challenges. By the time we are done, a billion dollars will have been expended on this effort."

Susan Fleming, GAO director of physical infrastructure, said Metro-North is making progress but the completion schedule is tight.

Fleming noted that 13 of 29 commuter railroads have said they plan to seek a deadline extension, while 16 railroads do not need an extension. She did not say which railroads need an extension and which do not.

"We simply must get this done," said U.S. Sen Bill Nelson, D-Florida and a ranking member on the commerce committee.

"Railroads need to make sure that they are doing everything possible to meet the 2018 deadline," Nelson said.

Time will tell

Metro-North has said it does not plan to seek an extension of the federal deadline and insists its on track to meet the PTC requirement.

"We have not asked for any extensions," said Judd Everhart, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, which owns the Metro-North system in Connecticut.

"Metro-North is on schedule to implement PTC on the New Haven Line and the New Canaan, Danbury and Waterbury branch lines by the December 31 deadline," Everhart said.

"Amtrak has informed us that PTC will be fully implemented on the Shore Line East and the Hartford Line by the December deadline, "Everhart said.

Jim Gildea, president of the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council, said Metro-North is making progress after a slow start.

"Metro North has recovered and has shown steady progress towards a December 2018 completion date," Gildea said.

"Time will tell if they are able to complete the deadline as they are indicating that they will," Gildea said.

Canceled routes

Richard Anderson, Amtraks chief executive officer, told the congressional committee his railroad is on schedule.

"We are set to complete the installation of PTC on the few remaining elements of the infrastructure we control and on all of our equipment by the federal deadline," Anderson said.

But Anderson warned not every railroad is likely to meet that deadline, and said some destinations may have to be canceled.

"There will be carriers over which we operate who appear unlikely to achieve sufficient progress to apply for an alternative PTC implementation schedule by years end," Anderson said.

"For any such route segments, Amtrak will suspend operations until the carrier becomes compliant with the law," Anderson said.

Anderson added the Northeast Corridor  the busiest rail network in the country  could see some cancellations.

Blumenthal said failure to meet the deadline can affect rail service across the nation.

"Thats why I am making these demands, not only on MTA, but the nations railroad systems," he said.NEWTOWN  In the terrible silence that followed the gunfire at Sandy Hook School in 2012, there were no words  just tears on the faces of Jordan Gomes fourth-grade friends.

We didnt know what was happening, but we knew, said Gomes, now a Newtown High School freshman. It was life-changing, in the simplest sense that I can put it. How do you come back from something like that?

When Gomes and her classmates who survived the shooting returned to school, the silence was still there.

Everybody was just like zombies, Gomes said. The younger kids didnt play on the playground anymore. They brought in comfort dogs for us.

A turning point of sorts arrived a few years later.

I began to understand the injustice of what happened, Gomes said of that time. I mean, it should have never happened. Those kids should still be here now.

But still the silence was there.

Then something happened on Valentines Day that carried the silence away.

A mass shooting of 17 students and staff at a Parkland, Fla., high school was followed by an outcry of youths so pronounced it galvanized Gomes and scores of Newtown teenagers into action.

I might still feel a little unsafe about speaking out, because I know there are people who say bad things about what were doing, like we dont need gun control, but I will put that aside to save people, Gomes said. Because if we get laws changed, it will stop. We wont have to keep hearing these bad things on the news.

Led by a small group of Newtown youth who formed a gun-violence-prevention group after Sandy Hook, Gomes and 200 fellow students boarded buses on March 24 to meet survivors of the high school shooting in Parkland at the massive March for Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C.

Jackson Mittleman, a Newtown student leader who has seen membership in the group quadruple to 85 students since the march, said he felt a strong bond with his Florida peers on the stage, in front of 800,000 marchers.

When we met them we could physically feel it  and I know that sounds like a weird thing to say, said Mittleman, one of several youths who spoke at the march. They knew we were from Newtown, and we knew they were from Parkland, and we could physically feel this pain we have experienced, and this empowerment that we were marching in Washington and speaking up against the government, and making change, and not just letting this go.

Not only was there a special Newtown-Parkland connection, but for the first time, local students were met with something besides pity when they told others where they were from.

When you tell somebody that youre from Newtown, you see their face drop, because they feel so bad for you, and its an awful feeling, said Jenny Wadhwa, 16. But at the march there was a different vibe being from Newtown  people said, Thank you for standing up and Thank you for being here today.

The result, for Wadhwa and her friends in the freshly recharged Junior Newtown Action Alliance, is an ambitious program of activities that includes a nonpartisan voter registration drive for high school seniors, a correspondence project with Florida shooting survivors and the launch of a Humans of Newtown social media feature, based on the popular man-on-the-street website, Humans of New York.

It will be an opportunity for kids and adults to share stories about Sandy Hook and post it online for the world to see, said Isabella Wakeman, 16.

The storytelling project is among a half dozen ideas generated at an organizational meeting last week of the Junior NAA.

The initiatives are part of a larger youth-led movement for stricter gun rules that has captivated the nation, and coincided with bipartisanship that has seen three modest gun policy measures signed into law by President Donald Trump.

The idea is to humanize the impacts of gun violence, and show how one gun doesnt just affect the people that it hits with bullets, but affects the community as a whole, Wadhwa said.

Standing up

What struck Newtown students about Parkland, more than the heartbreak of seeing another community ripped apart by a school shooting, was the bravery teenage survivors showed in the face of deep grief, getting in front of cameras to give their hope a voice.

I dont think people realize how vulnerable you need to be to share your story  that seriously takes a huge amount of confidence, Wadhwa said during a Good Friday interview with fellow student leaders in the home of Po Murray, the chairwoman of the nonprofit Newtown Action Alliance. I think after Sandy Hook happened, not many of us felt confident enough or ready to tell our stories.

One reason for the caution students felt was seeing the way survivors stories are attacked by conspiracy-theory extremists. Over the years, conspiracy theorists have harassed Newtown families who lost loved ones to the worst crime in modern Connecticut history.

The Parkland kids and people who have experienced gun violence are so strong, Gomes said. They have people attacking them left and right saying, Oh, theyre crisis actors, but they are doing what is right, even though a lot of people are against them.

Newtown high school student Garrett Marino said the support of his peers, his family and his community has given him the courage to use his voice, in spite of the opposition he could encounter.

I feel like I am strong enough now, and I feel like we are strong enough as a generation, to actually get out there and make a change, said Marino, 16. No one really knows what that change will be and if that change will work, but as it stands right now we just cant tolerate guns as they are in our country, because they are way too lethal and too widely available to everyone.

Mittleman agrees, saying Newtown youths are on the right side of history.

You cant say that trying to prevent people from getting senselessly gunned down is wrong, said Mittleman, 16. I understand people want to defend themselves, but in no way shape or form has any of us ever said we are out to take all your guns away  ever  or repeal the Second Amendment.

Raising voices

Tommy Murray believes its just a matter of time before Washington lawmakers hear the voices of teenagers in Newtown and Parkland.

That is why Murray thought it was important for Newtowns youth leaders to meet with their counterparts from Parkland.

We wanted to turn that connection into something we could use to create change and show Congress and the NRA the voice that they think we dont have, said Murray, 16, who spoke at the March for Our Lives event.

Murray, the son of Po Murray, said the Newtown-Parkland meeting was an important moment of unity for the youth movement.

When I met Emma Gonzalez, the first thing she did was give me a hug, and I could tell that she was just as stressed out on this issue as we are, said Murray, speaking of one of the highest-profile student leaders from Parkland. It was important to finally be able to work with people who know how we feel and want the change as badly as we do.

Danielle Johnson, a Newtown High School sophomore, said the Newtown-Parkland connection has brought the town to a turning point in its own recovery.

She said part of the problem in putting the pieces back together in Newtown after the shootings was people felt all alone.

It was like a puzzle where the pieces werent the same and didnt fit together, Johnson said. Because after that, nothing was the same.

But something remarkable has happened to the puzzle, Wakeman said.

When Sandy Hook happened, all of our problems were spilled onto a table in the form of puzzle pieces, and we were missing half the box, Wakeman said. We stood there for five years at that table saying, Where is the rest? and, What else can we do?

Then the kids from Parkland came over and said,We have the rest of your pieces. And they dumped it on the table and said We will help you figure this out, Wakeman said. And they did. They are finding ways to get our voice heard, and people are starting to listen to us.SHERMAN  The Arctic is melting, and to bring that point home, a crew of women is planning to snorkel nearly 1,900 miles through it.

The idea that we could be snorkeling the Northwest Passage should be an eye-opener that climate change is real, said Breezy Grenier Mollicone, 30, of Sherman, an ocean scientist and educator on the upcoming expedition.

Grenier is one of about a dozen seawomen who will snorkel 3,000 kilometers in 100 days in 2020 as part of the Sedna Epic Expedition. The crew will make its third visit to the region this August to continue community outreach and climate research in preparation for the full relay.

This years trip will start in Resolute Bay, go around Baffin Island and then to Greenland  just a section of the overall route. It is expected to last about two weeks, beginning Aug. 4.

The expedition started in 2014, with trips every two years. Each trip helps create connections with the Inuit communities and recruit more participants for the upcoming relay.

Grenier said the Inuit people have a special connection to and admiration for the fish they pull from the water, but grow up fearing the water itself. Visits from the Sedna crew allows the communities to see the animals in their natural habitats through snorkeling, aquariums and using cameras attached to remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs. Sometimes, the crew is able to leave the aquariums and ROVs behind with the community, if donations are sufficient.

Were really inspiring a lot of locals to become scientists, she said, adding that many different jobs are opening up as the Arctic ice melts, allowing for more shipping and ecotourism.

The project also has a female focus, with the aim of empowering women and girls. The expedition itself is named for Sedna, goddess of the Sea and mother of all marine mammals, according to Inuit legend.

Were still building our way in the science fields, Grenier said. By going to such a harsh environment, were showing, especially to young girls, we really can do anything.

So far, women from Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Poland and New Zealand have participated in the expedition.

Grenier officially joined the crew in March, though shes been working on it since December. This will be her third time above the Arctic Circle, having traveled to the Russian Arctic with Poseidon Expeditions and to Alaska while serving with the U.S. Coast Guard. Shes also been to Antarctica and has years of experience snorkeling in freezing waters.

While she enjoys going to places not many people see, and interacting with communities she wouldnt otherwise have the opportunity to meet, shes disheartened by the plastic trash shes encountered in these remote locations. The Sedna Expedition is awaiting permit approval to test microplastics, which are the size of plankton and being eaten by fish, working their way up the food chain.

Grenier said its important to share the stories of whats happening at the poles.

You can clearly see the stress in the environment, she said.

During one of her trips to the North Pole, Greniers Russian colleagues commented that it was the fastest trip theyve done because there was no ice.

Were going to see more drastic swings in our climate, Grenier said. Its why were seeing these 100-year storms every year.

Already, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to evacuate about 100,000 people in the Arctic because villages are now in flood zones or because their land is eroding as the barrier of sea ice disappears. The mass migration could lead to the loss of Inuit culture and potential stress on schools and other infrastructure where they resettle.

The growth of shipping as ice melts could speed erosion , as well as create dangerous situations for inexperienced boaters. Companies and the villages are also working together on how to treat oil spills, as that risk also becomes greater, Grenier said.

More Information Want to help? Each seawoman must raise $20,000 in addition to the expedition's $75,000 cost. Donations can be made for Breezy Grenier Mollicone cost's through her GoFundMe page named BreezySeas. Donations for the whole expedition can be made through the organization's website, www.sednaepic.com. See More Collapse

The warmer water is also affecting the fishing industry, an important part of the New England economy, as fishermen are forced to travel farther to find their catch or turn to new species.

Were losing an entire ecosystem, she said. Were losing the Arctic Ocean and thats going to be really hard to bring back.Miami Herald and Marco Rubio are Anti-Maduro (leader of Venezuela).

Conditions are terrible for the people in Venezuela. Gangs are fighting with machetes over quality garbage.

There are shortages of running water and almost no medical supplies.

The US has signaled support for any military coup in Venezuela.

The world would support the armed forces in #Venezuela if they decided to protect the people and restore democracy, removing the dictator, Rubio wrote on his Twitter account.

The dissatisfaction within the Venezuelan military has reached the level of the lieutenant colonels.

The International Criminal Court has indicated that although there is no open case against any Venezuelan right now, the prosecutor is evaluating the situation in Venezuela and the Philippines.

The difference between North Korea and Venezuela is that the multigeneration North Korea leaders have had the military locked up for over 60 years. The conditions while terrible have been stable in how bad they are for 60 years.

Venezuelas leaders are trying to establish sufficient control of its military and police forces. Venezuela is trying to establish this control while economic conditions get worse with dropping oil production (oil production has halved over the last 15 years and is dropping every year.) Venezuela is also dealing with crisis in food supply and health system.

North Korea also has more support from China as a buffer against South Korea and the USA.

While Maduro & his cronies continue to steal & oppress, in #Venezuela, a once prosperous nation, hungry child gangs use machetes to fight for quality garbage. https://t.co/AkLQle7d2S  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 27, 2018

Two signs #Venezuela dictator Maduro can't hang on forever https://t.co/ug3Lq3qMkc  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 23, 2018

As I said just 2 weeks ago if Maduro thought pressure was going to lighten he was very mistaken. I know FOR A FACT that @realDonaldTrump is committed to a free #Venezuela & pressure only stops when democratic order is restored. Stay tuned, more to come https://t.co/XnTIZqzae1  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 17, 2018

La perdida de control de Maduro sobre los militares de #Venezuela sigue aumentando cada dia. https://t.co/B6FGcPv8ws  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 13, 2018HAMDEN  A large crowd of community residents stood in the sunshine and applauded Saturday afternoon as the names of 151 of the towns military veterans were added to the Hamden Veterans Memorial.

Joseph Deeley Jr., who served in the U.S. Navy, said he got a little bit emotional when he learned his name would appear on the expanding plaque.

Asked if this was a proud moment for him, Deeley replied, Oh yeah. This is hitting me a little bit. Ive been in and out of the hospital for operations.

The issue of medical care for veterans was raised during the ceremony by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. He told the crowd, I will never, ever allow anyone to dismantle the Veterans Administration in the health care it provides. We have an obligation to make sure it never abandons its commitment to our nations heroes.

This issue has become heated over the past week with President Donald J. Trumps dismissal of David J. Shulkin, the secretary of veterans affairs, replaced by Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, the White House physician. Shulkin had opposed the idea of giving veterans the option of using their benefits to see private doctors rather than going to government hospitals and clinics. Prominent veterans groups have said privatization would lead to poorer medical care.

Blumenthal began his remarks by noting the gathering was being held amidst celebrations for Easter and Passover. The right to worship is one of our sacred liberties as Americans. So is the right to speak. Those rights are not accidental. Theyre due to our veterans, who safeguarded Americas freedoms.

But Blumenthal, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve from 1970-76, said we need to support veterans not just through words; we need to do it by actions. This means job opportunities and health care.

Alluding to Americas ongoing military involvement in Afghanistan, Blumenthal said, We are fighting the longest war in our history with the smallest percentage of our population: less than 1 percent.

Connecticut Sen. George S. Logan, R-17, said, A lot of folks take our veterans and our freedoms for granted. But those who have served understand how fragile our freedom can be.

Logan added: If you see a veteran, just say, Thank you for your years of service. This shows you acknowledge their sacrifices.

Hamden Town Clerk Vera Morrison told the gathering that the ceremony marked the fifth time names have been enshrined on the large plaque that stands in front of Hamden Middle School. At the first installation in 1993, 7,828 names were listed. In 1995, 202 more were added; in 2008, 191 more; in 2013, an additional 150. The 151 new names brings the total listed to 8,522.

The monument is constructed of granite with bronze plaques. It is 32-feet long and weights 22 1/2 tons.

Morrison thanked Abner Oakes III, chairman of Hamdens Veterans Commission and other members of the commission. The members took turns reading aloud all 151 names.

Morrison also noted the names on the plaque now include those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

She read a proclamation from Hamden Mayor Curt Balzano Leng, designating Saturday as a day for the town to show its appreciation to the veterans.

Many of the 151 who were honored were on hand for the ceremony. Russell Freeman Jr., 92, who served with the U.S. Navy in World War II, said, I feel good about it. It was an honor to serve my country. I was so happy that we came out the winner.

Barry Diggs, 69, who was with the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam in 1968-69, said seeing his name up there made him feel great. He added, It lets people know I served for this country and tried to help out another country.

Ron Zacks, who served in the U.S. Army from 1957-59, said of those listed: They were heroic. They are deserving of this honor. So many people dont seem to want to serve their country anymore.

And William Lavelle, 77, who served in the U.S. Navy from 1958-62, said, Its an honor to have my name up with all the other veterans.March 30, 2018 Phil Lupsiewicz , 978-275-1705

Lowell, Massachusetts. Lowell National Historical Park and the Lowell Heritage Partnership are pleased to announce this years winners of the Community Excellence Awards in the fields of historic preservation and cultural heritage. For the twelfth year, the Park and Partnership are recognizing contributions to the city of Lowell in the realms of preservation and heritage as part of National Preservation Month. These two award categories represent the important nature of the Parks dual mission to  preserve and interpret the nationally significant historical and cultural sites in Lowell. This year, award winners will be celebrated at the Parks annual reception, which also marks the kick-off for Doors Open Lowell 2018, on Thursday, May 3, at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum.



Celeste Bernardo, superintendent of Lowell National Historical Park said, These awardees demonstrate how individuals can make a difference through their interest and dedication to heritage and historic preservation. They had the vision and support of others to make things happen, and we are proud to honor their accomplishments. James Ostis, president of the Lowell Heritage Partnership said, The community excellence awards are truly an annual highlight of the Lowell Heritage Partnership calendar. Historic preservation and cultural heritage are two of the things that Lowell can be most proud of and this year's recipients are great exemplars of that tradition" .



This years award recipients include:

Excellence in Historic Preservation



Jon Rudzinski, for Massachusetts Mills III  Picker Building Project

The preservation of the Picker House in the historic Massachusetts Mills complex reinforces a sense of time, place and development. The Picker House is among the most visible elements of the complex from the vista on the bridge on East Merrimack Street. The adaptive reuse of the complex has created 70 mixed income rental properties meticulously restored to match the citys historic building standards.



Excellence in Cultural Heritage



Gordon Halm for the African Community Center of Lowell

Gordon Halm has been a fixture in this community since he arrived in Lowell in 1995 from Liberia. In his early years in the city, Halm was actively involved in the former African-American center in Lowell until it closed. Since that time, Halm spent over a decade thinking how to return the center to his adopted city. Gordon hit upon a combination of improving the lives of African immigrants, refugees, and others through educational, social, and cultural iniatives. With a new vision, now in partnership with Community Teamwork, the center has returned to Lowell.



Excellence in Student(s) Cultural Heritage



Kady Phelps and Molly Mahoney for From the Atlantic Islands to Lowell, Massachusetts: Continuity and Change in the Mill Citys Portuguese Community

Kady Phelps is an M.A. candidate in history at University of Massachusetts Lowell. Molly Mahoney is a history major graduating in May 2018 from University of Massachusetts Lowell. Together,they researched and curated the exhibit From the Atlantic Islands to Lowell, Massachusetts: Continuity and Change in the Mill Citys Portuguese Community which consists of a narrative history of Portuguese immigration. The exhibition examines how individuals and families made a living in the mills and later in the manufacturing and high-tech industries, in both instances attaining a measure of the American Dream that allowed for improved professional opportunities for their children.



Award recipients will be acknowledged during the park reception and kick-off for Doors Open Lowell 2018 on Thursday, May 3, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, 115 John Street. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP to Phil Lupsiewicz at phil_lupsiewicz@nps.gov or call 978-275-1705.



For more information about Doors Open Lowell 2018 and a schedule for open sites and special tours, visit www.DoorsOpenLowell.org. For information on the Lowell Heritage Partnership, visit www.LowellHeritagePartnership.org. For more information about programs and offerings at Lowell National Historical Park, please visit www.nps.gov/lowe or call 978-970-5000.



- NPS -



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Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.When executives from the Big Three automakers went to the White House last spring to ask for more lenient emissions rules, their prospects looked rosy. President Trump seemed eager to roll back regulations, and Scott Pruitt  a friend of industry  was newly in control at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Now, automakers are coming to terms with a startling reality: Be careful what you ask of President Trump, because he could go further than you expect.

The E.P.A.s plan, which is likely to be formally launched in coming days, is widely expected to loosen regulations on greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy well beyond what the automakers themselves had sought.

In addition, according to a White House official with knowledge of the plans, the Trump administration is expected to formally urge California  which has special authority under the Clean Air Act to set its own air pollution laws  to go along with the rollback, something the state has already said it wont do. That could spark a legal battle between the federal government and California, potentially dividing the United States into two automobile markets, each with a different rule book governing pollution and gas mileage.WASHINGTON  Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, rented a residence in Washington in 2017 that was partly owned by the wife of a top energy lobbyist whose firm, according to disclosure forms, conducted business before the E.P.A. that same year.

While the agency said on Friday that the arrangement was consistent with federal ethics rules, the developments come as Mr. Pruitt is already under fire from Congress regarding unrelated ethics questions. In February, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee ordered Mr. Pruitt to turn over documents related to his first-class travel at taxpayer expense, questioning whether he had received the appropriate waivers to do so.

The housing arrangement surfaced on Thursday after ABC News reported that Mr. Pruitt had paid $50 per night to rent a bedroom in a condominium on Capitol Hill for the first half of 2017. The E.P.A. later shared documents with Bloomberg News showing that the arrangement was not a traditional monthly rental agreement; instead Mr. Pruitt paid only for the nights that he slept in the room. His payments amounted to $6,100 over six months.

A typical full studio or one-bedroom apartment in the same area would cost between $1,500 and $2,000 per month or much more, a search of current listings indicates. In a statement, Jahan Wilcox, an E.P.A. spokesman, referred to a memo from the agencys designated ethics counsel, dated Friday, saying that, Under the terms of the lease, if the space was utilized for one 30-day month, then the rental cost would be $1,500, which is a reasonable market value.The bill does not, however, address settlements in which there is no formal finding of liability. In 2015, the state paid $545,000 to settle harassment claims related to a former assemblyman from Brooklyn, Vito Lopez.

The bill also does not address longstanding criticisms of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, a committee made up in large part by members appointed by the governor. The group is investigating several high-profile harassment claims but has often been called toothless. Mr. Cuomo had suggested creating a new arm within the commission specifically to investigate harassment complaints, but Ms. Young said on Friday that it was unclear where that proposal stood, or if there would be money available to pay for it.

Ms. Young conceded that the wording of the new policies would not necessarily cover other forms of gender-based harassment, such as inappropriate comments. But she defended the need for a flexible definition of harassment, citing how quickly understandings of acceptable behavior have evolved in recent months in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

A stricter sexual harassment policy was one of just a few policy issues to be included in the budget talks. New Yorks push mirrored those in many other state legislatures: 29 states have introduced new sexual harassment bills in 2018, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which called the number of proposals unprecedented.

But in Albany, as usual, policy quickly became inextricable from politics.

While lawmakers in both parties, as well as Mr. Cuomo, had agreed in principle on the need to formulate new policy  a rare point of consensus in the Capitol  the actual negotiations turned out to be anything but unifying.

Womens rights advocates denounced Albanys secretive model of budget negotiations, which they said would allow the new policies to be hammered out by four men in a room: Mr. Cuomo and three legislative leaders, including Senator Jeffrey D. Klein  who was accused in January of forcibly kissing a former staffer, Erica Vladimer.

Senate Democrats, who are a minority in the chamber, denounced their exclusion from the closed-door negotiations, which came after the governors office said in February that their conference leader, Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins of Westchester, would be included in discussions.

On Wednesday, asked why Ms. Stewart-Cousins had not been privy to the leaders meetings, Mr. Cuomo told reporters that the new policies were being formulated not by the four men but by a working group for which Senate Democrats had been invited to provide input. But Ms. Stewart-Cousins said no such group existed.Anne Forer Pyne, an early feminist activist and writer whose use of the phrase consciousness raising helped make it a foundational principle of the womens rights movement, died on March 21 in Tucson. She was 72.

Her death, in hospice care, was caused by kidney failure, her brother, Danny Forer, said.

Ms. Pyne, a self-described left-wing hippie, was a young kindergarten teacher in the late 1960s when she began attending meetings of New York Radical Women, a small group that met in cramped Manhattan apartments to discuss how to fight the oppression of women.

Before overturning entrenched power dynamics and cultural norms, however, they knew they first had to identify and define them. Ms. Pyne, by her account, was uncertain about what, exactly, women needed to be liberated from. So she asked.

One night at a meeting I said: Would everyone please give me an example from their own life on how they experienced oppression as a woman? I need to hear it to raise my own consciousness. A military hotline still operates to avoid clashes between American and Russian forces in Syria, but as tensions rose last week, Antonio Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, suggested it was time to revive the Cold War channels of communication and control. Those mechanisms have been dismantled, he said. I do believe that mechanisms of this sort are necessary again.

Post-Communist Russia is not the obvious enemy the Soviet Union was. Throughout Russias slow slide into authoritarianism, there has lingered a hope that relations with Moscow can be reset, as Hillary Clinton sought to do and as President Trump seems eager to do. And while Mr. Putins drive to restore Russian influence and might  witness his proud unveiling of an intercontinental missile in March that can reach any point in the world  is an echo of Soviet behavior, Russia has also undergone a considerable transformation since 1991. Russians travel widely and have nearly unlimited access to information and technology, and the Soviet command economy has given way to far greater consumerism.

More significantly, there is no Western consensus on Russia of the sort that held against the Soviet Union. European politicians like Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Hungary or Czech President Milos Zeman are open admirers of Mr. Putin, and President Trumps relations with the Kremlin are a major question mark. Though the United States expelled 60 Russian diplomats and closed the Russian consulate in Seattle, Mr. Trump made no comment on the crisis, either when he called Mr. Putin last week to congratulate him on his re-election or since.

All that makes the current confrontation less predictable than the showdowns of the Soviet past. Both Britain and the United States have left open further actions against Russia, to which Moscow would inevitably respond, and the deterioration in relations could affect efforts to find common ground on Syria or Islamist terrorism.

That, however, is not an argument for looking the other way when Russia violates the most elemental norms of international behavior. Russia is not the old Soviet Union, which makes it all the more imperative for the West to send a clear message that the old wiles and subterfuges also belong in the dustbin of history.Oh, another thing: As a NeverTrumper, youre guilty of being insufficiently representative of contemporary conservatism. Had you been a Trumper, doubtless you would have been dismissed as a moron unworthy of the pages of The Atlantic.

Weighed against these charges are hundreds of thousands of words of smart, stylish and often hilarious commentary, criticism and reportage. How many of the people now demanding your firing read your unforgettable description of Steve Mnuchins Scrooge McDuck-style sphincter-clenching, or of Anthony Scaramuccis batty and profane interview in which he reimagined Steve Bannon as a kind of autoerotic yogi?

Shouldnt great prose and independent judgment count for something? Not according to your critics. We live in the age of guilt by pull-quote, abetted by a combination of lazy journalism, gullible readership, missing context, and technologies that make our every ill-considered utterance instantly accessible and utterly indelible. I jumped at your abortion comment, but for heavens sake, it was a tweet. When you write a whole book on the need to execute the tens of millions of American women whove had abortions, then Ill worry.

We also live in an age  another one  of excommunication. This is ugly because its spirit is illiberal, and odd, because its consequences are negligible. Should The Atlantic foolishly succumb to pressure to rescind your job offer, youll still be widely read, presumably at National Review. If youre really the barbarian your critics claim, youre already through the gates.

The real question, then, isnt what kinds of arguments are acceptable. Its what kinds are, or ought to be, acceptable to liberals. In The Huffington Post, one writer proposes that the answer is none. This is the liberalism of the 9- year-old sticking fingers in his ears and saying: nah-nah-nah-nah-nah. Anyone still wondering how Donald Trump became president need look no further.

The wiser test of acceptability is whether an argument is thoughtful, thought-provoking and offered in good faith. That holds true even if the views arent politically representative. Last I checked, you and I were hired as columnists, not party ideologues or demographic segments.

It also holds true whether or not a given opinion is offensive. Offensive to tens of millions of intelligent and morally sincere Americans is the idea that abortion ought to be legal at all, much less in the second or third trimester. If those Americans can make their peace with pro-choice writers like me, the least liberals can do is not make war on pro-life writers like you.

That doesnt mean there ought to be limitless tolerance for every shade of opinion: There are cranks and haters both left and right, and wise editors should not give them a platform. But your critics show bad faith when they treat an angry tweet or a flippant turn of phrase as proof of moral incorrigibility. Let he who is without a bad tweet, a crap sentence or even a deplorable opinion cast the first stone.

Worse, they foreclose the possibility of learning something useful from someone smart. Learning does not require agreement. Theres a reason this section of the newspaper is labeled Opinion, not Affirmation, Reinforcement, or Emotional Crutch. Liberals used to know that. What happened?

My guess is that youll find working for The Atlantic a discipline and a joy. Its not always easy to write for an audience whose views you rarely share. Its not always fun to hear back from them, either. But the result will be sharper writing by you, a broader understanding for them, and more competition for us. Congrats.A third of the store is given over to a rack of postboxes that undoubtedly will wind up in the Smithsonian someday, and a closet-size office for the postal clerk who comes by for two hours in the morning. Youd think losing all that retail space would be a drawback, but consider it again: Every one in town pretty much has to come by every day or two. Guaranteed traffic, right past the milk case. Theres a two-bedroom apartment upstairs and a small barn out back. It will be your world.

Also out back, the beautiful Middlebury River flows through a deep gorge; out front, Route 125 leads up from the college town below, the conduit for a steady stream of bike riders who pause at the store to quench their thirst. In the winter, skiers stop by on their way home from the world-class Nordic trails two miles away, and from the family-friendly college ski hill a little farther up the pass. In the summer, authors from around the world flow in for the famed Bread Loaf Writers Conference; in the fall, the colors are unmatched.[street sounds] [siren wailing] [footsteps] [fire engine honking] [car horn honking] Its hard to imagine that a sound could transform someones life, but it happened to me. [truck rumbling] [insect buzzing] [bird chirping] I was 27 years old and on one of those road trips between your old life and your new one. [bird singing] I pulled over to get some rest. [thunder crashing] As I lay on the ground, I watched a storm develop. I remember hearing the thunder define the far reaches of the valley as the storm passed over me, drenching me. [rain pounding] This was the first time I experienced true listening. I guess you could say that was my baptism. [thunder crashing] [rain pattering lightly] [birds singing] [woodpecker hammering] By holding a microphone, I became a better listener. I learned that a microphone doesnt listen for whats important. It doesnt judge. It doesnt interfere. [sea bird cawing] My whole life I had been listening for what was important rather than taking things in with equal value. [frogs croaking] Every place has a sound. [water rippling] A passing breeze that indicates a weather change. [wind blowing] [bird cawing] The first bird songs of spring. [whistling wind] And the shifting tide reminding us of the celestial ballet. All of these experiences connect us back to the land. Just listen. [birds chirping] [high pitched screeching] [birds chirping] [waves and sea birds] Silence is the poetics of space, what it means to be in a place. The whole topography of the surrounding landscape is revealed to me in the many layers of the echo that come towards me. [waves crashing] And I think to myself  I know exactly where I am. [footsteps on sand] Silence isnt the absence of something, but the presence of everything. When I speak of silence, I mean silence from noise pollution of modern life, sounds that have nothing to do with the natural acoustic system. [sea birds calling] Silence is the presence of time undisturbed. It can be felt within the chest. It nurtures our nature. [waves crashing] And silence is on the verge of extinction. [silence] [airplane engine] There is not one place left on planet Earth that is set aside and off limits to noise pollution, not one square inch of silence left untouched by the modern world. [horns honking] [jackhammer thudding] Our typical anti-noise strategies offer no relief. (MUFFLED) Earplugs, (MORE MUFFLED) noise canceling headphones, (REGULAR VOLUME) even noise abatement laws offer no real solution, because they do nothing to help us reconnect and listen to the land. [helicopter rattling] And the land is speaking. [insects and birds chirping] When I listen, I have to be quiet. I become very peaceful. [birds singing] And I think what I enjoy most about listening is that I disappear. I disappear. [woodpecker hammering] [high pitched screeching] [birds singing] [high pitched screeching]Less than five weeks after declaring her candidacy for Congress, the actress Stacey Dash announced Friday that she was withdrawing from the race to represent a heavily Democratic House district in California.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Ms. Dash  who is best known for her role in the 1995 movie Clueless  said she had concluded that the bitterness surrounding our political process, the rigors of campaigning and even the act of holding office itself would be harmful to her family.

Deciding to withdraw my candidacy was a difficult choice, but I have to go where I feel God is leading me, she said.On Friday, Dr. Frederick issued a statement addressing HU Resists demands. Howard University has birthed generations of student activists and we will always continue in that spirit, Dr. Frederick said.

The statement included a list of HU Resists demands and information on efforts he said the university had made or has planned for each item  though he did not address the call for his resignation.

He ended by saying: Your concerns are valid. We are listening. We are committed to jointly making changes to move Howard forward.

Protesters did not appear moved by his response. At the administration building on Friday afternoon, where a list of the demands were scrawled on large pieces of paper and hung above a main entrance, dozens of students were gathered in the foyer, chanting, Whose school? Our school! They had been there since Thursday afternoon, Ms. McCollum said.

Inside, empty Dunkin Donuts boxes and Red Bull cans were scattered across the floor.

Rows of chairs blocked the entrance, and the glass doors were marked with handwritten signs: STUDENTS ONLY. (ID REQUIRED.)

The staff work for us, not the other way around, said Zephaniah Galloway, 19, a freshman from Cleveland and a member of HU Resist.

Outside the building, members of the board of trustees lingered, waiting for an afternoon meeting scheduled with protesters. Eugene Newman, a board member known as Rock, declined to comment on the financial aid scandal but gave a full-bodied high-five to a student protester who came out to welcome him.Lawmakers in Vermont, a place long steeped in hunting culture, on Friday approved a sweeping package of new gun restrictions, making the state all but certain to join Florida in passing a raft of new gun control measures after a teenage gunman killed 17 people last month at a high school in Parkland, Fla.

Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, has vowed to sign the measure. It represents a remarkable departure from the states existing gun laws, which are some of the weakest in the country  and an about-face for Mr. Scott, who decided to consider new gun control measures only after a teenager was accused of plotting a school shooting in Vermont in the days after the violence in Parkland.

No state is immune to the risk of extreme violence, Mr. Scott said in a statement on Friday, adding, If we are at a point when our kids are afraid to go to school and parents are afraid to put their kids on a bus, who are we?

The bill, which passed the Senate, 17 to 13, on Friday after clearing the House earlier in the week, would raise the minimum age to purchase a gun to 21 and ban bump stocks, which are devices that allow semiautomatic rifles to fire more rapidly. It also contains restrictions that go beyond those in the measure signed in Florida, like an expansion of background checks and a limit on the capacity of magazines that can be sold or possessed in the state.The Fox News host Laura Ingraham announced on Friday that she was taking a week off following the decision of several companies to pull advertising from her show after she ridiculed a student survivor of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting.

Ill be off next week for Easter break with my kids. But fear not, weve got a great lineup of guest hosts to fill in for me, Ms. Ingraham said on her show, The Ingraham Angle.

In response to an email, Fox News said that Ms. Ingrahams break was a preplanned vacation with her kids.

The dispute began on Wednesday, when Ms. Ingraham shared an article about how the student, David Hogg, 17, had been rejected from several colleges, and she accused him of whining about it.Back in Spotifys early days, when the company was just a dozen people in a small office in Stockholm, Daniel Ek, a co-founder, liked to compare it to Apple and Google.

It was 2008, and the traditional music industry was collapsing. Yet as Spotify introduced its streaming service in a handful of European countries, it clung to what must have seemed an impossible ambition: challenging the titans of Silicon Valley to become the worlds leading outlet for online music, with a hybrid free-and-paid model that made record companies nervous.

After a decade, the start-up from Sweden has proved itself a worthy adversary, with 157 million users around the world, 71 million of whom pay for subscriptions. That is about twice the number of its closest competitor, Apple, which finally entered the subscription game three years ago.

And on Tuesday, in a ritual of success for any start-up, Spotifys shares will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange with a valuation that could exceed $20 billion. Underscoring the companys self-image as a disrupter, it has shunned the usual circus of an initial public offering in favor of a rarely used  and potentially risky  process known as a direct listing, in which no new stock is issued and insiders can begin selling their stash on Day 1.Tesla said on Friday that its semiautonomous Autopilot feature had been turned on before a fiery crash of a Model X sport-utility vehicle that killed the driver last week in California, raising more questions about the safety of the companys self-driving technology.

This is the second fatal crash in which the Autopilot system had been engaged, including a 2016 crash in Florida that killed a Tesla driver. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded that the Florida crash did not result from a flaw in the system, but the agency found that the system lacked safeguards to prevent its misuse.

Federal investigators are looking into the crash in California, which occurred March 23.

The company said in a statement posted on its website that the driver in the crash last week had about five seconds and 150 meters of unobstructed view before he crashed into a median barrier, adding that the vehicle logs show that no action was taken. The driver, Wei Huang, had been given several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive, Tesla said.

Still, Tesla defended its Autopilot hardware. In its statement, the company said there was one automotive fatality for every 86 million miles across all vehicles in the United States, compared with one fatality for every 320 million miles in vehicles equipped with Autopilot.Sally Corbette Newman and Romain Philippe Guimard were married March 31 at Mepkin Abbey, a Trappist monastery in Charleston, S.C. Adair F. Boroughs, a notary in South Carolina, officiated, with Harry T. Edwards, a senior circuit judge and the chief judge emeritus of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in Washington, leading the ceremony.

Ms. Newman, 35, is a lawyer at Charleston Legal Access, a nonprofit organization she founded in 2016 that provides representation and advocacy to moderate- and low-income South Carolinians. She graduated from Dartmouth, and received a law degree from N.Y.U.

She is the daughter of Nancy Houska of Carlisle, Pa., and Joe Newman of Cardwell, Mont.

Mr. Guimard, 38, is an acrobat with Compagnie XY, a touring French contemporary circus collective. He completed training in circus arts at the Centre Regional des arts du cirque de Lomme in France.

Mr. Guimard is the son of Joelle Lebas of Grigny, France, and Dr. Pierre Guimard of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, France.Researchers have made new discoveries about the in-between spaces in the human body, and some say its time to rewrite the anatomy books.

A study published in Scientific Reports this week described a fluid-filled, 3-D latticework of collagen and elastin connective tissue that can be found all over the body, in or near our lungs, skin, digestive tracts and arteries.

Its a hard thing to describe, and the New York University School of Medicine did it in several ways in a news release on Tuesday: a series of spaces, a highway of moving fluid and a previously unknown feature of human anatomy.

It said the studys authors referred to the system as an organ in its own right, though not all researchers agree with that characterization.Much has been reported on the hundreds of thousands of people who fled Puerto Rico after Hurricane Marias powerful winds ravaged the island. But barely anything had been written about what it is like for Puerto Ricans who return to the island after months in exile  the basis for my recent story about a couples return home.

The idea stemmed from a brainstorm session with Peter Applebome, a former Times editor I worked with when I covered Hurricane Maria for more than a month in Puerto Rico. As we looked for new ways to cover the islands post-hurricane recovery, he wondered aloud, What if we followed a family back to Puerto Rico?

The idea stuck with me. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and since the hurricane Ive felt more than ever that its my responsibility to seek out the untold stories of my homeland. To tell this one would mean finding a Puerto Rican family in New York City, where I am based as a reporter for the Metro desk.

While working on another article about Puerto Ricans taking refuge stateside in hotels paid for by the federal government, I met several Puerto Ricans in a hotel in Queens who were debating whether to stay permanently or return home. I met Omaira Lopez, who seemed stressed: At the time her parents, Enrique and Emma Lopez, were dealing with several medical issues. I couldnt interview them then, but when I checked in with Ms. Lopez weeks later, she told me that Enrique and Emma would soon fly back to Puerto Rico. I asked if I could join and chronicle the homecoming.

Ms. Lopez said yes, in part because she wanted readers to understand the difficulties older people face in Puerto Rico. But it was also personal: She was losing sleep over how her parents would fare alone on an island where power is still unreliable.

I immediately got the green light from my boss, Wendell Jamieson, Metro editor for The Times, who had asked for stories examining how Hurricane Marias toll had rippled to the mainland and to New York.

A couple of days before their flight, the two greeted me enthusiastically in the hotel room where they had been staying for several months. Enrique, 81, was recovering from a recent stroke that had left his legs weak. Emma, 75, has Alzheimers and repeatedly asked me my name and where I was from. Yet both insisted on going home.

I understood their eagerness. While I was there covering the hurricanes, my grandparents left the island and spent several months in New York, just like Enrique and Emma. And just like them, after fleeing the immediate chaos after the hurricane, they grew tired of being away from their patria. Just like my grandparents and Ms. Lopezs parents, I want to return to Puerto Rico for good one day.

But I was also aware of some of the challenges that awaited Enrique and Emma there. My grandparents on my mothers side stayed on the island and struggled for months alone in a house without electricity. Like the Lopez children, my mother and uncles also stressed over my grandparents fragile health on an island with unreliable hospitals.

The story was also personal for Christopher Gregory, the photographer I worked with. Chris is from Puerto Rico and, as he told me, the island will never again be the place I made so many of my first memories, so each opportunity to document a small part of that episode in its history is something I dont take lightly.

Throughout the trip, it became increasingly clear to me and Chris that the couples return was much more than a post-hurricane homecoming. Their mortality loomed over Enrique and Emma. Lets go  Im ready for the cemetery, Emma said to no one in particular before the flight home. Seemingly, they had chosen their deathbed: Puerto Rico  home, despite having lived most of their lives in New York.

As one of their sons, Jose Lopez, told me in his parents uprooted backyard in Puerto Rico: This is their final resting place, and I feel better that theyre here.Governor Andrew M. Cuomo set the stage for an ambitious congestion pricing plan when he declared that it was an idea whose time has come.

But that time is not now.

There was little about congestion pricing in the state budget negotiated Friday by Mr. Cuomo and state lawmakers despite months of lobbying by advocates, a six-figure media campaign, and rallies by transit riders. The most significant development was a new surcharge that will be tacked on to every ride in for-hire vehicles in Manhattan south of 96th Street: $2.50 for yellow taxis; $2.75 for other for-hire vehicles, including Ubers and Lyfts; and 75 cents for car pool rides such as Via and UberPool.

Notably missing was the congestion zone that was the centerpiece of a congestion pricing plan, laid out by a state task force to reduce gridlock on the streets and raise money for the citys struggling subway, which is operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Under that plan, unveiled in January, drivers could have been charged a daily fee  $11.52 for passenger cars, $25.34 for trucks  to enter a congestion zone in Manhattan, from 60th Street south to the Battery, at busy times.

The budget agreement drew criticism from a coalition of transportation advocacy groups, which expressed disappointment that months of pushing for congestion pricing had yielded so little.Ms. Nixon, a close ally of Mr. de Blasio who announced her campaign as negotiations on the budget heated up in mid-March, has made no secret of the fact that she intends to attack the governor on the state of the subways. (Her campaign website has a section devoted to #CuomosMTA.)

She has already called Mr. Cuomos liberal credentials into question. At her campaigns debut, she asked if he was a real Democrat, and she has linked him to the Independent Democratic Conference, a group of eight breakaway Democrats in the State Senate who collaborate with Republicans. Several progressive groups in New York that have expressed their enthusiasm for Ms. Nixons candidacy have suggested that they will take their anger at President Trump out on the I.D.C. and its allies.

The budget seemed a perfect opportunity for Mr. Cuomo, who has spent most of the last 40 years involved in New York State politics, to show his mastery of Albanys levers of power  and his knowledge of how to use them against his foes.

Cuomo never, ever missed an opportunity to stick it to de Blasio, said Douglas Muzzio, a professor of political science at Baruch College.

In the spending plan, Mr. Cuomo also sought and won new oversight of the citys public schools. The budget requires districts located in cities with populations of more than one million to submit a detailed, school-by-school accounting of how they spent state educational funds. Previously, the state allocated money to districts but did not oversee the distribution of that money.

Like the citys subways, if districts do not comply, the state can withhold funding.

Mr. Cuomo billed the move as a much-needed increase in transparency. But it also served a dual political purpose: It jabbed at the tradition of mayoral control of New York Citys schools, and it also allowed the governor to take an aggressive stand on the issue of educational equity  a marquee issue of Ms. Nixon, a longtime education activist who has placed the issue squarely at the heart of the early stages of her campaign.

Specifically, Ms. Nixon has blasted Mr. Cuomo for underfunding schools, accusing him of neglecting children of color in the poorest districts. But Mr. Cuomo on Friday said the issue was not the amount of money being spent, but rather how it was being spent.This New Religion has many prophets already, of course; the most prominent, her Oprahness, can currently be seen playing an angelic being in the de-Christianized, New Age-ified adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time. But the example of Oprah points to an interesting truth: When you think about the New Religions various cultural and (in the case of yoga) liturgical expressions, they generally skew female. Oprahs roadshow of spiritual gurus includes men as well as women, but the intended audience for her revivals, as for the The Secret or Eat Pray Love or the collected works of Paulo Coelho, is very obviously feminine.

Meanwhile, men looking for post-Christian enlightenment seem to gravitate toward secular-rationalist cults like the New Atheism, or more recently toward toxic forms of alt-right politics. In this sense the post-Christian religious landscape is potentially taking Christianitys gender gap and widening it, playing its own metaphysical role in the growing divergence and polarization of the sexes.

Which is why it will be interesting to see where Peterson and his male disciples end up going. To the extent that he has antecedents, its figures like the myth-theorist Joseph Campbell and the poet Robert Bly, whose Mens Movement in the 1990s was a Jungian stew concocted as an antidote to fatherlessness and extended adolescence.

Thats what Peterson is offering too (his attempts to make his stew a system have inspired a certain amount of justifiable mockery; the New Religion is more convincing when its fuzzy), but with a particular stress on the idea that the men hes trying to forge will be better men for women, and thus perhaps equipped to reverse the polarization of the sexes and the decline of not only marriage but even sex itself.

But can a Peterson man and an Oprah woman be happy together? Can they be at least as happy as Christian women and their somewhat-less-pious, prone-to-bolting Christian men?

A lot may hang on this strange question: the happiness of the next generation, the very existence of the generation after that.MARJORIE IVES, JUPITER, FLA.

To the Editor:

Re Francis, the Anti-Strongman, by Paul Elie (Sunday Review, March 25):

Pope Franciss persona belies a dictatorial penchant. He deals with challenges by removing those who disagree with him. The peremptory dismissal of members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, for no apparent reason, is a case in point.

His rigging of the Synod on the Family and dubious editing of its summation in Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love)  an incomplete citation from John Paul II  is nothing short of dictatorial. And his circumventing of canonical process to initiate change  for example, changing the rite of foot washing on Holy Thursday, from a recognition of the uninterrupted transmission of spiritual authority from the apostles to succeeding generations of bishops, to an open-to-all act of charity  certainly seems autocratic.

MICHAEL P. ORSI, NAPLES, FLA.

The writer is a Catholic priest.

To the Editor:

Re The Good Pope and His Critics (column, March 18):

Ross Douthat blames Pope Francis for worsening the divisions in the church by glossing over the differences and allowing for more robust debate in local churches. Franciss approach is not a truce.

Rather, he trusts that local churches are better suited to allow for the internal forum or conscience to help people live the faith in a realistic way. It seems that Mr. Douthat would rather that some abstract dogmas continue to drive Catholics away. Francis holds the center and reaches out to those disenfranchised as Jesus did as an itinerant preacher.

As the vicar of Christ, Francis allows for Catholics to be universal while at the same time particular in their cultural expressions of faith. Francis trusts that any coming changes in the church will arise out of peoples embrace of the faith. He is more hopeful than Mr. Douthat.Mr. Pruitt has been averse to science and fact from Day 1. Last fall, he announced that scientists who receive or had received federal research grants would be barred from serving on the agencys nearly two dozen scientific advisory committees. The purpose, he said, was to eliminate conflicts of interest; the real purpose, it soon became clear, was to create vacancies that he could fill with industry experts and state officials pushing for lax regulations  people whose own conflicts of interest would be left unexamined. As Andrew Rosenberg, director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists noted at the time, Mr. Pruitts claim that federal funding should exclude scientists from an E.P.A. advisory board while industry funding should not exclude them was on its face absurd.

Though the E.P.A. is the epicenter of denial, avoiding inconvenient truths is common practice elsewhere in the administration. Last year, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke reassigned Joel Clement, the departments director of policy analysis and top expert on the impact of climate change in the Arctic, to an accounting job (Mr. Clement resigned in protest). Mr. Zinke also ordered the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine to cancel two studies that conflicted with the administrations goal of expanding domestic fossil fuel production. One was examining the health risks of people living near surface coal mining sites in Appalachia; the other sought ways of strengthening the departments oil and gas safety inspection program.

Even the official vocabulary of global warming has changed, as if problems can be made to evaporate simply by describing them in more benign terms. At the Agriculture Department, for instance, staff members are encouraged to use terms like weather extremes instead of climate change. Web pages about global warning have been removed, edited or buried throughout the government. Last week, lest there be any confusion in the hinterlands, E.P.A. staff members in regional offices received a list of talking points instructing them to tell people that clear gaps remain including our understanding of the role of human activity on global warming. This is vintage Pruitt: Sow doubt whenever possible about established science.

Mr. Trumps economic advisers have reinforced this bias. His latest budget called for big funding cuts and in some cases elimination of programs aimed at protecting human health and building resilience against the effects of climate change  among them the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations coastal research program and the Energy Departments energy efficiency and advanced technology programs. Congress wisely denied these cuts, thanks to hard work by Charles Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leaders of the Senate and House. Whether their efforts do anything to change the mind-set of Mr. Trump and his lieutenants remains to be seen.

Mr. Pruitt is widely believed to be positioning himself for a run for governor in his home state, Oklahoma; he also seems to covet the attorney generals office, and, astoundingly, is said to harbor presidential ambitions. But he and Mr. Zinke are unlikely to go anywhere soon, and as long as they have the support of the denier in chief, we can expect more disrespect for science and its practitioners.The low point for the self-proclaimed daddys girl came a month ago when The Times reported that the president might be using his chief of staff, John Kelly, an adversary to Javanka, to push them out and back to New York.

Jared and Ivanka seem torn about whether to keep crossing the rapids or turn back to shore. And as someone in their camp says: Its not like they could leave and all of a sudden you have this quiet life. Look at Don Jr. At this point, being a Trump is less a good brand than a bad state of mind. Besides, as their ally says, with Ivankas trip to the Olympics in South Korea and her success helping Republicans increase the child tax credit, she feels shes actually found her groove.

Her groove, if she even has one, is not as groovy as that of her prospective sister-in-law, a supermodel who has become the First Daughter of the Resistance.

The 25-year-old Karlie Kloss publicly broke from the Trump clan when she tweeted a picture of herself voting for Hillary Clinton. Then she showed up at the womens march the day after the inauguration. Josh, 32, who thought about giving a TV interview about his differences with his brother but changed his mind, was spotted with her. But he also went to the White House on his own and Instagrammed a picture of himself with Jared, standing beneath the portrait of J.F.K.

Josh, routinely described by mentors as respectful, has built a technology investment firm called Thrive that is worth billions. His crown jewel, a health insurance company called Oscar, was structured around Obamacare  the main thing Trump has been trying to explode.

After Trump won, Forbes said, Josh had to hold one-on-one meetings with nearly a hundred employees to say he is neither responsible for this administration nor able to get special favors.A midnight kitchen experience over a cup of coffee after he received phone calls threatening to blow out his brains and blow up his house during the Montgomery bus boycott gave the fear-stricken Dr. King a sense of Gods unshakable presence. He said that instead of inherited faith, he had to forge the terms of his own relationship to the Almighty.

I had to know God for myself, he explained. I could hear an inner voice saying to me, Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness, stand up for justice, stand up for truth. And lo, I will be with you, even until the end of the world.

For the rest of his life Dr. King did just that. His faith propelled him to fight Jim Crow, the ugly hatred it bred in the white soul and the haunting inferiority it left in black minds. It led him to speak valiantly against the lynching, bombing and shooting of black people who merely wanted what white people took for granted: a cup of coffee at any lunch counter, a room at any hotel they could afford, a drink at any water fountain they passed, a seat on a bus wherever they pleased and a desk in the nearest schoolhouse.

Dr. Kings faith put him at odds with white Christians who believed it was their mission to keep separate the races  the same people whose forebears believed it was their duty to enslave Africans and punish blacks who sought to escape their hardship. Dr. King realized that he wasnt simply in battle against a society built on legal apartheid, but that he also had to fight against a racist culture that derived theological support from white Christianity.

White evangelicals were opposed to Dr. King because they conveniently divided body and soul: Race was a social issue that should be determined by rules in society and laws generated by government. Such a view meant that the racist status quo was sacred. The point of religion was to save the souls of black folk by preaching a gospel of repentance for personal sin, even as segregation often found a white biblical mandate. After Dr. King spoke at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1961, the most prominent institution of the nations largest Protestant denomination, many white churches in the South withheld financial contributions to the school.

If rabid racists were a clear threat to black well-being, it was the white moderates who claimed to support civil rights but who urged caution in the pursuit of justice who proved to be a special plague. In 1963, eight white Alabama clergymen issued a statement pleading for black leaders to slow their aggressive campaign against segregation in Birmingham, Ala. The clergymen cited outsiders who had come to Birmingham to lead demonstrations that were unwise and untimely.Asperger at first warned against classifying children, writing in 1937 that it is impossible to establish a rigid set of criteria for a diagnosis. But right after the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938  and the purge of his Jewish and liberal associates from the University of Vienna  Asperger introduced his own diagnosis of social detachment: autistic psychopathy.

As Asperger sought promotion to associate professor, his writings about the diagnosis grew harsher. He stressed the cruelty and sadistic traits of the children he studied, itemizing their autistic acts of malice. He also called autistic psychopaths intelligent automata.

Some laud Aspergers language about the special abilities of children on the most favorable end of his autistic range, speculating that he applied his diagnosis to protect them from Nazi eugenics  a kind of psychiatric Schindlers list. But this was in keeping with the selective benevolence of Nazi psychiatry; Asperger also warned that less favorable cases would roam the streets as adults, grotesque and dilapidated.

Words such as these could be a death sentence in the Third Reich. And in fact, dozens of children whom Asperger evaluated were killed.

Child euthanasia was the Reichs first program of mass extermination, begun by Hitler in July 1939 to get rid of children regarded as a drain on the state and a danger to its gene pool. Most of the victims were physically healthy, neither suffering nor terminally ill. They were simply deemed to have physical, mental or behavioral defects.

At least 5,000 children perished in around 37 special wards. Am Spiegelgrund, in Vienna, was one of the deadliest. Killings were done in the youths own beds, as nurses issued overdoses of sedatives until the children grew ill and died, usually of pneumonia.

Asperger worked closely with the top figures in Viennas euthanasia program, including Erwin Jekelius, the director of Am Spiegelgrund, who was engaged to Hitlers sister. My archival research, along with that of other scholars of euthanasia like Herwig Czech, the author of a forthcoming paper on this subject in the journal Molecular Autism, show that Asperger recommended the transfer of children to Spiegelgrund. Dozens of them were killed there.His biggest vulnerability is his diplomatic loneliness. He has nothing close to the web of alliances and partnerships that have anchored the United States and its partners. While its almost always slower, harder and less satisfying to work in coalitions, the policy effects are almost always more long-lasting and effective. Its critical to work with our allies and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to establish a clear baseline to forcefully counter Mr. Putins unserious denials of culpability.

We have demonstrated our ability to work in concert on painful sanctions after Mr. Putins invasion of Ukraine. Now its time to tighten those screws further, fully apply the sanctions passed by Congress last summer, and work closely with our partners to follow suit. We all need to reduce our vulnerabilities to Russias meddling, and deny impunity to those aiding and abetting those efforts.

The project of making Russia great is part and parcel of making Mr. Putin and his crony capitalist friends rich. That is also a vulnerability. Too many countries for too long have facilitated the enrichment and corruption of Mr. Putins inner circle. That needs to end.

The logical next step after the diplomatic expulsions is a similarly coordinated campaign to hit the wallets of the Kremlin elite. That wont be easy or pain-free for a number of economies, including our own. A strong signal that business as usual is over will unsettle Moscow and stimulate concerns about what more drastic steps might follow. Mr. Putin knows that the longer he is denied foreign direct investment, the further behind his economy will fall.

There is some risk of a more forceful response to Mr. Putins aggression. We need to be vigilant not to prompt an unprovoked escalation in Ukraine or legitimate Mr. Putins shrouded machinations by deploying our own impulsively  whether in cyberspace or other types of covert action. Sustaining military and diplomatic channels is not a favor or a sign of weakness. Its a way to demonstrate that while we will not give in to Mr. Putin, we will not give up on the longer-term prospect of a healthier relationship with Russia.

It may very well be that last weeks countermeasures are nothing more than a passing phase. We already see cracks within the European Union and Britain is divided by the Brexit debates. The Trump administration has signaled policy shifts, like pulling out of the Iranian nuclear agreement, that will make it easier for Mr. Putin to create wedges.

American actions this past week offer a hopeful sign. Agile diplomacy can still land a punch. Now comes the hard part. Diplomacy wont transform the adversarial relationship with Mr. Putins Russia, but it can manage it. Mr. Putin is right about one thing: We have the stronger cards. Weve just played them erratically.

Now we should lead with diplomacy and demonstrate its enduring power and purpose. If we dont, well perpetuate illusions about partnerships with Mr. Putin and the irrelevance of diplomacy  and waste our bigger, better hand.A few days after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Republican governor of Maryland, Spiro T. Agnew, strode into a conference room in downtown Baltimore. In the hours after Kings death, violence had broken out in the city; along with Washington and Chicago, it was soon occupied by the United States Army. In response, Agnew called together the black community on April 11 for a frank and far-reaching discussion.

It wasnt a discussion. It was a trap. The governor tore into the crowd for standing by while rioters ransacked stores and set cars on fire. They claimed to speak for racial harmony, he boomed, but when the violence began, You ran.

Within minutes, most of the audience members had stormed out; at the door, they found a scrum of reporters, whom Agnew had tipped off. Within hours, Agnews confrontation was national news; within days, this once-obscure first-time governor was being assailed as a racist by the left and hailed as a rising star in the Republican Party. That summer, Richard Nixon picked him as his running mate.

Fifty years later, we remember Spiro Agnew, if at all, as a bumbling vice president who later pleaded no contest to tax evasion, resigned in disgrace and ended his career funneling military surplus to Saddam Hussein and Nicolae Ceausescu. But his rise during the spring of 1968 is instructive because suddenly it feels so familiar: a white Republican who claimed to speak against radicalism and for the forgotten man, but in fact ran on exacerbating racial animosity. Far from a bit player, Agnew marked a watershed moment in American history, when the Republican Party committed itself to the shift from being the party of Lincoln to the party of white racial backlash.Now that Stormy Daniels has confirmed on national television that Donald Trump initiated sex with her just months after his third wife gave birth to their child, at least half the country is asking: Surely this is a porn star too far for white evangelical Christians, right?

Wrong.

As we celebrate Easter Sunday, nearly 18 months after Mr. Trump won the presidency with about 80 percent of the white evangelical vote, surveys show him retaining nearly all of that support. In contrast, white evangelicals re-elected George W. Bush in 2004 with 78 percent of their votes, but by May 2006 their approval had slid to 55 percent. And that was after Mr. Bush had delivered, in late 2005 and early 2006, the Supreme Court appointments of both John Roberts and Samuel Alito.

The resilient support for Mr. Trump is hard to square with a constituency best known for trumpeting family values and proclaiming the nations moral decline. It also belies the idea that a record-high percentage of white evangelicals voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 simply because they could not bring themselves to cast ballots for Hillary Clinton.

You could open a publishing press devoted to the theological and sociological explanations for this phenomenon  from the unlikely belief that Mr. Trump found Jesus on the campaign trail to the idea that his presidency is all part of Gods plan to the role persecution narratives and Christian nationalism play in the evangelical worldview.Since March 2017, the Office of Refugee Resettlement had instructed employees at federally funded shelters to not take any action that facilitates an abortion without direction and approval from the director of O.R.R., court documents say. The Trump administration has argued that their policies do not create a so-called undue burden because undocumented teenagers seeking an abortion can obtain one by finding a sponsor or voluntarily deporting themselves to their home country.

Image Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Credit... United States Courts

This court does not find that either of these options mitigates the undue burden that O.R.R.s policy imposes on the young women in its custody, Judge Chutkan wrote, calling the governments proposal a Hobsons choice.

While the Office of Refugee Resettlement and its director are certainly entitled to maintain an interest in fetal life, and even to prefer that pregnant teens in their custody choose one course over the other, federal officials may not create or implement any policy that strips the undocumented children of their right to make their own reproductive choices, Judge Chutkan, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, continued.

Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a statement that the group was relieved that the court issued an order preventing the administration from continuing this practice while our case proceeds.

With todays rulings, we are one step closer to ending this extreme policy once and for all and securing justice for all of these young women, she said.WASHINGTON  Massachusetts, which led the nation in expanding health insurance coverage, now wants to rein in the growth of prescription drug spending for low-income people on Medicaid, but its proposals have met an icy reaction from patients and drug companies.

The state has asked the Trump administration for permission to limit the number of drugs that will be covered in its Medicaid program, seeking to exclude drugs with limited or inadequate evidence of clinical efficacy.

The proposal has nationwide implications because many states are struggling with the costs of health care, including prescription drugs. Massachusetts officials say the decision on their request for a Medicaid waiver, which could set a national precedent if it is approved, will show just how serious President Trump is about his vow to bring down drug prices.

Consumer advocates and drug companies have mobilized a campaign to block the proposal, telling the administration that it would deprive Medicaid beneficiaries of access to innovative, lifesaving treatments.HANGBERG, South Africa  One man vanished diving at midnight. Another was attacked by a great white shark in deep water. Two more drowned, one in borrowed scuba gear he wasnt qualified to use.

All four men, who died over the past few months, were casualties of an entrenched illicit trade: poaching abalone, a seafood delicacy that sells for enormous prices in Asia.

The shellfish, which once smothered reefs in South Africa, in some places packed as tightly as cobblestones, has become more difficult to find as a result of overfishing, luring untrained divers into deeper and more deadly waters.

The old reefs have been hit too hard and havent had time to recover, said a diver from Hangberg, an impoverished fishing community in Cape Town, who insisted on anonymity because he did not want to alert the police to his poaching.SEOUL, South Korea  The United Nations Security Council has announced new measures against North Korea, blacklisting 27 ships, 21 shipping companies and one individual accused of helping the North evade previous sanctions.

The move increases pressure on the North ahead of planned summit meetings between its leader, Kim Jong-un, and the presidents of South Korea and the United States.

The oil tankers and cargo ships on the list, announced on Friday, were banned from ports worldwide or will have their assets frozen, and the shipping companies will face an asset freeze. Most of those named had also been blacklisted by the United States Treasury in February.

In response to North Koreas rapid acceleration of its nuclear and missile programs, the Security Council has adopted a series of sanctions resolutions in recent years. The toughest, last year, banned key North Korean exports like coal, seafood and textiles, and drastically reduced the amount of petroleum the North was allowed to import.As skirmishes continue between Ukraine forces and Russian-backed separatists near the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka a few hours away this combat training center in Russia is teaching attendees military tactics like shooting and hand-to-hand combat. Its run by this man. Denis Ryauzov - Combat Trainer Leader for Wolf Holding of Security Structures NATSOT Were at the the training grounds where our students take courses offered by our center. NATPOP - Get ready (military exercise) == VO His name is Denis Ryauzov, and hes also the chief instructor. Denis Ryauzov - Combat Trainer Leader for Wolf Holding of Security Structure, airborne officer in reserve Im a former reserve officer, graduated from an airborne forces faculty, then served in the army, quit and then worked at the security services. He says theyre teaching people self-defense. Denis Ryauzov - Combat Trainer Leader for Wolf Holding of Security Structure, Were not training any military, were training people who may find themselves in an extreme situations. Were talking about the tactics that ordinary people can use if they willingly or unwillingly find themselves in the local conflict zone. But the companys promo videos seem to blur the line between self-defense and actually taking up arms. VO And the U.S. government in June hit Ryauzov and his firm with sanctions. Denis Ryauzov - Combat Trainer Leader for Wolf Holding of Security Structure, airborne officer in reserve I first didnt believe it, thinking its a joke. Whats written under my name - as the reason why I was put under sanctions - is not true at all. VO The U.S claims that Ryauzovs security company  which is called Wolf Holding of Security Structures  is owned by and supports the Russian motorcycle club known as the Night Wolves. The Night Wolves themselves were put under sanctions in 2014 after the U.S. says its members took part in fighting the Ukrainian government in Crimea and East Ukraine. NAT - storming The Night Wolves leader has openly touted his groups involvement in the Ukraine conflict. SOT from RT, Night Wolves leader Alexander Zaldostanov in 2014: They understood and valued our work in Sevastopol and Crimea right. Alexei Weitz is one of the groups regional leaders. He says the Night wolves mission is social engagement and promotion of patriotic values, including faith. Alexei Weitz, Night Wolves member, former political technologist What arere helping the East [Ukraine]? We help our people - the supporters of the Russian world. Here at a monastery called Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, the bikers came to provide security on a religious holiday. Alexei Weitz, Night Wolves member, former political technologist There are a lot of pilgrims here today...and our guys will be working on security here in Lavra. ++ There is no military training without the spiritual training. +++ The goal of our public service is to get stronger in faith and get ready to protect our motherland at any moment. The Night Wolves say theyre not a political organization and they are officially a non-profit organization that works with young people and puts on patriotic bike-shows and performances. But they get grants from the Russian government and Russian president Vladimir Putin has made appearances with the group. Putin talking to Night Wolves also in 2012: I know youre organizing a New Year performances for kids. This year it was very interesting. And Weitz apparently sees no harm in making political statements about Russian involvement in Ukraine. Alexei Weitz, Night Wolves member, former political technologist People in Donbass are protecting the Russian world. Theyre protecting our unified space. Were gathering humanitarian help and deliver it there in convoys...Were carrying after the sick and the children, because there are always bombings there, and by the way, not without the Wests assistance. The Trumps administration sanctions against the Night Wolves and their affiliates is more of a symbolic move from the U.S. government since there is little it can do to economically impact them. Still, the Night wolves decided to respond to the new sanctions with a new performance in Crimea, the Ukrainian territory seized by Russian separatists in 2014. The show is called The Russian reactor. NATPOP - trailer of the show. Alexei Weitz, Night Wolves member, former political technologist Sanctions is a slap on their own face, of the Western world. ++ Were first and foremost serving our country, and our duty is to strengthen our faith and get ready to protect our motherland at any moment. ENDCOPENHAGEN  The statue of the woman is nearly 23 feet tall. Her head is wrapped and she stares straight ahead while sitting barefoot, but regally, in a wide-backed chair, clutching a torch in one hand and a tool used to cut sugar cane in the other.

In Denmark, where most of the public statues represent white men, two artists on Saturday unveiled the striking statue in tribute to a 19th-century rebel queen who had led a fiery revolt against Danish colonial rule in the Caribbean.

They said it was Denmarks first public monument to a black woman.

The sculpture was inspired by Mary Thomas, known as one of the three queens. Thomas, along with two other female leaders, unleashed an uprising in 1878 called the Fireburn. Fifty plantations and most of the town of Frederiksted in St. Croix were burned, in what has been called the largest labor revolt in Danish colonial history.

This project is about challenging Denmarks collective memory and changing it, the Virgin Islands artist La Vaughn Belle, one of two principal forces behind the statue, said in a statement.The Beatles were four men from Britain  all from West London  who went to fight in Syria. They eventually joined the Islamic State and participated in the torture and imprisonment and killings of Western hostages. The group beheaded 27 people. We are an Islamic army, and a state The Beatles were known as the Beatles because of their British accents. So the hostages nicknamed them the Beatles. The four men were Jihadi John, Aine Davis, Alex Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh. Jihadi John was killed in an airstrike in 2015. Mr. Davis has been imprisoned on terrorism charges in Turkey. And Kurdish fighters backed by the U.S. picked up Kotey and Elsheikh in early January along the Euphrates River Valley near the border between Syria and Iraq. The Beatles were symbolic of the evil that the Islamic State was capable of carrying out. The beheadings of Jim Foley and Peter Kassig, and Steven Sotloff really shocked the nation. And it shocked the Obama administration. Their families eventually went public. Weve asked our government to change its actions. But like our son, we have no more control over the U.S. government than you have over the breaking of dawn. They felt the Obama administration hadnt moved quickly enough to try to save their children. As a result, the Obama administration revamped the way it handled these hostage cases, and they created the hostage recovery fusion cell in the towers of the F.B.I., and they also created a special hostage envoy at the State Department. Many of the families told us that they at times felt like an afterthought or a distraction. That ends today. The capture is significant because nobody has been held legally responsible for what happened to these hostages. I think people are a little stunned that these two guys are actually alive. Its not clear whats going to happen next. ... and to keep open the detention facilities in Guantanamo Bay. In his State of the Union address, President Trump had said, you know, hes going to put bad guys in Gitmo. But there are legal difficulties putting the people in Gitmo and nobodys ever put somebody from ISIS into Gitmo. I think its more likely that the Department of Justice working with the F.B.I. will try to build a criminal case against these two individuals and bring them back to United States to face justice. The two men who were captured have been cooperative and could provide information about where the bodies of Jim Foley, and Peter Kassig, Steven Sotloff, as well as the other hostages are buried. For the families, theres closure on two fronts: being able to give their children a proper burial and seeing these men be prosecuted in federal court and going to prison for the rest of their lives.GAZA CITY  Israel will target militant groups inside Gaza if violence along the territorys border with Israel drags on, the chief military spokesman warned on Saturday, a day after 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the areas deadliest violence in four years.

The violence significantly diminished Saturday as just small groups of Palestinians threw stones in several areas near the border fence, drawing Israeli fire that injured 25 people, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

Fridays mass marches were largely led by Gazas ruling Hamas group and touted as the start of a six-week-long protest campaign against a stifling decade-old blockade of the territory.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel congratulated soldiers Saturday for allowing the rest of the country to celebrate the Passover holiday safely.BEIRUT, Lebanon  When pro-government forces retook her hometown from Syrian rebels, Nisrine accepted the same surrender deal the government has offered tens of thousands of Syrians: a one-way bus trip to a place she had never been  the northern, rebel-held province of Idlib.

Since Syrias war began, the population of Idlib has doubled as it has taken in a motley mix of fleeing civilians, defeated rebels, hard-line jihadists and those like Nisrine who have packed up their families to ride the government surrender bus.

But as government forces wrap up a blistering campaign in eastern Ghouta, Idlib is likely to be the next target. And this time, there will be nowhere else to run.

Maybe this is the last chapter of the revolution, Nisrine, 36, an Arabic teacher from the onetime tourist resort of Madaya, said in an online interview recently. Syrians are killing Syrians. Nothing matters anymore. We decided to die standing up. Im sad for the revolution, how its gone, how people called for freedom and now its gone.Besides the Easter holiday, this weekend were also celebrating April Fools Day, an excellent reminder that the country is now a quarter of the way through the second year of the Donald Trump presidency.

Hang in there, people! To see if youve been paying attention, heres a quiz.The Trump administration last week announced that it would add a citizenship question to the decennial census in 2020, citing the need for more granular data for determining Voting Rights Act violations. Critics say that adding the question could cause some immigrants  particularly those who are not citizens  not to respond, resulting in an undercount.

There is no reliable data to estimate how many people would opt out of the census, but a panel of experts from inside the United States Census Bureau still expressed opposition to the move, in part because of concerns about accuracy.

Just because there is not clear evidence that adding the question would harm the census accuracy, this is not evidence that it will not, they wrote in a memo.

Noncitizen share of population Wash. 2% 6 8 12 14 Me. Mont. N.D. Minn. Vt. Ore. N.H. Idaho Wis. S.D. N.Y. Mass. Mich. Wyo. R.I. Conn. Iowa Pa. Neb. N.J. Nev. Ohio Md. Del. Ill. Ind. Utah W.Va. Colo. Calif. Va. Kan. Mo. Ky. N.C. Tenn. Okla. Ariz. N.M. Ark. S.C. Ala. Ga. Miss. La. Tex. Fla. Alaska Hawaii Noncitizen share of population 2% 6 8 12 14 WA ME MT ND VT MN OR NH ID NY WI MA SD MI RI WY CT PA IA NE NJ NV MD OH IL IN DE UT WV CO VA CA KS MO KY DC NC TN OK AZ NM AR SC AL GA MS LA TX AK FL HI Source: Jeffrey Passel, Pew Research Center estimates based on 2014 American Community Survey

About 56 percent of the nations 44 million immigrants are not United States citizens, and an estimated 45 percent of noncitizens are undocumented. Among those who are not citizens, undocumented immigrants have the lowest rates of participation in census surveys in general, experts say.

Accurate census counts are critical for many functions, including the disbursement of billions in federal and state dollars and the distribution of congressional seats and representation in state and local governments. A group of 17 state attorneys general and seven cities filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block the change.

An undercount of population could affect federal funding to states.

A recent Census Bureau report found that 132 programs used decennial census or related data to distribute more than $675 billion to states in 2015. Most of the money was related to health care, education and assistance for the poor.

Top federal assistance programs distributed using census data Medicaid and other medical assistance $312 billion Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) $71 Medicare Part B physician payments $70 Highway planning and construction $38 Pell grant program for students $30 Federal school lunch program $19 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) $17 Section 8 housing vouchers $16 Title 1 grants to local school districts $14 Grants to states for services for students with special needs $11 Head Start early childhood program $9 Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) $6 Source: Census Bureau via Rockefeller Institute of Government

A significant level of nonparticipation could affect congressional seats.

Some academics have created hypothetical scenarios to show how a reduction in participation could affect the distribution of congressional seats among states, which are determined by total residents, not just citizens.

States That Could Lose Seats Total seat change by percentage of Hispanic noncitizens who do not respond PROJECTED SEATS IN 2020 10% 100% Florida 29 1 California 53 1 2 3 Texas 39 1 2 Arizona 10 1 States That Could Gain Seats Total seat change by percentage of Hispanic noncitizens who do not respond PROJECTED SEATS IN 2020 10% 100% Montana 1 +1 Minnesota +1 7 Alabama 6 +1 Ohio 15 +1 West Virginia 2 +1 Virginia 11 +1 Michigan 13 +1 States That Could Lose Seats Projected seats in 2020 Total seat change by percentage of Hispanic noncitizens who do not respond 10 100 Fla. 29 1 Calif. 53 1 2 3 Texas 39 1 2 Ariz. 10 1 States That Could Gain Seats Projected seats in 2020 Total seat change by percentage of Hispanic noncitizens who do not respond 10 100 Mont. 1 +1 Minn. 7 +1 Ala. 6 +1 Ohio 15 +1 W.Va. 2 +1 Va. 11 +1 Mich. 13 +1 Source: Maxwell Palmer, Boston University

According to Maxwell Palmer, an assistant professor of political science at Boston University, if 10 percent of Hispanic noncitizens opted out, Florida could lose one congressional seat, and Montana could gain one. In an extreme case, in which 100 percent of Hispanic noncitizens did not participate, a total of seven congressional seats could be reshuffled, with three lost by California and two by Texas, Dr. Palmer said.

Andrew A. Beveridge, a Queens College sociologist, warned against overstating the potential effects of the citizenship question. He said that the maximum share of noncitizens who do not respond would be 20 percent, which is not enough to trigger a huge change.Losing Contact

Tiangong-1 was about 34 feet long and roughly the size of a school bus.

China launched the station in 2011, last visited it in 2013 and lost communications in 2016 after an apparent malfunction.

Tiangong-1. China Manned Space Engineering Office, via E.S.A.

Visible From Earth

The small, quickly moving station was a tempting target for amateur and professional photographers.

Tiangong-1 photographed on Jan. 20 through a light-tracking telescope in Manorville, N.Y. Philip Smith

The silhouette of Tiangong-1 crossing the sun on Wednesday, March 28. Maximilian Teodorescu/Maximus Photography

Tiangong-1 flying over the planets Saturn and Mars on Saturday, March 31. Philip Smith

A composite photograph comparing the International Space Station, at left, with Tiangong-1. Philip Smith

Falling Slowly

Without working communications, China was unable to perform any of the periodic boosts that are required to keep space stations in orbit. Tiangong-1 had been falling since December 2015 as it gradually brushed against the upper atmosphere.

Aerospace Corporation

Radar images showed that the spacecraft was slowly spinning, about once every two and a half minutes.

Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques

Tracking the Station

Tiangong-1 orbited Earth in a band between 43 degrees north and 43 degrees south latitudes. The northern half of that band is more heavily populated, but the chances of anyone being hit by falling debris were extremely low.

Tiangong-1 orbits Earth about 16 times a day, within the green band. European Space Agency

A live tracker from the Aerospace Corporation showed the stations location and altitude in the days before it fell, and predicted that Tiangong-1 would re-enter Earths atmosphere on April 1 or early April 2.

An Aerospace tracking graphic showing the probable crash location in the South Pacific. Aerospace Corporation

Launching the Station

Tiangong-1 was launched in September 2011 atop a Long March rocket.

China Manned Space Engineering Office

The station was visited by two crewed Shenzhou spacecraft, in 2012 and 2013.

The crew of Shenzhou 10 preparing to dock with Tiangong-1. China Manned Space Engineering Office

Shenzhou 10 docks with Tiangong-1. China Manned Space Engineering Office

A Congratulatory Call

In June 2013, President Xi Jinping of China spoke with three astronauts aboard Tiangong-1.

President Xi and astronauts inside Tiangong-1. China Manned Space Engineering Office

Astronauts Wang Yaping, Nie Haisheng and Zhang Xiaoguang. China Manned Space Engineering Office

A China Central Television news clip from 2013 included footage of the three astronauts inside the station. This was the last crew to visit Tiangong-1.

CCTV

Looking Down

While it was operational, Tiangong-1 used several instruments to observe the Earth.

Surface temperatures (in degrees Kelvin) at Beijing Capital International Airport on Dec. 9, 2013. Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Monitoring sea ice along coastal shipping routes. Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Vegetation coverage in Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia. Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Future Plans

China launched its second space station, Tiangong-2, in September 2016. A third, larger station is planned.

The Tiangong-2 space station. China Manned Space Engineering Office

A Tiangong-2 image of dunes near Qinghai Lake, in western China. Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of SciencesUP: 7 cops taken off duty in Bulandshahr

Ambedkar statue vandalized in Uttar Pradesh, locals stage protest

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

A statue of Dalit icon, BR Ambedkar was vandalised by unidentified miscreants in Uttar Siddharthnagar's Gohaniya in Uttar Pradesh on Friday night, reported ANI. Locals staged a protest demanding action against the culprit.

"We are aware of the matter and are trying to locate the suspects," Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Aakash Kulhari told India Today.

The feudal forces in the state under the BJP rule are constantly attacking the statues of Baba Saheb Ambedkar. The BJP government is continuously humiliating the Father of the Indian Constitution. The Prime Minister, the President and even the UP Governor are silent on the issue."

                                ,               https://t.co/iS5kEfBqnP  Naresh Uttam Patel (@NareshUttamSP) March 31, 2018

The incidents of statue vandalism have been reported from Aligarh, Meerut and other parts of Uttar Pradesh.

OneIndia NewsBhagalpur communal clashes: Arijit Shashwat's bail plea rejected

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

A Bhagalpur Court on Saturday rejected the bail plea of Union Minister Ashwini Choubey's son Arijit Shashwat, who has been accused of triggering communal clashes in the district. Additional District and Sessions Judge Kumud Ranjan turned down the bail plea filed by the 38-year-old Shashwat. The court pronounced a one-line order that Shashwat's plea is rejected, his lawyer Viresh Kumar Mishra.

The Court had on Sunday (March 25) issued warrants against Shashwat and eight others in connection with the case. An application filed by the Nathnagar police, seeking the arrest of the nine persons, was filed in the court on March 24, following which Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Anjani Kumar Srivastava issued the warrants.

Shashwat had on March 26 said that he will move an anticipatory bail application against the arrest warrant issued against him.

Arijit has been named in the FIR for taking out a procession without prior permission from the administration in Bhagalpur on March 17.

The procession was taken out by the Bharatiya Nav Varsh Jagran Samiti on the eve of the Hindu new year. It had triggered communal tension in the Champa Nagar area under the Nathnagar police station in the district, in which some persons, including two policemen, were injured.

OneIndia News with PTI inputsCongress playing Lingayat card to stop Yeddyurappa from becoming CM: Amit Shah

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

The BJP President Amit Shah alleged that Congress is playing minority status card for Lingayat community to prevent B.S. Yeddyurappa from becoming Chief Minister of Karnataka. It's the second day of Amit Shah's tour of Mysore, the home district of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Amit Shah, said, "I am confident that BJP will win in Karnataka. I have travelled all over the state and people have been waiting for development, rather they are getting corruption."

"Congress and corruption go hand-in-hand, so much so that their relationship is like fish and water and this has been extended by the Siddaramaiah government," he said.

Amit Shah stated that the incumbent government development parameters are going down in Karnataka. "Despite this being a state with such a strong IT sector, it still does not get 24-hour electricity. Health and implementation of central schemes are also falling. More than 3500 farmers have committed suicide in this region. In terms of development, all parameters are going down," Shah said.

"The people of Karnataka have made up their mind to replace the Siddaramaiah. Karnataka government is an ATM of corruption. How can someone call farmers' suicides a conspiracy? I have decided to give Rs 10 crore to poor families and Rs 5 lakh as health insurance," said Amit Shah.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15

OneIndia NewsGoogle doodle celebrates 153rd birth anniversary of Indias first woman doctor Anandi Gopal Joshi

India

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Google on Saturday, March 31, paid tributes to Anandi Gopal Joshi - India's first woman doctor - on her 153rd birth anniversary with a doodle.

The doodle honouring Joshi is the creation of Kashmira Sarode - a Bengaluru-based artist who portrayed the former celebrating her degree in medicine.

Google wrote in its blog, "In 1886, a young doctor stepped off a ship from America, eager to take up the role of physician-in-charge of the female ward at Kolhapur's Albert Edward Hospital. Not only was she India's first female doctor, but she was only 19 years old at the time. Her name was Anandi Gopal Joshi, and her story is one of courage and perseverance."

Joshi was born on March 31, 1865, in the then Poona in British India and got married at the age of nine to Gopalrao Joshi, a widower who was 20 years older than her. Gopalrao, however, was a man who had progressive thinking and was in favour of women's education. Her original name was Yamuna and it was her husband who had renamed her as Anandi.

Joshi gave birth to a son at the age of 14 but the baby did not survive more than 10 days because of lack of adequate medical care. This tragedy inspired Joshi to become a physician. She earned her medical degree from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania in the US and returned to India in 1886 amid a grand welcome. She was appointed as the chief physician of the female ward of the Albert Edward Hospital in Kolhapur by the princely state.

Joshi died of tuberculosis in Poona in 1887 at the age of 22. A crater in the planet of Venus has been named after Joshi, the Google blog added.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Saturday, March 31, 2018, 12:23 [IST]Gujarat: Dalit man killed for riding horse in Bhavnagar

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

A Dalit man was allegedly killed by villagers because he rode a horse in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district. Police have arrested three accused in connection with the murder.

Pradeep Rathod, a 21-year-old Dalit man had bought a horse last month. Rathod's father got him the horse last month, many villagers objected to him riding it and threatened him to not do so. Pradeep was killed on Thursday. His father Kalubhai Rathod said Pradeep intended to sell the horse following the threats but he had convinced him against doing so.

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah took a jibe at BJP President Amit Shah over the incident of Dalit youth being killed for riding a horse.

Siddaramaiah tweeted, "Shocking inhumanity towards Dalits in Gujarat! Yet, a certain Gujarati gentleman comes here with a bag full of #Jumlas & promises heaven to Dalits. If they question him, they are branded as Cong goons. Kannadigas will not make the mistake of trusting this #ShahOfLies."

Shocking inhumanity towards Dalits in Gujarat!



Yet, a certain Gujarati gentleman comes here with a bag full of #Jumlas & promises heaven to Dalits. If they question him, they are branded as Cong goons.



Kannadigas will not make the mistake of trusting this #ShahOfLies. https://t.co/QQvmpO2fok  Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) March 31, 2018

OneIndia NewsSwachh Survekshan 2021: Indore, India's cleanest city is now the country's first 'water plus' city

If need be will enact law to protect journalists: Shivraj Singh Chouhan

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Goondas have no human rights and the state government has zero tolerance for crimes against women, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said.

He said that those who harass girls and women and make it difficult for them to step out of their homes cannot claim human rights.

"There are no human rights of goondas (anti-social elements)," Chouhan told reporters. "The state government has zero tolerance for crimes against women."

On March 25, the police had arrested and publicly paraded four men for allegedly raping a collegian here and several women bystanders had also slapped the accused. The chief minister said that 92 percent of rape cases had involvement of relatives, family members or acquaintances.

Replying to a query on implementing a commissionerate system of policing for Bhopal and Indore, Chouhan said all steps would be taken to ensure public safety and security.

On the death of journalist Sandeep Sharma, who was run over by a truck at the Ater Road in Bhind on March 26, Chouhan said, "If required, we will enact a law to ensure the safety of journalists," he said.

The MP CM announced financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to Sharma's family. Sharma had complained about a threat to his life after he conducted a sting operation against sand mafia.

Asked about the police allegedly dilly-dallying a case related to the suicide of a woman, whose kin had claimed she was married to the son of PWD Minister Rampal Singh, Chouhan said, "Law will take its own course."

He also announced the state government would set up an agency to promote the export of farm produce.

"Agricultural production has gone up in the state and the government is now making efforts to provide beneficial prices to farmers. We are planning to set up an agency to explore the export of agricultural produce."

He said there was no anti-incumbency against the government in the state and that recent defeats of the BJP in bypolls could not be taken as an indicator of it. "But we have taken the outcome of these polls seriously."

"Wherever I visit, I see the response of the people. They love me and appreciate the state government. There is no anti-incumbency," he claimed.

OneIndia NewsBJP unlikely to field candidate for WB RS bypoll, Sushmita Dev may be elected unopposed

'If you love me, restore peace', says Imam who lost his son in Bengal violence

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Restore peace and do not make an issue out of it, an Imam in West Bengal who lost his son in violent incidents over the Ram Navami celebrations has said.

"I have lost my son. I have not lodged any police complaint. Do not make it an issue. If you love me, then restore peace," Noorani Masjid Imam Imdatullah Rashid said. The youngest son of the Imam, Hafiz Sabkatulla, was found dead with injuries to his head and throat at the Asansol district hospital on Wednesday.

The Imam made the appeal on Thursday when the body of the 16-year-old, who had recently appeared in this year's Class 10 board examination conducted by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, was laid to rest at a burial ground in Asansol in the presence of about 1,000 people.

Asansol and Raniganj in West Burdwan district of West Bengal had witnessed violent clashes between two groups over Ram Navami processions on Sunday and Monday.

Official sources had said one person was killed and two police officers were injured in the violence.

OneIndia NewsMasarat Alam will remain a non-starter in J&K thanks to Centres zero tolerance towards separatism

J&K: Civilian, cop shot at by terrorists in Pulwama

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

A civilian was shot at by the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Saturday. Mohammad Ashraf was shot at by the terrorists near Murran chowk in Pulwama leaving him grievously injured. He was rushed to a hospital and his condition is said to be critical.

According to reports, Ashraf was a resident of Machpuna Pulwama, but presently staying in Chanapora area of the city.

#UPDATE Mohammad Ashraf succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Pulwama. He was a former terrorist who was working as Special Police Officer (SPO) in #JammuAndKashmir Police, and was attacked by terrorists today  ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2018

In another incident, Turag Singh, a Special Police Officer on traffic duty in Khanabal Chowk area of Anantnag, was fired upon by unidentified militants, leaving him injured.

On March 29, a policeman was killed after terrorists attacked his house in Jammu and Kashmir's Bijbehara area. The police officer, Mushtaq Ahmed Sheikh, was injured when terrorists fired at his residence. He was rushed to a hospital but succumbed to his injuries the way.

On March 28, four terrorists were gunned down by security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri area.

OneIndia NewsKarnataka: Will Congress not allow Kumaraswamy to be CM for full 5-year term?

Is it chief minister Kumaraswamy or chief manager of Congress Ktaka ATM? BJP has an answer

All is well between Congress, JD(S)? Kumaraswamy meets Rahul as Karnataka waits for full cabinet

Karnataka elections: Mallikarjun Khuba quits JD (S), set to join BJP

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Janata Dal (Secular) MLA Mallikarjun Khuba has quit the party and said that he would be joining the BJP ahead of Karnataka Assembly elections.

Khuba, an MLA from Basavakalyana Assembly Constituency (Bidar), has had differences with the JD (S)'s top leadership in the past. In 2013, he had threatened to resign if his demand for the post of chief whip of the party in the state assembly was not met.

Khuba, who got elected from Basavakalyana constituency in the 2013 Karnataka Assembly elections with a margin of 15,983 votes, was seen as a rebel within JD (S).

On March 25, seven rebel Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs joined the Congress in presence of Rahul Gandhi in Mysuru.

[Rahul Gandhi in Karnataka: Seven JD (S) MLAs join Congress]

The JD (S) had 37 MLAs in the Karnataka Assembly, but with 8 MLAs quitting the party recently, the party's strength has now been reduced to MLAs.

The Voting for 224 seats Karnataka Assembly will be held on May 12 and the counting is on May 15.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15

OneIndia NewsRamadan 2021: When does it begin? Know Shehri and iftar timings, check moon sighting in India

Muharram 2021: When is Ashura and moon sighting in India? When will Islamic New Year begin?

Explained: What is Sharia law? What it means for Afghan Women under the Taliban

Madrasas behind communal violence, says Wasim Rizvi

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Shia Waqf Board Chief Wasim Rizvi has squarely blamed the Madrasas for rising incidents of communal violence in the country. He said hardline ideology being preached at the Madrasas are inciting Muslim youth.

"Hardliner mentality being created in Madrasas against Hindu and Shia community is the cause behind recent incidents of communal violence. In Darul Uloom and other Madrasas situated at the border areas in India, some foreign hardliner are teaching students," Wasim Rizvi of the Shia Waqf Board told ANI.

Uttar Pradesh led the nationwide increase in communal violence in 2017, according to statistics placed by the Union Home Ministry in parliament on Wednesday. The figures indicate that incidents of communal violence have gone up to 822 and killed 111 people last year, the highest in four years.

According to the centre's statistics, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand accounted for the biggest chunk of the 15 per cent increase in communal incidents in 2017 over the previous year.

Communal violence incidents had sharply increased over the past three years in West Bengal, a data compiled by the Union Home Ministry said.

While the State recorded 27 incidents of violence in 2015 in which five persons died and 84 suffered injuries, the number of incidents almost doubled by 2017 when 58 incidents of violence were recorded, in which nine people lost their lives and 230 were injured.

In 2016, there were 32 incidents of communal strife in the State. The biggest spurt in such incidents occurred between 2016 and 2017.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Saturday, March 31, 2018, 17:15 [IST]Peter Mukerjea sent to judicial custody till April 13

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Former media baron Peter Mukerjea has been sent to judicial custody till 13th April by Delhi's Patiala House Court on Saturday in connection with the INX Media case. He will be produced through video conferencing in further hearings.

"Peter Mukerjea didn't cooperate with the investigators. That's why CBI couldn't confront him with Karti or his CA. For the next dates, Peter will be produced through video conferencing from Mumbai Jail. He will be taken to Mumbai today," CBI told Patiala House Court.

In the last hearing, the court had sent Peter Mukerjea to CBI custody till March 31 in the case which also involves Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union minister P Chidambaram.

The INX Media case, registered by the CBI, relates to a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval granted to INX Media, founded by the Mukerjeas, for receiving foreign funds in 2007. The Enforcement Directorate has also registered a case against INX Media, the Mukerjeas and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

INX Media is accused of violating the FIPB guidelines while receiving investments from Mauritius. The Delhi High Court, had on March 23, granted bail to Mr Karti in the INX Media case.

(With agency inputs)Police brutality unleashed on protesting SSC students in Yuva Halla Bol Rally

India

oi-Shreya

On March 31, protesting SSC students gathered in Delhi's Parliament Street from all over the country with the demand for strictest punishment to those accused of the SSC paper leak were brutally lathi-charged by the Delhi Police.

Students also proceeded to gherao the police station where the accused have been booked after the rally today to demand the sternest of actions. However, they claim that the Government is not cooperation with them as they are seeking justice and is using police force to quash their voice.

A number of students alleged that the police roughed them up while they were just asking for justice as the paper leak cost them their hard work and dedicated effort.

The protest by the students had been going on for about a month now, and the students claim that they have not received any concrete solutions to their problems and demand yet and they will not call off the protest until their demands are met.

Delhi Education Minister and Deputy Chief Minister yesterday wrote to the HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar and requested him to call for a meeting for all the educations ministers in the country to discuss the issue of SSC and CBSE paper leaks.

Here are the demands of the students:

Time-bound CBI probe on all exams recently conducted by the SSC. Immediate Change of Exam conducting vendor. Reforms in SSC (Normalisation of marks, time-bound examinations, Age reckoning issue, Reserve waiting list, Transparency in exams and others). Robust grievance redressal mechanism.

OneIndia NewsValley is incomplete without Kashmiri pandits: Mehbooba Mufti

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Mar 31: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate a dialogue process with Pakistan at the earliest as the "key for peace" was with the neighbouring country.

Speaking at a function organised by a group of Kashmiri Pandits owing allegiance to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mufti said that war was never an option.

"Reconciliation is the mantra which we need to follow and therefore, I request Modi ji to engage with Pakistan," she said.

"We need to take an assurance from the neighbouring country that they should not be allowing their soil to be used against India. After all, we all know that the key for peace is in Pakistan. They have been pushing terrorists into the state," she said.

The chief minister said that efforts should be made for changing the slogan of "Azadi" in the Kashmir Valley.

"This can be achieved. Why can't Jammu and Kashmir be a gateway to the central Asian countries. If the CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) is a possibility, so can be this. If new roads are opened, the slogan of Azadi will automatically change," she said at a gathering of around 200 Kashmiri Pandits, who had to leave their homes after the onset of the militancy in 1990.

She advised people not to watch debates on television channels which only foment hatred between the two warring nations as well as the Muslims of Kashmir and the rest of the country.

"Those, sitting in studios and pontificating the nation, are only interested in the TRP ratings and not finding solution to the problem. Many a times I wonder who are these people who talk so much on television. Are they even aware of the ground realities," she said.

Mufti said that every second day daggers are out and a war hysteria is created.

"If a war had to happen, it would have in 2001 when the armies of the two nation were in an eye-ball-to-eye ball contact for over a year," she said.

"War (between India and Pakistan) will not happen. After the attack on Parliament in 2001, the armies of both the countries (India and Pakistan) were deployed along borders for a year, if the war did not take place back then, it will not take place now as both the nations know it will be disastrous (for both)," she said.

She also appealed for a reconciliation between the Kashmiri Muslims and Pandit community.

"I know you people had to leave your homes under difficult situations. You people have suffered but so do have those who are their in Kashmir. The gift of education has helped you (Pandits) in making a name for yourself but those in Kashmir are still trying to live a peaceful life," the chief minister said and made an appeal to Kashmiri Pandits to visit the Valley.

"The Valley is incomplete without you. To begin with, please come as tourists and later if you feel so, you are most welcome to go back to your homes and stay there. I am not assuring you a roller coaster ride. Difficulties will be there but we together have to face these difficulties. Please do not wait for the last gun to fall silent," she said.

The chief minister also apologised to the Kashmiri Pandits for delay in resolving their issues. The Kashmiri Pandits should send their younger generations to see the state to familiarise them with their roots, the way children from Jammu and Kashmir are sent to see the rest of India, Mufti said.

She also urged the Centre to talk with Pakistan so that the Kashmiri Pandits can visit Sharda Peeth in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). When asked about the third front, she said every party has a right to be in alliance with any party it wants. Over funds to Jammu and Kashmir, she said it is given by the Centre and the earliest they do so, the state government tries to utilise them.

A charter of demands, including health insurance, was submitted by the group of Kashmiri Pandits to the chief minister who assured that she will consider and act upon them. Sharda Peeth, once regarded as a major centre of learning, is an abandoned Hindu temple located in Sharda village along the Neelam river near the Line of Control (LoC).

PTIA man was hospitalized after his pickup truck rolled over and destroyed an electrical pole in Scipio Saturday morning, the Scipio Volunteer Fire Department said.

The call for an accident at the corner of Sherwood Road and Cork Street came in at 8:56 a.m., department assistant chief Alvin Penird said. The department and state police, which investigated the accident, did not identify the man. Penird said he believed the man removed himself from the truck by the time the fire department arrived. The man was transported by a Southern Cayuga ambulance to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, Penird said. Penird said he believed the man sustained a broken arm. The truck in the accident was heavily damaged.

State police said another pickup truck with a hay wagon in tow was driving to go through the intersection. The other driver struck the pole while trying to avoid hitting the hay wagon, state police said. State police said the man's injuries were not life threatening.

Penird said the accident snapped the electrical pole in half, leaving power lines down on the ground. Representatives with the New York State Electric and Gas company arrived at the scene around 10 a.m, Penird said. Around 12:30 p.m., NYSEG's website said 24 customers in the Scipio area had power outages. By 4 p.m., all power had been restored.

Staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or kelly.rocheleau@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau.

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Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.Yuva Halla Bol Rally hijacked by antisocial elements, claim protestors

India

oi-Shreya

On March 31, students from all over the country gathered at the Parliament Street in the National Capital where the situation turned violent and police resorted to lathi charge. Students claim that the rally was hijacked by antisocial elements.

They said, "We held a gathering of thousands of students protesting against SSC scam at Delhi's Sansad Marg. We've been demanding an independent and time-bound CBI investigation in the conduct of all SSC examinations. Even after protesting for over a month, the government has not agreed to our genuine demands. The inaction and insensitivity clearly proves that this government is anti youth. If the government cannot listen to the genuine demands of protesting students, the minister of DoPT should resign. Until the demands of SSC students are met, we shall continue this movement with energy & resolve."

"We condemn the lathi charge and manhandling of some students by the Delhi police" they added.

Demands of Yuva HallaBol:

 Independent & Time Bound CBI Investigation of all the exams being conducted by SSC

 Form an expert committee to take suggestions from students for systemic reforms in SSC

 If the Minister of DoPT is unable to meet genuine demands of SSC students than he must Resign.

Decisions taken by the students at Yuva HallaBol:

 Will fight against the SSC Scam through Supreme Court in order to bring the culprits to justice and ensure reforms in the functioning of commission.

 Release an anti corruption helpline for students affected due to irregularities & corruption in government jobs (to be operational from April 14)

 Take the HallaBol movement across various cities of the country to raise public awareness, build pressure & campaign against this insensitive government. (Calendar to be declared on April 14)

The students expressed their angst against the police high handedness and said, "We condemn the role of some anti-social elements who unsuccessfully tried to hijack genuine angst and plight of the students. Groups with vested interests who were never a part of the SSC movement tried to disrupt Yuva HallaBol by their indisciplined & irresponsible behaviour. Protesting SSC Students do not endorse or support the actions of such elements."

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Saturday, March 31, 2018, 20:58 [IST]Baton Rouge Police sacks cop who killed black man in 2016, saying he killed a human being

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Blane Salamoni, the Baton Rouge police officer who shot dead a 37-year-old black man outside a store in Baton Rouge in Louisiana in the US, was sacked on Friday, March 30, after a disciplinary hearing said that he violated the department's standing.

On July 5, 2016, Alton Sterling, a CD seller, was shot six times after he was perceived as a threat and demonstrations were held in protest against police brutality in various parts of the US.

Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul announced the decision to dismiss Salamoni at a press conference. The other officer involved in the incident, Howie Lake II, was suspended for three days. The police chief said the latter's action was more appropriate on the fateful night. Lake had wrested Sterling on the ground but refused to fire.

Paul said the actions were "not minor deviations from policy" as they resulted in the death of a human being. Police atrocity rooted in racial disharmony has been one of America's long-standing ills and has often led to social upheaval.

The Baton Rouge Police chief added that the harsh decision on Salamoni was not taken based on politics or emotions but "facts, eyewitness testimony and recommendations from board members".

The police department also revealed extreme video evidence of the incident that was not seen previously besides police reports and other documents as sought by the state public records law.

About Lake, the authorities said he too had violated the department's "command of temper" policy but Paul said he had at least tried to de-escalate the situation with his training.

In the case of Lake, the administrators concluded he had violated the department's policy on "command of temper." But Paul praised him for attempting to use de-escalation techniques consistent with training. Salamoni, on the other hand, disobeyed the "use of force" regulation besides the "command of force temper" and faced the consequences.

However, Salamoni would be disappointed with the eventual turn of events. Earlier in March, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry refused to bring charges against the two officers saying that there was no evidence to hold them criminally responsible for the 2016 incident.

Also, in May last year, the US Department of Justice said after a year-long probe that the evidence was not conclusive enough to charge the duo.

OneIndia NewsChinas Jack the Ripper gets death for killing and mutilating 11 women since 1988

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

China's "Jack the Ripper" got a death sentence on Friday, March 30, three decades after he killed the first of his 11 women victims. He was handed the severe sentence for mutilating many of his victims.

The convict, Gao Chengyong, 53, robbed, raped and murdered 11 women, lawyers from Baiyin City in north-west China's Gansu province said. Baiyin City Intermediate People's Court convicted Gao and gave him the capital punishment for robbery and intentional homicide and lesser sentences for committing rape and disrespecting corpses.

Gao targeted young women who they followed till home and attacked, slashing their throats and mutilating their bodies, the state media reports said. The serial killer's youngest victim was just eight years old. He even removed the reproductive organs of some of his victims, a report in Beijing Youth Daily said when Gao was arrested two years ago.

Gao committed the murders in Gansu and the neighbouring region of Inner Mongolia between 1988 and 2002.

The court said Gao committed the heinous crime to satisfy his perverted desire. It added that the man posed a "grave threat to society" and "should be severely punished".

The hunt for Gao was on for many years. The police said in 2004 that the man has a "sexual perversion and hates women" and offered a reward of 200,000 yuan for anyone who could furnish information about him.

OneIndia NewsIn Wests diplomatic row with Russia, this EU member state is against expelling Moscow diplomats

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Even as the West has condemned Russia over its alleged poisoning of a former spy and his daughter in Salisbury, England, and expelled over a hundred of the Kremlin's diplomats, one member nation of the European Union (EU) has decided against following suit and that country is Bulgaria.

On Friday, March 30, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said the country was against expelling the Russian diplomats over the March 4 nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal - an act for which the UK, US and a number of EU countries have held Moscow responsible.

Borissov said as a current chair of the EU presidency, Bulgaria needed to keep the communication open with Russia in an atmosphere of growing animosity between Moscow and the West.

Most of the EU and Nato members and the US followed suit after the UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats over the poisoning incident. Russia retaliated soon by expelling scores of diplomats. However, countries like Greece, Portugal, Slovenia, Austria and Cyprus decided against the act of expulsion.

Bulgaria though stood by its EU and Nato allies by recalling its ambassador from Russia for discussions but it decided that more evidence was required before further action could be taken, Borissov said.

Bulgaria, the poorest member-state of the EU and also one of the most corrupt, took over the presidency of the EU Council on January 1 this year. Borissov said Bulgaria has kept the communication channel open in terms of tension in the past and it would do some during the West's diplomatic face-off with Russia as well.

Bulgaria's internal politics has also seen heated moments with political forces objecting to the idea of expelling Russian diplomats in order to ensure good relations with Moscow.

Bulgaria was one of the most trusted friends of the erstwhile Soviet Union during the Cold War and several Bulgarians feel culturally connected with Russia. Russia had also played a significant role in Bulgaria's liberation and it still makes a psychological connection. Bulgaria is also dependent on Russia for gas supply, tourism and military hardware.

OneIndia NewsDo you know Stephen Hawking's advice to his children ?

Stephen Hawkings funeral to be held in Cambridge today

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Thousands of people were expected to turn up at the funeral of renowned physicist Stephen Hawking in Cambridge on Easter Saturday, March 31.

Professor Hawking, who suffered from motor neurone disease, died at his residence in West Cambridge on March 14. He was 76. The brilliant British theoretical physicist's death had left the world in deep mourning.

Around 500 invited families, friends and colleagues are expected to attend the funeral which will be held at University church Great St Mary's. There will be no public access to the church since the occasion was designated as a private service. A private reception was also planned at the Trinity College following the funeral.

Prof Hawking's ashes will be buried next to the grave of the influential 17th-century British scientist Sir Isaac Newton, who also died in March 1727, at Westminster Abbey in June.

Common people were, however, expected to assemble outside the church in the centre of Cambridge to remain witness to the arrival of the funeral procession.

Traffic movement will be closed briefly in some parts of Cambridge during the passing of the funeral cortege from Hawking's home to the King's Parade and the area around the Great St Mary's Church.

OneIndia NewsUN imposes fresh sanctions on North Korea even as it engages with key nations

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Just when North Korea started engaging with countries important for its integration with international politics, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) imposed sanctions against one individual from Taiwan and 32 shipping companies and ships for helping Pyongyang escape international sanctions through smuggling of oil and coal through the seas.

The sanctioned entities also featured in the US Treasury Department's sanctions announced on February 23 aimed at curtailing revenues for Pyongyang's ballistic missile and nuclear ambitions.

The latest sanctions will freeze assets of 21 shipping companies headquartered in Singapore, Panama, Marshall Islands and Samoa. The targeted ships will not be able to use ports around the world.

North Korea already faces a range of sanctions imposed by the US and the international community over its nuclear programmes and missile tests.

The individual who has earned the UN's wrath is businessman Tsang Yung Yuan. He too has witnessed an asset freeze and travel ban for helping North Korea bypass the sanctions and export coal through a third country broker, the UN said.

US supports maintaining pressure on North Korea

The US, which has shown interest in holding direct talks with the North Korean leadership in May, supported international pressure on North Korea. US President Donald Trump expressed interest earlier in March in holding one-to-one talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un while South Korea is due to hold a summit with the North at the border on April 27. Kim also met Chinese President Xi Jinping in a surprise visit to Beijing in the fourth week of March, baffling many in the west.

Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, hailed the sanctions saying it was a clear sign that the international community is committed to maintaining the maximum pressure on the Kim regime.

The decision of imposing the sanctions was taken by all 15 members of the UNSC. China and Russia were also on board as the diplomatic fraternity felt the council needed to be united in putting pressure on the Kim regime to make him negotiate and serve international peace and stability, said a Wall Street Journal report.

The UN has imposed massive sanctions against North Korea, targeting 90 per cent of its trade revenues in the last two years for repeatedly violating resolutions prohibiting nuclear and military exercises but it has struggled to have countries like China and Russia to enforce the sanctions effectively.

OneIndia NewsWould you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.

From Robert Reich Blog

Last Wednesday morning, Laura Ingraham, Fox News's queen of snark, tweeted that David Hogg -- a 17-year-old who survived the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, and has been among the eloquent advocates for gun control -- "whines about" being rejected by four universities he applied to, and linking to an article from the Daily Wire calling him a "gun rights provocateur."

For Ingraham and Fox News, such cruel, ad-hominem attacks are typical. Vitriol helps boost ratings. After all, Fox is a central part of Donald Trump's America. And Trump, like Fox News, has made bullying and humiliating people into an art form.

But television viewers are also consumers, and the ultimate goal of advertisers isn't getting them to watch a particular television show. It's getting them to buy the advertiser's products. Which caused a problem for Ingraham.

Shortly after Ingraham's attack on Hogg, he called for Ingraham's advertisers to boycott the show. Within days, a slew of them did just that.

As advertisers peeled off, Ingraham tried to take back her comment, saying the "spirit of Holy Week" motivated her to apologize for "any upset or hurt" she might have caused Hogg "or any of the brave victims of Parkland."

Hogg rejected the apology. "She only apologized after we went after advertisers," he told The New York Times. He then tweeted to Ingraham that he'd accept her apology "if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight. It's time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children."

Ingraham's wasn't the first venal, personal attack directed at the Parkland student survivors who have been advocating gun control -- amplified by Fox News.

Republican Leslie Gibson, who was running unopposed for a seat in the Maine State House, called Hogg a "moron" and "baldfaced liar," and Emma Gonza'lez, another Parkland survivor, a "skinhead lesbian." (This was too much for the good citizens of Maine. Gibson soon dropped out of the race.)

Unlike politicians who only have to survive elections every few years, corporations have to keep their consumers content all the time.

Selling satisfactory products and services is necessary but often not sufficient. Customers also want to feel good about the brands they're buying. At the least, they don't want to associate themselves with mean-spirited vitriol.

Liberty Mutual, the giant insurer, called Ingraham's comments "inconsistent with our values as a company, especially when it comes to treating others with dignity and respect." Nutrish, a pet food brand, said Ingraham's comments "are not consistent with how we feel people should be treated." TripAdvisor explained that Ingraham's comments "cross the line of decency."

Such explanations sound as if these companies had chosen to drop Ingraham's show because they want to be socially responsible. In truth, they're just being smart at doing what they're set up to do -- make money. When it comes to consumer products, cruelty doesn't sell.

Johnson & Johnson didn't explain why it pulled the plug on Ingraham but the company spends billions each year trying to convince consumers that Tylenol, baby powder, band aides, and its other brands will provide soothing comfort, analogous to a nurturing mother. But someone who ridicules a 17-year old shooting survivor for not getting into the college he chose is more like an abusive mother.

Behind all this is a new reality. The economy is now centered on intangibles like brand image and intellectual property, whose value can erode if connected with something nefarious. Look at what happened to Facebook.

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From Mike Malloy Website

So -- how many Cabinet members and top White House officials are absent?

Nobody at home in the State Department, or the VA when Putin decides to test some kind of wicked missile that can't be shot down. That's kind of freaky, right?

No National Security Adviser, either, which might be for the best because Bolton might launch an armed response. And hit Iran.

Tinyhands is hiding out at Mar-a-Lago, hoping no other nude models or porn stars try to depose him over the weekend. Hope he soon finds a competent lawyer -- sure looks like he'll need it when Mueller's subpoena hits his desk. But maybe nobody will be there to deliver it, as Hope Hicks is gone and looks like Kelley is next. So much #winning.

CNN has more:

"Several of President Donald Trump's outside advisers have told him over the past week he requires neither a chief of staff nor a communications director, at least in the traditional definition of those jobs, according to a person familiar with the conversations.

"Trump has absorbed the advice, but offered little indication whether he's interested in taking it, the person said. He's been warned by other confidants that it's impossible to run the West Wing without a chief of staff. "There are no signs Trump is ready to dismiss top aide John Kelly. But the option of running his White House without a chief of staff has been planted in Trump's mind, and he's not rejected it outright, the person said. "He's begun working around Kelly on a number of fronts, including during some phone calls with foreign leaders, on certain policy-making decisions, and in executing some of the past month's staffing changes, people familiar with the matter said. "Without a chief of staff, advisers have told Trump he would exert more control over which policies are prioritized, including his beloved border wall.

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From Consortium News

By Dennis J Bernstein and Randy Credico



Russian President Putin meeting with permanent members of the Security Council on March 15, 2018

(Image by (Official Kremlin photo)) Details DMCA



Former UK Ambassador Craig Murray found out very quickly what happens when one contradicts the conventional wisdom regarding the recent poisoning of former Russian spy and double agent Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia, in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

Ambassador Murray, who in the following interview raises compelling questions about who may be responsible for the attacks, other than the Russians, has been the butt of a full-scale cyber attack on his website over many days.

Meanwhile, the usual suspects in the US and Western corporate press continue to fan the flames of a new cold war with Russia. Indeed, Russia will expel 60 US diplomats and has ordered the shuttering of the US consulate in St. Petersburg, according to an announcement by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Lavrov, who made the announcement in Moscow on Thursday, March 29, summoned US ambassador Jon Huntsman to the Russian Foreign Ministry to confirm the action.

Dennis J. Bernstein and Randy Credico interviewed Ambassador Murray on March 26th, 2018.

Dennis Bernstein: President Trump ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian officials from the United States and the closing of the Russian consulate in Seattle. The move follows the alleged poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury on March 4. Joining us is someone who knows a great deal about the matter and has come under fire for taking an oppositional position, former UK ambassador, author and activist, Craig Murray. Mr. Murray, everyone says the Russians did it, no doubt about it, but you disagree.

Craig Murray: I'm not saying the Russians didn't do it, I am saying there are other possibilities. We are not supposed to assign responsibility for crime in this way, saying there is a bad guy in the neighborhood and therefore it must be him. So far, there has been no real evidence at all that it was the Russian state that did it.

I find it remarkable that the very day this happened the British government was announcing that it was the Russian state that was behind this. They couldn't possibly have had time to analyze any of the evidence. It is as though this is being used as a trigger to put prearranged anti-Russian measures into place and to "up" the Cold War rhetoric. You can't help get the feeling that they are rather pleased this has happened and were even expecting it to happen.

DB: This is coming out of the European Union today: "The European Union strongly condemns the attack that took place against Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, England on March 4 that also left a police officer seriously ill. The lives of many citizens were threatened by this reckless and illegal action. The European Union takes extremely seriously the UK government's assessment that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation is responsible."

CM: This phrase "highly likely" admits that they don't have the evidence to back this up. It's a speculation.

DB: They say that the poison is consistent with what the Russians have used in the past.

CM: The claim is that this is one of a group of nerve agents known as a Novichok. The Novichok program was being run in the 1980's by the Soviets. The idea was to develop chemical weapons which could be quickly put together from commercial pesticides and fertilizers. They came up with a number of theoretical designs for such weapons.

Until now, the official position of the British government and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was that there was doubt as to whether they actually produced any of these. As of now, they haven't been put on the banned list, precisely because the scientific community has doubted their existence. So the British government's ability on day-one to identify this was quite remarkable.

Novichok is not a particular weapon but a class of weapon. Russia is by no means the only country capable of producing this kind of weapon. In 2016, the Iranians succeeded in producing several Novichok weapons and they reported their results to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Their motivation was that they were concerned that they themselves might be attacked by chemical weapons, possibly from Israel. There are at least a couple dozen countries who have the technical capability to create this type of nerve agent.

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From Consortium News



Image created from image crediting

(Image by Daniel Lazare) Details DMCA



John Bolton is a hawk's hawk, a militarist who never saw a U.S. war of aggression he didn't like. The best thing one can say about his appointment as national security adviser is that Trump will probably ignore him the way he does all his other advisers and fire him six months down the road. If so, the sky won't fall right away. But make no mistake -- it will soon.

Rarely has war fever in Washington been deeper and more broad-based. Everybody's jumping on board -- liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats, human-rights advocates and neoconservatives. With the 2018 midterms fast approaching, it seems that the only choice voters will have is between a military conflict from column A and one from column B. Which will it be -- the clash with Putin that liberals are talking themselves into? Or the showdown with Iran that Bolton has long advocated?

It's a choice between cyanide and arsenic. One moment, Trump is threatening "Little Rocket Man" Kim Jong Un with "fire and fury" while, in the next, the New York Times is demanding that he take off the gloves with regard to the Kremlin. The title of a Times editorial on Friday, March 15, said it all: "Finally, Trump Has Something Bad to Say About Russia."

It blasted the Orange-Haired One for being slow to impose sanctions in retaliation "for the Kremlin's interference in the 2016 election" -- still unproven, by the way -- and of holding off "for reasons that have never been made completely clear." This last point was rich considering how often the Times denounces Trump as a "Siberian candidate" that Russia installed in the White House to do its bidding. The editorial slammed Putin as "an authoritarian leader" who "has paid little or no price for his aggressions" in Syria and the Crimea, and it predicted that the Russian president "won't stop until he knows that the United States will stand up to him and work with its allies to impose stronger financial and diplomatic measures to rein him in."

If financial and diplomatic measures don't work, what then -- military force? Five days later, Editorial Page Editor James Bennet issued another schoolyard taunt, this time an editorial entitled, "Why Is Trump So Afraid of Russia?" The occasion was a remark that ex-CIA Director John Brennan had just made on MSNBC's "Morning Joe": "I think he's afraid of the president of Russia. ... The Russians, I think, have had long experience with Mr. Trump and may have things they could expose." (Quote begins at 5:05.) The comment was an excuse for yet more Times paranoia:

"The possibility that Mr. Putin could have some hold on the American president has lurked in the background over the past year as Mr. Trump displayed a mystifying affection for the Russian leader and ignored or excused his aggressive behavior and nefarious activities, most important, his interference in the 2016 campaign, a subject of the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation."

Of course, it's a subject of Mueller's investigation, and it will continue to be so as long as Congress gives him carte blanche to look for dirt wherever he pleases, regardless of whether it has anything to do with Russian collusion or not. The editorial then went at Trump once again for the sin of insufficient hostility: "...it's hard to see how praising and appeasing a bully will advance American interests. That's not the approach Mr. Trump has taken with adversaries like North Korea or Iran, or, for that matter, even with some allies.

"If Mr. Trump isn't Mr. Putin's lackey," it concluded, "it's past time for him to prove it" -- perhaps by threatening to incinerate Moscow the way he has threatened Pyongyang.

The relationship between adolescent rhetoric like this and Trump's decision to bring semi-fascists like Bolton and Tea Partier Mike Pompeo on board is clear. The more the Times, not to mention the Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, and others, taunt him as soft on Russia, the more he taunts them right back for being soft on Iran and then adopts confrontational tactics to demonstrate his own machismo.

Bolton is the latest example of where such tit-for-tat madness is leading. The former U.S. ambassador to the UN is famous as an opponent of the 2015 Iran nuclear accord and advocate of Iranian regime change. On this, he and Trump see eye to eye, which suggests that years of fist-shaking may finally give way to something more concrete, like cruise missiles and bunker-busting bombs.

With Pompeo as secretary of state, Trita Parsi, leader of the National Iranian American Council, tweets that "Trump is assembling a WAR CABINET" -- and the judgment may well be on the mark. If so, Tehran will undoubtedly respond by shoring up its defenses along the "Shi'ite crescent" stretching across Iraq and Syria to Lebanon. The Arab gulf states will ratchet up their anti-Shi'ite sectarianism while Turkey and Israel may conclude that it's now open season on Syria's Bashar al-Assad and likewise send in the bombers and troops.

After a momentary lull, the effect will be to thrust the region into yet another round of war, one even bigger and more ferocious than the last. All the usual horrors will ensue -- refugees, terrorism, social collapse, and renewed xenophobia in Europe and the US.

But Iran is where things get complicated. It's allied with Russia while both states are allied with Assad, whom Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and Barack Obama spent years trying to topple. Trump opposes the 2015 Iran accord but wants to make nice with Putin, while liberals back the agreement while at the same time viewing the Russian president as the devil incarnate even though he helped negotiate it. Their neocon allies are meanwhile hostile to all three.

Chuck Schumer, leader of the glorious anti-Trump #Resistance in the Senate, voted against the Iran agreement, as did fellow New York Democrat Eliot L. Engel in the House. William Kristol, leader of the never-Trump neocons, campaigned against it along with fellow neocon Trump-basher Max Boot.

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From ZCommunications



Julian Assange

(Image by flickr.com) Details DMCA



If it was ever clear that the case of Julian Assange was never just a legal case, but a struggle for the protection of basic human rights, it is now.

Citing his critical tweets about the recent detention of Catalan president Carles Puigdemont in Germany, and following pressure from the US, Spanish and UK governments, the Ecuadorian government has installed an electronic jammer to stop Assange communicating with the outside world via the internet and phone. As if ensuring his total isolation, the Ecuadorian government is also refusing to allow him to receive visitors. Despite two UN rulings describing his detention as unlawful and mandating his immediate release, Assange has been effectively imprisoned since he was first placed in isolation in Wandsworth prison in London in December 2010. He has never been charged with a crime. The Swedish case against him collapsed and was withdrawn, while the United States has stepped up efforts to prosecute him. His only "crime" is that of a true journalist -- telling the world the truths that people have a right to know.

Under its previous president, the Ecuadorian government bravely stood against the bullying might of the United States and granted Assange political asylum as a political refugee. International law and the morality of human rights was on its side.

Today, under extreme pressure from Washington and its collaborators, another government in Ecuador justifies its gagging of Assange by stating that "Assange's behaviour, through his messages on social media, put at risk good relations which this country has with the UK, the rest of the EU and other nations."

This censorious attack on free speech is not happening in Turkey, Saudi Arabia or China; it is right in the heart of London. If the Ecuadorian government does not cease its unworthy action, it, too, will become an agent of persecution rather than the valiant nation that stood up for freedom and for free speech. If the EU and the UK continue to participate in the scandalous silencing of a true dissident in their midst, it will mean that free speech is indeed dying in Europe.

This is not just a matter of showing support and solidarity. We are appealing to all who care about basic human rights to call on the government of Ecuador to continue defending the rights of a courageous free speech activist, journalist and whistleblower.

We ask that his basic human rights be respected as an Ecuadorian citizen and internationally protected person and that he not be silenced or expelled.

If there is no freedom of speech for Julian Assange, there is no freedom of speech for any of us -- regardless of the disparate opinions we hold.

We call on President Moreno to end the isolation of Julian Assange now.

List of signatories (in alphabetic order):

Michael Albert, writer, publisher

Pamela Anderson, actress and activist

Jacob Appelbaum, freelance journalist

Renata Avila, International Human Rights Lawyer

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Nowhere is the Stalinist bent of the newly-Russophilic Republican Party more evident--or more chilling--than in its full-hearted commitment to Lysenkoism, one of the Soviet Union's early forays into science-denial.

This movement did not start with Donald Trump, but it has reached terrifying new heights in the first year of his administration, most notably in the furiously intensified war on the idea--on even the mention--of anthropogenic global climate change.

Trofim Lysenko directed the Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences, from the late 1920s until 1964. He and his followers viewed science through an ideological lens, arguing, among other things, that evolution worked not via Natural Selection but via Natural Cooperation, and that changes to an organism are passed down to its offspring.

That latter assertion is a version of Lamarckism, named after the 18th century French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, who argued, among other things, that cutting off the tails of mice would lead them to produce tail-less offspring.

Lysenko's concept of Natural Cooperation fueled assertions that are better described as alchemy than biology: that rye could transmute into wheat, for example, or weeds into food grains.

It hardly needs to be said: This was not science.

Under the banner of Lysenkoism, Stalin purged over 3000 scientists; many went to prison; some were executed.

This was all done, of course, in service of denying the "inconvenient truths" of natural competition and inherent characteristics: heritability smacked of dynastic privilege and raised questions about human perfectibility; evolution based on competition ran counter to the state dogma of cooperation.

And therefore?

They could not be "permitted to be true."

The Stalinist War on Science decimated the fields of agronomy, biology, genetics, neurophysiology, and many others, for more than a quarter-century, arguably leading to the starvation of millions of people.

Stalinism rested not just on lies but on an unrelenting War on Truth, which pervaded large parts of Soviet society; whatever the underlying reality, citizens of the Soviet Union were always rising to ever-greater heights: with equality, employment, housing, food, healthcare, and education for all; with an ever-rising standard of living; in a system based on a level of justice and humanity that was "the envy of the rest of the world."

Except . . . some citizens were more equal than other citizens.

For vast swaths of the Proletariat, buttressed by Lysenkoism, Stalin did Marie-Antoinette one better: "Let them eat weeds!"

Meanwhile, the Nomenklatura--the party loyalists who staffed the state bureaucracies, effectively the ruling class of the USSR and, later, the Warsaw Pact nations--ate caviar, and enjoyed vacation dachas and the equivalent of private travel at state expense, among other perks. These privileges were heritable: Their children also enjoyed elite educations, higher quality healthcare, and substantial immunity from "burdensome regulations."

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Sometimes, authors delete their quicklinks after publishing them.



To see if the quicklink was renamed or re-published, please click here.A Hawaiian fishing vessel was sunk by two huge rogue waves over the weekend, forcing the crew to abandon ship and eventually get rescued from the water. The 61-foot Princess Hawaii was struck by one of the large waves in the back of the boat, and another hit the side, owner Loc Nguyen told the Associated Press during a phone interview. When the waves sank the boat, the Princess Hawaii was hundreds of miles from the coast of the Big Island.

Nguyen said the fishing crew had already set about 15 miles of line when the waves crashed, knocking five workers into the water. He said the captain, a federal observer and another crew member had been inside and were able to deploy the vessels life raft. The eight people aboard were rescued by the vessels sister ship about 12 hours later. No injuries were reported.

It was so big, theyve never seen that before, Nguyen said. There was too much water on the top and it went down.

Nguyen said he was very happy when he talked to the survivors and heard there were no injuries. I dont care very much about my boat, Nguyen said. I lost money, OK. But if someone was dead or something, I would feel bad all my life.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website, rogue waves are extremely rare but there are several known causes. Swells can travel at different speeds across the ocean, and as they pass through one another they can create large, towering waves that quickly disappear. When waves caused by storms go against the normal current, very big waves can also form in the open ocean.

Here a video example:

Robert Ballard, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu, said rogue waves can happen in and outside of storm systems and that its even possible to have two waves come from different directions.

We know that rogue waves can be up to twice or more the size of the seas, the average wave height, he said. But we dont track particular rogue waves or anything like that.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the Princess Hawaii was in 10-foot seas with winds around 20 mph when it sank. Well imagine when 20 feet high or more waves hit your boat. OMG!

Follow us: Facebook and Twitter

NOAA, Weather.comProgressive Content Not Found

Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing.



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From Reader Supported News

The acting director has undermined the bureau's work defending the public.

From the moment Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Republican critics ranted about the CFPB's supposed lack of accountability. Now that one of those critics, Mick Mulvaney, has assumed control of the bureau, the attackers have fallen silent -- even as Mr. Mulvaney disregards legal mandates and dodges congressional oversight. This turnabout shows Republicans never really cared about accountability. They only wanted the agency to be less effective at stopping financial firms from cheating people.

Congress designed the CFPB to be the government's most accountable bank regulator and created strict guidelines for its mission and operations. Every bank regulator is funded outside the regular appropriations process, but the CFPB has unique additional checks. The bureau is legally required to report to Congress twice a year on its activities, and its director must testify before Congress four times each year. The CFPB's rules can be overruled by the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a veto that applies to no other federal agency.

Since Mr. Mulvaney took control, he has ignored congressional mandates, turning the CFPB into the politicized rogue agency he accused it of being before. Example: The law requires the CFPB to create an Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity, which "shall have such powers and duties... . including providing oversight and enforcement of Federal laws" against discrimination in lending. That language is unambiguous, but Mr. Mulvaney, long an opponent of the office's work, summarily stripped it of oversight and enforcement powers. Republicans remained silent.

Mr. Mulvaney also flouted Dodd-Frank's mandate that the CFPB "require reports and conduct examinations" of banks under its jurisdiction. In December he halted collection of confidential information by the bureau, temporarily stopping bank examinations. Mr. Mulvaney claimed that two reports by the bureau's inspector general showed severe vulnerabilities in the bureau's cyber defenses. Instead they found CFPB's cybersecurity was better than other regulators and steadily improving.

When I pressed Mr. Mulvaney on this point in an oversight letter, he did not defend his interpretation of the reports and offered no legitimate explanation for halting bank examinations. Republicans remained silent.

Mr. Mulvaney also threatened the credibility of the agency's workforce. To insulate the CFPB from politics, Congress gave it only one political appointee -- the director -- and mandated that it hire all other employees based on merit. When Mr. Mulvaney arrived, he sought special authority to hire political allies to oversee the bureau's divisions -- an unprecedented move among financial regulatory agencies. He has also reassigned some duties from experienced senior officials to political staff, claiming that many career staffers "were political anyway." Republicans remained silent.

Mr. Mulvaney has skirted other limits, too. Before he took over, the CFPB finalized a rule to stop abusive payday-lending practices. The bureau spent five years completing the legally mandated rule-making process, compiling an extensive factual record by meeting with stakeholders, reviewing more than a million comments, and conducting a cost-benefit analysis. Mr. Mulvaney summarily killed the rule when he arrived, even though he was legally required to provide a detailed justification for his decision. The move was carried out without any formal fact-finding or solicitation of public comments -- just a two-paragraph press release. Republicans remained silent.

I've written Mr. Mulvaney several letters containing a total of 125 questions about these and other decisions he's made at the CFPB. Mr. Mulvaney has failed to respond to more than 100 of those questions. If Republicans truly cared about the accountability of the CFPB, they would have pressed Mr. Mulvaney to respond to congressional oversight questions. Instead, they remained silent.

Republicans have ignored other oversight tools as well. The Senate confirmation process helps ensure that agencies adhere to Congress's priorities. Yet Mr. Mulvaney has served as acting director for four months, and not a single Republican has called on the president to nominate a permanent director.

Congress designed the CFPB to be a nimble watchdog for America's consumers, accountable to Congress in the execution of its duties. Under the leadership of former Director Richard Cordray, it was exactly that -- returning $12 billion to families who were cheated, issuing new rules to clean up the mortgage market, and responding to congressional oversight from both parties.

Mr. Mulvaney has undermined the bureau's work on behalf of consumers and has repeatedly failed to comply with legal mandates, while the Republicans who control Congress have refused to use the tools available to them to rein him in.

I intend to use every tool available to me to make sure the CFPB follows the law and stands up for consumers.Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.

This piece was reprinted by OpEdNews with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

Historian Gerald Horne says that to pass the New Deal legislation, FDR allowed discriminatory practices to appease the racist Dixiecrat section of the Democratic Party; the reforms of the 60's that responded to the upsurge of the civil rights movement helped Black Americans, but have been undone by Democratic and Repubican administraitons since - with host Paul Jay

[The entire series can be seen at The Real News Network]

Dr. Gerald Horne holds the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. His research has addressed issues of racism in a variety of relations involving labor, politics, civil rights, international relations and war. Dr. Horne has also written extensively about the film industry. His latest book is The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America. Dr. Horne received his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University and his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and his B.A. from Princeton University.

Paul Jay: We're continuing our series titled Undoing the New Deal. While most of the measures taken during the New Deal helped to mitigate the worst effects of the depression on workers and created a social safety net where there had been none before, not all Americans benefited equally. Most New Deal programs discriminated against African Americans. Whites were offered the first jobs and it allowed a separate and lower pay scale for Blacks. This is in a federal government jobs program. The Federal Housing Authority refused to guarantee mortgages for Blacks who tried to buy in white neighborhoods and the Civilian Conservation Corps maintained segregated camps. The Social Security Act excluded those job categories Blacks traditionally filled.

The situation in agriculture was even worse. Since 40% of all Black workers made their living as sharecroppers and tenant farmers, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration acreage reduction hit Blacks hard. In this program, farmers were actually paid not to produce food, which raised the prices for farmers but white landlords could make more money by leaving land untilled then by putting land back into production, which created even more Black unemployment.

In the 1960's New Deal-style programs were created that benefited Blacks more equally, but successive administrations both Democratic and Republican have been rolling back these programs since the 1980s. Bill Clinton's welfare reforms played a major role in undoing the New Deal and now the Republican Party is planning to put a few final nails in the coffin of what's left.

Now joining us to discuss African Americans in the New Deal is Gerald Horne. Gerald is the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. He is the author of many books, most recently The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and The Origins of the United States of America. Thanks for joining us again, Gerald.

GERALD HORNE: Thank you for inviting me.

PAUL JAY: Let's start with the New Deal itself. We know that Blacks simply did not benefit from the New Deal programs in the way white workers did. Why don't we start with that? What are some examples of that? Then we can kind of get into the why and the politics of it.

GERALD HORNE: You alluded to a number of the examples, that is to say, with regard to the Social Security program seeking to exclude categories of workers where Blacks tended to flock, such as agricultural labor in particular. I should also mention that with regard to housing programs, recent scholarship has suggested that New Deal housing programs did not erode Jim Crow neighborhoods. They helped to fortify Jim Crow neighborhoods.

However, before we go too far in that direction, I should also mention some of the positive benefits of the New Deal, particularly the so-called Wagner Act, the National Labor Relations Act, which was a kind of Magna Carta for the organizing of the industrial north and the industrial Midwest. This led to the formation of the United Auto Workers, United Steel Workers in particular and they tended to organize many Black workers within their ranks. Then, after those unions were organized, they were able to use the dues money of those workers to support anti-Jim Crow initiatives. In some ways, it's fair to say that the New Deal was a mixed bag for African Americans.

PAUL JAY: In those unionization struggles, many Blacks were in the leadership of those struggles. In some of the bitter fights founding the UAW and some of the industrial unions, Black workers were right up front leading the struggle.

GERALD HORNE: Not only with regard to the United Auto Workers and the United Steelworkers, but keep in mind that at that point there was a flourishing mostly black union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Workers, led by A. Philip Randolph, who started as a left-wing socialist and then migrated into a kind of right-wing social democrat. In between, that is to say in the 1930s, his union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Workers, was a very important force not only in terms of organizing Black workers on the railroads, which then before the era of air travel was the major route for transcontinental travel in this country, but also in more mundane terms, for example in terms of spreading anti-Jim Crow propaganda in the dankest precincts of Dixie. Oftentimes that propaganda was spread, by propaganda, I don't mean that in the pejorative sense, I just mean literature. That literature was spread through Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Worker porters who were traveling, say, from New Orleans to Houston, or from Houston to Dallas. This union drive is really one of the unsung heroes of the whole progressive movement in this country.

PAUL JAY: With much of the New Deal legislation, the jobs I mentioned, jobs went to white workers first. There was a lower, separate pay scale. We're talking jobs in the federal jobs program, where the federal government hired millions of people. There were other programs that discriminated against Blacks. There were some exceptions. Apparently Harold Ickes, who was in the cabinet, put a lot of money into Black schools in the south, but generally speaking, Roosevelt did not want to take on the Dixiecrats, the white racist members of the Democratic Party that controlled much of the legislatures in the south and also represented much of the representation in Congress. Apparently, there was even an anti-lynching law that Roosevelt didn't want to support. The politics of the period, and Roosevelt gets a lot of critique for this that he didn't take them on because they would have blocked his New Deal legislation was his fear. What do you make of the critique? I guess part of what I'm asking is, given the real politics of the day, did he have a choice or not?

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The 2018 midterm elections will be a pivotal moment in American history. If we are successful we will be able to put an end to the disastrous Trump agenda, rebuild the declining middle class and create a Congress which stands for economic, political, racial and environmental justice.

In 2018 we have the potential to not only make great electoral gains at all levels of government, but to elect strong progressives who are prepared to take on the 1 percent and fight for an agenda that meets the needs of working families, and not just the Koch brothers and other wealthy campaign contributors.

But these victories are far from guaranteed. It is just not enough for the American people to have something to vote against, they must have something to vote for. Voters knew the myriad of problems with Donald Trump in 2016, and they still elected him. Today, despite all of his scandals and outrageous behavior, his approval ratings are close to the same levels as they were back then.

The truth is that, for a wide variety of reasons, millions of our fellow citizens have lost faith in government, hold political leaders in contempt and don't see any reason for voting. In the last midterm election, in 2014, the United States had the lowest voter turnout in 70 years -- just 37 percent.

Our job in 2018 is to change all of that. Yes, we must take on Trump's authoritarianism, xenophobia, racism, sexism, homophobia and religious bigotry -- but we must do more than that. We must rally the American people around an agenda that works for them, not the billionaire class. We must significantly increase voter turnout with strong, progressive candidates who are fighting for working families.

In my view, the 2018 elections present an historic opportunity to elect a new generation of candidates who will usher in an era of strong progressive change in this country. There are more candidates than ever before who support Medicare for all, free tuition at public colleges and universities, overturning Citizens United, a $15 minimum wage, common sense gun safety legislation, the transformation of our energy system away from fossil fuel and, in fact, our entire progressive agenda.

It's imperative that we support as many of these candidates as we possibly can. Because not only is that how we energize the working families of this country to come out and vote for Democrats, but it is how we can transform America.

You should know that I intend to be actively campaigning throughout this election season to energize the progressive community and support candidates who will stand by our agenda. And, by the way, that does not mean just "blue states." It means "red states" and "purple states" and states that Trump won by big margins. I look forward to seeing many of you at events from coast to coast. The bottom line is that the Democratic Party cannot continue to ignore half the states in the country. It must become a 50-state party.

But I cannot do it alone.

Please make a donation to support my work traveling the country and rallying people to support progressive causes and candidates who need our help. I would not ask if it were not so important. I cannot do it without your help.

As you well remember, it was not long ago that many of the ideas we've long talked about were considered "fringe" by many in the corporate media and in Congress. Well, that's changing.

Several years ago, I introduced legislation calling for a Medicare-for-all, single-payer system. It had no co-sponsors. Too radical. Now, with a majority of Americans supporting Medicare for all, we have 16 co-sponsors. A few years ago, the idea of a $15 an hour national minimum wage seemed unthinkable. Now, we have 30 co-sponsors on our legislation. We are also seeing good progress in making public colleges and universities tuition-free, lowering the outrageous level of student debt, making child care more affordable and decriminalizing the possession of marijuana.

We have come a very long way in a short amount of time, and all of those gains are a testament to people of all backgrounds and in all communities coming together and standing up to say ENOUGH is ENOUGH! We want a government that works for all of us, and not just a handful of billionaires.

That is the political revolution.

In 2018, we can advance our cause dramatically. But it will not be easy. The financial elite and those who profit mightily from the status quo will not go down without a fight. They have obscene amounts of wealth and have used that money to protect a dysfunctional system that allows them to make billions in profits while leaving far too many Americans behind.

But if we are willing to fight for it, the time is right for our movement to make dramatic gains this year. That is what I intend to do, but I cannot do it alone.

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Global E-commerce Software Market Professional Survey Report 2017-2022.Ecommerce software is the engine behind the scenes of an online store, making it possible to easily manage inventory, add or remove products, calculate taxes, and everything else required to manage a website and fulfill orders.This research report provides an in-depth analysis of the global E-commerce Software Market based on enterprise size, services, solution, end-use industry, and geography. The report also provides an analysis of the factors that drive and restrain the growth of the E-commerce Software market. It discusses the prevailing market trends, prospective growth opportunities, and major strategies increasing the popularity of the global market. It provides market estimates and forecasts for all the segments in terms of revenue.E-commerce Software Market Estimated to Grow at a CAGR of +20% During the Forecast PeriodThe report covers all the major trends and technologies playing a major role in the market growth over the forecast period. The competition in the global market for E-commerce Software will likely heat up in the next couple of years on the back of entry of a substantial number of solution providers. This statistical surveying report presents an all-inclusive assessment of the worldwide market for E-commerce Software, taking several market verticals, such as the production capacity, product pricing, the dynamics of demand and supply, sales volume, revenue, and the growth rate of this market into consideration.Download PDF Sample Copy:Company Profiled: The Key Players operating in the E-commerce Software Market includes Magento, Oracle ATG Commerce, PrestaShop, Shopify, WooThemes, Adobe Systems, CenturyLink, Cleverbridge, Demandware, Ekm Systems.The report provides competitive landscape of the E-commerce Software market, thereby listing out all the major players according to their geographic presence, market attractiveness and recent key developments. The competitive landscape section of the report gives an overview about the market share of several key players for the year 2017. Moreover, key takeaways section provided at the end of competitive landscape section would help the operating companies to make the best move in the market.These market estimates have been analyzed by taking into account the impact of different political, social, economic, technological, and legal factors along with the current market dynamics affecting the market growth. Factors including market position, offerings and R&D focus are attributed to company's capabilities. This section also identifies and includes various recent developments carried out by the leading players.For More Information:The regional analysis of the Global Market splits the global market into key regions that include both continents as well as specific countries that are currently shining in terms of either demand, volume or overall growth. Users of the report can focus on these regions if they are looking to expand their business borders.The stages of development of E-commerce Software market with respect to many geographic regions have also been presented thoroughly. This information which is provided helps the emerging players gain up-to-date information which can help them take perfect business decisions. In similar way, many other segments and sub segments are mentioned in this market helping in conveying impeccable data to the users.To Get Reasonable Discount:Table of ContentsGlobal E-commerce Software Market Research Report 2017Chapter 1 E-commerce Software Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Global Market ForecastAbout QYReports:We at, QYReports , a leading market research report publisher accommodate more than 4,000 celebrated clients worldwide putting them at advantage in todays competitive world with our understanding of research. Our list of customers include prestigious Chinese companies, multinational companies, SME's and private equity firms whom we have helped grow and sustain with our fact-based research. Our business study covers a market size of over 30 industries offering unfailing insights into analysis to reimagine your business. We specialize in forecasts needed for investing in a new project, to revolutionize your business, to become more customer centric and improve the quality of output.Contact:QYReportsJones John(Sales Manager)+91-9764607607sales@qyreports.comAgricultural Biologicals Testing Market Growth and Forecast 2018

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The agricultural biologicals testing market is projected to reach USD +1.11 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of +10.3% from 2016. The market is driven by factors such as increasing cultivation of organic crops, growing number of regulations, and awareness regarding sustainable agriculture. The biopesticides portion is anticipated to be the quickest developing item write to be tried in this market because of a move towards the utilization of these items from customary agrochemicals that corrupt soil quality. Biopesticide testing administrations assist item designers with ensuring effectiveness and dependability of their items.The exploration includes an in-depth investigation for each of the segments and sub-classes for market patterns, recent improvements, standpoint, and opportunities.Take a look to the Sample Copy:Key Players Vendors: SGS S.A. (Switzerland), Eurofins Scientific SE (Luxembourg), Staphyt SA (France), Laus GmbH (Germany), Bionema Limited (U.K.), Anadiag Group (France), BioTecnologie BT (Italy)The market outline segment of the report investigates market progression, for instance, drivers, restrictions, and opportunities that, at present, strongly influence the Europe Agricultural Biologicals Testing Market and could affect the market in future too. A piece of the overall industry investigation has been given in the report with a particular ultimate objective to elucidate the intensity of the competition between driving business sector players working over the globe.Increasing agricultural production and crop losses due to transportation, post-harvest pest attack, etc., are the primary factors driving the Agricultural Biologicals Testing market, as they are highly effective in eliminating the pests. In addition, the growing storage technology and high production efficiency are expected to drive the market in the future. The domain has certain constraints, such as stringent regulatory concerns raised with the application methodology, among others, which are restricting back the market growth.Avail Discount on this report:North America has acquired the most astounding market estimate in 2018 because of expanding mindfulness among agriculturists for protecting crop production from bugs, rodents, nematodes, and so forth, to eliminate agricultural commodity losses. In any case, Asia Pacific is probably going to achieve a higher CAGR amid the gauge time frame because of developing agricultural practices especially in India, China, and Indonesia which is anticipated to push the Agricultural Biologicals Testing market size in the region over the estimated time period. Latin American market size is likewise inclined to acquire prominent gains in the coming years because of increasing capability of Brazil in approving advanced agricultural practices and storing techniques.With all the data congregated and scrutinized using SWOT analysis, there is a vibrant picture of the competitive scenario of the Europe Agricultural Biologicals Testing Market. Openings for the future market growth were uncovered and preoccupied competitive threats also textured. The drifts and inclinations of this market were studied and it shows that there was an illustrious strategic direction observed. By the avaricious market background and using the persistent norms, approaches, and tendencies of other leading markets for citations, market information was understood.Table of Content:Chapter 1 Agricultural Biologicals Testing Market OverviewChapter 2 Europe Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Europe Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Europe Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Europe Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Europe Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Europe Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisAbout QYReports:We at, QYReports , a leading market research report publisher accommodate more than 4,000 celebrated clients worldwide putting them at advantage in todays competitive world with our understanding of research. Our list of customers include prestigious Chinese companies, multinational companies, SME's and private equity firms whom we have helped grow and sustain with our fact-based research. Our business study covers a market size of over 30 industries offering unfailing insights into analysis to reimagine your business. We specialize in forecasts needed for investing in a new project, to revolutionize your business, to become more customer centric and improve the quality of output.Contact:QYReportsJones John(Sales Manager)+91-9764607607sales@qyreports.comCleaning Appliances Market to Exceed US$ 11,400 Mn by 2026

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Cleaning appliances are used in various settings in different end-use industries like manufacturing sector, F&B sector, retail and other commercial facilities. The increasing spending power of the consumers, a rising trend of digitization, increasing concern towards sustainability and a rapidly rising middle class all over the world are some of the factors that are driving the growth of the cleaning appliances market globally.Cleaning appliances make life easy for the workforce as they increase the productivity, reduce the fatigue and also contribute towards saving time. Such type of cleaning appliances are available on a wide scale and are generally easy to operate.Request for Table of Contents @Persistence Market Research presents a detailed forecast of the global cleaning appliances market in a new report titled Cleaning Appliances Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012-2016 and Forecast 2017-2026. This report provides a historical analysis of the global cleaning appliances market for a time period of four years from 2012-2016 and a forecast for this market for a time period of nine years starting from the year 2017 and ending at the year 2026. Besides the quantitative insights in the form of projected market numbers, this report also gives qualitative insights in the form of detailed market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, opportunities and trends in the market.As per the projections presented by Persistence Market Research, the global cleaning appliances market was estimated to be valued at nearly US$ 3,900 Mn at the end of the year 2017 and is anticipated to reach a value of nearly US$ 11,400 Mn at the end of the year 2026, and in the process exhibit a CAGR of 12.7% during the period of assessment.The indirect sub-segment in the distribution channel category of the global cleaning appliances market is the dominant segment by value and is poised to exhibit a CAGR of 10.5% during the period of assessment. The indirect sub-segment is projected to reach a value of nearly US$ 6,050 Mn at the end of the assessment period in the year 2026.The residential sub-segment in the end use type category of the global cleaning appliances market is projected to display the maximum CAGR of 15.8% during the period of assessment. The residential sub-segment was estimated to be valued at nearly US$ 1,100 Mn in the year 2017.North America is the dominant region in the global cleaning appliances market and is likely to exhibit a CAGR of 11.8% during the period of assessment. The North America cleaning appliances market is poised to be valued at nearly US$ 3,700 Mn by the end of the assessment period in the year 2026.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Some of the top players functioning in the global cleaning appliances market have been studied in this report. The players that have been featured in the competition landscape section of this report include Robert Bosch GmbH, Qingdao Haier Co., Ltd., Panasonic Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., General Electric Co. (GE), LG Electronics, Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Whirlpool Corporation, Koninklijke Philips N.V. and Electrolux AB.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comIndustrial Refrigeration Equipment Market is Expected to Expand US$ 36,900 Mn by 2026

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There is a growing use of industrial refrigeration equipment in different end-use industries such as food and beverage processing, applications related to cold storage and processing of chemicals. Due to the growing applications of industrial refrigeration equipment in such end-use industries, this market is growing at a brisk pace. The global industrial refrigeration equipment market is also positively influenced by the growing use of natural refrigerants, a growing food processing industry and efforts tuned towards attaining energy efficiency, mostly in developed countries.Request for Table of Contents @Another important use of industrial refrigeration equipment is in the pharmaceutical industry, where such equipment is used for the storage of various samples that are utilized in the R&D process for the development of new drugs. However, the rising cost of fuel is an important factor that is restraining the growth of this market. The manufacturers of industrial refrigeration equipment are focusing their efforts on manufacturing environment friendly products that have a greater efficiency of chilling.A new report presented by Persistence Market Research titled Industrial Refrigeration Equipment Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012-2016 and Forecast 2017-2026 studies the performance of the global industrial refrigeration equipment market over a nine year assessment period starting from the year 2017 and ending in the year 2026.The report presents the forecast by value of the global industrial refrigeration equipment market and provides important information regarding the market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, opportunities and trends. As per the projections of Persistence Market Research, the global industrial refrigeration equipment market was estimated to be valued at nearly US$ 22,650 Mn at the end of the year 2017 and is slated to reach a valuation of nearly US$ 36,900 Mn at the end of the assessment period in 2026, and in the process exhibit a CAGR of 5.6% during 2017-2026.The condenser segment in the equipment category of the global industrial refrigeration equipment market is the largest in terms of value and is likely to exhibit a CAGR of 5.1% during the period of assessment. The condenser segment is projected to reach a value of nearly US$ 12,600 Mn at the end of the period of assessment.The food processing segment in the application category of the global industrial refrigeration equipment market is forecasted to exhibit a CAGR of 4.8% during the period of assessment. The food processing segment was estimated to be valued at nearly US$ 6,350 Mn in the year 2017.The beverage production segment in the application category of the global industrial refrigeration equipment market is poised to exhibit the fastest CAGR of 7.5% during the period of assessment. The beverage production segment is anticipated to reach a market valuation of nearly US$ 6,600 Mn by the end of the year 2026.The industrial refrigeration equipment market in North America is the largest in terms of revenue and is likely to exhibit a CAGR of 5.1% during the period of assessment. The North America regional market is likely to reach a valuation of nearly US$ 10,900 Mn by the end of the period of forecast in 2026.Request to View Sample of Research Report @The competition landscape section of this report profiles some of the leading companies operating in the global industrial refrigeration equipment market. Some of the top companies profiled include Daikin Industries, Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand plc, Emerson Electric Co., Parker Hannifin Corp, Johnson Controls Inc., GEA Group AG, United Technologies Corporation, Dover Corporation, Lennox International Inc., and Danfoss A/S.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comArriving in Kyoto, JapanIn Kyoto, the cherry trees are blooming early this spring.All over the city, you can see people photographing the full blooms.Some pose in front of the trees, other snap selfies with their smart phones, while others use large professional cameras to zoom in on the best blooms near the temples and shrines at nighttime.I thought to post some photos that nobody has photographed this season.These photos are of the shadows of trees, as reflected on the sidewalks that we walked at night.It is still chilly at night in Kyoto, and we have spent a week studying Japanese and preparing for our month long walk of the Nakasendo.We bought some lightweight clothing to replace our well worn old ones, and brushed up a little on our rusty Japanese.On the recommendation of our friends who have walked the Nakasendo before, we will start walking from Tokyo and finish in Kyoto.Tomorrow we will take the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo and start walking back towards Kyoto, exploring the scenery of the old inner road of Japan.I am a bit nervous about walking all day long every day with my backpack.A part of me wants to be eating street food in Vietnam or diving in Indonesia, not walking in the rain and sleeping in roadside hotels....But I have committed to walking this pilgrimage and so the time has come to embark on this long journey....May the weather be mild,May the food be good,May the hotels be clean,May the wind be at our backs,May the Spirit of fun and adventure be with us throughout this journey....All my blessings,TaliSurface Plasmon Resonance Market will Register a CAGR of 6.3% through 2027

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Future Market Insights presents detailed insights and a revised forecast of the global surface plasmon resonance market in a new report titled Surface Plasmon Resonance Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2016) and Opportunity Assessment (2017-2027). According to the report, the global surface plasmon resonance market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.3% during the forecast period 20172027 and reach US$ 1273.8 Mn in revenues in 2027.Increasing demand for high end, surface plasmon resonance from end users, such as hospitals, clinics, ambulatory surgical centres, nursing centers and reference laboratories for better throughput and performance will generate opportunities for using surface plasmon resonance technique over the long run and drive the growth of the global surface plasmon resonance market. Imaging system helps in increasing the throughput at a remarkable speed and with precise motion and consistency in report generation. The increasing adoption of label-free detection techniques over labelled detection techniques due to cost-effectiveness, availability of versatile products in the SPR market and coupling of complementary techniques with SPR to enhance specificity of the test are some factors which can upsurge the demand for surface plasmon resonance market.Global Surface Plasmon Resonance Market: Segmentation and ForecastImaging system segment will remain the largest segment by the product type, accounted for over 55.7% revenue share of the market in 2016. The other segment sensor system is also anticipated to register a significant growth over the forecast period followed by biosensors segment.Request to Sample Report -Drug discovery segment will remain the largest segment by the application, accounted for over 65.3% revenue share of the market in 2016 with 6.5% CAGR over the forecast period. The second largest market is biosensors, which is accounted for over 24.8% revenue share in 2016, followed by material science, which is also anticipated to register a significant growth.Biopharmaceutical companies segment will contribute the largest segment by the end user, accounted for over 53.2% revenue share of the market in 2016. The increasing demand for surface plasmon resonance technique at end users such as h academic & research institutes, food & beverage industry, CROs and others are also anticipated to register a significant growth over the forecast period.Global Surface Plasmon Resonance Market: Regional OverviewThe developing medical industry in respect to advanced infrastructure and increasing medical tourism in the developing countries from the APEJ such as China, India will continue to have a positive impact on surface plasmon resonance market in APEJ. The increasing adoption of imaging system and biosensors in life science R&D will helps to boost the market growth. An ease-of-use and economic convenience in the North America and Western Europe is anticipated to boost the growth of the surface plasmon resonance market over a forecast period. The rise in discretionary funding for the research and development activities for the advanced and cost effective medical devices and integration services will also drive the market in the North America and Western Europe. The MEA is at a nascent stage to the global surface plasmon resonance market and expected to show a moderate growth over a forecast period.Request Report TOC @Global Surface Plasmon Resonance Market: Competitive LandscapeBio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., General Electric Co., AMETEK, Inc., Horiba, Ltd., Biosensing Instrument Inc., Nicoya Lifesciences Inc., BiOptix Inc., XanTec bioanalytics GmbH, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. and Kinetic Evaluation Instruments BV are some of the key players in the global surface plasmon resonance market.Companies in the global surface plasmon resonance market are focusing on strategic alliances such as strategic agreements, collaborations, rising research and development activities, new product launches, joint ventures, partnerships, and mergers & acquisitions to sustain in the overall competition in the surface plasmon resonance market.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite :Balloon Catheter Market Estimated to be Valued at US$ 4,191.7 Mn by 2026

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Balloon catheter is a billion dollars market accounting for a substantial proportion of healthcare expenditure worldwide. The global balloon catheter market is expected to reach US$ 2,887.4 Mn in 2016 and is projected to register a CAGR of 3.8% during the period 2016-2026. The market is anticipated to reach 16,587 thousand units in terms of volume by the end of 2026. In a new report titled Balloon Catheter Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2016-2026, Future Market Insights provides in-depth analysis and insights into the global balloon catheter market and studies the factors and restraints impacting the market during the forecast period.According to Future Market Insights, a rising prevalence of cardiac diseases leading to interventional cardiology procedures and an increasing geriatric population prone to cardiac arrest is expected to fuel the growth of the global balloon catheter market over the forecast period. Economic factors such as growing healthcare expenditure, increasing disposable income per capita, rising government support in developed economies, and favourable reimbursement policies are expected to boost the growth of the global balloon catheter market over the forecast period. Analyst, Future Market Insights.However, a high cost of coronary angioplasty and stenting treatment and risk of infection and artery collapse associated with balloon catheterisation is likely to hinder market growth over the forecast period.The global balloon catheter market is segmented on the basis of product type (Normal Balloon Catheter, Cutting Balloon Catheter, Scoring Balloon Catheter, Drug Eluting Balloon Catheter, Stent Graft Balloon Catheter); disease indication (Coronary Artery Disease, Peripheral Vascular Disease); raw material (Polyurethane, Nylon, Others); and end user (Public Hospitals & Private Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgical Centres, Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratories).Request to Sample Report -Segmentation highlightsThe Drug eluting product type balloon catheter segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of 20.0% in terms of value over the forecast period while the Stent graft balloon catheter segment is estimated to account for 33.9% revenue share by 2016 endThe Polyurethane raw material segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of 4.6% while the Nylon segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of 3.8% in terms of value over the forecast periodThe Coronary artery disease indication segment is projected to dominate the global balloon catheter market in terms of value; the Peripheral vascular disease indication segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of 3.1% in terms of value over the forecast periodAmong end users, the Ambulatory surgical centres segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of 2.7% in terms of value over the forecast period while the Cardiac catheterisation laboratories segment is estimated to account for 19.8% revenue share by 2016 endRegional forecastThe global balloon catheter market is segmented into seven key regions  North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, APEJ, Japan, and MEA. Sales of balloon catheters have remained quite healthy in the U.S. market in recent years, making North America the most lucrative market globally. Revenue from the North America market is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 3.5% from 2016 to 2026 to reach US$ 1,312.2 Mn by 2026. In addition to North America, balloon catheters sales are also growing steadily in Japan, MEA, and APEJ. Revenues in APEJ are anticipated to grow by 4.2% whereas MEA is expected to increase at 3.4% over the forecast period.Request Report TOC @Vendor insightsBoston Scientific Inc., Medtronic, Terumo Corporation, MicroPort Scientific Corporation, B. Braun Melsungen AG, Jotech GmbH, QX Medical LLC, Meril Life Pvt. Ltd., Hexacath, Abbott Laboratories, Tokai Medical Products Inc., Biosensors International Ltd., Cook Medical Inc., Cardionovum GmbH, Cordis Corporation, and Biotronik Inc. are the leading companies operating in the global balloon catheter market. Major market players are adopting strategies such as mergers and acquisitions to maintain their market share.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite :Ophthalmic Lasers Market to Reach a Market Valuation of US$ 697.1 Mn by the End of 2026

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Future Market Insights provides a detailed analysis of the global ophthalmic lasers market in a new report titled Ophthalmic Lasers Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 20162026. The global ophthalmic lasers market was valued at US$ 421.5 Mn in 2015 and is estimated to reach US$ 437.2 Mn by 2016 end, with a Y-o-Y growth rate of 3.7%.Market dynamicsFactors such as rising prevalence of ophthalmic diseases leading to laser ophthalmic procedures and a growing elderly population susceptible to ophthalmic diseases such as cataract and glaucoma is anticipated to fuel the revenue growth of the global ophthalmic lasers market over the forecast period. Factors such as growing ophthalmic care expenditure, rising government provision in developed economies, constructive reimbursement policies, and increasing disposable income per capita are anticipated to enhance the growth of the global ophthalmic lasers market over the forecast period. However, high costs associated with ophthalmic lasers and replacement of current ophthalmic laser technology with advanced technologies might hinder the growth of the global ophthalmic lasers market over the forecast period.Segmentation highlightsThe global ophthalmic lasers market is segmented on the basis of Product Type (Photo-coagulation Lasers, Photo-disruption Lasers, Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty); Disease Type (Diabetic Retinopathy, Glaucoma Surgery, Cataract Surgery, Others); and End User (Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgical Centres, Ophthalmic Clinics).Request to Sample Report -The Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty product type segment is estimated to reflect a Y-o-Y growth rate of 4.3%. The Photo-coagulation Lasers segment is anticipated to register a CAGR of 4.6% over the forecast period.The Glaucoma Surgery disease type segment is estimated to account for the highest market revenue share of the global ophthalmic lasers market by 2016 end. The Diabetic Retinopathy segment is estimated to account for the second highest market share of the global ophthalmic lasers market by 2016.The Ophthalmic Clinics end user segment is anticipated to account for the highest market share of 45.1% of the global ophthalmic lasers market by 2016 end and register a CAGR of 5.6% over the forecast period. The Ambulatory Surgical Centres segment is estimated to reflect a Y-o-Y growth of 3.9% in 2016 over 2015.Regional forecastThe global ophthalmic lasers market is segmented into the seven key regions of North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, APEJ, Japan, and MEA. North America is expected to dominate the global ophthalmic lasers market in terms of revenue and is estimated to be valued at US$ 242.4 Mn by the end of 2026. North America is anticipated to account for the highest market share of 31.8% of the global ophthalmic lasers market by the end of 2016 while Western Europe is estimated to hold the second highest market share of 33.9% of the global ophthalmic lasers market by the end of 2016. The North America, Western Europe, and APEJ markets represent the highest growth opportunities in the global ophthalmic lasers market owing to a large patient population and more demand for laser technologies in diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma surgeries.Request Report TOC @Vendor insightsThe global ophthalmic lasers market report profiles some of the top companies operating in the global ophthalmic lasers market. Leading market players featured in the report are Ellex Medical PTY Ltd., Lumenis Ltd., IRIDEX Corporation, ZEISS International, NIDEK CO. LTD., Novartis AG, Topcon Corporation, and Quantel SA. These companies are focussing on developing new technologies to aid in seamless ophthalmic surgeries and are looking to penetrate new and emerging markets through strategic acquisitions.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite :Life Cell Imaging Market - Global Industry Analysis 2025

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Life Cell Imaging Market  A step towards improvement in drug discoveryCellular imaging refers to the techniques that allows the detection and analysis of various cellular organelles and macromolecules using a light-based or electron based microscopes. These are then mainly analyzed through computer based programs. Apart from the structural organization and orientation of organs and cells in organisms, dynamic processes contributes a major part in understanding the function and mechanism of a biological entity. Live life cell imaging refers to the non-invasive techniques such as optical methods that help visualize functional behavior of the cells with the help of high-end imaging instruments such as stereo microscopes. The high-content screening systems have become a popular analytical tool for elucidation of biological mechanisms as well as for the study of dynamic functions of the cells. The life cell imaging systems are used in order to study the living cells through the images obtained from life cell imaging instruments.Request to download and view Sample Report:Rise in development of cancer drugs is a crucial factor to propel the market growthAccelerating drug development has become a crucial factor so as to come up with new and advanced drugs that has potential to treat cancer. Understanding the cellular functionality of these oncogenic substances and tumor cells is thus a very important step in the drug development and requires high-powered microscopes to understand the dynamic structures so as to develop a drug against the cancer causing agents. The government as well as various federal agencies play important roles funding imaging systems to support and clinical care and research. For instance, the National Science and Technology Council, which is an Interagency Working Group on Medical Imaging (IWGMI) established in 2015 develops a roadmap for medical-imaging research and development in the U.S. that helps in generating better outcome of healthcare and optimize the costs.The global life cell imaging market was valued at US$ 4.4 billion in 2016 and is expected to witness a robust CAGR of 8.60% over the forecast period (2017 - 2025).Advancements in live life cell imaging microscopes to create a highly competitive scenario among market playersThe use of quantum dots that are nanoparticles with fluorescent properties offering advantages over organic fluorophores is emerging as a potential technique that is incorporated recently in the biological imaging microscopes. Moreover, scientists in the University of Rochester in 2017 demonstrated for the use of quantum dots as photoredox catalysts for the generation of carbon-carbon bonds through light emission and the technique is suggested to be helpful in simplifying the synthesis of novel compounds in the future. North America is expected to be the regional dominator throughout the forecast period, followed by Europe owing to high capitalization in imaging systems as well as intensive research and development to improve the imaging quality and data functionality. For instance, Luxendo- a spinoff of European Molecular Biology Laboratory raised US$ 9.4 Mn in January 2017 to commence international sales of its unique single plane illumination microscopy technology in order to take over confocal microscopes in biology research.Request a Customization:The major players operating global life cell imaging market includes Leica Microsystems, Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, Nikon Instruments, Inc., Thermofisher Scientific, Inc., Olympus Corporation, GE Healthcare, Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, Molecular Devices LLC, PerkinElmer, Inc. and Becton-Dickinson and Company.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Coherent Market Insights Blog @Connect with us on LinkedIn @Epidermal Care Devices Market Sluggish Growth Rate by 2025

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Epidermal care is essential throughout the lifespan of an individual. Skin is the outermost layer of the body which perspires, breathes, stretches, and acts as the first line of defense against infectious agents. However, with increasing age and body maturation, the potency of skin degrades and requires external care. Variety of epidermal care devices are introduced into the market offering protection, nourishment, and exfoliation. Epidermal care devices are adopted for ridding away the skin of dead cells. Epidermal care products are also used to deliver oxygen in order to enhance skin sustainability. Epidermal care devices are advantageous than cosmetics as they offer deep pigmentation in the dermis that does not respond well to topical agents. For instance, laser treatment, and intensely pulsed light devices have resulted in replacing other procedures. Some of the common examples of epidermal care devices are body brush, face scrubber, face cleaning brush, laser treatment, and exfoliating brush. Furthermore, epidermal care products can be used for daily cleaning purposes and offer much more precise and deeper cleaning.Request Report for Table of Contents @The growth of the epidermal Care Devices market is primarily driven by changing lifestyle pattern in most of developing countries, growing demand for aesthetic procedures, increasing trend towards epidermal care devices than epidermal care products, and growing elderly population. In addition to that, factors such as growing awareness towards epidermal care, rising use of consumer use epidermal care products, increasing prevalence and incidence rate of skin-related disorders, and increasing work-related stress results in distress of skin are impelling the growth of epidermal care device market. However, limited lifespan of the products, high cost of the product, and risk associated with the epidermal care devices are the major obstacle to the market growth of epidermal care devices.In overview of epidermal care devices and its parent market has been witnessed with various mergers and acquisitions in the recent years for adding large and small brands in their product portfolio. The epidermal care device market is primarily driven by four driving factors, including, access to consumers which includes demographic trend and aging consumers, access to market which includes entrance into emerging market, access to distribution channel which involves expansion of downstream into distribution, and access to innovation which involves technological advancement and enhancement of product formulation.Geographically, global epidermal care devices market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. The market in North America is anticipated to show the largest market share for epidermal care devices, followed by Europe, owing to the favorable reimbursement scenario, and increasing awareness among the general population. In addition, increasing governmental initiatives, and increasing product approval and launching in these regions are also driving the market growth of epidermal care devices. The market in Asia-Pacific region is estimated to grow at fastest CAGR over the forecast period owing to the presence of large population base and growing geriatric population, and increasing number of cosmetic clinics. However, the market in Latin America, and Middle East & Africa shows the steady growth during the forecast period.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Some of the market participants in the global epidermal care devices market are Cynosure, Inc., Panasonic Corporation, Alma Lasers, Lumenis Ltd., Michelson Diagnostics Ltd, Beijing Toplaser Technology Co., Ltd., Solta Medical (Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc.), Koninklijke Philips N.V., Schick Medical, and Cutera, Inc.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Pediatric Radiology Market to Undertake Strapping Growth During 2017 - 2025

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Pediatric radiology is a diagnostic radiology associated with children which represent the normalcies and abnormalities of specific age instead of specific imaging techniques or the specific organ. The pediatric radiology is basically responsible for the specialized imaging care for the children, infants, neonates and young adults (under the 21 age) with acquired conditions. The pediatric radiology consists diagnostic services such as ultrasound, X-ray, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine and computed tomography (CT). Pediatric radiology is based on a lowest possible dose of radiation which is called as Imaging gently. Pediatric radiology is not a general radiology because it consists a large spectrum of normal and abnormal variants.Request Report for Table of Contents @Increasing incidence of diagnosis because of various disorders in children is the primary factor of the development of pediatric radiology. Furthermore, rising demand for custom research will also propel the growth of global market of pediatric radiology. Moreover, growing training sessions organized by government and private organizers given focus towards the training and development of pediatric radiologists will also propel the growth of the pediatric radiology market. Rising collaboration of manufacturer and research institutes will be the ultimate growth opportunity for pediatric radiology market. The less focus and lack of knowledge can be the restraint for the pediatric radiology market.The growing investment by the government and hospital facilities for better healthcare is projected to drive the market. The companies are immersed in introducing the products with innovative technology. The pediatric radiology market is classified by application and end user. In terms of application, the global pediatric radiology market is segmented into pediatric ultrasound, radiographic imaging, pediatric x-ray, pediatric CT scan, pediatric MRI or fetal MRI and fluoroscopy. By end user, pediatric radiology market is classified as hospitals, pediatric clinics and others. Among all end user, hospitals are expected to gain maximum value share over the forecast period.On the basis of geography, pediatric radiology market is segmented as North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to dominate the pediatric radiology market due to the advent of new technologies and favorable reimbursement scenario for diagnostics in this region. The Europe is also contributing the moderate shares to the market due to the advanced medical facilities and easy availability of the pediatric radiology in the market. APAC is the most lucrative market for the pediatric radiology due to increasing pediatric disorders in the region is expected to show a robust growth to the global pediatric radiology market. MEA is at a nascent stage to the global pediatric radiology market and anticipated to register a decent growth to the market over a forecast period. Overall, the global pediatric radiology market is expected to show significant growth over a forecast period.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Some of the key players of pediatric radiology market globally are GE Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation, Siemens Healthcare, Mindray Medical International Limited, Samsung Medison Co. Ltd. and others. The global pediatric radiology market is currently witnessing a number of strategic collaboration and partnership activities by manufacturers and end users.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:DNA Library Preparation Kits Market to Perceive Substantial Growth During 2017 - 2025

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DNA library preparation kit is collectively set of improved reagents which are used to convert the small amount of DNA into indexed libraries. DNA library kits are used in next-generation sequencing for conversion of small amount of DNA. DNA library preparation kits are developed on the basis of Tn5 Transposase. DNA library preparation kits help during the complex process of DNA fragmentation and also for adaptor connection into a one-step enzymatic reaction. Therefore, these kits have significant demand for library construction owing to its capability to shorten the DNA fragmentation process. DNA library preparation kits provide flexibility to focus on other research priorities due to its ability perform the DNA fragmentation and addition of tag simultaneously.Request Report for Table of Contents @Increasing complex requirement from the researcher in life sciences is the primary factor for the development of DNA library preparation kits market. Furthermore, rising demand for custom research will also propel the growth of DNA library preparation kits market. Moreover, increasing application DNA sequencing techniques to detect the mutation will also responsible for the robust growth of DNA sequencing market over the forecast period. Rising collaboration of manufacturer and research institutes will be the ultimate growth opportunity for DNA library preparation kits market. However, the high cost of DNA library preparation kits will lead to the negative impact of this market. Less focus on life science research in under developing economies will sluggish the growth of DNA library preparation market over the forecast period.The DNA Library Preparation Kits market is expected to show significant growth over the forecast period owing to rising complex requirement from the researcher in life sciences. The various manufacturing companies of DNA Library preparation kits are focusing on the development of more improved products to obtain accurate and rapid results. This is a competitive market where all leading manufacturer are involved in merger and acquisition to retain their market share. Manufacturer are also focusing on collaboration and partnership with leading research institutes to enhance their sale of DNA library preparation kits. These kits have numerous application in the field of life science, but basic research and drug discovery segment will dominate the DNA library preparation kits market by application. Biopharmaceutical companies and academic and research institutes are expected to gain the maximum market share for DNA library preparation kits market by end user over the forecast period.On the basis of regional presence, global DNA Library Preparation Kits market is segmented into five key regions viz. North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to dominate the DNA library preparation kits market by region owing to the availability of skilled professionals and growing innovation in the sequencing technology. Europe is the second most lucrative market for DNA library preparation due to increasing research by CRO and biopharmaceutical companies. Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing market for DNA library preparation kits due increasing government funds for research and development. Latin America and the Middle East and Africa is the least lucrative market for DNA library preparation kits owing to less funding by the government for research and development.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Some of the key players across the value chain of DNA Library Preparation Kits Market are Illumina Inc., Abcam plc., New England Biolabs, Bioline, Qiagen N.V., Epigentek Group Inc., Lucigen, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Takara Bio Company, Merck KGaA, and others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Treatment Market to Observe Strong Development by 2025

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Fatty liver disease refers to the accumulation of fat (triglycerides,) in the liver. The liver cell contains fats, but the accumulation of excess fat can be a cause of concern and can lead to liver inflammation known as steatohepatitis. The fatty liver can be caused by alcohol as well as can be non-alcohol. Steatohepatitis can cause liver cirrhosis (fibrosis, scarring, and hardening of the liver). The cause of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is unknown. The nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common diseases in the United States. The prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is rising due to rise in prevalence of diabetes and obesity. According to National Health and Nutrition Examination survey, about 20-30% of the general population in the western world suffer from nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).Request Report for Table of Contents @The common symptoms include fatigue, weakness, weight loss and others. The diagnosis of NAFLD requires the combination of different tests such as blood test, ultrasound, CT scan, MRI scan, and liver biopsy. The two types of Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) includes simple fatty liver and Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH). The simple fatty liver is a type of nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL), in which fat is deposited, but no inflammation or liver damage is observed. NASH is the inflammation of the liver due to excess fat deposit and can lead to liver damage and disease.In 2014, according to World Health Organization (WHO), estimate about ~422 Mn of the adult population was suffering from diabetes as compared to the ~108 Mn in 1980. The worldwide prevalence of diabetes is rising with the overall prevalence of 4.7% in 1980 to 8.5% in 2014. Therefore, rising prevalence of diabetes and obesity is a major factor contributing to revenue growth of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease treatment market across the globe. Availability of expanded product line as major market players in the global nonalcoholic fatty liver disease treatment market are introducing innovative and expanded line products to retain market share, expansion in clinical trials will lead to product approvals and revenue generation. Manufacturers and organizations such as National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) are involved research and development and are supporting research for various disease conditions. These are some of the factors boosting the growth of the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease treatment marketGlobal nonalcoholic fatty liver disease treatment market is segmented by product type and distribution channel. Based on the product type, the market is segmented into antioxidants, thiazolidinedione, biguanides, lipid lowering Agents, FXR receptor agonist and other medication used to treat nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. According to National Health and Nutrition Examination surveys conducted between 2009-2010, reported that prevalence of NASH is about 3% in general population in United States and about 25% in the obese individual. Thiazolidinedione and metformin are widely used for the Non-Alcoholic Liver Disease (NAFLD), thiazolidinedione and metformin are expected to gain higher share among other product types and will contribute in the revenue growth of global nonalcoholic fatty liver disease treatment market.By Geography, the global nonalcoholic fatty liver disease treatment market is segmented into five broad regions viz. North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa. North America is estimated to lead the global nonalcoholic fatty liver disease treatment market due to increase in prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in United States. Large number of manufacturers exist in the market, with large number of customer base. Asia Pacific market is also projected to experience high growth in the near future owing to factors such as, increase in healthcare expenditure, rising standard of living, lifestyle changes- attributed to better healthcare and awareness of the cost-effective treatment process with government grants and funding for acceleration in research and development activities.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Some of the major players in global nonalcoholic fatty liver disease treatment market Pfizer Inc., Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Daewoong Co., Ltd., Cardax, Inc., Merck & Co., Inc., Novartis AG, Gilead Sciences, Inc., AstraZeneca plc., Limerick BioPharma, Inc., GW Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, Plc., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd and othersAbout UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Dental Filling Material Market to Develop Rapidly by 2025

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Dental filling alludes to the method for restoring a harmed tooth bring it back to its ordinary shape and capacity. It is additionally used to repair tooth decay, insignificant tooth fractures, and other harmed surfaces of the teeth. Dental filling materials can likewise be utilized to try and out tooth surfaces for better biting or chewing. Filling material are the substances designed to interact with the oral system to treat, repair, augment or replace a tissue function of body. Filling materials can be natural or synthetic, and usually made of multiple components. Dental filling materials can be of gold, ceramics, silver or amalgamated filling used to restore damaged or fractured tissues and tooth decay. Overall sensitivity (mainly affected by enamel loss) can be essentially enhanced or totally disposed of once a suitable dental filling material is utilized to restore the smooth tooth surface. Contingent upon the level of tooth decay, the influenced or harmed tooth may require extra or elective systems, for example, root canal treatment, dental crowns, dental bridges or implants.Request for Table of Contents @The global dental filling material market is expected to be driven by increasing number of dentists and patient awareness and demand. Due to the changing life style people are suffering from various types of oral diseases, leading to the dental conditions. Change in life style conditions is expected to drive the growth of dental filling material market. Other factors driving the growth of dental filling material market includes, increasing investment, grants and funds by government bodies. Increasing number of geriatric population and advancement in the filling material technology is also driving the growth of the market. Inflammatory reactions caused by filling materials, stringent regulation and reluctance of insurance agencies to reimburse dental filling material is challenging the growth of the dental filling material market.The global dental filling material market is expected to show a significant growth over the forecast period. Increasing investment by the companies and rising government funds are expected to drive the growth of the dental filling material market. Growing geriatric population as these are biggest population for the dental filling material and increasing number of dental practitioners are expected to fuel the growth of dental filling material market. The silver amalgam tooth filling material is growing exponentially during the forecast period. Growing trend of dental medical tourism and advancement in the dental products is also expected to drive the growth of the dental filling material market. According to world health organization statistics 60-90% of children and adults are suffering from tooth decay, dental cavities and other dental disorders. Dental filling material market is also expected to be fueled by increasing awareness among patients and changing life style conditions.As fabricated materials has longer period and less chances of getting deteriorated, materials that are engaged as dental fillings are an amalgam, i.e. an alloy of silver, copper, zinc and mercury, a compound resin fillings, porcelain, gold and others. Dental clinics are expected to dominate the end used segment in the global dental filling material market. The healthcare services framework and high per capita salary in the developed nations pushes the interest for dental filling material for corrective and restorative application. The market is required to additionally supplement by positive approaches with respect to reimbursements regarding dental filling procedures and heightened people awareness relating to oral cleanliness. The rising predominance of dental disorders in teeth among the geriatric populace is additionally anticipated that would help the development of the market during the forecast period.The global dental filling material market can be segmented into regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the global dental filling material market over the forecast period. Presence of large number of dental clinics, rising patient awareness and better reimbursement of therapies in the region are expected to be growth driving factors for dental filling materials. Asia Pacific is expected to be fastest growing dental filling material market over the forecast period. Presence of large patient pool, improving healthcare infrastructure and increasing investment on the development of advanced dental products is expected to be growth driving factor for dental filling material market in the region.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Some of the market participants in the global dental filling material market are, DMG Chemisch-Pharmazeutische Fabrik, Coltene Whaledent Dentsply, SDI Limited, Kerr Corporation, GC America, Kuraray Noritake Dental, Pentron Clinical Technologies, DenMat Holdings, Kettenbach and others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Still Images Market Projected to Witness Vigorous Expansion by 2025

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Global Still Images Market Introduction:Still image is any static image. Still image application programming interface (API) is a standardized interface that is utilized for obtaining computerized still images from devices including still image digital camera, handheld scanner, and flatbed scanner. Still images are predominantly used on social media sites, magazines, newspapers, and other media sources. Still images market reports a wide range of applications, particularly in the advertisement industry to make their content more impactful and leap forward the chaos in web-based advertising.Visual communications are effective as it enhances social media efforts, express ideas quickly, provide engaging user experience. Still images market register significant growth rate, owing to rising social media adoption and increasing use of visual content in the advertisements. North America still images market is expected to contribute for major revenue share, attributed to the upsurge in online marketing.Global Still Images Market Dynamics:The growth of the global still images market is driven by easier integration of images on social media and increasing use of visual content in communications as a marketing strategy. Moreover, increasing advertisement industry and increasing popularity of social media also fueling the global still images market. The advantages of still images in marketing and brand determination are crucial, which is fueling the demand for global still images market across the industries.Request for Table of Contents @However, lack of legal regulations and appropriate licensing and declining in the rate of return per image are restraining the still images market across the globe. Major factor trending the global still images market include the adoption of visual content in advertising of a brand and evaluation of the business model. The company operates in the still images market can increase its share through collaboration with end-use industries.Global Still Images Market Segmentation:The global still images market is segmented on the basis of license model type, and region. Based on license model type, the global still images market is further classified into rights-managed still images (RM) and royalty free still images (RF). Among which, rights-managed still images (RM) segment dominated the global still images market with more than 2/3rd of market share, owing to its popularity among industry professionals and its consideration in industry norms. The rights-managed still images (RM) segment also expected to register relatively high CAGR, attributed to an inclination toward rights-managed still images, due to the chances of duplication of images for advertisements by various vendors.Based on license model type, the global still images market is segmented into:Rights-Managed Still Images (RM)Royalty Free RM Still Images (RF)Global Still Images Market Regional Outlook:Based on the geographies, the global still images market is fragmented into seven regions -- North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan, Asia-Pacific except Japan, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Among the regions, North America and Western Europe account for a relatively high share of the still images market in terms of value, attributed to the high demand for rights-managed still images and online marketing across regions.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Eastern Europe and Japan also accounts for significant value share in the global still images market, attributed to growing digital advertisement over the forecast period. The Asia-Pacific accounts for the significant value share in the global still images market with significant growth rate, owing to rapid social media adoption across the region. The developing economy such as Middle East Africa and Latin America have a moderate growth in the global still images market. Overall, the outlook for the global still images market will have a positive growth over the forecast period.Global Still Images Market Player:Few players in the global still images market include Adobe, Getty Images, Shutterstock, Corbis, Alamy, Reuters Pictures, Thinkstock, Photofolio, iStock, Fotosearch, Depositphotos, Dreamstime, 123RF, and AP Images.ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Many people are worried about the large number of "unlinked" cases. But they worry for the wrong reason. It does not really mat...Automotive Drivetrain Market to Record Ascending Growth by 2025

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Global Automotive Drivetrain Market: MarketIntroductionA drivetrain is a group of components that provides power to the driving wheels. The major function of the drivetrain is to couple the engine that produces the power to driving wheels that consume this mechanical power. The precise component of the drivetrain varies according to the type of vehicle. For instance, the manual transmission car, automatic transmission car, front-wheel drive car, four-wheel drive off-road vehicle are the various types of vehicles available in the market.Better vehicle control in unfavorable terrains is expected to increase the demand for automotive drivetrains. For instance, in countries such as U.S., Canada, and Germany, the roads are frequently covered with snow; therefore the vehicle requires extra grip and better traction to be sufficiently under the control of the driver.Global Automotive Drivetrain Market: Market DynamicsThe primary driver of the market is the growing demand for comfort and safety in vehicles. Moreover. the increase in the vehicle production is another major driver for the automotive drivetrain market during the forecast period. For instance, The countries in APEJ such as China, India, and South Korea are the leading countries in terms of vehicle production. The market for front wheel drive vehicles have a larger share in the APEJ market, however, the rear wheel drive and the all-wheel drive vehicle are also growing at a steady rate, thus enhancing the sales for automotive drivetrain market.The increasing usage of electric vehicles is also further expected to enhance the sales for the automotive drivetrain. For instance, according to the International Energy Agency, one million electric cars were sold in 2015. The ambitious targets and policy support have reduced the vehicle costs and have also extended the vehicle range.Request for Table of Contents @However, the key factor restraining the growth of automotive drivetrain is the high adoption and maintenance cost of vehicles equipped with all-wheel drive vehicle. Further, the cost of all-wheel drive systems is costlier compared to conventional front wheel drive and rear wheel drive system. Moreover, the all-wheel drive systems include additional components such as driveshaft, transfer cases, and locking hubs.Automotive Drivetrain: Market SegmentationOn the basis of the vehicle type, the global automotive drivetrain market can be segmented into:Vehicle TypePassenger carsLight Commercial Vehicle(LCV)Heavy Commercial Vehicle(HCV)TrucksBusesElectric Vehicle TypeBattery Electric Vehicle (BEV)Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV)Plug-in-Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV)On the basis of drive type, the global automotive drivetrain market can be segmented into:All-Wheel Drive (AWD) VehicleFront Wheel drive (FWD)Rear-wheel Drive (RWD)On the basis of engine location, the automotive drivetrain market can be further segmented into:Rear EngineFront EngineOn the basis of transmission, the global automotive drivetrain market can be further segmented into:Manual TransmissionAutomatic TransmissionContinuous Variable TransmissionAutomated Manual TransmissionDual-Clutch TransmissionRequest to View Sample of Research Report @Automotive Drivetrain Market: Regional OutlookRegional coverage for automotive drivetrain market includes North America, Latin America, Europe, APEJ, Japan and the Middle East and Africa. Automotive drivetrain witnesses a high demand in APEJ because of the high investments in the region. Changing consumer perceptions in this region boost the growth of the market. Moreover, the automotive drivetrain market is expected to grow significantly in terms of revenue in North America and Europe regionAutomotive Drivetrain: Market PlayersThe market players in Automotive Drivetrain Market are Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd., BorgWarner Inc., Schaeffler Group, Showa Corporation, ZF TRW, GKN plc, JTEKT Corporation, Magna International Inc., Dana Holding Corporation, and American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc.ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:An Above Average CAGR Estimated to be Maintained by Honey Powder Market by 2026

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Honey powder market: IntroductionHoney powder which can be used as a sweetener, is just a powder form of liquid honey. The powder is easier to maintain and can preserve well than a liquid honey. The powder form of honey is preferred to be used while making cakes, pastries and other sweet edible items. It is always a better option than a sticky liquid honey and sugar free powders particularly, which credibility is still questionable. An interesting thing about honey powder is, it has long preserving life, if it stored properly. The global honey powder market is projected to show sustained growth during the 10-year period owing to several factors and trends likely to positively impact the performance of the global honey powder market.Honey powder market: Product usage and benefitsHoney powder can be used in bath and beauty products like facial masks, scrub, soap, lotions etc. It can be sprinkled over cereal or fruit and cakes. Its antiseptic properties heals the small injuries. The most beneficial factor of honey is, it has medicinal quality. As honey powder is better in dissolving in almost any food items so it can also be used in medicines, especially cough syrups. The honey powder has low calories, therefore, it can be added in a cup of tea or a coffee or even in a green tea rather than sugar powders which are less trustworthy. It is completely organic and natural, hence better than artificial sweeteners. Honey powder is slightly cheaper than its liquid form, which can be easily available in a bag in almost all grocery shops.Request for Table of Contents @Honey powder market: TrendsThe organic lifestyle is a fast growing trend. The consumers prefer easy, healthy and environment friendly organic food and natural beauty products. United States, Germany, France, Canada and United Kingdom are some of the countries which have largest market for organic foods. Even the various e-commerce companies are preferring to sell variety of gourmet products and honey powder is one of them.Consumers love for bakery products like cake, muffins, cookies and bread is increasing the demand of honey powder in global market. Not only this, its natural quality of smoothening the skin is also attracting the beauty product manufacturers to make more beauty products using honey powder. Although honey powder is fairly new to the American food market, it has been used in Korean kitchens since long time. It is used as sugar substitute in Korea. These are the main trends likely to be observed in the global honey powder market.Honey powder market: Key market playersChanel, PIAS, Anna Sui, Benefit Cosmetics, Laura Mercier, Guerlain, Max Factor, Shu Uemura, ABLE C & C are the major manufacturers of honey powder.Request to View Sample of Research Report @ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Food Colorants Market to Witness Increase in Revenues by 2024

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Food colorants are coloring additives also known as dye or pigments which are added to food or beverages to impart color and give an attractive appearance to the food and beverages. Food colorants are added in the food and beverages to maintain and improve safety, freshness, nutritional value, taste, texture and appearance of foods and beverages. Natural colorants segment is expected to hold a significant market share in terms of value owing to easily availability of fruits and vegetables. The global food colorants market is anticipated to witness significant CAGR during the forecast period.Global Food Colorants Market: Drivers and RestraintsEasily availability of raw materials such as fruits and vegetables and edible plants, coupled with rising consumer demand for natural colorants, which is driving the growth of global food colorants market. Furthermore, increasing applications of food colorants in food and beverage industry is expected to boost the consumption of food colorants. In addition, increasing consumer demand for processed foods leads to increase consumption of food colorants.However, stringent and expensive certifications and regulations regarding use of food colorants, and side effects associated with synthetic colors on health are expected to limit the growth of global food colorants market.Request for Table of Contents @Global Food Colorants Market: SegmentationThe global food colorants market is segmented on the basis of product type, form type, and application.On the basis of product type, the global food colorants market is segmented into:NaturalBeta caroteneAstaxanthinAnthocyaninsAnnattoNatural IdenticalMixed CaroteneLuteinLycopeneCanthaxanthinCurcuminTitanium DioxideSyntheticBlue No. 1 (Brilliant Blue), and Blue No. 2 (Indigo Carmine)Red No. 2 Citrus, Red Number 3 (Erythrosine B), and Red number 40 (Allura red)Green Number 3 (Fast Green FCF)Yellow Number 5, and Yellow Number 6Orange BCaramelOn the basis of form type, the global food colorants market is segmented into:LiquidPowderGel and PastesOn the basis of application, the global food colorants market is segmented into:FoodDairy and Frozen ProductsBakeryPoultry, Meat, and SeafoodConfectioneryBeveragesCarbonated Soft Drinks (CSD)Alcoholic BeveragesGlobal Food Colorants Market: Regional OutlookBased on the geographies, the global food colorants market is segmented into five key regions, namely North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America is anticipated to dominate among all the regions owing to increasing demand for food colorants in US and Canada. Europe is expected to hold the market share of global food colorants market at a second position in terms of value. This is attributed to increasing consumer awareness for natural products coupled with regulatory support for coloring food stuff in European countries.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Owing to the increase in consumption of processed and ready to eat foods in India and China, the Asia-Pacific market is anticipated to contribute significantly to the global food colorants market. The Latin America and MEA regions are expected to contribute collectively in the global food colorants market.This is due to the increasing disposable incomes coupled with changing lifestyles in Brazil, GCC countries and South Africa which is fuelling the consumption of processed foods, resulting in an increase in demand for food colorants.Global Food Colorants Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players identified in the global food colorants market includeCargill IncorporatedBASF SEKoninklijke DSM N.V.FMC CorporationDDW The Colour HouseHansen Holding A/SGNT GroupNaturexLycoredSan-Ei Gen F.F.I., Inc.Sensient Colors LLCSethness Caramel ColorWILD Flavors and Specialty IngredientsRIKEN VITAMIN Co., Ltd.ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Augmented Expansion to be Registered by Savoury Yogurt Market by 2024

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Savoury yogurt is made from locally sourced milk, probiotic cultures, and sea salt, which is an excellent source of protein. Savoury yogurt is vegetarian, gluten free, and also consists of lactose in less percentage (less than 5%). Savoury yogurt is used as a part of meal or on the social or traditional occasions. Savoury yogurt is used to enhance the meal or to enhance the taste. Grass-fed milk is mainly used in the production of savoury yogurt to enhance the flavor (natural), which is also a source of Omega-3 fatty acids with powerful anti-inflammatory properties. The global savoury yogurt market is anticipated to register significant CAGR during the forecast period.Global Savoury Yogurt Market: Drivers, Restraints, and TrendsChanging attitude of customers towards savoury yogurt and other healthy food is heavily influencing the global savoury yogurt market. Furthermore, increasing consumer demand for savoury yogurt, increase in consumer disposable income, and change in consumer taste preferences owing to increase in number of flavors are fuelling the demand for savoury yogurt across the globe. In addition, worldwide increase in vegan population and growing consumer awareness regarding health benefits of savoury yogurt is expected to boost the demand for savoury yogurt.However, higher cost of savoury yogurt is limiting the growth of global savoury yogurt market.Manufacturers of savoury yogurt are focused on innovations in the flavors, and using grass-fed milk for savory yogurt production, are identified as key trends.Request for Table of Contents @Global Savoury Yogurt Market: SegmentationThe global savoury yogurt market is segmented on the basis of flavor type, distribution channel, and application.On the basis of flavor type, the global savoury yogurt market is segmented into:StrawberryBlackberryMangoTomatoSweet PotatoButternut SquashOther (Apricot, Black Cherry, Orange, Blueberry, Carrot, Beet, Apple etc.)Based on the distribution channel, the global savoury yogurt market is segmented into:Supermarkets or HypermarketsIndependent RetailersConvenience StoresOn the basis of application, the global savoury yogurt market is segmented into:Food & BeverageConfectioneryGlobal Savoury Yogurt Market: Regional OutlookBased on the geographies, the global savoury yogurt market is segmented into five key regions, namely North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to dominate among the regions for savoury yogurt market.This is due to increase in number of manufacturers in the US. In addition, increasing consumer demand for flavors such as Chipotle Pineapple and Sriracha Mango in US is driving the savoury yogurt market. Growing population in India and China coupled with healthy economic outlook creates a significant opportunity for growth of Savory yogurt market in Asia Pacific region.Europe is expected to follow Asia Pacific region, this is attributed to increase in consumer disposable income and consumer demand for savory yogurts in France, Germany and UK. Additionally, Germany and UKs consumers are used to eat savory yogurt as a part of meal. Latin America and MEA are anticipated to witness modest growth rate over the forecast period, this is attributed to the rise in health awareness and demand for nutritious and healthy food, and changing lifestyle in Brazil, South Africa and GCC countries.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Global Savoury Yogurt Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players identified in the global savoury yogurt market includeNestleBlue Hill, Inc.Sohha Savory YogurtChobani, LLCConAgra Foods, Inc.General Mills, Inc.YoplaitStonyfield Farm, Inc.Wallaby Yogurt CompanySmari OrganicsThe Chaat Company, LLCABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Seaweed Market Poised to Garner Maximum Revenues During 2016-2024

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Seaweed is species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae, which are found in oceans and seas across the globe. The hydrocolloids such as alginate, agar, and carrageenan, gelatinous substances are extracted from seaweed. Seaweed is beneficial to health to fight against illness and diseases. Seaweed is used in food, medicines, cosmetics and organic fertilizers and feed additives. The red seaweed is a source for carrageenan hydrocolloid, which is highly used in food industry owing to its improved gelling and thickening property. The red seaweed segment is anticipated to dominate among the product type segment, due to the increasing demand for agar and carrageenan from the food industry.The brown seaweeds is expected to follow red seaweeds owing to the growing use of brown seaweed in animal feed additives and fertilizers. On the basis of form type, the liquid form seaweed is expected to account for larger market share in terms of value and volume, this is owing to rising demand from agriculture and pharmaceutical industries across the globe. On the other hand, the human food segment is expected to hold significant market share among the application segment, this is due to increase in seaweed consumption in human food coupled with increasing demand for seaweed derived snacks. The global seaweed market is anticipated to witness significant CAGR during the forecast period.Global Seaweed Market: Drivers, Restraints, and TrendsIncreasing consumption of seaweed as a food extract, medical use, and for bio-refining is expected to drive the demand for seaweed. Furthermore, growing consumer awareness regarding nutritional benefits of seaweed, rising demand for alginate in food, pharmaceutical industries is expected to boost the growth of global seaweed market. In addition, increasing demand for seaweed derived snacks is anticipated to fuel the demand for seaweed.However, lack of awareness of harvesting various species of seaweed among the manufactures is expected to hinder the growth of global seaweed market.Key trends are observed in the production of seaweeds are, the manufacturers are implementing growth strategies such as merger and acquisition, partnership, and agreement.Request for Table of Contents @Global Seaweed Market: SegmentationThe global seaweed market is segmented on the basis of product type, form type, and application.On the basis of product type, the global seaweed market is segmented into:Red SeaweedBrown SeaweedGreen SeaweedOn the basis of form type, the global seaweed market is segmented into:LiquidPowderedFlakesOn the basis of application, the global seaweed market is segmented into:Food and BeveragesAgricultureAnimal Feed AdditivesPharmaceutical and BiotechnologicalOther (Aquaculture, Biomass for Fuel, and Wastewater Treatment)Global Seaweed Market: Regional OutlookBased on the geographies, the global seaweed market is segmented into five key regions, namely North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. Owing to the increase in harvesting and consumption of seaweed in China, Japan and Indonesia, the Asia Pacific seaweed market is anticipated to hold major revenue market share. North America and Europe is anticipated to collectively, contribute in the global seaweed market, this is due to increasing seaweed harvesting coupled with consumption in US, Germany, UK and France.Also, rising demand for seaweed in food industries coupled with increasing investments in R&D activities by key manufacturers in US, and increasing popularity for seaweed baths coupled with increasing use of seaweed in German beer (contains agars, carrageenans and alginates) in Germany and UK are making these regions as favorable regions. Owing to growing consumer awareness regarding medical and other benefits of seaweeds in Brazil, GCC countries and South Africa, the Latin America and MEA are expected to witness modest growth rate.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Global Seaweed Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players identified in the global seaweed market includeCargill, IncorporatedDuPonAcadian Seaplants Limited (ASL)Biostadt India LimitedBrandt Consolidated, Inc.COMPO Expert GmbHGelymarLonza Group Ltd.Marinalg InternationalOcean Harvest TechnologyOcean Rainforest Sp/FQingdao Bright Moon Group Co., Ltd.Groupe RoullierSeasolTBK Manufacturing CorporationW Hydorcolloids Inc.CP KelcoHigh Hope Foods (Nanjing) Co., Ltd.ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Carmine Market Expansion Projected to Gain an Uptick During 2017-2025

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Global Carmine Market: IntroductionCarmine market can be defined as a natural color additive extracted from the bug coccus cacti that gives food a deep, dark red color which is slightly purple. Carmine is also known as Cochineal Extract. The dye processed from the cochineal bug is collected, killed by immersion, and then dried. The shade of red color that results depends on whether it is dried using the sun, steam, or an oven. Basically, carmine is a red dye that comes from the crushed shell of female beetles. Carmine is a coloring agent which is obtained from the dried bodies and shells of a cochineal which is the aluminum lake of the coloring principle. Cochineal bug is also named true bug. This acid is processed further to produce the carmine, which used by several known food industries to color their food in red.Cochineal bug attaches itself to specific varieties of cactus like opuntia or nopalea which is found in semi-arid areas of Chile, Peru, Bolivia, the Canary Islands and Mexico which is used as a coloring agent in dehydrated and canned soups, frozen meat & fish, various types of drinks, canned fruits like cherries & jams, ketchup and others.Global Carmine Market: SegmentationCarmine market can be segmented on the basis of end-use industries, forms, and by regions. Based on applications, carmine is segmented into food & beverages, bakery & confectionary, cosmetics, dairy & frozen products, textile dyes, meat products, cake icing, hard candy, pharmaceuticals coating, personal care and others. Others include niche industries like crayons, floor waxes & paint manufacturers. Dairy & frozen products are the foremost segment of carmine market due to its major use in dairy products like chocolate milk, drinking yogurt, whey-based drinks, eggnog, etc.Request for Table of Contents @Bakery & confectionary is the second is the second major global market after dairy & frozen products followed by cosmetic products. Carmine is found in various cosmetics products like nail polish, eye shadow, shampoos, lipsticks, rouges, and blushes. Cosmetics segment is expected to expand at relatively high CAGR owing to the wide use of carmine in cosmetics products. Based upon forms, carmine market is segmented into powder and liquid form.Global Carmine Market: Regional OutlookOn the basis of the geographical market segment, it is segmented into seven different regions: North America, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia-Pacific region, Japan and the Middle East and Africa. In regional segments, Europe is expected to hold relatively high share in terms of volume over the forecast period due to stringent regulations as the European government banned the usage of synthetic colors. North America & Asia Pacific region is expected to witness relatively high growth in the carmine market over the forecast period as increasing demand for natural colorants in food & beverage industry.Global Carmine Market: DriversThe global carmine market is expected to witness sustained growth over the forecast period. The growth of carmine market is driven by its wide application in the food and beverage industry is the key factor to drive the carmine market globally. Moreover, rising application of carmine in cosmetic and pharmaceutical is anticipated to boost the carmine market in future. Other factors attributable to the high growth includes increasing health concerns, growing awareness and to reduce the usage of artificial colorants in food and beverages contributes significantly to its volume growth over the foreseeable period.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Global Carmine Market: Key PlayersSome of the players operating in the carmine market include Amerilure, Inc., The Hershey Company, DDW Color House, Sensient Colors Europe GmbH and Proquimac, MIGUZ International, PROQUIMAC COLOR S.L. and few other regional players. In order to meet the increasing demand of carmine, companies all over the world are expanding the product portfolio and increase the sales strategies. The companies are also focusing on different strategies in order to maintain the market share in the global carmine market.ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Hop Extracts Market Estimated to Record Highest CAGR by 2025

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Hop Extracts is a brewing component used commonly in making beer for commercial and personal purposes. In the year 2000, a journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry listed hops as anti-oxidant. Later in 2005, Journal of Molecular Nutrition listed Hops as Anti-Infective. Due to its properties, Hops became a critical ingredient in beer production and achieved a significant role in the same. In 1405, Hops was first legalized in Flanders (currently Belgium) which witnessed high growth in production since then. In 1516, REINHEITSGEBOT (German Beer Purity Law) passed a bill in Bavaria State of Germany which requires only water, barley malt, hops, and yeast may be used for crafting beer. This is one of the oldest law still applied globally.Almost all the countries have a market for Hop and Hop Extracts. During the time, many unique Hop Extracts are developed in order to satisfy the taste buds of people and their preferences. Hops are used to give flavor, aroma, color and taste to a beer when mixed in appropriate proportions during the brewing process. While many factors create overall beer flavors, hops will have the biggest impact on how beer is perceived. Hop Extracts market is strong in Americas and Europe because a large portion of the population consumes beer which is driving the Hop Extracts market. While a large population of APEJ and MEA still don't drink alcoholic beverages which have restricted the Hop Extracts market in these regions.However, countries like India, have shown significant growth in beer consumption; India is the most growing beer market in the world is likely to become next home of many international Hop Extracts producers in next 5 to 10 years. Although, India doesnt produce Hops which create a great opportunity for companies to start producing hops in the country. Apart from India, China and Hong Kong are also one of the most growing markets of Hop Extracts in APEJ region due to their historical relation with beer. Hop Extracts market is expected to witness an escalating demand among the consumers because of its significant use and increasing presence of beer, ale and other beverages throughout the globe.Request for Table of Contents @Hop Extracts: Market DynamicsGrowing demand for beer and ale is driving the Hop Extracts market globally. Consumers all around the world are getting attracted towards Hop Extracts because of its ease and low production costs which is driving the market. Hop extracts save time and energy while producing beer. Hops are generally added in Wort in order to give bittering, aroma and flavour to beer. Countries like China, India, and Hong Kong, are the future markets for alcoholic beverage and thus a promising market for Hop Extracts.Perception towards alcoholic beverage in the Middle East and APEJ is changing, and with the rise of per capita income, people changed their way of living and shifted towards beer from fruit juices. Hop Extracts serves best for the purpose of brewing when one needs to save time which won't be possible without Hop Extracts. Hence, Hop Extracts market is expected to grow during the forecast period due to its versatile benefits.However, Hop Extracts comes along with some restraints. Hop Extracts cannot be easily found in developing markets. Most of the people have no knowledge of Hop Extracts in most of the countries which is a big restraint for this market because of limited advertisement. People also fears of dangers such as change in alcoholic content, conversion of liquid to poison or acid and others that they perceive in using Hop extracts instead of pellets or hop fruit.Hop Extracts market has an opportunity to expand in APEJ and MEA region. In the past decade, hundreds of Hop Extracts players entered China because of decent Hop production in the country and all of them are doing great. There is a need to increase the presence throughout the region.Hop Extracts: Market SegmentationHop Extracts market can be segmented on the basis of types, which include:OilPelletsAromaHop Extracts market can be segmented on the basis of Hop variety, which include:CascadeNuggetWillametteCitraCrystalClusterCentennialOthers (Chinook, Columbus, Mosaic, etc.)Hop Extracts market can be segmented on the basis of Applications, which include:BrewingHerbal TreatmentPharmaceuticalRequest to View Sample of Research Report @Hop Extracts: Segment OutlookHop Extracts market can be segmented on the basis of type which includes oil, pellets and aroma. Hop Oil is the most commonly used ingredient in beer. Hop Extracts market can be segmented on the basis of Hop variety which includes Cascade, Nugget, Willamette, Citra, Crystal, Cluster, Centennial and Others (Chinook, Columbus, Mosaic, etc.). Hop Extracts market can also be segmented on the basis of types of applications which includes brewing, herbal treatment and pharmaceutical.Hop Extracts: Regional OutlookRegional coverage for Hop Extracts market includes North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). Hop Extracts market witnesses a high demand in North America and Europe because of the high consumption of beers in the region. However, the Hop Extracts market is expected to grow significantly in APEJ region as consumers have widely adopting beer and ale.Hop Extracts: Market PlayersThe market players in Hop Extracts market are Hopsteiner, BSG, Northern Brewers, The Malt Miller, MoreBeer, Charles faram and many more.ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Autonomous Farm Equipment Market worth nearly US$ 170,000Mn by 2026

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Agriculture is one amongst the most overbearing industry since the beginning of human civilization. Constant growth in population, increasing need for food, fuel and feed is anticipated to influence trifold of the present-day cultivation. For this purpose, strategies such as initiation of autonomous farming and mechanization are adopted on a larger basis for yielding more from the constrained arable land. Increasing labor shortage and changing trends for the use of autonomous equipment are driving the demand for autonomous farm equipment. Development of IoT along with GPS systems application has transformed the agriculture industry.High cost essential for the improvement of the equipment performance is likely to affect the product penetration. However, industry players are working towards reducing the total cost by making it affordable, which ultimately will increase the product penetration. M&A are amongst the foremost stratagems executed by the manufactures, in order to form exceptional foot hold in farm equipment industry. Moreover, the equipment provides less downtime and can be utilized even during night as well as extreme fog condition. Autonomous farm equipment provides with outstanding fuel efficiency, compared to standard counterparts and has less chances for errors. Variable climatic conditions and challenges like water shortage are dealt with the help of these equipment.Request for Table of Contents @The report indicates that revenues from the global autonomous farm equipment market will increase at an impressive 13.6% CAGR during the forecast period, 2017-2026. The report further projects global sales of autonomous farm equipment to account for revenues worth nearly US$ 170,000Mn by 2026-end.31100 HP Output Power of Farm Tractors to Gain Traction during the Forecast Period : U.S., India and China are amongst the topmost countries witnessing maximum sales of farm tractors. 31100 HP output power of farm tractors holds nearly 34.5% of the global market for autonomous farm equipment throughout 2026. Canada and U.S. contribute largely towards the growth of the segment. Factors such as low cost in comparison to restricted agricultural land for each farmer and superior horsepower farm tractors will drive fuel the market for medium and small range farm tractors in North America and APEJ.APEJs Autonomous Farm Equipment Market to Hold the Lions Share in Global Market by Expanding at Exceptional 14.1% CAGRThe market size of APEJs autonomous farm equipment is expected to reach a value of US$ 65165.8Mn throughout 2026, due to strong existence of well-known industry competitors in the region. High revenue production can be credited to rolling demand of products like tractors, harvesters and UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), installed with auto steering operations. North Americas market for autonomous farm equipment is likely to depict momentous growth through 2026. Increasing product use in the region provides better fuel proficiency and higher productivity, which will drive the growth of industry players. Varying trend with regards to smart devices due to expansion of agrarian economies like India, will positively impact the product penetration in APEJ region.Request to View Sample of Research Report @In terms of revenues, partially autonomous equipment contribute significantly to the global market for autonomous farm equipment, subject to their extensive commercialization & competitive pricing. Tractors are expected to lead the market for autonomous farm equipment, in terms of revenue share, contributing nearly 30% sales by 2026. Availability of equipment at competitive price together with exclusive features such as finest path selection and prevention from overlapping paths will positively impact the product penetration.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Baby Food Market to surpass US$ 60.04 billion by 2025

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Baby food is soft and easily consumed food product, especially developed for infants to toddlers, aging between four months to two years, in order to fulfill their nutritional requirements. Based on the form, baby food is majorly classified into powder, liquid and solid. The powdered form of baby food is used by mixing it with water before feeding the infant and it is the least expensive form of baby food. Further, solid baby food include infant cereals and other bland fare.Request Sample Copy of this Report:The major factors propelling the growth of this market include rising health awareness to provide nutrition regarding the overall development of the baby. In addition to this, growing number of women in the workforce and lactating problems in women including breast engorgement and nipple infection caused by staphylococcus aureus, have propelled the adoption of baby food products across the globe. Furthermore, rapid urbanization and rising popularity of organic baby food, is supporting the growth of global baby food market.However, the declining birth rate in developed countries is a major challenge to the market growth of baby food. According to the World Bank Group, birthrates around the world declined by 45% on average, between 1960 and 2013.Based on source type, organic baby food is expected to record fastest growth, witnessing highest CAGR during the forecast period. This is majorly due to the increasing demand among parents to offer adequate and best nutrition for the babies. The organic baby food is gaining popularity worldwide, as parents are becoming more concerned about the harmful chemicals present in the inorganic baby foods, in the form of artificial colors, sweeteners, flavors, pesticides and fertilizers.View More Information:Based on distribution channel, the market is segmented into hypermarkets, supermarkets, drugstores, online channel, specialty stores and others. Supermarket, contributed the largest share in the global baby food market in 2016. However, the online channel is supposed to grow rapidly during the forecast period, owing to the technological advancements and increasing internet penetration in emerging economies.In 2016, Asia Pacific dominated the baby food market in terms of revenue and accounted for a share of 37.66%, with China, India, New Zealand, Japan, Australia and Indonesia being the major contributor for baby food market growth in Asia Pacific. China dominated this market in 2016, owing to the increasing demand for safe and quality milk formula in the country. In addition to this, the growing birth rate in China is also expected to support the growth of baby food market. According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China, birth rate in China, had increased by 7.9% in 2016 due to the end of one-child policy that was first introduced in 1979 and formally phased out in 2015.Request For Customization @Latin America is anticipated to be the fastest growing market for baby food, witnessing highest CAGR of 7.21% during the forecast period (2017 - 2025). In 2016, Brazil dominated the baby food market and was followed by Mexico and Argentina. According to the Coherent Market Insights, Brazil has the largest child population in the region and recorded a continuous increase in crude birth rate since 2009. The major factors propelling the growth of baby food market in Latin America, include the steadily developing primary and secondary health care applied to marginal urban and rural population. This in turn, reducing the infant mortality in Latin America and thereby contributing in the overall growth of this market in the region. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), the numbers of deaths under age five years declined fastest in Latin America between 2000 and 2015.Major companies operating in the global baby food market include Nestle S.A., Groupe Danone, Abbott Laboratories, Hain Celestial Group, Kraft Heinz Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hero Group, Morinaga Milk Industry Co. Ltd., and Cargill Inc.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact UsMr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Web Content Management Market Accounting for US$ 8,500 Mn in 2022

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Web content management systems enable the users to create, edit and publish digital content such as text, video and/or audio files that are embedded with the text and interactive graphics that make up the content of any presentable website. Such kinds of web content management systems allow the users to upload and write content who dont possess any coding skills by offering theme-based templates that contains a unique design.The advantage of a web content management system is that multiple users can manage and monitor web content. Such kind of users may be from the digital marketing team or the creative team. Some web content management systems can integrate themselves with marketing software, third party tools or analytics programs. All such functionality is provided in a content management system in order to ensure that content presented in a website is interactive, simple and enhances the brand image of an organization.Request for Table of Contents @The global web content management market is slated to touch a value of about US$ 8,500 Mn in the year 2022 and grow at a robust CAGR during the assessment period.4 Forecast Highlights on Global Web Content Management Market : As per the forecast of Persistence Market Research, the services component type segment is slated to touch a value of nearly US$ 2,500 Mn in the year 2022. This represents a robust CAGR growth during the assessment period of 2017-2022. The services component type segment is estimated to account for more than one-fourth of the revenue share of the component type segment by the year 2017 and is forecasted to gain market share by 2022 over 2017.As per the forecast of Persistence Market Research, the healthcare segment will reach a value of about US$ 700 Mn in the year 2017. This represents a robust CAGR growth during the forecast period. The healthcare segment is forecasted to account for more than one-tenth of the total revenue share of the industry segment by the end of the year 2017 and is expected to gain in market share by 2022 as compared with the year 2017.As per the forecast of Persistence Market Research, the on-premises segment is slated to reach a value of more than US$ 5,200 Mn in 2022. The on-premises segment is expected to lose market share by the end of the year 2022. The largest share is contributed by the North America region in the on-premises segment. Persistence Market Research forecasts the U.S. web content management market to exhibit a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 9% from 2017 to 2022.Request to View Sample of Research Report @The report has also included the profiles of some of the leading companies in the web content management market like Acquia, Inc., Adobe Systems, Inc., Open Text Corporation, SDL plc, Oracle Corporation, Sitecore A/S, Kentico Software s.r.o., Microsoft Corporation, EPiServer AB, and IBM Corporation.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Global Cocoa Market Report, by Source Type, and by Geography - Trends and Forecast to 2025

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Cocoa bean, also called as cacao bean are dried, fully fermented, and processed to extract cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, and cocoa powder. Forastero, trinitario, and criollo are the three main varieties of cocoa plant. Forastero beans are most widely consumed and comprises around 85% of the world production of cocoa.Major factors propelling growth of the market include growing demand for chocolate and chocolate coatings worldwide. Moreover, wide applicability of cocoa products such as cocoa butter, liquor, and powder, is considered as another factor supporting the overall growth of the market. Cocoa is extensively used in various products, including drinking chocolate, dark chocolate, sweet chocolate, baking chocolate, and milk chocolate. Cocoa products contains high flavonoids concentration, which helps in reducing cardiovascular problems.To get holistic sample of the report including table of contents@However, declining soil fertility, changing climate and weather conditions is adversely affecting the productivity of cocoa beans. According to the World Cocoa Foundation, variation in climate conditions significantly impacts the cultivation of cocoa in a number of ways including pest infestation and reduction in pod weight. Furthermore, the changing climatic conditions will lead to shrinkage of cocoa growing areas in leading cocoa producing countries such as Cote dIvoire and Ghana. This stands as one of the major factor restraining growth of the global cocoa market.Europe held a dominant position, in terms of revenue, in the global cocoa market and is expected to maintain its dominance over the forecast period, witnessing highest CAGR among all. According to the Center for the Promotion of Imports (CBI), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in 2016, Europe accounted for more than half of global cocoa bean imports, with Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium being the largest importers in the region. Furthermore, the Netherlands is the major direct importer of cocoa beans from emerging economies such as Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Peru. According to CBI, European countries such as Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, and Slovakia recorded highest annual growth rate in cocoa bean importing from emerging economies between 2010 and 2014. Moreover, the rising demand for specialty chocolate is fuelling demand for fine flavor cocoa in Europe. This in turn, supporting the overall growth of cocoa market in the region.For More Information:Among source types, organic cocoa is expected to record the fastest growth, witnessing highest CAGR during the forecast period. Organic cocoa accounted for a small share in the cocoa market in 2016. Increasing demand for organic cocoa due to the increasing concern regarding the food safety coupled with environmental concerns among consumers.Based on applications, the cocoa market is segmented into bakery items, beverages, confectionary, cosmetics, functional foods, and pharmaceutical. Among applications, confectionary segment held a dominant position in the market in 2016, and is expected to maintain its dominance over the forecast period, witnessing highest CAGR among all. Cocoa is largely been used in confectionary application, as a colorant and flavor ingredient. Moreover, cocoa powder used in confectionary application increases the nutritional values and the shelf life of the end product.Based on product types, the cocoa market is segmented into cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, and cocoa powder, with cocoa liquor being the major contributor in the growth of global cocoa market in 2016. Cocoa liquor is a pure chocolate and is a mixture of cocoa butter and cocoa powder. It is the key raw material for dark chocolate and milk chocolate. Moreover, it is also used in desserts, drinks, bakery products, ice cream, and ice cream coatings.Based on process, the market is segmented into dutch and natural process. Dutch process segment held a dominant position in the cocoa market in 2016. It is a type of cocoa that have been washed in the alkaline solution of potassium carbonate, in order to neutralize its acidity. The process also confer a darker color to cocoa powder.Major players operating in the global cocoa market include Archer Daniels Midland, Blommer Chocolate Company, Barry Callebaut, Cargill Inc., Cocoa Processing Company, Mars Incorporated, Carlyle Cocoa, The Hershey Company, Puratos Group, Lindt & Sprungli, and United Cocoa Processor Inc.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact UsMr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702News Website:Future of High Fructose Corn Syrup Market in Global Industry 2023

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Global High Fructose Corn Syrup market was valued at US$ 4.57 billion in 2016, according to Global High Fructose Corn Syrup Market Report by Type (HFCS 42, HFCS 55, HFCS 65 and HFCS 90), by End-Use Industry (Food Industry, Beverage Industry, Pharmaceuticals and Others) published by Coherent Market Insights. The high fructose corn syrup market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 3.64% over the forecast period (20172025) to reach US$ 6.28 billion by 2025.Major factors propelling growth of the global high fructose corn syrup market includes its greater compatibility with acidic food and beverages. Moreover, HFCS does not contain color ingredients or artificial ingredients, which is another key factor responsible for the growth of the market. However, rising concerns regarding health and wellbeing, coupled with the changing lifestyle have allowed the consumers to shift to low calorie sweeteners, which is a key factor restraining the growth of the market currently.To know the latest trends and insights prevalent in this market, click the link below:Browse 100 market data tables* and 40 figures* on "High Fructose Corn Syrup Market- Global forecast to 2025.Key Trends and Analysis of High Fructose Corn Syrup Market:Based on types, the HFSC 42 segment is anticipated to witness the fastest growth in the global high fructose corn syrup market through 2025. This is majorly attributed to the increasing demand for HFCS 42 from the food and beverage industry. According to USDA (US Department of Agriculture), in 2017, major HFCS 42 users include 42% of the beverage industry, 22% of the manufacturers of processed food, 14% of the bakery and cereal producers, 12% of the multiple-use food manufacturers, 9% of the dairy industry and 1% of the confectionery industry.Among the end-use industries, the beverage industry was the dominant segment in the global high fructose corn syrup market in 2016 and is expected to retain market dominance throughout the forecast period. This can be attributed to the increasing consumption of carbonated beverages among the populace. According to Parliament of India, National Informatics Centre, North America accounts for the largest market of about 27% of the worlds carbonated drinks sales with per capita consumption of 48 gallons per year.Ask for detailed Sample of the Research Report @*The Sample consists of Table of Content, Research framework of the actual report & research methodology adopted for it.Key Takeaways of the Market:North America was the dominant region in the global high fructose corn syrup market in 2016 with a market share of 37.33% in the same year and is expected to maintain its supremacy throughout the forecast period. U.S is the major contributor to the growth of this market in North America. According to USDA, the per capita consumption of HFCS in 2013 was 25.7 lbs/yr, which has decreased to 24 lbs/yr in 2016. This is due to the consumers being more health conscious and shifting their preference towards the consumption of low calorie products, which is responsible for market slowdown at present.Europe was the second largest market for high fructose corn syrup accounting for a revenue of US$ 1.54 billion in 2016. According to Birmingham Food Council, in 2015 the European Unions total production of high fructose corn syrup was 700,000 tons. However the high fructose corn syrup market in Europe is expected to have a declining market share, owing to the stringent government regulations, regarding limiting added sugar content in the food and beverage industry. Asia Pacific is projected to record the fastest growth for high fructose corn syrup during the forecast period. This is due to the increasing intake of sweetened food and beverage products among the populace.Major players in the global high fructose corn syrup market include Archer Daniels Midland Company, Cargill Inc., Tate & Lyle, Global Sweeteners Holdings Limited, Ingredion Incorporated, Showa Sangyo, Japan Corn Starch Co., Ltd., Kerry Group, COFCO Rongshi Bio-technology Co. Ltd and various others.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact UsMr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Tomato Seeds Market: Current Trends and Industry Growth 2025

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Tomato is cultivated in temperate climates and greenhouses. They are used in various cuisines and have significant demand from the food industry. Increasing demand for various hybrid seeds due to its advantages such as fruit firmness, early maturity, high yield, and flavor is propelling the growth of tomato seeds market. Development of new varieties such as grape tomatoes are also fueling the growth of this market. Also, increasing awareness regarding health benefits of tomatoes such as reduction in risk of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and others has augmented the demand for tomatoes, which in turn is propelling the growth of tomato seeds market. Furthermore, increasing demand for tomatoes by the food processing industry for the production of paste, juice, sauce, ketchup, and others is driving the growth of tomato seeds market. However, perishable nature of tomato seeds and high initial investments are some of the barriers for tomato seeds market.Get More Deatils:Tomato Seeds -Market Taxonomy:On the basis of product type, tomato seeds market is segmented into:Hybrid Tomato Seeds,Open Pollinated Tomato Seeds,Heirloom Tomato SeedsOn the basis of farming, tomato seeds market is segmented into:Farmland,Greenhouses,OthersDifferent hybrid, open pollinated, and heirloom tomato seeds are available for different varieties of tomatoes such as cherry tomato, roma tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes and others.Tomato Seeds -Market OutlookNorth America region is the largest tomato seeds market due to the lucrative demand for tomatoes from the fresh and processed food industry. According to the Vegetables and Pulses Yearbook, 2017, U.S. Department of Agriculture (U.S.DA), total production of tomatoes in the U.S. was 3,129.4 million pounds in 2016. The per capita utilization of tomatoes for processing was 56 pounds per person in 2015, which increased to 61.2 in 2016. Also, per capita utilization of fresh tomatoes was 20.5 pounds per person in 2015, which increased to 21.3 pounds per person in 2016. Furthermore, the U.S. has significant demand for canned tomatoes, which in turn is driving the growth of tomato seeds market. For instance, per capita use of tomatoes for canning in 2015 was 56.3 pounds, which increased to 61.2 pounds.Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region in tomato seeds market with China being the largest producer of tomatoes, followed by India. Tomatoes have significant demand from the food processing industry in this region. According to the report published by Deutsche Gesellschaft Fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit GMBH (GIZ) in 2016, demand for the tomato processed food in India is annually increasing by 30, owing to increasing demand for ketchup, pasta sauce, ready-to-eat products, gravies and bulk supplies to fast food restaurants, hotel chains, and retail food chain. According to the survey conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India in June 2016, the demand for tomato puree and ketchup has surged by 40% due to surging prices of fresh tomato and trend towards easy-to-cook meals. This growth in tomato processing industry is driving the growth of tomato seeds market.Demand for tomato seeds is significantly increasing in Europe due to increasing demand for tomatoes by food industry. According to European Commission, approximately 17.9 million tons of tomatoes were produced in European Union in 2016. Italy and Spain were the major contributors and produced two third of the total tomato production in EU.Ask for detailed Sample of the Research Report @*The Sample consists of Table of Content, Research framework of the actual report & research methodology adopted for it.The companies operating in the tomato seeds market are adopting various growth strategies such as new product development, merger and acquisition, and partnerships for business expansion. For instances, in 2017, Monsanto Company launched Seminis tomato hybrid seeds. In 2016, Advanta Limited announced partnership with A&M AgriLife Research for the development of seed technology for cash crops such as tomato.Key players operating in the tomato seeds market include Monsanto Company, Bayer AG, Syngenta AG, Takii & Co. Ltd., Group Limagrain, Advanta Limited, Rijk Zwaan Zaadteelt en Zaadhandel B.V., VoloAgri Group, Sakata Seed Corporation, and Mahindra Agri Solution Limited.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact UsMr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Increasing Demand for Probiotics due to the Associated Health Benefits Drives Bacillus Subtilis Market

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Global Bacillus Subtilis Market Outlook:Western European economies of Germany, U.K., and France are the major contributors to the growth of the bacillus subtilis market for waste water treatment. According to World Health Organization (WHO), in 2015, out of 912 million people living in the WHO European region, more than 60 million people were devoid of proper water sanitation facilities and an additional 14 million people did not have access to safe drinking water. Increasing awareness about waterborne diseases is expected to propel the growth of bacillus subtilis market in near future.Bacillus subtilis is utilized in applications such as feed additives, pesticides, and starch processing which directly cater to the food industry. Increasing demand for food & beverages in Asia Pacific economies such as China and India has in turn boosted Bacillus subtilis market growth. With a population of 1.3 billion, China has surpassed the U.S. as the worlds largest consumer of food and beverages. According to the China Britain Trade Council, the food industry in China had overall turnover of US$ 514 Bn in 2014. According to the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), the food processing industry in India was valued at US$ 258 Bn in 2015. These factors are expected to fuel the growth of the bacillus subtilis marketSample Copy of This Report@The pharmaceutical industry in India and China is thriving due to a population boom in these countries. The economies together accounted for 36% of the worlds population in 2016. The low cost of labor and raw materials for pharmaceuticals has resulted in India becoming a hub for pharmaceutical manufacturing. According to the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), India accounted for 20% of the worlds supply of generic drugs. Also, with government initiatives such as Pharma Vision 2020, the pharmaceutical industry is slated to grow in India. This is expected to result in increased pharmaceutical applications where the microbe is used as an antigen bearer and thrombolytic agent.Key factors driving the growth of the market include an increasing demand for probiotics due to the associated health benefits with its consumption such as increased immunity, gut health, and reduced risk of cancer. Also, increasing demand for enzymes in leather, starch, paper and textile applications has bolstered market growth of bacillus subtilis.Global Bacillus Subtilis Market Taxonomy:By Product Type:< 100 Billion CFU/g, 100-300 Billion CFU/g, >300 Billion CFU/gBy Application:Cleaning AgentStarch Processing, Waste Water Treatment, Pollution Treatment, Pesticide, Feed Additive, Probiotic Drink, Pharmaceutical, OthersBacillus subtilis is utilized for foliar application using conventional spray equipment. It is compatible with most of the commonly applied fertilizers and pesticides. In pharmaceuticals, bacillus subtilis strains are utilized in the bacterial vaccines as antigen bearers and antigen cellular manufactories. These drinks are particularly popular in South Korea and Japan due to traditional predilection towards consumption of therapeutic foods and beverages. Furthermore, the bacterium is also used as a feed additive to poultry and livestock feed. The consumption of bacillus subtilis by poultry has been observed to lead to improved gut health and resistance to diseases.Request To View Table of Content:Major players in the bacillus subtilis market include Bayer AG, BASF SE, Jocanima Corporation, Tonglu Huifeng, Kernel Bio-tech, Wuhan Nature's Favour Bioengineering Co., Ltd., Real IPM, ECOT China, and Qunlin.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact UsMr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comPublic Cloud System Infrastructure Services Market to Spread a Predictable Worth of US$ 110,350 Mn in the year 2022

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The public cloud system infrastructure services market is driven by the advantages that the public cloud services possess. Due to the public cloud system infrastructure services, people can access data, services and applications via the internet. This eliminates the need for costly hardware like hard drives and servers. Also, it offers the advantage of location facility as such type of services can be easily accessed through the internet.The public cloud services offer elasticity as such type of services availed can be scaled up or down in no matter of time to meet the demand of computing at that particular point of time. This results in affordability of public cloud services, and users pay only for what they use, and in turn minimize the hardware and costs related to IT. Also, public cloud services are simple to use as the users become free from the mess of managing servers and updating software.The global public cloud system infrastructure services market is slated to touch a value of about US$ 110,350 Mn in the year 2022 and grow at a robust CAGR during the assessment period.Request Sample Report@4 Forecast Highlights on Global Public Cloud System Infrastructure Services Market : As per the forecast of Persistence Market Research, the print segment is slated to touch a value of nearly US$ 11,550 Mn in the year 2022. This represents a robust CAGR growth during the assessment period of 2017-2022. The print segment is estimated to account for more than one-tenth of the revenue share of the function segment by the year 2017 and is forecasted to lose market share by 2022 over 2017.As per the forecast of Persistence Market Research, the BFSI segment will reach a value of nearly US$ 6,000 Mn in the year 2017. This represents a robust CAGR growth during the forecast period. The BFSI segment is forecasted to account for one-fifth of the total revenue share of the vertical segment by the end of the year 2017 and is expected to gain in market share by 2022 as compared with the year 2017.As per the forecast of Persistence Market Research, the large enterprise segment is slated to reach a value of nearly US$ 63,700 Mn in 2022. The large enterprise segment is expected to lose market share by the end of the year 2022. The largest share is contributed by the North America region in the large enterprise segment. Persistence Market Research forecasts the US public cloud system infrastructure services market to grow from US$ 7,375.6 Mn in 2017 to US$ 30,545.6 Mn in 2022. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.9% from 2017 to 2022.Request to View Sample of Research Report @The report has also included the profiles of some of the leading companies in the public cloud system infrastructure services market like VMware, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Amazon Web Services Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc. International Business Machines Corp, AT&T Inc. Alphabet, Inc., CenturyLink, Inc., Rackspace Hosting, Inc. and Fujitsu Limited.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Spunbond Nonwoven Market, By Material, Function, Application, End-Use Industry

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Spunbond nonwoven refers to porous flat sheets and fabrics like materials, made from molten plastic or plastic films or long fibers bounded together by hot-press. They are different from other fibers, as they are not made by knitting or weaving and they do not require conversion of fibers into yarn. Bonding is applied to raw material, which is thermoplastic in nature, such as polypropylene, polyesters, etc. Spunbond nonwoven have various properties, such as they are resistant to heat and chemical, porous, burst strength, elongation to break, and have gram per square meter (GSM) range from 10 to 150.Request to View Table of Content:Spunbond Nonwoven Market Outlook:Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region in the spunbond nonwoven market with China, India, and Japan being the major economies in this region. One of the primary growth factor in the market is its increasing use in agricultural activities. Since the use of pesticides pose harmful threats, farmers are now using nonwoven fabrics to cover crops, root control bags, biodegradable plants pots, greenhouse shading, and seed blankets leading to the growth of the spunbound nonwoven market in this region.North America was the largest region for the spunbond nonwoven market in 2016. One of the major driving factors for spunbond nonwoven products is its increasing use in the healthcare, automotive, and personal care and hygiene industry. For instance, Kimberly-Clark, one of the leading players in the personal care and hygiene market extensively uses spunbond nonwoven for wiping applications.View More Information @Key players in the Spunbond Nonwoven Market:Some of the major players operating global spunbond nonwoven market include Pegas Nonwovens SA (Luxembourg), Avgol Nonwovens (Israel), Johns Manville Corporation (U.S), Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (Japan), RadiciGroup SpA (Italy), Kimberly-Clark Corporation (U.S), Berry Plastics Group, Inc. (U.S), Asahi Kasei Corporation (Japan), Kolon Industries, Inc. (South Korea), E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (U.S), Kuraray Co., Ltd. (Japan), Schouw & Co. (Denmark), Toray Industries, Inc. (Japan), Mogul (Turkey), and Fitesa S.A. (Brazil).One of the major factor influencing the demand for spunbond nonwoven market is increasing awareness about the usefulness and benefits of polypropylene spunbond nonwoven fabrics. Medical and hygiene industry is the key segment with spunbond nonwoven fabrics, which is being used in manufacturing of various products, such as facemask, sanitary napkins, and surgical gowns. Owing to the advances in agricultural and farming techniques, spunbond nonwoven is being widely used to protect the crops from extreme weathers conditions and create a microclimate, which has controlled humidity and heat. Furthermore, increased consumption of spunbond nonwoven fabrics in the household, automotive, and packaging industry is also driving the growth of spunbond nonwoven market.However, high cost of spunbond nonwoven end products such as baby diapers is the major restraining factor for the growth of the spunbond nonwoven market.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact UsMr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Lead Acid Battery Market Revenue Growth Predicted by 2026

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Lead acid battery is considered to be the oldest type of rechargeable battery with its use spanning across industries. It has the advantage of supplying high surge current, as the cells have large power to weight ratio. High power to weight ratio and low cost makes lead acid batteries attractive for its use in the automotive sector. Lead acid batteries comprises of container, plates, cell, separators, and battery terminals.The increasing demand from various industries, such as automotive sector, telecom sector, uninterrupted power supply in oil and gas mining, manufacturing, and chemical is expected to the boost the growth of the lead acid batteries market globally. Moreover, the low cost of the batteries coupled with new developments and innovation in lead acid battery products is further expected to augment the market growth. However, environmental restrains, due to lead content and threat from substitute namely lithium-ion battery are the major restraints for the growth of global lead acid battery market.To get holistic sample of the report@Asia Pacific accounted for the largest market share in the global lead acid battery market, in terms of revenue in 2016 and this trend is expected to continue over the forecast period. The growing industrialization and globalization in this region is the major driver in the growth of market. Furthermore, the growth in automobile industry coupled with rise in the disposable income is further expanding the automobile sales, thereby augmenting the market growth for lead acid batteries. According to China Association of automobile manufacturers (CAAM), China witnessed a year on year of 6.2% from 2016 to 2017 in automobile sales. Moreover, the increased government expenditure in the retail sector has resulted in the growth of the various industries, such as construction, power, banking, and telecom industry, in turn fuelling the demand for lead acid batteries, owing to its efficient use as energy storage system. According to Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, the retail market in India is expected to nearly double to US$ 1 trillion by 2020 from US$ 600 billion in 2015, due to income growth, urbanization, and attitudinal shifts.North America accounted for the second largest market globally. The developed industrial sector in this region stands to be the major factor contributing to the market growth. The presence of leading automobile companies, which include Toyota, Ford motor company, General Motors, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has augmented the demand for lead acid batteries. According to the International Trade Association, exports of automotive parts from the U.S has shown a steady growth from US$ 5 billion in 2012 to US$ 7.2 billion by 2015. Moreover, the developed telecom sector coupled with the increasing oil and gas related activities post the shale gas boom has propelled the need for power storage device hence, surging the demand for lead acid batteries in the region.View More Informatin @Based on the product, SLI lead acid battery is the largest segment in 2016 and is expected to show the same trend during the forecast period. SLI lead acid battery holds a revenue of US$ 26.80 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.39% from 2017 - 2025. The increasing use of SLI lead acid battery in electric vehicles, owing to its excellent cold cracking abilities in engine starting coupled with durability are the major factors contributing to market growth.Major Players in the Global Lead Acid Battery MarketThe major players operating in the global lead acid battery market include Johnson Controls, ATLASBX Co. Ltd, Exide Technologies, East Penn Manufacturing Co, Crown Battery Manufacturing Company, C&D Technologies, INC, GS Yuasa Company, and Leoch International Technology Ltd.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact UsMr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Over-the-counter Drugs Market - Global Industry Analysis 2025

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Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs also called as non-prescription drugs are medicines that do not require prescription from healthcare professionals for selling it to consumers. Consumer can follow the instruction mentioned on label and these drugs are safe to use. These drugs are available at pharmacies, supermarkets, general stores, and gas stations across several countries. However, these drugs are solely authorized for dispense by pharmacists, after confirming age, identity, and patients knowledge regarding the product and its utility. Non-prescription drugs such as analgesics, dermatologics, and digestive medicines are used to treat minor health issues. OTC drugs are regulated and manufactured under OTC Monograph or New Drug Application (NDA) processes.To get detailed table of content (ToC), please click:Increasing prevalence of digestion disorders, common flu, and cold is driving growth of the marketAccording to American Nutrition Association, 2016, around 70 million people suffer from some form of digestion disorder such as indigestion, acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, and constipation daily. Patients suffering from these conditions are reported to use non-prescription medicines. OTC drugs widely used to treat symptoms of cold and flu worldwide. Increasing prevalence of viral infections causing cold and flu is creating a favorable environment for growth of OTC drugs market. According to Australian Health Direct, over 200 viruses present worldwide can cause cold and adults are susceptible to these viruses around 2-4 times annually. The same source also suggests that the cold and flu symptoms are usually mild to moderate and self-limiting, which is propelling demand for over-the-counter drugs, in turn fueling growth of the market.Over-The-Counter Drugs Market TaxonomyOn the basis of product type, the global over-the-counter drugs market is segmented into:Analgesics and Pain RelieversCough, Cold and Flu ProductsDermatological ProductsVitamin & Mineral SupplementsGastrointestinal ProductsSleeping AidsSmoking Cessation AidsOphthalmic ProductsOthersOn the basis of administration route, the global over-the-counter drugs market is segmented into:OralSolidsLiquidsTopicalOthersOn the basis of distribution channel, the global over-the-counter drugs market is segmented into:Hospital PharmaciesRetail PharmaciesOnline PharmaciesOthersNorth America to hold the leading position in the global over-the-counter drugs market, owing to well established healthcare structureOn the basis of geography, the global over-the-counter drugs market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. North America holds a dominant position in the global over-the-counter drugs market, followed by Europe, owing to growing patient awareness regarding consumption of OTC drugs, leading to self-medication practices. According to Consumer Healthcare Protection Act 2015, an estimated 81% adults in the U.S. use OTC medicines as their first response to minor ailments. Moreover, the same data states that U.S. had an around 54,000 pharmacies in 2015 and over 750,000 retail outlets selling OTC drugs. Asia Pacific economies such as China and India are expected to witness rapid growth in OTC market over the forecast period due to increasing public awareness regarding the treatment of minor diseases as well as increasing number market players tapping into emerging markets of the region. For instance, Takeda Pharmaceuticals in March 2016, started overseas sales of OTC brandAlinamin in Vietnam, India, Hong-Kong, and China.Increasing awareness regarding self-medication to boost OTC drugs market growthIncreasing inclination of the populace towards self-medication for treatment of minor health conditions, low pricing of these drugs, convenience of direct purchase, as well as innovations and developments in the dosage forms of these drugs is fueling growth of the market. According to Consumer Healthcare Products Association, in the U.S number of allergy sufferers using OTC medication increased from 66% in 2009 to 75% in 2015. However, increasing number of market players, high possibilities of addiction and substance abuse are major factors restraining growth of the market. Side-effects associated with consumption of wrong medications due to lack of awareness among the rural population in emerging economies is further restraining growth of the OTC drugs market.Request to download and view Sample Report:Key players are focusing into strategic alliances and partnerships with companies in distant geographies to increase visibility of product. For instance, in January 2018, Nuvo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. acquired ex-U.S. product and existing royalty streams for Resultz, an OTC treatment for head lice from Piedmont Pharmaceuticals LLC. Key players operating in the global over-the-counter drugs market include Alkem Laboratories Limited, GlaxoSmithKline Plc., Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Cipla Ltd., Johnson and Johnson Inc., Pfizer, Inc., Novartis AG, Merck KGaA, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Coherent Market Insights Blog @Connect with us on LinkedIn @Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) Market: Technological Breakthroughs by 2025

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Worldwide Market Reports added Latest Research Report titled Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) Market: Technological Breakthroughs by 2025.This report studies the global Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) market, analyzes and researches the Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeCisco Systems, Juniper Networks, IBM Corp, NEC Corp, Vmware, Aryaka Networks, Alcatel Lucent, Brocade Communications Systems, AT&T, Ciena CorporationRequest Sample Copy of the Business Report @Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited States, EU, Japan, China, India, Southeast AsiaMarket segment by Type, the product can be split intoLAN-as-a-Service (LANaaS), WAN-as-a-Service (WANaaS)Market segment by Application, Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) can be split intoInformation Technology (IT) and telecommunication,Manufacturing,Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI),Government,Healthcare,Transport and logistics,Retail, OthersGet discount on this report :Table of ContentsGlobal Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Network-as-a-Service (NaaS)2 Global Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) Competition Analysis by Players3 Company (Top Players) Profiles4 Global Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) Market Size by Type and Application (2013-2018)5 United States Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) Development Status and Outlook6 EU Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) Development Status and Outlook7 Japan Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) Development Status and Outlook8 China Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) Development Status and Outlook9 India Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) Development Status and Outlook10 Southeast Asia Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) Development Status and Outlook11 Market Forecast by Regions, Type and Application (2018-2025)12 Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) Market Dynamics13 Market Effect Factors Analysis14 Research Finding/ConclusionIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About WMR :Worldwide Market Reports is your one-stop repository of detailed and in-depth market research reports compiled by an extensive list of publishers from across the globe. We offer reports across virtually all domains and an exhaustive list of sub-domains under the sun. The in-depth market analysis by some of the most vastly experienced analysts provide our diverse range of clients from across all industries with vital decision making insights to plan and align their market strategies in line with current market trends. Worldwide Market Researchs well-researched inputs that encompass domains ranging from IT to healthcare enable our prized clients to capitalize upon key growth opportunities and shield against credible threats prevalent in the market in the current scenario and those expected in the near future.1001 4th Ave, #3200 Seattle, WA 98154Operating Room Equipment and Supplies Market - Global Industry Analysis 2025

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Operating Room Equipment and Supplies Market - InsightsContinuous advancement in surgical procedures has led to increasing demand for more sophisticated and advanced operating room equipment and supplies. Minimally invasive surgery, image-guided procedures, robotic surgery, and telesurgery are replacing the conventional surgical procedures and these require image-guided vascular access technologies and other endoscopic access techniques. Increasing complexity of procedures and patients has resulted in rising demand for monitoring and support systems used in specialized operating rooms. Moreover, depending on the type of surgery, the requirement for surgical equipment differs. For instance, in pediatric surgery room, additional surgical devices such as non-blood contacting biventricular cardiac assist device, umbilical venous catheter, and portable surgical microscope are required. The placement of operating room equipment and supplies also depends on the size of the room, room orientation, supply for medical gases, number of location of electrical and medical gas outlets, access of the room, and location of the room.Request to download and view Sample Report:The global operating room equipment and supplies market is estimated to be valued at US$ 26, 668 million in 2017 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 7.5% over the forecast period (20172025).Rising number of surgical procedures and interventions is expected to augment growth of the operating room equipment and supplies market over the forecast periodRising number of surgical procedures across the globe is expected to drive growth of the operating room equipment and supplies market. For instance, in 2015, 1.36 million caesarean procedures were performed in the European countries, which includes over 220 thousand caesarean section procedures in Germany, around 200 thousand in the U.K., and over 170 thousand in Italy. Moreover, according to the German Heart Surgery Report 2016, there were 103,128 heart surgery procedures reported in the German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (GSTCVS) registry. Around 33,451 isolated heart valve procedures including 11,701 catheter-based procedures with an in-hospital mortality of 4.3% were reported. In addition to this, among the total heart surgery procedures conducted, around 15.7% of the patients were aged 80 years. An increase of 0.9% was observed in the heart surgery procedures performed on patients aged 80 years as compared to that in 2015, according to the same sourceWith increasing number of surgical interventions, the total expenditure for surgical and non-surgical procedures is also increasing significantly. For instance, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS): 2016 statistics, people in the U.S. invested over US$ 15 billion on combined surgical and non-surgical procedures, which also shows an increase of US$ 1.5 billion, over the previous year (2015). The surgical procedures accounted for 56% of the total expenditures, while non-surgical procedures accounted for 44% of the expenditure, in 2016.Increasing investments in product developments is fueling the market in AsiaNorth America is expected to account for the largest market share in operating room equipment and supplies market over the forecast period. This is owing to increasing investments by hospitals to upgrade operating rooms and equipment, increasing numbers of surgical procedures in the region, and rising prevalence of chronic diseases in the U.S. For instance, According to the National Cancer Institute- 2014 data findings, there were an approximately 3.0 million men living with prostate cancer in the U.S., in 2014. In addition, approximately 11.6% of men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point during their lifetime, based on 2012-2014 data. Furthermore, prostate cancer represents 9.6% of all new cancer cases in the U.S. in 2014.Request a Customization:Furthermore, Asia Pacific is expected to account for the highest growth in the operating room equipment and supplies market. This is attributed to government initiatives to increase deployment of doctors and hospitals in the rural and urban areas in China and India. For instance, in government of China, from 2013 initiated the extensive program to support the rural heath, by employing the healthcare professionals. These healthcare professionals are deployed from medical colleges for the contract basis in rural areas for the tenure of six years. Such reforms by China government helped to reshape the rural healthcare infrastructure. Moreover, manufacturers in the region are focusing on developing advanced products for application in operation rooms for complex surgeries. For instance, in November 2017, SpineGuard and XingRong Medical launched PediGuard product range, in China during the Chinese Orthopedic Association (COA) annual meeting, held in Zhuhai, China. PediGuard is disposable medical device, which is used during spine surgery, to reduce the radiation exposure from fluoroscopy by 30%. In July 2017, Huayi Capitala China-based healthcare focused investment firminvested US$ 17 million series A round fund in Symbow Medical, a Beijing-based surgical navigation device developer. The funding helped Symbow Medical to develop four dimensional information tracking system, which displays image of human body along with automatic tracking and calibration during surgical intervention. These increasing investment by operating room equipment manufacturing companies in Asia is further expected to augment growth of operating room equipment supplies market in Asia.Some of the key players in operating room equipment and supplies market are Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA, Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, Getinge AB, GE Healthcare, Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc., KARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KG, Mizuho OSI, Medtronic, plc, Koninklijke Philips N.V., STERIS Corporation, Stryker Corporation, and Siemens AG.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Coherent Market Insights Blog @Connect with us on LinkedIn @Pediatric Nutrition Market, by Product Type, Age Group, Formulation, Application, Distribution Channel, and Region - Global Trends, and Forecast till 2025

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Pediatric Nutrition Market - InsightsPediatric nutrition refers to the nutritional products given to infants or children as a sole source of nutrition or supplement. These products support physical and mental growth of children, in turn supporting balanced growth in their formative years, from infancy to adolescence. The usage of these products is critical in cases of premature birth or babies suffering from severe allergies such as lactose intolerance. In premature birth, baby cant be directly breastfed and hence, these products are the sole source of nutrition till they get switched to breastfeeding. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2016, around 10% (1 in every 10) of births recorded were premature in the U.S. Moreover, globally, every year around 15 million births are premature, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Products are also being developed for infants suffering from certain inborn diseases such as maple syrup urine disease or phenylketonuria.Request to download and view Sample Report:Increasing demand for nutritional products in Asia Pacific is expected to boost growth of the pediatric nutrition marketAsia Pacific is home to two of the most populous countries in the world, India and China. Number of births in these countries is also among the highest, every year. Moreover, in October 2015, China abolished its one-child policy, which in turn is expected to increase the birth rate in China. According to World Bank, in India, crude birth rate (birth per 1,000 people) was recorded to be 19 in 2015, which was much higher as compared to developed economies such as the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, and Italy which recorded crude birth rate of 12, 12, 9, 12, and 8, respectively. Significant year-on-year increase in the crude birth rate in India, is expected to increase in the number of total births in the country in the near future.Furthermore, Companies such as Mead Johnson Nutrition have operated with very high gross margins accounting for 64.2%, 64.3%, and 61.4% in 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively. This in turn, indicates lucrative opportunity for market players in this market, which in turn is increasing the entry of large players. Due to the high gross margins, new manufacturers are competing with leading players by selling their products at a reasonable but profitable price.The global pediatric nutrition market was valued at US$ 35,211.6 million in 2016 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 6.4% over the forecast period (2017  2025).Innovative products for babies with special needs is boosting market growthLactose intolerance, allergy to cows protein milk, maple syrup urine disease, phenylketonuria, and insulin resistance are some of the most common health complications faced by infants and children. These children require special nutrition, which can be provided by nutritional products. Mead Johnson Nutrition (acquired by Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc) developed a separate category of products specifically designed for children suffering from such diseases. These products include Mead Johnson BCAD, for children suffering from maple syrup urine disease and Mead Johnson PhenylFree, for children suffering from phenylketonuria. Other players such as Nestle S.A. and Abbott Laboratories also sell product for children with special needs. Increasing number of products to serve this special population coupled with increasing awareness about such diseases is expected to support growth of the global pediatric nutrition market. Furthermore, companies are focusing on development of products that may serve as nutrition enhancer or taste modifier, for the general population. Such products include ChocoMilk and Cal-C-Tose, which when added to milk enhance its nutritional value.Request a Customization:The four leading players holding a dominant position in the market are Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc, Nestle S.A., Abbott Laboratories, and Groupe Danone, owing to a spree of market consolidation. Manufacturers are focusing on inorganic growth strategies such as mergers and acquisitions to strengthen their foothold in the global market. For instance, in 2012, Nestle S.A. acquired Pfizer Inc.s infant nutrition business. In June 2017, Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc acquired Mead Johnson Nutrition, a leading player in pediatric nutrition.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Coherent Market Insights Blog @Connect with us on LinkedIn @Tubeless Insulin Pump Market, by Component, and End User - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis 2017-2025

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Tubeless insulin pump is a portable pump, which is effective in controlling blood glucose level. Advancements in technologies of insulin pumps, which reduce the need for daily insulin injection doses is expected to boost growth of the tubeless insulin pump market over the forecast period. Omnipod, by Insulet Corporation is expected to drive the growth of insulin pumps in near future. Omnipod is a novel tubeless insulin pump, which displays blood glucose levels, schedules insulin delivery, and calculates optimal insulin dosage based on food database. Furthermore, Insulet Corporation has recently added additional features such as touchscreen and Bluetooth to Omnipod Dash system. Portability offered by these devices permits easy attachment and placements of the device on clothing or desired body parts, which is expected to drive growth of the tubeless insulin pump market.Request to download and view Sample Report:Increasing funding by the government for studying various diseases including diabetes is also expected to fuel growth of the tubeless insulin pump market. For instance, in 2013, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (NIDDK) funded several important studies on different types of artificial pancreas devices to help patients suffering from type 1 and type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes. Insulin pumps have gained traction, owing to the rapid acting mechanism offering instant insulin delivery, user friendly interface, and flexible insulin delivery, which is expected to fuel growth of the tubeless insulin pump market over the forecast period.Tubeless Insulin Pump Market TaxonomyBy ComponentPod/PatchRemoteAccessories (reservoirs, batteries, etc.)By Distribution ChannelHospitalsPharmaciesE-commerceIncreasing prevalence of diabetes and robust development in technology is expected to drive growth of the market over the forecast periodIncreasing prevalence of diabetes due to obesity and increasing geriatric population is driving demand for tubeless insulin pump market. According to the World Health Organization, 2016, an estimated 422 million adults were suffering from diabetes globally. New technologies incorporated into tubeless insulin pump devices is leading to increasing demand for insulin pump devices worldwide. Market players are focused on developing new technologies in tubeless insulin pump devices, which can be used at home with ease and with accurate results, this in turn is expected to boost overall market growth during the forecast period. For instance, in 2016, in the U.K., Medtrum Technologies, Inc. launched S6 Easysense Disposable CGM System, which provides interstitial glucose levels in every two minutes and P6 Tubeless Patch Pump, which is ideal for type 2 diabetes management and gestational diabetes. It also allows monitoring of data using mobile app. However, high long-term cost associated with the use of tubeless insulin pump hampers the market growth. Compliance to therapy reduces over the time, owing to significant cost associated with daily use.On the basis of geography, North America is expected to dominate the tubeless insulin pump market, followed by Europe, owing to high adoption rate for new technology and continuous government initiatives to create awareness regarding diabetes. For instance, in 2016, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommended diabetes education, training on the device, and providing support after prescription of Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) and insulin pump. Market in Asia Pacific is lucrative in terms of market opportunities due to increase in research and development activities by various vendors and implementation of government initiatives for diabetic patients. For instance, in 2017, National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) initiated by Australian Government funded Insulin Pump Programme to increase the affordability of insulin pumps to for people suffering from type 1 diabetes who dont have access to private health insurance.To get detailed table of content (ToC), please click:Major players operating in the tubeless insulin pump market include Medtronic Plc., Medtrum Technologies, Inc., Tandem Diabetes Care, Insulet Corporation, and Animas Corporation.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Coherent Market Insights Blog @Connect with us on LinkedIn @Low-Calorie Sweeteners Market Rising Trends and Demands In Food Industry 2022

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In this report, the global Low-Calorie Sweeteners Market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Request Sample Copy of the Business Report @Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Low-Calorie Sweeteners in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, IndiaGlobal Low-Calorie Sweeteners market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingCargill Incorporated, Dupont,Archer DanielsMidland, Hermesetas, Ajinomoto, Celanese, Suedzucker, H.J. Heinz, Ingredion Incorporated, JK Sucralose Incorporated, Roquette Freres SA, Tate & Lyle PLC, Danisco, Kuraray, NutraSweet, BASF, CJ, Purecircle, Macandrews & Forbes Holdings, Kaifeng Xinghua, Tianjin Changjie, Jiangsu Howbetter FoodGet discount on thisOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share growth rate of each type, primarily split intoNatural Substitute, Artificial SubstituteOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Low-Calorie Sweeteners for each application, includingFood and Beverages, Pharmaceuticals, Personal Care Products, Other**If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.**The Values marked with XX is confidential data. To know more about CAGR figures fill in your information so that our business development executive can get in touch with you.About WMR :Worldwide Market Reports is your one-stop repository of detailed and in-depth market research reports compiled by an extensive list of publishers from across the globe. We offer reports across virtually all domains and an exhaustive list of sub-domains under the sun. The in-depth market analysis by some of the most vastly experienced analysts provide our diverse range of clients from across all industries with vital decision making insights to plan and align their market strategies in line with current market trends. Worldwide Market Researchs well-researched inputs that encompass domains ranging from IT to healthcare enable our prized clients to capitalize upon key growth opportunities and shield against credible threats prevalent in the market in the current scenario and those expected in the near future.1001 4th Ave, #3200 Seattle, WA 98154Gastrointestinal (GI) Stents Market Enhancement in Medical Sector 2017 to 2022

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Worldwide Market Reports added Latest Research Report titled Gastrointestinal (GI) Stents Market Enhancement in Medical Sector 2017 to 2022.In this report, the global Gastrointestinal (GI) Stents market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Gastrointestinal (GI) Stents in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth America,Europe,China,Japan,Southeast Asia, IndiaRequest Sample Copy of the Business Report @Global Gastrointestinal (GI) Stents market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingBoston Scientific, Cook Medical, ELLA-CS, ConMed, Gore Medical, Taewoong Medical, HobbsMedical, C.R. Bard, Merit Endotek, Olympus AmericaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoBiliary Stents,Duodenal Stents,Colonic Stents,Pancreatic Stents, Esophageal StentsOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Gastrointestinal (GI) Stents for each application, includingBiliary Disease, Colorectal Cancer, Stomach CancerGet discount on this report :Table of ContentsGlobal Gastrointestinal (GI) Stents Market Research Report 20171 Gastrointestinal (GI) Stents Market Overview2 Global Gastrointestinal (GI) Stents Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Gastrointestinal (GI) Stents Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)4 Global Gastrointestinal (GI) Stents Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2012-2017)5 Global Gastrointestinal (GI) Stents Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Gastrointestinal (GI) Stents Market Analysis by Application7 Global Gastrointestinal (GI) Stents Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Gastrointestinal (GI) Stents Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Gastrointestinal (GI) Stents Market Forecast (2017-2022)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixList of Tables and Figures**If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.**The Values marked with XX is confidential data. To know more about CAGR figures fill in your information so that our business development executive can get in touch with you.About WMR :Worldwide Market Reports is your one-stop repository of detailed and in-depth market research reports compiled by an extensive list of publishers from across the globe. We offer reports across virtually all domains and an exhaustive list of sub-domains under the sun. The in-depth market analysis by some of the most vastly experienced analysts provide our diverse range of clients from across all industries with vital decision making insights to plan and align their market strategies in line with current market trends. Worldwide Market Researchs well-researched inputs that encompass domains ranging from IT to healthcare enable our prized clients to capitalize upon key growth opportunities and shield against credible threats prevalent in the market in the current scenario and those expected in the near future.1001 4th Ave, #3200 Seattle, WA 98154Internet of Things Market Will Reach US$ 260 Bn by the year 2025

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By the year 2020, it is estimated that there will be 30 billion devices connected to the Internet. The possibilities will be truly limitless if all these connected devices such as smartphones, smart homes, smart grids, and smart vehicles could seamlessly communicate with each other. Persistence Market Research has conducted an exhaustive study on the global IoT Market in its report Internet of Things (IoT) Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012-2016 and Forecast 2017-2025 as the IoT Market is on the cusp of transforming society and industry. The IoT market is expected to witness an exponential CAGR of 21.5% during the eight-year study period and be valued at just over US$ 260 Bn by the year 2025.Region  North America and APAC Critical in the IoT Market : North America is the largest region in the IoT market and is a market opportunity approaching US$ 100 Bn by the end of the forecast period. However, APAC accounts for a slightly higher CAGR and key stakeholders in the IoT market would do well to take this into consideration while devising their investment strategies.Component  Data Transport and Platforms the Future in the IoT Market : The IoT Analytics and IoT Sensor segments are estimated to hold the maximum share of the IoT market by component in 2017. Nonetheless, IoT Data Transport and IoT Platform are widely considered to be the future of the IoT market as both are poised to grow by a CAGR in excess of 25%, making them critical in the long term.Request for Table of Contents @Application  Smart Grids and Wearable Computing Extremely Attractive in the IoT market : The Smart Grid and Wearable Computing Devices application segments have a market attractiveness index of 5 and 4.6 respectively and companies would be highly recommended to focus on these two in the IoT market. Wearable computing in particular is anticipated to become critical as continuous innovations bring this technology to the forefront of public consciousness and make it mainstream.Industry  Energy and Utility and Government Primary Target in the IoT Market : Energy and Utility and the Government are sectors that should gain the most from the IoT market in the form of smart grids and smart cities respectively. Even Manufacturing is likely to benefit from the impending IoT market boom and will grow to nearly US$ 90 Bn by the end of the study period.Persistence Market Research has profiled some of the ost prominent companies active in the global IoT market. The companies featured in the report include IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, AT&T, Apple, Google, General Electric, Samsung Electronics Co., Comcast Corporation, Intel Corporation, Cisco Systems, Oracle Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fujitsu Limited, Qualcomm Technologies, Honeywell International, Accenture PLC, ARM Limited, Amazon Web Services, SAP SE, Zebra Technologies, and Texas Instruments.Request to View Sample of Research Report @IoT can be effectively deployed across industries making the potential of the IoT market unlimited. The U.S military deploys IoT technology to assist their combat troops in warfare; retail stores allow customers to alter shopping lists in real time and also enable the linking of retail apps with physical stores. Electricity suppliers and travel agents have installed smart sensors to detect downtimes and transportation routes respectively. The food industry uses sensors to inform the system about the optimum temperature to keep food fresh. The IoT market has a bright future ahead of it.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Europe Cigar And Cigarillos Market to Extent an Assessed Value of US$ 11000 Mn by 2024

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According to a report by Persistence Market Research (PMR), sales of cigars and cigarillos in Europe surpassed 9000 Mn units in 2015. This number is expected to reach around 11000 Mn by 2024-end. Growth will be sluggish with PMR projecting a 2.1% CAGR in terms of volume through 2024.Availability of several affordable alternative tobacco products is negative influencing demand for cigars and cigarillos. Efforts such as government mandate to include statutory warning on tobacco packaging and youth outreach programmes are creating awareness among smokers. This, along with Quit Smoking campaigns is expected to reduce the number of smokers, thereby influencing the market.Request for Table of Contents @The market share of cigars and cigarillos with no-flavour/tobacco is anticipated to register a slight increase to reach 77% by 2024 from 76.7% in 2016. No-flavour/tobacco cigars and cigarillos would remain the most preferred in the market during the forecast period. In contrast, flavoured cigars and cigarillos including fruit & candy, mint & menthol, and chocolate & vanilla are projected to exhibit a slight decline in their market share by 2024-end.EU5, the largest market for cigars and cigarillos, is projected to witness a slight decline in its revenue share by 2024-end. (Revenue share in 2016 and revenue share in 2024). (Eastern Europe is the second largest region for) Beneluxs market share will witness a sligh increase In addition, the cigar and cigarillos market in Germany and France is projected to register 2.5% and 1.9% CAGRs respectively.Expansion of product portfolio remains a key market strategy for manufacturers. Mergers & acquisitions and new product launches remain a key component of market consolidation.Targeting both online as well as offline retailers, manufacturers are focusing on expansion of distribution networks, thereby offering easy availability of products to customers.According to the WHO, demand for cigars and cigarillos is gaining traction among females in Europe.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Key companies profiled by Persistence Market Research in its report include Imperial Brands Plc, British American Tobacco PLC, Japan Tobacco, Inc., Swisher International Inc., Swedish Match AB, Altria Group, Inc.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comNew Report on Bus Validator Market Forecast 2017-2022 - In Depth Assessment, Strategic Analysis, Developments, Technologies and Key Players

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The report gives a thorough overview of the present growth dynamics of the global Bus Validator Market with the help of vast market data covering all important aspects and market segments. The report gives a birds eye view of the past and present trends as well the factors expected to drive or impede the market growth prospects of the Bus Validator market in the near future.Get Sample copy of this Report @:Companies Profiled in this report includes, Parkeon, Lecip, Genfare, Busmatick, Cardlan, IVU, Huajie Electronic, Scheidt & Bachmann, LG CNS, Init, AEP Ticketing, Access IS, GMVThis report defines the specifications, applications, classifications of Bus Validator market and explains the industrial chain structure in detail. Recent policies and developments are researched in depth to help enhance this report. A detailed cost structure is examined and prices are coated by labors, raw material supplier and others. An insight about demand supply chain is also mentioned in detail.Get 20% Discount on this Report @:The examination of the manufacturing cost structure of the global Bus Validator market has been performed based on key aspects such as industry chain structure, manufacturing process, raw materials, and their suppliers. The manufacturing plants analysis and technical data of the global market have been explained in the lights of raw material sources, technology sources, research and development status, manufacturing plants distribution, and commercial production date and capacity.Initially, the Bus Validator producing an analysis of the most important trade players based on their company profiles, annual revenue, sales margin, growth aspects is additionally lined during this report, which is able to facilitate alternative Bus Validator market players in driving business insights.Enquiry before Buying @:Bus Validator market is segmented on the basis of various parameters. The factors which are impacting the markets growth are studied in detail. The report also presents a overall weaknesses which companies operating in the market must avoid in order to enjoy sustainable growth through the course of the forecast period. Besides this, profiles of some of the leading players operating and encouraging in the growth of the global Bus Validator market are included in the study. Additionally, using SWOT analysis, markets weaknesses and strengths are analyzed.Table of ContentsGlobal Bus Validator Market Research ReportChapter 1 Bus Validator Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Global Bus Validator Market ForecastAbout QYReports:We at, QYReports , a leading market research report publisher accommodate more than 4,000 celebrated clients worldwide putting them at advantage in todays competitive world with our understanding of research. Our list of customers include prestigious Chinese companies, multinational companies, SME's and private equity firms whom we have helped grow and sustain with our fact-based research. Our business study covers a market size of over 30 industries offering unfailing insights into analysis to reimagine your business. We specialize in forecasts needed for investing in a new project, to revolutionize your business, to become more customer centric and improve the quality of output.Contact:QYReportsJones John(Sales Manager)+91-9764607607sales@qyreports.comNeedle Coke Industry 2017-2021 | Global and China Market Report | Press Release

Global and China Needle Coke Industry Report, 2017-2021

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ResearchByMarkets / Press Release / Chemicals and Materials, "Global and China Needle Coke Industry Report, 2017-2021", 70 Pages, 7 Global Companies and 10 China based Companies Profiled.Global needle coke capacity reached about 1,600kt in 2017, largely contributed by the eight giants like Phillips66, C-Chem and Seadrift. Phillips66 is the largest producer of needle coke around the globe with its capacity seizing over 20% of the global total.Browse TOC and List of Charts:Few Chinese companies can independently produce high-quality needle coke because of high technical barriers. Fangda Carbon New Material made its presence in global high-end market via acquisition of C-Chems Jiangsu plant in early 2017. The factory, with the capacity of 60kt/a, is chiefly for in-house production of graphite electrode.Prices of needle coke soared in 2017, exceeding RMB40,000/t in August, more than ten times the level at the beginning of the year, thus driving up prices across industry chain (like graphite electrode). Meanwhile, prices of imported needle coke climbed as well, largely due to a surge in downstream demand.Request for Sample Pages of this report:Needle coke is mainly used in graphite electrode and lithium-battery anode materials. The demand for graphite electrode for steelmaking grew slowly because of a downturn in the steel industry between 2012 and 2016. However, as the Chinese government made great efforts to cut excessive overcapacity and get rid of substandard steel products and the demand for electric-arc furnace rose significantly, the demand for graphite electrode remained high in 2017, boosting the demand for needle coke. At the same time, rapid growth of new energy vehicles increases consumption of needle coke in lithium battery anode material. The demand was about 80kt in 2017 and is predicted to surpass 250kt in 2021.An upsurge in needle coke prices fuels expansion and building by Chinese needle coke enterprises. Eight needle coke firms, including Jinzhou Chemical, Shandong Jingyang Technology, Qitaihe Baotailong Coal & Coal Chemicals, Shanxi Hongte Coal Chemical, Shandong Yida New Material and Fangda C-Chem announced plans for re-starting, expanding and operation in the second half of 2017. It is calculated that China boasted needle coke capacity of 550kt in 2017 with 200kt newly added. As new and expansion projects go into production, the countrys needle coke capacity is expected to total around 900kt by 2021.Inquire more about this report:Major Needle Coke Companies WorldwidePhillips 66C-ChemSeadrift CokeMitsubishi ChemicalJX Holdings IncPetrocokes Japan LimitedPosco ChemtechMajor Needle Coke Companies in ChinaFangda Carbon New Material Technology Co., Ltd.Qitaihe Baotailong Coal & Coal Chemicals Public Co., Ltd.Shandong Yida New Material Co., Ltd.Anshan Kaitan Thermal Energy New Materials Co., Ltd.Jinzhou Petrochemical Co., LtdShanghai Baosteel Chemical Co., Ltd.Shanxi Hongte Coal Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.Shandong Jingyang Technology Co., Ltd.Shanxi Jinzhou Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co., Ltd.Contact:ResearchByMarketsMs. Lia Seth | Client Relations Managerenquiry@researchbymarkets.comResearch By Markets is an online Market Research Report Repository.Our repository contains reports segmented by Geography and Industry. We cover all major Industry Verticals - Information Technology, Semiconductor, Electronics, Manufacturing, Food & Beverages, Telecommunications, Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, Automotive, BioTechnology, Energy & Power, Banking and many more.Research By Markets3, Nagar Road,Pune 411 014, Maharashtra, Indiaenquiry@researchbymarkets.com+1-800-416-3124Low-speed Electric Vehicle Industry | China Market Report 2018-2022

China Low-speed Electric Vehicle Industry Report, 2018-2022

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ResearchByMarkets / Press Release / Automotive, "China Low-speed Electric Vehicle Industry Report, 2018-2022" 163 Pages, 23 Companies Profiled.Benefitted from the economic growth in urban-rural fringe zones and rural areas as well as the growing mobility demand, the low-speed electric vehicle sales have been on a steady rise over the past years, up 41.6% from 1.232 million units in 2016 to 1.744 million units in 2017. However, the LSEV industry will still face relatively great policy risk, especially Standardization Administration of the PRC will formulate more stringent LSEV standard, which will be formally issued before 2019. In addition, State Council has defined the work idea of upgrading a batch, standardizing a batch and eliminating a batch (three batches: upgrading qualified low speed electric vehicle manufacturers to conventional battery electric passenger vehicle companies; standardizing technical standards, market entry, regulatory system and administration for low speed electric vehicles; eliminating unqualified companies and their products), so the industry reshuffle is inevitable. Also, it will be squeezed by mini electric vehicle makers with production licenses, but of which its competitiveness is slightly down along with sliding national and local subsidy. Therefore, the LSEV market size will see a slowdown in growth rate and the output of LSEVs will be about 3.37 million units in China in 2022. Once the standard took into force, the data would shrink to 700-800 thousand units quickly.Browse TOC and List of Tables & Charts:Regarding competition pattern, BYVIN, YOGOMO, and Shifeng Group are the top3 players in the LSEV market. BYVIN, as a market bellwether, is the first enterprise with annual output of more than 202,000 units by adopting multi-brand (including LEVDEO) strategy to expand its market share in all market segments; YOGOMO, the largest LSEV enterprise in Hebei province, boasts four brands (YOGOMO, CYAHOR, YGM, and LaVie) and produces about 120,000 units annually; Shifeng Group, majored in agricultural three wheeler, also sets foot in LSEV field with capacity of 200,000 units, and ranks third with sales volume of 110,000 units in 2017.Request Sample Pages for this report:Along with being gradually clear of LSEV industry standard and policies, some companies, such as GreenWheel, Henan SD, YOGOMO and Lichi jumped out of LSEV field and entered micro high-speed electric vehicle industry and have obtained the license for the production of battery electric sedans or special vehicles. Meanwhile, there are also some makers slowing down the investment for LSEV, like YOGOMOs 150,000 unit/a LSEV projects in Wuxi and Baoyas 500,000 unit/a NEV base in Xiangyang city do not realize operation as planned.China Low-speed Electric Vehicle (LSEV) Industry Report, 2018-2022 highlights the following:-Overview of the LSEV industry in China (definition, classification, development trends, etc.);-LSEV market segments including electric bicycle, electric tricycle, LSEV, and all-terrain vehicle (industry standards, relevant policies, market size, competitive landscape, development trends, etc.);-Market for relevant key parts (battery, motor, motor controller, and BMS) (competitive landscape, manufacturers, etc.);-17 major manufacturers (Yadea, AIMA, SUNRA, BYVIN, Jinpeng, Dojo, YOGOMO, BYVIN, Shifeng Group, Tokng, Fulu Vehicle, LEVDEO, KNDI, Lichi, Rainchst, DURABLEV and Baoya) (profile, financial position, leading products, R&D, distribution of production bases, technical features, etc.)Chinese LSEV ManufacturersGuigang-Aima Electric Vehicle Electric Vehicle ProjectBYVINLSEVSUNRAJinpengYOGOMOShifeng GroupFulu VehicleDojoBaoyaLEVDEOLichiRainchstHebei Yudea New Energy Technology Group Co., Ltd.DURABLEVHan Tang Electric VehicleLSEV BMS ManufacturersShenzhen Tian-Power Technology Co., Ltd.Addenda Technology (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd.Shenzhen Guoxin Power Technology Co., Ltd.Jiangxi Keran Technology Co., Ltd.Hangzhou Gold Electronic Equipment INC., Ltd.Changsha Juli Electric Technology Co., Ltd.Xian Jindee Electrical Technology Co., Ltd.Inquire more about this report:Research By Markets is an online Market Research Report Repository.Our repository contains reports segmented by Geography and Industry. We cover all major Industry Verticals - Information Technology, Semiconductor, Electronics, Manufacturing, Food & Beverages, Telecommunications, Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, Automotive, BioTechnology, Energy & Power, Banking and many more.Research By Markets3, Nagar Road,Pune 411 014, Maharashtra, Indiaenquiry@researchbymarkets.com+1-800-416-3124Midland native Thomas "Tommy" Ray Moody left the area to pursue his musical career in the 1970s. This spring his name can be found at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. His mother Alicia Moody-Hughes, who still lives in Midland, received a replica of a memorial brick that will appear in the Hall's courtyard.

"He was very kind and he was always happy. Anywhere you went, he always had a crowd around him because he was always telling stories," she said.

Moody, who died Dec. 21, 2015 from a blood clot, had an interest in music from a very young age. Moody-Hughes attributed her son's talent to his late father, Richard Moody Sr. When Moody was 6 years old, his parents bought him a guitar for Christmas and signed him up for music lessons.

"The (instructor) talked to me one time and said, 'I can't teach him anything. He knows the guitar. He just caught on so fast,'" Moody-Hughes recalled.

Moody graduated from H. H. Dow High School in 1975 and traveled to Los Angeles where he helped form the band Virgin, which was overseen by the Bill Aucoin, manager of Kiss. He went on to perform with the bands Commando and Blue By Nature before performing on his own and branching into blues and country music.

"He was actually well-versed in everything," said Jody Cyr, his manager.

Along the way, Moody made acquaintances with Alice Cooper, Keith Richards, Gene Simmons and Eddie Money, to name a few. He also would keep in contact with friends in the Midland area and would play in some low-key gigs when he visited.

"He had so many friends, so many people that loved him. He's missed," Cyr commented.

Moody's kindness and warm heart were well known by everyone who knew him. Years before his death, he asked Cyr to look after his mother if anything happened to him. He even offered that Moody-Hughes could be a surrogate mother to her before the two women met. They now keep in close contact, even within the three years of Moody's passing.

"She's become my daughter and my friend," Moody-Hughes said.MSU Extension of Midland County and cooperating parent educators sponsor the Parent's Corner. Send submissions to Midland County MSU Extension Educator, Lisa Treiber, 220 W. Ellsworth St., Midland, MI 48640.

Kids & Canvas - Welcome Spring

Children will enjoy painting a canvas of a bunch of spring flowers in full bloom at Creative 360. Ursula Steckert will lead this class "follow the leader" style to ensure students are happy with their creation. The class takes place from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 21. Cost is $20. Contact Creative 360 to register at www.becreative360.org or call 989-837-1885.

Midland Aviation Camp 2018

Midland Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Chapter 1003 will hosting its 2018 Midland Aviation Camp June 18-22. The camp is open to students entering 10th-12th grade in the fall and meets daily from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The camp is designed as an introduction to the many facets of the aviation and space world and emphasizes hands on experience. From airplanes and aerodynamics to weather and flight navigation, campers gain experience by visiting airplane hangars, talking with the builder/owners, learning about careers in aviation, meeting aviation professionals at local corporations and visiting the nearby MBS control tower. The camp will be held at the Midland EAA Ormond Barstow Aviation Education Center at the Midland Jack Barstow Airport on Airport Road between Eastman and Sturgeon roads. Tuition is $90 for five days. To register contact Janine Rairigh, camp administrator at 989-615-1103 or e-mail aviationcamp@barstowairport.com to request a registration form. Find Midland Aviation Camp on Facebook and visit www.1093.eaachapter.org for more information.

Spring Exploration Days

Enjoy your break from school while exploring the wonders of nature in Michigan at Chippewa Nature Center, 400 S. Badour Road, Midland. This indoor program includes a variety of self-guided, hands-on exploration stations. Experiments, fun facts, crafts and scavenger hunts are just a few of the types of activities children will experience Monday through Friday, March 20 to April 8. The nature center is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.

Cooking for Crowds

Are you a volunteer who works in a church kitchen, concession stand, runs bake sales or maybe is hosting a family reunion this summer? Cooking for Crowds is designed for non-profit groups that run food fundraisers or cook in large quantity for their own organizations. There are a range of food safety risks that develop when cooking large volumes of food. Learn to reduce these risks and help prevent the conditions that may lead to a foodborne illness. Participants will receive a safe food handling guide and other food safety tools. The event takes place from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 21, at St. Bartholomew Lutheran Church 997 E. Beaver Road Kawkawlin. Cost is $10 per person. To register go to https://events.anr.msu.edu/c4c418. For more information contact Lisa at Michigan State University Extension 989-832-6643 or treiber@anr.msu.edu

NEMCSA Head Start Preschool

NEMCSA Head Start is a free preschool program for qualifying families with children ages 3 to 4. Head Start also serves children with special needs and/or disabilities. Head Start is a member of the Midland County Regional Preschool Partnership. Complete a preschool interest form online at www.michiganpreschool.org NEMCSA Head Start offers full day and half-day preschool classrooms that run four days a week. Classroom locations in the Midland and Sanford areas include sites at Longview Early Childhood Center, First Baptist Church, Grace Bible Church and Sanford Early Childhood Center. Contact Katie Estelle at (989) 832-0968 or Kelly Scoles at (989) 832-7520 to schedule an application appointment.As promised, here are some more early photos of Sanford and Sanford Lake Park.

Some are captioned, others need to be identified. These photos were tucked away in a Daily News library folder marked Sanford 1950s through 1970s.Michele Bell of Midland and John Searles of Wheeler have been reappointed to the Mental Health Diversion Council by Gov. Rick Snyder.

Also reappointed were Soleil Campbell of Okemos and Ronald Derrer of Grand Rapids.

The council is housed within the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and helps strengthen the state's mental health system. It offers solutions to improve services for Michiganders living with mental health conditions to help ensure better quality of life, safety, and independence.

"I thank this group for their continued commitment to improving Michigan's mental health system," Snyder said.

Bell is the director of court services and program development for the Midland County 42nd Circuit Court. She previously served as assistant director of the Juvenile Care Center and program administrator of the Day Treatment Program for Midland County. Bell holds a bachelor's degree in individual and family studies from Penn State University. She will continue to represent advocates of consumer representatives on juvenile justice issues.

Searles is the superintendent of Midland County Educational Service Agency, where he implemented the Longview Early Childhood and Family Center. He previously served as superintendent for Merrill Community Schools, assessment and school improvement coordinator for Kentwood Public Schools, and adjunct faculty for Aquinas College and Michigan State University. Searles holds a bachelor's degree in English and Spanish from Aquinas College, a master's degree in educational leadership from Western Michigan University, and completed coursework toward a Ph.D. in curriculum, teaching, and educational policy at Michigan State University. He will continue to represent school systems.

Campbell is the juvenile justice policy and systems manager for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Derrer is a school psychologist and head of the psychology department for Hudsonville Public Schools.

Appointees will serve four-year terms expiring Jan. 30, 2022.The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriff's Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Kelly Dame.

Wednesday, March 28

4:01 a.m. - A deputy was sent to the City of Coleman for a report of a suspicious vehicle parked next to the water tower. The person was working on equipment for AT&T, and provided proper identification.

5:10 a.m. - A Bloomfield Hills man, 23, was arrested in Lincoln Township for drunken driving.

7:38 a.m. - Officers were sent to the 400 block of Hawthorne Hollow for a report of disorderly conduct.

8:56 a.m. - Police made a warrant arrest in the 200 block of West Ellsworth Street.

12:18 p.m. - Police were called to a Rowe Court address for an assault.

1:56 p.m. - Officers assisted probation and parole agents in the 200 block of Ellsworth Street.

2:37 p.m. - A deputy was sent to Mills Township to check a report of a man stumbling in a roadway. The man was not found.

2:47 p.m. - A Midland man, 28, was arrested at a Lincoln Township home on a Saginaw County warrant for marijuana possession. A deputy was called to the home to conduct a civil standby.

3:22 p.m. - Officers were called to the 6800 block of Eastman Avenue to investigate a retail fraud.

3:34 p.m. - Police were sent to the 6800 block of Eastman Avenue for a case of retail fraud.

4:58 p.m. - A Jasper Township man, 29, was arrested on a Friend of the Court warrant after he went to the Midland Law Enforcement Center to verify his address for the state's sex offender registry.

8:25 p.m. - Police made an arrest for marijuana possession at South Saginaw Road and Eastlawn Drive.

8:46 p.m. - A Geneva Township man reported bullying occurring at school involving two students, both age 11. The school is being notified of the problem.

11:12 p.m. - A driver reevaluation form was filed with the state after a traffic crash in Jerome Township.

11:42 p.m. - A deputy responded to a report of a possible drunken driver on M-20 in Lee Township. The vehicle was found and the driver was not intoxicated.To the editor:

The Midland County Emergency Food Pantry Network held a Mobile Food Pantry at Faith United Methodist Church in Coleman on March 21. Seventy-one volunteers served 168 families (465 individuals) with 11,828 pounds of food purchased from the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan with a generous donation from the Coleman VFW Post 1071. The distribution included potatoes, apples, frozen meats, bottled water and other beverages, cereals and other packaged/canned foods, pastries and breads.

The Network is also very grateful to the donors of food, money and time throughout the year to the Network's mission of "Always food in every home." Midland County residents in (financial) need of food and personal care items during the year may call the Network at 486-9393 to leave your name and phone number. The fourth MFP in 2018 is scheduled for May 24 at Trinity Lutheran Church on Jefferson Avenue in Midland. Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m.

SALLY ANN SUTTON

Midland County EFPNTo the editor:

At a time when some think Midland needs another performance venue and more shows, I am disappointed to note that two favorite long-running shows will not be held this spring at the Midland Center for the Arts. These shows were truly a rite of spring, setting the timetable for the homeward migration of Midland snowbirds. We enjoyed the shows because they always featured people we know, and the storylines spoke to the future prosperity of our community. Audience participation was invited, within limits; over three minutes became a speech, not a question. If the sponsoring organizations reported a good year there would be punch and cookies at the end of the show. Perhaps a commemorative paperweight on the way out the door.In the past three years, more than 100,000 opioid prescriptions were prescribed in Midland County to treat pain. Thats a lot, considering our population is slightly more than 83,000. Many more drugs were prescribed for a variety of other health issues, including heart ailments, mental health and infections. According to a recent study by the Mayo Clinic and Olmstead Medical Center, almost 70 percent of Americans are taking at least one prescription medication and more than 50 percent take two.

Since 2009, The Legacy Center, the Midland Police Department and the Midland County Sheriffs Office have been working together to collect unused, expired medications  both prescription and over the counter. Through this effort, formally known as Dump Your Drugs, weve collected more than 20,000 pounds of medication in nine years.

The goal of Dump Your Drugs is to reduce the supply of drugs that are unknowingly made available to persons with an addiction to opiates or other drugs. The clutter of medications in the home builds up in the kitchen cupboard, bathroom medicine cabinet, the night stand, or on top of the dresser. Those are among the first places a person looks when they are seeking a high. That person could be a relative, a friend of one of your kids or a stranger.

Our community is fortunate in that there are several, convenient ways to dispose of unused or expired medication. In the Midland area, you can dispose of your drugs at the Law Enforcement Center (24 hours per day, seven days per week), the Coleman Family Center (Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.), and the Michigan State Police Post near Freeland (Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.). In addition to these permanent locations, mobile Dump Your Drugs events are hosted at a variety of locations in the community between April and October, including the Midland Area Farmers Market.

Some pharmacies also have programs that allow you to put unused medications in a postage-paid envelope and mail them in. One initiative involves an envelope that includes a substance that renders the prescription unusable. Check with your local pharmacy to see if it participates in one of these efforts.

Over the past several years, weve seen an increase in the number of opioid overdoses in our community  with far too many resulting in death. Wed be fooling ourselves to think that the drug take back effort alone will result in dramatic changes to this situation. However, it is one important activity in a much larger strategy to drive systemic change in our community. We encourage you to participate.

Jennifer Heronema is the president and CEO of the Legacy Center. Cliff Block is the Midland Police chief. Scott Stephenson is the Midland County sheriff.While Donald Trump has been heavily critical of mainstream media outlets for many years, he has no issue rubbing shoulders with those in the field who are willing to use their pulpit to prop him up in the eyes of the American public. One of the most prominent of those supportive figures is American Media Inc. chairman David Packer, and a report from the New York Times details Packers relationship with the president and how it benefits his attempts to establish business ties within Saudi Arabia.

The two have been close since the 90s, when Packers National Enquirer became one of numerous publications covering a reemerging Trump following the failure of his Atlantic City casinos. The relationship persisted through the next 20 years, with Packer using his publication to shield and shower praise upon Trump, especially once his 2016 presidential campaign picked up steam. Packer continually attacked Trumps political rivals and critics in The Enquirer during the campaign, and published stories in support of the deep state conspiracy theories used by Trump supporters to dismiss credible news stories and push damaging and misinformed policies through the halls of government. Trump became the first presidential candidate the publication ever endorsed.

The most notorious of Packers acts was the suppression of former Playboy model Karen McDougals claim of having an extramarital affair with Trump. AMI purchased her story for $150,000 and sat on it, a tactic commonly referred to as catch and kill. McDougal recently filed a lawsuit alleging that Trumps attorney, Michael Cohen, was secretly involved in AMIs purchase and subsequent burial of her story. Both Cohen and AMI denied the allegations.

It worked, though, as Packer met with Trump in the Oval Office last July, bringing French businessman and business conduit for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Kacy Grine and other associates. The group went out to dinner following the meeting, where they discussed Middle East and the recent French elections. Two months later, Packer was in Saudi Arabia, attempting to establish business connections with the Saudis and lauding his plans to expand his events business, which includes the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition, into the nation.

Packer would further ingratiate himself to the Saudi Crown Prince just ahead of his current U.S. tour. Prior to Salmans arrival, AMI produced a 97-page magazine titled The New Kingdom that pretty much acted as a promotional item for Saudi Arabia and the Crown Prince, highlighting his pursuits against corruption within the Saudi government and omitting any reference to The Magic Kingdoms human rights concerns, military activities or the sweeping amount of arrests of Saudi royals last fall.

200,000 copies of the magazine were distributed in major outlets, such as Walmart, and allowed AMI to capitalize on Salmans rising profile while furthering growing financial ties between the Saudi and U.S. government. Both nations have expressed interesting in cross-border investment, with a $20 billion pledge from the Saudi government being put into a fund with the intent to invest it in American infrastructure projects. The nation is also planning to purchase American-made missiles and military equipment.

Packers utilization of his connection to the president is fortuitous as AMI has suffered financially over the past decade, including a bankruptcy filing in 2010 in which the company reported $1 billion in debts. The company was bought by two private equity firms in 2014. AMI stated the company is currently in an incredibly stable financial position, though it has gone through a series of restructurings over the past decade and Pecker confirmed that he did not have the money needed to join Harvey Weinstein in an attempt to purchase Rolling Stone last fall.

Those with knowledge of Packers dealings with the Saudis say that, by January of 2018, they were being done in an attempt to secure financial backing from the Saudis for AMIs purchase of Time magazine. AMI refuted the claim, but Packer has shown interest in acquiring the magazine since 2013, when the president tweeted that Packer would be a brilliant choice as CEO of TIME Magazine. AMIs chief contact officer, Dylan Howard, expressed to that Packers interest in Time was inline with the motivations of any other businessman: Any media executive worth his or her salt must look at any acquisition opportunity in todays media climate. Not every businessman has the kind of global political access that Packer has cultivated, however.

The White House did not respond to the NYTs request for comment.For those of us with staunch disinterest in the mechanics of finance and economics, movies that focus on either (or worse: both) tend to look and feel an awful lot like a brick wall. Theyre too dense, each brick too tightly packed against the rest, the mortar gluing them together too solid. Bust through one and youll still have the rest staring you in the face. Its a hopeless task. Still, the matters of fiscal flimflam and commercial collapse are too important to justify our ignorance of them, so its up to filmmakers like Jed Rothstein to translate the physics of a con into a language the uninformed can understand. Sometimes that language means putting experts in front of the camera and letting them talk. Sometimes it means showing the audience an educational cartoon.

In the case of The China Hustle, Rothsteins new film, it means jamming talking heads and cartoons into one brisk package, spurring on his viewers outrage without mystifying us or insulting our intelligence. In a roundabout way, The China Hustles density facilitates its cause: Allocating himself just an hour and twenty minutes to break down Wall Streets blind-eyed endorsement of monetary hanky panky between crumbling American companies and avaricious Chinese companies, Rothstein untangles a complex web of scumbag villainy into mere threads of scumbag villainy that even the most economically disinclined among us can wrap our lizard brains around. There are too many moving parts in financial fraud to ever fully simplify financial fraud, but The China Hustle does a bang up job trying to get there anyways.

Herere the basics: Back in 2008, when Americans were acclimating to the idea of living through a recession, investors caught with their pants around their ankles by the subprime mortgage cataclysm decided that recouping their losses in the first fraud by accepting a shiny brand new fraud made sound economic sense. Enter China. Throughout the 2000s, hundreds of Chinese companies started showing up on U.S. financial exchanges through the magical process of the reverse merger, in which the Chinese business merged with dead or dying American business that already enjoyed official listing. Sounds great, if youre a sucker! See, the reverse mergers let these newly minted enterprises sell their stock while skirting around U.S. security regulations.

Whether youre an econ master or not, you can probably figure out where this is going: The folks behind these companies lied to their foreign investors and to the SEC, reporting completely B.S. assets and revenues, thereby inflating stock prices, and with prices skyrocketing, every crook in on the scheme sold their shares, profited, and put the poor saps targeted by the scheme over a barrel. Again.

If all of this sounds dry on paper, its remarkably propulsive and even entertaining on the screen. Rothstein is a student from the school of Alex Gibney, who here serves as an executive producer; his names also on The New Yorker Presents and Parched, a pair of documentary TV series for which Rothstein directed episodes between the years of 2015 and 2017. If youre familiar with Gibneys bone-dry, over-obvious approach to documentary filmmaking, you may detect traces of his influence in Rothsteins work, but Rothstein has a sense of humor and a flair for cheeky amusement that keeps The China Hustle engaging and on track, found in his editing choices and occasionally in his choice in format. An old-timey animated segment, for instance, that explains the concept of shorting (the sale of an asset you dont own for its current price just to repurchase that asset later at a lower price) absolutely slays.

So do those talking head interviews, but mostly because Rothstein chooses his subjects wisely. His star, Dan David, is so charming, so charismatic and such a compelling storyteller that youll almost wonder why Rothstein didnt just center the movie on him and him alonealmost because again: The material is dense. It takes more than one perspective to unravel the logistics of economic chicanery, so Rothstein includes ex-investment banker Matthew Wiechert and short seller Carson Block, who runs a firm called Muddy Waters Research, where the mission is to root out fraudulent companies and expose them. (Also appearing: Wesley Clark, decorated General, erstwhile Rodman & Renshaw chairman and total coward when Rothsteins camera is fixated on him and his investment banking activities.) Their accounts and reminiscences of their experiences with reverse mergers amuse as easily as they enrage.

But for Rothstein it all comes back to Dan, the short-selling crusader who takes his cause right to Washington, where The China Hustle hits us with the hardest truth of all: The people in charge and vested with power to protect us from financial harm dont care enough to do their jobs. Either that or they just dont believe the facts. Its a comfort of sorts to know that guys like Dan are out there in the world, raising a ruckus over the fraud China continues to perpetrate on the American public, but they keyword here is continues. As the film ends, the fraud goes on, expedited, perhaps, by the presidency. (Rothstein knows what hes doing when he includes footage of Trump meeting with Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma.) The China Hustle handily clarifies opaque topics and moves like a bullet, but the bullet catches us right in the gut. By the time the film ends youll wish you could go back to being ignorant again.

Director: Jed Rothstein

Starring: Dan David, Carson Block, Matthew Wiechert, Wesley Clark

Release Date: March 30, 2018

Boston-based culture writer Andy Crump has been writing about film and television online since 2009, and has been contributing to Paste since 2013. He also writes words for The Playlist,WBURs The ARTery, Slant Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Polygon, Thrillist, and Vulture, and is a member of the Online Film Critics Society and the Boston Online Film Critics Association. You can follow him on Twitter and find his collected writing at his personal blog. He is composed of roughly 65% craft beer.The Enduro World Series has landed in Colombia for round two and this weekend's race could not be more different to last week's season opener in Chile. Long, dry, dusty stages have been replaced by short, flowy singletrack deep in the rainforest of the surrounding hills. The race starts with an urban downhill stage in the center of Manizales city - this is the EWS as you've never seen it before. Ric McLaughlin and Chris Ball slip and slide their way around the course in one of the wildest course previews to date.Some of America's most historic rooms aren't where you'd expect them to beYou are the owner of this article.Abigail Darlington is a local government reporter focusing primarily on the City of Charleston. She previously covered local arts & entertainment, technology, innovation, tourism and retail for the Post and Courier.Gregory Yee covers the city of Charleston. He's a native Angeleno and previously covered crime and courts for the Press-Telegram in Long Beach, CA. He studied journalism and Spanish literature at the University of California, Irvine.An environmental "incident take" permit is up for public comment, allowing marine mammals to be killed as the Navy trains with submarines, ships and aircraft offshore South Carolina. Provided/U.S. NavySyndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations.Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations.At volatile Syrian front line, US, Turkey on opposing sides

U.S. troop\'s humvee passes vehicles of fighters from the U.S-backed Syrian Manbij Military Council on a road leading to the tense front line with Turkish-backed fighters, at Halawanji village, north of Manbij town, Syria.

AP, Halawanji :

Perched on a green hilltop, Kurdish and Arab fighters face a tense front line separating them from Turkish-backed forces in this part of northern Syria. Behind them, American troops drive up and down the roads. Their aim: Make their presence known to prevent bursts of gunfire from spiraling into a battle.

Down the hill and across a stream are the rival forces: Syrian opposition fighters. They have taken positions on a crossroads in the village of Halawanji and on rooftops with views up to the hill. Beyond them, on another hill, Turkish troops have a base, ready to back up their allies if needed.

This front line threatens to ignite at any time, with the militaries of two NATO members on opposing sides. The crowded terrain has become more combustible as Turkey ever more loudly threatens to push through these lines to attack the nearby Kurdish-Arab town of Manbij and other Kurdish-run towns further east. The presence of the Americans is a main obstacle preventing them from doing so.

Further hiking tensions, a roadside bomb in Manbij late Thursday killed two coalition personnel, an American and a Briton. Kurdish officials accuse Turkey and its allies of carrying out acts of violence in the town to sow instability, including several recent smaller bombings, protests and an attempted assassination attempt on a Kurdish official - although there is also the possibility Islamic State group militants are behind the violence.

Manbij is highly strategic: the main town on westernmost edge of the stretch of Syrian territory held by the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds, running along the border with Turkey. Mixed Kurdish-Arab Syrian forces liberated Manbij from the rule of the Islamic State group in 2016 with help from the U.S.-led coalition. But Kurdish control of the town infuriated Turkey, which views the main U.S. Kurdish ally, the YPG militia, as "terrorists" linked to Kurdish insurgents on its own soil.

U.S. troops first deployed in the area about 16 months ago, after Turkish-backed Syrian forces advanced on areas near Manbij, in a race for control of territories as IS militants collapsed. The deployment prevented repeated clashes between the two rival forces. The U.S-backed Syrian fighters at Halwanji say their Turkish-backed rivals downhill increasingly open fire on them, trying to provoke a fight and create a pretext for an incursion. One commander said it happens as often as three times a week.

FILE - In this May 21, 2015 file photo, a worker removes oil from the sand at Refugio State Beach in the Santa Barbara Channel, north of Goleta, Calif., as cleanup work continues one month after the May 19 oil spill north of Santa Barbara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)Political Reporter

Caitlin Byrd is a political reporter at The Post and Courier and author of the Palmetto Politics newsletter. Before moving to Charleston in 2016, her byline appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times. To date, Byrd has won 17 awards for her work.Our top stories in your inbox every morning

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Apparently, there was a breakdown in communication between the Lagos State government and the presidency last Thursday and the result was the shoddy manner the metropolis was shut down when President Muhammadu Buhari came on a two-day visit. SATIRE SATURDAY observes that the haphazard manner the shutdown was carried out is quite unbefitting of the status of Mr. President. It is doubtful if Mr. President was aware of this breach in protocol and I think such embarrassing development must be avoided in future.

The shutdown wasnt properly done in a number of ways and I will highlight a few here.

First, the Lagos government declared a tokenistic one-day public holiday for a WHOLE presidential visit. Thats utterly embarrassing! What I suspect is that the government didnt get details of the visit from presidential protocol officers until late Wednesday night hence a week or more public holiday would have been most appropriate. And given the respect the Lagos government has for the president as evident in how it hurriedly declared Thursday public holiday despite that the notice perhaps came in very late, coupled with its pace-setting potentials, I am sure it would gladly honour the president with the one-week holiday.

Then there is the rude attitude of owners of our domestic airlines, many of whom had the audacity to schedule flights on the same day the president was visiting. Thats utterly disrespectful. PREMIUM TIMES reported how a few air passengers trekked and ran and jumped, in a desperate bid not to miss their flights which were later delayed anyway. While I sympathize with the passengers, I think the largest chunk of the blame should go to the airlines, who were so disrespectful they couldnt honour the president and cancel the entire flights for the two days he was in the city. I expect that the president would not say he isnt aware of this gross disrespect and promptly inaugurate a presidential disciplinary committee to look into this as appropriate. I would be utterly disappointed if none of those airlines had its licence revoked.

Then there were banks that had skeletal operations despite the public holiday. Bunch of money-loving capitalists, they could not give the president the full respect he deserves. The newly inaugurated CBN monetary policy committee could kick start its own operations by looking into this and recommending punishment for erring banks as appropriate.

A lacuna was also apparent in the near-absence of newspaper advertorials some days before the presidents visit. This is nothing but poor oversight on the part of the presidential media team because it is unlikely that there would be appropriate communication a week before the visit and there wont be advertorials.

PREMIUM TIMES reported on Thursday that many Lagosians defied the road block and trekked from Ikeja Along to, well, heaven-knows-where. Of course, there are many Lagosians whose survival depends on their daily hustle but that embarrassing development had little to do with their quest for survival; it was Lagosians own way of protesting the late communication. If Lagosians had heard about the visit a week earlier and there had been a week-long public holiday, it is doubtful they wont troop out to welcome the president at the airport. Lagosians are rule-compliant and they respect constituted authorities and government pronouncements, except when it involves asphyxiating-taxes.

The religious groups were also sidelined in the visit and thats a clear disrespect to those whose prayers have brought Nigeria this far. But more importantly, it was quite risky a stunt to allow the president travel from Abuja to Lagos without religious bodies offering seven-day prayers and fasting at the airport ahead of the visit. At least, that would have ensured the presidents on-air safety and immunity against associated witches and wizards.

There are numerous other oversight failures that I cant possibly highlight here due to space constraint. And I believe strongly that if these things had been looked into, folks who, quite rightly, lambasted former president Goodluck Jonathan over a similar shutdown circa 2014 and are defending Thursdays shutdown would have no reason to advertise their partisan idiocy.

Itesiwaju Eko

SERIOUSLY SPEAKING: Shittu and that shithole allegation

When Nigerias communication minister, Barrister Bayo Shittu contested for Oyo state governorship position in 2011, he ran with an intriguing mantra: The Bayo you can trust. Of course, not a few Oyo pundits knew it was a way of distancing himself from his namesake, the then incumbent Adebayo Alao-Akala, against whom there were allegations of corruption.

In recent weeks, I have religiously followed details of the allegations against him by his media aide. The jury is still out on the ministers performance thus far but I think the allegations should not be waived aside by any government that prides itself as anti-graft, especially because there have been similar allegations in the past.

If the government chooses to do otherwise, it would have proven that its anti-graft campaign is, to adopt an American lingo, a shit-hole campaign.In this interview with PREMIUM TIMES Owoseye Ayodamola and Lois Ugbede, the former President of Switzerland and current Chair, Global Commission on Drug Policy, Ruth Dierfuss, during her visit to Abuja, Nigeria, spoke on the Commissions campaign on decriminalisation of drug users.

Ms Dierfuss spoke on her drug campaign mission to Nigeria, saying the country needs to imbibe new tactics to fight the drug war.

PT  You were the first woman to be the President of the Confederation of Switzerland. How did it feel attaining that level of success?

Dierfuss: When you are the first to do something as a woman, after many decades of discrimination against women, it creates a great obligation to open the door for the next ones and to be a role model for little girls that will think that they can also dream to be president of their country.

In my case it was especially thrilling because I was elected by the parliament into the government because of the scandalous reality that the government had. No woman at all was no longer accepted by the people.

I was elected because the parliament saw that it was time for women to enter into government.

PT- During your time as the President, you were quite successful. You are accredited with reforms in social security, health insurance, the forefront drug strategy that changed the landscape of Switzerland in terms of demand reduction strategy, but your maternity insurance law could not see the light of the day, did that leave a sour taste in your mouth?

Dierfuss: Not at all, because it is a very long battle for the maternity leave, it took about 25 years and I could say the seed that I (planted) on the issue was fruitful because it was accepted shortly after I resigned from government.

The struggle of 25 years was successful. In politics the important thing is to make things move. If another one can succeed at the end, it is okay. An important thing to note in Swiss politics is that, I was president for one year. I was in government ten years. I was successful in the terms that during the ten years as a minister of health, social affairs, environment and higher education which was all in my ministry, I was successful because we decided, together in the government, of my proposal to go for them.

Just to say, a president in Switzerland is more of a protocol issue. We are rotating. During the year you are president, you are still minister of health and so on.

You can continue to work but in the meantime, you have the responsibility to make the government function. That is just a little information about the strange political system we have.

PT  What you are always remembered for is your drug policies in Switzerland, (Needles Park used to be notorious for drug uses which you changed and which has become a model for some other countries who are battling with such issues). What inspired that movement?

Dierfuss: When I was back in government, we had two negative revolution we needed to face. One was the peak in HIV/AIDs epidemic and the other was a strong increase in heroine consumption.

One was fueling the other, the despair of the people was fueling the drug consumption and the drug consumption was fueling the epidemic through needles that were contaminated and so on.

We often see quite shocking, people lying around, people being partly organised, others came just to buy the stuff to consume and go back to their jobs. So all people in Needle Park were not miserable people.

But some of them were kept by the drug, they were dependent on it, they lived there, had petty criminality to find money to buy their drugs. Our priority was to bring these people into a more balanced live, offer them the services to protect themselves, protect the environment and to regain a better live.

At the beginning it was an initiative from NGOs, doctors, people from the faculty of medicine, and churches who said we have to reach out to the people instead of just abandoning them in the situation.

The government too accepted to develop the measures to have safe consumption of the drugs. A place where people could come and take the drug bought in black market, in a safe environment with medical and social professionals being there. We also provide syringes and other materials (for them) to take their drugs to prevent contacting and spreading HIV/AIDS.

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The facility also does dope checking because when they buy most of these substances at the black market, there is a tendency that the substance has been adulterated and poisonous, for example, concrete mixed with heroine. You can imagine what concrete can do to the vein of the person injecting?

It is to solve all these mystery and problems in the society that we decided to change the drug policy.

The initiative came from people who were ready to go really inside the problem and to tell us we cannot continue with repression, abandoning the drug users but have to act.

I was happy enough to be able to convince the whole government to scale up in principle, everybody, and leave nobody behind in the intervention.

ormer President of Switzerland and current Chair, Global Commission on Drug Policy, Ruth Dierfuss ormer President of Switzerland and current Chair, Global Commission on Drug Policy, Ruth Dierfuss ormer President of Switzerland and current Chair, Global Commission on Drug Policy, Ruth Dierfuss

PT  You are the chair, Global Commission on Drug Policy. What steps have you taken to replicate that success in the global scene?

Driefuss  It is a huge programme with a different chapter and if we take all these chapters and implement them, we will construct a coherence into drug policy, because now, it is incoherent and inefficient and we are taking little steps but not building a coherent approach.

We promote five part for drug policy, one is the issue of health policy, harm reduction and prevention, all types of treatment and substitution treatment and so on.

The second thing, very important, that Nigeria is embarking on: There is an awareness now after so many years because pain relief was neglected. Pain relief was neglected because good medicine like morphine is in the meantime considered as a drug, and this was a forbidden drug.

For many (years), countries in Africa did not import or produce the painkillers and didnt prescribe the pain killers. This is a very important issue and there is a growing awareness into that. The countries have been too focused on diversion on the possibility of dependence on morphine, which is not really the case, if it is prescribed very well in second situation.

The third part is the criminalisation of the consumption. In this sense, for the first two parts, Switzerland is a very good example. You have no difficulty to get pain relief, it is also paid for by the universal health coverage of the health system and the doctors have been trained for treatment and harm reduction.

ormer President of Switzerland and current Chair, Global Commission on Drug Policy, Ruth Dierfuss ormer President of Switzerland and current Chair, Global Commission on Drug Policy, Ruth Dierfuss ormer President of Switzerland and current Chair, Global Commission on Drug Policy, Ruth Dierfuss

Prevention at the beginning is quite difficult especially with young people who want to experiment with drugs.

Medical and public health support is a good way of tackling this menace.

In decriminalisation, Switzerland was so focused on the public health challenge that it neglected the decriminalisation aspect. We did not also use harsh punishment, it was not as it is in some countries where there is death penalty for users or little dealers.

Switzerland has introduced a fine for consumption and the fine is not too high.

Fighting drug has to do with developing the region economically and socially because the non-violent farmers, smugglers and some dealers are into this because of the lack of opportunity. Find new ways to deal with them.

And lastly, dont leave drugs in the hands of criminal organisations, take control of the state. The government is responsible for the health and well-being of the people. Dont leave this in the hands of the people who only have one aim, which is profit, and who use all means to make their substance stronger and unsafe, to make people dependent on their substance.

What I can personally bring into this decision is my experience in the health issue and it is largely convincing when I look at the result and I see how other European countries are doing.

The idea of harm reduction and new treatment is gaining influence.

I am actually convinced that any drug user who is not harmful to himself or others shouldnt be punished. Why should the government interfere in the privacy of people and tell them what they are allowed to use? I am sure that the criminalisation is the main obstacle to harm reduction and treatment that work.

PT- In Nigeria, whoever uses or is caught with a wrap of Indian hemp risks 15 to 20 years in jail. Now that you are here to speak against the prejudices against those who use drugs, are you in any way interfacing with people in government to see if the drug law in Nigeria can be reviewed?

Dierfuss  Our work is to advice other countries about better policies and we have a good advocate in Nigeria, who is also a member of the Global Policy on Drug Commission, former President Olusegun Obasanjo. We also have a strong advocate from the neighbouring country, who is the former secretary general of the UN, Kofi Annan.

When I see what is also done in the West African Commission on Drugs, I see that the idea is developing. These countries have, for too long, been considered victims of international drug traffic.

It has been the place where the drugs are arriving and going through to Europe, that is, from the producer countries to the consumer countries.

ormer President of Switzerland and current Chair, Global Commission on Drug Policy, Ruth Dierfuss ormer President of Switzerland and current Chair, Global Commission on Drug Policy, Ruth Dierfuss ormer President of Switzerland and current Chair, Global Commission on Drug Policy, Ruth Dierfuss

The West African Commission has shown that the difference between the producer countries and the consumers business does not exist any longer.

There is no longer distinction between all these countries, when the drug is controlled by a criminal organisation going through a country or region, you will have consumption and problem in your country and your population.

We need to understand the link between consumption and socio-economic problems, more than to be blind about consumption and think the people taking it are people without moral and if we put them in jail, they will recover. We do not need to stigmatise or quarantine them or see them as people with plague or threat to the society.

The philosophy of punishing people who take drugs and do no harm to people is no longer working, the perception is just something that has no reality at all. They are normal people and majority of them have family and are responsible people. Putting substance users in jail is as silly as saying wine users and smokers should be put in jail. I could say many example to show how unreasonable it is too punish people who use drug.

PT- Nigeria has become one of the traffic routes for illegal trafficking of drugs to Europe. From your perspective, what is the best approach the Nigerian government can take to stem this tide, knowing full well that as much as this drug passes through our borders, some are retained in the country?

Dierfuss I see no relationship between the decriminalisation of those who use drug and the fight against criminal organisations. On the one side, people for one reasons or the other, either good or bad, use substance. That is something that is only criminalised with the idea that these people are dangerous, they are immoral and bad people.

Some police think if they arrest the consumers, they will stop the traffic. That is an illusion. To stop the traffic, there are two or three things to do.

First, is to control it at the border and to fight against corruption, fight against money laundering in the country.

When I speak about corruption, the West African Commission needs to be brave, knowing that drug money can influence election, can be put in houses with new neighbourhoods springing up like mushroom. This needs an international corporation to track money flow and to control the border.

That needs intelligence, it means bringing people inside the criminal organisation to know when transport is coming. That needs a government that is resistant to corruption.

A counter example of what it should not be, is an example of Latin America. Latin America thought they have a battle and because of that put armed military with heavy weapons to fight the cartel.

This resulted with the cartel responding by buying weapons which has led to an escalation of violence in the region. The cartel fight themselves for control of the region and also the military and government.

The places with the highest level of homicide in the world are in Latin America. They are in Central America, Honduras, Peru, and Colombia among others.

The militarisation has cost Mexico more than hundred thousand (100,000) human lives and it is still on going. This is what I can really wish for Africa, they should not take the way of Latin America.

Do not militarise, do not escalate. There is enough work to do to trace the money, trace the substance to fight against the corruption and to fight against money laundering

Often in international statistics you read that the mount of seizure of substance has progressed, this year so many kilos of cocaine, marijuana, cannabis etc has been seized by law and other forces when you look at the price in the market of these substances, what you see is that the price did not go up.

What that means for an economist, is that, it means there is no scarcity, and there is enough in the market to provide for the people who buy it.

This means that the seizure was a little percentage of the whole traffic. This is not a great success.

PT- Do you have any moral burden, based on your past position as the President of Swiss, and as the chair of the commission, with the role the banks in your country have been playing, in terms of keeping laundered money from drugs and corruption from other countries.

Dierfuss: As you know, Switzerland has held (much) money that was not correct in their bank system, also money of corrupt politicians. As you know Nigeria is a good partner now, to bring back this money and to use it in real development of this country.

Money that was taken off by Nigerian politicians is now coming back because we saw this absolutely necessary and because we saw that these countries have made the steps to show that this money was money to be given back to the population in Nigeria.

This was a corruption from the political side. You speak about corruption or benefit of drug business. I just insisted before, of the necessity of international collaboration. Even if I am quite critical of drug control policy in conventions because I have seen what happened in the fifty years of the people, I think it is necessary to fight against the crime and the organization.

The sub of this convention, the 88 convention, put high level of collaboration between the bank system and Switzerland was inspired or felt constrained morally, to develop the system of curtailing money laundering.

I will say that we have now reached a good level of control. Switzerland is no longer a safe habour. I would not swear that there is no amount at all in Swiss bank because organisations can be very smart in organising several institutions and businesses and at the end it is very difficult for us to know where some money is coming from.

But when I think about the scandal we have had and the reputation Switzerland had about 25 to 30 years ago, we are quite relieved by the progress we have done. I will say now Switzerland is not a safe harbour for drug money.

PT: The drug commission recently released its 2017 report. What is the message in it for Nigeria?

Dierfuss  It has a very important message for all societies, but I think for Nigeria, there is a vicious circle. The people do not know what the drugs are but they have a perception on the drugs and the people that use the drugs.

With this perception, they will support harsh punishment for the people that use the drugs. They will support the idea that these people do not deserve aids from the states to recover or to find a good balance in their lives. The politicians will be afraid about bringing the issue with a new view to the society. Also, because drug users are minority and not the majority, that will probably influence the vote in a positive way.

Politicians often look out for the next challenges against the next election. They generally have some difficulties to long term view and to swim against the stream.

Politicians should always be ready to swim against the tide. A great Chinese leader said fish has to swim against the tide down the stream and politicians have to be ready to swim against the tide in issues that are not easy but very important. Politicians should be ready to go into open scenes to give helping hands to people that need help.

When I was the president and a member of the Swiss government, I related with the people to know if what I was offering them was what they really needed and to help them stay alive.

PT- You had a meeting with the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, and the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on drug related issues. What do you intend to achieve with the meeting?

Dierfuss  I was very happy with the meeting with the minister of health. I can see that he is bringing his experience as a physician and oncologist to help to fight against HIV/AIDS in the country. I found lots of openness and hope to solve the problem. What I thought is very positive, is the focus on access to pain relief medicine.

I heard with great pleasure that there is an openness about harms reduction and other means for the people using drugs. I have the impression that the decision is open in Nigeria, and in this sense, the taboo is broken. Lets hope that the perception of the vicious circle will be broken with the commitment of politicians.

PT- Life expectancy in Switzerland is one of the highest in the world, what measures did the government put in place to achieve this?

Dierfuss  In Switzerland and most European countries, the life expectancy of women is quite higher than men. This is achieved with the important services that are given to women when they are pregnant and giving birth to their children.

The whole support that they give is one of the reason why they live longer and another reason is the fight against violence against women.The Presidency has responded to a call made by a former Army chief, urging Nigerians to rise up and defend themselves against violent attacks.

Former Army general, Theophilus Danjuma, said Nigerians were being slaughtered by deadly gangs because the armed forces were not neutral.

He said security forces instead helped the assailants by providing them with cover.

The armed forces are not neutral, Mr. Danjuma said at the maiden convocation of the Taraba State University in Jalingo, the state capital. They collude with the armed bandits to kill people, kill Nigerians.

The federal government and the military earlier dismissed the call as inflammatory and urged Nigerians to disregard them.

In its first official response Saturday, a week after the remarks were made, the Presidency said Mr. Danjumas comments were shocking and scary and could embolden criminal gangs.

The Presidency is very worried that criminal gangs will feel justified in defying legal governing and democratic institutions, and authority of legitimately elected democratic government if unrestrained pronouncements are made, a statement by spokesman Garba Shehu said.

Silence can be dignified, but sometimes it can be misinterpreted and exploited. It is both shocking and scary to hear the recent comments by a senior citizen calling for Nigerians to defend themselves.

The statement warned that Nigeria may not survive if its citizens rose against the countrys organized, trained and equipped military.

The statement did not directly mention Mr. Danjuma, who was President Muhammadu Buharis superior in the army.

We advise former leaders to take advantage of the various fora where people with a history of national security can offer advice to the government without resorting to the exploitation of emotional sentiments.

The civil war motto: TO KEEP NIGERIA ONE IS A TASK THAT MUST BE DONE rings very timely at this time in our nations history. We must be careful to avoid the mess that destroyed other African countries like Somalia, it added.

Deadly killings

Deadly killings have been recorded in several states across Nigeria since January 2018, but the government has appeared helpless at identifying and bringing culprits to book. The clashes have been mostly between herders and farmers.

Hundreds have been killed in attacks on villages in Benue, Kogi, Adamawa, Zamfara, Kaduna and Mr. Danjumas home state of Taraba since January.

The 2018 attacks began in Benue, where about 100 people were murdered across two local government areas on January 1 by suspected herders.

Mr. Danjuma said unchecked violence is pushing Nigeria towards Somalia, a country that has been in a state of war since 1991. The East African country is widely seen as a failed state due to the failure of the central government to have any serious control beyond the capital, Mogadishu.

This is highly uncalled for and is invitation to anarchy and should be disregarded by well-meaning Nigerians, the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, had earlier said.

ADVERTISEMENTFor five consecutive years, three Nigerian states took an unmistakable lead in university JAMB admissions into courses leading to the award of degrees in Engineering, a PREMIUM TIMES analysis shows.

The states are Oyo, Ogun and Osun.

More than the other 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, the three states, in varied sequence, maintained a consistent lead in JAMB-administered admissions for Engineering courses in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, the analysis based on data from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board(JAMB) shows.

The data were verified by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The three states were closely followed by Delta, Ondo, Imo, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Kogi, and Kwara states.

Some states in the second category broke into the first three in some years, while in other years, they missed out entirely from the top eight.

Edo made the top eight states twice, while Kaduna and Benue made the best eight once, each.

The data are for students admitted through test-based examinations conducted by JAMB. JAMBs admission process is guided by merit, university catchment area and gives advantage to educationally-less developed states.

The analysis follows a similar evaluation by this newspaper of admissions into Medicine. A future assessment will focus on Law  the three being some of the most competitive university programmes in the country.

As the Medicine report, which showed a largely regional trend with South-East states of Imo, Enugu, Anambra and a South-south state, Delta, taking the lead, the latest analysis on Engineering shows mostly South-west states in top positions.

Engineering trend

The JAMB data show that in 2011, while Osun had 1,196 students admitted into various universities to study Engineering degree courses, Ogun followed with 1,117 students with Oyo coming third with 1,076. Delta came fourth with 883 and Benue was fifth with 847 students.

In 2012, Oyo emerged first with 1, 339 students, Osun followed with 1,339 and Ogun came third with 1,081. Akwa Ibom was fourth with 966. Ondo placed fifth with 901 students admitted into Engineering.

Oyo led again in 2013 with 1,870 students, while Osun followed with 1,478 and Ogun came third with 1,244. Delta came fourth with 1,165. Fifth position was taken by Kaduna with 1,068 students.

In 2014, Osun returned to the first position with 2,168 students, with Oyo dropping to second with 1,647. Ogun came third with 1, 639; Delta was fourth with 1,447 and Ondo with 1,281, took fifth.

In 2015, Oyo reclaimed the first position with 2,536 students, Osun followed with 2,326, Delta came to third with 1, 511, while Ogun was relegated to the fourth position with 1, 468. Ondo maintained the fifth position with 1, 368.

Other findings

States at the bottom of the admission table were FCT, Yobe, Zamfara, and Sokoto.

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Other states that had poor showing in Engineering admission were Bayelsa, Borno, Nassarawa, Gombe and Cross River.

Sokoto had 19 students admitted into Engineering in 2011, while the FCT had 28 students. The trend was similar for the five years.

In 2012, Yobe had 44 students, followed by Zamfara with 77 students, Sokoto with 93 students and Borno had 99 students.

In 2013, Sokoto had 60 students, followed by Zamfara with 126 students. Yobe had 162 students while Gombe had 247 students.

In 2014, Sokoto had 88 students, Bayelsa had 188 students, Nassarawa had 199 while Gombe had 221 students.

Also in 2015, Zamfara recorded 135 students who got admission, Bayelsa had 137 students, Sokoto had 174 while Cross Rivers had 228 students.

Comparing notes

John Umaru, a retired permanent secretary at the Kogi State Ministry of Education, said the admission pattern reflects the availability of resources to improve science and technology in some states.

He said state governments must endeavour to understudy the top states and imbibe what they are doing right.

State should be allowed to do comparative studies or analysis so that they can replicate what the top states with the high number of students studying engineering are doing for the past years, he said.

He said the country will not be able to detect the peculiar problem of a state if the government fails to compare notes with the states that are doing well in different sectors.

Until we start comparing notes across the country, we wont be able to know the peculiar problem of a state and adopt what others are doing right so that the performance of our students can improve, he said.

If you take a look at the mathematics quiz organised by Cowbell Milk, the students that scored well are from Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Lagos and Anambra States. Some of these students are from well-established private schools, but how many private schools can we boast of in Yobe and Zamfara States, he asked.

Mr. Umar said the problem in science education is with the foundation.

How grounded are these students in primary science, basic level of education? If the foundation is not strong, there will be a serious issue. Yobe State have been noted for backwardness in education, he said.

According to him, the pattern also reflects the decline in infrastructure, facilities and quality of teachers in schools. He said teachers training programme must be re-addressed.

If there are no qualified teachers to teach the students the basics, how do we want them to comprehend what is being taught? How do we expect them to pass common entrance well, let alone the science subjects in JAMB. These students needs basic knowledge in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology, he said.

He added that the attitude of parents towards their wards education also contributes largely to their success or failure. Finally, he also noted that poor attitude of students to their education is a common phenomenon that should be discouraged.

See List below:A presidential aide who manages President Muhammadu Buharis social media accounts has come under public humiliation after excoriating Nigerians who criticised the presidents viral photo with Naomi Campbell as animals.

Naomi Campbell met Nelson Mandela more than once. He hugged her, called her his honorary granddaughter. She visits Nigeria for a fashion festival and meets President @MBuhari, and some of you animals are slandering her, Tolu Ogunlesi said on Twitter Friday, and further emphasised that: YOURE RAVING MAD WITH NOBODY TO TELL YOU.

Mr. Buhari on Friday morning met with Ms Campbell, a British model, on an inspection tour of the Eko Atlantic real estate project in Lagos.

The assessment visit was part of Mr. Buharis trip to Lagos for the 66th birthday events of Bola Tinubu.

The State House was the first to post Mr. Buharis encounter with Ms Campbell on Twitter at noon Friday, in one of the rarest sightings of a leader widely seen as modest and taciturn.

President @MBuhari today in Lagos toured Eko Atlantic City. Hes pictured here with Governor @AkinwunmiAmbode, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and @NaomiCampbell. #PMBinLagos pic.twitter.com/OQK2mKK1qU  Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) March 30, 2018

Two hours later, the model, known for her controversial involvements with African rich men, returned the recognition with a tweet, although she ambiguously described it as a private launch. She initially said she was there at the instance of Mr. Buhari, but later deleted the tweet after online uproar.

Ms Campbells apparent inconsistency together with the State Houses reluctance to release details of the meeting prompted many to question whether the president knew the models history prior to the encounter.

While Ms. Campbell, 47, is based in the UK, shes known to have been involved with rich men from Africa spanning decades.

In 1997, she met with Charles Taylor, a former Liberian warlord currently serving a long sentence for war crimes and crimes against humanity, at a parry organised by former South African President Nelson Mandela.

Mr. Taylor allegedly gave Ms. Campbell a bag that contained diamonds worth millions of dollars and believed to have been mined illegally.

When she testified in the trial of Mr. Taylor at the International Criminal Court, Ms Campbell acknowledged receiving small, dirty-looking stones from the former Liberian presidents staff.

The testimony earned her a worldwide ridicule.

Also, in recent years, Ms. Campbell has been rumoured to be dating Kola Aluko, a Nigerian oil dealer currently on the run for alleged fraud.

The duo had been sighted cruising in Mr Alukos luxury yacht across the world.

Ms Campbell, who later said she was in Nigeria to participate at the Arise Fashion Show in Lagos, became an instant subject of partisan bickering between Mr. Buharis critics and supporters, with some opposition voices implying that she might have been paid for her brief appearance and photo op with the president.

A presidential aide clarified Friday evening that Ms Campbell only ran into Mr. Buhari at Eko Atlantic and sought to have a handshake and take pictures with the Nigerian leader.

Apparently angered by the criticisms, especially against Ms. Campbell as he later stated, Mr Ogunlesi, 36, posted the controversial tweet shortly after 11:00 p.m. Friday.

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A few minutes later, he posted another tweet as a response to the initial wave of criticism from many who found his outburst distasteful, pulling a thesaurus to double down on his description of critics as animals without clarifying those the insult was directed at.



Synonyms for animal include brute, beast, monster, savage, devil, demon, fiend, villain, barbarian, ogre, according to the Oxford Dictionary https://t.co/xzIGEUaxpO https://t.co/5PSXqYKTY4  tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) March 30, 2018



At some point, he tried to ward off the social media offensive by downplaying the tweet as insignificant since he posted it using his personal account, admonishing those not at home with it should unfollow him.

Synonyms for animal include brute, beast, monster, savage, devil, demon, fiend, villain, barbarian, ogre, according to the Oxford Dictionary https://t.co/xzIGEUaxpO https://t.co/5PSXqYKTY4  tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) March 30, 2018

The tweet was widely panned by social media, with many users, including a serving Senator of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), lashing out at the aide for lacking the emotional rectitude expected of a presidential spokesperson.

But why would a presidential aide paid with tax payer money call the tax payers who pay his salary and whose votes put his boss on office animals? https://t.co/0d8bwQOEOj  Ben Murray-Bruce (@benmurraybruce) March 31, 2018

I had some conversations with my Professor regarding Tolu Ogunlesi's Animal calling saga. His response: "Tolu is an accidental product of a failed system, who rode on the back of public accolades in his days of anti-GEJ activism in the social media". Damn!  Olumuyiwa Amao, Ph.D (@talk2smat) March 31, 2018

Tolu Ogunlesi is an everlasting retard. If he likes let him write English from here to Kutuwenji, hes an animal  a useless one.  #9, Patriarchy FC (@VillageParrot) March 31, 2018

Tolu Ogunlesi, an average individual, with very mean achievement and no known record of public service called Nigerians ANIMALs for exposing his Principal's crude lies. Tolu was born in 1982, but he cld insult folks old enough to be his grandparents. That is what POWER does!  Olumuyiwa Amao, Ph.D (@talk2smat) March 31, 2018

Whether Tolu Ogunlesi used his private Twitter account to tweet and call Nigerians "animals" or not, as long as he works for the Government/Presidency, here is the result of that unnecessary tweet.  https://t.co/8ipfZL2p7H  Uche Jegbefume (@jaustinuche) March 31, 2018

Whether Tolu Ogunlesi used his private Twitter account to tweet and call Nigerians "animals" or not, as long as he works for the Government/Presidency, here is the result of that unnecessary tweet.  https://t.co/8ipfZL2p7H  Uche Jegbefume (@jaustinuche) March 31, 2018

After twelve hours of calling Nigerians animals and raving mad. Bouda Tolu Ogunlesi is still trying and finding ways to explain he never meant to use such derogatory words on Nigerians except on those who went full force attacking Naomi Campbell. My guess is they're not Nigerians  Dr. O. T. Sumi (@smalltallest88) March 31, 2018

This is Tolu Ogunlesi. He works with President Muhammadu Buhari as an aide. He called Nigerians animals and raving dogs. A useless senator sponsored a bill of death by hanging for hate speech. What speech is this pls? Isn't this enough to provoke Nigerians? #RedLine pic.twitter.com/UEXoH7iYhR  Yinka Olajide (@yinkuzjyde) March 31, 2018

But as outrage peaked on Saturday morning over his post, Mr Ogunlesi attempted to to walk back the tweet, but felt short of explicitly apologising.

I'd like to clarify. I would NEVER describe/think of Nigerians, or those who disagree with me, as 'animals'. My comment specific to those who thought it appropriate to denigrate/slander Naomi Campbell. Tweet should have been worded clearer & less provocatively. Lesson learnt. https://t.co/vnkyo0QPaM  tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) March 31, 2018

A PDP strategist, Ariyo-Dare Atoye, described the controversial tweet as a reflection of the Buhari administrations approach towards Nigerians.

What Tolu Ogunlesi said is a reflection of the Buhari presidency, Mr. Atoye told PREMIUM TIMES by telephone Saturday evening. He merely put into words the horrible treatment Buhari administration has meted out to Nigerians for three years.

Mr. Ogunlesi, a journalist and social critic, was named as a special assistant to the president on new media in 2016. He has widely been seen as one of the best hands in the administration, especially given how he had managed to amass top-rated journalistic accolades within a few years in practice.

His work largely entails coordinating government social media accounts and websites for effective and coherent communication strategy. This had seen him escape social media backlash for the most part.

But recently, as the administration reels from one scandal to another, opposition voices are exhuming old tweets of Mr Ogunlesis to portray him as a hypocrite.

On Thursday, one of his tweets from 2012 in which he called former President Goodluck Jonathan a despot for the traffic gridlock that occurred when he visited Lagos was unearthed by administrations critics to demonstrate Mr Ogunlesis double standard.

APC fanboys and the party itself played opposition with absolute and total ignorance and sheer naivete as to how Govt operates, along with a dose of bitterness for GEJ too. Bro @toluogunlesi  any comments on your principal @MBuharis impending shutdown of Lagos tomorrow? pic.twitter.com/Iwcz78SehE  Demola Olarewaju (@DemolaRewaju) March 28, 2018

Have tried to ignore madnesses issuing from Abuja. But GEJ's infliction of traffic-hell on #Lagos is the stuff of despotism #bloodysadist  tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) December 14, 2012

Clearly, Tolu Ogunlesi is haunted by his past duplicity and that appears to be what threw him overboard leading to his unfortunate comments, Mr Atoye said. But dont expect him to get disciplined for his action, hes only tracing the paths of Femi Adesina, Garba Shehu, and other presidential aides who are known to have uttered vituperation against Nigerians without any consequences.

They have taken presidential duties to a ridiculous level. Their sycophancy can lead them into saying anything to spite Nigerians in a bid to please the president, he added. But Nigerians would make their reservations known in 2019.

Mr Ogunlesi responded to a PREMIUM TIMES request about whether hes considering offering an apology by insisting that his tweet was not intended as insult to all Nigerians.

My tweet did not castigate those criticising the presidents photo or meeting with Ms Campbell as animals. my tweet had nothing to do with that photo, Mr. Ogunlesi said. My tweet was specifically referring to the misogyny and denigration targeted at Ms. Campbell across social media.

Ayo Akanji, a media consultant for the Buhari administration, dismissed Mr Atoyes assertion tha Mr. Ogunlesis tweet mirrored the conducts of the Buhari presidency.

What Tolu Ogunlesi said was clearly his own personal take, Mr. Akanji told PREMIUM TIMES by telephone Saturday evening. President Buhari and his aides hold Nigerians in highest regards and that could be readily seen in the expedited manner with which all the economy, security situation and other matters of national importance are being addressed.

Mr. Akanji said Mr Ogunlesi did not mean to call Nigerians animals contrary to what critics are propagating, saying the aide understands the power of language as an award-winning writer.

Still, he has clarified his comments and we expect people to move on from this controversy, Mr. Akanji said.

Presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu and Femi Adesina, did not respond to a request for comments about how the State House views Mr Ogunlesis conduct or whether an official statement would be issued.ADVERTISEMENT

The federal government is considering requests by some states and the private sector for an extension of compliance deadline for the tax amnesty programme, the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS).

The tax amnesty programme launched July 2017 by the federal government offered a nine-month window till March 31 for all categories of taxpayers to voluntarily regularise their tax liabilities.

However, prior to the expiration of the deadline on Saturday, various categories of persons and groups, including some state governments and private sector operators, requested an extension of the deadline to enable them comply.

Although government had insisted it had no plans for any extension, the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, said on Saturday the federal government was currently reviewing the requests by the states and the private sector.

The minister, who was responding to enquiries from the media on the matter in Abuja as the deadline expired on Saturday, said some states and the private sector requests for extension were being considered to allow them time to comply.

The federal government is reviewing the numerous extension requests by states and the private sector, which have cited some logistic challenges, such as non-availability of the declaration forms in some states and the declaration of public holidays to commemorate Easter, the minister explained.

On other categories of requests, the minister said government was not going back on its pledge to prosecute all tax evaders who failed to take advantage of the tax amnesty window to regularise their status.

She said indicted individuals and groups still risk forfeiture of their assets and prosecution.

Mrs Adeosun said government data mining unit in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Project Lighthouse, had compiled data of taxpayers from land registries from 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja as well as bank customers account details.

On those with offshore tax connections, she said government also received tremendous support from foreign countries which provided data under the exchange of information protocols.

The data include bank records and financial filings for tax purposes in various jurisdictions around the world, Mrs Adeosun said.

Common violations by non-compliant taxpayers identified by Project Lighthouse include under-declaration and non-declaration of income earned, including income from government contracts and overseas trading.

It also includes collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) not duly remitted to the Federal Inland Revenue Service; charging of non-allowable personal expenses to company accounts, particularly with reference to overseas school fees, and Inconsistency between income declared for tax purposes and value of assets owned.ADVERTISEMENT

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has confirmed the death of three suicide bombers at Muna area of Maiduguri who had attempted to infiltrate the town on Friday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that four powerful explosions occurred between 9.00 and 9.30 p.m,, sending terrifying echoes to many parts of the town.

NEMAs North-east Zonal Coordinator, Bashir Garga, who confirmed the incident, said that the blast occurred outside the town.

Mr Garga disclosed that the suicide bombers detonated Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) strapped to their bodies behind the security trench at Muna Garage area in the outskirts of Maiduguri.

He said that terrifying echoes by the explosions caused some residents of the area to flee which made them to sustain injuries.

Mr Garga added that the wounded were referred to hospital for treatment in Maiduguri.

Details on the incident is still sketchy. It occurred behind the trenches and only the suicide bombers were killed, he said, adding that normalcy has been restored to the area.

Muna garage is prone to suicide bomb attacks prompting the military to impose a dusk to dawn curfew to secure the area.UN Council approves tough new sanctions on North Korea

US Ambassador Nikki Haley praised the new sanctions on North Korea. \"All of this ICBM and nuclear irresponsibility has to stop,\" Haley said.

AP, Washington :

The United States said Friday it has secured the support of the U.N. Security Council for a new package of sanctions designations that target smuggling at sea by North Korea.

Ambassador Nikki Haley said the North Korea Sanctions Committee, which comprises all members of the U.N.'s most senior decision-making body, unanimously approved designations of 21 shipping companies, one individual and 27 ships. She said it was the largest-ever set of U.N. designations against the North.

"The approval of this historic sanctions package is a clear sign that the international community is united in our efforts to keep up maximum pressure on the North Korean regime," Haley said in a statement.

It comes despite an easing of tensions, as North Korea has halted tests associated with its nuclear and missile programs for four months and embarked on a diplomatic offensive. Making his first foreign trip since taking power six years ago, leader Kim Jong Un met this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and is due to meet this spring with the U.S. and South Korean presidents. In tweets Wednesday, President Donald Trump said he looked forward to meeting Kim and felt there was "a good chance" the North Korean leader would "do what is right for his people and for humanity." But meanwhile, "unfortunately, maximum sanctions and pressure must be maintained at all cost!" Trump added.

The new sanctions package aims at countering maritime smuggling by North Korea to obtain oil and sell coal, evading restrictions that have previously been imposed by the Security Council to deprive the North of revenue and resources for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

A designation by the U.N. requires, for example, member states to deny port entry to ships on the sanctions list, or deny entry to individuals on the list.

The new designees were mostly based in North Korea, but included shipping companies based in Hong Kong, elsewhere in China, the Marshall Islands, Panama, Samoa and Singapore.

Most of the companies and ships featured in a US Treasury Department sanctions package in late February that barred US persons from dealings with more than 50 vessels, shipping companies and trade businesses. The UN also sanctioned Friday a Taiwanese person that had designated by Washington on that occasion.ADVERTISEMENT

The police in Borno on Saturday confirmed four suicide bombers and one other person were killed and 13 others wounded in the Friday night attack in Muna area of Maiduguri.

Eder Okon, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), said in a statement in Maiduguri that the victims were hit when four female suicide bombers stormed the Muna Zawuya village in the outskirts of Maiduguri.

He stated that at about 21.49 p.m. on March 30, 2018, four female suicide bombers infiltrated Muna Zawuya village in Mafa Local Government Area, outskirts of Maiduguri.

The bombers detonated explosive devices killing themselves and one other woman and injured 13 other persons.

The 13 injured persons are receiving treatment in hospital.

Mr Okon noted that the police had dispatched its Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS), Counter Terrorism Unit, (CTU) and EOD teams to sanitise the scene of the attack, adding that normalcy had been restored to the area.

According to him, adequate security arrangements have been put in place to ensure hitch-free Easter celebrations in the state.ADVERTISEMENT

A 14-seater bus with registration number Nasarawa, HAM 20 XA belonging to Pleasure Travels bus number (485) was, on Saturday, involved in an accident with a Mercedes Benz Trailer loaded with alcohol, (Hero beer) at Udeyi, Guma local government area of Benue state.

A passenger, Magdalene Agigea, who sustained deep injuries on her face and on her right hand, said the driver of the bus driver was reckless.

Since we began the journey from Abuja, the driver has been reckless and arrogant to most of us, she said. I had intended to lodge a complaint to his superiors in Makurdi, before the unfortunate incident occurred, but thank God I survived. I sat close to the door, that is why glasses cut my face and hand.

However, the driver of the said bus, Iyinhemba Iorfa, in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, denied the claim of the passenger, saying his brake failed.

It is not true, as you can see, a trailer failed in a bend. I applied the brake twice, but it failed, I had to manoeuvre to the bush, and there was a deep ditch, the bus then somersaulted, Mr. Iorfa said.

The passengers who were travelling from Abuja to Obudu, Cross River state for Easter, sustained various degrees of injuries. No death was recorded.

Witnesses said the Mercedes Benz trailer had fallen in a sharp bend about two hours before the Pleasure Travel bus accident occurred.

The driver of the trailer could not be reached, as witnesses said he had left the scene.

As at the time PREMIUM TIMES visited the scene, no police nor official of the Federal Road Safety Commissioner FRSC personnel was present at the scene.

Passer-bys and motorists assisted victims of the accident to various hospitals in Markurdi, as there was no medical facility close to the scene of the accident.Loud

Media Contact

AWJ Platinum PR

***@awjplatinum.com AWJ Platinum PR

End

-- Arkansas base record label, Band Gang Records, is officially releasing the new single, "Loud," featuring South-Maine on Friday March 30. The track debuts on Spotify, Amazon and other major outlets through its distribution with L.A. based Bungalo Records, Universal Music Group Dist."Tremaine is a very talented artist and a great person to work with. We look forward to the debut of 'Loud' through Bungalo Records," says Jane Daley, Bungalo Records Executive."I want to thank Bungalo executives Paul Ring, Jane Daley and their staff for their support of our label and for the incredible opportunity to have distribution with them through Universal. I'd like to thank Belinda Foster for believing in me from the very first phone conversation,"says Tremaine Barker, Founder of Band Gang Records.Band Gang Records is a progressive Arkansas based record label owned and operated by Tremaine Barker. The roster of artists include Pic, Queen Vo and South-Maine. Established April 16, 2015, BGR signed a distribution deal in May of 2017 with Bungalo Records with exclusive distribution through Universal Music Group Dist.Bungalo Records is presently going on its 18th year of being exclusively distributed by Universal Music Group. Bungalo Records is best known as one of America's pioneering independent record labels with a track record of releases that include Patti Labelle, Russell Simmons, The Jacksons, Carl Thomas, DJ Quik, Suga Free and other top talent. Bungalo has continued success with Universal Music Group Distribution in all genres of music with top 10 records in all formats over the years."Loud" debuts March 30For more information, please visit:Contact

Emily Long

***@coloradocleantech.com Emily Long

End

-- First place winner Access Sensor Technologies took home the $5,000 prize at the March 29 Mining Cleantech Challenge. Their technology was chosen by mining executives and investors in the industry as the best among a competitive field of ten total companies representing the U.S. and Canada. An international team of judges reviewed and voted on the winners.Access Sensor Technologies from Fort Collins, Colorado, makes business card-size sensor tools for rapid assessment of pollutant levels in materials such as water. Their trademarked OnTarget technology circumvents the need for lab analysis, allowing technicians to analyze samples onsite, in the field, immediately.Second and third place were awarded to Rentricity Inc., from New York, and Hydrostor, a Canadian company, respectively."To me, it was really impressive the caliber of judges and attendees who were able to participate,"said Thomas Reilly, chief science officer at Access Sensor Technologies, of the Challenge. "These are people that have really high level positions in their companies," and according to Reilly, their participation "shows the seriousness the mining industry has towards looking at and evaluating new technologies."Additional presenting companies included:AOMS TechnologiesAqua Pure TechnologiesAvivid Water Technology LLCFlexGenSolar ShipTerra CO2 Technologies Ltd.Yost Brothers, LLC"We were very pleased with program participation for the second annual Mining Cleantech Challenge," said CCIA executive director Shelly Curtiss. "The caliber and quantity of participation increased this year, and we doubled the number of applicants. This shows a strong focus in the mining industry toward innovation, and we are proud to play a small role in matching technology to industry."Industry engagement with the program has also increased in the second year. Supporters of the day-long program included Newmont Mining, Barrick Gold, Fresnillo, McEwen Mining, as well as Jolimont Global, Ausenco, Resource Capital Funds, Consulate General of Canada in Denver, Davis Graham & Stubbs, Clareo Partners, RPM Gobal, EVOK, Colorado School of Mines, Rocky Mountain Institute, Colorado Energy Office and the Mountain Studies Institute.About Colorado Cleantech Industries AssociationFounded in 2008, CCIA is a statewide, industry-led, industry-focused organization dedicated to promoting Colorado's cleantech industry. CCIA impacts Colorado's policies, people, products and programs that drive expansion of a cleaner, cheaper, more efficient and secure energy economy. Through advocacy, public policy leadership, development and education, CCIA works to ensure that Colorado is a global cleantech leader. For more information, visit http://www.coloradocleantech.com and http://www.coloradocleantech.com/ mining-cleantech- challenge/FREMONT, Calif., March 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 314e Corporation, a healthcare IT consulting company, announced the appointment of Douglas Herr as senior vice president for Epic services. Herr will work closely with clients to support sales efforts, oversee delivery and support for 314e consultants. He will lead efforts to develop additional solution offerings and extend 314e capabilities in post go-live optimization, standardization and adoption-oriented Epic services. His responsibilities will include resource management, quality control, client satisfaction, vendor relations and operations.

314e Corporation

Prior to 314e, Herr was vice president for Leidos Health where he was responsible for the direct management and oversight of the Epic practice. Herr also held leadership roles in client and vendor relations at Logic Healthcare, Stoltenberg Consulting, maxIT Healthcare and ACS Healthcare Solutions.

"Douglas brings years of healthcare IT leadership and Epic experience to the 314e team. We are thrilled to have him as part of the 314e family and to continue to provide innovative solutions and exceptional service to our customers," said 314e SVP of Operations Alok Sharma.

Herr graduated from Emerson College with a Bachelor of Science in speech. Herr is a member of several associations including HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society), CHIME (College of Healthcare Information Management Executives), Child Health Corporation of America (CHCA) and the National Eagle Scout Association.

About 314e Corporation

314e Corporation is a full-service Healthcare ONLY Information Technology solutions and services company headquartered in Fremont, California, with a regional office in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Since 2004, 314e has helped over 150 healthcare providers across the country with IT Advisory, EHR, business and departmental application implementation and support, Business Intelligence, Integration and Interoperability, as well as Security and Infrastructure services. 314e was recently named 2018 Best in KLAS in Technical Services. To learn more about 314e, visit www.314e.com.

Media Contact

314e Corporation

[email protected]

510.371.67636

Related Links

314e Webpage

314e LinkedIn

SOURCE 314e Corporation

Related Links

http://www.314e.com

GIBRALTAR, March 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Covesting, a fintech startup launched by former Saxo Bank traders, has almost completed the development of its revolutionary trading platform. Now, just one step away from the launch, the company has selected 200 beta testers and will provide them with the opportunity to explore the main features of the platform during beta testing.

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/617950/Covesting_Logo.jpg )



Covesting successfully completed its ICO only at the end of December last year. It has never failed to deliver on its promises since then and rolled out all pieces of its comprehensive cryptocurrency trading infrastructure strictly in line with its road map.

Back at the end of February Covesting launched its Crypto Intelligence Portal, a unique educational and informational resource for both novices and experienced traders. The resource features live quotes, latest news and educational materials, as well as trade ideas submitted by experienced traders. Also in February, Covesting held a presentation of its fully functional trading platform, launched a new site and called for traders to register and participate in beta testing.

"We are pleased to announce that the cryptocurrency community showed a huge interest in beta testing of our platform, and the number of applications considerably exceeded our expectations. We selected the most experienced traders and the most dedicated members of our community as participants of beta testing, but we may offer some other participants to take part in the process later," said Dmitrij Pruglo, CEO of Covesting.

Beta testers will be provided with the initial deposit so that they could test all available features and report bugs, such as interface/UIX issues, problems with order execution, data representation/calculation issues, or anything that, in the tester's view, needs improvement or change. The most active traders will be able to withdraw all the funds from their accounts and have a chance to win 2,000$ in COV.

Covesting hopes that the beta testing will help it achieve the highest quality standards and deliver the best results. Covesting has always come up to our expectations before, and we have good grounds to believe it will reach its goals again.

Covesting's team includes highly skilled professionals with background in trading, investment banking, blockchain, AI, data, and fintech (Saxo Bank, SEB Bank, JP Morgan, Zurich Insurance and others) with accumulated trading experience of over 100 years.

SOURCE CovestingWASHINGTON, March 30, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with the representatives of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council in New York City. The Crown Prince met with United States Ambassador Nikki Haley, French Ambassador Francois Delattre, Chinese Ambassador Ma Zhaoxu, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya, and the United Kingdom's Deputy Permanent Representative Ambassador Jonathan Allen. The attendees also included His Royal Highness Ambassador Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States of America, Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel Aljubeir, and the Kingdom's Permanent Representative of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations Abdallah Y. Al-Mouallimi.

During the meeting, discussions included situations in the Middle East, comprising developments in Yemen and the continued violations of International Law by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia. The His Royal Highness the Crown Prince emphasized the importance of the United Nations Security Council taking leadership and responsibility of these issues, particularly that countries respect and enforce the International Resolutions and follow International Laws. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also affirmed the Kingdom's commitment to the United Nations, that the Kingdom respects and enforces UN resolutions, and that cooperation between them continues.

SOURCE Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Information OfficeDebate Fest at DIU

Freedom fighter Khondokar Abdus Salam and Helena Islam, wife of Late Professor Dr Aminul Islam, founder Vice Chancellor of Daffodil International University pose for a photograph along with the winners of \'Dr Aminul Islam Memorial Debate Fest-2018\' held

Campus Report :

Law Department became Champion and EEE Department became Runner Up in 'Dr Aminul Islam Memorial Debate Fest-2018' held at Daffodil International University (DIU) recently.

Freedom fighter of the country Khondokar Abdus Salam was present at the program as chief guest while Helena Islam, wife of Late Professor Aminul Islam, founder Vice Chancellor of DIU was present as special guest at the closing and prize giving ceremony at 71 milonayoton of DIU.

Prof Dr Farhana Helal Mehtab, Moderator of DIU Debating Club delivered welcome speech at the program. The program was presided over by M Mesbah Uddin Hasib, president, DIU Debating Club.

Inter department debate fest began on 15th March 2018 where 10 departments took part in Bangla Debate and 6 department took part in English Debate and Independence Day mixed up Debate competition.

Department of Law of DIU has become champion and Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering won runner up on Inter Department Bangla Debate. Tanni Ganguly was awarded as best debater.

Department of Computer Science and Engineering has won champion and Department of Textile Engineering won runner up in Inter Department English Debate. Tahmid Fahim, student of CSE was awarded as best English debater.

The team of Aymanul Islam, former student of Dhaka University, Nasir Uddin, former student of North South University and Mejbauddin Hasib, former student of DIU were won champion and team of Touhid Hossen, former student of East West University, Sinha Ibn Humayun, student of NSU and Sanaul Haq Himel, former student of United International University won runner up in Independence Day mixed up Debate competition. Amit Saha, student of DIU and Omar Faruq, student of DU awarded as best speaker.

NEW ORLEANS, March 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF"), announces that KSF has commenced an investigation into Newell Brands Inc. (NYSE: NWL).

Throughout the past year, the Company has been plagued by poor financial performance and undervaluation of the Company's shares including several guidance reductions and significant declines in profitability despite notable gains by the Company's peer group and the broader market, resulting in billions of dollars of shareholder value lost. Over just the past few months, the Company has been staggered by the abrupt departure of five members of its board of directors.

KSF's investigation is focusing on whether Newell's officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to Newell's shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws.

If you have information that would assist KSF in its investigation, or have been a long-term holder of Newell shares and would like to discuss your legal rights, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn ([email protected]), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-nwl/ to learn more.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana.

To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com.

Contact:

Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

Lewis Kahn, Managing Partner

[email protected]

1-877-515-1850

206 Covington St.

Madisonville, LA 70447

SOURCE Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

Related Links

http://www.ksfcounsel.com

NAPERVILLE, Ill., March 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharmazz, Inc. is pleased to announce that Notice of Allowance has been issued for Canadian Patent Application No. 2696398 titled "Methods for treatment of stroke or cerebrovascular accidents using an ET-B receptor agonist." PMZ-1620, a selective endothelin-B receptor agonist, is in clinical phase II trials in patients suffering from cerebral ischemia (stroke) and mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. The company also announces that another Notice of Allowance has been issued for Canadian Patent Application No. 2759791 titled "Novel therapeutic treatments using centhaquin." PMZ-2010 (centhaquin) is advanced stages of clinical phase II trial in patients with hypovolemic shock. The company expects to have interim results before June 2018.

US Congressman Bill Foster visited Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL and met with Dr. Anil Gulati and his team. Dr. Gulati presented research and development efforts at the University that led to the formation of Pharmazz, Inc. "I am pleased we have a world class medical training and research university with a beautiful campus right here at Midwest," Congressman Foster said. "This University conducts research that could be transformative to patients with Alzheimer's disease, are recovering from strokes or spinal injury, and individuals who struggle with dependency. Collaboration with companies like Pharmazz, Inc. will lead the way to commercializing new discoveries and treatments."

About Pharmazz, Inc.

Pharmazz, Inc. is a privately-held company engaged in the development of novel products in the area of critical care medicine. Additional information may be found on the Company's website, www.pharmazz.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are only predictions based on current information and expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties including the risk that Pharmazz, Inc. cannot execute its business plan for lack of capital or other resources, distribution, partnering or licensing/acquisition opportunities. Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in any of such statements due to various factors. Any of these risks could cause Pharmazz, Inc. or its industry's, actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements in this presentation. Except as required by applicable law Pharmazz, Inc. does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results.

Contact

Pharmazz, Inc.

Shruti Gulati

630-780-6087

[email protected]

SOURCE Pharmazz, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.pharmazz.com

SEATTLE, March 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In line with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 and following the announcement of HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minster of Defense, Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) and Boeing (NYSE: BA) today signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to develop a new joint venture (JV). The signing ceremony came in conjunction with HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to Seattle, which included an official visit and tour of Boeing's aircraft manufacturing facilities. The agreement was signed by H.E. Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Chairman of SAMI, and Dennis Muilenburg, Chairman, President, and CEO of Boeing, at Boeing's headquarters in Seattle.

Commenting on this important milestone, H.E. Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Chairman of SAMI, said, "Boeing has a long-standing commitment to Saudi Arabia, and is extremely keen on expanding its footprint in the country. Inspired by the vision of HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman, SAMI, on the other hand, is exploring all collaborative opportunities to build a strong autonomous military industries ecosystem in the Kingdom."

The joint venture agreement will provide sustainment services for fixed- and rotary-wing military aircraft of the Kingdom's defense services, and will be the sole provider of these services for all military aviation platforms of the KSA military fleet. The JV will also increase the localization of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul services (MRO), strengthening the Kingdom's defense capabilities and enhancing its deterrent potential. The agreement will transfer technology to install weaponry on these aircraft as well as localize the supply chain for spare parts in the Kingdom.

"We deeply appreciate the trust that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in general, and HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally, are placing in Boeing to help deliver Vision 2030 with this new joint venture," said Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing Chairman, President, and CEO. "Our relationship with the Kingdom dates back more than 70 years, and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership in support of the Kingdom's national security and aerospace industry needs."

The MoA will further solidify the enduring relationship between Boeing and Saudi Arabia and result in the development of local research, design, engineering, manufacturing, and MRO capabilities. The JV will continuously improve performance and growth, upgrade the readiness of the Saudi military fleet, enhance maintenance capabilities, and reduce support costs throughout the fleet's life. In addition, the agreement will create 6,000 jobs and training opportunities for Saudi youth, support local development, and augment the participation of Saudi nationals in the industry, contributing towards the objectives of the Kingdom's comprehensive Vision 2030 plan.

Muilenburg added, "With this local capability dedicated to sustaining all U.S.-made defense platforms, we can better serve our customers and support the Kingdom's goals of localization and economic growth."

Dr. Andreas Schwer, CEO of SAMI, added, "The significance of the MoA, which is signed today, will enable SAMI and Boeing to play a key role in leading and laying the foundational framework for Saudi's defense sector industrialization, in line with the goals of the Kingdom's National Transformation Program and Vision 2030. In addition to local sustainment capabilities, the inevitable partnership between the two companies could explore the creation of intellectual property as well."

The JV will provide a foundation for future platform sales and for expanding Boeing's presence in the Kingdom to support market growth in both the commercial and defense sectors.

Boeing's partnership with Saudi Arabia dates back more than 70 years and is growing from strength to strength. It began on February 14, 1945, when U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented a twin-engine Dakota DC-3 airplane (manufactured by Boeing's heritage company Douglas Aircraft) to King Abdulaziz Al Saud: this event also marked the birth of commercial air travel in the Kingdom. Once the MoA is operational, the joint venture will open a new chapter of collaboration and innovation in this longstanding partnership.

SOURCE Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Information Office"Moving forward to be more proactive on national issues after receiving feedback from our own membership is the right path," said Skal International--USA President Burcin Turkkan, a member of the Skal Club of Atlanta. "We are working hard on being advocates for our tourism issues and working with others in the industry on a national level increases our visibility and relevance. Skal in the United States wants to be with the big players in tourism. Our participation at Destination Capitol Hill accomplished this, although it is just a start."

Turkkan led a group of United States Skalleagues, including club presidents Jack Wert of Southwest Florida, Andres Hayes of Washington DC, Donetta Poisson of Atlanta, GA as well as Skal International--USA Director of Public Relations and Communications Steve Richer, also of Washington, DC.

In her effort to strengthen ties with national tourism organizations, Turkkan met with key Destination Capitol Hill leaders, including U. S. Travel President Roger Dow, Brand USA President Chris Thompson, Destinations International Vice President Jack Johnson, and National Tour Association President Pam Inman, all of whom are members of Skal International--USA. All "Skalleagues", except Thompson, participated in Capitol Hill activities, which focused on meeting with Senators and Representatives or their staffs on major tourism issues. Thompson is excluded from lobbying on any issues, as his organization is a creation of federal legislation and such activity is forbidden. Brand USA does, however, provide statistical information on international visitor trends and economic impact in conjunction with the National Travel and Tourism Office in the U. S. Department of Commerce, which helps private sector advocates make their case.

The key advocacy points for all of these tourism industry leaders were the continuation and guaranteed funding of Brand USA, the international marketing arm of the United States; funding for the national transportation infrastructure backlog, especially to modernize airports and maintain highways, bridges, and tunnels; allow "open skies" to provide air access to the United States beyond the amount of flights that the three legacy carriers can provide from around the world; addressing the almost $7 billion in infrastructure backlog in our national parks; and expanding the visa waiver program to allow additional visitors from countries with low overstay rates, such as Poland, Israel, and Brazil, to travel to America without having to obtain a visa.

"These issues were important ones to discuss on my first visits ever to Capitol Hill," said Turkkan. "They provided a basis to elaborate further and cite the top positions for Skal International--USA, which are freedom to travel with security and the preservation and protection of national cultural, historic, and environmental tourism sites. I really had a first-class experience!" she said. "Among the highlights were meeting members of our delegation from Georgia, including Congressman Barry Loudermilk and Congressman John Lewis, a hero of the civil rights movement. I was able to even give both Congressmen one of our Skal USA President souvenir banners. Being on Capitol Hill in these discussions is a highlight of the year so far. It is a place where Skal belongs."

SKAL International USA is currently the largest National Committee in Skal International with 2,000 members and 49 clubs nationwide. For more information on SKAL International and SKAL USA, and to find out more about membership, go to www.skalusa.org.

For further information contact:

Steve Richer

Director, Public Relations

Skal International--USA

228-596-7004

[email protected]

SOURCE Skal International USA

Related Links

http://www.skalusa.org

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On the sidelines of the historic visit to the United States of America by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince, His Royal Highness Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the Economic Club of New York hosted, on Thursday, March 29, 2018, Their Excellencies Dr. Majed Al Qasabi, Minister of Commerce and Investment; Eng. Khalid Al Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources; and Mr. Mohammed Al Jadaan, Minister of Finance for a panel discussion on new economic opportunities in the Kingdom.

As the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia moves forward in implementing Vision 2030 initiatives to create a stronger, more stable business environment and greater opportunities for corporate partnerships, Saudi Arabia will experience transformational economic and social reform designed to unlock the potential of the Saudi people and ensure a prosperous future for both the country and region.

Their Excellencies shared the latest developments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in line with Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program showcasing the new opportunities for American businesses to further strengthen the existing strong bilateral ties. Their Excellencies also focused on market reform under Vision 2030, and how it is playing a critical role in improving the overall business environment, reinvigorating the Kingdom's mineral resources sector, developing renewable energy capacity, localizing defense industries, and investing in workforce development and education.

SOURCE Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Information OfficeEcco Nabs Former Nannys Debut

In a North American rights acquisition at auction, Eccos Megan Lynch bought Madeline Stevenss debut novel, Small Night. The author, a graduate of Columbias MFA program and a former nanny, was represented by Stephanie Delman at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. Ecco said the novel, pitched as Sweetbitter meets The Perfect Nanny, follows a 26-year-old woman named Ella Crawford who takes a nanny job for a wealthy couple on New York Citys Upper East Side and winds up developing an unhealthy bond with the wife. Calling the book psychologically propulsive, Ecco said it follows Ella as her initial resentment of the young mother morphs into a dangerous obsession.

Hot U.K. Thriller to Morrow

For midsix figures, Jennifer Brehl at William Morrow took North American rights to Taylor Adams No Exit. The thriller, which has become a runaway bestseller in the U.K. after being published there by Joffe Books in June 2017, was recently optioned by 20th Century Fox. (According to Morrow, the novel, which is set for an early 2019 release in the States, has sold more than 100,000 copies in Great Britain to date.) In No Exit, a college student named Darby Thorne becomes stranded at a highway rest stop during a blizzard. Forced to stick out the storm with four strangers, Thorne makes a jarring discovery in the middle of the night: she finds a little girl stowed away in the trunk of one of her fellow travelers cars. Without cell phone reception and trapped by the snow, Morrow said, Thorne must figure out who is the kidnapper, and in the process save the little girl and herself. No Exit has sold, to date, in 19 languages with, Morrow added, more deals expected to close before this months London Book Fair. Lorella Belli, at Lorella Belli Literary Agency Ltd., represented Adam.

Emily Bestler Buys Macneals Factory

After a major auction in the U.K. with 14 bidders, North American rights to Elizabeth Macneals The Doll Factory went to Emily Bestler, for her eponymous imprint at Atria. Madeleine Milburn at Madeleine Milburn Ltd. sold the work, describing it as a magnetic novel of curiosity, love, and macabre possession. In it, a beautiful apprentice doll maker named Iris who dreams of becoming a painter meets Silas who, Milburn explained, is a lonely collector of morbid curiosities who dreams of building his own museum dedicated to his macabre obsessions. The novel is set in 1850s London and, in addition to the U.S. and U.K. sales, Milburn has recently closed a flurry of foreign deals, including to publishers in France, Germany, Greece, and Italy.

Knopf Gets New MG from Hiaasen

Selling his first middle grade novel in five years, Carl Hiaasen closed a North American rights agreement for Squirm with Nancy Siscoe at Knopf Books for Young Readers. The novel, which was sold by Esther Newberg at ICM, is about a boy searching for his absentee father. Knopf said the delinquent dad has a secret life that involves grizzly bears, spy drones, dangerous poachers, and a dead parrot named Hubert. The book, slated for fall 2018, is, Knopf went on, a twisted yet tender family story that could only have come from the mind of Carl Hiaasen.

Martells Kingdom Conquered by Saga

The first book in an epic fantasy series by 23-year-old Nick Martell, The Kingdom of Liars, was acquired by Joe Monti at auction in a three-book deal. Monti took North American rights to the novel and two sequels from Joshua Bilmes at Jabberwocky Literary. Martell said the series is set in a city where magic costs memories and concerns a disgraced nobles son who must risk his own memories and deceive all around him to determine whether his father truly murdered the child prince. Separate deals for the series have also closed in Germany and the U.K.

Spark Makes Some Noise for Sunstein and Co.

For Little, Browns new imprint Spark, Tracy Behar took North American rights to Noise by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein. The book, set for 2020, argues that errors in judgment are attributable to a phenomenon the authors call noise. It is this noise that makes humans, as the publisher put it, susceptible to chance variability in their judgments. The authors are established academics and bestsellers: Kahneman (Thinking Fast and Acting Slow) is a professor at Princeton and winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in economic sciences; Sibony teaches at HEC Paris; and Sunstein (Nudge) is a Harvard professor who previously held positions in the White House and Defense Department.William W. Johnstone created a beloved vision of the old American West, in which marshals maintain law in lawless towns and every day brings another brush with death. Though William W. Johnstone passed away in 2004, his world lives on. J.A. Johnstone, with the help of the Johnstones' longtime editorial director, Gary Goldstein, and agent, Robin Rue, keeps the family legacy going. In 2018, fans can look forward to 25 new Johnstone books.

New Johnstone books bear the byline "William W. Johnstone with J.A. Johnstone." They're written with the help of "Johnstone family and friends who are familiar with Bill's writing style, his voice, his vision and his strengths as a storyteller," explained Goldstein. And J.A., who acted as William's amanuensis for years, is on the family ranch in Tennessee, making sure the books are true to their originator's spirit.

The letters and calls J.A. regularly receives from longtime Johnstone fanswho have bought more than 30 million Johnstone books, an average of 1.5 million a yearattest to their continuing devotion. "So many times I've received emails from people who tell me that they never liked reading much until they picked up a W.W. Johnstone book and it changed them. I hear from grandparents who got their grandchildren to read by passing down their Johnstone books, too," said J.A. "I even received a phone call from an 89-year-old gentleman who says he told his children that when he dies he wants to be buried with his overalls, his bag of tobacco, and his William W. Johnstone books."

What makes the Johnstone brand so enduring? According to J.A., "When a reader picks up a Johnstone book, they know that, no matter how bad the bad guys are, family, loyalty and good will always prevail. They also know they are in for a great adventure." Fans can also count on meticulously researched historical accuracy. "If the story has the protagonist toting a single-shot Springfield Model 1873 .45.70-caliber carbine, you can be damned sure that's exactly what's on the cover. Nothing can sink a western faster than historical goofs," said Goldstein, who is arguably the industry's leading expert on the western genre.

In 2018, Kensington will launch eight new Johnstone series. The Chuckwagon Trail, the first book in a new series debuting in May, follows a young man on the run for a murder he didn't commit, hiding out as a cook on a cattle drive. Yuma Prison Crashout (Aug.) starts a series about Hank Fallon, whose unusual job sends him into prisons to find out where bloodthirsty robbers have hidden their loot. Rattlesnake Wells, Wyoming, the beginning of a series about a reformed outlaw who risks his life to keep the West's most dangerous boomtown safeoriginally a Walmart exclusivesaw general release in February. And there are plenty more, including The Morgans, which kicks off a new series featuring Frank Morgan and his son Conrad, heroes who will be well-known to Johnstone fans. And other annual series continue; in September comes Trigger Warning, this year's annual Johnstone thriller. The next installment of the popular Christmas-themed annuals, A High Sierra Christmas, comes in November 2018.

According to Kensington, 2017 was the Johnstone brand's best year ever, with 18 PW bestsellers and 15 titles on the USA Today charts for a total of 27 weeks. Johnstone is among the top 2 bestselling authors at Walmart, and overall around three-quarters of all westerns sold in any given week are Johnstone books, according to Steven Zacharius, Kensington's President and CEO.

"Johnstone protagonists are by turns law-abiding, relatively honest, and, when all else fails, violent if the situation calls for it," said Goldstein. But, he continued, "human decency, respect for the law of the land, and love of country are what guide their actions." Those heroes make Johnstone books a sure bet for booksellers, libraries, and, of course, for readers.Its difficult to discuss the state of independent poetry publishing without taking into account the current political and social landscape. Persistent threats to the NEA and NEH, and to smaller, regionally focused arts organizations that support writers and nonprofits, put the future of small presses, many of which rely in part on such funding, in jeopardy.

Against this backdrop, a university affiliation can be an important partnership for a poetry press, offering opportunities for stronger financial sustainability and ongoing advocacy for writers and artistic traditions that may be underserved by mainstream publishing.

These associations take many forms. Colorado State Universitys Center for Literary Publishing is part of its English department, while Ahsahta Press receives funding via the interdisciplinary department of theatre, film, and creative writing at Boise State Universitys School of the Arts.

Other poetry-focused university presses go beyond specific departmental affiliation. University of Arizona Press is housed by the universitys library system, and the Cleveland State University Poetry Center functions as an independent nonprofit within that university. As a result, Caryl Pagel, the Poetry Center director, says, were responsible for funding our own book publications, reading series, and outreach.

Regardless of the mechanics of a university partnership, such alliances continue to enrich the literary landscape at a time when arts advocacy is as important than ever.

Stephanie GSchwind, director of Colorado States Center for Literary Publishing, calls CLP a teaching press, a description that applies to many publishers roles within their larger university communities. CLP offers students internships for credit, and of the more than 300 students who have interned with CLP since it launched in 1992, GSchwind says, many have gone on to careers in publishing.

An editorial model that facilitates mentorship also opens up opportunities for dialogue across disciplines and career stages. Cleveland State University Poetry Center, founded in 1962, operates on a similar model to CLP, offering credit-bearing internships to students at the university. Pagel says that she and associate director Hilary Plum mentor emerging writers and editors via multiple types of relationships: graduate student assistantships, undergraduate internships, volunteers, a new postgrad fellowship, and a new course in literary publishing and editing. By working with people at a variety of ages and career stages, she says, the press does its part to address a long-standing lack of diversity in the U.S. publishing workforce, providing training, credentialing, and networking that look beyond the placement of recent graduates.

For instance, the new Anisfield-Wolf Fellowship in Publishing and Writing, a partnership between the center and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, is designed to support emerging writers from nonacademic backgrounds. As part of the two-year position, the fellowship recipient will facilitate an outreach project to the larger Cleveland community, which may take the form of a workshop, an anthology publication, or a partnership with a local arts organization.

The dialogue sustained by a small campus press can find its way into various parts of an academic community. Action Books was founded at the University of Alabama in 2005 and is currently housed at the University of Notre Dame. Its acquisitions focus on translation, a practice that in turn has influenced how professors affiliated with the press design their curricula.

The press and its titles have challenged us to open up our workshop practices, expectations, and reading lists as widely as possible, and push the students to develop their own sense of poetics in response to examples far outside the Anglo-American canon, says Johannes Goransson. He and his coeditor, Joyelle McSweeney, teach within the universitys MFA program and have introduced texts including the work of South Korean essayist and poet Kim Hyesoon, and Japanese-born Sawako Nakayasus experimental project Mouth: Eats ColorSagawa Chika Translations, Anti-translations, & Originals (Factorial, 2011).

Editors at many university-affiliated presses see their publishing mission as a corrective gesture, and this interest in fostering change through literature informs the acquisitions process.

As a publisher of Latinx and indigenous writing, we seek outside readers who are Latinx and indigenous to review our work, says Kristen Buckles, editor-in-chief at University of Arizona Press. The placement of writers of color in gatekeeping positions was instrumental to the presss Sun Tracks publishing program from the beginning. Sun Tracks, which launched in 1971, focuses on indigenous writers and grew out of a literary journal started by a group of Native American students on campus. These students sought an outlet to write about themes particular to the American Indian experience that were not of interest to mainstream publishers, Buckles says, such as injustice, colonialism, language, and identity.

Like University of Arizona Press, Alice James Books grew out of a desire to bring visibility to underserved writers. Alice James was founded in 1973 in Cambridge, Mass., and affiliated with University of Maine at Farmington in 1994. (Craig Morgan Teicher, PWs director of special editorial projects, is on the presss board of directors.) Since its inception, the press has committed to womens writing, with the goal of showcasing the range and diversity of the female experience. When we say we publish women, says Alyssa Neptune, managing editor, we mean all the infinite combinations of women: race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, identity, spirituality.

For Ahsahta Press director and editor Janet Holmes, championing marginalized writers means venturing beyond traditional forms of poetry. The press was founded in 1974 to promote the poetry of the American West, and when Holmes joined Ahsahtas staff in 1999, the presss focus shifted significantly. We were quite early in publishing and promoting transgender, gender-fluid, and intersex poets, the telling of whose stories often requires experimentation with form, she says.

Such experimentation remains a hallmark for the varied writers the press publishes. For instance, Heidi Lynn Stapless A**A*A*A, slated for a May release, explores the possibilities of typography for narrating stories that defy mainstream expectations of gender.

Several editors emphasize the importance of working outside of genre conventions, whether that means encouraging authors who experiment with form, or fostering unconventional book design.

Ive spent much of my life as a student or teacher in art schools, Cleveland State Poetry Centers Pagel says, where fluidity between forms isnt scandalous, and where hybrid work is not only commonplace but essential. She says that book designers Amy Freels and Sevy Perez embrace that fluidity in their work, creating physical objects that amplify the readers experience of language. One example, she says, is the gold foil on Lily Hoangs 2016 collection, A Bestiary, which PWs starred review called a genre-transcending work. She also points to two just-released titles: Shaelyn Smiths The Leftovers, which is inspired by Judy Chicagos seminal feminist artwork The Dinner Table and includes handmade collages, and Nicholas Guligs Orient, whose prose-poems consider what it means to be a global citizen in a time of war and are accompanied by journalistic photos of Syria.

The books also represent the slipperiness of genre, Pagel says. The Leftovers, for instance, could be called a memoir in art but also criticism or investigations in feminism, and Orient blends listening theory and global politics.

Duke University Press editorial director Kenneth Wissoker aims to offer a space where poetic thinking can be in dialogue with cutting-edge scholarship. Since the early 1990s, his acquisitions have focused on the African diaspora, queer studies, and feminism. This editorial vision embraces poetry as a form of creative scholarship, where, he says, form, style, and technique are brought to bear on what readers had previously envisioned as purely academic questions. As an editor, Im seeing more proposals for creatively written scholarly work than ever before, Wissoker says.

One example is Dionne Brands The Blue Clerk (Aug.), a dialogue between a poet and the clerk who is the keeper of the poets pages. Their discussions about what should and should not be withheld prompts the reader, Wissoker says, to think about the political forms of such regulation. He says that stylistic hybridity has energized scholarly writing, and also positions poets as academic experts, opening the door for poetry to be taught in a wider range of college courses.

The press recently published Alexis Pauline Gumbs M Archive, which Wissoker says is written from the point of view of a survivor of global disaster, trying to reassemble a world out of old black and feminist knowledges. By looking to the old worlds grievances, and listening to voices that were once disenfranchised, Gumbs narrator hopes to build a more just society.

M Archive is one among several titles that use poetry as a testing ground for whats possible within language and the social order that it represents. Lara Candland, in the 2018 CLP release The Lapidarys Nosegay, invents her own lexicon by making atypical use of typography. GSchwind notes the rich history of innovative writing by women that informs the book, particularly as Candland examines a connection with Emily Dickinson.

University of Arizonas Buckles sees poetry as a vehicle for presenting a version of history that amplifies often-suppressed viewpoints. This approach can take many forms. Some activist writing deliberately eschews technique in favor of voice and experience, she says, offering as an example the University of Arizona publication Poetry of Resistance, edited by poets Francisco X. Alarcon and Odilia Galvan Rodriguez.

The book grew out of a Facebook forum created in 2010 by Alarcon, who wrote and posted a poem in support of nine Latino students at the university who were arresting during a nonviolent protest against SB 1070, Arizonas controversial antiillegal immigration measures. The forum quickly grew into an online activist arts community called Poets Responding to SB 1070, with more than 3,000 original poems submitted. Poetry of Resistance, which includes works by more than 80 writers who posted to the forum, was published in 2016, two months after Alarcons death.

The recently released The Real Horse by Farid Matuk, she says, builds on this legacy of activist poetics, considering the meaning of citizenship in the 21st century.

Ahsahta Press has just published Jonah Mixon-Websters Stereo(TYPE), which explores the relationships among language, race, and oppression. In the book, Mixon-Webster uses white space, erasures, blackouts, and drawings to consider the rhetoric of racial identity.

Similarly, Cody-Rose Clevidences Flung Throne uses nonstandard typography, strikethroughs, and traditional verse to parse the interplay between language and violence. Ahsahtas Holmes agrees with other editors who said that telling some stories, especially those concerning historically marginalized groups, often requires experimentation with form.

Forthcoming releases from Alice JamesAnna Rose Welchs We, the Almighty Fires and DaVida by Monica A. Hand, both due in April, and Nicole Cooleys Of Marriage, out in Juneexhibit a range of literary styles. Alyssa Neptune, the presss managing editor, says that this stylistic diversity is part of the presss effort to showcase the variety inherent in womens voices. We have intense social and political commentary about black identity from Monica, Anna Rose has lyrical and faith-driven poems about female empowerment and sexuality, and Nicole has gritty accounts of the vulnerabilities and complexities of a lifelong committed relationship.

The work being produced by all of these publishers not only challenges the boundaries among genres, languages, and media, but also demonstrates how these divisions are politically charged. Experimentation with language then becomes a form of activism, and university partnerships provide the infrastructure for editors advocacy. Or, as Joyelle McSweeney at Action Books puts it, Were just one synapse in a whole chain of explosions.

Kristina Marie Darling is the author of Look to Your Left: The Poetics of Spectacle (Univ. of Akron, 2020).

Below, more on the subject of poetry:

Plan of Action: Poetry 2018

Joyelle McSweeney, coeditor of Action Books, explains why publishing literature in translation is a challenge and provocation to traditional poetry publishing.

On the Syllabus: Poetry 2018

A selection of new and forthcoming poetry from university pressesThe coeditors of University of Notre Dames Action Books, Johannes Goransson and Joyelle McSweeney, see the presss mission of publishing literature in translation as a challenge, and even a provocation, to traditional poetry publishing. PW spoke with McSweeney, who also directs the creative writing program at University of Notre Dame, about her vision for the press.

Where do you see Action Books in relation to the rest of literary publishing?

For us, works in translation are not a separate arena from U.S. poetrya place to dip into once in a while to pick up a few bits of inspiration. We see poetry through an international view that opens up U.S. poetry to all the alternative energies that [its gatekeepers are] constantly seeking to hide, marginalize, control, or moderate.

How so?

For generations, weve been taught that the poem is a document of individual craft or mastery, yet this T.S. Eliot model of understanding writerly craft is Anglo-centric and aesthetically narrow. There are many different models of poetry, and infinite ways of imagining the poet in relation to society, which we see in other cultures as well as in immigrant cultures within America.

For example, weve been part of an effort to bring translations of Raul Zurita to a wider audience. Hes part of a revolutionary group called Cada that participated in art action against the Chilean government. This artist collective bulldozed words in the desert landscape to be seen by fighter pilots as they flew overhead. This idea of poetry as action, poetry as collectively authored, and poetry as ragist, is very different from the talent rat race that were often taught about in school.

Talk about some of the books on your current list, and how they execute your mission.

Our new releases span many cultures, traditions, and poetries. Adrenaline by Ghayath Almadhoun, for instance, is the work of a refugee poet. He was born in a Palestinian camp and currently lives in Sweden. The collection is infused with the authors own experience, as well as [postwar poet] Paul Celans work, and a variety of surrealist influences. In his writing we see a literary indexing, as the individual voice is infused with both auto- biography and artistic tradition. Its not collective voice per se, but the individual voice operating within the nightmare of exile and statelessness.

In the fall, were publishing another book by Kim Hyesoon [2016s Poor Love Machine], who is part of group of Korean women carving a space for creativity and inventiveness in the face of tremendous conformist pressure. Their work isnt just about creating a feminist academic and artistic community. For these women, feminism begins with how children are raised, with social justice as the reversal of cultural stereotypes. And so aesthetics is no longer divorced from activism.

Return to the main feature.Corwin Weiks front porch on Hancock Avenue doesn't just have the typical porch swing.

Instead, there's makeshift machinery set up  roasted coffee beans on a cookie pan, a plugged in popcorn machine and what look like tiny, transparent peels all over the wood floor. This is his office and the official location of his business, NormalTown Coffee.

2:49 VIDEO: NormalTown Coffee founder Corwin Weik describes his bean-roasting process Corwin Weik, founder of NormalTown Coffee, discusses the process he uses to roast his own coffee beans as well as the philosophy behind his on

The 22 year old has created a project, as he referred to it, of micro roasting. Its a one-man operation with Weik as the boss, marketing expert, distributor and roaster. NormalTown Coffee is the only business in Athens that personally delivers its coffee to its customers.

Every bean literally passes through my hands," Weik said. "They will roll through my fingertips into a cup, and then when I put them into my bag, they literally roll off my chest. It is a very intimate process with the beans, as hipster as that sounds.

NormalTown Coffee got its start in September 2017, and Weik has built up his business through simple means, using Instagram, Facebook live streams and word of mouth to create his client base.

More than 80 people have signed up for Weiks coffee delivery service through the NormalTown Coffee Google form, but according to Weik, there is also a handful of friends and family who contact him directly.

When I found out his business model  where you pick how much and how often you want coffee delivered  I knew this would be good, said Mary Songster, an Athens resident and customer of NormalTown Coffee. If you drink coffee on a regular basis it can be rather addictive, and knowing it will show up on on your doorstep, by bike no less, is comforting indeed.

Big corporation, big business, big money is scary, and isnt good for people. So while Im trying to put bread on my table, Im also trying to be good to people.

- Corwin Weik, founder of Normaltown Coffee

One pound of NormalTown Coffee costs $14, and half a pound costs $7. However, Weik uses promos such as Free Art Fridays where people can win a free half pound of coffee by finding small pieces of art placed around Athens by Weik, who uses his businesss Instagram to hint at the locations and award the coffee to the user who finds the art first.

Sometimes the art is Weiks, and other times the art can be a product of local artists who supports NormalTown.

The beginning of the bean

Weik started learning about the ins-and-outs of coffee when he began working at Hendershots, a local coffee shop on Prince Avenue. He began working there in 2014 after graduating from Cedar Shoals High School.

In November 2016 he attended the American Barista and Coffee School in Portland, Oregon, where Weik participated in intensive workshops in roasting, barista-ing and cafe management. A moleskin notebook full of doodles and notes remains in his possession, reminding him of his journey.

Weiks coffee craze began when he was introduced to the more creative side of the process, such as making latte art and learning how to achieve different flavors through experimenting with roasting methods.

Charlie Mustard, a long-time friend, mentor and coffee roaster, introduced him to the local roasting scene.

The biggest characteristic that he has that I see [in his business] is his drive to constantly improve, Mustard said. Hes constantly trying to making things better.

From there, he became a sort of scientist with coffee, learning from trial and error over a two-year period and creating his own style in the process.

Now, Weik uses a popcorn machine to roast his coffee beans. Hes on his third hot air popper, since the other two burned out after a big roasting session.

What Im doing is ninth grade physical science, Weik said.

The do it yourself mentality allows him to have greater control over the results of his blends and is more cost effective than purchasing a standard coffee roaster, Weik said.

My first memory of Corwin when he was growing up in our neighborhood is his hair and his skateboard, Mustard said. Now hes got his own coffee business, and I see his drive to constantly improve.

For the people, for the earth

NormalTown Coffee is based on three pillars: the environment, the community and education. As the companys mission statement states  " ... Without the support of the people and Mother Nature, our efforts would be fruitless.

For Weik, being environmentally conscious is of the utmost importance throughout his roasting process, as well as during distribution. He offers incentives through discounts if customers provide their own packaging.

With their own containers, customers are offered a $4 discount for a pound of beans or a $2 discount for a half pound.

Weik also delivers orders by bike, a conscious choice to eliminate emissions that would be made by a car. He occasionally works with Pedal Driven Cycles, a local bicycle company.

In an attempt to maximize the sustainability of his personal process, he is toying with ideas such as a bicycle-powered generator, a solar-powered grid, or maybe even a Tesla power grid.

The people will tell you when youre doing wrong by them. Mother Nature wont until its too late, Weik said.

Being Athens born, Weik also has a commitment to his community. He planned on leaving town when he was younger but decided that Athens could provide enough support for a weird and unconventional guy, as he describes himself. Now, he strives to give back to the community that raised him.

Big corporation, big business, big money is scary, and isnt good for people," Weik said. "So while Im trying to put bread on my table, Im also trying to be good to people, Weik said.

As a client of NormalTown Coffee, the reward for reaching out to five new customers is a free pound of coffee beans. Weik also offers individualized sessions where he teaches his customers on how to achieve the best cup of coffee, according to professional coffee brewing standards.

The bean will prosper

NormalTown Coffee has one original flavor so far: the Cant Stop Wont Stop blend, a tribute to a close friend of Weik. The other blends NormalTown sells contain a flavor unique to the different types of green coffee beans he orders online from a company called Sweet Maria's  beans from Brazil and Tanzania, for example.

Weik has also created many different blends used by coffee shops such as Hendershots and Murphys, another cafe in Atlanta.

Cindy Wilson of the B-52s picked out one of Weiks blends in early 2017 to take on tour.

Despite some famous patrons, efforts to remain sustainable will always surpass monetary success, Weik said. So for the time being, NormalTown Coffee will remain on his front porch.

I can make a million dollars taking out a loan and getting a building and buying a nice fancy roaster, Weik said, But if you dont have principles to stand on other than making money theres going to be collateral damage involved, and its not fair to somebody. Its up to me to make the best decision for myself and what works best for this moving forward.Probationary bankers asked to show competence

BSS, Rajshahi :

Senior officers asked their newly recruited subordinates to show their professional competence during discharging duties as it is vital for attaining success in the banking profession for overall socio economic development of the region.

They urged them to make their banking activities client-friendly so that they get total benefits of the banking service.

They were addressing the closing and certificate-giving session of a six-week foundation training course for 27 newly recruited senior officers and officers of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB) at its training institute on Thursday.

RAKUB Chairman Nazrul Islam addressed the session as the chief guest while General Manager Mozammel Hoque spoke as special guest with principal of the institute Ataur Rahman in the chair.

The speakers highlighted the importance of the bank in agricultural development of the northwest Bangladesh and asked the officers to apply the knowledge acquired from the training in the professional field properly for boosting agricultural production in the region.

As the largest development partner in the agricultural sector of the northwest Bangladesh, RAKUB plays a vital role in achieving economic emancipation and free the nation from poverty and hunger through boosting credit-flow to the potential agricultural fields.

In this regard, they asked them to discharge their duties with utmost sincerity and honesty to brighten the image of the bank along with taking it ahead successfully.The weather is warming up, the days are longer and the sun is shining again. All of this can only mean one thing  Free Cone Day at Ben & If you are a 90s baby, you probably already know how hard it was to watch the generation below you start ignoring your favorite childhood toyAthens, GA (30605)

Today

Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High around 80F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low 56F. Winds light and variable.State Senate President Martin Looney headed a list of Democrats who called Saturday for U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty to resign in the aftermath of reports that she enabled and ignored a toxic workplace in her office.

Congresswoman Esty has long been a conscientious leader in the fight against harassment and abuse in the workplace, Looney, of New Haven, said in a statement. However ... if the facts of this matter involving former staff of the congresswomans office are as they are alleged to be in recent news articles then Congresswoman Esty should do the right thing and resign.

The other six members of Connecticuts congressional delegation  all Democrats, like Esty  have so far stopped short of calling for her to step down. But her support among party members in the Legislature and elsewhere in Connecticut appears to be eroding since stories broke last week alleging that her former chief of staff was abusive toward another of Estys employees.

Esty later admitted she had not adequately protected Anna Kain, who alleged that Tony Baker punched, harassed and threatened to kill her.

The congresswoman failed

Esty fired Baker in 2016, but gave him a $5,000 severance and a positive recommendation through which he found a new job in Ohio working for Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit dedicated to lessening gun violence, particularly in schools. Sandy Hook Promise said last week that Baker no longer works there.

First and foremost, let me say to this survivor that I am so sorry, Esty in a news release Friday. I am sorry that this incident in my office hurt (Kain), her friends and family, and many of my present and former staffers.

Esty also said she had personally paid back the $5,000 severance check, and that she would not leave her job.

But her statement, in which she also said she was inspired by Kains courage, has not been enough for some.

Republicans were quick to call for Estys resignation. On Friday, Manny Santos, a former Republican mayor of Meriden and her presumptive opponent in Novembers election, said, There are two people that share the blame in this tragedy: Tony Baker, the abuser, and Elizabeth Esty, the boss.

On Saturday, some Democrats joined the call for Esty to step down. Mae Flexer, D-Danielson, a state senator who represents a district in the states northeast corner, was one of the first.

It was devastating to learn about the situation in Rep. Estys office that has recently come to light, Flexer said. The congresswoman failed her staff on every level when she decided to protect an alleged abuser instead of them. Its completely unacceptable. ... We must expect more from our elected officials.

State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, said Estys handling of the abuse allegations showed a shocking lack of judgment on the part of the congresswoman, and therefore I believe Congresswoman Esty should resign her office.

Susan Bysiewicz, a Democratic candidate for governor who formerly served as secretary of the state and, before that, in the state House, also said Esty should resign.

Her actions put more subordinate employees in peril, and undermined public trust in our government, Bysiewicz said in a statement. I know Congresswoman Esty to be a woman of action rather than words, and in this case, words are not enough. I believe that under the circumstances, Congresswoman Esty must step down from her position.

Support from some

Chris Mattei, a former assistant U.S. attorney and Democratic candidate for state attorney general, also said Esty should go.

There is no question that Congresswoman Estys response fell far below what should be demanded of a person in a position of public authority, the Hartford resident posted on Twitter. I spoke with Congresswoman Esty today. I respect her record, her service and her effort to be transparent once this matter came to light. But, I believe her conduct was unacceptable and not befitting a member of Congress. She should resign.

Outside of political circles, constituents in the New Milford area  the heart of the states 5th Congressional District  had little to say Saturday about the scandal. Many people who were out enjoying the first true spring weekend of the year said they had not heard about the accusations against Esty or her former chief of staff.

While that might be good news for Esty, she still faced a torrent of criticism, particularly on social media.

On Twitter, the state Republican Party blasted state Democrats for their general silence on the issue.

State Rep. Bill Buckbee, R-New Milford, strayed from his partys view, though, saying he has worked with Esty on several issues and will not demand her resignation unless further information surfaces.

Im tired of seeing politics get tied up in this accusatory culture, Buckbee said. Its such a tough thing because we dont have all the details. Im not going to demand her resignation, but I do want an investigation.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who like Esty lives in Cheshire, said he was disappointed in her actions. But he didnt join the call for her to step down.

This clearly wasnt handled the way it should have been, Murphy said. I talked to Elizabeth, and Im glad she acknowledges this. Nobody working in a congressional office or any other setting should feel afraid to come to work. Protecting victims of workplace harassment needs to come first, and the rules of Congress need to change to ensure that happens.

Nan M. Birdwhistell, a New Haven lawyer who succeeded Esty as the president of a board of women dedicated to electing pro-choice candidates to office in Connecticut, defended Esty as a person of strong moral character who has always tried to do the right thing.

Elizabeths whole life has been as a dedicated fighter for the rights of women, Birdwhistell said. She is a superior public servant, and an exceptionally effective legislator, working across the aisle whether in Hartford or Washington.TORRINGTON  Rosters and rules packets are now available for the Torrington Parks and Recreation Mens and Womens Softball Leagues.

The entry fee for the Mens League will be $650 per team for Resident Teams in All Divisions for the 2018 season. Each team is allowed to have Six (6) Out of Town Players (Non-Resident) at an additional fee of $25 per player. New for 2018, the department will be accepting Non-Resident Teams for A Division only. The entry fee for Non-Resident Teams in A Division is $850 per team.

The entry fee for the Womens League will be $600 per team for Resident Teams in All Divisions for the 2018 season. Each team is allowed to have Six (6) Out of Town Players (Non-Resident) at an additional fee of $25 per player. NEW for 2018, the department will be accepting Non-Resident Teams for A Division only. The entry fee for Non-Resident Teams in A Division is $800 per team.

Rosters will not be accepted after April 2.

For more information, visit the softball website at http://torringtonsoftball.com/ or contact the Torrington Parks and Recreation Department at 860-489-2274.

Red Cross schedules blood drives in area

The American Red Cross Connecticut chapters have scheduled blood drives in local towns. Volunteer blood donors from across the country are needed to help ensure lifesaving blood products are available for patients this spring. Make an appointment to donate blood by downloading the free Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org or calling 800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767).

Litchfield: April 3, 1:15 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., Litchfield Community Center, 421 Bantam Rd.

New Milford: April 7, 7:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., New Milford Community Ambulance Corp., 1 Scovill St.

Washington: April 8, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., The Gunnery, Route 47, 99 Green Hill Road

Winsted: April 7, 8 a.m. - 1 p.m., Winsted Area Ambulance Association, 655 Main St.

Passport to Connecticut Libraries program to begin

Over one hundred Connecticut libraries are participating in the Connecticut Library Associations Passport to Connecticut Libraries Program. To celebrate National Library Week during April, the Passport to Connecticut Libraries Program invites you to visit all of the participating Connecticut public libraries. Each library has its own architecture, vibe and collection to explore and browse! The program is open to adults and children, and the hope is that it encourages residents to explore the amazing diversity of our public libraries.

To participate, visit a local participating library to pick up a Passport. They will stamp it and provide a token gift to get started. Then, take the Passport along and visit other participating libraries. At each visit, patrons must show a library card, and then the library will stamp the passport and give another small gift.

Those who visit at least five participating libraries and return the passport to a participating library by May 7 will be entered into one state-wide drawing for a chance to win a $150 Visa gift card for adults (18 and up) and a $100 Visa gift card for children (under 18). This is a state-wide contest where four winners will be selected: one adult and one child from a random drawing from all who visited at least five libraries, and one adult and one child from a random drawing from all who visited the most libraries.

For more details and a full list of participating libraries, ask your librarian.

Cornwall Library celebrating states history

CORNWALL  The Cornwall Library is hosting programs to commemorate Connecticuts manufacturing history.

Through May 5, the library will present Brazen Grit: Images of Brass Valley, an exhibition of photographs by Emery (Ted) Roth, II and Lazlo Gyorsok. On Saturday, April 7, at 4 p.m., Roth will give a talk and slideshow which elaborate on this legendary part of the states history and its culture. Senator Chris Murphy has been invited to this program.

All programs will be held at the library at 30 Pine St. Call 860-672-6874 for more information.

NCCC to screen A Plastic Ocean

WINSTED  Northwestern Connecticut Community Colleges Cultural Planning Committee and the Northwest Conservation District will host the screening of A Plastic Ocean on Thursday, April 5, 6:30 p.m. in Founders Hall Auditorium.

In the center of the Pacific Ocean gyre our researchers found more plastic than plankton. A Plastic Ocean documents the newest science, proving how plastics, once they enter the oceans, break up into small particulates that enter the food chain where they attract toxins like a magnet. These toxins are stored in seafoods fatty tissues and are eventually consumed by us, filmmakerrs said in a release.

Jo Ruxton, the documentarys producer, joined an expedition to the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Gyre, 1,500 miles off the coast of San Francisco to ascertain its impact. When the expedition discovered free-floating microplastics instead of an anticipated solid mass that could be contained, Jo knew she had to begin the film that would become A Plastic Ocean.

Ruxton, who had previously worked with the World Wildlife Fund International in Hong Kong, reconnected with director and journalist Craig Leeson with whom she had formerly collaborated on a documentary about endangered Pink Dolphins in Hong Kong. She and Leeson assembled a team of scientists along with a free diving champion, and together they set off on what would be a four-year global odyssey to explore the issue of plastics in our oceans and its effect on marine ecosystems and human health, including endocrine disruption.

This showing is funded through the Northwestern Community College Foundation and the Peggy Andl Fund, and is free and open to the public. For more information about this event, contact Jim Patterson, Co-Chair of the Cultural Planning Committee at JPatterson@nwcc.edu.College student found dead

UNB, Chittagong :

A college girl was found dead at Khorana in Patia upazila on Thursday morning.

The deceased was identified as Tanzila Akter, 16, an HSC second-year student of BGC Trust College. As she attempted to commit suicide in the morning, family members rushed her to the Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) where she died at 8am, said Alauddin, Assistant Sub-Inspector of CMCH police camp.





Opposition activists in Azerbaijan are rallying in the capital of the former Soviet republic demanding the release of individuals considered by international rights groups to be political prisoners.

The March 31 demonstration in Baku, organized by Azerbaijan's two main opposition parties with permission from city authorities, is being held less than two weeks before a snap presidential election that is set to hand longtime President Ilham Aliyev a new seven-year term.

The opposition parties behind the rally -- Musavat and the National Council of Democratic Forces -- both announced that they would not take part in the election after Aliyev last month issued a decree bringing forward the date of the election to April 11 from the original date of October 17.

Demonstrators carried placards showing photographs of people rights activists say have been imprisoned in politically motivated cases. They also called for free elections and a crackdown on corruption.

Aliyev has been president of the oil-producing South Caucasus country of nearly 10 million people since shortly before the death of his long-ruling father, Heydar Aliyev, in 2003.

Critics of Aliyev and his government say Azerbaijani authorities frequently seek to silence dissent by jailing reporters, human rights activists, and civil-society advocates on trumped-up charges.

Recent international corruption investigations have also found that Aliyev's family makes frequent use of offshore companies to hide its wealth and mask the ways it gains shares in Azerbaijan's most lucrative businesses.

Aliyev and senior Azerbaijani officials have repeatedly brushed off the accusations of corruption and say there are no political prisoners in the country.An Azeri man living in France has been seriously injured and his wife killed in a drive-by shooting near the southern city of Toulouse, police say.

Rahim Namazov, 39, a father of three, was fighting for his life in a hospital after suffering serious back injuries, while his wife died after being hit in the head in the shooting in front of their home in the Toulouse suburb of Colomiers on March 30.

One of their children, a 15-year-old boy, was in their apartment at the time and heard the gunfire, local authorities told AFP, adding that he was being looked after by a local trauma group.

Namazov left Azerbaijan for France in 2010 and applied for asylum, claiming he was a journalist who had been imprisoned and suffered death threats in the repressive Caucasus country. He was never granted asylum.

The local Toulouse Journalists' Association said it was unable to confirm he was a reporter when he arrived in 2010. The Press Council of Azerbaijan on March 30 said there was no journalist in that country named Rahim Namazov.

Johan Bihr of Reporters Without Borders said on March 30 that the media watchdog group was looking into Namazov's case. He pointed to comments from respected Azeri journalist Khadija Ismayilova that cast doubt on his claim to be a journalist.

Writing on Facebook, Ismayilova, a former contributor to RFE/RL, said that Namazov had pretended to be a journalist to get asylum in France and had recently got into a public argument with a mafia boss on the Internet.

Police said that seven bullets were fired in total at Namazov and his wife as they were parking their car after the couple had dropped their youngest child off at school.

With reporting by AFPRussian authorities have declared a "high alert" and are distributing masks and respirators to residents of a town outside Moscow where toxic fumes have leaked from a landfill site.

The measures went into effect on March 30 in Volokolamsk, a town of around 20,000 people about 120 kilometers west of Moscow, after thousands of residents on March 29 held a rally demanding that authorities formally declare a state of emergency.

Another rally is planned for April 1, with residents demanding the closure of the landfill, first opened in 2008, that has been emitting a noxious sulphurous smell.

Last week, hospitals treated dozens of children who complained of dizziness and nausea because of fumes from the Yadrovo landfill site near the town.

A spokesman for the regional Emergency Situations Ministry said that "a state of high alert" had been imposed in the town as of March 30 and that monitoring of the environment "will be stepped up" with "nonstop" testing of air quality.

The spokesman said local authorities had also begun distributing medical masks and respirators to those who need them.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said there was no need to evacuate residents or declare a formal state of emergency because air pollution levels as of March 30 did not exceed permissible limits.

Officials have said they will stop adding to the waste dump by the end of the month and install a decontamination system by June, which they said should protect residents until a new facility is eventually built.

Several weeks ago on March 7, Volokolamsk authorities declared a temporary state of emergency, saying the level of hydrogen sulphide in the air was recorded as 2.5 times higher and the level of nitric oxide was double usual levels because of a gas leak at the landfill.

Demonstrations demanding the closure of landfill sites have also been held in several other cities in the Moscow region.

In Kolomna, a historic city of some 140,000 inhabitants about 100 kilometers southeast of Moscow, more than 100 protesters last week attempted to block a road used by trucks taking trash to a landfill site.

Police briefly detained some 30 participants on March 28 and charged three of them with breaches of the peace and disobeying police, said the OVD-Info website that monitors law enforcement activity in Russia.

"We're treated like second-class citizens," a female protester told a local official in a video posted online. "Why are we [treated] worse than Muscovites?"

In the city of Klin, northeast of Moscow, residents have also expressed concern over landfills.

The growing public discontent throughout Russia has forced the authorities to acknowledge problems, including the lack of an adequately funded and equipped service to monitor air quality around the country.

Russia sends almost all its garbage to landfills and there is no obligation for people to recycle household waste, creating a growing problem despite the country's vast territory.

"We are in constant touch with the regional authorities and the government over this," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on March 30.

"Everyone understands that this is a complicated problem, that it cannot be solved overnight," he said.

With reporting by AFP and InterfaxTurkey's president has slammed Kosovo's prime minister for being critical of the arrest and deportation of six Turkish citizens with ties to schools linked to the Fethullah Gulen movement that Ankara blames for a failed 2016 coup.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on March 31 he was "saddened" and that Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj would "pay" after he dismissed both his interior minister and his intelligence chief for deporting the six from Kosovo without his permission.

Haradinaj, who said he was not informed about the operation, launched an investigation on March 31 "of all [state] structures that were involved in arresting and deporting" the six Turkish citizens.

"My question to Kosovo's prime minister is: under whose instructions did you undertake such actions? Since when have you started to defend those who attempted a coup against Turkey?" Erdogan asked, noting Turkey was the second country in the world to recognize Kosovo after the United States.

"How can you [defend] these people who attempted a coup against Kosovo's brother country -- Turkey?' You will answer for this!" he added.

On March 30 Haradinaj dismissed his interior minister and the secret-service chief after the arrest and expulsion of the six Turkish nationals a day earlier.

Turkey said the six arrested on March 29 were allegedly responsible for recruiting into Gulens network and helping those in Turkey leave the country amid a security crackdown in which tens of thousands of people have either been fired or imprisoned for alleged ties to Gulen.

Turkey is a major supporter of impoverished Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, and Turkish firms run the tiny Balkan country's sole airport and electricity network, and are building two highways worth around $2 billion.

Ankara accuses Gulen, a Muslim cleric based in the United States, of masterminding a July 15, 2016 coup attempt, and has declared his movement a terrorist operation. Gulen denies any link with the abortive putsch.

Human Rights Watch has criticized the Kosovo authorities over the arrests.

"In addition to the questionable arrests, the men were sent to a country where they face a serious risk of torture," the watchdog said in a statement.

With reporting by ReutersMINGORA, Pakistan -- Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai expressed joy and shed tears as she paid a short "dream" visit to her hometown in Pakistans northwestern Swat Valley for the first time since she was shot by Taliban militants in 2012.

"I wish to be in Swat, to be among you and serve you," Malala, 20, said on March 31 as she met with former schoolmates and relatives at her old family house.

"It is still like a dream for me to be among you," she said. "Am I among you? Is it a dream or reality," she said.

Malala landed by helicopter in the town of Mingora amid heightened security together with her father, mother, and two brothers.

She burst into tears as she entered her old house, and her mother and father wept as well, a friend of Malala who was present told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal.

"So much joy seeing my family home, visiting friends, and putting my feet on this soil again," she said in a Twitter post along with a photo of her family standing in the garden of their old home.

The media was barred from accompanying Malala during the visit, but RFE/RL obtained video showing her speaking with a group of men and women standing around her on the lawn in the backyard of her former home.

She also posted pictures of the scenic Swat Valley taken from the helicopter as it approached Mingora.

During her meetings with neighbors, friends, and relatives, Malala was accompanied by Pakistani Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb.

She also paid a visit to the all-boys Swat Cadet College Guli Bagh outside Mingora, writing in the guest book that "I have never felt so happy. I am proud of my land and culture. The Cadet College is beautiful and I thank the staff and principal for welcoming me."



She told students at the college, "Peace has been restored in the country due to sacrifices of security forces."

She then returned to Islamabad, where she met with human rights activists.

Malala's trip to her hometown came two days after she returned to Pakistan for the first time since she was shot in the head on her school bus by Taliban gunmen because she campaigned for the education of girls, which the militant extremist group opposes.

Malala, who was 15 at the time of the attack, was subsequently taken to England for treatment. She remained there, enrolling at Oxford University in August 2017 and has resumed her fight for the cause that earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.

Malala first came into the spotlight as a schoolgirl, when she started writing a diary of her life under Taliban rule.

She strongly advocated education through her diary, which was written under the pseudonym "Gul Mukai" and featured on BBC Urdu.

There had been questions about whether Malala would visit the Swat Valley during her planned four-day trip due to security concerns.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, Geo TV, and The New York Times

Lucy Helen finally gets BD citizenship

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina handed over the citizenship certificate to British woman Lucy Helen at a function at her official residence Gonabhaban on Saturday.

UNB, Dhaka :

The long wait of British woman Lucy Helen Frances Holt ended on Saturday as the government honoured her with Bangladesh citizenship for her lifelong love and services to the people of Bangladesh by living here for the last 57 years.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina handed over the citizenship certificate to 87-year-old Lucy Helen at a function at her official residence Ganobhaban.

Helen Lucy also contributed a lot to Bangladesh's Liberation War by creating public opinions in favour it in 1971.

After the ceremony, PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters saying that Lucy was given Bangladesh's citizenship following her application in this regard.

The Prime Minister thanked Lucy for her services to humanity.

In reply, Lucy said, she had the desire to meet Bangamata Fazilatunnesa Mujib but could not, and expressed her happiness as the dream was fulfilled today after meeting Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Bangamata.

Sheikh Rehana, the youngest daughter of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Prime Minister's Daughter Saima Wazed Hossain, Principal Secretary Nojibur Rahman and Secretary of the Security Services Division under the Ministry of Home Farid Uddin Ahmed were present.

Lucy Helen, daughter of John Holt and Francese Holt, was born in the British town of St Helens on December 16 in 1930. On completion of her 12th grade, she first visited Bangladesh in 1960.

In that year, Lucy joined Barisal Oxford Mission and taught primary school children. Since then, she has been staying in Bangladesh as she fell in love for the soil and people of this country.

Lucy had worked in Jessore, Khulna, Naogaon, Dhaka and Gopalganj for 57 years.

She went on retirement in 2004 and came back to Barisal Oxford Mission on that year.

In her retired life, she is providing English education and mental growth to distressed children.

Lucy also made outstanding contributions to Bangladesh's Liberation War by taking care of the war-wounded civilians at Fatema Hospital in Jessore during the war.

During the war, she wrote a number of letters to her friends in Bangladesh to create public opinion during the war as well as a letter to her parent in the UK describing the situation during that time.

After the war, Lucy Helen sent a letter along with some gifts to Bangamata Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib in 1973. On behalf of Bangamata, the then school student Sheikh Rehana also replied expressing gratitude to Lucy at that time.

During her visit to Barisal on February 8 last, the Prime Minister handed over Lucy's passport with a 15-year multiple Bangladeshi visa ending her long ordeal for visa renewal every year.The spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry says Islamabad and Washington have yet to find "common ground" on a range of issues, including U.S. accusations that Pakistan is not pulling its weight in the fight against terrorism.

Mohammad Faisal made the remarks in an interview with RFE/RL on March 31, days after a senior U.S. State Department official arrived in Pakistan for high-level talks.

The State Department said earlier that senior bureau official for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Ambassador Alice Wells would discuss Washington's strategy for the region and "Pakistan's stated commitment to eliminate all terrorist groups present in its country."

Wells' meetings in Pakistan included talks with Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua and national security adviser Nasser Khan Janjua.

Faisal described talks with Wells in Pakistan as positive but said that the two sides were still seeking "common ground."

"The main purpose of these talks is to find that common ground," he told RFE/RL.

In January, the State Department said it was suspending at least $900 million in security assistance to Pakistan, after President Donald Trump criticized Islamabad for not doing enough to combat terrorism.

Afghan officials, along with the Trump administration, have accused Pakistan of providing a safe haven for terrorists operating in Afghanistan, a charge Islamabad denies.

Asked about U.S. criticism that Pakistan must step up its counterterrorism efforts, Faisal said arrangements must be made for the return of an estimated 3 million Afghan refugees currently living in Pakistan.

"Besides, there is the issue of poppy cultivation and the use of opium money in the war. And attacks from Afghanistan inside Pakistan also continue. When all these problems are addressed, so the rest of the issues will also be resolved," Faisal said.

Vice President Mike Pence earlier this month told Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi that Islamabad "must do more to address the continued presence of the Taliban, Haqqani network, and other terrorist groups operating in their country," the White House said on March 17.

A senior U.S. administration official said a day earlier that Pakistan has done "the bare minimum to appear responsive to our requests."

With reporting by Geo.tvA Moscow court has placed billionaire businessman Ziyavudin Magomedov, his brother, and an associate under arrest for two months on charge of embezzling billions of rubles in state funds.

In one of the highest profile prosecutions of a tycoon in Russia in years, a judge in Moscow's Tverskoi district court on March 31 placed the three under formal arrest and ordered that they be held until May 30.

"I categorically disagree with the charges presented...The prosecution case does not stand up to scrutiny," Ziyavudin Magomedov said from a cage in a courtroom at the hearing.

The Interior Ministry said in a March 31 statement that Magomedov, co-owner of the Russian investment group Summa, was detained along with two partners, including his brother, Magomed Magomedov, and Artur Maksidov, the head of a company in the Summa group that was involved in construction of a soccer World Cup venue in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

The three suspects appeared in court, where a judge placed them under formal arrest without bail, noting Magomedov had access to his own aircraft and assets abroad.

The day before he was detained, he had booked a flight from Moscow to Miami, the judge said. Magomedov said he needed treatment in the United States for a medical problem.

"The court has granted the motion of investigation that Ziyavudin Magomedov will be remanded into custody for two months, or until May 30," the judge said in reading out his ruling.

Summa Group said in a statement that it disagreed with the court ruling and "intends to appeal it, and is ready to cooperate with the investigators."

A prosecutor told the court at a hearing that the case entails seven instances "of embezzling from federal and regional budgets and from state-run companies."

"The stolen money is held in foreign accounts of offshore companies controlled by Magomedov," the investigator told the court, according to TASS.

A lawyer for the 49-year-old construction and logistics magnate asked for his clients release on bail equivalent to the amount of losses, estimated by prosecutors at 2.5 billion rubles ($44 million) and said that the charges should be seen as a civil case and not a criminal case.

My client is "quite a wealthy man and can repay these losses," Alexander Vershinin, another of the businessman's lawyers, was quoted by Interfax as telling the court.

Forbes magazine listed Ziyavudin Magomedov's fortune at $1.25 billion as of March 31.

The U.S. Treasury Department in January listed him as one of 96 "oligarchs" close to President Vladimir Putin.

Magomedov's Caspian Venture Capital fund has investments in ride-hailing service Uber, Diamond Foundry, a company that produces man-made diamonds, and online leisure activities company Peek.

He is also co-executive chairman of Los Angeles-based tech firm Virgin Hyperloop One, which is chaired by Richard Branson. The firm is one of several developing a futuristic transport system that involves propelling people at high speed through sealed tubes.

He also is a co-owner of the Novorossiisk Commercial Sea Port with Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft and transportation group Fesco.

With reporting by Reuters and InterfaxRussia says Britain must trim its diplomatic personnel in Russia by more than 50 people amid a diplomatic tit-for-tat ignited by the poisoning of an ex-spy on British soil.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told news agencies of the demand on March 31, a day after Russia served expulsion notices to a slew of staff in Western embassies in an escalating standoff over the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, earlier this month.

The expulsions come in response to the decision by Britain, the United States, and European allies to kick out numerous Russian diplomats over British allegations that Moscow is responsible for a nerve-agent attack on the Skripals.

Zakharova said on March 31 that Britain would have to cut "a little over 50" of its diplomats stationed in Russia, Reuters reported.

"We asked for parity. The Brits have 50 diplomats more than the Russians," Zakharova was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Russian officials also have asked for access to Skripal's daughter, insisting they have a legal right to see the 33-year-old who lives in Moscow and was visiting her father when they were attacked with a nerve agent on March 4.

The British Foreign Office said on March 31 that the government was considering the request "in line with our obligations under international and domestic law."

The Russian Foreign Ministry on March 30 summoned the heads of missions from 23 countries -- mostly European Union members and U.K. allies -- and said it was expelling about 60 of their diplomats, while reserving the right to take similar action against four other nations.

A day earlier, Moscow ordered the expulsion of 60 U.S. diplomats and the closing of the U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg in its first move to retaliate against the expulsion this week of more than 150 Russian diplomats by Western states.

The expulsions have been the largest since the Cold War.

Russia had already retaliated in kind against Britain for ejecting 23 diplomats over what London claims was the first use of a military-grade nerve agent in Europe since World War II against the Skripals.

But on March 30, British Ambassador to Moscow Laurie Bristow was summoned again and told London had just one month to cut its diplomatic contingent in Russia to the same size as the Russian mission in Britain.

The Foreign Ministry, which denies Russia was involved in the poisonings and has suggested that Britain or the United States might be to blame, said it handed Bristow a protest over the "provocative and unsubstantiated actions by Britain."

Russia's embassy to Paris submitted a note to France's Foreign Ministry on March 31 containing a list of 10 questions over the Skripal case "fabricated against Russia," a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said.

A spokeswoman for the British Foreign Office did not say how many British diplomats would be affected by the latest staff cuts. But she said Russia's latest move "doesn't change the facts of the matter -- the attempted assassination of two people on British soil, for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable."

Russia's other summonses on March 30 targeted the ambassadors from Australia, Albania, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Croatia, Ukraine, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Canada, and the Czech Republic.

All were seen arriving in their official cars at the Foreign Ministry building in Moscow.

The diplomats were handed "protest notes" and were told Russia was expelling diplomats from their missions in "corresponding number" to the number of Russian diplomats their countries had expelled earlier in the week, the ministry said.

The move means that France, Germany, Poland, and Canada all will have to cut four diplomatic staff in Russia, while Ukraine must cut 13. The other countries are losing from one to three of their diplomatic slots.

The Russian ministry said it was reserving the right to expel diplomats from four other countries -- Belgium, Hungary, Georgia, and Montenegro -- which were the last to announce that they were expelling Russian diplomats over the Skripal affair.

One country that said it was not joining in the diplomatic spat is Bulgaria, current holder of the EU presidency.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said on March 30 that his government decided to limit its actions to recalling its ambassador from Moscow for consultations as it awaits more evidence on the attack.

Bulgaria is heavily dependent on Russian energy supplies and tourism revenue.

Russia, the United States, Germany, and many of the other countries involved in the diplomatic rift insisted that they want to maintain good relations despite escalating tensions.

"Russia did not unleash any diplomatic war," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on March 30. "Russia never initiated any exchange of sanctions."

After being summoned in Moscow German Ambassador Rudiger von Fritsch said Russia still had questions to answer about the poisoning of Skripal, but Berlin remained open to dialogue with Moscow.

A U.S. State Department official said on March 30 that in expelling 60 Russian diplomatic staff from the United States, Washington was not putting any cap on the overall number of Russian personnel, so Moscow can apply to accredit new diplomats to replace those leaving.

Russia's ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, told reporters on March 31 that all of the 60 Russian diplomats declared persona non grata by the United States were flying home that day with their families.

Given the flexibility, Russian diplomats said they were not sending any staff home from the consulate in Seattle that the United States ordered closed on March 30, but rather were adding them to Russian missions elsewhere in the country.

"Today dozens of our colleagues -- Russian diplomats -- are leaving the U.S. They are not U.S. enemies. The U.S. authorities have expelled American friends. This choice is unfortunate," Antonov said in a video address uploaded on the embassys Twitter page.

Russia's embassy to the United Kingdom also put out a statement, warning that Russians traveling to the country should be ready for "heightened attention from British law enforcement bodies and security services."

"In particular, possible [situations] include unforeseen stops and arrests of citizens under made-up pretexts for the purpose of thorough questionings and searches on entering and leaving the country," the embassy said.

Both Skripals have been hospitalized since their poisonings in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4.

Sergei Skripal, 66, remains in critical condition, but his daughter Yulia, 33, has been "improving rapidly" and is no longer in critical condition, British health officials said on March 29.

Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer imprisoned by Moscow after being convicted of passing on information about Russian agents in various European countries, came to Britain in 2010 as part of a spy swap.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, AP, and dpa"It was just an ordinary day and I was at work in our store at Zimnyaya Vishnya," Farzon Salimov recalls. "Suddenly, my nephew, who works at the shopping center, called me and said a fire had started on the fourth floor."

Within minutes the scene at the mall in the Siberian city of Kemerovo became chaotic, with smoke and fire filling the building and prompting visitors to run for safety. In the end, 64 people would lose their lives in the March 25 fire.

"First, we helped the customers in our shop to get out of the building," Salimov told RFE/RL's Tajik Service by telephone. "Then I saw that there were so many people gathered near the escalators, unable to get out through the main door."

Salimov, a native of the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, owns a business on the second floor of the Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) mall where he and four other Tajik workers sell shoes and clothes.

"There were many women, children, and elderly among the crowd stuck there," Salimov told RFE/RL on March 28. "The five of us helped them to get out of the building through our shop and by another door."

Salimov recalls running to the other side of the building along with his co-worker, Mahmud Khojaev, and several others who were helping to rescue people in the shopping complex.

Salimov, 32, estimates that he and co-workers may have helped up to 50 people get to safety.

He says that the worst sight was seeing two people in wheelchairs stuck near elevators as crowds of people around them rushed out of the burning building.

Salimov says he and Khojaev pushed the two outside to safety as the building was rapidly filling with thick smoke, making it nearly impossible to breath or see.

After that, he says, they were unable to reenter the building.

Salimov, who first came to Russia in 2003, is one of hundreds of thousands of Tajiks who work in Russia.

He says he began working as a seasonal laborer until he eventually managed to open his own business at the Zimnyaya Vishnya mall.

Salimov hasnt returned to his store since the deadly fire.

"We didn't even take the money from the till. We only wanted to save people's lives," he says. "We did what anyone would do in that situation. It's just a normal thing."

Written by Farangis Najibullah with reporting by RFE/RL Tajik Service correspondent Abdullo AshurovTurkmenistan's authoritarian president has appointed his son to a senior post in the Central Asian state's Foreign Ministry, a move that comes amid what political analysts say are signs he is being groomed as a presidential successor.

President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov's appointment of his only son, Serdar, as deputy foreign minister was announced in a one-sentence statement published on March 30 by the government's official news site.

Serdar Berdymukhammedov, 36, has headed the parliament's Legal Affairs Committee since March 2017 and was reelected to parliament in a ballot earlier this month. He defeated his opponent overwhelmingly in an election featuring candidates ultimately loyal to the president.

Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, 60, has ruled the gas-rich former Soviet republic since his autocratic predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, died in December 2006.

Government critics and human rights groups say he has suppressed dissent and made few changes in the restrictive country since he came to power.

Before he became a lawmaker in November 2016, Serdar Berdymukhammedov was chief of the Foreign Ministry's information department.

Earlier this month, he was part of a Turkmen delegation to neighboring Kazakhstan, where he was photographed meeting with President Nursultan Nazarbaev.

Nazarbaev's office said the two men discussed Kazakh-Turkmen ties ahead of a summit of Central Asian leaders in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, on March 15.

President Berdymukhammedov, who did not attend the Astana summit, also has three daughters and four grandchildren.The U.S. State Department is calling on Ukraine to repeal a law that it says has put undue burdens on civil society organizations and is for that reason discouraging their work.

The law requires civil-society groups and international members of the supervisory boards of state-owned enterprises to declare their assets -- a requirement that the department said was excessive.

"Ukraine's asset-declaration system should hold public officials accountable, and not place unnecessary burdens or pressure on civil society," department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on March 30.

"This punitive law targets those very individuals who seek to increase transparency and accountability in Ukraine, fulfilling the promises of the Euromaidan and the Ukrainian people's aspirations for a democratic country governed by the rule of law," she said.

"We urge the Ukrainian government to expeditiously cancel the asset declaration requirements, in line with recommendations by the Venice Commission, and, in the interim, provide a temporary amnesty for those individuals who do not file declarations by the upcoming deadline."Cancun, Riviera Maya hosting nearly a million for Easter

Cancun, Q.R.  The Ministry of Tourism says that nearly a million visitors have arrived throughout the state for the Easter holidays and that the figures are an increase over last year.

Hundreds of thousands of national and foreign visitors continue to arrive to Cancun and Riviera Maya for Easter holidays. According to the Ministry of Tourism, around one million visitors are in the 11 municipalities of the state, a figure 5 percent higher compared to last year.

The state has nearly 100,000 rooms across the 1,034 combined hotels. According to Televisa News, hotels across the state are reporting an average 90 percent occupancy with global visitors taking in the sun and sand along the regions 78 public beaches and 18 archaeological zones.

I come from Madrid and were staying until Sunday but we want to stay for a whole month, said Cristina, a visitor from Spain.

Excellent, very nice people, I love how Mexicans are, very attentive very warm, said Claudia Esponda, a tourist from Argentina.

Very good, wonderful, spectacular, wonderful the beach, wonderful place, said Cinthy Galvez, a tourist from Chile.

According to their statistics, Playa del Carmen-Riviera Maya, as well as Cancun and Mahahual are the most visited destinations during this Easter holiday season. With the mass increase in visitors, Playa del Carmen city officials have increased security.

I insist on the monitoring and surveillance mechanisms for tourists and for nationals and for people who live here. We have a police presence. We have patrol. We have revisions, said Cristina Torres, municipal president of Solidaridad.

In preparation of the visiting crowds, the region also implemented the Green Angel road side assistance for national and international visitors as well as provided codes of conduct to the young spring break crowds in Cancun.Consumer officers fine 7 businesses for failing to comply with laws

Playa del Carmen, Q.R.  Consumer officers in Playa del Carmen began the Easter holiday season with the temporary closure of seven businesses.

The Federal Procurators Office of the Consumer (Profeco) began the holiday week with inspections of stores, companies, agencies and hotels to ensure they are complying with state law regarding consumers.

Marisol Huitron Rangel of Profeco says, The reviews consist of seeing that the prices are visible to the consumer, that there is no misleading advertising and that they respect the Decalogue of consumers, which implies that the rights you acquire when buying a service are respected.

In the case of the touristic operation we have six visits with infractions, a shipping company, a timeshare, a restaurant, a diving service, a travel agency and a hotel, most of them for not having prices in sight or for having that famous legend with restrictions apply, in their services and promotions without specifying what they are, she explained.

Huitron Rangel explained that just prior to the long weekend, a fish market was given a temporary closure by Profeco for not having prices clearly displayed and for not providing customers with a proof of purchase.

Profeco is working alongside the Tourist Vacation Operative by visiting municipal companies. Huitron Rangel says all 14 Profeco officers will head to Cozumel, Puerto Aventuras and Tulum to continue with their inspections.

Part of the Decalogue, or 10 commandments of state consumer rights, indicates that tips not be charged as part of the total cost of a service and that what is contracted must be provided by a proof of purchase.New Toyota Yaris is the combined efforts of Product Planning Department, Research and Development Division in Brussels and European Design Centre at Sophia Antipolis near Nice. Coming in a dynamic and emotive design, the new Yaris will be launched in India to rival Honda City, Hyundai Verna and Maruti Ciaz.

The latest Toyota Yaris sedan is seen with a new front fascia, smaller grille and enhanced trapezopidal intakes. The model is fitted with a new projector lamp technology for both high and low beams as well as with LED daytime running lights. 2018 Yaris also receives a new rear bumper and it sits on stylish alloys.

Interiors have been upgraded and are made to suit the taste of car buyers here in India. You now have a dual tone dashboard with black and beige finish. In the center is a new touchscreen infotainment system, which will also be the most intuitive and advanced to be seen on a Toyota car in India. AC controls will have touch control, as we have seen in the Honda City.

Instrument cluster will get three pods  tachometer, speedometer and fuel gauge. There is also a MID, which will take care of telling the driver of details like Distance to Empty, Mileage, Trip meter, tyre pressure, etc. The three spoke steering wheel gets controls to phone, music system cruise control. It also has paddle shifters.

Seats are comfortable with focus on rear passenger comfort. There are also roof mounted AC vents for rear seat passengers. The driver seat button-operable. Other features include rain sensing wipers, auto headlamps, leather seats, reverse parking camera with front and rear parking sensors, disc brakes on all four wheels, 7 airbags, ABS, VSC, Hill-Assist, EBD, etc

Powering the new Yaris in India will be a 4 cylinder petrol 1.5 liter engine which will deliver 108 hp. This engine will be mated to a 6 speed manual gearbox. You can also opt for CVT transmission. Diesel engine is not planned for launch for now, but could be launched later.

More details will be revealed once the car is officially launched in India. Expect price tag to be in the range of Rs 7-10 lakhs.Election Commission has to stop gun-toting activities in election

FROM the photos printed in more than one newspaper, the actual identity of the two BCL men carrying guns openly during the by-polls of a ward in Chittagong on last Thursday are now clear to many. Several city residents said two of the gun-toting BCL men were Mahmudur Rashid Babu and Rakib Haidar. Moreover, their social media ID also confirmed their true identity. Yet, the police need more time to identify two culprits who openly brandished firearms on the day of the by-polls. At least four persons were injured in the polling centre where the two were photographed. However, we fail to understand despite repeated confirmation about their names and political affiliations why do the police need more time to arrest and put the culprit duo behind bars?

Nevertheless, the General Secretary of Chittagong unit of BCL said that they have learned the names of the two, who had brandished firearms during the election. Organisational actions will be taken in this regard after holding a meeting with top BCL leaders. But 72 hours have elapsed and no action was taken against the culprits.

This is not the first time that party goons have tarnished our local level elections, and if this does not stop - all expectations for a free, fair and credible election in this year's December will wither away. BCL's involvement in crimes and corruption seems to have hit the ceiling in recent times - be it grabbing tenders, plots or business opportunities - the younger members of the ruling party's student wing have become unimaginably audacious.

Barely three months ago had the unruly BCL activists called a strike inside the Chittagong University campus in an attempt to protect the prime accused of a murder case. Now besides interrupting the city's by- polls they are also indulging in internal feuds. The command of the student wing has completely broken down and the police remain reluctant following deliberate delays to take punitive actions against many BCL activists who are involved in big scale corruption and scams.

In undemocratic politics where election is not a matter of respect for vote gun-power is to be there. It is no use asking the government to restrain its student wing from not using police-power and gun-power to win elections. It will be unfair if we do not say that other candidates also try to look for gun-power but they do not have the protection of the government. The Election Commission accepts no responsibility for not making election a gun-toting affair, but it must.







13 citizens killed, wounded in Saudi-led airstrikes on Saada, Hodaida [31/March/2018] br>

PROVINCES, March 31 (Saba)  At least six citizens were killed and seven others wounded in airstrikes waged by Saudi-led aggression warplanes on Saada and Hodaida provinces overnight, a military official told Saba on Saturday.



In Saada, a woman was killed in an airstrike hit Almaqash area near Saada city, while another citizen was killed due to an air raid on Tallan area of Hidan district.



Three people, including a woman and a child, were killed when the hostile fighter jets bombed their home in Ghafera area of Dhaher district, while six other citizens were injured in six airstrikes struck Baqem district.



A child was seriously injured and a house was damaged due to an airstrike on Sewar al-Asfal in Bani Maeen area of Razih district, while another air raid targeted Al-Qad area of the same district.



The aggression warplanes waged a raid on Al-Osha area in Sahar district, another raid on Al-Soh area of Kutaf district, and three others on Alaf and Al Ammar area and the agricultural arboretum.



Saudi enemy army bombed several areas in the border districts of Munabah, Razih and Sheda with rockets and artillery shells.



In Hodaida, a farmer was killed when two airstrikes struck a farm in Tuhaita district, while two airstrikes hit a citizens farm in Jarrah district.



The enemys warplanes also hit Al-Zohra district of the same province two times and Al-Qanawos district seven times.



In Hajjah province, the hostile aircrafts launched seven air raids on Bani Qais disrtrict, ten others Medi and Harad districts.



In Jawf province, an airstrike hit Al-Maslob district.



In Najran region, six airstrikes targeted Al-Ajasher desert and another one hit Shaja site.



BA







SabaA swarm of cicadas that left thousands of insect carcasses across the Vanderbilt University campus in 2011 is leading to transinstitutional research at the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE) and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) to develop a surgical planning tool to help restore speech for people with vocal fold paralysis.

Haoxiang Luo, PhD, who specializes in computational modeling of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) for biological systems, brought some of those cicadas back to his Computational Flow Physics and Engineering Laboratory and created a model of their wing movements. Luo, an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering and Otolaryngology, has made similar models of the aerodynamics of a hummingbird's wing and the hemodynamics of blood as it interacts with heart valves, among other fluid flow systems.

His VUMC collaborator, Bernard Rousseau, PhD, MMHC, associate vice chair for research in Otolaryngology and associate professor of Otolaryngology, Hearing and Speech Sciences and Mechanical Engineering, found similarities in the way the cicada wings moved and the movement of human vocal folds, leading them to wonder how the model might be used to improve surgical techniques for paralyzed vocal folds.

This has culminated in the National Institutes of Health awarding a five-year, $2.4 million research grant to a multidisciplinary Vanderbilt team to design a software tool to help surgeons develop more precise surgery plans for the most common surgical intervention for unilateral vocal fold paralysis, type 1 laryngoplasty. Rousseau is the principal investigator of the multidisciplinary team, which includes Luo and Gaelyn Garrett, MD, Professor and Vice Chair of Otolaryngology.

Vocal folds are located on both sides of the larynx and must come together and vibrate to produce sound. The study is focusing on unilateral vocal fold paralysis, which is when one of the vocal folds fails to close completely against the other.

People with the condition have a hoarse voice, and require more effort to produce sound. They often experience vocal fatigue and become winded during everyday activities. Such issues can seriously impact quality of life, leading to loss of productivity at work and long-term disability.

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Type 1 laryngoplasty involves stabilizing the paralyzed vocal fold with a small implant that helps a person produce voice and also breathe more easily. Patients, who are alert and under local anesthesia during surgery, may be asked to sing "Happy Birthday" during the procedure to determine whether the implant was placed correctly.

The challenge for surgeons is that every patient's anatomy is unique -- one patient may have smaller cartilage, while another's soft tissue may be less elastic. This makes it challenging for even a very skilled surgeon to determine the optimal size, shape and placement of the implant for a specific patient. As a result, some type 1 laryngoplasty patients need to have their implants adjusted.

"Currently, this surgery depends on recreating a three-dimensional structure with only two-dimensional data," said Garrett, who is also senior executive medical director of the Vanderbilt Voice Center. "The symmetry of vibration provided by the new 3-D planned, patient-specific implant should give more consistent and optimal voice outcomes."

The surgical planning tool that Luo and Rousseau plan to develop could help surgeons develop customized implants for each patient.

"By simulating the dynamics of glottal airflow, the mechanics of the vocal fold tissue, and their interaction after incorporating a surgically placed implant, the computer software will predict how the implant will affect the vibration prior to the surgery," said Luo. "It will also help figure out the optimal parameters of the implant such as its shape, size and placement in the voice box."

"We hope this pre-operative planning tool will improve not just the outcomes of this particular procedure for the surgeon, but also reduce the overall costs associated with the procedure and operative time needed to complete the procedure, leading to improved surgical precision and efficiency in the operating room," Rousseau said.

FSI modeling for biological systems, such as cicada wings or vocal folds, is challenging and has not been extensively explored. "Vocal folds are extremely delicate tissue, and the glottal airflow when we speak produces considerable vortices, or swirls, that are hard to describe mathematically or to capture in a computer simulation," said Luo. "We had to design high-fidelity and yet efficient computational tools to simulate the vocal folds and airflow."

Rousseau, Luo, and colleagues are building on findings they published in 2014 in the Journal of Computational Physics that show that Luo's numerical method is versatile and is well-suited for modeling a range of biological FSI systems, including structures that have both stiff and pliable layers, such as the vocal fold.

The researchers say they eventually hope to use computer modeling and 3-D printing to help surgeons customize implants for each patient. "Our goal by the end of the five-year project is to have a model that is ready to be used for the translational milestones of this research," Rousseau said.To recruit more fishers to help with marine conservation, cast a wider net.

This is the conclusion of a new study by Virginia Tech researchers who examined participation in a payment for ecosystem services program. The study modeled preferences of fishers in Chile in creating and monitoring marine protected areas inside their fishing management zones.

Lead author Michael Sorice, an associate professor of conservation social science in the College of Natural Resources and Environment, and his colleagues found that more fishers voted in favor of adopting the program when it was designed to incorporate their preferences and when they had a reasonable expectation of good outcomes for the fishery.

"We call this approach where participants' needs are given the same weight as the resource's needs during the design phase of the program, 'human-centered design,'" said Sorice, who is also affiliated with the university's Global Change Center, an arm of the Fralin Life Science Institute. "It can help minimize costs by building programs that are seen as desirable at the outset."

The findings, published in PLOS ONE on March 9, question previous assumptions in the field that the payments themselves are the most effective motivator of participation.

"Similar to the way consumers make purchasing decisions, voluntary conservation programs are value propositions," said Josh Donlan, founder and director of Advanced Conservation Strategies and co-author on the study. "While payments are important, fishers also consider other costs and benefits they expect to occur and then decide whether their overall wellbeing would be improved."

The human-centered design approach works by attracting fishers who may be otherwise uncertain or unenthusiastic about the payment program. Their study found that desirable programs were better able to attract fishers who thought the program was a good idea, but who might have low trust that the conditions exist to make it happen. They also found that fishers who were not sure it is a great idea were more willing to participate based on program adjustments like shorter enrollment periods.

Kevin Boyle, co-author and a professor of agricultural and applied economics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech, said that these results indicate that small program design changes that reduce fisher uncertainty are keys to successfully casting the wider net.

The team surveyed a total of 168 fishers across 12 fishing associations in central Chile, all of which have functioning territorial user rights (TURFS) assigned by the Chilean government. The TURF-reserve program was described to respondents as a marine biodiversity conservation program in which businesses, organizations, and agencies interested in protecting marine biodiversity, either for philanthropic purposes or to offset environmental impacts elsewhere, would provide the fishing association with an annual cash payment to set aside 15 hectares of their fishing territory as a no-take protected area.

Fishers were informed that an independent nonprofit organization would be created to administer the program, and that, while the fishing association would actually receive the cash payment, each member would receive a portion.

"For a lot of these fishers, fishing is more than money, it's a way of life. Programs that provide a better fit to their way of life will be more likely to be successful and grow," said Stefan Gelcich, a co-author on the study and professor of natural resource management at the Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile.Making the transition from high school to college may be stressful -- but it can be downright depressing for students who graduate from a school with peers of high academic ability and wind up at a college with students of lesser ability, according to a new study.

"Families talk a lot about wanting a college that's a 'good fit,'" said study co-author Matthew Andersson, Ph.D., assistant professor of sociology in Baylor University's College of Arts & Sciences. "Making a transition to a college of 'lesser' academic achievement -- relative to that of one's high school -- is what's known as 'undermatching.' While it can be hard to measure well, undermatching from high school to college is thought to be common due to family financial concerns such as preventing excessive student loans and post-graduation debt."

Students who undermatch from high school to college experience on average a 27-percent increase in symptoms of depression, according to lead author Noli Brazil, Ph.D., assistant professor of community and regional development at the University of California, Davis.

The study -- "Mental Well-Being and Changes in Peer Ability from High School to College" -- is published in the journal Youth and Society, an interdisciplinary scientific journal.

Brazil and Andersson controlled for a variety of student background characteristics, such as GPA, academic achievement, college expectations, family socioeconomic status and household structure. This allowed them to respond to debates about whether individual or school factors are more important to predicting stress during the college transition. Their study focused on changes occurring at the school level, a focus which had been overlooked by earlier studies on college transitions and student well-being, Andersson said.

"When you think of it, a college transition is made of three parts: where you're coming from, where you end up and the difference between those things," he said. "The statistical models we use in this paper allow us to consider all three parts at once, so that we are able to determine for the first time the unique contributions that school ability transitions -- not just particular schools -- may make to student well-being during the college years."

Researchers analyzed data from 1,453 respondents in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and other federal agencies. Participants from about 100 representative high schools around America completed questionnaires while in high school and a few years later when they were enrolled in four-year colleges.

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The study found that downward transitions are linked to depression symptoms during college at levels similar to background factors such as personal ability or family background, after adjusting for earlier depression levels.

Students were asked how often during the past week they "had the blues," enjoyed life, were bothered by things that usually don't bother them, lacked energy, had trouble concentrating and felt that others disliked them.

To measure self-esteem, they also were asked how much they agreed with the statements "you have many good qualities," "you have a lot to be proud of," "you like yourself just the way you are" and "you are doing things just about right."

Exactly why depression might accompany transferring from a lower to higher academic setting is not certain. Perhaps the students feel that they are not living up to their potential, or "the downward transition might trigger a sense of being a misfit. That might trigger having fewer friends or less of a sense of attachment to the college or university that one is attending," Andersson said.

Previous research has shown that higher-ability students in a lesser-academic setting have a better academic self-image -- what researchers deemed the "big-fish -- little-pond effect" -- than a "small fish in a big pond" (a gifted student in a gifted group). But because that research had focused on specific schools rather than school transitions in general, movement to a lesser-ability school may be harmful for mental well-being in ways overlooked by earlier studies, researchers said.

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In addition, some previous research has shown that when moving to a more rigorous academic environment, students' self-evaluations of their intelligence tends to suffer -- even if they have high academic ability.

"You may feel more incompetent -- even if you're a person of high ability yourself -- because you're surrounded by shining stars," Andersson said. But, at the same time, students enrolled at competitive or elite colleges may bask in the company of capable peers, known as the "reflected-glory effect," he said. While feelings of incompetence and basking in glory could have opposing effects on well-being, the study found overall that attending a higher-ability college relative to high school did not have any significant links to depression or self-esteem, relative to no school ability change from high school to college.

The study has implications not only for students and their families but for counselors and social scientists.

"The recommendation for counselors would be to learn more about the high school and background a student is coming from instead of just present, college-focused factors or personal factors. It's about the school environment, not the individual," Andersson said. "Feeling overworked or having a hard time fitting in or making friends at college certainly matter to stress or depression, but those potential causes could be influenced by high-school background and especially by the difference across school backgrounds across the transition itself."

Researchers said that their study has some limitations because it does not contain information about other school factors that may affect students' well-being during a transition, such as changes in school cultures or institutional heritage or traditions, or changes in available extracurricular activities.

"Changes in academic environments matter, as well as the school environments themselves, and future research should incorporate those differences to gain greater insights into the transition to college and into well-being during early adulthood and beyond," Andersson said.In the latest peer-reviewed publication on the potential impacts of a border wall on plants and animals, conservation biologists, led by a pair of scientists from The University of Texas at Austin, say that border walls threaten to harm endangered Texas plants and animals and cause trouble for the region's growing ecotourism industry.

In a letter publishing Monday in Frontiers of Ecology and the Environment, Norma Fowler and Tim Keitt, both professors in the Department of Integrative Biology, examine what would happen if more of Texas' roughly 1,200 miles of border with Mexico were to be walled off, contributing to habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation and ecosystem damage. Other states have shorter borders than Texas has and more barriers already in place; in Texas, there are walls along only about 100 miles of the border with Mexico. Congress just exempted the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge from the new fencing project, but many miles of new barriers are set to be built on other federal lands, most of which are part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

"Up to now, the wall has either gone through cities or deserts. This is the Rio Grande we're talking about here. It's totally different," Fowler said. "We have high biodiversity because of the river and because Texas extends so far south. I and other Texas biologists are very concerned about the impact this will have on our rich natural heritage."

Based on a scientific literature review of 14 other publications, including some that looked at effects of existing walls and fences on the border, the authors outlined several concerns about the proposed wall, including habitat destruction and degradation caused by the construction of the wall and the roads on either side of the wall. Of particular concern is damage to Tamaulipan thornscrub, a once abundant and now increasingly rare ecosystem in South Texas. Many South Texas organisms depend on this ecosystem, but it's slowly disappearing as cities, farms and ranches displace the thornscrub. The living things that depend on it would lose access to some of the last remaining patches in Texas if the wall were built, Fowler said.

A wall would also affect other species. The endangered wildflower Zapata bladderpod grows exactly where the barriers are proposed to be built, as does the threatened whiskerbush cactus. The ocelot, a small native wildcat listed as an endangered species, has already suffered from severe habitat loss; the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department estimates there are no more than 120 left in Texas, and scientists worry that the wall would further deplete their numbers. With habitat fragmentation, the wall could cut off ocelot, as well as black bear, populations in Texas and Mexico from other members of their species, leaving some populations too small to persist. There would be further damage to plants if the pollinators and seed-dispersing animals that plants depend on could not cross the barrier.

Scientists also expressed concern about another aspect of the project. Because the wall will probably not be built in the flood plain of the Rio Grande, it will have to be set back from the river, sometimes by more than a mile. This has the potential to damage the valuable riparian forest ecosystem along the river, cutting off organisms that need to get to the river and preventing people from accessing several wildlife refuges along the river used for ecotourism.

"Even small segments of new wall on federal lands will devastate habitats and local recreation and ecotourism," said Keitt, also a professor of integrative biology.

The Lower Rio Grande River Valley is currently a top destination for birdwatchers because rare tropical birds such as the green jay and the Altamira oriole are among those that frequent the area. A 2011 study from Texas A&M University estimated that ecotourism, mostly from birdwatchers, generated more than $344 million in economic activity in the Lower Rio Grande Valley alone.

"If ecotourism declines significantly because access to preserves has been impeded, there may be negative economic impacts on the region," the letter states. "On the other hand, if the barriers are not far enough from the river, they may trap wildlife escaping from floods, and may even act as levees, which tend to increase downstream flooding."

Scientists also expressed concern about the project being exempt from environmental review requirements.

"Negative impacts could be lessened by limiting the extent of physical barriers and associated roads, designing barriers to permit animal passage and substituting less biologically harmful methods, such as electronic sensors, for physical barriers," the letter states.

Olivia Schmidt, also of UT Austin, Martin Terry of Sul Ross State University and Keeper Trout of the Cactus Conservation Institute are also authors of the letter.Rape victims not getting justice

A national daily's investigation revealed that incidents of rape are frequent in the country but the punishment of the perpetrators is not. Despite the existence of harsh laws, the lack of willingness of law enforcers--due to bribe, corruption and political pressure--to enforce the laws against the perpetrators.

For law breakers it is easy to do so and that is the reason why the victims are powerless. We are talking about punishing when rape and murder are committed in the knowledge that the offenders can get away from being caught.

Abuses of law in rape cases are high, and so the corruption is also high. Our police are a show off power for government. The police do not have time or feel the need about their responsibility to prevent these sorts of crimes. It is used to talking about lack of evidence. The fact is that the rape victims are not sure of the protection of police or the law.

In Dhaka city area, five special tribunals disposed of 2,057 cases out of 4,436 filed with different police stations between 2001 and 2016 while only 22 cases saw conviction. But Public Prosecutor of the Special Tribunal-2 Dhaka said 90 percent of the accused of the rape cases get away with their crimes at the court because of medical reports which are archaic and which cant clearly establish rape. We know the victim's own statement and evidence are not taken by the court more seriously than the medical report, because money can buy medical report also.

We have to accept that most crimes are committed by those who have political connections whom the police have to fear. We have not been able to organise police as the people's police for protecting them against perpetrators of crime, rape or otherwise.

Our criminal justice system is too weak for the victims of crime because we have no people's government elected genuinely by the people. So the police are for the government and do not dare to be the people's police. We say this not because we have no respect for the police but the fact is the police are not free to be the people's police.Facing opposition from South San Franciscos powerful biotech industry, a developer has at least temporarily withdrawn a proposal to build as many as 1,200 housing units on the waterfront at Oyster Point.

In a March 27 letter to South San Francisco city officials, Oyster Point Development CEO Chao Wu asked that its application to add housing to a previously approved project be put on hold until further notice.

The request comes after a prominent biotech industry group, which includes Genentech, South San Franciscos largest employer, had opposed the idea of housing east of Highway 101, an area that has long been one of the most important clusters of life science companies in the world. The California Life Sciences Association argued that the two uses  life sciences and housing  are incompatible and adding several thousand residents could hamper the research and development that has been the citys primary economic engine for decades.

Last year, Oyster Point Development, an affiliate of the Chinese developer Greenland USA, filed an application to amend the 2011 Oyster Point Plan, which approved 2.25 million square feet of office and research-and-development space on the V-shaped property that wraps around the South San Francisco marina and harbor.

The revised plan proposed replacing the third and fourth phases of that office development with seven residential buildings, decreasing the commercial development by 500,000 to 750,000 square feet.

Opponents to housing at Oyster Point argued it would impede the life science work in South City, which includes some manufacturing and round-the-clock research.

They also argued the area lacks the transportation infrastructure to support housing. Oyster Point has a ferry terminal with connections to Alameda, Oakland and San Franciscos Ferry Building. Its about 1 miles from the Caltrain station.

The biotech industry in South San Francisco employs 20,000 workers at 200 different companies and is expected to grow by 18,000 jobs over the next three years. Genentech, which has been in South City since 1978, employs 12,000 workers there.

Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle

The developer could not be reached for comment on Friday, but has publicly stated that it seemed likely the biotech industry would attempt to kill the housing proposal in court by challenging the projects environmental report.

The implication was very obvious, Clara Tang, executive vice president of Oyster Point Development, told the San Mateo Daily Journal. We know the risk is out there, that there might be a potential (California Environmental Quality Act) challenge if we decide to go forward at full speed.

Alex Greenwood, South San Franciscos director of economic and community development, said that pausing the housing plan could be best for both sides. What happens at Oyster Point is crucial to the future of a biotech cluster that features 11 million square feet, with another 7.2 million under development, he said.

If the developer needs to take more time to work with Genentech and other companies, that is not a bad thing, he said. Its important that we get this right.

City Councilman Pradeep Gupta said the change in plans was disappointing.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

I was impressed by the housing proposal because it really addressed the needs of the region, he said. I feel we need to do as much as we can to address the lack of housing in the Bay Area.

He said he has been heartened that some of the biotech companies that were opposed to the Oyster Point plan have been pushing for housing in other parts of the city, particularly downtown and along El Camino. South San Francisco currently has about 900 units under construction.

Still, Oyster Point represented a unique opportunity that, for now at least, seems to have been dashed.

That is the last big contiguous parcel we have that could have been allocated for housing, he said. And we are going to be replacing that housing with more office and more R&D, which will only bring more employees and make problems worse in terms of transportation and congestion.

Sara Radcliffe, president of the California Life Sciences Association, which had opposed housing on Oyster Point, said the biotech industry would continue to work to find housing opportunities elsewhere in South San Francisco.

As CLSA said from the beginning, our concerns about that project were always specific to that project, she said. On the larger issue of the need for more housing in the Bay Area, we are in agreement. We think there is a lot of common ground we can find on housing that is fully in line with South San Franciscos long-standing smart-growth, transit-oriented city policies.BRTA will destroy life-expired CNG autos from today

Staff Reporter :

The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) has decided to destroy 500 life-expired CNG-run auto-rickshaws put under the bulldozer in the first phase.

from April 1-11.

The BRTA will scrap a total of 8,421 CNG-run three wheelers by August, said Nur Mohammad Mazumder, Director (Enforcement) of the entity confirmed it to media.

He said, the rest of the life-expired CNG-run auto-rickshaws will get the same treatment.

The owners of the CNG-run three wheelers have been asked to be arrived with their vehicle at the BRTA office in Keraniganj from 10am during the given time.

The whole process is being conducted under the three wheeler service policy of 2007, the announcement said.

The enforcement director added that the owners will take back the demolished auto-rickshaws from the spot and will also receive papers and documents of the destroyed vehicles. Later, on basis of the papers the owners can procure new vehicles against the destroyed ones, he mentioned. 'Scrap committee' will oversee the process of replacement. The committee will further scrutinize owner's documents and finally provide the authorization for replacement, according to the BRTA.

Dhaka Metropolitan CNG-run Auto-rickshaw Owners Association president Barkatullah Bulu expressed doubts whether BRTA would be able to deal with the replacement of such a large number of three-wheelers within this short timeframe.

Expressing satisfaction over the decision, General Secretary of Dhaka Auto-rickshaw Workers Union Mohammad Hanif Khokan said, they were hopeful that the BRTA would be able to complete the job within due time.This is Easter Sunday and spring, a great time to stop for a moment and think about the good things of life. So let me tell you about an unlikely love story that began and ended in spring.

They were both San Franciscans, born and raised in Chinatown, children of poor immigrant parents. Both went to San Francisco public schools. And they were as different as could be.

Judy Yung was a professor at UC Santa Cruz when they met, an author with three college degrees including a doctorate. Eddie Fung quit high school to become a Texas cowboy, joined the Army in World War II, was captured by the Japanese and survived more than three years as a prisoner of war, working in camps made famous in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai.

She got to know him when she interviewed him about his war experiences, first for a long article and then for a book. He was honest and a natural storyteller, with a fantastic memory for detail, she said later. He was an oral historians dream come true.

She didnt realize it at first, but it was more than that  a mutual attraction. And then, one day, in the middle of an interview, he proposed marriage.

It was unlikely. He was a widower, 80 years old at the time. She was 56. He was old enough to be my father, she said. But they had a lot in common. Both were Chinese American and respected Chinese tradition and values. Both liked the outdoors, both liked a game of Scrabble. Eddie was even fond of cats.

She likes to quote an old Chinese story: As soon as we are born, heaven selects a mate for each of us and links us to them with an invisible red thread.

I had been looking for my intended at the end of that red thread for a long time, she said.

They were married on April 1 in 2003. They picked the day  April Fools Day  because they didnt think their family or friends would believe theyd really gotten married. The minister had a mail-order credential from the Universal Life Church and moonlighted as a belly dance instructor. The whole thing was silly and romantic, and it lasted for 15 years.

After they were married, Judy went on to write Eddies biography, The Adventures of Eddie Fung: Chinatown Kid, Texas Cowboy, Prisoner of War. The book sold well; a labor of love, literally.

Eddie was a natural for a book, or maybe a movie. A smart kid who hated school, he also hated the restricted life in San Franciscos Chinatown. He quit school when he could and decided to go to Texas and be a cowboy.

Nobody there had heard of a Chinese cowboy much less a kid who was 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighed just over 100 pounds. But he was tough and determined, and strong enough to do the work.

After a year or two, he joined the Texas National Guard, was called up into the Army, and shipped overseas. In the dark days of early 1942 his unit, the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, was sent to Java, in what was then the Dutch East Indies. Dutch and allied forces were quickly defeated when the Japanese invaded, and the handful of American troops in Java  including Eddie  spent the rest of the war in prison camps.

The Japanese used them to build a railway from Thailand to Burma, 258 miles through jungle and mountains. They were starved and beaten. More than 200,000 Asians were forced to work on the line, along with 60,000 Allied prisoners of war. Thousands died, one death for every crosstie on that railroad.

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One day, when I had dysentery and malaria, I thought I would just let go, Eddie said. But I had a great desire to go back and tell my mother that I finally understood what my parents had tried to teach me all my life. To be myself. To be Chinese. To be a man. At one point, he weighed only 60 pounds.

The prisoners were freed in August 1945, and Eddie went back to San Francisco, married, attended Stanford, worked for years at the Lawrence Livermore Lab, retired, traveled, found love again and lived his life.

When he first came back to civilian life, he had nightmares and flashes of temper. He hoarded food. If you have never known hunger, you dont appreciate food, he would say. He was always ready for an adventure, however small. If you have never been enslaved, you dont know what it means to be free.

Later, the bitterness faded, but the war had marked him forever. He lived one day at a time.

Every morning, I would say to him, Youve lived to see one more day, Eddie, Judy remembered.

But every love story has an ending. Eddie Fung died in his sleep last Sunday. He was 95, and this Sunday would have been Eddie and Judys 15th wedding anniversary.

The happiest years of my life, Judy said last week.San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon has asked the California Supreme Court to review a landmark lower-court ruling that prohibits authorities from holding criminal defendants in jail solely because they cant afford to pay bail to get out.

The First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco issued the ruling in January, reshaping Californias cash-bail system. State Attorney General Xavier Becerra decided in February not to appeal the decision, and courts around the state are scrambling to interpret what is required.

Gascon has been among the supporters of cash-bail reform, and said he recognizes inequity in the current system. But the appeals court ruling, he said, hampers the ability of prosecutors and the court system to protect the public.

While these efforts are advancing a more equitable and indeed more effective pretrial release mechanism, there are still individuals whose risk is so high detention remains necessary to protect public safety, Gascon wrote Thursday to the Supreme Court.

The appeals court found that a $350,000 bail amount for 64-year-old Kenneth Humphrey was excessive because it didnt factor in his ability to pay.

Humphrey  charged with robbery, elder abuse and burglary  is accused of entering the apartment of a 79-year-old San Francisco man and threatening to put a pillowcase over his head before stealing $5 and a bottle of cologne.

Judges across the state have since been forced to re-evaluate their long-standing practice of setting bail in fixed amounts based on the crimes charged and the defendants record  amounts that were often out of reach for poorer defendants and effectively acted as detention orders.

Gascon is asking the Supreme Court to reconcile what he sees as conflicting parts in the state Constitution in the wake of the Humphrey decision.

Article 1, Section 12 of the Constitution allows for a person to be released on bail unless they are accused of capital crimes or certain violent felonies in cases where the court finds a substantial likelihood the persons release would result in great bodily harm to others.

Another section, amended in 2008 under a victims rights bill known as Marsys Law, refers to the setting of bail amounts. It states that a judge, in reducing or denying bail, should primarily consider public safety and the safety of the victim, as well as the defendants record and likelihood of making future court dates.

The Humphrey decision, though, requires judges to factor in a defendants ability to pay bail, and as a result changed the practice of setting a high bail amount to keep a defendant behind bars.

In San Francisco, prosecutors have been asking judges to hold some allegedly violent defendants without bail rather than asking for high bail. And defendants who dont meet the strict standards under Article 1, Section 12 are increasingly being granted conditional release.

Risky people still need to be detained, and they left this area open, Gascon said, referring to the appeals court ruling.

He noted his office has had success with a complex assessment tool that has been used in San Francisco over the past two years. It employs a computer algorithm to seek to determine whether a defendant is a risk if he or she is released, based on the persons past.

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Gascon said 90 percent of defendants released under the assessment tool have not committed additional crimes while on bail, and that 86 percent are showing up to their court dates.

Alec Karakatsanis, who has been fighting for bail reform as the founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps, a nonprofit group based in Washington, D.C., called Gascons argument frivolous and outrageous.

Whats really going on is his desire to keep detaining people who dont fall into the category of people where you can seek detention under California law, Karakatsanis said. Prior to Humphrey, in courtrooms all over the state of California, people were being detained simply because they couldnt afford money bond, even though technically they were ordered released.

Humphrey remains behind bars in San Francisco jail, but was granted a new bail hearing.

As the state Supreme Court decides whether it will step into the case, legislation is pending in Sacramento to overhaul the system. SB10 seeks to reduce jail time for people accused of nonviolent offenses by placing the basis of their pretrial release solely on whether they are a public safety or flight risk.

Separately, a federal judge in Oakland has cleared the way for a trial challenging the constitutionality of the bail system.Fear can cause police officers to incorrectly perceive events, says John Powell, the director of UC Berkeleys Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society.

Take the case of Stephon Clark, the unarmed 22-year-old black man killed by two Sacramento police officers last month. In police body cam footage, you can hear the officers yelling gun before they open fire.

Police apparently mistook his cell phone for a gun.

So the police may in fact have thought this person had a weapon, Powell told me. That has nothing to do with the person. It has to do with implicit bias that says every black person is dangerous and therefore Im prepared, unconsciously, to see a black person as dangerous and with a gun.

The newest revelations about the shooting raise questions about the police account that they opened fire as Clark moved toward them. According to an independent autopsy, of the eight gunshot wounds Clark sustained, six of them hit him in the back, one on his arm and one in the leg. The two officers fired 20 rounds.

Still, if a police officer can show an objectively reasonable fear of an imminent threat to his or her life, a standard set by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1989, the use of deadly force is justified.

Max Whittaker / New York Times

What Powell tells us were looking at is fear by police officers and others based in implicit bias, the stereotypes that affect our judgment in an unconscious manner.

Fear of people who are slightly outside the norm whether theyre gay, whether theyre black, whether theyre transgender  thats justification for killing someone? Thats completely crazy, Powell said.

I was thinking about Clark when I went to Hasta Muerte Coffee, in the Fruitvale neighborhood of East Oakland, last week. In February, a barista refused service to an Oakland police officer.

The worker-owned cafe on the corner of Fruitvale Avenue and East 27th Street opened in November. It explained its policy of asking police to leave for the physical and emotional safety of our customers and ourselves in a Feb. 22 Instagram post. The policy applies to armed police officers in uniform  not off-duty cops.

Its reasoning has been lambasted by critics  many of them supporters of the president  who have ripped into the coffee shop for not serving police. But they clearly dont get it.

There are people who fear the police precisely because of what happened to Clark, who was fatally shot as he stood in his grandmothers yard. According to police, Clark was a suspect in nearby auto break-ins reported in the South Sacramento neighborhood.

The deadly use of force in this case doesnt fit the alleged crimes.

And this is why theres a need for safe spaces.

Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

Studies show that people of color have been targeted unfairly by police. And the current administration is attempting to limit the participation of transgender people in the military while the Justice Department continues to tear apart the families of law-abiding undocumented immigrants  in a country that was usurped by European immigrants.

It is distressing to be targeted, and Hasta Muerte provides a teachable lesson for law enforcement  and for us. The shop is a constant reminder of the reality many of us face, a reality that needs to be changed.

The coffee shops recognition of endemic racism in our society is a legitimate concern, said Larry Organ, an attorney with the California Civil Rights Law Group, an employment and discrimination firm. People are scared  black people in particular are scared when they get pulled over by the police. Similarly, police are scared when they pull over black people. And that is not a good recipe.

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For those who have criticized Hasta Muertes position as discriminatory and illegal  well, theyre wrong. The shops rule isnt violating Californias civil rights laws, Organ said. Its not based on an immutable characteristic, so its not illegal, Organ said.

Fearing the color of someones skin  or simply making judgments based on skin color  is not only racist and deadly, its in the fabric of the way laws are enforced and punishment is meted out in the U.S.

In June 2016, Stanford researchers, led by psychologist and racial bias expert Jennifer Eberhardt, released a study that found that Oakland police officers are much more likely to stop and search black drivers and pedestrians than white ones.

The study found that Oakland officers were four times more likely to search black men than white men during a traffic or pedestrian stop. Whats more, black drivers and pedestrians were also much more likely to be handcuffed, even when the stop didnt end in an arrest.

Thats because officers are much more likely to stop blacks when they can determine their race before the stop.

Im not arguing against the police. Protecting our streets is a difficult task, and I respect their work. But police officers need implicit bias and de-escalation training, because in marginalized communities throughout this country the police have also been the perpetrators of violence.

Now we have a president whos labeled Mexicans as drug dealers and rapists. He continues to signal a fear of brown people by insisting on building an unreasonable wall that would cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

The racist leading this country is someone to fear.President Trump was quick to criticize Gov. Jerry Browns decision to pardon five former convicts facing deportation.

Brown pardoned 56 former convicts in his annual pre-Easter clemency program, but the president took aim at five who are threatened with the possibility of deportation. The pardons, while not guaranteeing that the men will remain in the United States, remove a legal rationale for expelling them.

Trumps criticism came in a Saturday morning tweet, in which he referred to the governor by a nickname from the 1970s, referring to Browns idea for a state-owned communication satellite and other proposals deemed too liberal by critics.

Governor Jerry Moonbeam Brown pardoned 5 criminal illegal aliens whose crimes include (1) Kidnapping and Robbery (2) Badly beating wife and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize (3) Dealing drugs, the president tweeted. Is this really what the great people of California want?

The governors office said the pardons were earned by the men for turning their lives around. They were announced Friday.

While not directly responding to Trumps criticism, Browns office reiterated Saturday that all of the individuals who were pardoned have been out of custody for at least 10 years and the majority were convicted of drug-related or other nonviolent crimes.

Trumps comments are just the latest in his dispute with California over immigration policy. Last month, the administration filed sued against the state over its sanctuary laws, which help protect undocumented immigrants from deportation by federal officials.

The pardoned men facing deportation include Daniel Maher, who committed an armed robbery at a San Jose auto parts store in 1994, and was convicted of felony kidnapping, robbery and firearms charges.

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He lost his legal status but was not deported to China because a deportation agreement did not exist with country. Maher served five years in state prison and a year in federal immigration custody. He now works at the nonprofit Ecology Center in Berkeley and assists at-risk youth.

Sokha Chhan, another who was pardoned, fled the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia at 13, then lived as a legal U.S. resident for 35 years. He served a year in jail and three years probation in 2005 for a misdemeanor charge of inflicting corporal injury and threatening a crime.

Also pardoned were Sergio Mena, who completed three years probation in 2006 for possessing drugs for sale; Francisco Acevedo Alaniz, who served five months in 1999 for vehicle theft; and Phann Pheach, who completed a six-month sentence in 2007 for possessing drugs for sale and obstructing an officer.Nothing is more important to the future of California than our children. Nothing is more important than ensuring the next generation is well educated to take our state into the new economy. This makes the voters decision on the next state superintendent of public instruction, who oversees the day-to-day experiences in our public schools, absolutely crucial.

The next superintendent must have the skills to identify the problems that keep too many students from accessing the on-ramp to success, the vision of how to address those problems and the tenacity to bring about much-needed change.

In other words, California needs a committed reformer at the helm.

Truancy, chronic absenteeism among students and high turnover among teachers and administrators are derailing effective learning in our elementary and high schools. The status quo is failing too many of our kids.

The three active candidates in the June primary acknowledge these problems.

Marshall Tuck is the clearest and most emphatic voice for reform in the field. We endorsed him for this office in 2014, when he narrowly lost to Tom Torlakson, and we are glad to see him return to the fight to take on a system that just doesnt work for kids.

Tuck made a name for himself in Los Angeles turning around high-poverty, low-performing charter schools before then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recruited him to improve schools within the conventional public school system. He spent two years with the New Teacher Center, a national organization in Santa Cruz that works to improve student learning by training new teachers and school leaders to be more effective. He says California needs to invest more in in education and that educators need to share with the governor and legislators how state policies are affecting kids.

Social worker Tony Thurmond served as trustee on the West Contra Costa County School Board before being elected to the state Assembly. The son of a Panamanian immigrant mother who died when he was 6, he landed in foster care and went through school with the assistance of a slew of government programs.

Thurmond has a compelling personal story, and there is no doubt about the depth of his knowledge of the issues or the sincerity of his belief that education saves lives.

Where Thurmond falls short, however, is evidence of his willingness to take on the status quo when its comfort zone conflicts with the interests of students. A prime example was legislation last year (AB1220) that would have extended the number of years required for teachers to earn tenure from two to three. It must be emphasized that this was not an assault by right-wingers contemptuous of public education. It was a Democratic proposal (by Shirley Weber of San Diego) that would have put California in line with 42 states that keep new teachers on probation from three to five years.

Even this watered-down bill was opposed by the California Teachers Association.

Thurmond told us he supports a longer probationary period, but when it came time to vote, he was nowhere to be found. He failed to vote on AB1220 in both his Education Committee and on the Assembly floor on a tenure-reform bill that passed 60-5, then was killed by parliamentary games from legislators doing the unions bidding.

A legislator who wont stand up to the status quo when it counts does not belong in charge of the state Department of Education.

Former Solano Community College administrator Lily Ploski brings impressive academic credentials to the job but does not have the track record of Tuck in turning around challenged schools. Her austere campaign also is unlikely to make her competitive in a statewide race.

Tuck has demonstrated the skills and vision to bring about needed change. He gets our endorsement.

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.Todd Ziemanns family owned vineyards while he was growing up, but it took a while for the fourth-generation Lodi native to catch the winemaking bug. Now the director of winemaking for Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi, he recalls that his initial experiences with viticulture were not exactly enthralling.

I really didnt have a lot to do with that, other than when it came to be pruning time, I always got dragged out there in the freezing cold, says Ziemann, 53. I didnt really enjoy that.

As a high school student, he still didnt know what he wanted to do for a career when he kind of got lucky by volunteering for a day at a local cooperative winery. Thats where it really sunk in that this is what I would like to do  I liked the balance of artistic creation and scientific orientation, says Ziemann, who went on to earn a degree in fermentation science at UC Davis.

After spending a couple years at wineries on the Central Coast and in Sonoma, he returned to his hometown in 1988 to join Sebastiani Family Vineyards. In 2005 Ziemann began working for Robert Mondavi, a fellow Lodi native who established the Woodbridge winery in 1979 after winning renown in Napa Valley. Ziemanns wife , Kerry Wald-Ziemann , had also worked as a winemaker with Mondavi at Woodbridge before leaving in 2001 to help raise the couples two sons, now 22 and 21.

Mondavi, who died in 2008, had a big input on the growing of grapes and the technology, and he really did put Lodi and the appellation on the map, Ziemann says. His idea of making great wine for everyday occasions, or having wine every day with family and friends  that really resonated with me. My passion is for making great wines in this area, and I love the quality that comes up out of this area.

Naturally, Ziemann suggests visitors to Lodi first head to Woodbridge by Robert Mondavis tasting room, proudly noting that some 18,000 a year do. The tasting room, which he calls a winemakers playground, offers wine from more than 20 different lots, including emerging varietals such as Barbera, Vermentino and Tannat, and Ziemanns current favorite, the Bordeaux-style Section 29 Red Blend.

Its just my passion, he says.

Jeanne Cooper is a former San Francisco Chronicle travel editor. Email: travel@sfchronicle.com Instagram: @hulajeanne

More wine tasting

Ziemann recommends using the hop-on, hop-off Sip Shuttle ($55, www.sipshuttle.com), which offers two five-hour itineraries, to explore some of Lodis many wineries, including Woodbridge. One of the routes includes Bokisch Vineyards, which has taken emerging Spanish varietals to another level, Ziemann says. They have a nice Barbera as well. 18921 Atkins Road, Lodi. (209) 334-4338, www.bokischvineyards.com

He also endorses a visit to Michael David Winery, famed for its Seven Deadly Zins old-vine Zinfandel. Theyve made a name for themselves with their Zinfandels and have branched out to other varietals with really cool names as well, Ziemann explains. They also have a farm cafe at the winery where you can get lunch, and even have Taco Tuesdays. 4580 Highway 12, Lodi. (209) 368-7384, www.michaeldavidwinery.com

Mason Trinca / Special to The Chronicle

Food pairings

The regions copious farm stands and quality meat shops provide fresh ingredients for the Ziemann familys frequent home-cooked meals. Among local produce, the strawberries are the best anywhere, just amazing, Ziemann says. In addition to meats, cheeses and deli sandwiches, Fioris Butcher Shoppe & Deli sells a special seasoning Ive been buying for 10 to 15 years, he notes, while Lockeford Meat & Sausage offers any kind of sausage you could want. Fioris Butcher Shoppe, 400 Lodi St., Lodi; (209) 334-4121, www.fiorisdeli.com. Lockeford Meat & Sausage, 19775 Cotton St., Lockeford; (209) 727-5884

When Todd and Kerry do go out, the Towne House Restaurant at Wine & Roses always does a nice job, with beautiful farm-to-table cuisine, Ziemann says. When we want to relax, we go to Porters Pub downtown. I get a classic cheeseburger and a wheat ale, and we just sit and enjoy our time there. For lunchtime, I go to Bon Appetit, a French family-owned restaurant, for sandwiches  as soon as I walk in, they make a chicken bacon wrap. Towne House, 2505 W. Turner Road, Lodi; (209) 334-6998, www.winerose.com. Porters Pub, 121 School St., Lodi; (209) 400-7147, www.porterspublodica.com. Bon Appetit, 1012 W. Lodi Ave., Lodi; (209) 367-5930, www.bonappetitlodi.com

Exploring nature

If you like the outdoors, the Cosumnes River Preserve is spectacular, Ziemann says. He and Kerry Wald-Ziemann like to kayak in the 50,000-acre wetlands just northwest of Lodi, where more than 250 bird species and more than 400 plant species find a home. It really demonstrates the natural beauty of the region. Visitor center, 13501 Franklin Blvd., Galt. (916) 684-2816, www.cosumnes.org

The couple also enjoy putting in their kayaks at Lodi Lake and heading up the Mokelumne River, especially during the monthly Full Moon Paddle guided tour organized by the Headwaters Kayak shop, which also offers rentals from the Lodi Lake Boathouse. We started doing this a couple years ago, the winemaker says. You paddle by moonlight, and they have some wilderness areas running along the river, so youll see nature along the way. The Headwaters Kayak Shop, 847 North Cluff Ave., Lodi. (209) 224-8367, www.headwaterskayak.com. Next Full Moon Paddle, April 27-28; $50 with kayak rental, $25 with own kayak, children under 10 free with paying adult. Lodi Lake Boathouse, 1101 W. Turner Road, Lodi. Kayak, canoe and stand-up paddleboard rentals available weekends April through Memorial Day weekend, then Wednesday-Sunday through Labor Day.

Indoor adventures

On a rainy day, I tell people to check out the World of Wonders Science Museum; its got something for everyone, Ziemann says. Inspired by a Lodi residents visit to the Exploratorium in San Francisco, the museum features more than 70 hands-on science exhibits. 2 N. Sacramento St., Lodi. $7 adults, $6 seniors and students, $5 ages 2 to 17. (209) 468-0969, www.wowsciencemuseum.org

IF YOU GO

Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi: 5950 E. Woodbridge Road, Acampo. 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily. (209) 365-8139, www.woodbridgewines.comAfter Khris Davis and Matt Olson hit back-to-back homers on Opening Day at the Coliseum on Thursday, Davis suggested the As No. 4 and 5 hitters might be the new Bash Brothers.

One of the original Bash Brothers was on hand for that game, and Jose Canseco said Friday that hes fully supportive of Davis and Olson taking on the Bash Brothers mantle he and Mark McGwire shared in the late 1980s and early 90s.

Thats sweet! Canseco told The Chronicle. I love it. Im glad they can bring that back, that would be great. Its an honor if people think of that when two power hitters go back to back  its good to be remembered. Its fun.

Canseco is a Davis fan.

Hes shown so much consistency, and this isnt the easiest park to hit it out, Canseco said. I hope he hits 50 this year.

Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson played with the Bash Brothers, and he spent a lot of time as an As minor-league instructor and knows Olson well.

I believe they can be the new Bash Brothers, Henderson told The Chronicle. Ive seen Olson since he was in A-ball and I know what he can do, what type of player he is, what hes all about. I knew he could be one of their best players.

Henderson knows Olson so well, in fact, he called his homer Thursday while in a luxury box with other As greats.

I was up there and after Davis hit his homer and Olson came up, I told everyone right at the time, Here it is, hes going to hit one, too, Henderson said. Everyone said, How did you know that? And I said, Ive known him since he was a young man. I know what hes capable of doing.

Olson tells me every time I come to the ballpark, he hits one. He told me, Im going to put you in my suitcase and take you with me. Every time youre here, I do that. He was thrilled I told all those great As players he was going to hit one out.

Canseco might be back hitting balls out of the Coliseum soon. He wants the record for the longest homer ever hit with a softball, which stands at 536 feet. Hes come within 4 feet, and he wants to break the record in his former ballpark before an As game one night.

Were talking about it, and of course all the proceeds are going to charity, were hoping to get some sponsors and if I break the record, theyd pay a certain amount, Canseco said. Well just have fun with it. I might have to hit it over there where it says Treehouse. I think thats about 530, 540."Stay out and stay alive."

That's the message a state ranger has for anyone planning a little fun in the sun at Northern California rivers this weekend.

Warming temperatures in the 70s together with a late-season snow can make for a deadly mix in the upper reaches of the American River  a popular destination for white water rafters  as swift rapids, unseen undertows and frigid temperatures in the 50s can overwhelm even the most experienced swimmers.

"If someone was to jump into the water thinking they are going to cool off, it's a shocking sensation to their system  almost like a crushing feeling on their chest," said Scott Liske, supervising ranger for the Auburn State Recreation Area. "The big thing is for parents to watch their kids and keep them back from the water. Make it a teaching moment about water safety."

Read More: Sierra snowpack triples in a month

Liske said areas of the North Fork and Middle Fork of the American River near Auburn have pools that can appear inviting but are actually quite dangerous.

"The bottom of a mountain river is so irregular  it's not a gentle surface," he said. "You could be in three feet of water, take three steps and then be in 15 feet of water."

VIDEO: Watch this dramatic CHP rescue of a swimmer in the Yuba River

At least 17 people  many young  died in California rivers in 2017, with the American and Yuba rivers being prime danger zones. "These are young kids  high school kids  and to see a friend swept away is tragic," Liske said. "And it's totally preventable just by staying out of the water."

Liske said in his 15 years of working as a ranger, he's witnessed many recreational scenes turn to emergencies within seconds, including one particular tragedy on Earth Day a few years ago that he said he'll never forget.

"It was a surreal experience watching someone who was alive and healthy on the shore go underwater for the last time," he said. "Divers recovered his body about 24 hours later in a very deep hole  I think he was about 25 feet down."

He added that for those planning on white water rafting, going with an experience guide is a must.

Arnie Chandola is the owner of American White Water Expeditions, which leads guided rafting tours on the American River. He said last year had exceptionally high water levels and that this year's flows are more average.

"The risk for boats tipping over is low," Chandola said. "It's more of a normal recreation year, so we won't have to cancel as many trips."

ALSO READ: Did those big March storms save us from drought?

Still, though, rafting aficionados should take precautions for the icy water temperatures.

"This is the time of year when you have to raft with wetsuits on  no questions asked," Chandola said. "Some people show up in shorty wetsuits and we say 'no' and give them full wetsuits."

And for those planning on going it alone on their own expedition? "That's never advisable," he said. "It's still spring water flow so the levels are not consistent."

Chandola said water spikes from dam releases near Placerville can heighten the cubic feet per second (CFPS) in the American's south fork. He said the river is currently flowing at about 2,000 CFPS compared to a normal flow of about 1,500 CFPS. Last year's flows were as high as 4,000 CFPS, he added.

"Unless you are educated and in tune with what is happening with the water changes, you shouldn't go in," he said.Deborah Carrington, who broke into Hollywood by answering an ad for dwarf actors, and later performed stunt work and costume-specific roles in Hollywood blockbusters and campy horror movies, died on March 23 at her parents home in Pleasanton. She was 58.

Her sister, Kathy Ellis, said that the cause had not been determined but that Carrington had dealt with health problems over the past year.

Audiences might best remember Carrington, whose stage name was Debbie Lee Carrington, for her violent performance as Thumbelina, the 3-foot, 10-inch pink-clad prostitute in the 1990 sci-fi action film Total Recall. The movie told the story of a construction worker in the future who visits a colonized Mars.

During a mob scene, Thumbelina stabs one of the movies villains with a bowie knife before jumping on a table and mowing down the police with a machine gun.

Beyond her infamous shoot-em-up scene, Carrington played various costume-specific roles  suited performances that completely obscure the actor  in film and television. Such roles included Idee, one half of the Geex in the Disney short Captain EO, starring Michael Jackson; and the Alien Father in the original Men in Black.

She also performed as a stunt double  often for child actors and dolls that had come to life  in films such as Titanic and the Childs Play slasher film series.

She was incredibly tough in the suits, said Kirk R. Thatcher, who worked with her on a couple of Star Wars films, including Return of the Jedi. She could do anything. She was a great body actor, like a mime.

Deborah Lee Carrington was born on Dec. 14, 1959, in San Jose to Fred Carrington, an insurance manager, and the former Marlene Langen, an elementary school teacher. As a child Carrington visited the hospital for regular checkups related to her dwarfism, and they inspired her to pursue studies in early childhood development at UC Davis.

While in college, Carringtons life changed after she answered a casting advertisement in a newsletter published by Little People of America, a nonprofit support group. The ad was for the 1981 movie Under the Rainbow, which was loosely based on the dwarfs who auditioned to be the Munchkins in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

The production was looking for dwarfs as extras, and after Carrington landed a part, she took time off from her studies at UC Davis to work on the production. She later returned to finish her degree.

A subsequent costumed role as an Ewok in the 1983 Star Wars sequel Return of the Jedi launched her decadeslong career in film and television, which included a variety costumed parts in films like the Star Wars spinoffs and as ducks in Howard the Duck. She was also the voice of Valerie Vomit in the 1987 cult-classic The Garbage Pail Kids Movie.

Carrington said she had faced prejudicial attitudes as a dwarf during her time in Hollywood. In an interview with the trade publication Back Stage West, she recalled once being overheated in a costume and a director telling her, I know you guys have different body temperatures than us tall people.

She tried to support dwarfs in Hollywood, insisting that they received credit for their work, because many costume-specific parts often went uncredited. She would also confront writers and directors about cliched and cheap jokes about her height.

By the 1990s, Carrington began to push back against being typecast in costume-only roles. On television, she played character roles like Tiny Avenger on In Living Color, Tammy in Seinfeld, and Doreen in The Drew Carey Show.

More recently, she played an elf in the 3-D computer-animated Christmas musical The Polar Express (2004) and the friend Tina Marie in Netflixs Grace and Frankie (2016).

In addition to her acting work, Carrington was an advocate for animal rights, worked with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and walked dogs in her spare time.

In addition to her sister, she is survived by her parents and a brother, Robert.

She played the gamut, from action to horror films to commercials, Gregg Sargeant, a filmmaker who first worked with Carrington on Total Recall and who had cast her for his forthcoming film Escape From Paradise. She was about everything youd dream of in an actress.The San Francisco Chronicle photography department received more than a dozen awards in the National Press Photographers Associations Best of Photojournalism contest, one of the countrys preeminent pictures competitions.

This is one of only two competitions in which newspaper photo editors compete. The Chronicles photography editor, Nicole Fruge, took top prize in the category of newspaper picture editor of the year.16 gunned down by Israelis

Palestinians march to return to Gaza

Palestinian men march on Saturday in the Israeli occupied West Bank city of Nablus in a symbolic funeral in solidarity with those who were killed a day earlier in the Gaza Strip during clashes with Israeli forces on Land Day. Internet photo

At least 16 people have been killed by Israeli forces and hundreds more wounded during protests at the Gaza-Israeli border, Palestinian officials say.

Thousands had marched to the border at the start of a six-week protest, dubbed the Great March of Return.

The Israeli military said soldiers had opened fire after rioting, reports BBC.

UN Security Council members meeting in New York have called for an investigation into the violence.

Palestinians have pitched five camps near the border for the protest. They are demanding that refugees be allowed to return to homes that are now in Israel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the UN Security Council to help provide "protection for our Palestinian people".

"I... place full responsibility on the Israeli authorities for the loss of the martyrs who were killed today," he said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said there were about 17,000 Palestinians in five locations near the border fence. It said it had "enforced a closed military zone" in the area surrounding Gaza.

Although most protesters stayed in the encampments, some groups of youths ignored organisers' calls to stay away from the fence and headed closer to Israeli positions.

The IDF said troops were "firing towards the main instigators" to break up rioting that included petrol bombs and stones being thrown at the fence.

A spokesman said all those who were killed had been trying to breach or damage the border fence, the Jerusalem Post reports.

Israel said it had targeted sites of the Hamas militant group.

Israel deployed tanks and snipers. Witnesses said a drone had been used in at least one location to drop tear gas. Hamas, the militant group that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, does not recognise Israel's right to exist but last year said it was ready to accept an interim Palestinian state limited to Gaza and the West Bank.

Addressing protesters on Friday, Hamas senior political leader Ismail Haniyeh said "we will not concede a single inch of the land of Palestine".

He said: "There is no alternative to Palestine and no solution except to return." Palestinian health officials said at least 400 people had been wounded by live ammunition. It said one of those killed was a 16-year-old boy.

The Israeli military oversees a no-go zone along the Gaza border, citing security concerns, and has doubled its troop presence for the protest. It fears the protest could be an attempt at a mass breach of the border.

The Israeli foreign ministry said the protest was a "deliberate attempt to provoke a confrontation with Israel" and responsibility for any clashes lay "solely with Hamas and other participating Palestinian organisations".

UN deputy political affairs chief Taye-Brook Zerihoun told the council the situation in Gaza "might deteriorate in the coming days" and called for civilians, particularly children, to not be targeted, Reuters news agency reports.

"Israel must uphold its responsibilities under international human rights and humanitarian law," he said.

"Lethal force should only be used as a last resort with any resulting fatalities properly investigated by the authorities."

Palestinians have erected five main camp areas along the Israel border for the protest, from Beit Hanoun in the north to Rafah near the Egyptian border.

The Great March of Return protests started on Friday as 30 March marks Land Day, which commemorates the killing of six protesters by Israeli security forces during demonstrations over land confiscation in 1976.

The protest is scheduled to end on 15 May, which Palestinians call Nakba (catastrophe) and which marks the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the conflict surrounding the creation of Israel in 1948. Palestinians have long demanded their right to return but Israel says they should settle in a future Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank.The worlds biggest-ever solar project  a $200 billion venture in Saudi Arabia  comes with a batteries included sticker that signals a major shift for the industry.

SoftBank Group has partnered with the oil-rich Saudis to plan massive networks of photovoltaic panels across the sun-drenched desert kingdom. The project is 100 times larger than any other proposed in the world and features plans to store electricity for use when then sun isnt shining with the biggest utility-scale battery ever made.

The daytime-only nature of solar power has limited its growth globally partly because the cost of batteries was so high. Utilities that get electricity from big solar farms still rely on natural gas-fired backup generators to keep the lights on around the clock. But surging battery supplies to feed electric-car demand have sent prices plunging, and solar developers from California to China are adding storage to projects like never before.

The future is pretty much hybrid facilities, said Martin Hermann, the CEO of 8minutenergy Renewables, a U.S. company thats expecting to include batteries in the vast majority of the 7.5 gigawatts of solar projects its developing.

Affordable batteries have long been the holy grail for solar developers. Without them, some of the best U.S. solar markets, like California, have too much electricity available at midday and not enough around dusk, when demand tends to peak.

While the industry has grown, it still accounts for less than 2 percent of U.S. electricity supply and has been outpaced by investments in other green technologies. Wind farms are set to overtake hydroelectric plants next year as the biggest source of renewable energy in the U.S., accounting for more than 6 percent of the nations electricity generating capacity, government data show.

Now, the economics of storage is shifting. The price of lithium-ion battery packs tumbled 24 percent last year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, and the U.S. is allowing solar-dedicated storage to qualify for a federal tax credit. More utilities and local energy providers are mandating that new solar farms include batteries to store power.

Adding batteries could revolutionize the industry. California has contemplated going all-renewable by 2045. It wont be able to do that without storage, said Kevin Smith, CEO of SolarReserve LLC, a solar project developer that uses molten-salt energy-storage technology.

Storage just adds control, said Logan Goldie-Scot, a San Francisco energy storage analyst for Bloomberg. In a number of markets, you are seeing customers seeking a greater deal of control.

By the end of 2018, its possible that U.S. utilities may be asking for batteries on every solar project proposed, said Ravi Manghani, an energy analyst at GTM Research. That would mean the country is about to embark on a major battery boom. Only about 1 gigawatt of storage had been installed in the U.S. through the third quarter.

The shift isnt just in the U.S. The Saudi-SoftBank project calls for an astonishing 200 gigawatts of generating capacity that would be built over the next decade or so, with the first electricity being produced by the middle of next year. Based on Bloomberg data, the project would dwarf the total solar panels that the entire photovoltaic industry supplied worldwide last year.

A key feature of the project will be the construction of the largest utility-scale battery in two to three years that will supply evening hour power to consumers, Masayoshi Son, SoftBanks founder, told reporters last week.

Palo Alto carmaker Tesla, which is building batteries with Panasonic at a giant factory in Nevada, will supply the storage units for a solar project in the Australian state of Victoria. Houstons Sunnova Energy Corp. is selling solar and battery systems in Puerto Rico, where Hurricane Maria devastated the islands power grid.

Cheaper batteries are even providing a boost in the residential market for solar systems.

Its a game changer, said Ed Fenster, executive chairman of San Franciscos Sunrun Inc., the largest U.S. installer of residential solar systems. The demand that were seeing is outstripping our expectations.LOS ANGELES  Weedmaps is a go-to website for people looking to find a marijuana shop. With a few clicks on a cell phone, customers can find virtually any type of cannabis product, along with the fastest route to the place selling it and ratings from other consumers to help them decide what to buy.

But legal and illegal operators advertise next to each other, and licensed operators in California say thats put them at a disadvantage in a cutthroat marketplace.

To them, Weedmaps is helping illegal sellers flourish without having any of the obligations licensed operators endure  collecting and paying taxes, insuring their businesses and employees, and abiding by safety rules for their products.

In other words, illegal shops can sell pot at cheaper prices, sometimes 30 to 50 percent less.

Thats Weedmaps business model, to confuse the difference between legal and illegal, said Jerred Kiloh, a licensed dispensary owner in Los Angeles who heads the United Cannabis Business Association, an industry group. Its an unfair playing field. They are pitting us against each other.

Weedmaps operates in more than two dozen states, but the issue is coming to a head in California, which in January became the nations largest legal marketplace. State regulators warned Weedmaps in March to stop advertising shops operating outside the law.

In a response, Weedmaps executives said they are eager to work with the state but asserted that the online directory doesnt fall under state authority and is shielded by provisions in federal law.

The company sees the core of the problem as a scarcity of legal outlets and hefty taxes that scare off consumers from licensed shops, not its online ads. In Los Angeles, where the pace of city licensing has been sluggish, only about 130 retail shops have authority to operate, while city officials acknowledge hundreds more are making illegal sales.

Weedmaps says its experience dropping unlicensed businesses from its listings in Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Massachusetts had no impact on the size of those unlicensed markets.

Scrubbing the Internet of the reality of unlicensed operators ... does nothing to fix the underlying issues, Weedmaps CEO Doug Francis and President Chris Beals wrote to the state Bureau of Cannabis Control in March.

The company some call a Craigslist for cannabis defines itself as an interactive computer service that falls under the federal Communications Decency Act. A key section of that law is designed to protect Internet publishers, generally providing immunity to them for content posted by users.

But Kiloh is among those who argue Weedmaps is far more than an advertising service, noting consumers can use the site to submit orders and summon deliveries from shops legal and otherwise.

They are acting like Amazon, saying, Here is a shopping cart, Kiloh said. They are creating a marketplace, not a platform for advertising, and its driven by dollars.

The dispute over the online ads goes to basic economics for an emerging market sprung from what was mostly an illegal one: Lawful operators will struggle if theyre competing with a robust black market that can undersell them.

Complaints have surfaced elsewhere, including over fees that in some cases can be tens of thousands of dollars a month for prime ad space. The company says some advertisers pay nothing.

I strongly believe their response to advertise for unlicensed cannabis companies is a black eye to the industry, said Peter Marcus, a spokesman for Terrapin Care Station in Boulder, Colo.

Terrapin has five licensed dispensaries in Colorado and has advertised with Weedmaps for years, Marcus said. He said Terrapin worries that Weedmaps high-profile spat with California regulators will bring unwanted attention from the U.S Justice Department, which continues to prosecute marijuana offenses under federal law that still sees cannabis as an illegal drug.

The appeal of black-market shops  and the lure of their ads  was illustrated after a raid at an illegal dispensary near Los Angeles.

Even after Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies shuttered the Compton 20 Cap Collective, hauling out employees and customers in handcuffs and seizing bags of illicit pot, the shops page on Weedmaps advertised deals and displayed the dispensarys products, which included dozens of varieties of cannabis buds, extracts and edibles.

Despite the bust, prospective customers were asking about making purchases.

Are they back open again? one comment read.

In its warning to Weedmaps, one of hundreds of letters sent to businesses that California regulators believe are operating improperly, the state said the company should take down ads from illicit operators and warned that it could face criminal penalties.

But it wasnt immediately clear how far that threat would go, since Weedmaps appears to be operating largely as usual. In their letter, the company executives said they would eliminate an internal identifier that appeared in business listings that state regulators said could be confused with a valid license number.

The company said in a statement it wants the licensed market to reach a functional state where the unlicensed market is minimized.

California regulators are discussing appropriate next steps, state cannabis agency spokesman Alex Traverso said in an email.

In the Legislature, Democratic Assemblyman Jim Cooper of Elk Grove drafted a bill that would penalize unlicensed operators that advertise on the Internet, $10,000 for every violation.

The black market is having a substantial impact on those businesses that are following the rules, said Mike Ziegler, a Cooper aide. They are being undercut by those who choose to operate illegally.Inside an old Palo Alto auto body shop, Stefan Avalos pushed a movie camera down a dolly track.

He and a small crew were making a short film about self-driving cars. They were shooting a powder-blue 1962 Austin Mini, but through special effects the rusted relic would be transformed into an autonomous vehicle that looked more like the DeLorean from Back to the Future.

Stepping back from the camera, Avalos referred wryly to the movie he was filming as Project Unemployment. The film was a way of testing new technology from a startup called Arraiy, which is trying to automate the creation of digital effects for movies, television and games.

This new type of artificial intelligence, which is also being developed by Adobe and in other technology industry research labs, could ultimately replace many of the specialists who build such effects.

This is no joke; it will put people out of work, said Avalos, a Los Angeles filmmaker who also runs a visual effects house. The artists are safe. But it will replace all the drudgery.

For three decades, computer-generated imagery has transformed how movies and television are made. But building digital effects is still a painstaking and tedious process. For every second of movie time, armies of designers can spend hours isolating people and objects in raw camera footage, digitally building images from scratch and combining the two as seamlessly as possible.

Arraiy is building systems that can handle at least part of this process. The companys founders, Gary Bradski and Ethan Rublee, also created Industrial Perception, one of many robotics startups snapped up by Google several years ago.

Filmmakers can do this stuff, but they have to do it by hand, said Bradski, a neuroscientist and computer vision specialist with a long history in Silicon Valley. He has worked with companies as varied as Intel and augmented reality startup Magic Leap.

Backed by more than $10 million in financing from Lux Capital, SoftBank Ventures and others, Arraiy is part of a widespread effort spanning industry and academia and geared toward building systems that can generate and manipulate images on their own.

Thanks to improvements in neural networks  complex algorithms that can learn tasks by analyzing vast amounts of data  these systems can edit noise and mistakes out of images or apply simple effects and create highly realistic images of very fake people or help graft one persons head onto the body of someone else.

Inside Arraiys offices  the old auto body shop  Bradski and Rublee are building algorithms that can learn design tasks by analyzing years of work by movie effects houses. That includes systems that learn to rotoscope raw camera footage, carefully separating people and objects from their backgrounds so that they can be dropped onto new backgrounds.

Adobe, which makes many of the software tools used by todays designers, is also exploring machine learning that can automate similar tasks.

At Industrial Perception, Rublee helped develop computer vision for robots designed to perform tasks like loading and unloading freight trucks. Not long after Google acquired the startup, work on neural networks took off inside the Mountain View tech giant. In about two weeks, a team of Google researchers trained a neural network that outperformed technology from the startup that had taken years to create.

Rublee and Bradski collected a decade of rotoscoping and other visual effects work from various design houses, which they declined to identify. And they are adding their own work to the collection. After filming people, mannequins and other objects in front of a classic green screen, for example, company engineers can rotoscope thousands of images relatively quickly to be added to the data collection. Once the algorithm is trained, it can rotoscope images without help from a green screen.

The technology still has flaws, and in some cases human designers still make adjustments to the automated work. But it is improving.

These methods are still rough around the edges  there is still a long tail of things that can go wrong in unpredictable ways  but there arent any fundamental roadblocks, said Phillip Isola, a computer vision researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and OpenAI, the artificial intelligence lab created by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and others.

Avalos said he thinks this work could ultimately supplant work done by his own effects house. But he is comfortable with that. He already farms out many of the more tedious tasks, via the Internet, to workers in other countries.

As hardware improves, these methods will help generate preliminary effects right on the movie set, giving filmmakers a better idea of what the finished product will look like, Bradski said. The Mill, an effects house from London, recently used Arraiys technology to create a system that could instantly apply effects that change the look of an automobile.

If tech companies can help automate some of the grunt work involved in creating special effects, creative people will have a chance to try new things, said Pasha Shapiro, a filmmaker and special effects artist who has also worked with Arraiy.

Some work is so tedious that it is not practical, he said. That is where technology can help even more.SEATTLE  Take two tablets and a selfie? Your doctors orders may one day include a smartphone video to make sure you took your medicine.

Apps that monitor pill-taking are now available, and researchers are testing how well they work when medication matters. Experts praise the efficiency, but some say the technology raises privacy and data security concerns.

Selfie medicine works like this: Open an app, show your pills, put them in your mouth and swallow. Dont forget to show your empty mouth to the camera to prove todays dose is on its way. Then upload the video proof to the clinic.

Fans say the technology addresses a big problem: About half of drugs for chronic conditions arent taken as prescribed because of cost, side effects or forgetfulness.

With treatment for opioid addiction, a skipped dose can mean a dangerous relapse. The National Institute on Drug Abuse is funding research to tailor an app for those patients and see if theyll use it.

If we can keep patients engaged, we can keep them in treatment longer, said lead researcher Dr. Judith Tsui of the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.

The next phase of her research will compare a group of patients who use the monitoring app called emocha with those who dont to see if theres a difference.

At one Tennessee treatment center, some patients with opioid addiction are already using the app to upload selfies of their daily dose and answer questions about how theyre doing.

Every time they sign on, it allows us to capture data. Are they having cravings? Suicidal tendencies? said Scott Olson, CEO of Dallas Pathway Healthcare, which is trying the app at its Jackson, Tenn., site. Maybe a phone call from a counselor might make the difference between staying clean and a relapse.

Olson thinks insurers will pay for the service with more evidence. For monitoring tuberculosis patients, health departments pay roughly $35 to $50 per patient each month for systems that include encrypted data storage. A small health department might pay as little as $500 a month.

The idea of watching someone take their medicine  called directly observed therapy or DOT  has roots in tuberculosis, where one persons forgetfulness can be serious for everyone. If patients dont take all their antibiotics, their infectious TB germs can get stronger, developing drug resistance and endangering the broader community.

But taking a handful of pills daily for up to a year is difficult, so public health departments traditionally sent workers to peoples homes and workplaces to watch them take their doses. Today, many TB patients prefer remote monitoring. Nurses like it, too.

Nurse Peggy Cooley has used Skype for years to chat live with patients taking TB medicine.

We can accomplish in a two-minute phone call something that might have taken an hour to do and most of that hour was in the car, said Cooley, who works for the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department in Washington.

The new uploaded selfies dont need an appointment. They are a daily routine for many tuberculosis patients in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Houston, where savings on mileage and worker time amounted to $100,000 in a recent year.

In Boston, Albuquerque and five other cities, researchers are studying whether the technology works for hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus thats surging among a new generation of injection drug users. New drugs for hepatitis C can cure, but theyre expensive  $75,000 for a 12-week course of treatment  so insurers want to make sure patients take them.

I think it holds a lot of promise, said researcher Dr. Alain Litwin of University of South Carolina School of Medicine, whos testing whether patients do better when someone watches them take their pills.

Whats next? An insurer in Maryland plans to use the technology in diabetes and high blood pressure to make sure Medicare and Medicaid patients take their medicine. Startups selling the apps say they could be used by faraway adult children monitoring an elderly parents daily pill taking.

Experts worry about privacy, data security and penalties for poor pill taking.

Thats the biggest ick factor, said Carolyn Neuhaus, a medical ethicist at the Hastings Center in New York. You can imagine a program where benefits are tied to compliance and the insurer says, We wont pay for medication anymore unless youre taking it correctly.

Globally, the rapid spread of smartphones creates an opportunity to eradicate TB, say the app developers.

But eliminating TB may take simpler, cheaper technologies that can be scaled for millions of cases, said Dr. Daniel Chin, who leads TB efforts for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The group supports research in China and India on two homegrown technologies. Chinas tool, about the size of a childs shoebox, reminds patients to take their pills and saves data for review. In India, the government favors a blister pill pack printed with phone numbers; a patient punches out a daily pill, then calls the revealed number.

Worldwide, TB kills more than 1.6 million people annually, even though most deaths are preventable with treatment.

If we are going to eliminate the disease, we need technology, said Dr. Richard Garfein of the UC San Diego School of Medicine, who helped develop one of the smartphone apps, SureAdhere.In route news this week, Delta expands its Delta One front cabin on domestic routes; American adds some Latin America routes (and trims others), and also starts a new Oakland route; United goes transatlantic from Denver and expands Cuba service; Air France comes to Seattle; Qantas kicks off a history-making long-haul route; Qatar Airways brings a new plane to Atlanta; an unlikely California airport gets transpacific service; and Singapore Airlines gets the newest model of Boeings Dreamliner.

The upgraded Delta One front cabin product that Delta offers in international markets is coming to key domestic routes on April 1, replacing domestic first class. The airline said Delta One will be offered during strategic flight times on two of its three daily Boston-Los Angeles runs, one of its three New York JFK-San Diego flights, and two of its four JFK-Seattle departures starting April 1, followed by one of five daily JFK-Las Vegas flights beginning May 1. Also on April 1, Delta One will appear on its daily Atlanta-Honolulu and Minneapolis-Honolulu flights.

(Its probably no coincidence that Delta One service on BOS-LAX, JFK-LAS and JFK-SAN will compete against JetBlue flights that offer Mint front-cabin service with lie-flat seats.

JetBlue has continued to expand its popular Mint flights, most recently adding them to Boston-Las Vegas and Boston-Seattle this winter, with JFK-Seattle due to start April 15.) Delta One service provides 180 degree lie-flat seats; chef-curated dining and wine selections; in-seat power and USB outlets; noise-canceling headphones; priority check-in, security access, baggage handling and boarding; and Delta Sky Club access on the day of travel. Also starting April 1, Delta Sky Miles Medallion members will be eligible for unlimited day-of-departure complimentary upgrades to the Delta One cabin on all domestic flights, including Hawaii.

American Airlines unveiled plans to add several new routes to Latin America next winter and beyond, including the only non-stops between Los Angeles and Buenos Aires; that route, which will operate three times a week starting December 19, will use a 787-9 Dreamliner. Also starting December 19 are Embraer 175 flights from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Oaxaca, Mexico, followed on December 20 by new A319 service between Americans Miami hub and Georgetown, Guyana and between Miami and Pereira, Colombia. In April 2019, American will add 767-300 service linking Miami with Cordoba, Argentina. American also recently announced new Philadelphia-Mexico City service that starts July 5. Although Americans announcement didnt mention it, the View from the Wing blog notes that the airline is also trimming some Latin America service  e.g., eliminating seasonal DFW-Rio de Janeiro flights next winter; ending its daytime Miami-Sao Paulo flight in August; trimming LAX-Sao Paulo from five flights a week to four; and dropping Miami-Belo Horizonte and DFW-Quito service August 21.

In the U.S., meanwhile, April 3 is the launch date for new American Airlines service between Oakland International and its Dallas/Ft. Worth hub. The daily DFW flight will leave Oakland at 11:50 a.m., while the return departs DFW at 9:10 a.m., getting to OAK at 10:57 a.m. The new link is significant for Bay Area residents in that it provides OAK with roughly 100 unique connections currently not possible through Americans Phoenix hub, an OAK official noted.

United Airlines last week launched new seasonal service between its Denver hub and London Heathrow. The flights will operate daily through October 26, using a 787-8 with flat-bed business class, Economy Plus and regular economy seating. British Airways also flies DEN-LHR, and last fall, low-cost rival Norwegian introduced service between Denver and London Gatwick. In other news, United and its United Express partner Mesa Airlines have received tentative government approval to increase service between Houston Bush Intercontinental and Havana, a route that United currently serves once a week. United said it plans to offer daily service on the route once it gets the final OK, using either a mainline 737-800 or a Mesa E175.

In 2012, Delta took over Seattle-Paris Charles de Gaulle service from joint venture partner Air France, but last weekend, Air France came back to the route. Delta will keep flying the route as well, and together the two airlines will offer up to 12 flights a week. Air France is initially operating three 777-200 flights a week (Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays), and will add Monday and Tuesday flights during the peak summer season.

When Qantas started flying from Australia to London back in 1947, the journey was dubbed the Kangaroo Route, because it involved a series of hops  seven stops over four days. And ever since then, there has been no non-stop service between the U.K. and Australia  until now. Qantas has launched new 787-9 non-stops between London and Perth (continuing to Melbourne)  a 17-hour flight. Qantas says its the worlds third-longest commercial flight currently operating, and the longest for a Boeing Dreamliner. The flight will follow different flight paths depending on the best winds, helping the aircraft fly faster and more efficiently, the airline said. At Perths airport, Qantas has relocated all its domestic and international flights into a single terminal for easier connections, and has opened a new transit lounge.

That new Delta A350-900 service between Atlanta and Seoul Incheon that we reported last week isnt the only Atlanta route to get the new Airbus wide-body. Qatar Airways last week replaced the 777-300ER on its Atlanta-Doha non-stops with an A350-900. The airlines 777-300ER had a capacity of 358 passengers, while the A350 carries 283 in business and economy class.

Ontario, California  thats right, Ontario  now has non-stop transpacific airline service. Taiwan-based China Airlines last weekend moved one of its two daily Los Angeles-Taipei flights to Ontario, citing the local areas large ethnic Chinese population. The airline uses a 777-300ER on the route. China Airlines said that even though its currently the off-season, the Ontario fights are running at 70 percent full.

After the Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 comes the 787-10, and launch customer Singapore Airlines plans to start flying the very first one as soon as next week. After operating crew training flights from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, the new aircraft will go into regular service during May from Singapore to Perth and Osaka. As the largest of the three Dreamliner versions  its 18 feet longer than the 787-9  the Singapore 787-10 will seat 337 passengers (36 business class and 301 economy), vs. 290 on the 787-9, and will be used on regional routes of under eight hours- which means it won't be coming to the US any time soon, if ever.

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Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at chris@travelskills.com or on Twitter @cjmcginnis.An Oakland police officer accused of driving recklessly on Interstate 580 was charged with DUI, according to a criminal complaint.

Eduardo Arrizon, 24, was charged with driving greater than 100 mph and DUI. His charges include special allegations for reckless driving and driving with a concentration of alcohol over 0.15, well above the 0.08 limit.

He was pulled over on July 2, 2017, after a California Highway Patrol officer monitoring eastbound I-580 at Santa Rita Road noticed a white Chevrolet Silverado pickup speeding and using all lanes of traffic, according to a probable-cause declaration.

The officer pulled Arrizon over around 2:20 a.m., smelling alcohol on Arrizon as they spoke. Arrizon was arrested on suspicion of DUI and refused to take a preliminary alcohol screening test. He did take a blood test, the declaration states.

Arrizons arrest was not made public. He was charged in January, according to the complaint.

Arrizon was sworn into the force in April 2015 as a member of the 171st Oakland Police Recruit Academy. He remained employed with the department, police officials said.

Fellow members of the 171st Recruit Academy have also faced criminal allegations. Former Officer Brian Bunton was charged with obstruction of justice and engaging in prostitution with Celeste Guap, an exploited teen at the heart of a Bay Area sex scandal. His case was dismissed in September 2017.

Matthew Santos was fired in 2016 after he was suspected of pulling a gun on a man painting his apartment.Khaleda's health condition same as before: Quader

Staff Reporter :

Awami League General Secretary and Road, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Saturday said that BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia's health condition had remained stable and unchanged from the date of imprisonment. "The BNP Chief Khaleda Zia's health condition has not deteriorated since she landed in jail. The civil surgeon has already visited Begum Zia in jail. He has said that her health condition is the same as it was when she landed in prison," the minister said this while visiting Abdullahpur-Bypail highway at Savar's Jirabo area.

"A medical board will be formed and if it recommends she will be sent abroad. The government would do everything for the proper treatment of Khaleza Zia as per doctors' advice," he said.

The AL General Secretary also said BNP was not speaking the truth about the health condition of the party chairperson.

"The BNP leaders are simply resorting to falsehood," he said. During the visit, Quader assured that the work on Dhaka-Tangail highway will be completed before the Eid-ul-Fitr of this year.

Local MP Enamur Rahman, Jubo League Organising Secretary Faruque Hasan and AL Savar upazila Organising Secretary Dewan Mehedi Hasan Manju, among others, were present on the occasion.The San Francisco police officers who killed a 21-year-old man during a shootout at a local barbershop have been identified by department officials.

Officers Kevin Endo and Tess Casey, both members of the field operations bureau, exchanged gunfire with Jehad Eid, who died at a hospital following the March 21 incident.

San Francisco police released the names Friday evening, which is routine department policy unless there are credible threats against the officers.

Body camera footage released by the department at a town hall meeting on Thursday appeared to show the officers and Eid trading gunfire at the Amazon Barber Shop on Geneva Avenue.

Officers were initially responding to a call from one of Eids parents, who reported that their son had a gun on the 200 block of Amazon Avenue and was threatening his family.

He ran to the barber shop a few blocks away when police arrived, officials said. Gunfire began moments after police entered the shop, but it was not clear from the body camera footage who fired first.

Authorities said Eid fired nine rounds from a 40-caliber gun found at the scene. Endo and Casey fired 26 rounds, police said, hitting Eid 18 times. He was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he died from his injuries later in the evening.

An officer was shot in the leg during the incident. Officials did not identify which officer.

Four additional people were injured, police said, but investigators did not immediately say who fired the shots that injured them. Police, the district attorneys office, the Department of Police Accountability and the medical examiner are investigating the shooting.WASHINGTON  Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, rented a residence in Washington in 2017 that was partly owned by the wife of a top energy lobbyist whose firm, according to disclosure forms, conducted business before the EPA that same year.

While the agency said Friday that the arrangement was consistent with federal ethics rules, the developments come as Pruitt is already under fire from Congress regarding unrelated ethics questions. In February, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee ordered Pruitt turn over documents related to his first-class travel at taxpayer expense, questioning whether he had received the appropriate waivers to do so.

The housing arrangement surfaced Thursday after ABC News reported that Pruitt had paid $50 per night to rent a bedroom in a condominium on Capitol Hill for the first half of 2017. The EPA later shared documents with Bloomberg News showing that the arrangement was not a traditional monthly rental agreement; instead Pruitt paid only for the nights that he slept in the room. His payments amounted to $6,100 over six months.

A typical full studio or one-bedroom apartment in the same area would cost between $1,500 and $2,000 per month, a search of current listings indicates. In a statement, Jahan Wilcox, an EPA spokesman, referred to a memo from the agencys designated ethics counsel, dated Friday, saying that, Under the terms of the lease, if the space was utilized for one 30-day month, then the rental cost would be $1,500, which is a reasonable market value.

Federal ethics rules generally prohibit employees in the executive branch from receiving outside gifts. Wilcox said the memo showed that the housing arrangement was not a gift and the lease was consistent with federal ethics regulations.

Walter Shaub, who until last July was the director of the Office of Government Ethics, pointed out that federal ethics guidelines say that employees should consider declining gifts when they believe that their integrity or impartiality would be questioned if they were to accept the gift.

According to the EPA, the landlord of the building was Vicki Hart, the president and founder of a health care lobbying firm that does not have business before the agency. Her husband, J. Steven Hart, is the chairman of a Washington lobbying firm, Williams & Jensen, with several energy clients including OGE Energy Corp., Cheniere Energy and Colonial Pipeline.

According to lobbying disclosure records, Harts firm reported lobbying the EPA on behalf of OGE Energy, an energy company based in Oklahoma, on greenhouse gas regulations and other rules affecting electric utilities. The forms were previously reported by E&E News.

E&E News reported that Hart said he had not personally lobbied the EPA in the past two years, and was unaware that his firm had done so.Lawmakers in Vermont, a state steeped in hunting culture, have approved a sweeping package of new gun restrictions, making the state all but certain to join Florida in passing a raft of new gun control measures after a teenage gunman recently killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Fla.

Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, has vowed to sign the measure. It represents a remarkable departure from the states existing gun laws, which are some of the weakest in the country  and an about-face for Scott, who decided to consider new gun control measures only after a teenager was accused of plotting a school shooting in Vermont in the days after the violence in Parkland.

No state is immune to the risk of extreme violence, Scott said in a statement. If we are at a point when our kids are afraid to go to school and parents are afraid to put their kids on a bus, who are we?

The bill, which passed the Senate 17-13 on Friday after clearing the House earlier in the week, would raise the minimum age to purchase a gun to 21 and ban bump stocks, which are devices that allow semiautomatic rifles to fire more rapidly. It also contains restrictions that go beyond those in the measure signed in Florida, like an expansion of background checks and a limit on the capacity of magazines that can be sold or possessed in the state.

The passage of the bill is likely to be hailed as a victory by activists pushing for tighter gun laws around the nation after the Parkland shootings. It came less than a week after hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in protest of mass shootings and gun violence  including 2,500 who squeezed onto the steps of the Capitol in Montpelier.

I think the message that most members of the Legislature  not all  took is that public opinion is changing in Vermont, said Eric Davis, an emeritus professor of political science at Middlebury College.

Madison Knoop, a college freshman who organized last weekends march in Montpelier, called the bills advancement such a good first start.

The day after the Feb. 14 Parkland shooting, Scott, a moderate Republican who has kept his distance from President Trump, said he saw no need for new gun laws  a position in line with years of precedent in Vermont, a rural state with a committed population of hunters.

Scott shifted his stance a day later, after a teenager was arrested and accused of planning a school shooting in Fair Haven, Vt.SBL turns to Dhaka Dist admn to locate Hallmark's lands

Kazi Zahidul Hasan :

Sonali Bank Limited (SBL) has requested the Dhaka district administration to assign a government surveyor to ascertain the physical location of errant Hallmark Group's lands within the jurisdiction of Dhaka district as per schedule.

They urged the Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka in this regard through a letter recently.

In addition to mark the government's khas land, the Sonali Bank management has also asked for specifying locations, boundary and other details of the Hallmark Group's lands mortgaged and proposed for mortgage to the bank and plot numbers and records of rights (dag and khatian) of mills owned by the business Group.

Officials said the state-owned bank turned to the Dhaka District administration after failing to sell properties of the Group that swindled nearly Tk 2,508.22 crore from the bank's hotel Ruposhi Bangla (Dhaka Sheraton) branch between 2010 and 2012 by way of issuing fraudulent letter of credits (LCs) to fictitious companies.

The bank filed 29 cases against a number of business entities of the Hallmark Group to recover the money. It has already taken hold of 10 entities of the Group and mortgaged land of the Group as per the Court order.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) also filed 38 cases against the perpetrators of the loan scam.

A Dhaka court earlier sentenced a former Sonali Bank official and two officials of Hall-Mark Group to life in jail for embezzling a sum of Tk 2.22 crore from Sonali Bank's Ruposhi Bangla branch through Paragon Knit Composite Ltd, a sister concern of Hallmark Group.

A senior Sonali bank official told The New Nation yesterday that the bank has already taken possession of the Hallmark properties and mortgaged land after court order. But when it wants to sell properties on auction, nobody takes part.

"We wanted to sell Hallmark properties several times on auction. But nobody participated due to bad reputation of the controversial business group," he said, "It has also alleged that the group established most of its mills and factories in government's khas lands and got hold of the lands through preparing fake documents and papers."

Hallmark Group mortgaged 2601.60 and 3515.75 decimals of land to Sonali Bank before and after the loan scandal surfaced. The value of the lands will probably be Tk 389.54 crore as assessed by the bank.

Besides, the bank took hold of the original deed of additional 7629.21 decimals of land for the proposed mortgage. The market valued of the land might be Tk 780. 50 crore.

The market value of the mortgaged lands is about Tk 1,170 crore against Tk 2,508.22 crore liability of the Group.

"The deeds and documents of the mortgaged land fell short thereof.

So, we approached to the district administration to determine the landed properties of Hallmark Group. We will be able to sell the mortgaged lands after obtaining all the necessary deeds and papers," SBL official said.

He said the business group has publicly disappeared after shutting down its mills, factories and business firms, but Sonali Bank is still struggling to recover the money that it swindled from the bank through fraudulent practice.

When asked, the Sonali Bank official said, the Legal Affairs Division of the bank has been closely monitoring the latest positions of all the Hallmark related cases and pursuing them with utmost sincerity to win the legal battle as well as to recover the bank's money.

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) unearthed over Tk 3,500 crore loan scam at Sonali Bank's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch in May 2012. Of the sum, Hallmark alone took over Tk 2,500 crore submitting forged documents in connivance with some bank officials.PP Rathish goes missing

Locals blocked road in Rangpur for tracing

Staff Reporter :

Special Public Prosecutor (PP) Rathish Chandra Bhowmik, who represented the State in Japanese national Hoshi Kunio and Khadem Rahman Ali murder cases, has been missing since Friday morning.

Rathish, 55, went missing 12 days after the verdict of Khadem Rahmat Ali murder case, in which seven JMB men were awarded death penalty.

He was also the prosecution witness in the war crimes case against Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam.

Rathish Chandra is General Secretary of Sammilito Sangskritik Jote of Rangpur unit, Treasurer of district Lawyers Association and Law Affairs Secretary of Rangpur Awami League and also a trusty of Hindu, Buddhist, Christian Okya Parishad in Rangpur, said our local coreesporendent quoting family members and Police.

Dipa Bhowmik, wife of the victim, said, "Rathish went out of his house wearing Panjabi and payjama around 6.00am on Friday and since then he is missing.

His mobile phone has been switched off, she said.

Before going out of his house, he told his family members that he would return home within an hour, she added.

We verbally informed Rangpur police about his disappearance on Friday night and filed a general diary with the police the following day, she added.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Mizanur Rahman told bdnews24.com that Rathis's family had informed him about his missing at 11:00pm on Friday. "We are trying to trace him. His mobile is switched off."

Rathis left home with another man riding on a red motorbike around 6:00am on Friday but did not return home yet, he said quoting victim's family members.

Rathish Chandra was the 13th prosecution witness in the war crimes case against Jamaat leader Azharul Islam, he said.

District Awami League President Mamtaj Uddin Ahmed said, "We have requested the police to find out lawyer Rathis as soon as possible. We are also trying."

Sushanta Bhowmik, the lawyer's brother, said he had informed police over phone about the matter soon after learning about his brother's disappearance on Friday night.

Rathish's colleagues and relatives looked for him all over Rangpur, but failed to find him until Saturday morning.

Rangpur Puja Udjapon Parishad's President Bonomali Pal said that the administration had not taken any step even after he received death threats.

"Police only guarded his house for several days after the Kunio murder case verdict, but did not take any step to ensure his security after the March 18 verdict of Khadem Rahmat Ali," he added.

Meanwhile, locals and Awami League activists have staged protests demanding the lawyer be rescued. They also threatened to intensify their agitation if Rathish was not rescued within 24 hours.

Rathish Chandra was the public prosecutor of Kunio Hoshi and Khadem Rahmat Ali, who were killed in Kaunia upazila of Rangpur on October 3 and November 10 in 2015 respectively, local cources said.

The Special Judge Court of Rangpur sentenced five members of militant Islamist outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh to death in Japanese national Kunio Hoshi murder case on February 28 last year, while the same court convicted seven JMB militants to death for killing Khadem Rahmat Ali on March 18 this year, according to him.

On May 18, 2014, Rathish Chandra gave testimony to the International Crimes Tribunal-1 about how narrowly his father had escaped death when the Pakistan occupation army accompanied by Azharul Islam, the then Islami Chhatra Sangha president of Rangpur town, shot him during the Liberation War. His maternal uncle Shanti Chaki was killed in the same incident on April 14, 1971, according to Rathish Chandra.

In December 2014, the tribunal handed down death penalty to the Jamaat leader and his appeal against the verdict is now pending with the Supreme Court.Allen Ray Taylor II, 22, was sentenced to 40 years for murder and 10 years for tampering with evidence after pleading guilty to both charges in the death of 22-year-old Rogelio Ornelas, of La Marque.Yes, the decision belongs on the local level

No, no one should be able to dictate whether people wear masks

Vote

View ResultsTwo California Highway Patrol dispatchers were honored Thursday for their exemplary response in an emergency during the Tubbs fire in Sonoma County in October.

Dispatchers Kimberly Brown in the CHP's Golden Gate Division and Mellisa Mitrea in the CHP's Santa Rosa office received the 9-1-1 Local Heroes Medal of Honor for dispatching appropriate 9-1-1 emergency response during the Oct. 9 fire.

CHP officers Jon Sloat and Ken Enger in the CHP's Santa Rosa office also were honored for rescuing an elderly married couple from the fire.

The awards were presented by Motorola Solutions and 9-1-1 for Kids on the steps of the State Capitol building in Sacramento.

Dispatcher Kimberly Brown received a 9-1-1 call early in the morning of Oct. 9 from Sam Kimbles who was trying to evacuate his home with his wife Sara Spaulding-Phillips.

The couple was in a vehicle when a tree fell and blocked their path. Brown alerted CHP dispatcher Mellisa Mitrea in the CHP Santa Rosa office and provided updated information on the plight of the trapped couple.

Mitrea broadcast the details over the radio and asked any available officers in the Santa Rosa area to respond. Sloat and Enger responded within minutes. Enger arrived first and informed the dispatcher he heard a horn honking nearby and Sloat found the couple in their vehicle.

Sloat asked Mitrea to contact the fire department and to see if they could respond with a chain saw, but the CHP officers realized they had to act fast and Sloat and Enger climbed over the tree and brought the couple to a safe location.

Brown's and Mitrea's decisions to act and the urgent responses of Sloat and Enger saved two lives, and all four CHP employees displayed true heroism by working together to rescue Spaulding-Phillips and Kimbles in spite of the chaos.

###The Contra Costa Republican Party and a gubernatorial candidate spoke out today in favor of the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office's practice of publishing release dates and personal information of jail inmates.

"I'm proud that ... Sheriff David Livingston has decided to prioritize the safety of Contra Costa's residents and visitors over the perverse political agenda of the Democratic Party leaders in Sacramento," Matt Shupe, chairman of the Contra Costa Republican Party, said in a statement this afternoon.SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

A Mexican immigrant and San Jose resident who was facing deportation will be released from immigration detention Monday in the wake of a judge's order allowing him to remain in the U.S., supporters said.

Fernando Carrillo will be released Monday morning after months of detention at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond, according to Sarah Lee, an organizer with the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity.

Immigration Judge Joseph Park issued a withholding of removal order for Carrillo Thursday afternoon, Lee said. The government did not file an appeal, which would have prolonged Carillo's release date, and he will be released Monday, according to Lee.

Immigration rights activists will hold a press conference at San Francisco ICE headquarters at 630 Sansome St. at 9 a.m. Monday to celebrate the occasion, Lee said.

"I am speechless. All the work we put in to uplift my family's story was worth it. Fernando's release is the result of a larger community effort," his wife Lourdes Barraza said in a prepared statement.

Barraza said her experience and that of her husband reveal an immigration system that "traumatizes beloved family and community members." She urged the government to stop separating families and communities and put an end to detention and deportation.

The judge's order "has great implications for Fernando," Lee said. "He does not have to live in fear in the United States any more."

A "withholding of removal" order is a special type of order issued by an immigration judge to a person who demonstrates a more than 50 percent change that they will be persecuted in their home country because of such things as race or religion.

Carrillo was on his way to drop his youngest daughter off at daycare one morning when U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents followed him from his home to the daycare and arrested him, Barraza has said.

Barraza said in an article that appeared on Medium a month after his detainment that Carrillo had noticed a couple of cars following him and pulled into a shopping center. He was immediately surrounded by ICE officers and was taken to San Francisco, and later that night, to Richmond.

Carrillo's wife and daughters were devastated because he had been deported once before in 2012. That time he was picked up on a Friday and transferred to Tijuana by Sunday, Barraza said.

Since Carrillo's arrest, an online petition has garnered nearly 4,000 signatures and more than 500 people have called to ask for his release, according to a representative from the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity.

###MARTINEZ (BCN)

The mayor of Martinez today responded to concerns expressed by the Martinez Police Officers Association about the Police Department's ability to recruit and retain officers given the current compensation.

The association sent a letter to local newsrooms and posted it Monday on social media, saying, "The Martinez Police Department is facing severe recruitment/retention issues," and stating that a city study found salaries are 17 percent behind the county average and second from the bottom.

But according to a news release from Mayor Rob Schroder, "The MPOA asserts in this statement that the city is not responding to their request for an immediate salary increase, and thus is prioritizing other community issues and projects over the public's safety."

Schroder added, "The city is making every effort to be responsive to MPOA's request within the confines of state law."

The mayor said, "the city expressed its willingness to discuss a salary increase with MPOA," and that in order to do so, "it is necessary to engage in the legal meet and greet confer process," as outlined by the state's Brown Act regarding government transparency.

The Brown Act governs labor-management relations in California local government.

The mayor said the city attempted to initiate the meet and confer process with the police officers association, "but they declined to open the relevant sections of their contract."

Attempts to reach the association were unsuccessful.

###SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

The city of San Francisco's police watchdog group, the Department of Police Accountability, has announced a permanent executive director.

Paul Henderson was confirmed earlier this week, after having served as the department's interim executive director since July of last year.

Henderson's confirmation was made possible by nominations from the San Francisco Police Commission, an appointment by Mayor Mark Farrell and unanimous approval by the Board of Supervisors last week, according to the police accountability department.

He was sworn-in by Farrell at a ceremony Monday at City Hall.

"My new position involves the prosecution of administrative disciplinary actions of police officers involved with misconduct and public complaints," Henderson said in an email Thursday.

"In addition to civilian oversight, I remain committed to the continued reforms involving a criminal justice system that is both equitable and measured for all communities," Henderson said.

The Department of Police Accountability was formerly called the Office of Citizen Complaints. In November 2016 voters approved Proposition G, introduced by Supervisor Malia Cohen, which called for the name change and expanded the department's powers, giving it the ability to audit the police department and requiring it to investigate all police shootings.

Henderson had previously served as deputy chief of staff and public safety liaison for the late Mayor Ed Lee.

Henderson also served as chief of administration under then-San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris.

Henderson has more than a decade of experience as a prosecutor and has been involved in cases ranging from misdemeanors to serious felonies, including murder, department officials said.

In a statement, Farrell said, "From his tenure at the district attorney's office to his time at the mayor's office, Paul has always earned the respect and admiration from his peers for his tireless work ethic."

"As the head of the DPA, he is a crucial intermediary between the Police Department and the communities they represent, and I am confident he will continue to effectively provide leadership as the full-time executive director," Farrell said.

###San Francisco police on Friday released the names of the two officers who shot a suspect last week inside a barbershop in the Excelsior District.

On March 21, Officers Kevin Endo and Tess Casey opened fire on 21-year-old Jehad Eid, killing him.

Police on Thursday screened body camera footage of the shootout, which also injured five other people, including an officer.

The screening took place at Balboa High School.

Police said that before the shootout officers were called at 4:28 p.m. to the 200 block of Amazon Avenue where family members of Eid said he was threatening them, flashed a gun and was trying to break into their garage.

When police arrived, officers were told Eid was at Amazon Barber Shop at 949 Geneva Ave. and officers went there.

Police said Eid shot first. Endo and Casey opened fired, leaving Eid crumpled on the floor in a corner of the barbershop.

Thursday's screening was contentious even among Eid's family. One family member who did not identify himself apologized to police, saying that the shooting may give ammunition to people wanting more gun control.

But another man, who identified himself as Jehad's uncle, said he was not satisfied with the information police gave and wanted more answers.

###The San Francisco District Attorney's Office on Thursday asked the California Supreme Court to review a recent ruling by an appeals court that abolished the practice of using large bail amounts to detain low-income defendants in state trial courts without giving them detention hearings.

The January ruling by the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco was prompted by the arrest and subsequent jailing of Kenneth Humphrey, 64, charged with robbery for allegedly following a neighbor into his Turk Street apartment, threatening him and stealing a small amount of cash and a bottle of cologne. Humphrey has languished in jail for nearly a year.

His bail had initially been set at $600,000 based on the state's bail schedule, but a judge eventually lowered it to $350,000 with the San Francisco public defender's office arguing that the initial bail was excessive and that Humphrey was not a public safety risk.

The appeals court found that Humphrey's ability to pay bail must be taken into account when setting bail. Setting bail higher than a person can afford effectively jails the defendant for being poor, the ruling concluded.

While San Francisco's District Attorney George Gascon has been in favor of changing the money bail system, Thursday's request, which Gascon sent in a letter, asks the Supreme Court to allow trial courts to consider public safety when setting bail for a defendant, which he says the new ruling does not make clear.

"I firmly believe that we need to move away from money bail and Humphrey was a step in that direction, but I'm asking the state Supreme Court to weigh in to ensure we move away from money bail safely," Gascon said in a statement. "There are offenders and offenses that represent too great a risk to public safety to be released, and yet they do not qualify for no bail pretrial detention under current law.

"What's more, pursuant to Humphrey, the court can't consider public safety when setting bail. We have tools that rely on data and science to help us determine who is a risk and who is not. When those tools indicate that someone is a risk to public safety the courts need to be able to factor that information into their custody decisions."

The district attorney's office currently uses the Public Safety Assessment tool, a research-based pre-trial risk assessment tool, designed to measure risk factors and to help judges in making release and detention decisions. The tool helps determine the likelihood of whether a defendant will commit a new crime, whether they will commit a new violent crime and whether they will fail to show up for their next court date.

"In San Francisco, we have made efforts to move away from monetary bail and toward decision-making based on the risk level of an individual. While these efforts are advancing a more equitable and indeed more effective pretrial release mechanism, there are still individuals whose risk is so high detention remains necessary to protect public safety. Yet, Humphrey left open an important issue directly related to a prosecutor or court's ability to protect public safety," Gascon's letter said.

"California desperately needs one consistent voice to address this extremely important issue that courts and prosecutors face on a daily basis. Accordingly, I respectfully request that this court exercise its independent authority to review the decision of the Court of Appeal," the letter said.

Oakland's fire marshal, who came under heavy criticism following the deadly Ghost Ship and San Pablo Avenue fires, has resigned, the department said Friday morning.

Oakland Fire Marshal Miguel Trujillo resigned effective Friday, and Fire Chief Darin White will take over his duties until interim and permanent candidates can be hired, the chief said.

The chief said hiring a new fire marshal will help him reorganize the department to focus on such things as strong leadership and oversight and improved accountability.

The department's goals include hiring six additional inspectors for fiscal year 2018-19, streamlining permit processes and overseeing vegetation management and inspection.

Thirty-six people died in a fire in the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland's Fruitvale district in December 2016. There are no records of the fire department ever inspecting the warehouse at 1315 31st Ave., according to the fire department.

By law, the department wasn't required to inspect the property, then-Fire Chief Teresa Deloach-Reed said at the time.

A March 27 blaze in 2017 at a large apartment building at 2551 San Pablo Ave. claimed four lives, injured seven and displaced more than 80 people. Residents had previously complained about unsafe living conditions.

Former Chief Deloach-Reed came under pressure after the Ghost Ship fire. She went on leave until she retired in May 2017, and White succeeded Deloach-Reed.

At his swearing-in in October 2017, White said he wanted to restore the community's trust in the fire department.

The department also drew criticism after the killing of one off-duty Oakland firefighter and the shooting injury of another in San Jose, and has sustained criticism for many years related to prevention measures in the Oakland hills.

The Contra Costa Republican Party and a gubernatorial candidate spoke out Friday in favor of the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office's practice of publishing release dates and personal information of jail inmates.

"I'm proud that ... Sheriff David Livingston has decided to prioritize the safety of Contra Costa's residents and visitors over the perverse political agenda of the Democratic Party leaders in Sacramento," Matt Shupe, chairman of the Contra Costa Republican Party, said in a statement.

Publishing release dates, at least theoretically, makes it possible for immigration officers to be on hand when individuals are released and detain them.

It is also possible to find an inmate's race, date of birth, height and weight and other information on the site, which immigrant advocates have said could help immigration officers identify individuals to be detained.

Shupe said the Democratic Party's "reckless" sanctuary laws jeopardize safety "by carelessly releasing foreign criminals onto our streets."

Additionally, John Cox, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, praised Livingston's action.

"I am thrilled to see a county less than 12 miles from Gavin Newsom's home turf reject these dangerous sanctuary policies," Cox said. "San Francisco values are not our values."

A 19-year-old man died following a shootout Thursday night in Santa Rosa between two rival gangs, police said Friday.

Numerous people called 911 at 8:23 p.m. to tell police that shots were being fired outside a home in the 2300 block of Lemur Street.

Officers saw a Chevrolet Camaro driving away from the scene and tried to stop it. But it kept going until it got to Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital.

Police said officers spoke with the occupants of the Chevrolet and determined that the occupants were involved in the shootout.

One person in the car had been shot in the arm. He was a 19-year-old man who lived at the home on Lemur Street. The man's injuries were not considered life-threatening.

Police said the shootout unfolded as at least two gang members drove down Lemur Street and confronted a group of rival gang members outside a home.

Gunshots were exchanged and at least two people were hit.

As detectives were on Lemur Street investigating, police learned that another 19-year-old man had been dropped off at Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital.

Police said the man was dropped off by the occupants of a blue Nissan Sentra, which was also seen on Lemur Street. The man was left on the ground in front of the hospital.

The man was suffering from critical injuries and died. Police identified him as Juan Rivera of Santa Rosa.

Detectives served a search warrant at the home where the shooting took place and recovered a gun. Another gun was found in the street outside the home.

Later, detectives found the Nissan outside a residence in the 4300 block of Stony Point Road. Police said it appeared that bullets had hit the Nissan.

Friday at 1:10 p.m. police served a search warrant at the home on Stony Point Road and arrested at least two people after a chase.

Police said they continue to investigate the shooting and anyone who has information about it or the victim being dropped off at the hospital is asked to call the gang crimes team at (707) 543-3670.

A reward of $2,500 is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooting suspects.

A San Jose man has been arrested in connection with the fatal hit-and-run crash that killed a pedestrian in Sunnyvale March 1, according to public safety personnel.

Alexander Montes, 33, was arrested at his home Thursday afternoon.

Police said he was at the wheel of a vehicle that struck 61-year-old Elida Garcia on El Camino Real at Maria Lane. She was found facedown in the roadway and officers responded to the scene around 11:15 p.m.

Garcia was transported to a hospital with major injuries but she did not survive.

Montes was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run.

San Francisco police Friday released the names of the two officers who shot a suspect last week inside a barbershop in the Excelsior District.

On March 21, Officers Kevin Endo and Tess Casey opened fire on 21-year-old Jehad Eid, killing him.

Police on Thursday screened body camera footage of the shootout, which also injured five other people, including an officer.

The screening took place at Balboa High School.

Police said that before the shootout officers were called at 4:28 p.m. to the 200 block of Amazon Avenue where family members of Eid said he was threatening them, flashed a gun and was trying to break into their garage.

When police arrived, officers were told Eid was at Amazon Barber Shop at 949 Geneva Ave. and officers went there.

Police said Eid shot first. Endo and Casey opened fired, leaving Eid crumpled on the floor in a corner of the barbershop.

Thursday's screening was contentious even among Eid's family. One family member who did not identify himself apologized to police, saying that the shooting may give ammunition to people wanting more gun control.

But another man, who identified himself as Jehad's uncle, said he was not satisfied with the information police gave and wanted more answers.

Two California Highway Patrol dispatchers were honored Thursday for their exemplary response in an emergency during the Tubbs fire in Sonoma County in October.

Dispatchers Kimberly Brown in the CHP's Golden Gate Division and Mellisa Mitrea in the CHP's Santa Rosa office received the 9-1-1 Local Heroes Medal of Honor for dispatching appropriate 9-1-1 emergency response during the Oct. 9 fire.

CHP officers Jon Sloat and Ken Enger in the CHP's Santa Rosa office also were honored for rescuing an elderly married couple from the fire.

The awards were presented by Motorola Solutions and 9-1-1 for Kids on the steps of the State Capitol building in Sacramento.

Dispatcher Kimberly Brown received a 9-1-1 call early in the morning of Oct. 9 from Sam Kimbles who was trying to evacuate his home with his wife Sara Spaulding-Phillips.

The couple was in a vehicle when a tree fell and blocked their path. Brown alerted CHP dispatcher Mellisa Mitrea in the CHP Santa Rosa office and provided updated information on the plight of the trapped couple.

Mitrea broadcast the details over the radio and asked any available officers in the Santa Rosa area to respond. Sloat and Enger responded within minutes. Enger arrived first and informed the dispatcher he heard a horn honking nearby and Sloat found the couple in their vehicle.

Sloat asked Mitrea to contact the fire department and to see if they could respond with a chain saw, but the CHP officers realized they had to act fast and Sloat and Enger climbed over the tree and brought the couple to a safe location.

Brown's and Mitrea's decisions to act and the urgent responses of Sloat and Enger saved two lives, and all four CHP employees displayed true heroism by working together to rescue Spaulding-Phillips and Kimbles in spite of the chaos.

###The Twitterverse was sent into an uproar Thursday night when Fox News host Tucker Carlson invited Italian-American model Fabio Lanzoni onto his show to discuss the state of California.

Carlson told Fabio that California appears to be "chaotic and dirty," and asked the model if the state can be saved.A woman selling a Sacramento home that's been in her family for decades says she's not about to pass it on to just anyone; the buyer will have to possess a certain political disposition.

As CBS Sacramento reports, the woman, who was not identified, is refusing to sell the house to anyone who voted for Donald Trump.

"I told her [the realtor] that I didn't want her to sell it to a Trump supporter," she said to CBS 13 in the video above. "When you're talking about principles, morals, and ethics, it's very, very deep."

There is, however, a respite for such prospective conservative home buyers: The woman's efforts to sell only to those aligning with her politics may not be totally legal.

Political affiliation isn't one of the protected classes designated by the Fair Housing Act  which deems religion, sex, race, and national origin, among other things as protected  but at least one lawyer believes the requirement infringes on a potential buyer's first amendment rights.

"People have a right to believe what they want to believe and they shouldn't be restricted from purchasing property based on that," lawyer Allen Sawyer told the news organization.

This isn't the first time a seller or landlord refused to do business with those with different political positions. In 2016, a Colorado landlord placed an ad that called only for prospective tenants who do not support Trump.

Prior to that, in 2015, a Florida gun store owner was sued after advertising his store as a "Muslim-free" zone. That case was tossed out after the judge determined that "nobody from (the Council on American-Islamic Relations) actually went and got service denied."

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.

Mortgage adviser: John Holmgren, Holmgren & Associates.

Property types: Single-family homes in Berkeley.

Price: Loan structure avoided tax reassessment.

Loan type: FHA HECM reverse mortgage $319,000 at 4.2 percent; conventional 30-year fixed refinance $679,650 at 4.125 percent. No points.

Backstory: John Holmgrens clients, a father and son, each owned single-family homes in Berkeley. The fathers family home was larger than he needed and more than he could afford on his fixed income retirement benefit.

In addition, his divorce settlement required him to make a substantial equity payment to his ex-wife. On the other hand, his son was living in a smaller home and wished to buy a larger home to accommodate his growing family, but he was priced out of the competitive Berkeley market.

The clients agreed on the possible strategy of trading homes but had no idea how to make this work in a way that would work financially for both of them.

The fathers financial adviser suggested he contact Holmgren to try to come up with a solution. He suggested they add each other to their home titles, physically switch homes, and then secure financing on their new residences.

To accommodate the situation with the fathers former home, Holmgren arranged a cash out refinance for the son to secure enough funds to pay off the fathers home loan and to pay the amount due to the fathers former spouse.

To accommodate the fathers financial needs, Holmgren arranged an FHA reverse mortgage on the fathers new home that paid off the sons home loan and, because reverse mortgages require no monthly payments, solved the fathers cash flow problem.

Holmgren worked with the title company to make sure that all of this was done in such a way that neither party was subject to property tax reassessment. The result was affordable new homes for father and son.

John Holmgren,

Holmgren & Associates,

(510) 339-2121, john@mortgageholmgren.comHALAWANJI, Syria  Perched on a hilltop, Kurdish and Arab fighters face a tense front line separating them from Turkish-backed forces in this part of northern Syria. Behind them, American troops drive up and down the roads. Their aim: Make their presence known to prevent bursts of gunfire from spiraling into a battle.

Down the hill and across a stream are the rival forces: Syrian opposition fighters. They have taken positions on a crossroads in the village of Halawanji and on rooftops with views up to the hill. Beyond them, on another hill, Turkish troops have a base, ready to back up their allies if needed.LONDON  The British government is considering Russias request for access to the daughter of a former Russian intelligence officer who were both poisoned in Britain by a nerve agent, officials said Saturday.

The Foreign Office said it was reviewing the Russian request to meet with Yulia Skripal, a Russian citizen, in line with our obligations under international and domestic law. The governments consideration will include the rights and wishes of Yulia Skripal, it said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has blamed the Russian government for the attack on the Skripals, a charge denied by the Kremlin. May has received strong backing from the United States and her allies in Europe, which have accepted Britains view that the Russian government was responsible for the use of a lethal nerve agent. Russia has denied the charges.

Russian officials insist they have a legal right to see the 33-year-old Skripal, who lived in Moscow and was visiting her father, Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury when they were attacked March 4 with a nerve agent.

British officials say she is recovering in the hospital while her 66-year-old father remains in critical condition.

The Russian Embassy in London called the daughters recovery good news in a tweet Friday and said Russian diplomats had a right to see her under the 1968 Consular Convention.

The case has escalated East-West tensions, with both sides expelling over 150 of the others diplomats from two dozen countries.

In St. Petersburg, where Russian officials demanded that the U.S. shut down its consulate by Saturday night, workers busily loaded boxes and bags onto trucks. In brief comments to reporters, U.S. Consul-General Thomas Leary said we are ready to leave.

Russians watching the activity expressed mixed views on the closure.

The American side always knows that we can strike back if we are attacked, said Valentina Petrova, 77.

But 24-year-old Artem Zykov saw it differently.

Russia should have found different mechanisms to respond without such radical measures, Zykov said.

The truck left in the late afternoon, the driver waving and honking the horn several times. Outside the elegant 19th century building, someone had placed four yellow tulips and a card from neighbors reading hope to see you again.DHARMSALA, India  The prime minister of the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile in India on Saturday urged his compatriots to strengthen efforts to make the return of the Dalai Lama to his native land a reality.

Lobsang Sangay said Tibet has seen 60 years of destruction of its civilization, culture and identity by the Chinese since the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959.

He said the Dalai Lama dreamt of himself in a room in the Potala Palace filled with light where he will be reunited with Tibetans inside Tibet. The Potala Palace in Lhasa was the residence of the Dalai Lama until he fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising.

We Tibetan people with the support of people of India and abroad should strengthen our efforts to make his return to his Potala Palace a reality. Let us reunite the Dalai Lama with Tibetans inside Tibet who have spent the last 60 years with a hope, with a dream to get a glimpse of the Dalai Lama in their lifetime.

Thousands and thousands of Tibetans have been killed and have died for the cause of Tibet. Many of them have burned themselves alive.

The Dalai Lama thanked India for providing shelter and said Tibetans have turned their unfortunate circumstances into a path of enlightenment by reviving their spirit and influence wherever they are.

The Dalai Lama and Sangay spoke at a public event in the northern Indian town of Dharmsala marking the beginning of the 60th year of the spiritual leaders exile in India.

The Indian government was represented by junior Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma. Earlier last month, local media reported that India had told top officials to avoid events held by Tibets exile government to celebrate the Dalai Lamas life in India, fearful of hurting relations with China.

China says Tibet has historically been part of its territory since the mid-13th century, and has governed it since 1951. But many Tibetans say the region was effectively independent for most of its history.

Ram Madhav, a governing Bharatiya Janata Party leader, expressed hope in his speech that the Dalai Lama would be able to find a solution to the Tibetan issue through peaceful and democratic means that will facilitate your honorable return to your homeland.

The Dalai Lama was subdued in his speech, but he has in the past said the issue of Tibet could be best resolved amicably, by resuming dialogue with China demanding true autonomy while remaining under Chinese rule.

The Dalai Lama said Saturday that he left Tibet in 1959 under difficult circumstances without knowing what would happen in the next 50 or 60 years.SEOUL  The United Nations Security Council has announced new measures against North Korea, blacklisting 27 ships, 21 shipping companies and one individual accused of helping the North evade previous sanctions.

The move increases pressure on the North ahead of planned summit meetings between its leader, Kim Jong Un, and the presidents of South Korea and the United States.

The oil tankers and cargo ships on the list, announced Friday, were banned from ports worldwide or would have their assets frozen, and the shipping companies will face an asset freeze. Most of those named also had been blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury last month.

In response to North Koreas rapid acceleration of its nuclear and missile programs, the Security Council has adopted a series of sanctions resolutions in recent years. The toughest, last year, banned key North Korean exports like coal, seafood and textiles, as well as drastically reducing the amount of petroleum the North was allowed to import.

The North has been accused of using false paperwork to continue coal exports and of importing oil through illegal ship-to-ship transfers on the high seas.

The approval of this historic sanctions package is a clear sign that the international community is united in our efforts to keep up maximum pressure on the North Korean regime, said Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She said it was the largest-ever such U.N. blacklist targeting the North.

Some analysts said Kims recent agreement to meet with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea in April and later with President Trump was driven in part by a desire to ease sanctions. But Washington and its allies have vowed to keep up with sanctions until the North commits to denuclearizing.

This past week, Kim made his first foreign trip since taking power six years ago, meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. His country has also refrained from conducting major weapons tests since late November, when it launched an intercontinental ballistic missile that analysts said could be powerful enough to reach the mainland U.S.

Satellite imagery, however, suggests the country is firing up a new nuclear reactor capable of producing plutonium, one of the main fuels used in nuclear arms, according to a report by Janes Intelligence Review and the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University.Trump "has been great for business and really, really good for tech," said Gary Shapiro, who leads the Consumer Technology Association, the largest US tech trade group, with more than 2,200 members, including Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook. Shapiro said that he had voted for Hillary Clinton, Trump's opponent, in 2016, but that he and many tech executives had come around on Trump. While they disagree with him on immigration and the environment, they have found areas where their interests align, like deregulation and investment in internet infrastructure. "This isn't Hitler or Mussolini here," Shapiro said. And even though the president's new tariffs on steel and aluminum could hurt US businesses and consumers, "disagreement in one area does not mean we cannot work together in others," Shapiro said. "Everyone who is married knows that." Trump himself has taken to naming tech companies he says are on his side. After Apple took advantage of the new tax law in January to bring back most of the $US252 billion cash hoard it had parked overseas, the company said it would make a $US350 billion "contribution to the US economy" over the next five years. That prompted Trump to suggest he had made good on a campaign pledge to get Apple to bring jobs back to the United States.

Trump says Apple is 'on his side', but the company remains silent. Credit:James Alcock "You know, for $US350 million, you could build a beautiful plant. But for $US350 billion, they're going to build a lot of plants," the president told members of Congress last month. Trump said he had called Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, to personally thank him. In fact, Apple has no plans to build a plant in the United States. The company is uneasy with Trump's invoking it to signify how his policies are working, according to a person close to Apple who was not authorised to speak publicly. Apple has not, however, publicly corrected the president. Facebook silence Trump has also stayed quiet on the controversy engulfing Facebook over user privacy, while other politicians have called for more regulations after revelations that the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica improperly harvested the information of 50 million Facebook users. Cambridge Analytica used that data to aid Trump's campaign.

Michael Kratsios, the White House's deputy chief technology officer, said in an interview that while Trump and Silicon Valley had their differences, "in places where we do see eye to eye, I think we're achieving extraordinary success." Loading Some tech executives have since disagreed with Trump on social issues. Cook emailed staff last June to say he had unsuccessfully lobbied the president to remain in the Paris climate accords. In November, Microsoft sued the administration to protect a law that blocks deportation of young immigrants known as Dreamers. More than 100 companies, including Google, Facebook and Uber, filed a brief supporting California's lawsuit on that issue. Even so, tech executives worked to build a relationship with the president, with some meeting him at Trump Tower before his inauguration and again at the White House in June. While in Washington for the second meeting, Cook and Satya Nadella, Microsoft's chief executive, also dined with Jared Kushner, the president's senior adviser and son-in-law, and Ivanka Trump at the couple's Washington home, according to a person briefed on the meeting who wasn't authorised to speak publicly about it. This month, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin visited Apple's headquarters.

Money talks Silicon Valley has found plenty to like about the Trump presidency. In September, tech giants including Facebook and Microsoft teamed up with the administration to pledge $US500 million to computer science education. Amazon, Microsoft and Google are also eyeing the administration as a potential customer as Trump pushes to modernise the government's digital infrastructure. But Silicon Valley's favorite thing about Trump is almost certainly his new tax code. Many tech companies lobbied for corporate tax reform for years before Trump signed the new tax bill. Tech giants immediately reaped the benefits. Under the new rules, Apple saved $US43.7 billion in taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan tax research group. Apple then announced the $US350 billion "contribution" to the American economy over five years. Most of the tally was previously planned spending with US suppliers and a $US38 billion tax payment on its overseas cash. But Apple also said it planned to hire 20,000 new workers, invest in new data centers and another domestic campus, and increase a fund for innovative US manufacturers to $US5 billion from $US1 billion. It also gave employees $US2,500 bonuses.

The president was quick to tweet the news. He wrote: "I promised that my policies would allow companies like Apple to bring massive amounts of money back to the United States. Great to see Apple follow through as a result of TAX CUTS. Huge win for American workers and the USA!" Industry outrage The shifting relationship between Silicon Valley and Trump appears to have upset some tech employees. A Facebook page called "Angry Googler," with nearly 1,000 followers, has been dedicated to criticising Google for any sign it was cooperating with the president. Loading "Not happy about Google pulling a 180 and jumping into bed with Trump? Same here," said the "About" section of the page, which suggests it is run by a Google employee. This month, the page posted an article about Google helping the Defense Department analyze drone footage. "We've gone from organising the world's information to ... optimising weapons of war," the page said.

Messages to the account were not returned. Google declined to comment. Some tech firms remain discomfited about appearing as the president's allies. Last month, Rob Goldman, Facebook's vice president of advertising, played down Russia's impact on the 2016 election after the Justice Department charged 13 Russians with trying to subvert its outcome, including by using Facebook. Trump retweeted Goldman approvingly. Facebook was uncomfortable with that association with the president, said a person close to the company who was not authorised to speak publicly. Two days later, Facebook's policy chief, Joel Kaplan, distanced the company from Goldman's comments. "The special counsel has issued its indictments, and nothing we found contradicts their conclusions," he said in a statement. "Any suggestion otherwise is wrong."In a 2016 employee memo that was leaked this week, a Facebook executive defended the company's questionable data mining practices and championed the growth of social media at any cost - apparently even death.

"Maybe it costs a life by exposing someone to bullies," company vice president Andrew Bosworth wrote in the memo, according to BuzzFeed News, which published it Thursday. "Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools. And still we connect people. The ugly truth is that we believe in connecting people so deeply that anything that allows us to connect more people more often is *de facto* good."

Facebook executive Andrew Bosworth. Credit:AP

Bosworth, who oversaw Facebook's advertising and business platform at the time and is now in charge of the company's virtual reality department, has acknowledged writing the message but said he intended only to start a debate. "I didn't agree with it even when I wrote it," he wrote on Twitter after BuzzFeed published its report.DR KEN

Double episode 

11.10pm, 7flix

This kooky Korean-American sitcom family dive into the Halloween spirit with a freaky Korean fairytale told by granddad D.K. (Dana Lee) in which everyone gets a part. The morality tale warning young Dave (Albert Tsai) about the perils of growing up too fast presents many an opportunity for his scaredy-cat dad (creator Ken Jeong) to act the dag with his trademark boom-tish one-liners.

Dr Ken. Credit:Nicole Wilder

JOANNA AND JENNIFER: ABSOLUTELY CHAMPERS



7.30pm, ABC

Joanna Lumley's travelogue experience and grasp of French makes her the natural leader here, as she and Jennifer Saunders explore their love of bubbles in France. While Lumley jokes with the locals and joins in the chores, Saunders goes a bit Eddie and struggles with the buckets. The inevitable documentary for these extravagant comedians is best enjoyed with a glass in hand.MAKING HISTORY

Series premiere 

8.30pm, SBS

One of the best things about these historical documentaries, apart from the stagey dramatisations and the learnin', of course, are the experts. Among the scholarly ponderings about the ruins of Pompeii is the distinctly Australian voice of Professor Estelle Lazer. The forensic archaeologist has some groundbreaking new theories on how the Pompeians lived that challenges the history books.

Making History.

SEAL TEAM

Double episode 

9.30pm, Ten

A touch of Team America: World Police is to be expected from US army dramas. The plot typically goes like this: fearless Americans put their First World problems (such as, should their daughters be allowed to attend parties with boys?) aside to save the world. But tonight's script goes a bit far when all Ukrainians are branded "a bit crazy" just because a bunch of them has stolen some nuclear warheads.ON COUNTRY KITCHEN



8pm, NITV

All-round entertainer Derek Nannup plays the clown to Mark Olive's cool chef and, to his credit, the latter never flinches when the puns go overboard. He just keeps on mixing those indigenous herbs and spices into scrumptious-looking dishes from produce his friend has sourced from local growers. Tonight, beetroot pasta and Thai beef salad are on the menu, with the addition of indigenous chilli, bloodroot, thought to have medicinal powers.

Derek Mannup and Mark Olive, On Country Kitchen Credit:NITV

HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER

Season final 

11.20pm, 7flix

Things are never exactly calm in the world of gifted attorney and recovering alcoholic Annalise Keating (Viola Davis), but this chapter of her life takes a dark turn indeed. While her scheming students manage to inadvertently turn a work function into a bloody crime scene, Annalise battles her demons as more shattering truths are revealed to her. Be warned: the final scene has the capacity to traumatise.In the annals of the frustrating fight against impotence, men have ingested rhino horn dust, performed elaborate dances, employed vacuum hydraulics, and chanted what one historian called "protective spells" that went like this: "Get excited! Get excited! Get an erection!"

But none of those remedies were as successful  or crazy  as what one physician did at a urological conference in 1983. Before presenting his research to hundreds of doctors, Giles Brindley injected  yes, injected  his penis with a chemical that made it erect. On stage, he dropped his pants to demonstrate the results.

Lowering the tone of conversation: Donald Trump gave a 'guarantee' about his penis during the presidential debates. Credit:SUSAN WALSH

(Insert your own mental image here.)

"There was not a sound in the room," a urologist recalled in a scientific journal. "Everyone had stopped breathing."Christian charity Mission Australia is calling for a national strategy to address what it calls a crisis in Australia's housing.

The appeal is in response to a report to be presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva highlighting Australia's housing problems.

The report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing - made public last month - condemns Australia for high rents and home prices and homelessness.

Mission Australia called for the adoption of a strategy recommended in rapporteur Miloon Kothari's report to create more affordable housing in inner cities.

It would also increase public housing, bolster the quality and ownership of homes for indigenous Australians and cut government charges.First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on April 8, 1958

Darwin, Monday.The first survivors of the ill-fated migrant ship Skaubryn arrived at Darwin by air tonightwith not a suitcase among them. They were pitiful people, wrapped in hand-me-down clothes and carrying a few boxes, their belongings still in the Skaubryn at the bottom of the Indian Ocean.

The Australia-bound migrant ship Skaubryn on fire in the north Indian Ocean, early April 1958 Credit:Fairfax Media

There were 76 survivors aboard the plane31 of them young children or babies, all of the women except one expectant mothers. Another expectant mother, Mrs Marija Spelzar, of Yugoslavia, and her husband and child were left at Bombay because she thought she was about to have her baby.

The plane, an American International Airways DC4, picked up the migrants at Aden.A new teaching method, where explanations of a subject are delivered online at home and the usual homework becomes classwork, could be piloted in NSW high schools within two years.

The inverted model of teaching, best exemplified by the teachings of maths ''super teacher'' Eddie Woo, is being trialled among 70 preservice teachers at Macquarie University, with hopes that research funding could be found for a pilot scheme in years 11 and 12, with as many as six private schools.

The flip learning movement has gained ground in the US over the past decade, swapping a teachers' classroom role from sage on stage to guide on the side.

Teachers deliver instructional content via video but the practice, skills and essays, often the hardest to learn, are conducted in class with face-to-face teacher supervision in collaboration with peers.

Interest in flip learning, Macquarie Universitys Dr Kim Wilson said, follows a renaissance in education policy by which critical thinking, collaboration and creativity have become more highly prized than traditional rote learning of the three Rs.Jo McGahey, Belrose These are probably the same people who drive against the direction of arrows, turn right when the sign reads "No Right Turn" and park outside marked car spaces. Allan Gibson, Cherrybrook Why not wheel clamp the cars of people illegally parked in disabled parking spots. In the past, when all the disabled parking spots have been taken in large parking areas, I have had to find a regular parking spot with a wider space for wheelchair access beside my car. On more than one occasion I have returned to find another car has parked closer beside mine, blocking my return. All I could do was ask for help from a passerby to back my car out to make it accessible.

Tony Varrall, Turramurra It's not just disabled spots being illegally used. I am 68 years old and have lost count of the number of young and fit parents who park their enormous SUVs in seniors' spots. I have seen them pull in and also return to their vehicles while I am frantically waiting for one. I am riddled with arthritis and find walking very painful. Selfish, selfish idiots! Christine Hanrahan, Hunters Hill.

By George, she's got it To paraphrase Professor Henry Higgins ("Sydney lags with boring CBD", March 25):

Why can't Martin Place/Be more like Fed Square? Fed Square is so colourful/And fun to be in, While Martin Place is bleak brown,/and gloomy, and grim. Anne Ring, Coogee

Mother Nature on the run We need more articles like the piece on the biodiversity conference being held in Colombia (''Australian river of life feeds biodiversity policy'', March 25). That article, combined with the excellent Traveller essay on the giant Californian redwoods, makes one realise just how undervalued our native forests are in much of Australia, especially NSW where the main concern for the Berejiklian government appears to centre on keeping land-clearing farmers happy and ignoring habitat destruction. Information from the Indigenous Daly River landowners is being used at the conference; perhaps it might also be used in Australia so that we can learn to value and protect our ancient and unique flora and fauna as an essential contribution to the world's biodiversity. The way the Great Barrier Reef is going we may need something other than depleted and degraded coral reefs to attract the tourists!

Nola Tucker, KiamaFriends of the 18-year-old man who was killed in a "horrific" eight-vehicle crash near Campbelltown on Friday night have expressed their shock at the news of his death.

It is alleged Blake Feeney died after one of the cars, a blue Commodore, crossed to the wrong side of Campbelltown Road in Woodbine, where it crashed head with the other vehicles.

Feeney was in a ride-share at the time.

His friends have taken to social media to honour their mate's memory, with one writing: Rest in peace blake.... I miss all of the times how when we were little we used to play cars at mine outside in the direct and make jumps, cant believe this has happened.From being lumped in with graffiti and vandalism, to be given its very own festival - Brisbane street art has come a long way in recent years and there are plenty of local success stories to emerge from the evolution.

Russell Fenn, also known as Sofles, started in the River City but has gained an international reputation and been included in the Brisbane Street Art Festival, which kicked-off on Saturday.

Previous work created by Brisbane street artist Russell Fenn, also known as Sofles.

Mr Fenn said he had always been interested in art and drawing from a young age and discovered street art and graffiti when he was 15.

"Some friends invited me to go spray painting with them and then I got interested in graffiti," he said.Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk has admitted residents still needed to be informed about what the $944 million largely ratepayer-funded Brisbane Metro was.

On the back of Tuesdays announcement that the metro had been listed as one of the six high-priority projects by Infrastructure Australia, Cr Quirk said the project was well placed and would hopefully receive an additional $300 million in the federal budget.

The Brisbane Metro has been listed as a high priority project in Infrastructure Australia's latest report. Credit:Brisbane City Council

The almost $1 billion Brisbane Metro project is a high-frequency public transport system that would link Eight Mile Plains to Roma Street and Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital to the University of Queensland.

The 60 metro vehicles, each with a capacity of 150 people, would run across 21 kilometres of existing busway infrastructure at a frequency of every three minutes in peak periods.Much has been written about the death of a rhino called Sudan. He was the last surviving male northern white rhino, living out his days under armed guard in a Kenyan sanctuary.

Barring a technological miracle involving IVF and surrogates, his species, the northern white rhino, is destined to die with him. This two-tonne colossus will disappear on our watch, in full view.

The demise of the northern white rhino is a tragic story, reminiscent of the story of our own thylacine  a preventable extinction etched on our consciousness. It's also a complex tale that highlights the challenges faced in protecting wildlife wherever it clashes with human aspirations  of heroes and villains, steeped in human conflict, poverty, greed, corruption, hardship and ambivalence.

An optimistic time"Pope Declares No Hell," read a screaming headline across the Drudge Report website. "Does the Pope Believe in Hell?" asked Patrick Buchanan in an online column. "Vatican literally falls apart after Pope Francis says 'Hell doesn't exist,'" read a headline in Metro UK, a British newspaper. The pope, in fact, has often talked about hell as a very real final destination for the wicked, and the Vatican made clear that the "literal words pronounced by the pope are not quoted" and that "no quotation of the article should be considered as a faithful transcription of the words of the Holy Father." Scalfari agreed.

"They are perfectly right," said Scalfari in an interview, as the pope prepared for a ceremonial leading of the stations of the cross on Good Friday. "These are not interviews, these are meetings, I don't take notes. It's a chat." The Way of the Cross took commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary, takes place in front of Rome's Colosseum. Credit:AP While Scalfari said he remembered the pope saying hell did not exist, he allowed that "I can also make mistakes." He said he had committed an error of omission by failing to fully explain the pope's answer on the need for a stronger Europe. "At my age," Scalfari said, he was more used to being interviewed than interviewing. The current editor of La Repubblica, Mario Calabresi, said the paper had not labeled Scalfari's piece as an interview. It was, Calabresi said, the fruit of a "cultural exchange and dialogue out of the 19th century between a Jesuit believer and a man of the enlightenment fascinated by religion." Sophisticated readers of Italian journalism understand how to read Scalfari, which is to say, with a grain of salt when it comes to papal quotations.

To many here, Scalfari personifies an impressionistic style of Italian journalism, prevalent in its coverage of the Vatican, politics and much else, in which the gist is more important than the verbatim, and the spirit greater than the letter. And yet, despite the public relations headaches Scalfari has caused, Francis, 81, seems to like talking to him. The pope, Scalfari said, has a "need to talk with a nonbeliever who stimulates him." This month's meeting was their fifth. In September 2013, Francis sent a letter to Scalfari, later published in La Repubblica, in which the pontiff wrote that atheists should "abide by their own conscience" and said that Christians should engage in "a sincere and rigorous dialogue" with non-believers. Weeks later, the pope had a long discussion with Scalfari, the reconstructed transcript the journalist published in La Repubblica.

"Each one has his idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight the evil as he understands them," the pope said, according to Scalfari. He added that efforts to convert people to Christianity amounted to "solemn nonsense." At first, the Vatican's spokesman at the time, the Reverend Federico Lombardi, confirmed the interview as "faithful to the thought." He subsequently published the article in its entirety on L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's official outlet, and in a space on the website of the Holy See usually reserved for papal speeches. Then the Vatican, which recently digitally blurred out embarrassing lines of a letter sent by Pope Benedict XI, removed the text from its website. "There were some misunderstandings and disagreements about its value," Lombardi said back then. The two men spoke again in July 2014, and Scalfari published an article in which he said the pope had estimated that 8000 members of the clergy, including bishops and cardinals, were pedophiles and that perhaps priestly celibacy should be reconsidered. The Vatican responded by asking whether a lack of quotation marks suggested "an attempt to manipulate some naive readers."

In 2015, Scalfari quoted Francis as having said that "all the divorced and remarried who ask will be admitted" to Communion. Lombardi responded that observers "know the way Scalfari writes." But throughout, the Vatican has seemed reluctant to bring down the hammer on an erudite man toward whom the pope apparently had grown affectionate. Francis stayed in touch with Scalfari, calling him on the phone and inviting him in for another long chat in November 2016. Scalfari described their warm greetings and reported that the pope said, "It is the communists who think like Christians." This week's controversy is not the first time Scalfari and the pope have visited the subject of hell. In October 2017, Scalfari wrote, "Pope Francis has abolished the places where souls were supposed to go after death: hell, purgatory, heaven." But the pope, who is surrounded by a court full of politically attuned cardinals, yes men and conservatives trying to undercut his mission, keeps coming back to Scalfari.New York: Nearly all applicants for a visa to enter the United States  an estimated 14.7 million people a year  will be asked to submit their social-media user names for the past five years, under proposed rules issued by the US State Department.

Last September, the Trump administration announced that applicants for immigrant visas would be asked for social-media data, a proposal that would affect about 710,000 people each year. The new proposal would vastly expand that requirement to cover some 14 million people each year who apply for non-immigrant visas.

Donald Trump's administration had signalled plans for some visa applicants to be asked for social-media data. The new measures are worse for personal freedoms, say critics. Credit:AP

Although officials did not specify which social-media platforms would be affected, the proposal is likely to cover the largest ones, like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. It could also conceivably include social-media platforms based overseas, like QQ and Weibo in China and VK in Russia.

During his campaign, then presidential candidate Donald Trump promised "extreme vetting" of people seeking to enter the United States, and last March, the State Department directed consular officers around the world to step up scrutiny of visa applicants.Update for April 1, 4:45 pm EDT: New re-entry forecasts by the European Space Agency and Aerospace Corp. have shifted the time of Tiangong-1's expected crash to between late Sunday and early Monday (April 2). ESA officials are targeting a crash time between Sunday evening and early Monday morning. The latest update from the Aerospace Corp. forecasts an 8:30 p.m. EDT (0030 April 2 GMT) crash, give or take 1.7 hours.

At the time the story below was written Saturday (March 31), Tiangong-1 was expected to fall into the Pacific Ocean. Earlier on Saturday, a 7:30 p.m. EDT target on Sunday would have put the space station's point of descent around Africa  so it still remains highly uncertain. "I wouldn't put a lot of faith in that particular number, but it will probably move around and change," Andrew Abraham, a senior member of the technical staff at Aerospace Corp, told Space.com today. "If we're only off by a minute, it would move the location by hundreds of miles."

Abraham added that updates to Tiangong-1's trajectory show a trend of it delaying its re-entry time even further, so it's possible the station may fall later on April 2  depending on the activity of the sun, and the tumbling of the space station. [China's Falling Space Station: Everything You Need to Know]

Original story: While it's still hard to predict exactly when and where the doomed Chinese space station Tiangong-1 will fall this weekend, the latest prediction from Aerospace Corp. says the debris will most likely descend into the Pacific Ocean Sunday (April 1).

As of late Friday, Tiangong-1 was predicted to fall from space on Sunday at 12:15 p.m. EDT (1615 GMT), give or take 9 hours. Earlier in the day, when the space station's fall was forecast for 12 p.m. EDT on Sunday, an expert told Space.com that earlier prediction would have seen Tiangong-1 begin its re-entry over Malaysia, and rain debris downrange into the Pacific Ocean.because the space station is moving in its orbit across the equator, toward the north.

"It should be a show for anybody on a boat," Aerospace Corp.'s Ted Muelhaupt told Space.com. He runs a center for orbit and re-entry debris studies at the California nonprofit research organization, which is tracking the descent of Tiangong-1. [Track Tiangong-1! Use Our Satellite Tracker Here by N2YO]

Real-time tracking information for Tiangong-1 is available here from Aerospace Corp.'s Center for Orbital and Debris Reentry Studies.

See more

Muelhaupt said people around Malaysia can expect to see fireballs similar in magnitude to the spectacular planned breakup of ATV-1 "Jules Verne," a European cargo freighter that returned from the International Space Station in 2008. In 2015, ESA published a video from a chase plane showing the dramatic, fiery breakup of ATV-1 over the Pacific Ocean. ATV-1 was similar in mass to Tiangong-1, which is 9.4 tons (8.5 metric tons).

While the amount of space debris generated from Tiangong-1 is tough to predict, roughly 220 to 440 lbs. (100 to 200 kg) may survive the fall through the atmosphere, Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told Space.com sister site Live Science. That's less material than what was left behind after the 1979 breakup of the 100-ton (90.7 metric ton) Skylab, which unexpectedly threw debris into rural Australia during re-entry.

China's first space station Tiangong-1, shown here in an artist's illustration, is expected to fall to Earth around April 1, 2018. (Image credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office)

Prediction simulations

Although the Pacific Ocean is the most likely location for Tiangong-1's demise, Muelhaupt emphasized it's hard to say where the station will re-enter Earth's atmosphere. The station is constantly orbiting Earth at an inclination between 43 degrees north and 43 degrees south latitudes, which includes the United States and much of the civilized world.

"The probability along the ground track is still pretty flat for the entire length of the track," he explained. This means that although Malaysia is where the probability of re-entry peaks, it's only a low spike compared to all of the other predicted points of re-entry.

At this point, Aerospace Corp. is more comfortable saying where the station likely will not re-enter; the Amazon, for example, is a "pretty safe" location, Muelhaupt said. He compared the situation to trying to predict the odds of who will won a lottery.

"One of the things about probability  just because you bought two lottery tickets, doesn't mean you have a much higher probability of winning than someone who bought one," Muelhaupt said. He added that the chance of any particular location "winning" the Tiangong-1 re-entry lottery  of experiencing space debris from the falling space station  is extraordinarily low. But as geographical regions of possible space debris are eliminated, the other locations on Earth will have a slightly higher probability of debris.

As Tiangong-1 descends closer to Earth, predictions of its fall location will improve. No one will know for sure where the space station will fall, however, until it actually comes down. "By tomorrow afternoon, we'll probably know within two to three orbits where it will come in," Muelhaupt said. [Chinese Space Station's Crash to Earth: Everything You Need to Know]

Multiple models

This map by the European Space Agency shows the area in which China's Tiangong-1 space station could fall (shown in green) around April 1, 2018. (Image credit: European Space Agency)

To create its Tiangong-1 re-entry prediction, Aerospace Corp. uses no less than eight prediction methods. It tries to find a consensus between the models for its published estimates.

"Each one [model] makes slightly different assumptions, with slightly different orbit propagators," Muelhaupt said. "Depending on how the model is written, you have to make guesses about different things. Each of them comes with a slightly different perspective. There is no one way to model these things, so we run a basket and look at where we think the consensus is."

For example, one of the models uses a Monte Carlo simulation  a computer simulation that shows a range of possible outcomes, and the probability of each outcome occurring. Another model emphasizes one particular outcome, or "truth," over all others, Muelhaupt explained. Some models assume breakup occurs at a slightly higher altitude than others, which also affects Tiangong-1's predicted fall.

An artist's illustration of China's Tiangong-1 space station as it breaks apart and burns up in Earth's atmosphere. (Image credit: Aerospace Corporation)

"We base all public statements on publicly released information, run through each of the different models, average the results and look for consensus," Muelhaupt said, but said even that can produce challenges.

"Occasionally we get one model that is an outlier. For example, it might put more weight on a later prediction, vs. earlier measurements  that's why we run multiple models. Every time you think you've got all of the guesses right, you are wrong. So it is best to get multiple opinions."

One important factor in making predictions is the geomagnetic index  the amount of activity generated in Earth's vicinity from the sun. The sun's energy, as it strikes the Earth's atmosphere, can make gases balloon higher and increase the density at more elevated altitudes. The sun's activity in recent days, however, was quieter than expected.

The sun's quiescence keeps delaying the time of Tiangong-1's expected re-entry, because it means the Earth's atmospheric density near the station is lower than expected. That's made a huge difference in re-entry predictions. Just three days ago, Muelhaupt noted, Aerospace Corp. predicted a re-entry time of 0200 GMT April 1 (10 p.m. EDT March 31). That's 16 hours earlier than the current expected re-entry time.

Tiangong-1 launched in 2011 and hosted two crews of taikonauts (Chinese astronauts) in 2012 and 2013. China subsequently lost contact with the space station in 2016, and Tiangong-1 has been falling to Earth ever since. Tiangong-1 is the first Chinese space station, and a successor  Tiangong 2  began operations in 2016.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 4April 1, 4:45 p.m. EDT (2045 GMT) to include the latest re-entry forecasts from the European Space Agency and Aerospace Corp.

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.SpaceX has the FCC's approval to launch some 4.425 satellites, but will have to do so within nine years.

WASHINGTON  U.S. telecom regulators the evening of March 29 accepted SpaceX's application to reach U.S customers with a megaconstellation of 4,425 broadband satellites, but denied the company's request to relax the deadline by which it must have its entire constellation in orbit.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also said SpaceX's approval is conditioned on an updated de-orbit plan, since the sheer number of satellites envisioned by SpaceX's "Starlink" constellation goes far beyond what current guidelines consider manageable.

SpaceX is the fourth company the FCC approved to launch a new non-geostationary (NGSO) satellite constellation after opening up a new processing round in 2016. Other companies approved are OneWeb for 720 satellites in low Earth orbit, Telesat Canada for 117 satellites in low Earth orbit, and Space Norway for two satellites in highly elliptical orbits. Last month FCC Chairman Ajit Pai urged other commissioners to support SpaceX's application, arguing it would help bring internet access to rural and underserved areas of the United States. [SpaceX's 1st Starlink Satellites Are Working Fine]

SpaceX will have to launch at least half of its constellation of Ku- and Ka-band satellites within six years of today, per the agency's recently revised rules, or its authorization freezes at the number of satellites in operation at that date. The FCC in September relaxed its deadline, giving operators nine years to launch their full constellation, but even those rules are stricter than what SpaceX would refer. The launch-provider-turned-satellite operator asked the FCC for an okay to launch 1,600 satellites in six years  just over a third of its full constellation.

SpaceX said the FCC's deadline was "impractical" and that it could start broadband service without the full constellation. The FCC said no, but gave SpaceX permission to re-submit a waiver request in the future. SpaceX said in October it plans to start service with 800 to 900 satellites.

SpaceX's constellation is the largest of all the applicants, generating concern about its potential to enshroud the Earth in a cloud of space debris. Fleet operators OneWeb, Spire, SES and Space Norway all expressed concern about how SpaceX will protect the space environment when operating so many satellites. But weighing more heavily with the FCC was NASA, which said a constellation as large as SpaceX's likely needs to meet more stringent standards than what NASA recommends for de-orbit reliability. NASA's reliability standard is that at least 90 percent of satellites can deorbit properly after their mission is complete.

The FCC said it agrees with NASA that "the unprecedented number of satellites proposed by SpaceX and the other NGSO [fixed satellite service] systems in this processing round will necessitate a further assessment of the appropriate reliability standards of these spacecraft, as well as the reliability of these systems' methods for deorbiting the spacecraft." As such, the agency said its approval of SpaceX's application is conditioned upon "approval of an updated description of the orbital debris mitigation plans for its system."

See more

SpaceX said it will deorbit its satellites within one year of completing their mission, well ahead of the 25-year guideline suggested by NASA and other leading space agencies.

The FCC rebuffed petitions from fleet operators Telesat and Viasat to reject SpaceX's application on the grounds the constellation poses a radiofrequency interference threat to other satellites. SpaceX used software from the International Telecommunication Union to gauge equivalent power flux density limits (EPFD) for its constellation. The FCC said it conditions constellation approval "on SpaceX receiving a favorable or 'qualified favorable' rating of its EPFD demonstration by the ITU prior to initiation of service."

SpaceX launched its first two prototype satellites in February as a secondary mission with the Paz radar satellite for Spanish operator Hisdesat. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk plans to use the Starlink constellation to generate revenue that will support his aspirations to colonize Mars.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.

This week, Jill's ability to stay sober after her relapse is tested, as is everyone else's patience.



At a meeting, Jill takes a newcomer chip, for what is apparently about the umpteenth day in a row. But she feels different about today. She even "got up off the lawn before the sprinklers went off this time!"



Patrick has come down to visit for his birthday. As he and Christy get ready for some "alone time," Christy's phone goes off. It's Jill. Bonnie and Christy are quickly throwing on jackets and rushing out of the house, leaving two very bored brothers. Jill went to the market for almond milk and came home with vodka. And then she threw up on her housekeeper Soledad's shoes. Soledad is grateful that she at least she "[aimed] down this time!"



The next morning, Patrick asks Adam if it's normal for them to be gone all night when someone has a relapse. Adam tells him that "you can't get hung up on what's normal around here!" When Christy and Bonnie finally do get home, they're both exhausted, and Patrick tells Christy to go to sleep instead of continuing with their day's plan for his birthday.



At the bistro later that day, Jill tells the girls she's got a plan. She's going to go to multiple meetings every day and call Christy every morning and night to let her know she stuck to her plan. Although Christy and Bonnie want to be optimistic, as they're getting ready for their double date with Patrick and Adam that night, they both admit they have their doubts.



Sure enough, Christy's phone starts ringing at dinner. Except this time, it's Solidad. Jill's appeared at her place, and she's slammed. Bonnie offers to go retrieve her on her own since it's Patrick's birthday and (after forking the steak into her purse) heads out. Even though Patrick's more than happy that Christy's staying, after a serious dose of the stink eye from Adam, he tells her to go on and deal with Jill.



Christy and Bonnie arrive at Soledad's apartment to find a totally plastered Jill planted on the couch watching telenovelas with Soledad's very bewildered husband. Bonnie literally has to carry her out and they take her back to their place to sleep it off.



Once home, Patrick is dismayed to learn that Jill passed out on Christy's bed and they'll have to sleep on the pull-out for the night. The next morning, a hungover Jill comes into the kitchen while Patrick is making coffee. She tells Patrick how much Christy means to her and how she doesn't know what she'd do without her. When Christy gets up, Patrick tells her he understands how much taking care of her friends means to her, but doesn't know if he can handle always being second place to her AA responsibilities, so he's going to go home and take a few days to think.



The episode ends with all the girls back at a meeting. As Marjorie hands out newcomer chips, Christy, Bonnie, and Wendy convince a reluctant Jill to go up front and take another one.



Random Thoughts:



-Christy and Bonnie's "slutty red dress" argument was funny.-Bonnie's deciding on who she'll invite to the wedding based on what kind of gift they'll give her? Of course, she is!-Bonnie comforting Christy after Patrick leaves was sweet and SO un-Bonnie like.-Best lines go to Jill and Bonnie. Jill: "Also, if I sent you a video of myself singing Carrie Underwood naked, could you please delete it?" Bonnie (whispering): "I'll show it to you when we get home."Will Jill be able to stay sober? Is this the end for Patrick and Christy? Let me know what you think below!



Previously on Shadowhunters, Magnus and Alec investigated a demon disturbance that was messing with the Warlocks' magic, Lorenzo Rey was formally introduced, Jace and Clary went on their first date, and Simon surprised himself and those around him with his recent acquisition of some strange new powers.





In an episode about mortality and facing your demons, some of our main characters go further down the rabbit hole in search for answers. 'What Lies Beneath' delivers some great shocks that viewers may not see coming whilst giving real progression to both the main storyline and their main couples. Remember to tune in Tuesday at 8.00 on Freeform.

delves deeper into the investigation of the owl. As shown last week, Lilith took a bit of a setback thanks to Magnus and Alec, but unfortunately the main characters do not know that she is the threat, where she is operating from, exactly how powerful she is, or her connection to the owl. Jace, still seeing visions of Jonathan, wears himself out investigating the owl on the behalf of the Shadowhunters, and Clary quickly becomes concerned about him. Meanwhile, Luke and Ollie conduct their own investigation on behalf of the New York Police Department, where Ollie is quick to suggest her own interpretation of Downworlders that may be behind the mundane murders. Jace's analyses of the current evidence, and attack of another mundane, lead them to a nearby nightclub, where both Jace and Izzy meet some familiar faces.In the other main plot of the episode, Maryse surprises Alec, Izzy and Jace with an unexpected visit. When their dread at this becomes apparent due to Maryse's past behaviour, Magnus (with some buttering up by Izzy) offers his apartment and hosting skills in order to make the night go smoother. Due to his investigation of the owl, Jace has to drop out of the family dinner, and due to Clary's worry over Jace, Izzy also decides to join Jace and Clary on their stake out instead, which leaves just Alec, Magnus, and Maryse for dinner. What starts out as a nice family meal however may take a turn for the worse, as Maryse delivers some news which affects the whole Lightwood family.Elsewhere, Simon and Maia try to explore their options when it comes to gaining information on the mark on Simon's forehead, trying to go to multiple sources.And with that I'm going to leave you with a few teasers to tide you over until Tuesday:- One character may do an impression of someone unexpected.- There's a scene with quite a bit of blood.- Izzy is incredibly strong.- Two words: TWIST. ENDING.- "You know, there's someone you remind me of."



Musics role in video production  in any form  cannot be over-emphasised. When chosen correctly, it is the glue that holds it together; it brings out emotion.



Peter Gabriels work appears often in The Americans, from Games Without Frontiers to Lay Your Hands On Me. In the sixth season premiere, he is featured again, this time with We Do What Were Told (Milgrams 37). In a sense, you could argue it is too prescient, too on-the-nose, trying too much to scream in your face wanting you to understand the subtext. And yet theres something oddly gripping about it, particularly in an episode that sees the show jump ahead three years from when we last saw it but where it looks like Philip has travelled ten years into the past and Elizabeth 30 into the future.



While this may be the best moment to remind us that Elizabeth does what shes told, it could have applied to any stage over the past five seasons and been accurate. But it feels especially appropriate for introspection as she is given a suicide pill in case she is arrested, such is the gravity of what she now knows. And the music element is truly notable when in contrast to what plays with Philip later in the hour, with Mel McDaniels Louisiana Saturday Night accompanying him and his Dupon Circle Travel employees in the dance bar. Never have we seen him as full of life as he is throughout this hour.



Because Elizabeth is struggling. Really struggling. Struggling in a way that makes Philips uncertainty look like a party. Her previous lowest moment, in season fours The Magic of David Copperfield V, has nothing on this, although there is a similarly heated argument involving our central couple. Only this time Philip doesnt want to duel, just divulge Olegs approach, and she shuts him down angrily, harshly.



For all the troubles theyve had, mostly in the first season, these two have been husband and wife rather than simply being married for quite some time; last seasons actual ceremony made for a nice confirmation and renewal of that. When we last saw them three years ago, they were at the height of their love for one another.



But that was three years ago. To see their relationship now is haunting and saddening, because something that Elizabeth suggested has given Philip a new lease of life, but given her a living nightmare. Director Chris Long uses a beautiful shot in the teaser of her standing against a metal fence, and to see into her baggy, empty eyes is to see a woman at the end of her tether.



And so we come back to Peter Gabriel. The song is written around Stanley Milgrams social psychology experiment from the 1960s, in which he asked his participants, who were acting as teachers, to shock learners when they made mistakes, gradually increasing the shock level. The learner was actually part of the experiment and the shocks werent real, but often reached what would have been fatal levels.



Is there much difference between that and Elizabeth right now? She has always done this because she loves her country, and that patriotism has never wavered. And yet its hard not to draw parallels  Milgrams test subjects were pushed to horrifying levels, ultimately obedient when a legitimate shock would have killed a person. There was no end to how far theyd go when told, and there seems to be no end for Elizabeth either.



Theres a very slight smugness about Philip when he reminds her that he suggested the work would finally get to her. It isnt intentional; its simply part and parcel of making a valid point such as that. But you can see how glad Philip is to be out, and seeing his wife in this state only makes that clearer. Its why the time jump works so well  there is no need to lumber through his recovery when we can simply be presented with this image: a ghostly Elizabeth arguing with a beaming Philip.



Its made all the more concerning by Paiges progress. As she tells her carefully constructed lie to Navy officer Hanley, its clear how far shes come since first being tasked with keeping tabs on Pastor Tim. Shes good at this, and for good reason. But she has also shed the doubt and fear she once had for this line of work, instead seemingly embracing it.



Her attitude change  Paige is practically giddy after watching some Russian television with her mom and Claudia  is scary as a viewer. For Philip, who was always adamant it would destroy her, theres probably a combination of fear and excitement; he knows first-hand what this job can do, but he also knows the Centre would use her somehow and at least she enjoys this.



But what Dead Hand doesnt need to state is that Elizabeth is the most concerned for her daughter. Her facade of being okay is at its height in front of Paige, letting her broken side show through only when alone and with Philip or Claudia. Because if Paige knew just how truly awful Elizabeths life was, she may well just opt for a life on college campus sneaking boys in at night.



Elizabeths outburst is a marker that reminds us of how little there is left of this wonderful show. Her heart has been in it from the start but with her in such a dire condition, its hard not to see her do something reckless. Remember, the last time she was even remotely this strained, she murdered one of her marks.



Its smart, then, that Philip will likely take up Olegs task and keep tabs on her, because he is the only one with a clear head right now, and he knows just how dark a path she is on.



Notes:

 Olegs return  complete with beard, wife, and son  was joyous, as was Arkadys (Lev Gorn). Costa Ronin remains a strong performer with a tear-heavy goodbye to wife Elina and son Sasha, and I enjoyed his scenes with Gorn and Matthew Rhys, too. I really hope he doesnt die.

 The thought of Margo Martindale sneaking boys into her dorm at night is incredible. Ill let Deadpool have the last word on that one. Also, Martindale is in the opening credits for, I think, the first time on the show.

 I didnt really mention Dead Hand above, but it will be the crux of this season and Elizabeths knowledge of it puts her in more danger than ever before, only this time the danger comes from Mother Russia via herself.

 It was good to have a reminder of just how amusing I find it that Stans kitchen is the exact same as the Jennings kitchen.

 Speaking of Stan, he married Renee (Laurie Holden), although that probably doesnt put fully to bed any lingering suspicions of her being a KGB agent.

 The premiere was dedicated to Ning Li, who worked in the camera department in seasons two to four and who sadly passed away in November.



What did everyone think of Dead Hand? What are you hoping for in the final season? Leave a comment with your thoughts!



New York, March 31, 2018 (SPS)  UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres has proposed a budget of $53.87 million to maintain the functioning of the UN Mission for the referendum in Western Sahara (Minurso) for the mandate from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019.

The budget proposal does not include voluntary contributions worth $ 519,000, according to the General Secretariat document, seen by APS.

Guterres has practically maintained the same amount allocated to Minurso in 2017, which was then estimated at $ 52 million. The previous year's budget was also maintained in the wake of the major cuts made by the United Nations in the peacekeeping operations budget, under pressure from the United States.

The proposed budget covers the deployment of 218 military observers, 27 military personnel, 12 United Nations police officers, 82 international staff, 163 national staff, 18 United Nations volunteers and 10 staff members provided by governments, says the document.

Guterres' proposal will be considered next May by the UN's Fifth Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Matters, just after the Security Council consultations scheduled for April to extend the mandate of the Mission. (SPS)

062/SPS/APSAs the end of the month approaches, Connecticut Christians are getting ready for Easter. But just how much of the state will be celebrating?

In 2014, the Pew Research Center conducted an in-depth study into the religious breakdown of the United States based on telephone calls with 35,000 Americans from all 50 states.STAMFORD  The Pellicci murder case might be the citys oldest and coldest.

But maybe not for long.

After 45 years, the stars are aligning for a possible resolution of a case steeped in the corruption that once choked Stamford.

Recent weeks have brought major developments:

The district attorney in New York, where the body of 32-year-old Joseph Pellicci was found beside a road in 1973, agreed to turn the case and evidence over to Stamford.

The state issued a $50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction.

Two retired Stamford police officers who now work as private detectives  one was among the original investigators and the other is an expert on the case  will assist Stamford police.

The murder will be featured in the pilot episode of a planned crime series, Justice Delayed.

Pellicci, son of the founder of a popular Stamford restaurant, was kidnapped near his Westover home on a Sunday morning in February, and found a month later beside a Westchester County road. He was found shot to death with his hands tied and a blanket around his head.

The family balked at talk that it was a mob hit. The killing was personal, they said.

But the mob may be the reason the case went cold, said Vito Colucci, a former Stamford police officer who thought he and his partner had it solved soon after the body was discovered.

The problem, Colucci said, was that they told their lieutenant, Larry Hogan, they were ready to make an arrest.

He took us right off the case, Colucci said. We asked why, thinking he wanted the collar for himself. He just said, Never mind. After that nothing happened. We didnt know at the time that Larry was crooked.

Racket city

Hogan was an agent of the Gambino crime family. Even as he headed city and regional law enforcement narcotics squads, Hogan handled the mobs drug trade  and more  in Connecticut.

When youre a cop, you always have a case in your life that you look back at and say, That didnt go right, said Colucci, now head of Colucci Investigations Inc. This is it for me.

After Pellicci was murdered, Colucci went undercover to help the FBI develop information on Hogan, who died of cancer shortly before he was to be arrested. In the mid-1970s, Colucci and other police officers, along with some city employees, came forward to report cops running burglary and gun-running rings, a firefighter who ran an arson ring, city contracts awarded without bids, promotions given as favors, money disappearing from city accounts, and more.

In that setting, the mob infiltrated the city and ran lucrative drug, gambling, loansharking and extortion rackets. Hogan was a major player, Colucci said, and could easily have interfered in the Pellicci case.

He was big in it, Colucci said. I cant say anything beyond that right now.

Colucci is working on the case with another retired detective-turned-private investigator. Butch Lupinacci didnt join the Stamford Police Department until six years after the Pellicci murder. But hes come to know everything about the case since he married Pelliccis sister.

Two jurisdictions

The case was confusing from the start, Lupinacci said. Police think Pellicci was kidnapped on Wyndover Lane, where his car was found. But New York was in charge because the body was found there. No one knows for sure where he was killed, Lupinacci said.

Stamford police had witnesses who saw a vehicle stopped near Pelliccis car, gave most of the license plate number and a description of the men inside. The car contained evidence matching that found on the body, and there were other clues, Lupinacci said.

Stamford police quickly developed two suspects, he said. But it went nowhere.

Later, when I was with the (Stamford) detective bureau, they let me assist New York police with the case on and off. I developed some evidence. It was presented to the Westchester assistant district attorney, Lupinacci said. But he didnt want to proceed with it.

Its not clear why.

Now, Lupinacci said, one of the suspects is deceased. The other is alive and living in Stamford.

Eerie encounter

Lupinacci said he ran into the man in a supermarket last year.

He called me a dirt-bag cop. I called him a murderer. He told me, Youll never prove it in court, Lupinacci said.

Lupinacci decided to ask Stamford Police Chief Jon Fontneau whether he would request a reward from the state. Fontneau wrote to Stamford States Attorney Richard Colangelo, who contacted Gov. Dannel Malloy.

Fontneau, Colangelo and Malloy are Stamford natives who likely know about the notorious case. Malloy signed off on a $50,000 reward for information concerning the kidnapping  the Connecticut crime.

On March 21, the Westchester County district attorney approved the case transfer.

Stamford police look forward to the challenge, Capt. Richard Conklin said.

Well pull the case apart and look at it. Its good training and good work for our officers, said Conklin, who said the city does not have many cold cases. DNA is the most significant leap forward since fingerprints. They didnt have that in 1973. Well see if this case lends itself to new techniques.

Made for TV

It certainly lends itself to a crime show, said another Stamford native, Robert Sciglimpaglia, an attorney, actor, producer and longtime friend of Colucci.

Sciglimpaglia said his company, Belair Productions, is negotiating with several networks interested in his crime series, Justice Delayed, which focuses on the plights of victims and their families. The format has family members asking Sciglimpaglia for help with an unsolved case, shows how Colucci investigates it, how the case is prepared for the district attorney, and how it ends up.

The Pellicci case is a classic victims story, Sciglimpaglia said. Its a case that has been around forever and should have been solved many times. The family has had to live with it every day all these years. They are always forgotten.

Sciglimpaglia is working with Shake the Tree Productions of New York, which began shooting re-enactments of the crime last month.

Real-life role

Actor Bobby Pavia, a Stamford teacher who runs theater programs at Stamford and Westhill high schools and Cloonan Middle School, plays Pellicci. Pavia said he grew up eating at Pelliccis restaurant.

Joey Pelliccis picture in on the menu. My dad always told me the story, said Pavia, whose father is former Stamford High Principal Tony Pavia. We got to know the Pellicci family.

Playing the role was eerie, said Pavia, who is about the same age Pellicci was when he died. Pelliccis sisters, Toni Lupinacci and Fran Gross, told him he resembles their brother. The scenes were shot where they happened, in weather similar to what it was on the day Pellicci disappeared.

The coldness and the darkness of the day, the snow, the fact we were shooting outside Joeys old house, it makes you think  what really happened? What did the killers say to get him in their car? All this stuff goes through your head, Pavia said. They wrapped me in a rug, like the killers did to Joe, and took me out of that and dumped me in the woods. I have to say I was very spiritual in that moment.

Pelliccis sisters could not watch portions of the re-enactment, Lupinacci said.

It opened deep wounds, he said.

He wonders whether circumstances finally are right to catch a killer.

It may be the last good look this case gets, Conklin said.STAMFORD  Each Monday and Thursday afternoon, a group of young Christians  known as Huskies in Christ  meet on the second floor at the University of Connecticut-Stamford.

The college students gather for about an hour to read the Bible and discuss what the passages mean to each of them.

It was coincidence the group met on Holy Thursday, a day commemorating the Last Supper of Christ prior to his arrest and crucifixion. At this meeting, the Huskies discussed a reading from the Book of James about Elijah, who prayed for and received rain after three and a half years.

Like the movie Holes, joked Jennifer Flores, 21, a junior general studies major.

The students discussed how to have hope and faith and how to maintain patience during moments of suffering, all within the context of the Holy Week. After watching an animated video about hope in the Bible, they ended the meeting with a prayer.

The students may be part of the majority in the state  Pew Research Center shows 70 percent of adults in Connecticut are Catholic  but theyre in the minority for their age group. According to the same 2014 Pew study, about 17 percent of Christians are between the ages of 18 and 29. A similar Pew study from 2015 shows this age group is most likely to have no religious affiliation.

So what compels these students toward Christ? Many of the Huskies in Christ members were raised in religious families to some degree.

Joanne Gonzalez, 27, a senior general studies major who joined the group this semester, was raised Roman Catholic, but her parents were lax about their faith. But when the Greenwich resident was 19, she wanted to find some direction.

I was going through this period of isolation, she said. It was really painful going through it all alone. I realized somethings missing in my life.

More News Christianity in Connecticut

Gonzalez tried pursuing her dream becoming a cartoonist in hopes shed find fulfillment. But she noticed religious themes kept popping up in her drawings. She began to turn back to religion and is now the only member of her family who regularly attends church. She identifies as simply Christian as she continues to explore her faith.

The closer I get (to God), the more stability I feel, she said. I feel like hes transforming me and I feel like its going to be a process until the end of my life.

Gonzalez thinks many young people shy away from religion because they dont want to believe a higher power has control of their lives. But for Jennifer Flores, God gives her free will as well as opportunities to honor him, whether its going to church weekly or studying the Bible or praying.

For Flores and her husband, Anthony, 21, who is head of Huskies in Christ, one of the ways they felt they could honor God was by getting married last August. The UConn-Stamford juniors met while at Stamford High and now live in Bridgeport.

Getting married at a young age has drawn some awkward reactions from peers, but Jennifer Flores said it was a way to show her love for her husband and God.

Growing up, I always thought dating was a whatever thing, she said. You just date cause why not? I grew up in the church, but I didnt always understand what relationships meant in regards to marriage. Marriage is actually really important in the eyes of God. In our position, we prayed about it and we did feel we were led to be married so we thought why not walk in faith with that step and honor God with our lives? Us getting married at age 21 can give God glory. Its not always about traveling the world and feeding people who are hungry. Sometimes its a simple act of faith.

Flores said she also got married because she loves her husband. Flores said assumptions about them getting married young simply because of God is one of the several misconceptions she and her Christian peers face.

Some people just dont understand what the Christian faith is about because of all the mess that theyve heard growing up, Flores said. We just dont like your sin. One of the biggest things we as believers understand is all sin is all equal. ... But I guess they dont understand were just called to love. Theres nothing in there about hating them for their sin.

UConn is a nonsecular school, but Huskies in Christ members said theyre not the only Christians on campus. However, not everyone is as comfortable expressing their faith.

There are a lot of Christian students that wont necessarily be comfortable talking about their faith or having any sign theyre part of the faith, especially on campus, for whatever reason, Anthony Flores said. Thats one of the reasons why were trying to angle this group toward those people as well, to make them feel more comfortable with their faith on campus. ... Its a perceived fear that they would be rejected because of their faith.

Huskies in Christ, in its third year, aims to be a place where people can explore their faith regardless of how they identify. In studying the Bible and sharing ideas, Anthony Flores said the group has helped strengthen his beliefs.

But even discussing his faith with his non-religious peers has strengthened his beliefs. Flores said that while many UConn students may not be believers, all seem relatively accepting and open to his faith.

My peers are far different types of people, he said. I relate to them on all different levels. When I talk to them about faith, theyre understanding . A lot of peers are very atheist and very nonchalant about it all...I talk to them about these things to give them a clear picture about what I believe in. I feel like Im strengthening myself showing them what I believe in.Florida police arrested a woman who they believe had a baby with her brother.

Pauline Martin admitted to being in a romantic sexual relationship with her brother for five years before giving birth to a baby together in November 2017, a police report by the Lake County Sheriff's Office detailed.I f youre looking for ways to keep your little bunnies entertained this Easter weekend, then you cant beat an egg hunt for sugar-fuelled excitement.

From chocolate-centric sleuthing to literary-themed escapades, here are the London egg hunts you should be hopping your way round this Easter.

Cadburys Easter Egg Hunts with National Trust

Chocolate connoisseurs Cadburys are yet again bringing their egg hunts to over 250 National Trust locations across the country. In London, you can track them down at Fenton House (Hampstead), Ham House (Richmond), Morden Hall Park (Morden), Osterley Park (Isleworth), Rainham Hall (Havering), Red House (Bexleyheath) and Sutton House (Hackney).

March 30  April 2, from 2 admission, various locations, easter.cadbury.co.uk

Giant 45kg Easter egg made at Cadbury World

East Village, Stratford

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Dig out your ruby slippers for this one, as East Village in Stratford will be hosting a Wizard of Oz-themed hunt. Kids can kick off their trail by meeting Dorothy, who will send them on their way around the neighbourhood. Searching through the areas emerald green spaces for chocolate eggs, families will encounter the lion, the tin man and the scarecrow  as well the wicked witch of the west.

March 31, free, Victory Parade, East Village, E20 1GF, eastvillagelondon.co.uk

Lindt Gold Bunny hunt at Hampton Court

So its not technically an egg hunt, but a quest to find a Lindt Gold Bunny is a more than worthy charge. At Hampton Court Palace, families can hunt down the tasty treat while discovering the history of sweet-toothed kings and queens. Visit the 18th century Chocolate Kitchen, decorate a ceramic chocolate cup and meet Georgian Queen Caroline, before getting your hands on your very own golden bunny.

March 26  April 15, included in admission, East Molesey, KT8 9AU; hrp.org.uk

Bluebird

Chelsea institution: the courtyard at Bluebird

Easter is your bank holiday too, so Bluebird is mixing their egg hunt with something for the grown-ups. Those heading to the Chelsea hotspot for brunch can bring their little ones to the courtyard to track down the elusive Easter eggs, before adults can retire to their table (or the cocktail bar) to celebrate their winnings.

April 1, tickets for egg hunt from 10, bluebird-restaurant.co.uk

Battersea Park Zoo

Your little bunnies wont be the only cute critters on this Easter trail. Battersea Park Zoo is hiding its Easter eggs all across its resident animals enclosures over the bank holiday weekend. Get a quiz sheet and keep note of what animals are harbouring the coveted colourful eggs, before picking up a prize at the end.

March 30  April 2, from 1.50 plus admission, batterseaparkzoo.co.ukB ritain's most senior police officer has blamed social media for the soaring rate of knife crime in the UK, particularly among children.

After 13 Londoners were killed in two weeks this month, Met Commissioner Cressida Dick said websites and mobile phone applications such as YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram were partially to blame for the bloodshed.

Fatal stabbings in England and Wales are now at their highest levels since 2011, rising by 12 per cent in the year ending December 2017.

Speaking to the Times, Ms Dick said trivial disputes could escalate into violence "within minutes" when rivals set out to goad each other on the internet.

"There's definitely something about the impact of social media in terms of people being able to go from slightly angry with each other to 'fight' very quickly," she said.

She said that insults or threats online "makes [violence] faster, it makes it harder for people to cool down. I'm sure it does rev people up".

She compared the speed at which youths with no previous or very limited criminal record can become killers to the way some Islamic extremists become radicalised in a matter of days.

Last August, 15-year-old Jermaine Goupall was knifed to death in Thornton Heath in the climax of a feud between rival gangs posting mocking videos on YouTube.

So far this year, 29 people have been knifed to death just in London and fatal stabbings in England and Wales are at their highest levels since 2010-2011.

Ms Dick said drug dealing and absent fathers were also a challenge, but emphasised "it is absolutely as much about socioeconomic factors as anything else".

She urged recreational drug users to consider the "fear and misery" they were causing by fuelling street dealing and the associated knife crime.R ussia has demanded to know why it has been "denied consular access" to the Skripals in a fresh list of questions for British authorities.

The embassy published a list of 14 questions on Saturday over the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury.

The first question on the list read: "Why has Russia been denied consular access to the two Russian nationals, Sergei and Yulia Skripal, that have become crime victims in the British territory?"

It also included demands to know what treatment the pair were given and queried France's "involvement" in the investigation.

Police found traces of the nerve agent on the Skripal's front door / AP

It asked if the Novichok could have been "researched, developed or produced in the UK".

The Russian Embassy previously released a list of 27 questions about the case, including details about the Skripals' condition.

It also claimed Mr Skripal's niece had been inquiring after his health but that she had been ignored by the Foreign Office, and asked why no images or footage of the Skripals in hospital had been published.

Russian spy poisoning: Military forces work on a van in Winterslow / AP

Earlier on Saturday, the UK Foreign Office said it was considering a request from Russia to see Ms Skripal.

A spokeswoman for the FCO said the "rights and wishes of Yulia" will be taken into account as well as internal laws.

Ms Skripal spent three weeks in a critical condition after she and her father were exposed to Novichok on March 4.

Military personnel wearing protective coveralls carry out their work in Salisbury / AFP

The Russian Embassy had said it "insists" on the right to see Ms Skripal, 33, after it emerged she was improving rapidly.

An FCO spokeswoman said: "We are considering requests for consular access in line with our obligations under international and domestic law, including the rights and wishes of Yulia Skripal."

Mr Skripal remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

Investigators in protective gear pursue the probe into the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal / Getty

The Russian embassy also accused British authorities of "another blatant provocation" after an Aeroflot flight was allegedly searched by Border Force officers at Heathrow.

An embassy official suggested that the jet, which had arrived from Moscow on a scheduled return trip, had been searched in connection with the diplomatic crisis over the Salisbury spy poisoning.

The row intensified after the Kremlin ordered Britain to reduce the number of diplomats in Moscow down to the same amount that Russia has in London.

Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident 1 /14 Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident Investigators in protective gear pursue the probe into the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal Getty Russian spy 'poisoning': Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal are fighting for life in hospital PA Personnel in hazmat suits work to secure a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA ilitary personnel are deployed to help remove vehicles from the scene after former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found critically ill after exposure to a nerve agent in Salisbury Getty Images Military in protective clothing remove vehicles from a car park in Salisbury EPA Police cordon: Military personnel in Salisbury PA Traces of the nerve agent used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found at Zizzi in Salisbury PA Amber Rudd: she visited the scene where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found after having been poisoned by a nerve agent REUTERS Personnel are helped from their hazmat suits (right), after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA Personnel in hazmat suits walk away after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA Police put a red bag inside a police evidence bag immediately after the nerve agent attack on a Russian spy. Officers previously issued CCTV of a woman clutching a red bag Solent news Snap Fitness 24/7 Police activity in the cul-de-sac in Salisbury that contains the home of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal who was poisoned along with daughter Yulia with a nerve agent PA Sergei Skripal shops at Bargain Stop in a CCTV image from five days before his apparent poisoning

In response to reports that more than 50 British diplomats would be removed, the embassy said: "It is not about expulsion of British diplomats, it is about setting the overall number of people working at UK diplomatic missions in Russia and Russian diplomatic missions in the UK on the same level."

The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats in the wake of the poisoning of Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia with the nerve agent Novichok.

Russia has told a number of countries - including Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Norway and Australia - they must send home the same number of diplomats as they had ordered to leave their nations.

Salisbury spy attack: What we know so far

So far, more than 150 Russian diplomats, some of whom are suspected spies, have been told to return home by the UK's allies.

Scotland Yard believes Mr Skripal and his daughter, who was visiting him from Russia, first came into contact with the deadly chemical at his home.

Detailed forensic testing revealed the highest concentration of Novichok was found on the front door.

Mr Skripal and his daughter have been patients at Salisbury District Hospital since they were discovered unconscious on a park bench close to The Maltings shopping centre nearly four weeks ago.

Wiltshire Police Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who was also exposed to the nerve agent, was discharged from the hospital last week.A ctor Eddie Redmayne lead mourners with a reading at the funeral of Professor Stephen Hawking, as well-wishers lined the streets applauding the world-famous scientist.

Redmayne, who played the role of Professor Stephen Hawking in the 2014 biographical drama The Theory of Everything, was among 500 guests invited to the University Church of St Mary the Great in Cambridge.

He gave a biblical reading at the service, and Astronomer Royal Martin Rees also spoke.

Hundreds of people had lined the streets ahead of the service and a round of applause broke out as six porters from the physicist's former college, Gonville and Caius, carried Prof Hawkings coffin from the hearse into the church.

Mourners arrive at the funeral of Prof Stephen Hawking 1 /14 Mourners arrive at the funeral of Prof Stephen Hawking The hearse containing Professor Stephen Hawking arrives at University Church of St Mary the Great in Cambridge PA Relatives and family members wait as the coffin of Professor Stephen Hawking is lifted from the hearse PA Jane Hawking and her son Timothy REUTERS Relatives and family members wait as the coffin of Professor Stephen Hawking is lifted from the hearse PA The casket containing Professor Stephen Hawking is carried into the University Church of St Mary the Great PA Prof Stephen Hawking's son Robert PA British actor Eddie Redmayne REUTERS Actor Felicity Jones and her partner Charles Guard PA Reverend Dr Cally Hammond, Dean of Cambridge University's Gonville and Caius College PA Presenter Charlotte Hawkins, who is also patron of the Motor Neurone Disease Association PA Queen guitarist Brian May and actress Anita Dobson PA Model Lily Cole PA Comic Dara O Briain PA Crowds gather outside Great St Marys Church REUTERS

The oak coffin was covered in white lilies and roses to represent stars and planets.

His family arrived in cars behind the hearse and were last into the church.

The casket containing Professor Stephen Hawking is carried into the University Church of St Mary / PA

Guests seen arriving earlier for the service included model and Cambridge University graduate Lily Cole, Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May and comedian Dara O Briain, who made a documentary about Prof Hawking.

Redmayne: the actor, who played the late Professor in the 2014 The Theory of Everything, arriving at the funeral / PA

Redmayne was one of the first to arrive at the funeral, wearing a navy blue suit.

He was followed by co-star Felicity Jones, who played Prof Hawking's wife in the movie, who was also seen arriving with her partner.

Friends: Redmayne played he scientist in the film PA) / PA

Redmaynes reading was followed by one by the Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees.

Eulogies were delivered by Robert Hawking, Prof Hawking's eldest child, and Professor Fay Dowker, a former student of Prof Hawking.

Prof Hawking's former wife Jane and her son Timothy arrive at Great St Marys Church / REUTERS

The service was officiated by the Reverend Dr Cally Hammond, Dean of Cambridge University's Gonville and Caius College, where Prof Hawking was a fellow for 52 years.

Crowds gather outside Great St Marys Church / REUTERS

The bell of Great St Mary will toll 76 times, once for each year of Prof Hawking's life, when Prof Hawking's coffin arrives.

The flags of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Trinity Hall, Cambridge and University College, Oxford are flying at half-mast in honour of Prof Hawking.

Hawking: The funeral is taking place in Cambridge

After news of the scientist's death broke earlier this month, Redmayne shared a heartwarming tribute saying: "We have lost a truly beautiful mind, an astonishing scientist and the funniest man I have ever had the pleasure to meet.

Professor Stephen Hawking dies at the age of 76S exual harassment and workplace bullying among teachers is rife, according to a new study.

A poll issued by the NASUWT (The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers) found 81 per cent of teachers had suffered sexual harassment or bullying in the workplace.

One in five (20 per cent) said they had been sexually harassed at school by a colleague, manager, parent or pupil since becoming a teacher.

Over half (51 per cent) have been subjected to inappropriate comments about sex, and 21 per cent have been sexually propositioned.

The study was released as the NASUWT met in Birmingham / PA Archive/PA Images

The figures were released as the NASUWT met for its annual conference in Birmingham on Saturday.

Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said: Whilst the scale of the sexual harassment is deeply disturbing, equally disturbing is the scale of the failure to act on the incidents that were reported.

The NASUWT will be using this survey to empower teachers to speak out. There can be no place in our schools for sexual harassment or bullying of staff.

Schools should be places of safety, yet research undertaken by the NASUWT is showing us that too often teachers are being exposed to sexualised comments and abuse from colleagues, managers, parents and pupils.

The Government must ensure its responsibility for ensuring that schools are safe environments is taken seriously."

National Education Union bosses have warned the government that British schools in England are facing a "funding catastrophe".G oldman Sachs is investigating after a former employee claimed six colleagues tried to rape her at a client dinner.

The firm said they offered to meet the woman who says a group of men tried to assault in March 1994 as part of a bet.

Three of the men accused were sacked over the offensive and inappropriate behaviour, a spokesman said.

Another two were disciplined, he added.

According to the Daily Mail, she shared details of the incident online.

The newspaper quoted her as saying: My male colleagues would humiliate me daily, for example I was bitten and my name was either s***, mammary or dusty bin. It culminated in a bet to hate f*** gang rape me in a private dining room.

She added that she was s*** shamed and left suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder following the ordeal.

The alleged victim claimed reports of alleged sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein triggered a PTSD episode and prompted her to speak out.

A statement from Goldman Sachs read: We took the concerns raised by this individual very seriously when she first brought them to our attention in 1994.

As was reported extensively by the media at the time, and as the witnesses interviewed corroborated, she was the subject of offensive and inappropriate behaviour. We viewed this behaviour as completely unacceptable then and we still hold that view. Three of the men involved immediately lost their jobs and two others were disciplined.R ussia has accused the UK Government of "another blatant provocation" after a plane was allegedly searched at Heathrow Airport.

The embassy claimed that a flight run by Russian airline Aeroflot was searched by Border Force officers at the London airport after it had arrived from Moscow.

They claimed that the plane had been searched in connection with the diplomatic crisis over the Salisbury spy poisoning.

The row intensified on Friday after the Kremlin ordered Britain to reduce the number of diplomats in Moscow down to the same amount that Russia has in London.

Russian diplomats and family members leave from the Russian Embassy in central London / EPA

It came as ambassadors from more than 20 countries were called into the foreign ministry in Moscow to be told of the latest wave of retaliatory measures being imposed.

Nations all over the world expel Russian diplomats in response to Salisbury attack

As the crisis notched up the Russian embassy in London said British officials had searched an Aeroflot jet that had landed at Heathrow from Moscow.

According to an embassy officer Border Force and customs officers at first tried to search the plane without the crew, although the captain was eventually allowed to be present.

Police: The investigation is ongoing after traces of the nerve agent were found on the Skripal's front door / AP

"Today, we have witnessed another blatant provocation by the British authorities," the official said.

"Border Force and Customs officers have searched the aircraft that was conducting the Aeroflot flights 2582 / 2583, Moscow - London - Moscow. This kind of event is extraordinary."

Security Minister Ben Wallace has said Border Force officers who searched an Aeroflot flight at Heathrow on Friday were carrying out "routine" checks.

He said in a statement: "It is routine for Border Force to search aircraft to protect the UK from organised crime and from those who attempt to bring harmful substances like drugs or firearms into the country.

"Once these checks were carried out the plane was allowed to carry on with its onward journey."

The Metropolitan Police, which is coordinating the investigation into the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, denied it was part of the search.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denied any state involvement in the nerve agent attack / Reuters

The Russian embassy said it had complained to British counterparts and called for an explanation.

"At this moment, we have no other explanation but that the incident at Heathrow is in one way or another connected with the hostile policy that the UK government is conducting with regard to Russia," the official said.

The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats in the wake of the poisoning of Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia with the nerve agent Novichok.

Laurie Bristow, the UK ambassador in Moscow, was among those called into the foreign ministry in Moscow on Friday.

Spy poisoning: Russia to expel same number of diplomats as the West

He told reporters: "It is important to bear in mind why this crisis has arisen in the first place.

"It's the use of a chemical weapon on the streets of the United Kingdom that has threatened the lives of a number of people in my country.

"We asked certain questions of the Russian state and have still not received adequate answers."A head of the debut of his new Sky comedy, In The Long Run, Idris Elba has revealed that the programme contains moments of casual racism within its script.

Elba explained that he wanted his programme to "remind people we were once thicker-skinned" when it airs on the small screen.

While most programmes seek only to entertain the viewers, some shows  such as Elbas offering  shines a light on important issues.

From racism to mental health, here are five times that programmes pushed the boundaries in recent years

In The Long Run trailer

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend  The CW and Netflix

For three seasons, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has cast mental health disorders into the prime-time light as lead Rebecca Bunch  played by one of the shows writers Rachel Bloom  suffers from anxiety, depression and Borderline Personality Disorder.

The CW-aired show, also available on Netflix a few hours later, uses powerful dialogue and musical theatre numbers to document Rebeccas battle with her mental health, as well as the impact of her sometimes erratic behaviour on her loved ones.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is one of many programmes to feature mental health but one of the only to make a complete focus out of it to a devastating but important degree.

Dear White People  Netflix

Dear White People, Netflix Trailer

The Netflix show based on the 2014 film of the same name highlighted social and racial injustice, as a group of black school students attended a predominantly white school.

The programme garnered a mixed reception when it first dropped its trailer, with some accusing the show of being racist towards white viewers  some even called for a boycott of the streaming service. However, any criticism was quashed by the hailing of the programme and the topics covered.

Dear White People: The show is available to stream on Netflix / Adam Rose/Netflix

Creator Justin Simien even had a message for white viewers: Glad youve woken up. Welcome to the revolution.

13 Reasons Why  Netflix

13 Reasons Why: The controversial show was one of the talking points of 2017 / Beth Dubber/Netflix

The series adaptation of a story of a young girl, Hannah Baker, who killed herself and left behind tapes detailing what drove her to suicide was very much one of the talking points of 2017.

The streamed drama attracted all sorts of attention , quite a lot of it for bad reasons as it quickly made a name for itself as a mental health drama that actually failed to mention, well, mental health and people concerned about the glamorisation of suicide. In fact, some schools and communities actually banned the programme from being seen and/or discussed.

The programme, produced by Selena Gomez, will now have a fixed warning before it when it returns for its second series.

Skins  E4

The British-born programme, which even spawned a short-lived American version, pushed just about every single boundary set with topics from drugs, sex and drinking to sexuality, illness and vulnerability covered in its 61-episode run.

Occasionally plunged into controversy about just how far is too far, the programme was hailed for approaching sensitive storylines in an accessible way.

Girls  HBO and Sky Atlantic

Girls Season 6 Trailer (HD)

Lena Dunhams comedy, first aired in 2012, followed a group of four young women  Hannah, Marnie, Shoshanna and Jessa - living in New York City as they navigated through life, love and work.The record is clear that our (that is, the ruling Establishments) intelligence agencies, such as the CIA, have lied to the public many times, actually lie routinely  but these lies are always revealed only decades later, by historians, which is too late, because the damage was already done. Think, for example, of just two of the now-famous cases, Iran 1953, and Chile 1973, in both of which instances the US Government ended a democracy abroad, and established a brutal dictatorship there (the Shah in Iran, and Pinochet in Chile)  but what good can a historian do, when the Government and its news-media were persistently lying, and they had fooled the US public, at the time  which is all that really counted (and ever will count)? Can a historian undo the damage that the Government and its propaganda-agencies had perpetrated, by means of their lies, and coups, and invasions? Never. But this Government, and its propaganda-agents, claim to defend democracies, not to end them. Can it actually be a democracy, if its doing such things, and doing it time after time?

Somethings deeply wrong here. Government by deceit, cannot be a democracy. And, yet, the public still dont get the message, even after it has been delivered to us in history-books. By then, its no longer in the news, and so only few people really care about it. The message of history is not learned. The public still accepts the ongoing lies  the new lies, in the new news, for the new atrocities.

During the period after the Soviet Union, and its communism, and its Warsaw Pact military alliance, all ended in 1991, the US-and-allied historical record (all now after the Cold War has supposedly been over) is even worse, and is even more clearly evil, because the ideological excuse that had formerly existed (and which was only the excuse, and not the reason, in most cases, such as in Iran, and in Chile) is gone.

Iraq in 2003 was a particularly blatant demonstration of the US-Governments psychopathy regarding foreign affairs. So: lets consider this example (hopefully, to learn a lesson from it  which still hasnt yet been learnt):

Bill Clintons CIA chief George Tenet told President George W. Bush that convincing the American people that Saddam Hussein had WMD, weapons of mass destruction, was a slam-dunk. His job wasnt to find the truth, but to authenticate the evidence to back up the President, and Tenet did just that. The American people went for it, even though no WMD actually remained in Iraq, because the U.N. inspectors in 1998 had destroyed all of them, and because there was no indication (other than hired and coerced testimony, and especially fabrications from CIA-partnered anti-Saddam Iraqis such as Ahmed Chalabi) that there had been restored in Iraq any WMD program. A crucial date was 7 September 2002, when George W. Bush and Tony Blair both said that a new report had just been issued by the IAEA saying that Saddam Hussein was only six months away from having a nuclear weapon. The IAEA promptly denied that it had issued any such new report at all, and the news media simply ignored the denial, which the IAEA then repeated weeks later, and it again was ignored; so, the false impression, that such an IAEA report had been issued, remained in the publics minds, and they favored invading Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein before there would be, as Condoleezza Rice warned the next day following Bush-Blair, on September 8th, a mushroom cloud. It was all just lies  lies that were believed, at the time, and even believed by many for a long time after we invaded. Some of these lies were derived from torturing detainees  torturing them to say what the US and British regimes wanted them to say.

On 25 April 2007, Tenet told CBS 60 Minutes that

We don't torture people. Okay?" Tenet says.

"Come on, George," Pelley says.

"We don't torture people," Tenet maintains.

"Khalid Sheikh Mohammad?" Pelley asks.

"We don't torture people," Tenet says.

"Water boarding?" Pelley asks.

"We do not  I don't talk about techniques," Tenet replies.

"It's torture," Pelley says.

"And we don't torture people.

US President Donald Trump has now appointed to lead the CIA the very same woman, Gina Haspel, who had operated, under Tenet, under Bush, the CIA black site in Thailand, where Abu Zubaydeh was waterboarded 83 times and otherwise tortured so that he lost his left eye. The reason why he was being tortured was in order to extract from him testimony that Saddam Hussein had been involved in 9/11, but Zubaydeh didnt even know anything about any such matter, and tried desperately to say what he thought his torturers wanted him to say, so as to stop these tortures, but he didnt know that they were intending to torture him until he would implicate Saddam Hussein in causing the 9/11 attacks. And so the torturing just went on and on. The CIAs Haspel finally gave up, after deciding that hed die if they continued any further. The problem now was to hide him from the public. So, Zubaydeh subsequently has been held incommunicado at Guantanamo since 2001, so that he cant communicate with anyone in the outside world, and thus the crimes of George Bush and his employee George Tenet and his employee Gina Haspel, cant be prosecuted. And, now, Trump appoints her to Tenets old spot, as the CIA Director. So: Bush had hired her, then protected her. Obama protected instead of prosecuted her. And, finally, Trump now promotes her, to be the CIAs new chief. She has demonstrated herself to be a reliable liar for whomever is her boss. Trump therefore can trust her to vouch for whatever he wants her to prove, to whatever American suckers still remain, as being American suckers.

This isnt new, but maybe its just worse. Think JFK assassination. Think RFK assassination. Think MLK assassination. And, even think about the CIAs Gladio operation, which since the very start of the CIA, has been setting up atrocities designed to deceive their publics, so as to blame, first, the USSRs Government, and then, now, Russias Government. (And, also, Irans Government, and Iraqs Government, and Syrias Government, and Libyas Government, and Ukraines Government  any Government thats friendly toward Russia  all for the purpose of regime-change, so as to pump up the sales of corporations such as Lockheed Martin and BAE, and to extend the properties of oil and gas companies like ExxonMobil. Lying to the public, in order to back up what the President wants, is what the American intelligence community is designed to do. And, things arent much better in UK. (But Seymour Hersh reported that, at least one time, they were somewhat better.)

Is this type of government really in service to the public, anywhere? It is in service to the allied aristocracies  those of US & Israel & Sauds & British & etc.  who own those weapons-making firms. The military tail wags this democratic dog.

Globally, there is a competition between aristocracies, and they are contending gangs. Thats no different than was the case leading up to WW I. But WW III will end it all  and all of us  unless the public wises up, and fast, and recognizes whom their real enemies are (which are internal, not external). Without cooperation from the news-media (owned by those aristocracies), to expose (instead of spread) the frauds, WW III  the end of everything  is in the cards. Its in the cards, right now. And, this time, its not a mistake. It wont need any wild assassin to spark the conflagration. Instead, its the plan. It has actually been building ever since 24 February 1990. And this has been even more confirmed now.

Should we trust our intelligence agencies to tell us how theyre carrying out the plan? Are we idiots? Or is it just that the news media are an arm of the CIA? In fact, "Americas Top Scientists Confirm: US Goal Now Is to Conquer Russia, but did you read about that in the New York Times, or Washington Post, or UKs Guardian, or at all?

Patriotism is to the public, not to the rulers. Any rulers who expect it to be to them, instead of to the public, are simply tyrants  they are traitors, who happen to rule the public. Do we live in a dictatorship, or in a democracy? If its a dictatorship (such as the best available evidence shows that America is), then this, which we are now experiencing, is simply par for the course. But will we continue to accept it? Or, will we, finally, learn from history? (And, if so, then will we do it fast enough, under the prevailing circumstances?) The time to decide, and to act, could be short. Have we had enough now, of that lying? Because, accepting just a little bit more of it, could mean the end of everything. If its not going to be the end of the liars, it will probably soon be the end of everything. Because thats the path we now are on.Eric MARGOLIS

There was something refreshing about watching former French president Nicholas Sarkozy being interrogated in a French jail. Particularly since he may soon be accused of conspiracy in the murder of my old friend, Col. Muammar Khadaffi of Libya.

Sarkozy and his former chief of staff, Claude Gueant, are being investigated for secretly accepting at least fifty million Euros from Khadaffi for his 2007 electoral campaign. Such a payment violated Frances maximum permissible limit for political donation, not to mention a ban on foreign financing of candidates and failure to report the payments. Sarko also faces investigation over secret payments from the Gulf oil states.

French political candidates often have to wade through the sewers to finance their campaigns because spending limits were set relatively low to prevent big money from buying the elections, as in the United States.

These charges against Khadaffi and Gueant have been percolating for years with only a muted response. Sarkozy also got into hot water after he was accused of bilking large sums of cash from a senile heiress to Frances LOreal cosmetics company.

But three years ago, a French-Lebanese businessman told the French investigative site Mediapart that he had given suitcases with 5 million Euros (US $6.2 million) to Gueant. The former chief of staff would later claim the cash was payment for a painting he had sold to the shady Lebanese. Of course it was!

In 2007, Sarkozy became president of France. At the time, he and Khadaffi appeared to be best of friends. The Libyan leader made a gala visit to Paris, pitched his Bedouin tent on the grounds of the presidential palace and received the lavish official welcome that the French do so well.

France was interested in Libyas high quality oil and using Libya as a beachhead for expanding Paris former influence in North Africa. France and Libya secretly colluded to fight Islamist rebels in the region who were battling French-installed puppet rulers in West and Central Africa.

But then Sarkozy turned sharply against the Khadaffi regime and joined US and British efforts to overthrow it. This was not the first time. Former French president, Francois Mitterrand, ordered his intelligence chief, Count de Marenches, to destroy Khadaffis personal jet with an altitude-fused bomb. Marenches told me the bomb was secreted aboard the plane, then removed when relations with Tripoli improved.

British intelligence, MI6, also tried to assassinate Khadaffi by means of a car bomb in Benghazi, Libya, but failed, though many civilians were killed.

Sarkozy eventually heeded demands from Hillary Clinton, then US Secretary of State, to launch a war against ostensible ally, Khadaffi, and seize his oil riches.

Warplanes and special forces from the US, France and Britain joined in a sustained attack on Libya, which was cynically misrepresented as a humanitarian rescue mission. French aircraft strafed Khadaffis convoy. French special forces and Libyan mercenaries caught Khadaffi, tortured him with a knife, then shot him dead.

Khadaffi had made the fatal mistake of telling his eldest son, Saif al-Islam, and senior officials about his secret payment to Sarkozy. When word leaked out from Saif, Sarkozy quickly ordered the attack on Libya. Dead men tell no tales. French intelligence is very skilled at rubbing out foes and nuisances.

My surmise is that French justice will find some tenuous link between Sarkozy and Khadaffis murder, but no hard proof Sarko was directly involved. If George W. Bush and Dick Cheney could get away Scott free after killing over one million Iraqi civilians in a trumped-up war, why prosecute Sarko for this minor contretemps?

ericmargolis.comWhen the United States finally agreed to provide Ukraine with lethal military aid at the end of 2017 what the Ukrainians had at the top of their list were M107 12.7mm sniper rifles and special ammo for them. In particular Ukraine wanted the Mk 211 Raufoss round, which is an armor piercing incendiary round. This round in more expensive and designed to destroy light armored vehicles, any exposed equipment (radars and the like) as well as penetrate brick walls and detonate on the other side. In addition to causing fragments that wound or kill the Mk 211 will also cause fires. It is illegal to use the Mk 211 against people and, as a practical matter, it is too expensive (15 times more than standard round) for shooting at people. The Ukrainians want the M107s firing Mk 211 rounds to flush enemy troops out of buildings or to accurately hit and disable unarmored or lightly armored vehicles at long distances. The Ukrainians also wanted some of the latest American electronic sights for 12.7mm rifles, especially the ones that work well at night and over long distances.

The Americans also sent 220 Javelin ATGMs (Anti-Tank Guided Missiles) and 35 launch units. The Ukrainians know that the launch units, with their long-range all weather sights are useful just for surveillance at night. Ukraine already manufactures plenty of sniper rifles and ATGMs. What they need is special gear to better deal with the heavy use of snipers by the Russians. While the enemy in eastern Ukraine (Donbas) is technically rebel Ukrainians the reality is they are mostly Russian regulars or civilian contractors (many of them Russian volunteers who are paid by Russia, and this includes groups like Cossacks). Russia is using the Ukraine to catch up with the West when it comes to large scale use of snipers armed with more powerful sniper rifles. The Donbas is a good place for this because the front line has been static since 2015. That stability is the result of a series of ceasefires. Russia always breaks these ceasefires with sniper, missile and artillery fire. What the Russians are doing is testing new tactics and weapons in an effort to regain highly effective sniper force they had during World War II but lost after the war.

Russia made wide use of snipers during World War II, many of them women. These snipers had simple equipment (tuned up military bolt action rifles and 3.5x or 4x telescopic optical sights) but with lots of work for snipers Russia developed thousands of expert snipers. The post-war Russian military could not maintain this force because the Russians had few career soldiers and depended largely on conscripts. But the current Russian army has a growing percentage of higher paid career soldiers and many of these are equipped with modern (Western style) sniper rifles and accessories and Russia is experimenting with new sniper tactics. In particular Russia is working on using large numbers of snipers in an area, deployed in depth and trained to coordinate their operations. This involves the deployment of multiple sniper platoons (about twenty two man teams) for short (a few days), or longer (weeks) periods in combat to see what impact this has compared to more conventional tactics (smaller numbers of snipers assigned as needed). NATO military advisors (and observers) noticed this mass use of snipers and thats one reason for quickly responding the Ukrainian requests for the M107 sniper rifle and special ammo.

The M107A1 is the latest version of the M107, which is a semi-automatic 12.7mm lightweight (23.5 kg/30 pound) rifle with a ten round magazine and an improved recoil system. The M107 entered service in 2004 replacing most of the bold-action M82 12.7mm rifles that were basically copies of the original Barret 12.7mm rifle that appeared in the 1980s. The M82/M107 can hit man-size targets at 2,000 meters (and 25 percent further in the hands of an expert sniper). The West also developed better 7.62mm (the most common round) sniper rifles as well as these same rifles equipped to fire slightly larger (8.6mm) and much longer range rounds. But the 12.7mm riffle based on the original Barrett design remains the sniper rifle with the longest range and largest round. Thus the design of the Mk 211 round only really works in 12.7mm.

The Russia response to the new Western snipers has been the recently introduced T-5000 sniper rifle. Russia has been testing and tweaking the T-5000 since 2011 and that resulted in a very effective sniper weapon. The T-5000 rifle was the sort of weapon Russian snipers had been asking for since this sort of high-tech design first showed up in the West as the Cold War was ending. Russia really could not compete with Western weapons manufacturers until they got legal access to Western technology and markets. That happened in the 1990s and Russian firms have been producing a growing number of world-class designs. This gave Russian manufacturers access to the large market police and civilian shooter market in the West. For example, to be successful most T-5000 sales must go to non-military users.

Russian special operations troops sent to Syria after 2014 (before the larger official deployment in mid-2015) apparently had some T-5000s and the stories of the range, accuracy and ease of use this new sniper rifle began to spread among the special operations community and demand increased. There were already some foreign customers (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Vietnam, Syria and China). The problem was that the Russian manufacturer (Orsis) could not produce them fast enough. By the end of 2017 production had apparently been increased sufficiently to offer the latest version, the T-5000M, openly and not quietly (to a few key customers).

The production model is known as the T-5000M. It is a 6.5 kg (14.3 pound) bolt action rifle with a 66cm (26 inch) barrel, five (or ten) round magazine and Picatinny rail. Actually there are slight variations (weight, length) based on caliber selected. The T-500o is available in versions for the standard NATO 7.62x51mm (.308 Winchester), .300 Winchester Magnum or .338 (8.6mm) Lapua Magnum. With the 8.6mm round the T-5000 has achieved accurate shots at over 2,000 meters. The T-5000 looks and operates like Western designs and that was done on purpose, using quality components and expert construction. The Russian manufacturer expects to sell most T-5000s (at $6,000 each, without accessories) to export customers although many elite Russian sniper units are now scheduled to finally receive them and allow snipers who tested a T-5000 in the Caucasus to use one regularly.

The T-5000 was part of the Russian effort to reform their Cold War era armed forces by adopting the best techniques and weapons used by the more successful Western troops. The T-5000 was part of an effort to make more aggressive use of snipers. By 2010 Russia was selecting the most promising new recruits and sending them to a three month sniper course. Via this, and other recruiting methods, the Russians sought to obtain at least a thousand additional snipers by 2016. Apparently they succeeded and thanks to the Internet these newly trained snipers were familiar with the rifles their Western counterparts were using in combat and wanted access to the same quality of equipment. Some Russian snipers quietly got to use the latest Western sniper designs, but Russia did not want to have their snipers equipped with a standard weapon that was not Russian made.

Ukraine already had developed and was manufacturing a Western grade sniper rifle; the UR-10, as 5 kg (11 pounds unloaded) semi-automatic weapon with 51cm (20 inch) chrome-lined free-floating barrel which is good for about 7,000 shots. The UR-10 is accurate to 1,200 meters versus about 800 meters for older Russian sniper rifles (like the SVD). The UR-10 uses a lot of tech from the AR-10, which is the basis for the main American sniper rifle; the 7.62mm M110.

The Russians are trying to develop a sniper program similar to the one the Americans have developed since the 1990s. The United States has been the most successful user of snipers so far this century. Since 2001 sniper training in the U.S. Army and Marine Corps has undergone tremendous changes. Mostly this was because so many snipers were getting lots of combat experience. That experience comes back to the sniper training schools. Another change has been increasing communication between the three primary centers of sniper training (army, marines and army Special Forces). Each of these schools has long tended to develop in isolation from the others. But after 2001 there were more competitions and gatherings that brought together snipers from all three and many valuable exchanges about tactics, techniques and combat experience took place. Finally, the growth in the number of snipers led to many more sniper weapons and items of equipment being developed and produced. This has been driven, in part, by the growth in the number of civilians taking up sniping as a sport. Some of these civilian snipers are former military, but most are civilian shooters seeking an edge in their hunting, or simply to develop some new, and challenging, skills.

In 2004 the U.S. Army, emulating the U.S. Marine Corps, began training additional snipers, so that army units would have more than three times as many. This was about the same number of snipers the marines have had for a long time. To do make this happen, the army is tripled the output of its sniper schools. The army had a five week sniper course, while the marines had a ten week course that was considered one of the best in the world. These schools turn out professional snipers who know how to operate independently in two man teams.

Marine regiments (about the same size as army brigades) then had about three times as many snipers per battalion as did army units. Back then, the army only has six or eight snipers per infantry battalion. The additional sniper training sought to provide one sniper in each infantry squad. There are 27 squads in an infantry battalion.

But both the army and the marines were also taking advantage of the greater number of veteran troops in their combat units, and the fact that just about every soldier has a rifle with a scope, and has a lot of target practice behind them. In the past, infantry commanders were encouraged to find and designate about ten percent of their men as sharpshooters (sort of sniper lite) and make use of these guys to take out enemy troops at a distance, with single shots. This was a trend that had been growing since the 1990s and was becoming a major feature of American infantry tactics. These sharpshooters, especially the ones with combat experience, were the prime candidates for sniper school. The trained snipers, however, also have the special skills required to find the best shooting position, and how to stay hidden, and get out of harm's way if discovered. Trained snipers have proved to be a powerful weapon in the kinds of battles encountered in Afghanistan and Iraq. The enemy fighters greatly fear the snipers, and the presence of snipers restricted the mobility of enemy gunmen.

Russia does not have a large number of infantry with combat experience or even men who volunteered for infantry duty. But the Russians do have generations of experience screening young men for the military and quickly identifying those with potential for doing specialized (leadership, technical, special operations, sniper) tasks and offering them a better deal than the average conscript got. China is adopting a Western model since they have plenty of volunteers for the infantry and an affinity for Western methods. Meanwhile Russia has turned Donbas into a live fire training area, something the Ukrainians do not appreciate at all.Bay of Plenty

If you love working out doors and in a small team then we have the role for you. We are needing someone who has either maintenance...



View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nzThe Venezuelan negotiating team also includes diplomat Alex Saab, who remains detained in Cape Verde pending his extradition to the United States. | Read MoreA Perth start up has completed trials of wireless security cameras that don't require mains power, communications cables or even a light source to work effectively.

Described by the company as a "computer with a lens," Specturs Thermal Camera Detection System utilises camera units powered by solar panels that use thermal imaging to see in the dark and support live stream video with everything linked through cloud computing.

A thermal image from one of Spectur's cameras. Credit:Spectur

Its wireless security camera designs have been put through their paces during field trials with an unnamed international freight and logistics company, and Spectur's Managing Director Peter Holton said the system stood up well.

Thermal camera field trials have now extended to cover additional new and existing tier one customers and we see applications for this technology across a broad range of industries including military, logistics, critical infrastructure and the rapidly emerging market of high value crops," he said.Yet nerve agent attack on British soil was something else: a brazen contravention of chemical weapons conventions, the first offensive use of such weapons in Europe since World War II. It was a tipping point. And while experts predict Russian President Vladimir Putin will continue with such behaviour because it suits him politically to pick fights with the West, capitals such as Canberra, Washington and London are telling him that such barefaced affronts as the Novichok attack will not be tolerated. If the West is to sustain its position, the world can expect more confrontation. Strategic scholars regard Russia as a revanchist power - under Putin it wants to restore its lost greatness and expunge what it sees as the humiliation of its Cold War defeat. It lacks many of the fundamentals to do so. Its economy is weak and overly reliant on oil and gas. Its population is ageing. Corruption is rampant. Investigators wear protective suits at the scene of the nerve agent attack in England earlier this month. Credit:AP

To achieve its ambitions it therefore relies heavily on hard power: its considerable military might - including a massive nuclear arsenal - and its prowess, developed over many decades, at spying, manipulation, disruption and interference. With a president who spent 16 years at the KGB, with at least six members of its national security council as former KGB members and with a growing share of its federal budget going towards intelligence agencies, Russia is devoting more of its efforts to spying and interference than it has in decades. Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop meets with Russian ambassador to Australia Grigory Logvinov. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen In Australia, it is no secret that while China is the major preoccupation of the intelligence community when it comes to foreign interference, Russia has persisted and indeed grown as a concern. Turnbull said as much when he introduced his governments foreign interference legislation to the Parliament in December, accusing Russia of wreaking havoc across the democratic world.

ASIO head Duncan Lewis told a hearing of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security last week: When looking at events such as the reported assassination in the United Kingdom a week or two ago ... we should not consider ourselves immune from such extreme acts. While Australia is not a first-order priority for Moscow, it is significant because it is a Five Eyes member. Its intelligence efforts in Australia have grown, informed observers in Canberra say, partly because Moscow is doing more spying overall, but also because its interest in the Pacific region has grown. It has formed a defence and intelligence relationship with Fiji for instance, which is run partly out of Canberra. The government resolved to expel two Russian spies on the advice of Australian intelligence agencies. They were the two whose expulsion was deemed most effective, though it is likely there are other undeclared agents among the 14 remaining diplomatic staff. The view within the Australian government is that the worldwide effort will cause Russia pain and disruption: 150 spies sent home - some of whom could have been in place for years - is not small beans for a country like Russia.

Braced for retaliation: Australia is one of 27 nations to expel Russian diplomats. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Australia is somewhat unusual among the 27 countries that have expelled diplomats, being the only one that is not either in Europe or a member of NATO and therefore doesnt have Russia as an immediate strategic preoccupation. Australia is joining partly because Britain is a close partner but more importantly because right now the perilous state of the international system of rules and norms is of paramount concern to Canberra. And on Friday, the Turnbull government was bracing for an imminent retaliation from Moscow. Canberra has 10 diplomats in Moscow, and it is possible that there are no spies among them. The Australian Secret Intelligence Service is not a huge organisation and it concentrates its finite resources heavily on Asia. As a recipient of US intelligence under the Five Eyes sharing network, there is little sense in ASIS doubling up with the Americans on a patch where it cant be competitive. Loading

So where will this tit-for-tat exchange leave us? Part of the challenge, experts say, is that Putin actually wants tensions with the West. Kyle Wilson, who served as a diplomat in Russia and an intelligence analyst with the Office of National Assessments and is now a visiting fellow at the Australian National University, said Moscow would not be particularly perturbed by the diplomatic expulsions. Theres an assumption [Putin] wants good relations [with the West]. He doesnt want good relations, he said. If he does want a rapprochement, it would only be on his terms, Wilson said. That means Russia would have to be treated as equal to the US and China, NATO would be abolished, US troops would leave Europe, and Russia should be free to dictate to the smaller countries to its west and south. Poisoned: Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripa, 66, and his daughter Yulia Skripal, 33. Credit:AP

Provocations such as the Skripal poisoning serve his interests - rallying his most important constituency in the Russian secret services and feeding his narrative to the Russian people that the West hates Russia, which is crucial to sustaining his power at home. Its a kind of drumbeat which has become louder and now has become a kind of cacophony: Our enemies, who hate us, are virtually massing at the gates'," says Wilson. Its the oldest card in the political pack. We are surrounded by enemies. This is a time when you need two things: stability and a strong leader'. He cited one respected Russia observer who said the coming years under Putin would be characterised by three things: it would be reactionary, obscurantist and isolationist. Illustration: Richard Giliberto Michael Shoebridge, a former senior Defence official who has recently joined the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the expulsions by 27 countries were an important symbol to show Britain was not alone in deeming the use of a chemical weapon on British soil as an egregious breach of Russias own commitments to international conventions.

But he added: I dont think this will change Russias behaviour. To actually affect the Russian leaderships behaviour, its got to be a more sustained set of steps than that, he said. Shoebridge said Julie Bishop was right to highlight chemical weapons conventions - to which Russia is a signatory - in her meeting with the Russian Ambassador Grigory Logvinov on Wednesday afternoon. Loading As a member of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Russia is subject to levers such as so-called challenge inspections that Britain and its friends could demand of Moscow."The goal of InSight is nothing less than to better understand the birth of the Earth, the birth of the planet that we live on, and we're going to do that by going to Mars," said Bruce Banerdt, InSight's principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge.

An artist's rendering of the InSight Mars lander studying the interior of Mars. The spacecraft was first scheduled to launch in March 2016. Credit:NASA

The Mars InSight lander, planned for launch May 5, will be the first spacecraft dedicated to studying the deep interior of the red planet. The discoveries it makes could unlock hidden secrets about the structure of Mars, how it evolved and how other rocky planets - including Earth - came to be.

Los Angeles: NASA has launched many groundbreaking missions to Mars, but its next mission will do so literally.

Short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, InSight will be the first spacecraft to land on a planet since Curiosity's "Seven Minutes of Terror" on Mars in 2012. When it touches down November 26 in a flat plain just north of the equator called Elysium Planitia, it will unfurl its solar arrays and deploy a set of instruments designed to interrogate the planet's insides.

The lander will use its robotic arm to place a seismometer on the smooth surface. That seismometer will pick up the vibrations from marsquakes - seismic waves that have been modified by the different layers of material they have passed through. Those altered waves will allow scientists to determine what those layers of material are made of.

InSight will also hammer a heat-flow probe about five metres beneath the surface. The deeper the probe goes, the higher the temperature rises - and the researchers can use this to calculate how hot Mars' deep interior really is.

The spacecraft's third major experiment will measure the shift in radio signals between it and Earth to figure out how much Mars' north pole wobbles over the course of a Martian year. The size and frequency of that wobble will reveal clues about the planet's core, including its size and density.

Understanding Mars from within could help scientists better understand the evolution of other rocky planets, including Earth as well as exoplanets far beyond our solar system. That's because the Earth's interior experienced much more churning than Mars' did, erasing crucial information about what its insides used to look like. Mars' inner structure should more closely reflect that early stage of planetary evolution.Over 400 Lorette schoolchildren are marking the start of spring with a new bird feeder thanks to an initiative that originated with the communitys Home Hardware owners.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 31/3/2018 (1273 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Over 400 Lorette schoolchildren are marking the start of spring with a new bird feeder thanks to an initiative that originated with the communitys Home Hardware owners.

David Audette said he and his wife, Jessica, came up with the idea of distributing free bird feeders and at-cost birdseed to students at three Lorette schools after gazing out at their backyard bird feeders one frigid morning this past winter.

"We thought, How do these birds survive? Its so cold."

As Audette unloaded boxes containing more than 100 bird feeders at Dawson Trail School last Thursday, he explained the project further.

"Were very excited about this," he said. "The whole idea behind this is to generate interest [of the outdoors] in these young kids."

Principal Randy Engel said the program dovetails with the schools classroom efforts to build awareness about local biodiversity.

"Its great because we want to give kids a sense that everythings connected," Engel said.

"You have a whole ecosystem in your backyard, and there are some pretty cool things that are happening there."

Audette, who taught horticulture at the University of Manitoba before becoming a store owner three years ago, concurred.

"Thats a huge part of this: how do these birds interact with our local environment? How do they survive our local environment?"

Engel said monitoring and filling the feeders each week will give students a chance to reconnect to "whats happening in their backyard," and noted studies that have shown time outdoors has a positive effect on students mental and physical health.

"There is a therapeutic part to it," he said.

The Audettes, who last year distributed childrens books during I Love to Read Month, also see the donations as a way to thank the teachers who educated their grown children.

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"Our three kids came through this school," Audette said. "They had good experiences here."

As part of the program, Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Centre in Ile des Chenes is visiting participating Lorette schools to deliver educational presentations on Manitoba bird species.

In the meantime, students have taken their feeders home to find the perfect branch.

Grade 3 student Georgia Prystayko said she already has a spot in mind, while Grade 2 student Everett Walker said he hopes his feeder attracts the two blue jays he spotted last summer.

After two successful community programs, Audette hinted he isnt done yet.

"I cant wait to see what were going to do next year," he said.Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon. Photo: Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic

When Cynthia Nixon announced recently that shes running for New York Governor, one small local contingency seemed like a sure vote for the actor and activist: the former cast of Sex and the City. Sure enough, Kristin Davis (a.k.a. Charlotte York), gave the candidate her seal of approval, as did Nixons former on-screen husband David Eigenberg (you know him as Steve). But, according to Page Six, Miranda Hobbes best friend on the show might not be willing to give her full endorsement, at least not yet.

Cynthia has been my friend and colleague since we were little girls, Sarah Jessica Parker told Page Six through a representative. I look forward to talking to her about her New York state gubernatorial bid.

Though the statement certainly didnt rule out a possible vote from SJP in the Democratic primary, it wasnt exactly the same full-throated support other co-stars offered. Lynn Cohen, who played Mirandas baby nanny in the series told the Cut, Shes an amazing person, and shes been talking about the schools and the children and I wish we had more people like that who are interested in the government. Eigenberg concurred, saying, Shes incredibly smart and caring, diplomatic and brave.Students formed a heart on the football field at Rockledge High School during the March 14 National School Walkout. On March 30, Rockledge students walked out of class to show support for the Second Amendment. (Rockledge High School)

Students at Florida High School Walk Out in Support of Second Amendment

A group of students walked out of a Florida high school on Friday, March 30, in support of the Second Amendment.

Im pro-Second Amendment, Rockledge junior and Anna Delaney told WFTV. I wouldnt mind deeper background checks, of course, but the Second Amendment will not be infringed upon.

The walkout took place at Rockledge High School. Some of the students who walked out said they felt silenced when the movement to honor the victims of the Florida school shooting became political.

An alleged lone gunman at the Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killed 17 people on Valentines Day earlier this year.

The walkout at Rockledge High School lasted about 20 minutes. Approximately 75 students attended, according to Florida Today.

Its all over the news right now that all students hate guns, Zachary Schneider, a junior, told Florida Today. I wanted to show that not all students feel that way.

Students held American flags and signs.

The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it, one sign said, quoting Thomas Jefferson.

Students at Rockledge High School also walked out on March 14 as part of a national walk-out, honoring Parkland victims and calling for gun control.

After the Parkland shooting, the Florida legislature passed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, which raised the minimum age to buy firearms to 21 and allowed for some teachers to carry weapons in school with the permission of the local school district and sheriffs office.

I finally got old enough to buy my own ammunition and my own guns, and I lost it again, Schneider said.

The Rockledge walk-out took place just days after President Donald Trump said that the 2nd Amendment will never be repealed in response to comments by former Supreme Court Justice Paul Stevens who called for Americans right to bear arms to be taken away.

THE SECOND AMENDMENT WILL NEVER BE REPEALED! As much as Democrats would like to see this happen, and despite the words yesterday of former Supreme Court Justice Stevens, NO WAY. We need more Republicans in 2018 and must ALWAYS hold the Supreme Court!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2018

In the wake of the Parkland shooting, Trump pressed Congress to pass the STOP School Violence Act, which secures grants for school safety programs and the Fix NICS bill, which tightened background checks.

At the presidents direction, the Justice Department also issued guidance banning bump stocks, which can be used to aid in automatic fire.

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Trump Calls on Nation to Answer Hate with Love after Florida School Shooting TragedyTexas Officer Shoots Man During Traffic Stop After He Sees Gun

A Houston police officer shot and killed a man after he pointed a gun at the officer during a traffic stop.

Authorities released body cam and dash cam footage from the March 29 officer-involved shooting. The officer told the driver, 44-year-old Marco Antonio Saavedra, to stay in the vehicle and to show show me your hands before Saavedra pointed a gun at the officer.

The Pasadena Police Department identified the officer as Marc Adams, a 40-year-old, 13-year veteran of the department. Adams fired several times upon seeing the weapon pointed at him, hitting Saavedra on the left side, according to Fox News.

He gets out of the vehicle, turns partially so hes facing back towards the officer. At one point his hand reaches down, his right hand behind his back, and then he produces a weapon, brings it up, both hands in a shooting stance parallel to the ground, pointing it at the officer, Pasadena Police Department Asst. Chief Josh Bruegger told ABC 13. The officer immediately starts firing, and strikes the suspect.

Saavedra again lifted the weapon and Adams fired more shots, including one that hit the passenger window of his police vehicle, according to Fox News. There are conflicting reports about whether or not Saavedra actually fired his weapon.

Hes obviously shaken up. Anytime an officer is placed in a position where he has to take somebodys life its a stressful situation, Bruegger told KPRC. Its unfortunate the officer was placed in the position but, when the suspect points a weapon directly at the officer the officer really has no choice but to defend himself.

Saavedra had a warrant out for his arrest because he violated an order of protection held by his wife. He was indicted in 2016 for causing bodily harm to a family member. In 2012 he was convicted for assaulting his wife. Saavedras daughter said that he told her before that he wanted to do suicide by cop, according to court records obtained by the Houston Chronicle.

Adams was placed on administrative leave. A grand jury will decide if the shooting was justified, Fox News reported.

From NTD.tv

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Spectacular Lightning Storm Flashes Above Surfers ParadiseTrump Admin Prepares to Relax Lethal Fuel Economy Standards for New Cars

The Trump administration is set to relax a set of decades-old fuel efficiency rules for new vehicles that proved to be fatal by forcing auto manufacturers to make lighter, less crash-worthy cars.

The regulations were tightened under President Barack Obama despite a Harvard-Brookings study showing that the fuel efficiency goals caused a 14 to 27 percent increase in traffic deaths due to car downsizing. In 1996 alone, the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards caused an estimated 2,700 to 4,700 deaths, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI).

The Environmental Protection Agency sent a 16-page draft plan for relaxing the standards to the White House for approval, a spokeswoman confirmed to The New York Times. Scott Pruitt, the head of the agency, is expected to frame the change as a way to eliminate regulatory burdens for car makers, which would make trucks, vans, and SUVs more affordable to buyers, the Times reported.

Under Obama, three disparate sets of fuel efficiency rules were harmonized and tightened to match those already in place in California. The California Air Resources Board has already warned that should the Trump administration relax the rules, it would lead an effort by 14 states to impose their own, tighter, local regulations.

California received a federal waiver under the 1970 Clean Air Act, enabling it to impose its own fuel efficiency standards. The states that follow its lead, including New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, dont have such waivers.

California is not the arbiter of these issues, Pruitt told Bloomberg TV earlier this month.

A coalition of free market groups, including the CEI, which is often at odds with Trump over trade issues, urged Pruitt to take on California.

The federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act specifically prohibits states from adopting or enforcing fuel economy laws or regulations, said CEI senior fellow Marlo Lewis. Fuel economy mandates restrict consumer choice, add thousands of dollars to the cost of new vehicles, and limit vehicle safety.

The original intent of the fuel efficiency standards was to reduce oil consumption at a time when the United States was heavily dependent on foreign oil. That is no longer the case as the country is on track to become a net energy exporter by 2026, according to a study by the Energy Information Administration (pdf), Time reported.

Meanwhile, the standards have a marginal impact on reducing carbon emissions, the rationale Obama used for tightening them. A 2017 policy brief by the Reason Foundation showed that CAFE standards would contribute to a mere 1 percent of total carbon emissions reduction.

Even if you worry about global warming, fuel efficiency standards are a stupendously inefficient climate change mitigation strategy, Marlow said. Congress should end the reign of bureaucrats and put consumers back in charge of telling automakers what kinds of cars and trucks to produce.

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President Trumps First State of the Union AddressPresident Donald Trump before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Jan. 1, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Trump Links Opioid Abuse Crisis to Sanctuary Policies

President Donald Trump drew a connection between Americas opioid abuse crisis and sanctuary policies, in a weekly address given on March 31.

Every day, an average of 116 Americans die from an opioid-related overdose, Trump said. This is a national crisis that demands immediate action.

Trump pointed out that sanctuary policies lead to the release of criminal illegal aliens, including drug traffickers and dealers, into American communities. One of the most common sanctuary policies is to prohibit local police and courts from detaining illegal aliens once they are released from prison, a policy that effectively blocks immigration authorities from immediately taking them into custody for deportation.

But if our brave federal agents are going to be successful in stopping this deadly epidemic, then we must stop lawless sanctuary cities, Trump said. Sanctuary cities release thousands of dangerous criminal aliens into our communitiesincluding drug traffickers, drug dealers, and vicious gang members.

As an example, Trump referred to the mayor of Oakland, California, who had warned illegal aliens about an upcoming immigration raid. Some of those who eluded capture that day had already committed crimes, he said.

Trump also slammed the governor of California for pardoning five criminal illegal aliens.

Governor Jerry Moonbeam Brown pardoned 5 criminal illegal aliens whose crimes include (1) Kidnapping and Robbery (2) Badly beating wife and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize (3) Dealing drugs. Is this really what the great people of California want? @FoxNews  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2018

The president explained that the biggest heroin markets in the United States are in sanctuary cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Denver.

More than 40 percent of heroin coming across the southern border is transported through Californiaa sanctuary state, Trump said.

The president outlined his plan for battling the opioid epidemic, which includes reducing the drug supply and demand while increasing treatment for the addicted. But he added that sanctuary policies must be dealt with for the strategy to work.

We want our cities to be safe havens for Americans, not criminal aliens, Trump said. It is time for Congress to cut off funds for sanctuary cities and to close the loopholes that allow drugs and criminals to violate our borders.

The Trump administration ramped up pressure on sanctuary cities in March, when the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against California over its sanctuary policies. On March 26, attorney generals from 18 states filed a court brief supporting the lawsuit.

Hundreds of sheriffs also backed the move. The National Sheriffs Association sent a letter (pdf) signed by 380 sheriffs from 40 states to all members of Congress on March 26.

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President Trump Links Sanctuary Policies to Opioid Crisis in Weekly AddressTrump Slams California Governor for Pardoning Convicts Facing Deportation

President Donald Trump excoriated the Governor of California on Saturday, March 31, for pardoning five convicts facing deportation.

Governor Jerry Moonbeam Brown pardoned 5 criminal illegal aliens whose crimes include (1) Kidnapping and Robbery (2) Badly beating wife and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize (3) Dealing drugs, Trump wrote on Twitter. Is this really what the great people of California want?

Governor Jerry Moonbeam Brown pardoned 5 criminal illegal aliens whose crimes include (1) Kidnapping and Robbery (2) Badly beating wife and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize (3) Dealing drugs. Is this really what the great people of California want? @FoxNews  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2018

Brown earned the Moonbeam nickname when he was governor in 1975 and floated ideas for a California space academy and launching a satellite for emergency communications.

Brown issued 56 pardons and 14 commutations ahead of Easter, which lands on Sunday. Among them were the five ex-convicts Trump referenced.

The pardons have a significant impact on deportation proceedings because federal authorities use prior convictions as the basis for deportation.

One of the convicts was Daniel Maher, who was brought to the United States from Macau illegally as a 3-year-old, received a green card, but never applied for citizenship, the Sacramento Bee reported. Maher lost his green card after he was convicted of kidnapping, robbery, and using a firearm in 1995.

Two of the convicts were originally from Cambodia and fled to the United States from the Khmer Rouge.

Sokha Chhan was convicted of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant and threatening a crime. He served three years probation and one year in jail after his sentencing in 2002. Phann Pheach is also facing deportation to Cambodia for possessing drugs with the intent to sell and obstructing a police officer. He was convicted in 2005 and served 6 months in prison and 13 months on parole.

Francisco Acevedo Alaniz and Sergio Mena were also pardoned, but it is unclear to which country they are facing deportation. Alaniz was convicted of vehicle theft in 1997 and served 5 months in prison and 13 months on parole. Mena was convicted in 2003 for drug possession and served three years probation.

The Trump administration has repeatedly clashed with California over its sanctuary policies. The Justice Department sued the state in early March, arguing that its sanctuary laws are unconstitutional. Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Trump visited California and declared the state out of control.

On Saturday, Trump also singled out California in his weekly address, saying that 40 percent of heroin is trafficked through the sanctuary state.

Sanctuary Cities release thousands of dangerous criminal aliens into our communities  including drug traffickers, drug dealers and vicious gang members, Trump said.

Brown has issued a record number of executive clemencies in modern California history, handing down 1,115 pardons and 51 commutations of sentences since returning to office in 2011.

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President Trump Links Sanctuary Policies to Opioid Crisis in Weekly AddressRecipe: These Cheesy Rolls, Originally From Brazil, Are Easy to Make in Your Own KitchenNORWALK  The Norwalk Hat Company on Water Street, Hatters Furs on Monroe Street, the Walthausen Hat Company on Day Street.

Once upon a time, Norwalk was known for its hats, which it manufactured in factories across town.

In an oral history, James B. Ballantoni, who worked at the Hat Corporation of America 1930 to 1980, described working in a Norwalk hat factory as a big family gathering, very close-knitted outfit. Ballantoni worked his way up from cleaning hats to supervising the operation and witnessed the company grow tenfold, from about 350 to 3,500 employees. Workers assembled hats, trimmed them down and added bands and feathers. According to Ballantoni, the factory employed more people than anyone else in the mid 1900s, and the pay scale was as good as any.

For people of the time, the first thing hats brought to mind may have been jobs. But in his oral history, Ballantoni raised something else linked to hats in the minds of many: the chemicals that were used to make them.

Mercury poison goes way back to 1910, before my time, he said. I didnt know any of those people.

Now, as two of Norwalks former hat factories  including the Hat Corporation of America, the proposed site of a mixed-use complex at 230 East Ave.  face development, some are seeking reassurances that potential hazards from the past are being addressed.

Were still concerned, said John Pinto, an East Norwalk resident who sits on the Norwalk Harbor Management Commission. Nothing has been done, at least that I know of, to remediate  I dont know if any test borings have been done in the grounds around the area, since they plan to do a lot of excavating in the area for heavy metals, which one would consider a potential link to the hat corporation. The main issue being mercury.

The potential for mercury in the area was proven when it was found in Mill Pond years ago, leading to a costly dredging operation. The pond is downhill from a constellation of former factories involved in the hatting and other industries in East Norwalk.

Clayton Fowler, chairman of the company seeking to build on 230 East Ave., Spinnaker Real Estate Partners, said that property had been checked and cleared for potential environmental risks posed by all historical uses.

All buyers have to hire folks to review to make sure thats the case, he said.

Diane Lauricella, who lives in East Norwalk and works as an environmental consultant, agreed that no buyer would knowingly invest in a contaminated property. But she said that in her experience doing similar environmental reviews, there were many ways for a company to overlook hazards  for example, by testing in the wrong place or for the wrong chemicals due to an incomplete historical understanding of the site.

I am not saying there are pollution problems on this 230 East Ave. site, she said. Just that the time has come for the city to hire consulting firms to review historic industrial sites for pollution risks to ensure applicants have been thorough.

Pinto said that what would make him comfortable with development would be to have an independent contractor who would determine what is there and give us some numbers that we could go to school on.

Such an arrangement is not usual.

In Connecticut, the Transfer Act requires that the environmental condition of certain properties be checked before they are sold; it applies to properties handling hazardous waste after 1980 or dry cleaning, furniture stripping or vehicle body repair after 1967. A propertys seller is required to look into and disclose its environmental condition to the buyer, and buyers often pay for their own surveys  but unless the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection investigates, most properties do not receive testing funded by a third party.

The Hat Corporation of America shuttered in 1970, but because the site stored diesel fuel, waste oil and motor oil in the 1980s, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has records of tests for crude oil byproducts, dichlorobenzene, ethyl benzene, toluene, xylenes and methyl tert-butyl ether (all results were within acceptable levels).

More Information Past lives of 230 East Ave. Louis Greenburg and Bros - manufacturer of cloth coats for girls Strep Fur Cutting Company - fur company Hat Corporation of America - hat manufacturer Norwalk Factory Store - a group of clothing outlets See More Collapse

The department could not find any tests related to the sites past as fur and hat factory, but noted they may have occurred.

Lauricella hopes that the city will have the chance to review such tests.

They just have to show proof that someone took into account the historic use of substances  the manufacture of coats, hats, she said.

In the Norwalk History Room, she pored over an old fire insurance map of the building in the 1920s  you could see when it used to be the Streb Fur Cutting Company, and before that, Louis Greenburg and Bros, a maker of cloth coats for girls. Id be interested in seeing it when it was a coat manufacturer, to see the dyes, she murmured. Mercury was used as vermillion, a range of red hues.

Again  Im not saying its a problem. But its a place to do due diligence, Lauricella said.EDWARDSVILLE  In the case of a school emergency or shooting event, Edwardsville public safety officials said there are plans in place for District 7 schools.

As discussed at Mondays Public Safety Committee meeting, alderman Chris Farrar prompted a discussion on current school safety plans in place for area schools following the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida last month.

Edwardsville Police Chief Jay Keeven said currently there are six full-time officers assigned to area schools, some of whom are D.A.R.E. officers and School Resource Officers.

We do have six full-time officers assigned to schools, two of whom are D.A.R.E. officers and theyre going between the elementary school and the middle schools, Keeven said. We have one officer assigned to the high school, one to each of the middle schools and then the SRO supervisor, who is a Sergeant, Matt Breihan, whose office is at the alternative high school.

According to the citys website, SROs have three roles to fulfill: to act as a law enforcement officer, a law-related counselor and a law-related teacher. SROs must keep the peace, provide resource guidance to students, parents, teachers and staff and act as a link to support services both inside and outside the school.

The SRO program has been in place at District 7 schools since July of 1995.

Keeven said the department has received concerns regarding the safety of school entrances, and there is a change coming soon.

There was concern recently raised on Facebook by a mother after the shooting in Parkland, Florida, about why wouldnt we lock the front doors. My understanding is the school district is intending that after Easter break now, they are going to lock those front doors, Keeven said. Theyre going to move those school safety officers to that front door location and then they will be responsible for opening the door and let people in. Its an extra stepbut as far as doors being wide open, thats not true. Those doors are secure.

The EPDs D.A.R.E. and patrol officers also pay visits to private schools in the area and give safety presentations, as part of the safety procedures as well. Occasionally, the visits are unannounced.

The District 7 Safety Committee is also part of the districts school safety procedures. Its members include District 7 Superintendent Dr. Lynda Andre, Keeven, Glen Carbon Police Chief Todd Link and Madison County Sheriff John Lakin.

Keeven said the meetings are held almost quarterly to revise or improve current safety procedures.

We discuss school safety issues. (Andre) invites the chief of police, myself, the chief of police in Glen Carbon, the sheriffs departmentand Worden chief of police to the school safety meetings as well, Keeven said.

Keeven confirmed that there are contingency plans put into place at area schools in case of an emergency. He said currently, District 7 is as prepared as it can be, given the EPDs resources.

I cant guarantee that theres no scenario where theres ever going to be a concern, Keeven said. Just like we cant save every movie theater and every shopping mall, we do the best we can with the resources we haveWe take the steps that we can to work in conjunction with the school district. We do have a big role to play, but we dont have total control. If we had an unlimited budget, Id put an armed officer at every doorway in every school and wed be in better shape than we are as of today. But for the resources that we have, I think were in pretty good shape as far as school safety goes.

The Edwardsville Fire Department is also involved in District 7s safety plans, and Edwardsville Fire Chief Rick Welle assured city aldermen that fire inspections are consistent throughout the school year.

We do fire inspections at all the schools on an annual basis, Welle said.

Aldermen SJ Morrison, Farrar and Will Krause were pleased with Keeven and Welles presentation.

To learn more about District 7 safety procedures, contact the EPD at 618-656-2131.The Glen Carbon Police Department has hired a new police officer and promoted one officer to the rank of sergeant.

At the last regular meeting of the Village Board, Police Chief Todd Link announced the promotion of Glen Carbon Police Officer Justin Click to the rank of sergeant.

Before Mayor Rob Jackstadt swore in Click, Link said Click will do an excellent job as a leader in the police department.

Sergeant Click has tremendous drive and always takes the initiative to succeed in any situation, Link said. I have every faith that Justin (Click) will do an excellent job as a leader in our police department.

Link said Click reached out to those officers he will supervise and told them he is tasked with two jobs: making sure they get home safe after each shift; and developing them for success throughout their careers.

Click has been with the department since 2011. He is a graduate of SIUE with a degree in Criminal Justice and has served the police department as a defensive tactics instructor, a crisis intervention officer and a B.A. operator.

Link said in Clicks time with the department he has been a man of many firsts.

Click, 29, was the first police officer to receive the Glen Carbon Police Department Officer of the Year Award and serve as the Villages Nuisance Abatement Officer.

He was also the first Glen Carbon officer to successfully test and be assigned to the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS) as a special response team member.

ILEAS was formed in 2002 in response to the Sept. 11 attacks as a joint venture of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, the Illinois Sheriffs Association and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. The group was created to meet the needs of local law enforcement throughout the State of Illinois in matters of mutual aid, emergency response and combining of resources for public safety and terrorism prevention and response.

Following Clicks swearing in, Link announced the hiring of new Glen Carbon Police Officer Leon Robinson.

Robinson worked as a dispatcher for the village and received numerous awards and recognitions during his time in that position.

Link said it was a disappointing day when Robinson left the department.

In April of 2017, the Fairview Heights Police Department stole Leon (Robinson) away from our police department before we could offer him a job as a police officer, Link said. Tonight, Im happy to say we are stealing him back and I know he will be an excellent police officer for us for many years to come.

Robinson, 32, has a degree from SIUE in Criminal Justice.

Glen Carbon Mayor Rob Jackstadt swore in Robinson.

Link said the success of the Glen Carbon Police Department would not be possible without the tremendous support it receives from the village.

Since I was hired as chief in 2014 we have promoted one officer to lieutenant, four officers to sergeant and hired seven police officers, Link said. We couldnt achieve that type of progress without the help and support of the mayor and the Village Board.EDWARDSVILLE  The Edwardsville Police Department is looking to purchase two new data computers with docking stations for two new squad cars.

As discussed at Mondays Public Safety Committee meeting, the EPD is seeking City Council approval to purchase two Dell Latitude 14 Rugged 5414 mobile data computers with docking stations, which were accounted for in this fiscal years capital budget. The total purchasing price for the machines, docking stations and laptop screen stiffeners amount to $6,103.62.

Edwardsville Police Chief Jay Keeven said although the departments new squad cars are on hold, the EPD wanted to go ahead and move forward with the equipment purchase.

They will be for installs for new squad cars, which the council has already given us approval to purchase once the bid contract is prepared. We have spoken with Morrow Brothers (Ford) and they have agreed to order our squad cars so we can get the ball rolling with no commitment that theyll be at state contract price, Keeven said.

The docking stations will be mounted inside the squad cars and will hold the laptops in place while also supplying power to the systems.

Keeven said the department is still waiting to acquire the two new Ford Explorer squad cars and for now, its in the states hands.

Central Management Services, which does the purchasing agreement for the state of Illinois 0 we purchase those cars on the state bid. So all vendors can bid their price whoever has the lowest price gets the squad car bid, Keeven said. They had a hiccup with their Ford Excursion vehicles. The successful bidder basically said they really didnt want the state contract anymore after they thought it through. So the state CMS decided to hold all of the bids, to include the Ford Explorer bids until they get the Excursion re-bid and back in.

Were expecting any day theyre going to release that, he added.

As discussion came to a close, alderman SJ Morrison made the motion for approval, seconded by alderman Chris Farrar. With alderman Will Krause also in favor, the motion passed unanimously. The motion will visit City Council next Tuesday to receive final approval.

For more information about the purchase, visit the citys website at www.cityofedwardsville.com.UAE-based Gulftainer, the largest privately-owned independent port operator in the world, has announced that its subsidiary GT USA has inked a deal on terms with Delaware, US, which would grant it exclusive rights to operate and develop the Port of Wilmington for 50 years.

Terms of the agreement are to be formally approved by Diamond State Port Corporation Board and the Delaware General Assembly within the next month, followed by the formal review by the Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

The new agreement provides Gulftainer access to one of the most strategically located marine ports in the US, situated only a four-hour voyage from the Atlantic Ocean, said a statement from Sharjah-based company.

GT USAs concession includes the full management and development of the Ports existing container volumes of 350,000 TEUs per year, which is forecasted to more than double in the years to come as a consequence of this deal.

Notably, Wilmington Port, which started operations in 1923 as the first major port on the Delaware River, is the top North American port for imports of fresh fruit into the US, and has the largest dockside cold storage facility in the Country.

Over the next nine years, Gulftainer is planning to invest $580 million in the port, including approximately $410 million for a new 1.2 million TEU container facility at DuPonts former Edgemoor site, which was acquired by the Diamond State Port Corporation in 2016.

During this period, the company will fully develop all the cargo terminals capabilities and enhance the overall productivity of the port.

The landmark agreement on terms follows over a year of negotiations and an evaluation of Gulftainers capabilities globally, including in the US. Within the States, the Emirati company currently operates the Canaveral Cargo Terminal in Port Canaveral, Florida, after winning a 35-year concession in 2015.

As part of these operations, the company has also been providing services to the US Space Industry, including contracts with SpaceX and Blue Origin.

John Carney, Governor of Delaware, said: "With Gulftainers proposal, we have an opportunity to develop the overall infrastructure and potential of the port, which can lead to a direct and significant impact on our economy as a whole."

"We hope to see significant impact to the states revenue stream with the planned injection of $580 million investment into the cargo facilities within the city of Wilmington. This massive infrastructure upgrade will have a knock-on effect to the logistics sector of the entire East coast," remarked Carney.

"It is also exciting to see that Gulftainers proposal included a plan to establish a Marine training institute to boost local career aspirations in maritime industry and port operations," he added.

Badr Jafar, the chief executive of Crescent Enterprises and chairman of Gulftainers Executive Board, said: "We look forward to be given the opportunity to work closely with the State of Delaware authorities to achieve significant enhancement across the board, from infrastructure development and capacity building to creating a sustainable source of employment and overall economic growth."

"We are keen to position Wilmington as the major gateway port to the US Mid-Atlantic states, he stated.

GT USA will also establish a training facility at the development site specifically for the Ports and Logistics industries that is expected to train approximately 1,000 people every year.

Jeffrey W. Bullock, the secretary of State of Delaware, said: "We expect to leverage Gulftainers strategic expertise in terminal operations to transform the Port of Wilmington, during the 50-year lease period, into the best facility of its kind in the region."

Gulftainer Group CEO Peter Richards said: "At Gulftainer, we see enormous opportunity to add value to the port infrastructure in the US and are excited to expand our operations within the country. The Port of Wilmington has for decades handled important gateway cargo that supplies the entire nation."

"Our plan is to build on this foundation and take the operations to new heights by working closely with each of the stakeholders within its ecosystem. With projected volume growth more than doubling in under a decade, doubling the revenue to Delaware state, a brand-new terminal at Edgemoor and a possibility to create around 12,000 jobs, this project is likely to become one of the biggest success stories in the US ports sector," he added.-TradeArabiaNews ServiceThe Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of Bahrain held a series of briefings with telecom operators this month to discuss the new economic regulatory framework, a key step towards achieving single network in the kingdom.

The new framework gives effect to the governments Fourth National Telecommunications Plan (NTP4) objective of establishing the National Broadband Network (NBN), which is supported through a single fixed fibre network, said a statement from TRA.

The purpose of developing the New Framework is to improve the quality of services, lower prices, and drive innovative technological advancements.

The new framework will encourage these improvements by ensuring that all operators can compete on a level playing field in the provision of services to end users, it stated.

TRA's Acting General Director, Sheikh Nasser bin Mohamed Al Khalifa said: "The NTP4 mandates the move towards the single fixed fibre network supporting the development of a National Broadband Network in order to maintain the ingdoms outstanding position at the forefront of technological innovation."

The meetings were testimonial to the Authoritys dedicated effort to engage industry stakeholders in the development of the new economic regulatory framework, and promote service-based competition in the telecommunications market, he added.-TradeArabia News ServiceThe GTA is expected to be one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in all of North America through to 2041, with approximately 115,000 new residents arriving each year. Where all of these new residents will live is one of the biggest challenges the region faces, especially given the present tight housing supply and the slow pace of new home building  mired by bureaucracy and red tape.

How policy makers, urban planners, developers and existing residents address the housing supply challenge will shape lives and communities for the next generation.

In just over a month, candidates will begin to declare their intention to run in this years municipal election. During the approach to election day on October 22, our organization will outline some of the challenges facing housing supply in the region to help inform readers and spur discussions on this important topic.

To understand public sentiment, BILD asked visitors to the recent National Home Show to share their thoughts and opinions about housing issues in the GTA. Just over 1,000 attendees shared their thoughts and, given the housing market over the last few years, the results were telling.

Affordability remains a high priority, but surprisingly almost half the respondents were not aware of municipal taxes and fees levied on new home development that are embedded in the final price of the home. When told about these added costs, almost two-thirds of people underestimated their impact on a homes final sale price.

We also found an expectation gap. The overwhelming preference was for larger dwellings in less-dense communities  traditional single family homes  but because of government intensification targets, significantly less of these types of homes are being built today than even a decade ago. The result is high demand and high price for less inventory options.

Lastly, the appetite for local action was palpable. Over two-thirds of respondents felt that local governments are not doing enough to encourage the building of homes that people can afford.

Less than one-quarter felt that municipalities and councillors are doing enough to plan for future housing requirements. This sentiment appeared driven by concerns shared by almost three-quarters of respondents on their (or their childrens) ability to purchase a home in the GTA. Not surprising then, over two-thirds of respondents indicated they would support municipal council candidates who pledged to fix the housing supply issue as part of their election platform.

While this was not a scientific survey, it outlines concerns about housing and that municipal candidates need to engage on the topic.

The months leading to election day provides all of us with opportunities to talk about housings role in shaping the GTA communities where we live, work and play.

Dave Wilkes is President and CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), the voice of the home building, land development and professional renovation industry in the GTA. For the latest industry news and new home data, follow BILD on Twitter, @bildgta, or visit bildgta.ca.SAINT JOHN, N.B.A New Brunswick woman says police need to be more sensitive when it comes to taking breath samples after her chronic lung condition caused her to fail a breathalyzer test and have her licence suspended.

Connie McLean, 64, has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, and said the condition can make even ordinary tasks difficult.

When Im carrying in wood, I can only carry in a couple sticks at a time and I usually have to stop and get some air before I go and get some more, she said Friday. And shovelling is even worse.

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On the evening of March 2, McLean said she was pulled over by the RCMP in her hometown of Shannon, N.B.

The officer asked her if she had anything to drink that day, and when she told him she drank a beer in the afternoon, she said he produced a device used for estimating blood alcohol content from a breath sample.

But, McLean said she was unable to produce enough breath to complete the test because of her condition.

I tried several times, but due to COPD and mucous in my airway I wasnt successful, she said. And he just almost hollered, Youre not trying, youre under arrest and youre going to jail. 

She was charged under the Criminal Code for refusing to comply with completing a breathalyzer test, resulting in her car being impounded for 30 days and her drivers licence suspended for 90 days.

COPD is a lung disease that develops over time and includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. In up to 90 per cent of cases, it is caused by smoking but can also be brought on by genetic factors. It blocks and narrows the airways, and inflames the lungs causing obstruction, according to the Canadian Lung Association.

Henry Roberts of COPD Canada, an association that aims to educate and help people with the disease, said he wasnt surprised to hear that McLean had trouble completing the test.

It makes perfect sense to us that if you have severe COPD that it would be impossible to exhale for any length of time, he said. I would hope the police would show some compassion to people who have difficulty breathing.

McLean said people who are unable to complete a breath test should have the option to ask for a blood sample to be taken instead.

She has an upcoming court date on May 2 and intends to appeal the charge.

I just cant understand why it would go that far.

Police were not available for comment.

Read more about:A federal judge has overturned an immigration officers decision and criticized him for imposing a virtually impossible standard in assessing the danger faced by a failed Tamil refugee if he were to be deported to Sri Lanka.

The case involves Suresh Nagarasa, a Toronto-area man who claims he was tortured by Sri Lankan authorities on two occasions, a statement backed up by letters from a Sri Lankan legislator and justice of the peace.

According to the court, Nagarasa fled to Canada for asylum after he claimed he was arrested, detained and tortured by Sri Lankan authorities in 2009 and 2012, and accused of being a supporter of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

He fled to Canada for asylum in 2013 via India and the United States, but his claim was denied the same year after a refugee judge concluded he lacked credibility and failed to establish he was subject to torture by Sri Lankan authorities.

Fearing for his safety, the court said, Nagarasa did not appear for his initial deportation and went underground for almost three years.

In an interview with the Star, Nagarasa said he moved from safe house to safe house with the help of a large network of extended family and spent most of the time holed up indoors in the Toronto area.

Last April, tired of hiding, he said he consumed an industrial cleaning agent to try to kill himself after meeting with an immigration lawyer and being advised to surrender to immigration authorities.

I didnt see any hope. I was depressed. I was scared to go back to Sri Lanka, said Nagarasa, who was studying journalism at Jaffna University when his family got him out of the country with the help of a smuggler. The (civil) war in Sri Lanka is over but the problems are not.

After his release from Humber River Hospital, Nagarasa said, he was arrested by York Regional Police and detained, first at Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton and then at Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay. The Canada Border Services Agency was notified and a pre-removal risk assessment ensued.

The immigration officer who performed the assessment, identified by the court only as B. Au, concluded Nagarasa had provided insufficient evidence that his life would be at risk and that it would safe for him to return.

Au used the term insufficient evidence 14 times, including four times in one paragraph disputing the claimants perceived link to the Tamil Tigers and risk of being a target of persecution by Sri Lankan authorities.

He also said theres insufficient evidence to demonstrate that either Sri Lankan MP Sivagnanam Shritharan or Justice of the Peace Nishanthini Niranjan has personally witnessed or has first-hand knowledge of Nagarasas claims. In their respective letters, they corroborated Nagarasas claims of arrest, detention and torture, warning he would face severe threats from the army and police.

The officer also dismissed a letter from the claimants mother to support her sons claim because of her vested interest in having him remain in Canada.

While Au accepted Nagarasa suffered from depression, he dismissed the risk that he might kill himself in Sri Lanka because suicide risk is not described in the Canadian refugee law and there is no agent of persecution. The risk of self-harm or suicide, the officer said, was speculative and controllable by the mans own actions.

After learning of his new deportation date in August, Nagarasa said he made another suicide attempt just four days prior to the removal, slitting his wrist with a razor while at the Lindsay jail. He was later put in a medical centre while the result of the risk assessment was under appeal.

Aus handling of the case was deeply troubling to Justice Shirzad S. Ahmed.

In the new Federal Court ruling, Justice described the immigration officers approach as overzealous and unreasonable, and his decision replete with findings of insufficient evidence.

The officers overzealous approach to scrutinizing the letters for hearsay, dates, and other allegedly missing details comes dangerously close to imposing an impossible standard that would effectively require letters from persons who were physically present during the alleged mistreatment.

Ahmed rejected the immigration officers decision and sent the case back to be reconsidered.

I am deeply troubled by the officers statement  Self-harm and suicide is not controllable by a person who contemplates taking his or her own life, Justice Ahmed wrote in his ruling.

Only the most perverse characterization would call attempted suicide in these circumstances a choice, or, in the officers words, controllable by the applicants own actions. Particularly as a senior immigration officer, B. Au either knew or ought to have known better.

Ian Sonshine, Nagarasas lawyer, said only between 3 and 5 per cent of pre-removal risk assessments are positive and immigration officials often use insufficient evidence as a reason to dismiss the applicants claims.

We are happy we have somebody on the bench who is sympathetic and shows understanding of the issues and willingness to put themselves in the shoes of our clients, said Sonshine.

Read more about:A man was arrested on suspicion of impaired driving following a three-vehicle collision downtown that sent one person to hospital with serious injuries.

Police responded to the area of Jarvis St. and Carlton St. just before 7 a.m. following a report that a vehicle had run a red light and caused a collision. Three vehicles were involved, and the streets were closed for several hours. Paramedics say a female in her teens was taken to hospital in serious condition, with what police described as an upper body injury. No one else was taken to hospital.

The streets were closed for the investigation, but have since been reopened. It is not yet known whether charges will be laid.The Progressive Conservatives would form a minority government if the provincial election were held now, after the Liberals narrowed the gap in the days following their pre-election budget, a new public opinion poll suggests.

The PCs, who have led in polls for the better part of a year, would win 57 seats, a Forum Research survey found. The Liberals would serve as opposition with 36 seats and the NDP would win 31 seats.

Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum, called the Liberals increase in support as drastic as it is sudden.

If the Liberals can turn this spark of life into momentum, it could open the door just slightly toward a competitive race in June, he said in a statement. This budget looks like a good start for the provincial Liberals.

According to the 728 randomly selected Ontario voters surveyed Wednesday and Thursday by Forum over the phone, 36 per cent would vote for the PCs, 29 per cent would vote Liberal and 26 per cent would vote for the NDP.

A previous Forum poll, conducted in mid-March, found that while almost half of Ontario voters disapproved of Doug Ford as leader, the party was poised for a majority government in the June 7 election with a projected 44 per cent of the vote.

Weve had the Tories in majority and at times, super majority territory, for the last two years, Bozinoff said. And during their leadership race, they were in super majority territory. This is an about-face for them.

The new poll didnt ask if respondents approved of Doug Ford as PC leader, but it did ask how they felt about the 2018 Ontario budget unveiled by Finance Minister Charles Sousa on Wednesday.

A plurality of 44 per cent of survey respondents disapproved of the budget, with only a quarter (24 per cent) in approval of the budget. A third, at 32 per cent, said they did not know whether they approved or disapproved.

The budget itself is not super popular, but the individual components within the budget are hugely popular, Bozinoff said.

Among the eight specific initiatives polled was spending to reduce overcrowding at hospitals with 74 per cent approval (17 per cent disapproved); free daycare with 53 per cent approval (41 per cent disapproved); eliminating co-pay or deductibles from senior prescriptions with 61 per cent approval (28 per cent disapproved); and expanding capacity at Sick Kids with 59 per cent approval (a quarter disapproved).

Bozinoff cautioned that the election would be a long race.

This is like the first inning, he said. It shows that yes, elections matter, yes, the Liberals arent dead; theres no forgone conclusions in this race. We cant say because somebody is winning or losing right now, theyre going to win or lose on June the 7th.

Survey results based on the total sample are considered accurate, plus or minus four percentage points, 19 times out of 20.Nearly all applicants for a visa to enter the United States  an estimated 14.7 million people a year  will be asked to submit their social-media user names for the past five years, under proposed rules that the State Department issued Friday.

Last September, the Trump administration announced that applicants for immigrant visas would be asked for social-media data, a proposal that would affect about 710,000 people each year. The new proposal would vastly expand that requirement to cover some 14 million people each year who apply for non-immigrant visas.

The proposal covers about 20 social media platforms. Most of them are based in the United States: Facebook, Flickr, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Myspace, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, Tumblr, Twitter, Vine and YouTube. But several are based overseas: the Chinese sites Douban, QQ, Sina Weibo, Tencent Weibo and Youku; the Russian social network VK; Twoo, which was created in Belgium; and Ask.fm, a question-and-answer platform based in Latvia.

Share your thoughts

Read more:

Trump to end program protecting Liberians from deportation

Trump is privately pressing for the military  not Mexico  to pay for his border wall

California sues Trump administration over citizenship question in 2020 census

During his campaign, U.S. President Donald Trump promised extreme vetting of people seeking to enter the United States, and last March, the State Department directed consular officers around the world to step up scrutiny of visa applicants.

But the new proposal would add a tangible new requirement for millions of people who apply to visit the United States for work or pleasure, including citizens of such countries as Brazil, China, India and Mexico.

Citizens of roughly 40 countries to which the United States ordinarily grants visa-free travel will not be affected by the requirement. Those countries include major allies like Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and South Korea.

In addition, visitors travelling on diplomatic and official visas will mostly be exempted.

As news of the proposal emerged Friday, so did criticism.

This attempt to collect a massive amount of information on the social media activity of millions of visa applicants is yet another ineffective and deeply problematic Trump administration plan, said Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Unions National Security Project. It will infringe on the rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens by chilling freedom of speech and association, particularly because people will now have to wonder if what they say online will be misconstrued or misunderstood by a government official.

Read more about:GAZA, Palestinian TerritoriesThousands of Palestinians marched to Gazas border with Israel on Friday in the largest such demonstration in recent memory, and 15 were killed by Israeli fire on the first day of what Hamas organizers said will be six weeks of daily protests against a stifling border blockade.

It was the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 cross-border war between Israel and Hamas.

Fourteen of the marchers were killed and more than 750 wounded by Israeli fire in clashes along the border fence, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Another Palestinian was killed earlier Friday.

Read more:

UN receives $100M in new funding for Palestinian aid after U.S. cuts

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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas calls for peace conference to reach two-state solution with Israel

The Israeli military said thousands of Palestinians threw stones and rolled burning tires toward troops deployed on the other side of the border fence. It accused militants of trying to carry out attacks under the cover of mass protests, saying that in one incident, Palestinian gunmen fired toward soldiers.

The large turnout of the flag-waving marchers in the dangerous border zone was a testament to Hamas organizing skills, but it also signalled desperation among Gaza residents after a decade-old border closure. Life in the coastal strip has deteriorated further in recent months, with rising unemployment, grinding poverty and daily blackouts that last for hours.

Asmaa al-Katari said she participated in the march despite the risks and would join upcoming protests because life is difficult here in Gaza and we have nothing to lose.

The history student said she is a descendant of refugees from what is now Israels southern Negev Desert. She said her grandfathers had lived in tents as refugees.

I want to tell the world that the cause of our grandfathers is not dead, she added.

Gaza resident Ghanem Abdelal, 50, said he hopes the protest will bring a breakthrough, an improvement, to our life in Gaza.

He had brought his family to a protest tent camp near Gaza City  one of five set up several hundred meters from the border fence  where he distributed water bottles to women and children sitting on a mat.

Israel had threatened a tough response, hoping to deter breaches of the border fence. The Israeli military released video showing a row of snipers perched on a high earthen embankment facing the Gaza crowd in one location.

Israel also used a new means of crowd control Friday  small drones thateachdropped several tear gas canisters on protesters below. People quickly scattered when they saw the drones approaching.

The UN Security Council began an emergency meeting late Friday to discuss the clashes in Gaza. Called by Kuwait, the session began as a closed-door meeting but evolved into an open discussion.

Fridays high death toll and prospects of daily protests in coming weeks have raised concerns about another escalation along the volatile frontier. Israel and the Islamic militant Hamas have fought three cross-border wars in recent years.

The protest campaign is meant to spotlight Palestinian demands for a right of return to what is now Israel. A large majority of Gazas 2 million people are descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 Mideast war over Israels creation.

The 70th anniversary of the establishment of Israel, on May 15, is marked by Palestinians as their nakba, or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were uprooted.

The planned mass sit-ins on the border are also seen as a new attempt by Hamas to break the border blockade, imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized Gaza from forces loyal to its rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in 2007. The continued closure has made it increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern.

Other attempts to break the blockade, including wars with Israel and attempts to reconcile with the West Bank-based Abbas, have failed over the years.

The latest Egyptian-led reconciliation efforts collapsed earlier this month, when a bomb targeted but missed Abbas prime minister and intelligence chief during a visit to Gaza.

Hamas and Abbas traded accusations after the bombing, signalling that any deal on Hamas handing the Gaza government to Abbas is increasingly unlikely.

The Hamas leader in Gaza, Yehiyeh Sinwar, said the protests are a signal to Israel and the world that our people will not accept the continuation of the siege.

Israel and the Trump administration expressed concern in recent months about a looming humanitarian crisis in Gaza and appealed to the international community to fund large-scale development projects there, including a desalination plant.

However, such plans appeared to be linked to a deal on Abbas taking charge in Gaza, and Israel didnt say what it would do if such an arrangement didnt work out.

Fridays violence began before dawn when a 27-year-old farmer picking parsley in his field was hit by an Israeli tank shell in southern Gaza, the Health Ministry said. Another farmer was injured by shrapnel.

Israels military said troops directed tank fire toward suspicious figures on the border.

Later in the day, mosque loudspeakers urged Gaza residents to head to the border encampments. A Hamas-linked bus company ferried protesters to the area. In all, tens of thousands gathered at the encampments, though not all headed to the border, witnesses said. Other Palestinian factions also participated in organizing the protests.

The Health Ministry said at least 1,000 people were injured, including 758 by live fire and the rest by rubber bullets and tear gas.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum praised the turnout.

The large crowds ... reflect the Palestinian peoples determination to achieve the right of return and break the siege and no force can stop this right, he said.

Groups of marchers threw stones at Israeli soldiers who responded with live fire, tear gas and rubber bullets.

The military said thousands participated in the clashes.

Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, commander of the Israeli militarys Southern Command, which includes the Gaza border, said he held Hamas responsible for the violence and alleged there were attempts to carry out terror attacks under the camouflage of riots.

The army said Israeli soldiers opened fire at two Palestinians who approached the fence and shot at soldiers in northern Gaza. It said troops also fired on Palestinians who had infiltrated into Israel.

The military had doubled its standard troop level along the border, deploying snipers, special forces and paramilitary border police units, which specialize in riot control.

Fridays protest campaign began as Jews prepared to mark Passover, and it is scheduled to culminate with the start of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, in mid-May.

The anniversary of Israels founding will be particularly fraught for Palestinians this year.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to mark the occasion. The planned embassy move falls in line with Trumps recognition in December of contested Jerusalem as Israels capital, a decision that has infuriated Palestinians who seek the citys Israeli-annexed eastern sector as a future capital.

Read more about:WASHINGTONThe United States said Friday it has secured the support of the UN Security Council for a new package of sanctions designations that target smuggling at sea by North Korea.

Ambassador Nikki Haley said the North Korea Sanctions Committee, which comprises all members of the UNs most senior decision-making body, unanimously approved designations of 21 shipping companies, one individual and 27 ships. She said it was the largest-ever set of UN designations against the North.

The approval of this historic sanctions package is a clear sign that the international community is united in our efforts to keep up maximum pressure on the North Korean regime, Haley said in a statement.

Read more:

Historic summit between North and South Korean leaders set for April 27

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How Kim Jong Uns surprise China visit strengthens his hand in nuclear talks with Trump

It comes despite an easing of tensions, as North Korea has halted tests associated with its nuclear and missile programs for four months and embarked on a diplomatic offensive. Making his first foreign trip since taking power six years ago, leader Kim Jong Un met this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and is due to meet this spring with the U.S. and South Korean presidents.

In tweets Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he looked forward to meeting Kim and felt there was a good chance the North Korean leader would do what is right for his people and for humanity. But meanwhile, unfortunately, maximum sanctions and pressure must be maintained at all cost! Trump added.

The new sanctions package aims at countering maritime smuggling by North Korea to obtain oil and sell coal, evading restrictions that have previously been imposed by the Security Council to deprive the North of revenue and resources for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

A designation by the UN requires, for example, member states to deny port entry to ships on the sanctions list, or deny entry to individuals on the list.

The identities of the new designees and where they were based was not immediately clear, but Haley said the U.S. had proposed them to coincide with a U.S. Treasury Department sanctions package in late February that barred U.S. persons from dealings with 50 vessels, shipping companies and trade businesses. Most of those targets were based in North Korea, but some were based in China  North Koreas main trading partner  Hong Kong, Singapore and Panama.

The Chinese and North Korean diplomatic missions at the UN did not immediately respond to calls and emails seeking comment Friday.

The British mission said the UNs adoption of the designations, which it also described as the largest ever, demonstrated our resolve to maintain maximum pressure on the North Korean regime to ensure talks lead to the full and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Read more about:MOSCOWMore than 50 British diplomats and technical support staff will be expelled from Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Saturday, claiming the move will establish parity with Russias diplomatic mission to Britain.

Russia offered parity, spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

The move was Russias response to Britains expulsion in mid-March of 23 Russian diplomats, and deepens an already-tense row between Russia and the West over the March 4 poisoning of a former Russian double agent on British soil.

Read more: U.K. considering Russias request to visit ex-spys daughter recovering from poison attack

The former spy and his daughter were allegedly poisoned by a Soviet-designed nerve agent known as Novichok, a weapon believed to be unique to Russia. Russia has flatly denied the allegations and offered a variety of counterclaims.

Already, Russia had expelled 23 British diplomats. The latest move adds at least 50 more people to that count.

On Friday, Russia responded to Britains move by announcing that it would limit the size of the British diplomatic mission to Russia to that of Moscows mission in Britain. However, no figures were given, as Britain does not publish rosters of its embassies and consulates for security.

Britain was not alone in facing Russian retaliatory measures Friday. Twenty-three nations that supported Britain by expelling diplomats were met with diplomat expulsion orders. Russia described those actions as mirror responses.

In total, 59 diplomats from Germany, France and a number of other European nations are to be expelled.

In the past week, 27 nations joined Britain in expelling Russian diplomats. NATO and Georgia have also followed suit. At least 150 Russian diplomatic workers across the world have been handed expulsion orders.

The United States led the expulsion count with 60 diplomats alone and added to its measures the closing of the Russian consulate in Seattle. Russia responded to the United States on Thursday, the night before unveiling its response to other nations that had taken action against Russian diplomats.

Tensions between Russia and Britain continue to escalate. Friday night, the Russian Embassy in London said that an Aeroflot flight from London to Moscow was stopped for a search by British authorities. Russia has threatened to conduct similar searches of British Airways flights.

Meanwhile, the British Foreign Office has said it is considering granting Russias repeated requests for access to Yulia Skripal, daughter of former spy Sergei Skripal. Both were reported in critical condition after the March 4 attack.

British authorities said Thursday evening that Yulias condition was rapidly improving. Her father was described as still being in critical though stable condition.

Russia

Read more about:DHARMSALA, IndiaThe prime minister of the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile in India on Saturday urged his compatriots to strengthen efforts to make the return of the Dalai Lama to his native land a reality.

Lobsang Sangay said Tibet has seen 60 years of destruction of its civilization, culture and identity by the Chinese since the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959.

He said the Dalai Lama dreamt of himself in a room in the Potala Palace filled with light where he will be reunited with Tibetans inside Tibet. The Potala Palace in Lhasa was the residence of the Dalai Lama until he fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising.

We Tibetan people with the support of people of India and abroad should strengthen our efforts to make his return to his Potala Palace a reality. Let us reunite the Dalai Lama with Tibetans inside Tibet who have spent the last 60 years with a hope, with a dream to get a glimpse of the Dalai Lama in their lifetime.

Thousands and thousands of Tibetans have been killed and have died for the cause of Tibet. Many of them have burned themselves alive, he said in a hard-hitting speech.

The Dalai Lama thanked India for giving shelter to him and said the Tibetans have turned their unfortunate circumstances into a path of enlightenment by reviving their spirit and influence wherever they are.

The Dalai Lama and Sangay spoke at a public event in the northern Indian town of Dharmsala marking the beginning of the 60th year of the spiritual leaders exile in India.

The Indian government was represented by junior Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma. Earlier this month, local media reported that India had told top officials to avoid events held by Tibets exile government to celebrate the Dalai Lamas life in India, fearful of hurting relations with China.

Ram Madhav, a governing Bharatiya Janata Party leader, expressed hope in his speech that the Dalai Lama would be able to find a solution to the Tibetan issue through peaceful and democratic means that will facilitate your honourable return to your homeland.

The Dalai Lama was subdued in his speech, but he has in the past said the issue of Tibet could be best resolved amicably through the middle way approach, by resuming dialogue with China demanding true autonomy while remaining under Chinese rule.

The Dalai Lama said Saturday that he left Tibet in 1959 under difficult circumstances without knowing what would happen in the next 50 or 60 years.

Today we are celebrating 60 years in exile where we could see what will happen to us in the future to a certain extent, he said without elaborating.

China says Tibet has historically been part of its territory since the mid-13th century, and has governed it since 1951. But many Tibetans say the region was effectively independent for most of its history.

Read more about:LONDONThe British government is considering Russias request for access to the daughter of a former Russian intelligence officer who were both poisoned in Britain by a nerve agent, U.K. officials said Saturday.

The Foreign Office said it was reviewing the Russian request to meet with Yulia Skripal, a Russian citizen, in line with our obligations under international and domestic law. The governments consideration will include the rights and wishes of Yulia Skripal, it said.

Read more: Russian ex-spy, his daughter likely poisoned with nerve agent at their front door: U.K. police

British Prime Minister Theresa May has blamed the Russian government for the attack on the Skripals, a charge denied by the Kremlin. May has received strong backing from the United States and her allies in Europe, which have accepted Britains view that the Russian government was responsible for the use of a lethal nerve agent.

Russia has denied the charges.

Russian officials insist they have a legal right to see the 33-year-old Skripal, who lived in Moscow and was visiting her father, Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury when they were attacked March 4 with a nerve agent.

British officials say she is recovering in the hospital while her 66-year-old father remains in critical condition.

The Russian Embassy in London called the daughters recovery good news in a tweet Friday and said Russian diplomats had a right to see her under the 1968 Consular Convention.

The case has escalated East-West tensions, with both sides expelling more than 150 of each others diplomats from two dozen countries.

In St. Petersburg, where Russian officials demanded that the U.S. shut down its consulate by Saturday night, workers busily loaded boxes and bags onto trucks. In brief comments to reporters, U.S. Consul-General Thomas Leary said we are ready to leave.

Russians watching the activity expressed mixed views on the closure.

The American side always knows that we can strike back if we are attacked, said Valentina Petrova, 77.

But 24-year-old Artem Zykov saw it differently.

Russia should have found different mechanisms to respond without such radical measures, Zykov said.

The truck left in the late afternoon, the driver waving and honking the horn several times. Outside the elegant 19th century building, someone had placed four yellow tulips and a card from neighbours reading hope to see you again.

In another illustration of the deteriorating relations, the Russian Embassy in Britain complained about the alleged search of a Russian airliner at Londons Heathrow Airport.

The embassy said British Border Forces and Customs officers searched an Aeroflot flight from Moscow on Friday in violation of international rules. In a tweet, the embassy called the search another blatant provocation by the British authorities.

British officials responded Saturday that it is routine to search some incoming flights.

Russia has sent a diplomatic note demanding an explanation of the search.

Read more about:York University students stage occupation to force labour talks, March 23

As an alumnus of both Glendon College and York University, and now a part-time professor at the University of Ottawa, I am very upset by the strike at York, which is dragging on with no progress.

I am also the mother of a York undergrad whose graduation this June is being threatened by this ongoing strike. We do not live in Toronto, so our plans to come for her graduation are also now threatened by all this uncertainty.

I know from being in a strike position myself last fall that the idea that universities cannot afford to pay their contract staff a decent wage or give them decent benefits is beyond ridiculous. I refer you to the website weteachontario.ca for further insight.

While university administrators are among the highest salaried staff in the province (see the Sunshine List), contract faculty struggle to make ends meet, especially in Toronto where the cost of living is astronomical. Everyone who works as either a university administrator or as contract faculty knows that contract faculty are now teaching most of the undergrads in any North American university. It is time to show real appreciation for their work.

As well, York has had so many strikes in recent years that I am about to warn anyone who asks me about choosing a university not to go there. I take pride in teaching undergrads myself, and in giving them solid advice. York is now a bad risk  quite an unfortunate thing for any alumnus to have to say.

Ruth Bradley-St-Cyr, Embrun, Ont.New parents will be celebrating Ontarios new budget plan for free licensed daycare for children between 2-1/2 and kindergarten age. The toddlers themselves, quietly swallowing whole grapes and staggering towards a power outlet with a wet finger, are oblivious, which is why they need daycare in the first place.

Small children are danger magnets and must be kept under constant surveillance. Also, they are poor which is why they give their parents unsightly fingerpaintings at Christmas. Kids are societys deadbeats, their only asset a certain animal magnetism, and they are no help paying the huge rent or mortgage costs currently crushing Toronto families even though apparently some of them have their own rooms.

(Progressive) Conservative leader Doug Ford must have forgotten early parenthood and his own toddlerhood or he wouldnt have responded with this extraordinary remark. Its amazing how they pledge billions of dollars for children who havent even been born. Imagine sneering at the pre-conceived. Its not like they can fight back.

Ford did not say, Its amazing how they pledge billions of dollars for old people who are going to die anyway, even though the Liberal budget will also pay for medication and home maintenance for seniors. Thats because seniors have power, and I mean real power.

Ford is correct about one demographic. The $2.2-billion child care provision will begin in 2020, before some parents have even committed the foul acts that will produce tiny consumers. Some tax-happy toddlers will be stuffing their mouths with $20 bills (seriously, they would do that if daycare staff let them anywhere near paper money) but a large number will have aged out, as they say.

Premier Kathleen Wynne says the budget offers the freedom to choose when its time for mom or dad to go back to work. Were playing the long game here, folks. Preparing for the future is one of the purposes of government, given that individuals tend not to voluntarily tax themselves now for a future that might never happen. Its the same with credit card debt.

So Ford is playing the short game, if that is a concept, and has not even offered voters a Conservative platform as the provincial election approaches on June 7. The man has a chaotic mind, his party is dishevelled and discredited by the scandals of the Patrick Brown era, and he has nothing to offer beyond absurdities like Im surprised the finance minister isnt up here promising free cars. You get a car. And you get a car.

He refused to say which of Wynnes spending plans he would halt if he were premier. He is without political courage. Would he kill new dental care? Increased funds for mental health care? It puts him in the uncomfortable position of riding on her coattails or clinging to her skirts or some other wardrobe-related metaphor for fear.

The Liberal budget includes minor tax changes, with those earning $130,000 a year to pay about $200 more. Todays budget includes massive  I repeat, massive  tax hikes, said Ford on Wednesday. He talks like Donald Trump in 2016 saying Hillary Clinton plans a massive, and I mean massive, tax increase.

Ford claimed it would cost a family of five $1,000 more. As the CBCs Mike Crawley pointed out with some puzzlement, thats only if five adults in your family are each earning over $130,000 a year. Ford even adds like Trump.

Read more:

Kathleen Wynne blasts Doug Ford as a bulldozer in a china shop in post-budget speech

Ontario budget to fund free child care for preschoolers as part of $2.2B plan

The budget is costly  although its goals have very long timelines  but it is forward-thinking, the opposite of some Wynne measures such as rent control which will actually damage that great cause, affordable housing.

Although I believe taxes should have risen significantly more, there was a strange reaction to the ambitious budget: that the provincial Liberals are only offering such spending because its election time and they want votes.

Of course they do. Why do governments spend at all? They wish to be popular, which means to achieve consensus on the basics. The budget seems suited to modern times when women work, when mental health is a major issue, and when teeth are seen as part of the human body.

Ford is, to use a charitable word, a puzzle. He says his wise management would save the province $6 billion without layoffs but offers no specifics beyond a general air of Make Ontario Great Again. His claim to be a good businessman is so Trump-like its toxic. He will cut red tape, whatever that is. He says school boards could cut costs through better procurement but doesnt mention combining Catholic and public school systems.

Worst of all, he has nothing to say to millennials, a precarious generation that is tired of sympathy and wants specifics. The election is 68 days away, not nearly enough time for a plausible party to do its sums and explain them to voters.

Damaged as he is by name recognition, Ford will go into the election with nothing but the primitive social-conservative animus that is toddler food for his base.

hmallick@thestar.ca

Read more about:This article is part of the Stars trust initiative, where, every week, we take readers behind the scenes of our journalism. This week, we look at how Freedom-of-Information legislation can allow governments to shield information from the public.

A great many public-interest stories that have appeared in the Toronto Star were the result of Freedom-of-Information requests made by journalists to government ministries, organizations and agencies.

Readers will often see phrases like according to documents obtained through a Freedom-of-Information request, or documents uncovered through access-to-information legislation reveal ... in stories about decisions our institutions make behind closed doors.

But what doesnt get reported is the usually painstaking process journalists go through in an attempt to get the information. First they have to figure out exactly what to ask for. This is often followed by months-long  or sometimes years-long  delays and fights over the often high fees charged.

Read more:

The high cost of accessing public records is a barrier to democracy, experts say

$32,000 and a 3-year wait: Star reporters share what its like trying to access public documents in Canada

Freedom-of-Information legislation gives members of the public who pay a $5 fee the right to ask municipal, provincial and federal governments for almost any kind information these institutions hold, with some exceptions. There are usually further fees for the time spent searching for the requests and making copies.

Requesters unhappy with the cost, the amount of time the request is taking, or the responsiveness of the government, can appeal to provincial and federal information and privacy commissioners for assistance. But this process can add months to an already slow process.

Journalists who use the system regularly have been complaining for years that the Freedom-of-Information system is broken, but little has been done by governments that has made it more accessible.

The recent travails of city hall reporter Jennifer Pagliaro, during her quest to uncover information from the City of Toronto about the controversial Scarborough subway extensions, show the lengths the media, as representatives of the public, have to go through to get information that is the property of the public.

In mid-2015, Pagliaro requested emails, memos, and other documents from the time council voted to scrap a light-rail line fully funded by the province to when council made the decision to build a subway instead.

Its so hard to get at the truth with issues like the Scarborough subway. There is so little evidence to justify building it and also a lot of misinformation. That makes it difficult to know if politicians are spending our money wisely, Pagliaro said. Are they doing it based on the facts or because of political motivations? Freedom of information laws are one of the ways we try to shed light on issues like a controversial subway project.

City staff told Pagliaro that her request would cover thousands of emails and asked her to consider narrowing the requested search, which was for Scarborough subway and Scarborough LRT. She did not change her request. A month later, the city told Pagliaro its estimated fee for the information was $1,755, and that it needed a nine-month extension because staff whose records she had requested were too busy. (At the City of Toronto, staff whose records are requested must do their own searches, as opposed to Freedom-of-Information co-ordinators who do this at other government institutions.)

Pagliaro paid the $877.50 deposit (50 per cent of total fee estimate, as is required by law) but at the same time appealed the fee and the delay to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.

During the appeal process, the city lowered its fee estimate to $1,485 but requested an additional year to fulfil the request.

After nearly a year of back-and-forth discussions with the commissioners office and waiting for a resolution, the commissioner ruled the city could have four more months to respond to Pagliaros request and that the fee estimate was reasonable.

Despite that ruling, however, the final batch of records was delivered to Pagliaro two weeks late. In all, it took nearly two years to get all of the records requested.

Among the revelations contained in the records: Prior to councils July 2013 vote to approve the multibillion-dollar Scarborough subway, former city planner Jennifer Keesmaat tried but failed to convince her colleagues behind-the-scenes that the fully-funded seven-stop light-rail line was still the best plan.

It concerns me that a system purporting to be designed to allow access to public information was set up to be incredibly onerous on the person seeking that information, Pagliaro said. The result is often legislated secrecy.

The Stars managing editor Irene Gentle adds the issue is bad enough for members of the press, But this system is meant for everyone. The government is asking citizens not used to the system to try to navigate it with months or years of delays, mounting costs and appeals. The cost is public information remaining secret. Thats a dangerous thing.

Read more about:Eduardo Ojeda unlocks the door to a white and yellow stucco building less than a mile from the Atlantic Ocean in Sanlucar de Barrameda, Spain on a warm May afternoon. We step inside and see row upon row of dark wooden barrels of sherry stacked four high. The walls are thick and the windows are fairly small, so the light is dim and the temperature pleasingly cool as Ojeda starts taking samples from the botas, or barrels. Each is distinct, diversity that allows him to achieve consistency in the La Guita Manzanilla that he and his team blend. A few of the barrels are exceptional in their taste and complexity; these Ojeda may reserve for a side project, Equipo Navazos, a label he and his friend Jesus Barquin have for particularly distinctive sherries from producers around Andalucia.

As Luis Gutierrez describes in his book The New Vignerons: A New Generation of Spanish Wine Growers, Ojeda is part of a group of winemakers who have realized the potential of regions and grapes often slighted even at home. He's one of 14 producers whom Gutierrez, the Spanish correspondent for Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, profiles in a volume larded with stunning photographs of vineyards all over Spain.

Gutierrez argues that his subjects are recovering old traditions, but it's perhaps fairer to say that they are rehabilitating them or achieving results that had never been imagined when rural Spain was poor and isolated. Ojeda's bodega on Calle Misericordia has been a winery for 150 years, but it had fallen into disrepair by 2007, when Grupo Estevez bought it and spent several years restoring it. Daniel Gomez Jimenez-Landi and Fernando Garcia of Comando G in the Gredos Mountains west of Madrid have recovered old vineyards abandoned by a generation that opted to move to the city rather than follow their parents in scratching out a living on a farm, a strategy also employed by the founders of Envinate in Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Both producers depend on an international market of oenophiles willing to pay up for distinctive, handcrafted wine.

This isn't a new story. Rioja in northern Spain became a preeminent region in the second half of the 19th century by supplying wine to France after phylloxera had devastated its vineyards. Gutierrez talks to Pepe Raventos, whose forefather Josep Raventos Fatjo created Cava in 1872 by making a Champagne-style sparkling wine from local grapes. Pepe has developed his own biodynamic winery, Raventos i Blanc.

Gutierrez's winemakers have travelled widely, studied great wine from all over the world and applied that learning in their own work. They balance their sophistication with an affinity for their culinary culture, a trait Gutierrez emphasizes by describing a food typical of a region at the end of each chapter: tripe stew in Alicante, for example, or paella from Valencia. Envinate's wines are a prized sight on a New York list, but they may still achieve their highest expression when drunk with fish and boiled potatoes dipped in a sauce spiced with Ruisenor, a sun-dried paprika from Murcia in southeastern Spain.

Before You Go...

Check out TheStreet's founder Jim Cramer discuss one of the biggest players in alcohol, Constellation Brands (STZ) - Get Constellation Brands, Inc. Class A Report . The company is a holding in Action Alerts Plus.ALTON  In yet another positive turn of events for a small business, aldermen gave the go-ahead Wednesday for a special use permit allowing a sound/recording studio on East Broadway.

By unanimous vote, the Council followed the citizen Plan Commissions positive recommendation that the city issue a permit allowing the studio at 626 E. Broadway. Owner Jay Stanley needs the permit in order to move his Lighthouse Sounds from leased space to the circa 1864 building on East Broadway, which previously housed the former Alton Stone and Fireplace Center.

Stanley currently is doing extensive renovations to the brick building, including installing interior, manufactured fireproof soundproofing. He said he hopes to move in by June.

The permit is contingent upon Stanley to not:

 Cause any noise that is audible or vibrations that are felt inside any adjoining structure or from the Broadway right-of-way.

 Record any audio or visual activity outside of the structure.

 Cause any lighting to be visible outside of the building, other than signage allowed in the C-4 (Downtown Commercial District) and lighting the owner adds to the front of the building.

Stanley anticipates operating Lighthouse Sounds from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week.

He told commissioners on March 13 that he plans to use the rear area of the first floor for a studio, live room where musicians play instruments and sing. He plans to put a retail store on the east, and front (south) spaces of the first floor, which would include music consignment, instrument accessories, new guitars and vinyl products.

Stanley said the second floor would be used for podcasts and other music-related business, and he may lease space there to musicians for practicing.

The aldermanic approval of the resolution follows last Friday nights announcement that Lighthouse Sounds is one of six businesses that will be featured on Small Business Revolution  Main Street, a digital series produced by Deluxe Corp. and available on Hulu. The businesses will share $500,000, with some money going to the city for beautification improvements, and receive advice on marketing and other ways to improve their operations.

Stanley said Wednesday he was shocked when he learned only a few hours prior to the announcement at the Broadway Bash that his business was one of six winners. Small Business Revolution, sponsored by Deluxe Checks, received more than 220 applications from Alton businesses and their supporters after the city beat out other towns in online voting to be featured on the show. The crew will return to Alton to film the program in April.

At outset of the meeting, representatives from AARP and Senior Services Plus presented Mayor Brant Walker and Deanna Barnes, Alton deputy director of development and housing, with a plaque commemorating Alton being certified as an Age Friendly Community, the first in Illinois.

We are pleased to be here in the city of Alton, we are pleased to be improving the city, said Julie Vahling, associate state director of advocacy and outreach for AARP. The coalition will assemble a group to study, then implement a livability project to make the city a better place to live for all ages, particularly older people.

AARP certified the city through its Network of Age Friendly States and Communities. This is another feather in the cap for the citizens of Alton, Walker said.

The Council Wednesday also OKd two ordinances, which sets a 10-foot-wide loading zone in front of New Frontiers Home Furnishings, 101 W. Third St. and a handicapped parking space in front of 722 Alby St. The furniture store is to pay $20 per foot each year for the space.

Other resolutions aldermen unanimously approved allow officials to pursue legal means to effect demolition of houses at 1107 W. Ninth St. and 615 Sering Ave.; pay everyday expenses until the Council approves a 2018-19 budget, with the fiscal year ending Saturday; and terminate a 2009 lease on a vacant lot at 1321 E. Fifth St.

Reach Linda N. Weller at 618-208-6450 or on Twitter @Linda_WellerST. LOUIS  Americas Central Port, St. Louis Regional Freightway and three other ports in the St. Louis region have entered into an agreement to promote river trade with the state of Louisianas Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District.

Recently the groups representatives announced a memorandum of understanding to establish and grow an alliance to generate new business by promoting international and inland trade routes at strategic locations along the Mississippi River. The agreement, which represents a five-year commitment, calls for joint marketing initiatives and exchange of data to further those goals.

The agreement shows strong regional support for the efforts, underway by marine transportation services leader American Patriot Holdings LLC and the Port of Plaquemines to develop a hub-and-spoke transportation system for container transport vessel shipments from Plaquemines, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, just south of New Orleans, to the St. Louis region. Initial discussions focused on loading operations at a centralized location in Jefferson County, Missouri, with feeder services by rail, barge and truck throughout the bi-state region and the Mississippi River Basin, resulting in low costs and efficient transportation.

The Freightway is committed to serving the greater St. Louis region by helping to support efforts to attract shippers and carriers and, we believe, the proposed container transport vessel route would benefit the entire region and other ports along the Mississippi River Basin, said St. Louis Regional Freightway Executive Director Mary Lamie. The signing represents bi-state support and recognition by all four public ports in the area of the potential growth that could arise from this (memorandum of understanding), and it stands as another outstanding example of regionalism at its best.

Representatives from each organization gathered in St. Louis last week to announce the agreement. Signing the memorandum of understanding were Lamie; Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District Executive Director Sandy Sanders; Bi-State Development Agency President and Chief Executive Officer John M. Nations; Granite City-based Americas Central Port Executive Director Dennis Wilmsmeyer; Port Authority of St. Louis Port Director Susan Taylor; Kaskaskia Regional Port District General Manager Ed Weilbacher; and, Jefferson County Port Authority Executive Director Neal Breitweiser.

Sanders called the signing of the agreement an important step.

The relationships we are building with ports, like, Jefferson County and the neighboring ports in and around St. Louis, are important first steps in creating a transportation network between Plaquemines Port and upper ports along the Mississippi River, Sanders explained. We plan to move thousands of containers from our port to theirs, utilizing the American Patriot Holdings unique container transport vessels. The hub-and-spoke system provides opportunities for value-added services to be performed on the shipped goods at any of the cargo aggregation points. This is a real job multiplier.

The memorandum of understanding follows the signing of an agreement last year by Plaquemines Port and American Patriot Holdings to provide container service from a future terminal in Plaquemines to destinations as far north as Chicago. The unique American Patriot Holdings vessels are patented and will carry up to 2,500 containers at speeds of 13 miles per hour with virtually no wake, making round trips possible to Memphis, Tennessee, in seven days and to St. Louis in 10 days. The vessels recently completed model testing in Germany, and final engineering and design is underway. Given that progress, American Patriot Holdings and the Port of Plaquemines are exploring where the vessels will stop along the inland waterways, and the St. Louis region is a viable contender.

The memorandum of understanding between the five ports and St. Louis Regional Freightway will help facilitate sharing of marketing activities and enable them to exchange data and findings from marketing studies, relative to developing port opportunities. It also offers parties opportunities to share information on improvements, modernization efforts, technological capabilities and programs. Much like the memorandum of understanding signed in 2017 by the Port of New Orleans, St. Louis Regional Freightway, Americas Central Port, the Port Authority of St. Louis and the Kaskaskia Regional Port District, last weeks agreement recognizes that growth at the ports at the mouth of Mississippi River, and future growth around freight movement through the various ports in the St. Louis region, are intrinsically and historically connected.

Given the 40 percent growth projected in freight volume over the next 30 years, we believe collaborations like these will have far-reaching positive impact for the St. Louis region and the entire nation, Nations noted. We want shippers to have as many options as possible to move some of that freight through our ports along the stretch of the Mississippi that continues to gain recognition as the Ag Coast of America.

This latest agreement supports the regions efforts to provide an additional modal choice to cargo shippers. With more than 12,000 miles of vessel-navigable rivers in the U.S., increasing shipping capacity along the inland rivers will reduce shipping costs and help the nation better compete in the global market.

Currently, most of the containers heading to the Midwest are moving by rail from California. The widened new lane of the Panama Canal has transportation experts looking at less costly options, which include Gulf of Mexico and East Coast ports. The Panama Canal waterway in Panama connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean.

The Plaquemines-to-St. Louis route would be a key component of the service American Patriot Holdings intends to implement throughout the Mississippi River Basin, Sanders noted. There are a wide variety of opportunities we are exploring, which includes utilizing the vessels and port facilities for agricultural products, including refrigerated cargo. Ideally, goods and products could be shipped up river, and agricultural products could be shipped down river. The timing is right for us to market this new option, which will move large numbers of containers via the Mississippi River, our nations greatest river highway. Utilizing American Patriots liner vessel and smaller hybrid vessel, connection by water is feasible through the lock system and some of the smaller tributaries of the Mississippi River.Childhood friends Josh Coclasure and Sammie Williams took on the Metro East Start-Up Challenge.

The pair always talked about starting a business together and finally an opportunity arose to put their idea for a bar-and-restaurant draft line cleaning service  named Pint Perfect  to the test. The service provides beer line cleaning, which is particularly integral to maintaining the quality of craft beer.

The Illinois Small Business Development Center (SBDC) for the Metro East at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville introduced the Metro East Start-Up Challenge (MESC) competition in 2014. The Start-Up Challenge engages multiple sponsors and professionals in business as mentors each year to help entrepreneurs assess how business plans stack up.

Last year, Coclasure and Williams won first place in the Metro East Start-Up Challenge for Pint Perfect and received start-up money from local sponsors, in-kind services, mentors and more. With that support and momentum, they have moved along in launching the venture. Pint Perfect is projected to officially offer its services and expertise later this month.

Things have been going great for us, with the help and support of SBDC Director Jo Ann (DiMaggio) May, Coclasure stated in a SIUE news release. The service and resources from winning the MESC have been wonderful. We cannot thank the companies that provided their in-kind services enough. This has truly taken us a longway in the process of starting our business.

Coclasure and Williams registered for an intensive draft line system class through Micro Matic. The class provides certification in the process, equipment and more. While the certification is not required, Coclasure and Williams want to improve individually and position their company as an industry leader. The certification will provide a competitive advantage over other businesses in the field.

Jo Ann is always there to push us to keep moving forward with our plans and networking us with an attorney, financial referrals and possible investors, Williams said. We wouldnt be where we are today without the help of Jo Ann, she has been the best help from the start.

Pint Perfect constantly receives positive feedback from bar owners and distributors for their cleaning services or drink consultation ideas and growing the business potential client list.

Bar/restaurant owners and beer distributors realize there is a need for this service, the pair said. Routine draft line cleaning is often neglected, thus it will be convenient and beneficial for businesses to use Pint Perfects services, they noted.

Most consumers do not know this service is needed in bars and restaurants. Pint Perfect also wants to educate the community that they should care about this issue, the entrepreneurs explained. They can demonstrate dirty draft line pictures as proof.

Lack of cleanliness in draft lines affects beer taste and quality. Owners forget about cleaning draft lines or do not clean them as efficiently as they should, Pint Perfects duo said. Among other reasons, Coclasure and Williams want to offer their services and expertise. They want to raise standards for everyone  consumers, business owners, distributors and manufacturers, they said.

Coclasure and Williams hope people eventually will recognize the Pint Perfect Certified sticker in businesses windows and think, I am going here, because I know they are efficient with cleaning and hold owners accountable for quality products.

Right now, we are putting hard work into growing what we will have, Coclasure said.

Williams mentioned that the synergy between the two friends will benefit the business overall. While Williams has worked in the alcohol/bar industry for many years, Coclasure knows the structural side.

It has been a wonderful journey to be part of and an honor supporting Josh and Sammie, DiMaggio May said. These two friends are passionate, hardworking and eager to share their services. Pint Perfect will be a true success, because of the time and effort these young men have invested. I am just happy to be a little part of their story.

The Illinois SBDC for the Metro East assists start-up ventures, such as Pint Perfect, as well as existing businesses headquartered in the nine-county region of Calhoun, Jersey, Madison, Bond, Clinton, St. Clair, Washington, Monroe and Randolph. It is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and SIUE, as a service to Illinois small businesses.

By aiding entrepreneurs and companies in defining their path to success, the SBDC network positively impacts the Metro East by strengthening the business community, creating and retaining new jobs, and encouraging new investment. It enhances the regions economic interests by providing one-stop assistance to individuals by means of counseling, training, research and advocacy for new ventures and existing small businesses. When appropriate, the SBDC strives to affiliate its ties to the region to support the goals and objectives of both the SIUE School of Business and the university at large.

Contact Pint Perfect at sam@pintperfectbeer.com or josh@pintperfectbeer.com, follow Pint Perfect on social media or visit www.pintperfectbeer.com for more information.

For more information on the Metro East Start-Up Challenge, visit www.siue.edu. To learn about the SBDC, contact the IL SBDC for the Metro East at SIUE at 618-650-2929.EDWARDSVILLE  The city of Edwardsville has seen a decrease in its unemployment rate.

With nearly $300 million in new construction projects in the area, the citys unemployment rate now stands at 3.2 percent as of January of 2018, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

Economic and Community Development Director Walt Williams said with numerous construction projects in the works, he expects continued growth in the Edwardsville area.

Naturally, I expect to see continued growth in our employment as well as our investment. I see growth in regards to the professional positions as well as retail positions, Williams said.

Some of the biggest construction projects currently in the works include World Wide Technologys twin buildings in the Gateway Commerce Center, each spanning a million square feet. WWT will invest more than $100 million in the new facilities over a 10-year lease and will bring in 500 new jobs to the area over the next few years.

Williams said WWTs investment wasnt initially anticipated, but the city is enthusiastic about the new development.

We were in conversation with (WWT) for the last three or four years and we knew that they had challenges at their current location, Williams said. We worked with them and were happy that they ultimately decided to stay and expand in Edwardsville.

Other projects in the works include the $30 million Cleveland-based Richland Residentials nine-story building that will be located on New Poag Road, Gori Properties LLCs five-story office headquarters at the site of the old public safety facility on North Main Street, Fireside Financials $28 million six-story building to be located on Route 157, and many others.

Williams said with several local businesses investing in the area, its always likely outside investors will follow.

Something the mayor has always said is whenever you get local investors to invest locally, it makes it easier for outside (investors) to invest, Williams said. Local investors are stepping up to the plate  Mr. Randy Gori, Fireside Financial, they are local here, they are investing in our community as well as Contegra (Construction), the Edwardsville company. Now were seeing outside (investors) such as World Wide Technology, such as the new hotel Marriott Towneplace (Suites). These are all outside (investors) who are investing in our community, which is great.

Edwardsvilles unemployment rate as of January in 2017 was 4.4 percent.

Williams said he anticipates that the unemployment rate may come down even further as new businesses arise.

Last January of 2017 was 4.4 percent and throughout the year it declined to what we are at now. So were pretty happy with that and thats on top of a lot of our companies, especially in the warehouse district, wrapped up their hiring in October, November, December and January. So were pretty excited about that, Williams said. More than likely, it will come down even further.

Other construction projects breaking ground this year include 22,000 square feet of retail space on Plum Street, 8,000 square feet of retail space at 1501 Weber Drive, including Kyoto Steakhouse of Japan and 5,000 square feet of office space at 201 South Main Street. Also, the Edwardsville Target and the Montclaire Shopping Center are each undergoing $2 million renovations and reconstructions.

To learn more about the citys ongoing projects, visit the citys website at www.cityofedwardsville.com.EDWARDSVILLE  The day I quit learning is the day I need to retire, said Southern Illinois University Edwardsville alumna Kelly Carpenter, EdD, emphasizing her strong belief in the value of continued learning.

Shes proven that commitment by completing her masters in special education in 1998, specialist degree in educational administration in 2015 and doctorate in education leadership in 2017, all from SIUE. While soaking in new knowledge and strengthening her leadership skills, she has climbed the K-12 educational systems professional ranks, being named Dupo School Districts superintendent in 2017.

Carpenter joins numerous School of Education, Health and Human Behavior (SEHHB) Department of Educational Leadership alumni who have secured high-level administration positions upon completing a graduate degree or endorsement from SIUE.

We strive to prepare competent leaders for both building and district level leadership who are job ready upon graduation to lead in todays dynamic and challenging K-12 environment, said Alison Reeves, PhD, associate professor and educational administration program director. Leadership is one of the most important aspects of a quality school system. Excellent leaders promote positive school climates; hire, retain and develop exceptional teachers; and advocate tirelessly for students and families.

Recent SIUE alumni administrative hires include:

 Emily Warneke, superintendent at East Alton Elementary School District

 Casey Adam, principal at Pana High School

 Dustin Foutch, EdD, principal at Central High School in Breese

 Chris Becker, EdD, principal & Caleb Houtchins, assistant principal, both at Highland High School

 Jessica Miller, principal at Taylorville High School

 Tiffany Zobrist, principal at Dupo High School

 Rachel Leckrone, principal at Bethalto East Elementary School

The State of Illinois recognizes that public schools now face growing challenges, which include teacher shortages, funding uncertainties and students growing needs for social services, said SEHHB Interim Dean Paul Rose, PhD. Challenges like these have prompted SIU System President Dr. Randy Dunn to launch the Great Schools Southern Illinois initiative.

The state and nations need for wise school leaders is as strong today as it has ever been, he continued. We are proud to offer rigorous educational administration programs within our school and equally proud of our highly successful graduates.

SIUEs educational administration program balances experiential learning with theory and research in order to develop leaders who are committed to ensuring all students reach their potential.

I pursued a masters in educational administration at SIUE, because I wanted to make a greater impact in the educational world and help other teachers become better teachers, said Adam. I love being able to go home every day knowing I have lifted up and empowered my staff to be the best versions of themselves, so that they may go on to empower their students.

For more information on the SIUE educational administration graduate program, visit siue.edu/education/edld/edad.If you build a judicial hellhole, they will come.

Thats how Travis Akin describes the climate Illinois has created that allows widespread lawsuit abuse throughout the state.

The they, of course, is trial attorneys, who exploit Illinois very liberal judicial system to enrich themselves by winning huge monetary verdicts or settlements for their clients in civil cases. The abuse drives up costs for everyone else.

Akin is executive director of the aptly named Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch, which works to educate taxpayers about the impact of lawsuit abuse and its costs to Illinois workers, consumers and businesses. He wasnt surprised when I sent him the latest report from financial website Wallethub, which concludes that Illinois health-care providers pay the second-highest annual malpractice liability insurance rates in the U.S. and the states insurance companies pay out the fifth-highest malpractice awards per capita.

As a result, Illinois is the 42nd best state to practice medicine in, according to the website.

The Illinois state legislature has not really done anything to address lawsuit reform, Akin said in response to the study. So its really like the wild Wild West here.

Why should Illinoisans care about high malpractice rates and high malpractice awards? They increase health-care costs for everyone and, similar to how Illinois high workers compensation costs affects manufacturers decisions about whether to move or expand here, they influence doctors decisions about where to set up their practices.

It affects us all by higher insurance premiums, Akin said. It affects access to health care. I live in southern Illinois. If you have a brain or spine injury, there arent a lot of options nearby. That has a real-world effect. You have to be rushed to places like St. Louis, and you might not survive the trip.

Health care isnt the only industry hurt by Illinois wild-west judicial system.

A 2017 Harris Poll ranked Illinois legal climate third-worst in the U.S. for business litigation. The poll, funded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerces Institute for Legal Reform, concluded Illinois is known for its comparatively large damage payouts from lawsuits.

The state has ranked in the bottom five of the 50 states since 2005, the institutes website says.

Also last year, Cook County and Madison County in southern Illinois were once again identified as judicial hellholes by the American Tort Reform Association, which in an annual report highlights the court districts across the U.S. that have become known for attracting personal injury lawsuits because of large money payouts. Cook and Madison make regular appearances on the annual hellhole report.

Madison County, in fact, has become unofficially known as the asbestos lawsuit capital of the U.S. In 2016, Madison County heard 28 percent of all new asbestos cases filed in the U.S., according to research firm KCIC, the vast majority of them from out of state. The reason? Bigger payouts. According to the Illinois Civil Justice League, the countys asbestos litigation industry could be worth more than $1.74 billion annually.

The out-of-state lawsuits also crowd out local cases.

Its not fair that these high-dollar cases take precedence, Akin said. The need of Illinois citizens should come first.

Akin doesnt expect major tort reforms, such as caps on monetary damages that states like Indiana have enacted. Not anytime soon in Illinois, where trial attorneys line politicians pockets with large campaign donations.

But there are some common-sense reforms that he says lawmakers from both sides of the aisle should be able to agree on.

One is venue reform.

We need to make it more difficult for out-of-state lawsuits that have no connection to Illinois to find their way into Illinois courtrooms, he said. Its not fair to Illinois residents to have to compete with that when they have their own legal issues to work through.

Illinois has many fiscal problems.

Lawsuit abuse is one that sometimes gets lost in the rumpus over high taxes, out-of-control spending, unaffordable public pensions and the like.

Illinois, simply put, is a haven for lawsuit abuse. And we all pay the price.

Dan McCaleb is news director of Illinois News Network and the digital hub ILNews.org. He welcomes your comments. Contact Dan at dmccaleb@ilnews.org.If anything happens to me, please tell my story. This was...One night in July 1987. The Indo-Sri Lanka accord, which Rajiv Gandhi hoped would end the Lankan civil war, was being hammered out. Rajiv was to fly to Colombo the next afternoon.

There was one hitch. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were not on board.

In a last-ditch bid, Rajiv summoned Tiger chief V. Prabhakaran, who had been been a guest of R&AW in Samrat Hotel next door to the PM House, at 11pm. He tried sama, dana, bheda and threat of danda, but the Tiger would not budge. Finally, Rajiv gave up; the Tiger could burn bright in hell.

As Prabhakaran was being taken back to his rooms, he asked to see GP. The PMO went into a tizzy. GP had retired months ago, but Prabhakaran would hear none of that. If he was not allowed, he would sit in dharna in front of the PMs house.

Finally, his guardians drove Prabhakarn to GPs home at 1am. The two talked for an hour, during which the Tiger explained why he could not accept the accord.

What do you expect me to do? GP asked.

Sir, I want you to know about this, and also to understand that if later on some untoward events take place, you will not blame the LTTE.

Illustration: Bhaskaran

Early next morning, GP called the PM and advised caution. Rajiv consulted his new advisers again. They told him to go to Colombo; GP could go to hell.

As GP feared, the accord, allegedly drafted by the US, was doomed from letter A. At the guard of honour in Colombo, a naval rating hit Rajiv with his rifle butt. The accord was received with silence by Colombos diplomatic circles, save for a bravo from the US ambassador. Even before the ink on it had dried, the Indian Army, which was sent to keep peace between the Lankan troops and the rebels, was drawn into the bloodiest jungle war it had fought after Burma in World War II, and from which it would come back bleeding and limping. And, four years later, the Tigers would human-bomb Rajiv.

Many in Delhis policy-making circles still believe that Rajiv would not have blundered into the Lankan fiasco, had GP been advising him. But, in the karmic dogma of history, there is no if only.

Who was GP, whom the dreaded Tiger wanted to meet, and who could ring up the PM at 7am, and warn him against a decision that the PMO had taken in its wisdom?

He was G. Parthasarathi, a Ranji Trophy player, an Oxford graduate, a bar-at-law, a newspaper hack, a diplomat, a policy adviser, the founder-VC of JNU, head of Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), and much more. One of those extraordinary gentlemen who strode the corridors of the South Block during the Nehru-Indira years, their minds grappling with crises, and their hearts beating for India on the left side of the body-politic.

The anecdote above is just one among the many recounted by old South Block hands in the just-launched book GP: 1912-1995, edited by his son Ashok Parthasarathi, a chip off the old block. (Ashok started life as a physicist, and ended up as Indira Gandhis science adviser.) Essentially a collection of panel discussion speeches, the book offers not one but several insiders views into the working of not only those minds, but also of the PMO during the Nehru-Indira days.

Having carried the Indian flag in Vietnam, Cambodia, China, the UN and elsewhere, GP was most adept at accord-making. He got Nehru to work out a deal with Sheikh Abdullah by which the latter was freed from prison and brought into politicking, and Jammu and Kashmir brought into the nations political mainstream.

GPs greatest successes were the Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Abdullah Accord of 1975 which ended instability in J&K for 10 years, and the Mizo miracle of the early Rajiv era, which is working even today. He guided Indira Gandhis Lanka policy and Rajivs in the initial months, till a few upstarts came in and led Rajiv up the Jaffna jungle path.

prasannan@theweek.inA Contribution in Time: India's electronic revolution is a timely book to remember M.S. Sanjeevi Raothe telecom engineer and technocrat who pushed India to becoming the IT power hub it presently is.

This book is written and published by former Union minister M.M. Pallam Raju and his brother Anand Mallipudi, a tribute to their visionary father.

In a glowing foreword, former president Pranab Mukherjee described his friend and colleague Sanjeevi Rao as someone who "outlined vision of India as a modern scientific and technical power".

M.S. Sanjeevi Rao began his career as a bright student and son of Congress leader Mallipudi Pallam Raju. Rao later took a loan of Rs 3,000 from a close friend in Bengaluru to pay for his sustenance while he pursued a diploma in electronics and telecommunications at Imperial College, London. He returned to the country and started working as a technical officer in All India Radio.

Three years later, he joined the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and developed sophisticated electronics systems for the Indian Army. He was a scientist at the government's Electronic and Radar Development Establishment, Bengaluru, and then at the Defence Research Electronics Laboratory, Hyderabad.

He was elected as an honourary fellow, one of nine such scientists conferred with this title, by the Institute of Electronic and Telecommunication Engineers.

Apart from his glowing CV, Sanjeevi Rao was a dynamic person. He worked on setting up the transatlantic cable between England and Canada in London, before returning to the country with a new vision.

He possessed a keen entrepreneurial sense. He founded two electronics-related companies on his own in the mid-sixties. One of them, Micro Ceramics, was the first Indian company set up to make electronic grade ceramic compounds.

Rao entered the political arena following his father's death. He later describes his sense of duty to uphold his father's legacy. When Rao was denied a ticket by the Congress party in 1967, subsequent to his father's death, the entire family went into shock, writes his sons.

However, with a strong political mentor in Kasu Brahmananda Reddy, former chief minister and president of Indian National Congress, Rao was elected to the 5th Lok Sabha with a record lead of 2,92,926 votes. In the 6th and 7th Lok Sabha, Rao retained his winning margin by more than one lakh votes each time.

Rao was appointed deputy minister for electronics in Indira Gandhi's cabinet, and subsequently as chairman of India's first electronics commission. "He laid the foundation of the Indian government's electronic policy," recounts Pranab Mukherjee in the book.

Rao was a landholder and deeply committed to the cause of the poor, writes his sons. Beyond electronics, too, Rao displayed visionary capabilities. As chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Fisheries Corporation, he developed Kakinada into a productive fishing community by introducing modern trawlers. His contribution later led to setting up of a World Bank-aided wooden hulled trawler building yard and subsequently to development of the modern day Kakinada port.

He pursued Shaw Wallace & Co and the Andhra Prdesh government to set up fertiliser production units in Kakinada, as Di-Ammonium Phospate (DAP) was of much need by the rice growers of Godavari districts in those days.

His initiatives later led to the formation of state-funded Godavari Fertiliser Corporation Ltd and the private fertiliser company Nagarjuna Fertiliser Corporation Ltd.

He set up India's first television transmission station in Kakinada, in 1982 and, also laid foundation to the National Informatics Centrethe current nerve centre of the Union government's IT functions.

We saw him beat all odds with such grace, I took it for granted that he is bulletproof, my superman, writes Raos doting younger son Anand Mallipudi.

I only later realised that even superman is mortal, he writes of Raos passing at the age of 86 years, after braving a stroke and living with an acute paralysis, but still staying positive for his family and grandchildren, for the last 15 years of his life.The Tamil Nadu government will move the Supreme Court on the issue of constituting the Cauvery Water Management Board, Chief Minister K. Palaniswami said on Friday even as ruling AIADMK announced it would observe a fast on April 3 on the matter.

The party had earlier in the day said the fast would be held on April 2.

An AIADMK release on Friday night said that the fast would be held from 8AM to 5 PM on Tuesday in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

The party faulted both DMK and Congress for not ensuring that the state got its due share from the inter state river.

It said the previous UPA government did not take steps to ensure provision of Cauvery water despite notifying the final award of the Cauvery disputes tribunal in a central gazette.

DMK President M. Karunanidhi, as chief minister, did not renew a necessary agreement in 1974, it added.

However, late chief minister J. Jayalalithaa always strove for Cauvery,including going on an indefinite fast in her first stint as Chief Minister during the 1991-96 regime, it said.

Further, she also focused on the issue even during her hospitalisation in 2016, it said. She died the same year.

Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam had earlier announced in Madurai that the ruling party will stage the hunger strike on April 2 across the state.

With the Cauvery issue appearing to be snowballing into an embarrassment for the AIADMK which has largely been friendly with the Centre, the party announced a 'hunger strike' on Tuesday, seeking formation of the CWMB and the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee.

AIADMK's arch rival DMK said it would hold a black flag demonstration against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his proposed visit to Tamil Nadu on April 15.

DMK, the main opposition party, said it would also hold a meeting of its friendly parties on April 1 and later announce a "massive" demonstration against the state and central governments, party top leader M.K. Stalin said.

In New Delhi, AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP S. Muthukaruppan said he would resign from the RS on the Cauvery issue.

He said the prime minister was not listening to them on the Cauvery issue.

"I am going to resign my post, this is a post given to me by Amma (Jayalalithaa)," he told reporters at New Delhi.

Praising Jayalalithaa for her steps on the Cauvery issue in the past, the MP said he would like "to do something for the people," following in her footsteps.

He made it clear that the decision to resign was his own while he lauded both Chief Minister Palaniswami and Panneerselvam for their efforts on the Cauvery issue.

He said he would submit his resignation to Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu during the next sitting of Parliament.

Reacting to this, DMK leader Stalin said all ruling party MPs should resign and not Muthukaruppan alone.

Meanwhile, outfits including the pro-Tamil Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi staged protests against the Centre, seeking setting up of the CWMB.

The agitations were held in Chennai and the Cauvery delta town of Tiruvarur.

Farmers' leader P R Pandian said demonstrations like the one witnessed seeking approval for 'Jallikattu' (bull taming sport) last year should be held on the Cauvery issue.

He said Central government offices should be picketed.

Speaking to reporters at Madurai, Palaniswami said the kind of petition to be submitted in the apex court was being discussed with legal experts.

Tamil Nadu's stand is that the Centre must constitute the CWMB and CWRC.

Underlining his government's commitment towards setting up of CWMB and the CWRC, Palaniswami said his party MPs had vociferously taken up the matter in Parliament leading to proceedings being stalled for over two weeks.

Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar indicated that the apex court would be approached in a couple of days.

In its February 16 judgement, the apex court had raised the 270 tmcft share of Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu's share of Cauvery water.

The apex court, which modified the 2007 award of Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal (CWDT) with respect to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, retained the share of Kerala at 30 tmcft and Puducherry at 7 tmcft, out of a total of 740 tmcft.

The apex court granted six weeks time to the Centre to formulate a scheme to ensure compliance of its 465-page judgement, which modified the CWDT award.

Following the verdict, Tamil Nadu has been urging the Centre to set up the CWMB and CWRC to ensure it received its due share of water from the inter-state river.

AIADMK coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam made the announcement on hunger strike while chairing a mass wedding function organised by the party at Madurai along with Palaniswami,also the party co-ordinator.

Pointing out that the six-week deadline given by the apex court had ended yesterday, Panneerselvam said, "The people of Tamil Nadu and the farmers are expecting an answer from the Centre on the Cauvery issue."

Stalin,also the opposition leader in the assembly, alleged that the AIADMK dispensation was "subservient" to the Centre.He blamed the central and state governments for enacting a "drama" on the issue.

After chairing the DMK executive committee meet on Cauvery, he told reporters that the black flag stir would be part of the next course of action his party would take up over the river water sharing issue.All eyes were on Centres special representive on Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma, when he visited Tral earlier this week on Wednesday. Security officials in Delhi said Sharmas visits to places like Tral, Shopian and Pulwama are being closely watched by security agencies as well as the Separatists. In February, Sharma had visited Shopian and last December he was in Pulwama.



While Sharmas visits may not yield any immediate results, given that there are no demonstrative outcomes of his meetings with local groups, traders, youth and other small leaders but Sharma is expected to draw the governments attention to the issues concerning these areas when he briefs the government.



In the immediate context, his visits to these districts demonstrated the presence of government machinery to tackle law and order problems and showed its willingness to engage with the youth.

Tral, the native town of the 22-year-old poster boy of Hizbul Mujahideen, Burhan Wani, has witnessed the biggest gathering of separatists marking his death anniversary, after he got killed in an encounter with the security forces in 2016. Rebel Hizb leader, Zakir Musa also hails from Tral. He had recently launched the so called Kashmir unit of the Islamic state after he split from Hizbul Mujahideen. Known as the Ansaar Gazwat-ul-Hind, the outfit has openly been provoking locals to join them through a campaign that is widespread on social media platforms, a home ministry official pointed out.



The security agencies do not not want the security situation to slip back to the scenario in the 1990s. In the 1990s, when terrorism was at its peak in the valley, Shikargah, which is near the town area in Tral had become a safe sanctuary for militants where they used to get training and launch deadly attacks on security forces. Security sources said the sneak attacks on security personnel in Srinagar in that era were carried out by Jaish militants coming from Shikargah in Tral.



An encounter with the CRPF in 2008 had seen Jaish militants being killed , prompting the outfit to lie low in the years to come. This citadel of Jaish-e-Mohammed, witnessed some semblance of peace with occasional incidents between the year 2008 till 2015, but that trend soon vanished later on. Intelligence officials pointed out that with the advent of other groups like Hizb, Lashkar and AGH, in areas where only one particular group was active earlier, the security situation has become more complicated.



The interlocutors visits will need to be embalming for the youth whose sentiments are against the security forces' atrocities. On any given occasion and rallies, they chant Burhan Wanis name, an official said.



The primary reason for the tipping point in Tral in recent years was the encounter between Burhan Wanis elder brother and the security forces, where the former was allegedly bullied and beaten that prompted Burhan to join militancy to avenge the incident. Security officials concede that Wani continues to have a huge following in Tral and other parts of the valley even today.

This itself demonstrates the importance of constant engagement by the government with different sections of people in the valley, said a government official.



And there could be no better time to engage. In January this year, 16-year-old Fardeen Khanday had launched a fidayeen attack on CRPF camp  the first of its kind by a local tennager Jaish militant after a decade. It was symbolic of the radicalisation that was taking place in the valley once again. The son of a policeman, Khanday also hailed from Tral.

In another show of disrespect to teachers in Kerala, a group of students at a college in Kasargode district gave a bizarre send off to their principal who retires after 33 years of service on March 31.

P.V. Pushpaja, principal of Nehru Arts and Science Collge at Kanhangad, was shocked to see the posters put up on the campus by some students allegedly belonged to the Students Federation of India.

'Homage to the principal who has died in the hearts of the students... a tragedy is over and the campus is getting free,' said a poster in Malayalam. A video clip being circulated on social media also shows students bursting crackers to celebrate the retirement of their teacher.

The SFI had earlier ruled out any role in the incident. However, Manorama News reported that SFI unit secretary Rahul Raj has admitted the involvement of students belonged to the organisation in the event.

"I'm in a state of shock and don't know if I should take legal action," Pushpaja was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

It is not the first time such disrespect to teachers is reported from the state. In April 2016, a group of SFI students at Palakkad Victoria College organised a symbolic funeral for their principal T.N.Sarasu. In January 2017, the chair of N.L. Beena, principal of Maharaja's College in Kochi was burnt by by pro-Left students during a protest.Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot replacing senior leader Janardan Dwivedi as general secretary in charge of Organisation and Training is the biggest change effected by Rahul Gandhi since he took charge of the Congress, triggering intense speculation on the fate of the other seniors in the party as also the roles to be given to young leaders.

Gehlot's new assignment is being seen as a big leg-up for the Rajasthan leader, placing him in the topmost decision-making league in the party, which Rahul will rely upon. The role played by Gehlot in the Assembly elections in Gujarat as general secretary in charge of the state has been highly appreciated in the party, and it has helped him earn the confidence of Rahul.

This appointment is also being seen as an indication that Rahul may not have a political secretary, and would rather opt to rely on a team of general secretaries for inputs on the important decisions to be taken.

There has been intense speculation over what role Ahmed Patel, who wielded immense influence as political secretary to Sonia Gandhi, have in the new scheme of things. Patel seemed to have been sidelined in the last few years ever since Rahul took over the decision-making from Sonia. However, it is believed that Patel, who has enjoyed the trust of the Gandhi family over decades, could be a part of the new Congress Working Committee to be constituted by Rahul, and is expected to continue as an aide of Sonia and play a crucial role in reaching out to potential allies in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

It is expected that Rahul will bring in further changes in the AICC prior to putting in place the new CWC. There is likelihood of seniors such as Ambika Soni, Digvijaya Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kamalnath and Sushil Kumar Shinde making way for new faces as AICC general secretaries.

Since the assembly elections in early 2017, the piecemeal changes effected in the Congress have given an indication of Rahul's intent to bring in younger leaders in the AICC secretariat. Digvijaya Singh was replaced by K.C. Venugopal as in charge of election-going Karnataka. Mohan Prakash gave way to Deepak Babaria as in charge of Madhya Pradesh, which also goes to polls later this year, and Avinash Pande replaced Gurudas Kamat as in charge of Rajasthan, which will also have assembly elections towards the end of 2018.

Meanwhile, Team Rahul appears to be coming into prominence in the AICC. Close aides Rajiv Satav and Jitendra Singh were made general secretaries in charge of the states of Gujarat and Odisha, respectively, along with the announcement of Gehlot's new role. Bureaucrat-turned-politician K. Raju, who recently stepped down as chairman of the Scheduled Castes Department of the Congress, is said to be one of Rahul's main advisors, and there is speculation on what role he will now get.National Human Rights Commission's investigation in Bhopal Central Jail has confirmed that the complaints of abuse and harassment were correct. The investigation report was presented before media by social activist Madhuri Ben.

Families of 21 prisoners held as undertrials in the jail had complained to the NHRC about systematic harassment, severe physical assault, mental torture, denial of urgent medical treatment, religious persecution and intimidation, as well as denial of basic necessities like food, water and warm clothes. These prisoners are all accused in cases related to SIMI, and have been in jail for several years pending trial.

The Commission had taken serious note of the complaint and sent a team to investigate the matter in June 2017. The investigation team interacted with prisoners, their families, jail authorities, lawyers and social activists. Following complaints that the violence had escalated again after a brief lull, in December 2017 a second team made a short follow-up visit, the report said.

The NHRC team, in its report, which is now available with THE WEEK, further said, Prisoners are being kept in solitary confinement which is definitely illegal. They are kept in small cells and are allowed out of their cells only for a few minutes a day for filling water and cleaning the area outside the cells. The cells are hot and humid and there are no fans. As a result of such confinement, prisoners are suffering from several behavioural disorders like anxiety, depression and frustration. The jail doctor has also stated that due to these conditions some prisoners become aggressive while some become depressed.

Bhopal Central Jail

Madhuri Ben said, Solitary confinement is illegal and there are several Supreme Court judgements to this effect. Undertrials cannot be kept in solitary confinement under any circumstances and even convicted prisoners, even those under death sentence, can only be kept in solitary confinement upon a court order and that, too, only for a fixed number of months.

The NHRC report said that prisoners are being brutally beaten up by jail staff. Several prisoners had injury marks which the staff could not explain. Prisoners being deprived of sleep, too.

In a shocking revelation, the report said that jail staff seem to harbour religious antagonism to these prisoners which is reflected in inhuman treatment. The prisoners complain that they are forced to chant slogans against their religion and are beaten up if they refuse.

The investigation team has recommended appropriate legal action against the jail authorities who have been directly or indirectly involved in beating, torture, criminal intimidation and denial of basic human rights of the 21 prisoners, and against the jail doctor for helping the authorities cover up the abuse.Even as the Delhi police are still groping in the dark over the leakage of question papers of CBSE examinations, a student in Punjab claimed that she had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the leakage even a before the examinations.

"I wrote a letter to Prime Minister on March 17 about the paper leak but no action was taken. The people who leaked the exam papers should be caught," Jhanvi Behal, a Class 12 student in Ludhiana, told ANI.

She also claimed that she, along with other students and teachers, had approached the police after they got hints about those who leaked questions through WhatsApp groups, but no action was followed.

"We got in touch with people who were leaking the papers through WhatsApp. We reported this to police but no action was taken," she said.

Jhanvi's revelations came even as the opposition Congress questioned Modi's silence on the issue and asked why he had not apologised for the paper leaks.

Meanwhile, police have questioned over 60 people in connection with the case, including the administrators of over 10 WhatsApp groups, as the investigators sought to trace the origin of the leak.

The police also sent a reminder to Google to share details of the e-mail address from where the CBSE chairperson was sent a mail on the Class 10 mathematics paper being leaked.

The government said re-examination of Class 12 economics paper will be held on April 25, while the Class 10 mathematics re-test, if required, would be conducted only for Delhi-NCR and Haryana in July.The BJP on Saturday replaced its Punjab state unit chief with immediate effect. Rajya Sabha MP and former Amritsar mayor Shwait Malik was appointed as Punjab BJP chief will replace Vijay Sampla, Union minister of state for social justice.

Malik's induction as state chief is aimed at strengthening the state unit which has been facing dissensions after NDA's loss during the assembly elections in 2017. Malik, considered as a close aide finance minister Arun Jaitley, seems to have impressed the BJP chief Amit Shah.

One big concern for the BJP in the state is its alliance with the Akali Dal. Though the senior leaders of both the parties had made it clear that the alliance was intact and under no circumstances they would leave each other, there seems to have a lot of strain in the state units of both parties.

Sampla was made the BJP chief as he also belonged to the dalit caste, which has a significant vote share in the state. He had even offered to resign after the party's loss in the assembly elections last year.

The change in Punjab state unit, where the BJP has an alliance, have sparked off speculations whether Shah would carry out similar changes in other states where it has allies. Several NDA allies had expressed their concerns to the BJP saying it should aim to increase the coordination otherwise they could suffer during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

BJP is facing ally trouble in Maharashtra, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, and already has its Andhra Pradesh ally TDP walking out. BJP will be making efforts to have more coordination meetings with the NDA allies to iron out the differences.Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged the international community to continue pressurising Myanmar to take Rohingya refugees back as soon as possible.

In her meeting with World Health Organisation-South-East Asia Regional Office (WHO-SEARO) Director Poonam Khetrapal Singh at the Gono Bhaban here this week, Hasina said Rohingyas were given shelter in Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds.

She added that it was time that Myanmar should speed up the repatriation process and that the Bangladesh government had completed the biometric registration of the refugees.

"The (Bangladesh) government gave identity cards to Rohingyas so that they could be identified easily and the Myanmar government could take them back," Hasina was quoted by Daily Star Bangladesh as saying.

Hasina further said that Bangladesh was in touch with other countries on the Rohingya issue such as India, China, Thailand and Myanmar.

Praising Bangladesh's efforts on the Rohingya issue, Poonam said that the WHO could collaborate with the country to provide immunisation and medical facilities to the refugees.

Stressing on health and sanitation issues in the Rohingya camps, Poonam added that such issues will be a challenge to tackle them and it had to be done soon before the monsoon season comes in.

Expressing concern over the health condition, sanitation and waterborne diseases of the Rohingyas in the upcoming monsoon, Poonam said it would be a challenging job to tackle the issue. She urged the government to continue its immunisation activities.

Rohingyas are a Muslim minority ethnic group in Myanmar. They have been regarded by many majority Buddhists as illegal migrants from Bangladesh.

More than 600,000 refugees are languishing in Bangladeshi refugee camps after fleeing a brutal Myanmar army campaign launched in August last year.

There are more than 3,00,000 Rohingyas living in Bangladesh, who fled in earlier waves of violence from Myanmar since the last three decades.

The United Nations had said the scorched-earth operation, which had left hundreds of villages burned to ash in Myanmar's Rakhine state, amounted to 'ethnic cleansing'.Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, on Saturday was in tears as she returned home in Pakistan's Swat Valley where she survived a near-fatal attack by Taliban in 2012 for advocating girls' education.

Malala, 20, reached her ancestral home in Makan Bagh in Mingora on a day-long trip along with her parents and two siblings, amid tight security, sources said.

Pakistan's State Minister for Information Marriiyum Aurangzeb also accompanied the education activist for the visit, during which she met her childhood friends and teachers after more than five years.

"Tears of joy rolled down Malala's eyes during her meeting with them. She was filled with emotions when she visited her home and met with her friends," the sources said.

After her brief stay at home, Malala, who on Thursday set foot in Pakistan for the first time since the 2012 attack, was airlifted to the Swat Cadet College where she is expected to address a ceremony, they said.

She is also expected to inaugurate a girls' school in Shangla district, they added.

In an interview to Geo News yesterday, Malala had said that she plans to return to Pakistan permanently after her studies.

"My plan is to return to Pakistan as this is my country. I have the same right on the country as any another Pakistani," she said.

She had reiterated her joy of being in Pakistan and her mission of providing education to children.

"We want to work for the education of children and make it possible that every girl in Pakistan receives a high-level education and she can fulfil her dreams and become a part of society," the Nobel laureate said.

Malala was shot at by a Taliban gunman in December 2012 for her female education campaigning in the Swat Valley in northeastern Pakistan.

Severely wounded, she was airlifted from one military hospital in Pakistan to another and later flown to the Great Britain for treatment.

Post the attack, the Taliban released a statement saying that they would target Malala again if she survived.

At age 17, Malala became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for her education advocacy in 2014 when she shared the coveted honour with India's social activist Kailash Satyarthi.

Unable to return to Pakistan after her recovery, Malala moved to Britain, setting up the Malala Fund and supporting local education advocacy groups with a focus on Pakistan, Nigeria, Jordan, Syria and Kenya.

She is currently studying at the Oxford University.

Malala began her campaign aged just 11, when she started writing a blog for the BBC's Urdu service in 2009 about life under the Taliban in Swat, where they were banning girls' education.

In 2007, the Islamist militants had taken over the area and imposed a brutal rule. Opponents were murdered, people were publicly flogged for supposed breaches of the sharia law, women were banned from going to market, and girls were stopped from going to school.

The Taliban, who are opposed to the education of girls, have destroyed hundreds of schools in Pakistan.Over the last couple of weeks, the US has launched a number of trade missives, which can further undermine the already beleaguered global trading system. They came at a time when the systemnot global trade per seis undergoing one of its most testing phases in recent history.

First, the US imposed unusually high tariffs on steel and aluminium, on specious grounds of national security. Then, they threatened India with the filing of a dispute, the first by the Trump administration, at the World Trade Organization about our export subsidies. This happened on the very day United States Trade Representative appointed their ambassador to the WTO, Geneva, after a long hiatus.

While the European Union and China raised their voice against the US, about the imposition of higher tariffs on such a ground, India has not reacted. India will be at the receiving end on the first one as well.

Taken together, all this can potentially lead to a trade war. The WTO dispute settlement system is unlikely to come to a rescue. This is because, if the EU and China file a case against the US move on steel and aluminium tariffs and win it, the US will surely disrespect the judgement. On the other hand, if the US win this case, other countries will copy the move to protect their national security interests.

As far as Indias export subsidies regime is concerned, there is a strong chance that the US move will not pass muster at the WTO. However, it will be better for India to take a closer look at such subsidies to see how they can be made more non-product-specific, so as to enhance the overall productivity of our economy rather than just supporting a specific product group.

While it remains to be seen how such disputes will play out at the WTO, the fact is they have further undermined the effectiveness of the trade organisation as the custodian of a rules-based international trade regime. Now, this crisis has to be used as an opportunity to reform the WTO system.

There is nothing new in this call for reforming the WTO. Since the global financial crisis of 2008, a number of trade honchosincluding immediate ex-director general of WTO Pascal Lamyhave said that one cannot run such a system in the 21st century with a 20th century mind-set. This is primarily due to the emergence of several new subjects, such as electronic commerce, on the trade proscenium.

Therefore, reforms are needed in at least two critical areas of the WTOs functioning. They are: a) dispute settlement system, and b) modalities of negotiations. On the second, some progress has been made, as the single undertaking nature of negotiations is all but discarded. It is now time to focus on the first. The WTO members should demand a special session to discuss necessary reforms to make its jewel in the crown as effective as it used to be in the first decade of its establishment.

Where does India stand in this game? As compared with what it used to be at the time of WTOs establishment, we have a much larger stake in the system now. More than 40 per cent of our economy is exposed to international trade. If we want to achieve a double-digit growth over a sustained period and create jobs, our external trade has to grow at more than 15 per cent a year. This is not possible in an uncertain trading environment.

Therefore, India should call upon all WTO members, including the US, to undertake a systemic reform in the above-stated crucial areas of the WTOs functioning. In this regard, Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu has made a good beginning in New Delhi last week when he called a mini-ministerial of the WTO members following the collapsed talks in Buenos Aires last December. Now, it is time for India to show similar leadership in Geneva, and make things happen for the benefit of the international trading system.

The writer is secretary general, CUTS International, a global think-and-action-tank on economic policy issues.The following companies are subsidiares of Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1096271 B.C. ULC, 345 Park LLC, A.G. 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Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Company Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Investco L.L.C., Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K., Bristol-Myers Squibb Kft., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg International S.C.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb MEA GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Manufacturing Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Marketing Services S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Middle East & Africa FZ-LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Norway Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Nutricionales de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Peru S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (HK) Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (Thailand) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Holding Company LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Ventures Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Polska Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Products SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico/Sanofi Pharmaceutical Partnership Puerto Rico, Bristol-Myers Squibb Romania S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.A.U., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Holding Partnership, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Service Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Services Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Spol. s r.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Theta Finance Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Trustees Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Colombia S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Costa Rica Sociedad Anonima, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Guatemala S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb/Astrazeneca EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership, Bristol-Myers de Venezuela S.C.A., CHT I LLC, CHT II LLC, CHT III LLC, CHT IV LLC, CR Finance Company LLC, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celem LLC, Celem Ltd., Celgene, Celgene A.B., Celgene AS, Celgene Ab (Finland), Celgene Alpine Investment Co. II LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. III LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. LLC, Celgene ApS, Celgene B.V., Celgene BVBA, Celgene Brasil Produtos Farmaceuticos Ltda., Celgene CAR LLC, Celgene CAR Ltd., Celgene Chemicals Sarl, Celgene China Holdings LLC, Celgene Co., Celgene Corporation, Celgene Distribution B.V., Celgene EngMab GmbH, Celgene Europe B.V., Celgene Europe Limited, Celgene European Investment Company LLC, Celgene Financing Company LLC, Celgene Global Holdings Sarl, Celgene GmbH [Austria], Celgene GmbH [Germany], Celgene GmbH [Switzerland], Celgene Holdings East Corporation, Celgene Holdings II Sarl, Celgene Holdings III Sarl, Celgene Ilac Pazarlama ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Celgene Inc., Celgene International Holdings Corporation, Celgene International II Sarl, Celgene International III Sarl, Celgene International Inc., Celgene International Sarl, Celgene K.K., Celgene Kft., Celgene Limited [Hong Kong], Celgene Limited [Ireland], Celgene Limited [New Zealand], Celgene Limited [Taiwan], Celgene Limited [UK], Celgene Logistics Sarl, Celgene Ltd, Celgene Luxembourg Sarl, Celgene Management Sarl, Celgene NJ Investment Co, Celgene Netherlands B.V., Celgene Netherlands Investment B.V., Celgene Pharmaceutical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Celgene Pte. Ltd., Celgene Pty Ltd, Celgene Puerto Rico Distribution LLC, Celgene Quanticel Research Inc, Celgene R&D Sarl, Celgene RIVOT LLC, Celgene RIVOT Ltd., Celgene RIVOT SRL, Celgene Receptos Limited, Celgene Receptos Sarl, Celgene Research Incubator At Summit West LLC, Celgene Research S.L.U., Celgene Research and Development Company LLC, Celgene Research and Development I ULC, Celgene Research and Development II LLC, Celgene Research and Investment Company II LLC, Celgene S. de R.L. de C.V., Celgene S.L.U., Celgene S.R.L., Celgene SAS, Celgene Sarl AU, Celgene Sdn Bhd, Celgene Services Sarl, Celgene Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Celgene Sp. Z.o.o., Celgene Sro [Czech Republic], Celgene Summit Investment Co, Celgene Switzerland Holding Sarl, Celgene Switzerland II LLC, Celgene Switzerland Investment Sarl, Celgene Switzerland LLC, Celgene Switzerland Sarl, Celgene Tri A Holdings Ltd., Celgene Tri Sarl, Celgene UK Distribution Limited, Celgene UK Holdings Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing II Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing III Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing Limited, Celgene d.o.o., Celgene sro [Slovakia], Celmed LLC, Celmed Ltd., ConvaTec Divestiture, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals AB, Crosp Ltd., Delinia Inc., Deuteria Pharmaceuticals Inc., DuPont Pharmaceuticals, E. R. Squibb & Sons Inter-American Corporation, E. R. Squibb & Sons L.L.C., E. R. Squibb & Sons Limited, EWI Corporation, EngMab Sarl, F-star Alpha, FermaVir Pharmaceuticals L.L.C., FermaVir Research L.L.C., Flexus Biosciences, Flexus Biosciences Inc., Forbius, Galecto Biotech, GenPharm International L.L.C., Gloucester Pharmaceuticals LLC, Grove Insurance Company Ltd., Heyden Farmaceutica Portuguesa Limitada, IFM Therapeutics, Impact Biomedicines Inc., Inhibitex, Inhibitex L.L.C., Innate Tumor Immunity Inc., JuMP Holdings LLC, Juno Therapeutics GmbH, Juno Therapeutics Inc., Kosan Biosciences, Kosan Biosciences Incorporated, Linson Investments Limited, Mead Johnson (Manufacturing) Jamaica Limited, Mead Johnson Jamaica Ltd., Medarex, Morris Avenue Investment II LLC, Morris Avenue Investment LLC, MyoKardia, O.o.o. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Oy Bristol-Myers Squibb (Finland) AB, Padlock Therapeutics, Padlock Therapeutics Inc., Pharmion LLC, Princeton Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Receptos LLC, Receptos Services LLC, RedoxTherapies Inc., Route 22 Real Estate Holding Corporation, SPV A Holdings ULC, Seamair Insurance DAC, Signal Pharmaceuticals LLC, Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Societe Francaise de Complements Alimentaires(S.O.F.C.A.), Squibb Middle East S.A., Summit West Celgene LLC, Swords Laboratories, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Westwood-Intrafin SA, Westwood-Squibb Pharmaceuticals Inc., X-Body Inc., ZymoGenetics, ZymoGenetics Inc., ZymoGenetics LLC, ZymoGenetics Paymaster LLC, iPierian, and iPierian Inc..ALBANY  Lawmakers were poised to finalize the states $168 billion 2018-19 state budget late Friday and early Saturday, with a deal that includes a new state tax code as a response to federal changes and more money for education.

"This budget was the most difficult budget I think we've done," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said late Friday as lawmakers prepared to vote on the plan, which has an April 1 deadline for approval.

Cuomo, speaking in the ceremonial Red Room at the Capitol, blamed the difficulty on the state starting with a potential deficit. He also spent time explaining the impact of the federal tax law changes -- "gutting deductibility of state and local taxes" -- and what the state plans to do to counter that, including decoupling from the federal tax code. Charitable contributions would also be expanded.

The new $168 billion plan adds $1 billion to state school spending, bringing the total to $26.7 billion. It also includes $25 million to expand prekindergarten and after school programs.

Earlier in the day, the Legislature passed sweeping legislation to address workplace harassment in the public and private sector, including requiring employers to adopt a model sexual harassment policy that prohibits mandatory arbitration and secret settlements.

Other features include: $100.1 billion for state operations, $7.6 billion in state support for higher education, and $118 million for the next phase of the Excelsior Scholarship.

A number of the more controversial policy items from Cuomo's 2018 agenda were stripped from the spending plan including the Child Victims Act, which raises the statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse; the DREAM Act, which enables undocumented immigrants to qualify for college assistance programs; and early voting.

His remarks came shortly after Assembly Democratic Majority Leader Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, said a logjam regarding oversight of private and religious schools had been broken.

I dont know if we met Sen. Felders demands, Heastie said, referring to Brooklyn Sen. Simcha Felder who wanted a moratorium on the oversight.

Felder, a Democrat who caucuses with Republicans, had wanted to exempt Orthodox Yeshivas and other private schools from upcoming new scrutiny by the state Education Department to ensure students were receiving an adequate secular as well as religious education.

Because he caucuses with Republicans and can provide a crucial 32nd vote in the closely held Senate, he was able to hold up budget talks on the school point. But he left earlier in the day to make it home in time for the start of Passover.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

It empowers SED (the State Education Department) to look at what these schools are doing to provide these schools with an equivalent education, Heastie said.

State regulations have long stated that private schools including religious academies should provide an education that is substantially equivalent to that given public schools. But the state has traditionally left that to localities. With growing concern about what critics say is the lack of basic English, math and science education in some religious schools, though, the state is looking to police these schools to some extent.

More for you Yeshivas emerge as last minute budget issue

Typically, the final budget is decided by Cuomo as well as Heastie, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, R-Suffolk, and Sen. Jeff Klein, D-Bronx, leader of the breakaway Independent Democratic Conference.

With Good Friday and Passover falling out on March 30 this year, lawmakers were anxious to get out of the Capitol early for the Legislature's two-week hiatus. The showdown between Felder and legislative leaders prompted the threats of a potential government shutdown.

Other sticking points involved taxation, whether the state should tax the pending sale of the Fidelis health insurance company to the St. Louis-based Centene Corp. for $3.75 billion, and whether to apply a surcharge to sales of opioid medication. The GOP-controlled Senate opposes all taxes, but agreed to the opioid sales fee, instead calling it "an assessment."You have reached a premium content area of TOL. To read this entire article please login if you are already a TOL subscriber.



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It didnt take but 4.5 seconds after Cadillac unveiled the CT6 V-Sport before word spread about that Chevy will use that 4.2-liter, Biturbo, V-8 in the upcoming mid-engined Zora ZR1 Chevy Corvette. After all, why not? It has 550 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque, right? Well, those rumors were put to bed quickly after President of Cadillac , John de Nysschen, went on record saying Just Quit the Speculation its headed for the Corvette. Its Not. And, he even made a good point when he said that the Corvette has a different kind of character. So whats the real reason why Chevy wont use Cadillacs new V-8?

If Chevys Going to Do it, Itll Be Done Right

Its Not Just about the engines character. Nope, thats not the only reason that Cadillac is being greedy, and to tell you the truth, Chevy probably doesnt want Cadillacs engine to begin with. The ZR1 Zora is rumored to deliver some 700 horsepower and almost 700 pound-feet of torque. The torque from that 4.2-liter might come close to fitting the bill, but the horsepower figure is quite low. Furthermore, its taken 50 years to get to a point where a mid-engined Vette may actually go into production. And, thats exactly why Chevy is developing its own engine, as shown by the CAD images that were leaked a while back.

Leaked CAD images of the LT5 thats said to power the Zora ZR1

If you look at the CAD images and the official pictures of that 4.2-liter V-8 that Cadillac has designed, you can see the clear-cut differences. And, this is exactly why Chevy wont even touch Cadillacs engine. Chevy has been designing the LT5 for some time now, and its highly unlikely that that 4.2-liter V-8 could be massaged to deliver the kind of specs that were expecting from the ZR1, anyway.

So, beg, plead, and cry all you want, that 4.2-liter was designed by and built specifically for GMs luxury arm, Cadillac. It might sound good, but it wont have the eat-your-face power that Chevy absolutely needs for the next Corvette. Besides, would you really want a Cadillac engine in your Corvette? For some reason, that just doesnt sound right.

References

Read our full review on the 2019 Chevrolet Corvette Zora.

Read more details about the 2019 Cadillac CT6 V-Sport.

Read more Cadillac news.

Read more Chevrolet news.Gary Griffith has sounded an alarm over four senior police officers who are in the running for the position of the countrys next top cop, but who continue to be on active duty and involved in investigations.AS he wrapped up a post-Cabinet news conference in Port of Spain on Thursday, the Prime Minister said the country was in a better place than it was this time last year. He was speaking after having rolled out a new regime of arrangements towards further re-opening of the society.Re: Going from Stewart International Airport to another airport

2. Re: Going from Stewart International Airport to another airport

It takes at least 1 1/2 hours for the bus from SWF into Manhattan and you'd need a few more hours to get to another airport.

Have you thought about an overnight and taking your onward flight the next day?

A bunk in a hostel can be affordable and a night in the city might be worth considering.

Edited: 3 years agoMy apologies in advance; I really did review forum topics but now my head is spinning.

Quick background: Family of 4, two children (ages 8 and 10), looking to travel to who knows where in CR this coming August. So far, it sounds like the Arenal Area and Manuel Antonio spots are the closest fit, I think. 4 out of the past 5 years, we traveled to Rio De Janeiro (safer and much more beautiful than expected) and Playa Del Carmen (our go to place). Looking for some helpful advice.

*8-10 day trip. Depending on the recommendations, again, which airport--Liberia or SJ? Flying from SFO. I read that sometimes a 4 hour car ride in CR can be an adventure. But, I think a 4 hour ride would be the absolute max .

*Boys would love to see monkeys, sloths, etc. Ziplining and hiking across bridges would be great! Should not be an issue, right :) ?

*We are also beach people. Plus would love to have a surf lesson with the kids.

*Sorry this may sound lame. But, places where we can walk from the hotel to markets and/or restaurants.

*Speaking of hotels, 4 to 5 star hotels recommendations would be appreciated!

*Lastly, one or two destinations for 8-10 days?

You guys are the best! Fellow travelers, thanks for any type of itinerary you can come up with.-:- Message from Tripadvisor staff -:-

This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.

To review the Tripadvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html

We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.Hi

I will be doing a day trip to Kawaguchiko on April 17th.

I will be visiting the The Chureito Pagoda and it says to do the following:

Take the JR Chuo Line from Tokyo's Shinjuku Station to Otsuki Station (70 minutes, about 2500 yen by direct limited express train or 100 minutes, 1320 yen by local trains with usually one transfer along the way). From Otsuki, take the Fujikyu Railway Line to Kawaguchiko Station (55 minutes, 1140 yen one way). The JR Tokyo Wide Pass covers the entire journey (except panorama seats on limited express trains); however, the Japan Rail Pass and other JR passes are not valid between Otsuki and Kawaguchiko. Then take train to Shimo-Yoshida Station.

Arakura Sengen Shrine is a ten minute walk from Shimo-Yoshida Station along the Fujikyu Railway Line (35 minutes, 960 yen from Otsuki or 10 minutes, 300 yen from Kawaguchiko). The pagoda is an additional five minute walk up the hill.

I also would like to go to the Northern Shores of Lake Kawaguchiko because it mentions it has best cherry blossoms viewing and that there is a Fujikawaguchiko cherry blossom festival at the time. I am not sure how to get to that area. Can someone advise me how to get there? thank you in advance.Hi All!

Really hoping for some advise of how to spend two days in between Kyoto and Tokyo please.

Our itinerary so far is

Tokyo- 3 nights

Hakone- 1 night

Kanazawa- 2 nights

Kyoto- 4 nights

Somewhere else- 2 nights

Tokyo- 1 night.

We are flying in and out of Tokyo Haneda which is why we are doing our final night there. Everything else has been booked and we just need to find the best places to go for the two nights. This will also dictate whether we get a 7 or 14 day Japan Rail Pass.

Looking forward to hearing your suggestions! Thanks in advance! MeetaOsaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe are all in the same Kansai region of Japan and to travel within the Kansai you can get the ICOCA which is a rechargeable card. This is sold by JR/West. Because Kyoto and Osaka are so close to one another, you dont actually need to stay in one and move to the other, but that is your choice, and because you are in the Kansai area for such a long period you can split the period in half.

If you split in half, Nara is closer to Kyoto than to Osaka (although you can also quickly get to Nara from Namba in Osaka). Kyoto also has more famous tourist sites. Kobe is closer to Osaka, as is Himeji.

Others can respond on Takayama and Shirakawako. And they probably have views on where else you can go because you are spending a long time in the Kansai.Hi, is this your first visit? Do you plan to visit it again or will this be a one-off trip (well, thought might change after the trip, haha)?

What in particular interests you? Cultural? Natural? Pop cultual? There are things to think about and I reckon you don't have much time.

The first thing perhaps is to decide the scope of regions you want to travel. 36 Days to cover the whole Japan (4 islands) or just one, such as Honshu, would involve very different planning.

Some people may choose to sample all the major cities across the country and do a couple of extended day trips from city while some want to avoid cities but visit the seasonal best in the countryside.

Your journey will include the busiest Japanese holiday, the golden week, so accommodation might be an issue already. You may want to draft a rough plan quickly that tripadvisors can provide more specific advice.Hi! I'm traveling solo to Japan in August. I have an itinerary planned out and would love anyone's input on whether this itinerary is doable.

1-4  Tokyo with a side trip to Nikko

5-6  Takayama (perhaps a trip to Kamikochi?)

7  Shirakawa

8  Kanazawa

9  Alpine Route

10  Matsumoto  possibly stay overnight in Narai

11  Hike/walk the Nakasendo from Tsugano to Magome  How difficult is the hike/walk?

12-15  Kyoto with a side trip to Nara

16  Hiroshima and Miyajima

17  Hakone

18  Hakone  and travel back to Tokyo in the afternoon

19  Tokyo (leaving in the evening)

1. Is this itinerary doable?

2. Is it too rushed? If yes, where would you suggest that I spend more time in?

3. Which stop would you eliminate if it meant you could stay longer in another place?

4. Are there any places that I should go to instead of the ones I've chosen?

Thanks!How do I get from the airport (JFK, LGA, or EWR) to Manhattan?

What To Do During Layovers?

Vacation Apartment Rentals Violate NYC Laws

Hotels: Kitchenettes and kitchens in 100+ Manhattan Hotels

Hotels: Two queen beds plus a kitchen/kitchenette

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What are the Must-See's and Must-Do's?

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Are the New York Pass, Explorer Pass or CityPass worth it?

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Public restrooms/toilets. Where do you go when you GOTTA GO?

Where are the best areas for shopping?

How do I find Discount Tickets for Broadway Shows?

Events for Halloween 2019 in NYC

Thanksgiving 2019 in NYC: What to Do & Where to Eat

Christmastime in NYC 2020: Dates for the Trees-Windows-Markets-Ice Skating+MORE!

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What is there to see and do near WTC/SOL/Brooklyn Bridge/SI ferry?

What should I know about visiting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum?

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Exploring neighborhoods - where should I go and what should I see?

Which is the best? ESB or TOTR or OWO?

Which are the significant churches in Manhattan?

Hidden Gems in the city - not so touristy

How do I get from NYC to the Meadowlands and back?

I'm Getting Married in NYC...what do I need to do?

Should I Buy Knock-Off Purses?

What to Do with Kids and How to Do It?

What should we do at night -- especially with kids or under 21's?

Places to eat (and drink) with a view

Where is the Old FAQ?

Trip Reports: Families with Young Kids - Add yours!

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Trip Reports: Solo Travelers - Add yours!

Trip Reports: Families of Adults - Add yours!We are making our annual trip to New York City and thanks to all of the great advice that we have received from so many of the Trip Advisors, I feel we have pretty much seen most of the things except of course, the new plays. This year, we are heading down to the lower East side to visit the Old Ukraine Church and restaurant bar/cafe. We are doing our last Harlem Tour as we have taken all of the other ones that they currently offer and of course will visit some of the Museums. My question is that I have read about the private Art Galleries in NYC. Is it appropriate for us to visit them even though we would not be purchasing anything? We don't want to embarrass ourselves. Any ideas on which one would be interesting to visit? We are open to any new ideas or comments. Thank You New Yorkers as you are the best!Hi,

Thanks for reading. I will be flying to NY on 1 april 7th ans Orlando till 11th Apr.

Was checking what are the sim card packahes available? Do i need to buy a separate sim card in NY and orlando or its the same.

What i need: 2GB of data,

Optional : (voice call, sms)

Alternatively I can use data passport which means I can access data in US with my Singapore data but may I know in US if someone calls in and you don't pick up will I be charged as incoming? Thanks!

If theres any advice or tips whicj is useful to know before I travel,appreciate if you can let me know as well, thanks!Hello, we are planning on hiring a car in NY and driving (over 5 nights) to Niagara Falls, Toronto, Ottawa and then back to NY before we fly home in January. We are staying in Chelsea and thinking to do pick up and drop off at JFK airport. When we return we will be staying one night near JFK airport before our flight the next day. This is why we thought JFK would be the better location.

This is our first time driving in USA and Canada and looking for any tips please. Is there anything we should know about driving at that time of the year eg, will we need chains for the tyres. Thanking you in advance for your tips. RI searched but didn't see any posts about this unique "food" tour, so thought I would share my experience. (Submitted review on TA this morning so waiting for it to post.)

In a nutshell, the Yum Yum MET Culinary Art Tour is WORTH IT. Lasting about two hours, it combines elements of art, history, food, and FUN.

A recent online article by NPR calls this tour "A Feast for the Eyes," and that's what it is. There is no food served (except one delicious NY treat) but there is a food element to every work of art the tour explores.

Ebullient tour guide Angelis provides an eye-opening look at great works of art that I have walked by for years and never noticed. I don't want to give away any spoilers or surprises, but Angelis ( a former Civil Engineer from Greece) throws in a couple souvenirs that are truly classy.

The tour fee includes admission to the MET so you can enjoy the museum after the tour or visit the Breuer or Cloisters at no extra charge. My husband and I visited the Breuer after lunch where they have a very unusual exhibit right now called Like Life: Sculpture, Color and the Body.

Angelis also offers three food walking tours, and my husband wants to take the Greek one this summer. More info here about MET Culinary Art Tour:

If you don't see a time you like, email Angelis and let him know your availability and he may be able to set something up for you. He didn't have a tour scheduled for the Friday we wanted to go so I wrote him and he created a tour. Two more people joined our group which was nice.

Edited: 3 years agoEaster is an important celebration for all Christians around the world. Its a holiday filled with a significant spiritual meaning, which makes it the right time to send happy Easter messages to your loved ones or those close to you. Regardless of your belief, Easter should be a holiday filled with fun, inspiration and a time to reflect on your faith.

Photo: pexels.com (modified by author)

Source: UGC

Apart from celebrating the resurrection of Christ, one can also send happy Easter messages to loved ones. This shows that you care and value them. The Easter messages can also be a tool for advertising what you're offering and a subtle way of ensuring your clients put you at the top of their minds, which can boost sales.

Happy Easter messages

Easter marks new beginnings and it can be quite difficult to find the right words when sending messages. Some general things to keep in mind when writing personalized Easter messages is that its a happy holiday. Be cheerful and focus on the good times ahead.

Inspirational Easter messages

Easter messages to loved ones are a good way of celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here are some inspirational Easter messages to keep you going:

Happy Easter wishes to you and your loved one. In this season of new beginnings, may our association keeps on blossoming in the days to come.

Easter is a time to be merry and thankful. I want to thank you, my client, and wish you a happy Easter through this message.

Happy Easter to my favourite client. I send promotional offers to you to cater specifically for this Easter. I hope you use them to make the ritual of this holiday more memorable.

This time of the year compels us to count our blessings, and among them is having a loyal customer like you. May the joy of this holiday stay with you throughout the year. Happy Easter

In celebration of the Easter holiday, I would like to express my gratitude for our excellent business relationship over the past year. I had so much fun doing business with you and look forward to our next ventures together. Wishing you a happy Easter!

It was a pleasure doing business with you this past month. We hope to continue providing the best services to you in the future. A blessed Easter holiday to you and your loved ones.

Photo: pexels.com (modified by author)

Source: UGC

As our valued client, we wish you an Easter holiday full of Easter bunnies, eggs and lots of laughter. Have a wonderful Easter.

As you celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, it is my sincere hope that you may experience the spirit of forgiveness as Christ has done to us.

It is my prayer that you will put all your hope and trust in the Lord, our saviour so that He grant you joy, peace and happiness to you and your loved ones.

While many people think that Easter is a time of remembrance, it is a moment of finding yourself and having a brand new beginning with the Lord.

I wish that your whole life will be filled with new goals, hope and aspirations to become a better person.

The Easter celebrations are a reminder of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ given by God. May you return this favour by being a blessing to all the people around you.

As you celebrate the festival, remember to share the risen Christ's good news and a great gift from God.

Easter is a symbol of brand new beginnings; may you allow the Lord to be born in you this season and others to come.

It is my prayer that the meaning of Easter will be reflected both in you and your entire family through the renewal of love, peace and happiness.

As you celebrate Easter, I hope that your baskets will be filled with candies, your heart with eternal love and family in joy and happiness.

As you remember the sacrifice made by Jesus on the cross, may his unconditional love and forgiveness of sins be your portion.

Easter is an excellent time to celebrate with the special people in your life. I take this opportunity to celebrate with you because you are a unique and essential part of me.

I am sending you heartfelt wishes as you celebrate Easter. May all your dreams come to pass, and may your lives be filled with happiness, good health and love.

Religious Easter messages for friends and loved ones

How do you greet someone on Easter? Sending a great message is one of the best forms of greetings. It is a sign of appreciation to your friends who have had your back since the year started.

My dear friend, may the day the Lord resurrects be the end of all your hardships and the beginning of good tidings. Have fun and a blessed Easter.

Just as Christ brought joy and happiness into our lives, so have you done the same for me. May this Easter bring lots of laughter to you, my beloved friend. Happy Easter!

You have always been there for me through thick and thin, and thats why I appreciate you. Wishing you a memorable Easter holiday and tell me all about it when we meet next.

You have been my friend for years now, and for those years, you have become like family to me. Thank you so much, my dear friend, for always being there for me. Enjoy your Easter.

Easter is a time to make memories, and my best memories are with you. As a friend, you give more than you ask for, and I know you've got my back every step of the way. Saying thank you is not enough, so I am adding happy Easter, hoping it will make your day. Cheers.

We disagreed, and it made us better friends; we argued, and it brought us closer. And even though we stopped talking for a while, our friendship resurrected just like Jesus. Have a great Easter filled with blessings and good fortune.

In this life and the afterlife, I would still choose you as my friend. Let the Easter bunny be a reminder of our friendship. Have a wonderful Easter.

Photo: pexels.com (modified by author)

Source: UGC

Happy Easter to the most incredible best friend in the whole world. Let us always celebrate all the Easter holidays together.

Happy Easter to my adorable children, who have been my inspiration to love, sacrifice and who continue to teach me to be pleased by finding joy even in the minor things. Blessed Easter.

Easter is more than just about the Easter bunny and eggs; Christ has risen! You can thank Him for all the sacrifices by praying and having a thankful heart. Enjoy your Easter.

May this Easter be the best for you and be proof of the unconditional love and sacrifice of Christ, who lives now and forever. Happy Easter.

As you celebrate this Easter, may God protect you, bless you and may sadness never see the front door of your home.

Even though you're far away, I hope you get to enjoy this Easter holiday. Don't forget you are special, unique and your smile is genuinely remarkable. Happy Easter to you.

Happy Easter to someone who is not only the best mother in the whole world but also a best friend, confidant and role model.

God gave his salvation and love for you to live a glorious life and achieve all your dreams. Happy Easter, young soul.

Lovely Easter greeting messages

Easter is a fun time to eat and hang out with those you love. Celebrate the holiday by wishing your friend an Easter full of blessing and love with the following messages:

On this particular day of the resurrection of Christ, let us remind ourselves that His love is eternal. Wishing you a happy Easter.

Rejoice and be glad because Jesus died for our sins, and now he has risen. Happy Easter.

With each new day, let Christ's tremendous love and sacrifice be an example of treating every other human being. Have a fabulous Easter.

With a thankful heart, I want to wish you and your family a happy Easter. Enjoy all the chocolate, food and goodies that come with this season.

My wishes for you this Easter is a full belly, money that never runs out, good health and a basket full of blessings. Great Easter.

May your Easter holiday overflow with happiness, presents and lots of good memories in the loving company of those you hold dear. Thank you for being my Easter gift.

I wish you a happy Easter full of peace, love and never-ending joy.

Easter symbolizes the renewal of life. May this Easter be the hope of new beginnings for you and your family. Happy Easter holiday.

Sending you blessings this Easter and joyful hugs filled with warmth. Have a joyous Easter

Just as Jesus touched many people's lives, so should He bless you, you're home and all family members. Enjoy your Easter to the fullest.

May your Easter holiday be bright, colourful, peaceful, joyous and filled with the Lord's blessings.

Be merry and make a ton of fun memories, for Easter is here. Have a fun-filled Easter holiday.

My wishes for you this Easter are simple: joy, love, peace, happiness and warm hugs. Happy Easter, and enjoy.

Even though I couldn't be next to you this Easter, I want you to know that my love for you will never fade. Happy Easter, honey.

Happy Easter, my love. As we celebrate this Easter with our family and friends, I want you never to forget that you're the best gift I can ever ask for, and I will cherish you until the end of time.

Photo: pexels.com (modified by author)

Source: UGC

Easter comes once a year, but you can be sure of my love for you every single second whether I am next to you or a thousand miles away. Happy Easter, darling.

Easter is so special to me not just because of the resurrection of Christ and great food; but also because it's time I get to spend quality time with you, my love and our beautiful family. I cherish you, and happy Easter.

It's not enough for me that Easter reminds us of the sacrifice that Christ did for us. The sacrifices you have made for me and the happiness you bring into my life cannot be measured. I love you and will always will. Happy Easter, love.

With you by my side, the Easter holidays keeps getting better. Happy Easter, soul mate.

Of all the Easter holidays that have celebrated, this one will be the very best because I am celebrating it with you.

Happy Easter to the one who gives me butterflies in my tummy and makes me sing love songs in the shower!

Happy Easter messages for your family, friends, clients, and loved ones shows that you are thinking about them as they celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus. The message will go a long way in making them feel loved and appreciated.

Tuko.co.ke recently shared 100+ awesome profile pic comments for Facebook. Dropping a comment on someone's picture is a kind gesture, and everyone appreciates it. However, some comments will bring joy, whereas others will not.

It takes creativity and an open mind to write a remarkable comment on someone's picture. Some people find it hard to do it, and that is why some of these fantastic profile pic comments for Facebook will help.

Source: Tuko Breaking News Latest- Ruto posted a message telling Kenyans to do good as they celebrate Easter

- Karua reacted by asking the DP to do as he said by returning Miguna

- She also told off Wavinya Ndeti who said Miguna should have produced travel documents

- The Narc Kenya leader argued Miguna's return was ordered by court

Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua has taken a swipe at Deputy President William Ruto over the Miguna Miguna saga.

In a Twitter post seen by TUKO.co.ke on Friday, March 30, Ruto called on Kenyans to celebrate Easter by doing something good to one another.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua told William Ruto to walk the talk by freeing Miguna Miguna after the DP told Kenyans to do good during Easter. Photo: TUKO.

READ ALSO: I have not showered for three days - Miguna speaks from detention

"In remembrance of Christ's ultimate sacrifice, we reaffirm God's preeminence in our lives and surrender our being to Him. Through His enduring mercies, grace and favour, we testify to restoration, reconciliation and an abundance of goodness in our land.," Ruto said.

In reaction, Karua, who is also former Kirinyaga County gubernatorial candidate, asked the DP to do as he said in his Easter message by bringing back the besieged lawyer Miguna from deportation.

"Walk the talk by facilitating Miguna's return to Kenya," she said.

READ ALSO: Miguna is back in the country from Canada

The Narc Kenya party boss also disagreed with former MP for Kathiani constituency, Wavinya Ndeti, who argued though Miguna is a Kenyan citizen, he should have surrendered his Canadian passport to the Immigration officers as was required.

"Without a doubt, Miguna Miguna is a Kenyan by birth, no one can deprive him of that right and he must be let to enjoy his freedoms. However, on coming back from Canada, he needed to have produced his Canadian or Kenyan passport for official stamping as required by the law for entry," Ndeti argued.

READ ALSO: Government explains why Miguna is stuck at the airport

Karua was, however, of the view Miguna did not have to produce his travel documents because his return to Kenya from Canada, following a seven-week deportation, was ordered by the courts.

"I do not agree dear sister (Ndeti). He (Miguna) was returning pursuant to a court order requiring the immigration authorities to facilitate his return! He did not have to present anything since immigration defaced his Kenyan passport, they should have simply replaced it!" Karua argued.

READ ALSO: Miguna Miguna deported again

Miguna Miguna was allegedly dragged,drugged before he was deported to Dubai on the night of Wednesday, March 28. Photo: TUKO.

Miguna was on March 28 re-deported after he refused to surrender his travel documents to Immigration officials and also declined to fill citizenship application forms.

The government insisted the NRM general was not a Kenyan and therefore could not allow him entry into the country as a citizen.

Fred Matiang'i, Joseph Boinnet, Gordon Kihalagwa slapped with Ksh.200,000 fine - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke- Miguna Miguna who is stranded in Dubai asked Kenyans to help him return to Kenya

- The NRM leader urged Kenyans to demonstrate against the government for disobeying the Judiciary

- The opposition leader asked Kenyans to help him raise funds for himself and the NRM

- He urged human rights activists to protest his mistreatment by Kenyan authorities

Fiery opposition leader Miguna Miguna who is stranded at Dubai International Airport has send a passionate appeal to Kenyans to come to his rescue.

In a statement seen by TUKO.co.ke on Saturday, March 31, Miguna highlights eight issues he wants Kenyans to do in his favour so he can returnto Kenya after he was dramatically re-deported for being in Kenya illegally.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

Kenyan authorities maintain that Miguna was in Kenya illegally as he renounced his citizenship and never bothered to renew it and declared him persona non grata on Kenyan soil.

Miguna Miguna in a Dubai hospital where he sought treatment. Photos: Miguna Miguna/Courtesy

READ ALSO: Raila has abandoned me, don't allow him enjoy Easter - Miguna Miguna

1. Miguna Miguna wants Kenyans to help him get urgent medical attention after he was injected with a sedating substance before he was forcibly ejected from Kenya. It kept him unconscious for the entire flight to Dubai.

2. Kenyans, he pleaded, should help him get out of Dubai back to Nairobi as he is a Kenyan citizen by birth explaining that the courts had upheld his ciizenship status.

"I have never renounced my citizenship. The courts have upheld and recognised my citizenship," he said.

3. He called on human rights activists to hold protests against the governmnet and how it dealt with his case citing open defiance of court orders.

READ ALSO: Hundreds spend Easter holiday in cold after eviction by Mombasa billionaire

4. He asked Kenyans to continue pushing for the independence of the judiciary and ensure it punishes government officials disregarding its authority.

Miguna Miguna at his toilet cell at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport before he was re-deported. Photo: Kamanda Mucheke/Facebook

5. Miguna begs Kenyans to demonstrate to compel the government to allow him back and return to him his Kenyan passport.

6. The fiery lawyer tells Kenyans to pile pressure on Raila Odinga to secure his release claiming the NASA leader had abandoned him despite his sacrifice to swear him in as the People's President.

READ ALSO: Atheist society of Kenya boss exposed for eating, impregnating and dumping ladies

7. Miguna asked Kenyans to condemn the governmnet for subjecting him to a cruel and inhumane treatment.

8. The lawyer asked Kenyans to help him raise money for him and the NRM and make the movement stronger.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news

Fred Matiang'i, Joseph Boinnet and Gordon Kihalagwa slapped with Ksh.200,000 fine - on TUKO TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke- Rashid escaped death by a whisker following a deadly shootout on Saturday morning March 31

- Officers attached to Special Crimes launched a joint operation to recover stolen items from Langata

- They managed to arrest three suspects who then led them to Umoja III

- Upon arrival a shootout ensued and three men were shot dead

- Rashid was shot on his thumb but was later discharged from hospital

- Corporal Rashid was last year captured on camera executing unarmed suspects in Eastleigh

The dreaded Pangani police officer Corporal Rashid Ahmed escaped death by a whisker on Saturday, March 31, during a shootout where three suspects were shot dead a revolver and two homemade pistols recovered.

The shooting took place in Umoja III, just few metres from where an officer based at Kariobangi was also shot dead on Thursday, March 31.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

Officers from the Special Crime Prevention Unit from Buruburu, Kayole and Starehe divisions launched a joint operation to recover a firearm and cash which were stolen from Langata on March 31.

READ ALSO: Police boss demoted and recalled after Miguna airport drama

The suspects indicated the things stolen from Langata were kept by their accomplices there and as sure as they arrived, a shootout ensued and three young men were shot dead. Photo: Citizen

Source: UGC

The team managed to arrest three suspects who were identified as Carlos Sunday, Eliud Mbuthia Maina and Caroline Njoki while driving in a white Toyota Fielder registration number KCK 624M.

After interrogation, the three suspects led the detectives to Upper Hill and later to Mowlem area in Umoja III.

The suspects indicated the things stolen from Langata were kept by their accomplices there and as sure as they arrived, a shootout ensued and three young men were shot dead.

READ ALSO: Raila is no longer opposition leader but Uhurus employee - ex-presidential candidate Nazlin Umar

The detectives recovered the firearms and four rounds of ammunition.

During the incident, Corporal Rashid Ahmed of Pangani police station was shot on the left thumb and was rushed to hospital where he was treated and later discharged.

According to the Langata police, an armed gang raided a house in Royal Park estate in Langata and robbed the family of a safe containing dollars and a firearm.

READ ALSO: I'll be back in Nairobi soon - Miguna Miguna

The suspects indicated the things stolen from Langata were kept by their accomplices there and as sure as they arrived, a shootout ensued and three young men were shot dead. Photo: Youth Village

They left together with the house help and it is suspected that it was an inside job.

Investigations were launched leading to the arrests and shooting.

As TUKO.co.ke formerly reported, Corporal Rashid was last year captured on camera executing unarmed suspects in Eastleigh.

READ ALSO: I have not seen or received calls from ODM leaders- Miguna

A video clip that went viral on social media showed the officer shooting a man lying down as a crowd of onlookers watched.

The Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet vowed to take action, saying the police service did not condone extrajudicial killings.

The then Nairobi County police commander Japheth Koome however defended the officers saying they were robbers who had earlier killed an officer.

Story by Lucky Omenda, Nairobi county.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Miguna Miguna's return: Chaos at Jomo Kenyatta Int. Airport (JKIA) - on TUKO TV

Source: Tuko NewsPresident of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko is convinced that the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project needs to be revised.

The Head of the Ukrainian State said this in a commentary with the media outlets of the Funke group, published on Saturday.

"The gas pipeline project needs to be revised in economic, political and moral terms," Petro Poroshenko said.

As noted in the article, the Federal Government of Germany assumes that the gas pipeline is a business project and politics has nothing to do with it. Russias Gazprom plays a key role for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. At the same time, the German companies as BASF subsidiary Wintershall and Eon enterprises as well as other European companies participate in the development of the project.

In this context, the German media cited Poroshenkos warning that the Nord Stream 2 is an instrument of political blackmail, not a "business project" for Russia. In particular, according to the Swedish Defense Research Agency data, Russia blocked the gas supplies to the countries of the Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic states for political reasons a total of 40 times in 1991-2004.

The President of Ukraine reminded that Gazprom recently had made another attempt to provoke a new gas crisis in Europe, to shatter the energy security of the European Union, significantly reducing the volume of gas supplies to Ukraine. "Moscow has again revealed its true face in gas blackmail," Poroshenko noted.

In addition, the article highlights that Germany and the northern west of Europe are becoming more dependent on Russia amid the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. This contradicts the principles of the EU Energy Union. "It [Energy Union] aims to promote energy security, diversification of supply sources and competition," Poroshenko said.

At the same time, he stressed that Ukraine would lose about $2 billion if Russian gas was supplied through the Nord Stream 2. "In addition, Gazprom will be able to block the reverse gas supplies to Ukraine, limiting the volume of incoming gas supplies through the pipeline. These measures could weaken our country," the President added.

According to him, "its also another argument for Moscow on why Russia is not trying to wage a more large-scale war against Ukraine."

As reported, giving an interview with the media outlets of the Funke group, the President of Ukraine criticized the supporters of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, calling them "the accomplices of Putin in his hybrid wars." The Nord Stream 2 company intends to start the construction of Nord Stream 2 pipeline in 2018 and complete it by the end of 2019. The length of the pipeline with a capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year should be 1,220 kilometers. The pipeline will run from Ust-Luga in Russia to Greifswald in Germany.

olOn Friday, March 30, the sixth meeting of the Joint Strategic Planning Group (JSPG) was held under the co-chairmanship of the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Turkey within the framework of the official visit of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin to Turkey.

The meeting was a preparatory stage for holding the seventh meeting of the Ukraine-Turkey strategic council of the highest level, the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine reports.

"During the JSPG meeting, the ministers reviewed the progress of implementation of the agreements reached at the highest level and outlined the prospects for further action. The parties noted that the strategic dialogue between Ukraine and Turkey gained a significant practical component through the dynamic development of interaction in various sectors of the economy. The specific projects in strategically important areas, primarily in defense and aerospace industries, are of particular importance," the statement reads.

While discussing Ukrainian-Turkish cooperation within the framework of international organizations, Pavlo Klimkin stressed the constructive nature of bilateral cooperation in UN, OSCE, the Council of Europe and NATO.

The situation in the Donbas and in the occupied Crimea was also discussed. In this context, the Ukrainian foreign minister thanked the Turkish side for its continued support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. A special emphasis was placed on consolidating efforts to protect the rights of the Crimean Tatars, who suffer under the pressure of the occupation authorities in Crimea.

olThe United States increases the military and technical assistance to Ukraine and allocates the funds for the development of reforms.

Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States Valeriy Chaly said this on the air of Espresso.TV on Friday.

The ambassador assured that the enhancement of the army and the defense capacity of the country is one of the main priorities of the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian embassy.

"Therefore, it is good news that the military and technical assistance of the United States to Ukraine has not decreased, but increased this year. The figures we are talking about are $200 million from the Pentagon and $95 million within the foreign military financing program of the U.S. Department of State and other programs. A total sum is more than $300 million," Chaly noted.

In addition, the US will provide $620 million, including on security sector reforms.

"[The assistance] is larger than ever. This is not only the evidence of additional opportunities to increase our resources, but also the signal from our strategic partner, the US," the ambassador said.

olUkraine's asset declaration system should hold public officials accountable and not place unnecessary burdens or pressure on civil society.

Spokesperson for the U.S. Department Heather Nauert says the United States urges the Ukrainian government to repeal legislation that requires the asset declarations from civil society and international members of state-owned-enterprise supervisory boards.

"The United States strongly encourages the government of Ukraine to repeal legislation that requires the asset declarations from civil society and international members of state-owned-enterprise supervisory boards," reads the statement published on the State Department website on March 30.

Read alsoEU's Hahn urges Rada to relieve civil activists from filing e-declarations"Ukraine's asset declaration system should hold public officials accountable and not place unnecessary burdens or pressure on civil society. This punitive law targets those very individuals who seek to increase transparency and accountability in Ukraine, fulfilling the promises of the Euromaidan and the Ukrainian people's aspirations for a democratic country governed by the rule of law," Nauert said.

"We urge the Ukrainian government to expeditiously cancel the asset declaration requirements, in line with recommendations by the Venice Commission, and, in the interim, provide a temporary amnesty for those individuals who do not file declarations by the upcoming deadline," she added.

Read alsoVenice Commission criticizes Ukraine's bills on financial disclosure requirements for NGOs, activistsAs UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on March 27, 2017, enacted the No. 6172 law on amendments to Article 3 of the Ukrainian Law on Prevention of Corruption, introducing e-declaration for non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The law sparked harsh criticism on the part of civil society in Ukraine as well as the U.S. and EU. A number of foreign partners called it a "step back".

The Venice Commission stated that the requirements for the anti-corruption activists to submit e-declarations of assets should be completely removed from the relevant law or significantly narrowed.

On March 21, 2018, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Prevention and Combating Corruption recommended that the parliament adopt bills proposing to postpone the provision of e-declarations by civil activists.

On March 22, the parliament refused to consider said bills.

On March 28, 2018, Poroshenko called on the Verkhovna Rada to repeal the legislative requirement for civil activists to submit asset declarations.

Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy proposed to adopt the relevant legislative amendments on April 3.The construction of Nord Stream 2 poses a "serious danger" for Ukraine, the president said.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko believes that those who support the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline are Russia's accomplices in its hybrid war.

Read alsoU.S. warns of sanctions against companies engaged in Nord Stream 2The construction of Nord Stream 2 poses a "serious danger" for Ukraine since Kyiv will annually lose US$2 billion in duties charged for the transit of Russian gas to Europe, the president said in an interview with Funke media groups, which will be published on March 31, Deutsche Welle reported. Moreover, Russia's Gazprom is likely to reduce gas supplies to Ukraine and therefore it will weaken the state.

Poroshenko stressed that the Nord Stream 2 project is a "tool of political pressure" on the part of Russia.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on March 27, Nord Stream 2 AG received a permit for the construction and operation of the gas pipeline in the German EEZ (exclusive economic zone), despite the fact that on March 21, members of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy at the European Parliament supported the changes to the gas directive, which should hinder the construction of Nord Stream 2.Employees of the Ukrainian consulates in Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk have not been expelled.

Russia has expelled Ukrainian diplomats from three cities, namely Moscow, St. Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don.

"According to the decision by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, six diplomats have been expelled from the Embassy of Ukraine in Moscow, five diplomats  from the Ukrainian Consulate General in Rostov-on-Don, and two diplomats  from Ukraine's Consulate General in St. Petersburg," a source familiar with the case told UNIAN.

Read also"Nonsense": Klimkin on Russia's "mirror move" to kick out Ukrainian diplomatsEmployees of the Ukrainian consulates in Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk were not expelled since it would be equivalent to the closure of the institutions as a mere two or three people work there each.

According to the source, the diplomats from the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow have already left for Ukraine.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on March 30, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced persona non grata diplomats from 23 countries, including Ukraine, as a retaliation to the expulsion of Russian diplomats across the world following the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia on British soil. Thirteen Ukrainian diplomats had to leave Russia within 48 hours.

The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine stated that Russia's decision on the expulsion of diplomats would not significantly affect the defense of Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia.The ministry was able to gather information about the movement of paintings from the occupied Crimea to Russia.

The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine began to prepare proposals for sanctions against directors and officials of the Crimean museums involved in the movement of cultural property across the state border of Ukraine.

Read alsoBakhchysaray Palace in occupied Crimea under threat from "renovation""The use of museum items of the Museum Fund of Ukraine, stored in the relevant institutions of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, for exhibiting outside Ukraine is illegal," the ministry said in a statement to Krym-Realii media project's request.

The ministry also noted that after the annexation of Crimea, it lost communications with cultural institutions located on the peninsula. However, the ministry was able to gather information about some facts of the movement of paintings from the occupied Crimea to Russia.

The investigative bodies have initiated criminal proceedings under Art. 356 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ("unsanctioned action") on the fact of moving 38 paintings from the collection of the Aivazovsky National Art Gallery from Crimea to Russia in 2016.The Russian occupation forces continue to violate the Easter ceasefire in Donbas.

Russia's hybrid military forces attacked Ukrainian army positions in Donbas 32 times in the past 24 hours, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as killed in action (KIA) and another four as wounded in action (WIA).

Read also"Easter ceasefire" in Donbas fails on its first day with attacks on Ukrainian positionsThe Russian occupation forces continue to violate the so-called "Easter ceasefire" in Donbas, which came into force at 00:01 Kyiv time on March 30, 2018, the press center of the headquarters of Ukraine's military operations reported on Facebook on Saturday morning.

In the Donetsk sector, the enemy opened fire from grenade launchers and 82mm mortars, as well as launched an anti-tank guided missile on Ukrainian fortified positions near the village of Talakivka, while grenade launchers were used near the villages of Opytne, Verkhniotoretske, Bohdanivka, Lebedynske, Shyrokyne, and Butivka coal mine.

Moreover, the aggressor fired grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and an anti-aircraft gun on Ukrainian positions near the village of Vodiane, as well as heavy machine guns near the villages of Pavlopil and Pyshevyk. In addition, the occupiers opened fire from small arms at the Ukrainian troops stationed near Pavlopil, Opytne, Bohdanivka, Novotroyitske, Kamianka, Pyshevyk, Pisky, and the towns of Avdiyivka and Maryinka.

In the Luhansk sector, the militants fired grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns and small arms at the defenders of the village of Luhanske. They also used grenade launchers near the village of Katerynivka.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the Russian occupation forces mounted 57 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas in last day before the Easter ceasefire.There were no ceasefire violations in the Luhansk sector.

Russia's hybrid military forces mounted five attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas on Saturday, March 31.

Read also"Easter ceasefire" in Donbas fails on its first day with attacks on Ukrainian positionsIn the Donetsk sector, the enemy opened fire from grenade launchers and small arms three times at the Ukrainian fortified positions near the village of Vodiane, the press center of the headquarters of Ukraine's military operations said in an evening update as of 18:00 on March 31, 2018.

The occupiers also fired heavy machine guns and small arms at the defenders of the village of Pavlopil.

There were no casualties among Ukrainian soldiers.

Moreover, there has been no ceasefire violations in the Luhansk sector since the earlier hours of Saturday morning.

"The Armed Forces of Ukraine control the situation along the entire contact line. Our servicemen strictly adhere to the terms of the truce," the press center added.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the Trilateral Contact Group for the settlement of the situation in Donbas on March 26 agreed on a comprehensive, sustainable and unlimited ceasefire from March 30, 2018.

However, the Russian occupation forces violated the Easter ceasefire in Donbas 32 times on March 30.The Russian Embassy earlier said it "insists on the right to see" Julia Skripal, after it emerged she was improving rapidly.

The British government is considering allowing visits to Yulia Skripal, who is recovering in hospital after being poisoned along with her father, a Russian ex-spy, in a nerve agent attack blamed by Britain on Russia.

Read alsoCondition of Salisbury spy daughter Yulia Skripal "improving rapidly" - media"We are considering requests for consular access in line with our obligations under international and domestic law, including the rights and wishes of Yulia Skripal," a spokeswoman for Britain's foreign ministry in London said, the Ukrainian media outlet Europeiska Pravda wrote, referring to Reuters.

As was reported, the Russian Embassy in London earlier said it "insists on the right to see" Yulia Skripal, after it emerged she was improving rapidly.

Doctors at Salisbury Hospital have recently said that Yulia has responded well to treatment but continues to receive expert clinical care 24 hours a day.

Yulia Skripal is said to be conscious and talking. She even started to eat and drink on her own.

The British authorities believe that Yulia can testify in an investigation into poison attack against her and her father.The scope of Employers Federation of Pakistan (EFP) is being expanded and strengthened throughout the country to protect interests of employers providing 2.5 million jobs to the unemployed youth.

FAISALABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Mar, 2018 ) :The scope of Employers Federation of Pakistan (EFP) is being expanded and strengthened throughout the country to protect interests of employers providing 2.5 million jobs to the unemployed youth.

Addressing a function at the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) here on Saturday, Majid Aziz, the President EFP, said an EFP sub-office or a desk would be set up at the FCCI to protect interests of its members.

He said the organization was established 68 years ago but it remained restricted to Karachi. "However, now its two offices outside Karachi have become operational while its presence in all provinces will be ensured very soon," he said.

He added that members of the EFP were providing employment to millions of workers. The numbers of employers registered with EFP were only 609 in the past but now their numbers had jumped to 700.

He said that efforts had been expedited to further increase its memberships to 1,000 by 2019. He said most of employers were unaware of benefits they could enjoy by getting the membership of this federation and hence a comprehensive awareness campaign had been lunched in all major industrial cities of the country.

He said: "The EFP is also affiliated with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and we are regularly arranging training programmes for our employees." Presenting welcome address, Shabbir Hussain Chawla, the President FCCI said that employers played a major role in economic consolidation and job creation.

Later, the FCCI shield was presented to Mjaid Aziz while Fasih-ul-Karim Siddique, the Secretary General EFP, presented a traditional Sindhi Ajrak to Shabbir Hussain Chawla.(@FahadShabbir)

Leadership of different political parties while agreeing with demands made in Charter of Economy approved at the All Parties Conference (APC) arranged by Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), have expressed resolve of raising voice in parliament for economic development of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA.

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Mar, 2018 ) :Leadership of different political parties while agreeing with demands made in Charter of Economy approved at the All Parties Conference (APC) arranged by Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), have expressed resolve of raising voice in parliament for economic development of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA.

The APC arranged here at a hotel on Thursday evening was attended by representatives of different political parties including Awami National Party, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, Jamat-e-Islami, Qaumi Watan Party, JUI-F, Pakistan People's Party and public representatives from FATA.

In the APC, held under the chairmanship of Zahidullah Shinwari, President of SCCI, the political leadership vowed to raise voice for economic development of KP-FATA, protection of provincial rights, improvement of commerce and trade in the region, reforms in taxation system and for removing backwardness of the region.

Prominent politicians including Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Speaker KP Assembly, Asad Qaiser, Sikander Sherpao of QWP, Kiramatullah Khan Chagharmati of PPP, Senior Minister KP, Inayatullah Khan, Parliamentary leader of FATA in national assembly, Shah Jee Gul Afridi, Senator Mushtaq Ahmad of JI, Senator Ayub Afridi of PTI, President FPCCI, Ghazanfar Bilour and prominent businessmen of the province.

Delivering the welcome address, President SCCI, Zahidullah Shinwari expressed happiness over participation of such a large number of politicians in the APC. He said the purpose of holding of APC was to bring together the politicians of different political parties on one platform for taking them into confidence over the plight of the province.

He said SCCI wanted to urge political leadership to take up the case of their province and FATA to parliament so that the backwardness of this region ended and the province gets its due share in natural resources and developmental schemes.

The Charter of Economy passed in the APC will be presented to parliament and all the politicians would support it, Shinwari expressed the hope. Speaking on the occasion, Speaker KP Assembly, Asad Qaiser appreciated the effort of SCCI for holding of APC and said credit of bringing all the politicians on one platform goes to Sarhad Chamber.

He said protection of the rights of KP and FATA is the duty of every politician. He also assured that any resolution brought in KP assembly for the rights of the province, will be passed unanimously.

Ghulam Ahmad Bilour of ANP said it was a very happy occasion that people were realizing need for raising voice for provincial rights. He said the leadership of ANP has faced the allegations like `traitors' for the cause of raising voice for rights of the province and this region.

Bilour said it is very ironical that 50 percent of petrol was produced in KP, but there was no oil refinery in the province. The province could not get due rights which it deserved constitutionally, Bilour regretted.

The province is producing electricity more than its demand, but is still facing maximum load shedding, he deplored. Former Senator Ilyas Ahmad Bilour also appreciated effort of SCCI for holding APC.

He said for attainment of provincial rights it is necessary that politicians are united, but the bureaucracy has also to change its behavior. He said credit for passage of 18th amendment aimed at providing maximum autonomy to provinces, goes to ANP.

The APC was also addressed by President FPCCI, Ghazanfar Bilour, Senator Mushtaq of JI, FATA MNA Haji Shah Jee Gul Afiridi, Sikander Sherpao, Senator Nauman Wazir, Kiramatullah Chagharmati and Sardar Hussain Babak. All the speakers appreciated the idea of holding APC by SCCI with the objective of improving economy of the province and FATA.Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has congratulated Professor of Neurosurgery Dr Khalid Mehmood and his team over successful operation of brain tumor without giving anesthesia to the patient and declared it a landmark achievement in the health sector.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Mar, 2018 ) :Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has congratulated Professor of Neurosurgery Dr Khalid Mehmood and his team over successful operation of brain tumor without giving anesthesia to the patient and declared it a landmark achievement in the health sector.

He termed it another achievement after operation of complicated brain tumor through nose.

He also appreciated the performance of whole team which took part in this operation and congratulated the patient Muhammad Hasan, who had recovered after the operation.

Shehbaz Sharif said the Punjab government had taken concrete steps for developing health sector on modern lines. He said patients were getting benefits from the modern reforms introduced in health sector. "Special attention is being paid for improving the healthcare facilities in government hospitals besides providing high-quality medicines free-of-cost to patients," he added.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the successful conclusion of the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), after nearly 15 years of supporting the West African nation in the transition to peace and democracy, a process in which Pakistani troops and civilian personnel played a crucial role.

UNITED NATIONS, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Mar, 2018 ) :Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the successful conclusion of the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), after nearly 15 years of supporting the West African nation in the transition to peace and democracy, a process in which Pakistani troops and civilian personnel played a crucial role.

The mission was deployed in 2003 to monitor a ceasefire agreement in Liberia following the conclusion of a brutal civil war. At its peak it consisted of up to 15,000 United Nations military personnel from and 1,115 police officers, along with a civilian component, from at least 10 troop contributing countries.

Over the years, Pakistan, as UNMIL's backbone, provided infantry battalions, a signal company, engineering companies, military observers, police officers as well as the Level-II hospital . From 2005 to 2013, Pakistan contributed more than 2,000 peacekeepers to UNMIL per annum, with a high of 3,400 in 2007 and 2008.

The bulk of the Pakistani troops returned home in 2015. The medical unit was wound up last week. In a statement from a UN spokesman, the Secretary-General also commended the Government' s ongoing efforts to keep Liberia on the path of peace and sustainable development.

The UN chief appreciated the contributions of all partners in the Liberian peace process over the years, particularly the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), whose green helmets laid the foundation for UN peacekeepers in Liberia ahead of UNMIL''s establishment in 2003.

Guterres also expressed appreciation for the excellent leadership of his Special Representative for Liberia, Farid Zarif, and thanked all previous leaders of the Mission, and paid tribute to all uniformed and civilian personnel who served with UNMIL.

"The Secretary-General expresses his profound respect to the memory of the 202 peacekeepers who lost their lives in the service of peace during the nearly 15 years the Mission was deployed in Liberia," said the statement, adding that the UN chief also expressed his gratitude to all troop- and police-contributing countries.

Even though the peacekeeping operation has wound down, the UN family still present in Liberia will remain committed to supporting the Government-led reform process "with a view to ensuring that the hard-won peace can be sustained and the country and its people will continue to progress and thrive," the statement concluded.

Liberia, the first independent country in Africa, enjoyed nearly a century and a half of stability before falling into chaos, enduring two devastating civil wars between 1989 and 2003. More than a quarter of a million Liberians were killed and nearly a third of the population was uprooted.Thirty suspects have been investigated in connection with the murder of a university student, Abida Ahmad. CPO Faisalabad Athar Ismaeel told APP that the suspects had been nabbed for investigation with the help of the deceased's mobile phone data.

FAISALABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Apr, 2018 ) :Thirty suspects have been investigated in connection with the murder of a university student, Abida Ahmad. CPO Faisalabad Athar Ismaeel told APP that the suspects had been nabbed for investigation with the help of the deceased's mobile phone data.

The deceased's DNA samples have also been sent to the Lahore Forensic Laboratory whereas SHO Gulberg police station had been suspended for inaction over her alleged kidnapping. According to an autopsy report, there were torture marks on the body.

Meanwhile, students of the GC University Faisalabad and class-fellows of Abida Ahmed staged protest and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits.

According to the student's family, she did not return home from the university after which the family registered an FIR with the Gulberg police.

The police did not find any clue until her body was found two days ago. The grieving family said the deceased was a gold-medalist and had recently won a laptop under the Prime Minister's Laptop Scheme.

The 25-year-old girl, Abida Ahmed, was a student of MA English in the Government College University Faisalabad. She went missing on March 25 when she left for the university. Her body was fished out from a stream on March 28 (Wednesday).(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Canada welcomes Pakistani tourists, international students and businessmen as the country was built by the immigrants, said Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees, Canada, Ahmed Hussen.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Mar, 2018 ) :Canada welcomes Pakistani tourists, international students and businessmen as the country was built by the immigrants, said Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees, Canada, Ahmed Hussen.

Addressing Pakistan Day reception at Ottawa, he said Canada continued to uphold the age-old tradition that immigration strengthened all facets of Canadian life. "Our immigration policies will benefit all Canadians and contribute to economic growth and keep the country at the forefront of the global economy", he added.

The Minister appreciated the positive and constructive role being played by the Pakistani community in Canada for further strengthening of the relationship between the two countries. The Minister said that he was looking forward to visit Pakistan during the year, as exchange of parliamentary and officials' delegations would further enhance our bilateral relations.

In his address, the High Commissioner of Pakistan, Tariq Azim Khan said that as Canada pursued a path to diversifying its partnerships, Pakistan was one of the emerging economies in Asia offering tremendous opportunities.

Pakistan seeks reviving the full spectrum relations in political, trade, investment and development fields with Canada. The High Commissioner acknowledged with gratitude that then Canada's visa processing time for Pakistan had significantly improved recently.

He congratulated the large Pakistani Diaspora for their valuable contribution to the political, economic and socio-cultural fabric of Canada. A large number of Canadian Parliamentarians, Government Officials, Civil Society, media persons, members of Ottawa Diplomatic Corps and community members attended the reception.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Director General, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Safety and Halal Food Authority, Riaz Khan Mahsud has expressed satisfaction over the activities being kicked off across the province and said that the Authority is to serve general public by safeguarding them from unsafe and unhygienic food.

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Mar, 2018 ) :Director General, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Safety and Halal Food Authority, Riaz Khan Mahsud has expressed satisfaction over the activities being kicked off across the province and said that the Authority is to serve general public by safeguarding them from unsafe and unhygienic food.

Upon the special directives of DG Riaz Khan Mahsud, teams of the Food Authority carried different operations across the province said the spokesman on Saturday. Abbottabad team led by Assistant Director Adeel Numan, visited different markets and imposed a fine of 3,25000 rupees against a well-known bakery Shop violating the rules of the Authority.

On the other hand, Assistant Directors, Aneela Mahboob and Saira Nisar stepped into Hayatabad in sake of checking shopping and mega malls and imposed a fine of eighty-five thousand rupees against Hyper Mall, Wadud Son's and D Watson who were also violating the government rules.

Similarly, in Kohat under the supper vision of Deputy Director, Kamran Yousafzai, Food authority team carried out an operation against the adulterated milk and poured hundreds of liters of adulterated milk.

The team also sealed an ice-cream factory over loose standards. The factory was situated in in a poor sanitation zone, the pots used were unhygienic and freezers used were full of dirt. Plastic drums were used for storage which is against the safety standards.Unknown armed men shot dead a man named Owais Ahmed in Chaman area of Killa Abdullah district, Levies sources said on Friday. According to detail, the victim was on way to somewhere when armed assailants opened fire at him near Killi Abdul Rehmanzai and fled from the scene.

QUETTA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Mar, 2018 ) :Unknown armed men shot dead a man named Owais Ahmed in Chaman area of Killa Abdullah district, Levies sources said on Friday. According to detail, the victim was on way to somewhere when armed assailants opened fire at him near Killi Abdul Rehmanzai and fled from the scene.

As a result, he died on the spot after receiving bullet wounds. The body of the deceased was handed over to the heirs after completion of legal formalities. Levies force registered a case and started investigation.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

A delegation of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), led by Co-Chairs from Ireland and Iceland visited Pakistan and held discussions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Mar, 2018 ) :A delegation of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), led by Co-Chairs from Ireland and Iceland visited Pakistan and held discussions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Pakistan side was led by Dr. Zafar Ali, Director General, Strategic Export Control Division. This was the third consecutive MTCR outreach Mission to visit Pakistan in as many years. Both sides exchanged views on export control measures relevant to MTCR and the latest political as well as technical development in this area.

Briefing the outreach Mission on Pakistan's comprehensive administrative, legislative and regulatory export control measures, the Director General noted full compatibility of Pakistan's measures with the best international standards and coverage of items and technologies controlled by the MTCR.

Reaffirming Pakistan's continuing commitment to the goals of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery means, the Pakistani side underlined that control measures should not impinge on the developing countries' legitimate right of access to dual-use technologies for socio-economic progress.

The MTCR is an informal grouping of 35 states that seeks to prevent missile proliferation by voluntarily adhering to common export policy guidelines related to missiles and missile technologies.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

A hearing on the case of child mortality in Tharparkar was held in Supreme Court Karachi Registry on Saturday

Karachi (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Mar, 2018 ) A hearing on the case of child mortality in Tharparkar was held in Supreme Court Karachi Registry on Saturday. Expressing displeasure over the report submitted by the health secretary, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar said, I am ashamed after watching the video of Larkana Hospital. Then they say that we are foolish to interfere in the matters of executive.

These incidents force us to intervene in executives affairs, the chief justice said. Giving his remarks during the hearing, the chief justice said that I am thinking to visit the hospital myself.

Addressing former Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani, Nisar said that you should help us, go and visit the hospital yourself.

The children are dependent on hospitals after their parents. They are admitted to the hospital and their dead body is handed over after a little while.

The parents are left with no option but to cry over the situation, he said. The chief justice asked how far away is Larkana? The Sindh Advocate General responded that one can reach there in an hour via airplane.

The chief justice said, Ill consider going to the hospital myself. Who is responsible for providing medicine to the hospital? On whose orders the incinerators of Sindh government have been installed in the government hospitals? To this, the health secretary responded that this development is being made on your orders.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Ministry of Housing and Works has submitted PC-1 for the construction of additional block at federal lodes in Quetta. An official of the ministry said, "PC-1 had been submitted for construction of additional block at Federal Lodge No I, Zarghoon Road, Quetta.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Mar, 2018 ) :Ministry of Housing and Works has submitted PC-1 for the construction of additional block at federal lodes in Quetta. An official of the ministry said, "PC-1 had been submitted for construction of additional block at Federal Lodge No I, Zarghoon Road, Quetta.

Five new suites and halls will be constructed in the Federal Lodges.

" To a question, he said that nobody was staying permanently in the Federal Lodges Quetta and said if anyone found, strict action would be taken in this regard.

Federal Lodges in Quetta has been renovated and reconstructed with an estimated cost of Rs 5.5 million. He said that the incumbent government should be appreciated for reconstructing the Federal Lodges in Quetta as it were damaged in bomb blast. He said no past government had given attention to the lodges adding that Federal Lodges at Peshawar have also been renovated.Federal Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Saturday that Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) did not believe in any 'NRO', (National Reconciliation Order), any secret deal, as it had an 'NRO' with the people of Pakistan to transform the country into an economic tiger.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Mar, 2018 ) :Federal Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Saturday that Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) did not believe in any 'NRO', (National Reconciliation Order), any secret deal, as it had an 'NRO' with the people of Pakistan to transform the country into an economic tiger.

Talking to the media persons after inaugurating an Executive Passport Office here at DHA, he said that the next general elections would prove that 200 million Pakistanis were not tenants but owners of the country.

To a question, Ahsan Iqbal said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan wanted to win election 2018 in connivance with the bookie. He said that people were now mature politically as everyone, even farmers, tenants and labourers had become "Aristotle" due to the media.

The people, he observed, were well-aware of the fact that which political party was progressive. Ahsan Iqbal said that Imran Khan often visited Peshawar and Lahore and he was well aware of difference of development in both the cities, asserting that in its next tenure, the PML-N government would also develop Karachi and Peshawar to that level.

He called for highlighting Pakistan's achievements to the world instead of resorting to negative propaganda, adding that effective policies of the incumbent government had ensured speedy development and Pakistan had now become one of the top five fast developing economies.

The minister advised the opponents not to repeat political games of the past 70 years as it would tantamount to wrecking havoc on the future of Pakistani youth. About accountability by NAB, he was of the view that such games had often been played just before the general elections due to which the elements who were afraid of democracy, were trying to impinge on the democratic process.

"If such type of accountability will harm the credibility/popularity of a single political party, it will be called nothing but pre-poll rigging," he opined. To another question, he said that if the government and opposition developed a consensus on the caretaker setup, it would be the victory of democracy; otherwise, it would serve the motives of anti-democratic elements.

Regarding placement of Sharif family members on the ECL (Exit Control List), he argued that as per decision of the Supreme Court since August 2016, federal cabinet's approval was mandatory for all such cases, but unfortunately, it had not been done in the past.

However, the Sharif family and all such cases pending since August 2016 had been forwarded to the cabinet for its recommendation. About Pervez Musharraf's return to Pakistan, he said the government would provide him security as per the given laws, adding that General Sahib should muster courage to come back and face the court of law in Pakistan.

Earlier in his address at the inaugural ceremony, he said that NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority) would provide Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) to voters at their doorsteps.

He also congratulated the inhabitants of Lahore on successful establishment of another executive passport office, as 10 such offices had earlier been working in the Punjab capital. He added that the incumbent government had firm commitment to ensure timely provision of facilities of international standard to masses.

Federal Interior Minister said that the government was setting up NADRA Executive Centres across the country and there was fast technological advancement in the country.Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have signed an agreement for jointly taking forward the poverty graduation approach with the ultra-poor/vulnerable poor Afghan refugee population residing in districts Pishin and Swabi of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces respectively

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Mar, 2018 ) Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have signed an agreement for jointly taking forward the poverty graduation approach with the ultra-poor/vulnerable poor Afghan refugee population residing in districts Pishin and Swabi of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces respectively.

The initiative aims at making an effort to graduate the Afghan refugee population and their host families up the poverty scales and simultaneously providing them with sustainable livelihoods. The Poverty Graduation Pilot for Afghan Refugee Families will help develop the capacities, opportunities, assets and productivity of Afghan refugees and their host families to reduce their vulnerability to shocks, improve their livelihoods and strengthen their business operations.

The signing ceremony was attended by UNHCR Representative in Pakistan, Ms. Ruvendrini Menikdiwela and Chief Executive Officer, PPAF, Qazi Azmat Isa along with officials from the two organizations.

The collaboration will benefit 2,000 families out of which 70% households would be those residing in settled camps and 30% of households would be that of host families based in the project areas.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Ruvendrini Menikdiwela, Country Representative, UNHCR said, Poverty graduation is practical approach, with the potential to contribute towards the creation of durable and sustainable solutions for refugees who live in Pakistan.

Qazi Azmat Isa, CEO PPAF hoped that this partnership of a pilot initiative will help to graduate Refugees and their host local families out of poverty. He said, PPAF poverty graduation strategy combines elements of social mobilization, livelihood development, and financial inclusion thereby combining support for immediate needs with longer term human capital and asset investment to move households out of extreme poverty and into sustainable livelihoods.

" The poverty graduation programme is an approach that target families living in extreme poverty on less than USD 1.25 a day and having no access to basic services.

This approach brings innovative and market based methods together to help people become independent by providing them with sustainable livelihoods opportunities. UNHCRs priority in Pakistan is to achieve lasting solutions for one of the largest and most protracted refugee situations in the world.

Pakistan continues to host approximately 1.4 million refugees. Most are from Afghanistan and live in refugee villages and urban areas. Since March 2002, UNHCR has facilitated the return of approximately 4.2 million registered Afghans from Pakistan.

The Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) is the lead apex institution for community-driven development in Pakistan. PPAF works as private sector organization in support of public policy by providing an array of financial and non-financial services to the poorest and the most marginalized rural households and communities across Pakistan.

PPAFs investment in developing capacities of its partner organizations and community institutions has resulted in addressing poverty in vulnerable and remote areas and providing opportunities for sustainable livelihoods.PPAF approach is to develop representative, inclusive, transparent and accountable institutions of the poor.

The catalytic role of women in programme design, delivery and impact is at the core of all interventions. Access and opportunities for women are enabled through financial assistance in the form of interest-free, loans, and asset transfer & livelihood development.(@rukhshanmir)

:Rural women are empowering themselves by contributing its share in art and culture.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Mar, 2018 ) :Rural women are empowering themselves by contributing its share in art and culture. The womens of remote areas are playing a vital role in promotion of respective areas of culture and art.These women also involved to display their productions in various exhibitions.

Their beautiful handwork embroideries and jewelery being display at different exhibitions which promote culture as well as it benefits them. A number of NGOs also initiated various projects to encourage women to produce local art and cultural items like dresses and ornaments.

Rabia Tasneem , student of art said "Women of rural areas are hardworking and they are backbone of national economy and they are also contributing to their families and promoting art and culture in the country.

" "It is economically beneficial for them as many of the products have been produced for exhibition, though they face some challenges such as finding appropriate markets to sale them and it is the toughest challenge for the rural women now a days ," she added.

She suggested that these challenges can be overcome by commercializing the work of art and providing skill training and development.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to Jumshad Siddiqui, resident of Gujranwala, in a plea moved by Ms. Maimouna Liskauskaite, a Lithuanian national seeking custody of her three children.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Mar, 2018 ) :Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to Jumshad Siddiqui, resident of Gujranwala, in a plea moved by Ms. Maimouna Liskauskaite, a Lithuanian national seeking custody of her three children.

Chief Justice also directed DPO, Gujranwala to make sure effective services of the notice and produce the minors, namely, Maryam Siddique, Ayesha Siddique and Amna Siddique aged 13, 11 and 9 respectively before this court on April 2.

Ms. Maimouna Liskauskaite, currently residing in Dubain, UAE, and now on visit to Pakistan, filed petition seeking recovery of her daughters, from the alleged improper custody of her former husband Jamshid Siddique.

On Friday, outside the Supreme Court, the lady while holding pictures of her three daughters requested the chief justice office to take notice of alleged illegal custody of her daughters. Chief Justice summoned her through counsel in his Chamber after office hours, and directed the office to register the case and fix it before him and Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan in Chamber.

The counsel pleaded before the bench that her client was previously a follower of Christian faith, embraced islam on 07.

01.2004 out of her own free will and contracted marriage with respondent Jamshed Siddque in accordance with Islamic rites.

The marriage between the parties was solemnized in Lithuania City; that out of said wedlock, three minor daughters, namely, Ayesha Siddique, Maryam Siddique and Amna Siddique were born; that on 19.12.2010 the petitioner and her husband Jamshid Siddique along with their minor daughters settled in Dubai, counsel added.

The counsel alleged that on 04.04.2011 Jamshid Siddique along with minors came to Pakistan without knowledge of the petitioner and left her alone in Dubai. That on 07.04.2011 Jumshad divorced her and forcibly removed the minors from her lawful custody and that according to law, she was entitled to custody of her minor daughters.

Later, after going through the arguments placed by the petitioner's counsel, the bench directed Ministry of Interior to make sure that the custody of the minors should not be removed from the jurisdiction of this Court and issued the notices to the respondents.CIA police on Friday claimed to have arrested two robbers and recovered weapons.

FAISALABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Mar, 2018 ) ::CIA police on Friday claimed to have arrested two robbers and recovered weapons. A police spokesman said a team of CIA Lyallpur Town police conducted a raid near Baseline Samanabad College Road and arrested two robbers Usman and Naveed. The police also recovered weapons and further investigation was underway.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

An Israeli drone has crashed in southern Lebanon due to a technical malfunction, the military said on Saturday, after Hezbollah media labelled it a "spy" device.

Jerusalem, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Mar, 2018 ) :An Israeli drone has crashed in southern Lebanon due to a technical malfunction, the military said on Saturday, after Hezbollah media labelled it a "spy" device.

The Israeli military said that the drone crash in an open area on Friday night posed "no risk of leaked information.

" It provided no further details. Hezbollah television station Al-Manar reported that the "spy drone" fell between Baraachit and Beit Yahoun in southern Lebanon. It said that "a second spy plane targeted it with a guided missile, which resulted in it being destroyed."

Contributions made to Three Square Food Bank April 1 through May 31 will be used right here in Southern Nevada and have double the impact thanks to a generous $500,000 contribution to match gifts towards the food banks goal to raise $2 million through the Bag Childhood Hunger campaign.

The Bag Childhood Hunger campaign supports one of the most vulnerable populations in Southern Nevada, children. Proper nutrition for children is critical as hunger can cause lasting physical and mental challenges. One in four children in Southern Nevada live in households that are food insecure. Additionally, more than 62 percent of children in Clark County schools are enrolled in free or reduced-price meal programs. Thats more than 203,000 students.

The Bag Childhood Hunger campaign helps to support Three Squares childhood nutrition programs, including Kids Cafe, BackPack for Kids and Meet Up and Eat Up. These programs ensure that children receive wholesome, nutritious meals after school, over the weekends and during the summer months.

In its 10th year fighting hunger, Three Square is able to provide three meals for every dollar donated to the food bank. Thanks to the support of matching sponsors throughout this campaign, Three Square will be able to provide six meals for every dollar donated.

Bag Childhood Hunger culminates on May 5 with Fashion for Three Square, a special event, presented by the Bennett Family Foundation that will feature fashions by Etro, presented by Neiman Marcus, along with food catered by chefs from top restaurants in the Las Vegas Valley.Space scientists keeping track of dysfunctional space equipment are closely monitoring the expected re-entry of the largest piece of space junk so far. The Chinese space station Tiangong 1 will re-enter the atmosphere Sunday, but experts say it will be traveling so fast that the resulting friction will cause it to disintegrate and burn. But as VOA's George Putic reports, small pieces may still reach the Earth.A Louisiana police chief said Friday that he had fired the white officer who fatally shot a black man during a struggle outside a convenience store nearly two years ago, a killing that set off widespread protests.

Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul announced Officer Blane Salamoni's firing less than a week after Louisiana's attorney general ruled out criminal charges in Alton Sterling's July 2016 shooting death.

Paul also suspended Officer Howie Lake II, the other officer involved in the deadly confrontation, for three days. Lake helped wrestle Sterling to the ground but did not fire his weapon that night.

"My decision was not based on politics," Paul said during a news conference. "It was not based on emotions. It was based on the facts of the case."

Both officers had remained on paid administrative leave since the shooting.

Police also released body camera footage and other videos of the officers' deadly encounter with Sterling.

In the body camera footage of the encounter, an officer can be heard repeatedly using profanity as he shouts at Sterling and at one point threatens to shoot him in the head as Sterling asks what he did.

When Sterling complains that the officers are hurting him, one of the officers says to use a Taser on him, and an electric buzzing can be heard. The officer believed to be Salamoni then runs at Sterling, tackling him as the camera footage blurs with motion.

Someone yells, "He's got a gun," then gunshots ring out.

Salamoni shot Sterling six times during a struggle outside the Triple S Food Mart, where the 37-year-old black man was selling homemade CDs. Lake helped wrestle Sterling to the ground but didn't fire his weapon.

After the shooting  as Sterling lies on the ground  an officer can be heard using profanity to say Sterling was stupid.

Gun recovered

The officers recovered a loaded revolver from Sterling's pocket. As a convicted felon, Sterling could not legally carry a gun.

L. Chris Stewart, an attorney representing two of Sterling's five children, said the newly released videos showed that Salamoni attacked Sterling without provocation, "like a wild dog."

"The most obvious thing that stands out is Alton wasn't fighting back at all," Stewart said. "He's trying to defuse it the whole time."

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced Tuesday that his office would not charge either officer with state crimes. The Justice Department ruled out federal criminal charges last May.

Sterling's death inflamed racial tensions in the state's capital and led to protests in which nearly 200 people were arrested.

In June 2017, Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome called on Paul's predecessor, Carl Dabadie Jr., to fire Salamoni. Dabadie refused, saying it would be improper and premature because the shooting remained under investigation.

Paul said Tuesday that he and three deputy chiefs would preside over a disciplinary hearing  closed to the public  before imposing any punishment. He detailed the results of that hearing at a news conference.

Salamoni's attorney, John McLindon, had said Tuesday that he expected the officer to be fired. He called it "grossly unfair" that a disciplinary hearing was planned less than a week after the end of the criminal investigations. Lake's attorney, Kyle Kershaw, said his client's actions complied with department procedures.

Salamoni had served as a Baton Rouge police officer for four years before the shooting; Lake was a three-year veteran of the force.

Two cellphone videos of the incident quickly spread on social media after the shooting.On Wednesday, President Donald Trump tweeted: Great briefing this afternoon on the start of our Southern Border WALL!

The tweet came amid much reporting about the presidents efforts to get the military to fund construction of the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border because the recent omnibus spending bill did not fully fund the wall.

The result has led to confusion about what is funded and what is actually being built.

Friday, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) provided some answers.

The omnibus spending bill, passed by Congress a week ago, provides funding for approximately 161 kilometers (100 miles) of border wall system, CBP Deputy Commissioner Ronald Vitiello told reporters.

Most of this will be used to replace or repair existing barriers along the border. Only a small portion will be used to build new wall.

As [Department of Homeland Security] Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has pointed out, it does not fully fund our needs in the most critical locations, Vitiello said.

Our agents and officers have decades of experience and they know their operational needs. We provided Congress with a fact-based and needs-driven border security improvement plan that clearly sets out the requirements for securing the border.

The truth is walls work and the data show it and agents know it, he added.

Vitiello said CPB and its parent agency, DHS, want 10 times the length of wall for which Congress provided funding. The agencies would like to see barriers along 1,609 kilometers (1,000 miles) of the U.S. southern border. Right now, there are walls or fencing along 1,052 kilometers (650 miles).

VOA's Immigration Unit contributed to this report.As the world's population heads toward 10 billion by midcentury, experts are wrestling with how to feed the world without wrecking the planet. It's not easy to find foods with lower environmental impact that still taste as good as the ones they are intended to replace. But chefs and environmentalists are both cheering one new menu item: the mushroom-blended burger. VOA's Steve Baragona has more.Catholic churches in Colombia have donated a quarter-million communion wafers to congregations in neighboring Venezuela, where a food crisis has led to shortages of the holy bread.

The Catholic diocese of Cucuta in Colombia said its members braved heavy rains this week to deliver the wafers over a bridge that connects the two countries ahead of the Easter holiday.

Venezuelas food shortages have affected churches ability to get wheat flour, an ingredient needed to make communion wafers used during Mass throughout the year, including Easter Sunday.

Local news reports say some churches in Venezuela are dividing the communion wafers in half so that more people are able to take communion. La Croix International, a Catholic daily, said churches in the state of Merida in the Andes had no altar bread for Mass February 25.

The Catholic Diocese of Cucuta posted about its recent donation of communion wafers to churches in neighboring Venezuela on Facebook, showing pictures of volunteers carrying large boxes filled with the wafers.

Venezuelas economic crisis, fueled by a decline in oil production, has led to shortages of many staple food items, including wheat, sugar, eggs and coffee.A massive fire was reported Saturday at a World Food Program facility in Yemen, in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida.

Yemen's official news agency quoted a Yemeni official as saying the fire had severely damaged humanitarian aid held at the outpost. The cause of the fire was unclear.

An official told AFP the fire had engulfed four warehouses and destroyed an estimated 50 tons of food. Yemeni officials urged the United Nations to investigate.

The warehouse holds not only food but also mattresses and other supplies for Yemenis fleeing the ravages of civil war. Yemen's current unrest broke out in 2015 between Iran-backed Shiite rebels and a Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally recognized government.

Hodeida is a lifeline for the nation, which the U.N. says is on the verge of famine. Many Yemenis depend on food imports to survive.

In early January, Roy Jones was making $14 an hour, $5 above Nebraskas minimum wage as a representative dealing with customers on social media for Marriott International Group, the international hotelier.

For Jones, a 49-year-old Omaha resident, it was a dream job despite the bot-generated tweets that flowed unceasingly onto what he described as the companys Tweetdeck-like interface January 9. Sometimes there were more than 3,000 tweets in front of me, Im just processing them, Jones told VOA Mandarin earlier this week.

On what Jones called a hectic shift, there was a tweet from Friends of Tibet, a pro-Tibetan independence organization, congratulating Marriott for recognizing Tibet, Hong Kong and Taiwan as countries.

The company, which has more than 300 hotels in China, had named the three in a survey sent to customers that asked in which country they lived and gave options including Tibet, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

A Marriott social media account liked the Friends tweet, setting off an international incident that exemplifies the challenges Western companies such as Apple, Mercedes, Delta and Zara face as they do business with China.

Now, more than two months later, Jones told VOA Mandarin he is still not sure how or what he did or even if he was the employee who actually responded to that tweet.

WATCH: Florida Senator Marco Rubio on China, Tibet and American Companies

He was, however, the employee the hotel company fired almost immediately, and since January, his case has attracted the attention of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee and who, as chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, spoke out in February on companies bowing to Beijing.

Every week, it seems another major international company is publicly, and in some cases, shamelessly apologizing to the P.R.C. for some sort of misstep related to Tibet  and otherwise sensitive issues, Rubio said.

On March 25, although not mentioning Jones by name but calling out Marriott, Rubio tweeted: This is the long arm of China. They can get an American company to fire an American worker in America.

Last week at a Washington event, former U.S. Representative Frank Wolf, a Republican from Virginia who retired from Congress in 2015, took aim at the hotelier, saying, There is cultural genocide taking place in Tibet.  I personally will never stay at a Marriott hotel unless Mr. Jones gets his job back.

WATCH: Former Republican Congressman Frank Wolf Calls Out Marriott

On Friday, Marriott International Group did not respond to emails and phone calls from VOA asking for comment on the Jones case.

In January, soon after the like was registered on Twitter, Craig Smith, president of Marriott Asia Pacific Region, said in a statement quoted in the Wall Street Journal: We made some mistakes in China earlier this year, which shows that some employees have poor understanding or insufficient attention to Chinas sovereignty and territorial integrity issues. These incidents are wrong and in no way represent the position of our company.

Placing blame

What happened to Jones floored him.

My job is to help customers, Jones told VOA earlier in this week. Now that something went wrong, they want to push the blame on me.

Hes not sure why.

My job isnt to decide whether Tibet is a country, he told his hometown newspaper.

Within 24 hours of the January 9 like going out, Chinese social media exploded even though Twitter is officially banned in China.

Chinas netizens objected because, according to Beijing, Tibet is part of China. Supporters of Tibetan independence contend China occupies the area illegally.

Hong Kong, a British colony that reverted to Chinese control in 1997, retains its own government even though it is a special administrative region of China.

And Beijing considers Taiwan, a self-governing island, a wayward province and seeks the islands reunification with China.

In that one survey, Marriott had touched on two of the so-called Three Ts  Tibet, Taiwan and Tiananmen Square, the site of June 1989 pro-democracy protests that ended with the deaths of hundreds of people  that are particularly sensitive topics in China.

On January 11, Marriott apologized to Chinas government for referring to Tibet and Taiwan as countries.

That was when Jones learned that Marriott was suspending him. As he walked to his car after his meeting with the human resources department, Jones said his cellphone alerted him to a new story about Marriott.

Thats how he learned he was fired  a report he recalls as being in the China Daily, the state-run media  said that termination proceedings are in process.

His official termination letter stated January 14 as his last day with Marriott. It did not give a reason for his dismissal, Jones said.

The letter included a number to call about benefits and said any of his personal belongings at the office would be sent to his home. The box arrived the day before the letter, Jones said.

Surreal experience

Its an absolute surreal experience. I feel like Im in some kind of spy novel, he told VOA.

Jones continues to be puzzled by the incident. He recalls that in school he learned that people fought wars to keep the communist narrative at bay.

Now, he admits hes much more educated about China than he was before he was fired and feels that Beijing is making a big push to take its narrative global.

Theres a bunch of stuff that Chinas doing to the United States, and I dont think that everybodys putting the pieces together, he told VOA.

Somebody has to stand up and say something because obviously [what happened to me] this isnt a right thing, Jones said. This is a wrong thing.

Its just my idea, he said with a sigh. Im just a guy who got fired. I used to make $14 an hour. What do I know?Hundreds of Kentucky teachers called in sick Friday to protest last-minute changes to their pension system, forcing nearly two dozen districts to close while angry educators rallied outside the governors office to demand he not sign the bill.

With thunderous chants of shut it down echoing throughout the Capitol Rotunda, Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear used a megaphone to announce he would sue to block the bills implementation if Republican Gov. Matt Bevin signs it into law.

Bevin had not signed the bill as of Friday afternoon. Thursday night, he tweeted public employees owe lawmakers a debt of gratitude for passing the bill.

Growing educator unrest

The show of force comes amid growing unrest among public educators nationwide, led by thousands of West Virginia teachers who walked off the job for nine days earlier this year to secure a 5 percent pay raise. Teacher unrest spread to another deep red state in Oklahoma, where the GOP-led legislature approved money for teacher raises and more school funding. Teachers are mulling whether the current offer from lawmakers is enough to avert a work stoppage.

Kentucky Education Association President Stephanie Winkler said the union did not organize Fridays school closures, saying I cant control what teachers do.

I support their right to call in sick if they are ill, and they are sick, Winkler said during a news conference at KEA headquarters, prompting some teachers in the crowd to begin coughing.

Schools close for the day

Jefferson County officials in Louisville, one of the largest school districts in the country, said they couldnt get enough substitutes to cover all their classes Friday. In Fayette County, officials said more than a third of school employees in the Lexington district were staying home.

North of Lexington, the Scott County school district called off classes. It said on Facebook that since the bills passage, dozens of teachers requested substitutes to fill in for them Friday.

We can currently only fill 54 of the nearly 150 that we need, the statement said. That leaves too many classes not covered, which causes a situation that is unsafe and unproductive for students and staff.

Winkler said a statewide work stoppage is still an option. The union is planning a rally Monday at the state capitol when much of the state is on spring break and lawmakers are scheduled to reconvene to possibly vote on a two-year operating budget.

If this budget is not in the best interest of public education students and public service then we will react, Winkler said.

Pension funding among the worst

Kentuckys pension system is among the worst-funded in the country. The state is at least $41 billion short of the money it needs to pay retirement benefits over the next 30 years, placing a strain on state and local government finances.

On Thursday night, the state legislature passed a bill that preserves most benefits for current public workers. But it would require all new teachers to use a hybrid plan that does not guarantee them a set pension amount when they retire. Instead, they would live off the money accumulated in their accounts from contributions and investment returns, which would be guaranteed not to lose money.

Why would anybody go into teaching now in the state of Kentucky, asked Whitney Walker, a government teacher at Lafayette High School in Fayette County, the states second-largest district that was forced to close Friday. We need good teachers, not just anybody who would walk in the door.

Beshear, a potential candidate for governor in 2019, said the bill violates the states inviolable contract by freezing the accumulation of sick days to boost retirement benefits. Winkler said the KEA supports Beshear and will join him in any potential lawsuit. But Republicans who support the bill noted a proposal the KEA supported included similar language.

Another option would be to challenge the way lawmakers passed the bill. A state law requires the bill to have a financial analysis before passing. But acting House Speaker David Osborne said the Supreme Court has interpreted that law as a House rule, which lawmakers can suspend at any time.Pakistans Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai arrived Saturday in her hometown for the first time since a Taliban militant shot her there in 2012 for advocating girls education.

Yousafzai and her family arrived in a helicopter provided by the Pakistani military, which took her to the town of Mingora in the Swat Valley from Islamabad. She arrived in the capital before dawn Thursday flanked by heavy security and plans to return to Britain Monday.



Yousafzai, 20, won international renown after she was shot by the Taliban in Mingora. She received initial treatment in Pakistan and later was taken to England for further care. She stayed on in the United Kingdom to continue her education and became the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.

Yousafzai entered her childhood home Saturday accompanied by her father, mother and brother. She sobbed upon entering the home where relatives, former class fellows and friends had been anxiously waiting since morning to welcome her with flowers and hugs.



Youzafzai said she waited for the moment for more than five years and said she often looked at Pakistan on the map, hoping one day to return. She said she plans to permanently return to Pakistan after completing her studies in Britain.



It is still like a dream for me, am I among you? Is it a dream or reality, she said.

Security had been visibly beefed up in Mingora the previous day. The Pakistani Taliban had warned after the attack on the then-14-year-old that they would target her again if they got the chance.



Yousafzai had asked authorities to allow her to go to Mingora and Shangla village in the Swat Valley, where a school has been built by her Malala Fund.

Taliban assassin

In October 2012, Yousafzai was shot in the head by a Taliban assassin who jumped inside her school van and yelled, Who is Malala? She was targeted for speaking out on girls education.

Only 14 when she was shot, Yousafzai has since delighted in telling the Taliban that instead of silencing her, they have amplified her voice. She has also written a book, spoken at the United Nations and met with refugees.

Grateful to Pakistan army

On Friday, Yousafzai praised the Pakistan army in an interview on the independent Geo news channel for providing her timely medical treatment, saying her surgery was done by an army surgeon at the right time. She later received post-trauma treatment in Britain.

She said she would not have been sitting in Pakistan now if she had not been treated quickly. She plans to permanently return to Pakistan after completing her studies in Britain.

All for education

Yousafzai has won praise from across Pakistan on her return home, but some critics on social media have tried to undermine her efforts to promote girls education. Yousafzai told media outlets Friday that she expected criticism from militants, who had a particular mindset, but doesnt understand why some educated Pakistanis oppose her.



Those who do criticize have an absurd kind of criticism that doesnt make any sense, she said in an interview with Pakistans The News English-language newspaper published Saturday.



What I want is for people to support my purpose of education and think about the daughters of Pakistan who need an education, she told the newspaper. Dont think about me. I dont want any favor or I dont want everyone to accept me. All I care about is that they accept education as an issue.



In the interview, she said she was sitting in her classroom when news broke about her Nobel Prize and that she was not aware of it because she was not using her mobile phone at the time.



My teacher came into my classroom and called me outside. I was worried that I might have done something wrong and I am in trouble. But she told me that I had won the Peace Prize. I said thank you. You dont know how to respond. For me, it was for the cause of education, she told the paper.Mexican presidential candidates on Friday kicked off a three-month race to the election with pledges to transform an entrenched corrupt political system.

Two of four presidential hopefuls launched their campaigns just after the midnight starting gun for the countdown to Mexico's July 1 vote, tapping into disapproval over corruption scandals under the ruling party that has governed for most of the past century.

Voter anger so far favors leftwing dissenter Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, 64, who will launch his own anti-corruption focused campaign on Sunday and holds a double digit lead in most polls.

Second-place contender Ricardo Anaya, 39, running for the right-left coalition For Mexico in Front, launched his campaign just after midnight on Friday, hosting a hackathon for 1,000 youths to work together on technology-driven ideas to combat corruption and violence.

Mexico is going to change, Anaya told the crowd of cheering young people. This corrupt government has its days numbered.

Kickbacks and pilfering that undermine public services, believed to cost Mexico billions of dollars each year, have emerged as the main campaign issue.

All the candidates vow a clampdown, with measures including removing immunity for the president and creating a truth commission to study past crimes.

Anaya has pitched himself as a forward-thinking alternative both to the unpopular PRI and Lopez Obradors personalized leadership.

A Lopez Obrador government could mark a change in direction for Mexico, with a less accommodating approach to the United States and a more cautious view of foreign investment. He has pledged to closely study billions of dollars of energy and infrastructure contracts.

Critics have said uncertainty surrounding his policies will choke business, while Lopez Obrador says uncertainty is better than turning a blind eye to corruption.

Monica Vargas, a 22-year old literature student from the central state of Tlaxcala, said she supported Anaya because he was listening to young people. She said many of her schoolmates had dropped out of college due to lack of funds.

As a Mexican I feel very disappointed ... we realize how rich our public officials have become, and we the people are always lagging behind, Vargas said.

Former first lady Margarita Zavala, in fourth place in the polls and the only independent to land enough certified voter signatures to qualify for the ballot, also kicked off her campaign in the capital, taking aim at what she said was dishonesty among her rivals.

We have three candidates who represent the snare of money in politics, the politics of corruption, she told supporters at the famed Angel of Independence monument.

Mexico saw a record number of killings last year as organized crime gangs smuggled drugs, fuel and people while corruption scandals hit the credibility of President Enrique Pena Nietos Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

The centrist PRI has ruled Mexico continuously since 1929, except for a 12-year break when Vicente Fox and his successor led the National Action Party (PAN) to power in 2000 and 2006.

Variously described as a left-winger, a populist and a nationalist, Lopez Obrador quit the PRI in the 1980s. His subsequent political career included a stint as mayor of Mexico City, one of the world's largest metropolises.

The campaign of PRI candidate Jose Antonio Meade, 49, a five times minister who is not a PRI member and has served under a PAN administration, concedes that political parties are deeply mistrusted but says he is best placed to capture the anti-corruption mood.

His Sunday campaign launch will emphasize vows to fix problems without undoing economic progress. For many voters, July 1 will be about rejecting either the corruption of the ruling party, or Lopez Obrador, said PAN Senator Ernesto Ruffo, backing Anaya.

This is an election not for, but against, he said.A centuries-old pilgrimage to a tiny adobe church in northern New Mexico attracted thousands of visitors Friday, some walking through the night along desert highways on their journey.

The Easter-week tradition dates back more than two centuries. Many participants trek more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from Santa Fe or beyond.

At the shrine, the faithful filed through an adjacent room that holds a small pit of dirt that some say has curative powers. Visitors knelt to scoop dirt into plastic bags, ambling by the hundreds through a passageway lined with cast-off crutches that bear testimony to healing.

'There are healing powers here'

Elementary school teacher Anne Probst walked the final eight miles (12 kilometers) of the journey to Chimayo, bearing a hand-carved statue of the crucifixion on her back that her ailing father made.

Her family has been making the trip to Chimayo from Santa Fe for decades. This year her thoughts dwelled on her father and a young student with severe health problems, as well as the victims of a February mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

There are healing powers here, and there is meditation and prayer on the walk, to get here, Probst said. I thought a lot about our country. Theres a lot of healing that needs to be done.

Road filled with faithful

The road to Chimayo was lined with vendors of coffee, walking sticks, religious memorabilia and snacks including snow cones and corn on the cob. Gridlocked stretches of highway were patrolled by sheriffs deputies on horseback. The faithful carried crosses, large and small. Some pushed children in strollers, or strummed guitars to pass the time.

Outside the shrine, participants lined up by the hundreds under clear skies for a chance to wade slowly into the tiny church at Chimayo that is listed as a National Historic Landmark.

Roman Catholicism in northern New Mexico dates back more than 400 years to the arrival of the Spanish in 1598.A financially distraught yellow cab driver from Romania recently hanged himself in his New York garage, marking the fourth suicide among city taxi drivers in as many months. In the tragedy's aftermath, members of New York's taxicab drivers union are renewing their calls for a cap on the number of app-based for-hire vehicles, such as Uber and Lyft, which they say are driving workers of a once-thriving industry into the ground. VOA's Ramon Taylor reports.When Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai returned to her home country after six years, she received a heros welcome: She met with Pakistans prime minister and delivered a nationally televised speech.

But not everyone was happy with her return to Pakistan, the first time since a Taliban gunman shot her in the head in 2012.

Posts on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp seemed to reflect the Talibans view of Yousafzai.

She was accused of being a CIA agent and of maligning Islam. Her opponents flooded social media with pictures and visuals showing students and teachers at a private school in Lahore chanting slogans, I am not Malala with anti-Malala placards in their hands. The protest was organized by a little-known organization called All Punjab Private Schools Association.

WATCH: Teachers, Students in Lahore Chant 'I am not Malala'

Radicalized views

What is worrying, experts say, it that the countrys educated youth seem to be echoing the radicalized views of militant groups.

The killing of student Mashal Khan at Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan in April 2017 is further evidence of such radicalization, experts say. Khan had been accused of blasphemy over his social media posts. An investigation, however, found him to be innocent.

Muhammad Ismail Khan is a senior project manager at the Islamabad-based think tank Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS). He told VOA that youth radicalization in Pakistan appears to cross all social structures.

Extremists have attracted young people from rural areas and urban centers, madrassas and even universities, poor and well-off backgrounds, not only men but women, too, Khan said, quoting the findings from PIPS, which were prepared with leading experts on the subject.

PIPS recent study also found this universal radicalization is evident in the diverse way in which the Islamic State (IS) has been trying to recruit from Pakistan. The group has attracted former Pakistani Taliban militants from the underdeveloped Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) that border Afghanistan and where internet penetration is nearly zero, as well as motivated well-off individuals, including women from urban areas like Karachi in Sindh, and Lahore, Sialkot, and Faisalabad in Punjab.

Historians note that Pakistani youth experienced a dramatic shift in their outlook in the early 1980s when the Soviet forces occupied the neighboring Afghanistan.

College and university students were encouraged to join the resistance against the Soviet occupation of a brother Muslim country.

In the 1990s, the states narrative promoted armed resistance against the forces in Indian Kashmir.

Experts say that a whole generation of college and university students witnessed the glorification of jihad and its not easy to unlearn that.

All segments of society

There needs to be serious dialogue with youth, said educator Qamar Cheema of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML). The state needs to have structural approach with strong national narrative on issues which are crucial for national harmony, deradicalization plans for all segments of society are needed through national educational curriculum, and media debates.

Recent statistics show that Pakistanis younger than 25 make up more than 60 percent of the countrys total population.

Challenge of youth radicalization is there, we have to teach our youth in schools, colleges and need to consonantly tell them about the right path, Lt. Gen. (Retired) Abdul Qayyum, who is a senator and a member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), told VOA.

Realizing the breadth of the problem, the military in May 2017 joined forces with the higher education commission at a seminar titled The Role of Youth in Rejecting Extremism. They sought to devise an outline to protect youth from falling to extremist ideologies.

Pakistans Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal also said educational institutions would be monitored through National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) to ensure that extremist elements did not misguide the youth. NACTA was formed in 2009 and tasked to formulate a counterterrorism strategy.

But a series of recent incidents point to extremist behaviors in Pakistan.

In January 2018, a private college student killed a principal under suspicion of blasphemy in the Shabqadar area of North West Pakistan.

Student Faheem Shah has attended a rally of religious political party Tehreek-e-Labaik in Islamabad in December 2017 and skipped many classes. But when Shah was confronted by principal Sareer Ahmad over his absences, the student shot Ahmad.

Blasphemy law criticized

This killing was yet another shameful reminder of how easy it still is to manipulate the existing blasphemy laws to avenge personal grievances, Dr. Mehdhi Hassan, chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, told VOA.

Hassan added that the killing of university student Khan by a mob led to countrywide outrage and calls for the blasphemy law to be modified.

He said it seems no lessons are being learned from these incidents and that no apparent actions are being taken by authorities to prevent other incidents from happening.

These incidents are further confirmation of the slide toward extreme intolerance in societies on the one hand and, on the other hand, the apathy and inability of the authorities to meet the challenges of extremism, Hassan said, expressing his concerns.

Yousafzai, who was shot by Taliban for her efforts to promote girls education, was greeted with some positive messages as well. Her supporters see her as a symbol of defiance against radicalization and extremism in the country.

VOAs Deewa Service contributed to this story.At least 15 Palestinians were killed and hundreds of others injured Friday by Israeli security forces along the Israel-Gaza border, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The Israeli military said its troops used riot dispersal means to quell one of the largest Palestinian demonstrations and outbursts of violence along the border in recent years.

Violence erupted as thousands of Palestinians approached the border. The Israeli military said its troops responded to main instigators who were throwing stones and rolling burning tires. The Israeli military also accused militants of trying to carry out attacks under the cover of mass protests.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces fired live bullets, rubber-coated steel pellets and tear gas, killing at least 15 Palestinians and injuring about 1,400 others, including more than 750 injured by live fire.

It was the deadliest day in Gaza, a self-governing Palestinian territory, since last fall.

The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting Friday evening about the situation in Gaza. U.N. deputy political affairs chief Taye-Brook Zerihoun said the situation in Gaza might deteriorate in the coming days and called for civilians not to be targeted.

U.S. diplomat Walter Miller told the council, We are deeply saddened by the loss of life today.

He urged those involved to take steps to lower tensions. Miller also said it was unfortunate that Israel, a close U.S. ally, could not take part in Fridays meeting because of the Passover holiday.

Mansour Al-Otaibi, Kuwaits Ambassador to the United Nations, said Israels actions were a violation of the international humanitarian law.

Six-week effort

Palestinians have constructed protest tent camps along the entire length of the Gaza Strip in five locations that are expected to remain in place for six weeks. Whole families  men, women and children  were expected to participate in the tent camp demonstrations.

The Israeli military estimated about 30,000 demonstrators were taking part in the protests.

The weekslong demonstrations, to end May 15, are designed to commemorate the Nakba or catastrophe when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had to flee their land or were expelled during the war in 1948 that led to the creation of Israel.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned the Gaza demonstrators in an Arabic post on Twitter: The leadership of Hamas is playing with your lives. Anyone who comes close to the fence today puts himself at risk. I suggest to you to continue your lives and not participate in a provocation.

Israel has deployed more than 100 snipers along the Gaza Strip.

The demonstration is expected to end at the same time Washington plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem, a move that has infuriated Palestinians who have claimed the eastern section of the city as the capital of their future state.

On Thursday, Danny Danon, Israels ambassador to the U.N., said the demonstration is an organized planned provocation and asserted Israels right to defend its sovereignty and protect its citizens.A new poll shows that only 1 in 10 African-Americans thinks the United States has achieved all the goals of the civil rights movement, nearly 50 years after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

The poll by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released Friday shows that a majority of African-Americans believe there has been little or no progress on a range of civil rights issues, including fair coverage by the media, political representation and equal economic opportunities.

The poll found that African-Americans were most pessimistic about the criminal justice system, with three-quarters saying there has been little or no progress on fair treatment by police.

It found only one area  voting rights  where majorities of African-Americans believe a lot of progress or some progress has been made for racial equality since the civil rights movement.

Thirty percent of Americans  35 percent of whites and just 8 percent of blacks  said all or most of the goals of the civil rights movement have been achieved, according to the poll. Most of the remainder said partial progress has been achieved.

The poll shows that whites are more likely than blacks to think there has been progress in every area asked about in the poll.

Seventy-nine percent of African-Americans said blacks continue to face disadvantages to getting ahead in the United States, while only 44 percent of whites said the same.

The poll also broke down the respondents by political party and found that 54 percent of Republicans compared to just 14 percent of Democrats think most or all of the goals of the civil rights movement have been achieved.

King was shot and killed on April 4, 1968, while he was at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray, a segregationist, pleaded guilty of the killing and spent his life in prison before his death in 1998.

The AP-NORC poll contacted 1,337 adults for the survey on February 15-19.Pope Francis presided over solemn Good Friday services amid tight security at Rome's Colosseum for the Via Crucis procession. Italian police and army soldiers were on high alert, with Holy Week coinciding with a spate of arrests of suspected Islamic extremists around Italy.

Francis presided at a traditional candle-lit Way of the Cross procession around Rome's ancient Colosseum. Some 20,000 people turned out to take part in the event with the pope on the most somber day in the Christian liturgical calendar, which commemorates the death of Jesus on the cross.

Rome authorities increased security this year with checks carried out as the faithful approached the area. Italian police carried out four raids against suspected supporters of Islamist terrorism, arresting seven people, including one man who was believed to have been planning a truck attack.

The Way of the Cross procession marks 14 events, called stations, beginning with Roman governor Pontius Pilate's condemning Jesus to death, until his burial in a tomb. This year the meditations at each station were written by Catholic high school and college students in keeping with Francis' decision to dedicate 2018 to addressing the hopes and concerns of young Catholics.

At the end, he delivered a meditation of his own, denouncing those who seek power, money and conflict. He prayed that the Catholic Church be always an ark of salvation, a source of certainty and truth.

Pope Francis also said many should feel shame because our generations are leaving young people a world that is fractured by divisions and wars, a world devoured by selfishness where young people, children, the sick and the elderly are marginalized.

The pope praised those in the Church who are trying to arouse "humanity's sleeping conscience" through their work helping the poor, immigrants, and prison inmates.

Earlier, the pope presided over a solemn Passion of the Lord service in St. Peter's Basilica which was kept open despite several pieces of plaster having come crashing down from a pillar of the church on Thursday. The damage was swiftly repaired.



Thousands of faithful filled the basilica. Francis lay prostrate in prayer on the marble pavement in front of the altar at the start of the chant-filled evening service. Later, the crucifix was carried in procession from the back of the basilica to the pope who then kissed it. The other concelebrants followed his example.

On Holy Saturday, in the evening, the pope will celebrate the solemn Easter Vigil in St. Peter's Basilica, followed by the joyful Easter Sunday Mass marking what Christians observe as Christ's resurrection.Voting in Sierra Leone's presidential runoff election seemed peaceful Saturday during the Easter holiday weekend, as citizens hoped to complete a process started on March 7.

The current president, Ernest Bai Koroma, is stepping down this year after serving two five-year terms.

Voters Saturday are casting ballots for either the ruling All Peoples Congress Party's presidential candidate Dr. Samura Matthew Wilson Kamara, or the Sierra Leone People's Party presidential candidate, Julius Maada Bio.

This is the second time opposition candidate Bio has run for the country's top government job. He lost the 2012 election to President Koroma.

Reports said turnout seemed lower than in the first round of voting, possibly because of heavy security precautions. Reuters news agency reports that driving is banned, forcing voters to walk to their polling stations.

Saturday's runoff was delayed for four days by a court challenge to the first-round results. The challenge cited "irregularities" that resulted in a temporary injunction to give the election commission more time to prepare.

The new president will have to contend with issues such as rebuilding after the country's devastating Ebola virus epidemic of 2014-2016, as well as a mudslide in August that killed an estimated 1,000 people in the nation's capital, Freetown.

The Syrian army declared victory Saturday in eastern Ghouta after opposition fighters evacuated from most of the area near the capital, except for the town of Douma, where negotiations were still underway for rebels there to leave or face an all-out government offensive.

The government gave rebels in Douma  the area's largest town and stronghold of the powerful Army of Islam rebel group  an ultimatum to agree on leaving by late Saturday. Some pro-government news websites reported that the army was massing troops around Douma, adding that the ultimatum might be extended until Sunday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Syrian troops had been massing troops around Douma in case negotiations collapsed.

The army statement came shortly after another group of opposition fighters and their relatives left southern and western parts of eastern Ghouta Saturday afternoon, bringing President Bashar al-Assad's forces a step closer to eliminating threats from insurgents groups nearby.

State TV said 38 buses left the towns of Zamalka, Ein Tarma, Arbeen and Jobar, taking more than 1,700 rebels and civilians to the northwestern rebel-held province of Idlib. The channel said troops entered the towns and raised the national flag in Arbeen's main square.

"The importance of this victory lies in restoring security and stability to the city of Damascus and its surrounding areas after the suffering of its civilians from the crimes of terrorists over several years," said the army statement, read on TV by Brigadier General Ali Mayhoub.

Routes reopened

The government forces' reclamation of most of eastern Ghouta reopens a major network of roads and highways that link Damascus with other parts of the country. Those routes have been closed since 2012, when rebels captured eastern suburbs of the capital.

The army statement vowed "to wipe out terrorism and bring back stability and security to all parts of Syria."

A crushing government offensive under the cover of Russian airstrikes that began February 18 has forced opposition fighters in most of eastern Ghouta to agree to evacuate and head to Idlib province.

"Arbeen, Zamalka, Jobar and Ein Tarma in eastern Ghouta are free of terrorists," shouted a correspondent for state-affiliated al-Ikhbariya TV channel from Arbeen.

State news agency SANA said 38,000 fighters and civilians had headed to Idlib over the past two weeks, marking one of the largest displacements since Syria's conflict began seven years ago. More than 100,000 others headed to government-controlled areas over the past weeks.

Before the last wave of violence began in eastern Ghouta last month, the U.N. had estimated that 393,000 people were living in the area under a tight government siege.

Tens of thousands of rebels and civilians have been relocated to Idlib over the past years from different parts of Syria, making it one of the most inhabited regions in the country.

The top U.N. official in Syria, Ali Al-Za'tari, told Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV in an interview aired Saturday that "Idlib cannot take more people."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a vehicle carrying evacuees from eastern Ghouta had a road accident in the government-held village of Nahr al-Bared, leaving five fighters and three civilians dead. It said the bus had left eastern Ghouta Friday night.As New Delhi seeks to revive its frayed ties with China, the Tibetan government-in-exile in India launched year-long celebrations Saturday to mark the 60th year of the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lamas arrival in India, in the hill town of Dharamsala  instead of the Indian capital, as originally planned.



Accusing the Chinese of destroying Tibetan civilization, culture and identity, the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Lobsang Sangay, urged Tibetans to strengthen efforts to make the return of the Dalai Lama to his native land a reality.



"Thousands and thousands of Tibetans have been killed and have died for the cause of Tibet. Many have burned themselves alive," he said.

Saying that he had fled Tibet under difficult circumstances, the Dalai Lama said it has been a time of mixed feelings of both sadness and happiness. At the time, we had no idea what would happen in next 40 to 50 years. But today, we are commemorating 60 years in exile, so now we could see to a certain extent what would happen in the near future, he said without elaborating.



The Thank You India event was moved out of the Indian capital to Dharamsala following a note by Indias top bureaucrat last month advising senior ministers and officials to stay away from the function, saying it coincided with a very sensitive time for relations with Beijing.



New Delhis caution toward a series of events planned by the Tibetans is seen as part of efforts to tone down its assertive stand toward China following a year when tensions between the Asian neighbors spiraled downward.

Readjustment of China policy

It marks a departure from Indias stance last year, when, ignoring strong protests from Beijing, New Delhi allowed the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh state, a territory disputed between the Asian giants.



These signals looked very hard line and hawkish, says Manoj Joshi at the Observer Research Foundation. I think there is a learning curve for the Modi government that one needs to be a bit careful in dealing with the Chinese on some of these issues. So there is a kind of readjustment of China policy.



Besides moving the Thank You India function from New Delhi to Dharamsala, two other events have been scrapped  an interfaith prayer to be led by the Dalai Lama in New Delhi and a World Parliamentarians convention on Tibet.



Paying heed to Chinese sensitivities on the Dalai Lama, termed by Beijing a dangerous separatist, is a message from New Delhi to calm ties ahead of a series of meetings between Indian and Chinese officials, according to analysts.



Indias foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, visits Beijing in April and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet with President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a regional summit in June.

Relations between India and China hit their lowest point when troops from both countries were locked in a 70-day standoff on their Himalayan borders. But of late, the tone has been more positive as they try to reset ties.

New Delhi, however, did not completely ignore the Thank You India event meant to show gratitude to the Indian government and its people for their support of Tibetan refugees.

Junior Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma and a senior leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Ram Madhav, attended the function as the exile community sang songs thanking India for providing a home to the more than 125,000 Tibetans that live in the country.



Madhav hoped that the Dalai Lama would be able to find a solution to the Tibetan issue "through peaceful and democratic means that will facilitate your honorable return to your homeland.



The Dalai Lama crossed into India from Lhasa on March 31, 1959, and has made India his home ever since.President Donald Trump blasted California Governor Jerry Brown on Saturday for his pardon of five ex-convicts facing deportation, including two who fled the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia with their families four decades ago.

In a tweet, Trump referred to Brown as "Moonbeam," a nickname a newspaper columnist coined for him in the 1970s. Trump then listed the ex-convicts' crimes; they included misdemeanor domestic violence, drug possession, and kidnapping and robbery.

Trump wrote: "Is this really what the great people of California want?"

A spokesman for Brown responded to a request for comment with more information about the five men but did not directly address Trump's criticism.

In a news release about the pardons on Friday, the governor's office said that "those granted pardons all completed their sentences years ago and the majority were convicted of drug-related or other nonviolent crimes."

"Pardons are not granted unless they are earned," the governor's office said.

Brown's pardons marked the third time the Democrat has intervened on behalf of immigrants who were deported or faced deportation over convictions. Brown has accused the Trump administration of "basically going to war" with California over immigration policy.

Brown's pardons don't automatically stop deportation proceedings, but eliminate the convictions on which authorities based their intentions.

Pardon for Arpaio

Trump has been criticized for his own pardon, that of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted last year of a misdemeanor contempt charge for flouting the courts in carrying out his signature immigration patrols.

Trump's pardon spared Arpaio from a possible jail sentence. The 85-year-old longtime lawman announced a run for Senate in January.

Those pardoned Friday by Brown included Sokha Chhan and Phann Pheach, who face deportation to Cambodia, a country ruled in the 1970s by the genocidal Khmer Rouge. Chhan was convicted of two counts of misdemeanor domestic violence in 2002 and served about a year in jail. Pheach was convicted of possessing drugs and obstructing a police officer in 2005 and served six months in jail. His wife said he is in federal custody.

Also pardoned was Daniel Maher, who served five years in prison stemming from the 1994 armed robbery of a San Jose auto parts store. He was convicted of kidnapping, robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Maher is facing deportation to China, where he has never lived. Maher is from Macau, which became part of China after his family immigrated to California when he was 3.

Also pardoned while facing deportation were Daniel Mena and Francisco Acevedo Alaniz. Mena served three years of probation after being convicted of possessing illegal drugs in 2003. Alaniz served five months in prison for a 1997 car theft conviction.

The governor is a former Jesuit seminarian and traditionally issues pardons close to major Christian holidays. Easter falls on Sunday.

California's longest-serving governor has now issued 1,519 pardons, including 404 during his first two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983.An American academic who supports U.S. President Donald Trump and is a strong advocate of Britain's exit from the European Union will testify next month before the federal grand jury considering evidence in the

investigation into possible collusion between Trump's 2016 election campaign and Russia.

Theodore Malloch, the author of a forthcoming pro-Trump book and an ally of Nigel Farage, a former leader of Britain's UK Independence Party, said in a statement emailed to Reuters on Friday by the book's publisher that he was questioned by FBI agents when he landed at Boston's Logan International Airport on Tuesday after a flight from London and was served with a subpoena to appear before the grand jury.

Malloch "is scheduled to testify in Washington, D.C., on April 13th under Robert Mueller's grand jury investigation," Hector Carosso, a representative of Skyhorse Publishing, said in a separate email.

Malloch's book, The Plot to Destroy Trump: How the Deep State Fabricated the Russian Dossier to Subvert the President, is scheduled for publication May 1.

Mueller is investigating possible illegal coordination between Trump and his 2016 campaign and Russia. Trump and Russia have denied any collusion.

The FBI and Mueller's team had no comment on Malloch or events at the airport in Boston.

Cellphone taken

Malloch said in his email that the FBI presented him with a document authorizing the agents to seize his cellphone. He said he handed it over and later was told the FBI had to send it to Washington for a "full assessment."

He also said the FBI questioned him for about an hour about his career, government security clearances, and academic credentials. He said the agents then asked him about his role in the Trump campaign, which he said was informal and unpaid.

He said they also questioned him about his contacts with Trump supporter and political consultant Roger Stone, the WikiLeaks website and Jerome Corsi, a contributor to conspiracy theory websites.

In his statement, Malloch said he knew nothing about WikiLeaks, which published emails that U.S. intelligence officials concluded last year had been hacked from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign by the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency.

Sources familiar with Mueller's investigation say one avenue of inquiry is how the hacked emails made their way to WikiLeaks from Russia, and whether any Trump allies ever handled them.

WikiLeaks did not immediately respond to a request for comment.President Donald Trump's unscripted remark this week about pulling out of Syria very soon, while at odds with his own policy, was not a one-off: For weeks, top advisers have been fretting about an overly hasty withdrawal as the president has increasingly told them privately he wants out, U.S. officials said.



Only two months ago, Trump's aides thought they'd persuaded him that the U.S. needed to keep its presence in Syria open-ended - not only because the Islamic State group has yet to be entirely defeated, but also because the resulting power vacuum could be filled by other extremist groups or by Iran. Trump signed off on a major speech in January in which then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson laid out the new strategy and declared it is vital for the United States to remain engaged in Syria.



But by mid-February, Trump was telling his top aides in meetings that as soon as victory can be declared against IS, he wanted American troops out of Syria, said the officials. Alarm bells went off at the State Department and the Pentagon, where officials have been planning for a gradual, methodical shift from a military-led operation to a diplomatic mission to start rebuilding basic infrastructure like roads and sewers in the war-wracked country.



In one sign that Trump is serious about reversing course and withdrawing from Syria, the White House this week put on hold some $200 million in U.S. funding for stabilization projects in Syria, officials said. The money, to have been spent by the State Department for infrastructure projects like power, water and roads, had been announced by Tillerson at an aid conference last month in Kuwait.



The officials said the hold, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, is not necessarily permanent and will be discussed at senior-level inter-agency meetings next week.



The officials weren't authorized to comment publicly and demanded anonymity.



The State Department said it continually reviews appropriate assistance levels and how best they might be utilized. And the agency said it continues to work with the international community, members of the Coalition, and our partners on the ground to provide much needed stabilization support to vulnerable areas in Syria.



The United States is working everyday on the ground and with the international community to help stabilize those areas liberated from ISIS and identify ways to move forward with reconstruction once there has been a peaceful political transition away from [Syrian President al-Bashar] Assad,'' according to a statement from the State Department.

Very soon

Trump's first public suggestion he was itching to pull out came in a news conference with visiting Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on February 23, when Trump said the U.S. was in Syria to get rid of ISIS and go home. On Thursday, in a domestic policy speech in Ohio, Trump went further.



We'll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now. Very soon - very soon, we're coming out,'' Trump said.



The public declaration caught U.S. national security agencies off-guard and unsure whether Trump was formally announcing a new, unexpected change in policy. Inundated by inquiries from journalists and foreign officials, the Pentagon and State Department reached out to the White House's National Security Council for clarification.



The White House's ambiguous response, officials said: Trump's words speak for themselves.



The mission of the Department of Defense to defeat ISIS has not changed, said Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman.



Still, without a clear directive from the president, planning has not started for a withdrawal from Syria, officials said, and Trump has not advocated a specific timetable.



For Trump, who campaigned on an America First mantra, Syria is just the latest foreign arena where his impulse has been to limit the U.S. role. Like with NATO and the United Nations, Trump has called for other governments to step up and share more of the burden so that Washington doesn't foot the bill. His administration has been crisscrossing the globe seeking financial commitments from other countries to fund reconstruction in both Syria and Iraq, but with only limited success.



Yet it's unclear how Trump's impulse to pull out could be affected by recent staff shake-ups on his national security team. Tillerson and former national security adviser H.R. McMaster, both advocates for keeping a U.S. presence in Syria, were recently fired, creating questions about the longevity of the plan Tillerson announced in his Stanford University speech in January. But Trump also replaced McMaster with John Bolton, a vocal advocate for U.S. intervention and aggressive use of the military overseas.



The abrupt change in the president's thinking has drawn concern both inside and outside the United States.



Other nations that make up the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State fear that Trump's impulse to pull out hastily would allow the notoriously resourceful IS militants to regroup, several European diplomats said. That concern has been heightened by the fact that U.S.-backed ground operations against remaining IS militants in Syria were put on hold earlier this month.

Serious and growing concern

The ground operations had to be paused because Kurdish fighters who had been spearheading the campaign against IS shifted to a separate fight with Turkish forces, who began combat operations in the town of Afrin against Kurds who are considered by Ankara to be terrorists that threaten Turkey's security.



This is a serious and growing concern, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said this month.



Beyond just defeating IS, there are other strategic U.S. objectives that could be jeopardized by a hasty withdrawal, officials said, chiefly those related to Russia and Iran.



Israel, America's closest Middle East ally, and other regional nations like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are deeply concerned about the influence of Iran and its allies, including the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, inside Syria. The U.S. military presence in Syria has been seen as a buffer against unchecked Iranian activity, and especially against Tehran's desire to establish a contiguous land route from Iran to the Mediterranean coast in Lebanon.



An American withdrawal would also likely cede Syria to Russia, which along with Iran has been propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces and would surely fill the void left behind by the U.S. That prospect has alarmed countries like France, which has historic ties to the Levant.



In calling for a withdrawal very soon, Trump may be overly optimistic in his assessment of how quickly the anti-IS campaign can be wrapped up, the officials said. Although the group has been driven from basically all of the territory it once controlled in Iraq and 95 percent of its former territory in Syria, the remaining five percent is becoming increasingly difficult to clear and could take many months, the officials said.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an "independent and transparent investigation" into the deadly clashes along the Israel-Gaza border Friday that killed at least 15 Palestinians and and injured about 1,400 others, including more than 750 injured by live fire.

Thousands of people are attending the funerals of some of those killed, as Palestinians observe a national day of mourning Saturday.

The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting Friday to discuss the unraveling situation in Gaza, but did not decide on any action or joint statement.

Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the U.N., who did not attend session because of the Jewish Passover holiday, said in a written statement the emergency meeting was held "Despite fierce opposition by Israel and the United States, and requests to postpone the meeting until after the Passover holiday."

Danon said "While Jews around the world gathered with their family at the Seder table to celebrate the Passover holiday, the Palestinians sunk to a new deceitful low so that they could use the U.N. to spread lies about Israel."

The Israeli military said its troops used "riot dispersal means" to quell one of the largest Palestinian demonstrations and outbursts of violence along the border in recent years.

Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour strongly condemned the "massacre" of "unarmed defenseless people" and called for "international protection" for those living under Israeli occupation. He also lashed out at the U.S., saying if it wants to act constructively on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, it should allow the U.N. Security Council to shoulder its responsibility, and uphold international law and Security Council resolutions.



Palestinians border protest

Violence erupted as thousands of Palestinians approached the border separating Israel from the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said its troops responded to main instigators who were throwing stones and rolling burning tires. The Israeli military also accused militants of trying to carry out attacks under the cover of mass protests.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces fired live bullets, rubber-coated steel pellets and tear gas.

It was the deadliest day in Gaza, a self-governing Palestinian territory, since the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas.

U.N. deputy political affairs chief Taye-Brook Zerihoun said at the emergency Security Council meeting that the situation in Gaza might deteriorate in the coming days and called for civilians not to be targeted.

U.S. diplomat Walter Miller told the council, We are deeply saddened by the loss of life today.

He urged those involved to take steps to lower tensions. Miller also said it was unfortunate that Israel, a close U.S. ally, could not take part in Fridays meeting because of the Passover holiday.

Mansour Al-Otaibi, Kuwaits ambassador to the United Nations, said Israels actions were a violation of the international humanitarian law.

Protest camps

Palestinians have constructed protest tent camps along the entire length of the Gaza Strip in five locations that are expected to remain in place for six weeks. Entire families  men, women and children  were expected to participate in the tent camp demonstrations.

The Israeli military estimated about 30,000 demonstrators were taking part in the protests.

The weekslong demonstrations, to end May 15, are designed to commemorate the Nakba or catastrophe when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had to flee their land or were expelled during the war in 1948 that led to the creation of Israel.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned the Gaza demonstrators in an Arabic post on Twitter: The leadership of Hamas is playing with your lives. Anyone who comes close to the fence today puts himself at risk. I suggest to you to continue your lives and not participate in a provocation.

Israel has deployed more than 100 snipers along the Gaza Strip.

The demonstration is expected to end at the same time Washington plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem, a move that has infuriated Palestinians who have claimed the eastern section of the city as the capital of their future state.The U.S. government on Friday asked a judge to sentence Macau billionaire Ng Lap Seng to more than six years in prison, after his conviction last July for bribing two U.N. ambassadors to help him build a multibillion-dollar conference center.

Prosecutors made their request in a filing with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan and are also seeking a $2 million fine.

The request came four weeks after Ngs lawyers urged that their 69-year-old client be sentenced to time served and allowed to return to his family in China.

Lawyers for Ng did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Ngs sentencing by U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick is scheduled for May 11. Probation officials recommended a six-year prison term.

Macau project never built

Ng was convicted on all six counts he faced, including bribery, money laundering and corruption, after a four-week trial and less than a day of jury deliberations.

Prosecutors accused him of paying more than $1 million of bribes to officials including the late former U.N. General Assembly President John Ashe.

They said Ng hoped the conference center, which was never built, would pave the way for luxury housing, hotels, a shopping mall, marinas and a heliport, turning Macau into the Geneva of Asia and winning himself fame and greater riches.

The defendant, a sophisticated, international businessman, repeatedly used his wealth and power to seek to corrupt decision-making at the United Nations, prosecutors said in Fridays filing. That was a choice. It warrants substantial and meaningful punishment.

Defense seeks leniency

Defense lawyers have said Ngs goals were consistent with the types of public-private partnerships that the United Nations favors, and that other diplomats abused Ngs trust.

In their sentencing request, they called it far more reasonable to conclude that Ngs motivations were patriotic and philanthropic.

They also said there was no chance of recidivism, and that Ng could assure the court that once in China, he would not seek to return to the United States or conduct business there.

Ng has been allowed to live in his Manhattan apartment under 24-hour guard on $50 million bail. He was arrested in 2015.Zimbabweans doctors on Saturday ended a 31-day strike that paralyzed state health institutions.

According to Dr. Mxolisi Ngwenya, spokesperson of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA), the Health Service Board has agreed to review upwards their on-call allowances and to provide equipment needed in hospitals.

Dr. Ngwenya said, Following the intervention of His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe Cde E. D Mnangagwa, there has been positive developments. We have entered an agreement with the Health Services Board and the procurement of essential medicines and drugs is in motion and we expect an improvement soon, so as to offer quality health care to all patients.

We have received an upward review of on call allowances, noting that members work round the clock for up to 360 continuous hours. This is a health specific allowance. Understanding the current limitations in the economy, we hope to continually review until we attain regional and international standards. With effect from today, until latest 02 April 2018, ZHDA members will report for duty. Normal work has resumed.

Dr. Ngwenya said the junior doctors will stage another industrial action if the Health Service Board does not honor the agreement.

Junior doctors on call allowance will be reviewed from the current $1.50 per hour to $7.50 per hour for 160 hours as a flat fee of $1,200 per month.

Indications are that the on call allowance would be reviewed to $10 in the next national budget.

The Health Service Board confirmed the latest developments, noting that the government is expected to mobilize funds to pay the doctors the reviewed allowances and other basic necessities.Heavy security and free museums in Rome for Easter 2018.



Easter in Rome is taking place amid tight security in the centre and the Vatican, particularly surrounding religious ceremonies for Holy Week.

The increased security follows several major anti-terrorism swoops by Italian police in recent days, including the arrests in Rome and nearby Latina of five people accused of links to Anis Amri, the Tunisian terrorist behind the 2016 Berlin Christmas-market truck attack in which 12 people were killed.

On the night of 30 March, Good Friday, Pope Francis led the Via Crucis at a torch-lit Colosseum, as around 20,000 faithful listened to meditations re-enacting Christ's crucifixion. The pope concluded the annual ceremony - which dates to the 18th century and was revived in 1964 - with prayers focusing on the three themes of "shame, repentance and hope."

The Via Crucis ceremony at the Colosseum in Rome.

At 20.30 on Saturday 31 March Pope Francis celebrates the Easter Vigil at St Peter's Basilica, which remains open to visitors despite chunks of stucco falling from the ceiling on 29 March.

Easter Sunday Mass is celebrated by the pope in St Peter's Square on 1 April at 10.00, concluding at midday with the traditional Urbi et Orbi papal blessing from the balcony of St Peter's.

This year Easter Sunday coincides with Domenica al Museo, a monthly initiative which opens the doors of Italy's state-run museums for free. Rome's municipal museums will also be free to residents on Easter Sunday. City and state museums remain open on Easter Monday, or Pasquetta, which is a public holiday in Italy. For details of city and state museum Easter openings see Wanted in Rome article.

For full list of English-language religious Easter services in Rome's churches see the Wanted in Rome guide.



Comeys revelation that the FBI was reopening an investigation into Hillary Clintons email practices dealt a blow to her campaign just weeks before Election Day. It was a punishing development, made much more potent when the news organizations treated it like the Second Coming. (The statistics guru Silver said the announcement and the media coverage had a significant negative effect on Clintons campaign.)Todays Headlines

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By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy PolicyChutkans opinion also cited information submitted in that case that she said showed Lloyd also stated, How could abortion be in [the] best interest [of the young woman and her child] where other options are available, and where the child might even survive outside the womb at this stage of the pregnancy? Here there is no medical reason for abortion, it will not undo or erase the memory of the violence committed against her, and it may further traumatize her. I conclude that it is not in her interest.Were they perfect? No. But they are not the monsters they are being painted as, said Hermans, who went to high school with Jennifer Hart in South Dakota and met Sarah Hart, who was originally from Minnesota, shortly after. The amount of love and good that they put into this world is what their legacy should be.First, that when it comes to prosecutorial overreaching, you dont look only at the fraud after the fact but also at its totality, as the high court previously has held. Second, a judge has no business tweeting about pending cases. As Clement says in his petition, one question is as old as the Republic; the other is unique in our social media age. Both merit this courts review.Equally mysterious is the path forward. A different American president, set on eliminating Russian influence in Europe, would now begin to lay out a longer-term response. That president would work with leaders such as British Prime Minister Theresa May, Macron and Merkel, who are now fully attuned to the danger of Russian political meddling. The response could include not only visa restrictions or sanctions on individual Russians but also deeper measures designed to eliminate corrupt Russian money from both politics and business. It could focus on oligarchs with deep ties to the Putin regime, many of whom live in Europe. It could be designed to prevent them, for example, from laundering money through the property markets of London and New York.Democrats in this region are poised to meet or exceed their share of whats needed to win the House majority. Costello is one of three Republicans retiring in southeastern Pennsylvania, and Democrats have the edge in all three districts. In southern New Jersey, Republicans have not found a top-tier candidate to succeed a retiring veteran lawmaker, but Democrats have their top pick in the race.Sanni said that after he was instructed to set up a bank account, BeLeave learned it would be getting a donation of $878,000 via the Vote Leave organization, which was running up against campaign spending limits. However, the money never went into the BeLeave account, Sanni said. Instead, he said, it went directly to Aggregate IQ to blast voters in the last week of the campaign with targeted messages on social media.Israel will target militants in Gaza if violence along the territorys border with Israel drags on, the chief military spokesman warned, a day after 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire.

April 2, 2018 Palestinian protesters react during clashes with Israeli troops at the Israel-Gaza border, in the southern Gaza Strip. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/ReutersANSONIA  It was a true changing of the guard in the citys Republican Town Committee.

Nineteen-year-old David Papcin became the youngest town committee chairman in state history, according to J.R. Romano, the state Republican chairman, and Mayor David Cassetti.

Joining Papcin on the panel are Domenico Filippone, 23, a 3rd Ward alderman, as clerk/secretary, and Anna Andretta, 29, as treasurer. All three helped create the Naugatuck Valley Young Republicans earlier this year.

I think this shatters the stereotype that Connecticut Republicans are old, wealthy, country club people, said Romano, who is from Derby. I think this sends a tremendous message and can only help grow the Republican party in Ansonia, the Valley and the state.

Papcin, who became involved in party politics after attending a forum on the state budget in 2017 at Ansonia High School, was nominated by Cassetti to run against Irving Reed, the 75-year-old, two-term chairman. Papcins 27-17 margin of victory broke down mostly along the two factions  the pro-Cassetti and the pro-Alderman Phil Tripp groups.

Moments after the vote, Lorie Vaccaro, the Board of Aldermen president, defeated Janet Vitarius Waugh for vice chairman. The opposition did not challenge Filippone or Andretta.

Romano said Papcin, Filippone and Andretta will be tremendous assets because of their ages.

They are adept at using social media and social networking to grow the party base, the state chairman said.

Cassetti agreed.

The millennials are the future of our party in the city, this state and this country, Cassetti said. They are energetic. They bring new ideas.

At some point the torch has to be passed, said Cassetti, who is the citys only three-term Republican mayor in the last century.

Reed said he was not entirely surprised that hed be challenged, despite heading a party that won the last two elections by landslides.

I kept getting conflicting reports as to who would run against me, he said. Im surprised they chose someone so young. He wasnt even a member of the town committee until recently.

Reed stopped short of offering Papcin advice, except to encourage him to bring the two sides together.

This is the latest hat to be worn by Papcin, who works on Shelton Mayor Mark Laurettis gubernatorial campaign, sits on the Ansonia Board of Apportionment and Taxation and is a full-time sophomore nursing student at Quinnipiac University.

I think we have a good balance of youth and seniority, Papcin said following his election. Chicago Rivers, a 5th Ward alderman, was appointed sergeant-at-arms and Corporation Counsel John Marini was made the committee parliamentarian.

Papcin said his goal is to raise $50,000 over the next two years for the party, which has $432 in its treasury.

Although Papcin admits that might be a lofty goal, he sad he can reach it by bringing in new people and conducting more fundraisers.

I see my town committee as being more vocal in raising awareness, involvement and money, Papcin said. I think my election sends a message to others who think they are too young get involved. Im a 19-year-old who came out of nowhere and now Im heading the party that re-energized Ansonia.Kind and caring Breda was always thinking of othersIn the annals of the frustrating fight against impotence, men have ingested rhino-horn dust, performed elaborate dances, employed vacuum hydraulics and chanted what one historian called protective spells that went like this: Get excited! Get excited! Get an erection!

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 31/3/2018 (1274 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the annals of the frustrating fight against impotence, men have ingested rhino-horn dust, performed elaborate dances, employed vacuum hydraulics and chanted what one historian called "protective spells" that went like this: "Get excited! Get excited! Get an erection!"

But none of those remedies were as successful  or crazy  as what one physician did at a urological conference in 1983. Before presenting his research to hundreds of doctors, Giles Brindley injected  yes, injected  his penis with a chemical that made it erect. On stage, he dropped his pants to demonstrate the results.

(Insert your own mental image here.)

"There was not a sound in the room," a urologist recalled in a scientific journal. "Everyone had stopped breathing."

It is quite possible that audience members, having "dispersed in a state of flabbergasted disarray," did not exhale for another 15 years, when federal regulators approved Viagra  the little blue pill that made it a little easier  and certainly less humiliating  for men to make everything work as God intended.

Viagra, approved 20 years ago on March 27, 1998, became a pharmaceutical and cultural phenomenon at a very odd moment  amid former U.S. president Bill Clintons sex scandal with intern Monica Lewinsky, when one of Clintons fiercest and oldest political enemies became a TV pitchman for the drug.

That was Bob Dole, the conservative Republican senator from Kansas.

"Dole may have lost the presidential election," Meika Lee wrote in The Rise of Viagra, "but this time he returned victorious," capturing the countrys attention  and late night TV laugh lines  as "the one bringing respectable sexuality back to America and American politics."

And you thought things were strange now.

The moment, in retrospect, came about from a virile accident.

Pfizer was developing a chemical compound called sildenafil citrate for high blood pressure. It was not going well.

"It was so close to failure that people werent coming to the meetings," Pfizer chemist David Brown told Bloomberg in an oral history of the drug. "I mean, you know how people sort of smell failure and disappear? It was that close."

The scientists kept going, hoping for a breakthrough.

And then, finally, one emerged when they tested the drug on miners. But it had nothing to do with their blood pressure.

"Is there anything else you noticed you want to report?" Brown recalled asking the miners. "One of the men put up his hand and said, Well, I seemed to have more erections during the night than normal, and all the others kind of smiled and said, So did we."

The side effect wasnt really a side effect: It was the jackpot.

Prizer switched gears, studying the compound for impotence. Men were given the drug in lab settings and instructed to watch dirty movies.

"They were fitted with what was called a Rigiscan  you can imagine what that does," Brown told Bloomberg.

(Insert your own mental image here.)

"At the end of the week," Brown continued, "we had to get the drugs back from them, anything that was unused. Some of them would not give the drug back."

The drug wound its way through the approval process. The jokes began almost immediately. "You must have heard them," Lee wrote. "In nursing homes, Viagra keeps male patients from rolling out of bed. Did you hear about the first death from an overdose of Viagra? A man took 12 pills and his wife died. Viagra is now being compared to Disneyland  a one-hour wait for a two-minute ride."

And so on.

But Viagra really worked wonders. It became such a hot commodity around the world  we are not making up the next part of this sentence  that the CIA used it in Afghanistan to influence tribal elders in need of a little lift. Washington Posts Joby Warrick reported:

"Such was the case with the 60-year-old chieftain who received the four pills from a U.S. operative. According to the retired operative who was there, the man was a clan leader in southern Afghanistan who had been wary of Americans  neither supportive nor actively opposed.

The man had extensive knowledge of the region and his village controlled key passages through the area. U.S. forces needed his co-operation and worked hard to win it, the retired operative said.

"After a long conversation through an interpreter, the retired operator began to probe for ways to win the mans loyalty. A discussion of the mans family and many wives provided inspiration. Once it was established that the man was in good health, the pills were offered and accepted.

"Four days later, when the Americans returned, the gift had worked its magic, the operative recalled.

" He came up to us beaming," the official said. "He said, You are a great man.

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" And after that we could do whatever we wanted in his area. "

But the little blue pill, now 20 years old, was more than just a punchline, or CIA inducement, or a vehicle for Bob Dole to get his groove back.

The scientists who worked on the drug, along with historians and cultural scholars, say Viagra changed the way America talks about sex  more open, less Puritanical.

The bar for sex talk has been lowered so low that this past election cycle a presidential candidate named Donald Trump felt OK referencing the size of his penis and, apparently, the fact that he didnt need a prescription to make it even larger.

"I guarantee you theres no problem," he said during a debate. "I guarantee."

 Washington PostIn a 2016 employee memo that was leaked this week, a Facebook executive defended the companys questionable data mining practices and championed the growth of social media at any cost  apparently even death.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 31/3/2018 (1274 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In a 2016 employee memo that was leaked this week, a Facebook executive defended the companys questionable data mining practices and championed the growth of social media at any cost  apparently even death.

"Maybe it costs a life by exposing someone to bullies," company vice-president Andrew Bosworth wrote in the memo, according to BuzzFeed News, which published it Thursday. "Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools. And still we connect people. The ugly truth is that we believe in connecting people so deeply that anything that allows us to connect more people more often is *de facto* good."

Bosworth, who oversaw Facebooks advertising and business platform at the time and is now in charge of the companys virtual reality department, has acknowledged writing the message but said he intended only to start a debate. "I didnt agree with it even when I wrote it," he wrote on Twitter after BuzzFeed published its report.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, who is already facing a public relations crisis over accusations that the company mishandled millions of users private data, disavowed the memo.

"Boz is a talented leader who says many provocative things," Zuckerberg said in a statement, using Bosworths nickname.

"This was one that most people at Facebook including myself disagreed with strongly. Weve never believed the ends justify the means."

The 418-word memo is framed around Zuckerbergs often-stated mission to connect the entire world through Facebook, which Bosworth cites as the companys ultimate and unchangeable goal  whether those connections let users fall in love, attack each other or, in the memos most extreme example, coordinate a terrorist attack.

"Thats why all the work we do in growth is justified," Bosworth wrote. "All the questionable contact importing practices. All the subtle language that helps people stay searchable by friends. All of the work we do to bring more communication in. The work we will likely have to do in China some day.

"All of it."

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BuzzFeed noted the memo was written almost immediately after a man was shot to death while streaming live video of himself with Facebook Live and a few days before a Palestinian teenager was accused of killing an Israeli girl after praising terrorists on Facebook.

These deaths were a prelude to a string of other gruesome and violent incidents that appeared in videos and live streams on the social network. A man posted a Facebook video of himself killing someone last April. A month later, a man soaked himself in kerosene, lit himself on fire and used Facebook Live to stream video of his self-immolation.

This year, the public learned that Russian operatives used Facebook to propagandize and troll Americans during the 2016 election, using connectivity to create division. The repeated scandals reached a crisis point this month, with the revelation that a political firm linked to Donald Trumps presidential campaign improperly obtained and exploited data from millions of users.

While Bosworth now argues that he was playing devils advocate in his memo, he wrote at the time that Facebook, by necessity, would keep connecting people and expanding no matter how ugly the cost: "In almost all of our work, we have to answer hard questions about what we believe," he concluded. "We have to justify the metrics and make sure they arent losing out on a bigger picture. But connecting people. Thats our imperative. Because thats what we do. We connect people."

During the nearly two years that the memo remained on Facebooks internal platform, BuzzFeed wrote, employees commented on it and debated it. While Bosworth said it was one of his most unpopular employee messages, a former senior executive told BuzzFeed that it was "super popular internally."

 Washington PostOTTAWA  Winnipeg South Centre MP Jim Carr is under fire from a fellow Liberal for giving what she called a lack of substantive answers to senators questions.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 30/3/2018 (1274 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Winnipeg South Centre MP Jim Carr is under fire from a fellow Liberal for giving what she called a lack of substantive answers to senators questions.

"After yesterdays mostly unanswered questions, I am no longer sure that it is helpful to have a minister here when they give no answers," British Columbia Sen. Mobina Jaffer said Wednesday.

I am no longer sure that it is helpful to have a minister (Jim Carr) here when they give no answers.  Mobina Jaffer, British Columbia senator

She lamented Carrs appearance in the Senate Tuesday to field questions about Kinder Morgan Canadas Trans Mountain Pipeline, as the minister of natural resources.

In January 2014, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau removed all 32 Liberal senators from the partys caucus and told them to sit as Independents. Jaffer is among a small group of senators who call themselves the Senate Liberal caucus.

Senate Liberals are aligned with the party, but do not participate in the weekly closed-door caucus meetings with party MPs, though the Conservatives continue this tradition.

Trudeau said he removed senators from his party to make the Senate less partisan, and also vowed to have his cabinet ministers regularly go to the Senate to answer senators questions.

But Jaffer is questioning the merits of that practice. She said Carrs 45-minute appearance was "not helpful" and lacked "comprehensive answers." Trudeaus representative, Sen. Peter Harder, didnt object to that characterization.

On Tuesday, Jaffer had asked Carr why higher-risk crude bitumen is being transported instead of refined in Alberta; Carr answered it had been flowing through the same pipe for 30 years.

She asked whether the regulator adequately considered Indigenous rights, and how the pipeline fits into the "climate crisis." Carr outlined "meaningful consultation with Indigenous peoples" as one of three pillars of the governments energy policy.

Manitoba Sen. Marilou McPhedran raised concerns about pipeline opponents being arrested in B.C. last week, including Green party Leader Elizabeth May. "Allegations of violence are coming from all sides," McPhedran said, asking Carr whether the government will promise not to use violence against non-violent protesters.

Carr responded that peaceful dissent "is a cherished right" in Canada. "We encourage people to dissent, and people will find their own ways to protest."

On Thursday, Carr said he felt hed given sufficient answers to the senators questions.

"I appreciated the dialogue with them; I honour and respect the work they do and I feel as if I answered questions fully," he told the Free Press, appearing surprised at Jaffers remarks. "If senators want more comprehensive answers, Id be very happy to have conversations with them about that."

When asked whether Jaffer was being fair, Carr said he hadnt heard her remarks, but offered to give her "more time and more comprehensive answers" if his responses werent sufficient.

Manitoba Conservative Sen. Don Plett has taken swipes against various Liberal cabinet ministers during their visits to the Senate.

On Tuesday, he and fellow Manitoba Sen. Patricia Bovey (whom Trudeau appointed) asked Carr about the future of the northern Manitoba town of Churchill.

Carr reiterated that various funding programs for Churchill and ongoing talks aimed at transferring the damaged railway and port into local hands.

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He also pointed out the Conservatives decision to sell the Canadian Wheat Board to a Saudi-owned company in 2015 cut wheat shipments and hurt the Omnitrax railway, prompting Plett to chide Carr for opting to "blame others."

Meanwhile, the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion proposal is becoming a contentious issue in the Senate.

The chamber passed a Conservative motion expressing support for the project while many senators were absent. A media report claimed the motion passed unanimously, but it was a vocal vote in which individual responses werent recorded.

That reporting led Indigenous activists to question whether Manitoba Sen. Murray Sinclair supported the motion. Sinclair declined to be interviewed, but said on Twitter, hes "more resolved than ever to fight this project in the Senate."

McPhedran said she wasnt part of that vote. She noted Tuesday "many Indigenous communities and leaders affected by the (project) are clearly opposed."

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.caOTTAWA  The federal government has introduced a bill aimed at overhauling the justice system, a measure that makes good on a Liberal promise to change the way juries are selected.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 31/3/2018 (1273 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  The federal government has introduced a bill aimed at overhauling the justice system, a measure that makes good on a Liberal promise to change the way juries are selected.

A number of Indigenous people were excluded from the jury that last month acquitted Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley, 56, in the shooting death of Colten Boushie, 22, a member of the Red Pheasant First Nation.

Ryan Remiorz / The Canadian Press The jury that acquitted a farmer of killing Colten Boushie didnt have Indigenous members.

Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould tabled a massive bill Thursday that, if passed, would eliminate the use of peremptory challenges, which allow lawyers to reject jury candidates during the selection process without providing a reason for doing so.

"Our criminal justice system must be fair, equitable and just for all Canadians," Wilson-Raybould said.

Lawyers would still have the right to challenge a potential juror for cause, but the legislation would empower the judge to decide.

Speaking through a family friend, Boushies mother, Debbie Baptiste, said she is pleased about the proposed changes and hopes the presence of Indigenous jurors will translate into more justice for Indigenous Peoples.

The prospect of something good coming out of her sons death gives her hope for the future, Eleanore Sunchild said on behalf of Baptiste.

The bill includes other measures aimed at tackling court backlogs, including by restricting the use of preliminary inquiries to cases where an adult offender is facing the possibility of a life sentence, such as for murder.

That would reduce the number of preliminary inquiries across the country  about 9,100 of them in 2014-15  by 87 per cent, said officials from the Justice Department.

The government also argues restricting the use of preliminary inquiries will help prevent victims and witnesses who might have experienced trauma, especially in cases involving sexual assault or child abuse, from having to testify more than once.

The Ontario government had advocated limiting preliminary inquiries even more, to cases of murder and treason, but Attorney General Yasir Naqvi said he is pleased with how far the federal changes go.

Fewer preliminary inquiries would free up resources that would compensate for a jump in summary convictions resulting from the extra powers the bill would grant judges to classify some previously indictable offences as summary and therefore directed to the provincial courts, Naqvi added.

Ian Carter of the Canadian Bar Association applauded the inclusion of two reforms the group had promoted.

They included allowing police to refer administration of justice offences  such as breaching probation  directly to a judge without the need to lay new criminal charges and reforming the bail system to cut the number of people incarcerated while awaiting trial.

But those pros are tempered by the bills restriction on preliminary inquiries, Carter said, which would reduce the rights of the accused and possibly prolong trials.

"Two steps forward, one step back," he said.

A single day of a preliminary inquiry saves multiple days of trial time by narrowing the evidence, solving problems and sometimes preventing a case from going to trial, Ottawa defence lawyer Michael Spratt said.

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Spratt criticized the abolition of peremptory challenges, saying the move could decrease diversity on juries.

"It seems to be a case of policy-based evidence making rather than evidence-based policy and we were promised better by the government," he said.

But University of Toronto law professor Kent Roach said the risk of juries becoming white in the absence of peremptory challenges is lessened by an additional reform that gives judges the discretion to rule when lawyers challenge with cause.

The bill will also address a Liberal campaign promise to crack down on domestic violence, including by reversing the onus on bail for those previously convicted of violence against a current or former spouse, common-law partner or dating partner.

Domestic violence would also be considered an aggravating factor in sentencing; the bill would also make way for the possibility of higher maximum sentences for repeat offenders.

 The Canadian PressHey there, time traveller!

This article was published 31/3/2018 (1274 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

Why do they bother?

Last week, Vladimir Putin, the Russian dictator, got himself "re-elected" to his fourth six-year term by a 76 per cent majority on a 76 per cent turnout. This week, the Egyptian dictator, former general Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, was "re-elected" with close to 100 per cent support. A quarter-billion people were inconvenienced in order to wield what amounts to giant rubber stamps.

So, again, why do they bother? Both dictators control the mass media in their countries, so they can be reasonably confident that most people will not be exposed to much criticism of their actions. They both can and do have people who oppose them arrested or killed (and Sisis enforcers also torture people). Yet they feel the need to go through these fake democratic elections in order to validate their rule.

The charade goes even further in many African countries. At some point in the past, often after popular protests or even a revolution, term limits were imposed on the presidency, but later the man in power (its always a man) realizes that he actually wants to rule the country for life. Once again, however, abolishing the term limits is done with due "democratic" decorum, generally involving a state-managed referendum.

China is the latest dictatorship to end term limits, making Xi Jinping in effect president-for-life, although it skipped the referendum part. Indeed, even China pretends to be a democracy, more or less, although the Communist Party must always be in the "leading role" and there are no direct national elections. Why do they go through all this rigmarole, when the outcome is invariably a foregone conclusion?

Egypts pharaohs felt no need to ask the peoples opinions on their performance as rulers. The kings of 18th-century Europe ruled by "divine right," not by the popular will (and they didnt actually ask Gods opinion on their performance, either). But at some point in the past century, democracy has won the argument worldwide.

It has not won all the power struggles  and many dictators survive in practice, but they are all obliged to pretend to have popular support. This is a very big change from the past, when tyrannical power was generally based on a combination of religious authority and brutal armed force. Why  and in particular  why now?

The anthropologists may have an answer. It is now pretty widely agreed in their profession that pre-civilized human beings almost all lived in bands where all adult men, at least, were treated as equals and all had an equal right to share in decision-making. They even had well-established methods for making sure that nobody got too big for his boots.

These primitive "democracies" all collapsed in the early stages of civilization, when the huge rise in population (from dozens to millions in 1,000 years) made it physically impossible for everybody to take part in the discussion about means and ends any more.

At the same time, all the traditional social controls that kept ambitious people from seizing power failed, too. You cant shame people into respecting the opinions and personal freedoms of other people if the numbers get so big that you dont even know them personally.

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The result: 5,000 years of tyranny.

But give these mass societies mass media and they regain the ability to communicate with one another. It turns out, unsurprisingly, that they want to be treated as equals again. The first successful democratic revolution happened in the American colonies in 1776 because printing presses were everywhere and over half the population was literate.

Now, mass media are everywhere and even the dictators have to pretend that they are in power by the will of the people. It will be a long time before they actually disappear (if they ever do), but they already rule less than half of the worlds people and they all have to go through a charade of democracy to legitimize their rule.

When the first results of the Russian election were coming in last week, a reporter asked Vladimir Putin if he would run again in six years time. "What you are saying is a bit funny," Putin replied. "Do you think that I will stay here until Im 100 years old? No." But thats what Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwes former ruler, would also have said when he had been in power for only 18 years.

In the end, Mugabe stayed in power for 37 years and he was 93 and planning to run for another term when he was finally overthrown last year. Putin would be a mere 85 years old when he broke Mugabes record, although Chinas Xi Jinping would have to live until he was 97 to do the same. Ill bet neither one makes it.

Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.Arconic Corporation manufactures and sells aluminum sheets, plates, extrusions, and architectural products in the United States, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hungary, Russia, and the United Kingdom. It operates through three segments: Rolled Products, Extrusions, and Building and Construction Systems. The Rolled Products segment provides a range of aluminum sheet and plate products for ground transportation, aerospace, industrial, and packaging markets; and roofing, architectural composite panels, ventilated facades and ceiling panels, spacers, culvert pipes, and gutters for building and construction markets. The Extrusions segment offers extruded products, including aerospace shapes, automotive shapes, seamless tubes, hollows, mortar fins, and high strength rods and bars for ground transportation, aerospace, and industrial markets. The Building and Construction Systems segment provides various products and building envelope solutions, such as entrances, curtain walls, windows, composite panels, and coil coated sheets for fabricators and glazing subcontractors under the Kawneer, Reynobond, and Reynolux brands. The company offers its products directly to customers, as well as through distributors. The company was formerly known as Arconic Rolled Products Corporation and changed its name to Arconic Corporation in Arpil 2020. Arconic Corporation was founded in 1888 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Read MoreWall Street analysts have given RAIT Financial Trust a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but RAIT Financial Trust wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.The following companies are subsidiares of Ashland Global: 565 Corporation, ASH GP INC., ASHLAND SPECIALTY CHEMICAL (SINGAPORE) PTE. LTD., ASHLAND SPECIALTY CHEMICALS (MALAYSIA) SDN.BHD, Adams Drive Totowa L.L.C., Alera Property Holdings LLC, Alera Technologies Inc., Alix Technologies LLC, Aloe Vemera S.P.R de R.L. de C.V., Ash (Gibraltar) One Limited, Ash B CIS 1 Limited, Ash B CIS 2 Limited, Ash B1 Limited, Ash B2 Limited, Ash B3 Limited, Ash B4 Limited, Ash B5 Limited, Ash CIS Canada Corp., Ash CIS Canada Holdings B.V., Ash CIS GmbH, Ash Global Holding Three GmbH, Ash Global Holdings Two B.V., Ash Junior Global Holding One LLC, Ash Junior Global Holding Two LLC, Ash Swiss Holding Two GmbH, AshLux Three S.a r.l., AshOne C. V., Ashland (Australasia) Pty. Limited, Ashland (Changzhou) Advanced Chemical Co. Ltd., Ashland (Changzhou) Specialty Chemical Co. Ltd, Ashland (China) Holdings Co. Ltd., Ashland (Gibraltar) One Holding Inc., Ashland (Thailand) Co. Ltd, Ashland Argentina S.R.L., Ashland CZ s.r.o., Ashland Canada Corp./Corporation Ashland Canada, Ashland Canada Holdings B. V., Ashland Chemco Inc., Ashland Chemical De Mexico S.A. De C.V., Ashland Chemical Hispania S. L., Ashland Chemical Trading (Shanghai) Company Limited, Ashland Chemicals (Nanjing) Company Limited, Ashland Colombia S.A.S., Ashland Comercio de Especialidades Quimicas do Brasil Ltda., Ashland Danmark ApS, Ashland Eastern Markets LLC, Ashland Ethanol Inc., Ashland Finance Limited, Ashland Finland Oy, Ashland France SAS, Ashland Global Holdings One C.V., Ashland India Private Limited, Ashland Industria de Ingredientes do Brasil Ltda., Ashland Industries Deutschland GmbH, Ashland Industries Europe GmbH, Ashland Industries France SAS, Ashland Industries Italia S.r.l., Ashland Industries Nederland B.V., Ashland Industries UK Limited, Ashland International Holdings LLC, Ashland Italia S.r.l., Ashland Japan Ltd., Ashland Korea Limited, Ashland LLC, Ashland Licensing and Intellectual Property LLC, Ashland ME Holdings Inc., Ashland Mexico Holdings One LLC, Ashland Mexico Holdings Two LLC, Ashland Nigeria Exploration Unlimited, Ashland Oil (Nigeria) Company Unlimited, Ashland Oil Inc., Ashland Pacific Pty. Ltd., Ashland Participacoes Ltda., Ashland Pharmachem International Holdings LLC, Ashland Polimeros do Brasil S.A., Ashland Services B. V., Ashland Services Mexico S.A. de C.V., Ashland Singapore Pte. Ltd., Ashland Specialties Austria GmbH, Ashland Specialties Belgium BVBA, Ashland Specialties France S.a.r.l., Ashland Specialties Hispania S.L., Ashland Specialties Holding C.V., Ashland Specialties Ireland Limited, Ashland Specialties Poland Sp. z o.o., Ashland Specialties Sverige AB, Ashland Specialties UK Limited, Ashland Specialty Chemical Korea Co. Ltd., Ashland Specialty Ingredients G.P., Ashland Technologies GmbH, Ashland-Alaskan Limited, Ashland-Plasticos De Portugal Lda., Ashmont Insurance Company Inc., Ashprop Two LLC, Avoca LLC, Avoele S.A. de C.V., Belleville Realty Corp., Bluegrass Insurance Company Limited, CLTA LLC, CVG Capital III LLC, Carol Clifton Inc., Clevedon Sp. z o.o., Curtis Bay Insurance Co. Ltd, East Bay Realty Services Inc., Ever Success Overseas Limited, FRJ Inc., Fospur, Hercofina, Hercules, Hercules Holding BV BVBA, Hercules Holding II Limited, Hercules Hydrocarbon Holdings Inc., Hercules International Limited LLC, Hercules Investment ApS, Hercules Investments Netherlands B.V., Hercules Islands Corporation, Hercules LLC, Hercules Paper Holdings Inc., Hercules Trading (Shanghai) Company Limited, ISP (Belgium) International N. V., ISP Alginates Inc., ISP Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd, ISP Biochema Schwaben GmbH, ISP Canada Corp., ISP Capital LLC, ISP Chemco LLC, ISP Chemical Products LLC, ISP Chemicals LLC, ISP Environmental Services Inc., ISP France Holding SARL, ISP France Marketing SARL, ISP Freetown Fine Chemicals Inc., ISP Freight Services N. V., ISP Global Operations (Barbados) Inc., ISP Global Technologies Deutschland Unterstutzungskasse GmbH, ISP Global Technologies Inc., ISP Global Technologies LLC, ISP HC Limited, ISP Holdings (U.K.) Ltd., ISP Hungary Holdings Limited Liability Company, ISP International Corp., ISP Investments LLC, ISP Lima LLC, ISP Luxembourg Canada S.a.r.l., ISP Management Company Inc., ISP Marl GmbH, ISP Marl Holdings GmbH, ISP Microcaps (U.K.) Limited, ISP Pharma Systems LLC, ISP Real Estate Company Inc., ISP Singapore Holding LLC, ISP Technologies Inc., ISP Technologies LLC, International Specialty Holdings LLC, International Specialty Products, International Specialty Products (India) Private Limited, International Specialty Products Funding Corporation, International Specialty Products Inc., Jiangmen Ashland Chemicals Company Limited, Nanjing Clear Environment Protection, Northwest Coatings, Oil Can Henrys, PT Ashland Asia, PT ISP Chemicals Indonesia, Pakistan Gum Industries (Private) Limited, Pharmachem Laboratories, Pharmachem Laboratories LLC, Pharmachem Laboratories Utah LLC, Prince Street Paterson LLC, Progiven S.A.S., Proprietary Nutritionals LLC, Ralop S. de R.L. de C.V., Saudi Industrial Resins Co. Ltd. (Polyester), Shanghai Ashland Industrial Trading Co. Ltd., St Croix Petrochemical Corp, Taiwan Ashland Co. Ltd., Techwax Limited, Vemera S. de R.L. de C.V., and WSP LLC.BlackBerry Limited provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments worldwide. The company leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to deliver solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, safety, and data privacy; and endpoint security management, encryption, and embedded systems. It offers BlackBerry Spark software platform that includes a suite of security software products and services comprising BlackBerry UEM, BlackBerry Dynamics, and BlackBerry Workspaces solutions; and BlackBerry Spark SDK to promote the evolution of a platform ecosystem by enabling enterprise and independent software vendor developers to integrate the security features of BlackBerry Spark into their own mobile and web applications. The company also provides BlackBerry Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, including BlackBerry QNX, BlackBerry Certicom, BlackBerry Radar, BlackBerry Jarvis, BlackBerry AtHoc, BlackBerry Alert, SecuSUITE, and other IoT applications. As of February 28, 2021, it owned approximately 38,000 worldwide patents and applications. The company has a partnership with the University of Windsor to develop and deliver a cybersecurity curriculum for the university's graduate master's program in applied computing; and an agreement with Amazon Web Services, Inc. to develop and market BlackBerry's IVY, an intelligent vehicle data platform. The company was formerly known as Research In Motion Limited and changed its name to BlackBerry Limited in July 2013. BlackBerry Limited was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Waterloo, Canada.

Read MoreKapStone Paper and Packaging Corporation produces and sells a range of containerboards, corrugated products, and specialty paper products in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Paper and Packaging, and Distribution. The Paper and Packaging segment offers containerboards consisting of linerboard and corrugated medium to manufacture corrugated containers for packaging products; and corrugated products. It also offers specialty paper products, including kraft paper, such as multiwall paper used to produce bags for agricultural products, pet food, baking products, cement and chemicals; specialty products comprising shingle wraps, end caps, roll wraps, and dunnage bags; and lightweight paper. In addition, this segment provides saturating kraft paper under the Durasorb trade name for use in construction, electronics manufacturing, and furniture manufacturing industries; and unbleached folding carton board under the Kraftpak trade name to integrated and independent converters in the folding carton industry. The Distribution segment distributes corrugated and other specialty packaging products consisting of stretch films, void fills, carton sealing tapes, and other specialty tapes. KapStone Paper and Packaging Corporation was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois.

Read MoreWall Street analysts have given Covance a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but Covance wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.National Bank of Canada engages in the provision of commercial banking and financial services. It operates through the following segments: Personal and Commercial, Wealth Management, Financial Markets, US Specialty Finance and International (USSF&I), and Other. The Personal and Commercial segment involves in banking, financing, and investing services offered to individuals and businesses as well as insurance operations. The Wealth Management segment focuses on the investment solutions, trust and lending services, and other wealth management solutions offered through internal and third-party distribution networks. The Financial Markets segment includes banking and investment banking services and financial solutions for large and mid-size corporations, public sector organizations, and institutional investors. The USSF&I segment comprises specialty finance expertise activities of subsidiary ABA Bank, which offers financial products and services to individuals and businesses; and activities of targeted investments in certain emerging markets. The Other segment encompasses treasury activities such as asset and liability management, liquidity management and funding operations, certain no

Read MoreYext, Inc. is an emerging growth company engages in software development. It offers a cloud-based digital knowledge platform, which allows businesses manage their digital knowledge in the cloud such as financial information, resources and performance of these resources on a consolidated basis and sync it to other application such as Apple Maps, Bing, Cortana, Facebook, Google, Google Maps, Instagram, Siri and Yelp. It offers the Yext Knowledge Engine package on subscription basis, which has an access to Listings, Pages, Reviews and other features. The Listing feature provides customers with control over their digital presence, including their location and other related attributes published on the used third-party applications. The Pages feature allows customers to establish landing pages on their own websites and to manage digital content on those sites, including calls to action. The Reviews presence enables customers to encourage and facilitate reviews from end consumers. The company was founded by Howard Lerman, Brent Metz, and Brian Distelburger in 2006 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

Read MoreWall Street analysts have given Revolution Bars Group a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but Revolution Bars Group wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.Magna International Inc. designs, engineers, and manufactures components, assemblies, systems, subsystems, and modules for original equipment manufacturers of vehicles and light trucks worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Body Exteriors & Structures, Power & Vision, Seating Systems, and Complete Vehicles. Its Body Exteriors & Structures segment provides body and chassis systems, as well as engineering and testing services; exterior systems, including fascia and trims, front end modules, front integration panels, liftgate modules, active aerodynamics, engineered glass, running boards, truck bed access products, and side doors; and roof systems, such as modular and textile folding roofs, and hard and soft tops. The company's Power & Vision segment offers dedicated hybrid, dual and e-clutch, and manual transmissions; engine drive plates and accessories; AWD/4WD products, rear drive modules, and hybrid and battery electric drive systems; transmission, engine, and driveline components; advanced driver assistance systems, camera systems, ultrasonic sensors, and electronic controllers; interior and exterior mirrors, actuators, door handles, overhead consoles, and camera monitoring systems; head, tail, and fog lamps; signal and other lighting products; and latching systems, door modules, window systems, power closure systems, hinges and wire forming, and handle assemblies. Its Seating Systems segment provides seat structures, mechanism and hardware solutions, and foam and trim products. The company's Complete Vehicles segment offers vehicle manufacturing and engineering services. It also designs, engineers, and manufactures tooling products. Magna International Inc. was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Aurora, Canada.

Read MoreIsraeli troops, using live fire, killed at least 17 Palestinians and injured more than 1,400 during demonstrations along Gazas border with Israel and in cities throughout the Palestinian enclave. The demonstrators were armed solely with stones and homemade firebombs.

The Israeli army, using riot control measures, injured a further 27 Palestinians in clashes in the city of Nablus as nearly 900 Palestinians demonstrated in cities throughout the West Bank.

The organisers of the protests have called for six weeks of demonstrations, called the Great Return March, along the border of Gaza that has been subject to an 11 year-long illegal and inhumane blockade by Israel and Egypt.

The demonstrations, starting on Friday, are set to continue for six weeks until May 15, the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel and the subsequent war between Israel and her Arab neighbours, which the Palestinians commemorate as Nakba (Catastrophe) Day.

Following the 1948-49 war, only about 200,000 of the 1.2 million Palestinians remained in the parts of Palestine that had become Israel. While many fled to avoid the war, most left out of fear of what might happen to them at the hands of Zionist terrorists. Their homes and land were seized by the newly established state. One of the most notorious incidents was the Deir Yassin massacre where 250 men, women and children were murdered in cold blood by Menachem Begins Irgun group, as it went from house to house to drive out the Palestinians.

According to the United Nations, there are presently some 5 million registered Palestinian refugees. They include those expelled, or their descendants, following the first Arab-Israeli war of 1948-49 and the June 1967 war, as well as countless others expelled later from the Occupied Territories or Israel. The majority have lived their lives in wretched conditions in refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Many now live elsewhere in the Middle East, while others have moved to the West.

Israel adamantly refuses to acknowledge the principle of the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants because this would be tantamount to accepting responsibility for what happened to them. Moreover, since it would end the Jewish majority in Israel, it has been repeatedly denounced as a threat to the very survival of the Zionist state.

Fridays demonstrations also mark 42 years since Land Daycommemorated every year by Palestinians throughout the worldwhen Israeli security forces shot and killed six Palestinian citizens of Israel protesting the expropriation of Palestinian-owned land in northern Israel to build Jewish communities. A further 100 were injured and hundreds were arrested during the March 30, 1976 protest.

A key demand of the Great Return March is the full implementation of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 of December 1948, which stipulates that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date.

Of the 1.9 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, 1.3 million are refugees, according to a Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics report in February 2018.

The Palestinians have set up several tent camps to house thousands near the Israel-Gaza border. They will camp out near the fence as part of an extended protest, with weekly demonstrations on Fridays until Nakba Day on May 15.

Israel made extensive preparations. Barbed wire fences have been set up and more than 100 snipers deployed. The government confirmed ahead of yesterdays protest that it would use riot dispersal means that include tear gas and sound bombs as well as firing at the main instigators of the protest. It called in the army as opposed to the police and Border Police, citing Land Day demonstrations within Israel and fears of attacks in Jerusalem.

Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gadi Eizenkot said that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would not allow mass infiltration or tolerate any damage to the barrier on Israels border with Gaza during the protests.

He said, We have deployed more than 100 sharpshooters who were called up from all of the militarys units, primarily from the special forces, and added, If [Israeli] lives are in jeopardy, there is permission to open fire. We wont allow mass infiltration into Israel and to damage the fence, and certainly not to reach the communities.

To this end, the entire border area has been declared a closed military zone. This is nothing short of a shoot-to-kill policy.

In addition, Israel has put pressure on Facebook to censor Palestinian journalists and any critical reporting of Israel. Last week, the social media corporation dutifully shut down the page of a major Palestinian news outlet, the Safa Palestinian Press Agency, which has 1.3 million followers, as well as its Instagram account. Facebook defended its action, claiming it was a move against hate speech and incitement.

According to Haaretz, Facebook has closed about 500 pages of Palestinian activists and journalists since the beginning of the year. The paper notes that Safa is a Hamas-affiliated counterpart to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency controlled by the Palestinian Authority and the Fatah faction led by Mahmoud Abbas. As such, its reporting is typical of a wide range of Palestinian news outlets.

The Facebook ban takes place in the wake of the live streaming of the Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi slapping a heavily armed Israeli soldier in the West Bank. Her arrest and sentencing to an eight-month prison term, along with the jailing of her mother for filming the incident, have made her an international rallying point for Palestinians.

The Israeli foreign ministry has briefed its embassies and sought to pre-emptively lay the blame for any clashes on Hamas and the other Palestinian organisations who have manufactured this entire campaign.

Just hours before the demonstrations began, an Israeli tank shell killed a Gaza farmer who had been gathering crops and wounded another in a southern Gaza village.

The Great Return March takes place amid rising tensions over the collapse of Gazas already blighted economy following the crippling blockade and Israels murderous assaults on Gaza in 2008-09, 2012 and 2014 that killed 1,417, 147 and 2,250 Palestinians respectively and destroyed much of Gazas basic infrastructure and tens of thousands of homes.

Further power cuts led to water shortages and untreated sewage after the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority stopped paying Israel for fuel for Gazas power station and electrical transmission, and ended or cut salary payments to thousands of public sector workers. While these measures forced Hamas into reconciliation talks with Fatah, the talks have stalled and brought no material relief.

In October, the World Food Programme announced a cutback in its food voucher programme in Gaza due to a budget shortfall. Earlier this year, the Trump administration withheld funding for food aid and the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA), which supports some 1.2 million in Gaza, cutting off Gazas last remaining lifeline.

For months there have been almost weekly demonstrations protesting the blockade and the humanitarian crisis. Last December, tensions rose to fever pitch after US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israels capital. Earlier this year, Gazas traders closed in protest over the deteriorating situation.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described Gaza as a constant humanitarian emergency. Last year, a UN report stated that the living conditions for Gazas 2 million inhabitants had deteriorated even further and faster than the prediction made in 2012 that the enclave would become unliveable by 2020.

The imperialist powers, so eager to employ human rights to justify war in their own geostrategic interests have once again remained silent in defence of their regional policeman.

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The expulsion of the Palestinians and the origins of Land Day

[29 March 2002]Thousands of Ghanaians demonstrated in the capital city Accra on Tuesday against a military agreement between the US and Ghanaian governments that would allow for a significant expansion of the US militarys presence in the West African nation. The government deployed a contingent of riot police as massive crowds poured into the streets of Accras business district chanting, Ghana is not for sale!

The military agreement was signed by President Nana Akufo-Addo on Friday of the previous week after its approval in parliament. The agreement faced strong opposition from the minority National Democratic Congress (NDC), who boycotted the vote.

The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) of President Akufo-Addo, which holds the majority of seats in parliament, characterized the military agreement as a mere continuation of Ghanas two-decade military relationship with the United States. Ghana has hosted US troops in several annually held combat exercises, and has contributed troops to several US-backed interventions across the continent. Ministry of Information Deputy Secretary Kojo Oppong Nkrumah told the New York Times, Its the same arrangement weve had in times past.

The key parts of the agreement include Washingtons investment of $20 million to train the Ghanaian military and the granting by the Ghanaian government of an airstrip for use by US military personnel, together with giving over the exclusive use of airwaves in the country to the US military for communications. Additionally, the US military would be allowed to deploy troops throughout the country and granted the ability to import equipment necessary for its operations tax-free.

The estimated crowd of 3,500 demonstrators carried placards emblazoned with the statements: Create Jobs, Not Military Base, Trump Take Your Military Base Away, and Shithole Country, a reference to Trumps disparaging remarks towards African countries in January.

Expressing outrage towards the growing militarism the agreement represents, Gifty Yankson, a local trader from Accra, told Africa News, They [the US military] become a curse everywhere they are, and I am not ready to mortgage my security.

Another demonstrator, Yaa Yaa Abban, expressed contempt toward the ruling government, This is an insensitive government. Well resist this deal with the US because it does not favor us.

The protest was called by the opposition party NDC, who have attempted to direct popular opposition to the deal into an appeal for national chauvinism. The NDC organized the protest with the Twitter hash tag #GhanaFirst and have stated the military agreement undermines the countrys sovereignty.

Also pushing this poisonous nationalist perspective was Frank Amoako Hene, president of the National Union of Ghana Students, Having partaken in the struggle and fight towards our independence, we can never sit unconcerned when it comes to an agreement which has the tendency of compromising our sovereignty and integrity.

With the NDCs attempt to frame the protest along chauvinistic lines, the partys leadership is attempting to bury the economic and social disaster experienced by the Ghanaian masses facilitated by past and current governments of both the NPP and NDC parties.

A tiny layer of Ghanaian elites sits atop a society that is riven by extreme social inequality. With a population of 28 million, the majority of whom subsist on under $3 per day, there are 10 individuals at the top who hold collectively $6 billion.

Reigning over this social powder keg, the ruling elite is fearful of a social explosion that threatens its rule. To this end, on Tuesday the Ghana Police Service arrested and detained NDC deputy secretary Koku Anyidoho on a charge of treason for remarks he made during an interview on a radio show in Accra in which he opinionated that President Akufo-Addo would be overthrown through a civil revolt.

Anyidoho stated: On January 13, 1972, a certain Col. Ignatius Kutu Acheampong led a movement that removed the Progress Party from power. Busia was the Prime Minister and [President] Akufo-Addos father was a ceremonial president. Somebody should tell Nana Akufo-Addo that history has a very interesting way of repeating itself. Therell be a civil revolt.

The arrest of an opposition political figure on charges of treason for remarks made during an interview testifies not only to the fear of a large-scale uprising from the working masses, but also to the completely antidemocratic character of the ruling government.

For its part, Washington is well aware of growing opposition to its military operations on the continent. Attempting to assuage the eruption of social anger, the US Ambassador to Ghana Robert Jackson made a statement in the wake of the demonstrations, in which he portrayed the military agreement as not materially different from US agreements made with other countries.

This agreement is about bringing Ghana into deeper security cooperation. It doesnt involve a base; it doesnt endanger Ghanas security and it does not impose any harsh obligations on the government and the people of Ghana. This rather strengthens Ghanas security, Jackson stated.

The military deal between the US and Ghana comes amid escalation of AFRICOMs military offensive in West Africa, with US forces currently waging war across several countries in the region.

Last week in Libya, US forces for the first time carried out a drone strike against Al-Qaeda militants in the southern part of the country, and in Niger, the Pentagon has finished construction on a military base in Agadez, which it projects will provide AFRICOM the capability of conducting full-spectrum drone surveillance and warfare over Western and Northern Africa.

Beginning in April 2017, the Trump administration issued new rules of engagement that essentially constitute granting blanket authority to AFRICOM to wage open-ended warfare. Along with new rules of engagement, Trump authorized increased drone strikes in Somalia, as well as increased numbers of troops deployed overall across the continent.

With the expansion of its military footprint in West Africa, Washington is seeking to block Chinas growing economic influence in the region. Last June, Beijing committed to a $15 billion investment agreement with the Akufo-Addo government for the development of the countrys manufacturing sector.Last month, when approximately 700 homeless people were cleared out of a tent city along the Santa Ana riverbed in Anaheim, California, they were given temporary motel vouchers until they could be permanently relocated in neighboring cities. At the time, the plan was to eventually move everyone to new, smaller encampments in the nearby cities of Irvine, Huntington Beach and Laguna Niguel.

However, a meeting on Tuesday of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, who are responsible for the countys homeless initiative, saw protest from about 1,000 Irvine residents, and ultimately voted to terminate the plan. The board will meet with the federal judge who initially ordered the county to address the homeless situation next Tuesday.

While the long-term future of the Anaheim homeless is still uncertain, the about-face from the county will strand them for the immediate term. As motel vouchers expire, they will find themselves on the streets again, with no hint how to prepare for what comes next. If the discussions with the judge drag on, then they may be left in limbo for much longer. Pets were impounded during the initial sweep last month, with the assurance that they could be held for 90 days. If a resolution isnt reached within that time, and if anyone is unable to pick their pet up until then, then those animals may be euthanized.

Even if a plan is agreed upon quickly, there is every indication that there will be no substantial improvements for the well-being of the homeless. In fact, the homeless shelters to be constructed, as theyre referred to in the plan, have been described as essentially large tents. Moreover, some of the proposed locations are unfit for human habitation, including one site in Irvine that was previously used for chemical production.

But perhaps the biggest indictment of the plan is that it is put forward by the same politicians that presided over conditions that led to the explosion of homelessness and the development of tent cities in the first place.

The mayors of Orange County cities spoke during the meeting on Tuesday. In their comments, the main concern among them appeared to be the question of who would host the homeless. Naturally, each claimed that their city was contributing amply to alleviate their condition of the homeless and tried to shift the responsibility to their neighbors or to the state legislature and Governor Jerry Brown. The question of addressing homelessness as a social phenomenon in itself was avoided, with the issue instead approached as a game of hot potato, and the continued existence of a large homeless population taken as a given.

In a public comment section which saw testimony from protesters and homeless advocates, one advocate aptly condemned the county: Rather than taking the time to develop a well-reasoned plan to house and assist the homeless population, the supervisors have cooked up a half-baked idea to move them, like animals.

Even among the protesters present on Tuesday there appeared to be real concern for the fate of the homeless. Some speakers simply didnt want homeless in their cities, but others sympathized with the homeless, and objected to the conditions that they face. Some said that the homeless didnt need relocation, but solutions. Others spoke to the high rent in the area, or access to health services. Much was also said about how some $200 million that was earmarked for mental health issues went unused by the county as revealed in a recent state audit.

The treatment of the homeless in Anaheim can be looked at as a microcosm of the treatment of the working class as a whole. The callousness shown in dealing with the lives of homeless people is not limited to Orange County, nor is it limited to the homeless. The immediate causes of homelessness in Southern Californiahigh rent, low and stagnating wages, an ever-increasing cost of living, and so onare problems confronting workers across the US and internationally. The Department of Housing and Urban Development found at the end of last year that homelessness had increased in the US for the first time since 2009.

More generally, the ruling class has targeted the gains made by the working class over decades of struggle for cuts. The mayor of Anaheim, Tom Tait, gave PBS the excuse that there is simply no money to address the social crisis: So we could help a few families here and there, but to help the thousands that were talking about, tens of thousands, I dont see wheretheres nowhere near that kind of funding.

As is the case for the establishments excuses nationally, while claiming that there is no money for social programs, plenty has been found to funnel to the ruling class. In Anaheim, Disneyland has received a significant 30-year tax exemption for the renovation of nearby streets. Such a defense is by now quite familiar to workers around the world, who have heard the same tired lines from governors, presidents, prime ministers, and chancellors.In what is an ongoing media campaign, the New Zealand Labour Party has been embroiled for two weeks in a sexual assault scandal that has served to undermine the position of the recently elected Labour-led coalition government.

The claims of sexual assault stem from an alleged incident at a Labour Youth camp in February. According to Newsroom, which broke the story on March 12, four Young Labour memberstwo boys and two girls, all aged 16told party officials that a 20-year-old man had put his hands down the pants of at least three of them during an alcohol-fuelled social event.

The media has seized on the allegation to attack the Labour Party. With the truth far from established, a replication of the reactionary #MeToo campaign has been under way. Anonymous accusations have been leaked to media sources, without any evidence or independent corroboration, and sweeping denunciations made.

None of the young people involved has been identified by name and no witnesses have been produced. The only admission came second-hand from Labour Party secretary Andrew Kirton, who told media that the alleged offender was deeply embarrassed when confronted about the incidents the following day. My understanding from the conversation relayed back to me was that he recognised he had drunk too much and that he was embarrassed by what happened, Kirton said.

Kirton added that party officials ejected the young manlabelled the culprit in one headlinefrom the camp and banned him from Labour Youth events. However, Kirton then faced mounting calls for his own resignation, including from the trade union-funded Daily Blog, for failing to tell the police, the teens parents or Prime Minister Ardern about the alleged assault.

Police announced on March 14 that they will formally investigate the case after one of the teens contacted them. Yielding to the media onslaught, the Labour Party has now suspended all Young Labour events. Ardern and party president Nigel Haworth apologised abjectly, declaring that Labour had failed to provide a safe environment for camp attendees. Labour has also engaged a senior solicitor to conduct an independent inquiry into the incident and partys procedures.

Apart from MP Megan Woods, who received a Facebook note from one of the teenagers, news of the incident was initially confined to the party hierarchy. Officials contacted the four young people and decided on a survivor-led response. At the young peoples request, their parents were not informed. Ardern, who had opened the camp, was not told, Kirton said, for fear the alleged victims would be traumatised by more people knowing.

While criticising Labours tardiness in responding, the head of Help, a sexual abuse support organisation, said the officials had followed the correct process. Spokesperson Conor Twyford told Radio NZ it was up to the victims to tell police or parents. All four were above the age of consent. Twyford emphasised that regardless of their age, police or others should only be notified by a third party, if a person was in danger of harming themselves.

The media, however, has deliberately inflated what appears to have been a minor incident into a major national issue for political purposes. The Dominion Post declared that Labour had usurped the role of the law enforcers over what it deemed was likely criminal activity. It repeatedly described the four youth as children and insisted that the rights of parents were sacrosanct. Opposition National Party leader Simon Bridges accused Labour of a cover up.

The Labour-led coalition government, which includes the rightwing nationalist NZ First, has enjoyed a protracted media honeymoon since its formation following last Septembers election. The corporate media has glorified Ardern, fawning over her youth, gender and pregnancy. It fully backed Labours right-wing political trajectory, including Arderns support for US president Trumps threat to annihilate North Korea and threats against China.

On March 14, however, a Dominion Post editorial said it was quite extraordinary that Labour, which appeared to embrace the momentum behind the #metoo movement and the rise of young, ambitious women, should have got it all wrong. Referring to Ardern, broadcaster Duncan Garner declared: The golden glow and constant smile were never going to stretch through an alleged sex scandal involving young people and booze.

The so-called scandal is being used to push official politics further to the right. Internationally, the reactionary #MeToo movement is cynically exploiting unsubstantiated allegations of sexual misconduct to attack basic legal norms and democratic rights and promote the material interests of a privileged upper middle-class layer.

In New Zealand, the Labour Party has previously advocated legislation to undermine the presumption of innocence in rape cases. In 2016, The Daily Blog called for scrapping trial by jury, based on the reactionary slander that the population as a whole condones rape culture.

Last month Fairfax Medias Stuff website launched a #MeTooNZ investigation fronted by prominent journalist Alison Mau, to solicit stories from alleged sexual assault and harassment victims. Editorial director Mark Stevens promised that a team of journalists would produce confronting stories. This sets the stage for more trials by media based on unsubstantiated, anonymous allegations and sensationalised denunciations.

One thing is certain: the medias insistence that the gloss came off Labour in the past two weeks has nothing to do with whatever did or did not happen at the Labour Youth event. Behind the hypocritical moral outrage is a growing impatience among sections of the ruling elite with the new government. Pressure is building on Ardern to press ahead with the agenda for which she was installedto deepen the attacks on the social position of the working class and step up preparations for war.On Wednesday, a woman from Rendon, Texas was sentenced to five years in prison for voting in the 2016 election while she was on supervised release from a fraud conviction in 2011. Crystal Mason, 43, said she never would have cast a ballot had she known it was illegal.

Mason waived her right to a jury trial and allowed District Judge Ruben Gonzales to oversee her trial. During her testimony, Mason told the court that she received a provisional ballot when going to vote at her usual polling station. She said her name was not on the voter roll.

Gonzales asked Mason why she didnt fully read the documents given to her at the time, inferring that the provisional ballot would have informed her she was not allowed to vote. The form you are required to sign to get the provisional ballot is called an affidavit, Gonzales told Mason. Theres a legal connotation to that, right? Gonzales asked.

Mason responded that she was never told she wasnt allowed to vote while serving her sentence, probation included. The federal court, her probation officer, US District Judge John McBryde (the judge who presided over her fraud case), and the electoral workers all failed to inform Mason of her ineligibility, she said.

Mason was subsequently told by Tarrant County prosecutor Matt Smid that she had jeopardized her freedom in connection with her 2011 admission of violating tax laws.

I inflated returns, Mason said. I was trying to get more money back for my clients. I admitted that. I owned up to that. I took accountability for that. I would never do that again. I was happy enough to come home and see my daughter graduate. My son is about to graduate. Why would I jeopardize that? Not to vote I didnt even want to go vote.

Mason said she went to vote only after being encouraged by her mother to do so and repeatedly stated that she wouldnt have voted if she had known it would threaten her freedom.

J. Warren St. John, Masons defense attorney, said an appeal was filed after the verdict and hoped his client would be released on bond.

I find it amazing that the government feels she made this up, St. John told the court. She was never told that she couldnt vote, and she voted in good faith. Why would she risk going back to prison for something that is not going to change her life?

This case can only be seen as an attempt to intimidate workers and poor people from voting. There is a long history of voter suppression in the United States.

Between 1890 and 1910, many Southern states adopted new laws or reconfigured pre-existing laws to obstruct newly enfranchised black citizens whose rights had been expanded by both the 14th and 15th Amendments. Laws such as these were overturned with the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

However, efforts to restrain voting redoubled after the 2000 election, in which the US Supreme Court intervened to close down a vote recount in Florida and hand the presidential election to Republican George W. Bush, who had lost the popular vote to the Democratic candidate, Vice President Al Gore.

The stolen election of 2000 was followed by a drive by state governments, mainly Republican-controlled, to discourage poor and working class voters from going to the polls through the enactment of voter ID laws, restrictions on early and absentee voting and other reactionary measures. The Democrats, who were impacted electorally by such laws, never mounted serious opposition to the campaign of voter suppression. They themselves worked to exclude third party and independent candidates from the ballot when it served their electoral aims.

In 2002, President Bush signed into law the Help America Vote Act, which required all first-time voters in federal elections to show photo or non-photo ID upon either registration or arrival at the polling place. In 2005, the Commission on Federal Election Reform made a bipartisan recommendation for voter identification at the polls.

In 2013, the US Supreme Court in Shelby v. Holder struck down Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which required states with a history of voter discrimination to receive clearance from the federal government before amending voting laws. This encouraged the proliferation of state voter ID laws and other anti-democratic measures. In total, 33 states currently have some form of voter identification law, varying in strictness.

In 2017, US District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos struck down a Texas law that required voters to present a form of identification at the polls. In her ruling, Gonzales Ramos wrote that changes made to the law did not fully ameliorate practices that were enacted with discriminatory intentknowingly placing additional burdens on a disproportionate number of Hispanic and African-American voters.

Only 15 of the 50 US states allow felons to vote once they have been released from incarceration. Twenty-nine states, including Texas, restore voting rights only after the convicted person has fully served out his or her sentence, including parole. The remaining states deny felons, including those who have fully served their sentence, the right to vote.

Project Vote estimates that some 5.8 million people are not able to vote because of laws that temporarily or permanently ban people convicted of felonies from voting. According to a 2016 report by the Sentencing Project, more than 6 million felons in the United States and nearly 500,000 in Texas were ineligible to vote in 2016.Buona Pasqua!

Happy Easter!

On my first Easter in Rome in the Jubilee year of 2000, I joined the throngs jammed into the massive piazza of St. Peters basilica. Pope John Paul II, bent with age, extended Easter greetings in dozens of languages, including Italian. Buona Pasqua! the Roman family next to me shouted in return.

The word pasqua dates back to 1342, when it appeared in a reference to the feast commemorating the Jews liberation from Egyptian slavery. Lamb or "paschal" blood marked the doors of Hebrew families exiled in Egypt and spared their first-born sons. Somewhere in time Pasqua became synonymous with the Christian celebration of Easter.

On Easter morning, sunrise services throughout Italy celebrate the joy of the resurrection of Christ. Then, with equal exuberance, Italians end forty days of fasting during Quaresima (Lent) with food -- and friends.

"Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi" (Christmas with your family, Easter with whomever you want), according to a popular saying. The traditional main dish for Easter dinner is agnello al forno (roasted baby lamb) or capretto (baby goat). Romes specialty is abbacchio, a suckling lamb no more than a month or so old. Because it has ingested only its mothers milk, its meat is especially tender.

Pasta matta (crazy dough) encases torta Pasqualina (Easter cake), a savory pie from Piedmont and Liguria with whole eggs baked inside.

Italys traditional Easter dessert is Colomba cake, a sweet, eggy, yeasted bread topped with sugared and sliced almonds. Commercial bakers shape this confection into a colomba (dove), the symbol of peace and renewal, but home bakers usually do an oval approximation.

Ive tried (without success) to explain the popular American Easter symbols of bunny rabbits and hard-boiled eggs to Italian friends. In Italy uova di Pasqua (Easter eggs) come only in chocolate. Festive displays decorate coffee bars, pastry shops, supermarkets and confectioneries in the weeks before Easter, with some mammoth eggs weighing in at nearly 18 pounds.

Although most commercial eggs contain a childs toy or trinket, Easter eggs arent just for the kids (bimbi) in Italy. In the 15th century nobles encased works of art and other extravagances in enormous chocolate eggs.

The very best modern eggs are still handmade by a cioccolataio, an artisan of chocolate, who will insert a surprise supplied by the purchaser. Inside a customized egg a lucky recipient may find jewelry, a watch, car keysor an engagement ring. This in itself may explain why felice come una Pasqua (literally happy as an Easter) translates into happy as can be.

Words and Expressions

Vigilia di Pasqua -- Easter eve

Il coniglietto -- bunny rabbit

L'agnello pasquale -- the Easter lamb

Colomba di Pasqua -- Easter cake

Dianne Hales is author of MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.Democrats in Congress are demanding that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt disclose details about his 2017 use of a Capitol Hill home tied to a top energy lobbyist.

U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat called on Pruitt to immediately make clear the terms of his housing agreement and publish all correspondence with the veteran lobbyist whose wife co-owns townhouse.

ABC News reported Thursday that Pruitt lived in a townhouse that is near from the U.S. Capitol complex for much of his first year in Washington, property records from 2017 show.

The lobbyist J. Steven Hart, would not disclose how much Pruitt paid to live there and the EPA did not respond to requests for comment. Hart's wife, Vicki, co-owns the property. Reached late Thursday, she declined to comment.

A source familiar with the arrangement said Pruitt rented a single bedroom in an upstairs condo unit while he searched for a permanent residence. He rented the unit from early 2017 until August. No one else occupied the units other bedrooms, the source said.

Hart is the chairman of lobbying firm Williams and Jensen that lobbies on EPA policies like the Clean Air Act, according to its website. The firm also lobbied on issues related to the export of liquefied natural gas and represented Cheniere Energy Inc., which owned the only active Liquid Natural Gas export plant in the United States at the time.

Pruitt traveled to Morocco last December and the EPA said in a press release that liquid natural gas exports a topic of discussion during that trip.

PHOTO: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, right, meets with Moroccan Minister of Energy, Mines and Sustainable Development, Aziz Rabbah during a trip to Morocco in December of 2017. (Environmental Protection Agency)

Cheniere Energy spokeswoman Rachel Carmichel told ABC News the company ended its relationship with Harts firm in December 2017. The spokeswoman went on to say Cheniere was and said the company was unaware of the relationship and had not used Harts firm to have conversations with the EPA.

The EPA did not respond to ABC News' questions about whether Hart's lobbying firm had any involvement in arranging meetings during Pruitt's trip to Morocco.

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Multiple Republican members of Congress also did not return ABC News' requests for comment about the revelations, including Sen. John Barrasso, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Barrasso is from Wyoming and led Pruitt on a coal mine tour Thursday with fellow Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi.

Happy to welcome @EPAScottPruitt to Wyoming coal country. pic.twitter.com/X2NFiCjNqa  Sen. John Barrasso (@SenJohnBarrasso) March 29, 2018

WY has been blessed w/tremendous natural resources that help power America & today we saw that firsthand at Black Thunder. @EPA is committed to working w/our energy producers as partners to protect the environment & provide affordable energy to Americans. https://t.co/DvuMGiS1af pic.twitter.com/zsFSDe9dZZ  Administrator Pruitt (@EPAScottPruitt) March 29, 2018

But Democrats on the key congressional committees that oversee the EPA expressed outrage over the undisclosed arrangement.

Administrator Pruitt should reveal the rental agreement so we can see if he received any preferential treatment, as well as his meeting schedules and itineraries because he has been the most secretive Administrator at the EPA that weve ever had, said U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M.

PHOTO: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, right, meets with Moroccan Minister of Energy, Mines and Sustainable Development, Aziz Rabbah during a trip to Morocco in December of 2017. (Environmental Protection Agency)

Unfortunately, this seems to be another example in a concerning pattern with Mr. Pruitt, said U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Democrats from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over EPA, tweeted about the ABC News report and some Democratic members tweeted about the housing arrangement using the hashtag #BootPruitt, which is part of a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/environmental-groups-launch-ads-fox-friends-boot-pruitt/story?id=54071248" target="_blank">coordinated campaign against the administrator launched by several environmental groups this week.

Has #PollutingPruitt ever seen a potential conflict of interest that he didnt want to exploit? Its no wonder he prefers secrecy to transparency. https://t.co/gHIY8sMYjt  Energy Commerce Dems (@EnergyCommerce) March 29, 2018

That effort includes groups like the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, and League of Conservation Voters, who argue that Pruitt's decisions benefit the oil and gas industries.

"The Administrator of the EPA should stand up to corporate polluters, not live in their homes while pushing their agenda at every turn," Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said in a statement.

The head of the nonprofit watchdog group the Environmental Integrity Project and former EPA Director of Civil Enforcement Eric Shaffer called on the EPA's inspector general and Congress to look into the issue.

Does this explain why Pruitt flew to Morocco to pitch natural gas exports, which isnt really an EPA concern? Schaeffer wrote in a statement.

The EPA inspector general's office is aware of the report, according to spokesman Jeff Lagda.

The agency's inspector general is already looking into the cost of Pruitt's travel and whether the agency followed all proper procedures.

The EPA previously confirmed that Pruitt often flies first or business class, citing security reasons, but he later told CBS News that he has asked his staff to revisit that policy. That report is expected to be made public later this year, as well as an audit into the cost of Pruitt's personal security detail.

ABC News' Katherine Faulders and Ali Dukakis contributed to this report.The two Washington mothers who drove off a Northern California cliff with at least three of their six adopted children in the vehicle on Monday were reportedly being investigated for child abuse before the fatal crash.

The California Highway Patrol said it recovered the bodies of partners Sarah and Jennifer Hart, both 38 years old, and three of their six adopted children, Markis, 19, Jeremiah, 14, and Abigail, 14.

Three of the Hart children, Hannah, 16, Sierra, 12, and 15-year-old Devonte, who was captured in a viral photo hugging a police officer during a Black Lives Matter protest in 2014, are all still missing.

Although authorities maintain that they have no evidence the couple deliberately drove their SUV off the seaside highway, they also noted that they didn't find skid marks on the portion of the road where the vehicle went over.



Photo: Facebook

According to the Oregonian, neighbors of the Harts had recently called Child Protective Services after Devonte repeatedly showed up at their house claiming his parents were "punishing them by withholding food" and begging them for something to eat.

Neighbor Dana DeKalb told KGW that when a social worker showed up to investigate on Friday, the Harts refused to answer the door. Hours later, DeKalb claims the family disappeared.

"The next morning when we saw that the vehicle was gone, and then Sunday morning when it still wasn't there, we figured something was off," Bruce DeKalb, Dana's husband, told KGW.

The DeKalbs also told the station that one of the Harts' adopted daughters rang their doorbell at 1:30 a.m. one day last year claiming her moms were abusing her.

"She was at our door in a blanket saying we needed to protect her," Bruce DeKalb said. "She said that they were abusing her."

Sarah Hart had also been accused of child abuse eight years ago when her family was living in Minnesota, according to KATU.

According to a criminal complaint attained by the station, the couple's 6-year-old adopted daughter told her teacher she had "owies on her tummy," and when the teacher lifted her shirt to check, she saw the child had scattered bruises on her stomach and back.

Sarah told investigators at the time that she "let her anger get out of control the previous day," admitting that she took the child into the bathroom and bent her over the edge of the bathtub, hitting her over the backside. She was given a three-month suspended jail sentence and a year of probation over the incident.Throughout the first three weeks of March, the city of Austin was plagued with a series of bombings. The attacks came to an end on March 21st when the suspect, Mark Anthony Conditt, detonated a bomb inside his car, killing himself. But the conversation about what happened in Texas is not over. Today, March 29th, Austin police chief Brian Manley condemned the Austin bombings as domestic terrorism.

In a panel discussion this morning, Manley discussed the way the attacks had been treated in the media and by the police. According to the Austin American-Statesman, Manley said that when he reflected on the case, Conditt was a domestic terrorist for what he did to us. The police chief then said that he had avoided the term terrorism during the case out of caution, since it the attacks would eventually be tried in court.

The Austin Police Departments reluctance to refer to the bomber as a terrorist drew criticism after Conditt  a white man  was identified. The media was also condemned for describing Conditt as a troubled young man. Chase Moore, the leader of the Austin Justice Coalition criticized this depiction in an interview with the Statesman, saying that Conditt was given the benefit of the doubt because he was white.

BREAKING- @Austin_Police @chief_manley now calling the string of bombings in the city domestic terrorism. During a panel discussion Thursday morning hosted by Austins NPR station, Manley said that hes now very comfortable calling the bomber, a terrorist. H/t @cnntina  Nick Valencia (@CNNValencia) March 29, 2018

Manleys decision to call Conditt a terrorist is a critical step forward.

Federal law defines domestic terrorism as violent criminal attacks that are intended to intimidate or coerce either citizens or the government. But the reality is that, despite this broad definition, politicians and the media typically only use the word terrorism if an attacker is Muslim. Erin Kearns, assistant professor of criminology at Georgia State University, told NPR that Muslims are much more likely to be called terrorists than perpetrators who belong to other ideologies. When white men are the attackers, such as in the case of the Las Vegas shooting on Halloween, they are described as lone wolves or mentally ill (which only further stigmatizes people with diagnosed mental illnesses).

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63% of mass killers since 1983 look like Mark Anthony Conditt, the Austin Serial Bomber: White, male, and citizens.



Redefine Terrorism.  Khaled Beydoun (@KhaledBeydoun) March 21, 2018

Section 802 of the USA PATRIOT Act extended the definition of what constitutes domestic terrorism. #AustinBombings pic.twitter.com/0CMC3iN8sI  James LaPorta (@JimLaPorta) March 21, 2018

While Conditts motive in the Austin bombings remains unknown, he did intimidate the citizens of Austin, and for that reason, many argue, calling these bombings terrorism is appropriate and necessary. We commend Manley for his decision to use this term and we hope that, in the future, we can see acts of domestic terrorism for what they really are.Advertisers are abandoning a Fox News programme in droves after host Laura Ingraham mocked a Parkland school shooting survivor over his rejection from college.

A wave of companies announced they were pulling ads from the Ingraham Angle after Ms Ingraham tweeted that shooting survivor David Hogg was dinged by the University of California Los Angeles, where he applied and was rejected.

Totally predictable given acceptance rates, she added.

Mr Hogg was one of the students inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when a lone gunman opened fire last month, killing 17 students and staff members. He and several of his classmates have become outspoken advocates for gun control in the wake of the shooting.

The teen fired back at Ms Ingraham's missive, tweeting out the names of companies that advertise on her show and asking his nearly 600,000 Twitter followers to call them and complain.

Ms Ingraham eventually apologised, but the damage was done: Within 24 hours of Mr Hoggs tweet, at least six companies had pulled advertising from the show. More companies announced similar plans in the hours following.

Below is a running list of all the companies that have announced plans to stop advertising with Ms Ingraham.

David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA...totally predictable given acceptance rates.) https://t.co/wflA4hWHXY  Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 28, 2018

Nutrish

The pet food company was the first to announce it would pull ads from Ms Ingrahams show. The company responded to Mr Hoggs tweet on the matter, writing simply: We are in the process of removing our ads from Laura Ingrahams programme.

The company was one of the show's top advertisers, having run ads five times in the 10 days before Ms Ingraham's tweet, according to an analysis from Media Matters.

Story continues

Nutrish did not respond to The Independents request for additional comment.

TripAdvisor

The travel review company was second out of the starting gate, saying in a statement that they had "made a decision to stop advertising on [Ms Ingrahams programme].

We believe strongly in the values of our company, especially the one that says, We are better together, the company said. We also believe Americans can disagree while still being agreeable, and that the free exchange of ideas within a community, in a peaceful manner, is the cornerstone of our democracy.

The statement continued: We do not, however, condone the inappropriate comments made by this broadcaster. In our view, these statements focused on a high school student, cross the line of decency.

WayFair

The home goods company was the third to announce they would be pulling ads from the programme.

As a company, we support open dialogue and debate on issues, the company said in a statement. However, the decision of an adult to personally criticise a high school student who has lost his classmates in an unspeakable tragedy is not consistent with our values.

Hulu

The popular video streaming service also responded to Mr Hoggs tweet, writing: Wed like to confirm that we are no longer advertising on Laura Ingrahams show and are monitoring all of our ad placements carefully.

Hulu did not respond to a request for additional comment.

Stitch Fix

A spokesperson for Stitch Fix, an online personal shopping service, confirmed that the company would no longer be advertising on Ms Ingraham's show.

Jenny Craig

The weight loss company has decided to take steps to discontinue advertising on [Ms Ingrahams] show, a spokesperson said.

The company was another top advertiser, running advertisements on the show five times in the days before Ms Ingraham's tweet.

Stelara

A spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson, which produces the arthritis treatment drug Stelara, said the company had pulled advertising from Ms Ingrahams show.

Stelara also advertised on the show five times in the 10 days before the tweet.

Nestle

A spokesperson for the international food and drink giant said the company had no plans to buy ads on the show in the future.

Expedia

A representative for the travel company told the New York Times it had recently pulled advertising from the show, but declined to say when. A spokesperson told The Independent the company would not comment on such matters.

The Independent has reached out to dozens of other companies that advertise on Ms Ingraham's programme, including Liberty Mutual, AT&T, and Bayer pharmaceuticals. We will update if they respond.Sukhoi Su-33 launching from the Admiral Kuznetsov. Wikimedia Commons

Charlie Gao

Security, Eurasia

Or, rather, what planes it could use to fire these super weapons from.

How Russia Plans to Wage a 'Hypersonic' War

When Russia first demonstrated the Kinzhal hypersonic missile, it was mounted on a variant of the MiG-31 interceptor, the MiG-31K. The high speed and altitude of the MiG are utilized to give the Kinzhal a significant energy boost to allow it to attain its extreme speed and range.

But on July 2, 2018, Russia media outlet TASS reported that the Kinzhal was also tested on the Tu-22M3 bomber. This is notable news as while these bombers can fly high and fast, they are not as high performance as the MiG-31K. Its rumored that the Tu-22M3 could carry as many as four Kinzhals on a single sortie.

This could mean that the Kinzhal could be integrated onto many other airframes used by Russia, which could have worrying implications for NATO air defenses and air forces. If a Kinzhal could be launched from practically any strike fighter, including those that could take off and land on short runways, many more targets could be within its reach.

One of the strike fighters that almost definitely could field the Kinzhal is Russian Naval Aviations Su-33. The Su-33 is the primary aircraft used on the Admiral Kuznetsov, the Russian Navys only aircraft carrier. As such, the Su-33 is rated to carry a variety of anti-ship missiles.

This includes the Kh-41, a navalized version of the P-270 Moskit, a ramjet powered supersonic anti-ship missile. With a launch weight of around 4500 kilograms and a length of almost ten meters, the Kh-41 is actually longer and heavier than the reported weights of the Kinzhal. With some modernization, the Su-33s airframe would probably be Kinzhal capable with minor adaptation.

The flight profile of the Su-33 also compares favorably to the Tu-22M3, with a higher service ceiling and top speed. While the Su-33 has a shorter range, the long range of the Kinzhal compared to the P-270 Moskit or any other ALCM the Su-33 could potentially carry.

Story continues

What allows the Su-33 to carry the Kh-41 is the centreline weapons station between the two engines. On the original Su-27S design, the space between the two engines was used to carry two R-27 air-to-air missiles. The role of this space was expanded on in later multirole variants of the Su-27 which used it to carry large missiles.

The Su-34 is another plane that would likely be used to carry the Kinzhal. Like the Su-33, its rated to carry the Kh-41. Assuming the electronics on the Kinzhal are similar to other Russian air-launched cruise missiles (ALCM), the Su-34 likely has the most of the avionics required to launch it, as the Su-34 can launch versions of the Kh-55 and Kh-SD subsonic ALCM.

Other variants of the Su-27 including the Su-30SM (which also features the canards seen on the Su-33 that allows it to have increased lift, marginally improving performance under load) could potentially carry the Kinzhal, although its unsure whether their centerpoint stations are rated for the heavy Kinzhal missile.

The Tu-160 could probably also carry the Kinzhal, however, it probably would require a significant refit of the internal weapon carriage. As the Tu-160 carries a rotating launcher for Kh-55 and Kh-10(X) type missiles, a full six pack of these missiles weighs far more than a single Kinzhal.

However as the diameter of the Kh-55s and Kh-101s are smaller than the Kinzhal, the rotating launchers would probably have to be removed for Kinzhals to be able to be carried internally. Given that there are two of these launchers on the Tu-160, this would allow for two (or more!) Kinzhals to be carried internally.

Similarly, the Tu-95MSM could likely physically carry Kinzhals on its external pylons. The wing weapon stations on the Tu-95MSM are rated to carry two Kh-101s, which weigh around 2300 kilograms each. As the Kinzhal weighs less than two Kh-101s, four Kinzhals could be carried on the Tu-95MSM.

The problem with this configuration would be the low speed of the Tu-95MSM. Little is known about how the Kinzhal attains its extreme speeds, but every airplane listed before has been capable of going supersonic. As such, the Kinzhal probably would not work or would lose its hypersonic characteristic or a significant portion of its range if fired from such a platform.

Other planes that see significant use with the RuAF that probably cannot fire the Kinzhal are the Su-25 attacker, Su-24 bomber/reconnaissance aircraft, MiG-29, and Yak-130. From these, all lack hardpoints capable of carrying the weight of the Kinzhal. The MiG-29 while it resembles the Su-27, lacks the centerline station between the engines as the engines are put closer together and the airframe is far lighter. The Yak-130 and Su-25 are subsonic and face similar problems to the Tu-95 when it comes to the carriage of the Kinzhal.

Looking to the future, the Su-57 (PAK FA) has the aerodynamic characteristics that would enable it to carry the Kinzhal: a high Mach max speed and flight ceiling. However, from the design, it looks like it lacks an internal bay large enough to carry the missile. Carrying the Kinzhal would likely compromise the stealth characteristics of the Su-57.

Charlie Gao studied political and computer science at Grinnell College and is a frequent commentator on defense and national-security issues.

Image: Sukhoi Su-33 launching from the Admiral Kuznetsov. Wikimedia Commons

Read full articleCast members of the revived "Roseanne" have reason to be happy. (Photo: Lorenzo Bevilaqua via Getty Images)

Its first revival season just barely started, but Roseanne has already been confirmed for a second, ABC announced Friday.

Comedian Roseanne Barrs show about a struggling Midwest working-class family, which was a huge hit during its original 1988-1997 run, is undeniably a hit again. Roseanne made a splash on its return ratings-wise, reaching about 18.2 million viewers on Tuesday night  the highest rated comedy telecast in three and a half years, according to Deadline.

I just got the call-thank u ABC! Thank you, Roseanne Show family (including fans)

B'aruch Hashem. #DAYENU  Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) March 30, 2018

The show has also made headlines on the politics front, with its protagonist Roseanne Conner turning out to be a Trump supporter, just like Barr herself.

The New York Times asked Barr why she chose to make politics a part of the story. I just wanted to have that dialogue about families torn apart by the election and their political differences of opinion and how we handle it, she said. I thought that this was an important thing to say at this time.

President Donald Trump reportedly called Barr on Wednesday to congratulate her on the shows success.

Roseanne airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Also on HuffPost

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.By Brendan O'Brien

(Reuters) - U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt has died after a 37-year career as a liberal icon on the bench during which he struck down Californias same-sex marriage ban and called President Donald Trump's immigration policy inhumane.

Reinhardt, 87, died on Thursday of a heart attack while visiting his dermatologist, the United States Ninth Circuit said in a brief statement on its website.

"He was deeply principled, fiercely passionate about the law and fearless in his decisions. He will be remembered as one of the giants of the federal bench. He had a great life that ended much too soon," said Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Sidney Thomas.

Reinhardt was nominated in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. Known as the "liberal lion," Reinhardt recently wrote the opinion striking down Californias same-sex marriage ban and an opinion on Trump's immigration policy.

President Trump has been critical of the federal appeals court based in San Francisco that has ruled against his policies involving his travel ban and sanctuary cities.

"First the Ninth Circuit rules against the ban & now it hits again on sanctuary cities-both ridiculous rulings. See you in the Supreme Court!," he tweeted on April 26, 2017.

Reinhardt once voted to declare the "Pledge of Allegiance" unconstitutional, a ruling that was overturned. He also ruled that overcrowding in California's prisons was unconstitutional.

Many of his rulings favored defendants facing criminal charges, minorities and immigrants and were eventually overturned by the more conservative Supreme Court, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Asked once if he was upset with the Supreme Court, Reinhardt responded "not in the slightest!," the paper reported. "If they want to take away rights, that's their privilege. But I'm not going to help them do it," he said.

Reinhardt was born in 1931 in New York City. He earned a bachelors degree from Pomona College a degree from Yale Law School in 1954. He served in the U.S. Air Force until 1956 and then went into private practice in Los Angeles until 1980.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)Guatemala City (AFP) - Troops in Guatemala withdrew from patrolling the country's streets Saturday, after 18 years of supporting the police in the fight against crime.

"This Saturday is the last day that the army will support the police. From Sunday, soldiers have to return to their brigades," an interior ministry source who requested anonymity told AFP.

Around 4,200 soldiers were posted to support security efforts, withdrawing gradually over the past year. Some 2000 currently remain, the official said.

The military worked with the police in five of the country's 22 departments and in those with high crime rates, like Guatemala Department where the capital is located.

Earlier this month defense minister Luis Ralda announced troops would stand down. Ministry spokesman Colonel Oscar Perez told Guatemala's state news agency Saturday the country's national security council established the interior ministry and police were capable of taking over.

Perez added the army will focus on border security and combatting drug, arms and human trafficking.

The army was deployed to the streets in 2000 under then president Alfonso Portillo, who cited the country's murder rate of 6,000 people per year as justification. That figure dropped to 4,500 last year.

The deployment triggered controversy over accusations against the military of crimes against humanity carried out during the civil war (1960-1996).

Some 200,000 people died or were made to disappear during the long, brutal conflict, according to the United Nations.

A December 1996 peace agreement took them off the streets, making way for civil police forces, and charged the military with overseeing border security and protecting sovereignty.Just ahead of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination, an Italian artist has paid tribute to the civil rights icon with a massive portrait of his face in a field using a tractor.

Artist Dario Gambarin recently used his plowing skills to make a portrait of King in a field in Castognaro, outside the Italian city of Verona.

Gambarin also added the phrase, "I Had a Dream"  a take on Kings famous speech  around the portrait, which took him seven hours to craft.

"I wanted to turn to the past the famous statement of Martin Luther Kings 'I Have a Dream' to mean that much has been done but there is still a long way to go," Gambarin said in a statement.

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

As an artist, Gambarin is known for manipulating famous phrases, or as he calls it, "a revolt on the language." He added that he does this because it "induces a profound reflection on the many transformations that everyone today are living."

The artist also says he lives by Kings famous quote, "Human salvation lies in the hands of unsatisfied creatives."

"I always loved [King] and his words," he told InsideEdition.com. "He was a man of peace and it doesn't matter if you are American or Italian, his words are universal. He was like Nelson Mandela. He was the champion of an important cause and that is why he is an icon."

He added: "He had done so much before his assassination and the world changed so much after his assassination but there is still much more we need to do."

The portrait measures just over 120 meters long (over 393 feet) and each letter was 105 meters long (over 344 feet). The total size of the work was 280 meters long (over 918 feet).This isnt the first time Gambarin has dabbled into land art.

Last year, he created a portrait of Kim Jong Un last year and wrote the word Danger under his face. He also crafted a portrait of Russian strongman Vladimir Putin ahead of the 2017 G20 Summit.

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Gambarin has also plowed a likeness of Donald Trump into his field, as well as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Mandela.

He told InsideEdition.com he started the hobby a decade ago for a "new challenge" and wanted to use "natural resources" to make his art and "be outside more."

Gambarin is also a world-renowned painter who has had his work displayed in Italy, Turkey, Germany and America.

Click here to see more of his work.

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Related Articles:The worlds most advanced litter-picker will be launched into space next week to clean up floating debris which is threatening satellites and the International Space Station (ISS).

Surrey University has designed a spacecraft which can grab space junk then pull it into Earths atmosphere where it is burned up.

The little craft, named RemoveDebris, is due to launch from the Kennedy Space Centre on Monday, on board one of Elon Musks SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets.

The RemoveDebris spacecraft deploying its net Credit: University of Surrey

The spaceship will dock at the ISS first and then deploy on its own on a test mission to snare a small satellite using a harpoon and net.

It is estimated that there are more than 7,600 tonnes of space junk in and around Earths orbit - with some moving faster than a speeding bullet, approaching speeds of 30,000 miles per hour, which are a huge threat to satellites and space stations.

In 2016 a small piece of debris chipped a window on the International Space Station.

The spaceship will eventually drop into Earth's atmosphere and burn up Credit: University of Surrey

Professor Guglielmo Aglietti, Director of the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey, said: It is important to remember that a few significant collisions have already happened.

Therefore, to maintain the safety of current and future space assets, the issue of the control and reduction of the space debris has to be addressed.

We believe the technologies we will be demonstrating with RemoveDebris could provide feasible answers to the space junk problem - answers that could be used on future space missions in the very near future.

The mission, which has been designed and manufactured by a consortium of leading space companies led by the University of Surrey and funded by the European Commission, is the first concrete attempt to clean up space junk currently orbiting Earth.

The tiny spaceship will perform two experiments to deploy and then capture a small cubesat satellite, first using a net, and then using a harpoon.

The spacecraft will then deploy a large dragsail to allow it to fall out of orbit, where it will burn up as it enters Earths atmosphere.

Story continues

There are tens of thousands of pieces of dangerous space junk circling the Earth

Since 1957, more than 5250 launches have led to tens of thousands of tracked objects in orbit around Earth.

But only about 1200 are working satellites  the rest are debris and no longer serve any useful purpose.

Many derelict craft have exploded or broken up, generating an estimated 750,000 pieces larger than 1 cm and a staggering 166 million larger than 1 mm.

Science Minister, Sam Gyimah, said: Space debris is a growing concern so its great to see a British university and our innovative space sector leading the way in the search for solutions.

It is also a fantastic example of the unique expertise found in the UKs growing space sector and the value that it adds to international projects.

The UK Space Agency continues to work closely with industry to develop new technologies and infrastructure to grow our share of the global space market as part of our modern Industrial Strategy.

The harpoon and net have been designed by Airbus UK.

How it works | RemoveDEBRIS

Aurelien Pisseloup, Space Engineer at Airbus, said: "Airbus has been investing in new technologies for space debris removal in co-operation with space agencies and institutes.

Contributing to this exciting mission with our expertise and concretely with our harpoon, net experiments and vision based navigation (VBN) moves the international space community one big step forward in tackling space debris."

The Euroepan Space Agency is currently developing a Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme to monitor the debris and has called on the worlds space agencies to try to keep Earths orbital environment as clean as possible.Stephon Clark, the 22-year-old father of two who was unarmed when he was fatally shot by police in California earlier this month, was hit eight times, an independent autopsy shows.

On March 18, two Sacramento Police Department officers responded to reports of someone smashing car windows in Clarks neighborhood. At approximately 9:30 p.m., they opened fire on Clark outside his home, shooting at him 20 times.

Lawyers for Clarks family held a press conference Friday to announce the findings of a private autopsy.

Dr. Bennet Omalu, who conducted the three-hour autopsy, told reporters that Clark was struck eight times. Six of the bullets hit Clark directly in the back, with a seventh hitting him in the side of his back, Omalu said.

You could reasonably conclude that he received seven gunshot wounds from his back, Omalu said. An eighth bullet hit Clark in the arm.

Clark did not die immediately, Omalu said.

Death took three to 10 minutes, Omalu estimated. It was not an instantaneous death.

The SPD said in a statement that it has not yet received an official autopsy report from the Sacramento County Coroners Officer so could not comment.

Stephon Clark, 22, was killed by police March 18. (Photo: Facebook)

Police said they fired 20 rounds as Clark advanced on them with an object in his hand.

Gun! Gun, gun, gun! one officer shouted in police bodycam footage that the department released last week. Both officers can be seen unleashing a hail of gunfire on the unarmed man. Clark had no gun, only a cellphone.

Another video from the police helicopter that was following Clark the night of his killing shows thermal images of Clark hopping over fences and running from police as they pursue him. Moments later, his body crumples to the ground.

I want people to know all he cared about  more than anything else in life  was his children, the victims brother, 25-year-old Stevante Clark, told HuffPost shortly after the killing. His children meant most to him.

On Thursday, hundreds of mourners gathered in Californias capital to honor Clark. His funeral that morning was open to the public and notable figures, like Rev. Al Sharpton, were present.

Story continues

We will never let you forget the name of Stephon Clark until we get justice, Sharpton said during the funeral. Because this brother could be any one of us.

On Friday, the family of Stephon Clark announced they plan to file a federal lawsuit over his death.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

Related...

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Also on HuffPost

A California Highway Patrol officer is confronted by a Black Lives Matter protester during a demonstration Thursday in Sacramento, California.

Protesters chanted outside of City Hall.

A young girl wears a shirt with an image of Stephon Clark.

Veronica Curry, front with hoop earrings, raises her fist with other Black Lives Matter supporters.

A protester holds a photo of Stephon Clark during a Black Lives Matter demonstration outside of Sacramento City Hall.

A protester carries an umbrella as he marches during a protest of the police shooting of Stephon Clark.

Black Lives Matter protesters stage a demonstration outside of Sacramento City Hall.

A Black Lives Matter protesters run onto Interstate 5.

A Black Lives Matter protester holds a sign as he marches on Interstate 5.

Protesters stand on a California Highway Patrol car on Interstate 5.

A young girl holds a Black Lives Matter sign in front of Sacramento police officers on horseback.

Black Lives Matter protesters block Interstate 5 during a demonstration.

Protesters hold signs as they march on Interstate 5.

Protesters chant as they block the entrance to the Golden 1 Center.

Black Live Matter protesters hold their fists in the air as they block the entrance to the Golden 1 Center.

Black Live Matter protesters chant as they block the entrance to the Golden 1 Center.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Bill Ware, like a lot of children growing up in North Carolina in the 1960s, bonded with his father while shooting a rifle. He was 7 or 8 years old when his father, W. Reid Ware, introduced him to firearms.

He thoughtmany men of that era thought'What the hell am I gonna do with this kid? I know, Ill get out the .22,' said the now 59-year-old, a long-haul truck driver living in Spartanburg, South Carolina, with his wife, Debby Ware. Debby, too, has childhood memories of shooting, her father holding on to her so the blast wouldn't rock her backward.

To this day, my wife and I go to the range, and very often the conversation will come back to ... wouldnt it be fun if Dad were still here?" Bill said, his voice choked with emotion. "Were still bonding with them. Those people have been gone for 20 years, and were still bonding with them in a powerful way.

Trending: Most Young Americans Think Trump Is Mentally Unfit To Be President, Poll Shows

When Ware was about 13, his father bought him his first gun, a Savage Model 24D .22/.410 combo rifle. Later, he would become the captain of his high schools rifle team.

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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

This was the NRA to me, the NRA that supported the BB gun program, the .22 camp, the rifle camp, he said. I owe so much to the NRA of that time.

But Ware no longer recognizes that sportsmanship in todays NRA, he told Newsweek.

The NRA is a rabid dog. It is a rogue outfit, Ware said. Whatever its purposes are, they are not mine. They do not speak for me.

As the number of children killed due to gun violence increases, poll after poll shows increasing support for stricter gun legislation among the general American public and the countrys estimated 55 million gun owners specifically. A Quinnipiac poll conducted in the days after February's Parkland, Florida, school shootingarguably a watershed moment in the movement to end gun violenceshowed 97 percent of surveyed gun owners support universal background checks for gun purchases.

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Despite those numbers, the National Rifle Association continues to oppose such legislation, arguing that gun controls punish law-abiding citizens and infringe on their civil rights. "The logic of gun control, however, demands that the innocent must be punished for crimes they didnt commit," the NRA's lobbying wing, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, said in a March 9 statement.

A question remains. If gun owners across the country like Bill Ware no longer identify with the organization, and polls show that they increasingly support gun control measures, who is the gun rights group fighting for?

NRA Membership: Perhaps Not As Stout As It Reports

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JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Queries about the NRAs membership have dogged the gun group for years, but they aren't merely academic or trivial. The gun rights organization is one of the most influential nonprofits in the United States, because of both its prolific spending and its core base of gun rights activists.

Many gun violence prevention advocates say the NRAs base is a motivated and politically active bloc that the gun group uses to intimidate and cow politicians. That force, coupled with its spending power, is a combination that for years has been credited with muzzling lawmakers on gun control and suppressing stricter legislation.

The gun group boasts a membership of 5 million peoplemore or less. It doesnt regularly report its membership numbers or allow an outside party to verify its public claims. That lack of transparency breeds NRA doubters.

The only thing more inflated than their membership numbers is the myth of their invincibility, John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, the nation's largest gun control group, told Newsweek.

The NRA did not respond to several requests for comment and information about its membership for this story. But a Newsweek analysis of the group's tax records, its public statements, the circulation of its four magazines and interviews with several experts in various fields found that the nation's self-described longest-standing civil rights organization may not be as stout as it purports.

The NRA's Membership by the Numbers

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Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Days before the 2016 presidential election, NRA chief executive officer Wayne LaPierre appeared in a call-to-action video titled An Urgent Message to the NRAs 5 Million Members, imploring the contingent to oppose Hillary Clintons presidential bid. (She will come for your guns and "forcibly" seize them, he warned.)

On February 2410 days after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a 19-year-old with a legally purchased AR-15 allegedly gunned down 17 peoplethe NRAs lobbying wing said there were more than five million law-abiding members of the National Rifle Association. The NRAs own about page, however, says it has nearly five million.

In any case, if the numbers are floating around 5 million, the NRAs membership may have plateauedits been citing that number since 2013.

On January 30, 2013, LaPierre told Congress the organization had 4.5 million members. Just a few months later, at an NRA convention on March 4, he told attendees the group had ballooned to 5 million, an 11 percent increase.

Gaining a half-million members in just over three months is impressive. Especially considering the NRA said its membership numbered 4 million in September 2010, meaning it took more than two years to climb to 4.5 million. Even that was a significant growth trend over previous years: The NRA reportedly had about 3.6 million members around 2000. If true, it gained fewer members over the next 10 years than it did in 34 days in 2013.

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Post-Massacre Membership Increases and Posthumous Padding

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Mario Tama/Getty Images

There are at least two predominant explanations for the skyrocketing membership rolls in 2013. One is that the NRAs membership typically gets a boost after tragedies like the one in Newtown, Connecticut. In December 2012, Adam Lanza killed 20 first-graders and six adults with an AR-15-style rifle at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Indeed, a month after the slaughter, the NRA told U.S. News and World Report it added 250,000 new members to its rolls. And on Sunday, the Center for Responsive Politics, which monitors political spending and lobbying efforts, reported that the NRA received "twice as much money from nearly five times as many donors in the seven days after the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting." The donations came from NRA members and employees and were made out to the group's political action committee, the NRA Political Victory Fund.

The other explanation is that many who follow gun violence are aware the NRA typically gets a bump in membership after high-profile shootings, and the group may use that expectation to juice its numbers, according to Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center.

If you look at the NRAs claims, its always after some high-profile event where its totally believable theres an increase in membership, and they take that opportunity to pump up the numbers, he said. The NRA can go out and proclaim any information they choose, and because of the lack of information  you cant confirm those claims.

Richard Feldman, a former NRA lobbyist and author of Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist, said the group uses a few other tricks to pad its numbers.

Feldman, who left the gun groups lobbying branch, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, in the mid-'90s, told Newsweek one method he and his colleagues used was to continue counting annual members on its rolls even after their membership lapsed, at least for another month in hopes they would renew.

When I was at the NRA, when you joined as an annual memberand back then we had over 2 million [members]they would still consider you a member into the 13th month, he said. There were times we would say 3 million, but really it was 2.8 million, and we would count those 13-month lapsed memberships.

Feldman offered a second theory as to how the NRA might exaggerate its membership: It could include lifetime members who have died.

In the '80 and early '90s, we talked about the fact that it was a belief that there may have been 100,000 or more life members who had actually been deceased, he recalled.

"The magazine was going to their address," he said, referring to a free NRA-published magazine offered to all members. "Call it eternal membership."

"Its like 'Hotel California,'" Sugarmann said in a separate interview, describing the NRA. ("You can check out any time you like/But you can never leave.")

Feldman isnt the only former NRA insider to suggest the organization counts dead people among its members. In 2000, Osha Gray Davidson, journalist and author of Under Fire: The NRA and the Battle for Gun Control, detailed a conversation he had with former NRA board member David Gross.

"Two years ago, David Gross, then an NRA board member, confided to me that a substantial number of the groups 1 million Life Members are, well, dead," Davidson wrote in The Washington Post. 'There just isnt that much incentive to go find out when someone passes away,' Gross explained. 'Not when the cost of maintaining [a dead member] is minimal and when they add to your membership list.'

How the NRA's Tax Returns Reflect Its Membership

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Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

The NRA is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit and enjoys tax-exempt status as a social welfare organization. As such, it is not required to disclose its donors. It is, however, required to file a tax return declaring its revenue sources, which includes membership dues. A Newsweek review of those records, known as 990 filings, show wild fluctuation from year to year, but also an overall decline in membership revenue between 2007 and 2016.

In 2007, the group received a high of $228.6 million in membership dues. It hasnt come within $50 million of that mark since. Membership dues dropped by 36.6 percent the following year, bringing in $145 million. Those dues continued to drop over the next two years, reaching a low in 2010 with $100.5 million, before membership revenue began to increase.

From 2012 to 2015, that revenue showed significant volatility. Dues spiked from $107.9 million in 2012 to $175.5 million in 2013, a 62.6 percent increase. But they declined 26.9 percent the next year, dropping to $128.3 million. Membership revenue then spiked again in 2015, increasing 29 percent to $165.6 million. In 2016, dues dipped slightly to $163.5 million.

Unfortunately, said Brian Mittendorf, the chair of the accounting department at Ohio State Universitys Fisher College of Business, the decline in membership revenue isn't enough to indicate any changedecline or growthin actual membership.

Mittendorf specializes in nonprofit organizations and has studied the NRAs financial records. He said the group's tiered membership structureit offers annual, two-, three-, five-year and lifetime membershipsamong other incentives it confers, makes attempts to glean anything about its membership from tax returns a Sisyphean task.

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I tried to do it, he said. Its impossible to reverse engineer it based on the 990s.

The NRA offers several membership options. An annual membership regularly costs $40; a two-year membership is $100; three-year deals at $100, a five-year membershipthe best valueis $140; or individuals can opt into the lifetime membership.

But the NRA often offers discounted sign-ups after high-profile shootings or ahead of elections. As of Thursday, six weeks removed from the Parkland shooting, the NRA was offering such a promotional deal. Individuals who followed a link on one of its Facebook videos landed on a page that advertised annual memberships at $30, two-year plans for $55; three-year memberships for $75, and the five-year memberships for $100.

It also offers a discounted membership with a firearms purchase, or discounted entry to gun shows or shooting ranges by enrolling with the NRA, Mittendorf and gun control experts said. All of this obfuscates the revenue data. Ware, the South Carolinian gun owner, said the last handgun he bought came with a coupon for a free year's membership to the NRA.

Multiyear memberships further complicate attempts to untangle the membership revenue. The NRA front-loads membership dues on its 990, Mittendorf said. Rather than spread out a $100 payment over the three-year membership evenly, it will declare a greater amount in the first year. That could explain large spikes in membership revenue, Mittendorf said.

It also means a subsequent decline in revenue only indicates fewer new or renewing members, not necessarily a decline in membership, meaning tax records may be moot as an investigative tool into the gun group's membership.

Phil Hackney, a tax specialist and law professor at Louisiana State University, said that though 990s may not be all that useful, a look at nonprofit memberships in general may be indicative.

"I don't think it's possible to tell from membership revenue. One trend is that membership organizations in the U.S. have been declining," he said. "It would be odd if [the NRA] was not declining."

Magazine Circulation and Membership Speculation

NRA Membership flier

Screenshot/NRA

Another way to determine how many people belongor don't belongto the NRA might be its magazine circulation.

All members are offered a free subscription to one of four magazines the NRA publishes. Prospective members also have the option to decline the magazine.

The four magazines are American Rifleman, American Hunter, America's 1st Freedom and a new addition, Shooting Illustrated. At no point in the past 10 years has the total print circulation ever reached above 4 million, according to Alliance for Audited Media, which verifies circulation.

The firm verifies circulation twice a year, in June and December. The highest combined subscriptions among NRA-published magazines was in December 2013, reaching 3.9 million readers. That was a sharp increase from the year before, when it had 3.1 million subscribers. Circulation has waned since then, dipping to 3.7 million subscribers at the end of 2017.

Still, this method isn't an exact science for determining membership, either. Members may subscribe to more than one magazine, or they may cancel. They might also have opted for the digital-only subscription, which the media auditing group does not track.

Whom Does the NRA Represent?

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Scott Olson/Getty Images

The NRA's membership isn't just a measure of how much political pressure it commands. It also provides insight into whom it's accountable to.

It's unclear how much individual gun manufacturers, wealthy donors or outside organization donate to the group, because the NRA is not required to disclose the sources of "contributions, grants, gifts, or other similar amounts."

Revenue under the contributions, grants, gifts and other similar amounts section of the NRAs tax returns grew from $54.7 million in 2007 to $124.4 million in 2016, a 127.4 percent increase. Over that same period, revenue from membership dues shrank by 28.5 percent.

"My guess is theyre ultimately working on behalf of the largest contributors to their operation, which I have always anticipated and expected to be the gun manufacturers," said Hackney. "But I think theyre also additionally supporting corporate interests along ideological lineswealthy interest donors who have a particular interest in the sales of guns and conservative causes."

David Chipman, a senior policy adviser at the gun control group Giffords and a former agent with the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the NRA acts on behalf of the gun industry and major donorsnot so much the $40-per-year members.

"They are rarely representing their membership. They represent the people who Wayne LaPierre takes pictures with holding big checks," he said. "Perhaps they represent the people who are giving them [membership dues] money, but they clearly represent the manufacturing industry."

Kent Hartland, a gun owner from Missouri who started the Facebook group Gun Owners for Responsible Gun Control in 2016, said the NRA was once focused on outdoorsmanship but evolved into a primarily political operation in the 1970s.

"They [the NRA] have gotten this machine in motion that accepts money from the gun manufacturers," said Hartland, 66, a former law enforcement officer in Platte County and analyst for the Defense Department. "Gun manufacturers are very concerned about their future and any kind of gun control. Thats the mark of doom for them.

"They buy these politicians, kicking up millions of dollars per year for gun-friendly, gun-in-every-hand, flood-the-streets-with-guns legislation," Hartland continued. "Theres so much grease going from palm to palm, its pretty hard to stop the machine now."

And it's not just gun control advocates calling into question whom the NRA is working for.

"I dont think anyone knows to what degree they are beholden to the gun manufacturers," said Robert Maguire, a researcher tracking political spending for the Center for Responsive Politics.

There are some indications, however, that the NRA may be again growing its base in the wake of the Parkland shooting.

According to the Wayback Machine, which archives Internet pages, the group's Twitter account spiked from 498,000 followers on the day of the shooting to 644,000 as of Thursday. weeks later, a 29.3 percent increase. Its Facebook page had 1.6 million likes on February 22, the closest archived date to the Parkland shooting available, but climbed to nearly 3.4 million as of Thursday.

Still, if there are an estimated 55 million gun owners in the U.S., even at 5 million members the NRA accounts for less than 10 percent of the gun owning community.

Lets say it's 10 million [members], said Ware, the South Carolinian gun owner. Thats still a fraction of the gun owners out there.

Ware, who joined Hartland's Facebook group after the Parkland shooting, said the momentum and the numbers are not on the NRAs side.

I got disturbed after Las Vegas. I got disturbed after Parkland. I was feeling like I killed Jaime Guttenberg, he said, referring to one of the Stoneman Douglas victims. Gun owners, we killed Jaime Guttenberg by our inactivity.

We couldve said no after Columbine. We didn't," Ware continued. "We could have said no after Virginia Tech. We didnt. Those of us, who up until now guns were in our life but not our life, we cant continue to be casual about this issue. The next Jaime Guttenberg is on our hands.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekU.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jamie Jarrord, left, thanks Manbij Military Council commander Muhammed Abu Adeel during a visit to a small outpost near the town of Manbij - AP

A British special forces soldier has been killed by an improvised explosive device in Syria, in the first death of a serving UK troop in the fight against the Islamic State.

An American was also killed by the roadside bomb in the northern Syrian city of Manbij on Thursday, which also wounded four members of the local council.

The unnamed British soldier was embedded with US special forces overseeing a clean-up operation in Manbij, which was controlled by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) until it was taken by allied Kurdish and Arab forces in the summer of 2016.

The city, close to the border with Turkey, earned the nickname Little London because of the large numbers of British Isil fighters stationed in the city during the days of the caliphate.

A Ministry Of Defence spokesperson said: "It is with regret that we must confirm that a member of the UK Armed Forces was killed by an improvised explosive device in Syria yesterday.

"The individual was embedded with US forces on a counter-Daesh operation when the incident occurred. "The family has been notified and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.

The 'Beatles' of terror

Since 2014 the coalition has provided weapons, training and other support to Kurdish and Arab forces fighting Isil jihadists in Syria and Iraq.

While Isil has largely been cleared from northern Syria, sleeper cells are known to operate and have carried out a number of insurgent attacks in recent months.

Special forces units are known to be on the ground in Syria, securing areas retaken from Isil, but officials have refused to comment on their activities.

Manbij is currently under threat of attack from Turkey, which stormed the nearby northern Syrian town of Afrin after an offensive against the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Unit (YPG) militia.

Ankara has repeatedly threatened to push its operations farther east to Manbij, which could lead to a direct confrontation between the two Nato allies.

Story continues

The attack in Manbij happened late Thursday - the day US President Donald Trump said he would pull out forces "very soon".

It came after Donald Trump caught his officials off guard by saying that America would be "out" of Syria "very soon" during a speech on infrastructure.

Operation Shader | Britains war against Islamic State

The US president dropped the hint while speaking in Ohio on Thursday night in an address intended to drum up support for more infrastructure spending.

He said: Were knocking the hell out of Isis. Well be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now.

Mr Trump added: We got to get back to our country where we belong, where we want to be."

The comments contrast with James Mattis, the US defence secretary, and Rex Tillerson, the former secretary of state, who have said the US needs to remain engaged.

It reflects Mr Trump's shifting stance on foreign intervention. He called for US troops to pull out of Afghanistan during the election campaign but has since deployed thousands more soldiers.

This latest incident brings the number of US personnel killed in action during the operation against Isil to 14.

Addressing the House of Commons on Thursday, Penny Mordaunt, International Development Secretary, confirmed that the UK will remain member of international coalition to prevent Daesh remerging elsewhere.

Our work is not yet done, Daesh still holds pockets of territory in Syria, she added. With its loss of territory, it will still pose a threat as an insurgency, they will continue to try to direct and inspire terror attacks around the world.A judge ruled on Thursday that coffee sellers in California should post warnings about a potentially cancer-causing chemical found in the beverage.

The chemical, acrylamide, is produced during the coffee bean roasting process, as well as when sugars and amino acids found in other foods are cooked at high temperatures. Its one of 65 chemicals included in a California law that requires businesses to warn consumers if they may be exposed to substances associated with cancer, birth defects or other reproductive issues.

While the decision  which at this point is just a preliminary ruling, and may still be challenged in court  relates specifically to coffee, consumers are actually exposed to acrylamide from numerous sources. Heres what to know about the chemical.

Is acrylamide in other foods?

Acrylamide is a byproduct formed when sugars and amino acids naturally occurring in starchy foods, such as potatoes and cereal grains, are cooked at high temperatures, according to the American Cancer Society. Acrylamide is particularly likely to be produced when foods are fried, baked, broiled or roasted, according to the ACS. The chemical can be found in potato chips, french fries, baked goods, snack foods, breads and even some baby foods.

Acrylamide, which is also made during some industrial production processes, is also found in non-food sources such as cigarette smoke, caulk, food packaging and some adhesives, the ACS says.

Does acrylamide cause cancer?

Despite the ruling in California, the science around acrylamide and cancer is inconclusive.

While some animal research has shown that acrylamide can cause DNA damage that may lead to a heightened risk of cancer, the evidence is much less clear in humans. Based on the research, there are currently no cancer types for which there is clearly an increased risk related to acrylamide intake, according to the ACS.

Nonetheless, based on animal findings, the National Toxicology Program says acrylamide can reasonably be anticipated to be a human carcinogen, and the Environmental Protection Agency has deemed it a probable human carcinogen.

Story continues

At this point, its only safe to say theres an association between acrylamide and cancer  more research is necessary to know if it actually causes the disease.

Are other sources of acrylamide regulated?

Some California fast food restaurants began posting acrylamide warnings related to potato products in 2007. A handful of chip and french fry manufacturers also agreed to reduce the levels of acrylamide in their products under a separate settlement. In March 2016, the Food and Drug Administration released guidance for manufacturers regarding acrylamide in food, but it did not impose mandatory limits.

But doesnt coffee prevent cancer?

Coffee does contain antioxidants, which may help protect the body against potentially cancer-causing molecules called free radicals, according to the Mayo Clinic. Some compounds in coffee may also combat inflammation, which plays a part in many chronic diseases, including cancer.

That said, the research around coffee and cancer is mixed. Some studies have found protective benefits associated with the beverage, while others have highlighted it as a potential cancer risk factor. (A 2016 study, for example, said all hot beverages may be a trigger for esophageal cancer.) At this point, its not possible to rule with complete certainty one way or the other.

Should I stop drinking coffee?

Despite the controversy around java and acrylamide  and coffee and cancer in general  research has shown that drinking coffee may reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease. It may also boost your longevity.

At least until more conclusive research is completed, each coffee drinker must weigh the possible risks and benefits for herself.BEIJING (Reuters) - Senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi told South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday that all parties must seize the moment to advance talks between leaders of North and South Korea, and between North Korea and the United States. Tension over North Korea's tests of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles surged last year and raised fears of U.S. military action in response to the North's threat to develop a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the United States. But the situation has eased significantly since North Korea decided to send athletes to the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February. The two sides, still technically at war after the 1950-53 conflict ended with a ceasefire, not a truce, are set to hold their first summit in more than a decade on April 27, after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged his commitment to denuclearisation. Yang, a top Chinese diplomat and a member of China's elite Politburo, told Moon on a visit to Seoul it was a crucial moment for alleviating the situation on the Korean peninsula, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. "All sides must seize the moment, work together, promote smooth meetings that achieve positive outcomes between leaders of South and North Korea, and between North Korea and the United States, and in due course reopen a substantive political resolution process to the peninsula issue," Yang said. Yang also informed Moon about Kim's visit to Beijing this week, the North Korean leader's first known foreign trip since he assumed power in 2011, where he met Chinese President Xi Jinping. Moon thanked Yang for China's contribution to the easing of tension on the peninsula, the Chinese ministry said in a statement. Kim is scheduled to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in May to discuss the nuclear issue, although a time and place have not been set. His pledge to denuclearise the Korean peninsula was reported by Chinese state media, but North Korea's official media made no mention of it, or Kim's anticipated meeting with Trump. Kim and Trump had earlier exchanged insults and veiled threats of war but the U.S. leader made the surprising announcement this month that he was prepared to meet Kim. Trump wrote on Twitter he had received a message from Xi late on Tuesday that his meeting with Kim "went very well" and that Kim looked forward to meeting the U.S. president. (Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Robert Birsel)BEIJING (Reuters) - China will prosecute a former senior provincial official for corruption after an investigation found he illegally accepted gifts and abused his power, the ruling Communist Party's anti-graft watchdog said on Saturday. Feng Xinzhu, once a deputy governor of the northwestern province of Shaanxi, was put under investigation in January. In a statement, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said the probe had found Feng had accumulated a huge amount of assets which it suspected were bribes and promoted officials at the request of private companies. Feng has been sacked and expelled from the party and his case has been handed over to legal authorities, the watchdog said, meaning he will be prosecuted. It was not possible to reach Feng or a legal or family representative for comment. President Xi Jinping has waged war on deep-seated corruption since assuming power more than five years ago, vowing to go after lowly "flies" as well as powerful "tigers". (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Kim Coghill)By Polina Nikolskaya and Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian authorities on Saturday arrested billionaire Ziyavudin Magomedov on charges of embezzling more than $35 million, in one of the highest-profile prosecutions of a Russian tycoon in years.

Magomedov denied the charges at a pre-trial hearing, where a judge ordered that he be held in custody until May 30.

One of Russia's richest men, the 49-year-old Magomedov holds assets in construction and logistics through his sprawling Summa Group. He also has investments in U.S. tech ventures, including the Virgin One Hyperloop project.

He was detained along with his business partner and brother, Magomed Magomedov, and Artur Maksidov, the head of a company in the Summa Group that was involved in the construction of a soccer World Cup venue in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Both businessmen will also be held in custody until May 30, the court ruled.

At a hearing in Moscow's Tverskoy District Court to decide whether Magomedov and his associates should be detained before their trial, Judge Maria Sizintseva said they had acted as part of an organized crime group and had tried to put pressure on witnesses. She rejected an offer from Magomedov to put up a $35 million bail bond, and ordered he be detained.

Citing the arguments against granting bail, the judge said Magomedov had access to his own aircraft, and assets abroad. The day before he was detained, he had booked a flight from Moscow to Miami, the judge said.

Summa said it planned to appeal the court decision and was ready to cooperate with the investigation.

MUSCULAR STATE

Invited to speak from a cage in the courtroom, Magomedov, dressed in a dark-blue jogging suit, said: "I categorically disagree with the charges presented ... The prosecution case does not stand up to scrutiny."

He said he needed treatment in the United States for a medical problem, and offered to put up the $35 million bail. "I'm willing to pull together this money, so no one has any thoughts that I might go on the run," Magomedov said.

Story continues

Magomedov is part of a group of Russian multi-millionaires who, while publicly loyal to the Kremlin, are not in President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.

Some members of the group say they are being squeezed by a tough economy, Western sanctions on Russia, and powerful state-run companies that are muscling in on nearly all sectors of the economy.

In past cases when magnates have been prosecuted, some in the Russia business community have said the tycoons were victims of a plot by the Kremlin or by politically connected business rivals - though the authorities deny that.

People familiar with the Russian judicial system say high-profile corruption cases are rarely fabricated, but that the law is applied selectively, and that prosecutions can be influenced by outside factors.

Ziyavudin Magomedov ranked 63rd last year on the Forbes list of the richest business people in Russia with $1.4 billion. In January, he was listed by the U.S. Treasury Department as one of 96 "oligarchs" close to Putin.

His Caspian Venture Capital fund has investments in ride-hailing service Uber <UBER.UL>; Diamond Foundry, a company that produces man-made diamonds; and Peek, an online leisure activities company.

Magomedov is also co-executive chairman of Los Angeles-based tech firm Virgin Hyperloop One, which is chaired by Richard Branson. It is one of several firms developing a futuristic transport system that involves propelling people at high speed through sealed tubes.

He also co-owns the Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port <NMTP.MM> with Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft <TRNF_p.MM> and transportation group Fesco <FESH.MM>.

(Additional reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber and Christian Lowe; Editing by Larry King)Mohammed Bin Salman, known as Prince Salman, is coming to Los Angeles next week for a series of meetings with politicians and other movers and shakers, including one with WMEs Ari Emanuel and producer Brian Grazer who are hosting a dinner for the Saudi dignitary in early April. But not everyone is happy about it and, in fact, there are planned protests to air grievances against the Prince, starting on Monday in front of WMEs Beverly Hills offices at 9601 Wilshire Blvd. The protest will come before Emanuel meets with the Crown Prince. WME and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia are closing in on a deal whereby the PIF will acquire a 5% to 10% stake in Endeavor (the holding company for WME) for roughly $400M.

On April 2nd at 11 AM, CodePink: Women for Peace will be out in force in front of the agencys building. We plan to protest in front of William Morris and say, Wake up sleepy Hollywood, there is nothing charming about this Prince,  said spokeswoman Jodie Evans, co-founder of CodePink. They want the Prince to stop the war in Yemen and lift both the humanitarian and commercial blockade.

The Prince will be coming from a meeting with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to talk about investment in Los Angeles, however, Garcetti told the CodePink organizers in a call that he has been clearly against the Yemen war and that he also thinks that women issues should be in the forefront and he plans to talk to the Prince about this.

We had a very good call with Mayor Garcetti and he understands the issues, Medea Benjamin, CodePink co-founder and author of a book on Saudia Arabia told Deadline. Given that, they have decided to start the protest  set initially against Garcetti  instead to WME.

But they arent stopping there. The following day at 11 AM, they plan to do the same in front of the RAND Corporation on Main Street in Santa Monica, CA.

The protesters said they will focus on bin Salmans key role in the bombing of Yemen which has created the worlds greatest humanitarian crisis. They say they want the public to know that the Crown Prince is not truly a reformer who is fighting corruption and bringing a new age of enlightenment to the Kingdom.

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Mohammed Bin Salman employs an army of lobbyists and PR firms to sell himself as a reformer when he is really a war criminal and a power-hungry thug whose ego rivals that of Donald Trump, said Benjamin. It is absurd that the U.S. is in bed with this prince who mercilessly bombs Yemen, shakes down Saudi businessmen, captured the Lebanese prime minister, concocted a rift with Qatar and even kidnapped his own mother. The Saudi monarchy also jails and beheads dissidents, discriminates against the Shia minority, and forces women to live under a repressive male guardianship system. It is not a regime the United States should be arming and abetting.

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Saudi Arabia Fund Deal For Endeavor Stake Could Close In Week's Time For $400MBy Abhishek Madhukar DHARAMSALA, INDIA (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama called on his people to remain united as the Tibetan community gathered on Saturday in a small hill town to mark 60 years of political asylum in India - although just one federal minister appeared at the event. The "Thank You India" event had been scheduled for India's capital, New Delhi, but was shifted to Dharamsala, a small town in the country's north where Tibetans run a government in exile, as India tries to avoid a confrontation with China, which views the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist. Officially, New Delhi says its policy toward the Dalai Lama remains the same, and the Tibetan government in exile says it moved the event to Dharamsala out of respect for India's foreign policy needs. India's culture minister was the only minister present at the event. "Today we are celebrating 60 years in exile and we are confident, and we can see how our future shapes up," the Dalai Lama said at the event. He emphasized the "strong bond between India and Tibet", saying the two shared a "deep connection of culture and literature". China took control of Tibet in 1950 in what it called a "peaceful liberation". In March 1959, the Dalai Lama, then 23 years old, fled to India along with his followers. Then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru welcomed the monk and allowed him to make Dharamsala his seat. But the ties have weakened as India tries to improve relations with China and avoid a standoff such as a 73-day military face-off along a stretch of their disputed border last year. "From Nehru to Modi, we have followed a one-China policy," Ram Madhav, the general secretary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party said. The links between India and Tibet were "very little political but more spiritual, religious and cultural," he added. Earlier this month, India issued an unprecedented ban on Tibetans holding a rally with the Dalai Lama in New Delhi to mark the 60th anniversary of the start of a failed uprising against Chinese rule. The Dalai Lama also canceled a visit to the Indian border state of Sikkim this week, hosted by authorities there, officials say, lest it offended China. That is in contrast to the Dalai Lama's free movement within India, including the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as its own. Lobsang Sangay, the head of the Tibetan government in exile, was critical of China's Tibet policy at Saturday's event. "It's been 60 years since China's illegal invasion and occupation of Tibet, 60 years of destruction of Tibetan civilization, Tibetan culture and Tibetan identity," Sangay said, thanking India for its support. (Reporting by Abhishek Madhukar in Dharamsala, writing by Sankalp Phartiyal, editing by Larry King)By Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, faces increasing isolation in his home in exile as India tones down an assertive stand toward its powerful neighbor and rival, China, in the hope of calming ties strained by a border stand-off. The Asian giants were locked in a 73-day military face off in a remote, high-altitude stretch of their disputed border last year, with, at one point, soldiers from the two sides throwing punches and stones at each other. The confrontation between the nuclear-armed powers in the Himalayas underscored Indian alarm at China's expanding security and economic links in South Asia. China's ambitious Belt and Road initiative of transport and energy links bypasses India, apart from a corner of the disputed Kashmir region, also claimed by Pakistan, but involves India's neighbors Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Maldives. Now Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationalist government, is reversing course, apparently after realizing its hard line on China was not working, and the Dalai Lama is facing the cold shoulder. "We are moving forward with this relationship, the idea is to put the events of 2017 behind us," an Indian government source involved in China policy said. The idea is to "be sensitive" to each other's core concerns and not let differences turn into disputes, the source said. The Dalai Lama has lived mostly in the north Indian town of Dharamsala since 1959, when he fled a Chinese crackdown on an uprising in his homeland. In Dharamsala, his supporters run a small government in exile and campaign for autonomy for Tibet by peaceful means. India has allowed him to pursue his religious activities in the country and to travel abroad. Early this month, India issued an unprecedented ban on Tibetans holding a rally with the Dalai Lama in New Delhi to mark the 60th anniversary of the start of the failed uprising against Chinese rule. 'DEEPLY RESPECTED' This week, the Dalai Lama canceled a visit to the Indian border state of Sikkim this week, hosted by authorities there, officials say, lest it offended China. Sikkim is south of the Doklam plateau where the hundreds of Indian and Chinese soldiers confronted each other last year after India objected to China's construction of a road in an area claimed by India's tiny ally, Bhutan. Even "thank you" rallies by Tibetans planned for New Delhi to show appreciation to India for hosting the Dalai Lama and his followers have been shifted to Dharamsala. India's foreign ministry said the government had not changed its position on the Dalai Lama. "He is a revered religious leader and is deeply respected by the people of India. His Holiness is accorded all freedom to carry out his religious activities in India," spokesman Raveesh Kumar said. But India's recent attitude is in stark contrast with his former treatment. In 2016, the Dalai Lama was invited to India's presidential palace for a ceremony honoring Nobel Peace prize winners. The government later allowed him to visit the disputed state of Arunachal Pradesh, disregarding Chinese objections. China reviles the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist and his activities in India have always been a source of friction, and a tool with which India can needle China. "Tibet has utility to irritate China, but it is becoming costly for us now. They are punishing us," said P. Stobdan, a former Indian ambassador. China has blocked India's membership of a nuclear cartel and it also blocks U.N. sanctions against a Pakistan-based militant leader blamed for attacks on India. 'UNDERSTANDING AND RESPECT' The Tibetan government-in-exile has been phlegmatic, expressing understanding of the shifting circumstances and gratitude to India for hosting the Dalai Lama for 60 years. "The Indian government has its reasons why, these coming months are sensitive, and we completely understand and respect that so there's no disappointment at all," Lobsang Sangay, the head of the government in exile told reporters. China has hailed better ties. "Everyone can see that recently, due to the efforts of both sides, China-India relations have maintained positive momentum and development, and exchanges and cooperation in all areas have achieved new progress," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Thursday. Lu said China was willing to work with India to maintain exchanges on all levels and to increase mutual political trust and "appropriately control differences". A flurry of visits is planned. Next week, India National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is heading to China and Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj is due to visit in April. Modi will visit in June for a regional conference and talks with President Xi Jinping. The two sides are also expected to revive "hand-in-hand" counter-terrorism exercises when India's defense minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, visits China in April, a defense source said. The drills were suspended earlier. (Additional reporting Michael Martina in BEIJING; Abhishek Madhukar in DHARAMSALA and Zarir Hussain in GUWAHATI; Editing by Robert Birsel)EPA administrator Scott Pruitt would be controversial even if he hadn't flown to Morocco in December (first-class, on the taxpayer dime) to lobby the country on the benefits of liquified natural gas while living in a condo owned by a lobbyist for the country's largest LNG exporter.

He is likely the first EPA head to axe scientists from the agency's Science Board so he could replace them with lobbyists for the industries the agency is supposed to regulate.

And, of course, he has routinely denied and downplayed the accepted science of climate change and human contributions to it through massive emissions of carbon dioxide.

DON'T MISS: Planet at "very high risk" for extreme warming, per leaked UN report; every 5-year delay matters

A year or so into his tenure, Pruitt's ideology-driven beliefsdirectly contradicted by decades of global research by climate scientistsare now to be parroted by agency employees.

An internal e-mail leaked to Huffington Post instructs all agency personnel what words and phrases to use in downplaying the accepted conclusions of climate scientists.

The memo opens with several points that stress not studying or preventing climate change, but merely adapting to it.

Global carbon dioxide emissions, 1850-2030 [CO2 Information Analysis Center, World Energy Outlook]

The fifth point suggests that measuring the "degree and extent" of climate-change impacts "and what to do about it" are topics "subject to continuing debate and dialogue."

The memo suggests that humans are responsible only "in some manner" for climate change and "clear gaps" exist between "our understanding of the role of human activity and what we can do about it."

As HuffPost notes, bluntly, "The assertions made in the new EPA talking points are not rooted in science."

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The memo suggests throughout that climate science is far too complicated for us to understand, rendering it an inevitable force that cannot be addressed or affected. Hence, we must just adapt to its effects.

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That's not to say adapting to the effects of climate change won't be necessary, given the central role of coastal cities in generating much of this nation's wealth.

But policymakers in Europe, China, and other Asian countries not only accept climate science but are working aggressively and simultaneously both to reduce future carbon emissions and to mitigate the impacts of current and future climate change.

EPA administrator Scott Pruitt [photo from 2014]

In the U.S., however, the Trump administration is headed by a president who has said climate change is a hoax invented by China, and who appears to believe the well-funded campaign to cast doubt on climate science backed for two decades by fossil-fuel companies and extreme political factions.

Hence, the current administration appointed to run its Environmental Protection Agency a man who had sued the EPA more than a dozen times (largely unsuccessfully) to prevent it from enforcing emission rules on fossil-fuel producers when he was attorney general of Oklahoma.

Pruitt and the administration have worked aggressively to roll back every effort put in place by the Obama administration to limit carbon emissions.

Those range from the Clean Power Plan that directed states to develop carbon-reduction plans most suitable for their circumstances to EPA rules that reduced carbon emissions by road vehicles, aligned with rising NHTSA corporate average fuel-economy rules.

The agencies are expected to delay, modify, roll back, conceivably even eliminate those fuel-economy rules at the behest of automaker lobbying groups.

The deadline for issuing proposed modifications is tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Green Car Reports respectfully reminds its readers that the scientific validity of climate change is not a topic for debate in our comments. We ask that any comments by climate-change denialists be flagged for moderation. We also ask that political discussions be restricted to the topic of the article they follow. Thank you in advance for helping us keep our comments on topic, civil, respectful, family-friendly, and fact-based.Moscow (AFP) - Sixty Russian diplomats expelled by the United States in response to an apparent attempt to assassinate a former double agent in Britain with a nerve agent were set to return home on Saturday, Moscow's envoy said.

"On March 31 all the diplomats who were declared persona non grata are flying home together with their families," Russia's ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, told reporters.

In total, 171 people will leave the country, state news agency TASS reported Antonov as saying.

The Russian government provided two planes for the evacuation and one of them will make a brief stopover in New York to collect 14 families, he added.

Washington this week joined a score of Britain's allies in expelling Russian diplomats in response to the attack, with a total of more than 150 now ordered out of the US, EU members, NATO countries and other nations.

The US said it was expelling 60 alleged Russian "spies" posted around the country and at the Russian mission to the United Nations.

Russia's consulate in Seattle will also be closed, but the total size of Russia's diplomatic footprint in the US might not shrink for long, because the expelled staff could be replaced, the US authorities have said.

Moscow responded on Thursday by announcing that it was expelling 60 US diplomats and closing Washington's consulate in Saint Petersburg.

On Friday, Russia expelled even more diplomats from 23 countries, most of them European Union member states.

The tit-for-tat measures were retaliation to the coordinated expulsion of Russian diplomats by Britain and its allies over a nerve agent attack against former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

Britain has said it is "highly likely" that Russia was responsible for the Skripal attack using the Novichok nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union, but Russia has angrily denied any involvement.The FBI should immediately investigate senior White House adviser Jared Kushner to find out whether he leaked classified information to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom he has a close relationship with, six House Democrats demanded on Thursday.

Related: Jared Kushner should be fired after his week from hell, Democrats say

"We request the FBI open an immediate investigation to determine if these reports are accurate and to explore the extent to which information and sources may have been [compromised]," Democratic Representatives Ted Lieu, Gerald Connolly, Donald Beyer, Pramila Jayapal, Peter Welch and Ruben Gallego wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray in a letter obtained by CNN.

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The FBI has purview for the "integrity of classified information, the letter states, and "while the President has the authority to declassify and share information, the President's advisers do not."

Crown Prince Mohammed told confidants that Kushner had talked about Saudi leaders who were disloyal to him, three sources told The Intercept earlier this month. According to that report, the crown prince bragged that Kushner was in his pocket.

"We urge the department to investigate these allegations, and we appreciate your attention to this matter, the Democrats wrote.

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During his visit to the U.S. this month, the crown prince attended dinners with Kushner and other members of the Trump administration, a White House spokesman told Newsweek. The White House could not immediately be reached Thursday for comment on the letter.

Kushner, whose broad portfolio includes forging a Middle East peace plan, had his top security clearance downgraded last month.

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The presidents son-in-law has been embroiled in other controversies, including an Office of Government Ethics-reported White House investigation into loans to Kushners business after meetings he had with banking officials in his official capacity.

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White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanderss issued a statement that attorneys were not probing whether Jared Kushner violated the law. In response, Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi on Thursday demanded that White House counsel Don McGahn clarify whether his office knowingly or unknowingly misled the Office of Government Ethics about that probe.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekIn the week since the March for Our Lives student activists have rebuffed claims of a secret plan to repeal the second amendment

Students finish a four-day, 50-mile March for our Lives, arriving in Traxler Park in Janesville, Wisconsin, the home town of Paul Ryan on Wednesday. Photograph: USA Today Network/Sipa USA/Rex/Shutterstock

In the week since they organized a worldwide protest against gun violence, student survivors of the shooting in Parkland, Florida, have faced personal attacks and accusations that they want to repeal the second amendment.

The organizers have stayed focused on their goal: making an impact on the 2018 elections. Less than 48 hours after the March for Our Lives ended, David Hogg, one of the most prominent Marjory Stoneman Douglas student activists, announced a plan to hold town halls across American on 7 April to hold members of Congress accountable for their positions on gun laws. By Friday, they had confirmed events in 30 districts, with a goal of 535, one for every member of Congress.

Gun rights advocates and Donald Trump were quick this week to accuse the student movement of wanting to repeal Americans constitutional right to own guns. Trump and the National Rifle Association seized on an op-ed written by the 97-year-old former supreme court justice John Paul Stevens, which argued that activists should organize to get rid of the second amendment entirely, thus depriving the NRA of a propaganda weapon of immense power.

Its not (just) about the money. In 2017, the NRA spent at least $4.1m on lobbying  more than the $3.1m it spent in all of 2016. But for comparison, the dairy industry has spent $4.4m in the same period, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP). The National Association of Realtors, one of the biggest spenders, has paid out $32.2m lobbying on housing issues.

The NRA has plenty of cash to spend. It bet big on the 2016 US elections, pouring $14.4m into supporting 44 candidates who won and $34.4m opposing 19 candidates who lost, according to CRP.

But the real source of its power, I believe, comes from voters, said Adam Winkler, a UCLA professor of constitutional law.

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The 145-year-old organization claims 5 million active members, that number is disputed, but whatever its actual size, membership is a powerful tool, said Robert Spitzer, a professor at the State University of New York at Cortland.

They have a very powerful ability to mobilize a grassroots support and to engage in politics when most Americans can barely be bothered to vote, he said. And because so few Americans do those things, if you get a bunch of people in a locality who are all prepared to go out to a meeting they can have a big effect." Read more

Trump tweeted that repealing the second amendment was, in fact what Democrats wanted to see happen, and that he would fight against it. NO WAY, he tweeted, suggesting that Republicans needed to win more seats in the 2018 elections to protect against a potential constitutional change.

Think they dont want to ban your guns? Think again, the NRA warned in a new video, claiming the real goal of the March for Our Lives commonsense gun reform was a full repeal of the second amendment and a ban on all guns.

The student activists pushed back swiftly on Twitter: they did not support repealing the second amendment, they wrote, accusing Trump of stoking unnecessary division.

March for Our Lives position is not to repeal the second amendment, but to effectively address the gun violence issues that our rampant in our country, the students of March for Our Lives said in a statement.

Their specific demands include universal background checks, investment in public health research, and a ban on a subset of military-style assault weapons, as well as on higher-capacity ammunition magazines. These policies do not require a repeal of the second amendment in order to pass. All they need are enough votes in Congress.

When the Fox News host Laura Ingraham tweeted an article about Hogg not being accepted into the colleges he wanted, and claiming that he whines about it, the 17-year-old responded by calling for an advertiser boycott of Ingrahams show, listing some of her advertisers.

By Friday, advocates counted nearly a dozen companies, including Liberty Mutual, Johnson & Johnson and Hulu, that had said Ingrahams personal attack on a teenage shooting survivor was inappropriate and they would not advertise on her show.

A crowd fills Pennsylvania Avenue during the March for Our Lives in Washington DC last Saturday. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

What has happened in the past week: the gun reform conversation has been won, said Fred Guttenberg, a Parkland parent whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was murdered in the shooting. The attacks on student organizers by gun control opponents had a clear meaning, said Guttenberg, a strong proponent of stricter gun control laws. If youve noticed this week, everything theyve said is a personal attack. That says to me, Weve lost the argument.

Its no longer about whether or not commonsense gun reform is a good idea, Guttenberg said. Now we go state by state, district by district, and eventually our legislators in DC will pay attention, or we will fire them.

As they move into their second month of activism in the toxic American gun control debate, the teenage activists continued to show moments of remarkable discipline in their responses.

My question would be for little Davey Hogg, a caller identified as Carlos from Mustang, Oklahoma, asked Hogg in a live call on NPRs On Point Monday. What are you going to do when the 5 million members of the NRA take up arms against your faction? Because what youre trying to do is confiscation of firearms. And dont tell me that thats not the case.

Some listeners heard this comment with alarm, as a suggestion of violence against student activists. But Hogg responded live with complete calm. He did not support confiscation of all guns, he explained.

I want to thank Carlos for making his voice heard, he said. I think its important that at this discussion that we hear all the sides.It's been a pretty strange year for politics. It's even stranger now that major political figures are crowdfunding their legal fees.

A GoFundMe stetup by "Friends of Andrew McCabe" launched Thursday to pay for the former FBI deputy director's legal defense fund.

SEE ALSO: Lawmakers use Twitter to help Trump's fired FBI director save his pension

McCabe's GoFundMe is not only trending, it's also raised a tremendous amount of money in the past few hours. As of the time of writing, it had raised $252,892 in just six short hours. People have been donating so quickly that the campaign increased its goal to $250,000 after it met its original $150,000 goal in less than four hours.

A majority of the donations are relatively small, ranging from $10-100.

If McCabe keeps raising money this fast, he should probably run for something. Trying to raise $150k  hit over $100k within three hours.https://t.co/jhzyT7WWRo  Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) March 29, 2018

"Andrew McCabe's FBI career was long, distinguished, and unblemished," the fundraiser's description says. "He embraced the most daunting, difficult, and important challenges that the FBI and the country could assign to him over the past 21 years."

McCabe was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions two weeks ago, only 26 hours before retiring. McCabe's pension benefits are in question, since he was a day shy from its cut off requirement. However, funds raised from the GoFundMe will not go to benefit his retirement.

"No funds raised for the Andrew McCabe Legal Defense Fund will be used for anything beyond his defense of the allegations against him," according to the crowdfunding page. Any leftover funds will be donated to charity.

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The GoFundMe also states that McCabe will "continue to fight for the pension and benefits he deserves, rather than accept any crowdfunding for that purpose."

The funds will also likely be used for representation in congressional inquiries. McCabe and his legal team haven't announced plans to sue for wrongful termination, but the GoFundMe notes "any potential lawsuits he might consider."

In 38 years as a lawyer and 24 years in private practice, I have rarely seen the kind of support Andy McCabe is getting. He got a raw deal and people know it. He deeply appreciates the support. https://t.co/8P65VE0ETW  Michael R. Bromwich (@mrbromwich) March 29, 2018

McCabe is represented by former Department of Justice Inspector General Michael R. Bromwich. Bromwich tweeted that "Andy" is thankful for the support. "He got a raw deal and people know it."

Sessions fired McCabe after the Justice Department inspector general found he had disclosed sensitive information to the media and misled investigators, according to the Washington Post. The termination was also recommended by the FBIs Office of Professional Responsibility.Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Four teenage girl suicide bombers have killed two people in multiple attacks in northeast Nigeria, residents said Saturday, in the latest assault since the government announced it was in ceasefire talks with Boko Haram.

The suspected Boko Haram attack took place late Friday in the northeast Borno state capital of Maiduguri, the epicentre of the group's Islamist insurgency.

The girls, estimated to be between the ages of 13 and 18, attacked the Zawuya settlement on the outskirts of Maiduguri, killing two people, residents told AFP.

"We lost two people, a woman and a boy, in two of the four suicide explosions," Zawuya resident Musa Haruna Isa said.

One of the bombers blew up while trying to scale a low mud wall outside a house that starting crumbling and detonated her explosive belt, killing the boy, Isa said.

"One of them exploded near an open-air mosque, injuring one person," he said, adding that another bomber "panicked from the explosions from her colleagues and squeezed the trigger in the open, killing only herself."

However, police said that just one person died in the attack.

"They (bombers) detonated the explosives killing themselves and one other person... 13 persons were injured and were taken to a hospital where they are responding to treatment," Maiduguri police said in a statement.

The attack highlighted the challenge the government faces in reaching a ceasefire agreement with the fractionalised Boko Haram.

Last week, when more than 100 schoolgirls were returned to Dapchi after being kidnapped by the jihadist group, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said his government was offering amnesty to "repentant" jihadists.

But senior security officials cautioned that reaching any agreement with the group will be difficult, as it is split into competing factions with different goals.

The Islamic State-affiliated faction reportedly in talks with the government is led by Abu Mus'ab al-Barnawi and is known for attacks on military targets, while another faction led by Abubakar Shekau is notorious for suicide bombings killing civilians.

Zawuya, a settlement of people displaced by Boko Haram mostly from Rann, a town on the remote northeast border with Cameroon, lies close to the Muna Garage area, home to some 40,000 internally displaced people.

Both camps have been repeatedly targeted by Boko Haram attacks.Rome (AFP) - The Italian Foreign Ministry summoned France's ambassador on Saturday, after uniformed French customs officers crossed the border in the Alps to confront a man suspected of carrying drugs.

France insisted that the presence of its personnel at a railway station just inside Italy was acceptable.

However French ambassador Christian Masset was summoned over what Rome termed "a serious act considered outside the scope of cooperation between states sharing a border."

The foreign ministry added that the EU neighbours would address the issue further at a meeting in the northern city of Turin on April 16.

The Rainbow4Africa NGO, which has for months occupied part of the train station in the alpine village of Bardonecchia to aid migrants headed for France, filed a complaint after the French officials turned up there late Friday and told a Nigerian man to provide a urine sample.

Italian officials reacted with outrage, prompting an official explanatory statement from the French embassy.

Gerald Darmanin, the French minister charged with overseeing customs, signed the statement which explained how French officials came to be present when the Paris-bound train arrived from Milan.

"These uniformed agents identified as French customs officials suspected one passenger, a Nigerian national resident in Italy, of having drugs on his person.

"In line with article 60 bis of the customs code the agents asked the person if he would consent to providing a urine sample to detect drugs which he agreed to do in writing," the statement read.

"In order to carry out the test in conditions respecting the person, the agents waited until the train arrived to use the facility at Bardonecchia station which was placed at the disposal of French customs," the statement went on, saying the procedure respected current guidelines laid down in 1990.

The French officials duly carried out the test which came back negative.

But the Italian foreign ministry said France had failed to keep them fully abreast of developments, leaving Rome to slam the incident as "unacceptable."

Matteo Salvini, the head of Italy's far-right League, commented that Rome, "instead of expelling Russian diplomats should remove French diplomats," juxtaposing the incident with the furore over the recent poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain, widely blamed on Moscow.In the wake of a mysterious crash that authorities fear killed an entire family of eight, friends of the dead have been paying tribute to their memory as some neighbors voice previous child abuse concerns.

Five of the eight members of the Hart family  parents Jennifer and Sarah and three children  were discovered dead after their vehicle was found Monday at the bottom of a 100-foot cliff off the Pacific Coast Highway in Northern California, authorities have said.

According to law enforcement in California, the family was in a 2003 GMC Yukon XL when they went into the water. Jennifer and Sarah, both 38, were in the front while it is believed their six children were in the back. None of the kids were wearing seat belts.

It remains unclear how or when the crash occurred or why the Harts, who lived in Washington, were traveling.

Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman told reporters, We have no evidence and reason to believe that this was an intentional attack. Certainly people are wondering what caused this.

Investigators suspect everyone involved was killed, though three children remain missing.

The six Hart kids range in age from 12 to 19. Jennifer and Sarah were married, their friends and family said, according to authorities.

I love you with all of my heart and soul Hart Tribe. I am still in shock of your sudden, tragic departure, Kristina Pescatore, who appears to have known the family, wrote on Facebook. Your smiles and immense loving presence radiates in my heart.

Friends described Jennifer and Sarah as open-hearted moms.

The children were some of the most joyful, beautiful children I have ever known, Samantha Sinclair, of Portland, told the Oregonian. Jen and Sarah wanted to provide a stable life for them.

The family frequented festivals around Oregon and regularly went exploring together, according to the paper.

The Hart family

The site of the crash in Northern California that killed the Hart family

They reportedly began adopting their children in 2006. At the time of the crash, the Harts lived in Woodland and had previously lived in Alexandria, Minnesota, and in Oregon.

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In a Facebook post marking the ninth anniversary of three of the adoptions, Jennifer reportedly wrote: I am a better human in every possible way for knowing these children. They have been my greatest teachers. Contrary to the common notion that we cant choose our family, we absolutely can. We choose by loving  and thats worth celebrating every damn day.

Jen and Sarah really were the kind of parents that I think the world desperately needs, friend and photographer Zippy Lomax told local TV station KOIN.

They were that really bright kind of presence, Lomax said.

Another friend, Max Ribner, reportedly said, They really found the goodness in everybody and I hope they we can all really learn a beautiful lesson from that and carry that legacy on.

These descriptions are at odds with accounts from neighbors that the Hart parents displayed strange and even possibly abusive behavior.

Dana and Bruce DeKalb, of Woodland, said they became worried for the kids when one of them allegedly came over asking for food about a week ago, according to KOIN.

Dana said that one of the Hart boys would allegedly come over and ask for food because his mothers did not feed him and his siblings and wouldnt let them play outside. He was asking that we not tell his mom, to hide it [the food] and put it by the fence so he could get to it, Dana told KOIN, alleging, They were withholding food from him.

Another morning, the couple said, a 12-year-old girl wandered over and asked for help.

She wanted us to take her to Seattle because they werent treating her right, Bruce claimed.

Dont make me go back,  the girl told Bruce, he recalled. She appeared to be missing two front teeth and looked about 7 years old, according to the DeKalbs.

The couple claimed they did not know the family had six children because they never saw the kids play outside.

However, Zippy Lomax tells PEOPLE that Sarah and Jennifer took their children out to events as a family often and only in recent years, after a photograph of son Devonte went viral in 2014 and received racist backlash from some corners of the internet, did the couple try to become more insular to protect their kids.

Three days before the crash was reported, Washington State Department of Social and Health Services received a call reporting that the six Hart children appeared to be potential victims of alleged abuse or neglect, Norah West, the departments spokeswoman, tells PEOPLE.

The department sent an employee to the familys home but was unable to make contact with them, West says. Social services workers returned on Monday and Tuesday.

The DeKalbs told local media they were the ones to report the suspected abuse to the state.

I was trying to help them and protect them, Dana said, adding, Thats not how I thought it was going to end.

Former neighbor Bill Groener, who lived near the family in West Linn, Oregon, told The Oregonian that the couple would keep their children inside even when the weather was nice.

Something just didnt seem right. They were very isolated in the home, Groener told the paper, adding that he felt guilty he never called [child] services.

Jennifer (left) and Sarah Hart

Guilty of Domestic Abuse

Records obtained by PEOPLE show that while the Harts lived in Alexandria, Sarah was charged with hitting one of her daughters after a teacher found bruises on the childs body.

In 2011, 6-year-old Abigail Hart told a teacher that she had owies on her tummy and back, court records state. When the teacher asked Abigail how she got the bruises on her stomach and back, she said, Mom hit me.

During police questioning, Sarah admitted to letting her anger get out of control and spanking her daughter the day before, according to the criminal complaint against her. But according to the Oregonian, it was Jennifer whom Abigail said had hit her.

Sarah admitted to taking her daughter into the bathroom, bending her over the edge of the bathtub and hitting her on the backside.

She was originally charged with domestic assault and malicious punishment, according to court records. She agreed to plead guilty to the domestic assault charge and the malicious punishment charge was dropped.

In April 2011, she was sentenced to 90 days in jail  which was stayed  and one year of supervised probation, according to court documents.

The Hart children

Friends of the couple have defended the family in interviews and social media posts. (PEOPLEs efforts to reach relatives and neighbors of the Harts have been unsuccessful.)

I never saw signs of mistreatment of your precious children and I acknowledge that we are all human and we all make mistakes, Pescatore wrote on Facebook.

The friends who spoke with KOIN also said they saw no evidence of abuse, according to the station.

There were no clues anywhere that something was wrong, Lomax said, according to the Oregonian.

Sarah reportedly worked for a local Kohls. In a statement to news station KATU, the company said: We are very saddened by this tragic event.  We extend our deepest sympathies to her family, friends and colleagues coping with this loss.

The three children who are still missing have been identified as 15-year-old Devonte Hart, Hannah Hart, 15, and 12-year-old Sierra Hart, according to California authorities. Bodies of the other Hart children  Markis, 19; Jeremiah, 14; and 14-year-old Abigail  were recovered by authorities and identified by relatives.

The site of the crash in Northern California that killed the Hart family

California Highway Patrol officials tell PEOPLE that investigators dont know whether Jennifer intentionally drove the familys SUV over the cliff.

However, authorities believe she pulled into a dirt turnout off of the side of the highway by the ocean before the vehicle continued through the lengthy stretch of land and directly off the cliff into the water.

I dont know if they were parked or if they continued to roll, CHP Sgt. Christopher Dalin said at a news conference on Wednesday. I dont know if it rolled over the edge, if it launched over the edge. I wont have any of that information until we get all of our data back, analyze it and we see what the evidence leads us to.

Describing a very confusing scene, Sheriff Allman said Wednesday, There were no skid marks, there were no brake marks or there was no indication why this vehicle traversed approximately 75 feet over a dirt pull-out and went into the Pacific Ocean.

Anyone with information regarding the familys last known whereabouts before the crash is urged to call 707-234-2100.SheKnows

While much has been written about Jan. 6 and Donald Trumps reaction while it was going down, Bob Woodwards new book, Peril, is giving readers more insight into what happened behind closed doors. The day was fraught with a lot of drama, and as we know, much of the burden of getting through to the []Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Gazans buried their dead on Saturday with calls for "revenge" a day after a mass protest led to clashes that saw Israeli forces kill 16 Palestinians in the bloodiest day since a 2014 war.

The angry funeral scenes came as the United States blocked a draft UN Security Council statement urging restraint and calling for an investigation into the clashes.

Only several hundred protesters returned to tents erected at sites near the Gaza Strip's border with Israel to resume demonstrations planned to last six weeks in the blockaded enclave.

On the diplomatic front, UN chief Antonio Guterres and European Union diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini called for an "independent and transparent investigation" into Israel's use of live ammunition.

But a motion put forward before the UN Security Council by Kuwait late Saturday calling for such a move was rejected by the United States, a Security Council diplomat told AFP.

Israel defended the army fire at Palestinians who broke away from the main protest of tens of thousands and neared the heavily fortified fence around the Gaza Strip.

"Well done to our soldiers," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote in a statement Saturday.

"Israel acts vigorously and with determination to protect its sovereignty and the security of its citizens."

An Israeli military spokesman said Friday's events were "not a protest demonstration" but "organised terrorist activity" by Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.

"If it continues, we shall have no choice but to respond inside the Gaza Strip against terrorist targets which we understand to be behind these events," said Brigadier General Ronen Manelis.

Gaza's health ministry said 35 people suffered wounds that were not life-threatening in low-level clashes along the border on Saturday.

Thousands attended funerals for 14 of those killed -- two were buried on Friday -- with mourners holding Palestinian flags and some chanting "revenge" and firing into the air.

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- Pressure for inquiry -

The armed wing of Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, said five of those killed were its members who were participating "in popular events side-by-side with their people."

The Israeli army said in a statement Saturday night that 10 of the dead had "documented terror backgrounds" in Hamas and other groups and were killed "whilst carrying out acts of terror."

In addition to the 16 Palestinians killed, more than 1,400 were wounded Friday, 758 of them by live fire, with the remainder hurt by rubber bullets and tear gas inhalation, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

The Israeli military says its forces opened fire only when necessary against those throwing stones and firebombs or rolling tyres at soldiers.

It said there were attempts to damage the fence and break through into Israel, as well as an attempted gun attack against troops.

No casualties were reported among Israelis.

Palestinians accused Israel of using disproportionate force, saying its soldiers opened fire on protesters who did not pose a threat, while human rights groups questioned Israel's use of live fire.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman issued a scornful rejection of demands for a probe.

"I do not understand the chorus of hypocrites who want a commission of inquiry," he posted in Hebrew on his Twitter account.

"They got confused and thought Hamas organised a Woodstock Festival yesterday and that we should give them flowers."

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas declared Saturday a day of national mourning and in a speech said he held Israel fully responsible for the deaths.

- US 'cover for Israel' -

The six-week protest is in support of Palestinian refugees and the timetable holds significance for a range of reasons that have added to tensions.

It began on Land Day, when Palestinians commemorate the killing of six unarmed Arab protesters in Israel in 1976.

Protests will continue until the United States opens its new Jerusalem embassy around May 14, a move that has enraged Palestinians, who see the city's annexed eastern sector as the capital of their future state.

May 14 will also mark 70 years since the creation of Israel, while Palestinians will mark what they call the Nakba, or "catastrophe," the following day.

The Nakba commemorates the more than 700,000 Palestinians who either fled or were expelled from their homes in the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948.

US President Donald Trump has harshly criticised the Palestinians in the past, but the State Department said only that it was "deeply saddened" by the loss of life and urged steps to lower tensions.

Human Rights Watch called calling the number of killed and wounded "shocking".

"Israeli allegations of violence by some protesters do not change the fact that using lethal force is banned by international law except to meet an imminent threat to life," the New York-based group said.

Israel had deployed troop reinforcements along the border, including more than 100 special forces snipers, saying it would prevent attempts to break through the fence.

Protests along the border are common, often involving young Palestinian men throwing stones at Israeli soldiers who respond with tear gas along with rubber and live bullets.

But the "March of Return" protest that began on Friday is on a larger scale and intended to involve families with women and children camping in tent cities near the border for weeks.People call for stricter gun control laws: Getty Images

State legislators in Vermont have passed a gun control bill that would raise the minimum age for buying a gun to 21, expand background checks for private gun sales and ban high-capacity magazines and bump stocks.

During a brief statement after the state Senate approved the legislation, Republican Governor Phil Scott said he expected to sign the bill after it had been reviewed by his attorneys.

Used in the Las Vegas shooting last year, bump stocks allow guns to fire more rapidly. The US Justice Department has also moved to ban them.

Despite having a reputation for being a liberal state, Vermont is largely rural with a high rate of gun ownership and few gun regulations.

But sentiments began to shift in the wake of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida last month and an apparent close call in Vermont soon after. Police said they had thwarted an alleged, potential shooting by a teenager on a local high school.

After what has seemed like a constant stream of mass shootings - and a lack of action on gun control by US Congress - states are beginning to take matters into their own hands.

Earlier this month, Republican Governor Rick Scott of Florida signed into law an array of gun limits, including an increase in the firearm buying age to 21. It also extended the waiting period to purchase a gun to three days.

It was the most aggressive action that the state of Florida had taken on gun control in decades.

But gun control activists still want to see the introduction of much stricter measures, such as a ban on military-style assault weapons.ROME (Reuters) - Italy on Saturday protested to France over a incident in which French border police entered a clinic run by a non-governmental organization that cares for migrants trying to cross the Alps, the foreign ministry said. The episode angered many politicians, some of whom saw it as a violation of Italian territory. The ministry, which had earlier summoned the French ambassador for an explanation, said in a statement that it had conveyed the Rome government's "firm protest for the behavior of the French customs agents, which was unacceptable ..." The NGO, Rainbow for Africa, said that on Friday evening the French brought a Nigerian migrant to the railway station of the Italian border town of Bardonecchia. The NGO said they entered the clinic, which is in the train station, and conducted a urine test on the man because they suspected him of drug trafficking. The foreign ministry said France had been told earlier this month that the station was no longer accessible for its police because it was now being used for humanitarian purposes. In their account of the incident, French customs said they had the written consent of the man for the test and the NGO had also given them permission to use the facilities for it. The test was negative. French customs said they had followed regulations and were ready to clarify with the Italians any legal and operational procedures to avoid future incidents. Massimiliano Fedriga of the right-wing League, which made big gains in recent elections, said the French had made Italy look like the laughing stock of Europe. "French police do whatever they want on Italian territory without being disturbed, as if they are at home. What happened in Bardonecchia is grave and shows how our so-called friends in Europe have little or no consideration for us," he said in a statement. (Reporting By Philip Pullella; Additional reporting by Leigh Thomas in Paris; Editing by Andrew Bolton and Stephen Powell)Tokyo (AFP) - Japanese whaling vessels returned to port on Saturday after catching more than 300 of the mammals in the Antarctic Ocean without facing any protests by anti-whaling groups, officials said.

A fleet of five whalers set sail for the Southern Ocean in November, as Tokyo pursues its "research whaling" in defiance of global criticism.

Three of the vessels, including the fleet's main ship, the Nisshin Maru, arrived in the morning at Shimonoseki port in western Japan, a port official said.

The fleet caught 333 minke whales as planned without any interruption by anti-whaling campaigners, the Fisheries Agency said in a statement.

Japanese whalers have in the past clashed at sea with animal rights campaigners, particularly the Sea Shepherd activist group, which last year announced it had no plan to make offshore protests this season.

Japan is a signatory to the International Whaling Commission moratorium on hunting, but exploits a loophole that allows whales to be killed for scientific research.

Tokyo says the slaughter is necessary for in-depth knowledge of whale behaviour and biology, but it makes no secret of the fact that whales killed in the hunts often end up on dinner plates.Jim Carrey is quick off the draw.

The actor on Thursday submitted his latest artistic rendering of Donald Trump to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery for consideration as the official presidential portrait.

Dear Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery @NPG, I know its early but Id like to submit this as the official portrait of our 45th President, Donald J. Trump. Its called, 'You Scream. I Scream. Will We Ever Stop Screaming?' pic.twitter.com/LrCmlXXpv7  Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) March 29, 2018

I know its early, Carrey wrote in a tongue-in-cheek tweet.

His artwork shows a nipple-fingering Trump screaming as he eats from what appears to be a bowl containing two scoops of ice cream.

Its titled: You Scream. I Scream. Will We Ever Stop Screaming?

People who responded on Twitter appeared to enjoy the piece:

Great likeness  Mike Denison (@mikd33) March 29, 2018

You are so talented.   Leanne Wyatt (@spacejamkp) March 29, 2018

Keep it coming Mr. Carrey! Absolutely hilarious. Artistic exposition, great work sir!!!  Slink Grindstone (@slinkgrindstone) March 29, 2018

The Smithsonian hasnt responded to Carreys submission.

Should Carreys Trump portrait not be to the gallerys taste, maybe it would consider some of the actors other recent politically charged pieces:

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Lawyer and lucky charm Joe diGenovia hopes to put Dirty Donald's troubles in the rearview mirror. But the objects in the mirror are closer than they appear. ;^P pic.twitter.com/td8vGaQdKu  Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) March 21, 2018

If you liked my last cartoon you may also enjoy...



"THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST WING AND PUTINS FLYING MONKEYS pic.twitter.com/slBG7j1s8d  Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) March 19, 2018

This is the portrait of a so-called Christian whose only purpose in life is to lie for the wicked. Monstrous! pic.twitter.com/MeYLTy1pqb  Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) March 17, 2018

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.By Fatos Bytyci PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj dismissed the country's interior minister and the secret service chief on Friday because he was not told six Turkish nationals would be deported to Turkey. The six were arrested in Kosovo on Thursday over alleged links to schools financed by the Gulen movement, which Ankara blames for a failed 2016 coup. "The entire operation - revoking their residence permits, detention, emergency deportation and the secret extradition to Turkey of the six Turkish citizens from Kosovo territory - was conducted without my knowledge and without my permission," Haradinaj said in a statement. Ankara said the six arrested were recruiters for a network run by the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen and had helped people accused of connections to the network to leave Turkey. Ankara blames Gulen and his movement for a failed coup attempt in 2016, which Gulen denies. Turkey has cracked down on the movement since the abortive coup, jailing thousands and sacking or suspending from their jobs thousands more. The European Union says the crackdown violated human rights, a position that complicates Kosovo's relations with Turkey. It has been under pressure from Turkey in recent weeks to take action against schools funded by the Gulen movement. But it must balance its historical ties to Turkey, one of Kosovo's biggest investors, against its ambitions to join the EU. The arrests of the Turks showed "human rights can be violated" in Kosovo, said Agron Bajrami, editor in chief of Kosovos biggest newspaper, Koha Ditore. "It is absurd and imaginable that none of the (political) leaders had prior knowledge as they are saying," Bajrami said. "This story does not end with these two dismissals. The only way to apologize to citizens is that all Kosovo leaders resign." Kosovo had a responsibility to arrest the six Turks, who had arrest warrants and extradition requests against them, Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul said. The decision to dismiss the interior ministry and intelligence chief was a domestic issue in Kosovo, Gul said. "Cracks within Kosovo institutions led to what happened," said Kadri Veseli, the speaker of the Kosovo parliament. "I want to ensure all those foreigners who are in Kosovo ... that an incident such as this one will not happen in the future. It was a mistake." But in a speech during a meeting of his AK party in Ankara on Friday, Turkey's president, Tayyip Erdogan, said the Turkish intelligence agency MIT had brought the six Turks back "in coordination with Kosovo intelligence." It was not immediately clear when replacements would be named for Interior Minister Flamur Sefaj and secret service chief Driton Gashi. (Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; additional reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara; editing by Ivana Sekularac and Larry King)By Maggie Serota

Caustic Fox News talking head Laura Ingraham learned a humiliating and expensive lesson on Thursday when her attempt to pick a fight with Marjorie Stoneman Douglas shooting survivor turned gun control activist David Hogg did not turn out how she expected. On Wednesday, Ingraham used her fairly large Twitter platform to take a shot at Hogg for being upset after receiving rejections from four University of California schools.

Ingraham shared a hit piece from Ben Shapiros conservative news site The Daily Wire, and took aim at the 17-year-olds GPA in a tweet shared with her 2.16 million followers:

David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPAtotally predictable given acceptance rates.) https://t.co/wflA4hWHXY  Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 28, 2018

But as Ingraham soon learned, picking a fight with a teenager on social media is a losing propositionespecially this teenager. Hoggs response to Ingraham wasnt directed at her, but instead her advertisers, a tactic that is used most fervently by the right.

The New York Times reported Thursday that TripAdvisor, Wayfair, Nestle, and Nutrish had all pulled their sponsorships from Ingrahams nightly opinion program The Ingraham Angle. Expedia said that they had pulled advertisements, but didnt specify when they stopped sponsorship. Wayfair, Nutrish, and TripAdviser released statements condemning Ingrahams decision to target a high school student. From the Times:

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Ms. Ingrahams remarks went too far for TripAdvisor, which said it planned to stop advertising on the show and that it did not condone the inappropriate comments made by this broadcaster. We also believe Americans can disagree while still being agreeable, and that the free exchange of ideas within a community, in a peaceful manner, is the cornerstone of our democracy, the company said through a spokesman. In our view, these statements focused on a high school student cross the line of decency. Nutrish, a pet food brand owned by Rachael Ray, said it was in the process of removing our ads from Laura Ingrahams program. The comments she has made are not consistent with how we feel people should be treated, the company said. Wayfair, an e-commerce company, said in a statement that it supports open dialogue and debate on issues, but that it would stop advertising on Ms. Ingrahams show. The decision of an adult to personally criticize a high school student who has lost his classmates in an unspeakable tragedy is not consistent with our values, the company said.

On Thursday afternoon, Ingraham publicly apologized to Hogg, in a statement that, of course, invoked God:

On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland, Ingraham tweeted. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David immediately after that horrific shooting and even noted how poised he was given the tragedy. As always hes welcome to return to the show anytime for a productive discussion.

 immediately after that horrific shooting and even noted how poised he was given the tragedy. As always, hes welcome to return to the show anytime for a productive discussion. WATCH: https://t.co/5wcd00wWpd (2/2)  Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 29, 2018

Hogg apparently wasnt impressed that Ingraham issued the apology while she was hemorrhaging followers.

I 100% agree an apology in an effort just to save your advertisers is not enough, Hogg tweeted. I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight. Its time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children.

I 100% agree an apology in an effort just to save your advertisers is not enough. I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight. Its time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children. https://t.co/H0yWs4zMGk  David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 29, 2018

Hogg then encouraged his followers to continue pressuring Ingrahams followers.

If you want to help I would suggest contacting 3-4 of these companies. Lets do this  David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 29, 2018

Good luck to Laura.

This post Laura Ingraham Got Outsmarted By a High School Senior first appeared on SPIN.By Latifah Muhammad

The Louisiana cop who shot and killed Alton Sterling has been fired, effective immediately, Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul announced at a news conference Friday (March 30). Officer Blane Salamoni was let go from the department while the second officer involved in the shooting, Howie Lake II, was suspended for three days without pay, Paul said.

The decision came after an administrative investigating into the conduct of the officers and how it contributed to the fatal outcome of the July 2016 shooting. Paul determined that Salamoni violated tactics training professionalism and organizational standards, and that the use of force against Sterling was also in violation of the departments policy.

Salamoni killed Sterling after he and Lake responded to a 911 call about the father of five selling CDs outside of a convenience store.

These actions were not minor deviations from policy, as they contributed to the outcome to the death of another human being, Paul said adding that separate disciplinary hearings were held for Salamoni and Lake where they discussed the evidence presented, and gave each officer an opportunity to provide an argument, witnesses, and an explanation for his behavior and actions during the incident.

Lake answered all of the questions that were presented during the hearing, but Salamoni was advised by his attorney not to answer any questions. He reportedly plans to appeal the decision.

I take officer safety to heart, but our actions as law enforcement officers need to reflect both the legal and community standards, as well as the practices and policies of our police department, said Paul.

He went on to ask that residents treat our police officers with the respect that their positions deserve, and I assure you that the men and women of the Baton Rouge Police Department will reciprocate that gesture.

Please stop resisting, stop running. When the police officer gives you direction, listen. Please, its important, he said and encouraged residents to file a complaint if they feel they were treated unjustly by Baton Rouge police.

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We want to hear about it, we want to know about it. Because this is what happens, when you do that..we get to learn if our police officers are responding to the training and the policies and procedures that we have in place, he continued. But we dont know that unless you pick up the phone and tell us.

Paul also vowed to hold one-on-one meetings with each officer in the department to explain his decision to fire Salamoni and suspend Lake, as well as to reassure them that he supports law enforcement.

Earlier in the week, Baton Rouge Attorney General Jeff Landry announced that he would not be filing criminal charges in the case, and concluded that both officers acted in a reasonable manner. A separate investigation by the Department of Justice returned insufficient evidence as to whether or not Sterlings civil rights were violated.

In graphic body cam footage released Friday, Sterling can be heard referring to the officers as sir and repeatedly asking what he did to warrant an arrest.

Dont f*cking move! Ill shoot your a**, b*tch! Salamoni yells while Sterling is being held by the back of the neck and told to put his hands on the squad car before his hands are forced behind his back. Though it appears that both officers spew expletives at Sterling, Salamoni holds a gun to the 37 year olds head and threatens to pull the trigger.

Next, he orders Lake to taze his f*cking a** before keeping his promise to shoot Sterling in the head, after he was tasered for a second time.

You can view footage below but please be warned that the video is extremely graphic and disturbing.

BREAKING: This is the body camera video from Baton Rouge police Officer Blane Salamoni, who shot & killed Alton Sterling. It was just aired by @WAFB  Officer Salamoni was fires today, he refused to answer all questions at his disciplinary hearing, on the advice of his attorney pic.twitter.com/ZiLR8e8ZmR  David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) March 30, 2018

This post Louisiana Cop Who Killed Alton Sterling Fired From Baton Rouge Police Department first appeared on Vibe.Washington (AFP) - The officer who shot dead a black man in the southern US state of Louisiana has been fired, the Baton Rouge police chief told journalists Friday.

News of the disciplinary measures came days after the state's attorney general said officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake -- both of whom are white -- would not face charges in the 2016 shooting death of Alton Sterling.

Salamoni was terminated effective immediately and Lake will be suspended for three days over his involvement in the incident, Chief Murphy Paul said.

Sterling, 37, was fatally shot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on July 5, 2016 in a scuffle with police outside a convenience store where he had been selling CDs. The shooting was captured on cell phone video.

Paul said additional video footage of the incident would be released.

Salamoni's firing comes as anger swells over another controversial police shooting that saw the death of an unarmed black man in California's capital city of Sacramento.

The two cases have once again brought concerns over police misconduct to the fore -- fatal shootings of African-American suspects in recent years have fueled a nationwide debate over race and criminal justice.

In explaining the decision not to press charges against the officers, Louisiana attorney general Jeff Landry said Sterling was armed, under the influence of illegal drugs and had resisted arrest efforts.

According to the Louisiana Justice Department report on the shooting, a loaded .38 caliber handgun was found in the right front pocket of Sterling's pants.Oklahoman teachers are on the brink of a strike. Much like their West Virginia predecessors, teachers in Oklahoma havent had a raise in ten years. Many dont even have a comma in their paycheck and are on state-level assistance. The education budget has been slashed by 28 percent and class sizes are increasing. All the while, just across state lines, teachers are paid almost $10,000 more a year. This reality has made teacher shortages rampant and the district is losing educators every single day. In fact, 2,000 active Oklahoma teachers are emergency certified, meaning they have no training for the job. Some classrooms reported having five different teachers for one single year.

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Although Oklahoma legislature passed a spending bill for educators on Wednesday, which included a $6,000 raise, it does not deal with the issues of their budget in general, class size, or the districts that have had to convert to four day school weeks due to lack of funding. Until a better budget package is passed, educators are still planning on striking on Monday, April 2nd. Brendan Jarvis, an educator and board member for the Oklahoma Education Association, will be one of them.

Jarvis, a single dad with two sophomores in Oklahoma public school, has seen firsthand efforts by educators to get a pay raise. He lived, for a long time, just above the federal poverty level. His concerns about education in Oklahoma are not just about the money, though. Theyre also about the students, who are the real victims. Here, Jarvis talks about the take-home pay for teachers in Oklahoma, why its so hard to pass laws that increase funding, and why the walk-out is a last resort for teachers.

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Most teachers in Oklahoma are living check to check. Especially if theyre single parents. One thing about pay is it limits your freedom in life. If you have a college degree, and you have a job, youre expected to make enough where you can be independent if you want to be.

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For the last ten years, Oklahoma teachers have not received a raise from the state. Theyve not met a minimum salary schedule, which you have to make. That has not been raised in 10 years. At the same time, theyve cut funding for Oklahoma schools by 20 percent.

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Im okay with living on less. But teachers are leaving the state.

The Oklahoma Educators Association had a plan, that had been put together last summer. This is really more of a cure, than a bandaid. It calls for $10,000 teacher raises over three years, and $5,000 raises for support staff. It also includes state employee raises of $7,500. That includes a lot of the supports for schools like Department of Human Services, mental health, and healthcare. We know that kids need these in order to succeed in school. Were also asking for $200 million to make up for cuts to education over the last decade.

Im a single dad with two sophomores. They have their mom, who has a job. I live in an apartment. I drive a 97 Mercury Mountaineer. Im not complaining about my salary. Im okay with living on less. But teachers are leaving the state. This really is a child-centered action. If I just wanted a raise, Id already be living in Texas. Lets put it that way. Its about more than just a raise for teachers. Its about an education system that is good for kids.

Were up to almost 2,000 emergency certified teachers  someone with a college degree that gets certified and can teach without any training to be a teacher. They have two years to get that training. Obviously, we appreciate people wanting to fill those gaps, because we have hundreds of unfilled positions in Oklahoma. Oklahoma City has like 300 unfilled positions. Tulsa Public has 2,000. In my suburban district, its like 22, which doesnt seem that bad. But for a district that teachers like to work in? Twenty-two unfilled positions shows you how bad the pay is. The teacher shortage is intensified with that effect because its the lowest pay in the nation.

Lets put it that way. Its about more than just a raise for teachers. Its about an education system that is good for kids.

Teachers take-home pay is not good. When you see an average teachers salary in Oklahoma of like 42,000 or whatever it is, that includes almost 7,000 dollars of the insurance benefits that the state pays. Which is a good benefit. But if you see that a teacher makes, say, 35,000 dollars, theyre really making 28,000 dollars. There are a lot of people who dont have a comma in their twice a monthly paycheck. There are teachers who get 1,200 dollars a month to live on. Many teachers are well below double the poverty line. Which means they are eligible for state assistance. For years, I was just over that line, so I didnt get assistance for my kids, in that zone where you have low pay but you dont qualify for assistance. Both of those things are happening.

Its bad for the state to have people with a college degree that qualify for public assistance. Thats hitting the state on two ends. Theyre paying the teachers salary and theyre paying for public assistance.

We are losing teachers every day to other states, because we are the lowest paid in the region. In addition to that, our schools are funded lower so its a more difficult job. The class sizes are bigger. We dont have as many resources as teachers in neighboring states. Oklahoma just hasnt committed to education for the last 10 years.

We have the highest standard in the nation for raising revenue. You have to get 76 out of 101 members of the house to agree to any revenue raising measures. Its a near-impossible standard so its never done. They dont have the same standard for cutting taxes. So whats happened over the last decade is taxes have been cut. Weve had 4 billion dollars of cuts over the last 10 years to revenue. Thats why its not just schools that are suffering. State employees havent had a raise. We turned down the Medicaid expansion. We just dont have revenue in the state and then all of our core services are suffering. Teachers finally decided to stand up and say, This is hurting our kids.

The goal is not a walk out. The goal is to get funding. Wed prefer to do that before a walk out, if necessary.

Six weeks ago, there started to be a lot of talk on social media about how teachers need to walk out. A teacher from Stillwater started a Facebook page called Teacher Walk Out, The Time Is Now. Within two days, it had 40,000 members. The Teachers Union in the state responded to the members by saying, we will lead the walkout. We need to do something to make Oklahoma a better place for kids. The walk out was a last resort.

The goal is not a walk out. The goal is to get funding. Wed prefer to do that before a walk out, if necessary. There is consensus among teachers that 10,000 dollars is what its going to take to keep teachers in Oklahoma. 3,000 wont keep teachers in Oklahoma. 5,000 wont keep teachers in Oklahoma. The only thing thats lacking right now is the will of the legislators to make it happen. So, we want the legislature to be responsive to what the people want. Teacher raise has overwhelming support from the public and all they have to do is do what they need to do make that happen and make it a better state. Its really about making Oklahoma a better place for children.

 As Told To Lizzy Francis

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The post Im a Teacher from Oklahoma. This is Why I Plan on Striking appeared first on Fatherly.Mingora (Pakistan) (AFP) - Malala Yousafzai visited the Swat valley Saturday for her first trip back to the once militant-infested Pakistani region where she was shot in the head by the Taliban more than five years ago.

"I left Swat with my eyes closed and now I am back with my eyes open," she told AFP, referring to how she was airlifted out in a coma after the attack in 2012.

"I am extremely delighted. My dream has come true. Peace has returned to Swat because of the invaluable sacrifices rendered by my brothers and sisters," she said at a school outside Mingora, the district's main town, where she was escorted by the Pakistani military.

The brief trip by the 20-year-old Nobel laureate is a highly symbolic moment for Pakistan, which regularly touts Swat as a success story in its long battle with extremism as it defends itself against accusations by the US and others that its northwest remains a safe haven for militancy.

The visit -- on which she was accompanied by her father, mother, and two brothers -- was kept tightly under wraps.

She took pictures of Swat valley from an army helicopter and tweeted them saying: "The most beautiful place on earth to me."

After flying from Islamabad, she met with friends and family before visiting the all-boys Swat Cadet College Guli Bagh, a military-run school some 15 kilometres (nine miles) outside Mingora.

"So much joy seeing my family home, visiting friends and putting my feet on this soil again," she tweeted.

There she lingered some 45 minutes, taking photographs, before travelling back to Islamabad. The entire visit is believed to have lasted just over two hours.

Mingora is where Malala's family was living and where she was attending school on October 9, 2012, when a gunman boarded her school bus, asked "Who is Malala?", and shot her.

She was treated first at an army hospital then airlifted to the British city of Birmingham.

Her near-miraculous recovery, and tireless career as an education advocate, have since turned her into a global symbol for human rights, and in 2014 she became the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize when she was just 17.

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Her family also told AFP of their joy in coming home.

"I am unable to believe I am back in Swat and meeting my own people," her father Ziauddin Yousafzai said, in comments echoed by her mother Toor Pekai.

- Tearful homecoming -

The trip comes two days after Malala, currently a student at Oxford University in Britain, made her emotional return to Pakistan, where her surprise visit has been met with widespread joy and pride.

She broke down in tears as she made a televised speech on Thursday, saying it was her "dream" to be back, and has vowed to Pakistani media that she will return permanently after she has completed her education.

However she has also been met with pockets of intense criticism. Malala is widely respected internationally, but opinion is divided in Pakistan, where some conservatives view her as a Western agent on a mission to shame her country.

There had been much speculation within the country over whether Malala would go to Swat during her visit.

The mountainous region, once a prized tourist destination famed for its pristine scenery, was overrun by the Pakistani Taliban in 2007.

The militants imposed a brutal, bloody rule, but the army drove them out in 2009. Recently restrictions on tourists visiting the area were lifted.

However security has remained fragile, as the assault on Malala three years after the military operation demonstrated. In February this year 11 military personnel were killed in an attack, and analysts have warned the militants still have a presence there.

Residents of the area have praised Malala to AFP in recent days, crediting her with helping to generate improvements in education -- especially for girls -- in the deeply conservative region, part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Earlier this month an all-girls school built with money from the Malala Fund opened in Shangla district northeast of Mingora, where her family lived before moving to the city.

Malala told AFP in Swat that she could see vast changes in the area since 2012 -- but added she has read reports which claim up to 50 percent of children are still out of school.

"We will have to work very hard to bring them all to school," she vowed.

Residents of Swat also welcomed her visit and urged fellow Pakistanis to support her efforts to promote girls' education.

"We welcome Malala and the slogan that she has raised -- one pen, one teacher. We have pinned our hopes in Malala," Nazir Khan, a government servant, told AFP.

"People have positive as well as negative views about her," fellow resident Arshad Ali said.

"We need to see what she has done until now, she has constructed a model school at Shangla reflecting her sincerity of purpose -- to promote education especially among girls in the country."Malala Yousafzai, pictured yesterday, has returned to Pakistan for the first time in five years. - AFP

Malala Yousafzai, the womens education activist and youngest ever Nobel Prize Winner, said yesterday that she plans to return permanently to Pakistan after finishing her studies in Britain.

Ms Yousafzai, who is known across the world simply as Malala, was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012 while she was campaigning for female education in the Swat Valley.

In her first visit to the country since the attack, she yesterday told Pakistani media that she plans to return to the country in two years - after finishing her course in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University.

My plan is to return to Pakistan as this is my country, she said.

The Pakistani government and military have helped me in visiting my home country. I will return to Pakistan permanently after completing my education.

She described herself as completely focusing on education at Oxford, but said that she wanted to work for the education of children and make it possible for every girl in Pakistan to receive a high-level education, to fulfil her dreams and become a part of society.

Malala matriculated at the University of Oxford in October 2017. Credit: David Hartley

While in Pakistan, Ms Yousafzai hopes to visit her home town in the Swat Valley, around 160 miles (250km) from the capital, Islamabad.

It was there, in 2012, that a Taliban gunman singled her out on the bus she rode to school, and shot her in the head.

Yesterday Ms Yousafzai, now 20, acknowledged the work of the Pakistani military in saving her life.

"My treatment here was by Army doctors, and if they had not done my surgery in time I would not be here today," she said.

After leaving Pakistan, she founded her own not-for-profit educational fund, the Malala Fund. She continued to write and campaign, and in 2013 co-authored her biography, I Am Malala.

In 2014, she became the youngest-ever recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize

Sources close to Ms Yousafzai's family yesterday told The Daily Telegraph that she had discussed with them her plans to move back to Pakistan, but had not yet decided what she would do upon her return.

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She told the media that she had missed everything about Pakistan while she had been studying in Britain.

Right from the rivers, the mountains, to even the dirty streets and the garbage around our house, and my friends and how we used to have gossip and talk about our school life, to how we used to fight with our neighbours, she said.

Malala Yousafzai wins the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Credit: Andy Rain/EPA

Aside from her educational commitments, she said that security concerns had prevented her from returning before now.

A student who also attends Ms Yousafzai's Oxford college, Lady Margaret Hall, said yesterday that while studying she had plain clothes security detail with her at all times.

Before beginning her degree at Oxford, she studied at Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham.

While many in Pakistan welcomed her return, others were more critical of her reforming stance and accused her of promoting her own, non-Islamic, values.

A group of private schools in Pakistan declared Friday to be "I Am Not Malala Day", for what its spokesman described as her "anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan ideology".

Responding to her critics, she said: "I am proud of my religion, and I am proud of my country."

"I just don't know anything I've said that makes me anti-Pakistan or anti-Islam."It's 2018, and there's one thing on the back of everyone's minds  nuclear warfare.

If it isn't, it should be. In January of this year, the doomsday clock moved two minutes closer to midnight because of elevated nuclear warfare risk. The Outrider Foundation decided to take advantage of this uniquely terrifying moment in history and publish an interactive nuclear bomb simulator, allowing users to see how their houses and neighborhoods would be affected if they were hit by a nuclear bomb.

SEE ALSO: The 6 Best Places to Live in the Event of Nuclear War

To use the map, simply type in your address and zip code and choose your bomb of choice. The visualization can show you how the large the impact of the bomb might be, how much of your neighborhood would likely be vaporized and how many people might be affected by radiation poisoning  ya know, all the good stuff.

Here's a sneak peak of what would happen to Times Square:

The visualization relies on data from Stevens Institute of Technology professor Alex Wallerstein, who created a "Nuke Map" to measure the impact of nuclear war. The Outrider Foundation zeroes in on that data to emphasize people's neighborhoods, personalizing the experience for users.

London, if attacked by a Tsar Bomba

Image: screenshot/outrider foundation

"We'd like to spread the word to as many people as possible, but we are speaking mostly to the average citizen, not nuclear policy experts, not politicians," Tara Drozdenko, who directs Outrider's Nuclear Policy & Nonproliferation program, told Mashable. "Outrider firmly believes that ordinary people need to be more involved in the national and international conversation about nuclear weapons. We are hoping to inspire more people to engage on this issue. We have additional resources on our website that outline what you as an individual can do about nuclear weapons."

If only someone could get these maps over to Donald Trump, maybe he'd stop insulting the leader of North Korea on Twitter.Vili Fualaau, who notoriously wed his former sixth-grade teacher Mary Kay Letourneau, has been arrested and charged with driving under the influence after he allegedly crashed his SUV into two cars last month, PEOPLE confirms.

Letourneau herself reportedly also became involved in the Feb. 2 incident, though she and Fualaau separated last year.

According to court documents, the 34-year-old Fualauu was driving his Mercury Mountaineer in Burian, Washington, when the wreck occurred. When cops arrested him, he allegedly had slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and a dazed expression.

According to TMZ, Fualaau initially agreed to take a field sobriety test but before he could get started, Letourneau, 56, arrived on the scene and told him not to proceed with the test because his attorney was on the way.

He instead submitted to a blood test at the police precinct, TMZ reports.

A source close to Letourneau tells PEOPLE that the former teacher has always taken a protective stance with her husband.

It certainly sounds like something she would do, the insider says. She has always loved Vili and makes sure that things go right for him. Thats the type of person she is.

From left: Vili Fualaau and Mary Kay Letourneau in 2015

Police say that Fualaaus blood alcohol content was .08 when he was stopped and that he had THC in his blood. He was booked on a charge of DUI and posted $10,000 bond. He has not yet entered a plea and is due in court next week.

His attorney did not respond to a message seeking comment on Friday.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

This is not the first driving mishap for Fualaau. In December 2005, he was pulled over in a Seattle suburb. A breathalyzer test registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.136, well over the legal limit. He was sentenced to a year in jail, with time suspended except for one day.

The couple legally separated last year after 12 years of marriage. Despite that apparent split, Fualaau and Letoureanu are still living together and have recently been spotted out together near their Washington home.

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From left: Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau in an undated photo

The two have generated international headlines for decades.

In 1996, Letourneau began a sexual relationship with Fualaau when he was her sixth-grade student in Seattle. Letourneau, then in her mid 30s, began having sex with Fualaau when he was 12 years old.

Their affair ignited national controversy and revulsion, particularly after Letourneau defied a court order to stay away from Fualaau, after which the judge in her case ordered her back to prison.

Following a conviction for felony second-degree rape of a child, Letourneau was originally sentenced to six months in jail, with three months suspended, and told to have no contact with Fualaau for life. But she was unable to stay away from him and was re-arrested when she was caught having sex with him  again  in a car.

Letourneau was sent back to prison and was released in 2004. She twice became pregnant with Fualaaus child when he was underage.

After finishing her sentence, Letourneau married Fualaau in 2005 and they settled in King County, Washington  occasionally speaking out about their lives, but maintaining relatively low profiles.

They now live in an apartment in Des Moines, Washington. He has recently worked at a home improvement store and as a DJ; she has worked a legal assistant.Mexico City (AFP) - Wanted: job candidate capable of dealing with a vitriolic Donald Trump, a record murder rate, a messy war on drugs, a sluggish economy and a political system rotting with corruption.

As the campaign kicks off for Mexico's July 1 elections, the country's next president has a long list of problems waiting for him or her.

Here is a look at the four candidates vying for the job:

- Lopez Obrador, the front-runner -

Veteran leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is one of the most divisive figures in Mexican politics.

Making his third presidential bid -- which he vows will be the last -- the man known as "AMLO" has sought to present a mellower side, toning down his fiery attacks on the "mafia of power" and laughing off critics' dire warnings about how he would wreck Latin America's second-largest economy.

When enemies accuse him of ties to Russia, he has slyly turned the insult to irony, donning a Russian ushanka hat and calling himself "Andres Manuelovich."

The former Mexico City mayor can afford to crack jokes: the latest polls give him a comfortable lead.

But Lopez Obrador, 64, also has a knack for shooting himself in the foot.

In 2006, he led for most of the race. Then he lost his cool in the home stretch, insulted the sitting president, Vicente Fox, as a "big-mouth" (loosely translated), and refused to accept defeat when he narrowly lost the race.

He has never hesitated to burn political bridges.

A native of the southern state of Tabasco, he got his start in politics in the 1970s with the ruling PRI party -- now his enemy.

He helped launch a left-wing breakaway, the PRD, in the 1980s, then spurned it to found his own leftist party, Morena, in 2014.

The widower remarried journalist and writer Beatriz Gutierrez Muller in 2006. He has four sons.

The last, Jesus Ernesto, has a name that sums up all his father's contradictions, says the journalist Raymundo Rivapalacio: "a mixture of Jesus Christ and Ernesto 'Che' Guevara."

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- Anaya, the 'boy wonder' -

With his slender build and boyish looks, Ricardo Anaya can seem a bit like a teenager who somehow wound up running for president of Mexico. But the 39-year-old's rapid political rise was anything but an accident.

Running for the conservative PAN party, Anaya has mounted a campaign straight out of Silicon valley, roaming an open stage in wire-rimmed glasses, his shirt open at the collar, and promising to address Mexico's problems with innovation and ideas.

Known for his sharp intelligence, Anaya got his start in politics at age 17, when he knocked on the door of a local PAN leader in his hometown, Queretaro, and told her he wanted to work for the party.

"He was very young, very resolute and very aware that he wanted to be doing this instead of going to parties," the politician, Senator Marcela Torres, told AFP.

By 21, Anaya was running for state legislature, by 33 he was elected to Congress, and by 34 he was the speaker of the lower house.

Journalists nicknamed him "the boy wonder" for his rapid rise, his ambition, perfectionism and attention to detail.

Critics say he has a Machiavellian thirst for power, visible in the way he sidelined rivals for the his party's presidential nomination and forged an ideologically messy alliance with the left-wing PRD to boost his chances in the polls.

In characteristically decisive style, Anaya married his first love, his childhood sweetheart Carolina Martinez. They have three children.

- Meade, the regular guy -

Jose Antonio Meade might be remembered as the best president Mexico never had.

A respected technocrat, Meade, 49, has held a series of ministerial posts in both PAN and PRI governments, most recently as President Enrique Pena Nieto's finance minister.

Even many Mexicans who don't plan to vote for him say he is highly qualified for the job.

But he is carrying the very heavy baggage of the deeply unpopular president, and lacks the natural charisma that might have made it lighter.

Ironically, Meade is not a member of the troubled ruling party he is running for, and he could hardly be more different from Pena Nieto.

Where the outgoing president is suave and scripted, with handsome looks and a soap-opera star wife to match, Meade is running as a regular guy who just happens to be a devoted and capable public servant.

He drives his own Honda, eats Mexican "torta" sandwiches, and was known for regularly dropping by the cafeteria at his ministry.

Smart and experienced, he laces his discussions of policy with detailed statistics and history.

"He was a brilliant student," said newspaper columnist Fausto Pretelin, a university classmate. "His intelligence was in a whole other dimension."

Despite it all, Meade has struggled to connect with voters in his first-ever election campaign.

He is married to the artist Juana Cuevas. They have three children.

- Zavala, the first lady scorned -

Former first lady Margarita Zavala angrily quit Anaya's PAN last year, accusing him of refusing to let party members choose their own candidate transparently.

She is now standing as the first independent presidential candidate in Mexico's recent history -- the only one who gathered the required signatures to make it onto the ballot.

Zavala, a former lawmaker and the wife of ex-president Felipe Calderon, has little chance of winning.

But the 50-year-old conservative could steal crucial votes from Anaya.(Photo: SomethingGreek.com)

A mother claims her daughter was hit with a paddle and forced to eat rotten food as part of a sorority hazing ritual.

On Wednesday, speaking out for the first time, Sue Levy Giles said while her daughter Alexandria was pledging to the sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha at the University of Pittsburgh in February, she and eleven other pledges were physically attacked in a dark basement. She had been kicked, pushed, punched, and slapped. She had been forced to ingest rotten food, Levy Giles told CBS Philly, adding that her daughter broke a tooth during the incident.

Levy Giles and the universitys dean of students did not return Yahoo Lifestyles request for comment.

However, Leona Dotson, communications chairman of the sorority sent Yahoo Lifestyle the following statement: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority has a zero-tolerance policy for hazing in our sorority and we take any allegations of this nature very seriously. We were appalled to learn of hazing allegations against a suspended member who is no longer a student at the University of Pittsburgh. We believe that all existing and prospective members have the right to be treated with dignity and respect. We ensure members rights by disciplining those who violate Alpha Kappa Alpha Sororitys policies and procedures. Dotson added that AKA educates incoming members about hazing and provides an anonymous system for reporting abuse.

In February, the sorority made national headlines when all 12 pledges filed a police report after a mother noticed a bruise on her daughters arm while visiting her on campus.

At the time, Penn Hills Police Chief Howard Burton told NBC, During the course of this, they were maybe hit with a paddle of some sort, Burton said. Weve got a lot of girls who dont want to talk about it. If they dont want to be victims theres not a heck of a lot we can do with that. The sorority is currently under suspension.

Levy Giles  also a member of AKA  says Alexandria has always wanted to join the ranks of the organization, founded in 1908 for African-American women. She would wear pink and green. Her room at one point was pink and green. She always looked forward to becoming a member of the sorority, she told CBS Philly. As a mom, Im sorry but I wish I could have protected her but I entrusted her to the university. I entrusted her to my sorority.

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Despite classic research that shows more women than men believe Greek pledging should be a positive experience, theres no shortage of sorority horror stories.

In 2010, a woman named Joanne (who used a pseudonym for security reasons), told ABC News that while pledging at an unnamed sorority at Penn State Altoona in 2008, she and other women endured verbal abuse while standing on their heads against concrete walls. If a pledge moved, a sorority sister would repeatedly bang their heads into the wall.

Other tasks included cleaning the floor with her fingernails, being pressured into drinking black water, and attending 2 a.m. group meetings.

The treatment caused Joanne to switch campuses but that didnt stop the harassment. All the sisters and pledges turned on me, she told ABC News. My car was keyed. I was getting threatening text messages every day. The second semester I couldnt sleep because I would have nightmares.

In 2012, Britteny Starling, a Zeta Phi Beta pledge at UC Berkeley filed a lawsuit against the sorority for beating her on the head until she recited the history of the group, forcing her to clean juice from the floor using her back, removing her shirt, and not allowing her to sleep at night or use the bathroom.

A former Dartmouth University student named Ravital Segal wrote in the Huffington Post that her experience pledging for Kappa Kappa Gamma included being blindfolded and force-fed alcohol in a car. As a result, she woke up intubated in the intensive care unit of a hospital cut and bloodied with broken teeth. The doctor informed me that I had entered the hospital with a .399 blood alcohol content, she wrote. I soon learned that a .4 BAC is coma and death. I was literally one sip of alcohol away from dying.

Why do pledges tolerate the abuse? Research shows that hazing triggers a disturbing cycle: The harsh treatment harms ones self-esteem and people who undergo these induction rituals feel needier and more dependent on their peers as a result.

Joanne told ABC News that while she refused to drink the black water and left, I ended up coming back [to carry out a different punishment] because they called me and yelled at me. I didnt know what else to do.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.Oklahoma lawmakers passed a bill Thursday giving teachers a $6,100 raise on average, but educators in the state  who rank among the worst paid in the country  are still planning to strike on Monday, demanding higher raises and more education funding.

The Oklahoma strike comes weeks after a statewide strike by teachers in West Virginia, which lasted 9 days and ended in a deal granting 5% pay raises to teachers and other state workers. In Arizona, thousands of teachers rallied at the state capitol on Wednesday, calling for a 20% pay raise and more funding per student.

The Oklahoma bill, HB1010XX, raises taxes on cigarette sales, fuel and lodging in order to fund the raise for teachers  an increase of 16 percent on average, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said in a statement Wednesday. She touted the change as the largest teacher pay raise in the history of the state and planned to sign the bill Thursday afternoon, regardless of plans for the teacher strike to proceed.

I applaud the bipartisanship shown in the Senate tonight and in the House of Representatives earlier this week by passing House Bill 1010XX, Fallin said Wednesday. Those voting yes answered the call from the public by voting teachers a pay raise and putting the state on a solid foundation for the future.

But the Oklahoma Education Association is calling for a $10,000 increase in teacher pay over three years, a $5,000 pay increase for support professionals over three years and the restoration of millions of dollars in education funding that had been cut from the budget in recent years.

While this is major progress, this investment alone will not undo a decade of neglect. There is still work to do to get this legislature to invest more in our classrooms. And that work will continue Monday, when educators descend on the capitol, Alicia Priest, president of the Oklahoma Education Association, said in a Facebook video Wednesday.

Oklahoma ranks among the worst states when it comes to education funding and teacher pay. According to a National Education Association ranking of 50 states and the District of Columbia, Oklahoma placed 49th for average teacher salary in 2016, with only Mississippi and South Dakota falling lower on the list. Oklahoma was also ranked 47th in expenditures for public K-12 students per student in 2016, according to the National Education Association.

The average salary for Oklahoma teachers was $45,276 in 2016  a slight decrease from 2015, according to the NEA. Teachers in New York, the top-ranked state in terms of teacher pay, made $79,152 on average in 2016. Nationally, the average public school teacher salary was $58,353 in the 201516 school year, according to the NEA.

This package does not overcome the shortfall that has caused four-day weeks, overcrowded classrooms that deprive kids of the one-on-one attention they need, Priest said in the Facebook video. We must show up on April 2. We must keep fighting for everything our students deserve.Several school districts across Kentucky shut down Friday as teachers called in sick to protest the passage of a controversial pension bill now heading to the desk of Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin.

The bill, which passed both chambers of the state legislature, would overhaul the states public pension system, mostly affecting teachers hired after Jan. 1, 2019, by moving them from a traditional pension to a hybrid plan. The bill also limits the number of sick days teachers can put toward retirement and requires them to work longer before becoming eligible for retirement benefits.

Teachers in the state had rallied against the new pension plan, arguing it it is less generous to teachers and could discourage new teachers from entering the profession. Their protest is the latest in a wave of activism by teachers across the country who  faced with crowded classrooms, budget cuts, personal spending on school supplies and what they see as a general lack of appreciation  are demanding better pay and increased education funding.

Teachers in West Virginia led a strike for nine days in early March, shutting down public schools across the state and ultimately achieving a 5% raise for teachers and other state workers. In Arizona this week, teachers rallied at the state capitol demanding a pay hike. Oklahoma teachers plan to strike on Monday, calling for more pay raises and a reversal of millions of dollars of education budget cuts.

Bevin, a Republican, praised lawmakers for passing the pension bill and not kicking the pension problem down the road. While Republicans say the new plan will make the pension system sustainable, Democrats and education groups have described it as shameful.

More than 20 counties in the state closed school on Friday because of teacher protests, the Louisville CourierJournal reported. Jefferson County Public Schools and Fayette County Public Schools, two of the largest districts in the state, were among them. Both districts cited significant teacher absences and a lack of substitutes to cover their classes.

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Teachers descended on the state capitol on Friday, chanting, Save our schools, and, Weve had enough.

It just broke me, teacher Lynn Fiechter told the CourierJournal about watching the Senate vote to pass the bill on Thursday night. She was among hundreds of teachers at the capitol on Friday, many of whom stood under a banner that said, Kentucky deserves better.

We were not just going to sit home, she said.A Florida pilot made it clear just how overjoyed he was to be back on solid ground after performing an emergency landing in a small aircraft with landing gear problems.

The unnamed instructor for the flight school Wayman Aviation could be seen kissing the tarmac in a video taken by the Total Traffic and Weather Network.

He was reportedly giving a lesson to a commercial pilot training to be an instructor Thursday morning when the incident occurred.

They were landing the Piper PA-28 at North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines when the nose gear collapsed, sending the plane skidding on the tarmac.

"It was a nice, safe controlled emergency landing," flight school vice president Eddy Luy said in an interview with the Sun Sentinel. "Everyone is safe and unharmed. This is exactly what training is for  90 percent is for emergency procedures, the 'what ifs.'"

Luy speculated the emergency landing was a result of a mechanical failure, but insisted the plane was recently serviced.

The Federal Aviation Administration is currently investigating the incident.

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Related Articles:Aliens, UFOs, and creatures from strange dimensions all sound like tropes out of a cheesy 80s movie, but two separate airline pilots may have spotted a UFO in Arizona on February 24th, 2018 (aka an unidentified flying object).

While flying, a Learjet airline pilot noticed a strange object passing above the plane. The pilot then radioed the Federal Aviation Administration about the strange object, to which someone responded that it might be a UFO.

Shortly after, an American Airlines pilot noticed something similar, telling the FAA, yeah something just passed above usI dont know what it was, but at least two [or] three thousand feet above us.

A FAA spokesperson said its unclear what exactly both pilots spotted and if it was, in fact, an actual UFO (p.s.  a UFO doesnt have to necessarily be otherworldlyit just has to be unidentified, like a foreign space craft).

We have a close working relationship with a number of other agencies and safely handle military aircraft and civilian aircraft of all types in that area every day, including high-altitude weather balloons, the FAA explained.

As far back as ancient times humans have claimed to have spotted UFOs. In fact, in 1947, civilian pilot Kenneth Arnold claimed to have spotted UFOs near Washingtons Mount Rainier.

2 pilots report UFO sighting pic.twitter.com/GzNlPQIsmO  RT (@RT_com) March 29, 2018

Arnold claimed that he saw nine glowing disk-like objects traveling in a V formation at 1700 mph, and the military confirmed that they werent testing any aircrafts that day. Thats when the media coined the phrase flying saucer.

Basically, this most recent sighting remains a mystery. But were confident the truth is out thereUFO sightings are often hard to believe, and for pretty obvious reasons. When a sighting originates from a single person it is often written off immediately, simply because its impossible to verify what one individual believes they saw in the sky. However, when two or more witnesses say they saw the same thing  and when those witnesses are seasoned airline pilots who know a thing or two about what should and shouldnt be speeding around above the clouds  thing start to get a lot more interesting.

On February 24th, two pilots reported seeing the same bizarre object in the sky above their heads and nobody, including the FAA, has any idea what it was. The audio recording of the banter between the pilots and their air traffic controller reveals just how strange the sightings were, and its clear the pilots had no idea what it was they were seeing.

Don't Miss: Get free network TV without sticking an ugly HDTV antenna on your window

The audio of the conversations, first reported by The Drive, begins with the pilot of a Learjet owned by Phoenix Air radioing in to the air traffic control center to ask if another plane had passed over the top of them a few seconds earlier.

Negative, the controller responds, prompting another pilot to chime in a UFO, to which the pilot of the Learjet offers a lighthearted yeah.

The controller than contacts another pilot, this time on an American Airlines flight headed over the same area that the strange sighting was reported. The controller asks the pilot to radio in if they see anything pass over them over the next few miles of their flight.

I dont know what it was, it wasnt an airplane but it was the path was going in the opposite direction, the Learjet pilot explains. Its not long before the American Airlines pilot hops on the radio to say that they, too, saw the bizarre object.

Yeah, something just passed over us, like a I dont know what it was, the American pilot says. But it was at least two, three thousand feet above us. Yeah, it passed right over the top of us.

Story continues

According to the FAA, no other planes should have been over the area at the time of the sightings. The fact that the pilots identified the objects as not being a plane or a balloon just makes things all the more confusing. Aliens? Maybe.

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See the original version of this article on BGR.comJames Matthews poses last spring with his new bride, Pippa Middleton, as James' father, David Matthews (right), looks on. (Photo: Reuters/pool)

French police launched an investigation into allegations of the rape of a child against the father-in-law of Pippa Middleton, sister of the Duchess of Cambridge.

David Matthews, father of millionaire hedge-fund manager James Matthews who married Middleton last year, was detained and questioned by French police of the Brigade for the Protection of Minors, and placed under formal investigation by a magistrate on Tuesday, reports Agence France Presse.

A spokesman for Matthews said that he categorically denies the allegation and unequivocally contests the untrue and scandalous accusation, the Telegraph reported. The alleged rape is said to have occurred between 1998 and 1999, but was not reported to police until last year. Euronews reported that police are investigating two incidents involving a teenage girl, one in Paris, and one in St. Barths, where Matthews owns a luxury hotel popular with celebrities.

The allegations concern the rape of a minor by a person with authority over his victim, AFP reported.

A formal investigation in France means that there is enough evidence to proceed, but cases can also be dropped.

Matthews was detained for questioning in Paris while he was traveling there, but was released and there are currently no restrictions on his movements, according to the Telegraph.

Matthews, 74, is a self-made millionaire and former race car driver. He attended Middleton and his sons wedding last spring along with members of the British royal family, including the former Kate Middleton and Prince William. Their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, served as a page boy and flower girl in the ceremony. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who would later become Harrys fiancee, attended the reception.

There was no comment on the investigation from the royal family.

David Matthews middle son, Michael, died at age 22 while descending Mt. Everest in 1999. His youngest son, Spencer, 28, is a British reality TV star.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.David and Jane Matthews attend the wedding of Pippa Middleton. The case dates back to 1998-99 - AFP

The father-in-law of Pippa Middleton is being investigated by French police over allegations he raped a female minor.

David Matthews, the father of James Matthews who married the Duchess of Cambridges sister last summer, was questioned by police on Tuesday over an alleged attack and placed under formal investigation by a magistrate.

The alleged rape is said to have happened in 1998-9, and was reported to police in 2017. Mr Matthews denies the "untrue and scandalous accusation".

Under French law, being put under formal investigation means there is serious or consistent evidence that points to probable involvement in a crime. It is a step toward a trial but investigations can be dropped without proceeding to court.

After questioning, Mr Matthews was freed but remains under judicial control, meaning prosecutors have attached conditions to his release or imposed certain limits on who he can meet or where he can go. A judicial source confirmed to the Telegraph there were no restrictions to "his freedom of movement, meaning he does not have to remain in France.

The allegations are being investigated by the Minor Protection Brigade. Kensington Palace, which represents the Duchess of Cambridge, did not comment.

David Matthews, right, on the wedding day of his son James and Pippa Middleton. He is understood to deny the allegations Credit: UK Press Pool/Getty Images

The 74-year-old, a millionaire former racing driver who owns the Eden Roc hotel in St Barths, was present at the wedding of James Matthews and Pippa Middleton in May 2017, in a day which included senior members of the Royal Family.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who is very close to her younger sister, watched on as their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte joined the wedding party as page boy and flowergirl.

Prince Harry also attended, along with Mr Matthews son, reality television star Spencer, and Carole, Michael and James Middleton.

Mr Matthews is reported to have been brought in for questioning after flying into Paris.

A Paris judicial official told the Telegraph: I confirm that David M was placed in police custody on 27 March at the Brigade for the Protection of Minors.

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Following his arrest, the Paris public prosecutors office opened a judicial investigation, overlooked by an examining magistrate.

Mr Matthews with his wife Jane on the wedding day Credit: Andrew Matthews/PA

He was placed under judicial supervision by the investigating judge.

The investigation alleges that the crimes were committed in 1998 and 1999.

The investigations will now continue as a judicial investigation and will be led by an investigating judge.

A spokesman for Mr Matthews said: David Matthews categorically denies the allegation and unequivocally contests the untrue and scandalous accusation.

Mr Matthews, the son of a Yorkshire coal miner, is a self-made millionaire who rose from his first job as a garage mechanic to a renowned and successful racing driver.

Retiring in the late 1970s following injury, he made a fortune through the sale of his car dealership, marrying his second wife, Jane, and buying 18th century mansion Caunton Manor for their family.

The couple went on to buy Eden Roc hotel in the Caribbean island of St Barths, a French overseas territory. The property went on to become a favourite celebrity haunt, and has hosted the Middleton family.

Mr Matthews is also Laird of Glen Affric, after purchasing the Scottish estate. He is father of James, Spencer and Michael, who died aged 22 while climbing Mount Everest.

He also has a daughter with his first wife.President Trump, pictured with first lady Melania Trump, has declared April National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. (Photo: Getty Images)

In what some are calling an early April Fools Joke, President Trump declared Saturday the start of National Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

According to CNN, April has been Sexual Assault Awareness Month since 2001 however in 2010, President Obama issued a proclamation that Trump has adhered to since taking office.

Trump, who in the past has faced sexual harassment allegations from 15 women (all of which the president has denied), issued a statement on the White House website.

There were several misspellings on the White House press release, which Twitter users noticed. (Photo: White House)

During National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, we remain steadfast in our efforts to stop crimes of sexual violence, provide care for victims, enforce the law, prosecute offenders, and raise awareness about the many forms of sexual assault, the statement read in part. We must continue our work to eliminate sexual assault from our society and promote safe relationships, homes, and communities.

Trump made the proclamation Friday amid two separate lawsuits filed by adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal, both of whom claim to have slept with the president  consensually  during his 12-year marriage to Melania.

People on social media ridiculed the idea of Trump calling for accountability on the topic.

This proclamation is riddled with typos. No one even ran it through spellcheck. Assault is misspelled at least twice..Wow.. just wow.

President Donald J. Trump Proclaims April 2018 as National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month https://t.co/BoJRyiMbw2 via @whitehouse  Jenny Bean (@JennyBean1972) March 30, 2018

There is something profoundly disturbing about watching a man who proudly admitted to being able to get away with sexual assault discuss National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. https://t.co/yuhaBlLoqN  EMILY's List (@emilyslist) March 30, 2018

Donald Trump declares April "National Sexual Assault Awareness and Irony Month."  Paul Solomon (@FrankTheDoorman) March 30, 2018

President Trump, who stands accused of sexual assault or harassment by 19 women, names April 'National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month' https://t.co/elFrgqggLc  Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) March 30, 2018

Donald Trump just declared April 2018 as National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. Perhaps to celebrate, every day of the month he'll publicly address just one of the allegations against him.

pic.twitter.com/fbkraN9osM  Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 30, 2018

Trump has declared April "National Sexual Assault Awareness Month" No. This isn't a joke. It's like Charles Manson announcing an anti-murderous cult awareness month.  Dawkins Dog (@DawkinsDog) March 30, 2018

Breaking: Donald Trump proclaims April national sexual assault awareness and prevention month. This is the perfect time to demand Congress investigate this hypocrite for sexual misconduct. pic.twitter.com/uooKRXNqlL  Marling (@AEMarling) March 30, 2018

Trump has proclaimed April as National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. That's like Colonel Sanders being the Grand Marshall at the National Chicken Parade! #gthoh  Frederick Owens (@owensbfrederick) March 30, 2018

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.The Prince of Wales has delivered his first Easter message, issuing a plea to free Christians, Jews and Muslims from the barbaric grip of those who distort and misrepresent faith.

The Prince said those persecuted for their religion must not be forgotten, adding that the Christians fleeing danger for their faith and for their life were in our prayers.

Saying he found hope in learning that some were now returning to their homelands, he said: I have been so deeply moved, and humbled, by their truly remarkable courage and by their selfless capacity for forgiveness, despite all that they have suffered.

It is the first time the Prince has delivered a special message at Easter, after he was inspired by meetings with Christian Church leaders from the Middle East including the Coptic Pope, the Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil, and the Melkite Archbishop of Zahle and Forzol.

Recorded at his London home of Clarence House, the filmed message is released on Good Friday and draws on the Princes strong belief in interfaith dialogue.

The Prince of Wales accompanied by Bishop Charles Samuel during a visit to the oldest Anglican Church in South East Asia in Penang, Malaysia Credit: PA

While the Queen records her annual Christmas broadcast, an Easter message has not been part of the Royal Familys calendar.

Drawing on the similarities between religions, the Prince said: At Easter, as we recall the suffering of Our Lord, we also remember Mary his mother and the torment of grief she endured.

Mary occupies a unique and elevated position in both Christianity and Islam. She is the mother of Our Lord and exalted in the Quran.

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall at the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Malaysia Credit: Getty

All three Abrahamic faiths have known and continue to know the bitterness of persecution when religion has fallen into the barbaric grip of those who distort and misrepresent faith.

He added: This Easter I want to salute the fortitude of all those who, whatever their faith, are persecuted for remaining faithful to the true essence of their beliefs.

The Queen attended the Maundy service in Windsor on Thursday Credit: PA

I admire, and greatly respect, all those of you who find it in your hearts to pray for those who persecute you and, following the example of Christ, seek forgiveness for your enemies.

Jesus summarizes the Ten Commandments into two requirements  that we should love God and love our neighbour as ourselves.

It is, therefore, my special prayer this Eastertide that they will be your guide and your inspiration.ORLANDO, Fla.  Noor Salman, the widow of the Pulse nightclub shooter, was found not guilty on Friday of helping her husband with his deadly attack.

A federal jury acquitted Salman on charges of aiding and abetting her husband, Omar Mateen, in providing material support to the self-described Islamic State, as well as obstruction of justice. She was facing life in prison.

The 2016 attack claimed the lives of 49 people. At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Salman was arrested in January 2017, seven months after the attack, and has been held behind bars ever since.

Salman, 31, cried as she heard the verdict. The first thing she said was thank you, her lawyers said.

Salman has maintained that she was completely in the dark about Mateens plans, and was herself a victim of his depraved violence inside the home.

Noor Salman's defense team has maintained she was not her husband's collaborator in the 2016 massacre. (Photo: Charles Treadwell)

The jury began deliberating around 1:46 p.m. on Wednesday and reached its verdict around 9:40 a.m. on Friday. Hours later, Salman walked free.

In comments outside the federal courthouse, Salmans uncle Abdallah Salman thanked the jury, the judge and Salmans pro bono team of lawyers.

We are looking forward to taking my niece and hiring the best therapist for her, he said. I dont know how to make up for the past two years. He said her son, now 5, has already been notified his mother is coming home to California.

Her son is the only thing she wants, he said.

Susan Adieh, Salmans cousin, expressed deep sympathy for the victims of the Pulse shooting, but said she was grateful that Salman did not become the final victim of the tragedy. She is innocent, Adieh said.

Salmans family said they hoped to have her home in time to color Easter eggs with her son.

Noor Salman walks out of jail after being acquitted: https://t.co/6xZCWYvhZE pic.twitter.com/QSyrf0QTRQ  WESH 2 News (@WESH) March 30, 2018

In a statement sent to the Orlando Sentinel after the trial, the unnamed foreman of the jury said jurors suspected Salman knew her husband was planning something, even if she didnt know the date or location.

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The foreman  who said his statement spoke only for himself, not the other members of the jury  noted that jurors were not tasked with deciding if Salman knew about Mateens desire to commit an attack, but rather if she helped him in some way.

They found she did not.

The trial upended many ingrained assumptions about the massacre. Despite initial speculation based on the location of the shooting  a gay nightclub  investigators found nothing to suggest Mateen was motivated by homophobia.

Government lawyers said Pulse was not Mateens initial target that night. He first drove to Disney Springs, a hub of shops and restaurants at Disney World, and found security to be tight. He then Googled downtown orlando nightclubs, and drove to EVE Orlando, where he also encountered strict security. Finally, he moved on to Pulse.

During the massacre, he called 911 and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Investigators who analyzed his phone and computer found he regularly read about terrorism and air strikes in the Middle East, and watched beheading videos.

Salman is pictured with relatives. Many said that although they supported her, they were scared to come to the trial. (Photo: Family handout)

In contrast, investigators could not find a single social media post or internet search on Salmans phone to suggest she had any interest in extremism.

Prosecutors proposed to jurors that Salman, who was not radicalized, was motivated by money instead. Mateen bought her a diamond ring in the days before the shooting, which prosecutors posited bought her support of his heinous plan.

It is extraordinarily rare for the federal government to lose a terrorism case, said Mia Bloom, a terrorism expert at Georgia State University.

The governments case was undone by the fact that its key evidence  an alleged confession signed by Salman after an 11-hour interrogation  was contradicted by forensic data, Bloom said.

Why was there no video or audio of it? she added. It was very problematic.

In a statement, which was handwritten by an FBI agent, Salman said she knew her husband was going to Pulse that night, had seen him looking at Pulses website, and had cased the nightclub with him the week before.

Those claims were undercut by evidence presented at trial that Mateen picked the club at random that night, and cell phone data showing Salman had never been near Pulse, contradicting her FBI statement. None of the couples electronic devices had ever accessed the clubs website either.

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Investigators found no evidence that Salman was interested in extremism. (Photo: Charles Treadwell/Central Florida Media)

In a statement, Pulse owner Barbara Poma said she respected the criminal justice process, and would trust that the jury made its decision free of bias.

Those of us directly affected by this tragedy must find peace in our hearts and remember that he was the one who pulled the trigger that night, she said. He was the perpetrator, and he should not have one more minute of power over our lives.

Charles Swift, one of Salmans lawyers, said that the trial helped clear up misperceptions about Salman that flourished in the press after the massacre.

A year and a half ago, you believed she dropped him off the Pulse! he chided a gaggle of reporters. You believed they scouted Pulse!

None of that was true, as shown in court, he said.

We pursued the truth, and the truth was to her benefit, he said. The jury, 12 ordinary citizens, were heroes today.

Linda Moreno, another one of Salmans lawyers, said Salman was overwhelmed and emotional, and will need time to recover from her 14 months in jail.

It did not destroy her, but of course it changed her, she said.

This story has been updated with a statement from the jury foreman.

CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, the headline on a previous version of this story indicated Salman had been found guilty.

More From The Noor Salman Trial

Her Husband Killed 49 People In Orlando. Now She's On Trial For Terrorism.

Pulse Nightclub Shooter's Father Revealed As Former FBI Informant

Far-Right Activist Thrown Out Of Courthouse At Pulse Nightclub Trial

Senior reporter Melissa Jeltsen has been covering the terrorism trial from Orlando. Follow her for updates.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Dakar (AFP) - Leading Senegalese politician Khalifa Sall was handed a five-year jail term for fraud on Friday, a sentence that will rule him out of presidential elections due next February.

Sall, 62, who is mayor of Dakar, had denied the charges against him as politically motivated.

He had been accused of fraudulent use of public funds, for which he was also fined five million CFA francs (7,625 euros).

He was found not guilty on charges of criminal conspiracy, money laundering and misappropriating public funds.

Prosecutors had sought a seven-year prison term and a fine worth nearly $10 million (more than eight million euros). Sall was tried along with his financial director, Mbaye Toure, who was given the same sentences.

"We are going to file an appeal, obviously," one of Sall's lawyers, Cheikh Khouraissi Ba, told AFP.

The trial had been avidly followed in Senegal since the start of the year, throwing a spotlight on Sall's high popularity and stirring debate over next year's elections if he were to be convicted.

Sall represents a growing challenge to incumbent President Macky Sall, who shares the same name but is not a relation.

Supporters of the mayor protested loudly in the packed courtroom when the verdict was announced and police were deployed around the building.

- 'Kowtow' -

"Senegalese justice has kowtowed today. President Macky Sall issued an order which Judge (Malick) Lamotte carried out," Moussa Taya, one of the mayor's political advisers, told the press.

"The maximum sentence should have been three years but by sentencing him to five years today, they are preventing him from running in the elections," said Makhtar Diaw, a deputy mayor in a district of Dakar.

A dissident member of the Socialist Party, Khalifa Sall began his political activism at the age of 11.

He later held various ministerial portfolios under then Socialist president Abdou Diouf before being elected mayor of the capital in 2009.

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Sall and Tour appeared in the dock with six other municipal employees who faced the same charges. Of these, four were given jail terms ranging from six months to five years and two were discharged.

The specific charge of misappropriating public funds centred on 1.83 billion CFA francs ($2.85 million, 2.7 million euros) of city money which allegedly was misused between 2011 and 2015.

The court heard allegations of a system of fake receipts for rice and millet, the money from which Sall was accused of using for "political purposes".

Sall said the money was not diverted for personal or political use but instead used for discretionary spending on sensitive issues such as security.

"Should I be robbed of my right to be a candidate because Macky Sall doesn't want Khalifa Ababacar Sall to become his opponent in 2019?" the mayor asked combatively on the trial's last day.Washington (AFP) - Russian diplomats expelled by the US after a nerve agent attack on a former spy in Britain began to leave their embassy in Washington Saturday afternoon, waved off by well-wishers.

About 50 men, women and children left the hilltop embassy just after 1:00 pm (1700 GMT) in a blue bus believed to be headed towards Dulles International Airport.

Music played and a crowd waved the group goodbye.

A second bus was expected to leave about two hours later from the embassy site which has a view across to the White House, the Pentagon and other US government buildings.

The departing families brought with them bags and suitcases, some of which were loaded onto the bus with help from a small forklift vehicle.

Russia's ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, earlier told reporters "all the diplomats who were declared persona non grata are flying home together with their families" on Saturday.

In total, 171 people will leave the country, state news agency TASS reported Antonov as saying.

The Russian government provided two planes for the evacuation and one of them will make a brief stopover in New York to collect 14 families, he added.

Washington this week joined a score of Britain's allies in expelling Russian diplomats in response to the attack, with over 150 in total now ordered out of the US, EU members, NATO countries and other nations.

The US said it was expelling 60 alleged Russian "spies" posted around the country and at the Russian mission to the United Nations.

Russia's consulate in Seattle will also be closed.

Moscow responded on Thursday by announcing that it was expelling 60 US diplomats and closing Washington's consulate in Saint Petersburg.

On Friday, Russia expelled even more diplomats from 23 countries, most of them European Union member states.

The tit-for-tat measures were retaliation to the coordinated expulsion of Russian diplomats by Britain and its allies over a nerve agent attack against former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

Story continues

Britain has said it is "highly likely" that Russia was responsible for the attack using the Novichok nerve agent developed in the former Soviet Union, but Russia has angrily denied any involvement.

Related: Russia expels U.S. diplomats in reponse to expelled Russian diplomats

Watch NBC Nightly News on Yahoo View.Russia said it was responding to what it called the baseless demands for scores of its own diplomats to leave a slew of mostly Western countries.

The diplomatic dispute was set off by the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in England.

Russia rejects Britain's accusation it stood behind the attack and has cast the allegations as part of an elaborate Western plot to sabotage East-West relations and isolate Moscow.

Russia expelled 59 diplomats from 23 countries on Friday and said it reserved the right to take action against four other nations in a worsening standoff with the West over the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain.

Russia said it was responding to what it called the baseless demands for scores of its own diplomats to leave a slew of mostly Western countries that have joined London and Washington in censuring Moscow over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

A day earlier, Moscow ordered the expulsion of 60 U.S. diplomats and the closing of the U.S. consulate in St Petersburg, Russia's second city, in retaliation for the biggest ejection of diplomats since the Cold War.

Preparations appeared to be under way on Friday to close the St Petersburg mission down, with a removals truck making repeated journeys to and from the consulate which took delivery of a large pizza order for its staff.

Russia summoned senior envoys on Friday from most of the other countries that have expelled Russian diplomats and told them it was expelling a commensurate number of theirs.

Russia has already retaliated in kind against Britain for ejecting 23 diplomats over the first known use of a military-grade nerve agent on European soil since World War Two. British ambassador Laurie Bristow was summoned again on Friday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Bristow had been told London had just one month to cut its diplomatic contingent in Russia to the same size as the Russian mission in Britain.

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A spokeswoman for the British Foreign Office did not say how many British diplomats would be affected, but said Russia's response was regrettable and Moscow was in flagrant breach of international law over the killing of the former spy.

The poisoning, in southern England, has united much of the West in taking action against what it regards as the hostile policies of President Vladimir Putin. This includes the United States under President Donald Trump, who Putin had hoped would improve ties.

Russia rejects Britain's accusation it stood behind the attack and has cast the allegations as part of an elaborate Western plot to sabotage East-West relations and isolate Moscow.

The hospital where she is being treated said on Thursday that Yulia Skripal was getting better after spending three weeks in a critical condition due to the nerve toxin attack. Her father remains in a critical but stable condition.

The BBC, citing sources, reported on Friday that Yulia was "conscious and talking".

EXPULSIONS

During the course of Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned senior embassy officials from Australia, Albania, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Croatia, Ukraine, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Canada and the Czech Republic.

All were seen arriving in their official cars at the Foreign Ministry's gothic building in Moscow.

"They (the diplomats) were handed protest notes and told that in response to the unwarranted demands of the relevant states on expelling Russian diplomats ... that the Russian side declares the corresponding number of staff working in those countries' embassies in the Russian Federation persona non grata," the ministry said in a statement.

Four other countries -- Belgium, Hungary, Georgia and Montenegro -- had only "at the last moment" announced that they too were expelling Russian diplomats over the Skripal affair, and Moscow reserved the right to take retaliatory action against them too, it said.

Emerging from the Foreign Ministry building, German ambassador Rudiger von Fritsch said Russia had questions to answer about the poisoning of Skripal, but Berlin remained open to dialogue with Moscow.

The U.S State Department said after Russia announced the expulsions on Thursday evening that it reserved the right to respond further, saying the list of diplomats designated for expulsion by Russia showed Moscow was not interested in diplomacy.





More From CNBC

By Jan Lopatka and Jonathan Stempel

PRAGUE/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Russian man on Friday pleaded not guilty to charges he hacked three U.S. technology companies, potentially compromising personal details of more than 100 million users, including on LinkedIn, after being extradited from the Czech Republic.

Yevgeniy Nikulin, 30, of Moscow, entered his plea in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, after having fought his extradition following his 2016 arrest in Prague.

His case had turned into a battle over whether he should be sent to the United States or Russia, where a Moscow court had in November 2016 issued an arrest warrant for his alleged theft seven years earlier of $3,450 via a site called Webmoney.

The U.S. Department of Justice accused Nikulin of illegally accessing computers belonging to U.S.-based social media firms LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring in 2012, including by using the credentials of LinkedIn and Formspring employees.

LinkedIn, now owned by Microsoft Corp, has said the case was related to a breach that might have compromised information of at least 100 million users.

Computer hacking is not just a crime, it is a direct threat to the security and privacy of Americans," U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.

"This is deeply troubling behavior once again emanating from Russia," he continued. "We will not tolerate criminal cyber-attacks and will make it a priority to investigate and prosecute these crimes, regardless of the country where they originate."

Nikulin faces nine criminal counts, including causing damage to a protected computer and aggravated identity theft.

A federal public defender representing him did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nikulin has denied wrongdoing in comments to Czech media.

The decision by Czech Justice Minister Robert Pelikan to extradite Nikulin defied Russia, which had also sought his extradition.

Courts in the Czech Republic, a U.S. ally and part of the European Union, had said extradition to both countries was permissible, and the decision was up to Pelikan.

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Prime Minister Andrej Babis has said he favored extradition to the United States, but Pelikan said President Milos Zeman, who often takes a pro-Russian stance, had urged extradition to Russia.

"It was apparent that the United States requested extradition for a suspicion of very serious criminal activity, which was not the case of the Russian request," Pelikan told Reuters in a phone interview.

The decision was closely watched because Babis needs Zeman's support for a new government, after his minority cabinet lost a vote of confidence last month. Zeman has promised Babis another try at installing a government.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Richard Balmforth/Mark Heinrich/Susan Thomas)Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants the U.S. military to maintain a presence in Syria, despite President Donald Trumps declaration that American forces will be pulled from the war-torn country in the near future.

We believe American troops should stay for at least the mid-term, if not the long-term, he told TIME Thursday in a wide-ranging interview.

Bin Salman, a 32-year old who last year disrupted the line of succession when he became next in line for the Saudi throne, has emerged as the most powerful Saudi ruler in decades. In addition to being selected as the crown prince, he serves as First Deputy Prime Minister, President of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs, and Minister of Defense.

Bin Salman, who is midway through a multi-city tour in the United States, said the American troop presence inside Syria is the last effort stopping Iran, Saudi Arabias arch-enemy, from continuing to expand influence with regional allies. U.S. forces inside the country also allow Washington to have a say in Syrias future, he said.

Iran, through proxy militias and regional allies, will establish a overland supply route that leads from Beirut through Syria and Iraq to Tehran, Bin Salman said. The so-called Shiite Crescent would give Iran a greater foothold in a tumultuous region through a string of allies.

The U.S. maintains a remote base at Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, in the middle of that corridor. Its there that Special Operations forces coordinate with Syrian opposition fighters to wipe out the remaining ISIS fighters holed up in a series of towns along the Euphrates River and a stretch of desert straddling the Iraq-Syria border.

If you take those troops out from east Syria, you will lose that checkpoint, bin Salman said. And this corridor could create a lot of things in the region.

Bin Salman is the architect of the three-year old conflict in Yemen, pitting Saudi-backed forces against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. The war has plunged the Arab worlds poorest nation into a humanitarian crisis which is worsened daily by famine, widespread disease and the deaths of civilians caught in the crossfire.

Story continues

The Saudi leader made his remarks on Syria just hours after Trump told a cheering crowd in Richfield, Ohio that U.S. troops will soon be pulled out. By the way, were knocking the hell out of ISIS, Trump said. Were coming out of Syria very soon. Let the other people take care of it now, very soon. Very soon, were coming out.

Trumps comments were a departure from the previously stated positions of senior Pentagon and State Department officials, who have said the U.S. will keep troops inside the country to stamp out the last remaining fighters and prevent a new group from forming. An American service member was killed in Syria Thursday by an improvised explosive device, U.S. officials said Friday. A total of 14 U.S. troops have been killed fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria since the operation began nearly four years ago.

There are currently about 2,000 U.S. troops working with Syrian Democratic Forces to re-capture territory from ISIS, which includes the militants self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa. ISIS is on the verge of defeat as a conventional military force. Although they no longer are in control of any major city in Iraq or Syria, the fighting is not over completely. But American forces are not inside the country to act as a counterweight to Iran, despite bin Salmans wishes.

Trumps recent appointment of John Bolton, who has been an outspoken critic of Irans regional dominance, as National Security Adviser may re-shape American foreign policy toward Tehran.

Backed by Iranian military aid and Russian airpower, Syrian President Bashar Assad has nearly defeated the Islamist-dominated rebel groups spawned in the chaos of Syrias 2011 revolution. The insurgents still hold scraps of territory, but they have no hope of challenging Assads hold on power. As a result, Iran has extended its influence and reach inside Syria.

Bin Salman said Assad is not likely to be ousted from power. He said he hopes that Assad will not become a puppet for Tehran.

Bashar is staying, he said. But I believe that Bashars interests is not to let the Iranians do whatever they want they want to do.RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi air defense forces intercepted a missile fired by Houthi fighters in neighboring Yemen at the southern Saudi city of Najran on Saturday, the Saudi-led coalition said. In a statement carried by state news agency SPA the coalition said that according to initial findings an Indian resident was injured by falling debris after the missile was intercepted. The Houthi-run Saba news agency earlier said a missile was fired at a Saudi National Guard base in Najran, and that it had led to "losses in the ranks of the enemy and its military equipment". The Iran-aligned Houthis have launched scores of missiles at the kingdom since the coalition intervened in Yemen's civil war in 2015 after the Houthis drove Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile. Last week, Saudi air defense forces intercepted a flurry of missiles, and falling debris caused the first death in the capital Riyadh. Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of supplying missile parts and expertise to the Houthis, who have taken over the Yemeni capital Sanaa and other parts of the country. Tehran and the Houthis deny the charge. (Writing by Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Andrew Bolton)Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi air defences intercepted a missile fired by Yemeni rebels at the kingdom's southern city of Najran on Saturday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the rebels said, adding that one person was wounded.

"The missile was fired at Najran indiscriminately and with the aim of hitting residential areas," coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki told the official Saudi Press Agency.

"It was successfully intercepted and the debris fell on residential areas, lightly wounding one Indian expatriate."

Yemen's Saba news agency, run by the Iran-backed Huthi rebels, said the missile had been fired at a Saudi National Guard base in Najran, just over the border from Yemen where the Saudi-led coalition intervened on the side of the government in March 2015.

The coalition said on Thursday it intercepted another missile fired by the Huthis at the southern city of Jazan -- the latest in a series of such attacks that have drawn widespread condemnation.

The coalition spokesman again hit out at Iran after Saturday's attack, accusing it of "jeopardising the security of Saudi Arabia, the region and the whole world."

The UN Security Council this week condemned "in the strongest possible terms" multiple missile attacks launched by the Huthis on Saudi territory, saying they posed a threat to regional security.

In one of the biggest such attacks yet, Saudi forces last weekend said they intercepted seven missiles fired by rebels toward cities including Riyadh, killing one person.

The coalition intervened in Yemen to push back the Huthis who captured the capital Sanaa and forced the government into exile.

Riyadh has accused arch-rival Tehran of providing the missiles and threatened retaliation against Iran.

Tehran has denied making any arms deliveries and has said the Saudi accusations are a smokescreen intended to divert attention from its deadly bombing campaign against rebel-held areas, including Sanaa.

Civilian casualties from coalition air strikes have drawn criticism from human rights groups, and in October the United Nations placed the coalition on a blacklist for killing and maiming children.Photo: Shutterfly

Having access to a washer and dryer at home is not a luxury every family can afford. South Carolina teacher Amanda Cooper noticed that some of her students struggled to find a place where they could clean their clothes. She decided to create a confidential laundry service at school  free of charge. Her initiative is increasing class participation by a whopping 84 percent, according to TV station WMC.

Our guidance department had several students that would ask to use the telephone so they could obtain change to go to the laundromat that day to wash their clothes, Cooper said.

The Goose Creek High School joined the Whirlpool Care Counts Program, which is aimed to address attendance issues by providing kids with clean clothes. The South Carolina high school is one of 17 participating schools around the country. Students who have access to clean clothing go to school 10 more days than they would without, according to Whirlpool.

According to Whirpool, one in five students struggles with access to clean clothes. Some 86 percent of high-risk (those who have missed 15 days or more) students increased their attendance in the 2016-2017 program.

Heres how it works: Students fill out a form to be a part of the service and are given bags for their laundry. The fresh laundry is returned that same day.

Some of Coopers pupils are volunteering to wash their classmates clothes.

Were learning to give back and just to help somebody that cant have what we would usually have at home, Coral Runge, a sophomore, said. Growing up I was really the one that did laundry, and I know how important it is to have clean clothes on time for school and important events, so I wanted to help.

The service was made possible through donations by the schools leaders and the community. The program currently can serve 15 students, but there are plans to expand it.

Cooper said students in the program wouldnt be able to attend school on a regular basis if it werent for the laundry service.

Story continues

To build from within and to create a positive culture in our school is just unbelievable, she said.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

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Michelle Bells 2004 study linking short-term exposure to air pollution to increased risk of death was a breakthrough. Previous research had shown how the pollutant ozone damages human health, but Bells was the first to show persuasively how damaging even a short exposure can be to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.

What made Bells study possible  and distinguished it from previous research  was the ability to analyze huge amounts of health data from people in 95 urban areas across the country. We need this data to do the research and we need the research to make the most effective decisions, she says.

Since publication, the work has been cited more than 1,000 times and, a decade later, informed the Clean Power Plan, a central Obama-era regulation aimed at fighting climate change.

But a studys like Bells could soon disappear from the toolbox of policymakers at the Environmental Protection Agency if Scott Pruitt, the agencys top official, follows through on a plan to require more public disclosure of data used for research. Pruitt, who made his remarks in an interview with the conservative outlet The Daily Caller last week, says that data used in research that informs EPA policy should be available for the public to review.

We need to make sure their data and methodology are published as part of the record, Pruitt told The Daily Caller. Otherwise, its not transparent. Its not objectively measured, and thats important.

But scientists say that policy would actually end up stymying essential research. Environmental and public health researchers rely on health and medical data from subjects who were promised privacy in exchange for details about their health histories. Those large data sets are often kept confidential and can be viewed only by a select set of researchers on a given project.

My research deals with real world populations, its not looking at data in a lab or looking at cell culture, says Bell. Were effe at birth defect records from actual babies, were looking at birth records, were looking at Medicare records.

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Surrendering the ability to access that data would mean that the EPA would lose vital information used to craft regulations aimed at protecting human health. The EPA has used health data like Bells study to protect Americans from everything from air pollution to the chemicals found in household products.

The details of Pruitts proposed policy on undisclosed data  called secret science by some Republicans remain unclear. An EPA spokesperson referred a request for information to The Daily Caller.

But past conservative efforts to reform how the EPA uses science offers hints about about what the policy might entail. For years, a group of Republicans on Capitol Hill, led by House Science Committee Chair Lamar Smith, have sought to restrict science that relies on data unavailable to the public. The House passed legislation in 2015 that would have required that the science used to justify EPA regulations be publicly available online in a manner that is sufficient for independent analysis and substantial reproduction of research results.

The bill died in the Senate, but transparency remains a favorite cause for many conservatives who argue the EPA has overreached with regulation in recent years. In an interview with TIME last fall, Pruitt cited transparency as a central reason the agency wants to review EPA climate regulations. The American people deserve an open transparent honest discussion about this issue, he said.

The effects of a transparency rule would likely extend far beyond climate change to public health concerns that affect Americans here and now. It could be honestly be anything the EPA does: pesticides, any potential fracking regulation, any other movement on air regulations, says Yogin Kothari, a Washington representative at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Scientists who work in environmental and public health say they will continue their work as they watch what Pruitt does, but the dismissal of their work from the federal government is disheartening.

This leaves me and many of my colleagues puzzled about what to do, says Jonathan Levy, a professor of environmental health at Boston University. How you can genuinely affect public health and decision-making if the decision makers do not wish to use science?Yulia Skripal is conscious and talking nearly one month after a nerve agent attack hospitalized her and her father, the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.

The hospital treating the case said Ms. Skripal is no longer in critical condition and is recovering rapidly, the BBC reports.

British authorities have blamed the poisoning on Russia, which they say was attempting an assassination on the former double agent. The lethal nerve agent identified in the attack, Novichok is believed to be a military-grade chemical developed by Russia.

Ms. Skripal, 33, has responded well to treatment but continues to receive expert clinical care 24 hours a day, doctors at the Salisbury District Hospital told BBC.

Sergei Skripal remains in a critical but stable condition. Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, a police officer who fell ill after responding to the attack, was released from the hospital last week.

The Skripals were found unconscious on a shopping center park bench in Salisbury, a small city about 90 miles southwest of London, on March 4.

Read more: The Poisoning of Ex-Spy Sergei Skripal Suggests Russias Rules Have Changed

Forensic tests have revealed that the Skripals came into contact with the nerve agent at the former spys home, with the highest concentrations detected on the front door, BBC reports.

The attack has dealt a serious blow to relations between the West and Russia, with Britain and dozens of its allies expelling more than 100 Russian spies and diplomats in a coordinated response. In retaliation, Russia announced it will expel 60 U.S. diplomats and close the American consulate in St. Petersburg.A Maryland court on Thursday upheld a judges 2016 ruling overturning the murder conviction of Serials Adnan Syed and granting him a new trial, PEOPLE confirms.

We are thrilled, Syeds attorney, Justin Brown, said at a news conference later Thursday in his Baltimore office.

The states attorney general can still decide to appeal to Marylands highest court, which could keep Syed in prison for another year to 18 months, Brown said.

If there is no appeal, the decision puts the case back to Circuit Court in Baltimore City for a new trial there.

If the state does not appeal, Brown said, things could go pretty fast.

Maryland Attorney General Brian Froshs office said in an email to PEOPLE that we are currently reviewing todays decision to determine next steps.

Syed, who was was sentenced in 2000 to life in prison for the 1999 murder of his 18-year-old Woodlawn High School classmate and ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, had been behind bars for more than a decade when his case was featured in the first season of NPRs true-crime podcast Serial, triggering widespread scrutiny of his arrest and prosecution.

Hae Lee

Brown said hed spoken Thursday to Syed, 36, and he asked me to convey his gratitude from the bottom of his heart to everyone who has contributed to this case.

Efforts by Syeds supporters to grant him a new trial appeared to be be going nowhere until the wildly popular Serial came out in 2014.

For the first time ever, the podcasts producers interviewed Syeds high school classmate Asia McClain, who said she was with Syed during the time prosecutors claimed he had killed Lee.

Syeds original attorney, who has since died, did not interview or call McClain as an alibi witness for his trial.

Serial was huge, its fueled these efforts and allowed us to keep fighting, Brown said on Thursday.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

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In February 2016, Brown argued during Syeds post-conviction hearing before Judge Martin Welch that McClain, who now goes by her married name McClain Chapman, should have been called as an alibi witness at trial.

Thursdays Court of Special Appeals opinion, obtained by PEOPLE, concurred. Chief Judge Patrick L. Woodward wrote that a deficient performance by Syeds attorney during his initial trial  her failure to call McClain  prejudiced Syeds defense.

Woodward wrote that there is a reasonable probability that McClains alibi testimony would have raised a reasonable doubt in the mind of at least one juror about Syeds involvement [in] Haes murder, and thus the result of the proceedings would have been different. 

At Syeds 2016 post-conviction hearing, his attorneys questioned the reliability of cell tower data used at his trial to place him in a park the night Lee disappeared and where her buried body was later found.

When Judge Welch of the Circuit Court vacated Syeds conviction and ordered a new trial, he noted questions about the cellphone tower evidence should have been raised by Syeds original team.

Thursdays opinion, Brown said, reversed the circuit court on that issue.

A younger Adnan Syed

Brown said that we will weigh all options and we will consider getting Adnan out on bail. His earlier attempt to get Syed released on bail while awaiting a new trial was denied by a judge in 2016.

The state has 30 days to file a petition to appeal this weeks opinion, Brown said.

We hope they dont do that, he said. We hope they come to the conclusion that this has gone on long enough and lets take this to a jury in Baltimore City, its time to make some resolution and we hope the state sees it the same way we do.

The Lee family has previously said Syeds efforts to be freed were painful and that they believed he was her killer.

After the first day of Syeds hearing for a new trial in 2016, prosecutor General Thiru Vignarajah read aloud a statement from them.

The hearing is forcing us to relive a nightmare we thought was behind us, the family said.

Their statement continued: We believe justice was done when Adnan was convicted in 2000, and we look forward to bringing this chapter to an end so we can celebrate the memory of Hae instead of celebrating the man who killed her.

McClain, who did not immediately respond to PEOPLEs request for comment, wrote in a tweet after hearing word of the Thursdays ruling: Of course Im traveling when the news comes thru. Just hit LAX, turned on my phone and Im swamped with notifications and comments. Thanks for the support guys. Yall rock! Now lets get this #AdnanSyed retrial done.Freetown (AFP) - Voters in the West African state of Sierra Leone were called out to vote on Saturday in the final round of a presidential campaign marked by verbal sparring, sporadic violence and a last-minute legal battle.

A wafer-thin margin separated the two frontrunners after the first round on March 7, adding to tensions in a country where political loyalties are often divided along ethnic lines and traumatic memories of civil war run deep.

Opposition challenger Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) had a narrow edge over Samura Kamara of the ruling All Peoples' Congress (APC), in a ballot with a turnout of more than 80 percent.

"The race is too close to call," Edmond Abu, director of the Native Consortium and Research Center, told AFP on Friday.

The key to victory lies with whoever wins Kono, a diamond-rich district in the east of the country, Abu said.

The runoff should have taken place on Tuesday but was delayed so the High Court could hear a complaint by the APC that some ballots had been tampered with.

The court lifted an injunction on Monday, but the National Electoral Commission said it needed four extra days for preparation because of lost time.

Bio, 53, is bidding to end a decade in power by the APC.

He is a blunt-talking retired brigadier who took part in a 1992 coup and briefly led a junta in 1996 that helped pave the way for democratic elections.

In 2012, he lost the election to the APC's Ernest Bai Koroma, who is stepping down after a decade in power.

- Tension -

Bio's platform is focused on education and criticism of the government's closeness to China, while Kamara is presenting himself as a continuity candidate who will develop Koroma's programmes on health care and road construction.

But the campaign has been characterised by ugly verbal exchanges and occasional violence.

Bio has accused the APC of using police intimidation against his party and the electoral commission, and of sponsoring the court case to cling to power.

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Police have reported a string of attacks on candidates and supporters on both sides since the first round, which saw Bio lead the field by a mere 15,000 votes.

Kamara has said he is "satisfied" with the court decision, and repeated calls for the vote to go ahead peacefully.

"The safety and security of Sierra Leone is in our hands. We should not allow an election to undermine our integrity," he said.

The APC broadly relies on the Temne and Limba people in its northern strongholds, while the SLPP is more popular in the south with the Mende ethnic group.

Sierra Leone, rich in minerals, was a British colony from 1787 until 1961. Three decades later, it plunged into a civil war that lasted 11 years and claimed 120,000 lives.

Koroma's decade-long tenure was marked by the 2014-16 Ebola crisis, which killed almost 4,000 people, and a mudslide that struck the capital Freetown in 2017, killing hundreds.

A total of 3.1 million people are entitled to cast their ballots. Voting runs from 0700 GMT to 1700 GMT, but the first results are expected to come in at the start of next week.SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea has deployed a naval vessel from its regional anti-piracy effort to help in the search after a fishing boat was hijacked by pirates off Ghana, South Korea's foreign ministry said on Saturday. The ministry said the fishing boat had about 40 crew - mostly from Ghana but including three South Koreans. It said the pirates used a speedboat to take away the South Koreans. South Korean President Moon Jae-in sent South Korea's anti-piracy Cheonghae unit to the area to try to secure the South Koreans' release, the ministry said. The South Korean government has been working to tackle piracy with a number of African countries, as well as the United States and the European Union. (Reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Andrew Bolton)In order to help Office of Government Ethics staffers deal with stress from working under President Donald Trump, ex-White House ethics chief Walter Shaub said he started holding daily group meditation sessions using an app.

Related: Ivanka Trumps defense for wearing her companys clothing is laughable, former ethics chief says

Shaub, who resigned in July, said at least six of about 70 staffers regularly attended the 10-minute meditation breaks he held with the Headspace app, which guides users through breathing and relaxing imagination exercises.

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"The staff looked just really fried. The problem is the direct assault on the ethics program which is the thing that every person in that room had committed their lives to," Shaub told CNBC in a report published Friday.

"It just occurred to me that maybe if the boss said 'we're going to take a 10 break...and it would be completely voluntary, that would be a relief," said Shaub, who was director of the office under then-President Barack Obama.

Besides the regulars, about seven other staffers would join the sessions held at 3:10 p.m. daily.

Don't miss: Pippa Middleton's Father-in-law Investigated Over Alleged Rape of Minor

"It kind of made us strong in weathering a very tumultuous storm at the time. Of the ones who came regularly, they loved it, and we all seemed to hunger for it," Shaub said. "Afterward, people felt like, OK, this is still miserable in what we're going through, but we can get back into the ring for another round now."

Members of the office, an independent agency within the executive branch charged with preventing conflicts of interest, stopped meditating in the office after his departure, he said.

Most popular: The U.S. Should Avoid a Trade War With China

Shaub at the beginning of Trumps tenure said the presidents plan to avoid conflicts of interest by having his sons run his business doesnt meet the standards that the best of his nominees are meeting and that every president in the past four decades has met."

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Since leaving his post, Shaub has continued to call out possible ethics violations within the Trump administration by counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway and first daughter Ivanka Trump.

Shaub said that the meditation sessions helped, but stress from the president was so intense in that period of time, there wasn't anybody after that felt like they weren't stressed anymore.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Newsweek on Friday.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekStarbucks and other coffee roasting companies in California may be required to add warning labels on drinks to alert customers to possible cancer risks, according to a new court ruling.

A Los Angeles judge ruled in favor of a nonprofit on Wednesday that had sued a number of companies for failing to comply with state law, The Associated Press reported. The judge issued the decision as a proposed ruling, meaning the judge could change his mind.

The Council for Education and Research on Toxics filed a suit in 2010 that claims Starbucks and other coffee sellers violate state law by failing to provide clear and reasonable warning of a known carcinogen.

Roasted coffee beans contain a chemical called acrylamide, which has been shown to increase cancer risk in studies with lab animals.The coffee industry has argued that the warning labels are unnecessary because the levels of acrylamide in coffee are harmless and occur naturally in the roasting process.

Californias Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, or Proposition 65, requires businesses to inform consumers of exposures to chemicals listed by the state that may cause cancer and birth defects.

Civil penalties would still need to be decided in the case, the AP reported.

The National Coffee Association released a statement following the ruling that it would consider more appeals and that cancer warning labels would be misleading. NCA President Bill Murray argued that coffee has been proved to have multiple health benefits.

Coffee has been shown, over and over again, to be a healthy beverage, Murray told HuffPost in a statement. This lawsuit has made a mockery of Prop. 65, has confused consumers, and does nothing to improve public health.

The World Health Organization removed coffee from its list of known carcinogens in 2016, stating that its regular consumption may actually reduce the risk of liver cancer and some chronic diseases.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Thursday Russia's decision to expel 60 U.S. diplomats shows that Moscow is not interested in diplomacy, and Washington reserves the right to take further action. "It's clear from the list provided to us that the Russian Federation is not interested in a dialogue on issues that matter to our two countries," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters. "We reserve the right to respond," she said. (Reporting by David Alexander; Writing by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - The Syrian army command said on Saturday it had regained most of the towns and villages in eastern Ghouta and was pressing its military operations in the last rebel bastion of Douma. In a televised statement, the Syrian army spokesman said the weeks-long military campaign had now brought security to the Syrian capital, Damascus, and also secured its main links to other parts of the country, stretching north and all the way to the Iraqi border to the east. A last group of fighters and families had earlier left the main towns of Jobar, Zamalka, Arbeen and Ain Tarma after the fall of other towns, leaving only the city of Douma still in rebel hands. Footage on state television showed top army commanders entering by the same route the rebel convoys had used to leave. Tens of thousands of people have now evacuated once-bustling towns in the suburbs east of the capital, which had nearly 2 million people before the start of the conflict and were major commercial and industrial hubs. The army command said military operations were continuing in the outskirts of the city of Douma, controlled by the Jaish al-Islam rebel group, the last patch of eastern Ghouta still held by insurgents. Douma's fall would seal the rebels' worst defeat since 2016, driving them from their last big stronghold near the capital, and would also carry potent symbolism. The town was the main center of street protests in the Damascus suburbs against President Bashar al-Assad's rule that ignited the conflict seven years ago. The army said hundreds of rebels had been killed in the ferocious offensive. The opposition says a relentless air campaign was waged in which the army used napalm, chlorine and incendiary bombs to demoralize rebels by targeting civilian areas. The rebels say the indiscriminate bombing forced them to capitulate and agree to surrender deals that force them either to make peace or leave to rebel-held areas after weeks of bombing and sieges that prevented food from reaching the enclaves. The Syrian army has repeatedly said regaining control over rebel-held suburbs would stop rocket attacks on the capital. They deny that many civilians were killed in bombardments that rescuers and residents say reduced whole neighborhoods to rubble in densely populated areas where at least 350,000 people lived. Defense analysts say a major goal of the campaign was to complete a security belt around the capital, where for years rebels dug into an elaborate network of tunnels and well- fortified positions had resisted countless offensives to seize the enclave. President Assad said recently securing eastern Ghouta, which was the soft belly of the heavily defended capital, had foiled plots by his foreign enemies to topple him. "The gains have been achieved after units of the army eliminated hundreds of terrorists, their headquarter and their fortifications," the army statement said. Douma is surrounded by government forces, many of whom were elite forces from the Republican Guards and special army units, who have been amassing troops in recent days and threatening to storm the city if the rebels do not agree to leave. Tens of thousands of civilians remain in Douma, which is the largest urban center in the enclave, facing worsening humanitarian conditions. The rebels there deny they are negotiating an evacuation deal and say talks with the Russian military aim to find a solution that would allow them to stay in the city under Moscow's protection. Negotiators, however, reached a deal with the Russian military late on Saturday to evacuate wounded in the city to insurgent-held areas in northwestern Syria, local sources said. It was not clear if the step would pave the way towards a broader deal to evacuate fighters in an arrangement similar to one that was brokered by the other main rival rebel group, Failaq al Rahman, with Moscow that has allowed most of its fighters to leave their former areas of control. The Syrian army offers defeated rebels either the option of making peace and switching sides or surrendering their weapons and leaving for government-controlled areas. "Army units are continuing their combat operations to rid Douma of terrorists," the army statement said. The Russian-backed offensive in eastern Ghouta has killed more than 1,600 civilians and thousands of wounded, rescuers said. The authorities say about 150,000 people have now been displaced from eastern Ghouta. Thousands of people -- fighters, their families and other civilians -- have been leaving for northwestern Syria from other parts of eastern Ghouta in convoys of buses that have been given safe passage to Idlib province. Many evacuees who arrived at rebel-held territory after a grueling trip through government-controlled villages said many residents hurled abuses and threw shoes and stones at their buses. The conflict began after mass protests calling for an end to Assad's authoritarian rule on March 15 2011, dragging in regional and global powers and forcing millions of people - more than half the pre-war population - to flee their homes. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; editing by Angus MacSwan, Larry King and Jonathan Oatis)TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will visit one of the island's oldest and most reliable diplomatic allies next month, amid growing pressure from China to whittle away the number of countries with which Taiwan has formal ties. China considers self-ruled Taiwan to be a wayward province, ineligible for state-to-state relations, and has slowly managed to cut the dwindling number of countries which maintain ties with Taipei. Last year, China established relations with Panama, which had for decades been a steadfast Taiwan ally, in a major diplomatic coup for Beijing. Only 20 countries still recognize Taiwan, most of them poor nations in Central America, the Caribbean, Pacific and Africa. Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said Tsai would visit the southern African nation of Swaziland from April 17 to April 21, with this year marking half a century of diplomatic ties. The only other African ally Taiwan has left is Burkina Faso. This will be Tsai's first trip to Africa since assuming the presidency in 2016. As president, she has also visited some of Taiwan's other friends, including Paraguay, Guatemala, Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands and the Marshall Islands. China's hostility towards the democratic island has risen since Tsai, from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, won the presidency. China fears she wants to push for formal independence, though Tsai says she wants to maintain the status quo and peace. China and Taiwan have tried to poach each other's allies over the years, often dangling generous aid packages in front of developing nations, though Taipei struggles to compete with an increasingly powerful China. Some countries have switched ties several times. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said this month it was in the best interests of Taiwan's few remaining diplomatic allies to recognize an "irresistible trend" and ditch Taipei in favor "one China" ruled by Beijing. The Vatican is likely next on the list, as the Holy See and China edge closer to an accord on the appointment of bishops. (Reporting by Twinnie Siu; Editing by Ben Blanchard)Idomeni (Greece) (AFP) - Hundreds of refugees tried to break through a border fence into Macedonia from Greece, where more than 7,000 people are stranded, as anger mounts over barriers to entry imposed on migrants flooding into Europe.

In a sign of deepening divisions within Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel lashed out at Austria and Balkan states for introducing tight limits on migrant entries, leaving Greece with a growing bottleneck as refugee boats continue to arrive from Turkey.

And Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov warned that once Austria reaches its cap of a maximum 37,500 migrants transiting through this year, the refugee route through the Balkans will have to close.

At Idomeni on the frontier, Macedonian police fired tear gas as some 300 migrants forced their way through a Greek police cordon and raced towards a railway track between the two countries.

"Open the borders!" they shouted as a group of men used a metal signpost to bring down a section of barbed wire fencing, prompting police to fire volleys of tear gas and block them from crossing.

At least 30 people, many of them children, requested first aid in the stampede that ensued, the charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said. Authorities said a Macedonian policeman had also been hurt and had to be hospitalised.

The protest occurred several hours after Macedonia allowed just 300 Syrians and Iraqis to cross.

With Austria and Balkan states capping the numbers of migrants entering their soil, there has been a swift build-up along the Greece-Macedonia border with Athens warning that the number of people "trapped" could reach up to 70,000 in March.

The UN's rights chief criticised a "rising roar of xenophobia" towards migrants.

"To keep building higher walls against the flight of these desperate people is an act of cruelty and a delusion," Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said.

Amnesty International criticised the situation at Idomeni, branding it "the result of a shameful spate of discriminatory border closures".

Story continues

As the bottleneck showed little sign of easing, Merkel slammed the restrictions and pointed the finger at Austria, whose clampdown on February 19 triggered a domino effect in the Balkans.

Greece must not be allowed to "plunge into chaos", she said.

- 'Not my Europe' -

The spate of border closures was sparked by Austria's announcement it would accept no more than 80 asylum claims per day and that a maximum of 3,200 migrants would be allowed to transit daily.

EU members Slovenia and Croatia, along with Serbia and Macedonia, swiftly responded to the clampdown further up the migrant route by imposing a limit of 580 migrants entering per day.

"Because Austria decided on a limit of 80 per day, and not one more, we have reached today's situation," Merkel told public broadcaster ARD on Sunday.

"When one insists on his border, the other suffers. That's not my Europe."

Macedonia's President Ivanov told German news website Spiegel Online that once Austria's limit of 37,500 entries this year is reached, the Balkan route will have to close.

"When Austria reaches its limit, it will happen," he said.

Asked when that might occur, he replied "perhaps right at this moment", although the Austrian interior ministry said only around 12,000 people had passed through its territory so far this year.

The European Commission said it would this week propose using funds usually earmarked for catastrophes outside the bloc to provide aid to EU countries affected by the migrant crisis.

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned the exodus of Middle Eastern refugees was a "global challenge" after talks with his German counterpart in Washington Monday.

"It is not a regional challenge," he said. "It is a global challenge and it is not somebody else's problem. It is a test for all of us."

On the ground, thousands of migrants continued to mass on Greece's northern border with Macedonia, where the Idomeni camp is designed to accommodate up to 1,500 people but is sheltering more than 7,000.

- 'Absurd' criticism -

Austria hit back quickly at criticism of its crackdown, describing it as "absurd".

"Apparently for some, the European solution (to the crisis) is for all (migrants) to mass in Austria," Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner told the Austria Press Agency.

In Athens, ministers held an emergency meeting on how to handle the crisis, with facilities in the capital nearing breaking point and hundreds of people continuing to arrive at the port of Piraeus.

In France meanwhile, clashes broke out as authorities began bulldozing half of the "Jungle" migrant camp in the port city of Calais where thousands of migrants hope to sneak aboard lorries and ferries to Britain.

Belgium has turned back 619 migrants at the French border since reinstating border checks, a police spokesman told AFP.Watch news, TV and more on Yahoo View.



By Latifah Muhammad

A Texas woman was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday (March 28) for voting in the 2016 presidential election despite being on supervised probation from a previous conviction. Crystal Mason, a 43-year-old mother of two, maintains that she was never informed that it was illegal to vote as a convicted felon.

I find it amazing that the government feels she made this up, her attorney, J. Warren St. John told the court, according to the Star-Telegram. She was never told that she couldnt vote, and she voted in good faith. Why would she risk going back to prison for something that is not going to change her life?

Mason reportedly waved a jury trial and instead left her sentencing fate in the hands of District Judge Ruben Gonzalez.

Mason said in court that she would never intentionally jeopardize her freedom, and explained that her previous felony conviction was the result of inflating tax returns.

I was trying to get more money back for my clients. I admitted that. I owned up to that. I took accountability for that. I would never do that again, she said. I was happy enough to come home and see my daughter graduate. My son is about to graduate. Why would I jeopardize that? Not to vote.  I didnt even want to go vote.

Mason cast her vote in the 2016 election at the encouragement of her mother. When she arrived at the polling location her name wasnt on the list, but she was given a provisional ballot. However, Mason admitted to not reading the ballot but noted that she was being assisted by a worker at the polling place. Although her ballot was later flagged, Mason wasnt told that her vote was illegal until three months later when she was arrested after checking in with her probation officer.

In 2011, Mason pleaded guilty to fraud charges stemming from a tax preparation company that she owned with her husband, according to reports. She served nearly three years in prison, and was ordered to pay back $4.2 million in restitution.

Story continues

Though Mason was remanded into custody immediately after being sentenced to five years in the voting case, St. John has already filed an appeal that could get her released on bail.

Per a previous report from 2017, Mason said that she believed she was being targeted because she voted for Hillary Clinton.

Nearly 500,000 convicted felons in Texas were not allowed to vote in the 2016 election. However, Texas has come under scrutiny for voter suppression against black and Latino voters.

Last year, a federal judge ruled that the states voter ID law was intentionally discriminatory, and violated the Voting Rights Act.

This post Texas Mother Sentenced To Five Years For Voting In Presidential Election While On Probation first appeared on Vibe.A Texas woman got sentenced to five years behind bars this week for voting illegally in the 2016 presidential elections.

Crystal Mason, 43, voted while on supervised release from prison for a 2011 fraud conviction and she has claimed she did not know she wasn't allowed to cast a ballot, reported the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Wednesday.

Mason's attorney J. Warren St. John said they had already filed an appeal on the verdict. "I find it amazing that the government feels she made this up," St. John said in court, according to the Star-Telegram. "She was never told that she couldn't vote, and she voted in good faith. Why would she risk going back to prison for something that is not going to change her life?"

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Samantha Jordan, a spokeswoman for the Tarrant County district attorney's office, told the Dallas Morning News that the investigation into Mason began when a worker at a polling place noticed and reported issues with her ballot.

Mason, who served three years in prison for fraud, said she was provided a provisional ballotafter signing an affidavitat the place she typically goes to vote and that had she known the risks involved, she would have never risked her freedom by casting the ballot.

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"I inflated returns," Mason said, according to the Star-Telegram. "I was trying to get more money back for my clients. I admitted that. I owned up to that. I took accountability for that. I would never do that again. I was happy enough to come home and see my daughter graduate. My son is about to graduate. Why would I jeopardize that? Not to vote. ... I didn't even want to go vote."

Some six million people in America have lost their right to vote, according to criminal justice reform group The Sentencing Project. Nearly half a million of that total were in Texas alone.

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A woman in the Fort Worth areawho was brought to the U.S. as a babywas sentenced to eight years in prison last year for voting illegally in the 2012 and 2014 elections, her lawyer also claiming she did not know she was allowed to vote, the New York Times reported. It was an exceptionally harsh penalty for something that usually brings far less time in prison, if any time at all.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekA group of tourists got slightly closer to some wild animals than theyd planned when a cheetah jumped INSIDE their jeep.

The group of tourists were on a safari in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania when three cheetahs hunting took an interest in their tour.

One cheetah climbed on to the bonnet of the jeep but a second then jumped inside the back of the vehicle, exploring the back seat while the tourists sat terrified inside.

Curious  the cheetah had a good look round the jeep while passengers stayed motionless (Pictures: Reuters)

Britton Hayes, from Seattle, Washington, told KOMO News: We started to notice the cheetahs became curious of the vehicle.

But it was too late to drive quickly away or anything like that because you dont want to startle the animals, because thats when things usually go wrong.

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He described how their tour guide helped him to remain calm and slow down his breathing to make sure the cheetah wasnt agitated as it explored the vehicle.

The animal apparently sniffed around and chewed on the seats before leaving and getting on its way.

Curious  the cheetahs took an interest in the group while they were on their tour

Honestly, it was probably one of the scariest moments of my life while it was happening, Mr Hayes added.

After the cheetahs wandered off, he said the group stared at each other in stunned silence because finally relaxing.The Democrat politician is a single mother living in Albuquerque in New Mexico: Photos Debra Haaland

Donald Trump has come under fire for his track record with the Native American population on more than one occasion. The US president frequently uses the racial slur Pocahontas in relation to Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren, and has made a number of policy decisions which will destroy sacred Native American land.

The Trump administrations budget also proposes sweeping cuts to job training programmes which directly help Native Americans into work. Furthermore, during his pre-White House days as a billionaire property tycoon, Mr Trump repeatedly clashed with tribes after a 1988 federal law made it easier for casinos to open on tribal land.

These are just some of the reasons Democrat politician Debra Haaland says she is committed to standing up to the president at every opportunity. And the outspoken Trump critic hopes to have an even more powerful platform on which to do so by standing for US congress.

We have never had a native woman in Congress. It is a voice which would add positive things to the conversation about the future of our country, the 57-year-old single mother tells The Independent. There is still a majority of men in Congress. We need more women. We need more women of colour.

Ms Haaland, who lives in Albuquerque in New Mexico, was a full-time volunteer for Barack Obamas 2008 campaign and was also involved in 2016s Hillary Clinton election bid. She announced her decision to run for a seat in the US House of Representatives straight after finishing her term as state chair in New Mexico in April 2017.

The politician is both incensed and motivated by the actions of the Trump administration, which she feels are at loggerheads with the views of New Mexicans.

I am feeling like we need to fight harder than ever, she says. Trumps policies are definitely not in line with New Mexicans. Look at his immigration policies. He wants to build a wall, he wants to deport Dreamers, he wants to ban Muslims. These policies are based on racist attitudes we do not agree with at all. My main mission is to beat Donald Trump  he does not speak for New Mexico.

Story continues

We need more women of colour in Congress, says Debra Haaland

When I was state chairwoman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico we took him to task on everything he was doing in his campaign  misogyny and overt racism  we turned him out at every turn.

Ms Haaland spoke out nationally after Mr Trump called Senator Warren Pocahontas  penning a blistering column in Indian Country Today.

Trumps very use of Pocahontas name is disrespectful, she wrote. The story of Pocahontas is heartwrenching. Towards the end of her life she left her people, went to England, contracted a disease and died at a very young age. When I think of that story, and the hundreds of sad and disturbing stories of how native people have suffered throughout history, I cant imagine making a mockery of their names or their lives.

She has also made Mr Trump aware of her ire by staging personal protests at rallies the commander-in-chief has held in New Mexico.

New Mexico, a state in the southwestern region of the US, has a population of around two million and is the fifth largest and fifth least densely populated of the 50 US states.

It is a land of vast open spaces  you can drive in any direction from Albuquerque and you will be in the middle of a beautiful desert. In some spaces you can see forever, she says. Geologists from all over the world come to New Mexico.

Ms Haaland is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna  the Native American tribe of the Pueblo people in west-central New Mexico whose population exceeds 7,000 enrolled members. She is greatly angered by the Trump administrations efforts to scale back national monuments across the US.

She was raised in a military family that moved around a lot; her father was a 30-year career marine and her mother served in the Navy.

Trumps policies are definitely not in line with New Mexicans, says Haaland

Despite a traditionally nomadic military upbringing, she found stability during summers with her grandparents in Laguna Pueblo. Despite the fact her grandparents went to one of the then governments controversial assimilation programmes, where indigenous people were forced to adopt traditional white US customs, they managed to keep their traditional practices intact  something she is very grateful for.

I feel that a lot of Native Americans are not as lucky as me, she says. There were a lot of things which the government did  they sent native folk to boarding school, cut their hair, changed their clothes, adopted them out of their families so they were never able to reconnect with their families. They basically turned them into Americans.

There are individuals who are likely still resentful but I think its important to recognise the resilience of Native American communities who have moved forward, she adds. We are active participants in our country and our politics, and were working to be successful. Just like any other community, we want to advocate for issues that are important to us.

Mr Trumps political agenda and rhetoric have come as a cruel blow to many Native Americans who had enjoyed progress under Barack Obama. The former president is praised for doing more than any other American leader to acknowledge their grievances, such as the governments historical neglect of treaty obligations.

In September 2016 the Obama administration settled lawsuits with 17 Native American tribes that accused the federal government of long mismanaging both their funds and natural resources. The settlements totalled $492.8m.

Native American history has included mass killings and attempts to deprive tribes of their land, language, rituals and overall culture. In more recent years, disputes have played out in the form of cultural and legal fights over property and casinos.

Ms Haalands goals for New Mexico include making the state a leader in renewable energy, safeguarding womens rights to an abortion, legalising marijuana, improving veteran support, backing small businesses and striving for universal health care.

The candidate for Congress has vowed to run on abortion rights and legalising marijuana

Ms Haaland says she is steadfastly committed to fighting for womens right to have an abortion  something which she has come under fire from all angles under the Trump administration.

I am absolutely going to fight for womens reproductive rights anytime I have to. We cant go backwards. A lot of women have died because of this issue of when its not safe and legal, she says.

Addressing why she is so keen to legalise marijuana, she says: I think we need to stop putting people in for-profit prisons for smoking marijuana. Especially when they target people of colour. We need to be able to prescribe marijuana for post-traumatic stress and pain issues. These are combat veterans who come back from fighting because the country sent them there and we need to take care of them. It would also help with the Opioid crisis.

Fortunately for her, she says the campaign is going well so far. Ultimately spurred by the ambition to become the first ever Native American in Congress, Ms Haaland wants to give the community which has long been marginalised by US voting laws a voice in the political mainstream.

For me, voting has never been enough, she says, her voice ringing with emotion.Watch news, TV and more on Yahoo View.



By Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An American academic who supports U.S. President Donald Trump and is a strong advocate of Britain's exit from the European Union will testify next month before the federal grand jury considering evidence in the investigation into possible collusion between Trump's 2016 election campaign and Russia.

Theodore Malloch, the author of a forthcoming pro-Trump book and an ally of Nigel Farage, a former leader of Britain's UK Independence Party, said in a statement emailed to Reuters on Friday by the book's publisher that he was questioned by FBI agents when he landed at Boston's Logan International Airport on Tuesday after a flight from London and served with a subpoena to appear before the grand jury.

Malloch "is scheduled to testify in Washington D.C. on April 13th under Robert Mueller's Grand Jury investigation," Hector Carosso, a representative of Skyhorse Publishing, said in a separate email.

Malloch's book, "The Plot to Destroy Trump: How the Deep State Fabricated the Russian Dossier to Subvert the President," is scheduled for publication on May 1.

Mueller is investigating possible illegal coordination between Trump and his 2016 campaign and Russia. Trump and Russia have denied any collusion. The FBI and Mueller's team had no comment on Malloch or events at the airport in Boston.

Malloch said in his email that the FBI presented him with a document authorizing the agents to seize his cellphone. He said he handed it over and later was told the FBI had to send it to Washington for a "full assessment."

He also said the FBI questioned him for about an hour about his career, government security clearances, and academic credentials. He said the agents then asked him about his role in the Trump campaign, which he said was informal and unpaid.

He said they also questioned him about his contacts with Trump supporter and political consultant Roger Stone, the WikiLeaks website and Jerome Corsi, a contributor to conspiracy theory websites.

Story continues

In his statement, Malloch said he knew nothing about WikiLeaks, which published emails U.S. intelligence officials concluded last year were hacked from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign by the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency.

Sources familiar with Mueller's investigation say one avenue of inquiry is how the hacked emails made their way to WikiLeaks from Russia, and whether any Trump allies ever handled them.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange declined to comment directly on any possible contacts with Malloch when contacted by Reuters.

(Reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by John Walcott and Bill Rigby)US President Donald Trump warned Thursday that he may delay implementation of a renegotiated trade deal with South Korea until after planned nuclear talks with North Korea.

Trump offered no explanation for the apparent threat, which came just a day after he hailed the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) as a victory for his get-tough stance on commerce.

"I may hold it up until after a deal is made with North Korea, does everybody understand that? You know why? Because it's a very strong card," Trump said in a speech in Ohio.

"South Korea has been wonderful, but we'll probably hold that deal up for a little while, see how it plays out."

On Wednesday, Trump had seemed to be firmly behind the renegotiated trade deal, which should now give US carmakers greater access to South Korean markets.

"@USTradeRep just announced an agreement in principle with South Korea on KORUS!" he said.

"A great deal for American and Korean workers. Let's now focus on our important security relationship."

But the president's remarks in his Ohio speech appeared to suggest he is seeking to hold the deal as leverage over Washington's ally South Korea ahead of the nuclear talks.

North Korea and South Korea plan to hold a summit on April 27.

Trump is then due to meet North Korea's Kim Jong Un before the end of May for talks on Pyongyang's denuclearization.By Tuvan Gumrukcu

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey said on Friday that a French pledge to help stabilise a region of northern Syria controlled by Kurdish-dominated forces amounted to support for terrorism and could make France a "target of Turkey".

French backing for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia, has angered Ankara at a time when it is fighting the YPG in northern Syria and considers it a terrorist organisation.

President Tayyip Erdogan said France had taken a "completely wrong approach" on Syria, adding that he exchanged heated words with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, last week.

The split with France is the latest rift between Turkey under Erdogan and its NATO allies in the West.

Turkey has long complained about U.S. support for the SDF, among a number of irritants to ties with the leading NATO power. Last year it compared the German and Dutch authorities to Nazis for restricting pro-Erdogan demonstrations during a campaign for a referendum to give him greater powers.

The White House said President Donald Trump, who added fresh uncertainty on Thursday when he said that the United States would be "coming out of Syria" very soon, spoke to Erdogan on Friday "to discuss regional developments and the strategic partnership between the United States and Turkey".

"The two leaders expressed support for continued efforts to increase cooperation between their two countries, to advance shared interests as NATO allies, and to work through issues that affect the bilateral relationship," a White House statement said.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said the French stance was setting Paris on a collision course with Ankara.

"Those who enter into cooperation and solidarity with terror groups against Turkey ... will, like the terrorists, become a target of Turkey," Bozdag, who is also the Turkish government spokesman, wrote on Twitter. "We hope France does not take such an irrational step."

Story continues

Macron met an SDF delegation on Thursday and gave assurances of French support to stabilise northern Syria. A presidential source later said France could increase its military contribution to the U.S.-led coalition which - alongside the SDF - is fighting Islamic State in Syria.

The United States has 2,000 troops in SDF-held territory, and France also has some troops there as part of the coalition.

Ankara considers the YPG fighters in the SDF to be an extension of Kurdish militants who have waged a decades-old insurgency in southeast Turkey.

Turkish forces drove the YPG from the northwestern Syrian town of Afrin nearly two weeks ago and Erdogan says Ankara is preparing to extend operations along hundreds of miles of border, including areas where the American forces are deployed.

The Afrin operation has already drawn international criticism, notably from Macron. Ankara, meanwhile, has said it expects its allies to move their troops out of the way of a Turkish advance.

"We have no intention to harm soldiers of allied nations, but we cannot allow terrorists to roam freely (in northern Syria)," Erdogan said.

One U.S. service member and one other member of the U.S.-led coalition were killed by a bomb in Syria overnight, the first to die in an attack this year.

TRUMP SURPRISE

Trump's remark on Thursday that the United States would be "coming out of Syria" appeared to take his own administration by surprise.

U.S. officials have said in recent months that Washington planned to keep an open-ended presence in northern Syria, to support stability in the SDF-controlled region, prevent any Islamic State resurgence and counter Iranian influence.

SDF spokesman Kino Gabriel said the force had not been informed of any U.S. withdrawal plan.

"Our work and coordination (with the coalition) is continuing," Gabriel told Reuters in a written message.

Asked whether U.S. forces had been informed of a decision to withdraw or were preparing to do so, a spokesman for the coalition said he would not comment on future operations.

A PYD member in Paris said Macron had promised at Thursday's meeting with the SDF to send more troops to northern Syria, provide humanitarian assistance and push a diplomatic solution.

The French presidency did not confirm that Macron had pledged more troops, but the presidential source said France could bolster its military intervention in Syria "within the existing framework" of the U.S.-led coalition.

The presidency also said Macron was offering to mediate between Turkey and the SDF - a suggestion Erdogan dismissed.

"Do not engage in things beyond you, we do not need a mediator," he said, responding to the French offer in remarks to members of his ruling AK Party in Ankara. "Who are you to speak of mediation between Turkey and a terrorist organisation?"

Accusing Paris of appeasing terrorism, he said Macron would be held accountable for his policy by his own people.

"We hope France doesn't come to us for help when the terrorists running from Syria and Iraq fill their country after being encouraged by their policy," he said.

Erdogan spoke last week with Macron about the French president's criticism of Turkey's Afrin campaign.

"He was saying weird things and so, even if it was a bit high-octane, I had to tell him some things," Erdogan said. "It is not anyone's place to portray our armed forces as something we do not find acceptable."

(Additional reporting by John Irish and Marine Pennetier in Paris, Tom Perry in Beirut, Maher Chmaytelli in Baghdad and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Peter Graff and Susan Thomas)Ankara (AFP) - Turkey on Saturday warned France against increasing its military presence in Syria, saying it would be an "invasion", as tensions between Paris and Ankara remained high.

Temperatures were raised after French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday met a delegation of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) made up of Kurdish and Arab fighters.

Kurdish officials said afterwards that France was planning to send new troops to Manbij -- a northern Syrian town held by the Kurdish YPG militia -- a claim Paris denied.

"If France takes any steps regarding its military presence in northern Syria, this would be an illegitimate step that would go against international law and in fact, it would be an invasion," Turkish Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli said.

"Especially if they intend to support terror group elements or give direct or indirect protection with armed forces, this would be a really calamitous step," he added during a visit to the northeastern province of Giresun.

Turkey itself sent troops into Syria and launched an operation against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in its Afrin enclave on January 20 and drove out the group from the city on March 18.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly warned that Turkey could extend the offensive to Manbij, which is east of Afrin.

But Macron's office on Friday said Paris was not planning any new military operation on the ground in northern Syria outside the international coalition against the Islamic State extremist group.

Ankara views the YPG as a "terrorist" offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged an over three-decade insurgency in Turkey.

The PKK is blacklisted as a terror organisation by Turkey and its Western allies.

But the United States, as well as France, have worked closely with the YPG in the fight against IS in Syria, much to Ankara's anger.

Erdogan on Friday criticised France's "wrong stance" and rejected Macron's offer of establishing a dialogue between Ankara and the SDF.

Story continues

"We have no need for mediation," Erdogan said. "You can sit down at the table with terror organisations but Turkey will continue its fight against terror."

- 'Save region from bloody gangs' -

The NATO allies previously clashed over Macron's comments in late January when he said he would have a "real problem" with the Afrin offensive if it turned into an outright "invasion".

But Erdogan at the time sought to reassure him, saying Turkey had no eye on Syrian territory.

On Saturday, Erdogan insisted during a speech in Istanbul that Turkey's action "was not an invasion, but to save the region from bloody gangs".

He told France to look back at its own history, and made reference to Algeria and the 2011 Libya intervention which Erdogan described using the term "occupation".

"How can you stand up and give us a lesson on civilisation? First look at your own history," he thundered.Istanbul (AFP) - Turkey on Friday rejected a French offer to mediate with the Syrian Democratic Forces which is dominated by a Kurdish militia blacklisted by Ankara, condemning Paris' "wrong stance".

French President Emmanuel Macron offered late on Thursday to facilitate dialogue between the two sides after he met a delegation of Kurdish and Arab fighters.

Macron said he hoped this could be set up with help from Paris and the international community.

Turkey dismissed it out of hand in a move likely to further fuel tension with France, which has expressed clear concerns over an ongoing Turkish military operation in northern Syria.

Macron's comments were not well received by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said he was "extremely saddened by France's... wrong stance".

"We have no need for mediation... Since when has Turkey had an issue of sitting down at the table with terror organisation?" Erdogan thundered during a speech in Ankara.

Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Twitter that Turkey rejected "any efforts to promote 'dialogue', 'contact' or 'mediation' between Ankara and those terrorist organisations".

"It is not possible to say a country which welcomes the YPG at the Elysee is unbiased. You are already on the side of terrorists," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

The backbone of the SDF is the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), a militia group which has been driven out of its Afrin stronghold by the Turkish offensive.

The YPG is the military wing of the main Syrian Kurdish political movement, the Democratic Union Party (PYD).

The Turkish military launched its offensive against the YPG in January, targeting the group over its ties with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which has waged an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984 and which Ankara blacklists as a terror group.

- France 'cooperating with terror' -

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"Turkey's position on PKK/PYD/YPG, which seeks to legitimise itself as SDF, is perfectly clear," Kalin said, warning Paris against taking any steps which could be construed as legitimising terror groups.

"The countries we consider friends and allies must take a clear stand against all forms of terrorism," he said.

"The various names and disguises cannot hide the true identity of the terrorist organisation."

Both France and the United States have worked closely with YPG fighters in the battle against Islamic State jihadists in Syria.

During Thursday's talks, Macron acknowledged the "role of the SDF in the fight against Daesh", the Elysee said using an Arabic acronym for IS.

Macron and Erdogan have spoken several times on the phone since Turkey's operation began on January 20.

But the Turkish president said that Macron had made "strange remarks" in a call about Syria last week. "I was forced to point it out to him, even if the tone was a bit raised," he said, without giving details.

Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag took a much tougher line, lashing out at France and warning that any country cooperating with "terrorists" would be on Turkey's radar.

"France's assurance of support for PYD/YPG/YPJ terror organisations is clear cooperation and solidarity with terror groups attacking Turkey," wrote Bozdag on Twitter.

YPJ is the women's force within the YPG.

- A sharp warning -

Kurdish official Asya Abdullah told reporters after the meeting with Macron that France was planning on sending "new French troops to Manbij" -- an area east of Afrin where Turkey has threatened to expand its campaign.

"The cooperation will be reinforced," she said.

But Macron's office on Friday said it was not planning any new military operation on the ground in northern Syria outside the international coalition against IS.

Before the statement, Bozdag warned that those working with terror groups would become Turkey's target and hoped France would not take such an "irrational step".

"Those who cooperate with terror groups against Turkey ... and attack Turkey alongside terrorists will get the same treatment that we inflict upon those terrorists," said Bozdag, who is also the government spokesman.

About 10 days into the Turkish operation in Syria, Macron had incensed Turkish officials by saying France would have a "real problem" if the campaign turned out to be an "invasion operation".

The comments drew a sharp response from Turkish authorities, saying that Turkey has never been "colonialist" in its history, urging Paris to look at its own past.

On March 18, Turkish forces and their rebel allies took full control of Afrin, with the YPG largely withdrawing without a fight.

burs-raz/bpISTANBUL (Reuters) - France's promise to back Syrian forces led by a Kurdish militia amounts to support for and legitimization of terrorist groups, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Friday. French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday assured the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), dominated by the Kurdish YPG, of Paris' support to stabilize northeastern Syria against Islamic State. "Those who enter into cooperation and solidarity with terror groups against Turkey...will, like the terrorists, become a target of Turkey," Bozdag wrote on Twitter. "We hope France does not take such an irrational step." (Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Dominic Evans)The NATO Western military alliance risked going to war with itself as Turkey butts heads with the U.S. and France over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's plan to battle Kurdish groups backed by Washington but considered terrorist organizations by Ankara.

Erdogan rejected on Friday a French offer to enter into talks with Syrian Kurdish fighters associated with the People's Protection Units (YPG), a fundamental part of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). After the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces made heavy gains against the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) across northern and eastern Syria last year, Turkey rallied its own armed forces in January in an attempt to defeat Kurdish fighters in both Syria and Iraq.

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"We do not need a mediator," Erdogan said during a speech in Ankara. "We are extremely saddened by France's entirely wrong stance on this."

Amid Kurdish and French reports that France would send troops to the Kurd-controlled city of Manbij, where the U.S. has already refused to withdraw its own Special Forces, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag warned in a series of fiery tweets that those "who enter into cooperation and solidarity against Turkey" would "become the target of Turkey, just like the terrorists."

ErdoganSpeechSyriaFrance

Office of the Turkish President

The U.S. and its allies have expressed frustration with Turkey's military campaign, which has halted the U.S.-led coalition against ISISs ground offensive. French President Emmanuel Macron received a Syrian Democratic Forces delegation Thursday. He pledged to support the mostly Kurdish group and "paid tribute to the sacrifices and the determining role of the SDF in the fight against Daesh [the Arabic-language acronym for ISIS], and reaffirmed the priority of this fight while the terrorist threat continues," according to a statement.

Story continues

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NATO members France, Turkey and the U.S. all supported efforts to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the midst of a 2011 uprising against his government. As the mostly Syrian opposition grew increasingly intertwined with jihadi forces in the country, Western countries began to cut back support and focused on a U.S.-led campaign to bomb ISIS in 2014. The following year, the U.S. established the Kurd-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces.

The U.S., France and other Western nations have supported Kurdish ambitions as they fought ISIS in Iraq and Syria, but Turkey has viewed their victories with suspicion as it considered Kurdish fighters in both countries to be tied to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a militant group waging guerrilla war against the Turkish state.

As Turkey and the formerly CIA-backed rebel Free Syrian Army swept through Kurdish territory in northern Syria, they captured the town of Afrin earlier this month and now threatened to take nearby Syrian government-controlled Tel Rifaat and Kurdish-held Manbij too, risking an international or even inter-NATO conflict if Syrian, U.S. or French troops became involved. Iraq too has recently warned of Turkish violations of its sovereignty as Ankara refused to withdraw troops and attacked local Kurdish forces also accused of having PKK ties.

Trump surprised reporters Thursday, however, when he said the U.S. would be "coming out of Syria like very soon," contradicting previous administration statements that suggested an indefinite military presence. The Pentagon has declined to offer any timetable for a potential withdrawal of U.S. troops in Syria, even after Damascus declared victory over ISIS in November and the U.S.-led coalition campaign against the jihadis was put on hold. In a separate front, the Russia-backed Syrian military and its allies, including Iran-backed militias, continued to battle remnants of ISIS in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.

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DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images

CampaignforAfrin19MAR-01 (1)

Institute for the Study of War

Russia, which backed the Syrian government, has taken a stance similar to that of the U.S. on the Turkish issue, choosing to prioritize its relationship with Turkey over the Kurds. Moscow's Syrian ally, Assad, however, has called for the immediate withdrawal of both Turkish and U.S. forces. The longtime Syrian leader has entered into a deal with Kurds, allowing them to move freely through Syrian government territory and sending pro-government militias to front lines against Turkey and the Free Syrian Army.

The Syrian military itself has focused on clearing out the remaining rebel and jihadi strongholds, having intensified campaigns in the northwestern province of Idlib and the eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus. As of Friday, talks to remove the last rebel group outside of the Syrian capital appeared to be ongoing, despite conflicting reports suggesting that the Islamist Jaysh al-Islam had reached a deal with Russia and the Syrian government.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekBy Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A senior United Nations official told the Security Council on Friday that the situation in Gaza "might deteriorate in the coming days" and called for civilians, particularly children, to not be targeted. At least 16 Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured on Friday by Israeli security forces confronting one of the largest Palestinian demonstrations in recent years along the Israel-Gaza border, Gaza medical officials said. "Israel must uphold its responsibilities under international human rights and humanitarian law. Lethal force should only be used as a last resort with any resulting fatalities properly investigated by the authorities," U.N. deputy political affairs chief Taye-Brook Zerihoun said. The council had been due to meet behind closed doors at the request of Kuwait. But after it became clear the 15-member body would be unable to agree on a statement on the situation, diplomats said Kuwait requested the meeting be held publicly. U.S. diplomat Walter Miller said it was unfortunate that Israel, a close U.S. ally, could not take part in Friday's meeting due to the Passover holiday. "We are deeply saddened by the loss of life today. We urge those involved to take steps to lower tensions and reduce the risk of new clashes. Bad actors who use protests as a cover to incite violence endanger innocent lives," Miller told the council. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Susan Thomas and Sandra Maler)WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. telecommunications regulator on Thursday gave formal approval to a plan by Elon Musk's SpaceX to build a global broadband network using satellites.

"This is the first approval of a U.S.-licensed satellite constellation to provide broadband services using a new generation of low-Earth orbit satellite technologies," the Federal Communications Commission said in a statement.

The system proposed by privately held SpaceX, as Space Exploration Holdings is known, will use 4,425 satellites, the FCC said.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in February had endorsed the SpaceX effort, saying: "Satellite technology can help reach Americans who live in rural or hard-to-serve places where fiber optic cables and cell towers do not reach."

The Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday that SpaceX plans to launch a Falcon 9 rocket on April 2 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. "The rocket will carry a communications satellite," the FAA said.

The FCC said SpaceX has been granted authority to use frequencies in the Ka (20/30 GHz) and Ku (11/14 GHz) bands.

Musk, who is also the founder and chief executive of electric automaker Tesla Inc, said in 2015 that SpaceX planned to launch a satellite-internet business that would help fund a future city on Mars.

SpaceX wanted to create a "global communications system" that Musk compared to "rebuilding the internet in space." It would be faster than traditional internet connections, he said.

"This is an important step toward SpaceX building a next-generation satellite network that can link the globe with reliable and affordable broadband service, especially reaching those who are not yet connected, SpaceX Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said.

Over the past year, the FCC has approved requests by OneWeb, Space Norway and Telesat to access the U.S. market to provide broadband services using satellite technology that the FCC said "holds promise to expand internet access in remote and rural areas across the country."

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About 14 million rural Americans and 1.2 million Americans on tribal lands lack mobile broadband even at relatively slow speeds.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, said on Thursday that the agency needs "to prepare for the proliferation of satellites in our higher altitudes."

She highlighted the issue of orbital debris and said the FCC "must coordinate more closely with other federal actors to figure out what our national policies are for this jumble of new space activity."

(Reporting by Eric Walsh and David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Munsif Vengattil and Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammad Zargham, Leslie Adler and Andrea Ricci)WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. telecommunications regulator on Thursday gave formal approval to a plan by Elon Musk's SpaceX to build a global broadband network using satellites.

"This is the first approval of a U.S.-licensed satellite constellation to provide broadband services using a new generation of low-Earth orbit satellite technologies," the Federal Communications Commission said in a statement.

The system proposed by privately held SpaceX, as Space Exploration Holdings is known, will use 4,425 satellites, the FCC said.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in February had endorsed the SpaceX effort, saying: "Satellite technology can help reach Americans who live in rural or hard-to-serve places where fiber optic cables and cell towers do not reach."

The Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday that SpaceX plans to launch a Falcon 9 rocket on April 2 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. "The rocket will carry a communications satellite," the FAA said.

The FCC said SpaceX has been granted authority to use frequencies in the Ka (20/30 GHz) and Ku (11/14 GHz) bands.

Musk, who is also the founder and chief executive of electric automaker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), said in 2015 that SpaceX planned to launch a satellite-internet business that would help fund a future city on Mars.

SpaceX wanted to create a "global communications system" that Musk compared to "rebuilding the internet in space." It would be faster than traditional internet connections, he said.

"This is an important step toward SpaceX building a next-generation satellite network that can link the globe with reliable and affordable broadband service, especially reaching those who are not yet connected, SpaceX Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said.

Over the past year, the FCC has approved requests by OneWeb, Space Norway and Telesat to access the U.S. market to provide broadband services using satellite technology that the FCC said "holds promise to expand internet access in remote and rural areas across the country."

Story continues

About 14 million rural Americans and 1.2 million Americans on tribal lands lack mobile broadband even at relatively slow speeds.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, said on Thursday that the agency needs "to prepare for the proliferation of satellites in our higher altitudes."

She highlighted the issue of orbital debris and said the FCC "must coordinate more closely with other federal actors to figure out what our national policies are for this jumble of new space activity."

(This version of the story corrects to attribute SpaceX comment to its COO in the ninth paragraph)

(Reporting by Eric Walsh and David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Munsif Vengattil and Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammad Zargham, Leslie Adler and Andrea Ricci)London (AFP) - Britain said Saturday it was considering Moscow's request for consular access to Yulia Skripal, the daughter of a former Russian spy targeted in a nerve agent attack.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter have been in hospital since March 4 after being poisoned in an attack in Britain that London and its major Western allies blame on Russia.

The first use of chemical weapons in Europe since World War II has chilled Moscow's relations with the West.

The Foreign Office said that in reaching its decision, it would take into account whether Yulia Skripal wanted Russian officials to pay her a visit in hospital.

Yulia Skripal came out of critical care on Thursday. The 33-year-old was "improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition", said Salisbury District Hospital.

She is now in a "stable" condition -- with the BBC reporting that she was conscious and talking.

"We are considering requests for consular access in line with our obligations under international and domestic law, including the rights and wishes of Yulia Skripal," a Foreign Office spokeswoman told AFP.

Britain says there is no alternative conclusion other than Russian state culpability behind the attack -- which Moscow denies -- saying a Soviet-designed nerve agent dubbed Novichok was used in the poisoning.

Sergei Skripal, 66, a former double agent, remains in a critical but stable condition.

Skripal sold secrets to Britain and moved there in a 2010 spy swap. His daughter was visiting from Russia.By Andrew Osborn MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow has told Britain it must cut just over 50 more of its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia as a standoff deepened over the poisoning of a Russian former spy and his daughter in England, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. Moscow also demanded an official explanation for the search of a Russian passenger plane in London, saying it reserved the right to act similarly against British airlines in Russia. Britain said the search was routine. Russia advised its citizens to think carefully before traveling to Britain, warning they could fall victim to official harassment. More than 100 Russian diplomats have been expelled by Western countries, including 23 from Britain, to punish the Kremlin over the March 4 attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the historic English city of Salisbury. London says Moscow was responsible for the first known use of a military-grade nerve agent on European soil since World War Two, and Britain's defense minister on Saturday said it was "heartening" to see the backing of international allies. "The world's patience with Putin's repeated pattern of malign behavior has worn thin," Gavin Williamson wrote in a newspaper column, urging that Britain's defense capabilities needed to keep better step with Russia's broadening tactics. Russia denies responsibility for the attack. It has cast the allegations as a Western plot to sabotage East-West relations and isolate Moscow. Russia had already retaliated in kind by ejecting 23 British diplomats. On Friday, the Foreign Ministry summoned British Ambassador Laurie Bristow and told him London had one month to further cut its diplomatic contingent in Russia to the same size as the Russian mission in Britain. It also expelled 59 diplomats from 23 other countries for backing Britain. A spokeswoman for Britain's Foreign Office called the Russian move regrettable, and said it was considering the implications of the measures. She did not say how many diplomatic staff in Russia would be affected, while the British Embassy in Moscow says it does not make staff numbers public. But Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the demand meant Britain would have to cut "a little over 50" more of its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia on top of the 23 diplomats who have already gone home. "We asked for parity. The Brits have 50 diplomats more than the Russians," Zakharova said on Saturday. Asked if that meant London would now have to cut exactly 50 diplomatic and technical staff, she said: "A little over 50." RUSSIAN TRAVEL WARNING The Russian Foreign Ministry later published a list of 14 questions its London embassy had sent Britain's Foreign Office. It included queries about why Russia had been denied consular access to the Skripals and about France's role in the case. In a move underlining the serious nature of the diplomatic crisis, the Russian Embassy also advised Russians to think twice before traveling to Britain, warning of rising anti-Russian sentiment and possible harassment from the authorities, including the risk of objects being planted in their luggage. "We can't rule out increased attention by British law enforcement agencies and intelligence services to Russian passport holders," the embassy said in a statement. Russia's Ministry of Transport meanwhile demanded Britain explain an Aeroflot airliner was searched at Heathrow Airport on Friday, in what the Russian Embassy in London called a "blatant provocation". Britain disagreed with that assessment. "It is routine for (Britain's border agency) to search aircraft to protect the UK from organized crime and from those who attempt to bring harmful substances like drugs or firearms into the country," Security Minister Ben Wallace said. The Russian Embassy said Wallace's logic was "difficult to comprehend" and only amplified its doubts about the incident. Britain's Foreign Office also said on Saturday it was considering allowing visits under consular access terms to Yulia Skripal, who is recovering in hospital against all expectations and is no longer in critical condition. Russia's embassy said that it had contacted Viktoria Skripal, Yulia's cousin. "Upon receiving confirmation that Yulia Skripal's condition is getting better and she is able to communicate, she said she would like to go to London and to visit her cousin," the embassy said. The BBC reported on Friday that Yulia was "conscious and talking," which may help the investigation of how she and her father were poisoned. The poisoning on British territory has united much of the West in taking action against what it regards as the hostile policies of President Vladimir Putin. This includes the United States under President Donald Trump, whom Putin had hoped would improve ties. (Additional reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary in Edinburgh and Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber in Moscow; Editing by Stephen Powell and Sandra Maler)United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for an "independent and transparent investigation" after 16 Palestinians were killed and hundreds more wounded during clashes with the Israeli military, a spokesman said.

His call came as the UN Security Council heard fears of a further escalation in Israeli-Palestinian violence in the Gaza Strip during emergency talks.

"The Secretary-General calls for an independent and transparent investigation into these incidents," said a statement by Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, which also reaffirmed "the readiness" of the world body to revitalize peace efforts.

Haq added that Guterres "also appeals to those concerned to refrain from any act that could lead to further casualties and in particular any measures that could place civilians in harm's way."

Kuwait requested an emergency meeting to discuss the unraveling situation in Gaza, which saw the conflict's deadliest single day since the 2014 Gaza war.

"There is fear that the situation might deteriorate in the coming days," said assistant UN secretary general for political affairs, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, urging maximum restraint.

Britain and the United States expressed regret that the timing of the meeting -- the first night of Passover -- meant Israeli officials could not attend. Leading ambassadors sent deputies in their place.

"It's vital that this Council be balanced in its approach," a US diplomat told the meeting. "We should have found an arrangement for all parties to participate tonight," he added.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of life today," the diplomat added. "Bad actors who use protests as a cover to incite violence endanger innocent lives."

- 'Possibility of new conflict' -

"The risk of escalation is very real," the French representative said. "There is the possibility of a new conflict in the Gaza Strip."

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In a written statement before the meeting, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, blamed Hamas for the violence.

"While Jews around the world gathered with their family at the Seder table to celebrate the Passover holiday, the Palestinians sunk to a new deceitful low so that they could use the UN to spread lies about Israel," Danon later said.

The violence broke out as tens of thousands of Gazans marched near the Israeli border to demand the right of return for Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled since the creation of Israel.

Israeli troops used tear gas and live fire to force back Palestinians who approached the heavily fortified border fence.

Israeli tank fire and an air strike also targeted three Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip after what the military said was an attempted shooting attack against soldiers along the border that caused no injuries.

The health ministry in Gaza said 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces and more than 1,400 were injured, including 758 by live fire, with the remainder hurt by rubber bullets and tear gas.

Palestinians accused Israel of using disproportionate force. The Israeli military said the protests were used as cover by militants to either break through the border or carry out attacks.Eight years after he was last deported to Mexico, a US army veteran is returning to California.

A pardon last year from Governor Jerry Brown cleared the way for Hector Barajas, who was living in Tijuana, to secure citizenship. He received word that his request was granted and is set to be sworn in in San Diego next month, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Oh my god, this is great, Mr Barajas said in a Facebook video during which he opened a document confirming the decision while wearing a uniform bristling with medals.

Im coming home, mom, he said, fighting back tears.

Born in Mexico but raised in the Los Angeles area, Mr Barajas enlisted in the Army after becoming a legal permanent resident. He mistakenly believed that serving in the Army would automatically grant him citizenship.

He pleaded no contest in 2002 to a charge of shooting at an occupied vehicle and was deported after serving his sentence. He re-entered the US and was deported a second time in 2010 after being pulled over.

In Tijuana, Mr Barajas founded the organisation Deported Veterans Support House, which sought to help people in situations like his own, and continued working toward achieving citizenship.

He got a crucial assist last year from Mr Brown, who noted Mr Barajas military service and work on behalf of other veterans. The governor also pardoned two other deported veterans, a decision a spokesman described to the Sacramento Bee as a recognition that the individuals served their country and deserve a second chance and a second look.

Supporters of Mr Barajas said they hoped his case could be an example to others.

I am ecstatic for Hector that he can finally return home and be reunited with his family, Mr Barajas attorney James Erselius said in a statement. He absolutely deserves this. His citizenship also gives hope to other veterans like himself who were deported but are still seeking to come home.

Some 70,000 people born outside of America enlisted in the US military in the first decade of this century, according to the most recent available Department of Defence statistics.Caracas (AFP) - Venezuela's government said Friday it will compensate the relatives of scores of prisoners and a couple of visitors who died this week when a fire engulfed an overcrowded police headquarters' jail.

The statement by the foreign ministry also said authorities have been ordered to probe the blaze that happened Wednesday in the state police facility in the country's third-biggest city of Valencia.

A total of 68 people died in the fire -- 66 male prisoners and two female visitors.

A prisoners' rights group, Una Ventana a la Libertad (A Window on Freedom), said the prisoners had set fire to mattresses in an attempt to break out of the jail.

The foreign ministry statement said "means of compensation" had been agreed for the affected families.

Police sources told AFP on Friday that all but eight of the bodies had been claimed by relatives.

The UN's human rights office in Switzerland had said Thursday it was "appalled at the horrific deaths" and called for a complete investigation. It had also demanded compensation be paid to the families.

The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro rejected the "precipitate and disproportional" comments of the UN office.

It alleged there was "a multi-faceted assault being deployed against our country making rude and vile use of the issue of human rights."

Venezuela's prisons suffer from dire overcrowding and a shortage of basic supplies, struggling under the deepening economic crisis that is gripping the once-wealthy oil-producing country.

Una Ventana a la Libertad estimates that the temporary detention cells in Venezuela's police stations are at five times their capacity. They are often used to house overflow convicts from similarly crowded penitentiaries.Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones joined around 250 family and friends at Professor Stephen Hawking's funeral today in Cambridge.

The service was held just metres from the college that was his academic home for 52 years.

Other stars expected to attend were Lily Cole, model and actress, comedian Dara O Brian and playwright Alan Bennett.

Elon Musk, founder of aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, and Barbara Broccoli, producer of the James Bond films, have also been invited.

Eddie Redmayne played Professor Hawking in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything. Felicity Jones played his wife, Jane Hawking.

The service began at 2pm Credit: Andrew Parsons for The Telegraph

Although the service is private, and will be restricted to invited friends, family and colleagues, crowds are expected to form outside the church to witness the funeral procession.

Stephen Hawking's funeral, in pictures

Professor Hawking died peacefully at his home on 14 March, at the age of 76.

The service is to be held at the University Church St Mary the Great, close to Gonville and Caius College, where Professor Hawking was a fellow.

Professor Fay Dowker, a former student, will give a second eulogy, after Professor Hawking's son Robert.

Eddie Redmayne walking into the church Credit: Andrew Parsons for the Telegraph

She is expected to say: "Stephen shared his work and his zest for the fundamental questions it addressed with wide audiences.

Felicity Jones and Charles Guard Credit: WENN.com

"He inspired people with the excitement and importance of pure scientific enquiry and was admired and revered for his devotion, as a scholar, to the pursuit of knowledge.

"This high regard was demonstrated wherever in the world he gave a public lecture: the auditorium was always packed, the atmosphere electric and the applause thunderous."

The procession began at the professor's house in the west of Cambridge, and travel along the historic King's Parade, in front of King's College, to the University Church.

Brian May and Anita Dobson arrive Credit: PA

The service began at 14:00.

Roads in central Cambridge are not expected to be closed, but traffic will be stopped to allow the procession to pass.

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Professor Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in his twenties, and was initially expected to live just a few years.

Dara O Briain arrives Credit: PA

The coffin will be carried by six porters from Gonville and Caius, all in traditional uniform, with bowler hats.

Many porters at the college knew Professor Hawking and provided support when he visited for dinners and other events. They were asked by his family to be pallbearers.

Head Porter Russell Holmes will walk ahead of the coffin as it is carried into the church.

He will wear his formal college uniform of top hat and tails, and carry a silver-topped ebony cane of office.

Despite the scientist's public atheism, Professor Hawking's family felt that a traditional church funeral would allow friends, family and colleagues to pay tribute to him.

Lily Cole went to Cambridge University Credit: PA

In a statement, Professor Hawking's children Lucy, Robert and Tim said: "On behalf of our whole family we want to express our huge gratitude to all the wonderful tributes to our father and to those who have sent us messages of condolence.

Order of service Credit: Andrew Parsons for The Telegraph

"Our father lived and worked in Cambridge for over 50 years.

"He was an integral and highly recognisable part of the university and the city.

"For this reason, we have decided to hold his funeral in the city that he loved so much and which loved him.

Hawking at his Oxford graduation, in 1962. He would be diagnosed with motor neurone disease the next year. Credit: Rex Features

"Our father's life and work meant many things to many people, both religious and non-religious.

"So, the service will be both inclusive and traditional, reflecting the breadth and diversity of his life.

"We would like to thank Gonville and Caius College, the University of Cambridge and Trinity College, Cambridge for their assistance with our father's funeral service."

Professor Hawking, pictured in 2015 with Eddie Redmayne Credit: Dnaiel Leal-Olivas/PA

St Mary the Great is the official church of Cambridge University. By university legislation, undergraduates must live within three miles of its spire.

Professor Hawking's ashes will be interred in Westminster Abbey, close to the grave of Sir Isaac Newton, in June, following a service of thanksgiving for his life.

A book of condolence is open at Gonville and Caius, and an online book has been set up on the college's website.

Thousands of messages from around the world have already been posted.By Ian Simpson

(Reuters) - A white Louisiana police officer was fired on Friday and a second suspended for the killing of Alton Sterling, a black man shot in a 2016 incident that inflamed the U.S. debate on racial bias in law enforcement, a police official said.

Baton Rouge officer Blane Salamoni, who shot Sterling in a confrontation outside a convenience store, was dismissed for violating department standards on use of force and for losing his temper, Police Chief Murphy Paul told a news conference.

The second officer, Howie Lake, was suspended for three days for failing to maintain his composure. The decisions followed an administrative review of the July 2016 shooting, and both officers plan to appeal, Paul said.

The steps are designed "to bring closure to a cloud that has been over our community for far too long," he said.

Sterling was among black men slain by police whose deaths sparked U.S. protests and helped fuel the Black Lives Matter movement.

Police released four videos of the confrontation with Sterling outside a convenience store, where he was selling CDs.

Paul called the footage from a police dash camera, officers' body cameras, and a store surveillance camera "graphic and shocking to the conscience."

Salamoni's camera shows him yelling at Sterling with expletives to put his hands on a car. He points a gun at his Sterling's head and shouts he will shoot him if he moves.

While struggling with Sterling, both officers' cameras came loose. Lake's footage ends by showing Sterling on his back in the parking lot, blood draining from his body.

Sterling, 37, was shot after a resident reported he had been threatened by a black man selling CDs. Police said Sterling was trying to pull a loaded gun out of his pocket when Salamoni opened fire.

Lawyers representing Sterling's five children applauded Salamoni's firing, but expressed disappointment that the officers would not face charges.

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"The person who was out of control was Blane Salamoni," attorney Michael Adams said at a news conference. "The person who stood by and let him be out of control was Howie Lake. Thats a tragedy."

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said this week that Lake and Salamoni would not face charges since they had reason to believe that Sterling was armed and was resisting arrest.

The U.S. Department of Justice declined to prosecute the officers for civil rights violations in 2017, citing insufficient evidence.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler)By Joey Roulette

ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - The widow of the Pulse nightclub gunman walked free on Friday after a jury cleared her of charges related to the 2016 massacre that killed 49 people in Orlando, Florida.

Noor Salman, 31, could have faced up to life in prison had she been convicted of federal charges of obstruction of justice and aiding her husband, Omar Mateen, in providing support to the Islamic State militant group.

Instead, the U.S. District Court jury acquitted Salman after roughly 12 hours of deliberation that began on Wednesday. Hours later, she walked out of Orange County jail, her head bowed as she held hands with defense lawyer Fritz Scheller.

"We knew from day one she was innocent," Salman's aunt, Susan Adieh, told reporters just after the verdict.Salman was home with the couple's then 3-year-old son at the time of the massacre on June 12, 2016. Mateen died in an exchange of gunfire with police at Pulse, a gay nightspot.

The acquittal was an emotional blow for the survivors and families of those killed. The attack stunned and dismayed lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and Latinos who frequented Pulse.

At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. It has since been surpassed by the Las Vegas attack in which a shooter opened fire on an outdoor concert from his hotel room last year, killing 58 people.

"We're very sorry for the family members and friends of the 49 victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting, and also the survivors of that horrible attack," said Susan Clary, Noor's family spokeswoman.

A group of victims' relatives and friends, accompanied by Pulse owner Barbara Poma, left the courthouse without responding to reporters' questions.

"Those of us directly affected by this tragedy must find peace in our hearts and remember that he was the one who pulled the trigger that night," Poma said in a statement.

A group of survivors, friends and family planned to meet at the Pulse nightclub about 2 miles (3 km) from the courthouse.

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"She may not be guilty, but she isn't innocent either," said Luis Morales, a Pulse regular who was not there during the attack. "She knew what he was doing."

When U.S. District Judge Paul Byron announced the verdict, Salman broke down in tears and hugged her defense lawyers, according to reporters inside the courtroom. Her relatives gasped while families of the victims sat silently, showing little emotion.

Mateen, 29, opened fire shortly after 2 a.m. during Latin night, shooting patrons on the dance floor and spraying bullets at others hiding in bathroom stalls. He then held hostages during a standoff with police, claiming allegiance to a leader of Islamic State before he was shot dead.

Prosecutors said Salman cased possible attack sites with her husband and did nothing to stop his plans. They claimed she initially told investigators her husband acted without her knowledge but later said she knew he was watching Islamic State videos, had purchased an assault rifle, and examined three possible attack locations.

However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation did not record the interrogation and the defense said she was coerced into making statements.

The jury appeared to believe the defense portrayal of Salman as a battered spouse kept in the dark, said David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor and now a partner at Coral Gables, Florida-based Hinshaw & Culbertson.

"The lack of a videotaped confession had to have had an impact on the jury's acceptance of her confession. ... It is clear they believed it was coerced," Weinstein said in a statement.

(Reporting by Joey Roulette in Orlando; Writing by Daniel Trotta; editing by David Gregorio and Jonathan Oatis)As Foreign Policy writes in an article "Blame Trump When Iran Races for the Bomb", if the United States breaks its end of the nuclear deal, the Islamic Republic's hard-liners are going to want a weapon ASAP.

The nuclear deal with Iran hangs by a thread. The appointment of John Bolton  an unapologetic proponent of war with Iran  as U.S. national security advisor has prompted celebrations among Iran deal detractors. The announcement that nuclear talks with North Korea will be held around the same time that U.S. President Donald Trump must decide whether to keep or kill the Iran deal has further complicated the picture. Yet few in Washington understand how Trumps gamble with Pyongyang may impact Tehrans nuclear calculations.

Conventional wisdom declares that Trump would be foolish to kill the Iran deal (formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA) if he genuinely seeks to reach an agreement with the North Koreans. If Trump shows that he does not honor Americas agreements, why would Pyongyang strike a deal with him?

But Trump is anything but conventional. His logic runs in the opposite direction, and Bolton will be more than happy to enable Trumps worst instincts. By killing the JCPOA, Trump thinks hell signal to the North Koreans that they should have no doubt that he is ready to walk away from the talks if he doesnt get what he wants. After all, walking away from ongoing negotiations is much easier than killing an existing deal.

Trump may know bluster, be he does not know diplomacy. Strong-arming subcontractors may work in the Manhattan real estate market, but it wont work in international diplomacy. Sovereign states dont react like jilted architects and electricians.

How will Iran react if Trump pursues this path? For Tehran, the JCPOA was never just about the nuclear issue. It was a test to see if the West could come to terms with the Islamic Republic and accept Iran as a regional power. By testing this proposition, the talks became a defining showdown between the two dominant schools of thought within the Iranian elite.

The first school, dominated by conservative elements in the government and military, argues that the United States  pressured by Israel and Saudi Arabia  is inherently hostile to Iran and will never recognize the country as a regional power or come to terms with its regime, regardless of Irans policies or the compromises it offers. The inclusion Tehran seeks can only be achieved by forcing the United States and its allies to accept the reality of Irans power. The hard-liners skepticism of diplomacy and resistance to compromise is partly rooted in their belief that no Iranian compromise can change Washingtons hostility to Tehran.

Irans second, more moderate group of policy-makers recognizes both that the countrys own actions have contributed to infectious conflict and that the United States has legitimate concerns about Iranian policies. An American acceptance of Irans inclusion in the regional security architecture can be obtained, they argue, through diplomacy and a genuine give-and-take. If Iran compromises, so will the West, the logic goes.

Up until the nuclear negotiations began in earnest, the debate between these two schools was theoretical. Though Tehran had made many diplomatic overtures in the past, Americas willingness to come to terms with Iran had never been tested through a mutual compromise that both sides had signed on to.

Until, that is, the JCPOA.

The Iran nuclear deal was the first time the United States and Iran had agreed to a significant exchange of concessions that not only eliminated Irans pathways to a bomb and lifted sanctions, but also put an end to almost four decades of American efforts to completely isolate Iran. It signaled that America, 36 years after the Iranian revolution, was coming to terms with Iran.

Both sides agreed to painful concessions, both faced fierce domestic political opposition, and both recognized that the agreement signaled a major break with past policies. America was coming to terms with Iran. And the Islamic Republic was speaking of the United States not as the Great Satan, but as a negotiation partner.A 45-year-old Tel Aviv resident was arrested on Wednesday night on suspicions he called different people involved in the Bezeq corruption affair, also known as Case 4000, and impersonated a police investigator.

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The man, who has a history of committing fraud offenses, allegedly gave people involved in the case fictitious details, which he presented as information from the ongoing investigation.

He is also suspected of falsely claiming he has real evidence indicating the fairness of the investigation has been compromised. This alleged evidence could also prove the innocence of suspects in the case, the man claimed.

Lahav 433 offices (Photo: Avi Moalem)

The Tel Aviv resident is suspected to have written an email that made the rounds on social media on Tuesday.

"Drama in the law enforcement system," the email began. "One of the investigators of Lahav 433 implied he would not hesitate to come out against the police commissioner and the officers investigating the prime minister."

According to that so-called officer, "The attempt to make a criminal offense 'stick' to the prime minister is wrong. No criminal offense was committed as part of the prime minister's actions. There was no acceptance of bribes or giving of bribes, there's an attempt to carry out a dangerous police coup against the regime."

The email concluded by claiming that "The investigator works in the team investigating the prime minister. Due to his opinions, (police) is trying to remove him from the investigations team."

After hearing his false claims, the people the suspect called turned to the Police Investigation Unit in the State Attorney's Office and to the Israel Police.

The police said in response, "The Israel Police conducts its investigation thoroughly and professionally and in an unbiased manner, based on evidence and professional consideration and in line with the instructions of the law. All of this is done with one goal in mind-reaching the truth."UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Friday for an independent investigation into deadly clashes in Gaza between Palestinians and Israeli troops, while Security Council members urged restraint on both sides.

The council didn't decide on any action or joint message after an emergency meeting Friday evening. Kuwait convened it hours after the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 cross-border war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules the coastal strip.

Guterres wants "an independent and transparent investigation" into the violence, spokesman Farhan Haq said.ANKARA - Turkey said on Friday that a French pledge to help stabilise a region of northern Syria controlled by Kurdish-dominated forces amounted to support for terrorism and could make France a "target of Turkey".

French backing for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia, has angered Ankara at a time when it is fighting the YPG in northern Syria and considers it a terrorist organisation.

President Tayyip Erdogan said France had taken a "completely wrong approach" on Syria, adding that he exchanged heated words with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, last week.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Friday for an independent investigation into deadly clashes in Gaza between Palestinians and IDF troops, while Security Council members urged restraint on both sides.

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The council failed to agree on any action or joint message after an emergency meeting Friday evening. Kuwait convened it hours after the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 cross-border war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules the coastal strip.

The council had been due to meet behind closed doors. But after it became clear the 15-member body would be unable to agree on a statement on the situation, diplomats said Kuwait requested the meeting be held publicly.

UN Security Council convenes to discuss Gaza clashes (Photo: AP)

Sixteen people were killed and more than 1,400 wounded by Israeli fire as tens of thousands of Palestinian protesters marched to Gaza's border with Israel, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. The Israeli military said that thousands of Palestinians threw stones and rolled burning tires toward troops, that Palestinian terrorists opened fire toward soldiers in one incident and that militants were trying to conduct attacks under the cover of protests.

Guterres wants "an independent and transparent investigation" into the violence and reaffirmed the readiness of the world body to revitalize peace efforts, spokesman Farhan Haq said.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said he was disappointed the Security Council didn't coalesce to condemn what he called a "heinous massacre" of peaceful demonstrators, or to support his call to provide protection for Palestinian civilians.

"We expect the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility" and "defuse this volatile situation, which clearly constitutes a threat to international peace and security," Mansour said.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour (Photo: AP)

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said "the international community must not be deceived" by what he termed "a well-organized and violent terror-gathering" under the banner of a peaceful march.

"The Palestinians sunk to a new deceitful low so that they could use the UN to spread lies about Israel" while its representatives weren't there because of the Passover holiday, Danon said in a statement issued before the meeting.

Some Security Council members suggested an investigation and emphasized that Israel should ensure force is only used proportionally. Some also made a point of noting Israel's security concerns and calling on demonstrators to avoid violence.

They all expressed alarm at the flare-up of conflict in a volatile region. There is fear that the situation might deteriorate in the coming days, said assistant UN secretary general for political affairs, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, urging maximum restraint.

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"Israel must uphold its responsibilities under international human rights and humanitarian law. Lethal force should only be used as a last resort with any resulting fatalities properly investigated by the authorities," Zerihoun added.

"The situation is extremely worrisome," said Swedish deputy Ambassador Carl Skau. Equatorial Guinea's ambassador, Anatolio Ndong Mba, warned that continuing violence could "escalate out of control and could further imperil what is already a very delicate situation" in Gaza.

Britain and the United States expressed regret that the timing of the meetingthe first night of Passovermeant Israeli officials could not attend. Leading ambassadors sent deputies in their place.

US representative speaks at meeting (: )

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Its vital that this Council be balanced in its approach, Walter Miller, an adviser at Washington's UN mission, told the meeting. We should have found an arrangement for all parties to participate tonight, he added.

We are deeply saddened by the loss of life today, the diplomat added. Bad actors who use protests as a cover to incite violence endanger innocent lives, he added.

Walter Miller, an adviser at Washington's UN mission (Photo: AP)

The risk of escalation is very real, the French representative said. There is the possibility of a new conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Russia and China, meanwhile, emphasized a need to step up diplomatic efforts toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a whole.Jordan's State Minister for Media Affairs and government spokesman Mohammad Momani condemned the "Israeli escalation in Gaza" on Friday night.

He accused Israel of "using excessive force against peaceful protesters who were marching to commemorate the Land Day and affirm their legitimate rights in accordance with international law and norms."

Momani also urged the international community "to pressure Israel to abide by its obligations as the occupying power and address the humanitarian crisis the coastal territory has been experiencing for years now."

He added that "failure to find a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinians issue will further exacerbate despair and fuel extremism and violence and ultimately serve terrorist agenda."An Israel Air Force drone crashed overnight between Friday and Saturday in an open area in southern Lebanon as a result of a technical malfunction, the IDF said.

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"The incident is currently being reviewed. There is no risk of leaked information," the IDF Spokesman's Office said.

Hezbollah's al-Manar TV station reported the drone crash and posted photos from the crash site.

It said that "a second spy plane targeted it with a guided missile, which resulted in it being destroyed."

Footage of the crash site

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Several Lebanese media outlets, among them Al Mayadeen, reported that the drone was equipped with four missiles.

Hezbollah reported the drone was an Elbit Hermes 450 medium size multi-payload UAV.

Other media in Lebanon reported that Lebanese engineering forces closed off the area and were searching for all remnants of the crashed drone.

Lebanese forces scouring the area

The IAF drone was on an intelligence-gathering mission in southern Lebanon as part of routine operations, which also included an increased activity of IAF fighter jets in northern Israel.

The Hermes 450 is one of the oldest UAVs used by the IDF.

According to a 2012 article in the British magazine The Economist, such a drone was used in the assassination of Ahmed Jabari, the former commander of the military wing of Hamas. In addition, in March 2009, The Sunday Times reported that the Air Force attacked an Iranian arms convoy in Sudan intended to reach the Gaza Strip using the Hermes 450.

The crash of an IAF drone in enemy territory is considered unusual and would allow Hezbollah to learn its abilities and capabilities and possibly help it develope similar aircraft.

This is the second Hermes 450 to crash during operational activity, with the previous one crash landing in October 2013 near Palmahim Beach.

Estimated to cost around $ 2 million, the Hermes 450, manufactured by Elbit, entered the Air Force in the late 1990s and since then has undergone several upgrades. It is designed for tactical long endurance missions and is used for intelligence gathering missions in all sectors, including Gaza and southern Lebanon.





A German public-service television ZDF broadcasted a reportage about the uncomfortable truth of modern Armenia. "The genocide and Nagorno-Karabakh war are the topics that people associate with Armenia. But everyday life with corrupt politicians and total poverty dominates. Young people flee the country in large numbers, " journalist Wolfgang Zimmerman says in his reportage.

"Astghik Tarloyan teaches German at the Yerevan Brusov State University. To make both ends meet, she also works as an interpreter for various organizations and translates books. She speaks German, Russian and English perfectly. She does not have medical insurance: Healthcare is not cheap in the country. If I have a serious problem and need to see a doctor, I can not do it without financial help from my parents, Astigik, 33, says.

Over a dozen of her friends have already left Armenia, having gone to Germany. And many of her students studying German pursue the same goal. Astghik herself has never thought of leaving Armenia: "This is my identity, my homeland, Ive never wanted to live elsewhere." But, as Astghik Tarloyan admits, now she has begun to think about emigration, " the report reads.

"Astghik is just one example from many. According to a recent study, almost 2/3 of young Armenians think about leaving their country for at least a while. They are disappointed by the political, social and economic situation in the country. According to the official statistics, more than 30% of the country's inhabitants live below the poverty line. Real figures are probably much higher, ZDF notes.

The German public-service television broadcaster also covered such acute topics as corruption and election fraud. "In the corruption index of Transparency International, Armenia occupies the 107th place - along with Ethiopia, Macedonia and Vietnam. The economy is in the hands of several oligarchs: those who are not relatives or friends of the ruling elite representatives hardly has a chance to start a business. In addition, the judicial system in the country is considered dependent - a murderous mix for investors. After each election, the accusations of falsification are heard. The electoral lists include already dead people. In Armenia, there is a very popular saying among people - Grandfather, if you resurrected to participate in the elections - why did not you visit us?

"The lack of prospects, often flavored by the states arbitrariness makes young people flee the country. One can only suggest how many people leave Armenia: according to the official data, 30-40 thousand people flee the country every year. Most of them come to Russia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia lost more than a million inhabitants between the ages of 16 and 30 (one-third of the population!) - and thus their future, "ZDF notes.

Further, the German broadcaster notes that the Armenian government does not seem to care. "It is possible that the authorities benefit from a mass exodus- in fact, the potential revolutionaries along with the well-educated youth also flee from the country. Those who protest do not seem interested in rallies, they just leave the country, "the report reads.

ZDF also refers to Armenia's geostrategic position as a nightmare due to the closed borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan.Iran condemned on Saturday what it described as a "savage massacre" of Palestinians in Gaza after 16 Palestinians were killed by IDF fire during clashes on the border.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi condemned "the savage massacre of a large number of Palestinians by the racist military forces of the Zionist regime," according to the ministry's website.

The Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, denounced in a tweet the "Zionist tyrants who kill the Palestinian pacifist demonstrators whose land was stolen."Hello neighbors. You've been living in distress for many years. We know. We're not ignoring it. Most of us even feel your pain, because we want neighbors who live in welfare, prosperity, and with a better future for themselves and their children.

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A little over a decade ago Israel left the Gaza Strip, withdrawing from every last centimeter. It could've been a turning point. For the first time, some of the Palestinians faced the option of having full independence. For the first time in history, they could've realized all of their desires. It could've been a new beginning.

But in short time, Hamas took over the strip. Hundreds of Palestinians were killed during that violent takeover. The Hamas regime's first step was to cancel all agreements with Israel, primarily the agreement on the border crossings. It was not Israel that put a blockade on the strip; Hamas imposed the blockade by canceling all of the agreements. Despite that, from then and until this very day, hundreds of supply trucks pass through the border crossings from Israel into the strip.

Hamas knows how to investbut only in the death industry. More tunnels. More rockets. Had Hamas invested everything it spent on tunnels in building neighborhoods, schools and hospitals instead, the situation in the strip would've been much better. Hamas wouldn't be dragging you and us to more and more conflicts.

And what came of the investment in rockets and tunnels? Only suffering for the residents of the strip. No, it has nothing to do with Israel. Look around, dear neighbors, look at other countries. You're not alone. Everywhere radical Islam has taken over, the result is destruction and ruin. This happens in Somalia, in Nigeria, in Syria, in Libya, in Pakistan and in Afghanistan. Is there one place in the world where radical Islam helped residents? Just one?

When Hamas rose to power, the international community set conditions to the continuation of aid: "The Quartet Principles." Accepting these principles would've led to the end of the blockade and to a better future. Even Arab leaders pressed Hamas to accept these terms. But Hamas leaders decided to say "No." It's time to protest against them. It's time to pressure them so you could have more water, more electricity, more food and more welfare. They're the problem, not Israel.

For almost 70 years now that the Arab world keeps you as "refugees." No, it's not because of Israel. It's because this is what the leaders of the Arab world wanted. They had an opportunity to establish an Arab state in 1947, but they said "No" and led you to the Nakba. They had decades to rehabilitate the refugees, but they didn't want to. There was another opportunity to resolve the refugee problem with Clinton's peace initiative and other initiatives later on. But your leaders kept saying no.

Allow us to remind you that you were not the only one in the world to suffer a "Nakba." Tens of millions were uprooted from their places of birth after the First and Second World Wars. Close to a million Jews were also expelled or had to flee from Arab countries. Many of them had their property taken and confiscated. They arrived in Israel as refugees. It wasn't easy for them at first, as it hasn't been easy for tens of millions others. But none of those tens of millions is a refugee anymore. Only you. Anyone with eyes knows the blame lies with your leaders. They didn't want to solve the problem, and you're paying the price.

We don't want suffering. We want you to live alongside us, in peace, prosperity, welfare and independence. Let's not fight each other. Let's drop the delusionsand there are those on our side who prefer delusions as wellfor a better reality. The entire world will help, if only you come with good will rather than hatred and incitement and delusions of the "right of return."

We also made many mistakes. There's a lot to fix, a lot that needs fixing. But we're also offering our hand in peace. Please accept it. Instead of another delusion and a "March of Return," which is all about provocation and violence, let's go on a shared march of peace, reconciliation and mutual recognition. You've been on the same march for 70 years now, on the old path, with the same result: More suffering, more distress. So you should try a new path, one that has hope. Please, accept our hand, which is offered in peace.A video was posted on Palestinian social media pages on Saturday showing a Palestinian man shot to death by a sniper near Jabalia during the "March of Return" rioting on the Gaza border the previous day.

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According to the Palestinians, 20-year-old Abdel Fattah Abdel Nabi was retreating from the perimeter area (the buffer zone between the Gaza Strip and the border fence) with another young Palestinian and was shot when his back was to IDF forces.

"Hamas distributes many different videos, including those that show only parts of events, edited and fabricated," the IDF responded. "Our forces acted according to the rules of engagement in a thoughtful manner, while refraining from harming civilians whom Hamas placed on the front lines in order to embarrass Israel while endangering those civilians."

Video showing al-Nabi getting shot

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One of the Palestinian protesters is seen in the video picking up a tire and running with it away from the border fence and towards the Gaza Strip. Nabi is seen joining him and taking the tire from him.

The video then shows Nabi continuing to run away from the border fence, getting hit and dropping to the ground. The video does not show Nabi's actions before his retreat.

Other protesters who were in the area evacuated him.

Al-Nabi getting shot

At least 16 Palestinians were killed and some 1,400 more were wounded by IDF gunfire along the Israel-Gaza border, according to Palestinian sources.

Palestinian health officials said 758 of the protesters were wounded by live gunfire, while others were struck by rubber bullets or treated for tear gas inhalation.

It was the deadliest day in Gaza in several months. Eleven of the Palestinians were killed during the clashes, a farmer was killed by pre-dawn tank fire in a separate incident, and four others from IDF tank fire at an observation post in the northern Gaza Strip.

The IDF said two of the Palestinians killed were members of Hamas's elite Nukhba force. The military also said all of the dead were terror activists aged 18 to 30. According to Palestinian reports, one of those killed was reportedly 16 while another was 33.The German Foreign Ministry said Saturday Berlin was "concerned by the situation in Gaza and calls on all involved to avoid further escalation."

"This incident shows the urgency of the resumption of negotiations to find a solution that would be suitable to all people between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea," the ministry wrote on its Twitter page.Egypt on Saturday condemned the clashes between Palestinian rioters and the IDF on the Gaza border the previous day, criticizing "the use of violence against unarmed civilians who participated in peaceful marches to mark Land Day."

"Egypt supports the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, primarily the right to establish an independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of return," the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Egypt calls on all sides to demonstrate restraint and not to expose the lives of civilians to additional dangers. The continuation of the existing situation, without the renewal of the peace process and reaching a solution to the Palestinian issue, is dangerous," Cairo added.The Hamas terror organization said Saturday that five of the dead in the clashes on the Gaza border the previous day were members of its military wing.

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The terror group didn't detail the circumstances of their death, but it said they were killed "while participating shoulder-to-shoulder with the Palestinian people in March of Return activity."

Tens of thousands of Palestinians had gathered on Friday along the fenced 65-km (40-mile) frontier, where tents were erected for a planned six-week protest pressing for a right of return for refugees and their descendents to what is now Israel. The Israeli military estimate was 30,000.

The mass marches were led by Gaza's ruling Hamas group and touted as the launch of a six-week-long protest campaign. Palestinian health officials said 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire and more than 750 hit by live rounds, making it the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 cross-border war between Israel and Hamas.

In Friday's confrontations, large crowds gathered near the border fence, with smaller groups of protesters rushing forward, throwing stones and burning tires.

IDF troops responded with live fire and rubber-coated steel pellets, while drones dropped tear gas from above.

On Saturday, dozens of Palestinian youths gathered by the Gaza-Israel border, though the area remained mostly quiet.

In the southern Gaza Strip, residents said Israeli troops fired warning shots towards a crowd of youths, some of whom burnt tires. Health officials said two people were wounded and an Israeli military spokesman said he was checking the details.

A Palestinian family at one of the tent encampments by the Gaza border on Friday (Photo: EPA)

Elsewhere in the strip, thousands were attending funerals for those killed, with mourners holding Palestinian flags and some chanting "revenge."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared Saturday a national day of mourning and a general strike was called across the West Bank.

"The large number of martyrs and people wounded in peaceful popular demonstrations shows that the international community must intervene to provide protection to our Palestinian people," Abbas said in a speech.

Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdainah, said: "The message of the Palestinian people is clear. The Palestinian land will always belong to its legitimate owners and the occupation will be removed."

Strike in Nablus in solidarity with Gaza (Photo: MCT)

IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said Hamas was using the protests as a guise to launch attacks against Israel and ignite the area. He said Israel will target terror organizations in Gaza if the violence drags on.

"We won't let this turn into a ping-pong zone where they perpetrate a terrorist act and we respond with pinpoint action. If this continues we will have no choice but to respond inside the Gaza Strip against the terrorist targets we believe to be behind these events," Manelis told reporters in a phone briefing.

Brig. Gen. Manelis also denied allegations of excessive use of force, saying those killed by Israeli troops were men between the ages of 18 and 30 who were involved in violence and belonged to militant factions.

He further said Gaza health officials exaggerated the number of those wounded, and that several dozen at most were injured by live fire while the rest were merely shaken up by tear gas and other riot dispersal means.

Gaza City's Shifa Hospital received 284 injured people Friday, the majority with bullet injuries, said spokesman Ayman Sahbani. He said 70 were under the age of 18 and 11 were women.

Funeral of one of the Palestinians killed on Friday (Photo: AFP)

He said 40 surgeries were performed Friday and that 50 were planned Saturday. "These are all from live bullets that broke limbs or caused deep, open wounds with damage to nerves and veins," he said.

Among those recovering from surgery was 16-year-old Marwan Yassin who had thrown stones with a slingshot at the fence Friday and was shot in both legs. One of his legs was wrapped in bandages and the other had a cast and metal fixtures. His mother said at his bedside that she would ban him from future protests.

Human Rights Watch criticized Israel's actions. "Israeli allegations of violence by some protesters do not change the fact that using lethal force is banned by international law except to meet an imminent threat to life," the New York-based group said, calling the number of killed and wounded "shocking."

Protest organizers have said mass marches would continue until May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israel's creation. Palestinians mark that date as their "nakba," or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were uprooted during the 1948 war over Israel's creation. The vast majority of Gaza's 2 million people are descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven from homes in what is now Israel.

Fatah gunmen crowd funeral of Palestinian killed on Friday (Photo: AP)

Manelis reiterated Saturday that Israel "will not allow a massive breach of the fence into Israeli territory."

The border protests were seen as a new attempt by Hamas to break the border blockade, imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militant group seized Gaza from forces loyal to its rival, Palestinian President Abbas, in 2007. The continued closure has made it increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern.

The large turnout of marchers in the dangerous border zone on Friday also seemed to signal desperation among Gaza residents. Life in the coastal strip has deteriorated further in recent months, with rising unemployment, grinding poverty and daily blackouts that last for hours.

The protest campaign is also meant to spotlight Palestinian demands for a "right of return" to what is now Israel.

At the United Nations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an independent investigation, while Security Council members urged restraint on both sides. The council didn't decide on any action or joint message after an emergency meeting Friday evening.The Hamas terror organization said Saturday that five of the dead in the clashes on the Gaza border the previous day were members of its military wing.

While the terror group didn't detail the circumstances of their death, it did say it happened "as part of their participation, shoulder-to-shoulder, with the Palestinian people in March of Return activity."Meretz leader MK Tamar Zandberg called on Saturday to investigate the clashes that took place the previous day on the Gaza border, which resulted in the death of 16 Palestinians.

Zandberg said that in light of "extensive harm done to the Palestinians yesterday on the Gaza Strip border, and after testimonies emerged of shooting at unarmed protesters, including footage showing shooting in the back, Meretz calls for an investigation of the events. We must not allow the policy of a happy trigger finger to bring to the loss of lives of innocent people and inflame the entire region."Newly appointed Meretz leader MK Tamar Zandberg called for an investigation Saturday into the deadly clashes that took place the previous day on the Gaza border, which resulted in the deaths of 16 Palestinians.

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Zandberg said that in light of "extensive harm done to the Palestinians yesterday on the Gaza Strip border, and after testimonies emerged of shooting at unarmed protesters, including footage showing a protester shot in the back, Meretz calls for an investigation of the events."

MK Zandberg

"The harsh results and the filmed testimonies require an independent Israeli examination, including an examination of the rules of engagement and the military and political preparations for the event," Zandberg added.

"It is an Israeli duty to know what happened there, and beyond that it is also an Israeli interest to prevent the security situation from deteriorating into a dangerous round of violence."

According to Zandberg, "a trigger-happy policy should not lead to the loss of innocent lives and light the entire region. The safety and well-being of people on both sides of the border depend on each other and Israel is obligated to act with restraint and according to the law.

"A genuine and independent Israeli investigation is necessary to draw conclusions and avoid further escalation. This is the time to lift the siege on Gaza and discuss humanitarian relief instead of inflaming the region further."

Palestinian protester shot in the back

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Friday for an independent investigation into Friday's border clashes, while Security Council members urged restraint on both sides.

Guterres said he appealed to the parties involved and asked to "refrain from any action that could cause additional casualties, especially civilian casualties."

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman mocked those calling for an investigation, suggesting they may have gotten confused and though Hamas organized a music festival, and not a hostile march on Israel's border which the IDF says was "cynically exploited" by the terror organization to besmirch Israel's name and sabotage border infrastructure.

"IDF soldiers repulsed Hamas military wing operatives with determination and professionalism, just as we expected of them," Lieberman praised, adding he gives them his full backing, for they are the reason Israelis could "safely celebrate Passover Seder."

Def. Min. Lieberman (Photo: Avi Mualem)

"I do not understand the choir of hypocrites who wants a commission of inquiry," he slammed. "They got confused and thought Hamas organized the Woodstock Festival yesterday and we have to give them flowers."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also gave his backing to the soldiers, writing on twitter, "Well done to our soldiers who are guarding the country's borders and allowing Israeli citizens to celebrate the holiday quietly. Israel is acting determinately and resolutely to defend its sovereignty and the security of its citizens."

Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon echoed Lieberman and Netanyahu's backing of the troops, saying they face "a cynical and cruel enemy who uses seven-year-olds as human shields" and thanking them for allowing "the residents of the Gaza vicinity and all the people of Israel celebrate the Seder night quietly and safely."US President Donald Trump on Friday froze more than $200 million in funds for recovery efforts in Syria as his administration reassesses Washingtons role in the long-drawn conflict there, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing officials.

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Trump called for the freeze after reading a news report noting that Washington had recently committed an additional $200 million to support early recovery efforts in Syria, the Journal reported.

An additional aid of $200 million was pledged by departing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in February in Kuwait at a meeting of the global coalition against Islamic State.

US President Trump (Photo: AP)

The decision is in line with Trumps declaration on Thursday when he said that America would exit Syria, according to officials, the Journal reported. During a speech in Richfield, Ohio, he revealed his desire to withdraw US forces from Syria and turn over security to regional countries.

He said that based on allied victories against Islamic State militants, "We'll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon."

"Let the other people take care of it now. Very soon, very soon, we're coming out," Trump said. "We're going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be."

The administration officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said Trump's comment during the speech reflected internal deliberations with advisers in which he has wondered aloud why US forces should remain with the militants on their heels.

Trump says US will 'leave Syria soon'

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Trump has made clear that "once ISIS and its remnants are destroyed that the United States would be looking toward having countries in the region playing a larger role in ensuring security and leaving it at that," one official said.

Such a policy is nowhere near complete, however, the official added.

The second official said Trump's national security advisers have told him US forces should stay in small numbers for at least a couple of years to make sure gains against the militants are held and ensure Syria does not essentially become a permanent Iranian base

About 2,000 US troops are deployed in Syria.

Trump last year went through a similar wrenching debate over whether to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan, ultimately agreeing to keep them there but only after repeatedly raising questions of why they should stay.

John Bolton (Photo: AP)

Trump's view on Syria may put him at odds with those of former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, named by Trump a week ago to replace H.R. McMaster as White House national security adviser.

"The caliphate in Syria & Iraq is gone, but #ISIS's terrorist activities will continue and #Iran is becoming a bigger player in the region," Bolton tweeted last Oct. 20 when he was a national security analyst.The states of the South Caucasus will celebrate the centennial jubilees of the creation of their first democratic republics at the end of May: on May 26, 1918, Georgia withdrew from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, on May 28 - Azerbaijan and Armenia. The resultant states were, respectively, the Georgian Democratic Republic, the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic and the Republic of Armenia, which is now called the First Republic of Armenia, in order not to be confused with the modern state. All three existed for a short time, were taken under the control of the Bolsheviks and transformed into the Soviet socialist republics in 1920-1921, but this did not diminish their historical significance, a leading analyst of Vestnik Kavkaza Andrey Petrov said today in the program National Question on Vesti FM.

The expert stressed that the most important aspect of the celebration in the South Caucasus republics - especially in the modern conditions of the total information war - is an absence of any anti-Russian component. "There are no anti-Russian meanings in these independence jubilees because they do not celebrate secession from Russia. In April-May 1918, when the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic was proclaimed, and then three separate democratic republics were created, there was no such state as Russia - the Constitution of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic came into force only in July 1918, the expert said.

Thus, according to Andrey Petrov, the holidays of the first democratic republics - Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia - bear an exceptionally positive sense of the self-organization of peoples in the era of the total powerlessness. "This is really a valuable thing for the nation - the moment of building and protecting sovereignty after the collapse of the previous states in the truest sense of the word, the leading analyst of Vestnik Kavkaza noted.

The reasons for the careful preservation of historical memory of the first democratic republics in the South Caucasus are clear: the modern republics - the presidential republic of Azerbaijan, the parliamentary republic of Georgia and still presidential but soon parliamentary republic of Armenia - perceive them as a valuable experience of a sovereign life in their newest history. Modern Baku, Yerevan and Tbilisi perceive themselves quite naturally as heirs of the democratic republics that appeared in 1918. Hence the attention to May 26 and 28, and the abundance of historical research of that time, so Russia can only welcome these holidays of its southern neighbors, " Andrey Petrov concluded.Israeli stealth planes reached Iran and returned without anyone noticing, Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Jarida reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources.

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According to the report, two IAF F-35 Adir fighter jets entered Iranian airspace last month and conducted reconnaissance flights undetected, crossing Syrian and Iraqi airspace on their way to the Islamic republic.

An F-35 fighter jet in flight (: EPA)

The flyby was intended in preparation for a possible joint Israeli-American attack in Syria, specifically on Iranian outposts, the report said, without confirming whether the operation was undertaken in coordination with the US army.

The two planeswhich are considered to be among the most advanced in the worldflew at a high altitude over sites suspected for a long time to be connected to the Iranian nuclear project, the report added, noting they were not detected at any moment by radar systems in any of the countries they flew over, including Russian radar systems stationed in Syria.

Iran has made no announcement that it spotted such action.

Al-Jarida has in the past uncovered a series of security affairs related to Israel, and has even claimed to receive its information directly from the prime minister's office.

This report comes in the wake of Israel's official admission last week that it was responsible for the 2007 attack on the nuclear reactor in Syria, as well as against the backdrop of mounting tensions with IranTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday condemned Israel over its "inhumane attack" in Gaza after a major demonstration there led to clashes that saw Israeli forces kill 16 Palestinians.

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Violence broke out on Friday after tens of thousands of people in the Gaza Strip marched near the Israeli border.

Over 1,400 people were also wounded, 758 of them by live fire, with the remainder hurt by rubber bullets and tear gas inhalation, the Gazan health ministry said.

Turkish President Erdogan (Photo: EPA)

"I strongly condemn the Israeli government over its inhumane attack," Erdogan said during a speech in Istanbul.

The protesters were demanding hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled during the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948 be allowed to return.

"Have you heard any noteworthy objections to the massacre by Israel that happened yesterday in Gaza from those who criticize the Afrin operation?" Erdogan demanded.

Turkey on January 20 launched a cross-border operation against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in its enclave of Afrin and the city was captured on March 18.

Ankara has come under heavy criticism from opponents and activists over its own operations in northern Syria.

Friday's March of Return protest (Photo: AP)

"This is the biggest proof of insincerity of those who fixate on us but say nothing about Israel using heavy weapons to attack people who are protesting on their own lands," Erdogan said, without saying which governments and organizations he meant.

Erdogan on Friday spoke with US President Donald Trump in a call and the Turkish leader said he told Trump: "'Aren't you going to intervene here?".

The Turkish leader, a fervent supporter of the Palestinians, often criticizes Israel's policies but the two sides have increased cooperation since the end of a rift in 2016 caused by Israel's storming in 2010 of a Gaza-bound ship that left 10 Turkish activists dead.

The Turkish foreign ministry on Friday accused Israel of using "disproportionate force" against Palestinians during "peaceful protests."

Unsurprisingly, Iran also lambasted Israel over the incident, with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif mocking the irony of it occurring on the first day of Passovera holiday celebrated as a commemoration of the Jews liberation from slavery and ensuing freedom as a nation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif (: MCT)

"On the eve of Passover (of all days), which commemorates God liberating the Prophet Moses and his people from tyranny, Zionist tyrants murder peaceful Palestinian protesterswhose land they have stolenas they march to escape their cruel and inhuman apartheid subjugation. Shameful," Zarif tweeted.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi condemned the "barbaric massacre of a large number of Palestinians by the military forces of the Zionist regime."

According to him, Israel felt it could act with impunity because of Trump's backing and secret ties with several leaders in the regionan allusion to the 32-year-old Saudi heir to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman, Iran's sworn enemy.

"Unfortunately, the unconditional support of Mr. Trump and his administration, and the shameful efforts of some ignorant novice leaders to establish disgraceful secret relations with this regime, have made the leaders of the Zionist regime more presumptuous," he said.The IDF, contradicting Hamas, says at least twice as many people out of the 16 killed by Israeli gunfire on the Gaza border Friday were members of the Sunni terror organization.

The army released a list of the names of ten Palestinians killed in the clashes, noting the position within Hamas each of them held.

The Hamas terror organization said Saturday that five of the dead in the clashes on the Gaza border the previous day were members of its military wing.- Media personality, Afia Schwar, has described donors at Ebony's funeral as hypocrites

- According to her, such people are have no interest in the welfare of those who are alive

Ghanaian media personality, Afia Schwar, has descended on people who donated various sums of money at Ebonys funeral held on Saturday, March 24, 2018.

According to her, they are wicked people who do not deserve forgiveness from Ghanaians.

Explaining her statement, she said that such people are only interested in glorifying the dead with their monies, but have no interest in helping those who are alive.

The late Ebony Reigns

READ ALSO: I didn't want Ebony to become a musician - Father

Afia Schwar was earlier reported to have taken a swipe at Ghanaians for the way and manner the late Ebony Reigns was treated when she was alive.

Some Ghanaian leaders are wicked. They will not use their monies to help the living but rather the dead.

And if the corpse is not one which attracts media attention, such huge sums wont be given out. So when Ebony was alive, what stopped you from calling her to offer her some of these monies you gave out?" she quizzed.

She recounted how on several occasions, the Sponsor hitmaker was chastised for her choice of clothing and her seductive mannerisms, especially when performing on stage.

She added that the leaders should divert their resources into government projects such as the Free SHS, the One District, One Factory and others.

According to her, had they supported the government with their resources, President Akufo-Addo would not have been named King Promise.

READ ALSO: Ebony's father explains why he chose the black casket for her

Hon Barbara A. Ayisi talks about how Nana Akufo-Addo has inspired her (Interview)

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Source: Yen Ghana- The 'Man of God' says he doesn't want any brawl amongst his family on his final resting place

- Pastor Obotuo says his tomb and that of his wife will serve as a tourist centre after their demise

Founder and leader of In Him Is Life Church International, Rev. Isaac Opoku, widely known as Obotuo has disclosed that he has built a huge house with two tombs for himself and his wife for their burial when they die.

According to the Ghanaian preacher, his decision was informed by numerous controversies associated with funeral rites across the country.

Rev. Isaac Opoku, aka Obotuo

READ ALSO: Ken Agyapong reveals why he won't 'chase' Asiedu Nketia for his $200

To him, the two tombs will serve as the final resting place for him and his wife when they are finally called to eternity.

Speaking exclusively to Kofi TV, Pastor Obotuo revealed that his move will also grant persons who may want to conduct various researches into his life after his demise easy access to his tomb.

I dont want any brawls when Im dead. I have taken a decision on where I want to be buried, hence, the reason for the tombs, he said.

The religious leader added that, I was born at a cottage, I have gone through a lot to become who I am today so I know people would definitely research about me. Im a pastor, a lecturer, a philanthropist. I dont want the location of my tomb to be problematic for researchers.

READ ALSO: I am ready to go to jail  Ako Gunn of Montie 3

Alluding to the scriptures to support his decision, Rev Opoku said, the Bible talks about the essence of having a decent funeral, therefore, preparing his tomb before his dead is not out of the ordinary.

Ecclesiastes 6.3 says, 'a person may have a hundred children and live a long time, but no matter how long he lives, if he does not get his share of happiness and does not receive a decent burial, then I say that a baby born dead is better off. I have witnessed funerals of some pastors, been to state burials, been to where Kwame Nkrumah was buried; I may not recognized by the state to be given a befitting burial. I dont want to be buried anywhere for burial sake he intimated.

Rev Opoku explaining why he added that of his wife said, Im not selfish, she has been of help. She is a part of me so I would want us to continue our journey. The Bible says Sarah and Abraham were buried on the same land; same as Isaac and Rebecca; Jacob and Leah.

The man of God further said the tomb will be covered with a glass so people could see his remains, adding that his body will be embalmed to the extents that it will last for over 300 years and the tomb will serve as a tourist center.

READ ALSO: Bill Asamoah's negligence is collapsing Kumawood - Prophet reveals

Watch Pastor Obotuo's full interview on Kofi TV

Yen.com.gh 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. Message us on Facebook now

Source: Yen- A Ghanaian numerologist, Paa Kwesi, has claimed that Easter is a celebration for pagans

- He added that it is responsible for economic hardships, accidents and deaths in Ghana

A Ghanaian numerologist, mystic and psalmist, Paa Kwesi, has argued that Easter is a pagan event.

In a report by rainbowradioonline.com, he stated that Easter is a celebration that was recognized to honour a female goddess.

Speaking with Prince Kwesi Dadzie, better known as Mr. Handsome, he added that the goddess was called Inanna or Ishtar.

Easter is celebrated by Christians to mark the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ

READ ALSO: I didn't want Ebony to become a musician - Father

He went on to say that Ishtar was the Babylonian and Assyrian mother goddess who presided over love, war and fertility.

She was also known as Estore and people celebrated it to recognize her in the year 20 BC.

He further explained that she was hung naked on a stake, and was subsequently resurrected and ascended from the underworld.

He has therefore challenged men of God who can support the celebration of Easter and the birth of Christ to do so with proof from the Bible.

In his view, if we do not stop celebrating Easter, we will continue to experience, economic instability, accidents, fire outbreaks and deaths because Easter is connected to the Illuminati.

READ ALSO: Donors at Ebony's funeral are simply hypocrites - Afia Schwar

Hon Barbara A. Ayisi talks about how Nana Akufo-Addo has inspired her (Interview)

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Source: Yen- 10 suspected Nigerian fradusters have been arrested in Accra

- Various items such as laptops, modems and cell phones were retrieved from them

- Police investigations are currently underway

The Madina Divisional Police Command has arrested 10 Nigerians suspected of fraudulent activities.

According to a report by citinewsroom.com, the Madina Divisional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Charles Domanban, stated that they were picked up at Ashongman in Accra.

The suspects are Diamond Andy, Benson Romeo, Randy Samuel, Kelvin Agho and Osas Igbo. The rest are David Okondu, Praise Onyekwena, Ohis David, Duru Wisdom, and Uyi Ighodaro.

David Asante-Appeatu, Inspector General of Police

READ ALSO: None of the 'death prophets' would live forever - Dr. Lawrence Tetteh

ACP Domanban revealed that on March 21, 2018, the Kwabenya Police Patrol team, trailed a taxicab whose occupants appeared suspicious to them to Oforikrom, a suburb of Ashongman Estates.

He said the team followed the taxi to a-four-bedroom house and on their arrival, other tenants attempted to escape, but they were all quickly rounded up.

Taking into consideration the number of suspects picked up, the patrol team requested for reinforcement and the Kwabenya District Commander led the Combat 9 team to the scene.

The patrol team intercepted nine laptop computers, six internet modems, five mobile phones and fifty-four SIM cards from the suspects.

ACP Domanban said the case had been referred to the Cyber Crime Unit at the Police Headquarters for further investigations.

READ ALSO: Whoever killed my daughter would be judged one day - Ebony's father

In the video below, the deputy education minister, Mrs Barbara Ayisi, speaks on how President Akufo-Addo inspires her, and how the president's success story must also inspire the youth of Ghana to greater heights.

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 Instagram or on YENs official Facebook page.

Source: YenGhanaian actress Lydia Forson has divided public opinion with her recent call for more criticisms against the government of President Nana Akufo-Addo.

The award-winning actress in article condemned sections of Ghanaians for failing to find their voices on critical issues under the Akufo-Addo administration.

According to her, while Ghanaians took a stern stance in vehemently criticizing the previous government for its perceived wrongdoings, there seems to be a silence over similar or even worse offences committed under the Akufo-Addo government.

"There was passion in these conversations, or dare I say even anger over decisions the government of the day was making we disagreed with; a lot of them nothing compared to this, " she said, adding that "if we cant criticize this government as vehemently as we did the NDC then theres a big problem. But this is what happens to a people that are more loyal to their party than the country."

READ ALSO: Ebony's father explains why he chose black casket for her burial

Lydia's article, since it was published, has generated a debate on social with Ghanaians expressing varying opinions on it.

YEN.com.gh asked our readers for their thoughts on Lydia's article and the responses were not different from what has been mostly stated on social media.

For everything comment that disagreed or attacked Lydia Forson for her opinion, there equally was one that agreed or defended the actress for her opinion.

While Gilbert felt Lydia Forson was only being mischievous with her claim because nobody had been gagged from talking, George supports her opinion describing the current government as arrogant.

READ ALSO: I didnt want Ebony to become a musician  Father drops his first bombshell

Osei Tutu chose to disagree with Lydia Forson with some 'big and heavy' grammar

And Isaac pointed out to him that it's not bout grammar.

READ ALSO: We'll sack you if we win power - Top NDC man warns 'NPP police officer' Kwesi Ofori

Benjamin was very unkind to Lydia

But Lydia had unsolicited support from Yussif

Ofori tried to mock Lydia that she she was peeved after being slapped by a police officer recently

But Shamrock rock felt the slaps had rather borught Lydia back to her senses.

READ ALSO: Ebony's father reveals what he knows about the many death prophecies that haunted her

And Muda had a word of advise for Lydia as to how she should approach such political topics going forward

In the video below, the deputy education minister, Mrs Barbara Ayisi, speaks on how President Akufo-Addo inspires her, and how the president's success story must also inspire the youth of Ghana to greater heights:

Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition?

Your stories and photos are always welcome.

Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Source: YenRespected Ghanaian dancehall artiste, Stonebwoy was on Saturday given a rousing welcome to Sogakope in the Volta Region as the artiste is billed to shut down Alao in an Easter Concert.

The talented Zylofon Media artiste who arrived in Sokokope on Friday afternoon was mobbed by his teaming fans in an awesome welcome.

Stonebwoy, dancehall artiste

READ ALSO: Joselyn Dumas shakes her 'soft backside' for Kuami Eugene for free (Video)

A video capturing Stonebwoys arrival at Sokakope shows a total roadblock to the extent that the Bhim Nation President has to negotiate with fans in order for them to make way for him and his crew.

Stonebowy is to perform in a mega concert dubbed #ZylofonCashActivationConcert, the first of series of the regional launch of Zylofon Cash.

Zylofon Cash is a system designed by Zylofon Media to help talented individuals to cash on their talents and creativity via the internet.

READ ALSO: Meet the Ghanaian Pastor who has already prepared his tomb and that of his wife in his house (Video)

Individuals who are registered on Zylofon Cash platform would have their videos uploaded on a YouTube channel and be paid royalties according to the number of views.

The #ZylofonCashActivationConcert which will be held at the Victoria Park in Aflao will also see Volta award winning artistes Agbeshie, Keeny Ice, Kasare, Chief One Gh, Nuh Prince and a host of others perform on Easter Sunday.

READ ALSO: Ken Agyapong reveals why he won't 'chase' Asiedu Nketia for his $200

Yen.com.gh 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. Message us on Facebook now

Source: YenA robber made a daring raid on the store in Kokshetau, the local media reports with a reference to the press service of the Department of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan.

Yesterday, the Kokshetau Department of Internal Affairs received the grocery store salesmans statement. An unknown man, threatening her with a gun, stole money, food, and a cell phone," the officers said.Buses with diplomats and escort vehicles have left the territory of the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., Sputnik reports with a reference to the Rossiya 24 television channel.

The bus with diplomats, who were proclaimed personae non-gratae in the US, has left the embassy building, under the march "Farewell of Slavianka", the same as the diplomats in London some time before.

The second bus with the diplomats will move toward the airport at 3 p.m. local time (19:00 GMT).The Russian consulate in Seattle has been closed by order of the US authorities. The staff has decided not to take down the Russian flag, though, leaving it for the Americans to deal with, RT reports.

Having wrapped up their last day of work on Friday, the Seattle consulate staff gathered outside their office, rented in a 25-story office building, took a picture together, then removed the plaque with the consulate's name from the wall. They now have until April 2 to remove all papers and other items, as that is the date that access to the premises will be shut off.

The papers will be taken to the Consulate General, consul Valery Timashov's residence, which, unlike the office, is Russian property. From there, they will be spread out to other diplomatic missions across the US. The residence will have to be vacated as well, although the consul has until April 24 to do so.

Even as Russian diplomats vacate the buildings, the Russian flag displayed at the consul's residence will remain, Russian ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov told journalists. "It's a decision of principle  we're not removing the flag. We are leaving the matter of the flag's safety to the decency of our American colleagues," Antonov said.Jews of Russia are starting to celebrate eight-day holiday Pesach (Passover).

It is dedicated to the most important event in Biblical history, which is considered to be the beginning of the Jewish history  the Exodus from Egypt and the liberation of the people from 400 years of slavery. The entire system of Judaism is based on the memory of the Exodus and the subsequent events related to the acquisition of the Promised Land and the establishment their own independent state.

During Biblical times, the celebration of the Passover was followed by a pilgrimage to the Temple, sacrifices and the feast with a lamb dish. It is believed that the Passover united two ancient festivals of pastoralists and farmers. In Biblical times it was associated with the liberation from the Egyptian slavery.

The tradition ties the name of the Passover holiday with the fact that God "passed" (in Hebrew "pasach") by the houses of the Jews when he punished the Egyptians for the Pharaohs refusal to let the Jewish people go. The Torah calls it "The Feast of Unleavened Bread", because at Passover you are supposed to eat unleavened bread (matzah), and it strictly prohibited even to have at home leavened products (chametz).

"We must have complete trust in the Creator, follow his will. When Jews escaped from Egypt, they did it immediately, without second thought, without any fears and doubts," president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia Alexander Boroda said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Russian Jews on this holiday, noting its significance in the history of Jewish people. His congratulatory telegram was published today on the Kremlin's website.

"This ancient holiday reminds us about the most important milestone in the history of Jewish people - escaping from slavery, gaining freedom and dignity," Putin wrote, adding that Russian Jews respect traditions of their ancestors, their customs, and teach these traditions of friendship, trust and mutual understanding to young people.The Russian-Turkish Public Forum opened in Istanbul on Saturday, TASS reports.

Head of the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo) Eleonora Mitrofanova represented the Russian side, and Deputy of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Berat Conkar and representatives of the relevant committees - the Turkish side.

The parties are currently holding consultations behind the closed doors for the press.According to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Bashar al-Assad is not likely to be toppled; yet he has expressed hopes that Assad will not serve Tehrans interests.

The wide-ranging interview with Time has shown that Riyadhs views on Syrias future might have changed.

Bashar is staying. But I believe that Bashars interests are not to let the Iranians do whatever they want they want to do, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the media outlet, Sputnik reports.

Having focused on Syria, bin Salman said that US military presence in the country was indispensable. We believe American troops should stay for at least the mid-term, if not the long-term.

The Saudi Crown Prince proceeded to warn of the possible dangers the decision to withdraw troops from eastern Syria might lead to. If you take those troops out from eastern Syria, you will lose that checkpoint. And this corridor could create a lot of things in the region, Time cited him as saying.The former Georgian president and ex-governor of the Odessa region, Mikhail Saakashvili, said he is ready to return to Ukraine.

"I am preparing to return to Ukraine, Ukrainian students should prepare for the return to Ukraine," he said, noting that he is now in Europe, travels a lot and meets with different people. In addition, the oppositionist told that he holds seminars on the prospects of tourism in Ukraine for Ukrainian students who study at the foreign universities.Almost a third of more than 4,100 enterprises surveyed in Viet Nam do business on social networks, a slight decrease from the previous year. Photo thoibaonganhang.vn

HA NOI  Almost a third of more than 4,100 enterprises surveyed in Viet Nam do business on social networks, a slight decrease from the previous year.

Viet Nam E-commerce Association (VECOM) conducted the survey on Vietnamese e-commerce activities from September to November last year.

Thirty two per cent said yes, they were using social networks, which is down 2 per cent compared to 2016.

Business on social networks is a trend among small- and medium-sized enterprises, business households and individuals in recent years, said the report.

In addition to social networks, e-commerce platform is also a useful tool for small and medium enterprises, but the trend of using e-commerce trading floors has not changed dramatically over the past few years.

Eleven per cent of businesses surveyed said they traded on e-commerce sites last year, down slightly compared to that of the previous year at 13 per cent.

VECOM said the year 2015 marked the boom in the trend of mobile commerce.

Along with the development of mobile infrastructure, businesses have invested more on this new platform, from upgrading mobile-friendly websites to developing applications.

However, according to the survey, this trend seems to be leveling off with the proportion of websites compatible with mobile devices not increasing, accounting for 17 per cent of the total surveyed enterprises, and down 2 per cent compared to 2016.

"It can be seen that many businesses do not really see the effect from this platform and the demand for mobile-based shopping is only suitable for big cities like Ha Noi and HCM City," online newspaper ictnews.vn quoted a VECOM representative.

The survey also found the percentage of businesses that have mobile applications was 15 per cent last year, equal to the rate in 2016.

Android is still the most popular platform, accounting for 71 per cent; followed by the iOS with 43 per cent and Windows 40 per cent.

"This data does not change much compared to that of 2016 survey," the representative said.

In addition, VECOMs survey also said that up to 39 per cent of businesses questioned highly rated online sales through social networks, the highest among online tools, followed by sales via enterprise websites (35 per cent), mobile applications (22 per cent) and e-commerce trading floors (18 per cent).

The survey also revealed that domain name ".vn" was chosen by the top companies when building websites with 47 per cent of businesses using it, followed by ".com" with 42 per cent.  VNSHA NOI  Fears of a trade war between the US and China have rocked global stock markets in recent sessions, but experts anticipate limited effects on Viet Nams securities market growth as the market is on solid footing and is increasingly reliant on domestic demand.

On March 22, US President Donald Trump signed a memorandum that would impose 25 tariffs on up to US$60 billion in annual imports from China . In retaliation, China announced similar tariffs on about $3 billion of US imports.

Though there is still speculation that China may expand its target to a broader range of US business interests, international experts believe the current trade spat between the two economic powers will be resolved through ongoing negotiations rather than moving toward a full-fledged trade war.

This issue, however, continues to weigh on investor sentiment and raise near-term volatility in global markets.

Viet Nam s securities market performed better when the benchmark VN-Index declined for only two times in the past three weeks, gaining 4.5 per cent since March 9. The VN-Index has continued setting new record highs this week.

According to Nguyen uc Hung Linh, head of analysis at Saigon Securities Inc, Viet Nam s stock market is strong on its own, helping to ease the short-term impact of the US-China trade issue. They are the escalating equitisation process of State-owned enterprises (SOEs), listings of big companies, quick expansion of the market size and the possible upgrading of the local market to emerging market status.

Since early 2017, most of companies that have recently had large IPOs have seen their stock value increase, bringing profits to both domestic investors and foreign funds.

This trend is expected to continue in 2018 and more good investment opportunities will be offered for foreign investors in the future, Linh told an online seminar on risks and opportunities for Vietnamese businesses amid the threat of a global trade war on cafef.vn on March 29.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were net buyers of VN5.4 trillion in the Vietnamese market in January but from early February until now, they have withdrawn about VN1 trillion.

According to Linh, domestic money inflows have remained strong and together with stable macroeconomic conditions, the market will continue to grow.

Limited impact

Responding to concerns over escalating trade tensions between the US and China and its impact on Viet Nam , Tran Toan Thang, head of the World Economic Department of the National Centre for Socio-Economic Information and Forecast (NCIF) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said: No one wins in a trade war. All parties in this war will lose.

According to Thang, a large-scale trade war will not likely occur as all parties are aware of the consequences but minor conflicts can happen.

If the conflict occurred only between the US and China , Viet Nam would have a good chance to export to the US , Thang said. He added that on the other hand, if China could not export to the US , it would boost its exports to other countries, including Viet Nam .

However, as Viet Nam s economic openness as measured by its import-export rate is rather high, Thang warned that the country might find it difficult to achieve growth targets if a real trade war broke out.

According to Nguyen Huy o, marketing director at Viet Nam-Italy Steel Co, Viet Nam can increase exports to other markets when the Comprehensive Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) takes effect in the near future.

The CPTPP has 11 member countries. Viet Nam has the most favorable conditions for exporting garments and steel, o said, adding that through the CPTPP Viet Nam will gain a good opportunity to export without challenge from its biggest competitor, China .

In addition, Viet Nam is a developing country, so the demand for construction steel is rising and the industry is less reliant on exports.

The steel industry witnessed a growth rate of 18 per cent in 2016 and 12-13 per cent in 2017.  VNSTraditional long dresses for men are slowly coming back into fashion.

This is thanks to a mens group whose members wear them and hope that other men will do so too.

During colonial times, men started to wear Western suits more often.

When Vietnamese men wear traditional long dresses while on overseas visits, they can attract a lot of attention because they look quite different to other types of clothes.

By Le Huong & Hong Van

Carefully wrapping a black turban on his friends head, Chu uc Giang is helping his friend take a trip back in time.

With the sun shining as bright as the clothes Giang and his friend wear, these two young men are keeping a tradition alive through the robes on their backs.

They spent a Sunday morning joining other members of the Traditional Long Dress for Mens Club to tour the Literature Temple and the Imperial Academy, the first university of Viet Nam built in 11th century in downtown Ha Noi.

The mens group wear ao dai (traditional long dress) and during their tour, pause from time to time to lend a listening ear to the guide.

Although they may look like they have arrived from days gone by, their ancient appearance is given a modern twist as many reach for their cell phones to take a selfie or two.

The newly established club, a smaller group of inh Lang Viet (Vietnamese Communal Houses), which is keen on preserving the ancient values of communal houses, sometimes organises such an event to encourage members to wear ao dai.

As well as drawing many a curious glance from foreign tourists, they hope their clothing with see other men follow suit.

As a member of inh Lang Viet group, I joined most of its activities including Tet Viet (Vietnamese traditional Lunar New Year) event at So Village on the outskirts of Ha Noi. At the first event three years ago, I rented an ao dai. Then I got one tailored. Recently, another club member Hoang Duong and I designed a collection of ao dai titled Now and Then of items with traditional features adequately changed to suit modern times, Giang told Viet Nam News.

As a young man who loves traditional culture, Giang feels proud whenever he wears ao dai.

I think ao dai is not only beautiful in aesthetic but also in moral standards. When wearing it, I feel more mature and tend to be more careful in my behaviour. The costume makes me Mr Right in the traditional standard. It is a heritage, he said.

Giang added that some details from the traditional design were changed to suit todays youth such as smaller sleeves, smaller hems for pants and various modern materials such as linen, tweed and even jeans.

According to Nguyen uc Binh, chairman of the club, there are too many changes in modern ao dai that make it alien and increasingly like traditional costumes of other countries.

Our club promotes traditional dress in original design with five flaps. We want all those who like to wear and possess the traditional dress can join our activities. So, the number of members is flexible and can mount up to dozens mostly around Ha Noi, he said.

Appearing in most of the inh Lang Viets events, Assistant to Minister for Foreign Affairs Pham Sanh Chau could not hide his pride in ao dai.

I normally wear ao dai in diplomatic events outside the country, he said.

I feel that it makes me quite different from others and it helps to single me out as a representative of Viet Nam. At our diplomatic activities, we are sometimes obliged to wear traditional dress as a requirement to be able to attend a big gathering.

He recalled the time he was in Belgium, whenever he had an opportunity to meet the King, he wore ao dai. And the following day, he became front page news.

Because people like to take pictures of those who are quite different from others. I feel that this is also a way to promote Viet Nam and stress the identity of the Vietnamese people, he added.

Up and down history

According to researcher Nguyen Xuan Hoa, long dress for men appeared in the early reigns of the Ly (1009-1225), Tran (1226-1400) and Le (1428-1527) dynasties, and that was called Giao Linh style.

The ao dai as we see today originated from the era of Lord Nguyen Phuc Khoat (1714-1765).

In 1744, when he came to the throne in Phu Xuan, he issued a decree to define costumes of men and women of all walks of life for ang Trong (central and southern of todays Viet Nam) area.

The Nguyen Dynasty had restricted regulations in ao dai costumes for royal members and ordinary people, said researcher oan Thi Tinh specialising in Vietnamese costumes.

The long dress for men had a basic design with a straight neck and five flaps of five cloth pieces running along the body: two in front, two in the back and one shorter layer under the two front flaps.

The two layers join each other by a row of five buttons running from the neck to under the arms.

The typical layout was the result of a small loom of cloth weavers at that time. The width of each cloth was not more than 40cm.

Depending on the social status or the situation of the wearer, the five-flap long dress would have small differences in materials, styles or colours.

Thats why ao dai is a silent introduction of the wearer, she said.

Looking at it, one would have certain judgements about the wearers. In the feudal time, people had a rule that when receiving guests at home, the owners would wear ao dai. They always wear double ao dai. The inner must be white, silk for the rich and cotton for the poor.

The white symbolises cleanliness and also serves as a good background for the colour of the outer coat, Tinh added.

In worship ceremonies, the host wore ao dai in red (the colour of the sun that receives the powers of the universe) while aides at the ceremony would wear blue.

Though it had served as a popular costume for men of various classes, long dress for men has a different fate than long dress for women, which has always been considered as the national costume.

Over time, with the widespread of western costumes that came with the French, long dress for men was replaced by office suit.

Hoa analysed that mens long dress has experienced three periods of degradation. The first was in the 1930s when Viet Nam was widely opened to the western culture.

The next was when the Nguyen reign, or more exactly the monarchy, ended in 1945, and particularly during the Indochina wars people considered long dress for both men and women as a vestige of feudalism, he said.

In the next decades, though the dress was judged again for its true value, it was still less popular among young people due to limited conditions of living and working, he continued.

Ao dai for men became less and less popular over time but it still existed in traditional culture, commented Tinh.

For example, during the war against the French between 1945 and 1954, men could not wear ao dai in battles but the old people in Ha Noi at that time still wore it.

Men working for the French wore suits at work but they still wore traditional long dress at weddings or during the Lunar New Year. Men in rural areas kept their long dress and turban as valuable costumes, she said.

At our club, young men, who were born after the countrys renewal process in 1986, are even more enthusiastic about traditional long dress than older men as they are not affected by the thought that the attire for men is a vestige of feudalism, Binh said.

We hope to revive the costume, he said.  VNS





GLOSSARY

With the sun shining as bright as the clothes Giang and his friend wear, these two young men are keeping a tradition alive through the robes on their backs.

Robes are clothes made of cloth that hang off a persons shoulders.

The mens group wear ao dai (traditional long dress) and during their tour, pause from time to time to lend a listening ear to the guide.

To pause means to stop doing what you are doing for a very short time.

To lend a listening ear is a long way of saying to listen.

As well as drawing many a curious glance from foreign tourists, they hope their clothing with see other men follow suit.

A glance is a quick look at something. A curious glance is a quick look for the sake of being inquisitive, or nosey.

As a member of inh Lang Viet group, I joined most of its activities including Tet Viet (Vietnamese traditional Lunar New Year) event at So Village on the outskirts of Ha Noi.

The outskirts of Ha Noi means the edge of the city.

At the first event three years ago, I rented an ao dai.

To rent means to pay for the use of something that somebody else owns.

Then I got one tailored.

Go have a robe tailored means to have one especially made.

I think ao dai is not only beautiful in aesthetic but also in moral standards.

Aesthetic means nice looking.

Moral standards are standards that are kept to encourage people to behave rightly rather than wrongly.

When wearing it, I feel more mature and tend to be more careful in my behaviour.

Mature means grown up.

It is a heritage, he said.

A heritage is something valuable from the past that makes you richer now in one way or another.

According to Nguyen uc Binh, chairman of the club, there are too many changes in modern ao dai that make it alien and increasingly like traditional costumes of other countries.

Alien means foreign.

We want all those who like to wear and possess the traditional dress can join our activities.

To possess a traditional dress means to own one.

So, the number of members is flexible and can mount up to dozens mostly around Ha Noi, he said.

If something is flexible it can change without too much worry.

I normally wear ao dai in diplomatic events outside the country, he said.

Diplomatic events are official events that are to do with representing the government of one country in other countries.

At our diplomatic activities, we are sometimes obliged to wear traditional dress as a requirement to be able to attend a big gathering.

To be obliged to wear traditional dress means to be required to do so.

According to researcher Nguyen Xuan Hoa, long dress for men appeared in the early reigns of the Ly (1009-1225), Tran (1226-1400) and Le (1428-1527) dynasties, and that was called Giao Linh style.

A reign is a time when a monarch, such as a king, queen, emperor or princess, is in power.

Dynasties are families whose members are in power from one generation to the next.

The ao dai as we see today originated from the era of Lord Nguyen Phuc Khoat (1714-1765).

An era is a period in history.

In 1744, when he came to the throne in Phu Xuan, he issued a decree to define costumes of men and women of all walks of life for ang Trong (central and southern of todays Viet Nam) area.

A decree is an order.

The typical layout was the result of a small loom of cloth weavers at that time.

A loom is a tool that is used to make cloth.

In the feudal time, people had a rule that when receiving guests at home, the owners would wear ao dai.

Feudal times were when the country was ruled by monarchs and aristocrats.

In worship ceremonies, the host wore ao dai in red (the colour of the sun that receives the powers of the universe) while aides at the ceremony would wear blue.

Aides are helpers.

Though it had served as a popular costume for men of various classes, long dress for men has a different fate than long dress for women, which has always been considered as the national costume.

Your fate is what happens, whether it is by planning or by accident.

Hoa analysed that mens long dress has experienced three periods of degradation.

Degradation means a lowering of standards.

The next was when the Nguyen reign, or more exactly the monarchy, ended in 1945, and particularly during the Indochina wars people considered long dress for both men and women as a vestige of feudalism, he said.

A monarchy is a system in which a country is ruled by a king, queen, emperor or similar member of a royal family.

A vestige is something that is left over.

Men in rural areas kept their long dress and turban as valuable costumes, she said.

A turban is a type of wrap around headgear.

At our club, young men, who were born after the countrys renewal process in 1986, are even more enthusiastic about traditional long dress than older men as they are not affected by the thought that the attire for men is a vestige of feudalism, Binh said.

Attire means clothing.

We hope to revive the costume, he said.

To revive something means to bring it back to life.

WORKSHEET

Find words that mean the following in the Word Search:

A type of headgear. A dynasty that ended seventy-three years ago. The day of the week that Chu uc Giang joined other members of the Traditional Long Dress for Mens Club to tour the Literature Temple and the Imperial Academy, the first university of Viet Nam built in 11th century in downtown Ha Noi. A culture that Viet Nam was widely opened to in the 1930s. People who Vietnamese forces fought against between 1945 and 1954.

c i m o y t u j s g u d h t b s b l b d n f e n f p w i p p y a j o e t r a b r k g y r t y o u e s u n d a y s u r l r n e h h u a b g h c e b c s a g b r n d g e b a h f u c e b o o k a c n b r q v h l x d k r f m u i w e s t e r n a n r

ANSWERS:

 Duncan Guy/Learn the News/ Viet Nam News 2018

1. Turban; 2. Nguyen; 3. Sunday; 4. Western; 5. French.By MEKONG DELTA  Le Tan, a farmer in Kien Giang Provinces An Bien District, is making the best of a bad situation.

As the effects of climate change and salinity intrusioncontinue to plague farmers in the Mekong Delta, they have begun to restructure their cultivation plans.

The saltwater has damaged thousands of hectares of rice in An Bien and An Minh districts, and other Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces. So, farmers in An Minh and An Bien districts are now breeding shrimp along with rice, Tan said.

Local authorities have been encouraging many farmers in the Delta to combine aquaculture and the cultivation of organic rice.

Pham Thi Chi, a farmer in An Minh District, who has shifted to a combination of rice and aquaculture, said: Fifteen households, including my own, invested in an irrigation dyke around rice areas to create a water supply system to control salinity. Local authorities have also helped us find firms who will buy our produce at a higher price than the market price.

In the past, farmers in coastal districts such as An Bien and An Minh grew two rice crops a year. One ha of rice produced only 2.5 to 4 tonnes and brought income of about VN20 million (US$900).

However, the combination of rice and aquaculture can bring in VN80 million to VN100 million ($3,600  4,500) per ha, according to Tan.

In An Minh District, Vo Thi Tra owns a 2-ha field. During the fresh water season, she grows rice but when saline water enters her fields, she raises blue-legged prawns.

Her profit has reached VN200 million ($8,800) a year.

Tra harvests about three tonnes of rice a year, keeping one tonne for her family and two tonnes mixed with baby shrimp to use as feed for blue-legged prawns.

Huynh Van Thanh, an official in An Bien District, said the income of local farmers had improved in recent years. An Bien District has around 30,000ha of rice fields, producing 150 thousand tonnes per year.

Under an agricultural restructuring programme, the district plans to reduce the area for the two annual rice crops to 2,900ha by 2020, and increase the combined rice/aquaculture areas to 25,000 ha, according to the provinces Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The new cultivation plans has also helped farmers save a lot on fertilisers, Tan said. But I dont have experience in growing vegetables, and lack capital to make certain changes.

To help farmers, the provinces Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has been working with other agencies to organise workshops and has supported low-interest bank loans.

Raising mussels

Nguyen Thanh Danh, a farmer in Kien Giang Provinces An Bien District, said he began raising mussels instead of planting rice three years ago.

My wife and I now own a 5-ha mussel farm, earning a profit of hundreds of millions of ong each year, he said. Growing rice, we always worried how we would earn enough to cover daily expenses.

Danh said that a decade ago local farmers cultivated rice for only six months and did not grow other crops for the remaining six months because salinity attacked their fields.

Many of the farmers were poor and had to earn a living during the salinity season in other provinces.

Mussels have high economic value and are mainly used as food for shrimp. They can be raised without being fed, so residents from An Bien and An Minh districts can place the traps and return two to three months later to collect the mussels, which are then sold.

The Mekong Delta, home to more than 17 million people, is Viet Nams most important agriculture region.

It is facing serious threats because of climate change. Last year, the severe drought and salinity in the southern Delta was a wake-up call for farmers, authorities and policymakers to take immediate action against the threat.  VNS











The northern province of Nam inh is famed for its salt producing villages in Hai Hau, Giao Thuy and Nghia Hung districts.

Before the year 2000, the province had more than 1,000ha of salt fields, tilled by nearly 700 farmers. The salt field area has now reduced to 500ha due to falling salt prices.

Hai Ly Commune in Hai Hau District has a long history of making salt, and had 90ha of salt field ten years ago, when salt making was lucrative. Yet in the past few years, salt field area has fallen to 20ha as farmers have quit the tough, low-paid work.

Many of them are now planting vegetables and raising fish. Now only 200 people, mainly women, old men or men too weak to fish offshore, work on salt fields.

According to locals, there is only enough bright sunlight to work in the salt fields for about five months a year. The career depends much on the weather while the salt price often fluctuates, leading to unstable lives for salt makers.

The salt making process includes a few steps, which the farmers have to perform under the blazing sun.

First, they submerge sand under seawater, then they dry that sand in a clay yard and when the sand dries, it will form a small amount of salt.

Then farmers use seawater to rinse that sand to get a saltier solution. They dry the solution once more and use saltier salt water to rinse the dried salt to get even more salty water and the let it dry on the cement yard.

After nearly 10 hours, the seawater evaporates to leave pure salt on the cement yard. The farmers then can harvest the salt, which is ready to be used.  VNSHA NOI  An exhibition at Ha Nois Goethe Institute gives visitors a chance to see photos by this years New German Photography competition award winners.

The exhibition features 53 works by eight winners in the competition for young photographers in Germany for 2017 and 2018.

"New German Photography is the most prestigious competition for young photographers in Germany," said Rebecca Sampson, the 2011 winner at a press conference held on Wednesday.

The award-winning photos have been exhibited in Germany each year since the competitions launch 15 years ago, but this is the first time photos from the competition are on display in Ha Noi. The winners, who are selected by a jury of well-known experts, can look forward to broad public exposure through a wide range of exhibitions, promotional campaigns and media interest, she said.

New German Photography was set up in 2004 by Josefine Raab and Stefan Becht as a private initiative in support of talented young photographers. The annual competition is the core activity of the project. Each German university and academy offering a photography degree course is eligible to nominate five projects to enter the competition.

Each award-winner tells a different story for audiences to share.

A Japanese woman who lives in Germany re-constructs the stories of Japanese and German families; a collector of images whose family originally came from Holland describes photography as a member of his family and the son of Portuguese parents who was born in Germany examines Portugal by following his childhood memories from the back seat.

A photographer who was born in rural Germany sets out in search of the future; an artist who was born in Uzbekistan but has been based in Germany since she was twenty focuses on Germans whose parents are immigrants and who do not appear to be archetypically German.

An alchemist reveals the magical world of an everyday object in her dark room; a young man looks for images to express the unspeakable; a young woman shows us how our reality is constructed in an almost painful way.

Photographer Sampson and her colleague Jewgeni Roppel will introduce the exhibition at 10.30am and 2.30pm today.

Sampson, a 2011 award-winner, was also the winner of the New German Photography Deluxe 2017. Her photos have been exhibited in Europe, India, Mexico and the US.

Roppel was an award winner of New German Photography 2015 and 2016. Since 2009, his works have been exhibited in 65 solo and group exhibitions in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the US. Roppel contributes to several magazines, such as Die Zeit, Der Spiegel and Camera Austria.

At the same time, the award-winning photos are also held at the House of Photography in Hamburg.

The exhibition will run until April 22 at 56 Nguyen Thai Hoc.  VNSHA NOI  Sixty-six billion US dollars in 220 projects will be invested in the Greater Mekong Subregion to strengthen regional economic co-operation in the next five years, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and President of the Asian Development Bank Takehiko Nakao told a press conference at the sixth Greater Mekong Subregion Summit (GMS-6) in Ha Noi on Saturday.

The PM highlighted the success of the sixth summit with the participation of thousands of delegates, especially the sixth GMS Business Summit. These included this years host Viet Nams initiative to hold the GMS Business Forum, the first of its kind, which attracted thousands of companies from the region.

PM Phuc said Viet Nam continued supporting regional co-operation and integration by implementing even more transport infrastructure and information technology projects. He stressed that the country would focus on sustainable development, making sure its economic development goes hand-in-hand with environmental protection and economic development efforts leave no one behind.

Among the targets are closing the gap between different regions of the country, providing the people with basic amenities such as roads, water and electricity and pushing on human resource development font.

President of the Asian Development Bank Takehiko Nakao pledged the bank's support for the regions future development, especially in building its infrastructure network.

Takehiko said ADB placed great importance on renewable energy as well as other forms of green energy including hydropower. ADB would provide support for the private sector in developing environmental-friendly technologies such as smart grids and green transport as well as in urban development issues such as clean water and waste treatment.HA NOI  Leaders of the Greater Mekong countries have called for strengthening co-operation and connectivity in the sub-region and a commitment to stay open for regional and global trade.

At the plenary meeting of the 6th Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Summit in Ha Noi on Saturday, top officials of six GMS countries - Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam - hailed the 2018-22 Hanoi Action Plan and the Regional Investment Framework, which were passed at the summit.

The two documents spell out the plans for investment of nearly US$66 billion in 227 projects in the sub-region over the next five years.

The amount is more than triple the total invested in the sub-region, $21 billion, in the last 25 years since the GMS was formed in 1992.

Hundreds of infrastructure works have been undertaken to physically connect the sub-region, including airports, bridges and over 10,000km of roads along with some 3,000km of power lines.

The GMS has also been the leading co-operative mechanism pioneering the development of three transnational economic corridors: East-West, North-South and Coastal South.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told the meeting: The GMS used to [comprise] poor, underdeveloped and isolated countries in the last century. But now we are proud to have the fastest growing countries in the world, which are open and proactive to integration with big markets, and an ever-increasing middle class.

The GMS is confident of continuing as the first ever co-operation mechanism that plays a key role in the Mekong River region for peace, sustainable development and prosperity for all.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha said while the development of hard infrastructure had seen fruitful outcomes in the last dozens of years, the GMS countries should focus in future on building soft infrastructure, for example by training human resources to a high standard, to catch up with the demands of the fourth industrial revolution and to participate in the global value chain.

The GMS should also guarantee the free and safe movement of labour and experts within the region and protect natural resources and the environment, overcoming common challenges like climate change and creating eco-friendly economic potential.

Investment shortage

Despite agreements to invest nearly $66 billion in the sub-region, regional leaders also raised concerns over a massive lack of funding for more than 200 projects in the next five years.

Asian Development Bank President Takehiko Nakao admitted it would be a challenge, saying there is a shortfall of at least $27 billion.

In other words, the countries, international development agencies and other donors would only be able to put up around 50 per cent of the funds needed.

He said the GMS must make efforts to mobilise resources from the private sector by approaching entities like the Mekong Business Initiative, e-commerce platforms and trade and financial conferences.  VNSHA NOI  Leaders of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia on Saturday signed a joint declaration at the 10th Development Triangle Area Summit, committing to fully expand co-operation nationally rather than just in border provinces.

The three countries agreed to extend step by step the co-operation which would no longer be restricted to the 13 border areas of the triangle, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told a press conference in Ha Noi following the summit.

For the purpose, the leaders approved the Master Plan on Cambodia-Laos-Viet Nam Economic Connectivity, which outlined the directions for infrastructure, institutional and economic co-operation and people-to-people exchanges.

We will improve the institutional and legal connectivity for the sake of people and enterprises, the infrastructure connectivity to facilitate transport, energy, trade and tourism, together with the social infrastructure most favourable for development, Phuc said.

Phuc and his Cambodian and Lao counterparts, Samdech Hun Sen and Thongloun Sisoulith, also agreed to further co-operate on security issues, including timber smuggling, human and drugs trafficking, transnational crime, and the removal of post-war unexploded ordnance.

The countries will start developing a triangle tourism plan, which is expected to cause a spurt in the tourism growth of the three countries.

There is a Vietnamese proverb that we brothers heartily endorse: it takes not one but three trees to make a high mountain. I truly believe that with such comprehensive connectivity, the three countries will turn a new page in development in the coming time, Phuc said.  VNSHA NOI  Minh Hang is proud of her 14-year-old daughter and, like many parents, often posts pictures and videos of her on social media.

To Hang, this is a perfectly normal thing for any mother to do.

She was shocked though when she heard about a draft decree, compiled by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, that proposes allowing children to sue their parents if the child disagrees with their private information being posted online.

Under the draft, the person who revealed private information of children could be fined up to VN50 million (US$2,200).

If the decree takes effect, mothers like me will have to carefully consider before posting any photos or video clips containing private information of my children on the internet, she added.

Hundreds of other parents were stunned to learn of the draft decree, the Lao ong (Labour) newspaper reported.

Better children protection

The aim of the draft decree is to better protect children across Viet Nam.

Nguyen Thi Nga, deputy head of the Child Protection and Care Department, said the draft decree was created as part of a series of regulations on child protection that other ministries and sectors had issued before.

Additionally, revealing private information of children was already banned in the current Law on Child Protection, she said.

The ministry has been gathering feedback from experts, organisations, individuals and agencies for the draft decree since March 16, and will continue to do so until May 16, she added.

Article 34 of the draft decree says any individual or organisation that wants to post information, including photos and videos, of a child online, has to get the childs permission if the child is above seven years old. If the child is under 7 years old, the person has to receive agreement from the childs parents or guardians.

Previously, Government Decree 56/2017/N-CP, signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in 2017, also regulated that before publishing private information of a child on the internet, network service providers and individuals must have permission from the childs parents or guardians and the child if he/she is above seven years old.

Additionally, children above the age of seven and parents or guardians can ask providers to delete all online images and personal information of their children.

Network service providers are responsible for providing supportive measures and tools to protect childrens personal information online and publishing a list of online products and services safe for children and removing all images and content unsuitable for children.

Answering the question of the feasibility of the fine, Ha inh Bon, head of the ministrys Legal Affairs Department admitted that since the Law on Child Protection 2014, dealing with violations had been ineffective.

The ministry was reviewing the law in an attempt to fix the situation, he said. VNSHA NOI  Though Viet Nams economy has grown rapidly over the last decade, social mobility is lagging as the countrys poor still lack access to learn new skills and gain better jobs.

A new report "Social Mobility and Equality of Opportunity in Viet Nam: Trends and Impact factors launched by Oxfam on Thursday highlighted the problem and the threat it poses to the countrys sustainable growth.

The report consolidates data from the Viet Nam Household Living Standards Survey 2004 -14 and interviews with about 700 people over the last two years in three provinces of Lao Cai, Nghe An and ak Nong in the north, central and Central Highland regions, respectively.

Social mobility is defined as a change in the social status of an individual or household. Social mobility can refer to a change an adult experiences as compared with his/her parents  intergenerational social mobility  or a change over a single persons life cycle  intra-generational social mobility.

In the Oxfam report, social mobility is analysed in three areas, namely occupation, skills and income.

According to the report, in Viet Nam, occupational mobility is limited, with 79 per cent of agriculture workers in 2004 continuing to work in agriculture in 2008, and even rising to 83 per cent during 2010  14 period. Meanwhile, less than eight per cent of agriculture workers moved into the industry or service sectors during either period.

The country saw slow improvement in skill development. The survey showed that during each period, 2004-08 and 2010-14, only a fifth of manual workers joined the ranks of skilled workers in either blue-collar or white-collar fields.

The problem is especially acute for members of ethnic minority groups. During 2004-08, just 2 per cent of manual workers from ethnic groups moved from manual agricultural work to blue collar work while the figure for Kinh people was 15 per cent.

In the three provinces surveyed, making the shift from a farm job to an industrial or service position was not necessarily a step forward.

Youth frequently migrated to work as unskilled or low-skilled workers in garment and footwear or assembly factories for several months or years and then they returned to their hometowns due to harsh factory working conditions, obligations to their parents or the perceived instability of life at their new residence.

The report also states that income mobility has slowed down. About 45 per cent of households in the poorest group in 2004 moved to higher income quintiles after four years, but this rate was reduced to 37 per cent during 2010-14.

About 33 per cent of the poorest households headed by people under age 30 entered higher income groups in 2004-08, but only 16 per cent did so during 2010-14.

Income mobility is higher in urban areas than in rural areas and higher in the Kinh and Hoa groups than in ethnic minority groups.

Girls are more likely than boys to make higher incomes than their parents.

The greater a childs educational attainment, the more likely they are to surpass their parents income.

Hoang Xuan Thanh, who led this report, said that social mobility was a measure of equality of opportunity because it reflects how opportunities are converted into social and economic outcomes.

In an equal society, everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve economic and social status. Wealth and social position are decided by characteristics, efforts and achievements of individuals, not by external factors such as region, ethnicity, gender or parents position, he said.

The Gini coefficient of Viet Nam was 0.348 in 2014 against 0.326 in 1993, according to World Bank. Income inequality between the 20 per cent richest households and the 20 per cent poorest households increased from 7 times to over 8.5 times during 2004- 2010 and was unchanged between 2012 and 2014.

Thanh said that with a Gini of 0.34, it was time for Viet Nam to take stronger actions to reduce inequality. The Gini coefficent measures relative income inequality and is calculated based on income distribution among the total population. Gini=0 means absolute equality and Gini=1 means absolute inequality.

Income inequality between the Kinh and Hoa ethnic groups and other ethnic minority groups also rose slightly from 2.1 times to 2.3 times during the 2004-2014 period.

Thanh said that educational attainment, parents socioeconomic status and the ability to pursue multiple types of employment were three core elements driving social mobility in Viet Nam.

Poor quality education, discrimination against ethnic minorities and a great disparity between the poor and the rich in terms of access to education are major barriers to social mobility.

Sociologist o Thien Kinh said that economic inequality reflected social mobility and social stratification. Economic inequality is inversely proportional to social mobility.

In order to develop a stronger middle class, private businesses should be given resources and opportunities to develop because they have the ability to create more jobs and encourage people from lower class to thrive upward, Kinh said.

Economist Pham Chi Lan said that inter-generational occupational mobility is low because the economic structure in Viet Nam has changed slowly in the last few decades, with a small proportion of labourers moving from the agricultural sector to industry and service sectors. The agriculture sector still makes up a high proportion of Viet Nams economic structure.

Moreover, when moving to industry or service sectors, a majority of labourers work in fields which require unskilled or low-skilled labour such as mining, food processing, assembling and simple trade and hospitality services. The work generates little value-added, resulting in low productivity, which fails to improve income and encourage labourers to improve their skills.

Country director of Oxfam in Viet Nam Babeth Ngoc Han Lefur said that Viet Nam could achieve an increase in desirable social mobility if policy makers realise the great importance of the role of education, quality vocational training, a support mechanism for migrant workers and the need to reduce disparities between urban and rural areas and between Kinh and ethnic minority groups.

Tackling inequality before it becomes too deep is urgent, she said.  VNSHA NOI  The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the US Department of State held a dialogue on energy security, the first of its kind, in Ha Noi yesterday morning.

The representatives of both sides exchanged views on securing critical infrastructure and resources, strategic energy supply diversification and energy tariffs and pricing. The two sides also discussed technical assistance, renewable and new energy technology, regional interconnectivity and a commercial session.

In addition to this, both sides discussed opportunities for US businesses in Viet Nams energy sector.

Speaking at the dialogue, vice minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong said Viet Nams total energy production continued to be stable. But due to the rise in demand of primary energy for economic development and energy security, the country became a primary energy importer in 2015, he said.

According to statistics of the ministry, total primary energy consumed nationwide in 2015 was estimated at 70.6 million tonnes of oil equivalent (TOE). Of this, commercial energy accounted for 75.5 per cent and non-energy trade accounted for 24.5 per cent.

By 2035, the total final energy demand is expected to increase 2.5 times compared to 2015. The final energy is predicted to rise from 54 million TOE to some 90 million TOE in 2025.

Vuong said these numbers showed the high demand for energy development in the country, creating chances for foreign enterprises, including US enterprises, to invest in this sector.

He said the two sides could focus on cooperation in oil and gas exploration projects, petroleum refining and processing as well as investment in infrastructure for importing energy in Viet Nam.The energy security dialogue between the two sides will be an important step for the development of cooperation between the two countries, he said.

At the talks, Daniel Kritenbrink, US Ambassador to Viet Nam, also expressed his desire to become a Vietnamese partner in strengthening energy security.

He said a part of the energy could be produced locally from the sun, wind, water, domestic coal and gas sources. But it was necessary for countries to stay connected to have a reliable energy supply and sustainable energy strategy.  VNSpast daily news Sep 13 (1) Sep 09 (15) Sep 06 (12) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (10) Aug 31 (17) Aug 29 (14) Aug 26 (13) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (12) Aug 19 (21) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (10) Aug 10 (10) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (10) Aug 06 (10) Aug 05 (8) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (14) Jul 29 (1) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (10) Jul 22 (11) Jul 19 (16) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (10) Jul 15 (13) Jul 12 (7) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (11) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (8) Jun 28 (7) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (8) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (9) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (9) Jun 18 (8) Jun 15 (9) Jun 13 (13) Jun 11 (11) Jun 09 (19) Jun 06 (10) Jun 04 (10) Jun 03 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (5) May 30 (5) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (7) May 26 (6) May 25 (4) May 23 (6) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (7) May 19 (9) May 18 (4) May 17 (6) May 16 (5) May 15 (7) May 14 (3) May 13 (3) May 12 (9) May 10 (3) May 09 (7) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (5) May 05 (8) May 03 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15 (30) Jan 14 (20) Jan 13 (18) Jan 12 (24) Jan 11 (11) Jan 10 (23) Jan 09 (22) Jan 08 (17) Jan 07 (17) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (18) Jan 04 (15) Jan 03 (19) Jan 02 (14) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (15) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (7) Dec 26 (10) Dec 25 (16) Dec 24 (13) Dec 23 (16) Dec 22 (11) Dec 21 (26) Dec 20 (28) Dec 19 (14) Dec 18 (25) Dec 17 (23) Dec 16 (19) Dec 15 (22) Dec 14 (38) Dec 13 (26) Dec 12 (25) Dec 11 (27) Dec 10 (31) Dec 09 (15) Dec 08 (30) Dec 07 (31) Dec 06 (27) Dec 05 (38) Dec 04 (25) Dec 03 (27) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (36) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (17) Nov 28 (23) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (16) Nov 25 (14) Nov 24 (18) Nov 23 (21) Nov 22 (21) Nov 21 (24) Nov 20 (20) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (17) Nov 17 (17) Nov 16 (34) Nov 15 (25) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (21) Nov 12 (18) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1)Faramerz Dabhoiwala at The Guardian:

In the summer of 1520, towards the end of his life, the great German artist Albrecht Durer travelled from his home in Nuremberg to the Low Countries, to meet his new patron, the Holy Roman emperor Charles V. At the same time, halfway across the world in the middle of the Americas, the Spanish adventurer Hernan Cortes was carrying out his merciless siege of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan. By the time it fell, on 13 August 1521, much of the city lay in ruins, and as many as 100,000 of its inhabitants had already died. Many more were massacred as the victors set about plundering whatever they could lay their hands on. When the first shipment of spoils arrived in Brussels, Durer was one of those who flocked to examine it. He was blown away. All the days of my life, he wrote in his diary, I have seen nothing that rejoiced my heart so much as these things, for I saw amongst them wonderful works of art, and I marvelled at the subtle ingenuity of men in foreign lands. Indeed I cannot express all that I thought there.

This vignette of cross-global inspiration is one of the highlights of David Olusogas new book, a richly illustrated companion volume to the two episodes he is presenting in the BBCs new Civilisations. In outline, its format is fairly Eurocentric and conventional. Despite all the fuss that has been made about the TV projects updating of Kenneth Clarks 1969 series Civilisation, Olusogas own approach is framed in terms that would hardly have shocked audiences 50 years ago: the first half of the book considers contact between civilisations in the European Age of Discovery (from the 15th to the 18th centuries), while the second looks at the impact of industrialisation on the art and artists of the 19th century.

more here.SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - California Gov. Jerry Brown has pardoned five ex-convicts facing deportation, including two who fled the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia four decades ago.

The men were among 56 receiving pardons Friday. Brown commuted the sentences of 14 others.

Sokha Chhan and Phann Pheach both face deportation to Cambodia. Pheach was born in Thailand.

Chhan was convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence. Pheach was convicted of possessing drugs. His wife says he is in federal custody.

Also pardoned was Daniel Maher, convicted of kidnapping and robbery and facing deportation to China.

Two men whose home countries were not immediately known were also pardoned.

Pardons do not prevent deportations.Direct from the Tobacco Science playbook.... never miss a chance to blame the unvaccinated for disease rather than, " an imperfect vaccine that confers slowly waning immunity."



From MedPage Today:





The surprising resurgence of whooping cough in the United States in recent years cannot be blamed on shortcomings in the current vaccine, a new study finds.

Rather, incomplete coverage among children -- possibly fueled by the anti-vaccination movement -- is responsible for the pertussis increases, along with natural population turnover and slowly waning protection from the vaccine, researchers say.

In the study published online in Science Translational Medicine, the team found little evidence that the switch in the 1990s from the whole cell to the combined acellular pertussis vaccine contributed to the resurgence in whooping cough.

During the 1970s and 1980s, an average of 2,000 to 3,000 pertussis cases were reported annually, according to figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In 2003, pertussis cases in the U.S. increased to more than 10,000 for the first time in almost 4 decades, and have not dropped below this number since. In 2012, there were 48,277 reported cases, followed by 28,639, 32,971, 20,772, and 17,972 cases in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, respectively.

The CDC recommends a series of five pertussis shots to be given before age 7, combined with the diphtheria and tetanus vaccines (DTaP), with a booster dose (Tdap) recommended around the age of 11.Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images(MOSCOW) -- "What is a woman called who sleeps with a man for $10 million? She is called a prostitute."



So said Russian President Vladimir Putins chief spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, speaking about the Hollywood actresses who've accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, adding that they should have spoken up sooner.



Peskov made the comments to a group of students during a panel talk at a Moscow university this week, where he was asked about a high-profile sexual harassment scandal involving Leonid Slutsky, a senior member of Russias Parliament who has been accused of forcing himself on multiple female journalists.



Peskov asked why the women had not come forward sooner to accuse Slutsky publicly and suggested they were following a fashion trend in making the claims.



Look, if this poor journalist was assaulted by Slutsky -- where has she been?" Peskov told the students. "If he groped you, if he harassed you -- why did you keep quiet? Why didnt you go to police? Why did so much time go [by], said Peskov, whose remarks were filmed on a smartphone at the talk.



Peskov then said the situation reminded him of the accusations surrounding Weinstein.



You know it reminds me of these Hollywood stars, who became stars, who did a lot that isn't becoming of our understanding of, let's say, honor and dignity, but they did it -- so they could become stars, Peskov said.



They earned hundreds of millions of dollars, and 10 years later they say that Weinstein is bad. Maybe he is a scumbag, but none of them went to the police! They didnt say, Weinstein raped me.' No! You wanted to earn $10 million. What is a woman called who sleeps with a man for $10 million? She is called a prostitute," Peskov said.



Weinstein has been accused by dozens of women of sexual misconduct, ranging from groping to rape. Weinstein, who was terminated by the board of his production company and expelled by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has denied all claims of nonconsensual sex.



Peskov was asked Friday to comment on his remarks. He refused and requested that journalists refrain from publishing the comments he made to the students, saying they had been said at a closed event.



His comments at the university are the first from the Kremlin on the Slutsky scandal, which has become a cultural flashpoint in Russia, where officials have dismissed the current movement against sexual harassment in the U.S. and Europe as Western liberal hysteria.



Three female journalists have publicly accused Slutsky of groping and trying to kiss them against their will.



Among them is Ekaterina Kotrikadze, a journalist at the television station RTVi, who has claimed that in 2011, Slutsky told her to come to his office without a camera to discuss an interview and then locked her in and pushed her against the wall to grope and kiss her. She said she broke away and fled the office.



Slutsky has dismissed all the allegations, accusing the women of trying to make him into a Russian Harvey Weistein.



Russias Parliaments ethics committee conducted a short investigation into the claims, but last week, it exonerated Slutsky and instead accused the women of making the allegations to undermine Russias presidential election.



That decision prompted outrage in Russias independent media, and over 30 outlets, including some of the countrys most respected newspapers, have launched a partial boycott of Parliament in response.



Many Russian officials, though, have reacted dismissively to the womens allegations. Parliament has responded to the boycott by threatening to strip journalists of their accreditations to the body. In a leaked recording from a hearing by the ethics committee members could be heard disparaging the women and their claims, with one telling the BBC journalist Farida Rustamova that she might have brought Slutskys advances on herself by pressing him for comment in Parliament's corridors.



In some state media and among officials, attitudes toward harassment and gender issues have also become another front in Russias recent clash with the West. With the Kremlin promoting an idea of a unique conservative Russian culture at odds with liberal Europe, #MeToo has been mocked as the product of an overly sensitive Western culture.



Peskov echoed this sentiment in his remarks to the students, calling the movement against harassment that bacchanalia in Europe and the U.S.



Ahead of the parliamentary ethics committee hearing, Russian lawmakers had also suggested they hoped #MeToo would not come to Russia.



We dont live in America or in Europe. Why should we copy everything they do? If a woman doesnt want [attention], then nobody will harass her, Tamara Pletneva, the head of Parliaments family affairs committee, told the Latvia-based Russian news outlet Meduza.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.This Easter, Assyrians in Iraq Faithfully Gather Where ISIS Once Ruled

( AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) In a new report at World magazine, Senior Editor Mindy Belz describes the destruction of cities like Nineveh, which is outside of Mosul, and which the Islamic State had occupied for the last three years. As the Jewish and Christian communities celebrate Passover and Easter this weekend in America, it's important to remember our brothers and sisters celebrating faithfully around the world, especially those in places ISIS has devastated. Belz writes:

Before the ISIS takeover in 2014, Qaraqosh numbered 60,000 people, nearly all members of Assyrian, Catholic, and Orthodox churches. ISIS took captives, including a 3-year-old girl named Christina, and sent everyone else fleeing under heavy fire. In November 2016 Iraqi forces with assistance from a U.S.-led coalition fought the Islamic State militants street by street, from the air, above and below ground. After its liberation, Qaraqosh sat empty and in ruins: The militants torched homes and churches, left wired explosives everywhere, and tunneled extensively under the city.

I can't believe my eyes when I see what ISIS has done to my church, [the Syrian Orthodox Church of Mor Afra

Though ISIS has been mostly eradicated from Iraq in recent months, they had successfully driven about 120,000 Christians from that area. ISIS destroyed not just homes but ancient monasteries, stripping them of the marble that adorned their walls -- a physical manifestation of the spiritual and psychological torment they have wished to inflict upon the faithful living there.In a recent profile, Aid to the Church in Need reported on these Christians who had been under siege for so long; the effects are nearly impossible to reverse. Nadia Younis Butti, who used to live and worship in Mosul, said:Easter in America Brings Joy to Assyrian Refugees Amid Many Uncertainties

Catechism students at St. Joseph Chaldean Catholic Church in Troy sing Palm Sunday hymns that they learned in Aramaic. ( Gina Joseph/Digital First Media) Sameerah Alqas-Hanna feels fortunate. She and her husband and their six children fled their home in Iraq in 2014, heeding their neighbor's warning that ISIS was coming. They were among the Iraqi refugees who made it to Michigan before President Donald Trump's executive orders in January of 2017 banned arrivals from several Muslim-majority countries, including their own. Not everyone was as lucky. Her parents left with them but gave up.

As with many of the elderly who fled the Christian village where they lived, near Mosul in Iraq, her parents could not endure the conditions of a refugee. At one point, while in Jordan, they were all living in one room, unable to work or go to school. Her husband's parents also returned from their village but they have since learned that his mother passed away and his father is gravely ill. Her brother and his family waited too long to leave. Like many refugees, they are now living in limbo in Lebanon, praying that a country -- any country -- will accept them. She's not alone. Many of Alqas-Hanna's new friends in her Troy community are worse off. They're also refugees that she's met through St. Joseph Chaldean Catholic Church, which is among the churches sending aid to Christian refugees. Some are of them are parents who arrived without their children, or children who became separated from their parents. Many refugees are in limbo. Still, they have faith. "It's the one thing that they can always be assured of -- it's the one thing they all have in common," said Sue Kattula, program manager of behavioral health for the Chaldean Community Foundation in Sterling Heights, doing her best to be heard over the noise created by a steady stream of catechism students entering a hall next to the church to prepare for their role in a Palm Sunday Mass. More than 600 students from Kindergartners to eighth grade, along with their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other family members, were in attendance. For Christians, Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem prior to being put to death. It is tradition for churches to hand out palm leaves, which is what was laid in his path. Palm Sunday, also known as Passion Sunday, is the last Sunday of Lent and the first day of Holy Week. "They're all very excited," said Stephanie Bahoura of Sterling Heights, who was among the catechism teachers corralling the students into groups. "I'm excited for them," she added as two children ran up to give her a hug. "Each group will be singing a Palm Sunday hymn they learned in Aramaic." Among her favorites is "Kullokhun Aamme." "When I hear that song I can imagine how exciting it must have been for everyone, the men and women and children following behind Jesus as he walked into Jerusalem," Bahoura said. Candice Enochs of Macomb Township and choir director at St. Joseph's agreed. "It's so beautiful and so energetic. The elders know it. The kids know it. Everyone knows it, and when they hear it they get up, to clap and sing," Enochs said. Both of Enochs' parents, Salah and Amal Kima, were born in Iraq. Like many of the elders who recently arrived, they long for the Easters they once enjoyed. "Easter brings all of the generations together," Enochs said. "I am celebrating today with my husband and newborn son, and they are remembering celebrations of the past. It's like all the happiness that our parents felt back home in Iraq, when they were free to celebrate openly, before the war and before the killings return." Alqas-Hanna was not able to attend Saturday night's festivities, but she did color Easter eggs with her special-needs son. It was a first for both of them. "I am very happy for him," Katulla said, translating for Alqas-Hanna, whose son has Down syndrome and did not have access to any special needs programs in Iraq. "We probably should have come to America sooner," she said to Katulla, who organizes the events for special needs children hosted monthly by the Chaldean Community Foundation. "He loves school. He is learning a lot of life skills, and when school is closed he wants to know why." He has also learned to sit calmly at the dinner table, which will be a blessing shared by everyone in the family on Easter Sunday. Sameerah Alqas-Hanna and her family were among the refugees from Iraq to be relocated to Troy and Sterling Heights before the end of 2016. The Detroit area has a regional tradition of welcoming immigrants. In 1994, Michigan ranked 12th among states as a destination for 2,600 refugees and 12,700 immigrants. Of those refugees, 73 percent chose to settle in the Detroit area. In 2014, Michigan rose to third among the 50 states, with 4,600 refugees heading to the Great Lakes State. The number of refugee families coming to Michigan has steadily declined since the Trump administration heightened U.S. security due to the terrorist group ISIS and turmoil in refugee processing countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. Between Oct. 1, 2017 and March 15, 2018, only 318 refugees have come to Michigan. Of those relocating in the state, just 10 have been from Iraq and Syria. The decline has been especially hard on refugee families in Troy and Sterling Heights, where many Iraqi refugees traveled ahead of other family members, who are now trapped in processing countries because of the cap on admissions and suspension of the program. Before the ban, Troy's five-year average of refugees settling in the city by this time of year was about 225. For Sterling Heights, the average was 170. This year, the communities have only seen two each. Alqas-Hanna is praying for the tide to turn, and that the next wave of refugees includes her brother, his wife and their four children.After Jesus was crucified, did he "Descend into Hell," as millions of Christians recite during weekly church services in The Apostles' Creed?

Nearly 2,000 years of Christian tradition and a scriptural reference in 1 Peter 3:19-20 make the case:

"After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits - to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built." (New International Version)

The "harrowing of hell" refers to what Christ did when he descended to Hades or hell between his death and his resurrection. The early church believed that after his death Christ descended into hell in order to rescue the souls of the righteous, such as Adam and Eve. Jesus descends and breaks down the doors of hell, unbinds the prisoners and leads the just to heaven.

In ancient paintings from the Eastern Orthodox Church, and in similar icons still used in Greek and Russian Orthodox churches now, the art depicts Christ standing over the broken gates of hell, angels binding Satan and Satan crushed under the gates of hell, while Christ pulls out two figures representing Adam and Eve who have been imprisoned because of sin.

An early version of the Apostles' Creed, the Interrogatory Creed of Hippolytus from about 215 A.D., refers to Christ's descent to the dead.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead (or "he descended into hell" or "hades" depending on the translation). On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.

Here are some more Bible verses that relate:

1 Peter 4

6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to the dead, that though judged in the flesh like men, they might live in the spirit like God.



Acts 2.27, 31

because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay.... Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.



Ephesians 4

8 Therefore it is said, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." 9 (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)



Revelation 1

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand upon me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades."

Millions of Christians will celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus this weekend on Easter Sunday, April 1. Orthodox Christians will celebrate Easter, or Pascha, a week later, on April 8.

What is Hell?

Human ideas about hell were still in ferment as the Bible was being written. The theological concept of hell has a rich cultural heritage, according to historian Alan Bernstein, author of "The Formation of Hell."

The ancient Hebrews focused on the afterlife following their Babylonian captivity, when they experienced the torment of ungodly enemies who seemed to have an unjustifiably good life on Earth. During the Babylonian exile, Jews were exposed to Zoroastrianism, which asserts there is an eternal struggle between good and evil, with good triumphing in the end.

The Hebrew concept of "Sheol" -- the realm of the dead -- may also have been influenced by the Greek mythology of Tartarus, a place of everlasting punishment for the Titans, a race of gods defeated by Zeus, Bernstein writes.

From about 300 B.C. to 300 A.D., those influences combined with Hebrew speculation about an eventual comeuppance to the worldly wicked.

In translating the Bible from Hebrew to Greek, the Greeks used the terms Tartarus, Hades and Gehenna. In Greek thought, Hades is not a place of punishment; it's where the dead are separated from the living.

The term Gehenna referred to a ravine outside Jerusalem that was used as a garbage dump. It had once been a place of child sacrifice and became a symbol of pain and suffering. As a garbage dump, it was probably often a place of fire as trash was burned, emphasizing the symbolism of the flames of eternal damnation.

The Bible contains a litany of colorful images of hell as both fire and darkness, as in the Gospel of Matthew, which refers to "the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" and "the outer darkness" where "men will weep and gnash their teeth."

In Revelation 20:14, it is described as a lake of fire: "Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire."

Click here for a column by Mike Oliver on the silence of Holy Saturday.A second person has been charged in a 2017 shootout in Birmingham's Kingston community that killed a 4-year-old girl.

A Jefferson County grand jury has indicted 33-year-old Darrell Montez Hutton on March 9, according to court records made public Friday. The three-count indictment charges him with murder in the July shooting death Taleayah Stafford.

Hutton also is charged with first-degree assault in the shooting of 68-year-old Shirley Jackson Hollonquest. She died earlier this year, but authorities have not determined whether her death was the direct result of her gunshot wound so Hutton has not been charged in her death.

Antonio Fowler, 27, was arrested last year on one count of attempted murder and two counts of first-degree assault for shooting at Hutton, and in the wounding of Taleayah and Hollonquest. Court records show he was indicted March 9 for the gunfire aimed at Hutton, but there is nothing to indicate how the grand jury ruled in the other cases.

The shooting happened about 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 9, on 47th Street North in the Kingston community. A dispute erupted, though police have not confirmed what those involved were arguing about. Authorities said Fowler and Taleayah's father returned to the scene of the dispute, bringing the 4-year-old girl with them.

Fowler and the father got out of their vehicle, leaving the little girl inside the vehicle. Fowler apparently pulled a gun and gunfire erupted between him and Hutton, who has previously claimed self-defense under Alabama's Stand Your Ground law.

Taleayah was shot in the head. She was driven by private vehicle to St. Vincent's Hospital. She was then transferred to Children's of Alabama where she died three days later.

Hollonquest and her 11-year-old granddaughter were driving through the area when at least one bullet entered their car, striking the Hollonquest in the neck. She drove herself to a nearby fire station and ultimately was transferred to UAB Hospital.

Hollonquest was pronounced dead at an eastern Birmingham home on Jan. 3, 2018.

Authorities said Fowler initiated the shooting, aiming for Hutton. Hutton, they said, then returned fire toward Fowler and struck Taleyeah and Hollonquest. Taleayah's father was not charged with any crime.

Hutton was booked into the Jefferson County Jail Thursday morning and remains held on $90,000 bond.

Fowler has been jailed since July 11, 2017 on $150,000 bond.Shane Jones of Phenix City recently sent his brother Mickey Jones of Columbus an email that read, "Well, it appears all this information is true, and we have a brother from another mother."

The brothers laughed, and began arrangements to introduce their 92-year old father Nathan Jones to the 70-year old German son that he didn't know he had.

Pfc. Nathan Jones, of Abbeville, Alabama, and Bernhard Draiscol of Konigsberg, Germany, met for the first time Saturday at the National Infantry Museum. The emotional hug led to tears, laughter, stories and a new chapter in the life of a close-knit family. Jones and Draiscol got to know each other as Jones' two sons Mickey and Shane, his daughter-in-law Robin and three grandchildren Hannah, Jennifer and Zach gathered around the table to watch and listen.

"I look just like you," laughed Draiscol.

"Drude's eyes," said Nathan Jones, as he held Draiscol's arm and looked into his eyes.

Jones was a 22-year old private stationed in Oldenburg, Germany during World War II when he met Drude-Maria Irene Peppel. Jones would give the young German woman his extra K-rations and food from the mess hall to help her survive. When the choice came to re-enlist or return home to Alabama, he went home. Peppel had no way of contacting Jones once she realized that she was pregnant with their son. Tears came to his eyes as he remembered Drude.

As a young man, Draiscol moved to California with his mother, served in Vietnam and became a U.S. citizen. Peppel had told her son that his father was a German soldier who died in a car accident. "She did the best she could with what she had," Draiscol said of his mother's life during the war. "He was a fictional character, I believe, that my mother made up in order to give herself and her child some legitimacy in the world."

After his mother's death in 2008, Draiscol began a search for relatives through Ancestry.com DNA testing. It wasn't a new thought; it was a missing piece in his life. "I was always attracted to families," he said, "always attracted to people who seemed to have good relationships."

To that end, Draiscol spent three years making a film about his mother. "It's about longing to belong," he said of the film, "just wanting to belong somewhere."

The extended Jones family has welcomed their newly-found son, brother and uncle with open arms. "It never entered our mind not to accept him in, and love him like he'd been in our life all along," said Mickey Jones.

"I wish I was able to go fishing with him right now," Nathan Jones said. "Togetherness. I hope I can start something than can continue until I die."

___

Information from: Columbus Ledger-EnquirerOn March 31, 1968, as he prepared for a diplomatic trip to Mexico, Vice President Hubert Humphrey heard someone knocking at the door to his apartment.

It was his boss, President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Returning from church with his daughter, Luci, and son-in-law, Patrick Nugent, the president stopped by to talk about a speech he planned to make that evening, Humphrey recalled in his memoir, "The Education of a Public Man: My Life and Politics."

While Humphrey's wife, Muriel, chatted with the Nugents, the president and vice president, accompanied by White House chief of staff James R. Jones, retreated to Humphrey's den. Johnson produced two drafts of the speech he would deliver.

Humphrey reacted with astonishment as he perused the texts. "I could barely believe what I was reading," Humphrey wrote. "One of them had Lyndon Johnson withdrawing from the 1968 election."

Johnson put his finger to his lips to signify that Humphrey was to tell no one, Jones wrote in the New York Times in 1988. Johnson told Humphrey he hadn't decided which version to use but advised the vice president to start thinking about his own political future, according to Jones.

"Don't mention this to anyone until Jim calls you in Mexico tonight," Johnson, referring to his chief of staff, told Humphrey. "But you'd better start now planning your campaign for president."

Johnson had delivered plenty of significant addresses during his presidency, from vowing in 1964 to build a "Great Society" to pushing for the Voting Rights Act in 1965. None of them came with the stunning conclusion of the speech televised that evening from the White House.

With Americans growing weary of the Vietnam War and increasingly discontent with his leadership, Johnson - in his characteristically solemn style - reiterated why the United States was fighting there and offered an olive branch to North Vietnam. He announced a halt to air and naval attacks north of the area immediately above the demilitarized zone and urged the Communist government in Hanoi to enter peace talks.

"We are prepared to move immediately toward peace through negotiations," the president said.

That pronouncement - significant enough by itself - was overshadowed by what came at the end of the speech.

"I have concluded that I should not permit the presidency to become involved in the partisan divisions that are developing in this political year," Johnson said. "With America's sons in the fields far away, with America's future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world's hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes, or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office - the presidency of your country. Accordingly, I shall not seek, and will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president."

It was an extraordinary decision by the canny Texas Democrat who had assumed the presidency after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and then was elected in 1964 in a landslide over Republican Barry Goldwater.

Benjamin Spock, the best-selling pediatrician and outspoken critic of the war, doubted its sincerity. Sen. Fred Harris, D-Okla., called it "a courageous and heroic act which will mark him as one of history's great men." Rep. Wright Patman, D-Texas, called it a "Pearl Harbor in politics."

Johnson's dramatic denouement came as a surprise to all but his immediate family and a few insiders at the White House.

The secrecy reflected Johnson's desire to keep his options open as long as possible, according to presidential historian and LBJ biographer Robert Dallek. "He remained undecided up to the last minute," Dallek said. "He reserved the right, so to speak, to leave that out. He thought about it and thought about it and decided it would be the best way to facilitate peace negotiations."

The war in Vietnam, to which he had staked so much in blood, prestige and treasure, was intensifying despite years of escalating American involvement and promises that the tide would turn in favor of the United States and South Vietnam.

Over the Tet lunar holiday at the end of January, the Viet Cong launched a surprise offensive throughout the country that included an audacious attack on the U.S. embassy in Saigon. A weeks-long battle in the old capital of Hue left 2,500 dead before U.S. and South Vietnamese forces regained control.

Despite his travails, most people assumed the president would seek reelection.

But when Sen. Eugene McCarthy, D-Minn., tapping into antiwar sentiment, received 42 percent of the vote in the March 12 New Hampshire primary, Johnson's electoral prospects appeared more uncertain.

Four days after McCarthy's surprise showing, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy of New York - Johnson's bete noire - entered the race for the Democratic nomination.

In addition to the deteriorating political situation, health worries weighed on LBJ, Dallek added - something Humphrey said the president brought up in their conversation. The 59-year-old president, who had suffered a heart attack in 1955, mentioned that "all the men in his family had died in their early sixties or before," Humphrey wrote.

Although Johnson stunned the nation with his announcement, the idea of declining to run for second term was not new. LBJ and his wife, Lady Bird, had talked about it as early as Inauguration Day in 1965, according to the New York Times's Max Frankel. By early September 1967, Johnson had tentatively decided not to run again, Dallek wrote in "Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times." He thought about revealing his decision before the year was out, but Lady Bird doubted he would go through with it, according to Dallek.

"Lady Bird's skepticism was well advised," Dallek wrote. "While he made plans to retire, he encouraged discussions about a 1968 campaign."

In early January, LBJ summoned speechwriter and former aide Horace Busby to the White House. The president, Busby recalled in his memoir, said he planned to announce his decision not to seek reelection in the State of the Union address.

"I can't get peace in Vietnam and be president, too," Johnson said, according to Busby. But when he delivered the annual address to Congress, Johnson said nothing about his political plans.

Nevertheless, the idea continued to simmer. On March 29, two days before he was to deliver his Vietnam speech, Johnson summoned Jones, press secretary George Christian and Postmaster General W. Marvin Watson to discuss the address over drinks.

"I'm thinking about announcing Sunday that I'm not running," Johnson said, according to Jones. "What do you think?"

Christian supported the idea, Jones recalled, while he and Watson argued that it was too late to pull out. "We left the meeting," Jones wrote, "not knowing what he would do."

Nor did Johnson. Summoned to the White House the day of the speech, Busby listened as LBJ insisted, "I won't know whether I'm going to do this until I get to the last line of my speech."An Alabama prosecutor says he's asking state courts to allow more time for a grand jury that is investigating the disappearance and death of an 11-year-old girl more than 16 years ago.

District Attorney Randall Houston told the Montgomery Advertiser that grand jury secrecy keeps him from giving any specifics, but he doesn't think there will be any problem getting the extension.

The Autauga County grand jury was empaneled in February 2017 to look into the death of Shannon Paulk, who was missing from her home in Prattville for two months in 2001 before rabbit hunters found her body in a public hunting area north of the town.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is continuing to investigate, and "we continue to need the grand jury," he said. "We have cleared two or three subjects, which is progress. We don't want to have to start over with a new grand jury."

The group of 18 people has met periodically, Houston said.

Within 48 hours of its start in 2017, officials announced that they had discarded a composite drawing that had been published and broadcast across the nation as a possible suspect's picture. It wasn't credible, they said: The young girl who gave the description at the time, now an adult, told authorities that she concocted the image in an effort to help the investigation.

"I really hope they can find something, not only for Shannon's parents and family, but for Prattville too," said Grace Bryant, 28, of Prattville and a mother of two young children. "I remember when she went missing, how scary it was. Now that I have children of my own, I understand what her parents must be going through all this time."

Houston said, "The good news is the case remains active, it is being worked. As long as that is the case, we have a chance."Austin Police Chief Brian Manley (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Of course, Mark Anthony Conditt was a terrorist.

Most of us knew that long before he was cornered in Austin, Texas and cowardly took his own life after killing two people and injuring another--none of whom he knew--with homemade bombs

He is as much a terrorist as the Klansmen who beat, killed and lynched thousands of African-Americans.

As much as Son of Sam (David Berkowitz) who killed six people and wounded seven others in New York during the summers of 1976 and 1977, before being captured after the largest manhunt in the city's history.

As much as Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, orchestrated the 1995 bombing of a federal building in downtown Oklahoma City, killing 168 men women and children.

As much as Wayne Williams, whom police say was responsible for the murder of at least 23 of the 29 children slain in Atlanta between 1979 and 1981.

As much as Dylann Roof, a white supremacist who walked into a prayer meeting at the Emanual African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina and killed nine African-Americans while they studied the Word of God in hopes, he later confessed, of starting a race war.

As much as Omar Marteen, a 29-year-old American who walked into an LBGT nightclub in Orlando in 2016, killed 49 people and wounded 53 others.

As much as teen killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. who murdered 13 children at Columbine High School in April 1999; Adam Lanza, who killed 20 first-graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton Connecticut; and Nikolas Cruz, who is charged with murdering 17 schoolmates at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida in February.

The citizens of Austin knew Conditt was is a terrorist, even as law enforcement and so many others refused to call him one.

They knew as they walked out of their homes each morning after Stephan Anthony House, a 39-year-old African-American senior project manager; and Draylan Mason, a gifted, 17-year-old bass player, also African-American, died at the hands one of to one of Conditt's homemade bombs.

Mail and delivery carriers knew as they handled packages each day not know if one of them contained a device that would prevent from seeing their families and loved ones again.

Seems everyone knew but those who want to continue to perpetuate the lie that the face of terrorism that is the biggest threat to our way of life is brown, or that it speaks a foreign language are prays to some God we don't know.

Or those in law enforcement at the national, state and local levels who time after time refused to utter the word "terrorist" when the perpetrator was American, and especially if he (and most tend to be men) was white.

Last week, just after Conditt blew himself up after police closed in on him on the side of an Austin highway, Brian Manley, the city's interim police chief, described the video confession recorded not long before the murderer's death as the "outcry of a very challenged young man."

"He does not mention anything about terrorism," Manley said at the time, "nor does he mention anything about hate."

Of course, i am aware of the FBI's definition of terrorrism: "the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives".

It's that last phrase - "..in furtherance of political or social ojbectives" that usually prevents police and public officials from describing most American mass killers as "terrorists."

Indeed, Manley refused to label Conditt such, even as the rest of us already knew he was a terrorist.

Until Thursday. On that day, Manley was participating in a panel hosted by Austin's public radio station, KUT-FM. On that day, he admitted Conditt was indeed a terrorist.

"I actually agree now that he was a domestic terrorist for what he did to us," he said. "This is a distinction I wanted to make today."

Hindsight, as it always is, was the great educator.

"I've now had the opportunity to sit back and understand and absorb all of the impacts that it had on a personal level and," he continues, "... I'm very comfortable saying that to our community and what he did to us, he was a domestic terrorist."

I was in New York City on Septemper 11, 2001, the day two domestic planes intentionally flew into the World Trade Center, one crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and yet a fourth, headed for the nation's capital, crashed instead into a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Two thousand, nine-hundred ninety-six people--including one of my friends--were killed and more than 6,000 were injured.

Each plane was hijacked by international terrorists, so I know the kind of terrorism we all fear--no matter where we live, to whom we pray or--and this really seems trivial in context--which side of the political dividing line we claim.

But the kind of terrorism we must begin to acknowledge and truly fear, the kind to which must dedicate our most gifted law enforcement minds and our national security dollars, the kind no silly border wall will stop is now too-often perpetrated by the terrorist next door, the terrorist in our midst, the terrorist at the office water cooler.

And almost all of their faces are not brown.

The sooner law enforcement and the rest of us start calling them the "terrorists" they are and taking meaningful actions to unearth and halt their killing--including the creation of sensible, new gun laws--the safer we'll all be.

Roy S. Johnson's column appears in The Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Register and AL.com. Hit me up at rjohnson@al.com or/and follow me at twitter.com/roysj.James Tiberius KirkStar Trek fans will recollectwas the youngest captain in the Starfleet history, who boldly lead the starship USS Enterprise and its crew into new worlds where no man had gone before.

Going by Star Treks timeline, James T Kirk wont be born for another two hundred years. Yet, a small town south of I-80 on the eastern side of Iowa, United States, is already basking in the glory of the legendary captains exploits.

Riverside is a sleepy little place with a population of less than a thousand. Nothing much of anything happens here, which is why in 1985, Steve Miller, a member of the Riverside City Council, suggested that the council declare Riverside the future birthplace of Kirk.

Photo credit: Peter Zillmann/Flickr

Steve Miller, a Star Trek fan, had read Gene Roddenberrys book The Making of Star Trek, where the creator of the landmark TV series stated that Capt. James Tiberius Kirk was born on March 22, year 2228 in Iowa. Because Roddenberry didnt say where, Miller saw an opportunity and he seized it before anybody else could.

The council agreed unanimously. Miller poked a stick into the ground behind the town barber shop, which he owned, and declared that it was the Captains future birth spot. An engraved monument was eventually placed there. Later, a bench was added along with a Shuttlecraft-shaped donation box for upkeep.

Riversides official slogan was also changed from Where the best begins to Where the Trek begins, and the towns annual summer festival was renamed from River Fest to Trek Fest.

William Shatner playing Captain Kirk in the television program Star Trek

The town's Murphy's Bar and Grill decided to get into the act too. A plaque was engraved, then mounted on the floor under the pool table, proclaiming that Kirk was "Conceived at This Point" exactly nine months before the date on his birthplace monument down the street. The plaque was later removed from the floor and affixed on the wall.

Riversides name as James T Kirks birthplace eventually became official Star Trek canon in 2009, when the town was identified as Kirk's hometown in the Star Trek reboot movie. The entire town was invited to a special secret preview screening of the film, a day before its official release. And every year, on the Friday night closest to the March 22 birth date, Trek fans gather at Murphy's Bar to sing Happy Birthday.

Star Trek-themed signs along First Avenue (Iowa Highway 22) in Riverside, Iowa. Photo credit: Tony Webster/Flickr

Photo credit: Constance/FlickrNot too far off the coast of Long Beach, California, are a set of four artificial islands containing towering white buildings set amidst palm trees and shrubs and waterfalls, all dramatically lit by colorful lights at night. From the nearby shore, the man-made islands appear to be occupied by some sort of high priced condos or resorts. But truth isthey are just a facade camouflaging huge oil-drilling operations in the bay.

Disguising industrial infrastructures so that they blend with the environment is nothing new. The city of Toronto has been dressing up electric substations into quiet little houses for more than a century. Similarly, cities such as New York, Paris and London hide ventilation shafts and railway tracks behind phony walls and faux buildings. These fakeries are rarely advertised, instead left to be discovered by curious citizens.

Photo credit: Rick Warren/Flickr

The building of Long Beachs THUMS Islands, however, was a much publicized project.

THUMS stands for Texaco, Humble (now Exxon), Union Oil, Mobil, and Shellthe five companies that formed a consortium to oversee drilling operations in the San Pedro Bay. The islands were built in 1965 at an estimated cost of $22 million. More than 640,000 tons of boulders, some as large as five tons each, were brought from Catalina Island and used to build the perimeters of the islands, starting from the floor of the harbor, some 30-40 meters deep. The islands were then filled with sand dredged from the bottom of the harbor floor. The next step was landscaping and equipment installation.

When Long Beach voters gave the go-ahead to the ambitious plan of tapping into the oil resources located offshore, part of the arrangement was that the islands should be designed to appear as tropical settings and that they should hide the actual drilling operations.

The islands were required to blend in with the local landscape and scenery. The guiding principle was that the islands were to enhance, rather than detract from, the harbors natural beauty, said Frank Komin, executive vice president of southern operations for California Resources Corporation, the company that currently owns the islands.

The islands were designed by Joseph Linesch, who also helped design landscaping at Disneyland. Palm trees were planted on the exterior. Concrete facades that hide the derricks also served the purpose of bouncing industrial noise away from the residents living nearby.

The THUMS Islands are also known as the Astronaut Islands, having been renamed in honor of four American astronauts who lost their lives in the service of NASATheodore C. Freeman, Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger B. Chaffee. The latter three were Apollo 1 astronauts who had perished in a fire accident at the launch pad.

Photo credit: Rick Warren/Flickr

The island on the right is Island Grissom, one of the THUMS offshore oil platforms. Photo credit: Payton Chung/Flickr(ANSA) - Naples, March 30 - Three Neapolitan men who went missing in Mexico on January 31 are alive according to investigators, a lawyer said at an Italian foreign ministry meeting with their relatives in Rome Friday. "For the Mexican authorities our co-nationals are alive and the investigative activity is moving in this direction," said the lawyer, Claudio Falletti.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano recently called for "urgent" action to find the trio. It has been reported by their family that the three Neapolitan street vendors were sold by police to a gang in the State of Jalisco for 43 euros.

The relatives of Raffaele Russo, his son Antonio, and nephew Vincenzo Commino have repeatedly appealed to the government to intervene.

The Italian foreign ministry, which has confirmed that four Mexican police have been arrested, said Friday it had reiterated to "our Mexican counterparts the importance which the government attributes to the affair and the urgency of providing news and certain elements to the families as soon as possible".

The three street vendors went missing in the high-crime city of Tecaltitlan, in the State of Jalisco.

photo: torchlit parade in Naples for the threeEditor's Notes: The guessing is over about what at least one of the dispensaries will look likeEarlier, the upper ceiling on gratuity amount under the act was Rs 10 lakh.

Thousands of employees who have been retired since January 1, 2016 have not been able to get the benefit of this increased gratuity.

New Delhi: The government has notified a legislation that double tax-free gratuity for formal sector employees to Rs 20 lakh.

The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2018, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on March 15 and by the Rajya Sabha on March 22, has been brought in force on March 29 after assent from the President, an official statement said today.

"This will ensure harmony amongst employees in the private sector and in Public Sector Undertakings/ Autonomous Organizations under Government who are not covered under CCS (Pension) Rules. These employees will be entitled to receive higher amount of gratuity at par with their counterparts in Government sector," it said.

Earlier, the upper ceiling on gratuity amount under the act was Rs 10 lakh.

With implementation of 7th Central Pay Commission, the ceiling was raised to Rs 20 lakh for the central government employees effective January 1, 2016.

In addition, the Bill also envisaged to amend the provisions relating to calculation of continuous service for the purpose of gratuity in case of female employees who are on maternity leave from 12 weeks to such period as may be notified by the Central Government from time to time'.

This period has also been notified as 26 weeks, it said.

However, bank unions including RSS affiliated National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) expressed their displeasure over the notification date.

They demanded that the government should give the benefit of increased limit of gratuity from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh for private and public sector employees at par with Central government employees with effect from January 1, 2016.

"Thousands of employees who have been retired since January 1, 2016 have not been able to get the benefit of this increased gratuity. The government cannot discriminate between employees of the Central Government and the private sector and the public sector workers in this way," NOBW said in a statement.

The government had earlier given assurance to give the benefit of the payment of the Gratuity Amendment Bill 2018 effective January, 2016, it said.The movement was formed January 1, after a massive sexual harassment scandal involving Harvey Weinstein and others.

Mumbai: Time's Up, the movement formed to combat sexual harassment in Hollywood, will host its inaugural New York event during the Tribeca Film Festival.

The event will feature conversations with activists, filmmakers, storytellers, lawyers, and others, including initial supporters of the movement such as Ashley Judd and Julianne Moore, the festival organisers said in a statement.

Fatima Goss Graves of the National Women's Law Center, celebrated poet and activist, Robin Morgan and civil rights attorney Monica Ramirez are also going to be part of panel discussions at the event.

The movement was formed January 1, after a massive sexual harassment scandal involving Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein came into light.

It aims to combat sexual harassment and misconduct in the workplace, while boasting of a legal defense fund to help women protect themselves from sexual misconduct.

The festival has also added a new Patti Smith documentary, titled "Horses: Patti Smith and Her Band", to its lineup.

Directed by Steven Sebring, the film showcases the final performance of Smith's iconic Horses at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, as well as the 40th anniversary of the Horses album tour.Priyanka Chopra has been quite a name in the US thanks to her character as Alex Parrish in Quantico.

Mumbai: Priyanka Chopra has been quite a name in the US thanks to her character as Alex Parrish in Quantico.

She bagged her Hollywood debut post doing the TV series, but it appears she is now not finding much scope in the show, which is why she is picking a Hindi film, which will most probably be Salman Khan starrer Bharat.

A source told Mid-Day, "Priyanka was quite taken by the script of Bharat. What also added to her excitement was that it would give her the chance to team up with Salman after a decade. But she's not signed on the dotted line yet."

"Priyanka feels the show will lose steam if they continue with more seasons. Before pursuing any more international offers, she wants to do a Hindi film," the source mentioned.

"Any clarity on Quantico's next season will only come after the third season has been aired. She won't say no to them if the next season is sanctioned, but she fears being repetitive," adds the source.Baaghi 2s plot is simple. Its also a copy. And yet three writers were required to collaborate on its screenplay.

Rating:

Cast: Tiger Shroff, Disha Patani, Prateik Babbar, Manoj Bajpayee, Randeep Hooda, Deepak Dobriyal, Jacqueline Fernandez

Director: Ahmed Khan

Im not aware if a formal circular was sent out, but it has become mandatory for almost all movies these days to flash their nationalistic credentials upon arrival. Baaghi 2 does it in a way that is loathsome. A copy of the 2016 Telugu film Kshanam (Moment), director Ahmed Khans Baaghi 2 is built around a young box-office heartthrob who has dolle-sholle, mean quads and hamstrings, and zero acting talent. Thus it begins, with such horrifying thrashing of a rather delicate damsel that it made me recoil in disgust, but is designed to make every filmy desh bhakts blood boil. But Neha (Disha Patani), who is hit on the head, beaten ruthlessly and had her face kicked, is up and about two months later. We catch her in a gurdwara with just two red bruises and, for a bit, her arm dangling in a cast. Perhaps, we think, she has come to thank Babaji for her miraculous recovery that only certain film directors have the gumption to pull off. But thats not the case. She wants something. The sweet Granthiji reassures her and her mind and the films crew rush off from Goa to snow-clad Kashmir where a small, lonesome shack is regurgitating men in phirans. Out they tumble, from the windows and the door.

Ranveer Pratap Singh aka Ronnie (Tiger Shroff) is a fauji who doesnt like being slighted, and definitely not by Kashmiris who think stones are more powerful than bullets. This is our ilaaka, one Kashmiri says tauntingly, making Ronnie plan his exit in Major Leetul Gogoi style. As Ronnie rides out in his jeep with a human shield attached to it, the proud poster boy of hyper-nationalism, I felt the urge to grab the popcorn bucket of the child constantly muttering behind me and puke in it. But worse was to follow. Upon being questioned rather mildly about the human rights violation, Ronnie, unfazed, says, Sir, Tiranga nahin jalana chahiye tha. Thats when I thought of our real life, in which Gogoi received a commendation from Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat. Bollywood may be craven, but its not lying. It is showing us what we have become. Or, scarily, who we always were, incognito. Back in his tent, Ronnie listens to a message on his phone. His ex, Neha, has left him an SOS. But just as hes getting ready to fill out his leave application, his fauji pal reminds him that its taken him four years to get over her. LOLz.

Its clear that Ronnie has not gotten over Neha because immediately we go where his mind is  back to the days when he and Neha were a lovey-dovey, happy item in their rather posh college. With all this on his mind, Ronnie heads towards Neha while striking a pose  his feet more than hip-distance apart  thats meant to be a warning to all bad guys dwelling wherever. My daughter Shreya, pet name Ria, has been kidnapped, Neha says. And no one is helping me find her. So you must. Ronnie frowns, asks a few questions and then heads to Usman Langdas garage to rent a car. Usman (Deepak Dobriyal) feels instant affinity for Ronnie and utters deep, discerning, dull lines. As Ronnie starts his investigation, neither the school principal, nor the guard, or the neighbours have a clue  not just about the kidnapping Neha talks of, but her daughter Shreya as well. Soon, the cast of characters expands. Theres the top cop, DIG Shergill (Manoj Bajpayee), an old pal of Ronnies boss, who keeps quoting his Bade Bhaiyya to calm down the angry fauji.

Then there is ACP Loha Singh Durg (Randeep Hooda), LSD in short. After making udta Punjab land, I am here to clean up Goa, he says with a chuckle. But his attitude and attire suggest that hes just sauntered in from a smokey joint on Anjuna beach. We also meet Nehas cocaine snorting devar, Sunny (Prateik Babbar). With flashbacks to the past, we are informed about the present where Ronnie, disregarding his Colonels order to report for duty at dawn (thus, baaghi, rebel, Im guessing), has stolen the I-card of a cop to probe Rias disappearance. One set of clues suggest that Neha may well be a raving loony who thinks she has a daughter, but then Neha does something that makes Ronnie pursue the truth to the den of the drug kingpin in true Rambo style. More than the crushing of skulls, cracking of bones and annihilation of people with bad karma, this sequence in the forest shows the middle-finger to all that is logical, scientific and humanly possible. Of the lot, running straight at and jumping upon an automatic firearm that sits in a hovering helicopter firing bullets straight at him has got to be the most Rajini Sir thing that Ronnie does here.

Baaghi 2s plot is simple. Its also a copy. And yet three writers were required to collaborate on its screenplay. Despite that they could not come up with half-decent situations to wedge in two item numbers  one so dull that its best forgotten, and the other so offensive that it must be ridiculed repeatedly. The best dancers in the world cant compete with Madhuri Dixit. And Jacqueline Fernandez, with her gym-toned thighs and pilate abs, is not even in the outer ring of decent dancers. Choreographer Ganesh Acharya and Ms Fernandez turn a lovely, important cinema memory into an ugly gyration that is so boring that for a moment I actually considered standing on my H9 seat to entertain the hall. Jacqueline is not dancing here. She is combining her gym workout with some hectic movements of the pelvis while pouting needlessly. Theres no fluidity, no rhythm here  just a disturbing display of what passes off as Bollywood dancing these days. As they say, nakal karne ke liye bhi akal chahiye.

If acting were a martial art, then Tiger Shroff is truly an excellent actor. When he kicks, bad guys molars pop out like bloody popcorns. Hes cast and set in that mera moonh nahin, mere muscles baatein karte hain mould. Thats why the dialogues written for him require special skills  they are stiff and staccato beyond belief and are delivered either with teeth clenched or a toothy grin. Theres no in between because in routine, normal situations Tiger Shroff looks decidedly depressed, as if upset that the director is wasting his precious gym time by making him talk. But since, between the hero and the heroine here, Shroff is prettier, the film, whenever it can, caresses his ribbed body for us. In one scene, in fact, the camera goes bonkers. It moves up and down, almost licking Shroffs muscled body which is standing tense in very tight, very small chaddies. While Tiger Shroff shows us how dull it is to act, Randeep Hooda and Manoj Bajpayee show us what fun it is to actually be able to act.

Hooda isnt so much a part of this film as he is the star of his own little sub-film within Baaghi 2. He glides in, like a dazzling flotilla, complete with beads, beard and braid, bringing some masti to this one-track tedious affair. He even gets a companion, Bosco, whom we feel even though we dont meet him. Theres a brief scene in Baaghi 2 when Manoj Bajpayees DIG Shergill and Deepak Dobriyals Usman Langda are sitting quietly, face to face. Its a moment that spoke to the audience spontaneously without a word being uttered, and many burst out laughing. The way these two ace actors  trapped in a film so idiotic and bizarre  look at each other, as if sharing a private joke about the kindergarten level of acting they are having to do, is the most honest moment in the film that the camera picked up. PS: I would like to be in on what I presume is a very interesting story behind Prateik Babbars inspired casting here. But I dont think itll be told anytime soon. If and when I get to know, I shall share.The Army has also deployed copters to carry out recces and has enhanced patrolling to maintain sanctity of the Line of Actual Control.

Indian Army personnel carry out drills at Kibithu, close to the China border, in Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh. (Photo: PTI)

Kibithu (Arunachal Pradesh): To counter Chinas rising assertiveness along the border in the Tibetan region in Arunachal sector, India has deployed more troops and significantly increased patrolling in Dibang, Dau-Delai and Lohit valleys.

Military officials said India is also strengthening its surveillance mechanism to keep an eye on Chinese activities along the borders in the strategically sensitive Tibetan region and has even been regularly deploying choppers to carry out recces.

Indias focus on dominating the treacherous terrains, which include snow-clad mountains at an altitude of over 17,000 feet, and river passes, are part of a strategy to counter Chinas aggressive behaviour in the border areas developed after the Doklam face-off, the most tense military confrontations between the two countries in decades.

Indian and Chinese troops were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam last year after India stopped Chinese Army from constructing a road in the disputed area. The face-off began on June 16 and ended on August 28, 2017.

Post Doklam, we have increased our activities manifold. We are fully prepared to deal with any challenge, said an Army officer posted in Kibithu, the eastern most village on Indias border with Chinas Tibetan region.

The official said the Army has been enhancing its Long Range Patrols (LRPs) where troops in small groups go for patrols for 15-30 days as part of an overall approach to maintain the sanctity of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de-facto border between India and China.

We have increased our deployment of troops while focusing on all the strategically important areas, including a tri-junction among India, China and Myanmar, said the official who did not wish to be quoted as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The official added that China has been ramping up its infrastructure development along Indias border, particularly in the Tibetan region, and India too needs to enhance its road network for quick movements of troops.

The Army uses a foot suspension bridge to carry its military supplies to its Kibithu post, considered very important from operational point of view, as the only road connecting the East bank of Lohit river with West bank remains closed due to landslides for most part of the year.

However, a senior official of the Border Roads Organisation said a number of roads, including one to connect the Dibang Valley with Lohit Valley, have been finalised and they will improve inter-valley connectivity in Arunachal.

China has been laying new roads and improving its overall infrastructure along the nearly 4,000 km long border with India. Earlier this month, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said China has undertaken construction of helipads, sentry posts and trenches for its Army personnel near Doklam.

Sources said China has kept its troops in north Doklam and is significantly ramping up its infrastructure in the disputed area. In January, Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat had said the time had come for India to shift its focus from borders with Pakistan to the frontier with China, indicating the seriousness of the situation.Education Secretary said that preliminary enquiry had revealed that the leak for Class 10 maths paper was restricted to Delhi and Haryana.

'The students tried to block the road in front of the CBSE office, but we kept them away. A group of about 25-30 students are protesting outside the CBSE office,' said a senior Delhi Police officer. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: A group of students on Saturday staged a demonstration near the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) office at Preet Vihar in Delhi against the leak of Class 10 Mathematics and Class 12 Economics papers.

"The students tried to block the road in front of the CBSE office, but we kept them away. A group of about 25-30 students are protesting outside the CBSE office," said a senior Delhi Police officer.

The board has announced a re-examination of the Class 12 Economics paper on April 25, while the re-test for the Class 10 Mathematics paper is likely to be conducted in July.

Education Secretary Anil Swarup said on Friday that a preliminary enquiry had revealed that the leak for the Class 10 Mathematics paper was restricted to Delhi and Haryana.

Two cases have been registered in the paper leak incident so far. The Crime Branch of Delhi Police has questioned nearly 60 people, including students and tutors, in this connection.The row had hit the headlines earlier this month on March 11 after the Pakistani govt sources shared details of the row with the Pakistani media.

New Delhi/Islamabad: In a huge diplomatic breakthrough, both India and Pakistan jointly announced late on Friday evening that they had agreed to resolve the diplomat harassment row that had been severely affecting bilateral ties.

In synchronised identical statements issued at the same time from both New Delhi by the MEA and Islamabad by the Pakistan Foreign Ministry, the two sides said, India and Pakistan have mutually agreed to resolve matters related to the treatment of diplomats and diplomatic premises, in line with the 1992 Code of Conduct for the treatment of diplomatic/consular personnel in India and Pakistan. The resolution comes as a glimmer of hope that the two sides can work at repairing ties that have hit rock-bottom in the past two years.

This also comes in the wake of both countries having alleged recently to the other that their diplomats were being harassed by the other side. The row was also resolved after both sides issued numerous note verbales to each other.

The row had hit the headlines earlier this month on March 11 after the Pakistani government sources shared details of the row with the Pakistani media. India declined to go public on the spat but the Indian government sources had subsequently said that Indian diplomats had been facing harassment in Islamabad for more than a year.

But there were indications at the Pakistan National Day celebrations on March 23 at the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi that matters were moving towards resolution. For one, the Pakistan High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood  who had been recalled about a week prior to the event to Islamabad for consultations chose to return to New Delhi to host the event. The second indicator was the presence of a senior MEA official at the Pakistan high commission amid speculation that the two sides were engaged in serious discussions to sort out the row.

The last occasion when any alleged harassment was reported was on March 22 when there were incidents of alleged harassment of Indian diplomats in Islamabad. But Pakistani diplomatic sources had maintained their diplomats were being harassed too in New Delhi.

Indian government sources had said earlier this month that harassment is the new normal for Indian high commission personnel in Islamabad for the past more than one year, with the Indian high commissioner lodging a strong protest more than a month ago on February 16 with Islamabad against multiple acts of hooliganism against Indian properties and personnel. Sources had said Indias residential complex in Islamabad was raided by Pakistan agencies who expelled all Pakistani service providers and later disconnected power and water supply and that despite the (Pakistani) foreign secretarys assurance, the power supply was not restored for over two weeks. The Indian government sources had also said Pakistani security agencies were resorting to aggressive surveillance, violation of physical space and tailing of officers in close and dangerous proximity.Geelani, widely known as a hard nut to crack among the separatist, had been under house arrest for the past eight years.

Srinagar: The authorities in Jammu and Kashmir have lifted restrictions on top separatists, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and it was for the first time since 2010 that the octogenarian leader could join weekly congregational prayers in a mosque in Srinagar on Friday.

Soon after loosening house arrest against him, Mr Geelani, the 88-year-old separatist patriarch who continues to loom large over the Valleys political landscape, walked to a mosque near his home in Srinagars Hyderpora area.

He was being accompanies by Sehrai and other aides and prominent activists of the Tehrik-e-Hurriyat (TeH), the dominant constituent of the Hurriyat Conference faction led by him (Geelani).

Mr Geelani had in a significant development on Kashmirs separatist political arena announced on March 19 that Sehrai has replaced him as the chief of the TeH launched in 2004 after the duo had reached an agreement with their parent organisation Jamaat-e-Islami. Sources in the TeH had said that Geelani decided to step down as its chief due to his falling health. But he continues to head his faction of Hurriyat Conference which is an amalgam of separatist parties.

Mr Geelani, widely known as a hard nut to crack among the separatist, had been under house arrest for the past eight years. He would during this period, however, be allowed to visit hospitals in Srinagar or travel to Delhi for receiving specialised treatment to his multiple ailments. But it is for the first time in these years that he could walk to a mosque in Srinagar to join congregational prayers on Friday.

Witnesses said that the police had to burst a few teargas canisters when a huge crowd began chanting pro-freedom and pro-Pakistan slogans as Geelani walked out of Jama Masjid Hyderpora after offering prayers. A police officer who was part of a contingent deployed in the area as part of security bandobast said that mild force was used as a section of the crowd turned violent and hurled rocks at the security personnel amid chanting we want freedom, Go India, go back, Teri jaan, meri jaan Pakistan and Jeve, Jeve Pakistan. A witness said that slogans in praise of militant commander Zakir Musa were also raised.

This development comes a day after J&Ks director general of police Shesh Paul Vaid announced that Mr Geelani and two other top separatist leaders  Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik  were now free to go anywhere they wish to. He, however, sought to add a rider to it saying the trio should not make any anti-national speeches or try to create a law and order problem.

The trio is part of a alliance called Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) which has been calling shots in Kashmir for the past couple of years and was in command during the unrest triggered by the killing of Burhan Wani, the young militant commander who became an icon of the Valleys belligerent youth.

Like Mr Geelani, the Mirwaiz and Malik have faced similar curbs for close to two years and were often barred from relocating to places to make political speeches. The Mirwaiz who is the chief Muslim cleric of Kashmir was not allowed to deliver customary pre-namaz sermon from the rostrum of Srinagars historic Grand Mosque on many Fridays.The movie depicts the 25 yrs of misrule of Left Front in Tripura.

New Delhi: The movie Lal Sarkar, which depicts the 25 years of misrule of the Left Front in Tripura, is yet to secure a censor certification. It was scheduled for a release in February this year ahead of the Assembly polls. Now, it may only be certified for release weeks after the Communists have finally been unseated from power by the BJP.

Sources stated that the movie could not meet its scheduled release date in February as some Censor Board officials objected to the depiction of the Manik Sarkar government in the state; use of Tripuras name in the movie; and the depiction of the CPM flag. They added that the movie, which is understood to have a tacit and unofficial backing of the BJP, is now preparing to make its case before the Censor Board again.

Speaking to this newspaper, producer Sushil Sharman, however, claimed that the objections by the Censor Board have been addressed and the CPM flag has also been changed in the film.

There are many films where a states name has been used, like in Udta Punjab. But no Censor Board objected to it. Similarly, there are many films where proper CPM flag along with its symbol has been used. We have merely shown a red flag. I dont understand why it was objected to, said Sharman.

The plot of the film revolves around a documentary filmmaker, who discovers the alleged wrongdoings of the Left Front-ruled government in Tripura. It also mentions the national scheme MNREGA.

Though BJP has denied any links to the film, the CPI(M), however, insisted that BJP was behind the film and had questioned about the timing of its proposed release in February. Interestingly, the movie also has a song sung by Babul Supriyo, an MoS in the Narendra Modi government.

Lal Sarkar will have subtitles in Bengali and Kokborok (the tribal language of Tripura). The film is directed by Abhijit Ashok Paul and is the first feature film produced by Sharman. The film also tries to portray the employment scenario, level of corruption, and the incidence of crime against women in Tripura.

The CPM had objected to the film, which the party believes was a part of BJPs electoral campaign in the state ahead of the Assembly polls. It also questioned the timing of the films release.

The producer has repeatedly denied that his project is in any way linked to BJP. He claimed that the idea for the film struck him when he visited the state a few years ago to shoot documentaries on tribal people. He said he wanted to highlight the plight of the people of Tripura.Sources in the Indian Air Force said probes have been conducted into all the crashes.

Bhubaneswar: The Amarda region, infamously known as Indias Bermuda Triangle, is a mystery zone thats neither talked about much nor investigated despite the fact that it has snuffed out many lives without a trace of even the remains. At least 16 planes, most of them fighter-trainers, have crashed in Odishas Mayurbhanj district of the region in the last 74 years.

The toll in these mishaps has been about 25. Ironically, these incidents have not been investigated properly. Sources in the Indian Air Force said probes have been conducted into all the crashes. However, their findings cannot be made public.

Probes have been conducted into all the crashes, either in the pre-Independence or post-Independence period. However, since all the planes belonged to the defence establishments and the probe findings come under top secret category, they cannot be made public, said the sources.

An American Liberator that crashed in 1944

According to researcher Anil Dhir, the triangle from Piarboda near Bankura in West Bengal to Chakulia in Jharkhand and Amarda Road Airfield in Odisha has seen nearly 16 crashes since the airfields were set up in the last years of the World War II. The earliest recorded crash was on May 4, 1944, when an American Liberator collided with a Harvard de Havilland plane and went up in flames at the Amarda Road airfield killing four crewmen. This spot is just 100 km from Mahuldangri village in East Singhbhum district, Jharkhand, where a Hawk trainer plane crashed on March 20, 2018. The pilot in the latest crash ejected safely with the help of a parachute.

On the night of May 7, 1944, another Liberator, which had taken off from Digri on a special mission, crashed 20 minutes after take-off killing 10 crewmen. Similarly, another De Havilland fighter had crashed after take-off from the Amarda Road Station on May 13, 1944, but the crew was saved. On October 28, 1944, a Liberator that had taken off on a night sortie and crashed near Salboni, killing eight of the crew. The biggest crash was on July 26, 1945, when two British Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator four-engine bombers, EW225 and EW247  fighter planes  collided at low altitude.

The aircraft were based at the Amarda Road airfield and were part of a six-plane contingent from the Air Fighting Training Unit engaged in a formation flying exercise. Fourteen airmen  the crews of the two aircraft  died. The spot is now in West Bengal. There are at least half a dozen more crashes from these airfields in which the planes crashed in the Bay of Bengal and were never found. According Bibek Patnaik, former collector of Mayurbhanj, a fighter plane had crashed in the Amarda region in 1975, but it was not reported because of proclamation of the Emergency. The researcher points out that in the last two years of the World War II, the allied forces had anticipated Japanese onslaught from the North-East and a string of airfields were made in the region. These included the airfields at Jharsuguda, Amarda Road, Charbatia, Hijli, Dudhkundi, Digri, Salua, Chakulia, Kalaikunda and Bishnupur. Amarda Road was the biggest airfield.

A 1945 plane crash site in Odisha

Several aircraft which took part in the Burma operations were managed from here. The Burma operations and the China Hump operations had the highest casualties; the Hump route was termed the graveyard of aircraft. One in six pilots who operated this route lost his life. In all, 594 aircraft were lost, missing or written off and 1,659 crewmen killed or went missing. In fact, crash wrecks are still being discovered in the hills of Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. Most of the airfields are now disused and forgotten, says Mr Dhir.

Mr Dhir says that most of these crashes in this area occurred in good weather conditions and the reasons for mishaps remain unexplained.

Actually there is no single theory that can explain all disappearances. The airplanes that crashed have been victims to different circumstances and situations while flying over this triangle area. Half of the crashes remain unexplained, resulting in speculation, says the researcher.

In the spot

May 4, 1944: An American Liberator collides with a Harvard de Havilland plane; 4 crewmen killed.

May 7, 1944: Another Liberator takes off from Digri airfield and crashes 20 minutes later. 10 crewmen killed.

May 13, 1944: A De Havilland fighter crashes after takeoff from the Amarda Road Station. The crew miraculously saved.

October 28, 1944: A Liberator had takes off on a night sortie and crashes near Salboni, approximately 90 kms from the present crash; eight of the crew killed.

July 26, 1945: Two British Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator four-engine bombers, EW225 and EW247 based at Amarda Road collide at low altitude; 14 airmen killed.

March 20, 2018: Hawk fighter-plane crashes, pilot ejects safely.The PM pointed out that the engagement of India and African countries has been on the rise.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lauded the contribution of the Leva Patel, a politically influential Gujarati community, which is one of the four sub-castes among the Patidars, a major vote bank of the BJP. Mr Modi, who addressed the silver jubilee celebrations of the Shree Kutchi Leva Patel Samaj in Nairobi, Kenya, via video conferencing, lauded the role of the Leva Patels in the development of East Africa, saying Indians living abroad are the countrys permanent ambassadors.

The voting pattern of the last assembly elections in Mr Modis home state showed that the community, along with another strong sub-caste Kadva Patel, had voted in significant number in favour of the Congress, which scored 77 seats, a substantial number as compared to the previous poll.

Mr Modi lauded the contribution of the community in various welfare activities and the development of East Africa and recalled the role of members of Indian community in Kenyas freedom movement.

Addressing the gathering in Gujarati, he said Indians living abroad are permanent ambassadors of the country and help strengthen bonds between nations.

Mr Modi appreciated the contribution of Kutchi samaj towards all-round development, especially their role in the reconstruction and rehabilitation after the earthquake in Kutch in 2001.

He said, Kutch which was once considered a deserted place, has been converted into a prime tourist destination.

Mr Modi also highlighted the double engine stre-ngth of the Centre and the state government in carrying out the development activities in the region.

The region has received thousands of crore rupees of investment in last few years, he said.

The PM pointed out that the engagement of India and African countries has been on the rise.

The India-Africa Summ-it and a meeting of Afri-can Development Bank were held in India and the President, the vice-president, and himself as the PM have visited various African countries on more than 20 occasions, during the tenure of the present government, he said.This will be for the first time that the Prime Minister will attend a function in any Kashmir University.

Srinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Jammu Kashmir in May to attend a function of an agricultural sciences university in summer capital Srinagar and lay foundation stones of a series of development projects across the State, the official sources here said on Friday.

This will be for the first time that the Prime Minister will attend a function in any Kashmir University.

The announcement comes a day after a report emanating from New Delhi had said that only 22 per cent of the Prime Ministers Rs 80,000-crore development package for Jammu and Kashmir announced by him during a visit of Srinagar has been released to the state government, so far. The report said that parliamentary standing committee on home affairs, headed by senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram, in a report tabled in the Rajya Sabha recently, said the progress on implementing the Prime Ministers development package had been slow and a poor outcome had been achieved in the past 12 months.

The sources said that apart from attending the function of Sher-i-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir, the Prime Minister will during his visit also lay foundation of series of developmental projects including a tunnel to be built through treacherous Zoji(la) pass which will not only shorten the distance but also make the travel between Srinagar and Kargil possible throughout the year.

Mr Modi will also lay foundation of national highways of Jammu-Akhnoor, Kargil-Zanskar National Highway and two similar Highway projects of the Valley and possibly of two AIIMS at Vijaypur in Samba district of Jammu region and Awantipora in Pulwama district of Kashmir Valley.

The Prime Minister had visited J&K last time in April 2017 to inaugurate Chenani-Nashri tunnel in Udhampur district.The upcoming visit will provide an opportunity to the two sides to review wide-ranging cooperative partnership.

New Delhi: Even as China is staunchly backing the new Communist government in Nepal, Nepalese Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli  widely seen as pro-China in his policies and approach  will make a three-day official visit to India from April 6. Notwithstanding the changing dynamics, New Delhi is trying to ensure that it retains its influence and relevance in the Nepalese polity.

In a statement, the MEA said, At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rt. Honble K.P. Sharma Oli, Prime Minister of Nepal, accompanied by his spouse Mrs. Radhika Shakya, will be paying a State Visit to India from April 6-8, 2018. A high-level delegation will accompany Prime Minister of Nepal.

The MEA further said, During the visit, Prime Minister of Nepal will call on Rashtrapatiji (President) and Vice President of India, and will hold talks with Prime Minister of India. EAM and other Ministers will call on the Prime Minister of Nepal. India and Nepal enjoy age-old, special ties of friendship and cooperation.

The upcoming visit will provide an opportunity to the two sides to review wide-ranging cooperative partnership, and to progress it further for the benefit of the two peoples. Besides official engagements in New Delhi, the Prime Minister of Nepal will be visiting G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand.

With China already undertaking massive economic assistance to Nepal, India, in its budget for 2018-19 unveiled about two months ago, had steeply hiked aid to Nepal to `650 crore for 2018-19, up from just Rs 375 crore in the revised estimates for 2017-18. Ms. Swaraj had also then during the visit met the victorious chairman of CPN-UML (and current prime minister) Mr Oli.

About two months ago, soon after the Nepalese general elections in which the pro-China Left party CPN-UML had secured landslide electoral victory, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had visited the Himalayan neighbour to convey to all political leaders of Nepal that the government of India is looking forward to working with the democratically elected government to take forward bilateral ties to newer heights for mutual benefit, and to support the government of Nepal, as per its priorities, in its endeavours for rapid economic growth and development.The state government has earlier made a provision of reservation for SC/ ST employees in promotion, which has been set aside by the MP high court.

Bhopal: After showering sops on farmers, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday announced a big bonanza for employees of his government ahead of the year-end assembly polls in the state, by extending the retirement age for them by two years to 62.

He justified the decision to increase the retirement age of the state government employees, saying, The issue relating to reservation in promotion in government sector is pending before the Supreme Court for long denying many employees to get promotion. The retirement age has been increased to do justice to them. Every employee has the right to get promotion, he added. Around five lakh employees of MP government would benefit by the announcement.

The state government has earlier made a provision of reservation for SC/ ST employees in promotion, which has been set aside by the MP high court.

This has forced the state government to move the Supreme Court to challenge the high courts order. However, the apex court has directed to maintain status quo till disposal of the case. Many employees could not avail the chance of getting promotions due to this. I hope, the issue will be settled in the court within two years, Mr Chouhan said. Opposition Congress however criticised the decision. This will deprive the younger officials, employees from getting promotion,Congress Legislature Party leader Ajay Singh said.

The state government should announced unemployment allowance of `2000 per month for the jobless educated youths in the state, Congress Legislature Party leader Ajay Singh said.

In a related development, the newly formed Berozgari Sena, an outfit of educated unemployed, lambasted the decision to increase retirement age of government employees describing it, a betrayal of unemployed youths.

There are around 1.5 crore educated unemployed youths in MP. The decision will hit their prospects of getting government jobs. We will challenge the decision in the court, Akshyaya Hunka, president of the organisation said.

Earlier, Mr Chouhan has announced a series of sops for farmers including bonus on wheat and some other farm produce procured by the state government from them directly.Amit Shah asserted that Siddaramaiah and JDS would receive the 'biggest shock of their lives' from the region in the May 12 assembly polls.

Amit Shah is presently covering the districts of Mysuru, Chamarajanagara, Mandya and Ramanagara, where BJP had not won even a single seat in the previous election. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Mysuru: Stepping into the home turf of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, BJP President Amit Shah on Friday told him that his "time" has come to an end and he would be mistaken if he thought that saffron ideology could be stalled by unleashing violence against BJP and RSS workers.

Shah began his fourth round of visit to the poll-bound Karnataka with a tour of old Mysuru areas, asserting that Siddaramaiah and JDS would receive the "biggest shock of their lives" from the region in the May 12 assembly polls.

"It is said that the BJP is a bit weak here (Old Mysuru region), but after seeing the work of the party workers, I expect Siddaramaiahji and the JD(S) to get the biggest shock of their lives from this (Old) Mysuru region," he told a party convention.

Amit Shah is presently covering the districts of Mysuru, Chamarajanagara, Mandya and Ramanagara, where BJP had not won even a single seat in the previous election.

The principal challenger to the ruling Congress is JDS in these districts.

Referring to his gaffe at Davanagere earlier this week, Shah said though he had committed a mistake in his speech while referring to Siddaramaiah's corruption, people of the state would not do the same because they knew Siddaramaiah's rule well.

"Siddaramaiah and Rahul Gandhi were very happy over my gaffe while speaking about Siddaramaiah's corruption. I had made a mistake, but the people of Karnataka will not make it, because they have understood Siddaramaiah's government very well," he said.

In a slip of the tongue at a press conference at Davanagere while attacking the Siddaramaiah dispensation as the "most corrupt" one, Amit Shah had said the Yeddyurappa government would get the number one award in corruption.

He had, however, corrected himself after being prompted by BJP lawmaker Prahlad Joshi, who was seated next to him.

Shah also accused Siddaramaiah of playing with Karnataka's pride by not celebrating the "jayanti" of noted Kannada poet Kuvempu or renowned engineer Sir M Vishveswaraiah.

"Siddaramaiah only remembers to celebrate the jayanti of Tipu Sultan (the 18th-century ruler of Mysore) to get votes," he said.

Amit Shah also met the Wadiyar royal family of Mysuru onh Friday at their private palace, triggering speculations about their support or joining the BJP.

According to sources, during the closed door meeting with the royal family scion or the present titular Maharaja - Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar and Rajamata Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, Amit Shah reportedly discussed various issues, including politics.

Amidst speculations in the media, Yaduveer, the 27th "King" of the Wadiyar dynasty, recently ruled out his political entry.

"I have told several times that I'm not interested in politics. There is no chance at all of me joining any party. I'm not interested in politics. Through social work, we will continue our relationship with the public," he said.

The BJP president also said that his party, if voted to power, would make efforts to hunt down the killers of RSS and BJP workers in Karnataka, and hand out the most severe punishment to them.

"I would like to tell the people of the state that Siddaramaiah's time has come to an end. Soon after BJP forms the next government under Yeddyurappa's leadership, it will make all efforts to hunt down killers (of RSS and BJP workers) from any corner of the world," he said.

Shah was speaking to reporters after meeting the family of BJP worker Raju, who was hacked to death in March 2016.

"They will be sent to jail and handed out stringent punishment," he added.

"In politics, there is no room for violence. If Siddaramaiah and his government think they can stall our ideology from spreading, then he is mistaken," he said.

Continuing BJP's bid to reach out to the prominent Lingayat community, Amit Shah began his fourth leg of Karnataka visit by meeting it's prominent pontiff at Suttur Mutt in Mysuru.

"Took blessings of Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Mahaswamiji of Sri Suttur Math in Mysuru," he tweeted after his meeting with the seer.

The BJP president had begun his third leg of tour on March 26 by seeking blessings of 111-year old Sri Shivakumara Swami of Siddhaganga Mutt in Tumakuru, a revered seer of the Lingayat community.

The meeting with the Lingayat seers is being seen as an attempt to reach out to the Lingayats / Veerashaivas, who are numerically and politically powerful in the state and form a major voter base for the BJP.

The visit assumes significance as it comes in the backdrop of the Siddaramaiah government's move to recommend the centre to accord a religious minority tag to Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats in an attempt to wean away a section of them from the BJP.The two cops were suspended from service on Friday after they were found guilty of excesses.

The boy, Abhishek Kumar was admitted to the hospital with wounds on his legs and back. He had left home to visit his maternal uncle, who was in custody in a bike-theft case. (Representational Image)

Patna: "What is the reason behind his detention" was all he asked.

Perceived as a display of arrogance, a class 12 student was thrashed by two police officers and put behind bars for three days for speaking in English in Bihars Khagaria district.

The two cops were suspended from service on Friday after they were found guilty of excesses.

The boy, Abhishek Kumar was admitted to the hospital with wounds on his legs and back. He had left home to visit his maternal uncle, who was in custody in a bike-theft case, according to a report in The New Indian Express.

In a bid to release his uncle, Abhishek reached Chautham police station with the owners book of his uncles bike. However, the man was not released.

Enquiring why his uncle was being kept in custody even after the documents, Abhishek asked,"What is the reason behind his detention?"

At this, the cops got furious and started beating him.

The police officers apparently did not understand my question in English. More than that, they saw my speaking in English as a display of arrogance, Abhishek was quoted as saying by the The New Indian Express.

A probe was ordered by DSP Ramanand Sagar which found the two policemen guilty.

Policemen in Bihar often find it difficult to read or write English and are seen discouraging people from filing complaints in English.

In 2017, a Bihar Police in-charge of Kotwali police station in Munger district informed a local police court that a particular case could not be investigated because the FIR was written in English.The BJP spokesperson filed complaint at the Deoria district fast track court under sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the IPC.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi attacked PM Modi and compared him with Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi, both accused of fleeing the country after committing massive fraud. (Photo: PTI)

Gorakhpur (UP): BJP leader Shalabh Mani Tripathi on Friday filed a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Congress party's national conclave in New Delhi recently.

The BJP spokesperson filed the complaint at the Deoria district fast track court under sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.

Tripathi's counsel said April 5 has been fixed as the date of hearing of the case.

When contacted, Tripathi said, "During the Congress party national conclave in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi tried to draw similarities between PM Modi, Nirav Modi (tainted diamond businessman) and Lalit Modi (former IPL commissioner)."

"He also said the name Modi had become synonymous to corruption. This remark has hurt the sentiments of BJP party workers and countrymen and for this reason I have filed a defamation case against him in Deoria court," he said.

Reacting to the development, the Congress party said it would keep raising voice against government's policies and its "failure" to check corruption.

"It is our duty to raise issues related to the people of the country and we will continue to do so," said Congress district general secretary Anwar Hussain. "We are ready to face court cases and even jail for our country."

During the three-day Congress national conclave in Delhi on March 16,17 and 18, Congress president Rahul Gandhi attacked PM Modi and compared him with Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi, both accused of fleeing the country after committing massive fraud.Athwale invited BSP president Mayawati to join the NDA if she was genuinely interested in the empowerment of dalits.

Lucknow: Union minister Ramdas Athawale has said that if the SP-BSP alliance continued till the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it might cost the BJP-led NDA about 25 to 30 seats.

The SP-BSP may damage the BJP and its allies by winning some 25-30 (Lok Sabha) seats. But, the BJP will still get more than 50 seats, he said.

However, he maintained that there was no challenge to the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Talking to reporters here on Friday, Mr Atha-wale invited BSP president Mayawati to join the NDA if she was genuinely interested in the empowerment of dalits.

If the BSP joins us, we will win all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP. The Samajwadi Party is betraying the BSP, as it did in the recent Rajya Sabha elections, and the welfare of dalits could be guaranteed only in the NDA, he asserted.

The minister, who heads the Republican Party of India (A), added, No one can challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi  neither Congress president Rahul Gandhi, nor SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, nor BSP supremo Mayawati.

The BJP and its allies had won 73 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP in 2019 and BJP president Amit Shah has already said that his party was working towards winning all 80 seats this time.

In 2014, the Congress had won two seats, while the Samajwadi Party had won five seats which increased to seven after SP victory in two Lok Sabha byelections in Gorakhpur and Phulpur.

The BSP did not win even a single seat in 2014.

Lauding the work done by BJP governments, Mr Athawale said that there had been attacks on dalits in the name of gau raksha but CM Yogi Adityanath had taken effective steps to control the situation.

Replying to a question, the minister said that inclusion of Ramji in the name of Dr B.R. Ambedkar was a welcome step and thanked UP governor Ram Naik and CM Yogi Adityanath for the decision.It turned out that the camera belonged to a person from Japan and was lost at sea in 2015 when she went scuba diving.

The owner Serina Tsubakihara is planning a visit to Taiwan in June to get her camera and meet the children (Photo: Facebook)

Advertisements making tall claims about the efficiency of products may not be completely true, but sometimes truth can be stranger than fiction. While durability in any condition is appreciated in electronic goods, expecting a gadget to survive under the ocean may be stretching it a bit too much.

In a bizarre incident from Taiwan, a camera that washed ashore on a beach covered with barnacles and shells was found to be in perfect working condition. The camera which was inside a waterproof case was found by schoolchildren and their teacher Park Lee helped them trace the owner.

It turned out that the camera belonged to a person from Japan and was lost at sea in 2015 when she went scuba diving. Its astonishing how not a single drop of water entered the camera even as it travelled hundreds of kilometres in the ocean for almost three years.

The owner Serina Tsubakihara is planning a visit to Taiwan in June to get her camera and meet the children.She returned from America in 1886, eager to take up the role of physician in charge of the female ward at Kolhapur's Albert Edward Hospital.

Not only was she India's first female doctor, but she was only 19 years old at the time (Photo: Google)

Google on Saturday dedicated its doodle to mark the 153rd birth anniversary of India's first lady doctor Anandi Gopal Joshi.

The doodle is created by Bangalore-based artist Kashmira Sarode, who portrayed Joshi celebrating her medical degree.

As Google writes in its blog, "In 1886, a young doctor stepped off a ship from America, eager to take up the role of physician in charge of the female ward at Kolhapur's Albert Edward Hospital. Not only was she India's first female doctor, but she was only 19 years old at the time. Her name was Anandi Gopal Joshi, and her story is one of courage and perseverance."

As per the custom in the 19th century India, Joshi, born on March 31 1865, was married at the age of nine; her husband encouraged her to continue her education.

She earned her medical degree from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, now known as Drexel University College of Medicine, and returned to India with dreams of opening a medical college for women.

"Joshi's young life was tragically cut short when she died of tuberculosis before her 22nd birthday.

However, her legacy and the path she paved for generations of women continues today. Interestingly, even a crater on Venus is named after her!" the blog adds.Eradication of malnutrition is a concern of different countries across the world, he added.

The conference looked at catalysing civil society action to support community-based efforts in order to reshape the food and nutrition policy landscape.

New Delhi: A group of experts, researchers and government representatives discussed the double burden of malnutrition and changing food environment in the capital in a three-day conference, with an aim to connect evidence regarding the prevalence of both under nutrition and over nutrition.

The conference on Critical Public Health Consequences of the Double Burden of Malnutrition and the Changing Food Environment in South and South East Asia that as concluded on Friday urged the governments across the world to broaden the purview of their nutrition policy so that they addresses immediate as well as basic causes of malnutrition.

The conference aimed to connect evidence regarding the prevalence of both under nutrition as well as over-nutrition as well as the associations between nutrition and disease, policy and programme responses.

Dr Arun Gupta, regional coordinator, International Baby Food Action Network- Asia, said, We need closer co-ordination between other social movements working on land, forests, water, women's rights, trade unions, informal workers to extend the reach of the discourse on the right to food and nutrition.

Eradication of malnutrition is a concern of different countries across the world, he added.

The conference looked at catalysing civil society action to support community-based efforts in order to reshape the food and nutrition policy landscape.

It also asked to focus on womens social, economic and biological roles to be recognised as central to food and nutrition security and that the nutrition policies have to empower women in a bid to retain and strengthen their control over resources and food environment.

The conference also pointed out that addressing gender discrimination in food, education, mobility, access to resources and bodily integrity is critical to sustainable nutritional security.The theft occurred in the house of Paresh Patil in Thakurli when his family had gone for a religious gathering.

'We have recovered Rs 19.71 lakh and searches are underway to recover the entire loot. Dombivali police as well as the Property Cell are conducting further investigations,' a police official said.

Thane: Four people, all hailing from Nepal, have been arrested for allegedly robbing Rs 27.54 lakh from a house in Dombivali near Thane on March 13-14, police said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Makarand Ranade said the theft had occurred in the house of Paresh Patil in Cholegaon area in Thakurli when his family had gone for a religious gathering in Jejuri on March 13.

"When the family returned on March 14, they found that the grills of their bathroom window had been cut and cash and valuables, comprising Rs 4.30 lakh in gold jewellery, had been robbed," Ranade said.

Police said that investigations, and tip-off from informants, led them to Kisan Damarbahadur Sahi (34) who was employed at the Patil household to clean vehicles.

Officials identified the other three who have been arrested as Roshan Jeevan Padam Sahi (25), Raju Ratan Om Bahadur Sahi (32) and Jirbahadur Enbahadur Sahi (24).

A fifth accomplice, identified as Kamal Sahi, is absconding and is believed to have fled to Nepal, officials said.

"We have recovered Rs 19.71 lakh and searches are underway to recover the entire loot. Dombivali police as well as the Property Cell are conducting further investigations," an official said.The accused then misappropriated the proceeds by diverting them to other accounts, including those of one of the accused.

Mumbai: The CBI has started a probe into allegations that four employees of a Pune branch of the public-sector Allahabad Bank fraudulently and prematurely closed a customers fixed deposit (FD) worth Rs 1.5 crore.The accused then misappropriated the proceeds by diverting them to other accounts, including those of one of the accused.

According to the CBI, the crime was committed in 2012-13 and closure of the FD was done in an unauthorised manner without the customers consent. According to a CBI source, the FD was opened at the banks Hinjewadi branch in May 2012 for a duration of two years.

But the accused prematurely closed the FD around a year later, without taking the consent or original documents from the customer.

One of the accused later transferred around Rs 1.48 crore that remained of the FD, after deductions, to a current account and to several other accounts including his own, the source said.

With the intention to camouflage the fraud, one of the accused continued to make quarterly interest payments to the customer so that the latter remained in the dark, the source said.

The accused debited funds from the accounts of two customers in an unauthorised manner to make quarterly payments to the customer, the source said.

The agency has registered a case under sections pertaining to criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, and criminal misconduct by a public servant to probe the fraud. The accused persons caused a loss of Rs 1.6 crore to the bank, according to the CBI. The agency will soon question the four employees under the scanner, the source said.The acquittal was an emotional blow for the survivors and families of those killed.

Noor Salman, 31, (L) could have faced up to life in prison had she been convicted of federal charges of obstruction of justice and aiding her husband, Omar Mateen (R), in providing support to the ISIS terrorist group. (Photo: AFP)

Orlando: The widow of the Pulse nightclub gunman walked free on Friday after a jury cleared her of charges related to the 2016 massacre that killed 49 people in Orlando, Florida.

Noor Salman, 31, could have faced up to life in prison had she been convicted of federal charges of obstruction of justice and aiding her husband, Omar Mateen, in providing support to the ISIS terrorist group.

Instead, the US District Court jury acquitted Salman after roughly 12 hours of deliberation that began on Wednesday. Hours later, she walked out of Orange County jail, her head bowed as she held hands with defense lawyer Fritz Scheller.

"We knew from day one she was innocent," Salman's aunt, Susan Adieh, told reporters just after the verdict. Salman was home with the couple's then 3-year-old son at the time of the massacre on June 12, 2016. Mateen died in an exchange of gunfire with police at Pulse, a gay nightspot.

The acquittal was an emotional blow for the survivors and families of those killed. The attack stunned and dismayed lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and Latinos who frequented Pulse.

At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. It has since been surpassed by the Las Vegas attack in which a shooter opened fire on an outdoor concert from his hotel room in 2017, killing 58 people.

"We're very sorry for the family members and friends of the 49 victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting, and also the survivors of that horrible attack," said Susan Clary, Noor's family spokeswoman.

A group of victims' relatives and friends, accompanied by Pulse owner Barbara Poma, left the courthouse without responding to reporters' questions.

"Those of us directly affected by this tragedy must find peace in our hearts and remember that he was the one who pulled the trigger that night," Poma said in a statement.

A group of survivors, friends and family planned to meet at the Pulse nightclub about 2 miles (3 km) from the courthouse.

"She may not be guilty, but she isn't innocent either," said Luis Morales, a Pulse regular who was not there during the attack. "She knew what he was doing."

When US District Judge Paul Byron announced the verdict, Salman broke down in tears and hugged her defense lawyers, according to reporters inside the courtroom. Her relatives gasped while families of the victims sat silently, showing little emotion.

Mateen, 29, opened fire shortly after 2 am during Latin night, shooting patrons on the dance floor and spraying bullets at others hiding in bathroom stalls. He then held hostages during a standoff with police, claiming allegiance to a leader of ISIS before he was shot dead.

Prosecutors said Salman cased possible attack sites with her husband and did nothing to stop his plans. They claimed she initially told investigators her husband acted without her knowledge but later said she knew he was watching ISIS videos, had purchased an assault rifle, and examined three possible attack locations.

However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation did not record the interrogation and the defense said she was coerced into making statements.

The jury appeared to believe the defense portrayal of Salman as a battered spouse kept in the dark, said David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor and now a partner at Coral Gables, Florida-based Hinshaw & Culbertson.

"The lack of a videotaped confession had to have had an impact on the jury's acceptance of her confession. ... It is clear they believed it was coerced," Weinstein said in a statement.15 people were killed and more than 750 wounded by Israeli fire as Palestinian protesters marched to Gazas border with Israel.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Friday for an independent investigation into deadly clashes in Gaza between Palestinians and Israeli troops, while Security Council members urged restraint on both sides. (Photo: File)

United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Friday for an independent investigation into deadly clashes in Gaza between Palestinians and Israeli troops, while Security Council members urged restraint on both sides.

The council didnt decide on any action or joint message after an emergency meeting Friday evening.

Kuwait convened it hours after the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 cross-border war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules the coastal strip.

Fifteen people were killed and more than 750 wounded by Israeli fire as thousands of Palestinian protesters marched to Gazas border with Israel, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The Israeli military said that thousands of Palestinians threw stones and rolled burning tires toward troops, that Palestinian gunmen fired toward soldiers in one incident and that militants were trying to conduct attacks under the cover of protests.

Guterres wants an independent and transparent investigation into the violence, spokesman Farhan Haq said.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said he was disappointed the Security Council didnt coalesce to condemn what he called a heinous massacre of peaceful demonstrators, or to support his call to provide protection for Palestinian civilians.

We expect the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility and defuse this volatile situation, which clearly constitutes a threat to international peace and security, Mansour said.

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said the international community must not be deceived by what he termed a well-organized and violent terror-gathering under the banner of a peaceful march.

The Palestinians sunk to a new deceitful low so that they could use the UN to spread lies about Israel while its representatives werent there because of the Passover holiday, Danon said in a statement.

Some Security Council members suggested an investigation and emphasized that Israel should ensure force is only used proportionally.

Some also made a point of noting Israels security concerns and calling on demonstrators to avoid violence. They all expressed alarm at the flare-up of conflict in a volatile region.

The situation is extremely worrisome, said Swedish deputy Ambassador Carl Skau. Equatorial Guineas ambassador, Anatolio Ndong Mba, warned that continuing violence could escalate out of control and could further imperil what is already a very delicate situation in Gaza.

The US, which often complains about what it sees as anti-Israel bias at the UN, urged all involved in the conflict to lower tensions.

Bad actors who use protests as a cover to incite violence endanger innocent lives, added Walter Miller, an adviser at Washingtons UN mission.

Russia and China, meanwhile, emphasized a need to step up diplomatic efforts toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a whole. Israel and Hamas have fought three cross-border wars in recent years.

The protests come as Gaza is in the 10th year of a border closure. Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade after Hamas seized Gaza from forces loyal to the militants rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in 2007.Fr Gianantonio Baio is the rector of the pilgrimage site. The sanctuary was founded in 1999 and entrusted to another PIME priest. About 400 Catholics take part in the celebrations. The permanent presence of a religious "welcomed with great gratitude".

Dinajpur (AsiaNews) - "It will be a great celebration, preceded by moments of prayer and Eucharistic adoration, says PIME missionary Fr. Gianantonio Baio, 73. Since October of last year the bishop of Dinajpur has called him to be the rector of the Marian shrine of Rajarampur, dedicated to Our Lady of Pompeii. "The faithful could not wait for a priest to arrive - he explains - because there was no stable priest here since 2014. Their joy was great when I arrived. And now, for the Easter Triduum, at least 400 Catholics are participating.

For this Triduum of Easter, the missionary has organized a full program for local Catholics, all of tribal origins. "We started Holy Thursday at 6 pm with Mass in Coena Domini, during which the washing of the feet of 12 faithful took place. Later we gathered in adoration until midnight. Yesterday at 7 o'clock we celebrated the Way of the Cross on the streets of the village. In the afternoon around 3 there was the celebration of the death of the Lord and in the evening the screening of the film 'Jesus of Nazareth' by Franco Zeffirelli ". "I also managed to find a Bengali version," he says happily. "Then, at 8:00 am, the great Easter celebration begins with the lighting of the candle. Finally on Sunday morning we will celebrate Easter Mass, all together in joy ".

The shrine of Rajarampur was erected in 1999 in memory of the extraordinary Jubilee of the Redemption of 1983-1984. It is about 4 km away from Suihari (Dinajpur), and is a sub-center of the diocesan cathedral parish. Immediately after the construction, it was entrusted to Fr. Cesare Pesce, also from Pime. Then, after his death, "in 2004 to Ettore Caserini, a brother of PIME, who remained until 2014, when he had to leave because of problems related to his age. Since that year the sanctuary has remained without a rector. The parish priest of the cathedral of Dinajpur came to celebrate Mass twice a week. Today, however, the liturgy is celebrated every day".

Fr. Baio reports that the sanctuary is "a special place, a famous pilgrimage destination to the Virgin of the Rosary. Everyone is revered as an important place of worship and even the Muslims of the area, who are the majority, have great respect ". "In October - continues - in the month dedicated to Our Lady, they come loyal to the whole diocese. In the annual festival of last October 27th there were more than 11,000 people gathered in a very beautiful atmosphere of prayer ".

About 400 Catholics live in the area, according to the missionary: "In the nearby village there are 90 families of faithful and in another about 70, as well as a community of Korean nuns who run a hostel for girls". On his missionary service, he says: "I accepted this task at the age of 73 and the faithful welcomed me with immense gratitude. In me the missionary spirit of witness was renewed once again in a territory with a great Muslim presence ".

The permanent presence of a priest, he points out, "has favored the request of many people and groups of nuns and students to carry out their spiritual retreat here during Lent. As a father I accompanied them on a journey of reflection, silence, confession and liturgical prayer ". All this has "happened thanks to the fact that the permanent presence of a priest has been reactivated, which has pushed so many to come because they know they can find someone to welcome them".

The shrine also attracts Muslims, "who come to visit the place in an atmosphere of mutual respect. We live in friendship and mutual understanding. Also I have been well received by the local population. This is a holy place of pilgrimage, and I am available to have a chat with everyone ".Nashville, Tennessee police have arrested a long-time anti-LGBT pastor who has been charged with eight counts of aggravated sexual battery for alleged molestation of multiple boys, WBRC News reported Friday.

Matthew Dennis Patterson, 45, who goes by Denny, resigned from Nolensville Road Baptist Church on September 24 and moved to Pennsylvania. Three days later, members of the congregation went to the police precinct with complaints about his requests to engage in strange activities with children, authorities said.

Children at the church told adult members that Patterson had asked them to sit on his face and stomach, sometimes in their underwear, according to a police statement.

After interviewing multiple church and staff members, police said the detectives identified multiple victims, most of them boys, who were molested from 1998-2017. Police did not say how old the children were at the time of the alleged abuse.

Patterson has been indicted on eight counts of aggravated sexual battery. Each count is linked to a different child, according to police.

Police said more charges relating to additional victims are anticipated as the investigation continues.

Patterson was a vocal opponent of anti-discrimination bills considered by the Nashville Metro Council in 2003. The measures were designed to protect jobs and housing for lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

We want to make sure we keep the pressure on, let them know that anytime they bring this up, well be down here to oppose it, Patterson told The Tennessean in an article published Feb. 5, 2003.

Nashville police arrested Patterson in Pennsylvania on March 8  he refused to talk to investigators. Patterson was extradited to Nashville on Friday, and his bond was set at $100,000.Thank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.Joseph Luiz can be reached at 395-7368 or by email at jluiz@bakersfield.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @JLuiz_TBC.Published on Feb 21, 2016

Nuremberg

7.4/10  IMDb

Justice Robert H. Jackson leads Allied prosecutors in trying 21 Germans for Nazi war crimes after World War II.

Executive producers: Alec Baldwin, Gerald W. Abrams, More

Awards: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie, More

Nominations: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series

May God bless all people for the peace of the world! -Nuremberg (2000) 1,794,809 viewsWW2 - trial on war criminals against humanity, peace of the world.The men and women of good willHow could one civilized human being do such horrible to another human being like Hitler's army to Jewish and French people?Instinct, habit (training), imagined,I'm a soldier. A soldier's code is obedient - why obedience has no responsibility?Maybe, civilization is overrated!"we need to capture a tone, a mood for the entire case, by finding a ...#2 Hitler man - Herr Goring "One German, you've a fine man. Two German, a bund. Three, a war."One English man, an idiot. Two, a club. Three Englishman, an empire!"00:23:00, July 7, 1945 Nuremberg (city)00:58:30, music, tuning for open court!1:45:30 Herr Goring is in control of the court against Robert Jackson, US Chief persecutorShe: If Hermman Goring's stronger belief than yours? Ideals fight -1:48:36, she charged him for brilliant performance after the night - treat Goring as bustard bloody cold assholeNoor Salman, widow of the gunman who

on an Orlando nightclub in 2016, has been found not guilty on both the counts she faced. U.S. District Judge Paul Byron announced the verdict Friday, roughly one month after the trial opened.





Salman was the only person charged in connection with the massacre that left 50 people  including her husband, Omar Mateen  dead at Pulse nightclub. She

of helping Mateen prepare for and plan the 2016 massacre at the nightclub and of obstructing investigators' efforts after the killing.





Her defense team argued that far from being an eager collaborator, Salman was instead a "simple woman" with a low IQ, susceptible to influence and abused by Mateen. While prosecutors asserted that Noor had given misleading statements to state and federal investigators, the defense maintained that she had been manipulated and mistreated during these interrogations.





Later in the trial, Salman's attorneys also called for Byron to

, saying the prosecution had withheld crucial information for the development of their argument. It was not until after the prosecution had rested its case, nearly two weeks after the trial opened, that prosecutors disclosed the information in an email last Saturday.





Among those key details, according to the defense filing, was the fact that Mateen's father had worked as a confidential informant for the FBI at various points over more than a decade leading right up to the June 2016 shooting. The filing noted that federal authorities had also opened an investigation of Seddique Mateen after the shooting, basing the probe on a series of money transfers he made to Turkey and Afghanistan not long before the massacre.





The defense argued that without those details, the defense had been unfairly hamstrung  an assertion that Byron rejected. He denied the motion earlier this week and allowed the trial to proceed.





Ultimately, though, the jury sided with the defense anyway, acquitting Noor Salman of both charges: aiding and abetting the provision of material support to a foreign terrorism organization  in this case, the Islamic State, to whom Omar Mateen pledged his allegiance during the attack  and obstruction of justice.





Salman bowed her head and cried in relief as the verdict was read, according to reporters inside the courtroom. Her defense team and family exchanged hugs.





"I believe in our criminal justice system and am grateful for the jury's hard work and deliberation," Orlando Police Chief John Mina

released after the verdict, also thanking prosecutors and law enforcement. "Nothing can erase the pain we all feel about the senseless and brutal murders of 49 of our neighbors, friends, family members and loved ones."





"We are very sorry for the family members and friends of the 49 victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting and also the survivors of that horrible attack," a family spokesperson



It was 18 years ago and in the basement of a Baptist church

where I first read that famous line. The Lord Jesus said

similar things, e.g., whoever wanted to be the first here on

earth should be the last in the kingdom of heaven, and I had

no trouble figuring out that He favored the "meek."

After all, I came from a culture that believes .

"Inherit the Earth" sounded pretty good, too, although it

was not clear how that was executed out there,

except in martial art movies. It nonetheless left a mark.

While practicing being meek, some Westerners seemed just as

clueless for the inheritance part. Over the years, I heard

Garrison Keillor joked about it in his show, A Prairie Home

Companion. Quoting the line and faking disappointment, he

bleated: "But all we've got so far is Minnesota!"

Truths have lives and take on deeper meanings when one

pays attention. This year, Jordan Peterson told us what he

learned from Bible Hub. "Meek" was not the best translation

of the original (Greek). According to his reading, the word

refers to people who know how to wield the sword but

choose to sheath it.

This reminded me of some other phrases in the Tao, e.g.,

. The ancient Chinese wisdom seems to

encourage people to have both the strength to enforce and

the sense to restrain. It was a thrill to find a place where

the East meets the West in wisdom, especially after some

confusion. It made sense now and it might yet make better

sense later.Mainly Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province & Ringing Trips to BahrainABIDJAN, Ivory Coast - The sixth edition of the Africa CEO Forum opened last week under the banner of African champions: it's transformation time.

Africa CEO Forum:

This major meeting of Africa's private sector, organised by Jeune Afrique Media Group and Rainbow Unlimited, brought together three African presidents, namely Alassane Ouattara of Cote d'Ivoire and his counterparts Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe and Ghana's Nana Akufo-Addo.With around 1,600 high-level delegates from over 60 countries, the 2018 Africa CEO Forum strives to encourage participants to implement action plans that foster the transformation of the continent's major companies.In his opening speech, Amir Ben Yahmed, President and founder of the Forum, indicated that this edition would place the accent on "transformation" because, in his opinion, emergence is not possible without undergoing a transformation, which is one of Africa's biggest weaknesses. To remedy this, the forum is proposing change: that of the private sectors that have to invest more in the continent's transformation process."For this edition, we wanted to talk to you about change because, around us, the world is changing. And in our opinion African companies, African economies, are not transforming enough. This is why we have made every effort to ensure that you leave this conference convinced, determined to make Africa's much-needed change possible," he said.Zimbabwe's Head of State, Emmerson Mnangagwa, outlined his plan for the country's economic recovery after 17 years of isolation and absence from the international arena. He urged African investors to support each other "in order to avoid continually reaching out to the outside world".According to him, the enemy of the African is the African himself and the refusal of one to see the other prosper. To eradicate poverty, Mnangagwa wants unity between African countries.Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo hailed this meeting of the private and public sectors and called for Africans to take charge of Africa."Africa has enormous assets, numerous resources to exploit and develop. We need to enhance the image of our continent by working together with our own resources," he said. Nana Akufo-Addo also invited Africans to unite, saying unity is key to the continent's development.President Alassane Ouattara of Cote d'Ivoire encouraged the private sector to improve productivity and performance and focus on technological innovation."We need the private sector to come up with proposals, give us advice and make suggestions to the public sector so that together we can achieve the goals we have set for ourselves," he said. He also emphasised that it is not impossible for Africa to achieve transformation and emergence. He insisted on "training young people by investing in education, infrastructure and the digital economy" and reassured investors about Cote d'Ivoire's good economic health, at the same time inviting them to invest heavily.Four main themes were developed during the two-day forum: the economy, agribusiness, technology and women in business.Source: African Media Agency (AMA)The Most Extensive and Reliable Source of Information Related to the Mexican Drugs Cartels.



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South Seas Magazine: NEW YORK CITY - March 31, 2018 - Historically, Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the area of New York City between West 28 Street and Sixth Avenue. Historically, Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the area of New York City between West 28 Street and Sixth Avenue.

From 1895 to the late 1930s it was home to some of America's most successful music publishers and songwriters.

No one is quite certain as to how the area came to be called 'The Tin Pan Alley District' though some surmise the name came from the sound one would hear when playing a cheap out-of-tune piano.

However the origins, the name stuck and this small region of lower Manhattan came to take its rightful place in the annals of America's music folklore and history. Today, when a visitor walks along 28 Street he or she will find little evidence of this area's musical past, aside from a smart historic plaque that identifies the region.



In this age of modern music, it is easy to forget the significance that The Alley played on early twentieth century American culture. For the 'Tin Pan' was not only home to musicians and music companies, but also a small army of artists and advertisers who specialized in designing Sheet Music covers. Today, these music sheets, though seldom sought for their value, are slowly becoming popular due to their timeless artistry and images.





According to Between the early 1900s and late 1930s artists and advertisers, working in The Tin Pan Alley industry produced thousands of music sheet designs, many with Hawaiian - themed images and song titles. The artwork represents a lost genre of popular Hawaiian culture that has often been overlooked and under-appreciated by historians and collectors. Even today, one hundred-year-old music sheets typically sell for only a few dollars in used book stores, antique shops, or on Ebay. Because of this fact, music sheet art as a collectable is something almost anyone can collect and enjoy.According to Stryker-Indigo New York President, George Fosty, "Sheet Music imagery allows us to glimpse into a lost era of early twentieth century American art. The artwork was designed to allow people to escape for a moment from their everyday lives and to imagine a more exciting or picturesque world." He adds, "In many ways the images were pure fantasy and over-idealized. At the same time, the artwork was often incredibly beautiful, exciting, romantic and adventurous."

Tin Pan Alley in its heyday (West 28th Street).

Fosty, a history graduate from the University of Hawaii at Hilo, has long appreciated the beauty of the Tin Pan Alley Artisans and the romantic images of Hawaii that they produced. "Tin Pan Alley is a lost chapter of Hawaiian Advertising History. It represents the first attempt by American companies to 'package' Hawaii as a concept and romantic brand. Years later, the ideals elicited in sheet music designs were copied by Hawaiian travel companies to promote the Islands as a tourist destination and a place of romance and adventure."



For the past year, Fosty has overseen efforts by Stryker-Indigo New York to identify and expand their Hawaii Heritage Film and Photography Archive. Part of the effort has been to document the history of Tin Pan Alley and to acquire Hawaiian-themed pre-1940s music sheets. This image-library expansion is just the latest in a series of efforts by Stryker-Indigo to preserve Hawaiian history and to develop future in-house Hawaiian documentary film and book publishing operations in Hawaii. Such an undertaking is more time consuming than it is expensive. "You never know where you will find the next Hawaiian music sheet," says Fosty. "Years ago, while working for the United States Air Force in North Texas I came across a large collection of Hawaiian-themed music sheets in an old book store. I purchased them for $1 each. They represented some of the most beautiful and artful images I had ever seen of Hawaii."



There is no timeline set to complete the search for Hawaiian Music Sheet Archive items. However, when all is said and done, the Stryker-Indigo Hawaiian sheet music collection will number hundreds of pieces. Remarks Fosty, "Every music sheet that we acquire tells its own story. It is history that we can hold and appreciate. It is a link to the past that helps us to define Hawaii and its historic links to New York's Tin Pan Alley history."Posted 3/30/18

Our sympathy is with the families of Kathy Moulder. She was 61. She and her husband, Joseph, had three sons: Darren, Scott and Shawn; and grandsons. Her funeral was Saturday at Macks Creek First Posted 3/30/18

The quilters had another busy week in Rader. On Mondays they have one group busy tacking quilts and another at the quilt frame. Last Wednesday there was another small group over in one corner They exemplify corporate Indias leadership excellence, pointed out Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who expressed her appreciation for Indias corporate leadership while speaking at Business Standards Annual awards on Saturday. What stands out for me today is that it is possible for organisations to reach and stay at the top by way of good leadership and a belief in what you are doing, she said. She spoke about the range ...

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

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As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



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Digital EditorDear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



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Digital EditorIndia has deployed more troops and significantly increased patrolling in the mountainous terrains of Dibang, Dau-Delai and Lohit valleys along the borders with China in the Tibetan region in Arunachal sector following the Doklam face-off, the most tense military confrontations between the two countries in decades.

Military officials said India is also strengthening its surveillance mechanism to keep an eye on Chinese activities along the borders in the strategically sensitive Tibetan region and has even been regularly deploying choppers to carry out recce.

They said India has been focusing on dominating the treacherous terrains which include snow-clad mountains at an altitude of over 17,000 feet, and river passes, as part of a strategy to counter China's rising assertiveness along the border in Dibang, Dau-Delai and Lohit valleys.

Post Doklam, we have increased our activities manifold. We are fully prepared to deal with any challenge, said an army officer posted in Kibithu, the eastern most village on India's border with China's Tibetan region.

The official said the Army has been enhancing its Long Range Patrols (LRPs) where troops in small groups go for patrols for 15-30 days as part of an overall approach to maintain the sanctity of the Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between India and China.

Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam from June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. The face-off ended on August 28.

We have increased our deployment of troops while focusing on all the strategically important areas including a tri-junction among India, China and Myanmar, said the official who wished not to be quoted as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The official said China has been ramping up its infrastructure development along India's border, particularly in the Tibetan region and there was a need for India to enhance its road network for quick movements of troops.

The Army uses a foot suspension bridge to carry its military supplies to its Kibithu post, considered very important from operational point of view, as the only road connecting the East bank of Lohit river with West bank remains closed due to landslides for most part of the year.

However, a senior official of the Border Roads Organisation said a number of roads including one to connect the Dibang Valley with Lohit Valley has been finalised which will improve the inter-valley connectivity in Arunachal.

China has been laying new roads and improving its overall infrastructure along the nearly 4,000 km long border with India.

Earlier this month, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said China has undertaken construction of helipads, sentry posts and trenches for its army personnel near Doklam.

Sources said China has been keeping its troops in north Doklam and significantly ramping up its infrastructure in the disputed area.

In January, Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat had said the time had come for India to shift its focus from borders with Pakistan to the frontier with China, indicating the seriousness of the situation.Honourable Members, we will now take up Farewell to the Retiring Members. In the Rajya Sabha, we have this change every two years and this change co-exists alongside continuity.

The new members come with a new outlook, a new orientation and a new insight and they will certainly have the benefit of learning from some of the veteran Members who have excelled in their parliamentary work. This principle of continuity is the hallmark of Rajya Sabha and we take pride in the strength of this fine blend of continuity with change. This time, we are bidding farewell to many ...One statue was found with its head chopped off at a park in Allahabads Trivenipuram locality today and the other B R Ambedkar statue was damaged in Siddharthnagar's Gohaniya last night. "We are aware of the matter and are trying to locate the suspects," said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Allahabad Aakash Kulhari, according to news agency IANS. He said a case has been registered and ruled out any tension in the area following the ...

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



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Digital EditorPosted 3/31/18

The Buffalo Livestock Market provided the setting for the March 13 meeting of the Dallas County Cattlemens Association. Owners Howard Miller, Lyle Caselman and Leon Caselman and their families Ultra-clean Euro-VI grade petrol and diesel, at no additional price, will be supplied in the national capital from Sunday in a bid to combat alarming levels of air pollution.

Delhi will be the first city in the country to leapfrog from Euro-IV grade petrol and diesel to Euro-VI. Cities in the national capital region like Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad as well as 13 major cities including Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune will switch over to cleaner Euro-VI grade fuel from January 1 next year. Rest of the country will follow suit from April 2020.

State-owned oil firms will begin supplying the BS-VI petrol and diesel (equivalent to fuel meeting Euro-VI emission norm) at all their 391 petrol pumps in the national capital territory (NCT) from tomorrow, said Indian Oil Corp (IOC) Director (Refineries) B V Rama Gopal.

While the oil companies have invested heavily to produce cleaner fuel, the consumers are not being passed on any of the cost for the time being, he said.

"Rest assured we don't have plans of passing on the cost to consumers. There are no plans to recover (the cost) from customers immediately," he told reporters here.

Costing wise, the cleaner fuel should cost around 50 paisa a litre more.

He said a mechanism of recovering the cost when the whole country shifts to Euro-VI grade fuel would be worked out.

To meet Delhi's annual consumption of 9,60,000 tonnes of petrol and 1.26 million tonnes of diesel, Mathura refinery in Uttar Pradesh, Panipat refinery in Haryana, Bina in Madhya Pradesh and Bhatinda in Punjab have started producing Euro-VI grade fuel. About Rs 1.83 billion has been spent on Panipat refinery alone for producing cleaner fuel.

Other refineries are in the process of being upgraded, he said.

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.

While the deadline for the rest of the country stands, the same for Delhi, which is choking on thick toxic smog, was brought forward. Euro-VI grade fuel contains 10 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur as against 50 ppm in Euro-IV fuels.

Gopal said the cleaner Euro-VI fuel and lesser grade cars and two-wheelers, which are presently available in the country, would result in 10-20 per cent reduction in particulate emission but for full benefits, the vehicles too need to have Euro-VI engines.

"BS-VI petrol and diesel supplies from tomorrow give comfort to automobiles manufacturers that supplies of cleaner fuel would not be a problem," the official said.

IOC, the nation's biggest oil firm controlling roughly half of retail fuel market, will source the BS-VI fuel to meet Delhi's requirement from its Mathura and Panipat refineries, while Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) will do so from its joint venture refinery at Bhatinda. Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) will supply the fuel from its Bina refinery.

According to IOC, for petrol engines, one of the most critical specifications is Research Octane No. (RON), which has improved from 88 in BS-II to 91. It is at par with regular 91 octane gasoline (petrol) required for Euro VI emission norms.

Sulphur specification for petrol and diesel will be reduced 50 times from a level of 500 ppm for BS-II fuel to 10 ppm in BS-VI.

Previously, the fuels meeting Euro-IV or Bharat Stage (BS)-IV specifications were to be supplied throughout the country by April 2017 and BS-V or Euro-V grade fuel by April 1, 2020. But now the government plans to switch over directly from BS-IV to BS-VI auto fuels.

Oil refineries had previously upgraded technology and invested over Rs 550 billion for production and supply of BS-III/IV fuels. Oil refineries will need to invest Rs 280 billion in upgrading petrol and diesel quality to meet cleaner fuel specifications by 2020.Clashes erupted as tens of thousands of Gazans marched near the Israeli border in a major protest on Friday, leaving 16 Palestinians dead and hundreds more wounded in the conflict's worst single day of violence since the 2014 war.

Late in the day, Israel's military targeted three Hamas sites in the Strip with tank fire and an air strike after what it said was an attempted shooting attack against soldiers along the border that caused no injuries.

Protesters, including women and children, had earlier gathered at multiple sites throughout the blockaded territory, which is flanked by Israel along its eastern and northern borders.

Smaller numbers approached within a few hundred metres (yards) of the heavily fortified border fence, with Israeli troops using tear gas and live fire to force them back.

Israeli security forces used a drone to fire tear gas toward those along the border, in one of the first uses of the device, a police spokesman said.

The health ministry in said 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces.

More than 1,400 were injured, including 758 by live fire, with the remainder hurt by rubber bullets and tear gas inhalation, it said.

Palestinians accused Israel of using disproportionate force, as did Turkey.

The UN Security Council was to hold closed-door talks about the situation in Gaza later on Friday at the request of Kuwait, a diplomat said.



UN responds

The UN Security Council heard fears of a further escalation in Israeli-Palestinian violence in the Gaza Strip during emergency talks on Friday despite a failure to agree a joint statement on deadly clashes.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also called for an "independent and transparent investigation" and reaffirmed "the readiness" of the world body to revitalise peace efforts, a spokesperson said.

Kuwait requested the meeting to discuss the unraveling situation in Gaza, where Palestinians said Israeli fire killed 16 people in the conflict's deadliest single day since the 2014 Gaza war.

"There is fear that the situation might deteriorate in the coming days," said assistant UN secretary general for political affairs, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, urging maximum restraint.

Britain and the United States expressed regret that the timing of the meeting -- the first night of Passover -- meant Israeli officials could not attend. Leading ambassadors sent deputies in their place.

"It's vital that this Council be balanced in its approach," a US diplomat told the meeting. "We should have found an arrangement for all parties to participate tonight," he added.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of life today," the diplomat added. "Bad actors who use protests as a cover to incite violence endanger innocent lives," he added.

"The risk of escalation is very real," the French representative said. "There is the possibility of a new conflict in the Gaza Strip."



Egypt and Jordan, the only two Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with Israel, denounced the use of force against the protesters while the Arab League condemned what it called Israel's "savagery".

Israel's military alleged that the main protests were being used as cover by militants to either break through the border or carry out attacks.

"It is not a peaceful demonstration," an Israeli military official told journalists.

"There was no small number of attempts to damage the fence and cross" the border, she added.

The army said it estimated some 30,000 demonstrators were taking part in the protests.

"Rioters are rolling burning tyres and hurling firebombs and rocks at the security fence and at (Israeli) troops, who are responding with riot dispersal means and firing towards main instigators," it said.

Protesters were demanding hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled during the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948 be allowed to return.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya attended the protest, believed to be the first time he has gone so close to the border in years.

Hamas and Israel have fought three wars since 2008, the most recent of which in 2014 ended with a fragile truce.

Far smaller protests broke out in parts of the occupied West Bank.

On Friday evening, Gazan leaders called on protesters to retreat from the border area until Saturday, with the demonstration planned to last six weeks, until the inauguration of the new US embassy in Jerusalem around May 14.



Palestinians mourn

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas declared Saturday a day of national mourning.

In a later speech Friday he said he held Israel fully responsible for the deaths.

The upcoming embassy move has added to tensions surrounding the march.

US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December has infuriated Palestinians, who claim its annexed eastern sector as the capital of their future state.

The protest also began as Jewish Israelis were to mark the Passover holiday.

Israel announced a "closed military zone in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip," accusing its Islamist rulers Hamas of using the lives of civilians "for the purpose of terror".

It deployed reinforcements, including more than 100 special forces snipers, for fear of mass attempts to break through the security fence.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a tweet directed to Gazans in both Hebrew and Arabic that "Hamas's leadership is playing with your life".Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, on Saturday arrived in her Swat Valley hometown in Pakistan for the first time after she was shot in the head by Taliban militants for advocating girls education more than five years ago.



A teary eyed Malala said , "I have dreamed of returning to Pakistan for the past five years," according to Pakistani daily Dawn.

Amid tight security, she along with her parents arrived in Swat district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on a day-long visit, sources said.

She has been put up in Circuit House. The venue had been surrounded by the law enforcers.

She will be visiting her ancestral home in Makan Bagh in Mingora, her school besides inaugurating a girls school in Shangla district, the sources added.



plans to return to Pakistan permanently once her studies are completed, she told Pakistani media in Islamabad on Friday, the second day of her emotional trip back more than five years after being shot by Taliban gunmen.

Security has forced the Nobel laureate, whose arrival in the country dominated headlines and social media, to keep her itinerary tightly under wraps.

But in a televised interview with Pakistan's largest private broadcaster Geo TV the 20-year-old said that the country, which has long battled extremism, is "becoming better".

"Definitely, there is a difference" between the Pakistan of today and in 2012, when she was airlifted to a British hospital after being shot in the head by Taliban gunmen angered over her stance as an advocate for girls' education.

"Things are becoming better, people are uniting and a campaign for better Pakistan is ongoing, people are active which is very good."



The Oxford student, who has said that she wants to run for prime minister one day, added: "It is my plan to return to Pakistan after completion of my education, because it is my country and I have equal rights on it like any other Pakistani."



Her comments came after she broke down in tears as she delivered an emotional televised speech yesterday saying it was a "dream" to be back in the country after so many years.

Malala is widely respected internationally as a global icon for girls' education, but opinion is divided in Pakistan, where some conservatives view her as a Western agent on a mission to shame her country.

"Pakistan has not done well by its heroes," an editorial in the English-language Dawn newspaper on Malala's homecoming said Friday, noting that the country's other Nobel laureate -- physicist Abdus Salaam -- had been widely shunned for being a member of the persecuted Ahmadi minority.

With intense criticism among the many messages of welcome, even the people she is meeting have been kept in the dark about her presence.

Women's rights activist Nighat Dad said that she and a group of other feminists from across Pakistan who were gathered yesterday were not told they would be seeing Malala until the last moment.

The organiser, Oscar-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, only told them "It'll be the highlight of your year," Dad said -- adding that she had been right.

Malala became a global symbol for human rights after a gunman boarded her school van on October 9, 2012, asked "Who is Malala?" and shot her.

The Pakistani Taliban accused her of "anti-Islamic" activities and of "smearing" the militant group in statements released after the attack.

She was treated for her injuries in the British city of Birmingham, where she also completed her schooling.

The youngest-ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, she has continued to be a vocal advocate for girls' education while studying at Oxford University.

Swat, Malala's former home in Pakistan's rugged northwest, was overrun by the Taliban in 2007, where they imposed a brutal regime including banning girls from school.

They were pushed out in a military operation in 2009, but security has remained fragile, as the attack on Malala three years later demonstrated.

However in recent weeks authorities have lifted prohibitions against tourists visiting the mountainous region, famed for its beauty, as security improves.

Residents say Malala's story has changed the lives of other girls in the area.

"Parents are sending their girls to school so Malala has been successful in her aim," Swat resident Shahista Hakeem told AFP.

Many of those who live in the area were happy to hear of Malala's return to Pakistan, Hakeem said, adding: "We want that she should come to Swat also.North Korea will take part in the next two Olympic Games in Japan and China, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said on Saturday after meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang. Bach travelled to Pyongyang on Thursday in a visit that comes after North Koreas participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Games helped ease tensions over the Korean peninsula. Speaking to reporters at Beijing airport upon his return, Bach said North Korea will participate in the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. This commitment ...There is a police station in Uttar Pradesh where notorious history-sheeters come to sleep!

Yes, it is true. Hardcore criminals come daily at Sitapur district's Laharpur Kotwali police station to mark their attendance. Some even sleep at the police station premises.

Talking to ANI, Sitapur Superintendent of Police Anand Kulkarni said, "Criminals of Laharpur Kotwali have started marking their attendance at the police station. Some even stay there during the night and also help police in the investigation. They have pledged not to indulge in any crime and police also appreciates their reformation."

It is pertinent to mention here that these are the same criminals who used to kill anyone or loot anyone at their whims and fancies. They did not have mercy and were also not afraid of the police.

But, tables have turned since Yogi Adityanath has assumed the charge of Uttar Pradesh chief minister. Adityanath government has given police a 'free hand' to deal with the criminals.

The UP chief minister had said that police will have full freedom to deal with rising crime rates in the state and asked criminals to either surrender or leave the state.

According to official data released by Uttar Pradesh police, there were 1144 encounters from March 20, 2017, to January 31, 2018, in the state, in which 34 criminals were killed and 2744 were arrested. Four policemen were also killed and 247 were injured during these encounters which took place in Agra, Meerut, Lucknow, Allahabad, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, and Varanasi.

Meerut topped the list where 22 criminals were killed, 155 were injured, and 985 were arrested during 449 encounters.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least 23 militants, including two Islamic State (IS)militants, were killed in operations by Afghan security forces in the last 24 hours, according to Afghanistan's defence ministry.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a statement that the operations were conducted in Ghazni, Farah, Badghis, Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan, and Helmand provinces, while adding that 23 other militants were also injured.

During the operations, a local Taliban commander named Omari was also injured, the MoD was quoted by TOLOnews as saying.

Further, the statement said that eight clearance operations, 69 special operations, five airstrikes and 100 supportive air operations were conducted. Also, vehicles and weapons belonging to the militants were destroyed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The privacy of more hundreds of million people has been violated with yet another massive data breach in the world of

MyFitnessPal, a popular fitness tracking app which allows users to monitor calorie intake and exercise routine, is the injured party this time.

An American giant in sportswear manufacturing, Under Armour, revealed that on March 25, it discovered unauthorised access that exposed or compromised 150 million MyFitnessPal accounts, according to the Forbes.

The company released a statement notifying about the issue of breach of privacy. The statement confirmed the breach and data theft associated with MyFitnessPal user accounts. However, the statement did not confirm the number of accounts compromised.

Talking more about the matter, it clarified, "The affected information included usernames, email addresses, and hashed passwords - the majority with the hashing function called bcrypt used to secure passwords".

On taking further action, the statement pointed out that the necessary steps have been taken to determine the nature and scope of the issue. It insisted that the organisation is working with leading data security firms to assist in the investigation.

The statement further informed about the steps the organisation is taking to protect MyFitnessPal community - notifying users to provide information on how they can protect their data, requiring users to change their passwords immediately, monitoring and notifying for suspicious activity continuously,

MyFitnessPal urged its users to take the personal data theft very seriously and to stay alert. It further suggested, "Change your password for any other account on which you used the same or similar information used for your MyFitnessPal account".

"Review your accounts for suspicious activity and be cautious of any unsolicited communications that ask for your personal data or refer you to a web page asking for personal data", the statement further read.

It also suggested avoiding clicking on links or downloading attachments from suspicious emails.Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Babul Supriyo on Saturday blamed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the recent communal tension in the Asansol, saying that it was an outcome of her "appeasement politics".

"Processions are taken out in West Bengal for a long time. There was a feeling of competition between communities. This is the outcome of Mamata Banerjee's appeasement politics," the Asansol MP said while talking to media here.

Further attacking Banerjee for her governance, Supriyo said all was well until she became chief minister in 2011.

"I want you to ask her why all festivals of Bengal were celebrated in good gesture till 2011 and what [why] situation became tense after it," he said.

The Ram Navami celebrations on March 25 had turned sour after clashes erupted in various parts of Bengal leaving three dead and several injured.

On March 28, the Centre sought a report from the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government on incidents of arson and violence.

In addition, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had asserted that such behaviour was unacceptable in her state and that her government would strongly deal with each miscreant.

Following the continued violence, Section 144 was imposed in Asansol, on March 28.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A large number of exiled Baloch activists recently took to the streets of Berlin, Canada and the United Kingdom to observe Black Day and protested against Pakistan's forceful occupation of Balochistan.

The protesters chanted anti-Pakistan slogans and carried flags to commemorate what they say was the annexation of Balochistan in 1948 by Pakistan's armed forces.

Aziz Baloch, a Free Balochistan movement activist in Canada, said that Pakistan army has been conducting an internal displacement throughout Balochistan for many years. He further claimed that Islamabad has forcefully abducted 20,000 Baloch people till now.

"Even after seven decades of its forceful occupation, Pakistan has failed to provide even basic facilities such as primary education, healthcare and potable water to the people of the resource-rich province of Balochistan," he added.

Aziz further called the much-vouched China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a 'satanic coalition' between the two countries.

"The China- Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is constantly touted as the economic game changer by Islamabad administration has only added to the woes of the people of the region," said Aziz.

Further, President of the Canada-based Baloch Women's Forum Professor Naela Quadri Baloch said, "Pakistan has sold Balochistan to China."

"The Chinese Navy and other forces are coming to Balochistan because Pakistan is no more able to keep us, slaves," Naela Quadri said.

The Baloch activists have been trying to voice their concerns at multiple international platforms, including the United Nations.

Recently, at the 37th session of the Human Rights Council, activists raised the issue of enforced disappearances, torture and killings of several Baloch activists and intellectuals.

A Pakistan journalist, named Taha Siddiqui, said that the Islamabad government has been neglecting the instances of abduction of the Baloch natives for many years.

"There is a camp for missing Baloch persons outside the Islamabad Press Club that is going on for many years now. And, it does not get any coverage in local media. There are women and children sitting with photos of their loved ones who have been missing for months, years and even at times for decades. And, there is no end to their misery," Siddiqui said.

Siddiqui, in a March 28 interview, had informed that March 27 is observed as 'Black Day' as on that day Pakistan attacked the province in 1948 and illegally occupied it with internationally recognised borders and a legal system of governance.

A large number of people in Balochistan are internally displaced whereas many have taken exile in other countries. The situation is deteriorating as the Pakistan army and its intelligence agency are on a rampage to eliminate the identity of indigenous Baloch people.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Posted 3/31/18

The Ozarks Area Community Action Corp. has two programs that help students understand real-life situations and to help them explore several careers.REALLSeveral students in the Dallas County R-1 In order to restore peace in Bihar, authorities on Saturday took out 'Sadbhavna March' in Munger district after clashes took place between two communities in the city.

During the peace march that took place at 9 am, people held banners and placards conveying messages of communal harmony and brotherhood.

The authorities also sought cooperation from people in helping police identify anti-social elements in connection with the clashes.

Recently, tension gripped Bihar after communal violence hit in several parts of the state, including Bhagalpur, Aurangabad and Nawada.

However, the situation was brought under control after consistent efforts by the security forces following their deployment.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday attached properties worth Rs 4.53 crore of Baccha Rai, the main accused in 2016 Bihar Topper Scam.

The action has been taken under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), after a money laundering case was registered against the kingpin.

Rai, who is the Secretary-cum Principal of Vishun Roy College in Vaishali district of Bihar, is accused of manipulating the results of students for money, through his contacts in Bihar School Board (BSEB).

The scam came to light on May 31, 2016, when BSEB Arts and Humanities topper Ruby Rai, Science topper Saurabh Shrestha and third topper in Science stream Rahul Kumar were interviewed by television channels and they were unable to answer to basic questions.

Soon, an investigation began in the matter, following which the ED registered a case last year on the basis of Bihar Police FIR and the investigation of the Special Investigation Team (SIT).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Central Government has filed a clarification petition before the Supreme Court and pleaded to clarify that whether it can modify the composition of Cauvery Management Board (CMB)

The Centre has also sought more time to form the CMB.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, representing the Centre made the submission before apex court while mentioning the Centre's application for modification of the apex court's order that directed the constitution of the CMB.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Government filed a contempt petition against the Centre after it failed to constitute the CMB within the top court's six-week deadline that ended on March 29.

"Tamil Nadu government had filed a contempt petition against the Centre in Cauvery water issue, lawyer, connected to the case," advocate for Tamil Nadu Government, Uma Pati told ANI.

The state government said that it is going to mention the matter before the apex court on Monday.

On 16 February, the apex court asked the Centre to form the CMB to implement a formula for sharing of water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

In the ruling, the top court reduced Tamil Nadu's share in the Cauvery water to 177.25 thousand million cubic feet.Three people involved in the CBSE paper leak case have been arrested along with nine juveniles, who have been detained, in Jharkhand, police said here on Saturday.

The Jharkhand police said the investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) was still underway.

"Three people have been arrested under provisions of IPC. Nine who are underage have been detained under Juvenile Act. Probe by our SIT is still underway," said Chatra Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Warrior.

Six other students were also detained by the police on March 30 for questioning in connection with the case.

The papers of the Economics exam of class XII, held on March 26 and Maths exam of class X, held on March 28 were leaked on social media hours before the examination.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)AIADMK MP Navaneethakrishnan's threat of committing suicide over delay in formation Cauvery Management Board (CMB) became a subject of jeer for a supporter of sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, who offered him poison and a noose, on Saturday.

"Navaneethakrishnan announced in Parliament that he will commit suicide but he did not do it, now I offer him this poison and rope to hang himself with, as he failed to do what he said," Dhinakaran supporter Pugalendhi said at a press conference, while displaying a poison and a noose.

Pugalendhi further "Now, as a strong leader like Amma (J Jayalalithaa) is no more, neighbouring Karnataka is happy, therefore I urge all Tamil Nadu MPs to resign from the Parliament," Pugalendhi further said.

On February 16, the apex court asked the Centre to form the CMB to implement a formula for sharing of Cauvery water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. In the ruling, the top court reduced Tamil Nadu's share in the Cauvery water to 177.25 thousand million cubic feet

However, the Centre failed to set the CMB by March 29, following which Navaneethakrishnan threatened that he will commit suicide.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Amid controversy brewing post the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) paper leak, Minister of State (MoS) for Human Resource Development (HRD) Satyapal Singh asserted that should not be politicised.

" is not something that should be politicised, as it is a necessity for everyone. Indulging in politics over this will not help spur the development of this country," Singh told reporters here.

For the unversed, the papers of class XII Economics held on March 26, and class X Maths, held on March 28, were leaked on social media hours before the examination. Ever since, scores of students have taken to mass-protesting to express their dissatisfaction over poor governance and the CBSE's re-examination decision.

However, the Congress Party termed the paper leak as the government's failure and demanded the removal of Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar and the chairperson of the CBSE.

On Thursday, Congress President Rahul Gandhi accused the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for destroying the institutions.

"The exam leaks destroy the hopes and futures of millions of students. The Congress always protected our institutions. This is what happens when institutions are destroyed by the RSS/BJP. Believe me, when I say, this is only the beginning," he tweeted.

On a related note, the re-examination of the Economics paper for Class XII students will be held on 25 April.

For Class X, a re-exam, if need, will be conducted only in Delhi and Haryana in July as the paper leak was confined to this region.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russia has ordered 50 more British diplomats to leave the country, escalating a diplomatic crisis after a former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a military grade nerve agent on British soil.

Russia on Saturday blamed Britain for hampering its diplomatic ties with all the countries, as per media sources.

Earlier on Friday, Russia summoned British Ambassador Laurie Bristow to give a one-month deadline to the United Kingdom to withdraw its diplomatic contingent from Moscow to the same size as done with the Russian diplomats in Britain.

It comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin expelled 23 diplomats on March 18 - taking the total number of British diplomats expelled from the country to more than 70. This order came days after UK Prime Minister Theresa May expelled the same number of Russian diplomats from Britain.

Moreover, Russia expelled 59 diplomats from 23 countries on Friday. Ambassadors from several European and Western nations were summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry to tell them how many of their officials were to leave Moscow.

The move by Moscow was a tit-for-tat response to the similar actions taken by the countries such as the United States.

Last week, the UK had suspended 21 Russian diplomats back to Moscow, claiming that Russia was "highly responsible" for the poisoning attack.

According to the British government, Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter were exposed to a military-grade nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury on March 4. The father-daughter duo has since been hospitalised in a critical condition.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bollywood actor-filmmaker-musician, Farhan Akhtar, has lent his voice to Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu for his upcoming film, 'Bharat Ane Nenu'.

The Telugu song features the lead pair of the film, Mahesh Babu and Kiaara Advani, under the music direction of Devi Shri Prasad.

The song is titled, 'I don't know', and marks Farhan's debut single in Telugu language.

The duo reminds of the throwback when Mahesh Babu crooned in Telugu for Farhan's MARD initiative, which aims to raise social awareness against rape and discrimination against women.

The 42-year-old Telugu star thanked the 'Rock On' actor on his social media and wrote, "Thank you, @FarOutAkthar ?? Simply loving it!! Welcome to the Telugu Film Industry ????".

The song is an introduction sequence of Mahesh's character in the film and is fast and catchy. 'Bharat Ane Nenu's teaser is the second most liked teaser in the world.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An FIR has been registered against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Pralhad Joshi for comparing Sadarsofa area of Hubbali with Pakistan, according to police.

The remark was made by Joshi while during his visit to slain Gurusiddappa Ambiger's residence in the district.

A group of Muslims staged a protest on Friday evening in Karnataka following Joshi's speech which led to action against the BJP MP for his derogatory remarks.

Joshi had said that many mosques in West Bengal have illegally stored weapons.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific has decided to cease its skirts-only policy that's existent since the airline's founding in 1946 and let its female flight attendants figure out what they wish to wear.

The news sees light of the day post Cathay Dragon reached an "understanding" with employees which would permit all uniformed staff to choose between wearing trousers and skirts, reported the South China Morning Post.

The current uniform for female cabin crew is an above-the-knee skirt "with two slits at the back, black stockings, and black heels", which invites sexual harassment both on board planes and off.

According to the report, some 2,500 female Cathay Pacific cabin crew were in favour of wearing trousers. Cathay Pacific has about 7,000 female attendants out of a total cohort of 10,000.

The change in the 71-year-old policy has been accepted well enough and people have taken to Twitter to express it.

"Good move for #genderequality by @cathaypacific as they end skirts-only rule for female staff. I think they could roll this out sooner than 3 years but it's a start. It's not 1946 anymore," a Twitter user wrote.

"This is really welcome news..although would take 3 years to come into effect!

Cathay Pacific ends skirts-only rule for female staff," tweeted Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW).

However, condemning the required time slot, a user wrote, "3 years to swap out? They could easily make a point of rushing it through or at very least allow women to buy their own trousers in the interim.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Posted 3/31/18

The 21st Century Community Learning Centers program supports the creation of community learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities during nonschool hours for children. The program Minister of State for Culture Mahesh Sharma and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary Ram Madhav on Saturday attended 'Thank You India' event in Dharamshala, organised to mark 60 years of The Dalai Lama's exile.

The year-long event has been planned by Central Tibet Administration.

This comes after Centre recently issued advisory asking leaders and government functionaries to avoid attending functions organised by Tibetans living in India in exile.

The decision was taken in a bid to restore peace between India and China

The Dalai Lama has been living here in exile since 1959.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nobel laureate and prominent Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai on Saturday arrived at her hometown Mingora in Pakistan's Swat Valley after a gap of six years under heavy security.

It was an emotional homecoming for the 20-year-old as this was the place where the Taliban militants had shot Malala in her head for advocating girl's education in Pakistan while she was returning from school in 2012, Pakistan's Samaa TV reported.

The shooting drew widespread international condemnation.

The Taliban had later issued a statement saying that if Malala had survived the attack, then she would be targeted again.

The same year, she left Pakistan after surviving this assassination attempt. She now stays with her family in Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

Malala arrived in Mingora by helicopter and had visited her house, where she burst into tears.

Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai and other members of the family are accompanying the Nobel laureate on the trip.

During the day-long trip, Malala will visit her school and meet some dignitaries at Circuit House in the city.

Tight security arrangements are in place in and around Malala's old family house and school. Also, roads leading to these places have been closed for traffic.

On Friday, Malala said she planned to return to Pakistan, once she completed her studies in the UK, adding that she wanted to continue advocating girl's education in Pakistan.

On Thursday, while addressing at the Pakistan Prime Minister's Office in Islamabad, Malala broke down in tears, while recalling that how much she had missed Pakistan ever since shifting abroad for treatment and education.

Malala and her family arrived in Pakistan late on Wednesday after spending about six years in the UK.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday appealed to the Kashmiri Pandits to visit the Valley.

"Kashmiri Pandits should visit Kashmir, their younger generations should see where their roots really lie. We will make all arrangements. Whatever has happened in the past is unfortunate but now we will have to move forward," the Chief Minister said at an interactive session with the Kashmiri Pandits in Delhi.

Mufti also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take a leaf out of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's book and initiate a dialogue with Pakistan.

"I urge Prime Minister Modi to talk to Pakistan just like Vajpayee ji did. Neither are we nor is Pakistan in a condition to fight a war, both countries know now that if there will be a war, nothing will be spared. Both the nations will just lose everything," Mufti added.

At the same event, a man from the crowd stood up and questioned Mufti on relief for the Kashmiri Pandits.

The Kashmiri Pandits began to leave the Valley in greater numbers in the 1990s during the eruption of militancy, following persecution and threats by radical Islamists and militants.

In 2010, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir noted that 808 Pandit families were still living in the Valley and that the financial and other incentives put in place to encourage others to return there had been unsuccessful. According to a Jammu and Kashmir Government report, 219 members of the community had been killed in the region between 1989 and 2004 but none thereafter.

However, in July 2017, the Supreme Court refused to reopen 215 cases in which over 700 members of the Kashmiri Pandit community were killed in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989, citing the passage of time.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Minister of State for Corporate Affairs and Law and Justice P.P. Chaudhary embarked on an official visit to Marrakech, Morrocco, for the first International Justice Conference.

The conference is being organised by parliamentary constitutional monarchy Morrocco in celebration of the judicial reforms undertaken by it in 2017.

According to reports, a total of 73 delegations from as many countries and 30 ministers are expected to participate in the conference.

India is also expected to sign MoUs with China, Russia, Qatar and Turkey in connection with judicial reforms.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Residents of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) continue to protest against the Pakistan Army and the government, forcing the latter to stop cross border firing.

The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and other political parties jointly held a protest rally from Tetri Mor to Mazarpur.

The police carried out a baton charge and opened fire on the protesters. In retaliation, the locals attacked army posts and set them on fire.

In Muzaffarabad, the inhabitants carried out a protest against police and army brutality.

"Pakistan's intelligence agencies are forcing an action committee at the ceasefire line to not hold any protest against the exchange of mortar shells. They are putting pressure on them which resulted in a baton charge by the police on peaceful protesters. It is unfortunate that the locals are being used as human shields. They are using their homes to fire gunshots and mortar shells across the border. The return fire comes directly to these houses, resulting in heavy casualties," PoK activist Mir Afzal Suleria said.

"For the past 70 years, the army claims to be here for our protection, but why are they using us as shields to carry out attacks. It shows that the government is deliberately wanting people to die so that they get a chance to promote their propaganda. We condemn it and nationalists in PoK are united in launching a protest against the Pakistan and PoK governments," he added.

The protesters blamed the federal government and Prime Minister of PoK, Raja Farooq Haider for ceasefire violations and deliberately provoking India for cross firing.

They also blamed the Pakistan Army for using civilians as human shields.

"I want to ask Raja Farooq Haider, has the Pakistan Army been able to take an inch of land from India? No, they have not taken. And, in future also, they will not be able to take an inch of land. Farooq Haider wishes India to do firing on civilians so that he can get a chance to do propaganda. We regret his line of thinking," Afzal said.

On March 16, similar protests were held in the Poonch area of PoK, in which two political activists were killed in police firing and many were seriously injured.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Policybazaar.com, India's largest insurance website and comparison portal, is planning to foray into the healthcare technology and services space.

The new platform will provide consumers with easy, online and free access to PolicyBazaar's empanelled top-notch doctors and medical consultants.

To begin with, the company intends to partner with 100 hospitals and 20,000 doctors, diagnostic centres, and clinics by the end of March 2019.

The healthcare vertical also plans to offer a huge array of healthcare services, which includes in-hospital concierge services for its health insurance customers.

By doing this, Policybazaar.com wants to be with its customers at the moment of truth, which is at the time of claims.

"Our foray into the healthcare services space is in sync with the vision of expanding the social security net of India. With this venture, we seek to fulfill the need of providing quality and affordable healthcare of the burgeoning population at large by connecting the consumers with our in-house medical practitioners. The new portal will facilitate the creation of an inclusive healthcare system, which will eventually offer customized options for in-patient department insurance based on detailed analysis undertaken after studying consumer healthcare habits and patient's interactions with the doctors," said co-founder and CEO, Policybazaar.com, Yashish Dahiya.

In the long run, PolicyBazaar.com wants to offer its customers a better and personalised claim and in-hospital experience.

Policybazaar is also going to work with insurers to create a new category of health insurance for Out-patient expenses (OPD) and provide free online medical consultation to consumers over phone and chat.

Policybazaar.com is in discussions with insurance companies to offer a first of its kind OPD insurance product.

The company aims to offer 5 million OPD consultations by next FY.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The police on Friday registered a case against an unidentified woman for allegedly throwing acid on a one-month-old baby here in Sawai Madhopur.

The woman, a native of Vinoba Basti, had allegedly thrown acid on the baby as part of traditional pneumonia treatment.

One-month-old Priyanshu, who was suffering from pneumonia, was taken by his relatives to Vinoba Basti on March 26 for treatment. However, a duplicate doctor there, as part of treatment, used chemical on the child, which left burn marks on his chest and feet.

After returning from Vinoba Basti, the child's health began deteriorating, after which he was taken to a hospital in the vicinity for medical examination. Doctors who examined the child then spotted burn marks caused due to the chemical and subsequently got a case registered at the Kotwali police station against the unidentified lady. They also got the infant admitted for treatment.

District Collector K.C. Verma, who visited the hospital in which the child is undergoing treatment, assured that strict action would be taken against the accused. He also urged individuals to avoid getting trapped in blind faith, particularly in terms of medical illnesses.

Meanwhile, the police are interrogating the woman who was arrested.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russia will expel four French diplomats in the aftermath of poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal at his home in Britain's Salisbury.

"Russia's decision to expel four French embassy staff from Russia does not surprise us. We regret this and want to point out that to this day that Russia has refused to give any explanation about the attack in Salisbury," France 24 reported, citing the French foreign ministry, as saying, in a statement.

France on Monday expelled four Russian diplomats as a part of solidarity with Britain over the spy row.

Retired military intelligence officer Skripal, 66, and his daughter, Yulia, 33, were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury city centre on March 4.

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday told UK Parliament that 23 countries had expelled more than 115 Russian intelligence diplomats, which "represents an unprecedented series of expulsions that demonstrates to the Kremlin that we will not tolerate their attempts to flout international law, undermine our values or threaten our security".

Only a handful of EU countries including Austria, Portugal, Greece and Malta, have declined to take any step.

Many other countries have expelled one or two diplomats, a move designed to register support for the UK.

Russia on Thursday said that it will expel 60 US diplomats and close the American consulates in St Petersburg.

The Foreign Minister said Russia would not only provide a mirror response to the West's steps but even "more than that".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russia on Friday expelled 59 diplomats from 23 countries in the aftermath of poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal at his home in Salisbury in the United Kingdom earlier this month.

The move by Moscow is a tit-for-tat response to the similar actions taken by countries such as the United States over the poisoning of the former Russian military intelligence officer.

"The diplomats were handed notes of protest and told that a corresponding number of diplomats of their countries working in Russia were declared "personae non gratae" in response to their unjustified expulsion of Russian diplomatic personnel based on Britain's unproven accusations against Russia related to the so-called "Skripal case", the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

According to media reports, 13 diplomats from Ukraine were expelled, while four each from Canada, Poland, Germany and three each from Lithuania, Czech Republic and Moldova were sent back to their respective countries.

Two diplomats each from Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Denmark were also sent back.

Furthermore, one diplomat from Finland, Latvia, Sweden, Romania, Norway, Ireland, Croatia and Estonia were expelled by Russia.

Moscow has also ordered the expulsion of four French diplomats over the same.

The Russian foreign ministry added that taking into account the fact that Belgium, Hungary, Georgia and Montenegro decided to join the listed countries at the last moment, Russia "reserves the right to respond" to these countries.

Moscow on Thursday said that it will expel 60 US diplomats and close the American consulates in St. Petersburg.

According to the British government, Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were on March 4 exposed to a military-grade nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury. The father-daughter duo has since then been hospitalised in a critical condition.

Last week, the UK suspended 21 Russian diplomats back to Moscow claiming that Russia was "highly responsible" for the poisoning attack.

British Prime Minister Theresa May also called the incident "a brazen attempt to murder innocent civilians on our soil" and accused Russia of carrying out the attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Veteran Bollywood actress Sridevi was accorded full state honour under the instructions of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, an RTI query has revealed.

An RTI activist, Anil Galgali, had filed an RTI seeking details of full state honours granted for the cremation of the Bollywood actress and also who has the powers of granting. The RTI was filed under the RTI Act 2005 from the Protocol department of the Maharashtra Government.

In a reply, the Protocol department informed that the granting of the full state honours for cremation is under the powers of the Chief Minister, who also heads the General Administration Department, under which the Protocol department comes.

It was also clarified that the power to grant full state honours for cremation of any person is under the discretionary powers of the Chief Minister and is not dependent on being a Padma Shri awardee.

"A verbal order in regards to the state honours provided to noted actress late Amma Yangar Ayyappan alias Sridevi was received from the Chief Minister's Office on February, 25, and the same was conveyed to the Mumbai Suburban Collector and the Mumbai Police Commissioner by a Government order, dated February 26, 2018, to do the needful," the RTI reply read.

Sridevi's funeral with state honours has raised many brows. Few days back, even Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, criticised the Maharashtra government for according state funeral to the actress.

Sridevi passed away on late night on February 24 in Dubai, where she went to attend a family wedding.

The cremation ceremony took place at Vile Parle's Seva Samaj Crematorium and Hindu Cemetery on February 28, in Mumbai with full state honours.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Stephon Clark, an American black man who was shot dead last week after two law enforcement officers misunderstood him as an accused of breaking car windows in California, was shot eight times in his back, according to an independent autopsy.

The postmortem report, commissioned by Clark's family and conducted by an American private medical examiner Dr. Bennet Omalu showed that the 22-year-old was shot three times in his lower back, twice near his shoulder and once each in his neck and under the armpit. He was also shot in the leg by the two Sacramento policemen in California, The New York Times reported.

Explaining the findings, Dr. Omalu said that the seven shots could have had a fatal capacity. Owing to the gunshots, Clark's vertebrae were found to be severely damaged, coupled with a collapsed lung and an arm broken into "tiny bits."

"He was shot from the back," Dr. Omalu said Friday at a news conference. Standing next to diagrams of the findings, he said that seven of the shots could have had a "fatal capacity." He described severe damage to Clark's body, including shattered vertebrae, a collapsed lung and an arm broken into "tiny bits."

Meanwhile, the Sacramento Police have said that they are yet to see the autopsy report and did not comment on it, adding it was "inappropriate" since the investigation was on.

"We acknowledge the importance of this case to all in our community," the police said in a statement.

Clark's family members have accused the Sacramento Police Department of trying to cover up misconduct by its officers and had decided to conduct its own autopsy instead.

Dr. Omalu said that Clark lived for around three to ten minutes as per the postmortem report. Medical assistance did not arrive until about six minutes after the gunfire ended.

In its initial account, the Sacramento Police Department said," Mr. Clark had advanced toward the officers while holding what they believed to be a firearm."

In a body camera footage provided by the police, it is not clear which direction the 22-year-old was facing. However, Clark's family's lawyer, Benjamin Crump, said the independent autopsy "contradicted the assertion by the police that he was a threat."

Crump said the autopsy report proved that Clark could not have been moving toward the officers "in a threatening fashion when they opened fire."

"These findings from the independent autopsy contradict the police narrative that we've been told. This independent autopsy affirms that Stephon (Clark) was not a threat to police and was slain in another senseless police killing under increasingly questionable circumstances," Crump said.

On March 18, two police officers were dispatched to the Meadowview neighborhood in South Sacramento on reports that a man was breaking car windows. A county sheriff's department helicopter also joined the search and at one point told the officers that a suspect had picked up a crowbar.

The officers eventually spotted Clark, who appeared to have run from them into his grandmother's backyard.

According to the body camera video, an officer was heard shouting the word "gun" repeatedly and opening fire almost immediately without any weapon. No weapon was found Clark's body and only his mobile phone was recovered from his possession.

After other officers arrived, the two officers involved in the shooting muted the audio on their body cameras as they discussed what had happened, which has also drawn criticism amongst the public.

After the shooting ended, a visibly bleeding Clark was gasping for breath when the two officers approached him.

"We need to know if you're okay," an officer yelled about three minutes after the gunfire ended. "We need to get you medics but we can't go over to get you help unless we know you don't have a weapon," he added.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Sacramento, the capital of California, demanding strict action against the two law enforcement officers.

More protests over the fatal shooting are planned on Saturday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Strategic areas of East of Arunachal are reeling under poor infrastructure, as the only lifeline for the people and military in these areas is the single lane and poor roads of about 200 km.

Lohit River cuts the area into east and west bank, which is connected via foot suspension bridges at many places apart from three vehicular bridges at average distances of 70 to 80 kms.

The other means of link are foot suspension bridges which are fit for one person or maximum at places for four people with loads.

The bridges may be helpful for people but restrict fast movement of military and defence related load.

Rajeev, Commander, 48 Border Roads Task Force said that the army is helping to construct and maintain bridges and roads in the area.

"With a team of around 2, 000 people including officers, Junior commissioned officers, pioneers and jawans, we plan, construct and maintain bridges and roads. We also see the maintenance of roads and bridges that are already constructed. Our aim is to keep roads here open 24x7 to keep our logistics going. Harsh weather is a problem but we are working and won't stop until targets are met," he told ANI.

He further said that the BRTF will take good care of the sector and will not sit down till their targets are accomplished.

The BRTF commander said that they are currently working on 12 bridges while four new bridges would be constructed soon.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)United States President Donald Trump has ordered the State Department to freeze 200 million dollars in recovery funds for Syria this week.

Trump has asked for more information on how the money is being used, reported CNN. The move signals the US President's growing skepticism over its country's involvement in the war-torn country.

The decision is in line with Trump's declaration on Thursday that America would exit Syria "very soon" and "let the other people take care of it now".

Trump ordered the freeze after reading a news report noting that the US had recently committed an additional 200 million dollars, reported the Wall Street Journal.

The funding was to be used for basic infrastructure projects, such as restoring power and water and rebuilding roads.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced the funding in February at an aid conference in Kuwait.

According to the reports, the hold on the aid isn't necessarily permanent.

As per the officials, this will be dwelled upon at senior-level interagency meetings this week, including a National Security Council meeting, to address the status of the anti-ISIS campaign.

Trump has appeared increasingly eager for an early US exit from Syria.

"By the way, we're knocking the hell out of ISIS. We'll be coming out of Syria like very soon. Let the other people take care of it now," Trump told a crowd in Ohio during a speech on infrastructure spending on Thursday.

"We are going to have 100 percent of the caliphate, as they call it, sometimes referred to as land ... But we are going to be coming out of there real soon. We are going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be," the US President added.

About 2,000 US troops deployed to Syria have been working alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces, reclaiming territory from IS to include the city of Raqqa.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russia has accused the United Kingdom (UK) of searching its plane belonging to Aeroflot at London-based Heathrow Airport.

According to Russia's Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Maria Zakharova the British authorities did not state a reason for the alleged search, which she branded as "the latest provocation," reported Sky News.

The Russian embassy in Britain, in a statement said,"Border Force and Customs officers have searched the aircraft that was conducting the Aeroflot flights 2582 / 2583, Moscow - London - Moscow. This kind of event is extraordinary."

The UK has denied such allegations.

"We are aware of a story circulating on social media. Please be advised that Metropolitan Police are not conducting a search of an Airbus inbound from Moscow at Heathrow," The Metropolitan Police tweeted.

This comes when the bilateral relationship between both India and UK has strained over the spy row.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Self styled leaders of the Sikh community in Britain will join hands with Kashmiri separatists next month to protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to attend the Commonwealth Summit in London and Windsor next month.

These self-styled Sikh leaders are said to have links with Pakistan-based militants, including the Wadhwa Singh of Babbar Khalsa International. These UK-based Sikhs met at a gurudwara in London recently to plot their anti-India strategy.

These self styled Sikh leaders are said to be getting their instructions from Pakistan based Sikh militants, whose sole objective is to conduct acts of terror against the Indian State. They are a very small and discredited bunch here in London and have no following in any of the Gurudwaras. They work at the behest of the Pakistan Government and have been aptly described as stooges by fellow Sikhs.

These separatists have time and again raised the issue of Khalistan at the international platform, knowing well that it is a non issue.

They have been planning to hold anti-India protests outside the venue of Commonwealth Summit on April 18.

Heads of 53 Commonwealth nations, including Indian Prime Minister Modi, will attend the Summit from April 16-20 in London and Windsor.

As per Government Whips' Office, House of Lords website, Member of Parliament Lord Nazir Ahmed is also planning to raise a question on Kashmir and Punjab in the House of Lords on April 16.

The question stated on the website says, "Lord Ahmed to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to encourage the government of India to withdraw its formal reservations against the right of self determination so that the conflicts in Indian-controlled Kashmir, Punjab and other territories in the north east of the Indian sub-continent can move towards a peaceful resolution in a democratic manner, underpinned by international law."

The Pakistani-origin British MP, who is also president of the all-Party Parliamentary group on Kashmir, is known to be working on anti-India campaign in the UK Parliament including support to the discredited self styled Sikh leaders who pursue an Anti India agenda.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In the wake of an alleged case of a paper leak in the examination to recruit junior engineers to the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL), the latter invalidated all recruitment examinations held in 2018.

The announcement follows the detection of irregularities in the online recruitment exams by the UP Special Task Force (STF).

Along with the invalidation of exams, Aptech, a private firm which conducted the examination, was black-listed, while two officials of the Electric service commission were suspended following the abnormality.

For the unversed, the recruitment exam to the UPPCL was conducted on February 11 and results were to be announced on February 20. However, a copy of the answer-key of the examination was reportedly circulated on social media a day before the exam. Furthermore, a few candidates who appeared for this exam alleged that a section of their fellow candidates had access to the question paper before the exam began.

Following this, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered an STF probe into the matter, after which a four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted.

Meanwhile, the state Chief Secretary (Energy) assured that the miscreants will be punished by the law, adding that officials of the UPPCL will be interrogated.

.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs General (Retd) V.K. Singh said that the legal procedures of obtaining the mortal remains of the 39 Indians killed in Iraq has been completed and New Delhi was waiting for Baghdad to give the green signal.

"As soon as we get a nod from Baghdad ambassador, we will leave with a C-17 plane to bring back the mortal remains with due honours. We will handover the mortal remains to their families." They will not have to come to the airport," General Singh told ANI.

"After visiting Baghdad to retrieve the bodies, we will then fly to Amritsar, where we will hand over the bodies of 27 people from Punjab and four bodies from Himachal Pradesh to the families there. Then, we will go to Kolkata to handover the two bodies there. And in Patna, we will hand over the remaining bodies," he explained.

General Singh is scheduled to leave Iraq to retrieve the bodies of 39 Indians there on April 1.

On March 20, External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj informed the Rajya Sabha members in the Parliament that the 39 Indian nationals, who went missing in Mosul in 2014, were killed by the terror outfit Islamic State (IS).

The 39 persons, most of whom hailed from Punjab, were working on projects near Mosul when they were kidnapped.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Minister for Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Saturday hit out at Congress President Rahul Gandhi over his statement that his party's foundation was based on compassion and mutual brotherhood.

Taking a jibe at the Congress President, the Union Minister said that he was fooling people by talking about "love" as the country saw the "brotherhood" of the Congress party during the 1984 riots when thousands of innocent Sikhs were massacred.

According to official records, about 2,800 Sikhs were killed across India, including 2,100 in Delhi, during the pogrom that broke out after the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards.

Badal took to Twitter to say, "The country saw the 'love' and 'brotherhood' of the Congress in October and November 1984 when thousands of innocent Sikhs were massacred. Congress talking about '?????' and '???? ???????'.looks like someone is celebrating April Fools Day already!"

This comes just hours after Rahul Gandhi weighed in on the ongoing tension in Asansol.

In his tweet, he claimed that the foundation of the Congress party was based on compassion and mutual brotherhood. He also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) of spreading hatred.

The Ram Navami celebrations on March 25 had turned sour after clashes erupted in various parts of Bengal leaving three dead and several injured.

Following the continued violence, Section 144 was imposed in Asansol, on March 28.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The character Thea Queen essayed by Willa Holland in the hit sitcom "Arrow" has officially quit the show.

Holland has been part of the show since its inception 7 seasons back in 2012, but has now departed as her contract has ended, reports ew.com.

During season 5, executive producer Marc Guggenheim told the press that the actress was only contracted for 14 of the 23 episodes, leading to a reduced amount of screen time for the character.

The show tried to work around a similar situation in the latest season by having Thea be in a coma for the first run of episodes. Holland has appeared in 10 episodes this seventh season.

--IANS

ks/nv/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Bihar court on Saturday rejected the bail plea of Union Minister Ashwini Choubey's son Arijit Shashwat, accused of inciting communal violence in the state's Bhagalpur district, a government lawyer said.

After hearing both sides, the Bhagalpur district court declined to grant bail to Shashwat.

Last week, a case was lodged against Shashwat -- a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader -- on charges of taking out a procession without prior permission, inciting communal sentiments and roaming with arms on the streets of Bhagalpur.

Shashwat, who has been evading arrest, had moved the bail plea in the civil court, following which the court on Tuesday sought the case diary from the police to ascertain his role in the communal flare-up on March 17.

Afther that, acting on an application from the district police, the court issued an arrest warrant against Shashwat.

Choubey has already described FIR as "a piece of garbage" that was registered by "corrupt police officers in Bhagalpur".

Shashwat unsuccessfully contested the last assembly polls as the BJP candidate from Bhagalpur, considered a stronghold of Choubey, who was elected MP from Buxar in 2014.

--IANS

ik/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Russian plane was searched by the British authorities at London's Heathrow airport without citing any reasons, Russian officials said.

The British authorities conducted the search on the Aeroflot plane on Friday after compelling the crew to leave the aircraft, the officials were cited as saying by TASS news agency.

"The British side provided no grounds for a plane search. It was decided that after the British side finishes the search, the plane will be additionally examined by the crew and the company's office employees. The British side compelled the crew to leave the plane during the search," an Aeroflot official told the news agency.

The Russian Embassy in Britain said in a statement: "Border Force and Customs officers have searched the aircraft that was conducting the Aeroflot flights 2582/2583, Moscow --London-- Moscow. This kind of event is extraordinary."

Russia's relations with the UK strained following the alleged poisoning of former Russian double spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia on British soil. Skripal had been convicted in Russia of spying for the UK and was later swapped for Russian intelligence officers.

On March 4, Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious on a bench near a shopping centre in Salisbury. Police said they had allegedly been exposed to a nerve agent. Skripal was still in critical condition in hospital while his daughter was out of danger.

Britain blamed Russia for the poisoning attack but Moscow denied any responsibility for it. The UK then expelled 23 Russian diplomats and announced other restrictive measures against Moscow.

In response, Moscow expelled a similar number of British diplomats from Russia and ordered the closing of the British Consulate-General in St. Petersburg. It also ordered the shutting of the British Council's offices in Russia.

So far, some 150 Russians have been expelled by mainly Western countries in solidarity with the UK. Meanwhile, Russia on Friday called in a string of foreign ambassadors with news that their own countries' measures were being matched.

--IANS

and-soni/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tamil Nadu on Saturday approached the Supreme Court seeking contempt action against the Centre for "willful disobedience" in carrying out the mandate of the apex court on constituting the Cauvery Management Board for which the six-week deadline expired on Friday.

The application filed by Tamil Nadu also wanted the court to direct the Centre to purge the contempt forthwith by framing a scheme in accordance with the February 16 judgment of the apex court by providing for Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee vested with all powers to give effect to the decision of the tribunal as well as the judgment of the top court.

"Initiate contempt proceedings against respondents (the central government) for willful disobedience in carrying out clear mandate set out in para 403 of the judgment passed by the honourable court dated 16-02-2018 in civil appeal number 2453 of 2007 and connected appeals," the Tamil Nadu application said.

The petition contended that the Centre was bound to give effect to the judgment by framing a scheme so that the board and the regulation panel are put in place within six weeks and the decision of the tribunal as modified by the apex court is implemented in accordance with the time schedule prescribed in that.

"It (Centre) has not taken any concrete steps in this regard. Belatedly after a period of three weeks, the Central government convened a meeting of the Chief Secretaries of the party states on March 9."

The Tamil Nadu petition said convening of the meeting did not make in any way any substantial progress in the matter of the constitution of the board and the panel.

The state maintained that in the meeting it submitted that the court's mandate was to constitute the two authorities in terms of the final order of the tribunal in 2007 and the central government was bound to frame a scheme providing for the board and the panel.

Referring to the apex court order that the Scheme shall be framed by the Centre within a period of six weeks and that there will be no extension of time, Tamil Nadu said that the deadline expired on March 30.

However, till date the central government has not complied with the judgment and failed to constitute the scheme.

"In the absence of any cogent reasons for not constituting Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee within the time frame and not making any substantial steps in that direction amounts to willful disobedience of the court."

The state said it was in this circumstances that it was constrained to approach the court seeking justice in the wake of suffering farmers and people of the state who have been pursuing lawful and constitutional remedies.

--IANS

sar-vsc/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In a bid to buy time, the Central government on Saturday moved the Supreme Court asking for a clarification whether a Cauvery Management Board should be constituted under its verdict of the last month and sought extension of three months for implementing the judgment in view of the May assembly elections in Karnataka.

The Centre felt that constitution of a scheme under Section 6(A) of the Inter-state River Waters Disputes Act and notification during the assembly election process would lead to massive public outrage, vitiate election process and cause serious law and order problems.

In an affidavit filed a day after the six-week deadline for implementing the verdict ended on Friday, the Centre said due to diversion views expressed by four governments, including Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, on the "framing of the scehme", it is felt that if any scheme was framed by the Central government by itself the states may again approach the court.

Citing the stands of Kerala and Karnataka governments that any scheme proposed under the inter-state water disputes act should first be shared with them before its notification.

"To avoid further litigation by the states in the constitution and functions of the board, it is felt clarification from the honourable Supreme Court are considered necessary."

Referring to the announcement of polls by the Election Commission, the Centre said: "Cauvery is a very emotive issue in Karnataka and in the past, the issue had led to serious law and order situation, leading to avoidable loss of human lives and property."

The petition sought clarification from the court whether it is open to the Central government to frame the scheme under 6(A) at variance with the recommendations contained in the report of the Cauvery water dispute tribunal regarding Cauvery Management Board.

It also wanted to know whether the board as recommended by the tribunal is to be constituted, would the Central government have the flexibility to modify the composition of the board to a mixture of administrative and technical body and not purely a technical body for effect conduct of the business of the board and considering overall sensitivity of the issues involved.

Another clarification it wanted was whether the board framed under 6(A) of the act can have functions different from the ones recommended for Cauvery Management Board by the tribunal.

The Centre said in compliance of the February 6 order of the court and in spirit of true federalism, it convened a meeting of the Chief Secretaries of the four states and other officials and initiated consultations for arriving at a consensus.

It said divergent views were expressed by the states. While Tamil Nadu indicated that the scheme as mentioned by the Supreme Court has been defined in Section 6 which is to implement the final order of the tribunal under the court,

The view of Tamil Nadu was that the Central government was mandated to put in place an authority or the body for implementation of the final decision by constituting the board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee.

Puducherry and Kerala gave similar views but Karnataka was of the opinion that the Supreme Court has left the contents of the scheme to the discretion of the Central government.

It said the contention of Tamil Nadu that the board as formulated by the tribunal should be a part of the Scheme is wholly contrary to the mandate of the judgment and law.

Karnataka also contended that the Scheme contemplated in the Supreme Court judgment is a dispute resolution body as distinct from the management or regulation recommended by the tribunal. Therefore the question of asking Karnataka submit indent does not and should not arise for consideration.

The state said the management and regulation of water of a state namely equitable share of a state determined by the adjudication is the sole prerogative of the state by reference to the entry 17 of the State list to the seventh schedule of the Constitution and therefore a scheme in the form of the board is clearly ultra vires of the Constitution.

Fifthly, Karnataka contended that the Supreme Court has not endorsed or approved the board in its judgment.

--IANS

sar-vsc/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi has said that the perception in Pakistan that Iran's Chabahar Port project, that connects India to Afghanistan, Central Asia and Eastern Europe, is a "rival project of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)", is not correct.

"The Chabahar Port project is aimed at connecting Iran with Central Asia, and the ultimate goal is to uplift the Iranian economy," Kharazi said at an event here. The project was under deliberation for a long time, therefore, it was not correct to link its launch with that of the CPEC, he was cited as saying by Dawn online on Saturday.

India, Iran and Afghanistan signed a trilateral agreement in 2016 to jointly develop the Chabahar Port, opening a new strategic transit route between the three nations and other Central Asian nations, bypassing Pakistan.

On the other hand, the CPEC connects China's Kashgar in Xinjiang province with Pakistan's Gwadar port in Balochistan through a network of roads, railways and highways.

India strongly objects to the route of the CPEC corridor, which goes through Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Kharazi, Iran's Foreign Minister from 1997 to 2005, said that though it was true that India had massively invested in the Chabahar project, it was an open platform for all regional countries to participate in.

"While we are engaging with India on the economic front and India is investing in Chabahar, we have not given exclusive rights on the project to them," he said.

Talking about the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan, Kharazi said that Iran had "urged India a number of times to resolve the dispute in a peaceful and justly manner" and that Tehran was even willing to mediate between the two sides.

"But if we talk about economic partnerships, then Pakistan also has relations with the US which has put a number of sanctions on us, but (Iran) doesn't mind it," he said.

He pointed out that bilateral trade between Iran and Pakistan suffered over reluctance of Pakistani banks to do business with Iranian entities due to a fear of US sanctions.

Kharazi said that another issue that had negatively impacted the bilateral trade was the "lack of political will from Pakistani side due to intense pressure from Washington and middle-eastern countries".

--IANS

soni/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nearly a week after an arrest warrant was issued against Union Minister Ashwini Choubey's son Arijit Shashwat, accused of inciting communal violence in Bihar's Bhagalpur district, Bihar Police has failed to arrest him.

The police have also failed to trace another BJP leader Anil Singh -- the main accused in communal violence in Aurangabad district, who managed to escape from police custody.

Both Shashwat and Singh are absconding.

Although a five-member special police team has been constituted to arrest Shashwat, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, it is yet to make any breakthrough.

"Police have been doing everything to arrest both accused," senior police officer Gupteshwar Pandey said.

Last week, a case was lodged against Shashwat for taking out a procession without prior permission, inciting communal passion and roaming on the streets with arms in Bhagalpur.

Shashwat's father Choubey has described the FIR as "a piece of garbage", which was registered by "corrupt police officers in Bhagalpur".

Shashwat unsuccessfully contested the last assembly polls as a BJP nominee from Bhagalpur, considered a stronghold of Choubey who was elected MP from Buxar in 2014.

Anil Singh, who was arrested in connection with the communal violence in Aurangabad during Ram Navami procession, escaped from police custody two days ago.

Singh, who is also associated with Hindu Seva Samiti, is said to have played the key role in incite communal passion in Aurangabad.

Ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) spokespersons are, however, downplaying the issue, saying there is rule of law in Bihar under Nitish Kumar and culprits or accused would not be spared.

Nitish Kumar's JD-U is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA which also comprises the Lok Janshakti Party and the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party.

Over half-a-dozen Bihar districts, including Aurangabad, Nawada, Samastipur, Munger, Bhagalpur and Nalanda, are currently in the grip of communal tension. Additional security forces have been deployed in the affected towns.

Last week, communal tension starting from Aurangabad district during Ram Navami processions, spread to Samastipur, Munger, Nalanda, Sheikhpura and Gaya districts.

The opposition parties have slammed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for what they called his "failure to handle the situation".

--IANS

ik/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Manipur Chief Minister R.K. Dorendra Singh passed away here on Friday and was cremated here on Saturday with full state honours. He was 84.

The three-time Chief Minister expired at the J.N. Institute of Medical Sciences here. He is survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.

The Manipur government has announced a three-day state mourning. The flag will fly half mast and there shall be no state function during this period.

As Chief Minister thrice in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, he had tried to solve the armed movement and several insurgents had come overground and had been rehabilitated. He had also been the Speaker and Minister several times as well as a Rajya Sabha member.

Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, Speaker Y. Khemchand and others have condoled his death.

--IANS

il/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)France's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that it regretted Russia's decision to expel four French diplomats.

"Russia's decision to expel four French embassy staff from Russia does not surprise us. We regret this and want to point out that to this day Russia has refused to give any explanation about the attack in Salisbury," the ministry said, Xinhua reported.

Despite the diplomatic row over the poisoning affair, "France reiterates its commitment and willingness to engage a constructive dialogue with Russia on all international issues," the French Foreign Ministry added.

Russian former double spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious on a bench in a shopping centre in the southern British city of Salisbury on March 4. They were poisoned with a nerve agent in the first such attack in a European country since World War Two.

The British government accused Russia of involvement in the nerve toxin attack on the ex-Russian double spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, which left both of them critically ill, but the Russian authorities have denied the accusation.

On Monday, France told four Russian diplomats to leave the country within a week in "full solidarity" with Britain that accused Moscow of poisoning one of its former agent on British territory.

Earlier on Friday, Moscow expelled 59 diplomats from 23 countries in retaliation to the coordinated move to knock out Russian diplomats by dozens of western countries.

In a separate statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it also summoned the British ambassador and informed him that Britain has to downsize its diplomats stationed in Russia to the same level as Russia has in Britain within a month.

Earlier this month, more than two dozens of countries announced the expulsion of around 150 Russian diplomats over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter with a nerve agent.

Tensions between Russia and western countries have exacerbated over the ongoing exchange of diplomatic sanctions.

--IANS

ahm/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Google on Saturday dedicated a Doodle to India's "first" female doctor Anandi Gopal Joshi to mark what would have been her 153rd birthday.

The Doodle is created by Bangalore-based artist Kashmira Sarode who imagines Joshi celebrating her degree.

"Not only was she India's first female doctor, but she was only 19 years old at the time," Google said.

Born in 1865 in what is now Maharashtra, she was married at the age of nine and became a mother at 14. But the household responsibilities could not clip the wings of this young woman's dream.

Her husband also encouraged her to continue her and her interest in medicine. At sixteen, battling ill-health but determined to succeed, Joshi set sail for the US.

She earned her medical degree from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania (now known as Drexel University College of Medicine) and returned to India with dreams of opening a medical college for women.

Joshi's young life was tragically cut short when she died of tuberculosis before she turned 22.

However, her legacy and the path she paved for generations of women continues today.

Interestingly, even a crater on Venus is named after her.

--IANS

gb/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Google on Saturday created a special Doodle to mark the 153rd birth anniversary of Thane-born Anandi Gopal Joshi, regarded as India's first US-trained female medico.

The Goodle, designed by Kashmira Sarode of Bengaluru, depicts a young sari-clad Anandi, with a heavy Maharashtrian nose-ring and a prominent bindi.

She is seen in the Doodle holding aloft her medical degree, sporting a stethoscope. The pallu (veil) of her sari is aflutter in the breeze as if in cheerful celebrations of her medical achievement, all at the age of 19.

In the background is the stark ground-plus-two-storied building of her alma-mater in Pennsylvania and her purported humble abode in coastal Maharashtra with typical cottages and a swaying coconut tree.

Originally named 'Yamuna', she was born on March 31, 1865 in Kalyan town in today's Thane district, around 50 kms north of Mumbai. She was married off aged nine to a widower, Gopalrao Joshi, who worked as a postal clerk.

Joshi's work later took the couple to Alibag in Raigad and then to Calcutta, now Kolkata.

At 14, Anandi gave birth to a son, but the child survived only 10 days as the necessary health care facilities were not available then.

This sparked the flame in Anandi to take up medical studies to which her husband Joshi not only agreed, but also encouraged as he was always a strong proponent of women's education, something rare in that era.

In 1880, he wrote to an American missionery, Royal Wilder, about Anandi's desire to pursue medicine in the US and also about prospects for himself.

Wilder published the letter in a journal after which a woman named Theodicia Carpenter of New Jersey read it and offered Anandi accommodation in the US.

However, back home in Calutta, Anandi's health started deteriorating and Carpenter sent medicines from the US. Unfortunately, the medicines failed to heal her completely.

Finally, in 1883, Joshi decided to send his young wife alone to the US for her medical studies despite her poor health condition, and urged her to inspire other women to higher studies by setting an example.

Accordingly, she was advised to apply to the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania (now known as Drexel University College of Medicine), the world's only second medical school exclusively for women launched in 1850.

However, on learning of her academic plans, the staunch Hindu conservative society of that time took strong objections. But far from getting discouraged, she met the challenge head on by addressing the community at Serampore College, India's second oldest college.

The 17-year old Anandi forcefully defended her plans to travel to the US for a medical degree, how she and her husband had been subject to discrimination because of her moves, why the country needed Hindu female doctors and her future dream of opening a medical college for women in India itself.

Her speech was publicised widely in the media, donations poured in and she finally embarked on a ship from Kolkata to New York to reach her host, Carpenter in June 1883.

Barley 18, she secured admission to the WMCP and was enrolled by Rachel Bodley, the Dean of the august institution.

Anandi encountered fresh travails due to the harsh cold weather there, the eating habits and other problems culminating in tuberculosis, then considered a deadly disease and a huge social stigma.

However, she managed to successfully complete her medical course and was honoured with an MD degree on March 11, 1886 for her thesis "Obstetrics Among The Aryan Hindus."

Her graduation was acknowledged by none other than the Empress of India, Queen Victoria who sent her a congratulation message.

It was time to head home and hardly 20, Anandi returned in late 1886, to a rousing reception in India, and the then state of Kolhapur appointed her as Physician-in-Charge of the female ward in the city's Albert Edward Hospital.

However, the gnawing TB finally claimed her life on February 26, 1887. She passed away five weeks before her 22nd birthday.

Her death came as a shock and was mourned all over India. Her ashes were sent to her hostess Carpenter to be kept in her family cemetery in Poughkeepsie, New York.

The next year, US feminist author Caroline Wells Healey Dall penned Joshi's biography. India's Doordarshan created a Hindi serial on her life called "Anandi Gopal", while Marathi writer Shrikrishna J. Joshi wrote a story on her life which was later adapted into a theatre production by R. G. Joglekar.

Another Marathi author Anjalai Kirtani came out with a book, "Dr. Anandibai Joshi - Kaal Ani Kartutva", that included some extremely rare photographers of the legendary medico.

In her honour, the Institute for Research & Documentation in Social Sciences, Lucknow instituted the annual "Anandibai Joshi Award" and the Maharashtra government offers a fellowship named after her.

Though Anandi could not fulfill her dream of setting up a women's medical college in India due to her untimely death, she inspired millions of other women in the country who took to the medical profession in a big way in the past one and half century.

--IANS

qn/gb/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP leader Ram Madhav on Saturday said India has always hosted people in difficult times with an open heart.

Speaking here at an event to mark the 60th anniversary of the Dalai Lama's arrival in India, he said: "We know the life of a refugee is very tough...we hosted many people in trouble. India always welcome with open hands and open heart those in difficulties."

Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, Members of Parliament Shanta Kumar and Satyavrat Chaturvedi were also present in the event along with Nobel Peace Laureate the Dalai Lama and functionalities of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), comprising its President Lobsang Sangay.

Addressing the Tibetan administration-in-exile based here, he said: "Friends we don't want to use the word refugee (for you). This is your land. At the most, you are in exile and Tibet is waiting for you."

He said India also gave shelter to the Parsi community.

"We can understand the life of a refugee with the loss of livelihood and the life is in struggle. But thanks to His Holiness and the people who came here (in 1959)," the BJP leader said.

On relations between India and Tibet, Madhav said: "We are spiritual and religious colleagues."

After cancelling events in Delhi, the Tibetan government-in-exile has now started countrywide "Thank You India" programmes to mark the beginning of the 60th year of the Dalai Lama arriving in India.

--IANS

vg/nks/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An Israeli drone crashed in an open area in Lebanon, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Saturday.

"This is due to a technical malfunction. There is no risk of leaked information," Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

The Israeli Army also added that the incident, that took place on Friday night, is currently being reviewed.

According to Hezbollah's al-Manar TV station, the drone went down between the villages of Beit Yahoun and Baraachit in southern Lebanon.

The IDF drone was on an intelligence-gathering mission in southern Lebanon, as part of routine operations, which also included an increased activity of IAF fighter jets in northern Israel, the media added.

--IANS

and/ksk/vm

(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.)Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan met acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan, and was surprised that he has seen some of his movies.

The Indian actor also gave him a copy of his critically acclaimed movie "Hey Ram" in digital format.

"Met Mr.Christopher Nolan. Apologised for seeing 'Dunkirk' in the digital format and in return I am sending 'Hey Ram' in digital format for him to see," Kamal tweeted.

"Was surprised to know he had seen 'Paapanaasam'," added the actor, who met Nolan here on Friday.

With titles like "Batman Begins", "The Dark Knight", "The Dark Knight Rises", "Inception", "Interstellar" and "Dunkirk", Nolan is regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers of the 21st century. He continues to use the traditional film for his movies.

Work and love for cinema has brought him to the country. Nolan is in India to draw attention to the importance of celluloid in the digital age.

Indian filmmaker and archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, founder of the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF), is hosting Nolan at a three-day event 'Reframing the Future of Film' here from March 30 to April 1.

Celebrated visual artist Tacita Dean is also on board to talk about preserving on film, and the necessity of determining new archival and exhibition standards that secure a film's future.

Helping out in this endeavour, Nolan and Dean will be a part of a round table conversation, alongside iconic Indian film personalities like Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Kamal Haasan, Shah Rukh Khan, Santosh Sivan, Shyam Benegal, Anurag Kashyap and Farhan Akhtar.

Nolan will also be present for the screenings of two of his recent films - Oscar-nomianted "Dunkirk" and "Interstellar".

The Hollywood director is expected to fly out on April 2.

--IANS

sug/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Hanuman Jayanti celebrations across West Bengal on Saturday were kept significantly low key compared to last year amid tightened security following the unrest over Ram Navmi rallies last week.

While the state's ruling Trinamool Congress held a number of colourful processions with tableaux and organised Hanuman puja, no rallies were taken out by the Visva Hindu Parishad or other Sangh affiliates to mark the occasion.

Police said the occasion was observed amid tight security and confirmed the situation was peaceful throughout.

"There were some processions in the city and district but no untoward incidents have been reported so far. It has been very peaceful," Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, Anuj Sharma told IANS.

Asked about an armed procession, allegedly taken out by the local puja organisers in Hoogly district's Bansberia on Saturday, he said there is no confirmation of any such rallies.A

"There was no permission for armed rallies today. If any such rallies were taken out, strict actions would be taken against the offenders," Sharma said.

Claiming that the decision of not bringing out rallies on Hanuman Jayanti was taken a month back, the state unit of VHP said it held an awareness programme in temples across the state, on the proposed Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

"No rallies were taken out by us. It was pre-decided during the all India meet last month. We organised an awareness programme advocating the significance of Ram Mandir. Hindu devotees across Bengal went to temples and observed the rituals," VHP's state media-in-charge Sourish Mukherjee told IANS.

Following BJP's large scale Ram Navami celebrations in Bengal last year, the Trinamool had extensively celebrated the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti to counter the saffron outfit's appeal to the sentiments of the majority Hindu population in the state.

--IANS

mgr/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nobel Peace Prize winner and young activist Malala Yousafzai visited her home in Swat Valley on Saturday amid heavy security, more than five years after she was shot in the head there by the Taliban for her defence of female

Malala Yousafzai, 20, along with her parents, State Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and others landed near her family home in Mingora in the morning with many streets cordoned off by the Army, the Pakistani media reported.

The activist, who is on four-day visit to Pakistan, met her friends and relatives before visiting military centre Cadet College Guli Bagh, 15 km outside of Mingora.

"My first visit to Swat Valley after five and a half years since the attack. I have never felt so happy. I am proud of my land and culture. The Cadet College is beautiful and I thank the staff and principal for welcoming me. Best wishes and prayers," Malala wrote in the guest book of the college.

She called Swat "a piece of heaven".

In October 2012, Malala Yousafzai -- then 15 years old -- was attacked when she was returning from her school. She was later flown to London for medical treatment.

Speaking to the students of Cadet College, she said: "Peace has been restored in the country due to sacrifices of security forces. My dream has come true."

According to an official, the activist will visit a school built by the Malala Fund in the Shanga district adjacent to Swat. The fund was created in 2013 by the young activist and her father Ziauddin to raise awareness about the impact of girls' education.

She arrived in Pakistan on Thursday and was greeted with honours by the government and institutions. The activist was unable to repress her tears in a televised speech broadcast from the office of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, in which she said returning to her country had been her dream for the last five years.

"Always it has been my dream that I should go to Pakistan and there, in peace and without any fear, I can move on streets, I can meet people, I can talk to people.

"And I think that it's my old home again... I am grateful to all of you," she said.

Her presence has also led to strong criticism and protests, such as the one organized by the country's main association of private schools on Friday under the slogan "I am not Malala".

Meanwhile, in an interview with Geo TV, the activist said she plans to return to Pakistan permanently once her studies are completed.

The Oxford University student, who had said that she wanted to run for Prime Minister, said there was "definitely a difference between the Pakistan of today and in 2012" as things were becoming "better".

Yousafzai, the youngest-ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, plans to return to Britain on Monday.

--IANS

soni/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Enraged over rape of a minor girl, a group of residents in the city lynched the rape suspect, police said on Saturday.

The incident took place on Friday midnight in Chaman Vihar locality under Tronika City Police Station limits of Ghaziabad district.

The police said that on Friday night, one Jitendra asked his neighbour to accompany him to a "Mata ka Jagran" programme to offer his prayers.

The parents of the minor, an eight-year-old girl, instead asked their daughter to go with him as she also wanted to go to offer her prayers.

During the return journey, Jitendra took the girl to his place, raped her and left her to go to her parents alone.

As the girl narrated the incident to her parents, the family informed their neighbours and they all reached Jitendra's place. They dragged him outside and started thrashing him.

After beating him hard, the crowd handed him over to the local police. later, he was taken to a hospital where the doctors declared him dead.

The girl has also been admitted in a local hospital.

The police have registered a case on the complaint of girl's parents. The lynched youth's family has also filed a case over the incident.

"The police had first registered a case under Section 376 of IPC against the culprit. But on the complaint of the rape accused's family, a case was also registered against the mob for lynching," said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vaibhav Krishna.

--IANS

sps/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Palestinians on Saturday accused the US of blocking a UNSC statement on the situation in the Gaza Strip and said Washington's objection encourages Israel to continue its aggressive action against the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian National Authority Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad al-Malki said in an official statement that "Washington would block any effort in the Security Council related to the massacre committed and to be committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip," Xinhua reported.

He added that "without the absolute US protection in the Security Council, Israel won't dare to commit terrible crimes against the Palestinians."

In a closed-door session held at a request of Kuwait to discuss the bloody incidents in the Gaza Strip on Friday evening, the UN Security Council failed to agree on a statement condemning Israel's repression of the Palestinian popular protests on the anniversary of the Land Day.

"The decision was to go for an official open session, but the US side opposed the idea that the Security Council issues a statement to condemn Israel's repression of demonstrators," said Representative of the state of Palestine in the UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour.

He also said "the efforts are continuing... we will see in the next few hours and days whether we will succeed in this, or what are the other steps if they remain insistent on not allowing the council to assume its responsibilities in condemning the crime and prosecuting those responsible."

Mansour unveiled that "several European countries, including the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, demanded an investigation into events in the Gaza Strip, pointing out that the Palestinian side is pushing in this direction."

He also said the Palestinian side "won't accept a probe conducted by the Israelis themselves, but we want to investigate by impartial and fair bodies to brief the world in on this crime," stressing on the need to start the probe as soon as possible.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Saturday that the objections of the United States at the UN Security Council have led to thwarting the issuance of a resolution denouncing the Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people and the killing of 16 Palestinians.

He added that this provides a cover for Israel to continue its aggression against the Palestinian people and encourage it to defy international legitimacy resolutions that aim at ending the occupation.

President Abbas held Israel totally responsible for the events on Friday and declared Saturday as a national mourning day.

A coordination committee composed of Palestinian political factions, civil society organizations and youth groups called weeks ago for a large popular rally at nearly 700 meters away from the Israeli border fence under the title of the "Great March of Return" starting on Friday.

The Friday rally was the start of a six-week long protest that is expected to reach a peak on May 15, the day Israel celebrates its establishment and Palestinians mark the forcible transfer of two thirds of the Palestinian people and the ethnic cleansing of 418 Palestinian villages.

Demonstrators demand that Palestinian refugees should be allowed the right of return to the towns and villages from which their families fled or were forcibly driven out of when the State of Israel was created in 1948.

--IANS

ahm/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday praised Imam Rashidi of Asansol and Yashpal Saxena from Delhi, as both of them appealed for peace despite losing their sons in communal violence.

He also asserted that his party will not allow ideology of BJP and RSS to win.

"After losing their sons due to hate and communalism, messages from Yashpal Saxena and Imam Rashidi show that love will always defeat hatred in India.

"The foundation of Congress rests on compassion and mutual brotherhood. We will not allow the hatred spreading BJP/RSS ideology to win," Gandhi tweeted in Hindi attaching messages from both the fathers.

Yashpal Sexena's son Ankit Saxena was killed on February 1 by the family of a woman he was in a relationship with.

According to Delhi Police, the woman's family was against their relationship as they belonged to different communities and had told him to end it.

Asanol mosque Imam, Maulana Imdadul Rashidi's 16-year-old son became a victim of violence, triggered by Ram Navami processions in West Bengal.

Both the fathers had appealed for peace.

--IANS

sid/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Thousands of Staff Selection Commission (SSC) candidates on Saturday held a demonstration here to protest against the "SSC paper leak scam", leading to a scuffle with police.

The SCC candidates gathered at Parliament Street at 11 a.m. seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged paper leak in the Combined Graduate Level (CGL) Examination held in February.

As the protesters started moving towards Parliament, they were stopped by police. But, as they broke the barricades, the police applied mild force to disperse them.

Subsequently, the protesters gathered at Connaught Place and held rallies in the area, surrounded by police and Rapid Action Force personnel.

The police later detained some of them.

--IANS

vn-spk/nir/sac

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Here is the latest jail booking report from Hamilton County:

APPLEBET, PERCY

727 E 11TH ST CHATTANOOGA, 37403

Age at Arrest: 63 years old

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga

CRIMINAL TRESPASSING

---

BAILEY, DYLAN

3909 5TH AVE CHATTANOOGA, 37407

Age at Arrest: 22 years old

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga

VANDALISM/MALICIOUS MISCHIEF

HARASSMENT

HARASSMENT

---

BROADRICK, JONATHAN LEONARD

601 CHICKAMAUGA AVE ROSSVILLE, 30741

Age at Arrest: 30 years old

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County

FUGITIVE (ARREST FOR CRIME IN RUSSELL CO, VIRGINIA

---

BROWN, JACKSON

631 MEMORIAL STREET APT 2 DAYTON, 37321

Age at Arrest: 26 years old

Arresting Agency: Red Bank

PETITION TO REVOKE (FTA DRIVING ON REVOKED SUSPEND

---

BUTLER, HEATHER MICHELLE

353 PINECREST DR WILDWOOD, 30757

Age at Arrest: 24 years old

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga

SPEEDING

FAILURE TO APPEAR

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

SEAT BELT LAW VIOLATION

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

REGISTRATION, DRIVING UNREGISTERED VEHICLE

REGISTRATION, MISUSE OF EVIDENCES

DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE

DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE

REGISTRATION, DRIVING UNREGISTERED VEHICLE

---

COZARD, AMANDA LEIGH

5754 LYLE CR HIXSON, 37343

Age at Arrest: 33 years old

Arresting Agency: Red Bank

POSSESSION OF METH (SELL, DEL.

OR MANUFACTURING)POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA---CRAYTON, KELVIN439 CARVER LANE CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 27 years oldArresting Agency:POSSESSION OF COUNTERFEIT CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE-MAR---DAUGHERTY, DOUGLAS TYE5335A HAISTEN CT CHATTANOOGA, 374123250Age at Arrest: 59 years oldArresting Agency: East RidgeDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE (DUI)---ECTOR, TONYA LASHAN4000 FAGAN ST CHATTANOOGA, 374101718Age at Arrest: 46 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaCRIMINAL TRESPASSING---FOX, MILTON LEE702 NORTH KELLEY CHATTANOOGA, 37404Age at Arrest: 48 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaVIOLATION OF PROBATION (EVADING ARREST)VIOLATION OF PROBATION (DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENVIOLATION OF PROBATION (THEFT OF PROPERTY)VIOLATION OF PROBATION (POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED A---GARNER, CHARLIE WINFORD35 GENTRY LN CHICKAMAUGA, 30707Age at Arrest: 35 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaTRAFFIC CONTROL SIGNALS VIOLATIONRECKLESS DRIVINGVIOLATING AUTO REGISTRATION LAW---GUILLEN, JONATHAN2354 MARCO CIRCLE CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 25 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaCRIMINAL IMPERSONATIONPUBLIC INTOXICATION---HARVEY, FALCICIA JANE9821 BIRCHWOOD PIKE HARRISON, 37341Age at Arrest: 39 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyDOMESTIC ASSAULT---HAWKINS, KANDY MONIQUE3633 HELEN LANE APT B EAST RIDGE, 37412Age at Arrest: 41 years oldArresting Agency:DRIVING ON REVOKED LICENSE---HOLT, ANTHONY LEEROY111 N WEST STREET DECHERD, 37324Age at Arrest: 38 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---HUNTER, TERRANCE TERRELLHOMELESS CHATTANOOGA, 37403Age at Arrest: 41 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaPUBLIC INTOXICATION---JACKSON, DIAMEZ N2402 UNION AVE CHATTANOOGA, 37404Age at Arrest: 21 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaUNLAWFUL CARRYING OR POSSESSING WEAPONFAILURE TO MAINTAIN LANEPOSSESSION OF MARIJUANAPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA---JAMES, CHRISTOPHER DEUTRICH1123S HIGHLAND PARK APT 201 CHATTANOOGA, 37407Age at Arrest: 22 years oldArresting Agency:UNLAWFUL CARRYING OR POSSESSING WEAPONPOSS. OF HANDGUN WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCE---JOHNS, BELJOE KHRISTIAN331 WATER MILL TERRACE RINGGOLD, 30736Age at Arrest: 23 years oldArresting Agency: Tenn Highway PatrolDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE---JOHNSON, CASEY SEAN213 FRAWLEY ROAD P.O. BOX 90094 EAST RIDGE, 37412Age at Arrest: 34 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---JONES, JAMICHAEL ANTONIO2606 HARRISON PIKE CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 26 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaLIGHT LAW VIOLATIONFINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITYDRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE---KYLE, SARAH JANE3920 BENNETT RD CHATTANOOGA, 37412Age at Arrest: 29 years oldArresting Agency: East RidgePOSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCEVANDALISM/MALICIOUS MISCHIEFDOMESTIC ASSAULT---LANDS, CLIFFORD ADAM9627 HARRISON BAY ROAD HARRISON, 37341Age at Arrest: 42 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyAGGRAVATED ASSAULTVANDALISM/MALICIOUS MISCHIEF---LAWSON, RACHEL REBECCAH1909 WARREN AVE APT C LONGMONT, 80501Age at Arrest: 35 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDOMESTIC ASSAULT---MCMULLAN, JOSHUA CHARLES1041 OLDE MILL LANE HIXSON, 37343Age at Arrest: 32 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyDOMESTIC ASSAULTPOSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCEPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA---MONTGOMERY, IAN DAVID2911 NORTH CHAMBERLAIN AVE CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 18 years oldArresting Agency:ASSAULT---MOTON, JAQUAN2225 EAST 26TH ST CHATTANOOGA, 37404Age at Arrest: 18 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaLEAVING SCENE OF ACCIDENT (PARKED VEHICLE)DRIVING WITHOUT DRIVERS LICENSE / EXPIRED LICENSENO PROOF OF INSURANCEVIOLATING AUTO REGISTRATION LAW---MOTON, RENEE DIANE1701 N CONCORD ROAD CHATTANOOGA, 374215718Age at Arrest: 54 years oldArresting Agency: CollegedaleBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---PENA, MARTIN5720 TYNER ROAD CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 34 years oldArresting Agency: Chatt. Housing AuthorityCRIMINAL IMPERSONATIONDRIVING ON ROADWAYS LANED FOR TRAFFIC, VIOLATIONDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCENO PROOF OF INSURANCEDRIVING WITHOUT DRIVERS LICENSE / EXPIRED LICENSE---PENLAND, TRAVIS LYNN6005 LEVI ROAD CHATTANOOGA, 37415Age at Arrest: 45 years oldArresting Agency: CollegedaleBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---POLK JR, JAMES1816 E 3RD ST CHATTANOOGA, 374073504Age at Arrest: 23 years oldArresting Agency:DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE---PURNELL, JOSHUA TAYLOR1609 VANCE AVE CHATTANOOGA, 37404Age at Arrest: 21 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaRESISTING ARREST OR OBSTRUCTION OF LEGAL PROCESSDISORDERLY CONDUCT---ROBERTS, JACKIE EUGENE8016 OLD LEE HWY OOLTEWAH, 37363Age at Arrest: 41 years oldArresting Agency: CollegedaleBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---RUSSELL, JEFFREY ALLEN11615 GUTH RD SODDY DAISY, 37379Age at Arrest: 39 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyASSAULT---SAMUELS, ANTHONY L6220 SHALLOWFORD RD APT. 229 CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 54 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaTHEFT OF PROPERTY UNDER $1,000STALKING---SCOTT, FELICIA DIANE105 DARLENE LANE HARRISON, 37341Age at Arrest: 30 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyCRIMINAL IMPERSONATION---SMITH, MARCUS DEWITT325 CYNDICA DR Chattanooga, 374214461Age at Arrest: 23 years oldArresting Agency:AGGRAVATED ASSAULTRESISTING ARREST OR OBSTRUCTION OF LEGAL PROCESSEVADING ARRESTDRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR RESALEDRUG FREE SCHOOL ZONE---SPENCE, SADIK ANTONIO4617 OAKWOOD DR CHATTANOOGA, 37416Age at Arrest: 21 years oldArresting Agency: East RidgeRESISTING ARREST OR OBSTRUCTION OF LEGAL PROCESSPOSSESSION OF MARIJUANAPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA---STARLING, DARRIUS MARSHON2017 Laura St Chattanooga, 374064208Age at Arrest: 26 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaCRIMINAL TRESPASSING---STEGALL, JAMES DEWAYNE2605 CURTIS ST CHATTANOOGA, 374062435Age at Arrest: 42 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaHARASSMENT---STONE, BRIAN ALEX1104 GROVE ST CHATTANOOGA, 37402Age at Arrest: 24 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDRIVING LEFT OF CENTER LINEFINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITYDRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSEDRIVERS TO EXERCISE DUE CARE---SUTTLES, JERMAINE LABRONE3911 CHURCHILL RD CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 36 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaRESISTING ARREST OR OBSTRUCTION OF LEGAL PROCESSDRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR RESALEPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA---TURNER, LANDON ALLEN300 WATERFALL SEQUATCHIE, 38220Age at Arrest: 19 years oldArresting Agency:DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE---WOOD, UNITY JUBILEE4865 LONE HILL RD CHATTANOOGA, 374161428Age at Arrest: 19 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDOMESTIC ASSAULT

Here are the mug shots:

APPLEBET, PERCY

Age at Arrest: 63

Date of Birth: 03/24/1955

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

CRIMINAL TRESPASSING BROWN, JACKSON

Age at Arrest: 26

Date of Birth: 09/19/1991

Arresting Agency: Red Bank



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

PETITION TO REVOKE (FTA DRIVING ON REVOKED SUSPEND BUTLER, HEATHER MICHELLE

Age at Arrest: 24

Date of Birth: 01/31/1994

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

FUGITIVE (CATOOSA COUNTY, GA) COZARD, AMANDA LEIGH

Age at Arrest: 33

Date of Birth: 07/10/1984

Arresting Agency: Red Bank



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

POSSESSION OF METH (SELL, DEL. OR MANUFACTURING)

POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA CRAYTON, KELVIN

Age at Arrest: 27

Date of Birth: 03/11/1991

Arresting Agency:



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

POSSESSION OF COUNTERFEIT CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE-MAR DOMINO, TYLER WILLIAM

Age at Arrest: 26

Date of Birth: 04/17/1991

Arresting Agency: East Ridge



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

THEFT OVER $10,000 ECTOR, TONYA LASHAN

Age at Arrest: 46

Date of Birth: 12/21/1971

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

CRIMINAL TRESPASSING FOX, MILTON LEE

Age at Arrest: 48

Date of Birth: 06/07/1969

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (EVADING ARREST)

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPEN

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (THEFT OF PROPERTY)

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED A GARNER, CHARLIE WINFORD

Age at Arrest: 35

Date of Birth: 08/30/1982

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

TRAFFIC CONTROL SIGNALS VIOLATION

RECKLESS DRIVING

VIOLATING AUTO REGISTRATION LAW GUILLEN, JONATHAN

Age at Arrest: 25

Date of Birth: 01/06/1993

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

CRIMINAL IMPERSONATION

PUBLIC INTOXICATION

HAWKINS, KANDY MONIQUE

Age at Arrest: 41

Date of Birth: 06/06/1976

Arresting Agency:



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

DRIVING ON REVOKED LICENSE HOLT, ANTHONY LEEROY

Age at Arrest: 38

Date of Birth: 11/28/1979

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

HUNTER, TERRANCE TERRELL

Age at Arrest: 41

Date of Birth: 01/22/1977

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

PUBLIC INTOXICATION JACKSON, DIAMEZ N

Age at Arrest: 21

Date of Birth: 09/21/1996

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

UNLAWFUL CARRYING OR POSSESSING WEAPON

FAILURE TO MAINTAIN LANE

POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA

POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA JAMES, CHRISTOPHER DEUTRICH

Age at Arrest: 22

Date of Birth: 06/06/1995

Arresting Agency:



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

UNLAWFUL CARRYING OR POSSESSING WEAPON

POSS. OF HANDGUN WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCE JOHNS, BELJOE KHRISTIAN

Age at Arrest: 23

Date of Birth: 12/21/1994

Arresting Agency: Tenn Highway Patrol



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE JOHNSON, CASEY SEAN

Age at Arrest: 34

Date of Birth: 04/20/1983

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

JONES, JAMICHAEL ANTONIO

Age at Arrest: 26

Date of Birth: 07/14/1991

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

LIGHT LAW VIOLATION

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE KYLE, SARAH JANE

Age at Arrest: 29

Date of Birth: 07/25/1988

Arresting Agency: East Ridge



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE

VANDALISM/MALICIOUS MISCHIEF

DOMESTIC ASSAULT LANDS, CLIFFORD ADAM

Age at Arrest: 42

Date of Birth: 12/23/1975

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT

VANDALISM/MALICIOUS MISCHIEF

LAWSON, RACHEL REBECCAH

Age at Arrest: 35

Date of Birth: 09/02/1982

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

DOMESTIC ASSAULT MCMULLAN, JOSHUA CHARLES

Age at Arrest: 32

Date of Birth: 12/04/1985

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

DOMESTIC ASSAULT

POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE

POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA MONTGOMERY, IAN DAVID

Age at Arrest: 18

Date of Birth: 08/20/1999

Arresting Agency:



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

ASSAULT MOTON, JAQUAN

Age at Arrest: 18

Date of Birth: 01/26/2000

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

LEAVING SCENE OF ACCIDENT (PARKED VEHICLE)

DRIVING WITHOUT DRIVERS LICENSE / EXPIRED LICENSE

NO PROOF OF INSURANCE

VIOLATING AUTO REGISTRATION LAW MOTON, RENEE DIANE

Age at Arrest: 54

Date of Birth: 04/17/1963

Arresting Agency: Collegedale



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

PENA, MARTIN

Age at Arrest: 34

Date of Birth: 01/30/1984

Arresting Agency: Chatt. Housing Authority



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

CRIMINAL IMPERSONATION

DRIVING ON ROADWAYS LANED FOR TRAFFIC, VIOLATION

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE

NO PROOF OF INSURANCE

DRIVING WITHOUT DRIVERS LICENSE / EXPIRED LICENSE PENLAND, TRAVIS LYNN

Age at Arrest: 45

Date of Birth: 06/21/1972

Arresting Agency: Collegedale



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

POLK JR, JAMES

Age at Arrest: 23

Date of Birth: 12/04/1994

Arresting Agency:



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE PURNELL, JOSHUA TAYLOR

Age at Arrest: 21

Date of Birth: 09/26/1996

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Charge(s):

RESISTING ARREST OR OBSTRUCTION OF LEGAL PROCESS

DISORDERLY CONDUCT ROBERTS, JACKIE EUGENE

Age at Arrest: 41

Date of Birth: 12/16/1976

Arresting Agency: Collegedale



Last Date of Arrest: 03/30/2018

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditya Nath said on Saturday that any tie-up between the SP and the BSP to counter the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha polls cannot be dubbed as an alliance, as it would be jut a "compromise for power".

"Is it a coalition or a compromise for power," Adityanath asked during an interview with Hindi news channel Aaj Tak when asked whether a coalition between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) could damage the prospects of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019.

Taking a swipe at the opposition leaders, Adityanath sought to know from them that even if they join hands, who would be their leader.

"First let them decide who will lead them. They must decide, will it be Akhilesh Yadav or Mulayam Singh Yadav or Mayawati or maybe Rahul Gandhi if the Congress joins them. Rahul Gandhi must find his space. There are only two seats in a Cycle (SP's poll symbol), you can't add a third," he said.

The BJP badly lost the recent Lok Sabha bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur as the BSP did not field its candidates in support of the SP candidates. Later, Mayawati vowed to continue the alliance in 2019.

Adityanath singled out overconfidence in the BJP ranks as the reason for defeat in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls.

"Whenever you are overconfident about something these situations arise, but this is a lesson. In the coming days, we shall learn from these mistakes and improve," he said, adding that the BJP would win 80 out of 80 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh.

Speaking about the recent incidents of police shootouts on an almost daily basis, the Chief Minister said that there had not been a single fake gun battle.

"I guarantee security for each and every one in Uttar Pradesh. Criminals, anti-nationals and anti-social elements should be afraid of the law in the state. We are seeing the results, known criminals are seen vending vegetables in Meerut," he said.

The Yogi government completed its first year in office some 10 days ago and coined a slogan "Ek Saal, Nayi Misaal"(One year of setting examples).

On the biggest achievement of his government's one year in office, he said the popular perception had changed amongst both Indians and foreigners in the past one year.

"We have tried to provide a positive environment for people. The biggest sign of changing perceptions about the state at home and abroad was the Investor's Summit," he said.

Asked if he sees himself as the Prime Minister sometime in the future, he said: "I am not a contender for any post, I am a yogi, the party has given me an opportunity of serving the people of the state and I am doing that."

--IANS

bns/nir/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Militants shot and killed a special police officer (SPO) in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Saturday evening after critically injuring an SPO in Anantnag district earlier in the day, police said.

Police said militants fired from close range at SPO Muhammad Ashraf in Muran Chowk, injuring him critically.

"He was shifted to hospital where he succumbed to critical injuries," police said.

Earlier on Saturday, militants had fired at another SPO, Trilok Singh in Khanabal area of Anantnag.

Singh was shifted to hospital for treatment while the security forces laid a cordon at both places to trace the militants.

Another SPO had been shot dead by militants in Anantnag district on Thursday.

According to a police officer, a group of militants entered the house of Mushtaq Ahmed Sheikh in Bijbehara area of Anantnag in the evening and opened fire at him. While Sheikh was killed on the spot, his wife was critically injured.

Engaged on a fixed monthly wage, SPOs are not regular policemen, but were recruited in the 1990s to fight insurgency.

--IANS

sq/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Thousands of Staff Selection Commission (SSC) candidates on Saturday held a demonstration here in protest against the "SSC paper leak scam" and demanded resignation of Minister of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) Jitendra Singh for not ordering a CBI probe into all SSC examinations.

The SCC candidates gathered at Parliament Street at 11 a.m seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged paper leak in the Combined Graduate Level (CGL) Examination held in February.

The body of SSC candidates leading the agitation, Yuva Halla Bol, said: "We have been demanding an independent and time-bound CBI investigation into all SSC examinations. Even after over a month of protest, the government has not agreed to our genuine demands. The inaction and insensitivity clearly proves that this government is anti youth."

"If the government can't listen to the genuine demands of protesting candidates, the Minister of DoPT should resign. We shall continue this movement with energy and resolve until our demands are met," the committee said in a statement.

As the protesters started moving towards Parliament, they were stopped. But, when they broke the barricades, the police applied mild force to disperse them.

"Dozens of SSC examinees, who were peacefully marching towards Sansad Bhawan, suffered injuries in the baton charge by police and were manhandled," it said.

"We condemn the role of some anti-social elements who tried to hijack and mislead genuine angst and plight of the students. Groups with vested political interests, who were never part of the SSC movement, tried to disrupt Yuva Halla Bol with their indisciplined and irresponsible behaviour," Swaraj India Delhi's chief Anupam, who has been involved with the protests from beginning, told IANS.

The organising committee of students did not endorse or support the actions of such elements, Anupam added.

The protesters said that they would go up to the Supreme Court to bring the culprits of the SSC scam to justice and ensure reforms in the functioning of the Commission.

Subsequently, the protesters gathered at Connaught Place and held rallies in the area, surrounded by police and Rapid Action Force personnel. The police later detained some of them.

--IANS

vn-sp/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The UN Security Council has blacklisted 27 ships, 21 shipping companies and one individual for aiding North Korea in its effort to evade sanctions, the media reported on Saturday.

The latest restrictions announced on Friday were directed not just at North Korea's shipping operations but Chinese companies trading with Pyongyang, reports the BBC.

The list includes 16 companies based in North Korea, five registered in Hong Kong, two on the Chinese mainland, two in Taiwan and one each in Panama and Singapore.

The US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley said the latest measures were a "clear sign that the international community was united" in its efforts to increase pressure on the North Korean regime.

Friday's measures were proposed by the US last month as part of a crackdown on the maritime smuggling of North Korean commodities such as oil and coal.

Sanctioned oil tankers and cargo vessels are banned from ports worldwide and businesses face an asset freeze, the BBC reported.

This is the UN's largest ever package of designated penalties against Pyongyang.

The reclusive nation has been subjected to numerous rounds of international sanctions since 2006, which has cut off most of its exports and capped its imports of oil.

--IANS

ksk

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)"Homeland" star Claire Danes is happy with the discussion around gender balance in Hollywood. The actress says it has been millennia of an imbalance in power and bad behaviour and there is profound reason for the rage.

"Years ago when I was a kid I remember Jodie Foster told me - 'You've got to ask for more money because there is more money. They are not going to generously offer it to you'. You have to make that demand and be explicit about it," Danes said in a statement.

"So yeah, I was very very lucky to have amazing mentors and guides and people who were able to be very candid with me," added the actress, who currently stars on "Homeland" season seven which airs in India on Star World.

She says she is thrilled and happy that this conversation has surfaced.

"I mean it's very alive and it's been a millennia of an imbalance in power and bad behaviour and there is profound reason for this rage.

"I think it's justified but I think the volcano is erupting. It's hard to know what the consequences will be but I think we will all be better for it. I think we are all better for it already."

--IANS

sug/ks

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi on Saturday visited the strife-torn areas of Raniganj and Asansol in West Bardhaman district and held a meeting with the police officials and the local administration.

Tripathi took stock of the current situation in the area that was hit by communal tension earlier this week.

A person was allegedly hacked to death while a Deputy Commissioner of Police lost a hand after getting hit by a bomb during the clash between two groups centering on a Ram Navami procession organised by the sangh affiliates in Raniganj on Monday.

Several others including police personnel also sustained injuries in the incident.

The communal tension spilled onto other parts of Asansol forcing the administration to impose prohibitory orders in the area and suspend internet services.

A four-member committee formed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah is scheduled to visit the trouble hit areas on Sunday and submit a report.

The Home Ministry has also sought a report from the state government on incidents of arson and violence during the processions.

However, the Trinamool Congress government denied knowledge of any such directive from the Central government, and blamed the BJP for the unrest.

Several shops and houses were vandalised and set ablaze during the clashes in Raniganj on Monday. Nineteen people were arrested for fomenting trouble and stopped local MP and BJP leader Babul Supriyo from visiting the area, stating it would strike further tension.

The BJP, which is trying to pitchfork itself as the main challenger to the Trinamool in the state, has been using the Ram Navami celebrations since last year to appeal to the majority Hindu population.

Sensing the BJP's motive, the Trinamool also resorted to celebrate the occasion on its own this year.

--IANS

mgr/ksk/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi on Saturday visited the strife-torn areas of Raniganj and Asansol in West Bardhaman district and urged people to maintain peace and harmony.

Tripathi held a meeting with police officers and the local administration and took stock of the current situation in the area that was hit by communal tension earlier this week.

"I had plans to visit Asansol and Raniganj two days earlier, but for certain reasons the visit did not materalise. I have come here with the message of peace. Peace should be paramount. I appeal to all the people belonging to all castes and communities to live in harmony," Tripathi told reporters here.

The Governor said he has been briefed by senior administrative officials about how the unrest took place and the evasive measures taken up to keep the situation under control.

Meanwhile, a Congress delegation led by party's state president Adhir Chowdhury was stopped by police from entering Asansol.

The Congress activists held a sit-in on the national highway, demanding an answer from the Trinamool Congress and the BJP on why the clashes took place.

"How can the administration impose CrPC 144 on a national highway? We did not enter any locality. What is the Bengal government so scared of that they have to stop the peace-loving people two-three kilometres away from the area of unrest?" Chowdhury asked.

He also claimed that the state administration's lack of alertness was responsible for the current situation in the area.

A person was allegedly hacked to death while a Deputy Commissioner of Police lost a hand after getting hit by a bomb during the clash between two groups centring on a Ram Navami procession organised by the sangh affiliates in Raniganj on Monday.

Several others including police personnel were also injured and several shops and houses vandalised and set ablaze during the clashes.

The communal tension spilled onto other parts of Asansol forcing the administration to impose prohibitory orders in the area and suspend internet services.

Nineteen people were arrested for fomenting trouble and local MP and BJP leader Babul Supriyo stopped from visiting the area.

A four-member committee formed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah is scheduled to visit the trouble hit areas on Sunday and submit a report.

The Home Ministry has also sought a report from the state government on incidents of arson and violence during the processions.

However, the Trinamool Congress government denied knowledge of any such directive from the Central government and blamed the BJP for the unrest.

The BJP, which is trying to pitchfork itself as the main challenger to the Trinamool in the state, has been using the Ram Navami celebrations since last year to appeal to the majority Hindu population.

Sensing the BJP's motive, the Trinamool also resorted to celebrate the occasion on its own this year.

--IANS

mgr/him/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Special task force (STF) of UP Police has unearthed an international gang of turtle smugglers and arrested the gang leader here with 27 kg of dried turtle calipee, an official said today.

The gang leader ,identified as Saleem Sheikh of West Bengal, was arrested from Kanpur Central Station while he was waiting for the Brahmputra Express to reach Malda yesterday, STF's Inspector General of Police (IGP), Amitabh Yash said.

The dried turtle calipee were of as many as 13 endangered species found around rivers including Ganga, Gomti, and Ghaghra which is a hub of the endangered species, the IG added.

Following inputs about an international gang involved in smuggling of endangered species of turtle and illegal business of dry turtle calipee being active here, a team led by an additional SP rank official was pressed to gather intelligence about the gang and its members.

A joint team of STF and forest officials nabbed Saleem and seized 27 kg of dried turtle calipee stuffed in two bags from his possession.

Initially he tried to mislead STF while being questioned to find out where he was taking dried calipee and other possible links including middlemen, carriers and traders- involved in illegal turtle trade, said STF's Additional SP, Arvind Chaturvedi.

Later, however, he admitted that some smugglers were hired to collect dried soft shell turtle calipee from Kanpur and its neighbouring districts including Etawah, Etah, Mainpuri, Auraiyya and Farukkabad to be handed it over to international gang members operating from West Bengal.

The turtle calipee was to be smuggled to China and Malaysia through Bangladesh where it was supposed to be sold at Rs 50,000 per kg, Chaturvedi added.

A case has been registered and efforts are being made to make more arrests, the ASP added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP leader Subramanian Swamy hit out at the government, led by his own party, over the disinvestment of Air India, saying it was potentially another scam in the making.

The former Union minister said he would watch the developments and file a private criminal law complaint, if he found culpability in the disinvestment process.

The proposed sale of is potentially another scam in the making. Selling family silver is not divestment. I am watching who is doing what and will, if I see culpability, file a private criminal law complaint, he tweeted.

The government had, on March 28, unveiled the plan to sell up to 76 per cent stake in and transfer the management control to private players, thus kicking off the ambitious strategic disinvestment process for the debt-laden national carrier.

The move has come under criticism from the opposition, with Trinamool Congress (TMC) attacking the Centre over the issue.

"I'm sorry to read in the media about the government inviting expression of interest for selling Air India, the jewel of our nation. We strongly oppose this and want this order to be withdrawn immediately," TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had said.

"This government must not be allowed to sell our country," the West Bengal chief minister had tweeted, hours after the disinvestment plan was unveiled.

TMC MP Derek O'Brien had also slammed the move.

"The proposed disinvestment of is still being examined by the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Transport Tourism & Culture. Stakeholders are being called. Views heard. Report still some time away. How come these moves from Govt (sic)?," he had tweeted.

O'Brien, who is chairing the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, has subsequently indicated through his tweets that the matter will be raised in Parliament, when the House resumes on Monday.

Parliament reopens on Monday. This conversation about #AirIndia now needs to move beyond tweets. Let's (sic)," he had tweeted.

The TMC leader also re-tweeted Swamy's tweet today.

(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.)William Bryan and Lilly Smith broke program records and set the pace for the Covenant track and field teams at the Hilltop Classic

on Friday

, hosted by Birmingham Southern.

The men placed fifth in the event with 44 points, while the women were sixth with 22 points.

Bryan set two program and personal records on the day to lead the men's team. The sophomore broke a program record and finished second in the 200 meter with a time of 22.29. Bryan also set a program and personal best in the 400 as he finished first with a time of 49.20. The 400 time for Bryan ranks 10th-best in Division III on the year. The sophomore broke a program record and finished second in the 200 meter with a time of 22.29. Bryan also set a program and personal best in the 400 as he finished first with a time of 49.20. The 400 time for Bryan ranks 10th-best in Division III on the year.

The men's team also saw a program record fall in the 3000 meter steeplechase event as Micaiah Allison placed third overall with his time of 10:29.51.

Several other personal records were also set for the men. In the 1500, Caleb Aikens was just off his personal-best pace as he finished in a time of 4:18.15 and sixth overall, but Leif Le Mahieu did set a personal record coming in at 4:20.41 and eighth in the race. Tristan Dunlavy set a personal record time in the 400 at 50.48 and was fifth in the event that Bryan ended up winning. In the 100 meter dash, Ari Zorns tied his personal-best mark by finishing seventh at 11.39. Tumah Ngoh came in ninth at 11.71, also a personal best.

Smith also had a big personal and program record. The junior finished second in the 5000 meter run, after passing two Alabama-Huntsville runners late, with a blazing time of 18:29.05. In the same event, Margaret Fitch placed eighth with a personal-best time of 19:33.46.

In the 1500 meter event on the women's side, Hannah Samuels and Michelann Settle both set personal marks. Samuels came in sixth with a time of 5:12.25, while Settle was seventh at 5:14.70. In the 400, Virginia Kay Roberts just missed her best time as she came in sixth at 1:08.28. The women also garnered points in the long jump as Abigail Wallace was seventh after a mark of 3.98 meters and Gracie Holbrook was eighth at 3.91 meters.

Covenant will head to Mount Berry, Ga., and the Berry Field Day Invitational on

April 6-7

.The Andhra Pradesh public health and medical employees' union today announced its decision to go on a state-wide strike pressing for its charter of demands including equal wage for equal work, from April 9.

Talking to reporters here, State President of the union, G Askara Rao urged the state government to dispense with the system of bio-metric attendance.

He also demanded withdrawal of the move to privatise government hospitals in the name of public-private partnership.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat today visited Northern Command headquarters in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district and reviewed overall security situation along the Line of Control.

Gen Rawat, who was on a two-day visit to J&K, had visited forward areas bordering China in the eastern Ladakh region yesterday.

Today, the Army Chief visited Northern Command Headquarter at Udhampur, a defence spokesman said.

He was briefed by Lieutenant General D Anbu, GOC-in-C, Northern Command, on the overall security situation along the Line of Control and the hinterland in the command theatre, the spokesman said.

The Army Chief interacted with senior military commanders and took a firsthand assessment of the prevailing operational conditions and preparedness, the spokesman said.

Gen Rawat lauded the high standards of operational readiness in the difficult terrain and challenging operational environment, he said.

The General also lauded the synergy and cooperation between the Northern Command, Air Force, Central Armed Police Forces, Civil Administration, and the JK Police operating in the region, he said.

Gen Rawat arrived at Leh yesterday and visited forward posts in Eastern Ladakh.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Taking a dig at the BJP over its "double standard" on the ban of cow slaughter, Karnataka minister Ramalinga Reddy today alleged that the country's beef export was flourishing under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's regime.

Recalling the statements of BJP president Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during their visits to Karnataka that they would ban cow slaughter in the state after coming to power, Reddy said killing of any animal was not right.

"They (BJP) say that they will ban cow slaughter if they come to power in Karnataka, while our country exports cow meat, beef to other countries...it has been four years since they came to power, why have they not stopped these exports," he asked.

Speaking to reporters here, the state home minister noted, "If they have real love for cows, they will have to first stop the exports."



Reddy also alleged that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's regime, the country has attained second position in the global beef exports, from the third place it enjoyed earlier.

Brazil currently holds the first position, while Australia is third.

The Congress minister said the income earned by the country during 2015-16 from beef exports stood at Rs 26,682 crore.

"Does this mean for Rs 26,000 crore, they (BJP) are exporting beef and not banning it? If their sentiment about cow is true, let them stop it," he said.

Citing data by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy data, Reddy said under the Modi regime, beef exports have seen a growth of about 14 per cent every year.

BJP-ruled Maharashra and Uttar Pradesh have large number of beef processing and exporting companies, he said, adding there were allegations that BJP leaders were partners in these beef exporting companies in Uttar Pradesh.

The Karnataka minister said in BJP-ruled Goa, 30 to 50 tonnes of beef is used every day, adding in many northeastern states where the BJP is in power, they are not ready for a ban on cow slaughter for "political reasons".

"...they (BJP) are playing a drama...if they want to ban, let them ban every where and all animals. I will completely support it...let them first leave their double standard out," he said.

Reddy also termed Shah's visit to temples, Swami jis (seers) and royal family of Mysuru in Karnataka as "politically motivated" ahead of the May 12 state assembly election.

Hitting out at Shah's statement that BJP would bring the culprits involved in killings of RSS and BJP activists to justice, Reddy asked, "Who are they to bring them to justice when we have already done the job."



He said the state government has already put the culprits behind bars and in many cases, charge-sheets have been filed, adding "the BJP claimed that 23 activists were killed, while the the truth is only 10 of them belonged to the BJP or Sangh parivar. The rest were all different cases, including that of personal rivalry."Accusing the BJP of indulging in false propaganda about the killing of 'Hindu activists', he questioned as to why the party leaders were not speaking about the killings of PFI and SDPI activists.

Regarding party ticket to his daughter Soumya Reddy to contest from Jayanagara constituency in Bengaluru for the assembly polls, Reddy said, "If she is given the ticket, she will contest from Jayanagara, if some one else is given, we will support that candidate".

About reports that she was looking at Bommanahalli constituency as a second option, the home minister clarified that his daughter would not contest from any other constituency.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Bhagalpur court today rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Union minister and BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Choubey's son Arijit Shashwat, facing arrest in a case relating to communal clashes in the district.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Kumud Ranjan turned down the bail plea filed by the 38-year-old Shashwat.

The court pronounced a one-line order that Shashwat's plea is rejected, his lawyer Viresh Kumar Mishra told PTI.

Shashwat had moved the court after an arrest warrant was issued against him a week earlier.

"We are conducting raids in Bhagalpur and other parts of Bihar to trace Shashwat," Bhagalpur SSP Manoj Kumar said.

He said Shashwat's mobile phone has been switched off.

Kumar said "if required, we may initiate action against Shashwat under sections 82 and 83 of Criminal Procedure Code, relating to declaring a person as an absconder and attachment of his property".

The arrest warrant was issued against Shashwat and eight others after they were named in an FIR filed at Nathnagar police station of Bhagalpur in connection with the clashes that broke out between members of two communities on March 17.

Shashwat had unsuccessfully contested 2015 Assembly polls from Bhagalpur town on a BJP ticket. He lost to Congress's Ajit Sharma.

Heavy stone-pelting and even exchange of fire was witnessed during the violence in which several persons, including two policemen, were injured.

The clashes had followed a skirmish between residents of Nathnagar and those participating in a procession, taken out on 'New Year' as per the Hindu calendar. The procession was led by the Union minister's son.

The locals had objected to playing of loud music during the procession.

The violence was also the first in a series of minor communal riots witnessed in several districts of the state.

Communal passions have have peaked in Aurangabad, Nalanda, Samastipur, Sheikhpura and Nawada districts following the Ram Navami festivities.

The opposition has criticised the Nitish Kumar government as the administration has failed to arrest Shashwat.

Notes of discord have also emerged within the ruling JD(U)-BJP combine over the issue. The BJP has blamed the recent spurt in communal flare-ups on the RJD, though JD(U) leaders like K C Tyagi and Shyam Rajak have issued statements asking Shashwat to surrender.

The chief minister has cautioned people against getting swayed by communal passions, especially whipped up by rumours on social media.

On Monday, Shashwat had said he would not surrender as he was "not a fugitive".

The young BJP leader has charged the local police with acting as per the directions of a local MLA, apparently from the Congress and lodging a "fabricated" case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A day after the PDP said that delay in resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan has the potential of undermining the Agenda of Alliance of the PDP-BJP government, the BJP said such remarks can lead to mistrust and add to confusion among the people.

"The BJP has refuted the repeated claims being made in the media by Sartaj Madni, PDP Vice-President, that dialogue with Pakistan was the first and last condition for forging alliance with the BJP," BJP spokesperson Anil Gupta said in a statement.

Madni had yesterday said that delay in resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan has the potential of undermining the Agenda of Alliance of the PDP-BJP government.

He had said the AoA was a commitment to the people to resolve the Kashmir problem through "reconciliation and dialogue".

The AoA, which formed the basis for PDP-BJP forming a government in Jammu and Kashmir, was an express commitment to the people of the state on resolution of Kashmir problem through reconciliation and dialogue, he had said.

He also asserted that delay in resumption of sustainable dialogue and revival of peace initiatives between India and Pakistan are causing worries and have the potential of undermining the AoA.

Gupta responded by saying that such "selective quoting from the AoA can lead to mistrust and add to confusion among the people".

The coalition government was formed, Gupta said, as a Governance Alliance without any pre-conditions to provide a stable and representative government that will work towards providing smart governance, ensuring self-sustaining and balanced development across the three regions and to create conditions to facilitate resolution of all issues of J&K.

"AoA nowhere refers to the Kashmir problem but is committed to resolution of all outstanding issues of J&K," Gupta asserted.

As far as Indo-Pak relations are concerned, he said, the AoA envisions the coalition government to support and strengthen the initiatives and approach taken by the Central government to create a reconciliatory environment for peace and development within the sub-continent.

"Despite best efforts of the Modi government to offer a reconciliatory hand to Pakistan, there has been no reciprocal gesture by Pakistan. Instead, Pakistan has not only been abetting and aiding terror operations across the border, it has also been killing our innocent civilians living on the LoC and the IB through unprovoked ceasefire violations", Gupta said.

In such an environment the PDP needs to condemn Pakistan and support the stand of the Centre rather than advocating for talks with Pakistan, he added.

The BJP leader said the onus lies on Pakistan to create a conducive environment for sustained dialogue process to resume.

Gupta also said there were "many issues" in the AoA beyond Indo-Pak relations that affect the lives of the people of the state.

He counted these "many issues" as: return to the Valley of Kashmiri Pandits with dignity, settlement of West Pakistan refugees, extending all benefits accruing to the people living on the LoC to the people living on IB, and constitution of a Delimitation Commission



However, there is no visible initiative being taken for their resolution, Gupta added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)State-owned has called off move to divest its entire shareholding in housing subsidiary Canfin Homes after receiving lower than expected price quotation.

"Since the quote received is not in tune with the valuation, has decided to call off divestment process of it entire stake in Canfin Homes Ltd (CFHL), which was under process," said in a regulatory filing.

However, it did not provide further details.

Can Fin Homes has a pan India network of 132 branches, 20 Affordable Housing Loan Centres (AHLCs) and 20 satellite offices with customer base of over 1.2 lakh.

In December 2017, Canara Bank informed stock exchanges that it will offload 4 per cent stake in Canfin Homes Ltd (CFHL). After the transaction, the bank's holding in CFHL would have reduced to 26 per cent.

However, later it informed that it has not accepted bids from empanelled merchant bankers and it will divest its entire stake in the company.Two British Islamic State recruits, members of the so-called Beatles gang of jihadis who were captured in Syria, have accused the UK government of denying them a fair trial by revoking their citizenship, media reports said today.

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, both from west London, were captured in eastern Syria by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and are now being held in northern Syria.

In an interview from captivity quoted across UK media today, the duo said the UK government's decision to withdraw their citizenship was "illegal" and opened them up to "torture".

"Being taken to any foreign land and treated in any way and having nobody to vouch for you. When you have these two guys who don't even have any citizenship... if we just disappear one day, where is my mum going to go and say where is my son," said Elsheikh.

He spoke of his membership of ISIS but did not admit to belonging to a four-member Beatles cell or to having been involved in the kidnappings or killings of western hostages associated with the British jihadi group.

Elsheikh branded the allegations "propaganda" and denounced the media for spreading stories of an alleged Beatles cell.

"No fair trial, when I am 'the Beatle' in the media. No fair trial," he said.

US officials believe "the Beatles" ISIS cell beheaded more than 27 Western hostages and tortured many more.

The other two cell members also from west London were Mohammed Emwazi, nicknamed "Jihadi John", and Aine Davis.

Emwazi, the ringleader, was killed in a drone strike in 2015 and Davis was convicted of being a senior ISIS member and jailed in Turkey last year.

Kotey described ISIS killings of western hostages as something that was "regrettable".

Both Kotey and Elsheikh are designated terrorists by the US State Department, which says they have used "exceptionally cruel" torture methods.

UK Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood said he believed the men should be tried in an international criminal court.

Elsheikh, whose family came to Britain from Sudan when he was a child, worked as a mechanic in London.

Kotey, who is of Ghanaian and Greek-Cypriot descent, converted to Islam in his 20s. They travelled to Syria a few years ago and have been interrogated by US officials.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Centre and Tamil Nadu today moved the Supreme Court on the issue of constitution and composition of the Cauvery Management Board in compliance with the February 16 apex court verdict on the decades-old river water-sharing dispute.

The Centre sought three-months time to implement the apex court order due to the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections.

Besides extension of time, the Centre asked for clarification on various issues for formulation of a "scheme" for implementing the decision of the top court.

Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, sought contempt action against the Centre for "failure" to frame the scheme for constitution of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee within six weeks as directed by the apex court on February 16.

The Centre, in its petition, said that since there were divergent views between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on the constitution of the CMB, the apex court should clarify whether "it is open to the central government to frame the scheme under 6A at variance with the recommendations contained in the report of the CWDT (Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal) regarding the Cauvery Management Board".

Karnataka has opposed constitution of the CMB and sought some alternative mechanism in place of any such board for complying with the scheme to implement the verdict.

The Union government also said considering overall sensitivity of the issues involved, the apex court may also clarify whether it has any flexibility in modifying the composition of the CMB to "a mixture of administrative and technical body" and "not purely a technical body" as recommended by the CWDT for effective conduct of the business of the board.

It also wanted clarification on whether the board framed by the central government under Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956 can have functions different from the ones recommended for Cauvery Management Board by the CWDT in its report.

The Centre told the apex court that the Cauvery issue is "very emotive" in Karnataka and since the Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced the schedule for Assembly elections to Karnataka on March 27, the constitution of the CMB may result in serious law and order situation.

"If the central government is to constitute a scheme under 6A of the ISWRD Act, 1956 and notify it during the state Vidhan Sabha election process, the central government fears that it would lead to a massive public outrage, vitiate the election process and cause serious law and order problem," it said.

Tamil Nadu, in its contempt plea, said that the central government was bound to give effect to the judgment by framing a scheme so that the authorities -- Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee -- are put in place within six weeks.

It said that the authorities need to be in place so that the decisions of the tribunal as modified by the apex court are implemented in accordance with the time schedule prescribed therein.

"The central government is duty bound to take steps to facilitate implementation of the judgment by itself deciding and taking necessary action to constitute the machinery as per the mandate of this court. It has not taken any concrete steps in this regard," it said.

The state government said that belatedly, after a period of three weeks, the central government had merely convened a meeting of the chief secretaries of the party states on March 9, but the convening of such a meeting did not in any way make any substantial progress in the matter of constitution of Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee.

It sought contempt action against the Centre for "willful disobedience" in carrying out the clear mandate set out in the judgment passed by the apex court.

The state government's plea said the court should "direct the respondent (Centre) to purge the contempt forthwith by framing a scheme in accordance with the judgment dated February 16, 2018 of this court by providing for the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee vested with all powers to give effect to the decision of the tribunal as well as the judgment of this court."



The apex court had on February 16 raised the 270 tmcft share of Cauvery water for Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu's share while compensating it by allowing extraction of 10 tmcft groundwater from the river basin, saying the issue of drinking water has to be placed on a "higher pedestal".

With the apex court's verdict, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Union Territory of Puducherry would be annually entitled to 404.25 tmcft, 284.75 tmcft, 30 tmcft and 7 tmcft of Cauvery water respectively out of the total of 740 tmcft.

It had granted six weeks time to the Centre to formulate a scheme to ensure compliance of its 465-page judgement on decades-old Cauvery dispute, which modified the CWDT award of 2007 and made it clear that it will not be extending time for this on any ground.

It had said its verdict on Cauvery water allocation will continue for the next 15 years.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Class 12 Hindi (Elective) paper being circulated on the social media was fake, the CBSE said today and urged the people not to spread rumours regarding the paper.

The Central Board of Secondary (CBSE) is scheduled to hold the Class 12th Hindi (Elective) examination on April 2.

...a fake question paper of Class XII - Hindi (Elective) (enclosed) is being circulated on social media i.e. WhatsApp, YouTube etc.," the CBSE said in a release.

It added that the question papers circulating on these social media platforms were either of a previous year or fake.

"Hence, it is requested not to circulate the about these fake papers, so that the students and other stakeholders are not misled, the release said.

The board also enclosed the fake Hindi paper, which it said was being circulated on the social media, with its statement.

Yesterday, School Secretary Anil Swarup had said the re-examination of the CBSE Class 12 economics paper would be held on April 25, while the Class 10 mathematics re-test, if required, would be conducted only for Delhi-NCR and Haryana in July.

The announcement had come after the board received complaints that the question papers for the two subjects were leaked.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today expressed profound grief over the sudden demise of former Bihar Information Service Officer Kamlakant Upadhyay.

He had also served as Public Relations Officer in the CM office earlier.

Upadhyay died at his residence early this morning in the state capital while he was asleep, family sources said adding that he was taken to a private hospital where doctors declared him dead.

He was 57 and is survived by his wife and two sons including a journalist Aditya Vaibhav. He had recently taken voluntary retirement from government service, family sources said.

In his condolence message, Kumar said that Upadhyay was a conscientious officer.

He successfully discharged his duties holding several positions including that of the post of joint director in Information and Public Relations Department (IPRD), the release said.

He also served as Public Relations Officer (PRO) to the Chief Minister for quite long time, it said.

CM prayed to almighty that the departed soul rest in peace besides giving strength and courage to the members of bereaved family to bear the loss, the release said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Charging that the relationship between Congress and corruption is akin to that of water and fish, BJP President Amit Shah today claimed that the people of Karnataka had made up their minds to "throw out" the Siddaramaiah government in the May 12 Assembly polls.

"The Karnataka government is like an ATM for the Congress to indulge in corruption," said Shah, who was on a two-day tour of the old Mysuru region in the fourth leg of his campaign in the state.

He said people were "disappointed" with the Siddaramaiah government on several fronts, especially corruption.

"The people of Karnataka have made up their minds to throw out the Siddaramaiah government. They are disappointed with it on many fronts, with corruption being the main issue."



"The relationship between corruption and Congress party is akin to water and fish," Shah told reporters here.

Addressing a meeting at Channapatna, he said, "Without removing the corrupt and number one corrupt Siddaramaiah government, Karnataka's progress is not possible."



As Shah questioned the gathering whether they get 24 hours of power supply, there was employment for youth and hospitals in villages, the crowd responded saying, "No."Shah said "...if you say no for everything, what is the Siddaramaiah government doing?"Calling the Narendra Modi government a power generating company, Shah said the Karnataka government should work like atransformer.

"But the transformer here in Bengaluru is burnt, what you should do with a burnt transformer...don't just change it,root out this Siddaramaiah government and bring BJP governmentunder the leadership of Yeddyurappa," he said.

At his press conference, Shah said JD(S) was not in a position to form a government because it can only win a few seats and BJP was the only party which can defeat Congress.

Alleging that all parameters of development under the Siddaramaiah government were on the ebb, he said, "Though Bengaluru is mopping up revenue in good numbers, it is not percolating down to smaller cities and villages."



On farmers' suicides,Shah said "As many as 3,500 farmers have committed suicide and Siddaramaiahji is terming these as minor incidents. In my political life, I have never come across such an irresponsible statement on farmers' suicides."



To a query, Shah said the Congress government in the state was raking up the issue of religious minority tag for Lingayats to prevent B S Yeddyurappa from becoming Chief Minister after the polls and for dividing the community.

Yeddyurappa is a Lingayat strongman and the BJP's chief ministerial candidate for the coming Karnataka Assembly polls.

"This is a nefarious strategy of the Siddaramaiah government for political gains.Had Siddaramaiahji been serious about giving minority status to Lingayats, he should have done it in the early stages of his five-year term. Why now, after four-and-a-half years?" Shah asked and claimed that the UPA government had rejected a similar proposal in 2013.

In a move with major electoral ramifications ahead of the Assembly elections, the Karnataka Cabinet earlier this month decided to recommend to the Centre grant of religious minority tag to Lingayat and Veerashaiva Lingayat community, who follow the philosophy of 12th century social reformer Basaveshwara.

Asked about the BJP-led central government's stand on the minority tag to Lingayats, Shah said, "We haven't yet received the proposal in the administrative format. Why don't you ask this state government why it has not sent it so far?"



BJP does not raise such emotional issues during elections as any comment on it highly impacts voters, he said, adding that his party would make its stand on the matter known after the polls.

Shah told the Channapatna rally that in the last few days he met arecanut, coconut and coffee growers and traders.

"From the time the Siddaramaiah government came to power, there is unhappiness everywhere among farmers. Farmers of Karnataka are sad."



In the last four years more than 3,500 farmers have committed suicide across the state, Shah said.

He also promised various initiatives for the silk industry like increasing subsidy, along with marketing chain across thestate for handicrafts, which the region is famous for.

Shah, who was on a tour of Mysuru, Mandya and Ramanagara districts, said that his party would put up a good show during the polls in the old Mysuru region.

The electoral contest in old Mysuru region has been between the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) which is led by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Congress president Rahul Gandhi today accused the BJP-RSS of "spreading hatred" in the country and vowed that his party will not let their ideology win.

In a tweet, Gandhi gave his message of love and harmony and cited the statements of Yashpal Saxena and Imam Imdadul Rashidi, who lost their sons in recent communal violence.

Rashidi's 16-year-old son died in communal violence in West Bengal's Asansol Sunday after Ram Navami celebrations. Rashidi has said that as an Imam for 30 years, he would always spread the message of peace and harmony to everyone.

Yashpal Saxena's son, Ankit Saxena, was killed in Delhi on February 1 by the family of a girl he was in a relationship with, allegedly because they belonged to different communities.

Yashpal Saxena had said he did not want to blame anybody.

"After having lost their sons to hatred and communal violence, Yashpal Saxena and Imam Rashidi's messages say that in India, love will always defeat hatred. Congress's foundation is also based on compassion and brotherhood. We will not let the BJP/RSS ideology of spreading hatred to win," Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

Gandhi has often attacked the BJP and the RSS for being communal and for spreading hatred in society.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Videocon Group chairman Venugopal Dhoot has denied any dealings with Deepak Kochhar, the husband of ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, beyond investing Rs 2.5 lakh in Deepak's renewable energy business.

He termed reports of subsequent events, including loaning Rs 64 crore to Nupower Renewables through one of his companies, or subsequent transactions which resulted in Deepak Kochhar gaining full ownership of the company, as baseless.

These reports have led to allegations of possible conflict of interest and quid pro quo against Chanda Kochhar.

"Our transaction is very clear and I have not done anything wrong, and will not do anything wrong...We have not invested any money in any company floated by Deepak Kochhar.

"We invested Rs 2.5 lakh, pulled it out and now there is no relation between us," Dhoot said in an interview aired today on Marathi channel ABP Majha.

The Videocon Group chairman said Deepak sought investment in his venture, Nupower Renewables, over a decade ago. Dhoot further said he agreed as Deepak was seeking only Rs 2.5 lakh and was an "old acquaintance".

The ICICI Bank was headed by K V Kamath at that time, Dhoot said, claiming that he did not know if Chanda Kochhar was associated with the bank then.

Dhoot said he regularly invests small amounts in start-ups, but decided to exit this investment as Videocon discovered oil reserves which was not aligned with the business of Nupower, and returned his 50 per cent stake to Deepak Kochhar.

Dhoot said he had got to know Deepak Kochhar through his friend and IAS officer, former Maharashtra chief secretary Sharad Upasani. He had no contact with either Deepak Kochhar or Chanda Kochhar after the return of the stake, he said.

Asked about the alleged Rs 64 crore loan given to Nupower by Supreme Energy which is '99.99 per cent owned by him', Dhoot initially claimed Videocon does not have any such entity, but then conceded that the Group may have invested "a lakh or two" in some company, but claimed he does not exactly remember.

According to media reports, Supreme Energy loaned the money to Nupower in March 2010 through fully convertible debentures, a year after Dhoot divested his stake in Nupower.

Supreme Energy became 94.99 per cent owner of Nupower after this, with Deepak Kochhar retaining the remaining stake. The same year in November, Dhoot is alleged to have transferred his entire stake in Supreme to his business associate Mahesh Punglia.

In the interview, Dhoot said Punglia is a "big consultant" who keeps meeting people, and he (Punglia) may have "lent" his name to some venture.

He rejected any association with Supreme Energy, and added that a search of Registrar of Companies' records can reveal a 1,000 companies of the same name.

To a specific question on Chanda Kochhar's conduct, Dhoot said there was "nothing illegal". She was only one of the 12 members of the committee which cleared the loan (of Rs 3,250 crore) to Videocon Group, he said, claiming that he knew all 12 members, and Kamath, the head of the committee, used to have lunch with him.

Personal ties between two people do not always result in criminal acts, Dhoot said.

When asked about the preliminary enquiry started by the CBI in this matter, Dhoot said the agency probes every allegation made to it, including "bogus complaints".

ICICI Bank had loaned USD 100 million through its Canadian subsidiary to Videocon, which was repaid in full with interest, Dhoot said, and added that there were enquiries by the Enforcement Directorate in the matter, but it did not find any wrongdoing under the foreign exchange management laws.

"It is a circle of time where people face a difficult time. It is like the 'agni-parisksha' (litmus test) gone through by Sita and I am sure I will pass it this time," Dhoot, who is known to have a keen interest in mythology, said.

He said the diversified Videocon Group, which owes nearly Rs 40,000 crore which have slipped into an NPA, is also facing similar testing times, and hinted that it has asked banks for a "push" in the form of fresh loans, after which it can come out of the crisis in two-three months.

Dhoot said the company has serviced its debt obligations for over 32 years till it slipped into an NPA and assured to work towards making the loans performing again.

In a season where many a defaulter have fled the country, Dhoot said his passport has "expired" and he has not stepped out of the country for seven years now.

The CBI has questioned a few ICICI bank officials as part of a preliminary enquiry to find if any quid pro quo was involved in the bank issuing the Rs 3,250-crore loan to the Videocon Group in 2012.

The PE has named Videocon group promoter Venugopal Dhoot, Deepak Kochhar and unknown others, CBI sources said.

Earlier this week, the ICICI Bank board came out in support of Chanda Kochhar, saying it has full faith and confidence in her and described reports against her regarding credit disbursement to Videocon group as "malicious and unfounded rumours".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Organisations representing the survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy said today "inaction" on part of the government may lead to Union Carbide escaping criminal liability for the 1984 industrial disaster forever.

Madhya Pradesh and Union governments are showing "apathy" on the issue and this has raised the possibility of the American corporation, whose plant in Bhopal was the site of the disaster, escaping criminal liability, they alleged.

Addressing a press conference here, leaders of the organisations said Dow Chemical, the owner of Union Carbide, after merging with another American MNC DuPont, has announced plans to split into three entities by June 2019.

According to the leaders, Union Carbide is running away from facing the criminal charges, including culpable homicide, for more than 30 years.

The US company, as per criminal laws, will cease to be criminally liable for the tragedy, in which thousands of people lost their lives, after the three-way split, they said.

"More than a month ago, the organisations had written to the prime minister and other officials demanding specific steps to stop the American multinational's imminent escape from criminal proceedings," said Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action.

However, the organisations have not received any acknowledgement for their letters, let alone a reply, she bemoaned.

"We have sought the prime minister's intervention in enlisting support of US agencies to ensure Union Carbide and Dow Chemical abide by the orders of Indian courts.

"He is fully empowered by the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between the two countries to do this but so far he has chosen not to use these powers," Dhingra said.

"We are worried inaction in this matter on part of the governments in the state and at the centre may allow the killer corporation to escape Indian courts," said Rashida Bee of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh.

Leaders of other organisations, including the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogi Sangharsh Morcha and the Children Against Dow Carbide, also demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi intervene in the matter.

The tragedy occurred on the night of December 2-3, 1984, when the deadly methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the pesticide plant of Union Carbide in the city.

It is estimated that more than 15,000 people had been killed in what was the world's worst industrial disaster. More than five lakh people were affected due to the toxic gas leak.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)PETA India has urged veterinary regulatory bodies to implement and enforce the ban on cosmetic tail-docking and ear-cropping of dogs, saying performing these traumatising procedures was "illegal".

The animal rights organisation last week in a letter to the Veterinary Council of India (VCI) and the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) urged the bodies to enforce the ban under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Dog Breeding and Marketing) Rules, 2017.

PETA had also sent letters to the central and state animal-husbandry departments, veterinary colleges and universities, and veterinarians' associations in this regard.

Tail-docking and ear-cropping are cruel cosmetic veterinary procedures that are commonly practiced to give certain breeds so-called desirable traits, PETA said.

Some veterinarians, breeders, and others perform cruel, disfiguring surgeries that can cause dogs great suffering, it said.

Ears of animals are usually "cropped" when they are just eight to 12 weeks old. The process of taping and re-taping puppies' ears is often agonising to the animals, the organisation said.

"Performing traumatising, acutely painful procedures on puppies just to satisfy the arbitrary whims of humans regarding how they should look goes against veterinary ethics and, importantly, is also illegal.

"PETA India is calling on veterinarians across India to refuse to take blades, knives, or scissors to dogs' ears and tails for cosmetic purposes and is urging authorities to prosecute breeders found performing these mutilations themselves," the animal rights body's India CEO Manilal Valliyate said.

The cruel procedures were originally banned by the VCI in 2011 following an advisory issued by the AWBI.

The board had explained that non-therapeutic tail-docking and ear-cropping mutilations amount to cruelty to animals under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and that performing such procedures are, therefore, punishable offences.

"Maiming dogs also violates Sections 429 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Nevertheless, the Madras High Court overturned the ban in 2013. The AWBI filed an appeal against the order that is still pending, and PETA India has filed an intervention application in the matter.

"Although this 2017 Rule has been challenged before the high court of Delhi, the Rajasthan High Court and the Madras High Court, no interim stay has been granted to the petitioners, and the provisions of the Rules remain in force," PETA said.

The organisation pointed out that ear-cropping, or cutting off a portion of a dog's ears, even when performed by a veterinarian under general anaesthesia, causes post-surgery pain and psychological trauma and can lead to complications like infection in wounds.

The cut-apart ears are then taped and re-taped in an attempt to make them look pointy, causing further distress to dogs, PETA said.

Some breeders take matters into their own hands and use scissors or a blade to slice the dogs' ears without anaesthesia or painkillers, the animal rights body claimed.

Even when done by veterinarians, tail-docking is usually performed on puppies with scissors or a scalpel, it said.

This is usually done without anaesthesia and as an alternative, breeders often use a ring to cut off the blood supply of the tail so that it eventually falls off, PETA said.

"Those who perform the procedures disregard how essential these body parts are to dogsthey use their tails, to a degree, for balance and use their ears and tails to communicate with their human guardians and other dogs," it said.

Ear-cropping is banned in Australia, New Zealand, many countries in Europe, and most Canadian provinces, and tail-docking is prohibited in Australia, Iceland, Israel, South Africa, and elsewhere.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Doctors at a city hospital have successfully operated on a 35-year-old Ethiopian woman, suffering from a which had engulfed the nerves of her eyes affecting eyesight and blood supply to the brain.

If not removed in time, the tumour could have turned fatal.

Sefinesh Wolde started losing vision in both eyes a year ago. For almost a year her vision continued to deteriorate until eyesight in the right eye was almost completely gone while eyesight in the left eye was badly compromised. This was on top of severe headaches she was experiencing every day.

By the time she was admitted to the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital three weeks ago, she had lost complete vision in her right eye and hardly had any vision left in her left eye.

After thorough diagnosis, she was found to be suffering from Tuberculum sellae meningioma', a tumour growing from the skull base inside the brain. It was engulfing the nerves of the eyes affecting vision and blood supply to the brain,



If the blood supply to brain gets affected, it may over long term, lead to paralysis, stroke or even death.

Hers was a classic case of tumour in the anterior fossa of the brain which houses frontal lobes. The treatment for this is only surgery intervention, one of the most challenging and complicated procedures in neurosurgery.

"Skull based tumours are one of the most difficult to operate as they in the skull base and reaching them is quite a tough process.

"It involves nerves of eyes and the major blood supply of the brain because of which brain functions gets compromised. So when we operate on these tumours it is very difficult to separate carotid arteries, which are main arteries supplying blood to the brain," Dr Sudheer Kumar Tyagi, senior consultant and coordinator, Neurosurgeon, at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals said.

Treating this tumour requires immense precision to provide not just temporary relief but for long term tumour control with protection of visual function and minimisation of complications.

"Both her eyes were in a bad condition. The optic nerves as well as carotid arteries were involved with the tumour. The optic nerves are very soft in texture and also very difficult to separate from the vascular and hard brain tumours, which originate in the skull base, he said, terming the surgery as extremely challenging.

"Then we could go into the skull base and separate the tumour from both optic nerves and carotid arteries. At the same time being mindful of other structures like the brain stem, which was behind the tumour, was extremely prudent," he explained.

After surgery, the patient was moved to a post-operative course where she was managed with an extensive medication regime of antibiotics, anti-epileptics, analgesics, anti-edema, and other supportive measures.

The patient, who was discharged within a week has regained vision in both eyes and is doing well, Dr Tygai said.The EU's diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini today called for an independent investigation into the use of live ammunition by Israel's military following clashes in Gaza that left 16 Palestinians dead.

"The EU mourns the loss of life. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims," Mogherini said in a statement a day after the clashes, which also left hundreds wounded.

"The use of live ammunition should, in particular, be part of an independent and transparent investigation," she said.

"Freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are fundamental rights that must be respected," added Mogherini, a former Italian foreign minister who speaks on behalf of the European Union's 28 member states.

Yesterday's major protest -- the conflict's worst single day of violence since the 2014 Gaza war -- saw demonstrators including women and children gather at multiple sites throughout the blockaded territory, which is flanked by Israel along its eastern and northern borders.

Smaller numbers approached within a few hundred metres of the heavily fortified border fence, with Israeli troops using tear gas and live fire to force them back.

The health ministry in Gaza said 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces.

More than 1,400 were injured, including 758 by live fire, with the remainder hurt by rubber bullets and tear gas inhalation, it said.

Palestinians accused Israel of using disproportionate force, as did Turkey. The Israeli military says it opened fire only when necessary against those throwing stones and firebombs or rolling tyres at soldiers.

The EU call for a probe echoed UN chief Antonio Guterres who also called for an "independent and transparent investigation."



Protests will continue until the United States, Israel's closest ally, opens its new Jerusalem embassy around May 14, a move that has provoked deep anger among the Palestinians, who see the city's annexed eastern sector of the city as the capital of a future state.

The EU is the biggest donor to the Palestinians and has spoken out against US President Donald Trump's Jerusalem decision.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ikwaput Fazila scored five goals as Gokulam Kerala FC routed Indira Gandhi Academy SE 6-1 to notch up their first win in the ongoing Hero Indian Women's League match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here today.

Sumithra Kamaraj scored the opening goal as Indira Gandhi ASE took the lead but Ugandan striker Fazila had other plans as she wrecked havoc scoring five times for Gokulam. Anita Rawat was the other scorer for Gokulam.

The match began with Gokulam coming strongly off the blocks. They made several inroads into the Indira Gandhi box with Fazila and Anita combining well. But their efforts didn't yield a goal.

As was the case for Gokulam in their past two matches they conceded against the run of play despite their dominance, when Sumithra scored a stunner in the 24th minute. Her shot going past Rumpa to give Indira the 1-0 lead.

The goal made Gokulam's reserve stronger as they drove forward in search of an equaliser. It did arrive in the 32nd minute when Fazila's shot took a slight deflection into the Indira goal. Naocha had a chance to give Gokulam the lead but she missed a sitter.

Meanwhile, at the other end Rumpa Malik pulled off a double save to keep parity in the 42nd. Just when it seemed Gokulam might be balking under pressure, Fazila calmed their nerves by striking from just outside the box in the 44th. She got her hat-trick soon after as the referee signaled half-time.

With a 3-1 lead already, Gokulam didn't sit back and continued their dominant run. There midfield directed all their forward passes to Fazila, who seemed to be in a groove of her own. She outclassed and outfoxed the Indira defence, who struggled to keep up with the Ugandan.

The 58th minute saw the striker score her fourth with a sweet pile driver past the keeper and then came the fifth in the 76th minute as wild celebrations and a celebratory dance followed.

Anita Rawat completed the rout with her long ranger in the 81st minute as a hapless Indira Gandhi ASE side could only look on.

Gokulam Kerala FC will now square off against Eastern Sporting Union on April 2 while Indira Gandhi ASE will take on Rising Student's Club on April 4.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Christopher Nolan has been vocal about his love for traditional formats -- 35mm and 70mm- over digital and the renowned director today encouraged aspiring filmmakers to believe in and fight for their choice of medium.

The director, who released his World War II drama "Dunkirk" earlier than the scheduled date in cinemas that still projected celluloid, said a film is a director's dream and it should be their call when it comes to the movie watching experience they want their audiences to have.

"This discussion has risen in the past that why somebody chose to shoot a film in something which is difficult and not digital. They (critics) speak as if filmmaking were a illogical and pragmatic thing to do. But its not. No film is illogical or pragmatic. Films are about dreams, magic, escapism and experience.

"So, it is about your feeling towards the medium whether you want to work or not work that way. I am somebody who choose to shoot film in something which is difficult than shooting it digitally," Nolan said here today.

The 47-year-old director, known for modern classics such as "Memento", "The Prestige", "Inception" and the Dark Knight series, is in India on a three day trip along with visual artiste Tacita Dean to promote the cause of film preservation and restoration.

Nolan said his aim is to "empower filmmakers to view their choices of medium as one thing they have to fight for."



"None of these fights are easy particularly when you are starting out. But they are all worth fighting for as we are all part of that tension and the process that filmmakers go through to tell stories that they want to tell," he added.

The director was part of the event titled 'Reframing the future of film ' along with Dean organised by Film Heritage Foundation and hosted by its director, filmmaker-archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.

Nolan, who has previously promoted film preservation and restoration in the US, UK and Mexico, said he is happy with the kind of response he has got from Indian film fraternity.

"What we are trying to do with these meetings is to bring together different facets of film production and exhibition. It is to really maintain place that celluloid films have in the future and of course in digital world. We want to see celluloid films as a strict medium and not as technology that is being replaced by digital. It is a creative medium.

"I am really trying to engage filmmakers in this discussion about how we can maintain and improve and continue giving joy through celluloid. What is exciting about meeting people from Indian film industry is that there is a spirit of optimism, films having wonderful future. There is a lot excitement to continue give the audience the reason to leave their home and come together to the theatres to experience their story," he said.

Nolan added that he wants to preserve history of films for future generations by promoting and protecting the work from the past and "making it available to the audiences of tomorrow."



Dungarur, who is hosting the ace filmmaker in India, said in his career he has shown everything on celluloid and will keep fighting to preserve the medium.

"What is very important as a film preservationist and as a filmmaker is that I have shown everything on celluloid. We are fighting a battle to save celluloid films in India where people are disbanding the films. People are not realising the importance of celluloid," he said.

Dean, best known for her work in 16 mm film, said their aim is to figure out "the ways by which we can keep the film as a medium alive for future generations".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A fire broke out today at a jute mill in the eastern part of the city.

Ten fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the flames at Calcutta Jute Mill in Kadapara area.

The fire started at 1.55 pm, an official in the Fire and Emergency Services department of the state government said, adding that efforts are on to control the blaze.

A source close to the management of the jute mill said the fire erupted outside the main factory and not on its premises.

The place where the fire broke out today was used to store raw materials and jute waste, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Four of a family, including a woman, from Chhattisgarh, on a tour of Andhra Pradesh, met with a watery grave while bathing in river Godavari today.

The deceased were from Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh, police sources said.

Meanwhile, State Deputy Chief Minister (Home) N China Rajappa expressed grief over the tragedy.

He spoke to the West Godavari district police officials and sought details of the incident, a release from his office said.

Rajappa directed the authorities to make required arrangements to shift the bodies to their native village.

A police official told PTI that the four came to Sivagiri under Polavaram mandal and stayed in a private resort to visit the picturesque 'Papikondalu' in the river.

This morning, they got into the river, close to the resort, for a bath and accidentally drowned, the official said.

Villagers jumped into the waters and fished out the bodies before informing the police.

Police said the resort did not have a valid licence and complaints were made against it on earlier occasions, but to no avail.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Gazans buried their dead today with calls for "revenge" a day after a major demonstration led to clashes that saw Israeli forces kill 16 Palestinians in the bloodiest day since a 2014 war.

But while anger seethed over yesterday's events, only several hundred protesters had returned to tents erected at different sites near the Gaza Strip's border with Israel by mid-afternoon to resume demonstrations planned to last six weeks in the blockaded enclave.

Thousands attended funerals for 14 of those killed -- two were buried yesterday -- with mourners holding Palestinian flags and some chanting "revenge" and firing into the air.

The armed wing of Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, said that five of those killed were members who were participating "in popular events side-by-side with their people."



"Where are you, Arabs? Where are you, Muslims?" mourners chanted at one funeral, calling on the Arab and Muslim world to intervene.

A general strike was also being held in both the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.

Minor clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians broke out in Hebron, while a small protest was held in Nablus, both in the West Bank.

Israel defended its soldiers' yesterday's actions, when troops opened fire on Palestinians who strayed from the main tent city protest -- attended by tens of thousands -- and approached the heavily fortified fence cutting off the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military says it opened fire only when necessary against those throwing stones and firebombs or rolling tyres at soldiers.

It also said there were attempts to damage the fence and infiltrate Israel, while alleging there was an attempted shooting attack against soldiers along the border that caused no casualties.

Palestinians accused Israel of using disproportionate force, while human rights groups questioned Israel's use of live fire.

Unverified videos were being shared online, including one appearing to show a protester being shot while running with a tyre.

UN chief Antonio Guterres called for an "independent and transparent investigation." In addition to the 16 killed, more than 1,400 were wounded, 758 of them by live fire, with the remainder hurt by rubber bullets and tear gas inhalation, according to the Gazan health ministry.

No casualties were reported among Israelis.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas declared a day of national mourning today and in a speech said he held Israel fully responsible for the deaths.

His spokesman today called on the US at the UN Security Council to not provide "cover for Israel to continue its aggression against the Palestinian people."



An Israeli military spokesman said yesterday's events were "not a protest demonstration" but "organised terrorist activity" by Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.

"If it continues, we shall have no choice but to respond inside the Gaza Strip against terrorist targets which we understand to be behind these events," Brigadier General Ronen Manelis told journalists.

The six-week protest is in support of Palestinian refugees and the timetable holds significance for a range of reasons that have added to tensions.

It began on Land Day, when Palestinians commemorate the killing of six unarmed Arab protesters in Israel in 1976, and as Jewish Israelis readied to observe the Passover holiday, which started at sundown yesterday.

Protests will continue until the US opens its new Jerusalem embassy around May 14, a move that has provoked deep anger among the Palestinians, who see the city's annexed eastern sector as the capital of their future state.

May 14 will also mark 70 years since the creation of Israel, while Palestinians will mark what they call the Nakba, or "catastrophe," the following day.

The Nakba commemorates the more than 700,000 Palestinians who either fled or were expelled from their homes in the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948.

US President Donald Trump has harshly criticised the Palestinians in the past, but the State Department said only that it was "deeply saddened" by the loss of life and urged steps to lower tensions.

Human Rights Watch criticised Israel's actions.

"Israeli allegations of violence by some protesters do not change the fact that using lethal force is banned by international law except to meet an imminent threat to life," the New York-based group said, calling the number of killed and wounded "shocking."



Israel's arch-foe Iran, a longstanding supporters of Hamas, condemned the "shameful" killing of protesters and mocked the fact that it happened as Israeli Jews prepared to mark Passover.

Israel had deployed troop reinforcements along the border, including more than 100 special forces snipers, saying it would prevent attempts to break through the fence.

Protests along the border are common, often culminating in young Palestinian men throwing stones at Israeli soldiers who respond with tear gas along with rubber and live bullets.

But the "March of Return" protest that began on Friday is on a larger scale and intended to involve families with women and children camping in tent cities near the border for weeks.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A minister in the Goa government has threatened protests over the proposed 11 per cent hike in electricity tariff that will come into effect in the state from April 1.

Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, addressing a press conference today, expressed "utter displeasure" at his government accepting the recommendation of the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) for a tariff hike.

"The hike should be withdrawn by April 30, failing which I will lead protests on the streets. I have already spoken to state Power Minister Pandurang Madkaikar expressing my dissatisfaction at the government accepting the JERC's recommendations," Rane told reporters here.

He said that such a huge hike should not be imposed on the people of Goa as they are already reeling under economic problems brought about by the ban on mining since March 16.

Rane said he would also be writing to the Cabinet Advisory Committee, comprising Sudin Dhavalikar (MGP), Francis DSouza (BJP) and Vijai Sardesai (Goa Forward Party), demanding that the government reject the recommendations of the JERC.

State Power Minister Madkaikar could not be contacted for comments.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Gujarat government today released 1,800 cusec (cubic foot per second) of water from Kevadiya and Karjan dams into the Narmada river to enable devotees to take a holy dip on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti, officials said.

AV Mahale, deputy executive engineer at Karjan dam, told PTI that 1,200 cusec water was released from the dam into the Narmada river only for today on the instructions of the government.

RG Kanungo, superintending engineer of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada project at Kevadiya, said that 600 cusec water was released for the same purpose.

Officials said devotees arrived in large numbers by the banks of the Narmada at places like Chandod, Shinor, Kayavarohan, Garudeshwar, Rajpipla among others in the districts of Vadodara, Narmada, Chhota Udepur and Bharuch.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A minor girl, who had allegedly fled from her home in Assam, was found at the Kurla railway station here two days ago.

The girl, resident of Guwahati, was spotted by Maharashtra Security Force (MSF) guard Anita Patil at the Kurla station on the evening of March 29, a railway police official said.

As the girl looked distressed and scared, Patil asked her where she had come from. When she couldn't give a satisfactory reply, Patil took her to the Railway Protection Force (RPF) officials.

The girl revealed that she had fled from her home in Guwahati, following which her family was contacted.

She was handed over to the Government Railway Police. She would be staying at a shelter home until her parents arrive and take her back, said the official.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Allahabad High Court has issued notices to the CBSE and the ICSE to file their response on a PIL seeking to regulate exorbitant fees charged by self-financed private schools.

The HC has sought the response from the boards within four weeks.

The matter would come up for hearing after service of notices to the Central Board of Secondary (CBSE) and the Indian Certificate of Secondary (ICSE).

A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Abdul Moin passed the order on the PIL filed by Laik Ahmad.

The PIL has demanded establishment of a Fee Regularity Commission headed by a retired high court judge to regulate fees to be fixed by private schools.

It further sought directions to the two boards to use their powers to control private schools in fixing fees "as they cannot shut their eyes after grating recognition to run a school".

In view of the delay in passing of a proposed legislation to be tabled in the UP Legislature to control fees charged by private schools, the petitioner had also sought that till the said enactment is passed by the Legislature, the Uttar Pradesh government should be directed to issue some circular or order to control the fees to be charged during the 2018-19 session.

Otherwise, private schools would make excuse that they had already fixed fees for the current sessions and hence, it cannot be revisited, Ahmad claimed.

The court's Lucknow bench also asked the Uttar Pradesh government to place its response.

The petitioner's counsel Sandeep Yadav pleaded that in Gujarat, the government enacted a law in 2017 to regulate the fees and it was affirmed by the Gujarat High Court.

Similar, a legislation is in the pipeline in UP, but it would take time. In the meanwhile, the new sessions are coming up, he said.

Seeking the HC's intervention, the petitioner has demanded immediate action by the state government on the issue.

It has been stated in the PIL, that private schools are charging exorbitant fees and even do not disclose the fee structure nor do they upload it on website.

Pleading that is fundamental right of a child, the PIL said that the schools cannot be allowed to run for only money making.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Madras High Court has dismissed a discharge petition filed by an official of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), arrested by the CBI in January last, in connection with a graft case involving a private educational institution here.

Justice G Jayachandran passed the order on the plea by G Elumalai, enforcement officer of EPFO, challenging the order of the XIII additional special court for CBI cases, Chennai.

The court had on December 28, 2017 rejected his discharge plea.

On January 15, the CBI arrested Elumalai along with the prime accused, E S Durga Prasad, Regional Commissioner of EPFO in an alleged bribery case involving the Saveetha Group of Institutions.

Five others were also arrested in this connection.

The prosecution case was that Durga Prasad had allegedly demanded Rs 25 lakh as illegal gratification for favouring the group,which runs a university and some colleges in Tamil Nadu.

Acting on a tip-off, CBI sleuths had laid a trap and nabbed Durga Prasad while he accepted bribe of Rs 14.5 lakh from one Sengottiyan.

When the plea came up for hearing recently, Elumalai submitted that he had only discharged his duty as an enforcement officer and there was no evidence to prove that he received any amount as illegal gratification.

Mere association with the other accused in an official capacity could not be construed to mean that he was the party to the conspiracy, he argued.

"When no material is seized from me and when no incriminating evidence has been placed before the court against me, the prosecution ought to have dropped the proceedings against me," Elumalai contended.

Relying on the evidence produced by the prosecution, the court said it appeared from the material that when Durga Prasad received the bribe the petitioner was present with him.

The judge said there was enough material evidence to indicate the petitioner had full knowledge and was a party to demand and accept illegal gratification.

Since a prima facie case is made out against him sufficient to frame charges, the request to discharge the petitioner does not arise, the judge said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Christopher Nolan has recently watched legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray's "Pather Panchali" and the ace Hollywood director says he is willing to learn more about Indian cinema.

The 47-year-old director, who is in India on a three day trip along with visual artiste Tacita Dean to promote the cause of film preservation and restoration, said his aim during his stay is to meet Indian filmmakers and get the better understanding of cinema culture here.

"I have had the pleasure of watching Mr Ray's 'Pather Panchali' recently, which I hadn't seen before. I think it is one of the best films ever made. It is an extraordinary piece of work. I am interested in learning more about Indian film industry and that is the reason why I came.

"Obviously, Tacita and I want to spread our message about reframing the feature films as broadly as possible. And India being the largest film industry in the world is an essential part of that. The other reason why I wanted to come here was from selfish point of view. I wanted to meet Indian filmmakers and learn more about India. I am looking forward to watching more Indian films in future," Nolan said in a group interview.

The director filmed a pivotal sequence of his 2012 film "The Dark Knight Rises" in Jodhpur and he says, "I would love to come back to shoot for longer".

Nolan, who shot his latest release "Dunkirk" on 65mm stock and has been vocal about his fondness for film as a medium, said it is important to preserve the traditional format for future generation.

"The film culture is always developing in ways we can't predict. The importance of this discussion about films is about preserving it as an option for future filmmakers. We can't say who is going to use or who is not. But one of the things worth pointing out that films as an acquisition medium is still vastly superior to digital imaging technology. Even if you then put out a DCP (Digital Cinema Package)," he said.

The "Inception" helmer met members of the Indian film fraternity today and discussed about the various ways of preserving and archiving film as a medium.

Nolan said, "Photochemicals films are a very important cultural medium and it needs to have a place in the future of imaging."



The director believes filmmaking is an emotional process and as he works towards preserving films, he wants people to not analyse cinema on "logical terms".

"Film is an wonderful analogy for how we perceive the world and our dreams. Film is a tool for exploring time and that has always influenced me. It is about the subconscious and the emotional reaction.

"With this conversation of reframing the future of films (we are) trying to get rid of this idea of analysing the film in purely engineering terms or logical terms. The reality is no cinema should be analysed that way. Be it casting or music, these are all emotional decision and they should be that way," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA) has demanded imposition of safeguard duty on imports of solar cells and modules, saying it would be significant to the solar manufacturing industry.

The association has written to the Commerce ministry favouring the Directorate General of Safeguards (DGS) recommendation of imposition of 70 per cent duty on imports of solar PV cells and modules.

The DGS is mandated to investigate the existence of "serious injury" or "threat of serious injury" to the domestic industry as a consequence of increased import of an article into India.

It also submitted its findings to the central government along with recommendations regarding the amount and period of levy of safeguard duty to check injury or threat of injury to the domestic industry.

"The consequences of not imposing the recommended duty, and in good time, are very significant not only to the solar manufacturing industry, but also to the nation, considering the strategic nature of solar power to India and perpetuating dependence on China for imports of solar cells and modules," the ISMA's letter said.

It cited ways to check solar power tariff rise, which is expected due to the imposition of the duty.

It is true that the imposition of safeguard duty will increase the prices of cells and modules, inherently because that is the objective of duty imposition, the association said.

"However, we are convinced that safeguard duty will not result in any significant increase in solar power tariff. Additionally duty collected will be a revenue to Indian exchequer and can be redeployed in solar power development," the ISMA said.

Adani Group, Vikram Solar and Tata Power are among the top few domestic solar manufacturers in India. India is targeting to 100 gigawatt (GW) solar capacity by 2022.

Solar cells, electrical devices that convert sunlight directly into electricity, are imported primarily from China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.

The association said the recommendation for imposition of safeguard duty is not arbitrary but based upon a detailed calculation of costs and injuries to domestic industry.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)SP president Akhilesh Yadav today presented before the media a farmer, who claimed that banks were recovering the amount written off under the crop loan waiver scheme from the accounts of some beneficiaries, a charge promptly denied by the Uttar Pradesh government.

Gaurav Chaudhary, the farmer from Meerut district, said some farmers in his Jamalpur village had benefited from the crop loan waiver scheme announced by the state government.

But he claimed that banks were now recovering the waived amount from the accounts of some of the beneficiaries.

"A farmer who had received about Rs 65,000 in sugarcane dues in his account found that Rs 58,692 have been deducted. The passbook has the entry of the recovery," he told reporters.

Chaudhary said when he contacted the bank manager, he told him that there were at least six farmers in his village from whom the loan amount was "recovered" in this manner.

When contacted, Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi said no such recovery was being done.

Shahi said the state government had waived farm loans as per the data provided by the banks. He, however, said it's possible that banks may be rectifying any error at their end.

"If there's any case of loan being wrongly recovered from farmers, they can complain and an inquiry will be done," he stressed.

Soon after coming to power last year, the Yogi Adityanath government had decided to waive farm loans. The decision was estimated to benefit more than 2.15 lakh farmers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP general secretary Ram Madhav today said India appreciates the desire of the Tibetans-in-exile to return to their motherland, and that they should not consider themselves refugees in "their second home".

The Tibetan government-in-exile today kicked off year-long celebrations under the "Thank You India" campaign to mark 60 years of the Dalai Lama's arrival in India.

"India has always welcomed people in problem with open arms. Many people came to India as refugees, and found love and shelter here. The life of a refugee is very tough and full of struggles, but the Tibetans should not consider themselves refugees as they are living in their second home," Madhav said at an event in McLeodganj in Himachal Pradesh to mark the start of the celebrations.

He said that then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru followed the "dharma of the land" to give shelter to the Tibetans, though "we followed the one-China policy at the political level".

Actually, the Dalai Lama should be thanked for coming to India along with so many Buddhist scholars, the BJP leader said.

"Buddhism went from eastern India to Tibet 1,300 years ago. We are bound by spirit, religion, culture and knowledge. So, we are brothers, and brothers do not thank each other," he said.

"We appreciate your desire to go back to your motherland ... And we wish you all the luck. This desire must not vanish. Till then, India is your home. India is the land of the Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi and the Dalai Lama," Madhav said.

Union minister Mahesh Sharma said, "India and Tibet have decades-old relations which cannot be measured by any scale. Our relationship is that of an elder and a younger brother, who need not thank each other."



He said it is painful to call the Tibetans refugees.

"You are our guests. Our relationship is like flower and fragrance," he added.

BJP MP Shanta Kumar said, "Dharamsala has become the spiritual centre of the world due to the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama here. It is the greatness of the spiritual leader that he wanted to thank India."



Lobsang Sangay, the president of the Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan government-in-exile, quoted the Dalai Lama as saying, "India is the guru (teacher) and we are the chelas (disciples). And to respect the guru is our dharma.""We are thankful to India, as we rebuilt the Tibetan civilisation, revived the Tibetan culture and preserved and promoted the Tibetan identity in India," he said.

No other country has done what India did for the Tibetan people in the past 60 years, he said.

"The Dalai Lama says he is the son of India and therefore, we are all its grandchildren," Sangay said.

Lashing out at China, he said the situation in Tibet is "very grim. It is more difficult for the media to go to Tibet than to North Korea".

"Since the formation of our government-in-exile, China has destroyed the Tibetan culture and carried out a number of killings," he alleged.

Sangay said that "our government-in-exile in an exclusive product of the 'Make in India' campaign", which is supported by all Tibetans.

Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi and Himachal minister Kishan Kapoor were among those who attended the event.

The event, which was earlier planned in Delhi, was shifted to McLeodganj in upper Dharamshala after the Indian government directed its officials to stay away from it, citing "sensitive time" for relations between India and China.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An Indian man, who had gone missing in central China during a business visit, has been traced and is expected to return to Mumbai tomorrow, his family members said today.

Tabrez Akbarali Bana, a resident of Dongri in south Mumbai, was visiting China's Zhejiang province in connection with his jewellery business and was allegedly abducted by local traders over a payment dispute.

Indian authorities in Shanghai on Tuesday had sought details of Bana's whereabouts from the Chinese government.

Bana's father-in-law Jigar Abbas, 53, told PTI that his abduction was a case of mistaken identity as the local businessmen mistook Bana for another person with whom they had a dispute over payments.

Bana had gone missing from a market in Yiwu on March 23.

"It was a case of mistaken identity and Tabrez has been let off by the abductors after he showed them passport details to prove he was not the person they were looking for. This was his first visit to China," Abbas, who runs a stationery shop in Mumbra in the neighbouring Thane district, told PTI today.

Abbas's daughter, Afroz, is married to Bana and the couple have two children.

"I have not spoken to him personally but Bana has contacted my daughter (Afroz) and his father," Abbas said.

He said Bana was supposed to fly out of China yesterday but the flight got cancelled due to some reason.

"It has been a very trying time and we are eagerly waiting to see him. My daughter is distressed. We had decided to meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj but she was out of the country. We had also tweeted for help," Abbas said.

Bana's mother-in-law, Shahnaz, told PTI that he was abducted while he was speaking to his wife over phone.

During the conversation, Bana had told Afroz that he had completed his business dealings in China and would return to Mumbai at the earliest, she said.

"His phone was untraceable since March 23 and we tried to make a video call on March 26 but someone snatched the phone before he could speak," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate a dialogue process with Pakistan at the earliest as the "key for peace" was with the neighbouring country.

Speaking at a function organised by a group of Kashmiri Pandits owing allegiance to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mufti said that war was never an option.

"Reconciliation is the mantra which we need to follow and therefore, I request Modi ji to engage with Pakistan," she said.

"We need to take an assurance from the neighbouring country that they should not be allowing their soil to be used against India. After all, we all know that the key for peace is in Pakistan. They have been pushing terrorists into the state," she said.

The chief minister said that efforts should be made for changing the slogan of "Azadi" in the Kashmir Valley.

"This can be achieved. Why can't Jammu and Kashmir be a gateway to the central Asian countries.

"If the CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) is a possibility, so can be this. If new roads are opened, the slogan of Azadi will automatically change," she said at a gathering of around 200 Kashmiri Pandits, who had to leave their homes after the onset of the militancy in 1990.

She advised people not to watch debates on television channels which only foment hatred between the two warring nations as well as the Muslims of Kashmir and the rest of the country.

"Those, sitting in studios and pontificating the nation, are only interested in the TRP ratings and not finding solution to the problem.

"Many a times I wonder who are these people who talk so much on television. Are they even aware of the ground realities," she said.

Mufti said that every second day daggers are out and a war hysteria is created.

"If a war had to happen, it would have in 2001 when the armies of the two nation were in an eye-ball-to-eye ball contact for over a year," she said.

"War (between India and Pakistan) will not happen. After the attack on Parliament in 2001, the armies of both the countries (India and Pakistan) were deployed along borders for a year, if the war did not take place back then, it will not take place now as both the nations know it will be disastrous (for both)," she said.

She also appealed for a reconciliation between the Kashmiri Muslims and Pandit community.

"I know you people had to leave your homes under difficult situations. You people have suffered but so do have those who are their in Kashmir.

"The gift of education has helped you (Pandits) in making a name for yourself but those in Kashmir are still trying to live a peaceful life," the chief minister said and made an appeal to Kashmiri Pandits to visit the Valley.

"The Valley is incomplete without you. To begin with, please come as tourists and later if you feel so, you are most welcome to go back to your homes and stay there. I am not assuring you a roller coaster ride.

"Difficulties will be there but we together have to face these difficulties. Please do not wait for the last gun to fall silent," she said.

The chief minister also apologised to the Kashmiri Pandits for delay in resolving their issues.

The Kashmiri Pandits should send their younger generations to see the state to familiarise them with their roots, the way children from Jammu and Kashmir are sent to see the rest of India, Mufti said.

She also urged the Centre to talk with Pakistan so that the Kashmiri Pandits can visit Sharda Peeth in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

When asked about the third front, she said every party has a right to be in alliance with any party it wants.

Over funds to Jammu and Kashmir, she said it is given by the Centre and the earliest they do so, the state government tries to utilise them.

A charter of demands, including health insurance, was submitted by the group of Kashmiri Pandits to the chief minister who assured that she will consider and act upon them.

Sharda Peeth, once regarded as a major centre of learning, is an abandoned Hindu temple located in Sharda village along the Neelam river near the Line of Control (LoC).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iran's foreign minister today condemned the fatal shooting of 16 Gazan protesters by Israeli troops and mocked the fact that it happened as Israeli Jews prepared to mark Passover.

The protesters were among thousands who marched along the Gaza-Israel border yesterday and set up protest camps at the start of a six-week campaign for the return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled during the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948.

The week-long Passover festival, which began at sundown yesterday, commemorates God's liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt as told in the Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible.

"On the eve of Passover (of all days), which commemorates God liberating Prophet Moses and his people from tyranny, Zionist tyrants murder peaceful Palestinian protesters - whose land they have stolen - as they march to escape their cruel and inhuman apartheid bondage. Shameful," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.

Iran has long been a supporter of Islamist group Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip.

Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi condemned the "savage massacre of a large number of Palestinians by the armed forces of the Zionist regime (Israel)".

He said Israel had felt it could act with impunity because of the backing of US President Donald Trump and the covert ties being established by some regional leaders - an allusion to Saudi Arabia's 32-year-old de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, an arch-foe of Iran.

"Unfortunately, the unconditional support of Mr Trump and his administration and the shameful efforts of some ignorant novice leaders to establish disgraceful secret relations with this regime have made the leaders of the Zionist regime more presumptuous," Ghassemi said.

The Trump administration has called repeatedly for an alliance against Iran between Israel and the Gulf Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh has made no public comment although earlier this month it allowed the first commercial Israel-bound flights to cross its airspace, an Air India service between New Delhi and Tel Aviv.

Yesterday was the bloodiest single day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 war in Gaza. UN chief Antonio Guterres called for an "independent and transparent investigation".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Saudi Arabia's ministry of foreign affairs says there is "no truth" to reports of an upcoming visit to Iraq by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The statement released Saturday follows protests in Baghdad against the visit.

Hundreds gathered in the Iraqi capital yesterday afternoon, some carrying signs blaming the kingdom for crimes committed by the Islamic State group.

The Saudi foreign ministry statement added that "the two brotherly countries" had witnessed "positive developments... recently in all fields." Iraq's prime minister's office had previously stated that the crown prince was planning to visit Iraq in the near future, but a date had not yet been set.

Iraq and Saudi Arabia have long had a strained relationship, but recently mended relations after diplomatic ties between the two counties were restored in 2016.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A special CBI court today set aside summonses issued to two Intelligence Bureau (IB) officers by a magistrate court in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case.

Special CBI Judge J B Pandya set aside the lower court order issuing summonses to Rajeev Wankhede and T S Mittal, who worked as assistant central intelligence officers when the alleged fake encounter took place in June 2004.

The duo had challenged the summonses issued to them.

The metropolitan magistrate court had also issued summonses to other two IB officers --special director Rajinder Kumar and officer M S Sinha -- but they have not moved the special CBI court challenging them.

Whether the order of the special CBI court applies to all the four IB officers will be clear only after the copy of the order is received, CBI lawyer R C Kodekar said.

The four IB officers have been charged by the CBI with murder, criminal conspiracy, illegal detention and kidnapping.

Challenging the summonses, Wankhede and Mittal had told the CBI court that they were not maintainable, as the court had not taken cognisance of the CBI charge-sheet.

No summons can be issued as the Centre has not given sanction for their prosecution as required under the Code of Criminal Procedure, they had contended.

The CBI, however, contended that a court can use its discretion to issue summons even when the competent authority has not given sanction.

Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old college girl from Mumbra near Thane, her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh, Amzad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged fake encounter by the Ahmedabad police on the outskirts of the city in June 2004.

The police had then claimed that they were terrorists affiliated to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said her government will utilise funds from the Centre soon after the state administration receives them.

Her remarks comes close on the heels of a parliamentary committee informing the Rajya Sabha that only 22 per cent of the Prime Minister's Rs 80,000 crore development package for Jammu and Kashmir had been released so far.

Replying to a question on the funds, she said, "The funds will be released by the Centre. The sooner they do it, the earlier we will utilise them."



She was speaking here on the sidelines of an interaction session with a group of Kashmiri Pandits.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, headed by senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, in a report tabled in the Rajya Sabha recently, had said the progress on implementing the PM's development package had been slow and a "poor outcome" had been achieved in the past 12 months.

The committee found that out of the Rs 80,068-crore Prime Minister's Development Package for Jammu and Kashmir, "projects of Rs 67,046 crore have been sanctioned and Rs 17,913 crore have been released to the state government", according to the report.

The committee noted that most of the projects - including that for creation of jobs, transit accommodations, one-time settlement of 36,384 families from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Chhamb displaced persons, and raising of India Reserve Battalions - were still under progress and "little outcome was achieved".

"Observing this pattern of poor outcome in the past twelve months, the committee recommends that the Ministry of Home Affairs should intensify its efforts to achieve measurable outcome under the PM's Development Package by speeding up the work in the upcoming fiscal and implement all the projects at the earliest," the panel had said in its report.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actor Kangana Ranaut will speak on Gandhian philosophy at an event in the US which will be attended by Michelle Obama and media mogul Oprah Winfrey.

The programme, 'Gandhi Going Global', will be held in New Jersey in August and it is aimed at spreading Mahatma Gandhi's ideology and philosophy at the global state.

The 31-year-old star will share stage with Obama, Winfrey, and American advocate Martin Luther King III, a press release said.

"For me, it's always been about the impact you make on the society and how you contribute to it. Sharing the stage with Michelle and Oprah will be inspiring.

"I've never been anybody's fan but I admire and idolise women like Oprah," Kangana said in a statement here.

The 'Gandhi Going Global' campaign will host interactive activities, educational programmes, motivational talks and cultural celebration on August 18 and 19.

More than 500 NGOs and organisations, 400 universities and over 100 high schools will be participating at the event, which is expected to be attended by over 25,000 people the release added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)